#Excuse the screenshot I couldn't get a better one

[insanity-laughs-under-pressure]

As a Fandom we have spent a long time debating whether or not Crowley actually eats. We have completely forgotten that he literally admits it.

So either the food in heaven was so bad he never ate lunch again OR Aziraphale really is that slow and Crowley has already finished desert by the time Aziraphale has ordered a starter.

[lilghostiequinni]

Better Off

Main Masterlist Lando Masterlist

Pairing: Pregnant! Leclerc!female reader x Lando Norris; former Girlfriend! Leclerc!female reader x Max Verstappen

Warnings: Fluffy, Cheating, Pregnancy

Summary: Never would you think that what your boyfriend would do the thing he promised not to, pushing you away and into the arms of another, with his child on the way.

Requested: no / YES by Anon

You were with Max Verstappen for over 3 years.

The next step in your relationship would naturally be married and then babies, but over the last couple of days, you noticed that babies were the next step.

You found out you were pregnant, Max was at a race when you found out, and you wanted to wait until the next race because you were going with him.

You left the hotel room of that race to get a few things to tell Max, but when you got back, Max wasn't in your room like he said, so you went out of the room to ask reception if Max had left because that is what he usually does.

But when you left the room, you felt compelled to look the other way, and you saw Max making his way back to the hotel room, but there was something messed up with his appearance, and you seen a room door open at the end of the hall and the head of Kelly Piquet sticking out watching Max walk down the hall.

Before Max could see you, you quickly went back into the room and hid what you bought, not wanting to tell now because of the feeling you had.

The race was won by Lando, and Max said he was going out with Lando and a few other drivers to celebrate and asked if you wanted to go with him.

You told him no, knowing you couldn't drink, so you made up an excuse of not feeling the greatest, a believable excuse because Max had witnessed you throwing up this morning.

You had fallen asleep sometime while Max was out and when you woke up the next morning, Max was sound asleep in the spot next to you, still in the same clothes he left in.

You got up and grabbed your phone because you realized that it had gone off.

When you opened your phone, you had two different messages, one from Kelly and one from Lando.

You opened Lando's first because you and he were friends outside of Max, and you knew him better than Kelly.

It was a photo of Max kissing Kelly in the middle of the club they were at, and the message read, "I wanted to tell the other day because I saw them, but I had no proof."

Tears came to your eyes; you knew Lando wouldn't lie about this, so you took a second to believe what you saw and that maybe your gut feeling from the other day was right.

You took a deep breath and opened Kelly's message.

It was a video, obviously taken the same night. There were also a few pictures from that night and before, as well as screenshots of text messages, the earliest being from a few months ago.

The message with it was, "Hey girly, I wanted to tell you that Max has been with me when he isn't with you or when you're gone. I noticed some signs of things and just wanted to tell you."

You basically threw your phone away from you, tears in your eyes, ready to fall, but you couldn't let them fall, you looked behind you to Max, still sleeping soundly.

You wanted nothing more than to wake him up and confront him or for him to wake up and see what he was doing to you without even trying or being awake.

But you knew you couldn't do that.

You packed what you brought with you as fast as possible.

When everything was in your suitcase, you called Lando to come and get you. He picked up on the first ring, and you just told him to come to get you.

I just wanted to let you know that you didn't leave a note for him in the room. You looked back at Max one last time before leaving.

When you got to reception, you told them to tell Max when he came down that the two of you were done. They told you to write it down in case of shift change, and you did; you wrote, "Hey girlie, we're done."

Then you walked out the doors.

You had booked a flight to Monaco in the process of your packing; you were supposed to be going to Red Bull with Max tomorrow, then back to Monaco on Wednesday, with him leaving again early Thursday.

When Lando pulled up, you told him to take you to the airport, and you explained to him that Kelly also sent you a hey girlie text that you just wanted to get back to Monaco to get your stuff from the apartment you had with Max.

He just sighed, knowing he wouldn't be able to convince you to leave and wait for him, so he drove you to the airport and gave you the keys to his apartment to stay in, and that he would help you after the next race when he had a week off.

You gave him a hug before letting go to catch your flight.

A/N: I hope this is to your satisfaction, sorry it's a week late. Part 2?

Tags: @poppyflower-22 @samantha-chicago @barcelonaloverf1life @tallrock35 @ellen3101 @llando4norris @mcmuppet @issi-loves-dannyric @hellothere9597

If you want to be removed from a tag list, let me know so I don't keep tagging you. If you are striked through, I don't know if you want to be tagged, but just let me know if you want me to continue or stop

[il-miele-che-scrive]

Can't get over dj Lando in Bali for new years so can I request a smau where he's partying there with reader aka Max's sister? And she's like a dutch influencer so people are kinda like 🤨what they doin doe

My first fic of 2024 🫶 happy new year and enjoy, hoping you don't mind I made Y/n into an ex-junkie for the ✨drama✨, but I've had this idea on my mind for quite some time now, because it's like she's the opposite of her brother. Also I couldn't not make Y/n be friends with a few other drivers too, and also the caption on the last post is 🤌 I loved making this fanfic

y/n_verstappen A last minute decision to spend the end of the year in Bali

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maxverstappen1 Have fun with your girls, don't get in too much trouble

↳y/n_verstappen Yeah... just me and my girls... me & my girls & I

↳username2 guys I have a feeling she's plotting smth

↳username1 we love to see big brother max being the dad

↳username3 that's cuz Jos did a pretty shitty job

yourfriend1 missed this ❤️ grateful to be ending this year with you @/y/n_verstappen @/yourfriend2

↳y/n_verstappen you don't ever know how grateful I am to be in Bali with my favorite people!

↳yourfriend2 I love you guys 🥹😭

↳username2 SHE SAID PEOPLE I repeat she said PEOPLE instead of GIRLS

landonorris Wow I wonder who took these pics of you, they're very nice

↳y/n_verstappen I hired a professional photographer😼pretty expensive if you ask me, but also worth it

↳maxverstappen1 Please quit flirting with my sister

↳landonorris @/maxverstappen1 I'm flirting with the photographer lmao he's very talented if you didn't notice

charles_leclerc Looking forward to hanging out when you're back ☀

↳y/n_verstappen Charlie I went to Switzerland with you before Xmas 😭 it's been a week

↳charles_leclerc Arthur made me post this comment

↳y/n_verstappen tell him I miss him then 🫶 you? not so much 🖕

↳arthur_leclerc I kiss you too @/y/n_verstappen

↳arthur_leclerc *miss

↳y/n_verstappen phew 😮‍💨 you've almost triggered a particular someone

↳username2 this someone being your brother, right Y/n? RIGHT Y/N?!

↳yourfriend1 sure you can go vroom in circles but can you fight? 🤺

↳yourfriend2 that's not the person you should target this question at and we both know that 👀

↳username2 SOMEONE CRACK THIS CODE PLS 😭

↳username3 i mean, she's definitely hinting at Y/n dating a driver 🤷‍♀️ maybe someone from the current f1 grid even

↳username4 @/username2 @/username3 y'all be jumping into assumptions too quickly

username3 Guys I still can't believe Y/n was with the Leclercs in Switzerland and Alexandra wasn't

↳username4 Shut up, Y/n has been friends with the Leclerc brothers ever since Max and Charles' karting era

↳username3 wtf chill 💀 I'm joking (although I wouldn't complain if she ended up dating Charles or Arthur)

y/n_verstappen Adventures are better together

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landonorris The mask suits you, never take it off ❤️

↳username1 HELP why's he so mean to Max's sister💀

↳y/n_verstappen watch out in Bahrain 2024 🔫 sent a screenshot of your comment to the family groupchat

↳charles_leclerc you sent it to our groupchat with max and carlos

↳y/n_verstappen exactly

↳landonorris excuse me @/y/n_verstappen may I be added to the family groupchat?

↳y/n_verstappen excuse me @/landonorris, are you family?

↳landonorris that's my goal for 2024

username5 Look at Y/n having fun in Bali for her brother's money 😬

↳yourfriend1 more like the secret photographer's money 😇*this comment was deleted*

username3 MISS, DON'T ACT LIKE WE HAVEN'T SEEN YOUR COMMENT

↳username2 AND DON'T ACT LIKE IT WAS AN ACCIDENT

charles_leclerc better than the adventures in Switzerland? 🤔

↳maxverstappen1 cringe

↳carlossainz55 cringe

↳georgerussell63 cringe

↳yourfriend1 cringe

↳yourfriend2 cringe

↳landonorris cringe

↳y/n_verstappen jealous Lando?

↳landonorris wtf 5 other people said cringe and I'm the jealous one?

