#applied theory

[lunapwrites]

Brief update on writing status:

OMH and AT are currently/still sidelined so I can focus on this next chapter for LTL. Sorry to anyone who was hoping for a quick update on either of those. I wouldn't expect any updates to either of them until fall, since I'm actively working on both of them for the WIP Big Bang and can't post anything new until posting time. But fingers crossed that means both will be completed.

The current document I'm working on for the next LTL chapter is over 7500 words atm. It's probably about 70-75% finished. There's a scene or two I need to flesh out in the middle and then I need to finish writing the end. There's a non-zero chance this gets split, depending on what happens. But I've got a bunch of on-screen Wolfstar happening so for those of you who prefer that side of the equation, they're... frankly being a bit ridiculous lol.

Just wanted to reassure anyone waiting on me that I am still writing when I can, and I'm doing my best to finish them. 💙💙

[manichewitz]

straight men will write stories where two men choose each other over women over and over and again and the narrative will continuously emphasize the bond between the two men over all other emotional connections…and then get confused when queer people relate to that for some reason

[99thpercentile]

places where the audio distorts

image ids under the cut

tmagp 4:

tmagp 5:

tmagp 7:

tmagp 8:

the audio distorts when people lie.

I imagine this knowledge will come in handy later.

[id: ALICE: This is not something you go poking around in. Not if you want to keep your job… or your neck. SAM: (a little amused) Okay, okay! I get it. Consider me scared straight. "Consider me scared straight" is highlighted. end id]

[id: LENA: Now, while I understand your concerns, you need to understand that Colin has held the IT Manager position for some time without incident, and although he is somewhat… frustrated with his current assignment, he can request help from the central IT team at any time. I am certain that should he find his responsibilities unmanageable, he will request assistance. Or resign, of course. Either way, the problem will resolve itself. "Or resign, of course" is highlighted. end id]

[id: CELIA: Is there any way to look up specific files? ALICE: Like what? CELIA: Oh, I don’t know. Every case about… being buried alive, or meat, or… whatever. ALICE: Well, there’s a search bar, but it doesn’t actually do anything. You’d have to dig through them all manually. (suspicious) – Why do you ask? CELIA: Just figuring it all out. Ah well, I guess I’ll need to find Bigfoot on my own time. "Just figuring it all out" is highlighted. end id]

[id: GERTRUDE: I see. Well, I’m sorry, but I don’t think Gerry can help you – GERRY: (casually) Yeah, I barely remember any of it. "I don’t think Gerry can help you" is highlighted. end id]

[id: GERRY: Oh yeah, but I was pretty young. I remember filling in a bunch of forms and questionnaires, then some old men asking me questions about what books I liked to read, who did I look up to, that kind of thing. And then I left. SAM: (disappointed) That’s all? GERRY: Yeah, afraid so. Other than just sitting around with a bunch of other kids in a room that smelled like old books. "Yeah, afraid so" is highlighted. end id]

[id: CELIA: I’m trying to look into… Weird physics stuff: time travel, other dimensions, teleportation, all that good stuff. Freddy doesn’t really do searches, so you could keep an eye out and let me know if any come up in your cases? SAM: Uh, sounds a bit sci-fi compared to our usuals. What’s this for? (amused breath) You’re not doing research for that podcast you were on, are you? CELIA: (surprised) You know about that? SAM: I might have given you a quick Google. CELIA: Then… yeah. I’m doing a favor for Georgie. "yeah. I’m doing a favor for Georgie" is highlighted. end id]

[voidfanatic]

Parental control

[sketchynoodles]

Forced myself to color one of the previous doodles

[welcometogrouchland]

(ID in alt) I literally said I was gonna post this month's ago and then never had the wherewithal to describe it and so I didn't Lmao (said with pain). But since I'm thinking of opening my commissions I figured I should remind ppl that I. Yknow. Can draw.

Lots of Steph here (I had major art block making all of these and my brain worms for her kept me going) + some sprinkles of stephcass for Cass nation to enjoy!

[marihem]

@fransweek 2024

Day 1: Blushing (literally)

[e-adlirez]

“The capital lies before us, my friend. What a sombre place it seems and one that holds the answers to many a mystery. I too have felt the pull of this place, though now I sit before it I find myself hesitant to descend.

“Is it fear, I wonder, or something else that holds me back?”

