#anyway... i'm still not sure what to think of it but here we go | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

leupagus · 3 days ago

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#anyway I'm team 'please don't fuck your coworkers it will make for a bad time'#honestly the fic I want to write is one character having to listen to all the gossip about everybody else's love life#while their internal monologue is like 'WHY WOULD YOU FUCK YOUR COWORKER THAT'S A BAD IDEA'#it would obviously end with them fucking a coworker because: lol

goddammit I incepted myself

September 2023

Jack came back from his vacation right in the middle of Fucking New Kids Jesus Christ season, which was bullshit considering he’d tried to time his vacation to skip this entirely.

“You do realize you’ll have to meet them sometime,” Ellis told him flatly when he explained his logic. “Like, you can’t just skip introducing yourself to the baby interns and med students.”

“You’ve been here two years now, when did I ever introduce myself to you?” Jack pointed out. “Come to think of it, who are you—”

“I will beat you with your own leg and your nasty-ass Hokas, don’t think I won’t,” Ellis said, closing her locker and offering him her hand. “Come on, we’re late for rounds.”

“You’re late for rounds,” he said, but accepted the hand up. “I’m the senior attending tonight, God help you all.”

It was Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, statistically the quietest night of an ED’s typical week, and sure enough the board was only moderately disgusting when they came out to hand off with days.

“Don’t say I never did nothin’ for you,” Dana said with a broad wink, giving Jack a peck on the cheek as she grabbed her keys from the desk. "Welcome back, handsome."

"Good to be back, gorgeous," he replied as she swatted him on the arm. He caught Ellis’s glare and spread his hands, what? Like it was his fault Ellis had gone and fallen in love with a straight woman.

“No, see, I haven’t fallen in love with a straight woman,” Ellis protested later, after they'd finished hand off and Jack had fobbed all the new kids off on some scrapes and the first foreign-object-up-rectum of the evening. Which left him with Ellis, who was also annoying, but he’d gotten used to her over the past two years. The new intern — who’d mentioned her son four times in the first forty-five minutes — and the second-year floater coming in from days — who’d already asked Jack if he knew how best to access hospital archives in order to study patient outcomes for a paper she wanted to write — were both so earnest Jack just knew he was going to end up hating them both.

“Aw, really?” Ellis said, grabbing the clipboard for North 17 — found comatose in the river two nights ago, some neurological damage likely but still breathing on his own, still no positive ID, still no change from last night. “I was hoping you’d like the cut of McKay’s jib.” She waggled her eyebrows.

“McKay — the bangs?” he said, miming scissors across his forehead.

Ellis rolled her eyes. “Yeah. The bangs, and nice smile, and the plucky attitude. She’s cute.”

“She’s an intern.”

“Like that’s ever stopped you before.”

Jack bit back a smile. “It has, in fact, stopped me before. I think what you mean is it hasn’t stopped Robby before, which I will allow. We really haven’t gotten anything back about who this guy is?”

Ellis shook her head, snapping on gloves so she could check John Doe’s pupil response. “Still reactive, just not waking up. But hey, maybe tonight’s the night.”

“Maybe,” Jack said. The guy was young, mid-twenties. Somebody had to be looking for him.

He followed Ellis out into the hallway. “Listen, even Robby didn’t ever date an intern. Collins,” he added as Ellis opened her mouth, “was in second year when they started dating.”

“Yeah, maybe when they started dating,” Ellis muttered.

“Personally, I don’t know what anybody’s thinking, dating someone from here,” Jack said. “You’re all freaks of nature who thrive on stress and adrenaline.”

“You listen to the police scanner on your days off,” Ellis observed, which was fair enough. “Criticizing the circus is pretty rich, coming from the ringleader.”

“Yeah, but I never fuck the monkeys.”

“That’s because—” Ellis paused and gave him a look. It was one he’d learned to live with the past three years: the expression of someone who was not sure how far they could go, if today would be the day Jack would be okay talking about Leslie or if it was a day where he’d shut down for the rest of the shift at the mere mention of her name. He can’t exactly blame them; for most of the first two years he never knew himself.

So he smiled and shrugged and gave Ellis an out. “Because I look at the messes you guys get yourselves in and I think, ‘no, actually, going home and listening to the police scanner is a better idea than having a tryst with someone from Neuro.’”

“A lobotomy is a better idea than having a tryst with someone from Neuro,” Ellis said. “Literally anything would be a better idea than having a tryst with someone from Neuro.”

“Didn’t stop Shen from getting together with, fuck, what’s her name—”

“Barreras,” said Terri as she went past. “That’s off again, by the way.”

Ellis grabbed the chart for their next room and made the slow/caution sign with her hand, frowning as she read. He could tell just from the way her eyebrows drew together what they were going to find on the other side of the door.

“Okay, this is Kayla Hourlis, 17, and her mom Isabelle,” said Ellis in a low, calm voice as she presented, and Jack made sure he kept his expression completely neutral while he listened to just what had brought Kayla Hourlis into the Pitt tonight. He and Ellis treated her quietly and carefully, explaining everything they were doing for her and her wide-eyed mother, the two of them holding hands so tightly Jack was afraid they’d break each other’s wrists. Though it wouldn’t be the worst injury either of them had, not by a long shot.

After, he and Ellis leaned on the partition outside the doors and didn’t talk for a minute or so. It wasn’t something Jack had missed, on vacation out in New Mexico. This feeling, like you’d disappear down the hole in your own stomach.

“What did you mean before?” he asked.

“Before what,” Ellis said, turning to look at him. Her eyes were only a little bit red, but too bright. Jack leaned further over the partition to grab the tissues tucked in the corner, and handed one to her. “Thanks.”

“Before, when you said you hadn’t fallen in love with a straight woman,” Jack said, clearing out the catch in the back of his throat. They’d be able to help Kayla and her mom, that was the important thing. They’d gotten to her before it was worse than this. He cleared his throat again and focused on Ellis. “Pretty sure Dana’s straight, I’m sorry to tell you.”

“First off, you’re not sorry at all, and your oppression of the queer community will not go unaddressed,” she said, ticking off the point on her hand. A little bit manic, but so was he, probably — less than an hour back and he was already seeing things worse than he had in Afghanistan. “Secondly, I’m not in love with Dana anymore. I��ve sworn off.”

“Isn’t this usually a New Year’s thing for you?” Jack asked, nodding at Jesse over by Chairs, who was making the can you be a scary doctor man for a minute face. “It’s only September.”

“Jewish New Year was last weekend,” Ellis countered, walking with him to Chairs where a big guy in a Steelers jersey was using one of the chairs as a toilet, more or less, in an attempt to express his displeasure at the wait. So that was the next twenty minutes of Jack’s life.

“Was the swearing-off your idea, or is this some hospital-wide Lysistrata?” Jack asked her later, sometime after midnight lunch and three different eyeball stabbing incidents. “Robby said him and Collins are splitting up. Shen and his PT soulmate are splitting up. Do I have you to thank for the two of them crying on my couch for the next month?”

Ellis laughed, though she quieted down as they came back into North 17 — still no improvement or deterioration, or name. “Listen, I don’t know what Shen did, he’s been on days, but Robby and Heather splitting up is all on Robby.”

“Yeah, that checks out.”

“Although me and her did decide this year was the year of no more white milfs,” Ellis added with a sad sigh. “They’re bad for us.”

“Only milfs of color, got it,” Jack said as he squinted at the John Doe’s display. “Or I guess, mocilfs? Mothers of Color I’d Like To — how does the dangling modifier work for that?” The guy’s BP was still weirdly high, but everything else pointed directly to overdose, do not pass Go do not collect $200. Then he listened to the conversation that was happening. “Wait, how does Robby count as a milf?”

“Hey, hey, don’t be gender essentialist,” Ellis said, holding her finger up in warning. “I know you had to take that sensitivity class twice, Jackie—”

“I only fell asleep the first time because you’d gotten food poisoning at PRIDEburgh.” Jack wondered if he could swap Ellis in for one of the new kids for a while. He’d have to think of a better reason than Ellis is picking on me and she will pick on you too, so you’d better get used to it. “So I had to come in and cover your shift the night before and—”

“—and you know that ‘milf’ is a gender-neutral term denoting—"

“—okay first of all, no, there are such things as ‘dilfs’—”

“That’s a completely different category,” Ellis said, her expression as outraged as if he’d argued about intubation with her (again). “You cannot seriously be suggesting that Robby is a dilf.”

Jack was actually seriously suggesting that Robby wasn’t a parent full stop, and thus could not fulfill the basic requirements of ilfdom, but then a guy came in with a pen through his ballsack and they had to hold up the rest of the conversation for a couple hours.