↳y/n_verstappen well, technically 4 other people since Max is my brother

↳landonorris 4 other people and I'm the jealous one?

↳y/n_verstappen Max is my brother, I only tolerate Carlos, no one likes George and his shirtless pics, and my girls are basically pets

↳yourfriend1 arf!

carlossainz55 I thought you can't swim

↳y/n_verstappen I prefer not to swim, but the selfie was worth it

landonorris I've changed my mind about the mask, it's lovely, where can I get one? 🥰

↳y/n_verstappen wow that was quick, I wonder if @/maxverstappen1 has anything to do with it

↳y/n_verstappen anyway, I got it just down the road on my morning walk

↳landonorris how would I know where that is 🙄

↳y/n_verstappen want me to walk you there? 🙄

↳username2 DOES IT MEAN LANDO IS IN BALI TOO?!

↳username3 @/username2 GIRL THEY MIGHT BE ON VACATION TOGETHER

↳username2 i knew she was plotting something 😭

y/n_verstappen Darling, I fancy you

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username1 WHO IS THAT MAN 🔫 I JUST WANNA TALK

maxverstappen1 Y/n pick up the phone, you can't post and disappear

↳username2 rip to whoever is the mysterious man

↳username3 imagine your brother in law is max verstappen and he hates you before you even meet

↳landonorris ikr, terrible, i could never

↳username3 WTF LANDO

yourfriend1 my fav couple but when will you hard launch?

↳charles_leclerc asking the most important question right there

carlossainz55 I'm tired of knowing who he is and being forced to keep quiet

↳maxverstappen1 what? you found out before me?

↳carlossainz55 in Y/n's defence, the man couldn't keep it a secret

↳username2 alright chat now we know it's someone close to Carlos

↳username1 @/username2 CHARLES?

↳username2 @/username1 no, it can't be him, look a few comments above

↳username3 @/username1 @/username2 I'm being delulu but... Arthur? I'm just manifesting it's him

↳username2 and Charles wouldn't know?

↳username3 well, Max didn't 🤡

↳charles_leclerc don't be shy Carlito tell us

danielricciardo Ki ki ki ra

↳landonorris KI KI AY

↳y/n_verstappen I wanted to say it 😡 why are u so quick??

↳landonorris well, you're trying to compete with an f1 driver, better luck next time

username2 GUYS what if it's LANDO??? Close to Carlos ☑ can vroom circles ☑ possibly also in Bali rn ☑

↳username1 you might have a point plus the caption is Taylor Swift and Lando is a swiftie

↳username5 Is he? I thought it's a British thing to say you have a crush on someone

↳username2 @/username5 well, he's British, so another hint from Y/n I guess

username7 i surely hope her and Lando aren't dating, she's a retired drug addict

↳username1 leave the past in the past, let this girl be happy

arthur_leclerc y/n has a boyfriend y/n has a boyfriend

↳y/n_verstappen don't worry, someday you'll have one too

↳arthur_leclerc let's see if you'll keep this attitude introducing your new bf to Max 😄🖕

y/n_verstappen Als je bitch wil chillen is het geen probleem dan ga ik erheen, ik kom niet alleen want ik heb drank en drugs

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yourfriend1 amazing night!! 💜💜

↳y/n_verstappen we loved the music didn't we 😼

↳landonorris you're welcome 😌

username7 the caption 🥶

↳username2 chill out it's just a song literally!!

↳username3 i can't even remember all the times I've seen Max edited to this song on tiktok lmao

arthur_leclerc You clubbing without me?

↳y/n_verstappen it was a girls night 😇🖕

↳yourfriend2 no it wasn't 🫶

↳yourfriend1 tbh it was, her boyfriend spent more time DJing anyway

username1 why can't they make it official already 🥹

↳username2 I bet Carlos is wondering the same

landonorris I hope you tipped the DJ well for entertaining you half the night

↳y/n_verstappen I guess if you can call entertaining him for the 2nd half of the night in our hotel room a good tip

↳maxverstappen1 WHAT AM I READING

↳charles_leclerc asking myself the same question @/maxverstappen1

↳arthur_leclerc too much information

↳carlossainz55 Does it mean I don't have to keep the secret anymore?

maxverstappen1 Delete this post

↳y/n_verstappen no ❤️

josverstappen7 Gelukkig nieuwjaar maar ik vind deze fotos niet leuk*

↳y/n_verstappen wtf @/maxverstappen1

*happy new year but I don't like these photos

landonorris I fell in love with a careless man's careful daughter, she is the best thing that's ever been mine

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y/n_verstappen *not so* careful, but you get a point for Taylor Swift lyrics

↳landonorris I'm literally in love with you

↳y/n_verstappen surely not more than I am in love with you ❤️

↳charles_leclerc cringe

↳arthur_leclerc cringe

↳oscarpiastri cringe

↳logansargeant cringe

↳yourfriend1 shut up all of you

y/n_verstappen btw just because I'm in love with you doesn't mean I can't kill you for posting the third pic

↳landonorris pls you'd never

↳y/n_verstappen I still have the screenshot that could make Max crash into you 🔫

carlossainz55 Finally, I was starting to worry

↳username2 WAR IS OVER 😭

oscarpiastri So happy for you guys!

↳landonorris double date when?

maxverstappen1 You're the only person I'd accept as my brother in law

↳landonorris thanks champ xx 🙏

↳username3 HE'S SO SASSY I CANT-

↳charles_leclerc what about @/arthur_leclerc? I thought you liked him, I thought we had plans

↳y/n_verstappen YOU HAD PLANS?

↳arthur_leclerc YOU HAD PLANS?

↳landonorris YOU HAD PLANS?

username5 I'd love to see Y/n and Arthur as a couple, but I'm so happy for her and Lando 😭

↳username3 nahhh Y/n and Arthur totally have besties vibe, siblings even, can't imagine them as a couple

username1 okay guys so do you think they speak dutch or english when they're alone?

↳username3 Do you think Lando can speak dutch well enough?

↳username1 well, I don't know, just wondering, but he's half Belgian

↳username5 I imagine their conversations to be mostly english mixed with dutch and french, very chaotic and people around don't get anything they say

↳yourfriend1 I can confirm this, it's very frustrating for a person who knows only english

↳username1 does Y/n know french?

↳y/n_verstappen I was forced to learn both french AND italian hanging out with Charles and Arthur, and with Lando I speak mostly english, but I try to mix some dutch into it, however no french here because I'm traumatized <3

↳username1 aaaaaa we love a multilingual queen 🫶

↳username3 so now Lando learns dutch for both his mother and his girlfriend 🥹

↳y/n_verstappen he has a lot to learn, but at least his flemish accent is kinda cute!!

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

That Eden specifically called them “William’s friend” makes me think it’s a Windsor who has friends in common with William, which is probably more likely Frederick or Gabriella, than the Yorkies. But as far as I know, the Kent branch doesn’t leak…except it was the Kent branch of Windsors that Eden referenced by name when he was talking about the crowded balconies. I think it’s from that side of the family.

I agree. A royal watcher on Twitter was oddly furious about the balcony this year and complaining that the extended family were being “disrespected”, particularly the Kents. (They weren’t this worked up the previous two years.) They’ve previously claimed to be friends with some of the Kents and tend to lose their temper very quickly whenever someone brings up Lady Amelia liking that IG post about turning BP into a gift shop. Various weak excuses such as it wasn’t her account (there’s screenshots, it WAS her handle) or suggesting she didn’t read the post first.

I think the source is a more distant relative who has absolutely no chance of becoming a working royal, and thus no chance of getting back on the balcony if it stays this way. Even if W doesn’t currently intend to have any of his first cousins, I think they do realise that there is always a small chance for them as he doesn’t have any other siblings like Charles. This is likely someone whose PR plays heavily on their adjacency to the BRF (e.g. Amelia - “the most beautiful royal”).

I agree - it’s someone whose career is heavily connected to the BRF, like Amelia and/or her siblings. And really, they’re the only ones it could be, from my perspective.

Since this topic seems to be generating some excitement from anons (going by my asks, the top 3 options are Frederick Windsor, Princess Eugenie, and Amelia Windsor). Let's dig deeper into it!

The Mountbatten-Windsors branch:

Peter and Zara couldn't give two shits if they're on a balcony or not, and their kids are too young to know what kind of "marketability" they have career-wise or attention-wise for being connected to the royal family. Not only that, their kids are very close to William's kids. They're in a pretty safe position as far as access and privilege goes. It's definitely not them.

