#if we point out that she's called pretty multiple times then we get called creepy and accused of wanting her to be a supermodel

[fromtheseventhhell]

hi! I’m a new fan of asoiaf (and Arya obvi lol) and I love ur blog <3 there’s a popularish post on this site that basically talks abt how the comparison between Arya and Lyanna is meant to convey that they were both tomboys and not that Arya is actually really pretty and I generally agree bc obviously yeah but it seemed kinda weird that like so many of the ppl reblogging that post were like either huge Sansa stans or were hellbent on telling others that Arya is NOT pretty which… I feel like is also missing the point?? Idk if you know which post I’m referring to, but either way I was wondering if that’s like a general fandom opinion that Arya is meant to be this conventionally unattractive person that doesn’t have looks really tied to their stories (kinda like Brienne)? Or if this is just something you’d see on tumblr cause I’ve heard the fandom here is a bit different than on like Reddit or twitter

I can take a guess at which post you're referencing and yes, it is a generally accepted idea that Arya isn't meant to be pretty. I don't think that's specific to Tumblr either, I've seen people on tiktok/reddit/twitter/etc. argue the same. While I do think there's a point to be made about Lyanna's memory being romanticized, I disagree that the conclusion should be that Lyanna and Arya aren't meant to be pretty. The idea that personality and looks aren't dependent on each other seems to be a difficult one for this fandom to grasp, so they treat Lyanna being pretty and her being a tomboy as mutually exclusive when they can (and do) coexist. There would be no point in Arya and Lyanna being referenced as pretty as many times as they are (several times for each of them) if that wasn't the case. "Missing the point" is a great way of describing it because this take is dependent on ignoring what's written in the books. As usual, I think this links back to fandom's inability to comprehend female characters that don't neatly fit into flat archetypes and their placing value on beauty and not wanting said value associated with the wrong "type" of characters. Arya and Lyanna being pretty and wild/non-conforming seems to be a little bit beyond fandom's processing capabilities.

[mswyrr]

I really like Rachel Zegler's headcanon: Lucy Gray was long gone (why would she stick around?) and everything we see at the end is a hallucination. In the book he asks the doctor on base why the snake bite made him so ill, if it wasn't poisonous, and the doctor says extreme stress can do that:

The quote is on page 508. "Couldn't think straight" is massively understating it, given how disconnected from reality his pov prose becomes in the forest. I think it fits as one of several supportable readings in both film and book texts. And it has the benefit of meaning that Lucy Gray lives! ❤️

It's certainly not a required reading, though. There's multiple ways to interpret it that are all plausible; it's meant to be a mystery. But the idea that she ran and didn't stop seems very in character to me. She trusts her read on people and she gets the hell out when things go weird and he'd just clearly (a) lied to her, violating trust which is the most important thing to her, and (b) he was acting super weird/creepy.

It also makes sense to me that--after two incredibly stressful & traumatic months--Coriolanus had a full on breakdown in that forest, complete with visual/auditory hallucinations. On my first read-through of the book, I was frustrated with the ableism of people calling him "crazy"/ "sociopath" and therefore "born evil" (that is NOT how neurodivergence works!), so I pushed back on that and wrote pointing out all the ways his brain wiring seems pretty normal and he works as an example of an "ordinary" person acculturated in this dystopia - but as i've re-read and thought over it... it's kind of difficult to see the forest as anything but a breakdown to me.

Literally anyone--including otherwise neurotypical people--can have breakdowns if they experience enough trauma and stress in a short period of time, so one can still interpret him as having pretty standard brain wiring in that case. Or not! My real objection, at base, is to the idea that different wiring = inevitably evil.

[Big thank you to @kpchrs for pointing this panel interview out a couple days ago! I had no idea that Rachel liked this interpretation of the scene and it makes me really happy because that interp. also inspired my fic]

[writeandsurvive]

The Outsider ~ Alden Parker

"Mom, I'm sure that doctor is a nice guy, but I'm not interested in meeting him."

"He's not just nice, he's perfect--"

"Then marry him!" At this point, you were getting really annoyed and almost angry. It wasn't the first time you were having this conversation - fight - with your mother. Ever since you were old enough to date seriously, she's been trying to fix you up with guys she judges to be suitable. Unfortunately - to her -, your taste in men doesn't match hers. You only introduced her to one of your boyfriends and she obviously disapproved of him. She did everything to make both of you break up, which happened eventually but for different reasons. And you knew she would never approve of your current boyfriend, an older, divorced federal agent.

She just gave you a death stare following your comment, before continuing her argument. "I showed him pictures of you, you're exactly his type of women, you can't--"

"Oh my god, do you realize how creepy this is? This is the 21st century, mom!"

"You will meet him and trust me, you'll fall--"

At this very moment, your front swung open as Alden let himself in. "Awesome, you didn't give me fake keys--" the word 'keys' got caught up in his throat as he noticed the woman standing in the middle of your living area. "Hi!" He said sheepishly, unsure of who the woman was - even though he had a pretty good idea.

"Who is that?" Your mother asked you.

There was no way you could lie about this, and you didn't really want to anyway. "Mom, this is Alden, my--boyfriend. Den, this is my mother, M/N."

Putting the keys down, he approached your mother with his hand extended. "Nice to meet you, ma'am." But she didn't shake his hand, just looked at you.

"This is a joke, right? Are you doing this to piss me off?" Alden retrieved, coming back by your side. You wrapped your arm around his waist, and leaned your head on his shoulder.

"No joke. He's my man, I love him and I'd appreciate it if you just respected that."

"How old is he?"

"Ma'am, I'm right here. You can talk to me." He spoke up. "Yes I am older than your daughter, and it can be disturbing for you, but I genuinely love her. All I want is her happiness, and I can assure you that--"

"Okay, this is sweet talk, but I don't really care. You cannot date a man who's obviously my age, and your dad's!"

"I can, and I am. And I'd like to enjoy the evening with him, so--"

"We will be talking about this with your father."

Once she was gone, you let yourself fall onto the couch with a sigh. "The next few weeks are going to be a nightmare."

"That bad?" Alden took off his jacket and turtleneck, leaving him in a white v-neck t-shirt. He sat down next to you, softly stroking your face and hair.

"The entire family will be aware of it and everyone of them will have something to say."

"I'm starting to understand why you don't talk much about your family." He softly kissed your temple, bringing you against his chest. "It may take time but maybe they--"

"Don't count on it." You lifted up your head to look at him in the eyes. "Do you think you can face the backlash?"

"I always face the consequences of my actions." He smirked and kissed you.

It started the next day. Your grandparents trying to call you multiple times, your father asking you to come over in the evening through text, your brother joking about the drama you created 'again'. Seemed like the extended family didn't know just yet, which relieved you a little.

You sent the screenshot of your father's text to Alden, asking him his opinion on whether you should go or not, and to your surprise, he said he'd go with you if you wanted. On some levels, you wanted him there, and you appreciated his support very much, but at the same time, you didn't want to witness it. You didn't want him to see that side of your family and most importantly, the side of you they bring out.

But as the day went by, you felt so anxious about meeting your parents that you accepted your boyfriend's offer.

As he was driving the both of you to their place, you tried to warn him as much as possible. The things they'd probably say, the threats, the mean stuff, your past. You also told him that you could be mean too, if they get you frustrated and angry. "Being your parents doesn't give them every right. You're allowed to fight back." He assured you, kissing your hand softly.

"Please, Alden, just don't let them get into your head. Okay?" He could see in your eyes that this was your biggest fear.

"The only person who should have a problem with my age is you and luckily, you don't. So, I don't really care about the others, even your parents."

"I love you so much."

"Love you more."

Inside the house, your parents were patiently waiting at the dining table. They refused any form of greetings, from you and Alden. You didn't bother to sit down, just stood at the end of the table with your man by your side. "He was not invited." Your father said.

"But he's concerned, isn't he?"

"More like, he's the problem." Your mother retorted.

You heard Alden whispered "wow" under his breath.

"No darling," your father told your mother. "Your daughter is the problem, she's always been. This is just her ultimate provocation, isn't it?" He rhetorically asked you.

"So, me falling in love with someone is a provocation?"

"You cannot fall in love with someone old enough to be your parent."

"Look sir--" Alden tried, but your father immediately raised his hand as a way to dismiss him.

"I'm not talking to you, don't talk to me."

This was what sent you off. "I don't know why I bothered. Let's go, babe."

"If you leave this house with this man, don't ever come back. And I'm taking you off my will, or so will your grandparents."

"I think I was 15, the first time I told all of you that I didn't give a shit about your money! Am I still on it so you can threaten me with it? Cause it never worked and it never will. I'm not mom, dad." From the corner of your eyes, you saw your mother fuming. It infuriated her every time you subtly brought out that she agreed to marry your father so she'd keep her money.

"I told you that if you made a comment like that again, you'd be out of this family for good."

