#I'm not in the business of debating people on the subject at this point

[flightlogmcu]

This is a reminder that Marvel is on the BDS list for Captain America 4 (for the inclusion of the Israeli actress), and thus should be boycotted.

And while it's frustrating that this had to happen to the debut film of Sam Wilson as Captain America, it is not worth the continued normalization and legitimacy revolving around Israel.

For Marvel and Disney to double down on this after nine months and a death toll that's close to 200,000 people is horrendous.

For them not to listen to people and feel that this character has to be included (and for the life of me I can't imagine a story line that important outside of blatant propaganda), is shameful in ways I can't even imagine.

Changing the storyline won't change the fact that her inclusion attempts to push the narrative that Zionists should be in the spotlight for films.

And they shouldn't.

For those who would like to assist families in Gaza, please check out the link to Operation Olive Branch. They've been incredible with organizing and helping families on the ground evacuate or be able to get the supplies they need.

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

hey weird question but, with the context that while conspiracy thought in and of itself is just a sort of dangerous logical fallacy, most conspiracy theories have some kind of tie to antisemetism, are there any antisemetic aspects to gaylor theory? i can't think of how but somehow it almost always weasels in there, no matter how innocently silly something seems on the surface.

DEEP SIGH okay it's time to talk about Scooter Braun and his place in the Gaylor conspiracy

I'm not going to recap everything but will instead link you to this US Weekly article (I know, sorry) which is basically a fine summation of events despite being a bit sensationalist in calling a business disagreement between two adults a "feud"

tl;dr for anyone who doesn't want to read all of that (it's not actually that long, I prommy): in 2019 talent manager Scooter Braun acquired Taylor Swift's former record label Big Machine, giving ownership of the masters of her first six albums. Swift objected to this very publicly on the grounds that she wanted ownership over her own work and had repeatedly been denied the opportunity to buy it outright, while also alleging that Braun has been harassing and bullying her for years. ultimately, Swift has remained unable to buy back her work, leading to her steadily re-releasing expanded versions of her first six albums under the "Taylor's Version" headline.

obviously, given my stance against speculating on the personal lives of famous rich people, I'm not particularly interested in debating whether or not there's merit to Swift's accusations against Braun, although given the exploitative nature of the music industry I hardly think her claims are implausible.

regardless of whether or not Braun sucks as a person, it's important to note that he was only very briefly in ownership of Swift's discography: as the linked article above notes, he only owned them for about a year and a half before selling them off in 2020.

despite this, Braun holds what I would consider a rather outsize role in a lot of Gaylor conspiracy theorizing, with many apparently believing that Swift fully intended to come out in 2019 with the release of her seventh album, Lover, but was prevented from coming out by Braun purchasing her discography. I've seen some claim that he actively subjected her to homophobic bullying and others saying that she didn't him to financially benefit from any career boon she might have after coming out (although no one ever seems to have an answer for why she still hasn't come out three years after he sold her discography).

I can't say whether or not the majority of Gaylors, like, know or care that Braun is Jewish, but it feels tragically predictable and yucky that a Jewish man is given such a disproportional share of blame for why Taylor "can't" come out and is made a scapegoat in the ongoing effort to evade reality with "arguments" like this

(source)

... hang on, what's that?

oh man I love when a Jewish family gets put n SCARY ALL CAPS

okay so let's talk about Karlie Kloss and Josh Kushner!

as many of you probably know by this point, Karlie Kloss is the pinnacle of Taylor Swift's platonic gal pals that she gets relentlessly shipped with; I think it's fair to say that "proving" a romantic relationship existed between the two of them is the primary focus of a lot of Gaylorism.

since 2018 Kloss has been married to Josh Kushner, heir of THAT Kushner family. his infamous brother Jared is in fact Donald Trump's son-in-law and probably guilty of, like, a lot of federal crimes. that doesn't inherently make Josh a shithead or anything and he and Kloss both claim more liberal politics, although it should be noted that like a lot of rich liberals Josh does also suck pretty hard. he and Jared own a real estate management company together and were suing their tenants and evicting them during the COVID-19 rent moratorium, so that's kind of everything you need to know about him and Karlie Kloss IMO!!!

having said that, Josh being a bastard landlord doesn't make it appropriate to frame a Jewish family as having some kind of sinister interest in suppressing a queer woman's sexuality or imply that Kloss and Josh Kushner are in some kind of sham marriage. for YEARS Kloss' marriage to Kushner, including her conversion to Judaism and their two living human children, have been dismissed as elaborate turbo-bearding, with some Gaylors going so far as to allege that Kloss and Swift have actually been married for years and Kloss is just having Kushner's children for... reasons unknown... which feels like, you know. a pretty gross dismissal of a Jewish family in favor of pretending two WASPiest WASPs to ever WASP are secretly scissoring.

anyway I certainly don't think it's the most egregious or deliberate anti-semitism that's out there in the conspiracy world but are there some Gaylors blaming The Jews(TM) for forcing poor innocent Taylor to stay in the closet? resounding yes.

[gioiaalbanoart]

MIXED FRIED WRITING SHARE

(last line,writing share, friday whatever day share, etc)

💗 Thank you @aintgonnatakethis (X) @wyked-ao3 (X) and (X)

@kaeru483 (X) + @the-golden-comet with this open tag 💗

You know what? I'M TAGGING YOU BACK (np) and adding in the mix : @saturnine-saturneight, @davycoquette @cowboybrunch and @tragedycoded

+ open tag of course and a much needed drink 🍻 🍻🍻

****

It's so hot here that I can't even think, light edited because meanwhile I'm melting 🥵🥵🥵

Wip The scarred angel under the cut. There is a tag list for it let me know if you want in 👇

......

"To answer your request" Herrera cuts Morales little play off, or maybe he just had enough of everybody at this point : "I'm afraid I have to disappoint you, Miss Salinas."

Chief's fingers drummer on the little space left free by paperwork on the desk.

"I mean, you can stay few more days, of course, join again my men on patrol if you wish. But I can't let you get lost in the middle of hell. Don't take it badly, I'm afraid you're not experienced enough and I wouldn't take this responsibility."

The tone is adamant enough to let little to not opening for discussion, makes Amy clenches her teeth. 

Of course doesn't take a genius to understand she's a fish out of water but he's definitely giving her a different side of the defeated and overwhelmed man she has seen until know, not that Amy  knows him well.

She find it irritating enough though and doesn't want give up yet so she goes for a blind shot : "What about Ashley Knox then?".

Herrera narrows eyes : "Look, I really don't have a clue where she hangs out...."

"Let's not forget that she fucking smuggles" Morales interrupts again, clearly wanting to have his saying.

At least the fucker lets knowledge slide, Amy will give him that.

She arches a brow at that last bit of information  : "Is she into smuggling drugs?"

"Minor stuff." Herrera waves a hand as to minimize the fact, goes even to move a stack of documents on the desk uselessly from one spot to another, clearly not too keen to go any deeper into that subject.

Then, whatever it's because Morales is tsking again or Amy's mute question showing on her face he grudgingly breaths the answer out : "We busted her with weed last year."

"And you let that slide with no charge !" Morales points out with an accusatory tone.

"She was just carrying and we were busy with other problems." 

Amy notices the chiefs apologizing tone and finds that curious at the very least. 

Is he apologizing to Morales for a questionable decision or he's apologizing for admitting that Ashley was in fact accountable of charge?

"We just never caught her selling, yet! " Morales insists.

"I'm pretty positive she doesn't." Herrera retorts.

While the two men bicker Amy leans her gaze at the notepad still on her knees, she didn't write a word, of course.

Her fingers fidget with the pen while considering what she could say next and find her options pretty close to none. She also thinks that even if Ashley Know were smuggling they wouldn't be able to catch her and she couldn't explain why she's so sure about it.

