#i can blame this on covid i guess

[everytimewetouch-dot-mp3]

shoutout to getting sick now i can stay up until 5am thinking about how sy reacts when lbh tries to consummate their marriage. he’s shocked at first—why would lbh do something like that with him?? he’s a man?? and anyway isn’t their marriage really more a non-agression pact for which he’s being held as collateral? the contract is valid whether they fuck or not, right?

(it’s not; the agreement was that marriage to shen yuan would ensure lbh’s non-agression toward cqms. the marriage isn’t complete; it hasn’t been consummated. binghe is maintaining non-aggression out of respect for sy)

so after the marriage celebration, lbh is like ‘time to consummate’ and sy is like ‘ahaha my disciple is so funny joking like this; your shifu is retiring to his rooms now binghe good night! 😀’

binghe brings it up a couple times a week for the first month of their marriage and each time sy panics and is like ‘haha of course binghe is joking he would never want to fuck a man, least of all me!’

meanwhile binghe like. doesn’t want to fuck sy but is absolutely perplexed by the idea that sy doesn’t want it either?? isn’t that what people want from him when they agree to marry? is there something wrong with him in sy’s eyes? why won’t his shifu let him into bed?so binghe, very misguided and confused, sets out to seduce sy.

the problem is that sy does find binghe terribly attractive. he’s handsome and strong and powerful and so sweet, and sy is bothered by some of the things he thinks about his disciple and how flustered he feels when binghe looks at him in certain ways. he feels horribly guilty for being attracted to binghe, even though he can’t help it (everyone is attracted to lbh!! it’s a law of nature!!)

so he starts feeling more awkward and avoidant toward lbh, and lbh is trying unsuccessfully to seduce him which only makes it worse.

eventually it comes to a head when lbh gets frustrated with his advances being denied again (why won’t sy just do it already so they can get this over with?? why is he making lbh wait so long?? does he hate lbh for torturing his brother? is that why he’s making lbh wait in fear for the day when sy finally says ‘it’s time to make use of you now, binghe.’ lbh just wants it over with so he can try to recover a relationship with him afterward)

so he’s frustrated and anxious and finally just asks ‘when are you going to make me sleep with you? the waiting is killing me; just do it so it can be done.’

and sy is…horrified. first of all nobody can make binghe do anything, right? and second of all is this what all the flirting was about?? it takes sy too long to answer and lbh gets upset and anxious and tries to initiate things right then. he kisses sy a few times but sy feels so uncomfortable that he puts a stop to things and is like ‘binghe you don’t even like men, stop, we don’t have to do anything i promise. not ever. i’m not gonna make you do something you don’t want to do?? obviously??’

this concept is…novel to lbh. not having to have sex when he doesn’t want or need to. having a spouse who doesn’t implicitly demand it of him. it’s so earth shattering he has a little cry about it, and he falls asleep in sy’s bed, being held and comforted by sy for the rest of the night.

i don’t want to work tomorrow i want to stay up until 5am thinking about gray ace luo bingge who receives shen yuan as a peace offering from cqms (meaning sy ran away himself in order to beg for his piece of shit ge’s life).

sy was binghe’s shifu, but after sqq threw lbh into the abyss sy (nearly died of grief-induced qi deviations again and again for almost a year) struggled to keep up with his responsibilities as a master of qjp. he wound up spending most of his time in the bamboo house or at the sword mound he’d built for zheng yang. sqq destroyed it once in a fit of rage and his didi didn’t speak to him for weeks.

when lbh arrives back on the scene and puts sqq on trial, sy seems to come back to life and rushes to meet him at huan hua. but it’s too late; sqq is in the water prison and the hhp disciples won’t let sy in since they see him as party to qjp’s abuse of lbh.

eventually one of the disciples gets so fed up with sy that they’re like ‘fucking fine, we’ll let you in and lbh will kill you and we’ll all be better for it.’ and instead lbh is terrified and elated at once. he treats sy as a guest of honor and bluntly deflects any inquiry after sqq.

eventually sy comes to the conclusion that his ge is dead and he’s like. he understands bc sqq was a piece of shit. but he’s also devastated bc sqq was the only family he had in the world. he transmigrated as a child shortly after the two of them were taken into the qius’ household, and he saw how the cruelty broke his brother down and hardened him. and he saw how his brother always had softness for him, even after that.

so he’s grieving his brother and lbh realizes that sy isn’t just giving him the silent treatment but is actually devastated, and he’s like ‘fine your shit brother is still alive in the water prison, now stop looking so miserable.’

sy begs binghe to send sqq to a regular prison or just to banish him or something —the water prison is just too cruel. and binghe decides that he’ll only let sqq go if sy stays. sy agrees at once (oh no i have to stick with the cool and interesting and handsome protag how horrible) and a few weeks later yqy is tearfully hauling a weak, hissing, snarling sqq back to cqms and leaving sy behind.

to get married.

he didn’t realize staying by lbh’s side meant marrying into the harem—he didn’t even know there was a harem yet??? but well. there are a few wives (maybe 20-35-ish) and now sy is among them.

[blujayonthewing]

my body for no fucking reason:

[the-terminal-show]

sso badly would like to stop falling asleep against my will every 4-5hrs. Return my insomnia!!!! i didn't know how good i had it, i can barely stay awake past 10pm & I start sleeping while sitting up within 5 minutes. you know how fucked that is??

[highlifeboat]

canadian anon and not re8 related but im so relieved that someone else is also anxious about the fires rn, because all im seeing on news/social media is that some dipsticks actually believe the wildfires were a set up by treadau as a fear mongering tactic to get climate change tax money im actually so tired mentally and physically from people who dont believe in climate change. I hope youre okay, i am but the smoke is rolling in now. i really dont know how to cope and continue normally worrying about everything thats going to come. its not even peak summer yet.

That's... the dumbest shit I've ever heard? Why are people so fucking dead set on acting like climate change isn't a real thing? As if the world isn't a living thing that adapts and is affected by what people do to it. Like fuck y'all, believe it or not the government is not always out to get you with some huge conspiracy, sometimes shit just fucking happens. (Also I'm pretty sure climate change is a proven thing?? Then again so is the Earth being round but there are people who don't believe that either..)

Anyway, I hope you're at least safe (or as safe as you can be). I just woke up and it looks less hazy out right now, sky is still grey, though. There's also still an active fire like an hour and a half up my road. Which is so fun to think about /s. (It is under control at the moment. But y'know. Shit can change so fast and it is not small)

Personally, I don't know what to do. Everyone is just kind of going about like life is normal, y'know? Which feels... kinda wrong? But also what else can you do? It's not like we can all go rushing in with hoses and put out the fires ourselves, even if we want to. I dunno. It's just a lot. It's very surreal.

Like... there's going to be lasting affects/consequences from this. And we just kinda have to deal with that. And, I'll be honest, I don't know how we just go about life right now. All you can do is wake up, go through the day, and go to bed. If you have hobbies, or interests, or something that makes you happy that'll take your mind off it for a bit, absolutely do that thing. Which is easier said than done, I know.

I hope you stay safe, consider wearing a mask outside with all the smoke in the air. Do something that makes you happy. Drink water. Ect.

[freebooter4ever]

Also, sorry. Me again. Uh. You're astoundingly hot. And I thought you were like, 25 and I felt really bad for thinking that about someone 10 years my junior and now I'm astonished because I just saw your bio... and... do you drink from the fountain of eternal youth? That's probably where you got the food poisoning...

sadly i definitely picked up the puke virus from laguna :(

[inkskinned]

it is totally okay to be hurt and tired and fed up with the american schooling system but i need you to understand that we need to be better about loudly and routinely defending public education.

yes, many teachers suck, many schools utterly suck. i also got bullied and was absolutely not given the right support for my needs. i am not defending public education because it was kind to me. i am defending it because it needs to exist.

right-wing republicans do not want an educated population. they want kids to be homeschooled or in private school. there is a huge religious undertone to this.

the most common argument is that despite high costs, the "result" is not "good" enough. they point to failing schools as proof that public education is just never going to work out. there will be arguments made here that you actually agree with: that teachers can be bullies, that we taught online for 2 years and still charged the same amount of tuition, that we have no recourse for students to actually have agency or a voice, and that schools are now unsafe for kids due to risk of illness and gun violence.

these are all placing the blame in a fraudulent way, one intended to get your parents to homeschool you. the less kids in a school, the less federally-awarded funding for that school, the less any school succeeds. they will not mention the fact it is their legislation that takes away important funding opportunities, that teachers are living at or below the poverty line, that buildings are not kept up to code, that administration is overpaid and forces specific curriculums, that corporations like (my personal enemy) Pearson Education control certain classroom goals because teachers can't afford other options. they pretend to be ignorant of the gun violence and say "oh just get a gun" - but these are the same people who will be sending their child to a private school with a bulletproof backpack. they don't care if your kid dies, though. they "don't believe" in covid, but they did get their kid vaccinated, because of course they did.

