#i am absolutely living it up here

[viveela]

Toxic exes and twink form canon? What a time to be alive...

[secondbeatsongs]

for anyone too young to know this: watching The Truman Show is a vastly different experience now, compared to how it was before youtube and social media influencers became normal

before it was like, "what a horrifying thing to do to a human being! to take away their autonomy and privacy, all for the sake of profits! to create fake scenarios for them to react to, just to retain viewership! to ruin their happiness just so some corporate entity could harvest money from their very humanity! how could anyone do something so evil?"

and now it's like, "ah, yeah. this is still deeply fucked up, but it's pretty much what every influencer has been doing to their kids for a decade now. probably bad that we've normalized this experience"

[chiropteracupola]

iskierka iskierkaaaaaa my honeycake my thousand-times darling i love you i love you i love you i love youuuu

[fatedroses]

Two former military elites taking merc jobs perform absolutely hellish battle tactics together.

[finalgirlgretchen]

if one more person tries to claim that the oh hellos are no longer christian i am going to lose my shit

[billdenbrough]

fundamentally disinterested in the recurring discourse about kevin's drinking that aims to a) make it his Specific Problem To Focus On And Overcome when it is a crutch and coping mechanism to get him through a Much Bigger Problem (emotional fallout he can't square with by himself, culture shock, trauma, loss of his extremely wildly co-dependent relationship w riko, losing the structure of the nest, mourning a future he was meant to have, processing a grave injustice, anger and fear and desperate grief, all of which is his Actual Specific Fox Problem) while he builds himself back up, and b) thinks that even if it is a problem (more on that later), it's the foxes' problem to deal with.

like. it's just not.

yeah, he doesn't drink until he meets them. they gave him that habit, and in traditional terms, they're (the monsters specifically) a 'bad influence'. but these are the foxes. this is kevin day, son of exy, whose meteor is crashing spectacularly through no fault of his own. there are no traditional terms to be found here. the framework for it literally doesn't exist. neil comes into the foxes with more conventional expectations—appalled at the athletes' substance use, his horror at matt's trip to columbia, his steadfast and early repeated stance that none of the foxes should let andrew treat them the way he does, and certainly not nicky—and tends to engage with them less as the series goes on and he folds himself into the foxes. the thing about the foxes is that they've all been in pits deeper than they are tall. and some of them got a helping hand on the way—erik, andrew's extreme intervention methods, stephanie walker—and wymack was always waiting for them on the other side, ready to throw down a rope, but all the foxes dragged themselves out of their own holes. often not alone, often not without assistance, but at the end of the day, they have to do it.

there's that line neil has about aaron in that scene that got deleted when the timeline shifted around, when he thinks about how aaron got this far in life on his own, surviving on willpower and sheer desperation. that applies to aaron in a way that's a little more acute than some of the rest of them—boy who doesn't let the foxes in bc of andrew, boy who doesn't let nicky in bc he doesn't know how, boy made of flinching and seeking an escape and grieving the one who hurt him—but is broadly true for the foxes en masse.

this isn't to say the foxes can't help each other, but it's not their job. it just isn't. they'll keep kevin alive, keep him safe, keep him flanked and contained within their ranks. they'll fight tooth and nail in this battle with him, fight to get him to that championship game, fight to get that trophy in his hands. but that's all they've agreed to. that's all they're responsible for, in this covenant they've made with him. he says they can make this happen, and they're going to get him to that final game, but it's up to him what state he's in when he gets there.

like. they're foxes. they've been triaging their whole lives. they hate each other and they hate everyone else more. they're the kids with their backs up against the wall. half of them are addicts. i don't think kevin is comparable, personally; he's getting through a horrific situation with a coping mechanism. that's not the same thing as battling yourself to stop using. but that's not really the point of this. what i'm getting at here is that to the foxes, it's easy math: kevin who can lean on vodka and andrew and wymack and the foxes to stay upright when he's not ready to stand on his own two feet is still a kevin who is standing. a kevin with one less piece of scaffolding to lean on is a kevin who falls over, a kevin at risk of complete collapse, a kevin one phone call away from running back to the master, a kevin one crucial loss away from not ever making it back to himself at all. they're triaging. this is low on the totem pole of things they have the room to care about. they very much have bigger problems, both individually and even just kevin-related. if alcohol makes seeing the boy he knew best in the world and moved in tandem with his whole life and who destroyed their entire legacy and his entire life in one move — if alcohol makes facing that boy easier to stomach, then, fuck, why would they take that away? they're foxes. they've all got their demons. this is what kevin needs this year and a half to let him face his, that's all. they can understand that. it doesn't have to be pretty, as long as it keeps him in the fight. that's the priority.

