#fit me foundation

[mollysunder]

Shimmer & The Glorious Evolution: A Love Story

We can see how a specialized high quality strain of Rio's shimmer can alter the biology of living organisms to make users produce their own shimmer, as is the case with Jinx. So what will happen now that Rio's specialized shimmer has been exposed to an artificial life form, i.e. the hexcore?

What Has the Hexcore Done Without Shimmer?

Prior to the hexcore's exposure to shimmer infused blood we've only seen it capable of releasing short bursts of massive energy when Viktor experiments with it.

When exposed to human blood the hexcore reacted by "consuming" a drop of it. The blood effected the entire magical dimension the hexcore connects to by turning it to a shade of purple similar to the plants found in Singed's cave.

Later we see that this newly blood infused hexcore's magic turned purple and is able to not only react to organic matter such as plants, but stimulate their growth in turn (not for long of course). The affected plants also take on the purple tinge similar to the hexcore's magic.

What Have We Seen the Shimmered Hexcore Do So Far?

Once Viktor exposed the hexcore to his shimmer infused blood it was capable of producing a longer lasting stable state with its test subject twice. Initially, what exactly happened to Viktor's leg was up to interpretation, but later on animators in Bridging the Rift confirmed that Viktor's new leg and hand are made of metal.

This means that the hexcore took Viktor's flesh and shimmer infused blood (more than the first time) and exchanged it for an arcane/shimmer configured metalic replacement. His skin is gone and we're looking at what his muscle has been converted to.

The transmutation of Viktor's hand and leg into metal could have only been facilitated through the use of shimmer. It was likely the remaining shimmer in Viktor's system that prevented him from being absorbed into the hexcore. Without a sufficient amount of shimmer, a regular human hand does not equal a shimmerized arcane metalic hand. The flesh, bone, and blood of an entire adult woman and a pitance of shimmer is worth the hand it provides.

What Will Happen Next Season?

The further the hexcore directly interfaces with organic matter the more similar it becomes in appearance and ability to shimmer. Where it improves health and strength at increasing biological costs. Once Viktor realizes that he's missing the "Inspiration" rune, the rune matrix will finally be complete and reach a "stable" state.

A "stable" state could mean the hexcore could reliably interact with and alter organic matter like Rio's shimmer is capable of. Based on the notes Sky left behind, her research focused on plant biology. In theory, a "perfect" hexcore could not only stimulate plant life to grow impressively, they could be durable enough to survive in extreme environments like Zaun.

While there is evidence that shimmer and its byproducts can enhance plant growth, especially in Zaun, there is a catch. Any plant affected by a hexcore corrupted by Rio's specialized shimmer would be altered in a way that makes them capable of being producing shimmer independently.

Just from Viktor's experiment with a hexcore exposed to a single drop of blood, the plants began to glow purple like the plants Rio would eat and break down into shimmer. Except, like Jinx the hexcore would pass down its own strain to the plant subjects that's compatible with the hexcore's "exchange" requirements.

But why would Viktor want to create plants capable of producing MORE shimmer for Zaun. Simple! Without shimmer you can't get... The Glorious Evolution. It's already been mentioned that Viktor's limbs have become metal, and to make his transformation complete he'll need more shimmer. For others to become like him, he needs more shimmer.

but...

Who Would Be Willing to Follow the Herald's Path?

Shimmer addicts like Huck and those who live in the sump with dying flesh and residual concentrations of shimmer in their bodies could be "healed" from their state of deterioration through the hexcore.

In Bridging the Rift we actually saw an unfinished clip of Viktor reaching his metalic hand to reach out and grab the face of a shimmer addict. Upon further inspection of the unidentified character's scars, we can guess this is Huck.

There's also the underlying culture of flesh sacrifice in Zaun, which is actually in the same vein as the Church of the Gloriously Evolved. In League, specifically through Camille's lore, the Church of the Gloriously Evolved actually exists outside of and likely before the Machine Herald came to the scene. The Church's roots even stretch into both Zaun & Piltover.

