#frankly if we're going to do this they should all be paying us

[charminglyantiquated]

Nautilus update! I’ve written more in-depth about all of this on the gofundme page and our social media, so I won’t get into the nitty gritty detail here as well, but I wanted to share the news here, for anyone wondering how things are going! Under a cut because it’s long, but tl:dr is we're moving forward, and we'll be okay.

Good news first: The owner of another local sailing company had put one of their boats up for sale the same week as the accident, and after the surveyors told us to expect the worst, he got in touch. She’s now ours, and we’ll be sailing again next summer! We were lucky enough to work on her in the past, and her previous owner wanted has told us he’d initially meant to offer her to us at the end of this season. With a working boat, we can keep our company going, which in turn means we have a means of making money that still allows us the flexibility to work on repairs, and deal with matters in the shipyard as they arise. (The marina also had a multi-year wait for commercial boats, so we were worried about what would happen if we had to bow out for a few years!) We're extraordinarily lucky and so, so grateful - this literally would not have been possible without the fundraiser, and the safety net it gave us, and the way our whole community has supported us. Without exaggeration, it changed our lives. I will never be able to fully express how grateful I am.

Nautilus is written off as a loss, which we've been expecting. They offered us the chance to buy her as salvage, which we obviously accepted. So insurance wrote us a payout for what she’s insured for, plus reimbursement for getting her hauled and towed, less the value of her as salvage. Because she’s a loss, we have to pay off the loan that we took out this spring to buy her. After that's done, we'll have enough left over from the payout check to launch the new boat next spring (insurance/marina fees/haul and tow) which in turn leaves us free to use the proceeds of the fundraiser to make a start on repairs this winter! In the meantime our insurance is pursuing subrogation: essentially (as I understand it) after paying us out of their pocket, they are going after the other insurance for reimbursement. If we do see any lost income, it would be through this process, but we’ve been told several times it will take months - we don’t know if that means ‘december’ or ‘next august’, and don’t know how much, so we’re crossing our fingers but not making any plans around it. The crisis point was these last two months, and honestly the fundraiser got us through it - now we have our feet under us again, it would definitely be welcome but our stability and livelihood isn't hanging on it, so we can afford to wait.

Repairs - rough estimate from the survey is $83k, but half of that is labor costs. We can do much of the labor ourselves, which should lower it a bit. There are obviously areas where we'll need experts (welding!!), but we have the skills for a lot of what has to be done. Right now we’re getting the boats covered for cold weather, picking up some odd jobs around the shipyard, and clearing room in the woodshop to build a new main mast - that’s the project this winter! We are also going to start tearing up the teak deck to access the damaged fiberglass below, and figure out what, if anything, can be salvaged from the wreck of the mast/rigging (the jib furler sheared in half, but the sail itself made it out with only four small, easily patched punctures! Which is frankly a miracle, given how it was literally jammed through the mast). Anything that seems sound will be checked over by an expert, and a lot of it might still be too stressed to safely use, but after months of looking at the wreck of the thing, it’s honestly just a relief to be able to go through and start taking pieces apart.

Tl:dr is we’re going to be okay. Money is tight, we’re living with family and working 6 days a week, but we’ll be on the water sailing again in May, our company will survive, and we’re hoping to have Nautilus fixed in two or three years. Just wanted to share that with you all; I'm really glad to finally have some good news to offer. It's not easy but it's better, and we're going to get through it, pretty much 100% because of everyone who has been so kind to us both. Thank you all so, so much for every single kind word and share and donation. I am never going to be able to say how much it has meant to me, and what a difference it has made. I won’t be posting much more about it on here now that we're back on our feet, but if anyone wants to keep updated, detailed news about Nautilus repairs will go on the gofundme page, and our instagram will have lighter posts about both boats, repairs, and the 2025 season.

[bloodyodyssey]

(Repost) Comms still up with 8 slots, 3 for busts, 3 for half body, and 2 for full body! Each listing also allows for up to one extra character to be added on at half price!

***If you don't want to commission me that's also fine i'd apreciate just a regular kofi dono or just sharing this around bc my finances are low, I've been averaging on $20 a month and struggling to pay hospital bills from earlier this year. i will also be considering opening a google doc or some other order form to allow payments via cashapp if there's any interest. Anyways heres a general breakdown of the pricing system and my will's/wont's under the cut:

So how do I (you, the buyer) choose what I want?

SO when you open up the request form it should look something like this!

We're using the bust order as our example here. At its base price, $15, it is set for the black and white option. If this is what you would like, then you don't have to worry about the add ons at all and you go straight to submitting your request! Now, if you're choosing add ons, it'll look something like these:

The first would be an example of an order of a flat color bust + an extra character bust with flat coloring as well. The color option adds the extra $10 (to match the listed price on the poster for $25), and the extra character with flat coloring adds half of that $25 to the order (well a little less bc i knocked off the .50 cents) which is why it comes out to $37.

The second would be an example of a black and white bust order with an added black and white bust character. This just adds an extra $7 to the price totaling $22.

What will you (the artist, me Brutus) draw?

If you want me to draw your oc or fanart of your favorite character I GOT U!!!

I'm also comfortable drawing blood and gore though I'll have to keep it on the lighter side (I enjoy blood if it isnt obvious by my url though so depending on what you want we might be able to go a little further with that).

I can do characters with armor as well, however I will require a reference of some sort from you, the client, as I'm frankly not going to attempt armor off the dome. I won't design armor myself either.

Pinups (not full nsfw due to how much of a struggle it is to navigate different site policies) and other suggestive works are also a-ok! a tity does not bother me if that wasn't made clear by my commission card 👍🏽

What will you (the artist, me Brutus) NOT draw?

Im not comfortable trying to draw real people as of right now sorry! I'm just not really a caricature or realistic portrait artist but this may change in the future.

I also won't do furry/anthro just because that isn't my forte as I haven't practiced drawing animalistic characters. There r plenty of talented furry artists for you to choose from and I could talk to someone to guide you to a few .

(I CAN do more humanoid fantasy characters however. like mermaids, satyrs, etc)

More extreme gore and body horror is also off the table. (so like spilling guts stuff like that)

I may love mecha but as it is like armor and a bit more extreme, I'm not drawing it sorry. And also as stated above I'm not drawing armor regardless without a good reference.

Certain fandoms are a no-go for me due to my own comfort. A quick list would be: mogeko games, omori, south park, hetalia, attack on titan, mcyt, hazbin hotel/helluva boss. if you're not sure just ask!

I reserve the right to decline any comission request for any reason. Getting paid is nice but my comfort is nicer yknow.

And that should cover everything! If you still need to ask me anything, my messages are open. Thank you so much for reading and a little extra thank you if you decide to commission me ❤️

[eldritch-spouse]

Just when you thought taking a day off from retail when you're sick would be paradise away from the retail hell boys when your door suddenly explodes and the retail hell boys enter your room when they heard you got sick. You can't win.

TW: Reader has a dark mindset, their suffering is not treated seriously.

It's kind of ridiculous that your only respite is sickness, isn't it?

Does it count as self-harm to deliberately let yourself get sick just so you can miss a day or two of work? Does... Does not caring about a twisted ankle that much because you know you won't have to work for a while count as mental illness? If only you could afford a psychologist right now.

What you do know, is that in spite of your physical pain, you haven't felt this at peace in a while. You can even ignore the fact that your pay is getting damaged from this, it's worth it. It's calm.

No weird coworkers, no pressure from a shitty boss, no creepy clients-

CRASH

There's no mistaking it. That was the front door of your rackety little apartment.

Fear has you flatten to the wall of your bedroom, ankle squealing with pain. Deep down, you've always dreaded this would happen since moving to Hell. That some nutjob would just break into your place and butcher you like a pig. Because they feel like it, because some demons are just like that, because humans are easy targets.

Humans are like gazelles to them. And amidst all those grazing bodies, a tired and beaten down one like you is the gazelle with the limp, the one that's getting picked first.

Fucking damn it, you should have bought the domestic defense bat that tall butch tried to sell you when you moved in. You wondered why she was pricing it so high until she revealed it was some kind of hellish beast, as opposed to a barbed wire bat.

As is, you can only grab the bedside lamp and hope, with every fiber of your being, that the thing you're up against has a skull soft enough to allow brain damage.

Hearing hushed voices, your plan is to turn the corner and possibly run outside before you have to hit anyone.

A plan easily thwarted when a meaty hand swipes the bedside lamp right out of your hands.

Alright. You didn't think that far ahead.

" YEAH, THAT'S IT SMALL FRY! " The meathead you've come to recognize as one of the creepy regulars beams. He smashes the bulb out of the lamp, and jams some kind of blade in the hollowed space, using fabric to tie it all together. Is that... Part of your curtains?

" Moz, you ruined the door, you oaf... Isn't that essential to keep the house safe? " The other one, the incubus, points out, feeling the dents left in your wall.

Said wrathful demon pauses to gouge the extent of the damage for several seconds, then waves. " Huh. I'LL DO YA ONE BETTER- WHO NEEDS DOORS?! By the time I'm done, no one will even think of trying to get in. "

Babesley turns around. " Well, she does- Oh! Oh there she is, our tasty workaholic. " The incubus gets a glimpse at your injured limb and gasps. " My sweet hardworking princess, what are you doing out of bed?! Come on, let's go lie down, I'll give you a wonderful massage and you can tell me all about the awful people you work with! "

The awful people being them both, mostly. On a good day.

Babesley has started pulling you along gently, and frankly, you know there's nothing you can do to get them out of your home now, so you might as well just bide your time and see what comes next.

He openly evaluates the state of your room before cautiously helping you lay down, starting to work on your back muscles with surprising competence. You didn't know he was a masseur! Out of spite, you don't allow the shock to show on your face, keeping noises to a minimum.

" Come now, it's no fun if I don't get to hear it. " He huffs. " You're being difficult when we're just trying to keep you safe! Tsk tsk, brats these days. "

" Get- Hnnh- " Oh he popped something ancient in there. The smug brow raise is his display of victory. " Get out of my home. "

" Mhm, not happening. I was thinking of getting a pizza from that cozy nook downtown. "

Pizza does sound good.

You ponder on it to the sounds of Moz breaking your house apart in a nightmare DIY session.

" ... I want the pepperoni one. " It was a moment of weakness. And most importantly, free food.

" Say please. " He sing-songs, clawtips flirting with the fat of your rump through your pajama shorts.

