#exceeds expectation.

[sparsilees]

here’s your not so gentle reminder harry’s not piteously pathetic at potions. here’s a refresher:

fifth year, he sat for his owls and scored an exceeds expectations. not an acceptable, or poor, or dreadful, or troll (an ee in owls most probably equals a >75 in gcse o’s during the 90s)

he didn’t duplicate hermione, shrink her, and sneak her into the exam hall to pluck answers off her brain. he didn’t scribble a cheat sheet a la fa mulan on his arm

fifth year he has yet to clap eyes on the half-blood prince’s notes

as always, he didn’t feel confident about his answers/abilities, but he bloody exceeded expectations

he got into newts potions, a class of only twelve students

so harry got an ee, ron got an ee, maybe everyone else got an oustanding. or maybe only half a dozen got outstanding, and the rest exceeds expectations.

it still means the entirety of hufflepuff sixth years aren’t promising potioneers except ernie macmillan. poor boy probably tutors the others in the common room. all of the slytherin sixth years, excluding four, are absolutely worse off than harry and ron at potions. ravenclaw sixth years are shamefully inadequate at potions too, aside from four students.

harry’s not a marvel at potions. he doesn’t enjoy potions. but he’s good at potions, he’s capable enough. he isn’t blowing up cauldrons every month, that’s seamus. he can differentiate the ingredients. he knows how to cut, dice, chop, and stir. the spirit of sixteen year old severus snape didn’t possess him via the pages to help him brew his elixirs and essences in slughorn’s class. harry deciphered snape’s spidery, crammed annotations and executed them perfectly.

i’m bloody tired of these rancid ‘harry sucks so bad at potions except when he’s got the prince or hermione’s help’ takes.

[starcurtain]

I know I've talked a lot about Alhaitham actually being one of the funniest characters in Genshin Impact, but every time I think about him, I find something new to laugh at.

Alhaitham's character stories and personal criticisms of Kaveh largely hinge on one specific point: That Kaveh's genius intellect and artistic abilities are incongruous with his idealism. Kaveh possesses more talent than a selfless person should reasonably have, leaving him vulnerable to constantly being taken advantage of.

However, Alhaitham states these complaints about Kaveh's personality while having the exact same problem himself.

Alhaitham is literally the definition of "personality and talents do not match." Sir, you are the pot calling the kettle black.

It's a given: Alhaitham is exceedingly competent. He is intelligent, rational, and capable of being impartial when needed. Despite being a slacker as the Akademiya's scribe, during his stint as the Acting Grand Sage, the game goes out of its way to note--in several places--that Alhaitham was actually going above and beyond what was expected of him, taking the position very seriously, uncovering and fixing major issues in the Akademiya, and demonstrating a deep care for the sanctity and future of the Akademiya as a whole when Sumeru's people's will to research and learn declined after the collapse of the Akasha.

By all accounts, Alhaitham is (was) a fantastic Grand Sage. Compared to Azar, who is shown as inherently self-aggrandizing and unconcerned with Sumeru's well-being, Alhaitham genuinely did his best during his brief time as Sumeru's leader, protecting students' research, concerning himself with how to address the people's problems, and even diving in to solve mysteries that normally would have been left for the matra. As Acting Grand Sage, we're told his behavior and judgments were fair, and he addressed problems immediately and with his full effort.

In short, there is literally no one else more qualified to be Grand Sage than Alhaitham.

And yet, despite possessing every talent needed to be the leader of a nation, Alhaitham doesn't have the personality for it. He has every single trait a good leader requires... And yet he refuses to be a leader. His own talent vastly exceeds the slow-paced life his personality leads him to seek, making his particular abilities more incongruous with his values than Kaveh's--by a mile. People keep trying to promote him into positions of leadership because his talents are so obvious, and yet he does everything in his power to deny his own abilities and instead fly under the radar--and under the level of his full potential too.

Awful hypocritical for you to claim Kaveh's talents don't match his personality when yours match even less, Alhaitham...

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

The four alignments of Tummy Hurt

[lurkingshan]

Your Sky keeps setting up tired old romance tropes just so it can subvert them. No femme fatales and no dumb misunderstandings caused by third party interference here. I see it and I respect it!

[efverse]

i can't live up to what you left...

