#apologies that this is a brief one ;;

[lord-squiggletits]

Could he really?

Are you really, really sure Pharma could have just run away or asked to be transferred?

Is it really that easy to stand up to the DJD?

It's almost as if Delphi being on the same planet as the DJD's base (something that was common knowledge and that Prowl didn't care about when stationing Pharma and an ex-Decepticon ward manager right next to them) means that there was no escape from the DJD.

It's almost as if isolating victims and keeping them from calling them for help is explicitly part of the DJD's modus operandi.

It's almost as if psychological warfare is just as much of a weapon in Tarn's hands as physical torture/killing is.

It's almost as if being a victim of the DJD is considered a fate worse than death.

Kind of weird how it is that in the same issue that the DJD are established as a terrifying threat, the same issue where Drift is compassionately asked if he's scared of being so close to the DJD, is the same issue where Pharma gets framed as a selfish madman for doing what he thought he had to to survive.

Dying of the Light came about 30 issues too late to vindicate Pharma and make it understandable why he did what he did. But even so, it's still really annoying how Pharma is the one and only victim of the DJD who gets called selfish and cowardly for doing what he thought was his only option to escape blackmail or death.

No one on the Lost Light, much less Ratchet himself, had any problem with considering Drift to be "on their side" even after millions of years as a member of the mass murdering Decepticons. And Ratchet had plenty of compassion to spare for Drift to ask him if he was scared of the DJD. Absolutely no sympathy to be had for Pharma, though; he's just a terrible doctor and Autobot who deserved everything that came to him. Murdering patients was just because he was an organ harvester working for the DJD, not because everyone at Delphi (including an ex-Decepticon who would be on the DJD's list) and himself was under threat of death by horrific torture.

Honestly I don't even think the unfortunate implications/unfairness were intended, at this point I just think that Pharma was simply intended to be a "mad doctor" character trope + token evil villain Autobot to add variety to the rogues gallery so like. The fact that the characters treat him like shit was just meant to be a narrative signal "look how much this guy sucks and is just so evil not even the good guy Autobots like him."

[galactaknightyaoi]

It's my OCs' first birthday today, yippie!! They're enjoying their birthday with some tiny company and a horribly baked cake. But it's the thought that counts!

These are Pai, Aurelio, and Lizzie. They are a couple and run a diner together in the low suburbs of Halcandra. Their shop also serves as a safe space and shelter for other Star Borns just like them.

They also tend to take in the more little ones of their kind, soon after they've first formed. They look after them and teach them stuff, before letting them go to live independently. But they're always welcome back in their house! Be it for shelter, or a nice cup of coffee.

More about them under the cut. Be warned it gets kinda long.

Pai's ability is Cook. When he was little, he used to use his ability to make food to share with his whole neighborhood as a way of uniting everyone.

Since then he's been steadily building towards a goal, to open his very own Diner. He wanted to create a space for his community to thrive in, though he was severely disadvantaged in such a large city.

He's not one to give up and he always looks on the positive side of things. He tends to spoil the kids they look after with treats, and has a hard time saying no, so he often takes on more than he can handle.

He is the one that looks after the well-being of the kids, and generally, things that require a bit more... Tact. He looks after them when they're sick or injured, which is how he ends up meeting future GSA founders Arthur, Erebus, and Anansi.

Aurelio grew up in a scrapyard with 6 others of their kind, being kept there as guard dogs for the paranoid old man who owned the place. They were encouraged to fight each other for fun, which is how they got the scar across their face.

When they got too big and troublesome, most of them were kicked out of their home and left to fend for themselves.

Aurelio's Spear ability eventually landed them a job as a Knight for Halcandra's elites, where they worked alongside a few of their friends. Their job was to guard the meeting room and defend their assignment from threats.

A few years into this job, they and other soldiers were given a mission. A pair of dragons were nesting at the bottom of the Haldera Volcano, they had to get them out. Dragons are calm if not provoked, so relocation shouldn't be difficult...

As it turns out, the dragons were a mated pair. A male and a female, and they were viciously protecting their egg clutch.

In the battle against the dragons, Aurelio was injured and burned by fire, but their natural fire immunity allowed them to be one of the few survivors. Nevertheless, the Knights were successful in their mission and managed to drive the dragons out.

