#magnifier tbc

[icyrose-cat]

hi i said I'd post some catifications

[vro0m]

Hiiiii

So I’ve discovered what I found familiar and disliked about the interactions from your anon with the negative views and parasocial thing re:Lewis

Team LH on twt keep involving themselves in places that aren’t LH friendly and demand that others share their views which is nonsensical because if these ppl hate LH why are you engaging with them

They complain about ppl mentioning LH for clicks and then they respond and quote twts providing engagement and furthering the reach of these ppl

This part here is an assumption but if I had to deal with racism and discrimination on work (within f1) unprovoked and then my fans keep adding fire to those flames via sm engagement I might just spend less time on sm since I’m not about to quit my job

LH seems like the kind of person that would focus on making changes in areas he can control (sm, vacation activities, privacy etc)

Anyway I’m rambling now but yeah…..team LH complain about everything but engage with the very same ppl and articles they should ignore and it’s very pessimistic and argumentative behaviour

Hi! So there's a few things here. I wanna start by saying although you're taking Team LH as an example I think it's important to recognize that this isn't specific to them, nor F1.

I've had a twitter account for more than a decade – I don't engage with F1 content there myself, I'm just not interested – and I see very similar behaviour in my timeline although it's not fandom-based at all but queers and leftists and feminists and generally cool people and/or my friends. They tend to quote tweets that make them react (which is the equivalent of pointing directly at someone in front of your group of friends and saying look how stupid this guy is basically) and that makes other people react and so on and that's just how twitter is built. That's how twitter works. Twitter's foundation IS people yelling at each other. Is it stupid? Absolutely. But that's genuinely just what this platform is about and how interactions happen there most of the time. (Also not just there tbc I've seen such things happen here on tumblr and on every social media but twitter absolutely favours this more than any other social media).

And then you add fan behaviour on top of that and yeah. A lot of people tend to engage and get into fights about what or who they like and that's a human thing that's then sometimes magnified by parasociality and just. The fact that you're generally invested, you know? You invest time, and energy, and most of all emotions into a person, or a band, or an actor/actress, or a topic or whatever, that means something to you and that makes you feel something. And ultimately being a fan of something tends to be a bit of a foggy self-identification process, right? It becomes a part of you. So when people attack it, it feels like they're attacking you, they're judging you, because you don't like the right thing the right way, and it feels personal and so you feel the need to defend it because you feel the need to defend yourself for what you like and how you like it. It's an emotional thing. I think it's easy to get caught up in that. I remember how personally I took it when people made fun of things that I liked and projected myself into and made me feel joy at some points in my life. That's why I don't blame Anon from the other day. Because it's not easy to detach from what other people think of what we like and what we do and ultimately of who we are. Maybe I'm getting a bit deep about this but you get what I mean : people get emotional about stuff they like and identify with.

Still I think it's always important although maybe not always easy to try to be a bit meta about things and take a step back and be like okay wait a minute because how did I get here at first I was just enjoying this cool thing and sharing my enjoyment with people and now I'm anxious and angry what is this about and how do I get back to the part where it's nice and joyful? Because that thing that made you feel good should make you feel good.

Good luck trying to explain that to fucking twitter though.

[ms-weirdox]

Darting a Crack

I'm 27 years old, though it’s hard to believe, because my mind doesn’t seem to hold many memories that can build up to this many years—at least, not good ones, or genuinely happy memories. My life has been filled with tragedies and regrets. Somewhere along the line, my body must have switched on a kind of self-protection mode. It started magnifying the small bits of happiness in my life, adding a lot of sugar and spice through imaginary happy moments. These made me a "witty girl" with the appearance of a good life—a good education, no financial concerns, a great family, and being raised with love. I’m afraid of tearing even one of those tags off. This should be me, and it is me. I believe it.

But I guess my actions don’t fully reflect this image, because how can those labels stay stable on top of debris? When I look in the mirror, it’s shattered, split into pieces, each reflecting a version of myself, each piece showing a different “fake me” with its own label. When I try to tape the pieces back together, it’s fragile—just like I am now. 

There’s definitely something wrong at the origin. If you strip away all the shiny labels, there’s a root cause that shouldn’t have happened—an event that set off a chain of tragedies, leading to me as I am. I shouldn’t exist, not like this, if everything had gone right at the beginning. I think it’s finally time for me to find that origin. And I’ve actually wanted to uncover it for so long, but the people around me—especially those who played a part in creating that origin or contributed to it in some way—have kept pulling me away from that true goal. I want to find it, to locate the point where all the cracks began, and to trace those cracks back to their source. 