[billpottsismygf]

March Madness was a pretty underwhelming episode (I don't know enough about sports to know or care about the demon thing, since it wasn't doing enough on its own apart from yet another blinder of a performance from Matt Berry), but it brought home to me just how much the show has completely dropped Guillermo's fighting prowess. It bothered me in episode one when Jerry got him by the throat, but it's even worse here where it's Colin beating him up. Did we just forget that Guillermo is capable of slaughtering an entire theatre full of vampires and can beat Nandor in single combat? Maybe he doesn't want to alert the office to his almost supernatural slaying abilities, but he should at least have been able to hold Colin off.

I guess I don't mind the show moving on from slaying being his main focus (though it was my favourite Guillermo plotline), but I don't see why they seem to be retconning him to be just some guy again.

Guillermo is still my favourite character, but it really feels like they don't know what to do with him anymore (or any of them tbh). His desire to become a vampire that clashed with his slaying heritage was really compelling, especially when paired with his complicated relationship with Nandor. Now they've resolved the wanting to be a vampire thing and forgotten about the slaying thing, and he barely even speaks to Nandor. Whether their relationship is going anywhere I don't know, but removing their dynamic to the extent that they have really hampers their individual characters and the show itself.

[notbecauseofvictories]

in these the dying hours of 2023, I want to say that life gets stranger and more interesting, more joyful, the more you live in it. it really does.

[reddamselette]

“We need to know less about each other,” Leo whispered against Jason’s lips. He swallowed dryly, closing his eyes for a simple moment before he dropped his head onto Jason’s shoulder and breathed.

Jason rested his head back against the wall behind him, staring up at the shining and twinkling stars and constellations in the dark blue blanket of a sky. His hands were cradling Leo’s head, fingers tangled in brown curls. His heart thudded in his chest, his cheeks burning and flushed with crimson red as the blood rushed to his face.

It was unfair, he thought.

How easy it was for Leo take his heart and shatter it like a stick hitting a drum, lightning crackling from the ground into the clouds. They were outside by the bar, celebrating with the others late on a summer night where it was hot enough during the day but worse once the sun had set. It was unfair, he thought, how Leo could say that after so long. “I can’t know less about you, Leo.”

Jason could never forget or unlearn what has been engraved in his mind like etchings on stone tablets. He would always remember the slightest shine in big brown eyes when he would gesture wildly with his hands as he spoke about something he was passionate about or the curl of his lips that would spread into a grin that was the most beautiful thing he could witness.

The touches that were searing hot and burned his fingertips into Jason’s skin, every nerve tingling until he was on fire. Jason memorized the specific pattern of Leo’s heartbeat underneath his palm, the scars on his arm that were shaped like a constellation, and how every curl hung over his eyes or curled up on the crown of his head; fluffy, soft curls that felt like he could fly running his hands through each strand and twirling it between his fingers.

He could never know less about Leo Valdez because his very soul was made to absorb every detail about him like the fact he would chew on his lip a few times before biting the inside of his cheek when he was overwhelmed. Leo had the habit of tapping his finger, whistling or humming to himself in concentration. How his voice was smooth but there was quirks of an accent, a rasp with certain words and a slip into the swirls of the Spanish language.

Leo pulled away, his hands sliding off of Jason’s waist to the wall on either side of his head, caging him in as if his mind and mouth was saying one thing but his body and heart were saying another. “This was a mistake.”

Jason looked at him with sad eyes, gripping his hair between his fingers as he shook his head. “Was it? Or are you saying that because you feel guilty? I don’t want to be strangers, don’t do that to me.”

“We should’ve stayed strangers since the very beginning, Jason.” Leo sighed and hovered his hand near Jason’s cheek, heat radiating from the close vicinity of his palm to his skin before he leaned away and gently removed Jason’s hands from his hair. “You’re everything to me, you know.”

“Am I? It doesn’t seem like it.”

“You are.”

“I hate you,” Jason lied and he lied painfully. His body was resting against the wall, using it as support as he stared into Leo’s features, sky blue irises roaming over his figure, his hands, his hair, his lips. He could never truly hate him because he fell in love with him but it wasn’t enough. Jason would never be enough.

Leo didn’t reply for several moments. His hands were limp at his sides, the area was barely illuminated and masked his fingers curling into his palms, nails digging into his skin and created crescent shapes. He knew Jason would never hate him but he wished he would. Leo deserved it for hurting him in such a way, for cradling him and embracing him the way lovers of so many years do. They weren’t official, they never would be, but it hurt. It ripped Leo apart. It was as if smoke infiltrated his lungs and drowned out the oxygen, stealing away his ability to breathe. “I know.”

[athousandbyeol]

whether it's a ghost, a demon, or a human; i'll protect you.