[xenineshroom]

If someone is trying to justify why it's okay for them to be cruel to you over your identity, you have full permission to stop talking to them. No one deserves to be abused.

[bluecounter]

i love that noah has a matching mirage jacket now but after multiple rewatches, i just noticed that noah and mirage are just mirrors of how they first met each other

so in their first scene together, noah is seen wearing a colour block windbreaker while mirage is in his classic blue and silver striped paint

but in their last scene together, it seems that their colours have swapped. noah is wearing a blue and grey striped windbreaker while mirage is essentially a colour blocked car

kinda indicating that they have build such a strong connection together that they’re starting to reflect each other subconsciously, which is a sign of comfort and emotional intimacy when bringing it into the context of a romantic relationship

[imharnaannesta]

Today on 1am Star Wars thoughts, I have a gripe about the fandom’s gripes about Padme’s blue nightgowns.

Every time I see someone talking about them it feels like it’s always based on the assumption that we’re meant to believe that this is her normal sleepwear. That we’re meant to accept the premise of a woman sleeping with styled hair and a full face of makeup and a dress with strands of pearls on it as normal, everyday behavior.

But the thing is, I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. (I mean, maybe George thinks like that but there’s a whole team of people behind every costume you see on screen and the director is not the only one with input)

Because the thing is we’ve seen other instances of Padme’s sleepwear.

Twice in Attack of the Clones we get glimpses of her sleepwear but the scene where we get the best look is at the lake house where she is wearing a pretty but fairly normal looking nightgown with a dark blue robe over it. By the time the blue nightgowns come in we’ve already seen her in normal sleepwear. So… what changes between then and when the blue nightgowns appear?

She gets married and her husband goes to war.

I don’t think we’re meant to assume that she’s just suddenly in the last couple years developed a taste for extremely uncomfortable sleepwear. I don’t think those nightgowns are really sleepwear. Padme may fall asleep in them but she’s not putting them on to sleep, she’s putting them on to spend a rare night with her husband who is back from deployment.

It’s “welcome home” lingerie.

It’s quite conservative, this is technically meant to be a family friendly movie and besides they’re dealing with the logistics of Padme’s pregnancy so baring her midriff or back probably weren’t really options and they’d pretty solidly established a language for Padme’s costuming that doesn’t involve cleavage. But I think from an adult perspective we’re supposed to recognize that the married couple who have conceived a child are having sex. And are meant to be able to add up the facts provided and recognize that a young couple spending long stretches of time apart are may be spending the time they have together engaging in activities that sometimes result in Padme falling asleep in sexy, uncomfortable nightwear rather than changing into something more comfortable.

Anyway, that’s my personal opinion/headcanon. Padme does have comfortable nightgowns, we’ve seen them, she’s breaking out the space lingerie because her husband has been away and she’s missed him and she wants to enjoy their alone time before they have kids and that time gets even more limited.

[lunapwrites]

Applied Theory Ch 7 - Drop Shot - The Humiliation

Biiiiiiig thanks to @bluesundaycake for his help with the French dialogue, of which there is... much. Y'all might need translate for this one, girlies. <3

“Sirius? J'ai reçu ton message. Est-ce que tout est—?” Regulus slid to a halt in the doorway, mouth dropping open. The corners twitched dangerously, threatening a smile. “Oh.”

Sirius glared at him. “Ne moque pas de moi.”

“Je ne moque pas,” he lied, stepping carefully into the room and thankfully closing the door behind him, silently taking in… the situation. “Depuis quand as-tu ça?”

“Je me suis réveillé comme ça.”

“Et tu—”

“Tu crois vraiment que je n'ai pas tout essayé pour l'enlever?” Sirius snapped, throwing his hands up to gesture wildly at his face. “À moins que je m'arrache la peau du visage—”

“Non, vraiment?” Regulus’ eyes lit up excitedly. “Même avec du maquillage?”

“Non. Ça ne couvre rien, ça change même de couleur.”

“Fascinant.”

“Concentre-toi, Regulus ! J'ai besoin de ton cerveau et son obsession pour les détails!”

Regulus raised a brow at him. “Si tu me le demandes comme ça...”

“Tu sais bien ce que je veux dire!”

His brother crossed his arms, and for a brief, terrifying moment, Sirius thought he might abandon him to his fate.

Instead, he did something far, far worse.

“D'accord, j'appelle Madame Maxime.”