Noticing the silence Amy lifts eyes and catches Herrera observing her with a curious look, as if he's internally debating.

So that he does startle her when, after the millionth sigh of the day, he finally tells the story.

"Last year, about same period, we were investigating a human smuggling network that operated in large parts of southern US" Herrera's facial expression darkens : "One of many".

"We had a tip about a repurposed water tank that was suppose to be crossing the Colombia bridge. You can imagine those people held inside...."

Again, Amy doesn't want imagine, she just hopes for Herrera getting to the point, whatever that is.

"As Morales here just pointed out." he glares toward the man an edge in his voice : "Smugglers trafficking networks and cartel fear nothing and have no shame whatsoever. But even for their standard that kind of move is bold. Probably they managed more than once..."

Amy senses a shadow of shame coloring the chief's words and she can relate to that, feeling ashamed is something she's used to. 

Herrera carries on : "The tip for finding the people came from Ashley. Until then she was nowhere around to be seen and we never knew how she got the information in the first place, of course. Except she was the one leading exactly to the one tank packed with the illegal immigrants. The conditions in which they were held were, well, awful. Not all of them made it out alive."

"And then we busted her too!" Morales stubbornly points out again and Amy debates in her head if the man speaks out of passion of the law or if he's just acting as an asshole because some other reason on which she can't put her finger on.

She would, not objectively, opting for the latter option.

This time Herrera almost rolls eyes voicing Amy's thoughts : "Detective, leave that go, would you?" he blurts out : "She had less then two ounces of marijuana, for heaven's sake, against twenty five people that were held in the fucking tank!"

Morales settles lips, scorn still all over his face : "Whatever" he mutters, not daring Herrera further but still wanting to place the last word.

"She didn't even try to hide the weed! " Herrera scoffs, almost talking to himself and implying that as a point of honor. 

Amy is eager to ask for more but doesn't feel comfortable to do so with Morales there.

Almost as he was playing mind reader Herrera surprises her again : "Detective, I'm almost finish here with Miss Salinas" his gaze is intense.

"I know we have matters to discuss. Go refresh yourself a little and come back to report then, I'm sure you can use a little break."

Morales stares at his chief definitely not happy about the proposition that is actually 'an order' and sounds more as a betrayal to him.

He almost puts hands on his hips as to underline what he's about to counter but acknowledging Herrera's face darkening decides against it, for once. 

Probably his first wise decision for the day.

Amy feels a spurs of gratitude towards Herrera and almost cheers internally when Morales actually turns and takes the door to finally fucking leave. 

......

🔪💗🔪 TSA tag list : @wyked-ao3, @tragedycoded

[unlikelyjapan]

s2e3 rewatch notes

One more before the weekend...

"When I was a kid anything that would give me some type of excitement, or amusement or enjoyment would get fucked ... Sometimes they'd try too hard, or they'd make promises they weren't able to keep" - everything in Carmy's AA statement can be related to cooking, the restaurant, drawing, Claire - pretty much the sum of Carmy's parts now.

Second Carmy/Syd kitchen scene:

Carmy is always the first to ask about anyone's parents (but only to Syd) - just like he inquires about Syd's Dad, his first concern is to ask about Marcus' mom while they debate sending him to Copenhagen. Family and people, in general, are always at the forefront of his mind, while progression is always at the forefront of Syd's (even if she does genuinely cares and checks in, it's secondary)

Carmy's "I want to make a suggestion" to go out was so loaded - it was obviously a premeditated move that he wanted to do the food tour with Syd. "I think WE need to go out, and we need to try some stuff"

After he tells her he'll see her in an hour, Goodbye Girl by Squeeze starts playing, and the track ends as Tina realizes that Ebra isn't ever going to be by her side in class *dies twice*

Richie dropping off his daughter: I have a precocious 6-year-old daughter as well and.....they tried to squeeze way too many lines into Eva to advance Richie's storyline when it should have come via Tiff or something - I hate being a negative nelly, but this part is so botched/lifetime drama-y.

(His obvious tenderness is sweet though)

10:44am call with Claire: this is only 2ish hours after his AA talk - I guess the subject matter was resonating with him?

Her forcing the convo on how ingratiated she is with his family makes me throw up my hands and say "no wonder the guy had a fucking panic attack later!". I was just highlighting how in AA how his family tries too hard sometimes - this is a prime example with her "I know all the fuckin' Faks" jousting.

And my god, she knew he was about to tell her that he was busy today, and she claps back "can you not make this weird?" - it literally harkens back to his family's bullying and expectations that Carmy will pacify them. (I know she can't know all this, but damn)

This part of the conversation gets its own bullet point:

"You know, he [Fak] told me that you guys are really close and that he's your best friend" - I didn't realize the first go around how bold the attempt at enmeshment was. With Fishes as context, the toxicity levels in this conversation are off the rails.

Also, her demented smile when she says "really?" when he says "no...no, Fak's not my best friend" - aggghhhh!

"No, no. He is. He's probably my best friend"

What the hell is this? "That's interesting, to sit with, for you" with the continued weird little smile -this isn't flirting, this is her relishing in the fact that she can manipulate him.

Why didn't I clue into how caustically fucked this scene was the first time? I think I was so distracted by the whispy dialogue and cadence of the conversation that I actually blacked out of the dialogue. Thank goodness for subtitles, because this script is mildly psychotic to read.

I know Storer said that one of the themes of this season is "winning is losing" - Claire is definitely playing to win at all costs. Is s2e10 showing that she lost? Or am I sitting through this dialogue again next season? I NEED TO KNOW.

Anyways, Secret Teadrops by Martin Rev (google the lyrics) plays as sydney enters Kasama - God, the music suggests she was thrilled to be spending a day out of the usual context with Carmy, and her checking her phone constantly is killing me.

Twenty Five Miles by Edwin Starr starts playing at the start of the food montage, just as Sydney gets the text from Carmy that she'll be doing it alone.

"I've been walking for three days and two lonely nights, and you know that I'm mighty mad"

After the owner of Avec tells her that she needs a great partner above all else, the lyrics blare again with "although my feet are tired, I can't lose my stride" - she can't abandon faith in Carmy just yet.

After the Pelican meats scene where the butcher (I forget his name, sorry!) tells Syd that he and his wife lost their restaurant in Bucktown after a business partner cut and ran, the song again blares with "I'm SO tired, but I just can't lose my stride"

Syd starts to adjust her language to "I'm not exactly solo" in the next restaurant scene- ugh - painful.

Enter conversations about profit sharing. Naiya assumes that she and Carmy are INVOLVED involved, and when she finds out they're just "gentleman's agreement" partners, she basically tells her to watch her back. Syd registers the statement, but looks so dejected, like she knows she's on a fool's errand now.

The lyrics flare one last time simply with "I've got to walk on"

Cue Carmy's phone going to voicemail as she has the jitters on the loading dock. She looks so sad, but also resigned to her fate at this point.

Sydney calls Marcus right after trying to call Carmy looking for any kind of sign or reinforcement. We're at the triangle again, with Marcus interpreting it one way, and Syd....really not reading anything into it at all.

I feel like Fak making fun of Marcus for "looking forward' with that big, dumb smile on his face means he knows Marcus' affection for Sydney.... and I'm starting to realize all the plots I don't like are the result of Fak's intuition and/or meddling.

Syd awkwardly trying to poach BOH workers is adorably baller and shows how aggressive she is just now realizing she needs to become- and she's so terrible at it, and I love her.

Future Perfect by Duretti Column (what an awesome deep cut) playing - I love that this part of the montage is Syd diving deep into herself and her more analytically-bent creative process and fuck everyone else. It's just her carrying the creative load of the restaurant right now, but she's truly free.

