#first thing i thought about when i saw this on twitter btw

[countryshadelemonade]

[cbrownjc]

Thoughts and Speculation after 2x07 (Spoilers):

A lot of people have said that this moment from the Season 2 trailers might actually be caused by a fight between Louis and Armand in the penthouse:

gif credit: @hermit-frog

And I have to say, after watching episode 2x07? I think they might be right.

Because if you know the book, you know that it is at the very end of it, like literally the last few pages, where it's revealed that Louis knew the whole time about Armand's role in what happened to Claudia. And they break up.

And so I think the same thing is coming next week on the show. Only in the show's regard, Louis knew of Armand's role, as we saw here -- but then was made to forget the actual full context of just how involved Armand was.

Because, as I pointed out on Twitter, this image from the trial --

-- is quite something. You have both the writer and director for the Théâtre des Vampires not on stage for this whole thing. Very much underlying the fact that this is a theatrical play that is being put on. As we saw, there was even a real, actual SCRIPT for this whole thing!

Like, how much more could the show have been pointing to what was really going on here? Trust a writing staff of playwrights to be meta about all of this. 🙃

Because the ending of this trial was written and locked in long ago. And who is the one that usually says when a play or film is locked in and finished?

The Director. (And yes I know producers and studios do too, but Armand is very much all of that wrt his role for their little theater as well).

BTW, Santiago and the coven did NOT expect Armand to do that to the audience. Saving Louis was very much off-script. And if Armand really had no power here, the coven could have just taken Louis off stage and killed him another way. The only reason they didn't was because Armand was very much not powerless in all of this.

Like, I love Armand's character, I really do -- now. But that is something that only came about after I read the books from Queen of the Damned forward. For the first two books, I very much did not like him. And, particularly when it comes to the Paris part of this story, that is where we are with his character right now. I know why he's doing what he's doing, I understand it. But I can't defend it.

Louis probably figured things out before San Francisco in 1973. He probably knew Armand's full role in what went down, same as in the book, after it all happened. But it was his suicide attempt that had Armand redact that knowledge from Louis' mind. The clues for that being the case are all there after episode 2x05.

Because, at the end of the day, even knowing Armand's full role in Claudia's death, Louis still mostly blamed himself for it all.

As we see, things are slowly starting to come back to Louis, but he's not fully there yet. And I think this whole memory thing is a more literal interpretation of the veil that descended over Louis' mind after Paris in the books.

A veil that only began to lift once Armand revealed to Louis that Lestat was alive. As we've seen, Louis knew Lestat was alive back in 1973. I'm not sure if he does so now. But maybe this isn't about knowing if Lestat is alive or not. Maybe it's just Louis thinking he needed to be punished because of his own role in failing Claudia -- and staying away from Lestat was part of that self-punishment. Because that view is a feeling I got when watching episode 2x05 and Louis not wanting to speak to Lestat. His refusal to speak wasn't out of anger IMO, but more fear and even sorrow.

The show is very much sticking to the beats of the book with all of this, and not revealing things about what happened that were revealed in later books. So I don't think Louis fully knows what was going on with Lestat during that trial. I wouldn't be surprised if we learn he still doesn't, since he never learned it in the first book.

But as I said here, it was clear as day that Lestat wasn't himself during that trial. Physically and especially mentally. I didn't even guess that the show would be that obvious about it, but they were. All very much hinting about what was really going on with his appearance here.

And Louis himself might, just might figure that out for himself. Especially if Dreamstat might appear to be back in his mind again. Because Dreamstat is very much Louis' subconscious. And I think Louis' subconscious knows something important is missing wrt all of this.

It was nice that, at least in the end, someone chose Claudia. Madeleine could have escaped this but chose to die with Claudia instead when she didn't have to. Her little middle finger to the crowd gave me a smile.

They did not do the full reveal of Claudia's diaries and what was in them on stage, which I seriously thought they would. They gave a hint about it, but more so in episode 2x05 than in here. Which means that, in a later season, we're still looking at that reveal from Merrick happening it seems. But then again . . . there were some things I suspect got left out on purpose because the actual (attempted) murder of Lestat was very much glossed over for us, the audience, during that trial sequence. We are very much set to revisit that whole thing during The Vampire Lestat adaptation in Season 3, of course. But I think even more will be revealed about that there then I originally thought.

And finally, Claudia. They said in the Inside The Episode they wanted her to go out with as much strength and defiance as she could and yeah, she did. But in the end, I still think she was angry, sad, and hurt by it all, which she had every right to be. Because at the end of the day, she never should have been made and was made for all the wrong reasons. But being turned so young made her a fierce and pure vampire though and though because she never had enough time to have lived a human life to have those types of morals and outlooks fully imprinted on her. That was always one of Claudia's core traits wrt her being turned so young, and she still had it here. And yes girl, you will haunt things after this -- particularly your parents.

In fact, it probably very much was your voice Louis heard calling him back in 2x05, wasn't it?

So, for a penultimate episode, this was very, very good. And things are very much going to explode next week. I knew Louis going Carrie/Firestarter on the coven would happen in 2x08. That moment always screamed "season finale" to me. Santiago picking up Claudia's yellow dress is also significant, as I think we'll see Louis' POV of that moment with Lestat about it.

And the break up between Louis and Armand might just be much more violent than it was in the book as well.

[hey-kae]

I saw you like mbappe and he was invited by Ferrari today so maybe reader is dating charles but she’s a fan of kylian and she gets to meet him in the hospitality so charles gets jealous and upset?

Could be smut or not. I’ll leave this up to you. Thanks.

a/n: combining these two so if you don’t like mbappe, just skip the first part ig. (this is smut btw)

Mid-race, you were just a mere snap of a finger from just shouting at the screen in the hospitality out of pure frustration. You were sat alone among the crowd of people, all eyes focused on the various televisions on the room’s walls. No one was ecstatic about the on-track action but you were on a whole different level of pissed as your boyfriend had yet another bad race.

Usually, if you were watching alone, you’d be cursing out everything and everybody, but you couldn’t exactly do that here.

“Bordel de merde, quelle connerie...” For fuck’s sake, this is bullshit... You mumbled under your breath. At least most people here didn’t speak french.

Or so you thought.

“Eh, c’est pas trop gentil ça.” Hey, that’s not very nice. Someone laughed from behind you.

“Shit.” You panicked and turned around.

“Oh, Shit.” You cursed as you realized who was behind you.

“Vous supportez qui?” Who are you supporting? Kylian Mbappé, literally one of the most famous football players, casually asked, still smiling at what he heard you say as you tried to find a will and a way to answer him.

“Um…” You swallowed and looked around, “My boyfriend, Charles. I thought there wasn’t anyone who spoke french around me and- Yeah.” You prevented yourself from rambling.

“Je l’ai rencontré avant, depuis quelques années. C’était a Monaco.” I’ve met him before, a few years ago. In Monaco.

You shook your heard, “So you probably met him at a wrong time, if you met him at a Monaco GP. Well, probably. Ça dépend à quel temps du Dimanche vous l’avez rencontré, vraiment.” It depends what time of Sunday you met him.

Kylian frowned and laughed, “What?”

“Long story. Un chef-d’oeuvre.” A masterpiece.

“I’ve got time.”

And that’s how you spend half of the race with your favorite footballer, inconspicuous to the picture snapped of the conversation and posted onto Twitter.

When the race was over, you said goodbye to your one-off company and waited for Charles in his driver’s room.

After he finished his interviews, he joined you, looking a perfect mix of disappointed and pissed.

