#i will continue to be cautiously optimistic

[elluminis]

an (incomplete) list of things I loved from this week’s hgsn episode:

the scene in the grocery store. they did such a fantastic job of making the viewer feel just as uncomfortable as yoshiki does, whilst the cashier continuously digs into his family’s life. the detailed close-up on her lips. the shot from the security camera. the sound design. just…absolutely incredible.

the use of real-life photos and film! it’s stylistically brilliant, in my opinion, and it’s used so well to catch the viewer off-guard/make us uncomfortable. the photo-realistic raw chicken in particular was so good, and I love how the ed places the boys over top of filtered videos. it’s such a unique visual identity and it works!

the shots through yoshiki’s bangs. they’re so, so good. and because the show isn’t afraid to be experimental (and so much weirder than just a shot showing some bangs), those pov moments feel very intimate and important without feeling jarringly out of place—that’s reserved for things like, say, a photo of raw chicken.

the chest scene. I, like every other manga reader I’m sure, was so excited for that scene, and it was so well-executed! the eroticism, the disgust, yoshiki being flustered, it was just all fantastic.

“hikaru’s” red eyes. the glint in his eyes becoming pronounced whenever he’s being particular inhuman is so. good. it’s vaguely unsettling in the best possible way.

slight spoilers/speculation under the cut:

I’m cautiously optimistic about the speed with which we’re moving forward with tanaka’s involvement. it feels a little quick, especially with the indou family lore, but everything else has been handled so gorgeously that I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt that things will be integrated nicely! he continued to loom in the background fairly separated from the boys, so I again hope that he’s there to be freaky and raise the stakes while operating in parallel to the rest of the plot for a little while longer.

also kurebayashi, the goat! I enjoyed her presence in this episode, even though I felt she was a bit over-played in last week’s. once again excited to see where the anime goes!

[haxorus612]

hey no offense but it's a little hypocritical to declare moral superiority over a different show when acro trip has these little tidbits: a grown map declaring his romantic/sexual attraction to a teenager in both the first and second episodes.

even specifically calling out her age

in the second episode, he doubles down on the masochism, declaring this after watching the magical girl perform the aforementioned clothesline:

then, in the same 2nd episode he lies to and entraps the main character (a 7th grader) to force her to sign a contract with his company. real sleazy stuff!

the difference is in the framing: in this show, it's comedic, the deliberate, creepy shit he's doing is all jokes, for fun! but even though mahoako treats the subjects lightly too, they are still assaulting each other. certain characters wind up having pretty humiliating PTSD, which they call out by name. they aren't "jokingly" assaulting each other, it is as real as a comedy anime about magical girls is willing to push it.

and like. i'm not going to argue against or for watching either show. that truly is not the point here. instead, why force this moral argument in the first place? it is cartoon entertainment. none of the subjects are real, and none of the writers live in a perfect blissful paradise where they're disconnected from societal influences. you're going to get some baggage in there.

i used to do a lot of this same sort of social justice arguing myself, screaming for or against one piece of media or another. and ultimately, it just made me feel awful and combative. it didn't help me, and it certainly didn't help anyone else. instead, what helped me was learning about why these subjects are approached in the way that they are. what is the author's intent? what cultural associations are they drawing from? who does this serve?

those are much more fruitful questions to answer than "is this thing problematic?" and y'know what? even if you answer them, you still might feel the same way. not everything is for you, and you don't need to appreciate everything. but also: they are drawing from similar influences, and are absolutely in conversation. i just don't think these two shows are as different as you think they are.

Local cringefail villain and fangirl seventh grader bond over being turned on by a magical girl punching his face in.

Furiously recommending Acro Trip to everyone I can! The premise is a main character is a huge fan of the local magical girl Berry Blossom, but unfortuantely the villain she fights is so pathetic she doesn't get to show her stuff. Said pathetic villain notices she has a lot of good ideas to beat Berry Blossom, and starts trying to recruit her to his villainous organization. She's very torn to not wanting to be Berry Blossom's enemy and salivating at the chance to see her more.

it's such a cute premise (fairly similar to the book I just got an agent for) and it's so nice to finally getting new magical girl shows that are FUN and not some half-assed Madoka rip off (I like Madoka, I do not like its legion of imitators) and this one is a shoujo on top of that. There was such a dearth of non-Precure magical girl shoujo anime for a while.

(It also shows you can hint at a seventh grade girl maybe awakening to a little bit of a lesbian magical girl kink without it being super gross noncon loli shit, ahem. I swear, if Gushing got a second season this better too.)

Come and enjoy a hype magical girls who's kind of a loser and something just clotheslines opponents, pathetic wet cat villain who works retail, and the girl whose fangirlism will likely win out against her commitment to justice.

[strawberriesinmoominvalley]

the fact that BOTH lando and oscar are saying the track isn't great for the car and yet they finished p6 and p8... i am very excited for this year

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

requiem writeup might be my longest yet... tl;dr the alien stuff was wack but the MSR and skinner angst was fucking DELICIOUS

[stonesense]

pleased to be more interested in blackwall this run. i like him on paper but i’ve not really felt a connection before

[exopelagic]

buckland is probably a prick but man if he managed to change the tone of the conservative party like THAT when like nobody knows who he is?? if this is how they differentiate themselves from reform as a centre right party that’s like. so much better

[little-eye-guy]

honestly it feels weird putting my joint problems in my colon problems tag but isn't it wild how the human body works. why are these things connected

[starcurtain]

Detangling Mydei's Backstories Backstory?

My last post, casting doubt on 3.2's revelation that Mydei's immortality is deliberate on his part, led to some interesting discussion in the comments that definitely reinforced my earlier thoughts that the inconsistencies in Mydei's backstory are too numerous to be accidental. Star Rail is not known for its flawless continuity (Robin and Sunday's backstory, I'm looking at you lol), but usually the inconsistencies are not so overt, and repeated so many times, that they become central to the entire plot of a character.

