#I SCRAMBLED to get a screenshot of one and HERE SHE IS!!!!!!!!!!

[stardestroyer81]

✨ YOU WILL LOOK AT HER!!! ✨

[writingwithfolklore]

Don't Wait for Your Muse (Using Sources)

                In the same way that artists collect reference photos, fashion designers collect fabrics and textures, and interior designers collect paint chips, writers must collect sources. A source could be:

Evocative, funny, or interesting dialogue

A description you’ve never heard before

Interesting and rare words

A cool dream you had

A paragraph from a book you love

A specific feeling or experience

Something you saw out in the real world

A snippet of conversation you passed by on the street

A smell that gives you a particular memory

Any other piece of art, writing, music, design, a sense, story, etc. etc.

Essentially, anything that sparks your imagination, that’s evocative of the human experience—of that humanity and closeness we’re always trying to capture. My creative writing prof said to us, “why are you waiting for a ‘muse’? Go to your sources. Don’t just wait for inspiration to strike.”

                She cautioned us not to try to make sense when we put together our sources, but rather make meaning. The nice, easy part is that anything you put together will create meaning. So here’s what we gathered to get started, but I also challenge you to carry a journal or a place on your phone to start collecting things you find out in the world.

                Choose a one-word or sentence theme that describes your project. For this theme, collect:

A photo, taken by anyone at any time

A poem, written by anyone

A paragraph from a newspaper or magazine article, then scramble it using the “cut up machine”

A screenshot of something posted on social media

A series of text messages, emails, or other communication between parties

A screenshot of the abstract of a scholarly article

Good luck, and if you’re comfortable, I’d love to see your collections!

[finnstansonly]

share/give to help two families!!

Hey guys! I got a message on Bluesky by someone to share her campaign, and I also got a request to share her brother's gofundme, and the link to her paypal which she uses to help her friend's family that don't have their own account. Since i have way more followers here than I do on there, I asked for her permission to post it here, and she said yes.

Hanaa is a mother of 5 children trying to take care of her family. She would like to raise money for treatment of some injuries/sickness her kids and husband have sustained on top of needing to pay for food, water, and shelter. here is where you can donate to her gfm.

Additionally, she has gotten a gfm set up for her brother, Muhammmad, as well as a link to her paypal to help support her friend's family of 11.

message screenshots under the cut

also, one of my mutuals in the replies asked abt any verification this campaign might have. I really just used my own discernment when deciding to trust this campaign, but I will include what convinced me to help spread the campaigns. i'm not a verifier so i just tried to do some cursory inspection (looking through posts, images/video, looking for her corresponding twitter account, making sure names matched up between account names related to the gfms and the paypal account).

i added alt text to the screenshots but i've heard that sometimes alt text messes up so i transcribed it below as well. i'm not sure if it's the proper way to do text ID, but it is accurate to the text in the images.

[IMAGE 1 TEXT ID: Hello, my dear, I am Hanaa from Gaza, from Palestine. I am a mother of five children. We have been suffering from a genocidal war for a whole year. There is no food, no clothes, no clean water. Our house was completely destroyed and we were left homeless with a tent. The tent was also burned, and my husband was injured in the back. Please help me to provide treatment for my husband and food and water for my children, and help me collect the rent for the room that I rented, otherwise we will be thrown out on the street. Please.

I need to pay the room rent, treatment for my husband who was injured in the war, and other necessities so that we can live. This campaign is the only income for my family.]

[IMAGE 2 TEXT ID: (Me) Can you explain why I got a message around the same time from an account linked to a different gofundme but the same paypal account as the one you've sent met? That made me feel uneasy due to the uncertainty, so I wanted to get some clarity from you before I made my post.

(Hanaa) Hello, my dear, how are you? This paypal belongs to me, but I also help my family and my friend's family through this PayPal because he does not have a PayPal account

(Me) Thank you so much for clearing that up. I'll be making the post now and hopefully that will get some more donations rolling in.

(Hanaa) Thank you, my dear, for your help. Please also, if you can help my friend's family by publishing, do not hesitate. It is a family in dire need of help. END TEXT ID]

[Image text ID: i did look through hana's bluesky account and she also has a twitter that is w her name and her [paypal] and [gofundme] and the images/videos of her family are consistent, but i really just had to use my own discernment with this one.

her bluesky handle seems to be just random letters, which i'd attribute to everyone scrambling over there from twitter, but her x/twitter handle represents [the] name which is connected to her name on the paypal and the name in the second gfm (the one on her brother's behalf) does also match her name from her paypal. END TEXT ID]

[xxnashiraxx]

With Stars to Fill My Dream (13) - Moving Through the Silence Without Motion

Whew- sorry, this one took longer than anticipated!! I was on vacation last weekend and couldn't make the last-minute changes I wanted to make that would have allowed me to post on Tuesday, but it's all done now! ☺ Back on schedule!

✧˖ Release Schedule: Every 2 Weeks ˖✧

Summary: The camp deals with the aftermath of their encounter with the dream visitor, and a certain fluffy friend joins their odd group of misfits. Ofelia experiences another embarrassing predicament, and their party finally enters the goblin camp to face down the three leaders and clear the way for the tieflings in the Grove. Branded by a priestess, rediscovering the luxury of coffee, and sharing a sweet opportunity with her favorite fanged companion aren't enough to cushion the blow of reality all while Astarion tries to sort through emotions he would rather not address.

Pairing: Astarion x female!Tav

Warnings: 18+. Mentions of past abuse and trauma. Canon-typical violence and gore.

Word Count: 7,603

AO3

Took some fun screenshots!! Please enjoy the opening below the cut ❤

✧˖Tag List: @khywren @allymcfee

“Are you alright?” Shadowheart pokes her face into Ofelia’s tent, pale and clammy. Ofelia scrambles to wipe her tears away, nodding and meeting the half-elf’s eyes.

“Yeah… I think so… did you see it too?” Shadowheart’s lips set in a firm line, nodding softly.

“We all did. Here, it’s dawn… come out. Let’s all sit and talk around the fire.”

Ofelia heeds Shadowheart’s suggestion, pulling her boots on and fixing her hair into a loose bun, resolving to bathe before they start the day. Officially. She hesitates, once again finding her return to her bedroll to be a mystery.

The last thing she remembers is swaying in Astarion’s arms, thinking about how pretty he looked under the light of stars, music from her own world making her feel like they were in their own pocket in time, separated from the tadpole, the cult, all of it. She remembers wishing he’d been from Earth, that way she’d want to go back… And try as she might, she can’t bury these stupid feelings.

Her face flushes in shame at the memory of pressing that kiss to his cheek, that pang of longing when he hadn’t shoved her away but instead gazed at her in surprise… It makes forgetting that it happened ten times worse. Then she returned to her tent, somehow, a faint feeling of unease now clouding her mind. How did she get back? Did she go back alone? She can’t shake the feeling that she’s missing something important, but she can’t put her finger on what it might be…

She walks out into the early dawn, stunned to find another surprise- a welcome one at that.

“Scratch!” Ofelia crumples to her knees as he runs up from beyond the outskirts of their camp, the rest of her groggy companions yelping or jumping out of the way as the dog barrels into her. “Oh, I’m so glad you're safe!” She mumbles into his fur as it pokes her neck and cheek and he nearly knocks her backward. He licks her face and barks and she scratches his ears, giving him little kisses on the snout and top of his head.

“Is that a dog? Oh my goodness!” Karlach cries tearfully, bringing a stick over. She seems to be talking to Scratch, but all Ofelia can hear are soft yips and excited growling. “He says he wants to stay if we’ve got the room?”

“Oh my god of course he can stay!” Ofelia sobs, wiping her eyes as Scratch licks the happy tears off her cheeks. “I love him so much,” She sniffles to Karlach and the two of them giggle and lead Scratch over to the fire as the rest of their companions huddle around.

“In addition to Lae’zel, we’re letting more than one mangy mutt stick around?” Astarion frowns, a sour look on his face. Ofelia scoffs as Gale hands her a steaming cup of tea, watching Lae’zel do no more than grunt and roughly shoulder the vampire out of the way on her path toward the fire. His affronted yelp and subsequent snarl make Ofelia laugh under her breath as she smiles at Gale in thanks and hands Scratch a couple of hunks of sausage from their stock.

