#You guys have to sit with that knowledge

[canterbury-bell]

More fanart for @beanandberry's This Love Is Ours 💗💗💗

[notbecauseofvictories]

I'm cautiously gearing myself up for a conversation with bff where I tell her that we need to recalibrate our relationship, and....I genuinely don't think I've ever had a serious, emotional conversation with someone I care about before.

I've never been a Conversation Haver; I tend to take the approach that people can't significantly change without meaningful reason, and since I am not and never have been someone's Reason, I cannot prompt change. Therefore, my choices are (a) live with what is; or (b) end/limit the relationship.

But....this is my best friend in the world. I do love her. I just can't keep on as we've been going, where it's less a friendship and more ten minute intervals where I talk about my life, after which the focus switches. I once sat in a bar for two hours waiting for her; afterwards, she asked if I wanted to stay in her hotel room like I didn't have to get up in another 5 hours and drive to work. She texted me during my recent trips, and when I said I was traveling she asked no further questions. Said nothing unless it was about what she was reading, what she was doing. I'm not even sure she realized I was traveling at all, just unavailable to her.

I can give a high-level summary of her PhD thesis. I'm not confident she knows where I work.

Truthfully, part of this is that we simply have different social styles....but still. Coming back from my family trip, I said I was tired and trying to get work straightened out, she should go ahead and plan something for the holiday! I was free! Only for me to text a week later....and promptly have her join me, for my previously standalone plans. Oh, and she asked me to bring my camera, because she wants headshots for her new job.

I still love her very much, but if this is the kind of relationship we're going to have? I need less of it.

[dykedvonte]

I think a big misunderstanding is the power people give Curly to actually change things about the way the pony express operates or could’ve done things on the Tulpar.

We are talking about a company that docks pay for bad synergy despite mandated psych evals that should tell which staff members would work well together, only allots for 5 hours of sleep despite having literally no other tasks to truly do and locks all resources behind the access of one person. The last one is likely to manage resources and make it easier to justify collective punishment and blaming one person for it; someone needs something in “excess” or the captain gives in? It’s all on them your pay is docked. Instant resentment.

It’s insidious how the company works, it’s by design to distract you from coming after them, to force tensions to line their own pockets. With all the restrictions and forced interactions, altercations are bound to happen. 5 hours of sleep a day, limited sources of entertainment, no real tasks… the monotony alone would cause bad cabin fever, mix that with just only one absolute mediator and you get the exact environment that allows shit like in the game to happen.

The idea he could just complain and try to throw his weight around to get them to dig into their pocket for the crews comfort is laughable and misses the predatory and dehumanizing aspect of capitalism the Pony Express represents. Curly was and is still just another asset to them. Being a top show pony doesn’t mean he’s anywhere close to the actual top. He is the top of the working ladder, not whoever’s in corporate, he wouldn’t even be on the bottom step unlike what Jimmy perceives. The resounding recommendations he would get are almost mocking as they throw him out like nothing just like the rest. Being a shitty fucking company, how much do you bet they’d mean anything anyways, especially since he wanted to leave the field all together.

He made a fuss and they didn’t listen, he says he should’ve done more but you can tell he knows it wouldn’t have changed anything. Jobs like this are willing to make a sacrifice if it means even a penny more. Curly makes a bigger fuss they likely would’ve just found an “unrelated” reason to fire him, hired a more pliable guy or, terrifyingly, promoted Jimmy. The company was failing, going to shut down whether anything happened on the ship or not. But knowing that they were shutting down and that everyone, including him, would be out of a job with this being their last paycheck, he had to factor in not destroying the last bit of their financial stabilities combined with every other issue on the vessel and his own. He gets another cryopod or locks and then he has to break to them that they are not only fired but there will be substantial cuts to their paychecks due to the “upgrades” (things that already should’ve been in place on their part) on top of anything else that could be docked along the way.

You can blame him for saying it so early into the trip but then again, if he mentioned it later who’s to say it wouldn’t have been worse? On the capitalism side alone how would people in a galaxy away from home, out of a job and already stir crazy react? Don’t get me started on how Jimmy would have reacted if he realized he only had two days left to fix what would be a very hard to miss “problem” in his head…

I can’t even consider explaining this as devils advocate because it’s just facts of the world we and they live in and factors that heavily affected the situation. People are just so quick to make claims on the ease of the choices when P.E literally makes it hard to choose to do anything but suck it up.

[turtleblogatlast]

One of the biggest things that makes me see Leo as trans is absolutely the size of his carapace in comparison to his brothers’.

And I’m not talking about height! I’m specifically looking at his shell here, because when you compare him to the others, particularly Donnie who is nearly the same height as Leo, it’s very clear that Leo’s carapace is much longer in proportion to the rest of his body.

Like - standing side by side, even though Donnie is shorter his carapace ends noticeably higher up than Leo’s does. And I like this not only because it really helps push the idea that Leo could very likely be trans (or intersex!), but it’s also just a fun design difference between them.