You walked up to him to give him a hug and a kiss, but he gave you a furious look that stopped you in your track.

“Moi je souffre dans la course et toi, tu flirtes avec Mbappé, ouais? Très sympas!” I’m suffering in the race and you’re flirting with Mbappé? Really nice! He was trying not to shout, he really was and you could hear it.

“Charles, what? I was-”

“Save it. I’ll know what to do about this when i’m done with the debrief, when we’re alone. Now, sit here and wait for me. You’re not going anywhere alone.” He huffed, patted your shoulder, changed out of his race suit into normal clothes and left you alone in the room.

It felt like it was forever later when he came back to get you. Charles opened the door and stood by it, gesturing for you to walk in front of him. Not a single word left his mouth, not even on the way to the hotel. He was absolutely fuming.

But the minute the door to your room shut behind the two of you, things changed.

“I finish a fucking awful race and the first fucking thing i see on my phone is my girlfriend giving fuck-me eyes to some footballer. You’re really good at this romance shit, chérie.” He gave a mocking smile.

“If you would let me-“

“I told you i don’t wanna hear it! Des excuses de ta part, des excuses de la part de l’équipe. Tu sais quoi?” Excuses from you, excuses from the team. You know what? He pushed you against the wall, his face dangerously close to yours, “Je m’en fiche.” I don’t care anymore.

“Charles, i-“

“Shh, baby.” His hand was on your cheek, his thumb on your lips, shushing you, “À genoux.” On your knees.

You sighed and got on your knees, looking up at him.

“Don’t give me those eyes. Tu sais bien quoi faire.” You know what to do. He gestured for you to hurry up.

You undid his belt and pulled down his pants and boxer and he stepped out of them. With your hand, you pumped his cock until it was completely hard and throbbing.

“Okay, now ouvre.” …open. He gatherer your hair in his hand and pulled back your head a little, your mouth open for him to push himself against your tongue until you felt him in the back of your throat and heard him grunt at the warmth as you gagged around him.

“Exactly. Reminds you that you shouldn’t be using this mouth for flirting with some french guy when at the end of the day, you’re gonna let me fuck it.”

His grip on your hair was tight enough that you had remotely no control over the movements. He needed to control at least that today, and it wasn’t like you were objecting.

He thrusted into your mouth repeatedly, moaning as he did so, making the heat pool between your legs rapidly.

He kept that going until he felt himself right on the edge then he instructed you to get up.

Charles didn’t even bother with the bedroom. There was a couch by your sides and it was perfectly suited for his intentions.

Kissing you, he pushed you back a little, taking the opportunity to pull off your clothes as well, then he turned you around and patted the back of the couch.

“Bend over.” His hand gave you a soft push, prompting you do oblige, and you did.

He stared down at your glistening pussy, tracing his finger teasingly between the folds.

“So wet, fuck… And all mine.” He spoke the last part sternly and pushed into you without any further warning.

“Oh God, Charles.” You gasped.

“That’s right. No one else can fuck you so good. He can’t fuck you like this.”

You rolled your eyes, “Says who? You should’ve let me try.”

Abruptly, he pulled you up so your back was to his chest, “Don’t fucking test me, i swear to god, chérie.”

You nodded and he let you go, thrusting into you with an exhilarating pace, making your hands fist the couch cushions.

“Tell me you’re mine.” Charles requested.

“I’m yours. Fuck, Charles.” You moaned, “I’m only yours.”

His fingers dug into the skin of your waist and he continued moving, maintaining his rhythm, rubbing your clit as well, feeling the way you kept clenching around his cock until you came, shaking under him just before his release followed, the room filling with curse words of various languages.

Barely a few breaths were taken before he pulled out and hoisted you up, carrying you into the shower.

“Fucking horrible day.” He mumbled as he walked with you in his arms.

“Sorry about the race, baby.” You kissed his neck.

“You leave the race alone. You have something else to be sorry for.” He rolled his eyes.

“You don’t trust me? He wasn’t flirting with me i swear. We actually talked about you most of the time!”

He set you down in the shower, fixed the water and joined you under the hot stream, his arms wrapping around you, bringing you closer to him as he whispered to you, “I do trust you, but i still get jealous.”

a/n: thanks for requesting🫶🏻

[zyonsay]

hi z!!

could you please do a lando request??

the reader is afab and they’re pronouns are they/he and maybe he (the reader) is just having a bad day because, first of all they just woke up in a crappy mood because they’re feeling dysphoric (and i know i get cranky like hell when this happens) and then they see hate comments like purposely misgendering the reader in lando’s comment section!!

and then lando both kinda goes off on twitter about it, while comforting reader just talking about how he’s the best boyfriend/partner

(that’s all i have take it from here😭😭)

btw you’re one of the few writers that i know off that do male!readers

OH and i saw how it said to say if the afab/amab is a big thing, so YES him being a afab is a big deal to the story!!

LOVE YOU POOKIE💗💗

Love you, no matter what LN4

Fem aligned people may read but not f3tishize my work!!

Summary: Dysphoria sucks ass

Warnings: Queerphobia, Slurs: Tr@nny/f@g

Now playing: 'Blonde Chaya sped up' by Amaru & Gringo Bamba

AN: Hey there pookie! Thank you so much for this request!! I also get cranky asf when im dysphoric. ok well admittedly, im always cranky . But anyways! I made some teeny tiny changes and i hope that's alright! Love you!

Fun Fact of the day: My biology teacher is a skinwalker

(i'll rage if there isn't a brit shaped present under the tree by the 24th)

A loud, irritated groan left your figure as you fought with nothing in particular. That was a lie. You fought with yourself right now.

The t shirt clung to your figure because of the cold sweat you woke up in and your hair was an absolute mess. The spot next to you on the bed was empty, you knew that your most loved one was probably on a stream.

Scrambling from the bed you passed the long mirror on the bedroom wall; another irritated huff left you. That feeling of being trapped in the wrong body snaked up your leg and pierced you right in your heart. Maybe a cup of hot tea or coffee will cheer you up.

You passed the office, hearing a loud groan from withing, followed by your boyfriend’s voice, explaining how unfair it was for him to get shot ten seconds after joining the game.

The water boiler hummed loudly as you sat on the barstool by the kitchen island, slumped over like a sad little bag of potatoes. You also felt like one. Yet another groan erupted from the office, making you think of something. Quickly fetching your phone from the pockets of your shorts, you opened Whatsapp and sent Lando a quick text. It was almost comical how you could hear him talk to his audience about you.

“My lovely boyfriend just asked if I wanted some tea!”, he giggled like a giddy child. Brits and their tea. He sent you a text back, telling you he’ll be in the kitchen in a few minutes, he just wanted to wrap the stream up.

Then his eyes landed on a username consisting of various numbers and letters. ‘Ew bro, you still dating that f@g? Thought u moved on lolz’ The blood in his veins froze and he felt the anger boiling in the pit of his stomach. Another one popped up, this time from a different viewer. ‘OMG WAIT is it that Tr@nny he once showed lmao, Lan you can do better smh’ And with that a stream of vile words erupted as the strangers on the other side of the screen began vomiting senseless hate. ‘No fucking way. I bet y’all a million bucks that I’d be a less embarrassing wag lol’

What he had missed in this mess of hate comments was that ‘y/n.02’ had joined the stream and saw the hateful words through teary eyes. You clutched your phone with a desperate grip as you sobbed.

