#also the post this references is mostly just me being cynical

[adultemophase]

WAIT WHAT MEDIA ILLITERACY? ABOUT WHICH CHARACTER

Honestly not even a particular character, you could argue there’s bad takes about all of them. The most common one I’ve see is people stuck in the “protagonist = good guy and antagonist = bad guy” mindset. For example, people after season 1 came out saying Vi was a bad guy and shitty protagonist for hitting powder in episode 3 without considering the context and motivations of her character. . Or similarly, that Jinx is a bad guy because she essentially terrorizes Piltover without, again, considering context and motivation. Much like real people they both have good and bad qualities but they’re both protagonists to the story, just in different ways.

I honestly don’t care if someone doesn’t like a particular character in the show because the fun thing about nuanced characters is that they aren’t inherently likable.

[areyougonnabe]

could you explain marie nelson to me... i know that he's tragic and also a misogynist and that's kind of all

well you've got the basics but let's get into the details [cracks knuckles]

edward william nelson was the shore party's biologist, counterpart of lillie who stayed on the ship. like lillie he had been educated at cambridge, however unlike lillie who barely scraped a degree in the end, nelson dropped out lol. he went to work at the plymouth marine biological association, which is where he was when he was hired by wilson (presumably via cambridge connections) for the expedition.

he wasn't as rich as cherry or oates but he came from a landed gentry background, his maternal grandfather was a major landowner in the shetlands in scotland and was, if you believe this random page on the internet, descended directly from King James V of scotland... and his dad was a big deal microscope guy.

anyway by the time nelson was on the expedition his initial nickname was "The Immaculate One" because he was (at first) always wearing a clean collar, and then at some point he became almost universally known as "Marie," short for "Marie Ducas" or "du Car" which nobody ever bothers to explain.

sometimes he was also known as "Antonio" or "Brontë" (that last being a reference to Lord Nelson) and griff often called him "Marie du Car Bronte Antonio Nelson" or another combination of multiple names.

silas wrote in his diary that he "had a taste for gin and bridge" and lots of people remarked on how he wouldn't get out of bed in a timely fashion and was always late to breakfast.

he was kind of seen as dissolute in general or a bit of a slacker. kathleen scott remarked at one point that he "spends all his time on shore being a man about town, which makes him look exceedingly tired" but really i think that was just how his face naturally looked.....

his job at Cape Evans was overseeing his Biological Hole (that's what he's doing in the pic up top) and identifying new antarctic species, taking temperatures, and measuring currents. he had a telephone wire run out to the little igloo he built on the sea ice, and often had company in the form of griff or cherry or whoever wanted to help him keep the ice open and unfrozen at the hole.

he did plenty of science, but that kind of fades into the background in the diaries because most people if they're talking about him at all are mainly giving a running commentary on how much he liked to argue.

his main axe to grind was women's rights... griff seemed to take great joy in calling him a "miserable, cynical reactionary" and goading him into arguments which sometimes descended into pitched physical battle.

from griff's diary, may 30 1911:

Marie Deb & I had a frightful cag in our boudoir about Women’s Suffrage. He is engaged & declares if his wife wanted to exercise her vote (even if she gets one) he will lock her up!

november 3 1911:

We have great cags at meals now. Simpson Deb & I are progressives & Liberals. Nelson is a thorough Reactionary Conservative especially re women & vote & education. However as he said he wished he were a woman (with £500 a year income) we guessed he was abnormal!

nelson probably did the least sledging out of anyone during the first year, not going on a single long-haul trip (even simpson went out on a short spring journey). he mostly just hung out at his igloo i guess? and got really into calculating navigation for fun. also apparently he was the best at chess in the whole hut.

he stayed on for the second year, and did go out sledging on the Search Journey:

there is some great stuff about his midnight poetry and weird moon obsession during the second winter in @worstjourney's very good post here.

i'll also add that it was pretty harsh on everyone else to have Maximum Marie Exposure with no tempering force of griff to allay it.

nelson did contribute heavily to the much-reduced and mildly pathetic Volume IV of the South Polar Times, which featured griff's offcuts from the prior year, deb's illustrations, and poems from nelson including a parody of walt whitman about billiards:

This is the song of billiards:- The tight stretched cloth of green, the serried arches, The cue - faking the cue, the protests from the players, The pyramid, the British Pluck, the Chinese fluke, The click of striking balls, the rattle in the ditch, the grin of joy.

most of the expedition scientists went home on steamers from NZ, but both nelson and lillie stayed on the terra nova as she took the long way round cape horn, in order to do more trawls and marine science.

nelson also took a job as second mate—it was definitely unusual for a scientists with zero navy/sailing experience (except the voyage down) to suddenly become an officer of the watch, but pennell trusted him, and seemingly that trust was not misplaced, as pennell wrote in his diary about how well he took to the job, and to atkinson about how he was by "far & away the most brainy person in the ship."

he got married to the woman he had been engaged to, violet thomas, after returning from the expedition. their only child, a daughter, was born in 1915, but by then he was serving in the royal naval division at gallipoli and then france. his war story is straight up wild and i recommend reading from ice floes to battlefields by anne strathie if you want aaalll the deets. but basically he saw a lot of action, served alongside rupert brooke (among other notables) and came out the other side relatively unharmed... physically.........

after the war he went back to the plymouth marine lab, and was supposed to be working on expedition results, but didn't do much of that.

in 1921 he left his family in plymouth to take a job in scotland working in a lab for the fishing industry, and in 1923 his wife successfully sued for "restitution of conjugal rights" which basically means the court ordered him to return to her....

but that did not end the way she wanted 🙃

shit was sad... he was found with poison injected directly into his leg.

i think there must have been a specific legal reason why the death was declared an accident—maybe something to do with receipt of military pension for the widow? but it obviously was very much on purpose. for whatever reason the thought of having to live with his wife again was so intolerable to him that death was preferable.

so thus ends the Ballad Of Marie Nelson.... here is what deb had to say about him and lillie in 1927, writing to JJ Kinsey:

You heard of Marie Nelson's tragic end no doubt, but I'm inclined to think it was as well. Poor old Lillie is in less happy circumstances, the last I heard of him was that he was never likely to get out of Bedlam, a rather ghastly end up to poor old "Ooze's" brilliant promise.

but much like lillie, nelson's end can't be blamed on his experience in the antarctic as it seems he was relatively content there. occam's razor dictates that A) he clearly had Problems before and B) wartime trauma made those problems worse.

the tragic sequel to this tragic story is the fact that his daughter, barbara, was 93 when she went on a cruise to antarctica to visit Cape Evans and see her father's laboratory... but she died of a fall while on the ship during a storm before they had even gotten there :(

[jumpscaregoose]

leans casually on the wall. hi. if possibly could i know about the theories you have rn for the rtl groups trap reactions….👁️👁️

I can give you like.... 75% of one??? I guess???

I've been staring at kenta's character page for the past 40+ minutes trying to figure out what his deal is and I thinkkkkkkk I might be on to something? I've got nothing for anyone else this little shit is my area of expertise

mostly I've been staring at these bad boys

the meanings of the first and last ones is pretty easy to figure out, "a dangerous mind" is probably referring to his programming skills/being a little bitch and "what kind of a joke is trust" obviously means his cynical attitude towards interpersonal relationships

such as this line from the opening show look at me point proof explanationing

"hands that pulled away" is interesting though

I'll include that the google-translated version of the official website lists these for the tags in english

and while the dog pun in "unleashed hands" does not escape me, I feel like "hands that pulled away" is probably more accurate (and is more interesting)

to me, the easiest way to interpret these tags together is as a chain of causality, with "a dangerous brain" causing "hands that pulled away" causing "what kind of a joke is trust"

translating that out of nonsense talk, I'm imagining that kenta's trust and interpersonal issues were caused by someone, either a caregiver or circle of peers, "pulling away" from him in response to his "dangerous brain"

we can actually verify this, or a similar event, through the timeline:

specifically, this entry:

it's clear that this event was what led him to take up programming, and that his opinions on other people were mostly solidified by age 8 (although the exact nature of the virus he created is vague, it's easy to assume it wasn't one you'd make while worrying about other people. we've all recently seen what massive international tech issues can do)

this is the most concrete theory I can think of based on the information available but while I have your captive attention I'd like to pose a similar question-

-when the HELL did he get his phantometal?

this was where my train of thought went after staring at that webpage for so long

certainly, there's no way he received it before entering the prison system. it does make sense that phantometal would be circling within prisons, especially considering how... weird the one we see is.

again this is where MORE DETAILS would be appreciated, GCREST/AVEX

mostly, I propose a chicken-and-egg problem: do you obtain phantometal from succeeding in prison rap, or do you succeed in prison rap because you have phantometal?

also, the exact timeline of prison rap rankings is. nonexistent. HOWEVER, we can again use the timeline to make inferences. it's mentioned that he begins posting tracks online at age 13. given how the prison operates (and the tidbits I know about real life) it's highly unlikely he would have access to a computer for long enough periods to produce and upload music without the preferential treatment given to those at the top of prison rap. therefore, I posit that this prison rap success occurred around age 13.

we also know that possessing phantometal was a qualifying requirement for participation in rtl, so this narrows down our timeline ever so slightly

in my mind, the most likely circumstances for kenta to acquire his phantometal are the chicken-and-egg solutions from above, which places the final date near the one we established for prison rap, around age 13

I have a few ideas as to how he got it, but I'm gonna keep those under wraps for future evil purposes

but that's just a theory

a-

no I'm not doing it it's too easy

and cut

[runawaycarouselhorse]

Saw that post about headcanons being projecting on characters versus over-analysis of a single throw-away joke or line, but I do both kinds of headcanons too.

