#but it's hard to articulate without rambling

[katatonicimpression]

How come you dont vibe with comic sambucky? I haven't read many comics with either of them so I'm curious

I guess it just feels kind of lopsided? But not in a fun way. And then sometimes it feels a different kind of lopsided but in a bad way.

Like, it's easy to read buck as being infatuated with sam. He's got his "I care about not letting him down" thing, and his "I can't shoot him, he's too pretty" moment. But from Sam's point of view, he's just a mate. That's the only way I see it idk. He likes him, but you don't get the impression he's a massively important feature in his life, unlike with the mcu where you can feel the attachment and reliance.

(sidenote: I actually think this is a good thing. The times when sam's personal life gets overtaken by steve's entourage (especially ian) tend to feel off - they often make it feel like Sam himself views steve's life as more important than his own. He has his own life, his own family and friends. His 2015 series understood this - i.e. that he needs his own supporting cast to feel like an actual protagonist, and not steve's accessory.)

But yeah this lopsided-ness isn't a bad thing per se, you could go somewhere fun with it. I actually think Cold War missed an opportunity here. By having Bucky be attached to Sam in a way that Sam doesn't really reciprocate could make for a really good showdown between them. You have bucky pretending to be evil in order to trick steve into going along with something, and he's expecting to fight steve. But no, he gets Sam instead. And sam is like "Bucky's being a dick, so I'll fight him." because he's not too emotionally invested here. But bucky is thrown because he's not emotionally prepared to fight someone he has all this admiration for and nothing but good will.

This contradiction in perspectives comes to a head. Boom. Emotional climax. Changes the course of the plot. Falling action etc etc

But no, they didn't do that. They just threw a fight between them at the end there with some dialogue that didn't feel meaningful to me at all. Sam came into the situation with no real emotional investment and left it that same way. Just clocking in and out of work at the Captain America factory.

So that's the first thing, it feels like Sam doesn't have these feelings, and they don't really do anything with that asymmetry because I don't think they realise it's there, because these writers don't think Sam needs a complete internal world.

The other lopsided thing is the Falcon and Winter Soldier mini series. This just gave me bad vibes sorry. It's a mini series about Bucky and his pain and his problems and his wacky antics. Sam is there to play the straight man to his antics, and to nurture and tend to him.

Sam should never be cast as the straight man. In any sense of the term.

I am fundamentally uninterested in a version of this dynamic that is primarly driven by Sam looking after bucky. So, for me personally, interepreting their relationship in this series as romantic would turn it into something I don't like. Sam looking out for a friend? Fine, good, in character. But make it romantic and suddenly it's wrong to me.

I am fully convinced that this is not an appealing dynamic to sam. Like, a person who's coming to him for comfort and help? Not his type. Look at the people he's drawn to: Leila, Steve, Thor, Misty, Kyle (ignoring jet because that's just so so so ooc and regretable). It's people who are dominant, maybe authoritative. People who don't need anything from him, but want him anyway. People who pursue him, not people he's chasing after. He's specifically into Thor, and not Jane. Idk I just think that this version of their dynamic is one which is hard to imagine Sam even wanting.

This is all just very subjective opinion. And I do think that it's easily possible for them to get some interactions that give them a tone that I am into.

Personally, I am very keen on having them interact more outside of Steve. I think they're relationship to each other is more interesting without him there (and certainly without ian there. why is ian always here?) Hell, like I said, Cold War absolutely could have given us a more intense vibe from them. But it didn't. So, as it currently stands, I just don't vibe with it.

[sonic-adventure-3]

progress for today! i unfucked the textues (for realsies this time), made the ribbon (just a transparent texture on a plane), created 4 hand poses (rock, paper, scissors, gun), completely finished segmentation and ordering/naming/grouping bones, and created 2 simple poses!

i think im fr starting to reach the end of this project... in the span of about a week and a half ive gone from having absolutely zero 3d modeling knowledge whatsoever (minus like 1 day of a camp i didnt attend 7 years ago) to having a full ass character i built completely from scratch. wild. it's... humbling, to know i made this. wait, no, i mean the exact opposite of that. its self-aggrandizing. this shit is fucking awesome. i made this? im fucking awesome. i think im a god-like being now. thats how it works right?

anyway. stuff to do next: props (bag, gun), separate the pupils into an object so i can make her look anywhere other than straight ahead, a couple more poses, maybe a simple animation, and learn how to render shit in blender.

i think i'll consider this project finished once i have at least one prop and render some nice looking images and a turnaround gif in blender. but after that, down the line, eventually, i'm gonna muck about. i wanna at least explore rigging and making a walk and skate cycle, maybe a more complex animation. i wanna study how bird beaks are animated and modelled so i can and as for stuff i plan to do in the future unrelated to this project, i wanna model more characters, sonic character and my ocs and humans, i wanna learn blender even though its so scary, i wanna learn rigging and animation, i just wanna do everything. i'm having a lot of fun with 3d as a medium, i hope i continue to have fun and make good art!

[transmutationisms]

ok i apologise if this is a bad question because i don’t know anything about politics but i liked your bourgeois failpolitics post and would love it if you could expand further especially on how their ideological horse blinders lead them to justifying/reproducing what’s trapping them in the first place especially given how some of them, in theory, have “principles” & i guess how the show explores politics in general. again sorry if this is poorly formed i know nothing!!

hmm, not a bad question, but many directions to go in here.

first of all, none of them claims to be anti-capitalist ideologically. shiv wants to be a moral capitalist, kendall wants to be a coolguy capitalist, connor wants to be a virtuous capitalist (different from shiv's morality), and roman wouldn't identify with any ideological term but thinks capitalism is inescapable and omnipotent, and therefore not worth objecting to in any way. so even aside from their class interests, there's no ideological inconsistency between any of their political positions and the actions they take to preserve or strengthen waystar.

since shiv and connor are the ones with political principles, i think they're a good place to start.

shiv is a liberal, meaning she believes in individual liberty, private property, and equality under the law. her line "what if a good person ran waystar" is telling: she doesn't want to alter the fundamental structure of the economy or waystar, but she thinks someone with (her own) principles should be running the propaganda machine. she's being genuine when she talks about reform and wanting the company to be better, but this should not be mistaken for any kind of opposition to the economic structure.

connor self-identifies as a libertarian, so he's in the liberal tradition but with an increased emphasis on individual liberty. by this, he means private property rights, so his politics broadly oppose government intervention (regulation, social welfare policies, labour protections) except where the police / military state and the carceral apparatus are concerned (these are necessary to protect property). connor never had any real hope of inheriting waystar, but his politics are still broadly in support of it, insofar as it's a corporate interest and connor sees 'creating wealth' as a political virtue.