They believe that you must sacrifice something close and dear (like diseased flesh) with the faith that something better will take its place. Splinters of this organization likely made Silco an object of worship admiring his power and assuming the shimmer he brought was the miracle they sacrificed so much for already. Without Silco and his shimmer, Viktor and his hexcore would become the Church's new object of adoration as they bring shimmer AND immediate transmutation.

Finally, there's Sevika. In the tarot seen, Sevika drew a winning hand with a pair of card, Death and The Magician, that resemble Jinx and Viktor respectively. The scene may foreshadow that Jinx and Viktor will be the trump cards to win her Zaun's independence. But How will that work with Viktor?

You could argue that Sevika could bring Viktor in to repair her arm, but there's an entire industry backed up by a chembaron, Smeech, to fulfill that need. Viktor's going to need to bring something new to the table to be brought into the fold, and that could be shimmer infused plants and the "healing" properties of the hexcore. And I'm sure Sevika's pragmatic enough to know that for Zaun to survive Piltover's retaliation she'll need to bolster her resources in manpower and shimmer... lots of it.

Whether Sevika will be able to handle the cult of personality around the Machine Herald, especially if Jinx ends up siding him is a whole other discussion.

[cheebuss]

we cant have scp 049 without his annoying boyfriend!! Plsplsplspls draw 035 to song number 49 😏😏 I BEG 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

send a character + random number for a piece with them corresponding to the song on my Spotify top 100 [x]

[ Queensland — Jason Tai ]

do not forget about Palestine amidst the spotify wrapped excitement.

[pandelacreme]

at first glance i thought the fixation on till’s neck was a sly joke about a/b/o, a genre heavily based in bl works, in the same cheeky way ivan’s name is a play on korean lgbt slang.

but the recurring motif of strangulation, how till's relationships (excluding his infatuation with mizi) are largely characterized with him being the object while the other is the subject; how him being on a leash, not just a collar, is quite literally one of his defining visual traits...

it reminds me of shakespeare's othello, where the titular character strangles his wife to death in a fit of jealousy over her alleged infidelity... the results of round 6 almost feel like a subversion of that play, where the leading artwork, esp the red one, seemed to suggest that ivan would strangle till in an act of possession, but it ended up as just the opposite.

but i wonder if there's more symbolism we can extrapolate if we hypothesize that some of the imagery are allegories to othello...

[theultimatekamehamehavoc]

[thesoulsofthedarned]

So I finished the Farewell Rayashki event:

Wow, what an amazing event. Probably one of my favorites in Reverse 1999. I loved watching the story of the townspeople of Rayashki fighting back against Zeno to protect their home with the help of a down-on-her-luck researcher unfold. This was probably the first event story in this game that got me feeling emotional. I think what contributed so heavily to my enjoyment and investment in the story was how we got to familiarize with the town itself, from it’s backstory, to the lives the residents that live there.

Back before 1.8 released on global, I never had much of an opinion on Vila. All I really knew about her was that she was a top tier healer mermaid who liked talking about freedom and stuff. But man, this event story really warmed me up to her as a character. She’s such a lovely teacher for the children of Rayashki, always encouraging them to be open minded and learn new things (kinda reminds me of teachers I used to have). Vila’s also such a brave leader for the people, not afraid to speak her mind on the unfair treatment Rayashki was facing at the hands of Zeno and rousing the townsfolk to band together to find new ore to support the town. I also really liked her relationship with Windsong and how she encouraged Windsong to not give up on her dreams. And that’s not to mention her backstory of being shunned and scorned by humans and rusalka alike, yet being able to find a place where everyone could live in harmony in Rayashki. Such a great character :)

Avgust was such a cinnamon roll. Just about every appearance he made on screen was a delight to watch. He’s got such an odd yet endearing way of interpreting the world around him and that made for some excellent chemistry for him and the other characters. He’s so strange yet so cute at the same time, it’s no wonder my sibling went for him on Vila’s banner (they got Vila but not Avgust btw).

