#ALSO even though the show was canceled and is kind of sort of maybe up for getting another season if it does well

[robindaydream]

I just finished watching Scavengers Reign last night and what a fucking show. The most alien alien world I've ever seen in anything, but with a clear internal logic where everything fits together and feels like a real ecosystem. It's wonderful and beautiful and also contains every kind of body horror you can imagine and especially every kind of body horror you can't imagine.

It feels kind of funny to say this, but if I had to compare it to something, it actually feels very much to me like a grown-up version of Hilda.

Hilda is a show about a fantastical version of nature. People have a lot of superstitions about the various creatures and forces that Hilda encounters. Many of them are seen as pests to be scared off or dangerous monsters to be killed. But, whenever Hilda interacts with them, we come to realize that every creature in that show is either 1) just a different kind of people, or 2) just weird magical animals. That crucially doesn't mean none of them can be dangerous or that you don't need to be careful, but just that everything can be understood if you take the time, and most of it you can even make friends with!

Of course that's a pretty optimistic, kid's show friendly view of things. It's a very sweet show and a big part of the appeal is seeing Hilda befriend all kinds of strange things.

Scavengers Reign is a show full of horrors. It's an alien world with an alien ecosystem that humans just don't fit into. The show doesn't shy away from the fact that these creatures prey on each other. They parasitize each other (they especially do this). They live and die and new life grows in the remains. It at times feels like a nature documentary of an alien world, showing the beautiful and disturbing reality of the lives that these creatures live.

But despite all the scary and gross and dangerous things, they're still just creatures. Animals and plants and fungi and other much harder to classify things. And like anything else they can be understood, and you can learn how to avoid them or placate them or how to cure the wounds they inflict if that happens. And you can find uses for some of them too, ways you can adapt to this ecosystem and survive in it. It's a show about symbiosis in all the gory detail that entails. About adapting and growing and becoming something new. It doesn't shy away from the danger and horror of that but it doesn't shy away from the beauty and love of it, either. And despite everything I feel like the show is full of a sense of wonder and fondness for the setting.

But ANYWAY the point is that it's a really good show with a really unique setting and a unique perspective. It completely blew me away.

[jesuistrestriste]

hi i’m also a cancer 🫶🏼

anyways this isn’t a new thought on this site but art would get floaty when you praise him more than two times in a row. like it’s overrrrr cancel your plans he’s mush

on a sweet note he would love to match outfits/ color coordinated with you !

🌸

oh my gosh, art donaldson absolutely melts at praise. 100%. a few sweet whispered words in his ear, and he's gone. weak in the knees with a pounding heart !

while he does love when you praise him for mundane things (i.e., 'you always make such a good cup of coffee for me in the morning' or 'you look extra handsome today'), he loves to hear it most when he's getting touched or fucked or licked or bitten.

it's easy for him to let your affectionate words coax him into a quick orgasm. he does try to hold back, but it's extra hard when your lips brush the shell of his ear, or the nape of his neck, while you whisper things like:

"such a pretty boy for me"

"you feel so good inside me, art"

"oh my god, don't stop— your mouth is fucking amazing"

"you're fucking me so well, baby"

"you're a good boy"

the latter phrase is his personal favorite. maybe a bit cliche, but it always gets his cock throbbing and squirting immediately. he moans the loudest when the sound of those four words dance around in his head as he comes. he loves it.

you are always happy to indulge his pleas for praise, which almost always follow the same sort of verbal pattern:

"please, tell me im good" or "am i doing a good job?"

he likes to ask leading questions. ones that guide you to understand that he wants praise, without him having to ask for it directly. even though you two have been together for a while, and he knows that you know that he loves that kind of talk in the bedroom, he still goes pink in the cheeks and gets sweaty palms sometimes when he's tasked with asking for it. it's just his nature; something in his dna, maybe. he's a nervous little thing from time to time. and yet, he's usually so confident on the tennis courts. admittedly a confusing phenomenon at times.

in terms of the color coding, I think he absolutely loves to take you to his tennis events. the ones where you're expected to dress up. which is essentially all of them.

he'd see what color outfit you were planning to wear, and he'd match his tie to it every time. he liked being able to walk around the events and show people that you two were together. in some ways, it felt like he was showing people that you owned him. it wasn't like he was wearing a collar or anything like that, but he'd be lying if he said he didn't feel some stronger sense of devotion to you when he put in the extra effort to coordinate his outfit with yours. and he'd be lying if he said it didn't boil a soft heat in his gut.

[windybreeze12]

I am so very late sksksksk but you have asked, and I shall provide. Welcome to today's episode of A Fangirl's Analysis of DBD and today we have:

Edwin and The Cat King

okay now listen to me. I love payneland so much. I think they're amazing both romantically and platonically. BUT GOD THESE TWO.

I am very sick and tired of people trying to hate on this pair because honestly it's like we didn't watch the same damn show. Yes he's old beyond comprehension and yes he is very much attracted to Edwin (and to an extent vice-versa) but yall are completely overlooking the fact that without the Cat King and his infatuation with Edwin, most of the things that happened in DBD wouldn't have happened. Dare I say, all of the events of DBD.

Yes, it was the Cat King who was also the reason for the boys to go through all the events both good and bad but can we please stop forgetting that he also actively (actively) tried his best to help Edwin (and Crystal and Charles by association).

And can we also please stop overlooking the fact that even though Edwin is a teenager in a physical sense, he is very much emotionally, mentally, and in every other way, a hundred years old. Now, if Edwin were still as emotionally mature as a 16 year old, there would some ethical issues but we can very well see that this is not the case.

I find the Cat King to be a wildly interesting character. A fun sort of anti-hero if you will. A mischievous, fun-loving, playful and flirtatious character who's pining led to his boo being sent to hell (which honestly i find hilarious). Despite his sort of unpredictable nature, he still has a strong moral code and follows through with it. And we can also see that he is actively trying to woo Edwin like mans is showing up with vital pieces of information and saving Edwin just so he'll like him back. He's absolutely pathetic and I love him.

I love love love the last interaction we get between Edwin and the Cat King when he gives Edwin the lilies in honour of Niko. In that scene, it's subtle but clear that both characters have changed. It's obvious that Edwin has changed but it's also obvious that the Cat King has changed. Rewatching that scene i just keep finding new things and UGH. One important thing that stood out for me were the increasingly soft smiles he gave Edwin. These were less flirtatious and more understanding. Like he had already come to terms with the fact that Edwin would be leaving and mostly likely would have a different romantic path (maybe Charles) than him. Yes he is still very much a flirt and still trying to woo Edwin (because characters dont change like that overnight) but he does so with respect and boundaries. When Edwin didn't go in to hug him, he backed away. It's also super fun noticing how the Cat King kept freaking glancing at Edwin's lips when he was talking about how lonely they are.

And at the very end, when Edwin told him that he forgot to count himself, the smirk the Cat King gives Edwin is much less flirtatious and much more like the kind of smirk that someone would give when seeing someone as an equal.

Overall, I find Edwin and the Cat King's relationship to be extremely intriguing and very interesting to talk about and your honour, I love them.

Wanna see more interest dynamics like this? WATCH DEAD BOY DECTECTIVES!!! It's got dynamics like this and more and it DOES NOT deserve to be cancelled so please please PLEASE go watch it <3

[wander-wren]

sometimes i wonder about what fandom is going to look like in 5 or 10 years. i think we might have already started to see a shift.

because, look, most of the oldest, biggest fandoms are from tv shows and movies, in particular ones that go on for years and scores of episodes. star trek, star wars, stargate (is everything star?), doctor who, supernatural…even sherlock really got its biggest popularity boosts in the modern day from tv adaptations. marvel and dc were comics first, too, but movies made them more accessible; their “cinematic universe” tags are the biggest on ao3 by far.

but what tv shows are we getting now? short, 8-episode things that get canceled two or three seasons in, that are usually less-than-faithful adaptations of other media anyway.

what movies are we getting? well, marvel turns more to slop every day, and everything else is remakes and sequels no one asked for. the general populace will still go see them and find some good movies that they like, but there’s not much really for fandom to grasp onto.

the best shows for fandom that we’ve had recently, that i can think of, are stranger things, game of thrones, and maybe our flag means death. stranger things is dying off, especially since they’re looking at a 3-4 YEAR gap between s4 and s5. game of thrones’s popularity plummeted after its final season, we all know that. our flag means death is still chugging fairly okay, but after that second season a lot of the fandom dropped it, and with it now being cancelled, i don’t see it sticking around.

yes, we can chalk part of this up to a new generation to of fans having this growing idea that fandom is super temporary, to be abandoned as soon as its not on trend. but media used to be on trend for a whole lot longer than it is now. seasons were longer, we had filler episodes, things were lower quality sometimes but at least they came out on a consistent schedule. i don’t mind if supernatural isn’t an artistic masterpiece, but if i was a stranger things fan waiting until 2026 for the final season, i would be annoyed if it wasn’t damn near perfect. that’s assuming i watched it at all—we’re all so used to not getting endings and moving on, so why would i bother?

i think there are two types of shows doing sort of okay about this. one is procedurals—9-1-1 is a popular one i’ve run into, and it started in 2018, around the beginning of the decline, but it’s managed 7 seasons in those six years, most of them with 18 episodes. the other is, honestly, anime—though we can and SHOULD talk about the terrible working conditions that make the fast turnarounds there possible. look at how big some anime fandoms are.

judging by the relative fandom popularity of other procedural dramas (grey’s anatomy, law & order, criminal minds), i think that’s going to remain sort of niche. fandom likes fantasy and scifi best, and they just don’t tend to have as strong of an overarching arc to dig into. at least, that’s why i wouldn’t watch them. i think there’s also a good chance these will start to die out in the coming years as well.

anime could also die out a little bit. better working conditions would necessitate less/slower content, and it’s true that most of the popular anime fandoms have been around for years, even decades.

so, what, no new, lasting tv show or movie fandoms anymore?

what will the biggest fandoms be in 5-10 years?

podcast fandoms have a shot. the magnus archives is still going strong, and i’ve been seeing a lot about dungeons and daddies. i think we’re kind of almost past the golden age for podcasts, but i am an outsider, so maybe that will change.

book fandoms seem like a kind of obvious choice, but they just don’t get as big without, you guessed it, a movie or show adaptation. and the downsizing has hit them, too—can you think of anything from the last 5 or 10 years that rivals harry potter, percy jackson, warriors, lord of the rings, hunger games, acotar…even game of thrones (asoiaf) again? i can’t. the collapse of the publishing industry is another post entirely.

