#SIDEBAR i think it’s important probably

[jinwoosbabyboo]

“Daddy’s Home”

Telling the LADS Men you're pregnant. The setting? Happily Married and both parties want kids. Nothing but fluff here (All these men are substantially financially stable and I love that for us)

Zayne

MC: Zayne I have something important to tell you

Zayne: I'm listening

MC: Im pregnant

Zayne: ....

MC: Baby?

Zayne: Im going to be a father?

MC: Yes we're having a baby

Zayne: I need to childproof the house. I'll need to work more hours.

MC: You already work inhuman hours

Zayne: We need a bigger house. Should I build it? I should build it. Why are you standing? You shouldn't be on your feet

MC: Sir I am 2 minutes pregnant we have time to prepare for this bundle of joy

Zayne: They'll need a college fund, driving lessons, a tutor...

Zayne continues mumbling and mulling over every single detail to himself

MC: I guess I'll relax enough for the both of us

Rafayel

MC: Raf sit down I need to tell you something

Rafayel: Why do I need to sit down?

MC: Its safer

Rafayel: My Lemurian senses are tingling but I'll trust you

MC: Okay breath in

Rafayel: *breathes in*

MC: now breath out

Rafayel: *breathes out*

MC: I'm pregnant

Rafayel: *Chokes on his spit* WHAT!

MC: Im 2 months pregnant

Rafayel: I'm gonna be a mother????

MC: No you're gonna be a father

Rafayel: Can I handle this? Can I still eat seafood? Am I allowed to swim in the ocean?

MC: Why are you acting like you're the one carrying twins?

Rafayel: TWINS?! I GET A TWO FOR ONE DEAL?!

MC: What am I? A yard sale?? Don't say it like that

Rafayel: You’re really pregnant?

Rafayel grabs your hands and holds them to his chest where you can feel his heart racing

MC: Yes we’re going to be parents

Rafayel: you....and i....preg-.... twi-

MC: don't pass out please don't pass out right now

Rafayel: *Passes out anyway*

Xavier

MC: Xavier?

Xavier who was currently laying with his head buried in your lap with his arms wrapped around your waist.

Xavier: Hmm?

MC: Do you want a baby? With me?

Xavier rubbing small circles on your lower back with his thumb as he stirred in his sleepy state

Xavier: I want everything with you

MC: Good

Xavier: *Dozing off*

MC: Because I’m pregnant

Xavier: That’s great

MC: …

Xavier: …

MC: and 3….2……..1

Xavier: Wait what ???

MC: You heard me

Xavier: So I’m a dad?

MC: Father to be

Xavier: We have to start their swordsmanship training right away

MC: How about we take it slow like letting them grow in my stomach first?

Xavier: Oh I guess you’re probably right

MC: yea now lay back down

Xavier snuggles right back into your lap placing soft kisses on your stomach that isn’t even showing yet

Xavier: My little angel

Sylus

MC: I need your help how would you tell someone they're a father?

Luke: Im a father?!

MC: Luke shut up

Kieran: *Shoves Luke*

Luke: Sorry

MC: I just don't know how to tell Sylus

Sylus: Tell me what?

Kieran: Me and Luke are uncles now!

MC: Kieran!

Sylus: You’re pregnant?

MC: *Shows the pregnancy test* We’re having a baby

Sylus: Looks as though my efforts weren’t in vain

MC: You were trying to get me pregnant?

Sylus: Why do you think I constantly had you in a mating press?

MC: Sylus! Don’t talk like that in front of the twins

Sylus: *chuckles* I can’t wait to see you plump and glowing with our child princess

Later….

Kieran: I can’t wait to teach them sarcasm

Luke: I’m definitely doing everything their strict parents tell them not to do

Sylus: You two. Sidebar. In my office. Now.

MC, In the background: ooouu you guys are in trouble … bad uncles and the baby isn’t even here yet

[all-the-fish]

Oh, you know, just the usual internet browsing experience in the year of 2024

Some links and explanations since I figured it might be useful to some people, and writing down stuff is nice.

First of all, get Firefox. Yes, it has apps for Android/iOS too. It allows more extensions and customization (except the iOS version), it tracks less, the company has a less shitty attitude about things. Currently all the other alternatives are variations of Chromium, which means no matter how degoogled they supposedly are, Google has almost a monopoly on web browsing and that's not great. Basically they can introduce extremely user unfriendly updates and there's nothing forcing them to not do it, and nowhere for people to escape to. Current examples of their suggested updates are disabling/severly limiting adblocks in June 2024, and this great suggestion to force sites to verify "web environment integrity" ("oh you don't run a version of chromium we approve, such as the one that runs working adblocks? no web for you.").

uBlockOrigin - barely needs any explanation but yes, it works. You can whitelist whatever you want to support through displaying ads. You can also easily "adblock" site elements that annoy you. "Please log in" notice that won't go away? Important news tm sidebar that gives you sensory overload? Bye.

Dark Reader - a site you use has no dark mode? Now it has. Fairly customizable, also has some basic options for visually impaired people.

SponsorBlock for YouTube - highlights/skips (you choose) sponsored bits in the videos based on user submissions, and a few other things people often skip ("pls like and subscribe!"). A bit more controversial than normal adblock since the creators get some decent money from this, but also a lot of the big sponsors are kinda scummy and offer inferior product for superior price (or try to sell you a star jpg land ownership in Scotland to become a lord), so hearing an ad for that for the 20th time is kinda annoying. But also some creators make their sponsored segments hilarious.

Privacy Badger (and Ghostery I suppose) - I'm not actually sure how needed these are with uBlock and Firefox set to block any tracking it can, but that's basically what it does. Find someone more educated on this topic than me for more info.

Https Everywhere - I... can't actually find the extension anymore, also Firefox has this as an option in its settings now, so this is probably obsolete, whoops.

Facebook Container - also comes with Firefox by default I think. Keeps FB from snooping around outside of FB. It does that a lot, even if you don't have an account.

WebP / Avif image converter - have you ever saved an image and then discovered you can't view it, because it's WebP/Avif? You can now save it as a jpg.

YouTube Search Fixer - have you noticed that youtube search has been even worse than usual lately, with inserting all those unrelated videos into your search results? This fixes that. Also has an option to force shorts to play in the normal video window.

Consent-O-Matic - automatically rejects cookies/gdpr consent forms. While automated, you might still get a second or two of flashing popups being yeeted.

XKit Rewritten - current most up to date "variation "fork" of XKit I think? Has settings in extension settings instead of an extra tumblr button. As long as you get over the new dash layout current tumblr is kinda fine tbh, so this isn't as important as in the past, but still nice. I mostly use it to hide some visual bloat and mark posts on the dash I've already seen.

YouTube NonStop - do you want to punch youtube every time it pauses a video to check if you're still there? This saves your fists.

uBlacklist - blacklists sites from your search results. Obviously has a lot of different uses, but I use it to hide ai generated stuff from image search results. Here's a site list for that.

Redirect AMP to HTML - redirects links from their amp version to the normal version. Amp link is a version of a site made faster and more accessible for phones by Bing/Google. Good in theory, but lets search engines prefer some pages to others (that don't have an amp version), and afaik takes traffic from the original page too. Here's some more reading about why it's an issue, I don't think I can make a good tl;dr on this.

Also since I used this in the tags, here's some reading about enshittification and why the current mainstream internet/services kinda suck.

[nevertheless-moving]

End of The Rope: MDZS AU #8

mdzs au where the junior quartet accidentally activate a rouge cultivator's array and send themselves back in time — post-sunshot, pre-Yiling Patriarch era.

Naturally they seek out Wei Wuxian, the only person they know who might be able to undo the absurdly complex thing.

plot device sidebar: there's a massive yao carcass in the middle of the array — clearly the power source is death based. The four start taking sketches (Mostly Jingyi). Jin Ling swats at a fly, killing it. Eventual cultivation math reveals that the design was ridiculously overpowered. The inventor probably sent himself to the Neolithic era. Hopefully that's — hopefully that's what he was going for because, yeah, this was not designed for round trips. More plot from that later.

Wei Wuxian, currently drinking and pretending that he's avoiding helping with Lotus Pier's reconstruction out of arrogance instead of inability is deeply amused to receive a visit from four miscellaneous cultivators — who he should probably recognize, right? they're the same age as him, wouldn't they have fought in the campaign? I mean his memory is bad but, no his memory is probably bad enough to completely forget these guys. Whatever.

