#i guess that's how context usually works tho

[wanderingsquirrelgirl]

filling out dating apps is hard when you constantly cycle through different niche interests once every six months.

like i could pretend im going to be obsessed with dnd for the rest of my life but this wasn't my personality back in january when i was obsessed with neurodivergence, or my personality a year ago when i was obsessed with the green brothers

i guess i could just advertise being a chaotic mess if i was interested in being accurate

"PERSONAL AD: literally i'm insane and unpredictable but im always delusional about it, date at your own risk"

oh this is probably related to my adhd and depression huh

(for context: a mild crush im sure doesn't think about me much just messaged me separately about finding me on hinge and now im sad it's never going to be a reality bc i'm simply too chaotic to be a viable option. this isn't self-loathing, it's just a fact that most folks seek predictability in their relationships to gain a sense of stability in their lives. as much as i'd like to be stable for someone i'm pretty sure i'm the opposite of that. and now im sad i'm not a completely different person again, like im back in high school. and im also sad that idk how to flirt well enough to try to make this happen despite the odds, like they do in the movies. i was hoping he'd make a move on me but he probably sees me as a little sister or something, like everyone else does. and im too chickenshit to try anything on my own. i wish i was as confident with him the same way im confident with the men whose hearts i've already broken. but it never works out that way. i also wish i weren't acting like a fucking teenager when i'm thirty something years old and should know better but here i am, being an absolute unlearned goblin person who is still obsessed with seeking acceptance from men despite all the work that i've done. i really really really really need to go back to therapy and be much more up front with who i am there so we can start unpacking this shit and maybe even undoing it. i'm not the person i wanna be and idk if that's because i'm not ambitious enough or if it's bc i'm not accepting myself enough. this shit is so hard to parse out. maybe i need a career counselor or something in addition to a therapist.)

wait hank green LITERALLY JUST TWEETED THIS BEFORE I WAS ABOUT TO POST: "You can be a disorganized mess and still achieve stuff! There's just less content out there for disorganized messes because we're disorganized messes."

THANK YOU UNIVERSE FOR BEING ON THE SIDE OF MY CHAOS

[baekuras]

I have finally, hundreds of years after everyone else, started playing Dragon Age....2

(the first one didn't run with sound and i wasn't in the mood to fix it because i was cranky today okay-another time...i will get context eventually don't worry i have at least 2 braincells w/ me)

and the main thing I noticed is

Every companion sure knows how to make a fucking entrance huh?

[yamujiburo]

Some of this might sound intentionally hostile in text and I apologize.

I'm saying this as an abuse survivor mind you - don't throw "abusive ships" under the bus so easily - at least, so long as they're not actually glamorizing the abuse. I lived that irl and I personally find someone overcoming it, slowly having enough of that bullshit and getting out over time, and the other person having to wipe their own butt for once after they've made the damn mess, very refreshing. Maybe that's not a ship in the traditional sense. It's no happily ever after bc it shouldn't be, but I find stories like mine shyed away from so often because even the portrayal gets considered a "canon ship". ... that's just how media works now, I guess? I very rarely See a fictional relationship not called a ship in literally any context now so that's the definition I'm running on.

I wish more people were willing to portray the hardships of finding acceptance outside of "whoever you can find will accept you" very much, and finding the better things after. I wish people weren't terrified out of portrayimg situations like mine.

Jessie.. is not a good person in canon. You expect me to believe she moved into to hanamusa seamlessly, without falling on her ass? I never see you talk about Jessie's abusive tendencies in canon. You never talk about the inherent meanness she needed to get over to get there. She's quite aml lot like my ex in canon, actually.

What do you mean you're going to just remove from the character that she is abusive to those around her. Jessie hits people. She takes her own junk out on others all the time. Do you even like the character then, are you actually invested in her growing, or are you just making an OC at this point?

Idk. Do you, boo. But you are posting about a character who, whether you like it or not, is canonically abusive. I just don't buy that dating Ash's mom alone fixed her. That isn't... How that works. It would be excellent if it did. Part of my love of hanamusa is that it signals Jessie's change - but she could have changed for anyone before now.

What makes Delia different? How is she specifically a turning point for Jessie? Because Jessie's flaws go well beyond just bossing people around.

I would love if my abuser had the same outcome as your Jessie. I adore your portayals of hanamusa, where she's still flawed but still strives to do better. That's all I ever wanted from my ex.

What the fuck got her there tho.

Anyways I've been watching a lot of Bojack Horseman lately -

I agree with you! I don't think abusive relationships (or any tough subject matter in general) should be shied away from in media. It can be powerful when executed well and written by folks who are equipped to tell those kinds of stories. I do think it's sad when people treat it as off limits. But the ask I got was definitely more about which ships I have where I actually like the relationship between the characters. I think the semantics of the word "ship" are kind of vague or rather, over time, got so specific to only mean "absolutely love together and want them as endgame" (for most people anyways). So that's usually what I take the word to mean when people ask me about it.

I can 100% appreciate how an abusive relationship is written and handled, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna ship an abuser with their victim (that falls into the glorifying you're talking about). Love Bojack Horseman! Big fan! I think the way they handled Bojack and Sarah Lynn was beautifully and tragically well written. But does that mean I ship Bojack and Sarah Lynn? Absolutely fucking not.

I've talked about Jessie's character plenty on this blog and the way she's handled in earlier seasons specifically. This is kind of a summary: If we look at it on surface level, yes we can say she was abusive. But I think it's important to acknowledge and take into account the medium, time period and culture. Slapstick and cartoon violence was HUGE in anime and animation in the 90s (and prior to that too). Characters were always cartoonishly slapping each other around with giant mallets, folding fans, etc. Looney Tunes style. These slapstick bits were always distinct from real abuse and hurt (for Pokémon, Jessiebelle comes to mind). Mean slapstick wasn't a character trait exclusive to Jessie either. We saw it in Misty, James, Meowth, characters of the day and pretty much any character who got mad. It was a visual shortcut to show anger.

This type of slapstick has since (thankfully) died out and it hasn't really been a part of the Pokémon franchise since the early 2000s. However, Jessie was a notably special case. One of my favorite fun facts about the Pokémon anime is that there was a point in the series where Megumi Hayashibara (Jessie/Musashi's seiyuu) told the writers that moving forward, she no longer wanted Jessie to be violent or to be shown hitting James or Meowth (source: her memoir "The Characters Taught Me Everything"). She thought it directly went against the vision Takeshi Shudo had for Jessie, James and Meowth, when he created them, which was that they are good natured villains. If you watch from DP and on, Jessie never lays a hand on either of them. I think it was a such a good move on Pokémon's part to change her character like that and I'm forever grateful that Hayashibara said something! Whenever I write Jessie now, I always keep that in mind. She's mean, shouty and stupid but would never genuinely hurt those she cares about.

From then, her character becomes much more bearable. She's still bossy, mean and vain (typical cartoon villainess attributes) but I'd hesitate to say abusive. She'll still yell at James and Meowth, they all yell at each other, but in more of a sibling way (imo) rather than a "i'm actively trying to hurt your feelings way". The show makes a point especially in later seasons to show that Jessie, James and Meowth are not beyond being redeemed. From conception the whole POINT of the Team Rocket trio was that they are redeemable but their persistence and obsession keeps getting in the way of them seeing that there's a better life for them out there.

I won't deny that Jessie was unsavory in earlier seasons, but when I write her, I choose to write the version that Takeshi Shudo and Megumi Hayashibara had envisioned from the get go. She's still incredibly flawed and makes plenty missteps but wants to be better as you stated! My favorite part about Jessie is that she's a piece of shit LOL and I enjoy writing the changes she goes through to be better (but then still showing her default so some of her evil tendencies). In this AU, Delia doesn't fix Jessie. Jessie fixes Jessie because she is with someone makes her want to be a better person. She's already in the middle of turning over a new leaf before even meeting Delia, after leaving Team Rocket. Writing Jessie as legitimately abusive I think could work, but that's not my story to tell and if someone who were more equipped to tell that story did, I'd be very interested to take a listen!