2020 is really what cemented these changes, though they were starting in the late 2010s, at least. with actual industries shutting down, there was room for indie creators making things alone in their houses to pop up, and people had more time on their hands to try new things out and get into them.

the two things that have really been on the rise since 2020 is rpf and video game fic—often both combined. we’ve got genshin impact, call of duty, minecraft of course being huge, rpf of various youtubers, and k-pop rpf. now, i think rpf is contentious enough that it won’t really become the main fandom, but video game fic…might be it.

even video blogging rpf can often be a blurred enough line that people are more comfortable with it. and the thing is…youtube creators are actually more reliable than mainstream television these days. they need to be, to maintain their platforms. they need to not cancel series and to live up to their own hype as best they can and to not abandon the channel for 3 or 4 years at a time. and again, you can talk about burnout and unrealistic expectations and all of those things, but it’s still true.

maybe i’m completely wrong. maybe in 10 years the film and publishing industries will all sort themselves out and we’ll go back to the status quo. but i think this position fandom is finding itself in is interesting, and i wouldn’t necessarily be surprised if what’s most popular (both in the specific source material sense and the medium/genre sense) is different some time down the road.

[ladyylavenderrr]

Garak and Psychosis

Very self indulgent little post about instances of Garak displaying behaviors that read to me (or at least can be read) as a symptom of psychosis. I will almost certainly miss some, but I want to compile this together for myself. I completely see Garak as having some kind of psychotic disorder. Most of these examples will come from A Stitch In Time, but we have some from the show as well. Also keep in mind that many of these could be interpreted in a myriad of ways, not just as a psychotic symptom. I’m not claiming any of this is definitive proof or anything of the sort, and Garak’s past as a spy (a profession that by nature demands a lot of paranoia) certainly complicates all of this. That’s not to say this an either-or situation. He can be both psychotic and a former spy and in fact the effect both would have on the other would be quite interesting, as laid out in this post

Again, all of what I say can be interpreted in many different ways, but I just want to have it all written down in one place. Psychosis can manifest in very different ways for different people. Some people might be debilitated by their symptoms, struggling to function without assistance. Others might function just fine most of the time and only experience relatively mild symptoms, though the associated distress isn’t any less important.

Season 6, episode 5 “Favors The Bold”. Garak insists Julian examine him for a some kind of mind reading device put in his head by Starfleet Intelligence. Despite Julian telling him there’s nothing out of the ordinary in his head, Garak doesn’t believe him and insists he keep looking. Came off as a delusion to me, especially since he remains convinced despite evidence proving his delusion false.

Season 4, episode 21 “For the Cause”. Upon meeting Ziyal, Garak becomes convinced that she wants to hurt and kill him. I wouldn’t say her being Dukat’s daughter is enough evidence for the average person to be this worried. In fact, Quark even calls him out on his paranoia and we get this exchange.

GARAK: I was going to cancel. I've had visions of Ziyal presenting my head to her father as a birthday gift. 
QUARK: That's a little paranoid, wouldn't you say? 
GARAK: Paranoid is what they call people who imagine threats against their life. I have threats against my life.

To be fair, Kira warning him to stay away from Ziyal gets him to calm down a bit, or maybe not because he still seems quite apprehensive when he actually meets Ziyal, still afraid she might want to hurt him.

Now to A Stitch In Time.

Part 1, Chapter 7. As Garak helps Parmak dig people out of the rubble of a bombed Cardassia (highly stressful and traumatic situation), he seems to hallucinate a figure. You could read this as metaphorical, but he reacts to and tries to interact with the figure in the real world, which doesn’t come off as a metaphorical way of describing his despair to me.

“I have never lived with despair, Doctor, the way I live with it now. It's almost like a phantom companion that shadows me and casts doubt on whatever I do.

"Why save him?" it asks, as we remove a young boy from the rubble of a school. "You're only keeping him alive for a future of privation and chaos. Wouldn't it be more satisfying to join the burial unit?"

I want to scream at this phantom, to shut it up. Once I turned around suddenly and raised my hand to strike it. When I realized it wasn't there, it was too late. Everyone in the unit was looking at me; I'm sure I must have looked like a madman.”

After this, Parmak gives Garak some pills. He only calls them “relaxants” so it might be a sedative of some kind, but I’m not sure. Either way, Garak hallucinates again after swallowing the pills, panicking as he sees those Cardassian orphans from the episode “Cardassians”. I doubt the pills are hallucinogens, both because Parmak specifically gave them to Garak after witnessing him hallucinating and is seemingly trying to stop that, and because they speak about the hallucinations like an unintended side effect ("I'm afraid they don't react well with me," I explained. “I understand," he said.)

Certain drugs making psychotic symptoms worse isn’t uncommon.

Part 1, Chapter 6. As Garak and the rest of his group in Bamarren are forced to stand still in the heat for what might be hours as part of a training exercise, he begins to hallucinate multiple figures, including his parents (it’s interesting that one of the figures seems to be Palandine, even though neither we nor Garak have been introduced to her yet). If this were the only instance of Garak hallucinating in the book, I wouldn’t assume he has a psychotic disorder since this example has obvious an explanation outside of a mental health issue. People are known to experience hallucinations when suffering from heat stroke. However I’m putting this example here simply because it’s part of a larger pattern of Garak hallucinating multiple times throughout the book. It’s also interesting to note that this scene happens right before the scene of an adult Garak hallucinating that figure with Parmak.

Part 2, Chapter 18. Garak seems to hallucinate as he looks at the frieze. He sees the frieze move and the people painted on it move as well. He thinks some of the figures are he and Palandine but isn’t sure.

“The frieze now began to move in the upward direction. I was too amazed to ask if this was truly happening. People would disappear at the top while more would enter from below.

Certain faces were recognizable, but I didn't know why. Something was also rising within me, an energy moving up my spine to my head, and I began to feel dizzy. Two of the figures could have been Palandine and me, but I couldn't be sure. I was almost nauseous with the energy surging within me. The figures completed the cycle and disappeared at the top. The frieze stopped moving.”

This one can be interpreted in a more metaphorical way than some of the others, but like I said, it could also be another symptom of this potential psychosis.

I’m sure I’ve missed some examples, but you get my point.

[slavghoul]

Interview from Classic Rock Magazine #309

What stands out in your memories of 2022?

TF: Going back to touring was a fantastic feeling! In the beginning it felt almost unreal; still with a bit of restriction, which was kind of unintuitive, but the last tour we did, in August/September, was as good as normal. We released the record when we said we would, we managed to back it up with seventy shows. We cancelled one show in total. That's a good result.

Impera has dark, historically rooted themes, but it's also music that makes the listener feel so many things - joy, aggression, excitement, sorrow... After such a turbulent couple of years there's something cathartic about that.

I am very happy about how the record came out, and that it seems to be well-received among our fans. That's a tremendous feeling. I feel like I managed to do a lot of things I set out to do. We're gonna continue next year, we still have a lot of things to do. But right now we're just recharging a little.

Kaisarion has been a hit live. For a song about the brutal murder of a female Roman philosopher, it really gets the party going.

Yeah, I'm still surprised that with a song that does what it does - and was so well received and opened up the shows - there's never been talk about turning it into a single. Which I don't understand. But at the end of the day it's a label decision, and people around that decide which ones will, quote-unquote, 'work best'. And I've realised that I'm not really capable of choosing. I remember Mary On A Cross was a B-side.

It's weird how that happens with some songs.

Yeah, I must say I feel very optimistic with regards to how that song is taking a life on its own. Even though it was technically a B-side on a fun additional thing [2019's Seven Inches Of Satanic Panic] - it was not our main single from a new album we have always played it ever since it came out, on every show. Maybe a few exceptions, but I've always pushed that song as something that I felt very good about.

On that subject, you're viral on TikTok now. What is it about that platform that appeals?

I hardly knew what it was until two months ago! I have two almost fourteen-year-old kids, so of course I'd heard the phenomenon mentioned. It's an insanely big thing among kids and teenagers. What happens is they create these short snippets, funny, sad or emotional clips, to which they often tag some sort of music or sound. And if you are a creator of sound or music, you might be tagged on to a clip that might go 'viral'. That way you hit a lot more people that you might never entertain, you know, aiming your guns at. So it's a bit of a crap-shoot as well. We are not a big mainstream act, so obviously there's going to be a mixed bag of reactions. Because people in general are kind of strange to a lot of these aesthetics of rock, and especially the darker aspects of it.

It has brought the band more attention.

But if all that attention is a good or a bad thing, we do not know yet. There have been people who might have come on to the track, and as soon as they see what the band is about - or what they perceive the band to be about - there's backlash, because it's like: "Oh my, God fearing hater!" "I don't like it!" "This is communist bullshit!" So there are two sides of the coin. But it's a great bonus if we can get new people, especially kids, into liking rock music or other things, or if it makes them feel in any way better-informed, if you will.

Do you think TikTok will be a bigger deal for musicians in the future?

I don't know. I think when you're a musician, and you're making records, you need to have a certain strategic mind. But your job at the end of the day is making records and playing live. That is the heart of the matter. If you sit around waiting for a viral thing to happen, you can wait a long fucking time.

Back in May, the identities of the Nameless Ghouls were confirmed on social media. How do you feel about them not being strictly nameless any more?

Well, they haven't really been for quite some time. So for me it was not an overnight sensation. As long as it doesn't in any way interfere with what we are doing, there's no desire that I have for people not to feel proud or happy about what they're doing.

