#i guess what i'm trying to say more broadly is

[nowhere302]

I'm sorry but I don't get people being like "this character only exists as backstory/development/ect. for this other character they're written badly!!!" like? that's literally just the purpose of some characters lmfao

[unproduciblesmackdown]

thirty tags generally never being enough: LOS-307 also having a perfectly neurodivergent time manifesting as their having a distressing/harmful experience that goes ignored (as does their talking about it, from [forewarning] to [increasingly urgently remarking on it]) b/c no one else shares it, and their efforts to help themself out by requesting a break from a task that's overtaxing them or trying to cool the room to cool themself are thwarted b/c [not continuing to overheat for their own current wellbeing And to avoid its exacerbation and an outright crisis] is dismissed for [i do want to keep playing this game to win it though] and [i would be uncomfortable if cold]. also that when it's way too late it's like oh ok Now um well just cool down it's fine lol. just like irl. iconique autistique

[annabelle--cane]

there's a lot going on in the mag 58 supplemental, this one little scene does a lot of heavy lifting to set up martin and tim's arcs for the rest of the show, but I want to focus on these lines particularly because of how therapy comes back as a symbol in s4/s5.

broadly, in the context of the meta plot and not the individual statements, seeking therapy in tma is representative of trying to improve oneself and get out of a bad situation. later, when taking melanie to therapy, georgie suggests that jon should get some as well but, when asked, says she wouldn't be willing to escort him like she does with melanie, showing how she does wish the best for jon in theory but doesn't think he actually wants to get better, or at least that she's not sure enough to involve herself with him.

that view of jon doesn't come from nowhere, because here we have an instance of him rejecting that same offer, symbolically rejecting help in favor of digging himself deeper on his own (obligatory disclaimer that irl therapy is a very personal thing and says nothing about one's overall character, this is just an examination of a motif in fiction). the word choice of "he just says no" imo implies that martin has suggested this multiple times and jon keeps giving the same answer, continually reaffirming that he does not want outside assistance to pull him out of this spiral.

the fact that martin's the one advocating to go soft on jon despite repeated refusals for more sympathetic help is interesting to me, because I would guess that this conversation was instigated by jon aggressively confronting martin about trevor herbert two episodes earlier. we know he was stalking all three of his assistants, but that is the biggest and most threatening outburst we get from jon in this period, and in this conversation it is still martin being defensive and apologetic vs tim being frustrated and pissed off.

I've said recently that I'm pretty sure martin believed jon was self harming and/or suicidal at this point, so I can see why he would be particularly willing to give jon slack and try to prevent any big conflicts, but that still contributes to his current narrative role of "guy who is treated the worst but ignores it because he's also the guy who cares the most." in that way, he's a foil for georgie; she cares, sure, but not enough to ignore (perceived) risks. martin pushes for jon to get therapy even as he lashes out and rejects help, and georgie won't involve herself when jon asks if she'd be willing to help him see a therapist.

this motif comes back around for a final complication in s5, when laverne, melanie's therapist, winds up as part of her cult. melanie's effort to get better and get out did have lasting effects, she is separated from the watcher/watched system and is coping a whole lot better than she would have before, but those personal efforts still weren't enough to fully get her out of the whole mess. no amount of individual action could remove her from this structural problem, her therapist helped her a lot but also now thinks she's a prophet.

which also comes back to the above scene. tim and martin both write off elias as useless in this situation, so they start sniping at each other and talking about how to stop jon from doing what he's doing without even really lingering on how the guy who is actually in charge and has power over them all is making it worse by neglecting his managerial duties. I'm sure jon could have done with some therapy at this point, but that would have only dealt with, like, 10% of the archive gang's current problems.

[theundercoversquid]

Telling Uncle Charles

Pairing: Pierre Gasly x F!Reader

Request: Omg I’m so excited for the second baby in the Pierre series!!! I’m in love with this series💜 May I make a request: reader and Pierre are trying to keep the second pregnancy secret but Étienne ends up telling the whole grid when he goes to the next race! 💜

Warnings: 

Masterlist

Baby Masterlist

You and Pierre had been so excited to tell Étienne about the fact that he was going to be a big brother.

The two of you had set him down and given him a picture of your sonogram. Explaining everything to him as you both assured him that he was still going to be your baby. Just that now you were going to have 2 babies that you were going to love equally.

Étienne had been so excited, babbling on about how he was going to be a big brother and how he couldn't wait for the baby to come.

"But remember, Étienne." You had told him. "you can't tell anyone yet."

Étienne had nodded. Not looking away from the sonogram.

You and Pirre had shared a look. Worried but hopeful that your baby would be able to keep this secret.

Well, it would seem that you and Pieerre were right to be worried.

As the three of you entered the paddock together, baby Étienne spotted his uncle Charles.

"Uncle cha cha!" Étienne called. Tugging PIere along by his hand as he ran towards Charles.

Charles just smiled fondly. Picking Étienne up in a hug when he got close enough.

"Guess what, Uncle cha cha," Étienne exclaimed as you and Pierre shared a look. Where was your little boy going with this?

"What mon bebe?" Charles asked, grinning at his godson.

"I'm going to be a big brother." Étienne has exclaimed. Grinning broadly.

"Étienne!" You and Pierre admonished together. As Piere sort to extract the small boy from Charles's hold.

"What did we say?" Piere asked Étienne sternly.

"Not to tell anyone," Étienne murmured. "But it's only Uncle Cha Cha." He complained.

"Just because he is Uncle Cha Cha doesn't mean you can tell him." Pierre admonished gently as Charles just stared at you, mouth open in surprise.

"You're pregnant again?" Chares asked softly.

"I am." You smiled softly. Placing a hand on your still flat stomach.

"Oh, that's incredible." Charles beamed. Pulling you in for a hug. "Oh, I am so happy for you both."

"Thank you, Charles." You smiled, giving him a squeeze. "Though if you could keep it quiet, we would be grateful."

"Of course, of course." Charles waved you off. Grinning brightly at you. "I can't believe the two of you are going to have another little baby."

"Best believe it, Calamar." Pierre grinned. Holding Étienne on one arm.

Grinning, Charles had pulled his best friend on for a tight hug. Both thumping the other on the back.

"I'm so happy for you, mate." Charles grinned. "look at you about to be a big brother." Charles explained, turning to Étienne as he ruffled the little boy's hair.

So maybe you hadn't been planning on telling anyone just yet. But you suppose it wasn't such a bad thing that Charles knew.

But maybe you and Pierre would have to keep a bit more of an eye on Étienne and remind him not to tell anyone else in the future. 

Tag List: @skarlettmikaelson @mysticalnightenthusiast​  @arieltwvdtohamflash

[iraprince]

I love the entire concept of Cookie... the look, the fashion, the gender... Would you mind telling us a little more about him? I'm also intrigued about why she's named Cooking with Gorgeous!

HI i would LOVE to talk about george thank you so much. also this makes me realize i've never actually sat down and just made a post unabashedly infodumping at length abt an oc before and it seems silly that i haven't. i ask only for all dear readers to please temper their expectations for this post with the knowledge that i just smoked half a joint before sitting down to answer it. a small one. but still. anyway

FIRST OF ALL FOR THE UNACQUAINTED THIS IS COOKING WITH GORGEOUS, aka cookie or george for short. he uses he/him and she/her pronouns interchangeably!

hi sorry that's not cookie that's a horse in a bridal veil that i. found in my stuff while trying to scroll and find my cookie art. i just got distracted and had to show you. okay no for real here's cookie

he's the character i'm playing in a playtest campaign of the absolutely mesmerizing sapphicworld, an in-development ttrpg!!! and if i'm going to be talking about cookie i feel like i HAVE to say i think a huge amount of her charm and dazzle and charisma comes directly from the charm and dazzle and charisma of the setting i created her for. i know i am laying it on really thick right now but that is on purpose. i want, desperately and unashamedly, for this game to get really popular bc 1. it's genuinely that good. and it's not even DONE yet and 2. i want everyone to get into it so that everyone will make sapphicworld characters and then i'll get to see everyone's sapphicworld characters.

EDIT i'm scrolling back up here and adding a readmore bc this is already getting so long lol. you asked for "a little more" and apparently i have graciously decided this means "literally every fact about cookie that exists in my brain"

SO a lot of the info/tidbits i haven't shared about cookie are i guess gameplay-specific stuff... his title (which is like a class/playbook) is "The Noble Sweetheart," though in sapphicworld "nobility" no longer has anything to do with wealth or class, and is instead entirely about amassing a court purely via devotion/popularity; her subculture (which is like, Who You Hang Out With; drifters, goths, poets, debauchers, cowpokes, etc) is Babe; and her kind (which is like ancestries but in sapphicworld is really just like, a physical form, which u can change more or less at will) is Lunarthrope, which is basically a werewolf!! or more broadly a furry, since u always look like whatever were-animal you are 24/7. just MORE at night, tho i suppose i don't represent that aspect much in my cookie art... ANYWAY i am restraining myself from just sitting here and like. transcribing her entire character sheet. but basically what all this means is that cookie's role in the world (at least at the beginning of the campaign) is "Professionally — no, VOCATIONALLY Hot Person who everyone loves so so so so so so much." cookie really enjoys this role.

he's named cooking with gorgeous because he's an avid cook, and he wants to share that with you, and he's gorgeous!! though honestly the cooking hasn't ended up as important to his character as it was when i first came up with him, lol — but my initial concept was kind of like, what's the equivalent of a bouncy normie recipe blogger/lifestyle influencer but in the context of the lush horny trans deathless psychedelic universe of sapphicworld. and it's cooking with gorgeous, a doggirl dyke with big blue boobs (six of them!!) who is so devastatingly cute and darling that a bunch of people just kind of pledge their fealty to him for no real reason other than he feeds them. and is cute

also her name is def influenced by the fantastic names of many canon sapphicworld npcs! like, quick example list of some npc names off the top of my head: the booty commie, death cybernetic, princess eureka!, the culinary goof (whom cookie dislikes. btw.), pizza friday (whom cookie loves!!!)