#the pitt fic #the pitt #ellis & abbot bff5eva #I just want night shift shenanigans where they're all very weird about each other and constantly judging each other's love lives #much like the day shift #but more gremlin #the pitt is a slapstick tragedy

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erme-maererme · 7 hours ago

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this addition is actually very important because it brings up the subject of necropolitics in thedas and how this mechanic of magic adds another layer to it. like the general population is more or less aware that bloodshed results in thinner veil, leaving corpses around attracts wisps that awaken the undead, hence everyone but the nevarrans and the dalish prefer cremation.

but if you need to kill a lot of mages, you can do it in the circle and who cares if it makes the place even less liveable for the next generation. or you can hold a civil war primarily on the territory where the dalish live (i'm talking about the exalted planes, the only people actually living there that you get to meet are the dalish + the dales hold great cultural and political importance for all of them, not just the ones directly impacted. i think it's dorian who points out that no wonder that the war theatre of the civil war was mainly contained to this region, and you can also just see it for yourself in all the areas inky visits.)

also even the location of kirkwall as the former site of blood magic experiments is notably quite removed from the capital of the tevinter imperium, so that the magisters could do whatever even if it could end in a disaster (which it obviously did + and kirkwall is still bearing the damage from what was done to the veil there).

so the damage is exported, and in the areas where even more death took place it's lasting, if not permanent (i don't remember here if the veil heals at all), because thedas has magic in addition to what we can recognize from our own reality.

this also applies to alienages btw, the veil must be thinner there as well, since it's a fixed place and purges are not uncommon (the suppressed uprising in denerim, celine setting fire to an alienage, the one from the knight errant comic). and both the circles and alienages have very defined borders, often guarded ones by the templars/city guard, so that only specific groups of the population would suffer the fallout. and it would not concern the people that "actually matter".

i'm not sure where i'm going with this, but to go back to the annulments, perhaps it's also that they didn't want to leave a "polluted" place behind, and the mages are cursed from the start anyway. perhaps the chantry saw it as keeping all danger in one area, so the templars would watch it all simulteneously. and i bet opening a new circle would be very expensive. why would the chantry pay for it, if they could just not.

so. when the circle gets annulled. do they like. tell other people about it? Do people outside the circle learn of what happened? I know most mages never see their families again, but like do they tell the families? some of these kids are children of nobles. do they just kill all the mages and no one, not even their families, knows about it? does the chantry even light a candle for them?

#kind of sidetracking the original post sorry #dragon age #and i understand the limits of using political theory for a fictional world but if you are trying to fill in the gaps in the lore #it does add depth

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peachesvault · 1 day ago

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Sk8 after Eight

Situationship!Skater! Sero x Reader

⋆˚꩜｡ Late night adventures skateboarding with Sero Hanta

A/n: For my baby @bloomstream! sorry its not so good :( just wanted to get something out, but if the people want a part two I wouldn't be against it

"Pssst. Get up.”

Harsh knocking on your window woke you up. Grumbling, you groggily got up, throwing your windows open. You already know who it was.

Sero Hanta.

You sighed eyeing him.

"The fuck are you doing here at 2 in the morning?"

"We don't even have school tomorrow??"

"SO? I can still sleep on a Friday night dude, god forbid."

Chuckling lightly he pulled himself up onto your windows ledge, before inviting himself into your room, making sure to leave his shoes on the ledge. 'Manners' and all that. Manners your ass. Manners would be using the door at a normal hour instead of whatever the hell this is.

You let him in anyways.

Sitting on your bed like it was his, he leaned back, looking at you with that infuriating ugly lazy smirk that always-

"Took you a while to answer sweets. Tried dolling up for me?"

"I was butt ass naked. Don't get ahead of yourself" You replied dryly, eventually chuckling at his furrowed brows.

"Think your so cute hm?"

"The cutest."

You held his gaze, unfaltering even when he stared at you like that. Not the way a friend should stare at you. Neither of you had ever called it out, and you didn't plan on doing so anytime soon. His eyes dropped to your legs.

"Get changed. We're going out." He was staring you in the eye again.

"No. You're getting out and I'm going back to sleep" You huffed, narrowing your eyes at him as a challenge.

Sighing, he got up and made his way to your window, pointing down to where he climbed up from. You followed, your hipbone digging into the sill as you leaned over to see what he was pointing at.

His skateboard.

You side eyed him.

"Really?"

Your face softened. You don't know why but his dejected expression pulled at your heartstrings as he murmured a quiet:

"Look I couldn't sleep. Your normally up at this time so I thought-".

Huffing you cut him off, grumbling but already walking to your closet.

Sappy feelings were never your thing, either of your 'things'. Your whole friendship was built off of bullying each other out of bad feelings.

Turned away from him, pulling your shirt over your head you started to get changed. You knew he didn't care, but that he would turn around anyways since he was so 'mannerly'. You had both gotten over the weird 'opposite sex!' awkwardness a long time ago.

You had both bought matching outfits last time you went vintage shopping. Denim jeans with a red star on the back pocket and graf tagged across the crotch, a large black jersey and a large black zip up. Considering he was wearing it right now, you might as well.

Humming to let him know you were done, you looked around for your fanny, putting your head through the loop to have it slung diagonally over your torso. It already had the basics inside; some wax, a silver skate tool for tweaks, A couple extra bearings incase any broke, a couple tissues, some snacks, a pack of gum and a silver paint pen if you found anything cool to do a throw up on.

Going over to stand next to him by the sill, you wrapped an arm around his neck, tucking yourself into his side as the other held your board. You felt his breath hitch, but chose to ignore it as he used his tape to lower you both out of the second story dorm room. When both feet touched the ground, you finally let go, albeit a bit disappointed but you started walking none the less.

Finally out of UA grounds, you dropped the board, letting it crunch over the gravel. You knew it was bad for the wheels but you were due for a change anyways. The two of you got on as you reached the main road, pushing them till the end of the road; just before the downhill. This was always the route you guys took to the skatepark, the steep decline exhilarating and nostalgic rather than the flat road round the other side that looped a million times to get to the same place.

You and Hanta lined up against the crack in the asphalt like you had done hundreds of times.

"Three"

"Two" You followed on.

"One"

Pushing off strongly at the count, you both barrelled down the hill, the wind blowing in your face making it hard to see as your hair whipped behind you and the chill of the cold night settled itself deep thin your bones. Looking to your right, Hanta was laughing, a manic crazed adrenaline filled laugh. You joined in, whooping and cheering as you only accelerated faster, just two kids who had the whole world to themselves with nothing to bother their undeterred joy. The moon shone brightly overhead, like an approving warm hug as you both prepped to stop as you approached the bottom.

Swinging your arms around to get the power for a powerslide, you clutched by kicking out with your backfoot and leaning back. Coming to a stop just centimetres from the tree, Hanta also stopped right next to you, following the same movements, but just as he skidded to a stop, he lost his footing, collapsing straight onto you.

"ge-roff me" You huffed as you pushed him off your torso. Your voice dripped of annoyance but maybe it was to ignore the way your breath had hitched when he first landed on you, the way you held his gaze for a split second and every cell in your body set alight and was hyperaware of every point of contact with him. Maybe it was an excuse as you brushed yourself off and tried to desperately push any lingering thoughts about his touch to the back of your mind as you offered him a hand and pulled him up. Maybe it was to avoid whatever the two of you are as you smirked lazily at him, taunting him.

"Didn't think you were such a rookie?"

"Maybe I did it on purpose hm?" He replied with identical inflection, a teasing lilt to his question.

Now it was your turn for your breath to hitch. Not sure how to deal with all the feelings swirling in your chest, you decided to just punch him in the arm before continuing to walk in the direction of the bowl, not turning around to check if he was following you.

You already knew he was.

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ephie-om · 2 days ago

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Kitchen Adventures

Inspired by this post by @zephyrchama. I'm so sorry for this.

“Solomon’s been acting suspicious.”

“I hate to break it to ya, but that’s just the way he is.”

You frown at Mammon. “I know that. He’s acting more suspicious than usual.”

He shrugs. “I wouldn’t question ‘im. You probably ain’t gonna like the answer.”

He hunches back over, strong hands dwarfing the tiny pliers he’s using to fix your necklace. The room falls into a comfortable silence for a few moments, until your conversation finally catches up with Mammon’s brain. “You think he’s plannin’ something?” he asks, a worried crease forming in his brow.

It’s your turn to shrug. “Maybe. Like you said, there’s no way of knowing what he’s up to.”

“Hey, I didn’t say that. I said you might not like findin’ out. There’s plenty of ways to find out what he’s up to if you’re his-” Mammon sits up straight, clasps his hands together, and puts on a high voice, “adorable apprentice.”

“He does NOT sound like that.”

“Sure he doesn’t. Anyways, I’m sure he’d tell you if ya asked him. Or at least give ya a hint.”

Without ceremony, Mammon dumps the silver chain into your hands, barely giving you a chance to catch it. “Are you in a hurry to get away from me?” you tease.

“If you’re tryna mess with whatever Solomon’s got goin’ on, I’m gonna put some distance in between us,” he chuckles. “Good luck.”

You push open the door of Purgatory Hall with a creak. You had knocked when you got here, but judging by the muffled explosions coming from deeper within the house, there wasn’t much chance anybody would be here to let you in. Peeking around the corner into the kitchen, you see none of the hall’s residents, bringing another frown to your face.

The counters are messy with flour, an unknown substance splotched on the cabinets. Against your better judgment, you poke at it with a finger. It’s sticky, and, from what you can sense, vaguely magical. Yep. Solomon’s definitely been in here. You turn your attention to the sink, piled with dishes that smell like… well, like death. Sulfur and brimstone. The pits of the Devildom. Maybe that was an exaggeration, but you didn’t think so.

A creak from the staircase draws your attention, and you finally see Solomon making his way downstairs. “Hey, MC,” he smiles faintly. “Looking for someone?”

“Yeah, I was trying to find you, but there weren’t any signs of life,” you joke.

Solomon pales. “Signs of life?”

“Uh… yeah. Like you, Simeon or Luke?”

“Oh! Of course,” his usual cocky smile is back, but not without a hint of something else under it.

You squint at him. “Solomon?”