Without saying another word, you grabbed Alden's hand and walked out.

~

Alden brought you a warm cup of tea, and settled under the blanket with you. He wrapped his arm around your shoulders. "How are you feeling?" He asked.

"This was meant to happen someday. I've always been the outsider of this family."

"Maybe, but I feel bad I'm the reason--"

You put a finger on his lips to make him stop talking. "You're the reason for my happiness, Alden. You're the reason I smile every day. You're the reason that for the first time in my life, I'm not afraid of the future. Screw them. I just need you and your love."

He pressed his forehead against yours. "You've got all of me. I give you all."

[the1northlanderprincess]

Final hypothesis of The SceneTM

Well, kind of. This is mostly going to be another post about The Last Temptation. I know what you're thinking; you've already made one not too long ago. But, this is a post about pinpointing certain moments during the fight. If you've seen @nenyabusiness's analysis about the song, consider this an addendum. Please, tell me your thoughts!

This post was inspired @buffyfan145's speculation and @bluetiefling's comments.

Thanks to Amazon, we have seen many elements of this scene. The latest being a shot of Annatar standing over a cliff, holding out his hand, allowing Haladriels to speculate that he is saving Gal from a fall. We are to believe that Halbrand will make an appearance based on the score. It's fairly early on, which is kind of surprising. It's also only 30 seconds long, and that tells me he will switch back to Annatar. That begs the question, how many times will he try to convince her to join him? The soft, passionate sounds of Halbrand's theme depict a hurried* but heartfelt plea; something honest. You can tell Gal says no, and things get more intense at the 3:30 mark with a chromatic ascension (forgive me if I have the wrong word; my college music theory class was 15 years ago, ahaha). It is all coming to a head. I wouldn't necessarily call it a fight to the death, but, oh man, it ain't pretty.

Now comes the tricky part: when in the music does Galadriel fall from the edge? After the aforementioned time stamp, it just keeps building until it gets to 3:45 when we get the stereotypical run of strings when a character has to make a climactic, dramatic choice. I think this is when she jumps (because I don't think it's accidental). That is theory 1.

Theory 2 picks up at 3:45. Gal has been pushed to the edge, and Sauron once again asks her, because creepy sopranos come in. A reviewer just came out saying that he will stop at nothing to get her, so this makes sense. At 4:14, a slow, mournful variation of Galadriel's theme enters. It sounds sad because she possibly has regrets about this whole thing, cares about the man she thought she knew, and is sorry for who he turned out to be. And, I think a part of her wants to say yes, but can't. At 5:27 we get another dissonant key change, and it's just a beautiful mess for a few measures. At 5:40, the music stops short, and we get dark male vocals. Time is up. Finally, with a melancholic rendition of Gal's theme at 6:14, and perhaps she casts one last look at Annatar, gathers up her courage, and jumps. The music takes a minor turn, her fate seemingly decided.

But, what's this, at the 6:30 mark? A quickening of strings, in major scale, are stirring in a very uplifting manner, and then you get mixed voices sounding awed and magical; romantic, even. One could say, angelic. Ultimately, the score ends with a trumpet on a half cadence. Making it almost obvious that things are still unresolved.

So, what is the significance I'm getting with this last time stamp? Is Sauron slowing her fall so she can live? I'm not saying, but I'm saying...

Now, a far better musical analyzer than me, @nenyabusiness, pointed out that she could hear a hint of Elrond's theme in the last 30 seconds. Having listened to that theme, I can see where she can find those notes in Last Temptation. However, his theme is a lot more melodic, light, and airy-sounding. I'm not really disagreeing, but I could excuse is as just coincidental. Point is, anytime after 4 minutes, there are multiple spots where Gal could jump, with it being closer to 5 minutes.

Allow me to note that Buffyfan145 has said that the NY screeners have all but hinted (not sure if I should say 'confirmed') that Sauron saves Gal. With that incredible panned shot of him with an indescribable expression, it's looking very likely. I can't pick out for sure the moment he works his magic, but I don't see it during any of those minor keys. It wouldn't fit the narrative, especially if Charlotte says we'll see a moment where it's clear Sauron loves Galadriel.

*Musical appreciation note: I can't shut up about the sound of Halbrand's theme in this particular score. We have the wind instrument playing the melody, but it's those strings I can't get enough of; how they form some sort of beat that you so often hear in the best epic romantic scores.

[hp-confessions]

Seeing Snape and marauders fans argue all the time is like the live reenactment of the characters in a nutshell.

Both will continue arguing over their takes on that era and how their sides are the better choice. However, no one, or at least most of each community refuses to listen to each other. Instead they keep arguing as if it’s going to solve things.

Usually it’s always just reduced to petty insults.

“Snape deserved to get bullied” On a snape slander post.

“stan bambi” on any and EVERYpositive tt centered around snape.

“She should’ve gotten with snape anyways” on a jily post.

The same thing happens in the book. Insert the name calling.

Then there’s the apologists/victim blamers.

“Snape didn’t do anything wrong. he was right to bully children.”

Just because snapes life sucked doesn’t mean he’s just allowed to take it out on others?

“They were just fifteen.”

Unclothing someone, the shrieking shack incident , and probably having multiple 4v1 isn’t justifiable by any means.

“they matured”

Seeing as sirius still calls snape snivilous at his grown age, snape taking any moment he can to slander any of them, or just remus brushing things under the rug id say that yeah no the fuck they didn’t.

“snape saying mudblood was an accident”

He still said it.

“Shrieking shack was an accident”

Remus got exposed and Snape could’vedied.

“We dont know if they completely took off his underwear so it’s not that-“

exactly. we don’t. yet a lot of evidence points towards it but wtv. either way he still took his pants off. That’s assault.

“His father and the rest nearly killed me and tormented me for seven straight years.”

yes, and that’s bad ofc but that doesn’t excuse snape continuing the cycle and doing the same to his students.

”He was a slytherin! He wasn’t a good person!”

pretty sure a first year wasn’t showing any signs of being death eater material but alright..

then there’s the demonizers….😟

“Snapes a pedo because if harry was a girl he’d be creepy towards harry”

WHAT THE FUCK🤢🤮 NO HES NOT OH MY GOD..😨😭 Genuinley what goes through your mind when you think that.. Snaoe would probably still act hateful or if anything he’d absolutelyavoid fem!harry because in this hypothetical situation she was similar to lily. Not because he’s a pedophile but because of TRAUMA????? HELLO???? Seeing ur bully is one thing but seeing ur dead ex bff is another.. just. because. you. think. he. liked. her. mother. does. not. mean. he’s. going. to. become. a. kid. liker. for. her. daughter. just because harry’s a gender bend doesn’t mean snapes going to transform into a creep. how did you even get that from SNAPE of all people. SNAPE. If you haven’t gotten the memo bro DESPIES no he LOATHES the existence of children. he’d be the last person to be a pdo. Yes he does care for them obviously, but in a way of where if a pedo was idk being creepy with a child bro would 🪄💥🧨🔪🧠 off that pedo…

“Sirius tried to murder snape”

….no…he didn’t. if i recalled sirius was not guilty gor murder charges regarding a rat.. like i said earlier, the shrieking shack incident wasnt okay in the slightest but that doesn’t mean it was purposeful attempted murder. they were stupid (no this also doesn’t justify their actions) and thought it’d scare him and obviously didn’t think their little prank through. they weren’t trying to murder him they were just being assholes. i don’t see sirius using remus to kill, ever. a highly dangerous prank apparently? yeah? murder? no,

“____/____ didn’t contribute at all”

Snape, sirius, and remus literally threw away his life to save harry. not pettigrew tho he’s a little bitch rat i hate pettigrew!!!!!!!👺👺

Anyways, to summarize, everyone’s arguing yet never actually trying to achieve anything but submission when that’s quite literally impossible to accomplish. And that’s because no one’s willing to find a common ground and no one wants to actually create logical arguments. Petty insults and cursed theoretical nonsense isn’t going to solve the argument.

Many Snape fans ignore or straight up defend him bullying students and refuse to acknowledge he was in the wrong.

Many marauders fans ignore or straight up defend the bullying and refuse to acknowledge they were in the wrong.

Snape will refuse to back down from Sirius and Lupin and will continue behaving the way he does.

Sirius and Remus will refuse to back down from snape and continue to do the same things they did as schoolboys.

