#at least i get to keep my gay card for now

[chesacakeripper]

FAILED my driving test with 5 minors (good) and one ✨️serious fault✨️ (bad) that happened literally two minutes from the end of test

[hymen-restoration-project]

Okay. Fine. I'm making this blog because you fucking ASSCLOWNS keep posting shit that's so flagrantly unacceptable that, were it to be posted, would have angry righteous concerned citizens chasing you out of town with fucking pitchforks. I cannot for a god damn second believe any of you are posting in good faith. Take a fucking lesson in humility AND GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE. This is the INTERNET. The shit you post here HAS CONSEQUENCES. I didn't put up with losing my fucking cousin to your stupid bullying just to stand idly by and watch as you make the next kid cry and get off the internet forever. Which in this day and age is almost as fucking bad as physical assault or fucking murder.

FAQ:

Yes trans men go to the gulag. No I do not respect them or treat them any differently than I would cis men who I also do not love or respect. Yes even the "good ones". Yes I think cis men should be giving birth. Yes Dio was a better front man for Sabbath than Ozzy. Childbirth is too painful for women going through it not to be misogynist. Yes trans women have a place in the feminarchy. Non binary people can choose where they want to go. Yes I support women's wrongs. The Cumcopter is a real solution that I do support sincerely.

Okay, now that I've got that shit out of the way. My introduction.

Hi, I'm Bethany/Jacks (if you're cool 😎). I'm not saying my age!!! (you creepy incels need to leave girls alone. Nuff said.) My pronouns are She/Her. I'm a proud Wisconsin girl:) (I LOVE cheese it's so good y'all.)

You can find my brother Dee at @yorhusband

My DNI list is as follows!!!!!

DNI:

Adults over 25 / kids under 12 (preference! Sorry but you gotta be a teen to talk to yours truly :/) | Clowns | Clooners (ClownGooners) | George Clooney (The Arch-Clooner) | The Muppet Joker | MOBA players (except Dee, he's chill I guess.) | Vivziepop fans (UGHGHHHH) | Proshippers (GROSS!!!!!!!! GODDDDD!! Stop fucking kids...) | Homophobes / Transphobes / Alcoholics (Basically just anyone who is or says there my dad.) | Metal fans (Taylor is better. Later loser 👋) | Antishippers (Nuff said.) | Paw Patrol fans/stans | People who smoke. (Including weed 🙄) | Taylor Swift haters (You are the worst fucking people on the fucking planet I hate you as much as Hitler and my dad. And she is gay btw. There isn't anything you can do about it.) | BTS / Kpop fans (nothing against y'all, I just don't like boys) | People who love America (It's the "land" of the "free" for a fucking reason. Read a book.) | Racists | ISIS | Proshippers (Fuck you.) | Kink freaks (Maybe I'm biased but piss is weird) | Pro-life (Fuck you!!! Hands off my youterus) | and finally last but not least. Proshippers.

Anyway now that my DNI is out of the way let me tell you about my interests!!

I like Taylor Swift (obviously), Stardew Valley, puppies, kittens, baking, Animal Crossing, Netflix, tarot cards, witchy stuff, and other stuff too!

[kjupchurch-xx]

💋 Sexiest Man Alive 💋

November 19th, 2008

                    New York City, New York

              

✨ Author's Note: In this one shot, for story purposes, Hugh is not married. We'll say he divorced from Deb recently to keep the flow of the story.

I double checked my appearance in the mirror before heading out. Today is the day I will be interviewing Hugh Jackman for his People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive crowning. The interview will be filmed and broadcasted live on national television. I decided to go business casual, wearing black capri slacks, a white and pink flowered cami tank top with black 6-inch heels. My dark brown hair was shoulder length and wavy. My makeup was flawless. To say nervous would be an understatement whenever you're interviewing someone that's been named the sexiest man alive.

Everything seemed perfect, so I rushed out to my 2008 Ford Mustang and sped off to our studio in downtown NYC. Traffic was hectic, but I managed to get there with 25 minutes to spare to go over the interview questions before our guest of honor arrives. One question in particular stood out to me, it was a question pertaining to his sexuality due to circulating rumors that he's gay. I'm normally shameless, but this would be an awkward thing to ask him.

"You ready?" My co-worker/camera man Justin asked, stepping in front of me.

I nodded, "As I'll ever be! Just going over some of the questions. 'How do you feel about the circulating rumors of you being gay?', 'What turns the sexiest man alive on?', Justin, what the hell are these questions?" I asked with a humorous horrified look spreading across my face.

He failed to contain his laughter, "I didn't write 'em, I just control the cameras."

I shuffled the cards, "This is going to be the weirdest interview. This dude is probably going to leave the set mid interview." I laughed.

Justin shook his head, "Hugh is a pretty good sport. He should take it in a humorous way. You should be good. He'll be here any minute, so get ready."

I nodded, "Alright."

I stood to double check the set and make sure the props were in their correct location, making sure the set was clean and presentable before sitting back down in my chair. I stood back up, hearing an Australian accent coming from the hallway, that must be Mr. Jackman.

"Glad to be here, mate. Thanks for havin' me." He said, shaking hands with our producer Mack, while walking into my view.

Mack smiled and pointed in my direction while walking Hugh up to me, "Mr. Jackman, this is Kaitlyn. She'll be doing your interview."

I smiled, extending my hand out to Hugh, "Hi, nice to meet you. I'm a huge fan and honored to be doing your interview today, Mr. Jackman."

He gave me a smile, shaking my hand, "Call me Hugh. Nice to meet ya, Sweetheart."

I can see why he was voted sexiest man alive now. No photoshop or CGI needed. This man was cut. He had the most beautiful smile I'd ever seen and did not look a day over 28 despite just turning 40 last month. He was wearing dark colored blue jeans with a white t-shirt adorned with a black blazer that made his biceps pop. I could swear the temperature in the room went up at least 20 degrees since he'd walked in.

As we sat down, I noticed him smiling at me and looking me up and down as if he were checking me out. I smiled back while grabbing the cue cards with the questions for the interview and looked towards Justin, who gave me a slight nod to let me know we were rolling,

I smiled from ear to ear as the camera zoomed in on only me, "Good afternoon, New York! Today's guest was just crowned People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive of the year. You can purchase his edition today in stores. Please allow me to welcome Mr. Hugh Jackman!"

The camera zoomed out showing Hugh and I both sitting in the chairs at the small table separating us. I looked over smiling in his direction, allowing him to speak.

He gave a huge smile towards the camera and then towards me, "Thank you for having me! How're you doing today?" He asked.

I smiled, "I'm great. How are you? How have things been since being named People's Sexiest Man Alive?"

"They've been quite interesting. I was told Brad Pitt wasn't available this year." He said with a cheeky laugh.

I failed to contain my laughter, "I believe a lot of people feel that you've earned the title, especially given your portrayal of Wolverine in Marvel's X-Men."

I could see him blushing, "Honestly, things have been great. I just finished up a movie with Nicole Kidman called Australia, which comes out next week. We're pretty pumped for that."

I shifted in my seat, "How was filming that with Nicole?"

He got serious for a moment, "It was great. She's a good friend of my ex wife's, so it was a bit awkward at first, but overall a great experience. Shooting the film back home in Australia was exciting."

I nodded, "We'll be sure to check that out next week once it premiers." I felt a slight smirk appear on my lips, "Okay, now for the good stuff you all have been waiting for. Juicy questions for the sexiest man alive. Are you ready for this, Hugh?" I asked with as much confidence as I could possibly muster.

He giggled, "Baby, I'm always ready. Let's go."

I took a dramatic deep breath for dramatic effect, "Alright, so given you're now the sexiest man alive, what are some of your turn-ons? What's something you find sexy in a woman?"

He chuckled, giving me a smirk, "Oh, getting a bit cheeky, are we? You waste no time." He noticed me trying to keep a straight face and continued, "What turns me on? I'd have to say confidence, a strong woman that can sometimes put me in my place. I also love a woman in summer clothing. I'm from Australia, I love the outdoors, I love the water. I feel like a woman comfortable in her own skin, enjoying herself on the beach is very attractive to me."

I smiled with a nod, shuffling the cards in my hands, "Good answer."

He smirked at me, shifting in his seat, "I have a question for you. When are we heading to the beach?"

I looked a bit flustered, "I didn't know we were! But I'm happy to go with you any time!" I said with a small laugh.

He chuckled, "Dually noted." He tapped his forehead as if he were retaining the information.

This man was gorgeous. I'm sure he's just being funny for the camera, but I'm still enjoying this.

Attempting to stop chuckling, I went with the next question, "So Hugh, what do you make of the circulating rumors of your sexuality?"

He shrugged, "I think they're funny. They don't really bother me."

I nodded, "What did your friends and family say after you broke the news of being the sexiest man of 2008?"

He laughed, "My mates found it funny. My kids think it's funny but also gross their father is being called sexy. My family also, but they were proud of the accomplishment."

"Given your recent divorce, the ladies would like to know, is Hugh Jackman on the market?" I asked curiously, with a slight giggle.

He looked at the camera, "Hugh Jackman is on the market, ladies." He turned to me, "Is my interviewer also on the market?"

I failed to hide the red blush appearing on my cheeks, "Is Hugh Jackman hitting on me?" I said to the camera acting as if I were in shock with a tilt of my head.

He laughed, "You didn't answer my question."

I smirked, "I'm the interviewer. I ask the questions."

He shook his head, "Feisty, are we?"

I chuckled, "Mr. Jackman, do you have a secret talent?"

He smiled, "I'm very well trained. Not toilet trained, but I'm trained in other things. Barbara Walters told me I give phenomenal lap dances."

I laughed, "Did she? Barb is a great judge, so I trust her judgment."

He immediately stepped up from his chair, looking towards Justin, "Do we have music? I'm going to demonstrate." Looking back towards me he continued, "I have to showcase my talent for you."

This has definitely been the most interesting interview of my two year career.

I looked at Justin as music began playing, "Oh? I'm getting a lap dance too?" I asked playfully throwing the cue cards across the room. "Forget the script."

Justin failing miserably to contain his laughter watched on as Hugh began swaying his hips, removing his blazer and stepping to me. I sat not knowing how to react or if this was some odd dream I was having. He was in front of me with both of my legs between his, while still swaying his hips in a seductive motion.

His voice now seductive shook me from the thought, "How're you feeling, love? Isn't this your best interview yet? C'mon, look at me, baby." His finger grasping my chin pulling it upwards to look at him with the cheekiest, sexiest smile on his face.

I nervously laughed, blushing, "Oh my god." Was all I could manage to say. His other hand gripping my shoulder as he moved closer, almost putting his crotch 2 feet from my face.

He immediately began dying laughing as he sank to the floor, placing both hands on my knees. "How was that?" He asked.

I shook my head with a smile, "That was... I mean, I've never had an interview leave me speechless."

