#in the end the tl;dr is I think: do whatever you want man for real

[mondaijo]

I hear 2HA has SA in it. Could you explain who it’s between and your graphic is it? I’d like to know before I start reading. (Also if you know the specific chapter in case I want to avoid it that would be nice)

(cw: SA / noncon & dubcon)

hey anon!

so I sat on your ask for a couple days cause I wasn't sure how I'd reply at first, I didn't want to scare you but I also didn't want to like, be dishonest about the book's contents and sell you something that wasn't really in the book.

so to cut straight to the chase - yeah, there's plenty of non/dubcon in 2ha and it's between the two main characters, and it's as graphic as it can get. it's really hard to tell you exactly in which chapter it happens because, well, it's in... a lot of them LMAO. if this isn't your cup of tea then.... yeah. it's easy to skip those scenes/paragraphs and I've seen a lot of people that actually did that when they were reading but there are (many) arguments to be made about how that would take away from the MC's characterization so it's up to everyone to decide whether that would be worth it or not.

sorry anon, I know this is probably not the answer you wanted and it feels bad '''orz but I wanted it to be crystal clear in case you decided to try it out ♥ I mean, don't get me wrong - I think it's an amazing book but it's definitely for people that would not be uncomfortable with the non/dubcon when that makes up so much of the main character's traits & story. if you feel like that wouldn't be your cup of tea but you still wouldn't want to miss out on this amazing story - then please go read it and skip everything you want! I just ask that you don't try to sanitize the main characters & the story by pretending the dark content of the novel never happened, we get a lot of people policing the fandom as it is and while I do think everyone's entitled to engaging in media in whatever way they want, it's not cool to police how others do - specially when it's stuff that happened in the source material. ♥

hope that helps! ⭐

[love-toxin]

just read your latest billy fic and am now obsessed with the idea of billy babytrapping you and/or having a massive, unhinged breeding kink. in his mind you won't ever leave him if he gets you pregnant.

(please bear with my ramblings below)

billy obsessively tracking your cycle and going at it like rabbits when you're ovulating. sex that goes on for HOURS because he wants to get multiple loads inside of you, just to be sure. plugging you up afterward so all his cum stays inside. constantly telling you what a good parent you would be, and how beautiful your children would be because he's pretty, and you're pretty, so it just makes sense, right?

I really think he'd get so delusional about it. burying his face in your arousal and insisting he can tell you're fertile just by the smell/taste. bending down to whisper in your ear only to tell you how full and achey his balls are getting. leaving you little gifts but they're all pregnancy tests or baby clothes. forget whatever stage of a relationship or situationship you guys are in, he's starting a family with you. he'd get such an ecstatic glint in his eye when you finally tell him you're pregnant. don't get me started on the pregnant belly worship.

tl;dr if billy fucks me and I'm not sitting in a puddle of his cum afterwards, I don't want it‼️🗣

PRRRRRR!!!! yes. im into it. now u have to bear with MY ramblings

(cws: babytrapping, fem pronouns)

Feels like babytrapper Billy is an untapped gold mine--it's less that he wants a baby at first and mostly just that he wants control over you, but that switches up real fast when you actually get knocked up. When you actually wanna be sweet about it. Fussing about cribs and a nursery and having enough baby clothes, making him take you to the ultrasound appointments and actually getting a 'tude with him because he did this to you and now he's gonna have to deal with just as much as you have to carrying his baby.

But Billy ends up loving the shit out of it. He loves your attitude. He loves your mood swings. He loves your hormonal cravings and your tears when you throw up morning after morning. He loves holding your hair back and stuffing your bed full of pillows so you're comfortable, and he loves laying his head on your belly and hearing those little gurgles and feeling those little kicks from his baby.

At the same time, however, it makes him emotional. If this is how he feels before his baby is even here, then why would...how could his father ever treat him the way he does, and did? How could anybody do that to a kid? It makes him angry at himself for the way he was treated and the way he took that out on Max, too. He's got lots of apologies to make. Those experiences don't take up all his attention, though--he has a pretty partner to care for now, and having that to fill his time over bouncing from party to party and girl to girl just to feel something makes him unbelievably satisfied.

It honestly makes him glad that he never knocked anyone up accidentally leading up to when he met you. It had to be you, he knows that now. It had to be you that he coerced, begged, and fucked into submission to make you his, it had to be your womb that he wanted so badly to break and your pussy he wanted to risk going raw into. Wouldn't you just be the cutest with a baby, anyways? You're such a catch and you're so pretty. You'd make such adorable babies. It's obvious he never wanted to be one of those guys with a handful of baby mamas and kids he rarely sees; he wants you and your kids and that's it. It's official--you've hooked Hawkins' resident playboy into a dedicated partner and father, whether you wanted to or not.

If there's one thing he loves most about your pregnancy though, it's that he loves your neediness. He loves that something seems to click in you that makes you pine for the man whose seed you've sown, like there's an invisible connection between you two that pulls you both closer. It's like you're instinctually drawn to him and he hopes, god he hopes that continues after you've had the baby. He's ready to make love to a woman after she's had a child (after you've healed sufficiently, of course, he can wait) it's like that next stage of maturity for him. He can't wait to see how far you've come and how much you've sacrificed just to have his baby, and he can't wait to look you in the eyes and tell you he wants another. No, he doesn't want you to work off the baby weight first or fuss with your hair or your clothes to try and get back to looking like you were before. He wants you now. As you are. Raw. He's sick of those prissy party-girl snobs and their perfect bodies and their permed hair that they can't let get messed up. He wants the woman who stays up all night feeding his daughter and rolls her eyes at his flirting attempts in the morning. He's totally whipped, and even with those bags under your eyes and that tension headache behind his from the crying of his precious baby girl, he still wants another. And he's got ways of making sure that you do, too...after all, he got you into it the first time, right?

[herefortheships]

More thoughts about that psychic connection.

I know I've talked about the "psychic connection" between Lydia and Betelgeuse before, but since I'm a sucker for such soulmate links between characters, I thought I'd write a little more.

It's all speculative, and that might have been just a fun line for Betelgeuse to say there, adding to how hopelessly in love the poor guy is with Lydia. But what if they do share a connection?

In this post I want to speculate a little about how this connection formed between them, and when, and what it may mean.

If there is such a connection between them, I think it formed after their wedding in the first movie. Hear me out, the ceremony was basically complete; they just needed to be pronounced husband and wife, when Barbara showed up with the sand worm. So I believe there was a soul link between them that was being formed that night, which remains, although half-formed, until this day.

This ritual would have made it possible for Betelgeuse to have free access to the world of the living, so whatever metaphysical mumbo jumbo was going on there, it was powerful enough to bridge the world of the living and the world of the dead for Betelgeuse to cross from the latter to the former in full power (assuming he'd keep his ghostly powers upon gaining access to the world of the living; he might just become a regular guy, who knows. Still, restoring his body so he can walk as a living man again must require a lot of power).

