#90% of writing is the delusion

[rueclfer]

random but since were on a writint topic 😭 I wanna get into writing but idk why my brain like csn conjure an idea and I see the story in my head but idk how to type it out it sucks- 🎀

throw it out on a docs and then revise later!!' 1st draft is the hardest and ugliest part but then u reread it a bunch and edit and then it'll come togetherrr

[imageofvoid]

I spent like an entire year warning ppl I Would be annoying when the new haikyuu season dropped bc we would get my fav match And kuroken flashback and then it got cancelled and they announced the movie which I think is supposed to come out this year so I’m warning again. I Will be annoying about this, this is a promise..

[cryobabyy]

Cooper Adams x Fem!Reader

Part (1/5)

oops my hand slipped and now I'm writing unhinged fanfiction for an M. Night Shyamalan movie.

He was peculiarly clean— too clean to be at a hardware store past midnight. No dirt on his jeans, or janitor's name patch, or construction vest. He smelt like most men— Irish spring, sandalwood, musk, bergamot, etc. In daylight hours, you wouldn't have thought anything about his tight and fawning smile, the gallon of industrial cleaning solution, and the seven yards of vinyl tarp he slides across the counter at the end of the month. He always smiles when he pays. You smile back despite your intuition advising against it. Something about the interaction feels cold. God, you sound like your fucking father.

OR

You work the graveyard shift at a hardware store with extended hours to put you through pre-med. You meet a DILF who is definitely not The Butcher.

Part 1/5

Glib (adjective)

1: Marked by ease and fluency in speaking or writing often to the point of being insincere or deceitful; superficial, smooth, slippery.

Working the graveyard shift at an extended-hour hardware store wasn't your first choice, but the pay was decent, and it was the only option that wouldn't clash with your med school classes. It wasn't so bad after pounding 2 iced coffees and a shot of espresso. Customers were few and far between— mostly construction workers, hotel maintenance guys, and the occasional emergency plumber looking for the perfect thingamajig to help undo the 1 am explosion of some poor soul's toilet. It was quiet enough to study; you only had to sit there and ring up the same crowd of blue-collar night owls until 3 am. 

And then there was him.

The odd one out.

A handsome man, 40's, tall, neat looking, dark brown eyes, with a picture of his kids in his wallet. He was friendly. Aggressively friendly. If he was your neighbor, you would tell your friends about the 6'3 Dilf with 90's heartthrob hair next door. The type to smile and wave if you catch him mowing the lawn when you grab the morning mail.

He was peculiarly clean— too clean to be at a hardware store past midnight. No dirt on his jeans, or janitor's name patch, or construction vest. He smelt like most men— Irish spring, sandalwood, musk, bergamot, etc. In daylight hours, you wouldn't have thought anything about his tight and fawning smile, the gallon of industrial cleaning solution, and the seven yards of vinyl tarp he slides across the counter at the end of the month. He always smiles when he pays. You smile back despite your intuition advising against it. Something about the interaction feels cold. God, you sound like your fucking father.

There's a voice in the back of your head that sounds just like him, declaring the stranger to be a 'white picket fence bastard' and a 'smarmy wasp motherfucker’ in his thick Philly accent. If he were still alive, he would tell you to watch out for him– that he was a deep state operative, a gang member, a lizard person, and other paranoid schizophrenic-fueled delusions. Toward the end, when he blocked out the windows with newspaper and craft glue, and covered all the carbon monoxide detectors with tin foil and duct tape, he insisted you should be afraid of everyone. You were only afraid of him. 

Sure, you held your keys between your knuckles when you walked to your car after night classes, and covered your laptop webcam with a sticky note, but you weren't your father.

No one was following you. No one was watching you. No one was preying on you. And the middle-aged man with a picture of his freckle-faced, blonde, blue-eyed children in his wallet was not a serial killer. 

He even told you himself.

"Hell of a lineup, am I right?" He quips, offering a sheepish laugh. "I mean... a staple gun, drain cleaner, and tarp. I won't blame 'ya if you call the cops, but I promise it's not what it looks like."

You look up from the register to find a warm smile and upturned eyebrows– an almost embarrassed expression. An uncomfortable silence hangs in the air, the only sound between you two being a 24-hour soft rock radio station crackling through the ancient speakers. The stranger sighs, seemingly aware of his social misstep.

"My wife- I'm building her a Gardening shed. I'm putting up the insulation and drywall this week. And the Drano is for my kitchen sink. Keeps getting clogged. My son is fascinated by the garbage disposal for some odd reason. I don't even want to know what kind of shit he's been pouring down there." He rambles awkwardly. Guilt twists your heartstrings at the mention of the stranger's family. You may have inherited your father's suspicion, but you wouldn't let it control you.

"I've seen weirder." You lie with a smile. The stranger chuckles, broad shoulders relaxing a bit.

"Really? I could always go back and grab some bleach, duct tape, rubber gloves, the works." 

You can't help but laugh at his corny effort to diffuse the tension. It's surprisingly effective.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to freak you out, sweetheart. I'm sure you meet some weirdos working a night shift like this."

"Not really. Just you…" You trail off, squinting to read the embroidered name on his windbreaker. You notice the emblem right above it– Ardmore Fire Department. He's a firefighter.

"Cooper Adams. " He holds out a hand for you to shake. Your father's paranoia creeps into your mind. You freeze, meeting his dark brown gaze. Dad's gruff voice echoes in your head.

His smile doesn't reach his eyes.

He's plotting something.

Smarmy wasp motherfucker.

White picket fence bastard.

You swallow hard, shake his hand, smile back, and tell him your name– but only your first. You're not your father, but you're not a fucking idiot either.

"See? We're not strangers anymore. "  

"I guess not."

Cooper carts out his selection of items and waves goodbye, receipt caught between his two index fingers.

"Nice meeting you, sweetheart. Oh, and tell them to hire another cashier! You shouldn't be by yourself this late. God knows what kind of trouble is lurking around. Stay Safe!" He smiles again, his voice coated with the candor of a concerned neighbor. This time it reaches the glint of his eyes.

AO3

NEXT CHAPTER

[danveration]

What if I told you I'm a mastermind? And now you're mine.

Parings: Dark!Creepy!Vox x GN!reader

Summary: Vox has a plan to finally make you his

Word count: 3145

Warnings: Stalking, obsession, manipulation, delusion, self-delusion, reader getting hypnotized by Vox against their will, mention of death, mentions of cannibalism (cannibal town), being watched while naked, reader being hurt by Vox physically

Part one

A/N: GUYS. I have a part 3 planned out but it’s REALLY fucking dark😭. Also, I was listening to the song “Mastermind” by Taylor Swift while writing this. (Hence the inspiration for the title)

Vox is getting impatient.

It’s been two weeks since he met you face to face. Two weeks since he gave you the laptop in which he’s been watching you through the webcam, and still all the cameras. Two weeks since you have been getting paranoid.

Ever since you’ve been using the laptop, you’ve noticed it’s been sparking with electricity whenever you use it. You kind of brushed it aside though because maybe this is normal for VoxTek technology.

But little did you know, it’s not normal. None of this is normal. Vox has been watching you and seeing what you browse on your laptop 24/7. He has had little no breaks. Valentino and Velvette have been giving Vox the side eye as of late, looking at him with pity/concern. He doesn’t care though, he just thinks they’re the crazy ones. This is completely okay and normal for him! How is it wrong? Nobody could prove him otherwise.

