#just a normal thing that happens in this industry
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Day eleven of “obligatory sugar baby Kon” behind the cut. tw: implications of past grooming/abuse and the inherent problems that causes for someone who was in that situation and hasn’t processed it trying to have a relationship with someone actually age-appropriate. prev: (( chrono || non-chrono ))
“Uh–is it?” he asks, not really sure what else to say. Or more like, not really sure what else to say that would not sound both desperately, desperately horny and desperately, desperately weird.
“I dunno,” Kon replies, giving him a quick, sheepish little smile. “Just makes me feel good, that you think I’m worth, like–taking out and showing off, or whatever. Like–without the S-shield on, even.”
“The S-shield would definitely make date night a lot harder to enjoy, yeah,” Tim says, torn between wanting to kiss him and wanting to dissolve the entire entertainment industry and all of Kon’s previous romantic interests in acid from the ground up. Slowly. Kon blushes again, his smile widening.
“And, uh–and that,” he says, glancing sidelong. “And that you wanna hang out with me without anybody interruptin’.”
I want to hang out with you until I overthrow Gotham AND Metropolis and then I want to install a zeta between them and the biggest beachfront property you’ll let me buy for you and any little Kon 2.0’s you let me make you, Tim’s most insane self thinks and his slightly more rational current self does not say, because he has at least some small and tiny and miniscule scraps of self-control.
Like, barely, and only lasting until the fifteen-year sidekick-to-supervillain plan goes off, but still.
“I definitely don’t want anyone interrupting, no,” he agrees instead, and Kon beams at him again and then ducks in and kisses him again–just a quick little peck, but definitely still a kiss. Tim, belatedly, realizes that Kon might actually be getting more up in his space than he was before the whole . . . script issue happened. Just–standing closer, and leaning in a little more often, and things like that. Not in a demanding way or anything; just like he wants to be there a little more often.
Like maybe he’s a little more comfortable being there, now. Or like maybe he thinks he can do it without anything being–expected from it, maybe.
Tim doesn’t even know if Kon’s doing it on purpose or not, but he’s definitely noticing a difference either way. Just–there is very much a difference there to be noticed.
He is definitely, definitely not going to be able to find out who any of Kon’s exes are before he goes supervillain. That’s just not going to work out for his timeline at all.
Also Bruce would absolutely get upset if he found out about whatever he ended up doing about it, and he’s an emotional support sidekick, not, like, an intern or whatever. He is not here to cause problems, he is here to facilitate Bruce’s mental health, help him manage his paranoia, and minimize the amount of overkill beatings of petty thugs and small-time criminals.
Admittedly Bruce managing his paranoia is not going great, but it’s a process, alright? He’s doing his best here.
“So like, if we do go shopping again, wanna pick something out for me to wear for you next time?” Kon asks, still beaming at him. Tim’s brain attempts to reboot a couple dozen times before he manages to remember how to string a coherent sentence together.
“Yes,” he says in an almost normal-person voice. Maybe. Theoretically. He . . . hopes, anyway. “Uh–yeah. That sounds, uh–like something I would like to do.”
It’s a little harder to focus on the supervillain thoughts with Kon both wearing that expression and actually asking him to buy him something–especially specifically something he wants to wear for him–so that’s helpful for keeping to his timeline. But also, uh–embarrassing, kind of, because usually Tim is better at thinking than he currently is being. Like, his normal thought processes are a lot more involved than Kon’s so hot and Kon’s so CUTE and hurr durr pretty boy.
He definitely still wants to ruin some people’s lives, but first he wants to get Kon dinner and dessert and buy out a boutique or four for him, and just like, a small suburb. Or town. City. Tri-state area.
And also to pick out something for him to wear “next time”, since apparently Kon still wants there to be a next time that he sees Tim Drake and also just like . . . just the whole thing with the picking out something for him to wear thing, because Tim only has so much self-control, alright? He is doing his best here, but he’s only an emotional support sidekick, alright, he’s not made of stone.
Seriously, Kon asked him to dress him and asked him to buy him something. Tim is not actually sure if he’s more thrilled about actually getting Kon to specifically ask him to buy something for him or frazzled over Kon offering to let him pick out something for him to wear. Just–god. Tim is just not even–Tim does not know what he’s feeling right now. Just–whatever it is, he is feeling it.
He wonders if it would be, like, a little too pathetic of him to maybe get Kon another crop top. Or, uh, a little too thirsty of him.
. . . probably, yeah. Probably definitely, in fact.
. . . . . . but like, if Kon sees one he likes, it's not like Tim's gonna say no or–
Anyway.
#timkon#tim drake#kon el#conner kent#dc robin#superboy#wip: obligatory sugar baby kon#implied past grooming#implied past abuse
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Jack & Joker episode 10 thoughts on P'Oh's death
I saw a poster who said they were abandoning the show because of their treatment of Trans characters (Their examples: making P'Saran's character Nulek the butt of a joke and killing off P'Jennies character P'Oh quite gruesomely.) And while I completely understand that this is a sensitive topic, especially right now, where Trans rights are being attacked in many if not almost all parts of the world and the result of the US-election does not bode well for a fair and inclusive future (and as you don't know me, let me emphasize: Trans rights are human rights, end of story!), I cannot agree in this instance. Loooong-ass Essay under the cut, be warned!
First of all, Thai culture is a special case as far as gender, gender identity and gender expression goes, both historically and in the progressive movements that are happening both in Thai society and in the entertainment (specifically the BL) industry. You simply cannot judge it solely by Western (or even other Asian) cultural conventions and standards, and by viewing it even more exclusively through an USA-centric perspective you are not doing anyone any favors.
I think that everyone watching Thai BLs regularily at least knows a little about the underlying cultural issues and practices, but for those who would like to learn more, I would recommend reading Dr. Thomas Baudinette's extremely fascinating and well-researched book Boys Love Media in Thailand (https://thomasbaudinette.com/boys-love-media-in-thailand-2022-3/) , where he also touches on the development of presenting trans and genderqueer characters in Thai TV and film (though only up until 2021/22, and the last two years have seen significantly more progress, diversity and inclusivity in Thai media both in front of and just as if not more importantly, behind the camera.) It's a great read, and I'm looking forward to the updated edition coming out next year. Or at least read a Wikipedia article or two about the subject if you haven't already, it's extremely interesting!