“You all were approached in your sleep by the same visitor, weren’t you?” Astarion mutters, lips still twisted in displeasure. Ofelia regards his unkempt head of hair with an amused smile, feeling privileged to see him before he’s had a chance to put himself together for the day.

[ngray192]

CHAOS THEORY SEASON TWO IS OUT!!!! As you all expected, I watched it all in one sitting and wrote notes on everything! Under the cut is my train of thought and commentary on the season, and no, you will not be given context for anything that I wrote.

- omg I’ve been waiting all dayyyyy

- Raptor lady is gone, I wonder who the new villain is.

- I wonder if this is gonna tie into Dominion at all

- Boat!!

- Shoutout to Nick “Rocket” Rodriguez

- I’m sorry did they make a hammock in here????

- Only Sammy can make a shipping container into a home

- Yaz I love you

- Yasammyyyyyyy ugh they’re adorable

- I knew it was a baryonyx!!!

- Kenjis so sad

- Why is he throwing lettuce into the ocean?

- Like five minutes in and there’s so many small yasammy moments

- Ex-kon was hilarious, you guys just don’t get it

- LET HIM COPE

- Yaz and Kenji moment!!!!

- Therapist Yaz is my favorite

- I love her development and growth omg

- Hybrid Dino??

- Kenji Kon, stop leaving the container

- A storms brewing

- Why is there just an open crate of lettuce?

- Bro you’re wasting so much lettuce

- They were in Louisiana last season?

- How tf have you not been caught?

- The water animationnnn

- Oh shit

- Ben please don’t get shocked again

- Ngl I’d offer to help too

- Yaz and Kenji in their besties era

- BUMPYS EGG

- Is that a baryonyx?

- DID IT DIE???

- Two?!

- The ashes from the fire animation is wild

- Yes saves the Dino eggs

- Oh fuck this is kinda graphic I love it

- This gives the same vibes as the actual movies and I’m all for it

- Bro that parasarolaphus (I cannot spell) looks scary af

- Sammy running to Yaz for Yasammy, Ben running to Kenji?????

- Lets see a person die

- Aaaaah it’s the scene from the clip I saw!!!!

- Such a cool chase scene

- BUMPYS EGG

- KENJI STOP

- He didn’t help you, he saved your fucking life

- Are we gonna get a “Kenji is suicidal” arc???

- Tell me why I was actually worried? They’re not gonna kill Kenji

- Brotherss

- Those eggs should be scrambled wtf

- A lot of Yaz and Kenji moments I’m here for it

- Open up, PLEASE

- Oh shitttt

- He’s not gonna tell anyone, is he?

- THE MEMORIAL IM CRYING

- Solid first episode

Episode 2

- “marooned five”

- The light shining from the clouds??? Beautiful

- Ok, this is a valid “not telling the group the truth” plot line, he doesn’t wanna distract them and be wrong

- I’m sorry, who tf are you people??

- Wait is this small child gonna join the group??

- Please don’t be a big part of the show, I wanna focus on Camp Fam

- Are the dinosaurs protecting her? I love that

- What kinda Dino is that? Gallimimus? Struithominous?

- Did they change clothes or just take off their jackets?

- Omg they can’t split into 3 groups of 2 anymore

- Yasammy side mission!!!

- I love Kenji omg

- They’re such brothers, I love it

- Same old dino nerd

- Why are you not concerned that people are on your property?

- Why would you just tell her a large portion of your plan??

- I kinda want this lady to be evil

- Can we get a name for this girl soon?

- No she found the eggs!!!

- Why tf would you take it from the bush and leave it out in the open?

- Do you need service to play a video like that?

- Also you can def show the group just the thumbnail for the video and they’ll see her

- They’re so goofy, I love them.

- I was right, it is a gallimimus!!

- It’s like a dino-mill upriver

- Damnit, you guys just fucked up the balanced ecosystem here

- Cool ass dino omg

- The colors on herrrr

- Please don’t fall out of a tree

- The rice nooooo

- It’s a suchomimus

- Stop trying to fix things omg

- I’m sorry but I don’t care about the mom and daughter

- “Off-brand alligator”

- I love how Yasammy is usually Team Distraction

- Darius is so fast wtf

- Rock climber Kenji

- MOVE KENJI

- HES SO STUPID AND BEING SO DANGEROUS

- They are kicking that Suchomimus’s ass omg

- His voice is so much deeper than in CC

- Screenshot and show the rest of the group the picture of Brooklyn omfg

- Animata and Zayna

- SHOW THEM

- SHOW THEMMMMMM

- UGH

- I hate you

- Captain Kenji!!

- Ngl this season isn’t as interesting as season 1, but hopefully it’ll get better

Episode 3

- This episode is titled “Clever Girl 86”

- Brooklyn!!!

- And freshly amputated damn

- YOU “stitched her up” AT HOME???

- Aww a compy lost its foot?

- I love when people in shows have realistic reactions

- She drove a motorcycle??

- Video call!!

- I don’t like that jacket

- Clevergirl86 is someone from Dark Jurassic, maybe Ronnie??

- Ok, so this is the day they broke up?

- I should’ve finished rewatching it he first season

- Oh is it love confession time?

- He’s such a bad liar

- No, it’s different with Ben because they’re IN love

- Girl don’t say “unless…”

- Yikes

- I love how you can see the reflections on screens, it’s so cool

- Account was hacked???

- It doesn’t look like enough of her arm is gone

- Is this a full Brooklyn episode? It’s only episode 3

- Ronnie is definitely a lesbian

- Alcohol will take the edge off, let’s get hammered

- I hate the pixie cut, I’m sorry

- Awww Gordon

- OVER 60??

- Her dads are in town for the funeral???

- This is so sad

- She still acts like Brooklyn

- Wow, never mind a lot of her arm is gone

- Kill the DPW guy

- Stab him, you’re dead you can’t be put on trial for murder

- I refuse to believe Raptor Lady speaks to people on the phone

- Ok, but staying dead was kind smart

Episode 4

- the dino liberators are here

- He’s trying to be Kenji and I don’t like it

- Why wear masks if you’re just gonna take them off and use your real names?

- A trust fund? Earnest is fr just Kenji but worse and mixed with a little bit of Dave

- Syd?

- The animation is gorgeous

- OUTFIT CHANGES???

- Her username is Esther Stone

- Nosey ass kid

- Yaz looks so cute!!!

- Do not take the child with you

- Please tell us what happened with Sammy’s family

- Nooooo don’t go with the group

- They all look like their faces and bodies changed when they changed clothes

- Ok, she’s still in America

- Are they gonna kill them???

- THEY TOOK GEBA

- Why tf is Kenji wearing those shoes?

- THEY KNOCKED HIM TF OUT

- The camera shaking as the dinos run out? I love it

- She’s a pretty good actress

- God I fucking hate this guy

- Why are the dinosaurs so sad?

- I don’t care about this child and her dinosaurs

- UHGHGHRHGGHHHHH I DONT WANT THIS CHILD HERE. IT IS A CAMP FAM SHOW

- Why is he being a dick all of a sudden?

- Dubai?

- She’s just like Ben dropping her phone in the water

Episode 5

- such a pretty show omg

- Sammy is such mom-material

- She’s 14???

- They’re back to their old outfits, sigh

- Why did they split up Darius, Sammy, Zayna and Kenji, Yaz, and Ben?

- Same old Ben

- Girl, the six of you lived together on an island for six months, privacy does NOT exist with this group

- Omg do you think it’s the girl from JW Dominion?

- “Damning”

- THE GADDY, DADDYS GADDY FROM SEASON 3

- How many close call sneaking scenes are we gonna have?

- Is it the girl from Dominion?

- Stop being weird about her missing limb??

- There’s no way Ben has cell service rn

- Not him using Yasminas head to get around the boat

- I love his little dino imitations

- This reminds me of JWCC season 1 episode 6 or 7 with the kayaks

- Ok, yeah it is the raptor girl from JW Dominion

- All around the globe?

- Oh fuck

- Come on, Sammy get the gun!

