#I began watching this back in January 2023

[would-you-punt-them]

Imagine watching a show with probably the most surface level potrayal of the message of "rich people suck and will use poor people for money" only to be like "hm. as the total anthesis of this message i should totally recreate this"

It's made even worse when you consider the fact that this isn't the first "IRL Squid Game" ever attempted, Netflix UK did one that was specifically based on the actual show in January 2023 called "Squid Game: The Challenge".

(I've seen people in the tags get these two shows confused, they are different - Beast Games is on Amazon, not Netflix, was filmed at the end of July this year, and hasn't come out yet).

But Netflix UK have their own scandal to answer for.

That original British Squid Game was also a disaster. "Beast Games" was filmed in the middle of one of Nevada's hottest Julys on record, hence why so many contestants suffered from extreme dehydration due to the lack of water. On the other hand, "Squid Game: The Challenge" was filmed during an unusually cold British January.

The players had been given coats, leg warmers, space heaters, and so on during the lead up to the game, only to have those warm clothes taken away before the first challenge began, because they needed to wear those paper thin canon-accurate Squid Game tracksuits. They weren't even allowed to zip them up, because the cameras needed to see the numbers on their shirts, and the fake blood spurting out when they were eliminated.

They then had to play Redlight-Greenlight in the blistering cold, holding poses, completely still, for increasing lengths of time (2 minutes at the start of the game, 30 in the late stages). Players starting collapsing from the cold, and had to be rescued by medics.

The game started with 456 competitors on Day 1, and ended up with 228 by Day 2.

Here's the Variety article: Inside Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’ Reality Show Disaster: ‘The Conditions Were Absolutely Inhumane’

TL;DR - Here are some choice quotes in case you want to read them:

“The second time the song played, I saw in my left peripheral vision that this girl was swaying. Then she just buckled, and you could hear her head actually hit the ground,” says Marlene. “But then someone came on the [microphone] and said to hold our positions because the game is not paused. After that, people were dropping like flies.”

Jenny, a player from outside the U.K. who had been flown in for the game, tells Variety: “I’m infuriated by the narrative that Netflix is putting out there, that only [a few] people were injured…we were all injured just by going through that experience.

“I’ve never been that cold for that long a period in my life. We couldn’t feel our feet or our toes. It was ridiculous,” she says. Jenny also claims that while the game was in production, restroom or water breaks weren’t allowed.

“Take some responsibility for the fact that you were ill-prepared for this kind of thing, with this number of people,” continues Jenny, between tears. “There were some things I guess [producers] didn’t think about, but when they saw the weather was going to be that way, they should have made adjustments.”

All three players [John, Marlene and Jenny] say they returned to the hotel between 7 p.m. and midnight without having dinner. Dinner orders had been taken at lunch, but because the game had run longer than expected, contestants were transported back to their central London hotel without having eaten. Production had ordered pizzas for those arriving, but there wasn’t enough food to go around, and some people went to bed hungry.

“In the morning, I woke up and there was a cold hamburger from McDonald’s and a side salad in front of my door that had been there for God knows how long,” says Marlene.

(Variety, Feb 3, 2023)

(Also, "Marlene and Jenny" are pseudonyms, because like Beast Game they signed NDAs.)

There are some other similarities with Beast Games - denial of bathroom breaks, lack of food, lack of water, inadequate medical care, and so on.

Netflix is denying these claims, or at least denying that they are as bad as contestants are suggesting, and said that while it was undeniably cold on set, "participants were prepared for that". Participants have claimed that they were, in fact, in no way prepared for that.

We know MrBeast has probably seen "Squid Game: The Challenge", because they've tried to one-up it. The British show originally had "the biggest cash-prize ever offered in reality TV" ($4.5 million), until Beast Games showed up with an ever bigger prize of $5 million.

So, it's not just "Jimmy recreating the Torment Nexus after watching the show "Don't recreate the Torment Nexus".

It's closer to "Jimmy recreating the Torment Nexus from the show "Don't create the Torment Nexus", after watching the show "This is what happens when you create the Torment Nexus".

[ekgfiction]

Hi, I'm back?

...Hello everyone ! This is a very much needed update after a long time of not posting... sorry.

First of all, thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who sent me a kind message, you are angels and I'm so sorry it took me this long to answer your questions.

For those who don't wish to read a long text that looks too much like a page from my diary, here is the summary. I'm officially back working on OLYMPUS. I don't promise you much, but one update a month for now (not necessarily a game update, but an update on me working on the game...yay?).

My 4 goals for January are a lot of ground:

Finish the character pages

Relearning twine

Update the outdated info on Tumblr / itch.io

Fix prologue (because of changes in the outline)

And for those who are nosy like me and want to understand what I was doing until now, buckle up !

I started this blog in the summer of 2021 and posted the demo for OLYMPUS exactly three years ago, in 2022. At the time, I was living alone in the US, with no life outside of work and this project, which was very dear to me. It was my first "real" creative project I wanted to be serious about. I was also very depressed, being alone and away from friends and family sucked.

When I came back to France in the summer of 2022, I was determined to work on the game again. But then, real adult life happened ! My health issues, that I didn’t understand yet, started to really affect me. I lost two dear family members, saw my best friend become a mother and discovered that being a teacher is a fucking hard job. I was an intern teacher and had a final exam at the end of the school year to be a "real" teacher. So I focused on that, and it was a success. A couple of days after that, I decided to go back to OLYMPUS, and that’s when my laptop broke.

The one I had since I was 18 years old. Which contained not only all my class materials from my first year as a teacher, but also my essays and memories of my college years, and all my writing. And I mean, all my writing. From my very first bad fan fiction on Amour Sucré (or My Candy Love in English) that I wrote when I was a teenager and that I managed to save on my laptop, to all my documents on OLYMPUS, a project which had 5 years at this point. I was devastated.

Moving to the Paris suburbs for work didn’t help. I was finally back living somewhere close to my friends and family, when my job made me move far away again, to one of the most expensive and yet hardest place to work as a teacher in France. Because of the very high rent, I was first in a shared apartment, which was not the greatest. Work was even harder to manage. At the end of 2023, I felt stuck, watching life around me move forward while I barely kept up.

In 2024, things began to shift. I let go of some things and people, but made new friends, joined a DnD group, traveled, and even saw Dimension20 live in London (how crazy is that !). I moved out of my shared apartment into a cozy studio, traveled around France to see my loved ones, and finally got a diagnosis for my autoimmune disease, which helped me understand and manage my health. I also bought a new computer and started writing again !

Not on OLYMPUS though, no. Not at first.

The thought of returning to it felt overwhelming. The asks in my inbox, the followers, and the questions on itch.io made it feel like an impossible task. I convinced myself it was too ambitious of a project for a beginner like me. That no one cared anymore—not even me. It’s better if it stays a a silly little daydream I think about on my way to work.

Then, someone left me a kind comment asking if I was still working on the game. It wasn’t the first time someone asked me that, but something clicked. I thought of the me that posted the demo in 2022, how she felt and how I feel now. Maybe, if I started again now, it would be alright? I feel better, healthier. Instead of seeing the project as a burden, something I didn’t accomplish, a very public failure, I wanted to give it another shot. And if I failed again, so what? At least I'd tried. I don't to give up on this story.

I had to start from scratch of course, because everything but the demo on itch.io was lost. Rewrote the world building and the outline. I haven’t finished everything, but I finally feel like I am at a good place to start working on it again. Like, actually working, writing it. Not just my world building, or the outline. I am sure I made a lot of changes from plans I had before, and will probably change it again at some point. But that’s fine. You're pretty much having the first draft of the game anyway, and it'll be easier to rework things than to start anew every time.

This time, I’m being realistic: I’ve set aside four hours a week to write, balancing work, hobbies, friends, family, and my health. It doesn’t sound like much, but to me it sounds manageable, and adaptable to my work and my health. It means I could update you once a month on things I plan to do and have done.

So, for January ! The plan is to finish the character pages, which should take a week. Then, I want to spend some time on twine to relearn how to use it and eventually redo the prologue to fit the new outline. I also have to update itch.io and tumblr as well. Basically, a lot of ground work to let me start the final week of January with the first work path of chapter 1.

Anyway, if you read everything and reached this far, omg thank you so much and sorry I know it was way too long.

Really, thank you. I can't explain how much you, and all of this means to me. Your likes, comments, asks kept this project alive when I didn't believe in it nor in myself.

Love, Elena

[hellcheeriest]

i bet he's never had a backstreet guy

Twitch Streamer!Eddie x Single dad!Steve

Masterlist | Next Chapter

Summary: Introductory Chapter where we meet Steve and his son Dustin, and Eddie and his group of friends.

Content Warnings: Slight age gap (Steve is 31, Eddie is 26), bullying.

A/N: I wrote this almost two years ago and the full first chapter ended up being almost ten thousand words... and then i never finished writing the second chapter. Here's a heavily re written first chapter! I'm splitting this up much more, and this chapter is shorter than the rest will be as its mostly an intro chapter to introduce characters and their dynamics :)

w/c: 2,017

January, 2023

STEVE HARRINGTON

“Fuck, dude!” A voice blared from Dustin’s phone. The kitchen was warmly lit as Steve flipped a pancake. It was a Monday morning, and the sun’s light peaked through the crack between the curtains. The smell of bacon cooling on the counter wafted through the air, and Steve turned to give his son a disapproving glare.

“Hey, what’s with the language?” Steve asked, turning over hashbrowns in a separate, smaller pan.

“Sorry, dad. Just a streamer I’m watching.” Dustin replied as he took a sip of his orange juice. “He and his friends are like, super funny.” Steve stalked over, a full plate of breakfast in his hands. He placed it on the counter in front of Dustin, leaning over Dustin’s shoulder to view the gameplay shown on the screen. They were playing a game he vaguely recognized as something Dustin had shown him while saving up his allowance money.

A different voice sounded from the phone. A lighter one, belonging to someone who the first person referred to as ‘Chrissy.’

“Who are they?” Steve asked as he returned to the stove. Dustin took a bite of his pancakes.

“The guy is Eddie. He’s the one playing the game.” Dustin began, pausing only when his dad scolded him for talking with his mouth full. “The girl is Chrissy.”

Steve smiled as his son ranted. Dustin was typically very passionate about his interests, and Steve loved seeing his son so happy. It was too often that Dustin came home from school deflated and downright miserable. He was nerdy, and the type of kid that was bullied even back when Steve was in school. Apparently times haven't changed.

“You really like these guys, huh?” Steve asked, thoughtful, as he turned off the burners and brought the now empty pans to the sink.