“Y’all need to fucking grow up and accept it. I love my boyfriend.” was all he said before swiftly clicking ‘end stream’ and rushing out of the office. He found you with glistening tears streaming down your face and a red, sniffling nose. Immediately, Lando threw his arms around you, pulling you up from the barstool and into a tight hug. “Don’t listen to them darling”, his voice was sweet and almost as quiet as the breath you let out after that. His T shirt was soaked with your tears, but he couldn’t care less. “I love you so fucking much. And nothing can change that. You’re the best damn thing that happened to me.”, his big, gentle hands rubbed your back and traced patterns over your t shirt.

Lando pulled away and looked you intently in the eyes. He closed the distance between you two and embraced you in a sweet, loving kiss.

“Let’s drink some tea baby.”, Brits and their fucking tea.

[julietsbb]

So I saw fans on twitter saying they were disappointed we didn’t get the aftermath of the soft phumpeem kiss from last week (which, valid and same), but then I also saw some say that phumpeem were acting as if it had never happened in this ep. This I vehemently disagreed with and ended up doing like 20 tweets about why >.>

I figured I would share my thoughts here too, because might as well, my phumpeem brainrot is pretty strong and tumblr deserves phumpeem thoughts too!

I do Not think they are acting like it didn’t happen. Peem is acting much more ‘engaged’ with Phum this episode.

1) he doesn’t seem annoyed with him seriously at any point

2) despite hurrying off when he sees Phum show up, he still opens conversation with him by asking if he wants to come on the first ride with him. They have a mutual back and fourth during the ep, Peem is much more willing to engage, also seen when

3) Peem *texts Phum first* and says he’s gonna show up at his place. Like we SEE how surprised Phum is about this. DEVELOPMENT.

4) the *flirting banter at the café* is on a new level. It’s much more mutually aware that there’s something more between them! The Phum before last week’s ep could tease him about ‘oh are you looking at me because I’m handsome?’ but could not, in my personal opinion, have said ‘oh so you’re saying I’m not special to you? 😏’ - the way they’re both leaning in over the counter really says it all - they’re much more ‘meeting in the middle’ with their interactions/flirtations than before, where, until the kiss, (and please correct me if I’m wrong here), it was much more only Phum who initiated and Peem who responded in one way or another.

5) we also see this meeting in the middle thing when Peem has been teasing him about joining the amusement park rides (btw me 🤝 Phum about those fr), where he teases him into joining, and is ENJOYING phum’s reactions, because they both have fun fucking with each other, but he also knows not to take it too far. Like how Phum’s orders were douchebaggy in nature first, but turned teasing/pigtail pulling/‘I just want your atteeenttionnnn~~~’ later.

tl;dr they’re both much more aware of where they stand and the dance they’re doing after the last ep and it’s NOT as if the second kiss didn’t happen, there’s been a noticeable shift in how they interact.

But if they know this, have become more self-aware, why aren’t they just boyfriends already, you might ask?

WELL, I believe there’s character reasons for this.

We know Peem is in the process of figuring out exactly what his feelings for Phum are, so even if he’s more open to it, is enjoying exploring it, he hasn’t settled on his ‘final answer’ yet. Also, as he mentions to Q, they had an atypical beginning to their acquaintance, so to speak. Also I’m sure there’s many parts of Phum he’s struggling to understand. He’s often visibly confused by who he is/his character, so he probably doesn’t feel ‘certain’ about him yet. Also I bet Peem has personal reasons to maybe not wanting to let someone too close, which I hope later episodes will delve into.

As for Phum, he’s very aware that he’s extremely drawn to Peem and likes him a lot, he’s just a doofus who really doesn’t know how to be open with his emotions, probably to anyone other than Fang. We know he’s only (often alone in his flat, mentions Peem is introducing him to social experiences he hasn’t had before, only beer & fang would play with him etc.) plus it seems like he has had extremely absent parents and has a very strained relationship with his father especially. He probably has 0 frame of reference for what a relationship looks like AND was never taught how to communicate his emotions. That’s why his default setting to ‘new people’ was poser-ish probably; my guess is that’s probably what he saw his parents doing. He’s only starting to open up re: his emotions *because of* meeting Peem, who refuses to take his shit and refuses to let him get away with hurtful nonsense and whom Phum suddenly realises he doesn’t want mad at him and he doesn’t want to hurt.

We see him struggle to navigate this as well. He doesn’t know when or how to apologise, asks his friends for advice because he’s struggling to even *see* how he fucked up at all.Phum was probably treated like that by his parents and his parents acted like that was okay and didn’t apologise, so why should he?

Phum literally says “i don’t know how to make you less angry” and suggests Peem keeps the stuff he bought because maybe his parents had tried to placate him with material gifts? Beer’s advice is to apologise and he does it 3 times because he literally has no idea what else to do.

tl;dr 2: Peem is confused and uncertain in parts still + potential other stuff and phum does not know how to constructively and productively talk about and act on his emotions or express what he wants based on that. Emotional needs & wants? What are those, how do I detect them & like, asking for help to have them met? Is that something you can even do? <- Phum probably

[dismounts soapbox]

[taylorswiftstylequestions]

omfg i'm sorry to rant but i NEED a sympathetic person to hear this. i like the every single album podcast more than most swifties, but today's ep -- and the last few -- are driving me insane. i am so fucking sick of hearing nathan and nora wring their hands over what joe might deal with. all harassment is bad, but i am done pretending that jake g and john mayer went through….any kind of wringer? they had like...a semi-awkward couple of weeks? jake is still a mega a-lister and john mayer is widely considered to be one of the greatest living guitarists. fuck, what mayer did was outright predatory -- and he's done it to multiple women -- and lbr, he lives 99% of his life totally unperturbed by it. he's not losing gigs or status in the places that matter to him; i suspect a lot of swifties aren't aware of this but i'm a guitar nerd, and uh, yeah, he's considered a living god and no one gives a shit what he did to taylor. and literally everyone woman in the public eye, including taylor, goes through worse every single fucking day, even at their heights of popularity. i don't know how to deal with hearing nathan and nora worry about :(((( omg what will joe go through :((((( when he's never going to have disgusting ai porn of himself explode across twitter on a random weekday. maybe i feel this strongly b/c i work in games, where hordes of male fans regularly ruin random women's lives because they animated a female character wearing a t-shirt instead of a string bikini, but i can't deal with this anymore. these men are fine. lots of people get mad at them, but it's because they did truly shitty things to her and she refused to absorb it silently. then it breaks, and their lives go on.

---

I feel like Nora really articulated what Anon was trying to say the other day about along the gist of "I hope something really bad happened to justify all of this." Interesting perspectives! Btw I just want to be super clear that I don't think Taylor or anyone has to justify anything like that! Just thought it was interesting how Nora put it in the latest episode and T's power is the unusual part of this equation.

---

In a very classic "I thought the two of you should meet!" re: today's The Ringer / Every Single Album pod episode.

I will say I read both of these messages before listening to the episode myself and tbh I think Nora ultimately landed in a pretty middle and reasonable place (it started out pretty rocky though) by the end of the episode. My understanding is she ultimately felt like Taylor has every right to tell the story that she wants / needs to tell and the work will speak for itself. That this is Taylor going face to face with the elephant in the room and (probably - we don't know obviously) not obfuscating the reality that we all saw play out in real time behind 'fictionalized' half truths roleplayed by semi-imaginary characters. And at the end of the day the (likely - AGAIN WE DON'T KNOW) reality is that she's prepared to walk through the narrative that is this pressure cooker storyline many are waiting with baited breath for which is the deterioration of her most significant relationship to date.

