#like i know in the us we have so many mass shootings they all have kind of faded into the noise

[juicebuck]

I could always count on 911 being the type of show that doesn’t drop its storylines. There has been stuff that’s been called back that I didn’t expect to be called back, but the difference is is that back then there are some sort of conclusion? Even if there wasn’t closure, it was sort of concluded in that arc of that makes sense? Hen cheating on Karen. Karen finally being able to tell Eva (Ava forgot her name) that shes always afraid of her disrupting their lives. Athena and finally being able to find the person that killed her fiancé. Like I know this show can properly pick strings back up but when they pick the strings they were at least solid. Do I have too much hope that they’ll revisit the “you think I’m in love with Eddie”? Yea sure but any string they grab will be so flimsy. They couldn’t add something at all to the finale if that’s where they’re taking it?

yeah. and well, i mean the issue is tim and the way he runs this show. and that needs to change. or he needs to take a step back and hand the reins over. because his vision (if we can even call it that) is directly at odds with what people want. and i'm not just talking about buddie. but just, in general. the GA has been just as unhappy with his "creative decisions" as the rest of us. bobby being #1 on that list. but also, eddie and christopher being gone and the lack of normal emergencies have come up in the facebook comments a lot. he's lost what the heart of the show is. and, it's not that that heart is gone completely, it's that he doesn't seem to care to find it again in any real way. we get glimpses of it that ultimately come to nothing. and a lot of the issue is that tim doesn't plan anything. he scraps and changes things last minute, it's literally an in-joke with cast and crew that they have no idea what's going on (script tbd cocktail 😭) because they don't. they get scripts mere days, or the day before shooting. which are insane conditions to work under. he killed bobby off on a whim, even though peter hadn't expressed any interest to leave. ryan wasn't even sure whether he'd be coming back. and all of this SHOWS on-screen. because he drops threads to pick up other ones, to only then drop those and do the same. and on and on and on. and it's frustrating because we know the show CAN be good, the heart IS still there. like, the shake-up the show needed was NOT killing off bobby nash. it was better planning, it was committing to the stories you're telling, it was actually CARING about the characters. and the thing is, there are actually some really good writers on this team that DO care, and it shows in some of the episodes. that's where the heart still is. tim either needs to start listening to people other than himself or take a step back. and well, i do actually have hope for season 9. especially after the mass backlash from all corners over the past few weeks. that things could change for the better. and i'm not going to spend the whole summer dooming. i still love these characters and i still believe that many people involved in the show do too, and that they can come back from this. but things DO need to change.

[sirfrogsworth]

Falling into the AI vortex.

Before I deeply criticize something, I try to understand it more than surface level.

With guns, I went into deep research mode and learned as much as I could about the actual guns so I could be more effective in my gun control advocacy.

I learned things like... silencers are not silent. They are mainly for hearing protection and not assassinations. It's actually small caliber subsonic ammo that is a concern for covert shooting. A suppressor can aid with that goal, but its benefits as hearing protection outweigh that very rare circumstance.

AR15s... not that powerful. They use a tiny bullet. Originally it could not even be used against thick animal hides. It was classified as a "varmint hunting" gun. There are other factors that make it more dangerous like lightweight ammo, magazine capacity, medium range accuracy, and being able to penetrate things because the tiny bullets go faster. But in most mass shooting situations where the shooting distance is less than 20 feet, they really aren't more effective than a handgun. They are just popular for that purpose. Dare I say... a mass shooting fad or cliche. But there are several handguns that could be more powerful and deadly—capable of one bullet kills if shot anywhere near the chest. And easier to conceal and operate in close quarters like a school hallway.

This deeper understanding tells me that banning one type of gun may not be the solution people are hoping for. And that if you don't approach gun control holistically (all guns vs one gun), you may only get marginal benefits from great effort and resources.

Now I'm starting the same process with AI tools.

Everyone is stuck in "AI is bad" mode. And I understand why. But I worry there is nuance we are missing with this reactionary approach. Plus, "AI is bad" isn't a solution to the problem. It may be bad, but it is here and we need to figure out realistic approaches to mitigate the damage.

So I have been using AI tools. I am trying to understand how they work, what they are good for, and what problems we should be most worried about.

I've been at this for nearly a month and this may not be what everyone wants to hear, but I have had some surprising interactions with AI. Good interactions. Helpful interactions. I was even able to use it to help me keep from an anxiety thought spiral. It was genuinely therapeutic. And I am still processing that experience and am not sure what to say about it yet.

If I am able to write an essay on my findings and thoughts, I hope people will understand why I went into the belly of the beast. I hope they won't see me as an AI traitor.

A big part of my motivation to do this was because of a friend of mine. He was hit by a drunk driver many years ago. He is a quadriplegic. He has limited use of his arms and hands and his head movement is constrained.

When people say, "just pick up a pencil and learn to draw" I always cringe at his expense. He was an artist. He already learned how to pick up a pencil and draw. That was taken away from him. (And please don't say he can stick a pencil in his mouth. Some quads have that ability—he does not. It is not a thing all of them can do.) But now he has a tool that allows him to be creative again. And it has noticeably changed his life. It is a kind of art therapy that has had massive positive effects on his depression.

We have had a couple of tense arguments about the ethics of AI. He is all-in because of his circumstances. And it is difficult to express my opinions when faced with that. But he asked and I answered. He tried to defend it and did a poor job. Which, considering how smart he is, was hard to watch.

But I love my friend and I feel I'd like to at least know what I'm talking about. I want to try and experience the benefits he is seeing. And I'd like to see if there is a way for this technology to exist where it doesn't hurt more than it helps.

I don't know when I will be done with my experiment. My health is improving but I am still struggling and I will need to cut my dose again soon. But for now I am just collecting information and learning.

I guess I just wanted to prepare people for what I'm doing.

And ask they keep an open mind with my findings. Not all of them will be "AI is bad."

[antiyourwokehomophobia2]

Been thinking a lot about how lesbians have to pretend they never experience any adverse feelings to rejection in order to avoid the "predator" stereotype. When we get rejected by a straight woman or even just get hit with the reality that most women are straight, we're not allowed to be upset or angry or hurt about it.

I am not saying that lesbians should be allowed to verbally abuse a straight woman for saying no, but I don't feel like we're allowed to be angry at all. Even privately. Having those feelings at all makes us 'bad'.

The truth is that it very much so sucks to watch women you love choose men over you. It sucks to know that no matter how attractive and sweet and kind you are, most women will simply not be attracted to you in the slightest and there's nothing you can do about it. It sucks to know that men get to freely love women while you have to hide from bigots. It sucks to have strong, tender feelings for women that they simply do not return.

It's perfectly normal to feel deep sadness and anger over this. I'm talking bubbling violent anger that leaves you feeling like you're a descendant of the Greek goddess Lyssa. Wishing deeply that your feelings for women were returned doesn't make you a predator. Having extremely negative feelings towards the men that catch your crush's attention doesn't make you a bad person. That is all incredibly normal.

Straight men get rejected one too many times and commit mass shootings... You feeling private rage doesn't make you a bad person at all.

I just really hate that it seems like the only appropriate reaction lesbians are allowed to have to heartbreak is demure acceptance.

