#and they'll communicate close to endgame

[baby-tini]

multiple mikey's (separate) first sex with their darling but they find out that she haven't experienced cumming yet 👀 (she has had sex before but no one has made her cum)

They're all gonna be so cocky about this, that they're the first ones and now, the only ones too make you cum. They'd prefer too be the only ones too have fucked you, but, now they'll be the last ones. Toman\OG timeline!Mikey feels a little bad for you honestly, but he's happy at the same time. His pretty girl deserves too feel the ecstasy that an orgasm grants and he's more then happy too be the first one too give it to you. He's the first one too bring you to the edge, too make you feel such overwhelming pleasure and he'll make a night full of it. As soon as he's home, he's on you, kissing you, taking your breath away. He's feverish at the start of it, but when he's actually inside you, he's communicative with everything. Keeping his eyes on yours, he asking, not too frequently but he wants too make sure you're enjoying every second of everything he's doing to you. Kissing and shushing you as you cling to him, whining that it's too much, he lets you whine for him, he knows it's your first time cumming and fuck you look so pretty as your eyes roll back and your jaw drops open as you let out the prettiest as you shake under him. He lets you feel all of it, the full addictive feeling of ecstasy. Manila!Mikey just... stares at you for a bit before he motions you into his lap, letting you straddle him. He'll ask you questions about it, whether or not you even got close, the shake of your head is all he needs too lay you down on the couch before as he looms over you. His dark eyes invasive as he moves down and moves your panties down. Spreading the lips of your cunt as he leans closer, placing a soft, wet kiss on your clit before softly blowing on it. The physical shudder that causes you too shake has him chuckling before he lays on his chest in between your legs. He runs his thumb over the sensitive nerve, rubbing his thumb right to left, before it rubs a tight circle into. His free hand grabbing your hips as they jerk back. The warmth of his mouth as his soft tongue slips into was something you never knew was even possible as he brings you to multiple orgasms in quick succession. The feeling leaves you in tears of pleasure as the desired feeling hits you for the first time in your life, something unimaginable.

Kanto!Mikey makes this into an even bigger sign of ownership over you, he doesn't care if it was just because none of the people even knew what they were doing. He's the only man too make you cum, that's another thing that he sees as a sign of you being made fully for him. He becomes a little delusional about it if I'm being honest. But, it's also something he'll hold over you, he's uses it in a manipulative way, when ever you think of leaving him, he'll let you know that he's the only person in the world that's able too make you cum, and the way he has you screaming every single time you cum for him, is living proof of that. Also another thing that he unfortunately turns into a punishment, that whenever you want too cum, you'll have too go to him and behave, because he doesn't reward bad behavior. Bonten!Mikey already knew, by the way readying disappointment was already leaking from your eyes, he kinda already guessed it had too do with previous intimate experiences. When he does find out that it was because you've never had an orgasm before, he also uses it as a manipulation tactic, for similar reasons as Kanto!Mikey, but for a very different endgame, All he wants is for you too stay with him, and if it's because he's the only one too have ever made you cum, he'll milk that. He'll give as many orgasm as you want, as long as you stay, give him desperately desired affection and he has no problem feeding your addiction to the feeling of pure heaven, in its sweetest, rawest form of sex.

Street Racer!Mikey though, is the most understanding if you explain it to him, if it's a you problem or if it was simply just because none of the previous people cared enough, or were even skilled enough too make you cum. Whatever it may be though, doesn't really matter, because he's determined too fuck you to an orgasm, willing and ready too do as you ask, determined the first and hoping too be the last too ever make you feel so good. He makes a whole night of it, of taking you over and over. Treating it like it's a special occasion, an event, because to him, it is. He'll make you feel good emotionally before he even touches you. He makes you cum on anything you ask, his tongue, fingers and his cock. He wants too make you remember it for the rest of your lives, hopefully, together.

[astrologydayz]

COMPOSITE CHART NOTES❤️‍🔥 - LOVE/RELATIONSHIP WISE

🖤 A composite chart for a couple literally shows us how their relationship dynamic is, how they communicate as a couple/show love, their sexual dynamic, "challenges as a couple", how "content" they are in their relationship basically&their "reputation together"/outside influences etc. It also shows what their relationship's "endgame" is⛓.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

SUN TRINE/QUINTILE MOON = a real powerhouse. They do NOT need other people's validation, when it comes to anything regarding their relationship. They KNOW they're meant 2 be in this, &won't hesitate 2 cut people out who's trying 2 interfere. They're stable and secure in their relationship, when it comes 2 their differences/"flaws" - they'll guide each other, not mock. They support each other, &will always have each others backs. If they'll ever break up = best friends after, 9/10 times. Won't let one another leave.

SUN SQUARE/QUINCUNX Moon can feel conflicting. They love each others differences in the beginning, but will start 2 point out each others "flaws" later, and make fun of them. "Passive aggressive" comments being thrown at one another, at any moment. It happens without them being able 2 stop themselves. They have these intense moments where they know they want 2 stay together 4ever, but have arguments about every little thing, things that doesn't even matter. They can't let one another be true 2 who they are🙅‍♀️🧡.

🌙 🪐MOON CONJUNCT/QUINCUNX SATURN = restrictions when it comes 2 feelings as a couple. They can feel awkward/weird talking about their emotions together. Like this "bad cloud" hanging over them, every time they try 2 go deep/work out their "problems"/differences with one another. Can also show karmic issues being the reason they can't get "emotionally close". One can have hurt the other one in a past life, & it hinders their connection in this life. Feeling like they can't be 100% open with each other, not knowing why - always a wall dividing them🖤💔.

SUN CONJUNCT/SQUARE Black Moon Lilith can easily have started their relationship while one of them was already in a relationship🖤. A secret affair, or just a really secret relationship, because one of them/or both, got something going on🤨🤔. SUN CONJUNCT MARS shows a very sexual relationship! They have a very passionate, fiery, action oriented, &strong relationship🤟🧡. They hype each others egos up, & feel better together than they do apart. They can have passionate arguments about who should do what &why, or about what they should do together & who should "decide". They can also end up saying really hurtful things 2 each other, in the heat of the moment, so they betta make sure that they give each other the freedom that they both need👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨. SUN CONJUNCT PLUTO is a total power couple! they'll change/transform each others lives forever, when they come together. Feeling of fate being involved here - "not a coincidence". They got loyalty 4 days, and have a very intense relationship that only they can understand. No outsiders allowed "truly" in. They have 2 make sure that they're always truthful towards one another tho, cuz the other person will find out, as everything is seriously analyzed here. They can get into intense arguments/obsess about things the other person does/did. Not "putting it all out there", can seem crazy sketchy2 the other person.

SUN CONJUNCT 5TH HOUSE = This couple is social AF! They have a LOT of friends usually, & LOVES 2 go out with them! Parties, events, dinners, u name it. They can even go on vacations with them! They love 2 have fun as a couple! And it can also show that they met, when they were out having fun with their friends/at a place where u can drink/dance. This placement can also show a couple having a kid together/raising a kid together.

MARS CONJUNCT MC can show a couple motivating each other, driving each other 2 succeed in each of their careers. OR one helping the other one reach an insane milestone in their career. But it can actually also show, that A LOT OF PEOPLE are against these 2being together. People can hate on them, for whatever reason they deem fit. Reputation of helping/supporting one another, career wise/looking “hot/sexy together/fighting in public/their fights being talked about publicly/people hating on their relationship - always commenting on it.

VENUS/CONJUNCT/TRINE/QUINTILE MC is a really fucking good placement. This couple shows their love, and how they love each other 2 the world. "One can't be mentioned without the other"🗣🫰. They typically have material wealth, & a reputation for being a creative/artistic/wealthy/loving - giving couple. They can also be seen as a very beautiful looking couple. They can be known in the entertainment/Arts industry, fashion industry, or they can be socialites. It can even show an iconic couple💋.

URANUS CONJUNCT ASC/OPPOSITE DSC shows a couple having no trouble with showing their "weird sides"/cute quirks - they can't hide it anyway. They're not embarrassed by it. THEY LIVE4IT! They're not gonna pretend 2 be something they're not. They can't hide their forward/original way of living either, no matter how much they wanted2! They're innovative, &will not conform 2 society's way of "living life". People can think of the couple as an "unusual" match/&as unpredictable, but a forward living/creative/out of the box couple. Hating labels = usually a thing here, so they can wait a long time before "finalizing" anything between them. They're not something u see every day! MERCURY CONJUNCT ASC/OPPOSITE DSC can show a couple speaking whatever's on their minds, all the time. "A couple having no filter". They don't care if they're debating in front of people, or alone. It's their thing! It's just how they are/work as a couple. Debating/talking 2each other A LOT, about all kinds of different things, to discuss and then agree, or agree 2 disagree. As long as they both gets 2 discuss their points, It's all good. People can think of the couple as a communicative/talkative/& "open" couple, but sometimes a little 2 open/2ready 2 debate/discuss everything. People can also feel kinda left out, when they're talking with each other - can't keep up with them. MERCURY OPPOSITE MC/CONJUNCT IC usually have really good communication between them, unless their Mercury is really afflicted. They can be seen as kind of "Superficial in public", only really talking about surface stuff. They're really private, when it comes to their problems/debates or fights. If they're fighting, you wouldn't know, unless u know them really well. They do not talk about their issues with each other in public. That's something these two only do behind closed doors. They're very straightforward with each other, & they talk about everything, But only when they're ALONE.

Always look at everything, 2get the exact details! &always analyze both Natal charts, BEFORE analyzing a composite chart! THANKS4READING BABE Appreciate u, always.

[nobylerdoubt]

Heyy I was talking to my friend who ships milkvan she made a few good points.

In season 4

Milkvan and jancy parallel because they are both lying to their partners to stop them from worrying.

Secondly, she made a point that love is a feeling, to like something is a choice. She said that even though el didn't know her likes and dislike before s3 ( when she asks max) she has always known love. And has loved Mike.

