#like how do you constantly fuck up this badly and have people take you seriously for a thousand generations?

[cantsayidont]

Hateration and holleration in a galaxy far, far away:

THE ACOLYTE: The unexpectedly decent ANDOR showed that a Mouse-infested Star War could still be thoughtful and even intermittently compelling, but everything since then (and a fair bit before) has been plumbing new depths of awfulness. This depressingly wretched new show, set 100 years before the movies and chronicling the adventures of former Jedi apprentice Osha Aniseya (Amandla Stenberg) whose evil twin Mae has just murdered a Jedi Master (Carrie-Anne Moss), is another for the garbage pile: unimaginative visuals (is the best they can do really warmed-over wuxia moves from 25–30 years ago?), painfully dreadful dialogue, and a who-cares plot whose clichés are too dull to be worth summarizing.

The principal cast (discounting Moss, who's killed off in the first scene) is embarrassingly bad, but such inept direction would leave even more competent actors drowning in a sea of cheap-looking CGI blandness. Worse, the story seems to lean into some of the most conceptually dreary aspects of the prequels; it feels like THE PHANTOM MENACE, from its framing of the Jedi Order as a collection of sociopaths to its ghastly racist Trade Federation caricatures. The only mitigating factor is that unlike AHOSKA or OBI-WAN KENOBI, it doesn't appear to contain any familiar SW characters to assassinate. CONTAINS LESBIANS? The Amandla Stenberg characters are from an all-female outlaw sect (and have two moms, one of them apparently trans) that's presented as ontologically evil and then genocided. VERDICT: Do even diehard SW fans still give a shit? If so, why?

[heavencanbeaprisontoo]

Living with John Shelby Headcanons

Warnings: Period-typical misogyny, sexism, suggestive language, John wants more babies.

Domestic Hcs

With this Shelby, you only start living with him after you’ve been married. He made it clear to you that he has four children at home and that they needed a mother more than he needed a bedmate. John can be brash and impulsive, but he takes his role as a father seriously… even if he isn’t always good at it. It was this dedication that drew you to him. You had always wanted children, why not start out with four?

John’s home is constantly busy, constantly noisy, and full of laughter. It’s not terribly glamorous, but there’s a lot of love in your new home. The kids were young when their mother Martha died, so they don’t fight you as much as you thought they would. 

John is pretty much hopeless when it comes to most household chores. He’s excellent at what he does as a Peaky Blinder, but he’s severely lacking in domestic skills. Can’t cook, can’t clean, and can’t fix much more than a leaky faucet. His kids were the first ones to warn you about all of that. But you ask him to help anyway, because you’ve seen how happy it makes him to accomplish these little missions. John wants to useful; he wants to succeed at fatherhood. So, you eat the burnt toast he serves and compliment his slowly improving handyman skills.

Seeing as how John burns water, cooking is primarily your thing. Expect John to invade the kitchen at every stage of cooking to steal a sip, a bite, a kiss, or a quick squeeze. To people outside the home, he’ll act like you being in the kitchen is nothing significant. You’re a woman, after all, doing women’s work. John’s just playing up his macho act. Food is a major thing for John, it represents love and safety for him. So, to see you in his kitchen, making him and kids a hearty meal just ruins him. 

He loves to take you and the children out to have a good time. Picnics mostly, because most indoor activities end with your little family being told to never come back. If you’re feeling like you need some time alone with John, he’s eager to fulfill your request. Just make sure to specify if this “alone time,” is an actual date rather than John dropping the kids off at Polly’s so he can ravish you in every room of the house. 

Relationship Hcs

John will deny it till the day he dies, but he only meant for you to be a one night stand the first time he met you. He wasn’t ready for love, and he had come to expect women to be just a bit deceitful. And then he got to talking to you, and you made a joke that had him shooting whiskey out his nose and suddenly one night turned into a week. One thing you learned about him is that deep down, he’s very tenderhearted. He loves deeply and grows attached to people faster than he wants to admit. 

Your man can be a tad uneven with how he responds to stress. Sometimes, he seems so easy going that it feels like he doesn’t take you seriously. Other times, it feels like he’s overreacting or being downright sensitive. The easiest way to insult him is to question his manhood. He loves to have fun and doesn’t always think things through, but he straightens up fast if you try to tell him he isn’t being the man you thought he was. John can get rather nasty at times about that. He is not above having a row with you about “who’s the one leading this fucking family.” John cools down slow and is extremely guilty afterwards… but he’ll never apologize directly to you. 

John cannot plan dates very well, at all. Tommy is the brother with plans, not him. So, naturally, he’s asked Tommy for advice in such matters. Your first real date with John was at a fancy restaurant in London. The two of you were still getting to know each other and he wanted to impress you, badly. You were both dressed smart as can be, the restaurant was lavish and romantic. John pulled out your chair for you, opens the menu, and freezes. Nothing on the menu was appetizing. At all. To try to save face, he asked the waiter to bring out their most popular dishes. The food comes, and you’re both picking at your plates with tight smiles. Finally, you say “Fuck this, let’s go to a chip shop.” If John had brought a ring, he would’ve proposed right then and there. 

It came as a bit of a surprise to you, but John is something of a dreamer. John loves to lay with you in bed and talk about all the things you two will do. He likes to tell you about the house in the country he’ll move you and the children out to. As you watch him list off all the things he’ll buy for the house, you can’t help but cuddle in closer. John gets such a big smile thinking about the good that is to come. It’s all very innocent. 

One would think a man would be content with four kids… well, John isn’t. He honestly got baby fever before you did. All it took was seeing you read his girls a bedtime story and he wanted another baby. Maybe two. Or three. 

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

What do you think about Tavros and Dave's relationship? they interact quite interestingly in the first acts, and it seems to me that people undeservedly overlook this

Dave c3< Tavros c3< Equius is one of my endgame ships.

I also don't really mind Dave <3< Tavros because they definitely have a contentious relationship, but I think the Dave/Tavros/Equius throuple suits all three of them better and is also a more healthy and positive force for Dave overall. Especially because parallels are already there - Dave and Tavros's interaction is largely Dave making Tavros really uncomfortable, and then Tavros trying to get back at him via rap; meanwhile, Dave encourages Equius to rap, and is then made really uncomfortable. Together, they can be miserable while rapping at each other together.

But more seriously, one of Dave's biggest problems on the meteor was how fucking lonely he was. After basically ruining things with Terezi because he didn't understand troll quadrants and didn't want to learn, he had pretty much nobody to talk to, and especially nobody to rap with (the activity he's constantly seen doing to try and pass the time), which is why he became so obsessively clingy to the Mayor. Gamzee stopped talking to everyone except Terezi, Rose and Kanaya were busy being codependent and/or having substance abuse problems, and Karkat just thinks Dave's rap shit is dumb and cringe. It was like, really bad for him.

In a hypothetical situation where Tavros and Equius are both brought back to life, a lot of problems are actually solved for Dave - he has two rap buddies (three if you count redeemed Gamzee, who's <> with Tavros in this scenario) and is made to accept troll polyamory... by FORCE. I pretty much imagine that he kind of falls ass backwards into this auspicetism without even realizing it, and when someone breaks the news to him that he's dating the two worst trolls, he'd be like NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! and go crawling back to Terezi on his hands and knees like babe im so sorry please take me back. don't let my defining relationship be this unforgivable threesome

But it'd also be good for Tavros and Equius. Equius is genuinely polite, even if he is bossy, and if he tries to get all weird at Tavros about... y'know, the stuff Equius is weird about, Dave would feel the need to step in, and be like, bro, you two are literally the two biggest weirdos on this meteor, why tf are you beefing (and then theyd be like was that a livestock pun and dave would be like stfu)

Meanwhile, Tavros doesn't seem to be able to stop himself from bugging Dave, and to be frank, Dave's kind of out of Tavros's league? like their first interaction went so badly for Tavros that he BLOCKED Dave, which is hilarious. But Equius doesn't stand for 100dness and crassness, so there's no way he wouldn't feel the need to intervene and prevent things from going that far, inadvertently turning their throuple into a safe space for Tavros to practice self-assertion

And Dave also keeps goading Equius into doing shit, and it backfires horrifically every single time, but you know what? Dave is TAVROS's rival, okay, Tavros called dibs, and with Equius being... the way that he is... he WOULD listen to Tavros and back off. And of course that just sets Dave off, and the beautiful cycle continues. Like they all kind of vaguely hate each other and need to meddle with each other, but in a way that all three of them walk away as better, healthier people.

Also the way Karkat would be like holy fucking shit, this is the most stable auspicetism ive ever seen, i mean this from the bottom of my pusher, like completely genuinely and sincerely, congratulations & dave would be like shut UP!!! 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[trans-androgyne]

hey, thank you for having and running this blog. you're doing the equivalent of gods work.

first, i'm sorry for the amounts of jerk anons you have to deal with. you literally articulate yourself very well and clearly, and still, people will find a way to twist it or not take it seriously. it reminds me of me "arguing" with terfs back in 2022 on twitter. (shudders.)

and second, how do you deal with the constant negativity? i have found myself doomscrolling the transandrophobia tag, and, well, to no ones surprise, my mental health is down the gutter. do you have any tips to deal with it? mainly with the transandrophobia in general? it is more than exhausting existing as a (gnc & enby) trans guy atm, and it's really getting to me. the thing is, I wouldn't mind it if it were non-queer bigots, but the fact it's coming from inside the community is devastating. i am more than hurt. this intense hatred for men and masculinity, queer, trans, or not, is incomprehensible to me. it never does anything good. anyone who says "i hate all men and anything masculine" is definitely going in the "yep that's either a radfem or a radfem hatchling" box. i partially understand as to why- i had a fear of men myself when i still identified as a girl, and slipped into the "all men bad. kill" side of the internet for a short while but ONLY because of this rhetoric ("you need to be afraid because there are men outside." , "men and masculinity are inherently predatory or dangerous")- but i got out of it because i saw how fucked it was eventually (thank goodness)- but nothing should ever be an excuse to excessively hate a gender or masculinity this badly. and its mostly gender essentialist bs anyways imo, so i do not understand it at all...it reminds me of people saying men/mascs cant be asexual because it's "in their nature to be sexual"- because testosterone. its hard. i just wish we all could respect each other. you're either "one of the bad bad evil men" or "noooooo not YOU. you're AFAB!! never!! youre a girl/woman in spirit!!" from my personal experience with terfs/radfems/idiots.

anyways, sorry for invading your anon space with this long rant, but i just wanted to leave this and the question. i hope you have a nice day/night, and thank you for reporting on transandrophobia as much as you do. it's sadly very much needed right now.

