#THANK YOU for the interest anon

[twinkpoll]

Hey are you ok? Been quiet for a while. Everything good or did you just lose interest? (Valid tbh)

It's fine, it's not like I got overwhelmed by life for a couple of weeks and now feel too ashamed to come back, or anything (while also still feeling overwhelmed and burnt out by life in general)

[dingledraw]

Oo oo oo OO!!! U SHOULD DRAW AZIRAPHALE AND CROWLEY IN TRIXIE MATTEL AND KATYA'S STYLES!!!!!!!!! THAT WOULD BE SO COOL AND FUN!!

Energyyyyy…

[codacheetah]

Tell me your opinions on the stuff. Any stuff.

Grins. Smiles, even

I'm using you as an excuse to infodump my theory about the Island because I've had no in to do that, and my theory is pure opinion. Anyways:

THE ISLAND IS STUCK IN THE FUCKING FUTURE

(SCARE CHORD)

Hi so you might ask me. What the fuck do you mean by that. Well. Let's start with what we know about the Island, the King, and Wish Craft. (long ass post under cut. sorry)

The Island was redacted from the perception of outside world, via Wish Craft.

Wish Craft has the power to enable Time Craft. We see this primarily through Siffrin's timeloops, but also through the King's powers.

One of the King's powers is to show the saviors a "vision of the future."

...And this same attack is deflected back at the King by Mirabelle in ACT 5, in which the King is able to see the Island before being frozen in time.

...So. The King's "vision of the future." We're never told explicitly what this vision is. All we know is that it's apparently powerful enough to wipe the party in one hit, hearing it from a distance hurts your head, and that whatever Siffrin (and Loop) saw, they don't seem to actually be able to describe it. Even the King himself doesn't know what his vision entails.

We don't know whether the party all sees the same thing when struck by the vision, and Adrienne's answer to the question about it in the Reddit AMA is. vague? It's not a "no," and the specific wording makes me think the answer might be yes. But that's me reading into it.

Now. What do we know about the Island's redaction? The Island was affected by the wish recently, as in "like a decade ago" recently. We know that nobody in Vaugarde or the rest of the world is capable of thinking about the Island, anything closely tied to the Island's culture, or people on the Island for very long. When they do recall these things, they slip right out of reach. Particularly, the consequence for trying to think about the Island (or, more specifically, break the wish that forces the Island out of perception) is significant pain, localized in the head.

And that said pain is enough to become lethal, if pressed hard enough.

From here forward I'm running with the assumption that the King's "vision of the future" is not personalized to any individual, and is unchanging throughout the course of the whole story. Now. Remember the end of ACT 5, where the King gets hit with the deflected "vision of the future", and instead of dying, he recalls the Island and gets frozen in time? Very odd, yeah? Why wouldn't the King just die like everyone else does? He even does take 9999 damage when trying to say its name, like Siffrin does, and like the party does when they're hit by the attack.

Well. We know that he has a "true wish" that the ability to freeze Vaugarde in time grants. I don't think it's at all a stretch to guess that the King's "true wish" is to be able to remember the Island. My personal guess is that the King (and Siffrin) brought this "true wish" into effect via the "SAY ITS NAME" sequence- he even tries three times, a significant number in wishing.

The King (and Siffrin's) wish breaks, because it can't be fulfilled in this moment without breaking the wish to prevent the Island from being thought about. However. Consider the conditions at the end of ACT 5- the King sees the vision of the future reflected back to him, and what he sees is the Island. He remembers the Island, fulfilling his own wish, and is frozen in time. I consider this a compromise between his wish and the one binding the Island- the King gets to remember the Island, but nobody alive is able to think about it, because he's frozen in time; it's like the Universe is correcting itself (I WILL GET BACK TO THIS). The wish of all of Vaugarde to defeat the King is fulfilled, since he is no longer a threat, and Siffrin's wish wraps itself up soon after.

MY POINT BEING. The King's attack is a vision of the future. This "future" is of the Island, in some uncorrupted state. The saviors see it when he attacks them, and he sees it when it is deflected back to him.

The logical next question is "okay, so the Island exists in the future, but how do you know time shenanigans are even related to the Island?"

Recall a very odd series of interactions throughout the game, in which you try to interact with a piece of equipment that you already own.

The game rewinds slightly, before the item disappears, as the Universe corrects itself.