Vox must admit, seeing you face to face on the laptop camera other than angles from the cameras that are far away, is completely different. This is a millstone for him. He gets to admire you up close and take in every single detail of you. A couple days ago, you forgot to close your laptop that was on a table in your room, facing your bed. That was a fantastic day for Vox. He had a field day. He isn’t ashamed of what he did, he’s proud. He did it for you.

You’re currently sitting on your bed with your laptop, scrolling through Hell’s news feed. You’re bored, you want to do something but honestly there’s nothing much to do in Hell that doesn’t have a 90% death rate. You decide to close the laptop and go downstairs.

Vox is up. He’s been up. He had two cups of coffee beside him and he’s been awake for.. What is the hour now? He’s lost count. He just doesn’t want to miss something happening in your life! What if you wake up with a nightmare? What if bad people want to hurt you suddenly when you’re outside or asleep?? There’s so many things that could happen. He needs to be there and alert to protect you.

“Fuck sakes, Vox. You’re still on this? Clear your head, dummy!” Velvette says with a roll of her eyes.

“Shut up. My head is clear, Velvette. I’m as sane as I’d ever be!” He says.

“Uh huh.. sure. Whatever you say.” She says, walking away.

Vox shakes his head and chuckles. “People are crazy.”

He looks back up to his screen, watching you go downstairs.

You get downstairs and see that everyone is down here.

“Ah! Y/n! Goodmorning!” Charlie says with a smile.

“Morning, Charlie.” You say with a smile, waving.

“Good morning, dear!” Alastor says to you, while he’s sitting on a chair.

You look over to where he is. “Morning, Al!”

Vox’s eye twitches.

Angel and Husk are talking at the bar, and Niffty and Sir Pentious are talking. Well.. Niffty seems to be telling him something and he’s standing there in shock, looking terrified. Typical reaction for when Niffty is telling you something.

Vaggie is cleaning her spear in the lounge area, and Charlie is writing on a paper.

“Sooo, now that everyone’s here I have an announcement to make!” Charlie says, looking up from her paper. “Today.. We are doing group activities! Yay! Haha so, basically I had the great idea for all of us to go out on the town together and just spend time with one another. Doesn’t that sound fun?!” She says with excitement.

A day on the town. Honestly, that sounds nice. You’re bored out of your mind today so anything goes.

“Eehh.. I dunno. I had plans alrea-“ Angel starts but Charlie cuts him off.

“Oh come onnn! It’ll be fun, I promise!” Charlie says.

Everyone is silent so she takes that as a yes. “Alright! Great! Everyone meet here in an hour and off we go!”

You go upstairs to get dressed.

Vox listens intently to what Charlie says. A day on the town? He’s been racking his brain on how to talk to you in real life again. This may be just the thing! What if you two “accidentally” run into each other? Perfect. He notices that he’s not in the best physical state at the moment. He’s in sweat pants and a stained t-shirt. And he hasn’t showed in... A couple days. He has an hour to freshen up. He bolts out of the room to take a shower, brush his teeth, and put on his classic suit outfit.

You’re getting out of the shower and you pick out an outfit to wear. Fixing your appearance, you notice you left your laptop open again. Damn, you’ve got to get on closing that. It’ll lose its battery!

Vox steps out of the hot shower, looking at himself in the mirror. He winks at himself and goes to pick his suit outfit. After getting dressed and ready, he glances at the screen and sees you naked, about to get dressed.

“Fuck.” He says, eyeing you up and down. He feels he’s in a trance, which is ironic.

“All mine.” He whispers. Shaking his head quickly to gain composure, he sets off to go to the hotel. He will watch you guys from afar until you arrive somewhere where it’s likely where he’d be at too. Then, his mastermind plan will layout.

———————————————————————

You get downstairs and everyone is there, which is surprising. You’d expect at least Angel or Alastor to sneak off, not wanting to do this.

“Allriiggghht!! Let’s go.” Charlie says, walking to the entrance and opening the door for everyone.

“Where exactly are we going?” Angel says.

“Yeah, I’m not looking to walk no marathon.” Husk joins in.

“Wellll, I was thinking we’d just go to..” Charlie trails off. “Umm..”

“Charlie, do you even know where you’re taking us?” You say with a chuckle.

“Well…. Not yet. But! This isn’t about the destination. It’s about spending time together!” She says with a smile.

“I ssuppose you’re right.” Sir Pentious says.

Alastor’s ears twitch upwards and he says, “I have a marvelous idea! We could go to cannibal town! It’s truly a wonderful place. Remember, Charlie?” Alastor suggests.

“Hmm.. You know, that’s actually not a bad idea!” Charlie says.

Everyone gives them looks.

“Cannibal? As is.. Cannibal?” Sir Pentious says with shock.

“Ooohh..” Niffty laughs. “I’m SO excited!” She says, jumping up and down.

“Yeah! It’s not as bad as it sounds, I promise.” Charlie says with a smile.

“Whatever you think is best, babe.” Vaggie says, holding onto Charlie’s arm.

“Cannibal town it is!” Charlie says, leading the group.

———————————————————————

Vox is overhearing the conversation. “Cannibal town? Are you fucking kidding me?” He whispers, walking a safe distance away from you guys. Even simply seeing you exist is driving him crazy. You’re so perfect. “Cannibal town it is then. The things we do for love.” He chuckles to himself.

The way you walk is so memorizing to him. Look at you. He feels electricity spark around him, knocking over a electric pole next to him, making a loud noise.

“Shit.” He says, glancing in front of him, seeing you all stop for a moment, about to look back.

He quickly looks to his left and jumps out of the way. He waits a few seconds and then peaks out, seeing you all keep walking forward.

He sighs and goes back to following you.

What he didn’t notice was that Alastor was no longer with the group, instead, he teleported himself behind Vox. He notices, of course he does. He smiles to himself at the fact that he now has the upper hand, he has something to now hold over his head.

Teleporting back to the group, he glances over to Charlie.

“My dear, there it is!” He points.

“Ahh! Guys, we are here!” She says.

You all look around in shock. It’s actually.. Really nice there. Nicer than any place you’ve seen in Hell since you arrived. Everyone seems very polite.

Angel goes off to flirt with people, Husk looks around for the nearest bar, Charlie and Vaggie take pictures together, Sir Pentious is looking around paranoid, and Niffty is.. Where’s Niffty? Oh well, she’ll show up sooner than later. And Alastor is chatting with a lady. You think her name is Rosie? You saw her on an overload poster the other day.

You see a water fountain and go to sit by it.

Vox looks around. He’s pleasantly surprised. This isn’t the kind of place he’d choose to go, but it’s still not as bad as he thought it would be. He thought it would just be people violently eating and killing each other.

He sees you sitting on a bench beside a fountain, and walks up from behind.

You’re feeling kind of thirsty so you get up to go find the nearest store. Hopefully they sell things other than human remains.

Vox takes this as his chance, he walks swiftly beside you and then bumps into you on “accident.”

You jump and look to your side.

Vox..?

“Oh shit sorry!” He chuckles, looking up at you.

“Oh you’re.. Y/n, right?” He says with a charming smile.

“Yeah.” You chuckle awkwardly.

“You come here often?” He asks.

“To cannibal town? No, haha. Me and some friends are just visiting.” You explain.

“Ahhh.. I see, I see.” He stares at you in admiration.

You can’t help but feel weird around him. You’re not sure why. He seems like a nice guy, but.. There’s just something about him.

“Well..” You say. “I’ve got to get going.”

“Mind if I join you?” He says with a smile. “Wouldn’t want anyone eating you or anything like that.” He laughs and starts walking with you, not waiting for an answer.

“Soo.. How’ve you been? Have you been enjoying your new laptop?” He asks you.

You can’t seem to find a store that would sell water so you just stand there, turning your head to Vox to make conversation.