- KENJI WTF

- STOP

- The way her bangs move when she shakes her head, I love her

- Did the raptor press the elevators buttons what

- She’s kinda bad at painting

- Oh shitttt

- Is she the one hunting the kids?

- This penthouse chase scene is good

- Girl is not good at running from dinos

- The way she immediately puts the same arm up is a nice detail

- Girl you are not cut out for being on this journey with this group

- They were taking all the risks on those islands

- I’m not really getting anything marked on my bingo card

- TELL THEM

Episode 6

- what is in the water? Cause i doubt it’s the mossasaurus

- Awww a hippo

- Wait hippos are crazy dangerous

- Reminds me of the paras during the kayak episode in CC Season 1

- Zayna def should’ve known hippos are dangerous af

- “Dirtbag”

- You’re wasting all your food

- Throw the mangoes further omg

- KENJIN KON YOU ARE SO STUPID

- The details in the animationnnnnnughhgugggh

- Ben’s lips look so chapped omg

- I hate this child

- A lot of fire this season

- I don’t think she’s the Broker, I think there’s someone bigger

- Sammy needs to become a mom

- YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE CELL SERVICE HERE

- Oumars dead babe

- She’s vegetarian??

- OMG

- IS THAT A DEAD BODY????

- WTF

- They’re all so stressed out

- You’re gonna make her anxiety come back, let her breathe

- Brooklyn, wtf are you doing?

- Kill her

- Sucho number 2

- KENJI

- Don’t hide Yaz wtf

- Oh fuck that had to hurt

- THEYRE GONNA LEAVE HER BEHIND

- Lame, should’ve killed her

- They were 13 on the island?

- I guess she is the broker?

- Ok, girl nobody believes you

- Don’t give her the laser pointer

- IS HIS SHOULDER DISLOCATED

- BRO WTF

- They never would’ve shown half of this shit in JWCC

- YES NOW TURN BACK AND GET YAZ

- Oh she’s knocked tf out

Episode 7

- only a few more left

- Give her a break omg shits always happening to her

- Why is it taking so long for them to get back to her??

- … I guess the Sucho won

- I feel like the boats are much faster than going on foot?

- Also the current is not that strong

- Damn Sammy’s kinda scary when she’s worried about her wife

- Fuck this Sucho fr

- I wish we got more Ben and Darius this season, even just as friends

- Why are Kenji and Ben being so awkward??

- Darius does NOT know how to talk to children but he’s trying so hard

- Once again, the animation is gorgeous

- I love him

- I don’t like Zayna

- She’s real af for that though

- Yaz has a head injury and is climbing up trees rn, girlboss

- OH SHIT

- That lowkey scared me

- LEAVE HER ALONE

- THAT KICK OMG

- Girl is struggling

- I love a good Yaz-forward episode

- I love the way the eyes shine when the flashlights are on them

- Awww Kenji

- Benji?

- Aww Darius protecting Zayna

- “Oh jeez, oh jeez, oh jeez” I love him

- They are just beating the shit out of the local wildlife and I love it

- LIONS?!?

- This girl does not know everything omg

- Water and land are dangerous, you would’ve had problems either way

- Give her a break omfg

- IT CAN SWIM?!

- Yaz’s plot armor is absurd

- She needs to get back to her girlfriend, she is cold, wet, tired, injured

- You have paddles?? At least you should

- What dino is this?

- The dino fights are crazy this season

- You’re doing all of this in sandals??

- … at least you don’t have to worry about the Sucho anymore

- KENJI YOU RUINED THE MOMENT

- “My girl” STOPPPPP

- They’re so in love

- ITS DAYTIME???

- Probably my favorite episode so far

Episode 8

- this is 2 parter??

- I love how they all just know how to steer a boat???

- Awww Kenji protecting Yaz

- I love Sammy

- How tf can they hear a generator that far away??

- YES LEAVE HER BEHIND

- Girl

- Kenji is the older brother ever

- Oh shit a dino

- The chase scenes are good this season

- Kenji, stop IT

- Finally

- This is so sad

- Yasmina “not a hugger” Fadoula

- They’re so in sync

- Monolophasaurs?

- Benji are probably thriving rn be fr

- I love Ben

- Sammy’s so dorky I love it

- Oh my gosh

- Baby dino factory

- I hate Zayna, like I know she’s a kid but she’s annoying (I’m 17, I’m allowed to dislike children)

- Goodbye captain lang, damn

- Yasammy have not kissed ONCE this season (maybe they have, I’m not sure)

- They all take care of Zayna and that’s cute

- Yaz holding Sammy like that is adorable

- DO NOT SPLIT UP

- Why is Zayna the only person in this show with pierced ears?

- They should form a cheerleading team the way they’re lifting her

- Is this a dino fighting arena?

- IT HAS NO EYES

- This scene is actually so interesting

- FUCKING IDIOT GIRL

- Darius is the fucking king of sliding through small gaps

- Team Distraction for the win

- That is a child, why do you care if she thinks you’re cool or not??

- BRO SHOULD NOT BE ALIVE AFTER THAT FALL

- Kenjis still wearing those ugly ass shoes

- I love Ben

- WHY DID SHE JUST WALK IN THERE???

- SHE TOOK THE EGGS

- That was a good episode

Episode 9

- part 2

- That phone is huge

- Why are you having the one-armed girl drive?

- You shouldn’t trust her

- Dr. Sarr?

- Rewrite the genetic code??

- They’re still referred to as kids and I love it

- I do like episodes where I get to piece together a timeline

- What is this fucking music in the background?

- Oh shit she was working the crate and shit

- Seeing this all from her pov is kinda boring

- I was lowkey hoping for a more dramatic reveal

- I actually like how dark this season is and how every bad guy character is bad

- Oh my gosh

- Damnit Brooklyn you should’ve let her fall

- I don’t really like that we keep repeating the same scenes, but only slightly different

- It’s fine to split the Fam up like this, but we need to stop focusing on Brooklyn, I wanna go back to Ben and Kenji or Yasammy and Darius, split it up like we did in CC

Episode 10

- here we go, final episode

- Kenji needed that

- He def needed to release that anger

- I think we need to let Kenji kill someone

- Wtf how is he still alive?

- Baryonyxes are so cool

- Awww the dinosaurs are bonding

- It’s like the scene with the raptors and the hybrid in Jurassic Park 2 or 3

- I’m too invested to write notes lmao

- Those night vision sunglasses are kinda cool

- Fuck that kinda scared me

- Where is Zaynas dad?

- This season is lowkey scary

- How does her phone still have power? It’s been like 4 days

- Someone should’ve brought a gun

- They cannot hear you saying “I’m coming” in a normal volume be fr

- Ben and Kenji have been alone together way too much to not kiss

- Oh, there’s Zaynas dad

- WHERE ARE KENJI AND BEN

- Where did that car come from??

- Bro all of a sudden went into Tokyo Drift mode

- Kentrosaurus?

- Who let Kenji drive??

- There’s still so much to wrap up

- Biosyn??

- Wait does this take place before Dominion then?

- Ok, but BUMPYS EGG IS STILL IN THERE

- She def took bumpys egg out

- See? I know everything

- Oh, wait that’s it??

- I have mixed feelings.

[krillbot]

I saw someone recommending High Potential so I started watching and I'm quite enjoying it. S1E5 though, hehehehe. Now obviously the writers aren't expected to know every in and out of whatever they're using in the plot but also this is the "random knowledge and attention to detail" show so like,,, that frog did not kill her. No way. (Pardon the poor quality pictures, I had to take pictures of the tv since all streaming services are terrified of screenshots)

First off, that's very likely a CGI frog just because it's not easy to get a frog to sit nicely in the same spot for several shots, also because that tank looks dry af and wouldn't be good for an amphibian over the course of the shoot.

Also loving the implication that the frogs sit on their respective logs all the time and that is enough to tell them apart lol.

Any the point is, poison dart frogs get their toxicity from their diet, in the wild they eat, I believe fire ants, and other insects, that make them poisonous. Here's the thing though, no one feeds dart frogs fire ants in captivity. You just feed them fruit flies or the like, and suddenly it's not so poisonous. The frog in the show Dendrobates tinctoris, wouldn't be a real threat and certainly couldn't kill someone from brief contact, especially as she was holding her hands under running water. The only way she'd actually die was if it was recently poached from the wild and then she put it in her mouth.