You've lamented not being able to play more guitar. If you could be the guitarist for a day in any band, which would it be?

Good question. There's several bands. I would have loved to be what Mick Taylor was in 1969, coming into the Rolling Stones at their best era - but I would have stayed around! That would have been a great experience. Very fun music to play. Definitely within the limits of what I can play really well. I spent a lot of time as a kid learning how to play guitar. Otherwise I would love to play in the Red Hot Chilli Peppers; I love what John Frusciante does. Def Leppard might be a good fit too. Joe Elliott spoke very highly of Impera when it came out. That would have also been really cool. Also a fantastic band. In an alternative reality, in an alternative life, I would have wanted to do a lot of other things. But I did hear that [Joe said those things], and it was very heartwarming, of course. A very big honour.

[creedslove]

Hey honey!

I see you’re taking Halloween requests and I was thinking about Joel and what he would do after nobody shows up to your Halloween party (house is decorated, even put on a tiny and cute witch costume) and everyone cancels last minute but him 🥰😇

Happened to me today but minus Joel ofc. I’m a bit down because of it but maybe cute idea?

No outbreak!Joel Miller x f!reader

A/N: ohh no, I'm so sorry about that 🥺 I really hope your friends cancelled for a good reason at least, I'm sorry if it's not happening anymore baby, I would have loved to go to your party if I could though ❤️

• Joel wasn't really a big fan of Halloween parties

• or parties as a whole

• but you were and he was glad to help you through the week, as your excitement was absolutely adorable and he could see how much effort you actually put into it all

• so he helped you sort the snacks and finger foods you would serve, along with the drinks he should buy, the decoration you picked and how he set everything up

• he isn't a costume guy, but he told you he would dress up as a lumberjack so you would be happy, which you did, even if you knew he would actually just throw a flannel shirt and call it a costume, you were excited because he looked damn hot in a flannel shirt

• and he couldn't help but become a mix of aroused and mesmerized the moment he saw you in a cute witch costume; on one hand you looked very adorable, on the other hand you looked so fucking sexy all he could think of was you riding his cock in nothing but your fishnets, knee high boots and witch hat

• but as he got closer while carrying a bag of ice he frowned when he saw your upset face

"what happened, baby girl?"

"they all cancelled..."

• Joel was so pissed to hear your friends had all cancelled; he'd watched how excited you were during days and how carefully you'd planned everything and those motherfuckers couldn't even give you a time of the day and show up? Or perhaps do the right thing and let you know they weren't coming in advance?

• however, he didn't want to make things worse for you, even if you shrugged it off and began putting the decoration down, he could tell you were disappointed and he wasn't letting you just be without your party

• so he asks you to calm down and he calls Tommy and Sarah, tells them to come over and bring a couple of friends

• and when you realize, there's a party starting at your place, Tommy and his girlfriend Maria, Sarah and a couple of her girl friends all there complimenting your decoration and dancing to your playlist

• Joel takes you by the waist and tells you it ain't much but he figured you would enjoy a small family get together, and your heart race when he subtly tells you you are family

• he dances with you and makes sure to remind you how beautiful you are and how cool your party is

• and he also likes to open the door for the trick or treaters and hand them candy

• later at night, he sends Sarah home with her uncle Tommy and takes the opportunity to finally have you riding his cock in nothing but your boots and your witch hat

• he wants to make you feel good sexually as well, and he doesn't let you go sleep without cumming a few times

• as you snuggle against him, you is kind of glad none of your stupid friends showed up, as you both had a smaller and intimate party and he got to spend more time with the woman he loves

____

[the-offside-rule]

Carlos Sainz Jr (Scuderia Ferrari) - Blind Date

Requested: on wattpad

Prompt: Seemingly, Carlos has his blind date not show up, but it's okay because he's found his replacement.

Warnings: nope

Y/n sat fiddling with her thumbs in her seat awaiting for her blind date to come along. Her friend had sorted out the date for her to get to know someone and she was absolutely fine with it but she didn't even know who this man would be. She kind of just hoped he was a decent human being. The door of the coffee shop opened up and in walked a good looking foreign man. He looked around and spotted Y/n sitting alone. He smiled to himself as he figured he'd basically hit the jackpot before realising that wasn't his date. His date wasn't even at that coffee shop. She cancelled. So much for trusting his friends to set him up with people. Carlos ordered a coffee and looked back to the miserable looking woman. She looked so lonely, maybe she would like some company. "Excuse me, could you actually make that two please?" he asked the barista. He didn't know if she liked coffee or not but atc this point he was just going with it.

He thanked the barista for his order and went over to talk to her. "Excuse me? Do you mind if I sit here?" The woman looked up to him with a warm smile on her face. "Why not? Go ahead." Carlos sat down and slipped a coffee over to her. "I got you a coffee just in case I was bothering you." he explained. "You aren't bothering me at all. Thank you for the coffee." she said sipping it. "I'm Carlos." he said stretching his hand out. "Y/n." she replied. "What a beautiful name." he remarked, causing a bit of a blush to creep onto her cheeks. "So why are you here alone?" he asked. "Oh, my date cancelled so here I am."

"What a coincidence. My date cancelled too." Y/n and Carlos just smiled at each other. They had more in common than the other thought.

Carlos and Y/n continued talking for a good hour or so. They learned so much about the other but Carlos wanted to know her a little bit better, so he grabbed his coat before he asked her to go elsewhere. "How about we go to the park or something?" he asked her. Y/n thought for a moment and nodded in agreement. "Sure. There's a lovely park around here." Y/n replied also getting her coat. The pair walked out, happily chatting amongst themselves before a very familiar car drove around the corner and rolled the window down to reveal the person they both figured it would be. "Charles, what are you doing here?" Y/n asked walking up to the car. Carlos was a bit confused as to why Y/n knew who Charles was. "I thought I'd come to pick you up but it seems like you have good company." Charles grinned. "It seems that way." Y/n chucked. Charles looked over to Carlos and waved. "Hey Carlos."

Y/n took her turn in confusion now. "You know him?" she asked. Carlos nodded in response. "Yes. I'm his new teammate." Carlos said. "So I take it myy plan worked since you ended up meeting." The pair were both very confused which Charles picked up on and decided to explain himself. "I didn't get you seperate dates, you were each others dates. I decided to cancel though just to prove a point and it appears that it has worked." Charles mused. Y/n bit her lip. Was she really that predictable? "And how did you know it would work then?" Carlos asked folding his arms. "Simple. Carlos, you are basically a lady magnet. You would see her alone and think you could be her friend of sorts." Charles smiled before turning to his other friend. "And my dear Y/n, you would be too shy to tell him to leave you alone. I basically just predicted how both of you would react to seeing each other and go with that."

"Then why did you come to pick me up?" Y/n asked. "I'm going to be honest, I just wanted to know whether or not you two had managed to go on a date together." Charles replied. "Well, I should get going but have fun you two." he said turning his car on. "And don't forget to use protection!"

"Charles!"

"I'm kidding! I know you both like going to a dinner first." And with that he drove away, leaving Y/n and Carlos in a bit of an awkward silence. "So...where do we go from here?" Carlos asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets. Y/n smiled softly and took out a pen. "Show me your hand." Carlos knotted his eyebrows and obided by her before she wrote a few numbers, presumably her phone number, ont to his hand. "Here's my number. I have to go now unfortunately but I would really like to see you again Carlos." Lucky him, because he wanted to see her again too. "Well I'll see you on the second date then, yes?" Carlos asked. "Absolutely." Y/n pulled Carlos in and pecked his cheek before they shared their goodbyes and went seperate ways, but will undoubtedly cross paths again...

[the1975attheirverybest]

omg i just read heat wave and think it’s amazing! would i be able to request a part two where she like takes him back to the bus and like puts him to bed and maybe takes care of the others too?

This request was too wholesome not to write. SO consider this a part two to this one.

Warnings: none!

———

Part Of The Band

She tiptoed delicately out of the tour bus, grabbing her shoes with her on the way out. She knew she was much too clumsy a person to risk putting them on and waking Matty up from his much-needed sleep.

She took one last worried glance back in his direction and blew him a kiss that he wasn’t awake to notice, whispering “I love you.” As she inched away. She say on the steps of the bus, kicking her shoes on.

She followed the directions her map app had provided to get back the restaurant where she and Matty had left the boys about an hour ago. George had spotted her coming in and waved her over.

“You’re back. Everything alright?” He sat up as she approached their table.

“Is it Matty? Is he okay?” Adam added.

“Oh, yeah, yeah. Matty fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Everything’s fine. I just came back to check on you guys.”

“Us?” Ross’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Yeah. Have you boys had anything to eat yet?”

“Nah, much too hot to stomach anything right now.” Adam groaned.

“But we did drink a lot of water.” Ross announced, taking yet another gulp from his bottle.

“Yeah, in fact, we were just saying that, when it’s time to piss, we should time each other. See whose body lets out the most water.” George laughed, a bit embarrassed that she didn’t find the idea as funny as he did.

“Alright, you guys are hopeless.” She wandered over tot the cash register and came back with menus. “Every one pick something. Even if it’s just a little snack. You need to eat.”

She placed their orders to-go, modifying their selections and adding a few juices and smoothies to take into the tour bus. Something to keep on hand, in their mini-fridge for the road-trip ahead.

“Let’s get back. Matty’ll probably wake up hungry soon.”

She rounded them up, feeling a little too much like a school teacher chaperoning a field trip. George helped carry the takeout bags, while Adam volunteered to hold the beverages.

“So, how’re you guys feeling?” She broke the tired silence as they strolled back to the bus. “I know I was acting a bit insane before. Was just worried about Matty, but- you guys went through the same thing. Everyone feeling alright?”

George smiled at her. “No worries. Matty did look like he was losing it a bit there. We were all worried.”

“But you guys stayed calm. I mean, maybe a little too calm. Made me think you didn’t think anything was wrong.”

Ross shook his head. “Of course we knew something was wrong. We all felt wrong. But…it’s just who we are.”

