#and relevant in both versions

[curiosity-killed]

*crawls out of 2 yrs’ silence on mdzs* in a modern au Lan Wangji’s reliance on structure and rules could closely mirror the way some students advance immediately from bachelors to masters to phd without taking breaks because it is a “safe” route that allows them to fulfill family and societal expectations of success and intellect in a relatively familiar environment without the perceived higher risk and greater volatility of success in the workforce, particularly where there is a family business in which such education is not necessary but still rewarded. His protection of Wei Wuxian could similarly play out as him dropping out of his studies before being pulled back by his family, and his growth across the 13 yrs supported by completing his degree but shifting his dissertation focus or concentration to a less theoretical and more highly applied vein of the same field. In this AU, I—

[greatgoddyke]

time to make your choice only you can be the one

[craziesyourbees]

It's true that the enstars fandom often treats rinne weirdly, but i wish the fan solution wouldn't be to portray rinne in a reductive manner, scrubbing him of his nuance. Attempting to reshape rinne into a wholesome, kind, selfless guy is just not factually true within the scope of canon information. There is a reason why a lot of the cast (initially) dislikes him—whether it be because of hurtful actions, or provocative words, rinne is generally not an easy person to interact with. His purposefully crafted (and terrible) reputation often makes his peers wary of him, regardless if said feelings are misguided or not. And rinne doesn't do anything to dispel that image either—he is unapologetically himself, for better or for worse.

(Though, the complexities of such behavior is a different topic. It's not particularly relevant to the point i'm making, but i did want to acknowledge that. It's important to remember that behind the overbearing persona, rinne is more mild-mannered & average guy than he wants you to believe. You see it in his personal interactions with niki, or how niki recalls the past. Because that's the point—everything is carefully constructed for the public. Both as a means of control, and a defense mechanism.)

I see people often bring up how kind&caring rinne is towards others in order to dilute the… unsavory parts of his character, so to speak. And while it's not technically incorrect to say so, especially if you examine rinne's relationship with crazy:b, but… it's as if people erase his flaws because the thought of a multifaceted character that is neither good or bad is scary. But if that's true, why are negative traits viewed as problematic rather than adding realistic depth to fictional characters?   

For example, let's objectively look at rinne&hiiro's relationship. A part of hiiro's character development involves becoming independent, which is further spurred by rinne disowning him in the main story. While such gesture was an attempt of kindness on rinne's end—to give his dear brother independence, autonomy, freedom—it ultimately ignored how it would impact hiiro. Good intentions may be paved with love, but it does not mean the other party will respond happily. And with this specific instance, hiiro was deeply upset as he was proud of his identity&culture. To call their familial dynamic wholesome, and devoid of nuance would be a lie.  

Rinne is a nuanced, flawed person. He both possesses the multitude of having sincere compassion for the people in his life while simultaneously deeply hurting people for his own gain (Sudden Death is a good example). I wish more people would acknowledge that instead of trying to box him into rigid beliefs of good or bad. Because he is neither, and implying such strips him of interesting complexity. Which is part of the fun of Rinne Amagi!

[yourmajestybee]

I saw Wicked the movie (I had already seen the musical!) and now I got wizard of oz on the brain so here’s my pitch for a rise of the brave tangled dragons au

Are y’all seeing the vision??

[riddlerosehearts]

idia/vil is such a sweet and interesting ship to me and does not deserve to be a rarepair i'm serious. this might end up a bit incoherent and disorganized because i'm not great with words, but listen. the thing is that while on a surface level idia shroud and vil schoenheit--a nerdy shut-in with anxiety who likes to game all day and a mega famous celebrity who's strict about self-improvement--might seem completely incompatible, their actual interactions show us that that just isn't true!!

like, for example idia's starsending robes vignette is a big one!! the way that vil sees idia trying to hide when he's supposed to be at the ceremony, and idia says he's terrified that people will make fun of him, that he's not like vil and can't just go out and not care what anyone think the way he does. and then vil... tells him he's wrong, that it's the opposite, that he cares so much what other people think but has enough of a grip on himself that he can ignore it and appear confidently in public. the way vil admits to idia that they are so much more alike that he thinks.

