#i legitimately cannot wait for everyone to see it

[dewdropple]

Hi! I wanted to share a preview for the second story I wrote for @qsmpzine, At the End of the Potato Field, a story about how to become a warrior starring Chayanne and his inspiration, Technoblade!

The kickstarter's only open for a few more days! Check it out if you can!

Photo's text under the read more

Dad said he was the best warrior there was, telling old stories late at night when they were tucked under the covers. Chayanne could tell they were old from the way Phil’s eyes would crinkle with a fond smile or the sigh he’d give once he was done for the night.

And every story would be about Technoblade. About how he was so strong, he could clear out an entire army by himself. He was so skilled, he took over the world and ruled from a castle made of ice. And when he grew tired of fighting, he was so smart, he tricked a rival into losing a potato-growing contest.

He was the greatest, proven time and time again with every story Phil shared. The best part was, Dad said that he was a real guy, that walked and ate and roamed the Earth just like they did. With enough practice, he could be just as good, just as great, too.

And so he hoped that Techno also saw him dismantle the practice dummy. Because that’s where he lived, in the small shelter at the end of the potato field with the crates and the crown and the flowers and the bells.

Because Techno was a real warrior, a brave fighter, strong and tall. He could block out the sun with his shoulders alone. So mighty that one tough look would send bad guys running back home.

And Chayanne would become a warrior, just as great as Technoblade.

Maybe even the greatest warrior of them all.

[querenciasturniolo]

chris or matt x fem!reader please !!! i legitimately cannot choose between them for my life so you can choose :) maybe reader’s also like an influencer and they have this secret sort of relationship for a while and its all super fluffy, but fans are already starting to speculate that they’re together and stuff, and then at the end they finally go public with a hard launch and/or live and everyone in the comments ( or chat if it’s a live ) is going FERAL

p.s. also i’ve loved your works for so long you DO NOT UNDERSTAND and i’ve finally gathered up the courage to send in a message even tho it’s sent in with a request !

hard launch ⮕ m.s.

word count: 911

warnings: swearing

summary: request

a/n: STOP YOU’RE SO SWEET 😭 please don’t be scared of me, i promise i don’t bite HAHAHA, ily are you kidding me 🫶🏻😭 also this was so fucking cute, i’m obsessed fr

everything written is completely fictional. the people i write for are written with characteristics and mannerisms that i made for them, this is in no way depicting what would actually happen in real life.

Watching Matt stream always had your heart stuttering in your chest.

The theme for Hogwarts Legacy was playing as he was adjusting his camera, your eyes watching him closely and trying to fight the smile stretching across your face. You were sure the viewers could see you staring, considering you were sitting in the chair directly next to him, on camera. His eyes dropped from the screen as he grabbed his controller.

“Alright guys, so, we’re playing Hogwarts Legacy tonight, but I have a special guest with me, as you all can see.” He turned his head and met your eyes, his own smile growing and his cheeks tingeing pink as he caught you already staring. Introduce yourself, he mouthed. You turned to face the camera, grinning wider than before as your eyes scanned over the chat.

“Hey guys, I’m the guest, obviously. My name is Y/n.” You said.

did anyone else see the way she was staring at matt ? they’re in love, confirmed

she’s so real, i’d be staring too

i can’t even handle this, she’s so cute

“Basically, Y/n’s going to play while I tell her what to do. She’s never held a controller in her life.” Matt teased, his eyes flickering between the screen and the chat as you pressed the button to start the game.

“Wait, I have to create a whole character?” You asked, glancing over at Matt as he placed the headset over your ears. He chuckled and nodded.

“Yes, you have to create a whole character, is that not what you were expecting when you begged me to play this game?” He teased. You rolled your eyes and adjusted the headset, making sure the ear that was on his side was exposed so you could hear him.

“This is ridiculous, I can’t believe you didn’t tell me I had to create an entire chara—oh my God I can have pink hair, I take it back.” You rambled, scrambling through the hair colors. Matt’s laugh next to you had you grinning as your eyes flickered between the screen and the chat.

this banter is only proving my point that they’re in love

i’m so glad she’s streaming with him this is so funny

has anyone else noticed that matt hasn’t looked at the screen once

You glanced over at Matt, meeting his eyes immediately. You couldn’t help but mirror his smile as you shook your head and faced the screen again. You created your character, groaning when you realized you had to go through a thousand cut scenes, even though you were thrilled to be playing this game.

“I never understood why you can’t see those weird horse things until that dude gets eaten by the dragon.” Matt said, catching your attention enough for you to glance at him with wide eyes and a slack jaw. You sighed through your nose and shook your head.

“I forgot, you’re a fake fan.” You said, interrupting him before he could fire back. “They’re thestrals, you can only see them if you’ve witnessed death, but they’re always there.” You explained, Matt furrowing his eyebrows as you faced the screen again.

y/n being a harry potter fan was not on my docket, but i’m not complaining

her humbling matt has got to be the funniest fucking thing i’ve ever seen in my life

i love this

The entire time you were going through the beginning quests, you and Matt had bickered back and forth, your smile wide with each comeback you shot at him. It wasn’t until a knock on Matt’s door that the two of you stopped talking. You paused the game, but Matt scoffed and unpaused it.

“You keep playing.” He demanded playfully, your own scoff leaving your lips as you shook your head and continued. Chris peeked his head into the door.

“Food’s here, just thought you guys should know.” He said, Matt nodding his head. Chris left the room, and Matt turned to you.

“I’ll go get it.” He said, standing from the chair as you turned to face him. Before you could process it, he leaned down and pressed his lips to yours firmly and turned to leave the room. You smiled and shook your head before facing the screen and realizing what just happened.

oh mY GOD I FUCKING KNEW IT

DID ANYONE ELSE SEE THAT ??????

WHAT IS GOING ON MATT JUST KISSED HER ON FUCKING STREAM

You ignored the chat, trying to play it off and completely move past what happened, thinking that Matt did it on instinct. Chats were flying in at such a rapid pace that it felt as though everything on the screen was lagging. It was completely screwing up how you were playing, not only your racing heart and shaking hands on the controller.

You completely short circuited, having no idea what to do as Matt walked back into his room. He was laughing at something Chris had said as he sat down next to you and glanced over at the chat.

“Oh.”

