#AND THEN IRONICALLY HE LITERALLY DOES THAT. LIKE THAT'S ALL HE DOES.

[journal-number-3]

What the LOA Too Many Games live show was like from someone who was there, in no particular order:

-there was a Sarnax cosplayer in front of me (nails and all). When I complimented their cosplay they gave me an 'offering' (lifesaver candy)

-the whole story was about saving Gideon, an obvious riff on the fact that Mace wasn't there.

-Part of Kremys introduction was that he's ironically married to Gideon. Happy pride.

-Torbek tried to break a mirror with mind powers. Andy screamed for a solid minute I think. Torbek canonically burst a blood vessel.

-Kremy just breaks it with his cane

-Shout out to the pair in front of me who had muffins (delicious) and balloon animals (pictured below)

-There was very loud music playing from the other room and this was referenced in character by Mikey. "It sounds like they're airing a trailer for the next fast and the furious"

-My mom thinks Torbek sounds like Roz from Monsters Inc

-They went to a fortune teller, who (among many things other things) told Torbek he was going to die in Ye Olde Arby's in Ye Olde Columbus Ohio

-Nikkie: You hear Gideons laughter-

The boys- *immediately begin imitating Mace's laughter*

-Theres no other way to say this. Frost and Torbek have sex in the tunnel of love

-the man behind me was very excited for Chuckles. Love that for him.

-Shout out to a well meaning parent that was clearly dragged by the rest of his family and at one point was on the Avantris wiki. I love you.

-There was another body swap. Poor three voice Derek got stuck trying to chuckles again

-Kremy: Gideon once told a joke like "What's the difference between three cocks and a joke? Kremy can't take a joke" I still don't get it.

-Kremy, later, while they're all cursed to laugh: Oh I get that joke Gid said now hahahah

Everyone: *laughs too*

Kremy, while still laughing: it's true though haha

Everyone: *looks to Kremy in shocked silence*

-Derek: *does a popping sound effect*

The audience: *many popping sound effects*

-Andy full on climbed in Mikey's lap

-Gideons laughter was literally being bottled up and sold for a profit (everything comes back to making fun of Mace)

[ae-neon]

Sarah Janet, do NOT piss me off

“Enjoyed that*, did you?” Chaol growled.

“Immensely.” Celaena patted Chaol’s arm as she took it in her own. “Now you must pretend that you like me, or else everything will be ruined.”

“You and the Crown Prince share the same sense of humor, it seems.”

“Perhaps he and I will become dear friends, and you will be left to rot.”

“Dorian is more inclined to associate with ladies of better breeding and beauty.” She whipped her head to look at him.

He smiled. “How vain you are.”

She glared. “I hate women like that. They’re so desperate for the attention of men that they’d willingly betray and harm members of their own sex. And we claim men cannot think with their brains! At least men are direct about it.” (🙄)

*The "that" in question being Dorian telling Celaena about her alias as a jewel thief

(after picking her up from the mine, spending a night there, spending 2 weeks on the road to the capital and having spent at least a night in the castle. He has already said her real name out loud in public, she has introduced herself to a servant and signed a letter with that name but sure...)

Then Dorian insinuates both him and Chaol are both sleeping with her/gonna sleep with her? All to slight Kaltain, instead of just telling either his mother the queen or Kaltain herself that he has no interest in her. So no, men are not direct about it.

Also Celaena earlier drops a potted plant from a balcony, aiming directly for Kaltain because Kaltain was bad mouthing her over Dorian (Celaena's captor technically) but misses, so really saying she hates Kaltain for betraying and harming members of her own sex for male attention is too ironic. Not to mention Celaena almost breaking her neck when Chaol implies Dorian is out of her league. Typical sjm MC hypocrisy

ALSO ALSO Kaltain is a lesser noble woman in a patriarch feudal society. Her life DOES depend on men. She literally has no choice in the matter

“They say that her father is as rich as a king,” Chaol said. “I suppose that’s part of why Perrington is so infatuated. She arrived here in a litter bigger than most peasant huts; it was carried here from her home. A distance of almost two hundred miles.”

“What debauchery.”

“I pity her servants.”

“I pity her father!” They chuckled, and he lifted the arm linked with hers a bit higher.

First of all, Chaol is a lord. Celaena is a princess. Both are in the favour of the prince whose dad basically owns the continent and benefits off of slave labour. Pointing out that Kaltain's father is rich is supposed to do what exactly

Second, Celaena girl...

"I pity her father🤣😭🙏💯🔥💀"

Literally I wouldn't care if Celaena hadn't tried to justify her behaviour and just said she hates Kaltain

but to try to use the mental gymnastics of liberal feminism to say Kaltain is bad because she's competing for the prince's attention (her literal job as a lady of court) while also saying men are naturally less messy? And being a messy catty bitch with your colonising male friends while you do it?

