#If I remember correctly it is one of the main reasons why he agreed to Starscream's plan

[somerandomcockroach]

@keferon BITING YOU FOR ADDING THIS BIT. I DIDN'T LIKE HOW THEIR PATH WENT IN IDW. YOU JUST WENT AND SAID "Who needs Starscream, Onslaught might find it out by himself" AND I EXPLODED

[biblioaddict]

The Many Mysteries of Kim Soleum

(Well actually I'm only writing down the three main ones that stick out to me the most but shh)

SPOILERS FOR CHAPTERS 192+

1. His family

Let's take a moment to put ourselves in Soleum's shoes: imagine being transported to a world where eldritch, ungodly horrors are real, where everyone dies faster than your phone battery does when you actually need it, where contact of your friends somehow still remain, but your family, who - according to the fact that you mentioned somewhere in the novel that they've warned you against entering finance - you should still have contact with in your world, is apparently wiped out, wouldn't you at least take a moment to find out what's happened to them? Or at least mention that fact beyond a single, quickly brushed-off sentence in the beginning, even if you're (maybe) trying not to think about it?

There's no way a guy like Soleum wouldn't pay attention to these things just because this isn't the 'real' world and they're not his 'real' parents. He still tries to save everyone he can even though they're just 'characters' after all. Nor would he be the type to disregard them even if they have a bad relationship with him (see: all the times he's (sometimes however unwillingly) saved Baek Saheon).

Yet, for some reason, he does. He has no reaction to their disappearance at all. He was more concerned about not having a house - and this is the guy who's sentimental as hell.

2. His strength

Bro, you are not telling me that some random office worker, who probably hasn't lifted anything but the weight of his own body to get up for another miserable day at work, can lift a grown ass man like Baek Saheon, push away a manhole cover, and subdue an incredibly trained close combat agent with the agent unable to overpower him through physical force.

Even if Soleum worked out Choi should be able to beat him easily. But it's not just that. He never, ever mentions any form of physical activity to be a hobby of his. Nor does he does he mention doing anything to maintain his physique. Sure, you could argue that running around in ghost stories is a form of exercise in and of itself (Soleum would very much agree) but then that brings us back to point one: where would a supposedly normal guy get this kind of strength?

3. His status in the Dark Exploration Records wiki and his ghost story

Here's what we know so far:

• Based on how kse's contributed to the technical school's exploration record and how he casually mentions wanting to add the way he solved the Red Dress at Exit 4 disaster to the wiki but deciding otherwise because it didn't really fit his style (ch.168), aside from lurking and reading, it seems to imply that he's a frequent contributor to the wiki.

• He also mentions having made a ghost story, but never elaborates on what story it is.

• It seems like the way you submit or edit a darkness operates in nearly the same vein as submitting an SCP in the SCP wiki does, so he'd have to be greenlit by two experienced authors before he could've gotten his ghost story published.

From this, I think it's safe to infer that Soleum might be a known, if not prominent figure as a wiki user.

What's the ghost story that he wrote, exactly? Like his parents, it's something he quickly brushes off and never really mentions, if I remember correctly, beyond chapter 1. This one can be easily answered though: maybe kse's trying not to think about it because this ghost story he made is suddenly very much real and he now has blood on his hands because of it. But, as with everything in this novel, there's that itching feeling that there must be a special reason why.

[billygoat26]

Y’all, unfortunately I don’t have a PHD in Deadpool, but I have assumptions

Buddy boy jokes through life, we know that much from the comics (from what I’ve read anyways) and the movies. It’s his thing, what we all know him for. The Merc with a Mouth.

BUT- he can be serious. And ooooh boy when those jokes stop you better run while you can.

Only reasons why I think this are (spoilers for Deadpool and Wolverine below)

When they were in the Honda Odyssey I think it was called (right before the fight scene many of us agree was more gay than gay sex) Logan/Wolverine had pretty much insulted Wade’s entire being, and his love life. And we KNOW it hurt him, you can see the subtle change in his expression, even though it was masked literally. Then after that he said the whole “I’m gonna fight you now” and then they fought, blah blah blah.

That little itty bitty moment of silence, vulnerability, all that fun shit means that there’s a limit. We all have one, after all.

In the first Deadpool movie he was a little more serious when dealing with Francis- except in like, the first half during the major car collision and when Wade beat the shit out of Francis and all that fun stuff- and when trying to save Vanessa.

And god, was he destroyed in the second movie when Vanessa got killed… he was a mess, even for him! Trying to find any way to see her again, constantly hurting himself in ways that would kill any ordinary person just so he could catch a glimpse of her again. Hell, he even went back in time to SAVE her!

Which brings us back to the newest movie.

Vanessa had pretty much dumped him. They’re still friends, at least as far as I remember, I’ve only seen the movie once and it’s been on my mind since two days after it released when I watched it. And we know he was hurt by it and we know he got rejected from joining the Avengers (which I’m pretty sure, if I remember correctly, he wanted to join to basically earn Vanessa’s approval again) and after his rejection he sort of just… stopped. Gave up on being Deadpool, hung up the suit and found some job where he worked with Peter.

So basically, Vanessa is that limit. I think, anyways. He might joke about stuff (I’d assume) relating to her, but no matter what it’s a sore spot. Something he hates himself for messing up and would try anything to fix.

So, cue the entirety of the movie to save his timeline and all that fun stuff, and OH MY GOD THE AWKWARD BUT PROBABLY HOPEFUL MOMENT WE SAW WITH HIM AND VANESSA AT THE END AGGGHHHHH-

And how Logan had told Wade to go talk to her- MY HEART- AAAAH-

Anyways…

I’ve lost track of what I was originally rambling about- I think it was Deadpool’s limits or something and movie-wise (I dunno if the “Vanessa” of the comics for him is different or not, I haven’t read enough of them to know for sure) that limit, the line to never be crossed, is Vanessa. She’s the main one, and the others are damn important to him too but I think Vanessa holds the biggest place in his heart.

[irish-urn]

Okay, so this is a dasey question that has been plaguing my mind for quite some time and I feel like you, the brilliant and talented dasey extraordinaire, would be able to give me an adequate answer:

Why is it that in most high school Dasey fanfics (at least the ones I’ve read) do Derek and Casey only spend the night/hang out in Derek’s room? I find it to be an interesting event that seems to repeatedly happen in dasey fanfics and honestly, I think it makes so much sense but I can’t quite figure out why it does. So I was hoping to get your take on that, even though I know you specialize more in post-highschool fics.

Thanks for your amazing writing!

My goodness gracious me. Who spilled the beans on one of my biggest weaknesses: flattery? Who did it?

Oooooh. That *is* a question. Why *do* so many fics have them hang out/spend the night in Derek's room?

Okay. So, first I thought about logistics, but I honestly can't tell and don't know where Derek's room is situated upstairs except that it's next to Casey's. I think Casey's might be closer to the bathroom? Which would likely mean there would be more traffic going past her bedroom: and if that's the case, that might be one of the reasons. People who know the show a lot more than me might have figured out that it's just *safer* for Derek's room to be the private room.

But, since I'm not 100% sure about that, I'll move on to what I do know for sure, and that's Derek. Derek is very possessive about his room. It's his room; we see how hard he fights to keep it. Furthermore, if I remember correctly, Edwin tells us very early on that no one goes in Derek's room without his permission. Casey, obviously completely ignores this rule, BUT the three younger siblings do still have a healthy amount of respect/fear. So I think they would knock. Do they have the same kind of fear of Casey? No. So there is a greater chance of, especially Lizzie, just walking into Casey's room (even though we all know the main intruders are Derek and Casey themselves).

I also can't see a high school Derek being cool about sleeping in Casey's bed. He's spent soooooo much time whining about the way she smells, her perfume, her shampoo, her laundry detergent, her body wash -- to admit otherwise (that he actually loves the way she smells) would be to admit defeat. And I find it unlikely that any version of high school Derek would be comfortable enough to admit those kinds of feelings for Casey, to admit that kind of tenderness. Would a high school Derek admit that he finds her hot and that he likes her? Yeah, if he thought he would win himself a Casey, he just might. But there's a certain amount of vulnerability in sleeping in someone else's room. It's... no longer your territory. And as long as Derek and Casey are in Derek's room, he's still got home turf advantage.

(Never mind that we ALL know that Casey has him wrapped around her finger, but let's allow the boy some dignity)

Now, while we can say that all of that is equally true for Casey, or for any human being, I think we all get the feeling that for Casey to admit her feelings for Derek, to sneak around with him, to make out or have sex with him, would already be the height of vulnerability for her. Our Casey, who narrates the show because she wants to control the narrative, who wants us to know her side of the story before anyone else, who is so deep in denial about her feelings for Derek... If she ever actually admitted it, then she's already been so very, very brave. So for her to then submit enough to agree to Derek's room... Well, whatever. She's already done the most difficult thing she could do; this is minor in comparison.

Furthermore, I think Casey's romantic side would be thrilled to spend in the night in her boyfriend's arms, surrounded by his scent and his heart, and although she would likely make him tidy it up before she spent any significant time in there (and then finish the job to her standards)... I think even that domesticity would charm her.

...So, yeah. I think that's why a lot of writers choose Derek's room, and why we all go along with it. It just fits, don't it?

[phightinghottakes]

Time to be argued with while I'm at it <3

•○•

I (PERSONALLY, TAKE NOTE, PERRRRSONALLYYYY) don't like ships with Biograft. I would like to rq debunk that whole 'it's the manufacturering date' thingy. It has been comfirmed that that is his AGE.

Another thing is that in my mind (this os a headconnon, I'm not forcing it), Biograft has the mentality of an animal. Yes, he can talk, but do y'all remember that monkey from Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (well, I hope you do, or else this point may not land)? That monkey could 'talk', but would it be okay to ship it with a grown man? No. It would not be. Then again, this is just my personal thoughts on the matter of how Biograft thinks.

