#'i want this person to die' <- not a crime

[hrrtshape]

Hi Emma, I really need help for a script set in ancient times. I really don’t know where to start! I am not much of an historian but I really wanted to shift in Ancient Rome!

the ultimate guide to surviving ancient rome.

welcome, time traveler!!!!!!!! i'm emma. and i'll be helping you survive ancient rome. if you find yourself navigating the grandeur and grime of ancient rome, you’ll need this comprehensive guide to thrive in an empire of marble, politics, and intrigue. from securing a place to stay to social etiquette, this will cover everything you need to know !!! so you don't die :)

where to start as you're entering rome??

arrival : if you're arriving from another part of the empire, the best entry points are ostia (rome’s main port) or the via appia, a road leading directly to the city. the first thing you might see see will be a chaotic, sprawling metropolis of temples, markets, bathhouses, and crowded tenement buildings (insulae).

where to stay : if you're wealthy, you’ll want to rent or buy a domus (townhouse) in the city. if you’re less affluent (already sorry for you, not in a mean way but you won't last there long), an insula (apartment) in the subura district will suffice. though beware of fires and collapsing buildings ! xx

your hygiene and daily routines.

bathing : rome is famous for its public baths (thermae). visit places like the baths of caracalla or the baths of trajan. bring a small fee for entry and enjoy hot and cold plunges. don’t forget oil and a strigil (a scraping tool) to clean off dirt. they, sadly, didn't have body lotion yet.

toilets and sanitation : rome has public latrines where people sit side by side (awkward but normal). a sponge on a stick (tersorium. yikes) is used instead of toilet paper, make sure to rinse it properly in running water, or you'll become the disgust of the city.

dental care : romans used powdered charcoal, crushed bones, and even urine (yes, really. look. it wasn't modern) to clean their teeth. bring your own mint leaves if you want to keep fresh breath without resorting to ammonia-based methods.

food and dining.

what to eat : the roman diet includes bread, olives, cheese, fruit, and fish. garum (fermented fish sauce) is a staple seasoning. wealthy romans dine on exotic meats like peacock and dormice. yep.

where to eat : If you’re not cooking at home, stop by a thermopolium (a fast-food stand) for warm meals like stews and bread. not a mcdonalds, but it sufficed.

dining etiquette : reclining while eating is a sign of wealth. if invited to a noble’s banquet, expect multiple courses, lively discussions, and perhaps some questionable entertainment (like performing dwarves or poetry recitals).

housing and shelter.

domus : wealthy residents live in lavish homes with atriums, mosaics, and private gardens. if you’re in this category, hire slaves (SORRY. servants) to maintain the household.

insulae : these apartment buildings house most of rome’s population. they’re cheap but prone to fires, so always have an escape plan.

villas : if you want to escape city life, consider acquiring a countryside villa in places like campania or etruria.

personal safety.

crime : rome has a high crime rate, especially at night. avoid dark alleys, and keep a small dagger or hire a bodyguard (mercenarii) if you're wealthy.

fires : the city is prone to fires due to overcrowded wooden buildings. have an evacuation route and be aware of nearby water sources.

legal system : if you get into trouble, hire an orator to defend you in court. bribery is often the fastest solution to legal woes.

money and commerce.

the currency : the roman monetary system includes sestertii, denarii, and aurei (gold coins). always carry small change for daily expenses.

shopping : the forum is rome’s commercial hub. you can buy anything from spices to togas. haggle, but not too aggressively, or you might offend the merchant. most things didn't have a tag, and the merchants would judge the price based on how you looked or talk. so. beware.

banking : rome has early banking institutions where you can store wealth. avoid keeping large sums on your person.

social class and interaction.

patricians vs. plebeians : social mobility is limited, but a well-connected plebeian can rise in status through military service or patronage.

slaves and freedmen : slavery was integral to roman society. freed slaves (liberti) can gain status, though they can remain linked to their former masters.

etiquette : addressing senators as “domine” (sir) and deferring to patricians in public are key social customs.

entertainment and leisure.

gladiatorial games : the colosseum hosts blood sports where slaves and prisoners fight to the death. betting on matches is common. vomiting in the stands..is also common.

chariot races : the circus maximus holds races between four factions: reds, blues, greens, and whites. pick a team and cheer them on.

theatre and oratory : if you have a sensitive stomach, enjoy performances at the theatre of pompey or listen to public speeches at the forum.

religion and temples.

gods and worship : rome’s pantheon includes jupiter, mars, venus, and more. each home has a household shrine (lararium) for daily offerings.

festivals : participate in saturnalia (a wild celebration where roles reverse and slaves feast like masters) or lupercalia (a fertility festival involving ritual sacrifices).

christianity : in early rome, christians were often persecuted. so. be discreet if practicing or associating with followers.

long-term survival...how do you are adapting to rome?

language : learn latin phrases. knowing greek is also helpful among the elite.

fashion : wear a tunic for daily life and a toga for formal occasions. women should drape themselves in stolas.

networking : find a patron for career advancement. political connections open a lot of doors in rome.

and that is this. if you survive, you're a guaranteed a cookie, albeit those didn’t yet exist, i think. with this guide, you’re well-equipped to navigate rome’s splendour and chaos. whether you seek luxury, knowledge, or power, the eternal city awaits! pls don't die!