“Yes, my darling apprentice?”

“What did you do?”

“What did I- nothing! I haven’t done anything. Not unless you count being the wisest sorcerer alive, of course.” A bead of sweat trickles down the side of his head, and he pretends to fix his hair.

“Solomon.”

“Why don’t we go up to my room for a bit? I can show you what I’ve been working on lately.”

“Solomon.”

His shoulders slump in defeat. “You can’t tell anyone, alright?”

You nod, still keeping a safe distance from him, and he circles around you. You back up a few steps, not quite trusting him to remember your fragile human bones. He rolls up one sleeve and- “EW, SOLOMON!”- plunges his hand into the sink. He feels around for a moment, face scrunching up in concentration, and finally pulls out his prize.

In his still-dripping hand sits a soggy brown blob about the size of a fist. It looks like unleavened dough, speckled with bits of herbs. A clump of flour bobs to the top slowly, then bursts, soaking back into the dough. “You were hiding this from me the entire time?”

Solomon holds up a finger. “Just wait.”

The blob shifts, and despite the stench, your curiosity wins out and you step closer. Two lumps form at its base, lifting it up, and slowly growing long enough to support the rest of its body. Two smaller lumps grew from its midsection, and the body began to separate into one part below and one at the top. The bit at the top caves in to form two small dents, just where eyes would be. It would look almost cartoonish if you were five feet away, but right now…

“Solomon, that looks fucking horrific.”

A high pitched whine fills your ears, emanating from somewhere in the blob. Solomon curls his other hand protectively around the blob-thing, and you try not to think about the puddle of sink water forming on the floor below it. “He can hear you,” he hisses, pulling it closer to his chest. Thankfully, the noise stops as he shields it from your view.

“I don’t know what level of sentience it’s achieved,” he whispers, looking cowed. “I don’t want to make a wrong move, so I’m trying to give it as much respect as I can.”

“He?!” you whisper-yell back. “Why are you treating it like a person?”

“You want to respect the demonic version of the Pillsbury doughboy? How did he even get here?”

Solomon gives you a pained look as he slowly removes his other hand from the thing. “It’s called a homunculus, for one thing. As for his creation, I was in the kitchen.”

“I gathered.”

“And I wanted to enhance the biscuits I was making, so I used magic, of course. I guess the way I worded the spell might have been interpreted as literally giving something life…” he trails off in thought.

“Weren’t you just talking about how you’re the wisest sorcerer alive?”

“One last question.” He raises an eyebrow. “Why the hell is he living in the sink?"

Solomon hmphs in your direction. “Everyone makes mistakes; that’s how we learn,” he says sagely.

“Oh, he likes it in there.”

“He what now?”

“I think it’s because of the humidity. I tried taking him up to my room so I could keep an eye on him and he went dormant again.”

“Dormant? Like when he’s curled up like that?” Solomon nods, and the two of you lapse into silence, both staring down at his unholy biscuit creation.

“Do you want to name him?”

“You have got to be kidding me.”

“Well, we have to refer to him somehow. Who better than my lovely apprentice to choose a name?”

You stare at the blob. Little bits of dried leaves poke out from it, and its empty eye sockets stare ominously back at you. The doughy skin has started to shrink as it slowly dries, causing it to fold and crease where the limbs meet the body. You try to like it, you really do, but the more you look at it, the uglier it gets. You hope that your reflexes will be fast enough to throw it against the wall if it starts making that noise again.

“What did you say it was called?”

“A homunculus.”

You summon all of your incredible wordsmithing ability. It is your solemn duty to name this awful creation to save the world from the next Frankenstein’s monster. It has to be something affectionate, creative, easy to say…

“Homie. Lil’ Homie.”

“...homie? As in homunculus?”

You nod. “Exactly.” Lil Homie stares back at you, a tiny stem falling through his leg. “Can we please put him back in the sink now?”

Solomon obliges, nestling him in between several plates and scraping the dough from his hands as best he can. Lil Homie re-blobs, half-submerged in sink water. You and Solomon stare into the pile. Solomon leans over to whisper in your ear. “Don’t worry, I have plans to bake him if he gets too aggressive.”

#obey me #obey me swd #omswd #obey me shall we date #obey me crack #om solomon #obey me solomon #i wrote this in the span of four hours #mars' writing possesses me once again #ephie writes

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nameless-ken · 3 days ago

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Could I pls request Daryl x chubby! Reader? Maybe they get to Alexandria or smthn where food is more available but she feels icky eating and eats less bc ofc the bigger girl stuffs her face? Ik he's less of a sappy guy but I'm curious how he would deal with that. Anywho, just an idea, Ily!

It's been awhile since I've written for Daryl so hopefully I did this justice :) Thank you for the request!!

words: 685 warnings: talks of body image issues, possible ED masterlist

You miss the days before the world turned ugly—before hunger became a constant companion and fear lived behind every door.

Back then, your insecurities were just passing thoughts. You didn’t always like your body, sure, but it never consumed you. You weren’t afraid to love food, or yourself.

Now, it’s different.

Now, your weight is the one thing you can’t stop thinking about. Every day, every meal, it whispers doubt and shame.

Before the world fell apart, you never felt guilt gnawing at your throat just because you were hungry. You never questioned whether you deserved to feel full.

Since arriving in Alexandria, where food wasn’t as scarce as the past year had been on the road. The pantry is stocked and warm meals aren’t just in your dreams anymore.

You feel it crept in at every meal. The guilt and shame.

You know your weight isn’t a problem, at least no one has ever said so but you’ve grown insecure around every dinner table.

You’ve started serving yourself less at dinner, even though your stomach growls so much afterward. You’re afraid of people hearing it.

You’ve made sure to volunteer to take later shifts when the meals have winded down so you could eat without a lot of people around.

When it’s quieter. When you can lie to yourself in peace.

I’m not that hungry, you tell yourself. I’ll survive like everyone else.

But someone else noticed.

Daryl. He always noticed more than he let on.

At first, he would glance your way more often during meals. You figured maybe he was judging you too. Maybe he was thinking the same thing you were. That you shouldn’t take seconds. That you should be grateful for what you have and not overdo it.

One evening while most of the group is still talking around the dinner table, Daryl is leaning against the doorframe just outside the kitchen and dining room. He’s watching you be the last person to get food, scraping the last bits of stew into a small bowl-barely half a serving.

“You gonna eat that or just look at it?” His voice is quiet like always, but not unkind.

You’re startled a little, not expecting anyone to be watching you. “I’m not that hungry.”

He doesn’t say anything at first, nods slowly, eyes flicker to your bowl and then back up to look at you sheepishly.

“I been watchin’,” he admits. “You used to eat more.”

Your stomach twists, the shame blooming hot and immediate.

He continues crossing his arms, keeping his voice low. “Ain’t none of my business, but… it’s just us now. You don’t gotta go hungry just ‘cause you think you should.”

“I’m not,” you lie, too quickly.

Daryl steps further inside the kitchen, scratching the back of his neck, clearly uncomfortable, but pushes through anyway like this concern matters more than him staying silent.

“We all been starvin’. You ain’t the only one who’s still tryin’ to pretend we ain’t.” He pauses, then adds, “Ain’t about size. It’s about stayin’ alive.”

You look down at the bowl in your hands. It feels heavier than before. “It’s not that simple.”

“No,” he agrees. “It ain’t. But I know what it’s like to feel like you gotta shrink just to fit in. Like takin’ up less space makes you safer.”

Your eyes met his, surprised at the weight his voice carries.

“You ain’t gotta do that here,” he tells you. “Not around me.”

And just like that, something in you cracks open. The shame disappearing in Daryl’s presence, feeling safe and understood after so long.

He doesn’t say more. Doesn’t pressure you. Just leans beside you against the counter while you eat slowly, with a slight smile resting on your face for the rest of the night.

The kitchen is calm now. The soft clink of the spoon in your bowl and his steady presence beside you.

There’s no rush. No judgment.

Just you and Daryl and this moment.

And for the first time in a long time, you feel full in a way that has nothing to do with food.

Thanks for reading! my requests are open <3

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mikimakiboo · 2 days ago

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Time Travelers AU - Well, well, well...

I know I said I was gonna get back on track but I failed an exam and my grandpa's sick again so I'm really trying my best here :') I think I have ideas for two chapters after this one ? I'll try to write them faster than one month each lol :'D

I really want to get over Cross's time, I love this boy but I don't have much to say about his time sadly :')

Also everyone go check out @ancha-aus 's drabble because it is amazing !!! It takes place later in the story so I will link it again when we get there but still !! Go read !!

I swear I spend more time looking at dictionaries than actually writing the chapters, why did I gave them all dead languages

First

The first night in Cross's house had been fairly calm, Horror and him had managed to make a bed for everyone, though Nightmare preferred sleeping on the bench on the kitchen side of the house, Cross couldn't blame him honestly, straw wasn't what someone would call a fancy beding, compared to it anything would be better, even a bench. Killer was very happy with the straws and kept making little braids with it, five in total, and he gave one to everyone afterward. Horror was fine too, Cross never heard the viking complain about anything anyway, so either he was really fine with it or he was just very polite. Dust was strangely excited, Cross didn't think it was possible to be excited about straw beds after having used the amazing couch in his house but here he was, mumbling things to himself as he sat on the bed.