“Yeah!” Dustin began, practically bouncing in his seat. “Their friend group is all super cool, and Eddie-” He took a moment when the man- Eddie, cracked a joke that made Chrissy laugh. “Eddie used to be bullied, too. And he’s super cool, so…” Steve sent his son a small, sad smile. He walked over to Dustin, and pulled him into a hug. “He just makes me feel better.”

“Well,” Steve ran a hand through Dustin’s curly hair. “I’m glad he makes you feel better. As long as you don’t get a swearing problem, got it?” He asked, smirking.

Dustin broke into a smile, nodding.

“Yeah, yeah.” Dustin gulped down the rest of his orange juice. “I'm finished eating, can we get going? I don't want to be late for school!”

_____________________

EDDIE MUNSON

Eddie @/hellfyre

streaming among us with friends :)

@/bluefille

@/rockinrobin

@/jefftheekiller

@gareththatsme

@/grrant

twitch.tv/hellfyre

_____________________

Chris @/bluefille

Can’t wait! :)

Rob @/rockinrobin

im here against my will.

_____________________

Eddie’s room was dark, the light of his monitors casting a shadow behind him. He sighed and slid down in his chair. He was deafend in the discord call with most of his friends and he loaded up the game, his cursor hovering over the ‘Go Live’ button. He ran a hand through his slightly unkempt hair, thankful for the fact he hasn’t shown his face yet. He wasn't even sure he owned a camera minus the one built into his monitors. Taking a deep breath, Eddie presses the button and lets his ‘Stream starting soon’ screen play out.

Quickly the viewer count rose from a few hundred to a couple thousand, and after five minutes Eddie unmuted his microphone.

“Hey chat!” He grinned at the spamming of emotes in the chat. “Today, as you know, we’re doing among us with corroded coffin and friends. Robin and Chrissy, my personal favourites, but don’t tell the guys that.” He laughed. “Jeff and Gareth just got back from vacation so hopefully they suck, and Austin has yet to join us.”

Eddie pulled up a picture of his guitar and shrank it down to cover where the room code would go.

“Among us in 2023?” He read from the chat. “You know it.”

Eddie undeafened in discord, the loud voices of his friends instantly shot through his headphones.

“Gareth, you prick!” Robin shouted down her microphone. “Take that back you heathen.”

“God, Robin. Mind telling me what the hell is going on?” Eddie asked.

“Gareth’s flaunting his relationship with Jeff! Practically rubbing it in my face! He’s basically making fun of how I don’t have a girlfriend.” Robin whined and Gareth laughed.

“Can we please just start the game? I don’t want to deal with this debate anymore!” Jeff pleaded.

“You’re just asking that because you get all flustered whenever Gareth gushes about you.” Chrissy added, her voice soft as ever.

“Yeah, Jeff, we get it. You’re in a happy relationship and you hold hands and blah blah blah.” Eddie joked, putting on a New Yorker accent.

“Hey, leave my mans alone.” Gareth said and Jeff groaned, causing everyone else to laugh. “I’m making the room.”

“Sorry guys, my mom just called. I gotta go.” Robin said, her raspy voice wavering as she tried not to laugh, giving her away.

“Fuck you Robin.” Gareth retorted and Robin cackled. “I’m posting the code in the discord, assholes.

“I’m too sober for this.” Austin said, finally deciding to speak up after joining to the pandemonium.

_____________________

It had been an hour and a half straight of playing among us, and Eddie was starting to get a headache. His throat was sore from the accent he chose to do in the last round they played.

“Well, guys. I still have to eat dinner so I should get going.” Eddie confessed, rubbing his eyes.

“Okay, Eddie! Enjoy your dinner.” Chrissy yawned. It was eight PM for the both of them, and Chrissy’s childhood habit of going to bed on time carried over to adulthood and it was her wind down time by now

“Night man.” Gareth said, and wishes of a good rest from Jeff, Robin and Austin followed. Eddie returned the gesture and hung up. He bid farewell to his viewers before shutting down his stream and turning off his computer. He stretched, before standing up and leaving his small bedroom and heading to the small kitchenette of his apartment. He grabbed one of the TV dinners that sat in his freezer and threw it in the microwave for a few minutes.

He walked to his bathroom and grabbed an elastic off of the counter, wrapping it around his hair before leaning over the sink and splashing water over his warm face. After rubbing a towel down his face, he leaned on the counter and stared into the mirror, taking in his appearance.

He wouldn't say he was insecure of his looks, but it was a daunting thing to think about when his side of the internet were constantly talking about how devastatingly hot he must be.

What if they didn't like how he looked?

That was a thought that rarely crossed his mind. He prided himself on the fact that he didn't care what others thought, and really, after years of bullying he'd grown a tough shell. So no, he wouldn't care about what others thought. He only thought like this when he was drunk or tired, and he wasn't drunk. The dark purple of his under eyes confirmed it was the latter.

They stood out against the pale skin of his face, similar to how the black of his self-cropped Metallica shirt he'd gotten at a concert and dark tattoos that ran all down his torso clashed with his almost fragile looking flesh.

Thank you iron deficiency. And college.

He'd just skimmed by and managed to graduate on his third attempt at senior year, so he wasn't sure why he decided to torture himself further by becoming an English major, especially since his streaming career seemed to be kicking off and who knew if he would even end up needing it?

After the beep of the microwave went off, he went back to the microwave and grabbed the plastic dish and went to the reclining arm chair in his small, plain living room. It was always a shock stepping into the modern bright white walls of his apartment after living his whole life in the cluttered comfortability of his uncle's trailer. They didn’t have much then, but he was happy. 

Eddie put on an anniversary re-run of some old, popular sit com. The laugh track filled his otherwise quiet apartment and Eddie started chewing on the tough, TV dinner steak.

He’s still happy now, he supposes. A bit bored, maybe. He didn’t see his uncle much anymore, and he lived alone. The only friend he lived close to was Chrissy, and even she lived an hour out of the city Eddie was in. He loved streaming, loved providing content for the people who’d watch it, and he knew it was selfish to wish for more when so many would kill to have what he has.

But sometimes he can’t help it.

_____________________

STEVE HARRINGTON

Steve was worried. He was parked outside of Dustin’s high school. Band ended fifteen minutes ago and there was still no sign of his curly headed son. It wasn’t often Dustin stayed behind this long, not unless he was getting pestered by some moron. After another moment Steve huffed and got out of his car, walking into the school.

It was somewhat nostalgic to walk the halls of the highschool, the same one Steve went to way back when. The walls were a different colour now, and banners hung from wall to wall to announce different events. Steve wasn't here to reminisce, though.

He was a few feet away from Dustin’s locker when he saw two larger teenagers cornering his son into the metal of the lockers, spitting harmful words to Dustin’s already terrified face. The guys seemed to be older, maybe even in their senior year, and Dustin was small, only in the ninth grade.

“Hey!” Steve called out, his pace increasing in speed as the guys turned to look at him. “Hey, what’s going on here?”

“Dude, is that who I think it is?” One of the guys asked. Oh great. Steve thought. Jocks.

Steve wasn’t proud of who he was in highschool. He was a loud, ignorant asshole just like the two here that were harassing his son. The thought made his heart hurt. 

“Steve Harrington? What are you doing here?” The other asked, laughing as he held Dustin by the collar of his shirt.

“Well, I’m here to pick up my son, but it seems he’s been held back.” Steve said through gritted teeth, hoping that his visceral hatred spilled through into his tone, and the two older boys' faces paled before they scrambled to get away from the two. Steve scoffed, and was quick to kneel down in front of his son whose face was red and wet with tears. His shirt was soaked, and his nose was bloodied, and Steve’s chest felt heavy with anger. 

Calming himself down, Steve held Dustin’s shoulders.

“Hey, bud.” He started softly. “Let’s getcha home, hey?” A small sob broke through Dustin’s lips as he nodded and Steve brought his son in for a hug.

Soon they were outside and walking to the car, Dustin under Steve’s arm.

“Do you want to talk about what happened?” Steve asked after getting in the car and Dustin shook his head, facing out the window. Steve sighed quietly and looked at his hands where they gripped the steering wheel. “I saw a notification on your phone this afternoon,” This seemed to catch Dustin’s attention. “I think that streamer you like posted something. Maybe you’ll have something to watch when you get home?”

Finally, Dustin smiled. It was small, but Steve was grateful. Dustin nodded.

“I still want to hear about what happened today, kay?” He asked gently, and Dustin nodded again, but slower this time. Steve put a comforting hand on his shoulder and squeezed.

After a moment he started the car and drove out of the school parking lot.

[cocogum]

There’s something off about Yugo now.

‼️ SPOILERS FOR SEASON 4 ‼️

LEAVE AT THE WARNING IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE FIRST FOUR EPISODES.

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Way before 2024 hit, when Tot was still teasing us with some snippets of Season 4 on Twitter, there was a time when one of his tweets made some people think about what he meant.

The specific tweet was made on the 10th of January of 2023 at 5:10 AM which showed a small scene of Yugo once said that THIS scene in particular was going to change Yugo forever

Here’s the full translation:

“Season 4 of Wakfu is going well my friends…Here’s a small snippet of Yugo that makes me want to cry. 🥲”

We didn’t know at the time what he could’ve meant by that or what that specific scene that saddened him was even about.

But now that Wakfu Season 4 is out, we were able to watch that same scene that happened in episode 3.

And omg it makes perfect sense now.

In his tweet where he addressed his feelings for the scene, Tot specified that this moment would be the last time we see Yugo, the last scene before saying goodbye.

Some people, back when the tweet was still recent, thought Tot might have been implying that Yugo would actually die or possibly gain his adult form through this scene where he’s surrounded by his mother’s blue hues.

But now that we’ve watched the actual episode where this same scene Tot was talking about took place, we can all finally confirm that neither of those two things happened.

Because what happened ended up being far worse than that.

Yes, what’s worse than Yugo dying or growing up to an alarming speed is nothing compared to what actually happened :

Yugo’s mindset changed.

When Yugo met the Eliatrope goddess for the first time (in this life at least), he explicitly told her that he does not know her, therefore, he cannot sympathize with what she’s saying to him. Yugo could see how she was crying when she told him, Nora, and Qilby she missed them as well as her other children and that she promises them she wouldn’t be away from them any longer.

Yugo doesn’t react to this, only Nora and Qilby truly understand the power behind her words.

But as soon as the Eliatrope goddess puts Yugo to rest for a while, the moment he wakes up was as if he changed his mind completely.

He claims that his mother is the purest of the pure and that she’s so perfect that she can’t express any negative emotions. Keep this in mind for later.

He truly believes what he’s saying and cannot fathom the fact that she may be imperfect in some ways.

His mind did a complete 360 to the point where he immediately joins the Eliatrope goddess, Nora, and Qilby’s cause. He changed his mind so quickly that even Nora noticed and brought it up.