roman and kendall are simpler in this respect. as i've written before and many people have pointed out, kendall wants to kill dad and wants to be a 'good person,' but has no concrete sense of what that means and therefore no principled opposition to anything about waystar or its economic functioning. roman sees capitalism as totalising and inevitable, so it's not something he would ever bother taking a stance against, plus taking any kind of stance is lame anyway. fundamentally he wants daddy's love (kendall is motivated more by daddy's respect, which is why he needs to become a killer).

so the siblings' tendency to reproduce and reinforce their own oppression basically comes from the fact that none of them has the ideological or epistemological creativity to espouse any kind of anti-capitalist critique. there are nuances here (shiv places more value on the idea of market competition, like when she opposes the move to buy pierce in s2; connor sees flows of capital and flows of reproduction as part of the same political economy, hence his usury and onanism line), but at the end of the day they all accede to logan's economic worldview. in their minds, there's no reasonable or viable alternative. they have extremely limited understandings of political ideology, as evidenced by them all thinking that shiv's liberalism is, like, radically different from logan's. in many ways the intra-familial ideological disputes are a smokescreen distracting from the underlying economic convictions they all share.

as to the show's handling of politics in general: it's strange to me that more people don't point out that jesse armstrong has at least a passing familiarity with marx and has referenced him in discussing the show. the main narrative drive for the show is psychological, not ideological; nevertheless, it rests on a view of politics that basically builds off marx's base-superstructure distinction, with politics as an ideoological superstructure determined by the economic base. this doesn't mean people with the same class interest will have exactly the same ideology (obviously, the sibs don't; idt armstrong goes in for that type of crude determinism), but capitalism has a tendency to narrow the field of envisioned possibilities, hence the way that all four sibs fail to see any other economic arrangement as viable or even worth considering.

[saturnville]

stolen moments, major john egan

pairing: major john "bucky" egan x black fem oc (amelia mae egan)

content: john manages to call amelia after not hearing her voice for weeks.

an: this was the top choice in the poll so far. I've been anxious to write so we knocked this off the list first lol. enjoy!

“Are you alright, Major?” 

They’d just arrived at a new station. It smelled like sweat and fear. Men streamed throught the doors like a school of fish. Their deep voices shook the brick walls as their conversations bellowed throughout the building. Dozens of men struggled to keep their composure. He was one of them.

He was overwhelmed. Tired. Desparate. His clothes felt tight against his body. The scent of gasoline and fumes clung to his vest. His hat damp and chilled against his forehead. His shoes were coated in black soot.

John’s eyes caught the telephone in the corner of the station. It was secluded from the rest of the quarters, in a corner, protected by a frosted glass divider. John's shoes grazed the dirty floor as he strode purposefully towards the telephone.

“M’fine. Head in and get your rest. Long day in the morning.” He didn’t know how he was able to make out coherent sentences. Gale stepped in, noticing his friend’s disheveled state and guided the men to the resting quarters. 

John’s shoes kissed the dirty floor as he stood long strides to the telephone. He shrugged off his backpack and slid it by his feet. His hands trembled as he plucked the phone off the hook and typed in the number he had engraved in his heart. 

It rang. And rang. And rang. His heartbeat was in his ears. His nails scratched as the black paint around the phone as he succumbed to his anxiety. He sent a silent prayer to God above. 

Then he heard it. “Hello?” John’s forehead tapped the frosted glass as he rested against it. Relief washed over him like a tidal wave. He’d never been particularly sensitive, but he was overwhelmed with emotion, good and bad, and hearing her sweet voice made his eyes well with tears. 

The words were stuck in his throat and all he could release was a heavy sigh. That seemed to be enough for her to identify the caller. “Johnny?” 

He shut his eyes. A lone tear fell from his eye. “Hey, Rosie.”

Amelia let out a soft cry. “Oh, thank God! I-I thought something happened to you; I hadn’t heard from you in weeks. Are you okay, where are you now? Is Gale alright, when are you coming…” His first instinct was to cut her rambling short, but the sound of her voice was the choir-like song his soul ached to hear. 

He’d gone three weeks without hearing her voice. It was the most tortuous three weeks of his life. For 21 days, he survived by remembering the last words she said before they hung up, Whatever you do, do not die on me, do you understand? I love you, John. I love you. I love you. I love you. It kept his heart beating.

A small smile tugged on his lips. “I’m okay, baby, I promise. Things got a little rough; didn’t stay in one place too long. I didn’t mean to scare you.”  

“I’m just happy to hear your voice…are you okay?” 

His stomach churned at her question. A feeling of despair threatened to creep upon him. Thirty men lost. A plane in the middle of the ocean. An uneasy stomach and even more uneasy mental state. His head pounded, his body shook with unwanted adrenaline, and his hands craved the feeling of her hot skin. He was not okay. 

“No,” he replied honestly, rubbing his eye with the stump of his palm. “I’m not okay but I will be. Especially because I get to talk to my favorite girl. Tell me about your day..”

He heard her heavy sigh. “Deflection won’t rid you of what you’re feeling.” 

“Talking about it won’t do too much good, either. It’s…it’s hard, Rose. I just.” John’s jaw clenched as he struggled to articulate what he felt. “I just can’t talk about it right now, Amelia. If I do, I don’t think I’ll be able to keep it together.” 

Silence stretched on, interrupted only by the sound of her shuffling on the other end. She was probably sitting at the edge of her bed. He imagined her, looking pretty in her long-sleeved pajamas and satin scarf, with a blanket tucked under her chin.

“Then how about this,” she started. “You make it home in one piece to tell me about it later, yeah?” 

“Always making demands,” John laughed. The first genuine sound of joy he’d made all day. And it made her smile. So wide that her cheeks were sore and her dimples made an appearance. “But you’ve got a deal.” He readied himself to speak again, but a tap on his shoulder interrupted him. 

Gale. Meeting with the CO in five minutes, he mouthed. John nodded. He ran a hand through his dirty hair. “Darlin’, I’ve got a meeting in five minutes; I’m sorry.  If I don’t call in the morning, know I love you, alright?” 

“I know. I love you, too. Don’t apologize. Just make it back to me.”

“Always.”

[lovebunnie]

Viktor did not know the first time he wanted to kiss Jayce.