Lyrics repeat "You tell me stories, you speak in pictures"

She's being absolutely present ("Don't live in the future") and letting the food and the city that birthed it speak to her honestly and it's just so beautiful. The old family pictures surface in her memory alongside the plates she's crafting - her own contribution to the chaos menu, her past and present combined, her future (The Bear) undetermined.

Back to The Bear with "Make You Happy" by Tommy McGee playing in the background - I feel like enough ink has been spilled on this scene, but honestly read the lyrics here - ack.

One small observation after Carmy says "I'll let you know" - in the background, Marcus looks completely defeated, Fak's suppressing a laugh or something, and we get Richie's "ooooooohhhhhhh!"while Carm gives him dagger eyes. Y'all....these are not great men.

Syd rightfully realizes she needs to get the fuck away from everyone in that instant if she's going to do anything productive with the inspiration she's culled from her day of exploration and calls in the favor from the kitchen. I love that it almost immediately cuts to her there with her emotional support spoon 🥺

The ravioli failure - i.e. the fantasy vision of the food she had on the plate during her journey day not matching the reality of what she can craft on her own = the fantasy vision of the restaurant/life she could craft with Carmy not matching the reality of what she can is forced to craft on her own.

Oof, taking a break for a few days now....

[captainjamster]

hi i have a request Price gives stress relief to reader

if youre too busy thats fine

i absolutely read your username instead of price and started writing for graves until i realised, so uhhh... this idea but with phil coming at some point! also wasn't sure if you meant stress relief or stress relief, so this gets nsfw!!

thank u for the ask my little sunshine i hope you enjoy, i am never too busy for a request, especially not from a fellow graves lover <3

Pairing(s): Price x AFAB!reader (no gendered nicknames or pronouns) Warnings: NSFW, fingering, light dirty talk Wordcount: 2.2k Summary: Price gives you a hand winding down after a frustrating day at work, though mutual satisfaction is on his mind. AO3 Link: Right here <3

Full fic is under the cut <3

The pages rustle as John flickers through them, smoothing out with the tapping of your phone to create a peaceful, white noise. Yet despite the atmosphere, a heavy weight presses on your chest, brow furrowed and shoulders tight as you scroll through your apps. You can feel John's eyes on you, taking in your sullen form as you glare a hole into your screen.

"You're quiet, love."

John breaks the silence, looking down at his book again. You take a moment to compile a response, debating whether to delve into the frustrations of your week.

"Just a day, I guess."

He takes in the short, avoidant answer, thumbing the pages of his book. "Don't want to talk about it?"

"I don’t know. Not really."

John looks at you again, and this time, you turn to him too.

"Can I hold you?"

You nod, not trusting your voice. The moment your head inches forward, the book thuds onto his bedside table with a careless toss, immediately spreading his arms open. "C'mere, sweetheart."

You crawl into his lap, curling up and sinking into him. His arms wrap around you reflexively, bringing your head to rest against the bristle of his chest, the other arm rubbing up and down your back. He doesn't press the subject, just sets a steady pace to inhale and exhale with, rocking you softly with each breath.

After a few minutes, you initiate conversation yourself, mumbling against the skin of his sternum.

"So... Shit. Everything is so shit."

"Shit, love?"

You rub your cheek against his chest hair as you nod. "I hate people."

"Yeah?"

Drawing in a sharp breath, the feeling of burning frustration reignites in your lower stomach as you spill out an angry tirade. "God, I just want to tear their fucking heads off sometimes! I want one day, just one day, where I can speak my mind. I could ask them "oh, I'm sorry, is your fucking price wrong? Okay, now is it MY fault or YOUR fault that you didn't check the coupon was in date before you used it?" Maybe their fucking brains would start working if I didn’t have to just smile and say “yes customer, no customer! Whatever you want customer!” like the stupidest shit didn’t just come out their mouth!”

You turn, back pressed to his stomach as you gesture agitatedly. "I can't stand it! "Oh, oh! I dropped this jar and now it's cracked! Can I get it for free? Oh, my kid ate half of this apple, but he doesn't want it, so I'll just put it back on display! Let's berate this minimum-wage worker because the line was slightly long at midday, like they have any control over that!" Like, why do people become such monsters whenever they step foot into a store? My friend from that clothing shop down the street? She said someone tried to return a whole bag of dirty underwear, like what the fuck?"

Huffing, your jaw clenches tight as you cross your legs, flopping your head back against his shoulder dramatically.

"I'm sorry, baby." He murmurs lowly, running his hands up your arms, digging his thumbs into the tense flesh of your shoulder. "S'not fair, you deserve to be treated better than that, your friend too."

You soften into his arms, biting at the inside of your cheek. “I just wanna quit. Management sucks, everyone else working there is just as miserable. No wonder their turnover rate is so high.”

John’s hand drops down from your shoulder, running past your chest to rest against your midriff. "Always can, doll. Put in your two weeks, live off what I've got in the bank 'til y'find a better position. Y'know I'd let you never work a day in your life, if you'd let me."

His tone is gentle and passive, content in his reminder with your desire to keep financial independence and stay busy when he leaves for deployment. The room falls into silence again as you nestle into an arm, manoeuvring it to rest over your chest like a seatbelt and clip between your legs. His other arm rests along the length of your leg, and you feel him lean his weight back against the bed’s head as you continue thinking, playing with his arm hair absent-mindedly. John is content to let you fiddle away, his hand caught in the grip of your thighs comfortably, thumb traces little circles against the skin it rests between.

His body shifts underneath you after a few minutes of quiet, readjusting to move closer. You’re suddenly flush against him as he sits up, pulling you tighter against his soft, sturdy chest and pressing a kiss to the back of your head. The movement surprises a squeak out of you, squirming before a pressure against the crotch of your underwear stills you. Warm air brushes against your hair as John huffs in amusement, readjusting the hand cupped against your sex in an effort to tug you closer, intentionally positioning his hand to spread and fully cover your mound.

"John..."

He hums in response against your neck, lips pressed into the skin.

"Your hand."

"My hand, dove?" He pulls away, leaving one last kiss behind your ear.

"It's, ahhh...”

He flexes his fingers tighter for a second, the increase in pressure barely stimulating the sensitive nerves beneath. “What? Just movin’ you closer, ‘n my hand’s nice and warm down there.”

The playfully avoidant answer earns him an exasperated groan, though the desire seeping into you leaves it breathier than you’d like.

“Want me to stop?”

You shake your head before he can finish the sentence, grip tightening on his forearm. The vibration of his chuckles jostles you against his torso, warming your cheeks. Before you can exclaim your embarrassment, he shifts under the blankets and nudges your legs open, his feet hooking round your ankles to pin them apart. “How about some stress relief, hm? Get all those yucky feelings out for the night.”

His fingers trail teasingly against the hemline of your elastic, running his nails over the soft fat that meets the cotton barrier. All it takes is a “yes, please” for his fingers to breach the elastic, honing to your entrance only to glide back up the damp skin of your lips. At your whining insistence, his fingers deftly pull your lips apart, using his middle finger to collect the slick gathering between your folds and lather it against your clit. Your hips jerk at the contact, and John tuts, chasing your hips to flick his thumb over the sensitive button. “Askin’ for it, but y’won’t sit still, huh? Jus’ wanna help my baby feel better.”

Moving his arm to cup your chest, his hand crawls under your shirt to pinch your nipple, sending shivers down your spine as he rolls it between his fingers. Your whimpers only egg him on, emboldening him to trace little circles around your clit as he works to build the delicious tension growing between your legs.

Warmth flushes through your body, combining with the body heat radiating from John’s chest against your back, leaving you burning up in your own desire. It only takes minutes of John’s ministrations to draw wet squelches from between your legs, filling your ears as your eyes flutter closed, focusing on the way John’s fingers curl and tease around your most sensitive spot.  

