#faf just wants consistency

[pakistanweekly]

Bottom-placed Bengaluru end losing streak with win over Hyderabad

In an IPL confrontation on Thursday, Illustrious Challengers Bengaluru, situated at the lower part of the association table, won over Sunrisers Hyderabad by 35 runs, supported by spinners Karn Sharma and Swapnil Singh's vital four wickets.

With this unexpected triumph, Bengaluru finished up their six-match series of failures.

Batting first subsequent to winning the throw, Bengaluru posted a cutthroat 206-7. Virat Kohli's consistent 51 and a speedy 25 from Faf du Plessis established the groundwork.

Rajat Patidar's dangerous 50 off 20 balls moved them to 130 in the thirteenth over. Notwithstanding losing force, Cameron Green's unbeaten 37 off 20 balls supported their aggregate.

Pursuing 207, Hyderabad staggered early, losing Travis Head for only 1 in the first over.

Abhishek Sharma's concise 31 off 13 balls couldn't rescue the innings. Karn and Swapnil's joint exertion destroyed the center request, lessening Hyderabad to 69-5 in the eighth over.

Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins, who hit a 15-ball 31 with three sixes, gave some lower-request thrusts before excusal to public partner Green, who bowled two tight overs for 12 runs and two wickets.

Hyderabad is still serenely put in the third right on target the IPL table, and Cummins expressed that he "will not harp on this one to an extreme".

With this success, Bengaluru got just their second triumph in nine games.

Winning chief Plessis commented that their group had "been close for some time yet you want to win matches to get trust in the gathering".

"A huge success for us. At the point when you're not winning, it influences you intellectually, it influences your certainty," he said.

[the-glory-of-faf]

List of ICC charges: SA v AUS

LIST OF ICC CHARGES IN CURRENT SERIES BETWEEN AUSTRALIA AND SOUTH AFRICA:

FIRST TEST 1. David Warner found guilty of level-two code of offence for "conduct that brings the game into disrepute". Warner needed to be physically restrained by teammates while rowing with Quinton de Kock in the staircase at tea on day four. PUNISHMENT: Fined 75 per cent of match fee and given three demerit points. 2. De Kock found guilty of level-one offence of "conduct that brings the game into disrepute" after making a personal comment that ignited the scrap with Warner PUNISHMENT: Fined 25 per cent of match fee and given one demerit point. 3. Nathan Lyon found guilty of level-one offence of "conduct that is contrary to the spirit of the game", having dropped the ball near dismissed batsman AB de Villiers after completing a run out. PUNISHMENT: Fined 15 per cent of match fee and given one demerit point.

SECOND TEST 1. Kagiso Rabada found guilty of level-two offence, having made "inappropriate and deliberate physical contact" with Steve Smith during a send-off. PUNISHMENT: Fined 50 per cent of match fee and given three demerit points (triggering a two-Test ban because of his poor record).

2. Rabada found guilty of level-one offence of "using language, actions or gestures which could provoke an aggressive reaction" from David Warner during another spray. PUNISHMENT: Fined 15 per cent of match fee and given one demerit point.

3. Mitch Marsh found guilty of level-one offence of "using language or gesture that is obscene, offensive or insulting", having sworn at Rabada after being dismissed on day four. PUNISHMENT: Fined 20 per cent of match fee and given one demerit point.

CURRENT RAP SHEETS * 9 points: Rabada* 3 points: Warner, Faf du Plessis* 1 point: Mitch Marsh, Tim Paine, Lyon, de Kock

HOW DOES IT WORK? *Points remain on a player's record for 24 months as an incentive to behave better. *If a player has four demerit points on their record it results in a suspension of one Test or two limited-overs games. Eight demerit points triggers a suspension of two Tests or four limited-overs games.

[highqueenofelfhame]

Hi I saw your post about fics being in character and I thought this could be a good opportunity to share some insight to help people who struggle with their characterization. I love your writing and ask could you share some traits you see as 'core' Rowan and Aelin traits? Maybe more valuably, would you be open to sharing your process for what you look for in the text when understanding characters, what stands out to you and what you make sure to include vs what you don't? I understand if this isn't something you want to share and I send this ask with good intentions and respect and hope this can start a productive discussion, no drama. Thanks :))

totally okay that you asked this!!

i think part of it is that i have read everything up to EoS so many times. like at least four times each and i've read heir of fire and queen of shadows probably six times each. i've only read kingdom of ash once bc it's still too painful to read again lmaoooo.

when i write i also always look for any chance i can to make parallels. i love making canon parallels to anything from small moments to bigger ones that are more recognizable. like the rowaelin qos reunion, rowan's "where is my wife" moment. rowan and aelin sparring in any capacity, like, anything like that. because i think that helps when you're pulling from the text and putting them into situations where you know how they interact with them, and it makes it easier to add in bits and pieces before and after. if that makes any kind of sense. (this also goes for legit any ship that i write. nessian, feysand, etc. pulling from the text and putting them in familiar situations will always help.)

as far as traits go, one of my major ones that i always try to keep in mind is rowaelin's loyalty to each other. rowan is like loyal to aelin almost to a fault sometimes. he will do anything and everything for her. when it comes that's why their thing is "to whatever end." they will follow each other to whatever end and beyond.

aelin has a very low opinion of herself. she thinks that she's expendable compared to those around her. she is very depressed sometimes and i think it gets overlooked a lot. (when i get my books back from my sister, i plan on doing a meta about this.) but she's been through a lot in her life and i try to keep that in mind in a lot of au's. some au's that are heavier (like iihasts and fafs) i try to pull on that. her mental health is very important to a lot of the way she handles things. post KOA, i know this girl has PTSD. it's evident in the way she handles a lot and takes a long time to warm back up to rowan in kingdom of ash. but she was tortured and manipulated for months. she's not okay.

people (in the books) also call her selfish A LOT but most of what she does she does for other people. she even spared dorian the weight of killing his father and told him she did it. like, come on.

as celaena, she does lean on the more selfish side, but as aelin she's doing everything she does for the greater good of the entire world. she didn't forge that lock for herself. she forged that lock for a better tomorrow for everyone she loved. which is incredibly selfless. she would also completely throw down to keep her loved ones safe.

the arrogant behavior is such an act. she's not really like that, it's a cover to hide everything she's truly feeling inside, to protect herself, to keep people from truly getting to know her. she can flip her personality to better suit the situation and the people she's around. she's mostly only her true self around aedion, lysandra, and rowan. i don't even think she really reveals herself to the rest of the cadre for probably a very long time. she picks fights when she's hurting the most and rowan is really the first person to see and recognize that. (very evident in hof when she sees what a good person gallan appears to be and goes and picks a bar fight immediately. or when arobynn humiliates her and she wears her nicest jewels to try to intentionally get robbed so she can start a fight.)

the reality is that she's an insanely hard worker, she keeps going and going and going to meet to meet her goals. she's a master strategist and very quick on her feet in any situation she finds herself in. she feels isolated (which goes back to her depression and ptsd) and she feels misunderstood. but she has been known to literally give the cloak off her back (with kaltain) and the money in her pocket (with yrene) and doesn't expect anything in return. literally nothing in return. she just did it out of the goodness of her own heart, yet she's constantly filled with self doubt that she's a bad person because people tell her that she is (chaol literally calls her a monster and she holds onto that and ends up asking rowan if she is one.)

she gives a lot of forgiveness and second chances, except to abusers. she pulls no punches with them. yet even with arboynn, she made sure there were no redeeming qualities left before letting lysandra kill him. instead of seeing it as a victory, though, she just felt hollow. she doesn't take joy in killing these people. she is not a bad person.

she feels a lot of guilt when she feels she could have stopped things. i think she carries those moments with her. which is why she helped those people the king wanted dead to escape in com. she has no problem ending people that deserve the punishment, but when they don't, she does what she can to help them.

rowan is so respectful. he finally gets his mate and his wife and his love back and he's consistently giving her the space she requires when it's so hard for him to not just touch her. he puts his own needs aside consistently based on what aelin needs.

he's a complete and total hardass to other people but is so soft for her. but he's also territorial about her. he's protective of her. but never at the cost of what she needs and wants. however, he will put his foot down and make people swallow their own tongues if they're disrespectful toward her. but he's also respectful toward everyone, not just aelin. he can prove his points without physical violence even if he would want to.

in that same vein, if you're doing enemies to lovers, he doesn't understand her at first. he think's she's spoiled and doesn't have a single clue about the trauma she's been through and he's very hard on her. he treats her like another warrior in their training. he doesn't go easy on her just because she's a woman (which also still comes from a place of respect) but the second he finds out about her trauma the way he treats her shifts. he becomes protective because he doesn't put up with that kind of shit. he isn't torturing her in their training, in fact aelin in hof says that he's brilliant even if he beats the shit out of her every damn day. a lot of people try to twist that into a thing of abuse, but again, he's training her like a warrior. he doesn't coddle her and she doesn't want to be coddled. again, this comes from a place of respect.

he also learns from his mistakes and tries to right them, and takes action to better himself from it as soon as he can. this is important. he has the humility to apologize, whether it be by actions or words. he doesn't ask for credit in the things he does and ends up kind of making jokes about it. i think he has a lot of humility at the end of the day. he is quick to forgive others when it's deserved but has a lot of trouble forgiving himself. this is also important.

but rowan also has a playful side with aelin. they have witty banter that they exchange even when they're not totally on board with the other. he's funny in subtle ways, and toward the end of the series we see that he's so wholly comfortable with her that he even gets a little silly.

after his own trauma, he also falls into a very deep depression. for centuries. it took aelin coming along for him to come back out of his shell. everyone gave up on him, but aelin never did. just like he never gave up on her, and they were able to walk out of that darkness together. i also think he feels a lot of guilt when innocent lives get put in danger and risk or die at his hands when he felt he could have stop it, much like aelin.

rowan is also very calm in most situations. he's able to work out solutions like the warrior that he is even when other people are losing their minds, which makes him a very good soldier and eventually king.

i could keep going but this is getting wildly long lol. i hope this helps even a little. thank you to @westofmoon @whimsicallyreading @punkassbookjockey26 for helping me with my thoughts as i'm still exhausted from surgery and healing.

[homeverse-au-official]

Faffing about with some other parts of language, like sign and tactile languages. 

-Seadweller Sign consists of much larger gestures and also involves the tail

-Not related to sign/tactile, but coastal languages tend to have much longer vowels/ are just more vowel-heavy than inland languages 

-Tactile and sign is used much more inter-hive than outside 

-Eridan hates signing with Gamzee because while Gamzee knows a decent amount, he takes for-fucking-ever to say what he wants, and often forgets what he’s signing right in the middle of the gesture 

-Karkat is nigh-incomprehensible for a bit because the guy one, doesn’t talk to people irl, too much of a hyper-anxious shut-in, and two, has often only seen words written down, not heard them pronounced. He also has a tendency to just...make up words and then fight with you about them being a ‘real word’ or not 

-Actually, there is an adjustment period for everyone when they meet irl for a while because they’re all from different places on Alternia and while they can all speak a common tongue, there is a LOT of slang/accents/local dialect to sort through

-Again, Gamzee is speaking/signing/tapping a VERY insular Purple dialect that he only half-knows how to explain

-Terezi likes to claim ‘smacking people with her cane and licking’ is tactile native to her homeland 

-It is not, she’s just Like That.

-Especially to Karkat. 