Now secondly, I want to take a look at the narrative. First of all, the two trans/genderqueer characters mentioned above are not the only ones in the show. We have Nulek's friend Pharao, Joke's disguise as Jessie (not a girl but a genderqueer person in drag, and emphatically NOT a caricature), Arun as a femme character and not to forget P'Oh's business – and maybe life – partner, a Trans man. Neither of them has been singled out, ridiculed or punished for their not conforming to any hetero- or cisnormative standards in the story (except for Arun by his dad, and nowhere is this presented as anything but reprehensible behaviour by a father). They are normal people struggling with social injustice and mundane problems, like anyone else. Which brings me to the first of the two instances mentioned, Nulek. While I understand that leaving them at a trash heap (I think we all can agree that getting them out of the way was just a plot thing that needed to happen) might raise some hackles, they are not the only one left there. The – very cismale – driver that Joke impersonated was also left at the landfill, so it is maybe not all that symbolic? Especially because Nulek and Arun's other subordinate Pharao get their comeuppance later on when they get their wonderfully petty revenge on their fallen boss. They have gained agency, rightfully enjoy their upper hand and are again not being ridiculed by the narrative.
And now P' Oh, played by the wonderful P'Jennie. I am horribly saddened by her senseless death, angry and frustrated, because it was so preventable and unfair, but her being Trans is not the most important part here IMO. She was trying, she was struggling, she was failing, she was succeeding, she was funny and sassy and beautiful and a smart businesswoman, and she was the only character apart from the mains, Toi Ting and Ama (who were not spared, either), whose death would send a big enough shockwave through the community to finally rattle them into fighting back (but also leave the mains able to function and not utterly paralyse them in grief). That's why neither Toi Ting's dad nor Tattoo's mom were viable options. P'Oh was respected and liked in her community. Having her die was dark as fuck, but narratively speaking IMO necessary, and she didn't die because she was Trans. She died because she was the only character whose death would have the right amount of repercussions. So I cannot agree with the other poster that killing her was "shitting on Trans women". Really not.
Thirdly, we have to leave the show and look beyond, behind the camera. These people are longtime collaborators and by all accounts great friends and business partners. P'Jennie is a star who has written lakorn and BL history with her roles. There is nothing but love and respect for her from the makers of the show, you can be sure of that. And I would really like to hear her speak about her character and her role here. And Nuleks actor P'Saran and their friend Pharao have been collaborating with War, Yin and their managers since the first En of Love Anthology in 2019/20. YWPBs managers P'Go and P'Aun themselves can be read as femme. YWPBs work environment and the people they choose to collaborate with seem to be progressive, inclusive, diverse and definititely neither cisheteronormative nor tone-deaf to social issues, as we can see in all their works and public presence. Even more so in War and Yin themselves and in what they choose to say, do and stand for publicly. Are they all perfect? No (who is?), but it seems to me that they are trying really hard to do what's right.
So while I of course understand why someone could be triggered, angry and disappointed at what they see as yet another instance of a Trans character being treated unfairly, I would argue that here this anger might be misdirected and this reading neither does justice to the characters, the narrative, the actors and makers of this show nor to the very real issues Trans and genderqueer people still face in Thailand and around the world.
If you made it this far, thank you for reading my essay/rant and I would be extremely interested in what you have to say in return!
#jack and joker ep 10#jack & joker#Jack and Joker#OP if you're reading this#I absolutely respect your choice!#These are just some further thoughts I had on the subject#I hated the way The Eight Sense treated a Trans character and it made me side-eye the makers hard#So I get it!
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Barcode made a twitter post addressing heavy issues and what's wrong in the industry
Google trans translation under the cut
This is not a small matter that should be overlooked… Since I was first portrayed in the industry as a weak, fragile child who had to be bright and innocent all the time… Changing myself according to what others expected was not easy.
Many people may not know that this affects both our mental health and our growth. Many artists and actors face too much pressure, not only to maintain a familiar image, but also to affect our mental health in a way that many do not see and do not understand. Stress, loneliness, it is not just about the outside, but we have to experience changes within ourselves that everyone may not see.
What I want to say is that I am not just a character in the image that people expect me to be. I am a normal person who needs growth and recognition from everyone for being who they really are.
And it's not just me, it's a problem that happens to many people who have the same problem in the entertainment industry that expects too much from us.
This is something that I have been sharing and observing for quite some time now, and I think I need to communicate these things to myself and many others who are facing this problem.
2 things that I and many of my colleagues in the industry have to face, whether intentional or unintentional.
Many people who enter the industry at a young age are constantly portrayed as “children”, as if they are imprisoned in an image of innocence and weakness, which causes both mental and professional problems. People develop their thoughts and grow, but some groups stick to the image they used to have when they first started. As a result, my thoughts and decisions, and many others, are always questioned, told that I am “not mature enough” or “need to rely on others”, as if no matter how much time passes, I am still the same child who will never grow up.
In psychology, this is called “gaslighting,” which is when a person is made to feel self-doubt or manipulated in a way that undermines their self-worth, making them feel incompetent and inadequate in making decisions. No matter what they choose, they are constantly criticized as “not thinking things through” or “not good enough.” This practice not only causes short-term pain, but also instills insecurity about their identity and abilities in the long run, causing them to rely more on the opinions of others than their own, which can gradually erode their self-confidence.
Furthermore, when we look at the dimension of Benevolent Sexism, especially in the BL industry, some male stars who are portrayed as weaker or more innocent are expected to play such roles and behave like that all the time. This pressure prevents them from expressing themselves or growing up freely. They are pushed to believe that weakness and dependence on others are necessary and “appropriate.” Some may see this as protection or support, but in reality, it is silently diminishing their abilities.
Everyone should understand that this is a serious matter. If we continue to set expectations for others without caring about what they are going through, it will eventually have a negative impact on them. There is nothing wrong with growth and change. I urge everyone to support themselves in whatever path they choose. I also support everyone, whether in or out of the industry, to express themselves and be their true selves.
Thank you for all your support. 🙏
Original full tweet
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@lemonsoursalt replied to your post:
I’m a very casual generations fan so I don’t have any strong feelings about Mandy’s graduation but the fact that nothing is happening today is weird. I don’t know how LDH manages graduations but if someone decides to graduate from FANTASTICS (whom I love more than any other artist) and we don’t even get a one last live of all members together to say goodbye, that would be heartbreaking. I feel for generations fans. At this point, it seems like the goodbye is a bitter one for many members.
