#ANYWAY /rant

[calliopechild]

For the third-party voters arguing that they're pulling for a better candidate with a genuine chance of winning and not splitting the vote--okay. Let's suspend reality pretend that's true. In that case, please answer the following for me:

Why haven't I heard of your third-party candidate before now if they have such a good platform and they're clearly the better alternative? How good of a candidate can they be if they have no public support outside of your very vehement niche on tumblr and apparently no real skill at/infrastructure for getting their message out?

"Well, because they're a small campaign! They're not corporate shills! They aren't taking Dark Money!" Mkay, so are they taking in any money? If they don't have the finances to support their message, let alone their campaign, that doesn't exactly point to the kind of interest that substantiates your claim that they have A Real Chance, Guys, I Swear of winning the election.

For that matter, Insistent That You're Not Splitting The Vote blog, why is it that there is absolutely nothing on said blog about your candidate prior to this spring? Yeah, that's the time frame of most states' primaries, but like...you'd think that since [candidate] is your ideal political blorbo, you would have been boosting their message before then--you know, to support them and get people to vote for them in the primaries. Kinda weird that you weren't enthusiastic about them any earlier than 5 months before the election. Kinda convenient that you're insistent that this, Year Of The Most Fraught And Partisan Election Part 3: Fascism Boogaloo, is the year a third-party candidate totally has a chance.

On the heels of that, what have you been doing to work toward a future where a third-party candidate actually has a real chance? Because there's a whole lot of nothing on your blog about anything helpfully actionable, like how people can work to get ranked-choice voting on their state's ballot. Instead, your blog is mostly just how important it is to "show the Dems people are tired of choosing between two bad candidates by taking your ball and going home instead."

Does your candidate have any political support on the local, regional, or federal level from either party or independents? Because executive orders aside, they aren't getting shit done in their presidency if they don't have any political allies or a party allegiance to draw on.

For that matter, what has your candidate accomplished politically thus far? What can they point to as proof that they could be a successful president?

And the real question it all boils down to: do you really, full honesty, no bullshit believe your candidate can beat Trump?

"Well, if people just--" Nope. No "well, if these 18 extremely fortuitous and equally unlikely things happen" wish-fulfillment scenarios. As things stand right now, in the real world, can your candidate get the necessary votes? Do they have the kind of appeal that can get even lifelong Republicans to endorse them and the track record to back up their campaign promises? Do 270 Electoral College votes' worth of Americans know them and support their policies?

Because unless you're lying to yourself, I'm willing to bet the answer is no. And yeah, this applies to all of the third-party candidates. Look at this piece from Politico: https://www.politico.com/interactives/2024/where-are-third-party-candidates-ballots/ You'll notice that not one of them has managed to get on the ballot for every single state. Please make the extremely obvious conclusions about their chances.

('But calliope, there's another third-party candidate that isn't on there.' Yes, I'm aware. Politico is no doubt aware too. For some wacky reason they decided not to include the Unicorn Party on their list, idk.)

"I'm still not going to support a genocide--" Even if you don't "support a genocide" by voting, I'm sorry to inform you that you are green-lighting a genocide by not acting to prevent a second Trump presidency. Because the reality is that either Kamala or Trump will be winning the election, regardless of what you'd like to believe. If Kamala doesn't win, we get Trump--the guy who wants Netanyahu to "turn Gaza into a parking lot" and wants internment camps in the U.S. for immigrants. You don't want to support a genocide, so instead you're splitting the vote or talking people out of voting so that we end up with both a genocide abroad and one right here at home. Because if you don't think Trump will take the Supreme Court-ordained right to commit any crime he'd like and, backed by the Heritage Foundation, go after immigrants and the LGBT+ community--like he's explicitly said he'll do all throughout the Project 2025 manifesto--then you haven't been paying attention to anything in the last 8 years.

We can't afford a close election like 2020. The right has been tossing around the phrase "civil war" for the last couple years and is just waiting for an excuse. Unless they lose by an undeniable margin, it'll be "stop the steal" and fascist gun nuts storming state buildings and harassing governors and secretaries of state at their homes all over again. And to make sure that we have the margin we need to make it clear Trump has lost, splitting the vote cannot happen.

It's awesome that you're invested in the idea of eliminating the two-party system, because yeah, it's fucked. No arguments here. The two-party system, the Electoral College, the lack of automatic voter registration, the lack of ranked-choice voting...a lot of things are fucked about the U.S. electoral system. But we will be able to change approximately none of them under a Trump presidency, and no one has any chance of beating him in November other than Kamala Harris.

And full offense, but if you're still trying to insist otherwise, I'm genuinely unable to assume you are anything other than stubbornly naive at best and a bad faith actor/psyop at worst.