Thank you so much, this is such a kind ask to receive. To be honest with you: I don’t handle my mental health very well around it </3 It’s weighed on me pretty heavily these last few months especially. The things keeping me running this blog anyway are my passion for the transmasc community and lovely anons like yourself cheering me up. When it comes to trying to manage it, the most important thing for me has been finding people I can vent to about it who will understand. I’m lucky enough to have a wonderful discord server full of awesome trans people who will talk it through with me, and that’s been a life-saver. Staying offline for a bit and trying to engage in person with people who are unlikely to be transandrophobic towards you can be a nice relief. I catch myself doomscrolling constantly too, and it doesn’t feel great. If you need to set some sort of time limit on your phone even just to remind yourself not to do it, that’s helped me before and might help you too.

Having this much hatred levied at me for my identity from my own community lately has been devastating. I completely understand you. I’ve always been vocal about supporting transfems in particular, so it really hurts to see so many turn against me for speaking up. I understand how the queer community got this way, though. Antimasculinism has been an issue in queer and feminist spaces for ages. I think people are starting to notice it more and understand why it sucks and how much it negatively affects trans men and mascs. It feels like a losing battle sometimes with how much cultural feminism — the Men Bad Women Good flavor of pop feminism — has pervaded our communities and often led to very overt radical feminism that people still can’t always recognize because they don’t know anything about TERFs outside of them hating trans women. I believe the culture will start to shift soon such that people are able to recognize sexism and gender essentialism that harms all genders, and I will be doing my part to help that happen.

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

I just read a bunch of Owl House Criticism and have to say… a lot does make sense. I still rate the show very high and honestly I blame the pacing for a lot of the issues we DO have with the show. I also think people are taking this way more seriously then they should and some do the complaints feel nitpicky.

One thing a lot of people brought up is Luz’s character and how the first episode showed her casual dismissal of others and their safety occurs. Then there was a few comments on how Vee is right to call her out on running away and other things.

I don’t fully disagree. Luz fucked up big time her first episode where she brought live animals and fireworks to school. It’s just… no. I don’t deny people should have punished her for it. I vote that the Shakespeare play and the cheerleading thing aren’t worth punishment though. Because both are honestly just quirky kid things. She wanted to be cool so she did something she liked to try and impress others. They thought it was creepy and reacted to it. Good reasons for her to be kind of shoved aside by some people. The spiders and snakes though? Yikes.

But to just call her a bad character puts a nasty taste in my mouth because I think she is one that is a good character and whom I think would have been fun to explore. It’s just… she’s kind of a concept that was tried but fell flat.

I think the summer camp thing was handled badly and I would have liked to be explained why they never tried to talk to her about what a reasonable amount of creativity is in her school work. If it turns out they had attempted to do so multiple times but she never listened: the camp is probably a better idea then not. More so given her actions could have gotten her arrested. Honeslty leaning on that idea would have been interesting. Luz being told she had to go to camp or face probation or something would have been an interesting hook.

My friend said she felt therapy would have been better and yeah that’s a good point: but what if they did try and it didn’t work? What if they felt a camp was less expensive ? (Which it probably was.)

I would have liked more evidence that Luz was an outcast. I saw a lot of criticism on this because if you just look at the show face value: Luz does seem like she’s whining about a lot of stuff. Her mom turned out to be like her and only wanted her to not get bullied as Camila did in school. She could have made friends at camp. There’s just so much there that does make Luz seem like a bad person for being upset. And honestly it would be interesting to explore that to, to really pick apart the dramatic ‘me against the world’ mindset of teenagers who see themselves as outcasts. But the show is supposed to be about weirdos and found family.

So: I would actually nix Camila being a nerd. Manny was the nerdy one who loved fantasy, encouraging it in Luz. I would have had him be the one who was more open about Luz’s everything while Camila was more wary and put off. Sure, she could still laugh at the snake skin incident, but I would want her to be less accepting of the other stuff. I said that the first episode reminded me of my mom when I got my diagnosis of autism and she didn’t understand it. I would want to lean in.

Manny and Luz should have been canonly neurodivergent. Camila is neurotypical and she constantly compared her two family members because Manny could mask very well. Luz couldn’t. But I would have Camila struggle to understand that her daughter’s own brand of autism/ADHD is vastly different then her husband’s because it’s so common. I can’t tell you how many time people are like: oh you’re lying about being this cause you don’t act like BLANK.

Camila and Luz then have a conflict which makes it more understandable why Luz is willing to lie to her mother about not being at camp. Because Camila is set up to not understand Luz and possibly she would be pushing her daughter to act ‘normal’ because she doesn’t understand. Again this is inspired by my mom. I have vivid memories of her worrying about appearances and how others think of us, with her pushing me towards things I didn’t like. Some of it was out of concern for me, but there was a huge lack of understanding that drove a wedge between us for a while.

I would then have the idea that Luz is bullied be obvious. Luz would reference it or recall incidents. And I would have them be unpleasent. Being ditched by so called ‘friends’, name calling and mocking. Maybe having her things stolen or random crap dumped in her locker. I would have her be the outcast from the start. I would also address her being a POC person in a small town. Luz could have met Masha or the other two kids: I want a reason why she didn’t connect.

I grew up with almost no friends but people generally didn’t hate me. I got bullied a bit but most of the time I was ignored and happy about it. When I was a kid I was very particular and drove people off due to this. When I made friends I was with other weirdos: some of whom were alone because they were just… I can only call them very weird and slightly disturbing. One of whom was a girl who’d flip on a dime if she liked you or not.

Masha in canon is goth and is there to be the ‘cool goth kid’. I would have had them be dismissive of Liz’s fondness for the Azura series and possibly the type to mock her for liking a ‘gushy girly book’ because take it from this enby: a lot of us go through the phase of shunning anything feminine and romantic to be ‘cool’. I would have a reason why two people who could have totally been friends weren’t.

Luz would be an outcast among outcasts. Just that shade of different.

I want her to have suffered in school. I want her to have to explain that it’s true no one understood her. I want her to be able to look Vee in the face to go: you know nothing. Because Vee only sees a surface and not the full sum of it. Vee who isn’t into Azura and thus gets Masha being: oh you matured cool. I want to hang now. Who goes to Camila who is thankful her baby seems able to mask now.

I want Camila to be able to mistake Vee for her own kid because ‘oh god yes she’s finally normal’. And I want Luz to point this out. I want Luz to point out to Vee the other kids said camp was prison. And that ‘you might have liked it for some reason but can you say I would have? Masha thinks I’m a freak for liking Azura. They told me I was a loser for it.’

I want there to have been a damn good reason more then we got for WHY Luz stayed in the isles.

Not to say I don’t want Luz to feel bad about lying or anything. I just want the whole outcast thing to be more apparent. Luz feeling awful about lying and about resenting her mom who does love her versus the fact she never felt safe in the human realm is an idea worth exploring!!

[docholligay]

Do you think having such a personalized and detailed headcanon makes it harder to enjoy fic about the show/game that's written by others?

I mean sure, probably.

But unfortunately things I adore, for people named Doc who are me, fall into one of two buckets:

The character work and plot in this show are incredible, I find myself turning it around in my mind like a rotisserie chicken. I constantly discover new things about the show/book/game or the characters in it. I do not read fic about this, because why would I? Every answer I search for is in the text. I want to talk about this with someone, but about what is THERE, not what could be there. Ex: The Haunting of Hill House, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Piranesi, Bioshock:Infinite, Watership Down, Yellowjackets, among others.

The concepts of this could be amazing but are handled so fucking badly so consistently, in a shocking contrast to how INCONSISTENT the character work is, that all I want to do is steal it and make it better. All i want to do is turn it into something that doesn't suck ass when you look at it too hard. So I am going to take it SO seriously, and I am going to develop the rich inner lives for these characters that they lack, with intense backstories and families and motivation for how they got to be the person we know, or know sometimes, in certain episodes or shorts. Ex: Sailor Moon and Overwatch are the biggies here obviously, this is actually not an emotion I feel very often. I don't have intense backstories and extra-textual feelings and ideas about most of the stuff I read and watch, these two are just my Spiders Georg.

So! The odds on me being into something in the correct way to make me want to Seek Treasure Elsewhere but also I have a chill enough attitude about how the characters are that Any Dream Will Do is almost nil. I do not in ANY way mean this in a shady way, but I mostly read published adult fiction for entertainment and not fanfic. I am very picky about my fanfic. So, "plus these two new red and blue girls into Starbucks" often won't work for me, because the reasons to have Haruka and Michiru meet in a coffee shop are completely different from any of the reasons Fareeha and Angela might meet in a coffee shop, and so many of those types are archtypical plug and play stuff. Honestly, I have skated the idea of making a cheat sheet of fanon archetypes of various characters and buying a typewriter to sell 100-200 word 'quick fic' at cons with my sister. That's how common it is to use these archetypes. This is not a criticism! At all!

But, to take the two couples above, I have read so much BORING SHIT about both HM and FA that I could throw up. Lesbian couples have a lot of very milquetoast writing about them, and a lot of meet-cute which isn't really my bag.

But there are authors I love! @oathkeeper-of-tarth was and is one of the best harumichi writers out there and we don't even have all the same headcanons. The rare occasions @verbforverb decides to grace me with "Jewish Mercy I don't Have To Write" I pop a can of bubbly in the tub. And on both fields of battle @keyofjetwolf has stuff I've had bookmarked for years, and there are some things even within Rei's backstory and history that we disagree on.