“Been doing this gig for over a decade.” Adam chined in.

“Yeah, you sort of, get used to a ‘just push through it’ kind of mentality.”

“Yeah, guess we didn’t realize we’re not as young anymore.” George laughed.

She was quiet for a moment, giving them the space to vent and doing her best to listen with compassion. Still a part of her felt that they weren’t being as serious with this as they should be.

“It’s not about how young or old your are. You’re in the best shape of your lives. All of you. But your schedule is objectively insane.”

They all laughed knowingly.

“Three countries in three days?”

“They’re all close to each other though-“ George attempted to interject but she simply rolled her eyes at him.

“You’re a dad, now. Adam. This is the kind of example that you want to set for your kid? What were you planning on telling Carly, hmm?”

Adam always found her a bit intimidating. He looked down at his feet, feeling slightly shamed.

“Leave the man alone, he’s already scared of you.” George came to his rescue.

“Look,” Ross spoke, shifting her attention towards him. “I think…when we made this schedule, we also wanted to keep in mind the canceled shows that didn’t get to take place in 2019 and 2020. And the fact that, for come countries, it’s been a decade since we’ve performed there. And we do love being’ onstage.”

Adam and George agreed incoherently, their voices blending together into some sort of affirmative statement.

***

“Which ones Matty’s sandwich?” George sat in Matty’s bunk, peeling the covers off his friend and putting the warm sandwich right in Matty’s sleeping arms.

The three of them giggled mischievously like school children. “Let’s see how long it takes him to smell it and wake up.”

They ended up placing bets on how long it would take. And it did take him surprisingly long. 7 minutes and 54 seconds to be exact. Adam won, having guessed the closest.

“Fasts cash I’ve ever made.” He grinned as he collected his winnings.

Matty struggled to fight his exhaustion as he munched on his sandwich sluggishly. He watched with pure awe and admiration and she made her rounds, checking in with the boys, refilling their drinks, making sure they were all hydrated, all the while returning their jokes and witty remarks. He’d never met anyone who has so seamlessly been made part of their friend group before. Their intensity and history always seemed threatening to any newcomers. Even when they didn’t intend it to be. The sheer amount of time they spend together, their lingo, inside jokes, and work style could all mean that even the most confident of people would occasionally feel like an outsider. Not her though. She respected that this was an inherent part of Matty’s life that she could never hope to replace, nor did she try to compete against it. She loved the boys almost as much as he did.

Hours later, Ross had knocked out in his bunk bed, with George going outside for a smoke, and a FaceTime with Charli. Adam hopped into the shower for a much needed deep cleanse. Marty found himself alone with her, at long last. They shared his tiny bunk bed, cuddling and watching a tv show on her phone.

“Baby?” Matty whispered, even in the tight quarters they’d snuggled into.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for loving my friends.”

She turned to look at him, their noses brushing together slightly. “What?”

“You’re, like, officially part of the band now. You’ve saved us. Don’t know what we would have done without you today. I mean, seriously, I had a like a real meltdown.”

She smiled, caressing his cheek with the back of her hand gently. “You guys would’ve been already, with or without me. You’ll always have each other, after all.”

“Mhm.” He simply nodded.

“I think today was the first time I really got that. Don’t know how safe I would feel knowing that you’re thousands of miles away sometimes, traveling the world, if it weren’t for the guys and knowing that they’re right there with you.”

“Oh, yes, absolutely. Don’t think I’d ever do it without them. Just don’t tell them I said that, okay? Hann would never let me hear the end of it.” Matty grabbed onto her tightly, pulling the cover above both of their heads and kissing her underneath it.

[slavic-roots-western-mind]

How to study productively: In your dorm

I've covered how to study productively in general, and in the library, but what about your dorms or student accommodation?

There have definitely been times where I decided to study in my room instead of braving the rain and the occasional hail outside.

Bad weather, being ill, the library being full (all too common. When possible, try to book a library study space in advance), or simply not feeling like getting dressed up and facing the outside world - these things all happen.

Or maybe you're simply burnout and have absolutely 0 interest in facing other people, so you choose to study in your dorm.

Question is, how do you do this productively? Whether you're living alone or with loud, partying roommates, there are almost always some forms of distraction.

Noisy neighbours, outside traffic, or simply too many distractions in your study space - so here's my guide for studying productively in your dorms.

1. Wear headphones - even if you don't study with music

Any noise cancellation, albeit small, is good. They tend to block out a decent chunk of the external noise, so use them to block out the noise.

During exam week things might be much quieter, but for your weekend revision sessions headphones are essential.

2. Negotiate with your roomie

Hopefully you have an understanding roommate, who'll understand that you need some uninterrupted silence to study. Even more hopefully, they'll also be passionate about their studies and maybe even become a study buddy!

Truth is, you never know what sort of person you'll end up rooming with. Negotiate friendly, but firmly. Set boundaries. You've worked hard to get here, and you need to study to maintain and improve your grades. Your living space should not be a disruptive or chaotic environment.

3. Set up your study space

You may be doing most of your studying in the library, so now your desk is cluttered with clothes, snacks and other clutter.

De-clutter asap! Eliminate all distractions, so that the only thing on your desk is your laptop, notebook, textbook, some pens and a few highlighters.

A bottle of water or a mug of coffee are permissible, but keep them far away. Too many notes have been ruined by coffee mugs and tea cups being accidently spilled over.

4. Use said study space, don't study in bed!

Tempting as it may be, don't study in bed. Might as well watch a movie or catch up on your shows instead.

Your bed is associated with rest and relaxation, not intense studying and working. Not a very focused environment.

If you're ill and can't study at your desk, you shouldn't be studying at all then. Rest, drink fluids and focus in getting better instead.

5. Use your desk for studying - only studying

Revisiting my former point, but your desk is for working and studying. Eating, painting your toenails etc. may be convenient, but not practical.

A snack is ok, but draw the line at spaghetti carbonara or a roasted chicken. Going to the shared kitchen or dining hall also helps to refresh your mind, as sitting 24/7 at your desk is not good for your mind. It's sometimes inevitable during exam week, but a regular change of scenery is good for your health, whether it's having a quick catch-up lunch with your friends, or an evening jog around the campus.

Having spent 2-ish years doing everything online, I was extremely happy to be able to go back to on-campus learning even though the adjustment process took a while.

Sitting in bed propped up by pillows, wearing a moisturizing mask and sipping hot chocolate whilst logging into my zoom lecture 5 minutes late but actually too early as it took 15 minutes for the lecture to start, was a truly one of a kind experience.

I might make this into a series, so if you have a specific place you usually study in but find it difficult to be productive drop a suggestion!

[abyssruler]

THE ADEPTI’S GUIDE ON HOW TO NOT CATCH FEELINGS FOR THE STRANGE MORTAL WHO HAS A MASSIVE CRUSH ON YOUR PSEUDO-DAD

step one: don’t go to the statue for healing

pairing: xiao x fem!reader

summary: ever since you were a child, you had sworn to everyone you’ve ever met that one day you’re going to marry rex lapis, and never once has your resolve wavered. so why is your heart suddenly doing gymnastics whenever that weird adeptus fellow shows up?! he should be helping you get with rex lapis, not trying to be cute with that little happy face he makes as he takes a bite off the almond tofu you made him!

note: fem!reader, slight crack, comedy, reader is a dumbass and xiao is moronsexual that’s it that’s the fic, lumine and hu tao being wingmen, every playable character in liyue appears at some point, reader is the biggest rex lapis simp, and no you don’t know that zhongli is rex lapis

series masterlist

next step

People like to say that you’re a weird kid. You much prefer the term unique. After all, it isn’t everyday that someone makes it their life’s mission to marry their Archon.

Besides, you’ve met plenty of other people you can confidently call weirder than you. Case number one: Hu Tao, aka the Funeral Director’s granddaughter, aka your best friend. Case number two: Chongyun, your local popsicle dealer. Case number three: Xiangling, the trauma-inducer who proved to you that not everything is, in fact, edible and you should most definitely be wary the next time she offers you any food.

And case number four: Xingqiu.

You don’t think that last one needs any sort of explanation. Anyone who’s as filthy rich as him and chooses to spend their time with commoners like you instead of basking in their mora is weird (in hindsight, it wasn’t a very logical reason, but it very much made sense in your ten-year-old brain). That, and he’s a huge nerd, though that can be forgiven since he’s your main source of information regarding your future husband, Rex Lapis.

Which brings you to the conclusion that yes, maybe there’s a little bit of truth in it whenever someone calls you weird, but surrounding yourself with even weirder people cancels the weirdness out in some complex mathematical way. So while they may be, possibly, likely telling the truth, they’re also technically lying.

So, no, you’re not weird. End of story.

“Let me get this straight, you’re trying to hire me in advance as the musician for your future wedding with Rex Lapis?”

You nod, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Of course! Who else would I hire besides the best musician I know?”

“I’m the only musician you know,” Xinyan points out with amusement.

“Details! Once your parents finally get off your back about music, I just know you’re gonna be amazing!” You offer her a high five. “So are you in?”

She stares at your hand for a moment, an unreadable look crossing her face before it smooths out into a wide grin. Her palm slaps over yours in a high five.

“Well, duh! What kind of person would I be to reject a once in a lifetime’s offer of performing in a god’s wedding?” She laughs, slinging her arm over your shoulder. You smile at her easy acceptance, of not calling you weird like the other kids.

Hm. Another one recruited into your band of supporters, aka the only people who actually believe you when you say you’re going to marry Rex Lapis. Excellent.

✧

“Is this really necessary?”

“Of course it is! What kind of future wife would I be if I didn’t at least clean up my future husband’s statues?” you respond, not once pausing in your motions of scrubbing the base of the statue.

Chongyun sighs but makes no move to stop as he sweeps up dead leaves. “You know, if you channeled half as much energy as you did into your studies, you wouldn’t have to constantly beg Xingqiu to tutor you.”

