#maybe she left him at some point in 2016?

[the-irrelevant-trumpeter]

another thing i want to know more about is denise. do we think she and robert were married, or just dating? the wording of “denise left me” implies marriage to me (dating might be more of “breaking up”) but maybe if they’d been in a relationship for a while, that would be the wording anyway? so then when did robert and denise meet/get together? and most importantly, if they were married, did the cpds go to the wedding?

[miwiheroes]

Byler + Closet Imagery

Just wanted to show just how much closet imagery and references there are in stranger things and how it's super obvious, that it's kind of insane that it goes over the GA's heads so much. It's mostly with Mike as well, funnily enough.

Closet imagery has been used in media over the years to show that a character might be gay but the audience/the other characters just don't know it yet.

For example, it was used here in Paper Girls (2022) for KJ who was not out as gay yet.

It was also used for Eyewitness (2016) with Lukas who also has internalised homophobia and we already know that Byler has had a parallel to Eyewitness before.

So, it's interesting that this closet imagery has been used for Mike and Byler ever since the show began in Season 1. Let's look at all the ways it has been used and how insane these are that some people deny them because UHHHH....

1. Mike hides El in his closet

Karen: "With all this that's been going on, with Will, I can't imagine what it's been like for you... i just-- want you to feel like you can talk to me. i never want you to feel like you have to hide anything from me. i'm here for you. okay?"

Mike: *is hiding El in the closet* *a noise comes from the closet after Karen says these things* *he lies about it* *Karen then hugs Mike later on when Will 'dies' HADGSJHDG*

2. Argues with El in a closet

I find it so funny how the framing here is El literally between Mike and some male dummy and then she grabs it from him LMAOO i love cinematography.

Mike: 'You are the most important thing to me in the worl-'

El: *interrupts him* 'What if [Hopper's] right?'

Mike: *feels attacked as she questions the legitimacy of their relationship while she holds a male dummy in the closet* "No, no no no. He's just some angry old man who hates joy."

Why are you questioning the sanity of someone instead of using actual arguments for your relationship?? Oh that's right, you're in the closet <3

3. Kisses El in front of a closet

Particularly, this is Will's closet as well.

El: "I love you too" *kisses Mike*

Mike: *makes disgusted/ confused face* *doesn't kiss back and has his eyes open* *has the light coming from the closet framed on his head as if he's realised something.*

El: *walks away smiling*

Mike: *looks to the side confused with an open closet next to him* *thinks What is wrong with me?/ What just happened here? (original script)*

Also the music is "The First I love You" which is the same music they use in a scene where Robin comes out of the closet.

4. Mike reads a letter from El in front of a lit up closet

Bro is reading a note with RAINBOWS ON IT and then the camera pans to him reading with a literal open closet which is lit up right next to him. How is this not blatant queer-coding??

Also Mike: *panics in front of a closet which has a ray of light shining on him* *has a one-way sign pointing into the closet which is revealed when he bends down*

I am going insane at this it's so funny

5. Argues with his bestie bro when a song called "In The Closet" plays

aka arguing with Will about how he sabotaged your day by ignoring you instead of your gf getting bullied x

Will: "Well we used to be best friends!"

Mike: *looks devastated as a song called "In The Closet (at Rink O' Mania)" plays when the camera goes back to him* "Well maybe you should've reached out more, I don't know. Why is this on me? Why am I the bad guy?"

El: *is hiding from Mike in a closet*

Why are you suddenly switching the blame Mike??? Oh girl you're a little too defensive

6. Mike and Will have a heart-to-heart in front of an open closet

Mike: "No, no you didn't deserve anything... Hawkins isn't the same without you... Maybe I was worrying too much about El... felt like I lost you or something... Friends, 🥺❤️ best friends."

All while Will is tearing up in front of a closet (also the picture here on the left literally has them framed on either side of an open closet WDYMMM)

Anyways,

Byler Endgame

[hotgirlssupportlando]

one day x lando norris pt 2

this is a part of my series following one day of every summer from 2016 onwards in y/n’s and landos lives, exploring their friendship and love for one another. ofc not a smooth ride with some angst and fights along the way. a friends to lovers, growing up together kind of thing. read first part here pairing: lando norris x fem!reader summary of this part: lando and y/n crushing hard on each other without the other one knowing. roadtrip to the beach and that kind of cosiness. warnings: a bit of angst? wc: 1,6k part three here

summer of 2017

”are you sure you don’t want the professional race car driver to drive there?” lando said with a concerned voice.

”does this look a race car? it’s a car suited for grandmothers, i could probably run faster than this car can drive. stop being such a wuss now and jump in” y/n demanded. 

lando jokingly crossed himself and told a little prayer before entering the passenger seat. y/n laughed and rolled her eyes at her scared friend.

”i know i only just got my license but i’m actually a decent driver! and besides that i’m the one of us that actually drive on roads, safely, while you’re out there almost killing yourself every other weekend.”

”okay, okay i get it, i trust you, just please keep us alive, i have a race in hungary this weekend” 

”we will just have to hope for the best dear” y/n responded driving away. 

while lando and y/n continued bickering about who of them was the best driver y/n drove along the english shoreline heading for a viewing point. she hadn’t seen him in a while and really missed him during the long periods of being apart. y/n tried her best at concentrating on the road and making a good impression of her driving skills but at the same time she couldn’t stop looking at lando and his beautiful smile. he truly made her so happy with his presence which she hadn’t really realized up until now. 

it was almost a year now since that podium kiss in austria and ever since that their friendship had developed into a special bond. y/n was still crushing quite hard on lando and without her knowing he was too. they’d never really talked about what happened in austria and although they had a very flirtatious friendship it had never lead to anything between them since that podium. this friendship that had now lasted almost a year felt like a once in a lifetime kind of thing and no-one of them wanted to ruin it by expressing their feelings for one another and maybe ruining it all. eventually it had led to them both staying away from any kind of topic regarding their feelings. 

”y/n? what are you thinking about?” lando said waking y/n up from her spiraling thoughts.

”oh, ehm.. nothing. ju-.. just trying to figure out where-, how we’re going to find a nice viewing point before the sun sets” y/n said trying to sound as calmly as she could.

”oh okay, well i know a place. if you just take a left over there and go up that road” lando answered while pointing to a road that was approaching. y/n drove as instructed and after a while reaching a beautiful spot that had a view over the water and a nearby beach. 

”wow this is nice lan, good job. i guess i now know where you take all your girls” y/n winked and playfully nudged lando’s arm trying to seem as unbothered as possible.

”not aaall girls but one thing i can tell you is that this spot has never failed me with the girls, soo-” lando cheekingly told y/n returning the nudge. 

y/n laughed. ”oh you wish norris! i’m not falling that easily, and what makes you think i’m like your other girls? i actually have more than IQ 50”

”heey that last girl actually a decent gcse!” lando whined.

”woow your standards are very high, i’m impressed. you do realize that that describes almost every girl in this country?” y/n joked as lando laughed and shook his head. ”well we will see y/n, don’t be so sure that you can resist me at a place like this” lando winked at the girl. y/n laughed denying it all while thinking that there was nothing that she wanted more than to be lando’s girl. 

—

moments later at the nearby beach

lando was running into the cold water squealing about how it felt worse than ice baths. he looked back at y/n standing on the beach fully dressed with no intention to go for a dip. ”come on now y/n it’s really not that bad!” lando shouted. y/n looked at lando who was clearly freezing and trying to hide it the best he could. ”lan you’re not convincing anyone that it’s not cold, i can see your goosebumps from miles away” she shouted back.

”okay well i bet you’re too much of -”

”lando stop, you can’t just make a bet for everything you want me to do?! that’s not how life works!” y/n interrupted before the curly headed boy could come up with the seventy-third betting game of their friendship. 

lando laughed seeing that y/n once again couldn’t resist his stupid ideas and started to remove her sweater. she continued taking off her skirt and top revealing the black bikini underneath. luckily lando was a bit further out in the ocean so y/n couldn’t hear his ”wow” when he saw her for the first time in that small amount of clothes. he kept admiring how beautiful she was walking down to the water while y/n tried to cover up a bit more of her body with her arms. 

y/n gasped when entering the water and also tried to put on her best show of convincing lando that the water wasn’t at all cold. slowly she waded out in the direction of the boy with full concentration on the coldness of the water against her skin and also on not stepping on any fish. while y/n struggled with this lando chuckled a bit further out in the water without looking away from the beautiful girl approaching him, oh how he had to fight the urge to not run up to her, grab her in his arms and kiss her. but he couldn’t do that. 