also, the way that (in this fan translation at least, as well as in other TLs i've seen--the localization translates it to have the complete opposite meaning, for whatever reason) idia then says "so in other words, you've got to level up your ignore skill", and instead of getting annoyed at him for translating his advice into video game terms vil just says "isn't that obvious?". he's going out of his way to try and give idia genuine advice and is willing to speak his language to get him to understand it. he even does a similar thing later on in book 6, when he tells idia that it's worth taking chances because after all, the star rogue protagonist took his chances and went from zero to a hero.

and on that note, book 6 is so good for them. book 6 has idia get all excited and carried away while infodumping about star rogue, only to abruptly lose his enthusiasm and start talking quietly and stuttering. and who is it that tells him he shouldn't act so embarrassed and that they weren't judging him? it's none other than vil. vil who also shows an interest in gaming, much to the surprise of idia who believed, in his own words, that a "sparkly, gorgeous supermodel" like vil couldn't possibly like any of the same things as him! but no, vil wanted to try out the games they had and vil expressed a desire for idia to talk about his passions without fear of being judged. vil enjoyed playing star rogue and he was glad to discuss the movie adaptation with idia and ortho.

it's also vil who, when idia expresses his disappointment at the star rogue sequel being canceled and his wish for the original team to get back together and create a sequel that would be made with passion behind it, is the only one to genuinely understand where he's coming from (as opposed to jamil who's like "is it really that complicated?" and leona who suggests that he just throw money at the creators). vil is the one who encourages him to take a chance at doing what he can to make that wish a reality, to let the original team know that there's a passionate and loyal fanbase waiting for a sequel, and tells him that he just generally shouldn't give up on changing his future and achieving his dreams before he's even tried. of course ortho heard this advice too and took it very much the wrong way, but vil showed a surprising amount of understanding and support for idia and i feel like it was exactly the kind of thing he needed to hear.

also. remember the scene in disney's hercules where hercules temporarily gives up his godhood and his youth by diving into the underworld to save megara? because vil literally did the same thing to save idia. yeah, he may say he only did it for plot reasons, but like come on, how am i supposed to just not ship them after they parallel one of my favorite disney couples like that? vil is a world famous actor and model who was terrified of aging, and he still took such an insane risk!! i'm sure idia would have a crush on him after that.

i'm trying to wrap this up now because it's already too long but also idia has actually been said to have great fashion sense as his online persona and shown to enjoy cosplay and dressing up on occasion (for example, he went all out on his pumpkin knight costume and this hasn't made it to EN yet but he liked wearing the masquerade outfit). vil had pretty high praise for his design sense when he saw ortho's burst gear. and vil gets along incredibly well with ortho and is in the film club with him post-book 6, which is something i imagine idia would appreciate a lot. the contrast between them and the things they unexpectedly have in common are just so neat to me.

so, in conclusion,

i love them and i think they should be boyfriends

[neversetyoufree]

Wait hold on I just noticed something really funny.

I'm sure we all remember the incredibly gay moment of Domi quoting her father at Jeanne to talk about "enjoying her beauty:"

But! I just realized that this line was changed a bit from the real de Sade quote. The real life version that's usually quoted is this: "Sexual pleasure is, I agree, a passion to which all others are subordinate but in which they all unite." To be really reductive, it's essentially saying "everything is about sex."

Which like. This line as written was already a lot. But so long as there was no translation weirdness, we can assume that Mochijun picked this line out for this scene based on the "sexual pleasure" version. Hello lesbians.

[fastcardotmp3]

truman show esque "trapped in a reality you think is The reality when it is, in fact, just an experiment in which you are the subject" situation except when Steve gets dragged through the gate at Lover's Lake, when the rest of them follow him into the Upside Down, it's like the place has been adapting since the last time any of their people were here.