When the ritual was only a step away from being finalized, it just left that link between Betelgeuse and Lydia which he eventually realized he could use to watch her from afar and try to reconnect with her. Call it a residual of sorts that was left when they were almost married the first time.

It may have only been possible for that link to remain or even form in the first place due to Lydia's own ability to see and communicate with ghosts, though.

As a matter of fact, as I mentioned before (because we all know how I'm a sucker for all the soulmate stuff lol), it may even be Lydia keeping that link between them alive, or even making it possible for it to exist. I have this headcanon that subconsciously she keeps calling him and allowing his presence around her all the time. She may sense a bond with him that she's currently unable to consciously notice. Betelgeuse feels the same bond and openly embraces it; he's an ancient, powerful soul, so he can see how the two of them are just meant to be together. But yes, I already totally talked about this in the other post.

More headcanon stuff: At the end of the sequel, when Betelgeuse shows up in Lydia's bed (and possibly in her nightmare, too, unless they were sharing the same dream), that it might've been Lydia's subconscious calling him right back to her after she banished him. There's a part of her that never wanted him gone. We can see how her face looks conflicted right after she sent Betelgeuse away. We can also see how her face went from scared and disgusted, to confused and surprised while they danced during the wedding scene. Lydia's heart was no doubt swayed, but she's struggling to come to terms with it. (You can clearly see how she's thinking "what the heck it was for real? This guy really loves me??" I totally didn't notice that the first time I watched that scene).

Anyway I'll leave this one up to here, lest I start repeating my points from the previous post (which I'm already doing, oops lol).

My Tl;dr for this post: Their psychic connection might have formed right after the first wedding, due to it being almost finalized. A link was formed and remained between their souls. Lydia might be keeping that link alive and calling Betelgeuse right back to her, subconsciously.

[cerastes]

Hey. It's been a while. I think it's right to update you on stuff so tl;dr I'm probably not going to be around for some time, and if I am, it'll be in a diminished capacity, but if you're interested, do check under the cut. I'll also immediately state that I am not in any dangerous situation, it's other stuff, but I'll immediately dispel that before the cut just in case you just wanted to know that in particular.

Let's talk for a bit.

Long story short, the economy here is in shambles. The idea was for me to already have a new job, but that's not gone according to plan. I've been eating into my savings for a while now, and the people that told me that I had a job lined up for me September or at the latest October, meaning, this month, have been ghosting me. It seems to not be an option anymore, and no explanation was ever given to me. A shame, because it came from a place of relative trust.

This has eaten away at my nerves somewhat, and though it is the month of my birthday, I can't help but notice that, between the economy being this bad here, how hard it's been to land another job, and the fact that I'm eating into my savings, well, it's got me more than a bit worried. I'm not in any immediate danger of losing the roof over my head, or starving, or anything like that, but after a few months of "well, my savings take yet another hit this month with no end in sight", it's been rather rough, you'll understand, and it's compounded a bit. For just a second, and not as a primary, secondary, or even tertiary plan, more like a twenty-eighth measure if anything, I did entertain the dark idea of maybe asking for a bit of help here, and the moment that thought came up, I realized, "Ok, this is truly and well affecting me, I never want to do that", because, again, it's not like I'm in any immediate danger of homelessness or anything that grave, but it's been weighting on me enough that, even as a distant glint in the horizon of an idea, I did consider it. I don't want to sound like I'm blowing my own horn here, but for over a decade that I've had this blog, and the community/following/whatever you want to call it that has grown around it, I've never once asked for something like monetary help, because I think that can be a slippery slope. I've seen people far bigger than me, and some smaller, too, get addicted to asking for donations or help, or simply start taking it for granted when they ask for such a thing. My friends will tell you I writhe in agony when I receive a gift such as a game or something over the mail. My logic is that I don't need it, not in a proud way, but rather, in a "I wish you would spend this money on yourself instead, or on someone that truly needed it". With this in mind, I realized that, for me to even slightly consider that as an option, for the first time in my life, it meant that it was biting away at me far, far more severely than I thought. It's translated to other parts of my life as of late; I've not been depressed or anything, but I've felt this itch, this remarkably implacable feeling of "my man, you don't deserve to be taking it easy right now, something has to change, progress needs to be made".

I went out to wander for a few days, then arrived at my cousin's farm. He and his wife live a humble, hard working life, he invited me to stay for a while, I accepted, it was real nice, we hanged out, went exploring creeks and mountainsides while knocking back a few beers, the whole shebang for two guys that grew up in the middle of nowhere. Anyhow, it's true that the whole exposition that was the previous paragraph is something at play, but I also just... Haven't really wanted to be online at all. I don't want to check anything, read anything, and I feel a deep sense of alienation that I've not really felt in a long time. I suppose this is one of those good ol' Bro Is Going Through It, if we're to summarize it in a few words. It's easy for me to dispel negative thoughts and bounce back normally, because I've done a great deal of personal building and homework on knowing myself inside out, but not even this black belt in Drimobrain has helped this time around, and well, it bothers me, obviously, bwahaha. It's the first time in a few years that I really sincerely do not understand what's up with me, and while it's not really something I would consider me being rock bottom or anywhere near those depths, I do think I'm still below surface level, which is something I don't admit to easily, but have no choice to. I would love to be able to give this malaise shape and firmness through written or spoken word, but right now, it's a work in progress.

What bothers me the most is the sense of alienation I spoke of before: It makes no sense for me to feel this way, I'm treated with love and kindness every day, no one's silencing me in any way, I don't deal with barbs or hostility. So why is it that that's how I feel? Or perhaps it's something that feels similar, but I've no clue what it is, so I'm compounding it with alienation?

Regardless, it's all compounded into me just... Not wanting to be online. In the words of a friend of mine, "Dreamer has a fetish for self-development and growth", and, well, yeah, she's got that right despite the wording, I like to feel as if I'm improving every day and becoming better every day, even if slightly, and right now I feel like I'm just degenerating. Is it because my mood has been sour overall? Maybe. It might as well just be the fact that I Just Don't Want To Be Online For A While, and capricious clown that I am, if I want to do something, I do it, and if I don't want to do something, I don't do it. I'm tied to nothing and no one except my desire and drive to do or not do things. I can't change that, nor do I want to change that. And in this case, my heart's said to me, "fuck going online, go out, do things, try to get a job".

I also almost got recruited into something fucking vile that I thankfully noticed in time to avoid, but that's a story for another time.

There you have it. Am I leaving the internet/blue website forever? No, of course not, I like it here. Are things hard right now? They are, to be honest. Are they the worst it could be? Not at all. Do I have complete clarity of what's up with this fog inside of my head? No, and that bother me quite a bit. Are things going to be alright? Yeah, I think they will be.