cookie is very very determined, and she's ALMOST always very confident. even when she isn't feeling confident, she's still very good at forcing herself to keep putting one foot in front of the other — maybe just while screaming or crying or uncontrollably barking or at least very ardently complaining. he has a tendency to be spoiled and, like, tactless-via-obliviousness, so sometimes he can be grating to interact with, and he has a petty/vindictive streak; but in general he's an AGGRESSIVELY kind person and usually aims all his shrill, cheerful stubbornness directly toward the goal of refusing to accept anything but the best for everyone.

at the beginning of our campaign cookie has JUST received a brand new castle!!!! (chateau gorgeous.) which he doesn't actually "own" bc, remember, no wealth or class in sapphicworld, but he's the ENTHUSIASTIC new caretaker and is chomping at the bit to renovate it so ppl can live there and he can throw a bunch of magnificent parties and basically continue living exactly as he has been, But Even More Fabulous. obviously this is exactly when the main plot threat of the campaign shows up and spoils everything and compels cookie to go on his First Ever Adventure!!!!!! she HAS to save the world otherwise NOBODY will be able to go to the first big party at chateau gorgeous :((((

at this point to prevent myself from just like, giving you guys a play by play of the entire campaign so far i am going to just start listing every cookie fact i can think of as bullet points

🎀 he owns a magical sword in the shape of a giant microplane. it's called The Microplane. he pronounces this "mee-crow-plah-nay"

🎀 george desperately wants to resurrect The Dog-Lich, an entity that once ruled over all beasts from its palace on the moon but was murdered and torn to pieces in a cosmic war far in the past. her attitude towards this desire is 50% devoted lunar cultist, 50% parasocially obsessive twitter stan

🎀 this isn't really a cookie fact but going back to how his title is The Noble Sweetheart — just for a glimpse at party composition, his fellow party members' titles are The Intimate Scholar, The Tentacle Advocate, and The Tw*nk Controversial (the * is the canon spelling).

^ aforementioned tw*nk. its name is Mwah ("pronounced like the kiss you blow at someone you just fucked over"). mwah is played by @/squiddelyfather on twitter!

🎀 mwah and cookie used to be very, very tight, BEFORE mwah became the tw*nk controversial. now that it's so.... you know.... controversial, well. they're still very close, but it has gotten a little stilted and weird (and watching them slowly un-weird it together as the campaign goes on has been one of my fav roleplay experiences ever honestly)

🎀 cookie's other adventuremates, skarligge and delaryn, are both very indulgent towards him. delaryn acts the most grumpy/dismissive about it but is honestly sometimes the worst about spoiling cookie out of anyone in the party (skarligge's player is twt@/clown_dream and delaryn's is twt@/glaiveguisarme and hey while im at it our fantastic gm is the sapphicworld dev, twt@/ddemoneclipse. hi guys i hope u don't mind me chattering abt ur ocs here lol it's just hard to talk abt the best of cookie w/o bringing up everyone else's characters and roleplay also!!!)

🎀 cookie is very VERY sensitive and will burst into tears at the drop of a hat. the precursor to this is her eyes getting So So So Big And Wet And Round. one of my favorite bits to menace the other party members with is when something is not going cookie's way i will lean into my mic and say "cookie's eyes are getting so so so big. they're getting so big and wet and round and shiny. they're so so round and fucking big her eyes are like big wet black glass marbles" and this is like kryptonite to them. this is like getting hit with deadly radiation

🎀 oh speaking of fashion!!!! one of cookie's perks from being a Babe is that she can always change her look whenever she wants. she will ALWAYS have whatever outfit she needs and can quickchange instantly. wait this reminds me i have a bunch of seasonal holiday outfits sketched out and i don't think i've ever posted them here but it'll only let me put one more image in this post. well here have this one

🎀 okay well suddenly i have forgotten all other george facts so that's all for now!!! from now on i will try to just dump oc facts like this more often tho this is really fun. ty for getting me going lol!!!

[harrypotterfuryroad]

What was your journey with all this? Did you at one point blindly agree and then learn new things that changed your mind (like I did) or were you skeptical from the start?

so i was never all in, but i had plenty of friends that were, and when it first started taking off in my social circles (2013ish) i tried my best to keep up with the lingo and be supportive. after all there's a lot of stuff i know i don't understand and who am i to discredit people's lived experiences? my degrees are all in biology so i never bought into the "humans can change sex actually" line, but if the wishful thinking made someone's life easier then sure fine i guess.

the cracks first started to show for me when nonbinary started popping up as a concept. broadly i understood what it was trying to do, but my two instant questions were "isn't everyone a little masculine and a little feminine?" and "if people are uncomfortable with being sorted into box A or box B, how does building box C help them?" i kept asking (out of genuine curiosity) and no one could give me an answer that made sense. obviously i could rattle off now about how this is because the whole thing is built on stereotypes but i was still trying to smile and nod my way through it at the time

my time in my phd program really solidified things for me for a couple reasons. like obv it overlapped with the general rise to prominence of all of this so it was kinda hard to miss, but also i was in an area with a really strong gay community so i got to see firsthand how it took root and grew from there. i saw a prominent local lesbian activist get ousted from my city's lgbt council for butting heads with a tim, and i saw the gradual shift from gay men being super comfortable playing around with the boundaries of dress and behavior to continuous questioning if someone is "one of the dolls" now because he wore a dress once

but also my phd was specifically about a lot of the issues that pop up in this whole debate, like social stress, adolescent development, sex differences in adulthood, and even a little bit about how social media is replacing normal social interaction but isn't meeting the same needs, so i'm watching all this happen while i'm reading papers from as early as the 70s that are basically predicting these exact patterns (then covid hit and amplified everything i was already seeing)

basically i just got more comfortable recognizing when someone is scientifically illiterate but really good at projecting confidence. i had a couple friends who were on lupron (for its on-label use, not as a puberty blocker) and each one had a terrible time, with really intolerable side effects. i looked into it more and it turns out these side effects are really common, which made me think this is a drug that made it through clinical trials but hadn't really taken off commercially so the company is trying to clean up its image or find a new market for it (something we were trained to notice in my phd program). then the drug started getting touted as safe and reversible for kids, and i just finally let myself feel comfortable getting angry about that. if you're saying this drug is safe, you're either lying or uninformed. lupron is the same story as viagra (where its more well-known use wasn't its initial intended use) but with all the leverage of the biggest social justice movement of the day, and it doesn't take much to recognize that without that clout there's no way to positively spin the junk data it's producing

other things i looked into more where the party line falls apart as soon as you screen out the spin: the trans murder rate, the trans suicide rate, prevalence and mechanisms of DSDs, the impact of adolescent testosterone levels on adult physical performance, neurological correlates of gender identity, and what a chromosome is

[natsuyuki-w]

Not one of the boys

Twisted wonderland cast realizes that (Yuu) is a girl.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 Featuring: Idia and Ortho - Sebek and Silver

The dark figure in our dorm's yard was unmistakable, and like in his prior appearances, I jogged to him as soon as I noticed.

- VDC you say? Are you actually trying to invite me to this?- - Why yes...The boys have been working hard, I assure you, it's stunning! And well... As fun, as it is following your "Will-o'-the-wisp", I would like to be around you a bit more. - and hastily added - Only if you want to of course! -

Much as his Fae companion, Tsunotarou laughed at my expenses leaving me with my lingering smile and owlish confused eyes. - You really seem to know no fear. - he smiled broadly - Very well. I humbly accept your invitation.- and I smiled satisfied.

- Will you be going on stage? - - Ah no! I'm their "Manager", as Vil likes to call me. - - Mmm a shame...- I chuckled flustered - Crowley didn't want to risk other schools finding out I'm a girl. You never know what could ever happen. Ha ha ha - - Mm yes I can see the risks. Lilia told me he discovered it as well. -

Thinking back to each event I recalled the surprise on everyone, and feeling a little insecure I asked - ...Tsunotaro, you think...Am I perhaps...not feminine enough? - he threw me a weird look - I-I mean, nobody ever noticed till seeing my... More prominent features. And is not like I'm going out of my way to hide it! So you know...- and I scratched the back of my head.

He hummed and smiled beautifully - No, I think you're plenty. - his words without an inch of tease - I think the beauty of your femininity is enhanced by your boyish charm.- ... - Wai..what!? - - I'm looking forward to the day of the show Goodnight (Yuu).- *puff* and he left me standing in a blushing mess.

- Tsunotaro thinks I am beautiful...- I sighed dreamily - and he looked happy, I'm glad.-

Trope

A couple of days before the culture fair I made my way to Mr. S's Mystery Shop - Gooood morning Sam! How is it going? - - Hello (Yuu), very well thank you. Radiant as always are you? hahaha. - - Of course! My delivery has yet to arrive? - I scanned the shelves. - The pile is right there next to the Grimoire. - he pointed. - You almost caught them this time. -

- Uff... they're so... slippery. They've been so kind to sell all those manga for such a low price. I would really like to thank them face to face. - - They are elusive indeed. - commented Sam - Sorry, but he begged me multiple times not to say a word. - and winked. He wasn't sorry at all, he just enjoyed seeing my frustration. - Yeah yeah... I'm not here just for those; 'must refill our team. - and I handed him the grocery list.

