#and everyone has said everything there is to be said about this show I just will never be normal about it sorry

[cosmosluckycharms]

Show☆Time

this night has opened my eyes

After a while of you sobbing quietly on the floor of your room, you finally got up and locked in.

First off, you changed out of your performer costume into a more casual outfit.

Your performer costume was soaked from the water, so you hung it up to dry and clean later.

You needed a plan

so you started a plan.

You had lots of ideas planned out. All of which were very elaborate.

Different ways to get them all together to make amends, different ways for them to talk, plans to make everyone apologize and get together to become a troop.

You get out your comically large whiteboard and regular-sized markers and start planning on what to do.

You spend a couple of hours finding ideas, only for you to keep running into problems.

You didn't know what to do.

You were stuck.

You decided to just walk to the park to tell Tsukasa you would have to quit, it was nearby anyway.

Walking out of the manor wasn't hard, they wouldn't notice you walking out. They were away at whatever rich people jobs they had.

You never saw them at night, and you never understood why.

As you made your way to the theme park, you tried to make yourself as small as possible to not get seen by anyone bad.

You tried to calm your nerves by thinking of memories to keep your mind off the whole situation.

You think about how one time when you were younger, around 10 years old, while getting up to get water you saw Nightwing in costume in the kitchen.

You saw as he froze like he was shocked to see you walk in.

You smiled at him and waved, you were half asleep and assumed he was a hallucination.

He waved and smiled back to you and you just walked back to your room.

For a while, you assumed that either Nightwing was coming into the manor to steal something, or he was just visiting.

Either that or you were dreaming.

You assumed you were dreaming.

You smiled at the memory. Nightwing has been one of your favorite vigilantes since you were younger.

You liked how his smile seemed to light up the room.

You liked how his smile reminded you of your older brother, Dick's smile.

You wanted to smile like Nightwing and Dick.

You were close to the park when you saw a red hood on a rooftop.

You saw him watching you, somewhat menacingly.

You get scared for a moment, You've heard stories about the crime lord and the people he's killed.

Sure, they were bad people and you had never done anything bad, but you could never be too sure!

You smiled and waved to him, which caught him slightly by surprise. Usually, people didn't smile and wave at someone they were scared of.

You walked a little faster, you needed to hurry before it was too late at night.

The park closes at 9, and it was now 8:26 pm.

You didn't notice how Red Hood kept watching you.

You didn't notice how he started coming towards you.

As soon as he got within 7 feet behind you, you could sense him.

You spun around dramatically to look at him.

You waved to him, again. "Hii!" You said excitedly, hoping this interaction will take your mind off everything. You realized you did not sound as excited as you usually did, probably from the sadness you felt.

"You look happy," He said walking towards you.

He didn't know why he felt the need to talk to you. He had never even had a conversation with you.

"Not really." You looked down at your feet, slightly sad.

You see him sitting down on a bench nearby and patting the seat next to him.

"Well, what's up?" He asks as you sit down next to him.

"What do you mean?" you asked, your leg shaking from nervousness.

Were you in trouble? Had you done something wrong? Why was he stopping you? Didnt he have people to fight?

"I mean, you look upset," He said, pointing out the obvious.

You started explaining everything to him.

About how you started a group and how it fell apart.

"I don't know what to do. I was just on my way to tell my friend I was gonna quit. It's no use to keep trying." You said while having your head in your hands and trying not to cry.

Jason didn't understand.

You usually weren't like this.

You usually wouldn't quit.

You were the type of person to keep going no matter what.

He's seen you fall down and get up likr it was nothing!

He leaned up against the railing of the bench. "Well, why would you quit?"

"What do you mean?" You asked as you lifted your head from your hands.

"I mean, why quit when you're almost there? All you have to do is go to the park, find them, and tell them to keep going. encourage them like you encouraged others." You watched as he stretched a little.

You thought about it for a minute.

"Plus, wouldn't you want to keep going for your grandfather? he would want you to keep going, right?"

He was right.

You had to keep going.

You had to go ahead and convince Tsukasa to apologize to Nene and Rui.

You had to convince them all to stay together.

You got up from the bench.

"Thank you for everything, Mr. Red Hood!" you waved bye to him and started running towards the theme park.

You checked the time on your phone.

8:47 PM

If you ran fast enough, you could probably make it in time to find Tsukasa and make him apologize!

So you ran.

You ran and ran like there was no tomorrow.

When you finally got to the park, you stopped for a second to try and find Tsukasa.

You find him packing his stuff up on the stage, and he has also already taken off his performer costume.

You grabbed him by the shoulders and practically yelled to him "TSUKASA- WENEEDTOGETTHEGROUPBACKTOGETETHERANDANDAND-!" You talked too fast. You made no sense. You were scared and nervous.

"Y-Y/N! Slow down! I can't understand you!" Tsukasa said, his head feeling like it was spinning.

You took a deep breath and started yelling again, this time you accidentally shook him violently. "WE NEED THE GROUP BACK TOGETHER! We need to create smiles! Us breaking up was a dumb idea!" Your eyes were slightly teary, you were passionate about this.

It took a couple of minutes of you convincing Tsukasa (and apologizing for shaking him and leaving him dizzy) before you guys went to look for Nene and Rui.

When you guys finally found them, the park was about to close for the night. You guys had to hurry.

Nene and Tsukasa apologized to each other, Nene for ruining the show and Tsukasa for yelling at her.

Rui was holding a slight grudge, which makes sense, but you were sad about it.

It took all 3 of you to convince him to come back to the stage and forgive Tsukasa, and it worked!

You all got kicked out of the park for the day because technically you guys were trespassing, so you 3 parted ways and went home.

While walking home, you started thinking about your day.

You liked thinking about it, it made you feel like you were living through it again.

You realized you had never told Mr.Red Hood about your grandpa.

How did he know about that?

oh god rhis was so short sorry

PLEASE why do i keep accidentally neglecting emu reader hi guys

also jasons prolly ooc sorru

taglist:@shirp-collector-of-fixations @maybeethan69 @iluvcatzz @tacendxx @ninihrtss @tsxukikami @d3sperate-enuf @staarflowerr @chaoticmoontimetravel @crazycaoticsimp @sugarrush-blush @kaitense1 @ryuushou

[steveseddie]

happily ever after

written for the @steddiebingo kissing booth mini event | prompt: happy ending | rating: t | wc: 1,7k | no cw | tags: pre-relationship, oblivious steve, dungeons & dragons, love confessions

read on ao3

Steve doesn’t know when it happens but at some point, he stops hating Dungeons & Dragons.

He still calls it anything but its actual name to the kids’ faces, and he still bitches and moans about having to drive them to and from their stupid meetings, but he can admit that he kind of likes it, at least to himself.

Definitely not enough to play it. He still believes there’s way too much math involved and he gets a headache just thinking about memorizing an entire character sheet, but he does enjoy it enough to sit and watch the kids and Eddie play.

Eddie is also probably a big part of why Steve started liking it. He has a way of making everything interesting. His voices, the way he insists on randomly jumping on his chair or shooting up to his feet, and the twists and turns he weaves into a story so expertly.

There’s also the fact that Steve is head over heels for him and sitting through one of their games is the perfect excuse to stare at him all he wants.

Realistically, he can’t be at every one of them. He has a job and a tiny shred of reputation to maintain. He can’t be seen dedicating all his free time to a game for nerds.

He can, however, dedicate his Friday night to it when Eddie invites him over for the big finale of their latest campaign.

“It’s going to be great, Stevie, I’m telling you!” Eddie says, his eyes sparkling with excitement. “You can’t miss it!”

“I won’t, Eds, I promise,” Steve tells him, trying not to show just how easy it is for Eddie to get him to agree to anything.

The big finale does end up being great. The kids spend the whole time sitting at the edge of their seats and Eddie delivers twist after twist until finally the legendary sword is found, the kingdom is saved and everyone lives happily ever after.

Or maybe not everyone.

There’s something that stays with Steve even after Eddie dramatically announces it’s the end, but he doesn’t get to ask him about it until two days later when they’re hanging out at the trailer.

Steve is sprawled on the bed, leafing through a sports magazine he swiped from Wayne’s stuff and Eddie is pretending to organize his desk. In reality, he’s spent the last twenty minutes playing with a rubber ball he found among his things.

“Hey, Eds,” Steve says just as Eddie throws the ball toward the ceiling. He turns his attention to Steve and forgets about the ball, which bounces against his face.

“Ow! Shit!” He swears, rubbing at his eye. Steve stifles his laughter behind the magazine. “What’s– what’s up, Stevie?”

“Can I ask you a question about Dorks & Dweebs?”

At that, Eddie snaps to attention. His eyes are wide and one of them is a little red from the ball hitting it. “Steve Harrington, did you just say you want to ask me about Dungeons & Dragons?”

“I said Dorks & Dweebs, but yes.”

“I don’t even care that you refuse to call it by the proper name,” Eddie chuckles disbelievingly, then he jumps to his feet and joins Steve on the bed, a big grin on his face. “Holy shit, yes! Of course, ask me anything you want!”