(It also lends way to future scenarios of Donnie eventually getting taller than Leo, but sitting down still has Leo being the taller one haha.)

[the-ships-to-rule-them-all]

the level at which people are misusing the term "Never Again" in the far left absolutely infuriates me.

"Never Again" doesn't refer to the idea of no more genocides -- unfortunately people are evil and corrupt and seek scapegoats and destruction, there were genocides in the years following the Holocaust, there were genocides 10 years ago, there are multiple genocides going on as we speak

"Never Again" means we as Jews will pay attention to the warning signs, will not mindlessly allow antisemitism to fester and take over our communities, we will fight back. it means we will be proud. it means we will not let you hate us without a word of refusal.

"Never Again" is a warning for us, it is a reminder that what happened then can happen now -- is happening now. The Far Left doesn't get to use it against us. You don't get to turn our tragedies into hate-speech and antisemitic rhetoric.

Am Yisrael Chai

[plaid-maniac]

Do you ever think about how there totally could have been an old classmate of Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth in the audience during like turnabout sister or turnabout samurai. Do you think they would realize? Like “hey, were those the guys in my class in like fourth grade? I kinda remember them. Wonder if they remember each other. But it was so long ago, I doubt they would even care.” Meanwhile Edgeworth and Phoenix are undergoing the most insane mental battles where both of them are going “I recognize my best friend across the courtroom and I desperately want to be close with them again.” And “god he is so god damn annoying I wish he would die already.”

[chialattea]

my STEM classmates when I argue that ableism is bad and prioritizing people based on their “usefulness” and “productivity” is called racial hygiene and you shouldn’t do it:

[matzofficial]

thinking about ex!boyfriend san who is still very much in love with you but can never bring himself to admit it.

he still looks for you in the morning haze, still seeks out your warmth on colder nights, still hopes you'll walk through the front door again, chipper smile on your lips as you press kisses to his face. but san wakes to an empty bed everyday and an even emptier home: the walls of the apartment were stripped bare, with only faint dust marks along the way to serve as proof there were dozens of pictures once hung there; the potted plant you kept by the kitchen window now sits in a secluded corner on the balcony because despite everything, san can't bear to throw it out or to let it die, not when it was one of the few things you left behind. there's a stillness in the air of his apartment now, like even the room held its breath in your absence. some part of him desperately wants to hate you for it. but for all his ire, san just wants you to come home.

he'd never admit it out loud though.

no, never aloud, where anyone could hear his want for you if they listened closely enough. where the air in his lungs expands and expands and expands until it's pressing against his ribcage and heart and suddenly he wants to fall to his knees from the pressure in his chest. it's painful — to know that there's air in your lungs and yet, not be able to breathe properly. that's what it's like without you. he's alive, he's breathing, and yet why does it feel like he's not at the same time? why does it feel like he's stuck in some sort of limbo, living just half of his life? san has always wanted to live a fulfilling life and to live it to his best ability but he always imagined you there with him, living your lives to the fullest together. but he's here, going through the motions and you're out there somewhere. he hates himself for thinking you're as miserable as he is, hates that little bit of hope in his heart that maybe you'll realise life was better with him and come back. but then he remembers the finality in your words and the cold gaze in your eyes and that bit of hope dies quietly in the same place it was born.

[plusultraetc]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRESENT MIC, I got you (super)villainy <3

[6-2-aestheticsofhate]

Gabriel is seemingly canon (?) to the lore of Pressure

I was on the Official Pressure wiki and while I was browsing around I found something. An angel is mentioned who was captured by Urbanshade and kept locked up and used as a source of blood. What is notable is that the Flesh Prison and possibly the suicide trees from the Violence layer are mentioned, as well as a modified railgun called Heavenpiercher.

If you're having trouble seeing the screenshots here it is written as well as the link to the wiki page itself.

"In 2007, Urbanshade opened a gateway to the Banlands, prompting the "Banlands Expedition" lead by the N.O.S.T sub-division. There, they encountered the Guardian Angel of the Banlands. Seeing it as an enemy, Urbanshade fought the angel and heavily wounded it after shooting it with the Heavenpiercher, a modified mobile railgun. During the fight however, Urbanshade employee River died after giving his all during the fight. To honor his name, a Trenchbleeder would soon to be named after him. After the encounter with the Guardian Angel, the Devil seemingly pleased with Urbanshade, made a deal with them. The Devil promised that Urbanshade employees that went to hell would be spared from treeification, a process where one's soul gets turned into trees. In addition, the Devil carved the pentagram into the eye of God, publicly referred as the Moon, as an act of desecration, thus preventing God from being able to peer into the Banlands to monitor it. The desecrated side of the Moon is only viewable from the Banlands, while the people on Earth only sees the other side which is normal.

