#hey fun fact we never claimed to have did! we don't!

[theangstking]

yo what the fuck is this shit.

does anyone realize how. Not fucking okay this is?

I'm not even triggered rn I'm just mad and confused lmfao

oh yeah btw. what's happening here is, someone dug up our trigger list SOMEHOW. and is just genuinely sending us things from it. like...they literally copy pasted things from it.

does this count as anon hate???? fuckin, baby's first proper anon hate after How Many Years ig??? LMFAO???

this is mostly just confusing and funny more than anything?? I'm pissed off too sure but like. What??? The hell did they think they were going to accomplish???? there is not a name or face to this.

ohhhhh WEH WEH cry whine throw a fit some random fucking person on the internet that we don't even know the name of decided we're worth HARASSING. LMFAO???

[andy-wm]

I’ve just been listening to a podcast about the fabric of reality, and came on here for a bit of downtime. And lo and behold, you’re talking about reality and time passing, and that’s exactly it.

No matter what we think, no matter what we say, or theorise or claim, we don’t alter the truth, and that stands for everything that doesn’t pertain to us.l and our own lives.

I can think the earth is flat till the cows come home (I don’t, obviously) but that doesn’t alter reality. 

Same goes for Jimin and JKs relationship. I’ve seen people claim wild theories, bending and stretching to reach conclusions far outweighing a k drama or blockbuster movie, whereas I personally, think mundanely and simply, that they are together. 

Whose right? We don’t know. 

That’s the truth. We don’t know. 

We may never know, we may find out one day?. 

I’m saying this with a smile on my face because that’s the beauty of life right, as long as we are not harming others, or coming into others spaces and shouting. As long as we aren’t being disrespectful to others, and to Jikooks bond. 

I will say this though, an actual truth people seem to forget or quickly dismiss across the fandom as a whole, is that those men chose to enlist together and whatever we may think of their relationship that is what happened and we should do well to remember that. 

Hey Anon, that's what i call serendipity.

And I love this ask, thank you!

I absolutely agree, what we know - or think we know - has no impact on what truly is.

Even when we believe we know all there is to know, new discoveries and new understanding mean - hopefully - we're constantly learning and reassessing.

When it comes to Jikook, Occam's razor is my go-to: the simplest explanation is, in fact, usually the best. We don't need convoluted plots and schemes and conspiracy theories. There's enough information staring us in the face.

Sometimes we need to untangle that information - I'm not saying we should accept everything on face value - and we do have to look out for new information so we can adjust our understanding.

But that is the case with everything on earth. There is no static knowledge.

These things add layers of richness and complexity but they don't change the basic premise of our underatanding.

That understanding, for me, is that these two humans love each other.

As you say, there ARE things we definitely know, like their companion enlistment.

Like the fact that Jimin chose to have JK with him - next to him - when he talked about his depression on Beyond The Star.

We know Jimin flew 28 hours so he could spend 3 days with JK in NY and Connecticut.

We know that JK was ready to crack Yoongi on the head with a frypan when he though Jimin might have been hurt (by a 5g shuttlecock).

We know that JK never harms Jimin - in all the games and jokes they play, he never targets Jimin (spraying his butt with a watergun is not targeting him, before anyone gets huffy. That did Jimin no harm at all.)

We know that Jimin worried over how hard JK was working.

We know JK begged Jimin shamelessly in front of millions of people, to do a weverse live together.

We know JK watched and hyped all Jimin's footage when he was promoting FACE.

We know they jumped into the comments of one another's livestreams several times last year.

We know all these things, but imagine what we don't know.

There's so much we have no idea about.

Hours and hours of footage that never reaches our screens. Months of time they spend together or alone or with family or friends. That's as it should be - their their private lives are just that - private.

Yes, I have a lot of fun picking apart the little glimpses we get into their lives because i enjoy their dynamic so much and because I'm naturally curious (okay, yes, I'm nosy 🤣).

I look deeper not because I'm hunting for lies or flaws, but because these two delight me. Sure I speculate, but i don't purport to know what they are to each other or where their boundaries lie. And I'm happy not to know. Some things are none of my business.

Like you, Anon, I accept that i may never know the true nature of their relationship, and I'm quite okay with that.

In the end what does it matter?

Whatever they are to each other, they're happy, and honestly what more is there to life than love and happiness?

💜💛

[roosterforme]

Batting Practice Part 18 | Rooster x Reader

Summary: Tee ball season is almost over, and the Tiny Eagles are still undefeated. You are starting to feel bolder in your personal life, like you are ready to claim everything you are entitled to. And Bradley is subtly letting you know he's along for more than just the ride.

Warnings: Smut, fluff, angst and swearing

Length: 3800 words

Pairing: Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw x Female single!mom Reader

Check my masterlist for more Top Gun fun! Batting Practice masterlist.

"Only two more weeks of tee ball left," Molly murmured as she sipped her coffee next to you on the bleachers. 

You paused to think about that. It was only two months ago that you met Bradley, and a lot had changed since you caught yourself stuttering in his presence that first day. After he brought you flowers and lunch to work on Wednesday, he'd met you at your house that night. One thing led to another, and now you knew Bradley loved being called Lieutenant Bradshaw in bed. 

"Two more weeks," you agreed. You'd be sad when tee ball ended, but Bradley had been telling you for the past week since the Phillies game that he'd work on some skills with Everett during the summer. 

"Go Ev!" Molly shouted when he hit the ball really hard and scored a run against the Tiny Robins. It was Crazy Socks day, and Everett had talked you into ordering him a pair from the Phillies website. You had a second pair stashed away for Bradley's birthday, which you found out from Bob was a week after Everett's.

You clapped along with your sister as you watched Everett run the bases in his red and white striped socks, but your mind was wandering elsewhere. 

"You know what you said about Danny last time we talked about him?" you asked, and Molly scoffed. 

"You mean how I called him an incompetent man-child? Or how I told you he doesn't deserve to lick the bottoms of your shoes?"

"Neither," you replied, smiling as both Bradley and Bob waved in your direction at the same time. You waved your fingers at Bradley and smiled. "I'm actually talking about child support. And the fact that he never pays it."

"Ohhhh, you wanna have that conversation now?" Molly asked, giving you a bland look. "Ev is almost seven years old."

"Yeah," you replied softly. 

You could see the fire in Molly's eyes, but she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "You've paid for everything. Take him to court. Seriously. Please, take him to court. I would love nothing more than to help you pay for it. Who's your lawyer? I'll send them a check today."

"I don't need your money," you told her firmly for the hundredth time. But now you were finally feeling like you wanted to do something about this. Why had you been okay with letting Danny get away with so much shit before? Everett deserved the whole world, and you were going to try to give it to him. "I'm going to give him one more chance to either be more involved with Ev or start paying for support."

Molly set her empty cup down and said, "Look at me." You met her eyes, and she looked much more serious than she usually did, which gave you a chill. "What are you going to do when Danny won't do either of those things?"

You pressed your lips together to keep the tingling sensation of tears out of your eyes and nose. "I'm going to stop being a doormat."

Molly kissed your cheek and pulled you against her side just as the game was ending. 

------------------------------

"Still undefeated!" Everett cheered as Bradley carried him on his shoulders up to the parking lot after the game against the Tiny Robins ended in a victory for the Tiny Eagles.

"Hey, Coach Bob," Bradley called, and Bob turned around, still holding Molly's hand. "You better start writing your speech for when you win Coach of the Year. The team is undefeated with two games left!"

"You'll have to give a speech, too," Bob said as he adjusted his glasses. "The award goes to both coaches, not just one."

"Undefeated! Undefeated!" Everett chanted. You were walking next to Bradley shaking your head and smiling. 

Bradley looked at you as he said, "Ev is the best on the team, Kitten. He's really good." Everett continued to chant as Bradley added, "I'm going to plan out the whole summer with visits to the batting cages, pitching in the park, and learning more about all of the different positions. He'll be ready for baseball next spring. No more tee ball." Bradley couldn't remember being this excited about baseball since he was a kid trying out for his first team. 

"He's really that good at it?" you asked. "Thank goodness I signed him up for tee ball."

"Yeah," Bradley agreed, "for more than one reason."

You opened the back door to your car, and Bradley deposited Everett into his booster seat at the same time that Molly climbed in through the other door and tried to buckle herself into the seat. Bradley chuckled while Everett practically screeched with laughter, and then you wrapped your arms around his waist.

"I'm going to buy tickets for the Pittsburgh Pirates game on Everett's birthday," you told him. "Molly and Bob are coming, too."

Bob perked up when he heard his name. "No, Molly and I are going to buy all the tickets. For his birthday present."

"I thought I'd get them for everyone," Bradley said with a frown. "My treat, again."

"I already bought them!" Molly shouted from inside the car as Everett tickled her until she was wheezing. 

"She's so annoying," you said, resting your head against Bradley's chest. "She wants me to save my money for my lawyer."

Bradley jerked his head back and coaxed you to look up at him. "A lawyer for what?"

"Don't worry about it," you whispered before you returned to snuggling against him. 

But he wanted to know what was wrong. "Are you okay? Is Ev? Is this about Danny? What can I do?"

"We're okay, Bradley."

"Kitten. You can talk to me about it."

"I know," you replied, squeezing him tighter. "We're okay for now."

"Well, that's settled then," Molly said as she climbed out of the car with her clothes all dishevelled. "Everett defeated me in the tickle fight, so I owe him a movie. I'll pick him up tomorrow after lunch."

You looked up at Bradley with a smirk on your face. "Any chance you're free for a little bit tomorrow after lunch?"

----------------------------------

Later that night, you called Danny after sending him texts throughout the day telling him you needed to talk to him.

You were happy you had waited until Everett was in bed to make the call, because as soon as Danny answered with a bark of, "Yes?" you felt anxious. 

"Danny," you replied, gripping the edge of the counter so you wouldn't lose your resolve. "Hi."

"What do you need? I'm trying to work."

You squeezed the counter harder and took a deep breath. "Let me know when you have time to spend a day with Everett. I think you need to make that more of a priority."

You were met with silence. 

"Danny?"

"I'm here. You know I don't have time for this."