Well she had mixed up platonic and romantic love ( we have seen mike parallel hopper)

Also a common one el wouldn't leave mike, someone who has kept her safe. Well we have already seen their relationship in ruins and seen her leave mike for max. But it is a common one obv.

Her points were mostly based on jancy and milkvan parallels in s4.

Do you think jancy and milkvan truly parallel in s4

Thanks for asking!

I do think there is a point that Jancy and Mileven do parallel in S4, however I'm of two minds with this:

At this point, as much as I'm rooting for Jancy and do believe they'll end up together, I'm not 100% sure if thats what's necessarily gonna happen. Jancy isnt necessarily my specialty when it comes to themes, hints, and foreshadowing.

Thier parallel could be to juxtapose how an endgame couple deals with secrets and miscommunication vs a couple that is not endgame.

Parallels are not meant to be mirror images of each other. If all of the couples in the show were written the exact same way, that wouldn't be good writing. Instead, parallels are used to foreshadow a couple getting together, or highlight the differences between those couples, or a couple that's not going to be endgame. That's why I think it's meant to reveal that either Jancy is not endgame, more than it's meant to highlight how differently these couples are going about this.

Jonathan and Nancy's miscommunication comes from a place of care for the other, at personal risk to themselves. Jonathan doesn't tell Nancy that applied to Lenora community college, because he feels he needs to stay close and protect and provide for his family, and he doesn't want to hold her back. We see this majorly in season three, because Nancy and Jonathan get into a fight because he needed that job to provide for his family, but she was being held back.

Jonathan and Nancy speak very highly of each other at the beginning of the season regarding the reason why they aren't seeing each other over spring break. The gist of that back-and-forth scene is that while they have their own reasons for staying behind (Jonathan staying to care for his family while Nancy stays to work on the newspaper) they're on the same page. If Jonathan had told Nancy why he didn't want to go to Emerson, she would have understood because she understands that he is protective of his family, and she loves that about him. Jonathan knows that too, but he doesn't want to hold her back. Because Jonathan knows that Nancy is ambitious and he loves that about her. The entire miscommunication is born out of care for each other. 

On the other hand, the miscommunication between Mike and El is rooted in selfishness. If you go with what is explicitly said in the show, Mike doesn't say "I love you" was to protect his own feelings - so that it would hurt less when she inevitably leaves him. If you go with the Byler subtext, the reason he doesn't tell her is because it isn't true. Either way, Mike is kind of stringing El along for his own purposes - he doesn't think he's good enough for her, so he's protecting himself from more pain while keeping her in a relationship with him OR he isn't actually in love with her, but he wants to keep her around because he thinks he needs to for his own image and his own comfort.

El lies to Mike about having friends and being well adjusted in Lenora - because she doesn't think she's good enough for Mike either. So instead of being honest with Mike and trying to lean on him for support (especially since, like he said, he has experience with bullying), she lies to make herself look better in his eyes, and make herself more desirable for him. (Which Mike is doing the same thing, as we understand him showing up that crazy elephant at the airport was the show that he wasn't being true to himself, trying to make himself more desirable to El.)

Finally, Jancy ends the season working together to repair the house. This likely symbolizes that they will work together to repair their relationship. However in this same scene Mike and El work separately, picking up trash, and Mike finds Will. This likely symbolizes that they will kind of "pick up the trash/rubble" of their relationship separately, and Mike, of course, will find love with Will.

Plus, hill pairings.

Okay, for the second point, I wildly disagree that "to love someone is a feeling but to like something is a choice" (because never have I ever chosen to like something), and that El has "always known love".

She hasn't. She's been deprived from real love for her entire childhood. She's basically a newborn when she first escapes the lab (see the 'born pretty yesterday' trope.) Over the seasons she understands love more and more - love from friends, love from Hopper/a parent/family, sibling love with Will and Jonathan, and best friend love with Max.

This is gonna be something I mention in my Season 2 Mileven post eventually - but theres a scene in Season 2 where El is watching TV and is fixated on this soap opera ("they'd be aghast!"), and what this scene really illustrates for me just how much romantic love is a wildly unfamiliar concept to her. A concept that had first been explained to her, in a kind of butchered way, by Mike in season 1, and if you read my Season 1 Mileven post - you already know that I think Mike has a distorted heteronormative idea of what romantic feelings are in the first place.

As someone on the Ace/Aro spectrum, let me tell you - differentiating romantic and platonic feelings is really hard. Especially when you have no framework for what romantic feelings even are.

And like you already pointed out - there's been comparisons of Mike to Hopper, El initially asked if Mike would "be like her brother". She's already confused her romantic and platonic feelings.

And let's just say that she does have romantic feelings for Mike - that doesn't mean that Mike loves her back. And that's enough reason to break off that relationship. Mike deserves to love someone, and El deserves to be truly loved.

And "El would never leave Mike because he's done so much for her," first of all: kind of a toxic relationship dynamic to stay in a relationship because you feel like you owe it to the other person, second of all: she doesn't have to leave him. They can still be friends! Breaking up with Mike doesn't mean never seeing him again and abandoning him. Their best scenes and interactions are when they aren't actually in a relationship anyway.

[castlebyersafterdark]

https://www.tumblr.com/castlebyersafterdark/788464423221280768/here-is-another-example-of-how-even-the-younger?source=share

I appreciate this post from an elder queer. to me, the main issue when young people cry queerbaiting is not about queerbaiting itself - it's a symptom of the post #metoo world where people just do not understand non-verbal communication anymore. maybe they dont even do critical analysis or literature studies in schools anymore, who knows! but people need/want byler to be more obvious, they want them to verbalise their love for each other, as if this is somehow objectively better than showing it through actions or saying it through euphemism. For some reason, verbal statements are prized above anything in youth culture now, even when the opposite has always been true in good cinema. Everyone knows that exposition fucking sucks and is considered bad and lazy writing. It's literally what a screenwriter does when they can't figure out a way to communicate information to the audience without just straight up having a character unnaturally lecturing it. And yet people would rather be bashed over the head with the fact that will's gay than let the beauty of subtlety do its work.

I mean, what exactly would milevens want mike to have done to show he's into guys? beyond what the show has shown us with his behaviour towards will and subtle crush on eddie, the little set design details, etc? do they think he needs to have eyes bugging out and jaw dropping like a looney tunes character every time will walks in? do they think mike needs to openly state 'so, tom cruise is fucking hot isnt he!' at the wheeler family breakfast? dialogue like that, even in a modern movie where its not the 80s, would be fucking shit writing; on the nose, boring, where the character says exactly what he feels. characters NEVER say only what they feel. there is always a hidden truth, and this is what makes it art and not just a home video you shot on your mommy's shitty camera.

so maybe OP was right about people just wanting to rile themselves up due to boredom during this wait. they believe the bullies who try to trick them into thinking they cannot read facial expressions, mood cues, or non verbal communication. Somehow, anything that is non-verbal communication has been equated with subjectivity, as if none of us should ever dare to trust our own abilities to understand something that someone hasn't straight up said in words.

here's a little fun game to prove it: close your laptop or shut off your phone. go talk to the friends/family who dont believe in byler endgame. tell them that mike is gay and will fall in love with will in s5. now tell me that you can't read their opinion on this idea without them outright verbally stating to you that 'mike isn't gay, you fool!' tell me you can't read the vibe of the room, the disdain/excitement on their face, their body language at the topic and need them to tell you IN WORDS ONLY how they feel about byler.

how many byler fans who cry queerbaiting at the subtlety of byler would say yes, i need verbal comms only? hardly any, i'd wager. they'll easily read non-verbal cues that are negative, but they are reluctant to believe the things that confirm what they want to happen. I think byler fans are a swathe of people who have been very hurt in their lives, and maybe queerbaiting is one of the causes, but maybe sometimes it's something else.

i think the issue here is that people adore byler, but they don't always adore the way that the duffers are going about portraying it. they've fallen in love with what byler COULD BE and aren't willing to wait and see what it actually IS. it's like limerence, but for a TV character instead of a real person. such obsession and anxiety is unfortunately one of the downsides of fandom, where you can plug yourself in 24 hours a day to the Doubt Network of People With Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms. So I guess for elder queers, queerbaiting was the real villain. For younger people, it's, essentially, the nature of the internet. But what's new!

🍄🌶🫑🍄🌶🫑🍄🌶🫑🍄🌶🫑🍄🌶🫑

[hockybish]

Bedtime Blues

l West Winds au l dad!trevor l masterlist l blurb l

"Do you trust me?"

"No Trevor, not when you don't-"

"Stop, Tallulah, just stop" Trevor cut her off

There was pause in the conversation. The couple looking anywhere but at each other, both not wanting to break the silence.

"I um, I think I should go home tonight"

Bean replayed the argument in her mind. It was stupid really a simple breakdown in communication that lead to her questioning him and him angrily leaving for the night.

If only he had talked to about the thing and maybe -

"Mommy! Daddy! I'm ready!" Zephyr's voice rang through their home.

He had been doing his nightly routine, which included a bath tonight. And now he was done and ready for his parents to read him a story and give him hugs and kisses.

"Hey baby" She kissed the top of his head, sitting in the bed next to him, pretending nothing was different from any other night. "What book are we reading tonight?"

"This one. I want Daddy to do the funny voices." The child proudly held out the book he chose.

"Is it alright if Mommy does them tonight?" Bean knew she was no where near the story reader that Trevor was, but she hoped and prayed that for one night, it would be okay.

"No, you don't do it right, only Daddy."

"I know baby, but Daddy had to leave, so Mommy has to do it."

"Daddy gone?" Bean nodded at her confused child. She could see the gears turning and a meltdown coming.

"But he didn't tell me goodbye." Zephyr's face turned from confusion to sadness when his lip started quivering and tears started flowing from his eyes.

"I'm sorry"

"No!" Zephyr started to get upset, throwing his favorite book and pushing his mother away before tossing himself on the floor crying. "I want my Daddy!"

~

Trevor knew leaving probably wasn't the best idea and most definitely wasn't going to solve whatever issue they were having. He just needed a moment, so spending the night in his own home was the best solution.

