#But the FIRST thing you're going to criticize the show for 20 years later is the way they treated men?????

[amtrak12]

It is endlessly fascinating to me how some women decide to rewatch Gilmore Girls as an adult and the first thing they say when they talk about how cringey it is now is how badly the main characters treat men.

idk besties, I am also a woman who grew up loving Gilmore Girls and when I rewatch it, the first things I personally notice is how utterly fatphobic and homophobic the entire show is.

But uh, sure. I guess we can be upset about how Lorelai and Rory treated men ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[nightsprung]

bee has brainstormed new ocs! here's the short rundown:

sloane kelly, 20, cis female, diana silvers. sloane has always been a relatively quiet and unassuming person. little does her sleepy town of yellowknife, ohio know that she's the mysterious voice of the observer, the host of semi-hit nighttime radio show the watch. the show delves into stories of the paranormal, supernatural and occult, and especially puts the town of yellowknife under a critical lens when it demands to find answers to several inexplicable disappearances over the years.

julie mason, 28, cis female samantha logan. julie mason is a well-enough known name to the public. one of the most promising and revered athletic talents to come through UCLA's women's basketball team with sights set on a professional career with the WNBA, those dreams were ripped away cruelly in a collision with a drunk driver on the way home from a championship victory party when she was 22 years old. since then, julie completed her schooling in psychology, obtained her masters and now works in mental health therapy, specializing with athletes.

harlow olson, 22, cis female, maya hawke. spontaneous is one way to describe harlow's childhood. turbulent is another. she never knew much about her father, and her mother was always free-spirited to a fault that forced harlow to grow up faster than she should have. multiple new schools, multiple new cities and towns, multiple new places decorated her childhood and teen years but none of them ever felt enough like home. she'd balance her dreams of attending film school with the realities of having to work countless hours in her spare time to help cover bills; and even then, it wouldn't stop debt collectors from finding them. in the midst of her adolescence, harlow tracked down her birth father and found he could offer her something her mother never could - stability. she petitioned to move in with him in an effort to have a more "normal" life as a teenager - a job to cover her own whims instead of bills, the same teachers semester to semester, a consistent group of friends. after high school, she finds herself studying film at NYU as she had always dreamed, but there's still some pieces of her that feel fractured. missing.

skyler cauldwell, 23, nonbinary (she/they), ayo edebiri. skyler has always been adept with technology; growing up in the digital age certainly helped with that. it's no wonder she ended up studying computer engineering in college, with the hopes of a promising career in cybersecurity. life is relatively normal for them; they have challenging courses, a core group of friends, several extracurriculars that eat up their time, debate team included. she's set to go to nationals with the rest of the team her senior year, but comes down with a nasty case of bronchitis days before the team is set to fly out to the competition and has to concede her spot to the alternate. the guilt they feel when the top news story a few days from that point is on the missing flight the team was on. months later it'd be discovered that the plane had crashed on an uninhabited island, and only a few members from the team survived.

summer beaumont, 19, cis female, sadie stanley. summer beaumont is your quintessential girl-next-door type. she's never had a bad thing to say about anybody and you're more likely to find her getting a cat out of a tree than doing anything particularly thrilling. it's no wonder that she's celebrating finishing her first year of undergrad by spending two months of her summer as a counselor at camp pinewood. she's great with the campers, especially the younger ones, and is always happy to cover for her fellow counselors, so long as they extend the same courtesy when she needs it. she will need it, by the way - typically on nights when the moon is full and the wind is howling. yeah, definitely the wind. don't mind the fact that she spends most of the next day in her bunk, or that her favorite pair of keds have been discarded completely for a fresh pair.

(reading this back summer sounds like a werewolf - she's not lmao. but she hunts them, and other monsters! a girl needs hobbies, after all!)

melanie ford, eternally 27, cis female, ella purnell. melanie ford has been dead for years now. the definitive story is a drug overdose, but she swears she'd never touch the hard stuff. no, this wannabe socialite has standards! the truth of the matter is melanie's death was far from an accident, and until the mystery around her demise is solved, she's cursed to continue walking the earth. in the meantime, she's trying to bide her time in limbo by doing good deeds, in the hope that it'll balance out some of the less than savory things she did while she was alive and secure her a spot in the good place.

[boringbones]

What do you think The Sims 4 should have been? How should they have looked? I see people say they have the best graphics in the series and damn, that's a slander. I think The Sims 4 should have been an evolution of The Sims 3 and instead it looks cartoony and the shadows don't even catch the sims. I even think The Sims 2 looks better than The Sims 4, I think the sims can look great with a lot of custom content but that's the only thing because the world looks so papery and so green. I'm asking you this because I think you're one of the most objective simmers right now and I think you really appreciate The Sims 3.

Objectively, this is what The Sims 4 should have been. A significant evolution of the 3, keeping everything the 3 brought, without the performance issues of that period. That at least was what I expected when the first image came out. It sold us mystery, it sold us the idea of interconnected narratives like in ts2, it sold us the idea of a game that would bring everything that was left out in ts3, but that was in 2!

It's very kind of you, thank you for seeing me that way. My take on Ts4 is that the game is in the condition it is in and part of that is the fault of the extremely "positivist" community. Who celebrates Patch who brings class to the kit, and is happy with considerably superficial and insignificant deliveries.

I've been playing The Sims for 19 years. I criticized The Sims 3 a lot in its time, for (compared to ts2) presenting sims so robotic and with "hard" animations. This has improved over time and HAPPY is fixable. My idealization is that I wouldn't complain about this in ts4, however, 4 went the complete opposite way, giving us goofy sims that look more like they were made for kids than adults. They are literally silly. There is no significant consequence, there is no risk.

What made Ts1, 2 and 3 special was not in 4. However, I cannot deny that The Sims 4 was perhaps one of the games that best managed to represent the original idea of The Sims: House Building Simulator. Houses and Sims. But that alone doesn't sustain what The Sims franchise has become. That goes far beyond these two concepts. By the way, it's not because the ts4's CAS is push and pull that it's the best. It's easier to work on sims in ts2 and 3 with sliders than in 4, especially if you decide to change "ethnic" traits. Since, if you choose the wrong eye, and spend two hours editing it, you'll have to start all over again on the next swatch (model) you choose.

The Sims 4 needs to end. But if it's approaching 10 years, the community is responsible for that. Every time someone annulled themselves, every time someone stopped criticizing, every time someone accepted it and thought it was normal, it corroborated for that. It is worth remembering that it took almost a "third war" on twitter, to give us more variation of skins. And I ask: Do we REALLY deserve to go through this? Should we really lower the bar to charge for essentials?

The Sims 4 is so popular for embracing diversity, but TS3 did it without show, and the mainstream media never applauded it for it. Why? Because he was performing a natural evolution, it was his destiny. In 4, however, it seems that they program evolutions, to be applauded, handing us first a piece of dry bread, then a nice sandwich and…: "Aren't you going to applaud us? We're doing everything you asked!" In exchange for what?

The Sims 4 didn't even have a family tree in the base game. This is a bad joke. To those offended, I can only apologize, I'm not talking about you, I'm giving my opinion about this generation of almost 10 years. As a longtime Simmer, I've never seen maxis deliver so little, charge so much and still be idolized for it. This was not the maxis that revolutionized the industry 20 years ago.

And Yes!! Nothing beats the sims 2 even today.

In addition to having extremely malleable graphics that can look amazingly good 20 years later, it has the best lighting system in the entire franchise and the CRAZIEST sims (WHICH I LOVE)

By the way, do the poles light up the roofs on the ts4 too? (I really have no idea)

[eveninglottie]

state of the charlie 2024

hello babes I know I've been quiet on here for a while, so I figured I would update y'all on some things I'm doing soon because while normally it would be bad if I were quiet, it's actually quite good! I've been having like, a weirdly great start to my year, and while I have been hibernating for the past two months I am gearing up to overextend myself soon getting back to work and I am gonna do the excruciating thing and tell you what I'm doing in the hope that you might support me (this is just the update. the begging will come later.) so, what am I doing?

first, I am going to be posting my book, wilderblood, here on tumblr! I realize that's kind of weird and silly but I feel very connected to tumblr and I am scared of trying to self-publish it right away. I also don't have the money to commission a good cover (that's part of the later begging) and I refuse to put a naked man and a moon on a generic night sky background on my cover. no shade to the people making bank with those covers but I just can't.

I will be posting it on a separate blog dedicated to the book (reblogging here, of course), so if you're interested in keeping up to date with it, you can follow me over there at wilderwolves. obviously there's nothing on there yet, but I'm going to be posting the first chapter in the next few days. I will also be restarting my patreon to hopefully make some money which would allow me to commission a gorgeous cover. also, for like. money in general. because capitalism has forced me to monetize my hobbies. patreon will get early access and bonus stuff, but the book will be free to read.

speaking of, I am also going to start making candles! super random, I know, but it's something I've always wanted to do and writing this book made me want to find something else that isn't writing that could allow me to do something fun with my hands that isn't playing final fantasy fourteen. it's called Wilder Candle and I'm gonna be putting it up on etsy so if anyone wants some candles for sad girls (gender neutral) that are darker and less cheerful than other candles, that's something I am also doing. yes the candle company has the same name as the book series. yes I will eventually be making self-indulgent candles of the characters of my book. no I will not be taking any criticisms at this time.

in other, non-money things, I have recently gotten back into dming and am currently running an End of Camelot king arthur campaign that has so far been WILD and everything I could have hoped for. my players are level 20+ and the game is broken and it's great. my friends are such freaks, I love them. I am also currently ill with what is probably the flu (but not covid, thank christ) and feel like my head is going to explode, but I managed to get out of my bed today so everything's coming up charlie over here. my cats are flourishing and they're beginning to tolerate me trying to pick them up, so really 2024 is starting pretty swell.

I hope your new years are not too stressful, and I'm really excited to show you what I've been working on. <3

[courtanie]

how were you able to get into writing and did you ever struggle? i'm currently 20 years old and attempting to develop my skills, but it feels so infuriating knowing that i'm somewhat behind in comparison to other people my age. the comparison thing is a major roadblock - i read tons of media and whenever it's my turn to write, i look back on whatever i've written, read, then boil in envy. i don't know how to write well without making myself feel bad.

