#g7 turn up

[louloulemons-posts]

Secret Kisses

Steve Harrington X Fem!Henderson!Reader

Summary : You and Steve are secretly dating, here are 3 times you were almost caught and the 1 time you were.

Word Count : 1.2k

Warnings : Not proofread, 3am writing, swears, pet names, FLUFFY, kisses, suggestive at parts, fem reader, no use of Y/N, Steve and reader just want to make out lol.

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

- First time : Driving you home and nobody’s in

You’d been hanging out at Eddies trailer, watching some horror movies and smoking a bit with your friends.

Giving the metal head a hug and waving goodbye Steve drove you and Robin home.

“See you guy’s tomorrow,” she said, kissing your cheek from the backseat and climbing out.

“Let’s get you home,” Steve smiled, taking your hand in his. “Thank you for driving me.”

“Couldn’t leave my girl stranded could I? Or worse, Eddie could’ve drove you home in his death trap!”

“Eddie can drive,” you laughed.

“Sure, doesn’t mean the vans safe.”

“You worry too much,” you sighed, leaning over and kissing his cheek.

“Just want you to be safe.” The drive was quick and quiet, one of your favourite tapes of Steve’s playing. Steve pulled up to your house, no lights on inside.

“Tonight was fun,” you spoke, smiling.

“It was, we do need a proper date night though. Maybe the movies?” he asked.

“That sounds good, I’ll trust your taste in movies.” He leaned over the console to kiss you, leaning in softly.

You lips almost touched when you heard a foggy voice, “Are you coming in or not?” Dustin.

Pulling away from Steve you sighed, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Y-yeah, goodnight.”

“Night,” you smiled, climbing out the car and headed over to your brother.

“Have you been smoking?!” he exclaimed.

“Shut up!” you slammed your hand over his mouth, shoving him in the house. “Why are you sitting in the dark?” Waving at Steve before heading in yourself.

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

- Second time : Movie dates, sat in the dark, perfect right?

Sat in the movie theatre side by side, fingers linked, waiting for the lights to dim. You’d decided to see The Breakfast Club, after Nancy had said it was really good.

“You’re going to run out of popcorn and the movie hasn’t even started yet,” you chuckled at Steve. “It’s good!” he defended.

“Lies, but either way you’ll be grumpy 15 minutes in because you have nothing to snack on.”

“That’s why I got you snacks my love.”

“What so you can steal them?”

“Exactly that.”

“And what if I said no?”

“Well I’m sure I could persuade you..”

“Oh yeah?” He leaned closer to you, lips touching, “Yeah.” He softly pressed his lips to yours when familiar voices came.

“Okay so G6 and G7 El,” Max Mayfield spoke. “Shit,” Steve whined. The seats right in front of you. “Shit,” you repeated.

Walking down to their seats El spotted you, smiling, “Hi guys!”

“Hey,” you smiled back, nudging Steve.

“Hi,” he let out a pained grin.

“Just you two?” Max asked.

“Oh yeah, had to drag Steve with me. Nobody else would come with,” you shrugged.

“Hm, seems like Robins type of film. Eddie thought … not so much,” the redhead hummed. “Yeah exactly.”

“Should have come with us,” El said softly.

“If I’d have know you wanted to see it I would’ve, could’ve made a girls night out of it,” you smiled at her. Always having had a special place in your heart for that girl.

The lights dimmed, “Well we’ll see you after the movie,” Steve said. The pair sat down facing forward. “Guess we can’t make out now,” he sighed.

“You’re literally a horny teen.”

“Well I’m a teen and you’re hot so … I’m always horny.”

“Shush,” you laughed, punching him lightly.

“Maybe you can stay at my place?”

“Hm, if you’re lucky.”

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

- Third time : Lunch breaks aren’t easy either.

It was Steve’s lunch break, just him on today as it was a slow Monday. He shut the door and turned the sign to close, smiling at you who’d brought him food.

Pushing you into the back room, hands on your waist, your own tangling in his hair. Lipgloss transferring onto his own lips, “Stevie,” you giggled into his mouth.

“Missed you … so much,” he spoke between kisses. “Saw me yesterday.”

“Not enough!” Pulling you as close as he could, your legs wrapped around his waist and he lifted you into a filing cabinet.

“So. Fucking. Perfect,” he kissed and kissed and kissed. His hands played with the bottom of your skirt, pulling away. Lips swollen and hair messy.

“We’ve got 20 minutes Stevie.”

“That’s plenty of time to do what I need to do to you,” he smirked, lowering himself.

The bell on the door jingled, “Steve!”

“I’m gonna kill your brother.”

“Oh I’ll help.” Tidying himself up he left the back room, you jumping down from the cabinet.

“Henderson, thought you were smart enough to know what the word closed means.”

“Ha you’re real funny. I was just wondering if you’ve seen my sister?”

Steve’s heart went to his throat and you panicked trying to keep your breathing quiet. “Nope, why?”

“Well I saw her car outside and I thought maybe we could head home together,” he explained, “She might be getting some groceries though.”

“Mhm, maybe. If she stops by I’ll tell her you’re looking for her.”

“Great, thanks man.” You heard the bell ring again, signalling his exit.

Walking out of the back room you sighed. “Your brothers looking for you,” he teased.

“Oh you don’t say?” Kissing the boys cheek, “I should probably go.”

He whined, “Steve if he catches us-“

“I know I know. Okay go, but next time something like that happens I’m not stopping.”

“I’ll take your word for that.” Pecking his mouth you headed out the door to find you shit head of a brother.

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

- The time you’re found out

You heard soft knock on your window. Not wanting to turn the light on in fear your headache would get worse, you walked over.

Pulling back the curtains, you saw a familiar face. You pulled up the window and stepped back, “What are you doing here?” you asked.

Steve climbed in (fell in) to your room, “Robin told me you weren’t very well, couldn’t really call cause you know,” he motioned to the door.

“Thought I’d come check on my girl, brought you some gatorade and snacks.”

“You, Steve Harrington, are the sweetest boy I’ve ever met.” Pecking his nose, you walked back to your bed.

“What’s wrong?”

“Migraine.”

“Oh baby I’m sorry. Have you taken anything?”

“Took some more tablets not too long ago, they should kick in soon.”

He sat down next to you, stoking hair gently. “Do you want me to go, leave you in peace?”

“Could you stay?”

“Course. No place I’d rather be.”

Taking off his shoes, jacket and jeans he climbed in beside you. “Come lay on me baby,” he whispered. Resting your head on his chest, you hummed, his warmth was so nice.

Running his fingers up and down your back you were quickly lulled to sleep.

Stirring awake to a knocking sound, “Yeah?” you said voice croaking, thick with sleep. Steve also woke up, giving you a sleepy smile.

“Mom said do you want breakfast, she’s made waffles,” Dustin spoke.

“Oh yeah sure, I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Does Steve want any?” He asked through the door.

You looked at the boy, both of you wide eyed. “Hello? Does he want any?” your brother repeated.

“Oh um sure if she’s got any spare,” Steve said. Hearing you brother grumble as he walked away, you put your head back on his chest.

“Well he knows.”

“Yeah.”

“I can do this now then,” Steve smirked, kissing you square on the mouth.

“Hm, yes Mr Harrington you can.”

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

A/N : I wanted to do some fics with other characters soon, they don’t have to just be Stranger Things characters, I’m part of many many fandoms. So if there’s any other characters you’d like to see, let me know! 🤍

Thank you so much for reading! Please leave any requests 🤍

[purelyfiction]

━◦○◦ⓢⓞ◦○◦ⓘⓣ◦○◦ⓖⓞⓔⓢ◦○◦━ .t.w.o.

NFL QB Jake 'Hangman' Seresin AU x Popstar F!Reader

Summary: NFL Quarterback Jacob Seresin is in hot water from a streak of bad decisions, just as you go through the worst public breakup of your life. With people slandering both of your reputations, your publicists hatch a plan to bring both of you back into favor and keep the heat off until spring - that is if you can keep up the facade.