”hello? is your last braincell giving up too?” y/n woke lando up from his daydreaming receiving a smile back. as a response he playfully splashed water on her which eventually ended up in them both being totally soaked and heading to the car for some warmth.

—

moments later back at the car the pair of friends were talking in the trunk of the car that had been made to a cosy little space with blankets, pillows and mattresses. both of them were lying on their backs watching the sun set in front of them whilst the waves crashed against the beach. they talked about their future and what they wanted to achieve. the formula 3 driver’s dream future wasn’t hard to guess, formula 1 was of course the ultimate dream but although he was so talented he wasn’t optimistic in getting to that top tier. this however y/n just waved away reassuring lando that if somebody were to get there it was him and tried to fill him with the confidence boosting thoughts he needed to brush away his irrational thoughts.

”but what about you y/n/n? since the day i met you i’ve always been talking about formula one but you’ve never expressed any of your dreams?” he said tilting his head looking at y/n. 

”oh, well i don’t know if i have any specific dreams like you.. it sounds so cliché but i truly just wanna experience so much in my life so that maybe one day i wouldn’t need a storybook to tell my children bedtime stories you know? so i could just tell them about all the adventures i’ve been on instead” y/n responded.

”aaw that’s sweet of you. i’m sure that will happen for you and your kids are gonna be thrilled about hearing all about it. i hope i’ll be a part of at least one of your bedtime stories” lando smiled.

y/n smiled back ”i’m sure you’re going to be, but we both know that i also have too much need of academic validation so i’m gonna have to do something about that first, get a degree in something at least” y/n laughed while thinking about also making her family proud as she was often seen as the ’smart’ one in the family. lando chuckled a bit responding that she was the smartest girl he knew before he opened up his arms for her to come and lay on his chest. y/n snuggled in putting her head on his chest and resting her arm on his stomach. she thanked lando for the compliment although ’the smartest girl he knew’ -bar wasn’t very high to be honest. soon their both giggles died out in to a comfortable silence while the pair were holding each other closely. lando thinking about how he wanted to stay this close to y/n forever and y/n thinking about how lando’s arms were the safest she had ever felt. y/n lied so closely she could hear lando’s heartbeat in the silence. both of them were falling for each other, none of them knowing about the other persons feelings.

”lando?” y/n whispered.

”hm?” lando whispered back.

”can you promise that we will always stay like this? … like friends?” she added as her initial thought about expressing her feelings felt too overwhelming at the moment.

”i promise y/n, always” lando whispered back with a small voice crack revealing tears that were held back. oh how he wanted to tell her the truth.

y/n could feel her heart rip. it killed her slowly thinking about how this embrace and these safe arms didn’t belong to her. and if she never get the courage to tell lando they would never do.

—

taglist

@amberpanda99 @phantomxoxo @landossainz @chezmardybum @lan4cha16

[wandamaximoffsbadgirl]

Let's Talk About That

Make you swallow all that pride (6)

Psychiatrist!Avenger!fem!Reader x Wanda Maximoff

Warning: Not much. We're at the point of the Civil War fight happening. Lots of hurt and angst.

A/N: Good luck everyone I wanted to cry writing this. 🫠😢

May 24th 2016

The clash of the Avengers. Though you had been by Natasha's side the past few days. Clint came looking for you. Telling you to head to Germany. Steve would be waiting. You left a small note for Tasha, kissing her temple. She was in a deep sleep only because she felt safe with you. Normally any movement would have roused her. 

You make it to Germany, hugging Steve. You picked him up and when you set him down he did the same back. "I didn't want to leave her...I know she's going to be pissed." You confess to him. He lets out a sigh, putting a hand on your shoulder.

"She was holding you there. Tony was doing the same thing to Wanda. He was keeping her trapped in the compound with Vision watching over her. Clint's on his way right now with her and a new friend, Scott, he goes by Ant-man." He tells you. Of course that's all it was. Tasha didn't need you. She never needed a bodyguard…she's a black widow assassin for God sakes. How could you be so blind.

"I can't wait to see her." You must be smiling like an idiot because Steve laughs. 

"Alright lets go over our plans while we have some time." He tells you, Sam, and Bucky.

When Clint arrives you hug Wanda tightly and she does hug you back, but it doesn't feel the same. "Are you okay sweetie?" You ask, cupping her cheek.

"Yeah just concentrating. Getting ready to fight people we used to call friends and allies. Sorry I'm not in a lovey mood." She barks. You take a step back. Trying to read her emotions and aura. "Stop reading me." You blink and the colors you barely got to figure out dissipate.

"Fine." You stalk off going to change into your uniform. A blue sleeveless skin tight suit, gloves that go up to your biceps and your stone out and able to 'breathe' you switch out your glasses for contacts that unfortunately Tony made you that show you statistics and a bunch of information if you ask FRIDAY about it. You take a deep breath. The weight of it all hitting you, though you knew you needed to keep your emotions in check.

"Everything okay?" You hear Steve ask.

"Something's wrong...or off with Wanda...She doesn't want me reading her emotions. I'm worried that maybe..." you can't even say it out loud as Steve comes and hugs you. You can feel the tears threatening to spill over at the mere thought of not having her by your side.

"Y/N you're still so young. I know it's hard, but even if she isn't the one. It's going to be okay. No matter what. You'll make it through it." He reassures you. You felt like Steve could understand, he just lost Peggy and he's had to live with the fact that he can never be with the love of his life. You feel the tears fall as Steve hugs you once more.

“You'll make it through it. You're tough.” He reassures once more and you sniffle. You wipe the tears away and put up a Steele resolve. Steve was right. You were tough. This wouldn't kill you. No matter the outcome you couldn't let it kill you.

As everyone prepared for battle and got in place. Steve would go out on his own while the rest of you flanked around. Steve hoped he could just talk Tony down, but Tony practically came out swinging as he tended to do. Words fell on deaf ears as the battle started. You threw yourself into the battle, going after Vision and letting your anger rage out. Matching pace with him as you landed punch after punch. The synthezoid showed no signs of damage even after a hammer fist sent him flying into a crater in the ground.

“Why won't you just stay down!” You yelled before being grabbed by red tendrils on magic and flung into the side of a plane leaving a crater of your own. 

“Why don't you!?” You heard Wanda yell a venom in her voice you'd never once had directed at you. You faltered for a moment before pushing yourself off the plane with enough force to push it onto its side. 

“I gave you everything and this is how you repay me!?” You asked, going toe to toe with someone who was supposed to be your girlfriend, your friend, your ally. As you raise your fist to her you hesitate. You remember the moment you met her. When Tasha brought her to you. You remember how she melted against you with that first hug. You put your fist down. “I could never use my power on you.” you seethe at her as her face twists in a mix of shock and realization that she had hurt you, had sent you flying with her magic for fighting Vision who was our enemy right now. 

Before anymore words can be exchanged you feel a sharp pain in your back as you fall to the ground. Vision had hit you with the only thing that could physically hurt you. His powers from the mind stone. Your own stone short circuiting from the power as you lay there motionless other than the occasional involuntary twitch.

As the battle unfolded, the fractures within the Avengers became glaringly apparent. Friendships strained, alliances shattered – it was a heartbreaking spectacle that left you grappling with conflicting emotions. The internal turmoil mirrored the external chaos, and your thoughts inevitably circled back to Wanda.

Engaged in the clash now with some Spider kid, you couldn't help but steal glances at her, attempting to gauge her emotions from a distance. The connection that had once felt so profound now seemed elusive, and the dissonance weighed heavily on your heart.