All that to say is that I think both of these points are incredibly valid. I personally have a lot of feelings wrapped up in it that do tend to come down more on the side of it's strange that the default position is this desire to sign up as first in line defence attorney for a man when the crime as we know it is 'woman writes her life into art'.

Nora interestingly noted that there's a "pressure for this album to come with receipts" (paraphrase) based on this (fan) hyped up narrative of something sinister having gone awry that this album will pull the curtain back on. And if it fails to do that, enter said self-appointed attorneys.

[cementcornfield]

Brandon Aiyuk just signed!! Could this be a good thing for Ja’marrs case? (I hope so Bengals twitter is making me mad)

i saw!! thank god that particular saga is over lmao. but unfortunatley i’m not sure this is really going to move the needle much for ja’marr’s case since, i think in general, aiyuk is considered at least one tier below the caliber of receiver that justin, ceedee, and ja’marr are at. (but maybe this firms up the market a bit? one tier below = 30 million per, establishing that ja’marr NEEDS to be making more than that) 

and oh my god bengals twitter has me ENRAGED (going to use this ask to rant a bit under the cut, sorry!) 

ok like. i get it. the majority of us are never going to see the kind of money ja’marr is set to make, so i can understand the frustration people might feel. Especially with the fact that he WAS practicing, he WAS set for week 1, and now that rug has been pulled out from under us. everyone is understably upset. but being upset at ja’marr??? that’s bullshit in my opinion. he has so little power and leverage here, and he’s using what he can to advocate for himself against a CORPORATION with all the power! i’ve said it on here before, but it is insane to me to be on the billionaire owner side compared to a worker who is only ever going to make a FRACTION of the profits he brings to the league. 

and ugh, i keep seeing the argument: oh he has 2 more years on his contract! he’s being selfish for not honoring that! blah blah blah. ok, first of all, joe got a new deal when he had two years left on his rookie deal. no one batted an eye on that! and then you might argue, well, QBs operate under different rules, but! at least two receivers that i know of from ja’marr’s draft class, devonta smith and jaylen waddle, got their extensions this year! and that is GOOD for the team btw, it allows them to spread out all that money over more time, and eases the cap hits!! and waiting until the next year will ALWAYS raise the price! 

i’ve been doing some research on this and here’s what i understand about rookie contracts per the collective bargaining agreement by the nflpa…the owners negotiated the current system because they were mad that rookie contracts were getting out of control. guys were coming fresh out of college, never hitting the field, and were being paid absurd amounts of money!! and then sometimes, they’d be complete busts! but they’d still have to get paid. so the owners and nflpa collectively agreed on our current rookie contract structure, which is that rookies would make very little (comparatively) during their first four years (with first rounders have an added fifth year option that would add yet another year of control by the team). it became all about reaching the second contract for rookies, which is when they would really get paid what they had proven was their worth. PART OF THIS AGREEMENT!!! IS THAT ROOKIES ARE ALLOWED TO START NEGOTIATING A NEW DEAL AFTER THEIR FIRST THREE SEASONS PLAYED IN THE NFL!!!! this is part of what the owners agreed to!! this is one of the only advantages players get in trying to control what little they can!!! so FUCK EVERYONE who pulls that “he has two years left he needs to honor his contract” bullshit. this is part of the system that was agreed upon by everyone. ja’marr has EVERY RIGHT to negotiate for a contract that better reflects what he’s currently worth. and he is one of the best receivers in the league still making rookie money. why shouldn’t he try to get more?? 

why does he want it now? i was a little confused by that myself at first, because again, price only goes up, cap only goes up, he WILL get more next year (and if he has to wait until then, then fuck the organization and i hope he robs them blind tbh) (well no i don’t. i want him to get what is fair! which will be more next year unfortunately, sorry mike!!) and okay, we can’t know for sure, i always try to emphasize that we don’t really know any of these players and what their thoughts and motivations are. but if i had to guess, he’s just watched one of his best friends (tee) get completely screwed over by the organization (with a chance of him getting screwed again by a second tag btw!!) he saw another close friend, joe mixon, take a pay cut to stay with the team last year, have a productive season, and then the team got rid of him anyway. he saw jessie bates get tossed aside. he just saw evan take a deal that was definitely below market value. sure, the bengals say that ja’marr is different, that they’ll bend over backwards to pay him. but what proof does he have of that? how does he know that if he takes the risk of playing this year, he won’t get screwed over like the majority of players by this organization. and yes okay, that’s loaded language, the bengals aren't maliciously fucking everyone over of course, they’re just doing good business. but that’s what ja’marr wants to do for himself! and there’s no reason he shouldn't be able to! 

the bengals eventually (way way too late into the process) gave joe the deal he wanted. mike brown called joe the most important player and said that ja’marr was right after that in importance. so ja’marr wants to see if he means that. he wants to see if he really is respected and valued by this organization. good for him! and while he’s been using this "hold in" negotiation tactic, by all accounts he’s still been present and involved in the meetings and at practice as a coach-like figure. he’s been upbeat, positive, and DISCRETE (unlike other receivers this contract cycle 🙄). he finally starts practicing again, per his agent as a sign of good faith. and i can only imagine that the organization threw this back in his face with some lowball offer or refusal to continue negotiating, so now he’s back to holding in. so fuck mike and duke for that! in particular! 

woof ok this was way too many words and no one will read this. but god i just hope they get this resolved. i want ja’marr to practice. i want him to play in all the games he can. i want him to beat the chiefs!!! let’s just hope the organization finally comes around and gets their shit together. and until then, bengals twitter better put some respect on ja'marr's name!!

[bratzforchris]

hi! just saw your requests are now open! soo maybe luke x reader and y/n is questioning their identity (afab) and maybe them deciding they are genderfluid?? and being really nervous, suddenly changing their outfits and style to be more androgynous and luke confronting them about the sudden change, so a little angst (maybe getting some hate online for coming out but luke not finding out until later) and y/n finally comes out and admits their identity fearing that luke won’t except them but him obviously being completely fine with it and just ending in really sweet fluffy cuddles? congrats on 300 followers btw! I love your work, have a great day/night! 🫶🏼🩷

You Don't Have to Hide

❃

Summary: Above!

Warnings: Minor cursing, hints at transphobia, minor argument between Luke and reader

Word Count: 1.2k

A/N: Thank you for the sweet request! Please note that I myself am not genderfluid, but I tried to be as respectful and accurate as I possibly can! Enjoy<3

❃

Ever since you were tiny, you had known that you were different from other kids. You had been born and raised as a girl, and some days you were fine with that. But there were others where you longed to be raised like your brothers, playing football and getting dirty. And then there were the really weird days. The days where you felt like neither a boy nor a girl. Being a young child, you didn’t know how to describe the feeling. And so, you pushed it away. 

Throughout middle school and high school, you claimed to just be “changing aesthetics” when you would have an off day, week, or month. Sometimes, you would wear a full face of makeup and tiny skirts, and other days you would opt for a plain hoodie and jeans. Luckily, your school had been very accepting and no one really thought anything of it. 

You yourself hadn’t really thought any more of it until you started dating Luke. Even then, it wasn’t because of him. Being in a relationship with a very famous rockstar meant that you were constantly in the public eye. And lately, that had been what was practically the bane of your existence. You had decided that you wanted to try more of an androgynous style, that way you could explore your feminine, masculine, and in-between parts without it being so blatantly obvious you were assigned female at birth. 

