#era: beyond zero

[blueskittlesart]

link & zelda regency era fashion please i’m on my hands and knees begging

this might be the best ask ive ever recieved

[kelsochronicles]

Someday I’ll fight the compulsory urge to color every half decent sketch of her, but today is not that day

[brigidandair]

Album - ATEEZ Japan Single Album 2: "Beyond: Zero"

Store Exclusive Photos: Yunho - Family Mart Photo A 》 Family Mart Photo B - Pop-Up Store Photo A 》 Pop-Up Store Photo B

beyond zero yunho was such a gift

printed on photo paper, with backs that are plain white. scanned by me. please give credit to brigidandair or Jasmyr if you use them!

[physalian]

10 Character Dynamics the World Needs More of

Me handing out character dynamics like free samples at the Mall Food Court: “Take one! Or two! You’ll love it!”

I don’t care how many times these tropes have been done – write more of them. Write all of them. Fill out your author bingo card one by one.

1. “No one gets to kill you but me, Old Friend”

This. Right here. Primo rival content that I *live* for. All the juicy history between two old frenemies, the character drama, the backstory, the titillating unknown of what drove these two to rival status, bitter enemies that respect the heck out of each other, to the point that hell hath no fury should one get knocked down without the other’s consent.

And, of course, the moment where it seems all bets are off, when the rival comes to save their ass only to hand it back to them at a later date. The angst! The shipping fodder! Need I say more?

2. A bigger, badder villain, and their minion

You, reader, spend countless hours hating the guts of the big bad villain. They’re evil, they’re vile, they’re sadistic, heartless, irredeemable bastards. They killed your favorite character for shock value. The big bad moustache-twirling antagonist… is actually not the biggest fish in the story.

Either they’re coerced into doing evil as a puppet of the Bigger Bad, a tragic villain in their own right, or they have some reservation, some line even they won’t cross, someone else’s boots they have to kiss, someone who features in their nightmares, as they feature in the heroes. They end their stories dispatched without a thought by the Bigger Bad, or redeem themselves in death by taking out their masters. It never gets old.

3. A leader and their lancer: besties

You know what’s better than leaders and lancers who have zero faith in each other and are constantly bickering about who should be in charge? Leaders and their right-hands who adore each other (platonically). They have each other’s backs, they know each other’s greatest strengths and weaknesses and are each other’s perfect covers.

They can communicate with looks and vague gestures alone, they compliment each other’s flaws and misgivings, build up the rest of the team when they’re down on their luck, and should misfortune strike either, they pull out all the stops and show off exactly why they’re not to be trifled with, so that even the villain is afraid.

4. “I don’t even know who you are”

Oh, but you will. This one twists the knife, robbing the avenging hero of the importance in this world they’re desperate to maintain. They are their own hero, the sun revolves around them… but not to this one asshat that ruined their life and doesn’t even remember doing it.

An entire identity built upon the finding, fighting, and overcoming of this wrongdoer, every other goal in life cast aside for this one impossibility. Either the villain toys with the hero to make them irate, or gets suckerpunched by some pissant fueled by vengeance and spite and divine purpose to dole justice where justice is due.

6. The jaded badass and their naive ward

If the last 8 years of media is anything to go by, we still love this trope, whether it’s in a galaxy far, far away or a fungi-zombie post-apocalypse, or in the twilight hours of an era of legendary mutants. The best part of this trope? You get two often contradictory character types in one body. The pessimist, PTSD-ridden master of old with no living friends left and at least one dead love interest *and* beneath all that, still lies an atrophied heart of gold just waiting to be nurtured and revived.

The naive ward gets a hard lesson in how crappy the world can be, but also in how there’s still some goodness left, if their guardian cares about them. The jaded badass in turn, learns how good the world can be, that there’s something still worth fighting for beyond the next bottom of a bottle.

6. The enemy of my enemy (is my friend)

Similar to the “old friends”, this trope is often a result of the minioned Big Bad realizing they don’t want to be evil anymore. Or, bitter old rivals, sides of a war that have been fighting for generations, ideological polar opposites, fundamental polar opposites all come together when: Some evil schmuck managed to scare them both.

Doesn’t matter on what shaky ground this temporary alliance is built, or how long it lasts, equally-competent badasses on both sides finally work together and compliment each other’s strengths, and compensate for their weaknesses, in a way their teammates never could.

7. The irredeemable villain’s only wholesome connection

Not so irredeemable anymore, now are they? This trope messes with your head, taking a character you know has done heinous acts of terror, but who cares unflinchingly, unabashedly, about one thing – either their lover, their pet, their relative, or their kid.

This exists independently of the heroes and is not the same as an “oops I guess I’m your father” reveal. I’m talking this character who everyone is convinced cares about nothing and no one but themselves and their ambition still has a place in their soul for something they want to protect, they want to be loved by, or that they must spare from their atrocities.

8. Platonic Heterosexual Friendships

These two have seen each other at their most vulnerable. They’ve shared fears, dreams, desires, know each other’s deepest, darkest secrets. They’ve seen each other exhausted, frazzled, dressed up, dressed down, bloodied and broken and like a raw, open nerve. These two would die for each other, they would live for each other, and yet.

They’re not in love with each other. They’re wholly comfortable in each other’s spaces without lust and desire mucking up the atmosphere. Neither is the one, neither wants to be the one. They remain together not for the bonds of romance, but for the bonds of friendship, and nothing could be stronger.

10. The Ace and their best friend, the Self-Proclaimed Slut

These two respect the f*ck out of each other. One never mocks the other for lacking desire and in return, they’re never mocked for their promiscuity. They’ll never walk in each other’s shoes, but they don’t need to, to understand that’s just how some people are. They’re each other’s safest spaces when the world doesn’t take either of them seriously.

They’re each other’s biggest defenders against the bullies, presumers, the holier-than-thous who think they have it all figured out. They’re the perfect compliment to give advice on everything from relationships to the best outfits for an outing because there’s *zero sexual tension* between them. Or, maybe, if the stars align, they’re something more.

10. The redeeming villain, and their staunchest skeptic

This villain has lost everything – their home, the respect of their people, their worth, their evil ambition, their identity, and has begun working their way up from rock bottom doing everything in their power to show the heroes that they’re serious. They make amends, they break their bones proving themselves, they’ve swayed everyone they’ve wronged in the hero camp.

Except one. The one character that was probably their first defender, and got burned for it. The character that was naive enough to think this villain could be saved, and was wrong. The character that won’t be duped again without some serious drama and soul-bearing between them.

Now tell me which ones I missed!

[centrally-unplanned]

IRL (In Real Life) - Buffydom Propaganda And The Internet-That-Was

It is 1997. You just got back from the latest Hot Topic run to restock on whatever the most raven-black bomb of Manic Panic they have on the shelves is, so you can do double-duty bleaching your hair in the shower while watching a CRT TV precariously mounted on the lip of your sink. On that TV is the Season 1 finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and you are obsessed. Unfortunately for you, no one else in Bowling Green, Ohio, shares your passion for a CW WB show about vampire hunting teens who purposefully fumble their line deliveries. You are alone, and you have shit you gotta say about it to someone, anyone, who will understand.

Fortunately for you, the marketing team at ye old WB anticipated that their audience would be a bunch of fucking nerds, and boy do they have a solution to your problem! Welcome to the Bronze:

A while back I stumbled upon the inexplicable existence of "IRL (In Real Life)", a 2007 documentary about the community that formed around the aforementioned Buffy fan discussion forum/chatboard. Officially running from around the launch of the show until it switched over to UPN after its fifth season (with the forum dying a dramatic death in the process), The Bronze was a highly active center for the Buffy fandom, which generated several spillovers into real life. In particular, it was famous for the creatives and even actors on the show occasionally posting on the forum, which culminated in members of the community organizing a yearly party in Los Angeles where posters would fly out and be joined by said cast and crew. This documentary charts its culture & history via interviewing an array of its members.

As always, I am not here to give the blow-by-blow; instead, what is the narrative this documentary is trying to sell?

My previous documentary write-up was about nerd culture in the 2010’s; newly ascendant, growing confident in its own values and looking to justify that to itself, wealthy and with a developed enough ecosystem for crowdfunding to create professional, polished documentaries of its own heroes. None of that is true for IRL. Filmed on whatever camcorder/potato hybrid proto-Ebay would cough up from its zero-bid listings in a series of hotel rooms and people’s living rooms in 2003-2004 after the forum had died, this is the era of nerd culture at its most conflicted and insecure; mocked by the mainstream and unsure if it should be proud of that fact or deeply ashamed of it. And this documentary wears this conflict right on its sleeve; one of its opening lines is a confident assurance to the audience of “don’t worry, we aren’t like those nerds”:

Throwing Trekkies under the bus in the process, cold! Particularly given how it proceeds to barely even blink before pivoting to explaining their hobby of running “WITTs”, multi-day-long collaborative roleplays:

You are exactly those Trekkies my dudes; you weren’t just at the devil’s sacrament you were hosting it! "WITT" stands for Whedon Improvisational Theatre Troupe, you can't recover from that guys.

(I love how “dozens” is large by the way - it was for the internet in 2001, right?)

Anyway, beyond documenting the forum and its members, the conclusion this documentary wants you to hold is that the Bronze was a special place of real community, and it is a community of “normal” people, who made real relationships. And in particular, that internet relationships can be just as real as those found in meatspace, that these relationships transcended the digital and entered the physical; and that this is what fandom can be about.