Actually, to that point what I like is good writing. You can write me into believing nearly anything. There are things I believe about Amelie when I'm reading @lemon-embalmer's stuff that when I go back to my own world, aren't true, but when I'm in her world who the fuck cares, I'm having a great time. EVEN MORE to the point, I read @moonlight-frittata's stupid sun and moon lesbian League of Legends shit and I would rather shoot myslef than know ANYTHING about the game, but unfortunately she has a beautiful turn of phrase and plot flow to her work that I just....read anyway, because it is good. Fucking @tallangrycockatiel had me like 25 pages or so into a story before I was like, "OH SHIT, IS THIS SLASH??? WAIT I DON'T WANT TO READ ABOUT BOYS' LOVE!! NO!!" *hits next page* And I still could not care less about that podcast and would never listen to it, and if I did I would be massively disappointed because to my mind, her John and Arthur are the actual article, and whatever the fuck is going on in the source material can eat my dick.

So, yes, I DO think that having a very particular point of view is going to mean I back out of a story where like, "Lena stepped out of her Chelsea flat, custom leather high heels clicking against the step" sometimes, or, you know, "Haruka put down her copy of War and Peace, each meticulous note codified by a color-coded tab. Blue was for historical references to research, green for character analysis, yellow for themes, blah blah blah*" But I am actually shockingly open minded in what I will read, often to the point that I'm reading stuff from SHIT I DO NOT LIKE OR CARE ABOUT, because the quality of the writing is excellent. So, also no.

*I met someone who read books like this and I suddenly realized what the literary equivalent of 'knowing someone is a serial killer' was.

[usgsnajs]

God I can’t wait until tomorrow’s episode of secret life… it’s obviously gonna be the finale, and unlike previous seasons I watched live, I have wishes for every server member except for the previous winners to win lol

I want Cleo to win because she deserves this story arc, surviving the zombie apocalypse and turning human as a result, being the last green name, and also getting back with her ex husband lolol (just so you know, I have essays of thoughts about Cleo and Ethos character arcs this season that I cannot put it into words. Just trust me that this and Ethos sections should be a lot longer)

I want Etho to win because oh my god??? What has he been on this season??? First off, he has somehow reached higher set cat status than he did in Limited life, which I thought was impossible, but he just struggles so. hard. in the earlier sessions especially. Secondly, he plays the secret aspect of the game really well, where he almost always comes up with a fake task for him to do in addition to his actual task, and sticks with it completely. He’s just really good at the secret part of it while also hiding what he’s doing really badly, which is the best thing to watch ever. But thirdly and most importantly, the fucking…zombie apocalypse session…He failed his task, and made the ENTIRE SERVER also fail their task just because he didn’t want to give up Cleo and Grian… He jumped in front of Bdub’s arrow to protect Cleo… ‘I’m a survivor’ this ‘I’d probably run’ that, you are a liar Mr Etho Slab!! Face it, you’ve had character development since Last Life!!! Stop thinking the worst of yourself!! Also, in addition to all that, he also fits the fact that all the previous winners played the game differently than how it was intended, with the previously mentioned failing of the task, so he also deserves to win because of that.

I want Scar to win because this entire season has been him fighting against what the secret keeper pushes onto him, with him not wanting to be the villain but repeatedly getting villain related tasks, so him winning in spite of that would be so satisfying. Also the idea of Scar, who has spent previous seasons constantly fighting to make friendships, winning the season where everyone on the server hates him does something to me the vibes are just immaculate. Also also! Please let him win he’s come so close so many times 😭

I want Gem to win because Geminislay next question. lol but actually I think it would be really funny if she joined the server for the first time, killed all her friends, won, and then left. Also something something her bringing the boogeyman curse to a season that was never supposed to be cursed in that way, and then fighting her way to victory is really cool. Also also Gem is just cool so I want to see that victory

I want Impulse to win because he’s gotten so close in like almost every season before this!!! He got second last time please just let him win and go apeshit, he deserves it I think. Also last yellow??? He deserves to pop off in the final session and take the win

I want Bdubs to win because this season has been peak Bdubs allying with half the people on the server, and he deserves to win at his worst /j But seriously his perspective so far has been one of my favorites this season because of how funny he is. He spent over an episode building the world when he didn’t even need to. He was murdered by Scar when both of them were green. He has a room in the Roomies base when he’s not even part of their group. He’s so silly he deserves to murder Scar in revenge for his first death and then gloat as he wins.

I want Joel to win because he deserves to go apeshit and then not die from recklessness. I think he should be insane and murder a bunch of people while still staying alive, like Last Life but without the ending part. His base is filled with joy but he is not, and that’s hilarious to me. Please let Joel win one of these he’s come so close

I want BigB to win because out of everyone in secret life he was the one to truly take the ‘secret’ part of the title to its very max. BigB gaslighting everyone he comes into contact with for literally no reason is my favorite part of secret life lol. He should win just for that as well as having the funniest life series base ever. Also his storylines tend to get ignored by a bunch of the fandom, and while it’s definitely improved a lot this season, it still could be better, so I’m hoping he wins just so more people will watch his perspective 😭

I want Skizz to win because like BigB, he is seriously underrated. He still doesn’t have 100k!! Subscribe to him right now!! But other than that, he also deserves to win just because it’d be funny if, now that he’s lived past the third death, he promptly switched his curse as far around as possible and just won lolol. Also also the Heart Foundation has been one of the silliest groups ever, and their base was really cute while it lasted, so any of the members of that group deserve to make it far if just for that. Plus him immediately going after Tango once he got infected with boogeyman was very funny. You go king! Drag your friends down with you! In conclusion Skizz is very funny and deserves to win purely because of that as well as the underdogness of it all.

I want Tango to win because of the Heart foundation stuff I mentioned with Skizz, but also he deserves to win just so he can break his curse of always having a kinda stupid final death 😔 I think it would be really funny if he broke that curse in the coolest way possible, and then in every season after this one he immediately goes right back to silly final deaths.

(Also if a previous winner won this season again I would not be upset as all of them have storylines this season that are really good for it, I just want them to win a little less than the others)

This season has been incredible so far, and it might even end up being my favorite season yet!

[ladythornofrivia]

Cigarette Girl

Pair: Rindou x Reader

Warning: Mature Content and Adultery. If you’re under 18, I’m sorry, you can’t read this

Author’s Note: I didn’t get to do my permit test. So I’ll be doing it next month, which means I have more time to gain knowledge on it, which is great! More knowledge more confidence, right?! I'm still doing my best on writing the story. Rindou and Reader are going to meet soon. (Note: Report if someone decides to steal the synopsis and my story. And notify me. Thank you) ❤️

Chapter 1: Grenade In Her Hands

Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Anyone who goes nearby the doors or halls knows exactly what's going on. As long as they're far away--out of sight, out of mind, as people say--no one will suspect a thing.

"You're fired," the employer said, pounding his desk with his palm after ending an ugly phone call from one of your boss's regular customers. "Do you know how badly you fucked up, (y/n)? Very bad. I lost one of my favorite customers because of your half-ass job!"

"What? What do you mean I'm fired?!" you said, hands shaking frantically, yet tight grip onto her boss's desk. "Yui demanded me to take over her shift; she didn't give me enough info to handle all the process--I was doing the best I could to find help, but everyone kept saying that they're "sick"."

"Fuck me, (y/n)," your boss said, groaning in anger. "Because of your half-ass job, now every single one of the new customers aren't coming in! We had to close the store in early."

"I did my job as best as I could," you interjected. "I'm always here on time, I always take their stead. Besides, talk your employees about this--they're the ones who don't want to do the job."

"Let's see--you're constantly late, you didn't follow the rules--always fucking around. And you talk back to me, your humble manager? You got a job because of me. Your hours of fucking around have been saved because of me. And now you're going to victim blame me? I'm the only one who saves your ass."

You shook your head at his ignorance. "For the record, I didn't fuck around; those "admirable" people you favor we're the ones who fuck around. They didn't do shit when I have to cover all their shifts. They don't want to do the fucking job; they want to do the bare minimum and get paid quickly."

Your boss flicked his wrist in a dismissal and hissed between his clenched teeth. "Oh, please, (y/n), you always like to play victim--a fucking damsel-in-distress. This is real world, not a fucking high school, for fuck's sake!"

"It's true, though," you fired back. "They threatened me over the text saying that if I don't do the shift, they'll sue me."

Your boss raised his finger at you. "I don't want to hear anymore of your lies, (y/n). Go pack your things. They're in the right to sue you however they want. I don't give a fuck what happens to you. If you want to screw around, go apply to prostitution. You deserve it, you fucking pig. Go be a pig somewhere else. I have nothing else to say to you. And if I ever see you again, beating your ass is the only payment you only ever going to get from me."

Clenching your fists, your mind urged you to try to find a cup of hot coffee to splash on his face, wanting him to go blind for not taking you seriously.

But by the end, you don't want to prove them right. You just want to live in a good life with a stable job of any kind to provide for your sick parent. Your brother, however, being a pathetic adult he was--and still is--you wish nothing more but to live in a better house in a better environment with your mom, hoping she'd get better, that she can rely on you and support you unlike your sibling, whose supposed to be the one in charge. Leave his sorry ass out to whoever is going to take care of him.

With a gritted smile, you took off your apron and threw it at his face, hearing a panicked muffled sound from him as he fell off the ground with stacked boxes fell atop of him. Those heavy, stupid boxes you kept seeing every time you have a meeting with the employer has now became your ally, wishing those boxes were a little heavier than your boss's personal insults.

"Fuck you and your stupid ass, pervert, just because you didn't get good tits and cunt from me. Maybe you should be in the adult industry instead to get your annoying frustrations out. I won't expect a payment from you, stupid bastard,” you said, gathering your things at your locker to put in a box and walk out from the building to call a cab.

Dialing your old phone to relay a message to your sickly mother, someone tapped your shoulder. It's your co-worker, Aimi, with a smile on her face.

You didn't smile back, still carrying the box.

"Sorry about him and everyone else," Aimi said. "You don't deserve it." Aimi picked in her pocket and gave you a good amount of cash around ¥500,000.

You found yourself gasping. "Where did you get that?"

"I stole it from every single one of the co-worker's wallet."

