#but also not everyone is going to be brilliant

[livwritesstuff]

Today was a bittersweet day – the last day of the three-month parental leave Steve had taken when their daughter Robbie was born before he headed back to his counseling job.

Eddie knows that Steve is feeling torn a few different ways about going back to work.

On the one hand, Steve loves his job, and he’d worked his ass off earning his doctorate so he could be a trauma therapist just like he’d planned. Kids had also been a part of his plan, obviously, but as more of an in addition to type of way, rather than instead of when it came to his career. Eddie knows this, and he knows that Steve is excited to go back, to reconnect with his patients after three months apart.

Eddie also knows that their kids are everything to Steve in a way his job will never be (duh), and Eddie had seen the way Steve refused to ignore the gravity of today – the last day he doesn’t have to share his time with anything other than their daughters.

Steve had been emotional about going back to work in a similar way the first time around with Moe, and he’d called home about eight or nine times during his first day back in the office, asking how things were going and if he’d missed anything. Now, Moe is two-and-a-half (and some change, if they’re being technical), and Robbie just hit the three-month mark a few days ago. This time, Steve had done his best to split his time between their two daughters, and it’s not all that different from their normal day-to-day, honestly, just…something heavier in the air, maybe.

Now, Moe’s all fresh and clean from her bath, her bangs slicked back with the rest of her damp hair (Steve had put on a whole show of planting kisses all over her forehead and saying, “is this where you’ve been hiding your brilliant brain from us?” which always sends Moe into giggling hysterics), and Steve’s got her all bundled up in a big fluffy towel, snuggling her close with one arm as he balances Robbie on his chest with the other, all of them piled into a rocking chair while Eddie sits stretched out on Robbie’s rug.

“I’m probably not gonna be home when you wake up tomorrow morning,” Steve tells Moe, and it’s not the first time he’s brought up this particular subject today, but, y’know…toddlers. Really gotta nail in the point sometimes with toddlers, “‘Cause I’m going back to work, so I have to leave early to drive into Boston.”

“Why do you hafta drive to Boston?” Moe asked.

“Because that’s where my office is. Remember a few weeks ago when we visited my office?”

“Yeah and they met Robbie.”

“That’s right,” Steve nodded, “Everyone I work with met Robbie. I got to take a break from work when Robbie was born, and now it’s time for me to go back.”

Moe’s eyebrows are furrowed.

“But…I don’t want you to go.”

“I know, bug,” he tells her, “I miss you and Robbie and Daddy like crazy when I’m not home with you.”

“So why don’t you take more break?”

“I sorta took all the break I’m allowed to, sweet pea. It’s time for me to go back to work.”

Eddie looks at Moe, sees the cogs turning in her little brain as she tries to figure out a way to convince her dad to stay home with her.

“But what if you just don’t work anymore?”

It’s a good question, Eddie knows, and she’s not the only one asking it.

Not too long after Robbie’s arrival, when Max and El had come to visit and meet the new baby, Max had privately asked Eddie if he thought Steve might throw in the towel on the whole career thing this time around. Again, it’s a fair question for anybody who really knows Steve, anybody who sees how much he loves their kids and how much he loves being a dad, even if Eddie knows the answer is no. Still, it’s a close no.

Steve hums sympathetically, “Maybe someday, but I like my job. I get to help people, and I worked hard in school to be able to do that. Someday you might decide you want to have a job where you do more school and get special degrees.”

“Like what kinds of jobs?”

“Like a doctor or a lawyer, or maybe you want to work in a lab and do research on something. It’s a big world, Moe, and you can do whatever you set your mind to."

"I want to be an astronaut," Moe tells them.

"Well, there you go."

"Or I wanna be a cookie."

"Oh-" Steve's eyebrows furrow as Eddie starts to laugh. "Alright..."

"That's my girl," Eddie says, "Astronaut or pastry. I like it."

[quan-yizhen]

I think Shen Qingqiu (Jiu) dying by Binghe’s hand and Binghe’s hand only was the plan all along and why I think he makes such an interesting villain and why I don’t think he needs “redemption.” because in his eyes LBH was his only equal left so if he absolutely had to fall by anyone…it would have to be from him. He (SQQ)—in his eyes—already won. There’s nothing to atone for.

Because here is the thing—In this hypothetical you are SQQ. An immortal peak master with massive imposter syndrome and an unchecked inferiority complex not at all helped by the only other person in the sect who is intimately aware of your background and also happens to be your superior and #1 enabler. Aforementioned enabler had abandoned you and is now in this dance of pity and poor communication (all directed at you) and not once do they explain themselves. A part of you doesnt really want them to, because surely the only options are ‘I forgot about you’ or ‘life was good and you weren’t worth going back for.’ So you’re also not giving them a chance to explain because having someone confirm out loud (‘you’re forgettable, you’re worthless’) what you already think about yourself is wicked work.

