#i'd share more about why it's important but that's half the fun no?

[midnight-mourning]

He's a Little Confused but He's Got the Music

Another post to help clean up my intro, this time for all the Confused Spirit playlists & such!

Confused Spirit Playlist aka Reader Radio

A youtube playlist consisiting of several playlists and songs likely to be played by Reader during their work day/daily life, great for story immersion to have on in the background while you read imo

Sun, Moon & Reader's Playlists

After making the above playlists youtube REVOKED my playlist making abilities, so these are lists of song that either these three would listen to, sing, dance, etc. or represents their character in some way

Cast of Confused Spirit 'Theme' Songs

Songs that represent the remaining members of the cast in some way! Includes the human cast & the Glamrocks

[lavender-butterfly-cookie]

https://www.tumblr.com/lavender-butterfly-cookie/772142889166831616/ok-i-got-this-idea-from-the-yn-battle-and-i-can?source=share

This is beautiful, the secret society of y/ns...imagine them all talking about important business and stuff and possibly gushing about cookies they adore together and can imagine how fight started is either the y/ns noticing they are crushing on the same cookie and then fighting over them...or one y/n got greedy and wanted all the cookie's love for themselves and the other y/ns just jumped in, to defend their loves and/or also want all the cookies love to themselves...

For the wanting all the love for themselves: to explain this its sorta like all the cookies fighting over y/n's love...but opposite day lmao!

Alien y/n: I deserve all the cookies love because I can show them all the universe!

Beast y/n: stfu! I'd be the best lover to the cookies because with my powers, I can make every desire of theirs true!

Streamer y/n: out of all of you, I'd be able to game with them best AND entertain them!

Robot y/n: they can literally edit my program to make me their ideal dream, you unadaptive son of a-

Timid and shy y/ns: we....we give them a nice quiet time...

Tarzan y/n: I can show them the wonders of nature and how fun it is to swing tree to tree! I'm the least boring of of all of you!

Baker y/n: stfu all of you...I'm literally the original!

Iseakai'ed y/n: stfu I can tell them stories about the human world and tell them about human tech so they can advance their lives!

Aaaaand already gave you enough to get an idea...surprise prequel to explain how fight breaks out...and to add on how cookies get involved...imagine if cookies had been following timid to the secret society of y/ns to keep an eye on lovers (I say timid because of the comment in the other one about them not keeping secrets so can imagine they are bad at making sure Noone follows em lol!) Aaaaand they all witness the fight break out of y/ns trying to see who is the best lover and the superior y/n lol!

My sheer dread upon forgetting thief Y/N cookie- Fu-

Who's the best?

Thief Y/N: Look, unlike you guys, I know how to steal a cookies heart. They all love me, and why wouldn't they?

Batman Y/N: you're a criminal-

Deadool Y/N: EXACTLY BI-

Lavender: Aye!

Deadpool Y/N: Ugh!!!

Merchant Y/N: Well unlike you guys, they don't need anything from you. Cookies travel from far and wide just to buy my merchandise.

Entity Y/N: That JUNK is practically all you're good for!

Merchant Y/N: You eat cookies, YOU'RE NO BETTER!

Child Ancient Y/N: Well I'm adorable, and lovable, and sweet. I'm the most innocent bundle of joy earthbread has to offer, so clearly they love me most.

Child Beast Y/N: Tch, Yeah right. They all care about me SOOOO much that even when my tears are never ending, they stick by me and try making me feel better.

Beast Y/N: It's pity, kid. I have unimaginable powers and frankly, I bet I could beat half of you, if not all!

Ancient Y/N: Yeah yeah, egotistical chocolate waster! I keep my kingdom safe and when cookies are in despair, it's not you who they seek out. It's me~

Ghost Y/N: Yeah, and how did that work out?! Beast Y/N exists cuz of it. I however, manage to captivate all of them even desite how I jumpscare them! They love me!-

Alien Y/N: Bulls##t! They're just scared you'll haunt them if they try to leave you-

Lavender: Aye! No swearing or it's cookie jar for you!

Alien Y/N: Sorry....

Robot Y/N: Haha sucker!

Shy Y/N: I-if we're being honest, The cookies spend their time with me and timid Y/N more. They care more about our wellbeing than all o-of yours.

Timid Y/N: Yeah, and they never yell at us like they yell at you guys. They're gentle with us-

Cowl Y/N: They're gentle with me too!

Baker: No- that's just Darkened Milk cookie!

Cowl Y/N: Oh flip you! You're just jealous!

Isekai'd Y/N: oooooh-

Baker Y/N: Shut uP, you literally got hit by a truck!

Streamer Y/N: They ain't lyin'-

Isekai'd Y/N: Shut up!

Meme Y/N: Ha! Lmao!

Tarzan Y/N: Shut up, literally nobody likes you!

Meme Y/N: Oh you're just mad cuz you can't bag any cookies!

Tarzan Y/N: Well you got sent to the oven!

Baker Y/N: Actually- how did you get out of there?

Meme Y/N: Lavender can't touch me.

Lavender: You sure about that?

[thelaurenshippen]

How much of an impact has writing and consuming fanfiction had in your writing career?

I ask about fanfiction specifically because it's such an open communication sort of media, it's so easy for author and reader to interact. Do you think you'd write differently if you'd never been in the Fanfiction community? What do you think has carried over from those works and interactions into your current works?

ooh, such a fun question! I've never really thought about this before!

so I will admit, while I have been reading fanfiction since 2006, I never actually wrote fanfiction until 2018 (and then didn't share any of it until 2021). so I think those specific relationships affected my writing in very specific ways.

from a reading perspective, I think fanfic really showed me that a story can be anything, told in a million different kinds of ways. the two fandoms that I was deeply entrenched in/reading fic in were sherlock (lol) and the winter soldier (I stand by it). both of those fandoms - TWS especially - did a lot of very interesting stuff when it came to story structure, multimedia storytelling, etc. while of course there's great published fiction that does the same (I've been a huge David Mitchell stan since I was 20, I read House of Leaves for the first time a few years ago, A Series of Unfortunate Events is such a great example of this tbh), I think there's a lot of freewheeling experimentation in fanfiction that encouraged me to do things like write Some Faraway Place as a mix of journal entries, reddit posts, letters, and tumblr posts.

it's also interesting to me that you bring up the author/reader interaction, because you're right, it is such a huge part of fanfic and a part I rarely thought about for a looooong time. I'm a socially anxious lurker by nature, so I would leave comments (show your local fanfic writer some love!) and I would follow a lot of those writers, but I'd never, like, interact with them directly. and my comments were usually along the lines of "I'M FLINGING MYSELF DIRECTLY INTO THE SUN" rather than openings to conversations lol.

but that changed significantly when I started writing fic. the first fandom I wrote for was SO small and the ship I was writing for even smaller (I'm responsible for over half the fics in that tag), so there wasn't really any interaction there. but then I started writing in a different fandom - still small but much more active - and joined a discord and everything. I'm not really active anymore, but I met someone who now has become one of my best friends and who is a huge reason why Desperate Hollow, my queer outlaw novel, finally got fucking finished.

so being in fanfic really affected my writing in the sense that I found a writer friend who - like a lot of other writing friends - has had a profound affect on me as an artist. but more broadly, writing fic for that fandom - about 200k words of it in eight months - taught me some very important things:

how to write a lot of words very, very quickly

how to let go of something being perfect - no one knows who I am on ao3 and people are just happy to have fic for a small fandom, so it doesn't have to be GOOD

how to write physicality - this is very hard for me, even now. I'm an audio first person, I rarely think about what people look like, how they move their bodies, etc. writing fic is so helpful, because if you're using canon scenes, you don't have to come up with the blocking, you just have to figure out how to describe it.

dialogue/character voice - learning how to mimic a writer's style is good from two perspectives: one, you learn more about style and voice by having to unpack someone else's. two, as a writer working in a scripted medium, you often are trying to write to an established style, because you might be in a writer's room for a world that you didn't create.

this is a less tangible effect, but writing mature works for a fandom that has mostly morally gray characters helped me get more comfortable with being bolder in my own work. Desperate Hollow is about two men in the wild west, one of whom has killed a lot of people, and both of whom are career criminals. the show I'm working on currently has the messiest found family dynamic and it will only get messier. I think in the course of writing TBS, I sometimes got scared of doing the wrong thing, or of leaning too hard into the darker parts of the story, and I'm trying to let my characters and stories be deeply imperfect now.

I hope that answers your questions!

[the-thursday]

Hello everyone, this post was long overdue, and finally, prompted by our beloved Howls also leaving, it's time for me to rip off the bandaid as well.

I would also like to announce a sort of departure from Ranger's apprentice fandom.

I do not know how many from RA fandom era from few years back are still here but I assume mostly newer blogs keep up with this account.

Take a lil history walk with me, if you will. I joined this fandom around 2017-18. I was very active around here, posting all kinds of stuff, fics, takes, incorrect quotes, art and whatnot. I made many friends with whom I had a great time and I am happy and honoured that I am friends with some of them till this day. Fandom became the second home to me as things hadn't been exactly easy irl and maybe I fixated on it too much, but gods know I loved this place so much. And I wish for everyone to experience this happiness and just as I made friends who became a significant part of my life, I wish that for you as well. Being surrounded by amazing and wonderful people and sharing similar interests is one of the most pure joyous feelings in this world.

As 2020-2021 rolled around, some of you know that things in my life picked up a harsh pace and I started to drift away. In 2021 I left the fandom because of that and unpleasant things with one of the people here. It was one of the most gut wrenching decisions I had made.

