#don’t like this one too much tbh

[bri-cheeses]

| May 11th | Prompt: Lollipop | Word Count: 521 | @rosekillermicrofic |

Evan had a lollipop. He had a lollipop, and Barty wanted to die.

It wasn’t just the way Evan looked while enjoying his sucker, tongue gliding sensuously over the candy and mouth looking like it had been drug up from the deepest regions of Barty’s brain specifically to torture him. No, it was in part the fact that Evan was currently talking to another guy, talking and laughing with him.

Barty knew that Evan was only doing it to make him jealous, but he couldn’t deny that Evan’s plan was working. He stared intently at Evan and his companion, wishing the latter of the two a slow death.

Evan must’ve felt Barty’s heavy gaze on him. His eyes flicked over to where Barty was standing and he grinned, a languid smile spreading across his face as he took Barty in. Barty’s breath hitched as Evan sucked his lollipop, holding eye contact with Barty all the while.

Barty stared. His mouth may have dropped open slightly.

He watched as Evan’s expression took on a feral look, eyes still pinning Barty in place. He was powerless to do anything as Evan looked at him like that, sucker raised to his mouth, lips looking deliciously red as he sucked on his lollipop once more.

Then he raised a hand and curled a finger, beckoning Barty. And truthfully, who was Barty to not obey?

Barty wasn’t sure if his legs carried him over there of his own free will or if Evan had used some arcane magic to do his bidding. It certainly felt like Evan’s call was irresistible, that’s for sure. But either way, Barty didn’t particularly care once he was by Evan's side, staring down at the boy Evan had been talking to.

“Having fun over here, are we?” Barty said. His eyes flicked over to Evan's companion, giving him an unimpressed once-over, and Barty curled an arm around Evan’s waist and tugged him to his side. He didn’t care if he was being unfairly possessive—after all, he hadn’t been the one to start this game in the first place.

He was reminded of this fact as Evan reached a hand up to grab the stick of his sucker, pulling it out of his irresistible mouth with a pop.

“Yes,” Evan said simply.

The boy looked between them uneasily. Barty smirked as he saw his eyes fall to the arm wrapped around Evan’s waist.

“I, uh, should probably get… going.” His eyes flicked guiltily towards Barty.

“That sounds like the first good idea you’ve had all day,” Barty said, then jerked his chin. “Run along now.”

A sense of satisfaction washed over Barty as the guy did just that.

Turning back to Evan, he saw that he had not yet abandoned his lollipop. No, it was now resting against his lips, which were shiny from the sucker.

“I don’t think that you should be allowed to have lollipops,” Barty murmured down to him. “It’s entirely too sinful.”

“I know,” Evan popped the object in question back into his mouth, then grinned up at Barty. “That’s why I like them in the first place.”

[booplesnotts-art]

Everyone’s favourite resident mother

Hated my last Alcina drawing so finally did a better one😌

This time in colour too gasp she’s on a role

[turtleblogatlast]

One of the biggest things that makes me see Leo as trans is absolutely the size of his carapace in comparison to his brothers’.

And I’m not talking about height! I’m specifically looking at his shell here, because when you compare him to the others, particularly Donnie who is nearly the same height as Leo, it’s very clear that Leo’s carapace is much longer in proportion to the rest of his body.

Like - standing side by side, even though Donnie is shorter his carapace ends noticeably higher up than Leo’s does. And I like this not only because it really helps push the idea that Leo could very likely be trans (or intersex!), but it’s also just a fun design difference between them.

(It also lends way to future scenarios of Donnie eventually getting taller than Leo, but sitting down still has Leo being the taller one haha.)

[kyurochurro]

bro thinks he’s esnupi!! 🎸🎶🐶 (he is)

I found this little rocker snoopy on Pinterest and immediately thought of George.. I just had to draw them together!! 🤭

george harrison irl ☝️

[clock-06]

Curly Mouthwashing I dislike you but I could never hate you.

Mouthwashing has me by the throat rn shoutout to ADHD and hyperfixations

The only truly innocent person on board is Anya, Daisuke I love you dude but I feel like you could’ve helped Anya and just kinda assumed someone else was gonna do it. Swansea, you kinda redeemed yourself but not enough.

Jimmy deserves to live in horse purgatory forever

[tariah23]

One of the main reasons why I used to avoid Isekai’s, and fantasy works in general, like the plague is because of how over saturated they’d become with things that didn’t feel like they even belonged to the genre to begin with… it’s not too hard to find works that stand out but so much of those works have been pushed down and forgotten, it just sucks.