This is awfully similar to two particular events: looping back without seeing the death screen, and talking to the Daydreaming One about her sister. The latter is more interesting to me for the purposes of this theory.

In both instances, something is misaligned within the Universe (an item existing in two places, someone remembering something they're not supposed to) and it is corrected through some sort of rewind. Also compare the dialogue above to when you try to give Mirabelle the Stylish Bow when you already own it.

The world glitches, but Siffrin defuses the situation before the Universe has to intervene. Omitted from the screenshot is the fact that Mirabelle's portraits switch to happy from "catastrophically anxious" with no transition after Siffrin shows her where the bow is. Important to note is that when Mirabelle tries to recall receiving the bow, her head hurts, much like how trying to break the Island wish causes a headache.

The Universe leads you away from perception, and you can only follow.

My theory that I keep circling around is that through Wish Craft, the Island has been displaced temporally. The denizens of the Island, as well as the Island itself, still exist, but they are in the future. The Island is still loaded into the world, like how equipment is before you try to interact with it, and the Island cannot leave this quantum state, because it never actually went anywhere. The magnitude of the redaction event is so severe with the Island, because it is so much larger as an entity than a sword or a bow. There are of course things I don't really have pieced together, like why somebody would wish the Island into the future, how far into the future it is, or why equipment behaves this way. But it's the only Island theory I've seen that I have some level of confidence in, so I might as well lay out my cards for it.

[improper-use-of-germx]

i love feline like aliens! just imagine a alien crewmate absentmindedly wrapping their tail around your leg because they feel safe but then you stand up and trip bc of said tail

Omg anon please that's so cute. Idk if anyone here has listened to Starline series by asmr gav on Youtube (Which I highly recommend, it's what first got me into alien romance) but the main love interest at one point absentmindedly wraps his tail around the MC and then has to explain that it's a gesture of compassion and intimacy, which leads to them experimenting with other forms of intimacy.

Most of my alien characters have tails of some kind. They can be prehensile, used interchangeably with other limbs to grab things or balance themselves after a tumble, with the added benefit of having something to hold you with while still being able to work. (Or hold you in a way out of sight, literally under the table if the relationship is looked down upon, but they still want you to know how much they care)

Maybe they were evolved for some social reason, an extra method of emoting that remains even when they interact with members of another species. Tails that twitch or lash out in annoyance, tails that swish back and forth with adorably obvious glee when you get closer than they were expecting.

And my favorite, tails that usually hang low but perk up when they spot someone they like. Crewmates have to be aware of how close they are at any given time, no one wants to be smacked because you walked into the room and accidentally triggered their "happy tail".

[dovewingkinnie]

u know what its so lonely making ocs . and not being part of a fandom too bc nothing interests you but your own ocs . like who do u talk to about them- like someone who is just as invested as you are . WHO DO U TALK TO THERE IS NOBODY im tired of people complaining that their fandom has 5 people... AT LEAST U HAVE THOSE 5 PEOPLE!!! ur gonna have to get lucky somehow and create a fandom urself for your ocs!! cause if u dont then You Are The Fandom!! you are the one carrying it!!!!! yea sure theres no drama or discourse But its lonely as fuck bro!!

[fryday]

I'm rewatching all the videos since October and I wanted to see if I could pinpoint when the shift happened. I really thought it would be after Halloween baking but it's actually after the Wii sports video. I'm not sure if they had a conversation after that video and decided that they were in this for the long run (considering they brought back Dan vs Phil) and talked about being more open at the same time or what. But the next video is Golf with Friends where we got that wild moment of Dan implying he gave Phil a blowjob after the last golf video and then it just keeps getting crazier after that.

OOOOOOHHH anon thank you for the investigative work!!!! omg...... what are the implications of this?? do we know if anything significant had happened / was happening in their lives at that point?