He was almost home when his phone went off, Bean's name popping up on the screen. He almost declined it by letting ring, but a gut feeling told him to answer it.

"What?" His voice came off a little more harsh than he intended.

"You never said goodnight." There was a lot of commotion in the background he could hardly understand what she was saying.

"What?" Trevor asked again, this time his voice changing becoming a little softer.

"You never said goodnight, you weren't here to read the story and do the funny voices." Bean's voice cracked over the phone. "He won't stop crying for you."

That's what the noise was. Zephyr crying.

"Please come back"

Bean didn't have to ask him twice. Once it was safe, Trevor turned the car around and sped off back towards his family.

Zephyr launched himself into Trevor's arms the moment he saw him. He wasn't too happy with his mother right now and just wants his daddy.

"What's wrong Zeph?"

"I don't love Mommy right now. Hate Mommy. Want you." Zeph rubbed his blanket over his tired eyes.

"Hey now, that's not very nice. Mommy loves you very much. She's trying okay buddy?"

Trevor could tell he didn't mean it, it was the sleep deprivation talking. In the morning after a good night sleep he could change his mind.

"Do you want to come home with Daddy?" He could feel Zeph's heading nodding against his chest. It was decided they'll have a little sleepover.

~

Zephyr fell asleep at some point in time on the drive to Trevor's. Exhaustion finally taking over and lull of the car convincing him to close his eyes.

Trevor laid him in his bed and snapped a photo, sending it to Bean, letting her know that they got to their destination and someone was already asleep.

tilly bean: im sorry about the fight Z: well talk about it tomorrow

tilly bean: i love you z Z: i love you more bean

They were going to be alright. She's his endgame after all.

[sunnyelfs]

Now that I know how it ended, I'm going to pretend the series ended on season two. 

Am I glad for the Wilmon endgame? Of course I am. Am I happy with the whole season three? Uh-uh. 

For the entire first five episodes, I felt like the writers were trying to create a lot of drama that was unnecessary while dumping really important stuff. After having video and dr*gs thing looming over the characters for two seasons, we got a resolution to those problems in what, ten minutes in the first episode? And after that, we're supposed to worry about the school closing? Ah, okay.

Once again, I'll agree with everyone who's already said it before me: this season has really messed up Wille and Simon's relationship. And while it's written logically, I still have a strong feeling that it was just for the sake of drama, just to keep us in suspense, to keep us wondering if they'll get over it. And that's just too damn bad. 

And the last episode in particular cranked that problem to the max (for me). Most of the episode was devoted to how they're trying to come to terms with the breakup. Thanks, I had a whole season two to know they weren't going to make it, they're in love and will never be fully over each other, can we move on?

Wille's reconciliation with his parents is wonderful, but it felt so strained, like, wow, one fight was enough for them to realize their mistakes. One conversation after that was enough for him to be allowed to leave? No, I believe he can leave his role (he shouldn't have been so active in it until after high school anyway) and live a relatively non-public life, but it seems so quick and easy.

The only thing that really felt like something earned after the long journey was Wilhelm's "reconciliation" with August. I didn't think I needed it, but this season made me look forward to something like that.

No, I believe that Wille and Simon will get through whatever it is, I believe they will be together, get married, have their three tiny dogs and be happy. I knew that before season three came out. My problem with this season is that all the drama for the sake of drama feels like it stole a lot of priceless time from the plot. Oh no, Erik might not have been the nicest person! Ah, bygones, he's a great brother after all. (Yes, this storyline was important to Wille, but I'm sure it could have been shown much better). School might close and our heroes won't be able to be around each other! Oh, you know, that hasn't been decided definitely yet. Anyways, they were willing to date long distance. Simon getting physically threatened by fanatics? Surely it won't get any worse when Wilhelm's abdication is announced and these nutjobs connect the dots and blame Simon. Our heroes have obvious communication problems and their difference in backgrounds does become an issue sometimes? Oopsie, we'll turn a blind eye to that now. And it feels like that from almost every storyline this season. A lot of new problems going unresolved.

Honestly, I've read fanfics that continued their story way better than season three did. And this is just sad. Still, happy Wilmon endgame everyone! 

[hautarche]

Chiming in as a longtime PoE fan who recently had the chance to play a lot of PoE 2 (four toons, though only one in endgame): PoE 2 is very fun. Bosses and monsters are distinct, memorable, dynamic to fight, and well-designed (I wrote up a running tally of how many monsters have different interactions at different range brackets and was impressed by how well they've come up with things that can actually be more threatening to long-ranged characters). Gearing is way more interesting and approachable than it is in the first game. Loads of different gameplay styles are fun despite all feeling significantly different in execution. The story is digestible and broadly entertaining. You get to fight ancient Aztec Iron Man! He's so cool. And you can die to something called a "rat tornado", also very cool.

It's not a perfect game, though. Obviously. Substantive gameplay complaints as follows:

If you try using "bad skills" to do damage, you will have a bad time. This is a problem in PoE 1 as well, but over there a skill is "bad" if it doesn't scale well really late into the game, so you can be deceived into playing them for quite a while before you realize they suck. One of PoE 2's biggest improvements is that you can tell if a skill sucks almost immediately after trying it out, because the issues with them aren't about scalability but rather upfront design (e.g. Vaulting Impact is very slow due to added fixed attack time, tends to catch on obstacles, aims unintuitively even after accounting for the cursor aiming at ground, does not synergize well with other stunning quarterstaff skills, and because of its low attack speed loses massively more DPS when stunned or displaced than faster-hitting quarterstaff skills). Presumably these skills are things the developers will be trying to address in upcoming patches.

Crossbow reload is currently buggy, especially where dodge rolling is concerned. In tandem with cursor-aims-at-ground-level, and crossbows (reportedly) having on-par or lower DPS than bows of similar caliber, you may find your experience with them lackluster.

Some builds will teach you how to play the game; some will not. You are likelier to learn what monsters do and how to dodge them if you play close-range characters and those reliant on armour/evasion for defense, because monsters will hit you and hurt you. On the other hand, the Infernalist Arsonist-necromancer is a very fun build that drowns out all action on the screen under an ocean of orange glows by as early as Act 2, has the invulnerability of Achilles, and requires very little user input other than walking to pick up loot; my own experience with it is that I unlearned the meticulous positioning skills I'd built up with my Storm Wave Monk, and that (the Infernalist being my first toon to reach the Black Chambers) I couldn't tell you what any of the monsters in the Black Chambers looked like, let alone what they did. So... there's a big disparity in power levels and threat experience depending on what build you play.

I'm going to go against the grain of most PoE internet communities and say that the Trials are fun. However, some of the bosses are jank. The Terracotta Sentinels in Trial of the Sekhemas' second floor have devastating AoE melee attacks, move at the same speed, and cannot be displaced, so if you fight them in close range you either need to be capable of finishing off/stunning one quickly or else they'll just cover each others' asses with unending multiple consecutive slams (meanwhile long-range combat has no such problem with them). Two of the bosses in Trial of Chaos are jank. The Chimera spends roughly half its time airborne (thus invisible, untargetable, invincible) and there's no minimap icon for it, so when it lands you have to canvas the entire fucking arena to find it again, at which point it's usually seconds from taking off again. Bahlak's tornado is bullshit, maybe lethal stage hazards should be visible through it just a suggestion!!!

Other misc minor complaints, largely regarding bugs (skitter golems trapped in Essences can attack, walking goliaths trapped in Essences can spawn as corpses and therefore be unkillable, there's like 90 different bugged permutations of the Act 3 hub which you can access by fooling around with waypoints after beating the act-boss, Trial of the Sekhemas lacks a dedicated go-to button on waypoint maps, characters repeat their last quest-relevant voiceline on re-entering a zone even if it's obviously no longer relevant, if you walk under Jamanra's zombie skirt during the intro to his final boss fight the dialogue sounds cut out, river drakes get stuck on some map doodads, the pillar slam guys from the Eternal Cemetery started running away from me in the latest patch rather than attacking, you can dodge-roll through monster-conjured walls to trivialize several boss fights).

Substantive non-gameplay issues as follows:

Some characters have fun voicelines; some characters are dull as pumice. The mercenary's snark, greed, and prior experiences all shine through with some pretty good voice acting. The ranger just says banal shit and half of it is real Captain Obvious stuff. Strangely, datamining indicates her character has somewhat more flavorful lines (lines tagged "Ranger" are from the first game, lines tagged "Dex4b" are from PoE 2) but having played her up to level 60, I did not hear a single fucking one of the actually character-expressive voicelines. On that note, there's actually a lot of datamined voicelines that just don't show up in places they should very obviously be, and some of them have lore that shows up nowhere else - like Zarka's warning to the Monk that the Third Pact binds his master, which is really important to those of us loreheads trying to construct an understanding of the Breach and its denizens. It just isn't in the game! Digression aside, some classes are way more fun to play than others even on builds that feel worse because they come with actual character.

Voice acting is. It exists. It may tick you off. Those who have played PoE 1 will know the voice acting is also a little spotty there; Sin in particular sounds like Chris Wilson, lead developer of Grinding Gear Games, doing test reads of the lines. In PoE 2, though, your toons talk a lot, which makes it more jarring when some of them emote and others really, really don't. The Hooded One is inexplicably drowning in reverb - a condition no other example of his kind suffers from, at least not to that extent - and sounds he like should be telling me to construct additional Pylons. The Trialmaster sounds kind of bored, which makes sense given his backstory, but doesn't vibe with the lines he utters. Perhaps the worst offenders are the Maraketh, though, because of their accents. Granted that "the Maraketh" refers to a broad collection of semi-related cultures across a vast geographical region, but when two dekharas in the same akhara can't agree on where to put the stress in Balbala, akhara, or Jamanra, it makes the language and by proxy the culture of the Maraketh feel fake in a way that Wraeclast's cultures spotlighted in other Acts don't (btw, akhara is a real word, lmao, it has an actual pronunciation).