Well first off, take a deep breath and know that every writer has gone through exactly that and continues to do so. It's a game of never-ending improvement and backsliding and reusing any prose you come up with that you actually liked a teeny bit and honestly it's all just a mess.

But it can be a fun mess.

I started writing when I was 15 and it was literally just an outlet for my teenage rage at that point. Then trauma happened and it became a trauma outlet instead. But also I was just bubbling with ideas and no one wrote things that I wanted to read in particular so clearly I just had to do it myself. Which is literally what I still do. No one else is writing Kyle having a bad time in the exact way I like it so I gotta take the reins.

I know the rule of thumb is "never compare yourself!!!!" but literally no one heeds that. No one can. I compare myself to others, too (which is half the reason I stopped reading don't do that like I did srsly it's a bad idea). But like here's the thing: Do you want to get your stories out? That's literally all that matters. It doesn't matter how bad/good/mediocre it may be, you're writing for you. And you just have to accept that sometimes you're gonna write badly. I still do alllll the time. Sometimes my chapters are really poor because I'm slogging through them trying to get to the exciting parts that prompted the story idea in the first place. Sometimes I have to go back six years later and edit a large portion of a story because I want it going in a different direction or I just thought that what I had didn't hold up. I've deleted so many of my old stories, I've cringed and apologized to my audience and myself so many fucking times.

I shouldn't've.

Bad writing is still something that wasn't there before you brought it into the world. It's still creative and enthralling and a piece of you. Babe you're gonna cringe and you're gonna get angry with yourself and you're gonna get hung up on a sentence and not be able to look at that chapter again to work on it for a couple months because you're so frustrated and lost. But that's okay! It's the process. That whole "we're our own worst critic" adage holds a lot of water, but you have to embrace it and just keep pushing forward regardless. Write it and if you still don't like it, go back and rewrite the entire thing again with the first one open as comparison. You'll make wild changes and settle into it better, trust me.

And believe me, I've struggled and continue to do so. I am literally being roasted by my readers because "oh wow the annual update!" which. Is hilarious and true. I'm really struggling right now due to real life stuff and I've gone on several hiatuses in my 15 years writing. I am notorious about shittalking my style and my lack of creativity. I am wildly out of practice and it's showed lately so I'm back crawling my way up the hill trying to find my footing again and improve after my backslide. But that's what happens with any skill, if you don't use it, if you don't do your damn scales and arpeggios, you're gonna lose what you've gained. And it's disheartening, but it's a reason for you to just keep pushing forward and write the damn thing regardless of self-criticism.

There is always going to be someone better than you, that's how it works for all of us, especially in this subjective of a hobby. But that also means you're better than some people. And the wild thing is, no matter how 'bad' you think you are? You're gonna be someone's favorite author, I absolutely guarantee it. Some of what I considered to be my "worst" stories have had people coming and telling me they were their favorites, that they reread them every night and have their own special binder on their bookshelf. Just keep fucking going, dude. You're never gonna stop improving unless you stop altogether.

[thekimspoblog]

Iris Wexler-McGill (Born Dec. 2017) They/Them

The night dad didn't come home. They never forgave their mother for it.

They steal. EVERYTHING!

Poetic sensibility. Their sister warns them that their recklessness is going to backfire, but they went and shook-down the old HHM building anyway. The way they see it; that building always belonged to them.

FIGHT! Quick thinking and deception is the first course of action, but Iris will always stand their ground over fleeing. Thinking globally means realizing you cannot outrun tyranny.

That's a tricky question, because they would do anything for the cause, but it isn't really THEIR cause. They were born into a second civil war; defending feminism and LGBTQ rights with tooth-and-claw is all they've ever really known.

Iris isn't willing to kill, not by acting on purpose and directly at least. And there are many times where murder would have been the easiest option.

A lot of things, up to and including their gender. But the biggest thing is obviously that they were originally supposed to be born in June of 2004.

Absolutely. Call it a hereditary trait. But mostly just... see aforementioned Second American Civil war. As I've mentioned in other posts, this kid's gonna grow up post-apocalypse. If it wasn't for the time capsule Iris dug up, there would be little evidence this country ever even HAD law and order.

"Do the Evolution" by Pearl Jam

The sequel to BCS I want to write focuses more on how the Breaking Bad universe occasionally teases magical or supernatural elements. And yeah if I get bored it's going to stop being subtle and its' just going to turn into an urban fantasy AU. I'm waiting for "WYCARO" to air.

Iris can use guns for self-defense and intimidation tactics. But their most prized possession is the pinky ring they inherited.

Iris isn't LITTERALLY a reincarnation of Howard Hamlin, but there is a sort of symmetry to their character arcs. Iris spends their whole life into young adulthood fighting the same war/revolution their parents did, under great pressure to uphold some family legacy that promises to retroactively make all the bloodshed justified. But after a full television season of their sister begging them to reevaluate The Cause, Iris finally does decide to lay down their proverbial sword. The cause might have been righteous, but Iris isn't a messiah; they're just another stray dog roaming the wasteland. Kim and Jimmy took up this cause to give everyone's children a better future; neither of them would have wanted their kids to die for this crap.

I'm trying my best not to write Iris as a self-insert. This character (and other similar baby OCs from other fanfics) is significant to me because my mom is the person who got me into this show in the first place. A few years ago, my mom and I were fighting really badly and (to paraphrase) my mom said something to me: "If your 20-something kid is standing in front of you yelling 'you screwed me up!' it means you did at least TWO THINGS right; you kept them alive and you gave them the emotional freedom to be critical of you". MOM is a very crushing label to put on someone, and you're bound to be criticized for falling short sooner or later. But just remember motherhood is a primordial force of nature, not something you can actually succeed or fail at, no matter what the justice system says. And you can't be paralyzed by fear of failure from living your life indefinitely. That's what I think is the heart of any fanfic exploring a surprise pregnancy and Kim's mom baggage. So to answer your question, it's not about any specific overlap I have with this character (or Kim), but the intergenerational dynamic of mother/daughter is somewhat autobiographical.

Tough. Unflappable. Rebellious. Just. Always the one with the witty comeback and the plan to save the day.

Originally it was going to be Hadley Delany, but I guess representational casting would necessitate finding someone who's actually nonbinary.

High. Iris is a hardened soldier. Basically Se6 of Better Call Saul didn't turn out how I expected, but we DID get a post-apocalyptic miracle baby in the form of Frankie Nichols from Westworld. Iris and Frankie are basically the same character.

See #1 again. A lot of childhood was spent with the au pair, and their parents disappearing for weeks on end. It was always scary, the possibility they wouldn't come home that time. And then one night... it finally happened. RIP Jimmy.

It's more like if the Joker had a coherent and ethical reason for their actions? Iris is warm and bright and funny. Because "Mother's sharp ruthlessness + Dad's cavalier attitude = a dangerous winning combination" is the persona they've lived all their lives. But don't mistake that for intimacy; it's all an act. Their sister is the only one Iris actually talks to.

"One must imagine Sisyphus laughing" - Albert Camut. A lot of scarring things happen in Iris's life, but they're able to take most of it in stride. Because they are so certain of their own convictions, it's like they can see 100 years into the future, when so many small horrors will be forgotten. So it's not really about rage; raging against the machine is what they do on a good day. It's when Iris's faith in THE PLAN is shaken, that you would actually be able to provoke them.

Jealous? No. Passing-off-an-act-of-selfishness-as-being-for-the-greater-good-because-they're-a-spoiled-brat? Yes. Iris does believe the world and the future belongs to them.

Healthy as a clam. Can ward off the evil-eye. Closest thing to a disease, the unnatural circumstances of their birth lead Kim to always find her daughter a little creepy. They're a changeling.

Lawful-good in a chaotic-neutral world.

Doubt.

Jimmy and Kim had ample choices to pick alternate timelines for their daughter. But Iris was always going to be generally the same person in generally the same circumstances.

This is my Half-Life 3 bro. Hollywood can never stop milking a cash cow, and if we get any more content set in the Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul universe, I hope we get more stories about the crotch-dumplings' abilities to survive. If not Iris, the demand to know what Kaylee, Flynn and Holly did next seems pretty vocal.

Edgy/misc OC ask meme ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

Send me a number and an OC, and I'll answer.

What memory would your OC rather just forget?

What's something about your OC that people wouldn't expect just from looking at them?

What is your OC's fatal flaw? Are they aware of this flaw?

When scared, does your OC fight, flee, freeze or fawn?

How far is your OC willing to go to get what they want?

How easily could your OC be convinced to do something that goes against their moral compass?

What's one way your OC has changed since you first came up with them?

Would your OC ostensibly be able to get away with murder?

Do you have a specific lyric or quote which you associate with your OC?

What's an AU that would be interesting to explore with your OC?

What is your OC's weapon of choice? Have they ever actually used it?

Is your OC self-destructive? In what ways?

If you met your OC, would the two of you get along?

How does your OC want to be seen by other characters?

Does your OC have a faceclaim? If so, who?

What is your OC's pain tolerance like?

What is the worst thing you have put your OC through story-wise?

Is your OC more cold and detached or up close and personal?

How does your OC behave when enraged?

Does your OC have a tendency to get jealous? If so, how does this manifest?

Does your OC have any illnesses or disorders? How do they handle it?

What character alignment would you consider your OC to be?

What emotion is the hardest for your OC to process? How about express?

What is an alternative life path your OC might have gone down? How different would their life be if they'd made those decisions?

What is your favorite thing about your OC?