You looked over at him and raised your eyebrows, your skin on fire as you watched his eyes scan over the rapid chats flying in at once.

“Yeah.” You said, Matt finally meeting your eyes with pink cheeks. He smiled and shrugged his shoulders, leaning in and pressing a soft kiss to your nose before he sat back and grinned widely.

“I guess that was one hell of a hard launch, huh?”

tags: @strniolo , @ssturniolo , @thetriplets3 , @stvrni0lo , @gabbylovesreading , @dwntwn-strnlo , @tylerscreat0r , @toyourloves , @lvrsparadise , @angelcake-222 , @20nugs , @obsessivencrazy , @lollibumblebee , @stargirlv0id , @jellybeanbby , @idontexistman , @emssturniolo , @soursturniolo , @bernardenjoyer , @mxqdii , @leah-loves-lilies , @mattsnutsack , @champangekisses , @floofparker , @lovelysturniolo

[carriesthewind]

Good evening everyone! As I said in an answer to a previous ask, there wasn't a public call-in line to listen to the Show Cause Hearing in Mata v Avianca (the ChatGBT lawyer case) today.

However, while we are waiting for a transcript of the hearing (because there was a court reporter! yay!) and a written decision by the judge, we did get this absolutely anxiety-inducing live tweet of the hearing:

(Caveat: this thread was not an official transcript of the hearing and should not be taken as such. It is possible the actual events and statements made in the hearing differ significantly from this report - i.e., take this with a grain of salt and reserve final judgement for the actual transcript.)

I'll put the full thread with some (light) commentary below the cut.* But the overall impression I am left with is that the judge seems to feel this pair of attorneys are treating their duty of candor toward the tribunal with the same seriousness with which they are treating their duty of competence to their clients. (And in this case, that's a very bad thing.)

*The full thread except for a soon-to-follow part 2 because I ran out of space for images again.

(All of the following screenshots are from the above tweet thread by Inner City Press @ innercitypress on twitter, made on June 8, 2023.)

Normally I would overlook that "you, personally," but in this case, you really get the feeling that the judge is concerned that LoDuca might just start talking about what Schwartz did again.

Establishing LoDuca's base of knowledge - he should know how to look up cases and check if they are real; he should know what a real case looks like.

The March 1 submission was the plaintiff's opposition to the motion to dismiss, where they first cited the fake cases.

How bad this answer is depends, I think, on LoDuca's wording here. Best case scenario, his statement about Schwartz was a specific statement about what inquiry was reasonable for him to do under the circumstances (which - for that first filing - I think is actually a reasonable argument. You don't expect your colleague to just make up cases). Worst case, this reads like him trying to wiggle out of his obligations. I will withhold judgement until I see the official transcript.

Rule 11, by the way, refers to Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Rule 11(b) states:

(If you remember the Order to Show Cause, we are dealing with a Rule 11(b)(2) issue here. Rule 11(c) allows the court to impose sanctions for violations of Rule 11(b))

Oh no, bad answer. (If anyone reading this is good at photoshop, I cannot express how badly I want a version of the "this sign can't stop me because I can't read" meme with the sign being the quote from defendant's reply where they say, "The undersigned has not been able to locate this case by caption or citation, nor any case bearing any resemblance to it.")

Oh that is not a good way of characterizing those orders. (Those were the orders, remember, where the Court said, "By April 18, 2022, Peter LoDuca, counsel of record for plaintiff, shall file an affidavit annexing copies of the following cases cited in his submission to this Court: as set forth herein. Failure to comply will result in dismissal of the action pursuant to Rule 41 (b), Fed. R. Civ. P.")

I would simply perish on the spot.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention in my original attempted summary of "Varghese" - the first paragraph states that it is a wrongful death suit by the widow of the passenger. Then the second paragraph states that the passenger was denied boarding on a flight due to overbooking and thus missed his connecting flight and therefore incurred additional expenses. The case was such nonsense that I legitimately forgot about that inconsistency by the time I got to the end.

Your honor I plead "2 stupid 2 sanction."

(I believe the "different fonts" is in reference to the April 25 affidavit, in which the case names - and some of the surrounding text - are in a different font from most of the text in the affidavit. It seems like this is because they may have been copied straight from ChatGPT. See e.g., #3 below. It's hard to tell just based on this twitter thread, though.)

A short and simple answer! You did it!

"I have all the answers I need" is not a good sentence in this context.

Very genuinely: shorter is better here. At least I don't think he hurt himself with that statement.

Judge Castel: How do you conduct legal research?

Schwartz: I research cases.

Judge Castel: Do you read them?

Schwartz: Well, I may have once upon a time, but after hearing you ask that question in this context, I have decided to retire from the practice of law forever and also possibly sink into the ground and die. Also, by answering "yes," here, I just realized that I'm either admitting that I read the cases I submitted and therefore must have known they were fake, or else I just possibly committed perjury. Oh shit oh fuck.

Oh god I'm cringing myself into a pretzel just reading this.

Hey, by the way? You can actually use google (esp. google scholar) to do legal research. (It's not a good tool and you will miss things, but it will do in a pinch.) But. Um. If you know that...why didn't you double check your cases at very least on google when you were told they seemed to be made up?

So, once again, I am going to withhold judgement until I see the actual transcript. That said, if Schwartz did say this, I would like to compare it briefly to a part of the chat transcript he provided to the court. Here is the first question asked about the Montreal Convention in the provided transcript:

"analysis"

Oh god. I can't even provide commentary on this one. I hope this is worse than the actual transcript will prove to be. I'm reading through my fingers like I'm watching a horror movie.

"Misperception" (or "misconception") doesn't work once you have evidence that should cause you to doubt - like not being able to find a case that was supposedly published in the Federal fucking Reporter.

This is overshooting "2 stupid 2 sanction" into "too stupid to function."* You either looked for "Varghese" or you didn't. If you looked for "Varghese," it is not credible that you continued to have a good faith assumption that ChatGPT couldn't lie. If you didn't look up "Varghese," you just lied to the Court under oath.

*Just to be clear: for an ordinary person, this would be a very understandable lack of knowledge issue. A lawyer has no excuse not to know this.

Judge Castel: Mr. Schwartz, I think you have the fucking audacity to try to lie to me to my face in my fucking courtroom.