So much of this book is nonsense like this. Celaena tells us she loves clothes and dressing up and being pretty and so girly

but then swears she being stabbed by her corset and that her dress is impractical and that's why she prefers tunics and pants because it's easier to kill 37 grown men in combat that way

But then dresses in a corseted dress for the first day of the competition despite not knowing what to expect

Nothing is adding up.

To be fair, these things can coexist but in better writing they would present themselves appropriately. Here it is just thrown together one sentence after the other with no attention to the blatant contradiction

[hotdaemondtargaryen]

FABIEN FRANKEL AND MATT SMITH TALKING ABOUT THEIR CHARACTERS IN 'HOUSE OF THE DRAGON' S2 FOR CBR MAGAZINE.

ABOUT EPISODE 2.

FABIEN FRANKEL:

"[Criston's] really shocked, actually. I don't think he ever thought it was going to be him. Larys [Strong] has a better chance of becoming Hand [of the King] than Criston does."

"It's not a bad thing for Criston that Otto [Hightower] is gone. Criston as Lord Commander is about as high up as he ever thought he could ever get."

"Criston is not built for this kind of power. He's a soldier. He's built to be out on the field fighting."

"He's not an orator. He is not a wise leader. That just isn't him. He's a man of few words, a man of action, and a man of, I think, compassion and humanity."

"But ultimately, I don't think he wants it."

"Albeit, I don't think Criston thinks Aegon is the right person necessarily to sit on the Iron Throne. Aegon is also someone who wants to get things done and prove himself."

"Aegon respects Criston because Criston's known him since he was a baby and taught him a great deal. It's kind of like Criston's been a manny to Aegon. [Laughs] He'd rather have Aegon on the Iron Throne than anyone else at that point."

"Even Aemond on the Iron Throne has its own threats and its own risks. Aegon's impetuousness can also be a good thing for Criston as Hand of the King."

MATT SMITH:

"It's very complicated for [Daemon and Rhaenyra] because Rhaenyra feels a great sense of betrayal and a sense of injustice that is being directed at her."

"Ultimately, it's at the hands of Daemon with his impetuous behavior."

"Coupled with the grief of his brother dying... the fracture of that relationship with Rhaenyra means that he literally is an island on his own in the middle of the ocean, with nowhere to go and no one to talk to."

"He's left to his own devices and his own thoughts get the better of him. He becomes submerged in his own deep, dark psychology."

"It's love, grief and vengeance. Daemon feels it's impossible not to exact that feeling of revenge when it's in him."

"He's not someone who can just sit on that and go, 'Do you know what? I'll leave that until tomorrow.' [Jaehaerys' death] isn't his mistake ultimately, but he does put it in motion."

"Whether I've got rose-tinted glasses about Daemon or not, I think he did it with his best intention."

FABIEN AND MATT TALK ABOUT FIGHT SCENES ARE THE BEST PART OF THEIR JOB.

MATT SMITH:

"The [scenes] that are tough are actually the ones where you're sitting around the tables. They take like three days. They've got to do all the coverage on everyone."

And you're like, 'Oh, God.'

FABIEN FRANKEL:

"I think if you quite like sport, which Matt and I do, the fight scenes are the best bit. I actually wish I could do more [fight scenes], because it just gives you something to completely focus all your energies on."

"When Matt and I got to do a great fight together in Season 1, those days flew by, and my adrenaline was sky-high."

WHY CRISTON IS PURSUING THIS RELATIONSHIP DESPITE HIS VOWS OF CELIBACY?

FABIEN FRANKEL:

"I think it's for the audience to create in their head the narrative as to why [Criston and Alicent are] having this relationship. I know what my motivations are playing it."

"It's important to remember that she saved him at the lowest point in his life, at the end of [Season 1, Episode 5, "We Light the Way"] when understanding the psychology behind the relationship."

"I'm very interested to hear what the theories are on that."

HOW MUCH OF DAEMON'S RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS DAUGHTERS VIEWERS WILL SEE IN 'HOUSE OF THE DRAGON' S2?

MATT SMITH:

"Without giving too much away, I don't think it's a huge area of exploration this season because everyone's on their own path a bit, particularly Daemon. There's an interesting story there to be told, certainly."

"Fatherhood is a very complex idea for him at the moment."

"He's still in the throes of grief, so I don't think he's a particularly efficient father this season."

ABOUT THE ARCS OF REDEMPTION FOR DAEMON AND CRISTON.

FABIEN FRANKEL:

"That's for the audience to decide. We're not the writers, so we don't have power over whether these characters ever get redemption arcs or not. They either get them or they don't. Then we have to play whatever is written on the page and find a way to justify that -- good, bad, or in the middle."