“I’ve been pretty good! Bored, but good. And yeah actually, I’ve been using it a lot.” You say, smiling.

“Oh that’s good, that’s good.” He says, nodding.

His heart is beating out of his chest right now.

You try your best to put aside your feelings of uneasiness towards him. It’s probably nothing. He’s just a new face and you gotta get used to that! He didn’t do anything wrong, it’s just your brain being annoying.

Little did you know, you have every single right to feel uneasy.

“Have you enjoyed all the features?” He asks, wanting to know more about what your thoughts are on the laptop. But more or less, just wanting to hear your voice and make as much conversation as he can with you.

“Yeah! Though.. I’ve noticed something weird. Is it.. normal for the laptops to spark electricity?” You ask in question, remembering how whenever you went on it, you saw sparks aka Vox watching you.

Vox smiles and says, “Absolutely! That’s completely normal. We thought it would be a cool idea, you know? It’s completely harmless!” He says in a convincing tone.

You feel relived at that. “Ohh alright, good!” You smile.

Vox wants to ask you out on a date. He wants to just take you. He want you. All of you. He just doesn’t know how to approach this. It’s overwhelming for him.

“Vox?” You say, “What’re you doing here?” You ask in question, wondering what sort of business a powerful, popular man like himself was doing here.

“Hm?” He starts. “Oh! Right. I’m just here walking the streets. Browsing.” He answers with an awkward chuckle.

“Ohh, nice.” You ask, looking behind him to see Niffty chasing someone with an arm.

“Oh my- Will you excuse me, Vox? I have to go do something.” You say, stepping away from him.

He sparks and steps in front of you, blocking you.

“W-wait! Hold on. I wanted to ask you something.” He says with a smile.

You look at him with a raised brow.

“Uhh..” He says, shifting his feet and looking away and back at you, seemingly nervous.

“Haha..” He awkwardly scratches his neck and thinks over how exactly he wants to say this.

Just as he was about to talk and ask you to go out with him, Charlie steps in the way.

“Y/n! We were going to head back to the hotel now and do some more fuunn group exercises!” She said smiling.

She looks over to who you’re talking to and tilts her head.

“Hello! Who might you be?” She says smiling at him.

Vox stares at her, annoyed.

“This is Vox. He owns VoxTek and he’s one of the VVV’s.” You cut in.

“Oohhh well it’s SO nice to meet you, Mr. Vox.” She says.

“Yeah, yeah. Nice to meet you too. Me and Y/n were just-“ He mumbles but gets interrupted by Niffty running between his legs and accidentally hitting him with the arm she was waving around.

His eyes go red and electricity goes around him, showing that he’s mad. He’s had enough. This was supposed to be a swift move. He comes in, wipes you off your feet, you fall in love with him, and you’re his. But in his mind, all these fucking bitches keep interrupting his time with you. He’s had it.

He snaps and grabs your arm, pulling you away from everyone. Charlie just looks in question, but walks away when she notices Vaggie calling her over.

You’re shocked and confused. What is going on? You barely know Vox. You feel a spark as he grabs you, and you hiss out in pain.

“Y/n.” He says, looking at you. His eyes are manic wide and he’s smiling at you possessively.

You try to back away but he holds you firmly by his wrist.

“Just listen. Everything is okay. I was trying to ask you if you wanted to go on a date with me.” He explains calmly, despite his not very calming state.

You now feel better that you had an uneasy feeling about him. It was deserved.

“Uhh.. Yeah, I don’t know about that. I’m sorry.” You say hesitantly.

He stops. Letting go of your arm.

“What did you just say?”

He looks at you in shock, anger, and determination.

You back up and say, “No. I don’t want to go on a date with you, Vox. I’m sorry.”

You walk away, meeting Charlie and the rest of the family. You guys walk back to the hotel, leaving Vox there to spiral.

Vox stands there, frozen. Did you just..? Say no..? To him? The love of your life? What has gotten in your head? He’s in disbelief. He shakes his head, laughing.

“No. This isn’t right. Don’t worry, Y/n. I’ll clear your head in no time.” He says with a smile, calming walking back to his headquarters.

———————————————————————

You’re back in you room, ready for bed. Yawning, you open your laptop to check your messages before you go to sleep.

Vox is smiling as he sends hypnotizing message through the screen. Trust him, love him, and feel sorry for how you treated him.

All of a sudden, you see sparks on the laptop again, but this time, you feel something.

Your head spins and your eyes go foggy for a second. All you can think about is how much you messed up by declining Vox’s offer today. How dumb can you be? Why would you do that?

You snap out of the trance and frown. A wave of regret and shame fills you. Vox of VoxTek, one of the most important people in Hell, the guy who gave you a free laptop, the charming man who asked you out on a date, when he could’ve asked anyone else but he asked you.. and you said no?!

You panic and begin to have anxiety. You have to apologize to him. In person.

Getting up, not even changing out of your pyjamas, you leave your room and go to walk over to the VVV tower to say sorry to Vox and see if it’s not too late to accept his offer.

All-while, Vox is sitting back smirking while watching you on his screens. See?! Now you have some sense talked into you. You just needed a little push. His lovely is on his way to see him, as it should’ve been. You just needed some reminding of how you really felt. Vox is excited to see you again. And this time, it won’t get interrupted.

You get to the VVV tower, entering the place. It’s pretty cool there. You look around and go to the reception desk.

There’s a young man there, you have the idea to ask him if you can speak to Vox.

“Hey um.. Am I able to see Vox? I have something to say to him.” You ask.

The man laughs at you and just stares.

“Oh, you’re serious?” He asks. “No can do! We can’t just let random people walk in and talk to him.” He says in a “are-you-dumb” way.

Suddenly, Vox enters from the elevator.

“Y/n! Hello, you.” He says with a charming smile, walking over to you.

“V-Vox! I just um.. I wanted to say something to you. If that’s okay..” You start.

He shushes you and tells you to wait while he brings you up to his room for more privacy.

As you two get to his room, you look around. It suits him. There’s a lot of screens and all the colours that match his usual outfits.

“So, what is it you wanted to tell me?” He says smugly, knowing already.

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry for how I acted when you asked me out. I shouldn’t have said no.. I just.. I don’t know what came over me.” You say apologetically.

“Oh my dear, dear, Y/n. Thank you for your apology.” He says. “Do you have a different answer now?”

You feel a twist in your gut. Half of you is still saying no, but half of you is saying yes. You don’t know which one to lean into. It feels like your brain is confused and that you can’t even trust yourself.

Vox notices you thinking hard, so he helps you. Using his hypnotizing “power,” he puts sense into your brain.

Your head goes dizzy for a second and all comes clear to you. You don’t have to trust yourself. You can just trust him. The answer was staring you in your face all along.

“Y-yes! I do have a different answer. I’d say yes. I want to go out with you.” You say quickly.

Vox smiles.

“Oh course you do.” He whispers.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

AI is a WMD

I'm in TARTU, ESTONIA! AI, copyright and creative workers' labor rights (TOMORROW, May 10, 8AM: Science Fiction Research Association talk, Institute of Foreign Languages and Cultures building, Lossi 3, lobby). A talk for hackers on seizing the means of computation (TOMORROW, May 10, 3PM, University of Tartu Delta Centre, Narva 18, room 1037).

Fun fact: "The Tragedy Of the Commons" is a hoax created by the white nationalist Garrett Hardin to justify stealing land from colonized people and moving it from collective ownership, "rescuing" it from the inevitable tragedy by putting it in the hands of a private owner, who will care for it properly, thanks to "rational self-interest":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/04/analytical-democratic-theory/#epistocratic-delusions

Get that? If control over a key resource is diffused among the people who rely on it, then (Garrett claims) those people will all behave like selfish assholes, overusing and undermaintaining the commons. It's only when we let someone own that commons and charge rent for its use that (Hardin says) we will get sound management.