Honestly at this point I'm surprised he could still talk. I think screaming, "I'm melting, I'm melting!" as he vanished into steam, leaving his crumpled suit behind, would be an appropriate response.

NO.

Oh no, oh honey.

Ok. Two options here (again, assuming he actually fucking said "They said they couldn't find them," in response to the Court asking, "When Avianca said you cited non existent cases?"):

Schwartz is once again trying to purposefully downplay what the defendant's reply brief actually said and dodge responsibility.

Schwartz honestly, truly believes that when the defendant filed a reply containing the line, "The undersigned has not been able to locate this case by caption or citation, nor any case bearing any resemblance to it," they were just asking for assistance with their legal research?!??!

I honestly don't know which is worse.

Oh no....

Oh man, I haven't gone over it here yet, but I think that "I looked up the judge" is a panicked attempt at bringing up a talking point the Professional Responsibility Lawyers raised in their memorandum of law. (Again, I'm giving this reading of his response with the caveat that it is based only on this thread, not the official transcript, which might read very differently and contain different/more info.) The Professional Responsibility attorneys noted in a footnote that two of the judges listed in the "opinion," including the "author," were actual 11th circuit judges, and the other is an actual 5th circuit judge. My read of this footnote was as an extra little detail tossed in by the Professional Responsibility attorneys to try to dress up their argument that the "opinions" had various "indicia of authenticity."

But here's the problem. If Schwartz is telling the truth - if he was reading carefully and critically enough that he bothered to look up the judge (why would you do that if you didn't think the case might be fake?!) there is no way he could have missed that the case was gibberish. Again, if this is really what he said at the hearing, he either lied in the hearing, or he must have know the "opinions" were bogus when he gave them to LoDuca to file.

"Did it cross your mind" - if the court actually said this, oh my god.

Hey, that's the point that I made in my original post(s)!

This whole thing about the "+h" to "th" with the notary date is from the recent affidavits filed on 6/6/23, you can read them about them if you want, I'll be honest, I don't really care as much about the notary stuff so I'm going to skip it for the moment.

....and I've run out of space for images again. Part II to follow shortly!

[melonteee]

One Piece leaks are genuinely the bane of my existence, One Piece as a manga is insanely easy to access and the new chapters are even FREE TO READ. The only reason to read leaks or scans is straight up due to a childish impatience. I cannot elaborate how the eng audience is the ONLY one to do it to an extent that's so insane it is legitimately damaging the livelihoods of our official translators.

Three days is NOTHING to wait for officials, there is no point 'pirating' a manga that is MADE to be accessible. It's seen as an offense to the creators to read and access leaks before the officials, and it's why the eng One Piece audience gets NOTHING extra in terms of One Piece content. We are not seen as a profitable or even RESPECTFUL audience, so they don't bother translating anything outside of the manga for us - because anything ELSE they translate for us flops in sales due to everyone pirating it.

We are lucky to get this One Piece boom recently, but to continue it we MUST stop spreading leaks and support the officials. It's good to have a second source of translation, but it's not hard to release fandom translations AFTER the officials. I keep seeing people deny that leaks and unofficial scans has anything to do with a lack of eng marketing for One Piece, but ask ANYONE who works for the official eng team and they will quite literally tell you this IS the case.

Compared to countries like Spain, Italy, Germany, etc, One Piece has an extreme lack of official support in eng countries. This isn't bootlicking a studio, this is both respecting the author while WANTING more One Piece content for an eng audience. For the love of god PLEASE stop supporting leaks for a manga that literally releases FREE CHAPTERS! 😭

[nalyra-dreaming]

*dances a little*

“I don’t think Louis, as we leave him, is going to be this guy who is suffering as much,” Jones explained. “Actually, I think he’s maybe beginning his legitimate vampire experience there at the end.”

Anderson feels great about what they’ve made in this remarkable series. “I’m really proud of it and of everyone,” he tells me, adding with a giggle, “but it’s the most woo-woo I’ve ever been about anything in my life. I’m like, ‘I’m gonna scatter ashes!’ I don’t mean literal ashes. It’s hard to really explain.”

Watching the season, it’s quite easy to understand why the actor would need a break. “It’s actually a really hard show to talk about other than plot details and machinations of the story,” Anderson says, “because it does feel like a really intense emotional experience to make it, which again, it sounds very highfalutin and woo-woo. It feels different.”

Honestly, thank god Louis won’t be “suffering as much” in Season 3, as Jones describes. Our boy deserves a break.

Yeah he does.

And I cannot wait to see Louis come into his own!! 🙌🙌🙌🙌

[crest-of-gautier]

ok the real reason i made this post other than to say that i finished reload was because i wanted to rb this with my trophy list. because. it makes me laugh so hard.

ur telling me that i can max all social links but i cant make minato work a 9-5 enough to make 50k yen??? this says so much about me 😭

YIPPEEE!!!!!!!!!!

[biancadoes1]

I get one wanting to keep a relationship private, but not even being allowed to comment, that's WILD. And why would anyone subject themselves to that (when it's CLEARLY not what she wants)? Perhaps if you're so in love it literally blinds you to anything else, but I think we can agree that it's def not her case. So, wtf is that? Not a (normal?) relationship, that's for sure.

I really cannot fathom why anyone thinks they’re together. Like legitimately it boggles my mind.

It’s also speaks to how people think of Luke and Antonia separately.

So Luke is a giant douche bag who’s just using this girl to get at Nic-and Antonia is a girl just willing to do whatever he says so she keeps him happy because she’s young.

This really speaks to how people are viewing that “relationship” and how it’s buried in their own personal biases. Why?

Because Luke is hot and he wouldn’t be in to Nic or is mad at Nic for not being in to him? So he’s using Antonia who is just sitting there waiting for him to tell her what to do because she’s desperate to please him?

I really need everyone to take a giant step back and took a good long look at yourselves before you try and look at someone else’s situation.

You might see things more clearly when you do.

You also might stop seeing this as a story. These people are not “characters” and the way some of you think things are going down is akin to a slow burn dime store novel with plot holes EVERYWHERE.

