#im just pointing out the double standard here

[lyrakanefanatic]

after going through this pin’s comment section

i have decided to pick out the comments that i thought were the most…. interesting!!!

here are some that i physically will not comment on because i will go on a rant and to me its practically ragebait:

ummm… ANYWAYS moving forward now 😊😊

THIS ONE HAD ME DEADDDDD BC WHAT??? they had like ONE scene together also at first i was like “wtf did i read that right???”. but yeah 10/10 out of pocket opinion i loved it

…..what.

UMMMMM OKAY!! 😊😊

bonus:

oh…. yeah now that you point that out, it would be a little weird if grayson were to date his literal sister!!! but good thing its just a little weird 😊💗

(btw literally every comment on this pin was something to this effect. JUST SAY U LIKE INCEST AND MOVE ON!!)

WHAT IS GOING ON WITH PEOPLE SAYING GRAYSON WOULD BE GOOD WITH RANDOM TIG CHARACTERS 😭😭 GOOD LORD NOW LIBBY??? THE WOMAN WHOS 5-6 YEARS OLDER THAN HIM AND IN LOVE WITH HIS BROTHER??

im speechless.

i love the fact that they are so proudly wrong about how she isnt caring or empathetic just because she was rightfully angry at a guy for a traumatic event that happened to her and is seemingly the guys’ grandfathers fault. LIKE THESE THINGS ARE COMPLICATED, WHY CANT PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THAT???

also not them referring to lyra as an “added stress to his life” like DAWG he is not on death row??? damn like if someone (idk if avery did i forget the events of the first book) were to seek grayson out and be his shoulder to cry on in the first book yall wouldnt refer to grayson as an “added stress on that characters’ life”, you guys would say “AWWWW MY BABY IS HEALING”. 😐

the double standards are craaaazy.

i love how this ^^^ commenter when on a whole rant about how they want graysons “sunshine” love interest to be like…. and then basically described lyra. LIKE WHAT

“get stuff done like alisa” ✔️

“be confident as thea” ✔️

“forgiving as hannah” ✔️ (and for those thinking, “what it took lyra so long to forgive grayson!!” like hannah didnt take long to forgive toby too)

“at least half as funny as max” ✔️

“sarcastic personality at first” ✔️

“…but as you get to know her you realize shes compassionate like libby” CHECK CHECK CHECKITY CHECK WHAT

THERE IS A CHARACTER WHO IS GRAYSONS LOVE INTEREST THAT MET EVERY SINGLE ONE OF UR STANDARDS. COME ON PEOPLE WHAT ARE WE DOING. 😤😤😤

anyways i think this comment section just took 10 years off of my life but at least it was entertaining!!! kind of!!!

also if i was mean… idk its partially because i love lyra and partially because i made this at night and i am an absolute beast at night 😈😈

[diam1nd]

this comes without saying, an outstanding number of people have reached out to me w/ similar experiences ranging from gaslighting, misogynistic behaviors, guilt tripping, manipulation, love bombing, and blatant disrespect in many forms of uncomfortable messages from yes, apollo.

i had no idea just how deep this rabbit hole went, i was completely fooled from someone i deeply cared and was reminded that everything was fine and supported, and honestly i thought i was going to just let it be. but with over 17 concerned muns coming forward to share their experiences, i for one need to air out these concerns.

despite beginning to feel more comfortable, this whole situation has me in a spin. i want this to be my peace, and for all of those wanting to know the real reason my prev blog was deactivated and blocking the person who is the curator of this anxiety.

my experience was being lead into a single ship scenario because they felt intimidated by one single blog that my emma interacted with in a usfw manner. mind you, no relationship or feelings attached and i was writing with this person before developing anything irl with him. but for some reason, they were self-inserting ME as my muse, doubling it as an act of cheating on his muses, and made him uncomfortable as a person who has claimed to been deceived in that manner themselves. my immediate response was a voice call to help calm him down and reassure that everything was okay and that i am not emma, and i am not involving myself with that muse or mun in any sexual/relation based manner. it was by his recommendation that single ship would be better so that this problem would never resurface or would not have to worry in the future. at first, and i say lead because, i wasn't 100% for it at first. it felt a bit unfair because i am fully aware that i am not my muse, and this is fictional writing. but to avoid another "im deleting my blog" scenario guilt trip, i talked myself into agreeing with the single ship, to which became a reasonable standard with my blogs. when it came to making an official post, it took an incredible amount of pushing to get him to do that, and now that i really know why, is he was messaging many people for additional ships that he didn't want me to know that he wasn't honoring his end of this agreement. this past weekend, he decided that single ship wasn't good for him after i finally confronted him about the unfairness and well, here we are. me, a sentimental person, wasn't okay with going back and forth, especially when i changed how i write my own muse to better suit someones comfort levels. which is confusing to me because the initial complaint from him was he was annoyed with how people only want to ship with his ocs, all the while bad mouthing others (my friends) who partake in usfw writing. i know for a fact, if i would of agreed to go back to multiship, another problem would of popped up even tho his solution was to blacklist usfw tags so he didn't 'see' anything, despite still reporting to me on the same muns blog he had issues with. i feel it's a grab for control. and i asked him, with an open mind, how is it fair that i am to accept all of this change when he is not? me deleting for my sanity because, honestly, "now you know how i felt when emma fucked bucky" was never going to be resolved soundly. this was a grab to forcefully make me feel bad indefinitely because he didn't like something. it's possessive behavior. i was constantly told how he was going to delete everything then turn around to blame me for everything; then i asked if he could part ways with tumblr with me, and i was met with more gaslighting. this is fictional writing, we should have never gotten to this point.

there's another the issue where someone confronted him about graphics being in mirrored likeness, which i never saw myself because he wanted to keep it a quiet. said person has reached out to me and confirmed that he too tried to guilt trip them into deleting his blogs and blaming a de*th as for reason for stealing inspiration, even after claiming to change theirs in his likeness. i won't go into detail about his personal life, but i've never heard that as a reason why, especially when he's claimed to using this type of style long before this loss occurred. i did make a post via a rant, supporting one of my friends in a similar situation but he also knew very well it was also in his defense. we were on voice call, again, and he knew the moment i posted it and asked me to delete it the next day because he claims he resolved the issue. which i found out is not true. if you're going to admit to someone you stole something, why lie to me?

another mun in particular came out to admit to me that he was flirting with her, and has asked him to stop a number of times due to her being actually married. but once another callout resurfaced for them, in their experience he flaked out on being their friend because of fear of being affiliated. basically, i'm not going to allow you to pretend you don't know me online, and then try to be my friend behind closed doors in dms. when asked if he knew about these two people, the answer i got was "i saw a callout and that's about it." i'm glad she stood her ground on that because i too, felt like a secret.

more instances were brought to my attention whilst we were 'dating', he was also love bombing and getting attached to others very quickly while entertaining the idea of ME. i've been shown a history of unsolicited affection and desire for shipping his muse with everyone with a pulse and getting attached to all of these muns as well. to me, this is was shocking to learn about while you were pointing the finger at me accusing myself of blatant cheating. not once did he ever tell me anything felt forced, but that he needed me, felt lost without me.

from what im gathering from all of these muns, we were all manipulated to believe someone who claims is a charming gentleman, has the capabilities to gaslight and make you feel incredibly bad about feeling a certain way, or even stating how something was making them uncomfortable. many were fooled as i was, trying to comfort someone who clearly had a complex to receive attention from as much people as possible without them even knowing a bit of backstory. pinning people against people. these additional muns that came forward TO ME, have all explained the same level of discomfort they felt in dms with him directly. it's honestly beyond words to explain how deep this goes. i'm not going to list every single encounter thus far, because honestly.. this would be far too long and i want those others to make their peace.

i do not plan to release screenshots publicly because that's not who i am. but just know, all 17(and counting..) of us have a collection for those who want the truth. i want this post as an urged warning to be careful, no witch hunts or hate. curate your space as you see fit. i sincerely hope that those that are still by his side, do not get the treatment that we all got. i tried my best to resolve this with him privately, but was met with aggression and mockery, and now as i'm being told, pretending nothing happened.