Anyway you receive upon your peak one day a prodigy of a student, who never has any family come visit or send gifts, who is so sweet and kind and has nothing to do with anything. So you kinda hate him for it. Because how can someone who clearly has no one and from what you know came from nothing and no where important pretend like everything is or will be fine? You know very well what the world does to people who have nothing and no one. So why is this brilliant student of yours determined to be so willfully ignorant? Why lie to yourself like that? And if there is one thing you hate more than anything, it’s liars (see: The Enabler.)

So you make the life of this random, completely innocent bystander hell.

You tell them in more ways than one ‘you are forgettable and you are worthless.’ Why? Because you want them to break character. You want them to wake up. You want them on your level because then that’d be at least one more person who is. That’d be one more person who gets it. And if they hate you for it, it would be justified. It would be a truth and you both would be at an understanding.

So years later when they do come back, and they are broken beyond all recognition, and they hate you, and they hate them, and everyone has to pay—they are finally on your wavelength. This isn’t someone better or more principled than you. This isn’t someone you perceive necessarily as being lesser or an insult to your “good nature.” It’s an equal. And there is nothing that you would want or respect more than to at the very least, die by the hands of an equal.

[olderthannetfic]

I hate the convos about "passing" but I do think it's something that a lot of us in the LGBTQ+ community need to think about with the threat of a second Trump administration looming - that those of us who don't fit into certain experiences that are going to be more attacked, who are less "visibly" queer are going to be safer, and should use that relative privilege to take care of the people in our community who are more vulnerable. But I don't think that this falls along the old online discourse lines. Like, yeah, cis bi people who are in long-term F/M marriages or relationships are, as a class, going to be a lot safer right now than a lot of others in our community, particularly if they're relatively gender-conforming. An aroace woman who doesn't date or have sex is going to be better off than a lot of women of all sexualities given what Trump-Vance plan to do to abortion rights and also just like, lifesaving care if someone miscarries. But like.... the same is true for me as a single, childless cis lesbian (who isn't particularly butch or otherwise would be pegged immediately by heterosexual cis people as queer). And all of this is very relative. A, say, "passing" binary trans person will likely be safer than someone who doesn't pass but all trans people are at risk. All LGBTQ+ people are at risk if we lose employment protections on the federal level or something worse. Including that het married bi person, if they're out to anyone who could rat them out.... and like, some people might poo-poo it as "well that's small potatoes" but is it really? Everybody should be able to be out, and people who don't otherwise "seem" queer being out creates more acceptance for everyone. Everybody should be able to just like, talk about their relationships and crushes and history of them in passing without having to worry about losing their job over it! This sucks for everybody. But idk.... as someone who is relatively privileged within the LGBTQ+ community myself, I feel like there is a convo we could probably and should have about relative privilege within the community, but it's just been spoiled by this attitude of using it to declare people as more or less queer and otherwise invalidate everyone's identities and experiences. And to act like the people who are relatively privileged are wholly privileged and don't have any struggle, as keeps happening with how people talk about oppression on this website (e.g. acting like white women aren't "for reals oppressed" like misogyny isn't a humongous problem and particularly in the U.S. considering that like, the country has twice now decided they'd rather have a rapist felon than a competent, brilliant, highly qualified woman for president, and of course the terror of Project 2025 staring down every woman, whether attacks on reproductive health for cis women and other AFAB people or attacks on trans rights and healthcare for trans women)

The other thing is that there are other examples of "relative privilege" that aren't something you can discern from someone's identity label or how they present themselves to the world. Stuff like having an accepting family, being in a profession or social group, or a relatively liberal and accepting part of the world. I've got accepting family and friends (who themselves are mostly queer too), live in a blue state, am in a very pro-LGBTQ+ profession that is full of LGBTQ+ people (academia/arts). The het-partnered bi person who has a homophobic family and friend network and who is in a conservative area and profession is in a way more precarious position than I am.

Also, the focus should not be on kicking anyone out of the community or making ranks of oppressedness, but instead on building community - and finding ways that those of us who are relatively privileged can help those who are not. How cis LGB people can help trans people. How people with more accepting families and friends can help those who don't. How people with more money can reach out to people who don't who are at risk of losing access to hormones. How people with legal backgrounds can help same-sex couples who worried about their marriage being invalidated or losing their kids. I had a friend in grad school who came out as a trans man and his parents rejected him, so my family invited him to stay with us for Thanksgiving and holidays. And the same goes in reverse. Finding someone who is very vocal about calling themselves "queer" who seems safer and more privileged than you shouldn't be cause to yell at them for it, but to recognize them as a potential lifeline for you if things go south. Reaching out in solidarity rather than condemnation is good for everyone.