I think the last graduation of EXILE member was Kuroki Keiji's on 2022. EXILE was currently on tour so that was his last performance and they streamed the last concert where fans everywhere were able to see Keiji perform and hear his graduation speech.
Just like everything regarding Mandy's graduation, everything seemed pretty rushed and unexpected.
During the press conference, the members have mentioned that they were going to be working individually until June, so I guess it was impossible for them to cancel whatever work they had lined up and organise something on the scale Keiji's graduation was.
Personally, I too was hoping for a livestream at least
But i think this is something both gene and the fans have understood. I didn't see any Dreamers making hashtags or posts wishing for Mandy. None of gene's official SNS accounts made any sappy graduation posts to say goodbye or to make fans reminisce their memories with Mandy. and i think thats what they wanted. for Mandy's graduation to just be a quiet affair and not a spectacle
#replies#lemonsoursalt#exile txt#gene#im also casual gene fan so i dont know them that well#but i feel that ah this is probably how gene wanted it to be.#no crying for the camera no emotional speeches no faking encouragement#just a normal thing that happens in this industry#hes just graduating#as long as hes still in entertainment industry theyre bound to cross paths#i think only gene has the balls to do this kind of graduation www#and i respect them for that#sorry but im not touching on the topic of fanta's retiring. i would never allow myself to even imagine ^_^
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2024 reads / storygraph
Outdrawn
f/f contemporary romance
two cartoonist who’ve been rivals since uni, and now have competing webcomics online, have to work together on the relaunch of a cult classic at the comic press they both work at
they both struggle with art-related physical and mental health issues, and complicated families
#outdrawn#aroaessidhe 2024 reads#sapphic books#I thought this was decent! I liked the concept (even if I got distracted by some art related things…)#and the dynamic between the characters was good. I enjoyed their relationship development broadly speaking#and the emphasis on communication; though it was a quick flip into being together all of a sudden.#The sketchbook doodle flirting was cute. Some interesting exploration of their complicated family situations too.#There’s a lot of exploration of burnout and carpal tunnel and the dangers of artists overworking which I think are important conversations#and are done with some nuance. But it’s pretty much all discussed in the context of the personal pressure they put on themselves#rather than the industry corporate greed and artificial competition created by the comic platform - which are significant in this story!#It felt odd that that connection wasn’t really ever made?#I know that this is a romance and nitpicking the background plot is beside the point and also that I am not a big romance reader#but the premise that the comic hosting site archives everything; wipes the leaderboard; and out of nowhere has a comic competition for#new weekly chapters…I’m sorry but the art world would riot. Even if people enter because they’re desperate for the cash they’d be pissed#People live off the income from their webcomics! if they were erased (temporarily) with no notice…..there would be crimes committed istg#I simply don’t believe that it would be doable to create a new weekly webcomic with no notice while you also have a full-time comic job#(especially as the only stylistic choices mentioned are full-colour) - not to mention what happened to their 8-years-running webcomics#that were archived? they don’t think about them at all after the beginning? surely they’d care about that?#And then with their new comics they make for this competition (after work I guess) we get vague snippets about them but barely anything#- if they’re consuming that much of your time I would expect to feel like they’re thinking about them all the time#rather than the vaguest discussion about genre and cast numbers only.#I guess I just think the whole comic site stunt felt unnecessary for the plot anyway -#it would have worked exactly the same if they were just competing on the normal leaderboard with their normal comics???#anyway - I’m not judging TOO hard about all that because again I know it’s not the point and maybe the industry is like that in some place#Unfortunately it was distracting enough to affect my feelings on the book tho lol.#Lastly: the audiobook………oof. The narrators talk at different speeds; for one.#And Sage’s VA does this deeply weird raspy-anime-teen-boy voice for Noah which is such an odd choice#and doesn’t match her character at all.#unforch my library only had the audiobook (what I usually prefer) so I just had to sort of….translate the narration into a normal voice lol#anyway the romance is good tho
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the whole idea of their being an organization that the sole existence is promoting that going to perform in an apartheid state is the best opportunity of the artist's life is absolutely bonkers in so many ways because this wouldn't have to exist if you didn't know the "country" you are defending is doing bad shit like 😭
#reading about these people just gave me the biggest ick#this shit is scary to me#the fact that this has been happening for years is what is insane too#but obviously it has because the west sympathized with isnotreal always#and has been helping them with the genocide#but the fact that there has been attempts to stop this#and yet they win every time i just hate this so much#these people need to be GONE from the industry#the problem really starts with these people#and them other zionists just aid to it#like i can't be normal after getting info abt these things#tris.txt
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Okay we're done getting really mad about bug game worldbuilding. If you are interested in seeing us get extremely mad about Bug Fables' consistently shoddy worldbuilding, then it is below the cut. We'll tag this properly in like a week so it doesn't haunt the main tag for everyone who might not want to read 1.8k words of a random author getting really fucking mad about shoddy worldbuilding.
We've done a lot of stuff with worldbuilding for Bug Fables. Our handling of Bugaria itself is, we will admit, not quite canon-typical. There's a lot going on, and not all is easy to work with. We know from the game itself that Bugaria is surrounded by hostile deadlands, making outside trade difficult and often-lethal - we also know, from being able to observe the in-game map as a human with outside perspective, that Bugaria is contained within a single backyard.
For the game proper, this is fine. It lends itself well to the "borrower" type aesthetic that the devs appear to prefer, limits the scope of the in-game map, and allows for them to do significantly less legwork trying to figure out how to design things. We, however, are a man obsessed with semantics, and we know too much about the amount of food and territory generally required for one hive of wasps or bees to buy into one suburban backyard that's... what, 60 square meters of backyard?
IRL honeybees alone will forage up to, on average, 1-6 km away from their hives, potentially going up to 13 km, and though there's been less research done into the habits of other colony bugs, it's fairly safe to assume they'd need similar range - more likely greater range, actually, as any form of what we humans call "higher intelligence" is incredibly demanding, resource-wise. Bugaria has four different kingdoms of social bugs, many of which would have overlapping needs for resources, combined with a whole load of other miscellanous solitary bugs. loaded into the space of a single backyard that likely wouldn't account for the range of a single hive of honeybees, let alone four hives of miscellaneous bugs and venus-knows-how-many solitaries.