[leapyearz]

hey y'all :~) i'm peyton [s/t, est, 20+] and i am here with an older, revised character of mine, hwang daesung... ummm tl/dr is that he's a pretty famous idol on the verge of either (a) emerging as a stable, irrefutably respected artist and (b) fucking it all up but i will get into that below! when i get them finished, his DOSSIER, CONNECTIONS, CAREER OVERVIEW & PINTEREST will be linked here. when that will be is a mystery to us both...

b/g /// tw for mentions of drug usage/addiction and disordered eating, will also mark the exact spots

only child, born into a lower middle class family -- parents used to talk about giving him a sibling, but later said they already had everything they could need/want with daesung :~) he was super loved, super doted on for the first ~12 years of his life

dad was a club owner/sound engineer (with a lame, not super worth mentioning past in a band), so daesung was super exposed to music in his adolescence, esp. rock music -> naturally started dreaming abt becoming a rockstar

dad supported this aspiration, mom not so much??? she watched her husband aspire and fall short of his dreams, didn't really want daesung wasting time doing the same shit which she didn't hesitate to tell him in softer terms, but daesung is nothing if not stubborn

dad suddenly passed away in 2008, which left the family in a rough spot mentally and financially considering daesung's mom is a hairdresser who at that time still hadn't been able to open her own salon ^^ rather than seeking comfort in each other, daesung & his mom drifted apart and never fully got back to where they were before

this is sorta where daesung's escapist tendencies started??? always looking for a distraction, went through a period where he got into many many many fights and was doing drastic things for attention but eventually returned to using music as an outlet -- got into other genres, started learning how to dance

ended up signing to GOLDEN T in 2013, was pretty much immediately thrown into a competition show that he wasn't ready for and was torn to shreds by viewers/judges alike... still ended up debuting 'cause he learned to use humor to cope and turns out people might like you if you're half cute and can make them laugh!

debuted with CAERUS in 2014. target of a lot of criticism and debate for the first couple years of his career, from "does he deserve his spot in the group?" to "he's holding the others back" but he worked extremely hard to improve and get to where he needed to be ^^ eventually grew on the public :~)

TW DISORDERED EATING that said, being a target did fuck with his mentality a lot and certain comments abt his appearance mixed with his own insecurities led to him binging / purging on and off for about a year and a half. did seek help and recovered but still has a weird rs with food because of it, doesn't like to eat in public and won't go on reality shows that make a big deal out of meals END TW

over the course of 2016 to 2021, the public's opinion of him continued to improve and he became a loved entertainment figure, both within his group and as an individual -- from writing/producing/composing to appearing on variety shows and cfs, many many many people came to know his face

group's rising popularity + his personal royalties meant more money to blow, access to exclusive spaces and easier attainment of illegal substances, which resulted in a few things: (1) he became a hoarder (2) he became a party animal and (3) he learned to push his limits

has had many close calls with paparazzi and his impulsive behaviors, from hooking up with fans to buying shit from people in too-public places but tbh luck is on his side and nothing super bad has happened just yet

which brings us to where we are now -- as of sep. 2022, daesung is on an indefinite hiatus forced by upper management BECAUSE of a close call. what happened? don't worry about it... just know that his company doesn't really like him too much right now and he's not sure what to do about it

misc

considered a "stan attractor" within his group, very vibrant personality that grabs attention. typically the first member new fans get to know, but doesn't rly stay anyone's favorite

from debut until now, he's consistently appeared on variety shows. used to beg for a chance to appear and now he's in high demand but no longer really ~loves~ having to have this loud and fun personality turned on all the time??? idk he has a love/hate rs with his public image and career path

TW ADDICTION was a set cast member on 2 days 1 night from sep 2019 to may 2022, ended up getting fired from ("parting ways with") the team because multiple people within the cast & production team were catching on to his drug problem and tried to offer help, which he refused/denied needing -- tension increased and ultimately it was decided that the best option for everybody was to let him go :~) claims that he DECIDED to leave to focus on his group activities... which he then shortly went on hiatus from LMFAOOO END TW

has very eclectic interests, from skateboarding & thrifting to high fashion, history & circus clowns -- used to be a very interesting & fun person to be around, but hasn't been particularly passionate about the things he used to love recently. what tf is going on with him?

pers

open, warm, unjudging -- daesung has experienced being an outcast, doesn't want anyone else to feel that way so he's the type of guy who can & will talk to anyone. known to be a very well-liked person among staff and newer idols because he doesn't speak to anybody as if they're beneath him and is quick to offer a helping hand

however, he does have a way of seeming unattainable/unreachable? because while he's so friendly in person, he doesn't often answer texts/calls and whilst he seems so open and honest, a lot of ppl find that they actually don't know him super well

the type of person to have many friends, but no #besties

has a hard time differentiating reality from fantasy in a way, no longer knows how to shut his public persona off and just be himself. mixed the two for so long that his sense of self has deteriorated

fun to be with when you manage to reach him. always knows the best place to go or the best thing to do, paints himself as this super exciting person with a super vibrant life and then he goes home and crashes, can't move from his couch for 3 days

[utilitycaster]

Spoilers, Tags, and How to Act Right in the Askbox: an Updated Pinned Post

The Askbox

Do not ever send me spoilers unless I've indicated it's okay. You will be blocked.

The askbox is a place to ask me things. It is neither your megaphone nor a means of seeking personal validation. If you send me something in my askbox, even if it's a statement, I assume you want my opinion and I will give it to you. That opinion might be in disagreement with yours. In short: questions are both welcome and encouraged! But if you're just looking for a yes-woman, you have really misread the situation.

Spoilers

I typically watch (and live-blog) the first half of Critical Role when it airs, then go to bed and watch the second half on Friday morning (or afternoon if I can't make it work with my schedule). From when I go to bed at the break until I finish I have the entire Critical Role tag and several common spoiler tags blocked. Please do not send me spoilers or put them in my notes during this time. You will be blocked. I typically make a post when I'm going to bed and a post when I finish the episode that you can find to get an indication of where I am in the episode.

For other shows/podcasts, it honestly depends. When in doubt feel free to just ask "hey, can I ask you a question about the most recent episode of X" first, since I don't always listen/watch right away. Sending me spoilers to the askbox for other shows will get a block, but doing so in the notes won't necessarily since it's at times unclear, but still...be cool.

Tags

I tag spoilers for Critical Role until the YouTube VOD is posted. Otherwise, I tend to use the spoiler tag until the next day for podcasts/shows. The spoiler tag is always the tag I use for the work, followed by the word "spoilers".

Frequent tags are:

critical role. If I have something I want to be able to find later but seems weird to put in the main tag, I often tag it with "cr tag". Not split by campaign.

tlovm for The Legend of Vox Machina; tagged with spoilers until the Saturday morning after an episode first drops.

dimension 20; individual seasons are also referred to by season name (eg: fantasy high) and the spoiler tagging is by season (eg: starstruck odyssey spoilers)

rqg (Rusty Quill Gaming)

taz (The Adventure Zone); individual campaigns are referred to with their name (eg: taz ethersea) and spoiler tagging is by campaign (eg: taz ethersea spoilers)

naddpod (Not Another D&D Podcast). Not split by campaign.

d&d for general D&D things

d&d mechanics for particularly crunchy mechanics questions

My discourse tag is relatively recent; it's "tenser's floating discourse" and it's primarily so that people who follow me can either avoid it or get all the tea, so to speak, depending on preference. If something's tagged with that, it's probably not maintagged.

Other

As of posting, I've read three of the Wheel of Time books and watched the show. My tags are m reads wot and m watches wot. I'm far less of a stickler on spoilers for the books because they've been out for over 20 years in most cases, but in general, again, be cool.

I occasionally post other fantasy media and the tags are going to either be the main tag (eg: The Witcher) or of the form "m watches/reads X". (M is my first initial and what I usually go by in anonymous spaces on the internet).

If you have tagging questions or requests, feel free to ask! I can't guarantee anything but I will take it under consideration and provide a respectful answer, even if it's a no.

[aquaaquila]

Ok, now you're really pushing it, so how about I make the big finish about this whole thing.

Not condemning Brozone is not me applying toxic positivity from the first movie. Quite ironically, it's folks like you actually being toxic by being deadset on the whole "must criticize Brozone". In case you haven't noticed both Branch and Poppy were wrong in the first film. Poppy was too positive and Branch was too negative, just like you're being too negative. Rather than giving the shot to fix what's broken, you would rather reject altogether anything there is, and funnily enough, you give the benefit of the doubt to the wrong people while not cutting slack to those who actually deserve it.

You're going rough on Floyd assuming the worst of him while giving JD the benefit of the doubt despite him being the face and the cause of the whole Brozone toxicity because he did your bare minimum, which ironically could've ended far worse. It's even funnier when you consider the double standard on how Floyd, who was selfish ONE time in his entire existence is getting shit from you for it. At the same time, JD who was notoriously self-centered gets excused after ONE instance of maybe not thinking about himself. This reminds me too much of how people treat flawed female characters while excusing male characters who are utter shits, though kudos for at least not applying either sexism or some other form of discrimination, instead opting for "let's go for the fan fave while praising the controversial one".

I literally could not care less about those characters, they're fine to me but I have no passion for them whatsoever, and I will not allow the likes of you to trash them with your lies about how the situation actually is.

JD continuously proved to be the biggest asshole in the family by pushing everyone to ridiculously high standards without acknowledging how they truly feel (like literally, Floyd points out Branch is nervous and JD says that Branch isn't supposed to be nervous but perfect. And I'm supposed to believe he's the bro that cares more about Branch?) and dipping on them the moment they had enough of him. Kudos for coming back, but he never said why he tried to come back, which as far as we're concerned could still be for very selfish reasons. For all we know if JD did stick around, he might've become Branch's "dancing mom" as that's pretty much what the movie establishes as his core personality. Even when he comes back 20 years later, the first thing he does is harass Branch and not take accountability for actually leaving him behind. Which is even worse considering it's his departure and his behavior that drove THE ENTIRE family apart in the first place. And it's not like he was returning to his old habits the moment Bruce and Clay also came back, which they called him out on and it was JD himself who mocked the idea of them being reunited as family.

Meanwhile, Floyd's only crime is that he left Branch and didn't come back which really can be more of a matter of circumstances if JD found the tree empty, so could Floyd. And considering how the entire movie goes out of its way to show how compassionate and considering Floyd is, how am I supposed to believe that he willingly just abandoned his family when this literally doesn't align with his character. Floyd is no stranger to us. We know how he pretty much was the only brother who actively looked out for Branch in the past with both Clay and Spruce not even acknowledging Branch's existence and JD not caring about him being nervous. And out of all the bros, it was Floyd who actually had this fond serenade about his Bros, he's the one who points out how it would be a shame that they would miss all the fun together, whenever any of his bros tried to help him he would tell them to leave so they wouldn't get hurt, prioritising their safety over his own life which was at stake. He's also the only one to acknowledge how Branch grew up and he didn't have any problems with that. That's certainly more than JD ever showcased. And he constantly played the mediator between his bros because he ultimately cared deeply about his family. Him leaving one was him giving a chance for himself to be his own person, and supposedly he's the worst for this.