[sweetfirebird]

Not to bring down the mood, but just as a warning. They (the regime) are at the point where they need an excuse to push us harder or at least an excuse to put on a big show and hopefully get all the MAGA and lost Republicans who left them back on their side. So it's at the point where either they are going to try, unconvincingly, to show that there is another "emergency" like their supposed gang invasion (you know, the one the president golfs through like so many presidents do when the country is under attack) or they are going to seize upon an act of mass violence (that is probably no worse than any other act of mass violence in America that they have gleefully ignored, like Ulvalde, or the church shooting in Charleston) and overreact in some massive way, expecting everyone to either agree with them or be cowering and shivering in fear and be grateful to them for the show of strength.

Like, this is a classic authoritarian move. It's so classic that experts have been warning people to expect it.

But also, as though anyone in America but the small percentage of culty idiots would feel *safer* with like... Pete Hegseth to protect them. Please. Oooh the incompetent abusers that fill this cabinet are gonna save us from an imaginary threat??? Even if the threat were real, I wouldn't trust those people to turn on a porch light if I asked them to, much less to "save" me in any meaningful way.

They've actually tried this in a few small ways already I think. It's just that it turned out the people committing the acts of violence were... on their side. Whoopsiedoodle. Turns out that violent rhetoric attracts people willing to commit violence. Who'd have thought?

And frankly, if something did happen where they claimed "antifa" or something did it, I'd be suspicious as hell. They've already claimed "assault" with Rep McIver despite it not being on the tape that *they released* and also the very idea that a woman caught in a violent melee and trying to get free in the confusion in any way "assaulted" large men in body armor? Right. Right. RIIIIIIGHT. So they would definitely try to claim, like they did in Portland back in 2020, that America was under attack from *checks notes* a small group of hippies occupying the space of a few city blocks under heavy, military-like fire from the authorities.

These people also claim that San Francisco/California are wild and lawless and uninhabitable. SF alone is chock full of millionaires in multimillion dollar homes. We do have a lot of homeless here because of the housing issues and the cost of living expenses (from those millionaires driving the costs up, btw) but it's not Mad Max on the streets. Of course it isn't. If it was, no one would live here, much less pay what we do to live here.

I'm telling you this to inoculate against the rhetoric that may be on its way.

They are still looking for an excuse. Do not give them one. They will try to lie. But they are bad liars.

[emeraldstorms]

Born Again Trailer and Foggy

Under the cut, I will be addressing rumors, leaks and (potential) spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again.

I have been doom-posting about Foggy’s fate in DDBA as much as the next person. If he dies, I will curse everyone involved. delete my NMCU based fics and art and demand nobody talk to me about the MCU ever again.

But for now? The trailer actually gave me hope. And I wonder why so few fans seem to see this? I wasn’t the only one to notice, of course, but the pessimistic posts didn’t cease and I see few who talk about the scene in question.

So, I will talk about why I think Foggy lives/has a fake death after all. Bear with me.

Let’s start with the scene itself. (The screen in the trailer captures more, but everything relevant is visible in my gif)

First: the stretcher. I think the person on it, that’s Foggy. 

Yes, it’s far away and zooming in you can’t make out a face. But hair and clothes match, in my opinion. I know an Elden Henson superfan and she is also convinced it’s Elden as Foggy. Looking closely, I think you can see the pattern of his scarf.

The head piece of the stretcher is lifted. For a dead body it would be flat and he most likely would be covered with a sheet. Or they would have put him in a body bag.

But I admit, it’s hard to see and the stretcher argument may not appeal to everyone. lol

So moving on to “Foggy’s Bloody Spot”. From the leaks we know roundabout where Foggy lies after getting shot

In the helmet fall scene, that should be here. 

For one, Foggy isn’t here. I don’t think ambulance crews would move dead bodies on a crime scene. They’d leave them in place for the police investigation. But since the ambulance isn’t done yet, the police haven’t even started investigating. Some say, the falling helmet hides Foggy’s body, but… why? Why would he be there?

For two, the stuff left behind. Yes, that is a lot of blood. But also what looks like wound dressing, bandages etc. Someone tried to stop the bleeding and it wasn’t a passerby with makeshift tools. This looks like medical supplies. So at least one paramedic thought Foggy was worth spending time and resources on. Which probably means he was alive when they arrived on scene and someone tended to him. At the site of a mass-shooting that has to mean something. You know, triage- wise. Paramedics have no time for dead people when many others are injured.

Of course, that doesn’t mean he survives. But I think it debunks the rumor that he died on scene while Matt was fighting Bullseye. Because then he would still be lying there. 

And if he makes into the ambulance or even the hospital, a fake out is possible. If he is close by, Matt couldn’t be fooled, but out of Matt’s hearing range, they can in theory do a switch.

But then what line was crossed??? 😱

Oh, of course, the “line”. Before the scene with the falling helmet is shown, Fisk asks Matt why he stopped being a vigilante and Matt answers “A line was crossed”. Many, many people interpreted this line crossing as Foggy being killed.

But to me that makes no sense at all. Criminals like Bullseye always cross lines. That’s Matt’s problem with them and the reason he does fight them, not a reason to stop fighting them. 

However, of himself Matt expects to stay on the right side of the line. So I think he isn’t a vigilante anymore because he did something that crossed a line. Especially since Fisk answers “It’s hard to come to terms with our violent nature. Hating the power it has over us.” That only makes sense when Matt’s “violent nature” is responsible for whatever he is referring to.

Which is why I don’t believe the line that was crossed is what Bullseye did to Foggy but what Matt did to Bullseye.

So yeah, new hope for Foggy.

If you read this far, thanks for indulging me in my rambling.

[derangedchameleon]

Snow‘s attack on Haymitch was incredibly personal.

First of all. Before sotr I was always puzzled as to why the murder of Haymitch‘s entire family was a „nessecary“ reaction to a simple weilding of the force field. What we end up seeing in the recording can easily be seen as an intelligent, ressourceful rascal, making use of all the tools available to him in order to survive, and one of those tools just happened to end up being the arena itself.

Of course we now know that there was MUCH more going on than just the forcefield. But here‘s the important thing. The forcefield is the only bit the public knows about.

Katniss‘ stunt with the berries was much worse. Sure it could be rewritten as a lovecrazy suicide attempt. But I think many people who had watched Katniss could tell that she was a survivor and that she was banking on the Gamemakers stopping them.

Katniss family was not targeted for this. Probably because Snow wanted to keep them alive to keep manipulating Katniss.

So from my pre sotr point of view, why was Haymitch‘s? If the point was to control a rebellious teenager, wouldn‘t it have been better to keep his family alive?

You could argue that this was a message to other victors. But Snow could have chosen any dissentful victor to use as an example. Anyone that refused to let themselves be sold for example.

But then there’s the fact that Haymitch was alive to wield that forcefield in the first place.

Snow promised death in the games to Haymitch. And we know mutts can be programmed for specific people and dying by them can be absolutely horriffying. The mutt deaths in Haymitch‘s games were actually pretty tame and quick compared to what could have been achieved, like with Cato. An alive Haymitch was honestly dangerous, it would have made more sense to take him out early. The longer he was left alive, the more likely it became that he would do something so drastic that the capitol would want to show it on camera, to keep the image of their perfect games. Haymitch‘s stunt with the forcefield was kept in, because if it wasn‘t, it would have been painfully clear that the capitol was covering something up, and they couldn‘t have that. (same with Katniss’ berries, and Snow told her in so many words that, if he had been in the control room during her stunt, she and Peeta would have both been blown sky high. Would have been an effective « don’t mess with the capitol » message) So why didn‘t Snow just send mutts to remove him (painfully and slowly, as promised) after he blew up the water tank?