Steve can’t help but chuckle at Eddie’s excitement. The way he rests his chin on his hands and stares expectantly at Steve like this is the most amazing thing to happen to him. It’s very cute. “Okay, you weirdo,” he says, his voice dripping with fondness. “At the end of your last game–”

“Campaign.”

Steve waves him off. “At the end of that, what happened to the singer guy? The bard? Uh, Everard?”

Tilting his head, Eddie asks, “What?”

“You know, the– the guy that helped the kids– uh, the party find the legendary sword. The EMT or whatever.”

Eddie’s mouth twitches amusedly. “The NPC.”

“Yeah, that.”

“Well,” he says, scratching his head. “He died.”

“What? Why?”

“Because he got mauled by carrion crawlers, Steve.”

“You got mauled by bats and you lived!” Steve argues. Eddie’s nose scrunches up, most likely at the mention of his near death. “Couldn’t one of the kids have used like, a healing spell or something?”

Eddie taps his lip with his finger, thinking it over. Steve can’t help but follow the movement with his eyes.

“I guess they could but– he’s not important, man, he’s just there to help them find the sword.”

Steve averts his eyes from Eddie’s lips and crosses his arms over his chest. “If he’s not important then it doesn’t matter if he lives, right?”

“Okay, sure,” he snorts. “He can live if you like him so much.”

“Good,” Steve says, nodding. Eddie rolls onto his back, probably assuming the conversation is over but there’s something else Steve has been wondering about. “Does he go back to the princess?”

Eddie’s whole body visibly tenses up. “W–what?”

“Everard is in love with Princess Soliana, right? Does he tell her?”

“No,” Eddie says, his voice sharp.

“Why not?”

Eddie groans, sitting up on the bed so he’s facing away from Steve. “Because that’s not relevant to the campaign!”

“It’s relevant to me,” Steve huffs stubbornly.

“Why?”

Because Steve is a romantic and from the first time Eddie mentioned this NPC or whatever, Steve felt drawn to him for some reason. It might sound stupid, he’s just a character after all, but Steve wants him to be happy. “Because Everard loves her.”

“So?” Eddie snaps, “there are things even love can’t fix.”

Steve rolls his eyes. “In real life, maybe, but in fantasy, man? Anything can happen.”

“That can’t,” he grumbles. He still won’t face Steve, his shoulders hunched over.

“But why?”

“Because!” Eddie snaps, finally turning around. His face is pinched, his lips pursed. “Bards don’t marry princesses, Steve!”

“Says who?”

“Me, and I’m the DM so I make the rules.”

“Which means you can change them, give them a happy ending!”

Eddie drags his hands down his face. “There’s no happy ending for Everard, Steve. He knows that. He’s not the hero who gets the princess, he’s the sorry son of a bitch who almost dies. Even if he lives, he won’t do it. He won’t risk the friend– the kingdom when he knows the princess doesn’t love him back.” He says all of that through gritted teeth, and his voice sounds sad like– like he knows what he’s talking about.

“She’s royalty, Steve. She’s beautiful, she’s brave,” Eddie goes on, his eyes boring into Steve with an intensity that makes him shiver. “And he’s– he’s no one and he’s broken and– and scarred, and–-”

“You,” Steve whispers as the realization hits. “He’s you.”

Eddie’s mouth snaps shut. He gulps, but he doesn’t deny it. He can’t. Now that Steve knows it’s so obvious. The similar name, Everard’s funny and flirty personality, the way he joins the party later in the campaign, and how he’s mauled by creatures trying to save them.

And if that’s Eddie then–

“The princess is me.”

Eddie lets out a sigh, his shoulders slumping. “Finally caught on, didn’t you, Stevie?”

“You– you based those characters off of us?”

“Yeah.”

Steve’s eyebrows knit together. “But you killed Everard.”

Eddie shrugs. “Yeah, well. I took some liberties, I didn’t want to make it too obvious, you know? And I did die for like a couple of minutes, so–”

“But the part about Everard being in love with the princess. Did you take liberties with that?” Steve asks quietly, holding his breath as he waits for Eddie’s answer.

“No,” he says, ducking his head, his hair falling over his face. “That part was accurate.”

The admission makes Steve’s heart try to beat out of his chest. “You– you love me?” He asks with a shaky voice.

“I do,” Eddie says, his big doe eyes finally meeting Steve’s gaze. “But I meant what I said. Everard wouldn’t risk anything, not when I know– when he knows you– the princess doesn’t want him.”

Eddie’s eyes are sad and pleading, like he’s begging Steve not to be mad at him. But Steve is mad. Just not for the reason that Eddie thinks.

“You don’t know that,” he says, frowning.

“I told you–”

“You told me what Everard thinks, now let me tell you what the princess thinks,” Steve says, shutting Eddie up. “She doesn’t think Everard is broken, she thinks he’s strong. He might be scarred, but so is she. And– and he’s beautiful too! Maybe she never thought she could fall in love with a guy– with someone like him but she loves him, Eddie.” He reaches for Eddie’s hand on the bed. It’s shaking. Steve squeezes it. “And I love you.”

Eddie’s jaw goes slack. “Steve–”

“That’s Princess Soliana for you,” Steve tells him, trying to lighten the mood.

It works. A joyful, high-pitched laugh tumbles from Eddie’s lips. “Yes, Your Majesty,” he agrees with a giddy chuckle. “I– did you– do you mean it?”

Another squeeze. “Of course, Eds.”

With his free hand, Eddie grabs a lock of his own hair and tugs it across his face to try and hide the blush creeping onto his cheeks and that just won’t do. Steve uses his hand to tuck the hair back behind Eddie’s ear. “So, now that Everard knows this, what’s he going to do?”

Eddie doesn’t even need to think about it. His eyes instantly dart down to Steve’s mouth. “He’s going to kiss the princess,” he says, his jaw set in determination.

Warmth shoots through Steve’s body, the corners of his mouth curl upwards. “Good,” he says, and then Eddie is pulling him in by his shirt, their lips crashing together in a kiss. Steve’s hand finds its way to the back of Eddie’s neck so he can keep him in place, kissing him back for what feels like hours but is probably only minutes.

“I guess– hmph, I guess Everard did get his happy ending after all,” Eddie mumbles against Steve’s lips after some time. “And so did I.”

Steve’s face splits into a grin. “Nah, Eds, this might be the end for them,” he says, pushing at Eddie’s shoulders until his back hits the bed and he can climb on top of him. “For us, it’s only the beginning.”

[velvetvexations]

Seeing the whole "let's just mock vaginas to trigger the TMEs" thing being painted as feminist is making me lose it because not only everything everyone has already said, but also are they aware that society is so vagina-phobic that if you show someone with a penis getting off you can squeeze by with a PG-13 rating, but if you show someone with a vagina getting off it's immediately a hard R. This used to be feminism 101, people talked about how it's ridiculous that vaginas are considered obscene in a way penises are not quite often and there was something of a push to change it, but eventually I guess everyone turned into anti-sex puritans and we stopped caring that showcasing a specific type of sexual expirience is punished so harshly you basically can't depict it at all(unless it's something like Deadpool or 50 Shades where an R is expected most movie studios will fight tooth and nail to get a movie to be PG-13 up to and including removing any depiction of people with vaginas experiencing sexual pleasure) so yeah saying "let's all start acting like vaginas are disgusting as a gotcha" shows that the people speaking are completely ignorant of feminist history and the issues we have always been fighting to address.

I've also literally seen TERFs use the demonization of vaginas to justify being that way about penises. It's a radfem loop lol.

[panelshowsource]

i have a lot of episode requests i'm working on so i'll make another post with those shortly!

———

this is such a fun question — i wish i had an answer! most of my "conspiracy theories" have more to do with certain comedians being misunderstood (in both good and bad ways), as people tend to want to like who they like and hate who they hate out of selfishness that is somewhat at odds with reality. at times. like, for example, not a lot of people want to talk about how many comedians actually didn't like sean lock at all in the early 00s because of how cutthroat and competitive he was on panel shows (mock the week flashbacks, anyone?); we don't enjoy thinking about that because, as fans, we all like sean and think he was a hilarious, honest, decent person. i could talk more about this but tbh defending someone i think people misunderstand or tearing down someone people love is kinda...not the kind of discourse i'm trying to do on this website 😅 anyways, that's where most of my theories lie (that and dating theories? maybe?), but that's not enough to call them conspiracy theories ig? this isn't a conspiracy theory, right? because i so passionately believe everything i said there hahahaha

do you have any you'd share? 👀🌀

i think argumental is probably the most underrated to me, because as much as...no one...talks about shows like duck quacks don't echo and rhod gilbert's growing pains, they've had enough high-profile or just popular-within-britcom guests that people have checked them out even for just one specific episode. but i feel like no one has watched argumental!!!!!!! which, i get it, it's a lot of straight white guys standing around doing fake mainsplaining lol (please remember that before, like, 5 years ago, that's about all panel shows were) but i think the premise of impromptu debate is really funny, some of the formats really bamboozle the debaters which leads to funny banter and improv, and it was so fun to see sean lock in menace mode as host 😋

i can't say it's the best ever made or anything — because, like series like there's something about movies (jennifer saunders i love you!!!!), rob beckett's smart tv, etc it's just two opposite panels answering kinda boring questions — but if you love david tennant and i know you do because everyone rightly does then you should try comedy world cup! he's such a wonderful host and there are a lot of panel show faves as guests

and on the topic of meh-to-decent formats with A+ hosts and big name panels, have you ever tried was it something i said or insert name here? they each have their moments for sure, i think a lot of people wanted to see wisis come back (maybe we're all just obsessed with david 🤷‍♀️)

you MUST listen to the unbelievable truth if you haven't, it's such a stellar radio show

another required panel experience is the recent series guy mont spelling bee and i'm holding a gun to your head when i say this watch it and watch it right now

as many of you know i'm not a fan of a league of their own but the road trip series are def some of the better episodes so if you like the panelists you can check that out for sure

does that help a little? tbh most of what i WANT to recommend isn't panel shows but scripted series or tangential reality shows (like travel man), but you asked about panel shows specifically so i stuck with them!