I do regret it's in October of all months that this is going on, because it's where my shitposting power is at its apex due to my birthday, but hey, things happen, not necessarily for a reason, but they can be handled in such a way that it gives them meaning. I'm a fervent believer in that. I'm sorry this isn't the update you may have been hoping for, full of Lucina cosplayer blowjobs and other such hijinks, but hey, they can't all be Rainbow Road, haha.

So in case we don't see each other for a while, I hope you're all doing fine and dandy. I'm alive, I'm trying to be well, and most importantly, most fundamentally, most quintessentially,

I stay silly.

[siffrins-therapist]

🏴magictrioinitiate-deactivated

Reblog if your name isn't Alfred F Jones.

🃏thekinglovesplayingwithmyballs follow

WE'LL FIND YOU JONES

🐺a-squared-omegaverse follow

As if he couldn't just lie, if he even is on this hellsite.

🏴magictrioinitiate-deactivated

He wouldn't cuz heroes don't lie.

🏴notafjonesprommy-deactivated

A hero would lie to protect his secret identity ;)

🎻sayakamikideservedbetter follow

THIS IS THE POST! ON MY DASH! I FEEL LIKE I'M SEEING A CELEBRITY!!

🗿givemegumgumdumdum follow

NO NOTES???????????????

🦪clamoutjamout follow

so i got like really hella drunk last night and out of what must have been a mix of desperation and hubris, I sent an email to Mr. Romano, askiNG FOR AN INTERVIEW OVER ZOOM TO ASK QUESTIONS FOR RESEARCH FOR MY HISTORICAL EROTICA WIP AND HE SAID YES???????!!!!!!!!!!!!!

🍖hannibalservedmemyownballs follow

Doesn't he like never talk to historians and w/e? Holy shit what kind of magical persuasive powers did your drinks give you and can you send me some?

🦖little-arms-big-hugs follow

I wouldn't say *never*. He's given interviews before, he just has a really low tolerance for disrespect compared to his brother. But with his temper I wouldn't be surprised if his gov asked him to not accept as many interviews anymore.

🍖hannibalservedmemyownballs follow

True, true. I still want to borrow some of OP's persuasion magical drinks.

🦪clamoutjamout follow

my mom sent me a bottle of that liquor mr Latvia made and i didnt look at the proof before drinking like half the bottle (mixed with pop).

also... I finally pulled up my big girl panties and read what I wrote to mr. romano...............

... im going to kms.

🦖little-arms-big-hugs follow

Forget persuasion powers, I want whatever healing magic you have that drinking half of MR. LATVIA'S balsam didn't kill you!

🦪clamoutjamout follow

#we're almost there folx! #RIP OP #nation person mention #alcohol mention

9,879 Notes

🌄cabininthewoodscore follow

UM. HELLO????

🤠redbreadrebellion follow

Yeah, Ch*rchill pushed hard for those two to get together, it's no secret. What about it? It doesn't mean they actually got together turn off your shipping brain.

🏴tw1stedm1nd-deactivated

Sure and America definitely didn't talk about it in an interview

🌄cabininthewoodscore follow

😭😭😭😭😭 The link just goes to a 404 page NNNNOOOOOOOO WHYYYYYYY

#usuk ship real is the only conspiracy theory i'll believe

132 Notes

🐸enby-froggy follow

did anyone else see h/bomber/guy's new video??? PLEASE someone put that man in witness protection or something before K*rkland gets him

🍝spaghetti-breaker follow

wasn't he originally supposed to talk about that one bbc pirate show?

🐸enby-froggy follow

spaghetti-breaker He was but he ended up going off-track after he found some reddit post that led him down a rabbit hole of research. tl;dr: K*irkland yo-hoe-hoeing isn't just a meme

🦐butisbugsshrimp follow

I'm more worried about dickland's teaboo white knights getting him tbh

🍯kidsishrunkthehoney follow

Lmao looks like he saw it!

#wait a min i gotta search something #THE VIDEO IS ALMOST 3 HOURS WTF #now i gotta watch

983 Notes

🪃callmyanxietyboomerang follow

dylan's collab with mr canada was just them trying to out-do each other with all the gay jokes sjflsfjsifhsifjsij someone make one of those 10 hour videos with just the cuts of that please? 🙏🏼

🪃callmyanxietyboomerang follow

SOMEONE DID FUCK YEAH!!!

#canada nation person #vintage baker man #someone send me the video i refuse to download tiktok

97 Notes

🎲dev1ld1c3 follow

If we try hard enough, do you guys think we can convince Mr. Denmark to do a girl month donation goal?

🛸area51searchandrescue follow

Tbh I'm surprised he doesn't have a subscription goal like that already

🔦berwaldsfleshlight follow

There's a rumour he's trying to convince Jones and Beilschmidt to do it with him first before he makes the goal official

#pretty sure those two dont need convincing

73 Notes

[whatswrongwithblue]

I love your take on Alastor and Pathological Demand Avoidance. Delving into what we know and have seen with Alastor thus far; what exactly do you think his intentions are toward Charlie and the hotel?

I’ve been avoiding answering this ask for . . . a while now. For one, I just honestly don’t know. And two, who in this fandom hasn’t already discussed this? But you asked, so I’ll tell you what I think.

I think there is a full on chasm between what Alastor’s intentions are going into episode 1, season 1, and what we will see him actually do come season 2.

I believe his intentions towards her is to use her power to help gain his own freedom and to him, that does not necessarily mean hurting or betraying her. He’d see it as a weird kind of partnership. But that could get fucked up and messy really quick.

I truly don’t think Alastor means anyone in that hotel, including Charlie, any real harm, at least not to start. For fans that have not only seen the pilot and the show but read the official comics, we get a really full picture of a guy who loves power and violence and enjoys bringing fear to his victims but we see the same guy use a very strange and twisted moral compass to stick up for those “of a fairer means.” He abhors bullies and people who are mean just to be mean. So while he’s canonically a serial killer and cannibal (although it’s still debated on whether or not he was a cannibal in life or just became one when he went to Hell – that’s not really important here) I just don’t see any of the people of the hotel being “his type” or his “demographic” of people he would willingly harm. (I’ve used this theme over and over again in pretty much all of my fics. My kink is complicated anti-heros and so far, Alastor fits that bill.)

Add to that, we actually see him enjoying being seen as a sort of “hero” in Dad Beat Dad when he sticks up for Mimzi and the safety of the hotel. In fact, I think getting to be the hero is exactly what he sees in his relationship with Mimzi and possibly even Niffty. They give him something to protect and they admire him for it. They enjoy getting to stand behind him as he eviscerates any threat to them. And in return, he enjoys the violence and the praise he gets. And I can see him leaning into that roll at the hotel, if really given the chance.

What’s going to determine what he does going forward in Season 2 is finding out why he went there in the first place – I think we all know at this point it has nothing to do with “entertainment” for him. And who owns his soul and how much freedom he actually has.

There’s a variety of reasons to have a really complicated, beautifully done villain arc for him in upcoming seasons.