" Cunt. "

" Yes, I bet yours is heavenly. "

Before things can get any more awkward, the other demon bulldozes in with a cup, slapping your ass with a force so great it has you barking every curse under the sun.

" Spit on this, jizzbrains. " He angles the glass at Babes, who easily 'ptoo's in.

You think that one slap just undid all of the incubus' work on your accumulated tension. " What are you even doing? Ruining my house for the fuck of it?! "

" HAH. " Moz grunts. " I'm making it IMPENETRABLE. This here is for a booby trap. IMAGINE DYING WITH A BONER. "

You and Babesley look at him blankly.

" They walk in, right?! They STEP on the plate, they ACTIVATE THE TRAP, THEN BOOM- GET A SPRAY OF THIS NASTY SHIT AND THEN THE FUCKIN' LAMP COMES SWINGING DOWN JAMMING RIGHT BETWEEN THE EYES! Either that or the throat... Actually, I need a plan B for a shortstack. "

You decide you'll mourn your furniture later.

" What about the pizza guy? "

" WHAT PIZZA GUY?! "

Babesley waves Moz away, continuing his earlier work above you. " Think about it this way, if it works, we won't have to pay for it. "

You want to go back to work.

[genericpuff]

The Mishandling of LO's S3 Midseason Hiatus - Part 1

So Lore Olympus' return is right around the corner, and I realize I've never actually talked about the S3 midseason finale. I think I said I was going to, but then I just sorta didn't, probably because I was still reeling in the absolute absurdity of it for weeks afterwards. In hindsight, I should have written about it back when it was still fresh, but I feel like I can do it just as much - if not more - justice writing about them in hindsight, now that they've had time to sit and I've seen what Rachel and WT are clearly planning to do after the comic ends (whether or not they succeed... that's a different story).

CAUTION: THIS IS PART 1 OF A 3 PART SERIES IN WHICH I WILL BE SPOILING MUCH OF EPISODES 251-253. THIS EPISODE CONTAINS DEPICTIONS OF VIOLENCE INVOLVING STRANGULATION. THIS WILL BE A LONG POST. BRACE YOURSELF.

So one of the things that really motivated me to finally talk about this was a conversation that happened recently in the ULO Discord - the realization that there are many readers who still don't know what happened after the free to read finale cliffhanger.

Y'know, the one where Hades gets possessed by Kronos and attempts to choke Persephone-

Now, awful dark jokes aside about how Persephone frankly deserves to have her balloon head popped, this was a wild cliffhanger to leave on for free readers, but the strange thing this time around - unlike with the previous midseason hiatus - is that this is where the cliffhanger has stood for free readers for the past 3 months, and it will be 4 months by the time the series returns.

And frankly... this just highlights a huge problem with LO's writing, because this cliffhanger? Like all the others, it's literally resolved within the next episode. The one that's currently under the FP lock.

Man, isn't it a little fucked up that we only ever get trigger warnings when it's concerning Persephone? Where was the warning for when Minthe got turned into a plant? Where was the warning for the entire episode that depicted Hera's trauma from Kronos and how it's still affecting her in the present? It's always either the Persephone, Hades, or Apollo focused episodes that get the trigger warnings, they couldn't care less about the violence being done onto other people in the story.

Anyways. Episode 251 opens up by reminding us, oh yeah, Kassandra exists!

Remember back in Episode 227 when Psyche stole Apollo's USB drive (and by "stole", I mean she picked it up off the ground where Apollo had conveniently dropped it?) And they found a folder with a picture of Kassandra? Well, Episode 251 opens by reminding us of her... 24 episodes later. SEVEN MONTHS OF REAL LIFE TIME, LITERALLY THE LENGTH OF BOTH THE SEASON 2 AND SEASON 3 MIDSEASON HIATUSES COMBINED-

Anyways, I guess Rachel finally figured out what she was gonna do with Kassandra after all that time, and it's... really stupid.

But wait, don't worry about that yet, because only the comic's opening reminds us of Kassandra, we gotta establish the title first and get back to that cliffhanger from before, the one that free to read users have been waiting 4 months to see.

(pay attention to the episode titles here btw, it's probably one of Rachel's lamest 3 parter title sequences yet)

Turns out Kronos is still intent on getting his hands on Hera, even though we've literally already seen Kronos haunting Hera. Is he just a ghost? A hallucination of her traumatized mind? We don't know, it never really explains itself. So Kronos is still looking for Hera.

(kinda weird that we're getting all these redrawn fullbody angles of Hades-possessed-by-Kronos choking his noodle-bodied wife who is doing literally NOTHING to actually fight back besides yelling at him, but okay.)

Turns out Hades isn't really hyped about this choking game going on between his dad and his niece wife, so he goes full on "release the beast" Naruto mode on his ass.

And that's it. That's literally the conflict resolved. The cliffhanger that free to read users were left with over the 4 month hiatus is resolved literally within a handful of panels and Hades just "believing enough" to save his wife.

And then that's just it, it cuts away, and we get this sorta awkward conversation between Persephone and Hades (now himself again) over the fact that he just choked out his wife.

The scene transitions to Hades waking up in his bed (literally that last shot of him and Persephone was it, it transitions immediately). I'm trying not to use up Tumblr's 30 image posting limit so I'm not posting the 3 fucking copy pasted panels of this that just involves Hades waking up, use your imagination lmao

There's literally no actual conversation here, no amount of Hades asking "what happened", somehow despite his possessed state he remembers everything so succinctly that he jumps right to demanding Persephone to see her neck.

(literally removed the panel of Persephone saying "Hades..." because these types of "let me do the thing" "Hades :(((" "let me do the thing" exchanges are literally just Rachel trying to hit her panel limit, once you start seeing these '3 panel' exchanges that copy paste the same shit over and over again, you can't unsee them and you realize this is why so little happens in the comic as a whole, because it's just constant repetition of dialogue and reaction panels to pad out the episodes).

And then we get what I like to call "guy in a position of power manipulating his more vulnerable partner into pitying him without actually apologizing":

No for real, I didn't cut out a single thing from this exchange aside from a couple copy pasted reaction panels, this is the entire conversation. Hades doesn't apologize, he doesn't ask Persephone if she's okay, he just pulls the "you can leave if you want toooo :(((" baiting Persephone into further trapping herself with this jackass. SHE'S the one who's stuck with HIM.

Like, obviously Hades wasn't the one who choked her, that goes to Kronos, but he doesn't even ask her if she's okay. He just looks at her moldy ass bruises and immediately goes "YOU CAN LEAVE IF YOU WANT TO I'M A MONSTER OH GOD-" and then of course she's having to comfort him which is fine but where's the balance? It's always Persephone having to comfort him and listen to his trauma and we never get Hades doing the same for her - the times we do get Persephone talking about her trauma and struggles with him, he always finds a way to make it about him.

Hades proceeds to talk more about his childhood and more of the shit he's already talked about multiple times before, I don't even need to go over it at this point.

That said, Rachel does remember to bring his stutter back. When's the last time he stuttered? 200 episodes ago ?? (literally I don't remember, it's like when he used to twist his napkins, he doesn't have these character traits consistently anymore).

THERE we go, finally some semblance of an apology. It came after more trauma dumping, but at least it's something-

Oh for fuck's sakes.

This is literally such generic "you've come so far!" motivational jargon. And it's made even worse in LO because what has Hades overcome exactly? Just a reminder, here are the things we've seen in Hades' backstory since he was rescued by his brothers:

He started a business in the Underworld that he's been operating with slave labor and profiting off ever since as a tyrannical oligarch

He entered a multi-century-long affair with his brother's wife, his own sister in law

He cost Demeter - Persephone's own mother - the role of Queen of the Mortal Realm and Persephone still does not know this.

He abused and neglected his adopted son - who was literally abandoned on his doorstep - for hundreds of years and used his role as his adopted father to guilt trip his son for getting "special treatment".

He never took responsibility for the financially dependent relationship he created between himself and a lower class nymph and tried to bribe her out of his life as soon as he fell for a 19 year old intern

HE LITERALLY FELL FOR THE 19 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER OF A WOMAN WHO HE HAD SCREWED OVER AND PRETENDED LIKE THAT WOMAN WAS IN THE WRONG FOR NOT APPROACHING HIM DURING THE EVENTS OF THE ACT OF WRATH, AND THEN HE HAD THE GALL TO PROPOSE TO HER DAUGHTER RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER WHEN SHE BASICALLY HAD NO OTHER CHOICE BUT TO SAY YES.

Everything he's legitimately had to overcome involving his trauma has gone completely ignored until pop in comes the pink cinnamon roll girl to solve all his problems and do for him what apparently even a therapist couldn't do (because haha he thinks his therapist is a hack.)

Persephone saying "look at all you've done" should be a reminder of all the crimes Hades has committed against people weaker than him, but instead it's used as a term of endearment, because Persephone literally got with him when she was 19 years old. And apparently the whole "eternally 19" thing applies to more than just her body, because even now, 10 years later, she's still lacking all the smarts and self-awareness and maturity to realize marrying this man was a mistake.

At this point Persephone isn't too naive or stupid to realize what she's gotten herself into, she's just a terrible person who's entirely complacent in Hades' bullshit and frankly, they deserve each other.

They literally keep talking about him for several more panels. Hades literally whines on and on about how much of a failure he is, how he feels like he failed the child who's trapped in Tartarus, and then of course Persephone tells him "no honey, you're the most important being in this process!" and she's LITERALLY STILL JUST TALKING ABOUT HIM, THIS WHOLE EPISODE IS PERSEPHONE TALKING ABOUT HOW WONDERFUL HADES IS, NOTHING ELSE HAPPENS. HAVE YOU NOTICED WE HAVEN'T EVEN SEEN KASSANDRA YET ?? HAVE YOU NOTICED THE COLD OPEN FOR THE EPISODE HASN'T BECOME RELEVANT YET ?? I'VE ALREADY HIT THE 30 IMAGE LIMIT AND I HAVE TO START CUTTING STUFF OUT-

Persephone and Hades talk about how they should name the interloper, but they don't come up with anything before transitioning to Leuce and Thetis.

And y'all, this has gotta be one of Rachel's worst cases of backpedaling in the entire series. You thought how she turned Leuce - Hades' first wife - into a homewrecker was bad? You thought it was absurd the plot tried to turn Leuce into Minthe 2.0?

Remember those text messages that Leuce and Hades sent between each other? The ones we never saw but kept getting alluded to? Well of course we couldn't have Hades actually text Leuce during Persephone's banishment, because then that would mean he isn't 100% loyal to his little pink cinnamon roll "qween", so what was the next best thing? Kronos possessing Hades and texting Leuce like so many people - even fans - assumed? No. It's worse.

