#i know nothing about westerns but!!!! i thought i can give it a try... maybe

[felixcloud6288]

Dungeon Meshi Chapter 55

Adorable title image. They're all hugging someone or something they love. Chilchuck has a daughter so he probably cares about Izutsumi like one, not that he'll ever admit it. And Shuro's the kind of person to never show he loves his retainers, so we instead see Maizuru hugging little Shuro.

It's funny seeing Thistle getting knocked around so easily. He's been this menacing figure since his first introduction so it's nice to see that he's actually kind of pathetic when he can't use his magic.

The Canaries have several fairies on them and can use them to communicate. I'd guess this one is Mithrun's but I also kind of feel like it might be Otta's.

We've seen that Otta has terraforming magic, and Cithis seems to be a mage, but what are these two doing?

One of them seems to be a beastmaster while the other is a beastkin. Maybe the info from that guy could help out Izutsumi at some point.

Okay so some of the Canaries are criminals. And all the ones grouped together when Kabru thought of that were the ones with those clippings on their ears. So that's actually a mark of them being criminals.

Mithrun teleported Kabru's leg into a walking mushroom.

That is a very nasty splinter.

Mithrun was probably trying to completely sever Thistle's arm but screwed up since his depth perception is poor.

The objects Mithrun teleports keep their momentum so kicking a board and then teleporting it into Thistle's leg means that the board moved around inside him. His leg muscles were probably shredded by that move.

Was it ever mentioned that you have to be willing to be teleported for it to work? Thistle is able to resist Mithrun's magic. Also, I think he's trying to burn Mithrun's arm but Mithrun doesn't care.

I think Mithrun was trying to be compassionate to Thistle when he told him about Delgal being dead. It looks like Mithrun loosened his grip on Thistle's throat before saying anything. Mithrun knows Thistle created the dungeon under Delgal's orders, and he thinks that if Thistle learns Delgal is dead, he'll have no reason to continue serving him. Maybe Mithrun thinks Thistle is a slave needing to be freed.

At first, this makes it seem like trying to convince Thistle to stop won't work, but Kabru mentions that Mithrun did a horrible job explaining things. Maybe it would work if someone more compassionate tried to talk instead. I don't think anyone in Laios's party will be able to pull that off.

Thistle is in denial that Delgal had been pushing him away for all those years.

It should only have been a few hours since the raid fight, but all Falin's injuries are healed. Thistle probably healed her.

Addendum: Mithrun can teleport himself. This will definitely not cause additional problems in the future.

The western elves definitely come from some elf-supremacist place. They have no respect for other races' lifespans at all. If it was an egalitarian society, short-lived races would have an expedited interrogation process since time matters far more to them. Actually, whatever system where a person could be imprisoned indefinitely for questioning because elves don't think much about time would be thrown out.

I wonder if there are some laws that adjust prison times based on a race's life expectancy. Like, if a Tallman would get 10 years in prison, a Half-foot should get 6 years and an elf 50 years. Giving the same prison time sentence would be far crueler to short-lived races but mean practically nothing to a long-lived one.

Kabru's beloved smother mother

Was Rin also from Utaya or some other village destroyed by a dungeon? Doesn't seem like she was taken in by someone like Kabru's foster mother.

Kabru had one of those "To be lawful or good" moments. His ultimate goal is to ensure a second Utaya doesn't happen. Initially, he thought his best bet was to let Laios conquer the dungeon while Kabru keeps the Canaries from charging in and causing problems. But the Canaries have quickly and efficiently handled the situation far and above Kabru's expectations.

Kabru's acting like Laios in this moment. He's asking why black magic is so bad, and he's realized there's more to a dungeon that what the elves let on. If Thistle was some horrible monster rather than a servant trying to help his king, and if Falin were able to be as dangerous on the surface as she was below, Kabru might have let the canaries act. But there's too much inconsistency with the dungeon now and what happened in Utaya for him to just let it go.

And he wants to do his part to save Falin as well.

Oh that eye on the book moves. So the part in chapter 42 is as ominous as it appeared.

No telling what the red dragon's personality was before fusing with Falin, but Falin's compassionate and caring side has definitely become part of its personality.

I'm sure this all happens before chapter 47. I went back through it to see Thistle's outfit and he's wearing different clothes from this one. He's wearing a long-sleeved shirt and his garment seems to go further down his legs as well. He was also visibly tired, probably on edge after nearly dying and also having to think about what Mithrun told him.

His eyes were also in the same shape as the eyes on his book.

We've had so many dramatic chapters with Kabru and it all ended with him falling to an uncertain doom as he entrusts Laios to achieve what he could not.

And then it cuts to this:

So much is happening in the wider world. Meanwhile in the future, Laios and company are still getting into hijinks, completely unaware of anything going on.

Since Changelings transform their victims into "similar" creatures, Marcille's transformation into an ogre implies ogres are in the same taxonic human classification. And Izutsumi has transformed into two different demi-humans now. So despite being born a Tallman, her beastkin status causes the mushrooms to classify her as closer to them.

I kind of want to throw Izutsumi into a changeling ring several times to see what might happen. Would she eventually turn into a mermaid?

And this made me think that maybe orcs and kobolds have a similar origin to Izutsumi. Like, what if there were ancient experiments to fuse human and animal souls, and the results created a large population of beings that were capable of reproduction? Orcs would have been pig-beastkin while kobolds were dog-beastkin.

Marcille's outfit is amazingly elastic. The front buttons are barely holding together, but her pants and sleeves are not having any issues despite all of Marcille's limbs now being thicker than her elf body.

Oh, I never took Laios as a fan of muscular women. I guess he really was admiring Zon's wives in MMT2.

Also, Marcille has a new hairstyle. Twin braided tails.

I can't believe the frog suits came back, even if just a little.

Senshi is having such a hard time cooking as a half-foot. He can barely reach the counter and he needs Chilchuck to mix everything cause his hands aren't big enough.

Senshi's worry that Izutsumi wouldn't drink a mushroom tonic ended up being unfounded. Turns out, changing species affects your taste afterall and orc Izutsumi likes mushrooms.

Did someone cut up Izutsumi's hamburg steak for her? She's the only one not using a knife.

At some point during the fall, Kabru realized that he's leaving everything to a group of clowns.

SENSHI FLASH!!

back

[ffa07aa]

um. accidentally created western ff7 au (with vampires. it's. a long story)

[scary-grace]

(secret) santa, baby - part 5 of a shigaraki x f!reader fic

Shigaraki doesn't want to participate in the office's Secret Santa exchange, but when Toga promises to make it easy on him, he gives in. But making it easy for him makes it a lot harder for you -- you're the one who got his list. Office AU, no quirks. A fic in 12 parts. Divider by @ wcnderlnds

part i part ii part iii part iv part v part vi

part v (sitting on santa's lap)

When Tomura ventures into the mailroom to stick his first shot at a gift into your mailbox, there’s already a gift waiting for him in his. Or in front of his. It’s a little too big to fit. Tomura checks that the coast is clear, tucks his gift into your mailbox, and comes back for the one his Secret Santa left him. It’s not just bigger than the other gifts he’s gotten. It’s heavier, too. And there’s a note on top of it, the handwriting Tomura’s gotten familiar with: READ ME FIRST.

Before he can unfold it and follow instructions, there’s a burst of laughter from the break room down the hall, and under cover of it, you step into the mailroom. Tomura wasn’t expecting you to come in here right after he left you a gift. He can’t be here when you open it, and he can’t leave, either – not unless he wants to knock you over on his way out the door. What he needs to do is play it cool. “Hey.”

“Hi,” you say. There’s another burst of laughter from down the hall. “What brings you up here?”

“Checking the mail. What else would I be doing?” Tomura sounds like an asshole. “You have a gift. I see it in there.”

“Oh,” you say, but you don’t go for it. You’re watching Tomura. “What did you get?”

Tomura shrugs. “I’m supposed to read this,” he says, waving the card at you. You nod, and Tomura starts to unfold the message, for sheer lack of anything better to do. Before he can get more than a sentence into it, even more laughter erupts. “What’s going on in there?”

“Mina got a gift from her Secret Santa,” you say. Tomura tries and fails to remember which one Mina is. “And I think her Secret Santa must be a friend of hers, because there’s no way somebody would buy a book of Christmas smut for somebody they didn’t know.”

“Christmas smut,” Tomura repeats. The words aren’t connecting. “Huh?”

“It’s called The Naughty List,” you say. “A bunch of smutty short stories that are Christmas-themed. She’s been reading them aloud. Right now I think it’s about wrapping yourself like a gift and hiding under your neighbor’s tree, but the best one so far was about seducing a mall Santa by sitting on his lap and telling him all the naughty stuff that happened all year. Did you ever do that?”

“Sit on a mall Santa’s lap and lie about the stuff I did all year?”

“No, the photo op,” you say. “As a kid.”

“My family didn’t go for Western holidays,” Tomura says. Maybe that’s true, or maybe he’s just blocking something out. Most of the holidays he remembers with his birth family didn’t end well for him. “You?”

“My parents tried,” you say. “They really wanted the photo, but I was scared of the Santa.”

“Weird.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing,” Tomura says. “Just weird that you’re scared of mall Santas, but not scared of singing a Christmas carol in front of Yamada’s weird acapella group.”

“I sweated through my shirt trying to sing that,” you say. Tomura blinks. “It was for a good cause.”

Tomura looked up the other five verses to the song after you went back upstairs. You weren’t kidding about what it was going to be like. “Yeah. I owe you.”

You shake your head. “No, you don’t.”

Tomura doesn’t know what to say to that, and you don’t look like you know how to follow up. What would Tomura say if he could get his shit together, anyway? He already said thank you. He can’t tell you that you have a nice voice or that he got the song stuck in his head or that he was wondering if you had anybody in mind when you were singing it. Those thoughts need to stay inside his head. Nothing good is going to happen if any of them make it out of his mouth.

He has to say something. “You got a gift. Are you going to open it?”

“I’ll open mine here if you do,” you say. Tomura nods, and as you start prying open the bag Tomura stapled shut, he unfolds the note his Secret Santa left and reads it.

Dear Tomura, it starts. I know this wasn’t on your list, but I think it could help if you were out of other options. I get eczema on my hands in the winter, too, and this stuff is the only stuff that’s ever helped.

Knowing that his Secret Santa has eczema on their hands, it should be easy to figure out who they are, but Tomura can’t recall ever seeing somebody around the office with messed-up hands. Maybe the stuff really does work. He opens the box and comes up with a jar of hand cream with an unfamiliar name. Tomura looks at it, then back at the letter. I’m sorry if this is overstepping. It’s just something I noticed. If you do use it, I hope it helps. Sincerely, your Secret Santa.

They noticed. What does that mean? Spinner’s been going overboard on gifts for the person whose list he got because he wants to show her that people other than her boyfriend notice her and appreciate her. How much attention has Tomura’s Secret Santa been paying to him? Probably too much, or they wouldn’t have taken his stupid, half-assed list and turned it into a chain of gifts he actually wants. Too much, or they wouldn’t have known how badly his hands have been bothering him this winter in particular.

It’s weird. Tomura should feel weird about it, but he doesn’t. He feels – warm.