“We’re eleven—wait, actually, I’m eleven, you’re still an eeny bitty kid who’s ten—but back to my point, in a few years’ time my grades won’t matter. Have you ever heard Granny Ruoxin bragging about how she got high scores when she was in school? No. Which is why I don’t have to bother putting in the effort as long as I’m passing.”

“You’re barely passing,” Hu Tao cackles from her seat in the shade away from the sun’s merciless rays, having gotten the easiest task of being the provider of food and cleaning supplies.

You frown. “Well, school’s not really important anyway.”

“Yes it is,” Chongyun argues, ever the voice of reason.

You despair at the lack of Xiangling’s presence. She’d have taken your side. Hell, even Xingqiu and Xinyan would’ve agreed with you. It’s not like grades mattered to a rich kid and a future musician.

Hu Tao suddenly sits up, a look on her face that tells you you’re not gonna like what she’s about to say. “Hey, didn’t the elders finally allow you to attend the Rite of Descension next month?”

Finally, you pause from cleaning the statue. “Yeah, they did.”

Her smile turns positively mischievous. “Doesn’t Rex Lapis give out words of wisdom each year? How about you ask him what he thinks about the importance of school?”

Your jaw drops. “No way! Like I’d ever ask him such a useless question.”

“Oh really? Are you sure it’s not because you’re scared he’ll disagree with you?” she says, egging you on.

Unable to come up with a suitable argument, you concede. “Oh, fine! I’ll ask him that, but you better prepare your apology speech for when I’m proven right.”

✧

Here is how your first meeting with Rex Lapis goes: an incredibly nervous you, the very large, very dragon-y him, and an entire audience’s worth of people at your back, watching your interaction and waiting for their turn to be given wisdom by the Lord of Geo.

It barely lasts a minute. The good thing, however, is that you managed to ask him if he thought school was important with only minimal stuttering, and that he answered.

The bad thing is that Hu Tao does not, in fact, owe you an apology speech.

✧

Within the next two months, your grades skyrocket. Your teachers are all very impressed with your improvement and asked what brought this change on.

“Love, Miss Shu Xian, love has changed me,” you tell your teacher before walking away, feeling like a character from one of Xingqiu’s novels.

“What a strange kid…” your teacher mutters as she watches you place your hand on the balcony’s railings and pretend to look wisely over the surroundings—the surroundings being the large, stained wall of the neighboring restaurant of your school.

✧

“You’ll really do that for me?” you ask, tears forming at the corner of your eyes.

Yun Jin laughs, sounding like an angel sent from above and handing you a handkerchief to dab at your eyes with. “Of course! What are friends for? I promise to sing only the very best songs and dance the liveliest dances of all.”

You blow your nose loudly into the handkerchief. “Don’t pressure yourself! I don’t need it to be the best, even your presence alone would be enough.”

“Ah, but it’s your future wedding, a once in a lifetime event, that would be no time to slack,” she argues, still managing to look graceful even after you’ve ruined her well-embroidered handkerchief with tears and snot. She places her hand on your shoulder. “Now, what has happened? You’re not normally so easily reduced to tears.”

You sniffle. “The usual.” When she purses her lips like a disapproving mother, you’re forced to elaborate. “Just some girls thinking they could pick on the weird kid who wants to marry our Archon. Nothing new.”

Her eyes soften. “I’m sorry.”

You wave her off, forcing out a laugh. “That was no issue. You should’ve seen the look on their faces when I threw a bucket of dirty water at them.” You were in the middle of cleaning another statue, not your fault the nearest thing was the bucket. They should be glad you didn’t hit them with your broom. They should be even gladder Hu Tao wasn’t there to retaliate against them.

“That was a mean thing to do,” Yun Jin says, but the amused smile on her lips tells you otherwise.

You cross your arms. “They deserved it.”

She hums. “They did.”

✧

For your fourteenth birthday, you decide to spend it hunting for geoculus in order to gift them to the love of your life’s statues. Not a very fun activity, especially since it’s your birthday and the gift-giving should be the other way around, but you console yourself with the thought that you’ll have him gift you a pool full of mora in your wedding.

Besides, it’s not like you can throw a party. It’d be very disrespectful to Hu Tao’s grandfather who just passed away, and with your best friend off on a search to find Director Hu’s soul… well, your birthday now consists of you, a bunch of qingxin flowers you picked up on the way, and the three geoculus you managed to find.

Currently, you’re trying to find a way to reach the fourth geoculus without slipping down the mountainside, breaking all your bones, and consequently dying in the process. Why do these things only appear in dangerous and high places? Oh, and now it’s raining. Just your luck.

Life would be so much easier with a vision. Geo, to be exact. No other element would suffice. You might just die if you married the Geo Archon and had, say, a pyro vision instead of a geo vision. Especially since a geo vision would be exceptionally helpful in your predicament right now.

Still, you’ve come all the way up the mountain, a little probability of death won’t stop you. Well, it probably should, but you’re already taking a leap and reaching for the vine that’ll hopefully swing you into the geoculus’s way and into the other side of the narrow gorge. No going back now, not that you ever planned on doing so.

You cling to the vine with all your might while your other hand reaches for the geoculus.

It brushes the tips of your fingers—

The vine snaps.

✧

You wake up to the feeling of your head pounding, scrapes and bruises all over your body. No broken bones though. Thank Rex Lapis.

In your right hand is the geoculus you’d been reaching for. Huh. So falling down to your almost-death wasn’t a waste after all.

Something warm pulses in your left hand. Curious, you unclench your fingers.

Your world falls apart. Tears fall down your eyes in rivulets, sobbing as you curse Celestia and all the gods—except for Rex Lapis, of course—about how awful their sense of humor is. You look down at the accursed object in your hand with betrayal.

A pyro vision.

✧

Hu Tao returns from her self-appointed mission from the afterlife, takes one look at you, your dejected expression, and the pyro vision now hanging in shame by your hip, and she immediately understands.

She points to her own newly obtained pyro vision. “Hey, at least we match!”

✧

“Oh Rex Lapis, please accept this humble offering and exchange it for something more suitable… like, say, a geo vision?”

Nothing.

You continue kneeling in front of the statue with your pyro vision in hand, posing like a man about to offer his firstborn son to the gods in sacrifice.

A few seconds pass. Then a minute, then two, three. Five minutes pass.

You’ve been kneeling for ten whole minutes. Nothing has changed, your vision still glows red. Not even a sign to indicate that he heard your pleas, something like a pebble landing in your head. But alas, there is none.

You hear a snicker carried by the wind from your right. Snapping your head to the source of the sound, you find Xingqiu leaning against the trunk of a tree, a book in hand as he watches your ridiculous display. Sighing hopelessly, you stand up from your position and make your way towards him, storing your vision safely in your pocket ‘cause hey, a vision’s a vision, no matter how displeased you are with its element.

He opens his mouth, probably a greeting, but most likely a quip you’re currently not in the mood to be dealing with, so you speak before he has any chance to.

“Yes, I know, I looked ridiculous.”

He raises his eyebrows at your words. “That was not what I was about to say.”

You lean against the same tree, pushing all your weight into your shoulder. “Then what were you about to say?”

Xingqiu looks away. You follow his gaze and find him staring at the statue of the Geo Archon you’d just been kneeling to moments ago.

“You needn’t be so upset with your vision—”

You laugh. “Because a vision’s still a vision, a sign of recognition from the gods? Yeah, I know. Heard that many times already.”

A crease forms between his brows. “Again, you’ve assumed what I was about to say.” Then he sighs, his expression smoothening out. “No, what I meant to say is that geo or pyro, vision or no vision, it did not change your goal at all, did it?”

“I guess not,” you mutter.

“Then you need not worry, friend. Rex Lapis’s future affections for you won’t be changed by a mere vision.”

You nod, slowly getting invigorated. “Yeah, you’re right.” Then, you turn a cheeky smile to Xingqiu. “You know, for someone who’s younger than me, you sure are wise.”

“Only a year younger, which is barely much of a difference when compared to—”

“Okay, that’s enough! Just remembered that I need to go to the market today and buy some tea for the elders,” you say, pushing yourself up and rummaging your pockets for mora.

“Oh, let me help. It’s been a while since I last spoke to Pops Kai.”

Finding only a couple of mora, barely enough to buy a piece of bread, you agree. “Fine, but you’re paying, rich boy.”

✧

Alright, you’ll admit that maybe you were overreacting a little bit after you found out your vision was pyro instead of geo, but you’d like to blame that one on the raging concussion you probably had after taking a tumble down that deep gorge.

Anything else that happened after your concussion faded away is a result of deliriousness from eating too much of Xiangling’s strange dishes.

✧

On Hu Tao’s sixteenth birthday, the two of you sneak in a few quick sips of alcohol. Unfortunately for you, this leads to the discovery that you are extremely lightweight. Another unfortunate thing for you is that her birthday coincided with the Rite of Descension that year. The same Rite of Descension that you’ve been religiously attending each year ever since you were allowed to.

A little tipsiness won’t stop you from going to the Rite of Descension, or as you liked to call it, the yearly wooing of your future husband.

Hu Tao accompanies you to the Pavilion where it’s held. You wave enthusiastically to Keqing, who you’ve come to know during all those years. She waves back briefly, but then returns to doing all her busy Yuheng stuff.

You stop near the railing, facing Hu Tao with a serious, if slightly dazed, look. Placing both hands on her shoulders, you lean close. “This is the day I propose. Just watch.”

Her face takes on a gleeful turn. Clapping her hands, she gestures for you to line up on the queue of people awaiting their yearly dose of wisdom from the Lord of Geo. “I wish you all the best. Onwards, oh brave soldier of the heart!”

Significantly encouraged by her words, your slightly tipsy self made your way to the line, waiting patiently for your turn. When you finally reach the front, you pull out the large cor lapis you got lucky enough to win on the market the other day, and with a slightly intoxicated grin, you walk your way to the front.

Cor lapis in hand, you raise it in an offering motion and say quietly, because no one else needs to hear what you’re about to proclaim except you and the Geo Archon, “Rex Lapis, will you marry me?”