It was hard to keep track of all the moments because of just how many there were. Jayce was a very easy person to want to kiss, with his handsome looks and incredible mind, paired with a strong work ethic and kind heart. Viktor suspected almost everyone Jayce met in his life had wanted to kiss him atleast once.

Jayce did not seem too interested in this fact, based on the amount of time he spent in the lab right next to Viktor. Their partnership did not allow for many relationships outside of a scientific purpose; it just so happened that Viktor really liked Jayce not only as a partner but also in general, just as a person.

So really, there were far too many times to count where he felt compelled to grasp his face in his hands and press their lips together. Some nights, Viktor would imagine Jayce running into the lab with great news of a secured deal or more grant money and just plant one right on his lips without thinking, before dashing to his desk while still chirping and leaving Viktor gasping.

He thought of a scenario where he found himself in the forge one night, just the two of them in the entire building, and like something out of a trashy novel, a shirtless and sweaty Jayce would pull him in by his hips and kiss him slowly and sensually before the rest of the daydream turned into something... else.

Once Viktor and Jayce were in the midst of a heated argument about how to conduct an experiment with or without proper precautions in place, and Jayce stood up and walked towards Viktor. He thought in that moment that Jayce was going to find a less conventional way of shutting him up and before he could articulate if that would've worked or pissed him off even further, Jayce had walked out the door. The next day he came back with an apology and they moved on stronger than before.

Viktor was almost embarrassed by how badly he wanted to kiss Jayce. He thought of how much he wanted to know just how Jayce would kiss, he wanted to see that side of Jayce and keep it all to himself. Viktor had Jayce in the lab but he wanted more.

When it happened, VIktor and Jayce were on long night number six. Days had passed since either of them had left the lab longer than it took to take a shower and brush their teeth. They could feel the edges of discovery brushing their fingertips, so close to a revelation.

"Only Piltovians would get bored of the ability for humans to fly," Viktor murmured as he adjusted a screw on the bottom of their anti-gravity contraption. "Why they needed something portable is beyond me."

"Now is kind of a bad time to start complaining, V," Jayce replied as he worked on finalizing the welding components. "This is going to work this time, it has to work-"

"It will work," Viktor emphasized. "And if it doesn't, we try again."

"If it doesn't I'm cracking open that bottle of wine I know you keep-"

Suddenly, the room was flooded with vibrant blue that had the both of them scrambling backwards. While before, the hexcrystals made the entire room weightless, now everything remained as it was with only Viktor's wrench floating in the middle, suspended in mid air. It was flying. It worked.

Jayce picked himself off the ground where he has fallen back and pushed his goggle up to his forehead. "Holy shit, V, it worked!"

Viktor removed his goggles as well, mesmerized by the suspension of an object isolated within their own chamber. The blue of the hexcrystal had died down and left the room in a cool glow, and Viktor felt a smile tug at his lips. "This is.. incredible."

"Oh my god, it actually finally worked. I need to write down everything we did, what kind of screws did you use? What is the temperature of the room, what runes did we use?"

As Jayce rambled on, Viktor stood up and took in his frantic energy. His hands were moving quickly and his eyes were searching for his notebook while he paced the room like he couldn't sit down. His hair was disheveled from the times he ran his hand through it in frustration and his eye bags were getting more and more pronounced. His face was leaner and exhaustion draped over him like a blanket. Objectively, Jayce looked kind of like shit.

Viktor felt a spark in his chest, he couldn't look away.

When Jayce made his way back in front of Viktor, he smiled warmly. "This is such a huge relief, I was really starting to get concerned that we were going to have to completely start over, but now we can start with trials and-"

As Jayce spoke, the spark grew and grew until Viktor could ignore it no longer. He pulled Jayce down mid sentence and pressed his lips to his, locking them together.

Viktor's hands cradled the sides of Jayce's face, keeping him in place while Viktor pressed his lips harder and tilted his head ever so slightly. It felt right, for the first time in a long time. Viktor was used to not feeling included but in this moment it felt like it was meant to happen. Their kiss was always going to happen in the wake of discovery, how could it not?

A few seconds passed before Viktor gently pushed Jayce back, their breaths shared in the close space. Jayce was silent, and Viktor began to quietly worry that maybe Jayce did not feel like this moment was perfect to him. The thought devastated him; there would be nothing crueler than losing Jayce as a friend.

Viktor took a step back as he looked away. "I'll get started on those trials, we can start with the screws to see if-"

In that moment, Jayce reached out and pulled Viktor back towards him, connecting their lips again in a kiss. One hand made its way to the nape of Viktor's neck while the other held his jaw gently. This second kiss was dynamic and Viktor found himself getting lost in the motions. In all the day dreams he had, he never thought to imagine that Jayce would want to kiss him back this badly, this fervent need to claim his mouth. Their partnership truly knew no bounds.

Before things could get more heated, they broke apart once more and Jayce pressed his forehead to Viktor's with a gentle laugh. "I've been wanting to do that for so long."

"What a coincidence," Viktor purred as he tugged Jayce in again. "So have I."

[sincerelyneo]

i don’t know how to properly articulate my feelings at the moment so let me just rant.

when sm announced that they’d be making a new boy group (riize) i was super excited; especially since the group was set to debut shotaro and sungchan (ex members of nct) who i really liked. and when the group eventually debuted and had good music i was fully ready to tune in and support those boys.

however, when seunghan’s hiatus was announced, my feelings toward the group shifted. all the content and new music just felt off, like there was sad tension around it. for me this was weird because i consider myself ot7, and i love those other six boys a lot (don’t get me wrong), but for me, i couldn’t fully support the group on principle.

this was because every time i saw content of the group i had this gnawing feeling in my mind that would ask the question ‘in what world is it acceptable to punish and penalise a person for having a life?’ people keep pointing out that seunghan was a teenager in those pre-debut photos that were leaked (without his consent, btw), as if it changes anything. whether he was 17, 23 or 40, having romantic relationships is normal, and the fact that he’s being punished for that is just disgusting and disappointing.

i was really excited yesterday when seunghan announced his return. i even thought about officially launching a separate blog that i’ve been working on for riize, which i’d put on the back burner since i was keeping my support minimal. but now, with him withdrawing from the group, it’s honestly left me feeling sick.

i really do love those boys, but i can’t support the group in good conscience—and i feel guilty about it. i think it’s because it’s obvious those boys aren’t being protected. it makes me wonder if the fandom and company would turn their backs on another member if their privacy was similarly violated. that’s what i mean when i talk about it on a principle level.

this whole situation feels dystopian, honestly. it’s insane. and sm keeps allowing it to happen—like with karina apologizing for her relationship not long ago. it’s heartbreaking to see talent and hard work thrown away because people can’t accept that idols are real human beings with lives and emotions, not products to buy and sell.

this is so rambly, and i hope it made sense. i’m just really frustrated by the news and disappointed. and like i said, i still love all seven of those boys, but i’m struggling to fully support the group knowing that sm and these fans have ruined a man’s career without a shred of remorse or care. it’s terrifying, truly.