Across the mailroom, the paper bag tears as you give up on trying to pick out the staples. Tomura looks up and finds you staring down at his gift. He can’t read the look on your face, and he’s apparently a lot worse with suspense than he thought he was. He almost asks what you think of it before he remembers that you’re not supposed to know who left the gift, and modifies the question at top speed. “What did you get?”

“A pen,” you say slowly. “I put one on my list, but I asked for a cheaper one.”

Tomura knows. “Did you actually want the cheaper one, or were you just trying to come up with an easy list?”

“I didn’t want to make anybody overspend on me,” you say. “I mean, I know everybody else is – Mina’s Secret Santa didn’t take the price tag off that book – but I haven’t been here that long, and I didn’t want anybody to get my list and think I was asking for too much.”

Tomura thinks you weren’t asking for enough. That’s why he got the nicer pen. “Do you like it?”

Your grip tightens on the pen, like you think somebody’s going to take it away. “Yes.”

“Then don’t worry about it,” Tomura says. “The thing I got wasn’t on my list. You don’t see me overthinking it.”

He’s sort of lying. He’s definitely overthinking it, just not the same way you are. You study him for a second, then hit him with the same question. “Do you like it?”

“If it works,” Tomura says. You nod and leave the room without saying anything else.

He tells himself to wait to try it until he gets home so he doesn’t slime up his keyboard, but then he realizes that he’s only putting it on the backs of his hands and loses patience. It doesn’t change anything about how his hands look. They’re disgusting, dry and red and cracked and still trying to bounce back from the paper cut he got a week ago. But they feel better. A lot better. It’s the first hand cream Tomura’s used that doesn’t sting when he puts it on.

It smells okay, too. And sort of familiar. Tomura spends longer than he’d like to admit staring off into space, wondering where he smelled it before.

<- part iv. part vi ->

[sluttysissyslave]

For Sissies and Alike!

This is a very long post so bear with me, do with it what you wish, forget it if you want to, but maybe, just maybe consider it. So, let me tell you why and how you all became what you are today, and how to go forward. If you feel you relate to it then let it sit, if it doesn't, forget about it.

Most of you developed these feelings when you were alone and sad, your standards dropped lower and lower without you even realizing it, and next thing you know you're fantasizing about being a slut for women, or maybe even men. But what you forgot about, was that originally, you were just searching for female affection, the touch of that girl you really liked but were too afraid to go up to. You became so desperate for love, for some sort of connection that you started modifying things... "Maybe if I submit myself to a woman she will finally love me" you degraded yourself for love you didn't try hard enough to get. And now, behind a digital screen you've found what you call your little safe space, you don't feel like you're alone in this anymore, it's your coping mechanism. You seek validation in a place designed for men to be degraded, not validated. If you started cross-dressing when you were young. Ask yourself: did you get a lot of human connection? Did your parents pay attention to you? You realised that girls receive all the attention, the love you so desperately wanted that no-one gave you when you were young. So you subconsciously realised the being a girl could get you that. When you wore the girly clothes and finally felt warm, and embraced, you just manifested that for yourself over time and when it happened you actually believed it, which is only natural, that's what manifestation does. Your mind tricked you into believing that you found what you were looking for. 

So, we've established that doing sexually feminine things is because submissive thoughts in a gay way is because you crave the love and affection you've been missing in your life. 

Some people call this mental illness, I think that's disrespectful and inaccurate, I say these traits are mental coping mechanisms, and you know what? They feel good, they feel great in fact, but they aren't what you were meant to be, you find solace and comfort in those rushes of endorphins and other feel-good chemicals. But let me remind you, this isn't a long-term solution, you will realize this as time goes on, so you'll go even more extreme to cope, to get an even bigger rush. You need to reconsider, the withdrawal will feel terrible, but the way you are currently going won't get you to the desires you were always meant to have, not the ones you might think you're currently suppressing.

Brainwashing:

Arguably you are truly the victims, but no-one is coming to save you but yourself. You will always be tested, from all sides, it's up to you whether you give in or not. Be strong, don't give in, stand your ground. Trust that there's always a better way, a better option, one that's more rewarding than the path you're on now.

So why are you the victims? Well in modern western society it is being slowly programmed into people from a very young age, as soon as they can absorb information. Ideologies that men are worthless, good for nothing, and that women are superior. I don't want to go into the details of why this is the case because then you'll be reading this until tomorrow, but trust me that it's the case, and let me prove it with an adequate example. Most submissive men (and all woke and other LGBT people are all located in the "rich" west), almost none in eastern and conservative countries. Why is that? They don't have exposure to these things from a young age, it's not that sissies and alike don't exist there, they aren't created. Also they are often poorer than you are, with lots of social security, peace and plentiful resources, people get lazy and weak, those people living in let's say, Moldova, have other things to worry about than putting on makeup and sticking a butt plug up their bum. They aren't suppressing any femininity (sexually), they never had any to begin with.

Let's talk about how you and your thoughts are being manipulated.

Origins in modern pop culture:

Tv shows - the man is always the idiot and the woman is always the smart, reasonable one. That wasn't always the case in civilized history, both men and women were smart and reasonable, their combined traits completed each other's and they could be a strong couple. Let's look at some examples… It starts with Friends - Joey, Chandler, are portrayed as a bit dumb, and the girls generally smarter. The Simpsons - Homer is an idiot, his wife is the real boss. Family Guy - Peter is an absolute idiot and Louis is the brains of the family, a voice of reason. And it's even in shows for little children, in Peppa pig The father is hardly a figure to look up to. The disrespect towards men has been going on for decades, and it really started, rather perhaps interestingly, after the fall of the Soviet Union, but I once again don't want to get into politics or else this post will never end. We are at a stage now where especially if you're white you are almost persecuted for it. You can't disagree when I say all people should be treated equally right? So why doesn't that apply to race. A fitting quote to go by for this would be: "Don't humiliate yourself before anyone, and don't haughty yourself over anyone"

I actually feel terrible for the genuine, kind, trans women who have done so much for themselves and still don't maybe feel good and satisfied. You've had to overcome a lot in pursuit of happiness, and whether you made you right or wrong choice is now irrelevant. Try to live your best life with what you have, and don't look back, it's too late for that anyway, it would only make things worse now. Look towards the future and never look back, do things which make YOU happy, and not someone else.

For dominant women: Don't see this as a threat, there will always be guys who are more submissive, everyone is definitely and spread out all across the scale, you'll find who you're looking for, only men with with low self-esteem want a weak-minded woman who they can control in all aspects of life. Most men like a strong-minded woman, I also want a strong woman. But don't confuse this for sexual submissiveness/dominance, those aren't the same thing. Feminine doesn't mean weak! 

General statement: The world is all butterflies and fairy tales now, enjoy it while you can, it will get worse, wars are coming, political and ideological changes are going to happen and if you are unprepared then, I have news, it won't end well. You are living in a digital jail right now, you are getting affected/manipulated, but at the end of the day you are the one who holds your own phone or opens your computer. Give yourself the power to control yourself, and free yourself of this jail.

IDEAS AND SOLUTIONS

Become the type man you'd want to serve: Often I see people with slight or fully gay fantasies about men, or being outperformed by certain men (women want them and not you. Become that man. It's going to be hard, in fact it's going to be the hardest thing you will ever do in your life, and it won't even come close. Try it, a person should be adventurous in life so why wouldn't you like to feel what it's like being that person? And the best part is, if you don't like it, you can go back to what you were before and say that you've tried it all and found what you really are, but you can't say that without actually experiencing it, not even a discussion. It'll be a process for a minimum of 1-2 years, and will require discipline and self-control, hey that's similar to serving and/or being locked in chastity, both of those require discipline and self-control too. You can do it.

Find yourself: People love talking about finding themselves, I read it here every now and again, "I found my true self here". You cannot find yourself behind a digital screen, you will find yourself by putting yourself in difficult situations, the easiest way to do that is by going into nature. Take a large backpack with only your essentials and survive in the forest for a week. If that's too much, then just go out in the morning, spend the night and come back, walking through terrain and getting to some destination. Maybe you live in a cold climate, in winter go out into the snow and walk around the forests all day. Remember to bring an emergency phone if going to places you don't know too well. 

Estrogen vs Testosterone: Estrogen makes you girly, and Testosterone manly, we know that right? To increase your estrogen naturally you can drink soy product, live an unhealthy lifestyle, and mentally stimulate yourself. You cannot produce as much estrogen naturally as a woman does, you'd have to take supplements. A healthy lifestyle in women increases their estrogen, and a healthy lifestyle in men increases their testosterone. You can increase your testosterone by exercising, eating meat (protein), onion, dark chocolate, a Mediterranean diet is pretty good, and of course getting high quality sleep, (here I am at 3am writing this post - hypocrite, I'm ashamed and I'll work on it).

Reward yourself. When you achieved a goal to becoming your new masculine life, treat yourself to something fulfilling. Whether it's some sort of food or an experience. We all need positive affirmations. You can reflect on what you've done well and what you've done poorly. Like me who wanted to s few important things and instead procrastinated for 3 days, hence, no reward, but as double self motivation I'll do a super big reward after putting myself together and getting all I wanted done (this post was no. 5 priority).

Belief. Believe in yourself that you can do it, your mind is extremely powerful, you give it less credit than it deserves, if you channel it the right way then it was serve you as a great tool.

Energy. Energy is another real, powerful, but invisible thing. Have you ever entered a historical religious place of worship? Like an ancient church in Europe or a mosque in the old Ottoman Empire like Turkey or even spain, a Buddhist or Hindu temple in Asia… they all have energy which you can feel, you absorb things differently with various energies. Or maybe more relatable, you're having fun at an outgoing fun party, you feel good right, smiling and enjoying life. That's positive energy. If you put yourself in environments with the type of energy you are currently looking for, it will help, a lot. I don't mean to say you should be religious or anything, but there's nothing wrong if you are or want to, it gives you hope and a sense of safety and security in its own ways.

Stand up for yourself. Have some morals and beliefs which you like and stand by. Don't be afraid to defend them in an argument.

This is my first authentic post on this website and I was very hesitant to make it, after all no-one might even read what I spent so much time on, but if at least one person is somehow positively influenced then it was worth it. I know that I will probably be reported by someone simply because they didn't agree with what I wrote, and my account will be taken down. If you don't agree with the things I said then ignore them, I made this for people who can resonate with something I wrote (not at all necessarily all of it), people who don't even know why they like the things they like, know it's not what they always wanted but find pleasure in it now. Hence please reblog if you like what you read, it won't be here forever.

If you are unsure or want to discuss anything feel free to DM.

If you want to do some research yourself, start with researching "Subliminal perception". It's absolutely everywhere and affects everyone, like it or not.

I might start positive things with a little political subcontext explaining my points further.

[timkontheunsure]

Now that full moon has come out, how do you think apology tour will play out, with clips from the trailer that seem to be from that episode? We know now how their conversation went after the crystal which was about 75% what most fans thought. Whether stolas was invited by verosika or not, he will sing a song about Blitz, at a concert called Blitzo Sucks. For me, after this episode, stolas singing a song bashing blitz seems unfair. And I’d hate for it to be seen as character development for stolas to feel empowered by saying he’s better off without blitz.

Hum ok so here's the trailer without full moon.

(sorry it makes the sound a bit garbled)

So yer we can assume all stuff with Verosika, or them in the same outfits is going to be apology tour. 🙂

Wait didn't we see Stolas calendar.