He could be forced to hurt those at the hotel against his will by whoever owns his soul.

He could decide that despite his caring for them, they are not worth dying for, and betray them willingly to save his own hide.

He could decide the end is the worth the means and betray Charlie in order to achieve some unknown goal of his – gain his freedom, be reunited with his mom, get more power, etc etc.

Whatever the reason ends up being, I would bet money that season 2 is going to show Alastor going far beyond his own “intentions.” I desperately want to see that man push his own boundaries, cross his own finely drawn lines, and do something that leaves even him going “my god, what have I done?” and then have to fight and crawl and breakdown in order to redeem himself. (And by redeem, I do not mean in the eyes of Heaven, but by his own standards. I will throw hands if he actually ends up in Heaven, let him stay my fucked up little deer man please Viv.)

Tl;dr version: His intensions towards Charlie are neutral but what he’ll end up doing is probably going to be far more nefarious than what he originally set out to do.

Here is the Alastor has Pathological Demand Avoidance post mentioned. That sucker is BURIED because it's so old but I still stand by the headcannon that he has PDA.

[lansplaining]

You know, in modern aus I feel like JGY gets done dirty a lot.

Like, this man is hardworking. Say whatever you’d like about anything else; not even the worst of takes try to claim that he’s anything less than dedicated and talented. In canon, this comes to nothing because the system is. The system is VERY not good, like, even more not good than usual.

But JGY is hard-working and very good at PR (look at those children! playing as the Noble War Hero Lianfang-zun! everyone saying ‘god i hope we don’t lose this guy for that brat teenager’ which is not the highest bar I admit but still works for my point!) it’s just that no matter how good he is at PR, his image is stained and destroyed by the default. He has to work against that shit.

He’d probably still have to work against it in a modern AU but also, like, his father isn’t the only possible source of an actual powerbase. His father isn’t his only way to power (and more importantly: safety), here! That alone does a fuck-ton, even if I’m halfway sure he would still end up trying for fatherly approval. But even just that lack of being permanently and irrevocably stuck on a ride that fucking hates you would do wonders for him.

He’d probably still end up as a scandal but there’s a difference between Modern AU magazines constantly airing out your personal life and people refusing to touch you because they believe you’re inherently tainted. Like, people will be assholes, but there is a real possibility of power all on his own merits, and I don’t think I can buy any version of Jiggy who would not desperately wish to have that. He wants to be RESPECTED! He wants to be SAFE! He wants to RUN A BUSINESS and by god, he is good at doing it.

Just. If NMJ can be less rage-poisoned, can JGY not get to be…you know. Valued a little more. You could scrap up replacement for magic murder via the switching of meds for a chronically ill man, after having erased all the original reasons why Jiggy did that murder in the first place, but you could also just simply NOT do that. If NMJ is not actively deteriorating due to rage disease then why is JGY the exact same way or pure cackling evil??? You do not think (comparatively) more equitable set-ups would…have an effect on him as a human being. You do not think that a society in which bureaucracy is a more valued skill than the ability to swing a sword around would have an effect on him?? YOU THINK A WORLD WHERE STARTING A BUSINESS IS A THING PEOPLE FREQUENTLY AND SUCCESSFULLY DO, WOULD HAVE ZERO EFFECT????

TL;DR — JGY should not be JGS’s cronie in Modern AUs, not if NMJ is out here with no degenerative evil disease, personally cuddling the souls of sick baby bunny rabbits back to life. He should be a middle manager struggling his way up at worst. Ideally, he should be a rival business to his father’s, about to crush him beneath his heel, and carry LXC off into the sunset.

YEAH MAN THIS DRIVES ME NUTS

why does modern AU NMJ always apparently get access to therapy to become a well-adjusted nice guy, but JGY's out here scheming and sometimes still literally murdering people

whatever crimes JGY actively commits need to not be that far outside the scope of what everyone else in his society is doing. literally everyone in the jianghu kills people-- that's the point. if JGY's doing actual murders, then everyone else had better be members of the mafia or FIFA executives or something

[dalesramblingsblog]

(Put into its own post because I have a chronic fear of hijacking things with reblog chains. Some Tumblr user I turned out to be... Anyway credit obv to @gen-is-gone)

But yeah this is pretty much where I come down on the matter as well. In writing about the books featuring Sam, and occasionally being critical of how her character has been handled, I have tried to be very careful not to frame it as some kind of objection to the character on a fundamental level, but rather to some egregiously poor decisions made by certain authors.

There are two reasons for this, the first of which is that I am, as critics go, a bit of a quietly staunch anti-Watsonian who has never once invested too much in the idea that art needs to be treated as, to use a possibly apocryphal Gayatri Spivak quotation, "gossip about imaginary people." Sam Jones doesn't need to be real to be meaningful.

But more importantly, as you say, I do want to be mindful of the long and not-so-distinguished tradition of male fans constantly putting Sam down because "unrelatable" or "unlikable" or "too politically correct" or whatever. Dale's Ramblings has always been kind of tacitly influenced by my growing up as a terminally online young autistic white boy of the sort who, if we're being perfectly frank, could have very easily spiralled down exactly that sort of right-wing echo chamber if things had turned out slightly differently.

So again, I do try to be mindful of the optics of my reviews, which I don't say to big myself up because I do think that it really is the bare minimum in a situation like mine. But y'know, point is, whatever my issues with how the overwhelmingly male crop of writers that defined Wilderness Years Doctor Who incorporated Sam into their novels, I never want to take anything away from the people for whom the character really resonated.

Because at a certain point in shitting on a book for having "poorly written female characters" or whatever as a man you're just going to end up in the same position as those male nerds who got huffy when ComicCon did a Twilight panel, where the boundaries between "OK you're making legitimate critiques of an author's decisions" and "Bro you might just hate women a little bit (read: a lot), it's OK we can wean you off of watching Nerdrotic, I know a great rehab program" start to blur and outright dissolve.

Or y'know, again, to quote myself in a TL;DR because sometimes I do actually write things that are halfway decent:

(Oh and also yeah I look forward to Seeing I immensely, if only because it's the only thing keeping me going through the looming spectre of Longest Day and Legacy of the Daleks, god the 1998 crop of EDAs is... not the most promising, with one or two notable exceptions. Of which Seeing I is one.)

[bacchanaliae]

BABY, YOU MAKE ARMAGEDDON LOOK SO EASY ⸻ introducing yoon eunseok, d7.

wait till you hear about this next nominee: YOON EUNSEOK, born on the 8th of SEPTEMBER, 1993 and bears a striking resemblance to SONG KANG. they’re a FOURTH year BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION student and ACED EVERY COURSE WITHOUT AN ATTENDANCE COMPONENT — impressed yet? rumor has it they’re hoping to be the COO OF THE YOON GROUP, but personally, i think they should aim a little higher — something like the king’s club, for one. now, that suits them a little more, don’t you think? guess we’ll just have to see if they’ve got the talent for it in our upcoming recruitment round.

hello!! i'm shrimps, (25, she/they) like the fried rice, and i'm very excited to terrorize your lovely muses with my lil guy eunseokkie! i'm hoping to get around to my dms soon-ish (i'm kissing your foreheads, btw), but feel free to leave a like and i'll appear in your walls! if you'd rather plot on disco, just lmk.