You pressed your lips together and held back your tears. "He is your son, Danny. You need to make time for him."

More silence spread out before you. Honestly, you wanted to start screaming into the phone, but you knew you shouldn't. Nobody could upset you with just a small handful of words the way your ex husband could.

When you got no response, you took a deep breath and said, "If you're not going to give him some of your time, then you need to start making up for it by paying us child support."

"Child support?" he asked with a laugh. "You know I don't have a steady income like you do." 

You took a deep breath. "I understand that, but providing for Everett shouldn't solely land on my shoulders here, Danny."

"Listen," he replied smoothly. "I have a huge gallery event coming up next month. I'll probably have some more spending money then."

He was trying to manipulate you the way he always had. You'd spent years listening to him try to validate his excuses, and somehow he always got you to agree with him. You didn't need to fall into these traps any longer. Not when you had Molly in your corner. Not when you knew Bradley cared about Everett's happiness.

"Taking care of your son doesn't fall under the same category as extraspending money." You said it before you gave yourself a chance to process your words, and somehow you felt a little stronger. "So then I guess he can come spend a day with you instead?"

"Fine," Danny snapped immediately. "But I'll probably be working, so he's going to have to play on his iPad or something."

His iPad that you paid for. "Sure," you agreed, knowing this was probably too good to be true. "He's going to love to see you no matter what. So how does next Sunday sound?"

And then you ended the call feeling better than you ever had after a conversation with Danny. You poured yourself a glass of wine and carried it up to your bathroom. You filled your tub while you removed your makeup, and then you sank down into a delicious bubble bath. 

You texted Molly about your conversation, and she wrote back saying SLAY YOU QUEEEEEN BITCH. DO NOT FUCK WITH MY SISTER. 

You were still laughing when Bradley texted to ask what you were up to. He had gone out to that aviator hangout bar with his friends, so of course it made you feel even giddier that he was texting you while he was there. 

When you told him you were in the bath he wrote back while you sipped your wine.

Bradley Bradshaw: Pics or it didn't happen

You snorted into your wine glass and took some strategically posed selfies. Finally you took a good one where the swell of your breasts was pronounced above the bubbles, and your knee was peeking above the water next to your glass. You sent it to him, and you did not have to wait long for a response. 

Bradley Bradshaw: Kitten, please baby, you're teasing me. I can only take so much.

You laughed and sent him a second photo where he could see your nipples.

Bradley Bradshaw: You are so fucking hot. And now my dick is hard. In the middle of a game of pool. 

You sent teasing texts back and forth while you finished your wine, and he reminded you that he'd be there tomorrow afternoon. And then he sent you a list of all the dirty little things he wanted to do to you. You dreamed about his mouth and his mustache all night long.

And the next day, as soon as Molly picked Everett up to take him to see the movie, you ran up the stairs, two at a time and dashed into your room. You dug around in the bottom drawer of your dresser and pulled out everything you needed. Bradley would be here in just a few minutes, and you'd been wet and worked up for him since last night.

You shimmied into the tight black bodysuit and fastened the choker around your neck before securing the ear headband in place as well. Then you found some sheer black socks that went up over your knees and added them to your Kitten outfit. When you looked in the mirror, you squealed with delight. You turned and checked yourself from different angles. Not bad. Not bad at all. 

You were thinking about how Bradley barely even got a chance to touch you the last time you wore this kitten costume that day at tee ball. You were thinking about how you bought this outfit just for him in the first place. When you heard the Bronco pull into your driveway, you were practically squeezing your legs together to keep from moaning. 

When you made it to the bottom step, you heard Bradley's key in the door, and somehow that made you even hotter. You were afraid you were going to jump on him, so you kept your hand wrapped around the bannister as he opened your front door. 

"Hi, Coach," you said, your voice laced with need as you waved your fingers at him. 

"Oh, god." His groan was so deep and loud, you clenched around nothing as he blindly slammed and locked the door. He let his keys, wallet and hat fall right to the floor as you whimpered. 

"Coach." Your voice quivered as he approached you slowly. "Bradley."

You almost matched up to his height as you were still standing on the bottom step. He was close to you now, licking his lips and breathing faster. He let his knuckles trail slowly up and down over your bodysuit between your breasts, and soon you were panting for him. 

His grin was smug as he asked you, "Did you wear this for me?"

You nodded your head as he stroked your hard nipples through the thin fabric. "Just for you, Lieutenant Bradshaw."

And then his head tipped back as he groaned, and you felt so powerful. You guided his hand down your belly and between your legs, and he met your eyes again. "You're already wet."

"I've been wet since we were texting last night," you admitted. And then you were draped over his shoulder with his big hand on your butt while he hauled you back upstairs. 

-----------------------------

Bradley had been thinking about you in your Kitten costume for weeks, but he hadn't been expecting you to be wearing it today. It was even filthier looking this time, as you paired it with black socks that hugged your thighs instead of your jeans. You skipped the whiskers, but you were wearing your choker. Your collar.

As he took you up to your bed, you were whimpering his name as he stroked his fingers along your ass and your thighs. You were soaking wet. He could feel it when he dug his hand between your legs to tease you as he reached your bedroom.

When he set you down, you crawled across the bed, showing off your ass for him before you settled with your back against the pillows. Bradley was tearing his shoes off followed by his clothing as he watched you run your hands over your bodysuit, squeezing your tits. 

"Do you have any idea what you look like right now?" he asked, crawling across the bed to get to you.

"A Kitten?" you asked softly, fingers skimming over your taut nipples. 

"My Kitten," he growled. "You look like you're mine. My own personal Kitten with a wet pussy and filthy red lips." He kissed you hard, pushing your head back against the pillow while he ran his fingers along the strip of fabric that was barely covering your slit. 

When you moaned into his mouth, he released your lips in favor of running his nose and tongue along that sinful red choker on your neck.

"Lieutenant Bradshaw, sir," you whined, and his cock ached with need. "Please."

He was sucking on all of your exposed skin, tasting every inch. You were grinding up against his hand as he palmed your core through your bodysuit. "I'll take care of you," he promised, kissing your choker and your necklace chain at the same time. "You keep your claws tucked away like a good girl, and I'll take such good care of you."

Then he released the snaps between your legs that were keeping you concealed, and the bodysuit was open. You rubbed yourself against his knuckles, and his fingers slid right through your slick slit. You shook your head against the pillow, and your headband with the ears went a little crooked. 

"I am so turned on," you gasped. "I don't think I have ever been this turned on before."

You were whining for him and rubbing your stocking covered leg along his cock. But your eyes were still alert, and he wanted them glazed and fucked out. 

"I'm gonna eat your pussy," he told you, nibbling your nipples through the fabric as you gasped in agreement. "But I'm not going to stop until I'm ready to. Does that sound okay?"

"Yes sir, Coach Bradley, sir!"

"Kitten, look at me," he said, still stroking your clit softly with his knuckle. "That means I decide when you're done."

"Yes!"

And then he put his mouth on your pussy, and it was exquisite. Just like last time. But maybe even better, because he was going to make you lose your mind for him. He wrapped his arms around your thighs and spread you open wide, kissing your hole as he buried his nose in your wetness.

He started off slow, teasing and licking, and then your fingers were in his hair. Your little gasps and words of encouragement made him smile, but as soon as he took your clit between his lips, you got loud. Really loud. Bradley was delighted that you could be as loud as you wanted to, because he was addicted to the feel of your smooth pearl, your perfect clit under his tongue.

"Bradley!"

You were thrusting up against his face, and he dipped his tongue inside you as your wetness coated his chin. He loved this. He loved eating pussy. He knew he was good at it. But you were too perfect. Everything he liked. Everything he wanted. He needed you. He released your left leg and shoved two rough fingers inside you as he eased himself up your body to kiss those pretty red lips. 

"You taste so fucking good. Like a damn kitten in heat," he told you as you ran your tongue along his chin. You kitten licked his face and whimpered while he finger fucked you harder. Your hands wound tight up in his hair were a little painful, but it just made him go harder. 

Your eyes were already starting to drift closed and he kissed you, smiling against your mouth. "Remember. You're done when I say you're done."

His words made you keen, and he could feel you starting to squeeze his fingers as he put his mouth back on your clit and sucked gently. That first orgasm came screaming out of you as your hips bucked and shook against the mattress. But Bradley was already working on the next one as you gasped his name over and over again.

With his tongue moving in languid strokes as you started to calm down, Bradley managed to coax you close to the edge again. This time you released his hair in favor of wrapping your hands in your pillowcase. 

"What the fuck," you gasped, gaping at him and meeting his eyes as you rode his tongue to another orgasm. Your forehead was scrunched up in disbelief as you gasped, sounding scandalized that he did it twice.

But he wasn't done yet. He ground his cock down into your bedding, bucking for some relief against the delicious show that all of his senses were being treated to. Because now you looked truly exhausted, and your fingers were unable to get purchase in his hair. He kissed and nibbled on your inner thigh as he ran his calloused fingertips over your sensitive, overworked clit until you were whining softly. 

"It's okay, Kitten. I love you," Bradley promised, and you nodded wordlessly. And sure enough, after several more minutes, you hiccuped a few times as you came again for him. Your pussy softly pulsing around his middle finger as you gasped had him palming his cock. 

He was about to cum. Quickly, he positioned himself so he was on his knees with your left thigh between his legs. He never removed his middle finger from inside you while he stroked himself a half a dozen times. And then he was spurting his cum all over your pussy and your belly and your bodysuit. 

You didn't even seem to know what was going on as you shook your head against the pillow and wiped at your tears. 

"You okay?" he asked softly, and he smiled. Because your eyes were glazed, your face looked fucked out, and your body was limp, connected to his by his one finger inside you. "God, you're fucking glorious."

A soft laugh escaped your lips while Bradley stroked your cheek with his thumb, and you nuzzled against him like a kitten.

---------------------------

You had your arms draped lazily around Bradley's neck as he showered with you. For a split second, he had been nervous that he might have ruined your bodysuit when he came, but you assured him you could always buy another one. Honestly, you thought the splashes of his white cum on your skin and the dark fabric looked sinfully good. 