Why do all the Titans have flat asses In the Forge map, the lighting lets you see the Titans' bodies on full display... which means you can see them occasionally clip into each other. Jarring, please fix

Act 2 is full of fun scenery, monsters, and tilesets, but the villain is a real nothingburger. He has few lines and the Maraketh who aid you in fighting him say few things about him. He just shouts angrily about the time of the Faridun being now and wanting to kill the sekhemas. I know Jamanra because we've been getting lore trickles about him in PoE 1 since at least September 2020, and honestly I didn't learn anything new about him in PoE 2 other than that controlling the winds was not an ability he had in life. Count Geonor, villain of the first Act, also has few lines, but people talk about him and what he's done, and you can see what he's done, so you understand what he's about. You don't feel anything about the Maraketh-Faridun conflict because basically nobody speaks on it, and when they do, each NPC more or less tells you the same thing. When Asala decides at the end of Act 2 to cut off Jamanra's head as a sign of respect and honor, it doesn't feel like anything. Give us more about this cultural divide. Make us feel the hatred, both on the Maraketh side (make them more openly prejudiced and willing to sincerely talk about why they view the Faridun as untouchables?) and the Faridun side (actually tell or illustrate how the Faridun suffer at the hands of the akharas)! Make the Ardura caravan's respect for the Faridun actually grow organically, rather than 1) everyone being lukewarmly mean about Risu and then suddenly trust her and want her to be their sister because she provided a one good info, and 2) Asala going from calling the Faridun "demons" and telling Jamanra it was his due to have been secretly and dishonorably assassinated during peace talks to suddenly deciding to treat him as worthy of honor and pursue unification between the cultures in the span of a single fight.

Good Lord what is going on with the first half of the story in Act 3

Why does Tangmazu the Delirium Guy refer to your toon as the Godslayer, when you have killed a grand total of 0 gods, you're trying to kill the thing that puts down gods, and the Godslayer is a completely different person? (May have actual answer yet to be revealed, given how wonky time is in Wraeclast?)

PoE 2 finally reveals what the rest of a devourer's body looks like, but then also gives us the aboveground tracks of a devourer in Clearfell. Can anybody visualize how such a creature is supposed to move to make these tracks? Do they just like, wiggle-bounce up, down, and slightly forward in a straight line? This sincerely kept me up at night.

And some things that aren't really complaints, but I'd like to see in the game:

More interesting/impactful charm modifiers. While I'd hesitate to suggest buffing mods that better charm charge efficacy, the ones like "restore x mana" or "gain y guard" are frankly unnoticeable and absolutely should be stronger. Most charms trigger on Oh Shit moments anyways, I don't see the issue if their mods provide an actual substantive effect (in fact, maybe they could enable some wacky self-debuff builds a la PoE 1's Heartbound Loop nonsense). There could also be charm mods that do things like lower cooldowns when proc'd, or drop shocking ground, or emit a dazing pulse, or somesuch.

More charms. Maybe (spitballing) there should just be a charm that gives you flat additional armor but loses charges when your armor is applied to damage. Someone somewhere would use it?

More charms that aren't just reactive defense, like the gold charm. Maybe charms that boost travel distance of travel skills/dodge roll, but lose charges when you use travel skills/dodge roll? Charms that reduce flask charges used, but lose charges when you use a flask? A charm that triggers on persistent minion death to Last Gasp them, or to make them revive faster?

Unique charms please and thank you.

Maybe I'm missing a balance concern, but why can't I have two life flasks or two mana flasks? Does that make Blood Magic/Mind Over Matter/Archmage too strong or something?

Maybe I'm missing a feel concern, but would it hurt for toons to move like, 1% faster every 5 levels or something so that boot move speed mods don't utterly dominate all other priorities when looking for good boots? It could even cap out at 10% increased by level 50 and that would be good. Zones in Acts 2 and 3 have way bigger layouts than those in Act 1, and just generally not having any increased move speed by that time is painful, let alone when you're in a-venturing in the endgame.

Let me leap-skill or even just dodge roll down tiny little ledges.

I think you should be able to move into the oil in Slick maps and drown. For the because.

Some skills that can be used by multiple weapon types please. Why can't a single player enjoy both slam spam aftershocks AND tempest bell? What if caster staves could be used for quarterstaff attacks, albeit with piddlingly low damage, so that you could put Whirling Assault or Siphoning Strike or Tempest Flurry+Tempest Bell on someone who’s otherwise a caster? What if there were quarterstaff attacks that were Strength-dependent, you know, for the strength-stackers out there : )? On that note, I hope that when the Duelist is released one of his ascendancies has a sort of reverse-Varunastra node, like “You can use any melee martial weapon skill with any melee martial weapon”. Could you imagine. Drool.

Either some sort of off-hand accessory for crossbows, or for crossbows to be notably offensively better than bows in the way that most two-handed weapons are (supposedly) offensively better than a more defensive one-hand + accessory setup.

More loading screen art please. They're gorgeous, but only Act 1 has enough to represent its distinct locales. Act 1 has 3 (woods, the Eternal Cemetery, and Ogham), but Act 2 has just the one (not counting Trial of the Sekhemas) and Act 3 I think also just has the one (again excluding Trial of Chaos).

Can the world map for Act 2 be more distinct so that it's easier to tell when the reading direction has been inverted? If it could look more like this and less symmetrical/of smaller less distinct icons, that would be great.

MORE CHECKPOINTS. PLEASE AND MANY THANKS.

Btw everything you've heard about how Path of Exile is brutally hard and ridiculously overcomplicated isn't *not* true, but it mostly applies to entirely optional post-game stuff. The single-player campaign is just a cromulent action RPG and if u feel like it u can just kill Kitava and call it a day instead of doing all that math

[naruhearts]

13x14: Use Your Words!!!

Cas looks so resigned :’(

This is what I meant when I said Dean has to keep that closet door OPEN. He may be willing to compromise, listen to, and understand (yeah, progress) Cas’ chest-shattering soldier stance on ending the war instead of ungraciously rebuffing what he did to Donatello (though Dean’s not aware that Cas did it “for you”), but Cas BELIEVES Dean doesn’t reciprocate his feelings. He’s still carrying around the residual sadness and paranoia instilled in him by Empty!Cas. Cas believes there truly is fucking nothing for him on Earth since DEAN WON’T DISCLOSE ANYTHING TO HIM–THE TRUTH ABOUT WHY HE GRIEVED, about why he was ready to leave his own brother behind, the suicidal ideation, the festering self-deconstruction, anger, the pessimism. 

(god, that stupid bag).

I literally held my breath, because for a moment, a singular moment of crackling anticipation, I hoped Dean could finally terminate the NEED and confess, embrace the WANT.

Then–

I’ll never get over Cas’ face (in fact, this scene was verbally/visually reminiscent of–)

(I know, I said Dean was LEARNING to refer to himself and his respective emotions, learning to use I vs We, and he IS learning, but I also said Dean possesses niggling fears. What if he loses Cas again? This is his greatest fear, which explains why Dean the Scared Rabbit scurried back to his comfy safe burrow of pluralities instead of playing, spending time, talking to Cas the Pheonix outside. And in both above scenarios, they are interrupted. Dean is interrupted from leaving his burrow. Interrupted by what? Another apocalypse. Another end of the world. Another day, another Will They, another Won’t They. He’ll keep darting in and out of his burrow until Something gives—-the Big Endgame Something).

Like others have said already, Dean’s answer yanked any smidge of remaining hope out of Cas’ heart. Dean ripped off the bandaid for him. AGAIN. CAS THINKS HE’S EXPENDABLE–personally reduced to nothing else but a weapon, a tool, a gun that is discarded later. PAINFUL narrative symmetry carrying over from 13x13. Jfc Glynn!!! As I mentioned in this post:

Cas = ‘tool’ for the Winchesters: expendability –> when they don’t need Ketch anymore, what happens to him? Dean has indirectly told Cas previously that he’s not expendable ie 12x12 “Let’s go home” but it ain’t enough—-he must be 100% direct and tell Cas why he’s different…why Cas means way more to him.

If Dean wants Cas to STAY, to stop going away as a SOLDIER on a mission (when he is NOT a soldier but a beloved brother, son, father, lover), he must USE HIS WORDS—the right words—and I just can’t deal with all this miscommunicative storytelling angst right now ;-;

[coldninjaruins-blog]

Confession, I think Stranger things is a decent show with decent writing and that's why I think byler is endgame.

To be honest I'm very critical of the show's writing. I think ST is a good show but with quite a few flaws yet I'm still pretty confident in byler endgame because I genuinely believe it's what makes the most narrative sense (yes, even still with the existence of the monologue). That's not to say I'm immune to byler doubt but it's usually more related to external factors like "they'll really go for it?" than what we see in the show. If the plan was to have Mike accept in Will as gay and portray positive male friendships with their relationship, they shouldn't have changed Mike and Will's dynamic in season 3 and 4 and not have Will be in love with Mike.

Like can you guys imagine Will coming out to Mike with the same dynamic they had in season 2? That would have been fucking adorable, it would have been a wonderful representation of a friendship of a gay boy and a straight boy having a close relationship.

But they didn't, they had to give us dramatic fights like the rain fight, the rink o mania fight, lines like "we're friends, we're friends" that awful half hug, portray Will's love for Mike so beautifully while showing that Mike and El's relationship doesn't really work.

Like I love season 2 and I think the writers already had byler in mind when they wrote it (that's why they had so many parallels with miIeven, and the miIeven scenes were mean to be view as romantic) but if they really wanted to keep their platonic relationship after that season they could do it, or even after season 3! I know many say Mike and Will's friendship becoming more distant after season 3 was the natural course of things but while I agree, I think the scene "what if you want to join another party? " "Not possible" was an opportunity for the writers, they could make their friendship the same as before, it was the "olive branch" I think most people wouldn't find it weird if there was no drama between Mike and Will in season 4 (I repeat I still agree it was also natural course but I think the writers had 2 choices on which way to go) take for example to Mike and Max's relationship, they spent season 3 beefing but even though we don't have a scene with them like the "not possible" in season 4 and though we know Max disappeared or pushed way everyone, there really doesn't seem to be any problem between Max and Mike, we have the scene of the two of them talking in episode 1, Mike mentioning Max with Lucas and Dustin (Max, Lucas, Dustin. ..they're great) and Max making a letter to Mike as well. (Also, let's be honest it's a common thing for ST writers to introduce certain things and never touch them again, or leave them in oblivion, like Mike being really mean to Max in s2 and never apologizing to her or mentioning it on screen, my point is that it wouldn't be weird for the writers to do something like that).