The text messages... weren't real.

This literally makes no sense. First of all, it's once again Rachel creating drama out of "haha woman delusional!" much like she did with Minthe. But second, it literally doesn't make sense after what we've seen leading up to this.

Leuce didn't just talk about Hades texting her. She went to his office, intent on seducing him, with the knowledge of these text messages being real. She even TALKS ABOUT THESE MESSAGES WITH HADES.

But of course, they were interrupted before Hades got a chance to respond, so this was convenient enough for Rachel to try and pull off some 'twist' where she could easily absolve Hades of "cheating" on Persephone (again, the girl he only knew for like 1-2 months) but also not have to deal with the weird logic of Kronos possessing Hades just to text some random nymph.

This is absolutely one of the most absurd retcons Rachel has ever tried to pull to get herself out of the corners she writes herself into.

Now the episode is still going and FINALLY, it gets to Kassandra, after teasing her at the beginning of the episode and proceeding to do a whole lot of nothing throughout the entire thing.

This has to be one of the funniest panels in the entire comic, bar none. Rachel's gotten worse at drawing men despite making this comic for 5 years and having plenty of opportunity to improve, and he literally just looks like the fucking Amazing Bulk, haunting this poor mortal woman with his very presence.

So yeah, it turns out that the "curse" Kassandra suffers from in this "retelling" is, rather than having prophecies no one believes (or at least, if she does, we don't see that), she sees Apollo and no one believes her. Again, Rachel takes these weird liberties with the original myths that don't make a whole lot of sense all for the sake of seeming original, but whatever, Rachel hit her panel limit for the week, because that's essentially where the episode ends, with Apollo greeting Kassandra. As quickly as it was shown at the beginning of the episode, the one part of the episode actually featuring Kassandra is wrapped up in literally 7 panels.

THOUGHT VOMIT TIME

So with Episode 251 now summarized and out of the way, I really wanna talk about how this episode operates as the first FP episode after the midseason finale for free readers.

Despite the fact that it was a 4 month break and despite the fact that WT has always still released these episodes for free on schedule - with the idea that every reader will be up to date with the current content and can start fresh with a new set of FP episodes when it returns - this time around Episodes 251-253 have remained locked.

And I say Webtoons specifically because as far as I know, the creators typically don't have control over this type of decision. From what I've heard from other Originals creators, it's often WT who decides shit like coin costs, FP release dates, etc. This is why during hiatuses the numbers on the episode unlocks never actually align with their real return dates, sometimes they completely undershoot and reset, sometimes they overshoot and tell people LO is coming back in January despite the fact it's been confirmed it's coming back in November. This isn't Rachel's doing. It's clearly Webtoons trying to squeeze as much money out of this series as they can so they think the 4 month hiatus will motivate people to pay... but even the newest episode is still only sitting at 17.9k likes, which is just slightly above the average amount the FP episodes normally wind up sitting at by the time they're unlocked after 3 weeks, but this has been after four months. The hiatus of the comic and its communities absolutely put LO out of sight, out of mind.

That said, I don't know what this means for the series' return, if it'll have 6 FP episode unlocks going forward or if it'll just return with one new FP episode and Episode 251 unlocking for free readers, but holy shit, if that's the case, this is gonna be a shitty way to return from 4 months of nothing. The cliffhanger from 250 implies so much more than what it ends up being and it's, again, highlighting a fundamental issue within LO - it operates purely on a week to week basis, producing episodes on the fly, and concerning itself more with filling up its panel quota so that it can get readers from beginning to end when they can drop some new cliffhanger that likely won't lead to anything or will be completely resolved within three swipes of the next episode. Season 3 has been especially egregious with this and it's clear Rachel has run out of track to run on.

There is speculation that perhaps the reason the timing of this cliffhanger is so off is because Rachel didn't know the hiatus was going to happen and WT forced her on it. That said, it's not something anyone can really confirm besides Rachel. I wouldn't blame her for taking the time she did considering she was attending both NYCC and SDCC this past summer, and it's hard enough for her to keep up with any sort of buffer to begin with, so those conventions would have definitely resulted in episodes getting postponed anyways.

What I'm really interested in seeing is the reception when the comic returns. Hiatuses like this are brutal for traffic, it's incredibly difficult to get every single person who you started the hiatus with to return after it's done. It's not uncommon for comics to come back to only a fraction of their readerbase - and that's where the marketing comes in.

S3's return has been incredibly undermarketed. I've talked about it already but I'll mention it again here - they have done nothing to hype up LO's remaining audience for the ending of LO. Not only has the fact that the comic is even entering its final part been mentioned on either Rachel's or WT's social media pages, but the fan groups have been shut down for almost the entirety of this hiatus, shutting fans away from discussing the comic, making predictions, and just participating in their most active and direct part of the fandom. This was an absolutely absurd decision on Rachel's part, I don't know if this was her trying to shield herself from criticism or if she genuinely just doesn't give a shit about her fanbase anymore, but it's not a good thing if the only active groups to be found online during a comic's hiatus - it's final hiatus before the series ends - are the critical ones. Fans of the comic should not have to find out about its ending from me. I know I've got a way with words, but it's not fair to the long-term fans of this comic that they're being shut out by the comic's own creator, simply because she either doesn't care or is just so afraid of the critics that she'd rather hurt her relationship with her fanbase by shutting them out just to maybe shut out any critics who are nearby.

I don't know what the reasoning is and I don't know how it could have been beneficial. But that leads us to the other theory, one that I can see as plausible-

I don't think Lore Olympus was supposed to end here.

We've talked about this theory before, but to reiterate - it's been speculated for a while (prior to the news at NYCC that the comic would be ending) that S3 of LO wasn't going to be the final season as so many people had been assuming based on past info. There was no indication or marketing implying this was the final season - meanwhile webtoons like City of Blank were marketing their final seasons from day 1 of the premiere - and there were loads of new plot threads being established in S3 that we knew couldn't possibly be wrapped up by the end of the season. Case in point, it took Rachel seven months to get back to Kassandra, and while during that time she's rushed plotlines that shouldn't have been rushed (the wedding) other plotlines have proceeded to drag at a snail's pace or been dropped altogether. The speculation that S3 wasn't going to be the final season was plausible.

But now, suddenly, LO is coming to an end, likely within the next 20-30 episodes, and neither Rachel or Webtoons have said a word about it. No announcement post, no hype, no promotional art, no statement from the Webtoons VP of what to be excited for (which he's done before). It seems like they're either intentionally trying to bury it to keep people from panicking while Rachel retreats into the shadows to hide from the crimes she's committed, or they're intentionally keeping the ending of the comic unannounced so they can backpedal on it later to generate hype over it "deciding to stick around". Chances are, it'll be based on how the return of the series goes, and whether or not it's able to get the performance numbers back in the green.

I do not think it will. As I said already, hiatuses are already notorious for destroying built up traffic, especially on Webtoons where people (many of whom are teenagers and children) are conditioned to expect regular content on a schedule. But there's one other thing that's been bugging me - there hasn't been a shred of promotional art. We're currently less than a month away from the return of LO and not only are Rachel and WT being incredibly hush hush about it, but all the art Rachel has put out has been largely on her Blue Sky, where she has the smallest following, and none of it is exactly indicative of being "promotional art", rather just random sketches and doodles that she's doing on her downtime. Everything else has been promos for her books, SDCC/NYCC, of course, Rachel Smythe Presents, her next venture which she has been hyping up more than the actual return or ending of the comic that made her famous in the first place.

At this point, I'm not even fully convinced she's even started working on the next episode yet, let alone any sort of buffer. If anything, she knows that she's coming back to the series with 3 episodes still locked under FastPass, so all she'll need to technically have ready for launch is one new episode. Rachel has never been good at building buffers, not even in the beginning when she apparently started off with 2-3 episodes of buffer. Even when her comic is nearing its end, she's not learning any lessons, she's not setting herself up for success. And I'm not setting myself up for the hope that the series could possibly come back any better than it was when it left - if anything, I think we're about to see Rachel and the comic outdo itself once again on how bad it can possibly be.

And we still have two more episodes to talk about, which includes the cliffhanger for FP readers that we've been waiting four months on. Part 2 and 3 of these FP episode analyses will be going up as soon as I can get them done, ideally I'll have all three parts done before it returns so we can start off fresh with the newest episode.

Buckle up folks. Pour yourself a drink. We're gonna need it.

[the-fibre-stuff]

Hey beginner knitters:

I know I got a little flippant, but I wasn't thinking about implications, and I want you to know that I, and most people here on knitblr, are more than happy to help if you're having trouble with anything. There are, of course, limitations to how much help we can be in this medium, but frankly, that's often the limit to how much help you can get.

However, if you are looking for people to point out potential mistakes and areas of improvement when you post something, do make sure to indicate that. Just like with any other work that you post online, we're not going to say something unless we're 100% sure it's a mistake, and even then we'll think at least twice, because that's not what we're here for.

Speaking as someone who used to twist their purl stitches, saw that they looked different (I checked the ribs of my k2p2 rib and noticed that they looked different on the inside and the outside) and fixed the problem several projects in, you're much better off learning to get comfortable with needles and yarn and then trying to figure out how you're making your stitches. (And like @buttercupyarnart says, there's no need to knit your stitches untwisted, as long as you're comfortable with the fabric you make.)

Same for how you hold your needles and your yarn. I was taught to hold my needles with my hands underneath, in that pose that people always complain is drawn by people who aren't familiar with knitting, because no one knits like that. I learned a year or two in that that style of holding needles wasn't very popular anymore because it's more awkward, and taught myself to hold my hands on top. Much easier than learning to knit was, so there was no harm in learning that in two steps, because it's not as if I had to re-learn from scratch instead. (I wonder if this is why I have such a weird way of holding my yarn? It's part of why I generally don't teach, even if I'm doing a proper class and not a huge group of kids, how to hold the yarn. I demonstrate and explain that this is my way, there's lots of ways, and let the people who keep going figure out their own way to hold the yarn).

And even if you DO have a knitting teacher in the room with you, who can give you actual practical advice (and you're paying them, so they're going to correct you while you're there, even if it's not an ideal time to learn it), take what they say with a grain of salt. I ran across someone - and they were willing to tell this story themselves, it wasn't someone complaining about an awful teacher they'd had - who saw a student propping one knitting needle in their lap, kind of an awkwardly placed knitting sheath or knitting belt and scolded them, saying that they can't do that, they need to knit properly. I had student do this once, so I can tell you that it's a good way to knit, just kind of weird. I made sure that she knew that she should keep that style up, because it was efficient, and I showed her what I was doing, and as she was able to translate it to her knitting, it was all good.