By that logic, Google should be the internet's most competent and reliable manager. After all, the company used its access to the capital markets to buy control over the internet, spending billions every year to make sure that you never try a search-engine other than its own, thus guaranteeing it a 90% market share:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/21/im-feeling-unlucky/#not-up-to-the-task

Google seems to think it's got the problem of deciding what we see on the internet licked. Otherwise, why would the company flush $80b down the toilet with a giant stock-buyback, and then do multiple waves of mass layoffs, from last year's 12,000 person bloodbath to this year's deep cuts to the company's "core teams"?

https://qz.com/google-is-laying-off-hundreds-as-it-moves-core-jobs-abr-1851449528

And yet, Google is overrun with scams and spam, which find their way to the very top of the first page of its search results:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/24/passive-income/#swiss-cheese-security

The entire internet is shaped by Google's decisions about what shows up on that first page of listings. When Google decided to prioritize shopping site results over informative discussions and other possible matches, the entire internet shifted its focus to producing affiliate-link-strewn "reviews" that would show up on Google's front door:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/#prabhakar-raghavan

This was catnip to the kind of sociopath who a) owns a hedge-fund and b) hates journalists for being pain-in-the-ass, stick-in-the-mud sticklers for "truth" and "facts" and other impediments to the care and maintenance of a functional reality-distortion field. These dickheads started buying up beloved news sites and converting them to spam-farms, filled with garbage "reviews" and other Google-pleasing, affiliate-fee-generating nonsense.

(These news-sites were vulnerable to acquisition in large part thanks to Google, whose dominance of ad-tech lets it cream 51 cents off every ad dollar and whose mobile OS monopoly lets it steal 30 cents off every in-app subscriber dollar):

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/saving-news-big-tech

Now, the spam on these sites didn't write itself. Much to the chagrin of the tech/finance bros who bought up Sports Illustrated and other venerable news sites, they still needed to pay actual human writers to produce plausible word-salads. This was a waste of money that could be better spent on reverse-engineering Google's ranking algorithm and getting pride-of-place on search results pages:

https://housefresh.com/david-vs-digital-goliaths/

That's where AI comes in. Spicy autocomplete absolutely can't replace journalists. The planet-destroying, next-word-guessing programs from Openai and its competitors are incorrigible liars that require so much "supervision" that they cost more than they save in a newsroom:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/29/what-part-of-no/#dont-you-understand

But while a chatbot can't produce truthful and informative articles, it can produce bullshit – at unimaginable scale. Chatbots are the workers that hedge-fund wreckers dream of: tireless, uncomplaining, compliant and obedient producers of nonsense on demand.

That's why the capital class is so insatiably horny for chatbots. Chatbots aren't going to write Hollywood movies, but studio bosses hyperventilated at the prospect of a "writer" that would accept your brilliant idea and diligently turned it into a movie. You prompt an LLM in exactly the same way a studio exec gives writers notes. The difference is that the LLM won't roll its eyes and make sarcastic remarks about your brainwaves like "ET, but starring a dog, with a love plot in the second act and a big car-chase at the end":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/01/how-the-writers-guild-sunk-ais-ship/

Similarly, chatbots are a dream come true for a hedge fundie who ends up running a beloved news site, only to have to fight with their own writers to get the profitable nonsense produced at a scale and velocity that will guarantee a high Google ranking and millions in "passive income" from affiliate links.

One of the premier profitable nonsense companies is Advon, which helped usher in an era in which sites from Forbes to Money to USA Today create semi-secret "review" sites that are stuffed full of badly researched top-ten lists for products from air purifiers to cat beds:

https://housefresh.com/how-google-decimated-housefresh/

Advon swears that it only uses living humans to produce nonsense, and not AI. This isn't just wildly implausible, it's also belied by easily uncovered evidence, like its own employees' Linkedin profiles, which boast of using AI to create "content":

https://housefresh.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Advon-AI-LinkedIn.jpg

It's not true. Advon uses AI to produce its nonsense, at scale. In an excellent, deeply reported piece for Futurism, Maggie Harrison Dupré brings proof that Advon replaced its miserable human nonsense-writers with tireless chatbots:

https://futurism.com/advon-ai-content

Dupré describes how Advon's ability to create botshit at scale contributed to the enshittification of clients from Yoga Journal to the LA Times, "Us Weekly" to the Miami Herald.

All of this is very timely, because this is the week that Google finally bestirred itself to commence downranking publishers who engage in "site reputation abuse" – creating these SEO-stuffed fake reviews with the help of third parties like Advon:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/03/keyword-swarming/#site-reputation-abuse

(Google's policy only forbids site reputation abuse with the help of third parties; if these publishers take their nonsense production in-house, Google may allow them to continue to dominate its search listings):

https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2024/03/core-update-spam-policies#site-reputation

There's a reason so many people believed Hardin's racist "Tragedy of the Commons" hoax. We have an intuitive understanding that commons are fragile. All it takes is one monster to start shitting in the well where the rest of us get our drinking water and we're all poisoned.

The financial markets love these monsters. Mark Zuckerberg's key insight was that he could make billions by assembling vast dossiers of compromising, sensitive personal information on half the world's population without their consent, but only if he kept his costs down by failing to safeguard that data and the systems for exploiting it. He's like a guy who figures out that if he accumulates enough oily rags, he can extract so much low-grade oil from them that he can grow rich, but only if he doesn't waste money on fire-suppression:

https://locusmag.com/2018/07/cory-doctorow-zucks-empire-of-oily-rags/

Now Zuckerberg and the wealthy, powerful monsters who seized control over our commons are getting a comeuppance. The weak countermeasures they created to maintain the minimum levels of quality to keep their platforms as viable, going concerns are being overwhelmed by AI. This was a totally foreseeable outcome: the history of the internet is a story of bad actors who upended the assumptions built into our security systems by automating their attacks, transforming an assault that wouldn't be economically viable into a global, high-speed crime wave:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/24/automation-is-magic/

But it is possible for a community to maintain a commons. This is something Hardin could have discovered by studying actual commons, instead of inventing imaginary histories in which commons turned tragic. As it happens, someone else did exactly that: Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom:

https://www.onthecommons.org/magazine/elinor-ostroms-8-principles-managing-commmons/

Ostrom described how commons can be wisely managed, over very long timescales, by communities that self-governed. Part of her work concerns how users of a commons must have the ability to exclude bad actors from their shared resources.

When that breaks down, commons can fail – because there's always someone who thinks it's fine to shit in the well rather than walk 100 yards to the outhouse.

Enshittification is the process by which control over the internet moved from self-governance by members of the commons to acts of wanton destruction committed by despicable, greedy assholes who shit in the well over and over again.

