#I still cannot get over this fact actually

[suzukiblu]

Day seven of “obligatory sugar baby Kon” behind the cut. tw: implications of past grooming/abuse and the inherent problems in someone who was in that situation trying to flirt with someone actually age-appropriate. prev: (( chrono || non-chrono ))

“. . . ‘fast’,” Kon echoes awkwardly, glancing down at their hands. Tim tries not to wince. He definitely sounds like an idiot or a prude or–whatever. Just incredibly, incredibly uncool. 

He has actually never felt less like a prude since getting to know Kon well enough to notice things like how good the bastard looks soaked in Kool-Aid, but now is just . . . really not the time for thoughts like those, yeah. 

“I, uh–I’ve never actually, um . . . with anyone, actually. Guy or not,” Tim half-admits, though it feels stupid that being a virgin is something to admit instead of just a statement of fact. Normally it wouldn’t be, is the thing, but he just really doesn’t want Kon to think he sounds lame or antisocial or . . . whatever, exactly. “I actually would literally not even know how to, uh . . . give you ‘tips’ or anything. Unless I had like, the prep time to do some research, I mean. It’s just, uh–I don't date much, to be honest. Or, uh. Pretty much at all? Like, you're definitely more experienced than I am either, uh, either way, like that's just–I don't do much of this stuff. Any of it. I have in fact gone out with exactly two girls in my life and they both were definitely, um–also the ones who were making the moves and all.” 

It's not that he never want to make a move, just usually he's too busy being way too in his own head about it or something else entirely or–

God, he is rambling so much, Tim realizes, repressing a cringe when he realizes how blankly Kon’s currently staring at him. Because it is very, very blankly, that Kon is staring at him. 

Crap. 

“Uh,” Tim says with a grimace. “Sorry. Um. If you were expecting something . . . faster, I mean.” 

Kon should definitely not have anything that fast if he’s thinking of himself as a product, Tim’s basically positive, but also that’s actually not any of his damn business, but also he definitely needs to look into Kon’s dating history just to add a few names to his list for when he finally goes supervillain and just maybe look into–

. . . Kon is still just staring blankly at him. 

Tim fails to repress the cringe this time. 

“Uh,” he attempts again. “Kon? Are you . . .?” 

Kon turns literally crimson and ducks his head, but also doesn’t actually stop staring at him. 

. . . alright then, Tim thinks. 

“I do like you. I like you a lot. Like–I like-like you a lot, if I have somehow managed to not be embarrassingly obvious about that at this point,” he tries, borderline flailing in the conversation now since Kon is apparently no longer willing to use his words and he was already not doing that great with it when Kon was using his words, and he can’t even talk with his hands or anything because he’s holding Kon’s hands like an actual grade schooler, except probably no one ever has held Kon’s hands like–no, no, he is not far enough down the supervillain pipeline to be able to finish that thought process and deal with the psychological consequences of having to not burn down the system about it, he really cannot do that at any point in the next ten to fifteen years whatsoever. “This isn't–I'm just–it's not me not wanting to . . . take some pictures, eventually. Just . . . maybe we could wait a bit on it. Stick with the streets and buildings for a little while longer, maybe?” 

He tries for a smile and also tries not to cringe again over how weak an attempt it feels like, and then has the uneasy and uncomfortable thought that actually doing anything like that isn’t even really��is that ethical, even? Even the idea of doing something like that? Kon doesn’t really know Robin all that well, no, but they’re on the same team and the same side, and they’re teammates and at least arguably friends, and Kon also doesn’t know he is Robin, and– 

“Um,” Kon says, his hands tightening just a bit around Tim’s and his face still blazingly and borderline inhumanly red as his head ducks a little lower and his mouth curves into what is, in fact, the most unfairly soft smile that Tim has ever seen on the bastard’s face. “We could do that, yeah.” 

Tim was thinking about something, probably? Which hopefully wasn’t something important, considering just how ruthlessly Kon just fried his brain out of his head. Which is not even reasonable or logical, because all Kon did was . . . well, imply he was fine taking things at Tim’s pace and not actually going to get immediately bored if he didn’t put out and was actually interested in just being together, and also did it while smiling at him like that. 

Alright, fine, Tim knows exactly why his stupid brain got itself fried. He’s still apparently embarrassingly easy, though. 

Well, that’s not exactly new information in regards to Kon anyway. 

[qqueenofhades]

I’m a lurker and a longtime fan of your fan fiction and your takes on politics. I don’t have a question — just wanted to say thank you for your keen insight and for helping me fight the impulse to despair today.

Thank you, that means a lot. I don't know what else I can say; I had a few long responses to other asks typed up and then just didn't see the point in it. I'm so sorry that America sucks such monumental amounts of shit and will reliably do the wrong thing for as long as possible, but... so be it. At least we are all very clear on what is going to happen next and how we need to prepare ourselves for it.

I don't want to tell anyone not to despair, since it's absolutely valid, but I do encourage them not to give up. We still have to be here and we still have to care about each other and we do not, we absolutely do not have any tiny shred of obligation to roll over and make the assholes' work easier for them. America has deliberately missed its chance to avert fascism at the ballot box and we will all pay for the consequences of that decision, but as I said in my earlier ask, nothing is foreordained. Nothing has been done that cannot be undone, and nothing will be done that cannot be fought. It will be a lot worse and a lot harder than it could have been, this was all incredibly avoidable, and it will take me a long time to get over that fact, but... yeah.