--

[0ciestiel0]

Brilliant Minds ep 7 musings:

5 mins in and Wolf is already backseat surgeon-ing Nichols. “That makes sense” yes wolf. Nichols is a very good surgeon. He knows what he’s doing.

They really wanna hit us in the feels this episode with Roman. Everything with him and Alex was just heartbreaking given the outcome. But Roman and Alex did get to be together for Romans last moments as heartbreaking as that is it’s also what both of them needed. They got to say goodbye. And most importantly Roman was finally heard after all this time and got to communicate his wishes. Again heartbreaking. But the storytelling was *chefs kiss*

Not Wolf and Nichols having a cute lil awkward moment in the doorway before giving Roman and Alex time alone. Like what was that look my dudes 👀 come on now.

Nichols giving Wolf a great lil pep talk, gonna need to watch that again a few more times. “I admire that about you.” You like him and everyone but Wolf can see it.

Letting Roman die at Wolf’s house is just so. EMOTIONAL. The storytelling in this episode is really top tier, even if it’s trying to hurt me.

Simon really coming off like an ass this episode. So is his mother. Wolf was the one most opposed to letting Roman die and she had the audacity to think he didn’t try hard enough? And of course it came down to hospital publicity and investors. While yes, that’s important, that technology could be life-saving/changing for all kinds of patients, Wolf is still absolutely right that doctors have an obligation to their patients. It seems highly unethical to force Roman to continue care he doesn’t want. And Simon and his mother KNOW THAT.

The kiss between Wolf and Nichols came earlier than I expected, I expected the end of the season earliest, but I’m ok with the way it happened and boy was it my favorite scene. Ok but Nichols lil pep talk is a close second. Loved seeing Wolf finally choose to let someone in, to choose wanting to be happy with someone. Bonus seeing Nichols follow Wolf as he pulls away from the kiss and then Wolf having the audacity to look surprised, like my dude YOU kissed HIM. Why are YOU surprised?

I’m sure they will have an obstacle or two since they didn’t go the slow burn route (sorry but slow burn means like 4 seasons minimum of build up not 7 episodes) but since ep two it was clear Wolf/Nichols were being written as love interests.

I wonder how different their relationship experience is between Wolf and Nichols. Teddy Sears mentioned a more causal/party style in an interview when talking about Nichols but we really haven’t had that shown in canon aside from Dustin from abs class and Wolf it seems just avoided relationships of most kinds. Seeing them navigate something with feelings will be interesting, since both may lack experience in that department.

I still need to know what happened to Wolf’s dad. Is he dead? Or in some long term car facility? The camping flashback makes me think dead but he told Roman he hadn’t seen his dad in a long time making it sound like he’s alive. I’m hoping we get that answer by the end of the season.

Also heartbreaking moment, Van learning Erika has feelings for Jacob. Like my dude really thought she liked him back. I was rooting for him tbh. Dana looked like she was picking up on a little bit of that.

[lurkingshan]

Love in the Big City Drama: Episodes 7-8 Book Club Discussion

We have come to the end of our journey with this beautiful story, and I'm having all kinds of feelings about it. I'm looking forward to one more round of conversation about it with all of you.

As a reminder, these are the questions we originally discussed for Part 4 of the novel, and this is the meta round up, where you can see all the brilliant things you initially wrote about it. Here are your official discussion questions for episodes 7 and 8 of Love in the Big City, courtesy of @bengiyo:

How does Yeong's continued reminiscing about Gyu-ho position the relationship with Habibi in the drama?

Yeong moves to a new apartment at the end of this section. How does the conclusion of his time in the old apartment encapsulate his journey?

What did you make of the new material in this section, including the presence of Yeong’s father and the subplot about Eun Su’s marriage?

How does the presence of the T-aras in the drama alter your perceptions of the end of the story?

And a few questions about the adaptation as a whole:

What are your thoughts on the four different directors used in this process?

Do you have any final reflections on the drama as a linear storytelling experience?

Do you have any reflections on the cast?