It's not just the spammers who take advantage of Google's lazy incompetence, either. Take "copyleft trolls," who post images using outdated Creative Commons licenses that allow them to terminate the CC license if a user makes minor errors in attributing the images they use:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/01/24/a-bug-in-early-creative-commons-licenses-has-enabled-a-new-breed-of-superpredator/

The first copyleft trolls were individuals, but these days, the racket is dominated by a company called Pixsy, which pretends to be a "rights protection" agency that helps photographers track down copyright infringers. In reality, the company is committed to helping copyleft trolls entrap innocent Creative Commons users into paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars to use images that are licensed for free use. Just as Advon upends the economics of spam and deception through automation, Pixsy has figured out how to send legal threats at scale, robolawyering demand letters that aren't signed by lawyers; the company refuses to say whether any lawyer ever reviews these threats:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/13/an-open-letter-to-pixsy-ceo-kain-jones-who-keeps-sending-me-legal-threats/

This is shitting in the well, at scale. It's an online WMD, designed to wipe out the commons. Creative Commons has allowed millions of creators to produce a commons with billions of works in it, and Pixsy exploits a minor error in the early versions of CC licenses to indiscriminately manufacture legal land-mines, wantonly blowing off innocent commons-users' legs and laughing all the way to the bank:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/02/commafuckers-versus-the-commons/

We can have an online commons, but only if it's run by and for its users. Google has shown us that any "benevolent dictator" who amasses power in the name of defending the open internet will eventually grow too big to care, and will allow our commons to be demolished by well-shitters:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/04/teach-me-how-to-shruggie/#kagi

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/09/shitting-in-the-well/#advon

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

--

Catherine Poh Huay Tan (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/68166820@N08/49729911222/

Laia Balagueró (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/lbalaguero/6551235503/

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

[homunculus-argument]

ur storytelling makes me feel things that shouldn't be shared within the human experience its beautiful and heartbreaking I love it so much pls keep creating

Well, I have good news for you: I'm not sharing about 90% of the story ideas I have, because I'm still working under the delusion that I'll actually sit down and write a real book one day.

[dankmaths]

I'm like 90% sure if I don't get more of your ghost au I may just implode so like 🥺👉👈

not necessarily my AU but i ended up drawing smth based on a scene from @novethegreat's fic, "In Love With A Ghost". ooohhhh you wanna read it so bad ooooohh

+more google doc delusions ive had in my head for a long time and havent been possessed to draw under the cut please work god please

i like to think once yosuke gets over the whole undead roommate thing he starts to feel bad for leaving yu at home all day. (like a pet dog.....) so at some point he invites chie and yukiko over. maybe it’s a study session. but at first yukiko can’t make it so it’s just chie. yosuke tells yu to stay put in the room since chie is scared of ghosts (just like yosuke she’ll never admit it though lol). chie says that she and yukiko have been working on a new recipe and offers to cook which yosuke shoots down Very quickly, offering to cook himself, since a "friend" of his has been teaching him-- he very conveniently leaves out the whole undead roommate thing. but when he’s preparing the food he accidentally cuts his finger. yu forgets what he’s told and rushes through the walls into the kitchen scaring chie on accident.

yosuke: OW shit

yu: (phasing through the wall) yosuke! are you ok?

chie: yosuke! are youuuuuuUUUUAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHH

yukiko, the occult lover, is unable to see/hear ghosts… but when she hears abt "OHHH HANAMURAS APT IS HAUNTED ITS SO SCARY ITS AWFUL!!! i mean the ghost didnt kill me or anything he was actually pretty polite but its AWFUL!!!!!!" from chie, she gets sooo excited and begs yosuke to invite her over (for the ghost obviously not for yosuke. which is a bit of a blow to his ego LOL). and she comes in with a ouija board so she can talk to yu

yukiko: so. where is it?

yosuke: his name is yu. damn, not even a hello.

yukiko: well, where is he?

yosuke: …right over there.

yu tries to play along bc he thinks its fun, to yosukes exasperation. however he has trouble staying solid for very long so it takes foreverrrrr. but basically i think yu and yukiko writing each other notes to communicate like point blank pen pals would be cute… also when the others are around who can hear yu, playing telephone with what he says to yukiko and fucking it up (on accident OR on purpose) would be rly funny

[olderthannetfic]

What's the current consensus (among you and your blog followers that is) on the good ole discourse topic of "fixed top-bottom roles dominate in fandom because straight women are imposing a heteronormative binary on slash and femlash"? Because that popped up recently in the fanfiction subreddit, and the replies (mostly blaming straight women and stereotypes, with the occasional smattering of "examine yourself") have been giving me a rage-induced headache.

--

LOL.

There is nothing new in this argument or my reactions to it.

Strict roles often come from men and from offline queer culture, not just from women and BL/slash.

The women (and "women") who like strict roles are often not straight, and the people whining about The Straights have no basis for telling who's who, which makes them inherently transphobic, biphobic, homophobic pieces of shit.

Role-based relationship dynamics are not necessarily heteronormative.

What this shit is, fundamentally, is reheated queer community wank from like the 80s about how butch/femme is insufficiently progressive and your sex life is political, wah wah wah.

People who fall for it in fandom now are some combination of radfem poisoned and those defensive idiots who think the cis gay men will validate them more than the BL fan sitting next to them.

They might be a trans man asserting that he's more male than you and thus more valid while ignoring that he isn't hanging out in other dude spaces because they disrespect his gender and/or laugh at his delusions about horny content. They might be a nonbinary person asserting their not-femaleness by asserting that everyone else is the most stereotypical cishet woman ever. They might be a woman pulling that "my gay best friend" shit.

Regardless, they're all the same morons we saw in the 90s, futilely hoping that some man will validate them.

No one is going to validate them.

If they could write for beans, they'd be a famous BL author themselves, making everyone like whatever dynamic they prefer. Instead, their only skill is crying about how the talented and productive people waste time on The Wrong Art.

Laugh in their faces. It's what they deserve.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Holy shit?!

src

“Louis is still fighting to get to something, to unlock the memories that have curiously evaded him. "The pursuit of memory and truth is the driving force this season. It motivates Louis to get to where we're going to get to by the end of it," said Zaman. "Season 1 proved that his memory's completely shot in lots of ways, but who, or what, did that — that's the question I think we're going to have to answer."…

“It all begins with Louis, a textbook unreliable narrator, though Jones and Anderson both bristle a bit at the term. "One self delusion knits itself to the rest of your life," Jones said. He argued that Louis' memory might be "80-90 percent" correct, though it only takes one mistaken detail to muddle a timeline and cancel someone out entirely. "To unwind that, you call into question all this stuff. It doesn't mean that all this stuff isn't right. It's just this thing has altered it a little bit."

…

To Anderson, Louis' unreliability matters less than the vivid reality of his feelings. "It's not necessarily that Louis is a quote-unquote unreliable narrator," he said. "He is, because what he's saying is completely subjective. But I think it has just as much to do with how something felt, the feeling of a person or the feeling of an experience, than it is him actively trying to deceive anybody." That comes out most strongly in Dubai, particularly in the second season. "He's really, genuinely trying to find the closest thing to an objective recalling of events that he possibly can."…

“I like writing for Sam Reid, and I think in terms of how this thing is structured and what's going on in this headspace, it wasn't a big leap to go, 'Oh, he's haunting. He's inside Louis,'" Jones said. When we see Lestat at the beginning of the season, he manifests as what Anderson and Reid referred to as "dream Lestat" — not quite himself, not quite a ghost, not quite a memory, but some blend of all three, filtered through Louis' guilt and grief.