it is a closed loop. conservative parents hear the fearmongering and remove children from the system. frequently these parents are also deeply religious. the kids are raised without access to other media & learn to parrot their parents. you have now created a new generation of conservatives. additionally, one of the parents/caregivers must stay home and homeschool the children, usually for free. i will give you 1 guess which parent tends to stay home to homeschool the children. these parents are encouraged to have many, many children. those children are most likely not getting access to safe sex ed.

we might laugh at fox news suggesting teachers are forcing children to use kitty litter but: first of all, there is kitty litter in the classroom. it's part of an emergency kit in case children are locked in due to a shooter. so that's fucking dystopian, and the fact they've completely reimagined the scenario to somehow make the teachers look bad when it's instead a fucking huge symbol of our failure as a country to protect our children.... it feels a little intentional.

secondly: don't just dismiss the situation. because, yeah, obviously, no teacher is encouraging kids to be a catboy. but the actual undertone that fox news is trying to sew is an outright distrust of teachers and of public education. they rely on the dehumanization of trans people as a common touchstone to hide the fact they're pushing two agendas at once. (which is ironic. because the thing they accuse teachers of. is pushing. an agenda.)

whenever someone tells you they want you to read less, you should be suspicious of that. when someone tries to separate you and your education, you should be suspicious of that. i don't even like incel rhetoric nor would i want my kids exposed to it - but i would not take away my child's (age-appropriate) access to the internet. i would just provide more educational materials, not less. the difference here is that i believe we can resolve ignorance with knowledge; whereas conservatives believe that ignorance is bliss.

they misappropriate funding and demonize teachers. they pull the same trick each time - the same thing we are seeing with anti-trans rhetoric. they do not want you to have access to safe sex ed, so they act horrified, claim sex ed teaches you how to thrust deep, claim that we have no idea what "age-appropriate" means. since the mid-nineties, the united states has spent at least 2 billion dollars on abstinence-only education, even though to quote the above link: "a preponderance of studies has found no effect of abstinence education at reducing adolescent pregnancy". conservatives want you to think less of any person struggling with addiction so they can continue their racist "war on drugs", so they spend up to $750 million dollars a year on the DARE program which has absolutely no effect. acting like teachers "must" be "grooming" children is just the same thing - so they can demand that funding either goes to their causes or the funding doesn't "exist" ("i'm not paying for our kids to learn that thing!")

and they want you to feel uncaring about this. they are aware that you will hate some parts of your school experience. pretty much everyone does. they want to lean into the parts that you hate so that you don't put up a fight about it when they take it away for not being "good enough."

i know i maybe sound like a conspiracy theorist. but truly. truly. it is beneficial for conservatives to reduce your faith in the american public schooling system.

one of the explicitly stated campaign promises of the conservative party: to axe the Department of Education in 2024.

i know we are all tired and burnt out and there is so much else wrong with their entire platform. but maybe just - pay attention to this one.

[rempewiththetempe]

Is This Off The Record? — Quinn Hughes⁴³

Chapter Two

Series Masterlist Masterlist

Pairing: Quinn Hughes x fem!reader

Summary: Y/n interviews Quinn and it doesn’t exactly go as planned.

Warnings: use of y/n, cursing

w/c: 3,087

a/n: I wrote this literally right after getting over Covid so it’s slightly rushed but the next chapter should be better.

  “Can you answer some questions for me?” You asked, trying to show the same confidence level that the woman before you had shown, a very fake smile plastered on your face. If the fake smile didn’t give you away, then your words did. Your tone was shaky and it was easy to tell you were barely even comfortable in your own skin. 

  You watched as Quinn looked at you for a moment. You weren't exactly super fond of the way he was looking at you. He looked as if he was trying to appear in thought, not like he was actually trying to think over your question. You didn’t like his little power move. You wanted an answer, not whatever the fuck it was that he was currently giving you. After a moment, he finally spoke and you were grateful that the awkward silence was over.

  “Why not?” He said with a shrug of his shoulders. You hated how nonchalant he appeared. It pissed you off beyond reason.

  You sighed, bracing yourself for the short interview that was to come. Usually, it was the interviewees mentally preparing for these things, and you were sure Quinn was doing it too, but you had to make sure to ready yourself before questioning the mystery of a man in front of you.

  “I understand you’ve never really served a leadership role, besides being an alternate captain for Team USA and an alternate captain here last year, before being named Captain of the Canucks. Could you comment on that?” You asked with a hint of shakiness in your voice. You didn’t mean to start with a loaded question, but it was the first thing that came to your mind, and you didn’t want to just sit in silence while you thought of a different question.

  Quinn looked visibly offended by your question. You immediately wanted to retreat into some sort of safe space when you noticed that. You hadn’t meant to offend him, you were only trying to do your job. You hoped he understood that.

  “I’m sorry, I’m not quite sure what you mean by that,” Quinn spoke up and said after a calculated silence, his face contorted in offended confusion. You guessed by his response that your question hadn’t quite been worded correctly.

  “I just mean that-” You started quickly, not giving yourself any time to think about what you were saying, just wanting to clear up the situation quickly. “You know-” You stuttered out a final time before deciding to take a quick breath and collect your thoughts before continuing. Breathe.

  “What I meant to say was, do you think that this leadership role will be a lot to take on, or are you more of a natural leader?” You said, your thoughts collected as much as they were going to be.

  Quinn nodded with something close to understanding cast on his features. He sucked in a breath at your question and he sounded almost annoyed. You supposed you couldn’t exactly blame him for it, you’d be more than annoyed if you had to deal with shit like this often, but it still pissed you off a little.

  You looked over at J.T. briefly, silently begging him to come back over and ease the tension. You knew he couldn’t. He simply glanced at you with a sympathetic smile from where he stood across the room. You returned the smile, breathing deeply before turning back to Quinn.

  When you turned back to Quinn, he almost looked angry. No, angry wasn’t the word. Irritated, agitated, etc. Those words worked but those weren’t exactly what his face conveyed. It was something else.

  Quinn had glanced over to J.T. as well, a pleading look in his eyes, but for slightly different reasons. He cleared his throat before speaking. “I mean, I think it’ll be an adjustment, obviously, but I love my team, you know?” He said, raising his eyebrows slightly before letting out a small chuckle. “We’re all family here and I’m ready to take that responsibility of leading our team, our family.”

  Family. You thought his choice of describing the team as a family was interesting. You were sure a lot of players would describe their team that way, but it was interesting for another reason. Quinn said it like he truly meant it. Like his team was truly his family. He said it with the care that conveyed a familial bond. That was what was interesting. Family.

  You nodded at his answer, offering him a small smile that wasn’t returned. Why did he have to make this more awkward? You dropped the smile from your face for the rest of that interview. You weren’t smiling for yourself anyway, you were smiling out of politeness, decency, and respect. If he wasn’t giving that to you, then you didn’t have to give that to him, you decided.

  You continued the interview, thanking some higher power every once in a while that this was not a video interview, because there were more than a few awkward pauses that you were more than glad you wouldn’t need to include. You glanced over to J.T. every once in a while, seeking reassurance, because you sure as hell weren’t receiving any from Quinn. You knew it wasn’t his job to make you feel comfortable while you asked him questions, but it would’ve been nice. Instead, he didn’t even offer a simple smile back to you, only smiled every so often when talking about his teammates.

  You were grateful when J.T. got done with his interview and walked back over to you and Quinn. It gave you an out, a way to simply end the interview early and leave. As soon as J.T. stepped within 6 feet of you and Quinn you wrapped up the interview with little warning, just saying that all your questions had been answered, thanking Quinn, and telling him you look forward to speaking with him again. He nodded, seemingly not giving a fuck about what you had to say.

  You said thank you to J.T. as well, wishing him well. He offered to walk you out to your car, but you politely declined. You swore you could see Quinn roll his eyes at J.T.’s offer, but you couldn’t be sure.

  You made your way to your car, the click-clack of your shoes on the ground an almost comforting sound. You made sure to hit the unlock button on your car key about three times as you approached your vehicle. You didn’t want to suffer the embarrassment of setting off your own car alarm. You opened your car door, quickly disappearing behind the tint of your windows. You didn’t even put the key in the ignition for a good two minutes, just resting your head on the steering wheel, thinking about everything and nothing.

  You felt overwhelmed with a fear that you knew all too well as you started your car. The fear of not being good enough. The fear had haunted you for nearly your entire life. It wasn’t new to you, but you still hated it and it still controlled you to a certain extent.