"You gonna wear that outfit again for me?" he asked, running his fingers along the little paw print charm he got you where it rested next to your collarbone. 

"Do you really need me to?" you challenged. "You just took a bunch of photos of me half wearing it with your cum all over me. Shouldn't that be enough?"

He kissed you, gently pulling your bottom lip between his before he said, "No way. Those are for when I'm deployed. I'm gonna want the real thing again and again."

You felt a jolt of reality. "Do you know when you're getting deployed again? Do I need to start preparing myself to miss you?"

"No," he murmured, kissing along your neck as the spray from the shower calmed you. "When I find out, you'll be the first to know, Kitten. And I must admit," he added, pausing on a deep inhale that left you with bated breath, "I do love the idea of being missed. By you. And Ev."

You didn't know what to say as you snuggled up against him for a few minutes before you eventually turned off the water. You'd been in a relationship with him for a week. One week. And you already daydreamed about when he'd move in with you. You were already thinking about where all of his stuff would fit in your house. But it was too soon. And you didn't know if he'd want to permanently be here at all. 

But you did say, "Everett and I already miss you when we're not with you," and he smiled. 

"Speaking of Ev," he said, drying off his legs. "It's getting late. Do you want me to be here when they get back?"

You only had to consider that for a beat. "Yeah."

Bradley met your eyes as he pulled his underwear on. "Can I help him with his homework? Or do something else to make things easier for you?"

In that moment, you wanted to tell him everything that had happened on the phone with Danny. You wanted to tell him that you and Molly had talked about a lawyer. But all you said was, "I love you."

------------------------- 

Kitten dressing as the kitten again. Kitten making demands of Danny. Kitten getting what she deserves from Coach! Love to see it. Thanks to @beyondthesefourwalls and @mak-32!

PART 19

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[agentoffangirling]

Season 1 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is not bad. It really isn't. To both a longtime fan and a complete newcomer to the MCU, it would not be seen as a bad show if they just did more than surface research on it

If you look at the ratings on Rotten Tomatoes for the show overall, it has a 95%. 89% for s1. On IMDB, 7.5/10, with their lowest episode being only 7.1/10. Critics like it, audiences like it

So why is it that it is viewed so negatively by a large majority of Marvel fans? And to that I say: they never stuck around till the end of the season

See, when AoS was coming out, there was massive hype around it. Marketing would have you think that it was some type of Avengers crossover, with people like Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff showing up every other episode (but hey, this is Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Not Agents of T.H.O.R.)

This is what led to the massive turnout of 11 million viewers for that first episode, but when it turned out to be a show about S.H.I.E.L.D. featuring new people, like it always was supposed to be, people very quickly tuned out

(Even tho, hey, it's a SPY show and you only watched 1 EPISODE. Give it some time)

But most didn't give it time. They wanted to see Hawkeye and Fury and Maria go on adventures that would stand the test of time, fighting Loki and essentially just being mini Avengers, and when that didn't happen, they left. They wrote early reviews claiming that the show didn't meet expectations and wasn't worth the time. You get a very sharp dip from episode 1 bc marketing claimed this was an Avengers show, and people felt that it fell short

Those reviews are what Marvel fanboys use now, without ever watching the show themselves or pointing out that they're literally 11 years old. They bring the idea that the show is boring and lazy, putting aside the fact that basically everything else from it is called innovating and jaw-dropping. They praise the use of THEIR ideas in other Marvel shows, but call it plain in their home territory. They don't bother

So hey, if you're planning on watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., please ignore literally everything those fanboys say. They haven't watched the show, those early reviews couldn't stand watching past episode 2, just ignore them. Trust the fandom when we say that not only is season 1 perfectly fine, it's truly amazing fun, and so many of the plotlines they executed in that season are incredible

Because if we all stopped at season 1, there wouldn't be any shows

[centrally-unplanned]

Stumbled on this 1992 interview with Michael Crichton about his 90's Japan Scare novel Rising Sun, which is very fun. For one, Crichton is a Perotist!

Question: “Rising Sun” makes a strong argument that Japanese business is unfairly aggressive and Americans are foolish to have tolerated this unfairness for so long. Is that a decent synopsis? Answer: Not exactly. Let me just restate it. In the immortal words of my hero, Ross Perot: “It’s not a two-way street. It never has been a two-way street. It’s not their fault.” It’s our fault.

His 90's "Declinist America Needs Protectionism" vibe really comes through in the whole interview, you forget these days due to Trump how much of a Type of Guy that was and how intellectual-coded it could be in that era of dominant "unreflective" neoliberalism.

Anyway, we certainly did talk about race in the 90's!

Q: Do you consider the Japanese racist? A: [...] We’re talking about a historically inward-looking nation, an island nation, largely monoracial. That’s a good structure in which to have the rise of feelings of superiority about your own people as opposed to other people in the world. Of course, these broad statements can’t be applied to the individual Japanese person. One of the things that Americans, as a multiracial society, feel is a tremendous sensitivity to racial comments of all kinds. In the book, one of the things I tried to say to Americans was: Hey, while you’re tiptoeing around the race issue, your competitors are a monoracial country, very much aligned, and tend to hold in common beliefs that would astound you.

Narrator: America did not, in fact, "tiptoe" around the race issue.

But to be clear it isn't like this is super wrong or anything - 90's Japan absolutely was a "racist country" if such a thing is possible, most countries are, and its geographic isolation and relative lack of modern immigrants at that time certainly did contribute to that. What I instead find amusing is the idea that this is a threat to the US; the implication is that, because Japan is a racist country, when they rule the world economically they will in some way impose that racist worldview upon us. Which, I don't really think that is how free trade works? Might have watched too much Gunbuster on this one buddy.

We of course have the classics of Japan Scare:

Q: Has the continued decline in the Japanese stock market, their falling real-estate value and shrinking foreign investment caused you to rethink your views of Japanese-American business dealings? A: No, not at all. I’ve not seen figures on what the growth of the Japanese GNP will be this year. You hear stories about economic distress in Japan, but you see that the growth rate is going down to 4% from 5%. If this country had a 4% growth rate, we’d all feel like we were pumped full of testosterone.

-😬😬😬-

Narrator: it did not stop going down at 4%.

What i love most is how you see the same exact arguments about American "economic weakness" you see today, but with the dates/countries swapped around:

Q: What allowed us to contribute so willingly to our own weakening? Greed? Altruism? Shortsightedness? Arrogance? A: (following a large sigh) You have to look back at broad time periods. It’s possible now to argue that Americans have had no increase in real earnings power since 1962. Some economists would dispute that, and set the date at 1973. Either way, the country is in a steady, consistent and ongoing decline. Why? That’s an extended conversation. 

Obviously since then US living standards have gone up quite a lot! You definitely *cannot* argue that they did not go up since 1962, that is in fact an insane claim. You can't argue they haven't gone up since the 90's either. Even in Japan they have, they definitely have in Europe, economies grow in general. And of course the classic "American companies are all gambling now":

No one invests in a company anymore, in the way it was done in the ‘50s, say, because they believe the company is good. They buy because they think the price of the stock will rise or fall. What this means is that American managers are obliged to manage in the short term. There’s no incentive for an investor to hang on with a company for the long term. In Japan, savings--up to a certain point--are tax free. Why is that not also true in America? You want savings? Then don’t tax it as ordinary income.

I will leave posting a list of the most high-value companies over the past 30 years as an exercise for the reader; you don't need it, you already know them. But I certainly see versions of this dancing around today, and you definitely saw it in 2008 all over the place.

No real skin off Crichton's back, to be clear - prediction is hard, he isn't an economist, most will be wrong. Just funny how the ideological churn keeps spinning.

[pruneunfair]

COBYB shit list (Rage post).

This isn't really an actual analysis or anything like that. Just a vent post to get out the frustrations of how willfully ignorant COBYB stans are.

It's all being a "girls girl" until it's this shit

When a woman wants to act obsessive and the man doesn't reciprocate, the woman is a creepy bitch who needs to go while the man is comforted by the audience and celebrated for rejecting the stalker (as it should be)

When a sexy man wants to be obsessive and abuse a girl to get out his frustrations of being in lust with someone who can't say no to him, she's just "rejecting her true feelings" and the man just doesn't know how to show his love in a normal way.

knowing damn well that this story would be treated as the psychological horror it truly is if Matthias looked like Marquess Sergev from I thought my time was up. Pretty privilege is so real right now.

"Oh he chose to do nothing against his bitchy mom! Kyle isn't deserving of Layla for being such a coward!"

"Matthias on the other hand buys Layla gifts even when he hurts her because he really does love her! It's the nobilities fault he's like this! He apologized in the end didnt he? 😢 he just doesn't know how to properly show his love!"

Be real: Everyone would adore her for "protecting her fiancé" and would sympathize with her if she was the lead of a basic isekai or regression.

Bro will meet this girl when she's 12 and get bliss out of torturing birds knowing it makes her cry and you still have people diagnosing Layla with BPD and absolving Matthias of all blame.

Hey guys, is this the look of a pleasured young woman after a so-called "fun night" in the woods?

You tell me?

Matthias can do whatever the hell he wants and it's just "He's a red flag but I'm color blind 😏" but GOD FORBID I defend Ari.

What? I thought you people LOVED toxic relationships as long as the guy is conventionally hot?

Layla gets coerced into being a mistress against her will so her uncle Bill will be safe and people STILL claim that it was not SA because she "consented" after her only remaining family members future was held as leverage.

"Who does she think she is? Kissing Matthias right in front of Layla 🙄"

His fiancé? And don't give me that "it was an arranged marriage" crap because we all know the manhwa community doesnt give a damn as evident by OTHER manhwas.

Plot twist: The ending wasn't actually Layla getting lobotomized by the plot to love Matthias. She just knew that man was never going to quit until she either accepted or he takes a page out of the song Sarah from Tyler the creator.

Yall know that "Grandma, you little victim." Meme that originated in tiktok? That's basically the best way to describe Laylas future when she grows old.