So I wanted to refine my earlier theory a bit: I'm cautiously optimistic that there are enough signs that the inconsistencies in Mydei's backstory are deliberate, and that the Mydei of the current cycle in Amphoreus is actively experiencing an entanglement between two different timelines, without (yet) consciously recognizing the incompatibility of his own "memories."

When we work from the standpoint that the events of Mydei's backstory can be separated into two distinct timelines, the inconsistencies vanish:

The "Sea of Souls" Timeline

This is the most prominent timeline, and the one that appears most accurate for "our" Mydei. In this timeline, Mydei was thrown into the Sea of Souls as a tiny infant and spent the first nine years of his life there. This is confirmed both in the flashback we're provided early in 3.1, as well as in Mydei's voicelines and character stories.

After nine years, he crawled out of the sea (possibly motivated by witnessing Tribbie's "star" in the sky). On the same day (or very near it), he met with a band of Kremnoan exiles.

Whether this was a larger group already, constituting a small "detachment" army of exiles, or just started with the five exiled friends and Mydei then grew into a small army by picking up other exiles over time, is still unclear. However, at this point, Mydei makes no mention of returning to Kremnos and instead goes straight from "leaving the sea" to "living ten years in exile:"

This is the key point of inconsistency between the two "halves" of Mydei's story--either he lived in Kremnos or he didn't. We can handwave here and say "Yes, he returned to Kremnos with his friends and they just hid their identities, leaving Kremnos years later in a self-imposed exile," but the story gives us absolutely no indication that this realistically could have happened. Mydei never once mentions hiding his identity, changing his appearance, or living a double life in the city, and never explains how he would have had access to the inner city of Kremnos ("as befitting a crown prince") and the royal library, yet still go totally unnoticed by his father or anyone loyal to Eurypon, including Krateros. (There's also no explanation at all for why he would have wanted to return to a city ruled by someone who tried to murder him and where he would have had to live life under a fake identity just to get by, but you know...)

Instead, the game does give us several pieces of information indicating that the five Kremnoan exiles did not return to Kremnos after meeting Mydei:

First, Mydei's character stories confirm that Mydei deliberately hid his name while traveling in exile across Amphoreus, indicating that he knew he would be recognized by Eurypon/Eurypon's loyalists if he didn't hide his identity. This awareness suggests it is extremely unlikely that Mydei could have returned to Kremnos without being identified:

This also suggests that, at this point in this timeline, no one in Castrum Kremnos knew for sure that Mydeimos had survived being thrown into the Sea of Souls and returned. This is further confirmed by a memory fragment where Krateros says there has been a "rumor" that the leader of the exiled Kremnoan army is one who "defied death." Krateros alone makes the assumption that this could be Mydei and decides to defect to aid him:

This memory suggests two things clearly: Mydei was not living in Kremnos at the time Krateros defected, and the exile of all of Mydei's friends must have taken place before they met Mydei, years in the past, as there is no way an entire small army could have been exiled from Kremnos, with Mydei in toe, and not at all attract Krateros's attention until after they were gone.

The idea that Mydei never returned to Kremnos is further enforced by Eurypon, who did not recognize Mydei when he confronted him, to the point that he didn't believe Mydei was even Kremnoan. This suggests that Eurypon not only didn't know Mydei's true identity--he'd never seen him before at all, making it extremely unlikely that Mydei was walking around Castrum Kremnos, talking to Chryseus Leo, and reading in the royal library all under some false identity for years. Eurypon certainly wouldn't have been capable of exiling someone he'd never seen before from Kremnos, in any case!

Therefore, we can assume the series of events in this timeline is pretty straightforward: Mydei entered the Sea of Souls as a baby, came out nine years later, went straight into a life of exile with his five friends, amassed power and support for ten years, and then returned to seek vengeance on his father.

The only remaining question in this timeline becomes "When did Mydei join up with Okhema?"

I think, in this timeline, it makes the most sense for Mydei to have only joined up with Okhema after killing his father. In 3.1, Mydei confirms to Phainon that all his friends died before he was able to kill his father, and that none of them ever made it to Okhema:

Therefore, the final order of events for the more prominent timeline is:

Dumped into the sea as an infant, nine years in the Sea of Souls

Ten years in exile with his friends amassing strength and support

Returns to Kremnos, kills his father, and the last of his friends dies that day

Then he defects to Okhema, leading any of the Kremnoans willing to follow him there.

By itself, this story makes perfect sense. If this was all the information we'd been given, there wouldn't have been any gaps.

Unfortunately, we also have a whole other set of information that massively conflicts with these events, which can only really be explained two ways: Either Hoyo messed up (again) and really dropped the consistency ball when it comes to writing Mydei's backstory... Or there's an entire separate timeline going on. Personally, I'm leaning toward the latter, because there are just too many seemingly deliberate fingers in the story pointing toward the inconsistencies for them to feel entirely unintentional to me.

Therefore, I propose that Mydei's memories are actually getting infiltrated by a second, entirely different timeline:

The "Gorgo Lives" Timeline

From 3.0 all the way to 3.2, we're given numerous pieces of information that point to a wholly different order to the events of Mydei's life, contrasting the story that Mydei tells Phainon in the Garden. At first, these events seem scattered and nonsensical, contradicting the "main" timeline in too many ways to be anything but errors... But when taken as a whole, we can build a second coherent timeline out of these events if we make one assumption: There is a timeline where Gorgo lived longer.

In the second timeline which is intruding on Mydei's memories, there appears to be one key point of divergence: Gorgo did not die dueling Eurypon. Either she never challenged him to the duel, or (more likely) she was never successfully poisoned, and therefore it's possible she won the duel, allowing her to rescue Mydei from the sea.