[ryutarotakedown]

day 1: archival assistants/canon divergence, or day 7: free day @tma-girls-week

[a/n: hiiiiii magnus archives i missed you. sorry if this is out of character i did go back to read through the 158–160 transcripts (and 119 + 061 + 091 for funsies) to refresh my memory, but]

Summary: Post-159, Basira finds a weird statement in the midst of what she's about to send to Jon. Or rather, she doesn't find one? It's hard to explain.

-

It probably says something about Basira that she hasn't cried.

Well, not yet. But it has been two weeks already, and it still doesn't feel real. She can see Daisy whenever she closes her eyes — Daisy staring forward at the old man and his friend, reality beginning to ripple around her skin, honing her into something sharp. A missile with a locked target. Hunter, hunted.

She can hear Daisy say out of the corner of her mouth, promise me.

…It's not that Basira hadn't seen this coming from ten miles away. The face-stealing monster might have been a surprise, but the first time Basira read about "silent compulsion powers; assigned investigator: Alice Tonner; assigned location: Epping Forest," she knew exactly what Daisy was, and exactly how this would end…

She just wishes Daisy had at least looked her in the eye.

No. This is no time for stupid — sentimentality or softness or whatever; she can almost feel the disapproval radiating from her late father. That was how she'd gotten into this mess in the first place. No more thinking about Daisy or Melanie or Jon than necessary. Head up, back straight —

Right. Statements. That was what she'd been after. The police had finally cleared out this afternoon, so she doesn’t need to face any more questions about Jonah Magnus's corpse ("definitely a corpse") or the tunnels ("no, officer, I don't know of any maps for the place") or why she looked so familiar ("are you sure you're not imagining things?"). Instead she has the whole evening off to gather statements so her coworker (friend) (coworker) doesn't snap and start traumatizing random Scottish grocery store employees.

Oh, the joy.

Near the end of everything they had all stopped pretending that being an archival assistant was for actually organizing an archive, but now Basira thinks about it, she does recall Jon saying that he'd started from the most recent filing cabinets. So if she starts from oldest, she's most likely to find the statements he hasn't eaten yet. Yes, that makes sense.

She picks herself up, dusts herself off, and heads towards the back of the archives.

1870s, 1860s, 1850s, early 1800s. Here. Basira reaches into the back of the shelf — oh, cobweb, eurgh — and pulls out a pile of manila folders. As she shakes them in the air to get the dust away, one sheet of paper snags in the wind and falls out; then another, and another. She sighs and sets the whole pile down on the floor, dropping to her knees to gather the loose papers. Jon stopped telling them to staple documents together after Melanie said it was bad for archival purposes, but honestly, Basira could understand why…

Wait. When had she made it out of the archives?

She blinks down at herself. She's standing at the top of the staircase, the one that leads from the Magnus Institute lobby down to the archival basement. The statements are arranged neatly in her hands, free of the dust.

…She doesn't remember getting up here.

(In a universe just to the left of this one: Basira sighs to herself. She hasn't had an episode like this since right after the wax museum, when she felt like she was blinking in and out of existence as she picked up a payphone outside and managed to tell the police the address before hanging up — she hadn't trusted her hands to stay steady on any steering wheel, so afterwards she'd walked the whole way back to the Institute.

That whole section of memory is lost to her. All Basira can recall is the rhythm of her boots against the concrete, and then against the carpet of the entrance area, uncertain voices — Melanie grabbing her shoulders and asking questions she couldn't understand — where's Daisy —

The point is, it's not out of character for Basira's recollection events to just… glitch, sometimes. There's no point wondering what happened in between, not when she's the only person she knows left in the archives. She leaves the statements at the postal office and gets back to work.

The world ends two days later.)

But in this universe, Basira pauses:

She isn't thinking about Daisy. Basira is in fact very good at not thinking about things when she feels stable, and it's been two weeks and only one breakdown since everything. Besides, the fog in her brain doesn't usually just cut out her memories that cleanly, so that can't be why she just lost ten minutes of her life.

It reminds her of — yes. Jon. The day he'd come to tell her about how to quit. It had gone something like this:

Basira: You're joking. Archivist: I wish I was. Basira: …………………… Archivist: You're… not going to do it, are you? Basira: What, did you eat a bit of my brain or — Archivist: No; I can actually read faces, Basira. Basira: (exhales) I'll think about it, but…… no, I don't think so. Archivist: Right. [A pause.] Archivist: …Right. Well — Basira: How sure are you? Archivist: What? Basira: I mean, this… tape you found, how'd you get it, anyway? Archivist: Oh. It's hard to explain… I was going through that box of tapes in Peter's office, and I tried to find a, a blind spot. Basira: You tried to find… your own blind spot. Archivist: I told you it was hard to explain! But — yes. There was one that I kept skipping over, like I couldn't see it — I sorted them into "interesting" and "not interesting," and then kept looking through the "not interesting" pile… and after I, after I'd isolated the least interesting one, that was when I actually — saw. It just… I couldn't recall seeing it there before. It was like, like a gap in my memory. Basira: Huh. Archivist: And even after I found it — my hand kept pulling away from it. So it must have been something the Web… It must have wanted to hide it. Basira: Hmm. Like someone trying to touch a stove countertop. Archivist: A stove—? Basira: If the stove countertop could also induce amnesia. Archivist: (doubtful) I suppose when you look at it that way…

Basira frowns now, as she looks down at the pile of statements in her hands. Another Web trick, then? In these statements?