The best thing about America, even for all its absolute and monumental suckitude, is the concept of a multi-ethnic, multi-racial, pluralistic, secular democracy with equal rights for all. It has badly failed many, many times to actually do this and will badly do so again, as uh, currently indicated. But the idea is still worth fighting for. Yet again, it has not lived up to that standard, but that does not mean we have to give up and say that it's over. I don't know what I will do next. I don't know what any of us will do. But this is not the end.

Courage, and etcetera. I will try to do what I can. I hope we all will.

[chanafehs]

My Veilguard review:

Note - I will be honest in saying this is very long and very negative. If you enjoy this game please don't let me be the one to ruin that for you and skip on this post. I will be discussing spoilers. This is just my opinion so please don't crucify me for it.

I think my thoughts about this game were shaky to begin with as I had been exposed to different spoilers and information before the launch. I wasn’t actually expecting this game to be amazing but as someone whose favorite Dragon Age game is Dragon Age 2, which is arguably the weakest in the series (until now), I still went in with the impression I would have a good time regardless. I did not have that at all, in fact towards the end of Act 2 and the beginning of Act 3 all I wanted was for the game to be over. 

The problems for me really started right in the beginning with the Inquisitor character choices and their characterization. No choices for your Warden, no choices for your Hawke, and only three choices for your Inquisitor out of the dozens you made in Inquisition. The romance option just felt like a very polite way of asking if you romanced Solas or not, especially after completing the game where your non-solas romance will only get one letter for you to read, outside of that, the Inquisitor will not even mention them. Disbanding the Inquisition meant basically nothing and vowing to stop Solas felt like it had little bearing on what my Inquisitor said when she showed up. 

The time frame to make Dragon Age 2 was just over a year and somehow included more choices from Origins than Veilguard did with over ten years of production. That is the information that's been banging around in my head throughout this entire game. In Dragon Age 2, we get the consequences of our decisions with Alistair’s fate and we get extra dialogue concerning Isabela/Zevran/Leliana/Anders/Nathaniel + some sidequests. Veilguard couldn’t even give us so much of a mention of our Inquisitor’s friendships and the consequences of those friendships outside of Solas. The Inquisitors themselves are locked into one personality type as well, and regardless if you choose to stop Solas or not, they are very amicable toward him. 

During the second cut scene you get with the Inquisitor in Dock Town, they will go on to ask you about your progress and then go on about Solas. Mind you, my Inquisitor is extremely unsympathetic to Solas and I chose the option to stop him no matter what, so why is it that every time I speak to her, she keeps trying to ask me if Solas is being genuine and that he was her friend? That doesn’t sound like someone who has vowed to stop him. They will also try to draw parallels between you, Rook, and Solas. Even at the end of the game, they will still try to appeal to you to see reason with him. That is essentially all the Inquisitor is there for. Incredibly frustrating. 

Throughout the game you will get missives from the Inquisitor detailing the devastation that is being brought to southern Thedas and every letter feels like more and more of an insult. To keep it short: Southern Thedas as we know it has been essentially wiped out. I think that deserves more than a footnote in some missive most players aren’t even going to see.

So the setting we spent all three games in, that we saved countless times, had our companions and protagonists die for, gets demolished in the background where we cannot see it. Skyhold had to be taken back from demons and whoops, that's not actually something you can do anything about. Nothing the Warden, Hawke, or the Inquisitor ever did mattered at all and it renders everything from the previous games absolutely irrelevant. 

With that aside, the companions are also another issue for me. I found myself having trouble getting attached to any of them and every single time I recruited one I had the internal question “Why are you even here?” None of their companion quests really tie into the story at large, save maybe Harding and Davrin, and they are incredibly boring save for a few cool moments.

The main appeal of Dragon Age for me is the companions, it’s why Dragon Age 2 is my favorite of the series. Despite the overused environments and the rushed production I still had a great time with it because of the companions. I was actually eager to do the companion quests and learn more about them and how they all fit into the main narrative. Even characters I didn’t like, I still understood why they were important to the story. Like I can’t stand Anders but I know why he is there, he has a purpose.

Every companion is painfully amicable towards you even if you decide to be “stern” towards them. I found myself not caring what dialogue option I chose about them because it made absolutely no difference. There is nice, funny nice, and gentle parenting. That is really all you have to work with in terms of the dialogue wheel. It was more difficult to get disapproval than approval and I can probably count on my fingers every time in this game I actually got companion disapproval. There is only one companion in my playthrough that became hardened, Lucanis, and it had virtually no impact on his character other than the fact he leaves for a couple of saves and comes back to kissing your ass. 

Something I actually really liked about BG3 and the previous Dragon Age games was working for your companion approval - this meant actually learning about your companion and what made them tick. If you don't understand them well enough you get disapproval, when you actually listen to their ideas and thoughts you get approval - there is an active effort to get these things. In Veilguard this does not exist and you are essentially promised approval no matter what, meaning there is no encouragement to know who these people are if they're just going to support you regardless.

I have to agree with the Skillup review they made about this game saying that every dialogue option feels like it was made with HR in the room and I one hundred percent agree. This is not how real people talk to each other. This is how teachers talk to toddlers when they want to explain the virtues of sharing toys with their classmates.