When the dust settled, and the repercussions of your choices became evident, you couldn't shake the feeling that the path ahead held even greater challenges. The division among you, the fractures in relationships, and the uncertainty about Wanda's feelings all loomed over you, casting a shadow on what had once felt like an unbreakable bond.

The clash of the Avengers had left scars, both visible and unseen, and you knew that healing would be a complex journey fraught with challenges. Yet, with the resilience born from shared hardships, you clung to the hope that you could find a way to mend what had been broken and emerge stronger on the other side.

Steve and Bucky managed to get away thanks to Natasha and you tried following her, but she ran off with nothing, but the promise that you'd see her soon and a kiss on the top of your head. She also used the electric shock device on you and all you wanted to do was cry as she left you there writhing in pain and left to deal with too many emotions on your own as waves of purple magic came off of you until the Earth gave out beneath you. You now lay in a deep crater of your own making. 

You'd rather die than lose both the women you care about. Yet, here you are, still breathing. Though you were breathing you didn't feel alive anymore.

[disfrutalakia]

Below the cut there will be the translation of the notes Bagi posted yesterday that ak!bagi has been taking.

                        TIMELINE OF THE THINGS I DISCOVERED:

(probably – almost sure- the events are still in the wrong order, I will fix it with time!)

Bia and Jota were friends since they were young

2004 – The “disaster from 20 years ago” happens (maybe the thousand dead from the hole?)

1000 dead in the hole at the island we found, it was an old mine and it was explored until there was nothing left (FIRST TIME THEY FOUND THE MASK CAVE)

Grew up

Jota’s family dies under suspicious circumstances (in a fire that didn’t have ashes and they didn’t find the bodies) (FIX POSITION IN THE TIMELINE)

Bia (?) used to stay at the house by the city hall side, saying words in different unknow languages and the people created rumors about the scary things that were happening there. (for example, a mysterious fire in the houses)

Mayor Jota goes overseas (FIX THE POSITION IN THE TIMELINE)???

Jota and Bia begin to hate each other

Bia begins to be accused of witchcraft by everyone.

2016 – Jota is elected mayor (FIX POSITION IN THE TIMELINE)

2020 – More than 100 people (residents? visitors?) die from stomachache in a type of intoxication (maybe they died because they refused to wear the masks? In theory at this point of the timeline the masks “didn’t exist/weren’t used” but it’s a possibility)

Jota tries to learn languages very different from the common (like Bia, maybe trying to learn the same type of “magic” that she knows)

Island residents receive the “masks”, and the mayor asks that everyone wear them for their own protection (FOR WHAT REASON DID THEY ONLY MADE USE OF THE MASKS NOW? JOTA LEARNED TO USE MAGIC AT THIS POINT? MAYBE HE FOUGHT WITH BIA BECAUSE SHE WANTED TO STOP HIM?)

Bia is “exiled” from the island – event more interpreted as Bia being rejected, hated and despised by everyone in Valigma (because of the mayor?)

IMPORTANT DETAIL ABOUT BIA: known in the city for being a troublemaker and causing too much trouble… but for what reason did she do that? Vengeance? Bothering to make the people go against the mayor? Delay the mayor for some kind of plan? Is she trying to get OUR attention???

The masks have difference expressions/feelings. There are masks of different colors (Bia = pink, factory owner = blue, etc)

Alice said that she feels “comfortable” with the mask – maybe the mask represents how she feels? Or it makes her feel protected because she has an idea of why she wears it? Is she being controlled or manipulated to say those things? (poor thing…)

I believe the masks might be used for one of two things: 1. To stop the Valigma residents from dying/getting sick because of the contamination of the city (in this case the mask would have some kind of protection spell?) or 2. To get the Valigma residents with some kind of ancestral magic that is present in those caves, maybe to have control of all the Valigma residents in some way? But one thing is clear: the mask is directly involved with the magic and rituals that Bia already knew and that Jota was/is trying to learn.

I tried to take off Quel’s mask (Bia’s mask) and I COULDN’T. Is it stuck forever after you put it on?

“I hope the mayor knows what he is doing” – Who wrote that?

Pay attention to when I receive information from Hugo and remember to NOT reveal their identity to anybody

                                                  Masks

Everyone in Valigma has one!

Residents wear them by order of the mayor Jota.

Are used for “protection” of who is wearing it – Have spells on them?

Even the residents that are not in Valigma were wearing masks! For example, the ones in the docks that got our tickets to the boat, the captain, Bia, etc (THIS MEANS THAT EVERY VALIGMANO >HAS< TO WEAR THEM? – for what reason?)

They vary in expressions and some in color (pink, blue and that horrible re one from the banker) (THE COLOR AND EXPRESSION ARE TIED TO THE FEELINGS AND HIERARCHY OF THE WEARER?)

Red masks: any “neutral” mask can go red depending on the situation? Or the one from the banker didn’t change colors and he actually changed masks? – The eye turned red too!

They are similar to the expressions/symbols at the wall of the mines cave – place where their design was born (and power right, if there is one)

Is there somebody in Valigma who never wore the mask and IS ALIVE?

Are the masks a way of escaping the “punishment” from the earth for exploring the resources in a predatory way?

The main question is: in the deep part of the mine there is a place with a cauldron and some potions. Would that be the place where the magic was used for the first time? Or the place where it was discovered?

The factory is involved with the magic USE part? – They don’t look directly connected until no, even if both sides are suspect as hell. The factory looks like it’s being used to “keep” this magic? (TAKE MORE PICTURES AND INVESTIGATE THE INTERIOR – DO IT IN SILENCE BECAUSE OTHERS WERE CAUGHT INVADING BEFORE)

Remember to take a invisibility potion (my old friend) and some books! Stealing a gun would be important too

GUESS 1

The masks could have been created as a combination of technology from the factory and the magic that the earth had in it’s depths.

In this hypothesis, there would be an explanation of the motive that took them SO MANY years for the masks to be created, because it was necessary machinery to extract the power of the earth + transform it in a technology that could be used by the Valigma residents (the masks)

Bia would have been a strong opposition to mayor Jota, since she probably knew of magic e was even a defender of the power that the earth had. In a situation like that, the mayor and the factory wouldn’t be the “villain” because they were only trying to make the city survive in some way, and neither would Bia be the “villain” because she was trying to protect what she believed in and maybe the cost of that would be the Valigma residents paying with their lives for the predatory exploration their ancestors made.

In all of this, the mayor’s family could have died in a failed attempt of the mayor Jota of manipulating the magic inside his house since Bia refused to help (because she knew his intentions)

Guess 2

Bia was responsible for bringing magic to Valigma and that might have caused a collapse.

In an attempt of solving the problem, the owner of the factory worked in some kind of technology to use or even neutralize the magic – that would explain the good relationship between the mayor and the owner of the factory and the horrible relationship between him and Bia, even more if Bia is involved somehow in the death if mayor J’s family.

That huge machinery in the factory is full of “purple energy” is extracting/removing energy (or magic) of Valigma’s soil?

Would that explain the different mask colors?

Bia = pink

Factory owner = blue

Would they be different sides of a conflict? In this case, would the mayor and the city at th side of the factory owner in this conflict?

IN BOTH POSSIBILITIES, all of this started for the same reason: they tried to extract too much from the mines and from the earth, and messed with something they shouldn’t.

Who is the true villain behind the contamination of Valigma? The factory or the supposed rituals?

There is a problem in all of that… A question without answer. For what reason mayor Jota wants so bad to learn magic? The same magic that took the life of his family and made the Valigma residents miserable…

I will have to ask

(don’t die!)

NEXT STEPS

Speak with the mayor and ask for answers about his study of languages and the use of this magic, rituals and the things that he supposedly tried to manipulate by following Bia’s footsteps

Invade the factory to find details about how it works

Use the permission that Jorge gave me to investigate the police archives

Look for more details about the death of mayor jota’s family

Get a sample of the water from the lake for analysis and think of a possible antidote in case the contamination proves to be fatal

Get an animal and use as a test subject, giving it water from the lake. I will also test it in some plants. If it doesn’t work, try to find a human subject that is not wearing a mask (POSSIBILITY OF DEATH)

Verify the situation of the health of the grave keeper Gomez in the next days, because he drank some of the water from the toilet in Bira’s bar (he should be fine since he uses the mask) Do not encourage other resident to do the same because it may get in the way of the experiment. Just the subject Gomez may have ingested the water to be sure that the problem is in the water or to confirm that protection from the contamination is on the mask.