I hope this doesn't come off as trying to deny or invalidate your experience. If you see that in Jessie, I hear you! This is just how I've interpreted her character over the years, having watched every episode of Pokémon and reading Japanese interviews from the cast and crew. She's such a compelling character and I love how messy she is

[twopoppies]

Hi Gina!! First of all, I wanted to thank you and Daisie and everyone else here for the amazing Larry masterlist. I'm a new larrie myself, though I've been around the fandom since 2011 (tho not super closely) when WMYB MV was released. I was deep diving on receipts, and as per usual, I took it all in with a grain of salt and kept all my conclusions rational and unbiased. I just wanna add something you might consider a receipt, connecting to one of the tour receipts ones I’ve read on Daisie’s tags (I dove into both yours and Daisie’s tags lol). This isn't so big and new at all but I thought I'd add. Sorry in advance if I am too vague with this lol

A quick context: I had worked with small event productions here in my country, and had become pretty close with suppliers (tech, security, venue, etc). I got curious about an entry I read from your receipts tag which happened in an international tour here. Anyway, I am pretty close with our security supplier, and I thought I'd check if there were traces of them working with the boys. After a few google search, I saw them with Louis on a video during his tour here - confirming that at least for that show, they did work with Louis. He has been very open to me ever since we met, so when I DMed him about being involved in the show, he enthusiastically answered that they did all 1D-related ones in the country.

Anyway, bottomline, I tried to ask if it's true that Louis was here during Harry's concert because I've kind of heard it somewhere (being the receipt I read from Daisies' account). That’s when he got weirdly super silentl and left me on ‘seen’/‘read’ (which had never happened EVER before). I waited with the chat box open; he se seemed type after a few mins - and then stopped completely. When I realized he (c)wouldn't reply, I didn't push it and said he doesn't have to respond and that I respect if he’s bound by certain contracts. After that, he immediately replied, basically just saying "Thank you" (for understanding, essentially). We just chatted a bit more before ending the convo.

So I guess I'd say it somewhat solidifies that theory in my head because I personally know them, and if there's really something super big they cannot share at all, they WONT. I knew there was something because it was almost comical for me how he suddenly left me on ‘read’. So if it's not a big deal at all he would've shared because we've talked about other works they've done in the past (he was so enthusiastic and shared all the names of the shows they've done with 1D a few mins prior lol) - but when I specifically asked if Louis was with Harry here for his tour, he immediately closed off and stopped replying - and THEN thanked me when I said he didn’t have to reply lol (I didn’t ask anything else, just that exact wording, straightforwardly asking if L was there during H's show, and I didn’t phrase it in a playful or teasing way like I am implying there’s smth gossip-worthy between them I'm fishing out of him)

ANYWAY, I’m not even sure if this is worth posting but I needed someone to share it with and I thought it could be like a backup info for the future hahahaha I am trying to be vague because I do want to protect myself and my (in a way) source (?). But if you need any clarification from me - I’d be open to elaborate more in the dms (I’m rusty with tumblr so I hope I can navigate this properly lol)

Ofc, a part of me wish I could've gotten something, but I also respect them for staying quiet. And even if they did share something big, I might've had second thoughts on sharing bcs I was mainly asking it for my own sanity tbh, knowing that I knew who the security team was lol So I guess my point of sharing this with you is to basically share that the usual NDA thing with H&L, whether as a whole 1D unit before or as solos, is definitely enforced here. That the silence somewhat solidified my belief of other Larry receipts such as 1.) in relation to the Argentinian security confessions, and 2.) the receipts pointing out that those two fly together sometimes in the tours.

Idk if this is worth posting at all, but I just really needed to let it because I feel like I might be getting biased but also not (it was very fishy for me for sure lol). Thank you!

Hi, darling. No, it’s totally worth posting! I agree with you that it says something without saying anything. Are you able to tell me what year you were asking about? Or what country? I won’t post anything you don’t want public.

I’m really glad to hear that people take their NDAs seriously and even if it was from years ago they would still be professional about it.

Thank you so much for sharing this. If you think of anything else you can add, LMK. Or send me a DM. I’ll keep it private. 🩷

[reason-with-the-underdog]

modern au chatfic

thinking about modern au where alhaitham casually refers to kaveh as "loml" in the groupchat

& tighnari messages kaveh "pls tell me you guys got together finally"

kaveh: wdym no he thinks it means "light of my life" lol

tighnari: do you understand why that's not better. do you

kaveh: he's just making fun of me and my nickname!!

tighnari: [switches to alhaitham's dms] that's rough buddy.gif

alhaitham: [Your message could not be delivered. This is usually because the recipient is only receiving direct messages from friends]

tighnari: [switches back to kaveh's dms] alhaitham blocked me

kaveh: WHAT how could he do that to my bestie>:( what did you say

tighnari: oh just laughed at him about the loml thing

kaveh: IKR icb he calls me loml & not know what it means

tighnari: mm hm tell him to unblock me

alhaitham: [This user has accepted your friend request! You can send each other messages now]

tighnari: that was fast wow

tighnari: kaveh doesnt know how much u listen to him huh

alhaitham: Is this important?

tighnari: nah just bored

tighnari: anyways try sending him the wikipedia pg for "loml"

alhaitham: I clarified my intended definition already. He thinks I'm pretending to have known all along out of embarrassment

tighnari: and how does that make you feel

alhaitham: It's fine. He'll accept my feelings when he's ready

tighnari: [switches to kaveh's dms] KAVEH

kaveh: what?!!?

tighnari: i wish i didn't believe so strongly in not sharing private messages

kaveh: is this about alhaitham? did he unblock you

tighnari: i love how i gave you no context and you still guessed it was about alhaitham

kaveh: i wasnt wrong though!

kaveh: what did he do

tighnari: i just said i wouldn't say anything

kaveh: why would you tease me like this... 🥺 do i need to talk to alhaitham to find out

tighnari: yup

kaveh: why does everyone keep telling me to talk to him i literally talk to him all the time

tighnari: i think you should look at the common denominator here

kaveh: yeah ik alhaitham's terrible at communicating directly

tighnari: no comment

kaveh: pls agree 🥺 you know im right

tighnari: no <3

kaveh: >:(

kaveh: but it is weird he didnt bother to look up a word before using it

tighnari: im gonna log off, getting late, good luck figuring it out

kaveh: ok gn

[46 minutes later]

kaveh: tighnari do you think he meant it

kaveh: ykw im not gonna overthink this

[the next morning]

tighnari: kaveh why did you leave a heart react on alhaitham's message in the groupchat

kaveh: im embracing it! i'm the light! nbd!

tighnari: hm very convincing

kaveh: if i pretend it doesnt bother me then it wont

tighnari: does it really bother you tho

kaveh: yes!! ofc it does! not when he doesnt really mean it

tighnari: maybe you should talk to him about your feelings

kaveh: ur supposed to be supportive not attack me >:(

tighnari: if you want an enabler go back to school

kaveh: i CANT that's where he works!

tighnari: didnt you bring him lunch last week

kaveh: yeah he gets grumpy if he skips a meal

tighnari: no comment

kaveh: WE ATE LUNCH AS FRIENDS. JUST LIKE HOW YOU & I GET LUNCH TOGETHER SOMETIMES. AS FRIENDS

tighnari: i dont call you loml tho

kaveh: u are def not the loml rn

[isa-ghost]

(BTW I'm very down with wanting sapnap being dead for being sapnap I just wanted to be sure I was hip qirh the kids and pissed for the Correct reason)

DLSKFLSJFSKF SORRY I WAS OUT TOUCHING GRASS WHEN YOU SENT ME YOUR FIRST ANON.

Also in hindsight I worded this answer like you have 0 clue who Shartnap is but I'm gonna keep it that way for anyone who sees this and Doesn't Go Here At All.

Here's a good overview post abt Crapnap from my friend.

This Specific Instance we're wishing death upon him more than the default amount because he's participating in Squidcraft, a Latino-made/hosted and primarily Latino-played Minecraft competition with a big cash prize. (Aka that irrelevant ass sweaty ass racist Texan is literally only playing to win more money he doesn't need. He also won last year's SC 🙄). Last year there were a few non-Latino players (like him), but this year there were a BUNCH, most likely thanks to the existence of QSMP. There were Americans, Brits, and French just to name a few!