I want to start with the ways that narrative was correct within the context of the time. I can actually explain that Klingon comment! I have one extant interview with the director of the film, Stephanie Tuszynski, and she put her motivation as follows: 

FFN: What made you decide to study Buffy fandom, particularly the Bronze, for your documentary? ST: The idea to do a documentary film about the Bronze actually came to me very early on, because "Trekkies" came out in the late 1990s so I was already a Bronzer at that point. And when I saw it I started throwing things at my television. I was incensed. That wasn't a documentary about the fandom experience, it was "hey let's find the most extreme examples possible and have a freak show!" It infuriated me […] It reinforced every awful stereotype about media fans while purporting to be objective.

It wasn’t a random example - the 1997 documentary Trekkies set the “standard” view of fandom as extremist oddballs, and Tuszynski specifically wanted to counter that. It was the early 2000’s after all, nerd stereotypes were strong, you had to fight them explicitly! In a society where there is strong background hostility to one’s identity, you will attempt to normalize it using known reference points; and certainly the people on these forums were more “normal” than the stereotypes admitted to because that entire binary framework is a dead end.

More importantly to the narrative is the online aspect, “making friends on the internet”. Another find I have is a blog post from a professor who used the film in a class; and in the film’s narrative of “people with no one ‘irl’ to share their hobby with finding friends online” triggered a debate around if the online relationships are “taking away” from in-person relationships that are presumed to be more valuable. A debate that still rages to this day over social media! But the contours were different back then, the internet was presumed to be niche, ancillary, and relationships made online in a completely separate box from “in person” friendships. The documentary goes to great lengths to explain that they were a real community because that idea is so contested. Ironically, they do this by emphasizing that they met up in person, hung out, attended each other's weddings, etc; as if only by meeting up in person could the relationships be validated as real? But you can’t truly fault them for meeting their implicit critics halfway in making their case.

So what can I fault them for?

*****

I was perpetually amused when watching the doc that they included two married couples in the filming, and for both one of the spouses would talk and the other would sit there, in silence, the entire time. Maybe they were members of the community and just not talkers; maybe their lines got cut in post. But what I kept thinking was that they were there selling normality to me; married couples are just inherently less oddball, less threatening, and in the era where “nerd = virgin” just less nerdy. Like with the Klingon line, there is an intentionality to the “just like you” vibe.

Which, as mentioned with the extensive forum roleplay, inevitably breaks down once the reality of forum activity is dug into. And I buried the lede here - you may have seen the title of the “longest” roleplay was “RTBS Soul Restoration Project”, but what does that mean? RTBS was a forum member’s name, and well:

Oh yeah, we are saving our friend from “a fate worse than death: worshiping Britney Spears” - welcome to 2001 baby! This is peak “nerd wars” stuff, the normies hate our shit so we hate the normie shit right back. Which is exactly how nerd culture was in the 2000's. I am not at all throwing shade at their tongue-in-cheek roleplay, resplendent in the ludicrously purple prose and asterisk-laden action descriptions as required by the early internet; but it sits in clear tension with some of the other messaging in this film. Leave Britney alone guys!

The documentary highlights a number of common practices from the forum - people doing daily greetings, the way that it being one unending massive chain of posts with no threading or topics meant people would mass-tag individual people to respond to and form “circles” that way - but there are things it leaves out. I did what any normal person would do after watching this documentary and read through over a year of archived posts on The Bronze to understand the community - but man did I not have to, as on literally the first page of my archived link I see:

And through God’s good grace that second link is archived:

Yes there are pictures at the link, and yes later on it does compare Buffy’s cleavage to the Mona Lisa. (The Giles link is not quite functional, but I was able to find it; sadly it is not nearly as thirsty)

I also found these “onboarding” sites for new members. Remember, this forum was the official forum, which meant there were no community mods or ability to “pin rules”, it was pure anarchy - so advice filled the gaps. And one of the bigger ones, in its *sighs and rubs forehead* blue font on black background, warns against “hottie posting” aka talking about how hot say Angel is, not because it isn’t allowed, but because it is like “pointing out the sky is blue” - it is so common that it will just get washed out.

It might seem like a similarly sky-is-blue comment to note that this forum was heavily about shipping, hotness discussion, fanfiction, and the like. Of course it was, right? These website “senior members” were trying to minimize it, police it, but it broke through constantly and also simmered under the surface through discussions and RP’s from my own review of the forum. The documentary, however, spends incredibly little time on it. Brief mentions of Angel fics, and no mention (iirc) of discussion of how hot the women were at all. Because once again those details really don’t fit into the narrative it is trying to sell.

At one point in the documentary someone notes how diverse all the friends they met in this community were? Which I broke out laughing over. In one way it is not wrong, I get it! Midwest college kids meeting people from all over the country, ages 40 to 14, talking about something no one in their podunk town understands. But on the other hand, you could not come up with a more standardized slice of humanity if you tried to rig it. Everyone here is an American+ with computer access in 1998, it is a grab bag of sys admins, nerd creatives, and comp sci majors.  I did a random sampling googling the people interviewed to see what they are up to now, and literally a third of them are librarians. Even their fashion is like God played a prank on this director; not even a 2000’s anime con panel lineup is this stereotypical in the combinations of alt-goth lit girls and nerdcore computer bros.

The evolutionary process of joining this forum -> liking it enough to go to the live meetups -> liking that enough to participate in a documentary about it was a pressure cooker spitting out only a certain kind of person. Which is truly fascinating to see on display! This is the internet-that-was; and it bleeds through the grainy film despite the director’s efforts at times to the contrary.

Though even then it was only a very specific slice of the internet-that-was, because this is a very special breed of Online; namely, the professionals.

*****

Something that is decidedly not typical of The Bronze as an online community is that, as mentioned before, Joss Whedon and other creatives posted on the web forum, answering questions and also just playing around, and how that led to in-person parties where both forum members and cast/crew attended - the Posting Board Parties, or PBP’s. At these they hosted fundraisers, talked about the show, and in the documentary one girl reverently describes with incredible Repressed Lesbian Energy her experience of seeing Eliza Dushku dancing next to her. The PBP had a panel of party organizers, admission systems to keep out the “undesirables”, budgets, the works.

All this the documentary shares openly; it is a peak moment where the digital becomes real in a transcendent way, opening doors analog reality never could. It is also a cold-sweat-waking nightmare story from the lens of a modern Hollywood social media manager; one person in the documentary tells the tale of how one time lead actress Allyson Hannigan posted her phone number on the forum asking people to leave her cute voicemails. The person in question immediately called, and got Hannigan herself instead of the voicemail, so they chatted for a bit (The guy telling this tale is obviously lovestruck; his wife is sitting in typical silence next to him). Today this would be a code-red, nuke your phone situation; but the circle was so cloistered, and the rules so unwritten, that no one cared in these early years.

What they share less openly is all the drama that went into this event. They wax nostalgic about how the parties brought them together, but what isn’t mentioned is the church schism it caused, as the moment cast from the show started attending the party it got mobbed by outsiders. By its ~3rd year there were approximately 400 guests but only ~50 or so were from the forum. They had a huge fight about it, the head of PFP planning committee - “Morbius the Vampire”, who was later jailed for financial fraud btw - told the dissenting faction why don’t they just throw their own party if they hate his so much, and so they did. There was more fighting about it, and eventually they held a peace summit at an LA joint called Mel’s Diner to merge the two factions together. (My source for this is a book, which I will link later)

Hilarious, for sure, but while so much of what we have discussed is “proto online nerd communities”, this part is most decidedly not. The typical web forum absolutely cannot replicate the experience of roleplay-posting your way into shaking hands with Joss Whedon and having a shitfight over party budgets in LA. But most posters never got to attend these parties, of course, this didn’t mean much to them. While for those who did, you cannot help but imagine that this played a gigantic role in making them all become a “real” community. And care enough about that circle to, well after the forum was gone, schlep to a hotel room to be interviewed for a documentary about it. Participating in a documentary is always, in some way, an exercise in selection bias; but here the pruning is turned up to 11 - this is a very elite slice of a very unique fandom experience.

*****

I have one deeper level to go on this thread, somewhat buried in time today, that further shaped the participants here: “Whedon Studies”. The 2000’s was not the birth of media studies as an academic discipline; but it was the birth of fandom-driven media studies, and Buffy was nearly unassailably the leading light of that movement. Academics hosted entire conferences (and inexplicably still do!) on Buffy, Firefly, etc; almost all from the lens of gender & media, as Buffy’s brand was deeply entrenched in that deconstructive milieu. This movement would die a fiery death during the 2010’s shift in media & gender politics, and when the controversies around the toxic working conditions on the set of Buffy/Angel led to Joss Whedon’s near-total expulsion from creative pursuits. The whole edifice is, in a deep way, “cringe” for many of its former participants today.

But what is relevant for our story is that director Stephanie Tuszynski was a full member of that movement; while composing this film she was, for example, giving talks like these at conferences devoted to the Buffyverse:

God that is a lot of talks. This film itself was her thesis project for her I believe philosophy masters, and in our scant interviews lists other fandom-academic film projects she wanted to tackle (which as best I can tell fizzled out later). And the interview subjects were often participants in the same space as well! Academic-types doing media studies with a Buffy bent, or things like culture writers for new media outlets. One of them, writer Allyson Beatrice, even published a book about the Buffy fandom that was in regular bookstores:

To quote the blurb:

A hilarious collection of true stories from Allyson's days as one of the Internet's leading cult TV fan gurus, her mind-boggling escapades include meetings with network executives in dark steakhouses to try to save doomed TV shows and one hastily arranged wedding for two committed Buffy fans. 