BACKGROUND

pretentious nonsense full bio

tl;dr : guy who's a supporting character in his own story suffers a minor existential crisis in deciding between (a) wanting to do his own thing and (b) fulfilling the role he was quite literally created to play. unfortunately, he's made this everyone else's problem.

this is subject to change if needed to fit with e2, but i imagined the yoon family to run a silicon mining business that skyrocketed in no small part due to eunseok's father marrying into a family that manufactures semiconductors.

eunseok's father . . . now there's a real schemer. everything he did was designed to gain control of the family company, and eunseok was no exception. eunseok has grown up acutely aware of this, and is completely normal and unaffected as a result.

eunseok wasn't always a menace!! eunseok always had a predilection for mischief, but genuinely tried to be the perfect heir as a child — though he soon realized that nothing he did really mattered. if he did everything he was supposed to do, fine. that was the minimum expectation. if he acted out, the consequences would just be swept away like the trouble never happened. yoon eunseok had a very particular role to fulfill, you see, and something like proper parenting wasn't going to get in the way of eunseok's father's plan to take over the family company.

and so a monster was born.

2013 (+ 2016) : invited to the club to terrorize the other initiates. wish i was joking about this one. driven to succeed because (a) he plays to win and this is the sort of environment he thrives in, unfortunately, and (b) as a fuck you to the other initiates in his class. interestingly, the actual benefits of being in the king's club are at most a tertiary motivation to eunseok — i guess one of the weaknesses of never concocting your own schemes is that you aren't great at long-term planning. throws notorious parties. kinda notorious, period — there are rumors that he'll hook up with anyone tall and beautiful, regardless of gender (this is true); that he races mclarens on the weekends (this is false); and that he bribed (true), slept with (false), and physically threatened (technically false) his way to the top end of the class. endlessly ambitious and seemingly insatiable, you might be wondering: what's the point, if eunseok's whole deal is that he'll trot obediently back to daddy's side when the man calls?

well, i'm not saying that it's the painful crash at the end. but i'm not not saying that, either. i don't think eunseok really knows, himself.

2024 : the pawn is put in play; the dog is leashed. placed as an evp somewhere, then named coo upon his father's ascension to ceo/chairman/whatever. appears to have chilled out dramatically, but time will tell whether this is maturity, resignation, or mere suppression. :)))))))

PERSONALITY

entj. waffles between chaotic neutral and chaotic evil.

character inspo/parallels include roman roy, sylvain gautier, dorian gray, the cuntier end of taemin's solo discography (stream eternal out aug 19!!!!), the weeknd's trilogy album, nero, and lestat de lioncourt. also my uni roommate's various finance-bro exes. lmao.

all of this to say: think of the most annoying guy you know. think of a shark in the water. think of a poorly-trained bloodhound let off the leash. think of blood, generally — something slick and thrumming and visceral. if eunseok wants something, he will take it, because honestly? eight times out of ten, the taking is what he really wants, in the end.

weirdly intense but deeply unserious lol.

he's no master manipulator . . . moreso a cudgel lol. does very little plotting for how often he seems to be Making Moves(tm). how things never really come back to bite him should be studied in a lab, or maybe made into a hbs case study, but he's smarter than most people give him credit for, particularly in actual business management (unironically i think he would thrive as a logistics guy), but he cares little for mind games and saving face and also likes baiting fights for fun so. yeah.

thinks everyone playing nice is a hypocrite and a dummy! comes across as super arrogant but like in his mind . . . he's just being honest? like, yeah. he's rich. he wins a lot. by virtue of him winning, someone else, e.g., you, are a loser. life is short so why are we wasting time pretending otherwise?

ooough i wanna punch eunseok just reading this back. ironically i'd still absolutely go to the club with him because despite it all you know our boy is good fun. also you'll probably leave with an insane story. but i digress.

WANTED CONNECTIONS

these r. rough but! i'm really very open to brainstorming!!

a childhood friend — someone who witnessed eunseok's various metamorphoses and who is probably the only person, other than eunseok's father, who was unsurprised when eunseok fell in line after graduation. i'm flexible re: the exact contours of the relationship (ride or dies for life! drifted apart! bitter enemies), but i like the idea of someone knowing eunseok better than he knows himself.

2024 : if yr muse is involved with electronics: i present to u the (pending) heir of korea's largest semiconductor manufacturer. mwah ok.

2016 : love, hate, whatever — the point is that eunseok is used to evoking strong reactions. your muse, however, doesn't seem to care at all, nonreactive to flirtation and fury, and that really doesn't sit well with eunseok. tensions are high; maybe this volatility comes to a head.

2016 : alternately, maybe an initiate who has gotten the idea of gaining eunseok's approval into their head (get well soon!). get ready to have your time supremely wasted, buddy.

2016 : another envelope-pusher. yeah, the king's club parties, but you two party, making recklessness a game.

2016 (+2024, maybe!) : the person whose door eunseok finds himself stumbling to when the party's over. in the haze between intoxication and sobriety, you get to see a eunseok that even eunseok doesn't get to see — one that voices insecurities and worries. it's a weird sense of trust, and not even one necessarily tied to fondness (though it could be!). it could also be fun, i think, if they didn't keep in touch but for eunseok drunk-dialing your muse. that'll make the reunion exciting, eh!!

friends. enemies. flings. i don't necessarily know that eunseok's capable of holding down a relationship but i think it could be funny to see him try. in 2024 his family's probably trying to set him up with someone, so that could be something, maybe?

[atastypeach]

listen, Rolan's whole story just hits me really hard. Yes, this game is about breaking cycles, but I feel like addressing Rolan's cycle of abuse is something I gotta talk about because it's eating me up inside.

So through this game, we're told all about Cazador. Astarion isn't shy about making damn sure everyone knows just how much of a god awful wretch he is. And regardless of which ending you choose for Astarion - he gets to break free from his abuser. Sure, the cycle has a strong chance of continuing if you let him ascend, but this post isn't about it. It's about the catharsis of him killing Cazador. I think anyone who has been the survivor of abuse - in any form - may have found something truly freeing about Astarion getting to remove his shackles. But for me, something was missing. And what was missing was the secrecy of the abuse. I'm 33. I didn't face the worst of my abuse until I was 28. But that abuse went unnoticed by most people in my life. Came at the hand of my stepfather after my mom died of a terminal illness. Your tl;dr: I escaped his abuse in January of this year after years of torment. But it took people who loved me for me to realize what was happening. And I see this in Rolan too.

