#I remembered when back then before the memes a lot of people had a strong hatred for that one main character being Sandler's Toonsona

[the-indie-owl]

Man, 8 Crazy Nights is so bizarre, I thought I was originally gonna hate it at first but for some reason, the Memes just twisted my opinion upside down as I am now in love with it (despite the gross humor).

And I hate it because the one song is catchy as hell that I can't stop listening to I guess.

[katyspersonal]

I know we don't talk and there's stuff we may not agree with. But I am truly sorry you've dealt with a lot of drama over fictional crap. And I'm sorry if my posts in the past ever contributed to that. Hope you have a better day.

Hey... That's all fine, don't worry! After all, it takes a lot of time and Insight to realise that Gehrman is a very gentle and respectful man and Godrick is an absolute gigachad kdkdkshdffhhgfds /lh /lh

But yeah, on a serious note. It was quite frustrating to find out the real motivation under all that... mess was something so pathetic, but at the same time this is what happens when people make engagement with media and fandoms a moral, political act. Not necessarily a problem, after all, I was the one who concluded that the way a fan judges fictional characters and other fans will very well reveal how cruel they are to real people who do something bad, or how much they will forgive based on personal sympathies. And my mad ravings about caring about female characters! I think the problem comes when a fan is so insecure that they have nothing else besides this defence of ideals through fandomry. If your only way to assert yourself is to be a good guy punishing the bad guys, and that mad raving loredigger discovers there is NO bad guy, what is left of you?

This is why it is crucial to have passion for nurturing rather than for undermining! I think if you speak like this, you've found this truth too? This is true that I don't know you very much (mutual-in-law thing), but to be honest.. you didn't poison my fandom experience at all? I tend to never be aware about discourse until someone basically calls me for help fhdhgsdgdfs Can't scout the fandom tag regularly!

But not only it actually was a quite long ago I saw a "negative" post from you, but also I've seen through the posts that my friends liked or reblogged from you that you've actually became very eager person to defend people's passion and interests! I think the post that particularly got stuck with me was when you resented seeing someone's light die after some Redditor asshole "well aktualy"'d a thing they were excited about creating (not exact wording but maybe you remember too)? Like... you are fine, man. At that point I realised that you were a good fan and in the end valued people's creativity and passion over personal preferences. That you never wanted to be THAT guy, even if your interpretation could not be further from someone else's. Coming to terms with what actually matters in fandomry is very mature and I am happy to see this attitude!

I am still glad that you messaged me about this though; I did not expect this, but thank you! I think I will continue getting involved in fictional discourse because my autistic senses cannot ignore factually incorrect takes with a clear insidious motive, and.. eh, sooner or later, I'll piss off the wrong guy again. Don't feel bad for me when it inevitably happens :p I've accepted the shortcomings when I decided to be the debate guy. Simply laughing at some gremlin starting a discourse with the girls in DMs and not stressing over it is only funny until I realise that newer fans could get misinformed right off the bat.

[max--phillips]

Okay here goes

First, the spoiler free stuff:

Ridley Scott knows how to make a fucking film.

If I don’t see fics of Acacius x reader x Lucilla I will begin biting

If you are going in it for Pedro, I will warn you his character is very important but kind of… idk, shallow is too strong of a word, but not very fleshed out. I don’t think that’s an issue in the greater scheme of the movie though, it makes sense in the plot and doesn’t feel out of place or bad in the universe.

If you are going in it for Paul Mescal, you will not be disappointed.

Please watch the first movie first. The story will not make any fucking sense if you don’t.

Just the right amount of flashbacks and footage from the first movie . Chefs kiss

Ridley Scott really said “all emperors and tyrants are nasty little freaks with terrible vibes”

Oh also if you’re squeamish about gore and stuff like. It’s a movie about gladiators so set your expectations accordingly. There is an instance of a disembodied head used as a prop. So y’know

Okay, spoilery stuff below the cut

Arishat was hot :( rip

Monkeys at the beginning? Terrible. 0/10 did not enjoy that. Also did not enjoy seeing and hearing Mr. Mescal BITING ONE

I love Ravi I would watch a whole movie just about him tending to gladiators’ wounds quite frankly. Give me that story

We love to see bisexuality on screen (even though that wasn’t a social identity at the time but we’re not here to talk about that) what with the concubines and drunk as fuck Macrinus

Speaking of drunk as fuck Macrinus: that whole scene was so fucking funny. They’re like that meme about people getting high. You know the one

Speaking of Macrinus—Denzel Washington stole the show. When TIME magazine pushed a story to me today headlined “Gladiator II Belongs to Denzel Washington,” I was like, pshhhh, nah. But it really does. It’s not about him? But it’s his fucking show.

The politics . THE POLITICS

It feels a little heavy handed right now but that wasn’t probably how it was intended, given it was made before. Y’know. The election. But the whole dream of Rome being a place where everyone is equal and cared for but you can only whisper it or it’ll shatter? Yeah.

Oh, right, Acacius: that dude is so tired he does NOT want to be there. Let him go home to his hot wife. Alas, his hot wife is the way she is and like… no good deed goes unpunished.

And I fucking called it with my text post a few months ago. Two (2) movies now where Denzel Washington (either directly or indirectly) kills Pedro Pascal. Brilliant

Admittedly selfishly I would’ve liked to see more of him. But it felt like the correct thing in the context of the story. If he didn’t die then, if he wasn’t the inciting event for the uprising of the people of Rome, it wouldn’t have made sense and it would’ve just been fan service and “look, we got Pedro Pascal!” at that point.

I would’ve liked to see a more in-depth exploration of the change in relationship between Lucius and Lucilla—it seems like they went from Lucius screaming at her to get out to them hugging it out without any real development between the two of them specifically. Obviously a lot had happened in the world of the movie at that point but nonetheless

Macrinus shooting Lucilla was his Icarus moment. There was no coming back from that. “But what about Geta” “but what about Caracalla” no. It was Lucilla. If she’d gotten got by the praetorian guards or something else, it would’ve been fine. But because it was Macrinus there was nowhere he could go from there other than [checks notes] getting his hand chopped off and then gutted in a dirty irrigation ditch.

Remember kids, the people in power who are causing all of the things going wrong in the world have names and addresses and are mortal <3

Also another takeaway from the movie: imperialism, religious extremism, ableism, and authoritarianism will be the end of us all <3

Anyway. Good movie. Can’t wait to watch it again in my own home with subtitles so I can actually like… process everything everyone was saying LMAO and take better reaction notes.

I’m still sitting in the theater parking lot it’s been like 30 minutes LMAO okay thanks for coming to my tedtalk or whatever

[princessbrunette]

alright. i know. i literally gave you an anakin prompt already. but☝️ ..i’m here with another one.

modern!anakin running one of those tumblr porn blogs to talk about his nasty little fantasies. (not sure you remember this, but i wrote him posting “i like doing evil things to pretty girls.” while ago as an example of that behavior) and you happen to follow him. maybe you interact with him because you’re intrigued by his gross language and you reach out (maybe you swap some pics, and agree to meet). not sure how you’d wanna play it but ! i thought you’d wanna know about it

i think what’s so sexy about him doing this is he’s like… oddly nonchalant about it? he’ll mutual you, but never come onto you in a sexual or creepy way bc he’s a people pleaser and cares too much about people thinking he’s a weirdo. instead he just sends you memes relating to something you posted about one time just to show he listens, you know?

and like duh, he wants to fuck you, he’s a guy with a dick. but it’s better just to befriend you first, right? doesn’t wanna be a douche about it.

but then the two of you start talking properly outside of just memes, and calling, and flirting, and oh god — you’re one of those people. falling for someone online. someone who wouldn’t care that much to fly out to see you right? right?

he ends up in your city, and suddenly you’re picking him up from the airport ?? and you’re thinking jesus christ, yeah i’ve seen pictures of him and he’s very good looking but that’s gotta be… altered in some way right? there’s no way someone that fine runs a tumblr blog that depraved… and soon all 6ft- what, 4? of him is walking towards you in the airport, smiling so friendly and opening his sculpted arms for a hug and you’re just ????? fuck my life ??????

so the two of you go out to a bar, and literally one glass of wine in each and you’re giving him the big doe fuck me eyes, talking so much you don’t even think to get a second drink, the chemistry buzzing through your bones and up your skirt. he didn’t think he’d be getting lucky this fast, jesus — he booked to be here for like 2 weeks so he can really milk it out of you. poor thing was just too needy for it.

you’re blabbering how you’ve never done this before, having some guy fly out and fucking him on the first night when you leave the bar arm in arm, headed straight for his hotel. you think he might crumble under the pressure, again — who runs a blog that depraved and actually knows how to do all the stuff they talk about? but he’s so calm, collected, chuckling at your eagerness, reiterating one million times that there doesn’t ’have to’ be anything. not to feel pressured to do anything just because he flew out. great, so he’s a good guy too. you’re surprised your arousal wasn’t running down your legs like a faucet.

he knows his stuff, and it shows back in the hotel room, bringing you a glass of water even though you had one glass, telling you to drink it, forcing every form of consent out of you because he needs to know you want this like he does. even so, so much kissing once you start — giving you time to back out, giving you time to get so drooly and desperate you’re humping his lap and nearly crying.

anakin soothes you. “what do you want baby? flew out here just to see this pretty face, lemme give you what you want sweet girl just gotta tell me.” muttering it against your lips like he’s casting a spell.