..and because i know he will read this, for the record, i could of handled a simple break up / mutual parting ways. i'm a grown woman that would of accepted that, but you took this way too far. you've played a part in me feeling insecure about others when i shouldn't have, you selfishly kept me in your corner and made me feel in the wrong about so so many things. where you now display as we were forced. you played the blame game in attempt to get me to question my sanity and awareness of what was really going on. i didn't get a choice. im glad you were finally able to be honest to me, but i only wish you would of told me sooner. thankfully this was short lived. i never pinned you as this type of person, but good lord.

my discord alongside many many others is open to show every bit of proof we have for reference, or to just talk it out. please be safe.

[glitchfang]

eve’s been saying pokemon reborn is like if isat didnt care abt its themes and im over here creating intense psychic damage by saying that pokemon reborn is actually very similar to warrior cats

think about it. its bloated. it was allegedly made out of obligation and the creator(s) dont even like the main topic (cats/pokemon). incredibly meanspirited world where the characters are constantly assholes to each other, but also berates the victim characters for not forgiving their abusers. pretty nasty about abuse victims in general. involves a writers pet who, while theyve suffered genuine strife, is so cruel and unlikeable to characters who did nothing to them and the narrative is like “lol arent they so quirky and badass <3” and constantly praises and rewards them. manpain. a lot of manpain. and each time its considered a uniquely tragic case. “ummmm what if the fascists had a point :/ yknow youre being so closed minded by not hearing them out and accepting that they just have a different opinion. wanting to retaliate with violence actually makes you worse than them.” double standards depending on which character says that, also. the “real” leader of team meteor is even a born-evil monster just to show how solaris is actually redeemable and not inherently a bad person because he mourns his son and that makes all the crimes he committed not as bad somehow. its uncanny.

[kcokaine]

So, its okay to keep praising Gege even when he makes a whole unnecessary and suggestive pedo/incest panel about Mei Mei and Ui Ui, but its NOT okay for fans to be suggestive as well… U just reach a new level of low, that anon just wanted to share an idea (even specifying aged up, no pedo stuff) u didnt have to shame him/her along with ur fans. Ofc, u r gonna do the same with my comment if u even dare to put it on ur feed. Im just so creeped out by ur double standards like that was such a dick move, dude. 😒

difference is gege made that trope to point out a problem not fetishize it.

gege also made nanami and gojo a parental figures who did everything to protect children and their innocence.

i dont have double standards i have some moral standards unfortunately, you do you just dont send me that shit here

[lizandbo]

okie doks, so i would like a hc where bokuto, kuroo, and maybe tsukishima react to seeing their volleyball player! girlfriend play for the first time

i love your blog btw :) it makes me happy <3

Volleyball player!reader x kuroo, bokuto and tsukishima

I’m so so glad that my writing makes you happy, plus this ask is like 100 years cuz time management is not a thing for me

Masterlist

Tsukishima

Before I say anything else HE WILL LAUGH WHEN YOU MESS UP

When you tell him that you play volleyball he might not believe you until he sees it with his very own eyes

He would believe you but ✨trust issues✨

If you ever invite him to one of your matches he just either gives a glare and says a monotone “ok” or grunt in response 

But most times he goes to your games without you knowing 

Tsukishima wants to see when do your best without the pressure of people yk watching you

Cuz honestly I feel that wholeheartedly 

But man when he does see you?

Bros gonna explode from being flustered 

He thinks that you honestly look really hot, but he never ever gonna say that

Not even when he’s being held by gunpoint, which honestly who would ask that question if you were being held by gunpoint?

Anygays 

He just appreciates your work ethic in volleyball

Not being too annoying and obnoxious about volleyball or not giving a fuck with his standards 

Nice balance 

and at some point you motivate him to push on his own hobbies (more so volleyball)

When you catch sight of him you whip your head around to get a double take almost getting whiplash in the process

He just covers his mouth and snickers by the confusion of your face just now realizing that he did attend your match after all

You shuffled up to him half bashful half excited to see tsuki

You wrapped your arms around his middle and he stared back to, giving you a little headpat 

“Sooo how did I do? Since you’ve been stalking me like a dimwit”

“You did better than last time ig, moron”

“You were here last time too??” 

“Now see your the dimwit here since you didn’t even realize I’m coming to your stupid games”

“Awww tsuki I thought would’ve never be here:(“

“Your an official dimwit” tsukishima says with a blush darkening 

Bokuto

He knew you played volleyball cuz he always has asked you how was your day? Every single fucking day

Even before you were dating

It might get a lil annoying sometimes but baby boy genuinely wants to hear about your day

Prolly at some point interrupts you by accident but once he realized he apologizes so damn much 

But a simple “it’s ok bo” is enough for him lmao

ANYWAYS 

IS SO PROUD OF YOU WHEN YOU PLAY

ALWAYS YELLS LETS GO Y/N OR HEY HEY HEYYYY THATS MY S/O

Vvvv proud baby 

Whatever position you play he’s so so so supportive 

“Y/n! That’s such a great set im so proud of you”

“I KNEW YOU COULD DO SO WELL BABY”

“HEY HEY HEY! That spike was so accurate, you should have a kiss as an award! Come her baby”

“BLOCK THEM BASTARDS! YEAHHH”

When the match/ practice is over he’ll quite literally jump and attack you with a bear hug smothering you to absolute death

You guys go to your car him carrying you bride style  and finding a withered mess of half dead rose petals in the passenger seat cuz bo was so focused on seeing you than bringing the damn bouquet of flowers he was gonna give you

“Well… maybe I’m just distracted by incredibly sexy and hot partn-“

“OKAY BOKUTO, LETS JUST GET IN THE DAMN CAR”

“Your also very cute when you stammer like that”

“Booooo”

Kuroo 

Also a vvv proud baby

Found out by having the volleyball match delayed and you coming home late

Quite literally did the mom “and where were you?” Thing on you

But he was concerned for his baby cuz you could’ve gotten kidnapped

You told him that you were at a game of yours and he was appalled 

“And you never thought that I would like to go?” Pouts like a little girl in a playful way

“Well I just never thought you wanted to go since your always so busy”

“Bullshit, I’d do anything for you” he practically manhandled you onto the bed and cuddled there

“Oh really? Anything??” Your eyes sparkled as he met your eyes with a small smile

“Yes baby, anything. Your my one and only”

“Ok so would you do the dishes for me? Oh oh and cook dinner too that would be absolutely fantastic”

Rooster wasn’t too happy with that response smh

SKJDJDJD I GET SO DISTRACTED ANYWAYS

rooster baby would go to any games when he has free time 

Analyzes your movements a lot 

But he’s never deeply judging you in a negative way, he’s just observing 

Becomes your personal trainer but would never push you too hard 

Always after matches no matter if you win or not he’ll always have some version of “you did well baby, now drink some water I’m not letting you be dehydrated”

Always gives you a meaningful hug too

Kisses are also a definite must

One on your forehead, nose and three on the lips

It’s like a secrete combination just between the two of you

Even tho it’s not even like a lock or some shit

It always amazing him how you do certain things when your focused into your game

Sometimes laughs at how cute you are

Just being a proud parent boyfriend is all you need

[tenaciouschronicler]

December 28 2024 2009

We all need to take a second to admire the sheer beauty of Prospit and Skaia because WOW.