See, I failed at saving Rolan my first game. My game sequence broke. He didn't spawn until after I had completed Moonrise Towers and broke into the prisons. Saved him then but well. He turned on me in the end because I didn't save Cal and Lia. I'm sorry honey, blame the coding of the game being screwy, not me. But in Rolan I see a lot of myself. Not to be a kinnie on main (A/N: I am not a kinnie) but this young man shares an uncomfortable amount of traits with me, from being an overworking nerd, to being so desperately loyal to my loved ones, to drinking intensely when i can't cope with my emotions (I'm in therapy for this) and much more. And his story line has resonated with me as someone who has experienced hidden abuse. When we first meet him, he speaks highly of Lorroakan and his apprenticeship. The only real indication we get that Lorroakan might be bad news is from Gale who calls him a blowhard or something like that. We just know he's kind of a tool. But when we first meet Rolan - he's a tool. A match made in heaven, so what does it matter. But what we don't see is once we get to act three, how Rolan handles this apprenticeship with Lorroakan. And as someone who has seen both outcomes now...it hurts to see. If you fail to save Cal and Lia, Rolan follows Lorroakan blindly. He does as he wishes. He regards you with contempt and disdain. He sides with a man who we only know from a vague journal post in his bedroom that he may be experiencing abuse. He becomes Lorroakan's pawn doing precisely what he wishes. He dies for Lorroakan. A man we know has been exploiting, abusing and harming him. A man who likely knew he had Rolan wrapped around his finger because he is all Rolan had left. No family. No friends. No home to return to. Rolan is a nobody with only this wizard as his grounding point. There is no one for him, so Lorroakan has the perfect plaything. The perfect pawn. He can do whatever he wants to Rolan and there is no one to save him. And the worst part? Rolan was probably content to do just that. Sure, Lorroakan might be beating him, verbally harassing him and even worse -- but Lorroakan didn't let his family die. He wasn't the cause of Rolan losing the people he loved. And we never learn that he's being hurt until after he's already dead. But if you save him? You save his family? He recognizes his worth. He has family who see him for who he is. Who see his strengths. He has people worth living for and he has the opportunity for so much growth. He recognizes, likely thanks to the love and support he has from not only his siblings - but from you as a player, that he's being hurt. He's being exploited and used and harmed. He knows he is being abused and he wants to fight back, for his sake and for the sake of others - for his family, for Dame Aylin, for you.

IDK man, I just wanted to ramble about this. Because Rolan's own survivor story covers the hidden abuse that doesn't always get talked about. The abuse of someone who desperately is trying to remain strong in the face of it. I could probably keep rambling. Talk about how he was willing to die for Lorroakan because Lorroakan was all he had left, in his bad ending. But I think I've said my peace. I got him killed in my first playthrough, but in my second (which I'm still finishing) I feel like I'm doing myself a kindness in turn by offering him the love and support he needs. I love him. A lot.

[rottentiger-art]

Do you think Logan likes Zoey in the new movie bc I get the feeling he doesn’t and if so he’s so real for that

I really don't think he does, despite whatever the movie will try to make us believe.

Logan loves Quinn more than anything, he seems devoted to her and would only want to make her happy. No boyfriend that love his girl so much would like a girl who is a terrible friend to her. There's no way Logan keeps liking her after all she is going to put Quinn through on the wedding. And yes, he would be so real for that bc Zoey fucking sucks, man and it's about time someone on that group realizes it.

Plus, Logan has all the reasons to dislike Zoey, she was way out of line with him a lot of times during the show. Obviously the narration would never put her as the antagonist and he always ended up forgiving her, or forgetting about it, or people would be on her side so he would just drop it. But I like to believe in the last 15 years he just has had enough and just pretended to like her for Quinn's sake.

I would love if the think that makes him go off is Zoey upsetting Quinn. Like, look at his face:

my man is done, bet he didn't even want her on the wedding but put up with it for Quinn.

I don't think there's a scene on the trailer where he looks happy to see Zoey, now that I think of it.

TL;DR: No man who loves his girl as much as Logan loves Quinn would like a friend like Zoey, no matter what the movie would have you believe.

[versegm]

Also gimme the deets on Theatre AU!!

Oh BOY this is gonna be a long one. I am incapable of making a normal modern au i NEED these bitches to be freaks in some way I literally can't help it.

The cape Castoria finds is meant to be Saber's cape! The relationship between Castoria & anime girl king arthur would be way too long to explain in thsi post, but they're connected so I figured it would make a cute easter egg.

I considered having Castoria freeload below the deck instead, because I've personally never played in a theater that had storage rooms above deck, but I really wanted to keep the Phantom Of The Opera vibe so I just went fuck it.

Love my girl Castoria who is a paranoid little rat constantly looking for the closest escape route <3

I have no idea how to write Oberon I just imitated Herlock's speech pattern and crossed my fingers

Gray is in fact a different Fate character! the tl;dr of Gray is that she's a regular-ass human, but unfortunately she was born in a weird arthuriana cult, which lead to her body slowly turning into that of king arthur. She has issues with her face a lot because like, if your face shifted to become that of a perfect stranger wouldn't that be fucked up. Coincidentally, Castoria also has king arthur's face, though for arguably less angsty reasons.

The Night of Wallachia is another nasuverse character (technically from Melty Blood rather than any fate work tho.) I will redirect you to Lance's post as to whomst this man is though because I have yet to play Melty Blood myself.

Moly is a plant from Homer's Odysseus btw

Deep fucking sigh I fucking wish. I fucking wish we had more stories about the aftermath of isekai adventures, my man. I want to know what's it like to see someone with medieval wartime reflexes who just refuses to talk about shit. Anyways the entire Guda subplot is just me not being normal about isekais, as per usual.

So this scene was originally a lot longer, with Guda tricking Castoria into giving a lot more personal information (exact date of birth, last name) and ending with them taking a group selfie- all info they can use later on to forge her ID. But it was kinda boring so I just went the "Guda forges papers by winging it and she can't call them out on it without admitting that her own living situation is garbage" route.

Didn't put nearly as much foreshadowing as I would have liked, but it's meant to be a hint of "hey maybe Castoria straight-up created Oberon, cuz how else would he know so much about her?"

Castoria is so fucking gender.

You probably saw me posting about it, but Guda's canon age in fgo is kinda nebulous. At the beginning of the game they are definitely "below the drinking age," but it's mentioned/implied a couple times later on that no one knows how old they are now (I think Vritra? Has a voice line along the lines of "oh you don't drink because you don't know how old you are so you're just being safe by assuming it's below 21? ok") What time travel and time loops and being locked outside of time does to a mf.

The Guda-Castoria-Oberon banter is a fucking joy to write. Bitches who keep teaming up to dunk on the third one.

This bit was inspired by my sister, who has collected all six of her chairs on the streets.

SO FUNNY STORY. I didn't actually ship Castoria/Oberon going in. But like. There was no reason for me not to include them having weird sexual tension, especially considering I was gonna do that with GudaCas and ObeGuda. So I was like whatever I'll keep it ambiguous but I'm not closing any doors. And then like a fool I tricked myself into liking it. I literally never fucking learn.