Harry and Meghan. Well, there's a lot we could say here, but we're not going to look that deeply at them. All I'll say about them is this: Eden is not one of their usual sources when they leak, so I'm skeptical it's them but Harry does (or did) have a lot of friends in common with William so that's the most plausible "William's friend" excuse to me. But the guys who are legit still friends with William know better than to leak, so it wouldn't be those friends (like a van Straubenzee, Grosvenor, van Cutsem, or Pelly). It would be someone with a tenuous connection to William - maybe a friend of a friend who knows Harry better.

Beatrice is also close with William and she has her own career going for her. Edo also has his own career and he seems to be pretty financially set that Beatrice, and their children, probably have a super comfortable life and don't need the BRF as much. It's not her.

Eugenie is still a big question mark. She seems loyal to the crown for now and while she does have a chip on her shoulder, she does know which side of her bread is buttered. She is also probably fully aware that leaking about William guarantees a ticket of no return to Excludedville and after getting the invite to the Cousins Garden Party after being on the outs for a couple years, I don't think she's going to risk being "in," so I don't think it's her.

Louise and James have been raised with the expectation that they won't be working royals, not even part-time the way Beatrice and Eugenie were back in the day, so it's definitely not them or their friend circle (who are much too young to have friends in common with William).

Anne and Tim don't talk to the press, and neither do Edward and Sophie, like this. Andrew and Sarah do talk to the press and have leaked about the main branch before, but I don't think this is them. They wouldn't be quoted as 'William's friend' but - BUT - Eden had an exclusive from Sarah a couple days ago (about whether she and Andrew would remarry) and this nugget could've come up then, from Sarah.

The Duke of Kent branch:

The Duke and Duchess of Kent have never leaked or spoken to reporters, so I'm fairly certain it's not them. Besides, they're probably too old-school to think about going against the heir, and they probably raised their children (the Earl of St. Andrews, Lady Helen Taylor, and Nicholas Windsor) to be more ordinary than royally-privileged.

The bios for the Earl of St. Andrews and his wife (the Kents' eldest child/first son) on Wikipedia read like they enjoy the professional privilege that comes from being connected to the BRF but don't seem to be flaunting it. It's not them. And I doubt that they have friends in common with William. Edward and Andrew, sure. Not William.

Their children - Lord Downpatrick, Lady Marina, and Lady Amelia - are precisely the people who grew up with social media and thus understand how the power, access, and privilege of the BRF can further their work. Lord Downpatrick has a pretty successful outdoorsy/adventure-based travel company; he doesn't need the BRF. There isn't a whole lot known about Marina, but we do know that Amelia had/has a modeling contract and works in fashion. Marina seems unlikely to leak (since there isn't much about her), but Amelia is definitely a contender as Eden's source because much of her career is based on aesthetics and lifestyle - which she needs the BRF for.

Lady Helen Taylor, her husband, and their children. There's absolutely no easily-findable information about their four children. Even though they're the same ages as the Earl's children, and they'd be fully aware of the BRF's power with social media, the fact that they don't have Wikipedias and aren't very easily googlable hint that they're probably not the source.

Nicholas Windsor, hs wife, and their three sons. Not them. The sons aren't in the line of succession (owing to their Catholic baptisms). They have no use for the BRF because they wouldn't have had any privileges anyway.

The Prince Michael of Kent branch:

Prince and Princess Michael have complained about royal privilege before, but they also know - and respect - their places. They also wouldn't call themselves "William's friend" and I'm very skeptical that they have friends in common with William.

Frederick and Gabriella probably grew up without any expectation of royal connections and both seem to be in steady careers. They seem pretty tight with many of the Mountbatten-Windsor cousins - Eugenie is godmother to Frederick's eldest (which is odd to me but whatever), Frederick and Peter probably played together, Frederick's kids are the same ages as George and Charlotte, Lady Gabriella rode in the ascot carriage with Anne and Peter, and Lady Gabriella has been deputized by William before. It's definitely not Lady Gabriella, and I feel pretty confident saying it's not Frederick, even though he and his wife have spoken about being members of the extended royal family before (all positive, mostly about the time when Sophie was seriously injured in an accident, and Charles sent his personal chef to prepare meals for them).

Frederick's kids are too young to know any difference about what it means being related to the royal family. I do think Frederick enjoys the privilege of being related to the royal family and what it means for his career, but I don't think he cares from a publicity standpoint. Sure, he might like to go out on the balcony, but the guy's a finance executive. He doesn't need the balcony to help with his career.

The Gloucester branch:

It's not them. We don't even know a whole lot about them. The Duke and Duchess have three kids (Earl of Ulster, Lady Davina, and Lady Rose) and there's not much known about them. They enjoy the social aspects of being in the extended family but they wouldn't have had any expectation of using the BRF for career or professional connections.

The Margaret branch:

David Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowdon and his kids: I feel pretty confident saying it isn't the Earl since he doesn't really speak much to the press (that I'm aware of). His kids are the ages where they would be fully aware of what the BRF magic can do for them but I'm not sure. They seem to have a healthy relationship with the Elizabeth/Charles branch and I don't think they'd do anything to risk that. However, that said, Lady Margarita (David's daughter) does do some modeling work and she has her own art brands. I still don't think it's her because she was in William's wedding and if there's anyone who can profit off the royal connection, it's going to be her because all she needs to do is flash those photographs. She wouldn't complain about the balcony.

Sarah Chatto and her sons. It's definitely not Sarah. She has a safe and stable connection to the BRF and she strikes me as someone who doesn't want the attention. Her sons are of the same age who'd have grown up and know what social media could do for them, but they're not really in careers where they need publicity or the lifestyle for success; Samuel is an artist and Arthur is in the military.

So all that said, the top candidates for being Eden's source (for me) are Sarah Ferguson, Harry, Amelia Windsor, and Margarita Armstrong-Jones.

Since:

Sarah doesn't need any help getting attention for her career (or lack of it)

Harry doesn't use Eden, and

Margarita has the royal wedding pictures,

that leaves Amelia Windsor, aka the Kent branch. Who is in a publicity-hungry career, who likes social media content that criticizes the royal family, and who probably has the sour grapes of not having had any access or claim to fame with the BRF other than sharing the last name.

Also, another nail in the "it's not Margaret's side" theory for me is the Christmas walk. David and Sarah, and their kids, are often at the Christmas Walk and everyone is often being named by the press. I don't recall the Kent Windsors being on the Christmas walks recently and receiving similar treatment - so that's probably more sour grapes for whoever's the leak.

Oh, I forgot. I'm too lazy to scroll back up.

The PB branch:

Well, we know Camilla talks and talks and talks. But would she characterize herself as "William's friend"? I think that's a bit of a stretch for her.

Tom PB or Laura Lopes: Possibly. They probably do have friends in common with William, but they've never had access to or privilege from the BRF before, not even after Charles and Camilla made it official. So why would they care? I could see them caring from their kids' perspectives, but they've been around the BRF long enough to know that the affiliation to the BRF gets their foot in the door but any more than that only invites scrutiny in and they probably don't want that for their kids, and I think their kids are too young to understand the significance.

So for me, all roads lead back to Kents: it's either Amelia or Frederick, but I lean more to it being Amelia than I do Frederick.

Yes, I'm procrastinating some work stuff this afternoon. Gee, how could y'all tell?

[sugarsnappeases]

bellareg marriage. thoughts ?

don’t think i don’t see right through you…. but yes i (we) have many thoughts and i would love to talk about them xxxx

bellareg could have such a good marriage!!! like i genuinely believe they could work so smoothly together.... bella and reg who get married bc bella was supposed to marry sirius (the two first-borns of their respective branches... could do amazing things for the bloodline) but then sirius leaves and bella is fuming and reg is miserable and she basically gets foisted off on him instead alongside all the other Heir duties and no one is particularly happy about it but, in the end, both of them end up more or less getting what they want and need out of the marriage.

like bella absolutely refuses to play the role of the good little wife who follows her husband's lead and agrees w everything he says. she's got her own ambitions and plans and she's too much of a force to ever take anything lying down. but luckily reg doesn't want to lead anyone, or be the heir, or be a big strong husband figure and he's super malleable and easy to 'gently' persuade into things and it could all work out very nicely. like bella being the Man Of The House and the Husband behind closed doors while reg is her pampered little wife. also bella gets to be the kinda by-proxy heir/lord which is obvs v important to her. in a way, she's the head of the family ish and that's like. the power she's always wanted and was jealous of when it came to sirius. and now even if she doesn't properly have it (something that could potentially cause a bit of tension??? but also like. reg wants her to have that power too, he absolutely doesn't want it himself so it would be more of a shared woe ig?? like both of them would love it if they could just have a complete role reversal thing), she still has much more power than would have been possible in any other marriage

anyway bella also kinda guides reg (he goes willingly) into being more embroiled in the death eaters, doing what she thinks is best for him and for them (acting as his husband-wife) and making him better and lavishing him w luxury and basically just holding the reins of the marriage. and reg is happy bc he's safe and protected and bella is enough like sirius that he can ultimately fall in love w her and she's happy to dote on him and she does also love him even if she's maybe not in love w him. bc like you said. he's her cousin of course she loves him but also she loves how successful their marriage is. it's harmonious, easy, simple. it just works.