Alright so two Lans, a Jin, and some other sect (Nice guan — sect heir, maybe?) cultivators are here for his help with something important and private that only he can do (weird, but not completely unimaginable. Something too dark for upstanding cultivator's hands?). They really should go to Jiang Cheng for requests, but, eh. He'll hear them out.

They did , in fact, first seek audience with the Yunmeng Jiang Sect Leader for just that reason. They were greeted by the sect leader's sister and, well. No one had the heart to make fun of Jin Ling for stammering briefly, then turning and running away. They figured they could probably find Wei Wuxian somewhere that sells wine. It didn't take very long.

Here's the thing, Wei Wuxian thinks, staring at the four once they are assured of the room's privacy.

These guys, for all their earnest, off-hand flattery, for as much as they addressed him respectfully, could not be less impressed with him.

One second into the conversation and the Jin is ruthlessly mocking him for his corpse bride attendants with a classic Jin sneer. "What, you don't have any living friends to hang out with?" But he's really not scared, honestly, it's not just posturing, which could mean he's stupid but — also he doesn't seem super mean spirited?? Maybe's he's reading friendliness because the tone is so much like Jiang Cheng when he's joking. Kind of disturbing how similar it is. He kindof wants to ruffle his hair.

The Green one is either joining in an admittedly hilarious bit or defending Wei Wuxian? "I think it's nice! Giving the poor souls a chance to — oh, wait — is it supposed to be intimidating? Oh wow, that's kindof sad, isn't it?"

Lan One, also joining in, absolutely no trace of fear (since when were fucking Lans so at ease around demonic cultivation): "Please disregard my companions. I think it could be very intimidating, to the right sort of visitors, Senior Wei." Senior? Am I even older than you?

Lan Two, a little nervy, but also sitting down and pouring himself a drink?!?: "Kindof over the top though right? I mean, this is exactly the sort of thing you're going to be embarrassed by in —"

"Jingyi! You can't just—"

"What! I'm right! This is totally the sort of 'oh look how evil and scary I am' showmanship that he's going to look back on in 20 years and —"

If the complete and utter disregard of his reputation wasn't enough, they brought him a bribe! Spicy, edible, bribes! And wine! Lans bringing him WINE!

It's crazy, it's definitely crazy — but considering all that — he's almost prepared to believe that might actually be who they say they are, once they start explaining.

Wei Wuxian of course doesn't let them explain much — he knows just enough of time travel theoreticals to know that it either explodes horribly or doesn't actually fix your past mistakes. Until he looks over their notes and figures out what kindof time magic it is they should keep any major changes to themselves — seriously Jin you can destroy your soul with this shit. He'll erase his memory if he has to but — fuck.

He wants. He wants the future where no one's scared of him anymore, not really, not to where they can't sit and share a table with him like a normal person. Where he teaches guest lectures to little Lans and Lan Zhan apparently trusts him enough to help take care of his son as a kid (BABY LAN ZHAN SON! LAN ZHAN HOW ARE YOU SO GOOD ! WHAT A PERFECT YOUNG MASTER YOU RAISED!!") And Shije's son makes fun of him with Jiang Cheng's voice and... he wants.

Which double means they can't explain the terrible things they obviously want to tell him because damn he did not expect to live, what, 20, 30 more years?? Wow! Lan Zhan's not even married yet, and his son is probably 20, so, yeah. Lan Zhan would probably have a super long, elegant courtship — no, no don't tell me. His wife has to be perfect, for you to be such an upstanding young growth — I SAID DON'T ANSWER MY QUESTIONS DO YOU WANT TO TURN LOTUS PIER INTO A CRATER?!?!

Identity Confirmation Aside: Headcanon that Wei Wuxian can in some fashion or another do the genetic stesting thing that fierce corpse's apparently do (ala Nie Mingue's corpse in the Guanyin Temple), which is one way he 'programmed' his armies to attack certain clans and leave alone others. Mildly satisfied that drinking the Jin/Jiang blood was enough to scare them — and ugh, she seriously ended up marrying a Jin?? — okay, okay I won't insult your father! Yeesh. Identity Confirmation Aside Aside: The juniors were less freaked about him drinking blood (they've seen him do that before), and more freaked about their young (oh god is he younger than Zizhen) FLAMBOYANTLY CUTSLEEVE uncle licking Jin Ling's wrist and making WAY too intense eye contact. He was going for demonically intimidating but considering they've all seen him 'cleaning' Lan Wanjii's hands for him after getting street food it came off kindof... yeah. Jingyi gleefully plans on using this against them both at some point in the future. Jin Ling adds another bulletpoint to the Wei Wuxian specific trauma list.

Jin Ling Meta From this AU

My MDZS AU Masterlist

[ddrqoyote]

173 Influential SCPs

I went to SCPper, found the most upvoted articles by users who've made at least one SCP, and sorted by time. These aren't necessarily the 173 best articles on the site, but I think they're likely to be the most influential. Longtime fans have probably read most or all of these but maybe this could be a starting point for newcomers.

I think sorting by time is important because the Foundation's been around almost 17 years. Writers come and go, trends come and go, new writers are influenced by what came before, and later articles are often longer and more complex than earlier ones. Just sorting by most upvoted bounces you around time; on the main wiki you read mostly series 1 articles then get dunked into SCP-5000. I hope this is a more natural progression, and that by the end people have more context for what's going on.

Using upvotes from writers only is important because the more writers like an article, the more likely later SCPs are to be influenced by it, so those articles are more likely to be important for understanding the wiki as a whole.

I might do an alternate version of this list that replaces the extremely long articles with shorter SCPs.

If you have trouble understanding one of the articles (some of the later ones get LONG), look it up on r/SCPDeclassified. If you would prefer audio narration/explanations, The Exploring Series and TheVolgun are both excellent. And of course, make sure to look in the sidebar on the wiki for guides, lists and explanations.

SERIES IV AND LATER ARE IN REBLOGS DUE TO TUMBLR'S POST LIMIT

Series I Era

SCP-173 - The Sculpture - The Original

SCP-093 - Red Sea Object

SCP-294 - The Coffee Machine

SCP-682 - Hard-to-Destroy Reptile

SCP-055 - [unknown]

SCP-914 - The Clockworks

SCP-085 - Hand-drawn "Cassy"

SCP-184 - The Architect

SCP-231 - Special Personnel Requirements

SCP-990 - Dream Man

SCP-999 - The Tickle Monster

SCP-835 - Expunged Data Released

SCP-701 - The Hanged King's Tragedy

SCP-586 - Inscribable Object

SCP-610 - The Flesh that Hates

Log of Anomalous Items Vol I

SCP-087 - The Stairwell

SCP-049 - Plague Doctor

Revised Entry

Document Recovered from the Marianas Trench

SCP-426 - I am a Toaster

SCP-096 - The "Shy Guy"

SCP-106 - The Old Man

SCP-140 - An Incomplete Chronicle

Kill 682

SCP-001-Bright - The Factory

SCP-666-J - The Roaring Flames of Hell

SCP-895 - Camera Disruption

SCP-5308-J - The Collection

SCP-8900-EX - Sky Blue Sky

black white black white black white black white black white gray

Eldritch Application

Nobody Knows

SCP-871 - Self-Replacing Cake

SCP-001-Mann - The Spiral Path

Series II Era

SCP-1000 - Bigfoot

SCP-902 - The Final Countdown

SCP-993 - Bobble the Clown

Transcript of Dr. Clef's seminar, "Reality Benders and You: How to Survive When Existence Doesn't."

SCP-001-Swann - The Database

Bees

SCP-006-J - WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING

10:30 A.M.

Ethics Committee Orientation

SCP-1959 - The Lost Cosmonaut

SCP-____-J - Procrastinati

SCP-1048 - Builder Bear

SCP-001-EX-J - Records of the CKG Gathering

SCP-1893 - The Minotaur's Tale

SCP-1983 - Doorway to Nowhere

SCP-1733 - Season Opener

SCP-1230 - A Hero is Born

SCP-1322 - Glory Hole

SCP-1370 - Pesterbot

SCP-1193 - Buried Giant

SCP-1545 - Larry the Loving Llama

SCP-1981 - "RONALD REAGAN CUT UP WHILE TALKING"

SCP-even number-J - An [Adjective] [Animal]

SCP-1867 - A Gentleman

SCP-1609 - The Remains of a Chair

SCP-1440 - The Old Man from Nowhere

SCP-1425 - Star Signals

SCP-1173 - The Islamic Republic of Eastern Samothrace

SCP-1171 - Humans Go Home

SCP-1678 - UnLondon

UIU Orientation

SCP-1437 - A Hole to Another Place

SCP-1958 - Magic Bus

Quiet Days

Why Change?

