#hard to believe it but it’s true

[ladysarai]

This weekend I made a trip to my local Walmart. I grabbed a cart, pulled it out and went to put my purse in the seat. Sitting there was this:

My first and immediate reaction was gut-sinking horror. $100 is a LOT of money these days, and CASH?! My very first thought was “oh NO, someone lost their money, how am I EVER going to figure out whose this is?!” I admit to standing there in shock for much longer than I should have. I looked around, but the only people there were hurrying in and out of the store. I decided I may as well take it to the service desk, even if I despaired that it would ever find its way back to its original owner.

And then I picked it up. It felt WRONG. This was NOT actual money. I turned it over:

YEAH.

I’ll admit that my initial reaction wasn’t a nice one. Then I felt just… heartsick. To think that someone could be THIS cruel, to obviously hope to get a stranger’s hopes up and then dash them, when times are as tough economically as they are… It’s discouraging.

But when I was telling my friends about it, @nutterzoi said to me “The fact that they suck does not take away from you being a good person who wanted to do the right thing.” At the time I admit I didn’t fully agree, but now? I’m going to take the win.

They clearly thought that someone would find that fake $100 and be excited and happy, only to be disappointed when it turned out to be fake. Well, the joke is on them. I wasn’t happy at all. I was worried about someone not being able to afford their groceries or medications, about someone having a crying panic over losing their money. (I know I would!) But in the end, it turned out that no one actually did lose their $100 bill. So that is the win I’m taking from this.

Some people are cruel, but not everyone is. This is a terrible prank to try to pull, but no one was actually harmed by losing that amount of money, and I wasn’t disappointed to find that it was fake. (Well. I was, but only because I was disappointed in a fellow human being for being needlessly cruel.)

I’d like to wrap this up with something pithy or meaningful, but all I can think to say is: be better. Be kinder. Don’t be like this person.

[mythicalcoolkid]

You don't wish your disability was worse or more visible, you wish your disability was taken seriously. Please stop confusing the two, I guarantee you would not get the support you need JUST by being more severe or more visible. Please listen to visibly disabled people when we tell you it isn't better on our side

[egophiliac]

I just realized it'll take the eng server almost a year to reach the 3D Cheka T pose model :' ) we're at book 7 part 6, and we get a new main story update every 2 to 3 months..

Anyway, do you wanna share some fun, spoiler-free shenanigans that happened in jp's server.? Just to have some crumbs to lick off the table until we get our own sandwich (my heart is empty and my soul is crying)

spoiler-free is pretty hard, especially considering. the, uhhh, particular turn that things take directly after 6. (like, the fact that the other characters are showing up probably counts on its own?) and I do think that if you can avoid getting spoiled, most of it is definitely better as a surprise! some of the genuinely best Twst moments are waiting for you. :D

if I may, however, present one of my favorite little throwaway bits with absolutely no context:

[inkskinned]

he says i hate everyone except you and that is addictive and that is kind of romantic and beautiful because you're young and you're kind of a sarcastic asshole too and you don't like bad boys, per say, but you don't really like good ones either. and you like that you were the exception, it felt like winning.

except life is not a romance book, and he was kind of being honest. he doesn't learn to be nice to your friends. he only tolerates your family. you have to beg him to come with you to birthday parties, he complains the whole time. you want to go on a date but - people are often there, wherever you're going. he's just so angry. about everything, is the thing. in the romance book, doesn't he eventually soften? can't you teach him, through your own sense of whimsy and comfort?

at first - you know introverts often need smaller friend groups, and honestly, you're fine staying at home too. you like the small, tidy life you occupy. you're not going to punish him for his personality type.

except: he really does hate everyone but you. which means he doesn't get along with his therapist. which means he has no one to talk to except for you. which means you take care of him constantly, since he otherwise has no one. which means you sometimes have to apologize for him. which means he keeps you home from seeing your friends because he hates them. you're the single exception.

about a decade from this experience, you'll type into google: how to know if a relationship is codependent.

he wraps an arm around you. i hate everyone except you. these days, you're learning what he's actually confessing is i have very little practice being kind.

[sunderwight]

Thinking about Jiang Cheng being banned by the matchmakers.

Y'know one of the reasons why matchmakers would avoid taking on a client, even or perhaps especially a very high-profile one, was if they thought this person was pretty much guaranteed to fail at marriage. Matchmakers earned prestige via association, if they helped arrange good matches then they would earn credit and be able to hang their hat on it, but if the matches failed or earned bad notoriety then their reputations would similarly tank.