i think the only potential issue in their marriage is the lack of kids. bc bella to me never ever has or wants kids, but she's married to the heir of the black family and reg also defo wants kids. but i agree w you i think that w the level of influence bella has over reg she'd be able to convince him like 'let's wait until after the war' and there'd just be more and more excuses. like the two of them climb the ranks of the death eaters together (mostly bella but she uses reg and also takes him w her) and she couldn't possibly take the time off to be pregnant, reg, don't you believe in our lord's goals?? and reg of course does bc like. w bella acting as the Husband and the Heir/Lord, she would be the one who dealt w the whole kreacher scenario w voldemort and reg would've never found out about the horcrux or had to question his fanaticism, and also bc of bella he's even more fanatical than he normally would be and so this is a very short conversation and reg never brings it up again lol

but anyway yes i just think they could be so content and it's defo a much better marriage than the one that bella would've had if sirius had stayed bc she'd never be able to take on that Husband role w him and they would've probs ended up killing each other but w reg they can kinda complement each other and work well together and be more or less happy :))) yippeeeeee

anyway here are some more screenshots from our texts bc you’re hilarious and a genius and always completely correct and the other half of my soul and i’m obsessed with you <3

[demiaroacejadeharley]

This post contains some spoilers from The Amazing Digital Circus. This post also contains critiques in regard to Vivziepop, Helluva Boss, and Hazbin Hotel. Vivziepop stans (as in the people who defend her work and her as a person) are not allowed to interact with me. Any Vivziepop fan who sends me asks (especially Anon asks) will be deleted. Any fans who DM me will have their message deleted and will be blocked. Finally, anyone who screenshots this post and makes a post tagging me in it to defending Vivziepop will be blocked.

I'm not trying to get people to harass Vivziepop and harass anyone who is a fan of her. And I'm not trying to stop people from supporting Vivziepop and not trying to make people feel bad about supporting her either. Watch whatever you want. Take this post with a grain of salt. And if you get somewhat upset with the criticisms I have for Vivziepop, then that's your problem.

Vivziepop antis and critical fans are allowed to interact.

Earlier today, I watched The Amazing Digital Circus, and these are my final thoughts.

Honestly, the pilot was really good, and I'm looking forward to it finally becoming a full-fledged series. And I'm looking forward to it expanding the Lore as well. I'm curious as to how Pomni got trapped there in the first place and other stuff like the void and the exit door thing.

What I appreciate it is that it didn't need copious amounts of swearing, unlike other comedy web series like Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss. There were swears, but they were more spread out and brief on top of the swears being censored.

Even though Gooseworx has worked with Vivziepop in the past, I find TADC to be leagues better than HH and HB. I've seen a video about the drama surrounding Gooseworx, but from what I've seen,the stuff they have done is much more tame than the shit Vivziepop has pulled.

I hope to see more Amazing Digital Circus content to come out in the future. I'm interested as to see where the series will go. Unlike Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss, it didn't feel like I was watching something that felt like it was created by an edgy middle schooler. The female characters had much more personality than the ones from HH and HB, despite it being just a pilot.

Another thing to point out is that the cast of TADC had a lot of fresh faces to the voice acting industry, unlike Hazbin and Helluva Boss, where Vivziepop relied on casting big name actors in order to garner more attention to her work. And I'm going to be fully honest, I find it really sus at the fact that the OG cast of HH couldn't return because they didn't unionize in order to get their roles back. A lot of them were fully new to the industry, too, which is the sad part. I wish that Vivziepop wouldn't rely on hiring big-name actors in her work and would hire people who are very new to the voice acting scene who are desperate to land a role as some of them rely on voice acting as their main source of income.

To end this post, I just want to point out that I'm not blaming Vivziepop for the fact that the original cast of Hazbin Hotel didn't get their roles back. But at the same time, that whole situation feels questionable to me. Until I hear the full story about it, then I'll decide if she should be held accountable or not. However, the whole hiring big actors thing has been a critique of mine for a while on top of the use of the r slur in Helluva Boss (even though it was only said once and was almost again, it shouldn't have been used at all as it's an ableist slur and I'm a disabled person who has been called the r slur many times in the past). I'm fully aware that HB takes place in hell, but using hell as a way to excuse the use of the r slur is ableist. It's still ableist to call someone the r slur regardless of the setting and the context. The r slur should never be used as a way to call someone stupid. I'm not sure if Vivziepop wrote the script herself, but whoever is in charge of the script should be careful of the type of language they use in the show. I'm fully aware that both Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel are adult shows, but it doesn't mean it's an excuse to normalize offensive and bigoted language. It doesn't help that the shows poorly portray women (like how Millie is just reduced to being Moxxie's wife and likes killing) even though the creator of both shows is a woman.

I'm just gonna stop here for now. I'm going to go back to waiting for more Amazing Digital Circus content to come out.

[kerubimcrepin]

Liveblog 5: many words much analysis

His favorite parenting technique: Bullshitting

Yet again, we have the tenets of Lou theorizing reiterated here by Kerubim and Simone, as well as this flashback:

She left sad, and unlike many other times, without any anger for Kerubim.

She left Luis with him to watch over him.

She also left Luis because he couldn't go with her, but that could mean many things.

She left after Ecaflip City, obviously, and at that time, their relationship seemed the healthiest. (Well, as healthy as it could be.)

Unlike all the other times, Kerubim didn't go searching for her. It seems this separation was final in a way no other was, and there had to be a reason that he didn't go and try to make up. An unsolvable issue.

Both Luis and Kerubim blame Kerubim, and the first one uses this to make the second one angry.

Adieu, translated here as Farewell, is a word used for when you never expect to see one another ever again.

And sure, Luis really hated that. To the point of not allowing anyone to clean him ever again.

And yet...

That's what I thought you'd say, you lying asshole. In this liveblog, so far, I had taken a stance against referencing future episodes, but I feel the need to pinpoint this now:

Aux Tresors De Kerubim is a show that will lie, cheat, and deceive you. A show that is incredibly transparent about being at least a little bit, but an in-universe fiction.

Kerubim Crepin is a man who has mastered the art of not really lying, but, more-so, fudging the situation. Usually for the better.

And, as seen from this screenshot of the shop as it was two years before Joris was born, sometimes, for the worse.

Kerubim had many ways to solve his situation — convince Luis to let him clean once in a while via the use of psychic warfare, find a different house, or clean while Luis was sleeping, which Luis canonically does, like Kerubim will later do, after Simone is gone, because unlike her, he's not good at not pissing Luis off.

Or, perhaps, he could have continued doing whatever maintenance he was doing, during the time Atcham showed up and tried to boil him in a sauna. Because back then, Luis was allowing him to clean the house. Just food for thought!

Even Luis doesn't really like the situation they're in.

So, letting himself and their home go, never trying to get them out of this situation, — are both his active failings as a parent, not something he passively went through.

There is absolutely no excusing the way he raised Joris.

So yeah. I will just have to make these two into soup.

The thing is, his lying doesn't come from malice at all.

Kerubim hates disappointing people or appearing weak, because, as we'll see, from his personal experience, relationships just don't end well if you present your authentic self without thinking, or just don't lie well enough. He will keep lying in even the most dire circumstances, because not being good enough is the worst sin he could partake in.

He doesn't really have a self-esteem, or a way to like himself, without outside validation, because of the sheer brainrotting trauma of his childhood and his relationship with Ecaflip. And it just so happens, that being a parent is having a little validation machine running around... As long as the child believes he is competent and an indisputable authority, that is.

Which Joris will, one day, realize, just isn't true.

(hint: before the end of Aux Tresors, but fully set in stone in the movie.)

.......yeah to end it on a funnier note, i really do think Kerubim Crepin shouldn't have been at the club.

he should have been getting therapy. he should have been doing inner child healing. he should have been researching coping mechanisms for cluster b personality disorders, of which he has 2. Imagine having a kid instead of therapy.

Choosing beggar Keke!

If they ever make a second Dofus movie via crowdfunding, I will enshrimpify myself. I think she would destroy Bakara's cringe teenager self. I think Bakara would be jealous of her and Joris's aunt-nephew relationship.

...Yeah I love Bakara and Simone a lot. How could you tell?

Some canonical info on Luis's cleaning protocols.