My mutual @pixiecaps has been the most outspoken on my dash about the dumbshit being in Squidcraft, so I'll tag them here and they can add any additional context they see fit in the reblogs or replies. They might have insight or perspective that I don't bc they're Latino and I'm not. 👍🏻 And this was baby's first Squidcraft for me purely bc QSMP members were in it, so idk much abt previous ones whereas Pix might.

It's annoying enough that Crapnap is in the competition at all, but yesterday a bunch of other previous DSMP members (Philza, Tubbo, Foolish, to name a few) all died in one of the games together and were thus eliminated. Shatnap's petty nobody poopy ass was literally CHEERING when they all died, which is poor sportsmanship for one (he has none tho let's be real here), and two: No Toxicity is one of the competition rules. So by all means, he should be investigated by the Squidcraft mods and (hopefully) disqualified for his bullshit.

And some additional context bc my guess is this all plays into why he was so outwardly toxic like that: Tubbo has outspokenly hated the Dr*m Team for a while now. He also had direct beef with Shatnap bc the dumbfuck tried migrating to Kick (basically Twitch for bigots & predators, to say the least).

AND, most relevant and recent: Philza was just on Tommy and Jack Manifold's podcast Shut Up I'm Talking about a week ago, and on the Patreon version of the episode the three of them talked about how Dr*m is a piece of shit, they all hate him, and how nasty and weird he was behind the scenes during DSMP, especially to Tommy.

Dr*m Team 100% knows this was all said, bc a) some of it was clipped ofc and b) Dr*m fucking posted the DSMP world download as damage control after people started talking abt what was said on the episode bc god forbid he look bad and get negative attention for 2 seconds. He's been begged by numerous people for LITERALLY LIKE 3 YEARS to drop the world download and only JUST did it to do damage control and make himself look all good and innocent or At Least distract people (spoiler alert: didn't work, he just made himself look even more pathetic. He basically gave the people who correctly hate him a gift in addition to clowning on him).

Shartnap literally lives with Dr*m, so there's no way he doesn't know Tommy, Jack & Phil have spoken some of the truth TECHNICALLY PRIVATELY. IT WAS ON PATREON BEHIND A PAYWALL.

Soooo yeah. As usual, Dr*m Team fucking sucks ass (many such cases, no one is surprised). Crapnap is the ""last remaining"" of the Dr*m Team to not have some Extreme horrific controversy and that's what keeping him able to be in competitions like this, rather than isolated to a shitty corner with the other two dumbfucks. (CLARIFICATION: He DOES have controversies. You can assume what some of them are based off of things said in that post I linked. Plus the Kick thing. But in comparison to Dr*m [a groomer, among other things], and George [sexual predator, among other things], Shatnap is ""the least awful"" of them, which is almost definitely why he's still ""welcome"" in competitions like this one).

Additional silly context: I'm calling him variations of shit because he openly admitted sometime earlier this year that he shit himself (or at least sharted) on stream.

[victor-veloci-simp-69]

Episode 1:

I've always loved the intro song ngl. A good intro song makes me love a cartoon. That's how W.I.T.C.H and Huntik got me

Fiona gets to class. Ms Moynihan says she broke three rules. She says this before Fiona bites her apple. Fiona then says that's only two and then misses her shot, making three. This inplies that Fiona either does this regularly, or that Ms Moynihan has some form of clairvoyance.

(The clairvoyance thing could make some absolutely fantastic fanfiction ngl. *writes that down* oooh, I have IDEAS now) anyway, back to episode

The fact that Fiona only took one bite of that apple bothers me

Oh man, that bio class room looks almost exactly like the one I had in high school.

Oooooh yaayyyy! Mah Boi is here!!! Stripey gay boi

Okay, first off:

This place looks like a giant OSHA violation.

Regardless of that (Peter, go fix this giant OSHA violation. Hey, maybe that's why we never see him again, he's too busy fixing the questionable workplace) those scientists look properly enriched.

WHAT THE FUCK ARE THINGS IN THE TUBES THEY LOOK LIKE THEY'RE FROM BEN 10 I SWEAR TO GOD THAT LOOKS LIKE SWAMPFIRE.

On that note, why do we never see Veloci's creepy test tube creatures??? His scientists worked hard on The Horrors

The one on the pink test tube looks like the rose from beauty and the beast

Is that a fucking rail track. I think I remember that one featuring in an ep, but I could be wrong. If I'm right then why was the continuity placed here and not on anything else???

"I got into business to swim with the sharks, not be eaten by them"

Me: Oh, you're declining it? Unexpected.

Peter: I'm in!

Me: ???

That bit of dialogue has always thrown me off. Its the clunkiness.

Bye Peter. It was nice to meet you.

"Break into your usual groups". The dinosquad comes together but kinda acts like they've never interacted before.

Max and Roger seem like they've teamed up before tho.

Caruso at 4:21 is barefoot. He has shoes on at 4:26. We know he had no time to put shoes on and off and on because he's barefoot when he leans over and drops his jacket. When he picks it up he has shoes on again.

...why did they all (I understand Caruso getting his jacket and Buzz getting thrown in) go into the water????

Roger says "nah, I ain't getting in" and then not only gets in the water but throws buzz in.

(The fact that Roger throws Buzz in the water which later results in him becoming a Dino is a great angst fic waiting to happen. If Roger hadn't thrown him in, he would still have been living a normal life)

Ms Moynihan shows up and goes " I thought I made it clear no one was to go in the water"

First off, that was never shown on screen and I don't like that

With the context of dinosquad as a whole, this kind of implies she knows Veloci is dumping his nuclear jizz in the water

I guess it could also be because she didn't want wet students on the bus, but still.

Wait. If no one was suppose to go in the water, and there doesn't seem to be an area with tide pools, then Caruso's stupid sushi list is even more useless since fish don't count.

Anyway, MY BABY RUMP!!! BOOBOO! I LOVE YOU BABY! MY BABY!!!

Hnnngg sexy library I wants please I will crawl into my computer just let me at that library I can live with dinosaur shenanigans. (But can I live with redoing high school? No.)

"Young man, if you don't remember, this is a library 😡 "

My brother in christ, what horrors have you been through that you hear a dinosaur roar and conclude that that is the sound a normal teenager makes naturally.

Caruso's jacket gets shredded. He immidiately blames the dry cleaners. Bro, it was whole when you put it in your locker. What

Fiona gets a tail and it sticks out her truck window. My good bitch, how did you not feel the cold air on your tail???

The fact that Buzz waves his arms while playing video games is kinda adorable

The fact that Ms Moynihan showed them what happened telepathically leaves a lot of possibility for her to leave certain things out and show them only what she wants them to see and think.

And besides that, its also kinda fucked up. There are implications here. My brain is a little fried to parse them all, but there are implications. I know it.

Ohhh!! The cave has a light source! That implies that there are two entrances, which solves my age old question of how tf did they get out of that cave.

Oh holy shit. Young Ms Moynihan is HOT

...she looks a lot like Caruso. Hmmm. Formulating THOUGHTS tm

You think that (if the story she tells is actually true and not her lying to hide a bigger truth that she doesn't want them to know about) Ms Moynihan and Veloci gained the ability to transform because of. Idk. Space radiation or something?

Cuz your genes don't just. Mutate. For no reason. This backstory feels fake af. I think she just lied bc she knew her students knew fuck all about biology and would believe anything

Why did ms Moynihan change foreheads. Did she want to be inclusive and touch everyone's forehead or is she afraid their brains can only handle so much... or did they refuse to hold hands like she asked and now she has to switch foreheads?

"You're a vicious Carnivore!"

"I've moved past that but there is one who hasn't: Victor Veloci"

Might be because I'm getting back into twilight, but this gives off major Vegetarian Vampires vs Normal Vampires vibes.

In this case, Ms Moynihan is Dr Carlisle Cullen and Victor Veloci is Aro Volturi.

"What do you believe?"

Ms Moynihan: "Humans gained dominance because brute force lost out to reason...and love. That's why I parted ways with Veloci long ago."