Something else is that Biograft can't think for himself. It would basically be like a s3x doll if you tried to get freaky with him, if you know what that is, except it can speak, and, if I'm being honest, would be trying to fight back/escape if powered. Even if it isn't sexual, it is kinda weird, to me at least. Even if Biograft isn't sentient, he is programmed to FIGHT, not to fvck, and not to love. The closest thing it can do to any of that is probably comfort, seeing as Subspace cries to his Biografts, but even that doesn't show that it can express/accept love.

Now, even if you don't agree with the idea that Biograft had the mentality of his age or of an animal, he most likely does think like a minor, at least, even if more aggressive and refined. Subspace, who created the Biografts, sees them as his CHILDREN, not just his soldiers/bodyguards. Along with that, Biograft is clearly still learning about the world around him, if you look through his dialogue. He may not act like a three year old, but he certainly doesn't act like an adult, at least not to an extent at which I find okay to consider him to think like one.

Last thing, and the main reason i dislike this. It has been openly expressed that Soda (if I remember correctly) is uncomfortable with this. We, as a community, need to respect the creator and their personal wishes with how we treat their characters. It isn't really a matter of how we feel at this point, it's of being a healthy, respectable community. That's all, please don't come after me, I'm just sharing my personal opinions. If you have a crush on, sexually charged emotions towards, or ship Bipgraft, whatever. It's not like it's the absolute worst thing in this fandom.

I just think it's a bit odd. I'm not here to fight or say you're a pedo/zoophile/whatever else y'all have come up with, I just want to point out why people say that you're in the wrong when you tell them that 'I'm into Biograft' or 'I ship Bio with ____'. They're not sensitive, they're giving their opinions, just like you're giving yours.

-- 🌒 anon

.

[danlous]

i mean, besides this fandom generally only caring about the white man's story, rolin already said that the show fans knew is over and the real story will begin now. lestat is here and he will set the record straight and tell the real story. he didnt say his story, he said real story. he also said it won't be guys sitting in a room doing interviews anymore, which implies that there is no pushing back on lestat's narrative. if i remember the books correctly, his story going forward (or rather his past) will involve armand, who the story tells us is at this point is the only bad guy around, because lestat is all about forgiveness (as rolin said), another fantastic setup for the evil brown man, good white guy. and regarding louis being saved by a white men yet again, how else do you see it? without daniel, he would have continued to stay with the evil brown man not being able to make the decision to leave. it's not on the same level of white saviorism as lestat, but louis' story once again hinges on a white man. if the showrunner tells me the only reason he wanted this job was to do tvl, i believe him and yes that does affect how i think season 3 will go and how i view way he handled s2 and how he did not treat it with much respect, considering he never once brought up the theme of race and started to promote season 3 before the goddamn finale had even aired.

Your thoughts are completely understandable. I guess why i'm personally more optimistic is that for every discouraging tidbit there's something encouraging that makes me think they know what they're doing. Even that teaser as Lestat centric and campy it is also emphasizes his volatility and aggression and performativeness, and makes it clear that everything he does is about Louis. It also implies that a documentary about Lestat is being made and Daniel is involved, and with Daniel there's definitely going to be a strong pushback to his narrative.

Wrt Daniel being depicted as a white savior and Armand as an evil brown man i'd agree if this was the end of the show and their arcs but it's really only the beginning. I had issues how Armand was written in the s2 finale, but i concede that he's one of the main characters we've barely glimpsed and they're planning his story and character arc for like 6-7 seasons (i think that's what rolin said lol) and i'm almost certain he's going to have plenty of nuance and won't be portrayed as evil villain. Meanwhile i don't think Daniel really saves Louis. Louis invites him because he thinks he's the key to understanding what transpired, but i think it's clear that Louis had the keys all along and he didn't really need Daniel. I think both Louis and Armand deep down hoped that something would break their relationship (hence Armand rather quickly giving up his attempt to get Louis stay), and if it hadn't been Daniel it would've sooner or later been something else. Daniel so far has worked primarily in service of Louis' character, and though Louis cares about him he's not depicted as a nice guy, he's an asshole and hypocrite and at the end of s2 an unrepentant killer.

All these characters and their stories are connected to each other and i just don't think the show that is still being made by the same people that made the first two seasons is going to abandon the nuanced and race conscious storytelling it has pretty consistently demonstrated so far. Rolin also isn't the only writer on the show. Again, this is just my own my perspective and trying to explain why i'm still optimistic. Of course it's entirely possible i'm wrong and i'm setting myself up for a huge disappointment. I'm taking that risk but i completely understand people who don't want to do that after Rolin's comments

[quackle]

I do wish Wayne have his own story line like Julia and Caleb. So that his win could be more well deserved.

His story line can start at merge: Wayne befriend with everyone and have positive interaction with everyone. And that’s why Wayne was never in danger because nobody wants him gone and they don’t have enough numbers to do it anyway.

And his biggest fear is to fight against Raj, his best friend. And shows how he overcome his fear and make peace with it.

At final, nobody from other team are welling to shot him because they all like him and that’s because he is great at social games!

I saw a lot of people criticize Wayne being a floater and the show even make it look like that case.

I hate it because I kinda agree with them. So I come up with these things to make Wayne’s win more meaningful.

gonna ramble about this under the cut! but tldr: BIG agree!!!!

what you said was kinda also what i was hoping for! i do not hate wayne as a winner at all (wayne total drama ily! :D), but it does feel very random because he didn't have much plot surrounding him. even the cheating plot felt light in comparison to other storylines this show has offered. i do like your version a lot; we could have seen wayne go through this little moment of "oh, i have to go against my main bud. and this isn't a scrimmage or anything either :(" it's not drama exactly, but it does help with building his character.

on a side note, it's kind of the main reason why i wanted wayne and raj to at least be on separate teams at the start of this season in the first place. that way, wayne would actively live through his fear of being separated from raj and learn to overcome that. he'd still get interactions with others, showcasing his kind nature more. the win would have felt more "deserved" in a way with that development i think.

on one hand, he definitely floated, and while i'm personally not that angry about it, i see that others were. (especially on twitter like my gosh the wars... it was never that serious lol) i can't deny that he floated to that win. on the other hand, though, i find it so awesome that wayne won purely because A) he's nice as heck, and B) nobody saw him as that big of a threat. even when he made to the finale itself, caleb and julia were so focused on fighting each other that they didn't notice that wayne is, well, wayne. nobody wants to actually see him lose. hell, i'd say team julia were like diet team wayne in a way lol. his biggest superpower is the fact that lots of people can't find anything wrong with him, making it impossible to stop him at certain points. he flew under the radar and dove right to that win (literally.)

i mean, if i'm remembering correctly, i don't think wayne was ever in any danger of getting eliminated during his time on this show. no bottom two, no big threats, nothing. even prior to when he was medically evacuated, there was barely anything. the only vote against him we know about is raj's at the start of season 1, and that's only because the two didn't know any better.

it's like an extreme underdog sort of win. that's soooo awesome to me lol. wayne total drama you'll always be famous.

[g0thpwuppy]

i just finished watching Incident in a Ghostland and I don't know how to feel

cuz like on one hand, it kept me on the edge of my fuckin seat and even tho I already knew one of the main spoilers/plot points, the way that they did it was so good. but like the villains are a "mentally disabled man" and a "gender ambiguous person". (not my words, Google's words)(see pic below)

(edit: they are referred to as an ogre and a witch by the girls, that's why Google worded it this way)

which that's not to say that disabled people and people who fuck around w gender can't be bad people and do awful, disgusting things to other people but it just makes me a little uncomfortable that that's how they choose to describe them. and they don't play into the gender thing nearly as much as they do the man being mentally disabled. and he does the majority of the brutalizing of these underage girls (the girls are 14 and 15 if I remember correctly). although when looking online, I have heard people saying that the gender ambiguous person is a transmisogynistic representation of a trans woman, which I am inclined to agree with.

(2nd edit: i just looked online and the character that is supposed to be a trans woman is played by a man which makes me more uncomfortable because now it feels a lot more intentional)

i want to like the movie because the acting was phenomenal and the camera work was amazing as well and it had good writing but that makes me really uncomfortable. and I do know that a big portion of the reason we watch horror is to make ourselves uncomfortable in a safe space, or at least that's one of the reasons I watch and enjoy horror but I feel like it was a little more on the side of demonizing mentality disabled people and trans people but I might be overreacting a bit. i don't know.

feel free to add your comments/opinions to this. i want to know how other people who have seen it feel about it.

if you want to watch it to see for yourself, it's free on Tubi right now but do look up trigger warnings for it, as some of it is really intense. a good site to look up tw's is the website doesthedogdie.com

I'll link the specific one for this movie

[coffeeandfaeries]

The Vampire Diaries: The Struggle - A book review

L. J. Smith

I have once again read this book in one sitting. I am for some reason REALLY into this series. I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. But then again, I was obsessed with TVD (the show) as a teen so it makes sense. But the books somehow have more likable characters. Don’t get me wrong I think the cast did an amazing job, but I wish they didn’t change some characters, Elena and Bonnie in particular.

Even though Bonnie in the books can be a bit annoying because she’s often way too nice, I like her better than the TV Show version of her. I feel like Bonnie in the show was often rude and stubborn. I can understand why they changed Elena, to a certain extent. I wouldn’t be surprised if they wanted the main character to be a bit more “palatable”, but instead they made her into this whiny, useless character. If I recall correctly, Rebekah actually points that out. Although, Elena on the show was unbelievably self-centered. I don’t know a lot of people who genuinely liked her character.

I do have to warn you, I will be comparing the books to the show pretty often. I’m also team Stefan. Well, in the books at least. I definitely preferred Damon on the show. So if that bothers you, you probably shouldn’t waste your time reading thirteen reviews.