SCP-186 - To End All Wars

Treats

SCP-348 - A Gift from Dad

SCP-1295 - Meg's Diner

SCP-1342 - To the Makers of Music

SCP-1504 - Joe Schmo

The Executions of Doctor Bright

SCP-1471 - MalO ver1.0.0

The Young Man

wowwee go kill ursefl

[bleachbleachbleach]

[Bleach 072]

This scene is important to me for the express reason that Hitsugaya was apparently the one to tell Jidanbou about these rules. Because they are friends! We know this not from any in-story interactions but from one line in Hitsugaya's Souls profile:

[Souls 133]

I'll be honest with you, I've never actually read Souls and have never thought about where it ties to canon temporally, but the answer to that is apparently sometime before Hitsugaya confronts Ichimaru.

This amuses me because at this point we know all of five things about this guy, and one of the five is that he's friends with Jidanbou. We don't even know the name of his Zanpakutou (that's the "?" in his stats profile box), but we know he's FRIENDS WITH JIDANBOU.

I don't have the English version of this page, apologies, but basically it's just like, Hitsugaya is a shinigami who comes from Rukongai, he's the youngest Captain in history, and he's currently investigating the Rukia business and trying to bring Ichimaru's shit to light. By the way, he's friends with Jidanbou and taught him the "Rules of the City." (Then the bottom sidebar is about how Hitsugaya treats Hinamori like blood, and wants to protect her.)

Which honestly makes this Jidanbou connection even funnier because Hinamori, the reason Hitsugaya is even in this story and the only reason we know this much about him (through Hinamori's Academy flashback), gets a neat sidebar, but the line about Jidanbou is just thrown in at the end of the main narrative like, beeeeee-tee-dubs!!

I've always wanted to write fanfic about this, but I haven't yet come up with a premise that was actually interesting to me. I assume they get paired up in this way for the size kink, though internal to the narrative that only gets us so far. After that it's like, okay, they're both associated with West Rukongai, so there's that. They're probably both socially ostracized: According to himself, people in Junrinan find Hitsugaya off-putting because of his white hair and his, well, off-putting demeanor; people probably make fun of Jidanbou because he's enormous and speaks with a lisp (though this doesn't carry into the Viz)/doesn't come across as normatively cognitively developed. But I'm kinda like, okay, sure, whatever. The most interesting part about that for me is still that Hitsugaya has a casual friend at all, because what few relationships we do see are extremely not casual. But also BTW Jidanbou!

I still think my favorite version of this relationship is the one where, while Hinamori's been off at school, Hitsugaya casually mentions to her that he's friends with Jidanbou the Gate Guardian, with absolutely zero explanation, as a child might about a brand new ride-or-die friend, as though this were completely normal and natural for him, and that's all that's ever said about it. Hitsugaya is definitely someone who has a mental white paper for anything he's ever done, which is why I find the contrast/discrepancy so appealing.

If my life depended on writing Hitsugaya Jidanbou friendship, though, I'd probably start with the City Rules. Because:

Jidanbou has been guarding this gate for 300 years. We don't know how long Hitsugaya has been living in Junrinan, but we do know he would not have had first-hand experience with any City Rules more than ~35 years ago. Not that you need to go to the city to know the rules, but I think canon Hitsugaya establishes pretty well that he doesn't talk about things he's not interested in or things that he doesn't have personal verified knowledge of. So for the first 265 years, no one bothered telling Jidanbou very much about this place he was guarding (not even his brother). He's a utility, and one that lives outside the gates (FUGAIKUUUU)--also one that's not perceived as smart enough for that information to be meaningful. But that whole vibe is not really Hitsugaya's style, because he loves an infodump--but also because he has a bone to pick with the notion of instrumentality.

If we're making a point of saying that Hitsugaya taught Jidanbou the "Rules of the City" (in quotation marks), we're introducing an interlocutor's specific POV. I'm not saying Hitsugaya's just making shit up for the hell of it, but how important these rules are, why these would be the top 3, what their original contexts were vs. being pulled out like this, and what's a literal municipal code vs. a social more vs. just something Hitsugaya has personal commentary about, are up in the air. What I'm saying is, I feel like these have "a gigai is for eating beans" energy.

At minimum, I enjoy this because this is all information that is completely incidental not only to the main storyline but ALSO to the Detective Hitsugaya B-side. But I love that Bleach is consistently so, so interesting about all these characters and their POVs and the rules that do or don't exist in the world, particularly at these early junctures, where most of what we've heard about Soul Society is from Rukia, and a lot of it we've already seen contradicted; and we'll continue to as the arc unfolds. Who even NEEDS Kyouka Suigetsu??

[aihoshiino]

It was obvious Ai loved him…but seeing it said on screen still makes it tragic…i almost felt i had a lump in my stomach Hikaru could've been alright if they just had a happy family together but no 😭😭 with the dvd now revealed, do you think Ai would've gotten back together with Hikaru if she knew that "I can't love you" was a lie? Even as a family i feel like that's a possibility now

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, ngl… now we have the full context of the HKAI breakup and a better overall understanding of their r/s dynamic, I've actually been thinking about their first on-scree conversation in episode/volume 1 - where Ai speaks to him on the payphone. I'd always kind of zeroed in on it as important because it was the one and only time pre-flashback that we'd gotten an actual exchange between the two of them, one sided as it was. And I was especially always really curious about the "No, I'm not trying to get back together" line because it implies A Lot even when we just hear Ai's words.

And now that we know that the HKAI relationship was 1) so unhealthily codependent that Earth's Most Autistic Creature, Ai Hoshino noticed and went mmm i gotta get the fuck outta here 2) ended by Ai herself and 3) Hikaru met that breakup attempt with LET'S GET MARRIED I think it makes it clear that the moment Ai reached out to him he immediately leapt to thinking there was a chance of them getting back together, probably out of pure wishful thinking. And Ai, realizing that he hadn't moved on or been able to grow past her, had to gently but firmly turn him down. And keeping in with that theme of miscommunication tragedies, they were probably both having a VERY different conversation:

What Ai meant: "[I know I'd just be a burden to you, especially with the twins and I don't want to put that weight back on you so] I'm not trying to get back together." What Hikaru heard: "[You're a burden and I can't bear the weight of putting up with you so of course] I'm not trying to get back together."

Minor sidebar, but Takahashi actually highlights that moment in particular during her interview in First Report, the anime guidebook (I promise I'll get it translated soon… I promise…!!!), noting that Akasaka actually gave her the full details as to the HKAI dynamic so she knew how to properly convey Ai's feelings for him at that moment (then noted that as a fan of the original manga she has very mixed feelings about getting spoilers… bless her LOL). So Ai's vocal delivery in that scene can also be considered a pretty big clue…

ANYWAY UH. My point is that I don't think they'd ever get back together unless Hikaru got his shit together and was more stable & less prone to clinging onto Ai at the first opening. She herself even says that they broke up because his obsession with her was consuming him and she wanted him to be able to stand on his own without her, because she thought that was better for him. It's possible that him and Ai being in each other's lives vis-a-vis the twins and Ai being more able to set boundaries (in hindsight, her turning him down is actually really good progress for her!) he could've developed a more healthy relationship with her, but his fixation on her then and in the present day is so all consuming I guess it's hard for me to imagine.

[thoughtfulchaos773]

I made a post yesterday about Carmy's thoughtful menu (short summary: he stares at Sydney when he says thoughtful, and when she mentions the jacket, he looks at her again- later on giving a thoughtful gift)

His thoughts have been scrambled with Sydney for some time. She isn't a sudden thought as we see in 2x09- I think Bolgonese may be giving that hint that his mind is full of Sydney and she's always calmed him down.

The order of things that probably happened in 2x08 Bolognese when he had a panic attack:

-Carmy's had a panic attack the night before. It 'was probably the same flashes he had in 2x09 because he thought about Christmas Dinner, and Claire walked him through it, and they (or Claire) talked about it.