[m2ok]

Ooooohhh König with a shorter s/o that keeps stealing his shirts

-🐝

ugheirgerigu height difference holds my heart <333. Also, I’m working on your other requests right now <33

König With a Short S/O

König x Reader

A/N: i just made these headcannons, because i felt i could do that better than a fic. I felt like a fic would be too short ( even though this is also short-). Male reader is intended, but could be read as Gender Neutral

He’s used to being taller than everyone, so you being shorter than him is not a surprise at all. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t love it though, and he absolutely exploits it. He puts things higher on shelves just so you have to ask him to get it for you. He also for sure does that thing where he leans down to your level so that he can hear you better.

Now, i know big boy has social anxiety, but i don’t think he’s as timid as everyone makes him out to be. I say this because I think he would just pull you onto his lap whenever he could, he likes how grounding it is to have your body weight on his. Also side note but those thighs?? So very strong.

He does not go easier on you when you’re sparring as he thinks that would be a disservice to you and your capabilities. Of course he’s not going to do something that would seriously hurt you, but you will be thrown around and your height will be used against you.

Scary dog privileges, obviously. Someone not taking you seriously because of your stature? He’s just standing behind you, staring the person down until they comply. From then on that person doesn’t hesitate when told to do something.

He likes to hide you behind him when talking to people because he thinks its funny when you just pop out and scare the shit out of whoever he’s talking to.

Picks you up constantly. Especially when you’re about to get into a fight, like he’d just grab you under your arms and carry you away before punches can be thrown. A mission is going south? He’s throwing you over his shoulder before you can even think of continuing said mission.

Okay now onto the clothing stealing. He cant even try to hide how much he likes it when you were his clothes. They’re just so long on you and it’s obvious who’s clothes you’re wearing. Especially loves it when you walk around base in one of his hoodies, because then everyone gets a little reminder who you’re dating.

First time you stole his shirt he was a giggling little mess, he was covering his already masked face with his hands because of how hard he was blushing.

I think whenever he’d want to see you in his clothes he would just hold out whatever article it is and wait for you to take it and put it on. As soon as you did he would insist on spending the rest of the night cuddling. He just always wants to hug you :(((((

Overall he gets very cuddly when you’re wearing his stuff. It’s like cuteness aggression, and I think he would legitimately give you little love bites because he simply cannot handle it.

As always, requests are open

[felassan]

Snippets from shinobi602, cut for length.

Comment made after the character trailer, before the gameplay reveal:

"I know I sound like a broken record at this point but I'd really wait for the gameplay footage before writing it off. I agree that the tone of the trailer isn't how I would have personally revealed the game lol. But it's definitely a mature story...(with classic DA humor of course) I think people will come around when they see it in motion." [source]

Comment made before the gameplay reveal:

"I just got a sneak peak at the gameplay being shown on Tuesday. A small sample, but enough to get a good taste. It feels like a much better Inquisition to me. Absolutely not Fortnite or Overwatch." [source]

Comment made before the gameplay reveal:

User: "Maybe this gameplay showcase is going to show us all the character creator options, the RPG mechanics and skill trees, the expansive dialogue choices you can make, the minute to minute gameplay and how the world works." Shinobi: "You won't get all of that. But it's a solid chunk. This is just the first step in a long several months ahead. They have to save stuff for more beats down the road too or else you run out of gas lol." [source]

Comment made before the gameplay reveal:

User: "Very excited to see a glimpse into that for the gameplay reveal, hoping the game's beginning is as memorable as the other entries" Shinobi: "It is a massive boost in quality for the series. I'm not talking art style or anything, but just in terms of sheer quality and technical fidelity. Really hard to keep my tongue bitten lol, but I'm excited to see what everyone thinks tomorrow." [source]

Comment made after the gameplay reveal was teased:

"Yup, that's what it looks like, but there's so much more goodness. Looks amazing imo." [source]

Comment made before the gameplay reveal:

"it feels like the ME2 of Dragon Age." [source]

Comment made before the gameplay reveal:

"Oh just wait. The hair tech is phenomenal in this. Even I was thinking "aye is this a Bioware game!?" lol." [source]

Comment made before the gameplay reveal:

"They look different but to be honest the more you see them, the more you get used to it. I love the way Harding looks now. It's more stylized, but also a huge boost in technical fidelity in Frostbite." [source]

Comment made after the gameplay reveal, before the press who saw the demos at SGF shared about what they saw:

"Pretty much every person I've talked to across a dozen different media outlets, ~95%'ish, has walked out of the private demo sessions with glowing praise." [source]

-

"I don't mean there aren't any open ended areas to explore. But it's a tight game, with a focus on not wasting the player's time with bloat. They took a lot of that feedback from Inquisition." [source] [re: the game not being open world in design]

-

One preview from a large outlet basically boils down to 'Bioware is back'. [source]

-

"I'm optimistic. From conversations I've had, they are genuinely serious in trying to make a Bioware classic here. They do not want a repeat of Andromeda or Anthem. I can only go based off what I've heard obviously - haven't played it. We all have our opinions on the combat, but they learned a lot of hard lessons since Inquisition, taken a lot of feedback to heart, and want this to feel like that tight, structured high quality experience we used to get from them. Andromeda and Anthem came in hot at launch. I felt some warning signs before those came out, but here? Right now they're just polishing. It's all polish from here to release. I'm really hoping this is the start of their return to form. That team's been through a lot, I hope it works out for the best." [source]

-

User: "I think there certainly is a decent contingent of legitimate dissatisfaction or concern around the game, but I'm not sure that that's an overwhelming segment, but I do think it's something BioWare in EA should not and cannot ignore." Shinobi: "They've definitely taken notice. There's a lot more to show between now and launch." [source]

-

"One thing I'm particularly happy about and can't get over is how much better the hair rendering is. It might be a small thing to some but it looks incredible. It's in another stratosphere compared to DAI." [source]

-

"Everyone in the previews was gushing about how robust the CC is in Veilguard so there might be a decent chance to make some wild Qunari designs." [source]

On the Next Mass Effect:

"ME will look very, very good. Don't worry." [source]

[moonshynecybin]

I find Marc covered up fully underneath his leathers, upto his neck & wrists, so fascinating when we have the others in half sleeves, mesh or nothing. I can't remember if he always was that way or changed midway, if there was a particular reason? If Alex does the same? It just gives regency era eldest spinster daughter hair tied up tight covered up to the neck waiting for the highest titled rake to come show her the pleasures waiting for her.