i haven't, and i surprise myself because lil savage was so iconic and i am sure i scrolled past her era a bunch of times back in the day. i'd give it a try if an episode had the right amalgamation of guests, so i'll check it out!!

omg there are so many moments from so many series — and i added quite a few to these random panel shows moments posts i did last year so i'll try not to repeat myself — but let me rack my brain real quick...

as i always say THIS is my favourite wilty clip ever and i stand by that

david the tortoise

yoshi the actual tortoise

"if this turns out to be a lie you are a shamless little light entertainer"

tell 'em david!! cuz she really does have horrible views lol

the elephant :/

for the last six months i've been secretly liasing with david's wife behind his bak

obviously the horse story

omg and the THERE'S NOOOOOO UNIVERSITY story

and on the topic of classics this was always my bob mortimer fave maybe because of the genuine awe of the panel in the end lol

and on the topic of genuine awe definitely this one

this miles jupp car crash

bermuda

i love rhod's potato tattoo and it's so funny that denise is like 'why have you got that??' so sincerely she was so astounded lmaooo

i was genuinely invited to harry and megan's wedding today but i said no because i had to come here and do this

i once shared a tent in kent with susie dent

another recent fave is this adorable one<3

oh man anon there are soooo many more maybe i can work on a masterpost of both funny moments funny whole lies/truths, or a youtube video or something (i said i'd get back into making videos). did i mention even one of your faves?? hehehe

omg anon you must watch this if you haven't the ben whishaw obsession is NOT a drill

he also talks about it in his book!

god he's so relatable

OMG I DID the nostalgia...

the way they didn't want to just talk about popworld but they didn't go one whole minute without saying popworld hahahaha they're soooooo cute

richard the popworld horse mentioned!!!!!!!

miquita being a whole child when she got cast for popworld, like it's so wild to think about

"has it been clear from what we've discussed that i'm a reclusive genius and master of cinema?" + "we pretended to be pretentious directors in berets...and i have become that guy now"

i know they were 98% kidding but the 2% of them that would go through with the popworld baby?? CAN YOU IMAGINE

you can't be surprised that a guy who wears false teeth in the name of absurd comedy for a living enjoyed a film about a man who wears false teeth in the name of absurd comedy!

a friend of mine gifted me a while of nordvpn, so that's what i've been using lately, but it depends what you need a vpn for. for example, if you're torrenting and need to seed content (for ratios or whatever), you'll need something with port forwarding like airvpn. if you're just trying to find something to switch between countries' netflixes or abuse streaming services, surfshark is very popular but i'd say expressvpn comes more highly recommended. once you pick the vpn you'd like to use, it's easy to find tutorials on youtube!

aww you're too kind 🥹🫂

———

☆ FAQ ➜ PANEL SHOW WATCH LINKS • NON-PANEL SHOW WATCH LINKS ♥ https://ko-fi.com/panelshowsource

[butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway]

Truthfully, one of the BIGGEST pieces of community organizing I do is just. Conversation.

Not even political conversation. Just normal social bonding activities and topics!

I bring spare herbs and eggs to the neighbors and ask after their kids and grandkids. I show up at the market and shittalk the weather with the folks staffing the stalls. I tell cashiers I like their style and ask if they remember where they got any of the pieces. I wave to the neighborhood children when I'm out with them and teach them how to cue my dogs with treats so they can safely pet the furballs. Whenever I swing by the 24hr diner in town, I chat up the waittress who always seems to be the only person working the floor, and I ask after her health and if she's getting enough time off her feet because I can tell no one else does.

I have no idea at the time if any of these conversations will bear fruit. But it is absolutely fucking critical that I inform you I am a visibly trans dyke with a buzzcut whose built like a brick shithouse even before I put on my four inch heels. I walk around town like this every single day of my life. I have shown up in everything from my most schlubby fuckboi sweatsuits, to my strut "of shame" outfits the night after a hook up, to full on "leather dyke about to go fuck something up", to "farm hand of questionable gender and even more questionable ethics about fucking the rancher's wife and daughters.

It does not matter how I look, people in town light up when they see me. They get excited to talk to me, to hear what I've been up to, and to tell me what's going on with them. Sometimes they even broach topics that they clearly understand we disagree on. I always let them reach across and open that door themselves. I don't affirm or agree with anything they might say before this point that I find inappropriate, but I don't argue either. I use what I learned as a "soft conversation closer" that essentially communicates to others "we can continue to talk, but it won't be about this. If you continue anyway, the conversation ends until we can talk about something else.

But like I said, eventually these people always manage to muster their courage. "[Redacted]," they ask, hesitantly, "have you heard about [insert fascist talking point]? It feels really big and present on the mind lately." And I say "why yes I have, and I agree, it HAS been big and on the mind lately. After all [insert appropriate de-radicalization/innoculation talking point]." And they look confused and repeat a phrase full of buzzeords they assume is a counter argument. At this point, *I* look confused and say "I don't think I understand what you mean. I'm a bit tired today so I might be misunderstanding you, but it sounds like you're saying [rephrased version of their talking point minus the buzzwords and plus some acknowledgement of the latent dogwhistles and indoctrination they relied on]. Could I ask you to try again and see if I have an easier time following your perspective?"

There is usually a pause as they wrestle with how to respond to this. Three outcomes split off from here

1) they really do rephrase their genuine concerns sans buzzwords and dogwhistles and we get to have a real and substantive conversation about our needs and shared humanity

2) they get angry that I will not simply change my mind in response to hearing their retort. This is a person to whom I say "it sounds like you feel really strongly about this and aren't comfortable with the idea that we disagree. Why don't we set this down for now, after all if anything changes we can always come back to it." And then I refuse to talk about it with them again until they can have the conversation with me without getting excessively angry.

3) they simply decide not to continue the conversation themselves because they either don't know how to or recognize that it would be unproductive in the moment to try.

Now I'm definitely not suggesting that everyone can or should do this. But there are so many ways every day we have to offer a glimpse of our humanity to people who need to know that it exists. If we are comfortably capable of doing this, it can be literally life saving, not just of the person you're talking to, but of dehumanized people in their future who may depend on that person being able to make a different choice than they would make now.

You do not need to be able to debate politics to do this. You can simply be human in other people's presence.

It will not shock me to learn that the isolationism of the world since the early pandemic has likely played a huge role in how vulnerable many people are right now to different kinds of radicalization and authoritarianism, and while I have incredible empathy for how burnt out and exhausted we all are, I cannot help but recognize that this is not a reality that can ever change unless some of us (also deeply exhausted and burnt out) continue to choose to invest in community and connection building regardless of what we may need or have space for. The fewer of us are carefully balancing how we can ensure we are able to continue doing that, regardless of how much or little support we ourselves may have, the more frequently those of us making that call will have to keep doing it. The less rest we will have. The more exhausted we will become. The fewer of us there will be. The more vulnerable our communities will be to the societal forces seeking to harm and destabilize us.

I understand people do not like this post. I've had a fair few comments already about how the opener was "barely salvaged" by other later comments.

But I cannot emphasize enough how much this is coming from love, solidarity, experience, and deeply painful and material understanding of what it has cost me my whole life to be someone who will never get to stop making this choice.

There will never be a day where I can afford to prioritize my own exhaustion over the lives and well-being of the people I have committed to caring for. This is not a role I will ever set down. And if that means I will do that increasingly alone until it kills me, I fucking will. I don't need any single specific person to walk with me on that journey. But it is so unfathomably devastating to see just how many potential walking comrades have decided for themselves that this must be **someone else's** weight to carry, and they will not contribute to it in any way that is hard on them. Do I want people to live like I do? God no!! That's part of why I do what I do.

But you have to understand. If I don't want anyone to do what I do I need to make sure the world is as kind as I can possibly encourage it to be every single fucking day between now and the inevitable heat death of the universe. And if people calling themselves my comrades are actively fighting me on that, making the world crueller and less safe to do my work in, then I can no longer afford to consider them my comrades at all.

Watching the politics tag fill up with exhausted liberals talking about how they're too drained to keep resisting and no one should blame them for that and like. Yeah, you're right this sucks and you shouldn't be forced to do it to be treated as human and you shouldn't need to be able to be on and in activist mode all the time either and ALSO

I've been doing this since 2002. My mother did this from 1981-2015. My auntie marched in Alabama during civil rights and my childhood minister has been in resistence since the Vietnam war and has shown no signs of stopping as she collects civil disobedience arrests across all 50 states like badges of honor.