MATT SMITH:

"What's going to be interesting is it's up to people to decide, 'Did he do it? It's like it wasn't a mistake. Was it on purpose?' That's in [the fans'] hands really."

FRANKEL AND SMITH BOTH AGREED THAT THEIR CHARACTERS HOLD A MIRROR TO ONE ANOTHER, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO THEIR OBSESSIVE LOYALTY TO THEIR RESPECTIVE FACTIONS.

MATT SMITH:

"Whether it's right or wrong, and whether they make the right decisions or the wrong decisions as a result of it, they both have a profound sense of loyalty in them."

"Maybe that leads to foolish pride, which leaves them exposed. It's a great strength, but it's the greatest downfall in a way, isn't it?"

FABIEN FRANKEL:

"100%. As a human being, I want to think that you have some willingness to change."

"Daemon and Criston's problem is that they don't change enough, or at least, adapt."

"Certainly, Criston finds it very hard to adapt."

"But the world is so complicated and everyone's so hateful, spiteful, manipulative and self-serving."

"Criston and Daemon are just extensions of that, ultimately."

WHAT ARE THE MAIN WEAKNESSES OF DAEMON AND CRISTON?

FABIEN FRANKEL:

"Romance. I don't think [Criston's] built to have relationships."

"Maybe he falls in love with Gwayne Hightower on the road. He's just not built for this world, man."

"I want him to get out of the castle and just get away. I think that once he gets away, things will be a lot better for him."

"But he's trapped."

MATT SMITH:

"Daemon's pride is probably a weapon against him. It's his inability to listen to anyone but himself."

"There are a lot of inner workings in Daemon that are trying to sort of destroy him. In a way, they're the things that propel him and drive him forward."

"I almost don't even want to name them as well, [but I'm] putting them out there."

"He is a dark storm of a man, certainly."

[veinsfullofstars]

for your childhood friends au, do the kids have any favorite foods?

Ooooh, okay okay, so this is something I’ve actually given a fair bit of thought to (maybe too much thought given how long this thing got, haha). I love little details like this in character writing - it makes them feel so much more alive and well-rounded, y'know? The kiddos have preferences as varied as their personalities, and I’m just itching to get into it, so… let’s get into it! (Also, just to be clear, I did pull some of my food headcanons for MK and DDD specifically from source material and the wiki, but most of this kinda just comes right off the dome.)

When it comes to food, Para Dee is probably the most milquetoast of the bunch (though that’s hardly a bad thing). Neither a voracious eater like Dedede nor an avoidant one like Meta, he enjoys food about as much as the average Waddle Dee, more than fine with his three square meals a day (maybe a snack if he’s good). His tastes primarily lean towards savory or bitter flavors, anything from a warm bowl of stew to a nice crisp salad depending on his mood (meaning that, of the four of them, he’s the most likely to eat his veggies... and enjoy them). He’s not the biggest fan of sweets (probably due to that fact that his father is a baker and routinely saturates their home with the heavy scents of vanilla and mixed fruit), but he does have a soft spot floral teas and hot chocolate, especially during the colder seasons. He doesn’t mind sour flavors in small amounts (meaning if someone gets pickles with their meal, you know they’re going onto Para’s plate), but spicy foods? Forget about it. His poor little stomach has no tolerance for spice, to the point where even a little too much pepper has him breaking out in a sweat (something Bow teases him about mercilessly).

If you asked him what his absolute favorite food is, he’d have a hard time choosing... but he'd probably say his father’s caramelized onion soup, a much-beloved dish at their dinner table and a favorite at every community potluck. It’s never quite the same when Para makes it (many years into the future with a family of his own), but it still sparks warm memories of holidays and togetherness with each cheese-laden spoonful.

Then, on the opposite side of the spectrum, we have Bow Dee, our tiny terror with a metabolism and appetite to rival those of her bigger buddies. If left alone and unoccupied for too long, she’s been known to sneak into locked pantries or climb high, off-limits shelves looking for any snacks she can get her grubby little mitts on (a habit she probably learned from watching Dedede). That said, she can be rather picky about which foods she’ll scarf down, especially in her youth when she would literally pick through her meals for the bits she liked and ignore the rest (much to her mothers’ chagrin).