marc would be SOOOO good at the kate sharma of it all. like bridgerton season two is in many ways rosquez 2 me. marc WOULD deny himself love and marriage if he convinced himself it would protect alex and vale WOULLD close himself off from love for fear of losing anyone he loved ever again after the untimely death of his [dont worry about it] from a bee sting. perfect set up for vale to decide to court marc's much more agreeable and younger (NOT A SPINSTERRRR) brother who because he needs someone to secure the family's future with and alex is one of the most eligible and educated bachelors on the market. and he knows he will never fall in love with him. whereas marc is known for going on crazy person horse rides (how he first meets vale) and pissing people off. and ALEX is locked in this fun codependency thing with marc, where marc sacrificed so much to get him there from spain and its the only way they can like. still live in the same household because the marquez finances are a lil shaky for regency reasons (alex it should be noted will fall for vale's ward franky SO fast and they shall have their own tortured by familial obligation repressed regency drama please trust this. it WOULD involve alex saving franky from bandits. again trust.)

so anyways vale commits to courting the idea of alex. butttt marc and vale. kind of hit it off. chemistry! goofballs ! a game of crochet that legitimately turns a little dangerous (marc is. cheating the whole time lmao. vale is ALSO cheating he is kicking balls into the bushes and. possibly. checking out marc's ass when he bends over to fetch them. victimless crime looking never hurt anyone.) truly luca meets marc and is like lovely to meet the man my brother plans to marry :) and alex vale marc are all like. um. hah. about that. EVERYONE can see and marc and vale are down fucking horrendous but are cutting themselves off from love so aggressively its UPSETTING ! vale CANNOT lose anyone he loves and marc will sacrifice EVERYTHING for alex's future so they are locked in horny tension for monthsss. it is. insanely horny close proximity sniffing. it is. dancing at balls probably more than is strictly proper. it is. marc getting pushed into a body of water and having to strip off his paper thin old-timey shirttttt. getting wayyyy too into betting on horse races like they are throwing elbows. alone in various well dressed rooms breathing the same air SO much yearning and holding back because like. they CANT do that to alex (alex. does not want that man lmao).

until finallyyyyy its alex and vale's wedding day and marc feels like hes going to THROW UPPPPPP. worlds saddest little spinster. pale sad brave face on. but he walks in and vale is just. he cant take his fucking eyes off marc. at the alter in a church in his best suit. he cant stop looking at him. and he feels like hes going to cry but he doesnt know why. and alex walks in and looks at the two of them looking like they want to DIE and it clicks. right then. that theyre in love (huge relief off of his shoulders tbh. already sexting franky via horny letter in his mindpalace) like alex KNOWS his brother and he KNOWS the only way get marc to stop doing something self destructive is for alex to tell him he doesnt have to. so he turns away from vale and he takes marc's hands. and he calls of the wedding.

BUT that doesnt resolve our central conceit on vale's end. what do you do when the scariest thing in the world is the person you love dying. and that is a belief that has been informed by person you love dying trauma. well in vale's case you simply have to realize YOU ARE ALREADY IN LOVE... TOO LATE IDIOT. having them and MAYBE losing them is better than never having them and losing them ANYWAYYY. so in this its like. the wedding falls through, alex marries franky so hes fine, and marc gets in a HORSE RIDING ACCIDENT ! and its uh. not looking good. and marc almost DIES and vale wasnt even THERE and he didnt knowwww how vale feels. he never got to be with him :( truly life is fleeting go fuck your twink :( finds out marc is going to be okay and cries for hmm. maybe the first time in ten years? and then they get married :)

[hexhomos]

Can I ask...what actually happens with Viktor in S2?? I keep hearing people being really vague about it being Bad but I haven't seen the leaks and now cannot find out anything that isn't just someone saying they won't say anything;; I just want to temper my expectations bc I was only excited for S2 for his storyline (+ Jayce interactions) and I'm getting the impression they don't do.....much?? with it?

spoiling stuff for real under the cut

As of ep5, Viktor:

-Doesn't have his mask or armor

-Has no outspoken ideological drive

-Has never once expressed interest in the traditional venues of transhumanism ocurring all around him

-Never made blitzcrank, never did shit ONSCREEN

-The only tangible reference we get to the machine herald is this shot of cards back on s1:

I genuinely dont know if he has even 5 full minutes of actual footage across all of these episodes lmfao...

His contributions to the story are, in sequence:

-stuck in stasis. jayce waits by his bedside for over an episode

-emerges from coma, immediately rebuffs all of jayce’s warm affectionate advances to the point its a little comical. looks like a dried grape, barely any bigger. declares that he's mad over not being left to DIE; he has to go away now. he hears... her voice! oh! that girl who spoke one time in s1 and that he ignored in every scene!

-left the lab buttnaked and barefoot with a blanket jayce wrapped around him to explore the streets on zaun. a bunch of sick homeless guys (who are, of course, shimmer addicts, see my note about war on terror) think he must be augmented so they want to kill him for scraps and parts. But they dont know that viktor is jesus now. he turns his stigmata palm to that guy who sold out caitlyn in s1 and proceeds to magically cure the lepers.

-this is his last scene for a little while. we Hear Of Him when one of the disabled councilors is looking for ways to deal with his pain from the accident. arcane loves looking over the shoulder of the rich and powerful like they are the main drivers and movers of the story

-like an hour of footage later, jayce reemerges (from a nexus-type of situation) and he finds one of Viktor’s servants -- its that councilor guy-- doing something unspecified. He's surprised to see jayce and tells him that he may speak to viktor; viktor says he misses him and wants to see him and basically "my bad man i was tripping when i said that shit to you the writers needed some lazy disagreement point," but he sounds really cult-leader sleazy and jayce is really mad over being left behind. Jayce is having some flashbacks to void monsters in the other side and tells servant guy he's not allowed to let him go. Servant councilor guy says well too bad! Im going! So jayce pulverizes him with his hammer. based jayce. he looks like brown bearded dante from devil may cry

That's the ep5 clifhanger. i think you can tell how i feel.