  You drove home in complete silence. No music. No humming. No cursing out other drivers. You kept your eyes on the road and tried to keep unwelcome thoughts out of your mind. It worked for the most part, but you knew hiding from things wasn’t the answer. You just wanted to wait until you were in the safety of your own apartment before you dealt with how you felt.

  You parked your car, counting your blessings and the fact that your apartment complex had a parking lot, so you didn’t have to walk far. Of course, once you got to your apartment door, your keys wouldn’t fucking cooperate with you. And by that, you mean that you couldn’t find the right one on your keychain. Your keychain had some keys that hadn’t been in use in years. It took you forever to find the right one. You were frustrated, to say the least. That’s always how things go though. The most annoying things happen when you really are not in the mood for them.

  You opened your apartment door, muttering to yourself, “I have to get those fucking labeled,” as you walked in. You groaned as you tried to shut the door behind you, but of course, it didn’t quite close all the way. You shut the door all the way, wanting nothing more than to slam it as hard as you could, but knowing, for obvious reasons, that you couldn’t.

  You breathed deeply, setting your bag down on the counter, making sure to dig your phone out of it and shove it in your pocket, before moving to go sit in your bedroom. You didn’t really know if you were going to your bed or your desk, but you knew you were going to your room. You would sit on your couch if it was actually put together and not sitting disassembled in its box in the middle of your living room.

  You sat down on your bed, above the covers. You stared at the wall for a few moments before pulling your phone back out of your pocket. You’d used your phone to record the interviews. No video, just audio. You knew you would have to start transcribing at some point today, but you weren’t super keen on doing that right now. You didn’t want to think about your job right now, which was something you never thought you would say. More accurately, you didn’t want to think about Quinn right now. Quinn and the odd interview and the weird looks and the stressful, well, everything. He wouldn’t leave your mind, his silent belittlement haunting you.

  You looked at the time that was displayed on the screen. 2:15. Not bad. You thought about it for a moment. You could maybe take a nap. You were kind of tired. More mentally than physically though, but you would do anything to ease your mind right now. 

  You didn’t bother changing your clothes, they were comfortable enough. You plugged your phone in, setting it on your nightstand before getting up to turn the light off. It didn’t do much to darken the room. You hadn’t put your curtains up yet and the sun was peeking through your bedroom window quite easily. It wasn’t ideal, but you'd managed to fall asleep with worse going on.

  You sighed, climbing under the covers and getting comfortable. It took a few moments of tossing and turning, but you finally got into a comfortable position. It didn’t last long though, and soon, what was supposed to be a relaxing nap, became lying awake in silence, constantly moving and trying to sleep. You didn’t sleep. It took an hour before you finally gave up and sat up in your bed.

  You grabbed your phone off of your nightstand, deciding to just scroll on your phone for a bit. You opened Instagram. You didn’t post often. You mainly just used it to message and stalk people. You had a private account that not many people tried to follow often, so you were a little surprised when you saw that you had a new follow request. From j.tmiller9. It had the little blue checkmark next to it, so you figured it was legit. You accepted the follow request, not thinking too much of it besides the fact that you were happy you’d at least made a good impression on someone. You didn’t like the subtle reminder of Quinn though. 

  Everything about Quinn pissed you off. His nonchalance. The way he brushed you off. His stupid fucking sweaty hair after the practice. You especially hated how he’d made you feel so small.

  You unplugged your phone, deciding that if you couldn’t sleep, you might as well do something productive with your time. You stood up from your bed, not bothering to turn the light on, the natural light from the window being enough. Pulled out the chair from your desk, you opened your laptop and sat down, ready to transcribe the interviews. You decided to start with Quinn’s. Might as well.

  You opened the voice memo app on your phone and began the transcribing. The recording of your and Quinn’s voices coming through your phone stressed you out. Maybe you shouldn’t have started with his interview. You desperately wanted to get through this with no trouble. You took a steadying breath, whispering, “You’re okay,” to yourself as you did so.

  With somewhat shaky hands, you rewinded the recording on your phone so you could begin typing, but stopped before you could hit play when you saw an Instagram notification. You clicked on it almost immediately and were taken to a message from J.T. You read it, letting out a sigh of relief as you did. It read, You did good today, Kid. Sorry about Quinn, he’s just a little stressed lately. I’ll have Petey talk to him, don’t worry. He’ll warm up to you.

  Quinn was just stressed. That had to be the reason for his behavior earlier, right? You chose to believe it because you really did not feel like worrying anymore. You hit play on the recording and began transcribing.

—

  The next practice was two days after the first one. You’d almost opted out of going. You still had some things to get done at home, since you’d just moved in and all, and it wasn’t like you’d have entirely new questions to ask only two days later. Maybe just the ability to ask some other people similar questions. You knew you’d be asking the same questions they’d been asked a thousand times already, and it didn’t really sit right with you. You knew that you should go though, and so you did.

  You didn’t get there super early this time. You didn’t feel the need to talk to the players before the practice again. You knew that photos during the practice and maybe a short interview after the fact would suffice. You didn’t need to try and overachieve all the time. You didn’t need to set such higher standards for yourself than for others. You’d been told that a lot, but it was hard to actually put it into practice. You tried though. You tried.

  You snapped a few photos during the practice. You were proud that you’d gotten some good ones. You’d also laughed when you saw Quinn cut a little too hard on his edges and almost break his ankles. He was covered in ice as he got up. You couldn’t help but chuckle when you realized you’d gotten a photo of him going down. It wouldn’t have been as funny if it was anyone else. You didn’t really know why you found it so funny when it was Quinn, but you did.

  The practice went as normal and the sound of skate blades cutting into the ice and sticks hitting the ice was oddly nice to listen to. The chill of being this close to the rink was oddly comforting as well.

  You didn’t have to sit with as many journalists as you did two days prior. You guessed it was because this practice wasn’t as important. Hell, you had been debating on whether or not you were going too.

  After practice was over, you waited outside the locker room just as you had before. It took them longer to let you in this time, but you didn’t have a problem with it. It wasn’t like you had anywhere to be after this anyway.

  When you were finally permitted to enter the locker room, you walked in and were pleased to be met with a small wave and a bright smile from J.T. You waved back and smiled back, not quite matching his smile, but smiling nonetheless. You were going to walk over to J.T. but stopped walking briefly as you looked over and saw Quinn. He was looking at you, but not exactly acknowledging your presence. It was almost as if he were looking straight through you. You wanted to say something, but you remained silent.

  You settled on rolling your eyes. It was almost an instinct to do such. You didn’t even really think about it before you did it. Quinn didn’t seem fazed and that pissed you off more than him looking through you had pissed you off to begin with.

  You walked over to where J.T. stood with Elias and Brock. They all had smiles on their faces. You were sure they’d seen your reaction to Quinn, but you didn’t really care all that much. J.T. was quick to “introduce” you to Elias and Brock, even though you’d already met them two days ago. Granted, you had met them pretty formally, and J.T. wasn’t introducing them formally.

  “I know you have some questions to ask, but, Y/n, this is Boes,” J.T. said, pointing to Brock, “And this is Petey,” he said, patting Elias on the back lightly.

  “We met briefly,” You said with a soft chuckle. It didn’t take long for J.T. to comment.

  “Yeah, briefly,” He said dramatically, “This is a friendly meeting.”

  Brock bowed extravagantly as if he were a knight meeting a queen and this felt so unprofessional and yet so fucking fun. Elias went the more professional route, opting to stick out his hand in a handshake. You took Elias’s hand, shaking it and Brock fauxed offense that you didn’t react to his bow.

  “He gets a handshake and I’m not even acknowledged?!” Brock asked incredulously, his jaw almost on the floor.

  “I’m sorry, Brock,” You said with a small laugh. “Your bow was very…impressive?” You said and it came out as more of a question than a statement.

  Brock’s face dropped and he made a pout with his lips. He glared at you, keeping up with the dramatic act for a surprising amount of time. “That sounded genuine,” he deadpanned sarcastically.

  “Oh, it very much was,” You replied, just as sarcastic as he had.

  You could feel eyes on you, but you couldn’t bring yourself to care when you felt this welcomed. You were a reporter coming in to ask them a bunch of questions and you were being welcomed. It wasn’t like anything you’d experienced before. These linemates were smiling and laughing with you. This team really was like a family.

Taglist: @ru-kru

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Dan Pfeiffer at The Message Box:

Poring through the aftermath of a brutal defeat, Democrats are now in their worst position in at least 20 years. Republicans have the White House and the Senate and an excellent chance to capture the House. Trump is only the second Republican since 1988 to win the popular vote, and he made huge gains across the country, building a multi-racial working-class coalition.