I highlight this not to say that academics cannot make documentaries, they certainly can. What I am saying is that if you point your camera at career Buffyverse writer Allyson Beatrice, and label her as a typical forum member giving you the hometown everygirl perspective on the community, you are, however unintentionally, lying to your audience. In its quest to give you the just-like-me Buffy fandom experience, what this documentary elides is that it is often giving you the lens of people who are fans of Buffy as a career. Those people are going to be bringing very different experiences to the table - of course they are concerned with sanitization, with nerd culture debates, the works. That is their bread-and-butter trade.

This dynamic bled into the forum’s day-to-day; there was a very clear hierarchy of “veterans” and “top” posters, who organize the live parties, have deep roots in the community, and even the ear of the show team...and everyone else. Particularly because as mentioned there were no rules on the forum, but since that can’t actually function in practice they self-generated community rules and thus their own leadership class. Cliques and groups were common and named, and veteran posters even had formally designated groupies:

I had also by this time become a groupie. I so enjoyed one particular Bronzer’s posts that she allowed me to become the seventh of her groupies. It was through groupie-dom that I got my first taste of firsthand WITT: several Bronzers, on the occasion of the birthday of she-to-whom-we-group, each took turns grabbing the microphone and praising the day that she was born. In retrospect, I’m not sure why we did this. But it was fun, and very funny, too, as we each took turns waxing melodramatic off the top of our heads. And from work, no less.

The source for this by the way is a 400 page ethnography of The Bronze posted by academic who did *cough* “field research” there; I am sure their membership in the “Bronzers Adoring Darla” fangroup was purely for comprehensive data collection purposes.

And to emphasize, I am not saying this is problematic or anything - the groupie things were all in good fun, best I can tell. I simply aim to showcase how the Bronze wasn’t just a baby version of online fandom forum dynamics; but also a baby version of e-celebrity mechanics. Something the documentary does not even attempt to touch on because that would be something normal people would not understand.

*****

All of the above may have come off like one big roast, and it is a little bit, but as I have mentioned before every documentary is propaganda. It is just impossible to have a tight film building a narrative out of the pieces of letting people speak to the camera without that narrative being but a slice of the truth those people want you to know. The Bronze web forum was a very special place to these highly invested fans, and this documentary is not lying to you about that.

But it is also a big part of early internet fandom! The Bronze was famous at the time, and it is right there at the beginning of so many shifts; the first generation of non-technical internet users, a new era of ‘fantasy’ media with the trappings of prestige and social critique, a boom in critique-as-community, and more. I very much want the full picture of that community; who made it up, what did they want from it and what did they get from it, and so on. No film could offer the full picture; this film’s homebrew rawness gives a valuable piece of it, and I enjoyed it for that. I just aimed here to draw out not only what the broader, more accurate dynamics of The Bronze were, but also the cultural question of why the film focuses on what it does, hides what it refuses to show, and what that says about 2000’s internet & nerd culture. Hopefully I succeeded in that.

And also to have fun looking at some incredibly dated Buffy fandom bullshit. May it have been fun for you too! {hugs you and waves goodbye}

[dixons-sunshine]

Study Buddy | Young!Daryl Dixon x Young!Fem!Reader

*GIF isn't mine.*

Summary: Your exams were coming up soon. While studying for your history exam, you offered to tutor your boyfriend. However, Daryl accidentally revealed that he's much smarter at school than he gave himself credit for.

Genre: Fluff.

Era: Pre apocalypse.

Part of the Shopping Spree, Hangout Dreams AU.

Warnings: Swearing.

Word count: 1.3k.

A/n: This sucks. I don't like this at all, but I really wanted to get some actual writing done, so I powered through. I hope you like this nonetheless.

The late afternoon sun was starting its slow descend beyond the hills. The birds' chirps were slowly being replaced by those of crickets, and the owls were making their presence known one by one. There was a lone pigeon resting on the bench outside your trailer home, but the unsuspecting creature was startled by the rumbling of a stopping truck.

Daryl Dixon got out of the truck his brother had unofficially given him, a shopping bag with multiple snacks and a few drinks in his hand. He slammed the driver's side door shut behind him before walking up the small steps into your trailer. Without even really thinking about it, Daryl walked down the familiar narrow hallway that lead to your room.

The sound of your door opening diverted your attention away from the history textbook that rested on your bed. An enormous smile spread across your face at the sight of your handsome boyfriend. You got up from the bed and walked over to him, looping your arms around his neck and pulling him in for a soft, tender kiss.

Daryl, shy as ever, could feel his face heat up at your actions, but he didn't resist. His hand that wasn't holding the bag rested on the small of your back, his fingers lightly gripping at your sweater. When you pulled back, he gave you a lopsided smile, his eyes holding a softness that he reserved only for you.

You smiled at him, your fingers playing with his hair at the nape of his neck. “Hey, handsome,” you greeted him in a whisper. “Took you long enough.”

Daryl chuckled and shrugged. “Sorry, sunshine. Got caught up at the store,” he explained, pulling back from your hold slightly to reach into the bag and take out a soda for you. “Got yer favourite for ya.”

You gently took the drink from his hands, sending him a look of appreciation. “Have I ever told you how much I love you?”

Daryl ducked his head in embarrassment, his cheeks taking on the colour of the red rose bush outside your window. “Ya might've mentioned it once or twice.”

“Well,” you began, popping the lid of the can open. “Then I definitely don't tell you that enough. I love you, Dar.”

“Love ya too, peach.” Daryl smiled a small smile, before moving to plop down on your bed. He picked up the textbook that rested on your bed and started flipping through it, his eyes skimming over the pages. “Ya already started studyin'?”

You sat down next to him, placing the can of soda on your nightstand. “Only to make flashcards.” To prove your point, you picked up the aforementioned flashcards from your nightstand. “I was just skimming through for good measure. Just wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything important.” You made yourself more comfortable on the bed, adjusting the flashcards. “You ready to get some studying done?”

Daryl nodded. “How's this gon' work?” he asked.

“Well, I wanna see how much you know, so I'm gonna start asking random questions to see what we need to pay special attention to.”

“Alrigh',” Daryl shrugged nonchalantly. “Do yer worst.”

You smirked playfully. “I'll try my best.” You shuffled the cards, selecting a random one. “Okay, let's start easy. When did the Second World War start?”

“September 1st, 1939. Tha's when it was generally considered to have started. S'when the Nazi's invaded Poland,” Daryl replied with zero hesitation, absentmindedly twirling one of the loose threads on your blanket. “The UK and France officially declared war on the third, two days after the invasion.”

You looked at your boyfriend with raised eyebrows, impressed by the way he answered the question so easily and proceeded to answer two separate questions without being asked to do so. You knew Daryl was smart, there was no doubt about that, but you were still a bit surprised. Daryl made it no secret to you that he wasn't the best student, so his perfect answer to the question was a nice surprise.

“Correct,” you told him with a smile. “Next question: How many alliances were there in the Second World War, and what were they called?”

Daryl pondered over the question for a moment. “Two. The Allies and the Axis Powers, right?”

You flipped the flashcard over and read the answer, humming in approval. “Correct again. You're on a roll, Dar.”

Daryl shook his head, shrugging nonchalantly. “Ya ain't askin' any hard questions. Everybody knows the answers to those.”

You narrowed your eyes playfully, shuffling through the flashcards again to find a different question. “Okay, then, smart guy. How about this one: Which cities did the United States detonate atomic bombs over?”

“Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Two cities in Japan. The bombs were dropped on August 6th and August 9th. The US wanted to force the Japanese to surrender.”

“Okay, time out,” you started, carelessly tossing the flashcards to the side. “Please tell me again how you're not smart? Because those were perfect answers and you haven't even read through the textbook yet.”

Daryl shrugged again, averting his eyes to the bed. “Ain't smart. Jus' heard the teacher talkin' 'bout it in class. Ain't tha' hard to remember it. 'Sides, history is interestin'. S'the only class I dun' mind attendin'.”

You laughed in disbelief, looking at your boyfriend in wonder. “You manage to find a way to surprise me every day. I thought I knew everything about you, and now I learn something new. You're a history nerd.”

Daryl scoffed incredulously. “Ain't no damn nerd. Jus' 'cause I know some history doesn't mean m'a nerd.”

“Sure,” you started, sending him a playful smile. “So I know a lot about science and I get called a nerd by you, but you know a lot about history and I can't call you a nerd?”

“Damn straight,” Daryl replied, his tone playful. “Yer a nerd. Tha's one of the many reasons why I fell fer ya.”

“I love you, too, Mr I-know-that-Hitler-was-born-on-the-30th-of-April.”

“He was born on the 20th. He shot himself on the 30th, ten days after his birthday.” You smirked, and Daryl instantly knew that he had fallen into your trap. “Oh, fuck ya fer tha'.”

“My point has been proven,” you said with a victorious smile, leaning forward to let your lips hover over Daryl's. “No need to be ashamed of being a nerd. I find it extremely hot.”

Daryl hummed, his lips grazing against yours. “Ya find it hot tha' I know 'bout the world war? Then yer gon' find it really hot when we get to the Cold War.”

“Colour me intrigued,” you whispered, before closing the gap between the two of you.

Daryl's lips moved against yours hungrily. Soon, he gently guided you to lay on your back, hovering over you as his lips trailed down your jaw to your neck. You giggled, leaning your head back to allow him more access.

“You might be really smart in history, Dar, but I'm not. I need to study,” you told him.