[youcouldmakealife]

are there any unexpected challenges when moving between two such tonally different works as sait and cott at the same time?

Interestingly, it's sort of the opposite! I've learned that having a tonally serious series at the same time as a more lighthearted one is great because I can work on either depending on my mood and what headspace I'm willing and able to enter at the time.

The stories of the week and the month also help for that -- they're much easier to pop in and out of versus the series, which tend to involve longer writing sessions and a lot more 'editing as I go' than the stories of the week, which are done in short sessions or sometimes, if it's clicking well, in big chunks or even all at once (the dream).

But having two series that are so different kind of counters my excuses? 'Oh I'm not in a Holden headspace today, he's too up tempo and frenetic' can be countered, quite easily, with 'may I interest you in the saddest man in the world, then?'. It's actually nice with alternating POVs too, because, barring my not knowing what comes in the next part, the answer could also be 'how about some James, then?'.

So depending on how my writing's going, I could have just one upcoming part in the works or like, bits and pieces of five (especially toward the beginning or end of series; I probably have snippets from 5 or 6 upcoming parts of SAIT right now, because we've reached the final 15% or so), all because whatever my brain wants to write, that's what we're writing.

The result of that is that I'm now pretty consistently productive, when, if I force myself to focus on one thing, that could either go well, or it could mean I get fuck all done. (mostly the latter)

I've had some pretty major breakthroughs since I started doing this professionally, since 'don't feel like it' is all well and fine for your hobbies, which should be providing you joy, but not so much when it comes time to pay the bills. Part of it is treating it as work (not the 'ugh, work' part, though sometimes, unfortunately, that's true, even if it's your passion, but the 'I don't feel like doing <insert task>, but I've got to do it anyway to because it's my job' part of work.)

One of the biggest breakthroughs was ignoring 90% of writing advice (and productivity advice, and frankly, general advice) as not applicable to me, rather than thinking I'm a failure at following said advice (which so often is just people writing what works for them and acting like it's a universal tenet and not simply a process that works for them).

Knowing my brain is literally wired differently has been really helpful in accepting that, not blaming myself for it, and going to find the things that do work for me. And I've found a bunch! That I will get into later because I...have turned this into productive procrastination (one of my most commonly used strategies) and I should be writing at the moment.

But later! I'll post some things that work for me, and may or may not work for you, who knows, none of this is cut and dry, we're all making it up as we go, even (especially) the people who claim otherwise.

[hopelesslyromanticgay]

Lemonade — Vada Cavell

When I was seven years old, my friend , Vada and I started a lemonade stand.  Ever since then, she and I have been inseparable.

It was a hot summer week, and quite frankly, we had nothing to do. Her mom had just gotten back from the store and asked us to unpack the groceries. Neither of us wanted to, but like I said earlier, we had nothing else to do.

"Oh my goddd the weather is killing me!" I complained, putting the milk carton in the fridge. She nodded in agreement.

"Look!" she squealed, "lemons!" She takes out a huge bag of lemons.

"That's a lot of lemons, V," I laughed.

"Buy tuh-woo, get three free," she desperately tried to read the label.

"You mean buy two get three free?" I tried to raise an eyebrow.

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes, "we should make lemonade!"

I got out her mom's fancy pitcher and a knife, and miraculously didn't get cut while slicing the lemons. Less miraculously, the juicing of the lemons on multiple occasions stung our eyes.

"Okay, we gotta add lots of sugar," Vada told me, tasting the pure lemon juice. Her face puckered up in a way that even then I knew was not good.

"I love sugar!" I smiled, pouring an unhealthy portion of sugar in.

By the end of the afternoon, we made one dollar an seventeen cents with our one sale to the boy, Nick, down the street. 

"We should go buy candy!" Vada's eyes lit up.

"Ooh! M&M's! And jolly ranchers! And gummies!"

That was also the day we learned that there's not much you can but for $1.17.

It was a devastating day.

Twelve years later...

"Hi Vada," I exclaim, running up to the shorter brunette, giving her an obligatory head pat before enveloping her in a hug.

"Hi!" she smiles widely. I love her smile so much.

"What do you wanna do today?" I ask.

"What's there to do?" she replies. We end up lying down on her trampoline for at least an hour, scrolling through TikTok's together.

"What is it with the Lana Del Rey, will you serve me Lemonade trend?" Vada says, confused.

"No idea," I confess, "but it's fun to see celebrity glow ups showcased by it."

"No, totally," she laughs, "You've totally gotten a glow up."

"No, you're literally hotter than the sun, shut up Vada!" Vada's definitely the prettiest girl I know. Everything about her is so flawlessly beautiful. She could literally wear the silliest most random outfit she found at the bottom of her closet and pull it off perfectly.

"You shut up!" 

We sit in silence for a moment, then an idea pops into my head.

"Let's make lemonade!" I decide. Vada shoots up excitedly, "yes please! Anything other than TikTok's!"

"I agree."

We set off to work, making (much better) lemonade than we made last time.

"Okay, first of all, your mom has a lemon juicing thingy now, which feels over the top fancy, but we should probably use it," I tell her.

"It's literally a thingy you put lemons on and twists them, that's not fancy!"

"Whatever, let's use it!"

We slice up the lemons and begin to juice them.

"Damn, if this is what giving handjobs to guys is like, I do not want to date guys. Honestly, not really into that even before this. Like honestly, they're not doing it for me," she rambles. Her rambles are the cutest thing. If you don't interrupt her, she can go one for hours about conspiracy theories, shows, books, songs. It's one of the many things I love about her.

"Vada, you're literally gay, you don't have to worry about handjobs."

"No you're literally gay!" she points a finger at me. I pretend to take offense, slapping a hand over my heart. Joking around with her is the highlight of any day.

"We're both gay, now work on the water to sugar to lemon ratio," I decide.

"Why are you turning lemonade into mathhhhh," she complains.

"Just work on it!" I exclaim.

"Anything for you, my dear," she winks at me.

We finally finish the lemonade after fifteen minutes of bickering. I'm excited to try it, honestly. I haven't had good lemonade in years.

"Will you give me some?" she asks, noticing I've poured myself a glass.

"Pay Up!" I laugh.

"Is $1.17 enough?" she asks innocently.

"Why, you got that much?"

"The exact same coins," she confesses. I blush at the fact that she's kept coins from twelve years ago that we earned selling lemonade this whole time. I've never seen her as the sentimental type

"Damn, I must have meant a lot to you," I tease her.

"Not as much as you mean to me now," she takes a step closer to me, booping my nose.

"Oh yeah," I say, "and how much is that?"

She smirks, taking the lemonade out of my hand and setting it down on the counter.

"Enough to do this," she cups my cheeks and stands on the tips of her toes to brush her soft lips against mine. I hate to sound like a stereotype, but I swear I can feel fireworks go off in my stomach. My arms wrap themselves around her waist before finding their way to her hips and gently pulling her closer. She tastes like lemons and sugar(unsurprisingly considering we're making lemonade). Such a perfect taste for such a hot day. I could get used to this. It's hard not to crave more and more.

It's funny that just a few nights ago we were making fun of couples on TV who were like this, and yet now we're completely totally a cliche.

"Sorry if I read that wrong," Vada apologizes after pulling away.

"You're not reading it wrong, don't worry," I reassure her, kissing her lips again.

[techmomma]

Various things I have learned while working at this mitigation company:

different insurance providers are more or less willing to cover more things. some companies are real lenient and will give you a lot of leeway. some will absolutely not and will find every means possible to not pay. we tend to keep an unofficial list (at least among employees) of which ones we love to work with (aka which ones will approve and pay for the most and be easiest to deal with) and which ones we hate working with (they will usually reject the claim meaning NO mitigation work is done at all because you think most regular people can afford $20K mitigation out of pocket?). you can ask us which ones we like working with.

if the overhead sprinkler system is activated, then even if nothing burned, you will still need so much mitigation. modern sprinkler systems aren't just full of water, they have various fire-fighting chemicals in them that should not come into contact with people for extended periods. and definitely not food.

not every business is willing to pay for fire sprinkler mitigation. sometimes they just decide to paint over it! one of the local grocery stores decided to do that! remember what I said about exposing those chemicals to food?

mold can start growing from a water leak within like 48 hours. faster if it's a sewage leak. if you had a leak and you waited a week to call anyone, you need a mold inspection too.

we get screwed over by churches so, so much.

all houses must be tested for asbestos before any mitigation can begin. it used to be that we only really needed to test on houses built before about 1990, but as asbestos was used in building materials LONG after that, they've finally cracked down and now all houses needed to be tested. my coworkers aren't as happy about this as I am.

if the building was built before 1978 though then we have to test for asbestos AND lead! I think we should test them all for lead frankly but the law says 1978.

asbestos and lead usually have to be removed by special companies. we use subcontractors for that since we don't have the equipment ourselves.

subcontractors! your mitigation company usually can't do everything themselves, so they'll enlist the aid of another company. so for example, when we have to test for asbestos and lead, we use a subcontractor who has the equipment to analyze samples.

generally, if you can see damage, whatever is inside the wall is so, so much worse.

there is so so much mold in like every building

even with industrial cleaners and professional equipment, mold is so hard to actually get rid of permanently. if it's gotten into an organic material like wood or cloth, you can count that as pretty much permanently affected. they will almost always be unsalvageable.

this counts for say, the wood beams of your house. we can clean them down and spray mold killer and seal them, but it'll ever be a 100% guarantee, ESPECIALLY IF YOU LIVE IN A WETTER CLIMATE. LIKE, IDK, WASHINGTON.

houses on the water are so full of mold

if you have a sudden Emergency, please make sure you decide if you're going to use a mitigation before you actually call us. especially for emergencies where there's water like actively flooding your house. please, for the love of god, don't call us and say "we have an emergency and need help cleaning this up" and then call a short while later saying "well, actually, can we be put on hold, we're not sure if we'll go with mitigation yet...". our technicians are almost always working on a job, we don't have anyone just sitting around the office we can send at any time. and sometimes those jobs can be like an hour away from our office

that means the tech has to pack up their equipment on the site (meaning making sure the site is secured especially if it's going to rain), get back to the office (remember the hour drive from before), get the right equipment for your emergency, and head out there. if they've been pulled from their previous job site they had to drive an hour for, we're not going to fucking send them back.