For many of you, I imagine this is painful to read. Trust me. It is even more painful to write. Most of my career has been spent within the machinery of the Democratic Party. I worked in the White House and Senate leadership. I worked for Democratic governors and other party organizations. It pains me to see the party in this state of disfavor only eight years after Barack Obama left the White House. The coalition that Obama built has crumbled. There are millions of reasons why we are in this position — COVID, inflation, an unpopular President, several political miscalculations, and a failure to adapt to a changed media environment. Ultimately, I am less interested in how we got into this mess than in how we get out of it.

The press continues to second-guess and Monday-morning quarterback various tactical decisions of the Harris campaign. I am also not particularly interested in that debate. Two things can be true at the same time. Kamala Harris ran a great campaign in a brutal political environment under an impossible timeline, and Democrats just got their ass kicked by a failed President and convicted criminal who could have been sentenced to jail if he lost the election. Where Democrats go from here is a conversation that will be an ongoing part of this newsletter in the months to come. There is no singular or simple answer, and many strawman arguments are being offered up on Twitter and cable. The solution is more complex than being more left or centrist or less woke. I don’t have the answers. Like the rest of you, I am still processing what happened on Tuesday. As part of my personal therapy, I wanted to do a bit of brain dump on the road ahead for Democrats as we confront another four years of Trump.

1. Recognize the Scale of the Problem

On one level, Trump’s win isn’t that big. His popular vote margin will end up being lower than Hillary Clinton’s when she lost the Presidency. This was far from a landslide. It looks nothing like Reagan’s victories in 1980 and 1984 or Obama’s win in 2008. But we shouldn’t sugarcoat the size and scope of Trump’s victory. Trump improved on his 2020 performance nearly everywhere in the country and with every type of voter. There was a six-point shift to the right in the country from 2020. Trump did 10 points better in Democratic strongholds like New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. He gained ground with men, women, Latinos, Black voters, and voters under 30. If the GOP can maintain that coalition post-Trump, Democrats will have no shot at the White House or the Senate for the foreseeable future. We are in a deep hole, and because of that, it is essential that we contemplate radical solutions about how we communicate, campaign, and govern. Every option should be on the table and every prior should be questioned. Yes, it was a brutal political environment, but this failure was a long time in the making.

2. Understand Why We Keep Losing on the Economy

Post-COVID inflation is the biggest factor in this election. It’s why incumbent parties all over the world have been getting slaughtered in election after election. It’s almost impossible to win an election when, according to the exit polls, 68% of voters rate the economy negatively, 75% say inflation caused them harm, and only 24% of voters say their financial situation is better off than four years ago. But if Democrats just blame inflation for voter distrust on the economy, we will be whistling past the graveyard. Democrats have lost economically-focused voters in every election since 2012. Even in the 2018 and 2022 midterms, which saw huge Democratic gains, we lost the voters who said the economy was their top issue by an average of 36 points!

President Biden passed a bunch of very consequential and popular policies. Yet, his ratings on the economy worsened over time. While I think we should revisit our policy agenda to look for new, bolder ideas that better speak to people’s concerns, this is largely not a policy problem. It’s a brand problem. When you do a blind taste test, our policies are more popular. This is why ballot initiatives like raising the minimum wage and allowing collective bargaining often pass in very Red states where Democrats have no chance of winning elected office. On economic issues, Democrats have a cultural problem; regardless of our policies, voters in the toughest economic situations simply don’t think Democrats care about them, and they haven’t since Barack Obama left office. Republicans have done an excellent job — with some inadvertent help from Democrats — branding our party as the party of elites even though the GOP standard bearer is a wannabe billionaire who offers tax cuts to other billionaires in exchange for campaign contributions. There is little question that we would benefit from more full-throated populism.

3. Close the Communications Chasm

Democrats are losing the information war. Trump and the Republicans are relentlessly communicating their narrative to a wide swath of the electorate, while Democrats are mostly still playing by an old set of rules. The Right is dominating the information space. In the battleground states where Democrats could spend more than a billion dollars communicating to voters on TV and digital platforms, Trump gained three points over his 2020 performance. In the rest of the country, which saw no paid Democratic messaging, Trump gained six points. This means that Democrats got absolutely battered in earned and social media. An average American who just turned on their TV or unlocked their phone or tablet was getting much more pro-Trump and anti-Democratic messaging. This situation is not unique to the Harris campaign. It’s been a problem for Democrats for more than a decade. Democrats cannot reach the wide swath of voters who don’t actively consume political news. According to polling from Data for Progress, here’s the statistics showing how people voted based on the amount they paid attention to political news:

a great deal: Harris +8

a lot: Harris +5

a moderate amount: Trump +1

a little: Trump +8 -

none at all: Trump +15

If you read the New York Times or watch CNN, Democrats know how to reach you. The problem is that we already have those voters. It's very clear that most of Democratic communications is a circular conversation with the people who already agree with us on everything. The rest of the electorate can’t hear us. They are getting no countervailing information to counter the Right Wing caricature of Democrats. Because of Fox News and other Right Wing outlets, Republicans have long had an asymmetric media advantage. However, in recent years, Right Wing messaging has come to dominate non-political online spaces centered on topics like comedy, gaming, gambling, and wellness.

Most Democrats continued running the same communications playbook for the entire Trump era despite massive changes in the media ecosystem. We haven’t incubated our progressive political media enough nor have we been willing to go into the non-political spaces where the most critical segment of voters are getting their info.

Dan Pfeiffer has yet another home run column on how the Democrats can roar back from their shock 2024 losses.

[ghostfire]

I finished Veilguard about a day ago, and I have some *thoughts*. I'm coming at this as someone who first played Dragon Age: Origins in 2009 and has loved the series since then. I've got the novels, the artbooks, and I've got two nugs and a mabari plushie guarding my desk right now. It's safe to say that I am a long time fan. I did a full replay of Inquisition immediately before playing Veilguard, so I would have the comparison back to back instead of colored by a decade of shifting memories.

If parts of this are somewhat disorganized, I'll blame covid brain, and hope I at least mostly make sense. There are spoilers for the full game below the cut.

I'll start with some things that I genuinely enjoyed. The number of animals you can pet: A++, no notes. The voice acting, with a few exceptions that I think were simply due to working with the dialogue and timing the actors were given, was excellent. Gareth David-Lloyd (Solas) and Joseph Capp (Elgar'nan) both notably went above and beyond there. The majority of the environmental design - especially Arlathan and the Grand Necropolis - was solid. The stability of the game itself was perfect. In just over 100 hours of gameplay I experienced zero crashes, which is amazing in itself. Unfortunately, this is not a long list for a game of this magnitude.

About the gameplay - I didn't really see it as modernized, just changed. Every time an RPG franchise becomes more of an action RPG I'm saddened. It's not the play style I want. Not what I'm looking for. I think it was an okay example of the play style they went with, but I found myself completely neglecting certain aspects of it, and I think some of it might be that they would feel more natural played with a controller, while I use mouse and keyboard. If this were a different game, in a different series, I wouldn't be disappointed by the gameplay, however, so I guess I have to rate this as neutral.

The music, except for a few tracks that were more clearly playing into themes from previous games, felt somewhat more generic than I'm expecting from Dragon Age. Again, not bad, but still disappointing. Tracks like "Leaving Earth" from Mass Effect 3 or the Dragon Age: Origins theme will bring out the goosebumps and instantly plunge me back into memories with just a few notes. I don't think I got hit hard with that in Veilguard until the Solavellan ending began.

As for the character and creature style - even by the end of the game, I never got used to or liked it. The cartoon tinge to the characters that just doesn't fit Dragon Age world felt distinctly uncomfortable. The new darkspawn and most demon and spirit designs were awful in context and would have ben better in something from Blizzard.

The quality of the writing of various companions varied *wildly* - often toeing the line between character and caricature - just as often falling short as overreaching. One that fell especially flat when it could have been so interesting was the Lucanis/Spite duo. None of Spite's appearances had the emotional impact of Justice, crackling with power when confronted with injustice and becoming part of a greater whole with Anders, riding the line between Justice and Vengeance. While some of that could be put down to Spite simply being a less powerful demon than Vengeance, or Lucanis somehow having a better hold over a demon that was forced into him than Anders had with a spirit that he invited in willingly, neither of those explanations feels satisfying. Spite taking over Lucanis and sleepwalking to the Eluvian felt mildly irritating, not terribly alarming.

Picking still at the writing, I got the impression that this was a young adult game grafted on top of the bones of deep and dark and yawning lore. The out of place tone to the language chosen made some parts feel very "Guardians of the Galaxy" style whacky, with far too many modern colloquialisms. Characters don't have to be serious all the time, but whether they're acting funny or acting stern, the way they do it should fit the world and feel genuine.

Emmrich, whose whole story line is rooted in existential dread of mortality, did not seem like he was sacrificing anything to save Manfred in the way that he reacted. There should have been a real opportunity for him to break down, either in the moment as the decision is made, and an opportunity for Rook's decisions up to that point to influence him, or afterward, in private, and to need real comfort from his friend or partner.