It felt honestly insulting at times to be treated like I don’t understand the concept of bigotry, I still have no idea what they were trying to go for with this, like were they trying to appeal to a market of high school boys who hadn’t discovered what empathy was yet? There is zero trust in the player and every dialogue and decision you make in these moments feels handhold-y and preachy. Like Pixar levels of life lessons you learn.

In the moments where I had to settle arguments over coffee and companions not respecting each other's interests, I could not honestly believe this is the same universe with Loghain Mac Tir, Meredith Stannard, fuck even Corypheus. Humor has always existed in Dragon Age and I love the comedic banter between the characters but it was always humor that served as an escape from the oppressive and dark situation around you, here the dark and oppressive situations feel like an escape from the unrelenting friendliness and tone deafness of your companions. 

The companion I probably had the most issue with was Taash and the way they were handled. I’m not going to get too deep into the Bharv scene because even thinking about it makes me cringe but If someone messed up my pronouns and then immediately dropped to do pushups I am most definitely killing us both. Isabela’s explanation is extremely preachy and she proceeds to do the exact thing she says she hates about people messing up pronouns. Anyways. Moving on. 

Taash I think is a good example of how to not write a multiethnic character. I don’t expect a white person like Trick Weekes to understand the first thing that comes with being multiethnic or having strict parents that intersects with that identity but it is most definitely not whatever the hell this is. 

The only thing I can offer here is that as a multiethnic person (my father is Palestinian and my mother is mainly Irish and Seminole) is that there has never been a point in my life where I felt like I had to choose what culture I am let alone give that choice to someone else in my life I just met.

That’s not what being multiethnic is. I do not have to choose between anything - I am whole and I don't need to cut myself into halves and quarters to be accepted.

It also feels subconsciously like you are supposed to choose Rivain as the Qunari are depicted as bigoted and oppressive as they always have been in this game. Knowing all of this really tainted my experiences with them as a character and I understand a lot of other non-binary individuals love the representation they brought on that level but personally, I’m just tired of “queer representation” always coming with racist undertones. Again, this game feels like it always had white queer people in mind, not lgbt poc. 

These kinds of comments are really only made worse knowing what the Qunari take inspiration from - primarily Black and Brown SWANA Muslims. Why should Trick Weekes have any authority over a questline like that is beyond me. 

Also, this sucked. Especially because they said it to Neve too. I don’t really want my non-binary representation sprinkled with Misogyny as well, especially since we can’t really call Taash out on this comment unless you’re playing a woman (as far as I know).

Aside from Taash, I thought the writing around Harding was strange. Don’t me wrong, I love Harding, but I do not remember her being this friendly and people-pleasing in the Inquisition. If you play as a Dalish elf the first thing she says is she’s surprised that you would care about anyone else - there is absolutely no inclination of this kind of perspective in Veilguard. Additionally, despite knowing everything Solas has done and the consequences that had on her ancestors, she still tries to push you to reason with him?

All of her quests about learning about the Titans, experiencing and embracing their anger, and you still want to appeal to Solas? That was another thing I found so weird about this game, throughout the entire story you are being told again and again that Solas cannot be trusted, he is to blame for everything, and will stab you in the back and yet it seems like every companion tries to push back on you if you agree with this viewpoint? 

Also, something I didn't know at this point of the game but I do now is that Solas had killed Varric and she does know this so why is she acting like this knowing Solas had killed her friend who she spent years with?

Genuinely this whole game felt like: Devs: Solas is a villain

Rook: okay understood

Devs: actually nvm you don't understand him if you think he's a villain

The only companion quests I was actually genuinely interested in were Emmrich and his thoughts around death and becoming a lich. Lucanis' quests had the best boss fights for sure. Outside of that, it felt like “Go here with Bellara” or “Go here with Taash” and it got so grating I couldn’t wait for these quests to be over so I could progress with the main story. It felt like an annoying back-and-forth game to finish a main quest just to finish all the companion quests and then go back to the main quest. Like a list of chores to get through before you can have any fun. 

The inclusion of characters like Morrigan and Isabela in this universe was extremely hollow and they do not feel like the Morrigan and Isabela we know at all. With Morrigan there is a bit of an explanation to this with the essence of Mythal however she reiterates that it is still herself and it is only the memories of Mythal that remain inside of her.

In my canon playthroughs of Dragon Age, I romanced both Morrigan and Isabela, so I was curious to see how the developers would address their pasts with our Warden and Hawke. Unfortunately, the answer is that they don’t address it at all. Morrigan hardly mentions her past, leaving us to wonder if Kieran even exists. The game implies that the relationship between Morrigan and the Warden is insignificant; a codex entry oddly suggests, in a very slut-shamey way, that Morrigan had more lovers than there are trees in the forest. Isabela doesn't reference Hawke either, as she fondly remembers Kirkwall for found family and friendship. It seems that if you romanced Isabela or Morrigan, congratulations—your canon doesn’t exist.

I will echo the statement others have made about all the cameos feeling like mascots because that is really what they are. There is no substance to any of them, Isabela only feels like she is there to be a supportive voice for Taash, Morrigan will only really talk about Solas and Mythal-Dorian is the only one who actually gets a substantial quest related to him. I thought he was fine minus the "illegal slavery" bit because what is illegal slavery Dorian. Next up we will discuss legal murder.