[thebaldursmouthgazette]

Solas is not literally bound to Mythal.

If he was, he’d never have been able to rebel against her in the first place, and he wouldn’t have been able to kill her at the end of inquisition (debate all you want on her opinions of that, he went there intending to kill her and not imagining she ever would agree to it. If he was literally bound to her will he would not be able to do that). He also wouldn’t have been able to treat the crossroads fragment in the way he did, since she’s clearly not happy with that and definitely petty enough to force him to visit. Hell, he probably wouldn’t have been able to put up the veil in the first place. He also wouldn’t have had a problem drinking from the well of sorrows, because if he was already bound to her there would be nothing to lose, and it would save corypheus gaining the knowledge AND someone else from being bound to Mythal.

Not to mention, Morrigan holds Mythals memories and is literally working with us to stop him and not once mentions him being literally bound to the will of Mythal, despite that being vital information to Rook, if true. Him being literally bound to Mythals will takes away all of his agency as a character, but also is in direct contradiction to multiple events. I have no doubt their relationship was manipulative, but she does not literally control him.

Also, whatever Flemythals reckoning was going to be, it is clearly NOT the veil coming down. At no point does she offer any assistance in those goals (even if you read the inquisition epilogue as her willingly sacrificing herself to help solas, which I never have for many many reasons, including but not limited to the fact that if she wanted to help she didn’t need to die to do so, he’s been awake and plotting for two years at this point and not once has Mythal offered any assistance). Her own activities (namely gaining the soul of Urthemiel, cleansed from the blight) have absolutely nothing to do with the veil coming down. Her reckoning is her own plan, separate to Solas’ plans entirely, and at times even counter to them.

The ending where he gives up on bringing down the veil does not involve Mythal literally releasing him from literal bonds of control. If that were the case, she could have done that at any point prior to now and none of this would be happening. Even if you argue we need to convince her, she could have done that immediately after we convince her in the crossroads. And why can only that fragment release him, and not the one in flemeth and now Morrigan who has not supported his goals since at least inquisition, and is ready and available to free him literally whenever?

If you analyse that scene you’ll notice a few things:

1. he is physically and emotionally exhausted. He’s just finished a battle with Elgar’nans archdemon and he’s also been confronted by several of his failures. I’ve got a long post on the way the entire game deconstructs all of his manipulations and excuses so that at this point they’re all completely gone, but especially key are that Rook escaped the prison when he couldn’t (and he designed that prison to hold callous gods unwilling to acknowledge their crimes, with their callousness being the key. Rook is an actually nice person and the prison cannot hold them. It held him), and that he has made zero progress since rook was trapped and Rook was out the prison for all of five minutes and Elgar’nan is defeated.

2. When Rook tells him to bind himself to the veil he considers it. He’s tired, he’s on the verge of admitting it’s unnecessary, he considers it. If he was literally bound to Mythal there would be no consideration.

3. He then says he can’t, because it would dishonour those he had wronged to get this far. The inquisitor then comes out and tells him that those he wronged are the ones asking him to stop. Then he says he can’t because he needs to honour Mythals memory because it’s his fault she died and he needs to make the world she wanted (notice she is dead in this conversation. If he was literally bound to her then he wouldn’t be considering her dead). Then Morrigan and Mythal come forward to say that uh no, this isn’t what Mythal wants and if that’s what’s making him do this he should feel free of that obligation. In a metaphorical sense.

What is happening in this scene is not Solas being freed from literal bonds tying his will. It is Solas, who has spent his entire life making excuses and justifications for why he has to do what he’s doing, having every single one of those excuses systematically deconstructed. He cannot say it would be a dishonour to those he had wronged, because they are here telling him to stop. It cannot be a dishonour to Mythal, because she is here telling him to stop. He’s in a state of physical and mental exhaustion and every single time he comes up with an excuse as to why he needs to bring down the veil, he’s met with irrefutable evidence that not only is that excuse horseshit, but the people he’s claiming to be doing this for actively want him to stop.

He’s not being released from literal control. If he were, rook and the inqusitor wouldn’t have bothered trying to convince him, they’d go straight for Mythal. What happened is he’s run out of excuses. All he can do at that moment is admit he actually wants to do the terrible thing to placate his own conscience (the real reason this whole time) and do it anyway or stop. He chooses to stop, possibly because this is the first time he’s been forced to admit to himself that his reasons ARE selfish ones, and he realises in that moment that that’s not what he wants to be. But it was always his choice.

He was always the one deciding to take down the veil. He was always the one wanting to take down the veil. He just cannot admit to himself his reasons are selfish so he comes up with excuses and justifications, which he even convinces himself of. The whole “I wish I didn’t have to but sadly I must” schtick is a lie he tells both others and himself. He doesn’t have to. He never had to. That’s the whole point.

No, the veil did not need to come down. It never did.

Something that is extremely consistent throughout inquisition is that the tears in the fade are HURTING spirits. Spirit society, like mortal society, has adapted to having the veil present and just like mortal society it is being thrown into chaos by its weakening.

Something that is consistent throughout trespasser and the media between trespasser and veilguard is that taking down the veil would have harmed everyone and destroyed society as we know it, at the very least killing most (if not all) humans, dwarves and qunari (who have no less of a right to exist than the elves).