If asked about her favorites, she’d say she likes protein-packed foods the most (omelets, jerky, trail mix, whatever will fuel those boundless energy reserves of hers in the saltiest, most flavorful manner possible) but refuses to touch veggies, pickles, and bitter flavors in general (at least in her childhood, growing a little more adventurous about food during their time overstars). She likes sweets as much as the average high-energy kid, partial to citrus fruits and sour candies especially (she likes how it stings a bit when you eat it, almost like it's fighting back). And, beyond all that, Bow loves spicy foods. Full stop. If it ain’t spicy - or spicy enough - she’ll find a way to make it so. Chili flakes, hot sauce, whole peppers, whatever she has on hand - it’s going in there, and Nova help anyone who tries to stop her. A bit ironic given her natural affinity for Water, though maybe that’s what gives her such a high tolerance for capsaicin. Or maybe she’s just that badass (as she likes to brag to her buddies, watching them steam out the ears from a single jalapeño while she’s already chomped down seven). And before you ask, yes, this has landed her in village clinic on more than one occasion. High tolerance or no, she definitely does not have Dedede’s cast-iron stomach… or Meta’s self-restraint. (We don’t talk about the Ghost Pepper Fiasco.)

Speaking of picky eaters, Meta has a… complicated relationship with food. He’s never had much of an appetite, often going (unsettlingly long) stretches of time without feeling the need to eat, only doing so if someone reminds him to (or if he gets too woozy, whichever comes first). He does need to eat, of course… just not nearly as often as everyone else does, it would seem (a byproduct of his peculiar biology, perhaps?). It’s an excuse he’s used often to get away with skipping meals, sometimes substituting in lighter foods like breakfast bars or Energy Drinks to keep his strength up (though this is hardly a long-term solution). He also finds certain textures and tastes difficult to deal with, even turning down entire meals if just one bite feels off. It makes eating with company - already an awkward experience thanks to his introversion - that much more uncomfortable, sitting there with a full plate while everyone else chews and chatters around him, wishing he could disappear as swiftly as his hunger (a habit that still crops up even in adulthood, though he has learned to push through it for the sake of politeness). Honestly, he could write a whole dissertation on how the act of consumption is a burden upon the living and no one should be subjected to it… and then he remembers chocolate exists and takes it all back for a while.

That’s really the one exception to his food trepidation: sweets. Perhaps it comes from living in Dream Land where sugary foods are so plentiful, the forests rich with apples and berries, the scent of pies and pastries wafting from windowsills, even the lands themselves named after foods of all sorts. Or perhaps it stems from his earliest memories, a helping hand and a bar of something indescribably sweet and rich, the first he’d ever tasted… Whatever the case, it’s stuck with him, a livelong love of sweets and sweet-adjacent foods, one that narrows, refines, and changes over time into preferences for chocolate, coffee, and other foods with light but flavorful consistencies. Not that this stops his friends (and later his crewmates) from hounding him into eating more nutritious meals once in a while, too. It's frustrating, but he knows they mean well, and he gets better about listening to their advice with time.

And finally, whipping to the other side of the scale once more, it’s Dedede, the penguin equivalent of a vacuum, willing to eat literally anything you put in front of him (including things you probably should not eat). He wouldn’t say he has many strong preferences - all food is good food in his eyes - though he does appreciate a good bone-in steak or similarly hearty dishes like seafood or pasta, and he could never pass up a nice rich dessert (especially cakes).

More than the taste, though, it’s really the act of eating - a pastime even more beloved than sparring or sleeping - that brings Dedede comfort, whether it’s through cozy communal meals with neighbors, the thrill of food-based competitions with friends (ones that will later inspire Dream Land’s famous Gourmet Races), or just to deal with the boredom (and loneliness) when he’s stuck on his own. It’s possible he gets this behavior from his mama, a little on the heavier side herself and known for her own cast-iron constitution back in her wrestling days (not to mention prone to spoiling her “darlin’ baby bird” and his friends with extra treats all the time). Meanwhile, his papa - a stickler for decency and discipline - is constantly reminding his son to slow down during meal times, wondering if he’s even tasting the food he’s shoving down his gullet (a blunt but well-intentioned criticism given the many, many tummy troubles Dedede suffers in his younger days). He never manages to fully tame his massive appetite (certainly not helped by the more decadent lifestyle he later adopts as a king), but he does at least refine it over time, learning from Para of all people about the joys of savoring meals rather than always inhaling them outright.

Phew, alright, I think that’s about it. Thanks for the question! Hopefully I didn't go too in-depth for such a simple one - I was having fun with it and might've gotten carried away again, haha. Well, at the very least, it'll give you guys some nuggets to chew on in the meantime (pun super not intended).

Sketches started 06/25/24, finished 06/27/24.

[reorientation]

Hello, it's grindr Alice again. It felt so embarrassing, having to say repeatedly that I've got a fresh load in a cunt, a female fertile cunt that's right there between my legs. After having to say I'm a female right there at the counter (yes, there were other people in there listening to us) they took me to a consultation room and asked again if it's for me, and if I know that this pill is for women... I had to confirm that yes, I know, I have all the parts and really really need it... I had to tell them that I was a cumdump just a few hours earlier because they asked how long ago I had sex. I had to write down 'female' on the form they gave me.