“John, please…”

He takes your unspoken request without argument, leaving the begging for another night as his fingers leave your swollen nub to graze against your needy entrance. Your hole twitches at the slight contact, clenching as if to draw him in, eliciting a chuckle from John that goes unchallenged in your distracted state. Catching a line of slick dribbling down your perineum, he guides it back up, coating his fingers before he dips a digit into your hole.

You hiss wantonly at the sensations, hips bucking up to urge his finger in deeper, and John tuts. “Keep still, needy thing. Tryna play with this pretty cunt properly.”

He teases you with a sole finger, crooking it to stroke against the spongey muscle that has you leaking with each pass. Despite the stimulation, the single digit leaves your needy cunt feeling empty, fluttering against the intrusion with a desperation until you’re mewling for more.

“I know, y’need more, pet,” he murmurs into the skin behind your ear, dropping kisses down to your jaw. “Let me take care of you.”

The thick finger retreats from within you, leaving you whining in complaint as your hips chase his touch. Your eager hips are met with a firm spank to your folds, leaving John’s fingers trailing with slick as you gasp and retreat to the mattress, back against the protruding bulge in his lap. The compliance is rewarded with a soothing swipe of his fingers along your stinging lips, collecting arousal against his calloused skin. His fingertips circle teasingly at your entrance again, tracing the quivering muscle as he chuckles at your reactivity. Sensing the protest rising in you, he silences it with a swift thrust of his fingers, filling you up again.

His fingers work like they were designed to coax the stress from you with each drag, replacing the tension with a buzzing need for release that has you flexing and relaxing in waves against him. The pressure builds in the pit of your stomach as his fingers pump in and out of you, his other hand abandoning your breast and travelling down to reclaim its spot nestled against your clit, rolling tight circles around the nerve ending in harmony with the drive of his digits. He masterfully orchestrates your undoing, timing each thrust with each involuntary grind of your hips, kissing the salt from your neck as your head lulls against his shoulder, panting.

“Fuck, right there, m’so close John,” you moan, hands fumbling to find something to grip, finding purchase in his hairy thighs. The way your nails sink into the meat of his muscle has him groaning in your ear, breaking his smooth rhythm with a particularly deep thrust as he struggles to contain his enthusiasm. “Fuck, sweetheart, my god.”

Your cunt tightens so fiercely around his fingers that you’re sure they’re being crushed together as your orgasm hits you, squeezing the digits like you could milk the life out of them if you tried hard enough. John hums praise against your neck as he waits for your walls to relax to resume lazily thrusting in and out through the last sparks your climax, his own breath laboured as you tremble in his embrace.

His hand remains between your legs, fingers snug within you as your breathing evens out, the other travelling to trace small circles on the inside of your thigh. You float on the high of your orgasm, sweaty and satisfied as the strain dissipate from your legs, relaxing against John’s.

“Any improvement?”

You give him a breathless giggle, pulling your eyes open to tilt back and look at him. “Yeah, don’t feel like decapitating someone anymore.”

“Good.” He gives you a pleased smile, dotting a kiss on the corners of your lips. His face is warm and flushed, eyes still hazy with lust as he looks down at you, which brings a thought to your mind.

“Do you want me to take care of you…?”

His expression flickers to something guarded behind the smile, gently disentangling himself from your body. “I’m fine, don’t worry,” he announces gruffly, clearing his throat as he ducks into the bathroom. You frown, gazing at his retreating figure as you shuck off your soiled underwear, waiting for his return. He re-emerges with a damp cloth, crawling across the bed to kneel between your still spread legs, wiping delicately at the mess of arousal sticking to the sensitive surface of your skin.

The cloth is slightly warm as he pats at any excess water, collecting your dirty underwear as he pulls away. Walking to the closet, he discards the used fabrics in the laundry basket, grabbing another pair of underwear for you. Readjusting the sheets and blankets, you watch him quickly tug off his boxers, grabbing another pair that he manages to pull around his knees before you gasp in realisation.

“John, you didn’t?”

He turns around with a bashful expression, tucking himself into the crotch as he grins. “What? Pretty thing like you grinding up against me like that, can’t help myself.” Giving up with discretion, he chucks his own soiled boxers into the basket, returning to the bed with your underwear in an outstretched hand.

You pull them on as he climbs in next to you, tucking himself under the covers as you turn off the lamp and join him. He raises his arm, holding the blankets up like a cave as you grin sleepily, shuffling across the sheets to scoot into his embrace. The covers descend on you as John takes care to tuck them underneath you, entangling your legs between his as his hand finds home in your hair.

“Thank you, John. Was feeling really shitty about that.” You whisper into his chest, blinking your eyes closed as a sleepy warmth grows heavy in your limbs.

John grunts, patting at your hair. “S’what I’m made for, lookin’ after you. Get some sleep 'n we’ll work everythin’ out in the morning.”

A smile tugs at your lips as the last whisps of consciousness fade from your mind, and a gruff I love you is the last thing you remember before falling asleep.

[luci4theminorannoyance]

Could I request platonic Nikto, Horangi, Velikan and Krueger headcannons of them meeting a gn child reader with sociopathic tendencies?

Such as lack of human emotion/empathy, not caring about right and wrong, doesn't see people as humans and as a bonus has a strange fascination with death and psychology? I'm curious to see what they'd think and whether they'd be unsettled if they realise they could potentially be meeting a future serial killer

a/n: hey sorry this took so long! I got busy doing base stuff for my band lol, hope this reads okay!

Horangi:

-he’s worried or say the least, since he was the one put in charge of you till kortac could find a place to send you

-ended up finding out when he was watching you manipulate the soldiers around you into giving you things or always sneaking off to peak into the windows of the rooms they kept captives in for info

-tries to search ways to avoid the subject and be just in bliss but ends up researching it

-Adopts you after a while, getting you multiple therapists and such to try to understand you and to help you

nikto:

(note: I’m using singular pronouns for nikto just because it’s easier on my tired brain)

-he truly doesn’t find it as odd as the others, even having some of those tendencies himself

-more interested on how you process them then actually worried, until someone pointed out how it might land you in the army like he is

-got you therapy eventually, with a lot of debate on if he should

-didn’t adopt you because he’s not the most stable, checks up on you when he’s off duty though

Krueger:

-like nikto, he had some tendencies like that while growing up. But he noticed yours were much more severe then his once he saw exactly how little Empathy you had- laughing at hurt soldiers, touching dead bodies, etc-

-really worried about it in actuality, he didn’t want to be responsible for a kid but knew it would end worse if you got put with someone else

-attempts to talk to you about it, not getting major therapy or doctors involved but gets you a therapist just to check up that your not totally insane

-less worried about what you could do to others and more worried about you

Velikan:

-noticed it as soon as he met you, the way your eyes lit up at the bloodied knifes in the armory getting cleaned or the way you stared and poked at any dead thing you came across

-keeps it very private, glaring at anyone who tries to mention it publicly since he doesn’t need his or your mentality being questioned

-gets you a private therapist and adopts you, having a private nanny watch over you when he’s out on mission (one that he trusts of course)

-worried about what you could do to yourself and others, but secretly hopes you’ll grow up normal enough to live a decent life

[marsprincess889]

Please, please, read.

Saw something dissapointing and not surprising online.

There was a post on insta about the Barbie movie's oscars snubs. One woman goes on to write about how she didn't like the movie and how she feels forced to love it because it's everywhere and everyone seems to love it. Granted, she did use a rather strong(but still polite) language, but I do agree with her.

A man replies to her, not knowing her gender, something along the lines of "you should just admit you're an insecure male."

The woman replies that he, in fact, is a she.