Ultra mega shout out to my cosplayer friend for their extensive knowledge of how to make fantasy armor.

The Luik festival is in fact a real-life music festival.

Lance was the one to point out that in a way the theater au is a role reversal from canon. In canon, Castoria and Oberon are both painfully aware of what they are and what they need to do, while Guda is increasingly unsure as to what they want and why they want it. Meanwhile here Oberon and Castoria are desperately grasping at any hint as to what is wrong with them, while Guda is crystal-clear on their singular goal of "I need to get the fuck out of here."

I keep forgetting that sexual attraction is a thing so I tried to pay attention to it for once. Hope I didn't overdo it.

Something something you have to let go of your past or you will only end up hurting the people who are in your life now.

When you learn that your friend has been on a path of self-destruction and you are directly to blame bottom text.

I think I already said it, but my original outline was for the three of them to have incredibly violent sex post fight, and then an extra chapter of "mh. Perhaps we should talk about things actually." I remember I wanted the dialogue to go along those lines:

Guda: ok so maybe we should talk about things actually

Oberon: not talking about things worked just fine for us until now

Castoria: it literally did not

Oberon: cranky because hatesex is so much better than regular sex aren't you

Castoria: I wouldn't know, only ever had one of those two

Guda: wait, shit, was that your first time? Oh my fucking god. what the fuck. let me give you an actual proper kiss instead of whatever the fuck this was. Oberon, you kiss her too.

I rewatched a bit of lb6 for unrelated reasons recently and I'd. Completely forgotten that when they reunite with Mash at the end of part one they do in fact act like that.

Quote from the lesson of the moth!

Wanted to make it reminiscent of their first meetings, with Guda also dragging them through a door.

So yeah, that's my self indulgence! I had a lot of fun writing it :) I love... isekais.

[obsessivelollipoplalala]

I think you're 100% spot on about people treating politics as fandom and as bragging points. I also think sometimes people feel a sense of achievement through persuading X celebrity to post about Y because that kind of instant sense of achievement is not present in politics in real life. It's way easier to post whatever than actually pressuring and electing officials who follow through. I feel atleast some % of it is misguided want to actually make a change which is unfortunate because younger people see older people doing this shit and then we have the online environment regarding politics we have now, that is more centred around performative virtue signalling than actually researching your respective government bodies and how do they work and what are the policies and what party does what. I mean it's definitely not wrong to call out morally deprived celebrities but lately a lot of people's politics start and end there.

Ohh yes, you’re totally right. Real life political change typically takes a painstaking amount of time and effort, and the reality of a system like America’s where change comes from voting every 2-4 years for who’ll run the government and appoint the judiciary is very unglamorous and won’t get people points on social media, but Poasting is instant gratification. Sharing your “I voted today” sticker online won’t get you the praise that screenshots of your angry comments on a celebrity’s post will. I understand the frustration with gradual change, too, but in the year 2024, I’m quite fed up with people whose politics start and end with the internet, as you said. I’ll say what I’ve said before in other contexts: no one needs to be an activist, and most human beings are not! That’s fine, it’s not a necessity. But as soon as people treat their online behavior as activism, I feel myself age 70 years and get very, very annoyed lol. I’ve also noticed how much internet political discourse is dedicated to doomerism, discouraging people from doing anything meaningful in the real world, encouraging them to do nothing but Poast, and outright voter suppression. It’s not serious discourse at best and actively harmful at worst, and it’s one of the many reasons why I don’t actually talk politics on this blog much anymore, so I hope no one gets mad at this post lol. I just look at the way a solid chunk of people (especially young people in fandoms) treat real-life politics, and step away like, “Man, I’m too old for this shit” lol. But yeah tl;dr politics is not a fandom, and that’s part of why you won’t see me talking too much about it on my fandom blog despite being a very political person

[not-poignant]

You've been getting death threats? 😕 I'm so sorry that's happening to you. I fuxking hate antis man

Hi anon!

Thankfully not for a while now, but it does happen from time to time. I'm generally not targeted as much as some so I fly under the radar a lot, but I do filter out the majority of the hate and weirdness because I just don't see the point having it here / giving it a platform!

I hate how much damage abuse/bullying does, but I sadly can understand how people end up with fancop / anti mindsets, especially when young. It's very sort of logical to go from 'I hate pedophilia (or rape or incest)' (a normal response) to 'I hate anything that causes it (or rape or incest)' (a normal response) and then making an illogical leap to 'people who write about it in fiction deserve to die and I have a right to destroy them because they're basically as bad as the criminals because they create more criminals and are criminals themselves.'

It starts in the most logical place. And I gotta say, people love being able to hurt others under the banner of a sense of righteous anger. When you feel justified ethically, abusing others, you don't have to deal with shame or guilt in the same way as just targeting someone in highschool or college (or in the workplace). Instead you just get to profoundly dehumanise invisible folks in the internet, and feel like that's activism. That's disgusting, absolutely abhorrent, but I do understand how people get there.

I used to get a lot angrier about it on Twitter, and I still do sometimes, especially when I see the direct harm it causes our communities, when it suffocates creators (many of whom don't even want to draw or write this content, but just feel judged and starved out of fandom), or worse, destroys their lives. I'm very angry on behalf of the people who are scared to post fics or art etc. because of the antis in the fandom/s around them, because it's unfair, and it's hard to convince people to just 'post whatever you want' when it's realistic that some of those people will be abused for it.

So yeah, the hatred makes sense too. It's like...indefensible behaviour and so different to just having general NOTPs / squicks / not liking certain ships. But I do sometimes look at folks who take anti positions (especially the ones who don't realise they're doing it, because they're generally permissive of like 90% of stuff including a fair bit of problematic stuff except like One Thing they're triggered or squicked by), and think... 'You've been fearmongered into believing abusing real people is appropriate behaviour, and if you're lucky, you're one day going to have to deal with the shame and guilt that comes from knowing you've actively tried to destroy people's lives online, and have done harm to many vulnerable people in the process. That's going to be a hard journey for you, but if you make it through to the other side, you are going to feel so much better about yourself as a person, and so much less afraid of your own thoughts, and your intrusive thoughts, and it will be worth it, I promise.'

If they're unlucky, they never realise, and then we all pay the cost for someone who just lives in a state of moral panic forever :/

Anyway, for the most part I'm not really hurt by it personally because I a) have a background in university media studies and know that - scientifically speaking - antis are wrong about (nearly) everything they say, lmao, and b) can tell the difference between reality and fiction and know there's not a 1:1 correlation between the two, and c) I've experienced a lot of different kinds of abuse (sadly) and I can see most of it coming from a mile off these days and I'm not going to wear the shame and guilt people try to dump on me, because they're too juvenile or immature to process with and sit with their own discomfort that others are different to them and have different taboo fantasies to them.