LOOK FOR BIA RAUX. She is the oly one who has the answers.

Do not die.

[b33zlebubz]

RIGOR MORTIS | CHAPTER EIGHT

SIMON RILEY X AFAB READER | 18+ MDNI | MASTERLIST | AO3 PREV CHAPTER | NEXT CHAPTER TAGS: reader uses she/her pronouns, fluff angst & eventual smut, blood violence & death, suicidal ideology, slow burn, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, toxic workplace environment, flashbacks “Abandoned in a battlefield with the one person you thought you would never see again; you're forced to come to terms with the ghosts of your past." CHAPTER CW: IMPLIED SEXUAL ASSAULT ((not from simon))

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14TH 2016 NORWAY, 1400 HOURS

"You're movin' too much, still."

"You are quite literally breathing down my neck.  Kinda hard not to."

"Yeah, well, get used to it, love.  'Cause at this point you're always gonna have someone looming over you."

You huff, unamused, and it clouds out in front of your face as you squint through the scope of an unloaded rifle.  Gloved hands grip the machine as you focus the scope on a point far-off at the other end of the course. 

Four hours you've been out here, now, running a sniping simulation.  The rest of your squad was split up in pairs across the vast landscape.  You were left as the odd one out and, seeing as Walker had originally planned to just stick you carelessly in with another group, Simon volunteered to partner with you instead.  Keep things equal.  Which basically—as your superior—meant he had an excuse to sit back and smoke while you did all the work.

The exercise was simple; climb the mountain, find your post, sit and keep watch for flags until the next team tags you out.  A sniping exercise as well as a strength and conditioning one.  

You both made quick work of the mountain, ice picks cracking against the ice.  Simon never really considered himself the competitive type, partially because he never needed to be and partially because there was no point—he's worked hard to ensure he's always the biggest guy in the room.  Today, though, something in your growing annoyance as he yelled down keep up, sergeant or watch your footing every time you lagged behind stirred something in you, which in turn stirred something in him.  It quickly became something of a race.

When his pick slipped and you finally surpassed him as he skidded down a few meters, he heard your laugh for the first time against the wind.  For some reason, it made him smile, too.

"I hate sniper duty," you grumble.  "Don't know how you do it—sit in the snow for hours."

"Same way I put up with your whiny ass."

"And what's that?"

"Patience."

You roll your eyes, but your lip quirks up into a smile nonetheless.  A sight he's grown more accustomed to over the course of the past couple days of training and conversation.  He's helped you out in little ways, stopping by the shooting range to offer some constructive criticism as you practiced, offering dietary and training advice to get your strength up, sticking his neck out for you when he could around Walker…among other things.  As it would turn out, you were good company.  Whiny, maybe—but good company, nonetheless. 

You were improving, too.  Temperament and strength-wise.  How much of it is due to his company rather than his guidance, though, he isn't sure.

"You're not funny," you retort.

"You complained the whole way up the mountain, love."

You huff and shoot him a look.  "Did I get it done?"

"Affirmative."

"And did I beat you while doing it?"

He shrugs.  "More or less."

"Then you should watch your mouth, Lieutenant."

His eyebrows raise, amused.  "Is that a threat I hear?"

"It's a promise to beat you again sliding back down the mountain, sir."

He imagines you throwing yourself down the snow in order to beat your own speed record, and he chuckles a little at the thought.  "I'd like to see you try, Angel."

You smile, gaze focused through the scope.  You've spotted three flags already, and you spot two more as another hour passes.  The team that's supposed to take your place is getting closer, Ghost thinks it'll be twenty minutes before they rendezvous, and you both make your way back for the day.  

"Ghost."

"Angel," he exhales another cloud of smoke and vapor when you speak, breaking the comfortable silence that's washed over you both.

You maneuver awkwardly to position your hand behind you, opening and closing your fist a few times.

"Hand me one of those," you say, your breathing puffing out into the freezing air.  "And my lighter."

He shakes his head with an amused smirk.   "You're supposed to be focusing."

"Can't focus if my hands are shaking."

"And what if this is a real scenario?  You're not gonna have cigarettes in a life-or-death situation, sergeant."

"Yeah, well, you do," you flex your hand again.  "So gimme."

He figures you're the only Sergeant on base he'd let order him around, but he doesn't let that thought take root in his mind. Instead, he shifts closer so that he's lying on his stomach next to you in the snow.  

"Keep still," he tells you, plucking a cigarette from his pack.  "You miss a flag Walker won't let me hear the end of it." 

You seem slightly surprised, but you don't say anything as he slots himself next to you.  He offers you the cigarette as you keep your gaze in the scope, and you use your free hand to slot it between your lips before he lights it.  You inhale slowly, and he watches your lips as you do so; watches the tips of your fingers through the clipped tips of the gloves he gave you and watches you exhale.  When he looks up, you're already looking at him.  He's close enough to see where snow clings to your lashes.

A beat passes where you both just stare at each other.  Simon finds he can't read your expression.  Then, you shake your head and clear your throat, which in turn snaps him out of his daze, before you take another drag and lock your focus in once more.

"Another flag," you say, your brow furrowed.  "At your twelve o' clock.  About four kilometers out."

Simon shifts, putting some space between you both as he clears his throat because fuck.  What the hell was that? 

"Copy that."

You're quiet for the rest of the exercise, only speaking whenever you spot another flag.  For some reason, Simon still finds himself fixed on the cigarette in your hand as you work.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14TH 2016 NORWAY, 1800 HOURS

Whenever both return to the base, there's a lot of whispering.  He doesn't notice, at first, too busy sorting equipment and putting it away.  You don't notice the lingering stares or the hushed voices either; or you're just pointedly ignoring them.  Sorting through your own gear nearby, you're quiet, and you're done and ready before he's even folded his snowsuit.  Nevertheless, Simon doesn't pay much mind to the name being whispered around until he can put the face to it.

Roger's Back.

Now, if there is one thing Simon isn't—it's humble.  After years of hard work he's managed to pack on an impressive amount of muscle, taking him from a lanky, malnourished teen to the legend he was now.  Not since Roba has he ever had an issue taking down anyone with the same experience, or sometimes more, than him.  He's made sure of that and intends to keep things that way.  

That is, until Simon happens to lift his head and peer down the hall towards someone he, for once, doesn't have to look down to meet the gaze of.

He's massive, is Simon's first thought.  The same height as him, he wagers the bloke might be the only lower-ranked soldier here who actually matches his strength enough to maybe have the upper hand in a fight.  

Simon's second thought is that bloody hell.

There's a long scratch across the man's cheek and the remains of a bruise around that of an eyepatch.  There's a still-healing gash on the side of his head, scar tissue fresh and thick on the temple of a shaved head, flesh stretched inward from staples freshly removed.

Ah.  Roger.  The sergeant who's skull you cracked against the edge of a bar.

The man approaches you from behind and Simon stops in his tracks just down the hall, eyes flitting over to watch the scene unfold in the corner of his eye.  

Keeping his face hidden had its cons, sure.  Maybe he did nearly suffocate himself every time he sweat his ass off in the desert.  Maybe underwater tasks were difficult and maybe he had to jump through all kinds of hoops to avoid getting his picture taken.  In hiding his own emotions, however, he's become quite good at reading the body language of others.

And you're uncomfortable.  Tense.  Ready to bite at a moment's notice.

You stand rigid still as you sense his presence, your back to the man as he approaches lazily to stand behind you.  Some words are exchanged.  You, biting retorts that just barely count as professional and him…standing too close for comfort.  

You hold your ground.  You don't punch first—just like Simon told you.  He watches the man's lips move, reads the threat that crosses his lips.  Still, you hold your ground as Simon's fists clench and he realizes what's happening—why you punched first.  Why you're struggling and why you put your training on halt for leave.

Next time, the man says.  Next time, you're not getting away so easily, bird.