i think there's absolutely space to explore this in fic and art and fandom in a way that maybe does explore it as a Problem, both that it's an active problem for kevin & that it's something to explore other foxes helping him with (there's a t&n fic that i've been gnawing at the bit to read for months that seems poised to explore this premise, and that's super up my alley)! i just think we're in different territory when we're talking about the series—and its characters and dynamics—in a conversational rather than transformational way, and end up talking about this like the foxes are responsible for kevin's choices. i love kevin day. i read these back at the start of 2015 & he's so dear to me that loving him was the blueprint for how i feel abt kageyama. but it's been pretty weird to see how the conversation has been translating Loving Kevin Day into... thinking the foxes are doing wrong by him with respect to this in actual canon. like that's just not how it operates there

[kaelidascope]

I think I should clarify that when I say OOC behavior in Toxic Bees AU, I mean like they're still their basic skeletal designs as a whole (I'm not THAT bad of a writer) but they're OOC compared to the versions of them we know today As in I banked hard on certain aspects of their personalities like Yang's self-sacrificing tendencies, Ruby's immaturity, Weiss's arrogance, and Blake's flakiness Pretty much all these attributes are just amplified to shit and there's like no character growth until the final chapters NFJGFNGKF

Yang literally only thinks she's worth what she can physically offer to someone in the form of service (sexually, financially, or emotionally). Her untreated depression and anxiety causes her to internalize her abandonment issues so bad she's creating scenarios in her life that are doomed to set her up for failure from the start, and yet she doesn't understand why people keep leaving her when she can't stop being this disingenuous version of herself

Blake pretends her actions aren't the direct cause of her consequences and therefor justifies her actions because of her consequences. She desperately doesn't want to give a shit about anything but that act's only gonna get her so far before it blows up in her face. She wants to think that she deserves to be mistreated and can't stand the idea of forgiveness or compromise, so she'll sabotage her own life to get a result that's familiar

Ruby's age shows painfully hard in this and reflects on her thought process and maturity. She's 20 and doesn't have a clue, and up until this point has had Yang or her Dad do literally everything for her. Her growth's been stunted just as much as she doesn't actively try to get off her ass and do something about it

Weiss may seem put together, but she's been miserably sheltered her whole life. Home-schooled first and then immediately living with a romantic partner she's far too young for second, who ends up infantizing her more and she doesn't have the tools or communication skills to speak up for herself. She's better about it now, but her bad habits manifest in her inability to get a grasp on reality and treats people like objects because not once did she have a normal human bond in her house

Now take those versions of team RWBY and throw them into a college setting with their very first taste of freedom, absolutely NO proper job or life experience, and nobody to actively vibe-check them on fucked up, ill-intended, and misguided decision-making. THAT'S what makes this an OOC RWBY fic. Because we all were stupid in our 20s living out of the house for the first time

[bardly-working]

There are so many things about Rhaenyra and Alicent’s conversation that I love. I love the fear of it, the tension, the massive risk Rhaenyra took and the fact that Alicent didn’t turn her in. I love the love between the two of them, the affection that shines through even despite all the misery and resentment and pain. I love the fact that The Stupid Miscommunication That Causes Conflict™ (in this case, Viserys’ deathbed whispers), which so often either goes entirely unaddressed or isn’t addressed until the end of a character’s arc, is addressed so early and clarifies so much for both characters. I love the devastation as Alicent realizes that this was all a mistake, but that it’s too late to do anything about it, that without this being a war then her son is a kinslayer and her grandson is dead for no reason.

But I also love what Alicent doesn’t mention to Rhaenyra:

That this would have happened with or without Alicent, and that Otto and the small council had already been planning to usurp Rhaenyra all along. That the war would have happened either way.

Alicent leaves their meeting horrified, devastated, her belief in herself and her family shattered… letting Rhaenyra believe that this war lies solely at Alicent’s feet, that it was all Alicent’s mistake. Amazing. Tremendously messy. No notes.

[tearlessrain]

seriously can catastrophes stop happening for five minutes my brain is already fried from the ones we're already experiencing

[katyspersonal]

Posting about it like 18 hours late after waking up, but I also had such a strange dream tonight?

In it two of my enemies that worked together against me in reality actually became enemies to one another, and for what reason they did..... One of them crafted some very intricate plan to trick me into thinking I'd get full help for my countless mental troubles, including financial, if I only signed certain papers I got, and the other one disrupted her plan by simply telling me to "trust no one" over a balcony of their.... "house"? Dreams that turn the online into "reality" make little sense but I feel like most people here have them sometimes so you get it probably?

Ironically, I trusted them, and seeing how I clearly was welcomed all of a sudden, went to their place wanting elaboration. (Their house looked exactly like if their blog became a house and it was hysterical) Turned out the other one's plan was to actually not only take all money meant to support my sorry existence away from me forever, but also keep me unemployable since legally I was "helped" or mad shit like that (basically slow, hungry death). And this person turned against their long term "ally" in MY favor because, I quote, "genocide of disabled people is not a joke" gfhtjgugjj We even continued talking a lot about world and people and all other things the other one tried, all while avoiding to as much as address our own grudge.