Daryl hummed, but his kisses didn't cease. “Ya'll be fine,” he mumbled against your skin. “'Sides, we got a human anatomy exam comin' up soon. I suck at tha'. I need to get some studyin' done fer tha'.”

You laughed lightly, yielding to the desire. Well, studying would just have to wait. You had other, much more fun activities planned for the time being.

©dixons-sunshine 2024. I do not give permission for my works to be copied, modified, adapted or translated to any other site or platform without evidence of my given consent.

[evilbihan]

MK1's Lin Kuei

Can we take a second to talk about how bad the Lin Kuei are at what they're doing in MK1? They're supposed to be this ancient clan of elite warriors with years worth of combat experience and knowledge and skills beyond anyone's comprehension... but they're actually so comedically terrible at their job.

I won't include the teahouse fight in this since it doesn't count because they had to hold back against Kung Lao and Raiden but everything happening from there just contradicts all that the story wants us to believe about the Lin Kuei.

Cage mansion fight

Both Sub-Zero and Scorpion get absolutely destroyed by Johnny (who doesn't even seem to have any special powers in the new era, unlike the old timeline's Johnny). Of course, one might argue that they had to still hold back here since Johnny wasn't an enemy, they were just trying to recruit him and Liu Kang was there too, but it only gets worse from here.

2. The Ying fortress

This is one of the most hilarious scenes in the story mode. "No, you two can't come with us although you effortlessly defeated the three of us before because it takes YEARS to master the art of stealth."

What stealth????

Fast forward to the Lin Kuei trying to get inside the Ying fortress. Surprisingly, they can't make it three steps until they're discovered by Nitara and one of them almost dies because he had to show off instead of climbing the wall efficiently and, most importantly, without raising unnecessary attention.

How did Smoke not consider that a guy floating in mid-air would be spotted from a mile away? You can almost pinpoint the moment his brothers realized it was a mistake to bring him with them.

Not that they're doing much better though. On their way in, the three trigger pretty much every single defense the fortress has to offer. Nitara, Ermac... the guards that show up later on.

In fact, this whole thing couldn't have gone any worse if they had brought a marching band along with them.

Next, we get to see Bi-Han and Kuai Liang sneaking up on Shang Tsung so close behind him I'm pretty sure their footsteps would have given them away. They're completely out in the open, Kuai Liang is not even watching his back. It's surprising they made it this far.

3. Capturing Shang Tsung

As we learn, their plan to capture Shang Tsung is, in fact, nonexistent.

I don't know where their experience and years worth of training suddenly went in that moment, but this scene of them just... jumping out of their hiding spot and running at their enemies full speed with no real strategy behind it was so ridiculous and disappointing to me. It just feels rushed and unprofessional and of course, this not at all thought through maneuver triggers the guards to show up and intervene.

It's such an amateur mistake it makes you wonder why Liu Kang trusted them with this task in the first place.

Somehow, the brothers then get overwhelmed and end up captured themselves. The story really wants us to believe the two of them combined couldn't take on a few guards, but later on Scorpion is able to defeat them alone using the power of plot armor.

While Bi-Han had at least some significant wins against Nitara, Ermac, Quan Chi and Shang Tsung, the story of course forced him to lose in the end, Kuai Liang's losing streak for some reason magically ended the second he left the Lin Kuei and Smoke??? He got to beat up an old lady in a staged fight.

It's sad to see how little the writers care about the Lin Kuei, even with the franchise's most iconic characters both being Lin Kuei in the new era. I will never not be upset about the potential that went to waste here. Smoke didn't even get to be in a single fight, we saw nothing of Bi-Han's strategical genius and cunning and the rest of the Lin Kuei only showed up for the staged teahouse fight. They all deserved so much better.

[sethshead]

Annual reminder that Jesus was not Palestinian and that Palestine as legally defined region did not exist at that time, nor did the Palestinian nation. This is empirically documented fact. Jesus was born a Jew and died a Jew in Roman Judea. If “Palestine” was used in some Greek texts to describe the region it was because of the Philistines (who aren’t Arab in origin) having lived here once. I’m now hearing people saying Christianity is Palestinian in origin. This is also sheer idiocy. Even if we allow for the fact that Jesus isn’t the progenitor of Christianity (again he died a Jew, his followers were all Jewish and they defined themselves as a sect of Judaism, not a new religion) and attribute the foundation to Paul and people of his generation, which I would say is true. Paul was born a Jew in Roman Judea and died 70 years before the region was renamed Palestine. Jesus and the founding of Christianity has everything to do with the Jews and zero to do with Palestine and Palestinians. And it goes without saying they have nothing to do with Arabs and Islam, except insofar as Islam tells it story with Jesus (and for that matter Judaism) being part of its origin story, which did not happen until the 600s. I will also point out that those western activists (historically clueless) who are making this claim are actually doing a great disservice to the Palestinian people. Why? Because they are inventing ancient Palestinian history that is easily refutable by fact, as I have just done. Given how easy it is to undermine such claims, when people who don’t know much about the region (but joined the river to the sea crowd because that’s what the cool kids do) learn the truth they will become skeptical about other claims made by Palestinians, some of which are true, some of which deserve acknowledgment. But the American left doesn’t care. They don’t actually care about the Palestinians. They are driven by Jew-hatred, and Zionism is the most convenient demon in their social justice arsenal. They will never help free Palestine. But what they will continue to do is endanger diaspora Jewry, which is their goal, or at least a means to their end. Such was also the case with the Arab regimes who opposed a Jewish state from the very beginning. They weren’t advocating for Palestinians, they were advocating for non Jewish state anywhere min the region. The left has constructed a binary opposition that undergirds their theology that pits the evil oppressive (((Zionists))) against the eternally oppressed Palestinians. Their construct is false, an eschatological theology and nothing else, with both “Zionists” and “Palestinians” being little more than constructs they have thrown together to advance their revolutionary (and profoundly anti-Western) agenda. But if they want to claim Palestinians as the progenitors of Christianity then, well, let me point out, that “Christianity” persecuted the Jews severely at least until the early modern era and in some parts of Europe far beyond that time, culminating in The Holocaust. So sure, you want to claim Jesus for Palestine, then you also acquire all the baggage that comes with him.

-- Jarrod Tanny

It’s all just another form of supersession.

[ghosthoard]

PART 6

part 01 02 03 04 05

Waking up to the sound of Hyrule screaming was in Legend’s top ten worst ways to wake up. 

He was on his feet with his sword out before he even realized he was awake. Adrenaline shot through his body, his eyes darting around, ready to take down whatever it was that dared to make Hyrule sound like that. 

Not Hyrule. Not. Hyrule. Over my dead body!

But, there weren’t hordes of monsters tearing his brother apart, they hadn’t come for their sacrifice, a nightmare that was added to Legend’s amazing sleep rotation of bedtime horrors ever since Hyrule told them the truth about why the monsters were after him. 

No monsters, but there was blue light washing out the camp, magic pulsing through the ground and up the trees and thrumming through their bodies. At its epicenter was Hyrule, screaming incoherently as he was bent over Wild— No... Wild’s body. 

The magic was making it hard to get enough air into his lungs, Legend’s inhale stuck in his throat, it was that overwhelming. 

The first time Legend felt Hyrule’s magic, he knew it was powerful no matter how the kid tried to hide it. Magic as high quality as that was like molten lava, liquid gold, heavy and thick. It was like tasting a well seasoned stew full of potatoes and meat after having gruel all your life. That sort of magic had layers of spark and sensations you’ve never even thought of before let alone can comprehend. So only using “a little smidge” Hyrule had said while keeping his finger and thumb that exact smidge away from touching, wasn’t going to do anything to convince anybody. 

That “little smidge” was enough for his magic sword to shoot out enough fire to take down five bokoblins at once. 

The more time that passes, the more he’s noticed beyond the power. Like how gentle it can be, how easily excitable it is, and playful. Young and curious. But this was exactly why it was so dangerous. 

It was reacting oddly with the magic of Wild’s era. Largely something that comes directly from nature— from wolf cubs play fighting in their warm cave, the way fruit glistens with dew in the early morning, and the flow and shimmer of water— was curiously reaching out to Hyrule’s fairy chime and glow, giggles in thick, neverending fog, crossing a line into a whole new world or over a dangerous boundary that should have been respected— finding a friend so alike them but so much more unnerving. 

Nayru, it was like seeing Hyrule and Wild hit it off a bit too well all over again.

The trees were growing upwards right in front of their eyes, the air sparking with fae magic, the undergrowth bustling over their ankles, all glowing and pulsing blue.

…This was too much magic all at once.

The fear of the realization had Legend snapping out of his awe and running to Hyrule, forcing him, kicking and screaming, away from the body, the magic cut off and its force abated for breathing to get easier, for the trees and plants to shrink back to their peaceful, and original size. 

As he struggled, Hyrule’s voice was layered with dizzying intensity and his body was almost too hot to the touch, but he was aware enough to recognize Legend and refrain from using charmspeak. 

But not aware enough to realize the amount of magic he was spending, how dangerous it could’ve gotten. Not aware enough to realize that it was all going to waste. 

“HE’S DEAD!” Legend had yelled over Hyrule’s voice, the words booming out over their camp just as powerful as Hyrule’s magic had been and finally getting through to his brother who froze in his arms. 

When Hyrule suddenly lost all strength, Legend had to carefully guide him down to the ground, holding him as he shook.

The tears soaked into his tunic. Legend never wanted to hear Hyrule cry like that again.