[ursidanger]

Recent sketch of their body types + Whitney's fur markings

[latimeria-fell-from-heaven]

uhhhhh meant to post this a hot minute ago, but just wanted to tell my followers that i'm probs not gonna be writing for ANY of the natlan characters (minus capitano) or doing any commissions for them. pretty sure i don't even have to explain why, we all know why. it's not even out of spite or having a massive hate boner, just sheer disappointment and my already low expectations being underdone in the worst way possible.

i expected this from mihoyo, but i'm not expecting them to change anything, sadly, because they already pulled this with sumeru. i doubt mihoyo would ACTUALLY listen to the genuine complaints and feedback that certain parts of the fandom have to say. which is disheartening, but imo, if they aren't gonna get revenue from some people, then they'll just focus and pay attention more to the groups who will give them money for the upcoming characters. it sucks, BUT that doesn't mean that you guys can't share your thoughts and opinions on natlan and its cast. everyone is entitled to feel how they feel, and that's okay, great even! but i do hope those people in the fandom genuinely understand why some people think the way they do about natlan and why they're so upset in the first place.

and to anyone who will tell me to "just play a different game," i will admit that genshin has a special place in my heart. it's the game that kickstarted me into writing and doing my comms. however, just because i love a game doesn't mean i can't have genuine criticism towards it! just because you love something doesn't mean you can't point out when it's doing something you feel uncomfortable with.

[fbfh]

HIHIHI I LOVE YOUR WORK AND ID LOVE TO DROP A REQUEST<33

HOW WOULD THE HOO BOYS ACT TO THE READER OWNING A CAT? DO YOU THINK THE CAT WOULD LIKE HIM? HATE HIM?<3

YOU'RE SO TALENTED, IT'S AWESOME

BAAAAABES YOU ARE SO SWEET!!!!! SUCH A CUTIE PATOOTIE!!!!!!

Percy is pleasantly surprised. he wonders how he didn't know you have a cat, and starts asking you everything he can think of. do you have any other pets? what's your favorite animal? how did you come up with your cat's name? how long have you had them? he wants to know everything about you that he didn't before. while you lay with your head on his stomach as he picks your brain, you find yourself pleasantly surprised too. your cat will not leave Percy alone. kitty purrs, rubbing against him, demanding cuddles and belly rubs. kitty tries to move you off Percy so they can lay on him instead. kitty licks him, and you watch, giggling.

"I probably just taste like fish." Percy jokes, cuddling kitty right back.

Jason is a little scared of your cat. not because he doesn't like cats, but because he feels like he needs to impress them, gain their approval. and we all know that the more you try to make a cat like you, the more they'll ignore you. you explain this to Jason, but it does little to soothe his inner turmoil over the thought of not being approved by your beloved pet. he starts rubbing cat nip on himself before he comes over, bringing bouncy fuzzy mice and lickable salmon fillet flavored treats. he's armed to the teeth, determined to make your kitty at neutral towards him. slightly favorable would be a huge win in his book. your cat can smell his fear, and thinks it's... kind of funny. after three treats and enough whiffs of catnip coming off him, kitty butts their head against Jason, tail curling in approval before trotting off to nap in the window. never in your life have you seen Jason look so triumphant.

"Good. Good. This is good." You cut him off with a kiss before he can show you his 16 step plan to win over your cat.

you swear your cat loves Leo more than you. you can't believe your eyes when your cat runs right over to him when you bring him home.

"hey gaitito," he chuckles, bending down to give your now purring cat a scratch behind the ears. "look at you."

I swear to god cats are drawn to Leo. in Houston they would gather around his apartment building when he was a kid. he would sneak the neighborhood strays snacks and leftovers, naming them after tv characters from his mom's favorite telanovelas. your kitty is no different. they follow you two around all day, purring and demanding attention. they lay on his chest, drooling when he scratches their chin. never in your life have you seen a cat drool. but you drool over Leo a lot too, so you guess you're in good company.

Frank first meets your cat when you call him, asking for advice. your cat has been weird lately, and seems to be avoiding your kitchen. they won't eat or drink in there, and you can't figure out why. Frank shows up at your place, greets you with a kiss, and you bring him over to couch your kitty is curled up on. in the blink of an eye, Frank transforms himself into a large, gray, maine coon tabby cat. he trots over to your kitty, who wakes up with a little chirp. they stare at each other for a moment, making an occasional noise, tails flicking. your cat gets up and trots to the kitchen door, and Frank follows, entering hesitantly. he leaves as a human a moment later, nodding his head.

"It's white noise from your new humidifier." he explains, your cat's eyes trained on him the whole time. you had no idea one of the perks of dating Frank was dating an animal whisperer, and he tells you and your cat he's happy to help translate any time.

[bloggingboutburgers]

i hope that i'm not making any terrible cultural assumptions here, but i'm curious about your experiences as aro/ace in france in particular. the states are often very culturally conservative but especially when it comes to sex in particular. i don't know if it's just an incorrect cultural assumption on our part but the french are stereotyped as being a lot more open and in your face (?) about sex. is that true? does it make it harder for you to deal with people pushing the expectation of sex on you?