"If you don't like it, don't read, you're just justice farming for views 😒"

First of all, would you believe me if I said I got a basic summary of what happened thanks to getting a ton of COBYB related posts on tiktok and Instagram videos that were being extremely vague and gaslit you into thinking it was romance? (Yes, I did find the rest of the chapters to read so I could actually make a verified post but to begin with, I already knew a basic idea of what was happening.)

Second of all: if this were just some random 🍇 and degrading fetish comic on a porn site with little people defending it, I wouldn't feel the need to care. (EX: I don't make any abandoned empress posts because everyone already hates it so there's no need to say what has been said a million times already) this is a gross porn novel that was put on a site mostly inhabited by 10-16 year old girls that makes stalking and 🍇 look sexy thanks to the artstyle and the ML being a buff BTS blow up doll and instead of it being called out, you got THOUSANDS of people tarnishing the name of dark romance so they can justify a grapist while pretending to be girl's-girl's instead of coming to terms with the fact that the comic with a beautiful artstyle is grade A garbge.

[gyuv1nist]

angel

han yujin x reader

whilst school trips were fun, your school decided to ruin it by designating pairs which you HAD to stay with to ensure maximum safety. fun right? it might’ve been if you had at least spoken to your pair once before. which you didn’t….

you were paired up with the school’s notorious heartthrob, han yujin. he wasn’t a player neither did he cater to all the attention he got. he just wanted to have fun with his friends and attempt to survive education. “so, coach rides huh?” he asks, as you stand outside the school waiting for the coach to pull up. the poor boy was terrified of you but refuses to let it ruin the trip especially considering his love for everland. 

you wouldn’t call yourself popular in any way, but you certainly had a friend group which was deemed exclusive by everyone else. the unspoken rule was to never approach your group unless you approach them first, which was utter bullshit which none of you guys have said. but being the shy boy he was- he followed that rule. 

“you aren’t great at starting conversations huh?” you smile, eyes lifting from your phone, looking at the boy standing in front of you. curse that unspoken rule, he’s actually kinda cute? “to be honest, i hate coaches. they have that smell which make me feel like throwing up everything in my system, so excuse me if i don’t talk much once we get on.” 

for whatever reason, his eyes cast to your hands, where he must’ve seen your cute little ring which had angel wings and a gem in the middle which he assumed was your birth stone. “nice ring.”

was he really this awkward at making conversation with people?

“thanks!” your smile widens and you get up, noticing the coach finally arriving. even if it was where the cool kids sat, you absolutely refuse to sit at the back- it was too noisy and made you feel like shit.

by the time he snaps back into reality, he notices you've already gone ahead to enter the coach and he awkwardly jogs ahead of everyone attempting to catch up with you. whilst making small talk, you realise he’s been waiting to go to everland for so long so being the nice person you are, you whip out your phone and made a list of all the rides he wants to go on, which he absolutely adored.  

there was a simple rule which you guys had to follow: stay with your pair until the end or else you’ll have to stick with the teachers for the rest of the trip. you walk through the park, taking in the vibrant colours of the carnival games, the sweet smell of cotton candy, and the bright lights of the ferris wheel. the air is filled with the scent of freshly popped popcorn and the sizzle of hot dogs on the grill. you can feel the cool breeze on your skin, which makes the warm day comfortable and perfect for outdoor activities. 

as you and yujin wait in line for the rollercoaster, your nerves start to get the better of you and on the other hand yujin, who claims he’s usually fearless, seems to be feeling the same way. “i don't know if i can do this," he says, his voice shaking.

“it’s fine! it looks fun.” was it really smart to try to reassure someone when your voice was dripping with anxiety? you both climb into your seats, hearts racing. the coaster slowly climbs up the first hill, and you could swear that the handlebars were going to break from the iron grip you had on them.

you feel the force of the break and the harness loosen and you grab anything that’s in your reach to climb out the seat, still laughing and gasping for breath.

“hey come on! there’s way more we need to get through!” you giggle, grabbing his hand and dragging him to other rides. you weren’t usually so open so quickly, but there was something about yujin which made you feel comfortable, even if half the time he was in his own little world. plus, everything seems more exciting when you have adrenaline surging through your body.

and he was truly in his own little world, he couldn’t shake the fact that he loves how the your hand feels in his and can't help but steal glances at you every once in a while. he finds you adorable, seeing how excited you were lost in your own paradise.

whilst looking up proudly at the ride that was next, you notice he’s relatively quiet. uh oh, you didn’t take it too far with the hand holding did you? i mean, he definitely would’ve let go by now right? you tug on his hand and wave one of yours in his face.

“sorry, what were you saying?" 

“i said let's go on this ride!" you point, pulling yujin towards the entrance. after being dragged like a puppy on a leash several times (with no complaints of course) you both sit on a bench, convinced that you have whiplash from all the rides you just sped through. “hey i think i’m gonna sit the next one out.” you exhale, wanting to sink into the ground. “or, if you want we can go for something calmer.” you suggest, looking around for possible attractions that wouldn’t make you feel like your bones were in a blender.  

“anything you want angel.” pause. 

oh shit, does adrenaline give you rizz as well? 

“wait, oh my god that was not meant to come out no- wait i’m so sorry-.” whilst attempting to keep your own feelings and reactions in check, you look up at him and smile, cheeks tinted pink.

 “it’s completely fine love, i like that nickname.” you grin, hoping that the blush that was rapidly spreading across your cheeks wasn’t too obvious. he reaches both his hands out and you take them willingly, letting him lead you to the next ride. you had no clue as to why you were suddenly so flustered by him, this was the first time you actually had spoken to him properly. 

after walking for a while, he decides to go on a water ride. it seems calm and a lot of families are lining up for it, so it couldn’t be that extreme.

as you glide along the water ride with yujin, you feel the cool mist spraying onto your face and the gentle breeze blowing through your hair.  you can hear the sounds of the water rushing by and the screams of joy from other riders in the distance. the colours of the park seem to blur together as you watch everything move by in a peaceful, dreamlike manner. 

until you look down for a second and notice that your ring was missing. “where the fuck is my ring?” you almost stood up on the ride from the shock, you pat down your pockets and even check inside your shirt. there was no way it fell off, it was tight enough and you most definitely did not take it off on purpose. you look at the boy next to you and realise he’s a bit too stiff and nervous to be innocent.

“yujin, be completely honest with me right now. ” 

“wait, i’m trying to find your ring, i’m sorry to say it’s not in the water.” you raise an eyebrow and cross your arms, eyes straight on his hand which was almost red from how hard he was squeezing it.  

“did you take my ring?” 

and he has the audacity to act surprised, almost insulted at your ‘accusation.’ “angel! how dare you say that about me, i have been nothing but nice to you today.” 

unfortunately, you guys were too busy arguing to realise that the boat had been on a steep incline for a good few seconds. and before you knew it, you were clinging onto yujin’s side, screaming like there was no tomorrow and to make it even worse, a wall of water shoots up into the air and the rules of gravity states that whatever comes up… must come down. 

the wave of water crashes down on you and yujin, drenching you both from head to toe. the force of the splash almost knocks you off your seat, and you could swear it felt like you were drowning for a moment.

“yujin, you better get to the point of this before i push you into this water.”

“okay okay okay, i’ll give you your ring back if you let me take you on a date. it’s okay if you don’t want to i’ll still gi-”

“a date and a new outfit once we get off this ride.” 

-------------------

a/n : woooo yujin done! i feel like this also needs a part 2 tho... but i have been receiving sm love recently and it makes me so happy since i genuinely enjoy writing <333

[urproblematicfav-arsonk]

ok you made good points for the most part but something in your helluva post confuses me: how in the world has stolas been "sexually abusing octavia the entire series"?

going off of the definition of sexual abuse (rape, assault, trafficking, molestation, coercion, etc.) i cannot think of anything that even remotely points to evidence of that.

surely, SURELY you aren't claiming that just because he said something sexual on the phone in front of her? not even TO her or ABOUT her? that's a misstep for sure, but going so far as to call that sexual abuse is... just not correct.

maybe if he did it on purpose or specifically because she was around, but to me it reads like he forgot she was there and got caught up in the phone conversation. there's no evidence that it happened more than once either, so "the whole series" is a biiig stretch.

i REALLY hope that specific moment isn't what you mean, because that's the kind of claim that really softens the meaning of the term... but i really can't think of anything else that even suggests it.

I feel like theres definitely a way to say "Hey! We seem to disagree on this interpretation of this show! I have no fucking idea where you are coming from, can you explain?" Without turning it into a...definition....of rape.......to the rape victim........and also accusing said rape victim of "softening" language?? Would the term sexual harassment be better?? I personally think it's arbitrary to say "thats not technically sexual abuse, its just weird, stop calling it that" when it's something sexual.....that hurts someone?? Idk its semantics.

So anyway ignoring the vibes you brought to the table, I was talking to my irl friend about Helluva, back when the stolitz shit was happening. And I was complaining because of how CLEAR the abuse in that dynamic is to me. And he was like "I think cuz of your trauma that you're reading into it too much and taking it too seriously." And I was like "IF VIV WANTS POINTS FOR DOING SA REP, THEN IM GONNA TAKE EVERYTHING SUPER SERIOUSLY"

The difference between us is that I was sexually abused, and trafficked(not sex trafficked but still) so when I watch this show, I IMMEDIATELY pick up on things happening there. While he doesn't because he's """normal"""" and not traumatized, so he just sees fun dick joke show about dick and balls. I think a lot of this fandom is a mix of both. People like me picking up on signs, and other people who just are here for jokes and don't necessarily notice all the really bad shit because thats not exactly their lived experience. Completely understandable, I don't hold it against anyone for not noticing it the way I do. But I do see it, and wanna bitch about it.

We're in hell. This show is set in the actual human bible hell damnation hell for hell people. I think there's a way to read some characters as "uwu babies", but I'm not gonna. It's hell. In hell. I'm going to be giving no one the benefit of the doubt, and assume the worst in people until proven otherwise. Especially when the characters in question are dickbags who never actually change.

What Stolas is doing is...sexual harassment? Is that better??? Stolas is openly engaging in pretty intense kinkplay around his daughter and that is in fact, Bad.