Windsong was definitely the MVP. At first I assumed she’d be like Yelan from Genshin: cool, alluring, mysterious, all the typical tropes you’d expect from a woman like her in a gacha game. Turns out she’s almost nothing like I’d expect. Windsong at first was awkward, anxious, not confident that the study of ley lines will even make a comeback due to past experiences. She was on the verge of giving up, yet throughout the story she’s able to finally prove the study of ley lines can be a valid and useful field with the help and encouragement of the townspeople. Watching her become a teacher for the kids at the school was also heartwarming to watch. Also watching Windsong tell that Zeno guy where to shove it was also pretty satisfying, seeing her developing friendship with Vila and the rest of the town was sweet, watching her slowly helping the town achieve their goals and subsequently reach her own and finally coming to her own as a researcher was so cathartic aaaAAA-

Overall, this event was incredible, thanks in no small part to the excellent writing. I absolutely love this story, and I can’t wait for it to rerun :)

[perelka-l]

ever ever ever ever ever. Bc I can't write lol.

Overseer Talloran and Omega-1 Draven :)

Alas, it shines very badly after hairspray treatment so it was really hard to take a photo. The pain! The pain!!!

[chaotic-tired-fox]

I see a lot of people suggest that Dr Clef is a southern cowboy Texan, speaks like he fell out of a western movie. But I propose,

Dr Clef is a Florida Man

[mutalune]

my clone culture headcanon is that they have almost no traditional mandalorian ties, they picked up almost nothing culturally/linguistically from the mandalorian trainers, but the one thing they DID get were endearments/affectionate and-or comforting words/etc.

b/c 1) that was the only way the trainers could somewhat express affection for their favorites without getting dinged for being too attached to them since no one there actually spoke mando’a 2) kaminoans would be Unhappy if the clones expressed affection openly so secret language words were the only way to safely verbalize caring and loving, so they picked up on those few kind words VERY quickly

(The way I see it working is that the trainers had favorites, would occasionally say something like “chin up, hang in there, good job kiddo,” and said favorites picked up those terms without actually ever getting Direct Translations of what they mean. So they get the words and some context but have to jumble it together themselves and pronunciation and meaning change the further away it spreads from the original favorites - because all of this is spread in private, quietly, until it grows its own legs in different iterations with different battalions imho

like they know adding -‘ika to a name is affectionate and feels like a diminutive but they don’t know what it means exactly and sometimes plug it into names in grammatically odd ways, so instead of “Trap’ika” you get “Trapper’ika” which sounds more like “Trapperka” when you’re talking fast.)

(i’m just a fan of gentle soft pet names and showing affection quietly and how love finds a way and how the clones can take what little scraps they were given and make it their own)

[liyrical]

finding out yuuji’s birthday falls on the japanese spring equinox (shunbun no hi) vs megumi’s birthday falling on the winter solstice (toji. literally its called toji!!!!) is doing evil and terrible things to my brain

[ranchdip]

MCR5 basically confirmed i’m so serious we have never been more back

[pridewaited]

analysis time

i'm just going to say one thing that always bugged me about the fandom is the people saying that varian just decided to become vengeful right away or saying that he could've tried other things before hand because like...that's just wrong?

the time between QFAD and the alchemist returns was a long while. and even though varian ended QFAD upset and vengeful, he didn't actively try to enact his plan until later. he literally said that people started vicious rumors about him that caused him to go into hiding.

he literally tried to get help from other sources, and he was attacked.

and i know it's a throw away line, but i feel like it's often too overlooked when talking about the things that varian did because yes he was spiteful, but he was also a young boy who lost his father, and people saw his pain and outbursts and instead of helping him, they spread rumors and falsehoods about him because he was autistic different.

not only that but also fredrick fucking? sucks? varian's little rant about 'your king has lied to you and vilified me' is true! the king has a secret police! and say what you want about varian seeking vengeance as well but i think if the king has a uhhhhh secret fucking guard that might be A Bit Bad

not to mention that he was in fact right when it came to his argument with his father. it says in the books that the well water was making people sick, varian's village was DYING and instead of having their leaders try to correct the source of the problem, they acted as politicians do and tried to cover it up, move away, to ignore the source.

and you could say that it was to prevent wide spread panic but at that point there already was! major issues happening! the rocks were already there! varian is angry that his father isn't being active, that he's not being allowed to try to understand what's hurting his people, and he's right!!!!!

long story short varian didn't just immediately jump to anger, he did try to do other things first and was rejected and attacked, and the season one finale was, in fact, a desperate last attempt action at an unjust social system

[ehlnofay]

The Founder!

the founder : foundations, community.