So now I'm thinking about the matchmaker whose career was salted and burned by the infamous pairing of Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan. Like with a ton of political matches before and after, the matchmaker's role would have largely been minimal since it was more of a politically arranged one than an open search. She'd just have to agree that of course the young man and young lady seemed suited, their backgrounds were both exceptional, they'd surely balance one another's temperaments in the long run, etc etc, then okay here's a list of good dates for them to get married on and here's the bill for the consultation.

But with such a high profile couple having such a notoriously unhappy marriage, that stamp of approval probably ruined the matchmaker's career in the long run. Even more if -- and this is certainly possible -- she was a high-profile matchmaker herself, and also helped to arrange Jin Guangshan's marriage to Madam Jin. Can you imagine? You go from being one of the top matchmakers in the region, affiliated with the Yu clan, rubbing elbows with high-level cultivators and probably also a lot of rich people and nobles from the secular end of things, only to have your reputation plummet and your livelihood destroyed within like ten years of people watching Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan's relationship.

This woman is probably a cautionary tale among other matchmakers. Like, if you can't be reasonably confident that this couple won't rip each other to shreds, just decline the job. Stick to safe clients, like that courteous Jin Guangyao and the demure Qin Su, don't take risky jobs like that odious new Jiang sect leader (takes after his mother, you know) or the bad luck Lans (they're always fixated on someone, and it's never a respectable match!).

[bacchuschucklefuck]

dreaming abt sophomore year class swap bard!riz

[erinwantstowrite]

I’m excited for the chapter when we see how Gotham views Peter + Spider-man. Cause they must have obviously noticed a new kid hanging around the Wayne’s and at first they’re like “Bruce did it again” but they look closer and they’re like “wait that kid looks like dick?? Why is dick being fatherly with this random???? Is dick someone’s baby daddy????”.

They’ll try to do the math: “this kid looks to be 12 and dick is 29 so HE WAS 17 WHEN HE HAD HIM?????!??!”

well the waynes are publicly involved with gotham programs and all that, so it's not too out of the way to see a couple waynes around gotham shopping with a kid or helping out, etc. and then while at the manor, peter hasn't left other than to hang out with dick, adn they've been pretty incognito for the most part. the only people that know where peter went are the kids that Maps hangs out with, Benny, and those people from the diner. all of which didn't take pictures

what i'm saying is is that at some point we're definitely gonna have a plotline where Vicki Vale tries to have everyone believe that Dick is Peter's dad and every single one of our beloved characters gaslight the fuck out of her, as per usual. to the point that they probably create fake photos to make it look like peter is a cousin or something, and their shared relatives just have very strong genes on that side of the family. cause they love to lie

though sometimes i do think dick would claim that peter is his son, regardless of the rumors that come out of it

[momomallowart]

Good morning gamers ʕ⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴥ⁠ꈍ⁠ʔっ✨

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Been thinking about the X-Files recently. A show I have a hazy, but fond memory of.

[late-draft]

About this event - this is the last time Katara and Aang interact before Ozai is defeated right? Then this was supposed to be the culmination of the interaction between their character arcs - Katara finally lets Aang go, stops trying to shield him from things he has to see or do.

It's just that this event feels so underwhelming precisely because it's overlapping with a zutara moment - and in the tierlist of zutara moments, this particular one is Just Another Tuesday; even one like this overshadows the penultimate Aang-Katara interaction and that's caught me by surprise. It took me till now to realize this moment was supposed to conclude Aang-Katara interactions in the show.

I think the whole season 3 was pretty scruffed and crumpled, but there really should have been a bigger emphasis on the resolution if the show wanted to keep the relationship between Katara and Aang a significant thread, and I'm not even talking about the romantic attempt.

[aroaceleovaldez]

i think a lot about how early-series, demigods are referred to pretty equally as "demigods," "half-bloods," and "godlings," - the last used particularly by gods at demigods - but after that "godlings" is almost exclusively used to refer to minor gods.

something something i am literally always chewing on the concept of the line between immortals/demigods/monsters/etc being thinner than it appears

[gonkaccino]

Season 4 hope/prediction: Deb's show is solid, zero issues, runs flawlessly with great ratings, but her personal life is completely eroding. We start with her discovering Marcus is leaving, and it culminates in DJ going into labor right before a taping. Deb chooses the show. When it's over, and she finally flies to Vegas, it's too late -- Aiden's not letting her in because he loves his wife too much to let DJ get into a shouting match with her mom right after giving birth, and instead takes the brunt of Deb's wrath, with her making excuses and talking about how they used her money for IVF, and anyway, DJ's fine, so who cares if she wasn't there? Kathy's in the room with DJ and the baby (DJ's the closest she has to a daughter, after all) and Deb leaves too furious to think about how badly she's hurt her family.