In order to survive in any place, you need to fulfil the requirements of life. Food, water, and shelter are basic needs for a reason, and without access to all three, settlements are likely to quickly peter out. In order for The Hive to process nectar into honey, they first need nectar, which would have to come from flowers, which would be the exact same food source that wasps, butterflies, and moths would need, which clearly aren't growing in the needed
Put quite simply, it would be really fucking difficult for a space of this size to support the presented numbers of bugs. Plants are not an infinite resource, and even assuming that there's a density of flowers far beyond what's shown in-game, there's still predatory bugs to consider. Wasps and ants need protein to feed their grubs, dragonflies and damselflies need protein to feed themselves, mantises and mantidflies are obligate carnivores that cannot survive without a steady supply of prey- you can't survive if you never eat, and Bug Fables is incredibly low on lesser bugs that could potentially serve as food for the more predatory bugs.
Canon offers only aphids and cochineals as cattle, and those still wouldn't really serve to feed larger predatory bugs - and that's even without noting the ecological desert that results from only ever having a handful of enemies. We know that there are limits to what you can do in a game, but the second you want to expand on life beyond what's shown, you run straight into the lack of known prey and wildlife like smacking right into a brick wall. Roaches raise scorpions in a wasteland that seems to have only Mystery Berries for food unless they're trying to hunt Deadlanders, which we doubt are particularly edible. The Royal Blade of the Ant kingdom is an obligate carnivore, and there's nowhere he can go if he wants to buy lunch.
Realistically, we know that the answer is "the devs didn't really think about it". This game is built on the work of devs who persistently place "because it looks cool" over doing any of the worldbuilding work to integrate their existing story elements into the world. You only have to look to Yin to see just how many parts of the game are riddled with things added purely because Someone Thought It Might Be Cool, and no one did any further legwork to make it WORK. The Termacade is a living monument to the philosophy, being added A WEEK before release without anyone so much as communicating it was going to happen before it was in active development.
Unfortunately, we are permanently obsessed with semantics, we can't stand "because magic" as an answer to important worldbuilding questions, and every time we have to do all the legwork to fill massive holes in the setting where no one ever thought that the answers to questions like "how the fuck do these people feed themselves" is relevant, we will be sadly prone to falling into madness.
There is no canon answer to how these bugs feed themselves. There is no indication as to how things that should be basic parts of the setting WORK. The bugs, in the first place, are written persistently as more People With Hats than actual BUGS - there are nods made to biology, sure, but the difference between a wasp and a bee is little more than a set of aesthetics and a silly hat. There are enough elements in the game that are simply thrown in without care of how they interlock that it sometimes becomes genuinely maddening.
Some people, sure, are satisfied with this - there is a madness that we have that we lack, a need for SUBSTANCE that is prone to driving us to inadvisable lengths hunting for a hint - any hint - that there was care put into this detail, rather than a single flippant comment. We have no complaint with things left vague, but we VERY MUCH have a problem when the setting is consigned to being little more than a backdrop decorated with random glittery ideas to act out anime tropes on, rather than something that should be paid attention to all its own.
We've said this before, and we'll say it many times again, but worldbuilding is important for a REASON. Your setting will affect your characters just as strongly as it will affect your story - your plot, your setting, and your characters are fundamentally inertwined, and to affect ANY part of the story will have rippling impacts on the rest of it. Your characters are not created in a void! Whatever structures created one person MUST still be present to shape others! You cannot throw shiny ideas on a canvas slapdash and expect it to turn out well! It's a miracle that the character writing in this game turned out as well as it did, considering that massive swathes of the setting are loosely assembled from anime without even taking the time to learn how certain aspects WORK in their home media!
We enjoy writing. We enjoy crafting plots, doing worldbuilding, tinkering with the little pieces of setting that we feel might create something interesting. We wouldn't be writing at all if we didn't enjoy it on some level, though we sometimes wonder if it's more masochism than care for some aspects. This is the trade that we have chosen to work towards working. Perhaps it is this that makes it so violently infuriating when we run into people who don't seem to care for that which we pay attention to.
There are a handful of aspects in this game that are well done. There are far more aspects in this game that are half-baked at best and actively difficult to work into the rest of the world at worst. There is a particular handful of aspects that are so poorly done that they could pass as active malice, towards one group or another. Unfortunately, as with many things, to assume ill will often overlooks the far more pervasive, far more common culprit of simple negligence.
Bug Fables, at its core, is a game made by devs with chronic shiny-object syndrome. There is little care spared to its worldbuilding, to the implications of its setting, to the implications of character actions, because the devs have never cared to think on it. It takes tropes from a hundred and one different animes without caring to learn what makes them work in their home context - just that they're cool, and that the authors want them in their own work.
It's something that we've been guilty of ourself, in previous works, but that only makes it easier for us to spot it here. There is an mirror of mistakes we have made ourself written on the walls, and it echoes with every step. We are the sort of author who learned to build worlds by stealing shards from different worlds and patching them into a new quilt. This is a work that takes does much the same, taking pieces from other works to make a new whole, but it makes the mistake of not spending the time to make sure those pieces FIT.
The mosaic on the floor is made of broken, disparate parts that are only partially fit together. The world falls apart more and more the closer you look at its shards. There are pieces of harm in this painting, pictures of pain, things put together and only barely examined. There is prejudice that could pass for malice woven into the threads of even the more comedic writing, an undercurrent commonly present in society and rarely examined. They've made an entire species of bugs into an incomprehensibly racist trope. Perhaps it's foolish of us to spend so much time and energy on a world that does not love us back, but we care for this setting, and we care for the potential of what it could have been.
The prejudice and shoddiness and pieces of poorly-thought-out and tropey writing in this work are not an act of malice. They are an act of ignorance, left over from a development team that wanted to add the latest shiny thing without stopping to think that their favorite anime tropes might have roots in something rotten.