Word Count: 2,999 words

Author Note: :)) I know it's shorter than the first part but I am trying here y'all - I really am. but!!! more Celeste and Jake for your trying monday night xD ━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━

There are only so many ways to avoid conversation, which is why Jake’s fiddling with the radio. It makes you nervous, seeing how he man-handles the wheel with one hand, the touch pad in the car with the other. Who was the genius to put touch screens in vehicles anyway? That seemed like a stupidly dangerous decision. But you weren’t an engineer so that meant it wasn’t for you to worry about. Or maybe it was since Jake was fucking around with it while operating a motor vehicle. 

“Shit, there is literally nothing good on.” His voice is low before he asks the AI assistant again to play a specific song. You turn your face to the glass of the passenger door, trying to hide the growing smile on your face as the country song plays. “What?” 

“I didn’t say anything!” You defend, looking at him while actively battling the grin. 

“The thing on your face - you’re smiling, why are you smiling-”

“I can’t just smile?” 

“Not out of the goddamn blue like Jeffery Dahmer, you can’t!” It’s now that you realize that there’s a subtle twinge in his voice. He’d relayed plenty of stories to you at the bar but not once did he mention where he was from. And the slight drawl on his lips helps you narrow it down slightly. Well that made sense now. The pop country track wasn’t out of the blue when you pieced it together. 

That isn’t why you’re giggling though. Instead of answering his question, you lean into the door, watching the landscape whizz by. 

“Gonna answer my question?” He prompts once more. 

“I’m just smiling!” You try, looking at him with a laugh. The look on his face is one that makes him look like he’s almost about to explode under the stress you’ve seemingly put him under. Finally, you relent. “I- well I wrote this. That’s all.” 

Brows furrow as he turns down a road. “I’m calling bullshit.” Now your lips part in amused shock. 

“Are you joking? I wrote this!” You give an astonished laugh as you slowly approach a modern looking gate overlooking the driveway to a residence. 

“No. Prove it.” Off the top of your head, you begin to list the chord progressions, C. F7. G7. F7. C. As he parks the car, he’s still being stubborn. “That proves nothing other than you can play the song.” Scoffing with a roll of your eyes as he pulls his phone out, tapping something on the screen. The large gate slowly begins to recede into the bushes next to it. 

“Here.” You hand him your own phone, Google provides not only the lyrics, but the song writing credits at the very bottom. Jake squints and points to the name, reading it out loud to you. “Yes!” 

“That doesn’t say ‘Celeste’.” Now he’s smirking, leaving your head falling forward. You quickly move to your purse, grabbing your wallet and then your ID, throwing it at him, causing both of you to laugh when it hits his face. He scrambles to pick it back up, looking at the plastic. Then, not unlike a bouncer at a bar, he cross references the name on the card to the one on the screen. Jake then has the audacity to bend it for authenticity. 

“Oh give me that.” You snatch both of your belongings out of his hands and he holds up his hands in defeat. 

“Fine, fine.” The gate is open now, a rolling road of pavement that opens up to a mammoth of a house. You pull into the garage, finally moving into the conversation again, somewhat bluntly. 

“Is it so hard to believe I wrote a song about sex?” Jake doesn’t answer. Instead, he gets out of the vehicle, shutting the door behind him. Before you can utter a word, he’s come to the other side and opened the door. 

“No. Though, you writing a country song is.” His head disappears from the door frame and he leads you into the house. “It’s not a bad song. You did the whole thing?” 

You are slowly following him in, your head craned as you take in the massive building. For its size, it’s very ordinarily decorated. There aren’t massive and astonishingly expensive art pieces on the walls or marble staircases - it was… dare you say: cozy? It was familiar and welcoming in the way a home should be, not sterile and rigid like most homes in the neighborhood were. Of course, you only knew this because of Restoration Hardware and the likes. 

Jake is easily leading you to the kitchen, which is less ‘normal’ than the rest of the house. Recent appliances and modern finishes adorn the kitchen, from intricate coffee machines and luxurious wine fridges. He’s stuck his nose into one as you gape at the rest of the house. 

It finally dawns on you that maybe you should answer his question. 

“I did. It was one of my favorites but.. The entire thing just felt too… out of place for my style- you own this place?” Jake nods. You’re not sure if it’s in response to your question or to your response. 

“Sounds about right. I can’t imagine you singing country music.” He’s moved around the kitchen toward the fridge. “And no, I don’t.” 

You freeze for a minute. If he didn’t own this place… 

“Then whose house-“ 

“It’s my mom’s.” Well that wasn’t listed in any of the answers you’d predicted he’d give you. Still, he’s pulling a bottle of wine from the wine fridge, reading the label and then sitting it on the counter. 

“Your mom owns a place… in LA?” He starts digging into drawers, looking for what you can only presume to be a wine bottle opener. You help him in his pursuits, pulling random drawers open. 

“Well… it’s- okay so I bought it for her. She really loves the drive to Big Sur on Highway 1 and so she’s got this place to stay at and then there’s my place in San Diego. My place isn’t big enough to house my whole family, so they crash here when they’re in town for football games, they just take a quick flight up to SD. Or make the drive if they have the time.” You’ve found the wine opener by now and are unintentionally holding it hostage. He’d bought his mom a house so she didn’t have to stay in a hotel in San Diego? And he just flew her home whenever she wanted? 

“So.. you crash here because no one can tell when it's your mom or you here?”

He shrugs. “Sort of. It’s as close to home as I can get without boarding a four hour flight.” Jake pushes the bottle in front of you, and you distract yourself by opening the bottle as he putzes around with his phone. It begins to ring as you screw metal into the cork. You preoccupy yourself with your task as he disappears to the other side of the room. The blonde paces the room as he settles on the phone. An unfortunate look crosses his features and it certainly doesn’t inspire anything confident in you. While he hangs up, you are still struggling with the damned cork in the bottle. “Well, that was my lead security guy.” Jake speaks, leaving your attention on him as you hopelessly tug on the bottle and the jammed instrument in the glass neck. 

“And what does Mr. Security have to say-” your question is punctured by the pop of the stubborn cork. As well as the splash of decade old fermented grape juice all over Jake’s mom’s nice granite counters. And your very new, very white tank top. Defeatedly, your hands let the bottle gently come to the surface, staring down at the mess. For some reason, you don’t immediately respond to the mess. You just… stare.

It isn’t until Jake comes along with paper towels, bumping your hip with his own to nudge you out of the way. “Don’t worry about it.” The wine is cleaned in no time, and you hazily fill two waiting glasses. 

“What a waste of good wine.” You complain, before nearly gulping your first sip down. Jake simply laughs. 

“Happens. Anyways, Wells, he said they can’t get to your room.” Setting your glass down you’re about to explain how reception desks work. The quarterback beats you to it. “Now listen, smartass. I know what you’re about to say, cause I would’ve said the same thing-” he laughs. You tandemly giggle along with him, “the hotel literally can’t get into your room. The key card reader is malfunctioning. The guy who fixes them won’t be in until tomorrow.” The groan off your lips is paired with your footsteps as you move to his living room.

“Great. Well,” you take another sip, pausing in the middle of the room, “guess you made a smart move of bringing me here then. We have an out if we get caught. ‘My room was malfunctioning so like the gracious gentleman you are, you let me stay at your place.” 

“My mom’s place.” He corrects, slowly following you into the room with massively vaulted ceilings. There are beams across it, dark in color. If the sun was still up, the entire thing would be flooded with daylight from the skylights in the ceiling.

“Right. Your moms.” You spend time staring up at them, admiring how he was a whole ass homeowner as you count his skylights. Eight skylights. When your attention comes back to the horizontal plane, Jake looks over at you as he tosses his phone to his couch. When he does, you realize your own voice is softly playing over the built in speakers. 

“Are you quizzing me? Is that what’s happening here?” You squint at him teasingly as he sets his glass down. “No, I’m putting it on so I can learn it. If I consistently listen to things on a loop my brain seems to soak it up - almost like a sponge.” The blonde disappears from behind the couch, down a hallway, leaving you to admire the stone fireplace that crawled to the ceiling, basking in the notes and chord progressions you’d strung together. 

“Oh, so I’m not studying, you are.” You call out to him, letting it echo down the hall. He mimics your call. 