Real or fantasy, this is something that will never be resolved. maybe because no one cares enough to fix it? maybe because they care too much?

either way i guess it’d be nice to say i like snape and not immediately stereotyped as a snape apologist or get made fun of by it from friends. Im not stupid and if anything i like that he’s morally grey. i don’t support his actions, but i like to see characters with faults and put together why they ended up that way. his home life and other (non bullying) aspects of him are relatable and that’s another reason i like him.

i guess it’d be nice to talk to marauders fans and let them yap abt fanfics and for them not to think that i’m going to instantly call them horrible people for liking the marauders. I may not be in the m fandom but that doesn’t mean i won’t be respectful and gen listen to them. i’m sure that marauders fans like relate to the non bullying aspects aswell.

anyways yeah, i kinda just wished the fandom was a little more chill and not a fucking dumpster fire💀💀

~

[slvt4em1lyprenti2s]

Protective

Originally posted on my Wattpad @MayaBishop_is_myWife

Jackson Avery x reader

Jackson POV:

Today was a slow day, crap. Never say it's a slow day when your covering the ER. 

Bailey - "Incoming trauma, multiple vehicle collision and cyclist vs vehicle multiple crush injuries everyone be ready!"

What did I tell you? Anyway I go to get a trauma gown on and y/n comes up next to me.

Y/n - "If there's any open breaks I call dibs." Jackson - "Hey! No fair, whoever gets to them first gets it, okay?" Y/n - "Pleaseee, I haven't been inside an OR for days and I think I'm going insane. I pissed off Derek by accident and now he's letting Lexie scrub in and not me." Jackson - "Fine." Y/n - "Thank you so much!"

She exclaimed and then walked off to go wait for the ambulance. See, if it was anyone else, I would've stood my ground but, it's not just anyone it's y/n/n (your nickname) and it's obvious to everyone but her that I like her. But, oh well, she'll get the hint eventually right?

I walked outside just as the first ambulance arrived.

Paramedic - "Male, 31, crush injuries to the chest and lower abdomen, broken right leg and lacerations to the upper left abdomen!"

I see y/n face light up at the mention of a broken limb, she wants to do ortho so, she's into that kinda stuff. It's adorable to say the least.

We wheel in the guy on the stretcher and transfer him to the gurney. We begin to look at the chest to see if there's any liquid in the cavity and thankfully there isn't but. the abdomen began to swell so we knew he had free flowing liquid in there so we went straight to the OR.

Time skip to when they're finished and the guy's in post-op:

Y/n POV:

I'm currently waiting for this guy we just operated on to wake up. Jackson is bedside me, we're leanig against the nurses station as his eyelids begin to flutter. We make a b-line for his room. 

Guy - "Where am I?" Y/n - "Sir you're in the hospital. You werew involved in an accident involving 3 cars and yourself, you were on your bike. Other than your broken leg, which means we will need to keep you in here for another couple weeks to monitor it and so Dr. Torres can look you over and plan your recovery, your other injuries were fixed in the OR. You had some crush injuries that ruptured your spleen but, because we got in there quick we managed to repair it. The other injuries were superficial. For the sutures we will get Dr. Sloan to come in and check up on them ever other day to make sure it's all healing properly. Forgot to mention, Dr. Sloan is a plastic surgeon and Dr. Torres is an orthopaedic surgeon. Any question?" Guy - "Not about the medical stuff but I do have a question for you sweetheart." Y/n - "Go for it." Guy - "You free tonight? Such a pretty girl like you shouldn't be without a boyfriend." Y/n - "Oh, that's very sweet of you but unfortunately I'm on call tonight." Guy - "That's fine, just come visit me sweetheart. A young thing like you could make any man feel better." Y/n - "We'll see, maybe I'll come see you maybe I won't. Goodbye sir." Guy - "Bye sweetheart!"

I walked out of the room with Jackson close behind me. That man is very flattering but kinda creepy. I'm going to put away his chart when Jackson stopped me. 

Jackson - "Hey, what the hell was that?" Y/n - "What do you mean?" Jackson - "Don't bullshit me y/n. In there with the patient." Y/n - "Oh my god Jackson, I was reciprocating emotions it's basic patient care." Jackson - "Yeah comforting them and sharing concerns. Not flirting with them!" Y/n - "Okay wh- Jackson.." My voice calmed down a lot at this point and I looked him directly in his mesmerising green eyes.  Jackson - "What?!" Y/n - "You're jealous." At this point I was giggling at him. His face contorted into a shocked almost offended face but I didn't care because the blush that covered his face made it obvious that I was right. Jackson - "Wha-what, no I am not." Y/n - "Yeah you are don't deny it." Jackson - "I am not."  Y/n - "Yeah you areeee"

At this point he had accepted defeat and took the chart out my hand and grabbed my hand. I didn't question his actions and just followed him like a lost puppy. We came to a stop outside an on-call room and he opened the door and pushed me inside.

Y/n - "Jackson wha-"

I was cut off by his lips on mine. His arms snaked their way around my waist and pulled me close. My hands were around his neck as his soft lips moved against mine. He turned us around and gently pushed me against the door and pulled away briefly to speak.

Jackson - "I was jealous. Okay? I really like you  y/n/n." I tried to speak but he cut me off. "Don't say anything unless you want me to stop."

He pulled me back in and locked the door. He walked me over to one of the beds and gently laid me down. 

Let's just say I didn't get to go back to the patients room that night.

[bunnidid-reviews]

Tumult: a DID Graphic Novel review

Title: Tumult

Author: John Harris Dunning(writing) and Michael Kennedy(art)

Date of publication: 2018

Fiction or Nonfiction: Fiction

Was there a diagnosis of DID? The character with DID is diagnosed with DID, but the actual process isn't shown

Was the person with DID presented as evil for having DID? Until the very end, yes it's implied that the person with DID is capable of murder

Major trigger warning list:

Cheating

Alcoholism

smoking

Implied drug use

Nonexplicit sexual intercourse (Nothing nonconsenting)

Government-funded organized abuse (MK Ultra and the like? A UK versionnn of it? Sorry I don't know much about this)

Being locked in a dark room as a form of abuse/mind control

Gun violence(nonexplicit)

Stabbing

blood

A dog(alter) attacking (but with angry dog imagery thats pretty creepy)

Evil alter trope

Subjective Review(this is how I felt about it)

Personal triggering scale from 1 to 10 (1 being not triggering at all, 10 being a badly overwhelming experience that might cause personal harm): 3ish?

Personal relatability scale from 1 to 10 (1 being unrelatable, 10 being OMG THAT’S ME!): 2

Personal avoidance scale from 1 to 10(1 being eager to get on with it, 10 being impossible to finish): 6

My interpretation of the media(Includes spoilers):

Hmmmm What do I saw about this

To begin with, the book starts with the main character (Adam, not the one with DID) going into a dissociative episode it seems when he jumps off a cliff into the ocean and injured his leg. It's not entirely clear whether this is something he's gone into before, but he entirely upends his perfectly-normal life with his partner by cheating on her with a woman who stuck around him while he was healing.

Later, he's moved out, he's become an alcoholic and feels so much nothing that he essentially gives up on his job. He's ruined his own life, basically. His best friend points this out that he needs to make a change. (There's plenty of exposition that honestly just bulked up the story and didn't add much, it feels like filling in for context in a memoir, except the context leads to nooothing)

In attempt to socialize, he goes to a friend's party and sleeps with a woman there who's name is Morgan.

Adam considered it an unforgettable night, so when he sees a woman on the street who looks exactly like her, he ends up following her and insisting that she is Morgan, despite multiple denials to his claim. Finally she takes the bait because he's a slightly better option than being harassed in the street by another man trying to convince her she's in danger.

This womans name is Leila. Adam convinces her that he's certain that she's the woman he slept with, and leaves her with his card for contact.

Adam later gets a call from seemingly a little girl, with enough of an inflection in her voice that she sounds very familiar. They meet up in the park, and she introduces herself as Pretty Princess, who's concerned about what's happening around Leila. She tells him that she needs him to look out for her. Adam is perfectly fine with this offer, with a nice little..

"This craziness didn't put me off. If anything, it drew me closer."

Exposition, exposition, Adam quits his job because he's decided to become a thriller movie hero like in Die Hard, putting his energy into Figuring Leila Out.

Adam and Leila meet up again and hit it off better this time. They fuck. We get this lovely description...

"then we were in Leila's bed, and she was shape-shifting. She was girlish, manly, bestial. It was like fucking a barnyard"

Adam hangs around and snoops around her apartment because he woke up without her. He Just has no sense of boundaries almost, bent towards unravelling her mysteries.

Leila meets up with him and starts to explain her DID, only for Adam to intersect and say that he's already met Pretty Princess. He says he doesn't understand but he wants to. Leila, distressed, tells him she's been experiencing blackouts, and it brings out Pretty Princess once again. She tells him that they can no longer be near him now that he knows.

Adam and his friend talk, and they get talking about girls and equating how they see relationships to more thriller moviesssss and thennnnn

A guy shows up, his name is Dave. He was the first one to harass Leila in the street, telling her she's in danger. It turns out she really IS in danger, she was victim to a government-funded mind control program, in which they trained her to be the perfect killer. There just happens to be murders happening left and right, and at the center of it all is Leila's system and a sense of unease. Is she the killer? Is she next on the list? We the readers are left unsure.