Anyways, the reason that we wind up putting so many fucking footnotes on our fics is that every time we have to answer basic questions like "how does the wasp kingdom fucking feed itself" we have to rewrite, like, half a dozen tropes ripped off from shitty isekai anime, come up with an entire power structure and system of government that could potentially exist in this universe, write 2000 words of geopolitical bullshit minimum, reinvent animal agriculture, create at least one brand new species of bug, and then battle our conviction to avoid cushioning or avoiding the implied Fucked Up Elements that are Very Much Present In The Base Work if chronically ill-addressed vs the question of if we Want to include this particular brand of Fucked Up Bullshit or if we'd actually rather avoid having to reckon with the aftermath of yet another poorly-thought-out trope ripped from Trapped In Another World With My Smartphone.
#we speak#if you like TIAWWMS then this isnt intended as a jab at you btw it was the most trashy sounding isekai we could think of like#Off The Top Of Our Head#we often find that the lack of ill intent can be WORSE to deal with than if there was any actual malice#because on one hand you have people writing it because they genuinely hold these beliefs and are prejudiced against you#and on the other hand you have people for whom it's simply never occurred to them that writing an entire species#as Unenlightened Savages who speak nonsense and are aggressive for no reason and are Not People in the Same Way Normal People Are#even though they're People the same as every other person in the setting that they Havent arbitrarily decided is Savage And Unreasonnable#might be a tiny bit racist#a genuine jab hurts less than one made of negligence we think. at least with one of them there's a clear intent of purpose#tho we are ofc biased in all things#anyways this shit is also part of the reason we take so fucking long to write fic#bc we will have to fill in One background detail and have to look things up and wind up getting pissed abt the prison-industrial complex#unfortunately we dont think we're actually capable of fixing this so itll probably just Keep Happening forever#and then we're not very good at articulating ourself under stress so we struggle to word this out at times when it might Matter
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Having been on several fanfic sites for several years, I can hands down GUARANTEE you that anything 'classic media' has done, fanfic has done better.
#This is not hyperbole I am 100% serious#“I wish there was a book or show where *insert thing that happened in a fanfic I read at midnight*”#Anything. Anything from weird puns to comprehensive and in depth analyses of the human condition#I see people gushing about the 'groundbreaking ideas' and 'awesome concepts' they read about and I'm just like#Do you want that with a dash of gay found family hurt/comfort or a heaping of misogyny#Once I read some shmancy prim article discussing the use of themes in some famous classical text I'd read and like.#Off the top of my head I listed three fics that had done it without the unexpected and unappreciated assault scene partway through the book#At least fic authors TAG#Ao3s filter system and the increasing lack of blurbs on books has ruined me for normal reading activities#I get a book for Christmas or something and I look at it and there are no archive warnings or desc or additional tags#No word count chapter count nothing#Anyway this is about how fanfic is a superior media to the competitive publishing industry of today and if a fic makes enough readers cry#It should get automatically added to the literary canon#Makes one feel more emotion than I did with the school assigned reading and there's SIGNIFICANTLY LESS chance of untagged 18+ stuff#ao3#Long tags#I did my final project of the concept of the literary Canon and its requirements and LET ME TELL YOU#Fanfic absolutely counts the higher ups are just cowards#'this book is a literary masterpiece it breaks down the human understanding of the future and our capabilities of distinguishing reality#From fiction and how one might develop detrimental coping mechanisms to handle it that leads to almost self destructive behaviour due to a#Self enforced blindness that renders one an outsider in their own life and by the way its all a metaphor for the oversaturation of media#Accessible at a young age leading to Youths Of Today absorbing negative traits unrelated to their environment through escapism '#Great I can list ten self insert fanfics with that exact premise I can just read them for free#And I can guarantee no racism or Victorian era style sexism
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#kpop rambling feel free to ignore#the thing about stray kids and ateez getting even more massively popular is that i am genuinely so happy for them?#like when i sort of half-watched that kingdom season years ago both groups struck me as just#incredibly talented and hard-working but also as just great guys? like making the whole show into more of a#lovefest (kinda) that a competition seems to have come from them being friendly and kind and refusing to be#bitchy and backstabby just to 'mske television' or whatever - so it came off more like the olympics lol#where people just want to do their very best and encourage their fellow participants to do *their* best etc etc#and i do love quite a few ateez songs - if not as much of their most recent stuff and admire stray kids style and ethos#even if most of their song catalog just doesn't click for me - bc that's cool! not everything is *for me*#i can recognize skill and talent and hard work even when something doesn't conform exactly to my personal vibe#(and also beauty is beauty like come on both groups are SO visually stunning they deserve every contract/close-up/photoshoot)#even though i mostly post about bts because i LOVE their music including the solo releases i still reblog skz and ateez#because they are amazing and i am thrilled that they're getting all the attention and success they deserve#(although maybe getting a little overworked like my gods i know you gotta capitalize on the moment#i do understand but let these men catch a *breath* you know - we've seen what happens when groups get exhausted and scheduled to death)#i just feel weird sometimes as a not official fan of the music always but more the groups as ... people? performers? idk#i just like them and think they're neat lol#and i keep wanting to say something about it but i think it'd be weird to leave the sentiment in like tags on someone's gifset or something#it's not like i don't think plenty of other groups are gorgeous and hardworking as well (lyon for life! ha)#i just keep vaguely paying attention to charts bc of bts solo stuff and seeing people like making an either/or proposition#out of who you like and i'm just happy they are all successful and getting their due?#like these guys are normalizing publicly being friends across companies and fandoms as well as#having boundaries and manners and calling out industry bullshit - i couldn't be more proud of them for that#and for sort of taking up where bts had to leave off bc of ms in pushing the industry forward#like 4th gen is doing the WORK and while building off the foundations laid beforehand they're also#remaining down to earth and not ... untouchable? for the fans? and just generally presenting a 'regular guys' type image#which ... i guess i'm old and remember when a group of twentysomething guys meant public wastedness and clubbing and#horrible sexist girlfriend situationships and gossip columns and seemingly competing to appear like the most 'gangsta'#so like legos and fashion design and amateur asmr etc are reassuring pastimes lol#like not implying they don't drink or scuffle or get up to things but just the sense of being dedicated professionals is VERY clear
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One of the comments that I’ve started to see pop up on Twitter and TikTok lately was that it’s wildly that Millie Bobby Brown is married and about to play a teenage girl that defeats monsters through the power of friendship; as a dig as to how long it’s taken Netflix to release a five season show. And like, they’re not wrong the show debuted when I was 17 turning 18 and now I have a bachelors degree, masters degree and a full time job. But, for the most part their production delays haven’t been their fault?