In 2022, I started gradually getting worse, but also had the courage to come back at the end of the year. I felt happy and welcomed and I am so grateful to everyone who made it happen, who supported me and gave me another breath. My mental health kept getting worse but I wasn't alone and that has been everything to me.

Now it's about a little more than a year since I've been back and again, I've met wonderful amazing people who I am happy and honoured to call friends. I don't regret coming back and I am happy I did, however I think it's time for me to go again. And below, I hope to explain why.

Like I said, I've been getting worse. Last autumn and this winter have been very difficult for me and I had to rethink some priorities, as life is going on the time left for me to invest in fandoms is getting thinner and thinner. Unfortunately, among them, isn't keeping up with this fandom. With my next words I hope not to insult anyone. The truth is, I don't find enjoyment in the fandom and content itself anymore, or more like, as much as I used to. I don't exactly vibe with posts for roughly the past half a year and I don't mean this in negative way, I just think it's for me to move on. All of the new people that I've seen have wonderful content and while I don't exactly vibe like I used to, I can see that you're having fun and that's important! People come and go and I do wish all the newcomers and seniors who are still here to have a great time, but I don't think I have energy, capacity and vibes to be part of it anymore. As you know, my blog has been very much inactive for a long time, aside from dumping my dumb sketches or reblogging something here and there. And rather than letting it rot, I'd like to cleanly move on. Anyhow, on self deprecating note, since really it's not like I've been someone prominent I don't think this is a loss to the fandom and this makes it easier for me.

So to summarise, my leaving is about personal things, my life moving and the fact I don't have the mental capacity or motivation to actively keep up.

So what does this mean? I won't be posting RA related stuff on this blog anymore. This blog will turn into a neutral main blog and I'll create one side blog for art that I hope to continue to make and maybe one blog dedicated to the work of Brandon Sanderson.

However, it doesn't mean that I am not up to goof around about RA anymore, however this will be done in DMs. If I sometimes get to draw and post RA related art, it shall be posted on my new art blog with RA tag. However, I don't think there's a high probability of public RA art from me anymore, because 1) need to move on and 2) I have a very strong and maybe confrontational opinion about art in this fandom that has given me a bad taste and discouraged me from enjoying making it and posting it. I won't go into details because I don't want to sour this post for myself and for y'all with it.

I want to thank this fandom for everything it has been for me and for everyone and I wish y'all some happy fandoming!

Yours only,

The Ranger Thursday 11

[myrandomscribbles]

My Own Timeline of How I Watch Christmas Movies

Short disclaimer before we begin: I meant to post this before Christmas, but I am a busy elf so here we are.

Every time the holiday season starts creeping in, people tend to be more busy and barely in one place. There's always so much stuff to finish, so many things to buy; your to-do and gift lists are endless. (Personally, on most days during the holidays I feel like Joe Pesci in the gif below.) I mean, there's barely time to watch movies in between all of that chaos, right? Wait lol did I just describe my usual holiday scenario? Aha, but that's just the irony - me, have no time for movies? I don't think so!

So because I am a nerd, I'd like to share with you the holiday movies I either A) must watch during the holidays, B) would recommend watching during the holidays or C) both. But here's the catch (& here's how I'm a nerd too) - there's a specific point during the season when it's the perfect time to watch said movie. You'll see what I mean.

Again, we've established that Christmas is one of, if not the busiest time of the year. Ain't nobody got time to watch a list of holiday movies, let alone in a chronological manner! But in case you do, here’s how I’d likely watch them:

First to second week of December:

You’ve Got Mail (1998)

Actually, I normally rewatch this towards the end of November because it still has more of a fall vibe (and that’s what it’s more known for). But since it actually goes through the seasons as Kathleen and Joe’s relationship progresses from haters to lovers, we can consider watching it during the early days of December too. One of the most crucial scenes also happens during the winter anyway!

The Holdovers (2023)

I’ve grown to love this film so much because of the warm fuzzy feeling despite the entire story taking place during the winter. Even if the most important scenes take place at exactly Christmas Day, the film starts as the students are about to take their holiday break. That’s why it feels wrong to watch this before December 1st, but also feels wrong to not watch it on December 1st, does that make sense?! LOL

Anastasia (1997)

This one’s a no-brainer. It’s technically not even a Christmas movie, the first half just takes place in a magical winter wonderland Russia. But I mean, “Once Upon A December” - need I say more? That song, though haunting, along with the beautiful animation just screams pure magic. To this day I can never accept that this does not have an Oscar in animation.

Bonus: any of Netflix or Hallmark’s [trashy] Christmas romcoms

In recent years, I’m trying to understand why Netflix keeps releasing Christmas romcoms with plots that make you go ✨what the hell sure ✨🚬 but here we are! LOL that said, this is a good time to watch those - the most notable ones are The Princess Switch & A Christmas Prince trilogies, both of which for some reason are part of the same universe. I don’t understand it, but again, here we are! There’s a lot more in Netflix’s catalogue; don’t even get me started with Hallmark (and its posters!)

Week before Christmas:

The Holiday (2006)

Also known as Jude Law Flirtation Season, this Christmas classic is rewatchable over and over again because of its charm. We all wanted to be Cameron Diaz at one point, be for real. And since her character and Kate Winslet’s goes on their holiday switch literally the week before Christmas, isn’t it just fitting to watch it around that time too? It’s the closest we have to flirting with Jude Law!

Last Christmas (2019)

I remember watching this in cinemas when it came out, and we all thought it was going to be another fun Christmas romcom. Boy was I wrong. The lady beside me in the theater shared the same sentiments it was so funny lol. But most of the film takes place on the days leading up to Christmas Eve, where the most important scene happens. And let me tell you, not a dry eye in that theater. Not a dry eye.

Happiest Season (2020)

I love this underrated romcom. I honestly think more people should watch it because it’s so wholesome and heart-tugging. Though to be honest, I’m with the majority on saying that Kristen Stewart’s character should have ended up with Aubrey Plaza’s characters. Nevertheless, since the plot takes place on the days leading up to Christmas when Mackenzie Davis brings home Kristen Stewart for Christmas Eve, it’s only fitting to rewatch it on the same time!

Christmas Eve:

Home Alone (1990)

This is not only a Christmas classic for everyone but it’s an automatic rewatch at my house during Christmas Eve. I can’t not go through the 24th without putting this on, even if it’s just in the background while I wrap my gifts! I may be playing it in the background but it doesn’t mean I’m not paying attention though - especially when the Christmas soundtrack comes on? Absolute banger.

Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (1992)

Obviously, if you’ve started with the first one, then continue with the second one! In my opinion, Home Alone is one of the rare film-duo that are both hits and neither are misses. Though some believe the sequel is funnier, I think both are equally hilarious and heartwarming. Christmas Eve is not complete for me without marathoning Home Alone 1 & 2 for sure; that’s a package deal in this household!

Love Actually (2003)

Another absolute must on Christmas Eve for me is this classic (and now somehow criticized) romcom. I realize now that yes there are many problematic parts of it, but the whole Christmas vibe is undefeated. I would watch this on either the days leading up to the 24th or on the day itself - while, again, wrapping presents. No matter what people think of it now, I’m still gonna rewatch this every year.

Christmas Day:

Little Women (2019)

Usually for most families, Christmas Day is full of reunions and get-togethers. For me however, we don’t really do that stuff a lot, so I spend the day mostly watching, guess what, more Christmas films! And on the morning of Christmas Day, I first put on Greta Gerwig’s version of the March sisters’ story - mainly because of Jo saying “Merry Christmas, world” when she wakes up in the morning. I just adore this film so much, I could write more about it but probably another time!

Little Women (1994)

My second favorite adaption is the 1994 Winona Ryder classic, primarily because the Christmas theme is just all over the film. Like the 2019 version, it’s such a warm hug, but with a more classic vibe since it was released in the 90s. I actually love how this was released on my birth year!

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

I recently just watched this for the first time, and wow it’s incredibly moving. To say that it truly is a masterpiece is an understatement; I think it’s one of the most beautiful films ever. Though the climax of the film happens on Christmas Eve, the spirit of giving and community in the ending scene is just so heartwarming that you forget it’s only the eve of Christmas. But contrary to the films I watch on the 24th when I’m mostly busy with presents & cooking, this is one of those films that can’t be in the background.

In between Christmas and New Year:

When Harry Met Sally (1989)

To many people, including myself, this is a fall movie. And I agree. But, alongside You’ve Got Mail (1998), it’s part of the “Meg Ryan spends the holidays in New York” cinematic universe, aka gotta be one of my favorite genders! LOL but the reason why this is best watched after Christmas and before New Year is because the height of the film begins around that time, all leading up to the beautiful ending of Harry and Sally getting together on New Year’s Eve.

While You Were Sleeping (1995)

I also just recently watched this and it can technically be a Christmas Eve movie because they actually show the family celebrating (and it's when Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman first meet!), but the rest of the hilarious events take place after. This is going to be a regular holiday classic for me as well moving forward because of its simple charm, the beauty of Chicago during the holidays, and Sandra Bullock's gorgeous face card.

Serendipity (2001)

This is one of the more underrated ones in my opinion. I absolutely adore Kate Beckinsale in this one - how on earth can someone be that beautiful?! I understand John Cusack lol. But like the previous romcoms above, we briefly go through Christmas but everything happens after, however still during winter. Every time I rewatch this I just want to teleport to New York during the period between Christmas and New Year and just ice skate in Central Park.