---

- Another pile? - Commented Grim. - I know right?- completely missing his point. - And for like 500 Madol??? - - Shopping again Trickster? - I nodded happily to Rook - Have you seen them this time? - - Nah. Again, they ran away before my arrival. - I climbed the stairs to pose my new collection - And it's so frustrating! Sometimes they go for an hour via chat. Talking about what I should watch or read, his thoughts and theories. But then, they shut down completely saying stuff like: "Sry I'm such an otaku lmao bye.'" and then avoid me for days. -

- Would you like me to do a little research? - asked the hunter with a sharp smile. -...no...thank you for...the thought. I guess. - I patted his shoulder awkwardly. What I didn't know then was that he already discovered the identity of my seller long before. - But why give away all those books anyway? - pondered Grim. - Apparently bought a stock and he already owned some of them. "I must share the words of those artworks for the greater good". Something like that. -

---

On the day of the festival, me and Grim joined the booth check team. Entered the boardgames club exhibit we found a tall boy with long hair like flames sulking in a corner of the class. - Ahh, two hours left until the research presentation...- -... Idia, what are you doing at a place like that? - frowned Riddle. - It's called anxiety. - I mumbled.

- Uwah!!! Riddle master!!! Why are you here? - he jumped. - M-master? - - Fist of steal even outside the dorm eh? - I nudged the redhead on the side. He frowned at me and taking advantage of his distraction I saw the awkward boy nodding profusely. - Are you ready for the research presentation?- turned back the little tyrant. - Y-you don't have to worry. Just wait and see. - responded the other.

I stared for a moment in thought, making him even more fidgety than before - Are you perhaps... Ortho's brother? - - Sigh... *Eh-hem Y-yes. - he exhaled relieved. - 'Knew it I saw somewhere that blue hair! I have to say, after seeing him "draw a sword" defending your honor at the VDC auditions, I was very curious about meeting you. - - I-well-there's n-nothing i-i-interesting aab-b-bout m-me...I CAUGHT THE INTEREST OF A NORMIE IKEMEN????? - he mumbled hiding from my view.

- Riddle Roseharts, Trey Clover, Grim, hello! Of course, I'll always be there for Nii-san, he's a genius, (Yuu) (Wander)! - appeared the brother in question before I could protest the title of normie. - (YUU) (WANDER)??? - Idia jumped back but quickly covered his mouth and his back faced us all for a second time. He sneaked a look from his shoulder, caught my eyes, and the flames on his head turned pink. My companions looked me over questioningly, but seeing my expression just as confused, they searched for answers in his most trusted subject.

*Blank stare.* - W-well...*eh-hem Hi Ortho! I'm sure you speak the truth about your brother, I'm looking forward to hearing the...- - ...(Yuu) (Wander) - interrupted me once more in a softer tone. The four of us stared back and forth at the pair in search of answers.

- But it's great! - suddenly quipped Ortho. - Nii-san don't you understand? Is like in that Shojo where the girl in disguise in the boy academy becomes friends with her crush and...- - W-W-WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT ORTHO??? - The floating boy started to chant robotically. - (Yuu) (Wander) has sent at 09:45 a.m., Friday 2...- - I KNOW WHO HE IS BUT WHAT GIRL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT??? - - (Yuu) (Wander), student at Night Raven College, is a non-magical human being. Gender Female, height...-

- Stooop - I interrupted the chaotic theatric playing before our eyes. - 1, How was I unaware of sending messages to...you... - but the teenager was no longer with us, his soul probably left his body, and the now empty shell lay on the ground stiff...- ...and 2, when did you find out about me, Ortho? Being a girl that is. - I got closer to check on the dorm's leader's well-being. Tho, sensing my nearby presence he recovered immediately and ran out in a string of apologies. His hair turned a Barbie pink.

- I... Hope his presentation goes well. The magic, engineering that he specialized in has a lot of interesting articles about modern magic. So let's hope this...predicament hasn't caused too much brain damage. - pondered Riddle. - I'm a bit worried, but I'm sure he is going to recover. - and the little Sheoud turned back to us.

- So... What just happened exactly? - trailed off Grim. - You asked: 1, how were you unaware of sending messages to my brother? Nii-san has been chatting with (Yuu)San under the nickname of "Gloomy Samurai" in the second-hand shopping app: Twyst. - *GASP! I reacted dramatically - He was my generous dealer!!!! - - What was he dealing to you??? - Riddle panicked already picturing me falling into the drug club. - One launched Man, flexible cover edition from 01 to volume 23, Junior High attack, redesigned edition, flexible cover, complete... - - Mangas Riddle, Mangas. - I reassured.

- And for number 2: I scanned and stored your physical information when we met the first time. - he confessed nonchalantly. - That's... Fascinating intimidating. - I commented, eyes wide open. - And what was that Shojo girl in a boy academy... - teased Trey. - Please Ortho, don't answer that.- I flashed the green-haired boy a sharp gaze.

I had the impression Gloomy Samurai would've shut me down completely from this day on, and if before there was little possibility of him wanting to meet up in RL, now... stupid to even take it into consideration. - Say Ortho, what's your brother's favorite food? - If I couldn't thank him with me present physically or digitally, a gift would've sufficed.

Title

- TSUNOTARO????? - Sebek was in a tantrum.

- You too? - I murmured in disbelief once they finished their back and forth - Tsunotaro, can I confirm a suspicion of mine? - he smiled and nodded curious about what was going on in that small brain of mine. - This is just a stretch... But is it perhaps that you are searching gazes different from "Mighty prince" or "Terrifying magic user"? I mean why come to a public school otherwise right? -

His faithful knight threw again insults, but the subject himself stayed quiet. Silence needed to be fulfilled for my brain to function so I rumbled even more, in search of an understandable response from the boy - You know,...People can be so focused on What we are, instead of the Who. I mean I thought of it because I saw in us some similarities...Of course, is totally on a different level and type,...but, you know,... I can see a behavior change when my friends discover I'm a girl. And it's...- - WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT??? - Sebek screamed and became a blushing mess.

Silver widened his eyes in realization. - The infirmary, it wasn't a dream...- and pink gradually made its way on his face. I flew a hand on my mouth. - I got lost in my thoughts. - Malleus petted my hair chuckling while Grim clapped his paws with a flat face - It could've gone worse - I enquired to the cat - It could've rained...- I joked nervously.

- NOW EVERYTHING IS CLEAR! You have been luring our master! - screamed Sebek - That's why he has permitted you so much! For sure, under that innocent cute look, you're hiding some secret spell, seducing him you little witch. And grumble, grumble, grumble... - - I would take this as offense honestly - I murmured to the prince. - I would take that as a compliment, cute innocent witch, fufufufu.- he teased.

After recovering from my blush, he was still on fire with his ranting. So I decided to suffocate it with my trashing around - Doll, I'm not stealing your man dah. - - Wha...- As I predicted, his voice died stunned. - Not this again...- groaned Grim recalling the joke Catfights between me and my ginger friend.

- This relationship is completely consensual. - I gestured, and perplexed but very amused Malleus nodded - See? And now, look at ya. - I returned to Sebek - Chasing after him, seeking attention - and with a click of my tongue I concluded - so desperate. - - You... Never stop to surprise me child of man. -

---

Earthquake magnitude 6.2 in the Isle of Sages Possible causes: tectonic plates moved by repeated sound waves with abnormal peaks of decibels. Location: Night Raven Collage.

---

They say that I'm a witch And that I weave a spell Well, I'll be a son of a I don't know what Well, let me tell you brother I'd rather be burned as a witch than never be burned at all (I'd rather be burned as a witch - Eartha Kitt)

*Eh-hem so... What happened? - inquired Crowley. Both me and Ruggie despite the clear frustration of the headmaster, sat nonchalantly, being confident in our innocence.

~

I roamed my eyes on one of the topper shelves in the library holding on a ladder to reach them better. - What are you doing up there (Yuu)? - I heard a whisper from the ground. - Oh! Hi Ruggie! Just searching for my way home. What about you? - Maybe I could find some documents about magical transportation or alternative universes. - Ehmm okay(!?) Me? Same usual, Leona's chores. I'm taking some books for him or he'll just forget to do his research. - - Lazy ass... - I snorted reaching for another book. - Leona. That's who he is. *Shshshsh.-

His eyes then darted down. On the topic of asses. - *Eh-hem... Can you lend me a hand? I think I saw one of the books I need up there. - - Oh sure! Which one?- I responded. - There on the third, no no the fourth down,... Yep, A little more on the right...- - This one? - I glanced back. - No no the other one on the left. *Shshshhshs -

Yep, TOTALLY looking at the books.

* SBAM I jumped down. - AARGH DON'T HIT ME! - and neither of us expected the disaster after that.

~

- That's what you get looking at my boogie! - - YOU WERE TRYING TO THROW THAT BOOK AT ME! I can't believe you chicks! Thinking you have permission to use violence on men, am I right? - - NO I WASN'T! I just jumped down, You scared off yourself and hit the shelf on your own!... And don't deflect!!! You were the one scheming to... -

- SILENCE!!! - Crowley's strong voice covered both of ours. - Ruggie. - he called out sternly. The ears of the hyena were now flat waiting for the worse. - By "chicks" you mean,...girls? - he then trailed his eyes on me with that scary glowing gaze of his. Ruggie thought about it for a while and then smirked. - Yes. I meant girls. - he probably thought the Crow would get too distracted, so he could make a run out of his disaster. - That's quite an interesting predicament (Yuu)... Didn't I warn you to take secrecy? How is that this dear student know?-

- You... Didn't know, headmaster? - I blinked confused. - Know what? - I caught him unprepared. - *ps... What are you doing???- whispered-yelled Ruggie. Sure, he wanted for me to be scolded for HIM knowing, but he didn't expect... - I thought either Azul told you or you had noticed already. - I responded. - Aw. That's nice! It means they really did maintain the secret. - I reached the ahs blonde boy and patted his cheek. - I have such good friends! - - H-hey!It's because there was no advantage in telling anybody.- Embarrassed, he drove my hand away.