Sirius blanched. “Pourquoi ferais-tu ça?”

“Car quelle que soit ton opinion de moi - injustifiée d'ailleurs - ce que Lupin t’a fait au visage dépasse largement même mes capacités.” And without another glance in his direction, Regulus swept out the door, leaving Sirius alone to await the inevitable.

It was over. His life, his career — all of it, over. He would never survive the humiliation, he was certain of it.

For a mercy, Regulus returned with Olympe in short order — far more quickly than he had expected, in truth. Unmercifully, she was far less contained than his brother had been, letting out a loud, booming laugh the moment she set eyes on him.

“L'œuvre de votre grand rival, je suppose?” she asked, grinning widely as she inspected the word emblazoned across his forehead. At his sullen nod, she snorted. “Ah non, courage. Il aurait pu écrire bien pire que ‘twat.’ Y avait-il un message, ou était-ce que c’était censé être la grande finale après ces grues en papier - combien y en avait-il?”

“Mille, soi-disant,” he grumbled. They had haunted him for the better part of three weeks, hiding in every corner of the castle only to fly out when he least expected it and smack him about the face. Even his own quarters hadn’t been safe. But they had come with a proper letter — not a Howler — which he pulled from his pocket and handed off to Olympe.

“... I send these cranes with the wish that you find better uses of your time — Personne ne peut l'accuser d'être passif-agressif.”

Sirius’ scowl deepened. “Lupin est un vrai comédien.”

“Et c'est un vrai sorcier, d’après son travail.” She paused, swatting him on the cheek gently with the parchment. “Ne fronce pas les sourcils comme ça, ça donne des rides.”

“Ça ne le tuerait pas d'avoir l'air son âge, à mon avis,” Regulus muttered, earning an elbow to the ribs from Sirius. “D'autant plus qu'il refuse de faire son âge.”

Olympe hummed. “Je n'ai jamais rien vu de tel. C'est incroyable, quand même.”

“Devrait-on le laisser, alors? Puisque le titre lui conv—oof!” Regulus recoiled at a firmer strike from his brother — this time to the stomach — retaliating with a swift kick to the ankle.

“Professeurs,” the Headmistress warned lightly, “n'oubliez pas que vous êtes censés enseigner aux enfants, et non les imiter.”

“Je ne peux pas enseigner comme ça,” Sirius groaned. “Si on ne peut pas l'enlever de mon visage…”

“C'est possible.” Olympe handed him the letter, all but waving it under his nose. “Tu vois? Il t'a laissé toutes les informations nécessaires ici.”

“Ah bon?” Sirius squinted down at the last line, written in Lupin’s steady, looping script. “Il ne fait que me traiter d'idiot.”

“Non. Lis comme il faut.”

Sirius pursed his lips, failing to see the value in this exercise, but obeyed nonetheless: “I’m sure someone as clever as you has already figured out the source of the problem, but just in case my fifth-years are cleverer than you— oui, très original, Lupin —  then you might want to know it’s a simple localisation issue. Do let me know how you make out. Il est audacieux lui, de s'attribuer le mérite d'avoir trouvé le problème de localisation alors que c'est moi qui lui en ai parlé en premier lieu. L'arrogance—!”

“Tu ne vois pas d'autre raison pour qu’il ait pu dire ça?” Regulus asked pointedly enough to stop Sirius in his tracks.

What did Lupin gain from taking credit for this? It wasn’t as though he were making the claim publicly; it was a private letter — or would have been if he hadn’t just shared the contents. Was it a threat? Blackmail of some sort? If so it was a piss-poor attempt; he’d gotten worse from his grandmother — after she’d lost her teeth. So what was it? And now that he was looking at it more closely, why was the phrasing sitting so strangely with him?

And then, all at once, it clicked.

He dropped his face into his hands — stupid. “C'est un problème de localisation.”

“Voilà,” Olympe said, clasping his shoulder gently as she stood. “Il suffit de trouver le sort qu'il a lancé en anglais, et tu devrais pouvoir inverser l'effet, non?”

It sounded so easy when she said it like that - despite the fact that there were half a dozen spells he needed to try, and pray he came across the correct variation. But unfortunately Sirius found himself remembering a crucial bit of information from Lupin’s biography — information which could well spell his doom.

He let out a mirthless laugh. “En théorie, oui. Mais Lupin n'est pas anglais, il est gallois.”