This half of the season has been fairly close together.

Humm ok going to guess that whatever gets Stolas to Voroskia's show is the scary thing with 2 !!

Heh he also put a dick on the calendar, these two are so alike. 😆

Hang on, I'm about to fall down a rabbit hole. So Western Energy and Oops are a week apart, with Mammon's Magnificent Musical Mid-Season Special shortly after.

Going to guess Western Energy is on the 4th with the 5th and 6th blacked out with Blitz's freekout to find Barbie.

Can see the 5th says 'kill all!!' and 'check the van!!'

Humm can see why it'd need checking after that.

Could be Oops was on the 15th with 'Call Fizzarolli" being the day after?

Not sure where Mammon's Magnificent Musical Mid-Season Special would be though. Maybe 21st if 'kill that fucking guy's is about the creepy stalker?

Ok, back on track.

Going guess that Blitz goes to talk to Stolas in his garden.

Trying to pretend nothing happened, that they can just go on as normal like they did in seeing stars.

And gets snarked at because Stolas isn't having it. Something he says makes Blitz need to talk with Voroskia.

Possibly the "any kind of remorse for what you do?" bit. (Honestly still sounds like a line to Stella, but they played the other bits straight so now less sure).

Think Blitz sneaks in, looks like he might have hidden under a drop cloth from backstage. Gets into a fight with Verosika before the show " the everyone in hell is shity" bit. Possibly mentioning the breakup with Stolas.

He ends up ticking around for the show when he sees Stolas there.

Voroskia does her normal Blitz sucks song (effigy cake cutting in it);

then invites Stolas to also dump on him because of what Blitz says.

Stolas song starts off about how his life was crap before Blitz (parles with You will be ok),

that he loved this guy who made him happy, but who never wanted him back,

that their relationship was just coursing them both pain, that Blitz was never happy with him,

and that the image in his head of them has been shattered.

Looks like Voroskia comes to twist the knife at how badly Blitz screwed up a really good thing.

Hopefully with them talking and her getting real closure? While Blitz finally come to see Stolas.

Blitz breaks into Stolas' bedroom after the show and they both talk. (Can see they're on his bedroom sofa).

With them agreeing to give it a shot but not really defining what that is. (What can I say I still think they'll be dummies).

(Sorry this tuck a bit to get back to you. My draft got eaten by save errors grumble).

[bunnakit]

my stand in ep 2 thoughts, feelings, etc.

alright i wanted to write this up nicely but it took me... two hours to get through the episode bc i kept stopping to write notes, so i'll do my best i guess.

weird thing about me is when i watch shows and write notes for these posts i always write the notes on napkins? i have like 5 different notebooks in arms reach at all times but i really like scribbling on a napkin for the true unhinged effect.

anyway blah blah reminder i'm just a silly dude on the internet, idk shit about dick, i just like to say shit, don't take me too seriously.

also please DO NOT leave novel spoilers in my reblogs, tags, or replies without some kind of warning label. please? it seems to happen with every show i write meta for and i LOVE that people get hyped but there's no way for me to avoid it when it's in my notifications like that.

some before the actual episode stuff; after learning last week that some of the kinnporsche people worked on this it really becomes apparent, especially in the style of the intro.

the music choices also seem a bit reminiscent of kinnporsche (and a little bit of not me) which i really enjoy. it feels kind of familiar and comforting.

immediately i loved how soft this episode started, the slight stubble on each of them, the way joe speaks so softly as if afraid to shatter their little bubble of peace, etc. i also love that the show doesn't skirt around the topic of sex and the fact that sometimes sex is awkward and clumsy, especially with a new partner and doubly so when it's your first queer partner.

and then the peace was shattered with ming kissing his back yet again. ouchies.

"will tong be at the set?" he's just not even trying to hide it. he basically said 'yeah ur great and all but tong????' but DAMN if poom isn't the absolute king of microexpressions.

at this point i can't really tell if tong is being a spoiled prince (derogatory) or if he's tired of acting in general? judgement withheld until a later date.

and then we jump into this actress being a parallel to ming and OOF OUCHIES MY ORGANS. she's a fan of tong but has to "settle" for joe - just like ming. and yet joe takes the time to be kind, to soothe her worries and put her at ease, because he has a heart of absolute gold. "it's her first movie but she was left to drown by the male lead." it's ming's first love and he has been left to drown in it.

mek's acting is really endearing. this is my first exposure to him (ive seen some of his social media and really like what he stands for as a person) and i'm instantly drawn to his performance. he also pulls off a great balance of adorable/sexy.

OOH THE SHOW SAID BISEXUAL OUT LOUD. A WIN FOR THE BI'S WE LOVE TO SEE IT.

i personally find ming's jealously hilarious. what a little caricature of toxicity.

anyway, it seems to me that if ming could get over his feelings and enjoy what he has in front of him he could be part of and enjoy a very sweet family, as it does seem tong IS giving him love, just not the exact flavor he craves.

the cut to joe's training made me laugh. little oat lore dump but my bio dad was actually a stunt man for movies (which is another part of why i was so excited for this show) and i can promise you nothing like this was part of it. what do i know, though, maybe things have changed since the early 2000s lol.

(no, they're probably not any movies you know, aside from maybe wild wild west [1999]. he mostly did westerns, historical docudramas, and historical fiction.)

ANYWAY AGAIN. with this little glimpse into ming's home life we get to see that he's very accustomed to doing what he wants and getting what he wants, which makes a lot of sense when applied to his almost obsessive behavior regarding tong - and now joe. i did absolutely LOVE linin and her sassy independence (minus the 'i can buy anything i need'.)

but... girl... did you just spray perfume in your mouth?

your actions are strange and unsettling. i like that in a woman.

ugh getting into ming venting his frustrations on joe's body. listen. liiiisten. while toxic without prior discussion... i'm into it. it may or may not be one of my favorite tropes in fanfic. toxic and unhealthy as fuck and i'm here for it.

AND THEN DAMN POOM THOSE NOISES. ACTING FOR YOUR LIFE BBY -- and the SNEEZE AT ORGASM LMAAAO oh i hope that's a running bit for some comedic relief.

because we then make a SHARP pivot into "then stop me" and there's so much potential for pain and self loathing there, for joe to think "i can't blame ming, i didn't stop any of it." i'm sat.

a little side bar, but i'm enjoying the fact that while there is discussion of topping and bottoming as a narrative device there really aren't any stereotypes here. i think on a surface level people would think "oh joe is the top" (pit babe style) and the show said no actually he isn't. love that for us.

"you can even move in haha jk" but the thing is, not jk, because joe would do that for ming - for anyone - bc that's the type of person he is.

[i had to stop and have a lil snack here]

hold up is this wut out drinking with them? OH SHIT IT IS. OKAY. it didn't give us much but at least it's a little connection to him finally. we knew joe knew him from his first life, just didn't really know how.

"i missed you" and when was the last time someone missed joe? not who he's replacing or the space he's filling, but HIM?

love ming's goofy ass locking the door and going inside just so he can make a dramatic ass appearance like he's 'the other woman' or some shit LMAO.

"what's in you to make me jealous?" quite possibly the worst dialogue tree choice ming could've picked.

[joe's emotional well being -45]

[everyone hated that]

"don't be so full of yourself" something joe has never been a day in his life. "you're just a stand-in." he knows. it's not something he ever forgets.

but after all that toxicity we have ming back home, seeking out joe's food for comfort, and we finally get to see him interact with his sister. i LOVE that she knows the importance of being a little silly as a treat, one of my biggest life mottos. we also get to see more of how ming is surrounded by love that he misses out on bc of his own wallowing and self sabotage.

oh, the homoeroticism of sparring with your bestie.

[everyone liked that]

oop- joe is wearing the shirt ming borrowed while sol is wearing a shirt with the word 'fantasy.' i'm good, i'm fine, gwenchana, gwenchana.

ough. sol with too many eyes on him and none of them sincere and joe with nothing but sincerity to offer but remains invisible. oof ouch.

enter ming with more religious imagery to match last week's cross scene. something something the sin of greed? confessing your sins? coveting - idk man, i don't have any religious trauma, my family let me just do my own thing.

but with ming knowing joe's true feeling every toxic thing he does is going to be 1000x more painful and i'm here for it. bring it you fucked up little guy.

"we can't mess with each other's privacy" don't mess with MY privacy. "you can't mess around with anyone else" emphasis on YOU, not we.

and then it's driven home what a romantic joe is, both with his workout heartbreak poetry and this little lady and the tramp noodle moment. this man, again much like pit babe, wants to be domesticated so bad.

and i know we all have hated on ming, that's the point, he's been a caricature of a toxic relationship spelled out in neon letters --

but when was the last time ming laughed with someone like this?

ok im exhausted, i'm falling into bed to read fanfic, but i'm absolutely in love with everything this is doing so far. i haven't written anything as in depth as this since last twilight (pre-betrayal) so it's really nice to feel insane again.

[moonlayl]

This...got super long and to be clear nothing I have experienced nor will ever experience will come close to the horrors that Palestinians are facing right now. I just need to say that and make that clear, but these are just things I've been wanting to say for a while now.

Just a thought that came to my head, but I remember arguing with lots of liberals before about how I don't really support the idea that people shouldn't be able to say anything they want (except obviously spreading misinformation especially if you're in certain professions), even hate speech not because I ever want to hear hate speech, but because I can't trust any government to decide what hate speech is, and I was told to give an example

I remember at the time saying "what if one day, me speaking about Palestine starts to become classified as antisemitism or terrorism?"

I was told that was silly and would "obviously never happen" (I didn't believe them and called them naive at the time)

well....looking at certain countries right now, trying to ban Palestinian flags, ban common Palestinian/muslim sayings, ban any peaceful protest in favour of Palestine, even looking at imprisoning/fining people etc.... is kind of just proving my point.

Like most of us don't feel included or part of any western communities even if we're lived here our whole lives for so many reasons and it almost always boils down to us being Arabs/muslim.

can't speak for non Arabs and non muslims, but a lot of us feel this way.

seeing how fighting for the people who need it the most (2000+ Palestinians have been killed. 800 of them being children. 45 families completely wiped out, entire bloodlines, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins, children, nephews, nieces, grandchildren, etc....like this is actual genocide. their entire family tree has been completely wiped form existence) is being banned or branded as "terrorism", or we're losing our jobs, or we're being silenced, like it says a lot about theses countries and the governments that run them.

They tried to suspend humanitarian aid to innocent people of Gaza for the love of God!! Thank God there were 5 decent countries who voted no!

Israel gets away with every goddamn crime and ANY "condemnation" of any warcrime it commits is just talk, while they continue to aid and support it.

How am I supposed to trust these governments, and MY government to decide what's acceptable and what's not when I know that during the most critical moments that matter the most, they won't be on our side, and they'll side with oppressors because they themselves are just that? That the little I can actually do for Palestine and any other country could be completely taken away?

These are "democratic" countries by the way, or they're supposed to be, and sure we can challenge all these things but there are things even we can't do. the onslaught of propaganda shared everywhere by the same news stations that refuse to invite Palestinians (and refuse to air the few times they do) and refuse to fact check their content, or report on what's actually happening in Gaza, can't really be stopped. We can do our best to spread what's actually happening, and to correct false information, but the damages have been done.