But nooo, they had to have Mike act weird, give Mike and Will communication problems (a usually romantic trope) and make Will's love for Mike much more obvious instead of giving him a new love interest.

They made Will basically a third party to Mike and El's relationship in s4, and that's weird from a narrative standpoint. They put more emphasis on Will's feelings than they did on Mike and El's romance and that's just not normal. They didn't do this with Steve and Jancy or Dustin and Lumax. Will appeared so often in Mike and El scenes that it became predictable for viewers.

They wanted you to empathize with him, to feel bad for him, to rotate for his happiness.

I'm just saying in a very long-winded way that decisions were made and if they really don't plan on making byler endgame it wasn't just one mistake they made but MANY, MANY bad decisions, not just around Mike and Will's relationship but Mike and El's as well. For example I would worry more about the monologue if it had been something that was Mike's idea at the moment he sees El is having problems something like "She's dying and I never told her how I feel, I need her to fight" but not only did they do the van scene but they reminded us of the van scene with Will saying "Mike, don't stop, you are the heart, remember that" which people must accept regardless of whether they are bylers or not that it did have an influence on Mike starting his monologue because if it was really that unnecessary the writers just wouldn't write it, even the track for the monologue scene is called "you're the heart."

In conclusion, in my personal case what gives me hope the most about byler endgame is that even though ST's writing is not perfect at all I think the writers are really trying in the case of Mike and Will's relationship because like I've said it before and I'll say it again, their relationship is one of the best written of the entire show, you can tell the diligence and care that was put into their scenes, into their bond...

And again, it was a thousand times easier to give Will a new love interest in season 4 but they didn't and I'd like to think there's a reason for that also the fact that Will was planned to be gay even before stranger things was stranger things and it was just a pitch called Montauk, at least to me shows that they care.

If Byler isn't endgame they really messed up a lot of things.

[strangertheories]

I love the last anon because honestly I'm very critical of the show's writing and I think ST is a good show but with quite a few flaws but I'm still pretty confident in byler endgame because I genuinely believe it's what makes the most narrative sense (yes, even still with the existence of the monologue). That's not to say I'm immune to byler doubt but it's usually more related to external factors like "they'll really go for it?" than what we see in the show.

If the plan was to have Mike accept in Will as gay and portray positive male friendships with their relationship, they shouldn't have changed Mike and Will's dynamic in season 3 and 4 and not have Will be in love with Mike.

Like can you imagine Will coming out to Mike with the same dynamic they had in season 2? That would have been fucking adorable, it would have been a wonderful representation of a friendship of a gay boy and a straight boy having a close relationship. But they didn't, they had to give us dramatic fights like the rain fight, the rink fight or mania, lines like "we're friends, we're friends" that awful half hug, portray Will's love for Mike so beautifully while showing that Mike and El's relationship doesn't really work.

Like I love season 2 and I think the writers already had byler in mind when they wrote it (that's why so many parallels with miIeven, and the miIeven's scenes were romantic) but if they really wanted to keep their platonic relationship after that season they could do it, or even after season 3! I know many say Mike and Will's friendship becoming more distant after season 3 was the natural course of things but while I agree, I think the scene "what if you want to join another party? " "Not possible" was an opportunity for the writers, they could make their friendship the same as before, it was the "olive branch" I think most people wouldn't find it weird if there was no drama between Mike and Will in season 4 (I repeat I still agree it was also natural course but I think the writers had 2 choices on which way to go) take for example to Mike and Max's relationship, they spent season 3 beefing but even though we don't have a scene with them like the "not possible" in season 4 and though we know Max disappeared or pushed way everyone, there really doesn't seem to be any problem between Max and Mike, we have the scene of the two of them talking in episode 1, Mike mentioning Max with Lucas and Dustin (Max, Lucas, Dustin. ..they're great) and Max making a letter to Mike as well.

(Also, let's be honest it's a common thing for ST writers to introduce certain things and never touch them again, or leave them in oblivion, like Mike being really mean to Max in s2 and never apologizing to her or mentioning it on screen, my point is that it wouldn't be weird for the writers to do something like that) But nooo, they had to have Mike act weird, give Mike and Will communication problems (a usually romantic trope) and make Will's love for Mike much more obvious instead of giving him a new love interest.

I'm just saying in a very long-winded way what decesions were made and if they really don't plan on making byler endgame it wasn't just one mistake they made but MANY, MANY bad decisions, not just around Mike and Will's relationship but Mike and El's as well. For example I would worry more about the monologue if it had been something that was Mike's idea at the moment he sees El is having problems something like "She's dying and I never told her how I feel, I need her to fight" but not only did they do the van scene but they reminded us of the van scene with Will saying "Mike, don't stop, you are the heart, remember that" which people must accept regardless of whether they are bylers or not that it did have an influence on Mike starting his monologue because if it was really that unnecessary the writers just wouldn't write it, even the track for the monologue scene is called "you're the heart."

Sorry if this was too long and I think I really digressed from my point, but in my personal case what gives me hope the most about byler endgame is that even though ST's writing is not perfect at all I think the writers are really trying in the case of Mike and Will's relationship because it was a thousand times easier to give Will a new love interest in season 4 but they didn't and Will was planned to be gay even before stranger things was stranger things and it was just a pitch called Montauk, which at least to me shows that they care. And if Byler isn't endgame they really screwed up a lot of things LMAO

Wow, anon. Don't really have much more to add, this is amazing (: I always find narrative analyses of the successes of Byler, it's parallels to other relationships and the issues with mlvn to be the most convincing Byler posts and you've just taken the thoughts I've had and put them into words. Honestly, even though I don't think the show is ruined per say if Mike and Will aren't endgame, they've really messed up otherwise. Still don't like the confession scene, but I love this way of looking at it. Thanks for the ask (:

[skopostheorie]

I've been dancing around this point generally, but it might be worth saying it in less uncertain terms: Anti-Christianity is, by design, necessarily going to delve into Anti-Islam because our religions are closely related. Analysis into the core tenets, traditions, or rules will implicate the same or similar things for us.

Now, most people are relatively mask-off about this, if you'd like. They'll talk about the tyranny of Abrahamic religions rather than just Christianity, or even simply "religion" (which is awfully vague and implies guilt of a great deal of people across human history!). Many even criticise Islam directly. Much like many people who fall down political rabbit holes, they're usually very hurt individuals who seek a group to blame and, because of the marked lack of connection to culture, tradition and spirituality of the new era, the idea that this a religion has inherent value and its destruction would be a violation of humans rights doesn't exactly compute. These people are a little easier to deal with if they simply keep to themselves because, even if their views are fascist at times, they don't exactly invite themselves into your life as allies (LGBT community aside), and far fewer have the guts to go and commit a hate crime about it.

But some people are less honest with themselves about that, either because they know very little about Islam or because the label "islamophobe" is sort of scary. It's a strange time because, until very recently and even now in some circles, the concept of being an "islamophobe" didn't exactly make people embarrassed or defensive; the Muslims (Mozlems, rather!) were truly a depraved people twisted into terrorists and misogynists by their cult-ish religion. Those ideas haven't exactly gone away, but as I see it, supporting the War on Terror went out of fashion and the islamophobia that drove it is rather evident to people - that is, people didn't want to be associated with it anymore.

So instead they form this sort of, "Christianity bad, everything else good" politics, and nobody really questions it because it's not as though that would make you anti-religion, right? Just the bad one. At that stage, you have free reign to tear into it as much as you'd like. That anything and everything associated with it is necessarily oppressive, misogynist, terrorist.

There is an obvious endgame for Islam when one thinks that way, though.

Once again, some people who realise this dissonance resolve the hypocrisy by openly hating Islam and Muslims too. At least, I can commend them on their ability to be logically consistent. It doesn't make the old-Islamophobia-new-labels any less upsetting, but at least they announce themselves before I have to listen to what they say.

Those who don't seem to realise this will, on the other hand, simply say that your culture, identity, morals are despicable and oppressive to your face and not even realise it. And then condemn Islamophobia seconds later.

I don't have a meaningful conclusion to this. I hope it was a worthwhile read.

[mala-sadas]

How about... your favorite pokeani ship and your favorite pokespe ship for the ask?

Took me a bit to answer this one because I really had to sit down and think about what my favorite pokeani and pokespe ships are, but I finally came to a decision!

MarissonShipping

The ship is my: OTP! I can't imagine Alain or Mairin dating anyone else.

I consider this ship’s feelings: Mutual! I mean, Alain's entire motivation for the XYZ saga is literally to see Mairin smile again. And she clearly worries about Alain a lot when he's in danger and enjoys spending time with him and trusts him - it's just so sweet to see how much these two care about each other.

I’d consider the relationship: Definitely Awkward at first; they're horrible at communicating with each other and that'd inevitably lead to conflict and tension. But I think it'd become Healthy once they learn to talk out their problems and trust each other!

Children: No. I think Alain will inherit the position of regional professor once Professor Sycamore retires, with Mairin helping him, and they'll be too busy with lab work to raise kids - giving starter Pokémon to fledgling Trainers is satisfying enough for them.

General Opinion: This is the best ship Pokéani has ever given us. Their dynamic is so good - full of conflict that makes for an interesting story, but not so strained that it's impossible to believe they'll get together. Most relationships in the anime, especially the ones involving the kids, don't show them having a super strong emotional connection, or if there is it's pretty one-sided (see: any character who cares about Ash). But with Alain and Mairin, you don't have to read much into it to realize that they both care deeply about each other, and it's just a matter of whether you read that as platonic or romantic affection.