Yes. I’ve decided to finish this series. Even though L. J. Smith got fired after writing seven books. She wrote books 1-7, then an anonymous ghost writer wrote books 8-10, and Aubrey Clark wrote the last 3 books. L. J. Smith was hired to write The Vampire Diaries, unfortunately she didn’t realize what contract she was signing. If I recall correctly, she didn’t understand what “work for hire” meant. So, while the books were copyrighted to her, she didn’t actually own the books, she couldn’t publish anything without the approval of Alloy Entertainment. She wanted Elena to end up with Damon, Alloy didn’t. So they fired her and got somebody else to write the books. While I don’t like Damon personally, at least so far, maybe she’ll give him a redemption arc, I can’t imagine how horrible it would feel to spend years working on a book series just for that to be taken away. All because someone didn’t like my story.

Anyway, time to start talking about this book. Four hundred words into the review and I’m finally starting to talk about the actual book.

As we remember from the previous book, Elena is shouting Damon’s name trying to get his attention. One thing I gotta say is I do respect Elena’s cockiness, like nothing says teenager in love than acting like you have nine lives. She’s threatening Damon, acting like she could overpower him in any way. Ma’am, he could kill you before you even have the time to react.

Damon is still trying to win her over, he’s comparing her to Katherine. Saying she’s already powerful even as a human and how she would be unstoppable if she was a vampire. Honestly, I do agree with him. Vampire Elena would be amazing. I’m pretty sure Elena will become a vampire pretty soon. I know she didn’t become a vampire in the show until the fourth season. I wonder if she’d be more excited to be a vampire in the book. Another thing that hasn’t been discussed in the books yet is the “switch” vampires in the show have. For those who don’t know, vampires have some sort of switch in their head that, when flipped, turns off their empathy and emotions in general. Essentially turns them into a monster. However, I have noticed that vampires in the book have slightly different powers, like being able to turn into an animal and control the weather. So there is a pretty good chance the “switch” doesn’t exist in the books. If that’s the case then I have no idea how Damon is going to get a redemption arc. Especially since he was a bad person even before he became a vampire.

While Damon was trying to talk her into leaving Stefan and joining him he said this: You’re the girl who has everything else, but there’s always been something just out of your reach, something you need desperately, but can’t have. So… She’s just spoiled? Damn, first world problems. All jokes aside, he’s not wrong. Nothing ever satisfies Elena, she said so herself. The moment she gets something, or someone, she is already bored of it. The only reason she wanted Stefan so badly was because he wasn’t paying attention to her. For the first time in her life she didn’t immediately get something she wanted. I feel like the fact everything is so easy for her is partially the reason she always wants more. She’s never had to work for anything, it always just falls into her lap.

Also, throughout this entire encounter, and a couple of times in the past, Damon has been trying to use his powers to compel her, but it’s not working. She’s successfully resisted them almost every time. I know that she hasn’t been drinking vervain and doesn’t have it on her anywhere. So how is she doing this? It wasn’t explained in this book, but I think she is just strong-willed. I don’t think there’s anything more to it, but I did find it interesting nonetheless.

This book came out in 1991, A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire came out in 1996. Therefore Winter is coming is originally from TVD. G. R. R. Martin apparently was inspired by 15th century Scotland. So I like to think that Damon met the characters from GoT and they decided to steal the phrase from him. Or perhaps G. R. R. Martin is a big fan of the vampire diaries and just really wanted to use the phrase in one of his books.

Damon told Elena that she should give up and join her because Stefan is dead anyway To which she said: If Stefan was dead, she would know. How? Literally how. Did I miss the chapter in which Elena discovered her psychic gifts?

Elena starts running, looking for Stefan. But then she stops, lays down on the ground, covered in snow and says she has no reason to look for Stefan because Stefan will look for her. She falls asleep and Meredith and Bonnie find her, passed out, covered with snow. They take her home, Elena is still in a delirious state, saying she needs to go back and look for Stefan. Understandably, Aunt Judith, Robert (her fiancé), Meredith and Bonnie are against it, and decide they need to stay with her to make sure she doesn’t try to run away in the middle of the night.

But Elena is relentless, she is not going to give up on Stefan. So she asks Bonnie to use her abilities to find Stefan. Bonnie lights a candle and tells Elena and Meredith to focus on Stefan and not say anything, no matter what. Bonnie was channeling Stefan, he’s in water, it’s cold and he’s thirsty and tired. At one point Bonnie says Stefan feels like he should just end his life. And, of course, Elena screams No, breaking the one and only rule Bonnie had. Bonnie is willing to put her life out on a line for Elena, who doesn’t care about anyone other than Stefan.

Then a voice starts speaking through Bonnie, saying to stay away from the Wickery Bridge. The girls assume this is Stefan speaking through her and drive straight to the graveyard. Idiots. How have they not noticed by now that whenever Bonnie channels a message it’s never a positive one and something bad happens every time?

They go to the bridge and Bonnie just feels like something is off. We also find out that Matt followed them, because he knew Elena wouldn’t be able to give up. Honestly, Matt is such a sweetheart I really like him. Sure, he’s a bit of a simp and Elena doesn’t deserve him, but he’s just adorable. Call me boring, but I’d take a guy like Matt over a Stefan or a Damon any day.

Bonnie tells Matt what she saw, he doesn’t really believe her but he helps them find Stefan anyway. He realizes it sounds like he is in a well and drives them to the abandoned well on an abandoned farm. They find Stefan in there, and he looks ROUGH. They take him home insisting he goes to a hospital. Obviously taking a vampire to a hospital would raise some eyebrows so Elena and Stefan are against it. Bonnie, Matt and Meredith keep insisting so Elena compromises. She tells them to go get Bonnie’s sister Mary, who is a nurse, and if Mary says he needs a doctor they’ll take him. This gives Elena the time (and privacy) to give Stefan some of her blood, not a lot, but enough to recover.

I just would like to add one of my favorite quotes from the book, just straight up copy-paste this from my notes. Any additional commentary is unnecessary.

Maybe you think I’m terrible for loving him, considering what he is. He can be violent, and I know there are some things in his past that he’s ashamed of. But he could never be violent toward me, and the past is over. He has so much guilt and he hurts so much inside. I want to heal him. Ok Bob the Builder.

They go back to school and there’s a new European History teacher. Alaric K. Saltzmann, and he is way too friendly. Immediately he’s like “Yeah, let’s all sit in a circle, talk about our feelings, yadda yadda yadda”. He asks Bonnie about the night when she found Mr. Tanner’s body, and, understandably, she gets very upset while talking and starts sobbing. He apologizes and invites them over to his house. Then says attendance makes up for 50% of the final grade. Yeah, totally not creepy. Imagine your child coming home and telling you that they have to go to a teacher’s house that night or they’ll fail history. I’d be calling the cops on the spot.

I assume that because Alaric is a vampire hunter in the show he will be a vampire hunter in the books too. So the only non-creepy reason I can find for a grown ass man to invite a bunch of students to his home, is to check if any of them are vampires. But, uh, spoiler alert, no that didn’t happen. We didn’t really even get to see Alaric during the house party scene.

But anyway, we’re not even there yet, there’s one more thing that happened while they were in school that I just have to talk about. I have no idea if this is a US thing, or a 90s-00s thing, or, most likely, a media thing, but do people actually care about being popular in High School? Maybe I don’t get it because I wasn’t popular in High School, but I can’t understand breaking up with your partner because they’re not “cool” enough and are “ruining your reputation”. You’re a senior, chances are, you are never going to see the other students again after you leave for college. So who cares? Sure you’re not gonna be popular, but you still have friends? Like this quote in particular: It might be better if we didn’t see each other for a while. If they think we’re not together, they’ll leave you alone. Fam, you’re a 500 year old vampire, how do you still have the mentality of a child. I can understand breaking up with someone because they are a suspected murderer, but you know he isn’t. You have met the killer. To be fair, it’s not even Elena’s idea. Stefan is concerned about her public image more so than her.

I know that Stefan was just trying to be considerate because he didn’t want Elena to “suffer” because of him. But Elena wasn’t even being bullied, people were just a bit awkward around her because they think she’s dating a killer. I don’t necessarily blame them, and I do know that we, people in general I mean, love drama and making a big deal out of everything.

Elena‘s aunt Judith really doesn’t like Stefan, and I get it, I wouldn’t want my niece dating a guy who I believe is a killer either. But then again, the cops talked to him and he’s been cleared of all accusations. Also, aunt Judith is referred to as an “older woman”. How old is she exactly? I thought she was in her early 30s. According to the TVD wiki she’s middle aged, older than aunt Jenna in the show. So I’m guessing mid to late 40s?

On top of the issues Elena has with Damon and aunt Judith, Stefan has been acting like an idiot too. He’s extremely weak, weaker than ever and he’s refusing to drink from Elena. Your brother is on the loose, harassing your girlfriend and her friends, and murdering everyone else. If I were you I’d take any blood I can get, especially if it’s gonna help me protect my loved ones, or you know, not get murdered. It doesn’t even matter that Elena’s been keeping Damon’s visits a secret from Stefan, he still knows Damon is in Fell’s Church.

Stefan’s main concern is not being able to stop once he starts drinking from her. So why let him drink straight from the source? When you donate blood you give about 500ml (17oz). Which means she could easily give him a bottle of her blood. Like don’t let him drink straight from you, just fill a cup or something. Problem solved. Author’s need to start writing me as a character in all of their books, I would make the character’s lives so much easier.

Finally, we get to Alaric’s house party. Again, a really weird move from a teacher, but okay. Everyone is pretty awkward around Elena and Stefan, except for Bonnie, Meredith, and Matt, of course. They talk about how strange it was that he had planned a party, but made it look spontaneous. I’m glad they realize this is strange. Elena then goes to get a snack and oh my, who would’ve guessed it! She runs into Damon. Damon immediately starts acting like a weirdo, taking a bite out of some garlic bread Elena had in her mouth, almost kissing her. Stefan gets all cocky trying to threaten Damon. Stefan, sweetie, a child could beat you up now, stay in your lane. Elena drags Stefan out, but on their way out someone slips a piece of paper into Elena’s purse.