And you all are burnt out after 8 yrs of some of the biggest (and therefore LEAST DEMANDING ON YALL PERSONALLY) movements we've ssen in decades because you feel too poor and tired???????

My mama would go around to every grocery store she had friends working at in the valley and collect all the food they were gonna toss, then host educational salons where she fed everyone in the neighborhood and performed innoculation work. She was a single mom raising a deeply disabled child ALONE on a salary half that of her male coworkers you think she had money? You think she had TIME????? NO!

If you are tired now, I'm sorry to be harsh, but it is BECAUSE YOU DID NOT LISTEN when you were told you needed to settle in for the long haul. You DID NOT LISTEN when organizers shared with everyone their practices around self-care, specialization, community care, and communication, and you spent the last 8 years burning the candle at both ends in person and online with no regard for the actual WORK only for your own fear and feelings of reassurance.

This will never sustain change. I'm sorry. I truly am. I never wanted this for anyone who came after me and I have so much grief that it's here. But I also do not have time to force yall to fucking listen to us when we talk.

Stop trying to assert that only the wealthy and energetic resist. Anyone I see doing so will be bitten repeatedly until fucking dead.

[raine-dance]

Tbh Red vs Blue didn't really intend to lean too far into the dissociative lens with Leonard Church as far as I can tell. He's an AI that's a reconstruction of a real person, through the use of brain-mapping technology. Church, the AI, became a system through... conventional traumatic means, and that's almost where they leave it in terms of direct reference to the disorder. But it's still interesting to look at things within that lens, and while I do eventually intend to collect my thoughts into a video essay, I think I'd like to share one train of thought here because I think it's legitimately interesting.

Everyone knows about the cliché of the murderous alter. Red vs Blue's most notable example is Sigma. Now I know that on this sentence alone, many would criticise me calling Church the best DID representation I've seen in media, especially given that they also misnomer the disorder as MPD, but I think Sigma is the most interesting example of the trope, because he actually has something to say about the treatment of those with dissociative disorders.

For one, I think that character context is important. Church (as in Alpha) was created to be a murder machine - the Director would force Church to split and extract the new split into its own AI unit, given to Freelancers with the express purpose of making them more effective soldiers. Almost everyone in the series is a killer, although some are more effective than others, and nowhere is this description more applicable than Project Freelancer.

With that in mind, the Freelancers were given seminars on the workings of AI - in the series, an AI fragment might try to "metastabilise," or reconnect with other fragments of the same AI, to achieve a sense of wholeness. If I recall, AI were supposed to remain inactive for these seminars, but Agent Maine was fond of Sigma due to Sigma's ability to act as a mouthpiece for him after an injury, and Sigma was made aware of the concept of "metastability." As such, he decided that he wanted to achieve metastability, and this decision kicks off the vast majority of RvB's plot.

There are many things getting in the way of Sigma's plan, however, and first and foremost is the fact that all of the other AI fragments have been allotted to other Freelancer agents. While there may have been a conflict of interest for Maine, Sigma had a clear goal in mind, and was ultimately conditioned to achieve it - the AI units were made to kill, and this is a large part of why he proceeds with his plan.

So, why am I mentioning this? I'm not just here to defend this writing decision, I said this plotline had something to say about the treatment of systems, and it does, either intentionally, or, more likely, not - first, it deals with how the world surrounding systems form how they react to the issues the world involves them in, something that is true of not only us, but of everyone. Second, it challenges the idea that final fusion is the healthiest and only acceptable treatment for systems.

The only reason Sigma strives for something analogous to final fusion is because he was told by someone who should be an expert that this is the only way forward for him. The only way to achieve, in direct quote, "humanity," a goal he had already been striving for. And the tragic thing is that he believed that this was the case when the viewer looking at the show through a dissociative lens already knows it isn't, both in real life, and in the series.

Church, as in the Alpha AI, and later Epsilon, is one of the most human characters in the show. He's a lot of things - a bit arrogant, very brash, and often pissed off, but he cares about his friends, and does everything in his power to help them succeed, even sacrificing himself as Epsilon for them. He was human once, and as an AI, is a reconstruction of that former humanity, and he still manages to retain it. As Epsilon, he achieves functional multiplicity until the plot forces him to go through final fusion to save his friends, and the act, in the timeline of Seasons 15-18, at least, literally kills him.

The treatment of systems matters so much to me. And despite starting out as a crass comedy show about the shittiest soldiers in the galaxy, with the relevant seasons having released 13 years ago, the series still manages to treat us with more respect and challenge more issues relating to how society treats us than most, if not all media that deems us interesting enough to be plot-relevant does now. I have a lot of thoughts about it all, and whenever I feel like it, I'll probably write more about it. Thanks for reading, if you did make it this far, I'm just rambling and all, but if this matters even half as much to someone else as it does to me, that makes me happy.

[aayakashii]

Okay yall already know, I'll be posting Valentine's Day themed headcanons for each House in Tokyo Debunker, but it won't be in consecutive days anymore rip I'm tired

All prompts come from this post here ♡

And dividers are from @saradika-graphics 🫶

Taglist: @wannaberecluse

Frostheim | Vagastrom | Jabberwock | Sinostra | Hotarubi | Obscuary | Mortkranken

Valentine's Day in Sinostra

Taiga

how does he show affection?

He makes an effort to remember everything about you. Your name, your eyes, your body, the things you have said – even if he has to write it down, he will do it. He will write journals upon journals and keep them close to him. His memory may still fail him from time to time, but his effort speaks for itself.

does he like hugs? what are his hugs like?

He does, in fact! He drapes himself over your body, leaning his full weight onto you as he whines, asking for just one more coin. He acts as if you're an extension of his body – he's always holding you somehow, no matter where you two are. Even if everyone's looking, he'll guide you to sit on his lap, and he will hug your waist and straight up take a nap. His hugs feel possessive too, his black nails gently digging into your skin, as if he's worried you'll leave.

is he good at flirting? how does he flirt?

Is he good or does he just say things in a sultry voice while his face is 1cm away from yours? Either way, you're paralyzed by his gaze and the way he seems to turn all your limbs into jelly. He knows how to turn you into putty in his hands and he is very much aware of that.

is he good at gift - giving or does he struggle to get it right?

You're gonna have to tell him exactly what you want in order to get it, otherwise he won't give you anything at all; he doesn't even know it's Valentine's Day. And even if he did, he doesn't care. He cares about you, though, so if you say you want something, he'll get it.

is he quick or slow to give his heart away?

Quick. He doesn't know it's happening. He sees you through the fog of his memories more and more frequently, and soon, it becomes a dire need to have you by his side. He's not the type of man to make excuses for his behavior – he knows he wants you, and he's fine with it.

does he find ‘i love you’ easy or hard to say?

He has a hard time with it. Every time he opens his mouth and it seems like he's going to say it, the words dissipate from his tongue. Something keeps him from doing it, but he's clueless on what it is. Maybe it's the uncertainty of the future, maybe it's his own emotional walls – either way, it takes him time to get used to it, even if he knows it to be true from the start.

does he get jealous in a relationship?

It's not just jealousy; it's anger that someone would be stupid enough to take their chances with you. And he doesn't let his anger simmer – he immediately pulls out his gun and shoves the barrel onto that bastard's forehead. It takes a lot of coaxing from you to keep Taiga from blowing the man's brains out.

what is his ideal date?

You. Him. Nap. Anywhere, everywhere.

would he ask the big question or expect their partner to?

He doesn't care about marriage itself, but the opportunity of having you forever bound to him does seem appealing (he might propose in the first day of your relationship though, so watch out).

how does he feel about valentine’s day?

He doesn't even remember the date. If you tell him about it, expect his constant teasing. He thinks it's hilarious that you want him, of all people, to be romantic, but also he'll give to all your requests without much resistance.

does he get protective easily?

He's restless when you're not around him. Moody, angry, snappy. He wants to know where you are and why you're not near. He will protect you if something happens, but will also whisper into your ear that if you just stayed beside him like a good kitty, things like that wouldn't happen. So, yeah. He's protective enough.

does he believe in true love?

You're the closest thing to it that he has ever known. Maybe it is, or maybe he's a fool.

Romeo

how does he show affection?

Through words. Granted, these can be quite harsh, but Romeo is the personification of tough love. He yells at you to stop slouching, to eat properly, to drink water, to rest well. He (gently, softly) bonks your head when you're being too hard on yourself. All of these are moments in which he's letting you know that he cares deeply for you.

does he like hugs? what are his hugs like?

He says he doesn't like them and complains whenever you tackle him in a hug, but he also doesn't push you away – in fact, he hesitantly places his hands on your back, as if he's not even sure what a hug is. If you can see behind the cloud of french perfume that surrounds him, you might even find his cheeks tinted pink.

is he good at flirting? how does he flirt?