The other thing that's really funny to me is they kept editing in animals

I was laughing so hard at these omg. So the major one here is the absolutely giant Carolina Anole, frozen in a little territory display. These are not big lizards, they're half tail.

I'm holding an adult male in this picture, they get a little bigger than this but not by much. And in the show it's blown up to look like the size of bearded dragon or something. Quite silly

We also have two more poison dart frogs, the lighting on the red one makes it obvious that it's edited in. The little yellow one though is very ironic to me because that's the Golden Poison Dart Frog, Phyllobates terribilis, which is considered to be the most poisonous animals species on the planet! And you didn't use that one for the murder?! Not only that but they are also very endangered. So not only would this actually kill her, it would also create a good correlation to her trafficking exotic animals. Again I'm not expecting the creators to understand the techniques used to reduce toxicity in captive poison dart frogs, but I do think it's funny that they walked right by the logical fit and used it as a background set piece with their oversized anoles.

Lastly, watching the guy lose, and scramble after a Uromastyx was so funny. Those are not "jump several feet out of a tank, onto the floor and skitter away faster than a person can chase" creatures that's anole behavior. So watching the actor scramble around looking for this devilishly fast beast, while knowing the Uromastyx is just chilling? Very silly, very enjoyable.

Look at him! He's so silly! And I know that posture, he's been sitting on his handler's nice warm hand and he got plopped on the ground and he's not sure about if he wants to bother moving yet or not. I can relate.

[lunar-years]

3, 6, 8, 13

not even bothering with anon idgaf I love to be a hater 🔥🔥🔥

we can be proud haters together since i'm over here happily typing out my answers lmao. putting most of this under a cut because of length.

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

no idea if these were ever on tumblr, probably it was twitter, all the worst takes i've seen come from twitter, but the top two contenders battling it out for Worst Ever have got to be:

One) Henry should've moved to London because he "hates the political climate of his own country" Henry is like, what, NINE? absolutely a wild take, worsened by, "And having a premier league coach as his dad is way cooler than having a dad who coaches his pee wee league" or whatever like. Again, the boy is nine. I think Henry cares more about having a Dad who's present in his life than he does about how "cool" his dad's occupation is.

Two) "Zava was actually way more disciplined than Jamie because he has fantastic habits, whereas Jamie is the type to just give up and go on a reality show." ohhh don't even get me started lmao. i was fuming for days.

6. which ship fans are most annoying?

lol. do i even need to say. specifically the twitter breed of them & no hate to the ship on the whole, just the portion of shippers that are cuckoo bananas about it and target the show creators. An extremely close second for me is the portion of r/k shippers who loathe Jamie for "getting in the way" because I take that personally 😭. Like I'm sorry your endgame didn't happen but please leave him out of this. it's not his fault they had problems the entire time they were dating, lmao. ugh.

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

so many. here's a running list.

Roy and Keeley shouldn't have broken up and/or should have gotten back together in the finale.

Roy was OOC when he asked Keeley who the tape was for.

Ted shouldn't have gone home to his son

Matthijs was inherently "creepy" for inviting Rebecca back to his boathouse to get cleaned up after she plummeted into the canal right in front of him. (have you guys never taken a risk ever in your lives?)

Nate didn't deserve redemption

Jamie was CLEARLY completely over Keeley by season 3 (as evidenced by...what exactly?) and it ~came out of nowhere~ to dredge up the "dead" love triangle

I could go on....

13. worst blorbofication

to me the crime is less blorbifying them (because I consider them my blorbos too <3) but I definitely dislike the way some people blorbify Roy and Jamie. Roy for reasons previously discussed and Jamie because there's definitely been a pattern of woobifying him to the extent of like, taking away his agency, dismissing all of his mistakes, and treating him almost like he's weak and constantly needing to be protected when he's absolutely none of those things. Idk. What appeals to me about Jamie is not how "soft" he is it's how relentlessly brave he is. Anyway. They're both my blorbos and i love putting them through the ringer and watching them scramble to pick up the pieces as much as everyone else, but i also think it's important to recognize they're both very much grown adults with asshole tendencies and a large capacity for cruelty who have made plenty of mistakes yet still are deserving of love. what happened to nuance. it's funner to make blorbos out of complex characters you view complexly. anyway.

[tomwambsmilk]

Not to get all conspiracy theory, but that reddit screenshot you reblogged got me thinking... It is really weird that a show as big as Succession had its final season announced so late and with almost no promotion. Alan Ruck said everyone knew it was the last season in June, but Sarah said she didn't know until January. HBO has been pretty chaotic recently, a lot of shows were axed, I don't think it's that crazy to suggest internal conflict might have something to do with it. Especially if future plans could alienate a large chunk of the viewership, like that post mentioned the idea of killing Kendall off, or I bet businessbros would be turned off if Tom and Greg actually kissed, people would probably be mad about it being 'bad representation' too. Maybe I'm just in denial, idk :(

lots to unpack here lmao.......

First of all. I have to say that I DO agree that there is something weird about how season 4 has rolled out and been promoted, and there's absolutely something weird about Alan Ruck saying everyone knew in June, and then Sarah Snook doubling down a couple of days later to say she found out at the table read. Best case scenario, I think HBO let Jesse Armstrong make the call, and he made the call very, very late, and then HBO had to try and do damage control because the late announcement botched some of the promo, and not everyone internally ended up finding out about it at the same time.

Worst case scenario? ...... I don't know. I really don't want to turn into a conspiracy theorist. But. I've seen discourse about hbo max. I've seen people talk about the writers strike. And I know that studio-creator conflict is pretty common in the industry. so do I think it's possible that there was internal conflict involved? Yes, absolutely. Do I think it's likely?..... I'm genuinely unsure. I don't know. I wouldn't place bets in either direction tbh.

And..... yeah, if internal conflict was at play, I would say it's pretty likely that there was some discussion of future plotlines and story beats. If hbo is scrambling for money, they might be more invested than usual in pumping out things that are commercially successful to increase their subscriber numbers. (It would also bias them in favour of creating new shows instead of renewing old ones). What does that mean for succession? Again, I'm not sure. I don't have HBO's market research, and I don't actually know what the widest cross-section of its viewership is interested in. I think killing Kendall off would definitely alienate a massive chunk of it.

And tomgreg going canon? .......Honestly, I'm not sure I want to comment too much for fear of accidentally starting the johnlock conspiracy II: succession edition. I don't think HBO is the Big Evil Homophobic Studio punching down on Little Gay Rights Creator Jesse Armstrong. I also think that if season 5 pitches were being discussed, a disagreement on just one plotline wouldn't be enough to get Jesse to call it quits. But I'm also aware of the Discourse around "woke HBO" in the wake of ofmd and tlou, and of the businessbro portion of the viewership (which is sizeable) vs the marketing to the tg fans. I don't know if I'd go as far as "HBO axed succession bc tomgreg canon", but yeah I could definitely see there being Discussion about tomgreg.

(That being said. I did write that post about the editing/soundtrack de-homoeroticifying (?) tomgreg scenes and it would be really REALLY funny to me if that turned out to be HBO interference lmao)

[nakimochiku]

“Deku-kun!” Ochako chirps when Izuku finally picks up the phone. “Mina-chan told me she heard from Kirishima-kun who heard from Bakugou-kun! He’s coming back from America for New Years!” 

Izuku’s heart leaps into his throat. He scrambles for a response that isn’t garbled noises. 

“Excited?” Ochako teases. 

“Yeah. It’ll be great to see him.” Izuku says as neutrally as he can.

It's been five years, eight months, and two days since he last saw Kacchan. But who’s counting? Almost six years of scouring youtube for videos of Kacchan (“Get that fucking camera out of my fucking face you shitty extra!” In irritated english), for interviews with Kacchan (“Excessive force is fucking real but what the fuck was I supposed to do? Sit back and jerk off while the fucker had hostages? He's still alive isn't he? I didn’t even fucking burn him!”), news reels of Kacchan (“Hey! Get back and calm down! I got this!”)

The Americans love him. His brand of rudeness, bluntness and arrogance helps him fit right in. His instagram (which he updates once in a blue moon and always with thirst traps of him working out) is full of fans begging him to spit on them. Izuku can respect that Kacchan found a market that would take him just as he is. 