meaning if you cancel, that's like half of our day wasted and now that other job is going to be behind, too, because they're minus an extra five hours that could have been spent doing the work for that job

please. please don't do your own mitigation work. oh my god.at the very least because sometimes insurance companies get super super picky about that and might reject your claim for it.

if you can see water damage on the other side of a wall, it means the water has gone through the drywall. the longer it's wet and uncared for--I'm talking like, 2 days or more--the more likely things will need to be removed and/or demolished. certainly after 2 days the insulation will almost certainly need to be removed and new insulation installed. this will cost money.

the older the building, the more likely anything in that building will fail at any given time. sure maybe the piping lasted 100 years but that's because it took 100 years to eat away the piping until it finally gave out on the 101st year

meaning the older the building, the more likely it becomes that you'll experience pipe bursts, leaks, electrical mishaps, sewage leaks, etc. etc.

when it comes to water mitigation, there's two kinds: cleanwater and blackwater. cleanwater is what comes out of your tap. blackwater is poopy sewage. blackwater is, without fail, a gazillion times more expensive because it will, as a requirement, involve some form of demolition. it should. that's a health hazard man. you don't know what (else) is in poopy sewage water.

if you can't have the water turned off to do any mitigation, then you HAVE to get a specialist before we can do any restoration. if the pipe is still leaking, then mitigation work will kind of be for nothing.

if you're planning on filing any claims, do that FIRST before you call anybody. the insurance company will have a list of people to call and will tell you how to go about things so that your claim is solid. filing online is fine but it's usually a good idea to have an actual name and contact information for an adjuster (the person who'll be looking at the damage and seeing what needs to be done)

don't fret. sometimes even things I thought would be totally unsalvageable were salvageable! they have lots of tips and tricks, and the technicians and their managers are usually happy to talk about their trade with you

a lot of these technicians really do care, even if they're mostly in it for the work. so many of these guys would do this because this kind of work is pure enrichment for them, but they got families to take care of. it gets genuinely frustrating sometimes to know what work needs to be done and wanting to do so, but the insurance company won't pay out, so nothing can be done.

if your insurance company is giving you the reach-around and you think they're fucking you over, there's something called the insurance commissioner. they're who you can report insurance company fuckery to and the commissioner is usually pretty on top of it. I've seen customers be fucked over for months by their insurance company call the commissioner, and within a few hours the insurance company ~*~magically~*~ has a fire lit under their ass and just so so happy to help you out.

you get what you pay for. whether construction, mitigation, whatever. you pay for cheap mitigation work, you will get cheap results.

something you really don't want cheap results for: mitigation work

things landlords are absolutely fucking notorious for: wanting cheap mitigation work. don't listen to any stupid schpiel they give you about caring or whatever work they said they put in. sure they did pay $10k for restoration work--because it was a job worth about $20k, and they went with the rock-bottom contractor who put a half-assed half day's work in that will fall apart in a few years

fuck landlords and property managers. but you already knew that if you follow me.

Lastly, if you have time to spare and want to make a technician's day, ask them what their worst or most fun job was. they are so happy to tell you.

they have so. many. stories.

[footballfanficwriter]

Fights turns into nightmares

Summary:where Jude and the reader get into a fight

"Why do you always pester me Jude"

"I'm not, I'm just asking questions"

"Why do you not trust me, I promise you it was nothing"

"It didn't look like nothing y/n he had his hands all over you"

"Yeah but I stopped him from touching me"

"You looked like you enjoyed it"

"If I enjoyed it I wouldn't have stopped him"

" it still happened though and I'm not happy about it"

"Did you think I was happy when I saw that girl's hands all over you huh?"

"That was nothing"

"Exactly, just like this event that took place it was nothing"

"But it's different"

"How is it different"

" because he could easily take advantage of you"

"Yeah but he didn't"

"But he could've"

"Jude, you're overeating"

"I'm not overreacting"

"For goodness sake Jude stop, what is the matter huh?, it seems like you've got a problem with everything I do nowadays, if it's not me cooking then it's the fact that I forgot to fold the laundry, if it's not that then it's me not spending time with you, what do you want from me?"

"I want you too do the things you're suppose to do"

"Oh yeah and what is that exactly"

"I bring most of the income in this family, I pay a huge amount of money to sustain our way of living"

"Really is that what we're doing now, comparing our salaries?"

"Mine is higher than yours, so yeah"

"Ok, the reason why I forgot to fold the laundry, cook and spend time with you is because, I've had a shit ton of work that needed to be done, I get pressured and stressed by my boss then I come back home to a person whose upset with me, it's not fair Jude"

"I get stressed as well, you know"

"That, that right there is why I can't approach you anymore and am scared to Express my feelings ,you always turn the conversation back to you and make it about yourself"

"All I said was that I get stressed as well, what am i not allowed to be stressed?"

"That's not what I'm say"

"Then what are you saying"

"I'm saying that when you feel stressed or when you feel down, I always comfort and make sure you feel better about yourself, but when the shoe is on the other foot, you can't do the same"

"How am I suppose to comfort you, if I don't know you need comforting"

"Well maybe if you asked me how I am, you'd know, everytime I try and tell you about my feelings, you always shut me down"

"WELL, QUIET FRANKLY I DON'T CARE, I'M TIRED OF YOU, YOU AND YOUR FEELINGS"

There's a silence between us and I look at him with a hurt expression and he looks at me with a shocked one

"Babe I-I didn't mean it, that's not what I meant to sa-" he tries to step closer to me and I pull back

" yeah but you still said it"

"Babe I didn't mea-"

"I think we should get some space from eachother for a while"

"Y/-"

"I'll sleep in the guest room"

I walked to our room and grabbed my pajamas and all the things I might need for a few days and went to the guest room

As I open the door to leave I find Jude standing there

"I'm sorry" he says

" ok" I say and walk past him

"Does that mean you forgive me?" He asks as I walk away and slam the door

I go to the guest bedroom where I do my night routine

After doing that I make the bed so I can sleep and get comfortable

I get into the bed and try to fall asleep, but recent events keep replaying in my head, preventing me from sleeping

After a while I find myself unintentionally crying not knowing where the tears have come from all of a sudden

It's been 2 hours since I got into bed 30 minutes later I hear Jude screaming from the other room

I quickly get out out of the room and race to see what's happening in the room

When I enter I see Jude sweeting and him tossing and turning and mumbling words

.

I'm frozen for a second but quickly snap back to reality and attempt to wake him up

"Jude"

"Jude wake up"

"Jude come on"

After not being able to wake him up I make him sit up and shake his body, all that seems to do the trick because he wakes up with sweat on his forehead , wide red eyes and heavy breathing and panting, just like a dog would

"Y/n you're here?"

"Yeah I'm here, where would I be"

"I-I thought I had lost you, it was so real it all felt so real"

"Well it's not ok it wasn't real"

A-Are you crying" he says noticing my red eyes

"N-No, I'm not crying"

"Y/n stop, you don't have to pretend that you're not hurting" he says

"Jude, I'm perfectly fine"

"No, you're not, I've hurt you so much in our relationship,that you don't even feel comfortable coming to talk to me about your feelings, I'm so sorry I truly am, and I didn't mean what I said, when i said I don't care about your feelings"

"It's ok"

"I'll do better, for you, it's the least I can do considering everything you do for me"

"Are you ok?" I ask

"Yeah I'll be fine, I guess it was just a nightmare"

"About what?"

"I dreamt that we had an argument, that ended up with you dead because- because I had killed you, I just I don't want to be a monster, I don't want to you to end up being afraid of me"

"I'm not afraid of you Jude, I just want you to be there for me the way I'm there for you, I know you're stressed with everything that's going on right now, but I feel like you're neglecting me or that you don't want me anymore"

"Ofcourse I want to be with you babe, i just never thought you needed all of the attention, you seemed to be doing just fine with everything happening in our lived, I just didn't think you'd want my attention and affection"

"I do Jude, I really do"

"And I'll give it too you"

"Thank you"

I get of the bed and start walking towards the door

"Y/n"

"Yeah?"

"Please stay, babe, please stay with me"

"Ok I'll stay with you"

I walk to the bed and get into bed and snuggle up to him and he puts an arm around me and kisses my forehead

"Goodnight Babe"

"Night Jude"

[sortyourlifeoutmate]

The Tory National Service plan is such batshit bollocks.

For one, it isn't going to happen because they're going to lose, making the whole thing a pointless gesture. But in politics there are rarely pointless gestures, just pathetic ones - so what is the point?

Well, it's plainly a desperate attempt to sway a handful of voters (like ninety-nine percent of everything the Tories have done for the last, ooh, two years?) and more specifically, I think, sway voters who might have been drifting towards Reform.

But I can't imagine that handful of voters (fucking cracked as they are) will, uh, give a shit? About this plan? I'm sure maybe one or two people will think it's a great idea but just about everyone else the length and breadth of the country either hates your guts already, thinks the idea is buttfuck crazy, or both.

Leaving aside that the plan is, you know, just unworkable and dumb to start with. Not enough spots? What if you're a teenager who works on the weekends? Why are we paying for this?

I find the thing galling on principle. For one, the idea of the government flexing to this degree and saying "No, that's not your time anymore, you're doing something for us now" is unpleasant, and for another that they're framing the whole thing as some attempt to instill a sense of national pride is frankly disgusting.

You don't make people proud by forcing them to do something. You particularly don't make people proud by forcing them to do stuff after you've broken the fucking country. Half the valuable shit you say will stem from this plan - useful experience, getting to do things you might not otherwise, community, keeping out of trouble, blah blah fucking blah - is shit that could be done in other ways but YOU TOOK ALL THE FUCKING MONEY AWAY AND BROKE THE FUCKING COUNTRY.

Personally, anytime anyone in politics starts talking about 'pride' or 'unity' or anything that suggests everyone should be happily marching in lockstep I start to see red. No! Fuck you! The reason people are unhappy IS BECAUSE OF YOU, CUNTS! NOT BECAUSE WE'RE 'DIVIDED' AND PURPOSELESS!

YOU TOOK AWAY ANY CHANCE AT HAVING MEANINGFUL PURPOSE! YOU TOOK AWAY PEOPLE'S CHANCE AT CARVING OUT SOMETHING FOR THEMSELVES! FUCK YOU!

Ahem.

Anyway, we are united. We're united in wanting you fucking gone so the slightly-less-worse guys can come in and basically do the same thing for a bit.