I could hear the film crew failing to contain their laughter as Hugh reached up and hugged me, straddling my lap. This must be every woman's wet dream. His laughter piercing my ears as he hugged me.

"Job well done then." He said cockily. "Turn off those cameras. We're headed backstage." He managed to say through his laughter.

I squealed, dying of laughter, "And that concludes our interview with Mr. Hugh Jackman, ladies and gentlemen! Go pick up your issue of People's magazine's Sexiest Man Alive-" I struggled to grab the magazine but finally reaching it, holding it up towards the camera, "Today!"

The cameras immediately cut and Hugh hopped off of me, laughing at the crew's reaction as their laughter grew louder now that they didn't have to worry about the rolling cameras.

"Best interview of your life?" Hugh asked me with a knowing smile.

I laughed, shaking my head, "Definitely. I was not expecting my day at work to end with a lap dance from Wolverine."

He pulled me in for another hug, "Next interview I'll be giving you another lap dance."

I playfully rolled my eyes, hugging him back, "I'll be sure to remind you."

He got serious for a moment, "Would you like to grab lunch with me? I've got a bit before my next press."

I nodded, "Sure. I'd love to."

He gave me a smile, "Seriously though, are you on the market and when are we gonna go to the beach?"

I looked at him nervously, "I am on the market, and I'm available anytime after 3."

He grabbed my hand, leading me towards the hallway. "Great. All I needed to know. I'm looking forward to that next lap dance, beautiful."  He said with a smirk.

[h50europe]

8.06 post mortem - Buck/Tommy - General - 9-1-1 Zombified

Many of us wondered why a cut emergency case from episode 7.04 was used. A novelty and if you look closely, you'll notice that the characters appeared very different from how they did in the rest of season 8, and the scenes felt erratic. This inconsistency is reminiscent of the writing from Andrew Meyers, who also wrote episode 7.04. However, in that episode, he had a co-writer who was clearly more talented. Episode 8.06 was poorly written compared to 7.04. Alone the scene in the beginning. Buck could have pointed out that this chick was interrupting the date he had with his boyfriend. Tommy then mentioned the Kinsey scale

Our walking encyclopedia had no idea what his boyfriend was talking about. Seriously? Also, Buck doesn't want to buy a present for their 6-month anniversary, and Tommy gives him 2 Lakers baseball cards and awkwardly mentions that Buck could go with Eddie? Is this dinner supposed to be romantic? Well, they could have gone to McDonalds. Meyers should have consulted his co-writer at this point; we're heading straight for disaster. Then Tim had this wonderful idea with Abby and thought it was hilarious. The guy's humour isn't just weird, it's kind of crude. Abby never mentioned that she went out with another guy from the 118. Isn't that weird? No one ever knew about it? Not Hen, not Chim? For two years? Did Tommy keep her locked in his basement? This plot is so poorly constructed that it's cringe-worthy at best. And that's when Himbo's jaw hit the floor… along with the audience.

The only good scene was Josh's GLEE speech. And I may be reading between the lines, but I felt that the way Josh talked about post and past GLEE and how Buck can't blame Tommy for his actions because times were different was a wink and a nod to the haters. I really had the impression that this was a cunning move to address why Tommy was who he was back then and why he has changed now.

But seconds later I nearly choked on my drink, and I can tell you it's orgasmic when a sip of Pepsi comes out of your nose, when Maddie said, "She wondered how many men Abby had turned gay." Because I was chatting to a friend before I watched the episode and I almost said the same thing. I live in Europe, so I watched it the next day, knowing what was coming, but nothing about that particular scene. Which, frankly, was terrible.

Forgive me for ignoring the emergencies in this episode. They were repetitive, to say the least, just with different protagonists.

So far we have a recycled episode, a recycled ex, a recycled emergency and a recycled scenario, Maddy is pregnant (hooray). It begins to reek of decay.

Brownie points to those who aren't already traumatised or bored to death. Now for the highlight: Tommy shows up at Buck's apartment in a great mood. He is looking forward to a date with his friend and hot sex as the icing on the cake (that's what I had in mind). Tommy gets suspicious when Buck asks him to sit down. It doesn't take long before he pulls out his phone and shows his friend photos of Abby and a younger Buck. This is followed by an awkward explanation of why he didn't share the news in the restaurant, and Tommy's reaction is a little awkward too. But this is only the overture to the worst retconning I have seen on television in a long time. The coincidence is swept under the carpet in the blink of an eye, and now it gets creepy.

Compare the scene in the coffee shop with this one. It has the same structure, bit by bit. Buck invites Tommy to the wedding in the coffee shop, and Tommy says, "What?" Here it is: "I want you to move in with me." We have a mashup of the first kiss and the coffee shop scene, and Oliver plays it similarly. The worst part is when Tommy turns into his zombie version. Excellently played by Lou. No doubt about it. He gave it his all. He maimed that shitty script, which felt like Meyers had raided AO3, picked the worst written fics and went for the most cringe-worthy insult he could find for a bisexual. "I was your first, but I won't be your last." Hello? This topic only comes to Tommy's mind after he is asked to move in together? I was expecting "I can't move in with you because I wouldn't know where to put my car lift and Muay Thai studio". No, it's because all the trust and love Tommy put in Buck is wiped out by the retconning of Tommy's personality. He succumbs to total chaos. This is not the Tommy we met in S7 and certainly not the one we met in 8.05. Fuck me! It didn't make sense. We would have needed a lot more background information ON SCREEN to make it believable. A scene from Tommy's past. Who hurt him so badly? It wasn't Abby. She only managed to traumatise Buck. Was it after he met Abby? Was it another guy?

Hello writers, are you still in your right mind? We have no clues. Neither the loyal fans and certainly not the new ones. You're reducing a character to a sad laughing stock. You rob him of all his merits, which you had Buck recite like a poem in school. And then you expect us to believe it? You steamroll over everything that's been painstakingly built up to this episode? It's actually convenient, I let the whole relationship run off screen. We don't see any flying lessons together, no training together, no cosy get-togethers in front of the TV, no exchange of affection, nothing. It's all headcanon. Guys, I've seen shows and movies where a sequence like this lasted five minutes and you knew where the couple stood. Maybe a flashback or two into Tommy's past would have helped. But no, instead the audience had to put up with the same old nonsense. A ridiculous story about an urn, a guy who sneezes and his intestines fall out, a kid who doesn't fall down a drain but slips down a pipe. They give us nothing, but we're supposed to believe everything, retconning is so great. If any of us wrote fanfiction like that, we'd be banned from AO3. And as if that wasn't enough, Tommy stands up and says, "Believe me, I didn't see this coming either. Tell me, were you on drugs when you were writing? There are a thousand ways to respond sensibly to "Let's move in together" without turning it into such a dumpster fire. The crowning glory of all this madness is when Tommy says "I'll see you around Buck" instead of Evan (the same words he said to Evan when he left him standing outside the restaurant on their first date). Where did that come from? It's as if Tommy had lost all respect for his lover, or as if he wanted to punch him in the face while he was already on the ground. We, the viewers, also had this feeling. And Tommy's behaviour was completely disturbed. I wonder if he checked himself into a mental facility right after that.

I won't say anything about the rest of the episode because I'm a polite person.

Conclusion: Please take the pen away from this lunatic and never let him write anything again or give him a co-writer like in 7.04. The guy is totally unhinged.

Extra brownies, you made it!

[batsbratsandbarbedwire]

omg plsss write some steddie and/or platonic stobin!!!! my fav tags/themes are getting together, bi steve, gay eddie, wingman robin, steve and robin having no boundaries (and generally being a bonded pair of stray cats that cannot be adopted separately), and dustin/the kids being lil shits /lh

any rating!! (if youre still wanting writing ideas!) :D

Uh yes platonic no boundary stobin and getting together steddie are my favorite things okay. Soooo, it's a 5 and 1 and I'm only halfway through part 3, but proof I'm working on it. I'll post the finished story on ao3, though. Because I got real invested actually.

1.

It’s been 158 days since Steve’s seen Eddie. Not that he’s counting or anything, it’s just that he does that sometimes… he counts. It’s like, well, he can’t help it.

Anyway, it’s been a long time. They have Eddie all holed up in quarantine, something weird in his blood work. They keep saying they don’t really know if it’s safe or, uh, contagious or whatever.

Steve didn’t allow any blood work. But he’d been conscious. His own bat bites taken care of already. Had sat pretty with Eddie’s neat little row of homemade stitches holding him together and hadn’t told anyone else he’d been attacked by the bats. Not if they hadn’t been there to see it. And the party pretty much knew to keep their mouths shut by now, anyway, so.

Not the point.

The point is, it’d be 159 days in a couple hours and Steve missed him. Missed Eddie so aggressively, even though he’d never even known him before spring break.

Count his 2023 bingo card as all fucked and jumbled but, Jesus Christ, they’d gotten close in those 159 days.

Because they could hear each other.

That’s how Steve knew Eddie wasn’t contagious. Either that, or Steve was too, but the two things had to be related, right? And nobody else had really said anything about catching new symptoms, or whatever.

You’re thinking too much, big boy. He heard. Heard in his head. Which had been jarring and weird at first, really, Steve hadn’t ever heard thoughts before. He knew some people did. Robin said he had a thing with a funny A name he could never remember, and that’s why he couldn’t hear his own thoughts, but that everyone else could hear theirs. That other people could even see thoughts in their heads. That sounded maybe a little overwhelming to Steve. Hearing is one thing, but seeing too?

Eddie’s voice was clear as day.

“I can’t help it, I want them to let you out.” Steve said aloud to his empty bedroom. He did that. Tried not to when he wasn’t alone, but, again, the thinking in his head thing wasn’t normal and it confused him a little how it all worked. Still did. Eddie laughed and called it demobat sonar. Seemed really good at using it.

We’re working on it. You need to sleep, sweetheart.

Sweetheart. At least Eddie couldn’t feel his heartbeat.

“Don’t want to,” Steve whispered.

His head reverberated with a soft hum. Something warm and cozy and safe.

Then tell me a secret, baby.

Steve closed his eyes. What secrets did he even have? He didn’t know.

“What kinda secret?” he whispered.

It was like a laugh in his head, something soft. It made Steve smile.

Any kind, Stevie.

Steve’s brain was blank. He blurted out the first thing he remembered he’d never told anyone before. “I peed my pants leaving basketball practice once.”

Hot.

Steve snorted. “Coach wouldn’t let us go.” He shrugged to himself. To his empty room. “Whatever.”

Another hum. Whatever.

“Oh,” Steve said. He focused hard on feelings that he didn't think were his. “Hot? You’re serious?”

A laugh.

“Tell me a secret?” Steve asked.

Eddie didn’t have to think like Steve did. I like when pretty boys pee their pants in my lap.

“Eddie.”

Hm?

“Has that? Have you?”

Has it happened before?

“Yes.”

Once or twice.

“On purpose?”

Another hum. Course.

“Oh.”

Steve didn’t know what else to say. He twisted his fingers in his sheets and turned on his side to bury his face in his pillow.