New Year’s Eve:

Silver Skates (2020)

I cannot stress this enough: I love this film! An original all-Russian production, it was one of the hidden gems I discovered on Netflix the holiday season following the pandemic. It's absolutely beautiful! It's your typical poor-guy-falls-for-rich-girl plot, but set against the snowy & magical backdrop of Russia at the turn of the 20th century. I always recommend this to people when they are looking for holiday films or period films; this is a bonus because it's both! (Not to mention the main cast is absolutely good-looking)

New Year’s Eve (2011)

Also known as the New Year's version of Love Actually's Christmas, this is another no-brainer. Who doesn't love a good romcom with a stacked cast with characters' stories who intertwine on a holiday? And personally - don't judge me for this if you're American & reading this - I would also like to experience the ball drop on December 31st. There's just something special about being a part of a public crowd on New Year's Eve versus just staying at home with just family. Maybe it depends on each one's traditions but all the same, 12 midnight is what we are all waiting for!

This is obviously a personal and subjective list; there are still loads of Christmas films & classics that are not on it. But make do what you will with this one! This is a free world where we can enjoy these movies whenever we want and at our own pace :)

[welcometololaland]

NICE ASS(K) WEEK IS UPON US!!!! 🎉

Lola, first thank you for being the Nice Ass(k) originator!!! It is such a fun way to get to know people in the fandom!!!

Now, a very important question for you. You have to do a pole dance routine with three of the following people. Who do you choose and why? What would the routine be like? (Is there such a thing as a group pole routine? I don’t know!! There is now!!!)

TK Strand

June Claremont-Diaz

Owen Strand

Henry Fox

Mateo Chavez

Ellen Claremont

Dani Rojas

Nancy Gillian

Pez Okonjo

Sam Obisanya

Zara Bankston

Bonus points if you give them each costumes for the routine!!!

hello lemon! i'm so sorry this took so long to answer but i come to you humbly with a response that is like... * checks watch * 4 months late sweeeeet ok ok no one look at me.

for context, yes, you can absolutely do a group (including doubles) routine. i actually have the best idea for this but i CAN'T use it because i'm so obsessed with this particular theme idea if someone ever put it on stage before i got the chance to i'd be absolutely shattered so!!!! it must remain a secret.

therefore, i choose my backup option. i had considered some classic ideas here - charlie's angels etc. - but then my partner leaned over and said 'has anyone done a Wiggles themed routine?' and no. they haven't. so that's what we are doing. Big Red Car, Hot Potato, Fruit Salad, Wake Up Jeff (except it's going to be Wake Up Pez), the works. It's gonna be a 4 min medley of Wiggles songs. Obviously, costumes will be coloured bodysuits. People think that pole dancers wear no clothes just to look hot, but actually you need skin grip to do half the tricks, so the standard Wiggles costumes will need to be adapted.

NOW. as to the people.

Obviously, Pez. I don't actually think Pez would be the best pole dancer, but he is very enthusiastic and fun and would bring great energy. I'd probably allocate him to the task of rolling around on the floor and just slaying the stage generally. Also, he has a name that will work with the Wake Up Jeff song. So, he is the Purple Wiggle.

I think Zahra would actually have a concerning level of flexibility and obviously the raw competitive energy. We need her. She's gonna be that bitch that does a back handspring on the stage or something. Plus, she's bossy as hell. So she can be the Yellow Wiggle aka. The Main Wiggle.

Lastly, I would pick June. Idk why. She's giving dancer energy. She's giving team player. She's giving hotness. She would be that person who would actually do the doubles tricks with you and you know she wouldn't let you go. She's probably not the most excited about being on stage, but neither am I, so we can hold each other and cry. Everyone knows the Blue Wiggle is the hot wiggle, so she would be that one.

I would be the Red Wiggle which like... doesn't suit my brand but whatever. Sacrifices have to be made for this routine.

Honourable mentions - I considered Dani Rojas but he is just way too chaotic and uncoordinated, plus, he can't wear dress shoes, imagine him in 8 inch pleasers. absolutely not. I also considered Nancy because she's hot. But she also seems kinda uncoordinated. sometimes having very long limbs can be a limiting factor. Henry was probably my fourth choice, but he missed out because he seems even more hesitant of the stage than I am.

Absolute no go - Owen and Ellen, because no one needs a limelight hog when you're trying to do a group routine. TK unfortunately does not have the rhythm we need. Mateo - I just couldn't imagine it. If the theme was Avengers, maybe I could have included him. I really WANTED Sam to be in this, but he also just didn't fit the vision and I also think he'd just be way too embarrassed to do something this stupid. You actually can't have too much self respect if you want to do a Wiggles routine.

I HOPE THIS WAS INFORMATIVE AND HELPFUL. THANK YOU FOR THIS VERY FUN ASK. IF YOU HAVE OPINIONS, PLEASE SHARE!!!!

[goodluckclove]

Skylark's Apple Log: Cosmic Crisp

Hi! Scott Skylark here.

I don't really know why I'm doing this. I was having a nice conversation with my good friend Katy about the importance of putting apples in the fridge so you can enjoy a cold apple, and barely an hour went by before she suggested I make a physical (Digital?) log of my insights and share them with the internet. I hesitated at first, but she insisted it was for the best, as people online might only know of me right now as some "sad boy pretty boy".

To which I said "Huh? What? What does that mean?" But right as she started to explain I suddenly decided I really didn't want to know and made some loud nonsense noises to buy me time to leave the room.

Anyways, I'm definitely no food critic. If you give me some cheese, some bread, a hard-boiled egg or two and like 4-6 apples, I'm good for the day. I'm not picky. I'd hate to put some misinformation out there (Discourse! Can you imagine?) so I've asked the very capable Chef Edgar Gallows to comment on what I say before I post it.

Today I'd like to talk about the Cosmic Crisp, which is absolutely in my top ten favorite apples. They're a hybrid bred in Washington in the late 90s. Did you know there are people who dedicate their whole careers to breeding apples? That was my dream job for a while when I was a kid, but I always struggled with science and apparently that type of work is entirely science. Anyways!

When I can have a Cosmic Crisp and some toast for breakfast, I'm a happy guy with lots of energy for the day ahead. And when it's fresh out of the fridge, it's crisp and chill, so no need for a morning juice. I like to use an apple slicer to make nice inform shapes, but those end up pretty thick, so I'll cut each slice to be about half-thickness. Doing this means you get a better bite to enjoy the flavor - and it also makes it seem like you have more apples to enjoy, which is always fun.

Cosmic Crisps are really big. There are bigger that exist - the Hanners Jumbo for instance, which is actually sold exclusively in Oregon where I live! But the girth of a Cosmic Crisp is certainly nothing to sneeze at. It's really fun, and frankly a great option if you're looking for the most bang for your buck at most average supermarkets. Sometimes it gets to be a little overwhelming, though, because I personally can only eat about three before I start getting a little grossed out. But if you're just eating one or two, this is very much a consistently satisfying variety in terms of sweetness and bite.

In my youth I resented the coloring of a Cosmic Crisp, believing that a red apple should commit to the hue. Now I appreciate the look of an apple that is definitely reminiscent of something grown off a tree, compared to a Red Delicious that mainly just looks like a child's crayon depiction of an apple given physical form by some cruel, confused God. And the crisp! Very crispy apple, potentially the crispiest I've experienced by far.

If you choose to enjoy a Cosmic Crisp apple, I highly suggest pairing it with a little bit of peanut butter, or just eating it on its own. It's very yummy.

I don't know how to end this! If you're reading this I hope you see a video of a cute animal on the internet. There are so many out there. Way more than I remember.

Thanks so much!

Skylark

Chef's Note: I think I'm immediately unqualified to check this kind of writing for accuracy. Up until recently I thought all apples were either green or red. Even after being told otherwise I still kind of think that. It's pretty startling to know there is a person in existence who puts more thought into this type of thing than picking up an apple from a bag on the counter and taking a bite.

Chilled apples are pretty good. I'll give him that one.

-E.G.

Hey Songbird Taglist did you think I'd call you all here to read Scott talk about apples because here we are

@kuebiko-writing @cartoonghosts 

@atlasthecactus @aroaceghosties 

@booksntea6982 @xarrixii 

@mushroommanchanterelle @whoevenknowswhatimwriting

@fukurouonthesea

[spite-made-me]

New Year Writing Tag

Thank you for tagging me @yennefer-of-vengerbergs❤️

What's been your biggest learning point this past year? 

I'd say not being so hard on myself for the time it takes to reach a certain goal.

How has your writing developed this past year? 

oh boy 😆

I started writing in 2024. completely casually as to get headcannons on paper. The process has been exhausting, mainly because I often redo certain parts or complete chapters because I'm not completely satisfied with them (being ESL deff doesn't help lol). Additionally, I would often times look at my older chapters and be disappointed in myself because, while I did hit my figurative deadline, the result didn't sound like how I imagined it in my head. Sometime in the second half of 2024. I decided not to worry about writing as fast as possible, and just write it the way I want to write and read. It's been going well so far, but we'll see how it rolls.

Good writing habits? 

Usually, I get ideas out of order, so Trello helped me keep it in the notes and more organized for future references. Breaking down chapters into points and writing one by one helps as well :D

Bad writing habits? 

Rethinking some parts for multiple days or even weeks, or thinking over a particular sentence that doesn't really have an importance to an overall picture- so basically overthinking and indecisiveness in general 😆

Favorite thing you wrote? 

Since the longfic is still work in progress, this is under TBD, but general favorite is the dynamic between different characters.

Favorite reads? 

I haven't really had the time to read in 2024 sadly, but my favorite books in general include:

The Witcher series

anything written by Stephen King

Drizzt Do'Urden

And on my todo list is Cyberpunk 2077: No Coincidence, so hopefully this will be included by the end of the year.

Biggest win? 

