#cheating device

[anueutsuho]

Reimu: So, what exactly did we achieve from all this? Because besides preserving the status quo of Gensokyo... this all seemed relatively pointless.

Yukari: We can now conclusively say that oni win forever, and vengeful spirits are bad.

Reimu: ...weren't they always bad?

Yukari: No, only mildly awful. Now they have reached the Level 5 Menace: Bad.

[kittykatninja321]

Sheila worked with the Joker before. Do you think she ever thought to herself “if I’m not careful dealing with this guy he’ll be the death of me”?

[metabolizemotions]

... and the association of Vic with Beckett...

There's this thing about associating a woman with a man. Whatever happens, there is like a transference of hate to the woman and love to the man.

Men already get less hate doing something worse than women and more love when doing something minimally decent. The way the narratives are framed on the show don't help.

The choice to - make Maya give Beckett the bottle shifted the blame to her, absolving him. Somehow to some, she became the worst person on the show and whatever she did was her personal unique moral failings. Beckett's long list of poor choices made throughout his captaincy that endangered himself, his team n civilians... The resolution was merely his voluntary stint at rehab. Oh and quietly demoted. No mention of his wrongdoings again. Everyone's just fine with him already. Just like how they accepted his bad behavior right from the start.

The choice to - make Vic to not notice maya's distress and say those words about her, a longtime friend and teammate while being hyper aware of Beckett's state and being especially empathetic towards him.

I hope the speculation isn't true. It'll be a disservice to Vic as a character. It's the use of a well-liked female character to redeem a disliked male character.

On a show where already

... the men don't really need to work on themselves - the characters around them simply lower their standards to accommodate.

... toxic masculinity is conflated with addiction/ mental health issues,

... the men's addiction and wrongdoings - related or not to the addiction, are systemic issues - of the healthcare system failing Sullivan or an inter-generational alcohol problem trapping Beckett

I'm all for the empathy for the struggle with addiction n underlying issues but against using them as excuses to not hold people accountable for bad behavior.

[jaegerisim]

PT1

PT2

TW: internalized homophobia, manipulation, panic attacks and mileven making out (sorry y'all, it's for the plot and this the last chapter they'll do it. I pinky promise 😔 we'll get onto the Henderhop the next chapter 😀).

Also the whole diary thing in this chapter I've ripped off of the actual HP lore. 🥲 I also ripped off the whole byler fight from the s3 fight. 😞😞😞

Will was not especially happy to board on the Hogwarts Express unlike his future sister, El, who was bouncing up and down with excitement. Will had gotten to know her over the summer and despite his initial jealousy, he liked her a lot. She was sweet and caring with shoulder-length brown hair and big eyes.

Will really couldn't blame her for being so joyful, she was dating Mike after all, the most loving and perfect human-being ever and as her brother, he was happy for her. Yet, whenever he saw them together or heard them talk over the phone, his guts burnt with jealousy. El was a constant reminder of how Mike would never be his to love.

Normally sitting in a compartment with his friends would make Will happy but lately being with them made him feel alone.

Thus, the train ride had been, in Will's humble opinion, absolutely miserable. With Mike and El, in the seat next to him, not being able to stop kissing for 5 fucking minutes and Mike constantly shoving Will against the window to make room for their gross make-out session. To make matters worse, in the seat in front of him, Max and Lucas were loudly arguing but every 7 insults, they'd began to make-out sloppily.

It was as if both couples were in an intense competition of who could gross Will out more. Mike and El were clearly winning because at least Lucas and Max kiss lovingly while Mike and El just, ew.

Will was growing bored and he he'd brought his wizards chess set on board since it was one of his favorite games. Mike loved it too, and so maybe he wanted to play. Will remembered fondly how the both of them used to play it in Mike's basement. Secretly, Mike's basement felt more like home to Will than the house in which he lived. Since in Mike's basement he felt safe and mostly, loved.

So Will tapped Mike's shoulder in a poor attempt to draw his attention away from El. He was met with Mike huffing annoyed.

"Mike, do you wanna play wizards chess?" Will offered with a small smile.

"But now's not the time" complained Mike, throwing his head back.

"Is it? Is it not the time, Michael?" interrupted Will.

"Well, can I at least kiss El one last time?" giggled Mike.

"Oh, God." Max facepalmed.

Mike kissed El and reluctantly began to play. He constantly rolled his eyes, huffed and complained. Will tried to not feel hurt by his best friend's behavior but when Mike began to mock the game, something inside Will snapped.

"Fine! You win! Congratulations!" Will sneered as he got up from his seat, to leave.

"Will, I was just messing around!" Mike tried to stop Will from leaving but the other boy wasn't taking it. "Let's finish for real!"

"Just forget it Mike" sighed Will packing up the wizards chess.

"But I want to keep playing, ok?"

"I said forget it Mike, okay?" Will exclaimed "I'm going outside"

Mike put himself in between Will and the door.