As Leila goes to seek help from an old friend who was part of the organization, she finds out that he had suddenly died.

She has no one to turn to, so she turns back to Adam for support.

In a flashback we find out that her mother would lock her in a dark closet for hours at a time as a form of punishment.

In the present, as Adam and Leila are walking, they get mugged. It brings out her biting dog alter in self defense.

In the next scene, we see that the head of the organization apparently had some weirddddd views on religion? that might've influenced how heee wenttt abouttt things, but again, it's never really brought up, only implied. Pretty Princess shows up and tells him she is probably intending to kill him, and he doesn't deny any of her claims about the organization, that they were indeed trying to make the perfect killer.

Except something mysterious.. Happened?

Anyway, they got the confirmation that the conspiracy theories were confirmed and all the 'random' killings are linked.

Insert a scene where we find out that Leila is some sort of escort, and it triggers out another one of her alters, a sultan who threatens to castrate the clientele. At least her coworker seems understanding. (I've heard from my dancer sibling that most fellow sex workers understand dissociation to some degree tbf)

Leila meets up with the program director, who seems genuinely remorseful for what he's done to her. He reveals that he doesn't believe Morgan is capable of the killing that everyone's thinking she is, that he only got into the program because he wanted to study DID

Some stuff, Leila gets kidnapped and it brings out the Grave Digger alter. the person asks a lot about their DID, more than any stranger would know, and they answer honestly. We never really know who kidnapped the system, but we know someone else who was involved in the program is killed directly after.

Leila wakes up, gets a call, and switches with Morgan, who we haven't seen since the night she slept with Adam.

We learn that Morgan was specifically trained to kill, in turn for learning how to control her DID(?). It's revealed that Morgan's never killed anyone while in their training, and implied that she never has since. They have sex and the system disappears from Adam's life.

But hes in too deep and can't take a hint, so Adam stalks theeee doctor from before I think, the one who begged for forgiveness? waiting for his inevitable demise.

It turns out he's been doing the killings so he can sell her as a weapon, and using Morgan as a scapegoat for his crimes by triggering her out every time there's a murder taking place so Leila's system has no choice but to suspect themselves.

Ssssomething happened, since the system was getting locked in the dark as a means of triggering and controlling them, everyone ended up seeeinggg aaaa masss vision? Of some goddess that came to comfort her or something? It's really weird and unclear what exactly happened here, but the governement stopped funding the project because they couldn't believe what was being reported.

Then Morgan kills the doctor, and Adam just happens to be there to sweep her into his arms. In the end, we see that Morgan is an accepted part of the system.

~

I wasn't planning on marrating the entirity of the book, I'm trying to cut down on explaining everything but it's very hard to, sorry. I have a lot of thoughts on this, not a lot positive.

I mean yes, the DID was portrayed fairly well. I don't think the system members were entirely nonsense, they were a mixture of specific and odd enough to be made by a little girl going through trauma. That is to say, Leila and her system aren't really the problem here. I'd actually prefer if the book was more about them

It's just.. Adam. He's.. I don't want to root for him at all, and his interest in the system may have grown into genuine concern, but I have genuine concern for how he's gone about this the entire time. He is blatantly putting his partner on a weird abelist pedestal and doesn't see her as a person in her own right, not really. Just an interesting mystery to unravel, a possible threat, and something to fetishize. I don't often look to other reviews for insight on my own, but I did say that someone else said it was fine, just really weirdly sexist. Because, yeah, it really is.

The story is kind of a slog to get through when it's less than 200 pages also. There's a lot of detail that doesn't fucking matter at all, like a lot of movie references, or caterwauling for 4 pages on how he knows this one guy... We don't actually meet Morgan until halfway through the book, if you can believe it. It's just dense with a lot of stuff I (sorry about this) Don't fucking care about!

I don't know, I came away from this book feeling weirdly objectified for having a disorder.

I also don't understand theeee suddenly Magic thing that apparently happened in the end. It was way out of left field when the rest of the book seemed to be grounded in some sort of reality.

I can't speak on the experience of government-based mind control either, I don't know anything about programming either so I can't really speak on that. It did seem pretty scary that she ended up in this institution by seeking help for her DID, though. I don't feel great about that, I don't know if that happens but it feels like a deterrent to get help.

I don't know. I think I don't like the book. The art style isn't my cup of tea either, so I'm not super fond of it anyway.

If you've read it, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. I don't remember how I end these reviews, but those are my scattered thoughts.

What they got Right in my opinion:

That DID comes from extended, inescapable childhood trauma

All the origins of the alters shown made sense for alters. (the dog coming from feeling cornered, the sultan being an introject from some artwork, etc)

Seeing communication between alters was very nice

Leila feeling as though she was doing fine until looking at her life a little closer was very relatable. As she put it, 'A bug under a rock that's been upturned'

What they got Wrong in my opinion:

Not about DID, but I don't feel like stalking and not taking no as an answer should be rewarded with sex and affection just because the other party is 'concerned' :')

What. was the magic that happened. I do not think that happens when being put through reliving your childhood trauma.

The constant theming about alters being violent and implying one is a killer. even if it was disrobed pretty well in the end, it's not a great feeling throughout and very trope-y

People with DID are just as equal partners to people without and shouldn't be seen as something to fetishize or treat like a puzzle for you to solve, unless explicitly given the okay to.

Would I reccomend this to someone with DID to read? No. I don't feel like this was for someone with DID to read. The intention does not feel like it's made for someone with DID as much as it is a well-researched gimmick for neurotypical people to fetishize.

[ctubbolvr]

Heyoooo so could u spoil the rest (so far) of cs for me plssss. Like I would read it but I feel like it would ruin the entire fic for me because I'd have to force myself to and that's not fun -.-

Ended at the scene where Ranboo goes to Fundy's flat and Fundy's like "Hey! Here's your tragic backstory!" And Ranboo's like "oh fuck *has a breakdown*"

This is also me giving u a chance to yap about cs so add as many details, hcs and personal opinions as you'd like, :)

my time to shine :D

i’m probably just going to give out the main plot points that happened then on, just because if i said every little thing that happens we would be here literally all day because towards the end the chapters get very long so!

if you don’t want spoilers for cs, look away !!!!

okay, the main chapters to talk about are chapter 28 and 30 the rest are less plot driven and more just fillers, almost. lots happen, but not much to talk about like the big two !

28:

the chapter starts out with ranboo talking to dream about photography and shit, nothing out of the ordinary, and it’s pretty short! at least that scene is. and then he and tubbo have plans to go to a diner later in the evening, and while ranboo is finding clothes, he spots a skirt that he thinks is niki’s. he considers wearing it, which makes the chapter mostly about identity + gay shit ! (more on identity later, not just this bit) and he tells niki he thinks it got mixed up in his closet, and then asks about pronouns and niki is revealed to go by she/xe, and she lends ranboo a skirt to wear and he kind of loves it. it’s a very sweet scene :) and then he goes to pick up tubbo and tubbo’s kind of first reaction is to tell him he looks pretty, which ranboo says he’s not used to, and tubbo says he’ll make sure he’s used to it (i fucking hate gay people /j) then, they go to the diner, order food, have some banter, and tubbo has, in his words, a “realization”, which is probably when he realized he’s gay for ranboo! and he calls ranboo pretty again. the 2nd time that night. and ranboo says some gay stuff about how pretty tubbo looks to himself, as well, because of course he would. and they go to the train tracks nearby, and ranboo explains the whole memory loss thing to tubbo. dream calls him, and tubbo asks him not to answer. so, ranboo doesn’t. and then you have my personal favorite scene of the entire fic i’ve had multiple emotional breakdowns about.

when the sunsets, tubbo points it out, and ranboo comments that it’s pretty.

and here’s the line that literally gets me crying all the fucking time; “beside him, the sun says, “so are you.”” he drives him back home and tubbo falls asleep in the car.

ranboo goes home and proceeds to take a quiz. “do i have feelings for my best friend?” which sends him to find out about being aromantic, and being queerplatonic. that’s the second part of the identity part of the chapter. ranboo realizes he’s aro :) that was the part i knew you’d love lmao

and now, the storm, because that was the calm.

in chapter 30, it is new years. around 2-3 in the morning, can’t remember, and ranboo is still awake. dream shows up at his door, and tells him they’re going somewhere. ranboo doesn’t question it (maybe because it’s so early) and puts out food for springerle and grabs the necessities. they drive to a hotel, and dream tells him not to worry about paying because he never told him they’d be going there.

dream leaves ranboo alone in the hotel room for HOURS, which has ranboo panicking the whole time, thinking he could be dead, and having an emotional breakdown when dream gets back. he gets comforted, they play some video games, and then they’re on the road

dream is driving, and he tells ranboo to go to sleep because it’ll be a really long drive and they’re stuck in traffic. ranboo has nothing better to do, so he closes his eyes. there’s also a storm.

it’s very creepy. there are voices, beckoning him to come and saying things like “we have your parents” “we have god” “come join us” and ranboo immediately wakes up in fear. dream tells him to go back to sleep. and he does. and the voices don’t stop. they never do. they keep mentioning god, especially, which will make more sense in a moment! he feels hands on him, tugging him down. they also say “come down here we don’t love you nowhere does” and it’s all very eerie. ranboo wakes up once more, to dream asking what he’s dreaming about because he’s muttering about smoke, and there are scratches on his arms. dream insists on him sleeping to “get more information”

this time, they’re still talking about how they have god. they have his entire life. they have his future lover. his future life. how they stole his smoke, his voice, his music— the stars — and ranboo, in his dream, is screaming back and saying he doesn’t want to go.