"Put it back; I don't want to get blamed at. They'll sue me," you said, shoving the money back towards Aimi. "You're going to sell me out if they find you."

"Because you helped me last time, I have no other way to pay you back. You've been helpful to me, even when I'm sick or taking a day off. And the boss hasn't paid you for more than a week. You deserve to have a good payment before you leave. Besides, I'm planning on quitting, too. I have no intentions on telling them about you."

"Good luck," you said with a stiff smile by the time the taxi arrive at the side of the street.

"You, too." Aimi watched you mounted inside the cab and waved a goodbye at you as the taxi took off.

*~~*~~*

Your brother wasn't there as you reached home. You paid enough money for the taxi. At this rate, you’re thinking about a better transportation, a better and faster travel in order to save a lot of money and time.

A dreaded silence fills you every time you got home from work. A never joyful silence. It's always haunting, making you to expecting things for the worse--a real life horror movie.

Checking your phone, you expect a call from your relatives. You got none; everyone in the family want nothing to do with you; you often ask if someone in the family can take care of your sick mother in case something bad happens; your mother is too weak to travel to the hospital, so you try to find your ways as best as you could. Always making pathetic excuses about how 'Time takes up on their work' or other relations to work. Of course they didn't want your reason to be voiced out. They never wanted to hear what you're up to, what your family is up to, because whenever you call, it's always the words, “Mom needs help; she's sick, I can’t drive: I need your help to take care of Mom. Take her to the hospital. I don’t want her to go.”

When you asked your brother to help, he told to you to “fuck off”.

And none of them took it well. When you try to contact your mom’s friends, they never picked up your message, your voicemail. Everyone is enjoying their vacation and their retirement. Your mom’s friends are weird.

Funny how they always wanted help from your mother. But whenever your mother needed help, that's where they're up and gone without a second thought. What good is family and friends are for if they don't help but to stab you in the back as a gratitude in return and always making lame excuses at every chance they get the moment you speak up?

You did everything you can to support yourself. The house you're living in was quite ordinary, yet empty. Every single decoration is there, but the presence of joy and company was always lacking, and is often lacking. You try to redecorate it a few times, thinking about anything to make a soothing ambience to match the atmosphere, but nothing matches compare to what you have in mind. You ran out of alternatives.

You wanted everything back from the way it was before--before the mess, before the time you have wasted grew bitterness, you wanted it exchange with happiness and fondness to look back on. Instead, every year has grew harder and impacted greatly on your health and the hope somewhere inside your cognitive thoughts, vanished. You had friends, but all left you when they find out you aren’t rich, and that your older brother spends his time on drinking alcohol and shouting all night, disrupting the neighbors and shattering beer bottles. You protect your mom against his antics; hid her in your bedroom. Despair is your greatest enemy.

You were hoping someone is there to knock on your door and help you find a way out with your sickly mother. The last job you got fired on, was the last straw. With your lack of experience, you wanted nothing more but to commit a terrible act for you to spend money on getting your mother to a full recovery.

Being a better person, to rise above everything and everyone who has no commendable, moral act made you sick to the stomach. You wanted it to stop. Being a better person--to improve as one--seemed unreachable. Everyone in the family, even at work, never gave you a chance to improve for a better growth.

Life seemed unfair unless you're ethereally winsome, extremely wealthy and popularly unique to look at. Privileges meant everything, hard work meant nothing. If only your life is easier with money and lawyers. When you're at your worst, nobody was there to help you.

You can sue anyone who betrays you. But you decided to not go onto their level. Rising above than "civil" and "good", "benevolent" people is the only way to survive in life.

Never minding the expectations of them calling or texting back, you went upstairs on your right.

At your bed, your mom lay asleep with a heater on.

Collapsing down on your knees as your heart began to gnaw with pain. You couldn't handle the pressure anymore. With many people in the world, you're still alone and vulnerable and feeling the worst wave rumbling in your blood and body.

You wanted nothing more than to become a dust, shredded with silken blood and fractured bones.

Gathering your courage, you swept your feelings aside and put on a smile, carrying on as you lifted the plastic bag with nutritious food for her.

"Hello, Mom," you greeted with a sad smile. "I got you some food--your favorite."

Your mother stitred awake, sleepy eyes facing at you. "(y/n)," she said, breathing and yawning as you watched her stretching within stiff motion.

"I got you food," you said, placing it down.

You watched her gather the food at the table and ate every last crumb and portion, including a hot drink you ordered.

"I got fired, Mom," you said. "They didn't pay me back with money. Tried to blackmail me, too. I'm sorry, Mom. I tried my best to get into a better track on pulling myself together. But I got great news. I got the money for you to go to the doctor. We can check and see what's wrong. We can also get the medication."

Your mom splayed her hand, caressing it on the side of your face. "Don't worry, (y/n), everything will fall into place. I want you to know that."

"I hate our relatives," you sputtered with a soft weep. "I hate them. They used you and then took off--cut us off, even. They're so pathetic. Mom, I don't want you to go."

Your mom chuckled. "I'm still here."

You shook your head. "That's not what I mean. I wish Hiroto would get sick instead of you. With your kindness and loving trait, you don't deserve to get sick.”

"Your brother is having a hard time. Just ignore him."

"I can't. He's been drinking everyday. He stole the last money whenever he has none. I don't want him to come back here. He always invaded our space and always talk down on me. Why do I have a family member like him?"

Your mother shushed, embracing you. "Someday there will be someone who loves you and cares for you. You won't need me anymore."

"Everyone is a pervert, a liar and a monster."

"Not every one," your mother said. "You'll find someone special," she promised, patting your back. “I don’t want you to be helpless and hopeless if I someday were to be gone from this life.”

As she mentioned of you wanting to have someone special in your life, your heart numbed, at first, then burnt and squeezed by something regarding your past. As if you knew who. Regardless, you haven’t met anyone special just yet. Your life has been frozen since high school—work and taking care of your mother. But finding work is difficult.

As you embraced your mother, you said, "Someday, everyone who underestimate us, they'll be sorry—I just hope they’ll realize they’re in the wrong. I'll never leave you, Mom. Never."

“I know you won’t.” She kissed atop of your hairline.

With a dead-end, you have to come up with another plan to be permanently away from being under a mercy of your useless drunken brother and your self-centered relatives. Everyone wanted a shortcut, but in order to obtain shortcut of privileges, it must be earned with right and clever work.

In your life, your hands are never filled with luck and fortune, nothing but full of grenades.

After you put your mother back onto your bed, you called your other friend, and left a voicemail. "Hey, can we meet up at the café?"

*~~*~~*

He’s been there since 30 minutes past, and all he couldn’t think about but the smell of drugs and scattered pills.

"Can you get rid of the bitch?" Rindou asked Sanzu, who was polishing his expensively customized katana.

In a lazy form, Sanzu crossed his leg over the other, seeing a clear reflection of his scarred face--two diamond-shaped on each corner of his lips.

"Which bitch?"

"The one whose recently with me."

"Which one? I know you have plenty of bitches in your hands."

His lips curled in disbelief and disapproval. "Are you high?"

"No, I'm low."

Rindou rolled his eyes. "Aoi. Aoi Tanaka."

Sanzu's lulled expression grew with disgust. "That bitch? She smells like sewer rat. What do you see in her?"

"Are you going to do it or not?"

Sanzu placed his weapon down. "What's the catch?"

"I'll give you one of the expensive drinks at the club."

"No."

"No?"

"I want cash. I want more customized katana to add on my collection."

"How many?"

"Five more."

Rindou's brow flicked.

"Fine, ten!"

Rindou sighed with hands on his hips, then his hand stretched towards Sanzu for a handshake. "It's a deal."

Sanzu hit Rindou's hand instead like a high-five. Rindou frowned as Sanzu cackled like a drunk person.

"Just make sure you hide her body. If anybody suspects her missing, whether a friend or family," Rindou continued with a whisper.

"I'll get to it. Finally some action. I want to test my katana on them."

"Don't fuck this up. Or I'll tell Mikey about it you decide to be incompetent once you find her or anyone who associates her."

Sanzu released a maddening laughter. "Trust me, I won't."

“Clean your room for once. Maybe the girls will go with you when you want to flirt with them.”

Sanzu flicked his wrist in dismissal. “Yeah, mom.”

At once, Rindou quitted the room with a huge relief released from the intensity on his shoulders.

Finding another girl should be easy for Rindou. He hated sticking to the same girl for six months. No other girl could refuse his offer.

Taglist: @galactict3a @colored-tr-panels @f1yh1gh @mrssano04 @glamourkills18

[captainimprobable]

ok no but now im angry about it like. i feel the same way about this as i do when people say "I'm so OCD". Except it's weirder bc the truth is EVERYONE gets tired! So it feels kind of strange to be like "NO YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS IS A NEW LEVEL. SUPER TIRED." Its just frustrating bc when i try to talk to people how badly my sleep disorder affects me, how painful it is, how i miss so many things bc of it, how it makes me feel like i wanna die, how i cant hold down a job bc of it, they're like "uh yeah that's just being a person? we all get tired......." It's not even the being tired part actually it's more the "unable to stay awake" part. People DO NOT UNDERSTAND what it means to literally never feel awake anytime ever. I haven't felt actually awake for more than a few minutes in about 13 years. I take meds to keep me awake and i STILL need 1-3 naps a day. I constantly ruin plans bc I have to nap. I frequently sleep for 18 hours and wake up exhausted (and if one more person says "oh youre just sleeping too much" FUCK OFF!!!!!!! THAT IS NOT MY PROBLEM!!!!) Every so often I get so tired that I start to sob. My entire body hurts sometimes bc I'm so tired. I read somewhere that having a sleep disorder is just like the feeling of not sleeping for 48 hours and it's SO FUCKING TRUE. But nobody takes me seriously! Everyone thinks I'm just being dramatic! Because everyone gets tired, right?????? My sleep disorder is actively ruining my life, I'M SO TIRED and i'm so sick of being tired. And I'm so sick of people acting like I'm making it up.

[livelist]

Okay because clearly I am still upset about this.

April 23:

To Spn Con Audience: “By show of force: how many of you would consider yourself introverts?" How many extroverts? And how many bisexuals?” “I’m all three.”