Well. The tape Jon got did help Melanie escape, at least. So if Basira sorts these statements into "interesting" and "not interesting"…

After twenty minutes and several strange looks from employees milling about in the lobby, Basira sits back. One manila folder left in "not interesting." Or rather, left in the category "this doesn't warrant any further examination, go post it to Scotland already."

It takes several tries for her to open it. Several more tries for her to read it.

Statement of Hazel Rutter… That all seems normal. She forces her eyes to focus, go beyond the drab information box and take in every word.

And then: there it is. The hidden amnesiac stove countertop.

Hello, Jon. Apologies for the—

Basira sucks her breath through her teeth. Oh, this is bad. This is very bad. She has to go call Martin, warn him and Jon, scan through all the other statements just in case…

But first order of business: she drops Hazel Rutter's statement into the paper shredder, and watches Jonah Magnus's master plan dissolve into ash.

---

[a/n: i was going to finish this on day 1, but Then I Didn't. thankfully as it is i can just barely sneak it into day 7: free day!

i hope all of you basira enjoyers (and also non-basira-enjoyers) like it! i'm sorry i haven't been more active on discord recently, i swear i'll be back as soon as i get out of this country in like three weeks]

[ithappensoffstage]

I am genuinely so worried for all the young horny dykes going into adulthood thinking there's something "problematic" / "wrong" with them for being horny because fucking tiktok lesbians think any horny dyke content is "male gaze fetishistic"

[boabel]

this is so shit i need [remembers suicide jokes are bad for my mental health] mouse bites to live

[aprillikesthings]

“Bamboo is antifungal”

Because it’s rayon

“Eucalyptus fabric is cooling!”

Yeah, because it’s rayon

“We make clothing called seacell out of seaweed!”

Yeah I looked on your website it’s made by the lyocell process, which means-

-wait for it-

It’s fucking rayon!!

Listen. There is a list of actual plant fibers that are directly made into fabric: cotton, linen, ramie, some hemp. I’m sure I’m missing a couple.

But if you’re wondering “huh how did they turn that plant material into fabric,” 99% of the time? It’s RAYON.

All rayon is made by putting plant material in chemical soup, dissolving out everything but the cellulose, and turning the cellulose into filaments/fibers.

The source of the cellulose has zero effect on the eventual fabric.

Rayon made from bamboo or eucalyptus or seaweed is not any better than rayon from any other sources.

Don’t let companies mislead you!

[marsipain]

Norwegian Mikus :)

Left is Miku as a russ and right is Miku in a bunad!

[crumb-crumblet-s-crumbington]

"You and me, Ethan. Together we go save Rose, and then we can grind Miranda into paste!"

[addamii]

I got inspired by this post by @thatneoncrisis and I also wanted to draw butch Nona because butches can be silly goofy colorful too and let nobody ever tell you otherwise

[frownyalfred]

I'm seeing a lot of "ugh, so we can't even criticize fic authors anymore?" posts popping up on here and the ao3 subreddit and I just want to say, for the record: No one's saying you can't criticize (fanfic) authors publicly. They're saying it's rude and antithetical to positive fandom experience. And, yes there's a difference.

If this website was a conference and I had just spent a whole afternoon listening to a presentation on [unpopular fic trope] and after that was done, I got up on stage and very publicly told the audience that [unpopular fic trope] was illogical and anyone who writes it is woefully misinformed and should be banned from writing [relevant character], that would in fact be a dick move.

"But the canon character would never--" it doesn't matter. You're shouting down the hall at the person who just happily did a whole seminar on their OOC version of that character. "But I don't like that the author chose to make them--" good, you're well-acquainted with your likes and dislikes, time to find another fic.

We all run into fics and interpretations we don't like. But there's a huge difference between loudly talking about it on Tumblr where the author can see it, and just venting in a private discord or other group. Also, gentle reminder that this is a hobby for most writers and something they do purely because they enjoy it. Stop being massive dicks just because you feel entitled to a certain flavor of fanfiction you will probably be chasing until the Reformation of Krypton.