[woodsie]

still unwell thinking about the mumbo coal miner idea

cause like if we go on the assumption jimmys canary curse was broken in secret life and thus doesn’t exist in wild life (and so theres no canary to warn the miner)

long term acute exposure to certain gasses in the mines can cause irritability and unease, on top of this the gasses are usually highly flammable

and like geez, i wonder who’s been weirdly paranoid and died to an explosion this season 🤔

[myriam-draws]

some starfires i’ve drawn a bit over time i miss her (i refuse to read titans 2023)

[unordinary-diary]

Seraphina and Arlo: The Brainwashing of High Tiers

Exposition:

— Remi, Episode 50.

There is a heavy implication that Seraphina and Arlo were raised in much the same way. The pressure on Seraphina comes from her parents, so I’ll extrapolate that the same goes for Arlo. This raises the question: how do the authorities create such a strong societal pressure on such a small percentage of the population? Most high tiers will probably not know any other high tiers besides their parents. Take Wellston Private High School for example: it’s the most prestigious private school around, and canonically has the “highest concentration of high tiers in the region”. There are six high tiers in Wellston. Apply this to god tiers specifically, and there are only three. Not to mention that this current group of students is uniquely strong, even for Wellston. In Rei’s senior year, he was the strongest at 5.8 max.

So much of this brainwashing relies on the parents to do all of the work, and it only takes one or two people to break the cycle. So how are the authorities creating this immense pressure? One tactic could be by isolating high tiers. There is a very widespread concept that one shouldn’t associate with those outside their level range. A caste system like this that affects everyone is much easier to create and maintain than an expectation for a small group, and it also means that high tiers are only being influenced by those who are also high level. This creates an echo chamber. I’ve researched cults and how they brainwash victims, and the first step in the process is isolating them in exactly this way.

But, if there are so few high tiers, how the hell are they supposed be isolated from other groups? The answer is that high tiers are just isolated in general. Take a look at Arlo: his only friend is Remi, and even her, he keeps at an arm’s length. Arlo is only close with Remi in the first place because he was close with Rei, who, at the time of meeting Arlo, was presumably close in level with him. [EDIT: I forgot about Holden, which I think says a lot about his relevance. He is kept at more than an arm’s length and doesn’t seem to have any actual influence on Arlo, let alone a deep relationship. He is also not presented as an equal.] Take a look at Seraphina: before meeting John, she didn’t seem to have any friends other than possibly Arlo. Seraphina and Arlo pre-John seemed to have had more of a professional relationship, and while they were not close in level, Arlo did fit the bill of being a fellow god tier, and strong enough to also be brainwashed.

Now let’s look at Remi. In episode 60, Cecile says to Remi: “And yet here you are... Always hanging around those two monkeys, Blyke and Isen. Letting them treat you as an equal even though you’re in a completely different league.” This struck me as odd because, aside from Cecile herself, the Wellston students closest in level to Remi were Arlo, Blyke, and Isen. And who is she friends with? She actually was doing a pretty good job at following that social convention, unless Cecile wanted to be friends with Remi, which she clearly didn’t. But... her friends were still not close enough to her level. Was she supposed to just not have friends at all? The answer seems to be a resounding yes. Can you think of any genuine friends that Cecile has either?

Friendship simply isn’t considered a necessity for high tiers.

But... why is it that Arlo and Seraphina were brainwashed differently? Creating a societal norm for an isolated group of people is one thing, because those people’s mindsets feed into each other. Putting pressure on individual families to keep them in line, but doing it all in different ways? That would be near impossible. My theory is that Seraphina recieved the typical high tier brainwashing, and that Arlo was raised differently because he was being groomed to work for the authorities. Seraphina didn’t have a set career path planned out for her, but if she’s trying to be “perfect” by the standards of those controlling her, she’s bound to end up going in a direction that pleases them. Arlo on the other hand was specifically planned to become an authority figure. That’s why his brainwashing is so centered on leadership. Also, growing up with direct contact to the authorities makes it more possible for them to customize his brainwashing in this way.

But does all of this apply to high tiers in general, or is it specific to god tiers? Let’s take a look at the high tiers in Wellston. We have Seraphina, John, Arlo, Terrence, Remi, Cecile, and Blyke. John is a unique circumstance because he wasn’t raised by high tiers, so we’ll cross him off the list. Terrence was also unique, so we can cross him off as well. Remi was different from the norm as well. Why is that? Well, Remi actually wasn’t raised by high tiers either. Rei said on screen that both of his parents were elites. We can cross Remi off. Blyke doesn’t fit the bill either, but that’s easy to explain. He was an elite for a large part of the story, and he shot up rather quickly. We don’t know much of his family, but he probably wasn’t expected to be a high tier at all, and was raised as an elite. (All of this also serves to emphasize how much of this brainwashing comes from a person’s parents.) That leaves only Seraphina, Arlo, and Cecile to look at.