Simon watches you think about it.  He watches your hands ball into fists, watches your eyes narrow and your nose scrunch with disgust.  But you don't move, no—you don't shrink away in fear and you don't immediately go for the kill.  You stand your ground just as Simon told you to.

You do so until the man looks away first, sauntering off.  Simon watches you let out one breath, then another, before you grab your pack in a shaking hand and sling it over your shoulder.  His eyes linger on you as you quickly leave the room, barely noticing how Roger approaches him to introduce himself.

It's not until the door shuts behind you that Simon grabs the young Sergeant by the front of his shirt and slams him against the wall.  Roger lets out a startled yelp.

"You lay another finger on her," he snarls.  "And I'll fuckin' cut it off, Sergeant, you copy?"

Roger's eyes are wide.  The breath knocked from his lungs, he's panting, and his mouth opens and shuts again in shock.

"I said do you copy?"

"Yes—yes, sir.  Copy and check."

Satisfied that his warning is taken seriously, Simon turns him loose with a hissed, "piss off."

Roger stumbles.  Disoriented, he continues down the hallway, and Simon is still seething as his boots carry him down a wrong turn to Walker's office.

He doesn't walk out until your safety is guaranteed.

[spaceguy44]

2024 US Election Post-mortem

I need to get my thoughts out about the election. I'll split it into a few main parts. (This will be long) 1. Why did Kamala lose/Trump win?

There's 2 main reasons for the result.

1. The biggest thing isn't that Trump gained a lot (he did somewhat), but that Kamala lost hugely. Kamala ran an "strong" but status-quo style center-lib campaign. This was not the right move to capture the electorate in today's America. It hasn't been since 2012. People at every part of the political spectrum have expressed disdain with the way establishment Democrats have run things. People want change! They have since 2008. Obama convinced everyone that he represented change. Hillary lost in 2016 because they didn't get that change after 8 years, and wanted something new no matter what. Biden did a good job in 2020 of being somewhat of a change candidate, but it was really COVID that allowed him to win. I do think Trump would've won in 2020 if it weren't for the pandemic. Kamala had momentum at first because she literally was "change." Biden was hugely unpopular, and people didn't like the return to liberal status quo, even if he did do more than even Obama to bring (domestic) left-wing policies to the forefront imo. Kamala represented hope at first that we could get away from the Biden that everyone hated, and bring in a whole new kind of politics and movement that would take us out of the neoliberal malaise that was the again Biden. What happened in stead was the establishment decided that there was a contingent of Americans that were allergic to left-wing politics, and they need to be captured.

THIS IS THE MAIN POINT OF FAILURE FOR BOTH HILLARY AND KAMALA. I do not believe there is a (large) population that is inherently right-wing, and another that is centrist, and another that is left-wing. I do think there are some that you could never convince one way or another, but it's just impossible that so many people could vote for Obama, and then turn around for Trump if people had some sort of weird internal political compass that they adhered to regardless of policy. No, Trump (and the right more broadly) MADE his base. This is the other reason Trump won.

2. Trump did make some gains, though I believe the right campaign from Harris could've overcome that. I think the Trump gains are more indicative of what Harris lacked. Kamala tried to adjust her campaign to match an electorate. Trump didn't give a fuck. He said what he wanted, and people liked that. They don't care about decorum. They don't care about "unity". They want someone they think will "fight" for them. People saw Kamala bringing in the Cheneys and just saw another neolib that would flake on any conviction to grab a vote. People don't want a policy. People want a candidate with conviction. Trump was also adept at playing on people's fears and insecurities. He MADE them into Trump supporters by playing on those fears. Harris did not try to make Harris supporters by playing on fears (at least enough). She was best with the abortion stuff, but that wasn't the issue that exit polls showed people care about. The top issue was the economy. Yes, "the economy" is objectively doing better if you look at the stats, but people don't feel like it because prices are still high despite the buying power of the dollar recovering (inflation was reduced!). People felt that because corporations kept prices at pre-inflation reduction levels. Harris briefly flirted with price capping, which would be the exact sort of populist policy that directly addresses people's fears/insecurities and breaks from the status quo that could excite a mythical "Harris base" that maybe existed for 2 weeks.

It's the same with immigration. Trump created a "big lie" about the border being in crisis, and played on the truly hurting average middle-American's insecurities. You have a population that is hurting for corporate consolidation destroying small local business, that has been devastated by opioids, and is seeing the towns and culture they grew up with decay and seemingly leave them behind. Are Trump's policies going to uplift them? Hell no! Does he talk to specifically them all and directly address their insecurities though? Absolutely. In stead of addressing these people (these are the ones on the red arrow map that's been going around), she accepted the lie about immigrants and rejected making any radical policy change from the system that threw middle America under the bus.

I should say I am literally living in a small rural city in a deep-red state, so I know what they're saying. These people aren't necessarily bigots. Some are, but I think most think they aren't. I think anyone can be prone to getting caught up in a hate movement if the right buttons are pressed, and Trump deftly presses those buttons. What needed to happen was pressing the right buttons to address their insecurities and fears that doesn't rely on hate and scapegoating. This is what I think Bernie Sanders does well in general polls, but there's too much movement within the Dems to preserve the liberal status quo. That needs to change or, the Dems die. LIBERALISM IS DEAD. We address the fears that made people Trump voters, or democracy dies! Here are 2.5 other smaller reasons: 3. Sexism, Racism, and Religiosity. I will not deny that these do play a part in certain parts of the electorate. However, I don't think they're insurmountable hurdles in a general election. I think Obama's campaign is proof of this. But we shouldn't deny that there are a significant portion that wouldn't vote for Kamala for purely bigotry reasons. Hell, I know some personally. But I do think it is a mistake to blame these for our failures. WE LEARN NOTHING OTHERWISE! 4. Believe it or not, but there's just a lot of people out there that just don't care or avoid politics all together. These people aren't bad or deficient, but they just don't include thinking about politics constantly as a part of their lives. They think about the election for a few days, and then get on with their lives for 4 years and tune out everything. Generally, these people are privileged, though there's also some that have been so hurt by our system and policies, that they tune out in pure nihilism about it all. These people vote on vibes, they vote based on what those they care about support, and many just sit out the whole thing. Voter apathy is definitely a thing, and it hurst especially the left imo. I do believe the majority of people would loath Trump's policies if they actually knew what they entailed, so this apathy only takes away from the left. 5. Kamala did NOT lose due to the Gaza protest. She might have lost a bit of support by not being an empathetic foil to Trump's "glass the whole strip" rhetoric, but I don't think it made a significant difference. And I'm gonna be real with y'all; Tumblr is mostly full of it if they think they can accomplish anything with a protest vote for Gaza. I learned this in 2016. That action won't do anything, and it's too risky when a literal fascist is on the other side of the ballot. Yes, I hate that Kamala did not oppose the current Biden policy of letting genocide happen, but Jill Stein/no vote can't pressure these people in the establishment without hurting their campaign financing. The votes are in, and 3rd party votes would not have saved Kamala.