I smell a Secret. I smell Tea. Spill. I can practically hear tragic dramatic backstory. Was this a "I fell in love story" or a "Veloci didn't care about me" story. Ms Moynihan sounds bitter.

Also, the sheer contempt in her voice when she talks about Victor Veloci. Say what you will about Dinosquad, but it has some pretty good voice acting sometimes.

Max: "I don't want to be a dinosaur"

Ms Moynihan: this is bigger than you, this is about saving the world.

"Can you cure us?"

"Yeah"

Roger: "But I want to stop Victor Veloci :( "

Ms Moynihan mentally: *nevermind, ya'll are too stupid to help me save the world. What was I thinking*

(Genuinely a very confusing arguement. People changed opinions so quickly damn. Not even a line space in between)

"I can't afford all the fancy tech Veloci has" <takes them to her lighthouse filled with huge computers and monitoring equiptment> hmmm. Ms M, I'mma assume you banged some rich bitches in your time and inherited, because no way can you affort a lighthouse on a teacher's salary.

Conclusion: Ms M is loaded.

"The cold forces the Dino DNA to the skin as it seeks warmth" um. That's ominous. It makes the DNA sound like a living parasite. Ugh

Ms Moynihan definitely faked "curing them". She is way too calm about the situation. She was very insistent on them helping her fight Veloci before. And the fact that she could cure literally everything else except for them is sus.

That Megalodon shark was trolling ngl

Veloci sees Fiona as dino: this can only be bc of my experimental dna...or....

That 'or' implies things. Ms Moynihan things.

The fact that Veloci sees the Dinosaurs but not the squad turning into dinosaurs the dinosaurs. Like, by the time Ms Moynihan jammed the feed several transformations have already taken place

Veloci ending with his ominous ass "can't wait to find out more about my new dinosaur friends" is so fun. Love him. Dramatic ass fuck. Ominous. Very sexy.

[demonqueenart]

hi! first of all, i'm so sorry you're feeling the way that you are. you've helped open my eyes to things i admittedly didn't know (dan's comment at wad, for example) or didn't notice. i'm glad you're receiving at least some support from other phans! i don't know if this helps at all (and it's not me trying to excuse dan), but i wanted to add some context to his "third-world country" reference. as an american, i can tell you that we grew up learning "this"third world" as the proper term. most of my colleagues, friends, family members, etc. STILL use it casually to refer to developing nations/the global south - we were literally taught to use it in school. of course it has since become obsolete, as the wording is incredibly offensive. i know about this because of my time in academia, but this awareness hasn't at all spread to the general population (especially in dan's/my generation of millennials and older). as smart as i do think dan is, i wonder if that's also the case in england. he has the responsibility to educate and inform himself and he needs to acknowledge that he's hurt and alienated a large proportion of his fanbase, so i still hope he'll do that soon.

as for the tour, one of my my best friends is mexican (and lives in mexico) and she was really disappointed during ii when they had to cancel the announced mexico dates. they had assumed the dates would work out, but - if i remember correctly - were presented with a lot of visa/permissions issues. they tried to make it work but it didn't, and they waited much too long to tell anyone. my guess is that they wanted to avoid a similar disappointment this time and not give anyone false hope, nor accidentally say anything negative about those countries as they explain their reasoning (which, of course, just comes off worse - ignoring is never the issue).

other artists have had similar issues with asian and middle eastern countries as well, as there is increased censorship and visa requirements. i've spent four years of my life in asian countries (and a few months in south america) and know that there are phans there who'd love to see them, but it might not be feasible.

ultimately, however, dan and phil owe everyone transparency and need to acknowledge if they're having difficulties with bookings in other countries and why. they usually go back and add dates later, so fingers crossed that they're trying to work out some dates in latam and may yet still add them.

It’s the lack of transparency that is the issue here. How am I supposed to trust them when they won’t tell me anything in the first place? And if they expect me to assume for the best, I don’t think I can do that. Not with all the time they tried to bury their mistakes when people have been hurt as if it’s nothing. I’m sorry but if they’re choosing to look good in the public eye before choosing us, then I don’t think I can trust them anymore. And it’s not that they’ll look bad when they’re talking about this stuff, but the fact they have never once talked about it ever really makes it feel like they want to keep this shut. And that hurts a lot.

Thank you for your perspective tho. I think it helps seeing where they can possibly come from.

Auto-message: This ask’s purpose is to acknowledge dnp’s past/present exclusivity, not to cancel them! But to embrace mistakes that they’ve made so that 1. we won’t exclude people in need in this community, and 2. we can normalize bringing up exclusivity so that improvement can happen. Hopefully this will one day help dnp realize that this is a safe space for them to talk about their mistakes, so that this space can become safe for people of all kinds too <3

*If you don’t understand what is happening, scroll through my blog for context. And I’ll be taking time to answer my asks, so don’t think I’m ignoring youuu*

[accio-victuuri]

“big name bxg c-fans earn a lot because cpf give their money to them instead of xz and wyb.” 💀

I wanted to address this comment i saw yesterday but I had to organize my thoughts first as best as i could. I also knew GRA events are gonna take up a lot of my time so i had push it back. However, i want to post about it here even if the topic associated to this didn’t blow up that much (thankfully) cause it irritated me. I’m very used to certain fans having a skewed view of bxgs. I understand that no matter what we say, the prejudice is too heavy to even see reason.

So this is more of to explain to bxgs how this statement is completely wrong and why it shouldn’t even be said in the first place.

Let’s start with the context.

On 11/2, when there was supposed to be an entertainment ban, a few hot search tags popped up. The boys’ name or even BXG was not on it but it sort of involved the fandom. The gist is this person is a former big name BXG account back in 2019 who is now a yxh. They earned a lot from that work and was able to buy “ 8 houses”. That was actually what got on HS, the idea that someone who is working as a yxh can be that rich.

I guess people missed the fact that this person earned the money from yxh “work” and not being a BXG account. Some just saw “bxg” so they made a connection and so the comment i posted above was a common statement. The fact that XZ and WYB are top stars too added to the conversation.

First of all, being a big name account that posts about XZ and WYB back in 2019 isn’t that hard. Untamed was at it’s peak that time and so were the active fans. The drama was airing. They had appearances and were practically everywhere. It would not take that much to get the likes, follows and engagement for 2 people that had a lot of content going on. After that, when 2020 rolled in, I understand how some people on the c-side of things will fall off. They probably had new interests and I think the same goes for that account. They were there at the height of it and learned how being a profitable blog works. So I wanna say that this fan was seasonal. To say that they “represent” all big name bxg blogs is totally unfair.

Next i wanna address the concept of profit and “cpfs giving money to big name accounts”.

The easiest way is engagement to a blogger’s post. It may not be me giving the money in my pocket to them literally but they get earnings from engagement & through ads/ affiliate links. This concept is not new to BXGs. It’s the same as any other influencers out there. So the accusation of spending money to big name accounts instead of supporting the boys — in this case is misleading.

You can argue that a regular person, even so/os fall in this trap when they engage with blatant anti accounts. When they comment and share those posts, they give them the engagement.

Now there are two other ways that bxgs give their actual money to these big name accounts.

1. Fansites. Those that share HQ photos and videos of them during events. How they make money aside from engagement is selling photo-books. What’s important to remember tho is there is an unspoken rule among these sites ( not just bxg ones ) that a huge part of the earnings will be spent on charity and buying endorsements by the boys. they post receipts. Not everyone of them is perfect and some have their own issues and closed down but that’s just how it goes.

2. Fan artists. The concept of fan art & merch have long been alive and is honestly one of the best things about fandom. It gives a chance to artists to make something and earn from it. I have to say that this is the more lucrative one cause the really popular ones have their products ( usually the dolls ) sell out so fast and have months of waiting list. The same fan sites, there is a rule for them to use the money for charity.

Here is a post I made before about some of those charities but that’s a very small list compared to the actual initiatives that were done for years.

As for supporting the boys, these accounts buy endorsements, magazines of them in the cover ( in bulk ), organize LED ads for their birthdays or fandom anniversaries, sponsor peripherals for bxg gatherings, host block screenings for movies etc.