It luckily hadn't rained, so the humidity didn't come in and they were able to keep a certain warmth inside of the small house. Usually peasant houses shared the space with the cattle and the warmth of the animals would heat up the house, but Cross was a knight, he didn't have animals, so he had to rely on fire, but as he didn't have infinite wood he would most of the time keep it to cook and use this heat to warm himself up.

Cross had been the first to wake up and had rapidly been followed by Horror. He saluted him with a smile.

- Dieus vos doinst boinjor.

- Kveðja, ér sofa vel ? Horror answered.

"Vel" meant "well", that Cross was sure, and he remembered Horror using "sofa" to say "sleep", with these two words he guessed he must have either asked if Cross slept well or informed him that he slept well. Cross nodded, both answering the question if it was aimed at him and showing satisfaction if it wasn't.

- Volez avoc moy aler a jart ? Cross asked if Horror wanted to go to the garden with him, pointing at the door.

He needed to pick some vegetables for dinner and the others were still asleep, so he might as well grab them now and not bother his friends later. Horror looked at the door, frowning slightly.

- Ek þurfa vitja úti ? He asked, confused.

Cross was confused too, what did Horror understand ? He looked around for a second before grabbing a basket and showing it to Horror, then going to the door and signing for him to come along as he went outside and around the house towards the small garden. Horror followed, curious, and watched as Cross pointed at the different plants than at the basket. Did Cross want him to pick those plants and put them in the basket ? He slowly picked a carrot and looked at Cross as he put it down, seeing him nod, he smiled, and both of them started picking the vegetables, teaching each other their names. It was nice, and when they went back inside, everybody was up.

Cross put the basket on the table, letting Dust inspect it, he seemed rather curious about the vegetables, surely comparing them to those he had at home. He glanced at his countertop, he had just enough bread for today and maybe tomorrow morning, he would need to go in town tomorrow in the afternoon and buy some more. He could bake some, sure, but it was time consuming so he preferred buying already prepared ones. He also checked his water supply, he needed to go to the well.

- Eo dei a puit aler. Dust, volez moy sivir ? Cross gathered all his courage, asking Dust to follow him.

Dust looked up at him, thinking, his sockets always squinted a bit when he was thinking, and he ended up looking at Nightmare who was staring at the bench, well, not the bench, but the little straw braid Killer made him and that he had put on the bench for the night.

- Nightmare ? What d-

Nightmare flinched and sharply turned to look at him.

- Oop, sorry, didn't mean to startle you, Dust apologized, what does "sivir" mean ?

Nightmare hesitated, his gaze diverting for a second, before he talked, for the first time since the forest, though his voice was low, not as self assured as when he would talk in Dust's time.

- S.. suivre.. ? He stuttered.

Everybody caught that, but nobody commented.

- Suivre ? Dust repeated, like uhh... I know this word, I've seen it on social media... oh ! Follow ! Yeah ! He turned to Cross, smiling, yeah I'll follow you ! I'll uhh.. sivir vos.. ?

Cross smiled, feeling a rush of warmth in his chest, he just invited Dust to the well, he did that, oh god. He quickly nodded and grabbed two empty jars before heading to the door that Dust opened for him.

- Nos anteruns viste !

They will be back soon, he said as he went out with the hoodied skeleton, leaving the three others together.

- So... what's a "puit" ? Dust asked as they walked.

- Por panre l'aigue, li n'en estat gueres à maise.

He explained as simply as he could, telling him it's to take water as he didn't have any at home. Dust just frowned.

- Huh-huh. Well you know what ? "Aigue" sounds like "agua" in Spanish and since you've got jars I'm gonna say it's for water. That or wine. I don't know what people usually drink in the Middle Ages.

He finally answered. Did he understand ? Cross had no doubt he did, Dust was smart, he always figured out stuff.

- Now if we're going to grab some water I guess it's either a river or a well ?

Cross liked hearing Dust talk, he had such a sweet voice, so confident and yet always sounding unsure at the end of his sentences, as if he was expecting to be wrong about every supposition he made when really he was probably the most smart of them all.

- ... Did I say something stupid ? Dust frowned, sounding a bit nervous.

Why would he feel nervous ? Cross didn't see any reason to feel- oh god he had been staring. He quickly shook his head and looked forward, a purple blush on his cheekbones.

- P-pardon. He apologized.

- Okay.. ?

The walk to the well was... awkward, Cross didn't dare look at him, he didn't want to stare again, at least with his arms holding the jars he wasn't tempted to grab Dust's hand.

Once they arrived Dust looked at the stone well with wonder. Was it the first time he saw a well ? He did have water directly in his house, so maybe wells weren't a thing anymore in the future ?

Cross put the jars down, grabbing the bucket attached to the log above the well to make it fall in until it hit the water and slowly filled itself. Dust was watching carefully, bent over the hole, his eyelights were almost sparkling with curiosity and Cross could see the water reflecting on his bones... he would give anything to be allowed to hold him close and-

- It's full, Dust announced, straightening.

- O-oh uh, oil.. ! Cross was brutally shaken out of his thoughts.

The bucket was full, so Cross pulled on the lever until it came back all the way up to grab it and pour the water in the first jar, when he straightened up Dust was looking at him. He made a grabby motion towards the bucket.

- Can I try ? He asked, badly masking his excitement.

Cross couldn't help but blush as he handed him the bucket and watched as he put it back in the well to wait patiently for it to fill. He didn't think such a simple activity would interest Dust so much, and yet here he was, happily filling the jars with water. There was something childish and yet so attractive to it, Cross wanted to protect that, he wanted to protect that amazement for everything that surrounded him.

- Estrez tanz jolif... Cross said without thinking.

He instantly blushed, he really didn't mean to call Dust pretty. Well, Dust was pretty, but he didn't mean to say it to his face !

- Huh ? Dust answered, not having heard as he was putting the bucket back on the edge of the well.

- E-Eo diseie nos devrïens antrer !

He corrected, saying they needed to go back home as he grabbed the two full jars.

- Oh, we're going ? Don't you want me to hold one ? They look heavy, Dust asked him, going to grab a jar but Cross stopped him.

- Eo puys porter, mercit ! He thanked, telling him he could hold them.

- If you say so, Dust didn't insist.

Cross smiled at him, and lead the way back home with two full jars and a soul racing like never before.

He really needed to get his thoughts under control.

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purplecelestial-buddy · 2 days ago

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Allow me to go insane about perhaps the entirety of chapter 28

First and foremost, we are in it since page 1.

The fact that we are watching this interaction develop from the pov of the guys (since we are watching Hirano from above, like Kagi would and we are watching Kagi from below, like Hirano would) is totally insane.

This exchange is kind of so funny because Kagi says Hanzawa is gone and Hirano, who I would argue is still kind of processing the... straightforwardness and "strengh" (that's the only word I have rn) of the hug request is standing there like "and what does that even have to do with us?" and to some degree this is very important to me because this is Hirano we are talking about. Marriage = civial law Hirano. The 10 secs rule cannot exclude hair because it's made from protein just like skin, Hirano.

I need you to understand that this man has one hell of a convoluted thought process and in other situations he has taken mere seconds to come up with some weird analysis just so he can win whatever debate him and Kagi are having. AND REGARDLESS here we head a head empty no thought Hirano, he's thinking of one thing and one thing only, that being the hug and how it will fit in the puzzle that is his relationship with Kagi. And the hand clenching. Gosh the hand clenching. If only I had a nickel for everytime Kagi closes his fist or grabs at stuff to physically stop himself from crossing the line I would be a millionare. The hand clenching even makes me wonder if he actually belives no one will see them. In fact this is such a funny scene in the sense that Hirano is completely focused in their interactions and Kagi is the one coming up with unexpected loopholes to validate his actions.

I always think back on the "that passion... is focused squarely on me" scene whenever I see this expression on Kagi.

In fact it's interest to see how his expression has changed along with his feelings, desires and expectations about Hirano.

Let's do a timeline:

This was the first instance in which Kagi ever thought about kissing Hirano:

This is the passion scene I was referencing:

And then there's Kagi now who always looks five seconds away from devouring Hirano.

So it's no suprise that Hirano looks uncomfortable. This is the same passion and drive he has always admired from Kagi but now it isnt a driving force used to put effort in basketball or to study so that they can remain roomies, it's being used to expose Hirano to as many romantic situations as posible in hopes that he can reach a conclusion, hopefully a romantic one. And that a very complex expectation because romance and dating are uncharted terriotory for Hirano so ofc he's even more cautious than he tends to be and gosh I'm projecting but I dont think people get how GODDAMN frsutrating and tbh scary it is to know people are expecting something from you when 1. you arent sure what that would even entail and 2. you arent sure if you could perfom even if you knew it.

So anyway, what happens next is very important: (but there's also the whole translation deal so... let's take it with a grain of salt(? (I'll put in italics all the comments/analysis that was biased by the mangadex translation)

Kagi makes his request, Hirano is squeamish and he begrudgingly agrees because that's isnt he kind of thing he "cant's say no to"

As in, he isnt allowed to stop each and every of Kagi's advanced even if they arent directed towards something he's comfortable with simply because theirs is a delicate situation and first and foremost he wants to keep Kagi close. And keeping Kagi close and remaining as roomies is heavily dependant on him not breaking Kagi's hard so he can't refuse all advances right? Because he's pretty much uncomfotable with all things romantic but he can't properly deny Kagi a relationship unless he knows how a relationship would work, right? (I think that fron here onwards the things would remain the same regardless of translation)

And I love that here Kagi inmediately panics and backtracks. Because many things can be said about Kagi, he's passionate, he's intense, he can come on to strong but he would never want to hurt Hirano. He would rather lose sleep and study than stop having his presence close, he would rather clench his fist and stand at the line than ever cross it. Because ven if he would get what he desired he would lose the person he loves the most.