[galina]

Heya, I was wondering when literary theory / critical theory really clicked for you? I’d love to be able to throw myself into it, and I do find it interesting, but there seems an inexhaustible quantity and tbh I struggle to understand a lot of it. I’m in the 2nd year of a literature course - did it take you a while to learn to navigate/appreciate theory, or is it just naturally your cup of tea? xx

Hi – tricky one, I think it all happened quite holistically and very slowly, it crept up on me. The short version is I spent many years faffing about and then it all kind of came together when I realised reading and writing theory is very personal/like a conversation. The long version is below the cut, seems the button isn’t coming up on the blog so click here if that’s the case

In my second ever seminar at university we talked about theories of interpretation and it was like a big light that had been off in my head for my whole reading life suddenly came on. I was excited, because the death of authorial-intention-based approach gave life to theory, empowered readers to enter into a relationship with the text that was meaningful and new. It made me feel like I could use my experience as a frame through which to view literature rather than just searching for a right or wrong answer to unlocking the text. Despite this I thought reading the actual theory was exceptionally boring (probably Saussure’s fault, or rather my fault for being too stupid to understand the genius implications of Saussure) and struggled to connect my excitement at reading fiction theoretically and, well, actually reading theory texts.

I was on a joint honours creative writing programme which I had been accepted to based on a portfolio of my prose, but my first year was terrible. It wasn't even that I was a bad writer, I was just painfully mediocre and felt I had nothing to say. I constantly felt I was contriving to make something meaningful, my tutor was encouraging enough that we shouldn’t wait for a muse or a moment of inspiration to write but though I pushed through I was consistently marked down in submissions and peer reviews. It was really tough and I wanted to drop out many times, to go and pursue art which was becoming a bigger part of my life all the time – I was making work with other artists and entering into the world of art school which seemed more exciting. At the end of my first year I was seriously thinking about dropping out to pursue fine art full time. 

Something made me not do that, and I think it was theory – probably in the disguise of modern poetry. I had really enjoyed reading poetry before university but I was convinced I was not good enough to write or write about poetry myself. The class made me realise that poetry was a perfect example of the kind of reading and thinking I really loved: poems are puzzles, often they read like a big knotted textural wall of words at first, and then one line comes out like a thread and you pull it and it all starts to become understandable. The thread lodges itself in you, or becomes part of your own tangle. That’s like how theory feels to me, like the tangle of texts and ideas coming together to tell us something about our own tangles. I wanted more of that.

I had to choose whether to take a prose or poetry focused class in my second year creative writing programme, and given how poor I was at prose I decided to take a leap and try poetry. I still had a year to go before I had to choose for my final dissertation portfolio, so I figured it made sense to get a bit of both anyway. Basically I resigned myself to being lost and looked for guidance. I also took classes in the most basic principles of literature and culture – a class on Shakespeare, a class on Modern literature, a film class. 

I fell in with a group of incredible young poets in my second year class. Their grasp on it was already so well-formed, they could do things with words in a ten-minute exercise that I couldn’t write in ten years. I fully assumed the role of the blank canvas and let the class shape my writing. I had some good tutors too who were hard on me at times but ultimately completely changed my approach. I think it’s something to do with having gone in completely humble to it second time around rather than in my first year when I thought I had an understanding already. One of the poets was really into theory. They showed me how it wasn’t all boring, how some of it was really radical and pushed the boundaries. 

It wasn’t until my final year that I put two and two together I think. It was the thing of experience, reading, writing, all becoming the same process, informing each other. I chose poetry fully, threw myself into it, and I also discovered creative non fiction. The two together led me to theory in a big way – writing about my experience, reading about others’, writing about both. I don’t know if that even makes sense but that’s what it felt like. My portfolio, on liminality and duality and transnationality, argued for a personal, subjective approach to poetry, not an objective one. That was when it happened for me, reading about things I understood not because I was smart but because it spoke to me and my experiences, became part of my ‘tangle’. 

Anyway this is a very long way to say theory is deeply personal and that approach worked more for me than any amount of academic commitment to marks, grades or careers. It’s a deep seated need to understand myself and the world that takes me to theory again and again. And the understanding too that the process with theory is never over, there’s always more, but not being overwhelmed by it – I find it comforting to know how little I know. That’s where my appreciation for it and my way of navigating it come from, just knowing it’s bringing a personal and subjective view as part of an enormous collective dialogue between all these different minds across all of time. The texts talk to each other and they talk to us, you just have to enter the conversation.

whew that was quite the brain dump!

[retphienix]

Eh, daggerfall is neat. Not 100% that I'll return and beat it, but I mean I've done dumber stuff.

It's not the aesthetic (love that), or the simple combat (I loved Morrowind's take so that's fine), it's kinda just the gratuitous scope for the sake of a gratuitous scope that has me lacking interest.

Well, that and talking and quests feel lame to me. Morrowind is like the limit of what I'm willing to accept in terms of outdated dialogue engines, this wasn't fun and felt like pulling teeth / entirely pointless to interact with at all.

The world is ridiculously large for the sake of it; In just a couple hours of faffing about I successfully saw endless waves of pre-generated land with nothing of interest inside, and I had mods that help alleviate that emptiness!

I know there's dungeons (pretty random ones from what I'm lead to believe), and towns but it kinda feels like a big empty space for the bragging rights, and the gameplay felt like "Worse Morrowind" at a glance, so I think I might not fully return for a full playthrough of Daggerfall.

Neat though, and I really dig the aesthetic. But I think when I want old elder scrolls fun I'll just make a new character in Morrowind, a game I now love, rather than dragging my feet through Daggerfall but that's me.

Edit for fun:

Like I'm aware of what that land in Arena and Dagger actually consists of, and that you're not actually expected to walk it or even explore much of it, but that's kind of the point.

It's big for no reason, which means a good portion of exploration is null and void and not intended for no reason. (funny to use Skyrim as a positive example but it's true here)

[gilesian]

SENSES AND OTHER ODDLY SPECIFIC HEADCANONS TAGGED BY: @pryceism TAGGING: @johnconstantfine @enduringtiime @liminalchaos @magaprima

1. WHAT DOES YOUR MUSE SMELL LIKE:

Aftershave, soap & apples. Mostly he just smells clean except when he’s stressed and binge drinking.

2. WHAT DOES YOUR MUSE’S HANDS FEEL LIKE:  

Cold. Broad hands with gentle touches despite the slight callouses on his palms (which he sometimes pick on) and fingertips. Plenty of tiny, old cuts on his right thumb from whittling stakes but the most prominent scars are on his left hand courtesy of y’all’s fave Scourge of Europe. Takes care of his nails like a champ.  

3. WHAT DOES YOUR MUSE USUALLY EAT IN A DAY:  

Considering he knows how to cook I’d say he’s aware on some level that he needs food to survive. He doesn’t eat breakfast that often, opting for light snacks or fruits that he can bring with him on his way to school (and most importantly eat one-handed). Often skips a proper lunch for, again, snacks and desserts or fruits. Probably has a thermos of tea to go through the day. I think his biggest meal is dinner which he either cooks himself or orders in.

4. DOES YOUR MUSE HAVE A GOOD SINGING VOICE:

Yes. Yes, he sings like an angel and he should’ve been the front man of a proper band.

5. DOES YOUR MUSE HAVE ANY BAD HABITS OR NERVOUS TICKS:

Boy are there. He stammers when he’s being a Watcher, cleans his glasses when he doesn’t want to see Crimes being committed. Switches subjects mid-sentence but I suppose that’s less bad habits/nervous ticks and more towards limited attention span.   

6: WHAT DOES YOUR MUSE USUALLY LOOK LIKE / WEAR:

The tweeds, which have been mentioned to me to be his Watcher drag. I can’t complain to much about the waistcoats though I would probably give him more flattering colours like navy and grey. And less the clashing of patterns. Stripes and polkadots are not meant to be together, Rupert. Then of course the natural state of Rupert Giles that consisted of the earring, earth-tone knitwear, blue denims, and boots. The occasional leather coat doesn’t hurt either. He had an excessive number of jackets in S7 and I wonder whether that had something to do with characterization or the wardrobe people were just ‘ok Tony bring your own costume’.

7. IS YOUR MUSE AFFECTIONATE? HOW MUCH? HOW SO:

When he has the chance to? God, yes. He isn’t very physically affectionate but that doesn’t mean that he’s in any way averse to it. It’s like he forgot he has the option to, you know, touch people. I suppose working with younger people has made him very conscious of that but he also snogged Jenny in the middle of school day in the library so what have you. And points at Band Candy, he didn’t stop touching/being affectionate with Joyce throughout the ep. I feel like the Giles we saw in general censors himself heavily. For the platonic sort of affection, well, he’d fight your fights for you. He cares deeply. Deep enough that even Eyghon made a point to mention that he cries at every funeral. I’ll quit faffing about and just say that Giles has a lot of love to give. Please let him.  

8. WHAT POSITION DOES YOUR MUSE SLEEP IN:

Plants his face on the pillows like a log. If he’s with someone he’ll definitely sleep touching them in some ways, whether it’s spooning, being spooned, or just his arm pillowing the other person.

9: COULD YOU HEAR YOUR MUSE IN THE HALLWAY FROM ANOTHER ROOM:

No. He’s one of those people you don’t even notice is in the room until he makes a noise. He doesn’t mean to, he’s just... quiet. 

[pink-peony-princess]

I'll Always Be There for You

“Rise and shine Miniture Mendes,” I heard my older brother’s voice somewhere at the end of my bed.

I didn’t answer immediately, hoping that if I ignored him, he would go away. Realistically I knew I was kidding myself, and this was confirmed moments later, when I felt him sit at the end of the bed, poking my leg until I finally let out a grunt of annoyance.

“And she lives!” he cheered, as if he was commentating a grand final sports match.

“Shawn, it is seven. In the morning. On a Saturday, you better have a good reason for being in my bedroom, annoying me this early.” I warned, pulling the pillow over my head.

“Sure do,” he chimed, fighting to pull the pillow away from me. “Get up, get dressed, you have your yearly check-up today.”

The reaction was instant, and he was quick to notice it. “Don’t start Hailey, we went through this last time you had to come in,” he cautioned, and I could see from his face, that there was going to be no changing his mind.

“Shawn!” I groaned, whacking him with the pillow I had just had over my head. As much as I loved my brother, I hated him equally at times like this. He had just qualified as an attending paediatrics doctor, and was now working at the local hospital with a bunch of his friends. “I’m sixteen, can’t I look after myself?” I begged.

“Nope, last time I let you do that, you nearly ended up dying on Connor's O.R. table, because you thought that appendicitis was ‘nothing’, ” he reminded me, using air quotes for effect.

“Ahhh, don’t remind me. Fine,” I conceded. There was no point, I knew that. It wasn’t even that I really disliked the doctors or the hospital for that matter. I just really didn’t like having my brother in my medical care. I found it awkward, something which he would remind me constantly that wasn’t the case at all. Well even that was a lie, it did come in helpful sometimes.

“Be ready in twenty minutes,” he spoke, getting up, straightening his scrubs, and walking out.

Sighing, I sat up, grabbing my phone. Help! I wrote, sending it to Dave one of Shawn's friends, and a fellow doctor. I had known Shawn's friends, Dave, Brian and Connor since I was little, and considered them to be adoptive brothers.

There was a ping from my phone, as I was in the bathroom, cleaning myself up. He told you then. <3 was the response. I cursed internally, if Dave knew, then it meant that Shawn was serious. After all, most of the time Dave was the one in charge of my medical care.

Dumping my phone back on the bed, I went to the wardrobe and grabbed the most comfortable pair of track pants I could find and paired these with a crop top and a parker. I spent another few minutes faffing about in my room, trying to find ways out of this, but when I heard Shawn grabbing his coat and keys from the hallway, I made my way down stairs feeling defeated.

“I hate you,” I spoke, pushing past my brother and stepping out the from the front door. Only to hit a body, hard.

“Easy there Little Lady,” Dave spoke as he caught and steadied me. “What’s up? Those were some fighting words!” he let my arm go, stepping back to look at me.

“Don’t start D, I hate you too, you knew and you didn’t tell me!” I accused, stepping around him and heading for his car, which he and Shawn usually car-pooled to work in.

“She’s been like this since I woke her, she’s tried to get out of it more than once already,” Shawn fixed me with a stern stare, silently warning me not to cause mischief.