[xiaq]

Why do feelings have to be so confusing???

I’ve never been super into labels, but if I had to choose I probably would have gone with aroace. I kind of figured I wouldn’t ever find someone I wanted to be in a relationship with and that was fine.

But now I’m 30 and somehow in a relationship for the very first time with this person that I love so much. And it’s wonderful and amazing in so many ways, but I also feel so crazy with it??

I feel like a teenager with their first crush but also too old for that and it’s like I don’t know how to trust myself in this because I’ve never felt anything close to this before.

Feeling romantic and sexual attraction for the first time there’s a part of me that’s like how has everyone been living like this the whole time??? It still doesn’t feel like it should be real somehow, even though I’m now experiencing it firsthand.

Anyway I don’t know exactly where I’m going with this, but if you either advice or even just stories to make me feel a little less ridiculous, I’d love to hear them!

I think it's really REALLY important to remember that socially reinforced ideas of normalcy when it comes to exploring sexuality are not, actually, normal. A. Because people are people and what works for one person doesn't work for others. While there's obviously going to be a bell curve on the graph of "when do people typically sort out who they want to kiss (or not kiss) and start doing that" there is going to be a steady, not insignificant, number of folks that are on the upward and downward swing of that bell curve before you even get to the far outliers, and that's to be expected. B. Traditionally accepted timelines for building a sense of sexual identity don't apply anymore. The average age for (first) marriage is creeping back each year. In the US in 1900 it was 26 for men and 22 for women. Now it's 29 and 27 respectively. Women, especially, don't have nearly the pressure placed upon them that they used to to quickly find someone who will take care of them seeing as we can now open bank accounts and own property and work for (mostly) equal pay and all that jazz. So there's that to consider.

But also. Humans, human bodies, are never stagnant. You might have heard the fun factoid that all our cells are replaced every 7 years. That's not entirely accurate, but it's true that the body does regenerate skin and bone and liver and stomach, and so on, cells at a kind of mind-boggling rate. There are things that we're born with that don't change like some of the neurons in our cerebral cortex, I think, but as a species we are generally made to adapt to new experiences and environments so much so that our bodies are in a constant state of change themselves. You're just...doing what you're built to do. Something new has happened and you're adapting to it.

And yes, it can be scary and make you feel very vulnerable when you don't have historical relationship or sex-related context like other people your age might have, but that's when you get to lean on friends and/or talk to your therapist to make sure you're approaching things in a healthy way, there aren't red flags you're missing, etc. Because humans are also pack animals and we thrive in communities in which we can share each others burdens and wisdom.

As someone who also had built what I thought was a pretty clear assessment of my romantic and sexual identity over 29 years, only to have it challenged and rebuilt at 30, I fully empathize with the way you feel. But I leaned into the feelings of confusion (and frankly, giddiness, at times). Who says teenagers are the only ones that get to experience first crushes? Who says 30 is too old for self-discovery? You get to decide how you interact with the world. Who cares what other people are doing if what you're doing makes you happy and hurts no one.

[spotofimagines]

100 random writing prompts

A collection of prompts in all genres - feel free to send one or many in a request! (Check the bio to see what is open)

“Your words are moving, but I am not.”

“I came for the kid not you.”

“One more and I'm making you walk home.”

“This would look so hot on you. And off of you.”

“It's okay babe, I hate him too.”

"You know I stayed for you, and frankly, I don't regret it one bit."

“All of you are to blame for this, but I can't say I'm surprised.”

“Your thighs are so comfortable.”

“Are you sure? How many times have we gone to the emergency room because you were peeling potatoes too fast?” “Only twice...”

“It's not that precious!” “I'd like to back you up, but it does sound precious.”

“I set up the blanket fort. The password to get in is three words.” (I love you)

“We all know you can't admit your feelings for them, so that's why we're going to get you through this. I have plans.”

“What I don't need is to be involved with your antics.”

“I can't let you get hurt. Who would challenge me then?”

“I'm here. You said it was important, so I'm here. I don't want to be though.”

“Your eyebrows are going to fly off your head if you raise them any higher at me.”

“Oh, you can do it, for sure. I just don't think you should.”

“I knew you wouldn't listen but I figured I'd say it anyway.”

“If it's not a compliment, I don't care.”

“Trust me, I'm an expert.” “You couldn't be more wrong but okay.”

“It could or it couldn't. We're trusting that it won't.”

“Why would you want to ‘fuck life’? The only thing you should be fucking is me.”

“We both know how this is going to go down.”

“I can practically feel your face on my fists already.”

“I wish I loved you less.”

"Are you laughing at me?" "Yeah, I am. What are you going to do about it?"

"Wipe that smile off your face before I do it for you."

“I was expecting disappointment. Prepared myself for it, really.”

“So, a little birdy tells me I’m the best thing that’s ever happened to you.”

“There are times where I want to punch you and there are times where I want to hold you. It's an ongoing struggle.”

“Of course I'm excited that you are pregnant, your boobs are going to get so much bigger!”

“I can't believe my dad saw us having sex. He didn't make it to one of my piano recitals, but this he sees.”

“If and when you get lost, come back to me, okay?”

“You're over me? … When were you, under me?”

“I want to be alone... alone with you, does that make sense?”

“You're my best friend, but they're my little brother/sister. You know who's side I'll take.”

“How dare I? How dare you!”

“I didn’t know I needed a reason for that.”

“This has to be the slowest car chase I've ever taken part in.”

“He passed out an hour ago and he's too heavy to move.”

“Where are you going in that outfit?” “How about when I come back, I take it off for you.”

“I don't know where most of her is, but her tongue is in [fill in]'s mouth.”

“It's nice that at least one of you knows how to show your appreciation.”

“I'm not saying you were right, because I'd hate to even imply that, but yes, I guess you were.”

“Why do you love me when you know I can’t love you back?”

“You look like you aren't paying attention to me.” “You would be right.”

“Oh my god, a woman flirting with a single man? We must alert the church elders!”

“I like him a lot. He's real funny.” “If he's funny, LAUGH!”

“That was so mean. I love it. Let's do it again!”

“It's like you don't believe me when I say I can get us out of this. Have some faith, will you?”

“So close to saying something you'd regret, weren't you?”

“I just thought you guys were doing it, I didn't know you were in love!”

“My favourite part of this is the backhanded compliments.”

“You're seriously proposing? Now?”

“Sleeping next to you was the best sleep I've gotten in years.”

“It's cold and I don't want to be lonely.”

“That's the dogs' peanut butter, ask them, I don't eat that.”

“You look hot as hell in my shirt babe.”

“I love you but some peace and quiet would be wonderful.”

“I didn't want to fall in love, not at all. But at some point you smiled and, holy shit, I blew it.”

“I'm tired of talking to the back of your head at night.”

“Staying the night. Baby, you should be bringing a suitcase.”

“Is it my imagination or is [fill in]'s makeup on your chin?”

“Me? Overreacting?”

“You sound really pretty today.”

“Can't sleep?” “How could you tell?” “You're awake.”

“I'm so sorry we never loved each other at the same time.”

“I love my sleep and you're cutting into my precious minutes of it.”

“You look good too. Did you get a haircut?” “Yeah. Well, I got like 30 of them.”

“Good wow or bad wow?” “I'm not sure yet.”

“Get that disgusted look off your face and hold my hand.”

“You don't have to say sorry, and you don't have to thank me either.”

“I’m done waiting for you.”

“Open up a window and let some of the wrong out.”

“Go to hell.” “Where do you think I came from?”

“Well, I hope you're happy!” “Aw I hope you're happy too, babe.”

“You gaze lovingly at me when I'm not looking?” … “How am I supposed to know! I'm not looking!”

“I told myself I wouldn't cry but I can’t help it.”

“I wouldn't call it good...” “Oh absolutely not. This is the furthest thing from good I've experienced today.”

“I didn’t like the way they looked at you, that’s all.”

“I may seem scared right now, but deep down, really, I’m terrified.”

“How could you marry him?”

“It’s nothing a little tape can’t fix … I hope.”

“All these battle scars and not one on this pretty face.”

“We're not going to die.” “We're not going to die? It bloody feels like we're going to die!”

“I'm not afraid, just not wildly keen...”

“I'm going to be the first thing you think of in the morning, and the last thing you do at night.”

“You don’t remember what you said, do you?”

“Before you blame me for everything, I should remind you that you willingly came with me. No force at all.”

“All the love in the world is nothing compared to how I feel about being able to sleep in.”

“Enjoying the view?” “I would if you weren't in the way…”

“I have to go.” “No, you have to stay here with me.”

“Is this really what we’re doing? Is this all we are now?”

“Come here.” “Why?” “Just come here.” “No, you're going to hit me.”

“You've just been inside of me, you can touch my leg if you want.”

“Now you can relax.”

“Either help me or go.” “Fine I'll go.” “Okay but before you go could you help me first.”

“What did we do?” “Well, first you-“ “I know what we did but what do we do now?!”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“It didn’t feel like pretending to me.”

[noodyl-blasstal]

The Prince Who Saved Himself

It's @taznovembercelebration day 6 and we haaaaaveeee - "problem" and the second card: "Job AU"

Read below or on Ao3, and check out yesterday's here.

--

“Everyone put your listening ears on!” Taako yells to the assembled crowd. He pretends to take his ears off and rifles through the box in front of him until he finds a suitable new pair, then screws them on laboriously before he turns back to the wodge of children staring enraptured in front of him.

“Is everybody ready! To! Learn!?” Taako yells, as if he’s actually excited to be running this session for the 10th time today, as if the kids are going to care about anything they have to say and they haven’t just been forced here by their parents so that someone else has to entertain them for a bit instead.

Although, that said, this batch do they do actually look like they're paying attention. Maybe Kravitz is slightly biassed, but maybe he deserves to be after being thrown up on and tantrumed at, and that one kids’ Dad who tried to answer all the questions and wouldn’t let the kids take a turn. Taako seems to just take it all in his stride, probably because he’s perfect and smart and wonderful, but Kravitz isn’t like that. He’s never been very good with people. Especially not good at kids. How he ended up in the field of ‘funducation’ is, quite frankly, beyond him. Well, it’s not. He needed money and this was a job that existed, and apparently he didn’t fuck up his interview. So now he gets to tell the story about Neverwinter's Monarchy; show off the box of exciting ‘historical artefacts’ (replicas, because neither children nor he can be trusted with the real stuff); and help the kids find ‘knights’ bones’ over and over and over again day in day out forever and ever and ever. This wasn’t the career plan he'd set off on his degree with, but it sure was the one he ended up with.