Another thing that genuinely broke the immersion for me in this game is how awful the armor is. It is a Dragon Age game so I wasn't expecting Haute Couture but the design is all over the place and nothing looks right. Not to mention the extremely weird orientalist undertones that follow the Lords of Fortune everywhere. The outfit Isabela is wearing is even worse in person and I tried to give this game the benefit of the doubt by thinking we would be getting some underwater mission with her and that would be the explanation behind her bikini outfit - this did not happen.

The belly dancer-esque outfits with the coin-bedazzled turbans were pretty egregious and made me want to limit my time in Rivain as much as possible. For a game released in 2024, I am disappointed we are still dealing with the same Orientalist fantasy tropes. Even the Qunari are more naked in this game than I had ever seen previously. At least DA2 and DAI gave them pants. But hey the Antaam are all blighted and evil so who cares right.

Speaking of the Antaam, a lot of the antagonist motivations for this game genuinely did not make sense to me. The Antaam are suddenly giving up their fear of magic to pair up with...the Venatori? To fight for the elven gods? It honestly felt like they had no idea who to make fight for the Evanuris so they just pulled two of the baddies from the Inquisition and went "We can just use them and call it done". When you press for information on why this is the answer is always a mustache-twirling dialogue about power. Nothing much deeper from that than any of the villains besides Solas. All of the villains, especially Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain, are extremely one-dimensional and have no motivations other than being evil and striving for power. At least Corypheus had cool lines.

I'm not going to get too deep into lore changes since I know a lot of things happened in the comics, books, and TV show (all of which I did not read or watch) but I honestly do think it's a bad idea to have a "soft reboot" while needing to read several books to understand everything. That's not being welcoming to new players that's homework. If you wanted a soft reboot probably don't start off with half your plot and characters coming from various comics and novels people need to catch up on.

The portrayal of the Dalish in this game is inconsistent. When we inform them that their gods are evil and planning to overthrow the world, they respond, "Okay, heard you." How can they accept this explanation so readily? In previous interactions, Solas shared that the Dalish did not listen to him and even threatened him when he revealed this truth. Yet, when we present the same information, they believe us almost immediately. Is there no pushback or skepticism? The Dalish accept everything about the evil elven gods meanwhile Andraste’s followers remain completely unaffected by these revelations.

I think what frustrated me even more was watching our elven companions express grief and regret over the actions of the elven gods like they had something to do with it, painting the Dalish as adjacent to oppressors when they themselves are oppressed in every way. The only thing that remains consistent is the sad boy Solas act about it.

At the end of the game, two of my companions - Harding and Emmrich- were killed. Emmrich's death was unfortunately overshadowed by a zoom-in on a rock and I had no idea he had died until I got the popup. Still, all I can think about is just going "Rock moment" when he died. I don't really have anything negative to say about Harding's death other than the way she went out was fitting for her narrative. Bellara got blighted and there were no consequences for this and she walked away from it - forgive me but I am still under the DAO impression that if you get blighted that's game over but all the rules about the Blight have been changed in this.

I decided to trick Solas, and honestly, I don’t have anything negative to say about it, except that Solas should have noticed me holding the fake dagger since it was clearly in his line of sight. I liked the idea of outsmarting the god of trickery. While it wasn’t extremely satisfying, but I’m okay with how it turned out.

Even as the credits began rolling I still have trouble believing rook's role in any of this. Just the persistent nagging idea that they really just have no place in this story at all. In the beginning I wanted to see how Rook is looped into all of this and how they become central to the fight against Solas but just like with most of the companions, I have no idea why they are here. This should've been the Inquisitor's story to finish.

I'm not going to pretend that everything about this game was irredeemable and terrible. There were genuinely parts I enjoyed and had a good time with. The romance ending scene with Neve was fantastic, even though it took a long time to get there. Davrin was an unexpected aspect of the game that I actually liked, as I never cared much for Grey Wardens before, but he changed my perspective. Harding's mention of the Inquisition was also very sweet. Although I wasn't particularly invested in Emmrich, I loved the conclusion to his quest when he became a lich lord.

While I'm not the biggest Solas fan, I actually really enjoyed the cutscenes between him and Rook because one of my aims with this game was the ability to be mean to Solas and kick him while he was down. They definitely delivered there even though everyone else kept disagreeing with me.

The worlds are beautiful and the CC is definitely the best we've gotten in any Dragon Age game, I spent probably a solid hour in there. The hairstyles are great and the four unibrow choices? Bioware you shouldn't have <3.

Overall I definitely didn't have the best time with this game and towards the end of act 2 I was incredibly bored and the combat became repetitive and stagnant enough that I turned down the difficulty to get through it faster. I can't see myself replaying this any time soon and I am unsure what my stance on Dragon Age is now, do I Ignore this game ever existed or do I carve out everything I liked and pretend this is the Dragon Age I love? I have no idea, I am disappointed at how this game leaves us off and I really wanted to sit here and say It's good but I can't.

I think this game will reach out to and resonate with a different group of Dragon Age fans than me, I just wish I could enjoy it as much as I see other people doing. I was originally going to give this game a 3/10 but knowing you can pet the cats I will give it a very generous 3.5/10.

[lebensmudewing]

"yes, hypothesis, it literally is not proven and therefore cannot be stated as a fact, I will kindly remind you."