I really don't know why I'd have a dream like this, it felt so random? It doesn't feel like wishful thinking either. 😕 But it better not be a sign that I've misdiagnosed which one of those two became more malicious in the end, or so help me

[hillhousebi]

-

[stanleyvampire14]

John Emerson fans come get y’all’s juice while he’s single in this picture (I haven’t drawn teen Mary yet)

Bro refuses to change I swear to god he’s set in his ways

Look at tags for Mary lore

[black-and-yellow]

can't stop drawing the clown (send help)

[skyler10fic]

It's amazing sometimes the very offline world my family lives in. In their (conservative, but moderate, not the culture war people) bubble, they have no idea why anyone would not want to go to Hobby Lobby or Chick-fil-A. They were only vaguely aware of the evangelicals boycotting Harry Potter or Disney in the 90s and 00s and even more unaware of anyone's reasons for boycotting them now. They have no idea Rowling is on Twitter or what the word transphobia means, are somewhat unsurprised that something is happening in the Middle East but aren't very interested in what it is this time since there's always something horrible there, and have no context for who JD Vance is outside of being their party's VP nomination. They hate Trump but would never say so or do anything about it besides be disgrunted and roll their eyes at their more conservative friends.

They don't want gay people or abortion to be criminalized, but wish we could all just stop talking about them, and the need for gay rights and abortions would just magically go away so no one would have to fight over them anymore. And by go away, they mean "I don't know have to know they still very much exist." Out of sight, out of mind. Same for poverty and homelessness and racism and religious division and political parties. Let's just all stop acknowledging uncomfortable things and we don't have to ever deal with them.

Which is why they can't click on articles describing Harris's political agenda or qualifications, acknowledge COVID didn't go away after getting the original vaccinations, read posts about queer history or allyship, talk about mental health, or watch videos about the police or military being anything other than "imperfect heroes." In their minds, all parents have their kids' best interests in mind, the GOP in power is the only way to keep their hard-earned money as small business owners, Israel is our troubled rookie ally trying to do the right thing but needs our help and mentorship to get out of their version of Trump years, most men (historical and modern) are just trying their best and we're too hard on them, and corporations are generally good and earned their profits fair and square through old-fashioned hard work.

Their brains are literally incapable of handling information that counters this.

Why don't I correct them? I do, as carefully, slowly, and amicably as I can for them to be able to handle it. But they can't hear it. They simply do not have the ability to say "I was wrong. I'm sorry. I need to learn more and will do so. My friends and community are all getting this wrong. I can't stand by in silence." They don't have that wiring. At no point will they have the emotional capacity and maturity to be able to go there. These are the voters who show up to every election, who consider it an important civic duty, even when they have no idea what these candidates actually stand for or how their policies will impact them. We have to keep trying to reach them and educate them, but sometimes the best thing we can do is simply not let them be the highest represented group at the polls. Being informed and showing up, not giving into nihilism and despair and perfectionism, using pragmatism to get us closer to where we want to be, and understanding these very offline, intentionally ignorant people are going to show up regardless out of tradition. Even if they don't understand what they are voting on and don't want to know. PLEASE please outvote them. Please show up.

[skitskatdacat63]

So many people in my real life keep being like "omg I watched dts and I totally understand your obsession with f1!!" NO YOU DON'T 😭😭😭

I try not to be a snob in this way but it's like, I know these people have no intention to actually watch races so it's so *eye twitching* when I get told this. And it's like, yeah I myself got into f1 thru dts technically, but I watched a couple eps, then an actual race, and found the actual races way more interesting, and the rest is history. And I hate how it's like "I got so invested!!" ...yeah with the storyline Netflix is telling. Maybe I'm just an annoying purist, but 😭 I can't keep doing this bcs im not built for responding in a good way djkfkg. I guess for me, I don't understand how dts can be that enjoyable. I didn't really like it too much before I knew much about F1, and I don't like it now bcs I know TOO much about all the actual going-ons. I mean, like there's a reason why I force myself to watch full old races 😭

Okay sorry this is quite bratty of me 😭 I'm just a control freak who's like "stop getting into my hobby not in the way I want you to get into my hobby!!!!!" It's the same energy as people telling me they know wags before they know drivers names. I do not care unless you're interested in watching actual races 😭😭

[jcryptid]

Have to routinely stop myself from bashing myself for making characters certain races and genders bc “what if this is insanely offensive to some people?” by asking one very simple question:

Do people like this actively exist?

If the answer is yes, then maybe I can stop feeling bad about giving my beautiful, disabled, black, baby boy dnd character a love of the colour pink.

Ya know, bc art is all about translation, and people are gonna people regardless of if some random asshole on the internet decides their existence is problematic.