- (Yuu).- - Yes? - - EXPLAIN. NOW -

Finished this series!!!! Ruggie was with Silver the less brought up in the "discovery timeline", so I thought it might've been nice to include them a little more with two mini stories (Silver's is in part 3).

Malleus, on the other hand no, he didn't need more timing. But my simping for him did.

I hope you had a fun time with lil old me! Wish you the best, 'till next time! ✨💙

[citrusella-flugpucker]

So, I've long held that I always thought Ralph Breaks the Internet was... adequate. Not good. Not bad. Just... okay as a sequel. And I think, catching it on Disney Channel today, that I've figured out why that is.

It's because every one of its big ideas could be an interesting hook or element in a WIR sequel on its own.

Vanellope feeling stifled in her role and considering going Turbo (and how that's both similar to and different from previous documented instances of going Turbo (i.e. on the Sugar Rush end, there's no reason the game will go out of order if she happens to disappear from the random roster))

Ralph becoming heavily emotionally dependent on maintaining his friendship with Vanellope and keeping it as-is, and having to work on that

Ralph going Turbo (though maybe not like he did to cause Sugar Rush to go out of order--and doing it again after the first movie would need care to not feel like a rehash)

The internet (though I wonder if the particular execution of the internet not being as interesting may have to do with Rich Moore IIRC openly not really understanding the internet, circa 2012/2013)

Sugar Rush steering wheel breaking/figuring out what to do about it

Engagement farming (that part where Ralph tries to get TubeTube views, though here I mean it more broadly in the sense of "trying to get people to engage with something"--I could even see the specific engagement farming of dated-by-2018-standards memes feeling funny and timeless if the person doing them was not Ralph; for instance, if Litwak (who's past middle-age by RBTI) decided to try to do some to increase foot traffic at the arcade or something lol)

Viruses and glitches (though like Ralph going Turbo, it would need care to not feel like some sort of rehash of Vanellope and the Cy-Bugs)

The B plot with Hero's Cuties as parents/parent figures to the Sugar Rushians

Not Oh My Disney, the Princesses, or... nnnngh... the Slaughter Race Princess Song™. They just really only "work" in a very particular treatment of the plot and would be uninteresting or bad on their own (at least in the context of a Wreck-It Ralph sequel--maybe they'd be fine in a different movie entirely).

But anyway, the problem, I think, that brings the movie down to "adequate", that makes me not enjoy it as much or feel the magic I felt with WIR, is that the movie shoves all of these individually interesting thoughts together in a way that makes it feel cluttered and unfocused.

In essence, the movie can't pick a lane, I guess is what I'm saying. It wants to do too many things, and the way it does too many things results in an experience that doesn't feel as nice as the tightly interconnected A and B plots of the first movie. Whereas if it maybe picked fewer things from the list (or even just one thing) that it was able to execute well, maybe it would have felt like a nicer experience for WIR fans in particular?

TL;DR: Maybe RBTI would have felt nicer as a WIR sequel if it tried to do... less?

[hazshit-hotel-hater]

The way substance abuse has been handled on the show thus far genuinely upsets me and reeks of writers who either 1.) don't understand the subject matter they're presenting and haven't done even the bare minimum to research it or, worse, 2.) simply don't care.

Apologies for the slight rant incoming, your comment about how it has been mostly "handled" off-screen got me going because that's 100% true and in that truth is such a missed opportunity for the show. The way it has been handled winds up feeling incredibly shallow and juvenile at the end of the day, especially for a piece of media that is attempting to present itself as "adult" and navigate multiple incredibly sensitive topics. I'll try not to get into my own personal experiences and will speak broadly, but the show uses substance abuse more as a cheap character flaw to poke fun at or something to magically handwave away when it is inconvenient, rather than the life-altering, debilitating illness that it is.

Nothing about Angel's use is ever meaningfully explored. It's so (apparently) unimportant to his arc and development that one rude comment from Husk (a character who ALSO has a problem with gambling and alcohol that is never addressed) is all it takes for him to suddenly "resist temptation" and be shown as "recovered" (unless I'm misremembering). Or was he suddenly going to counseling off-screen too and its just another thing that will be told to us rather than shown? And how does Charlie even handle that at the Hotel (I'd be really interested in this as a moment for her character to have to grow/change too)? Does she even understand substance abuse and the many unaddressed systemic factors that can influence it? Or is the entire recovery process just shame based (because that works so well /s) combined with some more corny trust exercises? Why is this incredibly serious topic relegated to the background as if it's unimportant?

Recovery is hard. It is emotional and exhausting. Withdrawal (depending on what you're coming off of) can sometimes mean excruciating, unimaginable pain and in some cases people literally die. It is not a funny "ha-ha I take drugs because I'm chaotic and wild" quirk to be adored or glorified and it definitely should not be presented as something that can be wrapped up in a month or two off-screen without any development whatsoever. That's just insulting.

When you approach a topic like substance abuse and recovery, I personally feel you need to take in all sides of it. All the missteps that come with it (two steps forward one step back - mistakes are expected and okay), the self-loathing, the guilt and shame, the joy, the sense of freedom, the loss, and the best part of all: the incredibly difficult but liberating journey that is rebuilding your life and learning to love yourself and your body again, once you've chosen to be free and to live life.

Mad props to anyone who has ever battled this disease. You are strong, you are worth it and you are valued. Lol I am so sorry for going off here but I so appreciate you calling out the lack of exploration on this topic in the show. I guess I didn't even realize how annoyed and upset it was making me feel (praying this is coherent...).

This was absolutely coherent don’t worry!! Im really glad to see other people talking about this. I myself have not struggled with drug addiction but I have struggled with other kinds and as someone that studies a bunch of medical junk, I’d say I’m decently knowledgeable.

I’m mainly going to focus on Angel for this since he’s the main character I write for, but I assure you other characters addictions are also handled in my rewrite.

During the actual canon show, we don’t see Angel actually abusing substances that often; there’s a few times, most notably in episode 4, but from the rest of the show onward we hardly see anything. Yes in episode 6 they mentioned relapsing, which, mind you, was done horribly, but I digress. They touch on relapsing; Angel relapses, and then… what..??? What happened from that? I don’t feel upset or second hand guilt of any kind from this scene because we haven’t seen Angel’s attempts to stay sobre and off drugs.

His name is fucking Angel Dust. You don’t, I dunno, think that’d entail a higher dependency on drugs? Why do you think he named himself that?

About his name before anything else, the show has so much potential later on to talk about Angel picking out his drag name and why he chose that specifically. So much potential to explore how he views drugs and himself. He sees them as an escape and something “fun” to take his mind off of his actual life. When you die in a fucking coma and wake up in hell as a spider you’re going to want an escape. You will want to ignore reality. I am fully convinced Angel picked his name once he started performing because thats what he needed at the time. He needs to be like that to survive in hell. Angel is an incredibly mentally ill, troubled, traumatised, and unstable person, and being surrounded by so much intense negative influence only amplifies his current problems. I don’t mean to drag Vox in here but in my last redesign post I mentioned how very mildly bad people can become even worse people in hell because of the environment and this is no different for Angel. He’s been surrounded by crime and drugs his entire life and unable to live comfortably because of his sexuality. He has very likely been struggling with substances since he was a teen. Possibly even younger. He is not going to suddenly get over his addiction because of something like this. It could pave the way to him looking into dealing with it, but things like this can take years. I don’t remember when my addiction started; I’ve been clean for 2 1/2 years now I think, but the amount of relapsing and anguish I experienced while working towards that isn’t something that can be done in a few days or months. I still struggle with feeling like I deserve to say I’m recovering.

I’m hoping they tactfully handle this as they should, but my hopes are low. It’s okay to show a character relapsing. It’s okay to show a character feeling guilty. What matters is that the struggle is there to signify they’re trying. For a character with a song called “Addict” you really don’t see much of it. Drug and alcohol addiction is not a silly thing to just twiddle your fingers with and be like “well I guess thats over!” It’s incredibly insensitive to do so.

Whenever I write about Angel’s struggles with addictions, I focus on how small they can feel until you realise what’s actually happening. Just me talking about my rewrite again, but to get my ideas out here: Angel smokes often. He smokes at the studio when he’s stressed, he smokes at the hotel when he’s stressed, he smokes at in alleyways when he’s bored, there’s almost no location he won’t, but sometimes he tries to smoke less. His lungs aren’t the same as humans and technically he has 2 pairs of lungs, but smoking causes him to cough. This is painful in general and especially painful for Angel since he has barbs going down the back of his throat. Imagine choking on sandpaper, kind of like that. It’s painful, he doesn’t like the sound, Fat Nuggets REALLY doesn’t like the sound, and it’s an overall inconvenience, so he tries to stop smoking as much. Periods like this usually go fine for him until the stress returns or he starts to feel the withdrawal. Withdrawal from any sort of addiction is terrible, and in Angel’s case, just from not smoking it worsens his mental state further. He becomes irritable and stressed and that stress leads to wanting to smoke again to calm down. He may resist a few times and those times should be praised, but he gives in eventually. One cigarette to calm down becomes two, then three, and before he can process himself getting carried away, the entire pack is gone. It’s things like this that make addiction horrible. It’s something that deeply scared me when I was struggling. When I was struggling I was still in the mindset of “I can stop when I want to” and then being so suddenly hit in the face with the realisation that I’m not longer in control of this is terrifying. I could not stop when I wanted to. There were even points where I didn’t want to stop. Even just getting the smallest glimpse of this in an incredibly serious manner with Angel Dust would surprise me. To think the bar is this low on a show that seemingly prides itself on tackling such sensitive topics like you said is appalling. Your show shouldn’t have to be told how to write itself.