“wanna — wanna do all the stuff you wrote about. thought about it every night.” you mewl, your tits heaving against his strong chest. there’s that low chuckle again, pretty smile lines on his cheeks you can’t help but kiss.

“mm, i remember a few you liked a lot. what was that one about having you on my lap, dick all in your guts, just rubbing that pretty clit ‘til you cream all over it. something like that, right baby?” his hands are massaging your hips and god — yes, yes yes whatever you say, nodding so hard your head might come off.

safe to say he keeps his word, showing you everything he knows.

[adachimoe]

If this guy had just been a magician then we wouldn't be dealing with this shit

During one of his Social Link rank ups, Adachi implies some things about his career. I know, I know, he said "I became a cop because GUNS". But also: he's a dumbass.

Thus far, the player has only seen Adachi being a bumbling moron running away from a little old lady at Junes. But we see a side of him we haven't seen before: It turns out that he has sleight of hand and he's quite good at performing magic tricks.

He doesn't think he could have made a living if he had gone into a profession working with his hands, even if he does demonstrate that he's good at it. He does acknowledge that his life might have been different. And when fiction does things like this, we in the audience know that the unspoken implication is that he would be a lot happier this way.

Adachi doesn't exactly try to hide how much he hates his life. But, at the same time, it's not like he tries to do much to change it. Part of it we see in his rank 6 social link when he talks about how "I'm lonely, but it's easier that way". But another part of it is that by being a police officer instead of a magician or something else, he gets to work at a government job. Job security certainly contributes to one's quality of life.

But I think there is something else worth noting about this, and it's based entirely off the year Adachi was born - 1984. (Insert the "literally 1984" calendar meme image here.)

Adachi was born when Japan's economy was flourishing and the Yen was quite strong. Based on the timing, I think his parents had a kid under the assumption that, "Japan is prosperous, the Yen is powerful, things are great, everyone has money, or other valuable assets (stock/land)". If you've played Yakuza 0, this might vaguely sound familiar when it comes to Kiryu's story and his adventures in real estate.

This is a hilariously bad and overly simplified explanation, but it wasn't until the year after Adachi was born when the country and the bank began having economic issues. This eventually lead to the big blow up in the early 90s, stock and real estate nosedived, and the whole country went into a period of economic stagnation called the Lost Decades.

During Japan's period of growth, the country was seen as a powerhouse. My dad remembers when Japanese tourists were traveling all over due to strong yen - really a reversal of how it is now with people flocking to Japan due to how weak it is. People there would get a job and be set for life. While this was thanks to their economy and the assumption that "Wow, we have a lot of $$ in land and/or stocks, things are great", the "hired for life" thing can also be seen as being tied to Japanese labor laws. This changed after the economy exploded, and some companies began taking on temp workers who had less rights and less protections.

If you start to compare Adachi's situation and birth year to the main cast, it's really no wonder they make him so damn mad and frustrated lol.

Yukiko and Kanji can inherit their family businesses. Their families aren't wealthy, but they have stable businesses they operate out of their family homes. They can inherit both land and jobs.

In Yukiko's Social Link, she talks about getting licensed as an interior coordinator as a backup in case the ryokan doesn't work out... Hm, I think learning that she even has options would piss Adachi off further lol.

Naoto I am under the impression is doing well since she already has a career as a detective, plus the backing of her grandfather.

Yosuke's family doesn't own Junes, but his dad is the manager at the Inaba store, and nepotism is a thing. But it seems that he too has options, as in Ultimax, he's going to cram school so he can go to university.

Rise already has a career. Unfortunately, it's part of Japan's terrible and exploitive idol industry.

Even Marie has a career, it seems.

One can assume that if Adachi's parents got on his ass if his grades dropped, then Adachi does not stand to inherit something from his parents (or perhaps their assets lost value?), nor is he already successful.

Chie feels like the outlier here. From what we know about her, her parents don't have a business she can inherit, no famous grandfather, she's not a popular idol, and she doesn't have Main Character privilege. We also know from her Social Link that she wants to become an officer like Adachi.

Really, I think Adachi is too young to have grown up on promises of some kind of prosperous future thanks to Japan's strong economy, merely to have the rug pulled out from under him and have his dreams crushed in 1991 (he'd only be 7, after all). So where Chie might optimistically see the ability to help and protect people as an officer, Adachi might see stability and survival because of his parents and how they raised him and the economic situation.

"Don't be a magician, get a secure job" is something our parents would tell us in the west too, so maybe it doesn't seem that special or related to their economic situation at all. Pretty sure his folks would say it to him even if he was born some 10-15 years earlier. But I think it does help illustrate why he would pick security (or why his parents picked security for him), his failure case (have fun being a replaceable temp worker while waiting for your big break as a magician), and what some of his ire towards the Investigation Team is about (he had to study; why do they get to go kill god after school???). In some ways, he feels like an American millennial whose life was affected by economic circumstance, but everything that comes out of his mouth makes him sound a boomer lol. Get off my dungeon lawn, you damn kids.

[accio-victuuri]

CPN : the birth of “weiba” ( weifen wangba ) 😂

even while writing this, i’m still not entirely sure how people are seeing the data about these newcomers. i’m thinking it functions like any other online groups like a super topic. you can see which specific accounts have recently joined.

if you’re looking at the bjyx st, it’s pretty lively and people are celebrating because of the rapid increase in members ever since last night. around 2PM i think it’s 6k++ and then right now i checked again, it’s 9k+. that’s a lot, considering these two have not interacted publicly for so long. maybe we will finally cross the 4 million mark before the year ends. 🫶🏼

so what’s all this talk about “weiba”?

it’s a combination of weifen ( what we call solo fans ) and wangba ( us turtles ) . the conversation is around these wfs joining the ST overnight. so much so that you see people posting a meme ( taken from ome and only )!about a moto & shrimps housewarming 😂😂😂

This is actually not new, the whole concept of a wf being cpf friendly. There are spaces like douyin where these 3 groups co-exist and will sometimes tease each other. It’s not always toxic, but oftentimes it is. There were a few times before too when a particularly strong cpn comes out and turtles screenshot the reactions of wfs who are confused and feel like bjyx may be true.

Now what’s the “cpn” that probably sent them over the edge?

I’ve talked a bit about it here and it’s related to XZ’s work schedule change.

For the longest time, he was going to work in Condor Heroes early in the day. Then in 7/26, it was bit late but this could only be slightly affected by WYB’s condition. Remember that YBO announced that WYB is sick in the evening of 25th and they were in Hunan ( based on the IP ). We are not sure if Yibo is also there or just the staff but the thought is he did intend to come. In the 26th, WYB probably came back to Beijing a bit later or if he was already in BJ, ZZ can’t change his schedule. Then on the 27th, ZZ’s schedule is way later than his usual. Same with the 28th. These days we CPN that ZZ spent time with sick WYB before going to work. Then on 7/29, ZZ goes back the his old schedule and WYB is the same.

An additional speculation here is the photo going around of ZZ giving out drinks to Condor Heroes cast and crew. This is not something new. We know ZZ loves to treat the crew. However, this time, we interpret this as him giving his “apologies” cause he had to come in to work later than usual for the past days. ☕️

That’s it everyone! tbh, I don’t care if wfs cross over to being turtles or what. I still believe in staying in our own lanes and treating each other with respect. Just enjoy our own corner/s fandoms. ✌🏼

PS: Another probable reason for some newcomers are those who watched One and Only, then looked into WYB. 🫶🏼

-END.