If i thought the blues and golds were stunning before these frames blow that out of the water. And the clouds! My god the clouds. As we see Prospit turn its moon lines up in the eclipse and the clouds reveal scenes we have witnessed or may witness, sometimes changing shapes but mostly acting as a portal. Earth and SBURB are much more intermingled than we could have anticipated.

One of the clouds showed the meteor from the past that formed Jades island. As the meteor passed it left the cloud vision and became a cloud itself, which begs the question how thats possible and if it can somehow do the reverse but thats neither here nor there. What is important is that this is the meteor that Jade heard, only it didnt land on Earth but a strange present-past double of Earth on Prospit.

Im super happy I was able to get a screencap of the superimposition of the Earth and Prospit Earth impact site. Its not the best but it really highlights how much intermingling occurs during an Eclipse and how Jade is able to get her future visions. Speaking of, @homestuckreplay does a great job going more in depth about that here (always appreciate you friend, that kinda theorizing isnt really my wheelhouse <3). We get to learn that this is the crash sound from Jades pesterlog, one of potentially several that she has while awake on Prospit.

From the meteor, Bec emerges out of the lava as well as a small glowing white spirograph that is at the site of the frog stature back on Earth. Theres another shot of Dream and Robo Jade heading to the site to investigate only to be blocked by Bec in both cases. I wonder if because Bec is a Skaian creation if his movements are outside of time in such a way as to be in both places at once (similar to Jade but just one body) or if he is connected to each version of himself and they move as one when necessary (exactly like Dream and Robo Jade are to Jade).

With that option foiled, Jade heads back to her room but notices that John has left his room. We dont see when exactly it happened, but sometime when Jade was exploring the crash site John left the bed and now floats in the sky outside of his bedroom (which looks so cool and just adds on to the mirror imagery we are getting right now). John is starting to wake up. We get flashes of his cloud visions (shapes only) from when he took a nap while Jades silhouette flashes between the black standard pose and her current floating dream self.

Unfortunately he is woken up (his real self that is) due to interference. Looking back at that sequence two things stand out, beside the trippy light show that is. The first is the ever present spirograph and the second is a pumpkin. The spirograph leads me to believe Skaianet had some hand in allowing the interrupution. Thinking on it, its strange that Skaia and Skaianet are named as such. Im sarting to be real skeptical on the purpose of Skaia as a whole. If they are one and the same why is it letting all of this happen? And is it really a good idea to be protecting it when we dont know its intentions?

The pumpkin, as far was we can tell at this point, has to be related to the Wandering Vagabond. The pumpkin in that sequence is not one that we have seen yet. It really seems that the theory of outside hacker forces is becoming more and more likely but in such an odd way. I genuinely dont think WV caused this out of malice, but I dont understand why it was allowed to happen. Again, Skaia or SBURB or Whatever is very confusing in its goals. Ugh, I might have to put my current little essay project on the back burner to try and parse each piece of this dubious entity.

Finally, we see John awake once more but at the same time whatever happened to keep his dream self from waking up also woke Earth Jade up. Another mirror, but this time between John and Jade. Im taking this to mean theres probably more similarities between them than we previously thought or its another way to highlight the simultaneous nature in which that interruption occurred.

All I know is the next compare/contast essay I make is gonna be WAY more convoluted than I thought.

[laurrelise]

I did not conveniently leave out that Allison assaulted Luther. I gave examples of her siblings doing the same or similar shit as she did in S3. (Klaus using his power over his followers would be considered sexual abuse. And yes, the "bumbling idiot" was indeed supposed to mock those who think he is exactly that and thus free from consequences.)

I'm in no way excusing what Allison did (can't believe that wasn't obvious), but I am putting them into the context of what the other siblings have done because I'm very very tired of the almost daily hate posts I see against Allison. There seems to be a weird double-standard where the male characters are allowed to be incredibly flawed human beings doing awful things to others and each other, but whom we can still identify with. And then there's Allison, whose PTSD and grief for her daughter (and husband) are not considered important enough to explain WHY she had a breakdown. For example, there's this nice parallel between Viktor having hallucinations during his S1 breakdown, and Allison hallucinating Ray in S3. Viktor's scene is used to explain why he killed Pogo in cold blood and did everything that came after. Allison is just genrally considered to be a bitch, though, so her mental instability during S3 can be ignored I guess.

All everyone ever has to do is mention the sexual assault and that immediately shuts down any conversation about what happened to Allison, how her ability influenced what she did, and how she got to the point where she abandoned all common sense in the first place. Your post happened to be the straw that broke MY camel's back. Seeing Allison once again singled out for blaming Five, as if Luther didn't literally threaten to beat him up for not knowing where Sloane went only a few episodes later, just put me over the edge.

I blame the writers for never giving Allison and Luther/Viktor real closure. Clearly, something happened between Luther and Allison before the wedding that made him forgive her enough to allow her to be there. Clearly, the ending of S3, Viktor trusting Allison to press that reset button, was supposed to be an olive branch between them. But we never got to see the forgiveness. And S4 reduced Allison to "black sheep of the family" who no one but Klaus had an actual conversation with. So now Allison is forever the absolute worst piece of shit that everyone can hate on for anything and everything.

But that's just me, I guess.

jesus christ bro

alright i really am not about to argue this (plot twist, i was wrong. i did in fact argue this) because i genuinely don’t understand where this is coming from. i suppose i get how it could look like ive got double standards for the way allison acted compared to her brothers, but again, i just really don’t know why you’re accusing me of being unfair to her for rightfully criticizing her for being a terrible person

allison had every right to be upset in season 3!! i fully agree with that!! but she had absolutely zero reason to sexually assault luther, kill harlan, emotionally torment viktor, and blame everyone around her when they were just as in the dark as she was.

and i gotta be honest im really not liking the way it sounds like you’re accusing me of being anti-woman..? i literally could not be more of a feminist please know that rn

i do not want to shut down all conversation about allison’s mental breakdown because the sexual assault was as bad as it was. i don’t mind talking about it at all, because the complications of her grief and how she dealt with it truly are fascinating and fair to discuss extensively.

but i’m really not about to sit here and go back and forth over an issue you have with the fandom being unfair but are coming to me upset about an issue that i’m literally not contributing to. i’m contributing to allison’s criticism, for sure, but i contribute to the criticism of every damn character as well. because they’re ALL flawed, and deserve to be considered in terms of their wrongs just as much as their rights, just like allison. to insinuate i’m giving her brothers all free passes because they’re men is absolutely wild btw

i fully believe the loss of her daughter and husband justify a mental breakdown. and i’m not going to sit here and say “if you’re going to have a mental breakdown, make sure it fits within these lines of conduct or else” because that’s stupid. but literally everything she did was unnecessary and completely inexcusable, even in the context of her grieving / mental breakdown. mental instability and PTSD make people do crazy things, and i understand that. STILL, those things don’t simply get a stamp of approval because they’re in the context of mental instability or PTSD.

sorry that my post broke your camel’s back but i promise you, you’re assuming completely wrong. i hold allison’s brothers just as accountable as her, just not all at once in the same post as a disclaimer. my apologies for your confusion!!

anyways thanks for the asks, you can send in another if you’d like but i gotta be honest i’m really not a huge fan of the way you’re blaming me for a fandom-wide issue you have, so im probably just going to delete it lol. maybe make a post about it and do your discussion there.

thanks so much anon have a good one :)

[khaoala]

I can’t believe it’s over. What am I supposed to do with my Saturdays now? What am i supposed to do without all the emibonnie content we’ve been blessed with these past 12 weeks (I know they have that fanmeet coming up but…).