Deciding to continue writing regardless of personal insecurities.

Goals for the new year? 

Mainly being more consistent with writing, but in a fun way, not in the "why am I doing this" kind of way. 😆

Your favorite words of the year, aka the words you check each chapter for, making sure you didn't repeat them 788 times? 

Probably 'smirk/smirked' 😆

What are you excited for in the new year?

Finishing the longfic and being able to share it with people and hopefully not having an identity crisis over numbers because a lot of times people give up after they don't achieve interaction they expect online

Tags: Anyone who writes and is interested in this, regardless of the fandom!

[outcaststars]

I've been streaming on twitch for over 4 years. I've made a great community and a wonderful group of friends but I've also had to deal with a lot of aweful people. Recently I've been feeling particularly upset about it all so I'm going to air all my grievances here. TW this mentions bullying, grooming, self harm and abuse. If anyone mentioned in this post trys to comment im just gonna delete it, i also dont care if your fav streamers is here, this is my authentic experience. Also dont go attacking anyone i mention here, the whole point of this is to be better then them.

Rat_emoji

The first streamer I ever had an issue with was Rat_emoji. It all started when I tuned into one of their DbD streams only to find him streaming another, younger, streamers live content.

He had just died to this kid playing Myers, he had TTV in his name and Rat was so mad about what had happened he streamed this kids twitch live to his viewers, all the while making fun of his appearance and stream quality.

A day later I would go back and screen record this whole interaction so I can share that if you want to see it. It felt so disgusting to watch this happen live, he has 100 viewers in chat and they were all being nasty. The only person who told him to stop was drag streamer Suttonfister (i think, 90% sure) who was in the same game and discord call at he time. the whole scene was aweful to witness, it felt like such an abuse of power. Rat didnt directly say anything mean but they made a lot of mean girl comments and didnt moderate anything cruel their chat said, it was obviously intentional.

After this I blocked Rat, it would have been easy to avoid him if he didn't found the stream team "Aussie pride", he got a lot of attention for that and a lot of praise and all of it made me sick. Funnily enough I heard that Aussie Pride was an aweful team to be in. The creators didn't care about the smaller members, planned no events and then disbanded the team with the release of Hogwarts legacy because they didn't want to take a stance on JK Rowling. Honestly it seems like the whole thing was a vanity project. That's why I don't like Rat_emoji.

Dcypherpup

DCpup was the first streamer I tried to network with. He hired me to make some art for him. He wanted me to work on merch for his channel, I declined, saying that I wasnt comfortable with the idea of someone else selling my art. I counter offered to just make him a profile icon, this way we could see how my style suited him and i could work out how to tackle the idea of eventually doing merch.

When the icon was done I sent him the high res file, he asked for my signature (my artist tag, a very small "outcaststars" in the corner) to be removed. When I asked why, he told me he needed it gone in order to upload it as merch.

Naturally I was upset. I explained that we had already made a deal not to do merch yet and I also explained that I was uncomfortable with the idea of removing my tag. I went on to explain why visibility was so important for artists. At the time I was a much smaller content creator and DCpup platform was much bigger.

He apologized and said he would give me a cut of the sales. I said don't bother and reluctantly let him do what he wanted. At the time I was too scared to make enemies so I fell into people pleasing.

I took more work from DCpup because I needed the money and I hoped it would be good for my channel growth. He would upload my work to his store and wouldn't credit me. I was frustrated.

The tipping point was after the final comm I took from him. An animated ending screen. During this process DCpup would message me everyday asking for updates which was annoying. When I delivered the final product he once again asked for my tiny, half transparent signature to be removed. I was so upset and defeated, I told myself I'd fight it but I didn't. I removed my sign from every layer, reanimated the whole thing and vowed not to take work from him.

After the piece was done he wanted to commission me again. I left him on read, then I found out what he was saying about me to other people. A good friend of mine showed me a message he had sent in his stream, telling him not to bother commission me, because I would be too busy doing work for him. I was furious.

Another week later I got raided by someone and told the new viewers to check out my work, it broke my heart when someone who looked at my insta, told me he had no idea I made all of DCpups stuff. Why would he? Dcypherpup went to ridiculous lengths to hide my credit. He was telling people not to contact me and not tagging any comm work with my name. One day he came into my live stream and I was so mad I banned him on the spot .

I wish I had done more to be assertive, live and learn. Funnily enough I found out he posted a big rant, telling people off for supporting JK Rowling when Hogwarts legacy released. Only to be called out for buying it and playing it on his steam, which he had forgotten to make private. He deleted the tweet. What a cunt.

Undertheredmoon and Greenypika

Redmoon is furry streamer that I use to really like. They were funny, had great energy and I would even go as far to say that they were a friend.

All this came to a grinding hault the day he invited furry artist and accused child groomer Daveoverlord to join us on Monster hunter rise live on stream.

Dave wasn't in voice chat and I wasn't reading Redmoons twitch chat at the time, so although I was aware of who Dave was, I didn't realize it was them. When someone messaged me about it a few days later I was mortified, I assumed Redmoon didn't know and I messaged them immediately.

I asked Red if he knew who Dave was and what he had done and the kind of artists he was friends with (cub artists). Redmoon ghosted me, left me on read for a week. I messaged again asking why he wasn't talking to me. He said he was too stressed to deal with this "drama" and didn't care to get involved. He mentioned that if Dave was guilty cops probably would have gotten involved and said he just wanted to focus on his own work.

When I asked Redmoon where he stood on cub porn, he stopped replying. We haven't spoken since.

The same person who told me about Dave joining stream also pointed out that Greenypika was inviting Dave onto his stream. They dm'd greeny and asked them if they knew and greeny said he had no idea and that he'd look into it. Greeny hadn't responded for a few months so I dm'd him with the same message and got the same copy paste reply. TLDR greeny knew and was just lying about it so I blocked him too.

Daveoverlord

Dudes a fucking groomer and now he streams. Blocked.

Cidermarten

Cider and I got into an argument once, the topic of which is no one's business.

His bf weyland got mad at me for it and vague tweeted about it so I decided to start a group chat with them to sort it out. And we did.

I apologised for what I did and cider took some time away from interacting with me. Everyone in this situation wanted what was best. And weyland is now one of my best friends.

Cider and I aren't as close as we could be but that's my fault. They're honestly a wonderful person and I appreciate their friendship. There inclusion in this list is to prove a point later but they're also the only person here who I think deserves success.

Stripeydragon and Break trail.

This one is complicated because it involves someone who ment a lot to me.

Back when the exclusive stream team Break Trail formed, my good friend Marsh joined the team. Being an artist he did a lot of the teams promo art of all it's members. Marsh had a lot of anxieties about the team because he was one of its smallest members and often told me he felt underappreciated or out of place. This feeling for worse when artist/streamer and fellow team member Stripeydragon decided he was going to do a redraw of all of marsh's promo work.

I didn't see Marsh much at the time but when this began he spent the better part of a week in my mod chat expressing how upset he was about it. It didn't help he was already anxious but he felt stripydragon was replacing him and even mentioned a time when he tried to give feedback on stripys work only for him to disregard it. Marsh was really fucking upset.

After stripeydragon posted the work my moderator, Ibn, who had been listening and consoling marsh for a week, decided to comment on the art publically. He said he didn't think stripyes version of the art was better and criticized him of slimming down the fater characters.

I wanna pause this to say I don't condone what Ibn did. He ment well but it wasn't his fight and he shouldn't have commented a critique on something no one asked him to judge. Don't do this. Anyway...

Stripeydragon fucking hated this. Not only did he respond to every tweet, he went into the break trail discord and rallied everyone to defend him and attack Ibn, a lot of break trail members also rushed to the comments to defend stripey and attack ibn. He also posted ibns comment in his own discord to encourage others to dog pile on. This shit got out of hand super fucking fast. Ibn was crying and marsh was pissed. It was betray of trust on Ibns part, but the way stripey responded was downright scary.

Shit was at its peak by the time I woke up (Australian timezone) and I immediately went into damage control. I gave Ibn a huge lecture, I was mad af and told him to apologize. I dm'd breaktrails stream team manager Mari, and tried my best to defuse the situation so that both parties could stop. Everyone deleted their tweets. Ibn apologised a dozen times and Marsh told everyone that ibn was just an asshole.

So the story everyone believes now is that marsh actually loves stripydragons work and Ibn is just a weird jerk. There where no consequences for stripydragons weaponizing a stream team and their fan base against someone on twitter. They're still a member of break trail but the team has been dead for a long time. I understand that Ibn was in the wrong and marsh should have just talked about his issues with his team. But this is another case of someone with a big platform and bigger ego not hesitating to use that to attack others.

Starkymorph

this one is fucked up.

Starky mods for a bunch of break trail members, so he had an inside look into the whole stripeydragon thing. Keep that in mind.

About a year after the stripey incident, I woke up to a message from starky. I had recently finished a commission for starky but apart from that we didn't know each other well.

He claimed that ibn had harassed him on stream by bringing up controversial topics and that because he was my mod he wasn't going to support me any more. I was pretty angry, Ibn was causing trouble again. I dm'd ibn and told him I didn't want to hear what he had to say and instead I just wanted the timestamp on Starkeys VOD so I could see what he did myself.

I watched the VOD and what I saw didn't line up with anything starky had said. He made the whole thing up.

What really happened was, starky decided to bring up "cancel culture" and went on a rant about how it was inherently bad and that anyone who participates in it only does it for "self-aggrandizing reasons". A lot of the shit he said was very thinly veiled right wing bullshit dog whistles.