Am I supposed to believe that you would rather have Floyd deny his own dreams, deny his own chance at personhood just so he could be Branch's satellite character 24/7? Just to constantly take care of Branch's problems instead of his own? It sucks that Floyd wasn't there for Branch, but could've Floyd actually have helped this situation. Branch didn't even want to be found, he was in a hidden village far away from the troll tree and built himself a bunker that was even more hidden. How was Floyd supposed to even find him? I'm sorry but at some point, Floyd would think his family may be pretty dead and he would have to live on without them so he did, but he was still surprised to see JD and Branch and glad to see them.

That's the truth of this whole situation. JD sure is a complex character and he certainly cares deep down but he certainly sucks at showing it and it took him the end of the movie to finally get this right. Him being physically there doesn't fix the issue by itself as the issue was not just him not being physically there for Branch, but also emotionally as well. I can give JD the benefit of the doubt in the end as he did swallow his pride and instead became proud of Branch. As for Floyd, then despite not being a character in the movie he still showed promise and still showed that out of all the Brozone members, he's indeed the one that Branch would be willing to go through hell to save as what do you know, he is actually worth the trouble. Floyd never maliciously abandoned his family.

And here's a thing: we always want more, and we never have enough when it comes to stories, but just because we don't have enough doesn't mean that the story is suddenly bad or that the characters within it are suddenly evil people. I point out the hypocrisy in your posting as I did say I know who you really are and I know exactly what you did before and where your priorities truly lie.

The movie absolutely does acknowledge the mistakes they've made. Branch has every right to be mad at Brozone and calls them out on how Brozone hurt him and Brozone does in the end try to make up for it, starting with changing their attitude which was the core of all problems, and trust me, a family member changing attitude is probably the best "little" thing they can do for you if they wronged you.

Indeed we should expect better from people, so how about you apply your own lesson to yourself.

Alright, but if Branch should be mad at anyone then it's Floyd, because he promised he'll come back yet he never did

But if he should forgive anyone then it's John Dory, because he DID come back but no one was there

I demand justice for my man

(I am NOT bashing Floyd! Just to be clear. I'm just stating facts)

[professor-doc-emeritus]

I posted 16,171 times in 2022

239 posts created (1%)

15,932 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@joey-wheeler-official

@yimra

@casioa168w

@whatthehellisgoingon9374

I tagged 1,163 of my posts in 2022

#for later - 54 posts

#superman - 6 posts

#he cant keep getting away with it - 3 posts

#based - 3 posts

#based? - 3 posts

#literally me - 2 posts

#of all goes well ill have a masters and a big starting jon - 2 posts

#if it doesn't - 2 posts

#well it will go well so i suppose its not worth worrying about - 2 posts

#one stiff breeze to the left or a bad landing on their neck and they never walk again - 2 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#becoming intimately acquainted with the ins and outs of the product schedule to maximize the impact my absence will have on the project so i

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

i think the fundamental thing modern superman writers get wrong about him is that superman is funny. yeah, all his friends don't recognize him when he puts glasses on. that's hilarious. you're supposed to laugh at that. you're supposed to laugh at lois lane bullying clark only for her to get bullied by superman. You're supposed to laugh at how over the top all his villains are. You're supposed to laugh at him dating a mermaid and turning into an ant and fighting a guy whos a cowboy but evil. This is a man who was born in a small town called smallville and who lives and works in a city called metropolis. his first best and highest calling as a character is to entertain kids, and kids love to laugh. he is not meant to be taken even 1/1000th as seriously as his worst critics or most die hard fans insist on taking him.

20 notes - Posted June 27, 2022

#4

there's gotta be a non-zero number of military fart sniffers who googled shit like "marine reacts" hoping for veteran videos only to get an anime girl screaming about sex

27 notes - Posted July 5, 2022

#3

I don't care how fancy the AI is or how well it passes the turing test, finish the greentext will NEVERbeat our pure, wholeosme, homegrown frogposting bot!

38 notes - Posted June 17, 2022

#2

actually, I comprehend the horrors just fine.

39 notes - Posted July 11, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

my favorite "meant to make them look good but actually makes them look bad" trope from copaganda shows is "these people from another agency with vastly superior resources, training, and experience for dealing with this exact type of case, not to mention the actual legal jurisdiction, are trying to solve the case. We have to prevent this at all costs."

130 notes - Posted March 21, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[tabloidtoc]

Star, March 8

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: George Clooney vs. Brad Pitt -- the fight that ended their friendship

Page 1: Scott Disick's mid-life makeover -- some guys buy a convertible but Scott already has a garage full of fancy rides, so what else to do when you're edging close to 40, split from the mom of your three kids and are already dating a 19-year-old model? Well, bleach your hair platinum, of course!

Page 2: Contents, Leighton Meester and Adam Brody celebrated their sixth wedding anniversary with a couple's surf session

Page 3: Star Shots -- John Legend wore an eye-catching sweater to a photoshoot in West Hollywood, Anya Taylor-Joy stunned in a crimson gown on the set of an untitled David O. Russell-directed period film, Jason Sudeikis grabbed a bite during a break from filming Ted Lasso's second season in London

Page 4: After hosting countless rose ceremonies over nearly two decades of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, Chris Harrison is now in the hot seat himself and facing backlash for defending current Bachelor frontrunner Rachael Kirkconnell who's been accused of racist behavior -- the next day, Chris apologized and said he was stepping aside as host of the dating reality series but the damage was done as Rachel Lindsay who is the first Black lead in the franchise's history revealed she won't renew her Bachelor contract and current Bachelor Matt James supported her -- as for Chris, the fallout continues as Crest are considering pulling down ads featuring him but with critics calling for his ouster Chris wants his job back and no one at ABC wants to see him replaced but those conversations are happening

Page 5: Miley Cyrus has an idea how to help Britney Spears in her legal battle to replace dad Jamie Spears as her conservator -- Miley is hoping she and Britney can record a classic song together like an anthem like Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves or Enough Is Enough and she's hoping to get Britney on board but that may be a challenge with the legal restrictions in place

* Mom-of-eight Kate Gosselin didn't get what she was asking for on her house in Pennsylvania -- it's upsetting that she got less than she paid for it but her hand was forced; it costs a lot to keep up a house like that on 20-plus acres and with years of roughhousing, it needs a lot of work -- with twins Mady and Cara already in college and the sextuplets growing up, Kate hopes to jump-start her career and she's dying to leave Pennsylvania and head to Hollywood

* Paris Hilton's boyfriend of just over a year Carter Reum dropped to one knee on a gorgeous private beach and offered Paris his heart and a sparkler from Cartier and she said yes -- close family was on hand to celebrate the couple who have been friends for 15 years and the party went on well into the evening -- now Paris is already making wedding plans for something simple and elegant with a gorgeous dinner and the couple is ready to start a family sooner rather than later and she's hinted she's already started IVF and if she gets pregnant they'll just push up the wedding

Page 6: Ryan Gosling needed some time off after 2018's moon-landing biopic First Man because he really became Neil Armstrong during the six months of shooting and he was absolutely drained after finishing it and he spent the next two years with wife Eva Mendes being a full-time dad to their two young kids -- now he's back and with three movies lined up, he's looking at a $75 million paycheck this year -- in addition to The Gray Man, he's gearing up for a Wolfman update and another space adventure called Project Hail Mary -- he wants to be a popcorn-movie star and he's going full-blown buff-and-shirtless action hero

* Allen v. Farrow is a new investigation into 1992 allegations about Woody Allen by his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow and her mother Mia Farrow that digs up damning new evidence against the director -- one harrowing home video shows the then-7-year-old Dylan saying her dad touched her privates and later a doorman and a building manager and a maid at Allen's NYC residence raise questions about when Woody began his shocking relationship with Mia's teen daughter Soon-Yi -- Mia also expresses fear in the doc, saying she worries that when the documentary comes out he'll be on the attack again and he'll do whatever he has to do to save himself

* Star Spots the Stars -- Julia Roberts, Joe Jonas, Luann de Lesseps, Christina Aguilera, Kaia Gerber, Tarek El Moussa and Heather Rae Young

Page 8: Star Shots -- With balloons and a box of chocolate in hand lifestyle expert Gretta Monahan arrived at The View, Melissa Gorga snacked on a huge box of sweets between Zoom interviews to promote the 11 season of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, Vanessa Lachey prepared to host a Galentine's Day celebration with macarons and wine

Page 10: Jenna Dewan making a plant-based meal, Selling Sunset's Christine Quinn and her husband Christian Richard sipped juice bar drinks while running errands in Beverly Hills, Hugh Grant stopped to tend to his laces while out for a walk in Chelsea in West London, Carrie Underwood prepped for her daily workout session in pieces from her Calia fitness apparel line

Page 12: After a stop at the Kidding Around children's store Bradley Cooper had his hands full walking with his daughter Lea in NYC, Sofia Vergara chic in a blowout and patterned top in Beverly Hills, Justin Bieber looked comfy in a message tee and pajama bottoms in L.A.

Page 13: Thandie Newton looked tense while Chris Pine hit the ground running as the two filmed the spy thriller All the Old Knives in London, Jon Bernthal braved the frigid water while Gretchen Mol bundled up on the set of American Gigolo in L.A.