As always, you are welcome to use any or all of these as a jumping off point for your own posts, ignore them and post your own thing, or just participate by sharing and commenting on other people's posts. Please create new posts with the questions if you want to use them rather than adding on responses to this post--it will be easier to capture everyone's content if it's all in separate posts in the tag. I will be tracking everything posted in the [#litbc book club] tag and posting the weekly round up--look for that to go up next Monday ahead of the next set of discussion questions. Feel free to also directly tag me to make sure I don't miss your posts!

@becomingabeing @belladonna-and-the-sweetpeas @blalltheway @elimstillnotgarak

@colourme-feral @doyou000me @dramacraycray @fiction-is-queer @avorbl

@hyeoni-comb @littleragondin @literally-a-five-headed-dragon @loveable-sea-lemon @my-rose-tinted-glasses

@neuroticbookworm @poetry-protest-pornography @profiterole-reads @serfergs @starryalpacasstuff

@stuffnonsenseandotherthings @thewayofsubtext @troubled-mind @twig-tea @wen-kexing-apologist

@impala124 @shinjiikar1 @h4ppyfr066y @moutheyes @waitmyturtles

[southparkthetwosidesofacard]

I am listening! I am invested! Please yap about your au idea!!

AHHHHHHHHHIIWJHDIEHDIANRRUFIFBFIEBF HFHDB I GET TO YAP ABOUT THIS YAYYYYYY

ok so, I honestly don’t have much of an idea as to where exactly this would go, but just for the basics (which I’m mostly coming up with on the fly, I’ll be honest) here we go:

(this ended up being quite long so everything else is under the break, sorry!)

obviously, ford and bill were not always… separated, as it were. growing up and into his teens and early twenties it was just stanford pines, no “alter egos” or masks or anything of the sort (much as he would’ve loved to be able to hide who he was).

then, when he moved up to gravity falls and began his research, he began to realize that there were so many things that he wanted to do, couldn’t do, because of his reputation. he needed to keep his record clean because if he didn’t, he could easily have his grant money revoked, and any future opportunities in the pursuit of science dashed due to one small slip up. so, he began to look into, well, changing who he was, splitting himself, so to speak, as to be not one but two at the same time.

eventually, it worked somehow (probably through a potion, as jekyll uses in the original book), and he found himself as not just one, but seemingly two people in one body. there was the stanford pines most people knew, the eccentric, odd mad scientist that lived in the woods at the edge of town, and then there was another, completely new facade. bill cipher, named for his often frustratingly vague double speak and extreme use of overly complicated metaphors (yes I’m giving bill’s name a reason, it sort of annoys me that theres no reasoning for hyde’s name in the book but thats a rant for another day).

to begin with, bill seems content with simply switching back and forth at ford’s will, being the way for ford to kick back and let loose with no fear of the repercussions. at least, until ford begins to have trouble getting back to himself. thats when he begins to doubt the true intent of his other self, of bill. its around this time he calls fiddleford. the man may have studied engineering, but in this world he also knows a little something about psychology, and paired with his brilliant mind, ford’s very precise notes of the situation (ahem the journals ahem), and the fact that hes basically ford’s only friend, it felt like the best course of action.

of course, in actual gravity falls, ford does his best to hide bill from fidds but here bill is exactly why ford called him. anyone else would’ve called him crazy, tried to experiment on him or worse, but fiddeford would never do any of that and ford knows it (just to be clear, I do think that if I ever wrote anything for this au college fiddauthor would be heavily implied here).

fidds does his best to help but when bill goes on a rampage one night, going so far as to kill the heir to the northwest family, preston northwest, he knows ford is beyond fucked (just a heads up, the person bill kills being preston may change but idk, we’ll see if I ever actually come back to this au haha). the reason fiddleford originally makes the memory gun in this au isnt for himself, its actually to try and erase the memories of what bill has down from the townspeople’s minds. the only problem is that the next time they see bill all of the memories return and everyone is back at square one. its just too much for fidds, and he begins to turn the memory gun on himself in an attempt to get rid of the fear, pain, failure, and regret that helping his friend brought him.

ford on the hand is mortified by what hes done. I highly doubt that there would be a confrontation type scene, it would be closer to how the book goes, where ford quickly begins to be unable to switch between stanford pines and bill cipher. the au would probably “end” (as in if I turned this into a fanfic/comic/whatever the story would end there) with ford figuring out where stan is, calling and begging him to come up to gravity falls and help him, before ultimately turning the memory gun on himself and ridding himself of “bill” once and for all.