Because Snow decided, that leaving this boy alive and murdering his family, would be a much worse punishment for him. This had very little to do with controlling the public and everything to do with punishment.

And we know, from Haymitch himself, that this is not something the capitol or Snow usually does. Haymitch tells Katniss after she shoots the apple, that her family was probably fine, since her attack on the gamemakers wasn’t public. And in order for an attack on her family to have any effect, they’d need to make her attack public. If you punish someone, you want that punishment and the cause of it public and known. Again, to controll the masses. Otherwise, it’s wasted effort.

Snow saw that Haymitch, banking on his own inevitable slow and painful death, was not worried about his family. Which told Snow everything about what this boy valued. Haymitch said that he didn’t want his family to have to watch him die slowly, but his actions during the games clearly show that that is not his top priority.

Snow went out of his way to make this as horrifying as humanly possible for Haymitch.

My sister pointed out that Snow went after Haymitch in this personal manner because of his association with the covey. A belated revenge on Lucy Gray. And maybe, Snow even projected Billy Taupe onto Haymitch.

We all knew Snow was evil, but this, I think, is the first time we see him act in such a vengefull and personal way. Yes he enjoyed manipulating Katniss with Peeta’s torture, but that was really because he couldn’t get to her to murder her. Or because a mentally destroyed Mockingjay can’t be turned into a martyr like a dead one.

Snow really got a sick kick out of this.

[pierremcguire]

all of my episode 12 live watch thoughts, written while I had no service on the plane 😭

• my stomach HURTS

• how do they even have this long to prepare

• mel my asd best friend

• i can't believe it only took a mass casualty event for gloria to be sympathetic. fuck.

• I know langdons coming back but I don't know how when or why and that has me on edge

• everything's moving so fast and im so anxious

• STOP. HE JUST SHOWS UP IM CRYING AND HE SAYS "TRUST ME" ?!?!?! GIRL. GIRL BABES I GET WHAT YOURE TRYING TO SAY BUT LIKE YOU SHOULD HAVE SAID. "I KNOW IM IN TROUBLE. YOU NEED THE HELP. LET ME HELP" if robby wasn't having literally the worst day of his fucking life you'd . be punched probably.

• this episode is somehow moving SO fast but time feels likes it's going so slow

• mel almost slipping in a puddle of blood. oh.

• "you're here!" MEL IM HAPPY THAT YOURE HAPPY BUT NOW IS NOTTTTTT THE TIMEEE ALSO DONT GET TO EXCITED ROBBY IS GONNA DESTROY HIM AFTER THIS YOUR NEW BESTIE IS GONNA HAVE TO FACE THE MUSIC

• McKays ex is the fucking worst. and then he tries to get the son to go home w him? would you lead him out of that room and let him witness that?? fucker.

• Garcia and langdon have the best banter he needs to go to rehab so he doesn't get fired so we don't lose this. I love frenemies

• if Dana ever looked at me like that I'd probably cry on the spot.

• LANGDON LEAVE. SANTOS ALONE RIGHT NOW GIRL YOURE ON THEEEE THINNEST ICE POSSIBLE DO NOTTTTT ENGAGE

• ok good ok langdon you used ur brain for once!

• JAVADI STANDING UP TO HER MOM!!

• mel donating her own blood !!!!

• lk surprised the people in the cafeteria weren't more hysterical?

• Abbott donating WHILE working on a patient. god i need more of this guy .

• SHOOTER COMING TOWARDS THEM.!??!!?!??!!??!?!?!?!?!!??!!?

• and we still don't know how jake is doing . . . . .

• oh my god how many people did this one person shoot what the FUCK

---

I forgot to put this in properly at the right time but

santos did a good job explaining to that woman about her injuries !!

hahaha. they still have three more hours . to go. hahaha. ok.

[mooniechild]

Okay nobody asked but that's my opinion on this video (yeah I watched the whole thing,because I'm not the type to judge something before I know what it is about,so....yeah)

Okay so she bring up a LOT of topics,let's talk about some of them.

1 Groupies-and yes since 1970 murders and a lot of other criminals start to get TV and woman's attention and get they so called "groupies",most famous ones being Richard Ramirez ones,who even show up for couple interviews on TV the most famous one being Doreen(his wife until his death by cancer),so yeah I agree Dylan and Eric have a couple of groupies,my personal definition of they "groupies" would be the people who condone their actions,people who just see them like a character and a book,most of us are cool....relax guys

2 effect Columbine- most of you may know about the so called "Columbine effect" which is basically something that said that after the whole media after Columbine,mass shootings got a whole more media and more connection to this specific case,having more then 50 another schools shooting referring Columbine as their 'inspiration',but not just it,they also talk about how many people ended up in rabbit holes about suicidal thoughts,and violence and all of it,people like Sol, Samantha etc etc....well...do I believe in Columbine effect?yes,do I believe Eric and Dylan ghost gonna follow people ass and whisper for them to commit mass murder and killing themselves?no I don't.

3-more ahead in the video she talks about a 13y girl who allegedly was part of TCC and she ended up commiting suicide,okay I have some opinions on it,I don't think a online community have the power to took anyone life,but I do think a couple of mental and social problems can,so the thing is,I don't think this poor child did was she did cause she saw a dead school shooter and thought 'damn I need to do that' a lot of thing must be going on in her head,so in parts I don't think TCC has nothing to do with it,but us as society?we definitely do

4-Sol pais was a threat to Columbine?no she wasn't,as far as police reports tell us, Sol just had the plan to took her own life,and she did,I don't see the reason to blame a mental unhealthy 18 year old girl for something she didn't even done,she didn't harm anyone but herself

In conclusion I did got her point of how mental unstable some people here can be,some of them really plan do bad stuff,one of the people I met In 2022 did,another some months after,so I do get what she tried to explain,AND in some parts I do agree with her,no,no columbine or true crime relate content should be expose to kids,and no,no one with a mental health problem should go down such a downfall,but, honestly,most people I met here are the sweetest most cool people I ever met,I think most of them just got interest in them as people,both of the boys are human as everyone else,with lives, family's and shit,just like everyone else,so does the victims,and I don't condone what they did in any way,and never will,but I feel sorry for someone so young ended up being a victim of themselves.

So here is my opinion,sorry for the big post,and you guys feel free to share your points of view,love you all🤍

Ps: I don't think she was disrespectful at any point at her video,I just really don't understand the whole point of TCC antis,cause I think you're free to like whatever you want as long you're respectful (I know some people aren't) but don't think anyone should be disrespect for dress differently or like something

[tcifob]

Angel City Opens 2025 Pre-Season Training Camp

Rico Cabrera, Sr. Feb 2, 2025

*[ACFC Forward Christen Press]

(On being able to play another year after returning from injury last season)……“I never thought I would be 36 years old and still playing. I wonder if it was because when I became a professional, there wasn’t a professional league like this. It sort of felt like a shooting star career and as long as you could be a US women’s national team player, it was worth it and otherwise not.”