[revoevokukil]

Is the reason why it’s commonly repeated in the Witcher fandom that the Witcher is based on Slavic mythology and not European Mythology in general ( a lot particularly from the British isles) is that when it came out in the 90s it was marketed that way due to the cultural Zeitgeist at the time in Poland

Or is it just something that became a thing after the games came out and it was just people in the English speaking world saying “oh it’s from Poland it must be based on their mythology” and Polish fans are fully aware that it has just as much of not more references to the Arthurian legend than it does to Slavic culture

Hey, anon!

I just reblogged something in relation to this, so you might want to check it out (and the several reblogs).

I think if we want to trace the creative influences from the fantasy genre, then it makes no sense to employ umbrella terms with The Witcher. It's Polish fantasy a Polish author with all the particular sensitivities of a Pole wrote. Does the history of CEE inform the writing? Yes, absolutely. Do the cultural attitudes, linguistic peculiarities, and humour? Of course.

Slavic, though? And, moreover, Slavic alone? Well that's a bit preposterous, because Slavic does not designate something "specific" in the first place. I'm a particularist, I'm sorry. And while I am not even a Slav, I can relate to the outlook and "voice" of the characters in The Witcher instantly, because we live in the same neighbourhood. (The neighbourhood has very different corners with equally shitty beaches, you don't usually understand what your neighbour is trying to say to you, and body language can go overbroad just as frequently as overt familiarity is not appreciated.)

Slavic or Celtic or Indo-European or what have you are umbrella terms. They are totalising and their nature overlooks the cultural diversity that the terms draw upon: Celtic, for example, should be divided into insular and continental branches, and the insular Celtic groups, again, could be linguistically divided into Brythonic (Cymraeg/Welsh, Kernewek/Cornish, & Breton) and Gaelic (Gàidhlig/Scottish, Gaeilge/Irish, & Gaelg/Manx). Ditto for Slavic, starting from the East, West, South divide and going more intricate from there.

The lore changes the closer you get with your looking glass. These are not unified categories, even if they are used to generate broad solidarity for good or bad purposes, or to simplify and refer to some broadly received meme (but, for example, your quintessentially Slavic Baba Yaga likely derives from contact with Finno-Ugric and Siberian peoples with their stilt-hut building style, tucked away in the middle of forests, so tell me more about how a legend can "belong" to one people alone).

I guess what we should ask is when and why does it matter who lays claim to these things, and why Slavic? Why not Polish in particular and pan-European in general? I guess it depends on who you are and what you want to do with your statement. Yes, it's that banal.

Because intellectually, when sniffing out the history of its ideas and the flavour of them, The Witcher is incredibly diverse. The author has also been very open about it, referring in detail to a vast amount of literature he has come in contact with in fantasy canon. Generally, that includes authors from Western Europe and Northern America (but his literary influences do not stop with those alone of course) and the thing about, for example, Northern American fantasy is that it has a penchance to romanticize the British Isles (followed close behind by Germanic and Greco-Roman world). It is not without reason that Sapkowski considered Arthuriana the bedrock of Western fantasy - it really was one of the first "medieval fantasies" that was being written and re-written throughout medieval Western Europe already at the time. The PR that memefied the entire enterprise of Arthur and his Brythonic roots has been chugging away for a VERY long time, cross-fertilized by lore from all over the place. But its roots stretch back to the Isles. Because that's where history related to him took place - at the forgotten outpost of the crumbling Roman Empire, which had been colonized before the Romans and would be colonized again after the Romans (and would eventually go on to colonize peoples far and further away from the European peninsula).

The thing is, Arthuriana is like a gateway into the myths of the people among whom he was likely born, and the actual bedrock of various Celtic mythological traditions is much more varied and has a wholly different vibe than the most popular French monks' agendas with Arthur. You could similarly consider Geralt's and Ciri's story a gateway into the folklore and history of the peoples among whom they were brought to life and among whom they first proved popular and "homely"; a signpost leading you into finding out more about the part of the world that birthed them. But CEE, to my knowledge, does not have a fantasy genre tradition with that strong of a PR that would derive from a semi-political legend stretching back a good thousand years, acting as a kind of unifying fairy tale for the various people among whom its figurehead proved popular and drew its tale from. Scratch the figurehead; there just isn't one particular tale as such that would have risen into prominence above all others.

And to split the hair even further, Geralt and Ciri are not semi-historical. Not semi-mythical either, even though Sapkowski tries to lift them into that status by the end of the Pentalogy. They are already composites or subversions of broader fantasy traditions, which have mostly been heavily Western European-centric. The Witcher, however, takes this Western European tradition, traces the roots of its underbelly, and gives its own interpretation. While keeping in spirit intact the lived experience, mentality, and speech of its characters, which are - if you like - the most Slavic features of the tale.

It popularises a lens the like of which there was little of in the Fantasy genre at the time.

(and yes, the games' PR - as a market-oriented enterprise - obviously would try to find the broadest possible common denominator that is still specific enough to ring as novel and sexy in the world-wide market and proud back at home)

[drvirgus]

The Idol who cant Smile

Minji X Fem! Reader

Description: You are the oldest Member of New Jeans, but Fans Never saw you Smile once. Why don't you Smile? Who's the Person that can bring back a smile to your Face?

Chapter 12:

"Baby... come on," I sighed as I looked at the younger one. She seemed dissatisfied. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and she had turned slightly away from me. My hand was on her arm. "Baby?" I asked again, but once more, I received no answer.

"She says you shouldn't go because she doesn't trust Lia and Yuna," Hanni translated, and Haerin nodded next to her. Danielle and Hyein observed the whole situation. Danielle was trembling as she wanted to intervene. Haerin remained calm, and Hanni just looked at me in disbelief.

"Wouldn't it be nice if Minji could speak for herself," I said, and Hanni swallowed hard, clearly troubled.

"She says you should apologize," Hanni added, and a nod from Minji confirmed it. Even Hanni had to guess what Minji was trying to say because she didn't speak a single word. Occasionally, she shook her head when Hanni said something wrong.

"Apologize? For what?" I asked, bewildered by the whole situation.

Hanni sighed. "She's jealous—"

"No, I'm not!" Minji interrupted her, sounding like a child throwing a tantrum.

I blinked in confusion, looking between her and Hanni. Hanni chuckled. "Well, Y/n... You had something with Lia before, and Yuna has a crush on you. And now, you want to go drinking with them?"

"Uh... with all of ITZY, yes," I replied, furrowing my brow at the whole situation.

Hanni sighed. "You see what I have to deal with?" she said to the others, who all nodded. Puzzled, I looked at Minji.

"But... you're coming too. So, what's the problem?" I asked, visibly confused by the situation.

Minji glanced at me, then sighed. "Imagine if I had an ex, and I was going out for drinks with her and some other friends. What would you do?" she asked, curious. Her eyes were filled with curiosity.

My forehead furrowed as I imagined the scenario. "I'd come along. But if there was no other choice, I'd let you go alone, reluctantly, of course," I replied, not seeing why I should apologize.

"But why?" Hanni interjected. "Alcohol is involved," she added.

I smiled slightly. "Alcohol is just an excuse. Sure, it makes you do things you might regret, you become more relaxed and carefree. But alcohol is not an excuse to cheat on your partner. No matter how drunk you are, if you're capable of having sex, you're capable of saying no and taking a moment to think about your actions. If you're not capable of that, then it's most likely not consensual sex," I explained seriously.

"Also, if you know how your partner behaves when drunk, making decisions becomes easier," I added, now looking at Minji. Minji sighed again, nodding her head. Her hand rubbed her forehead.

"Why... do you just love arguing with me?" she asked, a small smile forming on her face.

"You like it, just as much as I do," I replied. Minji nodded, and her hand found mine.

"Plus, you enjoy going out with people once in a while," I added, and Minji nodded again. She rested her head on my shoulder and sighed once more.

"So, should I let them know that I'm coming?" I asked after a brief pause. I noticed Minji turning her head to look at me, but I simply turned my head to the side to avoid her gaze. Minji sighed again.

"Alright, but if I change my mind, we leave, okay?" she asked, and I immediately smiled broadly.

The others wanted to join us, which wasn't a problem. After all, it was New Year's Eve

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

"If that isn't Minji Oppa and Ryujin Oppa," Chaeryeong laughed as she saw Minji and Ryujin sitting together. I had just come out of the bathroom and recognized the situation. Minji and Ryujin were sitting next to each other, but neither of them was looking at each other. My eyes widened in surprise.

I turned to Yeji, who just looked at me and shrugged. I smirked knowingly. Ryujin didn't like Minji because she had seen Yeji and Minji kiss. Minji didn't like Ryujin because Ryujin had expressed interest in seeing Yuna and me together.

I made my way to Minji. "I don't like being called 'Oppa,'" Minji said when she looked at Chaeryeong. Chaeryeong immediately nodded in understanding. I chuckled knowingly and sat on Minji's lap, her hand immediately found its way around my waist, and her other hand rested on my thigh. My arm wrapped around her neck as I held a cup in my right hand. Ryujin and Chaeryeong's eyes widened at the sight.

Ryujin turned more towards me, her eyes filled with surprise. "Are you two together?" she asked, genuinely shocked by what she was witnessing. I smiled slightly. "Yes, Minji and I are together," I replied, causing Minji's eyes to widen even further. Her mouth slightly agape, but it slowly turned into a broad grin.

Proudly, she looked at Ryujin, who in turn looked at Minji. Shortly after, Ryujin burst into laughter. "She looks just like you when I tell someone that we're together," Yeji commented, taking a seat on Ryujin's lap. I laughed amusedly as Ryujin tried to deny it, and Minji attempted to downplay her feelings.