the only problem is that in order to remove bill, he has to remove stanford pines and all that he is as well. now, we all know how this goes in both the show and most aus; stan or ford or whoever it is that is possessed by bill erases themselves/has someone erase them, is weirdly blank for a bit but ultimately regains their memories. well here it… wouldnt work like that. bill(/hyde) is an integral part of ford(/jekyll), to remove bill(hyde) is to remove stanford pines (jekyll), theres no way around that. so, ford sort of ends up in that “blank slate” state for the rest of his life. he called stan prior to erasing himself because he knew stan would take care of him no matter what, and he was right. for the rest of their lives, stan takes care of his brother to the best of his abilities, and while they never get to sail the seas together, and some nights bring unimaginable sorrow for stan, knowing he’ll never speak to his brother again, despite the fact that very man sleeps just a few doors down the hall, they make it work. ford (or, well, whats left behind when you remove everything that makes a person who they are) sees that his blankness hurt stan but he cant do anything about it, and to begin with almost avoids stan, at least before they finally have a talk in which stan reassures “ford” that he’s sure whatever reason ford may have had for erasing himself, it was worth it.

as for fidds, well it mostly works out in a similar way to canon, he does eventually regain most memories but of course some bits are still fuzzy. the fuzzy bits are never fully recovered, as the one person who may have been able to fill in the blanks no longer exists, but fidds is still mostly alright.

the journals… sort of exist? but not in the way that they do in the show, and what does exist stan had from the very beginning. ofc the twins still have to deal with monsters and spooks and whatnot in gravity falls, just not anything that has to do with bill (which means that, of course, weirdmageddon physically cannot happen). at some point, dipper begins to insinuate that the weirdness of gravity falls might have something to do with “ford’s”… situation, which is when stan finally fully comes clean with all he knows about the situation. its not until fiddleford begins to regain his memory, however, that any of them learn the truth of what was going on.

oh yikes, I wrote a lot more for this than I meant to, whoops!

oh yeah, I’m naming this au the “Dr. Pines/Mr. Cipher” au for now, but if anyone has any better ideas or if thats already been used for something else, please let me know!

also, @aaabatteryy I LOVE MARINEFLAMES’ CONFRONTATION ANIMATIC, THAT WAS ACTUALLY WHAT I WAS REFERENCING WHEN I MENTIONED OTHER ANIMATIONS USING A SIMILAR CONCEPT TO THIS AU

oh, and I just want to say that I’ve never watched the musical so thats why this doesnt (intentionally) incorporate any elements of that.

[xxxcertifiednerdxxx]

You’re never too dumb for Jesus btw

[starsxinxthexbluexsky]

The Untamed | Episode 42 [Single-Log Bridge]

⤳WangXian’s Favorite Scenes [8/∞]⬿

[naomistares]

okay which tlt bit should i comic-atize next because i genuinely enjoy doing them

[astrobei]

on june 11th 1993, mike wheeler drags his vaguely amused (and highly endeared) boyfriend will byers to the movie theater, shells out for the largest size popcorn they have available, and gets 2 premium, middle-row seats to watch steven spielberg’s jurassic park

(he’s been vibrating with anticipation ever since the first trailer came out. he makes will go see it with him another five times before it leaves theaters.)

[mariocki]

The Long Good Friday (1980)

"Alan found him dying. He'd been nailed to the floor."

"When was this, then?"

"Well, it must've been just after you saw him and just before Alan saw him. Otherwise, you'd have noticed, wouldn't you? I mean, a geezer nailed to the floor. A man of your education would definitely have spotted that, wouldn't he?"

[hanzajesthanza]

the scene i find most relatable in all of the witcher saga is ciri in the korath desert, and idk what that says about me, but… probably nothing good 😅🙃

[alexcharmsyou]

PLEASE HELP ME COPE WITH FINISHING MY FIRST WATCH THROUGH OF SHAMELESS PLEASE I NEED ALL THE CARE AT THIS VERY MOMENT

[hopefullydreaming]

okay so I don’t have coherent thoughts bc when do I ever but, I just keep thinking about doctor who and how like, bringing David and Catherine back allowed a reset?? of sorts?? so ncuti can be this fun doctor not carrying so much weight and yet it’s still not all brushed over and like probs will be addressed but it’s not going to be as dark a character as 10 maybe?? and also we get to finally see a happy ending for the doctor and companion which is stunning and beautiful and just. yeah. it’s just rlly rlly NICE like idk what else to say I know some people are like there’s no need to bring them back it’s mediocre it’s fanservice it’s not enough fan service well IT WORKED FOR THE TRANSITION AND THE EMOTIONAL IMPCT AND WAS UN AND THATS WHAT I WANTED SO THERE

[melhekhelmurkun]

What is the point of fanfiction if not to manipulate canon to your will like an evil little guy spinning a web of lies

[a9saga]

the brilliant green - sayonara summer is over // it is that time again