[mmkin]

what a mindfuck

As a teenager, I was a huge fan of Neil Gaiman. I bought the entire Sandman graphic novel series as well as a bunch of various novels or borrowed them from other people. When MeToo started and all of these guys that we thought were wholesome were outed as sexual predators, I, like so many other Gaiman fans, were certain he'd never be one of those people.

When the news about Neil Gaiman came out, I hoped it wasn't real. I waited to say anything about it because I wanted to be sure. But after reading the various things, I am just so fucking heartbroken.

Me and my siblings and cousins watched the Cosby Show reruns when we were kids/teens so when the shit about Cosby being a rapist came out I was like FFS. Then other guys like Kevin Spacey that I admired, etc etc. But I was able to move on/deal with it/etc.

Still, I thought, not Neil Gaiman, not him. He's just too cool/nice. I thought, of all the guys out there, Gaiman would have to be at the bottom of the list. I was so fucking certain of it, so to have to accept that ugliness about a man I thought was beautiful was an especially bitter pill.

So many of his books/graphic novels were beautiful and got me through some really hard times, and there were times when i was just astounded by this brilliant line or paragraph or idea of Gaiman's and wishing I was more like him.

Definitely not the case anymore, and if someone like Neil Gaiman can be like that, then it honestly makes me wonder what sorts of ugliness lurk in people that I think are beautiful (I mean beautiful in a mental/emotional/artistic way, not physically) and it's left me shaken in my faith in people.

EDIT - I wrote the OP fresh, without any editing so I know it comes across as rambly but I just had to get it out, and I did. Now that I've had more time to think, I can articulate myself a little better.

No one is perfect. We're all flawed creatures, but a lot of men manage to not have 'assaults/coerces/disrespects women/is a creep' as one of their character flaws and I sincerely thought that Neil Gaiman would be one of those people. With other people I liked who were outed for shitty behavior, there's always a certain level of disappointment but with Gaiman it just feels more personal even though we never met one another. I sincerely, truly, honestly expected and thought better of him.

[snickerdoodlles]

oh my god fucking ✨ yeah ✨

mental health in general is one of those things that will have me backflipping out of stories so fast, i've actually forgotten how much it irritates me. therapy in a lot of stories is just. shit. so often it's a throwaway line to justify why a character can suddenly express their feelings more explicitly in words than they did in canon (ugh) or just...throw them in a better place with none of the journey or any regression (i'm climbing walls).

i have two WIPs that explicitly deal with therapy to recover from trauma (one for Khun i've talked about a bit on here, another for Kim which uh. hahahaha), but a large part of those recovery storylines is that Khun and Kim make shit therapy patients. Khun's struggling to even admit he can heal, Kim approaches his with a battle plan because He Is Fine. they're gilb and sharp and guarded and angry, because trauma fucking sucks. it's not a linear progression, old things bubble to the surface, new things are hard to face, some days are just suddenly the pits, etc. they're not particularly nice to their therapists, but also that's the point. therapists aren't there to be your friends, they're there to help you work thru shit, and working thru shit sucks. but by dealing with their shit with their therapists, they're better set to work thru things with their loved ones and strengthen those relationships, which is the whole point.

so mental health and/or therapy fics miss the mark for me a lot when they just like...don't want to handle the journey of recovery. or the characters have to be the "good" victims who aren't too mean or difficult to heal, or therapy turns them nice because meanness can only stem from trauma, or whatever. bleh. and i think some of this happens because people see trauma as something to be erased by "healing"? i'm not sure how to better word that, but sometimes the healing journey feels more like it was approached as "how do we fix the trauma so that it no longer exists/it no longer touches you" vs "you went through something traumatic that affected you as a person, lets build a support network to minimize how it impacts you as a person in the future." i don't know if that makes sense? but it's like, the point isn't to "restore" the normal from before the trauma, a lot of times it's trying to build a system that keeps triggers from being debilitating, or give ways to cut off self-destructive behaviors, etc. i think i'm just rambling words at this point so i'm gonna shut up, but there's a very different vibe between a story that approaches trauma as something to cure vs something to grow around (*around not from).

re using Khun's mental health to rob him of his agency-- i know exactly what you mean, it was my primary complaint about a lot of Porsche-related posts and fic that came out right after ep4 and honestly the way a lot of people still handle kp's first fuck. a lot of it just...misses the narrative point of that sex scene, but beyond that like. more of the responsibility lies on Kinn's shoulders in that he sent other people away when he was too emotional to handle the situation with a clear head and he knew Porsche's decisions were in part swayed by the drugs still in his system, but Porsche was the one who pushed. Porsche was the one who chased when Kinn first pulled back. and there's a way to address the fact that Porsche was and is the one at a disadvantage in this situation that doesn't negate Porsche's agency in the choices he made or the things he wants, and a lot of that was missing because it's easier to paint things in a starker black-and-white one was wrong, the other the victim. and pulling that back to Khun-- all of Khun's choices are in some way influenced by his trauma, because his trauma scars run deep and the pervasiveness of his trauma is part of his character. but it's still only an influence on him and his decisions. sometimes big, oftentimes light. even for the big things like his extreme agoraphobia, it's still just one factor of many. trauma doesn't dictate who you are as a person or what you do, that's why you're able to heal and learn how to manage your responses to it.

☕️ on tankhun if it hasn’t been asked before or anything else in general.

ooooohhh my beloved Khun 👀 tbh not much immediately comes to mind? Khun doesn't usually get much focus in fic and while i might be hoping for some specific Khun headcanons or characterizations, it's easier to read around characterizations i disagree with for secondary character. the only hand and fast 'no' i have for Khun takes are any where Khun picks Chay over Kim, but i don't see that as much anymore. dunno if that's because it has truly died down or if i just have most of it muted, but either way i'm v grateful 😂 but everyone already knows that one, so a Khun characterization i don't much agree with:

very ""motherly"" (ie, soft) Khun

this seems to stem mostly from Khun saying he raised his brothers? ft a heavy dose of fanon characterization. but Khun having been a big part in his brothers growing up doesn't mean he'd be soft and/or necessarily a caretaker. Khun's still very sharp. i see his touches with Kinn and Kim being of the sort like, briskly yanking their clothes into order before they go out, doling out snark just as good as he gets from two moody teenagers, smacking them upside the head if they say something disrespectful, etc. Khun's still Khun. he's very impatient, intense, and brash, and he's still working through a lot of trauma that sometimes has him lashing out at others. he's not really a tender person, as much as i love tender moments with him--tenderness especially is dangerous in their life, and Khun was raised as the heir to their world first.

this is more vague vibes than anything else? it's not anything that will immediately have me backing out, esp because i love little moments where Khun can be softer with his loved ones, but Kinn is the bleeding heart of the family and i disagree with any fic that puts Khun as the heart instead.