He's good at shamelessly buttering people up in order to get what he wants, but that's not exactly flirting. So, honestly? He doesn't have a clue on what to do with you. He doesn't want to embarrass himself, but sometimes you're so daft that he ends up needing to yell about how he wants a kiss. And that's terribly embarrassing too. (You frustrate him a lot btw)

is he good at gift - giving or does he struggle to get it right?

He's great, but he's gonna give you what HE thinks you need. You want flowers and chocolate for Valentines? No, you don't. You need new clothes and skincare. And he will be giving you just that. Romeo will always think he knows better.

is he quick or slow to give his heart away?

S l o w. Vulnerability was the first thing he snuffed out in order to get where he is now. The idea of willingly being vulnerable with you sickens and terrifies him. It takes a very long time for him to have some trust in his relationship with you. It's a struggle against his defense mechanisms and his desire to be yours. You'll need some patience.

does he find ‘i love you’ easy or hard to say?

Impossible. He relentlessly avoids all thoughts about his feelings for you – though he hasn't been having much luck, given that you occupy probably 70% of his mind at this point, but he refuses to give in.

does he get jealous in a relationship?

YES. Romeo's jealousy, however, comes with an extra side of extreme possessiveness. He's too tired of letting the things he holds dear fall through his fingers, and he most definitely won't let you do that either. If any guy decides to shoot their shot with you, he WILL be ordering his guards to give him a beating he'll never forget. He will also drape you in his finest clothings as a way to show everyone that you're his.

what is his ideal date?

Girl's night, luxury edition. He would love nothing else than spending a whole night with you doing skincare, wearing sheet masks, while one of those korean channels that make cool drinks play in the background. No stupid men around to annoy him, no casino problems to solve. Just Romeo, you, korean youtube channels, and a ton of serums.

would he ask the big question or expect their partner to?

He would rather be the one asking, but he will be extremely happy if you pop the question first. It would very much reassure him that you WANT to spend your life with you, you WANT to stay by his side. He doesn't have to fight tooth and nail to keep you in his arms because you decided to make your house in them of your own volition. And that's priceless to him.

how does he feel about valentine’s day?

Number one: how can he profit from it? Number two: buys obscenely expensive gifts for you and quickly shoves them in your hands with a kiss on your forehead. Sorry, but he has places to be, bills to pay, money to earn, and Valentine's is the perfect day for that.

does he get protective easily?

Yeah. He's very protective of all his most precious things, terribly afraid of losing everything all over again. Why would it be different with you?

does he believe in true love?

People like him need to stop believing in fairytale things in order to survive. But he doesn't really shun the idea anymore.

Ritsu

how does he show affection?

By spending his every waking hour with you (or at least trying). Ritsu follows you around when he isn't the one dragging you with him. When you tell him he doesn't need to spend even his breaks with you, he says he just needs to gather more material in order to profile you more accurately (yes, he's recording everything). He's a little confused, but he got the spirit.

does he like hugs? what are his hugs like?

He actually likes them, but he prefers you'd avoid surprising him and only give hugs in the privacy of your rooms so none of you get sued for public indecency. He's kinda upfront about it too, saying "I would like to hug you right now" every so often. It's the only moment in which you feel Ritsu actually relax with you. He sighs and rests his chin on the crook of your neck, almost falling asleep. It's tiring to train all day every day to become Japan's best lawyer, after all.

is he good at flirting? how does he flirt?

Did you really think it would be any other way? Come on. You know he can't flirt to save his life.

is he good at gift - giving or does he struggle to get it right?

Much like Luca, Ritsu will also give you something he thinks is amazing – which is (another) Compendium of Laws. Unlike Luca, though, if you try to tell him what you want, he WILL disagree and try to convince you of accepting his gift. And you'll need a very convincing argument to make him budge (just say his legal books don't fit the norm when it comes to Valentine's gifts and you'll be okay).

is he quick or slow to give his heart away?

He's... kinda slow. He probably realized he had feelings for you after someone pointed out that he looked like he had a crush on you. After that, he started researching, because who was he going to ask for advice when you were always the only one to help him? He had to figure out on his own and coming to terms with it took a little time. Once he was certain of it, however, he was quick to let you know.

does he find ‘i love you’ easy or hard to say?

Surprisingly easy. Ritsu is very practical. Once he acknowledges his feelings, there is no need to be ashamed of something that is expected out of a serious relationship. He will say it when he feels like it, randomly, and it always catches you off-guard.

does he get jealous in a relationship?

He will always deny any accusations of jealousy, but you know from the twitch on his eyes, the furrow of his brows and his scowl that he's absolutely seething. Ritsu might go all the way and find a legal reason as to why someone should not be speaking to you, and you'll have to reassure him that no one is trying to steal you away from him. He will say that he wasn't thinking about that, but you know better.

what is his ideal date?

I'm sorry this will sound boring, but he would also LOVE the idea of a study date. He could spend the whole afternoon reading to you and it'd be perfect in his eyes. If you wanna be a little adventurous, he's open to buying some cup noodles and chips so you can eat while studying... I know, so debauched of him, isn't it? /s

would he ask the big question or expect their partner to?

He wants to ask. In his mind, it's like an important item he has to tick off from his "relationship list". He feels like it's his duty to you, to be the one that's the pillar you can lean on. After a while, though, he realized that it stopped feeling like a duty and more like a desire of his own.

how does he feel about valentine’s day?

I'm holding your hand right now. He never even acknowledged the existence of this date. Please tell him in detail why you think Valentine's Day is important and what does a partner usually expect from their significant other. He will probably end up interpreting it in his own unique way anyway, so... be patient

does he get protective easily?

Yes, again because he feels like it's his duty as your partner to be your protector as well. He's stronger, he's faster, he can fend off every danger that comes your way. Sometimes you wonder if he's legit stalking you, though, because he's very fast to appear right by your side at the littlest sign of problem.

does he believe in true love?

Of course. Isn't he with you? That's all the proof necessary.

[ingravinoveritas]

GT is really trying to make the Baftas about her on her Ig huh

(Grouping together for ease of responding.)

I've seen several mentions/had folks talking to me in DM about Georgia's Insta stories earlier today. I'll put some screenshots here so we can discuss:

I feel like this all starts with yesterday, so let's quickly recap: Last night, David appeared on the One Show. Georgia came along and watched the show backstage, and posted an Insta story of him on the TV screen, in color. She posted nothing related to David and Valentine's Day, despite having made a post about him every year for the last several years. Today, she posted about BAFTA preparations. Two photos of David, both again in black-and-white, and two photos in color, one of which featured her calling a bag of skincare products "my valentine."

The first thing that comes to mind is the songs that are used on some of these stories. For three out of four, the songs are upbeat and happy, which seems to contrast starkly with the almost somber tone of these pictures. It reminds me of the song "I Am A Rock" by Simon & Garfunkel, where the music is cheerful and up tempo, yet the lyrics are much darker and full of pain/sadness. So if you're only looking at what's on the surface, it causes you to miss what is going on underneath.

It would also be very easy to overlook that these stories are all related to an awards show--that David is hosting for a second time, no less. Because there isn't really anything celebratory about any of these. Just looking at the captions/tags, Georgia seems to be showing more enthusiasm for receiving free skincare products than for anything else. And in both pictures of David, he is doing something else/just trying to exist while she photographs him. In the picture in the car, he seems to be looking at the National Theatre, and despite sitting next to her, it feels like he is about a million miles away--that same feeling of preoccupation/tiredness that we saw last night.

And then there's the last piece of these stories, which is that the photos of David are once again in black-and-white. I've said this previously, but we are now long past the point where the B&W makes sense for legal reasons or anything having to do with the show. Let's also look at what's happened over the last few weeks: The fan taking a picture with David in the airport, the photo of David behind the bar in a pub in Glasgow this week, and then the full-on hair reveal last night, all in color. Contrast that with the video of David dancing to Sabrina Carpenter, the WOS acceptance speech, and now these photos, all in black and white, and all taken/filmed by Georgia.

Looking at everything together, I think David never cared about hiding his hair, while Georgia and Anna knew/know the fans have wanted to see dyed hair, and have viewed their Instagrams as a source for pictures. So holding the promise and possibility of seeing that is a guaranteed way to keep getting clicks and drive engagement, especially given how many fans took screenshots and got excited every time Georgia or Anna added a new story. What became a joke at the fandom's expense has now backfired, and I truly don't think there was ever going to be a "big reveal" or that either of them intended to post a picture of the dyed hair in color.

To be clear, there is no part of me that takes joy in any of this, and I do not wish for either David or Georgia to be unhappy or miserable. But I can't dismiss the almost painful gut reaction I had to these Insta stories--how "off" the vibes are, and how this all seems to be about much more than just hair dye.

What will happen at the BAFTAs tomorrow is still anyone's guess--Michael is not listed as a special guest or as a presenter (though he did present an award last year, as I recall), so who knows if he will even be there--but I am honestly hoping that things will be okay. For everyone's sake...

[lena-thinks-too-much]

Could people, who never read a Superman comic simply admit, that you are shipping Batman with a sexy lamp without characterization and start tagging everything with Lampman and Lampbat instead. Only to keep the tags clean

Well this is a complex situation because you can definitely understand a character's characterization without reading comics and you can completely misconstrue their characterization

also I'm having hard time figuring out if this comment is generally against superbat as a ship or if you're just upset about the superbat shippers who don't understand what Clark is actually like.