You’re jealous.

“No,” he whispered. But he was. He felt it low in his gut.

I can feel it, sweetheart.

“I don’t know how you’re so good at controlling it.”

Pretty boys or the connection?

Steve snorted. He had no questions about how easy it might be for Eddie to control boys. “The second one.”

A hum. Maybe the more meat you lose to the beasts the better you are at it. I dunno. You give a little, you get a little.

“You haven’t told anyone, right?”

No.

“Me neither.”

I know, Sweetheart.

“How's your side?”

His voice came through soft, amused still. Same as it was an hour ago.

Steve sighed. “Not healing.”

Healing real slow.

“Allegedly.”

It’s not infected anymore, sweetheart.

“I just miss you.” Steve knew he was pouting, maybe. Was probably supposed to be embarrassed about it somewhere, but he wasn’t. He never was with Eddie, even when he thought he might be or should be.

You’re a dream, baby.

“Mm mm,” Steve hummed. “Real.”

A soft laugh. Kind of low and mellow. Indulgent maybe. I’ll believe it when I see it, sweetheart.

Steve nuzzled his face against his pillow. Three laughs so far, tonight. He felt warm. “I’ll be the first one at your door when they let you out.”

Mm, yeah. That’s how I’ll know it’s real.

“What, you don’t need a tattoo on my forehead or anything?”

The fourth laugh. Maybe on your ass.

Steve smiled into his pillow. “Only if you bend me over and do it yourself.”

Oh, I promise, big boy.

2.

Robin was going on a date. It was a girl from highschool, someone who’d been in Steve’s year, who Robin swore Steve had had at least three classes with, but Steve didn’t recognize her name.

They were going on a picnic somewhere and she was picking Robin up from Steve’s house and Eddie was laughing again.

Robin was panicking. Pacing. Not in a panicky sort of way, but in a goofy nervous sort of way that had Steve rolling his eyes and Eddie whining about tearing his stitches.

“What if she hates me and thinks I talk too much? You know I talk too much. Especially when I’m nervous. And you know I’m nervous. Where the fuck is Munson and his quality weed when you need him?”

A snort here from Eddie himself.

“You’re listening?” Steve whispered.

You’re just so loud sometimes, baby.

“Because you know Kelsey’s shit just isn’t as good. It’s like, if you want half the high for half the time, sure whatever, buy it, but really it’s just a waste of money and it just smells dry. Do you know what dry even smells like, Steve, because it’s not a good smell. Especially not for weed. And he just charges like a little bit more, which, like, I know some people think is worth it because Eddie is scary or whatever. But Eddie has never actually been scary, you know–”

Oh she’s so charming.

“–But people are who people are and. Ugh, this isn’t even the point, Steve. I wish I was high right now, is the point, and then I would be quiet, and then she’d be more likely to actually like me, and then I could go on a second date, maybe. And then I could kiss a girl, Steve. Do you know how long I’ve wanted to kiss a girl? Because it’s been a pretty long time, and I just feel like–”

“Robin?”

She stopped mid step. Almost 253. Shimmied a little in his direction. “Huh?”

“If she only likes you because you don’t talk a lot, then she’s not really worth kissing.”

A hum in his head. Approval.

“You don’t get to decide that Mr. I’ve kissed 87,000 girls and boys in the last three years and who knows how many of them were actually worth it.”

Eddie snorted. Worth it just for how good you’ll be with that mouth, weren’t they?

Steve frowned. Ignored Eddie. “Maybe that’s not really fair, huh?”

“I’m sorry. I’m freaking out. That’s no reason to slut shame you.”

“Oh, thank you.”

How do you feel about that, baby? Slut shaming?

Robin slid up in front of Steve and pressed her forehead to his chin. “She’s so pretty, Steve.”

He wrapped his arms around her. “I don’t remember her.”

“I know.”

I don’t like her tone.

“You’re so nosy,” Steve muttered.

“Hm?” Robin asked.

Eddie laughed.

There was a knock at the door and Robin froze. Finally.

She pulled back to look at Steve's face. “You’ll be here when I get back?”

“Awaiting every sordid detail,” Steve said.

“And you’ll be ready to call if you get my SOS text?”

“Your number’s already dialed and my thumb is hovering over the call button.”

“And–”

“Robin. Breathe. Have fun.”

She blinked at him. Took a deep breath. “Right.”

Steve stepped back and kissed her on the cheek. “Go get the door, bird.”

“Right,” she said again.

Steve listened as she made her way out of the kitchen and into the foyer. It was all muffled, but he could hear her smile. “Andie, hey.”

You love her, Eddie said.

“Of course I do,” he said. He heard the door close behind the girls.

I think I do, too. It’s your fault maybe.

“You could blame it on the connection, but she’s just charming.”

I know, we used to eat lunch together. Before she joined band.

“No way.”

Sorry, Stevie, but you’re not the first boy to call her Bird.

“Shut up.”

You'll have to make me, sweetheart.

“I have a feeling you're better at bossing people around.”

We can test that theory.

“We will.”

In my dreams, baby.

“I'm real,” Steve breathed. “I promise I'm real.”

Well, then, in my dreams until you prove It.

3.

Every time Steve shifted, the fold out chair Nurse Amy brought him screeched a loud awkward sort of sound that seemed to echo across the whole goddamn hospital. It's been 26 times already. It was just so hard to sit still enough to avoid it.

I can't hear it from here, came the amused whisper in Steve's head.

You're, like, three floors down.

And full of delusion, I'm sure.

Steve grunted at the soft, bitter laugh in his head. Thirteen accusations of this being all a hallucination on Eddie's part.

Max's floor was oddly quiet compared to the rest of the hospital. It always was. And she wasn't allowed more than one visitor at a time, hence Steve stuck in the hallway every time he brought one of the kids to see her. He'd come every time though, no matter how often any of them asked, or how long Lucas liked to stay.

I wish I could just sit with you while he's in there, Steve thought at Eddie. He was getting much better at it, at thinking to Eddie and not just having every sinful thing ever filter through. He wasn't as good as Eddie was, though. Steve only ever got exactly what thoughts Eddie wanted him to hear.

Sometimes he wished he got more.

Would be nice, wouldn't it?

You know I miss you.

A soft hum, cozy and sweet. One Steve wished he could feel through his cheek, pressed up against Eddie's chest.

167 days. Steve sighed. Leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes against the fluorescents.

Tell me a secret, sweetheart.

Six secrets shared between them so far.

I can't tell if it's so quiet in here because it's just the floor or if it's my hearing getting worse, still. Steve thought.

Seven.

The pause was slow and warm. Like Eddie was just processing. Thinking about how to respond.

Steve took 4 deep breaths before he answered. How concerned are you about that?

Steve smiled. Wished he could nuzzle himself into the lack of panic. The calm, confident warmth that now had its own little place in his mind.

Not very. Not yet anyway.

A hum in his head. The second in only a few minutes.

You're anxious today, baby.

What do you mean?

Lots of numbers this morning.

Steve had never talked about it before. Never wanted to. It'd never felt this easy or normal or casual. He pressed his head back against the wall just a tiny bit harder.

It's being here, I think.

Yeah?

And not being able to see you, Steve added.

[lovebvni]

" ITS BRUTAL OUT HERE " - pick a pile

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│ᵒᵖᵉⁿⁱⁿᵍ ᵐᵉˢˢᵃᵍᵉ...

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[ 🖊 ] created ⋮ 14.8.22

[  ] published ⋮  14.8.22

˚₊·͟͟͟͟͟͟͞͞͞͞͞͞➳❥ ꒰ ⌨ ✰ Arsyn   ⋆  ⁱˢ ᵗʸᵖⁱⁿᵍ··· ꒱ | ೃ࿔₊•

┊       ⋆     welcome to my blog !

┊     °

hey loves, so because i 1, got new tarot decks, and 2 want to call you guys out, im doing this. also - heads up before i even start - spirit said there's gonna be a pile where there are little/no callouts bc they're actually doing great. just some advice/motivation to keep them going

Hello! Welcome to a pick a pile. This is a general reading, everything should be taken with a grain of salt. Hundreds of people may read this, everything I say in your pile(s) may NOT resonate. Today we don't have questions. we're just going callouts. so prepare yourself, i know some of yall are soft.

along with these questions i will give things that may draw you to your pile. the alice in wonderland tarot has different cards but pretty much the same meaning. dont be shocked if instead of the hanged man i say suspention or something like that. i will be using tarot and oracle cards.

now please take everything with a grain of salt!

breathe in, now out, now pick a pile or two.

pile 1 ; pile 2 ; pile 3

hi pile 1!

confirmation for your pile: lowkey funny, life 'falling apart', consequences for your actions, business man/woman, equality, cycles, bakugou, passion, 'im always right, i know what im saying'

oracle: you are good enough - full moon in virgo

tarot: the hierophant, temptation, 7 of flowers, 5 of spears reversed, 9 of flowers

alright bros, the first thing i have to say is 1, you're not always the cause. bad things happen to good people and i know it sucks but it helps you grow. if only good things happened then you'd probably be boring as hell. i hear some of you guys can be because you cant keep a conversation going. the thing is, you may be a victim MOST OF THE TIME but that doesnt mean ALL THE TIME!! you can be wrong in an argument, you can be right in an argument. but it changes. you're a very driven, smart, confident person in most areas but that doesnt mean because you're the right person to be a firefighter but not a baker. 7 of flowers is saying dont back down from the things you KNOW you are right in, but when someone makes a valid point. take it, it can help you. being passionate is a good thing, but dont be ignorant.

temptation is something thats drawing you in, that one day will be negative. maybe its joining the football team but you'll get a serious injury. do not let anyone or anything tempt you that has high risks for pain in the long run. im not saying dont join that football team, but dont put yourself into situations that wont benifit you in the long run. there's a good and bad to everything. do not fall into or back into negative energies/things that didnt help you before. they sure as hell wont help you now

ngl i have no idea what this pile means during the second part

pile 2

alright so confirmation: tired, faking happiness, evolution, "PUT THOSE GRIPPERS AWAY", hawks, manifestation, abuse, Christmas, MHA, movies, memories, nsfw content, love desire, caring heart, makeup, procrastination, seven deadly sins

oracle: a time for healing - balsamic moon, expect powerful chance - new moon eclipse

tarot: 10 of spears, 7 of flowers, 3 of hedgehogs

so this is the pile whos done mostly nothing wrong. when i say mostly, i mean bc everyones made at least one mistake in their life. ofc theres still a callout. STOP BEATING YOURSELF UP! STOP BELITTLING YOUR PAIN, YOUR TRAUMA, THE THINGS THAT HURT YOU MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY EVERY SINGLE DAY!! let go of the past, its gone. its ending. get over it. that friend isnt coming back, they weren't right for you. let go of the past, accept it, and move forward. thats just some advice.