“Yeah. My coach will have me benched if this doesn’t go well. So, I’m gonna be damn sure I know everything about my girl.” 

You know what he meant. The word wasn’t meant to be possessive, or affectionate. Except, coming off of his lips - so naturally like that… it was easy to mistake it for genuinity. 

“That tracks. What are you even doing over there?” As you call out, your feet are slowly making their practiced patterns from choreographed rehearsals timed with the song playing over you. 

The realization makes you giggle. You haven’t performed this in over four years. So it was silly you still knew it. But it also was just plain silly. Dancing around to your own music, tipsy in a multi-million dollar house in the Hollywood hills, with a stranger who let you spill wine on his quartz counters. The whole thing is something from a novel. 

“You ruined your shirt, and your stuff is locked in a hotel almost thirty minutes away, so-” Jake has looped around the couch by now, watching as you step in time with your music. One hand grips to a pile of clothing, his other hand pointing your direction. “If you plan on me learning this then you can forget it.” The clothes drop to the leather of the couch as you continue to step with the words, shimmying for emphasis. 

“Oh come on, it’s so easy.” Moving to the coffee table, you set your glass down, grabbing his now empty hands and pulling him further into the room. “Ready? Just follow my steps.” 

And he does, doing as best as he can as you emphasize the words, using them as the tempo with your steps. You know that’s not how your dancers did it, but that’s how you’d done it. Using the words were like landmarks, signifying when you needed to do specific motions. Jake seems to pick it up, somewhat effortlessly, with an uncanny ease. 

“Oh you totally dance.” 

“I don’t.” 

“You do. Don’t even try to deny it.” You tease him further as the song ends and transitions into the next one. This one has a heavier tone to it, but it doesn’t stop you from following the steps. Your mind floods with the dance moves and the arena tour. The catwalk into the crowd, the sultry steps you took alongside the music. The outfit you’d had on. God, you had felt so hot in that outfit. It was one of your favorite tour costumes. You’d wanted it back from wardrobe when the tour was over - but the Music Hall of Fame had wanted it for a display not even three months ago. Otherwise you would’ve worn it to New Years Eve. It was your favorite. 

It was Jonah’s favorite. 

Jake has stopped dancing at this point. His attention has moved to each of the coordinated moves you made until you got halfway through the song, grabbing your glass and sitting next to him where he was perched on the arm of the chair. 

“Your turn.” You tease, only to sip from your glass. Surprisingly, Jake downs his glass and stands up. 

His dance moves are horrible. Downright awful. But you laugh all the same as he tries to sing along, getting the words wrong.   You shake your head and continue to grin as you begin to sing along to the words. 

“I’d walk through the fire if you were the flame, couldn’t care less if they call me insane, I don’t need the fortune and I don’t need the fame, I just need for you..” The note drags out as the song picks up, your hand slapping against the couch with the drum as Jake continues his terrible rendition. Finally you finish the line, “to say my name. Say my name! I’d take it all on, face all of the pain, say my name!” 

The instrumental approaches the bridge, an overlapping conversation in the background of the audio, ‘Celeste’ over and over in low sounds. But Jake’s voice catches you off guard. He’s stopped dancing by now, but you look at him all the same. Your name falls off his lips again. When you look like you’re about to question him, he just laughs. 

“You said to say your name.” Rolling your eyes, you finish your wine, moving back to the kitchen to grab another glass. You wouldn’t tell him, but so few people called you by it anymore. It was refreshing. You retrieve the clothes he’d dropped to the couch, before giving him a pointed gleam of a smile. 

“I’m gonna go change- bathroom?” He points you in the direction of the room, and you quickly slide in. Once your shirt is off, you’re dropping it into the sink, the water running as you try to get out a stain that was on the verge of being fully dry. That was, admittedly, less than helpful. Still, your soggy shirt is the least of your problems when Jake comes knocking on the door. 

“You okay?” You open the door and show him the shirt in the sink. There’s a low laugh that comes from him. “I have a laundry room- here, give me that, I’ll go put a stain remover on it and let it sit for the night.” You don’t exactly know why, but you are kind of shocked that he offers. You had imagined he would just turn and leave you to your failed attempts, but instead he’s been rather compassionate to your cause. Though, it doesn’t take him long to mock you for your misfortune. You then remind him that this was his wine that was causing the problems after all.

Jake then proceeds to ask you about each song that comes up over the speakers for the remainder of the night. He surprises you with his questions on specific words, asking what they mean and making you laugh as you play dictionary for the man. When the bottle is finally empty, the two of you have sprawled out on the couch, the ceiling having transformed into some form of entertainment for the two of you. 

When you try to stifle a yawn, the blonde slowly pushes from the couch with a low grunt. It makes your stomach surge. Being in close quarters with a man like this was one thing: the sound he’d made was a completely other itinerary. One you never planned on following. The only plans you wanted to follow were the contractual ones you’d signed off on the other afternoon. The way that Jake was standing in front of you, holding out a hand to help you off the couch was making that more difficult. “C’mon, let’s get you to bed, popstar.” Drowsily, you take his assistance, but his strength pulls you up way harder than you were anticipating, leaving you flying into his chest and leaving him to subsequently catch you. When he does, you’re only in a fit of giggles as he holds on tight, feeling how his breath falters as he tries to return it to its regular rate. “You think that’s funny?” He smirks, moving the two of you now in some makeshift waddle, arms locked around you. His breath comes hot over your shoulder as you move through his house - his mom’s house - and toward a room. When the door creaks open, another damn near erotic sound leaves the athlete behind you. You know you didn’t cause that sound (even if you kind of wished you had). That was the work of one disassembled queen bed frame against the wall of the guest bedroom.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

About the order of the dormitories.

Is it confirmed that Heartslabyul is the first because it's inspired by Alice in Wonderland? (I always thought it was that, but now I'm in doubt).

And about book 2 initially being book 6. This creates a pattern in which 2nd graders are the first to overblot and then 3rd graders.

(I don't know if my age calculations are correct).

And, following this logic, it would also be from the youngest boy to the oldest: Riddle (birthday in August, and if the school year starts in September, he turned 16 (minimum age) just before going to the NRC), Azul, (birthday in February), Jamil (born 12 days after the start of the school year in September, so he had to wait a bit longer to go, (I think I saw somewhere that this is canonical?)) Vil, (birthday in April, before September, so probably didn't have to wait an extra year to turn 16) Idia, (birthday in December, after September, so probably should have waited longer to turn 16). So we have Leono aged 20 and Malleus aged 178.

And with the current dorm order, the Disney villains vary: Female (QoH), male (Scar), female (Ursula), male (Jafar), female (Evil Queen), male (Hades), female (Maleficent).

I'm not sure if that makes sense?

Any chance it's deliberate?

(Sorry for any mistakes, I don't speak English and I'm using a translator).

[Referencing this post!]

Again, I couldn’t find any confirmation as to why the dorm order is the way it is; that is inclusive of Heartslabyul. I think you may just be assuming Heartslabyul is first because it’s the one inspired by Alice in Wonderland (for which the franchise is named, hence Twisted Wonderland). (Personally, I would think that a franchise named that would feature the Alice in Wonderland dorm as the final one, not the first.)

Your calculations are correct; if we assume the dorm trailer reveal order is the original “intended” order, then the story would progress in order of youngest second year to oldest second year (Riddle, Azul, Jamil), then youngest third year to oldest third year (Vil, Idia, Leona, Malleus). While there isn’t strong evidence that this is deliberate, I think it’s interesting to consider the pattern of gradually aging through the lens of book 7, whose conflict kicks off because Malleus is so afraid of change and losing his loved ones to time. When the main story itself is subtly posed to indicate a student slowly aging up into adulthood and leaving their peaceful school days behind… Yeah, it’s melancholic in a way 😞

With the current order, we do in fact see an alternating pattern of female-male Great Seven members. It’s unclear whether this pattern was intentional or not, as TWST doesn’t really have a strong gender-based theme to its overall narrative.