[ send a ☕, get a bitchy* fic opinion ] *personal preference related, we’re not here to be mean

[cruel-hiraeth]

i know this is heinously belated (i.e. too on brand for me), but i finally sat down and read everyone’s notes on my christmas tree.

i’m tearing up right now because i feel undeserving of everyone’s love and well wishes. this year has been incredibly hard for me, and i know i haven’t kept it much of a secret between moving blogs, countless emotional posts, and random hiatuses. but, in spite of it all, each one of you has stuck beside me. i truly can’t articulate how much your mere presence means to me. i feel adored beyond compare; i feel warm; i feel at home. and i will never be able to thank you enough for seeing me and my flaws, and loving me all the same.

moving into the new year, i have many resolutions and goals. one of them is to be more present for all of you. i want to return the kindness you have shared with me, because—and i mean this from the bottom of my heart—you have changed my life for the better. as difficult as it can be to exist peacefully on tumblr, i have met so many incredible people, and i have had creative sparks that i never thought possible. i can’t imagine my life without each of you.

all of this rambling is to say that i love you—yes, you—very much! and i’m looking forward to a wonderful 2025 with you in it ❤️

[rwbyrg]

How do you stay positive seeing all the negativity we get for shipping this?

I don't typically talk about discourse, but I know this is something pretty much every RG shipper has faced at some point. So I'll make an exception this once. For anyone that doesn't want to hear about it, I strongly encourage you to keep scrolling.

I'm gonna keep it brief(ish) and vague, but content warning for topics of mental health, abuse, general fandom toxicity and ship discourse.

The short answer is that I've had to completely remove myself from large fandom spaces. I left Twitter last fall, I'm not in any big Discords, and I never check the fandom Reddits. I block bullies, bystanders, and bad faith arguers liberally. I mute words and phrases I don't wish to see, I don't engage with the bad faith takes, and I don't go looking in tags much either.

I surround myself with a small group of friends that I enjoy spending time with and can trust. So I still have outlets to be able to geek out without risk of dealing with the wider community's negativity. This blog was also created as a safe outlet to ramble, join together, or spread positivity about the ship. I know how rough it is for us out there - in the RWBY fandom as a whole, as well as within our own RG shipping spaces. So since I can't be an impartial community leader that helps run events or bigger spaces for us like I used to, this is kind of all I have left to offer.

The slightly longer addition that got way out of hand:

I'm not going to say it's not lonely. That I don't miss being part of a more active, wider group of people that we should have every right to join. But despite how hard some of us tried, there was nothing we could do to change the toxicity that is so deeply rooted at the core of this fandom. The fact that I even tried as hard as I did was 1. a trauma response and 2. just ended up with me - and too many of my friends - getting hurt anyway. I can't regret it because it's how I made the friends that are so dear to me now. But none of us should have had to deal with the cyberbullying, harassment, dog-piling, backstabbing, suibaiting, or any of that other garbage to find the group we have today.

It's extremely fucked up. There's no way to sugar coat it. All of it is abuse and is genuinely traumatizing to many people. I am not using these as buzzwords either. Myself and a handful of my rg shipping friends have literally gone to therapy to help us heal from all the things we've experienced in this fandom. So I have it on the authority of multiple psychiatrists, therapists, and social workers that what I am saying here is true.

Rosegarden and its shippers have become the scapegoat of a toxic community. There are big name fans who've staked their entire platforms on the idea of a rival ship being canon. And so, when they see any of us suggesting a Very Likely alternative to their reality (even if we're minding our own business), they become violent and go out of their way to try and defend it. There are entire servers and friend groups built on bullying this ship and its shippers for similar reasons. Anyone that argues against them, no matter how valid their stance, or how articulately its delivered, is going to become a target. Because we are seen as a threat to a system they directly benefit from. If any of them were to acknowledge how unreasonable or ridiculous all of this is, what would that mean for the circumstances and relationships they've built for themselves? It would all fall apart, wouldn't it?

This is why we also see fellow RG shippers invalidating or blaming us for what we go through. Because some of them have become convinced that if they side with the bullies and paint themselves as "not like those shippers", then they'll be "safe". Which as we all know isn't true. Because the antis attack each other for the smallest offences that don't have anything to do with us anyway.

The RWBY fandom is not alone in struggling with this. Fandoms everywhere are seeing these same patterns play out in different ways. A lot of people without as many stakes in the arguments will often scoff or dismiss it on the basis of it being "so serious, when it's just about fictional characters". And to that, I say: bullshit.

First of all, the people on the other side of the screen dealing with all of this are Real People with Real Feelings and their own lives that are already hard enough as it it. And these sorts of environments, as previously mentioned, can and do cause severe harm. Second, none of this hate has anything to do with fictional characters. That is part of the reason why I am still able to enjoy this ship and this show despite everything I've been through here. Because the fictional characters are simply the means to an end. And while that end is different for everyone, for the bullies - by and large - it offers them power in the face of their insecurities.

The only reason this space is as toxic as it is, is because the loudest voices are often the most emotionally immature. All the reasonable people see the infighting going on and know that engaging with it is a pointless waste of energy. As someone that did try to fight it, I truly don't blame any of them for staying uninvolved. But power comes in numbers; so until a large enough group of the reasonable ones come forward, this fandom will only continue on the course it's headed.

I rambled a lot and I'm not even sure how much of this is relevant to your question. If i were to give a tl;dr to answer you, it is this:

You need to curate your own experience by setting boundaries for yourself that cannot easily be crossed by people or content that is going to upset you.

Recognizing the reason people behave the way they do towards all of this has very little, if anything, to do with the show, the ship itself, or the people shipping it is very liberating.