No one should have ever described Veilguard as being Bioware's "most romantic" game. My experience with romance was, at best, "okay". Many of the "flirt" options felt like they were the only way to acknowledge that certain things were happening. Either choose the heart, or feel like you're ignoring something important. After flirting hard with Davrin, Bellara, and Emmrich, I chose Emmrich. His romance is supposedly one of best, but the romance specific scenes there were felt shallow and brief. I liked that characters got together as couples outside of Rook, but can see why people drawn to Lucanis or Neve are complaining.

Plenty has been said about whitewashing some of the darker and more uncomfortable aspects of the Dragon Age world, and I agree to varying levels. The Crows, for instance. I'm well aware of Zevran's efforts over the previous twenty or so years, and maybe this is the best of the houses, and you don't see much of other houses or fledglings, but *someone* on your team should express misgivings over working with brutal, child abusing assassins, even if Rook is unaware. There was plenty of opportunity for Lucanis (or Teia and Viago) to explain the change over time or between houses if asked. Not acknowledging this more obviously feels wrong.

Slavery in Tevinter - it's not true that it's completely glossed over - you see a few among the Venatori, and you rescue one in the Grand Necropolis, again brought in by the Venatori. But where the slavery common in Tevinter, practiced by citizens and normalized, could have been used as a parallel with the slavery perpetuated by the Evanuris, it was instead largely downplayed as an issue. The few lines talking about Dorian and Maevaris's failed political movement is such a tantalizing glimpse at acknowledging this tremendous injustice, but it's easily lost, and if you didn't already know the background, wouldn't have much of an impact.

Lords of Fortune - absolute shit. My Isabela ran away with artifact and learned nothing, but it's not like other past decisions you've made in the games made any difference either, so... The whole way it's presented reeks of out of place modern sensibilities. Could it have been explained in a different way somehow? Maybe. But still, shit.

Diving deeper still, the "Elven Gods" are cartoon villains with no subtlety. While some degree of this has been a common thing with Dragon Age villains, it's usually easy to see their side or at least how they got there. Corypheus wanted to raise himself to fill what he thought was an empty godhood and restore the "glory" of Tevinter. Meredith's experience with her mage sister lead her to see magic as a dangerous threat, justifying her cruel measures in the name of safety for all.

Ghilan'nain felt somewhat understandable because at least she was teetering on the edge of satisfying madness. She genuinely believed her creations and blighted nature were beautiful - so much so she altered herself accordingly.

Elgar'nan had real opportunity to be a deep complex villain, but instead he is wishy washy, confused, watered down. Where was his rage at modern peoples over the loss of his other fellow gods? He seemed to genuinely care about Ghilan'nain, but they aren't really mentioned, and it's not as if the passage of time soothed any of his other perceived slights. He could have been a persuasive Satan figure. The times he was in Rook's head were some of the most interesting in the game. Rook was becoming powerful, and that's one of the few things Elgar'nan respected, because that is an aspect of himself. More persuasively tempting Rook would have been nice. There should have been some way to give in, to fail. A chance to fall to corruption if you're not strong enough, maybe. A bad end if you've been an asshole, but you can't be an asshole because this is a young adult game.

As presented, Rook is the blandest hero in the Dragon Age series. Either that, or the most railroaded. Even though I came to like my Rook, a lot of that was pure, behind the scenes, headcanon character building. Often, all of the dialogue options felt the same - like I was being forced to play her one way. After a certain point, I had to imagine that she was lying her way through a number of scenes, because I had no options that felt even remotely close to what I was looking for. When pulled into the prison of regret, it was like the writers couldn't imagine a Rook who did not regret their part in the loss of their companions - who was proud of them for their sacrifice, and who, if they have rage and sorrow, direct it at the gods who caused the harm. This lack of agency was especially egregious when it came to Solas. I wanted the option to say I understood and agreed with a lot of what he did and wanted, even if I couldn't let him go all the way tear down Veil. Nearly every option came across as some degree of antagonistic. Once it came down to some of the endgame lines, talking directly to him, any amount of judgement on Rook's part felt wholly unearned and inappropriate for the way I was playing.

If I hadn't played the previous games for context, I don't think Veilguard would have given me a fraction of the perception I needed to see how things have changed, including the awful conditions of elves and mages, and despite directly seeing his memories, Solas would seem so much less sympathetic in his desire to fix his mistakes.

I could write this much again, just on Solas, but there was clearly a deep and compelling story there, a promise that was imprisoned just as surely as the character. It's painful to see hints of what could have been.

[sapphiresaphics]

So these are screenshots in the Bridging the Rift documentary about the creation of Arcane. This is from episode 3 which debuted in August 2022. The episodes are all up on YouTube for free btw.

You can see them working on designing Lest.

Viktors metal hands.

And a very close to completion shot of Caitlyn in S2E1 handing tea to her grieving father.

Season 1 was released on November 2021. This documentary came out almost a year after the first season aired and they were already deep enough into season 2 that shots and characters from Act 1 were already nearing completion.

Amanda Overton has said in interviews online that season 2’s story was finished being written before season 1 even aired. The voice actors for Maddie and Sky both have said they recorded their lines for season 2 right around when covid hit in 2020. And these glimpses behind the scenes seem to confirm that. You can’t be working on near completed shots if you don’t have a script and dialogue already written and recorded.

This is why I really hate the speculation that the season was “rushed” or that the issues people have with this season are the result of Netflix or some corporate overlord cancelling future seasons or forcing them to add stuff they didn’t want. From all the evidence I can see and from all the information we’ve gotten from the writers themselves, both seasons of Arcane were written back to back and completed before season 1 even finished airing.

I know that if you had issues with season 2 it’s easier to blame some sort of external force for what’s wrong, but so far all of the evidence just points to this is how the season was written for good or bad.

Also we neee to clear some things up. Christian Linke may be going around giving interviews, but that’s mostly because he’s the show runner and producer. That’s a technical term for the guy who funds the project and makes sure it’s on budget and gets done. He doesn’t really have a lot of story credit, he’s a music producer. So take whatever he says with a grain of salt.

The REAL people you should be listening to are people like Amanda Overton who have not been shy about taking about their process in writing the series. She’s answered a lot of questions about the series in YouTube videos like this.

Additionally, you need to understand that Netflix is mostly just the distributor. Riot funded and produced the whole show on their own. And while they had some Netflix censorship guidelines they had to follow (for scenes where the lesbian sex got a little too spicy), Netflix has no control over the series. They did not cancel the show early. They do not promise them 5 seasons and suddenly cut it back to 2. Netflix is in it for the viewership only. If they actually DID cancel the series, Riot could easily just keep producing more shows and release them on any other streaming platform instead. Netflix holds nothing over them.

I guess all I want to do is show how LONG of a process all of this was and to give some insight into the making of the show. I want people to understand these things so they’re not out here coming up with conspiracy theories and out what they THINK went wrong. Uninformed speculation is not useful or productive.

Personally, I loved season 2 and the “rushed” feeling has been dwindling the more I rewatch the show and appreciate what they were doing. I strongly recommend that if you have issues with the show, go back and rewatch the entire show from start to finish. I’m finding stuff in season 1 that only makes more sense now that season 2 is out.

[dootdootwriting]

HIHIHI IDK IF URE STILL TAKIJG REQUEST BUT IF U ARE, ATUSHI,DAZAI AND RANPO MAKING READER CRY? (gender neutral or fem is great if that’s okayyy) TAKE CARE 😘💞💓 make sure ure eating drinking sleeping and all that jazz 🫶🫶

featuring: atsushi; dazai; ranpo (separately tw: mild descriptions of violence/injury in atsushi's part, crying, dazai typical suicide jokes/discussion of them in his part, "angel" as a pet name, swearing (from me) type: angst to fluff, hurt/comfort pronouns used: none (no use of "belladonna") (dazai flirts with another woman but god dammit that man is BISEXUAL. reader is gn) a/n: YIPPEEE THREE OF MY BEST BOYS!! and tysm im actually coming down with some kindof sickness my dad has covid so i hope its. not that LMAO but thank you <333 i'm going to bed after i write this!

under the cut for length <3 i may have gotten a LITTLE carried away with dazai DHAGHDG

ATSUSHI

is it even possible for this dude to make you cry, genuinely? he's such a caring boyfriend that he second guesses just about everything he says in case it could somehow offend you

it's partially adorable and partially annoying

so, him hurting you is pretty much out of the question. so how the hell does this sweetheart end up making you cry??

by getting hurt

he gets beaten within an inch of his life in yet another accidental run-in with akutagawa, and you have to drag him out of that situation as fast as you can, carrying him all the way to the ada

kunikida opens the door, notices your tear-stained face first and then atsushi's limp body flung over your shoulder, and calls for yosano immediately. she arrives in under three seconds, scooping him up and rushing him to her infirmary.

and now, all you can do is wait

hours after the incident, after yosano informs everyone that he'll most likely pull through, you try to get some work done. but with your boyfriend having just nearly been killed, it's pretty much impossible.

ranpo is so worried about how distressed you look that he offers you a pocky stick. you accept it and eat it, but it doesn't taste like anything.

your thanks is half-hearted.

you're sitting there in front of your google doc, eyes tired and red from sobbing earlier. there are three words written on what's supposed to be an incident report. kunikida sighs, pats you on the back, and takes your laptop away from you, telling you he'll take care of it.

that's when yosano gently re-enters the main room, calling you over

atsushi is sitting upright in bed, eyes misty. as soon as he sees you, he tries to sit up even more. yosano snaps at him.

the thing you want to do more than anything is jump into his arms and cry into his chest, but you don't want to risk hurting him even more. so, instead, you opt to gently sit on the edge of his bed and wrap your arms around him.

both of you start crying again, and atsushi promises he'll be more careful next time.