When the assembly began, Yugo was proud of showing up first to welcome his mother and he proudly stated her arrival to the rulers. He had even told Joris that he insisted on being as forward as possible to the rulers and to welcome his mother appropriately.

Now, remember when I stated that Yugo does not believe that the Eliatrope goddess can express any negative emotions?

Well, it turns out he was wrong.

Not even a full hour passed, and the Eliatrope goddess was already in a full confrontation with one of the rulers, the queen of Bonta, Astra. When someone, especially a higher being, is claimed to be a pure being with no flaws, it usually means that they cannot even fathom the idea of expressing a negative emotion or struggling to keep it in.

But the reason why this scene was just so important to focus on was because THIS is supposed to be the goddess of love, the goddess that represents purity (no wonder people were beings suspicious of her. How are you gonna be called the embodiment of ‘love’ and yet express something that is out of your agenda?)

So the reason why we need to focus on this moment, is because the goddess hesitated.

This is what makes Yugo’s claims about her being perfect completely wrong.

And since his declarations were very much flawed, his current way of thinking can only mean one thing :

Something has gone wrong.

From what we’ve been able to witness from his slumber, Yugo was able to see how he and his siblings were created by their mother, how their original planet came to be, how their mother got thrown aside, banished by the other gods and ended up in the Necroworld, and how she got saved by Nora and Efrim.

To us, this sequence must’ve probably lasted for about three minutes or so but to Yugo, this moment lasted far longer than that. He must’ve seen the details, heard a lot of recrimination from the other gods, and seen his mother’s suffering from being cast aside. All of this pain and suffering that she must’ve felt was what made Yugo side with her and her cause.

But as much as his sudden want to be closer to her makes sense, it doesn’t mean that Yugo’s portrayal of his mother is true. Anyone can tell that the Eliatrope goddess had broken a very important major rule: DO NOT use a planet for yourself. She had betrayed the trust of the other gods without any explanation other than wanting to have children and making a world for herself.

Yugo saw it all and yet he did not think that she made a mistake. He does not care if she went against the other gods (creating a world for herself), he does not care if she wants to monitor the world (she has told this in front of all the authorities of the world), he does not care if she wants to infuse vigilantism (again, she told this in front of the leaders of the world), and he does not care if all the commanders of the world do not side with her ideas (he deliberately chose to follow her as soon as she left the assembly).

But it seems like even when he was not, at the time, sleeping under her energy, he didn’t care if people with bad intentions got paralyzed for some undetermined amount of time as punishment (he was watching Nora and Adamaï fight the rogues). That could have been an early hint that he would do much more than just stand aside and not say anything in matters like these but rather silently do what his mother wishes to do.

Since he embraces everything that she is, he embraces everything that she wants to do or has done.

Another thing I should mention is the fact that ever since he woke up, he started calling the Eliatrope goddess “mother”, implying that he now felt completely comfortable with knowing and understanding that she was truly his creator, mother.

As you can see, every time he addresses her, it’s always by calling her his mother, which is factually true, but again, he has just met her and is already completely enamoured by her. His admiration and respect towards her makes sense because he has seen everything that she’s been through while sleeping.

The problem is that even when he considers her perfect, he doesn’t seem to understand that the people around her (besides Nora and Qilby) DO NOT agree with her plans.

Yugo does not understand why Adamaï left because his intuition was telling him that something was very wrong about all of this (even though Yugo wasn’t too convinced by the Eliatrope goddess, he was still taking a neutral side at the time. Even though he didn’t completely understand his mother at that moment, this still counts as an event where Yugo did not think about the Eliatrope goddess’s ways even when his brother told him something was off. Also, if Yugo did see his mother’s suffering at that moment, he would have still most likely sided with her.)

Yugo also does not understand what the leaders are trying to say and how right they are (even though they have mistreated the Eliatrope goddess in the process). One of them, the queen of Bonta, makes very good points that the goddess should have answered and explained.

But instead of taking a moment to think about it or try to at least think about how the rulers are feeling right now, Yugo simply leaves them and goes right back to the goddess.

This is a very surprising decision of his because Yugo has lived his entire life in the World of Twelve. He has not only lived here but has met a lot of different people, gone through life and death for them, saved numerous victims and fought off enemies for them, and did all that in the same world where he is currently turning his back to the very rulers of it.

Tot wasn’t wrong when he said Yugo wouldn’t be the same.

And we’re starting to see it.

It’s becoming more obvious and I’m sure that at some point, there could be another fight between Yugo and Adamaï happening, or perhaps even a misunderstanding.

[dailyplanetmetropolis]

One Man, One Swing, One Hundred Victims

15th January 2025

Written by Whitney L. Walker

Following the death of General Steven Trevor - a man known for advocating for peace as well as being a close friend of none other than Wonder Woman - the entirety of America sat on the edge of their seat. We watched in terror, waiting for the cataclysmic moment when Wonder Woman would show up on our screens in armour and take her revenge.

Only to all give a sigh of relief when she disappeared from our country all together. Well, almost all of us.

For years, I have followed the Wonder Girls and Wonder Woman with the utmost care, documenting the many different holders of these handles, the battles they fight, the rogues they save. When I was watching the news of Trevor’s death and waiting for her to storm the White House, to scream at the loss of a love she’s known since first leaving the Amazon polis of Themyscira, I did not know solace when she was nowhere to be seen.

The consequences of the West Billings Massacre in September 2023 - where 19 men were ruthlessly murdered by a blonde Amazon in Kanigher's Cues pool hall - are still affecting us today. Not only is the US government still undertaking in the mass deportation of Amazons across America, but they are murdering them, attacking American-born women who happen to be muscular and tall, and spouting sexist, patriarchal idiosyncrasies that Shaun down the hall licks up like it’s a sweet caramel. Our country is turning to ruin before our eyes, becoming a nation where a woman who does no wrong will always be beaten by her opponent as long as he is a man.

In November last year, everything truly fell apart when multiple associates of Wonder Woman and the Amazons began their attacks. Cassandra Sandsmark purposefully crashes her jet into a US Navy battleship; Yara Flor robs multiple banks across multiple states, fighting through swarms of police; and Donna Troy is spotted in Oklahoma with a bloodied Washington Diamond. The Wonder Girls attack “The American Way”.

The third Wonder Girl, Yara Flor, pictured leaving the Metropolis City Bank, 2025 (credit: James Olsen)

Just over a month later and we still don’t know the cause of these attacks, but it should be clear to anyone. Genocide, bigotry, mass deportation - these things stain a country and the Amazons are just merely trying to wash it out.

Late December, however, we may have finally found out why. Clark Kent-Lane, an esteemed writer as well as my dear colleague, wrote an expose on a man calling himself “The Sovereign”. This man, who has been identified by officials as Henry Charles, believes himself to be the secret king of America. Mr Charles also appears to have a history of murder, tax fraud, identity fraud, as well as sexism.

“According to Princess Claire,” Daily Planet photographer Jimmy Olsen said, retelling the story from Mr Charles’ sister, “The former King of America was unimpressed with his only son. His Royal Majesty broke hundreds of years of tradition and insisted that his daughter be elevated over his son. Mr Sovereign did not process this well. He ranted and raved that the ‘holy order’ of things had been overturned, that his birthright had been wrongly stolen by the lie that a woman could ever supersede a man. And then his daddy turned up dead.”

Although men around the country will continue to spout sexist fabrications to slander the Amazons’ name, and although I’m certain there will be men in my emails yelling at me to take my article down and to stop spreading such mendacity (if they can even spell that), I digress.

“The Sovereign” is one thing, femicide is another.

It isn’t too far to name “The Sovereign” as the leading cause for Amazonian-based bigotry, as well as the rise of sexism in the United States. Why wouldn’t the Wonder Girls hit back? And, more importantly, why aren’t we?

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[elminx]

Energy Update: January 2024

January is a "9" month [1 (January) + 8 (2+0+2+4=8) = 9] in an "8" year. Though we are on the edge of something new - both represented by some of the astrological transits of the month and the beginning of a new year - we still have some stuff to wrap up before we can truly move onwards. A lot has changed since the beginning of 2020 - everything really, if you want to look at it that way. As our lives slowly bend and adapt to the changes that have been wrought in the world, we still have to live in it.

Numerologically, 9 is our last number as each multi-digit number gets added back together again. In this way we know that February is a 10/1 month: 2 (February) + 8 (2023) = 10 = 1+0 = 1. February is not the beginning, but February is a beginning. Now we just need to get there.

The Details

We begin January with the Sun and Pluto in Capricorn, retrograde Mercury and Mars in Sagittarius, Venus in Scorpio, Jupiter and retrograde Uranus in Taurus, and Saturn and Neptune in Pisces. This is an unusual alignment of planets and worth noting here. We know that the Sun, Mercury, and Venus travel together but right now they are being joined by both Mars and Pluto as they cross over Sagittarius and Capricorn this season. Additionally, our other planets are congregated together as well in Taurus and Pisces. It's also worth noting that all of this (/crazyhandwaving) began four years ago when all of our planets except for Uranus and Neptune were in the sign of Capricorn.

This month the last of our planets from this 2020 transit, Pluto, finally leaves Capricorn for good. This is one of the big gong crashes that denotes time. Pluto will remain in Aquarius until 2043.

Additionally, our Sun enters the sign of Aquarius, and Mercury, Venus, and Mars will enter the sign of Capricorn. January also marks the end of retrograde season for the next four months as Mercury and Uranus station direct.

The Nitty Gritty

January begins with a bang as Jupiter stations direct on 12/31/23 and Mercury stations direct on 1/1/24. This is a great omen for both January and 2024 as a whole as the first day of the month/year will set the stage for the energy of the time ahead. All signs point to "go" as we only have one single planet left in retrograde (Uranus). Uranus also stations direct this month (on 1/27); we will not experience another planetary retrograde until April.

That said, many of us are still carrying some of the weight of our pasts and it may be hindering our progress. As mentioned above, January is a "9" month of endings that will lead to February being a "10/1" month of beginnings. In this way, January can be seen as a series of releases that can help to unburden us of the things that we do not need to bring with us into the future we see ahead. This process may be triggering for some, especially those who are lost in the past or unduly holding onto something that has passed its expiration date.

The big release dates to watch out for include: 1/1 when Mercury stations direction, 1/4 when Mars enters Capricorn, 1/11 our new moon in Capricorn, 1/13 when Mercury enters Capricorn, 1/20 when BOTH the Sun and Uranus enter Aquarius, 1/23 when Venus enters Capricorn, and 1/27 when Uranus stations direct.