The problem though, with Kacchan being an american hero is that his merch is almost impossible to get. Shipping alone costs an arm and a leg, and Kacchan’s website doesn't do international shipping. Izuku thinks it's crazy that globalization can be such a thing and he has to pay forty dollars just to get a Dynamight brand key chain (it's adorable, shaped like a little grenade with Kacchan’s orange x logo across it, he needs it yesterday.)

Sometimes, Izuku almost gives in. He scrolls through his cart and thinks fuck it, I deserve a treat. I’ll do it! But he never does. 

But now, Kacchan is coming back home. 

Izuku deliberates for a long time. He swishes the idea back and forth like mouthwash, before he finally makes up his mind. 

He opens a long ignored text thread with Kacchan (the last message was his birthday. A very simple series of emojis. A bomb. A cake. A party hat. Izuku had replied “thanks i think” and been left on read.) he sends a screenshot of the very fluffy winter uniform themed hoodie he's been salivating after and a message that says “you owe me six years worth of christmas gifts. Get me one and we’ll call it even”

He's left on read. 

Three days after new years, Izuku stumbles over to the door to silence the incessant knocking. “Yes, what is— Kacchan?!”

There's Kacchan, hair a little windswept, nose red from the cold, a massive box under his arm. He’s still so fucking beautiful he makes his heart stop. “You gonna catch flies all night or you gonna let me in? It’s fucking cold.”

Izuku numbly steps aside. It's not like he expected Kacchan to look different. He updated his insta story just yesterday. But he’s here, in Izuku’s space, breathing Izuku's air, and Izuku doesn't even know what to say. Kacchan just huffs impatiently at him and shoves the box into his arms. “What's this?” He asks, already ripping into it. 

Kacchan shrugs, slouching his way to the sofa and dropping into it like it's a throne. “You think I don't know your stalker nerd ass wants way more than the hoodie?”

The box is full of all sorts of Dynamight merch. Izuku’s eyes sting. “Kacchan—“ he starts, voice wobbling. 

“Oh my god no. Don't get all sappy okay. It's no big deal!” Kacchan grouses. He looks at the wall of All Might merch, the light in the kitchen, the weave in the sofa’s fabric. “It's just been a while.”

Izuku abandons the box of merch to sit at Kacchan’s knee, letting his fingers rest low on his thigh, squeezing gently until Kacchan finally looks at him. “Thank you.” He says sincerely. And then, before Kacchan can cheapen the moment, “I missed you a lot.”

Kacchan sighs through his nose, shoulders relaxing. “Yeah.”

Later, Izuku is recorded off duty and proudly repping his Dynamight merch. The fan behind the camera giggles, “Deku! Are you a Dynamight fan?”

“The biggest!” Izuku answers proudly. 

In America, Katsuki closes the video, snaps his Deku brand popsocket closed, and pretends he’s not in a really good mood. 

[whitneys-puppyslut]

Finch (Robin's PC)

18+ / minors DNI

Hi guys. Thanks for the support on my first two drabble thingies. And welcome to my blog, since I haven't said that yet.

I'm gonna start a little series where I show off my personal PCs I use when romancing different characters in DOL. I made them all in the sims since I'm not confident in my drawing skills... so their actual in my head designs are a little different than the screenshots you'll see here. And of course, the actual sprites in DOL differ quite a bit as well. But y'know it's just so you guys get a sense of the character.

I might also put all of them into a world in the sims with their love interests and see what happens lol.

Anyway, without further ado, here's Robin's PC: also known as Finch!

Headcanons under the cut

Finch the Bodyguard

Get it? because robin is a type of bird and a finch is also....... yeah I'll see myself out

she/her pronouns

bisexual

Finch isn't her real name. But nobody knows her real name, not even Robin or any the teachers...

Leighton knows, and Bailey knows. But that's about it.

Finch erm... "persuaded" Leighton to change her name on school documents.

She's not above using sex to get what she wants... i mean in this fucked up city you do what you gotta do.

She prefers not to have to resort to that though.

Most things do go her way, after all she's smart, attractive, popular....... and intimidating........

Yeah she is BUFF in case you can't tell. She loves building muscle and working out... but mainly she's like that out of necessity.

I mean it helps to be able to fend off attackers and pursuers.

Or simply scare them off before they even lay their hands on her!

She has scary dog energy

Whitney knows to stay out of her way.

Bc the one time he did stop her in the hallway and tried to put his hands on her... did not end well for him.

EVERYONE recorded that fight. It's not everyday you get to see Whitney get pummeled into the ground...

And then he SCRAMBLED to get those videos taken down....

It's okay tho Finch actually made a truce with him and helped him threaten persuade everyone to delete the videos.

As long as he promised to keep his and his friends' hands off of her loved ones.

So yeah they don't interact with each other now but they both know the terms and conditions of their little truce

Robin & Finch <3

So how did Robin get the hot goth baddie?

Well as per the plot of DOL they grew up together and were friends and he looked up to her and yada yada

They were pretty much acting like lovebirds way before they actually made it official

And their situationship was fine as it was, for a while... but Finch really feels like she needs to devote herself to people entirely. And she felt bad having her attention pulled away from Robin, her best friend since forever, by other friends and especially other potential love interests.

So she was like fuck it and, in the privacy of Robin's room one night, while he was playing video games, they made it official

It was all sappy and shit <333

She DEDICATED herself to him

She's a great gf honestly

Neither of them are very fond of PDA, and Finch is very stoic and rather serious irl, and she feels like she needs to keep up her intimidating persona

so they keep the lovey-dovey shit behind closed doors

i love them they're so cute

her other little "title" alongside "the bodyguard" is "robin's protector" bc that's basically what she is. She doesn't let any harm come to him as long as she's there.

She even pays Bailey's rent for him. So yeah she juggles like a million jobs trying to afford that

But she tries to find jobs that are safe that robin could do, bc honestly that lemonade stand... isn't helping much.

Unfortunately all the higher paying jobs come with a lot of risk. Risk she's not willing to put Robin through.

She feels very protective over him, not in a weird way but genuinely she hates seeing him hurt, but it's gotten to the point where she feels like he can't go anywhere and do anything.

It's putting quite a damper on his confidence levels.

And she's noticed.

But what can she do other than try to protect the love of her life?

And when it gets to the point where she has to choose between a confident robin, or a safe robin, what will she choose?

Is it even up to her?

Wow sry guys that was a lot. Also as much as I love DOL I don't actually play that much so I might get some details wrong or miss big plot things that I just haven't seen so... yeah.

Ok bye lol

[talesfromasnarkylisa]

Lacey: Chapter 16

“Inez, you’re very sweet,” Darian started. “I don’t regret meeting you. But maybe it’s better if we just…”

Darian’s voice trailed off.

“Pardon?” Inez wondered.

“Never mind,” Darian stated.

“Okay,” Inez was perplexed.

The 23-year-old woman pondered for a moment.

“Hey!” Inez came up with an idea. “Maybe shopping could cheer you up.”

“Oh,” Darian lightened up, “Me and James already finished our groceries.”

Inez smirked.

“I’m not talking about groceries, silly!” exclaimed Inez. “Think more like clothes and boxes.”

Darian chuckled.

“Okay, Inez,” Darian caught on. “I could use a little makeover.”

“That’s great!” Inez smiled. “I have a friend who’s going to be there. And James could come with us as well!”

Inez waved to me. 

“Uh, sure!” I said.

I scrambled to hit send on my message to Lacey and logged out fast like a rocket launch.

…

Darian, Inez, and I hit the H&M at the mall. There, we met Inez’s friend - a dark brown skinned woman with wavy black hair in a ponytail.

“Hey Gabby!” Inez greeted her.

“Hi!” she pulled Inez into a hug. “It’s been forever since I last saw you!”

“Come on,” Inez snarked, “it’s only been a few months.”

They then let go of each other.

“I’m Gabriela, by the way,” Inez’s friend told us. “But my friends call me Gabby.”

“Ah,” I understood.