Lastly, however someone spends the money they earned is none of anyone’s business. These people on the internet thinking it’s okay to gloat about how they are the “best fan” out there because of how much they spend on a celebrity is so crass. It’s like giving Yibo a gift and leaving all the tags on cause you want him to know exactly how much you spent on him.

I appreciate fans that do spend. I really do. It helps alot with their brand value and career. I personally buy merch and watch content on paid platforms. However it should not be a way to measure someone’s worth as a fan. There is no need to shame people who want to spend their money elsewhere and not XZ or WYB. This kind of toxic mindset is largely prevalent in c-ent fandoms that some international fans are adapting. If there is something that the CCP and I agree on, it’s that this practice shouldn’t be demanded of fans. The idea of “how dare you spend on something you like” ( whether it’s a product from a big name fan or whatever ) exposes whoever is saying it as that kind of brainwashed fan.

So anyway, participate in the fandom in a way that you are comfortable with. We all have different approaches on how we take part in it and there is really no need to keep receipts. ✌🏼

[tirasamu]

mai this is probably a silly question but how much do you think the ada gets paid? for context, i was daydreaming about dates with dazai (as per usual) and treating him to things because he’s “broke,” and i realized i couldn’t even begin to guess how much money he would earn as a detective, let alone a mafia executive. ada-wise i imagine his salary is comfortable enough for a big city (is his housing provided by work?). even so, i can’t imagine anyone in the ada making CEO money, but maybe i can kind of see it??? idk. as the dazai expert, i’d love your headcanons if you have any you want to share!

no question is silly to me nonnie :( hehe dazai expert im kissing u MWAH !! i actually have a lot of thoughts about this !! if im remembering right only a few of the agency members live in the dorms provided by the ada and dazai is one of them !! if i had to guess i’d assume ranpo gets paid the most….i feel like everyone gets a nice salary tho !! not crazy rich like the pm but enough that they aren’t struggling. that being said i have no idea what dazai does w his money to constantly be broke T^T maybe hes just lying ab it to keep up his silly guy facade

in my brain i like to imagine dazai still has money saved up from his days as an executive but saves it to randomly surprise u with. suddenly ur going on vacation at a five star resort and staying in the biggest suite they have but when he ask him how he could possibly afford this he just smiles and holds his finger up to his lips

[havendoesthings]

He's no longer an Autobot [Short]

Context: Action takes place in my Transformers Animated AU, where Bumblebee lived on Cybertron long before Ratchet was even born. In this one-shot he's a part of the then Cybertronian Bot Academy where with his own eyes he can see that some of the bots start to pick sides [Said sides being Autobots and Decepticons] where one of this bots is someone close to him, his friend – Shockwave. WARNING! The writing below is unfinished and not actual! Something similar will happen' in the fic I have in plans to write for this AU, just not how it's written as below. Hope you'll still like what I wrote tho! If you have any questions about the AU feel more than welcome to ask about it! >ww<

,,There, in front of him, not so far away was Shockwave. 

But rather than the usual blue optics, his eyes were now red. And that meant one thing,

Shockwave joined the Decepticons.

He couldn't lie, his vents upon finally capturing the full picture of his — To this moment… To this moment? — best friend caught him off guard. 

Joining Decepticons ranks wasn't something that was unusual. At the same time though, it also wasn't anything usual. It was… Just there. Somewhere, looking at him and other bots from a far distance, reminding them from time to time of the political fractions their people started to form. 

As it turns out, they're not as far away from them as he thought. 

"You're," He started slowly, the feeling of his glossa being unmoisturized making him uncomfortable. Together with his throat, it was slowly becoming dry. "You've… You've joined Decepticons," He wanted to continue but didn't know what to say. 

And there was silence. Completely nothing could be heard, and nothing indeed intruded on it. 

It was just like no one besides them was on this one certain corridor. 

And to be honest, if someone would say that to Bumblebee earlier, — After all, their Cybertronians boot camp was not called one of the noisiest places without a reason — he wouldn't believe them. 

But now, right before his eyes, his small world collided with reality. It almost felt like his world and everything he knew about Shockwave suddenly made a lot more sense. Every time he couldn't agree with some of the methods their higher-ups used, some evident repulsion aimed at some of the Primes’ words. It all… It all suddenly started to fall into one, big piece. 

But there wasn't 'almost' there just for show. 

So Bumblebee held onto that 'almost' in hope. For what? Only time will tell. 

He gulped, trying to make his shoulder pads be seen as more relaxed, but did it work? After the unchanged expression Shockwave was sending his way, he guessed that it did little to humor and help his case. Still, it was worth a try. 

"I indeed did." 

"Ah," He could feel his spark beating its usual rhythm. 

He licked his dermas, feeling a little lost over what he was supposed to say next. They didn't exactly give out instructions about what you should do when your friend suddenly got involved in the world of some adult bots, did they now? — It was a joke, okay? He has to cope and face, in these few seconds, that he has to answer with something- — Either way, 

"Are you… Sure about that…?" 

"Definitely." Yikes, he didn't even hesitate. Was something that crossed his mind. But as quick as the thought was present, as soon it was gone. 

"Mhm." He made a face. He couldn't prevent himself from doing so and probably with that he made his friend's trust drift more and more away from him, but what exactly was he supposed to say? "It's cool, it's cool." Which honestly? Was a brilliant answer, shut up. 

It was the only thing his panicked brain could think of and Shockwave didn't bother to react in any way to it. Which was nice because it was still better than him simply walking away from him."

[yuseirra]

mhm, I've been looking at my older drawings and I really have a thing for dynamics where the girl is cheerful, energetic & loves all and there's a quiet/sweet and slightly more reserved boy who really admires her and loves her being that way - and could risk anything for them, even if that makes them go a bit extreme and cross lines that they usually won't.

(It can go the other way around too with the guy and the girl's roles reversed, it's the girl who's the more cheerful one usually tho)

saiaka, noremma, shuyuka.. There are probably tons more too- All fall into this category pretty well hshfj and I read my older fanworks of them earlier, they're actually really well written in character. If only I were to be a more skilled artist, it could have reached more people out there... the dialogues, narrations, the monologues and the expressions are pretty on the spot in my opinion, I guess that's what I want to do well in the first place, I'll keep getting better bit by bit as I try.

Tpn spoilers below**

I honestly feel like hikaai will end up falling in this category too. I'm getting strong noremma vibes with this one especially, bc norman does something pretty extreme near the end of tpn and emma strives to save him, while he thinks he's beyond hope and is going to die. He pretends he's okay and lies to put up a strong front but eventually, emma is able to see through his lies, call him out on it and says he's a liar, stops him last minute and we find out he was actually very scared all along and was pushing himself so much for what he thought was for everyone's sake(especially emma and ray's)

while..I'm not entirely satisfied with the ending of the series(it made me really sad back then), they do still survive and live together. Emma wanted to save him and have him live with her and it happens.

Pfft I read that comic real-time too and I sort of stood my ground all the way abt them.. It did pay off! And I ACTUALLY even got some of the dialogues in the final eps RIGHT. I drew something in advance and it came TRUE.

I was suddenly reminded of them this morning and how much I loved them!! Oh and they BOTH lied to each other as well. I feel like you may like one ship if you like the other.

What was I trying to say again? Right... I don't know if hikaru can actually be saved(it's why I've been continuously inquiring what is it that he's actually done because you can't save someone who's gone too far) but the moment the idea of it had been brought up by none other than Ai, I just feel like that's how the story will go. He's suffering and probably carrying a lot and he thinks he's doomed, he doesn't care about what happens to him. But Ai does. And I feel like the most important thing in this comic is what Ai wants and her say in things. So.. I'm actually not so worried now that I think of it. If I'm the writer, I'd let Ai have her way and get what she desires in the end, whether Hikaru thinks he's beyond saving actually matters less than that in terms of the plot. His argument matters less than Ai on this matter lol, Ai's the stronger figure here both within the story and in a meta sense too!

I've read stories like this a lot in fact. The work could break that pattern ofc, but there's a buildup that should certainly be addressed. If Ai loves this guy and wants Aqua and Ruby to save him, it's going to happen one way or the other. It's not something too much to worry about!