Also ironically the guy didn't even misgender me on purpose or anything, because I wasn't brave enough to say that I'm into that on grindr, I guess he just decided that calling me 'a female' is so obvious and natural becasue that's what I am regardless of my 'identity'...

My identity might indeed be just a needy little cunt. She's so desperate and leaking 24/7 - everyone said I'll get less wet on T, but it never happened, I have a constant flooding in my boxers, sometimes I'm even waking up with them completely soaked.

The guy I said I might get fucked by unfortunately bailed. He said he could take me raw in a park nearby, and I made my way there, and waited in the dark, and he never came. I edged for like 4 hours before that and I was so disappointed. I wish there was an app better than grindr, one where I could just indicate my location and the fact that my pussy is available for breeding and people could freely take advantage of that. I need to get railed properly, hard and rough and deep, without all the small talks and wasting time...

Grindr Alice here again: a guy messaged me on grindr while I edged browsing through tumblr. Got me wet. He said he could come and fuck me, that he's half an hour from me but he's willing to drive to fuck my pussy in a park. I said yes... And he actually drove here. We went to a park. He told me to lie down on my back. He fingerbanged me SO HARD and slapped my clit and teased it for what seemed like ages, I was so sensitive and I was doing my best not to moan too loud becasue I was so scared someone would come and see me, lying like that on the grass, spreading my legs for a stranger...

Like, he kept his trousers on but took mine so I was literally just in a t-shirt and my shoes, my cunt leaking on the grass and all over his fingers.

At some point he called me 'a good girl'... Then he corrected himself and said 'good boy' but I heard that 'good girl' and gods it made me gush even harder, it's so hot - he drove to fuck my pussy like a woman's pussy. To finger me, to touch my clit - he commented that it's big but he still called it my clit...

And he came in me. I spread my legs and let a stranger cum inside my cunt in the park. And then walked 10 minutes back home while his cum was dripping into my boxers.

I didn't cum, I felt so good and close, but I can't cum if I'm not the one touching myself I guess... but I loved it. I love it when I don't even cum, just like a toy. Well my grindr name is 'Fleshlight' so that's saying something I guess.

Now I'm touching myself, edging, to the memories of this fuck. Gods. I feel like such a slut. He called me that, and more, while he was fucking me. And he said it's the best pussy he fucked in the past 10 years right after he filled me full of his baby-making seed.

Somehow I'm still scared my implant is gonna fail me... but I can't stop myself from doing this again and again...

(Previously)

It's funny, Alice. You said at the very beginning of your first ask that after five years on T and top surgery, you "pass really well"... but none of that really seems to matter once you've offered a man your cunt, does it? To them, you're "female" or "a good girl" with an oversized clit. It's not indulging your kink, because you haven't admitted that to them - it's just the obvious way that they see you. It's natural. It's a fact.

And once you let that second man come inside of you, it became an urgent fact, didn't it? You had to go and tell all those people that you were a fertile female with a fresh load of cum in your womb. You had to do all that just to escape the consequences of being a needy, fertile little bitch.

And you may have quelled that fertility for now... but there's no escaping the rest of that new identity. God, how long has it even been since you saw a cock in real life for the first time - a few weeks? And you're getting fucked bare by a stranger in a public park, like a bitch in heat. You've barely found out what men's cocks feel like, but you know now that you were made to serve them.

You're a good little whore already, Alice. But I'm looking forward to the day that you realize that getting used bare while using an implant isn't enough for you. I'm looking forward to the day that you lift your ass in the air for a real man to fuck a baby into you.

[tethrras]

straight-up i could analyze varric and the dasher's men being the only book he wrote with a dwarven hero forever. like he literally wrote himself out of the narrative after that . because it was too close to home? too blatantly him wearing his heart on his sleeve? did bartrand ever call him on it, if he even READ the damn book? did bianca during a fight? or is it because he stopped thinking he could be the hero? because he CHOSE to sink into the background because that way he can avoid vulnerability and failure and rejection and conflict??? 🧐✍ which also ties to how his character arc in inquisition (and his relationship with hawke) is about him growing as a person and becoming someone who will take action after purposefully avoiding the weight of responsibility . hence veilguard and him becoming viscount 🧐✍thank u for listening to my unhinged varric tedtalks

DON'T EVEN I DIDN'T EVEN THINK ABOUT LIKE. WHAT EVERYONE ELSE THOUGHT ABOUT HIM WRITING. do we know when he and bianca first got together btw and what books it might've tied into.......... i'm sure you do you smart talented genius whomst im kissing on the lips....