“Now,” Gabriela explained to Darian and me, “I understand that you two are guys and thus likely have different fashion needs. The good news is that unlike Victoria’s Secret, there’s a proper men’s clothing section! You guys can go with each other, and we’ll head off on our own.”

Darian stared at me, his gaze showing a craving for us two to go together.

“I don’t have much money on me right now,” I stated, “and I left my credit card at home.”

“Not to worry!” Gabriela told us. “I have some extra gift cards on me. They’re all 50 bucks each.”

“I’ll take one!” Darian exclaimed.

Gabriela handed a gift card to Darian.  

“I guess I’ll have one as well,” I muttered.

“We’ll meet each other back here at 5:30,” Inez instructed. “If that’s okay with everyone.”

Gabriela, Darian and I nodded. 

Everyone was set to go.

…

While Darian obsessed over some tracksuits and sweatpants, I was busy searching for an extra jacket for my daily wear. It’s not that the one I had was bad, per se. I just wanted another one in case something happened. Having to replace any seemed like an unlikely scenario, but hey. Besides, they were cheaper than they would be closer to winter.

I found a thick blue coat hanging from the assorted clothes rack with a little fur on it. Was it real? I didn’t find out. I was about to try it on when Darian came up to me.

“Hello!!!” Darian exclaimed.

I spun around. 

“Dude, what are you doing here?” I was startled.

“I’m sorry…” Darian said.

“Don’t worry about it,” I responded. 

Darian put on a thin sweater colored in shades of orange.

“What do you think?” he asked me.

“It looks good,” I complimented. “But I’m not really a fashion person. Maybe ask Inez or Gabriela about it.”

“Alright,” Darian took the sweater off. “Anyways, have you seen the comments about you online lately?”

“Yeah,” I started. “Is there something about it? Cause I always ignore them.”

Darian sighed.

“People are getting really divided lately about you,” Darian narrated. “There are two factions. One consists of insanely loyal stans who think you only ever fuck up for the right reasons. The other salivates over you dying.”

“Wait, what?” I wondered.

“I’ll show you the comments,” Darian told me.

Darian fought the poor Internet and data connections he relied on to pull up some messages because he forgot to screenshot. As he did this, I decided to check the Internet connection for myself by logging into my Archer J. Discord account. Upon doing this, I realized the picture I sent to Lacey of the cat never made it while the message did.

Fuck, I thought to myself.

But before I could resend it, I had to log out.

(Wattpad version: https://www.wattpad.com/1502788065-lacey-chapter-16)

[mxcat777]

See previous tags copied in tags, bc I'm too lazy to screenshot, crop, add to post. But! Not exactly a fanfic, but more of a fic-shaped ramble, I'm good at those, writing them into fics is something else entirely, but vibes I can share

Going off of the idea of Dream more or less accidentally ending up with countless wet dream!Hobs, who are all desperate to fulfill their function, but Dream being too jealous to let them work with any other dreamer. So they just end up kind of ambushing him. Not that he minds, deep down. Pf course, for show, he must protest, but the thing is. They're all Hob. They all possess his beautiful puppy dog brown eyes. And they're wet dreams, it's their function to Know what dreamers want/need. Dream wants/needs. Desperately.

So he doesn't stand a fucking chance.

So at some point, their leader, as it were, checks in with a very knowing and tired of his majesty's shit Lucienne, to make sure Dream won't be needed for anything important (they're wet dreams, not irresponsible, come on) for a few days at least (Lucienne translates this to a solid week probably more, she knows how long it's been, she knows how pent up he is, she knows how hopelessly gone he is, she is being realistic here).

They ask Dream for an audience. He acquiesces. (He has to, even if he has an apprehensive feeling about the whole thing. He can't act like anything is amiss. Because nothing is! This is totally normal! What do you mean how is it normal to have dozens of perfectly functional dreams not performing their functions, they're... Not. Suited. Yeah that.)

They arrive. All of them. Dream realizes he has made a grave miscalculation. He very gracefully, shut up, attempts to make a tactical retreat. No he doesn't flee, Dream of the Endless doesn't flee!

(Any hasty scrambling attempted is anticipated by fed up dreams so he doesn't get very far.)

Dream's defences don't hold up very long against dozens of Hobs all staring at him Like That. They are wet dreams after all. This is their function. To give this relief to dreamers. He dreams, sometimes. He doesn't indulge often, but he can. He doesn't have much time for rest, but it is undeniable that dreaming himself helps to properly perform his function. He thinks of it as random drop in performance checks with his dreams. He can, privately, to himself, admit that this situation is... Unusual. He can allow them to perform their function. For their own comfort, of course. He is a gracious master. Sometimes. He tries to be. More than he used to. He's working on it ok, leave him alone!

He gives in. A mere ten seconds later, with several alarm bells going off, he realizes he has, again, made a severe error in judgement.

5 minutes later he is no longer capable to ponder the consequences of his decisions.

Of course, whilst Dream is getting railed six ways to Sunday, at some point Hob enters the Dreaming. The realm very smugly caters to the wishes of its master (and not precisely against the dreamer's wishes either, to absolutely nobody's surprise) and deposits a very confused Real Hob right in the middle of this fuckfest.

One of the dreams not currently on deck (there are several) has the presence of mind to explain to him what's happening. Something along the lines of

'so the last couple weeks/months/years any wet dreams our honored lord and master has created, he hasn't allowed to go out and perform their function. And meanwhile has displayed every single one of the symptoms we are made to look for when deciding what dreamers to cater to. You understand we had to make a point. We are perfectly capable and he needs to do something about himself or we'll do it.' (any improvements on this speech very welcome, it was different in my brain but it's not coming pit in words, the dream knows exactly why Dream is in this State and why they haven't been allowed out, and knows exactly who he's talking to -hard not to- but looks on with a shit eating grin while Hob puts the pieces together)

Anyway, at that point the dreams have all had their go, Dream is a sobbing mess and Hob has rubbed his two braincells together and arrived, lo and behold, at the correct conclusion.

So he steps forward. At first Dream think this is simply another dream he created, so he just sort of accepts his fate (enthusiastically) of having the point his subjects are making hammered home one more time. Then his Dreamlord braincell powers back up, which was understandably on standby, and he realizes with a shock that this Hob he has not made. This is the real one.

He doesn't have a lot of time to be mortified, but he still manages pretty solidly.

Then Hob's dreaming daydreams (nightdreams? Sleepdreams? Dreamdreams? Fantasies.) make very clear what Hob's stance on the whole matter is - horny as shit delight, to be precise - so he shuts up and spreads his legs.

Lucienne is very glad she blocked off a whole week in the calendar.

The various wet dreams get makeovers to be a little less Hob-like, so they can perform their functions.

Except the teacher!Hob dream. That one knows where to find its audience. Hob is simultaneously flattered, in stitches at Dream's face, a little weirded out, and resigned to deal with some embarrassed students while knowing exactly what the cause is.

The bartender!Hob also petitions to stay the way he is. It sticks for a bit, but then he asks to broaden his parameters to include more varied bartenders, because there isn't nearly as big a demand for him as there is for teacher!Hob. Hob doesn't know how to feel about that.

We have all talked about Hob having a thing for goth twinks, but have we considered Dream creating wet dreams that look just like Hob?

Like, every time he gets thirsty for Hob, bam! Another wet-dream!Hob. We have a 1389 mercenary Hob, a 1489 Hob with ink-stained fingers, all up to a 2022 Professor Gadling. But that's not all! Because Dream also has an Ancient Greek Hob in a chiton (inspired by 2022 Hob cheekily calling him "Lord Morpheus," like ONE TIME), a Hob in fishnet stockings, garter belt, and a leather corset with his tits out (inspired by one of Hob's random dreams where he's poledancing in high heels)--there's just, there's a lot, okay.

And, like, Dream can't even send the wet-dream!Hobs out to do their jobs because he gets jealous. So now Dream has a harem--I mean, beg your pardon, Dream has a very respectable group of wet-dream!Hobs in the Dreaming who are increasingly feeling useless and, dare I say it, desperate to please their Creator.

I don't know where exactly I'm going with this, but I'm sure it's in a very spicy direction.

[whimsy9sims]

Words of love - Episode 1 Part 2

The next morning arrived with a vengeance, and Josie was jolted awake by the blaring alarm clock. She scrambled to get dressed, brushing her hair in a rush, and dashed out the door. Running through the busy streets, she resembled a caffeinated tornado racing against time.