He says as much in trespasser, and then never denies it when called out. It’s always “do you truly believe that is my plan” and “I had plans to minimise the damage”, never an explicit “no, that would not happen”. He tells the inquisitor that tearing down the veil will destroy the world and then never denies it when asked, he just stops being so open about it. This is a man who uses careful wording so that he can say he rarely lies, what he doesn’t say is deeply significant.

The veil going up initially hurt people, but the world has since adapted and is now in a state where tearing it down would cause more damage for no reason. The veil being put up hurt elven society because they had buildings that relied on both places, but they no longer have that. Nobody is being actively hurt by the veil being up, bringing it down would just destroy everything to get a world that is different but not inherently better.

But Solas regrets putting it up. Solas wishes he didn’t put it up. He wants to take it down, not because it is actively hurting anyone, but because he feels bad about it. It’s something he regrets, something he wishes he hadn’t done, and taking it down will placate his conscience. And all the consequences can be justified under “i feel sad about it but it had to be done” even though it didn’t ever have to be done. This is how he has justified every crime before.

Rook has not doomed the world by keeping the veil up. They have saved this world, instead of dooming it to cling onto scraps of a culture long long dead and placate the conscience of a man who has never been able to handle the concept of “no”.

[revilloutionaire]

is it just me or was endeavor's arc never about him deserving redemption??? nor was he ever actually redeemed? like, atonement vs redemption are two very different things, and watering him down to "he is a horrible person henceforth he does not deserve to be written a redemption arc." in my opinion, that's just a tragic waste of his character.

endeavour's existence as a hero actually brings a very important and nuanced layer to the world of MHA and also brings up the question; is a person's good deeds enough to measure their worth?

think about it: todoroki enji is an abusive father and husband. he bought his wife, participated in a genetics scheme, neglected two of his children, pushed his eldest to his limit psychologically, and physically abused his youngest.

but think of endeavour: the number two hero. his efficiency rates are the highest in the country. he keeps property damage to the absolute minimum and runs an agency with an expansive network of sidekicks. and what is this man's job? he SAVES LIVES. it is his literal JOB to SAVE PEOPLE, and he is THE BEST in his field. it would be one thing if he were incompetent, but endeavour is literally incredible at his job.

the dichotomy proposes a philosophical question: would you remove this man from his job when he is so instrumental to the protection of the population?

i understand how severe his abuse was. i understand how severe abuse IS. it ruins the very foundations of who you are. todoroki enji effectively has ruined his family. but he has something that many abusers do not have: guilt.

his guilt does not absolve him of his crimes. he is aware of this. but he is attempting to take accountability. and while he is entirely too late, would you rather have the man not try at all? and for the people who want him locked up: what is endeavour serving a prison sentence going to do for the population? sow growing fear and distrust in a society where people are losing faith in their heroes?

there's one more layer that people forget, or in some cases, refuses to acknowledge: he loves his family. he only comes to love them far too late. and thats another thing people forget: abusers can truly love the people they abuse. and enji loves his kids, you can see it in the way he embraces natsuo after he thought he almost died, how he embraced touya even if he thought he would die with him, how proud he is of shouto as a hero, and how thankful he is for fuyumi. he still remembers rei's favorite flowers and always has them sent for her. the problem is that it's all too late. too little, too late. but it's THERE and i find the writing incredible.

i just think that endeavour is such a brilliantly written character. not redeeming endeavour would've made him a cartoonishly evil character, and undermined the themes mha depicts. what makes a hero? what level of morality does someone need to have? if a man is a murderer, but ends up saving another in a heroic act, is he now a hero? redemption is never something people deserve. it is something they earn, and whether endeavour was truly redeemed was a personal decision, that only the people he abused could ever make.

the beautiful part of it all, was that every todoroki had a different response to it. because every single one of their responses were valid.

natsuo walked away and went no-contact. enji would never see his future daughter-in-law, or grandchild, or anyone from natsuo's family ever again. and that's something enji will forever have to live with.

rei stays by her husbands side. she chooses to forgive. if only because she feels guilty too.

fuyumi genuinely wants to reconnect her family, not just for enji's sake, but for her own. because she wants to cling to the only family she has.

shouto wants to establish his own identity away from his father, and become a hero in spite of what enji has done to him. because it's who he is.

and touya wants to burn it all down.

these are all very, very real responses to abuse and destructive family dynamics. and it was all beautifully written. keeping up with the todorokis is honestly some of the best family writing i've seen in shounen. its rare to have a full family written into the picture with such realistic and complex problems, that show their lives as a family not just from childhood, as almost all animes do, but how their dynamics shift and change as everyone in the family grows and moves on with their lives. families aren't just shed for narrative purposes like it's mostly written in manga and shounen. they stick with you almost your whole life. and endeavour is an important part of the tapestry created- "not redeeming" him is the same as throwing him out of the picture.

because endeavour is a realistic depiction of an abusive man. and i know from personal experience- abusers are not cartoonish monsters. they're real people with emotions like everybody else. and the harm they inflict on others always backfires on them- they'll feel it for the rest of their lives. and so does endeavour. he destroyed his own family, and he's not getting it back. he knows this. so he's not going to try and get all of them to love him again, he knows that would he pointless.

hence the atonement. he's going to be there from now on, however he can, because he knows that nothing he can ever do will fix his mistakes. he will never be at that dining table with his family.

anyway lol end of ramble i just think he's an amazing character and stories should explore more themes based around him and the todoroki family

[plushyparfait]

DEATH NOTE UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE AU (because why not?)

part two :: Matt, Beyond, A

part one w/ Near, Mello, L

Random headcanons & art

Matt

1. Matt likes to randomly challenge his professors to game matches just to avoid a test or assignment if he wins. Usually it's a 50/50 chance of it working and lecturers usually humour him since his grades tend to be quite decent

2. Refuses to vape and prefers smoking actual cigarettes because he rather die from lung cancer the 'normal way' like God intended.