“You make out like I’m such a bad patient, you’re such a drama queen!” I laughed as we buckled in and made our way down the street.

“Maybe you are.” Was the only reply I got. The rest of the car ride was quiet, I couldn’t help but sulk at my predicament.

When we finally got there, I trailed behind the guys, listening to them discussing their schedules for the day. Most of which consisted of making sure that their interns and residents were doing what they should be. I couldn't help but feel a little proud of them as I thought of how far they had come.

“You ready Little Lady?” Dave's voice, pulled me from my thoughts, and it was only then that I noticed that we had made it inside to the front desk, where Amy, the receptionist, and one of my favourite people resided.

“Hi Hailey, how are you sweets?” she asked as she typed on the computer, before addressing Shawn “All good, it’s all set up for you.”

We made our way to the exam room quickly, Dave unlocking the door, and dumping his belongings on his desk and switching the computer on, no doubt so he could check my records.

“Do I have to?” I asked, eying the bed off furiously, once again frustrated at Shawn for making me do this.

“Yes, you do pretty girl, why don’t you just take a seat next to your bro for now, I’ve just got some questions for you first. Grumbling to myself, I slumped into the seat next to Shawn, resting my head on his shoulder.

“I thought you hated me?” he laughed, somewhat confused, but rubbing my scalp comfortingly anyway.

“I do,” I agreed. “But if I’m asleep, you can’t start the exam, because you must have consent to do anything,” I explained, trying to hide the smirk that was now forming at my genius conclusions.

“Touché What you failed to mention though, was that the parentals have given me autonomy over your medical care in their absence since you’re still under eighteen. So right back at you sister,” he sassed, clearly proud of himself.

“Okay, okay, it’s too early for me to have to adjudicate a fight between you two!” Dave laughed, turning to face me. “Okay, Hailey, some of these questions may be a little embarrassing, but answer honestly okay?”

I nodded, feeling apprehensive.

“Do you smoke?” he asked, pausing to look at me. I fixed him with a glare, making him laugh. “I’ll take that a no.”

I put up with the questions, most of them not as bad as I had imagined, until he asked the dreaded one. “What about your period?”

I turned to Shawn, silently fuming at him. “I had to Hailey, you’ve been struggling for months with it.”

“No! You didn’t actually, last time I checked, I was the one bleeding,not you!” I yelled, moving to get up and walk out.

“Hailey, wait honey. I know it’s awkward, but if you can tell me what’s been going on, I’ll be able to fix it,” Dave, tried to reason, waiting for me to sit back down before continuing. "Shawn said you get bad cramps?” he prompted.

“Bad, bad doesn’t even to describe it. I can’t move without feeling like I’m going to faint or be sick,” I told him honestly.

“Last night, I found her curled up in tears because of the pain, I had to get her some fairly strong stuff,” Shawn added, grabbing my hand and giving it a squeeze.

I shuddered thinking back to the previous night.

... Shawn had come home late, and came in to check on me like he always did, but instead of finding me in bed reading like normal, I was curled in a ball in my bed practically rocking as I tried to get the pain under control.

"Again?" he'd asked looking at me with pity.

I nodded, "It's so bad Shawnie," I hiccupped, tears flowing unchecked down my checks and landing in small pools on my bed.

"I'm going to get you some pain relief okay," he'd spoken, moving to brush some of the hair out if my face. "I know it hurts, but try not to get too worked up, the more upset you get, the more pain you'll be in," he explained gently, getting up and going to my bathroom. I could hear him searching through my cabinet before he asked, "What have you taken today Poppet?"

"Just Tylenol," I groaned out as another wave of pain hit me.

"Here take this." he held a blue packet out for me to take.

"What is it?" I asked, not recognising the packaging.

"It's called Napropgesic, it'll help with the pain. It'll help to block the release of some of the hormones that are making you feel so sick and sore," he explained, grabbing the water glass from beside my bed and handing it to me. "Take two," he added.

"Will you stay with me?" I asked, catching his hand as he went to leave the room.

"Of course, honey," he'd said, coming to lay next to me on the bed, allowing me to cuddle into his chest.

"Get some rest," he murmurned, kissing the top of my head.

...

“Okay, so you have it now. Is it like that every time?” Dave asked seriously bringing me back to the present,typing as he spoke.

I nodded, feeling the tears welling up, I was so over having to deal with it, I didn’t even care anymore if I had to tell them embarrassing stuff. “It’s okay Little Lady, we’ll get it sorted, how about we get the rest of the exam done, and then we can get this sorted for you okay?” Dave came to give me a quick hug.

“Hop up on the bed, yeah.” I did so, sitting waiting for him to tell me what to do.

“Right, I’m just going to listen to your heart and lungs,” he told me, after washing his hands. “Just lift your shirt a little,” he told me as he rubbed the bell of the stethoscope to warm it up. “Deep breathes,” he instructed, listening.

Turning my head, I saw Shawn watching intently, sending me a ‘thumbs up’ when he saw me looking at him. “Nothing out of the ordinary there, that’s always good,” Dave spoke, moving to take my pulse.

He was quiet again for a minute, watching the clock. “Hmm,” he finished,"Shawn come here for a second.”

Getting up, my brother made his way over, taking my pulse as Dave had only moments before. I let out a whine at the fact that I was being fussed over, causing Dave to take my hand.

"Your pulse is fast," Shawn spoke, stepping back to look at me.

"And?" I asked, looking between the two doctors.

"Well, it could be a couple of things," Dave started, going to get supplies from a cupboard above his desk. "It could indicate Anemia, which would help to explain some of the period issues, but it could be something like an infection too. And that my dear is something we don't want, especially with you having had your appendix out only a week and a half ago. Just lay back for us," he instructed.

Shawn helped me lay down, before pulling my clothing away from where my scar was on my stomach.

"Ow!" I whimpered as Dave removed the dressing, exposing a red, and somewhat oozy looking cut.

"Sorry Hailey, normally this wouldn't hurt so much, but this is infected."

"Look at that," Shawn pointed out, having gone to get gloves on himself. "That looks like she's had a reaction to the sutures."

" I'll get Connor in here after to assess it, he may want to try leaving in open for a little."

"Open?" I squeaked, shooting up from the bed.

"Hailey!" Shawn grumbled, " What have I told you? Slow movements!" He looked somewhat grumpy, but I didn't blame him. He had already had to repair the stitches once for me.

After explaining the fact that open only meant that they would pack it with medicated gauze, Dave left the room, stating he had to, "Get some supplies."

When he came back I let out a loud groan, in his hand, he was holding supplies for a blood draw. "Come on Hailey, you'll be fine," he encouraged, prepping me for it. " I'm going to let Shawn do it as he's a pro," he told me, moving to sit beside me on the bed.

"Don't look Hailey. Sharp scratch," he warned as Shawn inserted the needle. I couldn't help myself though, and found myself watching the red liquid being drawn from my arm. I could feel myself getting faint at the sight, and before I knew it, darkness hard over come me.

I woke to a light tapping sensation on my face, and someone's fingers pressed to the inside of my wrist. "Welcome back," Shawn spoke, somewhat sarcastically. "I thought we told you not to look."

"I couldn't help myself." I pouted, excepting Dave's help in sitting up.

"Just sit for a second, we don't want you fainting again," he laughed, before walking around his desk and picking up the phone.

Minutes later, the door opened and Shawn and Dave's friends and colleagues Brian and Connor came into the room.

"How's out favourite patient?" Brian asked coming over to hug me.

"You look pale," Connor noted, standing beside Shawn at the bed with a frown.

"She just fainted at the blood draw," Shawn explained, rolling his eyes playfully.

Neither one of them responded, instead sending me sympathetic smiles.

"So, Dave said you've been having sereve cramps with your period?" Brian asked, without a fuss.

I stayed silent for a second, before sighing, and nodding. I loved the guys like I loved my own brother, but there were some things I just wanted to keep private. Especially as Brian was an obgyn. " Where is the pain mostly?" He asked coming over to rest his hand on my lower back. I nodded again, causing him to press with only slight pressure. This slight pressure though, sent pain radiating throughout my whole abdominal area, and into my back, nausea hitting me like a ton of bricks.

"I'm gonna be sick!" I gasped, leaning over the pan that Shawn had rushed to grab off the shelf.

"I'm sorry Sweet Pea," Brian apologised, rubbing my back. "Well I can tell you now, that it's referred pain that's causing you all the problems. Basically, all the ligaments are attached, and as the uterus contracts, you get pain in other places. Some girls get it worse than other's though."

"And the vomiting?" I asked once I had recovered a little.

"That will be the hormones, it's not dissimilar to a pregnant woman and morning sickness," he explained. "Lots of rest, fluids, heating pads, pain killers and some ice cream should do the trick." he winked.

"And iron tablets," Dave added, coming back from the desk where he had remained since the phone call. "Your iron levels are dismal Little Lady, it's no wonder you're having such a bad time of it!"

Lastly it was Connor's turn to check on me. "Just lie down for me again darling," he spoke, getting a set of gloves on. He only had to look at the incision for about thirty seconds, before nodding. "That's infected alright. I'm actually surprised you're not getting other symptoms. When did you first notice it?" He asked as he replaced his gloves, and went to get antibacterial solution and more gauze.

"I hadn't until Dave took the dressing off, but it's really hurting now."

"We'll get it sorted for you, and get you some pain killers and antibiotics just to ward off further trouble. This is going to sting a bit honey," he warned as he dabbed the liquid onto the wound.

"Ah," I hissed, reaching for my brother's hand.

"Nearly done sis," Shawn encouraged, stroking my hair.

When Connor was done, he gave me a shot of fairly strong antibiotics and pain killers, telling Shawn to take me home and watch me closely for any signs of fever, which of course, he knew. I did try to tell them I was fine, but they shut me down before I even got a chance to finish the sentence.

" Hailey, your stitches are infected, meaning that your immune system is compromised, you're clearly in pain, let your brother do his job, and take you home," Dave interrupted seriously. I felt guilty after that, and so didn't complain when Shawn put his arm around me as we made our way back out of the hospital to get a cab home.

When we got there, he set me up on the sofa, with blankets and pain meds, telling me to give him a yell if I needed anything.

"Shawn?" I called, as he made his way upstairs to the office. "Thank you, and I'm sorry I'm a difficult patient," I told him sincerely.

"Don't mention it. I'll always be there for you, " he replied, coming back down the stairs and shifting me onto his lap. That was how I spent the remainder of the day, cuddled up to my brother, knowing that if I needed anything he would do it without question.

[pinkpeonyprincessblog]

I'll Always Be There For You

“Rise and shine Miniture Mendes,” I heard my older brother’s voice somewhere at the end of my bed.

I didn’t answer immediately, hoping that if I ignored him, he would go away. Realistically I knew I was kidding myself, and this was confirmed moments later, when I felt him sit at the end of the bed, poking my leg until I finally let out a grunt of annoyance.

“And she lives!” he cheered, as if he was commentating a grand final sports match.

“Shawn, it is seven.In the morning. On a Saturday, you better have a good reason for being in my bedroom, annoying me this early.” I warned, pulling the pillow over my head.

“Sure do,” he chimed, fighting to pull the pillow away from me. “Get up, get dressed, you have your yearly check-up today.”

The reaction was instant, and he was quick to notice it. “Don’t start Hailey, we went through this last time you had to come in,” he cautioned, and I could see from his face, that there was going to be no changing his mind.

“Shawn!” I groaned, whacking him with the pillow I had just had over my head. As much as I loved my brother, I hated him equally at times like this. He had just qualified as an attending paediatrics doctor, and was now working at the local hospital with a bunch of his friends. “I’m 18, can’t I look after myself?” I begged.

“Nope, last time I let you do that, you nearly ended up dying on Connor's O.R. table, because you thought that appendicitis was ‘nothing’,” he reminded me, using air quotes for effect.

