#and yes this is real. unfortunately(?)

[jenovacomplete]

what the actual fuck

[ummmmandy]

[fishfingersandscarves]

armand is so kind <3

[lightnersdream]

i've been thinking about exactly why people portraying one of the other crew members successfully killing Jimmy as a "for what you did to Anya" kind of thing rubs me the wrong way a bit and it's because like..... this is just another form of taking agency away from Anya, in a way. it's kind of framing her as some meek, shivery woman-thing who's entirely at the mercy of the men around her, either to hurt her or save her.

(i understand these are mostly for wish fulfillment on the audience's behalf because everyone would like to see Jimmy pay for his crimes. whether or not this is the intention of the person writing it isn't really relevant, characterization happens with or without intent. i feel like it misses the point by portraying it as an 'ideal ending'.)

because... Anya is a capable person. she takes things into her own hands when she can. it was partially(?) her idea to get into the cargo,

(before he interrupts her.. remember when she interrupted Curly in the dead pixel segment?)

it was her idea to get the code scanner from the cockpit,

it was her idea to get the medication from behind the foam.

(the chance to do these things herself is not given to her.)

she'd been keeping Curly alive for months in a critical state somehow, her psych evaluations at the start are only so useless because Jimmy refuses to take it/her seriously and Curly is obviously biased when he puts it into his own hands. he's known him a long time, like he said. "I'll just put good for that one."

there's not a lot of material to work with because of how the game is framed, but it's there. we are working with two very biased perspectives and neither one lends Anya what she deserves

there's significant changes in how she speaks post- and pre- crash, and depending on who she happens to be talking to. i recommend re-reading her dialogue, because the difference is drastic

she acts the way she does around Jimmy because he has tangibly done horrible things to her, is actively hostile, and physically could not escape him by any means. she can't take away Curly's agency herself, in my eyes. you have to remember that Especially in the post-crash segments of the game, it's entirely from Jimmy's POV, and he obviously does not (and has never) thought very highly of her or treated her with a shred of respect

i've seen a general idea that she can't bear to hurt other people for any reason, but that doesn't really track to me. this is the real point of the post by the way

it seems based on the parts where she says she struggles to give Curly medication. "It just hurts him so much, I can't stand the noise." "It makes me nauseous."

it's not really the same thing as, say, hurting someone in self defense

this sounds like she did want the gun itself. this never felt worded like someone who would refuse to, at very least, threaten Jimmy with a gun, with violence. if she had been given the agency to make that decision on her own. she wasn't though

she still tries to reclaim some of it even as she's denied it

by the end she's still trying to keep that gun out of his hands

i think some people overly soften her, for similar reasons the game itself is trying to comment on. she's not a tender victim who couldn't cause pain to another out of the softness of her soul, she's a person who's had every last bit of agency ripped from her repeatedly until she couldn't take it anymore. that's the point. that's why framing her that way, "needing" someone to save her, is odd to me

she didn't need Curly to save her, she needed him to take responsibility

she didn't want to escalate things, but she's not an idiot. self defense was absolutely on her mind

but who knows im just saying shit *smiles serenely*

[tinytalkingtina]

Fancy Falling Into You Here

Written for the August @steddiemicrofic prompt, using the word "plug" and 437 words.

437 words | Rating T | Ao3 link

On their first date, Steve and Eddie come to realize they had first met under much more embarrassing circumstances.

Tags: EMT Steve, Coffee shop owner/clumsy Eddie, first date, minor injuries (nothing described in detail), modern AU, embarrassment, BBC's Sherlock haunting all of us when plugging in our phones

Inspired by @dreamwatch for making me think of steddifying this post! Author's notes under the cut

"G-d damn BBC Sherlock," Eddie grumbled as he fumbled plugging his phone into its charging cable for a third time. "Stupid Benedict Cumberbatch and his weird attractive cheekbones." 

A snort from the couch reminded him he actually had company, oops.

Eddie gave his date a grin. "Sorry, I'd love to say that I'm normally as graceful as a swan or something, but as you've seen, unfortunately abject clumsiness is par for the course. It's a miracle my coffee shop's still standing."

It was fine. He could still salvage this and come off as less of a disgruntled sad wet cat man to Smooth Hottie with Glasses and That ButtTM of daily matcha latte with oat milk order fame. Still, Hottie (who went by "Steve", apparently) didn't really seem turned off by Eddie's whole deal. He just laughed.

"Oh, trust me, I've seen much worse. My first year as an EMT, we got a call to a college dorm. This unlucky dude fell off the top bunk and somehow broke both legs and an arm.”

Eddie froze, his quest to charge his phone completely forgotten.

“Plus the guy managed to down the shade on the way too, honestly it was an impressive amount of damage from a 4 foot drop," Steve continued on, oblivious. “One of the funniest calls me and my partner have gotten, and we once had to take care of someone who accidentally fell on a Buzz Lightyear toy and somehow got it stuck up their—you okay man?"

"I panicked and thought the cord would hold my weight." Eddie hid his face in his hands.