Like seasons 1-3 I think had about a year and half between each season, give or take. Then season 4 was set to follow that schedule and COVID hit and shut down film production for over a year, and then when season 5 was set to begin the writers and actors strikes happened which delayed filming again. It’s definitely a problem, how long it takes for studios/streamers to release shows now a days; especially ones that are not heavy VFX or effects shows. But I don’t feel like Stranger Things falls into this category, sure they’ve taken a while to release five seasons worth of content, but for the most part they have tried to have a reasonable turn around time between seasons; they just had bad luck with outside events interfering with production.
TLDR: There is absolutely a problem with the time in between releases of shows now a days, however Stranger Things by all accounts has tried to keep that window short and has just had unfortunate luck and not a good example of it being an egregious amount of time between release dates. Especially given the effects heaviness of the show.
#stranger things#film production in 2024#film production#I don’t know it just feels like people latched onto the wrong target for this one#seasons 1-3 had a normal release cycle and then had two massive events that shut down the industry delay production#if that hadn’t happened the show would be over by now#but like I agree with the general sentiment that shows are taking too long to release shows rn#especially when most of them do not require lengthy production processes#truly we need to get back to the basics but i fear network execs just see dollar signs and that won’t happen anytime soon
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So I’ve been enjoying the Disney vs. DeSantis memes as much as anyone, but like. I do feel like a lot of people who had normal childhoods are missing some context to all this.
I was raised in the Bible Belt in a fairly fundie environment. My parents were reasonably cool about some things, compared to the rest of my family, but they certainly had their issues. But they did let me watch Disney movies, which turned out to be a point of major contention between them and my other relatives.
See, I think some people think this weird fight between Disney and fundies is new. It is very not new. I know that Disney’s attempts at inclusion in their media have been the source of a lot of mockery, but what a lot of people don’t understand is that as far as actual company policy goes, Disney has actually been an industry leader for queer rights. They’ve had policies assuring equal healthcare and partner benefits for queer employees since the early 90s.
I’m not sure how many people reading this right now remember the early 90s, but that was very much not industry standard. It was a big deal when Disney announced that non-married queer partners would be getting the same benefits as the married heterosexual ones.
Like — it went further than just saying that any unmarried partners would be eligible for spousal benefits. It straight-up said that non-same-sex partners would still need to be married to receive spousal benefits, but because same-sex partners couldn’t do that, proof that they lived together as an established couple would be enough.
In other words, it put long-term same-sex partners on a higher level than opposite-sex partners who just weren’t married yet. It put them on the exact same level as heterosexual married partners.
They weren’t the first company ever to do this, but they were super early. And they were certainly the first mainstream “family-friendly” company to do it.
Conservatives lost their damn minds.
Protests, boycotts, sermons, the whole nine yards. I can’t tell you how many books about the evils of Disney my grandmother tried to get my parents to read when I was a kid.
When we later moved to Florida, I realized just how many queer people work at Disney — because historically speaking, it’s been a company that has guaranteed them safety, non-discrimination, and equal rights. That’s when I became aware of their unofficial “Gay Days” and how Christians would show up from all over the country to protest them every year. Apparently my grandmother had been upset about these days for years, but my parents had just kind of ignored her.
Out of curiosity, I ended up reading one of the books my grandmother kept leaving at our house. And friends — it’s amazing how similar that (terrible, poorly written) rhetoric was to what people are saying these days. Disney hires gay pedophiles who want to abuse your children. Disney is trying to normalize Satanism in our beautiful, Christian America.
Just tons of conspiracy theories in there that ranged from “a few bad things happened that weren’t actually Disney’s fault, but they did happen” to “Pocahontas is an evil movie, not because it distorts history and misrepresents indigenous life, but because it might teach children respect for nature. Which, as we all know, would cause them all to become Wiccans who believe in climate change.”
Like — please, take it from someone who knows. This weird fight between fundies and Disney is not new. This is not Disney’s first (gay) rodeo. These people have always believed that Disney is full of evil gays who are trying to groom and sexually abuse children.
The main difference now is that these beliefs are becoming mainstream. It’s not just conservative pastors who are talking about this. It’s not just church groups showing up to boycott Gay Day. Disney is starting to (reluctantly) say the quiet part out loud, and so are the Republicans. Disney is publicly supporting queer rights and announcing company-supported queer events and the Republican Party is publicly calling them pedophiles and enacting politically driven revenge.
This is important, because while this fight has always been important in the history of queer rights, it is now being magnified. The precedent that a fight like this could set is staggering. For better or for worse, we live in a corporation-driven country. I don’t like it any more than you do, and I’m not about to defend most of Disney’s business practices. But we do live in a nation where rights are largely tied to corporate approval, and the fact that we might be entering an age where even the most powerful corporations in the country are being banned from speaking out in favor of rights for marginalized people… that’s genuinely scary.
Like… I’ll just ask you this. Where do you think we’d be now, in 2023, if Disney had been prevented from promising its employees equal benefits in 1994? That was almost thirty years ago, and look how far things have come. When I looked up news articles for this post from that era, even then journalists, activists, and fundie church leaders were all talking about how a company of Disney’s prominence throwing their weight behind this movement could lead to the normalization of equal protections in this country.
The idea of it scared and thrilled people in equal parts even then. It still scares and thrills them now.
I keep seeing people say “I need them both to lose!” and I get it, I do. Disney has for sure done a lot of shit over the years. But I am begging you as a queer exvangelical to understand that no. You need Disney to win. You need Disney to wipe the fucking floor with these people.
Right now, this isn’t just a fight between a giant corporation and Ron DeSantis. This is a fight about the right of corporations to support marginalized groups. It’s a fight that ensures that companies like Disney still can offer benefits that a discriminatory government does not provide. It ensures that businesses much smaller than Disney can support activism.
Hell, it ensures that you can support activism.
The fight between weird Christian conspiracy theorists and Disney is not new, because the fight to prevent any tiny victory for marginalized groups is not new. The fight against the normalization of othered groups is not new.
That’s what they’re most afraid of. That each incremental victory will start to make marginalized groups feel safer, that each incremental victory will start to turn the tide of public opinion, that each incremental victory will eventually lead to sweeping law reform.
They’re afraid that they won’t be able to legally discriminate against us anymore.