The first thing you had done was cut your hair. You’d had long, blond hair your entire life, which was very pretty, but very, very feminine. You had opted to cut your hair into a bob and Luke had loved the change, telling you that the bangs and layers had made you look very pretty. Having one of your more masc days, you internally cringed at the compliment, but tried not to let your boyfriend notice. You knew you needed to talk to him, but there never seemed to be a good time. 

You knew you needed to talk to him, but Luke knew you so well, that part of you hoped he would just catch on and ask you about it. Maybe the easiest way to do that was to really look the part. You had worn Luke’s hoodies and shirts ever since you’d started dating, but you decided to really start taking things to the next level. You began to wear more baggy pants, paired with Luke’s shirts, or skinny jeans and the occasional hoodies and flannels you would steal from him. 

For the next month, you were so happy with your change in style. You felt more like yourself, and could take this style and make it more feminine, masculine, or androgynous depending on how you felt that day. You didn’t really feel like anything had changed in your and your boyfriend’s relationship, but then again, Luke had been quite busy preparing for the Sounds Live, Feels Live tour. Unfortunately, 5 Seconds of Summer being on tour meant more paparazzi and more fans being online. 

Lucky for you, Luke wasn’t the biggest fan of social media. He would occasionally reply to fans on Twitter and post on Instagram, but for the most part, he stayed off social media. He didn’t even have a burner account like most celebrities had. This meant he wouldn’t see the “news”. Some paparazzi photos of you on a more masculine day had surfaced, and some of the fans were having a field day with comments. 

Why the hell does she wanna look like a dude? Luke wants a GIRLfriend LMFAO

Since when is Luke gay lol

This is so unflattering for such a pretty girl what the fuck

You read through each and every hateful comment, criticizing your looks and saying how you weren’t meant to be with Luke. You hadn’t even officially come out as genderfluid online. You had just posted a meme on your story about it, hoping Luke would see it and not thinking such a harmless thing would be such a big topic for fans. You should;ve known that this would be the pitfall of dating the Luke Hemmings. You weren’t crying, no, you were just sitting on the bed in your master suite, frozen in place. 

“Y/N, we need to talk.” Luke was thumping up the stairs, his voice hard and blunt. 

Luke hardly ever used the voice, and he especially didn’t use it with you. That knowledge just made your heart seize as you quickly closed out of social media, locking your phone and tossing it to the end of the bed just as Luke opened the door. 

“We need to talk.” he said again, pulling off his boots and flannel, voice grim. 

“About what?” You asked as innocently as possible. 

You hated lying to Luke, but right now, you just couldn’t handle any more conflict or criticism in your life. 

“About what’s going on. My manager was pissed today,” the blond ran a hand through his flat hair, gnawing on his lip ring. “You had to have seen it, babe.”

Luke calling you babe eased your anxiety a bit, but your heart still thumped rapidly. “I have.”

“Why the fuck wouldn’t you tell me?” Luke’s eyes watered. “I’ve been calling you by the wrong pronouns and calling you all feminine terms and buying you lingerie and I had to find out that you’re genderfluid from the press? Why didn’t you tell me, Y/N?”

In that moment your heart shattered. Luke wasn’t mad at you. He was hurting for you, most likely beating himself up over not noticing and calling you his girlfriend. You crossed the room in quick strides, wrapping your boy up in a hug as you began to cry yourself. 

“I’m sorry, Luke. I’m so, so sorry. I shouldn’t have hidden it from you. I know it’s not an excuse, but I was scared you would get mad. I was scared you would think less of me or leave me.”

You two held each other for a few soft moments, until Luke picked you up and carried you to the bed, still cradling you. “Would you mind explaining, well, everything to me?” he asked softly once you both had stopped crying. 

You took a breath to steady yourself before speaking, looking into Luke’s watery blue eyes. “Yes, it’s true. I am genderfluid. Sometimes I feel more feminine, sometimes more masculine, or sometimes in between. I’ve been experimenting with new hair and new clothes lately so I can have an androgynous style. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”

“Hey, hey, none of that,” Luke hummed, wiping a stray tear from your cheek with the pad of his thumb. “So, should I call you my partner now or….?”

You nodded. “Please. I’d like that.” a soft smile graced your face. 

“What about pronouns and names?” he asked. 

You bit your lip, blushing. “Right now, I like they/she pronouns,” You whispered softly. “And I’m keeping Y/N for now.” You kissed his cheek. 

“I love you,” Luke whispered, kissing your lips softly. “Please don’t hide things from me next time. I love you and want to help you because I love you.”

You smiled as you snuggled into Luke’s arms. And if you two snuggled and kissed for the rest of the night, no one else had to know. 

[biolizardboils]

so heads up! im popping a LOT of Prime Season 3 posts into the queue--they'll start coming out one week from now, on January 22nd! if you can see this post and haven't watched it yet, here's some tags to block: #prime spoilers, #sonic prime spoilers, #sonic prime s3 spoilers, #sonic prime season 3 spoilers.

got all that? great! here's my final unorganized little rambles about the show:

shoutout to Rusty Rose's Birdie, who only appears in the very first and very last eps for some reason 😭 her speech about it not being her power source came outta nowhere too, but i loved the message behind it

when everyone arrives at the Grim, just before the ep ends, Nine starts breathing heavily and it. instantly reminded me of Movie!Tails when the bar was calling them freaks. fuck. its a nice reminder of where Nine's coming from

speaking of Nine his poses getting more unhinged over time!! hell yeah

i love that the final fight(s) felt like a kid smashing 3 different Lego sets together, real Robot Pirate Island shit

i laughed a little too hard when the Grim's dome started closing in cus Nine's citadel-thing already reminded me of a thing that happened in Fortnite once, but hell naw they had to add The Storm too sdfghj

METAL BIG DESTROYED ME LJKHGFDV im SO glad i wasnt spoiled about it!!! a while in i started finding it creepy instead of funny, which is an added bonus

i was spoiled about the Advance flashback and its clashing sprites though. the utter whiplash of seeing that without warning mightve made me choke on my hot cheeto puffs. someone's already remade it btw, check it out

i fistpumped at the small reprise of "me beauty" gfhjk ill miss you so much Dread

we're four years into the 2020's and Sonic has nearly died an agonizingly slow death 3 times in 3 different continuities! and dare i say it was delicious every time >:)

unless Word of God says otherwise I'm gonna assume that the giant shadow at the end was The Return Of Metal Big lpoihgfds

So... Twitter, huh? My spoiler filters there had some leaks, and I saw some discussion out of context that... actually made me kinda scared to finish the show. But then I did, and had fun with it just like the other two seasons, and I remembered that Twitter gets high-strung about things that don't matter so much, and that giving it sway over how much I enjoy things is silly lol.

Yes, I think the last season could've been paced differently so it wasn't 5 episodes of the same Final Boss Fight. Yes, I think the writing switches jarringly between gearing for a young new audience and for a seasoned old one. Yes, I think the 2D flashbacks look and move worse than what fans constantly make for free. Yes, I think the final episode doesn't do nearly as much housekeeping as it should (does the Shatterverse still exist or not??). Yes, I think declaring the show is canon to the games or whatever they said probably wasn't the best idea. And yes, I think Black Rose should've had a shoulder-parrot!Birdie to match the other Amys. All valid critiques! All sensible things to think when you've been around the Sonic bush!

But I swear to god, people on Twitter act like these things spoil the whole package. Where's the nuance? Why does every opinion there become an absolute worth tearing others down for? Is it the character limit? I bet it's the character limit.