He has a superiority complex (which in reality, ironically, comes from attempting to mask an inferiority complex--which he has in spades too, even if he also genuinely had Problematic Views instilled at the start too [some degree of classism / xenophobia, for which he is famous]) and is canonically referred to as a prodigy twice and is obsessed with being acknowledged by his childhood idol, proving himself to him was the entire reason for his journey, and said idol asks (in the Japanese version) if he loves him and he doesn't answer--also, he immediately blames his loss on him lacking something or doing something wrong, rather than a difference in experience… my little guy has burnt-out childhood prodigy with daddy issues written all over him. This is also putting aside how very keen he is to prove he is An Adult and not a child to everyone else.

The projecting was spurred on by him wearing like three layers in spring/summer and timidly hesitating when accepting a handshake, on top of the sudden change in personality from cheerful child to cynical "adult" in the span of two years a head animator calling him a "little too grown-up"--I projected the Trauma on him, so.

(This post is about Trip from Pokemon.)

A lot of other fans also theorized a bunch about why he won't stay in the same place for long and is always in such a hurry, but I think that was still mostly his rushing through his journey and refusing to just. Make the most of the present moment, which fortunately, the Champion did eventually teach him to do so, so now, he can make friends... ;3;

There was also his dislike for loud voices and how his Pokemon protectively/menacingly put themselves between him and the protagonist (rightfully angry, but) raising his voice against him, but he didn't look scared, so much as irritable in one and smug [when his Pokemon cut in, but he did quickly recall it because, the Pokemon acted on its own!]... but I did not assume trauma for that one so much as, kid's probably Not Neurotypical, given he also keeps his hands in his pockets almost all the time like me, so for those two traits, I kinda projected sensory issues.

Out-of-universe reason is simple, Pokemon trainers resemble their partner Pokemon--sassy Snivy keeps its leaf-hands on its hips, so he does the same. Between that and the stereotypical prince character's pageboy cut, he's supposed to match Snivy in looking rather regal (and very snooty, which is obvious.)

It's fun seeing different headcanons and theories! It's what Pokemon characters are kept vague for, come up with your own stories!! ^^

[xxtha-blog]

I can't really understand Ace's psychology... In the comic he seems to me to be a funny dandy, a bit of a tease but not a bad guy, with a trauma that has led him to do stupid things for reasons who were moral. Given that the comic ended on a hopeful note thanks to Dream, we can only imagine that things will get better for him afterwards... Whereas in the Asks, the commentaries and all the information outside the comic, he comes across as much more cynical, tragic and negative... In fact, over and above what I'm sure is a lack of understanding of the comic, it's a difference in the aura of both that I feel that's confusing me... Perhaps you can enlighten me?

There's definitely a difference in how Ace acts outside of the comic vs how Ace acts inside the comics. A lot of it is the difference between Ace being essentially shackled by Joker vs afterwards.

He really doesn't break the fourth wall very much within the comic so you don't get much of his active disdain of us. It's a contained story-line, he can't interact with creators in real-time. Whereas, on a medium like tumblr or in an rp event, he's real-time talking with creators, and he loves to antagonize creators, hence, being pretty cynical.

His nature as a character is something that isn't resolved and 'things will get better' doesn't mean he's doesn't have like. Fifty different mental illnesses still. In fact, Ace in the comic recognizes this by not saying that things are better, but that they could be better, and in two parts of that, his goal is to 1. Enjoy himself. And 2. Get over what he lost, both of which he is doing in most of the post-AU stuff. When he references his tragedy he usually does so mockingly or ironically. When he talks to creators he's also doing the same. The ask blog isn't that great of an example for his post-Au character given it's intentionally a non-canon and actively antagonistic format, so he's just constantly not enjoying it. A better example would be RP events on discord, which most people never saw, or this really old one-shot I made when I was like 16, which you can read here (it's not the best written but still in character):

This is a pretty typical way he'd react. He's not really overly cynical or negative, mostly just chaotic and quick witted. If he thought you thought that about that, he would be offended, and then he'd act much more positive, just for you. He'd give people gifts and sing funny musical numbers, full orchestration. Do some dances, really bring the energy.

If people thought he was too upbeat and positive, he'd kill a rabbit with a playing card in front of them, electrocute someone, and threaten to burn their house down (whether serious or not is up to you).

His personality is always revolving around his weird way of speaking and general oddities, but he'll essentially do anything as long as an illusion is fuelling it because illusions allow him to do anything. Which includes acting in a very wide variety of ways.

The power of illusions just lets him make the world his playground.

He plays the hero, he plays the villain, he plays whatever role he thinks is something you haven't seen him play before, because he can do whatever he wants (except cliches, they'll kill him dead), and he's going to do whatever he wants, to keep you on your toes. If he's talking to creators he's almost always going to be sarcastic though, simply because he doesn't like them very much. He uses other characters as vectors for his silly hi-jinks, which he just fundamentally can't pull when talking to creators directly.

You can also find a more in depth overview of his personality here:

[kamreadsandrecs]

Title: Unruly: A History of England's Kings and Queens

Author: David Mitchell

Genre/s: nonfiction, history

Content/Trigger Warning/s: historical violence, death, war, racism, incest, etc., with multiple references to contemporary UK politics and culture

Summary (from publisher's website): In UNRULY, David Mitchell explores how England’s monarchs, while acting as feared rulers firmly guiding their subjects’ destinies, were in reality a bunch of lucky sods who were mostly as silly and weird in real life as they appear today in their portraits.

Taking us right back to King Arthur (spoiler: he didn’t exist), David tells the founding story of post-Roman England right up to the reign of Elizabeth I (spoiler: she dies). It’s a tale of narcissists, inadequate self-control, excessive beheadings, middle-management insurrection, uncivil wars, and at least one total Cnut, as the population evolved from having their crops nicked by the thug with the largest armed gang to bowing and paying taxes to a divinely anointed king.

How this happened, who it happened to and why it matters in modern Britain are all questions David answers with brilliance, wit and the full erudition of a man who once studied history – and won’t let it off the hook for the mess it’s made.

Buy Here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/unruly-the-ridiculous-history-of-england-s-kings-and-queens-david-mitchell/20065681

Spoiler-Free Review: So, this wasn’t a bad overview of the concept of monarchy as it applies to the UK, which, arguably, has the most famous and most popular monarchy in the world at the moment. Mitchell digs into how UK monarchy got set up in the first place, and where its roots actually lie: not in anything so grand as the legend of King Arthur or in the divine right of kings, but just people trying to cobble together a (relatively) sensible government out of anarchy. He argues that this might apply to monarchy in general, as a system, and therefore any crowned heads of state do not really deserve the immense respect they are granted in the present day. He aims this at the current UK royal family, but I can see this extending to other current monarchies elsewhere, and not just in Europe.

One thing that might not sit right with readers is the author’s politics. He considers himself left-of-center, but there are moments when his stance will either chafe at the reader, or enrage entirely. I also suspect some readers might think he’s too cynical in parts, while others might argue he’s not being cynical enough. I personally found his stances mostly tolerable, though there were moments when they made me a mite twitchy.

Overall, this wasn’t a bad read; the author’s done his research, and he lays out the history of the early UK monarchy in a way that I found entertaining and interesting enough to get through. However, he’s also very clear about his politics, so YMMV on whether or not you can tolerate his writing.

Rating: three crowns

[resistanceisfeudal]

me in my feelings about trek fandom:

so, that star trek confessional blog that's been going around the last few days? and the mini discourse about possible rage-bait on it? and then the new rule that they won't post anything that feels like it's attacking a specific subgroup of fandom? That whole thing?

Cursed discourse. Rotted, rancid, stupid shit. And not even the top five worst discourses I've seen this week.

I actually kind of am mad at a lot of trek fandom and do have a lot of honest opinions that would read as an attack on people...

I guess the thing that has been rising to the top is this phenomenon where people who are clearly intelligent and thoughtful in terms of how they engage with stuff in general end up having bizarre blindspots when it comes to trek.