2. What happens now? What is a 2nd Trump admin like?Maybe this is a bit of copium, but I do think that Trump will still be overall very incompetent and unable to enact the worst of his policies. Terrible things will still happen (and I'll get to that later), but I think some of the catastrophizing is a bit overblown. Let's take the mass deportation policy for example. This would be a horrible campaign on the level of the worst historical genocides. He would need to create an ICE apparatus so large that it would rival the fucking gestapo. Just think of all the agents and infrastructure that would need to be developed to round up ~20million people and transport them to the border and detention facilities. There's no practical way to deport that many people. The logical end point is concentration camps. Yes, we have them already to an extent (I mean the euphemistically named "immigrant detention facilities"), but we don't have anything that could handle "mass deportation." Building the facilities, hiring the agents, buying the buses and trains, and executing the warrants all takes a lot of time and money. None of this goes unnoticed, and it won't go without resistance today. Congress still controls the purse, despite what the supreme court says about Trump's immunity to do whatever he wants. SCOTUS said he can't be prosecuted for committing a crime, not that he can break a constitutional rule. The margins are too thin in the new congress, and I genuinely do not think that he has the political tact to navigate around how much resistance he'll get. My main evidence for this is the border wall. He had all the support he needed within congress and his base to try to "build that wall." The GOP even controlled both branches of congress, and shutdown the government multiple times to try to get his way. They had a majority in the house his first 2 years. It meant nothing! He got a regressive tax cut passed, and that's about it. I know there's a lot of bullshit he can pull to push terrible things through, and he'll have ghoulish cronies that will be the actual brains behind things, but honestly, they're dumb as shit too. They're too evil for their own good. They will eat themselves alive through infighting and liberal resistance before they can start a genocidal campaign on American soil. That's not to say there will be some horrible things. Here's what I do think he'll be able to do: - Ban abortion nationwide either through the Comstock Act or SCOTUS. - Completely fuck up half of our federal institutions that keep us informed and safe (ie. dismantling or gutting of Dept. of Education, EPA, FTC, NSA, HHS, and more). - Allow for more religious integration into our public institutions like schools - Essentially turn our government into an oligarchy (or more of one than it already is) - Reverse gay marriage rights (overturning obergefell) and restricting the rights of LGBTQ+ in the public sector overall. - Exacerbate the Gaza genocide - Let Putin have his way with Ukraine - Royally fuck up the economy with Tariffs - Probably get us into some kind of overseas war - If he survives to the end of his term, I do think that our democracy will be incredibly fucked. Like, I think they'll be able to push through so many bullshit rules that we won't be able to come back unless an actual leftist populist makes huge rounds.

Overall, it's gonna suck, especially if you're LGBT in a red state. I think he'll also continue targeting undocumented migrants, but I doubt he'll be able to put together the infrastructure to genocide them. Yes, Hitler and his regime were incompetent too, but it was really the enabling act post-Reichstag fire that allowed for him to start pushing the policies that would become the holocaust. It was only at that point that he had no more resistance, and could order whatever he wants. We're definite not there yet with Trump.

3. What do we (the left) do now?Honestly, just stay vigilant, be active within your community, make connections (even with Trump voters), and don't give in to the despair. Once you're hopeless, it will only make it easier for them to keep winning. We fight against the fascists until the bitter end. The only endpoint of fascism is self destruction. I am a leftist, but I am not a revolutionary. I think armed action rarely leads to good outcomes, and history shows that. However, if we get a Reichstag fire moment or an enabling act moment, that's not the point to lose hope. If people start turning their neighbors into the gestapo-fied ICE, that's not the point to hide. These represent the time where politics should be abandoned, and an actual violent fight for freedom and liberty should begin. I pray we never come to that point. Hopefully, these next four years will look like a continuation of 2016-2020. We'll have a slow degrading of our rights, but if too many of those we all care about are hurt, we can come together and help to reverse it. I know things are super polarized and we all have our own little bubbles in society, but there comes a breaking point where too many people are hurt, and even the biggest MAGA head will have someone they deeply care about that is very hurt by Trump. This is my hope, though it unfortunately relies on things getting worse first before becoming better. 

[silverflqmes]

hi ellie!! can i get a modern au with cyno where he’s a huge geek of pokemon (because he would be) and he’s finally met his match, whom he’s interested in (the reader with she/her pronouns)? it can be either in a headcanon format or drabble, whichever is easier! thank you advance<3

໒⦂ 𝐏𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐍 𝐆𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐇𝐂𝐒.

notes. hello anon, sorry for the delay</3 i decided on making this into headcanons, since it suits the request a bit better; anyway i hope it’s to your likings, enjoy<3

disclaimer. there were no suitable cyno gifs so i made one myself. if you use it, don’t be an ass, credit.

genre. crack + fluff

cyno x fem!reader.

⌗ this man — THIS GEEK — has been into pokemon from his days on cartoon network. he was the guy that woke up early mornings to watch the clone wars at 7am BUT STUMBLED ACROSS pokemon one day and was like “o h.”

⌗ child cyno just starring at the screen in wonder like what is this piece of art and why have i only found it now. literally asking himself why he hadn’t bought the trading cards before ( maybe because the kids in his neighborhood were always BUYING THEM UP ).

⌗ through the show, indigo league, he also saw the games being advertised and he just had to have one — to at least TRY.

⌗ he was gifted a gameboy one christmas to play mario related games, so he decided.. to give emerald a try😐

⌗ the amount of hours that went into that game for understanding it ALONE. there was so much to learn for no reason, but a fun game nonetheless.

⌗ throughout the years cyno would continue collecting cards, literally getting them at any trip to a store with lisa ( yes, yes lisa. ), and she would just giggle but buy them, anyway<3

⌗ cards were banned at school tho because they were being exchanged left and right like DRUGS LMFAO ( this happened at my school oml it was so bad ppl were sneaking them in AND SOME GOT CONFISCATED BAHAHA )

⌗ oddly, but not so oddly, he likes electric and ground types the most, despite them being each other’s weaknesses LMAO also likes fighting and dark types though.

⌗ lucario is his favorite.. i mean, come on.. for the sake of this au, I BELIEVE CYNO WEARS THE HOODIE BC OF LUCARIO

⌗ umbreon is a close second tho

⌗ dare i say.. he almost bought the four hundred dollar life size, wife snatcher, lucario plush..

⌗ tighnari stopped him lol

⌗ furthermore, when he got pokemon mystery dungeon, explorers of sky ( I MISS THIS SO MUCH IM SOBBING INTERNALLY ).. he restarted his ds 3638393927382920 times to try and get riolu

⌗ he failed, and settled for pikachu ( riolu became his partner and actually, it worked out way better )

⌗ ( spoilers ) there were tears in his eyes at the end of the final chapter after fighting dialga and descending the steps.. iykyk..

⌗ flashing forward a few years — 2016

⌗ the year he met you

⌗ there was this gym near his house when he downloaded pokemon go ( ofc he had to hop on this train ) and gurl..

⌗ for the longest time he was on TOP with that gym, never lost.

⌗ and then this girl shows up who went up in the ranks and stole his spot

⌗ he told himself not to get mad — i mean, it’s just a silly little game, there were plenty of gyms to go around, right?

⌗ wrong, he was bothered.

⌗ and if that gym was shut down, it meant you lived near — like no way you didn’t

⌗ so on the trip to the park one morning, on his way to the pokestop, he found a girl, at the top of the slide on her phone.

⌗ it was the strangest sight to him, like what were you doing up at that hour, on your phone, right at the pokestop when pogo was trending

⌗ you had to be her.

⌗ he checked the gym again to make sure, and there you were.

⌗ “judgment is upon you.” he would proclaim, pointing at you, as though declaring war of some sorts.

⌗ meanwhile you just give the most confused look ever to him. like who is this boy and who is he to complain?? and what about??

⌗ until it finally clicks.

⌗ “twilight arbiter?!”

⌗ and now cyno is speechless because he was acknowledged by the enemy.

⌗ cue the blossom of a very strong and precious friendship.

⌗ that very first day you would both find out that you attend the same high school, wondering how you hadn’t met sooner since you lived in the same neighborhood and attended the same school??

⌗ like where were you all these years? where was he all these years??

⌗ either way, you wouldn’t waste your time together now as you both ramble of your mutual interests, trade your cards — play them, lend one another games — you name it!

⌗ he especially trades when you say that he has a card of your favorite pokemon, and of course he wants to see you light up<3

⌗ he falls first asf, but you fell harder

⌗ pokemon related puns.. i don’t have to explain this one, nor do i want to😐

⌗ owns a good bit of plushes, and has also bought you a handsome amount for birthdays, holdidays, friendship-a-versaries.

⌗ random but he stumbles across pokémon showdown one day and honestly..

⌗ “HOP ON PS! HOP ON PS!” at two o’clock in the morning.

⌗ oh you’re probably wondering, how do you get together, exactly?

⌗ “are you a pokeball cuz you-”

⌗ “caught your heart, perhaps?”

⌗ silence.

⌗ he did not expect you to finish his pickup line, nor did he expect that boldness — he truly met his match, didn’t he?

notes. my pokemon knowledge is not very extensive, it’s based on what i witnessed as a kid from the sidelines and friends</3 so i hope this fulfills your request!