[upon-a-starry-night]

Number Neighbors Pt.1

Natasha x Fem!Reader

Natasha Masterlist         Series Masterlist

Word Count: 970

Summary:  When you catch sight of the newest trend going around you know you’re all but bound to at least try it, it was harmless anyway. What could possibly stem from something so little?

~~~~ You were told you were a naturally curious person, you tried every hobby you saw, new things caught your attention, and trends were constantly popping up on your social media that you’d wanted to try. So when you’d caught sight of the newest trend going around you knew you were all but bound to at least try it, it was harmless anyway. 

What could possibly stem from something so little?

You’d just woken up from a dream about living in a beautiful house with some woman you’d met online, inside of the dream you were sitting on the counter while the woman made breakfast. Your brain was still fuzzy with sleep as you were trying to recall the memories of the dream before they faded away. 

You really should keep a dream journal with all the odd dreams you have.

You remember the dream almost exactly but the woman was blurry in your memory, her face never fully visible and always changing so you could never quite get a clear grasp on her features. But there is one thing that you could recall; clear striking green eyes. 

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Your second alarm spooked you out of your thoughts and you shook your head, silently erasing the dream like an Etch-a-Sketch. As you grabbed your clothes for your shower you remembered your late-night activity; scrolling through copious amounts of online videos, and deduced those were definitely a contributor to your weird dreams. 

As you were opening your phone to set up your shower music you got a notification from one of your favorite news articles.

“Social Media’s New Craze! Meet Your #NumberNeighbor!”

You chuckled a bit, this new trend had been going crazy ever since some girl had found out she was number neighbors with a celebrity. No doubt everyone was trying to have the same lucky result as she did. 

Even you had to admit over the past few days you’d been resisting the temptation to try it for yourself. But you were worried your number neighbor might be some sort of perv or weirdo that asked you for feet pics. However, with all the stories you’d been reading over the past few days of people finding new internet best friends, the temptation and curiosity were quickly becoming too much to bear. So to save yourself from curiosity overload you shrugged your shoulders and typed your number with one digit off into your phone.

          Unknown Contact

                                    Y/n: Hello!

It was simple, nothing fancy or weird for a first text, you didn’t want to scare them away by coming off as too strong. You could save the memes for the future- if there ever was one. There was no immediate response and you deflated after a few minutes, sometimes no one owned the other number, and a lot of the time people chose to ignore texts from random numbers. 

You couldn’t really blame them honestly. Although, you also had to take into account that it was currently 7 AM and most people didn’t wake up at that hour on purpose… except for those who like to indulge in self-torture that is.

You got yourself ready for the day, taking a nice long warm shower (including having a shower concert) and making yourself a quick breakfast. You were seconds away from forking another bite of your syrupy waffle into your mouth when your phone chimed with a notification. You were a bit confused at the sight of a text notification, having forgotten about your spontaneous early morning decision, but as soon as the memory popped back into your head you were eagerly unlocking your phone and opening the message.  

          Unknown Contact

Unknown: 

Hi? I’m sorry, who is this?

                                                                                    Y/n: 

                                 Right sorry, I realize now how weird just saying hi is

                                 I’m your number neighbor!

Unknown: 

What is that?

                                  Y/n: 

                                  :0 You don’t know what a  

                                   number neighbor is?

Unknown: 

No.

                               Y/n:

                                It’s where you text the number that’s one digit off of yours!

Unknown: 

You expect me to believe that you got this number by coincidence?

                             Y/n: 

                              Why? Are you some sort of celebrity?

                               If you don’t believe me just look at my number 

                               it should be one digit different than yours.

                              You can even look it up online it’s super popular right now

Unknown: 

huh

I guess you’re right

but I’m going to need you to lose this number

                               Y/n:

                                Aw, what? Why?

Unknown: 

because it’s a very private number

                                   Y/n: 

                                    Wait omg are you like the FBI or something?

Unknown: 

or something.

                                    Y/n: 

                                     That’s so cool!

                                     Do you solve crimes like how they do in criminal minds?

Unknown: 

You mean that crime show

on Netflix?

                                          Y/n: 

                                           Yes! I’ve seen like all of the episodes a hundred times

                                           Have you ever seen it?

Unknown: 

can’t say that I have

                ��                         Y/n:

                                           You have to watch it! It’s sooo good

Unknown: 

I guess I’ll have to take your word 

seeing as you’ve seen it a hundred times

                                         Y/n:

                                          😳 ok so that miiiight have been an over exaggeration

Unknown:

I never would’ve guessed

                                        Y/n: 

                                         Ha! So you do have a sense of humor!

                                         Good to know

                                         Oh shoot I’m gonna be late for work, It was really                                                    lovely texting you!

                                         Byeee!

Unknown: 

Bye. 

You were smiling the whole drive to your work, sure they might be some sort of FBI secret service person but they seemed nice- not a dry texter at least, and it didn’t seem like they were too annoyed that you were texting them. You wanted to give them some space since they’d asked you to lose their number, and you completely understood their hesitation, but the excited feeling that settled in your stomach told you that you were not going to be able to resist texting them again.

Pt.2

A/n: I’m still contemplating this format but I think it’s better than pictures of text messages don’t you? Lmk :)

[sepublic]

Haha we meme on Stilgar as the funny "LISAN AL-GAIB" man but tbh I think there's a lot of nuance towards his character arc in how he doesn't really start off that way? In the context of Part 2, I mean. Because I think of how early in the film he approaches Jessica about becoming Reverend Mother, and he pretty blatantly acknowledges that Paul isn't necessarily the Lisan al-Gaib; The way Stilgar has to basically strong arm Jessica into agreeing doesn't come across as a fanatical worshipper appealing to his gods. He knows he holds power over these outsiders and he's blunt about it behind closed doors, more or less admitting that he isn't 100% sure but this Lisan al-Gaib figure is very useful for helping the Fremen overthrow their oppressors, so that's where Stilgar is throwing his lot.

It reminds me of a lot of the discussion regarding the Catholic church, particularly in regards to stuff like Galileo. I remember a lot of the mainstream assumption being that the Pope and his followers were superstitious guys who were genuinely afraid of deviating from the Bible, but then actual historians came around and painted a more realistic picture; In the end, it wasn't that they necessarily thought the sun went around the earth. It was that by challenging what the church decreed, Galileo challenged their authority and made them seem weaker; And so they had to double down on their geocentric understanding of the universe to defend that. Similarly, King James I didn't necessarily believe in witches, but they did provide a handy boogeyman to rally his people against, and make himself seem like a more legitimate leader.

That's how I see Stilgar, as he starts off; He doesn't necessarily worship the Lisan al-Gaib, but he believes that a messianic figure is just the kick the Fremen need to rally together and defeat their colonizers. Everybody loves a martyr, after all. He might chant about the Mahdi, but his priority has always been the Fremen people, and he is their true leader, with Paul being the puppet face he's pushing everyone into paying attention to.

The scene where Paul denies being the Mahdi, only for Stilgar to be like "Omg the Mahdi is so humble that means he is the Mahdi!!!" feels less like he actually thinks this, and more like... He's bullshitting his way into interpreting whatever Paul does, even if it seems fairly anti-Mahdi, as proof that he's the guy the Fremen need. Paul denouncing the idea was pretty inconvenient but Stilgar found a way to make it work; I guess it’s like how Jessica is also trying to push an unwilling Paul to embrace his role, but for different reasons. And Paul and Stilgar seem much more in tune with one another over how far they’ll go, because they’re much more in agreement about this being for the sake of the Fremen; Indeed, before he drinks the Water of Life, Paul seems to begrudgingly go along because he’s been convinced that it will help these people that he realizes he cares about too, which leads to his outburst at his mother when he feels her motives are insincere (unlike Stilgar’s).