My predictions are as follows: jayce tracks him down to his lair and we get a showdown that is a vague reference to their original character bios battle; the one where viktor sics a bunch of brainwashed people on him and the building falls over everyone from the impact. It's possible that viktor is still not wearing his armor, and in this altercation jayce beats him up so bad or dismembers him enough that in act 3 he will have built one. That feels insulting to me but they legitimately have been very lazy.

oh and jayce also has a magical stigmata now. i hope they get to scissor those things together

[purple-nightfall-writes]

real talk though i'm legitimately so excited for each and every one of the teamups this season. banger after banger after banger. genuinely, no sarcasm, i really do love how many of them are reprises of some sort. it feels like we're getting a lot of the best teamups from different previous seasons all mixed together in one series and it's gonna be SO hype to watch it all play out.

the gaslight gatekeep girlboss impulse team is gonna be SO fun to watch! even just in the first episode there's already been double life callbacks that are just so excellent from a character angst perspective. scott and cleo ribbing pearl about winning double life and pearl just playing into the absolute perfect level of "awkwardly laughing along" for her character. c!pearl teaming up with the people who betrayed and abandoned her in the darkest game for her, trying to act like everything's okay and this is fine she'll be fine it's all gonna go fine. oh this is gonna be SO juicy. also impulse is there and i love that for him. c!impulse is the perfect counterbalance, a stranger to their fraught history, just awkwardly glossing over the tense atmosphere and hoping it all goes fine. this is gonna be so good i'm HERE for it

return of renchanting is just absolutely incredible them just immediately falling into lockstep as a duo they're perfect no notes can't wait to see how devastating of a story those two make for us this time

team bet already has such a fun dynamic with ethubs scrapping like an actual married couple on the verge of divorce and tango just egging them on, i was laughing so damn hard during their interactions they just have such excellent chemistry and i CANNOT wait to see where this goes. also iirc tango hasn't teamed with bdubs since last life i'm sure it will go excellently hehe >:) no lingering fear of betrayal there nope

sub-one club is hysterically funny i'm so happy to see grian and mumbo teaming they have FANTASTIC creator chemistry and skizz has such a good dynamic with both of them. whatever the hell they have going on with mumbo's paranoia arc is SO hilarious i was crying laughing during that bit. also just grian teaming with Those Two is gonna be hilarious in terms of like. the wildly contrasting levels of situational awareness

god the bam team i love them so much scar and jimmy are such a fun duo together and i love lizzie so much. they have such underdog energy and everyone is talking about how they won't survive long but i think we're forgetting that scar is actually like. really good at the game. i do think jimmy has gotten a lot better too i think they're gonna do a lot better than people expect. lizzie is a wet cat though and i love that for her

gemjoel is a terrifying teamup they're going to absolutely scare the hell out of everyone when they start making enemies. just so excited to see how their dynamic develops too as the season progresses.

bigb is a surrealist force of chaos and i love that for him

basically i'm pumped as hell for this season it's all gonna be so amazing and i just can't wait

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

aita/wibta for NOT breaking up with my bf ?

i'm not sure if the title is phrased weirdly, bare with me. my bf and i are both 18, he is cis M & i am FTM (relevant).

My bf and i are both currently in first year uni, both living at home due to high cost of living in our country (also everywhere else lol). We met about halfway through highschool, and were friends for a while before getting together. we are coming up on two years together in a couple months, and have not really had any major bumps in our relationship. we see eachother i would say 1-2x per week, with both of us living at home and being broke it gets a little challenging sometimes but we call most nights and generally we make it work. Also worth noting that I am my bf's first everything, down to his first kiss, while he is not really this for me. this is the longest relationship i have been in (probably because i'm 18 lol), but not at all the first. however, the only "serious" relationship i have had outside of of him, aside from just casual stuff, was very abusive & toxic, so i do sort of see us on equal footing as neither of us has ever been in a normal, functional relationship before.

Now, the issue: while we are both currently living at home, i see this as a very temporary arrangement and something i am counting down the days until i can get out of. while living with my family is not abusive or anything, it is just very straining as i am not very close with them, and also cannot transition while living at home. as previously mentioned i am ftm, and while my mom is tolerant it would just put even more stress on the relationship if i were to start changing physically while living at home or even asking her to use different pronouns for me and is just something i prefer to leave until i'm not 100% reliant on her. that being said my dysphoria causes me very intense depression and without getting too detailed, i don't know how much longer i can take living here and putting off any sort of meaningful transition outside of close/online friends calling me he.

my bf, however, plans to live at home at least until he graduates, which is six years away. i understand that this is a very normal thing, especially culturally (he is middle eastern + muslim, i am white + agnostic), but the issue is that his mother is, among many other things, extremely homophobic. she already hates me for reasons i'm not really sure of (my bf refuses to go into detail, i think to protect me, but i have seen extremely graphic and nasty texts about me by name on his phone and have been told by him that he doesn't even mention me around the house or else she gets extremely upset, though she is always extremely nice to me the few times we have interacted), but anyways, me transitioning while he is still living at home would be essentially putting him in legitimate danger.

my bf does not like to think about this, which i understand. it's hard enough dealing with what i get from my family, and that is absolutely nothing compared to the fact that everyone he knows from his culture/religion beleives he should be dead just because he is gay (i know, as does he, that there are queer muslims. but they do not exist openly in his personal community). but the problem is that anytime i adress to him that the idea of waiting until we are in our mid-twenties for me to even think about transitioning is a really big issue for me he basically refuses to talk about it and just says that "it will work out". on top of the transitioning thing i just generally don't want to be twenty-five (the age he has told me is when he plans to move out) and still having to cancel dates last minute because my boyfriend's mom was in a bad mood and decided he's not allowed to go out tonight. i know this is how life is for many people and they learn to deal with it! and i respect them very much! but it is genuinely my nightmare. i understand why he cannot/does not want to cut himself off from his family, especially since his dad lives overseas and is extremely wealthy so therefore paying his entire tuition out of pocket. i'm just saying it's not a lifestyle that meshes well with my future plans.

this is where the asshole part comes in: my bf genuinely thinks that we are going to spend the rest of our lives together. this started with small comments, things like alluding to the idea of our potential future kids (i love kids and raising my own is genuinely my end goal in life, something he knows just because i am very open about it), or talking about our future apartment/house, but now is basically just a constant conversation in our relationship. i try not to feed into it, but i also feel badly responding to his sweet comment when i point out a house i like on the street about how we'll buy it one day with something about how i don't ever see that happening. i generally just respond neutrally, but i will admit i get caught up in the fantasy sometimes and contribute to it as well.

he is such a lovely guy with a beautiful heart and i do really adore him, and it's not a situation where i don't want to spend the rest of my life with him. to be honest, that's the dream. i love him with everything i have and i would literally do anything for him. the problem is just that when he talks about this future together all i can picture is all the million ways our relationship is doomed to implode.

but we are happy right now, because me moving out of my family home is not something that is going to be possible for another 1-2 years, so none of those issues are something that are going to come up right now. i just forsee them being pretty much impossible obstacles between us and spending the rest of our lives together down the line. but i have this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that even though i want more than anything to be with him forever, the fact that i don't remotely beleive it's something that will actually work out still constitutes as leading him on.

so, am i the asshole for staying with him, because we are happy right now and these issues are not going to be relevant for another 1-2 years, and a solution might somehow present itself in that time? or is the right thing to do to just leave now, and rip off the bandaid?