“YOU ARE A COMET” and they mention stars, and black holes (more on that) and let sleeping comets die (foreshadowing)

and ranboo is freaking out in his dream, begging for it to stop, and it doesn’t. and it describes tubbo, mentions the diner and smoke and brown hair. the hands are still on him, pulling him down.

there’s a black hole. a lid over it, closing the iris of an eye. which takes him to “THAT WAS NEVER MY NAME” all of the writing that is supposed to be a voice is frantic and mostly misspelled and some are in all caps (usually ranboo, but the voices too) “GOD IS AN IRIS” and he is wondering where fundy is

and he can’t breathe and they’re calling him a rabbit, a baby comet, an iris

he has blood underneath his fingernails when he wakes up, and dream asks him what he saw.

dream swerves and ranboo hits his head on the dashboard . ranboo feels like he’s going insane. dream is holding the collar of his shirt tightly.

and this is where all hell breaks loose.

ranboo says there was a black hole and he thinks he killed it. dream swerves and ranboo hits his head against the window. he says something like “not again, we’re not doing this again.” ranboo doesn’t remember having this happen before.

dream starts screaming about how he should forget. he always forgets. that he’s still dreaming about the black hole. ranboo says it needs him. dream continues screaming.

then, ranboo says; “it’s god, isn’t it? that’s me. i’m… i’m god.”

dream slams his head against the dashboard. he yells, “NO! you aren’t god. do you understand me? you aren’t god. you’re some delusional fucking kid. and you need me. you’re nothing without me.”

and then, dream says “do you think you’re getting out of this alive?”

he slams his head against the dashboard AGAIN. he’s screaming about how he (ranboo) should’ve stayed in the mental hospital.

ranboo thinks that no one will see him or dream ever again. he calls it ���one of the best days in history”

dream rambles about it was “supposed to be tommy” and that his family ruined it.

dream mentions tubbo and how he would’ve hated ranboo. ranboo whispers “we were gonna get married.” “what?” “he called me pretty.”

we’re given the information that when ranboo was 15, with a new name and no family, on withdrawal from anti psychotics, he had been walking for days straight with nowhere to go, reaching an overpass, he caused a collision of cars. one unconscious, and one wide awake. dream was awake. he almost killed him. if only it worked.

and how dream bought him his first camera and how they’d meet in a park. how he left for a while and ranboo was waiting for him.

dream says no one will go looking for him.

dream swerves and ranboo unbuckles his seatbelt to slam on the breaks, because he is going to try and kill both dream and himself so neither of them get out of this alive.

when the car stops spinning, ranboo grabs something smaller than a gun from the glovebox, while dream gets out of the car. he drops the gun on accident. he feels something cut him.

dream has a fistful of his hair, a switchblade, and is holding him down against the pavement. ranboo passes out.

three days go by, where he’s asleep. he wakes up to being all bandaged up.

he’s confused. he has a text from tubbo saying “EXCITED 2 C U”

he won’t see him. but he also has a multitude of texts from dream. i won’t go much into detail, but the overall message is; “you made me kill myself and i wanted you to live with that guilt.”

he has a breakdown, of course, because telling an anxiety ridden psychotic 17 year old that he’s the reason you killed yourself probably isn’t the best way to do things!!!!

he goes to sapnap and george after his little breakdown, and they tell him he’s not dead at all. he’s in jail.

but, regardless, here’s the whole parallel i told u you’d fucking hate ^___^ “and he wants dream to hug him again, and he wants dream back so badly, he needs dream back he needs him he needs him why did he leave him—“ “ranboo loved dream. dream was his boss, and dream was his tutor, and dream was his friend, and dream was everything he had, and now he’s gone”

he goes to a park and it’s basically midnight, or at least VERY late. tubbo calls him. he doesn’t know what he’s saying. he doesn’t hear anything.

eventually, though, he hears him ask for him to say something because ranboo hasn’t said a word since he picked up. and the only words he can muster up is “‘m a white dwarf.” and of course, tubbo is pretty confused. he’s also drunk, so. (a white dwarf is a dead/dying star…)

he goes back to his apartment, and the last thing it says in the chapter is;

“in the quiet of his bedroom, body and mind equally broken, ranboo beloved becomes a black dwarf.” (black dwarfs are theoretically white dwarfs minus the light and heat if i remember right)

[snalz-artt]

forgot to post this doodle SAY HELLO to the shittiest bbc ghosts/mcyt au ever conceived, thankyou @/luigra for helping hehe

i have A LOT to say so its going under the cut this is soso silly

basic bbc ghosts plot: A young woman inherits a huge mansion estate in england from a dubious familial connection and moves in with her husband. They plan to renovate the manor and guesthouses to make into a hotel/venue, but when she falls out a window and almost dies, she comes back to life with the ability to See Ghosts. With the house being very historic, there are quite a few interesting characters (the falling out the window thing might be their fault, actually). Hijinks ensue.

———

CLEO: Cleo is the Allison of the story, she inherits the house and falls out the window, now.. undead(?) they can see and interact with the cast of Ghosts they’re now stuck with. Making ZombieCleo one of the Alive characters was too funny, sorry.

SCOTT: Scott is Mike!! Cleo’s best friend/partner/chosen soulmate (like in double life), he Cannot see the ghosts but completely trusts they exist.

They get up to various antics as they try to renovate and market the place, usually while being hindered or helped by the ghosts. I haven’t thought of a good pun on the name Button House yet though..

The ghosts are not all from any specific series, but a selection of ghosts/dead characters from multiple mcyt sources ^^

JOE: Joseph Hills takes the role of Thomas Thorne. He is a dramatic regency era poet who mostly follows Cleo around, trying to impress her with his… unique poetry, that was considered before his time. Their ghost theming comes from Beetlejhost of course.

RANBOO: Ronald Booth is Pat, a 1980’s Scout Leader. To be honest, this is just because Ranboo is very associated with the 80’s aesthetic and can fit the silly yes-man subordinate role, and of course was a ghost on the dsmp (Boo).

BDUBS: Bdubs is Robin!! A caveman who lived on the land well before the house was built. He’s seen it all, which fits Bdubs’ storyteller theme!! This is also just a fun visual choice because instead of wearing animal furs he gets to wear a big mossy coat. He also talks in a quite a unique and funny way which could replace how Robin talks like. Yknow, a Caveman. There was also a tiny bit in.. last life? Where bdubs was a ghost? (We were running out of ghosts at this point.)

SLIME: Charles Slime is Humphrey Bone, a headless tudor nobleman!!! Slime has a pretty constant track record of dying dramatically in mcyt (dsmp, epic smp, slimecicle cinematic universe) hence getting to be a ghost here. He has a lot of comedy that i think fits pretty well with being a ghost and with the visual humour of having your body separate to your head <3

FLIPPA: Juanaflippa as Jemima!!! I had to get one of the Eggs in here, even if i dont know much about qsmp at this point its just too perfect for one of them to be Jemima, since we have Charlie why not have Juanaflippa ^^ This can fit the common bbc ghosts fanon of Humphrey being found family for Jemima, with Charlie and Flippa’s father-daughter relationship. Creepy little singing ghost girl!!!

QUACKITY/MEXICAN DREAM: Yeah ok we were really running out of mcyt ghosts at this point, if you dont know anything about the dsmp you would probably think im making this up- uh, quackity plays him, he died and became a very prominent dsmp ghost. He takes the role of Julian as a 90’s politician character (like quackity/md in el rapids etc) here. I GUESS.

GHOSTBUR: Im pretty sure that while alive Kitty didnt blow up a country or whatever but the innocent and kind character of ghostbur fits the role of Kitty pretty well, with both having poor/inaccurate memories of their lives and being very sweet. A georgian noblewoman! Instead of Kitty he’d be called Willy or something. That way one of the ghosts can still have an innuendo name. Thats important.

JIMMY: Jimmy (James) as Mary. A stuart era peasant who got burned in the witch trials. He could still have the power to make people smell smoke, i think it fits the canary thing a bit. AND SPOILERS FOR BBC GHOSTS, Mary being the First Ghost of the main group to get.. sucked away is just too perfect. While never explicitly being a Ghost, Jimmy has such a connection to death that i think im justified.