Ok, let’s see if i can try to collect my thoughts and make them sound semi coherent.

I was a little surprised by the 4mo time jump but i guess i get why it was necessary. Kawi has mostly recovered, pamrak continue to be fucking adorable with their postcards, and the oat/rak team up to go visit nene was sweet. All of that leading up to the greatest and sweetest sibling hug of all time. Rak really does have healing hugs 🫂 (I think I could use one right about now 😭).

Rak never fails to make me so proud every time she stands up to her dad and talks back to him, she has me fist punching the air and yelling “Tell him, Rak! TELL THAT SON OF A BITCH OFF!” And of course I can’t not mention nene sweeping in (im gonna miss my little lurker) going on about “WE this” and “WE that”. She blamed khem for taking away her family AND THEN CAME IN AND TOOK HIS FAMILY AWAY. Congrats, Nene you got your revenge, and as an added bonus, got yourself some siblings and a mother figure (and possibly a gf too). Khem may still be alive after all of that (at least he didn’t get redeemed) but here’s to hoping one of the maids steps up and poisons his food 🤞🏽🤞🏽.

You know what happened next….poor old, sweet, precious grandma bua. GONE TOO SOON! SHE DIDNT EVEN GET A CHANCE TO SEE RAK ONE LAST TIME AND THAT IS JUST UNFORGIVABLE! Last week when I saw the ep preview and saw that pamrak would be separated I had joked about the reunion sex but god to have their reunion to be at grandmas funeral!!!! DOUBLE UNFORGIVABLE!!! I think I cried the most during that scene compared to the rest of the episode. One good thing that did come out of it was at the end when everyone was ganging up on poor puppy dog rak 🥺 and we were blessed with the another ever elusive Nene smile. Happiness and having friends and family looks good on her 🥹.

Ok, so the first time jump I understood but then putting in a four fucking year time jump???? What was the purpose of that? 4 years of pamrak was taken from us!!!! And am I to believe that in 4 years oat and nene weren’t already dating? Did we witness the start of a first date??? FOUR WHOLE YEARS JUST SKIPPED RIGHT OVER!! The biggest blow for me was that we WERENT GIVEN A WEDDING!! What the actual fuck. I mean yea they were adorable as ever waking up in the bed together with their rings on and telling the kids that they were WIVES!!!! But but but the wedding 😔.

I don’t remember every aspect of the Pluto finale other than them getting back together and getting married but one finale I remember quite well was the Reverse 4 You finale. They had a part four fumble in that finale and wasted time by showing us four forgiving that girl instead of giving us more fourwa scenes. Feel like that aspect was repeated here.

That’s my only gripe; I obviously loved every other thing about this show. It has skyrocketed to the top of my gl list and will probably remain there for a long time.

-🤫

I lied. One more thing

All those years of dental school and she ends up volunteering to teach kids about brushing their teeth????

i left this one to answer today because i was a zombie yesterday and since it was the last episode, it deserves all the brainpower i can muster.

i'm afraid emibonnie and pamrak might have changed my brain chemistry forever (i'm sorry milklove, you'll always be special to me, but i think i have a new favorite). they were phenomenal. i could talk all day about them and how much they delivered flawless chemistry in their very first project together. they are the blueprint to be followed. they deserve all the praise and success that i know will come their way. i love them dearly, and i'm so glad they were who gave us this pamrak.

time skips in gmm shows have become a standard at this point, not only in gls but their bls too, so i wasn't so surprised by the 4 months jump (i was however surprised by the 4 years jump, but more of that later). seeing rak focusing on her studies and helping her mom and brother out and later bringing nene to see kawi was just very sweet. i was very pleased with that tbh. i wasn't so sure how they would bring nene to the family core, but we knew she felt guilty bc of kawi suicide attempt, so bringing her to help him heal was very sweet (and i 100% agree, rak has healing hugs and we should all get one).

rak really is someone that speaks to me in spiritual levels. i have a huge (personal) problem with the "this is a matter between me and your mother. don't get into this" kind of narratives, bc you had this manipulative asshole making everyone bend to his will the whole time, and he wants rak, who has seen all of that (and experienced it firsthand too) to stay quiet? when she very much knows better than just lower her head and let him step on them? no no. my girl has made me proud every single step of the way. so brave. i love this woman with every fiber of my being and i'll miss her tremendously. nene also was so girl boss when she got into that house and told khem to wait and see who was going to come out on top. SHE KNOWS SHE HAS PEOPLE TO SUPPORT HER. SHE HAS A SAFETY NET AND HE DOESN'T. TAKE THAT ASSHOLE.

at the time, i was so heartbroken that yai bua didn't get the chance to see rak one last time, but next day thoughts and i'm okay with that now. not everyone gets the chance to say their goodbyes, but yai knew how much rak cared for her, and how much they enjoyed their time together, even if they only had video calls to see each other. it made pam telling rak about yai's passing a lot sadder too. the two of them crying in the phone in complete silence? absolutely destroyed me.

now again, the four years jump was something really. i assume they did it to make sure rak had graduated and could teach alongside with her WIFE. but i suspended belief for very much everything else. do you want me to believe that in four years the cafe gang is only the three of them still? and that they even have jobs yet? hasn't pheem been trying to become an actor since the beginning? and it took them all four years to move on? i don't buy it. someone in the tags of my (first) oatnene post said that they pretending to not be together must be some type of roleplay before they go on dates and i'll believe that's the case bc there's no way aot wasn't insistent enough not to take nene out on a date after a few months after she joined rak's family. also, i've said it in the tags too but i'll say it again, i'm finally convinced of viewmim's chemistry. all it took was nene stop being a vengeful single minded person and start letting herself be cared for to convince me that they'll work amazingly well together.

not getting a wedding was a choice though. the moment they woke up in the bed and i saw the rings in their ring fingers i was 👀👀👀, but i thought they were engaged since i always mix up which hand is wedded and which hand is engaged. can we hope for an our skyy with the gls couples? maybe we get to see more of their married life or the wedding. i really want to see emibonnie in wedding gowns.

i think the us finale was probably the most solid finale we've had tbh. from all the recent gls i've watched at least, they had the most solid plotline and satisfactory end. something that happened with most of the shows i've watched in recent times is that i'd lose interest in the story as they got to the end of the story. but they had a grip on me from start to finish. even if i wish we've got more pamrak being domestic af, i feel nice that they tried giving us closure for all the stories they told. even khem being alone in those expensive stairs. ohh, that was delicious.

i also feel like pam teaching kids how to brush their teeth was more of a side thing. you know, you can't be cute in a pretty finale montage while someone has their mouth wide open and you're with full dentist gear, so this was a fun alternative.

[smosh-fessions]

its interesting how when ppl bring up how they wish smosh had more variety in casting they always bring up angela being in a lot of videos but when it comes to shayne also being in a lot its crickets

literally saw a comment complaining abt angela being in videos and they said if shes not in more videos than sayne then shes at least in as many as him. and that was where the comment stopped like youre saying shes in as many vids as shayne and thats annoying bc variety but shayne isn’t in too many?? when you just stated theyre maybe in the same amount roughly??

and all im seeing this past week is complaints abt angela being in almost every video for a week, yet i think shayne has been in every video shes been in lately except like the fanfic one and resident evil (to balance that out she wasnt on smosh mouth and also not on the reddit stories that was before the most recent one)

ppl compare them a lot, both their humor and loudness but angela is the one being called annoying for it.

when shayne is loud or talking a lot/clearly just saying anything to get laughs as part of his weird guy bit (most recent challenge pit comes to mind), hes just a quirky silly guy. but when angela does a similar thing shes torn apart for being too much, annoying, attention seeking etc.

obviously angela gets praise too and ppl love her but its just so interesting how much she is disliked for the same things shayne is being loved for

also just picked shayne as an example bc of their similarities, a lot of other cast members are loud and stuff too obviously, simply think the double standards are a little glaring.

whats crazy is im not even an angelatruther like that i just feel like even tho its not being done with intent, the men on smosh get praised for the same things the non men on smosh get torn apart for, youve gotten some ppl pointing out the same abt amanda too and i think that it includes arasha and courtney too. in a similar way the few cast members that are poc also get ragged on for stuff thats completely fine for their white counterparts to do

You're very correct and I wonder if it has to do with Shayne having basically been a staple member of Smosh for a decade, so it's just kind of the norm to assume he'll be in a video at this point. He's also full time as opposed to others and there's a guarantee of him being in two videos a week minimum, so I wonder if that also comes into play here for people.