What are these acronyms?

[beanghostprincess]

May I join into the transgendering with some Shuggy content?

As soon as Buggy joins the Roger pirates he cannot STAND Shanks. Shanks is clingy and overly affectionate and it’s obvious Shanks gets better treatment than him from the get go. He’s clearly the captains favorite because Shanks gets his OWN GODDAMN ROOM AND BUGGY DOESN’T. Sometimes Shanks gets days when he’s incredibly pissy and infuriated and gets away with stuff Buggy wouldn’t get away with at any rate, yet everyone’s sympathetic to him and he gets to take it easy for a whole day. Shanks doesn’t even have to fight for a spot in the showers for fucks sakes! Everytime Buggy wants to use the communal showers when he’s in there someone basically tells him to wait till Shanks is done and GOD HE HATES HIS FUCKING FACE! The only reason they hang out together is because Shanks is the only on the ship that’s his age, if there was anyone else on board he wouldn’t bother with that red headed fool. Although that time they painted dicks all over Rogers face when he slept was funny. And it’s better to peel potatoes arguing about dumb shit than spending that time peeling alone. And yes Shanks does look legitimately hurt whenever he gets those days of just being in pain for no reason and he actually needed to be told of to take it easy, because that dumbass actually WANTED to help Buggy scrubbing the deck? What the fuck is wrong with him?!

Shanks continues being clingy and annoying, gets sappy, tells Buggy that he’s his best friend and has the gall to just laugh when Buggy tells him to fuck off, they aren’t friends, Buggy hates him! “No you don’t.” That bastard says before pulling his Strawhats back over his eyes. “Where does he get off saying that!?” He hates his smug smile and his stupid face and the fact that this stupid, annoying, UNFLASHY fool is actually right. So he doesn’t even think too much of it when Shanks drags him back to his room one day, nervous and pacing. “What did you do?” “Nothing just… I want to talk to you-“ “Whatever it is I’m not interested unless there’s cash involved.” “Buggy please! You’re my best friend-“ “If you put laxatives into the beer again you’re on your own this time. I am not gonna-“ “Buggy!” Buggys head turns at a voice that is uncharacteristically sharp with him, oddly pleading. Shanks is fumbling with his shirt buttons “If I show you… please don’t laugh.” “I will laugh as much I well damn please you dick. Did you get a shitty tattoo on the last isla-“ Buggy tapers off. And just stares for a few seconds, because he’s not quite getting what he’s seeing. At first he thinks Shanks chest is bandaged, but upon closer expection it seems to be something like a cloth wrapped around his chest, held in place by several clasps in front of the garment. It’s almost the same tone as Shanks skin and it must have been made with great care, Buggy knows Rayleigh can be good with a needle. Suddenly a lot of things start to click into place for Buggy. How he never saw Shanks shirtless even if the sun was grilling down on everyone else. How Shanks seemed to prefer baggier shirts. How sometimes they would go into a town and people would look at Shanks with mild confusion,like they where trying to figure something out, before their captain put a hand on Shanks shoulder and ruffled Buggy’s hair and introduced them as “My cabinboys. Shanks and Buggy.” And how Shanks seemed to visibly relax after those introductions.

Buggy’s thoughts snap back to the now and he has never seen Shanks look so scared. He’s slumped in on himself , arms crossed and his nails are digging deep indents into his arms, his gaze is steadfast and confrontational, like he’s daring Buggy to say anything, but there is also this inherent panic to his look. It’s then that Buggy realizes he’s been staring at his crew member with an open mouth like an idiot. “Ah! I You- You are- I heard of this! So- uh- it’s not-“ “It means I’m-“ “I KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS SHANKS GOD I’M NOT BRAINDEAD! I AM- God! Stop looking at me like that you fool! You think this changes anything?” Shanks lowers his head, his voice turns quiet“I… I thought.” Oh fuck. Buggy’s inner desire to weasel himself out of unpleasant situations comes through and he switches his tone immediately. “Shanks.” He says, wrapping an arm around his, now confused, friends shoulder and gesturing wildly with one hand “Shaaaanks, Shanksshanksshanksshanks. We are both men of the sea-“ “We are 14.” “SHUT UP! We are both … worldly gentlemen here. We have seen some truly flashy things in our time. Some truly mind boggling things. This-“ Buggy’s hand gestures towards Shanks makeshift binder. “Is nothing that I haven’t seen before.” “You’ve met people like me?” “Of course!” Buggy lies, a smug grin spreading over his face at Shanks incredulousness. “Most normal thing in the world. I am surprised you didn’t tell me sooner. Not that I would have been surprised and… what’s that face for?” “… Buggy…” “What’s with the tears?! I told you I didn’t care- WHATS THAT STUPID GRIN FOR?” Shanks ignores Buggy’s disgusted expressions and meek protests at being pulled into a hug “Thank you.”

Buggy awkwardly pats Shanks shoulder. “Yes, yes, you’re welcome, shithead, now let me go!” He pulls away, but Shanks expression makes his brain stutter for the second time in an hour, smiling at him trough tears and looking at him so softly. “Buggy-“ Shanks leans in closer “there’s another thing I wanted to ask you now-“ Buggy’s breath hitches for a second. Shanks has a little freckle right over his cupids bow. Huh. Funny. He never noticed. “Buggy….”

“… Wanna move into my room with me? I asked Roger and he said it would be okay if I’m fine with it. You’d get your own hammock away from the other guys and everything.” Fuck!! Yeah!!!