What I do think is slightly more believable is that the manga!Yuus may have intentionally been designed as the opposite gender of the G7 member whose book they feature in. Male Yuuken is the Yuu for Heartslabyul (Queen of Hearts), female Yuuka is the Yuu for Savanaclaw (King of Beasts), and male Yuuta is the Yuu for Octavinelle (Sea Witch). We’re going to have to see if this pattern keeps up for future Yuus, as it’s possible that they mix things up (for example, maybe we’ll get a nonbinary Yuu!). Right now, I think an argument could be made that they “flipped” the genders for the manga!Yuus to “mirror” their respective G7 member. (TWST has a LOT of mirror imagery.)

[batboyblog]

Do you think there is any benefit to the idea that Biden should just not bother with these TV debates anymore? With how the media is so strongly stacked against him, that it might be more beneficial to focus on things where he excels at like town halls and meeting people in person?

I think he agreed to do it, so backing out would look worse and be more damaging than any benefits from sticking to events that play to his strengths. Indeed the media attacked him pretty heavily for being over choreographed in events and interviews (sounds like Hillary being "over prepared") I do think Biden should, and if you look at the last few weeks he has, do more events with the people, and if he can wrangle a televised town hall that'd be great.

but on debate, we shouldn't think Biden is some historically bad debater. In 2012 Obama BOMBED his first debate with Romney, people were writing the death notices for his re-election (much closer to E-Day then July!) and it was Biden who swung into action at the Vice-Presidential debate, laughing in Paul Ryan's face and mocking him easily showing Ryan up as unlikeable and trying to destroy social security. Biden is good at being the every man reacting to "Malarkey!"

I think what went wrong in the first debate is two fold. First of all when you're President and you care to do the job, there's never ever gonna be enough time, there will always be one more call, one more meeting, one more thing that needs your attention. Biden mentioned aids adding things to the schedule. If you're a President like Biden who is good at the job and likes it, I can see how it becomes hard to say "no" because we're talking huge things. So Biden had been working too much, too hard, for too long. That week he went to Europe, did the G7 meetings lots of meetings lots of work, flew back to the US to California to do a fundraiser with Obama and George Clooney, flew back to Atlanta to do the debate. Along the way the guy gets a cold, so what we all saw was a guy who was tired from months of working too hard, jet-lagged, and sick. Trump did nothing that week, he golfed and hung out with friends showed up rested and not having a head cold.

The other thing is the prepped for the wrong debate. One team Biden pushed for rules that ultimately helped Trump. The rule of mics being off when the other is speaking, people hate when Trump interrupts, he's at his worse when he does that, you made sure he couldn't do that. Second no crowd, all politicians feed off crowds, read their energy. crowds cause Trump to lean into his worst instincts always reaching for the next big reaction, but also Biden feeds off people's reactions, in a way that is much better for him than it is for Trump.

outside the rules, clearly Biden and his team gamed out the debate assuming the moderators would do the heavy lifting of fact checking Trump and calling him on his lies and Biden's job was to look like the smart normal politician and spit out facts and figures. As a life long stutterer being able to recall and recite exact numbers and data points in just the way they were written down is not and never been a strength of Biden's, he's NOT dumb, but I can say you carry the baggage of people thinking you're an idiot from when you were a disabled kid your whole life, and I've read a lot of stories that some times in a room full of Harvard and Yale people he can get rattled. And I think that happened they pushed him to try to memorize their talking points their data sets and he got in his head. And when the debate turned out to not at all be what he planned for, when the moderators showed no interest in pushing back on Trump, Biden was caught off guard, a not sick, not jet-lagged, not tired Biden would have turned it around more quickly. We saw later in the debate Biden figure out what debate he was in and how to act and start to ditch trying to remember data sets and just throw out quips and lines "morals of an ally cat!", had he been feeling better, he'd have gotten there much faster.

So I think if Biden takes better care of himself, is strict about not adding more to his work load, takes time off to relax and rest before a debate (work on his tan like JFK did before the Nixon Kennedy debate) and also focuses on being himself, he's not Obama or Bill Clinton who are great masters of explaining complex issues with facts and figures that makes you feel like you're in school with a favorite teacher. That's not Joe, he knows the stuff, he does, but his skill his being everyone's favorite uncle telling it like it is, let him do that and he'll be fine.

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from RMI:

1. Batteries Become Everybody’s Best Friend

Battery prices continue to drop and their capacity continues to rise. The cost of electric vehicle (EV) batteries are now about 60 percent what they were just five years ago. And around the world, batteries have become key components in solar-plus-storage microgrids, giving people access to reliable power and saving the day for communities this past hurricane season.

2. Americans Get Cheaper (and Cleaner) Energy

State public utility commissions and rural electric co-operatives around the country are taking steps to deliver better service for their customers that also lowers their rates. At the same time, real momentum is building to prevent vertically integrated utilities from preferencing their coal assets when there are cleaner and cheaper alternatives available.

3. A Sustainable Shipping Future Gets Closer

More than 50 leaders across the marine shipping value chain — from e-fuel producers to vessel and cargo owners, to ports and equipment manufacturers — signed a Call to Action at the UN climate change conference (COP29) to accelerate the adoption of zero-emission fuels. The joint statement calls for faster and bolder action to increase the use of zero and near-zero emissions fuel, investment in zero-emissions vessels, and global development of green hydrogen infrastructure, leaving no country behind.

4. Corporations Fly Cleaner

In April, 20 corporations, including Netflix, JPMorgan Chase, Autodesk, and more, committed to purchase about 50 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), avoiding 500,000 tons of CO2 emissions — equivalent to the emissions of 3,000 fully loaded passenger flights from New York City to London. SAF is made with renewable or waste feedstocks and can be used in today’s aircraft without investments to upgrade existing fleets and infrastructure.

5. More and More Places Go From Coal to Clean

Around the world, coal-fired power plants are closing down as communities switch to clean energy. From Chile to the Philippines to Minnesota coal-to-clean projects are creating new jobs, improving local economic development, and generating clean electricity. In September, Britain became the first G7 nation to stop generating electricity from coal — it’s turning its last coal-fired power plant into a low-carbon energy hub. And in Indonesia, the president vowed to retire all coal plants within 15 years and install 75 gigawatts of renewable energy.

6. Methane Becomes More Visible, and Easier to Mitigate

Methane — a super-potent greenhouse gas — got much easier to track thanks to the launch of new methane tracking satellites over the past year. In March, the Environmental Defense Fund launched MethaneSAT, the first for a non-governmental organization, and the Carbon Mapper Coalition soon followed with the launch of Tanager-1. By scanning the planet many times each day and identifying major methane leaks from orbit, these new satellites will put pressure on big emitters to clean up.

7. EVs Speed By Historic Milestones

This past year was the first time any country had more fully electric cars than gas-powered cars on the roads. It’s no surprise that this happened in Norway where electric cars now make up more than 90 percent of new vehicle sales. And in October, the United States hit a milestone, with over 200,000 electric vehicle charging ports installed nationwide.

8. Consumers Continue to Shift to Energy-Efficient Heat Pumps for Heating and Cooling

Heat pumps have outsold gas furnaces consistently since 2021. And while shipments of heating and cooling equipment fell worldwide in 2023, likely due to broad economic headwinds, heat pumps held on to their market share through. And over the past 12 months, heat pumps outsold conventional furnaces by 27 percent. Shipments are expected to continue increasing as states roll out home efficiency and appliance rebate programs already funded by the Inflation Reduction Act – worth up to $10,000 per household in new incentives for heat pump installations. Link: Tracking the Heat Pump & Water Heater Market in the United States – RMI

9. China Reaches Its Renewable Energy Goal, Six Years Early

China added so much renewable energy capacity this year, that by July it had surpassed its goal of having 1,200 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy installed by 2030. Through September 2024, China installed some 161 GW of new solar capacity and 39 GW of new wind power, according to China’s National Energy Administration (NEA). China is deploying more solar, wind, and EVs than any other country, including the United States, which is — by comparison — projected to deploy a record 50 GW of solar modules by the end of 2024.

10. De-carbonizing Heavy Industry

For steel, cement, chemicals and other heavy industries, low-carbon technologies and climate-friendly solutions are not only increasingly available but growing more affordable. To speed this process, Third Derivative, RMI’s climate tech accelerator, launched the Industrial Innovation Cohorts to accelerate the decarbonization of steel, cement, and chemicals. Also on the rise: clean hydrogen hubs — powered by renewable energy — designed to supply green hydrogen to chemical, steel, and other heavy industries to help them shift to low-carbon production processes.