DeliveryShipping

The ship is my: endgame pair! I like some rarer ships for these two (I've even written a Moon/Hau and a Sun/Acerola fic before), but at the end of the day I think they're the best for each other and they're the Spe couple I most want to end up together.

I consider this ship’s feelings: Mutual! They may bicker or make snide comments about each other from time to time, but when it comes down to it they trust each other and care about each other. There's a reason why Sun always asks Moon to fix him up and Moon always does it for free without complaint, and it's not because Moon comes from a rich family.

I’d consider the relationship: Fairly Healthy! Canon may not have shown them to be very close after the timeskip, but I think they must have learned to understand each other really well considering that they were stuck with only each other for company for six months. They might have issues with communication at first, but what relationship doesn't? Moon's pretty no-nonsense and will work to resolve any issues that arise between them quickly.

Children: Yes, I think they'd have kids eventually. I even made a couple Delivery fankids once upon a time...

General Opinion: Does canon support the idea that they're romantically interested in each other? No, absolutely not. Is that going to stop me from envisioning their potential and shipping them? Of course not! They're two of my favorite characters in Pokéspe, they have a great dynamic, and I love writing fics about them. My favorite romantic ship in Spe by a long shot!

[longinglook]

Hey there, I saw some of your latest posts/asks and just want to say it is very valid to enjoy something but also critically think about it, have critique or even have emotional reactions to it.

IDK, some of my biggest issues with KP is not necessarily the story, although maybe it will be depending on how it fully plays out, but with the way the fandom is reacting to it.

Anyway, I appreciate seeing you calling out some of the issues people seem to be ignoring more than the actual show even is.

Thank you for this! I am relieved to know other people see it the same way! I really have nothing to critique the show for, it's excellent and I really enjoy it.

As for the fandom, yeah, the past week I've seen some icky stuff and barely anyone has talked about what really happened.

It seems like people are quick to forgive/overlook issues when they know a couple is endgame. Just because at some point they'll have mutual feelings of love for each other it doesn't mean that we're there already or that everything leading up to it is justifiable by that.

And as you said the show seems to be more aware of it than the fans themselves. Be on Cloud posting about GHB and clearly stating that it's a sex drive enhancing drug used for sexual assault should have rang a bell. And in this episode we see how distressed Porsche was, how he still remembers everything and feels hurt by it, how the physical punishment was nothing compared to it. He feels like he's been taken advantage of, and Kinn highlights that by telling him he owns him. There's really nothing romantic about it yet, at least not in Porsche's mind. If Kinn is maybe realizing he has a bit of a sentimental weak spot for him, I don't think Porsche is quite there yet and even if he were he has now taken a bunch of steps back. I honestly don't think he was upset about no longer being Kinn's main bodyguard, he knows that no matter how far he goes he is still under Kinn's control. And the parallel sex scenes, how they both have to stop because they can't stop thinking about each other... I know people are going to read it as another sign that they're In Love but to me it seems more like while that might be true for Kinn, for Porsche it was way more of a traumatic experience and the flashbacks might be painful for him.

If they hadn't been so rudely interrupted by the kidnappers maybe they could have made some progress on the communication front and maybe Kinn would have realized he was saying sorry for the wrong thing. Hopefully the forced closeness in the next episode will get them to talk?

Also this is all my own interpretation of things based off of the show and the acting alone, I am ignoring the source material as it seems like they made some changes at least to Porsche's character.

Anon I am so sorry I am using this ask as an excuse to drop more lengthy meta upon everyone!!!

[boop-le-snoot]

PARTY FAVOURS I CHAPTER 27

First time reader click here

TWs/Summary: If you read carefully, you knew this; if you didn't: reader was drugged at the party. Hangover from Hell ft. boys being cute, Loki being best friend material and reader fully integrating him into the Gen-Z community via Monster energy drinks and depressive music whilst being sad. I live for Loki/reader friendship tbh.

So folks, this is the last big plot thing before the endgame. I reckon it's about 10-15 chapters left until out happy ending and the next bit is going to focus on developing reader's and Stephen's relationship. There will be smutty parts too - either chapters or interludes, idk, depending on how well they'll integrate into the story.

I love y'all.

Ow, was my first thought upon waking up. My head throbbed something fierce, the pressure behind my eyelids was unbearable and my mouth tasted like a bog on a sunny summer's day. I was warm, from both sides, and one of the bodies felt foreign in everything besides the smell - sandalwood leaked through the lead curtain of alcohol and sex.

Needless to say, I had trouble piecing together the fine details of last night but had enough coherence to remember our... Activities. I was sore and Strange's long arm was still possessively draped over both me and Tony. The luck was on my side as I carefully wiggled out of his grasp, padding to the bedroom on quiet feet. The sorcerer barely moved, only grumbling briefly at the loss of my warmth and immediately quieting, shamelessly snuggling into Tony.

I would have not exaggerated if I said it was the worst hangover of my life. It was baffling, really, because I'd gone way wilder and didn't suffer half as much after effects; my first attempt to brush my teeth ended with my face resting against the toilet bowl, my empty stomach rejecting what little liquid in it was left as the room spun on its axis. That was incredibly embarrassing and I hoped my boys wouldn't wake up to witness my best impression of a bum - and they didn't, both men still sound asleep and interwined like snakes when I put on the shirt closest to me and departed in search of coffee.

My mood only worsened. Steve and Bucky were already up, shoveling an impressive amount of eggs and bacon, as Bucky quietly teased Steve about his own hangover. The blonde man was slightly greenish, disheveled - we traded equally glum looks and nodded to each other in silence. The smell of food made my stomach churn and I retreated, one black coffee in hand, towards Bruce's lab, having been informed by Friday that neither Tony not Stephen planned on waking up.

"Morning, Princess," Bruce smiled kindly, pushing his glasses out of the way to hold me close and give me a sweet kiss. "Had fun? The boys still asleep?"

I giggled at Bruce calling Tony and Stephen boys. "Yeah. I wouldn't be wearing Stephen's shirt if he was up and about, I think." I pointed out the obvious.

Bruce chuckled, holding my face to give me a long, thoughtful look. I stared back, hoping convey my respect and adoration without having to say a word; like Tony, I wasn't particularly apt when it came to talking feelings. Whatever Bruce was looking for, he found it, and sealed it with another kiss, twice as long and twice as sweet. We stood like that, my head on his shoulder and my arms firmly holding him to myself, until the elevator dinged behind the glass wall, revealing a shirtless Stephen and Tony in his pajama pants, both men bickering animatedly.

"Aw shit, here we go again," I rolled my eyes, unhappy about the possibility of the magic being broken. I rather preferred all three men to be like yesterday: friendly, kind and relaxed.

"I will kick them out if I have to," Bruce shrugged, turning me around to face them.

Tony smiled, seeing me, stopping mid-conversation. "Princess, I am disappointed in your lack of manners. You left me with Merlin and he is mean." The engineer unceremoniously snatched me from Bruce and smooched me, hangover breath and all.

"Gross, Tony," I rolled my eyes, giving the man a light shove in the chest. "Morning, Steph," I addressed the third man who had gone back to his usual stoic expression. Just to see his resolve crack, because I loved pushing his buttons, I gave him a good morning kiss too, and was unexpectedly blown away by the eager response from his side. As I pulled back, I noticed his cheeks dusting a light pink.

"I came to get my shirt but I think you'd rather keep it," The sorcerer's fingers caressed my skin beneath the collar of his shirt, voice still low and scratchy from sleep and those magnetic eyes fixated on the exposed flesh of my chest, no trace of previous awkwardness.

"You sure 'bout that?" I pushed one of the sides off, exposing my shoulder, seeing Tony gulp the remainder of my coffee, one hand already messing with the screen that Bruce was focused on. "I think I look better without it," I would never miss an opportunity to tease the uptight man.

"Quite," He grinned, "It's a shame I didn't get to see much last night..." Two could play this game, okay.

"Oh, but you will," Tony piped up suddenly, a hint of smugness in his voice barely covered by Bruce's fond chuckle. I really didn't know what to say, suddenly overwhelmed with the attention, my emotions amplified by the hangover - party drugs tended to exaggerate my anxiety on the comedown.

And what a comedown it was. My social energy ran out very quickly so I complained about a nasty headache and retreated into my room, Bruce's gentle hands pressing a bottle of Ibuprofen into my own. Despite my attempts to tame my rioting body, it got worse before it got better and shortly before lunch, I had thrown up twice more. Pissed off, I ran a bath with cold water and sat in it until I felt somewhat human to prepare myself for a journey to Wanda's apartment - as a last resort, I was going to chug on of Pietro's Monster energy drinks that I knew he kept hidden there.

The retrieval was a success. Cans securely hidden in the kangaroo pocket of Tony's oversized hoodie I had thrown on, I had to make a haste detour to throw up once again - the closest bathroom was in Loki's apartment and I only managed to knock twice before throwing open the door and making a mad dash for the porcelain throne, a very confused Asgardian following my movements with raised eyebrows.

"Hangover from Hell," I croaked once the first wave subsided. Loki nodded in understanding, waved a hand to summon me a water bottle and shut the door behind himself.

As I sat there, desperately trying to understand why was I feeling like utter shit... It clicked. Bile rose to my throat once again, and I just dry heaving, mulling my revelation over and over again.

I didn't take any drugs. I had been drugged. My memories became hazy and dream-like shortly after someone had given me the drink... Someone, who? It was a split-second moment; Sam, even in his drunk state, didn't keep his eyes off me for too long. Maybe it had been someone the team knew? Possibilities began playing out in my head. Cursed was my overactive brain - the anxiety from the leftover drugs was making me panic.

"Fuck, FUCK," My hands shook - I only noticed it because I had spilled water on myself, adding cold and wet to the unpleasant sensations I was already experiencing. "Why am I such a fucking fuck-up." Taking a drink from a stranger seemed downright idiotic now. Middle school bullshit.