The 4 eggs that weren't crushed during the battle were passed off to the Ancients for research. They became the Guardian Angel Landia later on.

She was forced to retire from Knighthood at age 31. Due to the lasting effects of their injuries, Aurelio is the one who spends most of the time with the children. For better and for worse.

Because of their childhood, they have very skewed ideas of how to treat children. She'll often put them in dangerous situations unintentionally since she has no frame of reference to tell her that taking kids out to the Gator Pond isn't a very good idea.

Aurelio teaches the rougher life lessons. They've been through quite a bit, so they want the kids to learn how to defend themselves, and to be careful and not have others take advantage of them.

She does most of the disciplining and the one that gives timeouts and other such punishments. She is of the opinion that sometimes rough love is necessary to set someone straight. She's calm and loving, but a bit stuck in the old way of doing things.

Lizzie, real name Angeliz, is a 2-time college dropout who grew up upper class despite her species' disadvantage. She never had many friends growing up, since other kids didn't really like her, and resigned herself to being what her parents wanted her to be.

She tried to study medicine but quit after 2 years. Not wanting to further disappoint her parents, she went into law. Which she also hated but tried to commit to finishing despite how miserable it made her.

Meeting Pai and Aurelio helped her get through the year, but after Aurelio was injured, she quit law and started living with them. She helped Pai balance his business with taking care of Aurelio and eventually used some of the money she still had left to give Pai's Diner the little push forward it needed.

Despite the many etiquette classes she took as a child, Lizzie completely lacks social skills. She's a total disaster, especially when talking to someone she likes. Once she gets comfortable, her true personality starts to shine through.

She's a huge slob and kind of vulgar despite her cute appearance. She's easily angered and does not like to be teased, which makes putting up with bratty kids more difficult for her.

She tends to treat kids as little adults instead, which causes her to not be very mindful of their sensitivities. Even when in a good mood, trying to do her best, she always ends up saying the wrong thing and makes everything worse.

She handles the business aspect of their Diner, crunching numbers and reading over legal documents. She's really smart and knowledgeable, so she's the one who tends to teach kids reading, writing, and math.

Her ability is Bubble. She never used to like it, it was silly and useless to her, so she kept it hidden for years. After meeting her partners and becoming happy, she's started blowing bubbles more frequently. The kids love them.

[arealtrashact]

I watch a new episode of The Boys, I form an opinion, i tell my friends about it, i go to arealtrashact dot tumblr dot com to see what you think, repeat on Thursdays

This show jumping between being tolerable and devolving into a parody of itself is giving me whiplash but we endure.

We endure for this.

[bayofwolves]

Yeah I am mad about how the authors treated their sweet angel Abeke actually.

Bad things that happened to Abeke:

Mom, only person to understand her, died pre-series

Dad and sister are emotionally abusive

Tricked by her enemies and roped onto the wrong side

Distrusted by the rest of the Four and believed to be a spy

Targeted by Meilin in particular

Kidnapped by obnoxious pre-teen boys

Gets frostbite

Gets concussed

Gets stabbed

Gets captured

Gets beaten up by Meilin

Lied to and betrayed by her dearest friend

Meanwhile dad DISOWNS her

Understandable depressive episode

Makes up with dad because he apparently decided he wanted to keep treating his daughter like shit

Mauled by cougars

Loses Uraza to arch-nemesis Zerif

Another extremely understandable depressive episode

Nicknamed "hollow-girl" which tells you a lot

Almost killed by Uraza on two separate occasions

Friend* killed by Uraza

Denied proper resolution with said friend

Doesn't get to kill arch-nemesis Zerif

Doesn't get to use her Rain Dancer powers a single time

Attacked by ants

Mid bond token

Can't even keep her cat

Justice for Abeke.