“Ahhh, don’t remind me. Fine,” I conceded. There was no point, I knew that. It wasn’t even that I really disliked the doctors or the hospital for that matter. I just really didn’t like having my brother in my medical care. I found it awkward, something which he would remind me constantly that wasn’t the case at all. Well even that was a lie, it did come in helpful sometimes.

“Be ready in twenty minutes,” he spoke, getting up, straightening his scrubs, and walking out.

Sighing, I sat up, grabbing my phone. Help! I wrote, sending it to Dave one of Shawn's friends, and a fellow doctor. I had known Shawn's friends, Dave, Brian and Connor since I was little, and considered them to be adoptive brothers.

There was a ping from my phone, as I was in the bathroom, cleaning myself up. He told you then. <3 Was the response. I cursed internally, if Dave knew, then it meant that Shawn was serious. After all, most of the time Dave was the one in charge of my medical care.

Dumping my phone back on the bed, I went to the wardrobe and grabbed the most comfortable pair of track pants I could find and paired these with a crop top and a parker. I spent another few minutes faffing about in my room, trying to find ways out of this, but when I heard Shawn grabbing his coat and keys from the hallway, I made my way down stairs feeling defeated.

“I hate you,” I spoke, pushing past my brother and stepping out the from the front door. Only to hit a body,hard.

“Easy there Little Lady,” Dave spoke as he caught and steadied me. “What’s up? Those were some fighting words!” he let my arm go, stepping back to look at me.

“Don’t start D, I hate you too, you knew and you didn’t tell me!” I accused, stepping around him and heading for his car, which he and Shawn usually car-pooled to work in.

“She’s been like this since I woke her, she’s tried to get out of it more than once already,” Shawn fixed me with a stern stare, silently warning me not to cause mischief.

“You make out like I’m such a bad patient, you’re such a drama queen!” I laughed as we buckled in and made our way down the street.

“Maybe you are.” Was the only reply I got. The rest of the car ride was quiet, I couldn’t help but sulk at my predicament.

When we finally got there, I trailed behind the guys, listening to them discussing their schedules for the day. Most of which consisted of making sure that their interns and residents where doing what they should be. I could help but feel a little proud of them as I thought of how far they had come.

“You ready Little Lady?” Dave's voice, pulled me from my thoughts, and it was only then that I noticed that we had made it inside to the front desk, where Amy, the receptionist, and one of my favourite people resided.

“Hi Hailey, how are you sweets?” she asked as she typed on the computer, before addressing Shawn “All good, it’s all set up for you.”

We made our way to the exam room quickly, Dave unlocking the door, and dumping his belongings on his desk and switching the computer on, no doubt so he could check my records.

“Do I have to?” I asked, eying the bed off furiously, once again frustrated at Shawn for making me do this.

“Yes, you do pretty girl, why don’t you just take a seat next to your bro for now, I’ve just got some questions for you first. Grumbling to myself, I slumped into the seat next to Shawn, resting my head on his shoulder.

“I thought you hated me?” he laughed, somewhat confused, but rubbing my scalp comfortingly anyway.

“I do,” I agreed. “But if I’m asleep, you can’t start the exam, because you must have consent to do anything,” I explained, trying to hide the smirk that was now forming at my genius conclusions.

“Touché What you failed to mention though, what you failed to mention was that you need to be seen. So I'll just wait all day if I have to. So right back at you sister,” he sassed, clearly proud of himself.

“Okay, okay, it’s too early for me to have to adjudicate a fight between you two!” Dave laughed, turning to face me. “Okay, Hailey, some of these questions may be a little embarrassing, but answer honestly okay?”

I nodded, feeling apprehensive.

“Do you smoke?” he asked, pausing to look at me. I fixed him with a glare, making him laugh. “I’ll take that a no.”

I put up with the questions, most of them not as bad as I had imagined, until he asked the dreaded one. “What about your period?”

I turned to Shawn, silently fuming at him. “I had to Hailey, you’ve been struggling for months with it.”

“No! You didn’t actually, last time I checked, I was the one bleeding,not you!” I yelled, moving to get up and walk out.

“Hailey, wait honey. I know it’s awkward, but if you can tell me what’s been going on, I’ll be able to fix it,” Dave, tried to reason, waiting for me to sit back down before continuing. "Shawn said you get bad cramps?” he prompted.

“Bad, bad doesn’t even to describe it. I can’t move without feeling like I’m going to faint or be sick,” I told him honestly.

“Last night, I found her curled up in tears because of the pain, I had to get her some fairly strong stuff,” Shawn added, grabbing my hand and giving it a squeeze.

I shuddered thinking back to the previous night.

... Shawn had come home late, and came in to check on me like he always did, but instead of finishing me in bed reading like normal,I was curled in a ball in my bed practically rocking as I tried to get the pain under control.

"Again?" he'd asked looking at me with pity.

I nodded, "It's so bad Shawnie," I hiccupped,tears flowing unchecked down my checks and landing in small pools on my bed.

"I'm going to get you some pain relief okay," he'd spoken, moving to brush some of the hair out if my face."I know it hurts, but try not to get too worked up, the more upset you get, the more pain you'll be in," he explained gently, getting up and going to my bathroom. I could hear him searching through my cabinet before he ssked,"What have you taken today Poppet?"

"Just Tylenol," I groaned out as another wave of pain hit me.

"Here take this." he held a blue packet out for me to take.

"What is it?" I asked, not recognising the packaging.

"It's called Napropgesic, it'll help with the pain. It'll help to block the release of some of the hormones that are making you feel so sick and sore," he explained, grabbing the water glass from beside my bed and handing it to me. "Take two," he added.

"Will you stay with me?" I asked, catching his hand as he went to leave the room.

"Of course, honey," he'd said, coming to lay next to me on the bed, allowing me to cuddle into his chest.

"Get some rest," he murmurned, kissing the top of my head.

...

“Okay, so you have it now. Is it like that every time?” Dave asked seriously bringing me back to the present,typing as he spoke.

I nodded, feeling the tears welling up, I was so over having to deal with it, I didn’t even care anymore if I had to tell them embarrassing stuff. “It’s okay Little Lady, we’ll get it sorted, how about we get the rest of the exam done, and then we can get this sorted for you okay?” Dave came to give me a quick hug.

“Hope up on the bed, yeah.” I did so, sitting waiting for him to tell me what to do.

“Right, I’m just going to listen to your heart and lungs,” he told me, after washing his hands. “Just lift your shirt a little,” he told me as he rubbed the bell of the stethoscope to warm it up. “Deep breathes,” he instructed, listening.

Turning my head, I saw Shawn watching intently, sending me a ‘thumbs up’ when he saw me looking at him. “Nothing out of the ordinary there, that’s always good,” Dave spoke, moving to take my pulse.

He was quiet again for a minute, watching the clock. “Hmm,” he finished,"Shawn come here for a second.”

Getting up, my brother made his way over, taking my pulse as Dave had only moments before. I let out a whine at the fact that I was being fussed over, causing Dave to take my hand.

"Your pulse is fast," Shawn spoke, stepping back to look at me.

"And?" I asked, looking between the two doctors.

"Well, it could be a couple of things," Dave started, going to get supplies from a cupboard above his desk. "It could indicate Anemia, which would help to explain some of the period issues, but it could be something like an infection too. And that my dear is something we don't want, especially with you having had your appendix out only a week and a half ago. Just lay back for us," he instructed.

Shawn helped me lay down, before pulling my clothing away from where my scar was on my stomach.

"Ow!" I whimpered as Dave removed the dressing, exposing a red, and somewhat oozy looking cut.

"Sorry Hailey, normally this wouldn't hurt so much, but this is infected."

"Look at that," Shawn pointed out, having gone to get gloves on himself. "That looks like she's had a reaction to the sutures."

" I'll get Connor in here after to assess it, he may want to try leaving in open for a little."

"Open?" I squeaked, shooting up from the bed.

"Hailey!" Shawn grumbled, " What have I told you? Slow movements!" He looked somewhat grumpy, but I didn't blame him. He had already had to repair the stitches once for me.

After explaining the fact that open only meant that they would pack it with medicated gauze, Dave left the room, stating he had to, "Get some supplies."

When he came back I let out a loud groan, in his hand, he was holding supplies for a blood draw. "Come on Hailey, you'll be fine," he encouraged, prepping me for it. " I'm going to let Shawn do it as he's a pro," he told me, moving to sit beside me on the bed.

"Don't look Hailey. Sharp scratch," he warned as Shawn inserted the needle. I couldn't help myself though, and found myself watching the red liquid being drawn from my arm. I could feel myself getting faint at the sight, and before I knew it, darkness hard over come me.

I woke to a light tapping sensation on my face, and someone's fingers pressed to the inside of my wrist. "Welcome back," Shawn spoke, somewhat sarcastically. "I thought we told you not to look."

"I couldn't help myself." I pouted, excepting Dave's help in sitting up.

"Just sit for a second, we don't want you fainting again," he laughed, before walking around his desk and picking up the phone.

Minutes later, the door opened and Shawn and Dave's friends and colleagues Brian and Connor came into the room.

"How's out favourite patient?" Brian asked coming over to hug me.

"You look pale," Connor noted, standing beside Shawn at the bed with a frown.

"She just fainted at the blood draw," Shawn explained, rolling his eyes playfully.

Neither one of them responded, instead sending me sympathetic smiles.

"So, Dave said you've been having sereve cramps with your period?" Brian asked, without a fuss.

I stayed silent for a second, before sighing, and nodding. I loved the guys like I loved my own brother, but there were some things I just wanted to keep private. Especially as Brian was an obgyn. " Where is the pain mostly?" He asked coming over to rest his hand on my lower back. I nodded again, causing him to press with only slight pressure. This slight pressure though, sent pain radiating throughout my whole abdominal area, and into my back, nausea hitting me like a ton of bricks.

"I'm gonna be sick!" I gasped, leaning over the pan that Shawn had rushed to grab off the shelf.

"I'm sorry Sweet Pea," Brian apologised, rubbing my back. "Well I can tell you now, that it's referred pain that's causing you all the problems. Basically, all the ligaments are attached, and as the uterus contracts, you get pain in other places. Some girls get it worse than other's though."

"And the vomiting?" I asked once I had recovered a little.

"That will be the hormones, it's not dissimilar to a pregnant woman and morning sickness," he explained. "Lots of rest,fluids, heating pads, pain killers and some ice cream should do the trick," he winked.

"And iron tablets," Dave added, coming back from the desk where he had remained since the phone call. "Your iron levels are dismal Little Lady, it's no wonder you're having such a bad time of it!"

Lastly it was Connor's turn to check on me. "Just lie down for me again darling," he spoke, getting a set of gloves on. He only had to look at the incision for about thirty seconds, before nodding. "That's infected alright. I'm actually surprised you're not getting other symptoms. When did you first notice it?" He asked as he replaced his gloves, and went to get antibacterial solution and more gauze.

"I hadn't until Dave took the dressing off,but it's really hurting now."

"We'll get it sorted for you, and get you some pain killers and antibiotics just to ward off further trouble. This is going to sting a bit honey," he warned as he dabbed the liquid onto the wound.

"Ah," I hissed, reaching for my brother's hand.

"Nearly done sis," Shawn encouraged, stroking my hair.

When Connor was done, he gave me a shot of fairly strong antibiotics and pain killers, telling Shawn to take me home and watch me closely for any signs of fever, which of course, he knew. I did try to tell them I was fine, but they shut me down before I even got a chance to finish the sentence.

" Hailey, your stitches are infected, meaning that your immune system is compromised, you're clearly in pain, let your brother do his job, and take you home," Dave interrupted seriously. I felt guilty after that, and so didn't complain when Shawn put his arm around me as we made our way back out of the hospital to get a cab home.

When we got there, he set me up on the sofa, with blankets and pain meds, telling me to give him a yell if I needed anything.