April 25:

“I want to deeply apologize for misspeaking this weekend...“My clumsy intention was to wave off actually discussing my sexuality, but I badly fumbled that and [I] understand that was seen as me coming out as bisexual.”

THIS DOES NOT MAKE SENSE. Misha did not need to "wave off actually discussing [his] sexuality." He brought it up himself. He is literally just speaking at a podium, and of his own accord, announces that he is Extroverted, Introverted, and Bisexual. That is a pre-planned, pre-written statement if I have EVER heard one!!! Literally like... bisexual doesn't even make sense in that list? Its clearly a joke so he can come out in a funny way?

Like what argments even exist that can possibly explain what he meant if not "he is Extroverted, Introverted, and Bisexual"? Do you think he just stupidly thought bisexual was a word for both extroverted and introverted? Because that seems fucking impossible!!!

Why would bisexuals be in that list? Also, hes asking the crowd, meaning he literally does not need to say that he is ANY of them!! The whole and only point of asking was so that he could announce that he was bisexual!!! That is the only reason to do this little song and dance audience interaction in the first place!!

I mean, its not like he asked "How many straights? How many gays? How many bisexuals?" And then he felt weird and said "I’m all three!" That could sound more like a natural conversation topic that ended with him making an awkward joke that he thought was nonsense and actually made him sound bisexual. But he obviously did not say or intend to say that, I’m just writing fucking fanfiction to try and make any of this make sense!

Like seriously, there is no way to interpret the actions of April 23 than an authentic coming out of a bisexual actor. I cannot fathom any other interpretation. It is not a mis-speak? What was he trying to say if not that? Please, give me any crazy theory you have, I’m begging, because I have nothing.

And that brings me to April 25.

I really don't see how to interpret the combination of these actions as anything other than biphobic. Either one (1.), he thought it was appropriate to joke about coming out as bisexual, and pretend that it was real for two days, or two (2.), his statement on April 25 was a lie, he did mean to come out, and was forced, by either internalized or externalized biphobia, back into the closet.

1., I think, is overtly biphobic, because intentionally deceiving people into thinking you have come out for multiple days, using that to gain attention and therefore money, making coming out and bisexuality seem like the butt of a joke, like.

Fuck I’m just feeling again how fucking CONFUSING this shit is! There is no logical way to interpret it!!!

Occam's Razor honestly, 1. Doesn't make sense its too weird and confusing for his statement on April 23 to be a joke, lie, or misspeak.... it doesn't compute...

2. Internalized or externalized biphobia forced him back into the closet.

Honestly this is the only thing that actually makes any sense to me. Whatever has been forcing/convincing him to stay in the closet for decades forced/convinced him to walk it back (poorly).

I honestly honestly hate to do this because I really try to take people at their word as much as possible. I give people the benefit of the doubt. And ESPECIALLY when it comes to sexuality. I really believe that we must defer to what they call themselves, because even if they will change their minds one day, I believe that questioning them or invalidating how they define themselves in the moment does more harm than good. Or, in simpler terms, I think that people getting constantly questioned about their sexuality usually makes it harder for them to figure it out themselves.

But also. This is a middle aged man, a public and loud supporter of queer people, and he knows he not only has a specific presence within that community, he knows what his fans *think* about his sexuality. (Whether or not the fans are problematic for that is a matter for a different time.) So forgive me if I feel I should hold him to a higher standard when he makes statements regarding his sexuality.

But this isn't a high standard.

The incredibly low bar he couldn't manage to cross?

Don't authentically come out and then take it back two days later

I didn't even think I had to make a fucking bar for that!!!

It's genuinely so hard to even wrap my mind around what the fuck happened here! What is he claiming happened? "Misspeak"?!?!

Okay. I’m sorry. It's so hard to be clear on this issue because it just genuinely doesn't make sense. But I hope I made it a slightly bit more clear why it doesn't make sense? And seriously, I need answers. At least give me a better lie so I can sleep better at night.

I would really care so little if he was bisexual if it wasnt for the fact that he SAID HE WAS ffs I’m out I hope he and his wife and kids are very happy

[gothmiqote]

odds for the ship game -- for WoL/Estinien or your Azem ship!

gonna do wolstinien for this one & delegate the other one for hythazemet ~

under a cut because length lol & also ig heads up for spoilers of like. the whole plot kinda fhgjj idk things get mentioned that happen up to EW & also some not-safe content lmao

Is your muse a romantic? Do they dream of love and marriage?

Yes? Maybe? Kind of? Varha has this weirdly domestic side that she's actually pretty comfortable with (likely wouldn't appreciate having this pointed out, though), so there's potential for her to wander down this route of thoughts. Realistically though I think her attachment issues would end up freaking her out too badly to seriously consider anything legally permanent. That's not to say it's off the table in the future or anything, but it's a very distant notion & she's not going to come to the conclusion that she's also able to be the one who initiates.

(Another thing to factor in here is that neither of them are the type of people to would even be thinking of the 'let's sign this for tax purposes'-type scenarios. Varha is considerably better about money & related bureaucratic life things than Estinien 'lost his company credit card privileges in record time' Varlineau, but she still lacks any foresight around planning for her future beyond next week.)

She will react favourably to the type of romantic gestures he does do, though. Like he's not subjecting her to the objective torture of having someone go 'hey I wrote this song about you :)' before they publicly serenade you acapella style, thank the fucking Twelve for that, there's not a version of her that has a strong enough poker face to take it. She melts when he remembers small likes/dislikes or takes note of something she never even bothered to verbalize in the first place. She's not a shy person, she can flick the switch into an affectionate mood pretty damn quick with the right incentive, she's just maybe not the most in-touch with her emotions all the time & sometimes needs to be coaxed.

At the end of the day, she's pretty sure that Estinien is her person. When she says she feels content with him, it's the farthest thing from 'settling' despite the connotations of the phrase. She's perfected the art of putting up a more secure & confident front, but in truth, she's gone through the bulk of her life feeling transient in her own and temporary in the lives of people around her. As the Warrior of Light, she's not only good enough--she's capable of exceeding external expectations. As herself? Not as much. She hasn't quite outgrown the deep feeling of never being anyone's favourite, of constantly being the tag along with her siblings growing up. She tries too hard to be something loud & useful & fundamentally unforgettable, and it's a knife to her side every time she falls back into acting with that desire in mind.

Estinien has been one of an exceptionally small number of people who have never added to the feeling, intentionally or not. She's not sure if it's right to be attracted to someone for the way they make you feel, if it's something that feels that selfish (in her mind). But he's obstinate enough that she knows he wouldn't have bothered to even take the chance with her if he didn't want to be there. She thinks, oddly, that part of the reason she's able to believe his motivations is the fact that he spent so long with a deliberate distance between them. It left her with less time to perform, and less time to ruminate on her hidden self-worth problems. Whatever the reason, she knows that she's never felt this way with anyone else, and no one else has cared enough to even give her that time to explore that internally. The wariness she held towards herself was more or less melted away when she was faced with how good she actually felt for once. There's a reason she didn't mind when the verbalized declarations of love started slipping out after a few months.

Is your muse good at kissing? Are they experienced?

Very good kisser.

Most people tend to assume Varha's far more experienced than she actually is for this reason--in reality, she's had a relatively small number of sexual partners, she just thinks kissing is fun & generally won't take much convincing for making out. She's particularly prone to this after a couple drinks, and sharing is caring when she's not in a serious relationship. It's hot and intimate without the full commitment of getting naked with someone & cleaning off afterwards, and it helps that she's bringing a public + outdoor sex kink to the table--even if things don't escalate to that point, the need for privacy is pretty small.

The side of her brain that makes her give in to her more mischievous bastard impulses makes kissing her #1 type of foreplay. She's able to keep herself at a pretty consistent level of arousal for a prolonged period of time while watching her partner completely come undone when she slides her tongue into their mouth in all the right ways. This is a dangerous game to play with Estinien, who is well fucking aware she's being an insufferable tease & will happily delay her own gratification at his expense. Unless he decides to haul her off to escalate things properly, she's about to spend her immediate future doing everything she possibly can to wind him up with her lips & indulgently wandering hands.

Thancred is the only other Scion to have been on the receiving end of one of her infamously white-hot kisses. It was a one-time thing, fuelled by an unholy amount of wine but was nonetheless an enjoyable encounter. (She thinks she may or may not have also done the same with Y'shtola, but that one's a far foggier memory, and she's not 100% sure it actually happened. Y'shtola doesn't help in solving the mystery, but Varha suspects this is more about Y'shtola possessing the same bastard instincts she has, and she also doesn't remember much of anything.)

Overall, she's pretty lax as long as she clicks well with someone & they're willing.

Is your muse comfortable with public displays of affection? 

To a point.

She likes touching a lot. Before now, she actually spent a fair bit of time alone. Post-Calamity, pre-Scion Varha spent her time as a travelling mercenary of sorts, taking on a string of what was essentially risky contract work and never establishing roots anywhere. She's competent when it comes to working a room, which often gives the illusion that she has more friends than she actually does. In reality, she really didn't have anyone, and predictably this led to (unconscious) touch starvation. If she's got the green light from someone she considers a friend, she's content to lean against them or sit close. One might count the physical contact from fighting as some sort of mitigation here (and as far as I remember, it actually can release some of the same chemicals in your brain as positive touch so this probably isn't too far off), but even if that was the case, it wasn't anywhere near enough. While she occasionally did engage in casual sex, the potential emotional intimacy it could lead to (or even a facsimile of the feelings) made her too uncomfortable to take care of her lack of physicality that way, which unfortunately compounded her predicament.

After spending so much time living this way, it's something she unconsciously seeks now that she's got access to it. And while his own personal history doesn't exactly match her own, there are enough similarities in the isolation to put them on fairly even ground.