So Stilgar is, for a while, the actual leader of the Fremen, and he is knowingly using Paul and Jessica for his people's freedom, without being aware that he's falling for the Bene Gesserit's propaganda to begin with. He thinks it can't be that bad, he's got a handle on it, but Chani knows better. And I should clarify that I don't blame Stilgar for this, he is an indigenous leader fighting back against colonization who desperately needs what he can get, and Paul and Jessica do end up colonizing the Fremen themselves.

Plus, he's still fairly decent to Paul himself, because even if Stilgar doesn't necessarily consider him the messiah, he still views Paul as an ally that can help the Fremen; That's how he becomes a friend to Paul. When Stilgar pulls Paul over and reassures him not to get a Sandworm too big, everyone already believes in him, it feels like they’re both in on the mutual secret that Paul isn’t necessarily the messiah but he IS a rallying figure for the Fremen, so they both play into that for the sake of the Fremen, right? There’s still enough of a level field that Stilgar can pull over the Mahdi for a private conversation away from the others about something potentially scandalous, rather than the other way around.

But then that friendship is ruined, because somewhere along the way Stilgar sees Paul's achievements rack up, and get closer and closer, in an uncanny way, to the prophecy; And Stilgar begins to think, Oh hey that's actually just like what was written. Okay that's only what a Lisan al-Gaib could do. Holy shit I think he might actually, literally, be a magical chosen one. And now Stilgar is willing to eat his own shit for Paul if the Lisan al-Gaib told him to. And that's why Paul mourns their lost friendship, because you can't have a real friendship with such an inherent power imbalance between worshipper and their God.

And it's all pretty sad to me, that Stilgar started off as a dude basically entertaining what he acknowledges may be a white lie, for the sake of his people... Only to find himself realizing this 'white lie' might be the real deal, and being so caught up in that revelation that before he knows it, he now prioritizes the Lisan al-Gaib over the Fremen this guy was supposed to be for. I think of how Stilgar kneels to sacrifice himself so Paul can become leader, as tradition; But then Paul says no, and Stilgar defies his own Fremen tradition because the Lisan al-Gaib told him to.

He lost sight of who this was supposed to be about, and that's why Stilgar sees nothing wrong with leading his fellow Fremen off of their homeworld to die fighting a bunch of strangers on foreign worlds. He doesn't object to Paul holding hostage their own way of life. He wasn't exactly superstitious, or at least Stilgar had people he prioritized over those beliefs; But when you see so many miracles, you begin to fear the divine and hold it above all else. Stilgar and Paul both felt the need to push this Lisan al-Gaib idea as a necessary evil, the only way to help the Fremen out of their dilemma, only to become fanatical mad men by the end of it. Maybe the idea of a Messiah seemed an easy lie, a safer and more practical way out of colonialism; But it ended up being colonialism but with a different, unrecognizable face. Because despite the promise to liberate Arrakis from the Harkonnens, the Fremen ended up worshipping a Harkonnen.

[mercurygray]

Hi Merc! For the sleepover meme - What do you think happens to Doris after the war? Does she go back to Chicago? Marry a boy from the neighborhood? Or does life have other plans for her?

You know, Jess, I'm so glad you asked, because this reminded me that I still needed to post the epilogue of The Darkening Sky. I have just done so - and I wish everyone joy of reading it.

I think Doris likes the world that's opened up to her since being in the Army. She's met a lot of people who are very different from her, and made a lot of friends she wouldn't have otherwise ever met. Home is important, and she'll get there...eventually. But there are still places she wants to see.

Since the earliest days of TDS, I've had someone in mind for Doris - and I'm happy I can finally share this piece I've had sitting in my drafts since 2021 about it.

He was thinking about John, happy enough drinking boilermakers in a Melbourne bar and complaining through the champagne they'd made him and Lena drink at their wedding luncheon. "It's for sissies," he'd repeated, over and over until he was nearly red, but Lena wouldn't take no for an answer, and he'd finally relented, downing one glass like a shot and getting a face full of fizz for his trouble. "Lena, where'd you find an Italian who doesn't like wine?" all her friends had asked, and Lena had only laughed, his hand wrapped around hers like he'd never let go.

No one else could have made him drink the stuff but her - but that was part of what he loved about her, wasn't it? That she was an unstoppable force who would not be refused. He'd remembered thinking, watching them at that table in the hotel over lunch, that John had all the luck, a medal, a commission, this beautiful woman to love him. They'd thrown away the mold when they'd made Lena, he was sure of it, because he'd yet to meet a woman before or since who could match her for smiles and spark and sheer determination to see a thing done. (There was a reason she'd joined the Marines, and married one to boot.)

It had been a long time since JP had seen her - longer still since he'd written. He should fix that.

But thinking of her was making him glance across the room at the woman from earlier, with the jump wings and the neat row of ribbons on her jacket. She was still holding a table on the other side of the bar, alone. 

"Ask her to dance!" He could still hear Lena's voice, urging him to ask one of her friends out onto the dance floor at her reception. "Or is a big strong Marine like you afraid of a couple of strong women?" 

He and John had joked enough about what a female leatherneck must have looked like, when they'd first shipped out to the Canal - but John had never joked about the Reserve after he'd married Lena.

He looked at the beer and the shot across the table, and could almost see the man himself, giving him one of those long, unamused glances that said, in no uncertain terms, what he really thought of JP and whatever decision he'd just made. You know, if you'd hadn't been such a jackass...

 "You're really giving me that, aren't you?" he mumbled to the glass and the empty chair. But his memory of John just kept on smirking. She really is kinda cute - and marine or no, she wasn't taking any of your crap. It was pretty hot.  "Oh, fine." He sighed, finished his beer, and took John's from the other side of the table, downing the shot and pressing through the bar to her table, clearing his throat and waiting for her to make eye contact. 

"Seems I, ah, might owe you an apology. I was out of line, earlier, and I'm sorry, for being such a heel about it."

She studied him for a moment, obviously debating whether to take him seriously or not. "Apology accepted." 

"You, um, waiting for someone?" He asked, indicating the undrunk beer on the table across from her.

"Not unless Saint Peter's giving 24 hour passes," she replied, still a little sharp, her hands wrapped around her own pint glass in an almost thoughtful manner. She was cute, all dark eyes and dark hair, shorter and filling every inch of her uniform in a way that he found, on further review, that he found quite attractive. (John could keep the tall, skinny ones - a guy liked something to hold onto, once in a while, something that felt real.)

"Friend?" No sooner were the words out than he found himself adding Please don't say boyfriend.

She nodded - a relief. "A couple of ‘em."

"Me, too." She looked up, mildly interested. "Did this once with a buddy, in Melbourne," he said, holding up the beer. "Went out and got loaded on account of another friend of ours. Now I'm ...drinking for both of 'em and thinking I got no one to drag my sorry ass home when it's over."

"They'd be the ones dragging me home, too," she responded, still a little cagey, but thoughtfully so, and, finally, unwrapped her hands from her beer and held one out to shake. "Sergeant Doris Russo, 506th Parachute Infantry." Her grip was firm and her palm calloused - a hard-working hand, one that had seen some things and done some things in the last two years.

"Sergeant JP Morgan, Seventh Marines."

She indicated the beer and the empty seat in front of her with a sweep of her eyes. "Tell me yours and I'll tell you mine," she said with a patient smile, letting him arrange himself on the chair (and carefully move the undrunk beer out of the way) while she flagged down a waiter for a refill.

--

Doris Russo, uneager to return to Chicago, took a short assignment with the Army at the Presidio, in San Francisco, where she met her future husband, a Marine returning from the Pacific. She received no end of teasing about this at later Easy Company reunions. They have four children, and Doris was very active in her childrens’ education, serving on the school board.

[maaarine]

‘There are some really extreme views’: young people face onslaught of misogyny online (Clea Skopeliti, The Guardian, March 01 2024)

"The content he consumed focused on “intimate things that spoke to your insecurities”, he remembers.

In some ways, parts of the messaging he came across online, including in memes, “was quite helpful – that you are deserving of love,” he says.

“But it pointed me in the wrong direction – that [my unhappiness] was the fault of feminism.”

For a couple of years in his early teens, Ben held views that he has now done a “complete 180” away from.

He would watch videos with titles such as “Feminist destroyed in argument” and feel vindicated in his positions.

He now sees that those clips only showed a partial view. “I felt ‘I’m the rational one here’. It started snowballing from there.”

In the end, it was his father who pulled him out before he got in too deep.

During long drives alone, the two of them would have “painful but constructive” discussions about his views.

“In the car there was no opportunity to walk away, so I had to challenge how I was thinking about issues.

My dad pointed me to systemic reasons rather than the easy answers I got off the internet.