Breathless, she finally arrived at the office, and as luck would have it, her nemesis Emma was the first to welcome her with a smug smile. "You're late," she chimed, her voice laced with barely concealed satisfaction.

Josie's eyes rolled so hard they might have taken a spin around the world. Facing her work rival first thing in the morning was not the caffeine kick she had hoped for. Unfortunately, their desks were like neighboring countries, impossible to ignore.

Then, just when Josie thought her morning couldn't get any worse, her boss Yvette’s voice cut through the air. "Josie? Can I see you in my office?"

Resignation weighed heavily in Josie's heart as she felt her heart beating faster. "I'm toast. Probably the record-holder for the fastest demotion post-promotion," she muttered, her despair an echo of the morning's chaos.

But then, a light bulb flickered to life in her mind. A plan, however desperate, was better than no plan at all.

With a determined expression, Josie slowly made her way to Rafael's desk, her grin as convincing as a politician's campaign speech. "Hey there, Raf."

Rafael's response was just what she expected; a low growl emanated from him like a disgruntled bear.

"Raf! Please, I need your help!" Josie pleaded, abandoning all pretense of composure. Desperation fueled her voice as she implored him to intervene on her behalf. She didn’t have much time for her usual convincing ways.

Rafael's response was succinct, and it stung. "Sorry, you're on your own, Bennet."

“Josie?” Yvette’s voice was heard again. Gulping down her disappointment, Josie headed towards Yvette’s beckoning office. "Coming," she replied, her voice a somber note.

Inside Yvette’s office, Josie plastered a smile on her face, determined to face the impending doom with a semblance of grace. "You wanted to see me?"

Yvette’s eyes held a glimmer of intrigue as she motioned towards the other occupant in the room. "Josie, I want you to meet our new member. I've decided that you'll be working closely with him on the next article. Show him the ropes, introduce him to the flow of things. Josie, meet Finn. And Finn, this is Josie. She's one of the sharpest minds we have in the company."

Frozen disbelief carved itself onto Josie's features as her gaze settled on the newcomer. It couldn't be. But the face was unmistakable. The guy she'd met at the club, the one she had an inexplicably enthralling connection with, stood right before her.

"You..." Finn mumbled.

A concoction of surprise, curiosity, and secret excitement mingled in her eyes as they locked onto his. This could only lead to one thing: a rollercoaster ride of unexpected twists and turns, guaranteed to keep her on her toes.

Josie's lips twitched into a playful smile as she mentally braced herself for the adventure that lay ahead. "Well, this is certainly going to be interesting," she thought, her thoughts alive with anticipation.

_____________________________________

P.S - I'm still new to taking screenshot and I plan on getting better at that! If anyone has tips for me I would love to know <3

Also, I change my reshade so that's why the pictures look a little different here. Sorry for all the unprofessional shenanigans, I will try to get better at this! I'm just really passionate about this story :)

[xxnashiraxx]

With Stars to Fill My Dream (5) - Close Your Eyes and Hear My Secret

I finally have images!!! Please enjoy them throughout this post!

Summary: A street-smart, musically inclined human girl with a tragic past gets abducted by a nautiloid after her painfully average shift at a retro singing diner. What's worse- putting your all into Olivia Newton-John and Travolta for lousy tips, or getting your guts ripped out by a gnoll? Or worse- getting turned into a hideous humanoid squid? Ofelia Montez will have to see if she can survive long enough to find out.

Pairing: Astarion x female!Tav

Warnings: 18+. Mentions of past abuse and trauma. Canon-typical violence and gore.

Word Count: 6,850

I have some screenshots! Finally! Here are some good ones pertaining to this chapter! 🖤 And thank you for coming! Opening under the cut!

Astarion had found the source of his suspicion at last. He watches Ofelia plead for the girl, her eyes glowing a soft pink. Purple light swirls around her extended fingertips, reaching for Kagha. The man, Rath, watches and doesn’t say a word. He nods to Astarion, however, allowing it if it means sparing the girl. He can tell they’re all afraid to stand up to Kagha, and Ofelia’s the perfect tool to do so. Risky, but effective.

She succeeds, and Astarion sets his jaw. So. She’s been lying about not knowing magic. What else has she been lying about? Being kidnapped? Could she be behind them being tadpoled? What an elaborate ploy, so utterly convincing that he curses himself for not seeing it.

He decides to confront her- perhaps if he gets her to confess, he can use it as leverage to keep himself safe, in the group, guaranteed a spot at the table. Maybe she’ll even let him into whatever she has planned, spare him from his illithid fate. Then he’ll be able to remove Cazador from the equation and�� finally be free.

She scrambles, tears springing up in her eyes. He sneers at her in disgust, alarmed at her proficiency in playing this part so well, for turning her sobbing on him, to appeal to him. She’ll not find pity here, or compassion. It’s almost worth it, to see her snide and sour comments and expressions reduced to this- he reduced her to this.

Regretfully, he allows her one small mercy- to be in her head. Here, all of it will be laid bare. It’s better than having her tell him with her words. This way, he’ll get the raw, unfettered truth.

It isn’t what he’d expected, however.

[abla-soso]

that post u screenshoted is still valid??? all of those things shiv said were right just like what tom said to shiv was right. tom isn't some poor sad victim he is literally actively pushing to be with these awful people whether it's through shiv or not. i love tom but he's just as manipulative towards shiv as she is to him. shiv and tom got together at one of her lowest points and tom flies out to her because shes having a bad time and thats the first time they have sex and tom proposing to shiv while she thinks her dad is dying and tom trying to convince shiv to have a baby with him when they think hes going to jail and tom trying to get back on her good side when shes struggling at her fathers wake. like tom is not the only one being used here. he wasn't a cunt to her later when logan died bc they were equal he had actually just lost his most table way in waystar that's why karl drags him and he scrambled to find someone to take him under his wing at logans wake

I was specifically debunking the "Tom tried to baby-trape Shiv without her knowledge" part, not the whole argument about the Tomshiv fight. And I never said that Tom was a poor sad victim. Did you miss the part where I said he was a selfish, conniving, social-climbing bitch who likes to abuse people beneath him?

He's equally as bad as Shiv, but he never had the opportunity to act as bad as her until he was finally able to socially climb closer to Shiv's level. That's why all these claims of him being as terrible to her during the marriage (when he was - to quote Logan himself - fathoms beneath her) are delusional.

[beevean]

It's here 🥰

As the one who contributed to one predictable half (i deserve financial compensation for taking all those screenshots), I would like to give my thoughts, because it really his fascinating how easily we could compare those two.

Narratively, they have absolutely nothing in common. Sunny is the protagonist of a videogame, around which everything rotates and is meant to be likeable from the get-go; Lenore is a minor villain of a TV show, one that at first we were meant to despise or at the very least be disturbed by.

Furthermore, Sunny is, in short, an empty shell. He is meant to be as #relatable as possible; I have seen multiple times how analyses that propose that he's this complex, nuanced, gripping character basically boil down to "he's just like me fr fr", appealing to those who suffered from depression and other issues. Nothing of the sort with Lenore, who has a personality, however ill-defined and contradictory, and her main appeal is her sexiness her cunning and the concept of someone simultaneously caring and dangerous.

But both OMORI and NFCV have two things in common. One, giant holes in the story that allow fans to project their ideas and interpretations to fill in the plot and characterizations: in Lenore's case, I've seen fans who basically reverse engineered Hector and Lenore's relationship to answer the question "how come he holds no resentment against the woman who raped him into slavery?", coming up with all sorts of easily-disproven theories claiming that Lenore actually meant well from the get go and she only wanted to save his life and she lied to her sisters when she gloated about wanting to fuck him so more, etc. In short, they saw nuance and subtext when realistically it's just rushed writing. Can't make specific examples for OMORI but I'm sure @woodchipp can confirm it happens in that fandom as well :)

And two, the idea that sadness = sympathy. Not remorse, not regret, not any substantial chance in your action: simply being sad and in internal turmoil is enough to make you deserving of forgiveness. Lenore doesn't even remotely feel bad about deceiving Hector by taking advantage of his feelings and desire for freedom, which is the reason I constantly add a reminder of the line "you were having fun"; she is, however, very afflicted about how Carmilla's plan is making her feel useless and depriving her of her stability, she gives us her tragic childhood to make us understand that she only wants peace, she is contrasted against the much more malicious Carmilla so that she'll look more goodhearted by comparison, and she doesn't do anything other than simply talking to Hector about her own woes, being painted as a sad, lonely little girl seeking company from "the only one who listens to her" while not even bothering to talk to him about him. Hence, the claim that, for as much as she gave him a gilded cell and wanted to protect him from Isaac, Lenore doesn't actually love Hector and only treats him as her pet, which is precisely what she said he is after raping him and gloating about it.