Varha's caveat for pda is that it has to feel natural. She's extremely averse to anything that reads as 'fake' or trying too hard to win her attention. Something can be very obviously demonstrative, but it can't feel forced, whether the act is platonic or romantic. For most of ARR, she was actually seen as someone who could be pretty distant & cool (not an incorrect read. The walls were very, very real at the time.), and it's unfortunate that it took something drastic like the Waking Sands massacre for them to start coming down ("Wait, these people actively like me? And were concerned?"-style revelations). Over time though, it became apparent that she was actually open to hugs and kind touches, she simply wasn't a) aware that this was a something available to her and b) aware that she wanted or even needed them. She's still pretty quick to fire off a witty remark before baring her heart to anyone (talking honestly is... another beast entirely, but she readily accepts hugs & finds herself willingly sharing too-small seating areas just for the novelty of body contact.

Romantic contact operates pretty similarly. Not that she'd subject herself to seeing someone who felt the need to do a whole song & dance about how in love with her they were, she's still damn glad that's not Estinien's style in the slightest. She likes easy things--holding hands, or leaning against him if they're standing (or he's sitting; that height difference forces creativity on occasion). Hell, she's even more than happy to make herself at home on his lap in casual settings without caring who might be around. They're both incredibly blasé about this sort of thing; any attempts at friendly teasing from the Scions when they became an official 'item' fell comically flat. You definitely won't be hearing any sappy confessions of affection, but it's so obvious that they automatically gravitate toward each other regardless of most social situations.

For his part, Estinien usually likes to have his hand at least resting on her in come capacity. He's got a few draconic quirks leftover from Nidhogg, and this can manifest in some slightly possessive tendencies. Honestly, she likes it. It's nowhere near a level where it would impede her freedoms, but enough to make her feel like he's actually proud of outwardly signalling how he feels about her. She loves how casually he does it; of course she can expect him to automatically draw an arm around her shoulders if she joins him on a seat, why would he think twice about drawing attention to the fact that they're together?

It's not that he needs to be on her at all times or anything, he just... deeply prefers it, that's all. It helps that she's pretty tactile. He's been known to just sort of appear at her side at social gatherings, especially if there's any sort of crowd around her. He's not really trying to be menacing about it, and if she was irritated by it, he is capable of loosening up & finding something else to do (it doesn't happen often, but there have been times when she's needed some breathing room for whatever reason). He definitely doesn't consider himself the clingy type, and if he occasionally orchestrates it so that the Scions somehow end up short a sofa cushion & she simply has to get comfortable in his lap for a casual evening gathering with friends, no one says a word.

He's also got a habit of making small adjustments to her person if she's close enough--fixing a slightly off-center necklace, moving a piece of loose hair, that sort of thing & it's almost always done without him really realizing. This one comes with more exclusivity; she doesn't typically tolerate fussing from anyone else. She'd find it annoying if it were someone else's hand, but when he does it, it has a borderline meditative quality. Once again, pointing this out will lead to an interaction that features both of them shrugging & looking at you like you've grown a second head. They're comfortable with each other and know where the boundaries are, no, they're not concerned about holding up any type of reputation, what an odd thing to say.

They've got no problem kissing in public either, but she finds that as her name & face start becoming more recognizable, people start to get more annoying about her personal life. Plus, while she loves outdoor sex & the risk of being caught, it sort of loses the excitement when the risk factor essentially morphs into a guarantee.

This falls apart when you get liquor involved. They know how to pace themselves, but they also both like to indulge, especially among friends. After a certain amount of wine, it's not uncommon to see his arm tighten around her waist as he starts to press his face into the crook of her neck, leaving kisses that steadily amp up in intensity while she tries to carry on a conversation. Sometimes she'll play the same game, but it's more likely that she simply gets more touchy, draping herself on him in increasingly suggestive ways until one of them finally decides it's time to bid everyone a good night.

Is your muse the big spoon or the little spoon?

Small spoon, which has more to do with how ridiculous she would feel in the opposite role.

Estinien is nearly two feet taller than Varha, despite the fact that she's actually considered relatively tall herself for a Miqo'te woman & usually wears some sort of heel, even if she's dressing for combat. She's tried to be the big spoon before, and it lasted maybe a solid ten minutes before she had to re-adjust. Also, twelve forbid he rolls on her arm in the middle of the night; waking up with pins & needles would be an understatement. He's not bulky, but he's still significantly larger (& by extension, heavier) than she is. So she typically ends up the little spoon--she's an excellent size for holding. He's pretty partial to using her thighs as a pillow during the occasional afternoon nap, dozing off while she runs her fingers through his hair.

In bed, they usually prefer some variation of him on his back and she just sort of figures herself out around him, or facing each other. She likes being able to tuck into his chest, facing away from the world with their arms around each other & legs tangled up under the sheets. He's a cuddler (no surprise there), and definitely sleeps significantly better when they share a bed.

On the other hand, she finds that the quality of her sleep dropped pretty drastically during SHB. Partly because of the cold empty bed, yes (they might not have actually openly laid out what they were to each other before her trip to the First, but they'd spent the night together "by accident" enough times before that to start developing habits), but because of the events she was experiencing. She was always prone to having some vivid dreams, and they got dialled up to eleven after, morphing into something legitimately terrifying. She's at least moderately grateful that she doesn't wake up screaming, but she does jolt awake pretty violently & getting back to sleep after can be a task. It's made significantly easier if she's got a warm, solid body to curl back into & someone who wakes up to make sure she's alright.

Is your muse attracted to any features in particular?

They're both on Team Ass in the ongoing ass vs. tits debate. Varha is pretty shameless about it too. Zero effort to hide any appreciation for the way his thighs flex in his leathers. She's less inclined towards giving verbal compliments, but her thoughts read pretty clearly on her face. Estinien has more decorum by a margin, and by that I mean he doesn't really do the frequent appreciative staring she does (though, there is a certain look he gets in his eye that signals a long night is on the horizon for her), but he will dole out some lightning-quick "compliments" in her ear, sometimes paired with a sneaky ass-grab.

Outside of that, he (of course) loves the entire expanse of her body, but he's consistently drawn to the general area of her neck/collarbones/breasts, the latter becoming more of a focal point after an impulsive decision to get both nipples pierced sometime after EW. It was a more than welcome surprise after being apart for a few months. She's got a (predictable but understandable) weakness for his hands. Skilled, strong instruments calloused & scarred from years of using a lance, she's memorized every crease & scar. Speaking of scars, it's probably another obvious choice, but she can't help wanting to run her fingers, lips & tongue over his. Estinien's collection is more impressive than hers, sporting reminders of Nidhogg on each arm, and they've become natural resting places in her explorations of him.

Have their partners been mostly male, mostly female, or evenly split? 

Varha can count her partners on both hands with fingers to spare at the end of her list. She's not unfamiliar with women, but her past encounters tend to skew male. It's less to do with any real preference and more just a reflection on who was willing & who had her attention at the time. Estinien's history is likely an inverse slant with a similar ratio.

Where is your muse most sensitive? 

Feel like most Miqo'te can probably count the base of the tail as an erogenous zone. She's not super complicated beyond that, though. Biting down on her trapezius will net a pretty intense reaction, but you can probably evoke something similar just by leaving the same type of marks elsewhere on her neck.

Would your muse ever tempt their partner, e.g. flirting, wearing tight/sexy clothing?

Yes, yes & yes. She typically likes to wear things that are short & show plenty of leg even if she's not trying to be a menace. Upping the ante & hiking up her skirt a bit more isn't a problem. She knows her body well, and knows that she's objectively attractive. She's aware of all the best angles for her backside (but likes to pretend she isn't posing whatsoever). She's surprisingly pretty good about not "borrowing" clothes that don't belong to her, but loves how she looks in lingerie & one of his button-ups. But nothing really beats the pure simplicity of entering a room fresh out of the bath & dropping her towel in his line of sight. She's comfortable being nude, so the nonchalance of the act is honestly more what gets him than anything else.

Flirting, in Varha's opinion, is probably one of the most entertaining pastimes known to civilization. She's quick with double-entendres & some pretty loaded implications. She's also fond of suggestive touches or 'conveniently' brushing up against him. Basically, if she sees an opening to make it known that she's angling for something, she'll take it.

Does your muse leave hickies? Do they ask for them?

She loves to be bitten. Which is fantastic, given that he very much likes to bite. It's never really been something she's asked for with words, and the first time he suck his teeth into the side of her neck was a chance taken without asking, but there was no question that it was something that really did it for her. It's also a good thing she enjoys seeing the bruising afterwards too; Estinien isn't particularly gentle about it (surprisingly this actually doesn't have anything to do with the Dragon-like qualities he still possesses--he's just always been that way).

She can definitely get a bit bitey herself, but it's not as much of a need for her like it is for him. She's more likely to leave nail marks behind instead of hickies, though this may be at least partially a product of their positioning from the size difference.

There's definitely a part of her that likes it when you can see the marks on her neck past her shirt collar. Her favourites are always in a spot where they just peek out enough to be spotted, but she's not going to complain if they're higher or lower. She also loves it when he marks up her hips and thighs in similar ways, although those usually stay entirely hidden from public view. It's more or less a given that she's going to have some visual evidence of him on her body any time they hook up.

Has your muse reached first/second/third base? Home run? 

Well. Based on the rest of the questions. Yes.

Would your muse ever send a sexual text message? Would they send pictures?

(I have no idea if this is even possible in-universe but let's pretend it is for the sake of speculation.)

Probably. Maybe nothing in writing--she would do a passable job if she tried, but it's not really her thing. Pictures, though? I can definitely see her taking the time to set up the timer on the phone & have a mini-boudoir shoot with herself for this exact reason. Like I said, she's aware of what she looks like and knows what parts of her body he enjoys. & everyone knows a picture is worth 1000 words. To be honest, it would probably get the message across faster than any written words. I do feel like this would definitely be a 'use with caution' move, though; it's not so much a tease as it would be considered an immediate invitation.

Is your muse the type to discuss their sex life or sexual prowess with others?

If it came up, she has no problems participating in a conversation. She's also comfortable answering select questions, but there's a limit. Varha won't be sitting there offering up intense details of her latest sexual encounter without notice. She's fine if people know she has sex & know who she's with, but doesn't really want to get into it past that. Basically yes, but also, it's literally no one's business.

How interested is your muse in sex and sexual activity?