And its getting harder and harder to hear form the people of Gaza because of the bombs, cut of electricity, cut off internet access, and also, you know, the fact that the people sharing news are being killed one by one.

There's also many social media platforms completely erasing anything about Palestine. suspending our accounts and hiding our posts. I can't believe I'm saying this but maybe it's a good thing Elon Musk took over twitter because at least I've been able to talk about Palestine as much as possible without nay censoring and I'm still able to. Palestinians are still able to share their stories and the reality yon there. And sin't that crazy? Elon musk is kind of doing something right???

And you know something else? Israel killed one of their own journalists, and those people weren't able to properly report on it. They couldn't directly say it was Israel that killed one of their own workers. Like....its crazy (and they're cowards). Israel also killed 12 UN workers.

That crime is not making as many headlines as the fake stuff did. Those "journalists" and "reporters" who repeated false information (that resulted in far too many people believing them and suddenly being okay with genocide) are still working. they still have a job and they're still out there spreading more propaganda.

this post isn't well written because I'm just putting out my thoughts and what I've witnessed but to make one thing clear, I won't ever silence my voice or allow anyone to silence my voice when it comes to something like this, and i'm not afraid of what they'll do, but isn't so fucked that I could actually lose my job and have trouble finding another one for supporting the oppressed? Like isn't that just..disgusting?

Like what's that supposed to tell me other than majority of western countries are against us? It's not exactly surprising because I've known this, but everyone being VERY open about it is kind of tough to witness ngl.

Like this is not a complicated issue. if you have any morals and you're not biased against Palestinians/arabs/muslims already, then this is a very clearcut case. Israel is an apartheid state. Israel is and has been committing genocide and ethnic cleansing for literal decades and its been doing it long before Hamas came into the picture. Israel's war crimes and treatment of Palestinians is the reason Hamas even exists in the first place. you can condemn Hamas while also recognising that Israelis have no right to that land and that nothing justifies their never ending crimes. Palestinians are demanding for their rights ot live, be citizens, have rights and freedoms, and have their land that was brutally taken from them. None of those things are unreasonable.

You know what is unreasonable? the world deciding Israel is suddenly gonna be a thing and expecting Palestinians to just be okay with it. You know what is unreasonable? Palestinians being painted as the bad guys for "not wanting to share" when they literally shouldn't have to (especially because of the obvious scams of all those "treaties" and "agreements" that all gave every benefit to Israel)

Like the whole world literally let this happen and supported it and cheered for it. Some stayed silent but are showing their real colours (which those of us who haven't been blind have already seen) now.

We've got girls crying about how "they want to kill us T-T" at a university campus because people were protesting in support of Palestine, while a six year old boy was killed in his own home for being Palestinian. In the same country.

We've got celebs talk about how scared THEY are while 800 Palestinian children have been murdered.

We've got celebs posting "pray for Israel" while using pictures of Gaza in ruins or Palestinian children looking at rockets in the sky.

It's insane.

We had a protest for Palestine the other day. People were telling us to go back to our country. They were telling Palestinians to go back to their country.

....that's....that's what they want? Like we're very much aware of how much we're not wanted here just to be clear, and Palestinians across the damn globe would do ANYTHING to be able to go live in their homeland. except they can't. Israel won't let them. That's part of what we're fighting for. Any jewish person can go get a citizenship easily in Israel (even if they've never stepped foot in the country and none of their ancestors had either) but people who were born in Palestine or who's family owns property there can't get it in at all. It's absolute insanity.

I'm not sure how to end this but on every level this has been horrific. But despite that, the propaganda, the genocide, the threats, the whole world being against us, that's not gonna stop us from fighting for the oppressed and standing up for them. It's not gonna stop us from going out into the streets and no words can explain the bravery of everyone who continues to stand with Palestine but especially to the Palestinians who continue fighting and resisting (despite everything they've been through). Continuing to use our voices, donating, protesting etc... is the absolute least we can do and its our responsibility. and I truly, from the bottom of my heart wish the absolute worst for everyone who disagree with this. Like you guys are gonna pay for it. Maybe not today maybe not for many years maybe only in the afterlife (because I do believe in it) but it's gonna happen and every Israeli supporter or zionist is gonna deserve every second of it.

If you're silent, if you try to throw the "two sides" bs, and if you try to act like Palestine and Israel are in any way equal, you're included in this.

You're part of the problem.

Silence is compliance.

And screw every government that supports Israel in any way. Screw the double standards, the hypocrisy and the absolute cruelty towards innocent Palestinians.

I can't speak for everyone else but no matter what happens moving forwards, I'm never gonna forget this and I'm never gonna forgive.

I'm gonna keep trying to do everything possible which unfortunately is not much and thats frustrating on every level but I'm gonna keep doing it. feel free to unfollow/block me, but I'm not gonna stay silent about this ever. and I'm not gonna entertain any bigot or zionists either. it's gonna be a straight up block.

my asks are open, and my page is currently full of information, this site is as well, but I'm not gonna entertain those who clearly care very little bout genocide, because if you haven't opened your eyes by now, I doubt anything I say will change that. you're welcome to go through my blog or send me a polite ask (can't promise I'll get to it right away but I'll try) but I'm not tolerating pointless arguments that are basically me just repeating that Palestinian people deserve to live in their own country with all their rights and freedoms while the other person disagrees. I prefer not to argue with those who are depraved.

[solarwynd]

Tbh I don't even care / dislike boycott armys. If you don't want to spend money on BTS because they haven't spoken about Palestine, that's your perogative. Because they're enlisted, that does make a difference for me - maybe others find it an excuse but as someone who doesn't live in a liberal western country myself, I know how things like this work in my country and how vulnerable you can be in this situation, so I don't know how it works in s korea but still I'm giving them some leeway. Also there's just this weird disconnect for me because on one side yeah they're millionaires with a huge platform, on the other side they're currently in the mfing army right now. It feels foul to start tweeting about their privilege from the comfort of my bed in my home - something they currently do not experience. That's just my opinion. Someone else might perceive them to have more power than I do and maybe they're right. I won't say mine is the only right way to think. Plus again it's your money - if you donate more and spend less on merch then that's still a net good imo.

But the whole tone of people remarking on this donation has been completely gross. The way they talk about a genocide the same way they talk about the stupid fanwars that happen on twt everyday rather than with the weight it deserves makes me feel like this is some performative bs. Tweets like the ones some armys and kpop stans make just degrades the whole movement.

If you do have genuine intentions and start making stupid tweets like that, you should really touch some grass, log off twitter and do some more actual activism offline instead of letting twitter brain worms consume you. Acting like everyone's misconstruing what you said and playing victim is also not the move. This is a serious topic so I'd expect tweets related to this to have some actual thought behind it instead of spewing some idiocy as a gotcha because again it looks like you're treating this whole issue like some fandom war and trying to one-up the other side. Click-clack my ass.

Armys always come at BTS crazy during times like this and it’s not because it’s “necessary” since you want them to speak up. It all just comes off as sanctimonious and BTS ruining the perception armys have built around them as stans of them being a bit more conscientious than other k groups. I’ve never had an issue with boycotting in theory it’s just that armys can’t stand behind shit or just go about it the wrong way.

Why is it the minute they don’t perform to your exact standards, all of a sudden they’re low down and evil?Why couldn’t y’all have used Jimin donating as a beacon to rally fans to open a pool or something? And I try not to go tit for tat on things like this, but it’s extremely hard not to when you see proof of all these armys happily buying and streaming golden from last year and have been the main ones making these posts about jimin’s donation.

Nothing has changed from that time to present day. Same with the kpop stans trying to join in on it stanning groups who haven’t said a word either. How do you expect me not to believe y’all don’t have ulterior motives by singling him or BTS out? Now all those accounts have deleted those tweets cause they’ve gotten called out on their hypocrisy and got caught up in how dumb they look getting Jimin dragged over something so harmless. Cause it’s not like he gave money to something inane or inconsequential. He’s helping underprivileged children. Just real dickheaded behavior from that person.

Now considering how a member has close ties with scooter, making a statement would come off as hypocritical. I know in the grander scheme of things, what’s needed and what’s important is the awareness and I’d take it as such. But denouncing Zionism with a Zionist so avidly in the mix still wouldn’t be a good look. Which is why I feel like donating would have been the better option. It’d be much more substantial helping out with funds/materials imo because those are things Palestinians desperately need. But I understand that it’s not on the table since they’re in the military.

[ultimatebottom69]

Trump won

now. I see some kind of campaign to recount the votes and frankly yeah go sign that shit but hum.

This is about me for a second. Yes the filthy European. Well. As I said last night before passing out drunk. Palestine is fucked. Keep giving donations and all but you must know too right.

Abortions rights ? Well i hope you didn't like women.

Trans rights ? Doll there was already barely any. He gonna snuff that shit out.

The economy ? Oh baby 2016 eletric bungaloo remix. But you all knew that.

Suicide hotlines ? Over crowded as all learn the info as usual.

Immigrants rights ? Basically snuffed.

Police brutality ? Oh you thought George Floyd would be the worse they ever done it ? Think again.

My respect for this country ? None. I respect only the people I talked to.

My hope for this country ? Doll. The whole world watched with bated breath, we sent our whitest blond woman journalist to do the fucking job and you voted...For Nazi Orange. Again. No words.

You know when I was 12 and Obama was still the president. I remember loving the USA. Grand houses, cool movies, the music culture as I always liked pop, the diverse community how all you were so much more detached and free then me in my little France.

I remember at 13 to learn English because I wanted to go to the USA. I wanted to be able to talk to my idols. In 2017. I got called a racial slur in Orlando. It was also my first time being cat-called while my dad was right there, I mean I always got stares but bro was whistling and shit while my whole family was there. I loved Disneyland, loved the whole thing except for this two very weird encounters. I mean I am very light skinned and didn't know such word existed and my step mom who is a black woman didn't tell me what it meant when I asked her. And it was to me who it was said by the way because it was a little blond girl who said it while staring into my soul.

I learned that day that I was a black woman. That my light colored skin contrary to any had thought had offered me no protection whatsoever.

Which is funny because I am the lightest in my group and I got called a white woman a lot by them only it's our little rascist jokes between us.

But in the USA I get treated like the "Bad Hombre" as Trump called them. I get called a "Niggay" by the white folks.

And funnily enough this experiences although very defining did not stop me from making it big in the USA I thought I just had to not go to orlando and i'l be fine...

And then George Floyd happened. I then watched real life documentaries about victims of police brutality. BLM happened.

I saw people that looked like my grandma and uncle getting shot at as if they were just fucking cattle.

When Biden got elected I thought "Maybe if the democrats win again...I can forgive them., I can go there and see their world and drive for an awful 8 hours when I barely wanna drive for 30 minutes hahaha."

And...Well...Trump won. He did. By a large margin I am CERTAIN there were tampering in the election as usual.

But...The fact is. He fucking won. Despite the whole world watching. All of us were quietly hoping for you all to show us. Progress what the USA stands for.

Diversity

Freedom

Dreams

And you vote for the man. Who extinguished the most dreams I have ever seen. You vote for the man who made me re-think every respect I ever had.

You had the chance to make a woman president. After the first black man president in the western world you could have had the first woman president.

You could have gained all the respect you had ever lost back. To the people who voted at all, bravo for trying. To the people who didn't vote PER CHOICE...I have nothing to tell you except you could have done something.