I can understand both but also comics aren't the only way to come to a ship. Like I love bird flash but I'll be completely honest, I don't see it from the comics. Like if I read the comics I just can't see BirdFlash happening but when I watch young justice I'm like diehard shipping BirdFlash. God I am not normal about that show.

But also I know not all the characterizations are 100% comic accurate. And that's okay they don't need to be. DC is a mess of timelines and incongruities. Let's be honest, they themselves aren't always consistent about characterizations (cough cough Talia) so fandom generally has varied interpretations on characters based off which version they like more.

And yes it bugs me when people don't interact with the source material because it genuinely confounds me how you would not want to fact check your opinions but I digress.

I mean I enjoy superbat as a crackship. But I don't really ship them myself. Mostly because I love Lois.

My favorite concept for the superbat dynamic is everyone acting like superbat exists including Lois. The only person not on it is Clark. So he's just out here losing his mind desperately trying to friendzone Bruce except even his wife and son are like "damn didn't know you'd do Bruce so dirty"

Again I love the crack potential of it.

that being said, at the end of the day what you ship and enjoy is a personal choice. Ship who you ship and let others ship who they want to ship it's not like anyone's getting hurt (as long as it's not something weird like incest or a grown ass man with a child).

if you don't like a ship, don't interact with its content and it'll go away eventually

let people love who they love to love loving each other <3

[ciricearts]

Hi again, same anon who sent you the proship statement, just want to add that I really admire you and don't want you to think that I'm trying to belittle you or say how you should think with what I said but it saddens and worries me with how fandoms are becoming very purist and unaccepting of everything bcs this has a such a wide impact on fandom culture and free speech pls research that and be more open-minded. Set boundaries ofc but don't just think that every proship person in the same way bcs everyone is different, also sorry if my English is slightly poor, not my native language. Sending kudos to you, in love with how you draw Jason❤️ he's my fav character.

Don't worry, I'm just not in favor of it and I don't think my point of view will change. I have had quite a few negative experiences with these types of people, and I would not want people who enjoy pairing characters, even fictional ones, on topics that include p3dophilia, inc3st, abus3, or other topics, to interact with me. and I'm sorry, but I think that what you like, even if it is fiction, really shows something about you and your morals, I will never like an incestuous relationship because I find it disgusting even if it is fiction because of how my brain interprets it.

I don't know what experiences you have had, but mine was interacting with people who literally consume P3DOPHILIA, Z00PHILIA, 1NC3ST, S3XUAL AND 3MOTIONAL ABUS3, among other things, it is not a matter for those who are morally superior, but I just want to set my limits, and I insist a lot on it because even so, proship people do not respect my limits, so I have no choice but to speak clearly about it.

I will not risk this type of experience again just to try to understand this type of mentality that I do not agree with.

People who know me know that I am very open-minded on these topics as long as they have to do with consent.

It's not about being mature, it's about setting limits and making my point of view clear from the above.

I am not looking to change your point of view, I simply want to emphasize mine, you are free to stop consuming my content if that is your opinion.

[ihopesocomic]

It's 2025 and it's been years since the last episode/update: can we as a species please move on from shit like MP? Every time I read about some new defense that MP fans are coming up with just so they can watch it guilt-free, I can only sit and think why? Even if the show was written decently: the creator is transphobic, she slapped multiple people (including a trans VA) with false allegations because her fweelings got hurt and she bailed rather than face criticism. Stop supporting her already.

I think the saddest part of all of this is Tribble doesn't even like her fans. So many creators in and out of the industry keep in contact with their fans because obviously without them, they wouldn't be where they're at. There's an innate gratefulness there. Tribble can't even be bothered to tell her fans that Season 2 is never happening, she's never making a comic, or whatever crumbs everyone is groveling for. I'm sure she'll be back if she needs some money from Makeship or whatever, with continuous months of no news. Is that someone who respects you? Is that someone who's worth your undying fealty?

I know a lot of her remaining fans are young teenagers who would rather watch a cartoon than read, but no one's forcing her to do a cartoon or nothing with her own content. She's already offered to write it as a book (like she also offered to do with COTW) but then she says she's only willing to do it if people subscribe to a Patreon, therefore getting fans' hopes up for no good reason. Whatever her reasons are, she certainly has enough drive to test the waters and see how far she can get by doing the least amount of work possible. Proof is in her community tab for the doubters who insist we're wrong.

Tribble always intended to leave because people were already openly criticizing her and seeing her for the person she truly was for nearly a year before we said or did anything. Because she's a thin-skinned coward and because MP wasn't raking in the opportunities she thought it would (who could've predicted this?). Her fans just don't want to accept this because 1) the mental gymnastics of blaming us for "driving her away" are too great to resist and 2) they don't actually care about what she did and actively play things down as opposed to us saying that her show isn't that great. God forbid.

You'd think that RJ having followed her work for years and us having years' worth of conversations with people who have worked for her on top of everything else out in the open would be sufficient evidence that we're not just making shit up. (Ironically, making up reasons to like/hate something is what these people excel at.)

Some have come to terms that Tribble just used them so she can get paid and bounce, but too many still have a vice grip on this embarrassing slop that only exists because Tribble has Warrior Cats views on Youtube. And since people confuse YT popularity with quality, well, we all know the ending to that sad story. Because of that mentality we get more slop like HH/HB.

The majority of these people have to make something up in their head to "defend" MP's writing, like quite literally all the "explanations" for characters' actions are 100% fabricated and was more effort than Tribble put into her own show, so how exactly do your headcanons cancel out anything that's there in front of your face? And these are the same people who have the temerity to say shows like Big Mouth and Velma are bad but MP and HH/HB are good, when MP and HH/HB are also offensive shoddily written dreck made by privileged individuals who don't care about you until they want more money from you.

And then people want to turn around and say IHS sucks because it's "not realistic" (even though we've never said we're trying to be realistic) or "just like Warrior Cats or TLK". Pick a real reason to not like our comic, I'm begging. If our comic was "just like Warrior Cats", hell they'd probably like it because it would have no gays and enough ableism to last them a quarter of a century, ha. But I'm clearly not interested in pandering to these smooth-brained goons whose highest standard for xenofiction is "no gays", if they can even get as far as opening so much as a Kindle or Audible app.

And I don't feel bad for saying this. Even other once-fans of MP can concur that current day MP stans are some of the most homophobic, transphobic, sexist, ableist, victim-blamey trash we've ever had the misfortune of giving the benefit of the doubt. (It's no wonder why they like the show so much because the characters - like Hover - enable this kind of atrocious behavior.) Quite a few of these testimonies are on our review alone. And I'm over it. The shit that's going on in the world has driven me to be exponentially less tolerant.

We now live in a point in time where being LGBT+ is considered a legit federal offense and we're just done. Some of you can piss and moan all you want when we say "no" and block you when 90% of your complaints about our comic concern it being LGBT+ and the other 10% is made-up or incorrect nonsensical bullshit that isn't worth writing on toilet paper. Why should we listen to you exactly? Why should we take everything out of this comic that - whether you like it or not - provides solace to people just to satisfy your bigotry that you try and hide behind a veil of pretentiousness? Get fucked. lol

And I am beyond tired having to keep explaining this to people who appear to not be used to the idea that maybe the thing they like has a ton of problems that far outweigh anything good about it. But then they go ahead and take it personally, because people are so chronically online, their identity is welded to "entertainment". Bot behavior, truly.

Even the existence of I Hope So is tainted, simply because MP was so indefensibly awful about queer/disabled representation. IHS shouldn't need to exist, but because of people like this it has to. Some people just want to read something that has animals, queer rep, and no ableism. But to some of these people, we may as well have killed their dog in front of them. We have seen people who have all but made it their life's mission to purposely misconstrue the whole comic, ourselves, and people we know. They should thank whatever space fairy they pray to that they're a bunch of nobodies whose only value is being a lolcow.

The best thing I can hope for these people is them moving the fuck on to literally anything else. They'd be happier for it, or less miserable at the very least. There has been so many good comics and cartoons to come out over the last 4 years. Maybe if people removed their head from their ass for two seconds, they'd manage to see some of it. - Cat

[miraclechatbug]

I just read an analysis of the episode by @mamayura, and honestly, it's incredibly insightful and accurate. It also makes everything a thousand times more heartbreaking because Adrien knows exactly what he wants, and it’s something very simple. He just wants to be with Nathalie and Marinette.

However, throughout the entire episode— and even before that, Nathalie has kept Adrien at arm’s length. She’s afraid to care for him the way she truly wants to, a struggle she’s faced constantly, even when he was a child, as shown in the flashbacks. She has always loved him and longed to show him more affection.

However, she’s terrified of replacing Emilie, it probably even feels like a betrayal even though it was Emilie's last wish. It's all too much to put on Nathalie, and of course, she's indecisive about it. That’s why she holds back from showing Adrien the love she so clearly feels for him, even though it’s obvious to everyone how much she adores him. But as clear as it is to others, it might not be to Adrien. He knows she cares for him, but does she care enough to step up and be a mother to him? Nathalie has rarely taken that kind of initiative, so he can’t bring himself to ask such a thing of her.