After deeming the Banlands unprofitable for Urbanshade, all further expedtions to it have been deemed unnecessary. The heavily wounded Guardian Angel was taken back to the Blacksite, along with a Flesh Prison and some treeified people found during the expedition. Using the Alicron, Urbanshade would harvest the blood of the angel for an unholy benefit: once someone drinks a cup of angel blood, every sin would be obliterated from their body, sending them to heaven instead of hell on death. This would be saved only for employees retiring from Urbanshade. Despite this, no amount of angel blood can help Mr. Shade, as his soul was deemed too impure."

While there isn't a source on the wiki for this information the Guardian Angel of the Banlands IS mentioned in the Trenchbleeder document when explaining where Trenchbleeder River got its name so that part is canon.

The Heavenpiercher railgun is also mentioned in another in-game document for Paranoia's Box so that gun existing is also canon.

It's very likely this information is intended to be canon due to all the references to it in-game and also considering the fact its an official wiki and not an unofficial one.

TL;DR a guardian angel (presumably Gabriel because of all the Ultrakill references in the banlands) was taken by Urbanshade and kept as a prisoner so they could harvest his blood to remove sins from people.

[llycaons]

random but I fear I must share: when I was a young creature I read a terrible yet memorable historical vampire novel by the name of blood ninja. the detail I must impart is that the mentor character had magical tattoos over every square inch of body that rendered him invisible to vampires at night. he would literally have to get naked to fight because otherwise his clothes would give him away. BUT to this day whenever I remember this character all I can think about. is. he had to have gotten. dick tattoos.

[soupis4ever]

poor olimar. he's not even a full inch tall and he's been sent to the Horrible Alien Death Planet so many times and it's still unclear wether he got to see his family in-between these journeys

[dykedvonte]

Honestly I see Jimmy's refusal to put Curly out of his misery less about his weird feelings of envy or his delusions but the fact Curly is all but stated to be a shield to Jimmy from his actions and people seeing the worst in him.

The only characters that Jimmy really interacts with one on one before the crash are Curly and Anya, two individuals he has wildly different relationships with. It's likely that Curly really did most of the talking between them as the pilots and the rest of the crew as staff. They didn't know of Jimmy's more reprehensible behaviors cause they never really had the chance to and Jimmy is subconsciously aware. If they had disliked him more than Anya would have told Swansea earlier or even Daisuke when things got really bad.

It's why he takes the immediate opportunity to blame Curly; He's the shield. He's saved Jimmy's ass more times than he can count and more times than Jimmy would ever admit. Even when he can't really do it anymore, he mentally shields himself from his own faults by putting Curly between them. Letting Curly die puts too much on him because he doesn't know how to function without a safety net.

In the end Curly only lives because Jimmy needs the idea that Curly will inevitably make things better to stay alive, meaning Curly has to live, no matter how much it pains him to do so.

[vigilskeep]

SIGH. i probably should have started this first full run of dai with my trevelyan instead and i don’t know what to do about that now

[designernishiki]

You asked for a fic rec so I’ll toss this one at ya: https://archiveofourown.org/works/46767358?view_full_work=true Stick through the formatting for the characterization, tone, and really the whole vibe of this fic. I haven’t been able to get the bathroom call between Daigo and Majima out of my head for weeks since I read it with how naturally it all flows. My own little Daigo characterization booklet to review when I feel like I need a refresher on him.

so I may have stayed up until 6am reading this (would’ve slept earlier but I couldn’t stop reading it) and hgggahaghhhhaggahshhhhhhhh that was one of the most well-characterized fics I’ve ever read what the fuck. like the differences in how each character speaks (both tone-wise and in differing levels of authenticity) and how they speak to specific others (the daigo and majima dyanmic specifically- how they actually take into account how long they’ve been working really closely- SO good), the mental anguish and chaos vs the overwhelming emptiness of being daigo dojima but no longer The 6th Chairman Daigo Dojima……….I could keep going but I think you get it.

tbh I’d been wanting to write something exploring a similar set of dynamics/situation (post-kiryu’s fake death, interactions with haruka, daigo, and/or majima specifically, reflecting on his shortcomings while acknowledging the heavy Grief left behind) but now I’m like. well I still could but this was so well written in regards to daigo and haruka that, as far as something between those two goes, I don’t feel the need to.

thanks for the recommendation! my brain is broken now (affectionate)

[macroglossus]

sometimes i like to imagine hannibal doing really mundane things. dropping his socks when he’s transferring laundry. having a little too much trouble peeling a hard boiled egg and accidentally mangling it. making kind of intrusive small talk while getting his nails filed and buffed to a pleasantly unobtrusive length and sheen (“and how is your husband. yes. i see. if you will forgive my presumption, i would like to offer you the following advice which you may of course utilize or discard at your leisure: to catch a fish you mustn’t thrust a spear into the water… the splash will only frighten it and make it more wary. instead you must craft a lure, brightly shining within the dimness of the water, whereby the fish shall come to you itself, and be convinced it was its own idea all along… no, no polish for today, thank you”)