OK, so, I'm not sure I can 100% answer this one accurately because... Well, I've never properly LIVED in the States, only visited for a while each time, so I don't have a proper point of reference.

What I WILL say though is that most of our modern culture comes from us from the US. Movies, series, musicals, songs, social media conversations and stuff... And those ABSOLUTELY push the expectation of sex on people regardless of how conservative the States probably are on a daily basis.

I think it's like... The way I experience it, it kinda feels like the large majority of people regardless of the country or culture ARE kinda obsessed with sex anyway, so it's more about how overtly it's admitted in society or not. French people WILL definitely bring up sex in random conversations including at work or with people they've just literally met from the first time. (Depends on personality of course but... Yeah.) But I dunno. Maybe people in the US do that too. In terms of what I see in the exported culture though? The omnipresence of sex is definitely still felt. Heck, look at fandoms that are for a big part comprised of US people and how quickly they'll gravitate to shipping and sexual shipping or thirsting for a character too. That's definitely not just a thing I've observed in France.

The main difference I see is that most conversations of this type seem to start in the US and my country tends to "behind" in lots of ways, so it's definitely harder to talk about how you're an asexual in France still, at least I'd assume. Here we're still at the point where the odd mainstream media will write an article introducing asexuality as a revolutionary concept in a "can you believe this exists?" and "🫴🦋 is this a new trend?" kinda way. It's... A bit embarrassing, though it's way better than nothing at this point, progress is progress.

PS: The obsession with romance kinda seems to be everywhere in both cultures, so that at least doesn't make much of a difference. Except that I guess France being stereotyped as "the country of love" (read: ROMANTIC love ONLY) doesn't really help at all but meh.

[blindmagdalena]

Hey , I know I’m late to the game but I just adore your homelander x housekeeping reader fic . I was wondering if you would be up to write a part two maybe reader can’t be there for some and someone has to fill in on being his housekeeper?

Thanks for the great reads!

thank you so much! ah yes, Make This Heart a Home. it's by far my most popular fic, and i know people are itchin' for a part two.

i do have a sequel outlined! it's just lower on the priority list. i've been trapped between whether i wanna go higher stakes with it (a home invasion!?) or keep it domestic and cute.

alternatively i keep thinking about him coming to the reader with great news! they're getting a promotion! they're no longer going to be his Vought assigned housekeeper! they're gonna be his Vought assigned wife! and the awkward conversation and fallout that follows that as they try to explain why being hired as his maid is NOT THE SAME as being hired as his wife. 😂

i love your idea about the swap though! i did something similar in another fic where the stylist he was falling for got swapped for someone else and he pitched an absolute fic.

[nightwonder7]

So seeing as how you've fallen into the Norton/Alice rabbit hole...thoughts on the theory Norton was hired to kill Alice?

Okay, so there are two possibilities of who might've hired Norton to eliminate Alice, assuming the "arrogant woman" he talks about in the second letter isn't Melly. Note: I'm basing some of these thoughts off of sirenjose's posts (their IDV analysis are really good!)

One, it could be Orpheus. As we saw in AoM2, Norton was working for or together with him, so it would check out that Orpheus is the one directing him. He could've thus be the one who ordered him to eliminate Alice. However, this does contradict what is implied to be Orpheus' motives for Alice. In his and Alice's letters, he was trying to set her free from where she was being kept and make her remember him. He wants his childhood best friend back, maybe to redeem himself from what transpired when the manor was under attack. Also, I'm pretty sure he knows who Alice is in AoM now, with the Lamb note appearing on her desk at the end, so it's not like he thinks she is her colleague. So why would he then order someone to kill her? I could dig deeper into Orpheus potentially having his perception skewed, having to obey someone higher than him in the manor games or setting Norton up to be the villain so he can become the hero in the story, but I'll refrain from straying too far.

Two, it could be someone else entirely, and the main suspect would be Villhelm Lamb; AKA Alice's adoptive father. From Evelyn's background trailer, we learn that Villhelm is ruling over an organisation of spies working for him. Once Alice escapes from him, someone were sent out to observe her or eliminate her; perhaps to prevent her from spilling out whatever dark secrets he possesses. These people could be this spy group. From Alice's deduction, it seems that she knows she is being watched, and so they never get a chance to eliminate her.