Working from that possibility, a second complete timeline emerges:

Mydei was thrown into the Sea of Souls as an infant but did not drift there for nine years. Instead, he was rescued and brought back to Kremnos, where he was allowed to grow up in the inner city, with access to both Chryseus Leo, who served as his teacher, and access to the royal library, which he is proud enough of to call "his" library. He is able to lead Phainon and the Trailblazer around Castrum Kremnos even in its ruined state because he grew up there, spending enough time there to know the city like the back of his hand:

This is where we can slot in the inconsistent memories Mydei has of Gorgo:

(By the way, although Mydei writes this scene off as a dream, you can actually hear Oronyx's whisper play in the black screen seconds before this "dream" occurs...)

But okay, let's say this is just a wishful dream. Maybe this scene never happened. If all we got of Gorgo supposedly raising Mydei was this moment in 3.1, I might agree that it was just a dream (other than there being no reason to play Oronyx's sound effect there, but you know). However, in 3.2 they then hit us with this:

That's multiple moments now pointing to a timeline where Gorgo raised Mydei. Once is handwave-able--twice? That's deliberate.

In this secondary timeline, Mydei appears to have grown up as Kremnos's beloved crown prince, being warmly embraced by his people (at least until Kremnos fell into calamity). Apparently his days consisted of eating pomegranates, training for combat, playing with Kremnos's kids, and hanging out with his five friends. We see snippets of this idyllic life (along with his five friends appearing to be roughly the same age as him--something that likely wouldn't be true in the "main" timeline, by the way) on Mydei's long march back into Castrum Kremnos:

I know some people took this to be Mydei hallucinating or just wishfully imagining a life where he was able to be happy with his friends, possibly even some metaphorical "encountering the souls of the departed in a paradise," but I don't think this is true. Every single time Mydei phases in and out of this "hallucination," the visual effect and the sound effect of Oronyx are distinctly played--the exact same sound and visuals that play when Trailblazer activates Oronyx's prayer to jump between timelines.

Mydei himself doesn't seem to quite understand what is happening to him in this moment, as you can hear him stumble and pant as he repeatedly goes through flashes of Oronyx's power. You can listen to comparison video clips on the prior post I made about Mydei's backstory.

Furthermore, if we work from the assumption that these moments actually represent a rupture between timelines, then the rest of the inconsistencies can finally be cleared up:

In 3.0, Mydei says that his choice to leave Castrum Kremnos was not a forced exile but a "self-imposed" one:

And this aligns with what he stated in the Garden of Life to Phainon, that he and his friends "left Castrum Kremnos" to go into this self-imposed exile, rather than having never returned to Kremnos from the sea:

Furthermore, this also aligns with the angry NPCs in the past version of Castrum Kremnos that Trailblazer and Castorice travel back to:

Remember that this version of Castrum Kremnos was supposed to be occurring while Eurypon was still alive, so there is absolutely no way this line makes sense in the same universe where Eurypon didn't even know Mydei had survived. There isn't any way, in "our" timeline, that Mydei could have been both the "crown prince" of Kremnos for these NPCs and completely unknown to his father, the king.

These NPCs, furthermore, directly accuse Mydei of "deserting Kremnos," suggesting that Mydei was living in Castrum Kremnos as their prince, and then abandoned them to join Aglaea in Okhema, getting himself and everyone who went with him labelled as "traitors to Kremnos" in the process. None of this makes sense in the context of a timeline where no one in Kremnos knew he had even survived.

Instead, all of these elements point to a different sequence of events:

Gorgo lived, likely winning her duel and thereby (likely) giving her the right to save Mydei from the Sea of Souls and bring him back to Kremnos. He was raised by his mother as the beloved crown prince of Kremnos. Then, years later, as his father and Nikador both descended into full madness, Mydei and the Kremnoan detachment defected.

But what would have triggered this sudden need to defect after years of leading Kremnos as a well-liked prince?

The flashback between Mydei and Eurypon actually suggests a possible reason:

Apparently, at some point, in some timeline, Mydei knew about Eurypon's plan to break Nikador's divinity into separate parts and seal him away, harnessing the power of their titan for himself.

Yet the Mydei of 3.0 seems to have no idea about any of this, never able to give any explanation for how Nikador has degraded so much nor why Nikador is seemingly unkillable. Castorice, Mem, and the Trailblazer have to come up with the idea to go back in time to the past Kremnos by themselves, because Mydei never makes any mention of there ever having been a plot to break up and seal away Nikador's divinity, even when they walk past the very blades that did the sealing.

Finally, there's one last piece of conflicting information: While talking to Phainon in the Garden of Life, Mydei states that all of his friends died before the detachment could ever join up with Okhema and that all of their deaths occurred by the time he went to kill his father. But this conflicts with the NPCs above, who state that Mydei had already defected to Okhema and joined the Flame Chase Journey as a Chrysos Heir while his father was still alive.

This inconsistency is further reinforced by a memory fragment with Krateros, who confirms that Mydei had joined up with Okhema already before killing his father:

Putting all of this together, the complete series of events for this second timeline becomes:

Infant Mydei is quickly rescued from the Sea of Souls, is instead raised by his mother, and grows up as the crown prince of Castrum Kremnos with his five friends.

At some point, years later, he discovers Eurypon's plot to break up and imprison Nikador's divinity, and he and his friends and supporters defect from Kremnos as a result.

Either they go straight to Okhema (I'm inclined to say that "ten years of wandering" doesn't fit, chronologically speaking, into this secondary timeline) or they do wander a bit, but ultimately, Mydei reaches Okhema and aligns with Aglaea before killing his father.

After aligning the Kremnoan Detachment with Okhema, Mydei returns to Castrum Kremnos to kill his father, possibly to halt Eurypon's evil plan to harness Nikador's power.

At some point in this timeline, presumably before Mydei returns to kill his father, Gorgo likely still dies (possibly killed by Eurypon and/or Nikador), which explains why the Gorgo in the Sea of Souls seems to be the one convinced that she raised Mydei.