…

"Who is Louis remembering, and how is Louis remembering [Lestat] is always on my mind," said Reid when we first spoke at the Television Critics Association winter press tour in February. "I'm always thinking about it, and I'm always talking about it, much to the chagrin of pretty much everyone." (From across the table we were crowded around, Anderson heckled, "I can vouch for that.") Later, when we met one on one over Zoom, Reid elaborated, "Louis is speaking to himself, so he speaks like Louis. But he's also speaking to Lestat, and he's choosing to speak to Lestat when he's speaking to himself." The first time we see Lestat in Season 2, he materializes before Louis as a gory vision during a moment of mental deterioration, vengeful and overbearingly loving all at once. What was already a blurry line between the ex-lovers has now become indistinguishable.“…

“With dream Lestat assuming a number of dispositions, all dictated by Louis' headspace, separating dream Lestat from the real Lestat was crucial to Reid. "It's clear that Louis is putting the words into his mouth," Reid said. "Who's the guy that he's forced to see looking back at him, saying the words that he thinks he should be saying?" The presence of dream Lestat means that the state of the real Lestat is unclear when the season opens, but becoming this slightly unreal version of his character built on the groundwork Reid had already been laying. Going back to the first season, he often rejected Anderson's impulse to play their scenes together as if they were true. "I know this is not how this happened," he said of Louis' version of events, "which allowed me to kind of lean into the more sow's ear version of Lestat in specific moments, because I knew that we might be revisiting them."…

“For Claudia, Lestat's influence will always linger. "That's his daughter," Hayles said simply. "He doesn't need to be a ghost. He's in her." Louis and Claudia know each other inside and out, and Louis' love for Claudia is all-encompassing, but she sees the writing on the wall the moment he meets Armand: What happened with Lestat will happen again as Louis chooses another man over her.“

(much more behind the link!!)

UPDATE: link to the author’s tweet, Allison Picurro

[neyafromfrance95]

so re: my favorite new delusion that the kiss will somehow be adar kissing galadriel to bait sauron, I remembered this scene happens at some point, either ep 6 or 7.

So Sauron is indeed reacting to stuff happening down on the battlefield during the day. Granted, a lot happens he could be reacting (slightly smirking) about. But the possibility is there. Maybe we're due for another controlled fury moment like he had when those numenoreans told him he wasn't good enough for her lol.

Honestly it's like... Based on story momentum, if Galadriel kisses someone romantically it either has to be Sauron or it's a kiss that's somehow still *about* them (which an Adar kiss would be if he's trying to taunt Sauron in a quick moment on the battlefield).

Or it's simply not a romantic kiss and just a cheek, forehead or hand kiss and this was all just a rumor that spiraled simply because Morfydd teased it.

There can't be other romantic kisses unless Celeborn appears out of thin air. Elrond planting one on her and revealing surprise romantic feeling that ultimately can't go anywhere would be a jarring, momentum killing story turn when the season is meant to be about a "collision course" between Galadriel and Sauron in the finale. If it happens in ep 7 as they're insisting, then the audience is suddenly confused and wondering what that was about instead of focused on the suspense building to Galadriel and Sauron's meeting.

Also notably, they never paired up Rob and Morfydd for the press tour, despite how much screen time Elrond and Galadriel shared this season.

(I truly think this wouldn't even be a conversation if the incel lorebores didn't have a habit of badly interpreting scenes like the face touch in the trailer)

oh nooo, don't feed my delusions even more, they will grow! (please do feed my delusions)

his reaction to the numenoreans joking that maybe one of them is more suitable for gal needs to be talked about more! bc it was the first and only time his mask slipped off and he was about to lose it! bro saw her ankle on that raft and it was jover! suddenly, a mere suggestion that she might in theory be with smn else made this ancient being skilled in deceit almost reveal his true nature! like, when i saw his reaction for the first time, i thought it was so weird and uncharacteristic! then he beat those same dudes to a pulp!

sooo, what i'm trying to say is that, if sauron were to see his warrior queen caged and then kissed by the orc that they both blame their misfortunes on, ohhh boy. it'd be jover for the middle-earth.

and listen, so far the writers haven't given me a single reason to doubt them. even if galadriel is married to celeborn, a sudden switch to their romance would be a poor writing, since the show was about sauron x galadriel relationship from the very start (literally, finrod's speech alluded to it and then celebrimnor's one about silmarils)! same goes with elrond.

also, the whole "the light reflecting your hair reminded me of the love of my life who is lady galadriel, of course" thing was so bold??? i can't believe they did that. so, i'm 90% sure they aren't chickening out after pulling something so sick and obsessive on his part.

so yeah, either it has to do with sauron, or it's a platonic peck that was overblown by the fandom.

and agreed, we wouldn't be wasting our energies on the half of the discourse happening rn if it wasn't for the incel lorebros forcing these conversations to divert the attention from sauron x galadriel.

[abyssalzones]

Hello! I really love your work in general and your OSDD Ford analysis, I have read it in full at least three times. There’s a line near the end about his different selves possibly becoming more organizing/appearing at different intervals, but you stop there for brevity. Would you care to share any further thoughts? (It’s fine if not.)

Thank you!!

Hi! Really glad to hear you liked it, wait did you say three times? that's nuts. god damn.

I could definitely elaborate, although I want to note that while in part I did stop there for brevity's sake I did also stop there for the sake of making a more unified point- and, importantly, I didn't want to drift too far into the realm of speculation. Or "just making shit up." I often have a hard time positing something if I don't feel it's being elaborated on from a textual basis... which might be kind of goofy when we're talking about a fanbase that was mostly AU content at one point but whatever I've chosen to die on this hill. Anyway.

All my thoughts about OSDD are highly influenced by my experiences with it obviously, therefore my thoughts are probably going to conflict with someone else's, but I think any "organizing" that would happen with separate parts would be heavily influenced by everything in ford's life calming the fuck down and not requiring a rotating cast of coping mechanisms. For example: a good chunk of clarified parts in real DID/OSDD experiences can be classified as introjects. Despite what you commonly see in online subgroups (no judgment, obviously) these introjects are often of real people that might be influential in your life.

repost of funny little comic I drew for effect ^

in my experience these things work on like... the basis of when they're Needed most. if ford is living in a healthy consistent environment with people who love him and can already provide assurances, I think the need to supplement that with any sort of internal coping mechanism would subside. then again, people are vulnerable when they're still trying to settle in a safe space after trauma, it's possible to invent an internal threat to, paradoxically, make circumstances feel more "predictable." coughs loudly. bill already existed functionally in ford's head 90% of the time so it just kind of feels par for the course that a shadow of him is going to stick around. maybe that seems sad or foreboding but I think it's just a normal part of coping with something that haunted you for half of your life. idk.

do I think these mental aspects would manifest outwardly? as in, like, fronting? not really. However I think if anything was noticeable it'd be a difference between like, "panic mode" ford(s) and "normal human citizen on earth" ford. I could definitely see a distinction of perspectives and ability between a self that exists out of pure survival (and probably still thinks he's in sci-fi hell or whatever) and the self that just chills and writes detailed notes on supernatural plants in his journal. there's also something to be said about [the entire fucking thing I wrote about dead alters and the perception of traumatic events as a type of death] and whether or not a part can actually meaningfully "die." sometimes the part of you you thought was a ghost is actually just scared as fuck and when things get less scary they start to come out of hiding. to put it vaguely.

all of these things can be attributed to other aspects of ford as a character: his c-ptsd, potential hallucinations and delusions, broader themes of death and revival irt trauma recovery, etc. but I think of any OSDD analysis I make as like, an extension of all of those things, if that makes sense.

to close off on a meme that nobody has used in years:

[pancake-breakfast]

The last page of this chapter's got me mulling again over a theory I've had since I first went through the Shibuya arc regarding Yuuji's domain expansion....

Warning: Major manga spoilers ahead through chapter 264

With the end of this chapter, we finally get to see something I'm sure many people have anticipated: Yuuji's domain. When Sukuna gets swooped up in it, there's a bit of an expectation that Yuuji will immediately start using its automatic hit function to beat the everloving crap out of him. But instead, we get this.

That's right. No taking advantage of the situation to launch a first attack. Just Yuuji smiling and extending a friendly fist to Sukuna as if they weren't in a life-or-death battle five seconds earlier.