I recognize that it's an hypothesis, but my message is the same. My point is that feminists discard any discussion on sex differences being influenced by genetics, not by studying them, but by discarding them as "a myth" or "is stupid".

The other day I was on a feminist subreddit and this hypothesis was mentioned like an alien thing that is not discussed in academia but is a product of obscure male forums, when it has been an idea on academia for decades.

Such kind of ignorance of the state of the discussion regarding male and female differences clearly can lead to irrational beliefs around sex and gender.

"and is supported only by psychological studies, aka studies of the status quo"

I don't know what are you trying to say with this. I don't discard entire fields only because they support "the status quo". Science should not be prescriptive. People supporting or not certain things because "a paper says it" doesn't equal that an entire field support a certain position.

"Also, since when males were supposed to be an "experimental sex"? Are you trying to prove greater male variability with your own philosophical interpretation of nature?"

No, such hypothesis has been summarized by that idea. And I said that males seemed to be that, not that they are that.

Another way it is summarized is "men are extreme, women are average".

"You are right that feminists should pay more attention to this peculiar theory, but not for the reasons you suggest. We need to critisize this hypothesis because it is clearly a product of coping male mind, that is eager to justify all the social engineering that goes into producing male geniuses, successful CEOs and such, and also erase the deliberate lack of control over deviant males (when people say there are more male idiots, they don't really mean disabled people after all, because they would say "sick" otherwise - they are just talking about their life experiences), presenting it as a "natural thing" instead."

Like, you are conflating men coping in their stupidity by saying that "there are more male genuises, so therefore I'm a genius" with what IQ science says.

Low IQ impplies learning disabilities and overall is correlated with low academic achievement. There are plently of retarded moids in the world, women thriving on school and getting better grades is a proof of that. Men can't sit still quietly for hours and entertain themselves in civilized ways.

I have seen those same moids that insist they are geniuses losing it when they discover that High IQ means you actually thrive on life, you get better grades, you sit still. They get crushed because they can't relate.

The fact that such difference is not publicly stated or constantly repeated is not on science, is on people who want to push the idea that men are better or superior by clinging on a few male outliers with high IQ. And I think that feminists ignoring such science for fear of these people is what makes the fact of men being more retarded obscure and unknown.

"Oh, and, of course, it erases the fact of obvious genetical female superiority and male dysgenic genome by presenting their lack of genes and higher mutation rates as something more desirable (that's really funny how mutations are framed in society as something good and to strive for lol - nature has never had any lack of spontaneous mutations, there is a reason why all the systems that exist concerning it are those of mutation rates reduction, including sexual reproduction."

"Higher mutation rates" but also "there is no genetic evidence of male greater variability". I don't know but something tells me that you want to discard any support of this hypothesis because it could suggest that men have certain advantages over women.

I don't know who is portraying such mutation rates as something better or "More than". It makes men more prone to diseases, I don't see it as an advantage or a good thing.

"I am very sad that this idea is so uncritically supported by many women. And frankly I don't understand why. Isn't it obvious that they are just justifying male privelege at least? After so many years of feminist analysis it should be evident why women are less likely to be considered geniuses and occupy more prestigious positions, even the papers that find evidence of greater male variability admit that the amount of female high-achievers is still much-much less than what is predicted by those findings. I really hope you reconsider your position on this question, because I am frankly very frustrated by this bland spot of many women, by the fact that this harmful idea so easily lands into their minds."

I don't know in what part of my original post I said that or suggested something like that. I mean, I think it's clear for any honest person that IQ distributions don't match with the number of male and female genuises on history. There are more female genuises than women in STEM, or women in college if we take into account all countries in the world.

The fact that on average male and female IQs are the same is the proof that women are oppressed and that men prefer to lose half of society assets only to favor themselves. Such an idea is present on male supremacists texts, for example the father of MRA, Ernst Belfort said that women should not vote at all, and it didn't matter if a woman was more educated than a male.

radblr hot takes? 🔥

what nuanced take do you feel easily shamed for on radblr?

[dullgecko]

(I feel like I send anons often enough that I can justify having like a tag so uh 🩰 anon here!)

Riz has a tendency to just grab and pull things to him with his tail whenever he’s tired and doesn’t want to move or make an effort

Which is fine whenever he’s just grabbing like his coffee mug or another string of yarn for the conspiracy board, however it is very not fine when he is having a movie night with Fabian and his instinctual response to Fabian getting up to go make popcorn is for his tail to wrap around Fabian’s waist and literally tug him back down

He is blushing so hard because while Fabian is just laughing it off thinking it’s just a Riz being Riz thing, for goblin standards doing that is very much a way of showing that the person is yours and he is like dying inside

This is like a week into their relationship but goblins tend to get really serious really fast (short lifespans and all that) and they’ve basically been doing this for like 3 years it just hasn’t morphed into an actual relationship until recently, so it’s not actually that weird for his goblin brain to be a little bit possessive, it’s just Riz is so worried about Fabian taking it the wrong way that he just does not tell him

(Fabian eventually figures it out on his own and he still thinks it’s really cute, he’s a Seacaster semi-possessive tendencies run in his blood this only makes Riz more attractive in his eyes)