Let me point to a crack, like throwing a dart, and see where it leads...

TBC...

[porteroso]

Once Again

Tonight the ole wife and I just dont see eye to eye. I guess it has building up all week long, but the issue isn't really about us, it is my brother. He gets really grumpy and is easily irritated, and this week he started the vacation out mad at everyone. The wife and I talked about it every day, and that was fine.

But today, at Versailles, she blew up like she does. She screamed and cursed, and to her credit she was mostly just saying to him that she hated how he treats everyone. She did her thing, then she stormed off to the train station, and once we got there yelled again.

I just dont want to be someone who won't address an issue with a person, then go from that 0, to exploding in public. And it does bother me that it was in public. Is that so bad? Am I putting too much pressure and expectation on her by wanting it to not be public?

She was so mad she took her wedding rings off and put them on the ground in front of my brother, like she wanted a divorce from me, because of her issue with him.

And now she claims it was "absolutely appropriate." This sounds nuts right? Of course there is more, context, her family issues from an emotionally and verbally abusive father.... But what bothers me is how she wants to shift blame from herself, and say that in comparison to my brother, what she did isn't so bad.

I don't know if I posted this before, but I have never really considered divorce, because before we were married and were just talking about it, no engagement, I said I didn't know if I'd marry her, if she was ready for it. This is the first time she blew up at me, started hitting her head against the wall. She responded by saying she would kill herself if we didn't marry.

Today I described how difficult she is, how little trust I have in her to deal with conflict or any problem, because she can magnify it so much and obsess over it. She took that to mean she was abusive, though she never says it like that. She later tells me I said she was abusive. She said then we should divorce, because I shouldn't have to live with someone like that. It was sarcasm, she really thinks she is the greatest. But then I asked if she would be fine or not if we did, and she said she'd lose everything and probably kill herself again.

tbc

[askroahmmythril]

Welp, here come new badge ideas: Terry-Arc Badge (two metal prongs with an electric arc between them, like a Jacob's Ladder) Eris-Oil Badge (oil splat with rainbow highlights befitting the inner city setting and oil paints) Bernard-Nitro Badge (three exhaust pipes angled in the middle, shooting flames) Cecil-Mystery Badge (magnifying glass with an eye in it) TBC

TBC

[maskedbydarkness]

[ tag dump ;; ]

[reallifepotato]

Day 20

Day 1 I guess

[gumnut-logic]

The Hero (Part One)

Okay, you’ve read the first tiny bit of this, but I’ve gutted the rest and am rewriting it with much more focus. Sorry about the tiny bit of duplication, I hope you enjoy it anyway.

Today I am at work with my Saturday six hour on my feets desk shift, so any entertainment in the form of fic prompts, ideas, screenshots, simple hellos is welcome. My response will be muted, but, trust me, I’ll love every second of it ::hugs you all::

Warnings: Violence...I’ve upped the magnifying factor of my writing focus, so much more detail to behold. Planned to be entirely Gordon POV, something I don’t think I’ve done in the past, so yay for new stuff living inside the Fish’s brain :D Looking at during the incident, but leading into the aftermath...all the off screen stuff from The Joker.

-o-o-o-

A glass of ice and amber liquid landed in front of him with a solid thunk on the woodwork. His eldest brother followed it, his tall figure sliding around the table and taking a seat beside him.

Another glass of alcohol sat in his hand.

Scott didn’t say anything at first, apparently quite happy to nurse the drink against his chest.

Breath whistled through his teeth. “So, what happened?”

Gordon arched an eyebrow before picking up his glass and sipping the whisky. Oooh, Scott’s expensive bottle. Nice.

He took a moment to revel in its warmth before venturing into the bitterness of his report.

“He did well, you know. Put up one hell of a fight. A couple of those guys won’t be getting up any time soon.”

Blue eyes peered at him over the rim of his glass. “Virgil?”

“Kayo taught him well.” A swallow of scorching liquid, smooth as the glass holding it. “There were just too many of them.”

-o-o-o-

A ramshackle pile of a building on an abandoned farm with interference peppering the sensors. It was ironic that Virgil had accompanied him for security. AKA big brother hadn’t wanted him to go into an unknown situation without backup.

Whether the outcome would have changed in accordance with that decision, they would never know, but it led to Gordon taking lead and Virgil following. Consequently, it was Gordon who was nabbed first entering the second dusty room of the building and Virgil who had to exercise his self defence skills.