[draconym]

Hi! I really like the version of the Galaxy Song that you posted way back in July. I was wondering if you had the chords for it anywhere? I'm learning the ukelele and I think it would be a fun one to try out :D

Thank you! I'm delighted that people still enjoy it.

I was sure I had this one in my songbook doc, but it seems I didn't, and when I tried looking it up elsewhere I was rudely reminded by my synesthesia that that my friends and I transposed it to C (from the original Monty Python recording which is in the key of B). We did that because I was a real beginner eight years ago, and admittedly the key of C is still a much easier choice for this song if you can forgive the fact that it makes the whole thing kind of orange.

Anyway, it turns out @adoubtifitbeus kept track of the chords and I've stuck em back on the lyrics under the cut below for your enjoyment.

Chords inside:

Just [C] remember that you're [Em] standing on a [Am] planet that's [C] evolving

And revolving at nine hundred miles an [G] hour

That's [G7] orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned

A [G] sun that is the source of all our [C] power

The [C] sun and you and [Em] me and all the [Am] stars that we can [C] see

Are [A7] moving at a million miles a [Dm] day

In an [F] outer spiral [Fm] arm, at forty [C] thousand miles an [Am7] hour

Of the [Dm] galaxy we [G] call the Milky [C] Way

Our [C] galaxy [Em] itself contains a [Am] hundred billion [C] stars

It's a hundred thousand light years side to [G] side

It [G7] bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick

But out by [G] us, it's just three thousand light years [C] wide

We're [C] thirty thousand [Em] light years from [Am] galactic central [C] point

We go [A7] round every two hundred million [Dm] years

And our [F] galaxy is [Fm] only one of [C] millions of [Am7] billions

In this [Dm] amazing and [G] expanding [C] universe

The [C] universe [Em] itself keeps on [Am] expanding and [C] expanding

In all of the directions it can [G] whizz

As [G7] fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know

Twelve [G] million miles a minute, and that's the [C] fastest speed there is

So [C] remember, when you're [Em] feeling very [Am] small and [C] insecure

How [A7] amazingly unlikely is your [Dm] birth

And [F] pray that there's [Fm] intelligent life [C] somewhere up in [A7] space

'Cos there's [Dm] bugger-all [G] down here on [C] Earth

[probablyasocialecologist]

I begin with the question How does Israel get away with it? In terms of colonizing Palestine. Here you have Israel, which conquers, takes over Palestine. It drives out three-fourths of the Palestinian people. In 1967, it imposes an occupation over the rest of Palestine that it hadn’t conquered in 1948. Sets up an apartheid regime. It settles the whole country in violation of international law. And gets away with it. How? And what I say in the book is that international politics is transactional. There’s no value, no ideology today. Trump was the epitome of this. There are no real alliances. There are no principles. Even though Biden talks about human rights and about how we have to live by the rules of international law, there aren’t such things that hold back powerful governments. It’s all transactional. Short term. What is my immediate advantage? How do I lever my power and get what I want? And “deal” (this is the Trump word) with other powerful parties that have what I want? In this kind of global system, Israel plays two major roles. One of them is, it becomes an enforcer of the system for the major political players, especially the G7 but not only those countries. Israel also has relations with Russia and with China. The other one I put in the framework of global capitalism. From the 1970s, the last 50 years, as this neoliberal system has taken over all the world economy—there’s no more socialist countries (China is a state capitalist system)—it’s the only system. It’s saturated all possible markets. It can’t expand. So what it has to do is turn inward. It begins to exploit internally. And then, with no regulation, there is a rise of a super-rich class, the Musks and the Gates and all the billionaires. The capitalist system has always promised you a happier life, especially for the middle class, upward mobility, and a house, and job security, and Ronald McDonald’s shining face. And all of a sudden, it’s becoming repressive. The rest of the world won’t have the standard of living we do. In this system, you need enforcement. Because not only the poor people of the world, but also the middle classes of the Global North, our kids, will not have the standard of living that we do. Now you have the Occupy movement, all kinds of Global South movements. So it has to be more repressive. The big powers aren’t built for repressing populations. The Pentagon builds F-35s, nuclear submarines, thermodynamic missile systems, not the kinds of weapons you need for population control. The Pentagon is geared toward conventional warfare, not population control. And that’s Israel’s niche, because it has perfected all this on the Palestinians over the last century. So it has the technologies of repression—we see it now in Gaza. And it has the strategies of population control that most other Western developed countries don’t have. And the experience of boots on the group for a century. So that’s one level, where Israel becomes the enforcer of global capitalism. In a very real way. Not alone, of course, but it becomes the leading force in population control.

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

in Takumi's supports with both Leo and Elise, both bring up playing chess with him so my headcanon is that the 3 have chess nights where they take turns teaching Takumi

Elise: Rook to g7

Leo: *whispers* she left her Queen wide open, use the Bishop

.

[brownwomanisland]

What woman benefits from war? The way people discuss it as righteous makes me feel less of a feminist sometimes even though we know there are handmaidens. It makes me think, forget even using the word (even though through experience I will never seek the company of a man for friendship) and make community elsewhere because some of us are not real people to y'all lmao. There are 208 nations (I'm sure there are more) and yet the ones that seem to matter are North America, the European Union and Australia and New Zealand. These discussions be turning into a G7 summit.

We need women to learn budgeting and financial freedom. We need women to learn how to use their resources and their land to survive. We need women to learn how to work in a community. To teach the herbal ways of abortion when the state is determined to force birth. We need women to be able to read and think for themselves. To trust themselves and get away from predators. To learn how to protect themselves. To advance each other's knowledge and write our stories so no dusty ass man ever steals it away.

Climate change will affect small island developing states first and yet we can agree it's important to fight.

Forced birth will make little girls mothers to their father's children and we can agree it's important to fight.

No access to voting reduces women to property and we agree it's important to fight.

We come to war and now it's "welllllll, not all cultures are equal" and we agree that's true and we need to fight but some of us go "let's try to find the women who are already fighting it and let's support them" and some of y'all go "actually yeah let's bomb the fuck out of them".

The all cultures are not equal argument doesn't even make sense when you consider that oil, gold, cobalt, diamond are the things that make a culture somehow equal because why is your government saddling up to human abuse defender country and you're on tumblr telling us about "oh they're getting bombed too".

You cannot even see beyond the labels that your privilege has shaped you to think of things under and you think you are equipped to condescend and control a conversation because you do not like how it attacks the power dynamic you benefit (even measly) from. Yet we know that whenever a woman has power, she has to work hard to keep it. And yet you maintain a power to condescend and try to subjugate to keep your precarious place, because you know it is precarious, because to openly reflect that you may be wrong about this, means that there are other things you might be wrong about as well. And it's an opportunity to learn and yet, it is thrown away.

It's why people are being assholes about covid precautions on Twitter and a surprising number of them women even though we know women are more likely to get long covid than men. US marines (supposed to be the toughest of the bunch) are getting covid and long covid. It's not about earned health or deserved health, it's about understanding that we were wrong about things like immune systems and virus transmissions. Covid is airborne, the flu is airborne, tuberculosis is airborne. Who knows what else is airborne?

We must learn to find ways to adjust to these life shattering misconceptions being broken because they will ultimately keep us alive. Until we are equal as a sex, they will always find ways to put us against each other and you must recognize this and resist.

[twisted-wonderland-but-gayer]

HI! Me again with thoughts on the Great 7 parents.

So I just started reading Heartless by Marissa Meyer, about Catherine, before she married the goofy asf king and became queen of hearts. Its instantly established that she loves baking. Im thinking of a nice scenario with Yuu, QoH and Riddle just baking and hanging out. I'm trying not to spoil a lot of Heartless, but they try making lemon tarts, which leaves QoH oddly downtrod. When asked, she starts talking about Jest and how anything yellow reminds her of his eyes. This causes a double take from both Yuu and Riddle, Yuu because shes never heard about this Jest before, and Riddle because as far as history says, the queen and her husband were very in love, no other partner ever mentioned. QoH says that's true, but a woman will never forget her first love. Proceeds to wink wink, nudge nudge at Yuu while gesturing to Riddle. Whether or not his back is turned and he doesn't see it, is up to you

Oh my God that book– I actually ever so slightly based the G7 QoH with parts of it!