And this is just pure personal speculation, because there isn't enough evidence to really confirm it, but I almost feel like we can even pinpoint how/when the whole decision to defect to Okhema took place. At the end of Mydei's flashbacks to the "peaceful" Kremnos, Peucesta says that Mydei has been away from Kremnos for a while.

Leonnius assumes that Mydei was away on some apparently extended training trip, but this moment specifically ends with Gorgo welcoming Mydei home and asking him one very important question:

Obviously these lines are doing double duty, symbolically welcoming the present Mydei back to the ruins of Castrum Kremnos and asking him whether he's finally ready to take on his role as the "Guardian of Amphoreus." But as the wiki notes, this takes place in a flashback to the past, and for the "Mydei of the past" (aka the Mydei of the alternate timeline), this could very well have been Mydei disappearing from Kremnos to make contact with Aglaea in Okhema, and Gorgo questioning him about his decision to commit himself to the Flame Chase Journey, leading up to an ultimate and permanent defection from Kremnos. (This is just speculation though, trying to tie the last few loose ends together.)

Anyway, when taken from this perspective, that there are two separate backstories here, one from a world where Gorgo lived and the more prominent one where she died, we can sort all the seeming inconsistencies in Mydei's backstory into two surprisingly tidy and complete timelines.

I haven't yet found anything in any Mydei scene that doesn't fit one of these two scenarios, so I'm starting to definitely feel optimistic here that this writing was intentional, and that the "contradictory" backstory we're seeing for Mydei isn't "the worst continuity Star Rail has served up to date," but instead an actual deliberate choice to present us with a character whose memories are a hodge-podge of two divergent timelines, snippets of one timeline constantly erupting and "filling in the blanks" of the other.

I think this would be a fascinating way to lead up to the idea that Amphoreus's world isn't real, that it's a cobbled together story or set of memories that someone is barely holding together, and that it's constantly cyclical in nature, with events repeating with slight variations across times. The idea that Mydei is actually experiencing two different sets of memories crushed together into a tangled jumble and that he's only just now starting to become aware of the discrepancies would be such an excellent way to reinforce the "unreality" of Amphoreus's plot as a whole.

I really hope this is the direction that they take the story... Or at least that I won't one day be looking at all my Mydei posts and sadly thinking to myself that I put a lot more thought into the character's backstory than his own writers did, RIPPPPP. 😂😂😂

Cope with me, people!

[starrdream]

Wounded

Anakin Skywalker x f!reader summary: Anakin takes care of you while you're injured. (in more than a medical way..) includes: SMUT and fluff, gentle sex, missionary

After a nasty fall during training, you ended up in the medical wing with a sprained wrist and a painful bruise.

Your wrist was iced, bandaged and then put in a hanging cast before you were discharged.

You had to lay off training for a while which meant laying around your room the entire day.

It was earlier in the night, around 9 PM. Anakin heard about your little accident and decided to come see you as soon as he could

"Here, let me see." Anakin said softly as he gently took your hand and moved it around in a circle slowly.

You hiss, pain spreading throughout your whole arm.

"'m sorry." He mumbled, quickly stopping his movements and kissing the top of your head. "Don't worry my love, everything will be alright." He assured you with a smile.

"You'll recover just fine." He kissed your cheek.

Thankfully, you hadn't injured your lightsaber hand. That made you more optimistic about a quick recovery.

"You have to be more careful from now on, okay? I was really worried when I heard you were brought to the med wing. I thought it was something serious.." He brushed some hair away from you face.

"I will, I promise." You smiled softly.

"Okay, good." He chuckled quietly before placing a lingering kiss to your lips.

He pulls away slightly, staring into your eyes before kissing you again. Only this time, it was more passionate.

His tongue slid into your mouth with ease, his hand tangled in the back of your head.

A few quick kisses turned into a desperate make out session.

Anakin picked you up effortlessly, carefully lowering you on the bed and kissing your neck while his hands roamed your body needily.

Quiet giggles and soft gasps could be heard as he undressed the lower part of your body.

"I'll be careful don't worry.." He teased, pressing himself against your core as he took your shirt off.

You giggled once again when his hands ghosted over your ribs while he fumbled with his belt.

"You're slow today.." You joked.

"Oh really now?" He threw his shirt to the side, hovering over you.

He then took your injured arm and wrapped it around his neck. Your other arm wraps around his back, feeling the tender muscles tense and ripple under your touch.

"Mhm.." You answered as he trailed kisses and soft bites from your collarbone up to your neck.

"Mhm.." He repeated in a soft, mock voice.

Anakin slowly entered you, drawing gasps of pleasure from both of you. His hips started rolling against yours in a slow gentle pace, not wanting to hurt you further.

Labored breathing and muffled moans filled the room as you two continued.

"R-right there Ani.." You whimpered softly, back arching into him and allowing him to go deeper-increasing the pleasure.

He nodded against your jaw and continued placing open-mouthed kisses down your neck.

"You doing okay?" He whispered, breath hitching as he hiked your leg up on his waist.

"Mhm.." You moaned as Anakin hit a particularly sensitive spot.

"Good, good.." He claimed your mouth in a sloppy kiss.

His hips worked at a deep, gentle pace the entire time, drawing out your pleasure for as long as possible.

Your nails dig into his back as you feel yourself convulsing around him. Walls tightening and eyes rolling back, you unravel before him.

"Anakin" You moan, the sound muffled against his shoulder.

"That's right baby.." He continues, still chasing his own pleasure.

He finishes too, spilling inside of you with a soft whimper. Giving a few shorter and quicker thrusts, he rides out his own orgasm.

He lowers himself on you cautiously after he pulls out, wrapping his arms around you for cuddles.