Ibn asked him to elaborate and said something to the likes of "what about people who cancel pedos and rapists" and starky banned ibn and ended the convo.

Ibn didn't start the controversial topic and he didn't harass anyone. But starky was mad and wanted to attack him, he knew Ibn had a history of starting shit so he came to me with a bullshit story thinking I'd believe him and Ibn would lose his friends. And it almost worked.

I tried to talk some sense into starky, I pointed out that his original message was dishonest. Starky doubled down and made up more lies. He continued to claim that things happened during the stream that aren't in the VOD. He even bought up weylandshere and claimed he was harassing him too, out of nowhere! which if you watch the VOD is also completely made up. He said some ablist shit about "high functioning autism" aswell, its all really incoherent. Non of this is true and I downloaded the VOD so he couldn't hide the evidence.

Starky tried to use my argument with cider and Ibns argument with stripy as evidence that we were bad people. I found this really sinister, because my initial reaction to Starkys story, was that i believed him, pretty much everyone reacted this way. It upsets me that i was almost convinced to distance myself from my best friend because of a lie.

A ton of people didn't watch the VOD and took Starkeys word. Starky blocked me and started asking all his followers and mutuals to do the same. A whole bunch of people sub tweeted about ibn being an abuser and me being an enabler. It was fucking aweful. It went on for days.

This only stopped when Kyziethewolf stepped in and defended me. Even tho starky was one of his best friends, he had watched the VOD and told everyone he was lying. Starky doesn't talk to kyzie now and it really broke his heart.

A lot of people still believe starky and I lost a bunch of mutual streamers support because of this. It's one of the worst attacks I've suffered on twitter/twitch to date.

I found out a few months later he's added "outcast is racist" to the narrative he tells people and there's nothing I can do about that

This also basically ended my friendship with Marsh. I've known marsh for 7 years and hes a friend of Starkeys too. During this whole ordeal he never spoke up, it was only kyzie. I was really upset about this because i feel that Marsh could have made a significant change to how this played out if he had of just stepped in.

When he dm'd me a few weeks after asking if I'm make some free art for his project I told him no. I told him I was hurt. He said he just didn't want to get involved in drama. i think its really harmful to reduce harassment to just "drama". We've stopped talking.

Jayedskier

I met jayed though my friend weyland. I needed a 3D artists and he needed work.

Jayed had recently lost a lot of friends because during COVID he tweeted that people not social distancing at a furcon where putting disabled, high risk, people's lives in danger. Totally righteous imo.

He however also tweeted that anyone who doesn't where a mask should kill themselves and deservingly got a lot of hate and backlash. Lost a lot of friends. Since then he was pretty unwilling to comment on any political shit. Publically that is.

The first fight I got into with jayed was when Ibn reposted a Tumblr thread about the YouTuber keffals, and some of the problematic things she'd done. Jayed loves keffals so he dm'd Ibn about it and started a huge fight defending his favourite YouTuber. I stepped in to try and resolve the fight but no one was really happy.

This argument made jayed realise that he didn't have the same values as the friend group he was in. He liked keffals, he thought it was ok to say the R slur and he felt people should be allowed to support JK Rowling.

He left my discord and I contacted him trying to smooth things over. We talked for a long time and I settled on agree to dissagree the hopes to change his mind on some of these issues.

That didn't happen. Jayed kept starting fights about woke shit, even though he's a self proclaimed "leftist" and it slowly drove a wedge between us. He stopped talking to everyone in our friend group, unfollowed us all on socials.

Artists/streamer and friend Ixu had drawn a big group shot of all of us together. Weyland (who is in this friend group) was pretty angry about the whole ordeal so he asked Ixu for a version without jayed edited out. When he posted this jayed got super pissed about it.

Jayed tweeted about how unwelcoming my community was. Screen caped some DM's and changed the context. I was so angry, I had spent months continuing to offer my friend ship and trying to change his mind. One of the last fights we got into he said he was mad that "people" expected him to show support for Palestine and thats kind of the end of it.

This one hurt because it felt like a betrayal. Jayed you can get fucked dude.

Socksthewolf

This one is super recent and is basically why I decided to write this.

I can't remember how I met socks. They work in the games industry and they have a LOT of money/connections. He gives away a lot of stuff, Donates to people a lot. He very affectionate and Everyone loves him. I even accepted a bunch of charity/gifts from him and in return drew a bunch of gift art.

Socks success made a few mutuals of mine uncomfortable. He had a lot of money to put into stream so his channel grew insanely fast. I'm also told he made comments to some mutuals, comparing channel growth that made them feel bad. He ran multiple giveaways and got partner almost a year after starting stream.

There was some drama between socks and one of his mods. I tried my hardest not to get involved. Socks employs a lot of parasocial strategies in order to retain an audience so he flirts a lot and also has a persona of "I'm you dad" on stream. Idk if this counts as love bombing, but it feels similar.

I heard that one of his mods developed a crush on him and when rejected, he drank himself into the hospital. He almost died.

I spoke with this ex mod about it. He doesn't blame socks for what happened even tho he feels the rejection was harsh. I still feel that socks takes advantage of people with his gifts and parasocial friendship. This is a result of that going unchecked.

One of our mutuals found out about this and was really upset. They tweeted about it and tried to hold socks accountable. Nothing came of it.

I grew distant from socks when he started hanging out with Redmoon a lot. Because I felt close to them at the time I messaged him a about Redmoon and what happened between us. He never replied.

This story takes a dark turn when jayedskier, friend of socks, decided to make that tweet mentioned in his section. Socks also went in on someone jayed had mentioned.

This is about my good friend Weyland. Weyland had had someone very close to them pass away recently. Socks complied some tweets and chat screen caps, and made up a story of weyland threatening to kill themselves.

Some of the messages were about weylands dead friend. Socks knowingly changed the context and lied to make weyland look bad.

I honestly think this is the worst thing on this post. To use the death of someone and the personal anguish of someone and ammo for you bullshit story about them is fucking horrifying.

I replied to socks tweet about weyland, I told him what he was doing was wrong. He told me that he feels bad I'm surrounded by toxic people and that he hopes they get better.

After seeing the way socks treats his audience and the way he lied about another streamer, I genuinely believe hes some kind of abuser. Idk the vibe is REALLY off with this one. This feels worse then bullying, there's an ego about it. I've blocked socks on everything. Frankly they scare me.

Final notes

Anyway that's been my aweful experience with aweful twitch streamers. The whole thing has left me bitter and sad and I no longer want to interact with anyone. idk where to go from here.

Twitch TOS doesn't care what people say or do on other platforms. And with other streamers/mutuals so unwilling to get involved or show support I just feel alone.

I do feel compelled to speak up when I see or experience something I think isn't right. I think a lot of neurodivegant people, like myself, feel that way. But I think it's been terrible for my career. I hate the feeling that I'd be so much more successful if I'd shut my mouth and looked away. Maybe even be partner by now. I know a lot of this comes across as just "furry drama" but i think its reductive to label it as that. Content creators who engage in these kind of harmful behaviors need to be held accountable if we want to see any positive change. And im not saying that means "CANCEL" them. some (not all) of these content creators can still learn and grow and be better. Negative attitudes and dismissive statements of "its just drama" create a space for bullies to thrive

Finally, please PLEASE do NOT under any circumstances harass anyone involved in this post. This is not an attempt to rally the masses to lynch some people, im just telling my story so that next time you see someone come forward with claims about a content creator you like you'll see the situation differently.

If you made it this far, wow. Thank you. Dunno if I'll post the vids/screencap evidence. I don't know if I care enough.

[o-uncle-newt]

THREE: it's just really good for mental health

I've been saying I'd post this and now that I have a nice long day with not much to do, I will- not that I haven't posted about this before. Honestly, one of the most important things to me about Cabin Pressure is that it has a power, shared with very few other things (among them incidentally are one or two key Double Acts), to make me smile/feel better about pretty much anything, no matter how dire, at least for half an hour- and with at least a bit of "afterglow" so to speak lol.

But I've written about it here, and here, and here and here... probably other places too. And I think the thing that impresses me the most is that, so often when I share this, I get loads of people telling me exactly the same thing. I don't know what it is exactly- is it just the comedy? The characters, who are over the top enough not to be IMMEDIATELY identifiable but still relatably human? The clever plots that you can get lost in? The heart and warmth and care? Probably a combination of all of these things.

You'll see some of the more specific examples of the above for me in the links in the prior paragraph, so I'll move on, possibly to a TMI extent, to a more specific thing, that might not surprise people- the impact of Arthur Shappey's Guide to Happiness on me. JF has said, I think, that it's a principle he genuinely holds by, and I know that lots of people agree that it's something that really hits you. And it really hit me too.

So I'll talk a bit about my own journey with it- shifting from being an Arthur to being a Martin (or trying to be). As in, this has concretely helped me become a happier/better person.

I am not exaggerating when I say that every therapist I've ever seen has heard of Cabin Pressure and John Finnemore, and I'm pretty sure all of them have seen the above video from Fitton. Now, like a lot of other people, I really glommed on to the whole idea about how if you expect happiness to come from the big things then you'll end up disappointed when they don't measure up, so find smaller things that will give you smaller pockets of joy in your every day.

Without going into excessive detail, the last few years have been tough for me in some ways. At the time, I was in a terrible work environment that had serious ramifications for my personal life. And I kept on listening to that clip and being like "well yes I can make this better with self care" or whatever. And it did- I'd say it was more make this bearable but at the time that was still a lot.