Part of the reason she was fine with not having a ton of casual sex over the years comes from being content with just getting herself off between encounters. She's got maybe a slightly above-average sex drive, but that can be taken care of solo. She's responsive, though. Estinien has a significantly higher sex drive, & it doesn't take much for her to match that

asks.

[2n2n]

What do you think about terukane?

Nothing as a romantic or sexual relationship ... it's funny neither Aoi nor Akane like him. He is so swag to everyone but them, the people he is most attached to or interested in, and that is incredibly funny to write in for your central hot stuff generic blond-haired-blue-eyed-tall bishie. Like, he's a total flop, actually. Dripping with rizz to the student populace. And for what? This is possibly the single funniest thing about Teru and elevates him as a character to me. If you give him what he wants he becomes simple, what, a straightforward blond-blue-eyed hot bishie with a hot gf and hot bf? That's incredibly boring!!! Teru should stay bottom rung.

I like what Akane is to Teru, in a non-shipping sense I find their dynamic endearing-- which is that Akane is... GENUINELY so pure of heart, patient, and kind, that EVEN THOUGH Teru is such a abysmal and socially messed up person (due to his upbringing, out of his control!), he extends a lot of grace towards him and can't actually meaningfully shut him out or leave him hanging (eeeven though Teru attacks him, terrorizes him, pushes his buttons!!! BY ALL MEANS DESERVES TO BE CUT OUT--!). Akane, OF ALL PEOPLE, probably knows Teru the best, and gets to see the most sides of him, including the worst... which is, why and how he knows Teru is Not A Good Person, But Also, Pitiable And Unfortunate, and kind of doing his 'best' with how broken he is. Teru's a loser-- really! He has no friends!! He does everything for his family, and he's constantly lying to them (because they might not 'like' the 'real Teru'). He's a brocon whos brother isn't even that attached to him, who is outgrowing him!! It's sad LOL. Akane as a friend and comrade is like his consolation prize....

But I do think the Point of them is that both of them actually have different 'loyalties' you could say-- Akane would Throw Teru Down A Pit for Aoi, and, Teru would Throw Akane Down a Pit for his family--! They both KNOW they aren't each other's main priority! They're just 'assets'. HOWEVER, doing so would hurt Teru incredibly badly, which makes it interesting. I'd like to see Teru's attachment to Akane challenged, I'd like to see him have to make a decision which is bad for Akane but good for someone Teru loves... I would like to see his raw allegiances tested. I don't think Teru really consciously 'thinks' about how precious Akane is to him, or how that is his most intimate social bond? I think Teru would be a mess without Akane, I think he would feel the space he left behind forever, if Teru let something happen to him. I'm not sure when another person will ever know Teru's many sides so well. Teru could probably just, suck it up and accept he's not the kind of person who has things like that, and it was a fluke incidence of having it anyway...

My only 'real' Teru ship is Teru x Tiara HAHAHA, he certainly SIMPs for her desperately, and she's a very capable, brash girl... while Kou is useless, Tiara is not, I think she could totally wrestle all of the truths out of Teru one day, and could actually see his pathetic sides. She's stubborn and confident enough to slap him around too, he needs that HAHAHA. She feels kind of perfectly designed for him...

In a way ig Terukane feels like your typical "contentious yaoi with undercurrent of appreciation, we compete for the same girl, imagine if we could both fuck her, and maybe we have some weird tension lol" situation. I do think AidaIro enjoy it for what it is at many angles, and they like to play with it by making Akane Teru's servant and stuff in AU...I categorize it as " fujo bait" (for me that isn't derogatory). I genuinely think its only purpose is a kind of cheeky gag porno at best fkgl;jgklfgkhfk; I cannot take it seriously. I feel the worst for Aoi in the situation though, I really don't think she's attracted to Teru at ALL, but Teru is coercion aligned so... maybe sensei thinks about things I don't want to, lol.

Oh I guess as always I disapprove of when girls in dynamics are disregarded or written out in ships due to inconvenience, so any Terukane dynamic that just pretends Aoi isn't there or that Akane doesn't love her sucks ass. Akane and Aoi mean a lot to sensei, clearly-- !! They LOVE them, they pre-date the rest of the manga's debut!!! Aoi expresses some very poignant things in her story that feel very personal. The least anyone can do is involve her in the threesome--! she is essential!

[aetheternity]

If you’re making a butchered character roundup, Venti needs to be at the top. The fandom takes this deeply traumatized kind playful and free-spirited god who loves his lost friend, his nation and his people, and has saved Mondstadt from Decarabian, Durin, Ursa the Drake, The Lawrence clan, and Stormterror- to “ehe useless drunkard who can’t take anything seriously” And they call Barbara dense 🙄

Everyone on my page knows Venti is my baby but I'll be honest if I really talked about how badly the fandom treats him I'd never shut up. You can always tell the difference between Venti stans and fanon Venti stans.

Also Also I'm gonna say it: Venti being an alcoholic really isn't funny. I don't really like how it's handled in game and I don't like how the fandom acts like it's so tee hee funny funny. Like no he's drinking his feelings whenever he has the mora to do so or whenever he can sneak a glass. Poor baby stays smiling and I just wonder how many nights he's spent sobbing his eyes out with a bottle in hand because constantly being the happy go lucky person can not possibly stay when he's truly alone with his thoughts.

And another thing about his lost friend the only time I ever see anyone bring him up is to debate that he was fifteen. God forbid we talk about how deeply pained and how influential this beautiful person must have been to Venti for him to recreate his body exactly and then live the rest of his life making sure people never forget this person who he loved with all of his heart. But yeah sure let's start another stupid age debate that holds zero water because Venti is his own person no matter if he recreated his friends body or not.

And I find it extremely uncomfortable how the fandom seems to think he just took over his friends dead corpse and has been animating the thing for who even knows how long. Like do they realize how fucked up that is??

Not to mention the blatant disregard for Venti's incredibly soft heart. He saved Traveler's life despite knowing nothing about them outside of they stole anemo power from the seven and then disrupted his talk with Dvalin. He freed Stanley from the turmoil of carrying his friends soul along with him everywhere. He gave Dvalin, Mondstadt and Vanessa freedom, He created an entire city for his people to populate in, He calls his people his children. He's honestly the sweetest guy and anyone would be so lucky to have a Venti in their life.

People never talk about all of the good the archons have done for their nations and themselves outside of Nahida and it makes my blood boil. It's always "they didn't tell Traveler about their sibling!" Like it does actually make perfect sense that Nahida is the only one with actual information you dumbasses!! Nahida has a link to what is basically Teyvat's database! What do the other archons have their own SIGHT. Venti was probably asleep when the sibling came through his nation, I have no idea what Zhongli might have been doing and Ei wasn't even paying attention to her goddammed nation! She had a puppet running the show.

Let me stop ranting because I'm already starting to shake again. I just wish this fandom didn't look at everything at face value. I want more people to see the Venti that me and other Venti stans have fallen in love with. He deserves so much. Like most people don't even fully understand why Venti doesn't run his nation even though he EXPLAINS IT TO THE TRAVELER IN GAME.

Ugggghhh ok I'm done.

[localguy2]

I've watched the first 7 episodes of Dragons Rising and while yes I haven't finished it I have so much to say.

First of all, the animation, holy fuck the animation looks so good, and here I thought that it couldn't get better than Crystalized's animation.

The fight scenes are once again, incredible, standard with Wildbrain's animation, the set pieces and backgrounds and just everything is so incredibe and including the Ninja powers & Spinjitzu, which may I add both look absolutely gorgeous.

Wildbrain has taken it to the next level, so amazing job to them.

Arin and Sora and Riyu.

Fuck me i love them already so much-

poor Sora got treated so badly, she reminds me of Nya when she was still figuring out her powers, she's frustrated of herself and feels responsible for the Photacs despite it not really being her fault, she was still young when she made them and the Imperium used her technology for things she resented can't wait to see where she goes next.

Arin.

I don't even know what to say, he's just so damn loveable, it broke my heart to see him ask the Cloud Kingdom writers to bring his parents back, because despite being at least a bit more mature and skilled, he's still just a kid at the end of the day, and that scene with him in Imperium when he finds that group of kids like is just... Fuck man, he literally says he feels so seen, he saw people sorta like him but that was also taken away with how they immediately started talking about serving the Imperium Claws, such a good character and I'm hyped to see what they do with him.

Riyu.

Little dragon baby, that's all I'm gonna say, you just can't hate on him, are you seriously going to pick a fight with a little guy like that?

Okay now, old team members.

Finally, we got actual RGB siblings content, not like a few seconds worth of interaction, and hell it's really good as well.

They just take the piss at each other and mess around, I especially like the scene in the Cloud Kingdom archives, and the one on the new bounty where Sora explains how Arin told a barber to give him "The Zane", only for Kai to interject and tell Arin to get "The Kai", it's such a fun scene.

Nya is badass as always, great to see, I especially love how she's respected by the craglings to the point that their leader takes her word for a lot of stuff.

Kai has taken a more responsible role while still being himself, which I love so much because he's being serious while also being the dumbest guy alive

And Lloyd is well, Lloyd! He's just chilling and I'm happy that not all focus is on him, actually that brings me to another the point, the show doesn't really focus on 1 character all that often, it keeps changing POVs constantly and it's really nice, props to them.

Sidenote: this scene... Ugh man it hits...

Lloyd is so surprised by this, and the kids coming along to explain it is just uhhhh I love it.

Finally, dialogue, lore and the humor.

One of my biggest gripes with Ninjago from SotFS to Crystalized is was that it was no longer a story with some elements of comedy, rather it was a comedy with a story.

It still told really good stories don't get me wrong, but the comedy just didn't land most of the time, and that sorta unintentionally affected the story as well, it felt too childish and while Ninjago is a kids show, the jokes were just too on the nose sometimes.

But, with Dragons Rising?

Haha, NOPE!

I love the comedy here, it's so goofy and fun at times but it's never on the nose, I found myself constantly smiling when they joke about something, the gags are aimed at kids and adults as well, and it shows.

This scene for example.

This is such a ridiculous and goofy gag I can't help but smile each time I see it, and the series keeps this type of humor up the whole time, it's fantastic!

The lore.