Unfortunately, due to the previously mentioned inebriated state, you didn’t quite manage to control the volume of your voice. Hu Tao’s laugh can be heard amidst the silence that ensues after your proposal.

Molten gold roots you in place. Rex Lapis’s eyes all-knowing and just a tiny bit intimidating when directed to your mortal self in full force. It’s hard to tell what he’s thinking of right now since you’re not exactly an expert at reading dragon expressions, so you stand and wait for a few moments for his reply.

However, due to Hu Tao’s laughter and your ridiculous exclamation, Lady Nigguang seems to think this is some elaborate joke. Really now, the lady should know you better. You remember once telling her your goal of marrying Rex Lapis and how she chuckled at you but never once called you strange for it.

Just before the Millelith can arrive to take you away and probably arrest you, Rex Lapis lets out a loud, hearty laugh.

It’s enough to startle everyone within hearing vicinity, including yourself.

“Hah… It has been many years since I felt such keen amusement,” his voice rumbles, carrying on over the crowd and forcing everyone to listen. “For that alone, child, I shall grant you this: return in a few years bearing that same question, and perhaps I shall answer differently.”

To anyone listening, it was obvious that this was just his way of rejecting your proposal and that he would not, in fact, change his mind even in a few years’ time.

To you, though, it meant the world.

Your smile could almost be enough to light up an entire room. “Okay! I’ll hold you to that!”

A woman somewhere behind you gasps at how casually you’re speaking to Rex Lapis, but the rumbling laughter that comes from him says enough. He doesn’t mind.

Cheerily skipping your way out of the sea of onlookers who have their eyes trained on you, you make your way to Hu Tao who’s been watching you with twinkling eyes. She claps your back with a grin, “Whaddya know, a little liquid courage was all it took to get you one step closer to your goal! I’d call this venture of ours a resounding success!”

✧

You wake up the next day with a pounding headache and clear memories of what transpired the day before.

You spend a good few minutes screaming into your pillow.

✧

They’re selling limited edition Rex Lapis figurines at the market today. To avoid the possibility of them getting sold out before you manage to get your hands on one, you’ve decided to camp out right in front of the shop since yesterday.

No one bothers you. After that little debacle at the last Rite of Descension, you’ve become known in Liyue Harbor as the girl who proposed to Rex Lapis. It garnered a few disapproving looks, especially from the old geezers, but unlike your childhood, quite a lot of people now find it funny instead of weird. It’s probably because of how Rex Lapis himself reacted in that situation.

Even the store owner is giving you amused looks as you lay on the cot you’ve set up beside his store since last night. But that was no matter, he was finally opening his shop. Looking around, you find a lot of people standing in the queue right behind you.

You stand up, grinning to yourself as you realized how much of a genius plan this is. You’re first in line.

Figurine in hand and a couple thousand mora broke, you would have missed the identity of the person behind you if you hadn’t recognized their voice. Turning around, you come face to face with none other than, “Keq—”

She quickly shuts you up by placing a hand over your mouth, her other hand holding a Rex Lapis figurine.

Oh Archons.

After dragging you to a less crowded alley, she finally lets you speak. An excited smile forms on your lips. “Keqing! I didn’t know you were a fan!”

“Not so loud!” She shushes you, then she places the figurine in a bag you didn’t notice before, hidden from the world. “And I’m not a fan. I think his views are a little outdated and Liyue could benefit more from a more modernized outlook. But… I do admire his achievements and all he’s done for Liyue.” She sees the knowing look on your face. “That doesn’t make me a fan, okay?”

“Sure, sure. Whatever you say.”

“And even if I was a fan—which I am most certainly not—I’m not like you who would propose to the Geo Archon in front of Liyue’s high profiles.” She places her hand on her hip. “Honestly, I’ve been meaning to ask, but what possessed you to do such an act?”

At the reminder of your mortifying display, a bit of heat creeps to your cheeks. Thankfully, the wear and tear of time has a way of lessening humiliation, especially when said humiliating act is the only thing you’ve been hearing about for the past few months.

“It may have been extremely embarrassing, but I have no regrets! You’ll see, Keqing, one day I’ll invite you to my wedding.”

She sighs at your hopeless delusions. “There’s no arguing with you, is there? Alright, invite me if you will, but I have somewhere to be right now.” You let her go easily. Turning to you one last time, she says, “And don’t tell anyone about this encounter, okay?”

“Gotcha!”

✧

At eighteen, you meet the first person apart from Rex Lapis who’s ever managed to make your heart skip a beat. (For now.)

“Hu Tao, who is that?” you whisper frantically to the newly appointed Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.

“Hm?” She looks up from the papers in her hand and follows your line of sight. “Oh! That’s Mister Zhongli. He’s our newly hired consultant. Very knowledgable in history and very, and I mean very, rich. It’s like he creates mora out of thin air, that’s how rich he is.”

Tall, handsome, smart, older than you, and rich with earthy tones and amber eyes.

Oh no.

He was exactly your type.

Almost too exact, considering your type is, well, Rex Lapis himself.

Until today, you didn’t even realize you had a type until you found yourself faced with the handsome consultant—Zhongli, his name is Zhongli. For some reason or another, you think you’ve seen him somewhere before, but that idea was quickly shot down. There was just no way you’d ever forget seeing a person like him.

Another problem is that you never even knew you were capable of being attracted to anyone who isn’t Rex Lapis, Morax, the Geo Archon, or all of the above.

Hu Tao seems to have caught on to your internal dilemma.

She raises her arm. “Mister Zhongli, come over here for a sec!”

“What are you doing?!” you hiss at her, slapping her arm repeatedly before straightening once your new object of interest makes his way over. You try your best to inconspicuously rake your eyes over him. If Zhongli notices your attempt at checking him out, he thankfully doesn’t say anything.

“Yes, Director, did you need me for anything?” he says, and good lord, even his voice held that sort of richness to it that made you want to listen to him talk all day.

Hu Tao smiles that same smile you once likened to a shark, all teeth and ready to pounce at any hint of weakness, which in this case is your quickly developing probably-but-hopefully-not-a-crush on her new employee. “Nothing in particular. I just wanted to introduce you here to my friend.”

Her hand lands on the small of your back as she all but shoves you in front Zhongli. You manage not to stumble as you’re pushed forward, internally clenching your fist and thinking of ways to retaliate against your best friend slash the bane of your existence.

You have to crane your neck up just to meet his amused amber eyes, that’s how tall the guy is.

“Ah, I believe you are the Director’s dear friend? She has spoken to me in length about you.”

You find yourself uncharacteristically tongue-tied. “Y-Yeah.” You then manage to introduce yourself with minimum stuttering.

“Well met. My name is Zhongli, the new consultant at the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.” He smiles, looking very regal and wise and infuriatingly handsome and—NO!

You have to stay loyal. Just because a pretty face appeared doesn’t mean you can cheat on your future husband… even if you’re not together yet so technically what you’re doing isn’t actually cheating.

Oh Rex Lapis, please forgive me for this severe case of adultery. I’ll accept any, ahem, punishment you’re willing to give. I promise I’ll bring you the best offering at next year’s Rite of Descension. And maybe you could, you know, finally give me an answer on my proposal—no pressure though!

Zhongli tilts his head ever so slightly like he just heard something funny.

In order to avoid committing anymore acts of cheating, you bid him a hasty goodbye. “It’s been nice meeting you, Mister Zhongli, but I just remembered I have a, uh, statue to clean up! Gotta go!”

You ignore Hu Tao’s knowing look following you as you quickly make your way out of the Funeral Parlor.

✧

“I heard you’ve finally moved on from Rex Lapis,” Xingqiu says in lieu of a greeting.

“I did not! And who told you that?”

He smiles. You’re not fooled by the slightest. That smile is a devil hidden behind the facade of an angel. “Why, our mutual friend Hu Tao did.”

✧

“You know, forcing yourself to clean up every statue of the Geo Archon isn’t going to make the crush you have on Mister Zhongli disappear,” Chongyun points out, watching you work away as you sweep dead leaves into a pile.

“How about you focus on that big fat crush you have on Xingqiu instead?”

He gasps, but your words do their trick in keeping him silent about your not-crush.

✧

Xiangling hands you a surprisingly normal dish when you next see her. “As a gift of celebration for getting your first crush, I made your favorite!”

“I don’t have a crush on Zhongli!”

She smiles. “Hehe, I didn’t say a name.”

You raise your hands in defeat. “Fine. Whatever. Free food is free food.” You take a seat on Wanmin restaurant’s stool and dig into your food.

Guoba pats your knee consolingly.

✧

It takes a good few weeks before you can stand to be in Zhongli’s presence without becoming a heart-palpitating mess. Another few weeks before you can have a proper conversation without thinking about how mesmerizing his eyes are and how nice his biceps look in his snug suit and how much you want to—

Enough!

After the initial awkwardness that is your first meeting, you find that you actually enjoy Zhongli’s company a lot. For one, he’s very knowledgable, has a good eye for scammers which led to your monthly dose of being scammed decreasing significantly. Two, he’s a gentleman. A true gentleman, not like Xingqiu who’d leave you waiting for hours at a meeting spot ‘cause he got too engrossed in reading his books. Zhongli’s the kind who offers you his coat when it’s cold and opens the door for you to enter first.

And lastly, he’s rich.

Hu Tao wasn’t lying at all, the guy is rich enough to be able to haggle the market sellers into selling their wares for a higher price then buy said highly priced wares. You once asked him why he’s working in a Funeral Parlor when it seems like he’s rich enough to have even his great-grandchildren live comfortable and wealthy lives.

His answer?

“I would like to experience working a normal job alongside the people.”

You didn’t have the heart to tell him that if he really wanted to do that, he should’ve chosen a job where he’d constantly be surrounded by living breathing people, not dead ones.

✧

You didn’t realize it then, but at the age of twenty, you meet the person you will one day be cheesily calling the love of your life.

A person is leaning against the statue of your beloved Archon, blood coating his body and smearing it on his surroundings.