I won't even dwell on the dumb fucks who voted third party. Just vote for Trump at that point it's the same the whole world has been telling you this for 8 years now.

But back to this. The American dream is dead. I dream of nothing more but for the USA to stop being everyone's burden. I don't want to go to your country. I don't want to know anything right now.

Are we a joke to you ? Because USA you are the ehole circus right now.

I am gonna go focus on something else since clearly the hatred was stronger then the Hope. This isn't even a joke the USA has a true problem and if I need to spell it out well too bad.

I hope Drag queens will keep existing and that is that.

Have a pleaseant day tbh. I have no words. I won't try to tell you that there is hope or whatever. There is none. Your fate has been sealed. In fact many fates right now have been sealed. I can see in real tiime how many lives are about get snuffed because Harris didn't win. I am not here to tell you to have hope. I can however tell you Good luck and get the fuck out.

You have like 3-5 months before it really starts to be a shitshow so if you wanna move out or had plans. Move to Europe as a whole.

I am not even angry. I am throughly disapointed. In about 8 month France will feel the wave. Gaza ? Pfft. I'm going to keep donating and reblogging.

To the mutuals who voted. Thank you for trying. I hope you stay safe and are white looking enough for the upcoming times.

[haleigh-sloth]

I'm sorry for the vent but I had to get this off my chest.

One of the many things that are annoying me about the people complaining about "so-called critics" is that they're either hero stans, dudebros, shippers (esp B*D* shippers) or Bakugo stans. And the latter genuinely annoy me the most. Like yeah so sorry that your fav was saved through the efforts of pro heroes TWICE and even got an awe-inspiring comeback and got to Save his childhood hero™. Yeah you ofc don't care about the story and think we're just being bitter over nothing because AT LEAST YOUR FAV DID NOT MEET A TRAGIC AND MISERABLE END!!! The hero who we thought would die saving you was instead revealed to be doing fine! See he's even growing his limbs back! Ofc you think your fav did not murder a villain (who mind you was pleading for Afo to give back Tomura) because *gasp* my boi can do no wrong!! And even if he were killed so what? Kurogiri's dead anyway! No point in saving a corpse! Instead let's focus on how Deku never ever acknowledges Bakugo for dying twice for him (OH HOW DARE HE!!!)

I do think deku and bakugo might have a talk about this next chapter. Hopefully maybe.

It's insulting how they seem to think we're viewing this story from the perspective of "Western lens" which is utterly baffling and stupid?? Because not everyone is western and our criticism is from a story telling perspective (hello?? themes? narratives? they do exist ya know). We're not someone to disrespect Japanese culture because I guarantee you we're not like that. Like honestly if this story wasn't so insistent on the whole "saving the villains" then we wouldn't be upset. If the manga didn't have Deku say "OFA is a power meant for saving" then we wouldn't have been so hopeful for months (like at least I would've known not to expect anything happy).

Oof....nail on the head.

Also. Let's be clear. When people try to divide the fandom by saying "western" and "eastern", what they usually, typically mean is AMERICAN. Maybe Europeans are lumped in with "western" also (because most of them they're not eastern culture), but honestly the commentary I see is mostly catered toward Americans.

Which I'm not gonna tell people to not make fun of Americans because lmao. Fair.

But acting like Japan is this enigma of a country for having conservative-like values regarding family units and societal expectations and that nobody outside of it, especially on the western half of the hemisphere, can possibly relate to it is just stupid. Would like to remind that other cultures that are vastly different from the US and share a lot of similarities with eastern culture are on the western half of the globe, idiots.

Not gonna dwell on the details of east and west. This isn't a "east" vs "west" issue. Yes there are people who do not take cultural contexts into consideration, either through simply not being aware or not bothering to research/hear what the contexts might mean. I personally do try to do my best to read what might be normal for Japanese people in the situations portrayed in the manga so I'm not wondering wtf is going on or why.

Disliking this ending has nothing to do with disrespecting Japanese culture. Todorokis for example: sorry but abuse is abuse. Hating the ending the Todoroki siblings were portrayed having is completely fair. Doesn't matter where you're from. Where I feel people need to start understanding why Hori might do something differently, or just shut the fuck up otherwise, is how he handled Rei in regards to her relationship with Endeavor. And the kids toward Endeavor. But saying "damn, that finale is fucking depressing, none of them look happy, there was no emotional release or anything, just damn" is not saying "fuck Japanese culture!" Like lmao.

There were plenty of people explaining that MHA is commenting on aspects of Japanese culture. Explaining how. Also, MHA is not the only manga that does shit like that. I also don't think saying "Wow these character arcs that were strongly hinted at going one way falling flat on their faces and going straight to hell is really shitty writing choices" is saying anything in regards to Japanese culture.

Also insisting that anyone who wanted the villains to be saved is disrespecting Japanese culture or opinions or whatever....I would like to ask where the fuck they think these tropes come from. Naruto says hi. Among others. We're not pulling these ideas out of thin air. They exist, WITHIN THIS MEDIUM, already. And MHA heavily resembles Naruto as is. So yeah. Idk, I'm not really reading anybody's bitch fits about the critics because I don't care. If they're happy then good for them. I'm not, and I'm not gonna pretend to be. I'm not trying to convince anybody to be mad with me. I'm really trying to make my peace with the manga and tell myself it's fiction, I can draw an ending I want later when I have the energy and motivation. I'll learn to live with it. If anybody has an issue with that then, well, they can argue with a wall.

[abbatoirablaze]

Locked Up, Chapter 8

Word Count: 1.6k

Warnings: attempted rape, condescension, slapping women, violence, abuse of power, maiming someone.

“You been sneakin’ round on me, girl,” the mid-western warden drawled out as his silver eyes panned up to the CO.  She shivered under his gaze.  He removed his focus from the bare mahogany desk as he looked at her, the smallest of smirks playing on his lips.  Viv kept a straight face and an even straighter back as she sat still in the chair opposite the wardens, trying to pretend that she hadn’t just shivered in front of him, “well?  You gonna say something, sweetheart?  Or just keep sitting there like a dumb little slut?  Don’t get me wrong, I love it when you’re quiet…but usually it’s cuz my cock is shoved down the back of your throat!”

“Lee...I-“

The chair squeaked as he leaned back; his firm belly muffin-topping over the tight uniform as he fiddled with his pockets.  He was quick to pull a lemon candy from them before popping it in his mouth and throwing the wrapper in the small aluminum bin beside himself.  He shook his head, the hard candy clicking into the side of his cheek as he started in on her, “ah, ah ah there, Viv…you don’t get to call me Lee…not when you’re going around fuckin’ the likes of inmate Jensen!  Right now, I’m here so you can get your just desserts sweetie.  Give you the extra dicking you so clearly need to keep ya in line…and who knows…maybe I’ll let ya keep this one if it sticks.”

“Come on, Lee,” Viv tried to scoff, brushing past the statement of the abortion he’d forced her to get a few months ago.  She rolled her eyes, hoping that he didn’t read too much into how stiff she really was, “Jensen?  Where the hell did you hear those lies?”

Lee sucked on his teeth, and Viv caught the candy rolling over his tongue.  His eyes held no humor in them. No. 

He was pissed. 

She could read him like an open book. 

And she knew that she wasn’t going to get away with it.

“No?  Must a been mistaken’ then, right?  I mean, I heard it from a few sources…then I pulled surveillance in the wing…just for chuckles…but you know what…I found exactly what I was lookin’ for,” he clucked, shaking his head at her, “Nothing.  I mean, it’s kind of funny the camera goes dead quite a bit when you start evening rounds…and from what I know the only people that can really black out the cameras is your little boyfriend and our IT department…and I doubt they’d let you get away with fucking an inmate…even if your other little boyfriend attempted to pay them off.  Because we both know that little prude in IT, Jenny has a thing for me…and boy would she live for the chance to rat you out…but you see…it wasn’t just Jensen’s cell…was it?”

There it was. 

The coup de gras. 

He knew about Ransom.

But she tried to shake it off, another scoff falling from her lips, “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about, Lee…”

“It’s Warden Bodecker to you, you dirty little slut,” the warden growled, throwing his hands down on the desk.  Viv jumped, being caught off guard as he glared at her, “I should do so much more than what I’m going to….I should punish you the way a little harlot like you deserves.”

“Lee-“

“It’s Warden Bodecker, DAMMNIT!  GOD DAMMNIT VIV!  I put myself out there for you, Viv!” he growled, cutting her off, “I let you run this place without saying boo because I thought hey…if my little queen wanted to run the castle, why the hell not.  But I see now you’re just an attention depraved little whore who fucks anyone that looks at her sideways.  And you need to be put in your place once and for all.  We’re done playing these games, Viv…”

“Lee…please…you-you’re scaring me…”

He scoffed and snorted. 

Lee Bodecker was nearly off the rails as he hovered over the CO, “LEVINSON!  YOU’RE FUCKING THAT ANIMAL NOW TOO?”

“Lee-“

“SHUT UP!” the warden spat, backhanding Viv.  She stumbled backwards into his bookshelf and slumped against it, “I thought I put you in your place when I took care of the bullshit with Jensen.  I got you off that troublesome block only for you to start shacking up with the first monster that looked at ya.  Ain’t I enough for ya, Vivian?  Why do you want to go fucking those inmates, huh?  You feel bad for em?  Or I just ain’t put enough cum in your belly?  You want knocked up that bad?”

Her head stung and she reached up to touch it.  Hissing, she pulled away to see the red tinge on her fingers.  She was ignoring everything that Lee was saying, her only focus on her head, “Shit…”

“That’s nothing.  You know damn well I can do much more than that, you little slut,” he growled, grabbing her by her hair and pulling her to her feet, “now get on up, girl!”

“Stop!” she wailed, begging the warden.  He pushed her hard against the wall; her back hitting it with a thud, “Lee!”

He backhanded her again, cutting her off.  One hand reached down and he started on his belt buckle, “Shut the hell up, Viv.  I’m ending this once and for all…gonna put a baby in you today…and tomorrow you’re putting in yer resignation and quitting and I’m movin’ ya in to my place.  We’re done playin’ these little games.  I’ll have you barefoot and pregnant waiting on me to come home every night…and you’ll straighten up and pay good little housewife instead of red-light whore on the corner!”

But their little entanglement was cut off by the sound of the power in his office going out.  The dull sounds of the facility around them became deafeningly still. The hum of the AC died, and the air filled with a muggy tension. 

Then the red-lights came on. 

“Lee…”

His eyes snapped to hers, “it’s a riot, Viv…god damn it.”

A siren wailed in the distance and Lee pushed himself away from the CO.  Instantly he was forgetting about her, buckling his pants back up and moving towards his desk.

“Lee?”

“Shut up, girl,” he growled, shooting her another quick look, “right now we  gotta deal with this…but afterwards I’m following through on my promise and fucking some sense into you.”

“I-“

In a few short steps he was hovering in front of her, a deadly look on his face, “You got something to say?”

“No Lee-“

“Sir!”

A few tears slipped down her cheeks, and she shook her head, “sir.”

“Say it!” he growled, grabbing her jaw in another quick movement.  He forced her to look at him, “you tell me you ain’t got nothing to say…and you say it right.”

“I-I don’t have nothing to say, sir.”