People who thoroughly acknowledge cultural biases and the ways in which opinons are shaped by bigotry when it comes to talking about how, say, Voyager was received at the time, will turn around and flatly deny the roles of racism, misogyny and transphobia in the reception of Discovery, insisting that "it's bad because grimdark" - which a) isn't even true and b) a cursory glance through the comments on a stream of a disco episode would prove that "grimdark" is not the thing that audiences are mad about. You might have a good faith criticism (which "grimdark" isn't because it's not accurate, but idk some other good faith criticism) but that's not why the show is less beloved than snw or picard s3.

Or people who constantly reblog posts about how episodic "filler episodes" are so great, and how they build the characters and make up the heart of the shows... and then talk about characters and their relationships in ways that only make sense if you cherry pick random disconnected moments from across seven years of television.

Or someone how can talk articulately about fandom culture, stanning, and conspiracy theories, and shows insight and cynicism into phenomena like those sherlock truthers... and then says that garashιr would have been canon if it weren't for ezri, or that it would've been canon if they'd got an eight season. Like, these are ridiculous opinions that basically rely on you not watching the actual show.

Ok technically the last two were just me bitching about a ship that's popular and therefore sometimes the fans can get obnoxious. I shouldn't complain about that... while we're here, I also find spιrk annoying at this point. This is silly, back to snw.

Fundamentally, a lot of snw's popularlity is the same as picard s3: it's nostalgia heavy and the leads are white men. Overall, taking the entire audience in mind, that is a significant part of what's going on.

Now, obviously, snw is a lot better than s3 of picard (which i will die mad about). It's not a bad show, but I do feel that s2 didn't really improve on s1 and perhaps felt weaker at times. I thought the musical episode was genuinely bad and struggle to even believe people when they say they liked it. To be clear: I love musicals, I love musical episodes, I hated this one.

It's shit like this, the insistance that it's amazing when, as a show, it's just fine, sometimes a little bad, mostly pretty good, occasionally very good - it's shit like this that makes people accuse fans of being inauthentic when they praise it. It's claims that snw is "saving nu trek", when no, no it hasn't. Discovery has been prematurely cancelled, Picard ended in disgrace, and Prodigy was cancelled, then rescued but its future past s2 is unclear. It didn't save anything.

It feels like the future of trek is going to be more naval gazing, more nostalgic pandering, more meta references and a distinct lack of new concepts... possibly even a lack of new characters at this rate.

I made this side blog to post about picard s2, because I genuinely had a lot of feelings and thoughts. I felt like, while there was some annoying shit and bad takes around, it was fun to participate and I was enjoying myself. For the last few months, really since snw s2 aired, I've been having a pretty bad time here. So much of it is petty shit that sounds bizarre to type out: small posts and variously tiny infuriating takes. This entire post is stupid and pointless, when I put it like that.

But, yeah, trek fandom has been making me pretty unhappy recently.

I'll still be here and will watch the new disco when it comes out, and hopefully feel something again. I want to be able to re-enter the headspace I was in back when S2 picard aired, and I felt free to just express my opinions without being hyper aware of everyone else's pre-conceived stuff. We all have loaded opinions and strange baggage with trek, it comes with the territory.

[katyspersonal]

3, 18, 20, 48, 49 for Yura! Tell me about this old ronin!

THIS GUY!! I did not expect the guy!! (Asks from this ( x ) meme)

3) What first drew you to this character?

I did not pay close attention to him at first; as you remember, it was a rough time of me getting used to Elden Ring and I was confused! BB was my first intro to Soulsborne games and whereas everyone were going 'ah yeah DS 4, 5 and 6 in one' I was in pain dhfhsd So I skimmed through him... Until I've learned somewhere what he was doing and realised he was 'male Eileen' as I've nicknamed him! xd I love the 'mercy killer assassin' trope, so I've started to actually pay close attention to him!

18) Do you prefer to see this character suffer or know peace? Angst or comfort? Both?

It is definitely both. The fanarts of him I've seen centred mostly around his relationship with Eleonora, and both wholesome happier times shenanigans and The Drama are enjoyable! His feelings for her are one of his core traits as a character, so this is fair that a lot of him shines here. As for me, I've doodled him two times for now, and in both cases he was suffering, so :') He is both very stoic and very sensitive, my favourite combination! So I just want him to know comfort for one but also want that 'sensitivity' to come through. His crying was so genuine.. :pensive:

20) Do you feel affectionate towards this character?

I do! He is honestly so likeable? I have involuntary thoughts of sitting next to him and hugging him every time I meet him in the game :3 It especially moved my heart when I've realised that him reflecting on always running into reckless fools after we killed a dragon was him thinking back on Eleonora, and seeing her in Tarnished that moment. This is just so deep. And I also really, really love his voice acting. It is one of the most trademark Soulsborne ones in entire Elden Ring.

48) What’s your favorite physical/design feature for this character?

Welll, this is.....

obviously his.......

CUTE OLD MAN FRECKLES!!!!!

(Screenshots from this ( x ) post, I forgor to recreate ER characters data in the game for self-reference myself sorry fdhfds) Apparently his forehead is covered in the old man spots, we just can't see it x)

Also, apparently he has dark brown eyes, but the color is obscured into practically a different one by clouding effect? "Eye color change" is a semi-frequient feature across ER character data. Just something to keep in mind, if the need to draw a fanart of him in earlier times ever comes!

49) What’s your favorite personality trait in this character?

Again, that he has a very big heart. You'd expect someone so old, with so much experience, who has seen people downspirall to both dragonic powers insanity and violence, who has been mercy-killing people that became blood-drunk succumbed to blood-lust, and is on the quest to "liberate" the love of his life to be at least a bit cynical? But you don't see this guy allowing ourselves to run into a dragon and then gently mocking us, in the manner of a man who knows his shit watching a n00b go x) No, he instantly warns us to stay safe and out of it, then sighs at us being a fool, then also warns us to be careful with the dragon powers hunger after deciding it'd be safer to tell the truth about what TO do with the dragon heart. I interpret the latter as him believing that if we are to mess with something dangerous, then at least better do it the 'checked' way. This man has developed NO cynicism and doom-thinking.

My point is, he has a lot of sympathy and concern for someone that should have by now gotten numb and not be attached to another person that will sure just go mad eventually. I like that he still cares while it lasts. He acts not wanting our help in murdering for our own sake, but is still thankful that we helped. Again, reminds me of Eileen a lot. He and Eleonora might even be like gender-bent Eileen and Crow (yet again I am thinking of my alternative theory of Crow having been an infiltrator that wanted to slay Annalise but fell for her charms and blood corruption.... argh is this too late to rewrite my "main" headcanons..? though I guess I don't need to, because the more these pairs of characters are distinct, the cooler!).

[kitkatpadywaks]

In Another Universe

Mini-Series: Part 4/?

The Ever Elusive.

Pairing: Morpheus x Fem!Reader

Story: Dancing With The Devil (Alternate path from the end of part 2 of the story onwards)

Warnings: Third Person. Will Mostly Be Referred To As She (Called Y/N When Her Nickname Is Being Used and Will Occasionally Be Called By Her 'Angel' Name). She Has Kids. Major Daddy Issues.

Word Count: 1.2k

A/N: Major Spoilers for the Story (Klaus Mikaelson fic), like this existing spoils the mystery of who my character is as well as her character arc.

This will also be posted to my Wattpad.

Previous | Masterlist | Next

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Y/N sits at one of the many tables in The Dreaming's library. Flicking through a book belonging to a man who survived a fatal accident, according to his girlfriend's book anyway, she had yet to read anything that would suggest the accident would have been fatal. She closes the book, carefully placing it on the table in front of her, instead of slamming it down in frustration like she had done the first few times she hadn't found anything, causing Lucienne to scold her quite vigorously, much to Raphael's amusement.

A heavy sigh leaves her mouth, annoyed as it was the 436th accident someone had 'miraculously' survived and she had yet to see any obvious indication of her father's influence. It made her wonder, out of all the universes, why was he laying low in this one? Was it all the different immortals, all the different ancient powers, making him more cautious? If that was the case, surely he would just leave, but no. He stays. Why?

"I can see the cogs turning in your mind from here."

The Angel jumps in her seat, annoyed but also proud of how good Lucienne had gotten at sneaking up on her. She smiles tiredly at the librarian as she puts away the books she was carrying on the bookshelf next to her.

"How many have you gone through?"

Y/N picks up a book from one of the many piles stacked on the table. "This will be the 437th." She sighs again, "Where's Raph?"

"Sleeping. Like you should be." Lucienne gives her a stern look as she sits down in the chair opposite the woman. Set on trying to convince her to go to the room Lord Morpheus set up for her a few hours after she arrived in The Dreaming, almost three months ago.

The Angel waves her hand, dismissing the statement. "I don't get it."

"Get what?"

"What is my father doing, or not doing in this case? Everywhere Raph and I have been, we've always been able to physically track him, or find someone who met him. Interacted with him. But now? Nothing!" She throws her hands in the air, "I don't get it. What's changed?" Lucifer drags her hands over her face, "Sorry. I didn't mean to rant at you."