Any of the above dates can be used magically to speed this change along if you are so inclined. Each of these days may be a relief or triggering depending on your life circumstances and general personality. Stay prepared and aware.

There are also a few days of the month where life may seem to "help" you along on this release process, whether you wish it to or not. As our personal planets move through the sign of Capricorn, each will make a cardinal t-square with our lunar nodes of fate (in Aries and Capricorn). Each of these transits will carry with it some of the energy of eclipse season. Some doors may open during this time and some will inevitably close. When the lunar nodes are involved we sometimes find that it is too late to make certain choices, but also that new and interesting choices have become available to us. Our Sun will form a t-square with the nodes on 1/10, Mercury will on 1/28, and Mars will on 1/30. In February, Venus will form one final t-square to complete this process.

For transits like these there is one simple piece of advice: don't hold on too tightly. With our North Node in Aries, we are being asked to stand up for ourselves and that often means letting go of prior conditioning from our childhood or society that keeps us small and forces us into conformity. This can trigger a lot of deep-seated defenses and unhealthy coping mechanisms from our past. The big flex is to name it and bring it into the light rather than letting these things control or destroy us. If you have Aries or Libra in the 12th house this may be especially difficult for you, but this makes this work especially important.

Chiron, also sitting in Aries, shows us that being our unique selves can be quite a painful process. Each of our personal planets will also square off with the Wounded Healer during this time and each of these dates (Sun square Chiron on 1/6, Mars square Chiron on 1/25, and Mercury square Chiron on 1/28 plus Venus in February) is another chance to reexamine our core wounding surrounding standing out versus fitting in. This shit leads deep back into our childhoods and often is the center of our deepest fears. If you are into shadow work, these topics will likely prove especially fruitful during these times. A word to the wise about Chiron: the way out of the pain is always through examining it and learning to understand and create adaptive strategies for management and mitigation. Many people who have Chiron highlighted in their natal birth chart find that healing "out loud" helps them to deal with and make sense of more ouchy moments like these.

In this way, the month may feel very cyclical. You see a way forward and grab for it. It's painful beyond what was expected as it sparks deep wounds. From there the work is to transcend and release the wounds. Rinse and repeat.

It's certainly not work for the faint of heart. But that's not a surprise, we're in Capricorn season - a sign known for almost being compelled to work. This isn't the summer work of planting seeds, tending, and bringing them to harvest. This is the winter work of reexamination and reclamation. Saturn, the ruler of Capricorn, is sitting in a supportive sextile in Pisces to help us along in this process but it WILL be work. The big flex all month is to keep moving, to keep putting one foot in front of the other, and to keep on keepin' on. With some many chances, you CAN get it right.

Our two lunar events for the month are a new moon at 20° Capricorn on 1/11 and a full moon at 05° Leo on 1/25.

The new moon will be more supercharged as 1/11 is 111 reflecting an influx of 1/new beginnings energy which will also be in close square to our lunar nodes. If you do not set intentions for the year on 1/1, 1/11 will be another strong time to do so. The new moon's numerology is 2/2 [2 (10 Capricorn Sun + 10 Capricorn Moon = 2), and 2 (2 Capricorn new moon + 9 January = 11 = 2] which shows that it is a powerful day for creation and togetherness.

Our full moon in Leo carries the energy of 7/7 [7 (11 Aquarius Sun + 5 Leo Moon = 16 = 7) and 7 (7 Aquarius full moon + 9 January = 16 = 7]. 7 is the number of spirituality and is generally associated with intuition and inner understandings of all kinds. This is a great day to divine on your journey through January and will aid in any magic designed to align you with where your path is leading you.

If you're looking for a day to do money magic or other prosperity work in January, Friday 1/12 is your day when Mars in Capricorn is in exact trine with Jupiter in Taurus. Work that earth money magic - Capricorn is seeing to their future and Taurus loves the finer things in life. This is a big luxury day - this is a day to treat yo' self even if you're not doing any magic. But do that money magic if you've got it - earthy trines like this don't come around every day.

I see two days to watch out for during the month.

On Saturday, 1/20, the Sun meets up in its yearly conjunction with our planet of death and transformation, Pluto and they both enter the sign of Aquarius in lockstep with one another. This is a big change of the guard and it's likely to be reflected both in the outer world at large and in our personal lives. Pluto has been in the sign of Capricorn for more than a decade and its force has been slowly eroding our outdated systems of government and bureaucracy. Now, it shifts its gaze to Aquarius where it will remain until 2043.

Pluto moves on a glacial scale so we shouldn't expect to see the effects of its ingress initially but what we should expect to see is the fallout of what has been left behind. Given the planet and its namesake, I use the term fallout very intentionally here. Capricorn rules the governing systems of our lives; in truth, it rules all things that are contractual like government bodies, businesses, and even marriage. Anything that requires signing a contract is in some way controlled by Saturn and Capricorn as Saturn's emissary in this world. Pluto has been shaking up these systems for quite some time and not all of them will survive the release that comes as our dwarf planet finally exits the scene.

Sometimes you don't know how bad the disaster is until it's over and the dust has settled. I would expect to see governmental shutdowns, businesses failing or entering bankruptcy, and the dissolution of marriages as the energy slowly begins to shift away from Capricorn and into Aquarius. In this sense, any structures that are held on by a thread will be most at risk through the beginning of the year. If this is you and it impacts your life specifically, I will guide you back to the words above: Don't Hold on too tight.

Sometimes things need to fall apart. Sometimes you can't pick up the pieces.

The second day of interest is 1/29 when Mars in Capricorn meets up in trine with Uranus in Taurus. I have found that it is best to keep an eye on when these two planets meet, regardless of the aspect that they make with one another. Mars is our planet of action and war and Uranus rules the unexpected disaster. This is Tower weather; it is best to do less and avoid any overt dangers if you can. It's a day to stay away from explosives of all kinds. Uranus in Taurus is especially eruption-prone, make of that what you will. We are nearing the end of Uranus's transit of Taurus (something that we should be very grateful for) but it's not over until it's over.

January is the cosmic right time to put in the work to better your life. January is the cosmic right time to take accountability for where you are the problem. January is the cosmic right time to let that shit go so that when February rolls around, you are ready.

The Details

1/1 - Mercury stations direct 22° Sagittarius, Venus in Sagittarius square Saturn in Pisces (repeats on 10/28) 1/4 - Mars enters Capricorn 1/6 - Sun in Capricorn square Chiron in Aries 1/8 - Mercury in Sagittarius square Neptune in Pisces* 1/9 - Sun in Capricorn trine retrograde Uranus in Taurus, Mars in Capricorn sextile Saturn in Pisces 1/10 - Sun in Capricorn square North Node in Aries and South Node in Libra, cardinal t-square 1/11 - New moon 20° Capricorn 2/2, Venus in Sagittarius trine Chiron in Aries (repeats on 11/3) 1/12 - Mars in Capricorn trine Jupiter in Taurus 1/13 - Mercury enters Capricorn 1/15 - Sun in Capricorn sextile Neptune in Pisces, Venus in Sagittarius trine North Node in Aries/sextile South Node in Libra 1/18 - Mercury in Capricorn sextile Saturn in Pisces 1/19 - Mercury in Capricorn trine Jupiter in Taurus, Venus in Sagittarius square Neptune in Pisces 1/20 - Sun enters Aquarius, Pluto enters Aquarius, Sun conjunct Pluto, Mercury exits their post-retrograde shadow 08° Capricorn 1/23 - Venus enters Capricorn 1/25 - Full moon 05° Leo 7/7, Mars in Capricorn square Chiron in Aries 1/26 - Mercury in Capricorn square Chiron in Aries 1/27 - Uranus stations direct 19° Taurus, Sun in Aquarius square Jupiter in Taurus, Mercury conjunct Mars 17° Capricorn 1/28 - Mercury in Capricorn trine Uranus in Taurus, Mercury in Capricorn square North Node in Aries and South Node in Libra (cardinal t-square), Venus in Capricorn trine Jupiter in Taurus, Venus in Capricorn sextile Saturn in Pisces 1/29 - Mars in Capricorn trine Uranus in Taurus 1/30 - Mars in Capricorn square North Node in Aries and South Node in Libra (cardinal t-square)

Do you like my work? You can support me over on Kofi.

[ranchthoughts]

✨2023: A Summary✨

Post your most popular and/or favourite edit/gifset/analysis for each month (it’s okay to skip months!)

Tagged by @lurkingshan (here) and @wen-kexing-apologist (here). Thanks for the tags!

In 2023, I made 175 original posts, including 45 metas about 12 different shows and two large scale projects (the GMMTV Multiverse and the GMMTV Kissing charts). It was interesting to see what meta (and how much) I had written in which months. It's also fun looking back as I approach my one year anniversary of watching and writing about BL - I'm so grateful for all the wonderful people I've met and gotten to chat with over these past months!

January and February [0 metas]

I wasn’t on BL Tumblr yet! Any and all meta came in the form of thoughts, texts, and powerpoint presentations.

March [6 metas]

My BL Tumblr debut! I started this blog with the intention of 1) more easily gathering and archiving posts for future reference, and 2) collecting my thoughts somewhere other than text threads and my notes app, so I began posting meta the day I got here.

Most popular: what started as me thinking about Win’s rock t-shirt from ep 11 and then grew from there… - reading a lot into a random Thai ql shirt choice? Me?

Favourite(s): Thoughts on Tinn, his mother, and coming out (part 1, part 2); Thoughts on Tinn, his mother, and music - My first meta ever posted! I keep returning to Tinn and his mother's relationship in My School President...

April [1 meta]

By default, the most popular (and favourite): Gun's feelings are realistic - I love when MSP subverts our expectations

May [13 metas]

Oh damn! This was a big meta month for me. Some of my favourite metas I've ever written were posted this month.

Most popular: The Eighth Sense and Missing Pieces - I am really proud of this one. It also made me laugh that I apologized for the length at the beginning when I would go on to post much, MUCH longer metas.

Favourite(s): Thoughts on genre, tropes, Bad Buddy, and My School President (aka my Bad Buddy and MSP thesis, which began life as a powerpoint presentation... now here's one of those much, MUCH longer metas in question); Wai as a faen fatale (which also began life as part of that same powerpoint presentation and I think perfectly encapsulates my analytical style); Conversations in ITSAY that are about more than they seem (I am really proud of the analysis I did here and the writing style I used to present it). This was also the month in which I started my deeply self-indulgent GMMTV Multiverse project, which later inspired my mission to record all GMMTV kisses.

June [11 metas]

Oh nooo another bunch of my favourites. This is cruel to make me choose.