We've had a few instances where people have been seemingly transported to different locations. It's pretty common with domain expansions, though it's worth noting that even most of the human-cast domains (as opposed to the curse-cast ones) have a distinctly otherworldly appearance.

In contrast, Yuuji's is amazingly mundane. It's just a train station. It doesn't appear to go on forever. Nothing is changing or fluctuating oddly in it. We're not even given its name. It's just... here.

Perhaps in the next chapter or two we'll find that the train station itself is an integral part of Yuuji's domain, but right now, I think it's significance is more in that it's a place of transition. I'll get to that in a bit. First, I want to mention a few other times we've seen people seemingly transported elsewhere, specifically with or around Yuuji.

I'm sure we all remember the first.

Dear delusional Todoh.... Suddenly, he has memories of something that never happened, and because it's Todoh, it's easy to write this off as his own delusion. He already has a very active imagination when it comes to his idol encouraging him as he fights.

But then it happens again to someone else.

Gotta love how Todoh's fake memories are in anamorphic widescreen while Choso's are in 4:3 like he's watching something on broadcast television in the 90's.

Anyway.

While Choso's behavior in the fight against Kenjaku near the end of the Shibuya arc seems very similar to Todoh's, with them both insisting they're Yuuji's brother despite Yuuji's protests and becoming incredibly dedicated to looking after Yuuji because of it, the thing is, Choso lacks Todoh's tendency toward overactive imagination. In fact, while the exact scene that plays out in Choso's fake memory of course never happened (and Choso is well aware of that fact afterward), it turns out they indeed share a parent.

There's one more scene of this sort that I want to highlight, and that's this one.

This final conversation always struck me as a bit odd, and the further I get into JJK, the more odd it seems. We have a bit of a precedent for characters having strange visions right before they die, first with Nanami, then this scene, and then of course the Airport Scene that comes much later... but two things really stand out to me with this one. First, it's the only instance of a curse having a reflective, out-of-location moment like this just before their death. (Mahito's moment is very clearly imagined, and he doesn't even die from it since it's Kenny who finally does him in.) Second, Sukuna is there.

In the Airport Scene, the only people who join Gojo are those who are already dead, and Jojo's scene starts out that way. Both Hanami and our little squid friend were killed earlier in Shibuya. Jogo is the only one left. And then Sukuna shows up to... give him a pep talk and congratulate him on a job well done? To give him so much comfort right before his demise that this cursed spirit of fire and volcanoes finds himself crying?

That doesn't sound very Sukuna-like.

I dunno, maybe it is. He did congratulate Gojo's corpse after their fight, and at the point of Jojo's death, the volcano curse is the first one to aside from Gojo to pose anything resembling a challenge to Sukuna.

Or maybe Yuuji, who took to heart his grandfather's dying wish, is rubbing off on Sukuna a bit.

We tend to forget that this clause about being surrounded by people who care about him is just as much a part of Yuuji's grandfather's dying wish as the part about protecting others. (I think Yuuji himself mentions it again somewhere else, but for the life of me I can't remember where.) Yuuji enters Jujutsu Society with a death sentence on his head. And while he doesn't understand that sentence at the time, he tells Gojo he's already decided how he's going to die.

Point being, dying surrounded by those he cares about is immensely important to Yuuji.

Now's a good time to point out that both Todoh and Choso nearly killed Yuuji right before they each had their vision. A vision of friendship and camaraderie, where no one was dying or alone, but instead both Todoh and Choso found themselves surrounded by people they cared about... and Yuuji, who cared about them each in the way that most mattered to their souls.

So then we see a similar thing with Jogo. Just before his death, Sukuna standing before him, he sees himself standing with those he lost but considers as friends. And he sees Sukuna, someone he holds in utmost respect, who manages to both point out his flaws and laud his work in a way I suspect even Jogo didn't know he wanted to hear.

Given all that, and given that a person's domain expansion isn't simply a manifestation of a person's technique, but also of their soul, I've long suspected these visions that others have had around Yuuji when death is near have been a reflexive use of his own technique. And because it's Yuuji's technique and Yuuji wants so much to die surrounded by friends, this technique doesn't simply project a nice scene for people, but also creates an air of friendliness and acceptance between Yuuji and the person who is either killing him or dying. (I'll note again that Yuuji only softened Mahito up, but did not quite bring him to the brink of death.)

The one seeming outlier to this that I can think of is the Airport scene. To the best of our knowledge, Yuuji was nowhere near Gojo at the time of Gojo's death.

But Sukuna was.

Perhaps that same resonance between him and Sukuna that allows Yuuji to make use of Sukuna's techniques has extended such that Sukuna is unconsciously using Yuuji's technique at the moment of Gojo's death.

Which is something I literally just put together now, so hang on a second. I need to process for a bit.

Ok, I'm back.

If this theory's true, then what could possibly be of comfort to the King of Curses himself? He claims his only passion now is chasing his own hedonism. But we really don't know very much about him. He seeks pleasure in food, fighting, and sex, but what made him decide that was the path to go down? Was he always like this, or did something happen to make him let go of any ideals or strong connections he might have had?

Which brings me back to my previous post where I discuss the theory that Yuuji and Sukuna are more similar in personality than one might immediately guess.

I'm not exactly sure how that will manifest. One would think Ura-ume at least is close enough to Sukuna that they'd show up at the train station at some point. But the relationship between Sukuna and Yuuji has always been strained. It seems unlikely that they'll suddenly be uncle and nephew suddenly going on an amicable adventure together.

Then again, Yuuji is standing here now in front of Sukuna, fist held out in a friendly gesture rather than in an aggressive one, smiling as if he's asking any of his classmates if they want to go out for ramen real quick.

So I suppose we'll see.

[ladysmutwriter]

May I ask for stepbrother Simon with his stepsister reader who is a nurse and takes care of him but then he begins to ask her to let her hair down? (Like Sophie) angst or not I'm okay with whichever :)

Her Reflection

Simon Henriksson & Step-sibling!Reader /platonic/

art: stilldisturbance on TikTok

You hummed as you dressed up Simon, him laying down almost like a corpse as you delicately put on his orange hoodie and some pants, then accommodating him in his wheelchair. He might as well have died in that accident, because after it, it sure felt that way. Your step-mother had to work extra hard now to pay for Simon's medical fees, and you had to give up on your studies to take care of him, because when no one tended to him, he didn't shower for a whole month, giving him infections and only making him self-harm more regularly.

Before the accident, he wasn't exactly outgoing, but he always had your back-even if not by blood, you were his little sister, the one he always made sure to protect. He'd even stand up to the guys who mocked you at your school when you were younger, and then accompany you to the park, seeing you play with your toys for hours, as he took care no one weird would approach you.

It's funny how the roles have reversed, now him being under your care.

It was like having a real-sized doll, you had to bathe him, dress him, feed him, etc. Him lying motionless 90% of the time, except for when he was writing in his stupid diary-you wished you could burn it down. Once, when Simon was asleep, you read through some pages, only to find some really disturbing stuff there, things that even made you question how long he was going to stay alive.

The day was gloomy and cold, so by putting on a scarf and tying your hair in a ponytail as you usually did, you left the house with Simon.

You walked to the nearest park, and sat down on a bench with Simon in his wheelchair next to you-you two sharing a can of soda. He seemed... Confused, his tired eyes staring into you as if they were trying to find out if you were truly you. But you know why he was like that.

Sophie.

She was a nice girl, she always greeted disappeared whenever she visited Simon, and always made sure to take care of him, but lately, she disappeared. After Simon confessed to her, she took her distance, and now you were taking her place.