"It's okay. I know you're tired, go get some sleep. You can come back with fresh eyes."

Y/N smiles cynically, "I can't."

Lucienne frowns at her, seeing there's something she's not saying. Something Lucienne has noticed happens a lot with The Dreaming's latest guests. "Why can't you?"

She swallows the lump in her throat, hating how affected she still is by her father's actions. "Because I won't wake up," she pauses to collect her thoughts, "If I go to sleep, I'll get pulled back. Back into my own, personal hell."

"Y/N..." Lucienne starts, seeing Lord Morpheus heading towards them from where he was investigating the newest section of the library, 'The Ghost Library' as Matthew had dubbed it.

"My father cursed me," she interrupts, already sensing him, "my siblings got me out, to the best of their ability. But my father is the only one who can truly break it."

"I'm sorry." Lucienne says, sympathetically.

She smiles sadly at Lucienne, "It is what it is. Any questions? Lord Morpheus?" Y/N turns to look at the Dream Lord.

He freezes, surprised she noticed him as she seemed, elsewhere. "I believe I have found someone who encountered your father."

She shoots to her feet, her chair knocking against the table. "Who? When?" She asks, fully prepared to find the person's book and read every page.

"I'll show you." He holds his hand out, making her eyes widen when she realises what he means.

"You'll show me their dream?"

He nods, "I'm choosing to trust you." His voice darkens, "But if you do anything to break that trust, there will be consequences."

She nods, ignoring how turned on she was by that. "I understand." She grabs his hand, inhaling sharply when every one of her nerves is set alight, Morpheus feeling the same thing judging from the look in his eyes. He reaches into his pocket and grabs a handful of sand, throwing it up into the air. The sand swirls around them, Y/N looking around as it obscures the sight of the library, she looks back at Morpheus as he watches her with an intensity that makes her what to squirm. She holds her ground, holding his gaze even as the sand disappears, revealing a sunny park, Central Park if she's not mistaken.

"We're here."

She lets go of his hand, goosebumps rising on her arms as her body cools down drastically from the broken contact. She looks around the park, staying where she is as Morpheus watches her to see if she can figure out who they're there for on her own. The back of her head tingles as she stops to look at a woman sitting on a bench rocking a baby in her arms, the child's screams making her flinch. She looks at Morpheus, nodding towards the struggling mother. He nods, confirming she's who they're there for.

She grabs his arm, pulling him behind the tree sitting opposite the woman. Morpheus raises an eyebrow at her.

"Later." She whispers, the tingling at the back of her head turning into a searing pain. She watches as a man walks up to the woman, her instincts screaming at her as he reaches out and touches the baby's forehead, the man murmuring something to the woman, too low for Y/N to hear.

The man walks away from the woman, whose face is streaked with tears of relief. She waits a moment before following behind him, Morpheus following behind her. They walk the entire length of the park, following the man as the dream changes into someone else's, they make their way through the streets of what looks like Paris. He turns the corner, the scenery rippling to signal they're about to walk into another dream, they turn the corner after him when she freezes in place, dread washing over her as the searing pain in her head disappears and her instincts settle.

"He's gone."

"He just disappeared?" Lucienne inquires.

She nods, flicking through the pages of the book of the woman, Daisy, whose dream they had witnessed interacting with her father. Morpheus does the same with the last person who saw her father in their dream, where they lost him.

Lucienne sighs, "Your father is quite allusive, isn't he?"

"He's always been good at hiding from his kids," she finds the page, "consciously and not." She frowns, skimming over what should have been the words detailing the woman's interaction with her father. "I don't believe this!"

Morpheus's head shoots up from the book he's reading, "What is it?"

"He's not here! My father's not in the book." She hands Morpheus the book.

"What?"

She turns to Lucienne, "It details her going to the park, but skips ahead to her meeting her friends, her baby healthy. No mention of my father."

"Are you sure it's on the same day?"

"Yes, it says it is."

Lucienne looks at Morpheus, who nods to confirm. "How is that possible?"

"I do not know."

Morpheus looks at Y/N, who meets his gaze before looking at the piles of books she had already been through, "I wonder how many others he doesn't appear in?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for reading!

[mdhwrites]

I'm not really gonna ask anything, just complain.

I'm tired of seeing puppet Amity and emperor Luz everywhere, what's even so special about it? What's the appeal???

People see 2 seconds scenes without context and make it that episode's entire content 🤦

I don't know if ep 3 came out already but I'm not looking forward anyways.

…Angst. Angst and new designs which are probably the two most powerful motivators for The Owl House fandom. Why do you think S2A felt like it damn near cut the fandom down to its size?

This actually has to do with kind of fandom culture in general. The most visible part of a fandom is its artists. Their work is quick to consume, easily posted and reposted (with credit you'd hope but… sigh) and the easiest to take inspiration directly from the show for. Every week there'd be at least one screencap redraw that the fandom would do whenever a new episode came out. Honestly, the finale's big Lumity screencap redraw is really awkward looking to me out of context. It's not hard to see why these are so popular though. The reference is directly in front of you, it's a moment people are already talking about and you yourself probably liked the posing too so why not redraw it? It's a hell of a lot easier to do than come up with a bespoke story concept based off of each episode in a series.

That isn't to call art easy or the like, just that fanart is the backbone to a fandom for a reason, at least in my opinion. Twitter has a character count limit. Reading Fanfiction on Instagram blows. Tumblr is the closest to a place where longer form videos and stories can be posted and they still take MUCH longer to consume and share and without as much guaranteed return on effort spent. There's a reason the internet as a whole LOVES art from a commercial and consumer standpoint, even if they also keep trying to screw over artists because yaaaaay capitalism.

But screencap redraws aren't going to be everything. The more potential in the story, the more people will be able to come up with evocative concepts and stories and even make comics about the show. This was a BIG part of the fandom's peak between S1 and 2. Everyone had their own take on how Lumity would get together. Everyone had their own idea for how Amity might confront her parents. Amity in general was just a font of inspiration and the concepts with Luz weren't played out or felt contradictory to the more cynical character we got in S2 so angst with her about her mom, her world, etc. like that was still something everyone was tapping into, especially since it felt like the portal being destroyed was such a big deal.

I made a large Twitter thread the other day btw about how just shit the Portal Door is from a narrative perspective, first as a nitpick in S1 and then just a genuine problem in S2, because of it being gone, but that's a different blog.

But post S2A… What did you have? Camila's promise was never going to end satisfactorily, to the point where it goes from a moment of Luz being a good daughter to an almost inhuman monster towards her friends because it is handled so poorly. Amity is pretty much resolved outside of being happy to be Luz's girlfriend because she's already stood up to her parents, integrated into the rest of the cast and even already addressed the only piece of angst the show ever allows for her with her relationship and that's being an obsessive enough girlfriend. Sorry, I mean a good enough girlfriend. sigh Gus has had an episode but was overshadowed, Willow has had like a half dozen lines this half a season, King has been pretty much absent since his episode, Raeda was still mostly an Eda episode with literally every element of that episode just to shove Momma Eda down your throat…

It's not surprising that post S2A, the fandom has felt in general much quieter. Minus A: Huntlow and B: whenever they get a new design they can turn into Luz/Lumity angst. Everyone remember the teaser for the Collector's design that was done during a livestream and how that consumed the fandom for a little while because of possessed Luz ideas?

The puppet Amity and Belos Luz hype was effectively that. It brought even the casual artists back because they had a new, easily evocative design available to them that also had very obvious potential for angst. How many "I'M NOT LIKE HIM" pictures came out regardless of how weak any parallel between Luz and Belos is? Luz crying over a temporarily dead Amity is saddening, even if she's been little more than a puppet for the writers for a while now.

It's just how fandoms work. It's not even necessarily a bad thing. Dana has been VERY good at keeping the fandom alive during things like hiatuses. S1's hiatus is when the Betas were most popular because they dropped at a time when people were starting to wane from the show and now they had an entirely different angle to work from for anything Lumity they wanted to do alongside just good designs to draw. Most Lumity and Huntlow artists redo any piece that Dana does for the two ships. It's very effective for keeping a social media presence for your show honestly.

I won't even act like I'm above it. While I commissioned reference sheets for Rich Witch to make it easier to commission more artists for these characters, that wasn't the only reason. Rich Witch had a Reddit page (that I should clean up honestly) and its pinned thread includes the reference sheets and physical descriptions for the characters who don't have reference sheets. This is because I recognize that that makes fanart easier and that fanart is a lot easier to share than text blurbs. It is one of the ways to try and cultivate a following online nowadays or to help your fandom grow, at least in my opinion.

Can it be frustrating? Absolutely. I mean, Huntlow fanart has probably done way more damage to my interest in Hunter than anything else because it always emphasizes Hunter as nothing but a failure. Hell, it also emphasizes Willow's strength commonly and very little else about her character. Lumity has bored me for a long time in art because 90% of it is just cute fluff which isn't bad but it's not compelling. And I mocked both Belos Luz and Puppet Amity, despite the designs for them being good and the art being good, as shallow because narratively it means very little.