[schoolhater]

the ceasefire was supposed to begin about an hour ago as of writing, but the israeli army has admitted to its continued bombing of the gaza strip, violating its own agreement. netanyahu claims he cannot honor the ceasefire until hamas hands over a list of names of settler hostages to be handed over first; hamas blames this on technical issues.

my friend and gazan journalist siraj abudayeh @siraj2024 (#219) tells me there is shooting along the border between gaza and '48, both in the north and south of gaza. he is also, despite everything, cautiously optimistic that things will settle themselves out soon and the ceasefire can properly begin. here's the message he sent me on the matter (before we got the notification that the ceasefire had been violated):

The ceasefire entered into force in the Gaza Strip after agreements were reached between the Palestinian factions and the Israeli occupation, which gave an opportunity to calm the military situation that had led to the death and injury of thousands of civilians and the widespread destruction of infrastructure. But despite this temporary cessation of fighting, the humanitarian need in Gaza remains dire and persistent. The temporary ceasefire came after months of military escalation, during which civilian areas in Gaza were the target of air and artillery attacks, resulting in the destruction of homes, hospitals and schools. Although the fighting has stopped, Siraj's family still needs significant humanitarian support. Siraj's family is still displaced and suffers from a severe shortage of basic materials such as food, medicine, and clean water. The next phase requires support to mitigate the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

there's still a strong chance that aid will be let into gaza in the coming days, and the process of rebuilding gaza will begin - whether under israeli fire or not. after gaza has has everything stolen. i ask that whoever sees this reblogs or donates to siraj's campaign. he has lost friends, family and colleagues, gofundme has deleted his survival campaign twice, and he's lost his livelihood over the course of this genocide, funded by america. we don't know what is coming next, but we know that these facts cannot change. what matters most right now is getting aid to people who need them.

[keydekyie]

Rewatching MB eps 1&2 for the fourth time trying to pick it apart and figure out why there's a HUGE gulf between people who like it so far and people saying it's butchered the story (despite there only being 2 episodes out like calm down)

While waiting for the show to come out this last year, I watched some other Apple shows to get an idea what this would be like. I enjoyed them (not perfect, but really good!) and that made me optimistic. I was leery of the casting, but I also heard good things, so I waited to pass judgement. I watched every trailer and preview and interview, noticing things that colored my view. Skarsgard and the showrunners continuously using it/its for SecUnit, the cast admitting they devoured the books after getting their parts, Wells saying she loved what she saw. These things kept making me cautiously optimistic, and having watched the first 2 eps, I continue to be.

I am 31 years old. I am jaded as fuck. I've seen bad adaptations. I've seen my favorites get butchered. This is NOT a butchering. Have a little perspective, please? I think if you can't go into this with an open mind, you need to at least wait until the whole season is out before ripping it apart. We're TWO EPISODES IN. Please give it a chance? Or at least let the rest of us have our fun? You're not a bigger better fan for shitting on the show.

It's not perfection, but that's impossible anyway. I think it's a lovely show so far, with a lot of obvious passion and heart.

And I want a second season so fr stfu.

[thewitchblue]

Yes, you gained powers by stepping on a needle in Crime Alley one night. Sounds ridiculous, right? Well, that's your origin story. It stabbed right through your shoe and hurt immensely. You had thought it was a nail, originally, but who were you kidding? You were in Crime Alley. Of course it was a needle.

You had cursed and quickly found somewhere safe to sit to pluck the needle out. Great. You wondered what you were injected with. Were you going to die? What an unfortunate way to go. Accidentally stepping on a needle full of a mysterious liquid. Seriously? Ouch. Your poor foot ached with every limping step.

You were incredibly surprised when you gained powers. Was this some Bane juice gone wrong and discarded as a result? When was he last out of Arkham? Perhaps it was one of Scarecrow's abandoned projects. He's been out far more recently.

"Are you hurt?"

You heard a concerned voice behind you ask. You recognised it as Red Robin, but you didn't have time to respond before you collapsed into a personal hurricane you made.

"What happened?"

You heard Batman's deep voice rumble through the cave like thunder: commanding, but curious as well. You vaguely registered that Red Robin was carrying you somewhere, but your eyes refused to open when you tried.

"...it was like a hurricane...yes, but the glowing eyes... sorry for caring about a...!"

You heard faded bits of conversation, but you were so tired. The hurricane must have taken a lot out of you. You vaguely wondered if this was all a drug induced hallucination and Red Robin was really a paramedic. Why would THE Red Robin care so much? No, you must be high on something. This didn't feel like the last heroin trip you were accidentally put in, however. You feel pain and bone-deep exhaustion.

Your eyes suddenly snap open and begin to glow as a tornado forms. A pair of metal wings grew out of you and cocooned you from the rough winds. What is happening? What is wrong with you?

You knew you should have taken a backalley instead of the normal footpath. You were so optimistic. Getting mugged is better than whatever is going on with you now. What have you been turned into?

Before you could spiral further, you were hit with a tranquiliser and dropped like a bird.

"What did you bring to us, Red Robin?"

Bruce asked as he slowly approached you. He'll deal with all the broken equipment after he figures out what you are and why you're in Gotham.

"I don't know! I was concerned they were drugged, then their eyes started glowing, and a hurricane spawned like a video game character. I have no idea what I brought in, but I couldn't exactly bring them into a normal hospital when they are making hurricanes and causing tornadoes. What would a hospital do against this?"

Bruce cut off Tim before he could continue his rambling and trying to justify himself,

"I'm not telling you that you were wrong. A hospital would have no idea how to handle a meta, but neither do we. It seems like they are a new meta with no control."

Tim looked at you with a small sigh. You are a new mystery for him to solve. You shuddered on the floor, and everybody took a small step back. Are you waking up already? Do you have a healing factor now? Your back isn't bleeding anymore, so it's possible that you have a strong healing factor.

Tim found the courage to approach you cautiously. You were slumped against the floor. He hesitated at your side. What happened to cause this? He sighed as he picked you up from the floor. This is a mess. Tim asked,

"What do we do, Batman? We can't let them go. They would ruin the city."

Bruce didn't know what to do either, but he'll figure it out. He can't have you destroying his city, however. He'll cage you if he must.