“Even wanting to continue to play for me shows how far it has come in those 14 years. I’m really proud to be playing. We saw a mass exodus and so many retirements from my peers, which I think we self-proclaimed ourselves as the ‘golden generation’ 2015, 2019 World Cup Champions.

“To be going through such a long recovery and my very first injury of my career, I was balancing so many complex emotions. When I started the year in 2024, I had had my four surgeries and my goal was to play in a game, a single game, and I almost thought it would be a goodbye game. I almost thought that I had lost my mind for even trying because the reality of my circumstance was telling me I couldn’t.”

“How many surgeries does one get before they’re deemed insane, right? As last season progressed, the gift of my injury really allowed me to start seeing the world from inside my body and really being in tune with what my body wanted and needed. I got to experience the sport in an entirely different way.”

(On what drives her to keep playing)…“It is a blessing to be outside in the sun and a blessing to be able to smell the grass. To play on a team with so many women and balance teamwork, camaraderie, leadership, mentorship, and the exchange of energy when we play together. There’s nothing in the world that can bond a group of women together more than sports. It is a great privilege to be able to experience the joy of playing soccer with people I admire.”

(On how she embraces her role in teaching younger players)…“I want to make sure our young players that I do share a locker room with have all of the things they need to develop not only as humans, but also as soccer players. What we do have in our locker room that is special is a desire to help each other through mentorship and teamwork that is special and rare. A lot of that was created because of what it stands for to play for this club.”

“My favorite part of last season was getting to work with our young players. It is a crazy thing when you’re twice the age of one of your teammates, but getting to show them what worked for me and allowing them to make it better has been incredible.”

“We have so much young talent in our locker room, and each one of them has different strengths, some that I’m able to relate to more than others, but there is always something that we can give and receive.”

(On newly added Sporting Director, Mark Parsons)…“I know that he will have an eye on development. I know about the professionalism he brings to this environment and that we’ll be able to create an environment that’s individualized for a veteran player and for a young player as well.

[dove-da-birb]

Wishful Thinking

Have I met the guy yet? No. Is that going to stop me? Also no.

Content: Tokyo Debunker selfship stuff (Jiro Kirisaki), first-person POV, angst????

Word Count: 876 words

A black hole’s gravitational pull is so strong that not even light can escape it.

That’s what this curse felt like. This large thing on the horizon that just keeps on getting closer and closer. 

It started in small ways, that the clock had inadvertently sped up its course, streaks of grey now intermingling with the other strands of hair. They said that I would die in a year’s time, they just weren’t expecting the body to reflect that in some way.

The hour is late, the hallways dark save for the blue light coming from the night sky from the overlooking windows. 

Sleep has always been a struggle, and now with the timer surely set, I find it even more bothersome to fall asleep. Shifting. Turning. Only to bury my head into the pillows and scream my frustration, something that I paid close attention to hide from others. I don’t need them worrying more than they already are. I don’t want to be a burden.

The ring on my hand feels heavier than it usually does — a stark reminder that all of this is very much real and not some dream. Its weight is almost mocking in a sense.

Never chosen. It’s something that I’ve always lamented about in the past. Never the first pick. Now fate was going, ‘here, I’ve chosen you for this’. Maybe I should have been more specific.

The hallway was silent, save for my own quiet footsteps. Honestly, I’m surprised that there wasn’t one other soul out at this hour.

I start humming a melody.

I don’t know why, but it feels right.

Well, nothing feels right, but the slight echoing off of the walls makes it feel less lonely. It takes the weight off of my shoulders. At this moment in time there is black hole threatening to swallow me. There is no curse. And I’m still me.

I face the window and look at the night sky, looking up at all of the stars.

Even though many of them have burnt out long ago, the light still finds us in this mass universe. We still tell stories associated with the constellations — over there is Delphinus — and children still make wishes on a shooting star.

I close my eyes, enjoying the reprieve of silence.

Life has been too busy. Too loud. Too … fleeting.

Am I really living? Or am I busying myself so that I don’t overthink and spiral? … it’s most likely the latter.

Faintly I can make out footsteps as they get closer. I hope they keep on walking. Unfortunately, the owner of the pair of feet stops in the same hallway that I’m in. 

I take in a breath, preparing to put on the smile that I always don, the one that says don’t worry about me, the one that pleases. I open my eyes, trying to find the person in the dim lighting.

It takes a moment to find him, as he’s standing a few windows down, also looking at the sky. His face is blank, devoid of emotion as his red eyes meet mine. 

Jiro Kirisaki… he’s from Mortkranken. Yeah. He helped treat me. 

I just give him a small smile, more so out of politeness than anything else. Honestly, we haven’t interacted much outside of our first initial meeting. I know that other students call him ‘Frankenstein’ but I honestly don’t see why.

He doesn’t smile back but does seem to silently acknowledge the meeting. We both go back to looking outside at the night sky.

“You’re up late,” I say quietly, breaking the silence. 

He glances out of the corner of his eye to look at me before looking back out the window. “So are you.”

I sigh, resting my elbows on the windowsill and then resting my chin in my palms. “Insomnia,” I offer and he just nods.

And it’s silent again, save for the rustling of leaves outside. I’ve never been the best with lulls in conversation, wanting to just fill it with something, afraid the other would grow bored of me and resent it. Jiro didn’t seem to mind though.

A thin streak of light passed across the sky.

I open my mouth before thinking, “Make a wish.”

Jiro just looks at me with a questioning look.

“A shooting star… you make a wish when you see one,” I offer, feeling heat starting to lick at my cheeks. Hopefully the darkness of the hallway conceals that. “But you can’t tell anyone your wish or it won’t come true.” A smile flickers on my face, and I hope that I don’t look like a fool.

Jiro just hums and looks outside again, “You should make one too.”

I blink, looking at him for a moment. He looks back. Usually I’m good at reading people, but I can’t garner anything from his expression.

I think for a moment, contemplating.

Jiro looks back outside, looking up at the moon, “The moon is beautiful, isn’t it?”

I look up at it, “It is.”

I wish … I wish I could be truly happy. I can’t change the curse, my fate being in the hands of others. But in the time I have left, I want to be happy. I can die happy. 

-----------------------------------------------------

Tag: @cherievivi

[candyredmusings]

Harvester (1996) Sentence Starts

A whole mix bag, but mostly NSFT and/or crack Change pronouns/gendered terms as needed!

"You killed your family?"

"You always were a kidder, [NAME]!"

"You can't live without a spinal cord, son. Nothing unnatural about that."

" You'll rot your mind playing games like that..."

"Is God a jar of strawberry preserves, a size 12 sneaker, a footlong Hogie, an all-expense paid trip to Brazil, or a NEWWW CARRRRR?"

"Pot roast isn't for backstabbers. For persecutors! I won't share my meat with him!"

"Hello, [NAME]. Care to stay for some pot roast?"

"My meat! MY MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!"

"Ah, shit! Ah, shit on a stickaroo!"

"What are you talking about, this TV is brand new! There are no TVs with color on them."

"When a bee stings, it rips itself apart and dies for its audacity. This appeals to those worshipping a God that demands sacrifice and atonement. But the wasp is promiscuous. They are not as sympathetic to the masses because they don't die when they sting. They live to sting another day... and they take pleasure from that."

"Cut the crap. We both know you set that fire."

" I'm not threatening you...I just want to help."

"You can't shoot me... I'm an American! I have rights!"

"Ahhh... art's for Commies, anyway."