And the larger that disconnect becomes, the more frustrating a trend in the fandom is going to be. Plenty of people hate the Betas because they hate the edginess or the fact that a lot of people used them to start creating spicier material. There's not much anyone can do about that though. While a creator can try to promote a kinder fandom, fandoms are inherently too emotional and too large to really control outside of helping the show grow or find a new audience. It's just a part of that culture.

And frankly, I'm going to be bothered by the toxicity and inhumanity (guess what fandom will dox you for liking a ship between a bi girl and a straight guy?) of fandoms long before their art trends.

[ao3screenshotss]

Honestly I think about the orphan thing— it‘s just about connotations. It‘d just how we use it. And I think that makes sense, since we all lose our parents at some point, but it‘s a special case when you use them when you‘re still a child. A childhood without a parent is different to adulthood without your parent. I don‘t think it‘s about comparing pain or dismissing it at all. I connect the term orphan to child without parents, because that‘s just how we use it. I‘ve gotten corrections on my papers for technicalities as well, and I understand why they do it (it‘s just the way that term is used— so linguistically, technically that doesn‘t work. You can express the pain using all kinds of words, orphan just isn‘t one cause she‘s an adult and we only use that term for children)

(Which makes sense, because a child without parents is a special case! Everybody loses their parents at some point, but mostly once you‘re an adult yourself. Losing one as a child is also relatively common. Losing both is rare (rarer anyway), so that‘s why we‘ve got a special term. And I know it is always painful, but please don‘t say it‘s not uniquely horrible for a child, just situation-wise. I don‘t at all mean to minimize the pain of losing any loved one at any age, I mean to say, as an adult, (like a proper adult, middle-aged) it‘s less detrimental to your situation at large. I think losing both parents during childhood deserves its own term, you know?)

(I really just want to say that I don‘t think there‘s anything mean or heartless about it, it makes a ton of sense that our language is like this. Just say she lost her father; people understand that pain, of course they do.)

(Sorry that this is so long and I just keep adding more but I want to clarify why I care about this— I think it‘s really important to be careful with heavy, like, judgment. This just feels like cynicism. If everybody‘s just quick to be cynical then where‘s the world heading, y‘know? Sry for being so serious though, and I don‘t mean to be accusatory to anyone at all)

i am so sorry oh my god i had this saved in my drafts for ages i didn’t realise i forgot to post it i replied and everything- i’m just gonna post what i wrote earlier and put it under a read more cause it’s a tiny bit long

i think i kinda understand the point you're trying to make - the words that are coming to mind for me is emotional maturity. if an adult's parents died when they were an adult, they still got to experience a childhood with their parents, but it's not the same with a child who's parents died when they were children.

i was also thinking about how i don't really see adults who were orphans as a child still referred to as orphans. i think that they still count, since they did go through the experience of losing parents when they were a child, but when they become adults they're suddenly just adults and i do think it's interesting how the 'title' (not as in a privilege or anything but you know what i mean) of orphan seems to disappear even though to the person the experience obviously doesn't (makes me think about how once you're 18 the foster care system doesn't really count you as part of them but that's too much to get into)

i think all in all you're right when it all just comes down to connotations. especially if it's how we use it and how other people we know might use it. i do understand by what you mean when you say having a term for a child losing their parents at a young age, it's a different experience than an adult would have, so it deserves its own term too.

either way, thank you for sending this! it's making me sad but it's really interesting to think about!! you did end up changing my view on the word so i'll make sure to think about that if i use it again!!!

[elecalice]

ElecAlice 101 or Masterpost (Hi!)

Hi! I'm ElecAlice. I'm an autistic Chilean artist and internet resident.

Nickname: ElecAlice or just Elec (Previously known as Thunderblade2001)

Real Name: Natalia

DOB: August 14, 2001

Pronouns: She/Her

Country: Chile

Languages: Spanish (Native), English (Good on both writing and speaking, with some occasional typos)

My Main Fandoms! (Or the ones that I'm mostly focused on)

Mega Man (Mainly Battle Network and Classic)

Street Fighter (Mainly III and the EX series)

Fighting EX Layer

Doctor Who [NEW! ...ish. I'm returning to it recently]

I'm also interest in these! (I also post about these once in a while!)

Mascotverse and Event Mascots

Touhou

Len'en [Trying to get into it]

RPG Horror

Youtube stuff

I also love:

Animation

Video Games (especially Indie games like RPG maker games)

Electronic Music (Fav Genres: Synthpop, Synthwave, Vaporwave, New Wave, Darkwave, Eurobeat, DnB, Jungle, and the occassional Breakcore. I love Kraftwerk)

Post-Punk music (Other genres that I also like: Rock, some Jazz, Lo-fi. I love listening to Kino, Chernikovskaya Hata, )

Character design

Gijinka

Television history, graphic design and idents

Operative Systems

Lost Media

Drawing

I also do art! And I post my work on a dedicated Art Blog!

I do:

Writing

Translation (English to Spanish. I have a dedicated blog for it where I post my Youtube videos ENG-to-ESP/SPA translations)

List of Hashtags that I use on my posts!

elec ideas: Me coming up with ideas to use.

elec blog: I do some blog entries.

elec ramblings: I write weird shit at times.

elec rants: Sometimes I get angry/annoyed at times.

elec vents: Sometimes I get sad or even pessimistic at times.

elec memes: I do memes (rarely)

elec updates: Updates of me

elec being a fangirl: I get fangirly at times. Especially towards my special interests.

elec remember this: I need to check those as reminders or for future reference.

elec remember to draw this: I need to check those for future reference for drawings.

elec being neurodivergent: I'm autistic and sometimes I talk about my neurodivergence.

elec is watching youtube: I do comment about Youtube videos.

don't let elec get this late: Late-night posting.

comfort character posting: Reblogs and posts talking about my comfort characters.

elec talks about X: I talk about certain topics like:

== television

== video games

== writing

shout out to my art blog: Reblogs of art that I posted on my art blog.

elecalice works: Hashtag dedicated to my original works. (Both actual original and fanworks)

get equipped with: queue: Queued posts

useful stuff: Usually reblogs that are useful.

fun stuff on the internet: I... should use this one more often. (Rarely used)

Random lore, I created Elec Man Unhearted, a Mega Man creepypasta.

Also, you may notice from some posts that I mentioned me... Getting into certain situations that scarred me. Yeah. I'm currently recovered from those, even if I do struggle with some guilt episodes, as well as some cynicism still lurking on me during the worst moments. I need to get better at dealing those.

Currently I'm studying Public Administration, and I'm struggling to work as a functional person. Organizational issues, procrastination issues and struggling to start doing things.

Here's my Carrd.co where you can find my other SocMed.

[television-bodies]

dropping by to say that i loveeeeed revenir it made me sob like a BABY <333 i hope you're doing well! anyways for the fic writer asks: 3, 8, 29, anddd share a sentence that you're proud of! <3

thank you so much, i'm so glad you liked it!! <3 sorry for making you cry -- but only slightly. what you're telling me is sort of an artist's dream... hope it wasn't too devastating...

3. What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written?

ohohoho what a question. there are things that i like in every fic i've written mostly because i'm proud of myself for writing anything at all -- until the end of everything, for example, i had points with where i really doubted if it would get finished. i like suckerpunch for the things that other people tell me they appreciate in it -- and it may well be recency bias, but right now i think i do like revenir the best! it feels the most cohesive and consistent to me currently, and as a first attempt at canon era i don't think i did too bad of a job (?). this being said, i do like to imagine that my favourite fic of my own has not been written yet. something to spur me on

8. What project(s) are you currently working on?

i have a few different things that i'm dipping in and out of semi-regularly but strangely enough i have planned out almost an entire bahorel/feuilly fic this week, borne from a prompt from the trope generator. after looking at my most recently posted fics on ao3 i thought 'wow, i think i need to do something more light-hearted next' and so i am going to Trope Central, in which bahorel and feuilly fake date as a way to try and encourage some other members of their group to Get Their Shit Together, and end up in a private and pretty intense game of chicken... its fairly ridiculous but it will make sense. i promise (i hope)

29. Share a bit from a fic you’ll never post OR from a scene that was cut from an already posted fic. (If you don’t have either, just share a random fic idea you have that you don’t plan on getting to.)

i think i've spoken before about the bbc race across the world AU that i had for a while and have since scrapped because i couldn't bear to write the logistics of the show/race (sad) -- anyway this was from a section in which grantaire is trying to convince eponine to spend some of their team's limited funds on a small basement gig during one leg of the race, because he's overwhelmed and needs to be moshing for his mental health. (this is something that comes up in one of my current wips too. i love a moshpit and i love to use them symbolically. i'm also projecting)

“I’m fucking tired, R.” “And I fucking need this, Ep.” He’s almost pleading, searching her eyes because she knows him, she knows that he needs this sometimes, knows that there are times he goes out in search of a crowd to throw himself into even if she doesn’t entirely understand why. “Please. I’m asking you for this, as something I need. I feel like I could claw my fucking skin off. I need to just–“ he gestures at the building, at the poster. “I need it.”

share a sentence that you're proud of!