pile 3

hey pile 3

confirmation: false/negative manifestations, intrusive thoughts, self destructive behavior, gay, peaches (that one song omg), yung gravy, emotions, love, communication or lack of communication, birthdays, parties, celebrations

oracle: believe in the impossible - blue moon

tarot: 2 of cups, 4 of flowers, knight of teacups reversed

okay i got flowers in every pile, anyways this piles energy is of a pair.. two people or two piles? maybe you picked another pile. but its a harmonious pair. you guys may be for a long time, maybe shifting together, maybe you work on a lot of projects together? i heard you guys dont talk much but when you do its fun. you guys are a great pair. hold on to each other. i feel like once this pile overcomes toxic/negative behaviors they will shift. it depends on how fast you get rid of them/start manifesting positively.

change the way you see things, the emotions and reactions you have to things that happen. if you wake up in your cr and not your dr say something like "bro what?? why am i in my cr? thats odd, hasnt been like this before." see everything that happens in a different light. if you think that you saw something that was a sign btw, it was. take it and use it how you think its fit. use your talents, you know you can! practice the fun things you want to do one day. practive makes perfect!! get off your ass and do something. vent through an art form. you dont have to use words. you're doing nothing right now. you NEED to do something, but take a break from stressing yourself. its not helping anything

[kiyomitakada]

Sayu

[shaking] you've activated my trap card

okay so first. a confession. sayu reminds me very strongly of a character from a different franchise i am obsessed with. if it feels like half of these answers are hallucinations of a world where death note is much more sayu-centric then that is why. but theoretically you shouldn't be able to tell so Don't Worry About It

favorite thing about them: HER GUILT COMPLEX THE SIZE OF THE SUN. it is implied for exactly two panels. im insane about it regardless.

she thinks being kidnapped was her fault! she thinks the death note falling into the mafia's hands is her fault! girl what is wrong with you!!!!

i also like that ohba iirc said she became extremely paranoid after the kidnapping. i think this is because — well first of all obviously she doesn't want to be kidnapped again, but second of all, if she were kidnapped again she's afraid her family will have to go through even more shit to get her back

least favorite thing about them: [light voice] sayu. ive taught you the quadratic formula at least five times by now. look, here's the proof again. can you not see the inherent beauty of completing the square? [sayu voice] oniichan the scary thing about you is im not even sure youre joking

favorite line: "well, i think you're quite handsome, matsuda." "huh? really, sayu?!" "yup, if only you weren't so old, i might have thought about going out with you. too bad." "URK"

i like that sayu is just as good at maneuvering social interaction as light is. i like that she manages to very successfully defuse the tension in the room with this joke (because sachiko and soichiro are both furious at the idea that their daughter would ever date a cop). you can physically feel the air lighten. i think sayu's had to do a lot of this ever since light left for six months and came back not quite whole.

i also think the fact that she's so good at this means she has to have picked up on the fact that light doesn't actually like misa, and the fact that she deliberately asks him about marriage anyway makes me feel Some Kind Of Way. more on this later

brOTP: i mean it HAS to be light and sayu. i am of the belief that she is the one person light loves more than anyone else in the world. im also of the belief that sayu doesn't know this considering that she thinks light abandoned them. they've never talked about this because they don't talk about anything important anymore.

OTP: the real answer to this question is sayu/reader because one of my first ever fic ideas for this fandom was for a reader-as-sayu's-situationship longfic that starts when sayu gets kidnapped and the reader insert, in a panic to get her back, forces her way onto the investigation team. however if we restrict ourselves to canon only i think that sayu has had the world's worst most misery-inducing unrequited crush on misa ever since she was fifteen. also more on this later

nOTP: unironic matsu/sayu i guess?? i dont think ive ever seen this around though. i ship matsu/sayu the way i ship yaga/mane

random headcanon: she came out to light as attracted to girls (i can never decide if she's gay or bi or pan or what, but she definitely Likes Women) when she was thirteen, and once he got over the surprise light was genuinely fairly accepting of this. he teases her about cute girls at her school constantly. she's still not out to her parents though

unpopular opinion: god her arc is such a tragedy. i don't know if this is unpopular among the fans but im like 99% sure it's unpopular among the creators, i.e. ohba and obata did not do this on purpose. her becoming drastically less mischievous and more mature* in second arc is meant to show that she's twenty years old and all grown up now, does her essays by herself, and so on and so forth. it just so happens that i can and will interpret this as her watching her brother slip further and further away until one day he doesn't come home at all and suddenly the onus of keeping her parents happy rests solely on herself. little sister to eldest daughter speedrun!!!

(*there's probably a lot to be said about how many of o&o's "morally good" female characters, including some i've heard about in bakuman, fall into this Gentle, Mature stereotype. [not all! halle lidner i love you! but many.] they accept that their role in society is to play second fiddle to a man forever. all this is to say that basically i think sayu's arc2 personality is meant to symbolize that she's grown up to be The Perfect Woman and that it's a positive thing; however when you take the misogyny goggles off it reads exactly like repression)

i also think her opinion of misa is much more complicated than fanon gives her credit for? it's like

[canonical] wow my brother's girlfriend is really pretty and wow she doesn't dress modestly at all (<- was raised in a fairly conservative household and gets shocked by things like these)

[canonical] hi misa, i saw you in a lot of magazines! [headcanonical] i looked up my brother's girlfriend and found her website and then went to the corner store and bought all her magazines. for research purposes. 'cause i want to know what's up with this girl who's the first my know-it-all brother has ever been serious about. no other reason!

[off-screen canon: light calls sachiko and tells her that he's decided to live on his own with misa, "but my stubborn dad would be totally against it, so i'm going to be out of contact for a while" (chapter 34)]

[L dies, light moves in with misa for real, timeskip]

[canonical] "oh, light and misa. it's rare that you both come over together." [headcanonical/implied] misa spends time with the other yagamis outside of light? often?

[canonical] "you have a career now, light. when are you going to think about marriage?" okay 1) who are you and what have you done with sayu "light has a girlfriend?! wow!" yagami. 2) as aforementioned i truly believe sayu is smart enough to notice light doesn't like misa, like, he is not subtle about it. so:

[headcanonical] sayu, in a feat of retroactive justification her brother would be proud of, is determined to get yagamane to actually like each other because if they don't then why did light abandon them for so long?

[extremely headcanonical] sayu, in a feat of repression her brother would also be proud of, has decided that surely her crush of five years will go away if misa just marries light for real and becomes definitively unavailable forever.

christ that was longer than i thought it'd be. why didn't i just put this in the otp section

but anyway i think there are a lot of ways you could interpret their dynamic outside of my headcanons. i really like this fic which instead proposes that sayu hates her and is also incredibly in character!

song i associate with them: as i put in sachiko's answer she's soooooo "if you could coddle the infection they can amputate at once / i should've been i could have been a better son" to me. gestures back at the guilt complex. gestures back at the way she becomes so socially savvy to make up for light not even bothering to pretend to like misa. almost like she's making herself a replacement for the yagami family forever losing their perfect son archetype. im normal.

favorite picture of them:

she's so cute here

[asherlockstudy]

Due to personal circumstances the following was hard to make so it might be a bit all over the place:

Regarding their deconstruction five years later, I think that distance from the original video shows even more clearly that the main reason they left faith was personal trauma.

Link's boldness:

In Link's case it is once again perfectly clear, why do we even discuss it anymore, or why people DON'T discuss it, I think he hardly even tries to hide it. Is it a coincidence that all the concerns he keeps raising about religion are almost exclusively about inclusivity and the acceptance of gay sexuality?

Notice the following exchange:

In the voicemail question about finding your moral compass without religion, Rhett argues you don't need religion to be a moral person. One of the examples he presents as evidence of not going immoral once you are out of the faith is (dare I say perhaps poorly chosen?) cheating on your wife. While it's not super obvious, I think that gets a reaction from previously meek Link, who counterargues about the perception of morality in religion when it comes to gay people. Rhett responds not exactly to the question but rather gives his secular yet seemingly detached opinion on why it is beneficial for humanity to let people form consensual relationships with those they love and not force them to "deconvert or go to conversion therapy".

Then Link says this:

"My experience post deconversion is that my instict to be the type of person that I can stand behind my actions, there is integrity, I haven't done anything, I haven't gone nuts. I haven't gone wild, like no wild oats type of thing. Now, we are talking about assessing morality from the outside but if you are gay, your experience is that "if I am true to myself, this is good and this is true to who I am". When you are on the inside of that experience, it's different than on the outside and issuing it as a law. "

Okay ummm first of all I will say I believe Rhett's words got into him so much that he misspoke when he said "deconversion", I think he intended to say "deconstruction" but it is a textbook example of truth slipping out. And even so, the rest of his statement hardly makes sense from a straight bystander's perspective anyway. He clearly reflects on a personal journey, he talks about finding his integrity, he's not playing the ally card like in some other cases, he speaks for the gay experience from the inside.

The underlying message of Wonderhole confirmed:

When Rhett said "While we do aspire to continue to make things that are thoughtful, that make people think and, you know, are more creatively ambitious like Wonderhole and Wonderhole season 2..." Link did their "tap nose" gesture to Rhett right after the "make people think" part. This is a gesture they have done to each other several times and it means "Careful, this is a secret!".

He seemed to rub his nose pretty intentionally in another instant as well but I couldn't make out why based on what Rhett was saying.

One good and one bad thing about Christy's mentions:

"We're going to die together" Rhett and Link pretty much said they do not need to continue their relationships to their loved ones in the afterlife for it to be a satisfactory perception of heaven. Not very graciously, Link said that if Christy died he'd be like "okay we ran our course, we had good times together, ciao". He didn't say "ciao" but he could have said it and it would not have changed much the feeling his words were emitting, sorry. (They didn't mention their own relationship with each other in this context.)

On the other hand, Link said he prayed for Christy, the first time in forever, when she was going through some hardship lately. He did not verbalise it exactly like that but to me his action had the vibe of "if You don't accept me for who I am, at least accept my prayer for her who still belongs to Your community". He joked that he also did it for brownie points and, you know, because he doesn't like to lie, this is not entirely untrue. I think the reason he prayed for her has guilt and desire for redemption written all over it. Feelings of guilt against her and a desire to prove to her, perhaps God and above all himself that he still is a good person. Truth be told, when something is so intentional, it loses a bit in value, but ultimately I think this action deep inside shows there is still unsteadiness and fear in his path, despite the trauma caused defensive anger that makes him appear so resolute.

As for Rhett...

Boy, this is so hard to do. Once again, I hate to question him when he is being reflective and introspective. But... some things just don't add up. What Rhett told us again is that his departure from the faith had a 10000000000000000000000% scientific / intellectual cause (why he always emphasizes this SO much), that he was King of the World type of status when he was still in the Christian community (Link described this as "being a fake"), that he was a conservative Republican and YET felt like the perception against gay people was not right, and that he is still an agnostic that is "perhaps" hopeful. I am sorry but none of these things go together and with his past.