PIX: Pixie as Fanny!!! He used to own the house many years ago and is now a ghost that really wants it to be perfectly historically preserved. Pix was a ghost in empires s2 and an archeologist who wanted to preserve history of course, so this fits the really proper and old fashioned personality of Fanny pretty well. Also her love of animals fits pix having the ghost cat and the dodos…

SCHLATT: Schlatt as The Captain, a repressed gay ww2 Captain who never actually saw any combat. He can fit the leader role that the Captain does, especially the fact that he just assumes himself the leader, and the others kind of don't take him seriously. Schlatt was a ghost, Glatt, on the dsmp! He will be a bit less.. nice? Than the bbc ghosts captain, but could still have a good bit of development.

bonus convex as the plague ghosts, vex are kind of ghosty, right?

[ober-affen-geil]

The thing about Arik in Willow (2022) that makes me really fucking sad for him is like...he has potential? And he knows it? And no one, including the narrative is allowing him to actually act on it.

'Cus see, I refuse to believe he is corrupted by The Crone because he's a fuckboi who wanted power. That's not what "I am your king" means to Arik.

Arik is the guy that everyone dismisses as a useless airhead who's only interested in one thing except???? He's not? Which he tries to tell everyone, including the audience/narrative multiple times.

In the *first episode* we see him actually pull some pretty fancy diplomatic footwork (offscreen) which was NECESSARY because Kit throwing a temper tantrum in front of the entire fucking court was a legitimate diplomatic incident. That was BAD, that was a BAD THING that endangered a lot of people! It's said multiple times that the marriage was to link two kingdoms and strengthen them and Kit just Deciding to openly blow off her betrothed was A Bit Not Good actually!

And then Arik swoops in and smooths everything over because he's good with people, actually, he's good at sweet talking them, and he BASICALLY FUCKING SAVES KIT A LOT OF FACE and then his mom yells at him for it because she's stressed about Willow's prophesy and Kit's immature selfishness.

And then! When he makes the promise to Elora he actually really fucking means it?! He really, really does. He stays faithful to her when The Crone tries to seduce him and reveals he does!! Actually!! Know her name!!! He knows it's Brunhilda and calls her "Dove" because he realizes she doesn't like her actual name!!!! He knows that about her!! Because he fucking meant it!

And to top it all off, the poor boy is genre savvy!!!!!!!! He didn't do shit in the creepy abandoned city and when it started trying to *talk* to him HE FUCKING LEAVES. HE LITERALLY NOPES OUT BECAUSE THAT CAN'T BE GOOD, RIGHT? He doesn't even drink the orange glitter goo until he's forced to go back into the city *or fucking die*. And even THEN after he's been drinking The Wyrm's Milk or whatever the fuck he still resists the The Crone. He doesn't succumb immediately, in fact when he realizes what she is he *tries to leave again*.

(What I'm not mentioning here is that he is also possibly very magic sensitive in some way, because he reacts to The Crone with the same sort of shudder/groan thing he does with Elora which Eye Wood Lyke To Sea Examined Thank You).

My point is, Arik is smart. He knows his strengths and his weaknesses and is pretty happy to be pandered to, but is not completely fucking useless when taken out of his ivory tower. He did get captured but he knew how to use that sword before he did. He has faith, and loyalty, and a lot of strength of character and seems fairly content with the apparent state of things (Kit destined for the throne despite being younger than him technically? I was unclear on that).

"I am your king" being his "temptation" is not for the *power*. With "king" comes responsibility, and more importantly here RECOGNITION that he has extremely laudable and noble qualities. "King", for Arik, means that people will see him for more than what they expect to see when the look at him.

His mother dismisses his quick thinking and quite necessary diplomatic talent as meddling and his sister waves off him succumbing to brainwashing and torture after an (unknown but) long period of time during which he did *everything in his power to escape* as naiveté and gullibility. Even Elora doesn't really believe he's true to his word about her.

"I am your king" means "I have integrity, diplomacy, and intelligence and I am honored to be entrusted with the protection of my people". "I am your king" means "See me for who I am". "I am your king" means "Recognize my talents, or you will lose me as I lose myself". Not "I want power because I was born privileged and deserve it by divine right".

Anyway we better get a season 2.

[tyranno-solei-rex]

oh gosh i'm gonna throw up. i don't want to ruin his life any more than he already has. he's not a monster; i enabled him. but i don't ever want to see him and try not to fall back into him ever again

i need to talk to Bass about this. she loves me and will understand me and won't blame me. but that means admitting to one more person that i had a crush on him and acted like a dumb teenager and let him manipulate me and didn't spot a single red flag just because he was nice to me.

zouk was weird. and creepy. and threw me a birthday party. and told me things you should NEVER tell a freshly 18 year old girl. but i wanted him to. he was so nice and so funny and he liked me. he told me i sounded good, and that i was pretty. nobody's ever told me that i was pretty and meant it. and admitting that much to Bass will make me feel like such an idiot.

he and i are bound by blood. i told him things i should not have told a man twice my age. he told me things in return that I shouldn't've asked to know. and if i tell Bass those things it'll make things real bad for both of us.

the worst part is that i still like him. i still want to be friends with him. i want him to tell me that he likes my outfit and ask me to solo on songs and let me come over to his house and play his instruments while his kids scream in the next room.

but i can't. not when literally everyone in our lives is screaming at us to stay far from away from each other. not when Bass called my parents, worried for my sake, sick with anxiety for a week because of the way she saw us hanging out with each other. not when every alarm bell in my body was screaming for me to stay away but I didn't -- i hung on because i wanted his company. not when talking to him about my feelings gave me such awful heart palpitations that i went to the urgent care. not when we had talked so much with each other that one saturday morning he texted me "you know i cheated on my ex-wife right? multiple times. once with a 19 year old." and at that point i took it at face value -- "i mean i get it. i can't say i'd have done anything different if i was in your shoes.". not when his girlfriend's best friend called him a groomer and i defended him.

i should never talk to him again. but he's my friend. i've already ghosted far too many friends, i don't want it to happen again. i hate avoiding people. but what kind of middle aged man decides to let an 18 year old girl be friends with him?? that's insane! but so am i

[silverasks]

earthspark season 2 episode 2 thoughts spoilers ahead

Nightshade can just turn their head all the way around AND I LOVE IT YES MORE BIRD DETAILS I LOVE BIRDS OF PREY SO MUCH

thrash references a horror movie trope, who let him watch horror movies bc I KNOW it wasn’t Alex or Dot

moe first accused the emberstone of being something out of a horror movie and yet good things happened because of it, maybe now she associates horror movie tropes with good things or the emberstone

this doesn’t feel very connected to season 1, it feels like a separate series using the same characters, idk maybe it’s just the time skip messing me up, wish we could’ve seen more Terran-Malto bonding time in the earlier days

are they going to find the weapon starscream referenced in Last episode, feels a lot early for that

animation feels cheaper, but it has been a hot second sense I’ve watched season 1

no one’s really taking the literal children’s near death experiences very seriously, last season dot was so anxious about it but last episode Robbie got pretty close to falling to his death and she doesn’t bat an eye, makes me wonder how she’ll react to how close moe has come to falling to her death or being impaled multiple times

THAT LOOKS LIKE A QUINTISON! RUN! PLEASE! NONONONONO

THE E G G

ORB

oh who is that, think I saw them in the trailer somewhere

Part of the quintis-Wha now, can’t understand it so matter how many times I replay it

just leaves them there

popsicles In the shape of a boot…. Certainly interesting

ok parents actually care again ig

OH! They followed them home, how……..creepy? Idk

offers food doesn’t take it proceeds to trap them in the barn, you know the place where the Terrans hang out, you don’t think someone who hangs out there all the time might see, like idk NIGHTSHADE

OH MY GODS I CALLED IT ITS A QUINTISON I FUCKING CALLED IT

a QUINTISON EXACUTIONER I-I-I knew it would be bad

also I liked the theory that quintisons would show up in season 2 but now that it’s actually happening I don’t like it very much

oh look it’s your sibling species go make friends

ITS CORN a big lump with knobs it has the juice it has the juice can’t imagine a more beautiful thing

where’s mr fluffy ears? Did shockwave steal em

thought for sure this guy was going to be a manipulative mentor figure but nope there just a serial killer

thrash has heelys, why not

THEY RUN ON ALL FOURS OH MY GODS IM STARTING TO LOVE THEM A LITTLE

oh so when ROBBIE throws his life on the line it’s mostly fine but when moe does it suddenly that requires a lecture ok I see how it is

she just gets YOINKED

where are the outher Terrans only saw twitch for a bit

wsit just remembered there on patrol

gegory, what the f*** are you doing. HOW DID YOU GET UP THERE!

au idea: when moe has her cybersuit on she’s recognized as a quintison youngling and gets adopted by the executioner

meme idea from au: exacutioner, pointing to moe: what is with this sassy lost child

ok but quintis literally did abandon you, would have sent a dream or something if he didn’t

please tell me dude can’t regen like a planarian flatworms

[rigberts]

just finished teppuu, and while of course i wanted more, i was super satisfied and really intrigued by it. number one, it's a mma sports manga focused on women that is insanely horny, but not because of the normal reasons anime is horny, like skimpy outfits or contrived excuses to have a character be groped or stripped. In fact, most of the characters fight fully clothed in athletic shorts and tshirts. Rather, it's the psychology of the characters that makes it horny. More on that later. There are many cool side characters with really unique, recognizable designs (always a plus for me) but the real draw is how the author deconstructs two major character archetypes in sports: the hardworking enthusiastic protagonist, and the arrogant antagonist that gets by on talent until the MC puts them in their place.