Grantaire is cynical, and it underpins everything else Enjolras knows about him: the way he structures his arguments, his stances on philosophy, the references to mythology he drops into conversation as casually as other people talk about the weather.

from suckerpunch :D

ask game

[mcmansionhell]

Underground, Part 1

[Author’s Note: A year ago, when waiting for the DC Metro, I came up with an idea for a short story involving two realtors and the infamous Las Vegas Underground House, typed up an outline, and shoved it away in my documents where it sat neglected until this month. The house recently resurfaced on Twitter, and combined with almost a year of quarantine, the story quickly materialized. Though I rarely write fiction, I decided I’d give it a shot as a kind of novelty McMansion Hell post. I’ve peppered the story with photos from the house to break up the walls of text. Hopefully you find it entertaining. I look forward to returning next month with the second installment of this as well as our regularly scheduled McMansion content. Happy New Year!

Warning: there’s lots of swearing in this.]

Underground

Back in 1997, Mathieu Rino, the son of two Finnish mechanical engineers who may or may not have worked intimately with the US State Department, changed his name to Jay Renault in order to sell more houses. It worked wonders.

He gets out of the car, shuts the door harder than he should. Renault wrinkles his nose. It’s a miserable Las Vegas afternoon - a sizzling, dry heat pools in ripples above the asphalt. The desert is a place that is full of interesting and diverse forms of life, but Jay’s the kind of American who sees it all as empty square-footage. He frowns at the dirt dusting up his alligator-skin loafers but then remembers that every lot, after all, has potential. Renault wipes the sweat from his leathery face, slicks back his stringy blond hair and adjusts the aviators on the bridge of his nose. The Breitling diving watch crowding his wrist looks especially big in the afternoon glare. He glances at it.

“Shit,” he says. The door on the other side of the car closes, as though in response. 

If Jay Renault is the consummate rich, out-of-touch Gen-Xer trying to sell houses to other rich, out-of-touch Gen-Xers, then Robert Little is his millennial counterpart. Both are very good at their jobs. Robert adjusts his tie in the reflection of the Porsche window, purses his lips. He’s Vegas-showman attractive, with dark hair, a decent tan, and a too-bright smile - the kind of attractive that ruins marriages but makes for an excellent divorcee. Mildly sleazy.

“Help me with these platters, will you?” Renault gestures, popping the trunk. Robert does not want to sweat too much before an open house, but he obliges anyway. They’re both wearing suits. The heat is unbearable. A spread of charcuterie in one hand, Jay double-checks his pockets for the house keys, presses the button that locks his car. 

Both men sigh, and their eyes slowly trail up to the little stucco house sitting smack dab in the center of an enormous lot, a sea of gravel punctuated by a few sickly palms. The house has the distinct appearance of being made of cardboard, ticky-tacky, a show prop. Burnt orange awnings don its narrow windows, which somehow makes it look even more fake. 

“Here we go again,” Jay mutters, fishing the keys out of his pocket. He jiggles them until the splintered plywood door opens with a croak, revealing a dark and drab interior – dusty, even though the cleaners were here yesterday. Robert kicks the door shut with his foot behind him.

 “Christ,” he swears, eyes trailing over the terrible ecru sponge paint adorning the walls. “This shit is so bleak.”

The surface-level house is mostly empty. There’s nothing for them to see or attend to there, and so the men step through a narrow hallway at the end of which is an elevator. They could take the stairs, but don’t want to risk it with the platters. After all, they were quite expensive. Renault elbows the button and the doors part. 

“Let’s just get this over with,” he says as they step inside. The fluorescent lights above them buzz something awful. A cheery metal sign welcomes them to “Tex’s Hideaway.” Beneath it is an eldritch image of a cave, foreboding. Robert’s stomach’s in knots. Ever since the company assigned him to this property, he’s been terrified of it. He tells himself that the house is, in fact, creepy, that it is completely normal for him to be ill at ease. The elevator’s ding is harsh and mechanical. They step out. Jay flips a switch and the basement is flooded with eerie light. 

It’s famous, this house - The Las Vegas Underground House. The two realtors refer to it simply as “the bunker.” Built by an eccentric millionaire at the height of Cold War hysteria, it’s six-thousand square feet of paranoid, aspirational fantasy. The first thing anyone notices is the carpet – too-green, meant to resemble grass, sprawling out lawn-like, bookmarked by fake trees, each a front for a steel beam. Nothing can grow here. It imitates life, unable to sustain it. The leaves of the ficuses seem particularly plastic.

Bistro sets scatter the ‘yard’ (if one can call it that), and there’s plenty of outdoor activities – a parquet dance floor complete with pole and disco ball, a putt putt course, an outdoor grill made to look like it’s nestled in a rock, but in reality better resembles a baked potato. The pool and hot tub, both sculpted in concrete and fiberglass mimicking a natural rock formation, are less Playboy grotto and more Fred Flintstone. It’s a very seventies idea of fun.

Then, of course, there’s the house. That fucking house. 

A house built underground in 1978 was always meant to be a mansard – the mansard roof was a historical inevitability. The only other option was International Style modernism, but the millionaire and his wife were red-blooded anti-Communists. Hence, the mansard. Robert thinks the house looks like a fast-food restaurant. Jay thinks it looks like a lawn and tennis club he once attended as a child where he took badminton lessons from a swarthy Czech man named Jan. It’s drab and squat, made more open by big floor-to-ceiling windows nestled under fresh-looking cedar shingles. There’s no weather down here to shrivel them up.

“Shall we?” Jay drawls. The two make their way into the kitchen and set the platters down on the white tile countertop. Robert leans up against the island, careful of the oversized hood looming over the electric stovetop. He eyes the white cabinets, accented with Barbie pink trim. The matching linoleum floor squeaks under his Italian loafers. 

“I don’t understand why we bother doing this,” Robert complains. “Nobody’s seriously going to buy this shit, and the company’s out a hundred bucks for party platters.”

“It’s the same every time,” Renault agrees. “The only people who show up are Instagram kids and the crazies - you know, the same kind of freaks who’d pay money to see Chernobyl.” 

“Dark tourism, they call it.”

Jay checks his watch again. Being in here makes him nervous.

“Still an hour until open house,” he mutters. “I wish we could get drunk.”

Robert exhales deeply. He also wishes he could get drunk, but still, a job’s a job.

“I guess we should check to see if everything’s good to go.”

The men head into the living room. The beamed, slanted ceiling gives it a mid-century vibe, but the staging muddles the aura. Jay remembers making the call to the staging company. “Give us your spares,” he told them, “Whatever it is you’re not gonna miss. Nobody’ll ever buy this house anyway.” 

The result is eclectic – a mix of office furniture, neo-Tuscan McMansion garb, and stuffy waiting-room lamps, all scattered atop popcorn-butter shag carpeting. Hideous, Robert thinks. Then there’s the ‘entertaining’ room, which is a particular pain in the ass to them, because the carpet was so disgusting, they had to replace it with that fake wood floor just to be able to stand being in there for more than five minutes. There’s a heady stone fireplace on one wall, the kind they don’t make anymore, a hearth. Next to it, equally hedonistic, a full bar. Through some doors, a red-painted room with a pool table and paintings of girls in fedoras on the wall. It’s all so cheap, really. Jay pulls out a folded piece of paper out of his jacket pocket along with a pen. He ticks some boxes and moves on.

The dining room’s the worst to Robert. Somehow the ugly floral pattern on the curtains stretches up in bloomer-like into a frilly cornice, carried through to the wallpaper and the ceiling, inescapable, suffocating. It smells like mothballs and old fabric. The whole house smells like that. 

The master bedroom’s the most normal – if anything in this house could be called normal. Mismatched art and staging furniture crowd blank walls. When someone comes into a house, Jay told Robert all those years ago, they should be able to picture themselves living in it. That’s the goal of staging. 

There’s two more bedrooms. The men go through them quickly. The first isn’t so bad – claustrophobic, but acceptable – but the saccharine pink tuille wallpaper of the second gives Renault a sympathetic toothache. The pair return to the kitchen to wait.

Both men are itching to check their phones, but there’s no point – there’s no signal in here, none whatsoever. Renault, cynical to the core, thinks about marketing the house to the anti-5G people. It’s unsettlingly quiet. The two men have no choice but to entertain themselves the old-fashioned way, through small talk.

“It’s really fucked up, when you think about it,” Renault muses.

“What is?”

“The house, Bob.”

Robert hates being called Bob. He’s told Jay that hundreds of times, and yet…

“Yeah,” Robert mutters, annoyed.