And then we have Norton. Norton would not turn down a large sum of money if offered to him. And after the incident in the mines, one could say his moral compass became a little misguided. Agreeing to kill someone for a life changing amount of money does not seem unlikely of him at this point in life, whether said pay would come from Orpheus or Villhelm.

The ONLY THING I just cannot wrap my head around is where the heck did they find this guy?? Technically, Norton is just a random person from the working class, so how did they even find him? I doubt they put up an "Assassin needed! Commission pay!" flyer on the wall. I mean, they could've just made an ad with the sum of money and no job specifications, but I struggle to see how that would even work when the task is so grizzly. Another thing I can't comprehend is how this employer would think someone like Norton would be more skilled and capable of assassination of someone as sharp as Alice than, say a group of spies. But maybe Norton really is just that; a guy they randomly picked for the job for whatever reason.

I've probably left something out, but those are my initial thoughts. Would be interesting if Alice somehow allies with Norton and Melly to put an end to the manor games. But I'm also preparing for the most tragic ending to this story fdshjfghsd

[f1-birb]

in reference to this, the lovely anon came back to give full thoughts from a union rep perspective so I have taken the text from two asks and put them under the cut - incredibly interesting read and sheds light on a lot of assumptions I'd formed but from a more knowledgeable perspective:

As I said in my initial message, I have a lot of thoughts on the entire radio interaction throughout the last 20 laps of that race yesterday, so to keep things from getting too chaotic, I'm going to try to discuss things in sections.

-THE MESSAGES-

I actually think this is a two-fold problem.

So, for starters, we get the message

"Lando, he can't catch you. You've proved your point" towards the end of this whole ordeal. Every interaction prior to this point involves some variation of "We're stressed about the tyres, Lando. You need to save tyres, Lando." (Coincidentally, every message about saving tyres is followed up with some variation of "Remember to let Oscar through." I'll come back to this in the section about Will). Except, we can see from the photos of the two McLaren cars in parc ferme that Lando's tyres were fine. The fact that he was able to push and continue building a gap shows that his tyres were fine and weren't dropping off.

This, right here, prime example of gaslighting. A driver can feel when he starts struggling with the tyres, we've heard Lando himself complain about the tyres going off on the radio before.

He wasn't struggling at all here, the team was trying to convince him he was to slow him down. This, already, to me is extremely unethical and sets a dangerous precedent. If the team is willing to gaslight and lie to him about something occurring on the track, directly related to his race, when he's driving at high speeds and has no access to data, how is he supposed to know when he can trust them? Not only is this example gaslighting, it's extremely manipulative. They re trying to make him believe something that isn't at all true so that he does something completely unnatural to his nature as a racing driver (intentionally driving slower for like the last 15 laps) that benefits them.

Now, probably the most controversial part of the interaction occurs when Lando says he's fighting for this championship (presumably the Driver's Championship), and Will responds with

"The way to win a championship is not by yourself. It's with the team. You're going to need Oscar. You're going to need the team." Now, l'm going to be completely honest with you, if this interaction had occurred in some kind of interview between Will and Lando or in a free practice session or hell even in a qualifying session debating who would get a tow or prime track position, l'd probably be like "Yeah, fair enough, that's 100% true, needing a supportive team behind you to be successful is true of a lot of industries, including mine." But you have to remember the context here: They're trying to manipulate him into doing something he's expressed discomfort in doing, using tactics like gaslighting, blatantly lying, appealing to his emotions, and now threatening him.

This isn't the "You're part of a team" message some people are trying to play it off as to make it sound lighter than it is and like others are

overreacting. There is no "Remember, you're part of a team that can help you get that championship." The words of

"You're going to need the team" are very deliberate and intentional. They're basically telling him, if he wants the support and aid of the team, he has to do what he's being told regardless of if he agrees with it or feels comfortable with it. Again, they're trying to use tactics like intimidation and fear of future retaliation to get him to do something he's uncomfortable with.

-ANDREA STELLA-

Courtesy of Ted Kravitz, we now know Andrea Stella was the one telling Will Joseph the exact messages to relay to Lando. So, let's just break this down.

This is the team principal himself - the man whose job responsibility is quite literally to manage the team and driver dynamics.