↳ return to main masterlist . request rules . send an ask

[thekingofwinterblog]

Was Gangle a Teenager when she was trapped in the Circus?

So just like it struck me when doing an overview of Amazing Digital Circus that Ragatha seemed to be extremely motherly, the thing that struck me about Gangle is how much younger than all the rest of the cast does.

She acts younger, she spunds younger, and when her comedy mask(Which allows her to express all of her happy emotions) isnt broken she has a kind of childish, but honest energy about her that all the rest of the cast has lost.

She is the only member of the group that seemed genuinely impressed about everything about Caine's most recent creation of the candy kingdom(Everyone that liked it focused on one or two specific elements), at least before her mask broke.

However, just like all the rest of the cast, she is an adult, more speciffically she is 25.

So with that age in mind, she comes across like someone who never really grew up. And that is probably the case, but mayhaps not in the sense that she refused adulthood, but rather that she was denied getting to experience it.

Namely it seems very likely to me that Gangle was trapped in the circus sometime within her teenage years. But to explain the strongest piece of evidence for that, a quick history lesson about Gangle's favorite anime.

Azumanga Daioh is a classic Highschool girls slice of life anime/manga that came out at the turn of the millenium, who's most notable legacy is that it showcased that manga's about highschool girls doing highschool things withouth some grander adventure or meta plot was more than enough to carry a show financially and critically.

So if you love/hate the popularity of such series in the modern day, you can thank Azumanga for that.

It's not a bad series by any means, but it's also... Kinda outdated? Like how Dragonball laid the foundations Shonen series would use ever after and improve on and learn from, so Azumanga Daioh is very much a show that seems... Completely left behind by time, as it's successors did everything it did, just way better.

Hell, unlike Dragonball, who's popularity and mark on pop culture remains strong and alive today, Azumanga is mostly a cult classic. Popular certainly, but left behind by anime as a whole, even within it's very specific subgenre.

However, there was a point in time when the series was still regarded as an absolute classic within the anime fandom.

And Gangle's teenage years very much fit into that point in time.

Uaing her current age, and assuming that the show is set in 2023, the year it came out, we see Gangle was born in 1998.

Meaning that Gangle was 13-18 from 2011-2016.

These year-numbers lines up with when Azumanga Daioh still had it's strong pressence in the Anime Culture, especially in the west, the earlier on that scale, the stronger.

With that in mind, it seems likely that like many western teenage girls during this period, one of Gangle's first real introductions to Anime was Azumanga Daioh.

And either it left a massive impression on her that atuck hard, or she simply didn't get to experience enough other Anime to find another favorite.

Further suggesting this young age, is her favorite one piece character, Tony Tony Chopper.

Im just going to be blunt. Most people who's favorite One Piece character is Chopper, has him as such because he's very cute, not because of his compelling backstory or character development(the latter of which, like a lot of the strawhats were shafted post time-skip).

Like for example; a teenage girl who just got introduced to One Piece for the first time, maybe her first big shonen series.

Her art is also relatively good, but also relatively underdeveloped, lacking things such as complex shading or tones.

In other words she's likely untrained in the sense she didn't reach this point by learning by seeing how others do it.

And finally, her door marker(Which presumably shows her as she was when first coming here) showcases her as genuinely happy and cheerfull, something the rest don't really have, but something a teenage girl who might innitially have seen the circus as some sort of Isekai story(Before reality set in) to live out, rather than immediatly recognize it as a priaon as the rest of the cast did.

All in all, a lot of what we know about her suggests she never really got to properly go through puberty and mature into an adult.

If so, it also adds A LOT of extra, horrible baggage to the already rather dark and abusive relationship she has with Jax.

Like when he calls her Submissive and agreeable to browbeat her into doing what he says, it's a sentence that hits extremely closely to home, as the actual meaning(It's basically a self-cencored version of the original: Submissive and Breedable) is one that unlike the rest of the cast, she never really got the chance to really come to terms with before being trapped here in this digital Hell.

Simillarily, him blackmailing her about her personal figurines to Ragatha, and her response of both laughing insanely and doing what he says, screams of a rather blunt sexual implications, with it being something she is very, very ashamed off.

If this theory is true, then Gangle has been stuck in the Circus for upwarda to 13 years, over a decade where she never got to grow through the final transformation into an adult, and yet is treated like, and expected to act as one by everyone around her.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

David Rowe

* * * *

Fuck the media explanations that Trump won because he was talking to them about the economy, because he was talking to them primarily about himself in his bizarre monologues that also covered the dick size of a dead golfer whose career peaked sixty years ago, windmills killing birds, kids coming home from school having had their gender changed maybe during recess, and a whole lot of Hannibal Lecter apparently because in the broken jelly of his brain there was some kind of association between insane asylums and refugees seeking asylum, and on top of that a lot of threats against and menace to women and anyone who opposed him, juvenile insults, and a whole thing about sharks and batteries, and a certain amount of slurring words and a whole lot of words in no particular order conveying no particular meaning, along with the promise to put the world's richest man in charge of the economy, who in turn promises to wreck it.

I get that there's a lot of economic unhappiness and real struggle, but that didn't start with the Biden Administration, which gave people pandemic relief at the beginning of its term, but Republicans wouldn't let them renew it, which is why people remember being better off four years ago. Meanwhile the Harris campaign promised to help with in-home healthcare, the cost of housing, and raising the minimum wage, and I know no one knew that any of these campaigns had content because the media was too busy rewarming frozen scandals. But also a lot of people got good green jobs from the Inflation Reduction Act and a lot of people got debt forgiveness, both Biden administration things that began as, respectively, the Sunrise Movement's Green New Deal and the debt activism that emerged from Occupy Wall Street (I've been thinking back to Occupy Wall and how it created space in 2011 for people to reveal how crushed by housing, medical, and student debt they were--Harris went after predatory housing lenders after Occupy, when she was California's attorney general.) Biden, who clearly modeled himself after FDR, was hailed in some quarters as the first non-neoliberal president since Reagan came 44 years ago to destroy the New Deal and the Great Society and make the poor poorer and the rich richer.

It is its own form of disinformation, how the mainstream media settles on explanations about what just happened and why when they happen not to be true. And we heard the same bullshit in 2016 when mostly white people voted against their own economic interest for a racist, sexist, incompetent member of the 1% and middle class people claiming to speak for the working class insisted this was all economic dissatisfaction. Trump is a puppet for forces that will make ordinary peoples' lives far harder and then they will blame Antifa or immigrants or something and the media will repeat these ridiculous allegations as though they deserve serious consideration.

One point no one should forget: abortion is an economic issue for anyone who can get pregnant. Immigrant rights are not just an economic issue for immigrants but for the whole economy, which would fall apart without them.

Brookings Institute: "The Trump campaign decided that Harris’ stance on transgender issues was the Willie Horton of 2024 and invested heavily in negative advertising that dominated the airwaves throughout the South.1 Anecdotal evidence suggests that this campaign helped weaken Harris’ effort to portray herself as a common-sense center-left candidate rather than an emissary from San Francisco."

Wired: "Trump ran a campaign that stoked culture war grievances and divisions, and was defined by lies, a desire for vengeance, and, at times, threatening rhetoric. In social media posts he threatened mass arrests of his political opponents in revenge for “stealing the election” in 2020 (though evidence conclusively shows the 2020 election was not stolen). Lawmakers, election workers, school board members, federal agents, and judges have been repeatedly targeted over the years with violent threats by his supporters who believe they were acting on his behalf. Trump repeatedly promised his supporters he would “destroy” the deep state, invoking the popular conspiracy theory of a nefarious web of faceless bureaucrats working to destroy the US from within. He cast himself, alongside the people who stormed the Capitol on January 6 over election lies, as “political prisoners,” even “hostages” who were being persecuted by a “tyrannical” Biden administration."

Robert Hubbell: "Just as the media normalized Trump before the election, there is a wholesale effort to “normalize” the election results. Pundits are claiming the election was decided by voters’ concerns over inflation, immigration, or crime. Those issues are post-facto rationalizations offered by voters to conceal their real reasons for voting for a convicted felon and adjudicated sexual abuser over an eminently qualified candidate."