Cecile does seem to have high tier brainwashing, but it’s not nearly as intense as with Seraphina and Arlo. She doesn’t seem “obsessive”, and she wasn’t one of the examples Remi mentioned in chapter 50. It’s clear that high tiers are brainwashed in general, but god tiers are kept on a much shorter leash. This makes sense, obviously, because keeping a population in control like that is less necessary the lower the level. However, it’s also a chicken an egg situation: god tiers are both more important to keep in control, and also easier to keep in control. It’s important to note just how many exceptions we had to cross off. People like Remi and Blyke aren’t actually that unusual— a lower leveled high tier is much more likely to have non-high tier parents, or to have not always been a high tier themselves, or just in general, to have way more day-to-day interaction with non-high tiers. The brainwashing gets more and more diffused the lower down the ladder you go.

[9ofspades]

It’s disability pride month, and if you are disabled in the U.S. from Long Covid I want you to know that you’re not alone, and you’re valid in whatever you feel. Whether that’s sorrow at your new problems or rage at society for failing you, you are valid, and it is truly messed up that society is continuing to fail you.

[marimbles]

i miss carpisuns sometimes </3

[womenaremypriority]

I can understand transmasc people who seem to mostly have an issue with simply being called women, tbh. I can perfectly understand why it would mostly be a linguistic issue for some. From a young age, I was jealous of men and aware they were considered less cool than women. This is even worse now because of the internet- I’ll show you one example.

Why is it gendered? Why are men the people who would understand this? This type of joke has always been on the internet, and it’s probably taken on a different form in the past ~5 years or so, but the assumption that the listener/reader is male and that men are the cool, fun sex are a constant. There are small pockets more oriented towards women but most isn’t. It’s always, always bothered me, and I can absolutely see some women just having better connotations with the word ‘man’ than ‘woman’.

Even though a part of you understands it’s misogyny, and it’s not a reflection of actual women, you eventually start to feel like it’s you that’s the problem. I truly feel like if I had kept going down the same route, I would have eventually identified as a trans man, and not nonbinary like I had a first. My brain started to interpret the anguish at seeing things like this and wanting to belong with men as proof I’ve always been one. Even if you have women you care about and don’t consciously think all women fit a certain mold, it still doesn’t feel right. This is made even worse by the trans community acting like ‘cis women’ is a boring thing to be. It sucks. I’m not going to deny that for some individuals sex dysphoria is very real, and not every one shares this experience, but this has existed in my life for a long time, and it felt very real to me at the time. So I do think for plenty of women, it’s not our female body, it’s not feminine clothing, it’s simply being referred to as a women.

[multifandom-lesbian09]

The thing I hate about anti Stereks (I’m an anti Sterek btw) is that a lot of them are also anti Stiles. I mean I get that some Stiles stans are like incredibly annoying and try to put ALL of the attention on him, but that doesn’t make the CHARACTER bad. It’s like anti Destiels being anti Cas because some people like him more than Sam. Like come on guys people can have favorite characters.

[ct-multifandom]

I don’t usually make posts like this, but I’ve been seeing a lot of anti-intellectual junk lately, and I really think we need to put the word “pretentious” up on a shelf until people learn what it actually means.

It doesn’t describe someone who likes artsy-fartsy deep meaning media. People who are pretentious are fake. They’re posers trying to be sophisticated and unique, not like other girls. They pretend to only like stuff they think will make them sound cool when they talk about it. They want to act like they know something you don’t, and they want attention for it.

By definition, if you genuinely enjoy something, you can’t be pretentious. If it resonates with you, and you analyze it, and you don’t care what people think, that’s the polar opposite, actually. If you love obscure experimental prog music, if you watch underground high concept indie films through English teacher eyes, if you spend hours in a modern art museum reading each piece as a vessel for storytelling, if your backpack’s full of poetry books that inspire you, if you play underrated games that were someone’s passion project, if you have an interest in studying the classics or the masters, you are not pretentious.

Of course, some people just don’t like some stuff, and that’s fine, but that’s not what this is about. Don’t let anti-intellectuals shame you for enjoying things just because your interests are inaccessible to them, because they refuse to be brave and put effort into critical thinking. You’re not stuck up for refusing to overlook the craft of artists.

[evenmyhivemindisempty]

any NOTPs for the boys?

Not really! Ship and let ship, go wild!

[clowningcrows]

how do i know if my chosen name is the right name :(