His team has fucked up. He knows they've fucked up. Hell, even Lando knows they've fucked up and asks at one point why they didn't just pit Oscar first. Instead of owning the team's fuck up, he tries to make Lando the scapegoat. Even after the race, in the media, he's still trying to make it look like McLaren deserve no criticism, Lando does for trying to steal a win from his teammate (that his error-prone strategy team dangled in front of Lando). So, he's still resorting to abusive tactics like emotional manipulation to his driver who in the end did exactly what he asked despite being uncomfortable doing it. This is also just extremely narcissistic - refusing to acknowledge his and his team's role in this mess and instead placing it all on Lando.

And then the radio messages that he was feeding to Will Joseph to in turn feed to Lando. The "obey or we'll never support you" message would have been bad enough coming from Will, but there's a whole other element at power when you know it was the team principal, someone who strategists and engineers answer to, threatening this.

This is someone who very well could ruin Lando's entire career and stock in the paddock with the staff and resources at his disposal, and he's essentially threatening, on a public radio broadcasted to millions, to do just that if Lando doesn't obey him.

This wasn't a "frantic race engineer trying to reel his driver in" situation like we originally thought, this is a team principal - again, responsible for managing the TEAM and DRIVERS - basically threatening to have the team leave one of the drivers out to dry and focus all of their efforts and attention on the other if this one driver does not conform to his will.

And I know a lot of people are upset that Lando is not speaking out against the team, so let me pose this question:

If Andrea Stella is perfectly comfortable acting this vile - gaslighting, blackmailing, threatening - on a public radio broadcasted to millions, and the threat of "obey me or this team will not support you" is already hanging in the air, do you really think Lando could criticize the team publicly and get out unscathed? Given these radio messages, does Lando even think he could fairly criticize the team, publicly or privately, without jeopardizing his own career? We think because he's a multimillionaire (and he is privileged, I'm not denying that) with millions of followers that he has all this influence, but the one with the real power - the one who tells Zak Brown who he wants in those seats - has basically just publicly sent him the message that if he wants to stay in his seat and actually achieve his biggest goal, he'll shut up and listen regardless of his own thoughts or opinions.

-WILL JOSEPH-

Let me preface this by saying I don't think Will is completely blameless in this situation. That being said, he was manipulated by Andrea Stella and his tactics just as much as Lando was, and as l'll go into in a moment, I think there are definitely signs that he wasn't 100% comfortable with what he was doing and was still trying to look out for Lando while placating their boss.

But first ... the power dynamics, again.

Much like he has the power to destroy Lando's career if he wanted to, Stella also has the power to destroy, frankly much more quickly and easily, Will's career if he really wanted to. And we already know from his radio messages to Lando that Andrea Stella is not against threatening to do just that if his employees do not obey his orders. So, despite still being angry at Will, I do recognize he was in a lose-lose situation.

I really do think if you read between the lines of those radio messages that you can see that Will did try, in his own way, to look out for Lando, but that also makes some of the things he said a bit more eerie of some of this toxic behavior existing behind closed doors as well.

For example, one thing I noticed with the "Save tyres" messages was that every single time, there was some sort of plea to swap positions. And again, this is mostly speculation, but I think that was Will's way of saying like "Your tyres are fine, they are just demanding you slow down for this switch." Evidence of this: "We need you to save your tyres please and we do want to let Oscar through." "Ok, Lando, we still think you're using the tyres too much Turn 4 Turn 11, and the rears at exit Turn 6 Turn 9. Oscar's 3.5, I know you'll do the right thing." "We think both cars are using their tyres too much. Just remember every single Sunday morning meeting we have."

I also, and again this is mostly speculation on my part, but I do believe Will was trying to avoid saying some of the harsher things like the threat that Andrea was telling him. At the time, I thought the urgent messages in which Will insists he's trying to protect Lando were about protecting him from a potential undercut and thus needing to pit him first, but as quite literally every analysis has pointed out, Lando wasn't even under threat of that for the final pit stops. They could have pitted Oscar the lap they pitted Lando, pitted Lando the very next lap, and everyone would have maintained their original positions. I also just, idk, felt the urgency in that "I'm trying to protect you mate, I promise I'm trying to protect you." message just wouldn't have matched up if all they were discussing was the pit sequence. Like, Will sounded full-on frantic at this point, and then mind you, the very next plea Andrea has him give is the threat about Lando not having the team's support going forward if he doesn't swap positions.