[arcanetoymakerau]

So, Arcane fans, how are we doing today, hm?

[kerizaret]

Something about Tsukasa, the most show-off character ever, who always stands out and has so many of these flashy card, getting a fes card that's surprisingly... simple. Domestic. ""Plain"" even, in comparison to what we were used to (mostly the trained version but some could argue the untrained as well)

I know we were expecting something grand like Tsukasa himself and I see a lot of people being disappointed but honestly... I think this fits a lot actually. This might've just been the best choice for Tsukasa' fes

Because really, under all that attitude and boldness and showing off, Tsukasa's dream and feelings are kind of... simple. To make people smile. To be a world famous star, yes, but that's only the means to the goal of making everyone around the world happy

This is one of the most important developments of Tsukasa from how he was in the main story. Being a star is NOT just being a great, famous actor to him – he's proven it countless times. It's obviously a very big part of it, but if it was just about acting then why does he also constantly reference to being a "star" in more "mundane" situations unrelated to acting?

A star inspires. A star makes his sister smile. A star doesn't worry those around him. A star helps those in need. A star guides those who are lost. A star would choose to save the amusement park that makes everyone happy and means the world to his best friend instead of trying to win a contest to gain fame. These aren't exactly things related to being an actor or a celebrity

It's more as if a part of being a "star" is... being like a big brother?

Tsukasa's whole dream stemmed from just him wanting to make Saki smile; shows were just what proved to be something that could achieve it. Is it really such a surprise then that this is what his goal revolves around as well? What he believes a "star" should be when they're not on a stage? And what his fragment SEKAI bases on?

Not on being a flashy, famous star in the spotlight. But on being the person you can rely on that will take care of your worries and turn your frown upside down. Someone you will look at and think of home. And that's something so simple and domestic, and something I feel like is reflected really nicely in his trained fes

Hell, his outfit is called "Kind Brother" too. Because that's who Tsukasa is first and foremost, to himself

If that isn't enough proof than idk what else is

[abirddogmoment]

I highly recommend getting a highly social dog breed. Being told by pet professionals that my dog is delightful just really never gets old.

[bluiela]

Why I keep low expectations for Azriel, Lucien, Gwyn, Elain for the future books:

Before ACOSF came out and we didn't get Cass's POV, I was so excited for his character, he reminded me so much of Kelsier from Mistborn (who is my the absolute loml). I had such positive expectations of Cassian from the build-up we were given.

But I was heavily let down, there was literally no character growth for Cassian, I do like him but personally think Maas didn't do his character justice. There was so much potential right there for him and Maas could've made this book 100x better if she explored his story a bit, his past, him having some closure with his self-esteem issues, him and Nesta having a heart to heart where they share their pasts or emotionally bare their souls to each other, etc. She didn't, and similar story with Bryce, Hunt, Rhys etc. in HOFAS.

Personally, I think she creates such great build up for her characters and shows how much great potential their stories (individually and romantically) have but her recent books shows the lack of payoff for the build-up.

For the above-mentioned character, we have been anticipating their stories for more than 4 years, all these characters have mysterious sort of personalities and one hell of a build-up but honestly, I think many people will be disappointed (ships aside). A lot of people literally harass IRL people for these characters to defend them (hello elain "fans") and they have set MASSIVE expectations of these characters to the point that they get triggered at even a little criticism of the character but seeing her recent books I feel like many people's expectations won't be met and for me to enjoy the universe I just now expect 0 things from anyone.

[ask-rubedo]

A Pyro Slime approaches Rubedo with little hops, glowing orange form squishing slightly each time it lands before returning to normal. As it draws closer, circles of bare ground are left where it had landed with each jump forward. Oddly, despite approaching with purpose, there isn't any sense of mindless intent to cause harm...?

< @vila-of-burning-waters >

The slime’s glowing orange form leaves little patches of bare ground with each bounce, and Rubedo’s eyes narrow slightly as he tries to make sense of the unusual sight.

He sighs, shaking his head with a bemused expression. "What do you want?" Despite his words, Rubedo’s tone is less harsh and more contemplative, as if he’s trying to reason with the creature despite knowing it’s unlikely to respond. He continues to observe the Pyro Slime, clearly intrigued by its seemingly purposeful approach

[adventures-in-teyvat]

kujou sara: you think you're smarter than everyone else.

heizou: i don't think i’m smarter than everyone else. i know i am.

[gayamulet]

Guys, she’s here