Calming Hyrule down took until just before Four and Wind returned from washing. 

Legend immediately zeroed in on Wind’s swollen, red eyes before his gaze flickered down to how Four was holding his hand, and his need to do something about it was satiated by Warriors pulling both of them in for a hug. 

He couldn’t get used to someone else stepping in when he couldn’t, but… well, he’d enjoy it while he had it. 

Warriors looked over at them, looking like a cucco with two chicks under his blue wings. “Is he okay? That was an impressive show of magic. Probably wore him down.”

Legend looked down at where Hyrule was shivering in his arms. The mass of fluffy, brown hair the only thing he could see properly when the kid had his face hidden against Legend’s shirt. 

“I have him,” he reassured. Slowly pulling away from the hug but leaving his hands on Hyrule’s shoulders, he revealed a glistening face of tears and a tired, defeated glaze of the eyes. Hygiene might not solve anything, but it was something to do. “Come on, our turn.”

Hyrule was limp and wobbly, dizzy from the amount of magic he’d used in such a short time and the crying he’d done, but he’d be fine after having some sugar. Legend always had a bag of honey candy on him for this exact situation. Wild knows he never ate any of it. He’d have such a shit-eating, knowing grin every time he handed Legend his refill that Legend had no choice but to slap him on the arm before snatching the bag out of his hand, forced to hear the kid’s cackling as he stomped away. 

His mouth twisted as he caught himself in those memories. They had reached the water and he helped Hyrule down beside the bank. 

He would run out of honey candies eventually, and he’ll have to start buying something else to keep in case Hyrule needed it.

“Wash up,” Legend said, rolling up his sleeves and taking off his hat. 

Hyrule took a deep breath, still pretty out of it, but he bent over and started to wash his face with shaky hands. 

Silently, they washed their face and hair, and brushed their teeth. A more thorough clean would have to wait but Legend took the chance to use a rag to wipe off some of the sweat and grime on his upper body. As they went through the task, Hyrule’s body stopped shaking and more strength and coordination came back to him, fully oriented and awake. 

After pulling his shirt back on and toweling his hair dry, Legend pulled out one of the honey candies.

“Here.”

Hyrule’s face lit up at the sight of the candy, then fell just as abruptly. He held out a hand for Legend to place it on, and didn’t eat it right away, but stared at it there in his palm. 

“Eat it before a bug lands on it or a bird snatches it away,” Legend said, hating that expression. “It’s not like that’s the last piece of candy ever. There’s plenty more where that came from.”

His words somehow drew Hyrule’s eyes down to where Wild’s slate was hanging from his belt. Anger took hold of him, and he threw Legend the dirtiest look he’d ever gotten.

That wasn’t what he had been implying. But he couldn’t say Hyrule was entirely wrong since, once he was reminded of its existence, he felt a small relief that maybe there were hundreds of honey candy waiting for them in the slate. Something in his chest that Legend would deny up and down from Hyrule to Lorule was soft and longing, aching with grief, was soothed at the thought that maybe they could still have this part of Wild for a little while longer.

Popping the candy in his mouth, Hyrule moved to stand up. Habitually, Legend went to help him, but Hyrule leaned out of his reach. 

“I’ll walk on my own.”

Legend rolled his eyes, but refrained from saying anything like a mature hylian. Fine, if Hyrule wanted to wobble like a newborn, freckly fawn back to camp then far be it for him to interfere.

Hyrule wobbled ahead of him by only two paces because, “you never leave your wash buddy behind,” Warriors had told them sternly awhile back. Always within earshot, within sight, within grabbing distance. 

Hyrule was terrifying when he was angry. Legend secretly thought the Traveler and the sleepyhead were the scariest of them all. Sky is a manipulative bastard, Legend won’t be fooled, and you never want to be on the other end of Hyrule’s piercing glare. This was the first time in a while that Legend has been the object of Hyrule’s wrath, having managed to avoid scraps for the past couple of weeks. He’d seen the way the air around Hyrule had been vibrating with his magic and pitied any yiga who dared to cross the fae’s path. He’d seen the way that magic sparked and hissed when he’d first brought up his idea. 

Even despite that terrifying anger, the kid stuck by him, the pushover. 

They walked into camp separately. Hyrule was quick to go further than those two paces and made a point of busying himself by rolling up both of their bedrolls and doing anything but looking at Legend. 

Legend could take a hint. He looked around the camp to find something to do (firmly avoiding looking at where a wolf was laying) and latched onto Sky who hadn’t moved from his spot under a tree. 

“Hey, birdbrain,” he marched over before standing over the man with his hands on his hips, “how did you sleep? And don’t bullshit me.”

A small smile twitched onto Sky’s face. Legend thought the endeared slant to his eyes was entirely too much this early in the morning. “Not well.”

Legend huffed in dissatisfaction. “Go to the stream with Warriors.” 

Sky hummed his agreement and heaved himself up before walking over to separate the Captain from his hugging companions.

That taken care of, Legend went over to where the cooking pot was waiting with the leftover rice from yesterday. He lifted the top off to peer down at the cold, miserable sludge. The slate hung at his belt and rested on his thigh as he crouched there. 

He needed to be quick or else Wild would notice and smack him with a utensil that shouldn’t smart as much as it did, turning his displeased eyebrows onto him, demanding he take his grubby hands off, that it was his job to cook. Legend would throw a few jibes back and he’d be chased off by the cook waving the spoon Sky had carved for him around threateningly.

The anticipation of all of it, of what had become Legend’s ordinary, thrummed through his body. Any minute now… he’d be caught and the moments that followed like a beloved script would fall into place.

Seconds passed with him still crouching next to the pot, staring at the rice they had ruined by adding too much water the night before, and they would continue to pass no matter how long he waited. Normal had changed without his permission once more.

Crouching there, watching the rice slide down the side of the pot, the slate resting on his thigh felt like a hot brand. 

The slate was important to Wild. Legend knew this when he saw the kid lose it in battle, how his eyes searched for where it fell despite how the distraction was earning him close swipes from swords and sickles. He knew this when he picked it up right after the Yiga vanished with his brother. He knew when he planned to keep it safe until he could return it.

If he couldn’t return it (to see Wild relax in relief and smile at him in gratitude, to lecture Wild about relying too much on the slate, to ruffle his too long hair until it was tangled and mussed) then he was going to put it to good use no matter how much Hyrule glared at him. 

He couldn’t wait to get rid of it. He wasn’t supposed to have had it for this long. 

Legend blinked, exhaled, and started to move again. He grabbed the ladle. 

…He could make an edible gruel. 

First | Previous | Next

@homewardwander @gothroughthelookingglass

(it's only been less than a day since they found Wild btw)

[venture-through-the-mist]

Thoughts on The Lotus Eaters

As I’m sure is obvious, this will be discussing the Lotus Eaters quest in detail, so if you haven’t played it yet, I’d suggest skipping this post! I don’t want to spoil it for anyone (because even though it’s a short quest, I still think it benefits from being played with no prior knowledge of what it entails), so the full post will be below the cut.

Alright, I have SO many thoughts, so I’m going to try and keep this somewhat concise…ish. This is mostly just a bunch of rambles, so I apologize for any grammatical errors or if it’s hard to understand. I just kinda…wrote what came to my mind.

First off,

The Music: I briefly mentioned this in another post, but holy shit the music for this update is amazing. I mean, we all knew it would be, Warframe has a tendency to put out absolutely awesome songs, but oh my god. We get two more versions of what is one of my favorite songs in the game. The loading screen version of ‘This is What You Are’ has to be, by far, one of my favorite things I’ve heard from this game. I love the feel to it, like a combination of ‘old’ Warframe with ‘new’, 1999-era Warframe. I’ve had it playing on repeat almost all day because it’s so good.

Now, for the version of ‘This is What You Are’ that we actually get during the quest, the one that Lotus is singing to herself. I, admittedly, didn’t pay too much attention to it when I was actually playing the quest, at least not beyond “omg Lotus is singing, that’s awesome” (I was just too excited about the actual quest lol). However, when I listened to it again, I was fascinated by the subtle differences in how this version sounds compared to the ‘normal’ version of the song, or even to the new version in the loading screen. The singing is a lot more staccato, and the notes don’t flow into each other in the ways they normally would. It’s almost as if Lotus is having to concentrate more on what comes next (at least, that’s my interpretation), which makes sense given that we know that she’s singing in order to drown out the Indifference’s voice. Her singing also sounds a little sad, or maybe just lonely, to me. Her mind is filled with the Indifference trying to influence her, and she’s taken it upon herself to be a barrier (or as she says it, a “distraction”) between It and the Tenno. She’s secluded herself (again), and her tone of voice seems to reflect that.

Also, after the quest, if you go and talk to Daughter/Kaelli in the Necralisk, ‘Party of Your Lifetime’ plays now, instead of whatever song was playing before. I just think that’s neat (and also brings in some interesting ideas for 1999…what did our Drifter do?).

Moving on…

The Story: I had absolutely zero idea where the story was going to go from this update, but I was a bit worried about how they’d go about locking us into playing as the Drifter for 1999, since — although I 1000% agree with why the Drifter is definitely going to be the one going back in time — I’m definitely someone who would rather play as my Operator for my own lore reasons (and I can’t think of a reason that my Operator would let the Drifter do this instead of her). I was actually wondering if they’d actually lock us into the Drifter without giving us a choice, or if they just wouldn’t give us the option to do the romance stuff if we chose Operator (for obvious reasons…bc yk, they’re a child). But, I really enjoy the route they went down, how Lotus knows that the Drifter has to be the one this time, because if the Operator does, that might just be giving the Indifference exactly what it wants. She’s, once again, protecting her kids in the way she knows how, by taking them out of the conflict in any way she can.