Page 14: Think Pink -- Jennifer Lopez hoisted an oversized customized bubble-gum hued Coach satchel in a promo shot in NYC, Cardi B slipped on neon sneakers from her Reebok collaboration to shop on Rodeo Drive in L.A., Hilary Duff showing off a peek of her growing baby bump on the set of Younger in NYC

Page 16: In town to film The Hills: New Beginnings with their castmates Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag played in the snow with their son Gunner in Lake Tahoe

Page 17: Mandy Moore and husband Taylor Goldsmith celebrated their last Valentine's Day before parenthood with a romantic stroll in Pasadena, Michelle Obama on her new children's show Waffles + Mochi

Page 18: Chris Meloni and Mariska Hargitay in NYC, hiding her locks in a cute newsboy cap Brooke Burke grabbed dinner at Nobu in Malibu, Krysten Ritter brought her son Bruce to meet some farm animals at the Gentle Barn in Santa Clarita

Page 20: Normal or Not? Farrah Abraham suffered a serious wardrobe malfunction while hitting the sand in Malibu -- not normal, Nikki Reed gushing over her therapy chicken -- normal, Property Brothers' Drew Scott booty bumpin' with wife Linda Phan -- not normal, Lucy Hale lovingly held onto her new dog Ethel while fueling up her ride in L.A. -- normal

Page 22: Fashion -- stars in pastel frocks -- Heidi Klum, Sophia Bush, Chrissy Teigen

Page 23: Rihanna, Kirsten Dunst

Page 26: Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker are having sexy slumber parties at Kourtney's $8.5 million Calabasas pad and they are spending so much time together and she loves having him sleep over and he'll stay the whole weekend -- Travis who has lived nearby in the gated community for years is already making himself at home and not only has he moved a bunch of stuff into Kourtney's property but she leaves him to chill out and enjoy his space if she has to run errands -- even if it seems the couple is moving and moving in fast, their respective broods are on board with the new arrangement and Kourtney's kids Mason, Penelope and Reign love having Travis around and meanwhile the door is always open for Travis' kids Alabama and Landon, and Travis and Kourtney do a lot of fun stuff with their kids together -- there's already speculation that the move-in will be permanent because Kourtney knows a good thing when she sees it and Travis checks all the boxes

Page 27: Meeting the in-laws might be a little complicated for newly engaged Shailene Woodley and Aaron Rodgers because the Green Bay Packers QB is famously estranged from his Chico, California-based family -- in 2016 Aaron's younger brother Jordan Rodgers exposed the rift while competing on The Bachelorette and at the time, fans blamed Aaron's then-girlfriend Olivia Munn for turning him Hollywood but the trouble continued after their 2017 split -- now that he's with Shailene, Aaron doesn't want to bring her into that toxic atmosphere but Shailene who once called her own folks super f**ked up is not deterred and she is encouraging Aaron to let bygones be bygones but he's not ready

* Melissa and Joe Gorga's marriage troubles will play out on the new season of The Real Housewives of New Jersey but their issues are even worse behind the scenes and they've been butting heads as Melissa's career continues to skyrocket so she's distracted with work and doesn't have time for Joe and he feels neglected and he isn't one to hold back -- it doesn't help that the Envy boutique owner was rumored to be getting close to another man -- the couple is trying to work out their issues for the sake of their three kids but Melissa may be done

Page 28: Cover Story -- George Clooney and Brad Pitt: The Breaking Point -- fights, jealousy and other women -- the former besties had a major falling out and now mutual friend Sandra Bullock is desperate to reunite them -- George and Brad have barely spoken in eight years and they've definitely gone their separate ways and Brad's ex-wife Angelina Jolie played a big part in the demise of their friendship because Angie felt George took Brad away from her and their kids -- Amal Clooney found Angie unbearable and that was kind of the point of no return for Brad and George -- George is struggling to regain his luster as a director while Brad is out there winning Oscars

Page 32: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle: Interview Shockers -- as they prep for baby number two, Harry and Meghan announce a no-holds-barred interview, leaving the palace on edge

Page 34: Celebs in Wheel Trouble -- don't drink (or drug) and drive; these stars got caught making some very bad decisions -- Bruce Springsteen, mug shots of Justin Bieber

Page 35: Reese Witherspoon, Vince Vaughn, Lindsay Lohan, Michael Phelps, Khloe Kardashian, Henry Thomas, Heather Locklear, Jesse Luken, Mel Gibson

Page 36: Beauty -- curl care -- strengthen every type of wave and coil with cool new miracle workers

Page 48: Parting Shot -- Bill Murray teamed up with NFL player Larry Fitzgerald for the AT&T Every Shot Counts Charity Challenge in Pebble Beach -- despite landing in third place, Bill and Larry made a great pair, earning an impressive $209,000 for local charities

[vinylcreeps]

Ok so. September is Alopecia Awareness month. I am finally in a place where I can fully share my story about this. This is going to be long.

Anyways, I've never shared these photos before because they are really hard for me to look at. As a woman, a lot of our feminity comes from our hair. Society doesn't care if a man goes bald, it's expected and common. It's not the same for a woman. Even if you cut your hair short, assholes have something to say about it.

I've had thin fine hair since I was a kid. I remember being in 6th grade and my classmates calling me "baldy" for a time before they started calling me "grandma" (but that's a different topic 🙄) I remember in 7th grade, I cut it short and hearing the kids walking behind me in the hall ask eachother if I was a girl or boy. I remember being in drama club that same year and got permission to wear a hair piece because when we were at elementary schools doing little sample performances and classroom visits, a kid looked me dead in the eye and asked "And why are YOU wearing a dress??!" So yeah. This shit started early and had a huge impact on my self esteem.

I started wearing hair toppers (a hairpiece that only covers the top of your head, they clip on) in my early 20s. I got my first full wig when I was probably 25, so I've been wearing them 10 years now. I got to a point where I was tired of all the hair pieces and started to get my real hair bleached and toned as white/silver as we could get it so it camouflaged my loss. After quite a while of doing this, I was going to go back to the toppers because I wanted my hair darker again, so my stylist started putting some low lights in it slowly. After this visit, I took a photo of it when I got home to see what the color looked like in natural light. The first photo I posted was that photo. My heart sank and I knew it was time to shave it. (Ps. It was in no fault of my stylist whatsoever, she's phenomenal at her craft and did exactly what I asked!) I had joked about shaving it for years because it's such a chore and is so expensive to hide. I messaged a few friends and asked if they'd shave it for me, and they did later that night. I sobbed the whole time. It was a mixture of feeling like I was losing my identity and feminity mixed with the relief of just having it gone so I didn't have to fight with and look at it anymore. That was 2 years ago now, and in retrospect, one of the best decisions I've ever made.

The following two photos are what it looks like when I tried to grow it out to a pixi cut. So here's your proof that your hair DOES NOT grow back thicker. Serums, Rogaine and vitamins do not help my type of Alopecia.

The 4th photo was for a friend's project and was one of the first times I've really put it out so publicly before now. I've talked about it here and there, but wasn't ready to show anything. I'm finally at acceptance and peace with it, and if sharing this helps even one person then that's amazing.

I just want you to know that you're not alone, you're not ugly, you're not less than. I'm here if anyone would like to talk about it.

I'm not going to lie and say I'm completely over it, because I'm not. I mean just today I posted a selfie with a new wig lol But now the wigs are more for fun than they are a camouflage. I've been making myself go out more with just my shaved head, and it's helped me feel better about it. I'm the only one that cares about it, no one has ever said anything bad or mean about it. That shit was all in my head. We are our own worst critics. I wish we could see ourselves through the eyes of others.

I'm not posting this for attention or for complements or for anyone to tell me I'm brave etc etc. I'm posting this for Awareness because Alopecia in women isn't talked about very openly and it should be. The more we talk about things, the more things are understood and accepted. In turn making it not so shameful and embarrassing for the people struggling.

Thank you for reading if you got this far!

[teruthecreator]

if you're comfortable, could you say what specifically you hated about the finale? i never got into amnesty but i liked balance so i would like to know how disappointed i should be ://

okay i’m gonna explain this in-detail exactly Once bc i’m trying rlly hard to just forget about the whole epilogue and keep it moving like that shit never happened, so for anyone else who is asking me why i don’t like the finale (and im not saying you’re wrong for asking, anon, it just seems that when you vocally do not like a thing there are hundreds of people who come out of the woodworks to ask you why and i think thats kinda Huh, Weird of everyone but like whatever) i’m gonna lay it all out here on the table and you can take this as you will. 

i’m not gonna be getting into fistfights with people abt this so if you disagree please don’t try and banter with me. i am running on

also, CRITICISM OF ART DOES NOT MEAN CRITICISM OF THE ARTIST. I AM NOT CRITICIZING THE MCELROYS AS HUMAN BEINGS, BUT RATHER THEIR ARTISTIC DECISIONS IN TAZ: AMNESTY. MORE PEOPLE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS A SEPARATION BETWEEN ART AND ARTIST, AND ONCE YOU (AS AN ARTIST) POST A PIECE, IT BECOMES SUBJECT TO CRITICISM. I AM NOT BRINGING GRIFFIN, JUSTIN, TRAVIS, OR CLINT’S CHARACTERS INTO QUESTION; I AM SIMPLY GIVING A CRITICISM ON THE SHOW THEY’VE CREATED AS A WORK OF ART. 

oh, this goes without saying, but i will anyway: SPOILERS FOR AMNESTY (IN GENERAL, BUT ALSO FOR EPISODE 36) 

i’m gonna start off by saying, i don’t think the whole episode was a total disaster. there are two things mainly that have ruined the whole experience for me, but for the most part i thought the like first 2 hours of this episode were a lot of fun! the fight scene was a little bogged down in the rolls imo, but it didn’t deter me too much from the overarching boss battle. the intro was a sick concept, i enjoyed the callback bits spliced in w newly scripted bits from mentioned past encounters, that was all well and good. i loved beacon in the episode, and god do i wish he stayed for the whole thing. 

my problem mainly sits with the epilogue, which is why i think the whole episode turns sour in my mind. because the epilogue is supposed to be what satiates your desire to know more, right? not to reference balance too much (bc these are two completely different stories w different premises, and for people to so readily compare them is kinda wack. that being said, they are two stories made by the same people that use an epilogue to wrap up the loose ends, so im gonna make this one comparison), but the epilogue told us, the listener, all the things we wanted to know about after the day of story of song. we got to know what they did, a little bit of their interpersonal relationships, and we even got a big group scene with the killarey wedding! 

this epilogue, though, feels like it left so much still on the table. one of those things i will swing back to later because it is the largest part of my argument, but after all of this time we still don’t know why everyone at the lodge got exiled! no one talks about it! we don’t know how dani ended up there, or jake, or barclay, or moira, or anyone! they don’t reference the banishments at all, which i think is a huge shortcoming figuring that is the core premise as to why these characters exist in our pc’s world in the first place. 