"Shawn?" I called, as he made his,way upstairs to the office. "Thank you,and I'm sorry I'm a difficult patient," I told him sincerely.

"Don't mention it. I'll always be there for you, " he replied, coming back down the stairs and shifting me onto his lap. That was how I spent the remainder of the day, cuddled up to my brother, knowing that if I needed anything he would do it without question. "

[rocket-bear]

⭐star⭐ FOR THAT ONE ASK THING!

aaaah ty for asking!!! I’m just gonna take this opportunity to, ramble about a couple of different things so this is going to be real long I’m sorry,

First, two scenes from All-In:

When she tells him that Saikyoudai is her number one choice for university because it has the degree plans that best suit her hopes of double-majoring in child development and education, he ditches his other options and goes all-in on his own application. She’ll get in, he knows, and she does. The football team isn’t sterling– though the big fucking baldy is there, and that’s a mark in its favor– but he’s had experience with building a team from the ground up. He can make it work.

I’ve seen folks critique the idea that Mamori just follows Hiruma to Saikyoudai at the end of the series, and while there are DEF criticisms to be made about HiruMamo– tangent: I personally don’t know why I love it so much, because “male character treats everyone around him including his love interest with blatant disrespect bc the way he actually shows respect does not at all reflect anything that another human being would ever recognize” is like, usually VERY much not my jam, but meanwhile it somehow works for HiruMamo to the point that they’re one of my everlasting OTPs– to me, there’s no actual evidence that Hiruma picked Saikyoudai first (unless it’s in a guidebook or something?), so I wanted to push back on that assumption a little! Everyone that’s attending Saikyoudai is canonically very smart or very talented, so it makes just as much sense to me that they either landed on Saikyoudai together because it’s a great school, or that Mamori was actually the one to choose it and Hiruma followed her there. The only canon character on the Wizards before Hiruma joined was Banba, so while Banba is great, it’s not like the football team would have been a particular selling point for him. Hiruma’s a literal genius who could go to any school he wanted, so– yeah. Saikyoudai was Mamori’s pick, not his!

Next is the kiss scene! I’m not going to quote it because this post is already going to be long enough, but GOSH I have had that specific set-up for The Moment HiruMamo Happens in my brain literally since I was 13 but I just never actually took the time to write it into anything, and then abruptly last night it was just like, IT’S TIME. (The fact that it’s been in my mind for that long always makes me vaguely worried that it was something from another fic or a prompt that someone wrote over a decade ago and I’ve accidentally stolen it by thinking I came up with it myself so ANXIOUS BLANKET APOLOGIES, IN CASE THIS EVER HAPPENS, SOMETIMES YOU COME BACK TO A FANDOM OVER A DECADE LATER AND MEMORIES ARE HARD,)

But!!! In any case, whenever I think about HiruMamo finally happening, in my head it’s always Mamori that actually… not necessarily makes the first move, but actually approaches the conversation?? because Hiruma’s allergic to being actually, genuinely vulnerable, and jokey vaguely antagonistic flirting is one thing, but acknowledging that the Vibes are Real is a whole other thing and Mamori’s the one in that equation that’s emotionally mature enough to accept it. So in All-In, Mamori opens the door by just, legit inviting herself into Hiruma’s room, Hiruma does some flirting that could easily be brushed off if he was misreading things, and Mamori explicitly challenges him to DO IT YOU COWARD. One of my favorite dynamics for them!

FINALLY, from Kick Drum Heart– again, rather than quoting a scene I want to talk about a specific plot device, because if I let myself dig into scenes then we’re gonna be here all day. When I was first plotting KDH, the whole idea was really just Sena and Shin developing their relationship in college via Shin tutoring Sena, and I hadn’t planned for either Shin’s poetry plotline or the consistent presence of Panther in story with his mirroring romance plotline with Homer. I fleshed out Panther’s storyline because I just REALLY, REALLY wanted to include the detail of he and Sena casually hooking up in the US since it’s one of my favorite headcanons rofl, and so I wanted to expand his role to be more central to the narrative out of respect for his character and so that scene would feel more cohesive! And then for Shin’s poetry, I really wanted to find something that would allow me to explore the way ShinSena is mutually supportive, rather than limiting it to just Shin supporting/inspiring Sena. Modern fandom is MUCH better about this so shout-out to all the other wonderful writers still writing for ShinSena, but back in the day there was tendency to reduce Shin down to nothing more than Sena’s Hot Sexy Supportive Perfect Boyfriend, without really delving into the ways that Sena is also a hugely important positive influence on Shin’s life instead of it being a one-way street. (Like!!! Shin literally, canonically does not even enjoy football, the thing he devotes every single second of his time and energy to, until he loses to Sena!! Literally in canon this is true!!!!!! I HAVE A META POST IN THE WORKS ABOUT THIS,)

So, I wanted to think of something that Shin could be struggling with during the story that Sena could support him with the same way Shin was supporting him for biology. This was tricky, because Shin’s canonically a great student and Sena isn’t, so I had to think of something academic that A) Shin would struggle with in the first place, and B) Sena would actually be better at. I faffed around with ideas for a while but finally landed on literature/poetry while I was rewatching Chihayafuru for oh like the fifth time, due to the scene where Chihaya’s summer homework is to write some original poems and some of them are extremely silly (“I FEAST UPON A WHIRLWIND OF ICE CREAM…”) and some of them are accidental beautiful love poems about her love interest. I thought that would be perfect for Shin, who tends to approach things in overly clinical/literal terms and struggles to openly express his more positive feelings, and while Sena’s not a poetry buff, I figured he would at least be able to help Shin rework things to sound more expressive and less clinical! This in turn then set up the entire climax of the story with Shin sharing the theme of his poetry collection with Sena, so I’m soooo glad that I landed on that idea because it really made the whole story come together. (SO LIKE, EVERYONE SHOULD PAY RESPECTS AND GO WATCH CHIHAYAFURU, IT’S AN AMAZING SHOW)

Shin’s poems went through a lot of drafts of mostly small tweaks to change wording or slightly adjust a metaphor, but as a bonus, one that I didn’t end up using at all was [Bradycardia, / until you appear ahead. / My pulse comes alive.] I thought the idea of Shin trying to use the word “bradycardia” in a love poem was hysterical, but then the rest of it was like, actually deeply romantic, and too similar in theme to [Muscles atrophy. / You appear along with spring, / Promising new growth.], so I scrapped it.

my god that’s so much more than you asked for sorry about the wall of text BUT I HOPE YOU ENJOY???????

[bog-nymph]

shoutout to my undying mutuals who like my personal posts and the stuff i reblog. i’m pretty sure i’ve been on tumblr for 12 years now (maybe only 11?) and while this is not my original blog and this isn’t even my current main, it does function as my main, and wow has my life been through the wringer the last decade plus. I can’t believe sometimes that some of us have been here fairly consistently for that long. i also can’t explain to anyone what tumblr friends are like, that i’d happily meet you all in person and once upon a time almost married someone i’d met on tumblr (those of you who are pre-South Africa days... wow. just wow). it’s raining steadily and cooler, finally. i wanted to be reading three hours ago and instead faffed around like i always do, painted my nails, did duolingo, watched some netflix. now i read. now i want more than anything a summer vacation. i want time to myself and time with Kieran and time to not be beholden to anyone. i want time to walk along beaches with my mum. i feel overwhelmed and stretched thin always. working from home has nearly driven me mad. i’ve spent so much money while here, trapped, it’s beyond me. hoping packages in the mail would make me less sad.

[countessrivers]

I’ve ranted about this before, but I still have no idea what they were thinking with the writing in Season 5.

(This got long, so I put it under a cut)

They had 10 episodes. They knew that going in. Fox may have jerked them around with renewal, but they knew they had a short season before pre-production started, they knew it before filming started. It’s been said again and again that the show had a seven year plan, that they had to fit 3 seasons worth of story into 10 and then 12 episodes. But actually, no they didn’t. They didn’t have to fit it all in and they shouldn’t have tried. When they got their episode number, they should have cut off the excess and focused in on the most important bits, the stories and development they could tell in the number of episodes they had, in the scenario of No Man’s Land, and give the show and characters the send off they deserved.

The focus, the limited screen time they had should have been spent on their main characters, Bruce in particular. Things that would have been fine, even interesting and enjoyable spread over 3 seasons, or even a full length one, were wastes of precious time that should have been cut. And by trying to do everything, they muddled or dropped the few good story threads for the main characters they had. They had time to craft a really tight story that would carry the show and the characters into the finale, into the Batman years, but they didn’t. They tried to do everything and it brought the whole season down. We should have seen Bruce take those final steps to become the young man who would take up the cowl, who would realise why Gotham needed that - instead Bruce was relegated to all but a minor character who was given very little to do, with minimal growth, and in some cases, they actively retconned the big character moments from previous seasons (eg, Bruce putting Gotham above his own feelings, vowing to stay behind, letting Selina go so he can protect Gotham/hunt for Jeremiah.) 

Jeremiah, and his relationship with Bruce, and the threat he posed to Gotham, should have been explored, built on, utilised in order to develop both him and Bruce. In my opinion he should have been the final Big Bad but instead they had him do nothing for the first six episodes, wasted valuable screen time with a death fake-out, and then stuck him in a coma after only one full episode.

Oswald, admittedly, started out strong, but then I guess the writers didn’t know what to do with him, and Ed was even worse. The two of them spend most of the season faffing around, building a submarine, with a brief interlude of Oswald stirring shit with Barbara and trying to convince her that Jim was going to steal the baby (which had no basis in fact and went absolutely nowhere) when they should have been establishing themselves as the dangerous, competent Rogues we know. They should have been doing villainous things, maybe working with Jim and the heroes reluctantly on occasion, because it was beneficial to them, or because Gotham was their city, but really, just doing anything.

They introduced quite a few interesting developments to Selina’s character, but dropped them almost immediately every time. The seed, which was supposed to change Selina, make her darker, which it did, for about 5 minutes, but after killing Jeremiah, it’s never brought up again and Selina seems fine. The potential of Selina’s murder of Jeremiah and her viciousness pulling Bruce and Selina apart, and Selina actively trying to push him away, was also dropped after a few episodes, and they’re suddenly all fine again. Selina wanting to leave town without telling anyone (not for any deep character reasons like not liking what she’s becoming, or wanting freedom or a change, but because she’s sick of people trying to kill her because she killed Jeremiah) but then it’s never mentioned again after that one episode, and she’s very mad at Bruce for considering doing the same and telling her about it. This season really had the potential to develop Selina into Catwoman, develop the traits that were there into something more, put her and Bruce on opposite sides even - two people who love and care about each but who keep butting heads, going up against each other, who can’t make it really work because ultimately they are too significantly morally incomparable.

The show introduced so many excellent villains over the years, including many well-known Rogues, like Freeze and Scarecrow and Firefly, who also played significant roles in the No Man’s Land and Year Zero storylines. But instead of using any of them, instead of even showing most of them, they introduced minor villain after minor villain, and killed most of them off within the same episode.They spent a whole episode bringing back an OC character they had killed a handful of episodes earlier as a kind of proto-Ventriloquist and then killed him again. And instead of using one of their established villains, like Ed or Scarecrow or Ivy or Jeremiah, they introduced two new ones as the final Big Bads, and gave them barely any development.

Even little things like having Bruce go up against Bane, and Jim up against Nyssa in 5x11 when that’s not where the tension and emotion was between the characters; the introduction of the mind control chips, and the interest and weight that’s taken away by having people just be mind controlled, rather than actual League agents; dropping the date cards after the first episode, so there's no indication of how much time has passed (besides as indicated by Barbara’s stomach), and the pacing of the entire season feels off; having there be a 10 year time jump, when that makes Bruce far older than he traditionally is when he becomes Batman in the comics, doesn’t let them use the actors who had been playing the characters for years, and forces the audience into buying the both Ed and Oz stayed incarcerated for 10 years without escaping.