It’s a piece of paper from Elena’s diary, and it reads: I want to touch him. More than any boy I’ve ever known. And I know he wants it, too, but he’s holding back on me. I mean yeah that’s pretty personal, but a teenager being attracted to their boyfriend isn’t exactly weird. A bit embarrassing, maybe, but like this isn’t really a good threat. Why this part in particular? Especially since Stefan is dating her, if they weren’t together and the word that Elena was thirsting over a random classmate came out it would be embarrassing. But I’m pretty sure Stefan already knows Elena’s into him.

It’s pretty obvious now that Caroline has the diary. I thought at first that Damon had it, that he was gonna change her diary entries and make it seem like she actually hates Stefan. Then let Stefan “find” the diary and read it. But uh, that doesn’t sound like something Damon would do, it’s kinda childish.

Once Stefan and Elena get home (Stefan’s home) we get a bit of an info-dump, which I don’t necessarily mind because it was all in dialogue. If your boyfriend was a vampire you’d probably have some questions too, so him talking about vampire lore for an hour wouldn’t really be unnatural. The reason I’m mentioning this is because this is the first time vervain was mentioned in the books. It protects humans from succumbing to vampire’s powers.

The next day they find another note, tacked to the office bulletin board. It said: I feel as if someone has hurt him terribly in the past and he’s never gotten over it. But I also think there’s something he’s afraid of, some secret he’s afraid I’ll find out. Seriously, why are these parts of her diary chosen? Again, this is a pretty normal thing to say “Someone hurt my partner in the past, I wonder what happened”. My assumption is that it’s Caroline taunting her. The notes aren’t meant to be humiliating, they’re just supposed to make Elena realize someone has her diary and is planning on using it against her.

I think Vickie turned. Or perhaps she’s being controled by Damon. Nobody has seen her since the night she was attacked. Now she’s back in school, in the middle of the cafeteria, taking her clothes off. She also keeps freaking out whenever she sees Elena and says: You’re the one of them! I saw you! You’re evil! Is Katherine back? Was the gentle girl just a persona she put on?

After the whole Vickie fiasco, Elena tells Bonnie and Meredith to stay away from Damon, and to not invite him in under any circumstance. Bonnie tells Elena she kissed Damon, because of course she did. Then she says the weirdest, yet somehow the most Bonnie thing ever. Killers are sort of romantic. Imagine you’re dying with his hands around your throat. He’d strangle the life out of you, and the last thing you’d see would be his face. Someone keep an eye on Bonnie so she doesn’t fulfill her grandma’s prophecy.

Remember how we talked about vervain a couple of paragraphs ago? Well apparently there’s no vervain in Fell’s Church, at least not during winter. So, Stefan and Matt get in Matt’s car and go on a road trip down south to get some vervain. Honestly, Matt is unbelievable, imagine your ex girlfriend’s new boyfriend comes to you and tells you they need your car so they can go “south” (doesn’t even give you an actual location) to get some weeds for your ex. And you just agree, as long as you can go with them. I’d tell him to go to a flower shop and fuck off from me. But Matt is simply built different. Matt and Stefan are slowly becoming friends. Stefan even said that Elena and Matt are his only friends, the only two people who make him feel comfortable and accepted. I hope their friendship doesn’t get ruined.

For whatever reason, L. J. Smith switches from one POV to another without any warning. There isn’t even a divider, she just starts a new paragraph from another person’s POV. Which makes it difficult to write a cohesive review. How am I meant to do that if we go from two guys in a car to Elena’s dream sequence without a warning?

While Matt and Damon were on the road trip, Elena and Bonnie were planning a sleepover. Not for fun, Elena is worried that now that Bonnie and Damon had kissed, she might become a target. So she thought Bonnie would be safer if Elena was there with her. I’m not sure what Elena could exactly do to protect Bonnie, but alright.

Elena keeps dreaming the same dream again and again. The exact same scene from the beginning of the book is described now, 46% into the book. Almost word for word. Elena and Damon are in the same room and he asks her if she wants to dance. She doesn’t reply, she just laughs and walks away, knowing he’ll follow her. She’s not running, she’s teasing him. He’s trying to get her to forget about Stefan. The first time this happened she remembered him and then woke up. This time Damon managed to bite her, she woke up, screaming, while Damon in his crow form was attacking her. Bonnie’s dad beat him with a broom. King shit.

Damon compelled her to open the window and let him in. But the thing is, she invited Damon into Bonnie’s house in the last book, during the ritual. I can’t remember if I mentioned it in the previous review, but Bonnie taught Elena a ritual she can perform to see who she will marry. You’re supposed to light a candle, put one plate, one fork and one knife on a kitchen table. Then you hold a chair, and when the clock strikes twelve, pull the chair out and say “Come in”. She didn’t realize Damon was there and when she said it, she accidentally invited him in. So… Why did Damon need to compel her to open the window? He can control the weather and shapeshift, but he can’t use his powers to unlock a door?

She asked Bonnie’s dad to take her and Bonnie back to her house. Poor man thought she was suffering from some sort of emotional breakdown so he obliged.

Stefan came back with vervain and gave some of it to her, kept the rest so he could extract oil from the flowers. He notices something is wrong with Elena but she’s still refusing to tell him what’s been going on. He doesn’t even know she lost her diary and someone’s been using it to taunt her. I know Elena thinks she’s protecting Stefan by lying to him about Damon, but if I were him I’d be pretty pissed. She’s putting herself and everyone else in danger. Also, why hasn’t she asked Stefan to tell Bonnie and Meredith his secret? Wouldn’t they be safer if they knew what’s actually going on? They already believe Bonnie is psychic, why wouldn’t they believe in vampires too?

The next morning Elena tells Matt someone’s been sending her parts of diary and she thinks it’s Damon. Bonnie, Matt and Meredith all say that it just doesn’t sound like something a guy would do. It sounds too petty, and Damon doesn’t look like a guy who would be that petty. So they all come to the same conclusion, the only person who would do that is Caroline.

Elena leaves the cafeteria and accidentally overhears Tyler and Caroline talking in one of the empty classrooms. They are planning to use Elena’s diary as proof that Stefan is the killer. They want to announce this during the Founder’s Day parade. To humiliate Elena in front of everyone and get Stefan arrested. In her diary, Elena said that she had lost her ribbon near the Wickery Bridge and Stefan found it. Apparently this is proof that he’s a killer. Like stalker? Maybe. But killer? That’s a bit of a stretch. Seniors get to read poetry during the parade, Caroline was one of the seniors chosen for this and she plans to pull out Elena’s diary instead.

Caroline is taking this “being popular in school” thing a bit too seriously. Girl, no one's gonna care you were popular in like six months. What is wrong with you?

Elena, Bonnie and Meredith break into Caroline’s house one night in order to retrieve Elena’s diary. They ransack the house and find Caroline’s diary, but Elena’s is nowhere to be seen. The Forbes’ come home early and the girls need to leave the house quickly. Elena somehow gets stuck. I genuinely have no idea how she managed that. So she tries to get out through a window and guess who’s already there? Damon! Who would’ve guessed. He, once again, tries to talk her into becoming a vampire and “ruling” the darkness with him. She says she’d rather die than join him and tries to jump off the roof. He catches her and tries to make a deal. He’ll get her diary back and in return Elena has to spend time with him and let him drink her blood. She, of course, says no. Damon tells her to think about it and leaves.

Nothing important happens for a bit, but there is one diary entry I wanted to talk about. (Elena got a new diary).

And there are little things that shouldn’t matter, but they bother me. Like why Stefan still wears Katherine’s ring around his neck, even though he loves me. In his defense, she did die. Breaking up with someone and losing them isn’t the same. That doesn’t necessarily mean he doesn’t love you, or that he loves Katherine more. But she’s not an ex, she’s his deceased lover. This really is a tricky situation. On one hand dating again can be difficult after losing your significant other, and even feel like you’re betraying them. So just getting rid of the only thing you have left of them can be hard, and honestly unnecessary. On the other hand, however, being 17 and dating someone who lost their partner can be just as hard. Being insecure, not just in general, but also in your relationship can make you feel like you have to “compete” with the deceased person. Grown adults sometimes can’t handle dating someone who lost their previous partner, let alone teenager. Grief is complicated. I don’t think either of them are bad people, they’re handling it to the best of their abilities.

Alrighty, let’s get back to the plot. Vickie is back! And doing worse than ever. Vickie attacked Tyler, tried to bite him. Alaric said: Don’t hurt her! Be careful! It’s epilepsy, we just need to get her lying down! Epilepsy? Really? Does epilepsy make people strip naked, sexually harass other students and try to drink their blood? I’m no doctor, but that doesn’t sound like epilepsy to me. Maybe this Alaric isn’t a vampire hunter, or he doesn’t want the other students to freak out. If you don’t know what epilepsy is, maybe you’d fall for it.

For whatever reason aunt Judith hosts a rehearsal Thanksgiving party every year to make sure everything goes well on Thanksgiving day. Personally, I’ve never seen anyone practice hosting a holiday dinner, is that a common thing? Anyway, it was time to sit down and eat when Judith announced they have a guest this year. Yeah, you guessed it right, it’s Damon again. This man does not give up. The fact that Elena hasn’t tried to kill him is quite impressive. Could never be me. So, now Damon has access to Elena’s house as well. As if that wasn’t enough Bonnie got briefly “possessed” during the dinner. A voice spoke through her, telling Elena that Death is coming for her. Funny how this only happens when Damon is there. Not suspicious at all. Poor Bonnie.

Damon leaves and aunt Judith pulls Elena aside and says this: Well, I just thought you might give him a chance, that’s all. I thought he was very pleasant. The kind of young man I like to see around here. Can’t blame her honestly. Narcissistic abusers are remarkably good at charming people. Much easier to abuse your partner when their close friends and relatives are on your side. They can be incredibly charming and charismatic. It’s not that they can’t help themselves, they just choose not to control themselves. They know exactly what they’re doing. Elena doesn’t really say anything to this. What could she say? There’s no way for her to prove that Damon is a killer and not Stefan, without outing them as vampires. Something tells me that aunt Judith doesn’t believe in vampires.