There's so much I love about this show that were infeasible for the Sonic brand just 3-4 years ago. Externalizing the characters' facets to explore them in-depth. Said exploration spanning multiple episodes instead of being one-and-done. The sheer amount of genuine Sonadow food (and I don't actively do shipping, so me adding it here should hold a lot of weight). The snappy, playful, yet blistering fight scenes that, dare I say, feel like a successful TV-budget Spider-Verse. It was all so much fun!

But I guess stuff like Green Hill being the gang's "home" is a big deal-breaker?? Like?? I thought that was silly too, but not worth ratio'ing people with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse over? Get well soon, I guess??

Rambling over, shout-out to the entire country of Canada for giving me the most fun I've had with a Sonic show since X! I'm gonna go figure out how to address all this as The End lol

[kumezyzo]

OKOK I JUST READ YOUR GAMER!GF SAPNAP AND THE END GAVE ME AN IDEA AND IM SO SHOCKED THAT NO ONE ELSE (to my knowledge) HAS SAID ANYTHING HELLO?????

therefore im begging asking for you to please write sapnapxstreamer!reader where they have a joint onlyfans and post anonymously with no face. You can maybe do like a bit about how they started and then like explaining different videos and pictures they have. Im feral for this

i realize this is more of how it got started than what they actually do... i hope that's okay 😭😭 and yeah, no one else really cared about that last hc, which I thought would be more of a big deal 😭😭

anyway, enjoy! or dont :) m.list

you're onlyfans started with bf!sap jokingly suggesting it. and as much of a joke as it was, you couldn't stop thinking about it.

"shit, we should make an onlyfans with this," he said, panting after coming down from his high. he laughed at the end, rubbing at your stomach softly as you looked onto his phone.

it made you feel more throbbing between your thighs. you could hear your moans in the background and his panting from behind the camera. the wet slaps of your hips and the squelching of your pussy was so erotic. you couldn't imagine what people would say if they saw how you two fucked.

"okay, lets get you cleaned up, peach," he said with a sigh, getting up to go to the bathroom.

but that stayed in your head. and you found yourself getting worked up thinking about actually posting something.

when you mentioned it again to bf!sap, it was during one of those moments you got yourself all worked up.

"hey, baby," he whispered to you when you came into his office and kissed him softly. he had completely forgotten about the stream highlights he was editing. "how. are. you?"

you smiled at how he had his hands low on your hips now. "i have a question.."

"mhm," he hummed, rubbing his nose on yours.

"you know how we make those videos when we have sex?" you asked sheepishly as he kissed down your neck. he hummed again and you started to think he wasnt paying attention. "you talked about... making an onlyfans last time.."

he stopped mid kiss and slowly pulled away from you. your face started to heat up. his face slowly turned up into a smirk. "yeah, i remember. what about it?"

you sighed, "would you maybe..."

"uhuh," he teased, kissing at your collarbone now.

"want to actually-" you cut yourself off with a moan when he kneeded your ass harshly. "do it?"

"fuck yeah..." he was really horny btw.

that was your first film session. as bf!sap likes to call it. he got you onto the luvsac in the corner of his room he was sure no one had seen and fucked you from behind. he made sure to keep your head out of it and tried to minimize the sound he was making. his voice would be more recognizable than yours.

you and bf!sap usually recorded yourselves having sex, but it was hard to post videos when he would usually get your face in it. you have to remember, he recorded these for himself and he loved to see your pretty and horny face. to bad everyone else can't.

bf!sap will have you bent over. riding him. riding his thigh. in a bathroom. in the shower. on the floor. fingering you in his gaming chair. fucking you while you try to play valo. all the clichés.

but that's only for after you start gaining more followers. and people start requesting things. and god, you two didn't mean for it to gain so much traction.

and then you saw yourselves on a twitter porn account.

ignore the ending. fr. its ass. and im sorry i disappeared. i hit a writers block and i lowkey felt weird writing for the dream team cause of shit thats been brought up. but im treating these people as seperate characters now. anyway. thanks for reading 🥰 -Nony

[ingravinoveritas]

hi again! you might already know about this, but i really felt like bringing it up to you!

turns out michael's mom is pretty active on twitter and these past few days she's been engaging nonstop with tweets talking about aziracrow being in love. she's definitelymichael's #1 fan, but i couldn't help noticing the amount of not-about-characters stuff she seems to engage with too. Among tweets talking about Aziraphale's loving stare, queer fans making our usual queer jokes and remarks about them, michael reading fanfiction, miles maitland gifs, there's a good amount of... this. She surely has liked random stuff among the 14.6k rts/likes she has, so i'm attatching some examples of what she's been liking and rting because-- what the hell (i even spotted one of your tweets in the mix!) she even liked a tweet calling AL and GT innefable wives ??

my first thought was how embarrased i'd personally be if my mom was seeing comments online about me and my best buddy being madly in love, let alone engaging with them, but after it settled i'm just... in awe that this probably +70 y/o woman is being this supportive over social media 😭 so heart warming (btw i'm sorry for randomly popping up into your questions twice today- i have literally made this account after finding yours, feeling a bit less alone in the world)

(Grouping these two Asks together since they are related.) Ask #1: Hi there! No need at all to apologize for being in my inbox twice in same day. I'm so glad that my blog has been helpful and meaningful to you, and that you felt compelled to write in as a result. Welcome aboard!

So, Mama Sheen. She's been doing this for years--at least since 2019, when I first started following Michael on Twitter--but I will tell you my slightly crackpot theory, which is that for a while back in the day, I thought that maybe her account was actually Michael's secret alt account. (What better place to hide than in plain sight, after all...). I'm not so sure about that now, of course, but it's been really interesting to see her retweeting so much shippy stuff involving Michael and David, and as both you and @tamose pointed out, she especially seems to have ramped it up since GO 2 came out.

I also wanted to touch on you describing Mama Sheen as Michael's #1 fan, because although I wholeheartedly agree, it's a curious thing to me that we can more easily see her as Michael's number one fan than his own girlfriend. It's Mama Sheen--not AL--who has been retweeting all of this, who's been cheering him on, engaging with fan content, and retweeting all things Ineffable Husbands/GO 2. I've written on my blog previously about how I've never really seen AL be supportive of him (and how she spent much of 2020 and 2021 making fun of his appearance/fat-shaming him), as well as how she is not at all part of that polyamorous/throuple dynamic with Michael, David, and Georgia. And while I know the lack of engagement and carefully calculated interactions/posts could be chalked up to her not being able to promote the show due to the SAG strike, that doesn't really excuse her tepid support of Michael himself.

(Also, don't even get me started on the cringeyness of Georgia and AL as Ineffable Wives, not to mention how insulting it is to David and Michael personally and to their work as professionals to suggest that they are replaceable/that Georgia and AL (or anyone else) could play Aziraphale and Crowley and give us the same dynamic and chemistry we saw on screen...)

But yes, going back to Mama Sheen, I have long thought that she seems to ship Michael and David, and how sweet and heartwarming it would be if Michael brought David over for tea or dinner--especially because his own mother passed away several years ago--and no doubt Mama Sheen would dote on him and make sure he's fed and happy. It's especially interesting to contemplate when we see this picture from the Bright Young Things UK premiere in 2003, which almost looks like Mama (and Papa) Sheen posing with Michael and his kilt-wearing Scottish boyfriend:

Beautiful. Well, it's certainly something delightful to think about, at any rate. Whatever the case may be, I fully agree that it is lovely to see Michael's mom being so supportive and accepting of her son, particularly in the midst of such a hostile, anti-LGBTQ climate in the UK. We love you, Mama Sheen! ❤️

[heaventree13]

How Jikook Found Me

Hi anyone who happens upon this!