i also feel like the concept of the worlds being divided for a long time is kind of a dumb way to go about framing what they do After The Fact. like, they could have had those scenes happen without the looming concept of them being divided, especially when their big reunion scene is like 2 minutes long and basically does nothing. what would have been a cooler premise is if billy connected the worlds, and the worlds worked together in rebuilding themselves. we still could’ve had the same bits happen (for the most part), but i just think that whole separation bit kinda alienated the pc’s (especially thacker). 

but everything up to aubrey’s epilogue bit is fine. i have some problems, but it’s fine. where i started to completely abandon the work itself though is duck’s bit, and i’m gonna get into it by saying this: I know Justin Mcelroy is not legally required to make all of his characters gay, but this whole scene was just a big reminder to me that this show is done by 4 straight white men

and yeah, my big problem with this scene is the fact that justin had to make Duck/Minerva a thing. because it adds nothing to the story while also being a very skeevy concept in-general, and it reduces minerva’s character down to the Hero’s Girlfriend trope and it’s so comphet and she doesn’t deserve it. 

my first grievance with this: It adds nothing to the story. 

had justin not even mentioned the relationship part of their interaction before the scene actually took place, this scene would be like every other scene involving duck and minerva prior to this. duck says honey once, and even that could’ve been played off as duck just being affectionate to his friends (which is a thing, i call several of my friends “my love” irl and it isn’t a big deal). minerva doesn’t even use pet names, she calls duck by his full name, which is exactly how she addressed him in every other scene! duck’s speech is a genuine heart-puller, but it was completely soured by the fact that justin had to premise this entire scene by saying duck and minerva are a thing. 

my second grievance: it’s a skeevy-as-all-hell concept. 

this whole premise is nasty seven ways from sunday, and it is my biggest problem with duck’s bit as a whole. for starters, and i think more people need to mention this, minerva meets duck on the night of his 18th birthday. which means duck has literally just stopped being legally considered a minor before minerva appears before him. and honestly, i would still consider duck a minor in this case because he has literally just turned 18!!! his brain has not developed past one of a 17-year-old on the exact date of his birthday, and i argue it will not until he is at least in his twenties. keep in mind, your brain does not stop developing until you are about 25. so while in the legal sense, duck is an adult, in both the mental and emotional sense at that exact moment, duck is still a minor. AND he’s still in high school, as referenced in his response to her call to duty: “i got class tomorrow”. and minerva is old enough to have become the minister of defense for her homeworld, go through an entire war, and have several other chosen ones (including leo tarkesian, who is at least 20 years older than duck) before meeting duck. so that makes her much, much older than duck when she meets him. and i don’t care if they had barely any interaction after that first moment (though they did, as justin legit talks about when he introduces minerva as a concept to the show), that still establishes their initial interaction at a massive age difference. which, regardless of anything, makes their eventual relationship so genuinely messed up. 

sure, you can argue that when you get older age doesn’t make that much of a difference, and i would agree. my mother is 53 and her husband is 63, that’s ten years. but my mother and step mother did not meet at 8 and 18, they met at 50 and 60. the initial interaction makes all the difference between “older people meeting and having a relationship” and “a very messed up situation”. 

also, in this same argument, taking the mentor-student relationship and turning it into a romantic relationship IS SO MESSED UP!!!! GENUINELY AND HONESTLY MESSED UP!!! i feel like i don’t need to explain this because there have been so many examples already as to why this is a relationship you Should Not turn romantic, but i will anyway because it frustrates me so much that justin completely glosses over this!!! the power dynamic of a mentor-student relationship, in whatever way it is portrayed, displays a power balance that is heavily leaning to one side. there is not an equal distribution of power amongst the two because one person is teaching the other. the one person is weak to the others wills and whims because of lack of experience. think of your high school teacher or college professor; if you started a relationship with them, people would raise so many questions because you are not at equals to the teacher/professor. even if they treat you different, and even if they no longer teach you, it all has to do with the initial interaction. and minerva was still duck’s mentor up until either episode 34 or 35, when she handed off the title of Herald of the Astral Mind to duck. that means for nearly all of their interactions, there was a mentor-student dynamic. to have that turn into a romantic relationship is so sketchy and weird and leaves a bad taste in my mouth. 

my third grievance: it reduces minerva’s character down to a girlfriend trope, and it’s comphet as hell 

my friend tin (@taako–waititi) phrased this so well in the big group chat im in w her, so imma just quote her on this and then go into the comphet stuff: 

“i was dming max about it and they also mentioned, quote, ‘her story was never about romance. it reduced her down to ‘competent woman becomes endgame girlfriend’ trope’ and they are so right it makes me fucking pissed. regardless of any ‘mutual respect’ and ‘emotional intimacy’ kind of thing going on that some people are arguing for, it’s something that didn’t need to happen because minerva’s character becomes that. my thing is mutual respect and emotional intimacy between two people can. exist. without it being. romantic. like. friendship is. also valid. i personally don’t think that mutual respect and emotional intimacy are two buttons that you press to make the machine churn out a romance” 

not only does it reduce minerva’s character to tropes, but it also is extremely comphet for a woman who is so heavily wlw-coded or lesbian-coded and it just angers me. you could argue that she could be bi, but if we look at canon for just its face-value, the only romantic interaction she ever has is with a man, which basically makes her straight. this isn’t like aubrey’s situation, where travis clearly states she is a bi woman who is just in a relationship with another woman in amnesty. griffin doesn’t state anything about minerva’s sexuality and then she’s paired off with a man right at the end. and you could argue that she isn’t wlw or lesbian-coded, but i am not the only one who is wlw and thinks this, so i feel like i have more of a ground to stand on in this opinion. and this just feels so, like, textbook compulsory heteronormativity it made me feel physically sick when i heard this bit in the podcast. 

so that’s my first big issue with the finale, fully explained. my second issue with the epilogue is that ned’s death continues to be disappointing and his character arc is never completed, which just tanks the whole show for me. 

i’ve talked about this several times since ep 28 about how ned’s death was stupid and did nothing for his character arc, but i’m gonna reiterate my main points for the people who find this post without knowing my whole blog:

1. ned’s main interpersonal conflicts are just brought to the surface and never fully delved into before his sudden death. ned doesn’t ever get to explain his history with boyd and why he had to steal shade tree to mama or barclay or really anyone besides vaguely to aubrey. 

2. every character is just immediately expected to feel sad about ned’s death, despite the tension that still remains right up until the very end. aubrey shouldn’t have even known that the shapeshifter framed ned because that’s all explained once she goes to sylvain, but i think travis just assumed she did because he heard the interaction between ned, mama, and barclay. so she should’ve had Way more conflicting feelings about the whole thing, but ned’s death is just angst-bait so that doesn’t happen.

3. ned’s death doesn’t make roll sense because clint rolled a mixed success and mixed successes, by definition, are supposed to be less severe moves than a failed roll (which gives the gm the ability to make a hard move). there isn’t really anything harder to do to a character than kill them, but even if you wanted to argue that if clint failed the roll the hard move would’ve been ned failing and letting dani get shot, it still doesn’t change the fact that clint rolled a mixed success when slamming into the pizza hut sign at full velocity and came out of that alive (severely injured, naturally, but still alive). 

so, yeah, there’s that. and then theres the fact that griffin doesn’t ever give us any other scenes involving ned directly. ned only becomes a reference from 28 on, which is so disappointing given ned’s importance to the other two pcs. and i understand that the mcelroys have a lot of trauma related to death, but griffin shouldn’t have killed ned off then if he did not want to talk about death in graphic detail. we all have trauma. we all want to avoid topics. but to kill ned off and then never talk about his death in great relation to the others is a genuine disservice to ned’s character. 

the day episode 28 aired was the same day i buried my grandmother. i would have loved if death wasn’t brought up, but i don’t control the podcast. the mcelroys do; they had the ability to avoid this topic in a more servicing way to the characters and they didn’t. that isn’t to say they are bad people for not doing it, but it makes the finale even more disappointing because it means we never get the full rounding out of ned’s character arc. he becomes this like brief reference that is, once again, angst-bait or emotional fuel and i feel like he didn’t deserve that. he deserved a genuine reference, a genuine moment. even a dream sequence i would have appreciated!!! 

griffin had sylvain directly point at ned in aubrey’s flashback in ep 35, and then did nothing about what that could have implicated in the finale. it sours the entire episode in a major way and disappointed me immensely. there should have been more done with that topic and there wasn’t and i will never forget how deeply it hurt me and turned me away from canon as a whole. not to be ned kin on main, but ned was the backbone of this show and the exact moment he left was the exact moment the whole thing went downhill. it turned less into a story about growth and adversary and amnesty and more into a waiting game for when this very loose end was going to get wrapped up. 

i wanted to enjoy this episode. i tried so hard, y’all. but just the thought of ned loomed over me the entire time and i was waiting for a more proper completion to his arc, and it never happened. and coupled with that very bad and skeevy duck/minerva bit i was just so frustrated and hurt last night. 

so, yeah, that’s my whole spiel. you are free to disagree with me, but keep that opinion to yourself because i’m not getting into it with anyone. i will just block you; it’s better for us both, anyway. 

[minnieelliott]

Speed Dating Events for all Ages

Here are 7 reasons why dating is important in a relationship. Treat the relationship as if it’s your first: When you’re married or in a relationship for a long time, you get into a certain rhythm and develop habits that support it. Whether you are struggling with your relationship or you're in a state of pure bliss with your honey, learning how to best communicate that love will help your relationship become more satisfying. נערות ליווי בתל אביב A modern variant on the technique is able to date far more recent fired clay material. As a result of adopting Parse-This, my role in working on Yarns’s parsing functions became more devoted to testing and troubleshooting. But from the perspective of people who use Bridgy on their own sites, POSSE offers a way to get the benefits of corporate social media while avoiding some of its downsides. Unlike some international dating sites, eharmony is a well-established and trusted company within the industry, having helped over 2 million local and international couples find love over our 20 years of existence. Laurel House is an International Dating Coach, online dating expert, and author of Screwing The Rules: The No-Games Guide to Love.

Love is for losers. No way, I would love it! Ultimately, your top priority is reassuring your children that you love them unconditionally and that you intend to always be with them. From Dublin to Galway, Cork to Donegal, our members are all looking for one thing: lasting love. While some postings may reflect their own personal experience, if you keep reading similar comments about the way the site is set up or how the members didn't even end up with one date, you might want to try a different site. That alone makes it one of the stronger IPO candidates in a while. She connected me with one. 4In the second year of my PhD, I took Ratto’s Critical Making course as an elective, and later became a teaching assistant for the same course. And same thing with those years that we were together. Then I Kings 6:1 specifies that the Jerusalem Temple was built in the 4th regnal year of Solomon, 480 years after the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. Dating programs addressing complex and challenging contexts and research questions almost always unfold over many years.