" You're a little vain, huh?"

"Uh, you're not that hot... get over it, toots."

"Yeah, I offed him all right."

"Nah, a nice fairy left it under my pillow."

"You're welcome to have this evidence, with my compliments."

"But what about civic responsibility?"

"You're a little brat."

"But you're a woman."

"Sure, I'd love to get it on with the ladies!"

"What's communism got to do with anything?"

"How can you SAY something so horrible?"

"[NAME]'s a swell name! My dog's name is [NAME]!"

"Nothing like an exploding head to get the blood pumping. . . . Literally, that is."

"The hell it is! You always were a kidder, [NAME]. Any real news to tell me?"

"I mean I don't know anyone! I don't remember anything! How many times do I have to say it?!"

"I need to feel something again."

"Yeah, I know what that crazy little bitch said, but it's not true!

"What makes you so sure she needs a penis?"

"I'd rather die than become as twisted as you."

"Would I kid about something like that? Why won't you believe me?"

"Screwing in the school broom closet. What will people think?"

"I did not speak, but my mind touched yours."

"I expect nothing. What must unfold will."

"Sure would be nice to have one'a them girly pi'cher books..."

"I don't know what it is about marriage that turns even the bravest man into a coward!"

"[NAME] has a... a liking for me. I'd call it a crush, but that's too innocent a word."

"That child needs a father. . . and [NAME], well she needs a good, hard penis."

"Money isn't everything for a woman. Can money keep you warm at night? Can you wrap your thighs around it, or rake bloody gashes in its back with your painted, harlot fingernails?

"There's things you don't know about the family business... but you'll learn."

"I am glad to see you taking an interest in the business in your dad's absence."

"Safeguards? There ARE NO SAFEGUARDS ... This is the fifties."

"Sometimes I hide in there beforehand, and daddy-o, I seen some stuff that's real nasty!"

"You were always a smiley bear."

"I know it's a mystery to you... The sacred things husbands and wives do behind closed doors."

"I could use a little relaxation ... But since [NAME] isn't here, I guess I'll talk to you."

"I'd rather die than become as twisted as you."

"You insult my beauty?"

"Well that didn't work."

"Shocked? This is the mystery of motherly love."

"Everyone says motherhood is fulfilling, when in reality it's draining."

"Violence is as American as apple pie and low SAT scores!"

"From the start, children are parasites. That's what you've got to understand."

"How about some cookies? There's some rejects in the trash!"

"I'm not a person, [NAME], I'm an object."

"Young man/woman/one, we really have nothing to say to each other."

"Say, can you spare a dime for a buckaroo who's down on his luck?"

"Things'll never be the same now. Guess I'll be watching TV tonight..."

"Well, I hope you're proud of yourself ... Killing my clientele."

"Excuse me, you can't come in right now, I just mopped the floor."

"I don't remember you."

"Land's sakes! Stop your joshing, wont you?"

"You look just like my mom ... Except for the hair."

"There's nothing bizarre about baking cookies."

"Only those who seek enlighten warrant my attention."

"I've never believed in the old adage, 'spare the rod and spoil the child' ... A rod is too thin. But baseball bat, that works quite nicely."

"My stars that was exciting!"

"Good women can be awfully hard on a man's needs, don't'cha know."

"That man gives me the willies ... Speaking of willies, how's your father?"

"That's right, I am the law ... And I'm on my lunch hour."

"Sometimes, I hide in there beforehand and daddy-o! I've seen some stuff that's really nasty!"

"Are you blackmailing us, you little shit?"

"Why are you covering up for him [NAME?]"

"Obviously, [NAME] is a lesbian."

"Lack of respect for authority ... A fine trait!"

[miss0atae]

Random Thoughts about Leap Day (EP2) : The way the curse works and the figure of the guide.

I can finally comment on what I've seen in the second episode of Leap Day. It took me a while to write this post because so many things came to mind while watching this episode and I didn't know how to articulate everything. I thought about doing two parts for this random thoughts, but it won't be needed anyway. I want to talk mostly about the « curse » of leapers and then focus on the role of the two deuteragonists, Dream and Ozone.

This episode started right where it finished last week. Both, Day and Night are in the hospital waiting to hear about the medical condition of their loved ones. They tried really hard to avoid the curse of their birth date, but it couldn't be avoided. Dream and Ozone were hurt and no one knows (at least in the episode 2) if they are going to make it. The episode, then showed us how Day and Night's past, how they have dealt with their curse, their fear of being close to someone and the relationship they still created with Ozone and Dream, despite it. It seems like they can't avoid losing people they care about and if anyone gives them a little bit of attention, they can also be at risk. So far, these are the known victims of the curse:

I assume they are around 20 years old now because they are in college/university, so it seems like they must have lost someone else, at least around 12 or 16 years old. I’m not really good to guess what uniform they were wearing (and if you can guess what age they are from them) when Day lost his aunt and uncle or when Night lost his girlfriend, but it would make more sense if it’s when they were 16 years old. I’ve read somewhere (can’t remember from which post) people think the parents of Night may have lost their life around the same time as Day’s sister (it seems she lost her life during a mass shooting in episode 1), but it would mean, he lost other people before.

So the curse of the leaper is to lose people they love or someone who love them every four years on the date of their birthday and no one can really escape this fate. So far, no one has been able to survive and people judge Day and Night from these unfortunate events. They have to live with this fear of losing a closed one and probably bear the burden of the survivor guilt. That's what we gathered from the two episodes. However, there is the death of Day's uncle that doesn't make a sense, if we believe the prerequisites of the “curse” we know so far. It seems he didn't really like Day and the "curse" is supposed to work against people who cares about the leaper. He even criticized his wife for spending time with him, before their death. I have three guesses to explain his death: firstly, there are other prerequisites for the “curse” that we don't know yet, he is merely a collateral damage or the writers of the story forgot about their rule to create shock value. Another thing to notice is that all death must be pretty gritty: Day's mom died from complications related to pregnancy, his father was stabbed and his relatives died in a free fall elevator accident. Let's not forget the mass shooting where Night's parents lost their life. I guess I previously drew the parallel between Final Destination and Leap Day as it seems like the “curse” or “death” is seeking their victims to kill them one by one in bizarre accidents caused by an unseen force by creating complicated chains of cause and effect. I wonder what we're going to learn about the “curse” and how it will affect the main characters in their quest to free themselves from it.

Now, let’s focus on the deuteragonists: Dream and Ozone. In the episode, we’ve seen how they got closer to Day and Night and why they are the latest victims of the “curse”. However, I believe they are important for the story and we haven’t seen the last of them. So here, we go into my own view of these characters. I think we could say that Leap Day is a thriller and a speculative fiction as it is shown on the “curse” put on people born on leap day, but it is also shown in the character Ozone, Day’s cousin.

It seems that Ozone is the figure of the “Seer” in the story. I would even say the fact that he is on the spectrum (as I'm not exactly well-versed in everything related to this, I will keep this umbrella term to avoid causing offense) is a way of portraying him as a “Cassandra”. Ozone has a real fondness for everything related to space. We also saw him being really acute to some noises and talking about the “Stars” as if they could talk to him. He has also foretold that “Day and Night must meet”. A Cassandra, just like their mythological counterpart are characters who give correct and accurate warnings and predictions, but what they say is usually ignored. I think they made Ozone be on the spectrum because they wanted to give him a quirk that makes him appear less believable. Day can't be sure that what Ozone is saying should be considered as a warning or a prediction because he doesn't believe in what he is saying. He probably dismissed it because he believes it's part of his behavior (sorry I don't have a better term here). Now, are the “Stars” some friendly allies to the main characters or are they part of the “curse”? It remains to be seen. I still believe Ozone will be essential for Day and Night to navigate on their quest to end the “curse” thanks to his connection to the “Stars”.