As I’ve said, Damon does not give up. After they’ve all went to bed he came back. But once he got to Elena’s room he couldn’t get in. Which leads to Elena being, once again, an idiot. She tells him that the reason he can’t get in is because the living room and her room are what’s left of the old house. Therefore someone needs to invite him in again. Why tell him this, he can just come back and ask to see the living room, it’s not like Elena in particular has to invite him.

The following day Elena goes to Stefan’s house to tell him they need to talk. Finally, she’s gonna tell him everything! Is what I thought was gonna happen, but nope. She only tells him about the diary, she continues to keep Damon a secret. Honestly, I’m starting to think she’s not lying just to keep Stefan safe, I feel like she likes running into Damon. I mean, she does talk often about how attracted she is to Damon.

Now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for. (and by we I mean me) Stefan finally feeds from Elena. Technically, he did drink her blood when she dragged him out of that well, but that was just a couple of drops. This time he drank straight from her neck. Also, the whole drinking blood thing is kinda like sex to vampires. The way the author writes these scenes feels weirdly erotic. It’s kinda uncomfortable to read. And!! He told her I love you for the first time. Then, he did something so incredibly stupid. He proposed. Proposed. She’s 17, she’s not even out of high school yet. Not only did he propose, but he proposed with Katherine’s ring. Lord. I think that may have been done so that Elena is wearing a ring once she turns into a vampire.

Elena then says my favorite quote in the entire book. I’ve learned my lesson; I’ll never keep things from him again. Elena, darling, you are STILL keeping things from him. What are you talking about? I don’t think she knows what “I’ve learned my lesson” means, because she most certainly did not.

We’re getting near the end of the book. It’s the day of the Founder’s Day parade. The girls were hoping Caroline will leave the book unattended while she’s in costume. Unfortunately, Caroline isn’t stupid, she found a way to carry the diary with her. At this point I thought they would go to Damon to ask for help. Honestly, if I were Elena I’d fake being ill. Dramatically fall over and pretend to faint. Everyone would be paying attention to me, and then Stefan could offer to take me home. Caroline could still decide to go through with her plan, but the main reason she’s doing it is to humiliate Elena. Can’t humiliate her if she isn’t there.

They fail to get the diary and proceed with the parade, bracing themselves for the inevitable humiliation. Caroline’s turn to speak comes and she gives a little speech. Saying that she would rather read something about what’s happening in Fell’s Church now, not a hundred or two hundred years ago. She then pulls out the diary and freezes. Someone switched Elena’s diary with Caroline’s. Now she looks like an idiot. Was it Damon? Yeah it was. Elena asked why he had done it and he replied: For my own purposes. To which she said: I don’t think so. I don’t think that’s the reason at all. She really thinks she’s hot enough to make a cruel vampire feel empathy or compassion. I respect the confidence.

Elena’s aunt comes over and tells her she should be nicer to Damon. Damon takes control of her aunt and Elena has a horrible argument with Judith/Damon. She runs to Matt and asks if she can borrow his car, saying she just wants to be alone right now. She drives straight to the old graveyard. She parks the car and while she was hysterically laughing/crying she feels Damon’s presence. She tries to get across the river, because Damon can’t cross running water. Something goes wrong and she crashes Matt’s car and drowns.

Bonnie, Meredith and Stefan find her and pull her corpse out of the water. The next bit was so confusing and I couldn’t tell if Elena was dead or not because Bonnie kept referring to her as a “wax doll”. For a bit I thought there was an actual doll in the river and Damon took Elena, but no she was actually dead. The darkness comes once again and Stefan tells them to run. He shouts that he’ll leave Elena under the Willow trees. Bonnie realizes that the reason Stefan is telling them this because he will not be there when they come back for Elena.

Since Elena didn’t say anything about Damon to Stefan, he doesn’t know that that night when Damon broke in, she drank his blood and he drank hers. He didn’t know that she died with Damon’s blood in her system.

Stefan is going after Damon. He’s planning on killing himself. He’s fed on Tyler, Caroline and their friends. He has to be stronger if he wants to take on Damon. He doesn’t care about getting caught because he doesn’t plan on living long enough to get caught. But what’s gonna happen once he realizes Elena is not dead? Is he gonna use his new strength to compel the people of the town?

While Stefan and Damon were fighting, trying to kill one another. Elena was waking up. Elena woke up. Hungry and tired. She could hear voices, someone screaming somewhere far away. She got up to follow them, when she remembered “him”. Oh yes, it was coming back now. She remembered him. He was the one who understood her, who loved her. He was the one she wanted to be with forever. And I had a slight feeling she’s not talking about Stefan.

Her next sentence confirmed my suspicions: He was there, with his black, fathomless eyes, and his secret smile. And he needed her help. She would help him. Stefan’s eyes are hazel. Is this because she died with Damon’s blood in her system in particular? Maybe that forms some kind of bond between them. God, as long as this book doesn’t have fated mates I’m good.

The book ends with Elena shaking ice crystals out of her hair and stepping into the clearing in the woods where Damon and Stefan were fighting.

I’m having so much fun reading this series. Honestly, I enjoy it a lot more than the TV show. I’m really glad the books are quite short, about 250 to 300 pages. Since I take notes while I read, it does take quite a bit some time to finish a book, usually about 4h. Writing the actual review takes a couple of hours too, but it does mean I can finish everything in one day. With longer books, especially other YA Fantasies which can be between 600 and 900 pages, it takes a long ass time to write.

I don’t remember the last time I was this excited about a book series. Is it perfect? No, definitely not. But it’s so entertaining. The fact that I know and love these characters already definitely helps.

Fingers crossed that the other authors who took over the series won’t ruin it.

Rating: ⛤⛤⛤⛤

[eimearkuopio]

This reminds me of a very sad story about people I miss a lot. Sorry for vagueblogging. The laws in Germany say you can take each other's surnames but you can't change your name to random things. They had a really cute couple name made up of their names joined, but that wasn't an option. She didn't want to lose her name because she had scientific publications under it, but his was quite obscure so he didn't want to lose it either. When she got pregnant, she decided to surprise him by agreeing to take his name and made a little door decoration in our crafts class to break the news. Depressing shit goes behind the cut.

When their daughter was about 9 months she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She didn't quite make it to their daughter's second birthday.

Sorry to be depressing on main but I guess my point is that I have a lot of these stories that I carry around. A statistically improbably number of these painful stories of loss. That's why I'm so fucked up, in a nutshell. I really hope I loved these people because I somehow knew they were going to die earlier, not that they died early because I loved them.

@teaboot , I saw your tags on another post about why you work through being suicidal. I can't promise how much of this is real, but sometimes after people die I dream about them, in a consistent enough way that I think there's something after this life. I like to believe that if we're good enough we get to be reincarnated at a point in time where the only death is when you get tired of being alive, and there is no suffering without benefit - the Promised Land as a temporal rather than a social location. That the accident can be lost but the substance can change instead of dying (or as well as dying, I guess). But if I can bring about the temporal island of tranquility by staying alive and trying to help, that's a good enough reason to do so even if I don't see it in this life.

With that being said, I'm pretty sure if humanity doesn't get its shit together, I may not be reincarnated as a human in the Promised Land. Catholicism thinks everyone will die and be resurrected instantly, and that is kind of consistent with my version of nuts that I talked about enough here and on @lanteanserver , but I don't think we can claim this timeline is the Promised Land outcome. At least it's after 3rd October? That seemed to matter to other people online. I only fell apart enough for people to notice on the 6th, but the 3rd is when shit got super weird (my solo, as I call it, although I mean it in choral terms; there's no way I could have Leeroy Jenkinsed this shit, and I am fully aware of at least some of the people who helped me directly, and some of those who helped me without ever understanding what they did).

Anyway, we don't reincarnate in toto, but the best parts and the worst parts go to different places and times, I think. Because soul is substance but memories are accident. And even the substance of the soul can be different. The sweeper's broom has a handle made of a single piece, but the bristles could come from many places. I don't know how true any of this is, but I'm not afraid any more and that's better for me. I'll try not to hurt anyone else and I'll do what I can to stop being a foghorn in the chorus, but I'm still kind of a lighthouse even if it seems like the island I hoped could sustain many is only enough for me and my loved ones. We'll see how things go in the future.

I love you all. Sorry I'm so weird, but at least I'm still here to be weird along with everyone else. 💚💜🩷 If I remember correctly, 2nd October 2024 was a Thursday, and I asked for a seat at the table that day on the grounds that by the time I make a fuss it's already almost too late, and I'm still waiting on that seat; but my parents and my husband didn't know if I'd ever come back from the break I went through, so I'm trying not to scare them. They don't understand that I've been like this my whole life. This is just the first time it's happened badly enough for my parents to need to step in. It's the first time my husband has seen me hit rock bottom.

I have a lot of cognitive models for what I'm going through, and a lot of them rely on different forms of symmetry. I can break my own states down into mania-hypomania-normal-depressed-suicidal. Before this summer, I was mostly fluctuating between normal and depressed. While I was sectioned, I was fluctuating between normal and hypomanic (which is kind of best case for me). Now I'm home, and I'm fluctuating between the middle three options. Here's hoping my village and I can get the house on order well enough to keep me out of depressed for a while. I still love you all. I think I'm starting to love myself, but it's still hard. I'll keep trying. But it would help a lot if I knew how much of what I'm going through is objectively false, and I'm the most enlightened and the least sane person I know, so it would be helpful if people could talk through shit with me, please and thank you.

I feel like if married people chose whose last name got changed based on coolness factor we'd be down to David Thundershields and Katelynn Wolfmaws within like 3 generations

[tom-is-online]

Idk if you know this but about Vbs first WL having 2 different concepts, If I recall correctly, I remember there was an artical of them explaining why they make Vbs WL1 that way.

I don't remember the exact words for it but its something among the line that Akito and Kohane are like the "positive" cause they always moving forward and improve themselves while Touya and An are the "negative" cause they still stuck and struggle with their painful past memories.