When Kerubim thinks things are going bad, it's "It'll be ok! Don't worry! We can make it!" When Kerubim is suffering through it, it's "I don't know. Don't ask me. I don't know. Probably. Not a good situation." But when Kerubim truly loses all hope, it's "THIS IS ALL MY FAULT, AND I FAILED YOU, AND I'M AWFUL, AND I'M NOTHING, and it's OVER, and we are going to DIE."

A very helpful thing to keep in mind, to see how distraught he is during various events.

He's good at putting on a casual front while under stress, but it means that when he cracks, his fears burst out like an ocean and take him out of the commission entirely.

It's both a character flaw, and a strength of his, allowing him to not lose hope even at the worst times / help others not feel as distraught. We will see this in some significant, albeit very subtle, portrayals of his character in the Wakfu OVA, as well as the ease with which he takes control of dangerous situations.

Him being insecure and a liar never really changes, but he really does do it all out of love.

One of the most significant lines of this show. It appears both in the second episode, and second-to last episode, expressing one of the main themes of the show: the uneven, often clumsy and painful, nature of love and family. From a chance meeting that doesn't go the best, like here, to, well... the way it's used later the second time.

Kerubim's musings on items in this scene introduce the other theme: Stagnation, progress, and memory. In his opinion, it is only natural for artefacts to pass through different hands, instead of being locked up in a vault. Yet, Kerubim himself is stuck in this shop, collecting dust, being a subpar parent to his son, and never moving on from a multitude of painful break-ups that happened decades ago.

Joris's recitation of his words introduces his, for now, unwavering belief in his papycha. Which makes Kerubim's insecure self feel very giddy and loved.

Then, Simone kicking them out promptly introduces the theme of her being literally the best.

It must feel nice for Joris to see their home look good for the first time in his life. As sad as it is, I am very happy for him. The way he begins running around the house, looking at everything, while Kerubim is walking around in a literal daze, is just so adorable. Makes me even forget I want to make his dad into soup, for a little bit.

This brings us to a close with episode 2. Here's to more insane posts to come.

[lightofraye]

New followers of your blog! Love your posts and deep answers. SupNat was part of my younger years when it was aired originally. I stopped watching after the 5th season and I will never rewatch past that but I am here for the tee. Especially about the personal connections because I love to try to understand human emotions and the reasons behind their actions. What do you think about the fact that Jensen went behind Jared’s back with The Winchesters? (a show shouldn’t be exist at the first place)

Hello there!

First off, love the username! Big fan of Practical Magic myself.

And thank you so much for appreciating my posts!

Can I just say though? You're missing some gems in season 6 and beyond of Supernatural. (One favorite? The French Mistake. I still can't stop cackling over that one. Sam and Dean find themselves in an alternative universe as actors, Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles.)

As for the tea, well... it's largely centric on Danneel, but you will find some things about Jensen and perhaps others. I hope you, uh, well I can't say "enjoy" regarding emotional abuse, etc, but um, perhaps glean some understanding? There we go.

And woof. You came with a loaded question.

So... initially, I'll be honest. I believed Jensen's side of things. But as I delved deeper into it, seeing deleted tweets and screenshots and the timing of it all...

I was disappointed. Vastly. Jensen essentially betrayed Jared. He knew Jared was working on Walker, was told of the whole process if I'm not mistaken and yet he couldn't tell Jared that he was thinking of a prequel? That he approached Robbie Thompson about it? Not one word?

No, I don't buy his excuse of being superstitious. He still could've spoken and confided into his longtime friend, his fellow co-star, the person he said was a brother to him? Because even if it "failed", at least he would've had Jared there for support.

Plus, the leak (and there's a popular theory that it was Danneel who prematurely leaked it, but nothing is confirmed) came... and Jensen lied about not having phones while on set of The Boys.

Plus, after all of it... Jensen never formally apologized. He didn't humble himself. Jared sucked it up and took the dive... because he was, sadly, the better man.

I get it. Jensen couldn't let go of Dean. Believe me, I really get it. But there were so many ways he could've done this.

I'm disappointed in him. I feel the fame of his time on Supernatural, the cult following, as it were, got to his head. Jensen started to get too big for his britches. Whether that's Danneel's influence, the c-lister fame, his fan following, or a combination, it got to him.

So yeah. Disappointed. I hope he looks back and humbles himself.

[moonahstone]

(ignore the fact I straight up forgot I had tumblr and pretend I don't disapear regularly)

You've seen the season 5 trailer, I've seen the season 5 trailer, you know my brain is instinctively rotting with no regard to my own health so lets cut to the chase on a run down of said trailer and what the hell I think is going on in it!! Plz excuse the low quality images and if you don't want to see anything from the trailer do not open this next part <3

Something big is coming. Initially my mind went to potential kid at button house but the rest of the trailer kind of had me leaning elsewhere to the idea of them having to move? I'll go into more detail but either or of them feel like they could fit for "life changing" as both having a kid and moving houses are massive steps in life. I'm kind of hoping for the former because there could be a really cute story line there but also the latter is where I'm placing most my bets.

BARCLEY! MY LEAST FAVOURITE AND FAVOURITE GUY AT THE EXACT SAME TIME! I HATE EVERYTHING HE DOES IN A GOOD WAY! No but seriously, Maybe something happens to him and he sees ghosts? Or maybe he just goes snooping a little too much and gets trapped. If so I'd love it if the ghosts tried to mess with him to get him out and we could get a little Jemima back! Though I'm not sure how old her actress is now so it might now work :|

U good Thomas?

I'm feeling like if Cap's backstory is explored here this could be Pat picking fun at him a little on something related to said backstory? Not necessarily but something along those lines. There isn't a lot of context attached to this but I'm kind of hoping it's something like that. It could be nothing though, this line could have been in any season and I would believe you, it is a very them moment. Maybe though its a little exploration of the Cap's sexuality though? I don't personally think he needs one, I think it's better as it is, making it clear that a LGBT character doesn't need to have a whole coming out scene or anything like that to make them valid, more characters who are gay rather than gay characters. I think I've ranted about that before though and how Cap is the kind of rep I want. If it is something like that though, I don't mind, I still love a good bit of rep!

I mean it is what it says on the tin. They are being investigated for the claims regarding the fire. Thus triggers various theories for me, mostly surrounding the fact that that will not go in their favour and will cause financial difficulty but whatever, these claims will control and be the main plot of this series, like how running the guest house was a focus of series 4.

Not entirely sure? Maybe something associated with the previous thing of the fire but whatever it is if it is to do with the fire then maybe some sort of lawsuit is placed against them? MAybe it's assumed that they started the fire on purpose to claim off of it and they're forced to gather money to pay back some kind of fine? I'm not sure of those legalities but it could work and could lead to an ending of them being forced to leave for financial difficulties. On that maybe it's to do with the loans from season 1 that Mike took out and they simply ran short of cash for paying it back. Regardless, it wouldn't be so significant in the trailer if it wasn't important for the series (probably)

... I'm not happy about this but also I am. The clothes, the room dress, this just is a Kitty flashback. Hey maybe it could be Thomas but it couldn't be anyone later. I don't know when the pineapple became more popularised but everyone's shocked, Kitty was shocked at the concept of a pineapple in earlier seasons and just look at what she is wearing. Whatever episode this is in, this has to be the episode where we find out how Kitty dies.

IDK BUT LOOK AT THIS INCREADIBLE SCREENSHOT I TOOK HE LOOKS DEMONIC

Same to the Kitty point. This has got to be Cap dying. Even if it isn't it's a little bit of backstory because he has his lil hat on! I can't read the signs so I am likely missing a huge context lump but the sumary of it's his backstory stuff I think covers the most part. This too will likely shatter my entire soul

Oh boy that's gonna be a stinger. It looks like older decor in a way so could be a flashback to when older ghosts and Robins friends got sucked off (chance for a little Mary appearance??? PLeaSE) but also the floor (maybe because of the low quality) looks kind of dusty and leafy which likely means nothing but to me it associates with the current disrepair Button house is supposed to be in? That is likely (and hopefully) me reading too much into things but if so, I'm going to bawl either way. Regardless, we will see someone else move on, mostly clear due to what Robin was saying over the top (Something like "There is battle to when one of us go whoomf")

Maybe about Alison and Mike leaving? He's trying to lighten the mood? Or talking about peoples deaths? I know lots of people have said Caps death is probably going to be something very silly and if so this would be a likely appropriate response. Or its him talking about his own death and is one of those things trailers do to make them more editable for adverts as it is the last season, going out with a bang is an appropriate little phrase for them to snip in.

I'm absolutely stuck on this theory that Alison and Mike will be forced to leave Button house at this point, hence Kitty's reaction which would be pretty appropriate, 'nough said.