He is not exactly an agnostic, and "hopeful" is an understatement. He is still an avid consumer of books, podcasts and other content of revising and re-evaluating Christianity. He is planning to make podcasts with relevant people on the matter. He made the podcast 40 minutes too long because he could not stop discussing it. He is not someone who "doesn't know" and tries to become okay with it, like Link. He actively wants to find an answer even though he admits nobody has so far. Dare I say, being from a country far far away, he won't find any satisfactory answer in those books of deconstructed American protestants saying the same things over and over. I believe he's fallen in a loop he enjoys. Link was yawning at some point. And despite exploring spirituality, mindfulness and all that, it is obvious he still tries to connect them to some form of enlightened new age Christianity he hopes to find. In short, I admit I believe he is a hopeful spiritual who actively tries to find ways for Christianity to work in ways that he will find right, just and, who knows, more welcoming maybe, so that he can perhaps return at some point.

When he says he always felt the Christian perception of gay people was wrong, I suppose he means this was deep, deep, deep inside him because on the outside he acted very uptight, given the family he grew in. It's hard to forget that one of the very very first videos they were making, where they are close to each other and the camera only shows them from the shoulder and up and Rhett sourly says "Don't touch me. You touch me on my knee. Don't touch me. Please." And Link responds: "Well, I didn't do it on purpose!". So he exposed it on camera and demanded Link's immediate correction, even though it wasn't visible to the viewers. He could just drew his leg far from Link, why make a fuss about something nobody could see, if not to boast out of nowhere how much of a manly hetero he is, even at the expense of his friend? So... even if he always felt it was wrong, he felt it at a much deeper, introspective level and it took him time to bring it to the surface and reconcile with it, let alone that he still struggles as we see. And at the time, no matter if he felt it was wrong, he apparently acted like it was right. (Link's "being a fake" rings in my mind.)

If the problems that made Rhett abandon the faith were 100% intellectual and scientific, then why does he linger so much behind, in discussions and revisions and alternative Bible reinterpretations, in what people try to make out of something that he presumably now thinks it's a 100% fantasy story?

Also, if he was so at the Top of the Game when he was the prime role model of White Christian Straight Male and everything worked great for him and he only left because science is cool and says "nah", then why did he come up with an Alter Ego to express his trauma and reflect on it through music? Why so much heavy and dark symbolism in his scripted works, from The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek to the 2023 videos to Wonderhole? Come on now.

I believe he has chosen to be vulnerable almost exclusively through the scripted work. Otherwise, I don't have an explanation for the so many contradictions in the things he says versus the things he does. But it would be better if he was more vague than being so adamant in presenting what seems to be half the story. This is my perception, at least. What I don't understand is whether Rhett tries to convince Link and himself that this is indeed how things are in his case or Link knows he is saying only part of the truth and he is patient and respectful of Rhett's boundaries.

*This analysis will be included in the One Story Masterlist due to the important implication about Wonderhole.

My One Story Rhink Masterlist

[junestrider]

JuneBro: Balatro

Balatro: The Game That Should Have Won Game Of The Year Because It Is Ten Times Better Than The Bullshit That Got The Award

alright, welcome back to another belated and severely late installment of this review thing i do, called JuneBro. real quick, i wanna apologize to the bros (albeit small in number) who saw the last review as that shit was NOT in character and was just written in a way I hated. gonna work on keeping it brotastic here and making sure im actually writing like a cool person instead of some dumb homo tool (homo as in homo sapiens, i respect the gays).

anyways, so lets talk about this card game. when i first heard of balatro honestly i kinda thought it was just gonna be another "flavor-of-the-week" game ala Lethal Company or Content Warning (both are great games but its also like DAMN did those games fall off holy SHIT). i decided impulsively at some point that i was gonna try it since im an apple one subscriber and got the game for free due to apple arcade. so this game is sitting on my phone now and im like, so this is about poker or some noise? im not that into card games, ive played a round of rummy or two in my time (as a bro typically does) but ive barely played poker and i wasnt expecting much to be honest. from what ive seen online a lot of cats seem hella pumped about it, and so i start the game and for some reason, it hooks me in. i dont know how, something about seeing the funny blue and red number go up just awakens something in a motherfucker. but i very quickly realize that the vanilla experience for this game is okay, but when do you get to BREAK some shit? like while youre playin cards or whatever, wheres the satisfaction of knowing youre greatly exploiting the game to your fucking will? wheres the satisfaction of having joker combos that you had a hand in manipulating? when do you get to shove the chips and mult system over the railing and just go to town? how do you get all the luck? all very important and thought provoking questions. were doing so much goddamn thinking over here were turning into the fucking thinker.

so thats when i decide to get it on PC and install a like, FUCK ton of mods. im talking at least 20. and honestly? yeah, i know that some bros are gonna look at me and say "well youre doing it the cowards way, you should finish vanilla balatro before you mod it" and you know what? i dont give a fuck honestly. i dont care that i feel like i need stuff like incremental jokers that give times mult. sometimes you gotta just rig shit in your favor because if it works for politicians and fucking lawmakers then it works for me. back to the review, when you install the right mods on this thing, man you can turn the whole game into a particle accelerator and really fuck some shit up. i wanna eventually get into modding the game with my own mods. i wanna add homestuck jokers, valve jokers, all the fucking jokers. theres gonna be so many goddamn jokers that hollywoods gonna have to make a jokerverse movie because theres that many fucking jokers.

anywho, i decided to give this game a 4.75/5 shades to keep it real.

[stevesbipanic]

@steddielovemonth Day 29: Love is going out of your way to do something you know will make them happy @forgottenkanji

Eddie knew a lot of things about Steve. He knew he loved peonies more than roses and listened to folk music when he cooked. He knew he loved sledding in the winter and lake days in the summer. He knew every step of his hair care routine and loved head scratches the most. Above all he knew Steve loved Valentine's Day.

He remembered how Steve would always make sure every girl got at least one rose delivered to them in home room and loved decorating his locker. Always wrote his classmates cards to fill their love boxes and made sure the kids got plenty of chocolate. Watched some special girl get taken on a perfect date each year, wishing for a world it could be him.

He remembers there being no dates last year, Steve looking as forlorn as him. He would find out a couple months later it's because the golden boy had been harbouring an equally massive crush and they promptly got together.

Now this year he vowed to go all out for his sweet boyfriend and give him the Valentine's Day he deserved.

"Eddie you hate Valentine's Day."

"You said it was capitalist bullshit."

"You literally burnt a bouquet once."

Eddie glared at the other Hellfire boys, he'd asked them to the diner to help him plan the best day ever not be attacked.

"That was the old Eddie, a sad gay little teenager, adult Eddie has the prettiest boy in the world to please."

Jeff was looking at him fondly while Grant rolled his eyes and Gareth gagged.

"EW don't call my cousin pretty!"

"We literally perform a song where I do just that."

"GOLDEN GODDESS IS ABOUT STEVE!"

"Hush, Garebear, we have plans to make."

The plan began simple, Robin was to take Steve out for breakfast, well, Steve take her out after she begs. Convincing Robin of the plan was easy since she loves Steve and free food as much as Eddie.

Then, while the boys set up the final surprise, Eddie would meet up with Steve at the arcade with the kids.

"Can't wait til we're home and alone, Eds, nice to have someone on Valentine's Day again."

"Just you wait, sweetheart."

Max would then radio Steve asking him to drive her to the movies for her date (although she was refusing to call it that again) with Lucas. She was also easy to convince, liking free rides.

Eddie would quickly change and rush to Steve's apartment to make dinner, he'd told Max to delay getting ready til Steve got there to stall him. He figured he'd have just enough time before-

Eddie was only halfway through making dinner before he heard the keys in the lock. No, Steve was home early, the candles weren't even lit yet!

"Eddie?"

He felt caught and dejected, all his plans falling through his fingers.

Steve glanced around the apartment, rose petals and unlit candles and the dining table set for two with a bouquet of peonies in a vase. Steve's favourite, spaghetti bubbling away behind Eddie.

"Eds, did you do all this for me?"

There's a certain awe in his voice as he asks. Eddie turns, turning down the heat on the pot and steps towards Steve. He takes his boy's hands gazing at him softly, "Of course, sweetheart, you love Valentine's Day. You're always so busy making it special for everyone else, and you missed last year, I wanted you to get wooed for once."

Steve's eyes are a little misty but he's smiling so Eddie knows he's not upset, "You got home early tho, baby, I haven't even lit the candles or turned on the music," Eddie explained biting his lip softly.

"I'm guessing Max was meant to keep me busy? You didn't tell Sinclair and his mom picked her up," Steve laughed.

"Shit, I knew I forgot something."

Steve kissed his cheek, "I'm going to get changed, think that'll be enough time for you?"

"Knowing you'll take forever with your hair, yeah I'll be ready, angel."

Steve flicked him playfully, "Oi, you love my hair."

Eddie yelped but smiled coyly, "Love messing it up too," he said winking.

Steve blushed and went to his bedroom to change. Eddie quickly finished the food, turned on the radio and lit the candles hoping it all set a romantic mood. Like clockwork he plated the food just as Steve returned to the room.

"Smells delicious, baby, you made my favourite!"

Eddie helped him into his chair, playing up the gentlemen's act, "Anything for you, sunshine." He poured them wine and laughed together as Eddie explained the whole plan, including Gareth's protest which Steve's giggled at. They were now cuddled on the couch, not really watching the movie, more just looking at each other occasionally trading soft kisses.

"Thank you for today, Eds, it really means a lot."

"I want to make every day special for you, Stevie."

"I wanted to ask you something, was going to ask on our anniversary but no-one has ever seen me the way you do."

"You know you can ask me anything, love."

Steve took Eddie's hand, glancing down and playing with his rings, a habit Eddie knew he did when he was nervous, "I wanted to ask if you wanted to move in with me?"

A smile quickly crept across Eddie's face, thought about getting to come home everyday to Steve and wake up every morning to him. Thought about how home had become the boy sitting across from him, wherever he went Eddie always wanted to follow.

"I'd love to move in with you, Stevie."

Neither boy would ever have to spend another day, Valentine's or not, not feeling completely and utterly loved ever again.

[alarajrogers]

Writers Tell You What They Believe, Not Who They Are

I’ve been percolating this post in my head for a while.

I want to talk about the Neil Gaiman situation. How there are, apparently, people out there who are trying to declare that there’s evidence in his writing for what he turned out to be, who blame the fans who were taken advantage of or who still find the writing beautiful no matter what the man is. Those people are wrong. They point at previous examples of writers who showed their true colors like JK Rowling, but this is not that situation.

I’m going to contrast this to Rowling, and to Orson Scott Card, another writer many of us (particularly us older ones) loved before he turned out to be a shit. In fact, I’ll start with him.

But first, I’ll tell you: Writers do not tell you who they are. They tell you what they believe. Sometimes those match. Sometimes they do not.