The wounded stranger looks up, a guarded look in his eyes as he supports himself with a spear tipped with jade. Blood drips off a strand of his teal hair and he looks like he’s one step away from death’s door, but even then, there’s no mistaking he could still take you on in a fight and win. There’s brown spots here and there that indicate the blood has dried off, which means he’s probably been here for a while. Or maybe it’s bird poop, who knows.

You should probably help the guy, but you can do nothing but stare in horror at the bloody mess in front of you.

The stranger opens his mouth to speak, but you beat him to it.

“Damn it! Do you know how hard it is to keep that statue clean?! Go bleed out somewhere else!”

the adepti’s guide on how to not catch feelings for the strange mortal who has a massive crush on your pseudo-dad

step one: don��t go to the statue for healing, or you might just meet the aforementioned strange mortal

series masterlist

next step

word count: 4.7k

note: i’d like to clarify that reader is an orphan, which means everything you’ve done so far is indeed fatherless behavior. not much xiao since we’re just establishing your relationships with various characters for future purposes, but starting next chapter he’s gonna be having major appearances. send me an ask or comment if you wanna be added to the taglist! ^^

[slugdragoon]

Devlog #7 - Shephard and Lumberman enemies + new Necromancer animation, summons flee, and new status effects!

Alright, I'm really excited about this one, it's a big one!

The biggest part of my week was finishing three animations for enemy types in the game. These are the third, fourth, and fifth animations I've even done (first two being the Snake and Sheep summons), and I feel myself getting better each time.

the Necromancer - I've had an idle blocked out for this guy in solid colours for a while, he's been in my other devlogs, but finally buckled down and did the shading and colouring. I'm thinking to give him a Skeleton or Zombie summon, which may be my next animation, as I have a matching status effect for them nearly worked out.

the Shepherd - Next, and this is my most recent work - the Shepherd. This idea came from the Sheep summon, who I introduced as a summon which could put you to sleep. I needed status-inflicting summons, thus the Sheep. I thought a Shepherd with the ability to summon Sheep and a passive ability to keep your summons around longer (shepherding them around) that you can inherit onto any summoning class would be perfect. And I'm happy to say, both of those abilities are implemented, making the Shepherd my most complete enemy type to date!

the Lumberman - I did this animation before the Shepherd, and I may rework it later on, because musculature is f-ing hard man, but I had an idea for physical attacks to, in contrast to magic skills, be more used for a variety of tactical targeting scenarios, each with advantages and drawbacks that make sense for the implied weapon type. I thought up a Cleave (not implemented yet) ability that's meant to evoke a Guts-like (Berserk) warrior who cuts down many enemies at once, but applies a big penalty on the user when an armoured foe is caught up in it. It works for an axe, so I made an enemy whose "thing" is that they're an axe man, so started with a lumberjack. I started with a normal human skin tone, but my animation blocking was temporarily green, and I liked copper-y armour and weapons for him, so I tried making him look like oxidized copper as well. I though the idea for a metal man who chops down trees was pretty cool, and here we are!

New status effects - I also designed three new status effect icons for inflictions I have planed. I showed the Sleep and Poison ones last time, and a version of those effect is in the game (I added green to the Poison icon).

The new effects are Blindness, Charm, and Fear. Only Fear is partly implemented so far. The plan for Charm is probably typical. Have allies attack each other or heal the charmer. For Blindness, I like the idea of forcing a random target more than lowering accuracy (maybe a mix of a little lower accuracy, but also randomizing your target making it a risk to hit an enemy that could retaliate against you, I feel that could make some interesting encounters).

As for Fear, that is partly implemented. Fear causes your summoned minions to flee, and I'm toying with the idea of having it block or cancel some kinds of buffs (can't raise your Attack Power if your party member doesn't feel brave enough to attack, that sort of thing). I want to give the summoned minions a protective effect so that you need way do sift through them to land meaningful attacks.

Minions have to be able to flee, so I made it so that they can (complete with an animation). They also now flee at the end of battle, which the Shepherd's passive ability stops (it will eventually be a percentage chance to flee).

In addition, while character's with swords and arrows might go directly for the summoner, I added another new Smash ability (imagine warhammers, clubs, etc.) that hits both the enemy itself and causes some if it's minions to scatter, thinning the herd.

I have some other changes to assets and the code, but that was already a lot! This really felt like one where, at least a small number of more complete ideas fit together really well!

[siryouarebeingmocked]

Someone recently claimed that the new Davies era of doctor who has no more wokism* than the show used to.

Now, maybe I've just changed in the past few decades, but from what I've heard of the 60th anniversary specials it does seem a tad more concentrated. Cherry-picking SPOILERS, sweeties.

- Donna got married offscreen. To what I can only assume is the last black cab driver in London.

- Her kid is trans. Specifically, non-binary, female presenting, says the wiki.** - In the next episode, we learn the Doctor is gay/bi when he thinks Sir Isaac Newton is hot. I'd smugly say this bit has no real relevance, but...the actual scene does carry the episode theme of accidentally changing reality. It's just the queer bit that seems tacked on. Though it does carry forward themes from 10s era. - Sir Zack himself is played by a half-Indian actor. It's not exactly hard to tell. I'm assuming they're running on Bridgerton logic. https://twitter.com/frozenaesthetic/status/1731332492282429950 - This episode is basically just Donna and the Doc exploring a weird location, and running into monsters, who happen to look like them. It would be a bottle episode, except for the large vfx budget. And yet ol' Rusty somehow managed to awkwardly wedge in an  progressive issue. - In the next episode, the villain explains how he's just exploiting the divisions that already exist in human society, including cancel culture. - no wait he's got a point. Jpg - This is ironic, given that Davies and/or his broadcasting house masters are pretty blatantly on the team that a) coined the word,  b) cancels people the most often, and c) defends the idea of Internet lynch mobs*** (***as long as they're left wing. If not, they're *ist "trolls", even if they're just complaining about the latest sacred cow.) Maybe the Davies was criticizing his own team. * Because the Toymaker was kind of racist back in the day (white dude dressed like a stereotypical Chinese dude), Davies made the new version a bit racist "as a callback to his original, problematic depiction back in 1966." - TVtropes, ref. DW Unleashed. On the other hand, the Toymaker also mocks and dresses as several other cultural archetypes. All the ones I've seen were white European ones. He just does this to everyone, apparently. - Toymaker also weaponizes the Spice Girls hit "Spice Up Your Life". No, I will not explain. Though I will note that a line about the "Yellow man in Timbuktu" was apparently drowned out in the episode. Probably for being a tad spicy. - One new UNIT character is a lady in a wheelchair. When the new Tardis - no, I will not explain - has a wheelchair ramp, she happily points it out. Which makes me wonder why the blue box would be so limited, considering it often deals with alien species. - Also, the same actress played a disabled Companion in the Big Finish audio dramas. I'm not sure why it was considered essential to do so in an entirely audio format, but there have been controversies over this sort of thing before (EG Artie on Glee, various racial voice acting controversies). - At this point, casting Ncuti Gatwa as 15 doesn't even register. Not really a blip on my radar. Black Doc? Whatevs. His sonic screwdriver has Rwandan words on it? So? I go to church with lots of Africans. Heck, I'm a black immigrant to ol' Blighty myself, just from the other side of the pond. Ncuti is, chronologically speaking, more British than I am. - Though given that he's Rwandan-Scottish, there may be some debate on the "British" part. - Wikipedia says the actor is pretty left-wing, but the actor seems good so far, so I'm willing to give him a sha-

Oh, come ON!

Maybe the original person speaking was comparing it to the Chibnall “history has always been a whitewash” era, which had a character who was a paper thin Trump satire. A tad ironic, when the whole point of bringing Davies, Tennant, and Tate back is to play on nostalgia.

*Tangent: that word was apparently voted  the most annoying words in English. Which is kind of hilarious if you know that it was originally created to self-describe certain progressives. And the "you can't even define that word!" meme was almost certainly ripped off from the right wing "what is a woman?" Meme. ** This is apparently because she's part Time Lord, through Donna. It seems a tad interesting to me that a few works featuring non binary characters happen to make them enby due to some sort of supernatural (Omniscient Reader) or sci-fi (SW Squadrons) influence which the vast majority of IRL enbies don't have. ...As far as I know.

[princess-of-the-corner]

honestly anything TA says about Chloé and her background and motives is just like, a display of shallow understanding on how society works. People don't care if the customer service workers (from waiters to doctors and any job that serves a customer, which is pretty much all of them) do their job for money or because they genuinely like said job so long as they get good service like they were promised. Privilege is part of a whole ass System and you can't say just *this one specific person* has privilege when literally a majority of the cast has white privilege, all of them are at least middle class, and Adrien, who is one of the main characters, and Felix and Gabriel, two other big names in the show, are upper class white males. the last two are people who get off scott free from all their crimes which is probably what would happen in real life because of said privileges. And even then, the money all the rich kids supposedly have? Not even theirs. They're all broke dependent children with Adrien being the only one with a job and even then where's that money going? Does Kagami get fencing prize money? Is it hers or is it her mother's? Also anyone can be abused and have trauma and mental illnesses and whatnot, and full stop. Doesn't matter what you have or don't have.

Yeah no exactly like.

If we pretend for a hot second that having wealth cancels out any other trauma, then it should cancel out at least every traumatic experience for Gabriel, Felix, Adrien and Kagami. Not to mention you have to ask where the line is drawn because a lot of the Miracuclass is pretty well-off even though they're not quite in the 'Scrooge McDuck Money' category. (seriously we have discussed the class's financial situations before and of those whose families we've seen the only one who /might/ not be some kind of rich is Mylene.)

But these things don't exist in a vacuum.

You can have all the money in the world and still have trauma from various things! Since we were just talking about a certain AU, let's gesture over to Batman who is famously very rich but also traumatized as fuck!

Someone wealthy can have fucked up events happen to them. They can have parents that abuse them. They can have partners that abuse them. They could be born with some chemical imbalance that makes them depressed despite the fact that they 'have no reason to be depressed' because fuck man that's what depression does!