Most popular: Thinking about Pran's "Pat, you've got to stop doing this to me" (I love this one! and this was the first of several times I've gotten to collaborate with the wonderful @dudeyuri)

Favourite(s): An analysis of the baseball mom shirt, Bad Buddy ep. 5 (my entry into the venerable field of Bad Buddy/ql shirt analysis and also encapsulates pretty much everything I try to do in my metas); An impassioned defense of the Bad Buddy ep. 5 rooftop kiss (combines many of my favourite things: reading deeply into the minute details of Bad Buddy, an analytical framework that just clicks itself together as I write, and literature reviews); and Thinking about Snow White as the engineering play, part 1 (shout out to the two other people going ham on Snow White as an allegory during the Our Skyy 2 madness - @chickenstrangers (here) and @letgomaggie (here))

July [3 metas]

Most popular (and favourite): Thinking about Pat, Pran, and pursuit (I think this was my first time articulating the idea of Pat and Pran's commitment to the bit, a concept which continues to circle in my head. This was also another collaboration with the wonderful @dudeyuri!)

August [7 metas]

Here comes Only Friends... and the GMMTV Kissing Multiverse project.

Most popular: GMMTV Kissing Multiverse updates 1, 2 and 3 (this is so much fun to track and analyze, and I've been really touched by everyone else's excitement for the project too); Various thoughts and musings on Only Friends and ephemerality (the Ephemerality Squad assembles!)

Favourite: Thinking about Boston: a study of episode 3 - I find Boston's mind a fascinating place to explore

September [8 metas]

Oh look! It's more Only Friends!

Most popular: Mansplain, Manipulate, Manwhore: Ray confronting Boston - once again, I love getting into Boston's head. This post was inspired by @wen-kexing-apologist's scene breakdowns, especially their Fight Night one

Favourite(s): The above, and also The Mundanity of Meanness

October [5 metas]

Most popular (and favourite): The first fist bump in Bad Buddy - oof. I've gotta come back to this idea sometime.

November [3 metas]

Most popular: The Latest Update to the Kissing Multiverse - the hotly anticipated post-Only Friends update to the kissing charts

Favourite: the kissing charts, and Thinking about Pat, Pran, and competition - again, I love to think about Pat and Pran. I consider this one to be part of an ongoing series, along with my earlier metas on pursuit and the rooftop.

December [1 meta]

Most popular (and favourite): Not Me and earrings - technically an addition on @chickenstrangers' post, but was a relief to get my months old "Not Me is about ears and earrings!" thoughts out.

some no pressure tags: @chickenstrangers, @distant-screaming, @dudeyuri, @neuroticbookworm, @slayerkitty, @telomeke, @twig-tea, @waitmyturtles

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this article from The New Yorker, written by Bill McKibben:

Living through the onset of rapid global warming involves learning to roll with the punches. Increasingly, those are quite real and painful—this year saw, again, an accelerating toll of flood and drought. But, even for climate scientists sequestered in the lab, life increasingly seems like a series of bewildering blows.

As 2024 began, we’d just finished the most remarkable year in the planet’s modern climate history—2023 had shattered every global record for temperature, with researchers firm in the conviction that our planet had seen its hottest average temperatures in at least a hundred and twenty-five thousand years. But, even as they watched the mercury soar, they weren’t completely sure why: temperatures seemed to be rising even before an El Niño warming in the Pacific fully kicked in. In a remarkably candid essay this March in Nature, NASA’s chief climatologist, Gavin Schmidt, said, “The 2023 temperature anomaly has come out of the blue, revealing an unprecedented knowledge gap perhaps for the first time since about 40 years ago, when satellite data began offering modellers an unparalleled, real-time view of Earth’s climate system.” If temperatures hadn’t settled back to something more like a consistent rise by late summer 2024, he noted, that would imply “that a warming planet is already fundamentally altering how the climate system operates, much sooner than scientists had anticipated.”

In the event, this August was the warmest August on record, and most of the other months of 2024 also broke records; it now seems certain that, when meteorological officials announce their results early in January, this will again have been the hottest year ever measured. Scientists still can’t explain what’s causing the spike, which sits atop the steady ramp in temperature over the past few decades. As Schmidt said in an October interview with Elizabeth Kolbert, “it’s still pretty much, I would say, amateur hour in terms of assessing” what’s going on. The proffered explanations—the eruption of a submarine volcano in the South Pacific that put a lot of heat-trapping water vapor into the air, the phase-out of high-sulfur fuels in oceangoing ships that reduced heat-reflecting pollution—don’t seem large enough to account for what the thermometers are measuring; it’s possible that we may have tripped some switches we don’t understand in the global climate system.

What we do understand is bad enough. In September, Hurricane Helene swept across the Gulf of Mexico, turning from a tropical storm into a Category 4 hurricane in barely more than a day—the kind of “rapid intensification” that researchers increasingly see as a hallmark of a warming ocean. It moved so fast that it carried the freight of rain that it picked up over the record-hot waters of the Gulf far inland; in the mountains just north of Asheville, radar estimates suggested rainfall totals of up to forty inches. That water inundated the cricks and hollows of southern Appalachia—the death toll from the storm sits at two hundred and forty-one (making it the deadliest to hit the U.S. since Maria devastated Puerto Rico, in 2017), and the economic damage is nearing a hundred billion dollars, making it one of the costliest storms since Katrina. But the pictures from a ravaged North Carolina looked an awful lot like pictures from devastated parts of southern Europe or northern Africa or Brazil or Southeast Asia—if you look on YouTube, you can find a near-daily flood of flood pictures, with floating cars careening down the streets of mountain towns.

There seems to be just one way left to even start to slow down that torrent, and that’s to rapidly replace coal, gas, and oil with sun, wind, and batteries—and if you’re trying to avoid existential despair, there are stories and numbers this year worth focussing on. Solar power expanded so rapidly in 2023 (eighty-six per cent up on 2022 worldwide) that some wondered whether the charge could continue this year; it did, with the best guess being we will see a further growth of nearly thirty per cent this year. We’ve clearly moved into the steep part of the S-curve of clean-energy expansion, where even the most optimistic forecasts are consistently surpassed, and at the moment we appear to be installing a gigawatt’s worth of photovoltaic panels (roughly the size of a nuclear power plant) every eighteen hours or so.

[dreamescapeswriting]

Stray Kids Reaction || Helping You With Your PMDD

⤜WORD COUNT: 2.6K all together

⤜Copyright: © DreamEscapesWriting - January 2023

⤜MASTERLIST

A/N: I’ll be honest, I couldn’t find much info on PMDD - but from what I found I hope this is okay!

CHAN:

Chan wasn't the kind of guy to take time off work when he needed to rest he was more of the guy to work through his pain or stress because he was devoted to his work. Which was what was most shocking to you when you woke up that late morning to see him still in the dorms, pottering around the kitchen and doing something that wasn't connected to music in any way shape or form.

"Channie?" You frowned as you stepped out into the living room, watching in amusement as your boyfriend continued to cook something in the kitchen while staring down at a recipe in his hand.

"You're awake already? It's not even-" Chan stopped himself from speaking, he hadn't realised it was 11 and he cursed himself for being so slow in the cooking department. Minho told him the recipe wouldn't take long to prepare at all and yet he'd spent the last two hours trying to get it right.

"What are you doing home, I thought you had things to do today?" You questioned with a smile on your face, you weren't in any way complaining about your boyfriend being here but it was a little jarring. 

"You need me, so I'm here." Maybe it was the extra hormones flooding around your body right now but tears rushed to your eyes and you began to let out a small sniffle.

"Hey, hey," He whined out rushing over to you and holding you tightly in his arms as you wrapped your arms around his waist. 

"This won't be done for a few hours, but do you want something else to eat? Pancakes? Cereal? Mcdonalds breakfast?" He questioned making you laugh out through his suggestions, his hand gently ran over your cheek wiping away the tears that had fallen.

"Anything you want, you get." He promised before gently leaning down and pressing his lips to yours smiling at you when he saw how happy you were with him there. Chan knew that when it came to this time of your cycle he needed to be there for you no matter what, even if you said you didn't want him he knew you really did and he was going to be there no matter what.

MINHO:

When you'd first explained your PMDD to Minho he'd been completely confused by it all, he thought that PMS was the same thing not realising that PMDD was more severe than it. But now he knew and every time it was close to your cycle Minho would make sure he had everything prepared for you. There was a "self-care" box in his place, filled with everything you could ever possibly need, including painkillers for your cramps, cooling pads for your headaches and heating pads. Minho wanted to make sure you had everything,

"What did I do to deserve you?" You cried out, tears running down your cheeks as you cried harder than you probably needed to over your boyfriend's box. 

"It should be me asking you that," He chuckled, wiping away your tears and bringing you into a tight embrace while you continued to cry against his chest. 

"You're the best," You told him as you took the painkillers he was holding out for you, your head was a wreck right now with a pounding headache and all you needed was to sleep - only you hadn't all night because of your onset insomnia that accompanied your PMDD. 

"We should go and nap, yeah? Get comfortable on the sofa and just sleep." Your boyfriend suggested while you nodded, you knew you needed to get some sleep or you'd only be more irritable as the day passed by.

CHANGBIN:

Changbin had grown up with an older sister so he knew what to expect when it came to periods only he hadn't expected them to be as severe as yours were. Nevertheless, he did everything he could to try and make your suffering a little easier to deal with or manage whenever it came to that time of the month.

"Here, sit up a little." He nudged against your back so he could sit behind you on the bed, gently lifting up your shirt to expose your stomach. As well as all of the mental symptoms that came with PMDD you also suffered from a lot of the physical ones which meant you had cramps that felt like your insides were being ripped apart. 

"What's that?" You questioned, looking at the small vial that was in his hand, he smiled at you opening it up and letting you take a sniff of the oil inside. He'd read somewhere that using scented oils could help reduce some of the pain as well as alleviate some of the cramps you were experiencing,

"Lavander oil," He said softly, dropping a couple of drops onto your stomach before putting the vial to the side and beginning to gently massage it into your skin, pressing a little harder on your stomach whenever he felt the need to. Your whole body seemed to relax as you took in deep breaths of the scent, letting yourself give in to the way it felt to have him so close to you right now.

"That's really good," You whined out, continuing to relax further into his touch while Changbin gently rubbed and massaged your skin until you fell asleep in his arms.

HYUNJIN:

It was no secret that Hyunjin had no idea what he was doing when it came to your PMDD but every time your suffering came around he would do everything he could to somehow make it better for you.

"What are we doing here?" You laughed, looking around at the secluded air B&B that Hyunjin appeared to have bought you for the weekend. It was a weekend away together he'd been planning for a while since he knew your cycle, he'd been reading up on PMDD whenever he had the time and he saw that the less stress you had would be better for you.