The hands that grabbed the aquanaut were rough and for a moment the whole room went sideways. He struck out automatically, but was anticipated, his arm wrenched around his back, his knees kicked out under him, and a cold barrel shoved into the base of his skull put a very abrupt end to his defences.

“V-!”

The kick to his ribs silenced him, but his aim had been achieved.

The brother entering the room, froze for just a split second as he processed the situation. Shadows leapt from the darkness, intending on taking him down, but that second, and reflexes drilled into Virgil by his sister, gave him the power to respond.

Virgil’s massive arm swiped away the hands grabbing at him as he spun out of reach. Another shadow leapt out only to encounter an equally massive fist to its face. Virgil’s uniform did its job and protected him from impact, a hard traction boot landing solidly in one man’s guts. A padded elbow hit teeth and those huge gloved hands, usually so gentle, made knuckles as solid as steel - Gordon knew that, one slip on his part in one too many spar sessions had ended in bruises Virgil had apologised for weeks afterwards.

But there were too many, up to half a dozen assailants emerging from the shadows not including those holding Gordon.

The cold ring of metal at the base of his skull dug in deeper as he struggled to free himself and stop the inevitable.

No amount of padding could deflect the flicker of steel in the dark that impacted on his brother’s ribs.

Gordon heard the snap.

Oh god.

Virgil gasped and staggered.

His assailants moved in.

But no, the stubborn bastard didn’t give up. His fist impacted the side of a head and a man ended up in the dust at Virgil’s feet.

But there were too many.

Too many.

“Virgil, no!” They must be getting some pleasure out of this, because there were guns a plenty, but only one deployed. Gordon didn’t know if his brother had even seen them. “Virgil!”

That steel bar flickered in the poor light again and the second time it impacted on his brother, the dull thud was skull bone.

His big brother dropped without a sound.

Dust hung in the air.

“Well, so much for that.” The hot breath on the back of his neck almost overrode the chill of seeing a gun trained on Virgil’s bleeding skull. “Now, time is of the essence. I need access to your ship now, or we will finish him permanently.”

-o-o-o-

“They got me first. Virg was behind me and had that extra second to react. It was unexpected.” It had been well planned. “They...neutralised him.”

He took a swig of his drink and it caught part way down, burning a hole in his throat. “You would have been so proud of him.” It was whispered.

“I am. Of both of you.” A simple statement that said so much.

Gordon rolled his shoulders in an attempt to shake off the echoes of the incident so he could report clearly.

He was only moderately successful.

“They used Virg to get me to do what they wanted.” The words stuck in his throat and he forced steel into his spine, straightening in the chair. The image of his brother discarded and bleeding on Two’s checker-plate decking, a gun pointed at his head.

The soft crack as a boot impacted on his already damaged ribcage.

Gordon didn’t flinch. He was too experienced for that. But it didn’t hurt any less.

Another throat full of burning alcohol attempted to wash the chill away. Maybe he was just out of practise.

“We need to find a way to stop that from happening again.” His voice was parched and he found himself staring off into the distance.

“Kayo’s on it.” The tumbler was lifted from his hand. The clink of glass, the glug of pouring liquid and it reappeared full again.

Gordon took it, an eye flick, his only thank you.

“I flew her to the warehouse they directed me to. Virgil remained unconscious for the entire flight.” Gordon was almost thankful. “I had hoped you would be able to track us.”

It was Scott’s turn to sigh. “John was...upset.”

That snapped him out of his daze. “What?” His eyes narrowed. “What did Johnny do?”

Scott shifted where he sat. “When he lost Thunderbird Two and both your signals, he and Eos went to some lengths to find you.”

Gordon sat up straighter, eyes boring into his brother. “What did he do?”

TBC

[artofmorehq]

OUT OF CHARACTER

NAME/ALIAS: mae

AGE: 19

PRONOUNS: she/her

IN CHARACTER – BASICS

FIRST/LAST NAME: Laurence John ‘LJ’ Caston

NICKNAMES: Laurie, Lauren, Jack, Jacky, Jo

AGE: 804 (physically 25)