I was lucky that I had a strong paternal figure to do that for me – I’ve got other friends who don’t have someone to pull them out.”

Although Ben remembers having arguments with his older sister and mother about feminism, he says his anti-women bias at the time made him unreceptive – even though he now acknowledges that his mum’s arguments were not “qualitatively worse”.

“It can be painful to let go of a worldview that offers comfort, Ben says.

��When you’re so locked in that mindset, the difficulty in facing yourself … holds back a lot of guys from changing their minds. I felt like I had the rug torn out from underneath me.”

(…)

The rise of online misogyny is due to a “coalition of factors”, Reeves says.

“We need to think about the success of misogynist influencers against a backdrop of financial insecurity, the pandemic, social isolation and huge mental health pressures.

The success of these influencers lies in their ability to stoke insecurities – their diagnosis is misleading and harmful.”

She says it is in the financial interest of these influencers “to cultivate a sense of crisis”."

[tathrin]

Hi! How does a pirate au with gigolas sound?

From this prompt-meme.

Oh definitely not like something that's been slowly simmering in the back of my mind ever since I first saw this thing months ago.

We're going with a sort of East India Trading Company/Golden Age of Piracy era-mythos for our vibes, and a world that has less magic and epic battles to its history than Middle-earth for our setting, but one that still has our various fantasy species running around.

Númenor is sort of like an England/America hybrid, in that it's a newer land than the main continent, very expansionist/colonialist in attitude, and simultaneously an old power, because it has a bunch of colonies on the old continent now, and a belligerent attitude towards everyone else. They are the largest sea-power and like to claim even more dominion than they actually have.

Meanwhile to the south-west of them we have the islands of the Teleri (Eressëa) which are widely described as "the last free elven isles," and mainly stay that that by being A: not enough trouble to conquer and B: too much trouble to conquer. They keep to themselves (and their waters shrink a little more each year as Númenor keeps pressing in) so no one feels inspired to deal with them, and there's a lot of risk to trying to because water gets weird around those islands. Lots of shipwrecks, lots of strange creature in the waves. (The Teleri get some sort of mingled siren/kraken vibes here.) The eastern elves tell stories of a farther island beyond theirs, where no mortals have ever gone; where the seas themselves are sundered so as to protect their inhabitants from all encroachment...but more people these days know those are just fairy tales. There is no Western Shore; there are no Undying Lands. That's all just old sailors' stories and superstitions.

Anyway, Middle-earth itself: very old-school Europe vibes going on here, with lots of little kingdoms always sniping at one another for advantage, and whose power-balance has been kind of skewed by the Númenorian Colonies of Gondor and Arnor—really not colonies anymore at this point, because Númenor looked back east generations ago and decided to return to their ancestral homeland and claim it again farther back than any living mortal can remember. That doesn't stop Númenor from treating them like colonies still, which Denethor, the current ruling steward, isn't thrilled by. His people are more torn on the issue, with half of them liking the regalness of being Númenorian and the other half resentful at not being able to rule themselves. They even had a king once, for a few generations, but that collapsed during the civil wars called the Kinstrife, which were rumored to have been instigated by Númenor itself, although no one was ever able to prove that. There are rumors that an heir escaped the slaughter (Anastasia vibes!) but no one has been able to find proof of that. It may be no more than a pretty story. At any rate, no king has been seen in Gondor for generations.

Beyond the colonies of Gondor and Arnor, Númenor has other strong allies on the continent as well: Erebor, for one. The dwarves of the Lonely Mountains were driven from their home by the last of the dragons long ago, and the deal that their king made to acquire Númenorian assistance for taking it back from Smaug left the dwarves more indebted to the Númenorians than they intended. If only they could have found the Arkenstone, and been able to buy Númenor off with that the way they had planned...but if the Arkenstone was ever among Smaug's horde, it must have vanished at some point before the siege. (Some dwarves insist that it was there, had to have been there; and the only way it could be gone was if Númenor betrayed their word and burgled it when the dwarves' backs were turned—but that is a claim they cannot prove, alas, and so they must live with their debts to the White Island.) Erebor's might is more of craft than warfare, but those crafts have been put to good work on behalf of Númenor's military, and their armies are now the best-outfitted in the world, thanks to Ereborian smith-craft and manufacturing. They are allies far too valuable for Númenor to ever give up, no matter how richly they repay that debt.

As for the elven-lands, perhaps the most notable is the smallest: Rivendell. Founded by the brother of the First King of Númenor, Rivendell occupies a unique place in Númenorian headspace: it is deeply respected, but also looked down on a little. Elrond was clearly the lesser brother, choosing a life of lore and healing over the leadership that should have been in his blood; and yet, he is known for that wisdom, and his healing arts have saved many lives. He sails to Númenor occasionally to share his knowledge with their healers (although less often with each century) and to walk the lands where his brother once lived and died, and he is well-loved there...but they prefer the legend of Elrond to the reality, and their leaders more and more often welcome him with strained smiles than they do with open ones. Elrond will not participate in any endeavour which would lead to war, and the suffering that comes from such conflict; that does not mean that he approves of Númenors politics in these days of domination, and while he is always polite and respectful, he does not hesitate to offer its rulers his true opinions and advice.

They don't really care for that. But he is Elros's brother, so they force smiles and grateful platitudes, and then try and bundle him back onto his ship and off to his lovely but insignificant little valley as quickly as possible, and try to think about him and his dour warnings as little as they can when he's not around.

Mirkwood is the largest elven-kingdom, and the only one these days that truly counts as a kingdom. The lords of Númenor aren't keen on such a large nation existing without paying even lip-service allegiance to them, but on the other hand...does anyone really want alliance with Mirkwood? It's a terrible place, dark and dour and full of monsters. The elves there aren't like other elves; they're less wise, less refined...more dangerous. Feral, almost. There are rumors that—well, really it would be easier to compile the stories that aren't told about Mirkwood than to start listing all the ones that are. Death lives in those black trees. Even the water is dangerous to drink, more likely to cast you into a hundred years of dreams than to refresh your thirst. There are spiders in there the size of horses, deer with all their bones on the outside of their skin, squirrels that are venomous and moths that suck your blood. It is said that if you hear laughter in those trees, you might as well slit your own throat before the merry sound dies because you'll never escape the terrible, laughing things that hunt there. The stories even say that there are ghosts in those woods, wandering the south lands by the ruined citadel that towers over those gnarled black trees.

No one sane would live in Mirkwood. No one sane would even set foot in Mirkwood. No one sane should want anything to do with Mirkwood—and Númenor does not. Even the Daleman, known for being provincial weirdos, know better than to actually go into those black trees, even if they're deranged enough to trade goods with the elves that lurk there. Well, let them; and on their own heads be it when the wicked elvenking leads his people out for a feast of man-flesh!

(Some of the stories are true, but even the other elf-lords no longer know how many. Mirkwood has done far too good a job of spreading those terrible tales for anyone—maybe even them, sometimes—to remember which are false, and which are real. Even other elves steer-clear of those black trees, these days.)

The last elven-realm, Lothlórien, is something of an outlier among all the lands of Middle-earth: it is a small realm, which neither offers nor seeks trade or commerce with others, and yet which wields an outsize power in the affairs of greater nations. Lórien is a land of lore and mysteries, and it is said that the elf-witch who rules those golden trees can read a man's secrets merely by glancing at his eyes. Númenor wishes no war with the eerie elves of Lothlórien. Lady Galadriel is consequently invited to every grand affair of state, and never ever wanted there. Sometimes she attends (likely just to remind Númenor that she is real, and should not be trifled with) but mostly she stays in her trees, whispered about yet unseen.

As for the other lands of Middle-earth, many of them are tired of being to some degree under Númenor's heel, but not to the point of daring to risk open war against them. They all remember what happened to Eregion when Ost-in-Edhil's smith-lords though to oppose Númenorian domination.

Now, the world has settled into a sort of tense peace, where nation-states fight through commerce rather than the battlefield, and use their armies more for posturing and prestige than actual warfare.

Into this world, enter the pirates.