Don't be like how I was. Don't try and force it when it isn't working. If you are in an environment or a habit that you are getting more harm than joy from: leave. It doesn't always feel like it in the moment, but it is better to be alone than to be surrounded by people who suck. And when you shed the ones that don't treat you well, you open yourself up to more like-minded people that will want to be friends with you anyway.

I say this genuinely with only love and support in my heart, but: touch grass. As often as you can, as often as you need to: get offline. Read a book, engage in other hobbies, connect with people in real life, go for a walk or just get outside if you can. When you start connecting with the reality on your side of the screen more, it puts how pointless and absurd so much of this discourse really is into perspective. Moderation is key.

I'm sorry that all of the negativity has got you down. No one wants to acknowledge how much this sort of thing can affect our well being, but I know first hand how bad it can get. None of it is fair. The feelings you're having are valid and aren't anything to be ashamed about. If you have friends or family you can rely on for support, reach out to them when you need it. If you're in a place where you think the help you need is a bit more specialized, you have my support and encouragement in making the call or doing the research to get started. Therapy isn't accessible and doesn't always work for everyone, but it's not the only option. Before I could afford it, I micro-dosed by reading self-help books and following therapists on Instagram, lol.

I'm not sure what else I can say, and have said more than I meant to anyway. But hang in there, you're not alone, and take care of yourself, okay?💕🫂

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

something something something about how both inej and wylan manage to escape their abusers at 15 but get stuck in the barrel while doing so something something I love your blog

Thanks so much! And ohhhhh Inej/Wylan parallels my beloveddd

You've made such a good and interesting point about them here and it also makes me think about how they both wear the grey imp costume when they dress as the Komedie Brute (I've talked before about how I think that all of the Komedie Brute characters have different symbolic relevance, such as Nina being the Lost Bride and Kaz being the Madman) because they both battle with a changing perspective on themselves after escaping their abusers. At different points early on in the POV chapters we receive from each of them (ie early Six of Crows for Inej and early Crooked Kingdom for Wylan), both express a want to disappear, a want to be unnoticeable in a crowd, a want to blend in and never feel seen or perceived again; this is where I like them to the Grey Imp, which alongside the orange madman, the blue bride, the red mr crimson, the black and gold scarab queen, and so would easily be lost in the wild, frenzied, brightly coloured crowds of West Stave where the costumes are worn. Inej wears the Grey Imp cloak at the start of Six of Crows, when they travel to Hellgate to break Matthias out of prison, and Wylan wears it near the start of Crooked Kingdom on the way to the boat that will take him and Jesper to St Hilde, where they will find Marya Hendriks. But later on in the books Inej and Wylan both undergo a change in this feeling, finding that the need to disappear was a product of their abuse and finding ways to overcome it. Inej describes the intent to "carve her name into [slaver's] bones" and Wylan acknowledges that Van Eck wanted the world to forget that he had ever existed and so chooses instead to make his mark and never be forgotten.

I love them both so damn much

But also, and sorry this is really more linked to your point and less rambly than the above I promise, but it's definitely such an interesting point that both of their initial escapes only lead to them being trapped in the Barrel. I can't find the right words to articulate it and I'm sorry but there's something about the Barrel's existence exactly the way it is that is both the saving grace and the oppression of almost all of the main characters (??) and I think that's absolutely fascinating. When Kaz buys out Inej's indenture with the Menagerie he tells her that he can't offer her safety and that he isn't sure that even exists in the Barrel and Inej accepts that, but I think that Wylan arguably saw it in a slightly different way because the Barrel wasn't the original source of his abuse, the upper echelon was. Ketterdam, and arguably Kerch society as a whole, is a world where everyone is taught severe polarities and each side is raised to judge the other. So in a world where Wylan had been abused and betrayed by the upper classes and by his own family, the belief that this side is wrong and the other side, being alone in the Barrel, was 'right'. And this is hard to explain without it sounding like I'm saying I think Wylan agreed with everything that happened in the Barrel because obviously we know that he didn't, but I'm trying to say that someone who believes everything in the world exists as either one thing or its polar opposite would subsequently believe that if one place wasn't safe the opposite place had to be, or had to have some semblance of safety somewhere, and that's why it's so much more jarring for him than it is for Inej when Kaz shouts at him "There is no safe!" particularly because Wylan finds it incredibly difficult to trust people and his line right before Kaz shouts this at him is "You said we'd be safe on Black Veil" and I think that this is such an underrated, painful moment but sorry I'm on a tangent again

I've lost track of my point now I won't lie, but hopefully this made some semblance of sense and thank you very much for the ask! <3

This has been another episode of DK Finally Gets It Together And Answers Her Asks Because It's About Damn Time (Working Title) thank you for joining me <33

[l1tw1ck]

got a reply on ao3 where someone was being ableist to me by using dyslexic is an insult, so I told them that was ableist and then they said "not liking your writing isn't ableist" (i never said it was) and then proceeded to use the r slur and then said "i could tell you're autistic."

so in order to fight the ableist allegation...you use more ableist rhetoric...i see 🤔

laughably ironic

rambling under the cut bc it's just ... hilarious

i wasn't gonna say anything about it on here bc it's not worth thinking about it any further than necessary but i just have to say something bc it's so funny to me.

i wish people knew how to insult me and talk about my work negatively without being ableist, racist, transphobic, etc. like, i'd rather not get any rude comments at all but if you're gonna be a dick at least be ethical about it 😭 how are you gonna READ a fic including things you DON'T like and then insult me over it?! why do people do this?!

i honestly can't be upset by this kind of thing because it's just so hard to take them seriously. people just sling slurs at me thinking it'll hurt me but it doesn't, because I know they're only doing it because they feel comfortable doing it online anonymously. if they were really about it they'd say it on their main account, but they don't.