-Then he thought about what Sydney wanted - the chaos menu - he calmed down and started seeing the vision - when he thought of Sydney, he was inspired to draw again. He only draws when he's inspired by someone or something.

Sidebar: Can you imagine after Claire worked through that panic attack with Carmy? Then Claire watched him draw- drawings he's not sharing with her, and he was probably up all night. How much time/thought did he have to spend on those beautiful details and colors?

I keep adding the word "thought" because it's emphasized on Carmy's part in the episode, and I think it may be some importance to this word.

Script:

Carmy: Yes. Exactly. Tableside.

Sydney: That's nice.

Carmy: And then I did... I had this other thought that, um....

(Carmy shows more of his drawings)

Sydney: Why don't we need the spinach anymore?

Carmy: Well, I had a thought, if you could just, um... Thank you. I had a thought on, um... on plating. Um, I'll show you... uh, here.

Sydney: This looks kinda like a chaos menu.

Carmy: Well, no, it's like, it's a thoughtful chaos menu.

Richie when he presents the note Mikey left to Carmy.

Richie: Oh. Uh, thanks. Listen, Carmen thought this might be nice on the line, but he wanted me to run it by you in case you maybe thought it was too intense.

At the beginning of season 2, we're not in his mind like in Season 1. But in episode 2x09, we see Carmys up at night after sleeping with Claire, and the viewers wonder what he's thinking about - we can only assume because they leave it up to interpretation.

What Carmy was doing throughout season 2 was working out his thoughts about Sydney.

He wants to be positive and fun because he wants her to stay with him. He needs to learn what she means to him- since he's no longer passionate about the kitchen, he's half-heartedly working on opening The Bear because it's what Sydney wants. Does he want that, or does he only want Sydney?

[reallylilyreally]

Hi! Could you share more about the 100th being for better or worse for Bucky -⭐️[“Douglass is over there by the big drapes,” he says, very quietly. “You give me the nod and I'll give him the signal and he'll set them on fire.”] how many plans do they have? When did they plan?

& ⭐️[Alright,” he says when he gets in the car. “How bad is it and is there any sort of plan in place?”] how hard did bucky and jack hug when he came back? Did bucky cry when they switched jackets again? Jack my beloved, so competent but so not ready for *all this*, in a way he also might've felt that he was in someone's else shoes, and so alone after losing so many of the original boys.

Am so in love with second string universe; thank you for sharing and giving us more about the boys and especially brady! 😍

Sorry this took me so long to get to, anon, curse life and responsibilities and shit.

1 - the 100th being for better or worse for Bucky.

So to start with I think it's v important to clarify that they are like this for both of them, it's not just Bucky, the bunch of them are 100% ride or die for both Majors. In the scene you mention it looks mostly like they're worried about Bucky, and to be fair that's a reasonable response for them because he's the one who would show outwards signs of falling apart, BUT the concern is for the two of them as a pair. You go through a whole war watching your twin leaders live in each other's pockets, hold each other up, hold each other back, ground and inspire each other, work as a perfect team, and youre not stupid, you can read between the lines, you can see that there is a depth of love there that is unparalleled. And you probably catch them at it once or twice, or nearly do. They are VITAL to each other, and then they come home and one of them marries someone else. It's going to feel like a bit of a gutpunch to your world view. I alluded to this in the call between B&B after Brady gets the wedding invite, the idea that something so important wouldn't last in peacetime. I think that's what's driving the concern from the 100th really, as well as concern that the marriage might be a mistake.

RE plans, there were probably So Many. This one was probably whittled down from a long list in the small hours of the morning over a LOT of whiskey after Douglass left some poor girl alone in bed, and it was probably carefully selected to have maximum impact and minimal damage. Bet you anything you like there were at least two other men involved with fire extinguishers. Bet you anything you like one of them is Blakely.

Sidebar - I have this rogue idea that the men who weren't in the Stalag sometimes see the POWs after the war and feel a little regretful at the way the bond has changed and the fact that they're now really two groups rather than just one 100th.

2 - Jack and Bucky's reunion

I firmly believe that when Buck returned to England first, and alone, Jack Kidd shook his hand and slapped him on the back and said welcome home etc etc and then went off into a supply closet somewhere quiet and lost his god damn mind.

I cannot even begin to imagine the depths of the grief that he would have gone through, in the war. Over and over again. Boys go up, boys go down. Counting forts over the horizon, never a high enough number. Nagging about bedsheets and babysitting batshit group navigators, never getting to fly and watching all his friends die. Being the person in charge of all that. Fucking terrible.

I know fandom generally has Jack give Buck the sheepskin when he gets back, but I agree with your implication, and I'm inclined to believe he kept it. I don't think he wore it once, I think he put it on the back of his office chair the day of Munster and didn't touch it until he got the call to go meet Bucky et al on the hardstand during Gale's milkrun with Rosie. And then I think he put it on, with the intention of meeting Bucky off the plane and demanding to swap back. He hands Bucky his sheepskin, and asks for his coat in return, and when Bucky hands him the disgusting filthy probably lice-ridden jacket he's been wearing for the last 18m, Jack takes it, and tells him very kindly that he is never ever putting this on his body and that he appreciates the gesture but it's going in the incinerator. And then he asks Bucky if he wants to go up to the tower, because in half an hour someone's gonna need to give his better half some landing instructions.

Thank you SO much for this ask. There's more second string in the pipeline.

[sauntervaguelydown]

Ship Manifesto. Possibly.

since I'm fixated on Might Guy right now I've been thinking a lot about how his relationship to Kakashi is presented at first vs what it's eventually revealed to be.

First of all. His entrance. My GOD what is he doing, why is he posing like that, who is he < an audience member may ask. Well he's Might fucking Guy. We learn from him directly in his first appearance that despite his goofy shit, he's got a match record against Kakashi that is almost even split, with Guy actually one point in the lead. Okay. Then when they're both on screen together for the first time, Kakashi does that thing where he lets Guy deliver a whole impassioned promise about rivalry, the kind of thing you expect from this genre, then hits him with the "Hm? What? I wasn't listening." So it seems like this is really one-sided, and maybe Kakashi doesn't like him that much.

And then you get a little blip of Kakashi's internal monologue, where he compares Sakura and Ino to himself and Kakashi, in the sense that rivalry can make you do some wild things. Intriguing. Ambiguous. Okay.

you're really gonna compare yourself to the homoerotic wonder duo, the girl who just slapped her estranged childhood friend in a thunderdome cage match rather than dare to hurt her. That's interesting. I'm probably reading too much into it.

You see the two of them hanging out as adults, in a flashback--god knows what they were doing, I'd LOVE to know--when Kakashi points Rock Lee out to Guy for the first time. "He reminds me of you." It's a little teasing, obviously fond, and critically, confirms that they knew each other as kids.

Sidebar: Kakashi acts like a remarkably well-adjusted adult ninja in all the first two arcs of the manga. He's hanging out with coworkers who might be friends, chatting, chilling. I have to assume this is Early Installment Weirdness, just like him saying he was made chunin at age 6, which is fucking impossible. However, both things are technically canon. So yeah, Kakashi has work friends.

The next thing you learn about them is that Kakashi knows Guy's forbidden technique, and really does not approve of Guy sharing it with a kid. He gives the most cutting "I'm disappointed in you" delivery. Ironically this tells us something different about their situation--Kakashi has enough respect for Guy that something like this would upset him, and he's willing to say it. He expected better.

(Why does it upset him? Well. It's a suicide technique. We'll find out later how this might be A Sore Spot.)

Guy comes back at him with the "stay in your lane" reply, which is more what you'd expect. But notably, he's saying "you don't know anything about what my student is going through". Hm. Okay. Sore spot? Maybe Kakashi knew him as a kid, but they clearly weren't sharing burdens...

You get a bit more familiar banter in the first mode (patented Kakashi brush off) throughout the next arc, and that's where it seems to sit for a long time. If you look at fanfic from this era, it very much takes the tone of "Guy cares more about their relationship than Kakashi does". It very much characterizes them as another set of Rivals in this setting where we have several other examples--Ino & Sakura, Lee & Neji, Sasuke & Naruto... you get the picture. They are people who work together well, who are competitive and driven by their shared competition, but who are not... warm to each other.