[seriousbrat]

you said james changed but did he? no apology in sight... still tricking lily and going behind her back to hex snape.. leaving his wife and newborn alone in their secret hiding spot to mess with muggles..

genuinely lol what is this 'leaving their hiding spot to mess with muggles' thing, I think you're the second anon who has claimed something like that recently and it's like.... where lmao. when did that happen? who r these muggles? 😭

if you're referring to the prequel, that was almost certainly, like 100% certainly, before harry was born when lily and james were fighting for the Order along with the rest of the Marauders and not in hiding. This is what Lily says, years later, in her letter to Sirius:

James is getting a bit frustrated shut up here, he tries not to show it but I can tell -- also, Dumbledore's still got his Invisibility Cloak, so no chance of little excursions. If you could visit, it would cheer him up so much.

doesn't that imply he wasn't sneaking out? and if he had left the hiding spot in the past it was "little excursions" with Lily's full knowledge and approval, with the safety of the cloak. I don't see the big deal, and it's possible that Lily was leaving the house on occasion too when they had the cloak.

people are so determined to see things in the worst possible light it's kind of funny. It's not enough that James was a dickhead and a bully in canon, he has to be this insidious abusive master manipulator guy who somehow conned Lily "you make me SICK" Evans into marrying her and having a kid with him. Like, no offence but it's just not that deep.

We don't see how he changed because the story isn't about him, it's about his son, but there's plenty of evidence that he did, a BIG example being that a girl who couldn't stand the sight of him and was extremely vocal about the fact ended up marrying him. Something changed, and it's just highly unlikely that James, a fictional character, constructed an elaborate ruse behind the scenes that we see no evidence for to trick Lily, and every other character, into thinking he was an entirely different person. If that had been the author's intent for these characters who, btw, do not exist outside the text we're given, there would be proof of it. Rather, we're given evidence he 'deflated his head' and that lily fell in love with him and that they were happy together.

I've already said it but I don't think James not telling her about fighting with Snape (who, let it be said, at that point was also instigating) is a good thing. Obviously. It's dishonest and he should have told her. But I also think a likely reason he didn't tell her was not wanting to hurt her. That doesn't make it okay, but there can be problems and slip-ups and things to work through in a relationship without it being some big evil insidious manipulation.

Sev hid all sorts of things from her too, important things like "I'm thinking about joining the Death Eaters btw lol". People lie and hide things, especially teens. Maybe the simplest explanation here, rather than this weird jamespiracy thing, is that a seventeen year old boy was kind of shit sometimes but ultimately dedicated his life to protecting others, fought bravely in a war, grew tf up, and sacrificed himself to save his wife and child.

idk like to me it's not that deep, and it's continually bonkers to me that some snape fans will have wildly different standards for their innocent baby boy (idk him) than they do for every other character. bro did way worse stuff than not telling his gf he was getting into fights, james did worse stuff, and yet I still love them both and u wont convince me not to

[tea-time-terrier]

I need to know does the fish ever get identified as a different breed or mix and what's the weirdest or funniest one you've gotten

Oh man all the time! Even if people know what a rat terrier is, they have a little piebald miniature in mind and pigroast is...neither of those.

She is most commonly mis-identified as a miniature pinscher (I get it), a basenji (until they see the nub), and a doberman puppy (???).

My favourite was kelpie mix though <3

Funniest dog pike has mis-identified? A German pinscher. She was 100% convinced it was a rat terrier.

[liquidstar]

a friend who'd wait :)

[a-literal-toaster-wtf]

Rimmer couldn’t sleep.

It was nothing new to him, really. He’d carried it over from his childhood - nights spent tossing and turning due to hunger, starved as a punishment for getting astronavigation questions wrong at dinner. Perhaps his body had learned from these experiences; “ah yes, bedtime. That’s when you lie in bed, thinking about everything you’ve ever done wrong and will continue to do wrong. Sleep? What’s that?”

Rimmer sighed, rolling into a more comfortable position. Thinking about his childhood in the wee hours of the night was never a good idea, though unfortunately inevitable. It always sent him down a dark path - if only he’d been better. Maybe, just maybe, if he’d tried - and I mean, really tried - he’d have gotten somewhere, instead of being a dead hologram three million years into deep space with about zero chance of ever getting home.

But, the thing is - he did try. Young Rimmer had poured over his study books until his eyes stung, wrote out formulas and excerpts until his fingers bled. But it was never enough. Not for his teachers, not for his peers.

Not for his parents.