At one point I was talking to my therapist and she was asking if I felt happy. And I said that on a day to day level I was enjoying myself (there were fun parts of my job, it was a larger situation that was the problem), but that I still often felt really miserable. She asked why and I thought about it and was like- I keep doing random little things but nothing is getting better. I'm still in the same situation I was last week, last month, and last year, and this is lulling me into complacency when the underlying root of the problem hasn't been fixed at all.

So my therapist asked me- what do you mean by complacency? Does that mean you're feeling better/happier than you have been? And I had to think about it but I could definitely say- yes, I was. I'd tried new foods, taken great trips, read interesting books, and had a lot of little pops of enjoyment. The difference was that now that wasn't enough anymore. Then my therapist asked me- "but don't you realize how huge that is? That you're past the hump where something small is the best you can hope for?" And she was right.

The way I think about it, that placement of the clip in Fitton, no matter what JF meant by putting it there and no matter whether he had anything that came later in mind when he did it, ended up just working beautifully. Like, it makes sense that this is coming from Arthur- he's the character who changes the least. He doesn't have to, much, and while I won't go so far as to say he doesn't have the capacity to, even if he did he has a lot of people who are protective of him because they don't think he has the capacity to. He enjoys his life. He doesn't really have any problems and the dreams that he sees as within his reach (aka, not being a "muppet baby pilot") are, for him, on par with the pleasure he gets from throwing an apple back and forth.

It's why Arthur is a great character- he's a reminder of something simpler in all of us. I don't think he's relatable at all, and that's a good thing- what we really love is the way Arthur makes us feel. He's so non-self-absorbed that in the few moments where his equanimity is shaken up, he's so thrown off kilter that we, who are more used to dealing with the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, want to jump in front to protect him from them. We value the simplistic way in which he sees our goodness, because to us, things are more complicated.

But that complication is a good thing! That's what allows us to be more than and better than what we currently are, eventually. That can be really hard- especially when we're brought low, to take the work to improve things for ourselves can feel impossible. It can take love and support, it can take grit, and it can take an existing base of self-regard, but it can be done. Arthur may not need to, but we do.

At the same time, we learn something important from Arthur, and in particular Martin does in Fitton. (Douglas too, but with a different kind of application.) Martin thinks he's where he wants to be, but he KNOWS he isn't- he's not being paid, he's constantly bullying, and the facade he puts on is doing nothing to earn him the kind of respect that his essentially-purchased title should, in theory, entitle him to. To him, the way to get through it is to grit his teeth and keep on pretending, assume that if he carries on as he is (knowing that he's not good enough yet but still trying anyway) then he'll end up making it. But that just makes him more uptight and difficult, in the end.

What Arthur recognizes is that you DO need those little bits of happiness to make the big ones doable! If Martin is going to keep on trying for the big breaks, he'll inevitably fail at least some of the time (in his case, far more lol) and that will just dump him even farther down than he started. You start to curse the wind, because at a certain point you're trying to control forces that are uncontrollable and that will never guarantee happiness, just give you a potential chance at it. Once you've appreciated the smaller things that you CAN control, and you boost your mood and mentality that way, you start to recognize that maybe you can move past where you are. That you can get both the little things, the apple-tossing and singing, as well as the new big things you are striving for.

Arthur will never need to go past that first thing- the character as constructed has no interest in it. But as much as he doesn't understand the END of Martin's journey except when paraphrased for him in the terms of various movies (not all of which he actually understands), he understands the beginning more than Martin does- that he needs to have the small happinesses to build him up and make him be ready for whatever else comes his way.

Because here's the thing- if we all lived like Arthur, we'd never be with the loves of our lives in the moonlight, would we? We'd be worried it could go wrong or we wouldn't fully appreciate it, and anyway everyone would love us as much as we want to be loved already, and we'd be too busy soaking in the bath to care about the other thing. But the non-Arthurs of us are resilient enough to WANT the loves of our lives (well, on average- plenty of people don't but they wiil have their own equivalent bigger-picture and higher-stakes wants) and, as a result, to be willing to take the risk of it not being everything we immediately want it to be. But, if it's NOT what we want it to be, Arthur wisely knows that we need to make sure we have a cushion of smaller happinesses to fall back on in the meantime, to build us up until we can try again.

With credit to my therapist, I have to say that this reimagining of the Arthur/Martin paradigm and Martin's journey vs Arthur's stasis in Cabin Pressure has stayed with me- reminding me to give myself the smaller boosts I need as I take bigger leaps and really choose the goals that I care about. I'm in a different job that is a better situation, and while I still have plenty of problems, I've learned to find ways to balance them out with the smaller things that make life worth living as I try to overcome them more essentially and hopefully permanently. In the meanwhile, I have Arthur to help.

[elacular-kink]

Hicvember 18: 2(+) cases at once

Not especially happy with this one. My brain wasn't really braining today. Which is a shame, because the idea of multiple simultaneous cases of the hiccups is just...yes. Very yes. Luckily, I'll get a do-over on day 27.

For now though, have Kiran and Olivia annihilating Susanna from space.

Content: Hiccups, embarrassment, arousal

With Olivia regularly sitting next to me in the lecture we shared, I'd started noticing just how frequently she would catch the hiccups. I'd also noticed just how good she was at hiding them. If I hadn't learned about how important they were to Susanna, I think that most of the time I wouldn't even realize she had them. Even with cases that she later told me were in the upper half of her numbered scale, she was able to swallow them down to near silence, though that always made her body jolt violently.

...I was also lucky that Olivia was apparently used to being stared at while hiccuping, because knowing about Susanna's fetish had me doing a lot of examination, watching how her belly popped out, how her chest jolted back, and how her whole body would lurch sometimes.

Even though she'd told me it was alright for me to look, I still felt a shock of anxiety when her pencil tapped my fingers, and she showed me some writing in the margin of her notes: "You're more distracted than usual. You actually stopped writing."

Ah. That was...that wasn't good practice. I started taking notes again, hoping that Olivia might let me borrow hers to fill in what I'd missed. Once I felt like I'd gotten a good base to write about what the professor was saying now, I wrote in my margins back to her. "Thank you, Olivia."

She shrugged her shoulders, which then bounced again with a hiccup. "Why were you distracted though? You don't have to worry about me right now, this is, like, a three."

Once I'd finished another sentence I wrote back. "It's" I stopped after just one word, feeling my face redden, but I knew that Olivia would prefer that I be honest with her in just about all matters. "I have some thoughts concerning your hiccups and Susanna that we can get into after class."

"Sex thoughts?"

I just barely avoided squealing as I scribbled out the word "sex" on her notes. She shook with a few chuckles in between her hiccups. "YES, BUT DETAILS TO FOLLOW LATER!" That apparently worked for her, because she flashed me a thumbs up and went back to focusing on the lecture, which I did my best to do as well.

After class, Olivia took my hand and led me to a rather unremarkable patch of grass in the middle of the campus. "Oka–*uck*–ay, nobody's around. *hmk* What are your tho–*ok*–oughts?"

"Well, I..." It was strange how embarrassing it still was to talk about this, even with someone I knew would both understand and be understanding. "I woke up this morning feeling...um, multiple things. And one of those things was, um...hiccupy? A-as if I'm likely to catch a case. And I know that I can fairly reliably, um, induce hiccups in myself and—"

"Oh, you wan–*hnk*–wanna annihilate Su---sanna from space, huh?" I looked down at her and she shrugged. "That's one of th–*uck* the ways she ta–*hulk* talks about being turned on. *hmk*. I don't g---get it." I didn't get it either, but I understood enough to nod. Olivia hummed through a few hiccups before she nodded. "Yeah. I've got t---time. And anni---hillating her from space i–*ic*–is fun. You'll like it. *hmk*. Want me to te–*ulk* tell you how to do it r---really well?" I nodded rapidly again, and when I looked at her face, I saw what I'd learned to recognize as her genuine smile. "Awesome. *hmk* You'll learn quick."

I did learn quickly from Olivia's explanations, and a little planning and a few scary youtube videos later, I was in my own house, hiccuping away, a hand resting on my chest and Olivia sending me a secret phone call. "Susann–*uck*," I couldn't tell from the noises of skin and fabric exactly what was happening, but if I had to guess from their usual interactions, Olivia had likely just draped herself over Susanna's shoulders, resting her chin on her head.

"Olivia." Now that I'd learned to recognize it, even now that she'd been around it for so long, whenever Olivia (or anyone else) was hiccuping, I could hear the very slight tension in Susanna's voice. There were some more noises of movement. "Okay, we're, uh, going this way now I guess."

"Kiran se---seemed tired in the le–*ic* lecture today. You always che–*HEEK*–mmf, cheer her up."

"Ah. Not sure why. I'm not exactly a ray of sunsh—OW! What the fuck, no biting!" There was the brief sounds of a scuffle, and I couldn't help but laugh. Happily, that seemed to make my hiccups even worse.

For the brief rest of the call, Olivia and Susanna discussed banal topics, and it seemed like the latter didn't have any suspicions. I couldn't help bouncing on my toes when I knew they were nearing my house, and when they knocked on the door, I probably opened it suspiciously quickly, but at this point, I didn't care. "Hello Su–*HOOP!*" My face was so red, but hers was far redder, and I could see Olivia grinning from where she rested her chin on Susanna's head. "S-Susanna. Exc–*HIUK* Excuse me. I, um...*HMK*" I realized that I was smiling, but what else could I do as I looked back down at her? "Y-you've cau–*UCK*–aught me with a bi–*HIP* bit of a case o–*HUP* of the hiccups. *HIC-ULP!* Mmf!"