Jesus man I love the world they've built, it's so good and you really feel the sheer diversity and verity of the Crossroads, you really get a feel for it.

It basically screaming: The Merge displaced so many many people, which is everyone is welcome here regardless of what you are, Nindriod, Frog, serpentine, Human, anything! You're accepted here.

And I think that's lovely.

And for the Dialogue, it's excellent.

It reveals what you need to know most of the time using Flashbacks, and these flashbacks are nice as well.

The dialogue isn't boring, not at all, even if it's a small comment and it feels really fitting most of the the time thankfully.

Now, the only issue I have with DR is potentially the pacing, but I literally don't have it in me to blame the predoucers.

This is the first time this team has tried writing 22 minutes long episodes, and they have done an absolutely spectacular job at that so far.

Remember, this team is used to writing 11 minute episodes only, so you could imagine how challenging it was for them to write a 22 minute episode.

And the best part is, they pulled it off almost flawlessly, they hit perfectly with the humor, world building, lore and just everything, seriously amazing job to these guys!

So overall, Dragons Rising Part 1 so far is absolutely awesome, I still haven 3 more episodes and I honestly can't wait to finish them, I'm so excited for part 2 and I hope yall are as well.

[toxi-works-at-culvers]

What’s your opinion on the recent lore drop in regards to the leak to the upcoming Tales of the Pizzaplex book? The Fnaf 4 stuff?

oh man i absolutely hate it. i've done a whole massive rant on it on my discord but i'll try to summarize it in a more logical way LOL

so for one, it is entirely unnecessary and kind of retroactively ruins the 4th game's impact. the nightmares don't NEED some kind of scientific logical explanation? nightmare is in their name, they're nightmares that aren't real. it should be self-explanatory and i'm not sure why it was thought that they needed to be explained (especially when there's illusion discs right there if they really wanted an explanation that badly) but it's kind of been an issue with fnaf for a long time - all the paranormal stuff is just gone for some reason, and i don't understand what the need is for everything to be sci-fi??? i heard someone else say this, but fear of the unknown is very much a real thing. and it stops being scary when it's overexplained and reduced to some random science experiment.

and then there's what they did to william. i don't know who wrote dittophobia but there is no way in hell they understand or even care about his character, or maybe they straight up hate him. like yes, we've established he's a villain and kills children. but kidnapping? experimenting? FEAR GAS? what does this actually add to his character? it's like they're just trying to make him as evil as possible without any regard for 1. what actually makes an interesting villain and 2. how he's actually portrayed! he loved kids, why the hell else would he agree to open fredbear's? even in the books he supposedly put the kids to sleep before killing them so they didn't feel it, so EVEN WITH how he's portrayed in the books i don't think he would do that kind of thing!

(this got kind of long the rest is under the cut)

i feel like this kind of goes with all the villains in the fnaf series at this point (william, vanny, mimic): all of their potential is constantly getting squandered. you saw how hard they had to backpedal on william being burntrap, and how vanny was hardly even a threat, and mimic came outta nowhere if you didn't read the books (which most people don't). i feel like at its core fnaf is a tragedy, not some goofy ahh sci-fi shit. william COULD be a tragic villain, a guy who lost his marbles after his kids died, and i feel like that's really the best angle to take for his character! but most of all - they've kind of turned william's character into a joke at this point. he's not a threat, he's just fucking ridiculous because how can you take him seriously if he's just a one-note pure-evil villain in a cartoonishly goofy and over the top mad scientist way who's just evil for the hell of it!

and then there's the fact that there isn't even a mention of other already existing characters. who the fuck is rory?? where's CC and michael? why the hell is it implied william purposefully made the bite of 83 happen but then there was no mention of CC or michael. like at some point you have to wonder if whoever is writing these just straight up hates the main games (because if this isn't supposed to be tied back to the lore… then why is it advertised like that). why are they utilizing william but no one else? could they not come up with a better antagonist, or better yet, leave this unnecessary story out??

one thing that's going to be awful i think is how the fandom perceives this story. i've already seen sooo many awful takes about this story and, in turn, the rest of the lore too. like midnight motorist is just about afton kidnapping kids?? most of the fandom has already hated william but now he's kind of just. even more of a punching bag than before, so good fuckin luck to those of us who actually like him and think he's an interesting character! as well as fnaf 4… it just defeats the purpose of the nightmares as a whole, and they're not nearly as impactful or interesting as they would be if they were either a personification of michael's guilt OR cc's fears.

in my honest opinion there was no reason for this story to be written in the first place. and it's a dumb, convoluted idea. lmao

[argentumcor]

Jurassic World Dominion and the Failure to Understand the Themes of Jurassic Park

That's right. Jurassic Park has themes. Crichton has been accused of constantly rewriting Frankenstein, which isn't quite true- State of Fear is not that; I recommend that book if you're in the mood for something that makes fun of the spirit of our age in a delightfully mean way. The movies changed a lot but they maintained his core themes pretty well- until Dominion, Fallen Kingdom's, uh, narrative incoherence aside (should have been about Owen, not Claire again).

What are the themes of Jurassic Park? In no particular order and probably not exhaustive:

Science cannot solve every problem.

Man is very bad at being God and when we try, people die horribly.

Humanity is not capable of understanding, let alone controlling, complex systems, and needs to respect these facts.

Nature is mean.

Materialism has made for a really shitty ethics system, to say the least.

You can quibble, but Crichton and the JP movies aren't subtle. It was brilliant to make Ian Malcom so much to take personally, and someone who likes to say "I told you so" too much to take action, because he is right a lot but is clearly not an author's pet and has the moral flaw of not acting before bad things happen.

Jurassic World has a lot of flaws as a follow-up, but it imperfectly maintains these themes until Dominion, where it precedes to blow them up. The owners of Jurassic World can't help to keep dabbling in forces they can't understand and the raptors are still dangerous and smart and not something to toy with. It doesn't take a lot for the park to go to hell really fast.

The first part of Fallen Kingdom is dumb. Claire is not the sort of character who would go off to care about "dinosaur rights", which was deeply stupid, and all her big and pretty well executed character development happened in the first movie. It should have been Owen's story, with them being together and him getting talked into going back to get the dinosaur he has an emotional connection with.

The part with the little girl, Maisie, is more interesting and fits the themes better. It comes to light she is a clone of old man Lockwood's daughter, who passed away young, and that Hammond split off from Lockwood (no relation to the young handsome ghost hunter hero) because he saw this as an abomination. Which it is. Maisie herself is not an abomination- she's a person- but her conception was.

Maisie was created as an object. Her 'grandfather' wanted to defy death and bring his daughter back to life. He did not want Maisie; he wanted his daughter. That he might have grown to love Maisie as herself does not negate what his goal was. It's twisted. From the moment of her conception, she was treated as an object- the same as the dinosaurs, hence her sympathy for them (Owen and Claire still should have told her letting them out was really stupid and wrong, because it was; people died). The process to create Maisie and the Indoraptor showed no respect for the natural order.

Now we come to Dominion.

Humanity has been mucking around with forces beyond its ken again, using a materialistic ethical framework that has gone badly wrong again and is going to get worse. Locusts, you imbeciles...the people who advised the use of fucking locusts must have been the products of a post-modern educational system.

Of course, Dr. Wu in his newfound and much, much belated ethical torment concludes he can fix this mistake of genetic manipulation with even more genetic manipulation. Super easy, barely an inconvenience (seriously, it was harder to flip the circuit breakers in Jurassic Park than sort out this locust mess).

Do you know how they sorted out Jurassic Park's mistakes of genetic manipulation in the book? They firebombed it. Because its creation was hubris of the highest order and its hazard was incalculable. It needed to be eradicated. And it still didn't solve the problem, because the raptors got off the island (and started spreading a mysterious disease). Science cannot solve every problem. Indeed, humanity cannot solve every problem. Some things are beyond our control, no matter how much we try.

My theory is that in 2022, the themes of Jurassic Park were...disallowed by the Hollywood zeitgeist for multiple reasons. The very big one, occurring during filming, was the pandemic. To say that something like a plague of locusts could not be solved by science would be...a message that would not be allowed. I have no idea if there were rewrites. Also it is long disallowed to find materialistic ethics systems wanting, though these days I feel entertainment dares to dabble in the shallow end of that.

The thing that really gets me about Dominion is the retcon of Maisie's origin, or rather the motives for her origin. Her mother (genetic twin sister) had her made...to be able to give herself a second try after her genetic disease killed her? To experience being pregnant before she died? To claim she was a mother (notice no man at all in the picture, so the kid would have no parents)? As a genetic experiment about super extra special gene modification?

None of this is better than the original version of Maisie's conception, but it is framed in an intensely sentimental fashion. Maisie is the product of something twisted, she was made as an object for someone and not a person, a child, and this should bother her. Her learning to live with that being the reason people had her made is more interesting than her learning oh, the woman she is the clone of was her mother and wanted her to go out and truly live and now she's just okay with this.

I think Crichton would have really enjoyed exploring a character with this problem. It's common in super soldier narratives and such, so it isn't wholly unexplored. Dominion just opted skip out on the...casual cruelty of Maisie's conception. The fact that it was mankind acting like it was God, with the best of intentions, and treating a human being as an object to be used for its own ends (legacy, betterment of mankind, vague and unfulfillable desire to be a mother because she would be dead, pick your motive) from the moment she was conceived is just glossed over with weepy girl-power sentiment.

This all neglects the bad pacing and other issues with Dominion. It's just such a post-modern movie, where before the franchise hewed to a pre-modern morality. It makes me mad because Jurassic Park said something important about science and humanity's role in the world. Dominion offers sentimental "mankind can do anything" mush that isn't true and hurts more than it helps.

As a species, we are capable of amazing things. But we are not God. Life and death are not ours to command. We cannot fix all problems we face. These are not simply moral opinions, these are laws of the universe with perhaps greater rigidity than that of gravity. Humility in the face of this benefits us far more than charging in to muck about with nature as if we can control it utterly- or to batter other about as if- if they would just do x, y, and z- everything would be perfect. It also prepares us for the bitter shocks of life, because we understand that we simply cannot control or even understand so many things.