Númenor's domination of the sea has not gone unopposed. Círdan long defied them, until they sent their entire navy against him, landing soldiers to crush the Havens and take him and his lords prisoner back to Númenor for trial and punishment—but though the Havens fell, Círdan was not found there. Some say that he and all those closest to him were slaughtered, and Númenor covered it up; others say that he managed to slips their nets and sail West, and find the promised shores beyond the islands of the Teleri; still others say he is on those oceans still, hurrying Númenors ships as a rebel captain of a small pirate fleet. Whenever a ship fails to return to harbor, there are whispers that it fell to Círdan's rebels...but more likely it was claimed by waves and weather.

Probably.

The stories spread anyway, and those who sought to defy Númenor's will listened, and so they began too to seek the sea. Small, single pirate ships are no material threat to Númenor: their navy is too large for the sacking or disappearance of a few ships here and there to make any difference to them. But the stories of pirates being able to defy their might and slip away free of consequence...well, that might have more lasting repercussions. Certainly Númenor's leaders must think so, for they have devoted quite an undo amount of effort to hunting down and destroying these pests otherwise. Unless, of course, one believes the rumors that Gondor's lost heir is out there somewhere amongst the pirates, capable at any moment of returning and staking his claim to the throne—a claim which, thanks to the faltering and intermingling of generations since, gives him actually the most direct claim not only to the throne of Gondor but to Númenor itself, now that the line of the founding kings has broken so many times...provided such an heir even exists of course, which he does not.

Clearly.

And now, it's finally time to turn to our cast of characters: the good ship Fellowship was originally a merchant vessel, sailing the waves on behalf of the wealthy Took family. Hobbits do not go to sea very often themselves, but they appreciate life's comforts enough to finance ocean-going vessels, and are quite happy to pay the necessary tariffs to Númenor to have their protection on the waves, and there are always Men in Bree who are happy to sail on Hobbit ships (the rations they provide are always much nicer than you get on any other vessel!). Old Bilbo was one of the rare Hobbits who actually followed his sense of adventure all the way out to the waves, and was captain of the Fellowship in deed as well as name, and when his nephew was old enough he brought young Frodo along with him.

(Every gossip in the Shire said they would both come to a bad end, drowning just like Frodo's parents did; but even the sneering Sackville-Bagginses never expected pirates!)

For many years, the Fellowship went about its trade-routes quite respectably, causing no trouble and earning no malice. But then...well, the trouble started with that fellow called Strider. He was one of many sailors who signed-on from Bree one day, and should have been no more special than any of them. But there was something about him that always seemed a little disreputable, a little dangerous—and so it soon proved.

No one back on shore is quite sure how it happened. The nearest anyone has been able to piece the story together is that there was some sort of shipwreck, or a raft that escaped a shipwreck, and there was something on it—some chest or treasure. Whatever it was, it proved to be too much temptation for the sailors of the Fellowship. Instead of making a quick salvage of the wreckage and continuing on their way, they abandoned their course and their cargo's intended destination, and went from being respectable merchants to pirates.

Old Bilbo (who had retired some years ago) was scandalized, of course; positively scandalized. But of course, Bilbo had always been something of a scandal himself, and there were far too many suspicious eyes on him after everything went south. He sold Bag End, packed up his things, and disappeared from the Shire three weeks after the first wanted-for-piracy posters of his nephew went up. Rumor has it he went to Rivendell, but no one from Hobbitton has ever gone after him to check; Hobbits don't generally care for travel, and Rivendell is such a long was away. Must more pleasant to stay home by the fire, and gossip.

And gossip folk do, and not only in the Shire. Stories of the Fellowship quickly came to spread far beyond Hobbit-lands, and they got bigger as they went. Soon it was being said that Strider was not just a brigand, but a romantic scoundrel too, who had managed to steal the heart of Elrond's daughter before running away to sea before her brothers could revenge themselves upon him. He had a magic ring, which he had used to enthrall Frodo, and declare himself captain of the boat. He had a magic sword, which could break itself into pieces as short as a dagger and then reforge itself as long as a boathook at need. He had elf-blood, and was decades older than he looked. He had served in Gondor's army, and in Rohan's, and had learned healing from Elrond himself. He was one of the Rangers, the secretive wanderers that spread rumors against Númenor and hunted for treasure and forgotten beasts in the wilds.

The more outlandish stories even claimed that he was that lost heir, and his real name was Aragorn or Arathorn or something of that sort. Nonsense, of course—but nonsense that Númenor wasn't happy to hear being whispered up and down the Misty Mountains.

Their displeasure grew when word began to spread of Strider's companions: Frodo somehow recruited three of his friends to the ship (Hobbits at sea! What were the youth coming to?) but he had arranged for one of their more land-locked fellows to act as a blackmarket middle-man, passing coin and supplies and information back and forth between Bree and the boat. Fredagar Bolger was soon caught and arrested, but someone broke him out of prison before his trial could begin, and he disappeared as thoroughly as Bilbo had. (Rumors said that the Brandybuck and Took families had helped in that jail-break, for two of their own were among Frodo's crew, but no one could ever prove that; indeed, no one who had been on duty at the jail that night reported seeing anything. Fredagar had been there when they went to sleep; the next morning, he had been gone, and no one ever saw him in Hobbiton again.)

Even more outlandish than the idea of four Hobbits at sea, the stories insisted that they had a dwarf on the ship as well. Everyone knew that dwarves hated boats, and feared the ocean; everyone knew that a dwarf would sooner shave his beard than go to sea. Nonetheless, the stories persisted: the Fellowship had a dwarf. Rumor claimed that he was a disgruntled son of Erebor, who had joined Strider's band of pirates out of disgust for the debt that Númenor held over the Lonely Mountain; others insisted that his father had been friends with Bilbo (in addition to his other oddities, Bilbo had been known to have friends among the dwarves, somehow!) and that it was Frodo who had somehow coaxed a dwarf away from land and out to sea. Whatever the motivations that had brought that dwarf to the Fellowship, there was soon no denying that he was there: only dwarven craftmanship could have kept that ship afloat through all of Númenor's efforts to sink it, and sailing faster than any of their own vessels could follow.

In addition to the dwarf, there was an elf among the crew as well. A less absurd notion on the surface, but strange when one dug-down to the details, for this was no Teleri; nor was he even one of the elves of the Havens, or from Rivendell. No, this was a Wood-elf of Mirkwood, one of those half-feral creatures of death and shadow and knives in the dark. His eyes were keener than any looking-glass that Númenor could fashion, and he could see as clearly in the starlight as men could under bright sun. With those elven eyes in their crow's nest, there was no chance that the Fellowship could ever be sneaked-up upon again; and those who survived attacks by Strider's pirates told stories of his terrible bright laughter echoing across the waves like the ringing of doom-bells in their dreams.

(There was surely, surely no truth to the rumor that the elf and the dwarf were any more than grudging crew-mates; elves and dwarves were notoriously distrustful of one another's people, and since Eregion's fall there had been no sign of reconciliation or camaraderie between any of their kind again. The sailors who reported that the two had been heard cheerfully competing like friends during the battles taking Númenorian ships were mistaken; the ones who claimed that they had witnessed victory-kisses were suffering from sunstroke; and the shaken survivors who whispered that the elf had lost his mind and slaughtered an entire crew himself when one of their number managed to wound the dwarf were surely just suffering from shock. No single elf, not even a Mirkwood elf, could slay an entire contingent of Númenorian soldiers like that; and no elf would ever be spurred to do such a thing for a mere dwarf. These stories were just one of Strider's many attempts to undermine Númenorian rule, by attempting to foster an alliance between Erebor and Mirkwood based on ridiculous false rumors about the joining of two of their people. Such things simply did not happen.)

The worst of the Fellowship's many assaults upon Númenorian sea-supremacy was when they took a ship that had been carrying Rohan's princess out to make a state-marriage on the White Island. The rest of the Rohirrim they let go, including the king's nephew, whom one might have expected them to hold for ransom; instead they took only the girl, and no ransom demand ever came back for her. Indeed, rumors soon began to whisper that she had been somehow seduced to Strider's crew as well, and could be seen with a cutlass in one hand and her fair hair streaming in the salt-air, a fell smile on her face, whenever the Fellowship boarded their prey, her own unfettered laughter ringing out alongside the elf's deadly merriment.