That's the only explanation I can think of that isn't essentially just tied directly to misogyny. People get very strange about women who are loud and boisterous, I've found, and Angela is very much both of those things. She's more prone to hyperactivity than Shayne as well, it seems, so that could play a part as well.

[milgram-tournament]

MILGRAM Best Song Tournament, Round 2, Match 3 MAGIC vs. MEME

Propaganda for both options under the cut!

Propaganda for MAGIC:

MAGIC MY BELOVED MAGIC!!! Its one of the best MVs in the entire series, even including T2. Magic is visually stunning and has some fantastic art direction but also is very clever in how it conveys its themes and ideas. Magic doesn't really hide anything from you, not really. It's all symbolic but it Tells You Things. It shows you the abuse, it shows you the cat. There's a fun little relationship going on here where, In Magic. Amane's pain and suffering isn't taken seriously by the people around her and the Audience we are discouraged to take it at face value due to the fictionalized nature of Magic. It's so cool. I'm so fond of the song as well, it's one of the best in the series purely cause of the Layers in it. The implications of this Inability to be good is seeped into Magic. Amane knows this isn't reality, Magic knows it's a show, she watches it at the end. And it's so Sad to me that even in her fictionalized happy world she Cannot be a good girl. It's a standard completely out of reach for her and that idea is just conveyed so well visually.

Im not even talking about the goddamn cat yet- the cat symbolism goes Deep. That cat is HER it has the same wounds Amane has in Purge March. I- I cant talk about the intertextuality of Purge March and Magic here this is Magic propaganda only- I- there's so much good stuff to Magic. I Re watched it over and over again. It has some the Best Writing and Visual Communication in Milgram and I will Die on this Hill.

---

shoutout to magic for having pretty props AND being vague as fuck about the crime! diversity win!

seriously though amane looks SO cute in it! the mv has such a pretty and colorful style and even with that it's able to show the horrors of what amane went through.

adding onto my last point. that scene where the cat is hyperventilating and you see the camera shaking???? that scene where the mascots find amane helping the cat and they're all standing over her? CHILLS. im repeating myself but the fact that they were able to portray the awful things amane went through in a genuinely emotional way while still keeping the cute cartoon look is soo impressive

there are SO many layers to itill the entire cartoony style making it look like a tv show… utilizing the cartoony effects and bright colors to show amane downplaying her own pain… the transformation after she gets punished barely changing anything to show just how manipulated she was from the start… ueueueue

ALSO ALSO ALSO THE SCENE AT THE END WITH AMANE STARING AT THE SCENE? OHHH ITS SO GOOD it adds such a feeling of dread and reminds you on top of this whole thing that all of this is truly horrifying! something is going on here!

this song is so catchy it gets stuck in my head CONSTANTLY

"Dear wise one, Am I worthy? Is it ok to spoil myself?" AMANE... UEUEUUEUE

the little ding sound effects in the instrumental?????

amanes voice is ADORABLE

THE INSTRUMENTAL IN THAT PART WHERE SHES HELPING THE CAT HAS THAT GODLY TYPE SOUND YOUD TYPICALLY ASSOCIATE WITH CHURCHES AND STUFF AND I DONT KNOW HOW TO EXPLAIN IT PROPERLY BUT JUST RELISTEN TO IT AND YOU WILL KNOW WHAT I MEAN. ITS SUCH A NEAT DETAIL

i could go on about this mv for days but i am not a theorist unfortunately. just. magic sweep

Propaganda for MEME:

"MeMe is fantastic because it plays off the audience’s assumptions about Mikoto as a character and tells a “double story”. There’s layers to it and it’s deliberately deceptive in the way it presents the events out of order. Even the instrumentals themselves tell a story. The shift from piano in the second chorus climax is so good - and the way they combine in the last chorus, plus the addition of a violin culminates the song perfectly."

---

"For propaganda: I love meme so much because even the music alone tells as whole story. It goes from heavy metal to calm to heavy metal to calm and that happens a few times and then there’s an epic and creepy intermission with an amazing guitar and a scary of sound of Mikoto’s heavy breathing. And then the psychedelic music and BAM the final chorus. The final chorus of meme just gives me the absolute chills. Like it’s the calmer chorus we see earlier but with epic symphonic metal and an amazing build up and climax like it’s perfectly encapsulates a story through music alone I just love it so much. Also it’s literally called meme lmao."

---

"I could go on about the motifs in MeMe - like identity loss, living and dying, dreaming etc. It's a song, more than with any other character, about the inner self and what hides from the surface. Of the fear that comes with one's identity and place in the world being challenged and crumbling. The intricate designs on the tarot cards have so much depth to them"

[lilithlounge]

Hey I dont know if I'm late or if you're taking requests anymore but it's fine if you arent. I just wanted to ask about my Lilith placements if you had the time :D I have my 11H virgo MC at 3° conj true lilith(i) at 7° conj mean lilith at 10° and Waldemath lilith at 23° conj lilith (o) rx 27° and it's sextile my scorpio asc 26°. I have Lilith asteroid rx in 12H 16° libra in a T square with vertex, opp mercury (11H ruler too).

(If you prefer placidus, all my placements jump back one house, I have double house placements for every planet and point in my chart.)

I was a very socially withdrawn kid from childhood and never really wanted friends until other kids specifically made me feel bad about it. Could be the 11H house effect. I do feel more and more compelled to do things ppl don't want me to or if they think I can't, maybe the rebellious aquarius nature. I'm not sure how the virgo plays out, though I have been shamed (like really-really badly) for the most useless things by my parents like I stared at a guy one time idek anymore. I have a very very obvious stare (scorpio ascendent) but most times I'm just zoning out, I feel so attacked I have to watch myself a lot whenever im out, I genuinely gotta be so careful. (That's all I could interpret and make out on my own for now)

Hey 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤you’re not late at all. I’m happy to look into your Lilith placements! And honestly? I deeply relate to so much of what you’re saying. The childhood isolation, shame, and being hyper-aware of how you’re perceived have shaped you. That is Lilith at work, loud and clear. My DM’s are always open just so you know 🖤.

Virgo MC 3° Conjunct True & Mean Lilith + Waldemath Lilith Your public image, reputation, and life path are wrapped up in this deep, untamed energy. With Virgo, people may try to police you, criticize you, or hold you to impossible standards especially authority figures or family. There’s a theme of social scrutiny, being unfairly judged for small things literally even zoning out, and feeling like you have to be hyper-aware of how you're perceived.

Sextile Scorpio ASC 26° Your presence is powerful. You have that intense stare, magnetic aura, and a natural ability to sense things others don’t. This sextile means that embracing your raw, unfiltered self will actually enhance your power in the world though of course, that’s easier said than done.