[soaked-ghost]

sooooo I had the idea of nightmare being a merchant and I have a lot to say about it hihi (see tags)

(comic under cut cuz it was getting too long)

[toddtakefive]

thinking about todd and his resolve toward… not quite isolation, but being alone in a room full of people again. he goes along to the study room to sit on his own and do his homework, he sits at the poets table and follows along with what’s being said while keeping quiet, he goes to the meetings at all but doesn’t necessarily contribute (in fact, if you watch him when cameron is telling the story ‘from camp in sixth grade’, you can see that he recognizes it before any of the other poets but doesn’t voice it until they all have). he’s not alone, necessarily, if you want to get technical about it, he’s just lonely, and he’s generally okay with that. he doesn’t have friends and that’s fine, he doesn’t participate in class and that’s fine, he doesn’t have a relationship with his family and that’s fine—he could live without any real connection and he’d have been, more or less, fine.

the thing about when he says “i can take care of myself just fine!” is that he isn’t really wrong, you can infer that he’s been doing it his entire life anyway, it’s that ‘taking care of yourself’ isn’t the same thing as really living or being happy. todd’s an introvert, certainly, and even as he gets closer to the group he defaults to sitting quietly in the background, but he’s also denying himself community out of fear not introversion. todd isn’t friendless because he’s an introvert, although that definitely plays a part, he’s friendless because he pushes anyone that might want his company away. if anyone has every wanted for his attention in the first place. (neil’s unwavering interest in him is unique (even when it comes to the rest of the poets, who are fine with todd coming along and joining the group, but aren’t really hellbent on him being there in the beginning) and his refusal to accept it is a direct result of being so lonely growing up.)

there’s obviously something to be said about the implications of his parents neglect, and the more than likely fact that he grew up friendless, and how those both play a part in in him being so skilled at dodging social interaction/being so avoidant of it, but by the time we see him in the movie he’s all but accepted his fate as being alone his entire life. he’s already accepted being the family disappointment, and he’s already accepted he’ll never amount to anything, and he obviously doesn’t like it, but he’d have managed living with that knowledge without the confirmation that it was all wrong. would he have been miserable? almost certainly. but he’d have managed. he’d done it for that long already, anyhow.

[butchjess]

Well. hrm. the way they all connect to each other. like it’s all starting to look like a circle of some sort. jess as rory’s mirror/reflection/narrative foil but also jess as he pertains to luke and jess as he pertains to lorelai. luke breaking the church bells luke who says he was troubled but they gave him a chance and just bc a kid has issues doesnt mean they don’t deserve that. luke who is a figure placed against the rest of the town, just in the sense that he is not like them, he does not hold their values, he doesn’t even sound like them. which is of course a result of scott patterson’s new york accent, but adds to this theme anyway. and they use jess to build this picture, because they walk the same and talk the same and they’re stubborn—independent to a near self-endangering degree—and emotionally repressed in the same way and luke himself admits that he spent more time working at his dad’s shop than he did at school, which jess also does. but jess and luke are also. very very different when you get past these similar values that are maybe ingrained into them through different circumstances and same genetic makeup. and in their differences you get a lot of jess and lorelai’s similarities. when it comes to their family dynamics and how it’s affected them in particular. it’s made them independent yes, but it’s also made them hypervigilant, almost paranoid in the way they are allergic to accepting help and especially accepting help from the people who hurt them. jess only goes to his mother’s wedding because luke asks him to, lorelai only asks her parents for money because rory needs it for school. and they, and this is where they differ from luke, don’t know how to trust people and so they don’t know how to talk to people. where luke’s particular brand of emotional constipation comes from a general cluelessness as to how to do it—which is why the tapes helped him so much—lorelai and jess’ come from emotional responses to the situations they grew up in. while it was different—lorelai growing up rich, jess growing up poor—the effect it had on them still resulted in something similar. lorelai with her overbearing manipulative mother and (emotionally) absent father, and jess with his neglecting manipulative mother and (in all senses of the word) absent father. the ways that, despite their effort to distance themselves, they still end up with similar mannerisms to the parent they have the most conflict with (lorelai and her controlling nature + that scene where they have the same nighttime routine, jess and his love for books + tendency to run away). and of course, their romanticism. their big confessions and period drama-esque speeches and, yeah, i do think in a way jess was asking rory to marry him in 4x21. come with me. let’s get married. luke and rory both being the most important people in their lives. literati+javajunkie where they are all melding into each other, and luke is rory and lorelai is jess but on the surface level dynamic luke is jess and lorelai is rory and they are all each other. on accident. by sheer nature of making jess as a character for the sole purpose of interfering with luke and lorelai’s relationship (which means he is important narratively to them both) and by making him rory’s love interest/foil (because ASP casted him before she even had the idea for the character) you have now made an accidental blending of them all together. he is like a skeleton key of a character. Okay. okay.