3. I can see Matt being an atheist, usually attending mass with Mello out of pure interest and just straight up supporting his friend.

• As a kid, he used to believe in God and was really moved by the worship music. When he went to his first concert, he realised Hatsune Miku gave him the exact same feeling and hadn't believed since (coupled with other things).

4. He’s made it a game to see how long he can stay silent in group projects before anyone notices.

• Matt doesn’t like participating, so he tests the waters to see if his classmates will handle everything without him. So far, it’s worked.

5. No one actually knows what Matt's natural hair colour actually is- not even Mello. he's constantly dyeing his hair different colours every week that people reckon he's actually just Ramona Flowers in disguise. (ps, it's red.)

6. Can't dress for shit and picks whatever. He's usually a big fan of collecting meme shirts for shits and giggles.

7. Matt started speaking in brainrot terms because he knows it annoys the fuck out of Mello but it's gotten to a point where it's become un-ironic (???) and he genuinely can't stop.

8. Mikami's made it his life's mission to uphold Matt's ban from the campus library after setting off the smoke alarms ONCE after taking a hit in the library.

• Matt didn’t expect anyone to notice since he was tucked away in a corner by a window, but when the alarm went off, he disappeared before they could pin it on him (everyone knows it was him).

9. Matt is actually a really great cook and likes to sometimes change up Near's meal regimen because he pities the little cotton ball and doesn't want him to starve or make himself sick from eating take out all the time.

10. Matt has an army of Roombas in his dorm that he’s programmed to follow him around, but they mostly just get stuck on furniture.

• He thought it’d be cool to have robot minions, but they’re more of a nuisance than a help. Still, he refuses to admit it was a bad idea.

Beyond/BB

1. BB sometimes appears out of nowhere, crouched in doorways or dark corners for the love of the game.

• He enjoys startling people with his sudden, animal-like movements, especially when they’re not expecting him to be around.

2. He has an entire series on his other/side YouTube channel where he investigates urban legends on campus—most of which he started himself.

• BB’s fans love the bizarre mix of real crimes and made-up stories, and they can never tell what’s fact or fiction because he's just a little too good at spinning tales.

3. BB has a habit of chasing people on all fours when they ask for directions, leaving them terrified and confused. Sometimes he also likes to chase little Firsties or new Professors.

• His preferred method of interaction is making people uncomfortable, and he gets a kick out of their reactions.

4. He sometimes posts the occasional odder than usual video on his main channel, keeping his video vague enough to leave people wondering if he’s the criminal he’s talking about.

• BB’s unsettling delivery and cryptic hints make viewers question whether he’s discussing a real case or something more personal. It's a bit harder to guess when he doesn't outright state names and locations etc like he does most of the time.

5. BB likes to lie and say that he's a vampire as a way to hit on people, touting it as the reason why his eyes are red.

• Since Shinigami aren't a thing here, alongside being L's younger brother, I like to think Beyond is just albino and won't admit it, preferring to spin tall tales about himself instead and dyeing his hair to support his nonsense.

6. BB is actually really good skilled at hacking and likes to leave papers he accesses on lecturer pcs with ominous comments just to mess with professors' and students’ heads.

• He’s notorious for leaving cryptic messages that leaves people more confused than when they started.

7. BB initially dyed his hair black to try and appeal to A since it'd make him look more like L.

• A and L usually had hung out (in the loosest way possible) and BB was usually present during study sessions when A came over. He'd noticed how A used to seem a bit obsessive over L, mistaking it for love and BB thought if he emulated L as much as possible, A would turn his sights on him instead but it didn't click until a bit later that it'd only turn him off. He's slowly trying to learn how to be himself.

8. He's so crazy over strawberry jam or anything related to the fruit to the point you can smell him coming before you see him since he's too sweet. His clothes are guaranteed to be covered in his version of the holy grail without fail.

9. BB's anger usually spikes during exam season— usually it's a manifestation of his anxiety and he's especially unwilling to be reduced to second best. Pity the poor things who incur his wrath at its peak. Kiyomi's hair's short for a reason. BB managed to chop it after she made the mistake of talking to him whilst he was busy.

• He does love L but also has developed a rivalry with his older brother. Constantly being pitted against him and being compared to him growing up has turned his view of their relationship into one of slight resentment and frustration, and his anxiety makes him snap at random, refusing to be reminded of his academic shortcomings if he fails anything.

10. Refuses to sleep in his dorm bed: BB sleeps on the floor, saying it makes him feel more “in tune with the earth.” People think it’s just part of his vampire act or something, but he insists it’s better for him

A/Adam

1. Adam somehow ended up as the student body president, though he’s not really sure how it happened, and now he’s stuck organizing events he doesn’t care about.

• His natural charisma and general attractiveness made him a shoe-in for leadership, but it’s more of a hassle than he expected...