(its also entirety possible Octavia knows that this dynamic is sexually violent and is forced to listen to her dad want to rape a guy, and no dont come telling me thats wrong too, fuck off.)

And as someone who's been through the exact same kind of trauma as Octavia, I can say it definitely fucked me up✨ The only thing I'll give Stolas is that it doesn't seem like he's been doing this around her since she was a small child like I was, but its still bad. That's still inappropriate behavior, that's still something he should know to stop immediately when he sees she's around. Octavia is a depressed, struggling teenager who needs love and support while dealing with this sudden divorce. Stolas spends EVERY episode that is supposed to be about them, either tryna fuck Blitz in front of her, or ignoring her to interact with Blitz and or yell at Stella.

Stolas' problem as a character(not a bad thing, this should be a story/character arc) is that he's deeply entitled, and doesn't see how is actions effect others. Stolas is upset that he was forced into marriage? Wow, isn't Stella such a bitch for doing that too him? No empathy for the woman also being raped and abused through this forced marriage. Stolas is gay and wants to fuck? Let's not think about the class difference, and that he's literally holding Blitz' survival in his hands in exchange for cock. Stolas wants the sexual experiences he was robbed of because of his trauma? Who cares if it destroys his family and makes his daughter feel worthless, he wants to sext. His arc should be about facing the fact that he's abusive, and hurtful. He is hurting Blitz, and Octavia with his sexual behavior. But if he was supposed to be a "good" character with "good intentions", then he should have no problem apologizing and ACTUALLY changing. Stolas doesn't seem upset that they're upset, he's upset he got "caught". He's upset Blitz demands respect and doesn't suck his dick the second he shows any remorse. He's upset that he can't fight Stella and fuck all he wants and instead has to deal with his moody teenager ACTUALLY needing attention and support. My comment about "the entire series" is because the only things we see are the bad parts of their relationship with no development, even if its only a few episodes.

Also since we're playing the virtue game, saying "but he didn't do it on purpose" is actual victim blaming and rapist apologist behavior so like, good job?? Saying rape or sexual abuse isn't as big of a deal just because it was an accident, or unintentional is definitely a take to have. Now, I'd say this is a stupid furry series that doesn't matter in the long run, but you're the one whining about language??

Anyway. Hazbin/Helluva are poorly made shows that annoy me. Pls stop fucking with people about shit like "softening" language and all that "real victims" and all that purity culture savior complex bullshit. Its super weird. Rambling times over, its like 5am im going back to sleep. Also I'm proship, this is media analysis not a moral thing except for the part where I was fucked with over language.

[beevean]

What did you think of Annette from Castlevania: Nocturne? Personally, her altered background did nothing but add even more filler nonsense on what is already a cramped season. And even then, her character arc took up more attention than Richter's, which is quite appalling since her arc had nothing to do with the main storyline (all it did was drag the show even more).

Not to mention, she spent most of the season hating on Richter for no reason, calling him a "child" and "useless as fuck" on certain occasions. I also can't forgive her for chastising Richter as a coward when he ran away at the sight of his mother's killer, when she literally blew their plan at the Chateau and indirectly killed Edouard when she saw Vaublanc, her mother's killer. And even then, no one blamed her for that, which makes it even worse since she constantly makes everything about her and her tragic past as a slave.

So the sudden hint at their romance was both cheap and forced as their chemistry is non-existent throughout the story. I still remember how Steve Stark, a background designer for both Netflixvania shows, fighting against the fans for this decisions, claiming:

"Go complain about something that matters."

Which by itself is a self-own. If it didn't matter like you claimed, why go through such lengths to change her entire character. Surely it must matter to you.

N!Annette should've been an original character while the original Annette is left well enough alone (to which I'm trying to do in the rewrite). And to dunk on the people who would say that game Annette had no personality and is pointless, need I remind you that Rosaly from Curse of Darkness never appeared in the game at all yet the writers behind the manga dedicated their time to flesh her out in the manga itself. So it's not the characters that are the problem, it's the writers.

Sorry about that whole rant. Caught myself blabbering there.

She is not a character. She is discourse bait, and as such, I don't engage with her or the discourse surrounding her seriously.

You pretty much said everything. Annette is insufferable because in theory her flaws make sense. She's brash, angry, has little patience for anyone, wants to do things her own way, maybe even looks down on "privileged" people out of mistrust and bitterness: all behaviors that I can see stemming from the background of a runaway slave. Her breakdown indirectly causing Edouard's death? We have a decent conflict here! (ignoring the fact that Edouard is also not a character so I don't really feel anything for him.) But then she becomes utterly infuriating when the asshole dares to make fun of Richter for his lack of magic, when he all but told her that he lost his powers due to his mother's death - or at the very least, he told her that his dead mother could do magic and maybe that would be a sore spot for him! And the worst part is, Maria and Tera are standing there with no reaction! Tera, you useless idiot, this stranger that already proved herself unreliable is pushing your adopted son's trauma button! Do something!

Same when Ricther runs away, she is all too happy to insult him, call him "useless as fuck", and you think that Cecile would knock some sense into her and be like "hey girl you also ran away from the man who hurt you and killed your mother, maybe don't be so quick to judge", but noooooooo we need to talk about how Annette's character is literally "ex-slave" (hey she says it, not me), culminating in her saying "as if those french people could ever understand us!" woman what is you doing could we please talk about Annette now and stop coddling her????????

And you can look around and think, oh, maybe they're right. Evil, violence, and oppression everywhere. Even these French with their high ideals. What do they know about what we've suffered? And what do they care? They'll build their new world, but it won't be freedom or equality or brotherhood for us.

You were drawing a parallel and trying to teach her empathy for someone that, before being a white European, is a victim of vampires and evil just like her, and you end up telling her that no one else will have empathy for her??????????

And remember: Richter likes this asshole so much that the memory of her is what unlocks his magic! Not his mother. Not his grandfather. This stranger who has been cordial at best, and antagonistic at worst. what's with these shows and having the most godawful romance stories this side of twilight

So the sudden hint at their romance was both cheap and forced as their chemistry is non-existent throughout the story.

Annette suffers from a similar problem as Sypha and Isaac: they're stuck in the role their videogame counterparts have, even when it makes no sense. Sypha bullies Trevor as much as Alucard does, and in fact she seems to like the latter more (when Alucard is a cock to Trevor and he understandably lashes out back, Sypha tells him to grow up, the absolute fuck), but oh wait, she needs to fuck Trevor as per canon! So she travels with him and they're suddenly all cutey and lovey. Isaac is forced to resent Hector for his "betrayal" of Dracula, when if you watch the season, Isaac should only blame himself for being an utter negligent dumbass in regards to Carmilla, who was the real mastermind and he knew it. Annette is nothing but scornful towards Richter, but we need to push them together because hey Annette was meant to be the love interest, and the writing is even worse here because at least Trepha takes two seasons to become canon, but here we go from "stupid Belmont, useless as fuck" to them blushing together in the span of, like, seven episodes?

If it didn't matter like you claimed, why go through such lengths to change her entire character. Surely it must matter to you.

And this is what I mean with "discourse bait". Nothing about Annette is genuine. She is a stereotypical, safe, flat character, she's both the "tough girlboss who is mean to nearly everyone but we swear she's kind inside!" and the "tough black woman with a slave past, tragic enough to make her badass but without more questionable parts like her for example betraying fellow slaves to save her own skin" (so that you get called sexist and racist if you don't like how much of an ass she is! How convenient. Even though I'd argue is much more racist that she freed herself with god powers rather than her own human ingenuity...); and on top of that she's derivative from a game character, a fairly minor one too, so that if you don't like that she has "replaced" the original you can be told that you are, once again, racist, and anyway the original Annette was bad anyway so why would you care, you stupid purist? They did the same with Isaac, before he became the Gary Stu of the story.

And this is why the genuine racists who don't have a better argument against her than "muh wokeflix, how dare they have black people in my fantasy series" piss me off. You are poisoning the well. Stop it. Get better arguments.

And to dunk on the people who would say that game Annette had no personality and is pointless, need I remind you that Rosaly from Curse of Darkness never appeared in the game at all yet the writers behind the manga dedicated their time to flesh her out in the manga itself. So it's not the characters that are the problem, it's the writers.

You can make the same argument with nearly every character in both shows. The hints of personality are there, they only need to be fleshed out! Rosaly was fleshed out into being more than a "kind girl": she became too kind, and stubborn and naive and suffering from loneliness, and that made her interesting while still keeping true to her general archetype and role! They could have deduced from the games that Trevor is a charismatic, friendly individual with a hotheaded streak, instead of turning him into the most cliché cynical drunkard! They could have deduced from the games that Annette, despite her role as damsel in distress, has a lot of courage, from the scene where she nearly kills herself out of spite for Dracula, instead of a generic badass with godlike powers! But no character is kept faithful, there was no respect or care for anything, nothing but inflated superiority that they can do better (with fans sadly agreeing), everyone is just a bunch of OCs masquerading as canon characters for the sake of being clapped for "fixing" the stupid writing of the games, even when said characters were already fleshed out enough like Alucard or the Devil Forgemasters so they really had no "muh 8-bit game" excuse (and if they couldn't keep Isaac's flamboyant personality then they're just homophobic cowards)

tl;dr i don't like annette and i can only hope that alucard hijacks the story so much that she'll have minimal screentime. i mean he's hardly better, but at least i can call him a cunt without risk of getting doxxed or shit

[lafiametta]

Yea I agree with you regarding Ani falling properly for Igor. This might be TMI but I think maybe them reinitiating a physical relationship might help her fall more, even if she thinks it's just a physical release. Like she'd make up super clear it's JUST sex, and he'd be ok with that (he's in love but I think he'd just be happy to be with her on her terms) but even if its not perfect she'd gradually realise that she doesnt have to fake anything with him and he actually cares and ohgodnoidefinatelydontlikehim (also I love how every fic of them getting together has him going down on her first, like we just KNOW).