Anyways I definitely see that happening between them for sure. Queenie knows her little rose would be able to choose well... and as protective as she is, she knows that her baby deserves to have a first love too

[scope-dogg]

What mecha shows did you enjoy but would not recommend to people (flawed personal favourites, shows with high entry barrier, etc.)?

Several come to mind.

Blue SPT Layzner: TV run got shitcanned prematurely and has probably the mast slapdash ending of any mecha show save maybe the TV run of Ideon. OVA adaptation opens with rushed compilation of first half of TV series that's dull to watch and not especially coherent on its own before it gets to the altered and much improved ending. Feels like there's no right way to watch it, you have to do both and piece it together in your head. Definitely one to check out after you've seen Takahashi's better work like Votoms and Dougram, though it's infuriating because the series has banger music and mecha design, and the hypothetical ideal version of the plot that you don't have to basically kitbash together in your head is really good.

Dancouga: Production values are amazing in first episodes and then turn to complete dogshit shortly thereafter, like they literally spent their whole budget up front and then had to pay their animators in loose change and leftover fast food. Very strange pacing. However I've always really liked the main protagonist Shinobu Fujiwara whose voice actor honestly carries the show on his back, and I've had a soft spot for Dancouga the mecha itself for a long time - but it doesn't actually show up until half way in. Yet somehow I can't deny the charm of the show despite how slapdash it is thanks to its interesting approach to the super robot formula, and it leads into Requiem for Victims which is the true ending for the TV plot and a followup called God Bless Dancouga, both of which are banger OVAs (and then another kinda shitty one after that but who cares.) Unfortunately they all make no sense without watching the TV run. It's a franchise for hardcore mecha fans only, though IIRC the 2000s sequel Dancouga Nova is basically disconnected and stands on its own, for better or worse. I've yet to watch it.

Tryder G7: 80s super robot show that's kind of like a part slice-of-life anime, honestly ahead of its time in a lot of ways. Would be my go-to recommendation for 80s super robot shows if there was a decent fansub. The one that exists is a Russian translation of the official Italian subs that then got translated into English and it's as disastrous as you might expect. Not only is it incoherent but even as a non-Japanese speaker I can tell it's often inaccurate. Frustrating because I can tell it's a good show that deserves a proper English sub for fans.

Cross Ange: Notorious show by the Gundam Seed creators. The concept and lore of this show is batshit insane, the mecha are cool, the main character turns out to be interesting and likable despite very negative first impressions, however there's no denying that it's buried under a thick vaneer of shallow coombait and it runs itself off the rails with zany plot at points. Honestly better than its reputation suggests but hard to recommend without looking like a pervert.

Shinkon Gattai Godannar: Basically the same thing, coombait super robot series, fun action, not a bad story. At the same time if you've ever seen a gif of absurd breast physics in anime from the 2000s there's a decent chance it's from Godannar. Good show at the end of the day, better than it has a right to be, artstyle is gonna be a big turnoff for many people and I don't necessarily blame them.

Gundam Build Divers Re:Rise: Probably the weirdest of the build series, also IMO the best. Downside: you have to suffer through the profoundly mediocre original Build Divers to get the most out of it and I'm not sure that price is worth it.

Probably more that I could add. Honourable mention has to go Gundam Seed Stargazer because you have to suffer through Gundam Seed Destiny to get to it, but I hear that the new Gundam Seed movie that's also set after Destiny is good so perhaps the cost-to-benefit ratio of suffering through Destiny has changed.

[arokel]

Obviously I’m here for more coxstroke and perhaps a situation where one takes advantage of his height for whatever (nefarious?) reason?

here you go! this is almost entirely based on @roborain 's beautiful art so it only gets a teeny bit nefarious at the end, but I hope you like it anyway :)

Title: Leading, Resolution

Pairing: Don Hume/Bobby Moch

Rating: G

Tags: Piano, Fluff, First Kiss

Read on ao3

Notes: The chord progressions here are based on a typical ragtime chord progression, which is a bit before the boys' time but made its way into folk music throughout the 20th century.

Playing an instrument is a great way to brood without anyone noticing. Don's fingers roll into familiar tune after familiar tune as his mind churns, gaze straight ahead. He knows these songs well enough to play them in the dark, and so he can focus his mind's eye on the carousel of memories that won't leave him alone even now, when he should be able to lose himself in music as he's always done.

D7-G7-C.

His thoughts have been in unrest ever since the moment three days ago when Bobby had said, "you know, I think we're the same" and refused to elaborate.

Roger is clapping along. Joe hums under his breath and Gordy bobs his head in time. And Bobby watches.

"The same how?"

"You know, the way you look at me - I look at you like that too. You just haven't noticed."

"I don't look at you any way."

"Well, I do. You don't have to do anything about it; I just wanted you to know.”

Dominant-dominant-tonic.

There's no way Bobby could have meant it the way it sounded, but every second since Don has been searching for those looks, for some sign he might not have heard wrong. There's been nothing.

"Eyes up, Donny! Come on, you're shy to look at me now? Listen, I'm sorry I said anything. You can forget it if you want."

"Easier said than done."

"Well, I - my offer still stands. If you want to do something else. Feather, Adam; is today your first time in a shell? Because it sure as hell seems like it."

Leading-leading-resolution.

Don wants so badly to do something, anything, but he can't trust his own ears. He needs to see it.

The latest song trails into silence and Don's hands drop to his lap, played out. His head is too full of questions now to keep going even through the muscle memory. There is a smattering of applause and a few whoops from Chuck, and Don finally turns to face out towards his teammates, focusing his eyes for what feels like the first time in hours. That's when he sees it.

Bobby has drifted closer to listen, and now he is pressed against the lip of the shallow stage, elbows braced on the boards and chin propped in his hands. And his eyes -

They're a pale, piercing blue like always, and yet, watching Don, they're softer. Robin's egg rather than ice. And the look in them, so unlike Bobby's usual sharp gaze, can only be described as smitten - the way Joe looks at Joyce, the way Don knows he looks at Bobby even if he denies it, the way Bobby said he looked at Don.

Don can't look away.

He pushes back the bench and steps away from the piano to affect a slight bow, ears burning less at the applause and more at the heat of Bobby's unwavering gaze as he straightens.

Looking at the room properly now, he can see that the boys have finished their cleaning while he played and, now that he's finished, most of them are already drifting towards the door. Only Bobby remains, spine straightening and flushing under Don's scrutiny. The adoration is gone, to be replaced with a nervous, questioning look, but Don has seen enough. It was there, and Bobby does look at Don like Don looks at him, and Don wants to see it again.

It is now only the two of them. Don gathers his courage and lets himself smile down at Bobby.

"Come up here?"

"Thought you'd never ask. Hoped you would, though," Bobby says, with a grin of his own, and pushes himself up onto the stage.

Before he can straighten to his full height, Don bends to meet him, hands on Bobby's shoulders keeping him on his knees, bearing him down to the floor to kiss him. When they part, Bobby's eyes are hazy and bright and sweet.

Then he ruins it, as usual, with his mouth.

"So you like me looking up at you like that, huh? I know a couple other things I could do from this position."

Don's fingers twitch in surprise, grip tightening briefly on Bobby's shoulders like the opening chord of another piece.

E7. Dominant, leading, leading, leading -

Don will follow it where it goes.

[best-underrated-anime]

Best Underrated Anime Group G Round 4: Snow White with the Red Hair vs No. 6

#G7: Snow White with the Red Hair (Akagami no Shirayuki-hime)

A romance between a prince and a herbalist

#G5: No.6

Sheltered city boy meets outlaw and learns dark truth about the city

Details and poll under the cut!