Rimmer squeezed his eyes shut tight. He desperately tried to will the thoughts away, make them disappear to the dark crevices of his mind and never return. But it was never that easy. No - nothing could ever go right for ol’ A. J. Rimmer.

Maybe I just need to walk this off. With an exasperated (and shaky - when had his breathing become shaky?) sigh, he pulled himself up to sit on the edge of the bed. However the all-to quick shift from horizontal to vertical triggered a sudden dizzy spell, causing him to grip the side of the bed with such force his knuckles went white.

Rimmer could feel his breath quickening. Bringing his hands into eye level, he saw just what he didn’t want to see - he was trembling. Oh god, not now. Not here. What if Lister wakes up? God, I’d never hear the end of it. He’d mock me forever.

He quickly realised he could no longer regulate his breathing. Still sitting on the edge of the bed he doubled over, holding his head in his hands. His fingers gripped hopelessly at his hair in a pathetic attempt at grounding himself. No matter how much he repeated that damned “you’re not in danger, everything is okay” mantra he’d taught himself, he couldn’t calm down. Nothing felt real anymore. The room was closing in on him, and yet felt all too big, and all the while spinning. He felt he might faint, and yet was all too alert and aware of the situation.

“Rimmer?”

No. Smeg, no. God, please don’t let this be smegging happening.

“Go back to sleep, Lister.” was what he tried to say, but the words got caught in his throat - and instead, he let out a sort of strangled gasp. This only made Lister more worried.

“Rimmer man, what’s wrong?” Lister asked, voice thick with worry. With a bit of effort (he had only woken up less than thirty seconds ago, in all fairness), Lister swung himself off his own bunk and carefully sat down next to Rimmer, trying not to startle him.

God, Rimmer tried to stay strong. He tried to put on a brave face, tell Lister to get back in his own bed and “I’ll be fine, it’ll pass in a few minutes.” But he knew all too well the minutes ticked by like hours when he was like this, and Lister’s tone was so soft, so caring - like warm rays of sunshine to the hailstorm in his mind. It was enough to make him cave.

“I can’t- I can’t breathe.” he managed to gasp out, the words coming out strangled and unintelligible. But Lister understood. Of course he understood, he always understood. His breath hitched as Lister placed a hand on his back. It was all too much.

“Hey, hey, It’s alright. I’m here, okay? I’m not goin’ anywhere.” Lister cooed, rubbing circles on Rimmer’s back. “D’ya think you can look at me?”

Rimmer shook his head furiously. He couldn’t bare seeing Lister’s face right now. The way his eyes softened with that look he gave him in these situations. Just thinking about it was enough to make Rimmer’s lip quiver.

“Hey, that’s okay. Just focus on ye breathin’, yeah? Try and slow down. You’re okay, Arn.” Lister changed from rubbing Rimmer’s back to squeezing his shoulder gently, ever so slightly pulling his trembling body closer to his own.

Rimmer didn’t understand. Why did Lister care so much? It would’ve been easier if he’d just rolled over in bed and tried to ignore his panicked hyperventilating. Or, better yet, told him to smeg off and have his panic attack somewhere else, because “some of us are tryin’ to get some sleep here.” But that wasn’t Lister. Lister was caring, empathetic. He always tried to help however he could - even when the person needing help was a stuck-up, cowardly smeghead such as Rimmer. It didn’t make sense.

As per Lister’s instructions, he sucked in a long breath through his teeth. It was a struggle, when your own lungs were staging a mutiny against you - but Lister’s encouragement seemed to make them let off a bit. One painful, long breath turned into two, and three, and four. With every new breath the tightness in his chest and throat eased a little, his trembling subsided, and the room seemed to adjust itself back to how it’s supposed to be: still.

In no time he was back to… well, not normal, but a much less panicked state. He still felt like complete and utter shit, but at least he didn’t feel like he was dying (despite already being dead, har har) anymore. Lister still had his arm wrapped around him, keeping him grounded like a lifeline. Rimmer finally felt safe enough to remove his hands from his face, slowly pulling himself upright.

Lister took one look at his haggard features - even in the dark, he could make out the dark eyebags and furrowed brow that seemed permanently tattooed on in recent times - and felt his heart ache for the man. “Are you alright now?”