I was a huge fan of Orson Scott Card, and read everything he wrote once upon a time, so I know he wrote kindly and sympathetically about gay men and boys. He didn’t give any of them love or a happy ending, but most Card characters don’t get love or a happy ending, so this was not notable. Thus it surprised many of us when he came out swinging against gay marriage, and some people viewed him as a hypocrite.

He wasn't.

Card’s work repeats a theme over and over: older men have to hurt children and young people, raise them harshly, crush their dreams, in order to save them, or the nation, or the world. Over and over again. It’s relevant that Card was abused by his father as a child, so we can certainly see how tempting this paradigm would be for him. These older men suffer, because they sympathize with the young ones. But it has to be done, for the sake of everyone.

Around the time he was campaigning against gay marriage, Card said, in a forum post that unfortunately appears to have been lost forever, that we can’t have gay marriage because men would naturally want to marry men. Men just understand better and are naturally simpatico with other men, and presumably the same is true for women. So if we had same-sex marriage, all the men would marry other men, and human reproduction would stop, and the species would die out.

Leaving aside what this implies about Card himself and what he was obviously not letting himself realize about himself, this means his opposition to same-sex marriage is exactly what he told us, in his books, over and over, that he would have to do, when he became an older man. Older men hurt young people to force them to conform to what society needs. If men being allowed to marry men could destroy the human race, of course it’s his job as an older man to prevent it, no matter how sympathetic he might be to gay people’s desire to love each other. They have to suck it up and endure heterosexual marriage, like he has to, and like he assumes most married men have to, or humanity dies.

He's wrong, and his belief is honestly kind of repulsive because it means he assumes every man who says he loves his wife is kinda lying, or at least, made himself believe it. But he’s not a hypocrite. He told us what he believes, and it matches what he does.

Now, JK Rowling. I was an adult when Harry Potter came out, so I was never a huge fan of Rowling. I’d already read better fantasy, for children, by female authors, from England… Seriously, Rowling is kind of mid when compared to other fantasy writers for kids. But Harry Potter was pretty cool. I liked the fact that she presented us with an obvious villain, an absolute asshole, a cruel teacher who bullies the kids, plainly in league with the main villain… and then made him turn out to be a hero. Someone who, the whole time, was sacrificing himself to keep everyone, including Harry himself, safe. And who was, nonetheless, still an asshole. I liked that. “You don’t have to be a good person to do the right thing.” Sounded to me like a good message.

Rowling’s beliefs seemed pretty bog-standard white suburban liberal. Of course diversity is important, that’s why there are token members of several races. Fascism is bad, of course. The circumstances of your birth don’t matter nearly as much as what you make of your life. Child abuse is bad.

But there was stuff that people who were not raised as white suburban liberals kept pointing out. Like… Rowling doesn’t think it’s important to do enough research to have a real Chinese name for her one Chinese character. It’s not going to be a problem that Irish, Scottish and Welsh children – all oppressed by England once upon a time and in many cases still oppressed – are going to school in Scotland with English children; the only conflicts will be between houses. Slavery is of course bad, but have you considered that maybe some slaves want to be slaves and you should probably leave them to it? If a woman is sufficiently evil, it might be a good idea to arrange for her to be raped by centaurs. Women who look mannish are figures of fun and probably bad people. Fat people are bad. We do not at any point need to think about the question of, in general, what would wizards from oppressed Muggle families do if brought into the wizarding world and trained, because, well, that’s not worth thinking about.

Also, while Rowling might not consciously be an anti-Semite, she did come up with one of the most vicious collections of anti-Semitic tropes and applied them to her goblins, who are money-obsessed, bankers, have pointed noses and ears, and are not treated kindly by the narrative as non-human magical creatures the way Hagrid himself and any of his pets are.

Also, she gave us “Dumbledore is gay” in Word of God, but couldn’t be bothered to put it into the book that is heavily about Dumbledore’s past, which goes into detail about his close friendship with a fascist who despised the Muggle-born, where establishing that he loved Grindenwald would have made the whole relationship make more sense and make Dumbledore more sympathetic.

So… she ended up becoming a TERF. And this felt like a betrayal to those of us who saw in her beliefs the same liberal ideals we held. Except… she was never intersectional. She never told us she cared about minority humans. Her bad guys were fascists because they wanted to dominate the Muggles – a group that includes all of us, actually – and to purge “half-bloods” and Muggle-born, which, again, all of us are Muggle-born and we would be if we suddenly got that owl from Hogwarts. It’s real easy to hate fascists who want to put the boot on your neck specifically. She got a little bit into fantastic racism with the prejudices against Hagrid, but other races – like the goblins! – were just treated badly because that’s the way it is, and Harry never thinks to push back against obvious injustices unless they affect him and his friends.

She was always a bit skeeved out by “women who look like men”, and then the TERFs radicalized her and told her that trans women are a dire threat to cis women and that trans men are sad little girls who’ve been brainwashed to give up their womanhood, and she believed them because none of this contradicted anything she told us she believed. She very clearly told us in the books that she really didn’t care about anyone who wasn’t a white British human, and she has next to no consciousness of how the Irish, Scottish and Welsh actually perceive the British, and while the Weasleys are poor because they have way too many kids on a government worker’s salary, they have no class consciousness that stands in opposition to Harry’s, or anyone else’s. Rowling just doesn’t empathize with people who aren’t like her. So it wasn’t hard to get her to hate people who never did anything to her, because they were different enough that she could be convinced they were dangerous.

Neil Gaiman is not like that.

Like most good writers, Gaiman told us what he believed. And I think he was sincere in those beliefs. Even after he himself became a monster, I think he believed what he believed because those themes show up consistently in all his work, from the Sandman to his more recent works. And I’m going to point out the relevant ones, that seem to have an impact on this discussion.

We make our own hell with our guilt. Lucifer said so in A Season of Mists, despite it contradicting DC continuity and some stuff Gaiman himself did, such as Nala being condemned to hell by Morpheus. It is still consistent in most of his depictions of Hell. The angel Remiel is corrupted by being forced to punish sinners, but it’s the sinners’ own guilt that demands punishment, not a directive from God.

Desire is capricious and dangerous. Desire wants to destroy Dream for reasons we are never given. Alone of the Endless, Desire is never shown in a positive light. (Despair is, in places. Desire, never.)

Predators deserve to die or suffer a fate worse than death.

This is important to note. A lot of Gaiman’s villains don’t really suffer much of anything; their ability to do harm is removed, that’s it. Such as John Dee, who murders an entire diner full of innocent people. But predators and people who betray people who look up to them and trust them… they suffer.

In Sandman, Richard Madoc, a writer who can’t come up with ideas, catapults to fame when he takes the Muse Calliope as a sex slave, imprisoning her, dominating her, and repeatedly raping her. Morpheus punishes him by driving him mad, with a torrent of so many ideas he cannot express them all, and he ends up destroying his own fingers trying to write the ideas down on the wall in blood. This is a particularly horrifying fate for a writer, and a particularly horrifying fate for a writer to imagine.

Prince Franz Drago of Bohemia, in A Study In Emerald, is an eldritch abomination, as are all the royalty of Europe in this particular AU. He is brutally murdered by two of the most beloved characters in the canon of English-language literature. One of the two explains how Drago was lured to his death, in a way that the character (and the author) intend to justify the murder: he was promised a virgin girl, raised in a convent, who had never seen a man. The sight of Drago would have pitched her into “a perfect madness”, which Drago would have feasted on while raping her. For being the kind of entity who would want to do this, and probably has done it before, Drago was eviscerated. We are intended to sympathize with the murderers.

There are other examples, of people looking up to someone they respected, only to discover that person was lying, or betrayed them. These people are killed, or their plans are ruined. I’m not going to list every instance of that here. But this is a thing Gaiman believes, a theme that appears multiple times.

Gaiman also believes that we make our own hell. It wasn’t until I watched the Lucifer series, and had some experience with people who do awful things, many of whom have managed to twist things around in their head so they are the victims, that I thought: if you know what you’re doing is evil, why are you doing it? Many of the people I know who do terrible things simply don’t recognize that what they’re doing is bad. Like Rowling and Card, both of whom think they’re doing the right thing. They’re not going to punish themselves in Gaiman’s Hell. Maybe someone who murdered in a fit of rage, but not someone who thought of themselves as the victim, or as someone entitled to do what they did… which seems to be a lot of bad people.

And Gaiman believes that Desire is the cruelest of the Endless, and has nothing positive to say about them.

Gaiman told us what he believed, and we were calmed, and pleased, because we believed those things too. Trans women are women. All people deserve dignity. There is no one we have the right to look down on, and everyone has their own reasons for doing things, even evil people. Demonstrate empathy for all. This sounds like the beliefs of someone who is very, very safe. Like… a year ago I would have put Neil Gaiman on a list of “Least Likely To Have Problematic Skeletons In The Closet” creators, which just tells you, I pay too much attention to what writers believe when I think about what they do.

Because people don’t always do what they believe.

Sometimes they know what they’re doing is wrong. Sometimes it goes against everything they believe. And they feel hellish amounts of guilt for it. But they still choose to keep doing it. Maybe telling themselves they’re slaves to their own desire, that they cannot stop themselves. Maybe telling themselves it’s okay, fooling themselves that people they overpower with force of personality could have said no if they hadn’t wanted to. Gaiman at one point admitted to impostor syndrome. To not being able to quite grasp how successful he was, how people looked up to him. Maybe he was able to fool himself into thinking that if you pressure someone who looks up to you, who you have economic power over, into having sex, you’re not raping them because if they’d really fought back they could have stopped you. (Never mind that you had too much power over them and they were lulled by your public persona, sure you were safe, until you weren’t.)

Trust me, I am not here to praise Neil Gaiman, but to bury him. (And unlike Marc Antony in Shakespeare’s play, I sincerely mean that.) The fact that he knows better, that he believes people who are doing what he’s doing should die or suffer fates worse than death, that his writing strongly implies that he feels intense guilt over it… but he does it anyway.

Anybody got that gif of Chidi Anagoyne from The Good Place saying “But that’s worse. You get how that’s worse, right?”

No one could have read Gaiman’s work and thought, this is a sex predator into domination and rape. Because Gaiman has consistently condemned people who do that, in his writing. And his writing is all we knew about the man.

You know how you read some fanfic authors, and you can see their personal fetishes glaring out at you? You can’t do that with Neil Gaiman. He’s a better writer than that, and he’s good at hiding the things that turn him on, because he’s felt guilty about them from the beginning. He’s told us what he believes, not what he thinks is sexy.

He knows what he did is wrong. He feels guilt over it, or he did when he was writing Sandman and having fantasies, maybe. He knew it was wrong when he did it. And he did it anyway.

The only hint we could possibly have ever taken was that Gaiman thinks the people who do terrible things know it, and feel guilt over it, and demand to be punished for it when they get to Hell. When we see a world around us of people who feel no guilt whatsoever for the terrible things they do, maybe we should have questioned?... but it could have been the naivete of a young writer (young-ish, at least…) who genuinely wanted to believe the people who do terrible things feel guilt for it. I know I wanted to believe that, and I was horrified at how not true it turned out to be.