"Move!" growled Will, pushing Mike and brushing passed him.

"Will, come on! You can't leave!" floundered Mike.

Bet, thought Will with bitterness.

"Listen, I said I was sorry, all right? It's a really cool game! I'm just busy with other stuff right now." Mike was clearly trying to excuse his actions but Will wasn't having it.

"Yeah, Mike, that's the problem: you guys are always busy and you're ruining The Party."

Will was finally getting to say all those things he'd felt over the the last month but hadn't told anyone out of fear. Out of fear of hurting Mike, but now Will couldn't give a fuck about Mike and his stupid feelings.

"That's just not true!" Mike shot defensively.

"Really? Where's Dustin now?" Will asked crossing his arms over his chest.

Mike remained silent as he pursed his lips.

Will asked this fully conscious Mike wouldn't know. Dustin was hanging out with Steve, someone who Dustin had bonded with over the summer. Will knew this because his brother Jonathan was Steve's boyfriend, and had told Will, Dustin tagged along on many of the couple's dates.

"See? You don't even know and you don't even care." Will spat "And obviously he doesn't either and I don't blame him. You're ruining everything and for what? So you can swap spit with some stupid girl?"

Will shouldn't have called El stupid, he knows but in the heat of the moment and with all the bubbling anger he felt, he couldn't care less.

"El's not stupid! It's not my fault you don't like girls!" Mike yelled.

That felt like a blow in the gut, leaving Will breathless and trembling. This meant he was weak and men shouldn't be weak (or so his father had taught him and Jonathan). Still, as much as it hurt, he wouldn't cry. At least not in front of Mike.

Mike must have known he fucked up because his voice became softer and quieter.

"Look, I'm not trying to be a jerk, ok?" Mike whispered but Will scoffed. "But we're not kids anymore, I mean, what did you think, really? That we were never gonna get girlfriends? That we were gonna sit in my basement all day and play games for the rest of our lives?''

Something in the way Mike said it sounded almost desperate and pleading.

"Yeah, I guess I did." hissed Will with venom and ironically Mike seemed more heartbroken than the brunet.

Will turned around on his heel and ran away towards the bathroom, trying to swallow the lump of rage he felt in his throat.

He truly was alone, he has no one to go to. He really didn't feel like going to his brother or mother and Robin was probably annoying (read: flirting with) Nancy.

When he opened the door and entered the bathroom, he sat under the sink and curled on himself. His breathing grew heavy as he repeated "Stupid, Stupid, Stupid" over and over like some sick mantra, until someone gently tapped him on the shoulder. He looked up and saw Professor Creel looking at him concerned.

"Will? Are you ok?" the teacher asked sitting down next to Will.

"No, not really, Professor." he answered. He felt comfortable with Professor Creel, he was the head of Will's house, after all.

"Call me Henry." smiled the blond "Not feeling too good, huh? Well, I can't have Slytherin's best Beater not feel good, now can I?"

Will chuckled feeling proud. At least someone seemed to appreciate his Quidditch skills.

"You know when I feel sad I like to write about it in my diary. Here, I'm gonna give you this notebook so that you can use it as a diary, ok?"

Henry handed him a black notebook.

"Um, yeah, ok. Cool" Will took the notebook and held it gingerly.

"Well, I best be off. I was having quite the discussion with Professor Argyle about a muggle herb called cannabis." smiled Henry.

Will didn't care about Mike saying Henry was untrustworthy, Henry was a great person who cared about Will unlike Mike, his former best friend.

Henry got up and left the bathroom leaving Will alone, once again.

Since Will had nothing else to do he decided to go inside the nearest stall, sit down and write something in the diary. So he took out the spare quill and ink he always had on himself. After all, he was an artist.

"Hello, my name is Will Byers." he wrote.

His writing disappeared and instead another message appeared.

Hello Will, I'm 001.

Will stared at the notebook in shock.

"Are you alive?" Will wrote, quickly.

You could say that, yes. I'm a trapped consciousness inside of this diary, more precisely. Still, I once was a Hogwarts student, which I’m guessing you are, right?

“Yes, I’m from the Slytherin house and starting my third year!” he corresponded.

I was a Slytherin too, the best house. If I do say so myself.

Will chuckled, was Slytherin truly the best house? Everyone seemed to despise them. Yeah, there were a couple of assholes in the house, like Billy and Troy, but weren’t there assholes in every house?

Will could name a few ones out of the top of his head: Steve, a Gryffindor, used to be an asshole until Jonathan and him got into a fistfight; Fred Benson, a Ravenclaw, had apparently done some pretty fucked up stuff too; Jason Carver, another Gryffindor, was notorious for being extremely stuck up and throwing wild parties in the boy’s dorm (there were also rumors of him cheating on his girlfriend, poor Chrissy Cunningham, with several girls).

"Well, do you mind if I tell you something? You can’t tell anyone, though.” Will scribbled in his cursive writing.

Sure. Who would I tell anyways?