Except, in this case, we follow the bad-tempered Natsuo, as she works to improve at MMA so she can get back at the friendly Yuzuko after she easily beats her in a spar. It's a total role-reversal. And the interesting thing is, you definitely start to root for natsuo, though she maintains a pretty terrible personality, and at no point does yuzuko become a "bad person".

To put it frankly, Yuzuko is the sports genre version of Gon. That is to say, she's a classic protagonist, to the point that it's unsettling. She's been training in MMA since she was a kid living in brazil, and though she has no particular talent, she trains constantly, simply because she has boundless enthusiasm for the sport. She loves it, to the point that she doesn't care at all about the brutal side of it, hurting people or getting hurt. She's not a sadist, but hurting people in the name of the sport is no consequence to her. And though she has multiple friends who like her, it is made very clear that they find her extremely creepy. She seems to have no emotion but cheery enthusiasm and it's deeply off-putting, especially to Natsuo. (I also make the comparison to gon because there is a side character that is essentially Pitou, so i think it's safe to say the author is a hxh fan)

Natsuo is a classic sports manga antagonist. She's extremely tall, beautiful, and has a terrible attitude towards others. Everything comes easy to her, and she's always bored. However, she has almost no friends because of this, and her home life is awful, with an absent single mother and a shut-in older brother that hates her because she's better than him at everything. Natsuo hates Yuzuko for "having everything", and out of pure spite, she quits volleyball and becomes an MMA fighter just to kick her ass.

Natsuo never becomes "good", but she is insanely interesting. She's selfish and condescending at the best of times, but she's not two faced or underhanded. She's also remarkably self aware, knowing that her grudge towards yuzuko is mostly based in sheer jealousy and her inferiority complex. Also, she's a huge sadomasochist (see where the horny part comes in) who feels deeply unsatisfied when she can beat people with ease, but also enjoys beating the shit out of people in a hard-won fight.

There are very few male characters, but lots of really well designed female characters, and as you can expect, there's lots of lesbian undertones, from the in-depth grappling scenes, the protagonist's blatant attraction to other women (she's almost always the one to point out when a woman's sexy) and masochistic tendencies, and the (unfortunately) unrequited lesbian romance subplot. There's also some really handsome middle-aged butch women.

In terms of art, this is a really great series. Super expressive and individualized faces, excellent anatomy and really clear fight direction, art is detailed and polished.

All in all, i want to call this Baki for girls, but first of all, the tone is very different, and second, to compare Baki to Teppuu is an insult to Teppuu. Fighting can be horny without having people piss on each other all the time, Itagaki.

All in all, would solidly recommend.

[eli-is-reading]

alright, time to try talking about weyward cus i finished it like a we k ago.

SPOILERS ABOUND!!

weyward for anyone who isn't aware is a novel about three generations of witches from the weyward lineage.

altha weyward- a witch on trial in 1619 for the accusation of murdering a man by way of making his cows go insane

violet ayres - the daughter of a viscount, growing up in the midst of the second world war, and her struggle with an abusive father, a younger brother fighting to get their father's affection, and her cousin, a manipulative creepy british army soldier, on temporary leave from libya.

kate ayres - violet's great niece, a young woman who escaped her abusive boyfriend's house in London to her late great aunt's small ancestral cabin in the countryside, named weyward cottage.

these women navigate through their complicated lives in a patriarchal society full of abusive men who try to hurt them as they slowly discover their powers and as we slowly find out about the history of the weyward family along with them.

now, the things I've loved about weyward:

-a LOT

so the word weyward is in reference to the original name for the three witch sisters in macbeth, and the references to their theater origin SHOWS.

the story takes place in and nearby the old town of crow's beck. a lot of the people living there have roots in the town going back to at LEAST the 17th century. that part makes it so that even when we go through different times, we hear the same family names, making a callback to theatrical plays where there is usually a small cast of actors playing multiple characters and joining the chorhses at certain points. it is even mentioned in the book: when kate goes to the village cemetery, she finds the graves have all the same names and thinks of them as a cast of players in a show.

this makes me REALLY want to watch a play based on this book, and i hope as it's getting pretty big online it might actually happen!!

- i loved their concepts of witches and the way they are women from the beginning of humanity with abilities tied to nature and understanding of medicine that help humanity survive. i especially love their connection to insects and the way they even use their connection to animals for sometimes nefarious means that are honestly always pretty well deserved, and creepy in the best sense.

i honestly loved so many things about this book that I can't say everything right now but these two things were some of my faves.

things i would've changed or wish to have seen more of:

- there are motifs of crows all over the book (i mean, the town is literally called crow's beck) and there is even am idea that the family have been raising crows for years and each woman has a specific crow with white specks that is connected to them and follows them around; think familiars - although that name is mentioned as a negative view made by the patriarchy, that's actually also about the name witches and the idea of a "witch's mark" as a symbol of evil.

i really wish they were to talk more about these crows, the idea was super cool and I'd love to have it expanded and the relationship between the weywards and crows to be further examined.

- i honestly have no idea right now of what else I'd change. it was really a great book

final thoughts:

weyward is a lovely book about female empowerment, nature, the problems with the patriarchy, and the way women with strength are treated by a society and men that wish to see themselves at the top of the food chain. it is a book worth reading till the end, because even when it seems everything is painful and bad, it has a fantastic conclusion and a gratifying power take-back for every woman there.

I'm excited to see what emilia hart comes up with next and it is obvious how great of a writer she is, her prose is absolutely beautiful and feels easy to read even when it waxes into poetic.

10 crow feathers out of 10.

[the-fandom-hopping-mage]

thoughts on the doctor who special

so this list got way too long i guess i think a lot while watching things

oh the bright side my irl friends haven't gotten spammed with 80 million messages, just the internet people :) :)

read at your own risk

david tennant! !!!!!!!!!!

what's he doing in space why are they talking to us this is so stupid i love it sm

lol the first thing they do is give him like three sequential heart attacks LEAVE HIM ALONE HE ONLY HAS TWO

wow rose is pretty

donna i'm pretty sure you have supernatural abilities at this point, how the hell do you miss everything

donna why would you give away the money (i know exactly why you gave away the money it's perfectly in character for you but also WHY)

oh no where's wilfred

go off donna beat those kids' ass

these kids are thinking they're the main characters in a sci fi show (don't tell them) they're gonna get themselves killed

girliepop that is a strange creature and you (collective) have had multiple invasions in the last twenty years don't trust it just because it's got big eyes you will get killed

both roses have trusted a creature that they probably shouldn't have just because it acted like a victim. like I can't be mad because I means they have Compassion and other nice things but cmon. common sense. please. im literally begging u.

woah did thirteen upgrade the screwdriver (i need to catch up with the other doctors after 10) thats cool

so they know all the doctor's regenerations cause timey wimey stuff

14 over here trauma dumping on this random ginger lady with cool hair

"best friend in the whole wide universe i absolutely love her" that is the sweetest thing i have ever heard

woah it's the time vortex

wait why does the time vortex have arms now

when your wheelchair saves your life

they're covering their eyes like the sun episode is it the creepy vaporization light???

i Do Not Trust the meep

"he's so cute" finally someone with common sense who also doesn't trust the meep

turn around Shawn trust me your life will be so much simpler if you turn around right now

"ferret"? omg it's draco malfoy

who is Nerys what did she do i'm so intrigued now spill the tea sis

no not wilfred :(

yay wilfred

smh doctor you are a disaster magnet

OMG HE CAN RESONATE CONCRETE :D :D :D

your poor neighbors? y'all's just gonna break into their homes? aren't the aliens gonna follow you? into other people's homes? who's gonna fix the walls? why are the houses touching is this a uk thing?? also that's not how bricks work but who even questions anything in this show there's a giant furbie and bug aliens dueling it out imma just roll with it

donna's mum is so done with the doctor's shit i'm so sorry ma'am

once again, nobody's gonna question the B&E you've got going on? no one?