This feels significant. Like REALLLLLY significant and I can't figure out why. Maybe the framing? I have no clue but currently thinking if it is forced to leave, they had until midnight on a specific day to pay money or if not, maybe the time that the captain died? Maybe he died after being attacked or something while wandering around Button house at midnight and Alison finds out after finding him sleepwalking around the house which he has always done but she's never noticed before. Like how Fanny always throws herself out the window. It would work as well because of the time difference as that clock I believe is about 4 hours behind so if he died at midnight then he'd be walking around at about 4 which would be a bit late for people to be up (ordinarily)

Nothing really to add, just reiterating that they all look pretty crushed and defeated in this screenshot - throwing hands at one theory AGAIN

Sorry for how long this was but in summary: I think the gate house burning will cause massive financial problems for Alison and Mike and they will spend the entire season trying to fix these problem but be unsuccessful. We know how heart-breaking this show can be after all. It would lead to a very tragic but very round ending where Alison and Mike are forced to leave via financial difficulties and they are forced to say goodbye to the ghosts and there could be a heart-breaking scene as they pull away and the ghosts run after the car like children following their parents down the road. The though crushes me a little but I feel like the most logical ending is that they have to leave. If that is how it ends though I think the last line should go to Julian awkwardly standing there as everyone's sobbing and he just kind of goes "... Now what?" I don't know why, I just think it would be funny :D

[vivifriend]

WIP Connections OC Master post

I am slowly going to be adding to this over the next eternity. I've seen other folk with character master posts and thought that was an excellent idea. (plus it's a good excuse for me to take more screenshots XD).

Edit: Having started on it... it might be better if I do separate master posts by series, plus one for the characters with no series... yet. XD

Skyrim Connections OCs :

Copper: Imperial. They/Them Their father was a Nord thief from Riften. Former cultist of Vaermina. Paired with Vilkas and Lewin.

Lewin Hawkwing: He/Him Breton mother. Daedric Prince (Hircine) father. Has been a werewolf since he was a small child. Paired with Vilkas and Copper.

Ileana Hawkwing: She/Her Breton. From a wealthy merchant family turned lesser Nobility. (need to get a better screenshot of her. Also need to get screens of her and her brothers when they're around Lewin's age). Werewolf. Unmarried and likes it that way. (youngest of the siblings)

Karic Hawkwing: He/Him Breton. The youngest of Ileana's older brothers. Merchant/Noble. Werewolf. Paired with Brynjolf. (eventually)

Theo Hawkwing: He/Him Breton. The middle triplet. Merchant/Noble. The most scholarly of the siblings. Werewolf. Paired with Alice (who I need to create in game still).

Sorais Hawkwing: He/Him Breton. Oldest of the triplets. Merchant/Noble. Hot tempered. Werewolf. Paired with Emilie.

Emilie Hawkwing: She/Her Redguard (Breton father). Merchant/Noble. Werewolf. Would rather read/study than fight. Paired with Sorais.

Vitene Aurrenix: She/Her Imperial. Former cultist of Vaermina. Former Vigilant of Stendarr. Currently with the Dawnguard. Copper's cousin. Paired with Farkas.

Nevian: He/Him (who I also need to get better screens of. Damn cold weather breath messing up an otherwise good shot, lol). Redguard. Nord father. The Dragonborn's "twin" brother. (they were born on the same day, have the same father, and were raised together). Harbinger of the Companions. Werewolf. Paired with Lucien.

Sarlfi: He/Him Nord. Nevian's older brother. Werewolf. Hircine's Champion. Paired with Elilia. (Who I have a lot of screenshots of but I couldn't choose one. So, into game I go. XD)

Silka: She/Her Nord. Dragonborn. Bard. (was a werewolf for a short time). Paired with Kaidan. (Damn, I haven't taken new screens of her in like 2 years. Feels weird).

That's all for now. I'll update more later. Y'know, eventually.

[majaloveschris]

I agree with you on that „teams are sabotaging” them BUT Chris still invited them this year to his house and Scott was there and like they are STILL in eachother orbits after all those nazi/fatphobic shit we show them (yes they def saw those screenshots it was all over sm) so i dont know how tone deaf they had to be - to be still assosiating with them on public …

I think they had two choices: They either appear in public for pap walks and social events, like award shows and other red carpet events, or they do this whole Instagram posting, liking, and commenting thing that's been going on, and they went with the second. But for those things, they need to make content; they need to spend at least a few hours together so they have something to post. They need different scenarios, places, and outfits, especially after multiple people mentioned that the whole timeline makes zero sense because they couldn't have spent that much time together. They can't sell a relationship without giving proof to the public that they actually "spend" time together. We could have a conversation about which option sounds better; however, I think this is still better than seeing them try to act like they are in love in public. We could all see during the NYC pap walk and WDW that doing something in real time is not their thing. It looks like this solution was still more plausible for Chris than going out and parading in Portugal or Boston. Sometimes one of their teams sends a sighting to the DM, which usually makes no sense, and they call it a day.

I'd like to emphasize it again that obviously I also don't agree with their behavior, and I also think they made a really big mistake with this whole thing, and it's a problem that they are around these people. However, they don't seem so thrilled or happy about it, and taking a look at the content they post, we can say they aren't spending that much time with them. I know, I know it's not an excuse, and it's not my intention to try to find one for them; I'm just sharing the impression I've been getting.

[thessalian]

Thess vs "Little" Extras

So once again, work is seismic levels of bullshit.

We weren't doing too badly - just about caught up, in fact. This is despite the fact that every single last one of the little fuckers I work with keep leaving me with the problem dictations. So I get all the placentas (and The Placenta Guy is working overtime at the moment, damn near literally), all the bowel resections (dictated by people who either dictate too fast, speak with a difficult accent, dictate a report full of grammatical errors, or all of the above), and all the ones by the various newbies who either haven't figured out that maybe switching off the recording while you're taking measurements would be a good idea so that a typist doesn't have to sit through 10-15 seconds of silence between each measurement, have no idea how block keys work, or both. This is my main annoyance. I may have little snippets designed to make typing the stuff The Placenta Guy throws at me a little easier, but that shouldn't be an excuse to throw all of them at me. And yes, I know they do this to me specifically because when I see the queue get larger and look over, I see stuff that was put into the queue before any of the stuff in mine, put there by someone who picked it up out of the queue and decided they didn't want to do it so put it back.

(At least they seem to have figured out that if they're going to pull that shit on me, they should take some of the bullshit from The Breast Guy off my hands.)

Anyway, today all the doctors doing dictation a) came in somewhere in the middle of the day, b) dictated their asses off, and c) dumped the typing into the queue in big blocks of 20+ reports at a go. So you can imagine that even working flat-out, our queue went from mid double figures to low triple figures and we couldn't whittle it down. So that's a mess to look forward to come Tuesday - especially given that they seem to have been coming in on weekends lately, too. I heard talk in our last staff meeting (our first staff meeting, really) that we were looking for a new staffer. That was months ago and I have, of course, heard jack squat. So this is fun.

So in the middle of all this - dealing with all the fiddly frustrating bits of typing that no one wants to do - I get an email from Scruffman, my manager. He's apparently supposed to be writing a Standard Operating Procedure document for the department. Thing is, he's not writing it. Apparently he either can't be arsed or doesn't know what our SOP actually is. Because he asks me if I can write a step-by-step SOP guide to the typing so he can put it in his document. That's ... it. No details. So, grumbling because I am busy actually doing the SOP he's asking me to put down on 'paper', I put together a bullet-pointed list and go, "Is that the sort of thing you were after?" He says yes. I think that's done.

Nope. Then he emails me back going, "So could you grab some screenshots, and put that and your list together as a Word document?"

...I really want to know why he asks me to do the fiddly shit. I'd feel a lot better about it if he told me that it's because I'm one of the most competent people in the department instead of just dumping it on me without any sort of comment, which generally leaves me to think that he picks me for this shit because I'm the one that won't complain at him.

Anyway, I tell him I don't actually have Word on my work laptop. I don't use Word at work. (Hell, I don't use Word at home; I have OpenOffice). But, because I do believe in actually doing my fucking job, I tell him that the only way I could do it is if I took the screenshots, emailed them to myself, and did it on my home computer.

To which he says, "Great; Tuesday's fine. Thanks!"

Now I'm trying to figure out whether I want to start late or leave early on Tuesday because there is no way I'm doing that shit unpaid. Thankfully, I know for a fact that Scruffman would never expect me to (he told me to log out early when I spent 15 minutes of my own time filling out my staff evaluation form, and this is far more delineated as 'work') so that's fine. Thing is, we're getting to a point where I don't know how much we can afford to have me off doing something else. I am the one person in the fucking department who doesn't dodge any work that might be deemed 'difficult' or 'annoying' or 'something they just don't want to do'.