2. His room is spotless, in stark contrast to L's if Mr Wammy doesn't send someone out to clean it. Adam insists it helps his mental clarity. (That boy is just a neat freak).

• He has high expectations for himself and his space, and cleanliness helps him manage stress.

3. Adam organizes casual debate nights at a local pub, where students get together and argue philosophical concepts over drinks.

• He enjoys intellectual challenges and has a natural ability to facilitate conversations.

4. Adam frequently debates professors in class, not out of disrespect but because he genuinely wants to dissect their arguments.

• He has a deep need for knowledge and constantly questions authority to understand the reasoning behind academic opinions.

5. Adam has a quiet job at the library where he mostly reads between shifts and helps organize study materials for students.

• The library is a peaceful escape, and the job allows him to focus on his own work while earning money.

6. He has a strong coffee addiction, probably worse than Light. Adam is always drinking coffee, often with a book in hand, claiming it helps him stay awake and focused on his many responsibilities.

• His drive to excel academically and socially often leaves him with little sleep, so caffeine is his lifeline. It's either that or he wheedles weed off of Linda.

7. Adam is always on top of his assignments and known for being the “responsible one” in group projects.

8. Adam’s competitive streak extends to physical activities, so he took up fencing as a way to channel his need for precision and strategy.

• Fencing fits his calculated, intellectual nature while allowing him to compete in a more structured environment.

9. He offers his time to help struggling students with work, often staying late to give them extra support.

• Adam has a natural inclination to help others and finds fulfillment in seeing his peers succeed.

10. He secretly wants to reconcile with L. Adam’s relationship with L is strained due to their competitive history, but deep down, he wants to mend it and stop viewing L as a rival.

• His maturity has grown, and while the rivalry fueled him for years, he recognizes that there’s more to life than competition

NEXT :: MISA , KIYOMI, LINDA, REM

notes: can you tell who's my favourite?

[marq-lynch]

As someone who got into AEW via fixating on MJF and has spent the last eight months obsessed with Hangman and Swerve this upcoming feud was made for Meeeee and I cannot Wait to watch MJF beat the snot out of Hangman's hypocritical face in person in a couple weeks.

There are so many layers to this feud and things they could have made the core, but the one they're going with is Authenticity? No. Even better. It's Verisimilitude. Possibly my favorite word in the English language: having the appearance of truth. It's not about who's most Real. Things that are verasimiliar are often not factual but portray a Truth, like a fake blood on TV that's the wrong color because humans don't want to believe that real blood is that candy coated firehouse red, they want something more sensual with a bit of chocolate syrup mixed in to make it darker. It's about what, and in this case Who, Feels Most Real and is therefore most deserving of our appreciation.

Is it the bullied little boy who never had a friend and shoved everyone away before they could hurt him first and who just desperately wants unconditional love, and who has been rejected every time he tries to reach for it from the audience, mentors, mentees, fiances, & his one and only friend? Who opened himself up to the world and tried to grow, to improve, to let himself be vulnerable one more time in the spots he knew were softest only to have everything he loved and valued ripped away.

Or is it the other ball of self-esteem issues, the anxiety riddled ball of imposter syndrome that has whittled itself down to a core that has always been there, of burning Rage at himself and the injustices of the world around him that he has allowed to consume and isolate him, feeding his worst tendencies for addiction and obsession.

The relationship both have with the audience is Insane, and neither is healthy. They both obsessively need us and shape their entire identity around what the world thinks of them, while insisting to themselves and us that they aren't. They're just aware of their responsibility as a champion, or no longer going to care what people think, but somehow those 'I don't care what you think' protests only last so long and they're caught up in obsessions over audience chants and signs against them again.

And then there's the Swerve of it all. My 'Swerve the Realest'. The Other Man who just about one year ago also had the audience decide 'yes, you're a heel, but you're so damn cool we've decided you can do whatever the fuck you want'. Swerve, genuinely, did nothing wrong. Except... He lost at Revolution, and stood in a ring, in front of Tony Shiavone, and admitted, "I've done some pretty terrible things here" and "I'm not a good person... But for the first time ever it felt like people were really rooting for me."

Swerve, as far as we know, has never lied to the audience. He's beaten up teenagers, broken and entered, broken arms, and left things out, but never lied. He is Swerve the Realest.

Meanwhile Hangman, who raged that "[Swerve] never paid for it, and they loved him for it" is now having crowds cheer itemized lists of his crimes from an irate MJF, and staring him in the face telling him that he's never run from his problems (which has been his entire arc) or ever once lied to the audience, all while he wears the same outfit through Feb 2025 he wore March 2nd 2024, the day before Revolution last year, when he first hobbled to the ring on a crutch, told the audience he was always truthful with them, that he couldn't compete the next day. Then when Swerve came out and listed his own crimes flat out to Samoa Joe the day before his first title shot, Hangman beat him unconscious with the crutch, showing he'd been fine, and screaming an apology later for lying but saying he would Rather Die than let Swerve win it himself, and Rather Die than not win it himself.

The next day he tapped out to Samoa Joe. Y'know. Like a Liar.

[spookyyew59]

long rambling about Kevin smh, but this thoughts been bothering me for a bit, sorry if it’s unorganized.