And this whole thing was a kinda tense so when Hirano finally exhales so can we as an audience. And we proceed to get back to typical hrkg antincs of "but are you 100% sure that I'm not presurring you into doing this because I wouldnt want to do this is you arent on board" x "stop whining and going in circles, let's do this and get over with it"

And once again we get Kagi's pov of Hirano. And I dont know if it would be crazy to say that it feel different than the first one but for starters now we see more of Hirano, other than his face and you can see the uncertainty in his hands.

Then comes the hug which is honestly the one and only reason I started this whole ramble.

First, let's look at past hrkg hugs: We have the famous infirmary one. And I want to draw your attention at a few points; first Kagi grabs Hirano sort of by the shoulders, in the 2nd page at the 3rd panel of the sequence Kagi pulls Hirano into the hug, a futile attempt to make it feel more reciprocal I would say and then he squeezes Hirano.

Now, this chapter's hug has much more movement.

In fact it's six pages long

Its starts fairly similar, with Kagi sorta holding Hirano by the shoulders

and it goes down from there

This... this panel haunts me. This is not the face of someone that's comfortable. We can guess that the culprit might be Kagi's hand on Hirano's waist since it's much more lower than where he usually puts his hands.

And no one is comfortable with this so, Kagi soon realizes and again, he backtracks

We finish with the usual hearty squeeze, this time there's no need to get pulled for it to be reciprocal since Hirano relies/lays on Kagi.

And then of course we have the guilt and crisis of feeling uncomfortable ("repulsed" is one of the word choices being questioned)

I don't have much to say about the rest, Hirano gets thinking thoughts, realizes that maybe it can work out if he's the one doing the hugging and we all celebrate.

(also, I find it so funny that all of their "realization" moments have literally the same page composition. I wonder if it's a Harusono quirk of if there's deeper meaning. In fact, the line gets straighther each time so maybe it's all about how they are reaching an understanding of each other )

Then he have a much more comfortable hug and perhaps some of the most kira kira sparkly pages we've ever had

In summary this chapter is very important cuz:

1. We (Hirano included) see Kagi backtracking. This is important because Hirano has gone from not realizing the dept of Kagi's desires to being aware that Kagi will never push him to do anything he's not comfortable with.

2. Kagi says that he knows how much care, which surely lifted a heavy weight from Hirano's shoulders and will helps us in the future

3. Hirano basically learned how to say no and that he has a right to work things in his own way (can be debated based on the translation but I feel the point would still be something to worry over in general(?)

#Yeah I think that's all #I feel I basically said nothing but oh well #Welcome to a re-read of chapter 28 feat Aster's commentary ig #Hirano to Kagiura #believe it ot not it took me like 2 hours to write this #Most of the time was spend looking for references (past chapters screenshots)#I think this is officially my longest post since forever #due to a mix of anxiety and the notice about the questionable translation I wanna make it clear that #in no way shape or form am I part of the Kagi haters and or demonizers #he's just a teen guy #and if I ever say that part of the chapter felt like horror to me it's just a reference about how stressful and tense they were #it's more about the suspense of what will happen than true actual horror #you know?#anyway excuse that and any other incongruences #Did edits due to the translation debate :D #But actually I think I focused much more on the visual aspects like pararels and pov so most points still stand(?

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mass-angel-exodus · 2 days ago

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Disorganized tcoaal yapping again.

Cw rape

I've mentioned this before but even now I still believe Ashley isn't attracted to Andrew at all. If anything after seeing the playthrough she seems. Sex repulsed.

Andrew is the one that's sexually attracted to her and like he said, she's very perceptive. She doesn't start being sexual with Andrew until he gets a girlfriend because that's the one thing a girlfriend can give him that she can't. But if it wasn't for Andrew she seems so repulsed by it. She's disgusted that men only want sex, even more so that Andrew wants it and would betray her by seeing someone just for that. When that boy tries to go on a date with her Andrew's first thought is that she's so desperate for love she'd let a man fuck her but ashley doesn't even go. She seems uncomfortable. Scared even. And when she gets the job at the massage parlor she's clearly disgusted and Renee thinks she's doing it to get back at her. And she might be cause when she's younger we see she acts out so that her mother will acknowledge her in some way, but also because no other job is willing to take her. And at this point in her life she feels that the only person who loves her discarded her because of her lack of sexual value, so she thinks that's the only thing she has. She hates the job, but if they hired her she must be worth that in some way. And as angry as she is with Andrew, She's happy that he at least cared enough to fight with her about it. Cause he's the only one in her family that does.

Even in scenes where she reciprocates that affection, I notice she only does that when Andrew initiates. Especially in the demon realm. Like andrew is extremely affectionate here compared to how restrained he was in the human realm cause he knows no one is watching. It's always him that starts. She's a little confused/hesitant/surprised, and then she returns it. The only other times I can remember her sexually initiating is when she feels threatened in some way.

The worst instance of this is what she does when she imprisons him and Julia helps him free. He's gets his closure with Julia and gives her a proper good bye, and while he doesn't really feel any real hurt that she's gone the immediate next thing he thinks is "God damn I should have talked her into fucking me before she left". And when he comes back ashley is furious and terrified and of course accuses him of sleeping with Julia. He doesn't, but she knows him well enough to know that's what's on his mind. I can't remember if this is the route where he beats the shit out of her. But I do know that she has sex with him while he's drunk and she's persistent and keeps telling him she wants him to fuck her. This is rape. Like there's no question about it. Andrew is drunk and he keeps telling her is they do have sex he doesn't want it to be like this but she keeps persisting. So he gives in. It's sexual assault and I'm not defending it. But even then ashley isn't wet at all. I think it even hurts her. She's doing this out of desperation cause she's frantic and terrified. She doesn't enjoy it. But it's a means to an end to make him stay cause she was so close to losing him.

And in the route where they decide to live as a couple, they hate each other. They have sex often sure but ashley often hurts him by scratching him and stuff and Andrew knows she's doing it to hurt him but they both pretend it's a kink thing. They despise each other and both keep using sex as a bandaid solution to something the other doesn't want. And with how violent Andrew's sexual fantasies as with Julia [yknow someone he used in place of ashley] I can only imagine that ashley doing that to him is reciprocal to what he does to her during sex.

It's hard to watch because it's two people doing what they think the other wants when neither wants it. Not like this anyway.

But yeah long story short Ashley isn't sexually attracted to Andrew sex is still just a means to an end for her.

#i know i like drawing julia and andrew together and I still do but god I really want him to stya the fuck away from her #so so so any thoughts about this episode but this is all i can word vomit out #like theyre both so trapped by each other and theyre so miserable together but they cant seem to find happiness apart eaither #being miserable together is so comfortable to them that theyre scared and unsatisfied when they find normalcy with other people.#tcoaal #the coffin of andy and leyley #ashley graves #andrew graves #Julia tcoaal #tcoaal julia #yapping

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afalconfromalcyoneus · 2 days ago

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"sei que vou perder um grande amor e um bom amigo." — eu sem você by lilian

"I know I'll lose a great brother and a good friend"

***note: "grande amor" in the og lyrics means "great love", but I changed it to fit better w/ Ashfur and Ferncloud <3

Extra below to hear my yapping ↓

OK. I've been seeing this trend recently using this song (Em Sem Você). It's a Portuguese song that I'm like 99% sure has to do with a break up and how you handle that & not knowing how you'll act/be like when you're out of the relationship. HOWEVER. I also saw this song used with Squrrielflight & Leafpool, so I was like "oh my God this song is Ivypool & Dovewing" but then, a greater idea floated in my head...."This is Ashfur and Ferncloud." They're my favorite characters OKAY leave me alone 😭.

Anyway. I think some of the lyrics represent them pretty well. Mostly with my own versions of them bc, as usual, my imagination is bigger than what the actual series gives us.

I'm just giving the English translations here bc that's easier:

"You're going away with my dreams

You'll forget me, you'll forget me

I know I'll lose a true love and a good friend

I'm wondering what I'll become

Without you, without you"

Under my interpretation of course. This is about how, after Ashfur died (aka was murdered by Hollyleaf) a part of Ferncloud died. Even after she learned about how much of a GIANT incel he was, she feels deeply upset by his lose. She wonders how she'll live without her twin brother (that's also a thing I hc btw,,) or who she'll become. Will she be different? It feels like a hole is missing from her soul.

She's afraid that up in Starclan, Ashfur will forget her. Maybe she even suspects she wasn't that important to Ashfur at all, due to his actions he committed in life that she learned about.

"Will he forget I ever existed? Will my face in his mind disappear into the winds of Starclan? Because was I really that important to him?"

(skipping a few lyrics)

"This night, I've barely slept thinking about

How happy we were and what I'll become

Without you"

Ferncloud can't sleep days, week, months after Ashfur was murdered. Although she's a Perma Queen, Ashfur would sleep next to her still (mostly so he could get away from Squrrielflight in the Warriors den, this is also headcanon btw this didn't happen canonically). Ferncloud didn't fully see how unhappy Ashfur was in life, she was happy but he wasn't. She's become so depressed and lonely, even if she has friends, without her twin.