Tl;dr anon - I'm doing okay! Antis do a lot of damage. I get where they're coming from but it never excuses their abuse. The hate they send doesn't really affect me these days, which might be why they started to leave me alone more sdalkjs

[tortoisesshells]

top five 1899 characters and/or top five scenes from 1899!

unfortunately, I cannot shut up about 1899. to save your dash, it's all under the cut. tl;dr: I fucking love Maura Franklin.

TOP 5 CHARACTERS: (1) Maura Franklin: she's unhinged. she's the only sane man. she's suffered more than jesus christ. she's caused everyone else to suffer more than she has (maybe). she'll never let go. she has to let go. she accidentally keeps committing adultery with the walking talking open wound masquerading as an authority figure. stealth pants. possibly understands far more than she ever lets on. The most character of all time.

(2) Eyk Larsen: so far past his breaking point that it's almost comic. who put this man in charge of a ship and 1500 souls? If 1899 is a story about grief, then he gets so many of the great character beats about it. He'd practically dead himself. He's going to drink himself into an early grave. A shell of a man with a single, half-deranged thread of hope. A man who was saved from inspiring the worst kind of dad issues in his daughters by their horrible and premature deaths. If his story on the Kerberos is completely disconnected from his reality (whatever that is) I think he should be allowed to commit murder.

(3) Ramiro: I don't know what I can say about him that you and others have not said more eloquently than I, but: a man who is destined to keep secrets - not only his own; a man who deserves rest but is not allowed to, either by his own moral compass or the intolerance of the world around him. everyone wants him as a confessor and confidante, but he struggles to find that for himself! he shines in the crisis, but you wish he didn't have to. I hope there's a version of reality where he and Ángel get to sit in the open sun and enjoy a quiet afternoon.

(4) Jérôme: local man forced to abandon perfectly good Count of Monte Cristo plot by supernatural vicissitudes and his own sense of rights and wrongs. I think he should get to get Lucien with the hammer. I think he and Clémence should ride off into the sunset together. I have no idea how he and Clémence got out of Ling Yi's memories, but I think something horrible and plot-relevant happened in there and I'm raging against the heavens that we'll never get to see the full scope of their escape into the boiler room. He doesn't seem to be running away from his past as much as the others, and sets aside his sprint towards rightful vengeance as soon as he sees the miseries of his past playing out again. I still don't know what I believe his original plan was - murder? simply throwing the medal back in Lucien's face? Did he know himself? G O D.

(5) Ling Yi: I, too, enjoy hiding in small spaces, though I'm more partial to handy closets than miscellaneous equipment lockers. She's isolated from her mother by the great secret they're carrying between them, from any common ability to connect to anyone else, from her own sense of self. It's understandable that she tends to expect the worst, all things taken together. If all this has happened before, how many times has she not been able to say goodbye, either to Mei Mei or to her mother? How long has she been staring the end, not of her physical life, but her life as Ling Yi, in the face?

TOP 5 SCENES: (1) "Have you ever lost someone? It's like you're dying with them. They can move on. You're stuck." I've rambled at length in the tags but: Eyk Larsen's whole life as Captain of the Kerberos is one great circle between Southampton and New York, over and over, without end. He cannot escape it. He cannot, except temporarily, escape his grief over the loss of his family and his failures as a husband and father to have done something. And yet (as we know) none of this is real, and all of this is Maura's doing - maybe. Maura, rightly, looks as though she's been gutted: this is her grief reflected back to her. She cannot move on, and because of it, they're all stuck.

(2) I am a giant sucker for well-done SFX, and the Kerberos descending through the maelstrom into the archive left me gasping. Ling Yi's - resignation? - to seeing the impossible spooling out in front of her, when she's lost the only other person on the ship who cared at all for what she thought makes spectacle into tragedy.

(3) The multiple-way conversation between Ángel and Ramiro and Eyk and Eugen about the survivors aboard the Prometheus having need of a priest in the first-class hallway: the multiple conversations being had at once, the switching between languages, the claustrophobic framing, that Ángel, who has not exactly shown himself to have much care for Ramiro's opinions thusfar, shows himself instead to be frightened and a little desperate to not rock the boat (sorry, couldn't resist) and still concerned for Ramiro's well-being as the masquerade seems to be getting out of hand. There's so much going on in such a little scene!

(4) Maura, wondering where everyone on the Prometheus went, immediately asking Eyk how hot the boilers run - skipping right over that it would be significantly easier, perhaps, to throw bodies overboard than cremate 1500 people. I love how your mind works, Miss Franklin. You're terrifying. (actually, the whole sequence of Maura and Eyk immediately deciding to lie to each other rather than converse is a delight. for a given value of delight.)

(5) The fight on the stern of the Kerberos at the end of the mutiny: the lighting! the drama! the spectacle! the realization that all is lost before the significantly worse realization - they are so far beyond the boundaries of the possible, and whatever controls this place is not operating by known rules! The many reunions mid-fight! Iben wins by being willing to murder a child!

[ezraprotestcmlit101]

Afrofuturism and Classism: Two Isms in the Peaism

It's not a big secret in saying that the African American folk (more colloquially referred to as black people) have always had the short end of the stick in history. And how this currently still being written history continues moving along in the form of books.

This post's example, we got the Nalo Hopkinson's novel, Brown Girl in the Ring.

To provide a brief TL;DR of the novel's premise, it includes our main character, Ti-Jeanne, having to live in a heavily segregated society where the poor (mostly consisted of P.O.C.) and the rich (predominantly white) live heavily separate lives.

This already highlights a severe poverty line between those amongst the social class. Those on the top get to do whatever they want while those on the bottom get the mere table scraps. And when the bottom acts out, they are villainized and responded against with more force.

It's ironic to consider, but this reminds me of a quote I had heard from Spider-Man: Homecoming.

"How do you think your buddy Stark paid for that tower, or any of his little toys? Those people, Pete, those people up there, the rich and powerful, they do whatever they want. Guys like us, like you and me... they don't care about us. We build their roads and we fight all their wars and everything. We have to pick up after them. We have to eat their table scraps..." - Adrian Toomes [Michael Keaton]

Of course, this is flipped on its head because it is spoken by a villain, but what he states rings true. The people up top are usually disconnected from the people at the bottom, and such, they have the power to do whatever they please along with getting away with "ruining lives" even if they don't know it.

Another big component in the story is the organ harvesting and transplants, which is very much a problem in real life. A case of people with money being given priority while those that could use them are left in the dust. In addition, when donations are made, some are never actually sent to where the donor believe they are.

John Oliver made an episode on this. Link to the episode of Last Week Tonight here. A quote from the episode I'd like to include is

"Black people are four times more likely to deliver kidney failure than white people, but they are also less likely to receive a transplant."

It really sometimes makes you wonder about how something that appears good operates on the capitalistic system. It is those with money to throw around that receive the full benefit.