Now, what about Dream? Is she only going to be the love interest to Night and be relegated to only be a driven force for him to find the answers he needs? I hope not. I want to believe they didn’t give her the name “Dream” for nothing. So what could be the role of Dream in the story? At the end of episode 3, she is still stuck between life and death and we don’t know if the “curse” got her too. One thing is sure: Dream is not someone who gives up easily. Even when Night was giving her the cold shoulder she kept pursuing him knowing they were going to be right together. She is also a compassionate person who would not leave anyone in needs. When she first met Night, she thought he was going to jump from a building and she did her best to prevent that. If I have to make a guess, I would say Dream will be either a dream walker or her dreams would bring her answers. Maybe I’m wrong, but I do believe it’s not a coincidence that she was called this way. We’re still only on episode 2, so we’ll have to see if I’m right in the coming episodes. I hope she will also be a guide for the leapers to find a way out of the “curse”. I also admit I hesitate about her role because she could also be the figure of the “healer”.

As for now, Ozone’s prediction about “Day and Night must meet” has been right. It seems that their meeting and the fact they both stayed at the hospital the whole night may have saved Ozone (and maybe Dream) at least for now. Let’s see if he will give them more predictions and how well we’ll they understand them.

[hellskitchenswhore]

EDIT: Like genuinely I want to know how you authors think Matt would feel about all this. I genuinely do not know how Matt would react to this. I don’t know how he’d feel about so many things, how he’d cope with it. But at least he has an outlet, a way to go blow off steam about the injustice in his world. At least he can feel a little like he’s doing something about it (even if most of his feeling is guilt that he’s not doing enough).

How would he cope with a reader who’s so in grief over it all?

——————————————————————

I am begging you. This is a plea, this is a cry for help.

I need a very special writer (or writers) to write about Matt comforting a reader who is losing their goddamn mind over the political state of this country.

Because

little girls are being forced to birth their rapists babies in Texas (literally hundreds of thousands of rape-related births have been forced to happen since the overturning of roe v wade, and now we won’t even get decent statistics because the newly appointed head of that committee is the Queen Bee of all forced-birth psychopaths)

Women in Idaho are bleeding out in front of doctors who aren’t allowed to touch them for the sake of mis-implanted fetuses that have long since died and gone necrotic, killing the women for literally no reason at all

Mass shootings are happening right next door and they’re so commonplace you don’t even hear about them on the local news anymore

PFAS are in every single fucking thing and somehow toxic chemicals are now a “democrat issue”

Boeing is just flat out killing their whistleblowers who are desperately trying to warn the public

Our two options for buying bananas are “corporate-funded militia murdering already horrifyingly impoverished women and children” and “the literal overthrowing of the sovereign state of Hawaii”

The federal government has sent twice as many tax dollars as would be required to provide universal healthcare (which we supposedly couldn’t possibly afford) to an overseas nation where our congressmen have also gone to proudly sign their names on the bombs destined for more innocent civilians

We’re watching the US-funded massacre of millions on live-stream, held hostage by corporations and our own government who control the water, the food supply, the housing, and are supported by a police force that indiscriminately kills those who protest against it

And there is laundry to do and a genocide to stop and the world hates women and

HOW DO WE LIVE LIKE THIS?

[sloanerisette]

Digimon Adventure Wrestling AU (Part 1)

(Minor content warning: some of these gifs, because they're wrestling, might have blood in them! I'll do my best to avoid what I can but just take note of this if that makes you squeamish).

After so long of initially talking about it I am FINALLY starting this post. Well the first part of this post. The initial idea was to just post EVERYTHING and I realized that that's probably not a great idea (given that also I only have 30 gifs/pictures I can put in a post), so I'm going to do these in parts. For the Adventure kids I'll do these a few at a time, depending on what characters intersect the most with each other or if I feel like certain characters should have their own. Characters will probably come up multiple times within various posts given how much I've brainrotted this so much. I have so many storylines built up for this but not really the energy to write fanfics for them (yet) so I'm gonna just spit out all my ideas here.

For the 02 kids (probably not including Kari and TK given their connections with Tai and Matt) they'll probably have their own dedicated post all together.

Also I'm going to be using dub names that's just what I'm used to

Also also, I don't know a TON about wrestling since I've only just really gotten into it recently, so apologies for that, also most of my wrestling knowledge is AEW with some Japanese wrestling knowledge about various joshis and NJPW wrestlers so my comparisons/thoughts will be based on that!

And before starting, for all my Digimon friends who don't know wrestling lingo: Face: Short for babyface, a good guy. Does things the crowd cheers for, and wrestles very honorably. Heel: A villain. The crowd boos them and they revel in it, they're dishonorable and will fight dirty. Tweener: An in-betweener, sort of like chaotic neutral. Questionable morals who does stuff for themselves. Kayfabe: The idea that none of this is fake and it's all real.

For all intents and purposes, consider everything happening in these posts in terms of story beats are all in kayfabe. They're all real and not scripted for television entertainment.

Ok without further ado let's get going with some basic lore:

So the setting is the Odaiba Wrestling Federation (OWF), a promotion in Japan that was started in Odaiba. The original 8 are the first major members to join/catapult it to prominence.

TAI KAMIYA

The de facto, number one babyface of OWF. He's the main man and the first major wrestler of the company. And you know who I think of when I think of that? Everyone's favorite fucking cowboy, Hangman Adam Page

So like, listen to me. Hear me out. They both are guys who help the company rise to prominence. Hangman is a cowboy, Tai is very much similar in terms of his fiery attitude. Hotshots, guys who are big but not overly so (this is early Hanger I'm talking about not present day Massive Hanger), and really good in the ring. He's strapping, he's handsome, he's funny, he's great in the ring. People love him!

I imagine while he just goes by Tai Kamiya he's got the nickname of The Dragon of Courage (after the Option Card from BT14 of the Digimon TCG)

And his finishing move/most notable move would be a spear called the Brave Tornado

But I will say he also needs some sort of Buckshot Lariat (the Nova Blast?) I think a big beefy guy with wild hair and a wild look in his eyes should be allowed to buckshot lariat a dude. I think in this AU where Tai is BIG both in height and in mass he deserves to just have a real fucking haymaker of a hit.

(Like come on, Greymon is a big guy and even though he's shooting out a lot of fireballs he does get some hits in, we gotta reflect that with Tai).

So Tai is a beloved face who is constantly moving upwards in the company, right? Well, for those who know everyone's favorite cowboy (apologies my Digimon oomfs but we're here for storytime) they know that after his meteoric high, he's gotta have his fall from grace.

Despite Tai Kamiya being the go to wrestler in OWF he is going to hit rock bottom and turn from OWF's greatest face to one of their most terrifying heels. But for the full story on that? We gotta look at Adventure's lone wolf.

MATT ISHIDA

So Matt I've had a lot of thoughts for. Like Tai, he joined incredibly early on, and I imagine the two of them have worked together for a long time, tagged together, etc.