They didn’t really push or develop anyone in season 5, which is a god awful shame because it was the final season, and it’s where that growth would have been the most important. Jim was pretty consistent, and has been where he needs to be, character-wise for a while, and we did get some nice character-focused moments for him, but Barbara was the only one who really changed, and while I don’t entirely hate where she ended up (successful, happy, ambitious, adores her daughter) it was fairly unnecessary to introduce the pregnancy storyline - Lee was there, her and Jim were happy together, and the whole thing was just surrounded by weird drama that didn’t go anywhere. There are other core characters that really could have better used the attention.

There are a lot of things I like about the final season, and all the actors killed it, but for the most part they are in isolation - moments or scenes that stood out, that told us something about the characters or allowed them to grow, or that were just really cool or interesting. For the most part though, the final season felt disjointed, too much going on, but slow, with a feeling like nothing was going anywhere and nothing was changing.

[seasaltmemories]

Devil’s Line Review/Analysis

This is gonna be a different beast to tackle for a few reasons A) I actually started this once before and dropped it, B) For a proper analysis I’m gonna have to dive into spoilers, and C) I technically haven’t finished the entire series, as the last volume of the manga isn’t translated (and I will only talk about the manga here) I say this all so you’ll be gentle with me as I pop from subject to subject

To start let’s get that summary:

Tsukasa, a college student, is rescued from an attack by a devil, one of many vampires that can blend in among the human population. Anzai, her savior, is a half-devil who exploits his supernatural gifts as a member of a shadowy police task force that specializes in devil-related crime in Tokyo. As Anzai continues to keep guard over Tsukasa, the two quickly forge a tentative bond—one that Anzai fears will test his iron-clad rule of never drinking human blood …

So I feel like expectations play a lot into how you receive this story and what you want to get out of it.  My first time going in I was told it was a dark fantasy series, and then what I got in the 7 or 8 chapters I read was a lot of faffing about of will they won’t they with the external plot only appearing to be there to drive the main couple together, so I got bored and dropped it

This time I went in not only knowing there would be a lot of romance, but also personally more in the mood for vampire stuff, and kinda meeting it where it was allowed me to see it grow into more interesting ways

The beginning isn’t bad, but I think it is best appreciated when you know up front this is 50% romance and 50% thriller, both genres are equally important to the narrative, but rather than starting out with that ratio, the beginning focuses entirely on Tsukasa’s and Anzai’s blossoming romance, from there a greater plot concerning devils begins to unfold, and then the two really begin to work in sync to prop both sides up

Bc once the ball starts rolling, the plot becomes a high-speed mystery concerning secret conspiracies and questions of who you can trust, what started out simple gets more information added on that complicates matters as you begin to question your own judgement, still what keeps the plot from becoming a jumbled mess is the fact at the heart of the story is always Tsukasa and Anzai, it gives the narrative focus that I’ve see few things series have

I should also mention my first impressions of the romance being shaken bc I am so used to series having couples who are love at first sight yet waste the entire time actually getting together until the end, and while these two basically also have love at first sight and take a while to actually get together, they get together in an overall timely manner, and their relationship is allowed to grow and evolve in very mature ways, not just sexually but also emotionally, a lot of their arc together is learning about how to communicate what they want to the other and as their relationship grows, their strength as individual characters grow as well

Now I’m gonna get into some spoilers, but what turned the series from simply fun into can’t put down is the timeskip

A lot of the elements that I enjoyed were being done before the time skip, but I feel like the skip is what allowed it to reach new heights it just kept hovering up at

Bc slowly as we start from Tsukasa and Anzai, the world expands, first to his colleagues, then to their enemies until it is a large but never burgeoning cast of connections, and the way they keep it all together is that it is grounded by lot of casual little moments to see people just be people, no matter their relation to the protagonists, we are consistently shown the humanity of almost everyone we come in contact with, and as a result it is hard to not fall in love with people who had previously tried to murder your faves (and might still currently be doing so)  and after the timeskip we just get hit with back to back side stories of the cast each going through their own internal problems, while still keeping to focus on Tsukasa and Anzai

Another thing that helps is that the worldbuilding concerning devil’s is extremely well-done, again it starts out simple “they see blood, then transform into monsters, sexual lust is connected to their bloodlust” but not only do we learn devil’s themselves, but a lot about what it means for a world to have a population like this, for example we get a detailed look into the tech created to help devil’s have safe sex with human partners and while it can be easy to poke fun at such specific details, by the end of the series it really does feel like an actual genetic disorder rather than some supernatural stuff with a sciency explanation tacked on

A moment that really made me stop and realize “oh the person behind this must know stuff besides story-telling” was when after and educational lecture about devils, the speaker admitted privately that the model used to describe them was problematic in that it demonized certain sects of devils, like wow, it was a quick moment, but a story showing the struggles of nuanced activism? Then we not only touch upon exploration of devil’s through a social science lens, but the overall philosophy that gets brought up on how to deal with institutional bigotry is interesting (this will be endgame spoilers so if you want to skip this, scroll down until you see bolded words again)

In two separate cases, we see two queer women involved in institutions get asked to do something unethical, both decide that if they refuse then they’ll get fired and someone else will simply take their place, and their goal then becomes to work through the system until they make it to the top and can start openly resisting

The effectiveness of these strategies is intriguing to dig through, the first is a researcher breeding devil/human children to study, (many of the participants being convicts) and from her actions we see her try and inform those involved to the best of her abilities and get their consent, and when possible, try to use couples who are already together, any information that would put individuals at risk of being chosen for illegal experimentation, she destroys, when she becomes the head researcher, she changes the program to rely completely on studying the children of already formed devil/human couples who come to them willingly

The second is asked to head the conspiracy of wiping out all devils, when ironically she is a devil herself, and so what they do is essentially play their part until they’ve amassed enough power to eventually stage a coup, until they can get an insider to be the prime minister to publicly reveal to the world, the conspiracy and have vocal support of devil rights, not only does this plan depend on the actual killing of innocents and riling up actual bigotry, but it also attracts actual cold-blooded killers and violent bigots which complicate matters, and for all their effort, the prime minister gets assassinated right during his big speech 

As I mentioned their is still one volume left untranslated so I don’t know how it will add on to this, (most of the plot lines got wrapped up so I can’t see many major developments happening beyond wrapping up character plot threads) but they’re some juicy thematic questions to chew on as well, which is always a treat

Returning to some general strengths of the series, there really is a genuine sex-positive stance, I say that specifically bc it isn’t just simply exploring themes of sex, but also the way it does so, as mentioned above, there is a lot of baggage around devil’s and their sexual relationships, but a lot of what the characters have to learn is that such desires are normal and not some great abomination, just something they have to be responsible about, no one is shamed for communicating what they want/like, especially women, where multiple female characters are in fact openly encouraged to communicate to their partners that they are interested in sex, and from their we watch multiple couples (including a m/m one) work out what they want, in one neither is interested in romance, but is ok with a friends with benefit thing, two have the male participant be unsure of their feelings and so they work in their comfort zone (one likes physical touch and kissing, another they only hug) the m/m couple not only get screen-time of struggling with the “are you gay, I want to show interest but not get perceived as a creep” deal, but one admits to being repulsed by sex, and they still work out a romantic relationship

And the most surprising amount part of this, is that there is no unnecessary titillation, the eternal question of what is over-sexualization and all can get confusing and tiring, so I won’t define a specific threshold here or say this is the only way to tell such stories about sex, but first you don’t got any unrealistic body proportions on anyone or any creepy shots, everyone is fully clothed and dressed normally for the non-sexy bits, and while we do get a sex scene, it is pretty non-graphic (you got boobs and that is all that it on screen) so there really isn’t any confusing moments like in other stories I’ve experienced where I have to wonder if the framing contradicts its message 

I could go on, but the strength of the story lies within at the end of the day being about normal people just trying to live their lives, it really does seem to capture the essence of what it means to be human effortlessly, and I am just immediately charmed and ready to follow Ryo Handa in whatever other projects she does

[girlbookwrm]

AVENGERS: CIVIL WAR

THE MIGHTY PRE ENDGAME REWATCH

it took us two entire days to watch this, back in whenever we were watching this. I’ve got a Bundle of Papers here in front of me, and the CW Bundle is by far the thickest, and that’s with minimal salt content.

Speaking of Salt: The Roommate and I had to approach this as an Avengers movie. Because otherwise the salt levels in this would be toxic, possibly fatal. Even so, ppl with high cholesterol be warned

LET’S DO THIS

1991!

Winter Soldier: 

what is this

what is this please

dat beef tho

what is this op sec

honestly

NO mask

SHINY FUCKOFF ARM just HANGING OUT

CCTV???

~ooooooo he’s a ghooooooooooooost~

he’s got an extremely dedicated and very harried cleanup crew is what he’s got

OH! OLD LOGO ILU!!!

LAGOS!!

The Roommate: That’s a lot of sugar

i ain’t judging

what, you think her powers run on optimism?

is there an accent? is there not? Shroedinger’s accent.

droney the drone

sam’s lil sky roomba

i love him

guhhhh this scene every line shows character and growth and i just *clenches fist*

did

did falcon just throw steve

just yeeted him at the enemy?

god i love that

also: has steve bulked up since TWS?

that’s also on Sam, yeah?

CUT THE CHEEEEECCCCK

is this fucking NEUROTOXIN? STEVE WHERE’S UR MASK?

Steve, throwing himself into a room full of an unknown poison gas without a mask: I bet i can survive this

Bucky, in Bucharest: *breaks whatever he’s holding without knowing why*

god i love sam

“I don’t work like that no more” Means ?????????????

PARKOUR NAT

is also BRUNCH MOM NAT

“both grunting” is always one of my favorite subtitles

2 white boys fighting in the middle of the street like it’s a video game

god someone took the murder strut to heart wow that is some. that is some something that’s for sure.

give me even one (1) heterosexual explanation for "your pal your buddy your bucky"

there’s no way that bucky ever said this, right? this is just Rumlow fucking with steve, and the screenwriters fucking with us

because IN CASE YOU WERE NOT IN THIS FANDOM IN 2016, WE ALL THOUGHT CAP WOULD DIE IN THIS MOVIE

WE WERE SO SURE

wow i wonder if that will be relevant to anyone’s emotions here in the year of our lordt 2019

anyway, what bucky actually said was:

“please tell rogers... that he’s a big dumb dildo and he should wear a gas mask and also a parachute.”

listen i love this opening scene but also wanda is not at all responsible for this explosion and the fact that they act like she is undermines my ability to suspend my disbelief.

DIGITAL ENYOUTHENMENT ALERT

also, tony the fact that you are using your literal dead mom as an actual therapist is

wow

BARF feels right to me

too real, tony

it’s too real

how ARE you getting around the strings and taxes tho

Also can i say that i actually love that Pepper’s absence is this profoundly important to the story. The hole where pepper should be is a huge part of this story and i like that. i like that a lot.

WOW THAT EXTRA IS LIKE A MASHUP OF NAT AND WANDA. SHE IS THE GENERIC MARVEL WHITE LADY

more a+ visual storytelling with the elevator

I’m just so mad that they blame wanda and play that straight?

all they had to do was outright acknowledge one (1) time that the media is picking on her because she’s a woman/a foreigner

imagine that speech coming from nat instead of steve

though i do love Steve’s pep talk

again. give me one (1) heterosexual explanation

though why not have Steve say “they’re just bullies, you did the right thing” and hearken back to smolsteeb

The Roommate: Remember how i was mad at his Oscars Velvet Blazer? I am also mad at this sweater.... it looks... so soft... i don’t know if i want it on him or off him... just wanna tuch....... and wear..........?”

Vision’s Ascot is. Something else man.

The Roommate: Why is ross secretary of state?