You really were having a bad day.

[stayinlimbo]

Unsaid (Not Unwritten)

pairing: lee minho x gn!reader genre/warnings: established relationship, hurt/comfort, previous communication issues being resolved, mentions of not feeling loved, forgiveness because they do actually love each other, like one swear word lmao, self-indulgent af because i have free will word count: 0.6k note:  is this based off a true story? yes. what's the moral? communication requires effort but is so worth it. i feel like i couldn't portray this fic in the way i wanted to but i tried my best ♡

Minho’s front door is chipping. That’s to be expected, considering the apartment complex is ancient, and his landlord is unwilling to give the place a much-needed paint job. You’ve never really taken the time to inspect the old wood or notice the small patches of discoloration, revealing the original color scattered along its expanse. You’ve never hesitated to knock on his door, either.

Stalling the inevitable is pointless; you know that. However, it doesn’t stop you from hesitating, hovering a fist inches away from the very door you’ve stood in front of for the past five minutes. The carefully folded piece of paper crinkles in your other hand, tightly gripped by your side as you take a steadying breath to calm your thumping heart.  

Eight rhythmic knocks echo against the wood. There’s no going back; he’s sure to know it’s you now.

Ten seconds, twenty seconds, thirty seconds. The wait has never been so daunting. There’s no one else in the hallway to see you rocking back and forth on your heels—no one to see your cautiously optimistic gaze glued to his door.

Forty seconds. Maybe he needs to prepare himself before he sees you. Fifty seconds. Or maybe this was a bad idea. You can feel yourself physically deflating. Maybe he doesn’t want to see you yet. One minute. But what if he didn’t hear you? Should you knock again? There’s no harm in trying.

You raise your fist again, and the door creaks open. 

You quickly shuffle backward a couple of steps in surprise, retracting your hand back down to your side. Minho peeks his head out of the door, his downcast eyes slightly widening and then squinting when they meet yours.  

Minho opens the door further, shuffling around the entryway to face you directly. He scans over your disheveled figure, a small consequence of rushing over to his place and taking the stairs instead of the elevator, with a pensive look. “What—“

“I’m sorry,” you say, cutting him off and watching his lips part in surprise. “I’m sorry I haven’t been making you feel as loved as you deserve.”

Minho slowly nods, his gaze softening and brows quirking up in a way you know it’s okay to continue. You give him a small smile, closing the distance between you until you’re less than a foot away from him. 

You grab his hand, gently turning it upward, and place the folded paper in this palm. “Because I do love you, even if I’ve been communicating it in a really shitty way.” 

Minho looks down at the paper, scribbled writing peeking out from the interior, and back at you in question. 

“I’m not good at verbally telling you how I feel, so I tried writing down everything I could,” you murmur, seeing a look of astonishment cross your boyfriend’s face. 

“Can I read it now?” Minho asks, smiling as he flicks his gaze between you and the letter. 

You lightly shrug, trying to ignore your warming cheeks. “If you want to.”

Minho unfolds the letter, bringing it closer to his face. You wait with bated breath, wringing your fingers in front of you as your boyfriend’s eyes trail over the letter you poured out of your heart and soul. 

“If you don’t like it, you can burn it,” you say, half-joking. 

Minho snaps his head up at your voice. “Do you mean it? Do you mean everything you wrote?”

“Of course, I do, dummy,” you laugh, sending him what you’re sure is the epitome of a lovesick smile. “I love you.”

Minho crosses the door’s threshold, wrapping his arms around your waist as yours simultaneously wrap around his middle. 

“I love you, too,” he whispers into your neck, pressing plush kisses along the skin. “Thank you.”

liked this work? want to let me know how i did? please like, comment, and/or reblog; they are greatly appreciated my asks are always open ♡

taglist : @linospuddin @linocz @spicyhyunn @inlovewithstraykids @stayyyyyyyyyyyy21

@hwangism143 @feelikecinderella @celebration88 @ssickmagnolia8

[meganx]

Just One Weekend // Lando Norris x OFC // Part Six

Summary: Alice has been a Formula One fan all her life. When the opportunity came up to enter a competition that could mean attending an actual race, she pounced on it. When the news finally came that she had won, she was cautiously optimistic about what the experience would hold. Lando, on the other hand, would rather eat fish than spend an entire weekend entertaining a stranger.

All My Works

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Part 6

Alice slept like a log, so much so that she ended up sleeping through her alarm and only woke up when a loud knock thumped against her door.

Still half-asleep, she trudged to the door and was greeted by a frustrated-looking Eloise. "You were supposed to be at the track an hour ago." She pushed past Alice into the hotel room.

"You have twenty minutes," she said as she sat on the couch. Alice cast a confused glance at her, and Eloise quickly continued, "Go get dressed!"

Alice, still a bit delirious, moved as fast as she could. It felt like she was walking through syrup with how heavy her legs felt. It was incredible that a person could still feel so exhausted after such a good night's rest.

She mentally calculated what she could get done in twenty minutes. First things first, she brushed her teeth, scrubbing to get the horrible feel out her mouth that came with oversleeping. Quickly, she combed her hair up into a ponytail and applied a layer of mascara and lip gloss. 'Okay,' she thought, 'I look somewhat human.'

She speed-walked back into the room, Eloise still sitting on the couch and watching her, a silent presence threatening her to move faster. She rushed to her suitcase, which still lay open next to her bed, and pulled out the blue-and-white dress. Her muscles seemed to wake up more with every moment, and she managed to get back into the bathroom and shimmy into her dress, with ten minutes to spare. Her brain, however, still felt like it was lagging.

Eloise nodded from the couch as Alice slipped her sneakers on. "Finally. We need to go."

Alice grabbed her purse off the nightstand and all but ran to the door. "Ready," she smiled.

They made their way out of the hotel and into a taxi that was waiting right outside the front doors. Alice sank back against the worn-out black leather seats while Eloise frantically made calls to other members of the PR team.