And believe or not, he then proceeds to reply that "no man would type so much nonsense" and that "only a woman who has spent her life realizing that she's inferior to men would go on and on."..............

I was going to reply to him that he had managed to write way more nonsense with way less words but he's so not worth interacting with. And yet I feel insulted.

First of all, I don't care if any if you love this movie and want to defend it. I just don't like it, and that's not the point.

The point, to me, is that maybe we should stop encouraging the surface-level, superficial feminism, when the very thing that people believe is helping equality does virtually nothing. A lot of you are going to argue that its impact was enough, but was it really?

I, personally, felt alienated by the whole hype. Very happy for those people who loved the movie and found meaning in it, but that was not my experience. I did not in any way feel represented while watching it. I definitely did not feel empowered and I don't think that there's anything wrong with that. People are allowed to have their their own taste, and everyone should be allowed to express their opinion, and if a woman is silenced like that just because her opinion is not popular, then maybe everyone should think twice about the whole situation. The vast majority of the world claims that, or at least acts as if the movie has helped the whole female population.

I've seen so many posts online defending the movie to the point where anyone who dislikes it is attacked.

I'm not an activist, nor do i write stuff like this, nor do I engage in debates about this subject online or in real life, but this felt personal.

Maybe it was because throught witnessing that woman's experience, I felt silenced myself.

Why shouldn't I call out an ignorant, arrogant, mysoginistic scum?

The ones like him are those who keep the inequality going.

And equality IS DEFINITELY NOT ABOUT MAKING WOMEN SIMILAR TO MEN, IT'S ABOUT EMPOWERING FEMININITY AND EACH AND EVERY WOMAN, despite what they're like. It's about giving each and every one of them voice. Men have no business teaching women about feminism.

Yes, I feel angry about it. So what?

But I'm also not going to allow him or anyone like him to diminish my self-worth or spirit.

I feel confident that there are people, no matter their gender(if they even have one) who agree with me. There must be.

The movie might have dabbled in gender equality, but at its core it is business, not activism.

And if some actual "inferior" male like that one uses this movie as a shield for his blatant sexism, then I think it's for the best if people stop forcing others to like the movie and allow everyone to dislike popular things.

And also, I have that post saved. If I get enough people to support me, I might drop his @, then we can all spam and humble him lol, if you guys feel like it's worth to spend your time and energy on that. We will have one less mysoginist, or at least a humbled one.

In all seriousness, replies to this will mean a lot.

That's all for now, I guess.

PS: I won't argue with anyone about this, as I really wish the conversations around this movie in context to sexism would stop.

[skaruresonic]

Your latest post about Sonic reminded me that apparently Pariah has joined the "Sonic has always been inconsistent" crowd, and he used this clip: https://www.tumblr.com/randomthefox/749471225809666048

But... What is the logic here? So the Classics were more lighthearted (except CD I guess) and the Adventure games were comparatively edgier, with their anime style and more serious stories. That is a change in direction, for sure. Let's even say they are two different "artistic perspectives". But to the point where you'd call them two different Sonics, the same way Boom Sonic is different from Modern Sonic?

I think "Sonic has always been inconsistent" has completely lost its meaning. The series has evolved in tone to match the times (Sonic was far from being the only videogame series who got more serious in the 2000s), but that doesn't mean Sonic became a different character in every game he starred in.

To be quite honest, I don't think it ever really meant anything to begin with. When you drill down to the bedrock of the sentiment, you'll find more often than not that it's just another thought-terminating cliché people trot out when they have no other way of elaborating themselves, because they always act like the claim is self-evident and not subject to scrutiny. Like how "Shadow mandates" are used to explain any and all poor Shadow portrayals. It's not a claim anyone can say has substance because all folks seem to use it for is to say "Sonic games bad."

They don't really provide examples of inconsistency because those examples don't exist on a diegetic level, just on an artistic or a marketing one, at most. Can't say I've ever seen a Sonic game where Sonic turns into a gun nut, lol.

---

But... What is the logic here? So the Classics were more lighthearted (except CD I guess) and the Adventure games were comparatively edgier, with their anime style and more serious stories. That is a change in direction, for sure. Let's even say they are two different "artistic perspectives".

I wouldn't even say that. SA1 takes heavy influence from the Classics. The divide between Adventure and Classic is not as deeply drawn as folks seem to think.

I feel like if you really zoomed out and tried to obtain the most holistic picture of the franchise possible, you'd see the series, for all of its ups and downs and all arounds... Really isn't that inconsistent.

The Adventure era is touted as serious business, but folks forget that some of those games could get goofy as shit, and Heroes is not an outlier in this regard. Even uber-serious '06 can get silly at times, what with missions to rescue beloved dogs being placed alongside "save the princess" as equally important objectives, and janky physics that make me want to hurl my controller across the room.

Likewise, the Classic era had moments of serious storytelling not in spite of its cartoonish aesthetic, but because of the power of its environmental storytelling.

Besides, if most of the confusion re. the series' "inconsistencies" can easily be cleared up by disregarding spinoff material (which includes the comics), can it really be said that it's the games made by ST that are inconsistent? Or would it be more accurate to say it's the external understanding of Sonic which fluctuates over time?

To be clear, I'm not trying to turning this into yet another JP vs. Western Sonic debate, because frankly, that doesn't matter. Not when the folks looking from the outside in refuse to see what's plainly there.

Also, think about it this way: if Sonic has always been inconsistent, then you're saying Sonic never had a coherent identity to begin with. Which means the argument rests on a self-contradiction. Either:

A.) you (general you) have to acknowledge that consistency once existed in the series in order to allow yourself enough berth to argue for a change in direction of the era of your choice... thus disproving the entire premise of "Sonic was always inconsistent,"

or B.) you need to apply the "inconsistent" label to every era, including the ones you prefer, thus rendering every "Sonic needs to go back to [XYZ] era" argument nonsensical. Because Sonic might as well build a new identity instead of appropriating old ones that, according to the argument, failed.

[yesthatgino]

I'm going to try the Nightshade and Glaze on some of my jewelry renders. I'll post the results in the reblogs of this post.

My experiments will be just about how much damage the poison does to the image quality, not on how effective they are at ruining the AI. My understanding on that is that large quantities of poisoned images are needed to ruin the AI so my one image isn't going to do anything by itself. I mention this because I've seen debates about effectiveness and those experiments seem to be (and I'm generalizing here) "I poisoned one image, fed it to AI, and it's still functioning; thus nightshade/glaze don't work".

I do not know if they work, I'll leave determining that to people who know how AI works better can me and can do it at scale of millions of poisoned images. I'm just going to look at this from the perspective of "how much is this going to ruin my work?"

The experiment: Phase 1 - Nightshade

Take a new render from a real custom jewelry request (job 136967), and run it through Nightshade V1.0 at the three intensity settings - LOW, DEFAULT, HIGH. Each of these three will be processed at "Slowest" Render Quality and then again at "Faster" Render Quality so I can compare the two sets.

I'll only be comparing the end result and not how long they take to process due to the fact that neither program "ding" or announce that it's done and I'll be working while I run these tests so the likelyhood that I'll miss the runtime is very high.

The Experiment: Phase 2 - Glaze

I'll pick the "best" results of the first phase. This is subjective to the highest degree. By "best" I mean which looks the least damaged by the process while keeping the highest protection. Highest poison or damage should theoretically protect you, but I am going to assume most photographers, designers, artists, and others are going to prioritize the visual quality over protective quality.

If nightshade does a good job even at the highest settings I'll just pick the DEFAULT/FASTER images. I'm really hoping a clear candidate will appear.

Taking those results, I'll run them through Glaze V1.1.1 at the lowest intensity setting (DEFAULT) and again at the highest intensity setting (HIGH) at the slowest "Render Quality". Then again but at the fastest "Render Quality".