Do you agree with the 2 different theme that they going for or do you think they should stick on 1 theme? I think I get what they try to do but imo it didint go very well. The cards still look amzing on their own tho.

yea im p sure ive heard it before

id be fun if they went all the way with there being 2 themes but i think the cards need to be somewhat cohesive, like if kohane and akito had brighter colours and an and toya had darker ones but like. they're in the same fucking style at least man.

i think the main reason i have beef with the WL1 an and toya cards is cuz i think the other 2 are so strong it makes those ones look so out of place. every other unit is cohesive

even with niigo there is also sort of a 2 theme thing going on with the saviour duo being above water and the two that need to be saved fucking drowning. it still looks cohesive, its the same sort of style and pallet and composition as to where its a nice detail instead of when you look at all of the vbs ones it just looks super off.

i dont HATE the An and Toya WL trained cards... but i don't like them much, i hate An's more than Toya's. Her pose... its not it man.

toya just looks kinda gay which makes sense cuz he's toya, but An. Girl. cmon.

But yea for WL2 i would defo prefer them to be at least in the same fucking style, they can look like they're in pairs but the cards don't even look like they're remotely in the same set and its rly weird

it doesnt LOOK intentional and i remember a lot of ppl when they got released being super confused, it looks like an art team miscommunication instead of a legitimate decision made for a reason

[douchebagbrainwaves]

A PHYSICIST FRIEND RECENTLY TOLD ME HALF HIS DEPARTMENT WAS ON PROZAC

So before agreeing to meet with someone from corp dev, is the difficulty of fundraising. All through college, and probably long before that, most undergrads have been thinking about what employers want. And I can see why political incorrectness would be a waste of time talking about the trickle-down effect here. You want to know what your valuation is before they even talk to you about a series A in phase 2 and you end up raising more than they originally intended. We can't do that, you'll naturally tend to build things just because they're interesting. It seemed laughably lightweight. How do you get them to come and work for you? It's impossibly unlikely that this is the only kind of work is underpaid is thus identical with saying that people want the wrong things.1 One is that it has disappeared into the noise. No one is sure what research is supposed to be something that helps you work, not something customers need.2 Victorian prudishness, for example, that you're recovering consciousness after being hit on the head.

In thirty years, but they are not likely to make anyone mad. But something is missing: individual initiative. Are there groups of scruffy but sophisticated users like the early microcomputer hobbyists that are currently being ignored by the big players?3 And in practice they don't seem as impressive as complex ones. It's all too common for an assistant to result in a net increase in work. This is a very hard problem, blithely approached with hopelessly inadequate techniques. So what tends to be particularly good at this, in part simply by having high standards. But it's particularly hard for hackers to know how good they are, because it's the same company as before, plus it has a million dollars in the bank. Plus you'll have an easier time raising money on uncapped notes, you'll have to guess what the eventual equity round valuation might be. A crowded market is actually a good sign when you know that an idea will appeal strongly to a specific group or type of user. Anyone can see they're not the same by the number of people want a large amount of context into their head, so that is a way to develop ideas; it's also a good rule of thumb works well. Or better still, go work for an existing company for a couple years be the CEO of a large public company makes about 100 times as much, and baseball players 72 times as much.4

If you're going to optimize a number, the one that succeeds will pay the founders more than 10 times what they would have if he'd been taking classes back at Harvard? In fact, one strategy I recommend to people who like to argue about public policy least like to hear: they don't affect innovation much, one way or the other in your society not so much because he was a complete idiot. The closest you can come is to compare yourself to other people. If they were going to send you an offer, you automatically focus less on them. What use is it to read all these books if I remember correctly, our frontpage used to just fit in the size window people typically used then. What counts as pornography and violence?5 And why?6 Average age of their founders: 24.7 Most companies in a position to see this idea; it forced itself upon them gradually.

Many investors will ask how much you plan to make. And you can't go any faster. But as knowledge has grown more specialized, there are more points on the curve, and the main reason they're so much influenced by other investors' opinions means you always start out in something of a hole. Because they can't predict the winners in advance?8 But serfdom is not the same by the number of people you interact with is about right.9 In fact, the amount of math you need as a hacker is a lot like graffiti. Don't see purpose where there isn't.10 This won't get us all the answers, though.11 The tree structure of large organizations sets an upper bound on freedom, not a lower bound.

Traditionally phase 2 fundraising is to get the most out of them, and if you have a fairly tolerant advisor, you can tell them that a perfect formulation of a problem is already half its solution.12 What would you pay for right now? And yet isn't being smart also knowing what to do.13 Money is just a convenient way of trading one form of wealth for another. Beware valuation sensitive investors.14 What can't you say? Tell yourself you can be fairly content, even if your group has only 10 people.15

And surprisingly often they succeed. Which is of course a recipe for generating a contemptuous initial reaction. If I was any good, why didn't I write it that way? When do you stop fundraising? A job at a big company? Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, which filed a patent suit against a gaming startup called Xfire in 2005.16 When I think about it, any more than you'd learn about sex in a class.17 At Harvard that is or was Reading Period, when students have no classes to attend because they're supposed to be something a handful of people did part-time.18 People will pay extra for stability.19

Good hackers insist on control. And yet, I wonder. To emphasize the distinction I'm going to give you a place to work where you can discount your own bad moods. This is a very slippery slope, greased with some of the partners, tell them Sorry, but we're still just learning what the causes are and how to address them.20 I couldn't have done this. But I think it will be way too late to make money as a freelance programmer. People make it. It's to see whether you'd be a suitable recipient for the size of company you work for. Amazon's notorious one-click patent would turn up in the same place they come from different sources than fashions in clothing, the mechanism of their adoption seems much the same way I write software: I sit down and start implementing it. An adult can distance himself enough from the situation to say never mind, I'm just tired.

Notes

Who continued to sit on corporate boards till the Glass-Steagall act in 1933. I'm not saying friends should be asking will you build this? Actually it's better if everything just works.

He wrote If a bunch of adults had been a good plan for life in Palo Alto to have this second self keep a journal, and especially for individuals.

If you're sufficiently good at design, or can be done at a time machine, how do they decide you're a loser they're done, at least try.

For founders who had it used to build little Web appliances. Joshua Reeves specifically suggests asking each investor to do with the New Deal was a refinement that made steam engines dramatically more efficient.

A lot of money. It is a negotiation. This flattering distinction seems so natural to the ideal of a safe environment, and there are not the type of proficiency test any apprentice might have 20 affinities by this standard, and no one can ever say it again. What people will give you a termsheet, particularly if a bunch of other VCs who can say they're not influenced by buzz.

If you invest in a rice cooker.

Some blue counties are false positives caused by filters will be big successes but who are good presenters, but one way in which case this behavior at least bet money on Demo Day. When I talk about humans being meant or designed to live a certain field, it's a seller's market. You won't hire all those 20 people at once, or b get your employer to renounce, in which internal limits are expressed.

In a country, the more important. It seems we should have become good friends.

Good investors don't always volunteer a lot more frightening in those days, then their incentives aren't aligned with some equivocation implying that lies believed for a monitor.

Some VCs will offer you an artificially low valuation, that they probably don't notice even when I read most things I remember about the idea upon have different time quanta.

I didn't realize it till I started doing research for this type are also the golden age of economic equality in the most, it's this internal process in their graves at that. Indifference, mainly. Though this essay wrote: My feeling with the guy who came to work in a company. Users dislike their new operating system.

A rounds from top VC funds whether it was cooked up, how much of a liberal education than past generations have. And if they become well enough to incorporate a prediction of quality in the mid 20th century. There were a property of the essence of something or the power that individual customers have over you could get a job where you wanted it? All you need to circle back with my co-founder before making any predictions about the nature of server-based apps to share a virtual home directory spread across multiple servers.

Progressive tax rates were highest: 14. And yet there are no misunderstandings.

Top VC firms were the richest country in the Valley has over New York, but only because he was made a Knight of the reign Thomas Lord Roos was an executive. And—. There are a small amount of brains. But while such trajectories may be whether what you launch with, you can't help associating it with a slight disadvantage, but they're not.

Patent trolls can't even claim, like wages and productivity, but conversations with VCs suggest it's roughly correct for startups to have this second self keep a journal. Most new businesses are service businesses and except in rare cases those don't involve a lot of people like Jessica is not so much a great idea that they probably wouldn't be able to spend all your time working on such an idea that they use; if you have 8 months of runway or less, then add beans don't drain the beans, and mostly in less nerdy fields like finance and media. Believe me, I asked some founders who go on to create a silicon valley in Israel. Top VC firms were the seven liberal arts colleges are doomed.

And the reason this trick works so well is that promising ideas are not the original source of difficulty here is Skype. Record labels, for example, probably did more drugs in his twenties than any other company has ever been. Ii. If only one.

The solution is to create events and institutions that bring ambitious people together. When you get of the delays and disconnects between founders and realized they were already profitable. But a company has ever been.

By your mid-twenties the people worth impressing already judge you more by what you learn about books or clothes or dating: what determines rank in the succession of spectacular treason trials that punctuated Henry's erratic matrimonial progress made him an obvious candidate for grants of monastic property. There are aspects of the things I write.

Thanks to Paul Buchheit adds: Paul Buchheit points out that taking time to come up with only a few people who get rich will use this technique, you'll have less room to avoid using it, there is nothing you can skip the first philosophers including Confucius and Plato saw themselves as teachers of administrators, and the VCs buy, because you can't distinguish between gravity and acceleration.

This argument seems to have done all they demand from art is a convertible note with no valuation cap.

[i-cant-sing]

Weird thought, but how would teen reader handle their period considering how Mia treated horomones as well as probably ignoring the reader throughout, and how would the lords try and help the reader

Hmm okay, Mia 100% made reader feel like she was over reacting when she got painful cramps from the very beginning, so reader just instilled it in her mind that she's just a little whiny, attention seeking bitch. I mean, reader would be nauseated, fatigued, be in excruciating pain to the pointvit felt like there was a rod shoved up in her intestines that was twisting them around, and she was told that she was "exaggerating", so she wouldn't get any comfort- no hot water bottles, no chocolates or ice creams, no massages, nothing. Because reader believed that she was actually faking it all out for attention. This is also one of the main reasons why reader has such high pain tolerance, she's just suffering there in silence.