But, I’m getting a bit ahead of myself, so let’s backtrack a bit and talk about how cool it is that we see the Operator and the Drifter interacting with Lotus at the same time. I may have missed something in the quests leading up to that, or this might just be something attributed to the Man in the Wall’s hijinks, or…something, but I thought that they couldn’t be in the same place at the same time/in the same ‘reality’. So, I was quite surprised (pleasantly, ofc) to see both of them. I really love the difference in the dialogue options when we initially talk to Lotus. The Operator is torn between wondering if Lotus is alright, and also being super worried about what the hell the noise is, in a way that makes me think they definitely suspect that the Indifference is meddling with things again (which makes sense, given that they’re actively in the Sanctum). Honestly, the Operator was probably waiting for something like this to happen. They know, or at least suspect, that Lotus saw the Man in the Wall after the battle with Ballas, it was only a matter of time before that became important. The Drifter, on the other hand, is more concerned with Lotus herself, warning her to be careful, reassuring her, but also wondering what she means by “It’s you”. Maybe the Drifter doesn’t really know the extent of the effects that the Indifference has on the System, maybe the Operator is just trying to protect Lotus in the only way they know how…get the perceived danger away from her first, ask questions later (I’ve noticed from their dialogue throughout the game that the Operator tends to have a bit of a sharper temper than the Drifter does…perhaps bc they’re younger). Either way, it’s nice that they have different responses to seeing Lotus and hearing the noise.

I chose the “Are you okay” and “What do you mean, ‘it’s you’?” dialogue options, and I absolutely loved that my Operator’s line was “This isn’t just a bad memory, it is? This is new”. This acknowledges, at least in my interpretation, that Lotus does have lingering emotions from everything that’s happened in the past (Ballas/The New War, Hunhow, etc). Once again, Warframe surprises me by remembering to make the trauma that a character has gone through actually relevant to the story even after we’ve dealt with the source of the problem. I probably shouldn’t be surprised at this, but most video games I’ve seen don’t tend to do that. Usually characters are…somewhat fine after experiencing something horrific, so it’s refreshing to see a different (more realistic, imo) take on it. This isn’t even the only time we see this in this quest/afterwards. Lotus outright confirms it herself (“I will not let it devour one instant of my pain. Not even Ballas. Not even the Jade Light.”), and in doing so, is also showing us how she’s dealt with the events of the prior storylines. She’s gone through a series of extremely traumatic events, and she still has those painful memories, but she’s not going to succumb to the Indifference, even if It promises to take that away. She’s been hurt, yes, but she is healing, and she’s finally in a place where she can actually do so as herself. That doesn’t mean it’s easy for her to ignore the voice that’s calling to her —the voice that only she can hear— but she’s determined to. I’m curious if the voice-lines after the quest are different if a player had chosen Margulis or Natah instead of Lotus after the New War, though.

I find it very interesting that Lotus calls the Drifter ‘my champion’. I just really enjoy the fact that she definitively sees the Operator and the Drifter as two separate people, as opposed to ‘her child’, and ‘her child but older’, because I feel like that fact could have certainly been a cause of a bit of discomfort and a learning curve for both her and the Drifter after the New War.

Now, onto the 1999 portion of the quest, which, even as short as it was, was quite interesting. It was really weird to be in the Mall again and not hear ‘Party of Your Lifetime’ playing or see other Tenno dancing around the stage (like how it was during TennoCon). It was quite eery, and I love it. Also, we got to see Kalymos again, so that’s a plus.

All in all, this quest answered a lot of my questions about how the game is going to transition to 1999 (and even answered questions that I didn’t know I had). However, I am slightly (read: very) concerned at the same time, mainly because of the line with Lotus saying “If I become something you do not recognize, do not mourn”. I feel like that’s potentially foreshadowing something…They don’t usually put lines like that in without reason. Maybe I’m just reading too far into that…but I suppose we’ll see when 1999 comes out.

Anywho, another thing that I wasn’t expecting but am really glad that we got was the continued acknowledgement of Lotus/Natah/Margulis being a system. This happened not once, but twice (to my knowledge), and I think it’s really great that they didn’t just disregard the whole “I am not one” thing from The New War after we made our choice between the three of them. It’s really nice to see that that wasn’t just a one-off line, especially as we continue to get more and more moments where the game references them.

This is already way longer than it probably should be, but what can I say? I like well-written characters, and this game has so many of them. I’ve definitely forgotten some things that I’d wanted to put in this post, but ah well.

[brigidandair]

Album - ATEEZ Japan Single Album 2: "Beyond: Zero"

Yunho Shop-Exclusive Extras - Family Mart Bromide 》 Pop-Up Store Limited Postcard 》 Tower Records Bromide

backs are plain white, so not included. scanned by me. please credit BrigidAndair or Jasmyr if you use these scans!

[necrotic-nephilim]

I started in DC by reading fanfics, but as I began to read actual comics, I started to be unable to read the actual fanfic that got me into it in the first place because it's so out of character.

But there are still some stories that I love to read because I love the found family trope so much, even if it isn't really accurate to the source material.

As a comics purist (sometimes), are there tropes that you like enough that you'll still enjoy a fic even if it's not accurate to canon?

oh my god this is SUCH a fun question. bc while i started with the comics, there were certain characters and/or character dynamics where i was exposed to the fanon before the canon (just bc it's hard to read everything when you start out just to read some fanfic) and so i've definitely experienced the fanon to canon transition. (*especially* with Jason Todd. i had only read 80s/90s stuff where he was already dead or the New-52 bc that was on-going when i got into comics and man. the fanon misunderstandings i had about him before i got frustrated and sat down to read all his pre-Flashpoint stuff were absolutely bonkers.) and aside from that, whilst i tend to prefer canon over fanon, i'm not past giving fanon its flowers for occasionally having really interesting insights. occasionally. so some of my fanon "guilty pleasure" tropes would probably be

Morally Grey Tim Drake - this is one where if you try to back it up with canon, i *will* get salty about it. of everyone in the Batfam aside from maybe Bruce and Cass, Tim has the *most* black and white morals. often his internal conflicts are routed in such an inability to compromise his moral views and it can cause him to clash with other characters. he's *very* stiff and rigid in his beliefs and is *rare* to compromise in even the smallest ways. i mean, DC has repeatedly used Tim Drake of Tomorrow/Savior/Gun Batman!Tim for a reason. it's to demonstrate that of everyone, Tim *cannot* have his morals compromised. there's no grey area for him. he's zero or a hundred, so if he tips over the edge of "too far" he tips *all the way*, and doing so is one of his worst fears, how he could go "too far" if he let himself. a couple panels out of context from Red Robin (2009) (which was a grief spiral for Tim to begin with) don't change that. now that said. if it's done *right*, i sort of love Tim being morally grey in fanfic. it takes a specific flavor for me, and it's incredibly important to include that mental spiral along with it, of him struggling to justify it. i don't have any interest in "Tim Drake is loosy goosy with Bruce's morals and has the highest kill count and no one knows teehee" bc it doesn't play with the interesting parts of making Tim morally grey, which are fracturing his psyche. but all in all, i think it's fun to put Tim in a morally grey area and i will read it in fanfic and i enjoy writing it a lot

Joker Junior!Tim Drake - i've not written it on this account (yet) but on my main ao3 account one of my biggest fics surrounds this concept. this is one of those "well *technically* it's canon but only in a specific very divorced from the comics universe and would not work at all in the main timeline" so, i categorize it as fanon in that 95% of fics exploring the concept are not doing so within the Batman Beyond universe, but the main timeline. i just love it. I'll take any excuse to whump Tim, but this concept is so fun. psychologically breaking Tim will always be my favorite pastime. there are so many ways to explore the long-term effects this could have on him, how it could affect the Batfam. i'm not a fan of it being used as a "gotcha" to Jason or Babs' trauma with the Joker to paint Tim as the Ultimate Victim, but it is fun to see how their relationships would be affected by being mutual victims of him. (i have a vague JayTim idea where TIm fully retires from being Robin after being Joker Junior and killing the Joker, making Steph Robin for most of his typical Robin era and Jason still tracks him down out of curiosity bc he wants to know what happened and all. very underbaked but i've got thoughts.)

Renegade/Apprentice of Slade!Dick Grayson - this is another one where yes, this happened *sort of* in canon, but i highly doubt most people writing Renegate!Dick have read or are actually pulling from Nightwing: Renegade. it's just an exploration fo the concept fo Dick being Slade's apprentice and i will always eat it up in any capacity. whether Dick grows up with Slade from a young age, or chooses Slade for whatever reason later in life. it's not anything that works in canon bc it compromises Dick morally (similar to the above with Tim) and therefore will always come across incredibly fanon in most fics. but i can't say i don't enjoy it. it's fun to make Dick a little morally fucked up and see what you can make him under Slade's tutelage.