Riz does try to keep his tail to himself more actively their next few hangouts, that is for like a month until Fabian one night just like gently grabs Riz’s tail and wraps it around his wrist (he had noticed it flicking restlessly and usually Riz would just let it wrap around whichever Bad Kid was closest so he presumed it would help)

After that it’s hard to find a time where the two of them are together and Riz’s tail isn’t wrapped around Fabian somewhere, it is in fact very often Fabian’s first sign that Riz is even there to begin with before he starts talking

Fabian’s still very proud of the time somebody had decided hitting on him at a party in front of Riz was a good idea and Riz’s response was to wrap his tail around Fabian’s waist and start a low growl in his throat (it was very quiet so only Fabian could hear it but the person got the hint), it’s 100% not that he doesn’t trust Fabian (he was usually fine with Fabian getting hit on considering Riz gets hit on just as often if not more) it’s just he was literally right there and the girl clearly knew Fabian was taken and his instincts just took over, he explains all this to Fabian later and Fabian just somehow falls in love a little bit more

Fabian has to be careful not to get up TOO quick, just in case Riz has him trapped and he hadn't noticed (little guy is stealthy, sometimes he'll have his tail looped around your ankle and you cant even feel it until you go to take a step). The half elf can easily lift Riz fully off the floor with minimal effort but the goblin cannot support his own body weight with his tail. If Fabian even feels the smallest bit of resistance when he stands he wont even fight Riz yanking him back down, he will not be the member of his party to accidentlly dislocate something in the goblins tail.

[doctors-donna]

but the fact that Niko helped create the Lost and Found department in the afterlife BECAUSE she met Edwin and Charles. It exists because of them, and their friendship with Niko. Im fine. Totally fine.

[catcomixzstudios]

I can barely begin to express how much the course of my life has been altered because of a 40 minute highlight video done by @jelloapocalypse and friends riffing over a 20 year old sky pirate game.

I made an off-handed comment after watching it together with two of my longtime friends, about how much I wish I had what Vyrsa had, and one of those friends STRAIGHT-UP TELLS ME that her and her wife have been crushing on me for a while.

The feeling was mutual, though I'd been of course hesitant to even hint at it.

Anyway now a few months later, we're a thruple, and we decided to honor the genesis of our relationship by cosplaying as the trio that made it a reality for my 30th birthday!

PinkCatNinja, me (CatComixzStudios), and ArtieStokes as Aika, Vyce Vyrsa, and Fina respectively, from SKIES OF ARCADIA!

And as a bonus, a comment I left on the video before my egg would crack completely (was still IDing as genderfluid at the time)

[whilomm]

okay you know what ill respond to this brain dead bullshit on the post itself not just the replies, @doctor-slop literally Do The Fucking Math, because mathematically: nope!

see all these competitive swing states? the ones people watch, the ones that decide the election? if donald trump has a single vote over 50% in them, mathematically it is impossible for third party voters to have decided the election, because we live in a "first past the post" county, 50.000001%=winner. Out of the 7 swing states lost here, only 2 of them you could mathematically argue might have flipped blue if you gave kamala the swing voters, except you have to ignore the fact that a lot of the swing voters would have gone trump instead.

georgia? if every single third party vote switched to kamala, INCLUDING the right wing libertarian third party voters, it still only equals 49.3%. even with third parties, kamala loses georgia.

Pennsylvania? again, kamala only gets 49.3%. kamala loses.

arizona? kamala only gets 48.1%. kamala loses.

michigan? wisconsin? well, step 1 is forgetting the fact that all those robert F. kennedy voters would probs have voted for trump anyway, so would a lot of the libertarians voting for chase oliver probs, easily putting him over 50% in both states anyway, but yeah sure. heres a couple of states kamala could have won if she managed to win over both EVERY SINGLE FUCKING ROBERT F KENNEDY VOTER AND THE LIBERTARIAN GUN NUTS, congrats!!! wooo you have Two Fucking States that could maybe have flipped in fantasyland

unless we see a massive change in the voting numbers from stuff like mail in ballots being cured giving trump less than 49.99999% in a buncha swing states, but at least based on the currently reported numbers, no, you cannot realistically argue that third party voters voters lost the election. thats not how numbers work. you could MAYBE argue that "ohhhh if we had the jill stein voters AND the people deciding not to vote MAYBE—", but how many people not voting did it out of protest vs how many people did it cause they just dont pay attention to politics? dunno!!! and neither do you!!!! besides, you said its purely on "third party voters 100% unequivocally", cant bring nonvoters into it with that solid of a statement.

just. for the love of fucking christ, Learn How Math Works. learn how our fucked up electoral college system works. realize that a good portion of these third party voters would have gone trump otherwise anyway. and stop blaming the vanishingly small contingent of people voting for the joke that is jill stein for an election in which only about half of people eligible to vote bother to do, and of those that do millions have their biggest voting issue as egg prices. there are so many more numerous issues than people who still fucking think jill stein is anything other than a grifter, and you need to focus on the actual problems. Stop yelling at shadows on the wall and start yelling at your coworkers and friends and family who voted based on gas prices or didnt even bother to vote because "oh i dont really pay attention to politics"

and you know that theyre gonna blame leftists for the election once a fucking gain

not all the people who "dont reallt care about politics", didnt vote, that are gonna wake up tomorrow and just get confused, "huh, trump won? weird. thought people hated him" and move on their day