So guys! Please. This fight, while hilarious, is also so fucking important. I am begging you to understand how old this fight is. These people always play the long game. They did it with Roe and they’re doing it with Disney.
We have! To keep! Pushing back!
#disney#ron desantis#gay rights#lgbt#queer#lgbt history#queer history#homophobia#florida#us politics#religious fundamentalism#christianity#long post#god that should cover all the pertinent tags and content warnings phew
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It is essential that I simply take liberties with historical fashion and dressing for Horology, or else I will spend the next twenty thousand years combing through every beautiful detail of 1880's fashion in France, but I'm also having such a lovely time looking at the beautiful clothes??
#But it is frustrating because Christine is NOT rich in the start of the story#she would almost certainly be making her own clothing or wearing the same three or four things constantly#Or else borrowing from other women around her/from costumes if she wanted to#so many of the things I'm able to find aren't even relevant to her because she wouldn't be upper class#my girl is an outfit repeater and that is FINE#but it's not as fun and also like#1880s was a fascinating time in fashion history where so many interesting things were happening#Silhouettes are changing sleeves and necklines are doing crazy things#the rise of industry is impacting the way clothes are made!!!#sometimes I need to remind myself that I am in fact writing poto fanfiction and not a lady's guide to dressing in 1881#If I were more normal I would let myself have more fun#after all why shouldn't Christine get to wear those stunning frothy lace blouses that won't be popular for like 8 years minimum?#I just like big sleeves goddamnit
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💭.
#writing this before i forget it that was the coolest dream ever#it started with just taking to high school friends on likeee. dark mode msn??#and then idk exactly how it happened but i accidentally invited kasabian to my house n for some reason they actually came#only serge and ian were like actually In my dream tho#ian was cranky and didnt hang around much but me and serge were best friendsies and it was so cool#i dont remember details 😖😖😖 but they thought i was rly cool and impressive and i was having a lot of fun#and then like. serge set fire to a clothes drawer in my house#the fire was inside the drawer and gets bigger when you open it#some guy was sleeping with one hand inside the drawer (normal according to dream lore)#and he moved in his sleep and pulled the drawer open and the fire grew#for some reason i went somewhere else and when i came back the fire was put out it was rly easy#and i found this sticky note from serge on the drawer and it forget what it said but#he wanted us to know he did it on purpose but it was meant to be easy to put out#but somehow it was just this mysterious thing i wanted to figure out#like it was a riddle he left for me#but everyone else was really angry at the whole band and it was like#that triggered ppl to start finding out some shady shit like the band was supporting the coal industry (???)#and everyone was so angry at them and cancelled them and i was so sad and hurt and some ppl felt sorry for me like i got bullied#that isnt enough to ruin the vibes of the rest of the dream tho !! me and serge became besties really fast and it was so cool and fun
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AI hasn't improved in 18 months. It's likely that this is it. There is currently no evidence the capabilities of ChatGPT will ever improve. It's time for AI companies to put up or shut up.
I'm just re-iterating this excellent post from Ed Zitron, but it's not left my head since I read it and I want to share it. I'm also taking some talking points from Ed's other posts. So basically:
We keep hearing AI is going to get better and better, but these promises seem to be coming from a mix of companies engaging in wild speculation and lying.
Chatgpt, the industry leading large language model, has not materially improved in 18 months. For something that claims to be getting exponentially better, it sure is the same shit.
Hallucinations appear to be an inherent aspect of the technology. Since it's based on statistics and ai doesn't know anything, it can never know what is true. How could I possibly trust it to get any real work done if I can't rely on it's output? If I have to fact check everything it says I might as well do the work myself.
For "real" ai that does know what is true to exist, it would require us to discover new concepts in psychology, math, and computing, which open ai is not working on, and seemingly no other ai companies are either.
Open ai has already seemingly slurped up all the data from the open web already. Chatgpt 5 would take 5x more training data than chatgpt 4 to train. Where is this data coming from, exactly?
Since improvement appears to have ground to a halt, what if this is it? What if Chatgpt 4 is as good as LLMs can ever be? What use is it?
As Jim Covello, a leading semiconductor analyst at Goldman Sachs said (on page 10, and that's big finance so you know they only care about money): if tech companies are spending a trillion dollars to build up the infrastructure to support ai, what trillion dollar problem is it meant to solve? AI companies have a unique talent for burning venture capital and it's unclear if Open AI will be able to survive more than a few years unless everyone suddenly adopts it all at once. (Hey, didn't crypto and the metaverse also require spontaneous mass adoption to make sense?)
There is no problem that current ai is a solution to. Consumer tech is basically solved, normal people don't need more tech than a laptop and a smartphone. Big tech have run out of innovations, and they are desperately looking for the next thing to sell. It happened with the metaverse and it's happening again.
In summary:
Ai hasn't materially improved since the launch of Chatgpt4, which wasn't that big of an upgrade to 3.
There is currently no technological roadmap for ai to become better than it is. (As Jim Covello said on the Goldman Sachs report, the evolution of smartphones was openly planned years ahead of time.) The current problems are inherent to the current technology and nobody has indicated there is any way to solve them in the pipeline. We have likely reached the limits of what LLMs can do, and they still can't do much.
Don't believe AI companies when they say things are going to improve from where they are now before they provide evidence. It's time for the AI shills to put up, or shut up.
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⋅˚₊‧ ଳ WHEN + WHY ENHYPEN STARTED LIKING THEIR IDOL! S/O
pairing: idol!enhypen x fem idol!reader, genre: fluff, requested!! enha realizing they're down bad
— heeseung
when he saw you perform
he was absolutely stunned by your stage presence. you carried yourself with so much confidence that it was hard to not notice you. the way your hair swayed in the air whenever you moved and the way your lips curved into a smile did things to him more than he liked to admit. after finding out your name, he was guilty of looking you up on google and stalking your instagram. the members would hear him giggling, and they would instantly know it was because he was watching videos of you.
— jay
when both of you appeared on a variety show together
it just so happened that you two had to be paired up for the whole episode. literally. connected by a bracelet, you had to walk, eat, do missions— everything together. he didn’t think much about it at first, but he found himself smiling when he saw you skip so excitedly, dragging him with you. and when you wiped the bit of pasta sauce off his lips, his heart started beating a little faster. your chemistry with him was off the charts, and all he wished was for your on-screen romance to become a reality.