A ringing silence met his statement, hanging in the air for several tense moments.

Regulus broke first, throwing his head back with a sharp, barking laugh so similar to his own, and he walked out of the room — still laughing, his work complete. 

Olympe sniffed, shaking her head. “Faire son âge… c'est l'hôpital qui se moque de la charité,” she muttered, turning to Sirius with a sympathetic grimace. “Tu peux continuer seul à partir d'ici, oui?” At his nod, she continued: “Très bien. J'ai cru comprendre que tu prendra la parole lors de la grande conférencecet été. C'est aux États-Unis cette année, n'est-ce pas ?”

“New York,” Sirius supplied with a proud, if weak smile. His work in recursive casting methodology — which had sprung, interestingly enough, from his feud with Lupin — had finally caught not only the eye of l'Académie de la Magie, but that of the greater international community at large. To be able to present his research at IACST was an incredible honour. And one which — he hoped — he would be able to accept with a clear complexion.

“J’ai aucun doute que tu vas bien nous représenter.” She walked to the door. “Je vais couvrir tes cours de l'après-midi aujourd'hui, mais si tu n’as toujours pas trouvé la solution d'ici demain, puis-je suggérer un chapeau?”

Sirius flushed, but inclined his head gratefully. “Oui, Madame. Merci.”

Once she had left, he walked over to the mirror, pointing his wand carefully at the offensive word spelled across his forehead in bold, black lettering. “Evanesco.”

A small, simple variation, but significant enough; still, the word didn’t budge.

Sirius wondered idly what the protocol would be if he were to murder Lupin at the conference — assuming of course the prick would be there (he would; ego that size? He’d never miss it.)

Well. Hopefully he wouldn’t need to find out.

[socialistexan]

We need to stop talking about how conservatives don't want their kids to know LGBTQ people exist. They do want their kids to know we exist, but we will suffer for it.

They don't want their kids to know that it is okay and acceptable to be LGBTQ, that society will allow them to exist in peace and happiness. That at times LGBTQ people will be accepted.

They want their kids to know that LGBTQ is not okay or acceptable. That if they are LGBTQ they will be persecuted, marginalized, beaten, and scorned. That if they are they will have a terrible life, so they better g-ddamn be the good little cishet Christian soldier that Mommy and Daddy wanted.

They aren't actually scared that a couple rainbow displays will turn their kids gay or an affirming book will forcibly transition them. They're scared that their already LGBTQ kid will know that them being themselves is a just as valid life and not a one way ticket to misery and then hell.

They want to not just eradicate LGBTQ from existence, they want to have everyone else watch us suffer as a warning to stay in line.

Or maybe that's just LGBTQ survivor of an entire childhood and adolescence under an extreme abusive homophobe of a parent in me, idk why listen to me on this stuff.

[r0bzombixx]

— smoke signals, phoebe bridgers

[cut-aare]

I need to watch the movie...g

[clemelntine]

There is something about the one spotlight on the center of the room, in between them, but leaning more towards Fadel that (under the assumption that this scene uses a big spotlight from above as a metaphor/visual representation for the ever watchful eyes of God, or that it applies Foucault's theory that being seen is the start of being punished) says a lot about the scene and visually represents the conversations they have. The whole place/room is being watched, with the chairs all standing under the light, so anybody who comes to the meetings is being seen. They come here to share their feelings and lay themselves bare, so it makes sense.

But because Fadel comes here often and it is more his confessional than it is Styles, when it is just the two of them the light leans more towards him. This, together with the fact that they are discussing Fadels problems and his emotions, makes it feel like he is more in the focus, being watched more.

Later, when Style joins him on his lap (and under the light), he shows that he is there not just for Fadel but with him as well. What Fadel will be judged for, so will he. Because they are one and they stand together. This message is, ofcourse, reflected in Styles words, but it is nice that they emphasized it with the lighting as well.

Also (working within Foucault's theory) there is power in seeing and submission/powerlessness in being seen, so for Style to sit on Fadel's lap making it so that they are both unable to see eachother, because they have their head on eachothers shoulders, (other than giving physical comfort also) puts them on an even level of both not seeing or being seen. So that Fadel will no longer feel watched and judged.

(Might also be why Fadel likes stuffing his face into Styles neck. It's hot ofc, but I've discussed many times that Style is very observant, even when they kiss (and more) so kissing Styles neck assures that for a moment he cant look at Fadels face)