“No, really. Like, imagine. You’re rich, you founded a major multinational company marketing hairbrushes to stay-at-home moms, and what do you decide to do with your money? Move to Vegas and build a fucking bunker. Like, imagine thinking the end of the world is just around the corner, forcing your poor wife to live there for ten, fifteen years, and then dying, a paranoid old man.” Renault finds the whole thing rather poetic. 

“The Russkies really got to poor ol’ Henderson, didn’t they?” Robert snickers.

“The wife’s more tragic if you ask me,” Renault drawls. “The second that batshit old coot died, she called a guy to build a front house on top of this one, since she already owned the lot. Poor woman probably hadn’t seen sunlight in God knows how long.”

“Surely they had to get groceries.”

Jay frowns. Robert has no sense of drama, he thinks. Bad trait for a realtor.

“Still,” he murmurs. “It’s sad.”

“I would have gotten a divorce, if I were her,” the younger man says, as though it were obvious. It’s Jay’s turn to laugh.

“I’ve had three of those, and trust me, it’s not as easy as you think.”

“You’re seeing some new girl now, aren’t you?” Robert doesn’t really care, he just knows Jay likes to talk about himself, and talking fills the time.  

“Yeah. Casino girl. Twenty-six.”

“And how old are you again?”

“None of your business.”

“Did you see the renderings I emailed to you?” Robert asks briskly, not wanting to discuss Jay’s sex life any further.

“What renderings?”

“Of this house, what it could look like.”

“Oh. Yeah.” Jay has not seen the renderings.

“If it were rezoned,” Robert continues, feeling very smart, “It could be a tourist attraction - put a nice visitor’s center on the lot, make it sleek and modern. Sell trinkets. It’s a nice parcel, close to the Strip - some clever investor could make it into a Museum of Ice Cream-type thing, you know?”

“Museum of Ice Cream?”

“In New York. It’s, not, like, educational or anything. Really, it’s just a bunch of colorful rooms where kids come to take pictures of themselves.”

“Instagram,” Jay mutters. “You know, I just sold a penthouse the other week to an Instagram influencer. Takes pictures of herself on the beach to sell face cream or some shit. Eight-point-two million dollars.”

“Jesus,” Robert whistles. “Fat commission.”

“You’re telling me. My oldest daughter turns sixteen this year. She’s getting a Mazda for Christmas.”

“You ever see that show, My Super Sweet Sixteen? On MTV? Where rich kids got, like, rappers to perform at their birthday parties? Every time at the end, some guy would pull up in, like, an Escalade with a big pink bow on it and all the kids would scream.”

“Sounds stupid,” Jay says.

“It was stupid.”

It’s Robert’s turn to check his watch, a dainty gold Rolex.

“Fuck, still thirty minutes.”

“Time really does stand still in here, doesn’t it?” Jay remarks.

“We should have left the office a little later,” Robert complains. “The charcuterie is going to get –“

A deafening sound roars through the house and a violent, explosive tremor throws both men on the ground, shakes the walls and everything between them. The power’s out for a few seconds before there’s a flicker, and light fills the room again. Two backup generators, reads Jay’s description in the listing - an appeal to the prepper demographic, which trends higher in income than non-preppers. For a moment, the only things either are conscious of are the harsh flourescent lighting and the ringing in their ears. Time slows, everything seems muted and too bright. Robert rubs the side of his face, pulls back his hand and sees blood.

“Christ,” he chokes out. “What the hell was that?”

“I don’t know,” Jay breathes, looking at his hands, trying to determine if he’s got a concussion. The results are inconclusive – everything’s slow and fuzzy, but after a moment, he thinks it might just be shock.

“It sounded like a fucking 747 just nosedived on top of us.” 

“Yeah, Jesus.” Jay’s still staring at his fingers in a daze. “You okay?”

“I think so,” Robert grumbles. Jay gives him a cursory examination.

“Nothing that needs stitches,” he reports bluntly. Robert’s relieved. His face sells a lot of houses to a lot of lonely women and a few lonely men. There’s a muffled whine, which the two men soon recognize as a throng of sirens. Both of them try to calm the panic rising in their chests, to no avail.

“Whatever the fuck happened,” Jay says, trying to make light of the situation, “At least we’re in here. The bunker.”

Fear forms in the whites of Robert’s eyes.

“What if we’re stuck in here,” he whispers, afraid to speak such a thing into the world. The fear spreads to his companion.

“Try the elevator,” Jay urges, and Robert gets up, wobbles a little as his head sorts itself out, and leaves. A moment later, Jay hears him swear a blue streak, and from the kitchen window, sees him standing before the closed metal doors, staring at his feet. His pulse racing, Renault jogs out to see for himself.

“It’s dead,” Robert murmurs. 

“Whatever happened,” Jay says cautiously, rubbing the back of his still-sore neck, “It must have been pretty bad. Like, I don’t think we should go up yet. Besides, surely the office knows we’re still down here.”

“Right, right,” the younger man breathes, trying to reassure himself.

“Let’s just wait it out. I’m sure everything’s fine.” The way Jay says it does not make Robert feel any better. 

“Okay,” the younger man grumbles. “I’m getting a fucking drink, though.”

“Yeah, Jesus. That’s the best idea you’ve had all day.” Renault shoves his hands in his suit pocket to keep them from trembling.  

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[bratz-kitten]

Hello there love, a fellow 11th house mercury here! just saw a post where you talked a little about that placement and it was the most accurate thing I’ve ever read hahaha so my question is if you could elaborate a little bc i find it a little hard to understand that placement. my mercury is sadly also in retrograde in my chart so that doesn’t make things easier…

thank you so much!! much love xxx

okay so, for reference, i touched a bit on mercury in the 11th house here and here (which was mostly about mercury in the 12th house anyway), but the biggest point i made there was that this mercury makes you someone who needs constant intellectual stimulation, we have very restless thoughts and it can be maddening sometimes because our brains just don't shut up... ever. which is why we need to be engaging in conversation so much or at least letting our thoughts out some other way, in a blog, for example (take it from me lmfao). it's interesting that the 11th house rules technology as well as social circles, because it sure feels like we have a non-stop podcast in our minds. like, the only time where i feel like my brain is experiencing a moment of peace is afterward a really intense conversation, when i get to debate my ideas with someone who's just as passionate (and slightly insane) as me.

that being said, we prefer to keep conversation light-hearted and fun. this house for mercury shows an ease when it comes to talking with whoever, so you might have a lot of acquaintances. you might even feel like wherever you go, everyone knows your name and it can be a very unsettling feeling at times. as in, you get introduced to a group of people you've never met before but somehow they all know who you are, so you might experience people gossiping a lot about you, making up rumors that get widely spread; people make all kinds of assumptions about you. that's because even though you know a lot of people, you keep the conversation purposely superficial and only open up to like three people, if that much.

now, keep in mind that this is a double-edged sword: not only do people gossip a lot about people, but you tend to gossip as well. even if you tell yourself it's light-hearted and you only do it with your closest friends, it can be too much at times, and it's very easy to cross the line of "i'm just curious" to being downright shitty, and you need to watch out for what comes out of your mouth because you do stress a lot about having good morals.

you possess a lot of social intelligence and you might be very aware of that, using it in everyday matters – when you enter a group, you start observing the dynamics that play between everyone: who talks the most with who, who feels the most or less comfortable with who, who's still only acquaintances and who's falling in love but doesn't know it yet; you observe all of that and start taking mental notes about people's behaviors: the way they talk, their humor (especially if they laugh at the expense of others or not), if they overshare, what they leave unsaid; you take in all of that and that's your way of getting to know people so that you can start predicting their behavior. like i said, you find it very hard to trust others enough to open up so you make others prove themselves before you do so. in friendships, this is less biting, as in you don't just walk up to someone and go like hey prove me of your worth lmfao, you simply start observing their actions and if they pass the vibe check, they're in.

the problem starts in your romantic relationships – this is where you make someone prove themselves again and again that they're deserving of your trust and loyalty as you continuously doubt them. and suddenly, this isn't the dating stage; it's like your potential partner is harry potter going through the triwizard tournament just to get the prize of 10% of your trust. and it's, like, no. stop it. you can't expect people to drop everything to offer you the world while you're hesitant about even holding their hand in public. that's self-sabotaging and it's just a way for you to ensure that you don't get too intimate with people, that you don't reveal too much of yourself. relationships are about the equality between giving and taking, and you can sometimes be caught up in wanting to receive before even considering giving.

the best way i can put this is through an example: kim kardashian has her mercury in the 11th house. so, it's no wonder that this mercury makes someone really fucking ambitious, sometimes even without you realizing. the 11th house rules dreams and humanity as a whole, so you might be constantly in tune with your dreams and finding a way to get yourself further to them. like i said, this can be unconscious at times; perhaps you take on a small project that's meant to be fun and insignificant but suddenly it blows up out of proportion, suddenly your whole life revolves around it and you're getting recognized for it. you can be very calculating and borderline manipulative at times since you're so focused on trying to control the circumstances around you. not even just in real life, perhaps when you're playing video games you find yourself focusing a lot of your attention on understanding the characters and their motivations; and then, when you meet someone who feels shady as fuck and who looks like they could betray you, your thinking process isn't how can i stop this person from betraying me, it's how can i use this person's betrayal to my advantage. it's like, jesus christ on steroids lmfao. you have a talent for turning difficult situations into the diamond in the rough, for thriving when facing obstacles.