And while wealth can help, as it has access to resources to help fix your problems, it doesn't solve things.

But yes! Chloé being a child has another layer to it! Because her wealth is not her own and she /can't/ use her money to fix her problems! Even if Chloé did realize 'hey I need therapy', she'd need to get her parents' permission and have them pay for it.

At the same time, she has no way to escape her situation. She is underage and needs a legal guardian of some sort. Her parents have enough money that she can't report them for child abuse and expect to be removed from their custody. She has no access to income of her own and/or skills to get income where she could petition to be emancipated from them.

And even when she /does/ become an adult, there's the question of what will happen. Because maybe they cut her off and leave her to flounder with no skills as soon as she turns 18. On the other hand, they could keep controlling her like a child because she has no skills thanks to their shitty upbringing and can't survive without them, so it's a game of 'you'll get money as long as you do exactly what I want'.

This stuff does similarly apply to Adrien, Felix and Kagami as well. They seem a bit more ready to function in the world, but even so they're still children at the whims of their parents and can only escape through their parents fucking dying.

[bambiraptorx]

I am curious, why is Draxum so protective and secretive over his mask and anyone seeing his face in your MI AU? is his mask like a safe object since he is written to be neurodivergent?

There's a couple of different reasons, and one of them definitely is that is a safety/comfort object for him. Backstory-wise, he's had it for centuries, making it one of the possessions he's held onto the longest. Given how much he used to travel, it might be the only one he's managed to hang onto. It was also probably a gift from someone he cared about, and likely the only thing he has to remind him of them.

Also, the sensory blocking spell he cast for Mikey in ch 17? Draxum uses that kind of spell himself, usually casting more than one and using his mask as a sort of focal point. (Also he can toggle the spells on and off, so it's kinda like constantly carrying noise-canceling headphones around for him? But for other senses too? I'm still fleshing out the mechanics lol)

But another reason for the mask? Well, he's masking, literally as well as figuratively. He's hiding his 'true' self (one that, as shown in season 2, is more expressive and outright emotional). He doesn't feel comfortable revealing his actual face or even having it acknowledged that he's hiding a pretty important part of himself, but also? He wears the mask so much that he thinks of it as his actual face. His self-perception is so rooted in hiding a part of himself that he no longer thinks of it as hidden--he doesn't think about it at all.

This is more or less why Leo hasn't seen Draxum's actual face yet, even though he's been waking Draxum up at ridiculous hours of the night for a while now. Draxum wakes up and puts the mask on like a pair of glasses, and once he has it on he essentially forgets he's wearing it. Yes, part of it is that on some level Draxum doesn't like or want the vulnerability of showing Leo his face, but he's so used to wearing it that it feels more like him than his real face does.

TLDR: it's a symbol of Draxum's neurodivergence, but also kind of a metaphor for him masking and maybe sort of about his internalized ableism? Which is complicated, but hey, that's how being ND is sometimes.

[kuwdora]

The fraught experience of watching TV in a streaming entertainment economy.

I basically watch new TV with the expectation that current season I’m watching is going to be the last. That includes The Witcher Netflix, btw, but other shows, too. I get the feeling we’ve all sort of…come to this conclusion, right? We’re all so jaded because things get cancelled left and right. Nothing is safe. Nothing. :(

We all have to race to watch The Sandman or Shadow and Bone ASAP instead of enjoying a week-to-week drop. It’s exhausting. I don’t like feeling guilty when I don’t have the brain to watch things. I definitely have just streamed stuff in the background and watched it for real later, too.

Star Trek Prodigy on Paramount? Cancelled and pulled from the platform. People who purchased the rest of the season on Amazon never got the episodes because the rights were pulled. Star Trek is the flagship IP!!! And it STILL GOT CANCELLED. Even though it’s beautiful, and fucking brilliant and incredible television and had new episodes in the pipeline.

The other show I’m currently mourning is Moonhaven. I wrote about that show here. It was renewed for a second season! It’s an fascinating, atypical sci-fi TV premise with great leads and interesting worldbuilding and shooting locations in Ireland. And then AMC decided that they were not going to renew it. It’s similar what happened to Avenue 5 on HBO (Ave 5 was more of a Schroedinger’s Cancellation. It’s cancelled except maybe not? But it really is cancelled.)

A League of Their Own? Cancelled. Willow? Cancelled. The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance? Sense8???? The list goes on and on. :(

I think for me it was in 2017 or 2018 that I really started internalizing this idea that none of my favorite, amazing shows were going to last. Santa Clarita Diet was axed by Netflix far too soon. Same with Altered Carbon. Those cancellations changed me, yeah…

I follow a lot of WGA writers on twitter and there’s been a lot of discussion happening about the Suits renaissance. Suits aired on the USA Network for 9 years with 16+ episodes/season. It’s been streaming on NBC’s Peacock platform for awhile and now has 8 seasons on Netflix. It’s currently the most-streamed show in Nielson’s history, something like over 2 billion minutes now. people are discovering it for the first time or coming back to it for a very happy rewatch.

This writer sums up the situation perfectly.

I also can’t track down the tweet where a writer was talking to a development executive at Peacock who admitted that they wouldn’t be able to get Suits made today.

Ugly Betty is another show that’s having a similar bump (thanks in part to Barbie, people catching up to how amazing America Ferrara is. Also watch Superstore!!) because people are looking for these longer shows that have character development and the longevity.

The only streaming platform I currently ‘trust’ with my vested TV interests is AppleTV. And I only trust them because I can see what kind of free reign they’re allowing their creatives to do with their shows. They’re specific and bold premises and commitment to characters and themes. Similar to Netflix in the early years. I doubt this will last much longer.

On Apple TV you’ve got incredible psychological thrillers like Severence and Silo happening. The musical comedy Schmiagdoon! too.

Ted Lasso got to have longer episodes and handed over showrunning duties to the lead actor with some questionable creative choices made in those seasons. It still got to complete the show on its own terms. Amazing.

Apple TV also has Mythic Quest which is a unique comedy in the streaming age.

It’s a workplace comedy about a fictionalized video game development company. Picture Ubisoft who also provides video game assets/interstitials for the show among other things. It’s Community meets Always Sunny in Philadelphia (features writers and actors from both). A comedy that examines toxic masculinity in a workplace, completely roasts the girlbloss tropes and the patriarchy. The main characters are really autistic and ADHD coded. The show is completely self-aware (at times painfully so).

But what sets Mythic Quest apart and what tells me Apple TV is letting creatives do their jobs: This show has Bottle Episodes! And flashback episodes that don’t feature any of the primary actors! But the episodes are still relevant to the the themes and character dynamics the show is exploring.

In a hyper-serialized streaming world where executives and product strategists are measuring engagement by minutes watched and how soon they watch, Apple TV is letting these folks make episodes you can watch out of order or skip. But they’re also episodes with high rewatchability. It’s a show with a ton of heart. Apple TV renews Mythic Quest ahead of a season premiere. It renews it for multiple seasons. I’ve found this commitment to the longevity of the show very heartening.

In the past I’ve fallen in love with shows that were irreverent, campy, self-aware comedies. All of these were ABC shows so I can’t even rail against the streaming model. But like Netflix shows they weren’t given enough time to reach a wider audience even though I think some of these definitely have Cult Acclaim by now. I showed up bright an early for most of these and my god. The cancellations stung so much. That pain just accumulated over the years. A precursor of what was to come. :(

Better Off Ted - 2009 show. Another workplace satire that was just ahead of it’s time in the way it showed us the gallows humor of being a cog in the capitalist system. Addressed sexism, racism and classism. Funny as hell. Portia di Rossi knew the fucking assignment and fucked its brains out with her performance. Maz Jobrani was only in like 5 or 6 episodes and he was SO GOOD. I made sure to see every local comedy show I could to see more of him once I saw him in Better off Ted. - currently streaming on Hulu

Galavant - 2014-2016 - a fantasy musical. Monty Python meets Princess Bride. Featuring creators and lyricists who worked on 90s Disney films. So fucking funny and cheeky and heartwarming and silly. The music is so GREAT. All my Witcher and Our Flag Meets Death friends need to check this one out if they need something new-to-them that is witty and light and heartfelt. - also streaming on Hulu

Don’t Trust the B— in Apt 23 - a 2012 show with Krysten Ritter!! Before she was Jessica Jones! This show has eccentric women characters and James van der Beek playing a fictionalized version of himself. This is a show that had so much potential and they aired everything out of order and and and and and and I loved it so much. - Hulu since this is again an ABC show. Vid Rec: Applause by elipie.

Selfie - JOHN CHO AND KAREN GILLAN! John Cho and Karen Gillan in a ROM COM. The screeching wails from fandom when this got cancelled. It was an amazing set-up, amazing chemistry. Funny, quirky. You could see the growth in both of the characters!! And! We Never! Got enough!! - seriously watch this on hulu if you can. John and Karen are AMAZING.

Every first season of Star Trek has been wobbly or had wobbily episodes that didn't work or actors were still getting to know their characters. Every first season. Including new Trek! The X-Files? Even rebooted again? I don’t think it would work. Heck, even if they made second reboot of Battlestar Galactica I’m not sure it’d last. FARSCAPE! Got cancelled! By SyFy! They (like Sense8 and Firefly and a few others) got to have a movie conclusion. But at what narrative cost?? The Expanse got cancelled and uncancelled. The Orville got cancelled and uncancelled. I can't get my hopes up about anything unless I know it's a "limited series" at the onset.

I'm exhausted and sad by the state of the industry. I hope the writers and actors get everything from the studios and we can see a shift back to the previous working models again. Better working conditions and pay and residuals.

So I'll eventually watch A League of Their Own and 1899 and I know I'm going to fucking love every moment that we got to have. And then mourn. And go dig up all the fanfic and vids and art that I can to get my fix.

I think for now I'm gonna join in the Suits rewatch cause I love the humor and the character growth and relationships are fantastic. I don't think I rewatched Suits or Ugly Betty since they aired.