Me: Why is Trump President

Me: I bet Ross is vegan

the roommate, who has vegan-related trauma: UUUUGGGHHHHHHHH

Nat's reaction to vigilantes: Bitch please. she is Unbothered.

you don’t have to show us footage we’ve got the ptsd nightmares

400 pages in 3 days

[tired american sighing]

we honestly can’t even criticize this plot point anymore just

[my longest and most american sigh]

CLEVELAND!!!

hail hydra continues to be the Most Terrible last words

but WHY does ross have the congressional medal of honor

do you know how HARD it is to get one of those????

yeesh

sassy black friends sassing at each other

is definitely a

thing that is happening rn

Vision: Well Actually

no one cares, vis

ok like

a kid is dead but

3.6 is an okay GPA

maybe all my friends are overachievers

maybe it’s just because most of them are women but like

it’s an okay GPA

i’d have 8000% more respect for Tony if he was more upfront like “look this is on me” especially here

are we supposed to be picking all this up as subtext, actually?

because i know that this movie ALSO had a Troubled Youth ala ant man

and i really do appreciate the Russos for relying on a smart audience but there’s a lot going on

and it’s very obvious to me that they had to shift gears 18,000 times in the script writing phase

so like, you’ve got old man vet steve

but it’s painfully obvious that he missed vietnam right?

like

it’s painfully obvious

and he’s v egotistical and self righteous too 

it IS a battle of the egos

and no one is right

except natasha

Steve: i have to go

me: mood

LONDON!!!!

oh god

oh god no

steve god no steve oh god

gfhskfdjjjksjdjjhrrrrhrhhrhfhh [wailing and rending of garments]

Re Peggy’s age:

SURPRISE IT’S ACTUALLY PLAUSIBLE

so the True Hallmark of a Cap Movie is Peggy telling steve what to do.

so weird to have that in an avengers movie

i do love this. GOOD BRO NAT CONTENT

Um. is vision a minor? is wanda?

again, nat is the only Correct one here

stay together guys

it might be

reeeeeeaaaaally important in 

*checks watch*

two years’ time.

~hug~

VIENNA!!!!!

CHAD WICK! CHAD! WICK! CHAD! WICK!

god i love the xhosa in this

There is a level of worldbuilding in this that we p much only get from the russos/markus&mcfeely. i mean -- internal consistency worldbuilding? if that makes sense? we get a lot of visual worldbuilding in black panther, but this is distinctly different and hard to articulate and it has to do with the way they approach things and how they assume audience intelligence

it just works for me

oh no chadwick boseman don’t be cry

Sharon deserves better

than being cockblocked by her own aunt

and also sam wilson (who also deserves better)

cryptid!bucky

Nat did you get that suit from jenny agutter?

LA Brunch Mom Nat

mah girl

she’s just so tired

steve (bless him) is just so exhausting

couples date sam and steve dressed to match

“at the gym”??? really? the arm is... a bit of a giveaway

i do feel bad for zemo in this one specific case

russian IS hard

how. did he get that in there?

Soft Plumboy Bucky

BEEF

Captain’s Log: Buck’s place is a shithole

Sergeant’s Log: Steve’s face is pretty

surprise bitch

“That’s Smart, Good Strategy” is an excellent phrase to use in everyday conversation in order to weed out who Knows and who Doesn’t.

What i have learned from civil war: 

Captain America is a projectile weapon

further query:

did bucky ever hurl small steve at assailants?

Bucky: *punts steve down an alley*

Steve, 90 lbs of rage at 90 mph: GET WRECKED

Bucky’s got big tommy wiseau cryptid energy here

And now there’s a cat

bucky:

I love this vampire running and also bucky’s thighs

Steve Rogers: Excuse me sir I need to commandeer this vehicle. YEET.

Bucky Barnes: Excuse me sir I need to commandeer this vehicle. YOINK.

Bucky and Steve: Wrecking your morning commute since 2014

WAR MACHINE!!!

god vis has the biggest dorkiest crush

so vis are you a child prodigy? or? what?

The Roommate, a cinnamon roll, too good for this world, too pure: vis have you eaten anything between CW and IW?

Me, sinnamon roll, not to be trusted: *dying* *thinking about how Vision’s got schroedinger’s dick. does it exist? does it not exist? who knows.*

Me: Y. Yes. I th. think he has. eaten something. between now and. and IW. something.

The Roommate: *betrayed look*

Me: DEEP FRIED KEBAB MAYBE? I DON’T KNOW.

The Roommate: *is so disappointed*

BERLIN!!!!!!

Bucky is. So tired. Let him rest.

fucking up the morning commute again i see

u like cats??

I love the ratio of overkill:ineffectiveness with this glass box they put him in.

why did tony  bring these fancy pens

the time spent explaining them could’ve been spent doing literally anything else

*i still don’t understand the accords*

GOD STEVE WANTS TO BE AN UNCLE SO BAD

“my fault”

there it is

“truth is i don’t want to stop”

THERE it is

“i thought the accords could split the difference”

THERE IT IS

"no, i don’t.”

THERE IT IS

“IT’S INTERNMENT.”

THERE! IT! IS!

gah.

wanda’s accent et al -- MAKE IT EXPLICIT MARVEL YOU COWARDS

no but really what are the accords

here followed a 20-30 minute convo about the accords

basically the summing up was:

Nat is 100% Right Ross is 100% Wrong Everyone Else is In A Grey Area

look this is actually a really good avengers movie

but

this is a moment when the back catalogue works against them because this conversation is so -- it implies a lot of friendly interactions between these two. they seem to have a relationship

but i keep looking at all the other movies they’ve interacted in like

BITCH WHERE? WHERE IS THE TONYSTEVE FRIENDSHIP? WHERE???

i am anticipating this will cause me A Grief later

The Roommate, looking at Steve in his Grey Shirt and Jacket: Damn, sir. Stop wearing clothes.

“BIRD COSTUME???”

“j a m e s”

big holt talking to rosa vibes there

“I don’t wanna talk about it.”

A VAST AND MIGHTY MOOD

Zemo’s plan is so ridiculous i genuinely don’t have time to get into it i still have two pages of notes to get through holy shit.

this fight scene. does things. for me.

hhhHNNNNHGH BEEFSTEAK

(oh tony left with no suit? growth dot gif)

THIGHS

T H I G H S ! ! ! !

CHADWICK!

Sam out here, serving looks, casually modeling

B I C E P S ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

TOO SEXY! *crashes helicopter*

I need twelve more scenes of steve and bucky faffing about in the water.

A more effective restraint than the custom made bucky bottle

(BRIEF 1991)

haaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAa biceps u stop that

Is Tony having a heart attack???

he has no concept of how to treat children because he never was one oh no i gave myself a sad feeling

QUEENS!!!!!!!

“I’m having a big fight in a parking lot with my superhero friends better go pick up a child as backup.” - tony stark

tony he doesn’t have a passport and if he understood what was happening he would not be on your side

Now That’s What I Call Vigilantism.

Why are you bringing a CHILD to a gun fight

Tony’s face, to me, suggests that he knows EXACTLY what he’s doing

also? it’s painfully obvious to me that these scenes were copypasted in late stage when they finally found out that yes they would have the rights to spiderman lol

for some reason they don’t feel the need to tell is that this is avengers compound in 400 point font

i’m so lost

where are we?

without the 400 point font i can only assume we are on mars

THAT’s a fine way to greet YOUR FATHER, WANDA

hawkeye is in fact the team lynchpin

is it

ugh

is it because they listen to him but he listens to natasha

ugh

i bet it is

UUUUUUGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH

Vision: I have been FALLING! for THIRTY MINUTES!

“i know someone who does”

i’m confused by the cut here, because it seems to imply that Sharon, deliberately or inadvertently, rats them out to natasha?

Birds and raccoons do not get along

steve

steve no

steve

ur timing is shit steve

Scott Lang might be the best thing in this movie

well except for Dat Bone Structure

CUT THE CHEEEEEECK

*costume change in a parking lot to the yakkety sax soundtrack*

Thinking about the coming battle i am forced to concede that Iron Man Has A Point?

“do you really want to punch your way out of this?”

Steve: I ALWAYS wanna punch my way out

god scott’s such a fukkin nerd

tiny quibble but Scott “got punched by hope van dyne” lang would never say that to the black heckin widow

“gimmick”

um

people in falcon houses shouldn’t throw spider stones, samuel

wanda

those cars belong to people

oh god iron man has a point

LET’S GO LESBIANS! COME ON LESBIANS LET’S GO

*catfight sounds*

“then why did you run?”

dude you attacked me in a catsuit

Tony’s true superpower is that he knows steve, that’s how spiderbabby gets the upper hand

althought god

Tony was pre-gaslighting peter

he was pilotlighting peter

*my longest UGH yet*

“Queens?” “Brooklyn”

MAXIMUM NEW YORK ACHIEVED

ant man is the MVP

hmmmmmm “we don’t trade lives” HMMMMMMMMM

why did that truck explode

also *omg iron man has a point*

tony tedward stark how did you not know how old this child was

also peter stop pretending you don’t know what Empire Strikes Back, AT-ATs and Hoth are.

why doesn’t Vis get more flack for this

hey. hey tony. you know what sam is? A MEDIC. maybe let him LOOK AT YER FRIEND THERE instead of SHOOTING HIM IN THE FACE.

zemo’s plan is noooooonseeeeennnnnnsssse

guh these two beautiful men emoting in different directions KILL ME

this doctor is just like “yup there’s a giant purple robot here seems legit”

natasha is the only one who’s 100% right

did... did the russos kill themselves in this movie? did they cast themselves as dead extras? was this a statement of some kind?

HOW did ross get the congressional medal of honor. H O W.

“you read it”

NO ONE READ IT, IT’S 400 PAGES

tony this is Some Nonsense

ffflslkds he’s taking one of Nat’s guns KILL ME

one (1) heterosexual explanation.

rode back in a freezer truck

got pneumonia

already had pneumonia

and you blew three whole dollars on some slut

(seriously. gimme one. i’m waiting.)

srsly tho, whether you ship it or not, these two are old marrieds

the red star looks weird on his beefcake arm. did they forget to scale it up?

KITTY

listen zemo is just really turned on by cam and he didn’t mean to say that and that’s the most relateable thing he’s done so far.

It’s not just that bucky killed his mom. it’s that bucky killed his mom AND STEVE KEPT IT FROM HIM.

life alert a senior citizen has fallen

T'Challa, observing this White Nonsense™: I truly should... check myself. Before! I wreck myself.

agism is what it is

god this bit

steve dropping the shield

look at him

he is Stick A Fork In Him D O N E

Rhodey really deserves better than this? He deserves development showing the evolution of his opinion between here and IW

i wish we could get more of him grappling with this

that said

gosh wouldn’t it fucking suck if Cap and Bucky got relegated to End Credit scenes in their own got damn movie to make room for Iron Man to emote at his buddy his pal his rhodey?

*looks directly into the camera like i’m on the office.*

Anyway.

Steve rogers: getting the last word in every argument since 1918.

“from the bottom of my heart: My Bad.”

[gaiatheorist]

Dejected.

On Thursday night into Friday morning, my son going to bed woke me up from my half-sleep. I came downstairs so that the clatter-click of my keyboard didn’t disturb him, also so that I could watch the election results come in, and not worry about any out-loud swearing happening. As it turned out, I needn’t have bothered. A little before midnight, he came halfway down the stairs, then back upstairs, then all the way down.

We sat, staring at our screens, flicking between platforms, and repeatedly hitting ‘refresh’ on the news. I’d dug a little deeper into the exit polls than he had, and found that our constituency was predicted to show 99% Conservative. Now that’s A Very Big Thing, because since its actual inception in 1918, this area has been Labour-landslides. 101 years, staunch Labour, I’ve joked about “I vote Labour because my Dad voted Labour.”, and I’ve also mis-remembered about the racist shop-keeper, that was the town council election, not parliament. My son and I had been quite excited when our MP announced his retirement, and even more excited when a young woman was voted in to replace him. It’s not a male/female issue, it’s the fact that he was 73 years old, and fairly consistently either abstained from parliamentary votes, or voted against the Labour party. He was a dinosaur, we were excited about the young woman, my son had been sniffing around her social media, and she seemed to be the right kind of rabble rouser.