Old Lady Silda (who isn’t actually that old) is sitting cross-legged under a shop awning, ignoring Torr with all her might.

“Please,” Torr says, again. “I saw you. I know you can.”

The purse she’d lifted from a passerby’s hip, easy as anything, lies sedately beneath her knee. Torr’s sat back on his haunches with his feet flat on the ground. The snow hasn’t reached the spot under the awning yet, so he’s not getting wet, but it’s falling, feathery-soft. It doesn’t look likely to get bad, especially not this far into spring, but he told the kids to stick around the Grey Quarter alleys just in case, not far from the Cornerclub – Torr’s only been out here a few months, but already he’s learned that Ambarys is a better bet than most of the temples when it comes to begging for a roof over your head, which is a pretty damning indictment of the temples seeing as Ambarys is an utter prick. Which Torr means in the most graciously grateful way, of course. He doesn’t do charity, but as long as they’re able to scrounge up some way of paying for the privilege they’re okay. With the temples you have to beg and scrape and hope they’re in the mood to put you up, and Torr’s found, the last few months, that he doesn’t mind begging and he doesn’t mind scraping and he doesn’t mind lying or stealing or cheating but he can’t fucking stand waiting around hoping. Can’t stand trying and trying and not even knowing if anyone will listen.

Talking to Silda is proving difficult.

Not-really-Old Lady Silda looks at them now – hair threaded through with silver, only one eye focusing properly on their face – and she says, with her wobbly sort of impatience, “I’m not a schoolmarm. Go home, lad.”

Torr’s first thought (you go home!) is the kind of childish shit they can’t really afford, now, so they hunch over onto their knees to shield from the wet drifting wind and they make their cracking voice curt and serious and they say, “My parents died in Morning Star. I’ve got my sisters and my brother. Teach me how to pick pockets.” It seems like less of a production than housebreaking – which they’re no real good at in any case. They don’t know where to find the valuables, and they’re too antsy about being seen. If they got arrested they’d all be fucked.

A gaggle of people pass by, cloaked and chattering, stamping flat footprints into the snow. Torr looks at it, at the dirt in it.

“I’ll trade you,” he says.

Silda is watching the group of people go, but he still sees her raise an eyebrow. She asks, “Trade me what?”

How should Torr know what she wants? “Anything. Whatever.” They flick a hand, fingers stinging red in the springtime cold snap. Been ages since not having gloves bit this hard. “Whatever you want – I’ll get it to you.” They can’t imagine she could want anything so complicated they couldn’t figure it out. They kept the kids alive through the winter and the bitter slush of early spring – they’ve got a couple gigs running errands here and there – they’ve managed. They’ll manage.

(They’re meeting people; making connections. Ambarys – the washerwoman that pays them to do deliveries every other Tirdas – the people in the marketplace who’ll fork out a few coins for someone to help them set up and carry shit. Silda, omnipresent beggar and pickpurse who they’ve seen on street corners for their whole life, wouldn’t be a bad person to know, they think.)

“You’re a shit haggler,” says Silda, sounding vaguely pleased. Her left eye doesn’t quite focus on anything she’s looking at; it drifts upward, to the mould-edged canvas of the awning. Above that, the blank white sky. Is the snow slowing? Torr hopes the snow is slowing. With any luck they won’t even need to cajole Ambarys into letting them kip in the corner. (It’s almost impressive, the way he is; the sheer dedication of a quite nice sort of man, when you get down to it, to acting like an asshole. Torr wonders if Silda is the same way. She’s kind of talking like she’s making fun of them.)

“’M not haggling,” Torr says, anyway. He rubs his hands together. It doesn’t really help. His right little finger is always flushed these days, like permanent frostnip. “You help me, I’ll help you. That’s all.”

Silda says, “You’re a little boy.”