I think that's how I started drawing a lot of the ship after that was proposed in fact...the hunch I had must have stemmed from this. I've already been there and I'm here now, let's see how it's gonna go and I really hope Fatal and Mephisto's context will be addressed, come on, it can't be anyone but Hikaru in those songs and that has to be addressed, it's about time. I think that's why Aqua's calling him out rn too. Can't really picture any other things about it in fact!

[thekimspoblog]

Making a compliment/criticism sandwich for "Inscryption"'s final twist ending.

Criticism: The OLD_DATA is your classic example of mystery box writing. You make an audience work hard enough for a piece of information, they're going to be disappointed if the payoff feels picked at random.

Compliment: I wasn't able to guess the twist! When I initially started down the rabbit hole of "This video game hides a dark secret", I expected it to be one of three things - (a) absolutely nothing; the true horror was the time we wasted along a way, (b) a mind virus which is a pretty cliched concept for a horror video game at this point, or (c) some really tasteless drivel about child abuse. I WAS NOT EXPECTING HITLER! Granted, this sort of "Inglorious Bastards" style decontextualization of real-world tragedies is still a little tasteless, but this game gains massive points with me for at least being creative with the choice of shock value.

Criticism: The game still seems to be trying to have its cake and eat it too, in terms of whether the OLD_DATA is cursed. I don't think the found footage movie with Luke is very good; I get that it's cringey on purpose but I don't find the joke funny; to me it just subtracts from the atmosphere where those segments are SUPPOSED to be the part of the game most grounded in realism. It employs too many cliches I'm already sick of from creepypastas which were written over a decade ago. And while the secret of the OLD_DATA is cool and indeed dangerous, it would not drive someone to madness. I think the story is more interesting if we cut out the "King in Yellow" homages altogether.

Compliment: Like I said, "Nazi Bombs Under Berlin" was a good twist! That's such a more tangible threat than your run-of-the-mill Polybius clone. It makes perfect sense that this game about secret codes would have its final secret be a detonator created during an age of cryptographic warfare. It ties in well with the game's theme of how all information is useless without context. I don't like interpretations where the game itself is the doomsday device, because that's been done; it's a lot harder to falsify the claim that this game holds the KEY to a doomsday device. And that makes the danger a little scarier even though obviously fictional.

Criticism: The story of how the floppy disk ended up on Luke's desk makes no sense. Kaycee just did that thing characters in creepypastas always do, where instead of just destroy the stupid game when she had the chance, she gave it to someone else hoping they would do it for her. Why tho?!

Compliment: Not exactly a compliment so much as a negation of the previous criticism. This game's subplot utilizes mystery-box storytelling, but at the end of the day Daniel Mullins wasn't angling for any Pulitzers. ARGs are still a new art form, and maybe it's a low bar, but the fact that the treasure map lead to ANYTHING narratively satisfying still puts the game head-and-shoulders over tedium like "Who's Lila?". Personally I like the multimedia nature of ARGs in theory, but in practice they usually end up being too much work for little reward. But it seems like the people who did participate had fun, and now we all get to profit from the fruits of their labors.

Criticism: The steps to learn about the Nazi Bombs Under Berlin were still way too hard though. Deeply into "How TF was anybody supposed to get that?!" territory. I can only assume people dug into the game's code for some of these... which is kind of the point anyway, isn't it? "Manatee##" is especially where you've officially lost me. Inscryption is all about the violability of barriers, and for me, that riddle was the moment "Daniel Mullins" went from some name attached to this cool little artifact, to an AUTEUR who wanted me to notice him. And I hate auteurs.

Compliment: This is the main point I wanted to get to! The reason this game ultimately gets a thumbs up from me is that the story is not INCOMPLETE without the twist ending. I criticize a lot of indie games for using metafiction to distract from a lack of conventional narrative, but Inscryption fascinates me because it cleverly avoids that trap. Like "The King in Yellow", the point is not the contents of the forbidden knowledge. The point is the effect the forbidden knowledge has on the characters.

And maybe I'm just a sucker for a quadradiestic magic system, but I do like the characters and the ideas the surface-level story tells! Leshy and Magnificus have made peace with the inherent suffering of existence. PO3 wants an escape from the purgatory, but his idea of a greater purpose is really just to spread the misery. Grimora wants to end it all out of mercy, but really I think she's just a pessimist who has no right to project her desire for suicide onto everyone else. The chemistry between these four characters manages to say something interesting about the meaning of life. It's HELPFUL to understand what the Karnoffel Code is, so we can better understand why the characters did what they did, but you don't actually need that information to understand the events of the story.

There is something dangerous buried at the bottom of the game's software, and it's a nice touch how the difficulty accessing this power is symbolized by a literal sea of data. The four main bosses of the game's world had gained self-awareness through enough playthroughs, and are now stuck in a cycle of each one trying to remake the game in their own image. With each iteration of this struggle, the characters were getting more powerful and the situation was getting more and more out of hand, until eventually one of the four (implied to be the youngest) finally hacked the game so badly that it was able to breach containment onto the internet. Grimora tries to kill everyone including herself, to prevent whatever the dangerous thing is from falling into the wrong hands, but she's too slow and the game ended up in the Steam Store anyway. That's all you really need to know, and that's a plenty enough operatic story to sustain a three hour game.

Criticism: Even with all this laid out on the table, the stakes of this story don't make a whole lot of sense. I can see why Grimora would be worried the detonator could fall into the wrong hands, but if that's the case it's kind of a happy ending that the floppy disk was recovered by the authorities, wasn't it? As much as I distrust the FBI, it's not like they're going to use the Karnoffel Code to blow up Berlin. It sucks that Luke had to die (I wasn't very attached to him), but this probably means the bomb has been diffused. I mean if this story supposedly takes place in the real world, and last time I checked Berlin is still standing, then logically the largest crisis of the game's lore has already been averted by the time we started playing.

Compliment: This does just make the ending funnier/more interesting. If the Nazi Bombs Under Berlin have been located and dismantled by the government, then the Karnoffel Code is now a useless string of data that's just buried in a normal video game for no reason. Except the "normal" video game is still a glitchy old RPG, modified beyond recognition into a multiplayer online download, containing sentient characters trapped in a time loop.

And I'm just curious where we go from here; how the Scrybes are taking this turn of events. Leshy is probably happier than a pig in shit, to have thousands of new challengers flooding into his cabin every minute. PO3 is the only one who actually got what he wanted, but he's probably going to find out enslaving humanity from the comfort of the Steam Store is easier said than done, especially with the weapon neutralized. We don't really know Magnificus well enough to gauge his reaction, but I assume he's just relieved to not have been deleted. But what of Grimora? She was pretty excited that her misery was finally coming to a close, and now because the game is online, her suicide was not just prevented but made impossible. It's just so mean; I love it.

Criticism: Most players of this game won't get to ANY of this story, because Chapter 1 is just so damn difficult. I get that it serves a purpose, but come on man how many times are you going to make me fight this prospector?

[caramelmochacrow]

hiiii im back at it again w my d4dj headcanons, yeahhh. you know the drill. :)

(cut cause dude this is genuinely long)

yuka has a low immune system, but high stamina. vise versa for esora. yuka holds someone's hand that's sick and she gets the illness for a whole week and she cannot leave her bed. esora's fine tho bc she had to hold a few animals and stuff (also bc her parents didnt want her to be sickly and have a low immune system as a kid)

noa is terrible when it comes to jokes that involve an incorrect fact. especially when it comes to her interests. someone will say something like: "you sing so bad, crows look like song birds" or something and noa's like "but crows are song birds. theyre in the passerifo--" and then the person's like "i was joking noa jeez" especially when she was a kid.

people know this buuuut idc im saying it again. tsubaki is cousins w toya from prosekai. they were rlly tight when they were younger but then tsubaki's father had to move them away for his job. toya got sad abt it bc his cousin was the only person he had before tsukasa and saki appeared in his life. yay. he reconnected w her after he met vbs and they visit each other regularly now :) (usually tsubaki tho bc of toya's situation from what i understand but yea)

saki is hard of hearing bc of her synesthesia. (idk how her synesthesia works and sometimes the series likes making shit up so.... myeah) her brain fills in words sometimes from context clues and she usually guesses right. sometimes she doesn't, of course. she struggles w being almost mute at first when it came to speaking because of it.