We watched the bars on the graph chase each other red-ahead, then blue, then red again. My son tried going back to bed at one point, but couldn’t sleep, so came back down, and faffed about making herb-infused milk, and asking me for natural sleep-aids. I’m not best placed to advise on that, my sleep issues are at the other end of the spectrum, I can fall asleep anywhere, but when I wake up, I can usually tell within a minute or so if I’m going to be able to get back to sleep, if I’m not, I just get up, ‘trying’ to go back to sleep frustrates me. Under normal circumstances, I can just potter around the house quietly until the boy gets up, generally around mid-day. Both of us being awake at daft o’clock in the morning is not a good thing, especially with the tension of the election as background-noise. 

I can’t quite remember what time the chanting started, but I imagine I must have given him ‘the look’. Only the two of us in the house, so every time he spoke, I looked up, in case he was saying something that needed a response, he wasn’t, he was muttering ‘Labour majority’, and ‘I refuse to acknowledge the Tory votes, they are not real.’ I had more of an idea of which geographical areas were historically held by Labour, and did occasionally mutter ‘Fuck!’ under my breath, all the boy saw was more of the map turning blue. There was a brief period of him shouting ‘No, NO, that is not what I voted for.’, predictably enough, his anger/denial lapsed into bargaining, twittering away like a Maths-budgie, doing complicated things with numbers. (He’d also tied a scarf around his head, when he’d tried to go back to sleep, and kept peeping one eye out when he was speaking, absolutely ridiculous.) There were lots of tears from him, I stayed calm and neutral, distanced and watchful, waiting for him to either stop chanting, or say something concerning. It turned out to be the latter, he’d been cycling up for quite a while when he shouted “I don’t want to live in a place like this, they’re voting to kill people-like-you!” That’s a trigger-phrase, and it needed some unpicking. You can live somewhere else/You’re young, you have a whole life ahead/You’ve just graduated with a hard-science degree from a Red Brick university/I’ve had three years of them trying to kill me, you know I’m resilient/This situation makes me even more determined to help other people.  I can’t remember how many times I have used the ASIST suicide-aversion strategy, I never thought I’d need to start it with my own son. He jumped up from his seat, and ran into the kitchen, I could hear his breathing between the sobbing and muttering, I knew he needed space, but also knew that he was now in the room where most of the knives are. No knife-noises, which is lucky, because he’s bigger and heavier than I am, I know I wouldn’t be able to overpower him if it came to that. He stomped back into this room, and, for a minute-or-so that seemed like hours, he punched the fuck out of the sofa. (I was trying not to let the “Please don’t break that, I can’t afford to replace it.” show on my face.)

He cried some more, and ranted some more, doing that weird thing he does when he’s highly emotional, of following me around the house like a lost lamb, he knows how much that annoys me, but at that point, it was down to me to convince him that there was a point to anything at all. A human the size of a whole man, following me around the house in jogging bottoms that had been part of his school PE kit, and a T-shirt that was too small for him, exposing a VERY hairy belly, that’s from my DNA, not his Dad’s. We were both back in the living room when the count from our constituency came in, we were obviously looking at different count-sites at the time, because I was the first to say “Oh, shit.” he looked up at me, and said “Has it gone?” It had. For the first time in 101 years. For the first time ever, because the ward/borough/whatever had only been in existence since 1918. Back to bargaining, he’s very good at Maths, and hope springs eternal. “We only need ‘x’ number of these votes to take the majority.” “If there’s a coalition of Labour and the SNP we can do it.”  When he started chanting ‘Labour majority’ again, I responded “Will you stop doing that, please?” Another melt-down, full on leg-swinging and snotty-snorting-sobs. “That’s all I’ve got, Mum, why are people doing this?” (People are idiots.) “Some of it is the EU, some of it is people with money knowing that the conservatives won’t increase taxation, some of it is fatigue/apathy, and some of it is people who dislike Jeremy Corbyn.” “It’s WRONG, though, it’s going to KILL people-like-you.” “It hasn’t killed me yet, and it won’t, as soon as I have more idea of the next medical intervention time-scales, I’ll volunteer with one of the local advocacy places, and help other people get through this.”

We crossed the point of no return on the graphs, and then the conservative party broke through the majority line. The boy and I chatted a little about how stoic Jeremy Corbyn has been in the face of unfounded allegations, and how insidious the conservatives have been in turning public opinion, with no fight-back mud-slinging from labour. “However this plays out, we’ll know we voted with our consciences, to give other people help, not harm.” “Is that enough, though, Mum?” “It will have to be for now.”

He went back to bed, I was so anxious about leaving him alone in that state that I was late to my gym appointment, which was a cancel/reschedule from earlier in the week when I’d blind-sided myself with a migraine from filling in the second of two 40 page forms, and cross-referencing 35 pages of additional evidence. This is conscious cruelty, there’s every chance that, buoyed by the confidence of a conservative majority, DWP might order me to another Work Capability Assessment for my UC, or a face-to-face for my PIP. I have permanent brain injuries, confirmed C-PTSD, and probable ASD, I’m not going to ‘get better’, and if DWP want to declare me fit-for-work based on my ability to pick things up from the floor, I’ll be taking names. 

This is horrible. I ‘lost’ most of yesterday flitting in and out of fretful sleep, the house is a tip, and, to make it even worse, I ordered in a take-away last night, and managed to eat a grand total of 4 chips before I felt nauseous. Saves cooking tomorrow, I suppose.   

[giannisbct-blog]

Raw Analysis

I thought I would share my raw “data” that informed my analysis, because well, why not? As you will see I most definitely didn’t reference properly, or at all throughout this process so forgive me but its more to show all the things I didn’t include in the hand in.

SPYCE ANALYSIS

Video

Music is inquisitive, curious and intriguing. reminds me of Sergers Prokofiev’s Peter and The Wolf.

Coupled with the start of the video where you see the machine with the lights turning on but it isn’t clear as to what it is

Interior photo in second shot shows the restaurant to be clean and look more like a co-working space or a big open plan office a lot of tech companies are moving towards, hints at the “innovative” angle as well as the robotics

No ‘faffing’ around with their explanations, just get straight to the point with the facts. Mirrors the precision of the robot

“Humble starts in our fraternity basement” looking to show that they are made for the average person, by the average person.

Basic prototypes and back story give that “wow” factor to entice the customer

Very transparent in the whole process of making the food. i.e. explain how the woks cook, how they are heated, how they came up with the menu…

“perfectly cook your meal every time”

Once introduced the concept and the mechanical expertise, bring in the experts in food. Shows that they have all the bases covered

Appeal to both the students by having this innovative approach but also the older generation by bringing in a top chef

“Guess his email address” shows the commitment and the drive of these people, makes for a cool story and adds a wow factor to the backstory

The chef who says he was also puzzled by the idea and then likes the idea, used to sway skeptics

Every team member is justified

Using the idea of robotics as the way of the future and the vegetable focused menu (as meat is not sustainable) to show that they themselves are forward thinkers and look to the future.

Order system is familiar to people as it is a screen that they can navigate through touch and order without actually having to interact with someone.

“Affordable, tasty and nutritious” - no human error keeps it consistent and no humans means it’s cheaper

Music at the end goes back to that curious nature that almost invites you to come try yourself

The food is the end product the consumers see so lots of shots feature the food itself, as well as it cooking

Key point they mention is that the meals are “complex”, these aren’t basic or low number of ingredient meals

Can see your meal being cooked

Everything is automated except for the toppings so it is suited for people who don’t want to interact with others, which is a lot of the younger generation

Vibrant and energetic shows the wellness side and the “fun” factor

a lot of energy has gone into adding the personal touch, (your name while its cooking)

Website

“Wholesome and delicious food” the reason behind it anyhow it came about, the engineers working with the Michelin-Star chef, the salads themselves are all wholesome

Being a restaurant, primarily all their photos are of food and the space. They also include the human touch by having photos of the people behind the counter. Shows that they are just like any other restaurant and they aren’t trying to put people out of jobs

The Our Philosophy section puts the consumer first and two they are doing all of this to impress you, the consumer.

FAQs - Our Mission - Talks about the benefit of the robotic kitchen in terms of the cost factor and the nutrition.

FAQs - Our Mission - Diplomatic in the sense of ‘job cutting’ but show that they pride quality over quantity when it comes to staff.

Backstory has a wow/cool factor to it in terms of why and even how they got Daniel Boulud on board.

While talking about the technical aspects they talk about the process but much of the language is very human focused, to potentially bring it out of the typical sterile robot mindset.

Human aspect is to counter the typical feelings associated with automation and robots.

Instagram features very little of the actual system and focuses solely on the people and the food itself.

Highlighted on the landing page “Excellence Elevated” presenting the idea that their system innovates the food experience

Very simple process all up

The report concluded that jobs that involve “predictable physical activities” — such as cooking or serving food, cleaning kitchens, collecting dirty dishes and preparing beverages — are the most susceptible to automation.

Because the industry’s human labor tends to be lower paid, robots cooks have yet to be adopted, the report said. As the technology becomes cheaper and more widespread, however, that could change.

“Our restaurant is really efficient because people focus on what people are good at, but the robot handles the high volume tasks — like the cooking and washing  — that robots are good at,”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2018/05/17/will-robots-replace-chefs-at-this-new-boston-restaurant-they-already-have/?noredirect=on

From reviews

people really enjoy watching the food getting made - similar to teppanyaki restaurant?

The being able to see aspect makes it seem “smarter” rather than it being in a box like the rotimatic

Unlike the Moley robot kitchen, it doesn’t aim to automate for the sake of automating the process, space aims to improve the process by making healthy meals quick and accessible.

https://www.moley.com/

The patent extends to both the cooking of the ingredients and/or mixing ingredients by complete automation.

We were four really hungry MIT students and water polo teammates tired of spending $10 on take-out lunches and dinners. Our athletic appetites required better nutrition but our student budgets didn’t allow for that kind of expense. While we ate our bland chopped salads and stir-frys, we dreamed of an alternative: a robot that cooked tasty and nutritious meals, served them, and cleaned up after.

https://www.spyce.com/who-we-are/

From a commercial standpoint the idea is solid, but buying ingredients and cooking your own meals is cheaper, so is Spyce the best solution to wanting cheaper healthy meals?

A simple google search will find you plenty of meals for under $10 that are healthy and easy to make and extend beyond the basic chicken and rice.

In essence the robot is a self portioning, cooking and cleaning system. The meals are still decided by humans, the method is still decided by humans and the art (presentation) is still done by the humans. The robot doesn’t have to do any of the thinking or checking if the meal is cooked.

high volume tasks

Look at:

Reviews

youtube reviews (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuIIaEND70A)

news stories

facebook

Automated cooking

rotimatic

cat food automation

mechanical harry

automatic pan stirrer

process automation

is there cooking method the best

are there better style meals

Main Takeaways so far

The automation allows the food to be consistent, delicious and exactly as intended every time so there are no surprises

The automation allows the staff to be more customer focused/ allows the business to focus on other aspects as they are not held back by the process.

Questions so far

Does an automated system really allow you to focus on something else when it comes to food, as cooking is an involved process and an experience?

Can this be extended to a personal version that allows you to not have to worry about the cooking?

Can automation turn dinner into less of a chore by removing the need to be involved? Can it just be something that is ready when you want it to be without effort from you? (look at sci fi for inspiration)

Does the system they use result in even cooking of the food?

What is the effect of short wait times for food that is supposedly Michelin-Star? Does it seem tacky? Is it a throwaway?

Is the salad bowl and their method of making it the best for personal value and nutrition?

Can the idea be extend beyond just salad bowls?

Why Automation?