So, despite still being mad as hell, I understand power dynamics were shifted in both Will and Lando's cases.

Stella was on a power trip and would have happily (and did, as we see Lando still taking the brunt of the blame for Stella's team's failures) thrown both Will and Lando to the wolves if he didn't get his way. And that intimidation factor easily allows him to manipulate both Will and Lando.

This is more like the arguments/ evidence I would use if this incident were to get reported to HR, and, as a Union Rep, I was chosen to go advocate for Lando and Will against management. That being said, much of what we focus on when we are advocating for employees are the power dynamics at hand, and that's something about this situation I don't see people recognizing enough. Andrea Stella is in a position of power over both the other men involved in this situation, and according to Ted Kravitz, he was the one pulling the strings with the gaslighting and blackmailing and manipulating. Had Will refused to convey Andrea's messages, he could have been demoted or maybe even terminated altogether. As we heard in the messages themselves, had Lando refused to bend to Andrea's will, there's a chance the team really does hang him out to dry and prioritizes Oscar at all costs.

It's difficult to provide a full Union Rep analysis too because so much of our work relies on reading actual employee contracts, and obviously those aren't just freely available online for F1 drivers. That said, I can already tell you they very clearly and deliberately broke one of their own team values with this behavior: "We act with integrity and work together to address challenges with respect, openness, and honesty." So, I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't mandates against this behavior in Andrea's own contract, and l'd be very surprised if McLaren didn't have just a general employee Code of Conduct that basically this entire incident broke.

and on the term 'workplace harassment':

I noticed the term "workplace harassment" used in the reblogs of one of your posts too, and while I didn't really use the term "workplace harassment" in my previous message, I would also throw in that I know Stella's (and by proxy, Will's) behaviors towards Lando yesterday 100% be considered workplace harassment. Intentionally withholding or spreading misinformation that impacts

someone's ability to properly do their job is workplace harassment (and granted, there's a lot of examples of that from McLaren and F1 as a whole, but the key word here is intentionally. that's normally genuine strategy blunders and not a team legitimately telling their driver lies to try to slow them down). Completely overbearing supervision can also be a sign of workplace harassment, and I'd argue by Stella literally trying to make Will his mouthpiece, he was definitely doing that. Making threats concerning job opportunities or job security (in the workplace, not in like a performance review) is ALWAYS considered workplace harassment, and well. We have direct evidence of Stella and Will both engaging in that.

[k4pp4-8]

Least favorite ok ko character??

At first I was gonna say none BUT I actually do have two least favorite characters and it's these two assholes

Not only I dislike their designs I also HATE their personalities even more. I don't like being so negative but they have literally ZERO redeeming quality. They're just annoying judgy asshats. Plus they were absolutely awful friends to Rad for years!!! They made him become super insecure bc they kept insulting and belitting everything he liked, they're the reason why he started acting like a narcissistic jerk with Enid and then KO

In conclusion they're lame, stupid, and crappy people and I can't stand seeing them on screen

[frownyalfred]

hello hi!! i was wondering about if you had any thoughts on a bruce who went to boarding school? i… think this was a bit of canon in a comics run at some point but i can’t be sure sorry

as someone who has certified been to & graduated from boarding school (high school), i feel like it was simultaneously the most social and the most isolating experience i’ve had? because like, these are the people you’ll live with for four years. they know all your secrets but what about all your friends who came before them? who know your /history/?

hm. applying a bruce lens to this scenario, maybe after his parents die he’s sent there for maybe a year or so, but he can’t cope with the sheer loneliness and runs away. alfred only manages to find him by chance wandering the outskirts of gotham city. maybe in the future he goes there for a case (if the school is in gotham like the academy), and there’s people he used to know there but because he’s there as batman he can’t let his personal connection show, etc. etc. it could be a pretty cool idea!

I think it’s very likely what would’ve happened for him, in his socioeconomic class and his parents’ circles. I think there’s also some canon where Oliver also goes to the same boarding school, which I enjoy.

I think it’s an interesting choice if the boarding school isn’t in Gotham, too. It adds to the feelings of isolation and definitely doesn’t help Bruce’s growing complex about his city/Gotham.

But yes. Those fellow students would know Bruce very well, even as a recluse, for those few years. If that includes Oliver, it only adds to the betrayal he must feel when he finally figured out who Batman is under the cowl.

Because he knows Bruce, knew Bruce, and this man isn’t Bruce?