"Tell me, does she get jealous quickly too?" Yeji asked, looking right at me. I smiled as I felt Minji's hand slip between my thighs. "Oh, yes. To be honest, she didn't even want to come here initially, and she tried to stop me from coming," I replied, unfazed by Minji's actions. After all, I had gotten used to it.

"Yuna or Lia?" Yeji inquired. I could sense Minji's grip tightening as she anxiously awaited my response. My mouth opened slightly. Yeji sighed and just took a sip from her cup, handing it to me when she noticed mine was empty. I nodded my thanks to the older girl and took a sip.

Minji and Ryujin still seemed to be in a heated discussion, and somehow, it seemed to be making them both happy. I listened intently to the two of them, occasionally nodding along with their conversation. The topic had completely changed, and they were now discussing world hunger. I tried to join in, offering some theoretical ideas about what could happen if certain measures were taken.

But I forgot...

Both of them shared the J...

I sighed as they both stopped talking and stared at me in silence. I fell silent too, and I could feel a slight blush creeping onto my face. "I'll go get a drink real quick," I said as I gave Minji a kiss on the cheek. Yeji followed suit and stood up with me.

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

Laughing, I sat on the couch with Yeji. Minji and Ryujin seemed to be getting along better and better. Chaeryeong was dancing like crazy with Danielle and Hyein. Yuna and Hanni were having a conversation, while Haerin and Lia were talking to each other. Or rather, Lia was talking, and Haerin was listening. But no matter what Haerin said, she made us all laugh. She didn't say much, but she was naturally funny.

I jumped slightly when I heard a sigh beside me and felt a head resting on my shoulder. My eyes widened as I saw Yuna. I swallowed, visibly nervous. "Is everything okay?" I asked, concerned for the younger girl. She nodded her head.

"Yo, Yuna," Hanni called out, and immediately, Yuna turned her head towards Hanni. Yeji and I followed suit. "Y/n's going to get in trouble because of you. Don't touch her," Hanni said, causing Yeji to burst into laughter. Yuna, on the other hand, furrowed her brow in confusion and looked at me.

"My girlfriend gets jealous quickly," I explained, and Yuna's eyes widened in shock. I nervously smiled and took a sip of my drink. "Minji," I replied, and her eyes widened even more. Yuna looked over at Minji and Ryujin and then back at me.

"O-Oh. Nice. I mean... I'm happy for you guys," she said, smiling. Hanni noticed our conversation and called in our secret weapon: Danielle. Our sunshine, our sunflower. Danielle, the Feelings Monster 3000.

But I was also relieved. I knew that I wasn't good at dealing with emotions myself. I don't think I had ever complimented Minji. My eyes fell on Minji, and she finally looked at me. I chuckled slightly and stood up. I made my way back to my girlfriend.

"Hey, baby," I whispered, giving her a quick kiss on the lips. Minji smiled, her face brightening up because of my presence. "What were you guys talking about?" I asked, and immediately, Ryujin blushed. Her face, however, remained stoic, which confused me a bit. Minji chuckled.

"We were talking about something. It's not important," Minji replied, and my eyes roamed her entire face. I wanted to know, but if she didn't want to say it, there was probably a reason.

I nodded my head. "Shall we go?" I asked softly as I settled back onto her lap, her arms immediately wrapping around me as she started to rock us gently. I smiled as my head rested against hers. Minji hesitated. "Why?" she asked after a brief pause. I looked at her in surprise.

She... didn't seem to want to leave.

I smiled and just nodded my head. "It's okay. I just wanted to make sure you didn't want to leave," I replied and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Let me know if you want to go," I added as I got up from her lap again. Ryujin and Minji seemed to be talking a lot about something. From a distance, it actually looked like they were arguing.

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

"10," we all shouted, smiles on our faces. We had all gathered on the rooftop with our drinks in hand. Ryujin and Yeji were tightly hugging each other, while Minji and I looked at each other.

"9"

"8"

"7"

"Thanks for the past few months, Minji. They've been the best of my life," I whispered. Her hand, as always, rested on my hip. She smiled, her eyes filled with joy. She shook her head. "No, thank you," she replied, and our lips met.

"Hey! Not yet," Yeji playfully protested as she saw us. I laughed in response.

"2"

"1"

"Happy New Year," we all screamed, and immediately, Yeji and Ryujin kissed each other. I smiled as I wrapped my arms around Minji's waist. A small grin on my lips as we got closer. The fireworks were bursting in the sky, creating a beautiful display of colors.

Minji and I kissed.

It was simply magical.

[thelampisaflashlight]

Everything Goes On Pt. 1

[Surprise, it's divorce. Angst. Not suitable for younger audiences.] Below the cut.

"I just think I want... I think what we want, what we are, as a couple has changed." Aether says, his hand on Dew's knee as they sit side by side on their shared bed -the one that Dew decides in that moment that he'll never sleep in again- he rubs soothing circles with his thumb, but his touch feels... wrong now.

Dew crosses his legs and ignores the faint tingle left behind by Aether's warm hands.

"What I want..." he forces the lump in his throat down, "...is to stay together."

Aether sighs and it sounds...

Cold.

Distant.

Less empathetic more... tired.

"Dew..." he starts, pausing to rub his hands down his face before patting them against his thighs to ground himself and force the words he wants -no, needs- to say out, "...I want... wanted-"

Dew winces at the other's correction.

"-I wanted us to be together, too, but our priorities are... they're just different now. I have things I want that I can't force you to give me." Aether says, clasping his hands in front of him in his lap, "I'm... I'm leaving the abbey. I'm going home-"

"This IS your home..." Dew whispers, unable to speak any louder for fear of his voice cracking, "...Why are you doing this...? Why... Why are you doing this to me?"

Aether makes a sound, somewhere between a scoff and a laugh.

"Because it's not about you."

The words hit Dew like a slap across the face.

Because it's not about you.

"It sure fucking feels like it is." he hisses, standing up and facing Aether, who casts his own eyes upon the floor, "W-What..."

Fucking dammit.

"What did I do?"

The ghoul lifts his head and meets his gaze, no softness, no adoration...

No love.

"Nothing." Aether says, "And that's half the problem."

Dew's eye twitches.

"Nothing?? I've done nothing??" his eyes go wide, his chest grows tight, "I-"

"Emotionally speaking... you just... aren't the same."

"...What?"

Aether pats the bed.

"Sit back down."

"No..."

"I said sit." Aether growls.

Dew swallows... but he does sit.

He does sit, and he hates himself all the more for it.

"To be honest," he begins, "I've felt this way for a long time now. Maybe I should have said something sooner, then maybe we could have talked things out... I led you on, and, for that, I'm sorry-"

"You're not." Dew thinks, "You don't regret it at all."

"-but beyond sex-"

Dew closes his eyes and pretends he's anywhere but here right now.

"-what have you ever actually done for me?"

Silence.

"Name one thing."

Silence.

"...See? Doesn't feel good, does it?" Aether says after a moment, "So, yeah, there it is. I was trying to spare your feelings, but, well, I don't even know if you have feel-"

"Stop."

"Dew-"

"I know what you're going to fucking say, and fuck you."

"...Okay, that's fair. I crossed a line there."

Dew stands again.

"So we're done then?" he asks, gesturing broadly at the room around them, "Four fucking years..."

"Four fucking years!" he shouts, wanting desperately to throw something, but instead lowering his arms at his sides, clenched fists turning into open palms, "...Four years, Aeth. We've been together for four years, we were... we were building a life together and now you're just... you're throwing that away?"

"When I think about the future I want..." Aether says, getting to his feet and heading for the door, "...you're not a part of it anymore."

Dew stops him, opening the door and stepping outside.

"Then at least let me be the one to leave first." he remarks calmly, a small, sad smile on his face, "I guess I don't have to tell you to gather up your things, since I already saw the boxes folded up in the closet earlier."

"I-" Aether frowns, but Dew cuts him off again.

"I hope this makes you happy... because I'm certainly not." he says, "But, ya know, if what you were going to say is true, then I never knew what that felt like to begin with."

Aether says something, but it's muffled by the sound of the door shutting in his face.

Dew lingers in the hallway for a moment, dazed.

Maybe Aether is right and he doesn't have feelings, because all he feels right now is numb.

He breathes in a sharp inhale.

Unsteady.

He turns and makes his way down the hall, moving with purpose even if he isn't sure where he's going.

Normally, when he's upset, he goes to his room.

Their room.

But now he has nowhere to go.

So he goes nowhere.

And, man, does nowhere look a lot like the loft above the second floor of the library.

He scales the ladder without much thought and nestles himself in the large beanbag chair that nobody uses but him.

It's old and worn and conforms perfectly to his body, encompassing him in comfort he can't bring himself to enjoy.

He lays there, staring at the ceiling for a while before reaching into his pockets for his phone, but coming up empty.

"Right," he thinks, closing his eyes, "it's back in the room charging."

He'll get it later.

Maybe.

Annoyingly, by the afternoon, word has gotten around about their break-up.

Not that Dew has said anything about it, he's been too busy counting the cobwebs accumulating on the ceiling -the new librarian is afraid of heights and gets too shaky on the ladder to clean up here, even when he holds it for him- but from the chatter down below, Aether must have told everyone himself.

"I can't believe they lasted that long."

"Honestly, if I was Aether, I would have just kept hooking up with him until it was time to leave-"

"I wouldn't have dated him to begin with, Dew's too unstable..."

"You're taking that guy's side? Imagine being Dew right now, that was probably the only chance he had at a steady relationship"

"He'll be over it in a week tops."

"A week? I give him a day. Dude doesn't care about anyone but himself."

Sure, kick him while he's down.

He deserves it.

"I heard-"

A loud clap echoes through the library, startling the gossiping siblings into silence.

"If you have time to talk, you're clearly not reading or trying to study and have no business here." a stern voice announces, "So get out and let others make use of the space."