Lilith (O) Rx in 12H Libra 16° T-Square with Vertex + Mercury 11H Ruler This is big. The 12H is all about hidden energies, past-life wounds, and subconscious patterns and you have Lilith Rx here, square Mercury and your Vertex. Which means you’ve likely struggled with feeling unseen or unheard, especially when it comes to expressing your thoughts and desires. The way you communicate *Mercury* and the way others perceive your presence *Lilith in 12H* can feel at odds, you might say something totally neutral, but people take it the wrong way.

Vertex involvement, this Lilith energy is karmic. You were meant to experience rejection, misunderstanding, and social exile to break free from it and reclaim your power.

Why you felt isolated and how Lilith ties in You didn’t naturally crave friendships, but other people made you feel like you should. That’s such an 11H Lilith experience. This house rules community, social groups, and how we fit in and Lilith here makes it hard to conform.

The Virgo energy means that rejection may have often come through criticism, judgment, or shame.

Your Aquarius influence the rebellious urge to do what people don’t want you to, is actually empowering. This means you’re stepping into your Lilith energy and breaking free from the conditioning that tried to keep you small.

I see you. That feeling of having to watch yourself, be careful, shrink yourself in public just because others project onto you...that’s exhausting. But Lilith isn’t here to make you hide, she’s here to make you own your power. You’re meant to be unapologetic, sharp, and free. It’s a process, but I promise, you’re on the right path. Sending you so much love, this journey isn’t easy, but you’re not alone. Your energy is powerful, and the world will have to adjust to YOU, not the other way around 🖤😘 I received your ask recently and I just had to answer instantly because it hit me 🐥.

[beesmygod]

REVERSE ENGINEERING THE PURPOSE OF THE CROWN OF ILLUSIONS

just hear me out. then you can tell me if im insane.

in bloodborne, there is a unique piece of head wear called "the crown of illusions". it serves a single purpose: to open an illusory wall revealing the location of an otherwise entirely hidden NPC, annalise, queen of the vilebloods.

the crown is dropped after a boss battle and you are intended to put it on immediately after the fight so that the fake wall can be revealed in a cut scene. they did NOT want you to miss this mechanic. otherwise, why not simply have the throne room blocked by a fog gate? its fine for other bosses, right?

this mechanic is never used again. this is insanely weird because 1. there are other illusory walls in the game specifically in the chalice dungeons (twice, i believe, in the lowest possible levels). however, they function like standard fromsoft illusory walls and are revealed by hitting them with a weapon. the crown does nothing. and 2. there is otherwise no satisfactory explanation for this mechanic at all.

i have often expressed my frustration that when things dont "line up" in fromsoft games its chalked up to dev error or some flavor of "its all dreams/made up" which i refuse to entertain unless its the last possible explanation barring literally all others. this stupid crown has been bothering me for years because of how seemingly inexplicable it is. this has been doubled by the fact that the crown is not unique; alfred leaves a crown of his own (and must have had it to enter the queen's chambers) at the end of his quest and the titular sages of the "sage's hair" item are depicted as wearing crowns.

visually, the sage items are based off the real life concept of catacomb saints (and, in fact, i think "saint" would have been a better translation over "sage" considering this, but thats neither here nor there), hence the gems and jewels and crowns and shit. that part makes sense to me just fine. but where else would this illusion mechanic have been used?

ill tell you where: in the secret 4th layers of the "canon" (non-root) chalice dungeons!

canonically, there is only one chalice dungeon with a 4th layer, otherwise they all end at layer 3. this also intrigued me bc of its irregularity in a system of "dungeons" that are almost entirely copy-pasted rooms; why choose a completely random chalice in the middle of the sequence have an extra layer?

i came up with my own explanation for this that works a treat: the chalice in question, lower pthumeru, has rom the vacuous spider as its THIRD LAYER boss. rom is a boss you would have first encountered outside of the dungeons who has a unique ability: to block rituals and secrets from sight. the rom you fight in the main story is hiding a secret ritual and killing her reveals the ritual to the world. the rom you fight in the dungeons is hiding a secret layer of the labyrinth wherein the hunter will find a truly terrible secret: the source of the beast blood.

we now know this fourth layer IS narratively intended to be a secret layer...because EVERY story-related chalice dungeon had a secret 4th layer! they are "fully functional" if not a bit odd/broken (but not NEARLY not to the point of other hacked dungeons) but with bosses that either fucking suck or are placeholders (...or im coping lol). but look at this: ive timestamped this video at the point where the 4th layer elevator "reveals" itself!

other boss room exits are simply blocked by a fog wall (or, if you're on the last layer, it dead ends and you use the lamp to warp out). this "fade in" effect is the illusory reveal effect! as the linked post from the eternally fascinating hard work from r/tombprospectors reveals, there is some weird ass shit in these layers. enough that i started a red string wall of madness to try to keep track of it all. its not even weird stuff in a game dev way, i mean weird in a plot and lore way. its awesome lol.

the 4th layers were only discovered within the last 2 years. i am confident now about the mechanics of how this was intended to work, but still shaky on the ~lore implications~. what were kings and saints only permitted to see and access? what were they privy to that the rest of the populace of the dead civilization was not?

LORE THEORY: THE ORIGINAL PURPOSE AND USE OF THE CROWN OF ILLUSIONS WAS TO REVEAL SECRET 4TH LAYERS OF THE CHALICE DUNGEONS, AS EVIDENCED BY THEIR EXISTENCE IN THE GAME CODE AND MEANS OF ACCESS. THEY CHOPPED IT OUT DUE TO THE USUAL FROMSOFT DEV CYCLE INCLUDING A PART WHERE THEY SPILL EVERYTHING ON THE FLOOR MINUTES BEFORE LAUNCH AND HAVE TO PUT EVERYTHING BACK TOGETHER QUICKLY

[the-way-astray]

im sure youre bored with asks about your rant, sorry. but i can't wait to see you tear into unlocked, HIS POV

he sucks so much and the fact that people read his thoughts and still like and love him is crazyy to me

i'm not bored at all, anon! i like it when people talk to me about my rant.

i actually started my unlocked novella rant! fun fact: that's actually the reason i posted only the first eight books separately. i was originally going to wait and post the entire thing after unraveled's release, and i got through the first eight books at a reasonable pace, so i started the unlocked novella thinking i'd get through it even faster because it's only sixteen chapters, right? but no. i was so wrong. it was just so. much. too much. like i'm not kidding when i say i had something to say about keefe like every paragraph of that novella. it was overwhelming as shit and slowing me way down because i couldn't even get through a page of his pov without writing down like a page of rant material.

eventually i stopped because i decided i needed to lay some ground rules about what not to include to make sure that i wasn't just saying effectively the same thing over and over again and running it into the ground. but then, i was also like, but isn't the point of this format of rant to include all of keefe's worst moments and aren't i taking away from that by cutting stuff out, even if it's repetitive? and i didn't know how to resolve that, so my solution was just. do it later. and then i put it down and never got back to it. so that's how much stuff i have to say about keefe in unlocked, lmfao.

he does suck indeed (in my opinion)! it's insane to me, too. i can honestly say i have no clue how people manage to still like him, but then again, he is a fictional character, not a real person, and sometimes likable qualities or a well-written character arc aren't as important to people as relatability, and i'm sure there are many people that relate to him or his trauma.

anyway because you seem eager, have a few excerpts from my unlocked novella rant. just for you, anon:

“[ . . . ] Keefe could feel Fitz’s sour guilt swirling through the air.” (555) Not only was Fitz actively trying to help Keefe feel better, but he also felt bad about reading Keefe’s mind to do it. Keefe had no good intentions with his comment about Sophie and Fitz’s breakup (he literally just did it to rile Fitz up), and didn’t even feel sorry about it afterward. So why do I never see people talking about that, whereas Fitz is questioned for his actions here?