"I thought you might like time away from everyone and everything. A secret get away, out in nature so you can just relax and not worry about anything," He explained, getting the bags out of the car and taking them up to the small house that was in the middle of the mountains. It was completely beautiful up here and you'd be a fool to let this pass.

"You did this because of my PMDD?" You questioned, a little shocked that all of this was for you to feel less stressed. 

"I wanted to make sure you could feel better here...With me, I know I haven't been the best in the past when it came to this but I wanted to make it up to you-" As soon as he finished his sentence you pressed your lips to his and giggled as he let out a small whine.

"You're perfect Hyunjin...Don't worry about me, okay? I'm fine as long as I have you," It was a little bit of a lie, you and Hyunjin both know how bad you get when it comes to your PMDD but you wanted him to know it had nothing to do with him. In fact, with him you always felt a little better even if he didn't know the best way to comfort you.

JISUNG:

It would be a complete understatement to say that Jisung had been worried about you, in fact, he was completely and utterly anxious about you or rather for you. For the last week now you'd done nothing but snap at him or get angry over the silliest of things and he thought that maybe he'd done something wrong or that you were trying to distance yourself from him to make it easier to break up with him. It wasn't until he told Felix about your PMDD that everything clicked into place, Felix explained what your PMDD was to Jisung and he instantly realised he should have been looking after you more.

"Baby, I came home early and I thought you'd want your favourite take-out," Jisung called out into the flat, standing still and listening out for any sounds coming from you but all he could hear was the sound of water running.

"Baby?" He called out again, putting the bag of food in the kitchen and making his way toward the bathroom, the sound of the bath running was soon joined by sobs coming from you and he rushed into the room.

"Shit, baby. Come here," He whispered, quickly shutting off the taps and cradling you into his arms. You whined out, balling his shirt up in your fist as you sobbed into his chest, you hated yourself for yelling and snapping at him all week but when it came to this it was like you were a whole other person.

"I'm sorry Jisung, I-I didn't mean to shout all week and say everything I said I'm just-"

"I know." He whispered, rubbing your back softly as he placed gentle kisses on the top of your head, rubbing your back a little harder as he tried his best to comfort you - even if he wasn't the best at it.

"You know?"

"Felix sort of explained everything to me...I'm sorry I haven't been here all that much," He spoke clearly, wiping away the tears from your cheek and smiling down at you.

"I got heat pads, painkillers, snacks and all your favourite foods." Your eyes lit up at the idea of it all and he looked at the bath.

"Take a nice bath though, I'll reheat the food whenever you're ready,"

FELIX:

During your PMDD episodes, you didn't sleep much, you didn't know what it was but whenever it got close to your period you just couldn't seem to fall asleep. Doctors had all told you it was another symptom of your PMDD but all you knew was that you hated it, you needed sleep to function without yelling at people throughout the day.

"Hey you," Felix whispered as he walked into the living room to see you quietly watching a movie by yourself, wrapped in a mound of blankets and eating his ice cream.

"Hey, I didn't want to wake you up so I came out here." You explained, pausing the movie to take a look at your boyfriend who appeared just as tired as you were. You knew if you'd stayed in there you'd only make his sleeping worse than it already was.

"You don't have to worry about that, make room." He mumbled, climbing onto the sofa and under the blankets with you as he pulled you into his arms, yawning a little as he did so. It was clear how tired he was but he couldn't sleep without you by his side.

"What are you watching?" He quizzed, staring at the Tv before you let out a small laugh.

"Barbie Princess and the pauper," You answered plainly, staring at the screen as the scene where the pauper sang to her cat.

"Ah, your comfort movie." He chuckled, moving the two of you so that you were half laying down on the sofa, your chest between his legs while he wrapped his arms around you.

"You know me too well," You stated as you fed him a spoonful of ice cream, enjoying the way it felt to be cuddled up close to him like this. It wasn't often you got to do this but whenever you got the chance it was magical. The two of you continued to lay there like that until the movie was over, cuddling into one another's arms as you did your best to relax.

SEUNGMIN: 

Seungmin had always been the kind and considerate boyfriend when it came to your time of the month even before you told him that you experienced PMDD. After you'd told him it was like a switch had flipped inside of him and he was only more kind and caring toward you whenever it was that time of the month.

"You didn't have to do this," You explained, looking at the bed as you noticed the things that Seungmin had come home with today. You'd text him to tell him you were feeling a little down about something and because your PMDD it was causing you to feel a whole lot worse over it,

"I know, I wanted to." He said with a proud smirk plastered across his cheeks grinning from ear to ear as you looked at everything he'd gotten. He'd come home earlier than expected from work - promising the boys that he would make it up to them - but he'd stopped off at the shops. Bringing up snacks, and all the supplies you could possibly need for this time of the month. 

"I needed to restock the drawers in the bathroom anyway," He explained as you noticed the different packs of tampons and pads that he'd bought back with him even though you weren't bleeding just yet.

"You're incredible." You sniffled, biting back the tears that were threatening to spill out everywhere. You knew it was probably a stupid reason to cry but having Seungmin understand and WANT to be there for you while you were going through this meant the world to you.

"I love you," You cuddled into his chest and he smiled to himself, kissing your forehead.

"I love you too...We have two hours before food, shall we watch a movie or go and have a hot bubble bath? I got your favourite bath bomb too," He explained as he pulled out your favourite bath bomb from your favourite store and you began to tear up once again.

JEONGIN:

Whenever it came to your PMDD Jeongin made sure that he was always prepared for it even if he "didn't have to be" he wanted to. The boy always made sure he had extra period products at his place just in case you came on earlier than expected and he also had an entire box devoted to you. 

"I got this last week and forgot to add it." He said as he walked into his room, there you were curled up on his bed wearing one of his hoodies and some sweatpants and yet you'd never looked more beautiful to him.

"What is it?" You frowned watching as he took out a mat from a box and came closer to you.

"Heating pad, we wrap it around your stomach and I connect it to the laptop through the USB, it'll give you constant heat," He explained as he carefully wrapped the heating pad around your midsection and looked at you,

"Best part...It has a pocket, I know your hands get cold sometimes," He said with a small laugh, doing his best to brighten up your mood a little but it wasn't working. You'd woken up that morning in an awful mood and just wanted everything and everyone to leave you alone - not that Jeongin would ever let that happen, he wasn't going to let you go through this alone. 

"Why are you still here? Don't you have work?" You bit out a little angry but Jeongin just smiled and shook his head,

"Practice got cancelled so I'm here with you all day," You smiled a little and snuggled into the sheets, the heating pad was doing wonders for your cramps and you did like the idea of having your boyfriend with you all day.

"Can we watch movies and eat junk food?" You questioned, resting your head down on the pillows and Jeongin smirked at you.

"I already got all your favourites," He quickly kissed the top of your head and left to go and grab everything.

tagline: @chiisaiblog @hanasonmi @sw33tnight @taestannie @illicee @army24--7 @acciocriativity @scarletemeterio @halesandy @aerastus @lost-leopard-beanie @laylasbunbunny @critssq @pearlygraysky @lensfilm​ @btsiguess-kpop @meowmeowisdaname @imafivestarkpopstan

[matthiastalksalot]

what is being aromantic? what is being asexual?

an anecdotal explanation about what being aroace means to me. part 2. technically. both can be standalone. but you should read part one because i enjoy being a chatterbox.

this is not proofread.

so. i finally figure out that i am asexual. yipeee! once the sex aspect is out of the way, i can finally persue relationships without any expectations of sex, right? wrong.

i have a long and not too complicated dating history, featuring many e-relationships and two week infatuations.

going back to the early days of fifth grade. i attended a catholic school, and everyone was starting to reach the age where crushes are a new and fascinating occurrence. of course, i don’t know how many ten year olds had true crushes, but they CERTAINLY said they did.

and so, naturally, i needed one too. i picked a boy in my class, joesph, and told my classmates when i was asked. i did not know him well, and he knew i had this “crush” on him, but he didn’t like me and i never actually asked him out, so that was that.

i got my first boyfriend the summer before 7th grade. we attended a jewish sleep away camp, and were part of the same group for leading our unit’s shabbat service. we had the same hairstyle, the only difference being that the top of his hair was dyed red, the top of mine was dyed blue.

this was a preppy camp. we stood out, and thus our relationship was born. a girl approached me and asked if i would date “brendan”. i did not know who brendan was, we met two days before. she described him as “the boy with the red hair”.

it was middle school, and so i said yes. a day later, he asked me out. we dated for that summer until the next one.

the relationship was incredibly 7th grade of us. we hugged, had a pre-planned “kiss” under the fireworks on the last night of the camp session. it was gross, but short. i could now say i had had my first kiss.

he broke up with me due to bullying the next summer, but then after two days of drama, we started dating again. we broke up for good around december or january of 8th grade, over text. he wasn’t going to camp next summer, so we would not see each other again without planning it.

during our first break-up, i was upset, but mostly because i was insulted by the reason behind it. i did not have any strong feeling about break up #2.

i had more relationships between the end of 8th grade and my senior year of high school, but that would be the fastest way to send you all to sleep.

and so. i take you to my two most recent relationships. May 2022 - August 2022, and April 2023 - May 2023

the first one was a girl from a community theater show i was doing. she was snow white, and i was her prince. we became fast friends, and ended up dating. we were together for months, talked daily. we hugged, and sat in bed, holding each other while watching movies. we did not kiss. we did not even attempt to initiate anything more than hand holding.

she broke up with me in august. i was upset at the prospect of us not being together, but the only thing i remember thinking was “there is nothing we did that we cannot do as friends”. of course, it is difficult to rebound from dating, especially long distance as we were. we ended on good terms, but no longer speak to each other.

after her was my ex from the last post. we began dating after months of infatuation. he broke up with a girl for me, i magically made the “crush” that i thought i had on my best friend vanish the second i realized that he may actually show any form of interest in me.

eventually, that too ended. i enjoyed the hugging, cuddling, and closeness. i hated kissing, and the expectations of what i was supposed to be feeling within the relationship.

i did not immediately begin identifying as aromatic, but this is when i first began to entertain the idea.

life went on.

i started college, and met many amazing friends. as is usual for first semester freshman year, people began to get in relationships, and the whole question of “should i try for one?” comes up.

i decided against it, as none of my friends were romantic candidates for me. i know, i know. it’s weird to think of people that way. however, that’s how almost every other relationship i’ve had started.

we became fast friends, and happened to have compatible genders/sexualities to date. and so we did.

it started to dawn on me: what was the difference between my romantic partners and my close friends? the two largest factors are the duration of time we were close, and the amount of physical contact we had with each other.