"Oh shit. You're 'broke all his bones man'?”

This was a nightmare. "Oh my G-d, I was so woozy. Please tell me I didn’t say anything weird.”

“You asked if I could ‘kiss your booboos better.’ Guess you’ve grown out your hair since?”

"I had to buzz it all off that semester because I had an Incident with some gum," Eddie groaned. "You can go now, I won't hold it against you."

He heard Steve slide closer. "And what makes you think your whole 'Bambi on ice' thing isn't working for me?"

Eddie cracked open an eye. "You sure about that?"

"Pretty sure," he said with a wink. "Plus, if you meet my friend Robin, she's known me since high school. Which means she unfortunately has photos of my braces years. You’re gonna have to stick around long enough to see em."

Eddie stared. Smooth Hottie still wanted him somehow? "Okay Big Boy, looks like I will." 

Steve smiled back. “Good. Now, lean back, I owe you a few kisses.”

Authors notes:

In case you weren't on Tumblr in the early-mid 2010's and remain blissfully unaware of BBC's Sherlock, please watch this clip to understand why Eddie is cursing Benedict Cumberbatch when he fails to plug in his phone fully sober

Eddie, Jeff, and Chrissy run a little coffee shop (complete with monthly open mic/karaoke nights) that EMTs Steve and Robin frequent. Not to worry, Robin will eventually meet her future wife Vickie at the shop after Vickie wins her heart with a rendition of "Before He Cheats."

Originally I had injured Eddie ask Steve about his biblically accurate angel form, but since I decided that Eddie's accident took place around 2010, and the angel meme only took off in 2020, I rewrote the line to be about kissing his booboos. Let's pretend this happens after a separate accident befalls Eddie (he'll be fine): Eddie: Ouch, I was out of it after they gave me the painkillers. I think I called you an angel? Steve: Yeah, you asked if my biblically accurate form had eyes as pretty as my human ones.

[freakartack]

Q&A

[jonahmagnus]

Toxic workplace yuri

[qksxzo]

Levi with a female reader :)

Reader is feeling depressed and Levi tries to cheer her up in his own Levi way. You may choose what that is.

sorry for the delay in this ! trying to schedule out my posts while i’m on vacay 😋 i had to think hard about how i wanted to write this so i hope it does not disappoint 🙏💕 i would find a place to end it and think no… this won’t do… anyways, thank you for requesting!!

as the seasons come and go

wc: 0.9k

wrapped up in your comforter, you sigh as you look out your window, rain falling heavily against your window with a vengeance. gloomy winter days like this always got you down, your seasonal depression grabbing you and shaking you vigorously to remind you the sun wouldn’t be present as often as you needed. you sigh, continuing to stare out the window glumly as you squeeze your comforter tighter around yourself.

suddenly, a teacup is placed onto your nightstand with a soft thunk, and you shift your gaze to the male blocking your view before focusing on the steaming ivory cup.

“staying in bed all day won’t help you feel better.” levi says, his tone soft to offset the harsh reality.

the bed dips underneath his weight, and he rests a hand on your hip gently, rubbing his thumb against the thick fabric of your comforter.

“i just feel so down.” you say, the tightness in your throat trying to catch your words. of course, at the admission of your feelings, you feel tears forming at the corners of your eyes before you quickly unravel from your coziness to wipe them away.

“sit up.” he orders, though his voice is so gentle not even a mouse would be frightened.

you do as he says, shifting yourself so you have one leg bent while the other sprawls beneath your blanket. resting your arm on your knee and futilely attempting to bat your tears away with your other hand, you let out a shaky breath to try to contain the cries you want to let out.

lacking the words to comfort you, levi opts to reach out to grasp your occipital, gently pulling your head to rest on his chest, “you don’t have to hold back around me.”

with a short sob, what feels like a tsunami’s worth of tears floods from your eyes and you wrap your arms around his waist, squeezing him impossibly closer to you. he smells of woody bergamot and musk, and you take a labored inhale before returning to ugly crying all over his light gray shirt.

“i’m so sorry,” you cry, and his brows contort in confusion before you continue, “i’m going to ruin your shirt with my snot.”

he scoffs, “as if i give a shit about my shirt right now.”

you let out what sounds like a mix of a sob and a laugh before you return to both crying and snotting uncontrollably into his chest. he rubs your back soothingly as you catch your breath a few minutes later, your body heaving with exhaustion. truthfully, levi has never been good with dealing with emotions, but for you he gives it his best effort. he’s seen you depressed before, especially when the sun doesn’t shine for longer than ten hours, and though lack of cleanliness bothers him immensely, he doesn’t mind when it’s you.

even when your dirty clothes pile up in the corner of your shared closet with him, he picks them up without a word of malice. even when you leave your dirty dishes by your bedside, he cares so deeply that he repeats the process.

if it meant he got to be with you forever he would gladly clean up after you when you could barely get out of bed- a small price to pay for an eternity with you.

“do you want to talk about it?”

god, you thought, “i’m so embarrassing.”