That grates, a bit. (Torr bets they’re as tall as her, as much as she slumps; Torr’s not little in any sense of the world. They threw all that out with the bathwater. He’s a little boy like a feral dog is a house pet.) He bites his cheek, teeth grazing the old marks of chewing there, and he shrugs, and he says, “The others are littler.”

A bit of snow falls off the edge of the awning to land on the ground with a poof.

Silda looks at him. There’s a faint scar on her chin. With finality, she tells him, “Ten gold.”

Ten gold – “Are you serious?”

“Proper minted,” she says, implacable. “None of that hack shit. Call it your first lesson – set a cap on what you’re offering.”

“I asked to learn to lift purses, not how to bargain.” Torr wraps their hand around their little finger; lifts their chin and sets their jaw. “And I said anything on purpose. Show me how and I’ll get the money to you.”

(Ten full gold is no small change, but if she teaches him right the whole endeavour will basically pay for itself.)

Silda wipes her mouth with a knuckle. Her teeth are small and yellow. “All right,” she says, something appraising in her face. Snow dribbles down from the awning again. She knuckles at her cheek. “And tell your sister to stop digging through my stuff. I keep seeing the dark-haired one messing with my spots.”

A blink. “I don’t have a sister with dark hair,” Torr says; she looks at him with scepticism, and he says, “I don’t. I don’t know where you keep your stuff. But if I see someone doing that I’ll tell them to knock it off.”

“Do,” Silda says firmly. The street has drizzled out to almost empty; with a quickness that belies the scabbed, quavering fragility of her hands, she takes the purse from under her knee and tucks it into the band of her skirt. The purse is blue. The skirt looks like it might have been too, once. Torr exhales their relief, and it crystallises in the air, pale as smoke.

[throes-of-warm-tornadoes]

foundation and empire by isaac asimov: a ramble

i renewed my library card! in other words, here is a semi-serious review/summary/commentary on the first book i read. i even used capitalization for some seriousness factor

This ramble will start with the first book I read: foundation and empire by Isaac Asimov. He’s actually quite an interesting man. He was born in 1920, but his mom lied and said that he was born a year before so that she could enroll him in the first grade. He taught himself to read when he was five and encouraged his sister to do the same, which explained the girl power vibes present in this novel.

If you are familiar with my other ramblings, I doubt it comes as a surpise that my favorite character is Bayta. I found her confidence and sass so refreshing. I could barely even tell she was written by a man. I’ll explain the lore so we can appreciate her character further.

Well—okay. Full transparency: I didn’t fully understand what was going on in the book 100% of the time, so I’ll just be giving a rundown of the bare necessities. In true sci-fi novel fashion, we follow a variety of characters as they traverse the Galaxy in their spaceships. Among these characters is General Bel Riose. 

General Bel Riose is fucking annoying. The prolouge sets up this big giant larger-than-life prophecy about the Galaxy falling. Like, there was this whole thing about a guy named Hari Seldon predicting the fall of the Empire as everyone knows it. But don’t worry! It eventually makes a comeback and is back better than ever—after thousands and thousands of years. But don’t worry (again!) Hari Seldon and his gang of fellow professors/scientists figure out a way to reduce the gap between barbarism and civilization to a mere thousand years. (Or something.)

Then we get to the first chapter, and Bel Riose immediately ruins the vibe. Are you familiar with William Penn? Legend has it that he was sent to America for being a royal pain in the ass, eventually getting the entire state of Pennsylvania named after him. Bel Riose reminds me of him. In fact, maybe they are distant relatives. Right from the get-go, Bel Riose tells us about how he doesn’t even have a purpose. He’s just interrogating a guy from a rebel planet because he literally has nothing else to do. He’s good at fighting, but there’s nothing left to fight. So his leader sent him away, and now an elderly man named Ducem Barr has to face to consequences.

Long story short, Bel Riose and Ducem Barr collaborate to find the Second Foundation. You see, there are two Foundations, and they’re very powerful. To take over both means to be an unstoppable force of nature. They find some other guy named Lathan Devers, who is a Trader (aka a traitor… the homophones work very well), and Bel Riose captures him for information. 