I can imagine Alfred wanting to do the right thing and honor Martha and Thomas’ wishes, but also realizing that Bruce was never going to make close friends there.

[allastoredeer]

Do you have any headcanons about Alastor's participation in WW1? The Selective Service Act of 1917 made it mandatory for men aged 21-30 to register for military service and was later expanded to include men as young as 18, so if the stream saying that Alastor was late thirties to early forties when he died is still canon he'd have lived through that

So, I hadn't gotten to this part in my development of Alastor's backstory, but it got me thinking because, huh, how DID Alastor manage to get out of that?

Unless he just served in WW1. Which...I find oddly funny. I don't know why, but the the image of Alastor in the trenches...

But anyway, you got me curious so I looked into it. You're 100% right about the Selective Service Act of 1917 making it mandatory for men aged 21-30 to register for military service, and they even came up with different "classes" of the men who qualified, and if they exhausted one class, they'd go down to the next.

However, even with the Selective Service Act, there was still a lot of draft evasion going on. In fact, a significant amount of draft evasion happened in the South, which, as I'm sure you know, Louisiana is part of (some of it was in part of Southerners not having documentation, and thus, unable to even legally draft, which would probably give them a whole other slew of problems).

So, I was looking into how people evaded the draft. A lot of it is split up into different groups, like draft avoidance and draft resistance, with their only little list of things, but that's a lot and I don't wanna get into all of that. But my bet is on Alastor doing draft avoidance.

And there were actually quite a few interesting ones, like:

Claiming to have a mental or psychological problem (if you could find a doctor willing to certify that for you)

Student deferment, when someone is primarily in school to learn and study (or obtaining one in an effort to avoid the draft)

Deliberately failing the military intelligence tests

Professing sincere or religious ethical beliefs (join a church, avoid the draft!)

Bribery

and my personal favorite:

Being homosexual.

Because, as you know, the government can't allow the gay in the military!

And look, I'm a silly goober, so of course I immediately went to Alastor claiming to be homosexual. But the thing is, I kind of do think that is something Alastor would do for a majority of reasons.

In the 1920's, social values were evolving, and a lot of postwar "youths" began questioning traditional concepts of family, sexuality, and gender. There were "little Bohemia's" around the US, including in Manhattan and San Francisco, with communities and groups like this, and they weren't exactly unknown.

Back to Alastor, he lived in the French Quarter in New Orleans (or, at least, that's where I think he lived as a majority of mixed-raced Creole people lived there, which we know Alastor canonically is). And it just so happens, that it became the birth place of New Orleans gay community in the 1920's. There were entire gay neighborhoods, there were clubs where people dressed in the clothing of the opposite gender, they had parties and bars, and while it wasn't "the norm" to live this "lifestyle," and there was still a lot of harassment, it was still fairly normal to see. (Of course, then came what we can call the "gay panic" where government started cracking down on it, and claiming the gay community were all predators and pedophiles, and - well, you know. You know.)

But that was after/close to Alastor's death, so...

Anyway, I 100% believe that Alastor did take part and lived in communities like those. Names and labels for those things didn't exist at the time, so it's not like he knows what they're called, but homosexuals, cross-dressing, drag queens, they were normal to him. He's lived with them, partied with them, maybe even tried a few things out himself(so many headcanons, guys. So many).

This is to say, I think Alastor would 100% be comfortable claiming to be homosexual to avoid getting drafted. You've seen getting married for tax benefits, now consider becoming gay for draft evasion! I actually had a pretty fun talk about it with a friend in Discord, which only cemented it in my mind LMAO.

I have SO many headcanons around Alastor and him living in the French Quarter, in gay communities, where they challenged social norms (and we all know how he feels about challenging status quo's 😏)

But if not that, my runner up is that he totally bribed his way out of it. I don't know how he got the money, maybe he killed someone and stole their wallet, IDK, but bribery is a yes from me.

And if not THAT one, then he joined and church and claimed to have sincere religious and ethical beliefs 😇 🙏 (Yes, this is inspired by Nun Alastor, and no, I do not take constructive criticism. That's what happened guys, I was there). Besides, New Orleans was pretty Catholic, I'm sure he could find a church somewhere.

That's my take on it XD I think the one closest to Alastor's canon character would be bribery, but this is fandom, and if I say he claimed to be gay to get out of going to war, then goddammit he claimed to be gay to get out of going to war.