The Experiment: Phase 3 - Analysis

Looking at the list below I see a possible point of confusion. Nightshade has three intensity settings: LOW, DEFAULT, and HIGH. Glaze, meanwhile, has these three settings: DEFAULT, MEDIUM, and HIGH. Both have different "defaults".

At this point each test image should have one of the following:

Original render (untouched, control)

Nightshade version LOW INTENSITY - FASTER

Nightshade version LOW INTENSITY - SLOWEST

Nightshade version DEFAULT INTENSITY - FASTER

Nightshade version DEFAULT INTENSITY - SLOWEST

Nightshade version HIGH INTENSITY - FASTER

Nightshade version HIGH INTENSITY - SLOWEST

Nightshade then Glazed version DEFAULT INTENSITY - FASTER

Nightshade then Glazed version DEFAULT INTENSITY - SLOWEST

Nightshade then Glazed version MEDIUM INTENSITY - FASTER

Nightshade then Glazed version MEDIUM INTENSITY - SLOWER

Nightshade then Glazed version HIGH INTENSITY - FASTER

Nightshade then Glazed version HIGH INTENSITY - SLOWEST

I'll have three sets of these thirteen images, since my business usually does three renders for the particular job I'm going to experiment on. Hopefully by the end I'll have go-to settings ready so I won't have to fiddle each time.

[blackandwhitebutblue]

@sonofstorms

Dio was forced to do something he never fathomed would be possible. After that last hit from Hugo's thunderous blows he had no other choice but to... "Yield...I yield." Lowering his blades as the sudden vibration in his bones was causing his swings to fail. It was clear Dio was not happy about it, as he visibly turned away and pouted like a child. He managed to stand on his own and go blow for blow with a bear and yet against another demigod he was finding himself with much room for improvement. The wound to his pride and undefeated record was almost as tender as the growing bulge in his pants.

It took him a moment before the subject registered and suddenly his amusement broke through sour face. "Oh, the Ley Lines. I forgot about those..." Scratching his head as if the very involvement on the recent mission didn't center at the topic. "...yeah, I'll be honest love. I haven't really thought about that. Like I get that it's important but sorting out the important stuff isn't really my...thing?" It wasn't that Dio doubted his brain power he just knew his mind was better set on things he was good at. "I leave all that to you big 'post it on the wall' types. Me? I just get pointed at what to attack and make sure they don't get up." Starting to the chew on the inside of his cheek as he spoke. "Though with the rate these matches are going that's up for debate."

Dio's only motive for the mission was helping the anito and killing the beast that was a danger to them. The loot and the ley lines registered less to none on the level of importance. "I sometimes feel like my motives align with the Ark but not as one...more like side by side. I'm sure people have been looking into the Ley Line while I've been busy trying to figure how to gain favor with the Pure Maiden to grow her mangoes." He planted his blades into the ground and stretched out his sore body when something else registered to him. Though it was hallow laughter coming from his lips. "Though I have to question how the things I seek out sometimes turn out...bad." Maybe the attacks had rattled more than just his bones as Dio felt an odd wave of thought wash over him. "First with Sugaru...idolizing his skill only to learn he hurt someone I loved..." Barely able to look at Hugo. "Then I wanted to join a gang of treasure hunters that turned out might be after us. Now I'm trying to ally with a god that sees mortals as food..." Sure he didn't feel the same as he did knowing the full story but the fact it drew him all the same was concerning. "...it felt personal because I feel it was motive I could support. Nature deserves to have some of the world back. But the methods I would not agree with."

[erikahammerschmidt]

Been noicing a certain cycle here, regarding changes in the "acceptability" of various ableist slurs.

I have various forms of neurodivergence, but none that are classified as either intellectual disability or psychosis, which are the subjects of most of the insults I'm talking about here. So I don't feel that it's my place to express any real solid opinion on this.

But I think it's important for someone who's been here a while, and seen this cycle happen before, to at least point it out.

It seems to go like this:

People start getting pretty comfortable using stuff like the R-slur (r----d, the one that references intellectual disability) as a general insult for anything and everything they don't like.

Others get uncomfortable with this and start announcing how this isn't acceptable. These statements may also discourage other slurs that are around the same level of perceived offensiveness, including those aimed at people with psychosis: ps---o, del--u, etc. (I'm censoring all the slurs in this post as best I can. This isn't because I consider them all equal. It's because I don't have a clearly decided opinion on which ones are worst, or feel that it's even really my place to have that opinion.)

People begin to argue that, if those words are unacceptable, then logically any insult based on calling someone low-intelligence or mentally-ill must also be unacceptable. This leads to further thinkpieces on how more and more words should be treated as ableist slurs and avoided completely. This is where a whole bunch of much more common insults enter the fray: st--id, mo--n, id--t, d--b, cr--y, ins--e, and anything else that can be taken as a synonym for any of that.

Some people begin to complain that they are running out of words they can use. Debate begins over which words can be agreed upon as acceptable, if your goal is to criticize someone for making a careless bad decision.

Debate begins over whether such criticism is ever acceptable. Some people will argue that careless bad decisions should be treated sympathetically regardless of whether or not they resulted from a known mental disability, and criticism should be reserved for intentional bad decisions. Debate may even continue into where exactly to draw the line between intentional evil and accidental negligence, or whether either of those can be entirely separated from the possibility of a mental health cause.

People begin, en masse, to give up on the whole argument, and just go on using the words that come most easily to them.

In some cases, those words are the ones that started the cycle in the beginning, and therefore it starts over again at phase 1.

Now, again. I'm not in a position to reclaim any of these slurs, nor do I want to. I'm still trying to figure out for myself what words I personally find comfortable to use-- it has fluctuated over the years, believe me, and is very far from being pinned down comfortably anywhere.

So I do not consider it my business to make a statement on what part of this cycle is the worst, or exactly where it ought to stop.

I'd guess, if there's a way to stop the cycle, it'll probably involve some discussion of why words are offensive-- how it's based on both past and current usage, not just origin or literal meaning-- and how that may form a basis for where to draw a line. But I very much doubt there'll ever be a total consensus on that line-drawing point.

However… I do think, at least, we can mostly agree that it being a cycle is a bad thing?

And so it's probably worth thinking about where it's likely to go, when we see the beginning phases of it starting up again, like they are now.

I don't know. Just a thought. Others can start their own discussions off from here, much better than I can.

[haggishlyhagging]

According to Google Trends, the word "empowerment" hit a high in 2004 and 2005, as it became more deeply entrenched everywhere—feminist discourse, consumer marketing, corporate culture. "Empowering" joined "synergy," "scalable," and "drill-down" in boardroom conferences, vision statements, and business plans, and was eventually called "the most condescending transitive verb ever" by Forbes. It's become the name of a range of businesses, a national fitness event, and an almost mind-boggling number of yoga studios. It's become a company-jargon fave at Microsoft, with former and current CEOs Steve Ballmer and Satya Nadella both using it to impressively vague effect in memos and public talks. (At Microsoft's annual Convergence event in 2015, Nadella told attendees, "We are in the empowering business," and added that the tech giant's goal was "empowering you as individuals and organizations across every vertical and every size of business, and any part of the world, to drive your agenda and do the things you want to do for your business.")