[batbabydamian]

wondered when exactly Damian started casually chatting with his hallucinations of Alfred in Robin (2021)

figured isolating himself in a dark tower carrying pictures of Alfred and the weight of his death would do the trick! (Detective Comics (2016) #1032)

[strawberri-draws]

Cannot wait for the Mom Team Up

[lenalvthor]

hey i have a fucking bone to pick with sapphic fandoms

like, i get it okay. i've been on tumblr since 2011, i was in the trenches during the bury your gays nightmare, i grew up on buffy, i watched the 100, i've been through the furious and devastating queerbaits, and i've watched helplessly as the boom of proper progress with sapphic rep has burned and disappeared with the faults of the industry as it is rn and the resurgence of bury your gays in the form of tv cancellations

i even did a fucking guest lecture for a film & tv university course a couple years ago on all of this

we joke about the fact that queer (specifically sapphic) fans flock to any show with the barest hint of rep in it because we're so starved for it, and we talk about the fact that if nothing else, that proves that there's a market and an audience and it usually creates a huge wave of viewership and attention for the show

but i need to fucking point out: acting as though a show exists for the sole purpose of the sapphic relationship you've started watching it for is fucking detrimental to how you'll perceive the show, how it'll get talked about in fandom spaces and then beyond that (bc the line between fandom spaces and wider online discussion of media is a lot thinner than it was ten years ago) and isn't actually going to do any good for sapphic rep! like, at all! because guess what! unless you're watching a show where the entire storyline revolves around romance, this couple you're watching for ISN'T going to be the centre of the story! it's a part of it! and there's such a weird fucking entitled toxicity to how fans act around brilliant storytelling and worldbuilding and writing and characters throwing tantrums about not getting more screentime for the relationship they like because they don't actually care about any other part of the story. and the thing about people who watch something solely for a ship rather than the wider story it exists in, is that a lot of the time, you'll fundamentally misinterpret the characters and their dynamic because you're not taking any of the wider context of the world and story into account at all.

and yes, of course i'm talking about agatha all along in the immediacy. because we knew a long, long time ago that billy maximoff was gonna be an integral part of this story, long before we knew anything about what the vibe of this show was gonna be, long before anyone even had the tiniest whisper of rio's existence. the same way wandavision was monica rambeau's origin story even though the show was wanda's, we suspected that agatha all along would be billy's/wiccan's origin story even if the show focused on agatha. and you know fucking what. that's good fucking storytelling. this show is smart, it's funny, it's curious, it's campy, it's queer, and it's ensemble. that's always been the point. agatha and rio were a delightfully unexpected part of it that added such delicious tension and phenomenal sapphic rep, but you know what else! the point of that dynamic is to flesh out agatha's character! this show isn't about agatha and rio! it's about agatha and billy, who they are, how their pasts and their magic are connected, their traumas and their power and how the road shapes their futures! rio is a part of exploring agatha's past, and it's phenomenal, but i am so fucking bewildered by the ridiculousness of people's reactions to billy now having a bigger part in the story and there being less focus on agatha and rio. you do know that you write scenes and characters and stories in a way that makes sense right? that because of the nature of this show, even if we don't get more than a handful agatha and rio scenes for the rest of the episodes, they're both still sapphic characters, this is still wonderful sapphic rep, and this show is still very, very queer?

like, it's obviously not fair that we have to beg for scraps to have queer shows to watch. but that doesn't mean that any of us get to do such a fucking disservice to the people who make amazing shows and fight to put sapphic rep in them within the contexts of the stories they're telling by whining that it's not enough. what we're getting with agatha all along, what kathryn han and aubrey plaza and jac schaeffer have said with such grace and nuance and intrigue and depth about agatha and rio's relationship, is so fucking rare! and it's nestled within a story that's got so much other intricate storytelling that makes agatha and rio richer characters when you actually pay some fucking attention and care about who they are outside of their sexual tension!

and i'm saying this because this is an issue i see with So many other shows, where the worth of a show gets boiled down to fandoms wanting content of their ship and nothing else and then poisoning the conversation and reception around what else it is that show is doing with its story. idk get some fucking media literacy, grow up and respect artists and creatives.

[elyfonart]

long distance is hard :/

[exhausted-undead]

ah, young love (they will hate eachother at some point, pinkie promise)

[shivunin]

Because I have just seen this specific thing for the second time, I would like to say:

If I reblog your art, I do not expect you to reblog (or share!) my fic in return

If I comment on your fic, I do not expect you to comment on (or read!) mine in return

My enjoyment of anyone's work does not come with strings or expectations

My friendship is not a bill that you will have to pay later

That's it!

[op81s]

for me it's not really the fact logan lost his seat, it's HOW he lost his seat. it's the way he has been treated all season long. and i know that it's a business and at the end of the day williams/vowles is gonna do what's best for the team but i still believe kindness is free?? williams could have handled this whole situation with a lot more grace than they did and that's what's really getting to me.