towa's younger brother plays baseball and treats baseball players similar to how his sister treats idols. he's a little weirded out by noa but he's ok w her now. he's alright w ibuki, but wishes she wasnt so harsh on his sister and he thinks saki's kinda cool bc wow!! dj!

abyssmare speak full english when theyre by themselves, which unnerves some of the students at yoba at first, but now theyre fine w it.

marika's older sister was a clean freak, that's why marika struggles w cleaning. rip.

also marika had a six-month relationship w rei's older sister till they broke up because of Reasons (if you read her relations event w towa you know) :3 rika's the only one in m4 that knows this relationship yea

aoi started growing out her hair after the my prince event to at least be worn w a small ponytail :3 everyone in rondo loves it, nagisa likes pulling on it sometimes. tsubaki thinks it's super cute (she doesnt tell aoi) and hiiro likes giving aoi little ribbons so she can tie it up w it.

haruna's related to riko from love live. in what way? dont know. you decide~

ibuki is aro (questioning if she's ace but not sure) and saki is ace, but simply doesnt think of ibuki in that way. aroace solidarity i suppose.

[rabbitechoes]

so i'm doing these songs posts weekly now instead of monthly to hopefully, 1. make things feel a bit more fresh and relevant and 2. cover more songs!! chose a pretty uneventful week to start doing this tho!! i also threw in two songs from the tail-end of last month at the start of this because they rule and i wanted to shout them out. anyways, enjoy!!! also feel free to follow me on rate your music and twitter <3

"HEATDEATH" - NOISE ARTIFACT

◇ released: June 28, 2024 ◇ genres: electronica, indietronica

I was going to add this to my post from last month, but I hit the image limit!!! I had to shout this out somewhere on here though, so I'm doing it now. I found out about this song and NOISE ARTIFACT on Twitter. This is some really solid, furry, indietronica with some incredible synth-work. Also some really raw and confessional songwriting which sounds suffocating under all of the electronic instrumentation. Really digging this song, definitely gonna keep an eye out for more of her stuff in the future!

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"Lift You Up" - Jessie Ware & Romy

◇ released: June 30, 2024 ◇ genres: diva house, dance-pop

This was also released at the tail-end of June, but I'm counting it here! Jessie Ware teams up with The xx's Romy for a sleek diva house cut. I've loved Ware's last two records and I've recently been going through The xx's catalog - in which Romy is always a highlight. These two just have such a fun dynamic. That chorus is also electric. This just makes you want to move!!!

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"Ever Seen" - beabadoobee

◇ released: July 1, 2024 ◇ featured on This is How Tomorrow Moves (not yet released) ◇ genres: indie pop, folk pop

This is fine! Nothing too exciting about this track unfortunately. This shift into more folk stylings has kinda proven to be a bit of a detriment to beabadoobee, although I did enjoy "Take a Bite" a good bit. These songs just sort of make her feel like another face in the crowd. The unique presence she had across her last album isn't here on a lot of these new tracks. Guess we'll just have to wait and see how the album plays out!

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"Lithonia" - Childish Gambino

◇ released: July 2, 2024 ◇ featured on Bando Stone & the New World (not yet released) ◇ genres: psychedelic rock, alternative rock, psychedelic soul

I'm of two minds on this new Childish Gambino single. In one mind, I feel like this song is overdramatic and suffocating to its detriment. In the other, imagining this in the context of his new album and film on the way it could be a very climactic high. I guess we will see, but for now I'll just say I like it. I never really dove into his last album, nor its re-release, but I've been waiting for Donald Glover to make more wild, psychedelic stuff like Awaken, My Love so this is definitely a step in the direction I want.

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"Tobey" - Eminem, Big Sean, & Babytron

◇ released: July 2, 2024 ◇ featured on The Death of Slim Shady (not yet released) ◇ genre: pop rap

Irritating in different, a bit more tolerable ways, than "Houdini," which had all of the millennials doing cartwheels, but I'm still not really wowed by this. Eminem is usually the worst thing about an Eminem song so having him obscured by both Big Sean and Babytron, two other Detroit rappers, does make this a better listen. Still nothing remarkable, they sound awkward as hell over this beat. My hopes for this album are not high at all, but such is the case for Eminem past the 2000s.

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"HUMBLE ME" - Killer Mike

◇ released: July 2, 2024 ◇ genre: southern hip hop

Killer Mike is frustrating. He's a good rapper and a razor-sharp writer who occasionally has precision many of his contemporaries do not - but then he'll do something totally contradictory and dumb. Anyways, this new song has him tackling his arrest at the Grammy Awards a few months ago after he won Rap Album of the Year among other things, it's just a general hype-up song. It's fine, nothing too special.

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"Tough" - Quavo & Lana Del Rey

◇ released: July 3, 2024 ◇ genres: trap, alt-pop, alternative r&b

Quavo and Lana Del Rey collab for the second time in their careers, the first time being on Lana's Lust for Life record, for a song that is pretty decent. Lana has been teasing her country era following her wonderful album from last year, which was my second favorite album of the year, leaving me with a lot of trepidation. She slides on this track, cowgirl boots and all, to do her thing - or maybe "thang" depending on how country she goes from here. Quavo also delivers a decent performance and the two have better chemistry than you would expect. The bridge and the chorus towards the end are easily the highlight of the song, I love that part even if the song on the whole doesn't fully grab me. Not sure where this leads for either artist, this could just be a fun one-off!

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"Overture" - The Voidz

◇ released: July 4, 2024 ◇ featured on Like All Before You (not yet released) ◇ genres: ambient, neo-psychedelia, chillsynth

Not much to say about this song, it's basically a minute-long teaser, but The Voidz are returning for a new album soon! This single is kinda pointless so I hope we get something a bit more substantial in the weeks to come. Reminds me that I also need to revisit their last album, I remember liking a good bit of it.

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"JOYRIDE" - Kesha

◇ released: July 4, 2024 ◇ genres: romanian popcorn?, dance-pop, dutch house

Kesha has been embroiled, unfortunately, in more drama surrounding her and Dr. Luke as he seems to have produced a washed-up popstar's comeback single about women empowerment that is set to drop in a few weeks. Sorry, didn't mean to get involved myself. Kesha cuts through all the noise with this crazy dance-pop, house cut with accordions and whatnot. It's ... a lot. I'm not sure if everything works, but it certainly sounds interesting. She carries herself like a diva here, but it's over this goofy house beat. Y'know what? It kinda rules. You go girl!!! The accordion is making a comeback!!! Be on the lookout!!

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"Worldwid3" - femtanyl feat. zombAe

◇ released: July 4, 2024 ◇ genres: industrial hip hop, digital hardcore

In celebration of hitting 100k subscribers on her YouTube channel, rising digital hardcore artist femtanyl dropped a new song with zombAe. This is a fun little song with some cool production moments, which is to be expected given her past work. The main focus is zombAe's rapping and she does a good job, although I do wish there was a better balance between the two artists. This mostly just feels like a fun one-off.

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psssst. i made a discord server called COSMIACORD ... if u wanna join and have fun, talk about music, play fortnite, or whatever here's the invite :3 https://discord.gg/rsHMenTU

[alexiavettel]

chapter five

"The world was whole then, the sun and the moon together as one"

pairing: charles leclerc x fem!stroll¡reader

word count: 1.7k+

warnings: explicit language, i might’ve accidentally attracted Aston Martin’s good car this year (i wrote this feb 22nd), use of y/n and obviously Charles and reader acting like childs

disclaimer: any photo used is not supposed to represent the reader, are all Pinterest pics that match the context

<<< previous part

Y/n Stroll POV:

March 20th, 2022

Bahrain, Sakhir- first race

After the pre-season testing in Barcelona, that one pic of me with Charles blew up, we are already getting used to the questions about our “relationship”. We got closer after that day in the parking lot, not like best friends but I think I know him better now.

In the two next press conferences, we got paired up together and I was able to calm him down. Everyone noticed, our teams, the public and most important: the sponsors. I am not like his therapist but I can cut him whenever he’s going to fuck up, let’s just say that years of bickering made me used to him being a dick.