That was a crime too far. Númenor needed to stop Strider's pirates, and stop them now. Gondor dispatched two of her own to go to sea and hunt him and the Fellowship down: Boromir and Faramir, sons of the Steward and noble warriors of stout heart and stalwart arms. Everyone assumed that that would be the end of the Fellowship, for no pirate had yet escaped bold Boromir, and Faramir's cunning wits would surely be enough to outsmart some ragged Ranger. For months they pursued the pirate vessel, chasing the Fellowship through storm and fog and sun-kissed waves; then, far off the coast of the Teleri islands, a hurricane rolled in, and both ships were lost from sight behind the grey rainclouds.

Imagine Denethor's fury, and Númenor's wrath, when the next stories that came back from the sea told of how bold Boromir and cunning Faramir had joined the terrible crew...

[catholic-character-tournament]

Round 2 - Resurrect Bracket (Losers Bracket) Side A

ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to [make it to the finals]

John Gaius art cred @exmakina

Propaganda below ⬇️

Flayn Propaganda

she’s honestly so much more interesting than people give her credit for. like she often gets written off as “funny little girl who likes fish” but like,,, she is so strong?? after you save her in chapter 6 and seteths first instinct is to hide themselves away from the world again and shes like fuck that shit! she has so much more of a connection to humanity than the others of her kind and that shows in her solo ending vs her paired ending w seteth, wherein she emerges from hiding as soon as she can when on her own but she and seteth emerge to a fódlan thats changed a lot technologically, so far far later. and i love her supports with everyone and shes so genuine and sweet and kind. flayns great i love her.

Patron Saint of Fish 🐟

John

book quote from the chapters where he's relating how he got necromantic powers and people freaked out!! this is pre-apocalypse and resurrection so it's implied he took a lot of inspiration from this incident . He said, Then we took off. Thread after thread on message board after message board. People wanting proof. People asking what the fuck it meant. People talking about the LUCIFER telescope and saying we were aliens. People calling me the Antichrist, which was a trip. People writing up these long posts on how the trick was done, how I got the meat into the pie. Was I fake? Was I real? If I was real, what did it mean? Suddenly there were hundreds of people, all there at our front door. They came in caravans, they were sleeping in their cars or putting up tents. A hell of a lot of them had flown out internationally. He said, Some of them wanted to see the miracle. Some of them wanted my help, like, Oh, you’re the magical death man, can you do something about my body? Can you fix my fibromyalgia? Thing was, I could. That surprised me. I could take out their tumours. I could fix their macular degeneration. Big damage was easy, unless they’d actually lost the limb or whatever. Couldn’t grow those back. But I spent hours and hours a day playing Jesus. That was nice, those were some of the nicest hours I got to spend. He said, But when you’re doing the whole Go, my child, your knee cartilage is fixed, you’re going to get a lot of visitors. I had to turn people away because I had to eat, I had to sleep, even though I didn’t want to. M— had brought in her best friend, the nun, and I was worried I was going to get the Antichrist bit from her too, but she was just like: stop doing this! Read your Bible! This was Christ’s whole problem! I was like, What are you talking about, Jesus cured the lepers and everyone was all, Hooray, thanks man. M—’s nun was all, Are you kidding, Christ never said no and never asked anyone to pay and got way too much attention and brought the heat down on everybody. Christ didn’t keep to office hours, she said. Don’t do that. He said, So we limited Jesus stuff to one hour a day, and I always had to eat breakfast. But by then the whole world was on our doorstep.

look this is kind of weird but he is the only survivor after nuclear bombs destroy the earth and he has weird necromancy powers so he revives his friends and a few other people to be his subjects and basically makes himself a god to them. there's a lot of layers since he's literally the only character in the entire series who remembers the world before and has a concept of the religion he's copying for his own. he treats the other characters like toys he can push around for his own amusement and everything is a joke but he does this world-weary act that somehow gets the reader to kind of feel for him even when he's being atrocious. and he's the only one who remembers memes. which is a torture all of its own.

I said "yes" but to be more clear: he was canonically Catholic when he was still mortal, but that was 10,000 years ago and he kind of killed everybody on the planet. Just slightly. Some of them got better. Now he's the Emperor Undying and his empire is very Catholic-coded.

OP note: I got some replies saying he's not actually canonically catholic and this is "as Catholic" as he gets

[mitamicah]

Tonight, I had a dream about Joker Out visiting my childhood town. I was there to say hi to some horses I had been close to when I was younger (sadly I don’t think these horses are alive anymore and their home – the youth center I spend 10 years putting my very soul into – is not there anymore). I recall Bojan being present at this point but at least Nace was there because I can vividly picture him smiling his huge, toothy grin and running towards me with his arm out for a hug. The strong arms around me. The steady lifting of his chest. It was very surreal. It got even more so when we went to my old house (a house that was sold 2-3 years ago) to hang out.

Then I remember Bojan showing up. I ran to him calling out “Bojči!”. He stepped back very visibly uncomfortable. Just before running into him I hesitated and began apologizing repeatedly (as I tend to do).

“No, no, it’s fine,” he said: “I’m just on guard whenever people call me Bojči. It’s something I’ve noticed overeager fans doing a lot.”

“Oh”. I got very self-conscious at this point.

He smiled genuinely (the Bojan smile that can make you forget everything around you exists) and invited me into a hug. It took me a few seconds to trust that he was okay with the embrace. Then I borrowed myself in his arms.

That was when my alarm clock woke me up.

The wildest thing about this dream is not that I recall it this vividly. It’s that it has happened before:

Back in 2012 the night before my 18th birthday I dreamed of me wandering to the same youth center in the same town and running into Tré Cool, the drummer of Green Day. We’d embrace in a hug, and I’d sob into his chest. He caressed my hair and whispered: “Soon” in my ear. The next day I was gifted concert tickets to my first ever Green Day concert (and one of my first real concerts ever). Green Day tickets … in Paris (context: I live nowhere near Paris).

I don’t think anything like this will happen this time. Yet dreaming about meeting your favourite people on the same city and the same route ending in them giving you a hug and reassurance? If I got a penny anytime that happened, I’d have two pennies, which isn’t a lot but it is weird that it happened twice *insert Doofenschmirtz meme*

My best interpretation of what these dreams mean btw (I am touchstarved x'D) v

[viperwhispered]

hiiii ner!! throwing you 💭🧪💡and💌 for the fanfic writer ask meme!! -diodellet

Ty for the asks @diodellet! (also good to see you around again, hope the exams and stuff went well!)

💭 What inspires you and your writing?

Tbf, for my reader inserts a lot of it is wish fulfillment - quite often, they’re more or less thinly veiled self-inserts in disguise. Things I’d like to see, things that I personally enjoy, stuff like that. Write what I want to see in the world, basically.

However, there’s also a big part of wanting to elicit emotional reactions in other people. I kinda alluded to this with my previous answers, but like, for me, the important thing is to tell a clear, impactful story - I’m not that interested in experimenting with language, for example, though of course some that comes with the territory, too.

I was an absolutely voracious reader of books as a kid / teenager (until I got my first laptop, oop), and I’d often just chew through books - which means I have forgotten a lot of what I’ve read. However, I still remember one book where the twist in the end hit me right in the feels, and I specifically took a moment to sit with those feelings in order to remember them.

So I just always love it when I can make my writing impactful enough for it to affect someone. I’ve gotten so many great things and highs and lows out of reading, and I want to give some of that back, if I can.

🧪 Do you research for your fics?

If I need to, certainly. I do typically prefer keeping canon-compliant if I can (unless it’s like an au or something we’re talking about), or true to life in general, so I’ll certainly be checking facts and stuff and trying not to get anything wrong. Plus, just refreshing myself on the tone or speaking patterns of a character feels like research, too.

And of course there’s been those times when I’ve been trying to find out when Japan got flip phones or other things like that. I'm totally that writer who goes down a research rabbit holes for like one or two lines of fic.

💡How many WIPs do you currently have?

Uhh… Depends? WIPs I’ve actually put some words in? Two that I’m actively aware of, probably others buried somewhere in the depths of my files. WIPs that I have ideas for… Well, on my list there’s six more or less vague concepts that might or might not become something.

I’m not really one to bounce between wips, so it’s pretty much one main wip at a time for me, rotating in the brain until it gets cooked (or left waylaid).

I suppose it helps that I kind of had a break from writing before Fixation happened so I don't have much of an idea backlog, so to speak.

💌 Is there a favorite trope you like to write?

Where do I even start… I mean, with the recent fics, pining sure is high on the list. Just, all the fluffy parts of a (pre-)relationship. For more specific tropes (like only one bed or fake dating or whatever), I don’t think I have strong preferences. Whatever works for the particular story, really.

For my smut I’ve been told I tend to play around with power dynamics a lot and yeah I can’t disagree with that.

(ask game here for anyone else curious)

[seraphirism]

🐈‍⬛anon is here!!