Y’all can we stop reducing Kevin as a single celled organism 💔, he’s his own character with numerous traits, why do people reduce him to “Kevin boy failure!!! So cutie patootie skunkle-bob skinny twink man!!!!! He’s absolutely die if we was by himself!!”, like vro what 😭

I haven’t done a full character analysis on Kevin, so correct me if I’m wrong, but I very much do NOT believe that “he’d kill skid and pump if given the chance!” Like what??? No he?? Wouldn’t??? He’s a normal man??

Kevin is a human being, not a monster. He doesn’t hate them (not a lot anyways, I assume), he gets very irritated with them and it’s very understandable why he does.

Skid and Pump, in all honesty, need to learn basic manners and like, not cause several crimes. You can say that “they’re just kids! They don’t know any better!” But I don’t know anyone who had a childhood where it involves messing up several stores, causing problems for the employees, committing damage to private property, and assault (if you’re counting when they got possessed by Moloch.)

But back to the main thing, Kevin would NOT kill them! He’s tired of working and I get that, he’s tired and most likely underpaid, being the only one to work there at the CandyClub each day so he’s tired, underpaid, and Skid and Pump make his job and mental health worse. He’s not some “twink” who would kill two kids, he’s probably in his mid 20’s trying to get a date somewhere while also trying to pay his rent, afford food, afford clothes, and pay for all his entertainment needs (streaming services, WiFi, etc). He wants to be happy just like anyone else, and he wants to get money the LEGAL way.

He wants to be happy, and despite people saying “he’d kill skid and pump!” he DOES care about them. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have asked that question in episode 6, “and why is an old dude hanging around kids?”, if he didn’t care, he wouldn’t have asked. Kevin cares about those kids, like he cares about anyone else, even though it was his first day in the shirt and he snapped at them, I don’t entirely blame him for it.

Two kids came into your store on your first day, asked you for free things and when you declined they mess it up so you end up giving them free stuff anyways. I understand why he snapped, and me personally, I would have too. But that doesn’t mean he hates the kids, it was his first day and he just didn’t wanna be fired!

I also gotta love how society sees a man interested in more than one gender and go like “OOOOOOO YESSS. Let’s get rid of his ENTIRE character traits and EVERY theory, and lets mold his character into ONE singular shape and lets only use him for bad angst and shipping purposes!!”

Kevin is MORE than a side character used for shipping purposes, the man’s had a prophetic dream of all things and you all are focused on the fact that he’s into every gender possible?? Can we get some theories about this man? Cause where are those at??? I don’t see anything about that, and it all depends on where the timeline is for the Kevin short.

“I had nightmares you two!”, was a line he said in episode 5, so if everything they’ve done was true, shouldn’t he technically be able to guess what happens to himself and the town? And possibly the WORLD???

You all can have your headcanons and see Kevin in your own eyes, but we need to STOP reducing cool characters as a single celled organism who revolves around “twinks twinks twinks twinks. Ooo gay men. Twink twink twinks.”

[iclimbtreestofeelalive]

hey for everyone talking about jury nullification etc etc: it only works if you lie and say you dont know what it is. if youre chosen for jury duty and they ask you if you know what it is, you say no. here's an article going more in depth, and here's the cgp grey video about it.

like. just so we're clear, it's good to know about, but if you go into a courtroom and start talking about nullification, you could very well have voided your place on that jury. be smart about it 👍

[greenerteacups]

oooh please someday tell us what you think of GOT

oh, no, it's my fatal weakness! it's [checks notes] literally just the bare modicum of temptation! okay you got me.

SO. in order to tell what's wrong with game of thrones you kind of have to have read the books, because the books are the reason the show goes off the rails. i actually blame the showrunners relatively little in proportion to GRRM for how bad the show was (which I'm not gonna rehash here because if you're interested in GOT in any capacity you've already seen that horse flogged to death). people debate when GOT "got bad" in terms of writing, but regardless of when you think it dropped off, everyone agrees the quality declined sharply in season 8, and to a certain extent, season 7. these are the seasons that are more or less entirely spun from whole cloth, because season 7 marks the beginning of what will, if we ever see it, be the Winds of Winter storyline. it's the first part that isn't based on a book by George R.R. Martin. it's said that he gave the showrunners plot outlines, but we don't know how detailed they were, or how much the writers diverged from the blueprint — and honestly, considering the cumulative changes made to the story by that point, some stark divergence would have been required. (there's a reason for this. i'll get there in a sec.)

so far, i'm not saying anything all that original. a lot of people recognized how bad the show got as soon as they ran out of Book to adapt. (I think it's kind of weird that they agreed to make a show about an unfinished series in the first place — did GRRM figure that this was his one shot at a really good HBO adaptation, and forego misgivings about his ability to write two full books in however many years it took to adapt? did he think they would wait for him? did he not care that the series would eventually spoil his magnum opus, which he's spent the last three decades of his life writing? perplexing.) but the more interesting question is why the show got bad once it ran out of Book, because in my mind, that's not a given. a lot of great shows depart from the books they were based on. fanfiction does exactly that, all the time! if you have good writers who understand the characters they're working with, departure means a different story, not a worse one. now, the natural reply would be to say that the writers of GOT just aren't good, or at least aren't good at the things that make for great television, and that's why they needed the books as a structure, but I don't think that's true or fair, either. books and television are very different things. the pacing of a book is totally different from the pacing of a television show, and even an episodic book like ASOIAF is going to need a lot of work before it's remotely watchable as a series. bad writers cannot make great series of television, regardless of how good their source material is. sure, they didn't invent the characters of tyrion lannister and daenerys targaryen, but they sure as hell understood story structure well enough to write a damn compelling season of TV about them!