I hope he burns in the hell of guilt he’s made for himself. Because he told us what he believed, and we all believed it too. We forgot that a person can do things they believe are wrong.

[yowyowyaoi]

Itachi's Daily Texts from the Akatsuki, Part Two

From Kakuzu

Won't be as effective if you don't get some damn sleep.

You need to stay off of it for at least a week. I'll explain to Nagato.

How you choose to live (and die) is your own business.

Well tell him to take it easy with you. Your stamina isn't up for "extracurricular activities" like that, brat.

I'm aware. I'll deal with him later.

If you don't wish to pay it then use a candle instead of that lamp.

Once again, GO TO BED.

Your sweets consumption is appalling.

Of the three of you, I'm not sure which one worries me more. Four counting Tobi.

A gengetsu where all I have to do is sit still and money flies into my lap. Birthday present.

Your worst is likely STILL superior to his "best".

Rent is due. Utilities as well.

From Sasori

I swear your stubbornness rivals even that of Deidara's sometimes.

I'm working on a new remedy that should still the pain for much longer periods of time.

If you don't take better care of it I'll be forced to amputate. And as a warning, once I start with body modifications I find it very, very hard to stop.

SLEEP.

With as bad as your breathing sounds? The enemy would hear you coming from a mile away!

Eternal doesn't mean eternal patience.

I told him to behave himself with you or I'll take away his clay.

I wish I could help more. I truly do, child.

My thanks for the book, I'll return it within the week.

I'll admit I've thought about it but I'm not sure the sharingan would translate as well aesthetically in wood as it does in human flesh.

From Hidan

Prove it.

Mine's shorter but it's better. Not so greasy.

You'd be healed from everything if you just prayed to Jashin!!

It's a. Fucking. Fishing pole. He has like fifty! Why's he making such a big deal out of ONE?!

I did it and I'm NOT sorry.

Shit ain't my business but really isn't he too big for your sick-ass body?

Can't even tell you man.

It's not my deal but blondie looks cute as fuck when we go. Tell him I said that and I'll cut off your balls with my scythe.

You're like a fucking vampire dude. You NEVER SLEEP!

When I tried saying it Kakuzu almost knocked my head off my damn neck.

Stop being so gay and come with us. It's not like you've got shit else to do that day!

Whatever asshole.

I would rock your fucking world and I wouldn't break your ass in half like shark-dick.

Just use your creepy eyes and put him to sleep first! All we gotta do is cut off like two inches and he'll freak so bad he'll have a heart attack!

You know what? I'm gonna lend you my Jashin bible. One you read it you'll see I'm right about everything I keep telling you!

From Zetsu

You hurt his feelings, child. He said you're the only ones left of your clan and you never wish to spend time with or even speak to him.

I can smell it coming from your pores.

Time is merely an illusion.

These trips to Konoha are proving quite lengthy ...

You should probably lay low for a bit. Kakuzu finally received the credit card bill for all of those tea and dango shops.

That's a lovely idea but I doubt ALL of us could go to one place without causing some chaos.

There is no heaven and no hell. There is simply NOW, and whatever realities we choose to create for ourselves.

I believe he's started to think of himself as being your "big brother". Could be either good or bad for you.

From Deidara

Art absolutely IS a "life necessity". Heathen.

As good as friends as two assholes can be, right?

Mine got softer since I started using the eggs. It's slimy but after it sets in, it's really great.

If I wasn't goofy about Danna and EVERY OTHER man in the world died, then maybe.

Should you really be drinking?

Maybe if you went to sleep! Fucking hell you're creepier than a vampire!

Yeah but if I DID like girls I bet I'd get more than you!

I just don't get why he wears it? He's hot as FUCK without it.

Would Kisame get mad if I asked him if he wanted to come with us to the aquarium?

Just get Konan to do it. She's nice and has soft hands.

Hidan wants to but I'd rather stay home.

Yeah I could teach you but yours wouldn't explode so what's even the point??

From Konan

Thank you! I can't believe you noticed! <3

You need the fresh air, come with me for a walk.

Don't listen to him ok?

Yes and no. More so "yes".

I wish I had the time for it.

I'm almost done with that book, you have the sequel right?

It's like every single particle of dust on the road just magically finds it's way into my hair.

If you're trying to avoid back pain, I'd advise against it.

Not that I don't appreciate them but ... did you go out at one in the morning to pick them?

He talks too loud and I've already got a headache.

Thanks for letting me borrow it, Nagato's hair is much healthier now.

From Tobi/Obito

You think THAT was bad?? Try BATHING the son of a bitch!!

You, me, and Sasuke could do it though. It would be more powerful than any clan that ever existed.

Just because it tasted good did NOT mean you needed to eat that many in one sitting!

I applaud the idea but with as weak as you are right now I don't see how it could work.

He's taller than you now. Still with the short hair though.

I can see I was wrong in criticizing Fugaku's parenting style because you ARE a handful, little cousin.

Four hours of uninterrupted sleep would do you a world of good.

Why should I give that up?? It's absurdity to think that an UCHIHA has a PUPPET as a romantic rival!!

It gets so hot and itchy under this thing.

A vacation somewhere warm and quiet would be nice.

Your idea of atonement is even more fucked-up than mine.

No but HE said I had to.

I'm honestly surprised nobody has tried to kill him yet.

I wish it was so. I truly do.

It's loud but you have to admit it's better than being alone.

Come and eat.

Depends on what your definition of "helpful" is.

From Kisame

Did you eat something yet?

Did you get any sleep last night?

Come here, I drew you a bath with lavender oil.

Can I help that I legitimately worry over you?

Just a snack? Just so you have something in your stomach? Please?

The water is warm and gentle and I bet a swim would cheer you up.

I forgot how much energy they have, I ran myself ragged trying to keep up with them!

Then come let me brush that beautiful hair of yours.

I understand. I don't agree but I get it.

Then just let me kill them. Problem solved.

Come on, please, just one quick little nap. An hour max.

They invited us but I know you don't really like red meat so I said no.

Fortunately MY bed is VERY warm and cozy. Come and see.

It might shock you to learn that there are other foods besides dango and tea.

You shouldn't even have to ask, that was 1000% Deidara.

There are other, and perhaps more interesting, ways of building your stamina. <3

Never imagined that one day I'd want something like this, but here we are.

Is it a little one or a big one? If it's small just take a deep breath and use your shoe.

I love you as well but dammit brat you'll be the death of me for sure!

[confused-bi-queer]

New Banner Sunday!

It's a lot of ajolotes because they're Mexican and a frog because that's a MalMage joke @erzbethluna and I have <3

Thank you for tagging me @monbons @orange-peony @thewholelemon @roomwithanopenfire @j-nipper-95

@nausikaaa @fiend-for-culture

I'm panicking because time is running out for me to finish my AU fic, but it's... going?? at least 300 words keep me consistently going:

LUCY

I started to wonder… Maybe he didn’t like something about me that other boys did. Davy has never been interested in touching, or doing anything related to that. I thought maybe he was with me for some unknown reason because he didn’t act like a regular boyfriend would. We figured out how to hack the spell of the gender wards to get me into Mummer’s, but it was never to be intimate with me; he genuinely wanted me to be there so badly he figured out a spell for it. But the look he’s giving me right now is making all those questions disappear.

The prompt said "no davy-hate propaganda" and i took that personally.

My headcanon for Davy (because... malmage shipper) is that he's a mlm gay man. But with this Davy/Lucy fic I'm starting to view him differently. He has such a lovely way of being with Lucy, and while I don't think he was in love with her the same way he felt for Malcolm, I truly believe he loved Lucy and that he developed lust as well. He had to, at one point. And Davy is such an 👉👈 type of guy, I enjoy writing him lusting for her. It's ridiculous, lovely and cute to look at him wanting Lucy. He's so lovely.

And speaking of Malcolm Grimm...

I'm having a ridiculous amount of trouble picturing him and drawing him. If anyone has any tips of how to draw long, slightly curly hair, help me. I don't know how to draw that, and I want to also draw more Baz, so the hair must be worked on.

And while it's slowly going his presentation card, I want to show Malcolm's music taste:

Vann is short for Vanora, his older sister.

I don't think Malcolm listens to music religiously, I think he does it more to share moments with those he loves and as a love language. (Also half of Malcolm's personality was made out of Davy; he has no Personality).

Thank you for coming today, see you soon!

Now tagging: @martsonmars @artsyunderstudy @aristocratic-otter @johnwgrey @cutestkilla

@noblecorgi @drowninginships @valeffelees @mooncello @emeryhall

@stitchy-queerista @pato-roldnart @brilla-brilla-estrellita @rimeswithpurple @imagineacoolusername

@alexalexinii @blackberrysummerblog @thehoneyedhufflepuff @theearlgreymage @hushed-chorus

@larkral @whogaveyoupermission @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @ic3que3n @ileadacharmedlife

@palimpsessed @bookish-bogwitch @facewithoutheart @letraspal

[rotating-hyperfixations]

Yellowjackets - 03x05 Live Watch Thoughts

Work was stupid today because I accidentally became important, but now it’s time to watch lesbian cannibals make poor life choices! All thoughts are below the cut for spoilers

We’re getting them flashing to their younger selves when Misty’s looking at Lottie’s body, I will eat it up everytime

Misty just taking DNA samples and Lottie’s personal effects, she will solve this murder god dammit

Misty refusing to address Shauna, she’s petty and I love it

Shauna is now accusing Misty, I hope their beef never dies

Misty’s going to avenger her girlfriends’ deaths

I can’t believe they just left Ben with animals and didn’t make him a proper jail or anything lol. Like yall built shelters, you can build a little prison

Honestly, I’m a little shocked Lottie had a cell phone

Shauna wants to light him on fire, my baby girl is so fucked up

New lore being introduced to the card draws, I imagine the king of hearts will be important in future hunts?

Now Shauna is stalking Misty, how the tables have turned

Also does Misty drive a Kia?! That feels so on brand for her

I want Shauna to drive on the turnpike so bad, I know she has the worst road rage

“It was not murder…per say” never change Shauna

Walter and Shauna team up is going to get people killed

Tai gets to kill Ben, gay people friendly fire at its finest

Also why is Tai so non chalant at lunch after learning that Lottie’s dead. Girl try to make it look like you care a little.

Van thinks Tai killed Lottie, not a soul on gods green earth is shocked

That stupid ass stair case is just in an apartment building/hotel?!

Not that I’d think anything else, but does Misty have a DNA kit or some shit to test all this stuff with?

Lottie’s parents are divorced?! Do any of their parents love them?

Malcom Matthews at the scene of the crime; I knew I didn’t like that man

I know Shauna wants too much; but I do feel like she would’ve been the best choice to kill the man, simply because she is just so desensitized

Very big fan of the Van comforting Tai scene, very sweet

SHAUNAHAT CONTENT!! I love my loser lesbians

Melissa, I love you, keep Jackie’s name of your mouth.