This is where things start heating up. This is my first time ever reading a Big Girl Sci-Fi Book, so I was resigned to slugging through a ton of details about the innerworkings of the military industrial complex, but I’m happy to report that Lathan Devers took it upon himself to save the plot. Simply put, he knocks Bel Riose the fuck out. Then he escapes with Ducem Barr. We follow them on their adventure as they try to avoid capture, and this is where we learn about something interesting:

The Mule.

So, for context, a mule is a horse-donkey hybrid. A freak of fucking nature. The Mule in this story is no different.

And, finally, this is where we finally meet Bayta and Toran (aka her man). Before I explain their purpose in the story, I just want to geek out over Bayta. She’s sassy right from the get-go, which I appreciate. And I appreciate that she’s not scorned for being sassy and confident and intelligent even more. And I love love love that Toran isn’t ridiculed as a weak man/husband for “letting” her tease him and participate in political affairs. They’re equals. She teases him and they call each other names and they engage in silly wrestling matches. They’re cute. 

What I love most about this book—and other forms of sci-fi content—is that you still get a glimpse of the current social/economic/political climate that the author is writing in. Like, we’re millennia and millennia into the future and yet there's still a character that questions why Bayta is hanging out with her rag-tag gang of (male) space buddies, because people in the 1950s were probably reading this book and wondering the same thing. Why does Toran let his wife talk to him like that? Why does he cook her dinner? Why isn’t he more assertive?

Because this is the fucking future, idiots. Women can be blunt. Women can attend political debates. Women can save the literal goddamn Galaxy.

And she does! It was so cool seeing how Bayta was so consistently crafty and intelligent while still being incredibly sweet and empathetic to those around her. 

Enough geeking out about Bayta. We have a plot to get through.

Anyway, with Bel Riose (finally) dead, we’re introduced to Bayta and Toran and a scientist named Mis. Mis is a psychologist that specializes in Hari Seldon’s work. (Reminder: Hari Seldon predicted the fall of the Galaxy.) Enough time has elasped (like, 100 years) that The Mule has effortlessly taken over entire planets. The leaders from those planets are his most trusted advisors. His enemies are his biggest supporters. How did this happen?

That’s what Bayta and Toran are trying to figure out. Along the way, they meet a clown on some strange planet as they try to gather intel about The Mule. He was being harrassed by some police officer, so Bayta and Toran step in and save him and basically take him under their wing. Toran didn’t like him—he was like the son he really wasn’t that enthusastic about having—but Bayta has a major sweet spot for him. His name is Magnifico, and he was The Mule’s court jester. Magnifico lives in a constant state of panic and anxiety because apparently The Mule liked to torture him for fun.

So there we have it: our sci-fi gang of certified ass kickers. Their objective is to find the Second Foundation, because the First Foundation has already been infiltrated by The Mule. (Reminder: to have both Foundations is to have all the power.) With nothing but a spaceship and their own wits, they manage to escape imminnent danger and hostage crisises by the skin of their teeth.

This is where we get into spoiler territory (as in I am going to spoil the series. If anyone is still reading this—which I doubt—and wants to read the series, stop right here. I’m about to reveal the shock of the century.)

So, Mis is trying to figure out where the fuck the Second Foundation is when we get some more lore about The Mule. He’s more than a hybrid—he’s a Mutant. His powers? Well, he’s basically like the most extreme version of an empath. He can manipulate people’s emotions, which explains how he managed to take over entire planets so easily and why he has so many people that are on his side. And—wait a minute. Magnifico is so fucking afraid of everything, to the point where everyone has such visceral reactions to his mere presence, and everyone believes just about anything that comes out of his terrified little mouth—

Strange, right?

Well, if you’re like me and have no media literacy,  not really. To be honest, I felt super bad for Magnifico and was very upset whenever people were just slightly mean to him. And so did Bayta. She’s the reason why he’s even alive enough to tag along with them on their adventure (or so it seems…), so they end up on a planet where Mis has the resources to study Hari Seldon’s findings in more depth. Magnifico is the main person that hangs out with him, and Bayta notices something:

Mis’ life force is draining. Rapidly. Sure, he’s studying his brains out, but he’s literally deteriorating. He finally figures out where the Second Foundation is, but right before he can reveal that information, Bayta promptly shoots him with her gun.