so but then: what gives? i actually do think it's a problem with the books! the show starts out as very faithful to the early books (namely, A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings) to the point that most plotlines are copied beat-for-beat. the story is constructed a little differently, and it's definitely condensed, but the meat is still there. and not surprisingly, the early books in ASOIAF are very tightly written. for how long they are, you wouldn't expect it, but on every page of those books, the plot is racing. you can practically watch george trying to beat the fucking clock. and he does! useful context here is that he originally thought GOT was going to be a trilogy, and so the scope of most threads in the first book or two would have been much smaller. it also helps that the first three books are in some respects self-contained stories. the first book is a mystery, the second and third are espionage and war dramas — and they're kept tight in order to serve those respective plots.

the trouble begins with A Feast for Crows, and arguably A Storm of Swords, because GRRM starts multiplying plotlines and treating the series as a story, rather than each individual book. he also massively underestimated the number of pages it would take him to get through certain plot beats — an assumption whose foundation is unclear, because from a reader's standpoint, there is a fucke tonne of shit in Feast and Dance that's spurious. I'm not talking about Brienne's Riverlands storyline (which I adore thematically but speaking honestly should have been its own novella, not a part of Feast proper). I'm talking about whole chapters where Tyrion is sitting on his ass in the river, just talking to people. (will I eat crow about this if these pay off in hugely satisfying ways in Winds or Dream? oh, totally. my brothers, i will gorge myself on sweet sweet corvid. i will wear a dunce cap in the square, and gleefully, if these turn out to not have been wastes of time. the fact that i am writing this means i am willing to stake a non-negligible amount of pride on the prediction that that will not happen). I'm talking about scenes where the characters stare at each other and talk idly about things that have already happened while the author describes things we already have seen in excruciating detail. i'm talking about threads that, while forgivable in a different novel, are unforgivable in this one, because you are neglecting your main characters and their story. and don't tell me you think that a day-by-day account tyrion's river cruise is necessary to telling his story, because in the count of monte cristo, the main guy disappears for nine years and comes hurtling back into the story as a vengeful aristocrat! and while time jumps like that don't work for everything, they certainly do work if what you're talking about isn't a major story thread!

now put aside whether or not all these meandering, unconcluded threads are enjoyable to read (as, in fairness, they often are!). think about them as if you're a tv showrunner. these bad boys are your worst nightmare. because while you know the author put them in for a reason, you haven't read the conclusion to the arc, so you don't know what that reason is. and even if the author tells you in broad strokes how things are going to end for any particular character (and this is a big "if," because GRRM's whole style is that he lets plots "develop as he goes," so I'm not actually convinced that he does have endings written out for most major characters), that still doesn't help you get them from point A (meandering storyline) to point B (actual conclusion). oh, and by the way, you have under a year to write this full season of television, while GRRM has been thinking about how to end the books for at least 10. all of this means you have to basically call an audible on whether or not certain arcs are going to pay off, and, if they are, whether they make for good television, and hence are worth writing. and you have to do that for every. single. unfinished. story. in the books.

here's an example: in the books, Quentin Martell goes on a quest to marry Daenerys and gain a dragon. many chapters are spent detailing this quest. spoiler alert: he fails, and he gets charbroiled by dragons. GRRM includes this plot to set up the actions of House Martell in Winds, but the problem is that we don't know what House Martell does in Winds, because (see above) the book DNE. So, although we can reliably bet that the showrunners understand (1) Daenerys is coming to Westeros with her 3 fantasy nukes, and (2) at some point they're gonna have to deal with the invasion of frozombies from Canada, that DOESN'T mean they necessarily know exactly what's going to happen to Dorne, or House Martell. i mean, fuck! we don't even know if Martin knows what's going to happen to Dorne or House Martell, because he's said he's the kind of writer who doesn't set shit out beforehand! so for every "Cersei defaults on millions of dragons in loans from the notorious Bank of Nobody Fucks With Us, assumes this will have no repercussions for her reign or Westerosi politics in general" plotline — which might as well have a big glaring THIS WILL BE IMPORTANT stamp on top of the chapter heading — you have Arianne Martell trying to do a coup/parent trap switcheroo with Myrcella, or Euron the Goffick Antichrist, or Faegon Targaryen and JonCon preparing a Blackfyre restoration, or anything else that might pan out — but might not! And while that uncertainty about what's important to the "overall story" might be a realistic way of depicting human beings in a world ruled by chance and not Destiny, it makes for much better reading than viewing, because Game of Thrones as a fantasy television series was based on the first three books, which are much more traditional "there is a plot and main characters and you can generally tell who they are" kind of book. I see Feast and Dance as a kind of soft reboot for the series in this respect, because they recenter the story around a much larger cast and cast a much broader net in terms of which characters "deserve" narrative attention.