in my prior romantic relationships, we became close quickly, or became much closer as we started to enter the “talking stage”. the longest i’ve known someone before getting into a relationship with them was a year and a half, and we were much more distant and did not hang out too often before the dating part.

as for physical intimacy: we started hugging/holding hands/being comfortable with each other before dating, but used it as a sign that we should start a relationship?

i suppose that is where i stand right now.

i am unsure of what the difference in my current best friends are, and what my relationships used to be. i am very physically affectionate, and i enjoy it. i also became close to people fast, thanks to meeting them at college. the biggest change? my two best friends are a lesbian and an arospec who is also out of my age range, dating wise.

there is no room for romantic interpretation.

once none of my friends could be potential partners, it felt like a relief. i don’t have to figure out if they like me or not, and if i “like” them back. we can just be friends.

i don’t want people to have crushes on me. all of mine were deliberately chosen, and that is not the way i feel “romance” should be.

looking back, i have lost many good friendships to the pitfall that is dating. and why? i never have found anything more fulfilling than my close platonic friendships. romantic relationships were always just adding a degree of exclusivity i never could live up to, since i cared for my closest friend and partners in the exact same way.

what is romance? i truly do not know.

however, i do know some things:

i love my friends

i enjoy spending time with my friends

i do not need exclusivity to be valued

not attempting to date has led to my platonic relationships being more fulfilling and wonderful than they were when i constantly had to compare them with what the “line” between romance and friendship was.

of course, i don’t speak for everyone. you may relate to my experience, and be alloromantic. you may understand me, but think this is some sort of polyamorous “i’m in love will all my friends but am in denial because i know they won’t like me back.”

it doesn’t matter, because i know who i am. despite having a dating history, i identify with the label that allows me to describe myself as clearly as possible.

this post is getting long, i’m sure i’ll be back shortly!

all the best,

mattisaroace

[winarasidi]

When I Fell in Love with Cycling

I discovered my love for cycling when I met Dargo. At the time, he was just someone I knew, and I never imagined I would end up marrying him. Getting to know Dargo also meant getting to know cycling, a passion he had pursued regularly for several years before we got married. I began watching European cyclists glide beautifully through green mountains and snowy hills. Naturally, I was captivated and wondered if I could ever do something like that.

After we got married, I decided to share a hobby with Dargo and give cycling a try. I chose it for myself, not because my husband pressured me—Dargo has never forced me into anything.

On December 26, 2023, I bought a Twitter Cyclon Pro Disc R7000-22S bike in black and red. After discussing it with my husband, we decided this would be my first bike. The main factor was its affordability at the time, combined with its full carbon frame and Shimano 105 groupset. Despite one drawback—the bike was still a bit too large for me—it was the best option for us.

In early January 2024, I began my journey as an amateur cyclist. I started getting used to my new bike, beginning with my first 50 kilometers, then 70 kilometers, and eventually my first 100 kilometers. I still vividly remember my first 100 kilometers; I took the route from South Tangerang to Bogor, riding back and forth from home. Anjay rada gelo!

Eight months after buying my road bike, I decided to participate in a race in July 2024. I joined the Tour de Ambarukkmo in Yogyakarta in the regular category, covering 128 kilometers. Of course, with various adjustments to make the bike fit my body. It was an exhilarating experience, especially since I typically only cycled once a week on weekends. But I prepared as best as I could, training enough and learning to understand my body. In the end, I completed the Tour de Ambarukkmo. Though it was exhausting, I was filled with pride—a feeling of abundance.

Cycling, like running, is more than just a sport for me. These activities are my way of connecting with my body and the world around me. When I cycle or run, I focus on feeling my body, muscles, breath, and heartbeat. I learn to recognize pain and fatigue. I become fully aware of my body, knowing when to stop and when I can keep going. When cycling, I often clear my mind. I never listen to music while riding; instead, I prefer to hear the rhythm of my breath, the sounds around me, and the wind rushing against my body as I descend hills or climb slopes.

I can’t recall exactly when I fell in love with cycling, but I’ve come to realize that it has become one of my most meaningful routines. When I miss a ride, something feels off and different. Perhaps, at this point, cycling has become an essential part of who I am.

Tangerang, 23 Agustus 2024

[smudge-scarlet]

The Final Evidence

It's over, @ellia-east. This ends here and now.

For those who don't know, Ellia and I are SWORN NEMESES. We've been fighting back and forth across various posts and reblogs, but this isn't a game anymore.

Ellia is a villain. And we're all in danger now.

My friends, my mutuals, my followers--I broke into Ellia's archives last night to retrieve this evidence. Listen to me, and you might have a chance of saving yourselves from the evil in our midst.

Let's start at the begining.

November 29, 2022. Ellia's first post:

Ellia sets foot in the grand land of tumblr, and the first thing she thinks to say is: "message me if you need anyone killed."

A contract killer with an obsession with the macabre. We could easily stop here, but this is only the begining of her malice. Stick with me.

Jan. 5, 2023. Ellia considers senseless murder:

Jan. 21, 2023. Ellia finds entertainment in others' pain, proclaims herself "evil" in the tags.

Feb. 7, 2023: Proves herself a bald-faced liar. Where's the book, Ellia?

She's a self aware hypocrite. She writes about blowing people up. She thinks about villains a suspicious amount. I could go on, but let's cut to the chase.

July 24th, 2023. Ellia discovers Alcohol and Ai

A shitpost, some might say. But this, my friends, is where everything changes.

Who knows what these dark powers showed her, but when Ellia gets back, what does she say in her very next post?

July 24th, 2023. Ellia's first victim.

Murder.

Tea.

Only a villain as vile as Ellia would taint such a drink with her crimes. If you didn't believe me before, believe me now.

There's just a few more details before I go.

July 31, 2023:

Oct. 1, 2023:

Oct 17, 2023:

I don't know what inspired these posts, but I do know Ellia. It was nothing good.

I only have one more thing to show you.

December 17, 2023. Ellia lets her subconsious take over.

It wasn't just her writing she gave over that day. Ellia succumbed to her dark side to become what she is now.

Who knows what she would've grown into if she remained unchallenged. But lucky for us, the innocent civilians of tumblr, fate had other plans.

Enter Smudge.

January 18, 2024. The meeting.

I called into the void.

Ellia answed.

And so it began.

You've watched us fight. You've seen this evidence for yourselves. You know the truth. There's only one thing left for you to do:

Run.

Run as fast and far as you can. Watch your backs. Spread the warning. But whatever happens, don't look back. I will try to contain this monster before it's too late.

@the-ellia-east. We're done with the scoreboards, and the truces, and the tic-tack-toe. It's just you and me now.

I know what you are. And I'm not afraid.

Come and fight me.

[castielsparkle]

Hey uh suppose you were trying to explain the destiel mineshaft to an idiot.....how would you explain it?

alright well. going to make this archived for future destiel mineshaft historians. might as well. (also do not worry ur not an idiot and neither is anyone else that doesnt understand the context LOL it truly is something that just Broke Containment<3)

The Great 2023 Destiel Mineshaft Incident Thesis/Autopsy/Deepdive

On January 18th, 2023, at 4:04PM this post was made, and here we can cite the first instance of the use of 'destiel mines.' Not entirely a concept yet, just a phrase. But here is where it can be traced back to.

January 28th, 2023, at 11:45PM, thee "winchester derangement syndrome three meal course" groupchat is started by Ro (@destielgaysex) (Initially groupchat was under a different name but i fear divulging into the 'lore' of that would distract us from our point.) I digress;

This group consists of three tumblr bloggers:

-Ro (@destielgaysex)

-Zo (@marycentric)

-Cas/Dex (self, @castielsparkle)

Over the course of the following days they (myself, the author, included in this) continue to watch supernatural together in voice call channels in a discord server, "gay people," mentioned below.

Around 9:13PM, January 29th, 2023, voice chat is initiated.

Exact time is not confirmed.

(Unsure of exact time,) Zo (@marycentric) eventually joins the voice channel.

Some time before 1:48AM Cas (@castielsparkle) joins the voice channel.

1:48AM, January 30th, 2023, this post is made.

1:48AM, January 30th, 2023, original post is reblogged with this addition. It is important to note this addition was made in reference to the first "destiel mines" post on Jan. 18th, refer to link one in paragraph one (of thesis.)

By 1:50AM, January 30th, 2023, the first moments of primitive, conceptual worldbuilding has begun.

Containment arguably was breached at 1:48AM, January 30th, 2023, when the first post that began circulation of the night was made, then reblogged by Quin (@tchotchkedean) however, some could say true containment breach happened 1:56AM, January 30th, 2023, here.

1:57AM, January 30th, 2023, first mention of minesnipers and the 15k fics per shift (one shift ending come midnight) requirements.

1:58AM, January 30th, 2023, first mention of "the incident" (explosion and subsequent collapse of mines.)

1:59AM, January 30th, 2023, reiteration of minesnipers.

2:14AM, January 30th, 2023, President Collins is introduced. This is also the first reference of "lol whar? haha whar?" being put directly into an original "destiel mines" post. This is believed to be a reference to the post made by Al (@hoziercd) at 3:19AM on January 29th, 2023, which can be found here. (Note that this predates majority of "Destiel Mines" posting.)

2:15AM, January 30th, 2023, it's like mineshaft in here. First footage on-record of Destiel Mineshaft site.

2:17AM, January 30th, 2023, second account of further breach of containment, from Al (@hoziercd)

2:22AM, January 30th, 2023, third account of further containment breach, this time regarding Timothy @maybenextjuneillgettoloveyou. (Note further reference to "whar?"-posting.)

Sometime around but not specifically proven to be at 2:28AM, January 30th, 2023, ambience is playing in discord voice channel to make blogging more immersive and evoke more passionate emotions of Destiel Mineshaft simulation.

2:31AM, January 30th, 2023, we are informed of the Destiel Miner's wages. (And later informed their Christmas bonuses are "parallels," according to on-site source Zo (@marycentric.) However, this was later debated as refutable by other employees, upon other things.)

2:36AM, January 30th, 2023, anonymous ask is received by Ro (@destielgaysex) inquiring about Destiel Mineshaft.

2:40AM, January 30th, 2023, more containment breaching from Dean (@howldean.)

2:48AM, January 30th, 2023, 22 minute mark of mine ambience in voice channel reached.

By 3:16AM, January 30th, 2023, there were at least four other instances of containment breach. Records will remain private at this time.

3:20AM, January 30th, 2023, references to President "Omega Longarms" Collins are made, with photographic evidence to back up claims of "sightings." This reference goes further back to a redacted document taking place at 1:19AM in an omitted server (I do not have access to) in a channel I've been loosely informed is regarded as "#mishafucking."