Well, I would love to pull gacha but I'm too broke for it, I have only like 19k of butterflies? Sadly, I don't have an opportunity to buy butterflies (if I could've, I would've bought voiced episodes... but sadly I can't follow my dreams...) but probably I will pull gacha anyway and have some ugly ahh shoes like every time I try to trick my luck.

As for the type— yeah, calm and gentle ones are really a good type, I'm a sucker for those who are kind to me and are like 'you can depend on me☺️'. I instantly turn into that one meme where a werewolf is ripping apart his shirt. Maaan, to be honest I was a Teddy fan when the Villa butlers were added to our Barbie Dream House crew BC he's soooooo sweet and cheerful and and and— *got shot* ehem anyway, I'm sorry, I'm rumbling. Have a good day Sol!! And yeah, it's a pity we can't add friends in aknk bc honestly? that would be very fun and nice. I hardly have anyone to discuss my devil boys with so it would be cool to have some friends in the fandom.

exactly, I have like 4k butterfly diamonds now 😭 like it’s almost funny. while aknk isn’t a pay to play game (like at all), it is a very pay to get the cards kinda game. like almost all Japanese fans (who’s fan content I consume voraciously on twitter) pull on the guaranteed (paid) banners of their favourite characters events. it’s almost useless going for the normal gacha unless you’ve saved up a heck lot.

while I do feel the compulsion to spend money on the gacha, it’s hella expensive for me when I convert Japanese yen to my country’s currency 😭 I felt the most tempted when I saw that we had to pay to unlock the voiced main story chapters; like damn, I love story content that’s completely voiced. aknk already has a very strong voice actor cast—don’t tempt me (T-T)

before I started replaying in June of this year, I was kinda apprehensive about the villa butlers (I knew nothing about them). I thought I wouldn’t like them as much as I liked the original cast of butlers. then for funsies (before reading the 2.5 update), I thought I’d consume some casual Teddy content…

and then I had a miss jackson moment (yes, from the meme). next thing you know, within minutes i had read 2 of his initial card stories.

like I remember showing one of his scenes to my sister (where he’s holding a mop in his hand), dressed in sports wear and that my friend changed my brain chemistry; my sister said that he was the most babygirl guy she had seen in a long while.

like I want to take him out on dates. no, he’s not my butler—he’s my girlfriend ✨💗💅

the recent stories have almost made me forgot that he’s not a lil cute swordsman nerd—he’s been through hell and back 😭 his past has been brushed over but I don’t think it’s completely over. i think more nitty gritty stuff will come out; you can see it subtly in how obsessed he is with becoming better and stronger, more reliable in the eyes of Aruji and the rest.

ahem—see I blabber a lot when I get the opportunity to do so (๑>◡<๑)!

yes, I don’t have many people to talk to either about aknk 😭 tumblr is still a blessing where we do have some fans active. I hope some of the fan content creators from twitter migrate to tumblr 🙏 tumblr is way too comfortable for me; twitter is kinda intimidating (^_^)

also, I can’t believe it’s October already. the year went by so fast〜we’ll be having a Halloween event and then in December we’re going to have the anniversary event (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵) I can’t wait for it!

have a lovely day, 🐈‍⬛–anon! also, have you checked out some of the homescreen interactions of Bellen and Shiro? man, Shiro’s conversations with the butlers are so entertaining, while Bellen on the other hand is living up to his title of the older brother of all time ✨

[lurking-latinist]

Top 10s Meme

I was tagged by @thisbluespirit - thanks for the tag!

Rules: List your "top 10" (or up to 10 if you haven't written that many) fics ranked by kudos on AO3. Are you surprised by what's most popular to your readers? Then, under a cut, provide your ranking of your personal top 10 fics (with explanations if you want!), and then tag a few fellow writers! 

My top 10 fics by kudos:

1. Book Learning (Susan, Ian/Barbara) *

1. Doubt and Doubles (Five/Tegan) *

1. Ms Smith (Thirteen & Sarah Jane)

2. don’t worry, he’s with me (five ways Donna explained the Doctor to people, and one way he explained her) (Ten & Donna)

3. Anything Once (Inquisitor Darkel/Sabalom Glitz) *

3. Vicarious (Six & Martha)

4. Time Flies Like an Arrow (Witches Fly on a Broomstick) (Discworld - Nanny Ogg, Granny Weatherwax, & Magrat Garlick)

5. to all our nights and days to come (Seven/Romana)

6. Nociception (Seven & Ace)

7. Nitro-Nine (Thirteen & Ace)

8. Somewhere to Belong (One & Susan)

9. The Strands of Fate (Four &/ Romana - the confusing designation is because it’s sex pollen, but it’s subverted, but they still act pretty darn shippy)

10. XOXO (Six/River) **

* These got hit by kudos bots (personally, I blame Glitz) and I am not counting them.

** This might have been hit by a kudos bot? Maybe? I can’t remember. It seems implausible for it to be this high, but some of the ones that I know for sure weren’t hit by bots are also pretty surprising.

Well, yes; this is a pretty surprising list all over for me. I think the top... four... are all on there more because of the popularity of the characters than the quality of the fic. I mean, Ms Smith is definitely fun, but if I’d written the same concept with Peri I’d have gotten about ten kudos and been happy with it. Including the current Doctor is a good recipe for attention, as is including a super-popular companion who had her own spinoff. (*prays earnestly for an Ace spinoff*)

Further reflections on the top 10 below the cut, as well as my personal top 10; it got lengthy.

don’t worry, he’s with me also had the advantage of being for an exchange, which no doubt got it a few more reads than it would otherwise have had. But a lot of its kudos have been post-exchange: Ten & Donna are just very popular. I don’t like to run down things I’ve written for exchanges, because it was always my best at the time, but I was really stuck for this (one of the first exchanges I’d ever done, and before I learned to prune my offers) and felt like I just kind of squeezed something out that was honestly more like meta than fic, so I was really surprised by how many kudos it’s accumulated over time!

Vicarious is genuinely good, and it contains a New Who companion, and the audience for Martha being validated and appreciated is (it would seem) encouragingly broad, but it’s also got Six in it, which normally means I’m writing for the same ten people as always. (Love you all!) It’s been podficced and everything! And it was inspired by a mashup gif, so I think of it as a lovely example of the fannish ecosystem.

Time Flies Like an Arrow... is another early exchange fic--specifically, the exchange in which I learned I shouldn’t offer fic for books with strong authorial voices. Apparently I can do cod-Pratchett when pushed, but it’s difficult for me to enjoy looking back at it because I can see the seams. I’m glad people have enjoyed it, though! It’s got a baby in it. Nice to see I have been able to write babies at times.

to all our nights and days to come is indeed one of my best fics. But it initially made very little splash, understandably, being an angsty under-explained AU for a rarepair that about six people have ever shipped and not all of them at once. Then I mentioned it on a Tumblr post where people had been speculating about Seven in the Time War, and apparently it found its audience! XD

Nociception is very good, I’ll admit. But it’s not really me. It’s just Seven and Ace being themselves. I am but your humble chronicler. XD

Nitro-Nine is pretty much just excited flailing in fic form--it was written back when we were all excited that Thirteen was dropping Seven-era references--little did we know we were actually getting Ace back! It definitely benefited from the “posted like the day after the episode aired” boost. Not something I can normally do without access to actual time travel.

Somewhere to Belong definitely does belong in the top 10, although if I could go back and edit it, I’d file off some of the rough edges that make it obvious that it started as a meta post. I’d keep the metafictional elements, but I’d make them subtler. (I suppose technically I can go back and edit it. But I don’t like to make big changes so long after the fact. It feels weird.) It’s still my default headcanon--the one I use when I have no reason to use a different one--for Susan’s origins. (And I would take off the tag “NOT doctor/oc.” I have no idea why I was so worried about people thinking that.)

The Strands of Fate is very funny and charming, and a good transition out of the early phase in which I used to write almost exclusively gen trope-subversion ficlets. I still do all those things, separately and together, but it was almost the only thing I did for a while there. Also, it contains an undressing scene with my OTP, but not like you’d think, naturally. And (spoilers) it’s all just a leadup to a silly looms joke. And Heimeldat drew fanart of it. :D

XOXO, like I said, was probably a kudos bot but I can’t quite remember so I didn’t cross it off. I have written much better Six/River.

So now for my personal top 10. I couldn’t possibly do these sequentially, so I will just list 10 that I think represent my best and/or most fun work.

Of the popular top 10, I’d keep:

1. Somewhere to Belong

2. to all our nights and days to come

3. The Strands of Fate

and I would add:

4. and will not let me sleep (Six & Peri)

5. and opposition of the stars (Doctor/TARDIS)

6. Stand and Deliver (Six/River)

7. Paraclausithyron (Seven/Romana)

8. Like Sunshine Through Rain (Six/Charley)

9. Bestride the Narrow World (WtOVPIC - mainly Katrina and Lucy)

10. Blazon (Seven/Romana)

But, as everyone knows, the best fic is the one you’re just about to write. (So stay tuned...?)

If you have read this far... why? And thanks. I enjoyed rambling about my own fic.

I will now tag some people: @heimeldat @swinging-stars-from-satellites @strange-destinations @fortes-fortuna-iogurtum @dyonisia96 @ontologicalmoki and anyone else who wants to do it!