Its main focus is helping American and European men meet Asian women, and it has over 50,000 members. Your partner is very stressed over planning a party for their friend. Encourage them by saying how much the friend is going to appreciate their work. My dream guy doesn't work out. Take this quiz to find out which of the five love languages you speak! Ideally, he would love both. That sounds silly. I love it! Ugh, that sounds awful. Ugh, that is so weird. But on the off chance that you're clomping around your apartment in a diaper wishing you had someone to change you (ugh, sorry for typing that), then use your little fingers to log onto your new favorite site. An Introduction to a Series of Nightmarish Tales and Nuggets of Wisdom - Even the thought of online dating makes me throw up in my mouth just a little bit. “I don’t know. I have a little bit of a cynical view on online dating. The rules here are clear: make sure prospective matches can see your face, don’t use too many selfies, steer clear of a bunch of group shots, and don’t post photos with someone who could be mistaken as (or was!) an ex.

It’s also possible to message for free, although both people must match for the recipient to see the message. It’s not a secret that the world has been changed due IT-technologies. This app development framework has taken the world by storm with its simplicity, widgets, and pixel-by-pixel based mobile UI development. This app will show you some people nearby by and they are very cute. That depends. Are they cool people? I think it depends on the rule. I guess it depends on what he's saying. I guess we'll find out! I don't know, whenever he wants, I guess. I think it's a great way for my partner to get to know my friends and vice versa. If it's someone I know well, yes, but sometimes I get intimidated into doing things I don't want to do. I don't know. I have never thought about it. However, this train of thought cannot be any further from the truth. It's a truth they can't deny. Yes, that would get annoying quick.

[lightsorigins]

An inefficient world

03 Marckabeth 2010

3:42 pm, Mysticiën,

Lausya, Estery High School

 Squeezed into an uncomfortable wooden chair, Sarasvatî had her arms folded. She had been staring at Madame Bigot, her biology teacher, for a few minutes. After having finished her tirade on a part of the course, this last one also observed Sara during a few seconds. The setting sun was illuminating her short jet hair and her strong gaze. She was imperturbable, yet everything about her indicated a latent irritation.

- Sarasvatî, do you have something to add?

 She sighed at length before answering.

- You send me sorry, but you can't understand anything in a class where you get lost in so many details.

- These details are in Sara's program. If you work harder, you'll understand more.

 At the agreement of his words, his gaze caught fire.

- That I work more? Me? In this room, I'm sure that no one understood a word of what you've just explained. You start to talk to us about how Anima and Menha work, and then you digress about your theories about the most powerful elements to bring down the Anima of our opponents, even though we are not even atmologists. It had nothing to do with the beginning of the session, and we haven't even been given a lecture on the primary elements yet!

- Sara...

- Don't expect me to believe that your assumptions about how things work are part of the program. Everyone here knows that you were not a high school teacher last year.

 Madame Bigot was a red-headed meïlith with very light blue skin. Her big green eyes opened more and more to Sara's insolence. Discreet and kind, she had indeed shown for some sessions difficulties in giving her course in a sufficiently clear manner. Suddenly, she gave a big blow on her desk with the flat of her hand.

- Enough! You will bring me your notebook at the bell. I cannot accept such behavior in this room. Class representative or good student, I don't care!

- Instead, say that you are unable to accept reality and the criticisms that go against your ineffective methods," Sara replied before taking out her notebook and putting it at the end of the table.

- Pardon? exclaimed the professor.

- Nothing. Nothing that you wouldn't be able to hear.

      She was dying to make him swallow her tongue with an atmos. Something that would have made her feel like making a fool of herself in front of all those students, but Laura Bigot would be in big trouble with the Grand Council of Atmology if she did so. However, she could already see herself joining hands, forming a skillful circle and whispering "Totopo lu hodo". A wooden cocoon would then have formed around Sarasvatî, who would have had no choice but to keep quiet. The pupils would then have said to each other "It is not necessary to joke with Mrs. Bigot! ». She would have earned the respect she had hoped for, continued her course and shared her intelligent theories on the functioning of the elements. Yet, instead...

- What's up? Are you going to take this notebook, yes or no? Instead of standing stupidly in front of me staring at me.

- Leave this room immediately Sara. You will have a report that you will remember for a long time. I would have liked to talk with you calmly, but it is obviously not possible.

- Anyway, it's going to ring. I would have liked to avoid this with you, but it seems to me that we have already talked about this problem. I won't be able to get a higher education with your damn theories. You simply have no right to do that. I'll talk to the director about it tomorrow. I'll see you soon.

       Madame Bigot kept talking, but Sara had already moved on. Then the bell rang. It was an unpleasant, strident, repetitive sound that she had never enjoyed hearing. She grabbed her black leather jacket and put it over her long sky-blue dress. Grabbing her bag, she walked towards the exit, expressionless. Her step was heavy, fast and sure. She didn't greet anyone and stopped at the door. Once in the hallway, Sara stretched out her arm and let her diamond shûmberr skin handbag dangle nimbly from her fingertips. Staring down at the large alley, a long sigh of impatience escaped from between her lips. Suddenly, a young sygreliad with long blond hair rushed towards her and grabbed her bag.

- Sorry Sara, I hadn't finished writing everything down. Damn, your bag is heavy today, what did you put in it?

- It's the weight of Madame Bigot's bullshit, did you see how it weighs?

  Annabelle smiled an embarrassed smile at him. Sara mimicked her expression by mimicking a despicable nonsense before continuing.

- Where's Marvin? Is he going to suck up to miss bullshit, or is he going to show up?

  A large wazardin with a tousled coat ran out of the room, jostling Sara and Annabelle as they passed by. He stumbled a few seconds later, knocking over all of his comrade's things in the hallway. His ruby eyes were lost in Sara's, who stared at him without blinking.

- Ah shit, I thought you two had left," he said, laughing and nervously scratching his head.

- Marvin, I think I'm going to destroy you and your whole family," Sara said dryly.

- But you still intend to continue to help me with the merçembuth history presentation?

- Maybe, if you pick up everything you just spilled in less than thirty seconds. After that time, I might purposely insert errors in your homework and insult the teachers to get you kicked out of school.

  Marvin swallowed his saliva and picked it all up, helped by Annabelle, who then picked up Sara's purse. They continued on their way out of the school. Snow was falling in large flakes on Lausya. It was a venckelbuth of the month of jalestar. This year's system was particularly cold. Every day, Sarasvatî, Annabelle and Marvin came home from school together because their homes were on the same road. Since middle school, the three teenagers had spent a lot of time together working on subjects in which they were struggling. Despite her bullying attitude, Sara knew she needed Annabelle's help in math. In return, she would help them out when they had arguments with other students, but also in other subjects where Annabelle and Marvin were not performing as well as she did.

- It took exactly twenty-four seconds to pick up everything," says Annabelle. That's it, you're saved for your homework Marvin!

- No, because you helped him so it doesn't count. So I'm not going to help you, too," Sara replied.

  Annabelle's face decomposed. The young sygreliad gradually slowed down her walk, when Sara suddenly ripped her purse from her hands.

- Oh, but we can't even laugh anymore? It's not possible that! I'll help you anyway, I'm not a monster ! We've known each other for a long time, seriously. You're the only two people I accept to talk to, stop being afraid like that for a little bit, otherwise I won't hang out with you anymore. 

- You'll have to excuse me Sara, but considering how mad you were at Madame Bigot earlier, it doesn't make you want to be more upset than that.

- You have nothing to do with it, I wouldn't be stupid enough to make you pay for miss bigou's incompetence. And what do you think of what I said to her? Did you understand what she was talking about?

- I don't know," Annabelle hesitated. I was interested in her ideas, but she did talk fast. Anyway, it wasn't going to last long. Do you really think that letting her talk a little bit about it from time to time is so bad?

- The problem is there, and you both need to think about it too. Like me, you would like to become good atmologists later on, wouldn't you? Imagine letting all of our teachers knock us out with their unproven hypotheses for five to ten minutes per hour-long class. Imagine, in total, how much time we will have wasted! That would mean that...

  Marvin grabs her by the arm and pulls her onto the road. Sara was so carried away by his explanation that she hadn't seen that it was time to cross.

- That would mean a lot of time would be lost," he added calmly. I know, it's okay. But only Madame Bigot does that. She is new, you said it yourself, and despite that she is still a good teacher!

  Sara stared at him before raising her eyes to the sky.

- How much did you get at his last checkup, Marvin? Honestly?

- I got 8 out of 20, and you know very well that I usually get half in organic classes!

- Marvin, you got 8 and I got 10, whereas in bio I normally go out with at least 16. She's not a good teacher. And I need a record that is relevant to my entry into the top universities in Mysticiën. I have tried to be patient, I have already talked to her about the situation but the very next day she does the same thing to me. I wish she had at least been honest and told me clearly that she would continue to do as she pleased.

- And if she had said that, are you sure you wouldn't have done something, like spilling all her stuff on the floor or yelling at her that she's just incompetent?

  Sara slowed down her walk slightly and began to contemplate the sky for a few seconds as a sign of reflection. Suddenly, her gaze returned to Annabelle.

- Yeah, you have a point. Are we still on for math tomorrow at 4:00?

- Yes, I have notified my parents. I leave you here, see you tomorrow!

  She walked away discreetly. Sara and Marvin watched the silhouette in the small white coat disappear in the distance towards the east of the city, rubbing her arms against herself to warm up before she could go home. Marvin patted Sara on the back before bursting into laughter.

- Hey, Marvin. Really, I'm going to end up killing you if you touch me a third time.

- You're not cool to make Annabelle carry your bag like that! Look how tiny and cute she is in her coat, she still looks like a little girl.

  They went the other way before Sara continued.

- I took advantage of this before she became a school principal. She will eat us all if we don't dominate her first. Look at her, with her little feet and her nice attitudes. She's hiding an evil genius, that's for sure.