The Upside Down made itself into a mirror of Hawkins for a boy who it wanted to keep, but it didn't do so great the first time around. Vines and thick air and cold, it may have memorized the map of the place it was emulating, but it never quite got the details right.

The thing is, it's had time to learn. It was in Will's head, for fuck's sake, took over the bodies of countless Hawkins residents during the Starcourt fiasco of '85, so by the time Spring Break of '86 rolls around, the Upside Down knows.

It's a living thing and it knows better how to be a mirror, how to maybe better keep that boy here next time it gets ahold of him. Only before Will Byers has the chance to stumble his way back through one of the gates being created just for him, just for him and his sister, there are four others who are maybe a good trial run.

It's confusing for them, on the other side of being dragged to the bottom of a lake. It's confusing because it actually looks like Hawkins, smells like it, the water is the same in the lake and the mud feels the same on the shore.

It's less like being dragged to the bottom at all, actually, because the water makes them weightless, makes the transition disorienting rather than a clear crossing between worlds, so when they resurface and it looks the same it's. It's not the Upside Down the way Steve saw it in the tunnels, it's not the Upside Down the way Will or Joyce or Hopper or El described it.

Maybe there are hints and clues out and about-- unnatural chill for the season and tree roots that kick up out of the earth a bit more frequently, a haze to both nighttime and daylight that makes it feel gray and-- artificial almost? But none of that is enough to combat the sense of disorientation, the knowledge in their heads of what the UD actually looks like, and there's this fog in their heads...

There's this fog...

Their people aren't on the shore waiting for them under that starless night sky, but that's actually-- were there people waiting here for them at all?

It was just the four of them, right? It was just--

There are people here, when they decide to, um, "how did you hurt yourself, Steve? We need to-- shit, that needs to be disinfected, like, yesterday."

Robin's worried about rabies but Steve reminds her, "that's an animals thing, I just, like, fell on, uh-- those rocks at the lake? When we were swimming?"

It's too hard to question why they all went swimming in their clothes when it's this cold and dark. The fog is-- it's thick but also untraceable, it's like trying to make a logical decision in the middle of the most absurd of dreams.

It's like darkness encroaching in on your vision when you're involuntarily losing consciousness...

There are people here, when they decide to go find a first aid kit at Nancy's place because it's closest. There are a handful of cars driving around town, Mrs. Brady putting out her trash down the street when they sneak past.

Mrs. Brady, she was-- she is-- she-- but last summer during the-- the issue with-- there was a whole thing and she di--

Nancy's parents are out.

Steve's bites scrapes are oozing and painful and Nancy slaps at Eddie's hand when he tries to snoop at her diary.

The sun rises. The sun only just set. There are people here but they're-- were there people waiting for them on the shore?

There was something, some reason, why they were at the lake and that's important. That has to be important, somewhere beyond the fog.

When they fall asleep in the light of a too-quick morning, like the sun turned on rather than rose, it's not weird that there's no one else in the Wheeler house.

"Stop looking at me, I can feel you," Robin mutters as she dozes off to sleep on the bed beside Nancy, the boys on a spare mattress on the floor.

Everyone else is already asleep.

[transformers-bold-bright-brisk]

Oh yeah! Did I forget to mention i totally ship Starclaw?… Sharpdrive??… Sharpstar???… Clawdrive????

There are just so many possibilities, like you wouldn’t believe…

[parasitoidism]

I will say though although irl heat was actually a decent guy it was kind of weirdly morbid of him to give sera a cat named fucking Schrödinger

[homosociallyyours]

56 & 63 👀

Hi Lauren!! THANK YOUUUUU!!! This is such a good one.

Awful First Meeting + Everybody Knows/Mistaken for a Couple

Harry and Louis meet when they're stuck in an elevator heading to their cars after seeing a double feature at the local movie theater. It probably wouldn't be so awful of a first meeting if Harry hadn't decided to eat nachos with extra cheese sauce and drink what felt like a gallon of soda PLUS his usual travel water bottle during the last movie. In short, he shits his shorts-- and then pees himself, because WHY NOT, at a certain point?-- in front of the hot stranger he hopes he never has to see again.