Jason & Damian Meeting in the League -there's no world where i believe this could work in the canon comics. (maybe in the Young Justice cartoon i suppose, but even then i think it's iffy) i would go as far to say it's wildly unrealistic. i don't see a world where Ra's would let Jason anywhere *near* Damian, bc Jason was Talia's pet project that he didn't approve of. that all said, there's something very interesting about how they *could've* met and them potentially bonding during that timeframe. them being somewhat brotherly during this time because Jason sees Bruce in Damian and sort of latches onto the kid and Damian is full of wonder hearing real stories about Batman and Robin, then that getting violently ripped away by Jason leaving the League is fun to me. it's fun how that could affect them within the Batfam and all. it's super fanon to me, but i do not care. i will eat it up

Bad Dad Clark Kent/Good Dad Lex Luthor - i will admit as a late, i've been less and less kind to this particular fanon bc of everything i've argued with people about, *this* one seems the most pervasive as misunderstood fanon. i don't mind when fanon exists, my gripe is when ppl try to claim it's canon. and the *arguments* i've had over this with people who can never seem to cite an actual comic are... frustrating. but that said, i think there is something fun to this strictly in fanon. the duality of who you expect to accept Kon and who you expect to hurt him being flipped is just sort of fun for the occasional guilty pleasure fic. it can make Kon's internal conflict a bit more interesting. the same goes for the Jon favoritism from Clark, it's not a canon thing (and i rlly wish ppl understood how complicated the timeline of Kon and Jon is and any distance from Clark toward Kon isn't malice, it's that Kon is from a timeline that Clark does not remember in the current canon so Clark just straight up doesn't know the poor kid.) but it's sort of fun to give Kon that complex of being overlooked and forgotten sometimes. making Kon just a *bit* more Luthor than Kent will *always* appeal to me in fanfic, especially if he *knows* it's wrong but craves approval from anyone who will give it.

Good Dad Bruce Wayne - i'll die on the hill Bruce is canonically a shitty father. maybe not to the extreme some people write him as, but he's not great at it. that said, i enjoy it in fanfiction. sometimes, i just want silly fluff or hurt/comfort where Bruce finally gets it right and manages to comfort whatever Batkid is in the fic. one of my favorite fics of all time is hinged on Bruce being a good dad, so i think it's just fun to explore how good the relationships *could* be, if Bruce was slightly less of an asshole. i usually prefer him as an asshole, but there are times i want low stakes nonsense.

Gotham Rogues Having Soft Spots for Robin(s) - just about every Rogue in Gotham has done something absolutely irredeemable, and most of them don't like or care about anyone in the Batfamily. but if there's a fic where one of the Robins inexplicably is sort of close with a Rogue and they have a cute silly relationship out of it? I'll eat it up i fear. Steph and the Riddler are besties? I'll believe it. Tim and Scarecrow get along pretty well? give me ten of these. Rogues protecting Robins just hits a spot. the unexpected nature of the relationship, as well as the fact they see each other regularly, can make a lot of good fodder.

[unsurprisinglyren]

Happy Wincest Wednesday, lovely <3 Have any headcanons about Dean during Sam's Stanford years? Him yearning, spying, spiraling out. etc.?

Happy Wincest Wednesday to you too, lovely!!

Yes 🙌🏻 Stanford era is top tier for me! And stalker!Dean is a deliciousness I can never resist!!

I imagine he tries to call Sam a few times, in the very early days of Sam leaving. But the number doesn’t work. Whatever. If Sam wants to cut him and dad off, what’s it matter. Right? Wrong.

He can’t sleep, can’t focus on the hunts, on anything other than what Sam is up to. Studying. Sure. But what else?

So he visits. Telling himself he’ll just get a glimpse and if Sam is all good, he’d leave and not bother him.

He tracks him easily. Watches him for the entire day, skulking. He goes unnoticed and it’s a heady victory. But it doesn’t end there. It keeps happening. He knows more about Sam than ever before. He sees him at 4am going for a walk to clear his head, and he knows Sam doesn’t go back to bed. He stays awake with copious cups of coffee and his head buried in his stupidly large textbooks. Studying. Distracting, just like he used to when they hunted. Always seeking a way out of reality.

He sees him make easy friends, Sam’s handsome and friendly and who wouldn’t gravitate towards him? And he sees Sam build up his facade and block out the other side of himself. Persistent and taciturn. He refuses to acknowledge it ever existed. Which pisses Dean off.

I think Dean would have been tirelessly working to keep his head on the job, the next hunt, dad’s orders, but in vain. Because all he could think about was Sammy. Hence the stalking. Knowing Sam’s every move. Checking out who he’s hanging out with. The works. His protective big brother instincts kicked up a notch, because Sam is his. He shouldn’t have left in the first place. Shouldn’t have strayed from Dean. So Dean digs his heels in, refuses to fully give Sam his space, his autonomy. He watches and keeps tabs and drinks more and more often on the nights he’s not there to survey.

I think he realises at some point that it’s gone beyond the bounds of brotherly by a long shot. But by then he doesn’t care. He’s determined to get Sammy back and have him all to himself.

(Jealous-stalker Dean drabble)->

The beer is sitting heavy in the bottom of his stomach. A slosh of fizz and yeasty sweetness and Dean swallows hard. His attention is zeroed in across the bar. Unwavering. Unnerving, probably. But he doesn’t care. He’s beyond it. Beyond the insistent, persistent, unrelenting, unyielding loneliness.

The bar is quiet. It’s a Monday evening, after all. But he’s not here for the oblivion of an alcohol induced stupor. He’s here for his little brother.

Not that Sam is aware of his presence. He’s three sheets to the wind, cheeks flushed and teeth showing as he grins at something the pretty blonde beside him whispers. And ah. Yeah. Nah. Dean frowns hard, sparing his beer a glare. A glance. Before his eyes are once again on the far side of the bar, the secluded little corner where Sam and the blonde girl had sequestered themselves away in. Obscure.

She’s new. Though, he’s seen her around the campus before, seen her flitter her way over to Sam on occasions, never hovering long, but clearly she’s decided to change that.

Dean doesn’t like it. He likes it even less when Sam jokes back, quick-witted, a trait dad used to say he got from mom. And the blonde laughs, her head tipped back, golden hair falling down her back, between her shoulder blades. Then she’s leaning in. And Dean finds his beer sitting very badly. A churning maelstrom in the confines of his gut.

He stands. A jerky, uncoordinated movement, knocking the edge of the table and just about spilling his half-finished beer. Not because he’s sloshed. He’s barely had enough to feel the languidness of tipsy let alone be drunk. It’s wholly because of the way Sam leans in too. The way his hair falls into his eyes, messy. Just like it had been when Sam was young. Boyish. And something about the way Sam tucks his chin, hiding his crooked smile from the girl has Dean’s stomach clawing itself up his throat, raw-edged, sharp and painfully ruthless.

It feels a little like anger. Hot under the collar of his leather jacket. A stain flushing across the bridge of his nose and cheeks. It feels a lot like stark jealousy. Bold. Unhindered. Untethered by the attention of the blonde, eye-lashes fluttering at his little brother, and unbound by the beer in his stomach.

He can name it. Call it out. He’s not beyond such self-introspection. He knows why he’s at some out of the way bar frequented by university students. He knows why he lingers outside Sam’s dorm, watching the window until the blinds are pulled shut and he can see nothing but the muted light shining through the fabric of the curtains.

He knows. Yet the vehemency in which his breath is ripped out of him by the proximity - the closeness Sam is willingly allowing - is discomforting.

He wants to hit something. Someone.

He wants to storm over and interfere. Interrupt.

He wants his baby brother all to himself.

[wooyoungisbaby]

Mark your first choice in each category, with bold or a funky colour and reblog/repost :) Note: || marks a new bracket Tag some people too if you'd like!

Albums

Main series || Treasure · Zero: Fever · The World · Golden Hour

Treasure series || All to Zero · Zero to One · One to All · All to Action · Action to Answer

Fever series || Part 1 · Part 2 · Part 3 · Epilogue

The World series || Movement · Outlaw · Fin: Will

Japanese releases || Shift the Map · Map to Answer · Into the A to Z · Beyond: Zero || Dreamers · Limitless || Paradigm · Not Okay

Other releases || Season Songs · Let's get Together || Kingdom: Who is the King · Don't Stop · Spinoff: From The Witness

Songs

Vibes

Bright || Eternal Sunshine · Wave || Illusion · Aurora || If Without You · Time of Love || Dreamers · Dreamy Day ||  Celebrate · Light || Stay · Blue Summer

Simply epic || HalaHala · Say My Name || Answer · Wonderland || Treasure · Fireworks

Resistance™ || Guerilla · Halazia || Cyberpunk · Wake Up || Outlaw · New World · This World

B) fun times || Crazy Form · The Real · Thanxx ||  Bouncy · Work

Swag tbch || Matz · Pirate King || The Leaders · Win · Rocky || To The Beat · Emergency || Django · Arriba || Blind · Shaboom

Yearning || Be With You · Utopia · Take Me Home || Mist · Turbulence ||  Dazzling Light · Silver Light || Empty Box · Not Too Late

Frenzied || Inception · HalaHala ||  Desire · Precious · Horizon ||  Siren · Not Okay

Hopeful, optimistic || Sunrise · My Way || Better · Still Here || Not Too Late · One Day at a Time || Good Lil Boy · Let's Get Together · Limitless

Genres (idk shit about genres, i got help from here)

Moombathon || Wave · Dreamers || Let's Get Together · Promise · Stay

Ballad || Be With You · Everything || Not Too Late · Star 1117

Synth || Cyberpunk · Take Me Home || Silver Light · This World · Diamond

Rock || Guerilla · Rocky || Wake Up · Dancing Like Butterfly Wings

Various types of hip-hop || Illusion · My Way · Thanxx || Outlaw · Emergency || Django · The Leaders