“Yeah- Yes, I’m alright now. Thank you.” Rimmer managed to croak out, clearing his throat. He shook his head. “God, how embarrassing. You shouldn’t have had to witness that.”

Lister sighed. “Rimmer, how many times have I told ya? I’m not just ‘putting up with you’ or anything. I care about ya, man. I wanna make sure you’re okay.” When this elicited no response out of Rimmer - save for making him decide the floor was so interesting it deserved his full attention - Lister changed the point of conversation.

“So, what brought it on? Did something trigger it, or was it just.. a surprise?” Oh, nothing really. I was just thinking about how much of a terrible smeg-up I am. It’s part of my nightly routine, don’t you know. Of course Rimmer couldn’t tell him the truth.

“It was completely random. I was just trying to sleep! Honestly, I don’t know what came over me.”

Lister clicked his tongue. “Well, Kryten did diagnose ya with a panic disorder. He said these attacks can just happen at random. It’s not like it’s something you have very much control over.” Rimmer sighed.

“Oh, I know all that. It’s just… what’s the right way to put it? Annoying? Childish? It’s too early in the morning for this.”

“Then let’s try to get some shut-eye, yeah?” When Lister made a move to get up, Rimmer felt his heart jump into his mouth - a kind of primal fear gripping at his chest, not unlike how he felt a mere five minutes ago. Oh, no. I’m not letting a round two happen. “Wait!” He reached out to grab Lister’s arm.

Lister quickly returned to sitting beside him, worry etched into his features. “Please. I..” Rimmer glanced away, the words dying on his tongue. He took a breath to steady himself before continuing.

“Do you think.. you could stay here for a bit? I just.. Don’t think I’ll be getting to sleep anytime soon. I’d prefer you to stay with me.” He avoided eye contact at all cost. God, how embarrassing. Like a child who needs his teddy-bear.

Lister’s gaze softened, and returned his arm to it’s post on Rimmer’s shoulder. “Of course, man. Whatever you need. I’ll be right here beside ya.” Despite how crummy he was feeling, Rimmer felt a smile tug at his lips.

And as he sat in that bunkroom, warm in Lister’s embrace, all his troubles seemed to melt away. It didn’t matter that he was dead, or a hologram, or three million years away from home.

No, actually. He wasn’t three million years away from home. The definition of ‘home’ had changed drastically for him over the years. Now, ‘home’ was Red Dwarf - in the dingy, falling-apart bunkroom that he and Lister shared.

God, that’s the cheesiest thing I’ve ever thought.

Rimmer smiled. A genuine, albeit tired, smile. He allowed his eyes to slip closed. Just this once he’d indulge himself in the pleasure of falling asleep on Lister’s shoulder. Sure, he said that the last three times this happened - but really, who’s counting?

In no time, Rimmer was fast asleep. It was the best sleep he’d had in weeks…

…save for the neck pain he experienced the next day due to the unfortunate position.

[doodleodds]

Comm for @hirokiyuu of their OCs Yuujin & Leona!

I AM SO SO SORRY THIS TOOK ME A MONTH!!!!! CRIES THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE!! And I'm sorry the draft i tried to send didn't work- I hope this is something like what you had in mind regardless. ^^;

EDIT I JUST REALIZED I LEFT OUT YUUJINS PIERCINGS..... i'll add those & modify the post in a bit 😅 dang it. sorry bout that

[fumizous]

also as the 10th anniversary of ykw2 (aka the game that haunts me) is coming up soon, here's a psa that makochiu will be BRANCHING OUT and actually writing a ykw fic that doesn't center on fumizou 🎉 (it'll center on one of them but NOT with the other) (im not that adventurous)

[lord-squiggletits]

In Pharma apologist posts where people display/argue the canon proof of Pharma being a good person before Delphi, something I don't see come up that after and idk why because it's a blazing beacon of Pharma's ordinarily upstanding skills and personality:

Pharma was literally Ratchet's next choice for CMO when he was looking to retire and find a replacement.

Like.

Forget the fact that they were friends and Ratchet wouldn't be friends with someone who was a piece of shit.