“‘[ . . . ] because you end up making the damage permanent.’ ‘I’m not damaged—’ ‘You’re right. That was the wrong word.’” (556) What the heck??? This always pisses me off so much every time I read it. Keefe purposefully twists Fitz’s words to make it seem like he said something he wasn’t. He made it seem as if Fitz was launching a personal attack on him for his new abilities, where Fitz was simply stating that Keefe would end up with permanent physical damage if he didn’t take his medicine and rest. Just for reference, Sophie said the exact same thing to Keefe in Nightfall and he didn’t immediately accuse her of personally attacking him. So there are some double standards there. But then. Fitz actually coddles Keefe and says that he was right, and claims that he used the “wrong word”. Wow. I- The way everyone in this series just bends to Keefe’s will however little or much sense it makes infuriates me. What the heck, Keefe. Grow a fucking spine. It’s just a word. Why does he have to complain and whine about everything all the time???

“[ . . . ] until Fitz had to go and prove that he was the worst best friend in the history of best friends by asking, ‘Okay, but . . . what about the mimicking?’” (560) He’s the worst best friend because he brought all the information to the table? Wow. And no, Fitz isn’t the worst best friend ever. Keefe is. He takes pleasure in seeing Fitz angry and sad. I can’t imagine a more subtly degrading and manipulative friend to have than Keefe.

“[ . . . ] Fitz told her—because he was begging for a face-punch. And if the world hasn’t gotten so spinny, Keefe might’ve given it to him [ . . . ]” (561) Fun fact, Keefe had an entire moral dilemma in Flashback over the fact that he feels like violence comes easier to him than most other elves. Sophie had to spend an entire forced consolation scene basically lathering him up because he has no fucking spine. So here’s an inconsistency with Keefe’s character right here. He should’ve felt really freaked out by this thought right here because it’s an example of his “violent tendencies” coming out. But he doesn’t. He moves past it like it’s nothing. More proof that Keefe never actually worried about that and Shannon just needed something for Sophie to comfort Keefe over. It never actually amounts to anything of actual value with regards to his arc or story. 

“‘Uh, for the record, most of the emotions are coming from you, Fitzy. You wouldn’t happen to have some unresolved feelings for anyone in this room, would you?’” (561) Keefe continues to purposefully try to provoke Fitz and hurt him for no other reason than that he enjoys seeing his best friend in pain. Why can’t he keep his nose out of other people’s business? Why does he have to be so cruel? Why is Fitz still best friends with this pond scum? All he does is annoy, embarrass, and act cruel toward his supposed “friends”. Why do people like this guy??? He is so toxic, so subtly degrading, so deceptively manipulative, it blows my mind. Does he have something against treating people nicely or something?

“If Fitz’s grumpy resentment had been the only emotion churning around the room, Keefe would’ve let him stand there and stew in it—maybe even made another joke to amp it up. But Foster’s feelings were such a brutal mix of hurt, heartache, and humiliation that he had to mumble, 'Sorry. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. I just meant—’” (562) What an upstanding guy. What an awesome best friend. When I purposefully say something cruel to make my best friend feel bad, he can take it. But when my crush feels bad? However will she like me if I’m mean to her? It’s just another example of Keefe’s tendency to be cruel for no reason, as well as his obsession with Sophie. He knew he made Fitz feel bad, but he actually considered making it worse. Wow. And “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded” is just a straight-up lie. He meant it to be cruel, and that’s what it came out as. So in case you think Sophie and Keefe’s relationship is built on any sort of trust or mutual comfort, think again. He just tried to gaslight her. Again.

[writingpuddle]

thats why it frustrates me when ppl shit on the upperclassmen for calling Andrew a monster. they're wrong, yes. it's dehumanising, yes. but you know what else? violence is dehumanising. drugging people is dehumanising. provoking someone's addiction is dehumanising. "they don't treat him with basic dignity." okay, you show me all the times Andrew treated them with dignity, and I'll show you the exact same amount of times they treated him with dignity.

im with you there anon but im also sort of revelling in this moment, because i know @blogaboutyafavbirdboys has received asks implying that this debate has triggered some responses elsewhere on tumblr and i just want to say thanks to everyone i follow for being chill and not putting all that discourse on my dash. its so easy to go full blorbo-protection mode when someone says something negative about your fave (lord knows i am protective enough about neil) but with a book as morally messy as aftg im glad most people i follow are happy to actually discuss different characters shit-headedness instead of getting defensive.

because youre exactly right! its dehumanizing to call someone a monster. its also massively more dehumanizing to rob them of their bodily autonomy by drugging and interrogating them. there is actually a sliding scale of badness here and andrew is not on the right side of it. when kevin was around you can half-justify it by saying he was under threat from a mafia prince, but he drugged dan back when it was just the cousins, no kevin in sight--ie. the stakes were much lower. his trauma taught him to hit first and hit hardest so that nobody could ever hurt him again. it was a trauma response. it was also a shitty response.

expecting the foxes to respond with total magnanimity and understanding of andrews trauma responses when they are directly hurting them but not expecting andrew to even scale his behaviour to the actual threat posed is a weird double standard to hold. there is a difference between being rude and physically hurting people. even if the other foxes were saints (which i am not pretending they were), they would probably not have been pal-ing it up with him after how he treated them. (he also had no interest in spending time with them, so they wouldnt really have been able to anyway, but thats beside the point).

it would be nice if the upperclassmen apologized to andrew for the way they talked about him. but it would also be nice if he apologized to them for drugging/threatening/punching them. and its sometimes odd to me when people get overly fixated on the first without acknowledging the fact that the second is...probably not going to happen at all. the upperclassmen wont get an apology out of andrew. he doesnt believe in regret, and neil didnt get (or expect!) an apology for getting drugged himself. and andrew cares a hell of a lot more about neil than he does about the upperclassmen.

also. it would be a pretty boring story if they all responded by sweetly asking him if he wanted to talk about his feelings. so. upperclassmen are allowed to be kind of rude. as a treat.

[theoriginalspaceexpeditionist]

Treasure Planet: Ballroom Blitz (Part One)

Silver had never seen anything like it. In all his years of sailing the stars, confronting monsters of both beast and man while evading asteroids, meteors, supernovas, black holes hungry for flesh, his own hunger for justice, vengeance, gnawing at him in turn, he was certain that nothing was quite as intimidating as the true omnipotence of wealth.

The Naval Command Awards annual gala was no mere fanciful dinner party. It was the event of the season.

Nobles preened and pined, cutting and capturing swaths of conversation to either inflate their own fickle egos or for later leverage against a perceived adversary. Navy blue jackets and red coats spoke gallantly of their missions and medals, presenting their families as both trophies and points of heartfelt pride. Lesser ensigns and midshipmen, servants and suitors, business men and bachelorettes seized this opportunity to make waves in society. While masquerading as a naval awards ceremony, it became quite clear to Silver that such a party's true purpose was to play the upper echelons for profit.

How ever had Silver ended up here?

A soft chuckle at his side drew Silver's gaze from the eminence of the hall.

"You look a little rattled, Silver," Sarah Hawkins smiled. Although her tone was teasing, there was a real tenderness in her expression that grounded Silver. He slipped into his own easy smile.

"When I said yer lad had greatness in 'im, I didn't think he'd go on to inherit a kingdom. Hope you get a crack at his coffers."

Sarah smacked his arm teasingly with her free hand seeing as Silver had said arm interlocked with hers. By all accounts they looked a standard (albeit grizzled on Silver's part) couple--a subclass mercantile man escorting a woman in hopes of striking a bargain at a social fiesta.