not the idiots who heard trump talking about lowering groceries and gas prices and genuinely thought "well, I want lower gas prices and groceries" and voted for it

not the dems for STILL running the fucking "playing all the sides" campaign, not the dems for taking so long to realize how unpopular biden is even among those who dont pay attention to jack shit ("hes old... grocery prices...gas prices..."), not the dems for continuing the condescending bullshit, not the dems for still refusing to give jack shit to the muslim americans who felt fucking betrayed and feel like its "damned if we do, damned if we dont"

not the longstanding american tradition of massive voter disenfranchisement that makes voting impossible for some, and juuusssttt inconvenient enough for others that they end up not voting (like my coworkers who didnt even REALIZE they needed to register to vote and it was too late)

no, none of those things, its the tiny ass contingent of leftists who were still deciding to not vote at all post biden dropout, and we're gonna spend the next 4 years hearing about it just like everyone blamed bernie bros for 2016 (despite literally more people flipping from bernie to hillary than flipped from hillary to obama in 2012)

[sidesteppostinghours]

pulps law is that whenever i get insane enough about something, i will inevitably attempt to make a persona 5 au, regardless of whether or not i am successful at it.

[fated-normal-767]

im like if a guy who didnt have divorced parents had divorced parents

[amiscreations]

Meeting All of Def Leppard in Sheffield!!!!

Yes, really! and no this wasn't part of a meet and greet or anything, I just happened to be incredibly blessed that weekend🥰 so sit back, relax, get your snacks, and lemme give you a comprehensive timeline of how I met the guys!

So you guys all know my interaction with Sav at the album signing, if not read about it here, but that was my only interaction with Sav. 

other than that, my friends happened to be staying at the same hotel that the Leppards and their crew were! 

the only one of the Leppard crew who wasn't staying there was Sav, because he was staying at his house (he lives in Sheffield so ig it makes sense) but yeah that was why we didn't see him at all after the signing.

also the man is illusive af so even if he was staying at the hotel we prob wouldn't have seen much of him😅

Right, now time for the others!

The next Leppard I met (and I still genuinely cannot believe this) was Joe!

We got back to the hotel after the concert and he was just… there? In the lobby/restaurant area? WHAT?

I will admit that I did feel a little bad going up to him as he seemed like he just wanted to hang out with his friends who were all there, but at this point I didn’t know that they were staying at the hotel so I didn’t know if I’d ever get this opportunity again.

He was sO NICE and sO TIPSY LMAO

We didn’t say much to each other apart from the usual “the show was amazing!” And “Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed it” kinda routine bUT STILL I WAS TALKING TO JOSEPH ELLIOTT HIMSELF ANYTHING WAS MORE THAN AMAZING 

he is also vERY tall in person

Like I knew he was like 6′3 or something like that but my short ass just did not expect him to be that tall for some reason

But yeah that was that

Another fun thing was that we stayed in the lobby for a little while and we could just hEAR him laughing and talking 

Something I learned about Joe Elliott on this trip is that tHE MAN IS LOUD WHEN TIPSY

Just as we were about to retire for the night, in walks The Thundergod himself, Mr Rick Allen!

Of course we got a picture with him and he was very intent on taking it himself in selfie mode LMAO

(my friends were in this too but I decided to crop them out bc I wasn't sure if they wanted to be on Tumblr or not)

HE IS SO LOVELY AAAAAAA

Cut to the next day, I meet my friends in Starbucks, and we weren’t in there more than 10 mins, and Rick walks in! 

My friend apparently had always wanted to buy him coffee, so the went up and paid for his order aWWW

he then proceeded to come and sit at our table and we just... talked?

as if we were old friends?

WHAT?

HE IS SO NICE AND SO CHARMING AND SO FUNNY I JUST AWWW

we ended up running into him a lot that day and the next, and he genuinely seemed happy to see us!

at one point he said “greetings earthlings” to us and did the Star Trek salute

long story short for about 48 hours we became best friends with Rick Allen and I miss him every day

Next up: Phil

our first interaction was very generic (well as generic as you can get when you're literally meeting one of your favourite people on the entire planet)

we ran into him in the lobby of the hotel and we talked about the concert for a bit

he said he was super excited for the rest of the tour AWW

we saw him a couple of other times  that day but other than a “hello” and a smile  we didn't bother him at all

we would have done the same whenever we saw Rick but I cannot stress enough that HE was the one coming up to US when ever he saw us

later that day we also saw Joe again but we didn't go up to him as he was with Jess and Mike and seemed busy ( he was honestly probably going out to film something👀)

Ok this next part might be a lil sad

But we also went to visit Steve🥺

I didn’t expect to cry, but as soon as the three of us laid eyes on his gravestone we just all broke down into tears.

There was a lot of lil bits of memorabilia there that looked like they had been there for a long time, mostly guitar picks and lil notes.

But the part that got us? There was a picture of him and Phil there which you can just about see in the first photo

Not me crying again rn

But we have him some flowers (which we all wrote a note on) and I also gave him a guitar pick. 

I’d actually found this guitar pick on the floor in Brighton a few weeks ago, and it was from a music touring company. I’d completely forgotten I’d left it in my bag, but I think it was absolutely a sign when I found it on the floor.