You don't pick someone to be the CMO, top leader of the entire medical division of the Autobot army, if the only thing going for them is that they're a good surgeon. Being a good leader (especially at that high of an organizational level) requires all kinds of other skills like intelligence, good judgment, ethical and moral standards, etc.

And based on Ratchet's characterization, we really don't have any reason to assume that Ratchet is biased, bad at judging character, etc. If Ratchet, based on a lifetime of being friends/coworkers with Pharma, thought that he was the best candidate for the next CMO, there was literally a reason for it and that reason is that Pharma was not only a good doctor, but a good person and a good leader before Delphi happened and he got driven insane by a literal professional torturer and sadist.

[cxpperhead]

Apparently there's a solar eclipse going on back in his home state of Arizona.

[trollbreak]

Sees someone talking abt asks

Pushes a blanket in front of my inbox again

[fangirlwithasweettooth]

oh my god this campaign has me genuinely crying over a piece of mold w h a t

[shadowedresolve]

"Sure, I can fill you in." And with that, Zenkichi starts explaining the details and peculiarities of the case. People vanishing without rhyme or reason, showing up again in places they shouldn't have been able to reach, rambling about strange delusions and forgetting everything within a few days... well, some have reappeared, at least. There are still those who haven't, which is why the police is so worried to begin with.

The ramblings he's heard haven't sounded like people have wandered into a Jail, or anything that obvious, but there's something still a little familiar about the way they talk that makes him hesitant to dismiss them.

The explanation takes a while, but when he's done, Zenkichi shoots Naoto another question.

"So, any initial thoughts? I'm not gonna lie, it all feels a bit out of my pay grade." And he's in a pretty well-respected position.

@chibitantei ( continued from here! )

[abearthatwrites]

A Brief Rundown of the IRL Ithaca Saga (to the best of my memory, in probably not chronological order)

jorge (creator, odysseus) decided it'll be cool to celebrate the ithaca saga with the epic cast via a trip to ithaca, greece

surely nothing can go wrong

mico (telemachus) seemingly found out about the trip with the rest of the fandom. he proceeded to plot a trip to ithaca

the epic cast dealt with multiple broken vans and missed a ferry by one minute. they had to cancel a stream because they were too exhausted

mico made it onto a plane

ithaca got hit by a typhoon, forcing them to move another stream indoors

mico got banned from tiktok. it was reversed

mason (tireseas) asked luke (zeus) to stop the rain. luke refused

the crew hiked up to odysseus' palace. they ran into a roadblock. mason looked into the future and did not see a way around it. (they found a way around it)

the crew found a well and sang their epic songs into it. except jp (crew) who just sang happy birthday

janani (aphrodite) also sang "royal we" into the well

anna (penelope) made it onto the plane to fly out to ithaca

hermes (troy) decided to take a plane to ithaca like a normal human instead of teleporting. he got side-eyed by a woman at the airport as he slept sprawled out in a chair. this quickly became a meme

hermes arrived in ithaca to the delight of everyone except jorge. mico also appeared in his videos. mico still had not updated anything after getting on the plane

anna's connecting flight got cancelled, leaving her stranded in a fancy hotel. she struggled to find the toilet in her hotel room

mico finally updated, claiming he was stuck in munich. mason appears in the video and gives him a water bottle, proving he is lying

the fandom believes mico anyway

mico is forced to post another video revealing he had been gaslighting us basically the entire time and was just delayed in getting to ithaca, that was all

troy and talya (circe), in character, talk about tea. troy says the tea tastes like her father's approval. earle (ares) then asks for 1000 cups and breaks down crying as luke cuts the camera

jorge posts a video apologizing for mico's absence, encouraging him to fly to ithaca, new york. mico appears in the background of this video

mico posts a video saying that he's finally in ithaca, but the crew is in ithaca, new york. jorge appears in the background of this video

jp films a behind the scenes video, calling out "some random guy" who just showed up asking if anyone knows jorge. it's mico

janani sings "royal we" again, but after she says "troy was breached" troy comes out screaming in pain. mico appears in the background of this, filming the video from two points above

it's time for the ithaca saga livestream... except it gets cancelled because the connection is bad and jorge's devices are dying

TL;DR: the gods saw the epic crew in ithaca and went "do you guys think it'll be really funny if we just. recreated the odyssey"