Not in a weird way, but in the way she used to care for Simon, the kind of love only the closest people could find, like the love of a mother to her children, you know? His eyes almost begged for you to turn to Sophie, making an intense wave of sadness crash over you.

"Can you let your hair down...please?" Simon asked.

You knew you'd just feed more into his delusions.

[davycoquette]

OC Facts Tag Game

Thank you for tagging me, @sableglass; you're a real one! 🤠

Rules: Make a list of fun facts about your OCs. Like a headcanon list if you will. Except it’s canon.

This worked out well last time, so: if you see this, TAG, YOU'RE IT! Otherwise I would literally tag every mutual I have, because if you write original characters, I want to eat up information about them. I love it. Please tag me if you do this so I can bask in your gremlins' glorious luminescence.

SHILOH tw; drugs/pills/addiction & animal death mention

Terrified of dogs. Demonstrates by breaking out into a cold sweat or climbing all over the nearest person to escape. The size of the pup has little to no bearing on the intensity of his reaction.

Vegan. He's not squeamish about offing his fellow humans, but a childhood of ringin' chicken necks for supper has forever turned him off eating animals. He also believes the consumption of dairy is inherently anti-feminist.

Believes he excels in the martial arts... but doesn't. He's a wily knife-fighter and all, but all that other fanciness is pure delusion.

Yogi. He's been at this Yoga business since he was about eighteen; he's pretty bendy. He believes it's his meditative practices that have made him so impervious to experiencing physical pain, but is often harshly reminded of the truth when deprived of the hydros he pops like candy for any length of time.

RUCK tw; personality disorder mention

A redneck king. Out of the whole deranged Rucker brood, this one's the prodigal heir to the milk stool throne. Some Ruckers (like his younger brother) are glad to avoid it; others, like his same-age cousin, Billy, covet the position of he who seems to be the whole family's Golden Child.

Husky baritone. Damn if his singin' voice ain't pleasant! He's a six-string picker on top of it; music is his primary but underutilized talent.

Borderline. Almost certainly has borderline personality disorder.

Good intentions pave this self-saboteur's rocky road to hell. He's done some fucked up things (such as murder & multiple bank robberies in the cowboy verse, or bowling for HS kids in his hotrod in the 90s verse), but always in the spirit of self-sacrifice and helping those he cares about. At the end of the day, he's a very simple man - and in a perfect world, he'd live a wholesome life with his wife and their two kids.

LOU

Recurring weirdo. He's appeared in a few posted excerpts. Lou indirectly connects several of my characters; perhaps due to his convenient knack for dealing drugs and their knack for consuming them.

TV star. In modern verses, Loik appeared on an episode of a paranormal docuseries to discuss the time he was abducted by a race of sexy alien babes. He fully believes an alien lifeform was oviposited inside him and will one day burst free.

Handler. Despite his penchant for colorful Hawaiian shirts and being Chill AF™, Lou is dangerous. His paunchy physique belies how strong and quick he is, though he seldom resorts to throwin' hands. He'd rather call the shots from behind the scenes, utilizing strays scraped off the streets to rake in his fortunes in blood money.

Therapist. Lou's the best bud you ever had, 'til he forsakes you. The man is willing to listen to your woes, and tends to give kickass advice. Many 'customers' really stop by to unload and get his perspective.

Father of the year. Lou has a stepson and a biological daughter and serves as a deadbeat father figure to both of them.

Coulda shoulda woulda. Showed great athletic promise back in his hockey days, but he'd rather chill, man.

[sarroora]

I’ve been having a blast seeing some Zionists in my activities page foaming at the mouth with rage at my posts - especially the awesome poster by Krime calling to decolonize Palestine and I’M HERE FOR IT. I wear it like a badge of honor 😌💅

Like I said before, I don’t engage savages. I don’t comprehend drivel. I just block them and move on. We have a timeless proverb in the Middle East that goes something like this:

The stray dogs bark, and the caravan keeps on moving.

Self-explanatory, and a great motto to live by.

I’m pretty sure 90% of people see this clearly now, but when you really dissect Zionists’ attempts at gaslighting, misleading, and spreading lies, you realize there’s no substance whatsoever to their claims - no solid historical evidence to anything they say; it’s all just raging, racist swearing at anyone who doesn’t kneel to their delusions of being the Chosen People bEcAuSe oUr GoD sAiD So and everyone else just exists to serve them. Their deep hatred towards Everyone (especially Arabs) who is not part of their sick belief system manifests as dehumanization - seeing them as lesser human beings, less than animals. I wish I was making this up. Please go read up on it.

And I’m gonna write this statement right here because some younger people on Tumblr might feel bullied and threatened, so here it is:

Denouncing settler colonialism and genocide is NOT antisemitism. Don’t ever let anyone gaslight you into thinking that.

Also, Zionism doesn’t represent Judaism, and saying that can put a lot of Jewish people in actual danger.

You know what is antisemitic is, though?

Murdering Palestinians. Palestinians are Semites, and natives of the land - this has been proven through DNA testing without a shadow of a doubt. But this doesn’t fit the disgusting, racist Zionist narrative of Palestine erasure, does it?

Love seeing the genocidal child-killing barbarians so angry that fewer and fewer people are giving them the time of day, so once again -

Israel is a Settler Colony. Sorry not sorry you can’t face the facts 🤷‍♀️

And Free Palestine. Decolonize Palestine from the River to the Sea. ✨🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸✨😌💅

[callmearcturus]

you talked about who you would cast to direct a hypothetical ktowl series, but who would you cast? :3

hell's fucking bells what a question

since KTOWL lives in my head also as a novel that i might write someday (idk if its worth it tbh, original work just doesn't seem to bring in anything so it's hard to commit to the work needed for it all)

This is probably recency bias but for Dave/Ezra I know immediately, I would love Xelia Mendes-Jones if they were willing. They're a lil taller than I imagined for Dave/Ezra, but I adore their eyes and their voice.

I think for Kanaya/Vaer'Dia, I would love to put Indira Varma in cool alien prosthetics and makeup. I've loved her for SO LONG and her voice is pitch perfect.

Rose/Leah ("Sophia") is so hard, I want someone I know who can be a heartless ice queen but also mired in self-delusion and also an alcoholic, I think Alicia Vikander could do it. She's too old but this is dream casting, let's just say age doesn't matter okay.

in the reverse, for Jane/Cassandra "Cash" Doe, I would want an older Stephanie Hsu because I feel like the dry cold humor she has is a very good fit

Roxy is difficult bc in the spinoff she's being really reimagined into a character named Naota. I would like Rina Sawayama bc she was incredible in John Wick Chapter 4.

okay you might be wonder "who the fuck could play Abraxas" and literally the only fucking person I can think of who has the raw fucking charisma necessary, who I can imagine as consummate actor neon-infused omniglot lunatic Jake/Sasha Lambros is Sacha Dhawan. Like HONESTLY if you can imagine anyone else with the right build and the gravity well of charisma, I would LOVE to know.

there are two people I cannot fucking place for the life of me, and it's Karkat/Zhro and Dirk/Pirah.

Karkat/Zhro is so fucking hard because I need someone who you could put a bunch of fun alien prosthetics on, who is fucking built like they got cantalopes for biceps, but have an indefatigable kindness in them. I have gone through so many mental options and come up fucking dry.

for Dirk/Pirah, it's the physicality. I can fudge imperfect faces and voices, but the way he moves is 90% of the character. I need someone built like a rapier who moves like a murderous gymnast. And I just don't fucking KNOW.

anyway this took literally hours, anon, hope you're happy lmao.