Honestly, I think a small part of her has some small feelings for him (the look she gives him when he's lighting the cigarettes has just a hint of longing for something) but she hates that and tries pushing him away more as a result (though she is still mad at him for the home invasion stuff, it's a convenient way for her to go 'hey you're shit person so i DEFINATELY dont like you') Even then, actually falling in love would freak her out even more, but I think they'd be ok, or i hope anyway.

Yeah, I totally agree. Entering into a physical relationship, even one she claimed was just for fun, with no strings attached, would be pretty likely to engender a deeper emotional connection. Because what makes it different with Igor is, as you said, the fact that she doesn't have to fake anything — she no longer has to perform desire, as she did with Ivan and other clients. She can simply feel it, and he's also very invested in making sure that sex is enjoyable for her. (Seriously, do you think Ivan really cared if she actually came? I suspect she faked all those orgasms with him and he either didn't realize or it didn't really matter to him.) And, yeah, every fic has Igor going down on her first because she fucking deserves it for all the times she's had to fake it. (Plus, Igor's so obviously a service top.*)

*Is this a term you can use for straight dudes? I hope so, because I think it describes him perfectly.

Ani would be in such denial, though, of course. “Yeah, we're just fucking, it doesn't mean anything. So what that I let him keep some extra clothes in one of my dresser drawers? So what if I secretly check my phone all the time at work, thinking that he might have replied to my texts? He's just some guy, you know, that I let sleep in my bed with me enough times that it feels empty when he's not there.”

I also love that little look she gives him when he gets on his phone. She's thinking maybe she pushed him too far or insulted him one too many times and now he's going to withdraw and ignore her. There's a bit of disappointment, because there's a part of her that does enjoy the bantering, which she can't really do with anyone else. But, yeah, when he comes back and tries to engage with her even harder (about the meaning of her name, gah), she's like, nope, never mind, I don't want to talk to you, fuck off. There's clearly some conflict about how she feels about him, which could only come about if she's moved away from straight-up hating him (as she did immediately following the “home invasion” scene). She would definitely freak out with the realization she'd fallen for him, but like you, I'd want to hope that she'd figure out what she had in him before it was too late.

[spaceorphan18]

Okay. The Kevin and Jenna thing.

Let's talk about it. Mostly, I'm going to repeat a lot of what I said : HERE. After listening to the clip, my thoughts are exactly what they were originally...

I'm going to guess, after the box scene stuff kinda was the straw that broke the camel's back, the producers finally went, hey guys -- we have a lot of unhappy Klaine fans, you need to address this. (And/or - probably and - they did get a lot of email about it.) So, they addressed the Klaine thing.

(As an aside - the transcript, for me, was exactly how I thought they'd sound, and listening to it confirmed it? Just putting that in the fwiw category.)

but anyway, like I said in my original thoughts on the whole thing -- I think I was correct in saying that Kevin and Jenna have been latching on to things they were a part of and they remember and kind of glossing over the rest of it. Layer into that -- they have a strong affection for Naya (and to Cory) who are both no longer with us, and even though we may think that Santana is terrible or Finn makes dumb decisions, that actor/character bleed does happen for them.

And I've always found that fair.

I've said it before, but, I think it's like when Darren decided to rewatch Never Been Kissed -- and he literally ended up fastfowarding through things that weren't related to the Kurt/Blaine story line. And he expressed fondness for Dot, etc, etc, but his memories were about his story line, and that's what he focused on.

And I think that's what Kevin and Jenna are doing, too.

Now, I will ding them with the fact that they are supposed to be being a little more professional about it (Darren was just doing it for fun) but from what I could tell based on my own experiences -- they only have 'x' amount of time in the studio, and just are not organized and proficient in the same way as -- say The Office Ladies or Pod Meets World are. So things are going to get glossed over -- and those things are things they have no emotional attachment to.

I don't think they realized they were doing it -- which is why they are finding it so funny now. I don't think there was any conspiracy behind it. And I don't think it was deliberate. I do think they're going to be ever so slightly asshole-ish about it going forward because they are more aware of it now. But I think everything they said on the podcast kind of goes back to what I said in my original post way back when.

That's my two cents.

(Also, another minor aside nitpick - they claimed that Ryan himself edited the box scene out of the episode which I find unlikely. I think the editor edited out because of time and... that's it. Kind of like they did with Santa Baby. I just think Kevin and Jenna were being salty about being called out on about a beloved deleted scene and wanted to dig in their heels a little there. But again, they weren't there on the fandom side, and they don't know.)

Alright I'll shut up now.

[dalekofchaos]

The downfall of Emilie Autumn, was just sad

I honestly gotta say that Emilie Autumn was my life. From 2010-2020. She was my world. She was my goddess. I was at my lowest point when I found her music and she uplifted me throughout my terrible depression. I even got into her Asylum Facebook group, I got my Plague Rat #W25Z got a lot of interactions with Emilie in the group and got this lovely email from Emilie.

Then in 2020 I found out she was a racist, was using BLM to make money off of it and was silencing black and POC voices on her instagram and then the Asylum facebook group just stopped altogether. No one got to comment and no one could use their voices.

Never meet your heroes 😔 but the good that came out of all the drama is I got some really good friends out of the plague rats I did meet.

I stopped caring for Emilie Autumn after the incidents, if you don't know what I mean, read this masterpost and this post of her old controversies.

But this comment on reddit sums up why her career never went anywhere.

"Whatsup with Emilie these days?

So i was a fan in high school but she literally stopped producing and performing after fight like a girl i assume? I know she played in a horror movie but what does she do now for a living and im suprised she didn't became a bigger artist during the years"

"Uuh. Where to start...The movies flopped ("The Devil's Carnival"), partly because of development hell that delayed production of the second movie for years and the hype died down, partly because the concept was great but the movies were... not that good. She was best buds with the director for a few years around the time they were released; like many of her friends over the years, he seems to have disappeared from her life since then (more on that later). But she did start a relationship with her co-star Marc Senter; they're still together and seemingly happy.

The projected Asylum Musical (that she was originally planning to premiere in 2014, lol - she's been talking about it for over a decade...) has yet to come to fruition. She moved to NYC in large part for this purpose (to be closer to Broadway). She hired a voice coach and started taking ballet lessons to prep for playing her own role. She went through a period of making wild casting announcement of the Famous Friends she'd met through "Devil's Carnival" - like Adam Pascal as Dr Stockhill (unclear whether this was just for fun / a favor for his co-star at the movie premiere, or if he was actually interested in the role), or Ted "Jesus Christ Superstar" Neeley as Sir Edwards (hilarious). But now it's 2023, she appears/claims to still be composing and writing the score and even altering some character names (we'll get to that), all the supportive Famous Friends seem to have vanished, and we seem nowhere closer to an actual Asylum Musical on this plane of existence.

But hey, it's the entertainment industry - many people try to get a shot at making their dream musical a reality, and fail. C'est la vie - maybe she just got unlucky, right? Well... maybe so, but other elements suggest that it's something other than just shit luck. First of all, EA does not appear to understand how Broadway works, or that it applies to her too. None of her projected timelines ever made sense. She "doesn't want" (couldn't get) outside investors, so she's planning on financing it all herself (BUT HOW??? oh, nevermind, we'll get to that too). SHe also seems insistent on debuting on Broadway, and nowhere else - no off-Broadway or local theaters for this gal! Nevermind the fact that she's got zero professional experience writing, directing or producing a musical, and that no Broadway professional in their right mind would ever give a slot to a niche musical by a basically-unknown indie artist.

In general, she seems reluctant to work with other people or meet their expectations... which is a problem for such a project. For instance, the closest we got to an "actual" production announcement was that a theater school was going to workshop Emilie Autumn's "Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls" next semester. IIRC, she promoted this and said she was excited. And then... nothing. No news for weeks. When people went back to the school's website, the announcement had been completely removed. And that was that. What on Earth happened, that the school didn't even want to publicly acknowledge this change of plans? Methinks they realized that they had been misled (ie the musical was not finished), or there was a MASSIVE conflict with Emilie that led to the workshop falling through.

Then, there's the gradual vanishing of everyone who had originally let her (in earnest or as a joke, we'll never know) attach their sometimes Very Famous names to her Very Obscure and Unfinished Project. And that includes... Veronica Varlow! Yeah, you read that right. Even though they now live in the same city, they haven't talked in years and don't follow each other on IG. It must have been something big, because some time ago, EA made a very unsubtle announcement about changing the name "Veronica" (the Asylum character who became Emily's tragic lesbian lover in the 87459th reworking of the story) to "Charlotte" because "I have been told that Veronica sounds anachronistic in Victorian England" (sure hun, if you say so). I still wonder whether it was EA writing her ex-BFF out of her life in a ridiculously dramatic way, or whether it was VeVa who asked EA to keep her name out of her mouth... and her script.

So yeah. She's not friends anymore with any of the people you remember from being a fan in high school. She's living in NYC, and pretending there's a musical in the works. She's also been making visual art for a couple years. Personally, I really like her mixed-media art with medical supplies - I think it's some of her most interesting work in years, better than the last two albums. But then, recently, she, uh... tried something else. I'll just let you search this sub for "AI" because I still can't wrap my head around What the Fuck She Was Thinking and it's exhausting to even recount.

tl;dr - She never became a bigger artist because she's been stuck on the same stale, unrealistic project for 10+ years, because she stopped touring and releasing new music, and because she's seemingly alienated all of her friends and industry connexions... as well as most of her ever-shrinking fanbase. A real shame all around."

[clxudyxuan]

|| A Tale from Times Long Past.

The term " Crystal Clear " refers to something unclouded, unambiguous. It refers to something being absolutely understood.

!!! Mentions of Kidnapping and Violence.

Reader's discretion is advised.

================================================

Name: Crystal Aveline Uniole- but that's way too fancy. Or posh or whatever. Call me Crystal!

Titles: Princess, Second Heir to the Crown of Aveline, Lady Royal, Savior of the Astro Kingdom, etc...

Age: I'm 20 so far! Hah... I've never imagined I made it all the way to twenty.

[ Before Antiquity: 16 - 32. ]

[ Current Timeline: Deceased(?) ]

Pronouns: She / They, mostly prefers ‘she’.

[ Came out when she was 19. ]

Sexuality: Raging Bisexual.