"I know there's no point in even thinking about what happened

It's not going to be easy because I know I'll suffer

Without you"

Everyone knows Ashfur got murdered at this point, especially they know it was Hollyleaf because she spilled it out during a Gathering (I'm pretty sure?). Ferncloud doesn't want to think about "what happened" (Ashfur's murder, plus Hollyleaf's outburst and death as well as confessing to murdering Ashfur). She's angry at Hollyleaf, but since Hollyleaf is (presumably) dead she has nobody but herself to direct that anger towards. At the same time she thinks about the cats he hurt, Squrrielflight, Lionblaze, Jayfeather, Hollyleaf, maybe even other cats...she cannot stay truly mad at Hollyleaf. But she can stay mad at herself.

There's no point in thinking about what happened because she doesn't even want to think about it. She's suffering without Ashfur next to her...but he hurt so many cats and she feels that guilt of wishing he was still alive.

Ok bye.

#wc #wc fanart #warrior cats fanart #warrior cats #wc headcanon #sketch #idk i might animate this but im horrible w/ lipsync #ashfur #ferncloud #doomed siblings #BRUH #ok i know this song is about like a lover forgetting u #but besides that the song fits their dynamic in my head #my art

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hollow-lime-green · 2 days ago

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ok probably no wip wed this fine wed, but i'll offer something else - unhinged rambling about jujtusu. and if you read FIYM that's probably what you're here for anyway.

gege gojo vs sukuna - what's goin' on here?

so...

why greg why?

i actually don't have an issue with the "gojo got distracted and made a mistake" concept, but here, it doesn't work. we're gonna have to death of the author this one (i'm american, i can get a gun). i think, even if gege thinks that, it's not really what we saw go down on the page.

so, first, getting distracted fits fine with gojo's character:

given that gege bait and switched the entire audience, sure, he could have also bait and switched gojo.

the thing is, though, he didn't need to. World-Cutting Slash fundamentally worked differently than sukuna's prior attacks in order to get around gojo's infinity. he couldn't have predicted that, and also couldn't have instantly determined how it worked upon seeing it (nearly instantaneously) come out.

hypothetically, he could have countered WCS by teleporting away... but it doesn't really make sense to do that unless he magically knows that this one is different, which - i'm not convinced the six eyes give him enough information to make that determination. the six eyes don't even tell him about kenjaku's ct. why would they reveal the specifics of sukuna's adaptation?

anyway, you're telling me this freak ^^^ could have jujutsu'd his way out of this situation and didn't? his whole thing (in sukuna's fight AND in toji's), is that he is single minded in his pursuit of jujutsu perfection. he is energized and heightened by the danger - he thrives in it. girlie was locked in. i think if there was a way he could counter WCS in that instant, then he would have been able to do it.

what i could be convinced of, though, is that gojo was too distracted to RCT heal his bisection quickly enough to live. but i'm still not sure he wins that fight overall with WCS. but this sort of makes sense, because given what happens just prior (black flashes and hollow purple), it doesn't seem like he's out of CE or anything. and yes, healing a bisection is a big ask, but i could see him being able to do it. he is the strongest.

final verdicts:

gojo was too distracted to avoid WCS - bullshit 10/10

gojo was too distracted to win - maybe, but we'd have to see some big adaptations from him in the ensuing fight (lots of teleporting)

gojo was too distracted to live - sure, i buy that

in conclusion, these redditors have it absolutely right:

extras:

this is actual insanity. kashimo is a fraud. i sort of get it, kind of. it depends. if sukuna knows about kashimo's pocket Mythical Beast: Amber, then I can see Sukuna being slightly unsure. but this motherfucker also raw-dogged mahoraga, so like... idk man. is this sukuna's impostor syndrome era?

i understand why kashimo went after gojo (for sukuna's transformation). but i would have put kashimo first since his fight was so tiny and immaterial. maybe that's the point, but i think it threw off the story flow. but i think the kids should have forced sukuna's transformation, not random space bun lightning motherfucker from 2000 and late.

(i did like the sukuna-kashimo post-death convo though)

BRO I FUCKING HOPE SO WHAT. HOW IS THAT A QUESTION. (sorry, I am extremely outline-pilled). i hate you greg i hate you.

this is so fucking funny though. nevermind greg, we're good.

#jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen analysis #jjk #gojo vs sukuna #gege interview #gojo satoru #jjk sukuna

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spotlightlover · 1 day ago

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Y'know w the end of lin ling's pov soon and the start of e-soul's arc after that, I kinda have been thinking more about what "zero" is

and zero for sure is this guy from e-soul's pv:

(who is probably also the guy in the opening that shows up really briefly btwn two shots of X that everyone notices at some point and goes what the fuck is that thing:)

(i'm also pretty sure these are the same guy but what's up with the ears?? horns??)

and he was at least a former hero who turned evil and had to be taken down by E-Soul (which is REALLY simplifying whatever the hell happened in the E-Soul PV, there is so much going on BUT this part is at least true)

and we don't really get many other mentions of zero outside of here but there is one mention in the heroes exist to protect trailer (@ ~0:57, said by Dragon Boy) that indicates that zero is something you could Become.

Personally, I'm still conflicted if "becoming Zero" is more like how Lin Ling became Nice (public perception literally turns you into Zero) or more like becoming X (Zero is a title that you can obtain), but it's still interesting that it's something you could become instead of just being that one guy.

(And then of course, that begs the question of if Zero is a title or role you can become like X, then what exactly does it do/represent in this hero system? The Zero back then is definitely a hero, but considering what he did, I couldn't really see the identity of Zero still being considered heroic. So it's probably more of a villainous role in the present? Dragon Boy does seem like an anti-hero to me at times, so I wonder if he wants the strength of being Zero but with good motivations? Disclaimer that I don't really think much about Dragon Boy, so these are just kinda ramblings. Well, okay, all of this is ramblings lmao but this is MORE rambly in comparison.)

(There's also currently no direct connection between Zero and X other than the opening, but it's kinda interesting to think about how the ideas of Zero and X could contrast each other. Like taking a step back from the in-universe dynamics for a minute, if X is meant to be "anything" then could Zero be "nothing"? What does it mean to be "nothing" in this whole system? Does it just means nobody trusts you??? God yeah you would be crazy powerful with fear if Nobody trusted you at all huh.

Though if you asked me outside of tbhx the symbolism of the number zero, I always feel that in general, zero in a way is a number that can go anywhere and thus in a way could also become "anything". But zero must change to do so. X can change but X is still X, but if zero were to change, it doesn't stay as zero. I don't think that's where the show is going because zero as "nothing" seems more common. But I am in fact a little annoying about zero symbolism in general so. I'm putting this here.)

anyways uh 👍can't wait to meet zero (the E-Soul guy)

#mine #to be hero x #this post was SO MUCH LONGER.#because i had a whole other part before i realized i couldn't use it bc i couldn't tell if what i was seeing in a ss was a zero or not #but basically i thought that lady in ep 1 who shows up after x's image fades away was a Zero (assuming zero is a title)#which would've opened up a whole new world of rambling #but then i went to go grab screenshots and realized hm. Uh. Is That A Zero.#so i ultimately chose to just leave her out #tbhx number stylization is after me. again.#anyways i spent way too long writing this up. be free my scarab

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kymera219 · 2 days ago

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FIRST LINE GAME

Rules: Share the first lines of ten of your most recent fics and tag ten people. If you have written less than ten, don’t be shy and share anyway

I was tagged by @recluserat, thank you lovely!

1.) Where the Flowers Lay(The Memories Remain)

"Hey Peter?"

"Hmm?"

"How come your eyes are blue?"

2.) Canines and Confectioneries

Hey guys I'm ba-OH MY GOD WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

Derek looked between Stiles and the box of chocolates he and Peter were sharing with utter confusion.

"Uhm....eating?"

3.) The Best Part for Me (Is Laying Next to You)

Stiles Stilinski had an unusual habit.

Whenever he'd fall asleep(aka crashing after a week long research binge), he somehow ended up draped across one of the other pack members . At some point, he'd cuddled pretty much everyone in the group.

Everyone except Derek.

4.) Contact Chaos

Deucalion was looking over the latest edition to his book collection (one of many his mates had gifted him with since his sight was restored) when his phone rang. He answered it without looking up from the tome, and was rather surprised to hear a total stranger on the other end.

"Deucalion Blackwood?"

"Speaking."

"Listen up, because I'm only going to say this once. We have your son, and if you ever expect to get him back alive, you'll do exactly as I say."

5.) New Year's Resolution Solution

What are you doing?"

"Oh nothing," Peter mused as he continued to mess with things on Stiles's desk, "just updating this quite frankly abysmal resolutions list you have here."

Stiles snatched the paper out of his hand, and rolled his eyes at the fact that what he'd written down had either been scratched out or heavily edited.

"Peter, does this say commit MORE crime?!"

6.) A Familial Present

Here."

Peter stared at the crudely wrapped box in his hands with a feeling of confusion, a feeling that increased when he saw who gave it to him.

When Stiles told him that he'd invited Malia to their house for Christmas, he hadn't expected anything to come of it.

Granted, he and his daughter had gotten a lot closer recently, especially after he regained the Alpha status and she joined his pack. Still, he never thought she'd actually respond to the invitation, let alone bring a gift for him.

Yet here she was, standing before him, giving off a scent of nervousness so strong that it overpowered everything else.

7.) My Furry Little Friend

Stiles Stilinski was not someone who kept pets.

Sure, he'd had that boa constrictor when he was younger, but that was it. Most of the time, the guy could barely keep himself alive, let alone an animal.