but if you're making a season of television, you can't do that, because you've already set up the basic premise and pacing of your story, and you can't suddenly pivot into a long-form tone poem about the horrors of war. so you have to cut something. but what are you gonna cut? bear in mind that you can't just Forget About Dorne, or the Iron Islands, or the Vale, or the North, or pretty much any region of the story, because it's all interconnected, but to fit in everything from the books would require pacing of the sort that no reasonable audience would ever tolerate. and bear in mind that the later books sprout a lot more of these baby-plots that could go somewhere, but also might end up being secondary or tertiary to the "main story," which, at the end of the day, is about dragons and ice zombies and the rot at the heart of the feudal power system glorified in classical fantasy. that's the story that you as the showrunner absolutely must give them an end to, and that's the story that should be your priority 1.

so you do a hack and slash job, and you mortar over whatever you cut out with storylines that you cook up yourself, but you can't go too far afield, because you still need all the characters more or less in place for the final showdown. so you pinch here and push credulity there, and you do your best to put the characters in more or less the same place they would have been if you kept the original, but on a shorter timeframe. and is it as good as the first seasons? of course not! because the material that you have is not suited to TV like the first seasons are. and not only that, but you are now working with source material that is actively fighting your attempt to constrain a linear and well-paced narrative on it. the text that you're working with changed structure when you weren't looking, and now you have to find some way to shanghai this new sprawling behemoth of a Thing into a television show. oh, and by the way, don't think that the (living) author of the source material will be any help with this, because even though he's got years of experience working in television writing, he doesn't actually know how all of these threads will tie together, which is possibly the reason that the next book has taken over 8 years (now 13 and counting) to write. oh and also, your showrunners are sick of this (in fairness, very difficult) job and they want to go write for star wars instead, so they've refused the extra time the studio offered them for pre-production and pushed through a bunch of first-draft scripts, creating a crunch culture of the type that spawns entirely avoidable mistakes, like, say, some poor set designer leaving a starbucks cup in frame.

anyway, that's what I think went wrong with game of thrones.

[will-pilled]

How to get a boyfriend as a trans masc no borax no glue

[moeblob]

So uh. Eventually I'll stop drawing these guys so obsessively but not today I guess.

(DND AU where it's just these two, Brent, and Paul on a life mission to annoy Chris the GM by having the pact of "we're only here for Karen's benefit")

Karen is a warlock, Right is a cleric, Paul is a paladin, and Brent is a bard (so he can use bardic inspiration on Karen).

[pa-pa-plasma]

i don't think i'll ever get over how people treat kids that aren't good in school as worthless no matter what. "oh it can't be that bad" my guy idk how to tell you this but the last time i went to a normal high school the principal called me into his office to brag about how he failed me in all of my classes before the semester was even finished & i should quit while i'm ahead cuz i'm too stupid ("officially" diagnosed as such by a school counselor & a psychiatrist!!) to succeed. & this is considered normal

[trying-to-jew]

Deeply tired (but unsurprised) sigh

[bibuckleykinard]

how many times do we need to learn as people that irony and hyperbole can be harmful because 'jokes' aren't easily distinguished from genuine thoughts and feelings until we stop rewarding people for speaking or posting about violence

like even if you're joking/don't actually believe that/think whoever you are insulting is bad/immoral/fictional therefore deserves it - ad hominem attacks always do more harm to the people who share those characteristic then the individual you intend to cause harm to or discredit

[sga-owns-my-soul]

one of these days i'm going to go to prison for committing crimes against my cities transit system and tbh they'll deserve it

[cerusee]

worst part of gmp fandom was the amount of gu jian dickriders who thought he was xiaofeng's shining light and true love. that guy is at best a narrative function and you cant date narrative functions!!

Oh god I can only imagine. As he he didn’t betray Xiaofeng just as badly or worse than Li Chengyin! Li Chengyin absolutely used her to get to Khan Tomur, even after he fell in love with her, which is unforgivable of him, but she was basically a stranger when he set off on that journey. Whereas Gu Jian grew up with her, had a very close relationship with her, was well aware she loved and trusted him, and deliberately abused that trust for his and LCY’s mutual family revenge drama. I think it is VERY telling that when the River of Oblivion is doing its brain surgery to pluck out all of Xiaofeng’s painful memories, it completely wipes out Li Chengyin and Gu Jian.

(And sure he spends the rest of the show in an alcoholic spiral of regret and guilt about it, but tbh I’m not at all convinced the show has any illusions about them—he arguably does her far dirtier by hanging around and trying to reconnect/force her to remember him when she forgot about him for a damn good reason. Okay, admittedly, she might have died from poison if he hadn’t been on hand, but given that he was in the city for clan vengeance goals anyway, he COULD have just checked in with A’Du and been like “yo, I’m available if she’s ever in mortal danger” and then otherwise have stayed out of her life in recognition of the fact that he fucked her over so badly she bleached her brain about it. Like, if he was committed to following her around atoning at a respectful distance, it would be a little bit creepy, but eh, I’d accept it in this genre. It’s the part where he keeps bulling into her presence and trying to rekindle lost feelings—ones I think even he knew were never as intense as the ones she’d had for Li Chengyin—that had me thumbing my nose at him a lot of the time. Because THAT was 100% about his feelings, specifically his jealousy of Li Chengyin, and I think it made everything so much worse for Xiaofeng in the long run.)

[reedeemable]

Every time I come across Gavin hate, old or new, I always think of that meme in Trolls:

Someone: Why do you hate Gavin?

Gavin haters: BECAUSE GAVIN KILLED MY GRANDMA, OKAY?