Anyway, after all this, I have to leave the house. Enough groceries to tide me over until the monthly Big Shop can be delivered, and pain meds. It's been a rough week and I keep getting migraine stabs. It's not fun.

[sodiumlamp]

Picard

Actually, this is one of the better episodes, but I couldn't turn down this screenshot, as it encapsulates my feelings on the show as a whole.

S2E3 has some pretentious title like "Dissertations on a Thesis" or "Futute te Ipsum Pt.1" or "Moonbeam Hootenanny". I call it "the one where Elnor dies and it doesn't really mattter." The gang manage to travel back in time to 2024 where they hope to locate some "watcher" that the Borg Queen believes can help them undo the changes in history. But Elnor got shot before they could make their getaway, and he dies while they try to get the ship landed.

Some issues I have with this:

It's kind of dumb that all the bad guys' weapons were set to vaporize, yet when they shot Elnor is just blew a hole in his chest near his shoulder. We know the weapons were set to vaporize because when the good guys manage to get them that's what happens when they shoot the bad guys. Sure, the good guys might have changed the setting during the fight, but why would the Romulan-hating fascist dudes show Elnor more mercy?

The fight scene just looked dumb. They put a lot of action scenes in this show, and indeed Elnor seems to be in this show solely for doing cool ninja moves, but apparently Raffi, Seven, and Rios are just as capable. The thing is, Star Trek never needed this sort of thing in the past. A dropkick or an open palm strike was usually all the roughhousing needed. The bigger problem is that the fight scenes in Picard all look the same, and they do them often, which just makes them even less worthwhile.

They probably killed off Elnor since there wasn't much he could do in 2024, and this raises the dramatic stakes of the mission. Elnor's only chance of survival lies in the uncertain possibility that fixing history will somehow undo Elnor's death. But removing Elnor from the story also highlights just how unimportant he was to it from the start, sort of like Zhaban. Raffi is really upset about Elnor's death, which seems weird because she didn't seem to care about him at all in Season 1. True, she's had a couple of years to get to know him, and they're both in Starfleet, so they have something in common, but we never got to see any of that. It's just like all of the other interpersonal relationships in this show.

Once the team gets down to business in 2024, things get a little smoother. This is familiar ground for Star Trek, and I was going to compare their search to a particular episode of one of the older shows, but really, it reminds me of all of them. I suppose, in particular, this is a lot like Dax keeping a low profile in the days leading up to the Bell Riots, or Paris trying not to let Sarah Silverman find out too much in 1996, or Chekhov falling down and hurting himself in Star Trek IV. None of this is very innovative, but it's inoffensive, I suppose.

On the ship, Jurati has to connect herself with the Borg Queen to get her back on line so they can find out what they need to know. This could hypothetically offer some insight into how the Borg think and communicate, but it always comes down to the same old crap. "Assimilation" this, "resistance is futile" that.

The doctor who treats Rios is pretty cool, and so is the security guard who insists he was more fun than Kevin. This is kind of a bad thing, because the whole point of sending Star Trek characters to the present day is that our time is supposed to be a dyptopian nightmare for them. Except the world in Star Trek: Picard is already a dystopian nightmare in Season 1, and that gets replaced with the fascist timeline we saw in the beginning of this season. So life in 2024 is almost like a vacation for these dopes. I mean, the ICE arrest Rios, but that's not much worse than what he's been dealing with in his native time. At least we expect the ICE to be shitheads. What's Starfleet's excuse?

[demoisellebeauty]

7. For movie or TV muses, what is your muse’s favorite scene? Why? Can you show a screenshot?

Wait, like MY favorite scene with Belle in it, or BELLE's favorite scene? I'm gonna assume the former.

I think I have to say my favorite scene with Belle is the argument she has with the Beast right after the wolf chase. It achieves several important things at the same time.

This scene is THE turning point in Belle and the Beast's relationship where their dynamic fundamentally changes. The scene begins with them still being antagonistic to each other, but once Belle challenges the Beast's behavior in a way that he can't refute or make excuses for, he's forced to accept that she's right, and that he needs to change. Without this scene, we can't feel comfortable cheering them on as a couple.

Furthermore making a clear statement about Belle and her relationship to the Beast. It reinforces a point made earlier in the movie when Belle refused to eat dinner with the Beast, that Belle does not allow people to mistreat her. Hell, she even broke her promise and left the castle entirely because of his temper. You could not have a more obvious way for this movie to tell you that Belle's love can't be forced or tricked, it has to be earned. No Stockholm Syndrome here.

And the fact that this argument takes place while Belle is trying to heal the Beast's wounds!!! Like how much does that tell you about her alone that despite her being terrified of him to the point that she ran away into a blizzard and a pack of wolves, that she still saved his life and brought him back to his home, willingly going back to the place she had agreed to stay only to save a father who was now safe. That she put in the effort to tend to his wounds even while being yelled at for doing it! She almost didn't do any of this, we literally saw her turn to Phillipe with the intention of leaving the Beast to die, but she didn't. Because he saved her life. He showed that deep underneath everything, he still has the ability to care about others, and even risk his own life for another's sake. And despite everything, that was enough for her to give him a second chance. In this one act, Belle displays a marvelous blend of the best traits of all the princesses that came before her. Snow White's compassion, Cinderella's diligence, Aurora's poise, and Ariel's bravery. It's Belle's small expression of gratitude and his ability to accept the olive branch that starts to close the wounds of all of their interactions before that moment. From that point on, they're on much more even ground and its from there that the movie lays down the foundation for romance.

We get all of this in the span of roughly 50 seconds. I couldn't ask for a better character portrait of Belle.

[macabrecleaver]

Did I forget to say I had an argument with my partner again three days ago? Yeah- it was bad-

We are okay now and on better terms but there's something bugging me a bit- it could be the voices though, just a heads up!

CW//TW: This is just me ranting and probably being selfish, you can move on if you don't want a 5-page essay- I'd also like to clarify this is not me talking shit bout my partner in any manner, this is simply me expressing what I couldn't when I wasn't fully there.

What's bugging me a bit is the fact that I explained to him why I have been distant and don't bother to voice my issues anymore, cause what's the point of telling people anything if it only causes problems and stress onto someone else.

He legit confronted me for being cold and distant so he practically asked for the can of worms- but I digress-

I was already in a really bad state, and still am currently, for confrontation if he wanted a more civil conversation. I still feel guilty that I had my outburst on him when all he was trying to do was reassure me, but I just am really tired of people telling me what I can and cannot do. Practically patting my back and then moving on- I know it's to motivate me, but I wasn't thinking rationally.

I really am lost and confused, and for that matter, scared and mad at the world so I kind of voiced it at him. I wasn't even mad at him, nor was it about him exclusively. Again, I'm mad at the world.

I had a really bad manic meltdown in front of him; I was in a really bad lighting for this, and honestly, I cringe when I get like this.

He didn't take it lightly of course.

(the only screenshot I will take of his cause it's important)

I feel like I'm going insane almost? I do admit I have my moments, but I do my best to stay sane for the most part, and I'm not saying he is wrong- but it's just- it hurts?

I do my best to accommodate his needs and wants, doing my best to be sane for both of us, as a sense of security. (Which I've voiced that beforehand several times-)

I've suffered in silence for bout a year now bout the main problems that's fucking me up inside because I focus on his needs first, and listen to all his problems, both small and major; His problems drown out lot of the shit in my mind, but when I really need help and if it's really that severe, I will in fact reach out to him.

And get turned down for the most part, which I'm not saying he's required to deal with my shit, since dealt with a lot with it at the beginning, which is why I kind of shut my mouth about everything now; It just seems too much for people- which is reasonable! He always dealt with a lot of shit since the beginning, so it's just a lot of stress onto him. He does do his best to be there for me, but I just feel guilty he has to.

I only started to become like this within this year; I've just been growing more and more bitter within this year with the constant stress and racing thoughts, along with the cracking under pressure of my own expectations. Which is my fault- You can see it within this blog itself from beginning to end but of course no one sees this except for- two people I know of, but they weren't here for the whole scene. Hey guys! Anyhow-

It just still feels like a slap in the face to me though? I probably shouldn't feel insulted, but I do for some reason?

I finally breakdown very terribly and then it suddenly becomes bout him-- that sounds so bad because I know he has a right to feel the way he feels in any shape or form-- but I just-- I don't know

Also, this only proves why I don't voice my emotions, since it was getting heated, which I did point out- I also started to breakdown and sob at this moment, so I started to act more...ehh- well-

I do admit, I come off very guilt-trippy and manipulative, even when I sent that I started to regret those statements, and I promise that wasn't my intention to word it very poorly- that still does not excuse my behavior, nor do I want to excuse it, I just want to give context.