So color Scott surprised when Deaton sent him to Stiles's address with a large order of pet supplies. Thinking it had to be a mistake, he set everything on the porch before opening the door and going inside.

"Hey, Stiles? You here? Deaton sent me over with a weird order in your name, and I wanted to...HOLY SHIT!"

8.) Christmas Clause-tastrophy

"Let Stiles drink the spiked eggnog you said....it'll be fun you said....."

"How was I supposed to know he'd be such a lightweight, Peter!"

"Well maybe if you had bothered to find out before letting him go through half the punch bowl, we wouldn't be in this mess!"

9.) I'll Always Choose You

The last thing Peter expected when he entered his apartment and flipped on the lights was to find someone already inside. He bristled in alarm for a brief moment, then immediately calmed when he realized the person sitting on his couch was his Mate.

"Stiles," Peter said as he set his keys on the side table and closed the door," not that I'm not happy to see you, sweetheart, but why were you sitting in the dark?"

Stiles looked up from where he'd been staring at the floor, and Peter could tell from the red-rimmed, puffy eyes that he'd been crying. The wolf inside him raged, and he had to fight the urge to immediately go and rip apart whoever put that look on his boy's face.

10.) Spooks, Kooks, and Werewolves Oh My

"Why are we here again?"

"Did you seriously just ask why we're on our honeymoon? Cause that just makes me question your first marriage even more than usual."

Tagging @jadezdominion @jagged1 @kimmycup @deliciousblizzardshark @infiniteeight8 @clareguilty

#fic tag game #first line challenge #teen wolf #peter hale #stiles stilinski #derek hale #chris argent #deucalion #steter #stetopher #stalion #stetalion #sterek #stargent

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batsplat · 2 days ago

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hi bat! haven’t talked about vale & casey with you in a while. do you think every time casey brings up 2015 or the whole vale vs marc thing, he’s really just talking about the events themselves with no personal agenda? or is there a bit of projection going on, like maybe he’s actually talking about how he was treated by vale, or maybe he just wants to call vale out…

this popped back into my head cuz i saw last year’s ducati diaries on my dash today: https://www.tumblr.com/kingofthering/781610034120491008/casey-stoner-and-neil-hodgson-talking-about-how

ducati diaries episode!! icl did have my first proper #moment with this website when the only thing i saw shared from that podcast was the ninety seconds he talks about sepang 2015 and not him low-key gunning for his parents for twenty minutes in a pretty marked change to his past rhetoric, but nevertheless. we persevere. go listen to the whole thing

anyway yeah lol obviously idt his motivations are pure here, people treat him like a sort of neutral arbiter for agenda purposes and because he gives them nice valentino-bashing quotes. also because they don't care enough about casey or his career to really assess what he's saying on merit. i find his actual opinions on sep '15 not all that interesting but i DO find the REASONING behind them compelling. i'm not going to rehash my 'casey is a competent media operator who is pushing his own narrative' schtick here, but as ever i just find it really strange when people treat him as a reliable narrator. 'blunt' does not equal 'truthful', a veneer of authenticity does not equal openness

so. here's what i think is going on when casey talks about that rivalry. first off, yes, he does dislike what valentino did at sepang, both in the press conference and on the track. i feel like this bit should be obvious but just so we're all on the same page here: this stance was definitely born out of enmity towards valentino more than it was from any real affection for marc - after all, this takes place during the exact period of time in which casey is also (according to him) being pushed out of honda by marc's team. in early 2016, casey quite directly accuses marc of feeling intimidated by him - which given the media climate of early 2016, to me would suggest he wasn't feeling too concerned with marc's personal well being. but casey didn't like what valentino did, he doesn't like that kind of aggressive riding anyway, i can't imagine he likes how either party conducted themselves in that race (cf casey in 2013 saying he felt marc was trying to 'humiliate' his rivals, to me humiliation is one of like. the key emotions to understanding casey so u gotta pay attention when it comes up) but he especially didn't like it from valentino

then, there's the fact that at this stage he just generically dislikes valentino. sepang 2015 is basically a free hit because. you know. valentino loses that championship. not a fun time for him. it's like casey is being presented with a knife on a table in front of a chained up valentino wearing a sign that says 'stab me', like man he's only human what's he going to do. not stab him???? i feel this one's straightforward enough, casey is right up there with valentino as 'aliens most prone to gross displays of schadenfreude' and it was basically casey's whole thing in 2011-12, to the point where it did get a wee bit obsessive. i think casey in retrospect tries to frame this period as a lighter 'whoo boy did i have fun laughing at that idiot!!' vibe, but u probably shouldn't downplay how bitter and dark it became... casey talking in 2012 how he'd stopped enjoying winning in 2008-09 and basically the only way he could still motivate himself was the idea that winning pissed people off, casey talking WAY more about valentino than any of his actual title rivals, casey finding himself so thoroughly disillusioned with the sport and using valentino as a lightning rod for all that resentment... sure, most of it's funny, but when valentino said in 2012 casey was winning and doing great and needed to Get Over It... i mean, yes, look who's talking, but was he WRONG? eh! idk! with a little distance + no longer being able to talk to the press about valentino every week, casey had cooled down a bit by 2015, but i reckon sepang did bring some things back for him. especially how he feels valentino should have been black-flagged and the suggestion of inconsistent stewarding - casey's all about unfairness, including in officiating, so it's another broad theme he's linked to valentino in his mind. so then, that incident becomes another expression of a more general grievance

okay so everything up until now in this post i think is pretty straightforward, hard to argue with. the other reasons i will provide are a little more conjecture, though i still very much believe i am correct here. first off, i think there's another slightly more complicated source of schadenfreude here: seeing valentino and marc's relationship fall apart. this is mostly based on a holistic assessment of casey's character and being so familiar with casey's output i trust myself to read his tone quite well, but i'll try to explain my reasoning here

casey obviously has a Massive Persecution Complex, which may very well be justified but nevertheless manifests itself in quite striking and/or ugly ways. pay attention to how he stresses in his autobiography that he had a worse bike than dani in 2005 - and the suggestion that this hardship taught him about riding shitty bikes (something that dani didn't learn). how he'd have a tantrum when losing to dani in 2006, how the internal hierarchy within honda really bothered him, how he never forgot being used as a guinea pig by michelin while the factory riders got the very best. how post-2006 he'd slip in all these patronising comments about dani ...

... how he consistently talked down jorge in early 2008 and then had a bit of a case of headloss over jorge engaging in fairly mild trash talk, the way his autobiography descriptions of jorge's rookie season kinda make it sound like he thinks all the injuries were karmic punishment ?? and (allegedly) accused jorge of faking his need for a wheelchair. we could go on here but..... the point is, casey has a bit of a golden child problem. dani and jorge both entered motogp with considerably more hype than casey did, and it bothered casey, and he didn't always handle himself with huge amounts of grace

hey, you know who else was hyped coming into motogp? that's right, marc! now, look, to the extent that casey is aware of this trait within himself, i don't think he likes it because it kinda jars with his self-perception in a quite unflattering way. he wants to be gracious, he really prides himself on the idea that he can recognise his rivals' good performance and can be happy for them in a way those filthy europeans can't. sometimes it just... slips out of him, sometimes his compliments have a few too many caveats attached, but he wants to believe he is a person who doesn't resent the good fortune of others. but...

well, idk man! casey watching 2013 motogp - you really think he never not ONCE thought 'well i would've beaten him if i were there' or 'well that sure is a bike i developed very well' or 'well dani and jorge had championship winning machinery in their first seasons (literally, since their teammates won the title in both cases) but EYE didn't so maybe i could have done what marc did'? casey thinking about how marc is being celebrated for his brilliance when 'everyone' was deeply unenthusiastic about his own dominance in 2007 (mainly because it coincided with the racing becoming worse for non-casey-related reasons but that doesn't make it better !!) and it's just... marc winning the first ten races in 2014 and shouldn't people constantly be talking about how boring it is, after all the things they said about casey ?? again, i freely admit there's some conjecture going on here - post-2012, casey hasn't had a microphone stuck in front of him often enough for him to really let these thoughts slip but. idk. it's kinda there in how he says at the end of 2012 he won't be paying attention to what marc does in the test because he Did Not Care. i think some part of him would have found it frustrating

and then!! of course, there's valentino. now, look, i think casey's recollections of 2007 valentino are a bit... idk. not quite correct. but the truth doesn't matter so much here - as far as casey's concerned, he became valentino's rival and valentino immediately switched up towards him. and we know from that ducati diaries podcast that casey was very much aware of valentino and marc being friendly with each other pre sepang 2015. and now, again, i do think casey is maybe exaggerating the difference to valentino's treatment of him in his head, but i also reckon a part of him looked at 2013-14 marc and valentino and went ...? casey's Valentino Thing as ever acts as an extension of his Thing With The Whole Sport, so valentino being nice to marc IN MY OPINION kinda maybe acts as symbol for how the sport as a whole was way nicer to marc than it had been to CASEY. and obviously casey in general very adept at projection,,,,, but imo he did also provide some circumstantial evidence that this might be the TYPE of projection he engages in with his post-ranch visit interview, where he was talking about how he would have liked to ride with valentino like that when he was young in the same breath as talking about what a great job valentino had done teaching all his little brats... idk i do think there's some part of his heart going.... why couldn't it have been like that for me... bittersweet yearning. what if CASEY wanted valentino to be super nice to him and give him head pats whenever he needed them, has anyone ever thought about that ??