you're very cynical about your friendships, you understand that most people don't have good intentions and you're likely to make a clear distinction between party friends and actual friends. the first group are the people who you have casual fun with, who you do stupid shit with and who perhaps you engage with to keep up appearances or further your connections, while the second group are the actual people who you'd ride or die for, and those are scarce.

here, there's a yearning for actual friendships present even through your fear of doing so, and you might find yourself getting occupied with issues of the 11th house: philosophy, metaphysics, individuality vs. humanity as a whole, freedom, moral issues – for you, nothing is taboo enough, just like nothing is progressive or out-of-the-box enough. my advice for people with this placement is to read the greeks. seriously, hearing plato spend a whole book discussing what is morality is like our wet dream. you love debating especially with your friends, and if you can't talk with someone for hours and hours on end with the conversation never once stalling, then they're not fit to be your friends at all. besides this, you might be very drawn to politics, power, any knowledge that helps you achieve your dreams.

you have big dreams and you might feel a strong calling to help as many people as possible, to save the world, to have your voice be heard. your goals might be downright inconceivable to some people, so you can feel ostracized by the members of the community where you live: perhaps your parents and other family members don't believe in you and would rather you just stick to the plan they forged for you; perhaps you were forced into choosing between their path or yours; no matter what, the choice lies in your hands and so does the power to achieve whatever you desire.

[benjaminmoorepaint]

red: the color of...grantaire?

Figured I might do another meta post like the one I did for Marius to address the myths and misconceptions surrounding certain characters, so it's Grantaire's turn!

I'm sure we all know Grantaire quite well...a sensitive starving artist, with his Apollo as his muse, and a cynic who pragmatically points out the flaws in Enjolras's idealism, which they quarrel over.

Let's unpack that!

Grantaire is most likely middle class if not wealthy, he is certainly not poor. We don't know what he's studying (if he's studying at all) but he is nevertheless a quintessentially Parisian bourgeoise "student", much like Bahorel. "A rover, a gambler, a libertine..." As the foil of "severe in his enjoyments" Enjolras, Grantaire is a pleasure-seeker, indulging in the excesses that Enjolras disdains.

Again, though we don't know what Grantaire is studying (and I suspect he's just Bahorel-ing it) he's clearly an educated man, judging by the references he throws into his speeches, and he mentions that he once was a student of Gros.

So is he really an artist? He might have been an apprentice at some point, but it's clear he was not particularly enthused by it. After all, discipline is something that Grantaire…lacks. And because it's Grantaire, you can't completely discount the idea that he made it up just for a pun (though I do find that unlikely.) But it's a triple (quadruple?) play--it's important not to take this quote too far out of context because he's actually saying several things here.

It is a shame that I am ignorant, otherwise I would quote to you a mass of things; but I know nothing. For instance, I have always been witty; when I was a pupil of Gros, instead of daubing wretched little pictures, I passed my time in pilfering apples; rapin is the masculine of rapine. So much for myself; as for the rest of you, you are worth no more than I am. I scoff at your perfections, excellencies, and qualities. Every good quality tends towards a defect [...] there are just as many vices in virtue as there are holes in Diogenes’ cloak.

Gros was a well-known neoclassical painter of the time, and I believe Hugo's inclusion of him here is a jab at the neoclassicists, as Grantaire doesn't seem to care for him.

There's a pun! "Rapin"--term for a painter's assistant--is the masculine of "rapine"--to steal.

So he likely means he stole the apples intended to be painted for a still life, which fits his careless attitude... but he's ironically putting himself down for it too, and at the same time

putting his companions down, saying they're no better than him even if they do have more "good" qualities because each good quality has a corresponding downside, so what's the point, really?

You can see that even in this small sample of his speech that Grantaire often has layers upon layers of meaning in what he says. He's a smart guy! But that means you can't always take what he says at face value, as Hugo says, he's constantly "reasoning and contradicting" himself. So let me invite you further down into what I think his real meaning is here (though now firmly into the depths of my own conjecture, so others may have different interpretations.)

I would speculate that "the rest of you" who he professes to mock refers mostly to a specific person, you can probably guess who. After all, Enjolras is surely the paragon of virtue among them, and you could certainly argue that his good qualities edge on being flaws. I think Grantaire is right about that, and it's a sort of theme we see pop up again and again--the Bishop's generosity does hurt the women he lives with, Valjean's self-sacrifice hurts Cosette, and Javert is someone who's tipped all the way over to his virtues being vices.

But like, man, come on. Seriously. "I scoff at your perfections, excellencies, and qualities." Dude. We all know that you're obsessed with this man.

And you might notice that this is just a whole lot of Grantaire talking and talking over people, never letting anyone else get a word in. It's not a debate, Grantaire never actually debates anyone, let alone Enjolras. The idea of Grantaire debating Enjolras and making him see the flaws in his idealistic revolution is wholly a fandom invention.

The closest we get, really, is Grantaire trying to convince Enjolras to send him to the Barriere du Maine...and Grantaire doesn't come out of that looking so good.

“Do you know anything of those comrades who meet at Richefeu’s?”

“Not much. We only address each other as tu.”

“What will you say to them?”

“I will speak to them of Robespierre, pardi! Of Danton. Of principles.”

“You?”

“I. But I don’t receive justice. When I set about it, I am terrible. I have read Prudhomme, I know the Social Contract, I know my constitution of the year Two by heart. ‘The liberty of one citizen ends where the liberty of another citizen begins.’ Do you take me for a brute? I have an old bank-bill of the Republic in my drawer. The Rights of Man, the sovereignty of the people, sapristi! I am even a bit of a Hébertist. I can talk the most superb twaddle for six hours by the clock, watch in hand.”

I won't bother going too in-depth here since you're probably familiar with all this--Grantaire talks a big game and then fails to follow through. And we see one of two red waistcoats mentioned, neither of which are worn by Enjolras.

Grantaire lived in furnished lodgings very near the Café Musain. He went out, and five minutes later he returned. He had gone home to put on a Robespierre waistcoat.

“Red,” said he as he entered, and he looked intently at Enjolras. Then, with the palm of his energetic hand, he laid the two scarlet points of the waistcoat across his breast.

So yeah, it's actually Grantaire who wears red, at least canonically! I know their popular red/green color scheme comes from the musical, but it might be fun to reverse it sometimes...I think Enjolras would look great in a nice emerald green, and he'd be more likely to wear that, actually.

Why? A red waistcoat like would be a very obvious, in-your-face political statement--perfect for Bahorel, the other red waistcoat wearer, but Enjolras is actually a lot more reserved and less reckless than fandom sometimes makes him out to be. Wearing something that blatant isn't really his style.

The real question is, why does Grantaire, of all people, own one? Why has he read Prudhomme and the Social Contract and the Rights of Man?

Grantaire is not a super sympathetic character. He's a man of means, talent, intelligence...and he wastes those gifts and privileges on doing nothing, he has no aims in life, he does not aspire to do better or make the world better. He may be Enjolras's foil but I would also contrast him with Feuilly, who has spent his life dedicated to improving himself and the world despite the challenges he's faced. He's obnoxious to women, denigrates his friends for their beliefs, and is generally useless. He's given the opportunity to change and he squanders it. He's not so much cynical (because that's a belief) as he is indifferent, which is arguably worse. His indifference can certainly be read as symbolic within the group, their belief versus the apathy of the world.

But, layers upon layers...Grantaire does have a good heart hiding underneath all that. What I've been getting at all along here is that he does care; he may say he doesn't, he may even believe he doesn't, but he does, clearly, care. He says he hates mankind; he loves people. He says he scoffs at his companions; he admires them. He declares himself indifferent, yet he can't help but talk about the sufferings of the world.

Which isn't to say that simply caring absolves him of anything. Up to this point, he's still just been a useless layabout. What does absolve him (narratively speaking) is the first time, possibly the first time in his life, that he chooses to act. He chooses to take a stand. And this transfigures him, as Hugo says.

Grantaire had risen. The immense gleam of the whole combat which he had missed, and in which he had had no part, appeared in the brilliant glance of the transfigured drunken man.

At the last moment, he chooses to believe, and Enjolras finally accepts him.

One last thing: Grantaire never calls Enjolras "Apollo". Furthermore, he's actually the only one who couldn't have called him "Apollo". The only line where this nickname is mentioned is as follows:

It was of him, possibly, that a witness spoke afterwards, before the council of war: “There was an insurgent whom I heard called Apollo.”

Who could have called him that? Not Grantaire, he was fast asleep during the whole thing. So I choose to believe it was Prouvaire…he would.