#G7: Snow White with the Red Hair (Akagami no Shirayuki-hime)

Summary:

Although her name means “snow white,” Shirayuki is a cheerful, red-haired girl living in the country of Tanbarun who works diligently as an apothecary at her herbal shop. Her life changes drastically when she is noticed by the silly prince of Tanbarun, Prince Raji, who then tries to force her to become his concubine. Unwilling to give up her freedom, Shirayuki cuts her long red hair and escapes into the forest, where she is rescued from Raji by Zen Wistalia, the second prince of a neighboring country, and his two aides. Hoping to repay her debt to the trio someday, Shirayuki sets her sights on pursuing a career as the court herbalist in Zen’s country, Clarines. Akagami no Shirayuki-hime depicts Shirayuki’s journey toward a new life at the royal palace of Clarines, as well as Zen’s endeavor to become a prince worthy of his title. As loyal friendships are forged and deadly enemies formed, Shirayuki and Zen slowly learn to support each other as they walk their own paths.

Propaganda:

This is my absolute favourite romance anime of all time. The characters are delightful, and the romance is well-paced, with plenty of healthy communication between the two leads. The story never feels boring, managing to pull off both gentle slice of life and exciting adventures with ease. It features gorgeous animation by Studio Bones and a lovely soundtrack.

Trigger Warnings: None.

#G5: No.6

Summary:

Many years ago, after the end of a bloody world war, mankind took shelter in six city-states that were peaceful and perfect… at least on the surface. However, Shion—an elite resident of the city-state No. 6—gained a new perspective on the world he lives in, thanks to a chance encounter with a mysterious boy, Nezumi. Nezumi turned out to be just one of many who lived in the desolate wasteland beyond the walls of the supposed utopia. But despite knowing that the other boy was a fugitive, Shion decided to take him in for the night and protect him, which resulted in drastic consequences: because of his actions, Shion and his mother lost their status as elites and were relocated elsewhere, and the darker side of the city began to make itself known.

Now, a long time after their life-altering first meeting, Shion and Nezumi are finally brought together once again—the former elite and the boy on the run are about to embark on an adventure that will, in time, reveal the shattering secrets of No. 6.

Propaganda 1:

Ever watched a show that was obviously adapted from something, and you feel like there must be more to it? Such shows are often obvious to spot—My Happy Marriage, Pandora Hearts, Mekakucity Actors, etc. They present to us a unique plot with great worldbuilding, yet while watching, it always feels like it falls short somewhere. The characters aren’t that developed, plot points don’t seem to connect, side characters aren’t given much attention, etc. So much missed potential, and you can’t help but lament it.

No.6 is another one of such shows. I haven’t read the original novel, but as an avid web novel reader, I could just feel that there is so much more to it than the anime lets on. The mystery is intriguing, the world is complex, and the budding relationship between the two main characters felt natural and relevant (No.6 has a shounen ai subplot, by the way).

Overall, the anime managed a coherent plot, and I still like it. But after watching, you’ll be left unsatisfied. It keeps you wanting for more. Keeps you searching for answers. But despite this, I believe it’s worth a shot. Whether you vote for it or not, try watching it anyway.

Propaganda 2:

It's a suspenseful science fiction that has a unique take on class issues using the setting of a world post apocalypse. It crafts a unique world with incredible characters you want to succeed. The relationship that develops between the two mains is a heartwarming respite in the cold world they inhabit. The mystery of the show keeps the audience entertained and on the edge of their seat.

Trigger Warnings: Body Horror, Genocide, Graphic Depictions of Cruelty/Violence/Gore, Implied Child Abuse, Guns, Humans being treated like objects, Sexual assault on a supporting character, Mentions of prostitution

When reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.

If you want to criticize one of the shows above to give the one you’re rooting for an advantage, then do so constructively. I do not tolerate groundless hate or slander on this blog. If I catch you doing such a thing in the notes, be it in the tags or reblogs, I will block you.

Know one of the shows above and not satisfied with how it’s presented in this tournament? Just fill up this form with your revisions, and I’ll consider adapting those changes.

New: Starting round 5, screenshots will be included in the poll post. You can submit screenshots through the form linked above, or through here, via ask or dm.

Guidelines in submitting screenshots:

No NSFW or spoilery images.

Pick some good images please. Don’t send any blurry or pixelated ones.

You may send up to 9 screenshots, but not all may be used.

[pareidoliaonthemove]

@astranite, ah, yes, ‘Runaway’! I can generally turn off my ‘train-brain’ for any train episodes – unless of course our hero or villain is train surfing, traps the opposition on a carriage, and kicks at the coupler to separate the carriage from the engine, and speeds off into the sunset to await round 2. Then the entire neighbourhood has to endure me yelling general abuse, and "Couplers don’t work like that!"

While mag-levs are strictly outside my area of expertise, they do share a lot of infrastructure details and safety features with current diesel-electric, and electric trains, and when you take those into consideration, well, let’s just say the set up shown on screen is, um, lacking.

Brains, John and Virgil should all be having very strong words with the Japanese Rail Network.

First point is: why on god’s green earth are they testing a new locomotive design on a live line?! Especially one that operates passenger services? Even if it is a locomotive undergoing a post-overhaul mainline test, there should have at least been a qualified mechanic on board to test-ride it’s performance. Away from passenger trains.

Second problem: and speaking of the track, it’s all one track, one rail, so how do trains going on opposite directions pass each other? At the very least there should be what’s called ‘crossing loops’: a short section of track that forks off and then runs parallel to the main line, before rejoining it. One train goes into the loop, and pulls up, while the other train passes on the main line. If the crossing loop is long enough the train might not need to stop – this type of setup is more common in the United States than it is in Australia – we get to stop and stretch our legs.

Many crossing loops in my area are being upgraded to include catch points. These are a set of points (which is the junction where a train can change tracks, they can also be called ‘switches’, but the standard term here is ‘points’, so that’s what I’m sticking with) linked to the points on the mainline which are intended to prevent a train rejoining the main line without permission from the controller. Instead, the lead engine will be directed off the tracks to loose forward momentum in a specially constructed section of ballast (rocks, preferably granite, about the size of your fist). A mag-lev train would be able to be shunted to a de-energised section of track, and allowed to shed its momentum safely there. (There should be friction locks that deploy when power is lost, like in an elevator car – ‘it would be like hitting a brick wall’, eh, not so much, Brains.)

Third Problem: And this is the biggie! All modern locomotives have a safety system in place designed to prevent the driver falling asleep on the job. In Australia it is currently called the “Driver Vigilance System”, or ‘vigi’. Its job is to safely stop the train before it is stopped, should the driver fall asleep or be … otherwise incapacitated.

The technology has gone through a few iterations, the oldest being the ‘Dead Man’s Switch’, a footplate that drivers had to hold down while the train was in motion. Unfortunately, due to the fact that drivers can be on a train for up to 12 hours, and it required a degree of force to hold down, drivers were prone to wedging the footplate down with their lunch box, or an emergency flag. Sadly, the system was shown to be entirely ineffective on 31 January 2003 when the driver of the Tangara G7 passenger train suffered a heart attack enroute and slumped with his weight on the deadman’s switch, allowing the passenger train to enter a curve rated for 60km/h at 117km/h. It derailed, killing seven (including the driver), and injuring 40 people. It is commonly referred to as the Waterfall Train Disaster.

The current system has a light illuminated for 10sec, which then flashes for 7 sec, then a 5 sec high pitched beeping, if the ‘vigi’ button is not pressed in that time, the train brakes will deploy automatically, while simultaneously putting in an emergency call to the network controller. If the train crew doesn’t respond to the controller answering the call, emergency procedures are brought into play, and emergency services are sent to the train’s GPS location. (And if you weren’t incapacitated, you would wish you were.)

All the hapless engineer in ‘Runaway’ would have had to do was … not press the button.

And the thing that makes me laugh? John being able to reset the points the ‘instant’ that the passenger train clears the points. For safety’s sake, points are locked in position until the system detects the rail traffic has cleared a set point at a safe distance, and even then, there is ‘time out’ period between clearance, and points unlocking, and then a 120 second ‘time out’ between the points registering as being locked into position, and the signal clearing.

But hey, technology changes. Maybe they ‘improved’ the points system? Although their cyber security is seriously lacking ….