it's hard to fully articulate my feelings and thoughts on this but man...reading their replies made me cringe

nobody has to like my writing or the type of content I create, i really don't care about that. especially because i don't even like my older work anyway (the fic in question is 2 yrs old). my writing style and skills are the way they are because I'm disabled and struggled throughout school because of it, not liking the way I write or thinking i'm not highly skilled isn't ableist. using ableist rhetoric and slurs is. i write purely for fun and i don't care if someone hates it because it's not like i'm trying to submit these to like...the new york times 😭

everyone has a right to feel disgusted or uncomfortable with my work, i'm not gonna cry about it or call them a "puriteen" (god i hate that term). but if you're gonna waste your time and energy reading my fics and then insult me about it, at least hold back on the slurs and bigoted language. insult me all you want but don't use my identity as a marginalized person to do it

oh my god i just remembered they also said i should give up on being an author bc my writing is terrible. Who the hell is reading smut fanfic and expecting shakespeare????? it's porn! porn is known for being shitty. it's the equivalent of opening up a video on pornhub and expecting an A24 level of production 😭 i'm an adult with a personal life, what do i look like emulating the skills and stylings of mark twain or jane austen for PORN? for free no less! 😭😭 ppl tend to forget that part

full respect to people who actually do write really fancy stuff for smut fics cause I don't have the energy for all that 😭 or even the skills honestly. i'm currently trying to make up for the train wreck that was high school (major depressive episode for FOUR years)

i'm ranting (i have a tendency to ramble...writer's curse) but man, i really hate how acceptable it is for people to say these kinds of things online. In the past, people would lose their jobs and scholarships for being bigoted but now you can just open up twitter on a new account/logged out and you'll see plenty of people saying horrible things (and getting PAID for it!) It's like a reverse of 2020, people were overly scared of being "canceled" and now everyone is comfortable using slurs against people. sigh.

like i said, insult me ethically!

anyways i'm gonna keep writing crappy fics ☺️ progress is slow but i'm still writing!

[mushroominaforest]

Aw man, it’s not looking good for me chat

I guess it’s time for a long ramble vent post, on the off chance it’ll help. Nobody needs to read this, I just think maybe articulating this might make me feel better

Every single night, I seem to have a breakdown. For the past three weeks, it’s been every night. Last three months it’s only been like, once or twice a week. I’m scared that I’m falling apart. I just want to be okay.

I hung out with my creepy friends because I guess I’m so desperate for attention and for someone to want me that I don’t really care anymore. I thought I didn’t care anyways, but now I feel sick and like I never want to have to see them again. I don’t even know why I’m friends with them. They’re racist, one of them is homophobic, and they don’t give a single shit about my boundaries. I actually said that- “Why am I even friends with you two”- while I was there, and it hurt their feelings and now I feel terrible about that. I probably shouldn’t but I feel like an awful friend for that. An awful friend to a homophobic girl who’s assaulted me a bunch of times cause she thinks it’s funny. And somehow I’m the bad friend, cause I was rude.

I don’t even know if it’s still assault at this point anyways. It was only the one girl this time, the other one (the tall one) wasn’t that bad. And like, I knew full well that stuff was gonna happen. I willingly went to a sleepover with people who’ve assaulted me. I barely even bothered saying no this time- so it feels wrong to call it assault. It’s definitely my fault.

I have an 81% in chemistry right now. I’m so fucking stupid that the best I can get is a B, and I’m supposed to be good at science. I’ve probably lost my physics A by now, and definitely my English one because I’m worthless and I can’t get anything done and it feels like I’m trying so hard but I just have nothing to show for it. This was my only chance at actually becoming a scientist, and I’ve failed. I need at least a 90% in chemistry 11 to even have a hope at getting into a science program at university. I don’t want to give up, but there’s no way I can get my grade up by 9% in three weeks, and I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to do chemistry related stuff anyways, I want to focus on biology. But I only got a 95% in bio 11 and that doesn’t even matter because every single course pretty much only looks at your chemistry grade. I’m so good and smart at anything related to mycology but I’m never going to get to study or research that because I’m stupid and lazy and my mental health being too shitty to get a decent chemistry grade as a 16yr old is going to fuck up the rest of my life. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive myself for that. I’m trying my best but it’s not good enough and I don’t think it’s ever going to be

My relationship with my parents is… eugh. My mom’s always mad at me and I just wish that I could tell her about everything that’s been happening but I can’t. I’d settle for asking her for a hug but I’m too scared to do that. My dad is my dad. He’s fine, but we’re definitely very far from being close.

I miss my brother and my best friend so fucking much that it hurts. Like actually. I can feel it. The two people that I’m closest to in the whole world leave my life at the same time, right before I start grade eleven, and I just can’t handle all of this alone. I need someone, and of course that led me to turning to my creepy friends, but that’s another mess. I miss my brother. I need him because my house feels so wrong without him. I’m so lonely without him. My best friend promised to be there for me when he moved out. She ducking promised. We’ve been best friends for nine years.

and when I actually really really really need her, she suddenly just disappears. I haven’t seen her in months. And she lives next door.

There’s a bunch of other stuff but I think those are the biggest things that are messing me up rn

if you read this whole thing, I’m very sorry

[f1orza]

Austrian GP thoughts, sorry if I'm not very articulate 🤓 just rambled really not proofread cause I'm busy

Do I think the collison was Max's fault? Yes. Do I think that the contact was inevitable and BOTH of their faults? Also yes.

Max shouldn't have moved during the breaking but they were both driving aggressive. They both wanted to be first, they both know what's it's like to be first and they won't settle for second now. I think in Lando's case he seen that if he wants to be first he has to try harder? Or that you actually have to be "agressive" to get onto that top step.

Do I think Lando was being childish? Yes. And I'm saying this as a McLaren fan.

Though I also think that any sport where you're fighting for first is inherently a bit childish. Might just be because I have siblings and we always used to fight over first place as kids 🤷🏽‍♀️idk

That doesn't justify Lando's response. Even when you're upset and running on adrenaline, you should be able to be handle your emotions I think. (I know as humans it can be hard) but if you're on live tv being broadcasted to millions of people...you should have a better handle on you're emotions; even if you feel you've been wronged, because no one will listen to you if you are acting like that. If you're levelheaded about it people are more likely to listen,(woman experience this all the time.) He needs to work on that and on taking responsibility as well, because the blame isn't 100% on Max.

That's one thing I can say about Max, I wasn't here for the "Mad Max" era but from videos and word of mouth, I can tell he's matured a lot and you can definitely see it. Max had every reason to be upset after this race (but not really), he had a good lead against Lando until RB's slow pit stop and then he went from first to fifth and some might say that's not bad, he still got points, and etc. That's not the point - his race was still affected but he did not go on live tv and speak badly on his friend.

They need to - like Max said - cool down and speak about it afterwards. I personally don't think it is worth ending a friendship with someone I considered a good friend but maybe they see it differently idk. It's something they need to talk about before the next race. And if they believe that it was worth losing a friend over, especially when they know this is situations that happen in racing then....

And I've seen a lot of people mentioning Lando still wouldn't have been first, even with the 5 sec penalty, he would'v been second with George being over 10 secs behind, I can understand why he believed Max ruined his race.