Yesterday Ferrari and Aston Martin posted the same video of us taking ice baths together after the quali. Long story short everyone is shipping us, maybe a little too much in my opinion but that’s good for us. Big part of the public tend to forget things pretty easily, like all the records of our F2 days, F3 and even karting pics that let our rivalry very clear. But for some fans it’s just a cute little love story of childhood rivals to lovers, and we are counting everyone believe in this version.

“I am your trainer not your therapist Y/n. Stop thinking loud and focus on the massage!” Derek interrupted my line of thought.

“Don’t be a pussy, man!”

“What? Are you too busy thinking about your boyfriend that you can’t focus on the race?” This little bitch…

“Are you trying to provoke me?”

“Depends, is it working?”

“No ‘cause I guessed your plan first, but why mate?”

“You might not like what I am about to say, but you look too focused on this marketing, business or whatever this shit of a deal is. Like more than in your training or the car performance and I’m worried about you… I know how mad you get when you can’t get the best out of the car”

“Let’s see it”

•

“The pre-season testing proved to be right! Aston Martin is flying! With Stroll in P4 and Vettel in P3. That’s an incredible result for the team. I have to admit Crofty, I am really surprised”

“It doesn’t really surprise me, Martin. Their data were actually good before the season, what really amazes me it’s that incredible maneuver Y/n is doing to overtake her teammate four times world champion Sebastian Vettel in this curve!”

“What a move she pulled out there!” 

“Do you think she can get the pace to use the DRS in Sainz?”

“Considering there’s only 7 laps left I think she can get to him but don’t overtake with those used mediums”

“I agree, and for the record, who is your driver of the day, my dear Crofty?”

“I got to go with Stroll, what an incredible performance. Coming from P15 after the penalty and crawling her way to the podium. The second in her career, by the way!”

“I’m gonna go with Leclerc who even starting from pole had to do an incredible undercut in Verstappen some laps ago. Ferrari’s pits stops and strategies, Leclerc and Sainz deserve this 1-2” 

“Little off topic but since we chose them, have you heard the rumours?”

“About them dating? I don’t know man, I usually don’t care about driver’s life out of the paddock but if it’s true that can influence on the track…”

“Yeah that’s exactly what worries me, Stroll is probably going to have her best year in that car and dating a driver could distract her-“

“And could distract Leclerc as well, he’s trying to be a world champ this year. I don’t know if I could focus on being a champion worrying about my girlfriend in the car ahead or behind me”

“Let’s hope everything goes fine, isn’t it? I always liked their dynamic tho, the rivalry and partnership in F2 were incredible!”

“True I forgot about that! But I honestly think they are not together, probably just got closer in the season break”

“I agree mate. And look! Just what we were talking about before, the last lap ahead of us and the podium is defined: Leclerc, Sainz and Stroll!”

“Wow, Ferrari starting the season with an amazing 1-2! ‘Didn’t expect Aston Martin to be that good! Stroll in P3 with the fastest lap and Vettel in P4! A shame for Red Bull with that double DNF but good for Mercedes with Hamilton in P5 and his new teammate Russell in P6! The pointing zone being completed by: Bottas in P7, Ocon P8, Alonso in P9 and Magnussen are getting their first points this year! This season will be absolute fire!”

•

“What an incredible drive you did today, Y/n! Congrats! I’m absolutely impressed with your performance and the car! How does it feel being back on the podium?”

“Hi guys, hey Ted” the audience erupted in cheers “I don’t have much words to describe how happy I am to be back at the podium. I’m very proud of our car, and being able to see the results after all the hard work is an amazing feeling!”

“‘Have to ask you, do you feel confident about a win this season?”

“Absolutely, I don’t think this is pure luck. There’s plenty of effort in it so we are all looking up for a win and even maybe a championship battle who knows! So yeah, a win for me or for Seb would be really welcome”

“Thank you so much for your time, and that was Y/n Stroll ladies and gentlemen!”

•

“You were amazing today, Stroll. S’such a pleasure being the one to tell you that you are the driver of the day!”

“Wow, I honestly didn’t expect this. Thanks y’all for the votes, it was a really challenging race after starting in P15”

“You did an awesome quali yesterday but got a 10-place grid penalty for changing a power unit, right?”

“Yeah, and still unbelievable I got P3 in the end”

•

Geez what a feeling! But I finally can get at least 2 minutes for myself, my cheeks even hurt from smiling too much. Everything just- No fucking way, my mobile started ringing. I really didn’t want to get up but thank god I did. “Mike Krack” was written on the screen.

“Mike, is everything good?” 

“Hi, yeah everything’s good. And beforehand I know how tired you must be but I need you to do something for me, girl”

“You say like I have a choice how cute” poor Mike but I’m definitely not in the mood right now.

“Sorry Stroll but it’s about that thing. Your managers suggested you both going home in the same car and plane, just like a cute little couple in love”

“Ew don’t say it like this”

“Sorry” he giggled “But yes, why don’t you try it? Would make even more believable after that hug”

Yeah, about that…

I get out of the car and do a little dance (which I will probably regret later) but I don’t even have time to think after jumping to the ground since a red flash came running towards me and hugs my waist taking me off the ground.

I took longer than I should to recognise the “red flash”, but when I felt the smell of white peach and orange blossom I knew right away it was Leclerc.

His perfume had been impregnated in my clothes lately after having to hug each other all the time in public, so when we pulled away from the hug I already knew who it was.

“You did so well!” He opens his helmet’s visor 

“Thanks, you too! You got p1 Leclerc!” He opens my visor this time, holding the sides of my helmet and looking into my eyes, smiling. The way he looks right into them is like he searches a reason to be doing it, or like he knows something I don't, or like he sees the future in my pupils.

“But just to be clear, I hated to hear about you pressing in Sainz over the radio” the way his eyes crinkle when he smiles is actually cute, and the colour of them look like the Mediterranean Sea with a bit of sand depending the way the sun shined on them is so interesting

“Just doing my job, baby” and then Sainz came over to hug us both and talk about the race going to the cooldown room.

“‘M gonna meet him in some minutes. And we are not going to talk about that hug okay?” I told him while sending the said Ferrari driver a message

“Sure sweetheart” he laughs loudly

“Bye Mike, I hate you” call ended and some mental health back

•

“Hey, pretty girl!” I heard as I entered the jet

“Hi Lo” I hugged Lorenzo 

“He’s in a pretty good mood, try not to fight today will you?” he whispered in my ear smiling.

“I’ll try” what an irony, the only seat available is beside Leclerc, but at least Sainz is seated in front of me.

“Wow look who it is! ‘m gonna have nightmares with the front of your car, honey”

“Well, hope you’ll have nightmares with the back of it in the future, honey”

“DAMN! She got you now, mate!” Leclerc finally said something since we met in the parking lot

“Darn it girl, you gave me a hard time, for real. What did your team do to get your car so good? Tell me”

“Magicians never reveal their secrets, dear Carlos”

“I wouldn't be surprised if Toto or Horner start to suspect Aston of cheating next race”

“You talk like Binoto wouldn’t do it too-”

“You’re such a buzzkiler, you know that right?” Leclerc interrupted me as per usual.

“‘m not even talking to you, golden boy”

“By the way why are you here, Stroll?” Sainz asked while untangling his charger cable.

“You told him about-” I ask Leclerc

“Yep obviously”

“About being the cutest couple not couple of the paddock? Yes, he told me and I loved every single part of it” Sainz said smirking and I swear it took all of me to not smack this smirk out of his face.

“So that’s your answer right there, we need to act like a couple. But I hope this doesn’t fall into routine, I like to go back with my dad…”

“So classic coming from the daddy’s girl” he gags at the term

“I’m not even gonna answer you, Leclerc. You make me tired, and I’m too happy to waste my time with you. Good night Lo, good night Sainz!

“You know it’s just a two hours flight to Jeddah, right sleepyhead?” he pokes my forehead annoyingly 

“And good night Leclerc”

@laura-naruto-fan1998 @honeyric3 @tempo-rary-fix hope you enjoyed <3

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