NFCV also cheats by politely removing us of mostly every reminder of Lenore's past actions, such as the slave ring not even working - because if the ring hurt when Hector refused to work, it would make his situation a bit more questionable. And, of course, we are given no explanation as to why Hector has completely forgiven Lenore to the point of putting his life before hers, which again makes his fans scramble for an explanation which roughly sounds like "yes but after raping him she was nice to him and he just wants to be loved, so it's all water under the bridge because Hector is good at heart :)".

Lenore isn't even the only case. Look at Dracula being exonerated from his attempted anthrocide after one scene where he cries that he's killing his boy, or Isaac who is promoted to the role of a hero because he wants to do stuff for himself and he expresses his desire in a cool, epic way, rest in peace to all the innocents he murdered in cold blood for the crime of being in his way. The show does this very often.

(funnily enough, of all characters, Isaac more or less expresses this view about Hector. He stops him from "mending his mistakes" and seeking redemption for his betrayal because "he suffered enough". Putting aside the asinine idea of wanting to resurrect Dracula, the message that passes is that pain is enough of an expiation. Hector doesn't need character development, if he suffers for enough time!)

And as for Sunny, well, Wood said it better than I could, but in short the moral of the game is that everyone, the other characters and the player, should forgive Sunny simply because... he feels bad about it, and if he doesn't forgive himself he'll just kill himself, and you don't want that, do you? Look at him, he's just a poor boy! Isn't it enough to make you feel bad for him? Sure he doesn't do anything for his friends in real life, he abandons his bestie to his panic attack, he takes his friends' words of support based on the assumption he's grieving for a sister lost to suicide and uses them to assuage his feeling of guilt of having killed her, he only tells them that he lied to them right before he moves so that he won't have to deal with their reaction... but it's fine, because he should forgive himself because mental health is important 🥺

It's very blatant emotional manipulation that misses the point of having actually nuanced, complex characters who grow. It's the idea that simply being sad is enough to earn forgiveness and sympathy. Sunny suffered from his own mistakes, and that self-inflicted pain is enough to make him not just tragic but beyond reproach (Lenore didn't even suffer until the end lol, the moment she is in a less than comfortable position she kills herself). It's also the idea that your sadness is what matters the most, because Sunny's guilt eclipses the severe trauma of his friends who believed they lost a friend to suicide and broke apart, and Lenore's feelings of inadequacy are what the story chooses to focus on, rather than her victim's potential feelings that follow being deceived, raped by deception, treated like an animal, yet that treatment still being the most "love" he has ever received.

And you can only feel sorry for them if you quietly ignore how their actions affect others, or believe they were justified because one was a minor and the other was "kind". Both Sunny's friends and Hector are mere accessories to Sunny and Lenore's characters, who don't concretely develop because there is no need to do so. Aren't they tragic enough as they are? Sure, they have seriously hurt other people, but aren't they so cute in their sadness? Why can't you just want them to be happy to compensate for their sadness? He didn't mean to 🥺 she only meant well 🥺

So yeah, with the power of sloppy writing, we can compare a 16 yo boy who accidentally killed his sister and goes on a journey of self-forgiveness with a centuries-old vampire who abused her prisoner-turned-pet-turned-lover. The key is "cheap attempts at nuanced sympathy that become character-centered morality".

Netflixvania's Lenore and OMORI's Sunny: Why Are They So Similar When They Shouldn't Be?

Sunny is the protagonist of the 2020 game OMORI, a hikikomori who shut himself away from the world after accidentally killing his sister.

Lenore is one of the arc villains of Netflix' Castlevania (2017), a vampire diplomat who at first is sent to manipulate Hector into complacency, but then forms a more equal bond with her slave.

On the surface, Sunny and Lenore should have nothing in common. And yet, somehow, they do.

NOTE: I'm aware those two characters' big crimes (manslaughter and rape by deception, respectively) are not comparable. The point of this post is to document the numerous similarities in their actions and the ways their respective stories frame them - nothing else.

This post mentions such topics as sexual abuse and suicide. Reader discretion is advised.

Lenore deceives Hector into having sex with her by pretending to support his desire to escape the situation he's trapped in, making him trust her on false pretenses; the support Sunny's friends give him is based on a lie he subconcsiously knows about, but doesn't divulge for the sake of covering his ass.

Hector reminds Lenore of the slave ring (a magical binding ring she used as a way to prevent him from fleeing the castle and/or rebelling against his captors), to which she only brushes him off by insinuating he was “having fun" when they had sex and Hector never brings up the subject again; Omori points out that the support Sunny uses to get through the final boss fight is based on the lie that Mari killed herself when Sunny was the one to accidentally kill her, and the game frames his point as unworthy of consideration solely because he’s Sunny’s evil mental illness.

Hector (presumably) makes peace with Lenore's abuse and then allows her to kill herself when she decides she doesn’t want to live anymore; Basil (presumably) makes peace with Sunny before the latter moves away despite Sunny’s abandonment of Basil prior to the game’s events. Both Lenore and Sunny abandon the person they're supposed to care about to the consequences of their own actions - twice, in Sunny's case.

Both Lenore and Sunny's suicides make the act look easy. The former kills herself on a whim and it's framed as romantic (with the show's director, Samuel Deats, outright confirming her death was presented as beautiful "for effect"); the latter’s fate is determined by a single "Yes/No" choice prompt after the final boss fight and the game frames him throwing himself off a roof if you select "No" as a joke by setting the cutscene to a cheery pop song.

Lenore barely shows any care about Hector's mental well-being since she's only concerned about his physical comfort; Sunny only imagines doing something nice for Basil by watering his flowers in Headspace without ever doing anything for him when he has the chance to.

Lenore seeks Hector's company only to complain about her woes; Sunny joins his friends again only because he's about to leave in 3 days.

NFCV's story wants the audience to forgive Lenore since she's sad about feeling useless even though she never does anything substantial to indicate she's changing into a better person; OMORI's story wants the audience to forgive Sunny since he's sad about killing Mari and abandoning his friends even though he never does anything substantial to indicate he's changing into a better person.

Hector's trauma is framed as irrelevant compared to Lenore's whining about how she feels useless; the grief Sunny's friends experienced in the four years before the game's events and are experiencing during said events is practically glossed over in favor of emphasizing how sad Sunny feels.

Lenore's rape by deception is trivialized into her making dick jokes with her victim, the very first scene of them together after her betrayal in the previous season, that is framed as a cute bonding moment; Sunny's manslaughter of Mari is trivialized into him having a nice picnic with his friends in front of her grave, a wholesome scene that ignores how he is sitting near the grave of the loved one he killed with his own hands, surrounded with his unaware friends, without as much as a hint of guilt (which could've been easily represented by Something)

As noted by the post's title and its introduction, the fact those two characters have this much in common is baffling and honestly disturbing. I shouldn't be able to compare a 16-year-old teenager to a 200-year-old rapist vampire that easily. That brings me back to the question posed by the title - why are they so similar when they shouldn't be?

The answer's plain and simple - shitty writing. In Lenore's case, the six-week time skip that gets the audience to the point where she and Hector are already besties may have come from NFCV's lead writer, Warren Ellis, being fired from the show following allegations that he molested women, which might've led to its last season being rushed. In Sunny's case, the reason for his failure as a character is thankfully far less horrific - Omocat has made it clear OMORI's emotional impact was their only priority, so it all boils down to them wanting to create the most tragic blorbo to have ever tragically blorbed at the expense of everything else, including the story's other characters and basic common sense.