Adrien is wise beyond his years. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again— he is the most emotionally intelligent and self-aware person in the show, (so is Luka, though in a different way). Because Adrien understands emotions so well, even though he’s never had any real control over his own life, he does know what he wants. He wants to stay with the people he considers family— Nathalie, Marinette, The Gorilla. But he won’t say it aloud, not even when given the chance, because he needs undeniable proof that he is wanted first place.

Just like he never truly forced his father. Yes, he constantly sought Gabriel’s time and attention, and every time he was pushed away, you could see how much it devasted him. And he learned from that. Just like he learned from Ladybug, after she pushed him away time and time again. You cannot force people to love you if they don’t want you. It has to be their choice.

And in that moment, every adult in that room, except Marinette, had to make their decision before Adrien could even be allowed to speak. That is utterly tragic. It’s horrifying. I can’t even begin to imagine what it would feel like to watch strangers argue over who should take custody of me while the one person I truly wanted wasn’t even in the room, wasn't even making an effort for him. And the worst part of it all... is that he didn’t fight it. Not even a little protest. He had already resigned himself to whatever was happening.

Adrien didn’t say anything because he knew he couldn’t. Because, deep down, he truly believed that what he had to say wouldn’t matter. It never had before.

Until Marinette. She’s the one who always thinks about him, who turns toward him instead of away. Especially in the Werepapas episode— she stops, looks back, and asks him what he wants. No one else ever does that (except Plagg). She wants to see him happy, and she makes him happy. I would love to see more of that.

I think Adrien has always felt voiceless when it comes to his own desires. He’s spent his whole life pushing aside what he wants, always making space for others, always tiptoeing around the emotions of the adults around him. When, in reality, those burdens were never his, and will never be his to carry. They should have shielded him from their anger, worries, and indecision, figured things out first, and only come to him when they had something real to offer. Instead, they fought over him like he was a prize to be claimed.

I would love to see him finally wishing for things— choosing for himself, being selfish for once. He deserves that.

Watching Werepapas has made me realize how little control Adrien thinks he has over his life. His grandparents are literally fighting over their guardian rights over him, and he is under the table, concerned about Plagg, and not paying attention in the slightest. Marinette, Nathalie, and The Gorilla were all more upset and worried than he was. Or at least, they showed more emotion.

And honestly, that's so concerning. How little control and choice must someone have over their life to react this way? In the end, when they finally ask him what he wants... he says he doesn't know himself. He's happy to let Marinette make the decision for him, and it's obvious that he wants Marinette wants for him, it's obvious to everyone except him.

He never voices out loud what he wants, such as how obviously he wants Nathalie to hug him back and show him affection at the beginning of his episode. And his shirt was so wrinkled! I think he's struggling more than ever, but he's so good at acting that he's fine– he's so well put together. I fear he doesn't even know how much he's struggling himself. He constantly says he doesn't know how he's feeling himself, which means he is very disconnected with his emotions. People who are very repressed say such things, people who never had chances to explore their feelings themselves, never got the freedom or choice to express themselves. Adrien doesn’t voice his wants, not because they don’t exist, but because he’s never been given the space to acknowledge them. The moment he does, he risks confronting just how deeply he craves something he believes he can’t have. So, he keeps moving, keeps smiling, keeps convincing everyone— himself included, that he’s fine.

It's a learned habit, a defense mechanism. People who have always been told what to feel, or who have been given no room to feel at all, probably end up like this– adrift and unsure of where their own emotions begin or end. It’s repression at its most insidious.

[coffeegnomee]

Sorta related to your last post and it goes without saying, but who you watch on Lifesteal makes so much difference on what you want to happen. I was watching Lifesteal back in s3 but only from Rek’s vids and occasionally a Branzy or Clown vid too (notably funhouse and casino stuff), but since Rek wasn’t huge into lore it was just another thing I watched, kinda comparable to a very competitive hermitcraft. The video that my perspective has changed on the most since then was easily Rek’s cleansing video. Even back then, Rek was very compelling when watching him and even after the bit where he was like “they got everyone back to 10 yipeee” I was dead set that the cleansers were power hungry lunatics, and it was only when I started watching again last year I realized how much more was going on. The same thing happened with his abyss arc video, which I watched before watching all Zams abyss + Joker VODS and I thought Jumper was so justified in the betrayal, then watched the VODs and flipped sides completely ( no way Imissabyssarc likes the abyss??). In s6, I can barely watch videos framing Zam as awful (coughcoughflamefragscoughcough) since I know how much they’re twisting everything thanks to the streams. It makes me wonder if I’d feel more supportive of Jumper if she had VODs conveying everything, since as you said, it makes one of the biggest differences between Abyss and Eclipse. Sorry for rambling I’ll stop now ;-;

oooh I love this! Classic Rek being the gateway and then realizing there's so much more. I love that you thought the cleansers were power hungry lunatics lol. I barely have a memory from that even though Rek's cleansing video was The Gateway for me. I needed to know more about the conflicts.

And that is soo interesting about Jumper and kind of what I was really wondering with that post - like those who found ls through her video (and others on the arc) and how they thought about her betrayal because of just seeing the condensed yt video of the story. And also how that's so similar to just watching Spoke's wormhole video and how I defend his betrayal even though it was messed up.

What would it really be like to have access to all those recordings and actually see both his and Parrot's thoughts and reactions in full? What would it have been like to not have Abyss pov at all? Cause like, my post literally sprang from watching the new Rejoice strengthsmp video and Mane's bizzaresmp video and being like wow what was everyone else thinking when this happened. I have literally no idea if they streamed it or not but it doesn't matter bc im not going to watch the streams even if they had it, I'm just a casual viewer. So like, suspicion confirmed that if you watched Jumper's video you would have thought she was in the right. Because that's all you got. So normal, right? We just trust the yter.

But man, what would it have been like for Jumper to stream everything and talk about how messed up all the things were that Abyss wanted her to do and her in-real-time reaction to luring 4c or killing Vitalasy. How those moments motivated her and drove her closer to Minute. You start to see it a bit after they loose the presidency. Not that Jumper is particularly good at articulating her thoughts, literally never had to until jokerzam started putting her on the spot, but that doesn't really matter. Chat would have asked, or she would have said it to Minute and explained more. Honestly chat asking questions would have been so much of it lol. Nothing like a lore loving chat to draw out your character motivations.

But as it stands we just have the post-arc reasons, which sound weak and thrown together (incidentally the same criticism thrown at abyss by Ash) But that's because we weren't there. And articulating anything after the fact isnt the same. It's so interesting. I need to stop rambling in return lol but like it shows how s5's overarching theme was about that difference in making a youtube video and being a streamer and it came out in the abyss arc and then really came out in the finale when pb&j didn't want to stream their plans and wanted to get good recordings (antitrapbox my beloved) vs mapicc/zam wanting daily content to get on and do things and fight.

[inawickedlittletown]

We've Got A Long Way To Go (BuckTommy) 10/?

Summary: A few months after the break up, Buck picks up a call that changes everything. Tommy has his own regrets, and an unexpected meeting and a change in Buck's life will bring them together. Fix-it fic. Words: 2.2k Read on Ao3 Chapter One - Chapter Two - Chapter Three Chapter Four - Chapter Five - Chapter Six Chapter Seven - Chapter Eight - Chapter Nine

-

Chapter Ten

Lucas was silent the whole drive over. Buck had been a little worried about awakening memories or feelings about the accident once he got him into the new car seat that Hen and Karen had procured for him. Hen had even gone through the trouble of putting it in his car. But, whether it was because he was worn out from crying or just good in a car, the drive was peaceful. He did look a little more curious once Buck took him out of the carseat. 

“This is going to be home for a little while,” Buck told him. “Now that I have you, I might have to find a bigger place, but that’s a problem for another day.” 

Buck had just made it to the elevator when Hen and Karen arrived. Karen still had the stuff from the hospital, including the bag Buck had packed up the day before. Hen had her own box. 

“Parking here is awful,” Hen said. “No issues on the drive?” 

“None,” Buck said. 

“That’s good,” Karen said. “He’s not scared of cars.” 

“So far,” Buck said. “You know, it gives me hope that he doesn’t remember what happened.”

Once they got up to the loft, Karen let out a whistle. “Someone’s prepared,” she said. “I’m impressed.” 

She and Hen dropped everything they’d been carrying off by the blocked stairs. 

“I didn’t do any of this,” Buck admitted as he walked further into the apartment. “Lucas, this is your new home.” 

Lucas didn’t say a thing, but he did touch Buck’s arm repeatedly until Buck put him down. 

“Where are you planning on having him sleep?” 

“Honestly, I have no idea. I guess I could probably fit a toddler bed upstairs. Right now I figure we can share until I figure out all those details. Bed’s big enough.” 

He kept an eye on Lucas who had decided that he could explore a little. He didn’t go very far and seemed to always look back at the adults. His teddy bear was clutched in his arms the whole time. Buck wished that he’d had time to set up some kind of play area for him, but as it was there had hardly been any time to do anything. 

“You’re going to have to figure that out quick,” Karen said. “Before your social worker comes out to do a check.”