There's a bit of shuffling and the sounds of chairs being moved before Dew hears the door to the library click shut, and the voice from a moment ago calls up in a far gentler tone.

"Stay up there as long as you need."

"...Thanks, Quincy."

Dew can't see him, but he can sense the librarian's eyes on him, even from down below.

"...I'll be okay." he adds, "So don't worry about it."

"I'm not going to say it, but you know what I mean." Quincy says.

"Maybe in a day or two, when it's not... ya know. Fresh."

"Right. At any rate... I'm working late tonight, so I'll leave the lights on a little longer than usual."

"...I appreciate that."

.

.

.

By the time Dew leaves the library, the sun is setting outside, and he can feel his back click from laying in the same position all day.

He thinks he should be hungry by now, too, but despite how empty he's feeling otherwise, his stomach feels... fine.

He doesn't really like eating when he's sad.

Makes the food taste funny, but he knows he can't just... not eat.

A slice of bread or maybe some chips.

That's all he wants, but-

Laughter.

Dew freezes in the doorway to the ghouls' living room, stares across the space to the kitchenette and sees...

"So I said-"

Aether.

Aether and...

"Said what?" someone asks, sounds like Swiss, but everything seems so distant all of a sudden.

Everyone.

Everyone's standing around in the kitchen with Aether.

Laughing.

Laughing like his world wasn't just shattered.

"So I said-"

Said what.

What are they talking about?

Are they... are they talking about this morning?

Is that why they're laughing...?

They're all...

"Dew?"

...They're all laughing at him.

He's not sure what gives him the strength to walk away.

What makes him think twice about going over there and beating the shit out of each and every one of them...

...but he hates that the voice of reason in his head -the one telling him to consider the possibility that he just walked in on an unrelated conversation- sounds like Aether.

And, as he walks down the hall, he hates the fact that he can't hear anyone -can't hear Aether- walking after him to check on him when he's clearly not...

"I don't even know if you have feelings."

Dew swings at the imaginary Aether in his thoughts and misses, because of course he would, and slams his fist hard into the stone wall beside him.

Pain shoots through his knuckles as the rough rock tears at the thin skin there.

Dew gives a wordless scream and hits the wall again.

"Too unstable."

Fuck.

"Doesn't care about anyone but himself."

FUCK.

"...Fuck..."

Maybe he is unstable, but...

...If there's one person in this world Dew couldn't give less of a shit about....

...it's himself.

"You asshole, that was your job..." Dew hiccups, "...You were supposed to care... you were supposed to love me... You SAID you loved me..."

"-but beyond sex-"

...Is that all he was good for?

Is... is that the best he has to offer someone?

He... he tried so hard to show Aether he loved him.

He told him all the time, too!

Even when... even when he wasn't sure.

Dew blinks away his tears, pulling his sleeve over his palm to rub it over his eyes.

He sits down on the floor, back against the wall.

"...Satanas..." he sighs, "...maybe I should be the one going home..."

Ah.

Right.

Home.

That used to be where Aether was -still is when he tries to imagine it- but more pressingly, through the fog of misery clouding his mind, home is where his phone is.

He gets up, slow and zombielike, and trudges along with his head dipped down low.

"Don't think, just get in, get out." he tells himself, "You don't care, you don't have feelings, so this won't..."

...Hurt.

Dew stares at the suitcases sitting open on the bed.

Sees them half full with Aether's things, and...

"I bought him this shirt." Dew says, picking up the funkily patterned polo shirt from the top of the stack, pinching the soft fabric between his fingers, "..."

The first tear is hard.

It takes more effort than he expected, but once his claws hook into the seams, it practically falls apart in his hands.

But it doesn't... it doesn't scratch the strange itch in the back of his skull.

He needs...

He turns to Aether's beside table and pulls the drawer all the way out without a second thought.

Dumps the contents on the bed and grabs the pictures that flutter down a bit slower than the bulkier parts of the mess.

Pictures of him.

Pictures of them.

Pictures of the so-called "good times"...

The stupid fucking polaroid plastic is impossible to rip in one go, so he grabs the barber scissors from the bathroom.

He makes a fine confetti when all is said and done and lets it fall across the bed.

Still not enough-

Dew throws Aether's things in the hallway.

Lets the suitcase smack against the opposing wall.

Throws the stupid fucking matching mugs they bought at some tourist trap while in a city countries away.

Throws the scrapbook he was working on for their stupid fucking anniversary-

...and then his phone chimes.

Across the bed, long forgotten in his rage.

And, damn, if he doesn't want to throw that, too, when he sees his own stupid fucking smiling face squished against Aether's on his lockscreen.

[olderthannetfic]

This recent talk about authors has me curious: Do you have favourite authors? Or favourite books that you'd recommend (as in not specifically recommend to a person looking to read a specific genre etc. but rather a book you loved reading and would love to shove into absolutely everybody's faces if you could)? Do you only read in English or do you also like to read in other languages? What book or books are you currently reading?

And just so these aren't one-way-street-like snoopily curious questions: my favourite authors are Emma Donoghue and Hannah Kent; my favourite books are "Slammerkin" by Emma Donoghue, "Burial Rites" by Hannah Kent, "Christmas Eve Kittens" by Wilma Counts, Cathleen Clare and Debbie Raleigh, "Every day" by David Levithan, "Der Kristallpalast" (The Crystal Palace) by Oliver Plaschka, Alexander Flory and Matthias Mösch; I'm currently reading "Time of the Magicians" by Wolfram Eilenberger and anxiously awaiting Hannah Kent's most recent book "Devotion" to be translated to my native language.

I am very bad at accurately sorting books into genres, but I'd guess most of the books I've read may be classified as YA, though I personally don't know what classifies a book as YA apart from "is written with young adults as the target group," but that's too broad a description to be useful to anyone in my opinion, heh. Some things I've read I'd sort into (also way too broadly classified) stuff like romance (Christmas Eve Kittens), crime or detective fiction [Krimi in german combines both] (for kids The Three Investigators and The Famous Five, and arguably for adults Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot though I've only seen Poirot films not yet read Poirot books, shame on me!), horror (Fear Street series as horror for kids and Lovecraft for adults), historical fiction (books by Hannah Kent and Emma Donoghue, Lilac Girls), historical nonfiction (Time of the Magicians and The Visionaries by Wolfram Eilenberger), steampunk (Der Kristallpalast, World Shaker, Steamed, Magierdämmerung), nonfiction (Zoo Station: The Story of Christiane F.), poetry (Heinrich Heine and Edgar Allan Poe) among other things like light-hearted children's books (St. Clare's series).

Some of the aforementioned books are classified as YA, and in my opinion reasonably so, though I do believe that classifying YA as a genre itself is quite useless since it only describes the target group but barely describes what a book is about, if that makes sense.

If I had to write down some classifiers for YA, I'd say it's maybe books that are written in a way that's accessible to a person who is no longer a child but still may be likely to not have experienced much of the adult world yet and may not necessarily be very well-read or knowledgeable about more "mature" topics on a deeper level. I'd guess that for example a book that's about topics that people may have come into contact with during their adolescence in some way may be YA like drugs (Blue Highway by Diane Tullson) and emotional rollercoasters and bullying (Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, Easy Meat by Maureen Stewart) and stalking (Unheimliche Nähe by Patricia Schröder) and mental illnesses like eating disorders (Jeansgröße 0 by Brigitte Blobel) or depression and physical ilnesses (Before I Die by Jenny Downham, Skellig by David Almond though it's mainly about fantasy and arthritis isn't the focal point if I'm not misremembering) etc. (all of the examples are YA I've read and would also classify as such) or maybe a book that contains entry-level knowledge about philosophy that you may have learned in school or that you may yourself have come across in some way unrelated to school but that doesn't require deeper knowledge on that topic or on specific philosophers or philosophy schools for its target audience to understand well...

Now that I've forgotten whatever point I wanted to make: sorry for rambling, I've been sitting in your askbox trying to remember the titles and looking up their translations and the authors' names for the past hour or so instead of doing the household chores I had planned to do today lol. Off to eat bread for lunch because now I'm too hungry to cook, oops.

Have a nice day!

--

I'm currently reading Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food by Fuchsia Dunlop.

I don't have any books I want to thrust upon everyone. I think that's a good way to breed haters for things I love.

In general, favorite authors of mine are... hmm... Agatha Christie, Tamara Allen, Loretta Chase, Georgette Heyer, Mary Elizabeth Braddon... IDK. It's hard to think of people off the top of my head. I like the current indie "m/m romance" scene in English, but it feels like it's still early days for that industry, and I can't think of a lot of authors I love who have multiple series and who aren't going through a career slump. (Like I love Jordan L. Hawk in general, but his latest stuff isn't making me rush to read more even if I'm still backing his Patreon. KJ Charles not only irritated me with dumb posts but started writing suckier books till I no longer buy her at all.)

I've read a lot of Golden Age detective fiction and some hard boiled US stuff (think 1930s and 40s). I've probably reread those sorts of books more than any others. While I certainly have authors I like, I only very, very rarely reread anything, and a lot of what I read is by non-prolific or long-dead people, so I don't have a bunch of names I go to the bookstore for currently.

My grandmother owned a fuckton of Three Investigators books, so I devoured those as a kid, though I think most Americans my age don't care about them.

I read in Spanish too. The only thing I've gotten through a lot of that springs to mind is the capitan Alatriste series. In general, if I travel somewhere Spanish speaking, I'll try to pick up some books, but I usually end up with things that are too highfallutin and literary for my taste or that are real downers. (Plus I'm a slow reader in Spanish, so the more literary stuff is a slog.) I like fun trash, and most of the fun trash I've seen on bookshelves is translated American romance novels and that kind of thing. I'll read in translation, but not if it's from English.