**I'm going to preface this with the information that I don't know how to link stuff, embed etc, so hopefully my attempts to do so will work!!**

I've been thinking of doing a "how I discovered jikook" post forever, because I love coming across other's similar stories, and was inspired this morning by @jiminieloved post below:

We discovered jikook at pretty much exactly the same time, if in slightly different ways.

I first joined instagram around October 2019, after only being on facebook prior to that (I had started a twitter account at some point, but had never used it), and somehow the algorithm decided I would be interested in Larry Stylinson. I don't know why. I knew who One Direction were, but didn't really listen to them. I didn't know what a "ship" was, except for "Bennifer" and "Brangelina", and that's not even really the same thing, is it? Anyhoo- it turned out I was a bit of a Larry. They were adorable and what I saw was compelling at the time.

Then, of course, the algorithm started throwing in some other ships for my consideration, and along came the vmin ship videos.

I had no idea who they were at first. I had heard of BTS, vaguely recalled seeing them on some entertainment news program once, but (much to my chagrin, as I could have been listening to them earlier), hadn't paid attention. I'm embarrassed and a little ashamed to say I just remember they all had different coloured hair, were so impossibly pretty, and thought they were likely just a fad.

Don't hate me!! I would fight to the death for all 7 of them now!!!

But I digress! So, I thought vmin were so sweet. Nothing necessarily romantic there to my eyes, but I had an open mind about it, and I had never seen that kind of affection between males. I ate it up. I'm a 50 year old female (46 at the time), and from Canada, and this was so outside my personal experience. I adopted them into my heart. I watched everything I could find on instagram.

And then some stray jikook content started sliding in.

And I got worried. What about my vmin babies? Was my mischievous little V ( I didn't know him as Tae Tae yet) going to get his heart hurt? Of course, I was seeing stuff that had already happened years before in most cases, but all very new and "real time" to my heart, that was slowly turning a vivid purple without my knowledge 💜. But what I was seeing in jikook was quickly becoming undeniable in my eyes.

And I was blown away. My heart remembered what it was like to believe the stories I read and watched in romantic books and movies when I was young. I had decided that was all just the stuff of fiction, and that maybe I was a fool to have believed in it. But no- these two young Korean men were putting Mr. Darcy and Miss Elizabeth to shame! In real life!! I had to slide over to YouTube. I had to start searching stuff like "the way Jungkook looks at Jimin":

And I was able to reconcile vmin and jikook for what I believe it is- no animosity, no competition (at least romantically) because it's two different kinds of love, both just as real. Not that I don't see moments in the content where I think our Tae Tae felt left out, but our babies (all seven of them) had all lived together and done everything together for so long, I think their relationships are not like anything most of us will ever experience or be able to fit into any tidy relationship categories. They are so much more than that.

Somewhere in my searches I found this excellent 3-part commentary by @mimiandkookie4607 :

And this then this favourite by @themooniswaitingforus (who also makes some really beautiful song edits ,btw) :

Then I started wanting to watch original content, so I joined WeVerse and VLive. And then of course, as will happen, I fell in love with all 7 of our amazing, hard working, passionate, talented, brave, fun, impressive young men. I will love and support them until they are old men (or at least much older, as I won't be around as long as I fervently hope they will).

There is more, of course. So much more, but I've run out of steam for today! I do want to say that I joined tumblr because of jikook, as well. I first discovered @dalloga through the Korean Perspective video (they haven't been active for a little bit, but it's worth it to go read their blog, for those who haven't), and then @stormblessed95, and went further down the proverbial rabbit hole from there.

Thank you for reading. Stay positive. Be kind. Seek out happy!

[stupendousfoxthing]

It's so annoying to me when I come across people who say that tkkers base their belief in taekook on edits and videos that overanalyze. Not saying that there aren't shippers like this but I know this is not the case for alot of tkkers I know and certainly not for me. I had no interest in shipping and theorising on band mates being in a secret relationship when I got into BTS. I just really loved their music and their story.

I noticed taekook while catching up on lives and binging BTS content trying to get to know the members more. I wasn't trying to ship any members, but I was picking up on things with taekook that made me side eye them ngl. The odd tension in lives, the hot and cold behaviour, being overly touchy and familiar with eachothers bodies and personal space while also sometimes acting like they don't know eachother. I tried to brush it off but the vibe they were giving off was like when you start noticing tension between two people in a friend group but nobody talks about it and it becomes the big elephant in the room, only to find out later they were secretly hooking up lol.

After awhile I felt like I had gotten a good grasp on all the friendships and dynamics within the group and yet taekook remained a big question mark to me and fandom discourse certainly didn't help at all. It's only then that I fell into the rabbit hole out of curiousity and most of what I learnt has solidified my suspicions about them. You really don't need analysis videos or shipping edits to notice them because the vibe they give off and the things they do, the way BigHit handled them, these things are enough to make you question. Remember when locals at 2020 Grammy's were asking if they were a couple? Yep, taekook give off boyfriend vibes and we all know it, even the naysayers know it deep down.😂

(Btw I love reading your thoughts, please post more 😭)

It doesn't annoy me when other people say that about Taekookers, because I know for a fact that's not what I base my belief on and I think a significant portion of people who say that are trying to convince themselves there's nothing between TK, we just really want there to be. A lot seem to believe that if they get rid of us Taekook's relationship will stop existing, whatever the nature of that relationship is. Personally I hate analysis videos. Like I said previously, when I first starting looking at Taekook those kinds of videos weren't very popular yet. The two big YouTube accounts I followed just posted compilation videos of moments with no analysis. That's all I need. There are so many moments that speak for themselves. I'll be screaming about the nape kiss until the end of time. I'm sorry but there's no way you're going to convince me there's anything platonic about that. Two recent moments I think about a lot are the Sweetheart shirts and Tae's live where we found out Jungkook always sings "To Find You" to him. Those are very loud and obvious imho. I don't need to analyze them. I've also in my own life accurately called these same "vibes" between plenty of people who ended up together. The tells aren't any different for same-sex couples, but some people will readily read romantic/sexual interest into every interaction between a man and a woman but dismiss way more sus moments between two men. I think there would be no question about Taekook for a lot of people if they were a het pair. I do remember the buzz around them at the Grammys. I was just recently thinking about reactions I saw on Twitter to the live where Tae played "Oh No Oh Yes" (where he intentionally "twin flamed" with Jungkook as an anon recently pointed out). That had some people questioning things. I remember seeing people talking back and forth in a thread about the lyrics and how they usually drag Taekookers but maybe we're onto something. 😂 I still think that some people who call us delusional just don't follow what happens between Taekook, because they were more suspicious than ever during solo era. Thank you for the message, sorry it took me a bit to get to answering ❤️

[la-scree]

Hoo boy I'm about to have a hot take and I'm sorry for putting it on your dashes. But I've done this event five times and I have Thoughts. Mainly one thing:

The XV event was better than the XVI one.

Yes we got good glam to show off our tits and we got a doggo mount but if this was a means for me to want to play XVI, this wasn't it.

Welp, going under the cut here so if you haven't done either the XV or XVI questline, turn back. Probably won't be as bad but you know, people probably don't want to get spoiled.

(Same Yua. Same.)

We good? Cool.

For me, what draws me to a story is the characters. With Noctis, he felt more active during his event as we do a mini road trip with him. He asks questions, he tells us a bit about himself, hell at one point he goes fishing and is like 'hey I wanna take a picture!' and having recently played it on Cinder, it felt nice. He takes the lead at times and it was fun.