ooh that's a nice door

are we completely sure he can drive a car? i mean look at how he drives the tardis I would not trust him near my car in a million years

THANK you doctor I totally called it the oversized furbie is not your friend why do they always trust the first alien that tells them a sob story

i'd be a good companion i would actually notice the obvious before it kills everyone sometimes characters are really dumb or maybe that's just the plot armour

he has a washington wig now what is going on 🤣

living sun I knew the mind control light was familiar

the living sun went crazy did they fuck smth up last time???? or is it just a species

did it really just say "Beep of all Meeps" what even is this show 🤣

omg david youre so cute

honestly he was asking to be knocked out

Shawn and Rose must be so confused. an alien shows up. donna's mum is very insistent about how it's not real. random guy from downtown shows up. claims to have two hearts. knows wilf. has a magic screwdriver. breaks into multiple houses with them. aliens are attacking. strange man holds a court session in an underground car park. strange man gets knocked out and you are all put in a creepy government van.

donna here finally asking some reasonable questions

"i don't know him" two seconds later: *exchanging looks*

donna found herself a good man

not even in this new body for 24 hours and he's already getting so much head trauma

'a great day for meepkind' didn't you say you're the last. great day for you you mean.

oh they're gonna join wheelchair ginger lady

OMG THERE SHE IS

ROCKET LAUNCHERS

according to subtitles her name is shirley its very fitting like a sherley temple

THE DOCTOR OMG THAT WAS THE FIRST TIME EVER

oh hey its the room hes floating in that one pic

"Love the running."

respect for david just casually climbing up a wall i could never

besties fr

give this man a break hes so sad

that one random kid is having the time of his life

is she really gonna chew him out for taking her memories girliepop the world is ending

theyre just making up words now

WHY does he ALWAYS lose the ONE PERSON that can UNDERSTAND HIM like THIS its the SAME. FRAKING. POSITION. EVERY. FREAKING. TIME.

just take it away agin

NO DONNA

why is this face so suicidal its actually concerning

ROSE YES

The Master's back again I'm calling it now

"Enigmatic, that is textbook enigmatic."

Crowley voice coming out

As a viewer I'm cackling as a writer i'm confused but I'll just let it go

wink wink wink

see what i did there

Shirley is just "yep regular tuesday this is normal i'm gonna get such a pay bonus OO BUBBLES"

rose: I wanna see! Doctor: yes! Donna: NO! Doctor: I mean no, that's what I said, no.

BESTIES THEYRE SO CUTE

Shawn: Yeah. True. But he's obviously a gay fruitcake so we're fine.

doctor is so offended he's like "what am i not a threat anymore wdym im totally attractive :( :( :("

woah the tardis changed I dont like it

most ADHD doctor ever

OOOO the round things change colors now

BEST

IES

because every time he visits with the family, donna, he loses them. he lost you and it killed him, so its gotta be a big goodbye.

Not even ten minutes and you've broken it, I mean relaly doctor give her a break

the tardis deserves better than this trainwreck of a time lord

"We CoUlD eNd Up AnYwHeRe In AlL oF tImE aNd SpAcE" bro don't pretend for one second that you know where/when you're going on a regular day. 90% of episodes are "oh hey lets go somewhere unknown and see what happens" or "oops the tardis is bringing me somewhere weird" or "oops I messed up this wasn't where/when I meant to go"

[dancing-to-architecture]

12 of 1001

Today's album: The Mothers of Invention - Freak Out! (1966)

Shit yeah, folks, we got some Zappa today!

When it comes to the Mothers, i know Weasels Ripped My Flesh and We're Only In It For The Money, so i can't wait to get seriously fuckin WEIRD.

A quick Wikipedia search tells me that Freak Out! is:

•the debut Mothers (and therefore also Zappa) album,

•might be the first concept album,

•and also was the first time anybody released a double album for their debut.

Hungry Freaks, Daddy-

Okay, as much as i wanted Tracy Chapman's revolution a few days back, i want these Hungry Freaks around even more.

Florida should be filled with hungry freaks. That feels right and natural, unlike Mr America.

A killer start, and i love any song with prominent kazoo.

I Ain't Got No Heart-

Aro anthem or "free love, no strings" anthem? Hard to tell, could go either way. I guess it depends on how you look at it.

Who Are The Brain Police?-

Who ARE the brain police? Why are the brain police? Kill the cop in your head.

Chaotic instrumentation and lyrics that wouldn't be out of place on a Death Grips album, only Ride would be *way* harsher with it.

MORE KAZOO. I got a fever that can only be cured with plastic and a piece of wax.

Go Cry On Somebody Else's Shoulder-

Doo-wop "nah we should stay broken up" song. "Red House" from the other viewpoint.

I have to wonder if this song was an influence for Weird Al's "One More Minute", as they have some very similar bones.

Motherly Love-

The somewhat rarely-seen "know what? groupies are kinda fuckin awesome" rock song.

Kinda creepy, but I've seen/heard much worse.

How Could I Be Such a Fool?-

Another "she done me wrong" song. Okay. Not great, not terrible. Just okay.

Wowie Zowie-

And now a love song. I know this is the start of side 2, but the tone of the songs are giving me whiplash here. That said, who doesn't like a flash in the afternoon?

You Didn't Try To Call Me-

And another i still love you but you don't love me anymore song. Frank, my dude- they're pissed off about the groupies. Simple as that.

Any Way The Wind Blows-

Okay at this point, if this is a concept album, the concept is roughly the same as How I Met Your Mother, in that it's the story of how a guy ruined every single relationship he was in.

At any rate, an "i don't want YOU anymore, i got HER now!" song. Meh.

I like the instrumentation here, but this song kinda feels unnecessary with all the other songs on the album that are so similar in theme.

I'm Not Satisfied-

Lol, love that Zappa gutteral Yeah! in the intro. There's the Frank i know and love.

The lyrics are sadly relatable, but I'm the dude who sucks plus i got depression. (that was an achewood reference I'm actually doing pretty okay more often than not nowadays, esp. when i don't think about my governor existing)

You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here-

This is more what i was expecting, coming from the other, later albums.

Hell yeah, kazoo SOLO. *Multiple* kazoo solos, even.

"Oh, you don't like our band? Cool, go fuck yourself. We might be weird, but you're fucking basic and boring as shit."

Trouble Every Day-

Change the TV references to Twitter references and you'll realize that, in the last 57 years, nothing has really fundamentally changed in any way.

This song could be released tomorrow and still be relevant to what's going on. Zappa knew from the beginning that America was sliding towards a fascist theocracy, and it really shows here.

Cops are still racist pricks actively beating the shit out of people (well, they put down the nightsticks and picked up ARs, but yeah.)

This nation is still inherently extremely racist.

And the media and all the out-of-touch fuckers in charge keep telling us "there's nothing we can do about it (unless you give us more money)!"

Help, I'm A Rock-

The return of the Weird.

I've heard this song's title as a punchline before, but this is my first time actually hearing the song, and it's exactly as weird as i was hoping it would be.

It's a drag being a rock. Think I would rather be the mayor.

Chaotic as hell. Also, i was glad i was wearing headphones when the orgasm noises appeared out of the noise. I can't even begin to imagine how much people of the time hated this.

It can't happen here. Everybody's safe and it can't happen here. No freaks for us and if can't happen here.

(It's happening here. It has been for years and it likely won't ever stop happening here.)

The Return Of The Son of Monster Magnet-

Suzy Creamcheese's first appearance in the discography. (So, until today, I legitimately always thought Suzy Creamcheese was like a late 60s porn star or something. Come to find out just now that it was just an inside joke started by Zappa that blew out of proportion. Today i learned..)

Decidedly the most experimental song on the album. The sounds of Space Madness.

Ooh, picked out a theremin during the space madness section. Fuck yeah.

The lyrics on Spotify have officially broken at this point. They simply do not know how to handle this song.

Space Madness has devolved into more orgasms and speaking in tongues. Yeah, i bet people in the late 60s either totally loved or vehemently hated this, depending on their usage of... substances. (Love me a good substance. Especially some cream cheese. Put it on a toasted bagel and I'm set.)

The last half of this song is the sheer insanity i had been waiting for.

So, for a guy who claimed to never do drugs, this album IS drugs. It's been interesting to see where Zappa et al started from, because it makes me appreciate the later stuff that much more. Thank the gods that Zappa decided to fully Embrace the Weird as he continued his career.

Not my favorite album of theirs, but I'm glad i finally got around to listening to it.

Favorite Track: While i really want to say Trouble Every Day, i have to say Help, I'm A Rock beat it by a hair. Might be unfair to Trouble, since the latter song is like 3 times longer and 5 times weirder, but Trouble Every Day just made me too sad on reflection to give it the top spot.

Least Favorite Track: You Didn't Try To Call Me. This song is already on the album in 2 different spots. The album is long enough, imo it really doesn't need a third song about the exact. same. idea.