Double title tracks on the same albums

Pirate King · Treasure || Illusion · Wave ||  Thanxx · Inception || Eternal Sunshine · Deja Vu || Turbulence · The Real

Units and solos

Unit songs || Matz · IT's You || Everything · Youth

Mingi songs || Untitled · Tunnel

Jongho songs || Wind · Gravity || A Day · A Fairytale of Youth

Seonghwa covers ||  At My Worst · Angel Baby Yeosang covers || Hug Me · Don't You Forget About Me || To My Puberty · Crush · Only Then

Hongjoong covers + song  || Space Oddity · Starman ||  Black or White · Purple Rain · Billie Jean || Numb · Lemon Tree || So Long Time · Draw & Draw ||  Last Christmas · Cupid · A Walker

Other covers  || それがあなたの幸せとしても (YH) · Etham 12:45 (WY) || Dear Name (CS, JH) · Breathe (CS)

Choreography

Bouncy · Say My Name ||  Thanxx · Work || The Real · Crazy Form || Wave · Eternal Sunshine || Aurora · Illusion ||  Inception · Deja Vu || Answer · Wonderland · Fireworks || Halazia · Guerilla || Treasure · Pirate King || Be My Lover · Black Cat Nero || Rocky · Limitless ||  Not Okay · Paradigm || IT's You · Youth ||  HalaHala · Cyberpunk ||  Silver Light · Utopia || Django · Arriba · Outlaw ||  Good Lil Boy · Dancing Like Butterfly Wings || Horizon · Sector 1 · Desire

MVs

Pirate King · Treasure ||  Illusion · Eternal Sunshine ||  Deja Vu · Inception ||  Answer · Say My Name || Bouncy · Work ||  IT's You · Youth ||  The Real · Crazy Form · Thanxx || Guerilla · Halazia || Wonderland · Fireworks || Wave · Turbulence ||  Hala Hala · Don't Stop ||  Aurora · Promise || Rocky · Limitless || Paradigm · Not Okay ||  Dreamers · Utopia || Black Cat Nero · Be My Lover

Eras

Put the members' names by your favourite eras for them :) Pirate King [] · Say My Name [] · Wave [] · Wonderland [] · Answer [] · Inception [] · Fireworks [] · Deja Vu [] · The Real [] · Turbulence [] · Guerilla [] · Halazia [] · Bouncy [] · Crazy Form [] · Work []

Who owned each era? Pirate King [] · Say My Name [] · Wave [] · Wonderland [] · Answer [] · Inception [] · Fireworks [] · Deja Vu [] · The Real [] · Turbulence [] · Guerilla [] · Halazia [] · Bouncy [] · Crazy Form [] · Work []

The Lads

Bias || Seonghwa · Hongjoong · Yunho · Yeosang · San · Mingi · Wooyoung · Jongho

Dancer || Seonghwa · Hongjoong · Yunho · Yeosang · San · Mingi · Wooyoung · Jongho

Vocalist || Seonghwa · Yunho · Yeosang · San · Wooyoung · Jongho · (Hongjoong · Mingi)

Stage presence/performance || Seonghwa · Hongjoong · Yunho · Yeosang · San · Mingi · Wooyoung · Jongho

Rapper || Mingi · Hongjoong · (Seonghwa · Yeosang · Yunho)

Main ships/duos || Matz · Yungi · Jongsang · Woosan

Other popular dynamics || Woojoong · Woohwa ||  Seongsang · Sanhwa || Sansang · Woosang · Woosansang

Styling

hair unless otherwise specified

Hongjoong Mullet · Oreo || Blue · Orange || White · Red || Soft pink · Fireworks || Grey w/ bangs and eyebrow fun · Rainbow || Cheetah · White bowl cut

Seonghwa Pink · Blond || Sidecut w/ shaved design · Long || Red · Grey || Kingderland coat · Deja Vu zipper outfit ||  Vampire corset · Elle dress

Wooyoung Oreo · Red || Blue tinted · Blond || Pale purple · Dark blond || Hair band · Fur jacket

Jongho Red/Black · Dirty blond · Purple

Mingi Orange · Red || Hot pink · White || Grey · Oreo

San Black with turquoise · Black with red || Oreo · Pink || Red · Blue

Yeosang Mullet · Green highlighter || Pale pink · Hot pink || Blond · Oreo

Yunho Turquoise · Soft pink || Blond ombre · Red/Black || White · Silver

Kingdom performances

Symphony No. 9 · Answer: Ode To Joy || Wave: Overture · Rhythm Ta · The Real || Colours · Wolf · Love Poem

ty @hongjoongsgoat @leethinktherefore @sxcret-garden @babymbbatinygirl and @sillyspero for your inputs :))

[angelsdean]

see the thing is, i don't mind other ships (though i don't like, actively ship them, but i respect them for existing and can enjoy them at times) as long as they stay in their era of the narrative. like there are many relationships that were important and formative and significant, esp for dean, but i don't think abt them outside of their confines in the narrative. they happened, they're past, and i appreciate them for where they exist within the narrative. but i don't think abt say cassie or lisa or benny coming back and suddenly being dean's endgame. by the end of the narrative there's one clear person in dean's life that he treats like a life partner in all the ways that matter, and that's cas. they couldn't let dean live and give him a blurry wife scenario bc it would make zero narrative sense by that point (and would've been a massive slap in the face to cas and his confession). it's why when at that one con where the topic of who dean could've ended up with came up and someone in the audience shouted "lisa" jensen, amused and affronted, went "LISA??!!?" because, absolutely nothing against her but, it would make no sense for dean at that point in the narrative. he's moved past that relationship and others. by the s15 he's been celibate for years, no longer portrayed as the "ladies man bachelor" (which was largely a front anyway). he's settled comfortably into domesticity and embraced the family he has, and in all way besides explicitly seeing them kiss cas as settled into the role of life partner / spouse / love interest. so, to make a serious non-shitpost-y post about this, this is why i am big destiel. not because i hate other ships but because, for me at least, there is no other logical conclusion by that point in the narrative. there is no one else in the role of love interest for dean, and dean has no interest in pursuing other people either. they are it for each other. and they killed dean, no doubt for other reasons too but partly because there is no other 'epilogue' of a life they could give him that would make sense without cas there too.

anyways i appreciate other ships for where they exist in the narrative and their purpose at the time. but the beauty of destiel is that it doesn't hinge on just one time or era. it stretches and spans over 12 yrs. and beyond. continuing to grow and evolve. it's forever.

[bethanydelleman]

I just watched Persuasion (2022) and I am beyond upset. I watched it with my parents so I had to sit through the entire thing. They don't know much about the Regency Era and they haven't watched any other period dramas so they think that piece of trash is actually a good adaptation.

"He's a ten and I don't trust a ten." WTF?????? Persuasion is my favourite Austen novel and the way they literally ruined Anne is sick.

What was your first reaction to watching it? I wish I could wash all of it away. Any words of comfort that will hopefully cleanse my mind?

I'm so happy you sent this because I've been working up a little rant.

The reason Anne is so wrong, with her near hatred of her own family, rolling her eyes at the camera, the fact that they gave her masculine leaning clothes even, is that Book! Anne Elliot is the poster girl for the unseen, unacknowledged, and underappreciated labour of women.

There is something very fundamental to women's experiences from Austen's time to ours (and I'm sure before) where women do the dirty, mindless, emotional, and unpaid labour that keeps our whole society rolling and get zero credit. And yeah, it's getting better but this problem IS NOT FIXED. Now Anne is upper class so she's not mopping the floor, but this is her experience. Anne plays piano without thanks because without her no one can dance. Anne watches the sick kid so her sister can go to a party. Anne smooths over all the little arguments so that the family can function. She visits sick friends (lifted right out of the movie). She gives and gives and gives of herself and she's "just Anne". Because nothing she does is showy or important in the eyes of the world even though it is vital.

One of the worst scenes in Persuasion 2022 (I mean it's hard to pick there are so many), is how Mary basically manipulates Anne into staying back with little Charles. In the book, Anne clearly has the idea first and offers. In the movie, Mary has the idea and Anne rolls her eyes and groans before offering.

No!

Anne in the book is constantly giving of herself without complaint. Also, she does not want to see Wentworth for the first time! It's going to be painful for her, so she does something selfless but also spares herself from distress.

In that scene in 2022, Anne is a doormat giving in to her ridiculous sister. She also deeply regrets not going to dinner. In that scene in the book, Anne is a compassionate sister who after first attempting to reconcile Mary to her duty, offers to take over. She makes the choice of her own volition and she doesn't regret it.

She knew herself to be of the first utility to the child; and what was it to her if Frederick Wentworth were only half a mile distant, making himself agreeable to others?

It's this complex and emotional scene that was just ruined.

The triumph of Anne Elliot is not just getting Wentworth back, it is that people begin to see and acknowledge her labour and value. The Musgroves are absolutely devoted to her after she helps Louisa. Wentworth sees her worth and declares it in front of everyone. One of the best moments in the book is:

"but if Anne will stay, no one so proper, so capable as Anne."

SHE IS FINALLY SEEN! And valued, and loved! Not romantically (though that too) but because everyone (except Sir Walter and Elizabeth) finally realize how much they need her. The woman who stayed back from a dinner party to nurse a sick child becomes the person they need in a crisis. She goes from the last thought of to the first. In Anne, the necessity of women's labour is finally recognized.

Persuasion 2022 DESTROYED that, and it's infuriating.

Everything else sucks too. To finally give us the scene where Wentworth takes the kid off of Anne but then make him call her stupid? Gah! I was cringing so hard it was painful.