"Are you alright?" Loki's worried voice interrupted my inner monologue.

"Yes," I replied, voice cracking. "No. I don't fucking know."

The door all but flew open, the Asgardian taking several long strides to take a good long look at me. The frown on his face tells me all I needed to know about my physical and mental state.

A slender hand tucked a stray lock of hair behind my ear. "What happened?"

I laughed tersely, feeling tears to begin welling in the corners of my eyes. "I'm an idiot," Seeing his face get annoyed briefly, I conceded: "I got drugged yesterday. My drink."

The hand that he had slid between my shoulder blades froze. I felt his whole body go rigid and his nostrils flare, the smell of ozone and something foreign - magic - filling the small space. The air around us became charged with the power of his anger. "Pardon?" His voice was dangerously quiet.

I physically fought with the need to flinch away from him, settling for lowering my eyes and staring at the dark stain on my hoodie. "I got carried away dancing. Someone handed me a drink and my stupid ass just shotgunned it," I confessed, picking at the wet spot. "And I can't tell anybody because I had a threesome with Stephen and Tony," I suddenly realised, my voice raising in pitch. "They're gonna think I didn't want it and feel bad. You know how Tony blames himself for everything under the sun..." Another wave of dizziness and nausea hit me as I leaned against the wall closest to me.

"Alright," Loki conceded after a brief pause. "We absolutely are telling the others. I'll make sure they understand," The Asgardian stated firmly in a tone that bore no argument. Seeing me lift my head to protest, he interrupted me before I could say anything: "Did you... Did you want it?" He asked me, hooking a single finger under my chin to look me in the eye.

I nodded, feeling my face heat up.

"You're not lying. The team knows of my ability to detect lies. Nobody will blame anyone..." Loki trailed off, obviously already plotting something. I wished it were a prank both of us were conspiring on instead of... Trying to make sense of this cluster fuck of a shit show. The circus called, they seemed to have left their clowns behind. "Although I will have a word with Sam." The Asgardian muttered darkly.

"No, it's not his fault. I just got too relaxed, I need to pucker up and be responsible for myself," I protested, damn well knowing it wasn't the Bird's fault. Everyone was drunk and I should've known better.

"It's not yours either," Loki sneered, seeing right through my self-loathing. It took a deep, slow sigh for him to calm down. His expression softened and the hand that was on my back resumed the gentle stroking as he scooted closer to me to press my side against his chest. "Vile people of this kind aren't exclusive to Midgard. It could have happened to anyone."

I nodded, my logical part briefly taking over as the waves of nausea and dizziness waned. I stifled a giggle, coming to another sudden revelation. "You holding up my hair as I barf out my hangover? That makes you qualified for the position of my Best Friend," I stated with a snort.

Loki chuckled, relaxing bit by bit. "I accept the position," His voice was unusually soft and a little bit shaky; I chose to tactfully ignore it. "Shall I call for assembly in the war room?"

I sighed, the dread and anxiety creeping it's way back in. "Can we just... Wait a bit? I have something- hold on-" I rummaged around my pocket, taking out two cans of Monster. Loki eyed them curiously and I extended one to him. "It probably won't do much for you but for me it's a last-resort hangover cure." I popped open the metal cap, seeing him do the same. "Be warned though, it tastes kinda funky if you're not used to it," I announced the disclaimer but it simply egged Loki on.

The scrunched up face he made was pretty funny. "It's sour but sickeningly sweet at the same time? I can't tell," He briefly eyed the written ingredients on the can.

"There are a bunch of flavors. Pietro likes the plain one, I like the purple one better, it's not so tongue-burning." I paused to inhale loudly. "If this is what college life looks like, I don't want to go," Mustering up my courage and gathering my balls in a knot, with one broad motion I closed my nose and poured the carbonated acid down my throat until my eyes watered. "Gimme a minute," I hiccuped, trying to keep it down.

Wide-eyed, Loki took a chaste sip of his own drink, eyeing me warily. He looked part impressed part disgusted with the little stunt. "I am pretty certain that is counter-productive."

"Caffeine make brain and body go skrrt," I argued back. "Friday, play my "grant me the sweet release of death" playlist. I'm upset," I announced and the AI obliged silently, the first notes of Placebo's 'Exit Wounds' beginning to play. If I was going to mop in a stranger's bathroom, I was going to do it with style. Even if said style was just simply stealing in my own misery with emo background music.

Loki stared at me, I stared back, both of us lost in our respective minds. At one point, he began swaying to the music slightly, resting the cool tin of the can against his cheek; I followed suit, mouthing along to some of the lyrics. It took us about a dozen songs to finally finish the liquid acid that was Monster energy drink and my ass felt like the bathroom tile itself: flat and hard.

"Do you ever feel like the universe just hates you for no fucking reason?" I groused, taking Loki's outstretched hand and slowly feeling the blood rush back to my legs.

"You wouldn't believe," He rolled his eyes in solidarity, vanishing away the empty containers. "Norns, give me a Hel-damned break."

I laced his arm through mine as we exited his apartment, feeling considerably less upset than I was before. I couldn't protect myself, but one look at Loki's sullen, irritated expression was bound to scare off anyone who dared to interrupt our mission.

THE TAG LIST IS NOW OPEN! @another-stark-sub ​ @mostly-marvel-musings  @vozit ​ @littlegasps ​ @pilloclock ​ @shereadsinquiet @downeyreads ​ @hermione-grangers-wife ​ @individualistfem ​ @sleep-i-ness @capbrie @lillsxd @agustdowney @dee-vn @justanotherblonde23 @fanngirl19 @persephonehemingway @softie-socks @schemefrenzy @letsby @cutenessloading @romeo-the-cactus @jelly-fishy-babie @mikariell95

[imptwins]

Whoah, people are pushing ultra-restrictive policy that has precisely zero empirical evidence of helping anyone, at all, ever, under the guise of 'protecting the children,' which inevitably gets co-opted by people who just generally have a hard-on for surveillance, authoritarianism, and puritanism? Where have I heard that one before? Look, I'm not trying to twist the meaning of this, it's way bigger than the 'problematic fiction' argument. But currently that's my niche, so I'm gonna speak to it from that lens. If you think this is a massive simplification that is enormously unimportant compared to the big picture: yes. Correct. If it ain't relevant to you then just move on. Censorship sucks. It's not the right way to deal with basically anything; the only kind of media that should be outright banned is media that *directly* involves harm to real people, and even *that* is a minefield of overlapping legislative needs that can be exploited by these kind of people. Basically: total bans need to be treated as an absolute last resort reserved only for material that *directly* harms people, and they require a mind-boggling degree of refinement to make them as close to unexploitable as possible. And, beyond that, the response is *community* effort. Hateful media shouldn't be banned, the endgame is a society that is well informed enough to know what sucks and so there's no demand for it. Ever-irrelevant bigots fading further and further into the background as more and more people learn real and genuine compassion and empathy. You shouldn't need to ban swastikas; what you need to do is create a community that knows why they shouldn't be using them. I know y'all think you're on the right side of history. And I get it: humanity has a long-ingrained habit of exploitation and abuse. Things like rape, child abuse, dehumanization, and war stain human history for as long as it's been documented. Billions before us have tried to hack away at our instincts around this stuff and, tragically, billions more probably will before we fix it, if we ever even do. It would require enormous changes to the way we think and act. I understand becoming so incensed about the issue that you start getting desperate for black-and-white answers, a nice simple 'if we remove anything that depicts it, that'll stop people from wanting to do it'. I've straight up been there. But at the end of the day? This is what your efforts will amount to. It doesn't matter how good your intentions are, and it doesn't matter if you think 'we're not like those OTHER people who are driven by [motivation], we just want to actually get rid of [bad thing]!' Because among every group, whether it's conservative-religious or whatever you want to call this more modern queer-tinged twist on it, the end result will be the same. Oppressive, invasive surveillance legislation. And even if you don't support this; you feed it. Politicians do this because they know they have barely enough support to ram it through. And most of that support is corporations. The support of weird queer puritans played a huge part when tumblr first did this; a lot of people mistakenly cheered for it, then were outraged when things they deemed as okay got banned too. The decision of what is "indecent" should never be left up to corporations, or organizations, or legislation. The only person who can decide what is too much for your eyes is you, and the only method of banning things should be through your own damn blacklist. "Bad people who like bad thing like this thing" will never be a good metric, because if you ban everything else they'll just be getting off to goddamn clothes magazines. Seriously, I wish every anti would take a good, long look at legislation like this, and see their reflection in it, see the way that their exact sentiments are echoed. Y'all empower this junk whether you want to or not. I'm begging you to grow up and look at where your own damn feet are leading you.

URGENT: 🚨🚨EARN IT ACT IS BACK IN THE SENATE 🚨🚨 TUMBLR’S NSFW BAN HITTING THE ENTIRE INTERNET THIS SUMMER 2023

April 28, 2023

I’m so sorry for the long post but please please please pay attention and spread this

What is the EARN IT Act?

The EARN IT Act (s. 1207) has been roundly condemned by nearly every major LGBTQ+ advocacy and human rights organization in the country.

This is the third time the Senate has been trying to force this through, and I talked about it last year. It is a bill that claims "protects children and victims against CSAM" by creating an unelected and politically appointed national commission of law enforcement specialists to dictate "best practices" that websites all across the nation will be forced to follow. (Keep in mind, most websites in the world are created in the US, so this has global ramifications). These "best practices" would include killing encryption so that any law enforcement can scan and see every single message, dm, photo, cloud storage, data, and any website you have every so much as glanced at. Contrary to popular belief, no they actually can't already do that. These "best practices" also create new laws for "removing CSAM" online, leading to mass censorship of non-CSAM content like what happened to tumblr. Keep in mind that groups like NCOSE, an anti-LGBT hate group, will be allowed on this commission. If websites don't follow these best practices, they lose their Section 230 protections, leading to mass censorship either way.