“Right,” Buck said. “Ms. Pike did say she’d be in touch.” 

He’d been happy to see Hen and Karen that morning. He had almost expected Maddie or Bobby to show up too, but it seemed like maybe they had coordinated so Lucas wasn’t overwhelmed by them all. Buck was thankful for that. He was also happy to let Hen and Karen start to unpack everything that everyone had brought for him and Lucas. 

“Oh, the outfits are always so cute,” Karen said. “Where are you going to put all of this?” 

“I haven’t thought that far ahead,” Buck said, still watching Lucas who had wandered towards the living room. 

He was just about steady on his feet, but he still did wobble a little and the cast didn’t seem to be making matters easier on him. What he did was look adorable and Buck couldn’t help but grab his phone and take a picture of his back. Then another. Yet another when he turned. 

“Yeah, that phone is going to need a bigger memory,” Hen said. 

Once they got into the toys, Lucas was lured back to them and he was excited to play with everything, so Buck made some space for him on the floor and Hen spread a blanket out for him to sit on and then volunteered to play with him which at least gave Buck time to figure out with Karen where to stash everything. 

“You did well,” Karen told him when they got upstairs with all the clothes. 

“With what?” 

“Telling him about his parents.”

Buck cleared one of his drawers out for Lucas’ clothes. “Do you think he understood?” 

Karen gave a nod. “Kids understand more than you think, they also don’t have the same hang ups when they’re that young. You’re taking care of him, he already seems to trust that. He’ll be just fine.”

“I hope so,” Buck said.  

They heard a giggle from downstairs and the low murmur of Hen’s voice. 

“Come on, let’s finish this up,” Karen said. 

With everything put away in a logical place and a list created by him and Karen on things he might still need, they headed back down. 

“Come here, dad,” Hen called to him. 

Toys were scattered everywhere, but Lucas’ attention was on a wooden activity block where he was moving beads. He looked up when Karen and Buck approached, but focused back on the toy a moment later. 

“Everything put away?” Hen asked. 

“For now,” Karen said. “I told him he can’t expect this place to ever be clean again.

Hen laughed. “That’s for sure.” 

She got up, then. “I think it’s time we get out of your hair, Buck. You and the little guy need all the time you can get to bond and get to know each other. But if you need anything at all, call one of us. We’re moms, we’ve probably dealt with everything before and we know how scary it is to bring your kid home for the first time.” 

“We hardly wanted to take Denny out of the car seat the first time we brought him home,” Karen said.

“It’s scary, but you don’t really have a lot to fear, and it all just takes time and practice.” 

Hen and Karen both said their goodbyes to Lucas. Buck hugged them both at the door. After they were gone, he turned to find that Lucas had left the blanket. For a moment, Buck felt himself panic. How far could he have gotten?

“Lucas?”

He rushed towards the blanket and immediately spotted him in the living room trying to climb onto the couch but failing. 

“Hey there, you need help?” 

Buck picked him up but set him down on the couch. 

“Did you get tired of playing?”

Lucas nodded. Buck glanced at the time. 

“What about hungry?”

He received another nod. It was going to take a few days for them to get on some kind of schedule when it came to feeding times. Maddie had bought a few toddler friendly things at least and Bobby had expressed some interest in cooking stuff geared towards a kid. Like Hen said, it was going to take time. Buck had plenty of it. Bobby had already submitted all his paperwork for leave, so he had a bit of time to really settle into his new role as Lucas’ dad. After that they would have to adjust yet again. He was going to need to ask Maddie about Jee-Yun’s daycare. 

Buck turned on the tv, glad that Jee-Yun being around at his loft often enough had made him aware of all the different kid shows. Bluey seemed a safe bet, so he put that on. Lucas made a noise that sounded happy. 

“Oh, you like Bluey? Remember Jee-Yun? It’s her favorite.” 

Lucas was already entranced watching the tv. 

After getting him some child friendly food, Lucas fell asleep right there on the couch. He was too cute. Buck took a few pictures. He sent them to the group chat.  

-

Tommy received what had to be the cutest picture Evan had ever sent him in the whole time he’d known him. It made him sit in his car and stare at his phone until Melton knocked on his window. Tommy rolled it down. 

“You’ve been sitting here for ten minutes. What’s going on?” 

“Oh. I didn’t realize it was that long,” Tommy said. 

“I was exaggerating,” Melton said with a chuckle. “What’s going on, Tommy?” 

Tommy turned his phone and showed Melton the picture. Evan was holding a tired looking Lucas who was clutching his teddy bear. They were sitting in Evan’s bed and Evan was smiling that smile that said he was actually content. Tommy missed that smile.

“Cute kid,” Melton said. 

“Yeah,” Tommy said, sighing wistfully.

“Your ex is cute too,” Melton said. “I didn’t know he had a kid.” 

“It’s recent,” Tommy said. “Like, brought him home today recent.”

Melton raised an eyebrow. “And he’s sending you pictures? I thought you broke up months ago.” 

Tommy dropped his phone on his lap. He groaned. “We did. Ran into him and now I just can’t seem to get over it. Over him.” 

“If I didn’t have to get home, I’d go and get a drink with you,” Melton said. “As is, all I can say is that if you’re on good terms with the guy and you still have feelings for him, it might be worth it to tell him and talk everything out.” 

“And complicate his already complicated life even more?”

Melton pursed his lips. “Everyone’s lives are complicated. Does him having a kid change things for you?” 

“No.” 

“Alright, so what is the issue?” 

“I broke up with him,” Tommy said. “I was…I ran, alright? I had a good thing and I ran because it was never going to last and now he has a kid and maybe all my reasons and all the things I told myself were just excuses. I should be there with him, helping him transition into being a father, but I broke up with him.”

“So be there for him,” Melton said. 

As if it could be that simple. He didn’t know how Evan would react if Tommy just showed up and asked if they could try again. It was not going to be that simple. Evan had been hurt and Tommy had been the one doing the hurting. Evan had a kid that needed his attention. Tommy was a mess that couldn’t add to all the weight that Evan was already carrying on his shoulders.

Melton pulled his phone out and typed something out. “I can be a little late,” he said. “Tommy, I’ve known you a long time now. You are hardly an open book, but the last few months we’ve all noticed how you’ve clammed up even more. The person you need to talk to is Buck. Maybe the timing is horrendous because he’s a new dad, but maybe you’re also helping ease something for him too. Maybe he needs to talk about it too.”

Evan had been baking instead of reaching out to Tommy, except that last night he had called Tommy and they talked about Connor and Kameron and avoided any topic that brought them too close to talking about their relationship or the break up. Was that how it would always be? Them avoiding talking about their relationship and the break up entirely to keep some sort of peace? 

“Maybe,” Tommy said. 

Melton shook his head. “Or, go to a bar or a club and pick up a rebound and get over him. Move on. You gotta do something, Tommy, or this is going to fester and only make everything worse for you. For him if you’re trying to stay friends. Even for that adorable kid.”

His phone vibrated and Tommy grabbed it at once. Another picture. This time it was just Lucas passed out on Evan’s bed, a soft looking blanket covering him. He wanted to be there so badly. It was the longing that hurt. This deep longing that made Tommy’s stomach churn. 

“Do you love him?” 

Melton’s question snapped Tommy’s eyes to him. “I hardly know Lucas.”

“Tommy.” 

It wasn’t easy to get the word out, but he forced it out, “yes.” 

“So do something about it,” Melton said. 

He watched Melton get into his car and leave, so he did the same. He didn’t head to his house, though, instead he drove to Evan’s apartment. There was no parking anywhere and Tommy laughed until he found a spot a few blocks away. The walk helped to clear his head, and he didn’t allow himself to turn back. He had no idea what Evan would do when he knocked on his door, but he had to. They had to talk. 

Maybe it was really bad timing, but if Evan was still feeling anything at all when it came to the break up, then it was probably weighing on him too. Maybe they didn’t get back to what they had before, but it was better than talking around the subject. It was better than never addressing it at all. 

He made his way up, taking the stairs to prolong it and then walked the hall to Evan’s door and knocked twice. 

Tommy shoved his hands in his pockets, rocked on his feet and waited. Maybe he should have called ahead. Maybe Evan had someone else there — Maddie or Bobby or anyone else. Maybe he was interrupting. He heard footsteps and then the door opened.

It brought him back at once to all the other times, how excited he’d felt every time he stood at that door waiting to be let in or for Evan to come out. How Evan had greeted him every time with a welcoming smile and a kiss. That wasn’t happening this time. 

“Tommy,” Evan said, cocking his head. “What uh…what are you doing here?” 

Evan was in a loose t-shirt and sweatpants, he looked warm and relaxed. Cute. Tommy wanted to pull him into his arms and never let go. 

“Hi,” Tommy said. “Do you think this is a good time to talk?”

[mitskiluvr]

sorry i’m a megumi apologist because i, too, would lay on the floor crying and throwing up if i was just forced to watch my own hands tear apart my sister and the man who raised me

[brionysea]

if stranger things 5 comes out and they're like 'omg! the upside down has been a product of someone's dark and twisted mind this whole time! it's... WILL!' I'll immediately lose interest