She heads back to her Vegas mansion -- empty, obviously, Josefina and the dogs would be in LA -- and pops open a bottle of wine. Alone. Completely alone. Can't call Marty, she has no friends, the closest she's got would be Kiki and wouldn't that be embarrassing, calling your poker dealer to talk about your feelings --

and then Ava's there. She got the news about DJ's labor, she got the story from Aiden (who was distraught, by the way, man's too much of a sweetheart for Vance drama), a spare key from Damian (happy to pawn that off on her, though if it isn't returned promptly he's taking legal action) and has arrived just in time to see the Deborah Vance having a breakdown the likes of which no one thought physically possible. Crying gives you wrinkles, you know. But Ava has to be here. She's the physical embodiment of a lesson Deb never truly learned: you don't have to like someone to love them.

In my imaginary fantasy land that I am concocting this would then subsequently lead into them fucking nasty but I understand that this may be a step too far for the surprisingly large number of very normal people who watch this show and would forgive JPL for not taking it that far. However I do believe they should fuck about it and let Ava take the reigns in their relationship while they see how many of Deb's bridges they can un-burn.

[spinnysocks]

hey *throws toxic tragic kiburi x ushari au at you*

kiburi wants to become the leader of his float. a snake has some bigger ideas for him. ushari says that kiburi can become leader of the pridelands too, then crocodiles will finally be respected to his standards. ushari wants respect for all reptiles. kiburi doesn't mind that. he believes him.

the plan fails, and he has nothing but his friends now. kiburi finds ushari, who offers him something in return for keeping his life. kiburi should kill him, but he doesn't.

kiburi meets scar, who ushari has complete trust in. if he follows scar, he could rule someday. with ushari by his side, reptiles could finally be respected. trusting him is working in his favour.

the army never wins. kiburi can feel every bruise, cut and scrape that doesn't have a chance to heal. he can see the weariness in his float from fighting every day. the pressure is destroying them all. ushari never gains a single tear in his perfect scales. scar rants and rages about how the army isn't good enough. ushari never has to face scar's wrath. maybe he was wrong to trust him, but there's no turning back now, there is nothing else. and traitors are no better than dead.

janja turns against them. he survives their attempt to kill him and finds happiness somehow. there is no peace for the army, so they're sure he was never really one of them. kiburi doesn't feel any guilt. scar promises this is the last battle to win the pridelands. ushari is sure of it, so kiburi is too.

and he was right. the army wins the very moment that ushari's venom infects kion's mind. there is nothing that the pridelanders can do. for once, there is victory for the army. for once, there is peace.

fire quickly takes over every patch of land in sight. all of it is theirs. kiburi's float will never have to get another wound again. they will never have to go hungry again. they will never have to share again. they will never be unhappy again. kiburi is glad he trusted ushari.

until all the lands had nothing left. there isn't enough water. his float are gone. kiburi barely manages to get by. this is all ushari's fault. such a smart snake should have known better.

ushari tricked him. those comforting words of ruling the lands were all false promises. everything was a lie, it must have been. scar's reign meant nothing could survive. such a smart snake should have known that.

ushari betrayed him, so kiburi makes sure he brings justice.

[egophiliac]

so on the subject of the "Crowley is secretly Revaan/Laverne/Levin/please Twst give us his name" theory, I think my feelings are best summed up as "I don't really buy it, but it's funny". like, in all seriousness, I'm not opposed to it; I have enjoyed the writing in Twst so far and I'm willing to trust that whatever happens will, you know, make sense and not be terrible. but I'm just not really convinced by the current evidence! maybe that'll change once we learn more, we'll see!

with that said, may I propose a few alternate theories about the possible Crowley/Revaan connection:

[faelapis]

journey to bethlehem SLAPS. it is so fucking extra. its so "high school musical but 5% more religious" that i genuinely had to double-check to make sure kenny ortega had nothing to do with it.

[shorthaltsjester]

re the first three tlovm s3 episode title teaser fr. vex getting [redacted] while standing in front of percy . i will undoubtedly have Thoughts about plot n adaption once the whole season is out but i will say people acting like vex potentially dying again is a betrayal of the arc is . i say this politely. ridiculous. vex’s most common habit aside from haggling and flirting in campaign 1 was being knocked unconscious. she required full ass resurrection spells on four separate occasions. we currently have no idea what the shape of any arc in season 3 will look like beyond broad strokes and teasing shots. if they end up wanting to incorporate the exandrian magic lore of it’s harder to come back each time you die, vex seems like the obvious opportunity to do so. please at the very least save the panic posting for when you actually have something to panic about .