DAZAI

oh good lord . what did he do this time

jokingly flirting with yet another woman and asking if she'll do a double suicide with him again? yeah, that'll do it.

as always, his newest mark turns him down, skittering away as quickly as possible. you don't blame her.

"how come you keep asking people to commit suicide with you?"

"hm?" he doesn't seem to understand, flashing you that head-empty smile. he's completely enamored with you, you can tell, but then... why is he still up to his stupid habits?

"i mean, you're with me now. are you still really looking for someone to die with you?"

"well, you keep saying no, so what am i supposed to do~?"

it's a joke, you can tell. it's always a joke, except when it isn't, and with dazai, really, who can tell?

you don't want him to run off and end his life with some lady he met fifteen minutes ago. and they all reject him anyway, but what if, one day, one of them doesn't? would he be caught off guard and admit he was teasing? or would he not even miss a beat and actually go through with it?

the thought of him just leaving you without warning is so distressing, your eyes start to tear up. you thought you were done with this.

immediately, dazai notices. his eyebrows furrow and his expression immediately sobers.

"hey, angel, what's wrong?"

through tears, you have to explain everything to him. how much he means to you, and how little you feel that it seems that he could throw you and the rest of his life away at the drop of a hat. how you can never tell if he's joking, if he means it, if he's teasing. how much you just want him to stay with you and never leave.

he's taken aback. for a fraction of a second, dazai's eyes widen and he's left at a complete loss for words.

of course, as always, he regains his composure almost immediately, pulling you in as close as he can to his chest and rubbing circles into your back.

"i thought you knew you meant too much to me for me to do that," he murmurs, his voice as low and soothing as he can muster. "i'm so sorry, i didn't realize how much this was bothering you. i won't do it anymore, i promise. and you never have to worry about me leaving you like that. i can't just throw all this away! you're everything."

and he holds you like that for as long as you need before taking you back home.

RANPO

this man and his fucking candy i swear to god

it's always a bargain with him. you want a kiss? okay, but you owe him a lollipop. hugs? while he's working? you'd better have a cookie ready.

honestly, it's almost as if he's doing it just for you. like he doesn't love the affection just as much as you do, if not even more

ranpo enters every request of him with the mindset of it being a trade. instead of both of you receiving a kiss, it's your request, so he deserves something in return.

it's stupid is what it is (in a complete contrast to ranpo himself)

"i'm not giving you a lollipop, ranpo. you either get a hug, or you don't."

"fine, i guess i don't then. suit yourself." he spins his chair back around and gets back to typing, making a point of only using his index fingers to go as slowly as possible

"this is stupid, ranpo."

he swivels back around, his eyes open and giving you one of the most piercing expressions you've seen from him thus far.

"stupid? it's not stupid, it's just the way i do things. if you want a hug so bad, go to kunikida for all i care. besides, you should know better. if my own way sounds stupid to you, that means you're the dumb one. i'm just taking advantage of an opportunity; nobody said you had to get all fussy about it. just get back to work and leave me alone."

it stings! i mean, this is your boyfriend, who, despite being selfish at times, is usually one of the sweetest and most caring people you've met. just because of a lollipop? and you're the stupid one?

you feel like crying.

oh. you are crying?

you hadn't even noticed, and you weren't even sure why - this type of thing was usually something you should be able to suck up and give ranpo the silent treatment about.

but you're crying?

ranpo notices from the corner of his eye, and immediately feels insanely guilty

so of course he makes a show out of it.

"wait! there's something wrong! something doesn't add up!"

he stands up on his chair, procuring his glasses from his pocket and flashily but delicately placing them on his face.

"my lovely partner is crying! which can only mean one thing. it seems... in this singular, incredibly improbable situation... i, the world's greatest detective.... am wrong!"

he drops back down to sit cross legged on his chair again, puting his glasses back into his pocket.

"i'm really sorry, i didn't think this would upset you so much. i'll give you as many hugs as you want from now on."

[calm-with-anxiety]

If I see or hear people defending their votes for Trump with “well I didn’t really know her policies and plans for her presidency” I will burst into flames. We live in a time where almost every piece of information is in your hand, you could’ve Googled her plans, it was on her fucking website for weeks, it was 80 pages of policy and how they planned to pay for it. Like you chose to be an uneducated voter that got information from commercials and short form video.

The economy line is bullshit because his plans will make everything more expensive, tariffs are payed for by you, you think the multibillion dollar company will take on the extra cost to buy and ship goods by lowering the CEO salary, no, they will make the item more expensive because they never promised you a $200 tv, but they did promise stockholders a dividend of $10/share. His mass deportation policy will cause the economy to collapse because immigrants, legal or illegal, do the jobs that others look down on. You never see a line of white guys in overalls hoping to be hired for below minimum wage to pick fruit for hours in the sun, you don’t see young white men showing up to construction jobs that the builder has subcontracted so it’s cheaper to build. The bedrock of the U.S. economy is cheap labor and a majority of that is immigrants who are looking for jobs that don’t require knowing perfect English and have employers that look the other way when you don’t have documents because they know you will work for anything.

Don’t even get me started on healthcare, outside of women’s healthcare which will get worse, if he finally gets rid of the affordable care act, aka Obamacare, they will replace it with nothing. The man was president before and after John McCain put his thumb down they never tried to make a new policy that wasn’t throwing the whole program into the trash. Also the affordable care act is more than just low cost healthcare, it put in place pre-existing conditions, for those too young to remember, the insurance companies could deny you coverage all because you might get cancer one day because your mother had it, you would have to pay out of pocket for an inhaler because asthma was a pre-existing condition, even if you were diagnosed with it later in life. Don’t forget what the vaccine situation will be, especially if he puts RFK jr. anywhere near it, like there is actual fear that Polio will come back because guess what? Most people under the age of 40 are not vaccinated for it because it was considered eradicated due to the mass vaccination of children in the 50s and 60s. When you complain about feeling like shit after getting the flu shot or a Covid booster, that is the vaccine working in your body, your body is doing an internal workout so if and when you come in contact with those viruses you won’t be getting extremely sick or die because someone doesn’t know how to cover their cough.

I think this election was proof that you can have all the information and still know nothing because you chose to know nothing. People vote with their eyes, not their mind. Gas where I live has been under $3.00 for months, it’s been under $2.50 at the warehouse stores for weeks, but because an ad on tv said prices are rising people believed the tv over their own experience. People saw grocery prices increase and blamed the administration when in reality corporations took advantage of Covid shortages, raised prices, recorded historic profits, and didn’t start bring prices down until this summer after people realized what was happening to some extent and even then they didn’t return to pre-2020 prices because the profit still needed to be high, they looked at the $2 increase in a bag of chips over 4 years and blamed democrats and not Lays.

This is going to be a painful 4 years, for many people here and abroad, Ukraine will have to depend on Europe which is starting to lean conservative as well and the war in Gaza will take an extreme shift that will make the last year look like a paper cut in terms of humanitarian assistance and a possible end. It’s already getting on my nerves as people tweet “we keep fighting” and “we need to be strong so they can’t do all they plan to do like the first time”, it’s not going to be like the first time, the adults in the room he had with him, many who came out and supported Harris, are gone and now it will be yes men that he was told to put there by the extreme right like the supporters of project 2025 and billionaires. And for those saying “well maybe he will die in office”, you think JD Vance is better? He allegedly picked him because DT jr. suggested him and if you have ever seen jr. and his takes you would know Vance can be worse.

This is gonna hurt for many people that will now be seen as lower than second class citizens and you won’t even have lower prices to show for it as that seemed to be the reason you voted for him, enjoy your expensive goods as people lost rights.