Unfortunately, the new hire in his department starts that Monday and GUESS WHO IT IS?? Harry's co-workers take his unusual awkwardness around Louis as evidence that they've hooked up in the past, and Louis' teasing banter only makes things worse.

Just when it feels like things couldn't get worse, the two of them get trapped in the elevator again, this time at work.

---

"We really have to stop meeting like this," Louis says, biting back a teasing smile, and Harry wishes he could laugh but all he can think about is the wave of shame he'd felt a few weeks earlier in nearly this exact situation. At least this time he used the toilet less than twenty minutes earlier and had been staying away from lactose since that day. Still, he can't stifle his groan as he shuffles forward and lays his pointer finger on the button for the lobby, pressing as hard as he can.

"Hopefully it won't be as--" Harry stops himself from using the word 'shitty,' because REALLY? "Bad." He turns to Louis, brow furrowed, and frowns. "As bad as that particular, um, incident."

"Y'know what? It could've been worse."

Harry huffs a laugh as he looks back at Louis expectantly. "If we'd been stuck there another five minutes, I would've been in exactly the same boat as you.

--

That's RIGHT, Louis is also an IBS girlie or whatever, and literally shit his pants in his car on the way home! PLOT? MEET TWIST!

[hanzajesthanza]

also regis swearing at stygga is so meaningful to me because he swore over milva’s dead body and also in front of angoulême (and assumedly cahir too)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[primarinite]

updated my designs for dagny and dustin with their appearances in explorers, post explorers, and my oc story

[sonknuxadow]

sorry i know i cant stop people from having their headcanons or aus or whatever but i find it kinda silly when people present the idea of silver being shadows son as if its an actual plausible theory.... because all the "evidence" for it is very minor stuff thats easily explained away . and then theres also the fact that in the 06 timeline shadow was put back into stasis shortly after iblis destroyed the world because humanity was looking for someone to blame for it. and silver also says that iblis has been around since before he was born. im aware that the future is always changing so a future where an adult shadow is around to interact with a tiny little baby silver isnt entirely out of the question but wouldnt this plot detail make shadow being silvers biological father very unlikely if not outright impossible??

[xx-psych0-rabbit-xx]

i KNOW he's capable of playing weird fucking guys (seen mad max, heard good things abt his performance in the menu) but what im worried abt is if the directors LET him be a freak

JUST MENTIONED THAT IN ANOTHER ASK BUT YEAH thats whats bothering me like...he just doesnt seem mentally ill in the way renfield is written to be, like renfields whole thing is.he doesnt pass.hes in and out of episodes, he has bad mood swings, he can barely hold it together when trying to mask, hes that mentally ill person people even nowadays point at and claim deserve to be locked up and treated badly because hes just too much, and THATS what makes him good to me, hes sympathetic and very much a victim even though hes everything people think shouldnt be sympathetic

hoult renfield (just gonna call movie renfield that for convenience) rn just seems...very sanitized? he acts normal and just a bit sad, hes standard pretty, even if we take into account the renfield movie is more based on the 1931 movie(s)...both the english and spanish versions of renfield still left it very clear hes very much not someone who can pass, his mental illness and trauma are extremely obvious, hoult renfield as of rn just feels like a sanitized idea of an abuse victim when you take into account how either renfields he could be based on act

[londonhalcyon]

Sometimes in a fit of madness impatience I’ll write a scene from way later on in one of my fics—sometimes close to the end—and it’s always like:

This is a masterpiece. One of the best things I’ve ever written. A perfect culmination of everything I want to achieve and…aaannd it’s filled with spoilers. I can’t share this with anybody. It will never see the light of day for years. Fuck.

Anyway, I’m not quietly going insane tonight at all, why do you ask?