When Kakashi is talking Sasuke out of defecting for revenge (nice try) he says that he's already lost everyone who was important to him, so it would be impossible for Sasuke to kill them. (Luckily, he says, I have had the chance to find new important people. Like you.) That's our first bit of personal information, and interestingly, it seems to exclude Guy. Now maybe he was trying to make a point without getting too into wishywashy details. Maybe he doesn't really like Guy that much after all.

And then. AND THEN. The backstory starts to come out.

So here's the thing. A lot of the content that I genuinely enjoy is anime-only. You can call it filler, but I mean that in a nonjudgemental way. The writers of the tv show seem like they cared about and were fond of Guy, and they gave him some great little character beats--like in the 2nd Chunin Exam arc, where he explains to Lee how manipulating the flow of battle works.

When they were clearly in cost-cutting emergency zone, they still gave Kakashi a spotlight episode (which comes out as almost poetic due to the slow pace) in which we get to see him in school, and there's Guy! He's making proclamations of love eternal destiny! How charming. In another filler episode with more budget, they show Kakashi in the brief period before Rin died and after Obito disappeared, and Guy is there! They're fighting together! Their values clash, because Guy always throws himself at a challenge and Kakashi is terrified of losing people.

I could go on talking about the connection the anime gives them through their dads--that is, Kakashi's lack of (famous, heroic, disgraced) father, and the way that he seems compelled by Guy's relationship to his (living, proud, loser) father. I could talk about Kakashi intervening to rescue Guy from bullies. I could talk about this shit all day. But I won't. We got things to do. The point is, I find the Ino connection especially on point vis a vis "this kid I once had to protect is now my equal".

The anime (I think only the anime) adds this interesting subplot where Guy is actively trying to look out for Kakashi while Kakashi goes through some real lifeshaking bullshit back to back. It's sweet that the writers looked at Kakashi and said "He needs an advocate, let's give him one". Guy is going to bat with the Hokage, trying to get himself into Anbu to support Kakashi, and when that doesn't work, he's trying to get Kakashi out. He's catching Kakashi on the battlefield when a PTSD episode knocks him down and leaves him vulnerable. It's really... it's really moving, how much he cares about this guy who rebuffs his attention 90% of the time. He knows that Kakashi needs help, and no one else is helping him. How can you not be moved by that?

There's a potent episode in the anime where Kakashi (and Itachi!) shadow Guy and his team on a joint mission, as Anbu. Guy and his team sit in the sunlight eating hot pot, while Kakashi & Itachi sit in the tree above eating ration pills. I'm not even sure why I mention this, it's just such a good example of how the filler material can enrich the characters and setting. And it's part of this whole complex of Guy coming to understand and wanting to do something about Kakashi's situation.

The comparison to Sakura and Ino takes on a new resonance when you look at it through the lens of this new information. They were childhood friends. They were estranged. And now, as adults, they are becoming friends again.

This is, to me, what I mean when I say the anime makes it such a compelling, unignorable romance. From the passionate entreaties of a seven year old ("Do you want to spend the springtime of your youth with me?") to the young man bowing on the floor of the hokage tower demanding someone spare his friend's soul, this man is not only a good friend but a devoted one.

So, then there's the manga. I've been having a little trouble parsing what's Kishimono and what's the anime writing team, because of the way it's woven together. When I look at only the stuff I know is in the manga, you get this:

The night of the Nine Tailed Fox, they were walking around together at the festival arguing about challenges. I love that, and what it tells us about their relationship. They're already hanging out as teenagers, while Kakashi is up to normal shit, doing their usual shtick. Kakashi calls himself your rival? Really? Hm. In the period after two Kakashi's of most devastating losses, Guy is around.

The childhood connection there is very... ambiguous. It's a given that Kakashi knew him when he was still struggling--or at least knew of him. When we see what might be Guy's first challenge to Kakashi, he's got his headband on straight, so it's before Obito.

They're not really friends yet, but they're going to be.

Here's what I think.

When adult Kakashi is telling Sasuke about revenge, and loss, and moving forward--in his laconic way--it echoes some of what becomes the core of Kakashi's endgame showdown with Obito. Grief is natural, but you can't stop the world and live inside your grief. You have to allow yourself to love again, even though it hurts, even though you will keep losing people as long as you are alive, because loving is the only cure for grief. Kakashi is a badly adjusted person who finally started healing from his own compound emotional fractures when he allowed himself to care for the people in his life again, despite the risks.

He has found new people to care about. He's pressed forward, whether he likes it or not, and now there are new and wonderful people for him to worry about losing. That's his students, obviously. And I think that might include Guy.

ANYWAY THANKS FOR READING

[dearweirdme]

You remember that live where Tae said JK always sings to him "To Find You" , but on JK live he said he hasn't sing that song in a long time. I wonder if Tae only said that as fan service? 😅

Hi anon!

I couldn’t find what Jk said just now.. so I’ll just respond to what you’re saying without knowing exactly what he said.

I think you don’t quite get what fanservice actually is. Most of it is actually done by Bighit, through editing. Members do engage in fanservice at times, but it’s mostly during shows and not so much in their natural settings. So no.. Tae did not go through all Jk’s lives and numerous karaokesongs to come up with this scheme of making us believe in Tkk 🙄.

Sidebar.. imagine what importance that song carries for Tae. And also.. this probably isn’t the only songs Jk sang him.

[luseda1]

I made a YouTube comment that turned into an essay about whom Wortox would side with: team lunar or team shadow. Well, technically it was broken up into team Wagstaff, team Charlie, team Alter and team Shadow (though I see team Shadow and team Charlie as one and the same: I see her as a champion and pawn of the Shadows). After the cut, my musings

So I'm probably biased because I'm a Wortox stan who really dislikes Wagstaff and thinks Alter is equally as bad if not insidiously worse than the shadows, but here are my thoughts.

I agree that his initial preference would be not picking sides. I think the importance he places on friendship (not as obviously as Wormwood does, but it's there) would make it painful when the rift started to form. Because of Krampus, and his reaction to other survivors turning murderous (cowering despite his powers to easily escape or fight back), he might be very afraid of ending up having to oppose one of his friends.

(Side note, but with Wormwood, he would also absolutely hate becoming opposed to his friends but doesn't seem smart enough to think it through, so it wouldn't stop him)

That being said, I could see Charlie swaying him for a few reasons. She's the one who holds the fun holiday events and Wortox has noticed, saying something like "I knew she liked to play games too!". I'd even argue she went out of her way to accommodate him with the Winter's Feast. She probably could've just provided food but instead made a game of it and made the food illusory so he could take part in feasting without hurting himself. Of course, the benefits of the feast are good for everyone, but for Wortox? A break from hunger is also a break from guilt.

And that's important. If Charlie can do that for him every once in a while, why couldn't she do that more often? It would be incredibly tempting. There's no reason to think Wagstaff could help him like that; he's not a biologist or skilled in magic. Wortox can also be a bit naive and might be susceptible to Charlie's manipulation. You could argue he was only quoting Shakespeare so it doesn't count, but he called Charlie's story sad. She could potentially gain his sympathy, maybe make him think he's her beloved entertainer. That could be incredibly difficult to resist.

(Another sidebar: I think Charlie doesn't trust Wortox as far as she could throw him. Like Wanda does, she finds Wortox unpredictable and didn't put him on the board because of it. Maybe she'll reach out later because his powers could be useful, though, or if she feels confident enough in her ability to emotionally manipulate him so he won't betray her.)

Wortox's quotes about Wagstaff, on the other hand, seem more uncertain. Is he a brilliant illuminary, or a raving madman? It seems as though Wortox isn't entirely opposed to helping Wagstaff here and there, especially when it seems fun, but I think it would take more to get Wortox to side with Wagstaff. Wagstaff is also a human that invents things for human use, and Wortox doesn't value all the same things humans tend to; he's frequently baffled or amused by the way mortals differ from himself. Unless Wagstaff made an effort to make something Wortox would like, I think his inventions would have less of an appeal than to a human.

I can't see Wortox siding with either of the deities/eldritch abominations directly. For one, I think he's more susceptible to getting attached to a person than a distant deity. Sometimes he'll joke, but he'll also occasionally show some horror about Alter's mutations. About Wurt's new lunar terraforming staff, he says not to be fooled by its light; it makes me think he's not one to be swayed by dark = evil and light = good black and white thinking that could lead some characters to favor Alter. Considering he's an imp that cares about doing the right thing, well, he's living proof that things aren't always so simple. He also likely knows more about Alter than any other character does because he could read the tablets about them. He doesn't seem to be a particular fan.