[jrueships]

Paul George on Stephen A. Smith’s Kawhi Leonard jab: “I didn’t like that moment… Kawhi wants to play… We exhausted a lot out of Kawhi this season. So at some point your body breaks you down… I didn’t appreciate that moment. I know I laughed because the situation was lighthearted, but deep down it was like you gotta let that go, Stephen A.”

Paul George, knight in shining armor

[personishfive]

Yay someone else who’s obsessed with Thieves’ Den and what implications it has for Joker and how it tells us how he sees the world and his confidants. He doesn’t nerf the other thieves just for an advantage because he wants it to feel as real as and as true to them as possible. Though I argue that it’s not entirely accurate but pretty close. “ It leads to the question why doesn’t he just play it with his actual Phantom Thieves. Probably because time crunch and blowing off steam he needs someplace where time and consequences have no real meaning.

hi ^_^ yeah like one thing about me is that i love taking stuff that doesn't actually have much real significance and running with it because it's really funny to me. it's really funny to me. like obviously the thieves den exists purely as fun side content for the player in a rerelease game, and its minor mentions in-story are just to introduce it naturally, but if you decide to take it legiterally its really fun. (have i ever mentioned how funny it is to me that the default thieves den bgm is an instrumental version of no more what ifs) (this doesn't work In Universe because the thieves den is unlocked before jazz jin but like. its really funny to me. you get it) (and yeah every thieves den conversation etc becomes way funnier when you remember that this is meant to be in joker's brain)

im also like this with, like, the third eye (i cant believe joker is cheating at games with his magic insight/vision powers </3 don't tell anybody!) and grapplinghook (i have a set of comics planned about grapplinghook that i haven't gotten to yet bc life is hell but i really really really love grapplinghook. my 'joker persona5 fucking loves his grappling hook' kind-of-headcanon is very special to me lmao) like yeah these are literally just gameplay elements but we can get silly with it.

anyway *joker voice* lets play this card game together gang! and then the others do way worse than they did in his brain. or something. joker loves her friends so much👍

[fuckmeyer]

hey bestie i'm finally here with that essay about jacob fighting for bella's humanity w/o being a love interest bc the potential that has! he's set up to be the perfect avenue for it! he's the warmth and sun that she loved from arizona; he's the community and family she could be deeply enmeshed in w/ charlie and billy; he's a childhood friend who grew up (which bella's going to lose the potential to do if she becomes a vampire! and she's going to forget that past!); he's someone who fixes up old damaged cars instead of having perfect ones, and they aren't the *same* but they're still good...he's literally thematically everything best abt being human that bella will lose, AND examples of the negatives she sees in humanity, (all the times she thinks abt how the wolves are fragile in comparison to the vampires)...and it would just be SO fascinating to see that played out w/out the romance. it would honestly be even more powerful! bc baked into smeyer's worldbuilding is that vampires prioritize their romantic partners above everything else and having jacob be the true contrast to that where he's a platonic connection that bella genuinely values equally and she has to think abt how becoming a vampire would cut her off from the potential of connections like that!!! i am thinking so many thoughts

BESTIE thank you as always for dropping the Jacob love in my inbox!

you're so right about Jacob being the perfect avenue to explore Bella's doubt about vampirism! the warmth & family & community & LOVE & acceptance & nostalgia she loves about humanity is all embodied in Jacob's character & in their relationship. she likes hand-me-downs & homemade gifts! she likes acts of service! she likes reckless stunts that remind her of her own fragility & weakness! she likes warm sodas & spaghetti dinners! she likes being reminded that she belongs somewhere! & THIS IS JACOB <3

the fact that their relationship isn't utilized to this end (or any end, really) is my biggest problem with Eclipse. Bella drops little hints in the narrative that she's nervous about becoming a vampire. there are so many opportunities— e.g. when Rose tells her story— for her to reflect on what she's giving up.

in the end, she doesn't sum up the argument in a compelling way & doesn't make her choice in a believable way.

in part because the event that kicks off her grand realization that she's not ready (AKA THE CONFLICT OF HER ENTIRE SERIES ARC) is ...graduation

big life event as a catalyst seems to make sense. but how relevant is it to her narrative? & once it's brought up, we don't we see her digging into why she's nervous. what about saying goodbye makes her not ready? what about getting what she wants terrifies her? what does she need to sort through? what plans does she need to make? we're left to wonder what's running through Bella's mind re: the biggest decision of the series...in a first person narrative. no!!!

Jacob, who embodies all these ideals of her humanity, should be the one to push her to this realization. the climax of her internal conflict should be focused around him: losing him physically/emotionally (or both), & everything he represents. there is so much weight that her relationship with Jacob adds to her choice if she's allowed to love him and Edward unconditionally! as a romantic interest, all Jacob's doing is pushing her away.