[idreamofthemeparks]

I went to both Tokyo Disney parks! Some thoughts/experiences:

People there wave at animatronics! I get laughed at for doing that in Florida!

Go during Halloween if you can. Tons of cosplayers go and the costumes you'll see are insane. And you can easily get a picture with a really good cosplayer instead of waiting in line for an official face character.

The Halloween night show at DisneySea was the worst. 7 minutes of very few fireworks, followed by an extremely weird heartfelt song that was like "🎵it's Halloween night... And we will go out... And get treats🎶". What the hell was that? Also, they run fireworks until 9PM exactly. I'm guessing they have to because there would be massive crowds of people waiting if there was just one show. People there have no qualms about sitting and waiting for 3+ hours for a parade or fireworks show.

Fantasy Springs was really great. The central area, design aesthetic and rockwork tied it all together really well and the transitions between the different areas were about as seamless as they could possibly be.

The Frozen animatronics, because they were like 4ft tall and so skinny and had such huge eyes, looked like weird dolls/aliens up close. That might creep some people out but I really genuinely loved it. Get in the back of the boat and you can see them freeze between scenes. I've said this before but it's very weird that it's a boat ride, since it relies on one specific scene happening at a time, and every other boat ride there had scenes running continuously!

The Magic Lamp Theater is really good! I skipped it on my last trip because there's no real indication anywhere that it's anything more than a 3D show with Genie, but it has a preshow with an animatronic and it has live actors! And it runs continuously all day!

THE GACHA MACHINE IN THE TOWER OF TERROR GIFT SHOP. FUCK THAT ONE MACHINE IN PARTICULAR. I shit you not, I rolled that thing 9 times and didn't get the Henry keychain I wanted.

I saw a really amazing Sinbad cosplayer but they wouldn't let me get a picture :(

At Disneysea, I did 20k 2x, Sinbad 3x, Indiana Jones 3x, Raging Spirits 1x, Nemo 1x, Peter Pan 1x and Frozen 1x, and the carousel 1x. I would've done Aquatopia, but last time it got me very wet and I had to go home on the subway with wet socks, so no thanks.

It's insane how good the single rider lines are especially at night. Wish they would bring those to Disneyland. Beauty could use one; they even had signs up for one but it wasn't in use.

Why is Sinbad always a walk on?? It's one of the best dark rides ever and it has a cute character in it!

Covid absolutely murdered DisneySea's live entertainment and it has NOT recovered. The afternoon lagoon show was a "Halloween greeting" that consisted entirely of some characters riding a barge out onto the water and dancing. Remember when they used to sail pirate ships in that lagoon? Multiple theaters are sitting empty, notably in Lost River Delta and Triton's Kingdom. Very sad.

If you don't know how to use the app or how passes work, you're screwed on lines and you can't even get into certain restaurants, at least at DisneySea! It's heartbreaking! I made friends with an American couple in the morning who had no idea how any of the passes worked, so I told them. It took multiple explanations, which I don't blame them for because it took me a few weeks to understand it myself. Then when we got into the park at rope drop, they tried to get Frozen passes... and couldn't, because their app glitched out at the crucial moment. I understand the Fantasy Springs thing because it's so new, but paid fastpasses being implemented here and everything being dependent on the app... It hurts to watch, man. Especially since last time I went, there were still paper Fastpasses, which are much easier and more accessible. Idk, I just think it should be possible to walk into a theme park and have at least a chance of doing stuff without memorizing the rules of a bunch of different reservation systems (same problem I've had with WDW for years).

When you're on Frozen it's easy to not notice how bad the ride design is, unless you're like me (thinking "wow look at that empty space", "do we need 3 rooms for one song" etc) because it really is a technical marvel. Also I got hit directly in the eye by a water jet right after the Let It Go scene. Rude.

Haunted Mansion is smack dab in the middle of Fantasyland there. I'm not sure what the alternative is but it doesn't fit in there at all.

I do not care for Haunted Mansion Holiday. I hadn't seen it in person before this but damn it's so cheap-looking. Also I'm salty that I didn't get to see the Tokyo bride.

What I like about Beauty and the Beast is that you get a nice long look at every animatronic since the scenes are so long. I felt satisfied after one go-around, which is rare for me.

Were there canoes in Rivers of America at WDW? Regardless, I'm glad that there are some in Tokyo. Rafts, canoes and a boat-- multiple forms of transportation, like Walt wanted!

Davy Jones on Pirates has one of the funniest line deliveries I've seen on a ride. "So says I..... DAVY JONES-UH!"

Monsters Inc was really good. It's basically just Men in Black: Alien Attack-- you enter through a company run by weird creatures, and then shoot at those creatures as you go through a city that looks a lot like New York. They seem to have seasonal changes to the dialogue-- Luz said "happy Halloween" at the end!

In a crowded bathroom, a CM said "hime-sama, dozo!" to indicate which stall I should use. That's honestly the first time I've been called "princess" in a bathroom. This was even in Frontierland, a place you would not expect to be called a princess.

Country Bears Vacation Hoedown was great. Nothing prepares you for a bear singing Achey Breaky Heart in Japanese. They opened with Great Outdoors, which I remember from that one Disneyland sing-along VHS that I watched as a kid!

The Snow White ride is the one where the witch just fucking kills you at the end! The amount of stuff this park keeps that American Disney parks think are super offensive is insane. Yeah, we'll keep Trader Sam. Sure, we'll play Dixie in Critter Country. I do understand why they made those changes in America-- especially on Pirates, I forgot how creepy the bride auction scene was.

Sucks to see Space Mountain gone. I bet something big is coming to Tomorrowland since they got rid of Buzz Lightyear and Space Mountain at the same time.

I'm pleasantly surprised that they kept Peter Pan's Flight, with Fantasy Springs and all. Though to be fair, it doesn't have a huge amount of space and barely any room for the queue, so there's probably not too much they could actually do with it.

I didn't get a picture but at the front of the Halloween parade was Dr Facilier doing the fruitiest little dance. And, WHERE IS THE HAUNTED MANSION BRIDE FACE CHARACTER? It's the Halloween parade!!! I did see like 4 women cosplaying as her though.

I got podracing and the Gungan city on Star Tours. Honestly, perfect. wouldn't change a thing.

I can't believe (in a good way) they included the FSU gopher on Splash-- nobody there knows what FSU is.

Someone was telling jokes and doing audience participation stuff over the intercom in the Jungle Cruise queue. Fun!

The Belle animatronics are life sized and not creepy up close. Probably not made by the same design team as Frozen.

Maybe I just haven't been to a Disney park in long enough but I'm pleasantly surprised at how close you get to the animatronics on these rides. Like, close enough to see the stray hairs on their heads. I wonder if someone has to re-style the animatronics' hair at night.

I really genuinely bow down to Japanese Disney fans. These mfs will spend 15-hour days in full cosplay, long sleeves and wigs and all. I saw a good number of people doing it.

People here are also so earnest! No sarcasm or irony, no "dad dragged to Disney" type shit (at least not that I saw). People clap at Country Bears, wave to you from the queue when you're on a ride, etc. For the most part, everyone really wants to be there. Plus Japanese people are so pleasant in general. I was at rope drop trying to get into an extremely popular land that opened 4 months ago. I haven't been in that situation in America but I don't think everyone involved would be quietly, politely filing into the gates. The only comparable situation I've been in was going to Hollywood Studios right after Rise of the Resistance opened, and it was kill or be killed there.

Don't try to do every single ride at Disneyland in one day, holy shit. I went on ALL the dark rides and it was a LOT of exertion. Prioritize the stuff you can't get at home. And you should probably do rope drop regardless of how many rides you do.

By the way, rope drop there consists of getting in line at 6:30 AM or earlier. I got to Disneyland at 6:30 on a Sunday and there were at LEAST a thousand people ahead of me. These people really do not fucking play around.

Million Dollar Bunny always works there! Is this one called 100 Million Yen Bunny?

Maybe I'm just spoiled by Magic Kingdom Tomorrowland, but the Tokyo one would really benefit from an Astro Orbiter or something. The place is largely just one level and that would make it a lot more dynamic.

Overall, yeah, I still think DisneySea is the best theme park in the world. Both parks are absolutely stacked in terms of attractions, the food is fantastic, and the staff, of course, is excellent in every way. It's just an incredibly pleasant experience overall. I can always find something to complain about at any park but my issues here were very minimal. In case you're going anytime soon, here are the rope drop plans that worked well for me (keep in mind that I got to both parks at 6:30AM):

DisneySea: first, grab a pass for Frozen if possible. It's crucial to get in super early for this one to get the standby pass; I've heard that international credit cards can take a little bit to process payments so you may have a hard time getting Premiere Access. If you get a standby pass, you can buy Premiere Access for another Fantasy Springs ride, or for Soaring if you're into that (it'll be 80 min minimum all day, but it's not worth that wait at all if you've been on either US version). Grab a 40th pass for Indiana Jones if you don't want to do single-rider for that one, or for Nemo if you do (Journey to the Center of the Earth was closed when I went, but prioritize that one too). Set an alarm to get another Fantasy Springs standby pass as soon as you can, because they run out fast. Run to Tower of Terror. Then do whatever you want for the rest of the day-- if you single-rider Indiana Jones and Raging Spirits, they are walk-ons all day. 20k Leagues will be a walk-on after 8PM.