Elsewhere in discourses and debates around sex as both an activity and a commodity, "empowerment" has become a sort of shorthand that might mean "I'm proud of doing this thing," but also might mean "This thing is not the ideal thing, but it's a lot better than some of the alternatives." Feeling empowered by stripping, for instance, was a big theme among moonlighting academics or otherwise privileged young women in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and you can find countless memoirs about what they discovered about themselves in the world of the sexual marketplace; the same is true of prostitution, with blogs like Belle de Jour, College Call Girl, and books like Tracy Quan's Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl. There was a point in the mid-to-late 2000s when you couldn't swing a cat through Barnes & Noble without knocking a slew of sex-work memoirs off the shelves: Lily Burana’s Strip City, Diablo Cody's Candy Girl, Jillian Lauren's Some Girl, Michelle Tea's Rent Girl, Shawna Kenny's I Was a Teenage Dominatrix, Melissa Febos's Whip Smart, and Sarah Katherine Lewis's Indecent among them. The crucial thing these often incredibly absorbing and well-written books had in common? All were written by young, white, and no-longer-hustling sex workers.

I want to be clear that standing with sex workers on the principle that sex work is work is an issue whose importance cannot be overstated, and also clear that my complete lack of expertise on the subject makes it well beyond the scope of this book. But I am interested in the idea that "empowerment" is so often used as a reflexive defense mechanism in discussions of this kind of sex-work experience, but less so in describing the less written-about experiences of people whose time in the industry is less finite and less bookworthy—transgender women, exploited teenagers and trafficked foreigners, men and women forced into sex work by poverty, abuse, or addiction. And I'm fascinated by the fact that we see thousands of pop culture products in which women are empowered by a sex industry that does not have their empowerment in mind, but far fewer in which they are empowered to make sexual choices on their own terms, outside of a status quo in which women's bodies are commodities to be bought and sold. Indecent author Sarah Katherine Lewis has written that, during her time as a stripper, "I felt empowered—as a woman, as a feminist, as a human being by the money I made, not by the work I did"; but hers is just one story. Belle de Jour and other sex workers have written about truly enjoying their work. If the market were just as welcoming of narratives in which young women were empowered by their careers as, say, electricians—if personal memoirs about a youthful, self-determining layover in the electrical trades were a thing publishers clamored for—then a handful of empowered sex workers would be no big thing. Until that's the case, it's worth questioning why the word is so often the first line of defense.

-Andi Zeisler, We Were Feminists Once

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

BMT Blog Guidelines

This blog is still primarily a BTS-focused page, but given the hiatus status and the rise in individual projects, I am in the position on readjusting some of the topics that I will approach, according to their relevance and personal interest.

I will still post about BTS content if it's available (such as Run BTS episodes, Bangtan Bombs, documentaries, etc.) and HYBE's business approach, just as before. As to the members' individual works, I reserve the right to talk about those who actually interest me. I was always open about who those people were and I maintain that position.

A small percentage of my posts could be the subject of other interests that I my have. I also welcome asks about K-Pop in general (as long as I am able to answer them), fanfiction, fashion, film related questions and others.

Asks etiquette and guidelines

1. Antagonistic messages will be deleted/blocked if they are expressed in a rude manner. Disagreements towards a topic or my own position on it are allowed, as long as the anonymous sender has the courtesy to express those thoughts respectfully and is willing to participate in what could possibly lead to a contradictory debate.

2. Bait messages will be blocked. If an ask looks more or less like this ''I heard X did this..../was seen with..../I guess Y are right...../I hope Z are happy...../What do you think?'', do not bother sending it. I will not respond to it. I urge those who believe that I can easily fall into the trap to reconsider, find other blogs and a life.

3. Shipping asks will be deleted/blocked, regardless of ANY ship. I have written on numerous occasions what constitutes actual shipping discourse in my view and I will not engage with it. My position will always be that I write about shipping at a metatextual level. It's a personal choice and also because I do not welcome an abundance of ship talk here as it usually turns into an invitation for others to send more asks.

4. As a follow-up to point 3, asks in which the sender poses as a non-shipper, only to try and ''subtly'' promote a particular ship agenda/discourse/talking points, will be automatically blocked.

5. Asks which contain shipping material in particular those which involve members that I have no interest in, will definitely be deleted and blocked if the sender is trying to act smart with me.

6. Asks which contain baseless rumors from tea/lurker accounts will be deleted/blocked. I am perfectly aware of the modus operandi of those accounts and they bore me. False information is not welcomed here and the BTS tea is mostly cold and not even lukewarm. It may be the hot stuff in this particular fandom, but not to me.

7. Asks about the fandom that do not bring anything new to the table will be deleted/ignored. Army is a community that is well established in its behavior which I have criticized countless times. This rule addresses mostly the usual twitter army nonsense that repeats itself daily.

8. Because this happens quite often, those who send asks complaining about Jimin not working and not doing whatever else the members are doing, will definitely be blocked. I have no time and patience for any of this anymore.

For now, this is it. As I always said, I welcome thought-provoking questions, regardless if they're a hot topic or not. I'm not afraid to express my opinions as sincerely as I can. And I know I have a lot of readers not only interested in these types of discussions, but also willing to participate. And as in the previous year, more fun and lighthearted topics will be approached as well, from a fan position. Otherwise, all work and no play will make this blog dull in the long run.

To those that recently followed this blog while I was on break, welcome! I hope you enjoy your stay. And to those that may have left, adieu!

*This post is open to be modified or for more information to be added. Please check it from time to time. It will also be pinned so everyone can see it at all times.

[pokemoncenterofficial]

//ooc: hey!!! i had some interactions and posts planned for the book fair that i couldn't post in the actual time-frame because i was busy, so i'll be doing a few posts retroactively! they'll be tagged with #retroactive to differentiate between anything that happens before theo hops on the plane home tomorrow.

feel free to respond to and interact with this post! theo would be happy to talk about unown.

[A video is embedded! It starts with Celeste the Cleffa uncomfortably close to the camera, waving into it before reaching down to show that he's standing atop one Widget the Porygon, floating in midair. the camera flips around to show Theo onstage at the book fair, Yogurt the Unown-Y out of their Pokéball, floating in front of him. People and Pokémon can be seen and heard all around him, though a small spot on stage has been cleared for his presentation. Theo takes out a piece of paper from his pocket, unfolds it, and begins talking to the few people around him.

"Hi, there! I'm Theo, and I'm here to talk to you about Unown! Behind you we have Celeste and Widget, my wonderful film crew! Feel free to say hi after the speech, they love to meet people. Before you we have Yogurt the Unown, the subject of my presentation.

The name 'Unown' is very on the nose, since, well, there's a lot we don't know about them! Most people will see one at one point in their life, but they're very rare to catch, and it's basically unheard of to catch more than one. Because of that, there's not much info available on them, and there are a lot of rumors and myths about them. I'm here to clear some of those up and give you some tips, should you ever catch one myself! I'm no researcher, though. Yogurt here just... flew in through the window one day, and I have no clue why! Everything I'm going to tell you is either existing research or things I've found out firsthand.

It's pretty obvious that Yogurt here is shaped like the letter Y, but not all Unown are shaped like this! There are Unown shaped like every letter of the alphabet, and a few have been observed matching letters in other languages' alphabets! Nobody knows which came first, the Unown or the letters.

Yogurt, like many Psychic-types, can read your minds! In fact, they're reading my mind and yours as we speak, and they can even communicate back, putting images and even (very briefly) emotions into your head! They don't eat or drink like us, but they seem to find sustenance from words! Thought, spoken, or written, an Unown flourishes when it can feed off of words and withers without them. That's why they really love it here! People talking, people thinking, and so, SO many written words make a book fair like this basically paradise for an Unown.

Unown aren't great battlers, really. They've only been observed to learn one move, Hidden Power, and they're not very physically capable. However, if they come together, they can be incredibly powerful, more so than any Legendary or Mythical Pokémon! They've been around since ancient times, and they'll probably exist long after us. They don't breed like other Pokémon, and it's up for debate whether they even reproduce at all or if the same Unown have been around since the dawn of time.