Basically, I’m kinda over explaining this book. It was fun in the beginning, but I’m getting very self conscious over how long this is, so I’ll just cut to the chase. Basically, Magnifico is a very pitiable character. Everyone in the book agrees with this. But so many people pity him to the point of trusting him. Like, who cares if he’s in the room while we discuss top-secret information? He’s just a little freak. Who cares if he’s good at playing an instrument perfectly fit for mass destruction? Not like he’s capable of using it for anything homicidal.

Well, they’re right about one thing: he is a freak. But he’s not harmless.

Basically (again), Bayta comes to the conclusion that Magnifico is The Mule because they’re both very good at emotionally manipulating people. Understandably, I couldn’t get into every single event in the book—mostly because I barely understood it when I read it—so you’re just gonna have to trust me on that one. 

Anyway, I personally really loved the ending. I couldn’t tell if Bayta genuinely liked him or was just pretending to be kind, so to have it confirmed by The Mule himself that she was the first person that was actually sweet to him was honestly so heartwarming. It’s a pity he’s a war criminal. 

Oh! Also, back to the mule (hybrid of a horse and donkey) conversation. At the end, The Mule basically implies he’s infertile (just like a mule) (hybrid of a horse and a donkey) because Bayta got grossed out that he was gonna force her to be his bride and he was like “nah. First of all, I don’t like you like that. Second of all, I am not capable of performing husbandly duties. Why else do you think I'm called the fucking Mule?” and for the first time since starting this book I felt smart as fuck. And it only took me 282 pages to get there. (The book has 282 pages.)

Anyway, to end this longpost off, here are my two favorite quotes from the book:

1). “It’s a dead hand against a living will.” I just know Isaac Asimov had to take a walk after writing that line that was COLD

2) (Bayta is talking) “All right, silly. Now let your lower lip droop and give me that dying-duck look—the one just before you’re supposed to bury your head on my shoulder, while I stroke your hair full of static electricity. You were fishing for some drivel, weren’t you?’” In other words so glad that the “dudes making the dead fish face to signal that they want affection” is apparently a timeless gesture

[sol-flo]

also kinda sad i don't breast boobily more often because i know exactly the kind of cup that fits me perfectly and have nothing to do with this knowledge. many such cases

[britneyshakespeare]

I am a very frequent offender of laughing harder than anybody else at my own jokes, but I am also a fan of the phenomenon when you tell a joke without thinking much about it and then it becomes funnier because of how much somebody else laughs at it.

Over a year ago now I was hanging out with my friends and we were talking about babytalk. Like, the way they babble incoherently before they can form basic words and it's just kind of inexplicable to a bystander by their parents know exactly what they're saying. Like a baby will be like ababasaaghaghaghaaba and you'll be like what could that possibly mean but their parent will be like "oh she just wants sweet potatoes" or something super else specific.

I said that someday my baby will be like ghaghaabababgagabgaa and I'll be like "oh he's just quoting Hamlet."

And that got like, you know, a medium sized laugh from the friends as it was supposed to, but then one of them specifically looked me in the eye and said "Wow. That was really an A+ joke" and I was like "What?" "Your baby quoting Hamlet."

"Oh. You're right I guess that is hilarious."

And I otherwise probably would've forgotten that joke but because that specific friend got such a kick out of it, I associate it with him, and every now and then I'll just think to myself: heh, that is funny. My little son quoting Hamlet.

[b-blushes]

L you were so right about the swapping the shoes i am keeping these shorts!! thank youuuuu! ghost i def agree that the darker shirt works better with the cream shorts!!! could not make them work for me in a way that i felt confident in, but here here are my goofy attempts~

if i was perhaps more swagful i maybe could, but i just don't think i have the personality to pull them off right now :P (acknowledging that cream chino shorts are perhaps among the least daring items known to man, and yet...)

also acquired! 2 pairs of black trousers, one lightweight and one heavy, i now no longer have a creeping sense of dread in case i have to go anywhere where my normal 't-shirt with sleeves cut off and cut-off denim shorts' outfit would not suffice THANK GOODNESS 😌