Honestly, he should have quit by now, and he would have too if it weren’t for Taako. Taako with his beautiful face and his gappy teeth and his freckles and his delight at the world. He loved fun, loved teaching, it was infectious. On Kravitz’s first day he’d been paired with Taako and he hadn’t worked a single shift with anyone else since, he hoped he wouldn't ever have to. Sure, he'd much prefer to see Taako every day in different circumstances, in 'waking up next to each other and bringing him a coffee in bed and kissing him over and over' circumstances. But cowards who weren't brave enough to ask out the guy they had a crush on couldn't be choosers, so colleagues would do.

"Is everybody excited for storytime?" Taako's so thrilled about it that Kravitz almost finds himself saying yes.

The children yell excited nonsense.

"Well then, it's a good job we're about to get started! I'm Taako and I'm gonna be one of your story tellers today." There's a big cheer from the audience.

"And say hello to Kravitz who's going to be helping cha'boy weave you a tale of magic and mystery." Kravitz waves and smiles. There's a much more subdued cheer. He understands, he'd cheer louder for Taako too.

Kravitz clanks up to the front in his armour. They let him paint it for realism so it's red and black and bashed up. He smiles at the children again. "Hello brave time travellers! Thank you for coming to help me today. A terrible fate has befallen the handsome prince, and he needs to be saved, do you think you can help me?" He overdoes it, but the audience seems engaged enough - probably a hold over from Taako's intro.

"Yes!" It's rousing enough to instill some confidence in Kravitz - he's got this, it's going to be okay.

Taako uses Kravitz's distraction to run to the far side of the patch of ground they're presenting on. "Oh please!" He wails, hand pressed to his forehead. "Won't somebody please save me, the handsomest prince anyone has ever set their eyes upon?"

Kravitz is inclined to agree.

"Once upon a time." Kravitz begins, because all good stories should. "There was a handsome prince..."

Taako preens, Kravitz takes a moment to appreciate him.

"... He was clever." Taako whips a pair of glasses out of his pocket and slides them into place. "...and funny..." Taako has an imaginary conversation, the laughter of his audience is palpable. "...and an excellent leader." Taako stands upright, orders his troops around with vim. "His parents adored him..." Taako bowed respectfully, showing his deference to the Queens of the land. "...and they doted on him, but despite that he wasn't spoiled." Taako arranged his face into something gracious.

Kravitz stops smiling at Taako's antics and tries to portray solemnity. "But even though the prince was beloved by people across the queendom, the royals in the Felicity Wilds were wracked with jealousy. They ruled cruelly, using fear and sadness as tools to keep their subjects in line. Do you think that was a good way to be when you're in charge?" Kravitz asked.

The crowd boos loudly.

"Do you think the people who lived in the Felicity Wilds liked them very much?" Kravitz goes for the double, why not? They seem engaged enough.

"No!!!" They shout.

"That's right!" Kravitz says, pleased with the reaction. "King Edward and Queen Lydia were twins who ruled together, and they grew jealous of how much the people in Neverwinter loved prince Taako and the Queens. Instead of deciding to be better and try harder, asking the people who lived there what they wanted, they decided to kidnap prince Taako!"

There's a gratifying gasp as Taako bravely fights his invisible assailants, but is overpowered.

"The queens were heartbroken, their beloved son! Gone! Neverwinter mourned, but they also sought to return the prince so cruelly snatched away."

Kravitz looked out into the audience. "Will you help us tell this part of the story? I need some brave adventurers."

A wave of hands shot up, straining for the sky.

"Thank you!" Shouted prince Taako. "It's nice to know someone cares."

Kravitz cares. Kravitz cares a whole lot. He just needs to work out how to tell him.

"Okay brave knights, we'll take you three!" Kravitz points at a mix of children. "And we all know that knights need some equipment." Kravitz gestures flamboyantly towards the tabards, soft foam short swords, and shields laid out for them. Then asks quietly "Will you please put these on while I tell the next bit? Let me know if you need any help and remember to be careful with your swords, you need to listen carefully to my instructions"

The children nod and Kravitz reverts to his dramatic voice. "Knights came from across Neverwinter and offered to go and return the wonderful prince." Kravitz glances at Taako, his description of the prince has become more and more complimentary with each retelling. Thankfully Taako doesn't seem to have noticed.

"The Queens, Istus and Raven, decided that sending too many brave knights would be an open declaration of war, instead they needed to act carefully, cautiously. No ransom arrived in the days following the prince's abduction, only silence. It was decided that only a small group of knights would go." Kravitz gestures to the motley group next to him, readjusts the one who's holding their sword by the blade, and starts a round of applause.

"They knew it was Lydia and Edward's men who took Taako, so they set off towards the Felicity Wilds." Kravitz places himself in front of the knights and indicates they should follow.

"They set off quietly at the break of dawn." Kravitz crept forwards on his tiptoes, assumes the kids are following based on the "awws" and camera clicks from the audience.

"They soon found that prince Taako, just as clever as he was handsome..." Kravitz cups a hand round his mouth to whisper to the audience, "...which was very..." They let out a gratifying laugh. "...had left them clues." Kravitz points to the tree stump with a fine stripe of glitter at the base and tries not to smile too fondly, (Taako chose how the prince would mark his path in their story when they decided not to use the blood from the original.) "So our brave knights followed the clues he left behind."

Kravitz pretends to look around dramatically. “Can anyone help our knights find the next clue?”

“Over there!!!” A chunk of the kids yell, excited and pointing at another smear of glitter (placed so the audience can see it more easily than the knights in the ‘stage’ area.)

“Thank you!” Kravitz says, the other knights also say their thanks, two of them wave, the cameras go off again.

“And there!” There’s more yelling and pointing, they work their way over to near Taako.

“Our brave knights closed in on where prince Taako was being held, using their tracking skills to remain unnoticed. But…” Kravitz pauses for drama. “...as they approached the encampment, they noticed guards posted up ahead.” He pauses here to ask the crowd, “would anyone like to play a bad guy?”

A range of hands shoot up, less, but still plenty. Kravitz selects four children who look like they won’t go too hog wild if given swords. This part is the highest risk for injury, thankfully he’s always been quick enough to intervene. “Okay everyone, grab your swords and tabards, remember that you have to be very careful and responsible, you don’t want to hurt anyone, do you?” Only once has a participant ever answered ‘yes’ and he got immediately demoted back to the crowd.

“The guards were half hidden in the trees, but the knights were stealthy and knew they needed to tread carefully.” Kravitz positions the guards between Taako and the knights.

“Now, what do you think the knights did? I need you to let me know. Did they… all rush up in one go and fight the guards?” Kravitz waits for the replies, mostly a chorus of ‘no’s’ with a few bloodthirsty ‘yes’s’ thrown in.

“Or did they… sneak through the trees and ambush the guards?” More assent this time.

“You’re right! They snuck up on the guards in the trees, carefully and quietly.” Kravitz indicated that the knights should sneak. “The guards looked out very hard.” The guards start looking around in an overexaggerated way without any prompting. Excellent.

“They came to the first guard who saw them too late and tried to block the blow…” Kravitz mimed what the first knight and the guard should do, whispered a reminder about being careful not to hurt anyone. The guard died dramatically and beautifully, Kravitz hoped the others followed suit as the cameras clicked again.

“They came to the second guard, who noticed them slightly sooner, but not soon enough to stop them.” Kravitz waved his second brave knight forward and another dramatic death scene played out.

“But then…” He’s serious now, trying to inject drama. “... the third guard spotted them and called out to the others!” Kravitz nods encouragingly at the guard who obliges him.

“Intruders!!!” The guard yells, impassioned, incensed, determined to ensure their prize isn’t liberated.

“The two guards banded together, and they all fought mercilessly.” Kravitz takes a second to remind the children that absolutely no one is to be merciless and everyone is just having fun - too much passion will lead to their removal from the scene.

After allowing the battle to rage (very gently) for long enough for all the parents and guardians to grab photos, Kravitz nodded to Taako.

“They were almost at a stalemate when one of the knights stumbled...” Says Taako. Kravitz drops to a knee. “... and one of the guards held a sword to his throat." There's a gratifying gasp from the crowd.

A slightly-too-enthusiastic-for-Kravitz’s-taste guard grabs him and places their foam sword across his neck. “Gentle, remember.” Kravitz whispers.

“The knights knew they should keep fighting and sacrifice their friend to the cause…” Taako conintues. Kravitz hopes the knights looked suitably sad. “... but it was difficult. They had been friends for many years and trained together, they didn’t want to watch him die.”

A few restless giggles in the audience tell him Taako is nearly there.

“But before anything bad could happen, the prince grabbed the sword away from the guard!” Taako yells triumphantly and disarms the guard trapping Kravitz.

“... The prince was a great swordsman and fighter and ran both guards through.” Kravitz adds.

The audience whoops and cheers as the two guards fall, each trying to out-last the other in their death throes. Finally they stop twitching and Taako stands tall and beautiful, his sword raised in the air. “Took you long enough.” He says to the assembled group of rescuers.

“And that’s the story of how the prince of Neverwinter rescued his favourite knight.” Says Taako. Favourite. That was new.

“They returned to Neverwinter...” Taako helps Kravitz to his feet and makes a show of inspecting him for wounds. “... and the Queens were overjoyed to see their son.” Kravitz says, then asks the audience, “Can we have some queens?”

Hands shoot up and he selects two more children to join them, places crowns on their heads, and smiles as they fuss over Taako and the knights.

“And then they announced…” Kravitz whispers to them.

“IT’S TIME TO HAVE A REALLY BIG PARTY!” Both queens yell together.

“All the villagers came to the celebration.” Kravitz motions at everyone to stand if they can. Taako presses the button on the ancient CD player and one of Johann’s slightly-too-sad-for-the-occasion lute tunes blasts out.

“Everybody danced!” Kravitz shouts to be heard as the audience begins to shuffle.

“Everybody danced.” Taako says. Kravitz didn't realise he was so close.

“I said that bit already.” Kravitz replies.

“But you’re not dancing.” Taako grabs his hand. “You said everybody.”

“I did say everybody.” Kravitz makes no move to loose his hand from Taako's.

Taako spins him fast, then launches into what Kravitz thinks might be an adapted macarena, Kravitz joins him.

Taako laughs, alternates between pulling Kravitz close and pushing him back. It's messy and wild and perfect because Taako's there and Kravitz is making him happy and they're together.