PRONOUNS: he/him

OCCUPATION (MUSE, ARTIST, ETC.): muse, art historian/archaeologist & vigilante

FACE CLAIM: Charles Bilgrien

3 POSITIVE TRAITS: protective, dedicated, innovative

3 NEGATIVE TRAITS: jaded, grumpy, impatient

IN CHARACTER – DETAILS

LJ was born in 1216, at the end of the ravaging civil wars between King John and the barons. He grew up in a shattered, recovering country under an ineffectual king; hardship was a constant from an early age, scraping a living through whatever means he could. however, his secret passion was for art, sketches and carvings and sculptures whittled into wood. Even when he left home to join the army, he kept his passion burning, though hidden. His death should’ve been in action; it should’ve been glorious, should’ve been worth something, but in the end it was nothing more than pneumonia after trying to nurse a friend. The only people to be privy to his artwork during his mortal life were the order of nuns who cared for him as he died – a clumsy, whittled rosary, still tucked into an empty grave. When he came back, people didn’t know what to make of him – least of all himself. The nuns called it a miracle, the villagers called it the devil’s work, the army was just glad to have one of their best archers back. Even LJ didn’t understand what he was, or why he’d been saved, until he met another muse. They’d already been alive for nearly 1,000 years and told him exactly what he’d been brought back to do: to inspire, to guide, to light humanity’s artistic journey and illuminate the future. Their biggest influence was to instil him with a sense of duty, a faithfulness he’s never managed to completely abandon. Over the years, LJ has travelled the world: he fought at Agincourt and Crecy, sailed on the Golden Hind, pitched up in the American and French Revolutions, went to university several times over. Loved and lost many people, including other muses. He trained under Nicholas Hilliard, experienced more civil wars, fought at Trafalgar; countless events lived, centuries gone by, and one constant: suffering.

[icyrose-cat]

Album cover redraw! This fits many of my characters, but I chose Magnifier and Spyglass for it because I felt like they would be the most fitting for the entire album's themes!

anyways listen to glass beach

[jiskblr]

> touches grass > grass tries to sell me crypto

TBC, I have my own stories like this. I had an Uber driver try to convince me that some crypto-based video-sharing network where you got coins for uploading videos was the wave of the future, despite a (pretty cogent if I do say so myself) counterargument that at no point in this process was there anything you could get by paying for it with the coin (you didn’t need to pay to watch videos, I checked) and so there was no basis for the coin having value. As I was leaving the dude said he was going to a crypto conference in the Bahamas or something at which point I outright said “I give up, you’re a lost cause.” (This would have been in 2016 or so.)

But that’s unusual. Of all the conversations I’ve had with Uber drivers (probably ~200?), the only one that approached that level of weirdness was arguing about whether Trump’s election was evidence for or against conspiracy theories. (I said ‘against’, because if there was a shady cabal of powerful people the last thing they’d want was a chaotic outsider getting power. She said ‘for’ because he seemed like a useful dupe. There was more detail but it’s not important.)

Most people are normal and have very few weird views. But weird views get magnified online, both via The Algorithm of toxoplasma and Bad On Purpose To Make You Click and via filter bubbles of thirty people who have this one specific weird view forming a support group and reinforcing each other.

Some ppl who like to snigger about how anyone with an axe to grind they cannot neatly assimilate to any familiar ideological categories needs to “log off” have very clearly never talked to anny even mildly eccentric strangers on the train and would greatly benefit from this experience

[watchilove]

RESERVOIR HYDROSPHERE – The Greg LECOEUR Edition Ref: RSV03.HY/330-32.GL Limited Edition of 50 pieces Technical Specifications 45mm, bronze Case with satin finish Bronze dial with sundial finish, white index, magnifier on the jumping-hour window Self-winding mechanical movement, 37 hours power reserve Complications: Retrograde minutes, jumping Hour, Power Reserve Patented proprietary 124-pieces module on ETA 2824-2 caliber Anti-reflective sapphire crystal Unidirectional, ceramic rotating bezel with double scale for reading the time at different diving depths before and after the retrograde minute hand’s return Helium Valve Stainless steel screwed back, screw-down crown, watertight up to 250m Black rubber strap screwed onto the body Additional blue NATO strap provided, mounted on bronze stirrups Included in the waterproof box: Engraving on the back of the watch; Includes an exploration notebook with the description of emblematic dives and in favor of the preservation of the oceans led by Greg Lecoeur, and illustrated by his photographic work; Includes a dive with Greg Lecoeur in the Port-Cros national park, Hyères (France), over a half-day in September 2021 (exact date tbc excluding insurance, transport and accommodation costs); Included a grant for the replanting of a coral via the Coral Gardenersassociation; Price 4’850 € TTC | $ 4’980 MSRP excl. Local Taxes | £ 4’600 VAT incl. Available to order in June 2021 Online store and network of exclusive retailers in 20 countries https://www.instagram.com/p/CQLFpv8LQ8E/?utm_medium=tumblr