His Triumphant skin's line about letting in shadows makes me think he does resist letting in shadows. You have to consider the context- this is something he only says after being tortured for who-knows-how-long because the throne does that to people. He has an appreciation for magic but also a wariness of it (understandable, considering his "curse"). He has some understanding of what the crown from Cult of the Lamb does, and is tempted by it, but ultimately rejects taking that power for himself. I suspect it might be similar with the shadows.

[merp-blerp]

I know I'll sound kooky for saying this, but I suspect that Barbie & the Diamond Castle was queer-coded on purpose. I mean this so seriously. There were probably hundreds of people working on this movie. You're telling me none of them were queer? So many queer people have worked for Mattel. Maybe a person (or people) working on this film wanted to make a queer Barbie movie as a form of self-expression or what have you, but couldn't explicitly do so because it was 2008 and that would've been seen as inappropriate for a family film (still could be seen that way 🙄). So they got as close as they could with Diamond Castle.

Just the essence of this film is so sapphic. Alexa and Liana live alone together, away from whatever town might be nearby. They see nothing more important than their relationship with one another and Liana says that Alexa "knows me better than anyone else in the entire universe" (it's almost like no one else in this medieval world could know Liana that well, maybe because she's gay and the only person who could safely know that is Alexa) and "I feel like a part of me is gone" after they fight and she believes their relationship might be over.

They get what looks like male "love interests" on the surface, but they don't actually behave like couples. The girls butt-heads with them a lot as if it'll be an enemies-to-lovers type of romance like Annika and Aidan from Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus, but it never really becomes romantic. They don't even imply a happily ever after with the twins (whatever their names were, no one cares), they go back home together without them in their lives, at least not majorly. I think the fact that they don't have male love interests is the crux of this whole theory. The boys' existence is enough for kids and even adults watching to believe there's a straight romance in this film, especially if you've seen other Barbie films and know the formula, but there isn't. The movie just has male characters who take interest in the girls in a completely one-sided infatuation, heteronormativity does the rest when it comes to the audience thinking there's a romance with the boys.

Alexa and Liana's relationship is the most important aspect of the movie; the entire story is about their relationship, not their relationship with the boys at all, which separates Barbie & the Diamond Castle from other Barbie movies from this time, which all had hetero-romances in one way or another. This is probably why so many sapphic kids who grew up with it, like myself, loved it so much.

All these factors together just make me wonder if the queerness was intentional on someone's part.

Even if you bypass the queer interpretation, it's really refreshing to have a story that's about female friendship and that's it. No forced or unforced romance, just a story about girls and their friendship(s). There's no issue with romance, but also there's no issue with a lack of romance as well. That kind of message is hard to come by, even in more "adult" media.

(As a bit of a sidebar, the only queer aspect to this film that is surely coincidental to me is Alexa and Liana's dresses looking like the lesbian and bi pride flags. Liana's dresses do share a color scheme with the Emily Gwen lesbian flag, but that particular lesbian flag wasn't in existence till 2018, ten years after this movie was released. By association, I assume Alexa's dresses having the colors of the bi flag is also a coincidence, even though that flag was created in 1998 before this film. It is very cute how that turned out, though.)

[cleolinda]

Weekend links

My posts

I chimed in on a very helpful post about polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), specifically on treatment side effects. Apparently our collected knowledge is more than most people are getting told by their own doctors.

A post about Neneh Cherry's "Move with Me" (with a sidebar about the '80s hit "Buffalo Stance"), a song I listen to when I feel scattered.

The part where I say "He's six" is the entire reason I wrote about Hozier’s "Eat Your Young." I still wasn’t sure I wanted to post it, and then I saw an article titled "Maui Needs Speculators" and I went, yeah, okay, here we go.

I need to write things that aren't posts about music but it's hot and I can't think. The only thing cold around here is in my nose and this is Unideal.

Reblogs of interest

I didn't reblog the Trump mugshot because I knew everyone would see it anyway, and honestly, I don't want his face on my blog anymore than it has to be, although his attempt at looking badass was hilarious.

("do u want to see the most anyone has ever considered fleein to russia")

I don't know what the fuck Tumblr thinks it's doing with icons but I wish it would fucking stop.

A NEW KILLERS SONG 2023 why have you been so good to me

There were several interesting posts about Gaeilge, indigenous languages in the US, and an Irish-Choctaw connection re: the new Hozier song "Butchered Tongue."

("Suffer my carefree bops, planet earth")

Marie Curie's name was actually Maria Skłodowska-Curie (Skwo-dov-ska) and her Polish identity was deeply important to her, which I did not know and am glad to learn

SILPHIUM IS NO LONGER EXTINCT

"Thoughts on one of the hardest things: banishing the imagined bad faith reader from your writing process"

"1k words without inspiration: i will do it. i will take the ring to mordor"

POV: It is 1992 and you are Selina Kyle, which I probably shouldn't have left in the tags

Video

I had a number of fun reblogs under #animal sounds this week

We invented a new game called “protect the asset”

Dances to pull out at parties

The sacred texts

This Gru meme about Orpheus and Eurydice

Personal tag of the week

Let's go with #color, where I tag anything, artwork or not, that catches my eye

[flowerflamestars]

Today on I Reread Effloresce And Had What If Pov Thoughts: RHYSAND. Like what is going on in this dude's head? Seriously. In the little snipit we get of his pov it sounds like Hyburn is his biggest concern but that derails into a desperate need to one-up the Archerons SO damn fast. His oh so ~well~ thought out plan gets blown to smithereens instantly and his control freak self is PANICKING while also trying to maintain his whole calm cool casual facade. Will he ever admit how badly he misjudged the whole situation in the human lands? No. Does he even care? Probably also no. All that really matters by this point is that Feyre's sisters keep upsetting her and THAT can't stand.

Added to all this other plan breaking bullshit, Cassian starts following around after the angry loud one like a lovesick puppy and he's not 100% sure what's going on with Az but Something is.

And of course Lucien FUCKING Vanserra.

I'm willing to bet that Rhys's suggestion of going to get shithead papa Archeron is based on just how much Nesta and Elain seem to hate him.(And then Az shuts that down with "I will fucking KILL HIM")

Then the wardrobe of dead birds happens and he thinks for like half a second that he should feel bad about that but then Nesta is shouting at Feyre and he can't have THAT. (Then the sweet polite sister grabs the knife from Cass's boot. Oh yeah, she did STAB Az didn't she)

He looks forward to seeing Nesta put in her place by a bunch of misogynistic Illirian assholes but instead the entire legion is ride-or-die for team Archeron practically from the moment their feet hit the ground. How the HELL did they mange THAT? (it's called respect and basic decency. Try it sometime)

(and then Mor gets there just in time for Az to start noticeably losing his shit.)

(I also noticed that there was a line where Rhys bit back a snarl because even after all this time it would make Feyre uncomfortable. Meanwhile Lucien just has no qualms about being absolutely undeniably Faery in from of Nesta and Elain and they give exactly zero shits about it.)

Oh man, Rhys. Rhysie Rhysie Rhys slowly but surely showing more and more psycho.

So, the thing is, Hybern IS the top priority. However- and I think this is just like, so pivotal to Rhysands character as a whole- it has to be fighting Hybern his way. He has a year to tell the other lords shit, and he doesn't. He steals, he lies, he puts civilians in danger.

And why? Well, because that's the story he's telling.

Textually, observably we have Rhys, arrogant misogynistic selfish fuck face that he is, and then we have Rhys, the battered but unbroken noble underdog fighting against odds for the Good of All tragic hero man- this is the story he tells himself. It's the one he makes sure Feyre believes. It falls apart against all his actions, but that doesn't matter to him.

The humans don't want to talk to him? Of course he's going to find a back way in. Feyre's human sisters might die? Well, one less thing to take her away. Humans might die? Sure, Rhys feels bad, but not enough not to weigh the cost favorably.

Then he actually gets there.

And they're so... Unbiddable. Hostile. They've upset Feyre, they've written blood magic all across their land, and Rhys might appreciate cleverness but this is just more than he wants to deal with.