In summary, Unown are very rare and unlike almost every other Pokémon we know of. They're common in places where they can find words, and they know your deepest, darkest, secrets! Don't worry, they won't tell.

That's it from me, but feel free to come over and meet Yogurt and the rest of my team! Thanks for listening!"

As soon as Theo finishes speaking, Celeste drops the phone. It falls down towards the ground as Theo runs towards it and the video cuts out just before impact!]

[lindszeppelin]

This isn't strictly related to any particular discourse, more of a wider commentary on nepo babies and growing up wealthy. I hope that's OK! Also, I apologize in advance for the length of this.

I hesitate to judge anyone for the situation they were born into, and I don't begrudge anyone having opportunities or experiences because of growing up rich. I also don't believe that rich automatically equals happy. That said, I think that people who grow up with wealth, especially in Hollywood, should recognize and acknowledge that their lives are very different from the majority of people's. I'm not saying nepo babies should apologize for the circumstances they were born into, but they should at least acknowledge that they do have a leg up in the business, and try to do something good with the opportunities they have.

I think the difference between modern-day nepo babies and the ones from previous generations like Jamie Lee Curtis and Drew Barrymore is that the old-school ones may have gotten in on their parents' connections, but they stayed there due to their own talent and work. There are many, many incredibly talented performers might not be famous if they didn't have a parent, or even a sibling, who came first. But the biggest thing about the original generation is that the ones who went into the business did it because they had a talent or a passion, and knew they had the opportunities to make that happen. They didn't just go, 'my mom/dad is famous, so I'm going to be famous', which seems like the way some of today's nepo kids approach it. It also sucks when they go into acting when they don't necessarily have the talent, because they have the money to get whatever kind of education they want, discover causes that are important to them, or pursue a passion that isn't in the entertainment industry.

I'm sorry to ramble so much, and I hope this doesn't come off like I'm hating on nepo babies or saying anything negative about people with money. I'm also not saying anything bad about anyone in particular. I think there are some industry kids who seem lovely, and there are first-generation Hollywood people who seem like they'll raise good, grounded kids if they have them. I'm sorry to ramble so much, especially on anon, but I was thinking about this earlier and I felt like this would be a good place to drop my long-ass, multiparagraph opinion! ❤️

This was so good and I appreciate your thoughts on the topic at hand! Your sentiments mirror mine exactly. I have no issue with old-school generation nepo babies, like Jamie Lee and Drew as you gave for examples. They made something out of themselves. They didn't just say "im so-and-so's child and i deserve this role". Jamie Lee broke barriers by doing Halloween, which was considered a low budget horror flick back in the day. And yeah while her mother was the scream queen, Jamie Lee went on to have a career that became solely her own. Same with others, like Kate Hudson for example. And others I can't think of right now lol.

I'm glad you bring up these points. The conversation we're having today about nepo babies is a pretty strong one of course, because it's a hotly debated subject matter. I think overall, those in positions of power and wealth should check their privilege. And they should be aware of their standing as compared to other blue collared folks who are trying to get a foothold in the industry.

Thank you so much for your comments! Feel free to send more if you like :) ive got time to talk lol

[normal-thoughts-official]

Character ask thing with Joe

Ugh I love you /platonic

favorite thing about them

Hmm how to choose. I guess I'll repeat myself and say, once again, the way he feels everything so intensely as if it's the first time. The fact that he has lived for nearly a thousand years and still experiences everything with such intensity, such fresh eyes, such delight at being alive and sadness at everything that's unfair is just. Really admirable to me? And makes him really interesting as a character. The way that he's a formidable warrior but is a lover not a fighter, but the fact that he's a lover just makes him a stronger and more intense fighter... Yeah

least favorite thing about them

not to be a stan but I genuinely can't think of anything about him I dislike. I guess his lack of screentime? Lol

favorite line

"you and Nicky always had each other. And all we had was our grief" "well, now you have even more"

everyone talks about how devastating Nicky is with just a few words (and it's true, he is and it's iconic) but Joe is just as good. Everything he says to Booker in that scene is so cutting and to the point and perfect. He doesn't minimize Booker's suffering but he doesn't allow for his bullshit either. He breaks through Booker's entire self pitying tirade in such a cutting, objective way that there's not much else Booker can even say. And he's right, he does have even more, because that's what it's all about, whether or not you move on, and ugh, it's just so good

brOTP

Joe and Nile forever and ever. Give me art nerd bros!!! Give me Joe and Nile bonding over being the only POC in the group. Give me Joe and Nile being able to understand parts of each other no one else in the group does or can, because their experience is different. Give me Joe and Nile being a breath of fresh air to each other because they both wear their heart on their sleeves, they're both earnest and genuine and still openly in love with the world and the new experiences they can have while everyone else is kind of used to everything by now. Joe and Nile both not really being fighters at heart (in the comics Nile says she went to the army so she could go to college and major in art history later) and finding solace in each other. Joe and Nile getting into intense debates about art that go well into the night until the sun is rising and they're like "huh?" and sheepishly stare at Nicky when he rises to make his coffee and is all like "I trust you had an enlightening discussion, yes?" Just... Joe and Nile <3

OTP

There's really only one possible answer to this question

nOTP

Everything that's not Joe/Nicky is just weird to me but I'd have to go with Joe/Nicky/Booker. Please stop. Joe may like greasy white men but not to THAT extent (this is a joke please be normal everyone)

random headcanon

Joe has degrees in a BUNCH of different subjects, from architecture to botany, and "renews" them regularly under different aliases. His scope of interests is just very wide and every once in a while the mood will strike him to learn something apparently random and when everyone blinks Joe is getting a degree in zoology and they're just like. Alright

unpopular opinion

Not sure how unpopular this opinion is but like. Listen to me. You listen to me. I'm bisexual. I love bisexual people. My favorite thing for a character to be is bisexual. I'm out there hitting everyone in my shooting range with the bisexualizing rays, but Joe? Joe is gay, man. I'm sorry I wish he was a bicon too but there is simply no way this man is attracted to women. At the tender age of 33 this guy was crossing the ocean to go fight a war he had literally 0 business participating in, and that to me is the mark of someone who's running away from having to marry a woman. Or to run from an existing marriage which might be even gayer. Even without that I simply cannot picture him looking at a woman's body with anything more than mild disinterest. If a woman got naked in front of him he'd be like "you lost your clothes" and dress her back up with one of those sticks with mouths in them. We must accept this and embrace the fact that the tog bicon is and will always be Andy

(This is, once again, a joke. You can hc what you like. I'm not the Emperor of Fandom stopping you from enjoying whatever you want. This is just my opinion said in a humorous way because I'm a clown. Peace and love on planet Earth)

song i associate with them

Hmmm you know I actually had, like, Real Thoughts™ about this but somehow every one of them fled my mind rn. I'll go with Antenne by Bashar Murad. Just, like, the whole thing about wanting to be away from the avalanche of information and people questioning your humanity and treating your existence as a debate, you know? And wanting to have time to breathe and live in the moment. Yeah. I think that's very Joe

(If you've never listened to Bashar Murad you should give it a try btw this man is amazing. And the clip of Antenne on YouTube has English subtitles for those who don't speak Arabic)

favorite picture of them

Oh Jesus Lord how to even choose. Genuinely looking at him too long in any capacity makes me want to cry and feel insane. There is a fine line between "I'm looking at Joe and it makes me feel comforted and happy" and "I'm looking at Joe and it's making me want to explode" and I walk it every time I look at him. But I guess I can go with the one on my header

[ID: Joe sitting on a chair, reading a book. He has one leg crossed over the other and is turning to look to his side, eyebrows raised and a very faint smile on his face. End ID]

I just. Augfhhhhhhh. Psychic damage. He's so soft. I have crossed the line. Fuvk