I'm going to give you an explanation what I meant:

As I mention before, I have a fear of being an abuser or a toxic person, so I try to make little problems for people that best I can. One of those problems, at least in my mind, comes from my emotions and anger issues- I try my best to suppress them and it does in fact hurt a lot. This comes from a lot of roots, from family to past relationships, so it comes naturally for me to do so- In order to feel better bout myself; I punish myself for people or any actions I deem as problematic, rather by self-harm, self-sabotaging, putting myself in bad environments, or belittlement. Any mistake I have will be put in the pile of 'Why I'm a Bad Person' which just fuels my self-hatred. I've attempted before with the idea I would have 'saved many'- which was probably just me losing it, but regardless that's why I said that because I was trying to show him how much my actions hurt not only him but myself as well, as well as show him how much I cared on the matter. The last part is more self-explanatory; I want to be better but unfortunately, I do not have the support system I need nor any clue how to start. I've tried many times to get help, but all were in vail, so I promise I'm not excusing my lack of progress. He and I are both aware my situation is a bit tricky, and I have also voiced to him how I felt frustrated, helpless, and hopeless MANY times because of it.

He mentioned BPD again very cut-throat, which caught me off-guard not going to lie- I have researched it briefly, as well has heard people with BPD talk bout it, but I have mention before I'm very unaware of myself in some areas. Currently, I do not feel that's impossible, but there's some things that are still questionable to me. I do not have an unstable self-image, nor switch up viewpoints on people without a genuine reason, and nor do I have a fear of abandonment. I have talked bout this beforehand so I'm not going to delve too much into it, but like I said "it's possible, but still unsure" I was also apologizing for my behavior and past actions but that's pretty spoken.

I don't expect him to treat me like I'm his son or something, I do not want to rely on him or others, it's especially because the state he's been that it wouldn't be ideal to just vent to him. I already spoke bout this insecurity, so again not getting to it.

This is just me regretting my outburst from before; I have felt useless to many of situations he's been going through, as well as feeling like I'm part of the issue, which if you read bullet point one, you'd know I'm likely to think so I started being over apologetic. I was scared this would have been the last straw and he'd cut me out of his life or view me differently; I love him dearly and he's the only partner I had that lasted long or wasn't abusive and losing him would reasonably be devastating since I've been dating for bout 2 years now. Luckily, he didn't, and he apologized for his lecture, since he was very fustrated himself.

This is the longest time I ever focused on something this long- I just really feel bad, and my brain will not stop bugging me about it, so I just want to get this over with at this point.

I vented about this a couple of times here; I'm reiterating why I was doing what I was doing. Pretty self-explanatory, I have a strong sense of toxic-masculinity and stereotypical roles of men for myself. I don't act like this towards anyone, it's just myself and my expectations. This is just from my environment and relationships playing a part to this- I live in a slight old school ideology, but I oddly never treated anyone other man like this, which I guess is better than what others could say?

By this point, we were making up and I got to finally explain the main issues that are at least currently fucking me up inside- well expect for the CSA but that's cause it's a trigger for them so.

I do feel a lot lighter from it, and surprisingly it did undo some of my problematic mindset, specifically glorifying my abusive ex. I wouldn't say it solved everything, cause clearly, I am still in a lot of stress from others, but it's better than nothing, I guess? I am trying to undo some things now, but I still have no idea how to even accomplish starting, I really hope I do get better, because I don't really have much of anything to go off from at this point.

One more time for the people in the back, I am NOT talking shit bout my partner, nor do I feel like anyone was in the wrong! I am simply trying to shut my brain up, so it stops bringing the incident up!

[mysmashplaythroughs]

Itsa me, Emio!

Thought I had to make that joke whilst it's still relevant given we don't know what that surprising unusual for Nintendo teaser is about. My personal guess that I doubt is right but differs from everyone thinking it's a horror game is it's actually a new Famicom Detective game. Given an age rating from New Zealand mentions a fair few mature themes it's possible for it to be horror of course, but I equally feel like an argument could still be made for FDC, especially given the whole 'Who is Emio' thing. We'll have to wait and see. Anyway, beyond that the biggest news for this blog is THE MELEE ROSTER IS FINALLY COMPLETE! Yes over a year after I said I hoped to have it finished soon I've finally written Roy and Mr Game & Watch's entries. I have no idea how soon I'll either start on Meta Knight, perhaps do another Pokemon entry (for Gen 2) or maybe even try something totally new and start writing posts about stages, Assist Trophies or Background Characters.

When it comes to the list, I don't believe anyone out there actually checks it constantly but if you did you might notice oddly that there's a few games I've had in the 'completed' section for ages now at the top of the list. If you see which ones they are you also might have picked up on there having been ports/remakes of these games that have come out on Switch so yeah, I decided since these are often better versions with new content and I got them I might as well put them back on the list in order to play them, not to mention in a lot of cases they'll allow me to easily get screenshots I couldn't before (such as with Metroid Prime HD). Also if you remember my last off-topic post you might notice that Tales of Symphonia is still on the list, yes I didn't finish it yet, but I promise I've made a lot of progress. Without going into spoilers I feel confident in saying I've definitely reached the halfway point of the game. I had two big things which brought that playthrough to a halt, the first was I went away to another country for a few weeks and the second was Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door came out, and of all games as much as I love doing this whole thing, I wasn't going to overlook a remake of my joint second favourite game of all time, the same thing would be the case if I got the last few of my top 10 that aren't on Switch released, such as Punch-out Wii, Kid Icarus Uprising or possibly Pokemon Gen 2. I have been able to get new screenshots with Paper Mario Thousand Year Door so it wasn't completely unconnected to my list anyway.

There've also been some new additions to my list, I'm always coming up with really stupid reasons that barely count to add things to my list and I realised something a while ago that I hadn't really gone into, that being the codec and Palutena's Guidance easter eggs. Looking through these I really wasn't expecting much, mostly looking for an excuse to do something with one or two characters, but I realised one of the codecs very specifically had a character from Metal Gear Solid 2 referenced and perhaps the biggest thing, Palutena's Guidance for Ryu makes references to a lot of the Marvel vs Capcom series. I decided to add these games to my list although I realised they were going to be very difficult to do, so you can probably guess my surprise and joy with the latest Direct announcing a collection of the series coming to Switch (not to mention I was just really pleased to see it as I know the series has not had many rereleases at all including I believe one or two games that never left arcades) so that really worked out well. Speaking of the Direct there was a lot of really great looking stuff announced there. Of what was shown the only game I felt was for sure going on my list was the Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom. The reason is fairly simple for this, not that Zelda is playable as actually I don't think the Zelda in this game really matches any specifically from Smash Bros, but the ability to create Echoes of enemies is the closest to having Zelda enemies playable there's ever been, so that worked out pretty well. Oh and of course, Dragon Quest 1-3 HD is fantastic news for me, I've played through 3 before but the fact this version will actually have the characters appear in battle (no idea how many animations they'll have) is already huge news to me, also from what I've heard 1-2 really didn't age well so having updated versions of them is pretty exciting to me, they both interest me for different reasons (especially 1 being one of the very few RPGs where you don't have any other party members).

So what's next then? Well, when it comes to the games I've moved up my list to play again like Pikmin I think I'll most likely do some of them first, Pikmin is a pretty short game and I've been looking for something I can play whilst listening to other stuff so games I've already beaten would I think be a good choice. However, I want to get at least 3 Mii Costume games finally beaten this year, so I do plan on returning to Tales of Symphonia soon, after that would be Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, which I have a feeling would also be a long game although it's one where I believe there's a 'final story boss' so to speak outside of the many other Monsters you can hunt in the game etc, so it probably isn't as 'endless' as I feared. Following that would be Tower of Druaga which being an arcade game I believe is a case of it being short but very difficult, luckily also being an arcade game on consoles I believe I'll have unlimited continues so it probably won't take long. In the middle of this some of the other games I mentioned such as Zelda Echoes of Wisdom and Dragon Quest 3 will likely be out so I'm sure I'll play them pretty much on release, the same goes for others not on my list such as Mario & Luigi Brothership (Another huge reveal that I have no reason to put on my list but it's a series I love and thought was dead so I'll definitely be checking out). Between all this of course I have my actual life to live etc, but either way I hope to make more progress than last year, I believe looking at the list I've made of the games I've beaten each year I've already almost beaten 2023's amount so I'm sure I'll manage that. Anyway, here's looking forward to seeing who Emio is and hopefully a good year going forward.