Species: I'm a human, lol. But for some reason, me and my sister can use magic and all that. Neat, eh?

( Human, Subsection Witch. )

Text Color: Purple! It's my favorite color, hehe.

Notes:

#past!crystal refers to 20 year old Crystal, before the whole story goes off rails.

#crystal can refer to 21 / 32 year old Crystal after the story does go off rails.

================================================

Height: 5'7.

Unfortunately, Hannah is taller than me. By 3 inches! 3. Whole. Inches. Can you believe it!?

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral.

Date Of Birth: 30th of July, Year XXI.

Place Of Birth: Weeelll... I was born in a hospital over here, so I guess my own Kingdom?

Religion: My mom is Catholic, so I guess I am too? I dunno.

( She's an Atheist unironically. )

Family Member(s): Oh! I have my sister Hannah; she's the best! She can do like... everything. Anything!! She's gonna be Queen someday so I guess that'd be expected... I also have my mom. We don't spend much time together, but she's also great!

Criminal Record: Erm... I guess destroying buildings? Look, some damage is gonna get caused if we're gonna save our Kingdom.

Skeletons In The Closet: Uhhh, I don't think I have skeletons in my closet. Hopefully.

Fun Facts:

Crystal is 2 years younger than Hannah.

Crystal's favorite gemstone is actually an tanzanite, despite her namesake.

================================================

Language: English. Just English, because Miss Crystal here did not pay attention in all her language classes.

HEY! You don't have to expose me like that!

Usage of Gestures and Expressions: It's more expressions than gestures. Crystal has very expressive eyes even if she's not pouting or furrowing her eyebrows.

Verbal Expression: Nothing noteworthy, although she does sound a bit bored all the time.

================================================

Physical Abilities: Crystal is not very capable at fighting despite her fiery spirit. She's awfully reckless with a weapon, and should never be trusted with a overly powerful artifact.

Eventually, she does come to a resolve with her sister that she'd use a bow and arrow rather than a lance. Although sometimes she does straight up use the bow as a sword than it's intended usage...

Magical Abilities:

Before she met Hannah (<16):

Crystal was not aware she was able to use magic, so there was nothing to be done about it.

After she met Hannah (>17):

Crystal eventually found out, like her sister, that she was a magic user. She doesn't specifically know she's a witch, so she doesn't really do much potion-making or hexing.

Her powers include Telekinesis, Gravity Control and Ice / Snow powers. Basic magic usages are also included.

Weapon(s): Bow and arrow, the occasional hammer ( For a certain bastard. ) .

[ Silver Crossbow. ]

Weakness(es): Basic human weaknesses.

Side Effect(s): Her mana specifically comes from her own stamina, and while her stamina isn't particularly bad, it still uses up a lot of her energy. As a result, she straight up can't use her abilities or her body will experience chronic pain.

================================================

Voice Claim: Marceline ( Adventure Time )

Moodboard: +

Songs:

[ 16-20 ] Good Time + Back to December ( Sped Up )

[ 21+ ] Metamorphosis

================================================

Personality: Particularly stubborn. Extremely insistent. May be a smidge manipulative. Is very cheerful and a hint juvenile, but… has very strong opinions on… certain things.

She knows exactly what she wants: and will do whatever to get it. Who cares about what the consequences could be: it's not like it'd effect her life anyway.

She's a princess. She had all the freedom and control she could've wanted, even without the powers. She loved being hailed as a hero, her name travelled wide and far. That rush of excitement was intoxicating.

When you are young, you never appreciate anything or anyone. In the heat of the moment, you never properly acknowledge all the work and hope people put into you. You never think of being in other's shoes. Afterall, why bother thinking of the future? How would that matter in the slightest?

However, beauty, youth, power, wealth: all these things only last for so long. You chase them for so long that when you turn your head back: the people behind you, supporting you were long gone. And yet... in the end, they left the best for you.

They loved you. Dearly. Sincerely. With all their heart.

Maybe it was all doomed from the very beginning.

================================================

Lore // Backstory:

Crystal’s earliest memories were of a dark alley, the shadows stretching, practically yearning for her to come in as a sweet yet haunting tune played. From where this tune originated, she had no clue.

She followed it blindly, her mind blank. Before she could even process what had happened, she had been swept away from the hall as she felt someone, carrying her over their shoulder, as they ran out the door.

Hundreds, maybe thousands of screams pierced through her ears, her eyes widening, slowly but steadily realising what was going on before bursting into tears, screaming alongside the crowd for her mother.

Yet wailing and crying was of no use, as she was forcefully loaded into some conspicuous cart, her mouth chewing on a piece of rope.

Out of fatigue, fear and despair, she had collapsed.

================================================

The next time she woke up, she was in… nowhere. The forests looked unfamiliar, there were no castles, guards or even a townsfolk in sight.

Crawling up on her knees, she wandered aimlessly. She had resorted to eating dry roots and berries to survive, as much as they were a complete downgrade from her usual meals.

Perhaps at a certain point in life, she knew no one was going to come and rescue her. To know that she was alone in the world, and that she had no one but herself to rely on.

Eventually, over the years, Crystal grew, her dreams of finally being rescued back to her home fading.

================================================

Almost twelve years went by since that day. It had been very tiring and long these past years. Resorting to various gigs to get by, her hands certainly weren’t… clean. Crystal didn’t even know if she’d make it past twenty really.

It was lonely, isolating and quite exhausting. Crystal knew, somewhere deep down, that perhaps in this life of hers, she was going to die alone. Maybe on a job. Or in some side alley.

But she didn’t want to. She wanted more than this. She deserved more than whatever the hell it is she’s doing now.

And yet. It was almost baffling and mocking how many turns life could give you.

…

On one faithful day, while strolling down a street with no particular aim, Crystal accidentally rammed into someone. Both their heads colliding with one another.

“Oh, oh my god. I’m so so so sorry! Here, uh, let me help you..”

Crystal was still rubbing her head on her forehead, her ankle throbbing. She was about to yell at the girl when she felt… familiarity with those blue eyes.

The girl seemed close in age to her, though she was clearly more well-kept than Crystal. In more ways than one. Her long hair was tied back in a braid with a large pink bow, her summer dress bellowed in the wind. Even she perhaps felt something off, her eyes piercing into Crystal’s, an eyebrow raised.

Crystal snapped back to reality, taking the girl’s outstretched hand and pulling herself up. She felt something near her ankle, but her brain was too clouded to realise it.

An awkward silence was followed. The girl tilted her head and analysed Crystal. She looked away.

“Do I… have we met before?”

“…no, no.”

Another silence was followed before it was cut through by a gasp. Crystal looked around, trying to figure out where the sound cane from before realising who it came from: the girl right in front of her, hands clasped to her mouth, her eyes looking down.

Crystal’s gaze followed hers, and took a second to realise her ankle had a blooming bruise. Oh so conveniently, the pain finally blasted through her daze as she felt a harsh sting in her ankle. Crystal suddenly fell to the floor, clutching her ankle wincing.

The girl panicked, taking out her purse and searching through for something. She pulled out a roll of bandages, hastily threw off Crystal’s shoe and wrapped them around her ankle and foot.

Crystal’s brain could not process what was going on as fast as what was happening. Some time in the future, she still couldn’t. Though… there was one thing she remembered fondly about the whole ordeal.

The feeling of her feet leaving the ground, as she felt a warm hands carrying her, their breath panicked, urgent. Despite the pain and pretty stupid predicament: Crystal felt a odd sense of comfort and deja vu looking at the older girl.

Like she knew her somewhere.

Crystal pushed it out of her mind as the girl, introducing herself as ‘Hannah’ to the doctors as they all showed some weird expression on their face.

Hannah. Hannah?? Ha… huh.

How odd.

================================================

Teapots and Talks : Part 1

[marshm3llow-fluff]

Im back! Took a small break!

Took a bit of a break because my mum made us go to Barcelona which is great- don't get me wrong I know not everyone gets to go fly to places like Barcelona(or anywhere at all for the holidays) but I think I've gained at least 5lb in a week.

I feel like I'm exaggerating but school starts next week so I'm stressed, my mum makes us go to restaurants every day and is always overordering, we have a lot of food stocked up in our room and I have drunk so much fucking boba I will dive into a volcano istg 😭

Also!! I have gotten a HUGE wake-up call today! I went to random alternative shops because- hey! I'm in a big city and Scotland has like zero good places to get non-basic clothing >:| And I went to small places I found on Google as well as a huge Urban Outfitters!

OK, first location: Urban Outfitters

I enter and I already know to expect high prices so I first go to the sale isle, but obviously, everything was either too small or had open shoulders(my skin is fugly so until I lose weight or get a lightweight cardigan- those are a NO😭💔). So I went around and OMFG I felt SO INSECURE, there were so many skinny girls with attitudes🙃 and 'omg! Shocker!' A huge alt-fashion brand has no large sizes surprise surprise|:/ it was a disaster, especially adding the fact that my mum splurged most of our money on food- still encouraging me to go to a place she knew wasn't cheap and then getting upset when I questioned her abt it when she said I can't buy anything :) she knows there is shit I want to buy from there and I think she legitimately just wants to see me get sad sometimes.

Second location: Place I Forgot the Name Of

Entered immediately- you could tell everything was a bit overpriced but it was whatever because I warned my mother beforehand so she couldn't complain :) I found a hoodie! It was striped and it did have a bit of an ugly zipper but It's fine personally, it fits but it's basically saran wrapped around my body and my stomach is so fucking visible(I died inside when I looked in the mirror)but I had heatstroke confidence when I bought it so.....

Third location: Madame Chocolat (I think)

All of the outfits were really pretty, more of a cutesy-Sanrio-lolita kind of place but I liked it nonetheless, my only issue was that I looked ugly in whatever there was and my mum being the bitch that she is kept on going: 'Oh but will you really wear that?'. She claims she says that because I never wear half the things I buy but the reason don't wear half the things I buy is because she makes fun of me and giggles when she looks at me :(

Also due to the weather I sweat like a pig.