- Aren't you projecting your own attitudes onto her?

- No. And you want to carry my bag instead maybe?

- I can't promise I'll never drop it if you let me do it, but we can always try, I guess.

  At the agreement of her words, she jumped up and down to try to slap him on the back of the head. Marvin ducked, and the two teenagers began to chase each other around town. The discussion turned into a brief snowball fight, won by Sarasvatî. In their bickering, they had reached Marvin's family home, which was still lying on the ground. Before he got up, Sara approached him with a huge amount of snow in her arms.

- What do you have to say for yourself, Mr. Notorious Criminal? she asked comically.

      Marvin concentrated with all his strength and a pink glow covered him. Sara frowned, wondering what idiocy he was up to. A few seconds later, he had taken on the appearance of Sara herself.

- Nothing. Nothing that you wouldn't be able to hear. "He replied seriously and solemnly, to imitate Sara's phrase when she had argued with their teacher.

  When she understood, she covered her face with snow and started kicking him. Marvin laughed and laughed for a good five minutes before getting up and returning to his original shape.

- Wazardins, you are really dangerous people. I hope you don't take my appearance to do anything in front of others.

- Given the sanctions that await me if I do that, it's better that I avoid. Well, I'm out of here. Get home safe, and don't kill your brother if he's done something stupid, okay?

- Yeah, yeah. See you tomorrow.

      Sara's home was a few dozen meters from here. All she had to do was cross a few roads, turn a couple of blocks, and she would find the park and then the building where she lived with her brother and mother. As she continued on her way silently, Sara got lost in her thoughts. She was still organizing her future, already imagining herself in a prestigious university, studying atmology as a Creator. The Creators combine the energies of Fire and Plants to fight and explore the world. What seduced Sara in this atmological discipline was the possibility of giving life to living creatures to fight at her side. Federating a team that she would have made entirely with her own hands... nothing could make her dream stronger.

    Suddenly, as she was walking at a brisk pace, her foot stumbled on a thick piece of carjaline, in the middle of a park that she travels home through every day. Intrigued, she stopped to observe it more closely. The thick black debris reflected an intense glow. She recognized the fragments of black tourmaline, through which the last rays of the sun were seeping, then she sighed at length. It was a mechanical arm, and Sara knew exactly where it came from.

- I guess it's not ironic to have one intervention a year since high school by the Guild of Renovators, while the mayor himself leaves his pieces of inventions lying around anywhere...

      She gave a huge kick to the robot arm. The noise resonated through the entire alloy. Sara looked a little further and recognized a hand also made of carjaline. Ecology was a cause that was close to her heart, also because she had become aware early on of the harmful effects that occur when no one pays attention to it. As she walked along the road again, she plunged into her memories. Many alloys and castings like these were not so easily recycled, and ended up impacting not only the fauna and flora, but also the people of Lausanne. As

    far back as she can remember, Oscar Fanghël, the mayor of Lausya, has always considered the town as an experimental field of choice to test his prototypes. No one ever really knew what he was creating so many of them for. No one ever knew why he did not stop despite the numerous requests of the people of Lausya, and even worse: no one ever knew why the GCA (Great Council of Atmosphology), or even the GCM (Great Council of Martial Arts), had never acted in the face of this problem. Still, some members of the Guilde des Rénovateurs came to the aid of the lausois, but with great discretion.

      Sara suspected well-disguised political shenanigans. She and other lausois knew that the ancestry of the Fanghël family was highly respected, had a long arm and could quickly come to grips with any opponent. This disturbing prospect probably kept many people silent. She swore to herself, however, that when she became powerful enough, Sara would make Oscar eat all his prototypes one after the other. She hoped that Annabelle, Marvin and her other friends would join her cause and that one day this city, and others suffering similar injustices, would become more effectively managed.

    She finally reached the square in her neighbourhood: a poorly maintained place, decorated with a few benches and children's games, half of which had been seriously damaged. Buildings rose up around her, as if they were contemplating her with all the coldness of the system. A cold draught suddenly woke her up, awakening a wave of shivers that ran down her spine. She clenched her teeth, cursed and started looking for her keys in her bag before reaching the entrance hall. Then a strange smell tickled her nostrils. She knew that smell well.

- Nanthilia? Seriously, some guys start smoking this early in the day?

      The fragrance was far too close for Sara to resist knowing who, in this neighborhood she knew on the tip of her fingers, was having fun rolling nanthilia joints. The local youth - and the youth from elsewhere - loved it for the fun and soothing psychic effects it provides. Sara then discreetly walked around the large building to the right, surreptitiously walked along the wall and bent down to see if there were people further away. She heard laughter, including one she could recognize from among a thousand. A group of four young boys sat on a bench at the back of the building and laughed loudly. She approached them discreetly. From then on, only a few centimeters separated her from the boys.

      One of them turned around and fell face to face with Sara. With a hiccup of surprise, he jumped up and tripped his butt first on the field of grass. She still had her arms folded and that imperturbable expression that described her so well.

- Oh damn it! cried the young man who had just fallen. Why didn't you say you were there, Sara?

      She didn't answer, then looked at another boy in the group. He was shorter than the others, had a black hair in a battle, big black eyes, and wore a red flannel shirt with white checks. He was the one with the nanthilia joint in his hands. His eyes were red with fatigue. When Sara saw the joint between her fingers, she raised her eyebrows without taking her eyes off it. The young man did not blink.

- Name of a kannidus, Sara. Do you want to become a cop for the GCs now or what's it like? You can shove your witchy eyes up your ass.

- Are you kidding me, Kieran? she replied.

      Sara moved towards him to rip the joint out of his hands, but in response, he backed away. She grabbed him by the arm and eventually ripped it off, threw it to the ground, and crushed it vigorously with the tip of her foot.

- We had an agreement between the two of us. You had to behave better and make an effort because I warned you about the consequences of this thing, and I find you three days later smoking with three idiots from the neighbourhood?

- Oh eh, that's good," replied one of them, ready to defend his cause.

      Feeling the anger rising, Sara turned to them as if to forbid them to dare to speak again. The boys preferred to stay there and walk away, stunned by the effects of the nanthilia. Sara began to feel tired and disappointed. She didn't take her eyes off Kieran, who, on the other hand, was very angry.

- You're really annoying when you get into it. I've already told you that this situation is my business! Why don't you want to get off my back, don't you have classes to study or whatever else you need to do in your corner with your nerdy friends?

      For the umpteenth time today, she sighed.

- We're talking about your future Kieran, I'm not doing this just to annoy you. I'm your sister, it's my job to warn you about the effects of these things! Do you realize that mercenaries and explorers use this to cause psychic disturbances on their opponents? Do you think it's normal to blow your head off with it?

- Yes! because it's my skull and I do what I want with it! I don't want to do mega-studies like you, me.

      She remained silent as Kieran assailed her with all her favorite phrases to express her desire for independence and freedom. Her tirades continued for minutes on end. In the hall, in the elevator, and until they entered the apartment. He slammed the front door with all his might.

- If you're going to sneak up on me like that all the time, I'm just going to end up breaking into someone else's house without telling anyone! I'm tired of having you on my ass, you understand that? You're pissing me off!

- You're not doing what you want here Kieran," she shouted back. You're fourteen years old, you're a minor, you don't have to make these kinds of decisions, let alone talk to me like that! And if you want to run away, I'm going to find you whether you like it or not!

      This time it was the door to Kieran's room that slammed. A few seconds later, he launched a hard rock song at maximum volume. Sara was about to tell him to turn it down, but when she put her hand on the latch, she heard him turn the key in the lock. She put her hands to her hair and growled in irritation before going into the kitchen. The room was dirty, dimly lit with a light that Sara often described as "too white. Tired from work, her mother Naska didn't always have time to clean the apartment. Kieran would never get down to it, and Sara was far too busy working on her lessons.Putting her purse on the floor, she abruptly pulled out one of the chairs and dropped herself on it, taking her head in her hands and closing her eyes. A warm smell of boiled yone permeated the room. Naska, was cooking. Sara hated boiled food. It was the worst day she could have hoped for.

- Then my dear, why did your brother go to his room? Why are you still arguing? she asked softly.

- I've already come out of a class given by a poor incompetent and when I get downstairs, I find him smoking nanthilia with a bunch of jerks from the neighborhood. I had spoken with him not even a week ago, he told me that he understood and that he was going to make an effort, and look what he's doing!

- Don't be hard on your brother, honey.

- But how can I not be hard on him when he literally doesn't care about the world?

- You know that the situation is not easy for Kié. He needs time to act, and he's a young boy. Give him some time.

- If I'm the only one trying to be a little firmer with him, frankly, it's not going to help him. At some point you're going to have to do something serious. Let me remind you that I'm the one who pays for the private lessons that Amaëlle gives him! I work two days a week to help with homework for those in difficulty, but also to pay for her lessons! It's not by getting high on nanthilia every night that he's likely to learn things and use his memory well. I don't want to do that for nothing, it also impacts me, you understand?

      Naska marked a time of silence. Busy with her dish, she grabbed a bowl of spices and poured a tiny part of it into the broth she was preparing. She then drained the fragrant rice before continuing.

- You should relax a little bit Sara. I know you do a lot, but you could ask Amaelle for an advance for the classes.

- No. I'm not going to do that. I just want Kieran to get to work.

- Be patient, there is no reason to get into all these states. You must not push him to leave the house. I will be sad if something happens to him.

- I am already patient. All the time. And so am I...

      Sara felt that no matter what she might say, her mother would remain relaxed, or at least pretend to. Between the loud music played in her brother's room, the smell of boiled yone that was going to make her nauseous, and that incarnation with Madame Bigot earlier, she began to think that spending the evening here would be a bad idea. So she went to her room and made a call to Marvin.

- Hello Mrs. Solenelle?" he answered.

- Marvin, can I come to your house tonight?

- It depends on what for. Like, if it's for the presentation, I'm okay with it.

- Do you have fresh choums? Do you still have your two controllers to play with? Do you have an interesting topic of discussion in mind?

- Wow, we have a real program here, don't we?

- Yes or no?

- Yeah, yeah, it's quiet. Are you sure you're okay, Sara?

- I'll be there in five minutes. I'm sleeping at your place.

- Well, okay. I'll see you in a minute.