The pretense suited Silver just fine. He rather swelled with the excitement of being a double-entendre for the eve. While the cyborg had always dabbled more so with the lawless, he knew that, when presenting in any new syndicate, people loved a little exhibition. So long as it didn't threaten preceding powers, of course. His cybernetics, although mostly covered, were surely to help with that.

"Speaking of Jim, we should try to find him before they begin the ceremony," Sarah said, rising a bit on her toes to try and see through the throngs of people.

"Morphy can help with that, can't ye, you jigger-headed blob?" Silver chuckled as Morph slid out of Silver's pocket. He'd had to hide temporarily as Sarah and Silver presented their invitations to be allowed inside, but now that they were here, Silver didn't think there was any harm in a little mischief-maker tagging along. "Can ye go find Jimbo for us?"

Morph cheerfully saluted before taking off in search of his companion.

Sarah shook her head.

"You're as bad as my son, you know that?"

"Aw, why that's quite an unfair presumption, Missus Hawkins," Silver said dramatically, shaking his head as if wounded. Then his eyes flicked up as a devilish smirk danced across his face. "I'm worse."

Sarah guffawed, rolling her eyes some (despite grinning) in a manner that was so like that of her son, Silver nearly forgot which Hawkins he stood beside.

"Let's just find Jim before one of you gets into trouble," Sarah laughed as she and Silver moved forward into the viper's nest.

~*~*~*~*~

A/N: Do I have any clue what I'm doing here? Nope! This is the start of a (awkwardly chopped up) short story I've been intending to write for a while regarding a situation where Jim and Silver have to attend a fancy ball and naturally chaos ensues. This takes place after the Battle at Procyon and some time after Jim and Silver reunite. @icarussmicarus and I have been going back and forth with hilarious ideas regarding how Jim and Silver would fare among the wealthy elite for some time now, and I finally decided to start writing some scenes down. So major thank you to @icarussmicarus! I'll provide more backstory as to what's up in future installments. Next piece will probably kick off with Jim.

[superm4ks]

im very happy max won but the more i think about his pole being taken away/vsc or safety car not being deployed immediately/the flip flopping bw dwys n yellows and green flags etc. the more cynical i feel about the sport🙁what do u think? is this weekend an outlier or is this j how things are now? common sense out of the window, decisions taking ages…

UMMM I'll hold ur hand when I say this but Qatar definitely wasn't an outlier, prolly the most egregious showing since the sprint in Brazil, but F1 always has like 4 races in every season where u kinda wonder if ur watching a sport 😐 This gonna get long but theres some important context I think ur asking for here also I kinda lose it at the end I'm sorry but yuh.

Saur after Vegas everybody was like omfg daddy Marques is here to save us, he addressed some basic track issues and nobody got fucking paralyzed by a pothole exploding thru their ass hurray, so there was hope that maybe Marques was off to a better start than his predecessors and wud maybe give the fans a better ending to the season. But putting Qatar after Vegas is like quizzing somebody on shapes and then asking them to solve a rubriks cube or whtvr.

Qatar was originally built for motogp so the whole thing is designed to be quick and relentless. That means lots of medium to high speed corners, long straights basically 2 hours of edging ur braking. Most drivers consider it a cool track, very demanding sure but fun to drive. For us fans, though, its an odd 1 because theres no reference points so it can be hard to follow. Think of it as the opposite of tracks like Miami or Monaco. RC did a particularly heinous job here because Qatar was Marques' first taste of a track where u either plug the first leak in record time or the whole thing goes to shit. Like, his job.

A lil lesser known fact is that they had Marques on double duty that weekend because the person who replaced him to direct the F2 heat got the boot before her plane even landed and they had NO one else to do it. So Marques had to direct both the f1 AND the f2 Qatar races the same weekend. And thats not all. Just before his inaugural run in Vegas he had just been at the helm of the iconic Macau GP that saw 12 red flags in 40 minutes of qualifying. I wont even tell u how many SC were deployed but only 12 out of 27 drivers finished the race. Ugo my most beloved won so this has nothing to do wid Qatar and Macau and the way its used by the FIA in terms of junior development is a can of worms I cant open rn but like just to show u thats the type of shit Marques had been dealing wid on a weekly basis once we got to Qatar. So truly bro never stood a chance.

When Alexs mirror fell on track the only possible course of action is to get it OFF. Idc if u wanna do VSC or a full SC u need to clear that track NOWWWWW. 3 cars caught strays from that mf before a SC was even deployed. To fuck up that badly that early in the race just showed exhaustion, it showed immaturity and frankly it showed incompetence. Its unacceptable. Wud a different RD have reacted earlier? who tf knows tbh, because these 'mistakes' always happen and they're always dismissed as 'one of those crazy ones' in the season and nothing ever gets done to improve the standards of the personnel ((theres no personnel left btw)).

Then u got the long awaited return of the stop and go and drive thru pens which was super forced and made no sense and immediately showed why those bitches been sat in a corner catching dust because theres literally always better alternatives and they almost never serve actual officiating purposes. 'Precedence' means fuck all if u also have the 'precedence' of not fucking doing that and being way more consistent and delivering better racing. But ohhhh he had to stop in the pits and THEN he had to go back out ohhh he had to go thru an area of the track thats not the right one and lose a bunch of time and become essentially worthless in the race we love when competitive cars do that. Sorry this isnt directed at u I just have a very particular beef wid fans who act like drive thrus and stop and go's are these celestial artifacts that are gonna restore balance in the universe like the harder u throw the book at these drivers the better the product will become. I cud live 200 lives and not have enough time to explain how thats the actual furthest thing from the truth but ur innocent and ily so lets regroup. ❤️ My actual conclusion to ur q is that this is how things have always been and no they're not likely to improve. Unfortunately I gotta borrow even more of ur time to show ur how truly bleak it cud get real soon.

FIA been circulating a bunch of changes to their rules that are prolly gonna be approved at their general assembly in about 10 days. These 'new statutes' include 1) changing the governing bodys ethics rules so that Sulayem can in fact talk to drivers however the fuck he wants and THEY will be held in contempt for criticizing him 2) the 'compliance officer' responsible for overseeing Sulayems spending cannot report to an independent committee and propose an investigation unless directly asked by the Senate President who .. and ur not gonna believe this .. is appointed directly by Sulayem. 3) yes u understood it correctly FIA will prolly become a system where the FIA president and the president of the senate that he chose decide each other's fate in any ethics inquiry.

Sulayem is up for re-election and its becoming more and more likely that hes gonna run unopposed. A sporting director, a technical director, multiple heads of mobility, communications, legal affairs, the women in motorsport commission, several race directors, stewards, a compliance officer, deputy directors. All fired under his watch. Dozens of others quit.

Stewarding has become so abysmal Max received a one place grid drop AND a penalty point as a mitigating punishment for something he literally didnt do under circumstances that didnt warrant any type of punishment let alone a mitigating one like the document literally says that 'unusually, neither car was on a push lap' because if they had been on a push lap max wud have received a 3 place grid drop but 1 and 63 were not on push laps so naturally we have to give Max a one place grid drop and a penalty point for not doing the thing that he would've been punished for had he done it. This isnt even the most controversial or confusing aspect of this years Qatar race. Im gonna kill m

So about ur cynicism and ur concern and ur general discomfort wid how the future is looking. When the GPDA posted that ig statement telling Sulayem to watch his tone and asking where the money was, these proposed changes to the ethics commission and the financial oversight were the FIA's direct answer. And if they do go into effect on December 13th bro I think Abu Dhabi gonna be the end of more than the 2024 season.

Happy Wednesday lmfao