When she eventually put her phone down, Alice turned to look at her and muttered sheepishly, "Sorry. I never oversleep."

"It's actually not that big of a deal. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't be a big deal," Eloise said. She dug the heels of her palms into her eyes. "You're our guest. You're free to come and go during the day as you please."

"So then why the rush to get me up and out the door this morning?" Alice asked.

"Lando," Eloise replied with an exasperated sigh. "He made such a fuss about the fact that you weren't there. Imogene practically chucked me into a taxi and said to fetch you."

"Lando was angry?" she questioned. Her heart dropped. Progress. She thought they had made progress.

"I wouldn't say angry. It was more like when a toddler throws a temper tantrum because their favourite blanket went missing." Eloise turned a little in her seat to face Alice. "Has anything happened between you two?"

Alice shook her head. "I mean I think we've reached an understanding and he's accepted me being around for a few days, but beyond that, nothing."

Alice didn't feel the need to mention the conversation between her and Lando from the previous night. Something about it felt secret. Sacred.

Eloise just nodded and kept silent the rest of the drive to the track.

__________

By the time she made it to the hospitality lounge, Eloise had run off to do something else for Imogene, and FP3 was due to start soon. She thought she'd grab a coffee before making her way to the garage to watch the practice. What she didn't expect was for Lando to come barreling towards her.

"Where were you?" he asked. He sounded frustrated, and maybe a little more angry than Eloise had let on.

"Well, good morning to you, too, sunshine."

Lando rolled his eyes, but his lips twitched just slightly. "You're going to watch FP3 from my garage, right?"

Alice nodded. "I'll be there just as soon as I get caffeine in my system."

Lando's jaw stiffened, but he didn't argue. Just gave a curt nod and walked out towards the garage.

__________

FP3 went well. Really well, actually. Lando was incredible, and the team were positive that qualifying would be an easy 1-2. That was, of course, until the rain hit.

Alice remembered the debrief she had attended the previous day. They were expecting rain. But the rain they were expecting was a drizzle. This was a full-on shower.

The engineers were loud as they scrambled around, yelling out new strategies and incoming weather forecasts. Some just sat back, assuming the session would be postponed until the rain stopped. But the rain didn't stop, and the session wasn't postponed.

Alice's heart was stuck in her throat as she watched Lando on the television mounted to the wall in his garage. Her eyes didn't veer for a second as he went round and round.

Q1 was good. The rain started to slow a bit, and Lando managed a P2 behind Oscar.

Q2 was better. The rain stopped, and Lando finished in P1.

Q3 was a disaster. The rain didn't just come back - it poured.

She watched as Lando was on his flying lap, going purple in every sector. He was perfect. Until he reached Maggots and Becketts. Her breath caught as he hit the brakes just a millisecond too late, the car heading straight for the curb, and then spinning into the barrier.

"That one's going to hurt," one of the engineers muttered.

Say something. Say something. Say something.

"I'm fine," Lando said. "I'm so sorry, guys. I'm such an idiot."

His voice broke at the end, and she could tell he was trying not to cry. Her own eyes stung as she watched him climb out of the car and into the waiting arms of the stewards, who immediately began ushering him to medical.

The session was red-flagged to give the stewards time to move the car and clear the debris. In the absence of a live feed, the moment of the crash was played over and analysed until Alice wished she could watch literally anything else.

Will walked over and knelt in front of her. "Will you come with me?" he asked.

She looked at him, still a bit wide-eyed, and stood up. Will seemed to understand that she would follow him and began walking. Neither of them had an umbrella as they walked through the rain, and by the time they got to their destination, her dress was soaked.

"I don't understand. What are we doing here?" she asked, looking around the waiting area in the medical centre.

A young doctor walked up to them just as Will answered, "He's refusing medical attention until he sees you."

Alice's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. But still, she walked behind the doctor to the examination bay and walked through when he opened the door, closing it with a gentle thud behind her.

"Hey," she said. She looked at him, and all it took was a second for her to know what was going on. Immediately, she rushed to his side. "Okay. You're okay."

"I -" Lando tried, voice shaky and eyes red. "You promised."

"I know. I'm here."

She gently lifted his hand and placed it on her chest. "Feel my breaths," she commanded. She forced her lungs to take slow, deep breaths.

Lando's head was still resting back against the pillow, eyes squeezed shut, and breaths coming out in a hurry. She hated not being able to really help, but she knew firsthand how comforting it was to have someone close.

"You're okay, Lan. It's just me and you. You're safe."

He let out a choked sob, and she could see as his other hand gripped the bed sheets. She thought back to all the times her mother had helped her and sat with her through panic attacks. Mentally, she listed all the things that had brought her some bit of comfort in those moments.

Alice gently moved to rest her forehead against Lando's, her nose brushing the top of his ear. "I'm right here," she muttered softly.

Lando's hand moved from her chest, and he intertwined his fingers with hers. His grip was tight, almost to the point that it hurt, but she knew he needed this.

Minutes passed. Minutes that were filled with the sounds of muffled crying and hyperventilating.

Then, finally, Lando spoke. "You're freezing, mate."

"Yeah, well, I wasn't dressed for the torrential downpour of the season." Her forehead was still resting against his. "Feeling better?"

He squeezed her hand and said, "Yeah. It's less scary when you're not alone."

She straightened up, but Lando kept a tight grip on her hand. "The doctors need to check you out," she said. "I'll wait for you in the waiting area outside."

"No," Lando replied quickly. "Just stay in here with me. Please."

So she did.

__________

Lando qualified in tenth, and that was all he could think about as he sat on the couch in his living room. Alice floated around the kitchen, making two cups of tea.

It was surreal being in Lando's London apartment, but she wanted him to be somewhere he felt safe. She had stayed close by as he completed all the post-qualifying interviews, media obligations, and debriefs. His eyes drifted to her every time he answered a question, looking for quiet reassurance that he was doing well.