Then I did the XVI event and at first, I thought it was nice and good. The fight idea felt like something from Persona and y'all know I do love that series (despite all the bullshit) and facing yourself and your fears are in fact tasty. But Clive...he was boring. It felt like I was guiding a lost puppy because Yoshi-P's insert told me to due to guiding stars he saw in a dream. Lead Clive to airship, lead him to various points in Gridania where he says basically the same thing until hearing about Garuda.

Funny how Garuda is some kind of key thing in both events but in XV's event, not only do we fight them but we understand a little about them and that this kind of thing is a test for Noct mainly. We don't know shit about XVI's Garuda or what a Bearer is. And if someone is going to say 'oh they don't want to spoil the game!' I am going to retort with that they did not spoil XV for me. All we know is that Noct is on his way with his bros to see his fiancee. If you played the game you would be able to figure it out but if you're like me who knows it through osmosis and an old memory of someone playing the game but not much, it wouldn't bother you.

I didn't connect with Clive but I wanted to...in the non sexual way unlike most of Twitter. Yeah, most of my exposure to him is people talking about his tits, how breedable he is, and getting him naked. There is the rare moment that someone puts a clip on that shows some kind of emotion he has that doesn't involve any of the above and I'm just like "Where is all the stuff for this?!" I want to see emotion come from Clive or at least SOMETHING other than blank face. He sees his Ifrit before the fight starts and yells "THAT'S THE THING THAT KILLED JOSHUA!" and he's never mentioned again. My knowledge of XVI is bare fucking bones but when Torgal got more of an emotional response than him...something is weird.

As a side note, never do complete memory loss plots for short term stories like this. Because people may assume (like me) that it's an excuse for them to have no personality. Btw Cid and Yotsuyu want to know your location. No reason. Also, I know when it comes to something heavy like that, you need time for that. I'm doing this with Cinder as she regains her past life memories up until 6.0 and Yua's bit in Faerun has her with no memories but both regain pieces as their stories go on.

So long story short: XVI event felt like a nothing burger but the wrapping (rewards) were nice. If I want to get into the game, Yoshi-P's insert saying to go play XVI won't do it. It might be from people who enjoyed the game and have passion for it that might. Make me have an emotional connection with the character, make me root for them when they need it, make me feel SOMETHING!

If you enjoyed the event and thought it was S-tier then good. I'm happy for you because we need some of that around. It just made me look more at the event after my third go and think '...hmm, the joy I feel is decreasing. Why?'

[ivysangel]

Sometimes I’ll see someone praising Colleen Hoover books on tiktok and it makes me pause and wonder if this is their first time reading since middle school. Cuz so many people have been saying that it’s like reading something done by a 13 year old. Tho I’ve seen some of those video essays on YouTube where some people read her books and share their thoughts, and say one where they think she should switch to horror instead of romance from the way she writes some of the things in 2 of her books called verity and layla I think?

I can’t fully remember which book this next but is in cuz I saw one girl’s video that was reviewing Hoover’s worst books so there was a few in there. But it’s like each thing that I learned was like getting hit by a truck. Like why was there 2 characters laughing about how big their son’s balls are before running off the road and into a lake, and leaving the baby to die cuz they apparently couldn’t get him out the car seat. Like damn I sure do love to think of our last moment with our son, laughing at his balls before drowning. Or a different book where the main chick is trying to manually eject the fetuses she’s carrying cuz she’s jealous that the main guy is already saying that he loves those babies. And that’s just one of the things that is just so ?? And that’s just been a small part from those strange books

i actually do think a lot of colleen hoover fans are people that are rediscovering reading and probably went a long time without doing it, or weren't really readers when they were younger. most people i knew who grew up reading or writing a lot developed a very strong sense of what's good writing and what's not because when you read enough, the line between good and bad writing becomes very, very clear. i was telling someone the other day about how when i was a kid i used to dnf books after the first paragraph because the writing was just so off from the get go. but i suppose, if you're getting into reading later in life and didn't pay attention to writing quality when you were younger, then yeah, you're gonna pick up some books that aren't the pinnacle of literature, and that's FINE.

i will always encourage and support people reading at any age...even if they choose to read colleen hoover. but that doesn't mean i can't criticize colleen's writing, which is trash. i have yet to read a line from one of her books that doesn't make me physically cringe. from the writing to the tropes to the characters, just awful. i recently read a twitter thread that had a bunch of pages of it ends with us, and i was just so baffled that she got a movie deal over that shit like there are so many better stories to adapt. and btw the shit show that was the it ends with us press tour...jesus christ.

anyway, i'm only familiar with her more popular books. i was actually gifted a copy of ugly love (the book about the baby with the big balls) for my 16th, and i just haven't been able to bring myself to read it. it's at the absolute bottom of my tbr list, and it gets moved further down every time i buy a new book. but all that to say, i was not aware of little miss "ejecting fetuses"? and against my better judgement, i will be looking into that.

[random-kido]

Hi there again hello aha, I didn't think to be coming back so soon into your asks lol but something has been REALLY bothering me lately and its the fact that I genuinely do not remember where the idea that Krok used to be a historian was derived from, it's been bothering me for THREE DAYS now (yes I think about the Scavs too much; also in my sleep, thats how bad the brainrot is for these idiots)

My earliest memory of said info was reading it on his tf wiki page but I've looked through it and used ctrl+F even and its NOT there! Second earliest memory was your post about Starscream and him being headcanon'd as roommates absolutely despising each other during like idk cybertronian college (which was very funny btw, I saw that on twitter and found it really silly lol), so I chalked it up to "maybe it was a headcanon on tumblr that I thought was canon" but nope, because several other fanfiction I've read about the Scavengers have used the "Krok used to be a historian" thing as part of his backstory, almost as frequently (or rarely really) as people use him being a soccer player in TransTech

So uhh... do you happen to recall where that's ever said that lmfao?? Maybe I forgot a specific panel in IDW somewhere but ehhh nothing's coming to me rn... This isn't really urgent and i dont even know how I managed to stretch a simple question into a long ass ask but I guess that's just how my brain works

I hope ur having a good day as you read this btw :33

Oh hey! I am having a good day so far, thank you! 😊

As for where the whole historian thing came from, it was actually mentioned at the very end of issue 8 of the mtmte series where both the scavengers and the djd get very brief character cards. This one being krok's:

But outside of this it's never really mentioned again outside of issue 7-8.

In issue 7 his knowledge on the wars history is only really used to let both the audience and fulcrum know that the way the scavs are able to get by is because of him knowing where some of the mass graves are. And so that they can catch fulcrum up with everything that happened while he was unconscious.

After this it's not really mentioned again. The only time I could think off the top of my head that his knowledge in history is hinted at again is the issue where agonizer picks them up after the planet they're on gets swarmed by Deathsaurus' crew and the black block consortia (but I can't remember the issue number right now lol) and again with agonizer.

After that there's just a one off line where he quotes something tyrest probably said early on in the war.

Outside of these very brief instances there really isn't much else to this part of him. Which makes me wonder if jro wanted to do more with that but ultimately had to cut it out for some reason or he just decided it wasn't that big of an aspect to build upon unless necessary to give the audience and the those around him extra info.

I'm unsure if in other continuities he was also a historian but I'm almost certain he's just a strategist/right hand man across all variations. The historian part was probably tacked on last minute for exposition of sorts.

So. I understand where your confusion came from. Because for the longest time when I first got into them I also had no clue where the historian part came from lol.

Hope this kinda helped! Have a good one 😊