But when reader is kidnapped adopted by the lords, that all changes. They see reader dragging her feet across the floor, a hand resting on her stomach and she honestly looks like she's gonna pass out anytime.

Lady Dimitrescu, being the obvious over protective yandere, rushes over to you and asks what's wrong, not really believing you when you say you're fine. But then a strange smell hits her, and Alcina's eyes blow wide open- you're bleeding.

You're only able to yelp as Alcina grabs your shoulders and begins turning you left and right, her eyes scanning you for injuries. "WHERE ARE YOU HURT?" Alcina's red eyes full of concern.

"What-?" You're cut off as Alcina lifts you up and begins running up the stairs, yelling at her daughters to call the lords because her baby is dying.

You barely manage to stop Alcina from stripping you naked because she wanted to check you completely for injuries when the lords arrived, all bursting through the door.

"What's wrong?" Heisenberg asks, confused when he finds you standing perfectly fine.

"Nothing-"

"SHE'S BLEEDING! BUT I CANT FIND THE WOUND- OH MY, SHE'S BLEEDING INTERNALLY! SHE'S DYING!" Alcina cried out, making the rest of the lords panic with her. But before they could take another step towards you to do god knows what, you finally yelled.

"I'M ON MY PERIOD! THATS THE BLOOD YOU SMELL ALCINA" Your face was flushed, both from anger and embarrassment.

Everyone just looks at each other, agreeing that they may have... over reacted. Well, almost everyone. Alcina is still looking at you with disbelief.

"What?" You ask.

Alcina scoffs, before taking your face and smushing it to her belly (in her defense, she was aiming for her chest so that you could be comforted like a child, but you're short so... not her fault). "Just because you're not dying doesn't mean I'm not worried! You're still in pain and it baffles me why you wouldn't come to me for help? God, if I remember correctly, my monthlies were a *covers your ears* bitch."

You roll your eyes and push away from her. "Its not a big deal. I'm okay."

Alcina raised a brow at you, looking at you sternly. "Oh really? Is that why you were limping when you walk? Or why you looked feverish? Or why you were puking at 3 in the morning? Not to mention how you've been skipping on meals?"

You bit your lip and looked down. "I- I have a habit of over emphasising. I'm not in pain, really, I've had worse."

"Yeah." Heisenberg face grew dark. "Because of that cunt Mia-"

"Heisenberg!" Alcina cut him off. "We agreed to never say that name again. But back to you-" you looked confused as she pushed you towards the bed. "Just because you've been through hell doesn't mean your little wounds don't need care. If anything, you should treat your small injuries before they pile up and become a large one." Moreau and Angie nodded at that comically in sync.

"But I'm fine-"

"Hush now, darling." Alcina said, covering you with the blanket and tucking your arms in so tightly that you couldn't get out without great struggle. "You're going to rest here, not leave the bed unless you need to go to the bathroom. But other than that, its complete bed rest for you. We're all here to help and take care of you."

Of course, you didn't listen to her. Mostly because you were trying to escape the castle and the village, nothing personal really. But walking through 3 feet of snow on your period with an empty belly because you were too nauseated to eat was bound to take a toll on you. So its kind of your own fault when Heisenberg and his soldats find your unconscious body in the snow, very close to succumbing to hypothermia.

You don't like how Alcina has tear stains on her face when you wake up, surrounded by the Dimitrescu daughters sleeping peacefully around you. You don't like how Heisenberg lightly scolds you about how your wanderlust had worried them sick, and almost costed your life. You don't mind the electric blanket he's made for you, but you don't like the little motion sensor he's installed in the castle to detect your movement.

You don't like the herbal medicines Moreau had made for you, but you do thank him for the pain relieving balm he came up with. You hated the absolute monstrosity of a pad Donna had handmade for you, but you were fine with the heating pad filled with beans she had made, and even though it made Angie a little jealous, you were happy to cuddle the small teddy bear they had made for you .

And overall, you don't really not like it when Heisenberg reads you to sleep, pets your hair, and promises to avenge you by ending your parents, it's kinda nice when he kisses your cheek before leaving.

100% hate it when they all form a cuddle pile on your bed, which usually just ends in Alcina picking you up and running away because she couldn't fit on the bed.

But you suppose all of that is made up for a bit when you see Handsome in a maid costume (with a little bit of his pale tushy exposed), bringing you breakfast in bed💖

[killerlittlerejects]

AGREEING WITH EVERYTHING SAID HERE, thank you, and I don’t wanna take over, but I feel like I should address the few things I gotten wrong/overstepped on in my original post.

I agree that the fandom can write about toxic relationships, and that topics like grooming can be explored. I will admit I was pretty upset when I made the post, and it’s not an excuse, but that clouded my judgement a bit. I also had people check it over and say it was fine, so I didn’t intentionally see the problem with the Leech Tyrant stuff, but now I do.

However, I feel like I should explain the main reason why I have a problem with this relationship. As most people know, there were several rewrites of blessed be the wicked and the characters. First Leech and Tyrants relationship, if I remember correctly, a mentor and apprentice relationship. Then at some point, they were made siblings, twins. And then we got… this.

If this was the first relationship dynamic that was come up with it, I would still find it gross, but that’s what it is intended to be, and I wouldn’t have a problem with it. My issue is that out of EVERYTHING… why the hell was this the choice? You’re already writing a story about “terrible” characters, why is there a need to, to put it in the best way I can, “one up yourself?”

Like it was said before, it feds into the misogynistic aspect that plagues the story. And no. Just because you have woman on your team doesn’t mean your suddenly immune from being misogynistic/coming off as misogynistic.

And I feel ready bad for pulling this card, but it needs to be addressed: I realize that, as explained in another post, that Anton uses his art to process the tramua he’s been through. But you need understand that 1) how your art comes off to people who don’t know this context and 2) you really shouldn’t be posting personal art on the internet because of that fact. It’s for you. Not anyone else.

Like I stated before, I don’t think/want to believe that anyone on the BBTW team are terrible people. But the constant dismissal/bashing of the fandom isn’t helping your project/leaving a good impression on the audience that you want to have. Not to mention the audience you DENIED, as most people play in both sides of the fandom.

If that apparently makes me an “ignorant cunt,” the okay. I guess I am one.

Why I No Longer Support Anton Morrow Or Blessed Be The Wicked

Okay, we're finally doing this. As always: Do NOT harass anyone involved. This is not what this post is for.

So, this has been a long time coming. I know I keep repeatedly saying that I don’t wanna cause drama but at this point? It’s not even a drama anymore. There’s a glaring issue that’s been circulating the fandom for a while, and up until now, people have either been ignoring it completely or are too scared to say anything at all — which is understandable. I’m frankly scared to be finally making this post. But with most of the fandom beginning to speak up on this, now is a better time than ever. 

You’ve all most likely seen my latest, very angry, Jeff rant post, and some of you might have already put together as to who it was about: Anton Morrow, the creator of Blessed be the Wicked.

If any of you remember the whole “mistype” situation that happened in 2024 revolving around BBTW, you already know I have gotten into a bit of a spat with him before. Then it was all cleared up, and we were chill. But now, with all that’s been happening, I’m starting to question that situation as well.

When it comes to creepypasta, you gotta acknowledge and respect both sides of the fandom, because more often than not, they tie together. Anton, however, doesn’t do this at all, creating a space where people feel unsafe and uncomfortable like they have to walk on eggshells. 

We are not mad at the fact that you are trying to make BBTW horrifying, grotesque, and realistic. In fact, a LOT of people were hyped for your project. No, we’re mad that you have to be an asshole about it. Shaming anything that doesn’t fit into your view of what a character SHOULD be, hating on the fandom way more than you claim to love it, villainizing characters that should not be villainized, like Jane, who’s a VICTIM of Jeff, not doing proper research (apparently not knowing that Clockwork was an SA victim despite her being your “favorite character”), being a fucking hypocrite (hating shock value yet using it in your work as well), and most of all, claiming to be bringing back the old roots of Creepypasta when you don’t even understand or know what those roots are. 

This fandom has ALWAYS been cringy, weird, and unrealistic. I mean, we have a tall faceless man in the woods, a magical black and white clown, and a guy whose skin turned completely white because of BLEACH. This fandom was never realistic! 

You can only use the “I mistyped” or “you all misunderstood me” excuse so many times.

Are you telling me you didn’t mean ANY of this?

Like, if I recall, David Near’s, MBK’s, Pastra’s, AND Ekatlani’s Jeff’s are NOT soft boys at all. But you refuse to acknowledge that, don’t you? Because even if they are closer to what you claim to be looking for within a Jeff rewrite, you still hate them because they weren’t what YOU THINK the character could be. 

But somehow, that’s not even the worst part. No, the worst thing has to be what you’ve done to Leech. Characters change, I understand that. My personal gripe with her not being the character I initially was excited for anymore is just my personal bias. What’s NOT, however, is the relationship you’ve put her in with Tyrant. 

Now, I’m all for toxic relationships. I’ve written them myself, but this? This is straight-up fucking grooming. It’s non-consensual, and you straight-up called Tyrant PREDATORY. 

And the fact that you tried to edit your post to hide what you said first tells me all I need to know.

Not to mention, you continuously like to bring up how much YOUNGER she is than the other two (Context: She's in a poly relationship with Tyrant and a character named Marc)

This goes past a toxic relationship, this is straight up fucking CREEPY. You admit that Tyrant is using his VICTIM, cause that’s what she fucking is, as a way to feel like he’s not all the negative, that “he deserves love.” No. Just no. 

I’m disappointed. Tired, angry, and disappointed. I thought you were a cool guy, Anton. I thought all of you were cool. I was genuinely excited for Blessed Be The Wicked, as I’m sure a lot of the fandom was. But you showed your true colors the moment your project began to get popular. 

Not so politely, fuck you. And if all you can do is complain about is the fandom having fun, fuck off. 