He held her jaw so firmly that Viv started to feel a pain in it.  He sucked in his cheeks and watched her for a second, before releasing her, content with the answer, “Good girl.  Now get yourself put back together.  We have to get to the armory before these animals break free.”

“If anyone’s an animal, it’s you, warden!”

Lee Bodecker snapped in the direction of his door, where a behemoth of a man was lit up by the red emergency lights. 

Lee’s breath caught in his throat, fear pulsating throughout him.

Ari Levinson. 

He stepped inside the room, and the shadows moved away from his face, allowing Lee to see that Ari was beyond pissed.

“Levinson…get back to your cell, inmate…”

Ari smiled, “it’s not going to work like that, warden…you and I both know what’s going on in your prison…we both know that you aren’t calling the shots anymore.”

“Well…looks like Levinson came here for his little slut, didn’t he?” Lee taunted, shooting a look over to Viv, “though, I wonder how he knew that you were going to be here.”

“So you know that I came up here to get Viv…the real question is what is your response to that?” Ari asked, “there are a few ways that this can play out, Warden…”

“Oh…you’re giving me options?” Lee chuckled, “that’s rich…get back to your cell and maybe I forget this whole little rescue plot happened.  Maybe I don’t throw you in the hole and lock away the key!”

“You won’t do that!” Ari smiled, “you won’t get the chance, Bodecker!”

“Inmate…I will kill you if that means maintaining the peace…”

Ari chuckled, “I’d love to see you try, Bodecker!”

Lee eased away from Viv and back towards his desk, “you know…I could make things very hard for you at this prison, Levinson.”

“Thought you were going to kill me, Bodecker.  Or throw away the key once you threw me in the shoe,” Ari smirked.  Then he shot Viv a look and his smirk faded away.  She’d had drying blood at her temple and a split lip.  His rage continued as his eyes slid down her body to see her uniform shirt was torn open.  His eyes snapped back to Lees, “What the hell were you doing before I got here, warden?”

“Ari-“

“Shut up, you little slut!” Lee growled, cutting Viv off.  He’d put more distance between himself and the inmate before continuing, “What I do in my office is none of your business, inmate!  Especially not with my property.”

“She doesn’t belong to anyone!” Ari growled.

“That little whore belongs to me, Levinson…not the other way around?”  

“I’ll deal with you in a second, warden,” Ari spat before turning his attention towards the CO, “Are you okay, Viv?”

“Don’t you say a word to him, CO!” Lee commanded, another murderous look being shot her way, “Levinson, back out of my office now…I don’t want to use force, but I will.”

“See, I get the feeling that you really want to use force,” Ari smirked, “and looking at what you obviously did to Viv…I want to use force too!”

“Lev-“

But he didn’t have time to get the words out.  Ari launched himself at the warden, his fists flying in a fury as he heard Viv scream behind him.

Chapter 9

Tag List:  @lohnes16, @prokey16, @tenaciousperfectionunknown, @teambarnes72, @cjand10

[cainluvr69]

Surely, We Can Make Miracles Chapter 5

Previous Chapter

Nero: There ain't any point in eatin' it cold if it's supposed to be served hot! You don't even cook, and all you can do is fuckin' complain about it!

Originally, they'd been whispering to each other, but as Nero's anger mounted, his voice was getting louder. Even if Dianne couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, it was still perfectly obvious there was some kind of argument going on. Bradley leaned in, refusing to give in, audaciously trying to whisper into Nero's ear again even as Nero was glaring daggers at him.

Bradley: I can at least tell when the person makin' it actually has pride in what they're makin'. You ain't the one makin' this shit. Why are you tryin' to cover for 'em?

Nero: Now you're tryin' to preach at me about pride in your work? You're just pretendin' you know what the hell you're talkin' about when you're just flappin' your gums!

Figaro: (You know, now that I'm getting a good look at them…they're kind of obviously ex-partners, aren't they…) (I wouldn't have thought it'd be his friend in the kitchen. Really, preconceptions are never any good.)

Faust: (Nero… No matter how much he might say you're his friend in the kitchen, Bradley's still a Northern wizard.) (Thoughtlessly making him angry isn't going to end well.)

Lennox: (Goodness. Bradley's such a glutton.)

The tension in the air was only getting progressively more electric. And then Shino joined in, keeping his voice low.

Shino: I get what Bradley's saying. Let me be honest. First…

Heathcliff: Shino.

Heath said his servant's name sharply. He was every inch a noble right now, the look in his blue eyes cold and pointed. Shino flinched, and then took a deep breath and started shooting back.

Shino: I'm saying this for your sake. You don't need to do anything.

Heathcliff: You're being arrogant. And you're being ungrateful towards the noble Western Chenon House's Lady Dianne's hospitality, which she's put her heart and soul into… Any furthur critique is out of line. Your insolence is doing nothing but dragging the Blanchett name through the mud. Have some self-control.

Heathcliff's harsh words made Shino snap his mouth shut. He was trembling a bit, his gaze drifting away from him. After a moment, though, remorse showed on his face, and he deeply bowed his head. Heathcliff, too, bowed slightly to Dianne, and then elegantly returned to his meal.

Shino: (Heath's right… It wasn't all that long ago that I was hunting for scraps. Maybe I've gotten too used to living well.)

Heathcliff: (I'm sorry I was so forceful, Shino… But if I didn't say as much as I did, it could've turned into a diplomatic incident…) (She's smiling right now, but she must be furious in her heart… What if one day she says I need to give you up?) (It's possible I won't be able to save you from that, Shino… So…)

An unpleasant atmosphere settled into the silence as our meal continued. About when I felt confident no one else was going to start voicing their displeasure, Bradley leaned back and crossed his legs.

Bradley: But damn!

Nero: Woah! My hand's slippin' on the pepper…!

Bradley: Waugh…! Achoo!!

In the fight against <the Great Calamity>, Bradley had been afflicted with a bizarre injury that affected him when he sneezed--and, well, he vanished. Somewhere in the world, he was cursing Nero and his pepper.

Snow: Goodness gracious, I suppose there was no avoiding that.

White: We shall go to the market and retrieve Bradley.

Figaro: There's no way of knowing Bradley showed up at the market, is there? You two just want to go window shopping.

Snow & White: Gulp…

Figaro: Please don't do anything disrespectful. Rutile and Mitile are both sitting nice and politely…

Snow: You're so wrong! We're just going to go pick up our dear Bradley!

White: We have a duty to supervise him, you know! By the way, Owen dear, what's that cake called again?

Owen: Torta di cocco.

White: Thanks!

Figaro: Jeez.

The twins vanished like smoke.

Mithra: Hm? Is no one else eating? If you're not going to eat, I'll take it.

Owen: Here.

Owen pushed his food onto Mithra's plate, and then stood up from his seat and drained his cup of tea.

Owen: I want more of that cake, too.

And, having said that, he vanished, too. The ensuing silence was so heavy you could cut it with a knife.

Akira: (What should I do… Should I have said something…?) (I wonder what everyone's thinking…?)

Oz: … (Though this is not especially good…) (It still outclasses my own failures.)

Arthur: (I bet he's thinking this is better than his own mess-ups.)

Rutile: (I've made some pretty bad dishes too…)

Mithra: (Everyone's eating so lightly. That means I win.)

Mitile: (It's not very good, but saying that would be rude and wasteful.)

Riquet: (Expressing displeasure with one's meal is to embrace corruption. It is a terrible thing to do. I know that, and yet…) (I'd been wanting to eat something more delicious than this.)

Cain: (Owen's really going to go eat more…? I know that cake was delicious, but he already ate seven slices…)

Shylock: (My sincerest apologies, but I have no intention of putting anything that doesn't capture my heart into my body.)

Chloe: (I need to eat all of this, somehow… I've really gotten so used to eating Nero's food I've gotten spoiled…)

Rustica: (Chloe's ocean-inspired outfits look so good on everyone.)

Murr: (This rules! Watching everyone's reactions to having to keep their desires in check is so fun!)

Figaro: (For now I can just pretend to eat, and then get something from the market later.)

Lennox: (Lord Figaro isn't swallowing any of that, is he…? Is he making it disappear with magic…?)

Nero: (God… I can't do this… As a fellow chef, I can't pretend this is someone else's problem…) (What happened, Borda Castle head chef… Did you forget the seasoning to handle the smell or something?) (He seemed so meticulous in his work, too. Or maybe he got the cut wrong… Or is it someone else's work? Did they hire someone new?) (Maybe he got sick… He must've gotten sick. And now he can't taste things right anymore. That's gotta be it.) (Or maybe he injured his hands… How could things have ended up like this…) (What a disgrace… If it were me, I'd pack my bags and be gone by tomorrow…) (But what if he's got a family to support… Argh! I don't wanna even think about that.)

Faust: (Nero's making so many different faces right now…)

Dianne cleared her throat. She turned to face me and, bright as always, began to speak.

Dianne: By the way, Master Sage, I have a question for you.

Akira: Ah, yes. What is it?

Dianne: Lately, Borda Island has been facing a number of mysterious disappearances.

Akira: Disappearances…?

Dianne: Yes. Both the residents of the island and people visiting it are concerned by them. I'd like to ask your help in resolving them…

✦✧☾✧✦

Let me summarize what Dianne told me.

✦✧☾✧✦

Akira: Ever since Miss Dianne was appointed Borda Island's new lord, people have been disappearing. There's currently nine people missing, including both humans and wizards.

Chloe: Both humans and wizards…

Arthur: This island has its famous wizard market, after all.

Rustica: And this island is beautiful, so many humans come both to sightsee and to permanently settle down here.

Figaro: The development of magical technology has made it so much easier for humans to go where they like. If you look around, you'll see a lot of brand-new big homes.

Lennox: Meaning?

Figaro: There's more vacation homes. Hasn't land on Borda Island and in the City of Nectar gotten more pricy?

Shylock: I believe so.

Rutile: Isn't that odd? Are Southern Country's prairies going to be that pricy one day?

Murr: If there's more people living on them, yeah! The more demand there is, the more profit the suppliers make. Right now, Southern Country's pretty empty. But what if it got a population as big as Western Country's?!

Cain: Basically, Borda Island's a popular place to be for both wizards and humans.

Akira: Yes, exactly. According to Miss Dianne, the repeated disappearances are worsening the antagonism between wizards and humans.

Heathcliff: So they both think the other side is the culprit…?

Akira: It seems that way… The wizards in the market think it was the humans' doing… And the island humans think that it was the wizards' doing. And since Miss Dianne, who's open and friendly with wizards, just arrived…

Arthur: The island residents, already on edge, have been demanding that she leave. They think that a lord who's so close with wizards won't be similarly cordial with humans.

Akira: Exactly. You really understand what's going on, Arthur.

Arthur: It's like I always say. Though I may stand as Central Country's crown prince, I am also a wizard. The wizards think that I'll ally myself with humans. And the humans think that I'll ally myself with wizards. It takes a long time of open and patient conversation to stamp out any misunderstandings.

Shino: Why do you have to be the one to do it? They're the ones that are being stubborn.

Arthur: If you think the person you're talking to is being stubborn, you can never become friends with them. Both wizards and humans have decided that the other side is the one being stubborn. And so an endless cycle is born.

Shino: That's true… Actually, this is a good chance. You're a good guy, so let me give you some advice.

Arthur: You think I'm a good guy? I'm happy to hear that.