Some of y'all have a very bad habit of taking things fans do out on the drivers. If the FANS keep voting him DOTD that has nothing to do with him, if you want others to win then yall might need to vote more ig 🤷🏽‍♀️ and the chanting on the podium is again rude and nasty behavior but that again has nothing to do with Lando, I can promise you even if he would speak out it will not change anything, people will do what they want and what they feel they are entitled to do. I've seen it happen in so many fandom spaces, some people just don't care. Lewis has told people not to hate George after last race and I can guarantee that there is still people that do.

Now I've also seen people talking about Lando's attitude, I agree on some things and disagree on others. And this isn't me being a "Lando crazy fangirl" trying to justify his actions but I'm just telling it how I see it. So if you disagree okay, but do not start shit with me okay? 🙃 cause I know y'all like to fight around here 🤥

I think Lando feels stuck in that wasted potential. Where people having saying for years you have the potential to be a champion and even with all the hardwork you do, it doesn't feel like it's being shown. And especially as someone who went so long without a first win. Everyone's saying McLaren made a mistake by re-signing you or that your teammate is more deserving of the first seat. You feel like you're letting people down: you're team, family, fans and yourself. Not to mention all the hate you've been getting for NOT winning, then you'll definitely be in a bad headspace. And now that's he's won and KNOWS he can win, he'll want it all the more. He has the fastest car on the grid right now, he IS a good driver (contrary to what some of you believe), and he is a bit more optimistic than last year. Now that first is within his grasp, he's been hungry to get a second one. And I think he's been a bit overconfident about it, but that's honestly all drivers, I think if you are upset about Lando's ego but not other like Ocon than you dislike Lando for other reasons and are just finding excuses now. Even more so knowing he is second in the championship standings. Now that you know you're capable of being first you wouldn't want to settle for second, just like Max. Max constantly talks about not being there for second place but many of the other drivers feel that way, Lando is clearly one of them.

Do I think Max should have just let him go by? no. Because this IS racing and if you want to be first and become a champion you have to work for it. Max has never been the kind of guy to just let you pass him, not even for a friend. So Lando needs to understand that if he wants to keep fighting Max in the future. If you want to prove everyone right or wrong, only YOU can do that and by being overly eager and dangerous, well it clearly doesn't work in your favor 😭 (sorry lando 🤧). Only thing is you do is improve yourself and I'm not surprised that Max is a champion when he is always driving be it racing or sim. If your competitor's are doing a 100% you need to be doing 200%, that's the only way to get to the top.

[kell-be-belle]

TMAGP Thoughts (Spoilers)

I'm an RQ Patreon so I got to hear EP 1 & 2 of Protocol today and I know it'll be a few days for general hype, I need to share my thoughts about a very specific part while it's still fresh in my mind. I'm going to try hard to be articulate about it, but I'm also having a lot of feelings. Spoilers below the cut

On the subject of the program known as Norris. Now, I know that there's no official equation between Norris and Martin Blackwood, but for argument's sake, I'm going to treat them as related. This is also all my own speculation so bear with me.

The first significant sentence we hear Norris say in their reading is "I just couldn't face the thought of the rest of my life never hearing him again." and when I say it knocked the air clean from my lungs, I cannot be exaggerating any less. I immediately burst into tears.

First off, the fact that the reading specifically states the idea of never hearing a loved one's voice again, in a series where voice holds such power, has implications that I can barely even begin to fathom at this moment. And the fact that it is Martin's voice speaking about it must have reason. From what I've gathered in Jonny's writing, there isn't much that can be chalked up to coincidence and I most certainly don't believe that could be the case in something as highly anticipated as Protocol.

Now, as far as we know from the end of Archives, Martin has successfully killed Jon. It's highly likely that Martin is also killed, however, we can still hear him breathing and crying even as the Panopticon collapses around them. It's perfectly reasonable to speculate that Martin somehow survived the aftermath. Meaning, Martin could have very possibly been left to process the insurmountable grief of losing Jon by himself (Which has other themes tying back to his connection with The Lonely that I can't even touch upon)

The reading made by Norris talks about a grieving spouse who is going to some relatively extreme lengths to be reconnected with their husband, Arthur. It appears as though the dearly departed Arthur has somehow come back to the mortal plane. There could be a couple of explanations for this, but I think it could mostly likely be one of two. Either, something is masquerading as Arthur OR Arthur has come back, but has come back wrong.

So here is where things get really sad for me because this is the scenario my mind supplied me with upon gathering all this information:

Martin survives the fall of the Panopticon. Jon is dead. Martin grieves for his lost love. The grief becomes so deep and so all-consuming that Martin becomes desperate to scrounge for any scrap of Jon that could possibly remain. It leads Martin down roads best left untraveled and perhaps, but some miracle or more appropriately a curse, Jon has somehow come back, but, like Arthur, he's come back wrong. Perhaps something with the Eye or the Web or the other fears that possibly looks like Jon, almost certainly sounds like Jon, but is not Jon. And now Martin is left with an impossible choice. To lose himself in the sound of a voice he feared he would never hear again or acknowledge that voice speaks hollow words and silence it to himself permanently.

Anyway, this feels like a bit of a ramble, but I hope it makes enough sense. While a lot of it is speculation, I don't think the fact that it was that particular reading done in that particular voice after those particular events is without some significance. Only time will tell us the truth of what happened. 

[magiturge]

i get u i get u ....... hank is paying attention just so much that he's also paying attention to the littlest things, like the ladybug. little aspects of their conversation and body language. sheriff is one for talking, and hank is one for listening.

also dusty sheriff is so cute .... like a hamster taking a sand bath . Poor Thang

it makes me want to elaborate more

in the same way that hank can handle fighting in front of him and covering his back, they apply that kind of vigilance to every other activity because it's just the way they're written to run. focused on watching tv but there's something else also happening, and while they may focus on the tv, fidget their hands and maybe not even look at sheriff the whole time, they are still listening. they don't perform cues like nodding during a pause, or holding eye contact if they don't think it's necessary ( or the conversation itself is the main focus ), or doing a grunt or 'mm' to show they're acknowledging what is said. it is indeed more of a listener than a talker since there are situations where it finds it unnecessary to talk and if talking doesn't .. enhance the situation they won't do it. they can talk if they want to but in most cases with the sheriff it won't unless it has something it wants or needs to say without being prompted. funnily the way i write them, they don't really talk to each other that much.. sheriff talks when he's more anxious or he's high strung about something but otherwise, they 'speak' in different ways. sorry i am rambling so hard....... i have a lot in the way i characterize both of them that's in my head and i don't articulate well because i feel fail about it all