But it looks good on screen, and I don't suppose the series' target demographic really has a whole lot of practical experience in rail operations.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I've been pondering if I should send this question in for a while now but I just gotta know.

Did they evolve to be anime? Now I know what ur thinking "Anon wtf do you mean?" let me explain.

So, we see all the statues of the great 7, right? And all of the statues and portraits of them are just them. they look exactly the same as they do in their movies, all cartoony like. But don't you think it's weird how no one has commented on their appearance being all cartoonish? The twst universe is filled with handsome anime men. they're around every corner. And you can probably tell that they look nothing like the great 7, all considerably different.

So the theory I purpose is: What if, way back when, everyone DID look cartoonish back in the olden days, but as time went on, things changed about their appearance to look more anime. Why? idk man.

How do beastmen fit into this since evolution takes a while especially if it's an animal becoming more human-like? Maybe beastmen evolved after the anime switch-up.

This is worded really badly so I'm sorry if you don't understand what I'm saying, this is just my crack theory. Have a nice day!

Well, it’s definitely the first time I’ve heard of such a theory, even if it’s just a crack (not meant to be taken seriously) theory 🤔 (Us TWST fans really will analyze anything down to the smallest detail or atom, lol)

It’s an interesting concept, but that’s not really how evolution works. Random traits don’t evolve and appear in a large population “just because”. The environment “selects” for the traits which are best suited for survival in particular conditions, and then those surviving organisms are able to pass that beneficial trait onto their offspring. I… don’t see the evolutionary advantages to characters “turning anime” over time. (I’m not counting the point “more physically attractive people have a leg up in finding a partner(s)” because 1) humans are capable of non-physical attraction, and 2) the variation among anime traits is too high (example: all the bright colored hair despite environments in Twisted Wonderland highly varying) for everyone to coincidentally all converge in the same style; there would theoretically still be a handful of people walking around in the “old” style).

For such drastic changes to occur, it would probably also take an extraordinary amount of time, which doesn’t line up with the technological advances we see in the Disney classics versus modern Twisted Wonderland. All of the stories of the G7 took place at least at a time with primitive inventions like wheels and fire, which were used estimated to have first been discovered ~5000 and 200,000-50,000 years ago, respectively. Assuming the course of history is similar to our world, the earliest possible time for the G7 stories to have been set is around then (and that’s being very generous). But then consider that some traits take millions of years to appear and/or disappear. Many people, for example, get appendicitis because the appendix, which has been estimated to have been in various animals for ~80 million years, is still in their bodies despite no longer serving a clear function (at least not in humans). Modern TWST has tech like smartphones and touch screen tables, so that’d be similar to the 21st century for us irl; in the (relatively) short time span of thousands of years to 2023ish, I don’t think that would be nearly enough time to essentially completely change an entire race’s look (ie their “style”). Major changes take millions and millions of years to come into fruition. It’s true that mutations can occur! However, they are rarely so largely noticed (most of them end up getting corrected by the genes themselves) or are so atomically beneficial that it ends up dominating an entire group. (Note: it is stated in canon that beastmen evolved from actual animals and that Malleus has ancestors who were actual dragons, but that’s basically all the lore we have in regards to evolution.)

The G7 looking different from the TWST characters is the result of the classic Disney style differing greatly from Yana Toboso’s style (ie meta outside of the actual world of the game). No characters find this discrepancy odd because, in all likelihood, the styles don’t appear different to them in-universe. The G7 probably just have a variety of facial features and body types that differentiate them from the average student or staff member at NRC. For example, the Beautiful Queen and Thorn Witch have slender bodies (which are most anatomically similar to the TWST characters) but sharper eyes, the Sea Witch is plump, the Queen of Hearts has a rotund body and nose, the King of Beasts and Sorcerer of the Sands are lanky, and the Lord of the Underworld has more angular facial features. Variation like this also exists in real life.

We the players only notice the cartoonishness vs the anime look because we are omniscient third parties. Our stand-in for the TWST world, Yuu, does not take note of, nor ever comment on, this style difference that the irl players do. If the G7 did look very weirdly different from everyone else, you’d think Grim would make a cheeky comment about it or Yuu would point it out—but they don’t. Therefore, I can only come to the conclusion that in the eyes of everyone in TWST, the G7 are just regular ass looking people rather than individuals who look stylistically out of place. If you think about it, Mickey Mouse also appears to have an extremely differently style than the TWST characters and is actually a character we meet face-to-face; he has no shading at all and looks flat to us (the players), yet Yuu, Grim, and others still never comment about that or why he can stand and walk despite lookin 2D. They are focused on his relation to Yuu rather than on his appearance. This supports the idea that, in the eyes of the characters IN Twisted Wonderland, Disney characters may not be registered in that stylistic difference. They must look like they “belong” in that world, and thus in the same style as the TWST characters (from their perspective, NOT the players’ perspective).

Something else to consider is that we haven’t (or rather, can’t) met the G7 in person. All the instances of them we’ve seen are portraits in Crowley’s office and the statues on Main Street—in other words, works of art. Who is to say that these legendary historical figures are accurately depicted? Even if they consistently look the same across depictions, it could just be that most artists collectively agreed “yup, based on what we know of history… they must look like this”. Alternatively, these (“Disney style”) depictions of the G7 could be the result of a popular artist movement or style present at the time period(s) in which the seven were at their prime. Again, these points are all also true of real life instances of artworks featuring important figures.

[jpoliticsandevents]

Quick Look At Israel and Ukraine Status; A WW III Alert.

Simply put, the Global West is getting its ass kicked, that includes the United States, UK, Germany, France, and co, NATO and G7. They all embarked on the Ukraine Operation well before the Russian Invasion into Ukraine with the explicit aim of aligning the country to NATO to further violate the United States open promise to not expand NATO 'one inch east of Berlin.' What a joke that turned out to be. At a time where the world is filled with terror of war being brought to a neighborhood near you, The United States, Ukraine, and Israel are beating a war drum as loud as they can. Ukraine just this week face massive surrenders and desperately attempted to blow up a nuclear facility today. Thank everything that is good that so far there are no reports of leakage of radiation reported by Russians or any on ground agencies that have checked so far. Ukraine did walk away with more funding from recent Zelensky visits to US Presidential candidates though and he seemed ready to continue this madness with blatant disregard for logistical or resource-management impossibilities and soldier morale dropping. At this moment it is estimated Russian losses are far less than Ukrainian losses, and Russian soldier replenishment is strong and steady which cannot be said for the Ukrainian side. They are down on men, equipment, food, ammo, and any type of air support or ground support with no backup on the way.

On the Israel five-front disaster involving Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Iran, and possibly more foes to come soon, the United States and Israel still show massive arrogance and appear to fancy themselves the regional bully the same as they have for the last 30+ years. However, Iran's second strike on Israel most recently declared loud and clear for any on the global stage with ears to hear past national and state propaganda that Iran has effective full deterrence in the region. The Iron Dome is effectively vanquished along with the billions or trillions spent building and maintaining it from U.S. taxpayer dollars. Iran spoke loud and clear they can hit anywhere in Israel they want, at any volume of violence and that there is nothing the world can do about it. The best air defense systems in the world are coughing up blood as Israel and the U.S. spin a PR campaign to tell everyone there was no damage done and that Iran's missile barrage was 'ineffective' and vow vengeance. This would be a fatal mistake for both Israel as well as the United States as far as any kind of regional dominance is concerned, the facilitation of trade routes and strike forces deep into the heart of the Middle East will no doubt go up in flames. Israel is already in deep deep political, societal, and economical trouble as ships arriving at the docks grinds to a halt as a result of regional strikes and Yemen's sea blockade, who themselves face US weapons of war and violence as punishment for their rebellion against the NATO/G7 order.

None of any of this ends well for the United States or the World, we are headed straight for nuclear catastrophe or possible WW III if nothing is done. We cannot allow any genocidal candidates to be President of any country any longer as the laborers of the world, we must show that we are willing to disrupt and overthrow their money and weapon machinations in response to SOME KIND of moral principle. General strikes are needed across the Global West and in every country possible to achieve any kind of reform before its too late.