Susanna looked like she intended to say something, her jaw opening and closing, but before she could, I yelped when Olivia shoved her into me before wrapping her arms around us both and pushing us back into the house, shutting the door afterward. She didn't let go when she was done, so Susanna was squished between us tightly enough that I worried a bit about her ability to breathe. But even with the medium of an adorable woman between us, I could still feel every jolt of Olivia's stomach, and I was sure she could feel how every one of my hiccups wobbled me. "Oh look, *hmk*, Kiran's got th---the hiccups too. *hmk* How about that?"

Susanna wrestled herself free enough of us to at least have her head fully unblocked, though Olivia kept her hold on both of us, and I wasn't particularly helpful in letting her escape. "Yoooouuuu are so fucking evil." I couldn't help but giggle at how her voice buzzed with tension as she said that.

"Careful, you're ma–*uck* making Kiran laugh. I thi–*hnk* think that might ma–*hup* make her hiccups wo–*urk*–orse."

"Sh–*HIUK* she's not *HIP* wrong," I felt how flushed my face was and finally started actually helping, wrapping my arms around Susanna too to keep her even more trapped. "Whenever I *HEEK*–nnf! St-start to hi–*IC-CUP* l-like this *IC!*" I couldn't stop myself from giggling at having hiccuped through the word itself. "L-laughing se–*HEEK* seems like it ma–*IC* makes them wo–*HIURK*–orse."

"I swear you di–*ic* didn't have these wh---when we left the le–*hic* lecture hall *hmk*." Olivia tilted her head, her voice taking on a faux tone of confusion. "But he–*URK* here you are now, *hmk* all bouncy and *hmk* hiccupy like me."

Olivia opened an opportunity for one of the teases she'd shared with me, and I couldn't stop smiling as I took it. "M-mayb–*EEK* Maybe some of *HMK* your hiccups spi–*HIC*–spilled out of *HIUP* you and int–*HOOP* into me!" I felt more than heard Susanna moan against us, and my heart beat faster as I wondered what exactly she could feel pressed so close against my body like this.

"Oh shit," Olivia leaned down and rested her head on Susanna's again. "Better *hmk* be careful, Susanna. *hmk-lp* or both our c---cases might end u–*hup* spilling into you."

The sound that came out of Susanna at that made my whole body light on fire, and I loved feeling how that fire enveloped Susanna with each of either of our spasms. Olivia's hiccups might not have spilled over into me, but some of Susanna's fetish had, and getting to turn her on like this...

I never thought I'd be so happy about my crush liking other people. But "annihilating her from space" as a team was just perfect.

[garuye]

Hi hi hello!! I just wanted to say that I adore your art, specifically your mer!Jonathan art!! Is there a story behind all the au characters that you’ve drawn so far, or a plot you have in mind for the au beyond silly hijinks and shenanigans? /gen

Regardless, thank you for sharing this au with us here!!

Thank you!! :D

It was someone else's suggestion to begin with, and I rolled in the brainrot for a bit, and then rolled along more with what others continued suggesting. Now there've been so many neat takes (half of which are still in my inbox im sorry i don't know how much i'll get to) that I can't decide between this or that and have just taken to being goofy about it. I think the selling point of pirate era aus like this is in how believably you can execute the background lore, historically and otherwise, and I'm not very good at that, so there's a point where it gets hard to imagine the scenarios properly...

But yes if there were to be a linear story within the au, I'd love it very much, that would be the best version of it. The sexy period au with mature themes, deep feelings, and dark sea lore. A girl who is just a bit jaded and aloof who meets someone so completely out of her depth (literally) that she can't help developing a fascination, new and unexpected feelings, allowing herself the vulnerability of love, etc. I don't picture her being super edgy or anything, just maybe not being in touch with her feelings, or not used to having relationships she feels she can be vulnerable in. Like. I genuinely think the most important part of the au is Erina. It could be point-for-point Phantom Blood, mermaidified and liberties taken, but Erina being a pirate is the special spin that makes it unique and adds all the new spice to the dynamic.

Tl;dr, I don't trust myself to create the version of the au that I'd like the most so I'm just vibing and having fun (admittedly also why jonathan's only fishy feature is his tail, in this house we do in fact enjoy a mer design with more fishy features)

[crusherthedoctor]

It's really sad how people keep going after your group just because you defend yourselves

Apparently, the statements "I'm generally content with the quality of my personal stories" and "I spot many issues with this comic" justify getting spammed with graphic death threats and ableist insults

Yet it's insisted that you're the ones who are too harsh? It's straight up unfair.

Who would have thought that a group of people might occasionally get upset after being crucified and ridiculed by countless strangers?

Funny how they NEVER have a justification beyond "well shut up no one wants to hear you"

Somehow, it's always YOUR fault that a part of the fandom goes rabid whenever someone doesn't conform to the current "right" opinion, and YOU'RE to blame for THEIR ungodly behavior. That doesn't make any sense, does it?

This fandom is vain and abhorrent to the nth degree and y'all deserve better. That's all I wanted to say.

Par for the course, innit. They'll lash out at us. They'll hand out death threats. They'll make disgusting ableist comments about my autism, and similarly terrible comments towards my friends. They'll threaten to bomb SEGA HQ and stick Iizuka's head on a pike, among other wild declarations of violence. But don't you dare make a goofy meme about Surge not living up to her hype. And whatever you do, don't even think about criticising the unprofessional antics of the IDW crew. What are you, a monster?

They dismiss us as insignificant one minute, then fearmonger so hard that they see fit to give us a boogeyman-esque moniker the next. I'd be surprised if they could walk in a straight line without contradicting themselves.

As for "You talk so much about your fics!" ...No shit. I'm a guy with a blog. This isn't a movie production with a budget, I don't have a team or advertisements backing me up. And unlike fanartists, I don't have my own art to catch people's attention. I kind of have to talk about my writing in order to get it out there and inform people of its existence, and while I try not to sound too much like an unskippable YouTube ad, what else am I supposed to do? Upload them silently and then never refer to them again? How is showing passion for my work any different from official creators showing passion for theirs? Just because fanfic tends to get less attention on here than fanart doesn't mean it's not worth sharing, do they want fandom to flourish or not?

When I compare my work to a certain comic, I do it to highlight the dissonance. If fanfic writers - plural, not just myself - can understand the importance of keeping the characters recognizable, and making the universe faithful despite any necessary differences, then what excuse do official writers who have been involved with the series for over a decade have? If someone who doesn't even love Sonic that much compared to other characters, finds him annoying and unfunny half the time (no, not just in the Pontaff games, in general), and even finds it a pain in the ass to write for him at times and has more fun writing other characters because of this, can still attempt to write what made him appeal to fans... why do writers who supposedly love him so much keep fumbling so hard with him?

I compare for the sake of highlighting why these off-kilter portrayals are so easy to spot. If Sonic Twitter only gets "He's just stroking his own dick" from all of that, then they haven't been paying attention.

The most ironic thing about it all is that they've only gotten more vitriolic as most of us have mostly moved on from the height of IDW discourse (cause the comic goes in circles at this point, and is very likely to be running on fumes due to IDW's financial troubles, so there's no point). Yeah, I'll still criticise it now and then, and make a meme on occasion, but I rarely make lengthy ted talks about it or participate in ongoing Lanolin Is A Bitch/Silver Is Uwu-ified/Whisper Is Trauma Bait/etc back and forths anymore, because it's just tiring now. And since most current Sonic stuff has been putting me off in general, combined with growing fatigue and frustration at not being able to criticise certain games without people waving the finger at me (especially SA2, since the Year of Shadow has made it the center of attention yet again...), I've took a step back from intense Sonic discussion to focus on Stellar, as well as other fandom projects, like my recent brainstorming for Paper Mario or: How I Learned To Insert Eggman and Love The Vivian™.

In no way can you say I've been up in their faces as of recent. Yet they continue to cry otherwise, because they want people like me gone completely.

[komilys]

Hello hello can I bug you about lore/story for your Selfship with Yuki and the other Sohmas? I saw you have Akito as your big sister and she's my daughter so I'd love to know about your self insert!!! If you're up to share!!!!

when i first got this ask i did write out a response in one of my writing applications, but then halloween happened and my computer broke and i lost my writing lol (still on a mission to get it back!) and then i got sad and gave up but i’m no longer sad! tysm sooo much for bugging me about them i love yuki and akito deeply <3

akito is my big sister! that’s so interesting u have her as your daughter, i would love to know if you have any lore :D

i think a fun little thing that doesn’t really play a huge role is that i’m only half-siblings with akito, i have no reasoning for doing this other than being able to explain my appearance differences from most of the other characters AND mostly, honestly, just because i thought it’d be really funny if ren was so petty over akira loving his daughter that she was like “i’ll get a new man! that’ll show him to cherish me!” and you know what? it is kinda funny to me still. even funnier that she got pregnant and decided to go through with the pregnancy out of spite, only for it to be born female, again, and akira fully accept the child as his own. i think this also kind of makes ren hate kyi differently than akito because she does like… hate her children. loathes them.

edit right before posting: ​a little tidbit i didn’t add in earlier but kyi is really hated by the sohma maid (the main one; i believe she’s nameless), which is mostly just fueled that she views kyi as not really important, just an extension of ren being a hindrance to the sohmas. also, because akira wasn’t alive long enough to significantly impact kyi directly, i don’t talk about him a lot, but i can imagine his vague treatment of kyi as a kind of second/extra-to-akito, did influence the maids/caretakers treatment of him after he passed.

but enough about ren hating her kids! (in the original writing i think i went more into it but i can’t remember, rip all my writing) let’s talk about akito and i!!!! my favourite codependent siblings!!!!

i don’t think it’s much of a surprise, especially given akito if you’ve watched the show, and kyi is pretty similar in some aspects. i dont’t believe the original manga nor either version of the show gave a ton of insight into akito’s childhood (we don’t even have a confirmed age, but i go off of around 3-4 year difference, i’m the same as the main three). honestly i need to work out the timeline better, because it’s a little wonky with canon only having a vague timeline of events. BUT a few key things i do want to work in to whenever i more or less solidfy lore!!:

kyi and yuki do meet and become friends around the first time akito and yuki meet (this was likely done on akito’s wishes, rather than kyi’s caretakers). kyi is also the one who pulls away from yuki later on, haven’t completely figured out why but i know it has to do with some bit of ren’s interference, which plays into a later bit between ren and kyi after the new year’s episode in s2. over the course of what the manga covers, yuki and i aren’t really explicitly together, in comparison to yuchi in canon, it’s more so just very apparent the two have feelings for each other but given that they’re both just starting to kind of come to terms with it and you know. adjusting to everything in their lives lol, though they are definitely together a little later on.