They're long time friends who played a big role in OWF's come up. I'm kind of imagining it sort of like The Elite from AEW? The core dudes who help made the company as notable as it is and allowed it to live long enough to flourish.

I'm trying to think of what their tag name would be but I'm not entirely sure. But anyways, I don't think Matt finds his analogue in either of the Jacksons, despite the idea of the Young Bucks/Elite connection thought I had. I have other thoughts.

Let's be real, Matt is the Cool Guy(tm). Who else is a cool guy?

Easiest Orange Cassidy comparison of my entire life. While Matt has a lot of emotional turmoil for many reasons, those will come into play later. Early on in his tenure with OWF, he comes off too cool for school, incredibly lackadaisical and laidback, but also INCREDIBLY skilled. He knows what he's doing, and he's one of the major favorites, too. I don't think he would do the hands in his jean pockets gimmick but he'd have something similar. Maybe a jacket.

I'm also thinking his his signature move is an Orange Punch called Kaiser Nail (I know the Orange Punch features no claws or slashing but like cut me a little slack). Just a big ol' fucking haymaker of a hit.

"But Sloane" you're wondering, how does such a cool, unbothered guy beef with Tai, especially when they're friends! Well, that's the FIRST part of Matt's deal in OWF, the other will make things clear.

(Gif by @reliablejoukido)

Enter Matt's heel turn, inspired by his getting manipulated into going against Tai by Cherrymon, during the Dark Masters arc. Matt joins a stable of heels called The Dark Masters and immediately assumes leadership considering his tenure in OWF and his skill, and their real world analogue in Jon Moxley and the Death Riders.

(How do the other Dark Masters play into this considering this is an AU focused on the humans? Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. It's not important. What is important is the fact that he has a bunch of powerful lackeys behind him in his goal to uplift OWF through fear and pain.)

NOW, if anyone who is reading this watches AEW I know you're gonna be like "But Sloane, the Death Riders shit is bad" presumably, I mean I and everyone I watch wrestling with thinks that right now. It's not great! It's been way too long in the tooth but I'll hold off from expanding on that more because this is a Digimon wrestling AU not "Sloane offers her thoughts on the state of AEW". But I promise you, unlike TK (TK in this sense being Tony Khan, owner of AEW, not TK Takaishi. This will probably be confusing I might make a note of that in the future), I have THE VISION. I have a PLAN. And here it is:

Matt looks at all of his longtime friends/coworkers (the other Digidestined in this AU), thinks none of them are taking this seriously anymore. Everyone is getting soft and weak and coasting by. Sure, there are new champions getting the belt, sure, there are great matches happening, but where's the drive? Where's the passion? Where's the love of wrestling and not just doing this as a show? He's the one that has to ignite a FIRE back under OWF's collective ass to get them back in shape. And of course, who's at the head of it all?

That's right, one Tai Kamiya.

(I mean, come on, with how much homoerotic tension there is in wrestling, especially anything Hangman is involved in, Tai and Matt are perfect here)

So Matt has to bring Tai down and drag him all the way to his lowest possible point. He wants to see if Tai still has the fire in him to pull himself up from hell. He's going to embarrass Tai, humiliate him, and worst of all? He's going to do it by getting the most important person to Tai in the entire company out of his way. His best friend, his manager, the man who has been by his side since he first joined OWF.

Izzy Izumi.

For now, though, I'm going to end this here, if only because this is already getting too dang long for its own good. The next post will dig into the core of Tai's fall from grace as a face to a heel, Izzy's role in the story as his manager, TK's involvement being Matt's younger brother, and of course, the big man himself causing trouble, Matt.

Thank you for reading to the end of this post don't worry there is a lot more to come the madness is only beginning.

[klysanderelias]

I feel like it's genuinely stupid to keep making this criticism at this point, because it's clear that no one is going to listen, but I'm so tired of these cRPGs set in urban areas where like half of the gameplay is swat team shit on gangsters.

In specific, with Cyberpunk, it makes very little sense because why the fuck would you, as a criminal, do jobs for the police, but in general there are so many games out there that use 'gangster' as a disposable human target

And putting aside that there are certain demographics that tend to be overrepresented, it's also just deeply reactionary to have the poor areas of the city literally overrun with mass murderers who have no goal other than killing everyone around them and jerking off with their spines or whatever. It is shocking to me, in the ten hours or so of this playthrough I'm watching so far, just how much time has been spent killing or incapacitating groups of gangsters. It's ridiculous. It's not that much in the core narrative progression, but it feels like EVERY FUCKING SIDEQUEST is some version of 'go to this bar, kill all these gangsters' and every twenty feet it's 'stop an "assault" for the NCPD'

I don't know that it's directly copaganda, but it's definitely based on things being pushed by copaganda, in that there are a) groups of people who are subhuman either genetically, morally, or philosophically, b) walking down the street might directly result in your death for literally no reason due to roving bands of these subhumans, c) the police are incapable of 'restoring order' therefore they NEED their big fuckoff tanks and grenade launchers we prommy and d) these groups exist outside of any community within the area they exist, so you don't have to worry about anything when you gun them all down ^ _ ^

I feel like I'm beating a dead horse saying that gangs are social organizations and they arise for a reason and they usually exist in equilibrium because that's the POINT, but every single one of these AAA games acts like there is just an inherent lower class prone to violence and murder by nature

And like, I understand that this is a game about shooting people, and you need people to shoot, but it's... interesting how in a game based around Shadowrun and similar pieces of media, there's been basically no corpsec shootouts in the game aside from the one on the progression path. You can absolutely kill cops if you go out of your way to do it, but the game fundamentally forces you to interact differently with them than with ANY of the gangs in the area.

And it just drives me crazy because like, I feel like I'm constantly ramming my head against this idea where there's a specific subclass of people called the "Bandit" that spontaneously generate in trash piles and exist solely to die by the dozens to the PC for cigarettes and chump change. I am tired of playing games, but specifically RPGs, where the worldbuilding is just 'yeah dog I dunno, there are just worthless people for you to kill around here'

And of course there are a lot of games that do it well, even games that have you primarily interacting with the world down the scope of a rifle, but the ones that don't stand out so much

Like I just cannot ever shake the whole revelation that The Last of Us was supposed to be commentary on watching Palestinians kill a couple of settlers. It's incoherent politically, but more importantly it's predicated on this deeply reactionary ideal. And all of these games, from Wasteland 3 to Fallout 4 to Cyberpunk to Borderlands to whatever the next shitshow is gonna be, just reinforce this fascist concept of omnipresent subhuman parasitic raiders/rapists that can only be dealt with by genocide. It's just orcs with a new skin.

And it's really egregious for Cyberpunk as a genre, but I'm just so sick of it. I'm sick of 'always hostile' enemies. I like shooters, I like playing games with combat, but I hate hate hate walking into an arena with a bunch of guys standing around and going 'ah yes, these are the disposable targets that I kill for loot because they're inherently degenerate drug users or whatever'.

[hithelleth]

The Pitt S1

I’d been resisting watching this because I’d come across some fandom Takes(TM) here that had made me think I wouldn’t like it. They’d been wrong.