Shino: You're too good of a guy. You should let yourself get upset more often. If people don't wanna listen to you, they're not gonna listen. And then you're just wasting your time. There's not as many kind people in this world as you think. You should let up a little.

Arthur: Thank you. You're very kind, Shino.

Shino: Don't mock me.

Arthur: But don't worry. I wouldn't say I'm all that virtuous, either. I do have a goal in mind.

Shino: A goal?

Arthur: It takes time for people to see me not as a wizard, not as a human, not as a prince, but as myself. And for me to see the person I'm talking to properly, I need to take that much time as well. It's difficult to erase one's prejudices and preconceptions.

Shino: …I'm not willing to put that much work into other people. People who don't like me should just stay away from me. And I'll stay away from them, too. It's fine if we don't understand each other. It's enough to know what lines not to cross.

Arthur: I think that's fine, too. Boundaries exist so that you don't experience undue suffering.

Shino: …? Isn't that the complete opposite of what you said, though?

Arthur: I think it's the same. I probably just have much different boundaries from you. It's just about what we're good and not good with.

Shino: Meaning?

Arthur: If human society and wizard society stay separated, one day, they're going to collide messily with one another. I want to avoid that tragedy. I feel like that's the only thing I can leave in this world…

Oz: …

Arthur: What I'm trying to say, is… I'm good at having those kinds of patient conversations, and I have a personal interest in addressing the issue. So it's not something that's as difficult for me as you're worried about, Shino. But again, thank you.

Shino: Hmm… Well, if you say it's fine, then it's fine. Living just seems hard for you and Heath sometimes.

Heathcliff: …

Figaro: Things are getting pretty philosophical here. Both understanding something and misunderstanding something are important in a wizard's life. But for right now, let's just put that topic to the side.

Faust: You're just knocking that philosophical topic off the table like a cat.

Figaro: It'd be nice if it was the kind of topic that we could put on hold like that, right? So to sum it up, Master Sage, she wants us to find the true culprit behind these disappearances?

Akira: That's correct. The island residents are wary of the people in Miss Dianne's castle, so they can't do much at the moment…

Figaro: Got it. Then it's time to start collecting information on these disappearances. But first, Master Sage, can I have a second?

Figaro put his arm around my shoulder and led me away from the group. Once we were a bit of a ways away, he murmured something into my ear.

Figaro: …Master Sage. A lot of people are involved in these incidents.

Akira: The market wizards and the island residents, right?

Figaro: Yes. And there's also the possibility that these disappearances are actually serial murders.

Hearing that startled me. I looked up at him. He shrugged his shoulders with a bitter smile on his face.

Figaro: Wizards turn to stone when they die. Cleaning up the bodies is easy, so it's easy to cover up their deaths. Arthur is Oz's disciple, and Shino's been through a lot of direct combat. Heathcliff's also been taught how to protect his family. Chloe and Rustica have been traveling for years, and I imagine they've seen their fair share of fighting. But, my kids… The Southern brothers, Rutile and Mitile, aren't ready for this kind of thing. I don't think Riquet is, either. For the chance that humans have been killing wizards.

Akira: …How likely do you think the chance of that is?

Figaro: I'm not sure. They did say they're only disappearances, after all. Say you stabbed and killed me right now. All you'd have to do is wrap my stone in my clothes and bury them somewhere, and boom, I'm recorded as missing.

The bright sunlight was making my head spin.

Akira: (That's right. Wizards turn to stone…) (If something happened to any of them, I wouldn't even get to see them resting peacefully afterwards.)

Figaro: So I think it's better if the matter of information gathering is kept away from Rutile, Mitile, and Riquet… Oh, oh dear. Perhaps I should have kept it from you, too. You're looking a little off…

Shylock: Are you okay, Master Sage?

Suddenly Shylock was at my side, supporting my arm. He glared at Figaro, blaming him for my current state. Figaro raised both hands and shook his head.

Figaro: I didn't do anything.

The outline of the sun above glittered with all the colors of the rainbow. Just like the stone of a wizard.

Next Chapter

[articalextraordinaire]

hi guys, sorry for dying lmao. anyways... do you guys want some ninjago ethnic and cultural headcanons??? (theyre almost all east/south/southeast asian btw // srry if u wanted more central/western asian rep.. caucasus dont count theyre too european /hj)

Arin: y'know the fact that there's like a ton of different tribes in papua new guinea? yeah, maybe one of those but i don't wanna be disrespectful so i'll do more research first before fully commiting. other thoughts are timorese or other indigenous groups from/near eastern indonesia.

Sora: look at those cat ears and try to tell me that she is NOT japanese. just- cmon man. plus, imperium is like a futuristic imperial japan or a futuristic version of that time the tokugawa family was in charge and locked down the country.

Lloyd (as well as the entire FSM bloodline): either tibetian or bhutanese. FSM just gives some budhist vibes so yeah. this isnt going to be about religion but religion does kind of affect ethnicity and culture so it does have a very minor role in making these headcanons. nepali works too but nepal is kinda nore hindu so yeah..

Kai and Nya: indomalay. mostly the indo part.. like- cmon, fire and water, indonesia is an archipelago with a shit ton of volcanoes (philippines too but we'll get there, sandali lang muna ;) ) i cant get into specifics cuz im not too well-researched but yeah. also, vibes 👌

Zane: siberian or he's from one of the islands extremely north of japan that japan and russia keep on disputing over. purely because of geography and ✨vibes✨

Cole: mixed black latino-filipino. as a filipino myself i wanted to make someone filipino =). since a lotta people were making cole black, i thought that i might as well make him mixed <3. plus, the philippines is also a former spanish colony so it just makes sense. if you want a more specific country, either colombia or the dominican republic are cool. not very well-researched on the different latin american countries so if anyone wants to tell me the most appropriate country for cole pls let me know 🥰.

Jay: umm, i sorta have a dillema over this. im thinking either korean or he's from somewhere in the gobi desert like mongolia or inner mongolia (its a province in china btw). korean bc the entertainment and beauty industry as well as the student and work culture kinda fit him. but somewhere in the gobi desert is nice bc the desert is where he grew up. maybe he's korean but grew up in a mongolian-chinese environment but yeah, im not too sure about him 🤷‍♀️. im leaning more towards korean but yeah, not sure.

Wyldfyre: i um... this was very hard. first of all, she's not gonna be asian since i couldn't find a good enough area in asia and well, im pretty sure she's not from ninjago so she doesn't have to be asian. so, i got maori in northern new zealand but 1. i know nothing about the maori people 2. it might be disrespectful to portray them like that. and 3. er, the geography is kinda off. where she grew up looks very desert-y and volcanic. i think a more suitable reigon is in south america towards the coast like peru or chile but um i know even less about the those reigions than new zealand. plus, it has the same first 2 problems i listed earlier. (yes im ignoring her clothes for these headcanons srry guys my brain loves topography too much) TLDR; idk man shes too hard to sort out lol. it adds more to her mystery and chaotic energy anyway so yeah.

if u know more abt latin american countries, pls give me pointers so that i can have more accurate headcanons for cole and wyldfyre. i can do my own research for kai, nya, and arin but any help with that is also very much appreciated 👍. peace ✌️

(this is what happens when u become a geography nerd... im not at my full potential yet bc my latin american knowledge and all of africa knowledge sucks. but yeah. bye fr this timeee)

[fredseibertdotcom]

THE WATT WORKS FAMILY [1990 catalog]

Download THE WATT WORKS FAMILY at Scribd

This WATT catalog is 35 years old, maybe in the age of the internet, their last one. 

Working with Carla Bley and Michael Mantler was one of the great inspirations of my young work life. Which is probably why I’ve posted a number times of some of their work, from the time I worked with them and afterwards too. 

Why am I so interested? Carla and Mike were perfect models of talent, sure, but also resilience, perseverance, determination, and blind, stupid, confidence. We first became acquainted after I crashed a recording session for Carla’s ‘operatic’ Escalator Over the Hill, which they financed themselves, and out of frustration, released and distributed themselves on JCOA Records. which eventually spawned the self determination of the New Music Distribution Service and WATT Works, a label for their continuing works. 

When I bumped into this 1990 catalog from THE WATT WORKS FAMILY (by then with bass/composer stalwart Steve Swallow, daughter/composer Karen Mantler [and her cat Arnold], and distributed internationally by ECM Records) I was struck, not only by the sheer volume of personal, completely –can I emphasize completely?– independent work, but also the sheer value of creating this work self sufficiently. It made me suddenly aware of why I felt they were so influential to me. 

Are there any other musical composers who’ve succeeded in getting their music recorded with no outside creative interference? Who, because of that complete independence, were able to experiment –often successfully, quite a few, not so much*– across such a wide range of the possibilities of their music? And think about it, what composers have you ever listened to who were completely unafraid of reaching beyond the box they were put in (’jazz’ in their cases) to artists that had the unique talents, and not for nothing, commercial possibilities? (Their records have spanned the Western world of contemporary music... from the jazz world, Don Cherry, Cecil Taylor, Pharaoh Sanders, Charlie Haden, Larry Coryell, Roswell Rudd, but also Linda Ronstadt, Jack Bruce, Robert Wyatt, Don Preston, Terry Adams, and of course, I’ve left out dozens of others.) 

Let me stress, it was unbelievably hard for them to hit those accomplishments,  no one can say that success is easy. But, it is their very independence that gave them room to try. You know what they say... “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

.....

From the introduction: 

Now the truth can be told. The WATT recording label is not the idealistic, uncompromising, visionary creation of two young revolutionaries. No, Michael Mantler and Carla Bley started WATT, almost 20 years ago, to make money. 

Like all musicians, they assumed that once the world got to hear their unique individual styles, fame and riches would follow. So they slaved over each new release, always sure that the latest one would sell millions.

Carla went through many phases. After realizing that no one was interested in hearing her zany capricious fantastic amazingly intricate concoctions for large assortments of weird and wonderful musicians, she tried to write simple little songs for small, boring groups of anonymous hacks. Mike, on the other hand, stuck firmly to his grandiose style, turning out gaunt tragic forlorn bleak emotionally distraught masterpieces, certain that someday his music would pay off. 

Finally giving up all thoughts of ever cashing in on their own efforts, they formed an·auxiliary company, XtraWATT, and started looking for young talent to exploit. The first sucker that they stumbled upon was Steve Weisberg. He was definitely young, and ready to work for nothing. It wasn't difficult to recruit 20 other desperate musicians to play on his album, I CAN'T STAND ANOTHER NIGHT ALONE (IN BED WITH YOU), by promising to pay them lots of money when it came out. 

Next to fall for the XtraWATT scam was young veteran jazz bassist Steve Swallow, who, desirous of getting his collection of overkeening faux-negre soul ballads recorded, handed over his life savings to Mantler·to cover "expenses", and even agreed to call the album CARLA.

But word of the racket got out, and no one else could be found who was willing to record for XtraWATT. In desparation, Mantler and Bley forced their own child, Karen, to learn a few chords and simple melodies. They even tried to train their cat to sing the resulting ditties. (Most of those efforts had to be replaced by unsuspecting teenaged humans, but the album was still called MY CAT ARNOLD, to avoid paying royalties.)  

In spite of Mantler's greedy misdoings (word has it that Bley is just a pawn in his game), his victims still adore him, having nothing to compare their music business experiences to. Even Weisberg, who has confessed that he has ambitions of someday graduating into the clutches of a big-time criminal at a real record company, is embarrassingly grateful.  