[ninjadeathblade]

Moulin Rouge Discotrain AU (part thirty one)

Summary: (Post-game canon) The Conductor and DJ Grooves agree to finally work on a movie together. They come up with 'Moulin Rouge', a musical drama filled with romance. Over time the two directors grow closer and discover that maybe they don't hate each other as much.

Beginning | Previous | Next

Word count: 1,179

Warnings: Snatcher says half an actual swear *gasp* (don't blame him though, in context there is reason for it)

Author's notes: Games night is here. Fun fact: don't trust Snatcher to play Monopoly. He does cheat, despite his claims. Anyway, enjoy!

Grooves let out a sigh, staring at the finally clear guest room and the hallway outside of it, which was now cluttered with boxes.

“You didn't have to help,” Grooves commented to Conductor as the owl walked past into the guest room.

“I did.” Conductor shrugged, beginning to make the bed.

“No, no, don't-”

“No. I will. You should sit down and rest. You've been cleaning this place since way too pecking early this morning,” Conductor interrupted, walking back over to Grooves and putting a hand on the penguin's chest. “Take a break.”

“Run away with us for the summer, let's go upstate…?” Grooves joked and Conductor shook his head gently at the Hamilton reference.

“You'll never let me live down my musical past, will you?” Conductor chuckled, pressing a quick kiss to Grooves' cheek before he went back over to the bed.

“Never.”

“At least sit down while you do then.” Conductor threw a pillow in his direction.

Grooves caught it, walking back through to the living room.

“That, I can do,” he called back to the owl, lying down on the sofa.

It felt like only a few minutes when there was a knock on the door.

“Grooves, I'm sure your nap was nice but you should probably wake up,” Conductor teased as the penguin opened his eyes, staring around the bleary room.

Conductor passed him his glasses before heading over to the door. “You said you sleep without them.”

“How long have I been out?” Grooves questioned, getting up and following his partner once he'd put his glasses on.

“Only a couple hours,” Conductor answered. “But you needed it.”

He opened the door, staring up at their guests. “Hey.”

“Hi!” Empress and Snatcher walked through the door.

The two of them almost matched; Snatcher in a dark purple hoodie and Empress in a dark purple version of her previous coat.

However, Snatcher looked incredibly different to before.

His right eye was a light blue, matching coloured scars striking across the right side of his body like bolts of lightning. A couple streaks of the same blue tainted his dark curls.

“What happened to yer?” Conductor asked the ghost bluntly.

Grooves subtly jabbed the owl in the side, hoping he would take a hint.

“Just a little accident. Nothing serious,” Snatcher bluffed, laughing nervously.

“No, that's very clearly not-”Grooves elbowed Conductor in the ribs. The owl frowned at him but stayed quiet.

“Let's just play some games,” Empress stated, carrying boxes of games through to the living room, Snatcher close on her heels.

“What was that for?” Conductor hissed.

“He clearly doesn't want to talk about whatever it is,” Grooves whispered, concerned gaze following the ghost's retreating figure.

“Sweet apartment,” Empress stated.

Grooves looked back at Conductor, gaze imploring him not to ask further questions.

“Fine. But you owe me one,” Conductor grumbled, walking into the living room.

Something made a crashing noise. “Oops.”

“You better pay for that!”

“Okay, okay! I will!”

“You cheated! You shouldn't have had enough money to afford that!” Empress accused, glaring at Snatcher. The ghost shrugged as he looked at the Monopoly board.

“I have no idea what you're talking about,” Snatcher said, voice lilting slightly.

Grooves put a flipper around Conductor as the owl curled up against his side.

“I feel like we should've chosen a less competitive game,” Conductor laughed quietly. “I did say about Scrabble.”

“Diamond, I hate to tell you, but Scrabble is also a competitive game,” Grooves replied.

“Not if yer smart. Then it becomes a game where you always win and no one else beats you.”

Grooves chuckled, pressing a quick kiss to the owl's head. “We'll have to play some time soon. I'm sure I can give you a run for your money.”

“Empress is a sore loser!” Snatcher announced, picking up the cat's money and throwing it in the air.

"No, I'm not! You're just a lying cheater!” Empress growled, pushing the ghost onto the floor. “I want to play something else!”

“Sore loser!” Snatcher repeated, earning a swipe at his face.

“Cheat!”

“Loser!”

Empress and Snatcher began playfully taking shots at each other.

“I’ll go check what other games we've got,” Conductor sighed, standing up.

The owl pressed a quick kiss to Grooves' cheek. “Be back soon, love.”

Grooves smiled at him before returning his attention to their friends.

Empress and Snatcher wore matching smirks, even with the cat holding the ghost in a headlock.

“Go on then Grooves. Spill the details,” Empress prompted.

“You two are older than me, how are you so childish?” Grooves questioned.

“You've got to have some fun after dying!” and “You're childish!” mixed together.

Empress let go of Snatcher, ruffling his hair before leaning back against the sofa.

“So…?”

“So what?”

“So, what's it like now you two are dating?!” Snatcher all but shouted.

Grooves mulled over the question.

“Not that different to before actually. We're more affectionate and have nicknames for each other but that's about it. Not that much has changed,” he mumbled, face heating at the way his feathers ruffled as he spoke.

“That's it?!”

“It's none of yer business,” Conductor stated, walking back into the room with a stack of boxes. “Now pick another game.”

“Oooh, oooh, oooh! We should play truth or dare!” Snatcher suggested, looping an arm behind Empress' shoulders. “C'mon Empress! Tell them how fun it is!”

“He's right, we should play truth or dare,” Empress agreed.

"Empress, truth or dare?” Conductor suddenly asked, putting the boxes down and leaning into Grooves.

“You know what? Truth.”

“How did you get your scar?”

“Dare.”

“Tell us how you got your scar,” he pressed.

The cat scowled.

“I did it myself. I had to look like I could command respect,” Empress admitted, paws fidgeting in the lap.

Snatcher wrapped an arm around her shoulders, glaring at the owl.

“Truth or dare, peck neck?” He spat.

“Dare.”

“Stop being such a di-!”

“Hey, no, there isn't any need for that,” Empress said quietly, shrugging Snatcher away.

Snatcher let out a huff of air. “Fine. Tell us what was the first musical you did.”

“Newsies,” Conductor answered.

“Shut up you liar. The first musical you did was Cinderella,” Empress scoffed, tail winding round Snatcher's back. “Grooves, truth or dare?”

The penguin's face screwed up slightly as he tried to decide. “Umm. Truth…?”

“You didn't sound too sure. But fine. You've seen The Conductor in musicals. Which was your favourite performance of his?” Empress questioned.

Grooves felt flustered as his three friends looked expectantly at him.

“It's hard to choose just one,” he mumbled, hoping to take attention off of him.

“My turn, I pick dare,” Snatcher exclaimed, drumming his hands on his lap and continuing to look at Grooves.

Grooves shrugged, uncertain of what to say.

Conductor stepped in for him. “Don't hug Empress for the rest of the evening.”

The ghost looked appalled, mouth hanging open.

He slowly obliged, shuffling away from Empress.

“I'm sick of this game,” Snatcher pouted, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Let's play something else.”

[susansontag]

It's really not that hard to understand that their whole thing with hp and jk is the fact that the game is a turning point in letting jk get away with her views and funding of anti trans laws in the uk. She has her hands IN what gets passed there and the lgbt community sought to use her game as a lesson that you can't get away with being a racist antisemitic transphobe anymore. Unfortunately no one wants to listen to the community, because no one wants to stop and think "Hey how is this impacting my friends or youth today? What would it mean to them if we did this for them?"

And if you stopped to think you'd realize that if this had been a successful boycott, it would've been a very good opening for the lgbt community to direct our attention to important matters like the anti trans and anti abortion laws being passed in the u.s and the anti trans laws being passed in the uk.

People think they aren't fighting for other things or that they're hypocrites for only caring about hp when in reality you are treating the lgbt community like a hive mind. HP is big therefore people think it's the only thing the community cares about but it's not. You don't care about them from how dismissive you immediately are so you don't see that there are trans people fleeing states or countries because there has never been a safe place for them to exist.

All these laws have brought out the worst in people towards the lgbt community and boycotting a simple badly made video game is the easiest thing they could've asked us to do instead of telling us literally anything else that is a worry atm. It could've been a lesson to transphobes and antisemitic people that you can't be a visibly shit person anymore and get away with it but unfortunately no one cares enough to use some critical thinking skills and realize that one of the biggest ip's in the world being used as an example would've been the fastest but also the biggest way to push back on the sudden vocal hatred going on towards poc, jewish communities, and lgbt people.

I don't expect you to answer this in fact I'm sure you'll make fun of this ask but have a little empathy in your life instead of calling lgbt people (who again aren't the only ones condemning jk) hypocrites for not boycotting everything in their lives when you know it's not realistic and they know it's not realistic to ask you of this. It's why they chose hp. Because it was the easiest ask of the century and even that was too much to ask of everyone.

indeed, the lgbt community are not a hive mind (I have never claimed this), hence my disagreeing with you. boycotting the harry potter game would not get a message out about anything and isn't effective activism anyway. you just don't know what you're talking about so it is genuinely hard to get through to you and people who speak like you do... I know that's harsh, but you blatantly conflate uk debates about trans healthcare and women's spaces with us debates surrounding it, despite their being two different countries with different political balances of power having in some cases significantly different discussions. do you even know the details of these 'anti trans laws' you discuss? have you even skimmed any of the reports regarding trans healthcare, for example the cass review submitted to the nhs in the uk? do you even know the content of these debates?

trans people likely are fleeing certain countries, but they certainly have no reason to flee the united kingdom. this is an incredibly safe country for trans people; so safe, in fact, that any trans refugees should probably consider fleeing to here. there absolutely are safe places for trans people to exist and it's exceptionally irresponsible and alarmist to go around claiming otherwise

you seem very convinced that boycotting a video game will actually alter structural racism in some way, and well. I'm not even going to engage with that one, sorry. I do not need more empathy. people like you need to 'educate yourself' on issues you claim to be authorities on, because the careful consideration, the mindful debate, the baseline knowledge? it all seems incredibly lacking in people writing these strongly worded posts on social media websites