(& that's why this whole fucking triangle makes no sense. he loves her so much he remembers her from early childhood. he loves her so much he'll sit there for months & pick up her broken pieces. he loves her so much he'll spend every moment just doing silly little hobbies together. he loves her so much he wants to fight for her humanity "until her heart stops beating" AND EVEN AFTER. but he doesn't love her enough to respect her choices or opinions? he doesn't love her enough to know that by being an asshole, he's pushing her closer to death? imo this is where we see stephie's grubby hands moving pieces. Jacob loves her more than he's in love with her.)

& so, because the "i'm not ready" realization is tied to something Bella doesn't give a shit about, the realization that she is ready is equally empty

what makes her decide she's ready to become a vampire is GUILT & FEAR & ANGUISH. she's "ready" to become a vampire because she feels weak & useless. worse, this realization is not touched on as the event (the training sesh) unfolds. she has this realization OFF-PAGE & then shows up to Edward's proposal like "yeah i'm ready to become a vampire but first i wanna fuck :)"

& we're supposed to buy that? girl, you resolved nothing internally. you didn't show us what changed for you. you're making this decision out of fear instead of out of love. & we're supposed to believe this is what little miss "thoughtful & responsible" wants???

it's such a blatant disregard to all the growth she went through & the relationships she developed. you can't just turn Jacob in a fucking asshole & turn the choice into a non-choice & call it day. Jacob deserves better, Bella deserves better, & the readers deserve better!!

MAKE 👏 EVERYONE 👏 SUFFER👏👏👏

(in the name of love!)

[nintendont2502]

It's actually so so important that Alpha Dave Strider is kinda weird and pathetic. To me, anyway.

[hiddenbysuccubi]

I was sleeping on the bear when I should have been sleeping WITH the bear.

[nostalgia-tblr]

For anyone keeping track (no one), I have started watching the first Avengers film (MCU not the 60s TV show) but only while eating lunch so it's gonna take a while. So far Nick Fury has been assembling the Avengers (the film was initially released in the UK as Avengers Assemble - because of that 60s TV show - but it's not called that on D+ so I'm calling it what the Americans called it, just FYI) even though there's not yet anything for them to avenge as That Suit Guy (j/k I know his name too!!) isn't dead yet, and now they're on THE FUCKING VALIANT FROM DR WHO and I assume we're gonna continue assembling for a while as they're not all there yet.

MEANWHILE Loki (who is neither an alligator nor a woman in this???) is in a SECRET UNDERGROUND LAIR with a bunch of his stans who are... idk something technobabble that involves irridium and anti-protons. He is there looking for the tesseract on behalf of ???? who I know will be revealed 47 films from now as... no, wait, it wasn't, was it? That was just announced on a website or something? So it could be LITERALLY ANYONE. The Avengers (in-progress) also seem to be after that thing, but I have already forgotten why everyone is wanting it, assuming it was mentioned (it probably was).

Thor hasn't shown up yet, but Arrows Hawkeye is working as a Loki Stan and there's Steve Rogers and THE HULK and The Only Woman One, whose power is that she's a Cold War assassin (??) and I think this one is the film where she gets called a cunt (!) and honestly I am not sure which of the men she's getting officially shipped with, I think Arrows Hawkeye though? Fairly sure, as the alternative is that a man and a woman like each other as people but not in a lusty way, which would never happen obviously. (Hey I may ship mostly het* pairings but I don't always like it!)

Based on the Valiant (if u don't know who she is get da hell out of here!) I am guessing that the film ends with Loki dying in Thor's arms romantically but then I remembered that I know it can't because one of Loki got kidnapped from... either the end of this film or the start of the next one or POSSIBLY just from a later film's time-travel bit (???) but like... maybe they've edited this film secretly and I was right after all? But nobody else has watched it on Disney + recently so nobody knows yet? IT COULD HAPPEN.

Not sure what to make of this film so far, a lot's been going on yet also not much has been going on, and the one I like best so far (Suit Guy) is gonna die (NOT EVEN IN THOR'S ARMS ROMANTICALLY) and god Iron Man really hasn't aged well now that we have that one tech billionaire being a twat in public all the time to remind us what such people tend to be like. WHERE IS THOR????

*I say het but everyone in everything is bisexual, I know this because I thought of it and announced it on tumblr and will now say "I don't make the rules" to make it an objective FACT. I don't make the rules!!!

[mermaidsirennikita]

a) of course Starz picked up up Mary and George, as the channel that is basically "historical shows for women who want to see nudity onscreen" (said with respect)

b) of course Starz is doing that Outlander prequel about the dead parents we know die horribly like the one who has a heart attack or some shit after the trauma of seeing his son basically flayed alive instead of adapting, I don't know, a historical romance series in which it's literally period piece content for women who want to see nudity, which doesn't actually have any rape