I do read manga in Japanese, but I'm not anywhere near good enough to read novels at this point.

[smalltimidbean]

hi again! So I have a lot I wanna say following the anatomy post, as I'll be calling it, because even though it's fresh I read the whole thing and I'm glad we know more about the clones :D and also I assume now would be a good time to ask about because of how fresh it is. ANYWAYS let's get to it!

So I wanted to ask about these specific parts, and what I could tell from them:

To summarize, a clone bearing a toothy grin is threatening, and a clone sticking its tongue out/drooling/licking it lips is not threatening. This is the premise I worked under when I made this:

(In like, 2 minutes. I wonder if anyone can tell!)

As you can see, I added a few facial expressions that weren't mentioned l, and that I wonder their meaning in relation to what has already been stated. I think I can confidently predict what the first two mean, thanks to the fact that clones have made those facial expressions before. Though anyone is welcome to correct me if I'm wrong!

Closed-mouth and open-mouth smiles are not threats, unlike the toothy "smiles" which are. The quotation mark around "smile" in the original post(as well as a part of pep's toyhouse page(which didn't appear in the Tumblr post from several months past)) also indicate that the threatening smiles are not genuine, and so smiles without teeth are genuine expressions of joy.

The other one, though, seems to send somewhat mixed messages. That expression is saying both that "I am a threat" and "I am not a threat, " which when a applied to the only clone we ever see donning this face, Pep, is true. Though, whenever he smiles like that, it is genuine and not an attempt to threaten anyone. Is this because he's smiling at something or someone other than a fellow clone, and he knows that, in order to communicate the same emotion he has to make a different facial expression depending on if he's making it at clones on non-clones?

But uhh yeah :D hope this wasn't too long winded and that I made any sort of sense lol!

Yaya! I have a ton of clone info I wanna post, but I have been trying to figure out how/where to do that, so I might just unload it all here in chunks kjlfdkfg

Asking questions about clone stuff is alright, and it helps me figure out stuff, or point out if I have contradicted myself - which happens more than I would like kjfgkjfg

Although for these points, perhaps I spoke too broadly as this post was supposed to be on anatomy and not behaviour, but I guess I can't help myself kjdfgk - it is also why I did not mention other types of smile

But for clones there are genuine smiles, and there are threat 'smiles', like this;

Threat smiles are not expressions of joy, they are meant to convey 'I have teeth, and I will use them if you continue to upset me' or simply 'you are bothering me' if they are not showing teeth - whereas genuine smiles are just that, they are happy

If you add a tongue to a threat 'smile', it is still considered a threat due to other aspects like the eyes and stance etc, but more along the lines of either a submissive threat ('I am scared, please leave, or I will attack') or the clone is hungry ('I will eat you if approached, so back off for your own good') - but honestly it depends on the situation, sometimes clones already have their tongues out before threat 'smiling' and it ends up hanging out regardless dhfsdh

And yes, most of Pep's smiles have been genuine - there has been at least two with a threat 'smile' (both directed at or implied to be directed at Peppino) - but most of the time he is genuinely happy

It can be a bit confusing since clones are kinda animal, kinda people, so they get both that 'smiling is a threat' (animal side) and 'smiling is friendly' (people side) lfglgfd

When I make a post(s) on clone behaviours, I will be sure to make this more clear! But I still appreciate the questions!

[bogusfilth]

I guess I'm going to passively @edwad on this because it was originally sort of supposed to be an ask for him only because. idk. as a tumblr commie he's our collective econ-theory advice columnist i guess. but i couldn't keep it short enough and it's more about me just talking to myself anyway. but I'm sitting here reading Skidelsky's edited Essential Keynes volume and it gets to the selections from the Tract on Monetary Reform. and Keynes says something about the natural interest rate and I'm trying to dredge something up from my brain about Sraffa's argument against a natural interest rate and end up falling down the rabbit hole on that a little bit and Wicksell's idea vs Hayek's idea of said concept. and I'm thinking about how every time I try to handle these ideas their concepts of things like "rent" and "interest" seems very slippery over time. and maybe I'm just broadly not well read enough. and how long it took me in high school even just to understand a substantialist value-concept from reading the opening chapters of capital.

but like what I really don't understand is the relationship of Marx's Critique taken more in its status as Critique to the conceptually related but still heterogeneous traditions of economics that come after him, in a way that isn't just attempting to rehabilitate the classical approach, or something like Ben Fine's critique of the explosion-implosion of the assumptions of marginalist theory, or like. idk Eatwell's constant insistence that modern macro is built on sand because of the Cambridge Capital controversy or whatever. those feel like attempts to say "the way we're doing economics is wrong" but is that warranted or useful if we're trying to say that the real insights of Marx are the places where he's doing something beyond just "these guys are doing economics wrong." Given the whole thing about the "categories of bourgeois economics" in the section on commodity fetishism, do we not have to follow the shifts in those categories, rather than say "well only the earlier categories were actually right."

in any case. re: the glorious-revolution posting from User @'ed Above I think it's interesting to look at this pivot to examining maybe something like more concrete a) financial technologies and b) policy as something important and like. idk I guess i've been personally meaning to tackle something like broader longue durée history. and I would really hope to end up with something like world-systems theory but more informed by a more critical approach to the economic concepts involved.

[gothicprep]

in december, many of us watched a 4 hour long argument about plagiarism on youtube, and how bad this is for creativity more broadly. but here's another thing that bugs the hell out of me, that i'd argue is just as bad for creativity online: influencer circle-jerk. luckily, i can make my case for how disheartening this is in under 4 hours.

there's a podcast i listen to sometimes called otherworld. it's aiming to be the "this american life" of ghost stories, but its secondary purpose is also to give advertising plugs to the host's insufferable LA transplant friends. it's incidentally good when it's not doing that, but it's insufferable to listen to when it is.

some of the podcast guests include:

bonnie mckee, songwriter for the worst things that plagued your ears in the early 2010s, such as "california gurls" by katy perry and "dynamite" by taio cruz. poor bonnie's solo career never really took off – can't imagine why that is – but she's still giving it a go. incidentally, she started re-recording some songs that were left on the cutting room floor for an earlier album of hers in 2022, which lines up with when she appeared on the pod.

kareem rahma, also known as kareem on instagram, host of a tiktok series that's basically just bothering people on the subway for content. he's also co-founder of something called "nameless network", with some ex-vice employees (put a pin in vice, we'll come back to it later). the purpose of the company is making viral hack shit: "i promise this made for instagram pizza museum is more than a cynical waste of your time. pwomise 🥺". hmm, what do you know. vice is the outlet covering it. the host says they met at a dinner party thing in los angeles.

two episodes about a married couple named sean johns and gina. they're psychics but the real deal! there's definitely a real deal for this sort of thing! the wife is, as you may have already guessed, big on tiktok, and you should listen to her because she uhhh knows what she's talking about for real. not like those other fraudulent people on witchtok (which is all of them, including her, but whatever). unfortunately i forget what her handle was, but i'm sure someone who has more time on their hands to dig for it can dredge it up.

two more episodes with, what do you know, a clairvoyant. did you know that she's the real deal and not one of those fake ones? she's referenced in the episode series prior to this, and what a fucking coincidence, the host of the show had an appointment with her before he began this project. oh, and someone from a more recent episode happened to be a client of hers too. (side note: one episode has a recorded reading of hers, and it'll come as no shock to anyone, but she's just as vague as every other hippie con artist who does this shit for a living)

one guest named alex doesn't outwardly seem like he's an influencer or trying to be, but it's probably worth noting that he's told the same story on at least one other podcast, so who knows what this guy's motivations are

gabi abrao, another influencer and one of the countless writers riding rupi kuar's coattails. i probably don't need to elaborate further.

actress and comedian sarah sherman guest hosts one of the episodes for no clear reason.

jack corbett, who makes bad tiktoks about economics for npr, is another guest. i'd be more forgiving of him, because i don't think it's possible to make good tiktoks about economics, but sadly his episode was one of the worst on the show. guy gets drunk after a bad breakup, fucks his leg up, blames it on tiktok astrologers cursing him. whatever dude. and get this – he and the host both say that they met at the same dinner party that the kareem guy i mentioned earlier was at.

bear in mind, this is only nine episodes out of a 65 episode show, but i think that's enough to say that there's at least some clout-sharkery going on. it doesn't help that the "official" subreddit – meaning, the one moderated by one of the show's producers – has a tendency to go dark when the fans complain about one of the guests. this happened with the psychic married couple and the npr tiktok guy. it's one of those things that makes you wonder if the motivation behind the blackouts is that the complaints give away that this is a bad avenue to plug your shit.

i'm not the only one who's suspicious of this. see this post on the fanmade sub, which asks, "what are the odds that this podcast is total bullshit?" OP defends this in part by saying, "Jack [the host] literally got famous from being a troll/social media guru/guy who’s good at making things go viral"

about that. you might remember this dumb thing that went viral in 2018 of a mural in LA that only influencers could take pictures at. it ended up being a publicity stunt to promote a webshow that jack from this podcast was attached to. what makes that vice article i linked to, imo, really unethical is that the author, justin caffier, is friends with jack. or at the very least, well-acquainted enough that jack was a guest on an episode of caffier's podcast that was published a few months earlier.

i don't know. when you dig shit like this up, it just seems like there's so much content out there that's mostly created as avenues for the worst people alive to network with one another. or if not that, this is the foundation for an argument that those vice pieces like "some fucking idiots took 20 tabs of LSD in the desert" solely exist for whoever wrote them to advertise their vapid friends' social media whatever. and nothing good ever comes out of it. it's a shallow gambit for quick money and attention, designed to be thrown away and forgotten about in 2 weeks. it's depressing!

jack holds that "otherwold isn't a show about the paranormal, it's a show about people". and given all this, that statement feels revealing.