One of the queens knocks on Kravitz’s armoured leg. “Can I help you your highness?” Kravitz asks.

“You didn’t finish the story.”

“We did! We're having a party.” Kravitz wiggles out a dance to demonstrate the party atmosphere.

“But they didn’t kiss.”

“She’s got a point.” Taako says beside him. “They’re clearly into each other.”

“Are you hitting on me via children’s story time?” Kravitz hisses, hoping Queen Istus can't hear.

“Taako’s reciprocally hitting on you via educational story time because you’ve been doing it for weeks and haven’t taken it any further and cha’boy’s impatient.” Replies Taako at normal volume.

“Could you maybe not do it in front of a child?” Kravitz tries again to lower his voice.

“Hasn’t stopped you.” Taako grins his smug grin, the one that shouldn't be attractive, but is regardless.

“Are you going to kiss or just argue about it?” The queen says impatiently.

Kravitz doesn’t know if there’s any way to answer that which doesn’t get him fired.

“Can’t argue with royalty!” Taako says cheerfully.

Kravitz wonders if Taako is seriously going to let their first kiss be this public, this ridiculous, and this controlled by a child.

“Pucker up, Sir Kravitz.”

Apparently so.

Kravitz is vaguely aware of Taako leaning towards him, of the Queen ‘eep’ing in excitement, it's not what he wanted, but it's Taako so it's perfect. There’s a loud clang and his world shifts to a slit of vision. All he can see is Taako planting a kiss on the visor he’s just closed over Kravitz’s eyes.

“We’ll try without the kids later.” Taako whispers.

-

I hope you enjoyed! Check out tomorrow's prompt here.

[greenerteacups]

(1) I spent four months trying to find the log in details of my old tumblr account just to send in this message. You decide to write the seminal dramione fic of this decade for the fandom and you didn't think to warn us? Who do you think you are to take me on this kind of a journey. I pay TAXES. I have to get my oil changed. I lost my favorite satin scrunchie. I have things to fucking DO. Now all my Fridays have been ROBBED???????

this overwhelmingly kind ask came in three pieces, and I am posting only the question here, but rest assured that i read and treasured the second part as any author must treasure the high compliment of having ruined someone's life, a little bit, in a fun way. please pay your taxes! i hope you have found the scrunchie.

(3) And for my question: Draco has a pretty significant cognitive dissonance when it comes to Hermione + her muggle parents, and his blood supremacy, that he's only just began to confront. BARELY. Her being the exception to most of his rules in general helps that. How has writing that cognitive dissonance been? Have there ever been points where Draco's thinking made you uncomfortable, or mad? It's easy to be sympathetic to him in this fic but still.

the answer to this is: yes, definitely! or rather, it's the kind of thing that i would find uncomfortable if i weren't making him do it. an author has an almost dictatorial control over her relationship with her characters, so i can't ever really be as angry at my draco as i would be a character in someone else's story, or god forbid a real person, because he is, after all, my draco. it's like riding a roller coaster when you control how fast it goes: i can hit the gas or the brakes, but i can't then be shocked when we accelerate. that being said, draco's thinking about hermione's blood status is the kind of thing that would absolutely rub me the wrong way. from a personal perspective, when they have arguments about it, i'm usually on (or mostly on) hermione's side; i think this is just one of those issues where draco's position is not justifiable on any grounds not related to "i am used to doing this bad thing and many people have done it also." now, there are definitely cases where hermione gets up in his face and says some unkind things about him and his parents. but the imperfection of her communication style doesn't impute the perfection of her argument, which is, essentially: "my parents are human beings of equal value to yours, and you should treat them and me as such." and frankly, draco's so entrenched in this belief system that it's hard to imagine her ever getting through to him unless she's willing to drop the civil guise, from time to time, and get in his face. (major spoilers for book four down below, by the way.)

the cognitive dissonance of draco's position on muggleborns vs. Hermione specifically is embodied by that little word in the middle: versus. hermone is a special case. in any and every context. gradually, we've watched the meaning of that evolve from "special mudblood" to "special Gryffindor" to "special witch" to "special Person," full-stop. as long as hermione is the exception to every rule in draco's life — and it kind of helps that in a lot of ways, she is — he can frame his changing stance not as a fundamental shift in philosophy, but as an acceptable bit of rule-breaking. he thinks he's doing what narcissa suggested he do at the end of book three: just handwave a little bit. it's fine, we're not burning Parliament down, i'm allowed to have this.

but hermione keeps putting pressure on that, because — and i love her for this — she refuses to be that for him. she doesn't want to be his exception. she doesn't want to be his "acceptable bit of rule-breaking". she's not his fucking manic pixie dream mudblood. she wants him to be better, and like her open-eyed and open-armed for what she is. and if he's not going to do that, then he's at least going to know why she's mad at him when he doesn't! so by the end of book four, that crystallizes in the first true breakthrough of the book: hermione tells him, listen, i am a muggle-born and that matters, and i care for you, but if you don't believe me, this is the end of the line for us. and because of various things he's been through, many of them at her side, draco is finally able to make that connection: hermione is special and she's muggle-born, and those two things are allowed to coexist. they have to be, because if they can't, then he isn't allowed to have her. and then, immediately after, we see his resolution in dumbledore's office after viktor's death: it's not a regression to "hermione is special and that's why it's okay to bend rules for her," but a progression to: "hermione is special and so am i, and that's why i can break all the fucking rules i want to, because they can't matter if they get between us." this is not what we would call an extremely healthy world philosophy, but in his defense, he's fifteen and traumatized, and also recently discovered the life-altering properties of Being On The Right Side of an Era-Defining Social Conflict. he's still processing, to say the least.

[furryprovocateur]

i'm already seeing people argue "well guys james somerton MIGHT have committed suicide. or maybe he's just doing it for attention/sympathy like he always has". right because posting a suicide note on your private twitter fits that criteria. moreover why would he need MORE attention after being basically villain of the day for the past 2 months. the sympathy angle i can kind of get but then that concedes that he's been going through such backlash that a fake suicide attempt has been seen as a viable option.

and like yes, i have continually said that the dude should pay reparations to his victims and atone for his actions rather than just vanish figuratively or literally. i simultaneously don't think that him committing suicide is helpful to literally anyone, whether it be the aggrieved parties who will cease having any chance at getting compensated for their stolen work, the people who've contributed to the reveal of plagiarism (who've repeatedly said harassment campaigns are the literal opposite of what they want), or even those doing the harassing. very soon if james did in fact kill himself we're going to see a mass hand-washing of responsibility by people going "well, i just wanted to hold him accountable, i didn't think he would actually hurt himself!" or "i was leaving hate comments in the name of the victims! i never told him to kill himself!" and things of that nature. hell, i can't even deny that i did make a joke about being dropped on my head like he was in one of my recent videos.

i've been talking about this for the past day or so; i apologize to people who follow me who are tired of me ringing this bell over and over. it's just extremely disheartening and frankly scary to see relatively rational and moral people suddenly get cyber rabies and decide that praxis and social justice can now be defined as tearing down bad actors to the point of isolation, ruination, and even suicide, rather than focusing those efforts on the systems that have allowed these individuals to prosper. it's the righteous anger problem. the scariest thing about losing a war is when the losing army comes home. we've been taught and trained to misdirect our anger by these same systems, often with profit incentives. and we've now started to find reasons to justify that misdirection after the fact. i don't think james somerton should've avoided all critique and obviously some anger + backlash is understandable as a knee-jerk response. but things going this extreme is not only destructive, it's also normalized now. i don't grant grace for his actions nor do i think i am in the position to appraise the morality of his character. what i can say is that these harassment campaigns service nobody and make us pawns of the broader systems that oppress us.

[akitoscorpio]

No one cares.

Greenlightvolume10 :P

So you can tell this person Was not committed to the message, otherwise they wouldn't be doing this as an Anonymous "question"

But considering this was likely in response to This post I made a few days ago in which I vented some, honestly pretty well-deserved frustration at the mediocre quality of the merch they sell and the fact that they, are basically saying to fans "Oh you made this great design? Sweet we're going to sell it on a shirt so we don't have to pay an actual artist and not credit you at all for your work?"

Is frankly shady as all hell.

but this does give me a chance to be "Rwde" to the more hardcore fans on Twitter once again. Because I've had some thoughts on the #Greenlightvolume10 campaign, and why people demanding this should stop being a bunch of selfish assholes.

Hey, have you all head about this thing called the WGA/SAGAFTRA - Strike? Yeah turns out The Screen Actors Guild, the Writers guild of America, and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. are all currently on strike for some very valid and awesome reasons such as....

Preventing their Jobs from being replaced by AI, or in actors cases, Keeping their likeness from being use by an AI without pay.

Demanding better pay when working on shows for "Streaming services" (Hey wait a sec Rooster Teeth, HBO Max, and Crunchy Roll are streaming services)

Getting better royalty/residual payments for shows in reruns on Network TV or when shown on streaming services (By the way when a show you worked on gets pull from a streaming service after a couple months, that's happening to fuck the people that worked on it from getting residual payments.)

Not to mention "Better working conditions" something anyone who has paid attention to RT in the last few years know how badly that is needed

All of these things, in some form or another, have the potential to affect RT staffers that would have to be, in this case, rehired back on to work on a Volume 10.

As a side note boy, it's cute when people say "Protect Crwby" cause most of what you know as Crwby was let go and have likely moved on a year or two ago.

Back to the point though, to my understanding, I don't think anyone directly working for RT is part of SAG, WGA, Or AFTRA, but they really should be. Because if any of the production staff of Volume 9 were part of the WGA or AFTRA then there would have been a larger stink when the bulk of them was let go after the last frame of Animation for Volume 9 was finished.

The point is, Greenlighting Volume 10, during this strike, would be a fucking awful look for the company, they would be affectively "Scabs" who were crossing the picket lines to work, and honestly, anyone who really does give a damn for the people who create Rwby, really should not want them to do this because crossing that line, will make it so much harder for Rooster Teeth to get people who are part of any of the above organizations to willingly work for them in the future.

So show some God damn patience, Wait till the strike is over, and then demand that they greenlight the next season of Rwby. While you're at it keep demanding better working conditions for the people who create the content you watch at the same time. Don't forget Rooster Teeth has a long history of treating its employees like shit that anyone who can rub two neurons together should understand, is not something that should be forgotten and swept under the rug.

But to directly counter the Anon here, I didn't say I didn't want a Volume ten, cause at this point I do want to see how it ends. I said