I do think it’s important that Melissa lets Shauna know that she loves the dark parts of her

Wait she made Shauna a little knife holster, that’s sweet

Oh god they made Misty tell Ben

Well I guess they made him a nice last super?

I’m growing attached to Ben, I don’t like this

Lottie leave Akilah alone!

At least Travis is coming I guess, feels like it’s the least he can do after he sicked Lottie on her

Does Lottie’s dad have dementia or Alzheimer’s?

What the fuck did the out Elijah wood in

Van is such a loser, god I love her

Omg finally gay sex in the woods!

Omg Van tops?! That was hot

Courtney Eaton drop your arms routine, you are looking quite fine today

Also, lowkey, Courtney’s Australian has been sneaking it a little bit this season. It’s kinda sweet

Akilah/Travis friendship?!

Jesus Tai, you brought Van with you to see your ex?!

Other Tai clearly made in appearance when she met up with Sammy

God Walter and Shauna are lowkey wlw and mlm hostility coded

Does Tai really need to kill this rabbit, like did we did not need that

I’m curious if those are real caves or if they made them. Like they shot outside for the most part, so they strike me as real; but that also seems like a lot of work

I kinda feel bad for Walter because I do think he genuinely cares about Misty. But he can also choke

Shauna’s guilty conscious lives on

Ohh man now I feel bad for Lottie and her dad. Like he did love her.

Shauna is still a good person! She’s traumatized as hell, but she still cares!

Van, you dumb baby, that’s your wife’s alter ego! Get it together

This season is very Twin Peaks, I have never seen Twin Peaks, but the vibes are similar

Akiliah feeling hope in your hallucination state feels like a bad sign

Why did they send the JV girls to get Ben

The necklace death marker continues

Other Tai took over, thank god I guess

Jesus Christ Lottie, do not throw yourself in front of a loaded gun

Also damn, I guess other Tai Chi piece been fucking dead on

Shaunahat making each other worse content, things you love to see

I just know Shauna is turned on by this

Did they intentional send Shauna and Melissa in to go maim him. Because you can’t keep putting Shauna in these situations and can’t be shocked when she gets wors

[nobody-expects-the-inquisitorius]

Unfiltered Tales of the Underworld ramblings (Bane arc), spoilers below!

IS THAT BABY BANE

Street rat Bane!!

He's so cute

WHY?? DOES THE MOTHER LIZARD HAVE TITS

??? Hello hat man??

Blue baby has to be Bane, right? Then who's the be-hatted fucker

I'm going to call the green baby Robert de Niro

Hello droid who suspiciously has Cad's initials

Well this guy certainly acts a lot like Cad. So far I'm intrigued

I just don't want them to mess with our discord server lore but I know they're gonna 😭

Oh, so his parents are dead?

Hello again very creepy hat man

Child labour™️

COLBY???

IM SORRY WHAT-

COLBY

I can't accept this

Damn, they traumatised Robert de Niro

Noooo he left his bestie behind

He looks so saaad 😭

So is Niro going to be the green guy from the trailer then?

Episode 2 let's goooo I'm worried

He's starting to get the accent!!

I ain't ever calling him Colby sorry

OH NO IS THAT THE GIRLFRIEND I KEEP SEEING PEOPLE TALK ABOUT

That man is gay sorry I refuse to accept this

Hat man's name is Lazlo?? Well this isn't confusing after coming from WWDITS

THE OMINOUS HAT ROLL

It would have been nice to see some of Bane bonding with Lazlo so we actually got the justification for why he reacted like that

HI AGAIN ROBERT

He's going by Cad because that's his fucking name, I don't know a Colby

NIRO FELL FOR THE COPAGANDA??

So what happened to Niro?

THE DONNING OF THE HAT

OH SHOOTING THE REFLECTION

THAT WAS A GOOD MOMENT

I don't know how to feel about this. It's a good story but it changes so much of what I'm used to from RP stuff and ahhhh

(and I also genuinely dislike him being called Colby)

MMMM THOUGH NEVER MIND THE MILD CRITICISM THAT PILLAR LEAN

Gettim Cad

PICK HER UP AND RUN FFS

Stop staring into each other's eyes longingly

Noooo :/

He has to have a backup plan

OMINOUS ENDING HELL YEAH

Okay that final shot was cool

FINAL EPISODE IM VERY SCARED

So how much time passed?? Quite a while, from the look of Robert

YAY HE GOT OUT

Is this a no good deed goes unpunished reference?

Oh my god my friend called the dead wife/girlfriend storyline

Hate hate hate hate hate

So Arin hooked up with Niro, right, cool, this is fine

ISAAC????

ISAAC?????

WHY ARE WE GIVING THEM HUMAN NAMES EXCUSE THE FUCK ME

I have a fuckass cousin named Isaac I hate this

I'm going to guess that's Bane's kid and not Niro's. Oh. Oh I hate this

It feels?? Wrong

Even without the context of having my friend's better lore I don't know if I would like

Oh it's the woman with the inaccurate tits from the start

AAAAAAA

okay I still don't like this but the Bane entrances/exits? Top tier. So fucking cool

I love the music they have for him

Why do you caaaaaare you're gaaaaay

Deputy what when who the fucken

So we got Marshal Robert de Niro and Deputy JD Vance?? Okay great fine this is fine

The Walk™️

STOP CALLING THE MAN COLBY

Why is the baby here???

We never really got to see any development with Bane and Arin. They played cards once and now suddenly she's his whole world

AND TWO SECONDS AFTER I TYPE THAT WE GET "YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME"

Well the music is good at least

I don't knowwww I feel like this could have been a really good storyline if it wasn't the stereotypical heterosexual crime drama of gangster's girlfriend hooking up with another guy while he's in prison

AND THAT ENDING WAS SO???

I AT LEAST WANTED CLOSURE

Iiiiii don't know. Maybe I set myself up to dislike that because I'm so attached to what my friend's put together but also.

Everything just felt a bit rushed

The hand out for Isaac was emotional but also???? The buildup was

Fuck

I'm incoherent goodbye I'm going to watch Ventress

[uboat53]

Here we go, in no particular order, here are some of my thoughts on what we'll see in the next year or two based on the election results:

THE ECONOMY

Unless something pretty serious happens, it's very likely that Trump will make good on his promise of massive tariffs on all American imports. Given that we import a lot of stuff from the rest of the world (check any manufactured item in your house, I'll bet it doesn't say "made in America"), that means prices will likely increase substantially. The predictable result of that is probably a pullback of consumer spending and a recession. If we're really unlucky, we'll have inflation and a recession at the same time, the dreaded "stagflation".

More broadly, it's likely that the only thing Republicans will do economically in terms of legislation is pass a massive, deficit financed tax cut for the rich. Again. Honestly, this is an easy one to guess because it's what they do every time they have power. It's direct effect will probably be minimal (though any effect is likely to be inflationary) although it remains an open question how long the US can run up the credit card without any major economic consequences.

We're also likely to see a wave of deregulation. Expect the new administration to try to roll back all of the consumer protections that Biden has put in place, end the lawsuits against big corporations that are exploiting their market power, and generally tilt the playing field back in favor of big corporations and wealthy people.

Oh yes, and let's talk about the immigration thing here. Trump is promising to deport millions of illegal immigrants (by current estimates there are about 11 million of them). And, look, I'm not a professional economist, but I think it's reasonably easy to guess what happens when you remove millions of people of working age from the labor pool. Again, this is likely to be inflationary (less workers available, so pay and, thus, costs, go up) and recessionary (fewer consumers buying things) at the same time.

PUBLIC HEALTH

With a knowledgeable public health expert like RFK Jr. leading the government's public health efforts, what could possibly go wr… sorry, couldn't finish that with a straight face. Yeah, Trump's gone off the deep end public health-wise ever since the public health people kept pointing out how badly he was screwing up his last major public health emergency, so now he's only listening to quacks and nut jobs.

The odds are pretty good that vaccines are on the target list and the administration will reduce or eliminate programs that encourage them. It's a good bet that, in the next decade or so, we'll see a resurgence of diseases like measles and polio that we thought we'd eradicated. Of course, if we get another pandemic like Covid, I'd bet on a high body count and massive economic impact as well.

We're also likely to see more and more women dying due to pregnancy-related complications. Biden was pushing hard to enforce a federal law that requires hospitals to save women's lives, but it's doubtful that Trump will keep doing that. He'll also likely not enforce any other protections and allow even stronger crackdowns on abortion in states that are eager to do so.

MINORITIES

If you're not a straight, white, cisgender, Christian man, things are likely to get a lot worse for you over the next four years. Look for the administration to take every opportunity to attack gay and trans people and to promote Christianity over other beliefs. The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice is also likely to be neutered, as it has been under every Republican administration since at least Reagan, so many states will happily violate the rights of racial minorities without any federal pushback. The same is true of laws and regulations that protect women.

Beyond the official, though, we also have to face the societal effects of another Trump Presidency. Despite the loud protestations of his supporters, Trump is beloved among the racist far-right, and for good reason. His administration borrowed heavily from their ideas and their language and even used their personnel and there's no reason to expect a second term to be any different. There is a reason that right-wing terror surged in our country in Trump's first term and it'll probably do the same now.

Expect more shootings of black and brown people and more attacks on Jews and Jewish places of worship. The racists believe the President is on their side and he's given them no reason to think otherwise.

THE NEXT ELECTION

All right, I'm going out on a limb here and this is my longest range projection, but it's a fairly reasonable bet that Democrats will take/retake the House of Representatives in 2026. I can confidently predict this because the party that controls the presidency has lost House seats in nearly every election since the Great Depression. Based on current results (which may change as western states count more votes), the Republicans will have a 4 vote margin in the House and the average midterm loss is 27 seats. Heck, they lost 47 seats in 2018 the last time Trump was in office. Even the Democrats who had a good year in 2022 still lost 10 seats. Seems like a pretty good bet.

As for the Senate, that's a bit harder to predict. At the moment, Republicans will have anywhere from 52 to 54 seats when all the votes are counted from this election. Based on the 2020 Senate elections map (that's the class of Senators that will be up for re-election in 2026), I'd count anywhere from 2-4 seats that the Democrats might be able to flip, the rest are probably safe. So is it possible that Democrats could retake the Senate in '26? Absolutely. Is it likely? Good question. Ask me in a year or so.

CONCLUSION

It's likely that life in America is going to get worse over the next year or two, how much worse depends a lot on how we react. At best, we'll likely face further inflation (every economic policy Trump has voiced support for is inflationary), increased sickness and disease, and increased attacks on the lives and well-beings of anyone who isn't a straight, white, cisgender, Christian man. At worst, well, all of those things but much more intense.

If we're fortunate, Democrats will take the House and serve as a much-needed check on the worst impulses of President-elect Trump. If not, at least the next election will likely do it, though a good deal of damage will be done between now and then.