And Lucien. Sidebar: what I think is hilariously never talked about is. Well. Lucien actually is all the things Rhysand romantically imagines himself to be. He is ACTUALLY the lost heir, the disinherited son, the noble prince. He actually did stand against Amarantha for his friends. He's drinking respect women juice by the gallon while actually being charming and powerful. I cannot imagine this doesn't lie cardinal to the reason why Rhys is so disdainful towards him.

Lucien is easy to write off by himself. (Because Rhys fucking hates him). Nesta Archeron sets everybody's teeth on edge. Elain keeps smiling. They're all the worst and every one of them is important to Feyre and thus, a threat to Rhys. Anything that could hurt her is, he won't allow her to be hurt.

Cassian is acting like an idiot but Cassian is an idiot about women. Azriel is all Azriel but what else is new? Rhys will deal with it.

(Rhys will not deal with it. Rhys does not believe for a second how serious this all is. Rhys is, frankly, already bored. Maybe he'll find Feyre's father. It'll make her happy, and someone else can wrangle the others.)

They're merchants- of course they're merchants, grasping little mortals- they have a contract? Well, if they want to play with magic so badly, Rhys will help them.

(Rhys does not understand what Azriel finds so compelling, much less Cassian. Illyrians do not brook with disloyalty- even the mention is enough for shame. They won't betray him. They won't, but it's still enough to annoy)

Cassian's bleeding heart has always been a problem. Azriels moods. Honor. What honor did they ever learn, starving in the freezing mud, Rhys thinks. These humans want to wade into waters that will only drown them- Feyre will be so much safer, no ties left to mortality- of course Illyrians, backwards, difficult Illyrians, side with these misbegotten nightmare women. Let them be crushed by it, let one rebellious legion die, Rhys doesn't care either way.

He's pissed, but he's also letting things play out hoping it just implodes an entire situation he doesn't want to deal with.

He's also not actually totally in the loop. Cassian's POV makes Azriel really distinct because they are so, so close, but Rhys, for a lot of reasons, doesn't have the same understanding. He knows Azriel went off the rails when his mother and sister died, but so did, you know, half the mountains. He refuses to even entertain how personal it was beyond maternal feelings.

Things get worse and Rhys gets worse because this is not how it was supposed to go. What the hell is it about these Archerons?

[chirpingfromthebox]

My favorite bits from Minnesota's post-game press interviews after PWHL Finals Game 3

You can find the entire interview here! Be sure to give them some views/likes/nice comments/etc., because her channel is great and the support it gets means the more people who will find it.

At the table were Michela Cava, Taylor Heise, and coach Ken Klee.

Transcriptions and some of my thoughts under the break.

[p.s. did you know that on computer, if you press "J", then Tumblr will automatically skip you to the next post? Something to consider if you get bored of my ramblings after expanding.]

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[The gang all come up to the table while having an odd conversation.]

KEN KLEE: Sorry, we were just having a little side bar there.

REPORTER: Can you elaborate on the sidebar?

KK: Apparently we had a ponytail holder break. And then they said, “Coach, she can’t go, ‘cause she broke her ponytail.” And I said, “I played with Chris Simon. His hair was flying everywhere. She’ll be fine. She can get through a couple shifts.”

TAYLOR HEISE: So our athletic trainer gave her hers. So, she’s a team player.

KK: Our trainer came to save the day. Which was huge. She didn’t have to miss a shift.

[I will include a picture I found of Chris Simon here for those of you who are like me and don't know what he looks like and want some context to Klee's reference:

In other news, I don't think I've ever heard anyone say the words "pony-tail holder" before? I buzz my head 'cause I'm lazy like that. People with hair, is that a common term? Growing up I've only ever heard people say "hair ties" for the general term.]

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REPORTER: For Michela and Taylor, you’ve obviously scored and assisted for each other, is that something you’re working on, obviously, in practice? It’s quite the series.

TAYLOR HEISE: I just think we both think pretty similarly. I don’t think we’re always in the same place, but we’re always looking for one another. You know, Kendall [Coyne Schofield] makes it easy too. All three of us roll off what we’re doing. And we do talk things out a lot. I’m someone that likes to talk a lot and Cava does too and I think it’s fun for us to roll through things. You’re not always gonna have time to practice in actual practice when you’re playing this many games. So I just think we have trust in each other and know where we’re gonna be at.

MICHELA CAVA: Yeah. I’d say the same thing as her. We kinda feed off each other. And we give each other positive energy on the bench and stuff. And always talk out plays. And every time we come off we always have something for each other to be better. I think that’s the most important thing with our line. Everybody goes and everyone’s supporting each other. It’s been a lot of fun so far.

KEN KLEE: I would say, high hockey IQ. That’s why they’re good.

[I have no evidence for this, but I have a suspicion that the reason I tend to see Heise at these press sessions more than Captain Coyne Schofield is because KCS is incredibly direct in her interviews. Delightfully succinct. Which I would love from a Captain, but would probably hate as a journalist. For an example of this check out this brilliant moment from the post-game session after Finals game 1.]

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REPORTER: For Cava and Heise, can you speak to the emotions of getting to play in front of an electric crowd like that?

MICHELA CAVA: Yeah, I think, obviously, it’s great. It’s a change for a lot of us to have so many people supporting our games. And the fans definitely elevate your energy levels when you’re feeling a little down after a shift. The crowd has just been phenomenal here all season for us. And I would say a big way to help us get these wins when you’re feeling tired. And it’s been a long playoffs so far. So yeah, they’re amazing and we love them.

TAYLOR HEISE: I think it comes full circle for me. Like, going to Wild games as a kid and kind of wanting that? And knowing that wasn’t a possibility at the time. But knowing that such an electric atmosphere of playoff hockey is something that’s special. It holds a special place in my heart, and I know in our entire team’s. Even after they scored with that 1 second left. You wouldn’t have been able to tell that. Like, in the 2nd period, we came off the ice and the fans were electric. And to have them on our side is definitely a one-up that any other team that comes into this building can’t find and can’t have.

R: And just to follow-up, Michela, what happens to your game in the playoffs? And Taylor can you speak to that as well? Of how well Michela’s been playing.

TH: I’ll start. I’ll take that one.

She has a lot of confidence in her play and what she does. And not to say that the beginning of the year that wasn’t a thing, because we both have gone through ups and downs this entire year. We’ve had some injuries, we’ve been through the losing streak, we’ve been in the gutter, we’ve been feeling bad. But I think, at the end of the day great players step up in great moments. And this is definitely one of those. She sees the ice really well. Clearly she put two defenders in a blender in her move. Just getting her the puck and knowing that she has that confidence. And sometimes it just takes getting that puck in one time for you to change your game. And I know that’s happened to me, but you know, she’s a great hockey player. She’s got all that, like coach said, all the IQ in the world to make it happen.

MC: Yeah, [points to Heise] that was really nice.

[Everyone laughs]

KEN KLEE: What she said.

MC: I don’t really know how to add to that.

TH: Retweet!

MC: Playoffs is do or die. Obviously it’s a super fun experience to win a championship and obviously this is gonna be the first one. Basically just do everything you can, use all the skill you have, use all the energy you have, and leave it all out there. Kinda what I try to do every single game.

TH: And she’s won a championship too! So let’s put that out there.

MC: Couple.

TH: Couple. [gives an impressed ‘Whooo!’]

[see what I mean? Journalists have gotta love Heise. She gives them so much material to work with for their stories.

Transcribers, however? Well, she certainly ups the difficulty rating, I’ll tell ya that.]

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REPORTER: Michela, you know, you and Taylor are obviously scoring a lot of big goals in the post season right now. Can you just speak to some of the little things that Kendall Coyne has been doing on your line? Particularly on the goal you scored. She’s driving the net, she’s taking Tapani’s attention.

MICHELA CAVA: Exactly.

R: What does she do to make things more open for you guys?

MC: I mean, people can’t keep up with her speed. So she’s definitely driving on the rush, she’s driving players. Usually that goes unnoticed. But when you play on a line, like, obviously a lot of times you guys are asking about us, but she could be sitting here too. Because she’s creating the opportunities. And she sees the ice really well too. Obviously we’re both- like, Heise’s a little bit taller than us, but we’re both very small, but I mean, she had 5 or 6 hits today. She’s playing so physical and so strong. Definitely a lot of credit to her too. And she’s definitely taking their players out of the play for us as well.

R: Ken, can I maybe just follow-up and get your thoughts on Kendall?