Disneyland: grab Premiere Access for Beauty, then get a 40th pass for Monsters Inc. If you're in the park early enough, they should both give you really early return times. Set an alarm for the next time you can get 40th and Premiere passes (the app will tell you both) and when they go off, you can probably get a 40th pass for Big Thunder. You can buy Premiere for Baymax too, if you're into that. Then run to Pooh, and if you have enough time before your 40th/Premiere return times, go to Mansion. All the other dark rides in the park will have very reasonable wait times for the rest of the day, except for Splash, which will probably have Premiere Access available for pretty long into the day. Pooh and Monsters' wait times will go way down after 8PM too. If you want to see the afternoon parade, I recommend getting in the Peter Pan queue about 3PM; it's in a good spot to see the floats and you don't have to deal with the truly massive amount of people who by that point will have secured all the good parade viewing spots 3 hours earlier.

[sharkface]

"You gotta see this tiktok from a teacher about how uneducated the youth are now they don't even know that-" Personally I do not trust young adults on tiktok providing anecdotal evidence of their problem students and using it to say there is an uneducation epidemic. Did we all forget some teachers are mean and not very good at teaching and will blame their students for it because they can or. Because guess what my teachers said all the same things about me and my peers they just weren't doing it on tiktok so people weren't generating a moral panic about it for no reason. To say nothing of how miserably children were failed during covid. It is not a child's Responsibility to learn it is their parents and teachers' responsibility to teach. If you are passing around this bullshit about how the kids are all just stupid and lazy now and it's all The Computer's fault you are a gullible luddite and an out of touch idiot repeating the mistakes of the generations before you, sorry you had to find out this way

[mrs-snape5984]

“Oh, breathe, just breathe…”

“'Cause you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable. And life's like an hourglass glued to the table. No one can find the rewind button, girl. So cradle your head in your hands and breathe, just breathe…” (“Breathe (2AM)” by Anna Nalick)

Sometimes, you just have to accept, that there are things, that can’t be changed or fixed anymore…at least not right now. I guess, I’m more and more coming to terms with this insight, considering the fact, that it just doesn’t make sense to wrap my head around the reason for my disease ME/CFS.

I can’t alter my previous decisions. For the past two years, I’ve blamed myself for catching Covid on an Open Air concert of my German favourite punk rock band “Die Ärzte”…especially viewed in the context that I avoided social gatherings since late 2019 because of my medicinal immune suppression. But when I got these tickets as a gift in 2022, my brain must have shut down and I started to belittle the potential risks of catching the virus by telling myself, that I would stand in the back of the crowd, beneath the open sky. This was also the first occasion, when I didn’t wear my mask…after enduring being bullied and mocked for wearing masks everywhere and rejecting every single invitation to parties and simple get-togethers.

Well…only one week later, my life- as I knew it before - came to an abrupt halt. I don’t want to go into detail about my current situation in this post. Whoever knows me and also my prior posts, is probably already fed up with my complaints about ME/CFS and its results for my life.

So, all I can do now, is to breathe. Deliberately slowly…breathing in…and breathing out. Calming my nerves…soothing my troubled mind with my fantasies of Severus and my absolutely self-inserted OC Jules…

I’ve commissioned someone new for this project. Someone different from all those lovely artists of Snapedom, who I regularly contacted for my usual coping mechanism of commissioning artworks of Sevy and Jules.

This time, I reached out to @pinklovecharm, an incredibly kind and understanding artist, who made me speechless with this drawing. I asked her to help my imagination of Severus and Jules, being on a walk in the forest, come to life.

I can’t tell you, how much I’m missing this simple activity of enjoying the autumn sunshine and some fresh air on a walk in the woods. In my fantasy, Severus would apparate us to a secluded path in the middle of the forest, wrapping his arm around my waist to support my steps. We wouldn’t talk much…but Severus would remind me of the importance of breathing…and he would exercise it with me…patiently waiting for me to eventually calm down. He’s my safe haven…my home.

My dear Sadie, you can’t imagine, how much you soothed my soul with your mesmerising art and your kind-heartedness. You really achieved to put me into my OC Jules…with all her emotions and physical attributes….and you even integrated my cane into your drawing! Normally, I don’t show my reference pictures publicly, but I’m too impressed by your dedication to the details of my appearance, that I can’t stop myself from presenting them here. Thank you for everything, you wonderful person! I hope, we’ll stay in touch and that I may commission you again.

🖤Severus & Julia🖤

🖤Sevy and Jules🖤

[destinyc1020]

I don't always agree with your views but I enjoy your blog. I miss the days when a difference in opinion didn't resort to attacking. I miss pre-covid when people were more tolerant

Zendaya and Tom didn't adandon social media just because they are older, they are off social media mostly because of people being negative and attacking them. When Tom was filming TCR and people comparing how he looked to Anne Frank thinking it was funny. Big surprise he then announced his break from IG. Zendaya grieving the death of her co-star and people attacking her. Then attacking her lack of response to the middle east in October which I feel was the final straw for her.

People don't have to agree with every opinion but there is no need for name calling. All you achieve when you do that is the risk of driving people away.

Thank you Anon 🙏🏾 I appreciate your kind words. 🥰

I totally miss the more care-free days of the pre-pandemic era as well. People have become incredibly wound way too tightly these days. 🥴

Anytime you (Gen you) are getting SO ANGRY and having an issue with who someone chooses to post on their OWN personal blog, that is a sign that maybe you need to take a vacation, go out and touch some grass, or do something to improve your mental health or well-being, because it is really not that serious. Imagine, being annoyed at something as minuscule as that, when there are waaaay more important things going on in the world today to be angry about. 😒

Look....I follow a VARIETY of blogs (as you all can probably tell), and even if I'm not a fan of every single person that individual posts or blogs about, I still appreciate their posts, and I don't have ANY issues seeing other actors on my timeline feed. Not at all.... not in the least! To me, it's really not that serious. I love MANY different actors and celebrities in Hollywood, and I've posted about a ton of various people (and topics!) on my blog.

And why that Anon was coming for my post about Denis, acting like I need to "quit complaining"....ummmm, I only mentioned him ONCE in reference to my thoughts of him being snubbed for a Best Director nod. ONCE!! The Oscar nominations just came out yesterday! You think I wouldn't have an opinion on some things? 🥴 I saw Josh's IG story this morning and agreed with him. That's it!

No, that Anon was really just showing what they were TRULY upset at, which was the fact that I post Timmy and Austin on my blog too "frequently" for their liking I guess. 🙄😒 The truth finally came out towards the end of their ask. 🙄

I'm sorry if I like Austin and Timmy. I'm SORRY if some of them have been filming and also doing press tours and interviews over the past several months... and one just got nominated for an Oscar. One just broke up with his gf.... like, c'mon! Look, I'm sorry!

I swear 🤦🏾‍♀️

And even if NONE of those things were even happening, I still have a right to post whatever and WHOEVER I want on my blog. 🙄 Point blank. End of story.

I don't like people who try to police other people's blogs or manage what they post. That's so dumb and silly imo. 🙄

Re: Tom & Zendaya....

Yea girl, I totally don't blame Tom or Z for getting off social media and also not even interacting with fans on there anymore. People are CRAZY out here, and you really have to protect your peace! I can only imagine how much worse it is for them, when me as a normal person is getting unnecessary hate for no good reason.

Even if we don't always agree on a topic, there are ways to express your disagreement in a very respectful and open way. We don't have to resort to name-calling or rude asks. 🙄

I've always said that I don't mind dissenting opinions, but at the very least, be respectful when you share them?

Anyway, I think it's a shame what Tom and Z went through, especially making fun of someone's looks when he's filming for a role (hello??), or acting like Z has to be the authority on all issues going on around the world?? Like, come on! 🤨 That's way too much pressure. And I don't blame her for just not even posting anything on her IG anymore about ANY issues. People don't know how to act. 🙄 Or, they'll say, "you posted for x issue, but not for y issue!! You're a hypocrite!" 🥴

Well guess what, now she doesn't post for anything. Happy?

While I do miss Tom and Z's more carefree days on social media, I'm actually very glad that they have both decided to protect their peace. 🙏🏾❤️