I am,,,, I am okay,,,, Don't,,, Please,, I am so fine right now,,,

Transmasc Shanks is so real,,, Everybody knowing except Buggy because they found him as a baby and he knew he was a boy really really soon (before meeting Buggy) and he's scared of telling him because of how he might react. Because they're best friends but Buggy often reacts negatively to him and he's scared he might actually start hating him for real,,, And he also has the biggest crush on him, so imagine how scared the boy is. And when they start sharing a room,, Buggy spends even more time with him and Shanks starts being more honest about himself. About the binder hurting. Or the dysphoria. Or his periods, which are the fucking worst and Buggy genuinely does feel bad about those. Buggy starts being protective of Shanks whenever somebody misgenders him or makes fun of him. Not that Shanks needs any protection, but his confidence fades away whenever shit like this happens. So they protect each other. It feels,,, Nice. And I just know they'd start falling more and more for each other and,,, It's just so sweet. Also, consider Buggy finding out about what non-binary means and saying "oh. OH! THIS IS FLASHY I LIKE THIS. IT SOUNDS LIKE ME!" and Shanks being his supporter number one until the end.

[tearwolfe]

Okay, but there are a number of possibilities as to how this latest event with IdolKasa transpired, and I would like to share the ones I've come up with, even though I highly doubt you'd tell me if I somehow got anything correct.

(Warning, this is a very long ask, read at your own risk, lol.)

While very very unlikely I think, there is a non zero chance that this was a ploy (most likely by Tsukasa himself) to try and boast his ratings back up- one last desperate attempt to save himself from obscurity. After all, who wouldn't want to tell everyone they know about the Dying Star Idol Tsukasa Tenma almost actually dying at the end of his very last show? (This does not end up working out btw; at best, people talk about it nonstop for about a month or so before he takes too long to recover and his fame finally fizzles out for good.)

This could also be an attempt at faking his own death (again, likely orchestrated by Tsukasa himself), because he's finally reached his breaking point and is hoping this will get him out of the eye of a public that no longer adores him. Why exactly he made this decision and what exactly he plans to do afterwards, I've no clue, but that's another theory (and probably one of the more likely ones imo).

This could have also been a very real and legitimate public murder attempt by someone who doesn't like Tsukasa. Either by one of his competitors trying to pick off the competition, or by a hater of the famous idol (or the industry as a whole) who's taking his significant drop in popularity as an opportunity to kill him off now that no one will really care.

(Worst case scenario, RuiNene are somehow related to/behind this, though I highly doubt they'd ever go to such lengths, especially Rui.)

Hell, this could have been nothing more than a frightening and unfortunate (depending on who you ask lol) coincidence- for all we know, that stupid star thingy has been threatening to fall off for ages at this point, and the hopes and prayers that have been holding it up have simply given out at the worst possible time.

Either way, if this event isn't somehow the result of it, it's definitely the inciting incident that results in IdolKasa's final thread of sanity snapping and him doing something drastic and making some decisions he probably won't be proud of down the line.

(And this all is under the assumption that he's not dead from this, which I refuse to believe he is, even though it's a very real and likely possibility.)

Anyway, I am entirely too engaged in this AU, especially after you dropped THIS madness, and I cannot wait to see how things develop in the future (whenever you get around to making more, obviously. Take care of yourself <3)

this was a fun read!! i love the theories. i can say you're close on something.. what that is, is up to you.

(i fizzled out a little bit with this AU in the past month, but finally posting this part after sitting on it since july has given me my spark back!)

[nuatthebeach]

I’ve noticed in your posts you always mention Harry’s endgame is Ginny or no one, but you’ve never mention it the other way around? I’ve always thought those two loved each other equally and they were each other’s endgames in every universe. Do you believe Ginny doesn’t love Harry as much as he loves her? Or that his love isn’t enough for her? I don’t think anyone could love, support, or make Ginny Weasley as happy as Harry Potter could, and I don’t think any man or women could make her feel the way Harry could, and vice versa.

hahah, i do do that a lot, don't i

the following is my opinion, and my opinion only:

to your point, yes, i totally 100% believe that ginny loves harry as much as he loves her. to be explicit, in canon, it is harry or no one for ginny. they have just gone through hell and back for each other that, personally, i just do not see them even considering being with anybody else after the war. the series ended in a way that implied that harry's main priority was going to be centered around building something with ginny, and judging by the fact that ginny never said she was going to wait for him, there's no canon evidence to suggest that she didn't wait in her 6th year (though, obviously, there were more pressing matters at the time.)

to me, it was always inevitable that they would fall back together. they would, of course, have many problems to deal with (harry's communication issues, ginny's fresh grief, harry coming to terms with ginny's very dark circumstances, ginny's sense of self-preservation, amongst so many other things that i think @whinlatter's Beasts does a phenomenal job of tackling, and i can't wait to read more. (those dang eggcups goddamnit 😭.)

now why do i talk more about harry loving ginny than vice versa? frankly because fandom seems adamant on proving just the opposite. and i absolutely refuse to give an inch about it. at risk of pissing everyone off, i'm also more likely to read ginny/other, if not for any other reason than to spite the haters. plus, ginny's love life is so interesting; if you think about it, she really "dated" all tropes of men: the toxic guy (tom riddle, if you count intimacy as not just romantic), the "nice guy" (michael corner), and the guy who's just generally a great person but not the one for ginny (dean thomas). how could you not want to read about it? and it's so beautiful, thinking that after all of that, she finds her way back to harry.

and...(tw) harsh truth alert... 🚨

honestly? truthfully? there just is more canonical evidence of harry caring about ginny. (again, this does NOT mean that i'm saying that harry loves ginny more than ginny loves harry.)

why? because unlike ginny, we can actually see inside harry's head. we know for a fact he thinks of her as his greatest source of comfort from book six. we know for a fact he thinks of her like family since book seven. we know for a fact that she is his last thought before he freakin' dies. we do NOT know for fact that ginny thinks these things because we cannot see inside her head. while ginny's feelings for harry are an interpretation (a heavily evidence-based one for sure, duh, i'd be stupid not to think that), harry's feelings for ginny are just...reality.

it's like arguing evolution vs gravity. one is a theory, and the other is legitimately a law.

though you'll still have people argue that neither are true, and...well. welcome to the harry potter fandom.