(there’s a lot more to our relationship i swear i just don’t want to this to turn too long 😭)

akito and kyi are like… by normal standards, at least… kind of really isolated from the outside world as children? the sohma complex is so large it was easy to stay inside, and i hc that they were actually homeschooled! and especially considering their social circles were very limited, with akito’s essentially being the zodiacs and the caretakers around the complex, and kyi’s being about a fraction of that. this changes as they grow up, obviously, but it lasts an unfortunate while. (no wonder these guys are so reliant on each other LOL, they literally have no one else). jokes aside, they do really care for each other, and akito does really love his younger sibling, but it’s also by no means the most healthiest relationship; kyi still bites his tongue and plays into akito’s god complex and inadvertantly encourages her destructive nature (think of how kureno chooses to stay despite it being worse for her).

oh my GOD i stole kureno’s storyline. (real, live reaction as i’m typing this at 3:03 am)

because as i’m typing this out you can basically just roughly imagine kureno’s bits in s2 and go hey!!! that’s kind of you?! both are officially introduced during the beach vacation arc, are somewhat unfamiliar with being outside of the estate and are constantly by akito’s side and accidentally encourage her abuse of the zodiacs by staying by her side and keeping quiet, AND their major breakaway from akito is a result of a future romantic partner. OHHH MY GOD I STOLE KURENO’S LIFE. OH YMGODnno.wait i can work with this. (i don’t really care either way i’m not a stickler for things like creating mary sue oc/self-inserts and etc.)

kureno, babes, i’m so sorry i stole your character </3

[jjconway]

Hi there! I'm hoping to one day storyboard for a transformers show of some kind myself one day. I'm going into my senior year of highschool, and i'm not quite sure where to really begin in terms of figuring out the path. If you can share a bit of advice as a storyboarder in the industry, i'd really appreciate it big time! Thanks in advance!

Happy to! I think there are 2 really important things you can do at your age, and luckily they're both really fun! First, DRAW. A LOT. The more you draw, the better you'll get. And don't just draw from your head, make sure to do studies. Half of drawing is knowledge. You can't draw a cat if you don't know what a cat looks like, right? So whenever you sit down to draw, take 30 min to do some warmup studies before drawing from your imagination. Either study what you plan to draw, or study what gave you trouble last time. I literally do this to this day. One exercise I'll do is copy something once, then I'll compare my drawing to the original and try to understand what I didn't quite get right. Then I'll either do a second drawing of it, or I'll do a few drawings on the side practicing the area I got wrong, and try to understand how to do it better. Another great exercise is to take an artist you want to draw like and trace their drawings. The loose/rough drawings are best, because those show you how the artist THINKS. So trace each line, and in your head ask questions like why did the artist make this line, and what is it communicating? The goal is to learn how to THINK like the artists you admire, so that you can make the same choices in your own work. Second, WATCH MOVIES (and TV). A LOT. Study classics, for sure, but also watch the stuff that inspires you. Watch the stuff that makes you want to be a filmmaker, and just absorb as much as you humanly can. It's so important because when you become a storyboard artist, you'll have to problem solve how to approach story beats, and all those movies you watch become your library, and they'll give you ideas on how different filmmakers have approached similar problems in the past. It allows you to stand on the shoulders of giants, instead of struggling to reinvent the wheel. Also listen to director commentaries and interviews, and watch video essays that dissect film. Like the tip about doing studies, it's all about learning how they THINK.

[cfr749]

I totally, totally agree with your view of their relationship. The Barnes episode is one I can’t watch and I just pretend it doesn’t exist. The whole situation with Chris and Ashley was just…unnecessary and written horribly. I feel like Tim treated Lucy better when he was her TO and respected her and didn’t treat her like a child which is mainly what he does now. He became more patronizing AFTER she was no longer his rookie. Additionally, he didn’t say anything after Lucy told him he would do great in Metro - just gave her a half smile and left. He acted like a teenager during the Valentine’s episode when he gave her the silent treatment when he found out she did the five-player trade. And it ended with LUCY apologizing and Tim never once apologizing for his immature behavior. He also treated her horribly in the episode when Isabel came back. He invited her to LUCY’S apartment without asking Lucy, gave her a half-hearted apology only when Isabel was AT THE DOOR and then proceeded to joke around with his ex-wife ABOUT Lucy and IN FRONT of Lucy and then regressed to his TO voice with his “Chen!” later at the station, right after making fun of Lucy trying to help him relax. Like, hello, that’s your girlfriend! Why are you snapping at her when she didn’t do anything??? Chris was absolutely a shitty partner but Tim is a becoming a very, very close second. He treated her better when she was his rookie and especially before they dated. And im so bummed about it because I had such high hopes but the way they write Tim’s character is just ruining it for me.

Hi anon!

First off, I'm glad you got to get all of that off of your chest 😂. I know how isolating and frustrating it can be to have all of the feelings about choices the show is making, but feel like you can't share those frustrations without pissing people off or experiencing backlash. So while I can't control anything other than my own response, I'll just say, you're always welcome to vent to me!

I'll be honest and say I didn't notice / react to all of the things you mentioned in the same way, but I can see your points and understand why those moments may have rubbed you the wrong way. Especially since, like I mentioned in my last post, the issue isn't any 1 isolated incident. The issue is a repeated pattern in the storytelling and messaging.

Something I want to be clear about before I go any further though:

This is not about my head canons or what I'd like to believe the writers were trying to convey.

Of course I think the idea of Lucy liking Tim more than Tim likes Lucy is ridiculous. That's why I can't figure out what on earth the writers were doing.

Of course I don't hate Tim (I literally could never!!) --- I love both of these characters deeply, and close to nothing excites me more than the idea of the two of them falling in love.

This is specifically about choices the writers made and what we actually saw unfold on our screens.

And if my takes seem to be more pro-Lucy, that's specifically because, IMO, the way the story unfolded was much more favorable to Tim that it was too Lucy.

Which isn't even surprising. Women often get the short end of the stick. Women of color almost always do. And that is literally the entire point of why this conversation is important. It's why shrugging off repeated instances of Lucy's character being eroded in service of the ship or maybe just as a result of the thoughtlessness of the writers really bothers me. It's why I'm not the only one who feels this way.

So, anon, for now, I'm just going to dig into the first item you mentioned as one of the first examples of this pattern -- the Katie Barnes of it all (sorry Katie - you were lovely - I promise it's nothing personal 😂). Setting aside the confession prank in 3x09 (which is it's own essay), this was the first time I started to really question the direction the show was going with making the ship canon. At the time, I hoped it was a blip, because we all remember that look in 3x14, and... yeah.

I believe this was the first appearance of jealous Lucy. And don't get me wrong, I have no problem with using jealousy to tell a story -- as long as it serves a purpose and as long as it's not completely 1-sided.

But instead of moving Chenford forward, this actually moved them several steps backward for me.

Like you mention anon, in seasons 1 and 2, despite Lucy being his rookie, I felt that they were very much portrayed as equals. They helped each other in different ways. I’d argue Lucy often showed she was more emotionally intelligent than Tim and used that to help him navigate through the end of his marriage, and Tim obviously poured everything he had into getting her as ready as she possibly could be to move on to the next step in her career.

But this scene in 3x11 managed to re-assert the Rookie - T.O. dynamic in a way that slapped me harder than any moment when he was actually her T.O. -- asserting Tim's view of Lucy as someone he needed to teach not how to be a capable police officer, but someone he needed to teach about the world.

He said this to Lucy. Lucy! LUCY!

If you don't understand why this is categorically absurd, please go re-watch season 1 right now.

The fact that it was couched in compliments and we got to see Lucy go squee over his praise doesn't make this any less patronizing.

Literally, I don't need to hear any man say this to any woman ever. I especially don't need to hear a white man saying it to a woman of color. And I sure as hell did not need to hear Tim say it to Lucy.

So where'd we end up?

Lucy took some major hits to her character, blurring the lines between personal and professional by accusing Tim of giving Katie special treatment because he found her attractive, and ultimately came off as jealous, immature, insecure, and unprofessional amongst probably some other less than flattering things. And note, I'm not saying I think she is these things. I'm saying she was portrayed to the general audience as being these things.

Tim, on the other hand, got a windfall -- not only did he get to be the wise, all knowing teacher (let's not forget his deep love of meditation), he got to have all his past sins erased under the guise of helping sweet Lucy understand the world is a scary place.

***

So obviously you mentioned a bunch of other examples, but this is already too long and probably not at all what you were looking for in a response, so I'm going to wrap up here. I got another ask about the Valentine's Day plot, so I'll tackle what I did and didn't like there eventually (yes, I am capable of liking things. it's rare, but possible).

Thanks for the ask! 🥰🥰🥰