“Ok, well the thing is that….” Will recounted what happened with Mike and the further in the story, the tighter he gripped his quill. When he finished, he waited to see 001’s response:

That kid sounds like such an ass, not gonna lie. You should really stop considering him your best friend. Best friends don’t treat you like absolute garbage.

Will pondered this, and really, 001 was right.

This “conversation” kept on going for the rest of the train ride and school year. Will avoided The Party, except Max, at all costs and constantly run away to “talk” with 001 (much to Mike’s disgust and jealousy).

The year went by swiftly until the very last week of June, during which, Billy had begun a fire in the Forbidden Forest in a desperate attempt to break up Max and Lucas. Fortunately, neither Lucas or Max had been harmed but Billy died. The fire was known as The Great Fire of ‘85 and it left Max completely devastated. Mostly, because her step-brother had tried to murder her and Lucas for being an interracial couple. This left her with a huge emotional burden she’d only told Will.

Thanks to 001 he’d realized that he didn’t need to be friends that weren’t from his own house. 001 had taught Will new and more powerful spells, he’d also taught Will about how being a Slytherin mean being the best.

Now, Will was determined for Max to meet 001, his other best friend, and for him to teach Max all the things he’d taught Will. So he asked a delighted Professor Creel for another notebook for Max, who reluctantly accepted it. After a day of using it, she admitted to having loved the present.

Max and Will liked to gush about 001’s appearance and while Will imagined him as a handsome man, Max imagine him as a sickly old man. They loved their new friend and thought that 001 was the only friend they needed.

In their innocence, they both believed to have met an angel or even god, when they’d actually made a deal with the devil.

[herawell]

Me: Infidelity is one of the worst things you could do to someone, to take someone who loves you so much and stab them in the back.

Dominik Koudelka: *exists*

Me: Get cuckolded idiot.

[anonyanonymouse]

🙈

[xythlia]

ppl bitching that classics are too hard to read & "if they were written today everyone would only talk about how boring they are" forever irritates me. a classic is a classic bc its something u can learn from, either bc of the prose or bc of the themes in the book. yea some of them are stuffy & kinda dull but that may have been the style of the time. classics are incredibly representative of the periods they were written in which is part of the point. plenty of books get written, esp now, but a classic encapsulates both style & themes of it's time which is usually why a book has extreme longevity.

it's important to have books that show the ways literature changes over time, what themes become important in certain periods & why, what styles became popular & why, plus it forces u to build literature skills. it literally makes u build up those skills esp thru discussion & reading exercises bc it requires u to actually engage with the book.

it's also important bc u can go hm this theme was popular 70 years ago & it's popular again now, why is that? what things are going on that would cause ppl to resonate more deeply with this particular theme in a book? why is this style of writing getting popular again? why have human beings always written about some core themes throughout history like death, grief, love, betrayal, jealousy, self recognition, joy & why are we fascinated by certain historical events to the point that we write about them a shit load? why are the curtains blue? the author used a specific metaphor but why did they use that one? what makes one style different from another? why is one more utilized than another? this character was popular then & popular now but why is that, what about them makes ppl so attached or feel so represented by them? what lens is the author or character viewing these events thru? what are the lenses of viewership anyway?

ur not gonna be able to actually ask, articulate, or answer questions like that unless u read those books, even if u think they're boring & hideous

[petrichoraline]

"...but I still remember the touch of his kiss-"

"Mr.Nueng, stop it."

[kumomist]

*lays facedown on the ground* what

[pennyserenade]

for her sake i hope gillian anderson was fucking david duchovny on the side bc some of the men she's married and has dated...the favors she was doing....oh my god

[madtomedgar]

One of the things about characters who are famous for getting themselves out of tight places is that, when they can't, the audience tends to interpret this as them either being stupid for not doing what the audience thinks is obvious, or that they just must not want to because otherwise they'd take the obvious way out. But the thing is sometimes you are supposed to accept that if there were a simple solution to the situation, this character would have found it, and the fact that they, specifically, haven't, is supposed to clue you into there not being one within the confines of this particular fictional world, and you are meant to understand this as they author deliberately trapping the untrappable to do something with that, and not as a plot hole. You can argue about whether this was effectively written, but if the story tells you this is kobayashi maru and you go "nah, kirk beat that so this character could have too if they'd wanted, so they just chose to do something awful or chose to die" then you are being obtuse and obnoxious.

[dottores]

that might've been one of my favorite genshin cutscenes ever

[monty-glasses-roxy]

Roxy without magic in a school full of it is also very fun, because you have situations where she's having to go up against someone in a magic fight and whilst they're reading spells and drawing runes or whatever, she just runs over and punches them.

"YOU CAN'T KEEP DOING THAT!!!" She will continue doing that. It's either this or a molotov take your pick.

[hayscodings]

making svetlana's abusive husband comedic relief was certainly a choice

[lalunanymph]

went from this ->

to this :’)

[alliaskisthepossibilityoflove]

.