KEN KLEE: Sure. I mean, she’s awesome. She’s one of the fastest players in the world. When she’s on the ice the other team knows it. Just her speed alone creates large holes in the other team’s defense. Because she such speed they all, they either over back check or the D have to give her respect, which creates a lot of room for these two guys to be able to make plays in. She’s hunting pucks, she’s on it. She’s just going a great job. I think all three of them together are playing really well.

[I really like this exchange, because I think they really get at the heart of what makes KCS such a powerhouse of a player to me. If you just look at goals and assists she doesn’t have the highest in the league, but take a look at her +/-. She had the second highest in the league during the regular season for a reason. Part of why she’s one of my favorites is because of the way she makes an impact every time she hits the ice. Like, damn, she just seems like she’d be a nightmare to play against.]

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REPORTER: Taylor, Michela touched on it a little bit, but have you allowed yourself to think about, it is one win away, it’s the first inaugural season, what it might mean or feel like to win the first championship?

TAYLOR HEISE: Yeah, not really. I mean, obviously it’s gonna be a special moment, but it’s like, kind of thinking about what my next first shift is next- uh, next game. Thinking about the whole game: it starts with one shift. Obviously we came out and scored in the first shift. Cava came and had a great forecheck, got the puck to the net, Kendall drove to the net, and I was just there and was able to shoot. Those are moments you want to think about for the future, wanna think about for next game. So, no, I haven’t thought about what it’s gonna feel like, ‘cause I want it to be a feeling, that like, when it happens? I want it to be electric and I want it to be something that I haven’t had time to think about. So I guess that and just coming out hard next game. We’re just so thrilled to be in the position we are and hopefully we won’t have to go back to Boston. That’s what our goal is.

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REPORTER: This could be for either Michela, Taylor, or Ken, really. I think Sydney Brodt’s goal will prove to be the game winner in this one. Considering her injury and the rehab in the early season, what does that goal from that player mean to this team?

KEN KLEE: Well, I can speak for us. It’s huge. It’s awesome to have a player like that who’s rehabbing the whole year basically, I mean, she had, I think, one game before the break. And then, you know, came into the team when we were not playing our best hockey. But she stuck with it. She’s been at the gym every day, at rehab every day, working hard. I know that her teammates see it and they know how hard she’s working. I know that she wants to contribute. In some of the other games she wasn’t getting many shifts, so for an opportunity for her to step up? I think it’s a huge boost for our whole team.

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[End of Interviews]

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What follows is a just a lot of me thinking out loud and at length. And what and the hell do I know? Continue into the maelstrom at your own peril.

The reporters were asking much more interesting and thoughtful questions here than they did to the Boston team. And I know that it's easier to go in depth on things with the winning team, but still. I think a knowledgeable reporter can do a hell of a lot better than the standard "What are you gonna do better next time?"s and "Why do you think you got beat?"s they're always throwing out there.

Minnesota seems really confident here, which I love. And crucially, I got the feeling like they were confident, but not cocky. I like Heise's answer about them not thinking about winning the championship, they just wanna focus on how they can win the next game.

Of all the teams in the league I think Minnesota is the one who benefits the most from this format of playing the same team multiple times.

Nicole Hensley said in her interview after Game 2 that they're all used to a more one-and-done format when in comes to playoffs/finals games. And as we've seen, in that format Minnesota would have lost the championship to Boston. In fact, they never would have gotten to Boston, because they would have lost to Toronto.

But they've shown themselves to be highly adaptable. On that note they are the only team in the post season who was willing to try a different goalie. It's gotta be annoying to play against a team who's willing to mix things up like that!

Look at Game 1. Both teams playing out of their minds. Minnesota barely loses. And instead of saying, "Well, we were so close! Let's just do that again and maybe it'll go better this time." They decided, "hey, our offense is doing great, but Boston they seem to have a read on Rooney's style right now, let's mix things up defensively."

(speaking of which, no shade to Frankel, but guess who's been in net for Boston during 2 of Boston's wins against Minnesota? That's right! Emma Söderberg. And I suspect Boston itself thought Söderberg had a good defense to Minnesota's style, because they put her against them in their final regular season game against them too. But after Frankel went full raid boss against Montreal, there was no way they were swapping her out. And that's exactly my point of why Minnesota has got to be annoying for being so willing and able to make moves like that.)

[as I've said before I will always advocate for swapping goalies around, because I'm selfish and want to see them all more. And every goalie has a different style. AND wouldn't you want to try and match their styles to the offensive style of your opponents?]

Anways, when Minnesota is at their worst seems to be when they lose confidence and start trying to do the same thing again and again, trying to force it to work. But when they start to get confident they'll come at you every which way they can until they find that in.

But you can never count Boston out, because Boston seems to be unfamiliar with the word quit.

And as long as Boston doesn't let the stakes get to them, they are definitely a team that you have to respect. When they're on their game? The second you underestimate them, they'll come for your throat.

So will Minnesota get cocky and let their win streak go to their heads? Will Boston let the looming risk of losing the championship get in the way of playing their best? Will both teams bring everything they have and leave it all on the ice?

Here's hoping that whatever happens on Sunday, it's a game to remember.

[unhinged-comics-screaming]

*crawling out of my migraine floor nest to open my drafts and post this before the next EP drops*

Because the joy in weekly shows is theorizing like mad and (壊せよセオリー I guess) Bravern hopes and dreams as we approach the end!

It's really long so uh tl;dr 8th potential death drive theory, seagulls and then some other odds and ends included

I'm living for Bravern as Gluttony somehow theories. Went down a random path and gluttony isn't necessarily just about eating too much but basically doing anything fun with food. From an article:

The glutton uses food for something other than its proper intention. 

Apparently one of the worst versions is straight up enjoying too much. Which like, every death drive treats their pilots/organic lifeforms as just food while Bravern is obsessed with how his "food" fuels him... And everything else about his "food". Ignoring whether he's actually using Isami the way a death drive uses Lulus and will eventually drain him, he's putting a lot more emotional investment into Isami than any of the Deathdrives into Lulus.

But also! As you dig into this there are also writings about how Gluttony isn't actually a sin so maybe Bravern is Gluttony but also he gets a pass.

Ugh no this could be a cool sidebar into what Bravern as Gluttony's "ideal death" would be. Like, truly overindulging in his "food" aka his pilot aka Isami aka gay sex. AND THEN. This gets rid of the Deathdrive/mecha form. Leaving Smith. And then gay sex with Smith.

With all of the Deathdrives being driven to have the ideal death, and Bravern being born of the desire to live*. I wonder if he can convince Superbia to live. That would be sick. Live a prideful life or something.

*it can be argued that Lewis Smiths resurrection is because he didn't have his ideal death so it's less of a counter force to the Deathdrive and more of his own version of being just like them but that feels less like the main energy of the story.

Moving on from that, I love the seagulls being a big part of the episode 10 preview and then the episode 11 preview having bravern surfing on the newly added fusion part just like them.

I think I read somewhere about seagulls going back to where they met to mate so. Yeah. Back to Hawai'i! With Brave being the one signalling I hope this is like, Isami really expressing his trust in Bravern and making it a matched relationship. My ideal scene is Isami seeing how Lulu's determination to pilot Superbia means he needs to commit to trusting Bravern. Which should totally include knowing who he is.

Which, adjacently, I think the reveal phrase should've been Bravern saying some phrase with "cool" in English. Like "the finishing move was ⟨super cool⟩> right?". It just feels more Smith imo. I really love how little they gave us with this though. Who were they fighting? How did they achieve this? Why did they get beat up instead of blasted/disintegrated? who knows. We can infer that they did save the day at the end but at what cost.

I think at this point it would be funny if they somehow slipped in another time loop. Hell give us a montage of time loops. Also I am a tiny bit smug about mentioning that Bravern not having time travel abilities yet like 1500 words ago. Will this be touched on more? Probably as some dramatic last episode if anything.

Considering the really fast pace of the show making everything feel important I hope we get references to some other things like Isami's built in airbags (maybe he gets ejected out of Bravern?). Isami's Senshi-bility in "we need to eat to save people". Whatever the heck Lulu's Heat Beam kick is. What was that. What's going on with the blood drop, does it mean something.

My only other hope and dreams is probably just some good old fashioned mech fights. It's been a lot of endure barrage of attacks -> get motivated -> super attack. I need substance!