Naturally, the entire WATT/XtraWATT family was honored to go along with his latest plot. Hopefullly, some nice journalist or salesperson will notice how interesting and valuable the music is, and persuade the public to finally fork over those dollars! 

.....

*Some reviews, taken from the catalog: 

“…the finest examples of progressive large ensemble work written and recorded in America in 1975.” –Downbeat 

“This record is a real dog.”  

“It’s delightful.” –Melody Maker 

“…the least listenable record I have ever heard.” –Melody Maker 

“Everything Jesus Christ Superstar should have been and isn’t.” –Changes 

“This is a record which all rock musicians as well as general audiences should listen to with care.” –Rolling Stone 

[sirduck48]

Bad news, I came up with some more Duck headcanons for you to ramble about! *casually dumps them in your lap*

-Duck has an autographed photo of the city of Truro (well, technically truro’s crew signed it.) in his cab from when Truro visited the island.

-after the RWS book, Duck and the Diesel Engine was published, City of Truro sent duck his own fan latter praising Duck for his bravery and quick thinking and said that Duck is the very model of the GWR. Duck almost popped his safety valve after seeing the letter, now everyone teases him and says that he has a celebrity crush which he denies, but he’s definitely one of Truro’s biggest fans. Actually, it’s not uncommon for engines to have celebrity crushes on famous engines, they could care less about human celebrities unless it has to do with their world, and human accomplishments don’t mean much to an engine, so it only makes sense for them to look up to other famous engines (don’t tell anyone, but Spencer secretly has a celebrity crush on Mallard and would destroy his safety valve when he sees her.)

-people started leaving Duck bread as a joke which annoyed him, he had to politely tell people that no, he cannot eat bread so stop trying to feed him bread. Now people give him frozen peas.

-Duck’s favorite book is a bear called Paddington for obvious reasons.

-while he was trying to teach Casey, my OC the Great Western Way ™, he let Casey shadow him while he did a run with his slip coaches and failed to explain Casey what even slip coaches are, Casey being a goods train only and never seeing slip coaches, thought that the coupling links had broke and shunted all the coaches after Duck before any of the passengers could get off thinking he was helping. It wasn’t until Duck finished his run when he realized what Casey had done and flew into the rage. After some deliberation with the “Little Western Council” (it’s not really a council) they decided to banish Casey from the Little Western under the terms that if he sets one wheel on their branchline from here on out, there will be repercussions. This was overruled by Sir Topham Hatt who made is very clear that he makes the decisions and that the “Little Western Council” has no authority at all.

-why the slip coaches didn’t say anything to Casey? I don’t know….

-in my human AU, he has a little old terrier and a cat. He will sometimes petsit Toad’s Hamster.

-Duck is a city boy, he grew up in the city and found it jarring to go from a bustling city to the more quieter and rural island.

-every Christmas Donald and Douglas’s mom would send him a knitted item, he has a nice sweater collection.

-a fan once sent him a Jeremia Puddle duck plush. He now sleeps with it every night.

-Thomas once received an ostrich egg from one of his pen pals, Nia, (Nia never came to Sodor in My AU, Thomas met her during a RWS anniversary tour and they’ve remained good pen pals.) he tried to see if maybe an ostrich egg would cook over Duck’s engine whistle since the chicken egg obviously didn’t work and the ostrich egg has more mass meaning that, according to Thomas, would theoretically not boil so quickly and explode. Unfortunately, Duck stopped Thomas before he could actually boil the egg, Thomas was holding the egg over the whistle and Percy had his hand on the whistle, but nothing came from it and Thomas had to resort to making a very big omelet with his ostrich egg. Probably a good thing too since an ostrich egg would be a nightmare to clean if it were to explode.

That’s all I have for now, here, have some bonus fanart

Why is that bad news? That is good news, I love rambling about things.

I agree with the first and second headcanon. Duck definitely almost popped a safety valve when he saw the letter, and his whistle blew so loudly it nearly blew everyone's ears off.

I think that Duck can eat bread. I have this headcanon that engines can eat, it just goes into their firebox. Duck likes bread, and frozen peas.

I definitely agree that his favourite book is Paddington. He has the same etiquette as Paddington, and the fact that he worked there also adds to his enjoyment of it. I also love Paddington, and personally prefer him with his black hat (I still love his red hat, but his black hat is nostalgic to me)

I read about the Casey fiasco with the slip coaches on your account. I think that this is a very good idea, and very good episode material. I'm not too sure why the slip coaches didn't say anything to be honest. I love the idea of a Little Western Council, and I also think that The Fat Controller lets the council have authority over the Little Western in a second in command kind of way. The Fat Controller still has first hand authority, but he does take suggestions from the council into account.

Those are nice pets for Duck to have. I headcanon that Duck is very independent and doesn't have pets. He still loves animals though, especially ones that are less favourably received by some, such as bugs and snails.

This headcanon is why I find differing opinions so riveting, for my headcanon is the complete opposite. Duck is a country lad to me. Being from Devon, he loves open spaces and nature. While he doesn't hate the city, it can get too overwhelming for him sometimes, and he much prefers to go bird and bug spotting in the countrysides and woods.

The Christmas headcanon is a really nice headcanon, and I think that Duck sends them all some fancy attire every Christmas as well.

Oh he definitely sleeps with plushies, and a Jeremia Puddle plushie suits him really well. I think that he sleeps with a duck, frog and pumpkin plushie as well.

Duck would absolutely not allow Thomas to boil an ostrich egg on his engine's whistle. Why he allowed his driver to boil an egg on his whistle in the show is beyond me in all honesty. I think that he didn't want to do it, but his driver did it anyway. I also think that he firmly reprimanded his driver after he did it.

That art looks very natural and very good. I love the blended, natural look of the landscape and the ducks look very realistic. I love how the flowers provide flickers of bright colour amongst the mix of murky, foggy, oaky and grassy hues. I also love your Duck and Diesel design, Duck looks a bit gritty and jaded (in a good way) and Diesel looks sleek and sleazy (again, in a good way).

This is all just my opinion.

[accidentally-in-fictional-love]

Things I Noticed While Writing Light The Fuse: Part 14, Episode 5

This one is just. They didn't have to do this for us but they did. They really did. 😳

I am kissing everyone who thought this angle was a good idea directly on the mouth

Nothing could've prepared us for this strength reveal. Matty in a tanktop again with such an awful pitching form. Ethan's super wide stance and the fact that he really thought he could catch up to it. That ball doesn't even touch ground in the park, and Matty completely knew this was coming, maybe he was hoping he'd take it easy on them this time.

You can also hear a clocktower go off here, and I'm not sure if it's signaling 2, which means Gary should be making his drop (I wanted them to arrive at the same time to keep everything on schedule but the fact that they're just playing ball while Gary is at Percy's to kill time is funny to me), or if it's a generic gong to signal the hour

don'ttalkabouthistitsdon'ttalkabouthistitsdonottalkabouthistits Matty has really pretty hair I really like it when it's this long

You really thought you were gunna get that one huh champ, it literally disappears into the distance, these are nowhere close to the fence

The first shot is actually slightly longer in the extended ep and I only noticed when my subs didn't match up to Hulu's version (what I'm using for this series), and that's the only change to this whole scene. But this convo is so important, this whole time Matty has just been bragging to cops about Ethan's murder and now he wants to actually know about it, be trusted with that information other than 'yeah that happened'.

And it would be so easy for Ethan to keep lying as he's been doing, just twist the truth enough to keep them away from his reality, but he doesn't, and even though it's just them playing baseball together for the fun of it instead of having this convo on the river or at the 707, that makes this scene so important to me I had to write it twice in my fic, one for the dialogue and one for the baseball, but both so intimate in their own way, I knew I couldn't do it any other way

don'ttalkabouthiscakedoNOTtalkaboutthecake

The shoes! I was finally gunna talk about the shoes! And then I looked up and realized that his undershirt is over a bit too much and he's flashing us just the teeniest amount and my brain turned to radio static again 😵😳😵

Okay I'm back, but the shoes! I love his shoes so much! Look at the heels on those things! And he has them in white too like these are just his favourite brand of shoes! I was trying to find out how tall he was and imdb said 6'1 and out loud I went 'no he's fuckin not' cause he's shorter than Johnson in all their scenes with the heels, and his are like very thin on his own boots, so some wires are getting crossed here 🤔 but I know that no matter what he's still taller than me and that's all that matters

Anyway everyone needs to appreciate Matty's fashion, I know Johnson eats with every outfit like the vest in this ep is so damn good but Matty with his western arrow shirt and his fancy belt and then normal jeans and thick-heeled shoes are just 😚👌

ohmygod he's so cute and impatient give him a second to grab the ball ;w;

I wonder if they talked about it in the scenes where Ethan wasn't around, cause in canon he ditches them to talk to Doris more than they're ditching him to make out so they still get time to talk alone offscreen, and again this is the first and only time Matty questions it. I feel like Johnson already has some doubts since the subs make him say or instead of yeah as a full mock, like he already has that good a read on him that he knows something might be up even if Ethan has only ever said it in fear and full confidence, a big difference than my fic for once since I had him say it in order to help Ethan speak more easily.

I would seriously pay for an entire show just with them, split season 2 into them and then everyone else lol just gimme every single second possible with them please

Finally, Ethan tells the truth, as detailess as possible, but still, this is what happened. Matty and Johnson looking at each other instead of him during this is interesting, I wonder if they've already gone over the little details he'd shared before so this is Matty confirming his own thoughts and Johnson wanting to again get right to the meat of it, just like when he was talking about his mom, he always manages to do this when no one else can

Yes, Ethan! Question it! Tell them everything and have them still accept you because they like having you here even if it doesn't make sense! The entire time they're not even looking at him, they're going over the possibility that he heard wrong and he isn't a murderer, he doesn't have to be here because his life is still safe. Maybe Matty was already having doubts on Cop Night when the cop didn't get the APB so he's been talking to Johnson about it, and still all this is changing nothing

(Matty's hands are so constantly moving I'm in love with him)

'Do you regret running away, finding us, being here? If you could go back, will you?'

Okay Ethan, I need you to listen to me very carefully. I need you to look them in the eye, then look me in the eye, and tell me personally that it was Meredith who made you feel less alone. I need you to tell me that your crush on her was more important than them accepting you no matter what, and wanting you to be there with them regardless of the answer.

Look at them. Even if he's not a murderer they want him there. He's their family already and it only gets stronger. Johnson knows it without a shadow of a doubt, this is just his confirmation. Matty knows it and he's so happy, this is another thing he believes in, Ethan trusted them and even if there's doubts about the murder there is no doubt about Ethan belonging there, with them, as a Phoenix

No Matty he wasn't going to take it easy on you guys after the heart to heart, you gotta go find that or buy more that's the Johnson Guarantee you signed up for when you let him grab the bat

This is the face of a man who now gets it, and he still told Meredith she was the one who made him feel like he wasn't alone, so I'm going to start believing that that was pure desperation in the face of the barrel cause these men love him so unconditionally it's not even me reaching anymore

And then this was the last time any of them were happy ;w; Ethan learns how it feels to be truly loved, and then instantly learns what fake love feels like again from someone he trusted ;w; ❤️💙💛