Everything felt so heartbreakingly perfect 

We got to share this little moment with him💜

Ok sad stuff over 

Cut to the next day, we’re back at Starbucks again getting breakfast. surely nothing else out of the ordinary could happen, right?

well that was proven wrong when VIVIAN CAMPBELL WALKED IN HKSFBKFJS

seriously we weren’t even planning to stay in there wE WERE IN THERE FOR LIKE FIVE MINUTES TO GET BREAKFAST AND THEN GO

anyways I got to give him one of my art prints 

I actually forgot to say I gave one to Rick as well as Sav

well I gave one to Scott (sav’s son who I saw at the OAC pop up) and he said he would give it to Sav AWW

the only one I didn't give a print to was Joe and im sO MAD bc I made a bunch of Joe prints to give out to the fans at the concert and over the weekend bUT I FORGOT TO SAVE ONE FOR THE MAN HIMSELF AAAAAH IM SORRY JOE

I can just imagine all the guys showing each other their prints and Joe being like 🥺why didn't I get one?

I WILL GET A PRINT TO JOE IF IT KILLS ME DW THIS IS NOW MY MISSION 

ANYWAYS Viv was super cool but super shy aww so it didn't seem right to ask him for a picture

[EDIT] idk how I forgot this part but Viv actually recognised me from the signing???!!!! He said “aw I recognise you, you were the one with Sav’s jacket😃” I kept my cool somehow but I was fREAKING OUT

esp in the cafe where I don’t think he wanted attention drawn to him😅

also side note I can confirm that Viv is absolutely ripped irl like bRUUUH👁👄👁

everyone talks about how buff phil is but nO ONE TALKS ABOUT VIV

soz but that just needed to be said.

we decided to stay in the lobby and ofc we saw the leppards a bunch again

literally it was so surreal 

just as they were getting ready to check out Joe came out of the elevator and said “good morning ladies” to us 

we all just collectively internally screamed

we said some other things to him and vice versa but my brain was going 100 miles an hour (BC THAT’S JOE ELLIOTT RIGHT THERE TALKING TO US?) so I honestly dont remember what exactly we were saying😅

another fun thing was that my friend had gifted him a shirt at the signing aND THE MAN WAS WEARING IT AS HE WAS CHECKING OUT

IT WAS SO SWEET AND WE ALL JUST CRIED 

and then as he walked out he said “ladies I bid you adieu”

*more internal feral screaming*

Viv also went to check out and Caitlin (his wife) was with him and I stg she gave me a death glare LMAO

I honestly don’t think she meant to lol but it was still funny

like don’t worry I'm not gonna steal your man calm down

I managed to stop Phil just in time to give him one of my art prints!

one of my friends also had a programme from the Pyro days that had a double page pic of the guys and everyone had their signature (yes this even had Steve’s signature) apart from Phil

and she finally got to complete it by asking him to sign it! 

the best part about this was that he seemed so genuinely happy to see Steve’s signature

he then gAVE ME AND HER HUGS WTF FHDHDHSH

we both then cried 😃

like literally we were both so overwhelmed (in a good way) that we just had to let it all out

and just like that, they were on their way to the airport 

when I left for Sheffield four days prior I had no idea that when I left, I could say I'd had conversations with all five of my favourite people in the world. 

hopefully this was the first time of many I’ll see them!

[acaciapines]

on today's episode of 'acaica's background thoughts for the dess raises kris au': okay but lets be serious do dess and chara actually stay together in the end--

[catkin-morgs-kookaburralover]

one odd thing about going deeper is that I'm no longer satisfied with shallower. and that's, weirdly enough, a net positive. I've self harmed - eh, twice? in the last month. both were well into the criteria that should have got sutures and ignored it; suspect I hit a vein once and was extremely close to muscle, which feels kind of odd. yeah, it's ramped up; yeah, there's a lot of blood and all that kind of stuff. very high risk of infection, potential nerve damage and all that kind of stuff (though I have not got either of them; I scared off an infection that wanted to hang round by chucking quantities of alcohol on it). but at the same time. that's only twice. that's a lot better than previously.

[saintlesbian]

as for the rest of the ep…

Chalynn truthers we won. we fucking won 🍾🍾🍾

Lois trying to talk Ned into making peace w/ Michael and Drew sounds REAL funny knowing that drew and Michael r still planning on pushing him out of ELQ again. fuck those two forever actually, y’all can make peace in hell

speaking of drewfus, I wish I could be glad he’s leaving but it’s not for very long and crew is gonna be annoying abt it I’m sure. this version of drew is such a shell of himself that anytime hes brought up I just feel disgusted 😖

I’m getting tired of Sonny bringing up Carly when talking to nina it just feels WEIRD… I really don’t wanna see a Carson reunion but it’s starting to feel like the pikeman/cyrus bs might end up being the catalyst for one… sonaritas should we be worried. 😟

also Tolly agreeing to use krissy as the surrogate… wasn’t there literally a whole argument against doing this months back that resulted in tolly icing krissy out for several weeks…? once again I must assert this whole surrogate storyline is a load of barnacles

[dutybcrne]

@strdstd replied to your post:

{...Pyro Boothill thinkings are being thunked-}

👀

[pinkseas]

girl who makes fun of when ppl shove two characters into a relationship solely bc theyre both conventionally attractive and they just want their fave little guys to fuck regardless of the nonexistent or Negative synergy between them when she starts looking at two of her own faves and thinking abt them holding hands: 😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