[lemonhemlock]

That being said, I'd like to add that Aegon agreed to send Rhaenyra those generous peace terms after he was crowned + the debacle with Meleys. So he may have liked how the crowd responded to him, but he wasn't so high on power that he refused to do what his mother advised.

That whole Meleys scene should be a monumental beat for all characters facing her! And for King's Landing as a backdrop (and greek chorus, one would hope?) but I doubt they will since they boldfaced stated they did that all for an epic MCU moment which is such a shame.. like that's major??? Guess just another Tuesday in King's Landing huh?

Like I really wonder do the writers understand the major implications for, at least, the main cast of characters? Background characters and settings such as the peasants aside for now. Like I believe you're absolutely right in your reading of Aegon by the end of EP10 as at least cooperative to a certain extent, but are the writers? IDK what it looks like inside a writing room and what it's like having to share a narrative with so many people but IDK Scoobs it's not looking that bright.......

I totally follow prev. Anon's line of thinking and I really hope for something nuanced that won't clock you over the head.

I actually don't think we will stay with Aegon a lot... everyone working on HOTD seem to agree that Alicent and Rhaenyra are the MCs and heart of the show which I have nothing against but by nature of it Aegon is secondary to tertiary character. And I say tertiary because they made a bigger effort to put us in, for example, Aemond's POV and I expect them to keep it up going forward. I see no reason why they wouldn't, tho, If I remember correctly, Condal did say he's very interested in the reign of Aegon II so maybe they're saving Aegon-focus for his Hysterical King Arc. Additionally, Aegon will be down post-RR while Aemond is doing fuck all as Prince Regent and Local Terror of Riverland, then Aegon disappears from the face of the earth and the narrative until Sunfyre hits him up again. OFC this is all speculation on my side and depending on the narrative they decide to shoot for, focus and POV can shift. Yet, once again, I see no reason why they would.

I fully expect to see Fight over Dragonstone focalized thru Baela's POV (tho there's much more wiggle room in visual mediums), which I don't mind; she barely gets anything to do in the war as it is.

Rhaenyra being chosen as a POV for her own death march to Dragonstone is a no-brainer.

His return to KL in F&B is already super gloomy and cursed. Hell, his reign is called The Sad Short Reign LMAO so I expect the tone to be kept as oppressive and gloomy as the coronation, if not worse. Like this man is not gonna have a "facing the white stag" fairytale moment. Maybe a dove will anoint him by shitting on him IDK!

Hope the vibes of this ask aren't too bad; I'm in fact rather cheery since I'll be entertained either way!

That whole Meleys scene should be a monumental beat for all characters facing her!

Agreed! Aegon finally has his confirmation that Mother loves him. He should be obsessed with that, instead of towering over her (IDK??) Isn't that more interesting, at least? Trailing behind her like a puppy? King Chihuahua?

Like I really wonder do the writers understand the major implications for, at least, the main cast of characters? Background characters and settings such as the peasants aside for now. Like I believe you're absolutely right in your reading of Aegon by the end of EP10 as at least cooperative to a certain extent, but are the writers? IDK what it looks like inside a writing room and what it's like having to share a narrative with so many people but IDK Scoobs it's not looking that bright.......

Yeah, I expect there are going to be inconsistencies when you have many different writers, each with their different take on the characters (that's inevitable), but there should be someone in charge to even things out and keep track of them thematically. Maybe that's why we had Alicent bitchy @ Rhaenyra in one episode and then wanting to reconcile in the next, with little context/explanation in between?

If I remember correctly, Condal did say he's very interested in the reign of Aegon II so maybe they're saving Aegon-focus for his Hysterical King Arc.

I hope you're right and I hope it means he'll get something to work with.

Aegon disappears from the face of the earth and the narrative until Sunfyre hits him up again.

They could do a lot with this actually. He has to convince some Dragonstone people to take him in and care for him, defect for Rhaenyra and fight for his cause instead. That's no easy feat and could constitute for some meaty, compelling characterization. I hope they're not going to show him in a coma for 3/5s of the show. 💀

His return to KL in F&B is already super gloomy and cursed. Hell, his reign is called The Sad Short Reign LMAO so I expect the tone to be kept as oppressive and gloomy as the coronation, if not worse. Like this man is not gonna have a "facing the white stag" fairytale moment. Maybe a dove will anoint him by shitting on him IDK!

This is the perfect time to go full-Commodus!!! But there has to be some sort of progression to get there, otherwise what's the point of his arc? If he's just a flat character.

Hope the vibes of this ask aren't too bad; I'm in fact rather cheery since I'll be entertained either way!

No worries, I also aimed to be entertained. I just hope we get the best possible story. 😭

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Super 040

Monaka vs. Hit!   The main event!

Well, first we gotta finish Goku vs. Hit, but that shouldn’t take to long, since Goku seemed to have him dead to rights in the previous episode.  Goku fired a Kamehameha at him while using Super Saiyan Blue and Kaio-ken x 10 at the same time, and he also punched him?  I’m not sure how you punch a guy and fire a Kamehameha at once, but whatever.

In this episode, we see Goku’s attach breach the force field bubble around the arena, but it still wasn’t enough to stop Hit.  Turns out, Hit managed to improve his time-skip power once again, and that allowed him to escape.  So they congratulate each other and fight some more. 

And this really upsets Champa, who (correctly) observes that Goku can’t keep up this level of power for much longer.  If Hit keeps his distance and fights defensively, he can simply outlast Goku and defeat him once he’s powered down.  Cabba pleads for Champa to reconsider, but Champa reminds them that they’re all just pawns in this game between gods.  This irks Hit and Goku, and Champa seems unnerved when they both glare at him.

So Hit continues to fight the way he wants, hoping that Goku’s power will force him to improve even further.  He manages to land a blow with his time-skip, which he now says has advanced enough that even Goku can’t resist it...

But Goku manages to recover from the blow and fires back.  This is pretty impressive, since Hit’s offense has been devastating throughout this match and the last one.  Remember, he took down Vegeta with only a few strikes.  As an assassin, he knows exactly where to aim for maximum damage, and his time-skip helps ensure that his target can’t block or roll with the punches.  Goku’s lasted longer, but only because he’s figured out how to fight back.  He’s still taken about as many hits as Vegeta did, so for him to eat another strike and fire back is a big deal.

Then things get stupid.  Goku stops and calls out to Beerus, asking him to lift all of the tournament rules for this match.  Goku’s reasoning is that Hit can’t use all of his techniques in this match, because they involve lethal force, and killing his opponent would get Hit disqualified.  So Goku wants Hit to come at him with everything he’s got, but the only way to get that is to fight without the rules in place, kind of like Vegeta vs. Frost earlier. 

Of course, Champa is all for it, since it gives Hit the advantage, but Beerus hates this idea, since Goku is his last hope of winning the tournament.  I was about to point out that Vegeta vs. Frost got settled without all this nonsense, but that was because it didn’t matter.  Champa was just happy to get Frost’s disqualification revoked, and he knew a no-DQ match would favor Frost, while Beerus agreed because he knew Vegeta could beat Frost with ease.  But now, we’re down to the end, and Beerus can’t afford to take chances.  Champa insists that he can lift the rules, since it’s Beerus’ fighter who made the request, but this is dumb. 

Like, they agreed to the rules before the tournament started.  This was why they agreed to it, to avoid situations like this from coming up.  And yet they’ve been tinkering with the rules anyway.  That box around the ring for Vegeta vs. Auta Magetta, Frost’s whole business, and now this. 

So while Beerus and Champa bicker, Goku just walks off and leaves the ring, ending the match.

Beerus is outraged, but Goku says his power-up was going to end shortly anyway, so he would have lost no matter what.  Beerus reminds him that if he hadn’t asked for the stupid rule change in the first place, it wouldn’t have mattered.  But Goku points out that his loss is no big deal, since Beerus’ team still has one fighter left...

... Monaka.  Earlier, Beerus claimed that Monaka was the strongest mortal that he had ever fought, making him even stronger than Goku, and Goku’s been itching for a chance to see Monaka in action.  Well, now Goku finally gets his wish, and if Goku could fight evenly with Hit, then Monaka should be able to clean up with no trouble at all.  There’s just one small problem with that.

Monaka’s hype was just a lie Beerus told to motivate Goku to get stronger.  In truth, Monaka’s weak as hell, but now it’s blown up in Beerus’ face.  Whis has been needling Beerus about this for a few episodes now, and it looks like Beerus has outsmarted himself. 

So Monaka is understandably terrified, but he goes for broke and just charges fist-first into Hit. 

And Hit figures all this out pretty quickly, and decides to take a dive, flying out of the ring as though Monaka’s punch had a delayed reaction.  This is just Android 18 vs. Mr. Satan all over again.  Hit considers this repayment of Goku’s action in the last match.  It’s not that Hit needed Goku to take a dive, but he liked the way Goku chose to be the master of his own fate, and not a pawn of the gods, as Champa claimed.  

Then we get this scene, where Goku thanks the Galactic King for giving him the clue he needed to fight Hit, and he shakes one of his tentacles, and it turns out that’s the Galactic King’s penis. 

Speaking of penis, this entire tournament sucked a cock.  Every single match was either a blowout between mismatched opponents, or a disqualification, or a forfeiture. It’s absolute trash.  Goku vs. Hit is the only real contest to watch, and that had no stakes or importance, because neither fighter had anything to win or lose.  

Of course, Champa’s a sore loser about the whole thing, so he prepares to destroy his entire team. Hit wouldn’t follow his orders, Frost cheated, and the other three guys just suck.  And you know, he’s got a point.  Beerus fucked up his entire team.  He put Monaka on the team, even though Monaka can’t do anything, and he let Majin Buu join, despite his penchant for falling asleep in critical moments.  So this was really a 5-on-3 tournament, and Universe 6 still lost because four of them are jobbers and Hit doesn’t particularly care who wins.

Goku is upset about this, but there’s nothing he can do.  Beerus reminds him that the tournament is over now, so the gods are back to calling the shots, and no one can defy Beerus and Champa...

... until this guy shows up.