But what it really did it to me was a certain gifset (that I now can’t find) of a certain ship posted by @electricbluebutterflies that pushed all the right buttons and made me take a look around other gifs and some fic and, well… I’d also read some of your metas, @eveningspirit, but you know, as much as we do think a lot alike, I do need a more or less problematic lil’ ship to pull me in. :P

I’ve been on vacation this week (May holidays), so after catching up with SVU (meh, but OK for familiarity reasons) and Organized Crime (every episode infarctious, I like this shit!), I decided to watch an episode and see if I can stand it. I could still drop it if I didn’t, right?

Alas, I did like it, so much so that I proceeded to watch 4 eps on Thursday, five on Friday and 6 yesterday – but I was doing housework for an hour or so every couple of episodes (b/c I can’t work continuously anyway due to health reasons.)

So, obviously, I liked it.

The rest under the cut to save your dash.

The concept of 15 hours of a work day being a season was definitely one of the reasons for binging, because it just kept me interested in what happened next.

There were a handful of occasions when I had to look away from the medical gore, but not too many to interfere with overall enjoyment.

Now, the plots were as they are in any medical procedural (though, I might say, they did some things better than some other shows.)

But what I’m a character-driven person and oh, the characters. So many delightfully flawed, broken, but at the same time brilliant and sympathetic characters. I don’t even dislike anyone. Well, Gloria, but even she showed her good side by the end. She did annoy me, though, ugh, typical bureaucrat. But that’s her job to be.

Now, it’s hard to pick a favourite because there’s something about nearly everyone that I find compelling. But perhaps Cassie McKay. I love her. She’s so maternal and a good doctor and obviously a mom who loves her son a lot. But I also liked that they showed her being biased (because even the best people are in some way and it’s good to be reminded to check yourself once in a while) and frustrated and, well, human.

Woo-hoo, and there was the pleasant surprise of McKay’s shitty ex being played by a familiar face (Eli from Station 19). And it brought some fun to relieve all the stress in (for me, as a viewer; not for the characters, obviously. Though Collins definitely enjoyed herself when handling him not too carefully. :P)

Speaking of, I liked Collins well enough, more towards the end than at the beginning.

Now to more complicated characters.

Okay, Robby.

See, part of the reason why I’d avoided watching this show was that they gave him a stupid last name and I’d expected to be frustrated to no end. But fortunately it wasn’t mentioned more than a few times and it was at least pronounced well. And I headcanon that that stupid ‘a’ is a typo from the border officer whichever of Robby’s ancestors had the misfortune to get when first arriving in the US. Because when you’re a poor immigrant, you’re just happy they let you in and you don’t complain about your name being misspelled. *sigh* Okay, I can live with that.

(Look, this hits close to home for me in more than one way.)

Anyway, I hadn’t expected to like Robby due to the aforementioned takes, but I did! You know I have a type when it comes to fictional characters and he definitely checks a lot of boxes. Here he is, on a very bad day, an anniversary of his mentor’s death, then two kids die on him and he learns of his “best resident’s” drug misuse before mass casualty shooting at an event where his sort-of step son went who is then brought in injured with his girlfriend who dies… A day from hell indeed.

But despite all that, for most of the time, he’s caring and compassionate (exercising so much empathy tortured by his choices and a little suicidal, I guess)), a good doctor and a good teacher and a good friend and boss.

Except when it comes to Langdon.

He could he have handled things with Langdon better, definitely without screaming. But he’s just a human and considering the day he’d had it’s understandable his fuse went off – not right, not professional, but understandable.

I think disappointment played a big part in how he reacted, because Langdon was one of the people he trusted and relied on the most. And maybe also fear – what if something had happened to a patient and he hadn’t noticed – ultimately it would have been his responsibility, and not just legally, but morally – I think, being the man he is, it would have broken him if anyone died because Robby hadn’t noticed Langdon’s problems. But that’s just me speculating.

Now, Langdon. The above said, I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt and I’ll believe it’s as he said – that he was trying to wean himself off the drugs he got after his back injury. From what we saw on screen, he is also a good doctor and a good teacher and he hasn’t done anything that would endanger a patient. Sure, he was moody, irritated, anxious, and harsh and rash (getting the puppy) – but we don’t know how much of it is just his personality (and youth re: rashness) or withdrawal symptoms or, you know, just resulting from being in pain. Because I know pain, okay. And it’s damn hard to stay calm and collected and not snap when you’re in pain all or most of the time and still trying to work and work well – and sometimes there’s just a drop too much of everything. So, yeah, Langdon has my sympathies.

Of course, stealing from the hospital and the patients is wrong, and long term opiates use would be bad for Langdon, so he certainly should do the rehab and then have some supervision/testing as were Robby’s conditions. Which were maybe (too) harsh, but they make sense. And they could probably be softened with time and talk and finding out the truth (the audit of his pharmacy use history) and depending on the rehab results etc.

So, yeah, I don’t think things are as bad as some of the fandom make it and I definitely hope Langdon does what it takes (rehab etc.) and comes back to work and he and Robby patch things op.

Because Langdon also doesn’t know, what we, the viewers, do. Namely, that Robby almost flushed the pills to get rid of the evidence that Langdon took them; that he asked Dana for an audit quietly. Which tells us more about how Robby feels about Langdon than Langdon thinks.

Okay, enough about these two.

Dana! Dana is awesome and I love her. I hope she comes back to work. But I also understand that everything might have finally boiled over and she has enough. At least she deserves a few weeks off to rest. (But ‘murica, ugh.)

I also like Santos. Yeah, she’s brash and ambitious (and trying to engineer a medical condition in a patient so she could do a procedure she wanted was wrong). But we also saw her caring and approach patients thoughtfully – not to mention taking blame for Samira (although I wouldn’t be surprised if she wants to collect on that in the future) and offering Whitaker a place to stay. She reminds me of a friend I lost touch with (it was pre-mobile phones era.) A wonderfully complex character, I’m looking forward to get to know her better.

I like both Whitaker and Mel. They both have their strengths and weaknesses, but this is getting long. I read Mel as autistic/on the spectrum, yes? And I agree with ES on her being aro-ace. I certainly don’t ship her with Langdon (it’s fine if you do, I can see why, but personally it’s just not my thing.)

I also like Javadi – loved her when she bloomed under pressure and awed her mom. And lol, her lil’ crush on Matteo. (I also laughed aloud when Chad got jealous of the possibility of Cassie and Matteo – not actively shipping them, but they would be cute. Typical douchebag mindset form Chad, though.)

Love Perlah and Princess and their behind-the-back comments in Tagalog. And who knows who else, there were so many characters; like I said, I really enjoyed the variety of personalities.

And then we come to the ship that got me into this mess (thanks, Alyssa), Abbot x Mohan, of effing course. Did I say I have a type? I very much do.

I saw that gifset and my brain and heart and ladyparts went brrrr, as they say. FML. I’ve read copious amounts of fic.

And then my mind (and fic I saw) did the logical (and expected from me, come on) jump and added Robby to the mix.

Anyway, my brain is too ship-addled to analyse those two and this post has bgot long enough. Suffice it to say that I like both characters. Samira is dedicated to treat patients as whole humans – all doctors should be like that. But, yeah, she needs life outside the hospital as Cassie said. And Abbot’s cowboy ways are entertaining to watch while he’s also a good doctor and teacher and a caring person (and a good friend to Robby (and the other way around obviously.)

I'll end here by saying I'm looking forward to s2.