— jake
when you filmed a tiktok together
he thought you were cute trying to learn the choreo for “XO”. you couldn’t quite get the hand movements right, prompting him to gently touch and guide your hands. maybe it was the close proximity, the warmth of your hands, or the way your eyes met, but there was this unexplainable tension that filled the room. he quickly looked away, hoping you didn’t see the creeping blush on his face. although the filming went smoothly, he kept replaying those moments with you in his head.
— sunghoon
when both of you were special mcs
seeing how pretty you are up close made something spark in his heart. he kept stealing glances at you while you were practicing your lines. he chuckled at the slight pout you would make when you made a mistake, which you playfully glared at him for. the first thing he did after the show was look on social media to see if fans captured any cute moments between you two. normally idols want to avoid being shipped with other idols, but the idea didn't sound too bad to him if it was with you.
— sunoo
when he saw you with another male idol
you two have been close friends since childhood. your friendship was well known in the industry, and strictly platonic. it wasn’t until he saw you talking and laughing with another male idol that he started to feel a little jealous. that guy didn’t know what makes you laugh most, nor your deepest secrets like he did. and why was he leaning so close to you? he wanted to brush his feelings aside, but imagining you with someone else didn’t sit right with him...
— jungwon
when he saw you practicing
back in his pre-debut days, you were his sworn enemy. you two competed for the top trainee spot, always trying to one up each other. after both of you debuted, one day he peered into your practice room window, but something felt wrong. watching you as an idol made him suddenly see you in a different light. your messy hair no longer looked stupid, but rather hot. your annoying voice was now something that made him feel giddy just hearing it. he could deny it as much as he wanted to, but the heart never lies.
— ni-ki
when you did a collab stage together
he was already aware you were one of the best dancers in the idol industry, so he looked forward to working with you. but what impressed him was how you were so kind to him, always looking after him and complimenting him. he remained calm up until the choreography that required your faces to be mere centimeters apart. you had to be in his arms, maintaining eye contact, but he couldn’t look at you without internally panicking. you were attractive, and he wondered how one could be so perfect inside and out.
#em’s works !!#enhypen#enhypen fluff#enhypen fic#enhypen fanfiction#enhypen imagines#enhypen reactions#enhypen headcanons#enhypen scenarios#enhypen heeseung#enhypen soft hours#enhypen jay#enhypen jake#enhypen sunghoon#enhypen sunoo#enhypen jungwon#enhypen niki#enhypen x reader#heeseung x reader#jay x reader#jake x reader#sunghoon x reader#sunoo x reader#jungwon x reader#niki x reader
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What Would Have Happened If The Other Doctors Stepped on the "Boom" Land Mine
One: The land mine is diffused by the power of parental love much sooner. Splice and Mundy join the TARDIS team after he decides that Splice will be his next fill-in granddaughter.
Two: Plays the recorder instead of singing. Jamie attacks the ambulance with his knife as soon as it attaches the lines to the Doctor, and it's only Zoe that stops him from getting killed. The detonation happens much sooner because the Doctor gets antsy and plays with the fiddly bits.
Three: Expertly controls his blood pressure to stop a premature detonation. Tries to keep his companion far away, but they discover the land mine anyway. Takes the land mine with him after it is diffused to use for spare parts in the UNIT lab.
Four: "Harry, I'm standing on a land mine." Doesn't bother with a counterbalance and just stands on one foot for the whole episode. Snacks on some jelly babies while waiting for the right moment.
Five: Has an in depth conversation with Nyssa about how he is regulating his biology on a molecular level. They use a cricket ball from the TARDIS as a counterbalance, meaning that he never gets shot or targeted by the ambulance. One of his companions still ends up getting shot, at which point he falls over, immediately self destructs, and blows a giant hole in the planet.
Six: Gets far too irritated for his blood pressure to stay low. Could really do with some of Evelyn's cocoa right about now. The land mine blows up because he cannot calm down enough to disguise his presence.
Seven: A much longer conversation on how the Doctor is a complex space-time event. The countdown finishes, but the land mine doesn't blow because he had disarmed it at the beginning of the episode. The entire time, he was just pretending the land mine was live in order to teach his teenage companion a life lesson.
Eight: Forgets he's standing on a land mine and blows up. Gets into a passionate conversation with his companion about the war industry complex. Soliloquizes about life and death. Almost sacrifices himself in an inferno of self-loathing, but his companion saves the day.
War: His associates go back in time and extract him before he steps on the land mine. This new version of him continues fighting the Daleks while the time echo standing on the land mine is used to blow a hole in the nearby Dalek command ship.
Nine: Has flashbacks to the War while standing on the land mine but somehow manages to stabilize his blood pressure thanks to the presence of Rose and Jack. Jack manages to diffuse the bomb while he is on it thanks to his experience with Villengard tech.
Ten: "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." Tries to convince his companion to evacuate as much of the population into the TARDIS as possible because they would be safe there. Almost lets himself blow up, but his companion forces him to find a way to survive.
Eleven: The mine blows up in about ten seconds because he can't stand still. The entire planet is blown to smithereens, but his friends are okay because he locked them in the TARDIS.
Twelve: Gets into mind games with Clara while she is trying to figure out what he is standing on. Clara tries to take his place, but he doesn't let her. Missy eventually shows up and disarms the land mine because she wants to be the one to kill him.
Thirteen: Only manages to stay still because the Fam calms her down. Is oddly stoic about the entire thing and disappears into the depths of the TARDIS for several days after it happens. She never brings it up again even though Yaz tries to get her to talk about it.
Fourteen: God damn it this guy is supposed to be retired. He's supposed to be having a break. He talks about how much he loves his companion and how so, so sorry he is that he can't fix this.
Fugitive: This is a normal Tuesday for her. Probably has some sort of anti-land mine device in one of her coat pockets.
#doctor who#dw#dr who#new who#dw spoilers#doctor who spoilers#spoilers#first doctor#second doctor#third doctor#fourth doctor#fifth doctor#sixth doctor#seventh doctor#eighth doctor#war doctor#ninth doctor#tenth doctor#eleventh doctor#twelfth doctor#thirteenth doctor#fourteenth doctor#fugitive doctor#boom#fifteenth doctor#ruby sunday#rose tyler#jack harkness#clara oswald#jamie mccrimmon
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