Section 230 is foundational to modern online communications. It's the entire reason social media exists. It grants legal protection to users and websites, and says that websites aren't responsible for what users upload online unless it's criminal. Without Section 230, websites are at the mercy of whatever bullshit regulatory laws any and every US state passes. Imagine if Texas and Florida were allowed to say what you can and can't publish and access online. That is what will happen if EARN IT passes. (For context, Trump wanted to get rid of Section 230 because he knew it would lead to mass govt surveillance and censorship of minorities online.)

This is really not a drill. Anyone who makes or consume anything “adult” and LGBT online has to be prepared to fight Sen. Blumenthal’s EARN IT Act, brought back from the grave by a bipartisan consensus to destroy Section 230. If this bill passes, we’re going to see most, if not all, adult content and accounts removed from mainstream platforms. This will include anything related to LGBT content, including SFW fanfiction, for example. Youtube, Twitter, Reddit, Tiktok, Tumblr, all of them will be completely gutted of anything related to LGBT content, abortion healthcare, resources for victims of any type of abuse, etc. It is a right-wing fascists wet dream, which is why NCOSE is behind this bill and why another name for this bill is named in reference to NCOSE.

NCOSE used to be named Morality in Media, and has rebranded into an "anti-trafficking" organization. They are a hate group that has made millions off of being "against trafficking" while helping almost no victims and pushing for homophobic laws globally. They have successfully pushing the idea that any form of sexual expression, including talking about HEALTH, leads to sex trafficking. That's how SESTA passed. Their goal is to eliminate all sex, anything gay, and everything that goes against their idea of ‘God’ from the internet and hyper disney-fy and sanitize it. This is a highly coordinated attack on multiple fronts.

The EARN IT Act will lead to mass online censorship and surveillance. Platforms will be forced to scan their users’ communications and censor all sex-related content, including sex education, literally anything lgbt, transgender or non-binary education and support systems, aything related to abortion, and sex worker communication according to the ACLU. All this in the name of “protecting kids” and “fighting CSAM”, both of which the bill does nothing of the sort. In fact it makes fighting CSEM even harder.

EARN IT will open the way for politicians to define the category of “pornography" as they — or the lobbies that fund them — please. The same way that right-wing groups have successfully banned books about race and LGBT, are banning trans people from existing, all under the guise of protecting children from "grooming and exploitation", is how they will successfully censor the internet.

As long as state legislatures can tie in "fighting CSAM" to their bullshit laws, they can use EARN IT to censor and surveill whatever they want.

This is already a nightmare enough. But the bill also DESTROYS ENCRYPTION, you know, the thing protecting literally anyone or any govt entity from going into your private messages and emails and anything on your devices and spying on you.

This bill is going to finish what FOSTA/SESTA started. And that should terrify you.

Senator Blumenthal (Same guy who said ‘Facebook should ban finsta’) pushed this bill all of 2020, literally every activist (There were more than half a million signatures on this site opposing this act!) pushed hard to stop this bill. Now he brings it back, doesn’t show the text of the bill until hours later, and it’s WORSE. Instead of fixing literally anything in the bill that might actually protect kids online, Bluemnthal is hoping to fast track this and shove it through, hoping to get little media attention other than propaganda of “protecting kids” to support this shitty legislation that will harm kids. Blumental doesn't care about protecting anyone, and only wants his name in headlines.

It will make CSAM much much worse.

One of the many reasons this bill is so dangerous: It totally misunderstands how Section 230 works, and in doing so (as with FOSTA) it is likely to make the very real problem of CSAM worse, not better. Section 230 gives companies the flexibility to try different approaches to dealing with various content moderation challenges. It allows for greater and greater experimentation and adjustments as they learn what works – without fear of liability for any “failure.” Removing Section 230 protections does the opposite. It says if you do anything, you may face crippling legal liability. This actually makes companies less willing to do anything that involves trying to seek out, take down, and report CSAM because of the greatly increased liability that comes with admitting that there is CSAM on your platform to search for and deal with. This liability would allow anyone for any reason to sue any platform they want, suing smaller ones out of existence. Look at what is happening right now with book bans across the nation with far right groups. This is going to happen to the internet if this bill passes.

(Remember, the state department released a report in December 2021 recommending that the government crack down on “obscenity” as hard the Reagan Administration did. If this bill passes, it could easily go way beyond shit red states are currently trying. It is a goldmine for the fascist right that is currently in the middle of banning every book that talks about race and sexuality across the US.)

The reason these bills keep showing up is because there is this false lie spread by organizations like NCOSE that platforms do nothing about CSEM online. However, platforms are already liable for child sexual exploitation under federal law. Tech companies sent more than 45 million+ instances of CSAM to the DOJ in 2019 alone, most of which they declined to investigate. This shows that platforms are actually doing everything in their power already to stop CSEM by following already existing laws. The Earn It Act includes zero resources for proven investigation or prevention programs. If Senator Bluementhal actually cared about protecting youth, why wouldn’t he include anything to actually protect them in his shitty horrible bill? EARN IT is actually likely to make prosecuting child molesters more difficult since evidence collected this way likely violates the Fourth Amendment and would be inadmissible in court.

I don’t know why so many Senators are eager to cosponsor the “make child pornography worse” bill, but here we are.

HOW TO FIGHT BACK

EARN IT Act was introduced just two weeks ago and is already being fast-tracked. It will be marked up the week of May 1st and head to the Senate floor immediately after. If there is no loud and consistent opposition, it will be law by JUNE! Most bills never go to markup, so this means they are putting pressure to move this through. There are already 20 co-sponsors, a fifth of the entire Senate. This is an uphill battle and it is very much all hands on deck.

CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES.

This website takes you to your Senator / House members contact info. EMAIL, MESSAGE, SEND LETTERS, CALL CALL CALL CALL CALL. Calling is the BEST way to get a message through. Get your family and friends to send calls too. This is literally the end of free speech online.

(202) 224-3121 connects you to the congressional hotline. Here is a call script if you don't know what to say. Call them every day. Even on the weekends, leaving voicemails are fine.

2. Sign these petitions!

Link to Petition 1

Link to Petition 2

3. SPREAD THE WORD ONLINE

If you have any social media, spread this online. One of the best ways we fought back against this last year was MASSIVE spread online. Tiktok, reddit, twitter, discord, whatever means you have at least mention it. We could see most social media die out by this fall if we don't fight back.

Here is a linktree with more information on this bill including a masterpost of articles, the links to petitions, and the call script.

DISCORD LINK IF YOU WANT TO HELP FIGHT IT

TLDR: The EARN IT Act will lead to online censorship of any and all adult & lgbt content across the entire internet, open the floodgates to mass surveillance the likes which we haven’t seen before, lead to much more CSEM being distributed online, and destroy encryption. Call 202-224-3121 to connect to your house and senate representative and tell them to VOTE NO on this bill that does not protect anyone and harms everyone.

[akira-daiyamondo-suta]

If Tony, Steve and the other older Avengers decided to stay and teach at Avengers Academy and train some Avengers trainees (at the ages of thirteen through twenty) on how to be Avengers so one day, they'll be able to become full fledged Avengers, how well would the heroes do on teaching the Avengers-in-training the ways of heroism?

A bit confused since you asked about the mcu, not avengers academy (which is a show/game on it’s own). But I’ll see it either as an au or a continuation of the mcu, after endgame, if Tony, Natasha lived and Steve stayed young.

Ok, if the OG 6 Avengers (Tony, Steve, Natasha, Bruce, Clint and Thor) decide to teach at Avengers Academy to train trainees (Wanda, Pietro, Vision and more) on how to become part of the Avengers initiative. I believe they would do very well. 

Each of them have a story to tell about themselves, a lesson and such. All of them are fantastic fighters (excluding Bruce) and I believe that they’d teach specific groups of heroes at the Academy.

Steve would definitely be one of the teachers you would go to for help, someone who you’d probably be able to tell anything. He’d stop students from picking on each other and would be a fair person.

Teaches battle strategy, planning and basic soldier training. 

Give guidance on leadership and would most likely pick the leaders of new division in the Avengers.

I also believe he would help other heroes/recruits with their PTSD. One head canon I have is that his artist ability helps him relax and deal with his trauma.

Tony would definitely teach the recruits who are similar to him in intelligence, specifically in mechanical/engineering sciences.

He would definitely be the teacher everyone would be intimidated by, because of how well known he is outside the superhero community. He’s a Stark!

Super proud of those who would surpass him.

He would encourage his students to branch out and never hold back their intelligence.

But I also feel like he would connect with a lot of neglected or lonely students, reassure those who have been through tragedy (which is why he’s close to Peter), as his own parents were killed in a car crash and was neglected by his father.

Natasha would teach stealth and espionage, with stealth being mandatory and espionage being optional or encouraged to a few special cases.

Would also teach basic and different levels of combate.

Joint classes with Clint.

Because of her dark past, Natasha would make sure her students know how they are important, they have the right just as much as normal civilians do. 

Clint would also teach basic and different levels of combate with Natasha, as I said before.

While Natasha would be more fast and sly movement, Clint would teach more upfront and forward kinds of fighting.

Would also teach marksmanship, while he prefers archery, Clint is very skilled in all types of marksmanship.

Being a parent himself, Clint would be the most approachable and very compassionate with his students and know their limits and doesn’t over exert them, along with making sure they don’t either.

Literally seen as the dad teacher.

Bruce would be similar to Tony, but should teach more in the biological and chemical sciences. 

It's not uncommon to see Brcue teaching with Tony or the other way around as well.

He would notice students who have anger issues or are very emotional and would aid them personally about controlling it.

Would aid students with self hate and internal issues, assuring them they are deserving of a life and their presence on a team.

Thor would teach something similar to Steve, how to lead, but more on techniques and weapons.

You should expect Loki, Valkyrie and his friends from Asgard.

Thor would not be available, because of his status as a King.

When he is available, he genuinely doesn’t take his teaching position serious and is pretty laid back funny.

Encourages the more ridiculous but effective ideas. I mean he throws his brother at his enemies as a technique, he isn’t going to judge.

 @frostbite883