Now in his apartment, he seemed freer. Less concerned with how he appeared, and more concerned with just being who he felt like being.

"Making a mistake doesn't make you an idiot, Lando," Alice said for what felt like the twentieth time.

She carried his tea over to him while he continued complaining. "I know those corners like the back of my hand. I knew exactly where the curb was, and I still hit it."

"The rain was horrendous. You could barely see anything," she argued.

"I didn't need to see. I should've just known."

She handed him his cup, and he looked at her with confusion. "Tea?" he asked.

"Yes?" she replied, her eyebrows furrowed. "It was in your cupboard, so I assumed you drank it."

"I do. I just didn't know you did too," he said, gesturing to the cup she cradled between her hands.

"My gran used to say that there wasn't a problem that couldn't be solved over a cup of tea." She shrugged before continuing, "Whenever I'm in my head just a little too much, Rory makes me a cup of tea. Never fails to make me feel better."

"Who's Rory?"

"My sister," she clarified. "You'd like her. She's spirited and always up for a good time."

"Are you close?" he questioned. He sipped his tea and looked at her so deeply that, for the first time, she felt like someone was actually interested in her.

"We weren't when we were younger. We're complete opposites, so everything was an argument," Alice explained. "But, as we got older, something shifted. Now we're pretty much inseparable."

Lando smiled. A proper smile. Not a small, barely there smile. Not a media-trained smile. A full-on smile.

"What?" Alice asked.

"I don't know. It feels like I've been drowning for months, and I'm suddenly coming up for air again."

Alice just watched him for a few moments and let the weight of his words settle into her chest.

"Are you warmer at least?" Lando asked.

The change of topic caught her off guard but Alice smiled, looking down at the sweatpants and hoodie Lando had borrowed her so she could change out of her wet dress.

"Much."

She looked at him again. "Thank you. For this weekend, I mean. I'm sad that it's all ending tomorrow, but I'm so grateful to have experienced all of this."

"Does that include having your suitcase go MIA?" he joked.

"Okay, maybe I'm a little less grateful for that part. But to be fair, I scored some pretty epic merch that I would never have been able to get for myself."

Lando smiled again, and it almost took Alice's breath away. "Just say the word and I'll buy you a second suitcase full of McLaren shirts and hoodies to take back with you."

She shook her head, "Just experiencing all of this was enough."

"Since I made you a pinky promise, do you think you could make me one?" he asked.

"That really depends on what I'm promising," she replied with a chuckle.

"Promise me that tomorrow, after the race, you'll come find me? No matter what happens, come find me."

It was like déjà vu as she lifted her hand up between them and extended her pinky. "I promise."

[funhouse-mirror-barbie]

Okay. I gotta talk about it.

Warning for major spoilers for season 2 of Hazbin Hotel and discussion of leaks—I will NOT be posting any links to the leaks or posting pics/screenshots from them here. Just going to be talking about a particular character.

Okay, last chance if you don’t want to know anything about the spoilers/leaks!!!

Im serious!!! Last warning!!!!!

Lute is now unironically the most compelling character in the entire fucking show and I am not kidding.

Whoever wrote the little bit of her character that’s been leaked did a really good job. She is incredibly interesting to me now because we get to see her when her entire way of life and ideology is challenged.

Lute is a very flawed and cruel person, but she has always been extremely sure of herself and that she is unambiguously CORRECT in her way of life. And now she’s being faced with the fact that she and everything she lived for is WRONG and they just CANT accept it. So much so that it appears that she’s now hallucinating Adam to cope.

Lute cannot accept redemption is possible and her viewpoint is SO black and white that it’s likely going to end up killing her or at the very least will drive her to madness. She would rather burn the whole world than accept change. There’s a tragic element as well that comes with every character that lives in the extremes—she fully believes she’s in the right. So much so that she can’t understand why EVERYONE else in Heaven seems to be horrified by the exterminations. She thinks she is doing the best thing for everyone, and is now resisting the reality that is front of her.

What would be really amazing, and what I’m hoping for is that Adam really did fall and became a “Demon” in Hell. Because then she would have to deal with the person she looks up to and admires the MOST becoming what she’s sworn to annihilate. I don’t know if she could handle that.

The question of whether or not she could reconcile Adam, someone she saw as being heavenly and perfect, could fall and become what she hates the most, a demon, is really interesting. She’d be forced again to question her ideals and beliefs about what is right and wrong. That is the sort of deep character exploration I had been hoping to see from season 1 of Hazbin and didn’t really get.

This small glimpse into her character reminds me of other characters that are so lawful or black and white that they can’t accept change or realities that conflict with their worldviews. Rorschach from Watchmen and Javert from Les Miserables come to mind.

It would be really cool to show her in direct contrast to V (not calling her that sexist ass name at least I can pretend “Lute” is named after the fucking instrument) and have Lute be the foil to V’s continuing character arc from season 1.

Please please please don’t let this characters complexity be reduced to “evil bad villain is bad and evil” for the rest of the story please please please. (Gotta say tho, given Hazbin and Helluva’a track record with writing women villains….and tbh just. Women in general. I am going to be VERY VERY cautiously optimistic)

(Also I don’t care if her song is cringe I think it fucking SLAPS)

[theonion]

Cautiously optimistic that the trend would continue to arouse no suspicions from readers, executives at AARP reportedly wondered Wednesday whether anyone would notice that Kathy Bates was appearing on the cover of the nonprofit’s bimonthly magazine for the ninth time in a row. “I don’t even think we need to change the photo—this one is good,” said Bob Love, editor-in-chief of AARP: The Magazine, referring to the smiling portrait of the 76-year-old Oscar winner, who has graced the cover of every issue for more than a year under a headline that alternates between “Kathy Bates Makes A Scene” and “Matlock Is Back!” “I really don’t think anyone will notice or care. I mean, everyone loves Kathy. 

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