3:28AM, January 30th, 2023, hour two of simulated mine ambience immersion begins.

3:32AM, January 30th, 2023, final record of original textpost-form containment breach, from Linh (@castielsboyfriend.)

Not listed: various posts regarding the status of the mines, accounts of which vary slightly, but that is to be expected in any traumatic group experience. Archives can be found on the prior blogs listed.

additional points;

-coining of the namesake 'winchester derangement syndrome three meal course' should be accredited to @induboistably .

-timestamps take place during EST.

Please feel free to direct message author (myself, @castielsparkle) with any further inquiry/to correct any information if necessary/provide further context. 💙

EDIT AS OF 12:53PM, JANUARY 30TH 2023; my apologies for the negligence of mentioning the Miners Rebellion of 2084.

This was brought to my attention by mineshaft veteran @tchotchkedean.

This refers to a series of events regarding the uprising of those employed by Big Destiel and by extension President "Omega Longarms" Collins. This had a ripple effect on the Destiel Mineshaft community. There are multiple firsthand accounts of the workers dodging bullets from minesnipers and trying to escape. This also includes the resulting actions of minesnipers guarding the retirement homes of the workers, in disguise.

Sources for these claims include, but are not limited to:

Source

Source

EDIT AS OF 1:01PM, JANUARY 30TH, 2023; it has been brought to my attention the name of the discord server (gay people) was mentioned in a message, this is a personal error, as i confused it's title with that of a voice channel. Revisions have been made to correct this error. Thank you @destielgaysex for bringing this to my attention.

EDIT AS OF 1:53PM, JANUARY 30TH, 2023; my apologies, in my haste to write the document i failed to mention Em (@heller-castiel) was among the mines as well. Thank you for your service!

[ayyy-imma-ninja]

Hiii meg, ask game!!

1.how did you get here?

3.how long have you been here?

4.have you actually played fnaf sb?

hi Sunny!

1~ Story time! Back in January of this year, I had a pretty big scare with my gran where she fell and broke her hip that required surgery. I was the only one with her and my anxiety was really high. I had seen shandzii's Ask Sun and Moon series a while back cuz my friend Corey did the voice for Moon. And thinking about it, I suddenly found myself longing to watch it again. So I did. For days on end I consumed other media about Sun and Moon, and thus began my newest and current hyperfixation.

3~ So that also answers the second question: Been in the fandom since January 6 2023

4~ and I have not actually played the game myself. I enjoy watching certain games more than playing them

[eteisvalssi]

on christmas day i saw what you guys wrote on my christmas tree decorations and it got me so emotional and then i saw everyone else also getting sappy and writing something and so i started writing this back then but the post got too long and i was tired so instead i decided to finish this later and post it today on new year’s eve!

from telling my friend at the beginning of the year that i could never imagine myself going to see an artist multiple times in a short amount of time to literally seeing joker out twice in three days in september, this year has been full of unexpected events. finland almost won esc??? i found a new favorite band and traveled all the way to prague to see them??? i’ve found myself in some situations this year that i could’ve never imagined possible and it’s all thanks to this green rapper from finland and five slovenian guys in an indie rock band

i also want to say thank you to all of you. all of the people i’ve gotten to know in this fandom have been so nice! when i bought my tickets to the nordic tour, i didn’t have any friends in the fandom. but then i started using tumblr again and honestly you guys are the sweetest people ever and i feel so lucky to have you in my life 🩷 and not to forget all the friends i’ve made while queueing for the gigs (also the ones not on tumblr)! i couldn’t have asked for a better company for any of the gigs i’ve been to 🩷 i also hope that i’ll get to meet as many of you as i can next year!

this is getting long so i’m gonna ramble some more under a read more and sum up my year. have a safe new year everyone 🩷

i don’t remember much from the beginning of the year. i was heartbroken and after being a fan of esc for like 10 years i felt like i could never ever enjoy esc again (dramatic, i know). i did check the umk contestants when they were announced but didn’t really dig further into it. but it all changed when i woke up on the morning of january 18th and saw literally everyone talking about this green guy named käärijä and the song cha cha cha. of course that also made me check kuumaa’s song when it got released the next day and i immediately fell in love with ylivoimainen. even though ylivoimainen was my number one fave umk song this year, i do remember telling my friends that ccc is our only choice if we want to win eurovision.

in march i was going to my first käärijä gig. it was a esc themed student party and they had a esc song quiz before and we got to the finals but the other group was faster so we ended up second 🥲 for the concert we did end up in the front row (with less than an hour of queueing and we had time to actually sit down at a table before the gig??) but i ended up giving my spot to a nice fan because i could see from behind my friends just fine and i wasn’t really there for käärijä 😅

april 7th 2023. my 25th birthday. käärijä's first pre-party and so the first pre-party i followed this year. the day bojan and käärijä met. the next day i was watching the livestream of the concert and patiently waiting for käärijä's performance (jodelissa kaarinan lapsuuskuvat nevö foget <3) and that's also when my joker out brainrot actually began. it followed me all the way through esc and made me buy a ticket to the nordic tour and i feel like the rest is history so i'm just gonna do a quick recap

i joined tumblr again in july after getting tired of only using jodel. i had a busy summer at work but did go to one käärijä gig but other than that i feel like nothing else really happened until the nordic tour.

then the nordic tour came around and i just had the best time. i’ve already written gig reports from these so i’m not gonna go into detail but i got good spots both at tavastia and olympia, i talked to so many nice people and i sang umazane misli at tavastia. the most surreal moment though was when i found myself singing in a karaoke bar in tampere after the gig and i see the same people who i’d just watched perform singing along to me

after the nordic tour i really wanted to go see them again and so i booked tickets to prague and even though the queue was a mess and honestly i’m not gonna lie and say that i’m not still salty about it, but other than that i had such a good time! hanging out with my dear mutuals, seeing both lps and joker out and finally hearing the songs we hadn’t heard at the nordic tour and seeing the new outfits! i also got to hug both jan and bojan 🩷

i got to end my year of concerts the way i started it, by going to a käärijä gig, but this time it felt so much different compared to the one in march. i actually knew other songs than ccc this time 😅

personally 2023 was a year of growth and healing for me and i hope to have as much fun next year as i had this year. i have so much planned for next year, umk in february, joker out in march in helsinki and maybe somewhere else too so see you there 🩷

[3c0ra-zon3]

One Piece, food, and the Power of Friendship

(As someone who is in recovery for an eating disorder and is just beginning to form meaningful relationships after nearly 3 years of isolation.)

In September of 2023, I started watching One Piece because of the live-action I finally gave in. I was hooked from the beginning. I think there were a lot of driving factors to my instant connection with the show. It partially being my loneliness and partially my lack of job.

I think I want to preface my praise with an acknowledgement. One Piece is by no stretch of the word a perfect show. It has flaws from the pacing, the art style in certain arc, to more serious flaws like the way in which they portray some of the queer characters or Sanji's weird descent into complete perversion. One Piece has a lot of things in which it could do better, but I think, it is also a show that does a lot of things right.

One of the things it does incredibly well is food symbolism. Around 3, closer to 4, months ago, I posted about One Piece and food symbolism. Unfortunately, this isn't a post going more in-depth on it, though I've certainly considered it, I want to talk about how important it is to display food the way One Piece does. No matter how silly it may seem to most people, One Piece is a large reason I decided to move forward with trying to get better. I'd been struggling back and forth around the time I'd started watching One Piece but around December/January, I really began to descend into things worse and worse. I found myself growing distant from One Piece, I don't know if that was a subconscious thing because as I began to keep myself from food again I began to realize all the meanings that food was holding in One Piece or maybe it was just good old depression. Regardless, I pushed myself to continue as my enjoyment was far too great not to. Having shows that push, even passively or symbolically, that food is good and food is fuel is incredibly important and necessary. I struggle to think of many times in which food is regarded as bad, maybe in some arcs minor bad guy/girl mentioned not wanting food or keeping their figure, but to my recollection, there is little to none of that in the main cast or in general. In fact, we see Nami and Robin eating regularly. We see the crew enjoying food together, enjoying themselves around food. We see them eat for pleasure because something is yummy, not just for survival. And we see this constantly. We see this with so many crews. We see this at the end of most arcs when people are celebrating their freedom at last after month or years of poverty and starvation. I didn't fully recognize, even till writing this out, how important that passive/symbolic message was and is. I feel free? In a way. I feel lighter, I am not fully recovered, but I've slowly been finding myself enjoying food more, even before deciding to recover. One Piece made me recognize things that years of therapy couldn't. My therapist could tell me till she's blue in the face that I deserve food and freedom and happiness, but for some reason, a silly show about pirates and freedom made such a significant impact on me. Shows that push that passive influence works because it begins to slowly break down ideologies of self-hatredself-hate in a way therapy can't. It's similar to how the ideologies of self-hate became so ingrained in us in the first place, bit by bit in the shows and media we consume.

Then the theme that regards the power of friendship. I think this is something One Piece does better than most shows because it shows true unconditional love to someone. It shows that people can be friends despite different lives up until their meeting, or how it shows loving someone through hard times, or that bonds can be bone deep (yohoho) despite the short time you may know someone. I've never seen another show that so accurately portrayed the emotions I felt as someone who was outcasted and alone for so long. There was this connection I felt so deeply to Robin, that for along time I couldn't place. But, she ran and she was whatever she needed to be so that she could survive and have people around her and she searched for so long for the people that she could call her home. And, ok, I'm not on the run from a government and my people weren't wiped out, but! I was an autistic kid in public school who didn't have the best home life. I was desperate for love so I was whatever I needed to be so I could have people around me. Even when things got better-ish at home, I still struggled. Now, I was an autistic kid who had to move to another school cause the bullying got too bad. I was running but I couldn't get away I couldn't find my people. I was whatever I needed to be. Then around my mid 9th grade or 10th grade, I honestly have such a bad memory, I left in-person school to do online classes. I was alone, truly, for the first time. I wonder if Robin felt a similar empty confusion. I'm just barely beginning to find people to surround myself with for the first time that are, is as it's only one person, kind and caring to me and we connect.

I tried to condense this down and make a TLDR, but my brain exploded, so you get my barely edited kind of jumbled thoughts on this. I don't know, One Piece is just an important show. Despite its flaws it has a lot of important messages like you deserve freedom and food and happiness and people who will love you through hardships. I think it has a lot of things it could do better, but I also think there aren't many shows that do these themes so much justice and show them all at once. I think few shows will ever live up to what One Piece has done for me mentally. And, I think it proves that a lot more shows could replace the toxic passive messages they chose to use for more positive ones and that may help a lot of people, but who knows? I am just a Tumblr user that can't quite word things the way I wish to. Maybe that's the TLDR.