plus you've got like. the laguna situation. idk man call me #crazy but i don't think casey vibed with that... really doesn't like feeling like he's being made fun of... and the distinction between that vibe in 2013 and how he felt like his hero worship of valentino had been the butt of the joke (cf the 2007 championship shirt with valentino's name on it that valentino made a gag about). now again none of this is 100% rational from casey, obviously the main reason why the marc rivalry was initially nicer was because it wasn't really a rivalry at all, everyone thought valentino was washed, valentino had just gone through a hellish stretch and needed to get his head back in the game. completely different vibe from 2007 valentino wounded but not out of it having to *for the first time* deal with a young super talented rival snatching his chain. like in 2013 valentino is asked about marc dethroning him and valentino kinda goes ?? what throne ?? idk if u've noticed but it's not been going great !!

and also i think casey misinterprets some stuff about 2007, like he's sort of simplified that time period in his memory, his emotions towards valentino at the time were super all over the place, at a certain point valentino maybe was just kinda in a bad mood about losing all the time and worried about not going to prison and not trying to DESTROY casey or be actively cruel but whatever!! the point is, in my opinion casey did not vibe with valentino being nice to marc. and then in 2015, he got his most significant post-retirement jitters, really really REALLY wanted to replace dani at cota and got mad he couldn't do it to the extent that he shadily tweeted about it aND cut off contact FOREVER with one of the most significant allies he'd had in his career aka livio suppo. and casey blamed marc for that, and then he watched valentino revert to type and torch that particular relationship and prove definitively that marc was in no way different, that valentino was always going to do the same thing to him when marc presented an active threat. and i think !! casey found that extremely fucking satisfying

the last motivation underlying casey's sepang 2015 rhetoric is what it helps him do with his own career narrative. this one's actually quite fun for fans of propaganda, i think casey genuinely has done a superb job with this and it's the sort of sleight of hand i'm very much into. but if you properly go through his oeuvre, close read it like a freak, you notice something kinda interesting about how his rhetoric regarding valentino changes post 2015. in his autobiography, casey expresses frustration that people thought valentino had 'broken' him at laguna 2008, this persistent perception that a) valentino was capable of using mind games to break rivals, and b) casey was particularly susceptible and 'mentally weak'. casey argues, obviously, that this isn't true - and goes one step further by saying he didn't pay attention to what his rivals were doing at all. which is a dubious claim if you're being generous, pretty hilarious if you aren't, but nvm that...

what's interesting is that post 2015, he's made a small but significant alteration: not only did valentino's mind games not work on casey, but they backfired. the DD podcast is quite a good succinct summation of the case he makes: valentino might have had rivals early in his career he could intimidate, but then dani jorge and casey showed up and were tougher and better and didn't fall for that. and if you look at sepang 2015, you can see how that cost valentino a championship. so, as casey says in the slur name podcast, valentino's worst ever mistake was making enemies of marc and casey. in a separate interview, casey says after laguna he wasn't going to be valentino's friend or help him out when he was trying to fight for championships (yeah, no shit) - in another, he doesn't name valentino but talks more generally about how mind games can backfire because they expose the rivals' weaknesses. so then: not only were valentino's mind games morally wrong, not only did they not work on casey, but they actually backfired. valentino hurt himself by making an enemy out of casey

now, you can critique this argument on several grounds. you can query whether valentino really lost himself the 2015 title through his mind games - especially since casey has directly contradicted himself on this and said elsewhere valentino would have lost anyway. you can poke holes in the idea that valentino set out to make an enemy out of casey... when by all accounts the most significant turning point according to casey himself was laguna 2008. a race from valentino that you can disagree with on moral grounds, say didn't decide that year's title..... but would struggle to argue was driven by a pathological need on valentino's part to chat shit about casey for no good reason, given that it was an on-track escalation of the rivalry. you can start getting into arguments about what a 'mind game' even constitutes and whether it makes sense to treat this as a part of valentino's game he could have simply done away with. but there's another more fundamental problem with casey's argument here: it's bullshit. even if valentino deliberately antagonised casey, it did not competitively cost him. look, for the sake of the argument, for this post alone, let's concede the point that all of this behaviour didn't help valentino. but at worst, it was a complete net neutral. maybe it cost valentino in that casey was extra rude to him 2011-12, maybe it just damaged his soul or something, but that's not what casey is asserting. the assertion is that it competitively cost him. which. again. hm

what would it have cost him?? valentino WON the 2008 and 2009 titles, fucked up various body parts in 2010, then moved to a bike he was never going to win on in 2011 and 2012. it sure didn't cost him a title!! even if you want to say that the decision to switch to ducati was in some way prompted by underrating casey (not really and also you're stretching the definition of a 'mind game' here), then that's not even the most important rivalry in motivating that switch - that honour goes to jorge/valentino. so, no championships lost. let's try something else: casey mentions in the slur name podcast he'd always push valentino wide when overtaking because that's all that valentino ever did to him. so did valentino lose any RACES because he'd antagonised casey? well, hm, idk man! his brushes with casey at indy 2008 and motegi 2008 and jerez 2009 and sachsenring 2009 went pretty well!! maybe casey was more motivated to beat valentino at mugello 2009 or estoril 2009, but he finished two positions ahead of valentino in both races during weekends valentino was lacking a lot of confidence for non-casey-related reasons so.... a phillip island duel in 2009 could've gotten dicey - but valentino had a championship to secure and didn't take too many risks, casey had him covered, so that duel didn't even really happen. of the two actual duels valentino and casey had in 2011-12, valentino won le mans 2012 and jerez 2011 just kinda didn't go great for either of them

the only - the only time i feel confident that casey's personal feelings towards valentino deprived valentino of a better result is sachsenring 2010, valentino's comeback race post-leg break where casey after an extended and quite vicious duel denied valentino a podium at the final corner. valentino himself seemed to think this was the result of casey's feelings towards him, ~joking~ after the race that maybe he should wear another rider's colours next time because casey only races him like that. and then of course post motegi 2010 casey inserted himself in the valentino/jorge situation by saying if valentino tried to laguna him again, he'd get it back tenfold. which, speak your truth king, your revenge fantasies are VALID - but it's worth noting that (unfortunately for everyone), valentino nuking his competitiveness for two years meant that casey never really got the chance to try and murder valentino. it didn't happen!! it would've been fun if it had happened, but it didn't!!

so when casey says that valentino made a mistake of antagonising marc and him, it's quite a clever rhetorical trick he's playing. think of how that clip was circulated completely uncritically on this website - like, yeah, totally, valentino made a mistake pissing off marc so then surely he made a mistake pissing off casey too and that really did cost valentino!! idk i guess it's been just about long enough either people haven't watched those seasons or don't remember them? and it is quite a funny experience for me because, again, obviously i listen to that and immediately go 'lol nice try but that's bullshit' and then see it get parroted by pretty much everyone from fans to journalists for months. like, you can just say stuff! whatever man

obviously casey's done a good job by linking his own story to This Thing Nobody Can Shut Up About and nicely played into a few prevalent stereotypes that exist about valentino, making it easier for people to buy into this narrative... but if people thought about this for two seconds you should be able to tell he's not being entirely honest here. you should figure out he's talking more about what he would have LIKED to happen after the horror that was laguna than what actually happened. you should perhaps wonder whether he's not being a teensy bit cynical in his motivations. it's so obviously bullshit! like it genuinely does remind me of the stunt valentino has played with the sete rivalry, casey really did learn from the best here, you can simply make people believe in whatever if they'd already been inclined to believe something kinda similar anyway. you will just get away with it! nobody is ever going to call you up on your inconsistencies! nobody's going to fact check you! lying is fun and free and easy, go forth my friends

anyway. in conclusion. basically valentino gave casey a crash course in media studies. casey said once that valentino was more talented than him in dealing with the media as part of a more sophisticated insult he was cooking up - and yes, obviously he is, but casey's no slouch when he puts his mind to it. sepang 2015 is such a discourse black hole that you kinda know if you say something about it, you can guarantee crash dot net headlines for the next seven months minimum. it's opportunism, plain and simple, it's using this Big Talking Point as a way to conveniently twist the narrative of his own career into something a bit more palatable. kinda like u say in the ask, anon, it's also just a bit of an excuse... if sepang 2015 comes up, casey can talk about valentino hurting HIM and people will care about it !! but he doesn't actually have to say he was hurt because he can go 'well valentino and marc were friends !! so MARC was HURT' yes ofc whereas you mr stoner just thought of valentino as a guy who happened to be your rival oh i'm SURE. casey is obviously invested in the general perception of him, he really wants to be Understood, he wants to have the right narrative about him out there - cf him flirting with the idea of writing another autobiography (many Thoughts on that). so for all that casey genuinely doesn't like what valentino did at sepang 2015, that's obviously not the ONLY thing going on. he can get a free hit in of valentino, he can indulge in a sort of resentful schadenfreude, he can exploit it to edit the narrative of his own career in a more favourable direction. and it works

#like with the sete stuff it's all a bit buffy season five spike is everyone here very stoned #but in a way fandom reaction to this sort of thing is kinda funny on a meta level so #the ducati diaries stuff was pretty mild tbf like u can tell the hashtag detente very much in progress #i should say i didn't actually check the post anon linked to so maybe there's some well thought out discussion in the notes #i am simply missing out on that treats casey as a three dimensional human being who has his own history with these people

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