“when you say stupid shit like that, yeah.”

“i just feel like such a loser, levi. i can’t even shower without feeling exhausted and drained after, then i just rot in bed again.”

he hits a wall here, how does he tell you you’re way too self-critical of yourself without coming off as harsh or uncompassionate, “you’re not a loser. far from it.”

“you’re not very convincing.” you say hoarsely.

“well, you’ll just have to trust me then.” he says matter-of-factly, dropping his hand to rub your thigh with his thumb. “listen, i’m not the best with words, but i won’t lie to you. i would never lie to you, especially about how i see you.”

“i don’t even know what you see in me.” you choke on your words, letting out a small and swift shit escape your lips before you turn to reach for the tea that you had neglected in the midst of your breakdown.

“i see alot of things, most- if not all- of them good.”

you sigh into the cup with a sense of relief, he’d made you a london fog- your favorite. your eyes widen, you had run out of earl grey a few days ago, and you had coffee this morning due to that fact. this meant that levi must have gone to your favorite tea trader almost an hour away just to make this for you.

just to make you feel better.

suddenly you feel like crying all over again, but this time out of adoration for the stoic man in front of you, “did you go out of your way just to make me some tea?”

he turns his head to look to the floor, “it wasn’t out of my way.”

was he… shy?

your heart swells so much you think it might burst behind your rib cage as you take another sip of the tea, “i don’t deserve you.”

“you’re right, you deserve more.”

“stop it!” you swat his chest, “you’re perfect for me. i love you.”

he looks back to you, a trace of a smile on his face as he places a hand on top of your head to ruffle your hair gently, “i love you, yn. now are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”

you take a deep breath taking a savory sip of your tea fusion before placing it on the coaster sitting on your nightstand. “promise you won’t judge me?”

“i would never judge the person i intend on marrying.”

with a blush and your trillionth sigh of the day, you open your mouth to relay your shortcomings to him, suddenly feeling as if you could breathe freely so long as he was around.

[flowersandfashion]

Sun & Moon

requested by @oops-it-is-i

[frog-toad-daily]

Day 167

The “Aquatic Scrotum Frog”

[alibeehaw]

Yet another collab with @dovaldraws because she is amazing and is pushing me through intense art block and burnout and I love her 💕💕💕

[onaperduamedee]

Thinking again about how the gender essentialism in WoT is aggravating not because there is gender essentialism in magic because that's the entire premise of the books but because RJ set to explore that particular premise without fully understanding how gender essentialism and patriarchy affects women differently that it does men. That's how you get Berelain's writing, the internal monologues of Nynaeve in tel'aran'rhiod, groups of women in power often written as petty squabbling fools, practically all the powerful female leaders at the start of the series will be depowered and humiliated by the end, the Aiel warriors being women presented as something foreign...

In RJ world, men are naturally stronger than women in the OP: this rule isn't subverted and permeates every aspect of his worldbuilding. There's a reason only the boys are ta'veren, that Mat ends up taking control of the armies over Elayne, that Perrin is naturally better at tel'aran'rhiod than Egwene, that Nynaeve the strongest channeler we've seen in a thousand years becomes a glorified battery for Rand in the end.

In a way, it's a fascinating psychological phenomenon that the entire premise of his fictional world is based on gender essentialism yet he doubled down on several core elements of gender essentialism instead of subverting them.

When I discuss gender essentialism in his work I do it so because he made it "gender essentialism: the fantasy edition", so while his women challenge gender essentialism in some ways, it's entirely legitimate to question why he didn't expand the subversion in other aspects of his world.

[premamelody]

birds boutta fly without a nest

after August 23rd, yall better not die

if an obscure fandom isn't almost dead over 9 years, neither shall you

live on in fan projects, aus, contests and roleplays

[bluebobatea]

if sasuke was the main character then he probably would've been a LOT more sympathised with than he is now (which is to say rarely). like the narrative wouldn't even need to change to show his pains or 'his side of the story', bc it does that plenty. it's just that he is not the main character. and idk what it is about our human minds but we tend to sympathise with main characters automatically (unless ofc you go off the rockers insane and do something like obliterate almost everyone from the planet *cough* eren yeager *cough*)

an instance that comes to my mind where this does happen is with lelouch from code geass. while i don't agree with his character motivations, people generally do sympathise with him as he is the mc and as viewers we know he isn't inherently evil. sasuke's goal towards the end is slightly similar but ofc people love to hate him so they don't even try to understand where he is coming from.

my point is, most people while engaging with the naruto story don't read between the lines and so don't see how traumatised and in pain sasuke is and hence don't understand his character motivations. heck, they don't understand a single bit about him and so they automatically hate him, as he is supposedly going against the main character's goals.

which is really sad given all that he has been through.

[hungry-skeleton]

think of me as a fool? we both know you can't draw that good. Seriously what prompt did you use?

You think the art is good?

[eclipseshotel]

Me busting into Elder Predator’s chambers to chew his ass out after he ignored my gauntlet call six times in a row (he was taking a much needed old man nap)