Brian Merchant, tech journalist extraordinaire: "Apart from Trump himself, there are few more obvious victors that Elon Musk; for $100 million or so and a few months’ display of unrestrained fealty, he just bought himself some real estate in the inner sanctum of Trumpworld. It may be the most fruitful investment he ever made, a bargain really. ...Suffice to say that Elon Musk is the closest that a Silicon Valley tech titan has been to the White House, in a position of overt and direct power. There is of course a long lineage of the Valley linking up with Washington for defense contracts, help in avoiding regulations, and other forms of material support—see: Malcolm Harris’s Palo Alto—but this is the next level. It could even, perhaps, be considered a logical culmination. It’s time to face facts. In Trump, Silicon Valley got what it wanted: A president that will kneecap antitrust efforts, embrace deregulation, and defang labor laws."

[Rebecca Solnit]

[a-very-tired-jew]

Suffice to say this feels like 2016 again for me.

Many of us had said Hilary wouldn’t win against Trump then, and we said the same thing about Kamala.

Hilary was burdened by the fact that by 2015 the Clinton name was suffused in conspiracy. You couldn’t exist anywhere without some form of Clinton Conspiracy being present. Left, Right, Center, extremes… everyone had them. It didn’t matter how good Bill’s presidency was, the conspiracies were so prevalent and damaging that the writing was on the walls even before she was the official nominee. It was the “if she gets it, we’re fucked because of this”.

But the DNC chose Hilary because she was a safe candidate that they tried to sell as a good candidate. And arguably she was, if it wasn’t for all the baggage.

Kamala is Hilary 2.0. She doesn’t have the burden of Clinton dynasty level conspiracies, but she does come with the baggage of being the VP of the Biden administration. The current admin isn’t exactly the most liked and voter apathy and dislike can easily be exploited with a “weren’t things better under me?” by Trump (and they were because Presidential policies have an effect down the line, not immediately).

They tried to run what they thought was a safe candidate, and in the early days of her candidacy there was some talk that this was a bad idea. That just because she was younger didn’t mean she’d win. She didn’t have the benefit of being meme’d into the public consciousness like Biden did during the Obama years.

She didn’t have the benefit of being “not Trump” because she’s part of the current administration and Trump was a future possibility, not the now that voters dwell in. The now dictates that she and her policies were the issue if they were a continuance of the current administration.

She didn’t have the benefit of being “not Biden” because she’s just a safe continuation of Biden Presidency policies. None of these policies really made big splashes and many people are not aware of the benefits they have received from Biden’s term in office.

The gamble of a safe candidate of an honestly milquetoast presidency and a continuation of its policies did not pay off, and it’s exactly what many people were worried about.

To further elucidate this point, also think back to the 2016 election and the social aspects of the presidential campaigns and their candidates. As I said above, Hilary was burdened with the conspiracies about her and her family. Memes, jokes, and articles about her existed in a primarily negative stance, she had negative social capital. Conversely, Bernie had very positive social capital, very few negative memes and articles about him, and so many people wanted to vote for him across the political spectrum.

But he was not the “safe” candidate.

He was considered “risky” even though he polled better than Hilary routinely. Part of this is due to the differences in social capital.

Kamala’s campaign didn’t even have social capital until the debates.

Yes, there was some from previous years and we sort of knew what she did prior to being VP, but she wasn’t cemented in the public psyche. If there had been some effort to generate social capital over the course of the Biden administration then maybe there would have been a better chance. Biden’s campaign in 2020 benefited from his establishment in the public psyche through the memes about him during the Obama years. But we haven’t seen anything like that regarding Kamala at all. The only real meme to come out of the Biden admin is “Dark Brandon” and that’s it. As such, Kamala came into this race with negative social capital from her attachment to the current admin and its policies and no beneficial memes until it was too late.

Meanwhile, Trump has existed in the public psyche for over a decade and has a strong social media and meme presence. For as much negative social capital he has on one side, he has an abundance of positive on the other.

You can’t run a “safe” candidate against someone with Trump’s presence and social capital. You have to run someone on equal footing. If they had reran Biden and leaned into “Dark Brandon” there might have been a chance. If they had run Bernie there might have been a chance (yes, even with him being a Jew).

But Kamala? She was just a safe choice like Hilary was. All the warning signs were there and people pointed them out. But as it goes here in the States “If the Dems are so good, why do they lose so fucking much?” and it’s because they don’t listen. They only win when people are reminded how bad things are under right wing policies. They never listen to maintain their control or power because then they revert to outdated “safe” strategies that don’t work.

So idk if we’ll go full authoritarian government with no democratic future as Trump has wanted, but I do know we’ll repeat this in 8 years.

I’m tired as fuck as this pattern repeats so much that for once I’d like to not have a “I told you so” moment that didn’t come with a side of “we’re fucked”. But that’s the American experience for you.

[linnetagain]

I have. Had a realization.

In-fic, it is Feb/March-ish of 2024. Gale is currently 29, Astarion is about to be 27. Hestia is seven-ish, and the baby was born when Gale was 21ish? Yes?

IRL, it is August 2024. I am currently 29. My sister is 27.

I am losing my mind.

I was a junior during the 2012 Olympics. Originally Astarion said that he was 14 when he skated to Golden, but that was when he thought his birthday was Jan 1, and skating season is usually finished by March, yeah??? So he would have be 13, little baby EIGHTH grader, teeny tiny child? Protect him????

And the Sebastian incident, he said he was 16, so that would have been some time in 2014, I’d only just graduated and was pretending to be A Real Adult, my sister was a tenth grader reading Julius Caesar and all that shiz, we were binge watching episodes of Pokémon on my chunky laptop like they were a line of crushed smarties on a coffee table and we had no nerve endings left in our sinuses.

Gale was 15 when he met Mystra, frickin 2010 or some shiz, I was still deeply uninterested in men as a concept at that point I’m ace but that’s beside the point so’s he, what were you thinking lady, I have a different sister who’s 8 years younger than me, when I was 22 the humans her size may as well have been INFANTS, who goes shopping for college boyfriends among incoming high school freshmen, you’re NASTY

Married at 19, okay maybe not so weird generally, that’s what my mom did, she’s fine, to each their own, but like that’s when I was heading into my first proper burnout, I was not a PERSON, absolute brick made of oatmeal, also I was still a TINY BABY, that was heckin ten years ago, heckin 2014, Astarion “falls” and Gale’s heckin legally bound to his heckin manager frick 2014 seriously who authorized this

Hestia would have been born some time in 2017, if she’s already 7 when the fic started in fall 2023, some time in March–September since we haven’t seen her birthday on screen yet, so absolute earliest she could have been conceived would have been like, June 2016, so Gale would have gotten the ultimatum in probably July or August, chest injury probably happened earlier that year, maybe March–Juneish if he spent a year retraining his voice and lungs and it overlapped with paternal leave post-Hessie, and Astarion asked “was that the year that—?” so his first baby probably died like, maybe mid-2015? That’s right when I got my heckin puppy. Gale’s son should be as old as my puppy dog. Jeez, Astarion escapes to law school right as Gale gets Metaphorically Orbed. Congrats Gale, you’re 20 and having the Worst Year Ever

Also, shoutout to Astarion for finishing law school in 3 years? Class of 2018? That seems so fast with like pre-law and stuff but I don’t know how the UK does it, also he’s a smart boy, GO, be FREE my son (sort of not really psych jk)

But also ugh living in a two-bed studio apartment for at least five years assuming they lived in student housing before that? How is your mind still intact

But just. Hessie. Born 2017. The year I started going into my SECOND major episode of burnout. Heck, do I know any seven year olds??? How old are my little cousins?? Heck, it would the ones who didn’t live very close, how big is a seven year old?????? My close friends have a six year old, but she’s usually doing her own thing when I hang out with them so I usually visualize her as so much smaller, I think I might be literally incapable of comprehending having spawned a tiny growing human and having them in close proximity to myself since 2017

Congrats, you’ve broken me

Yeah don't be fooled by Gale talking about how old he feels, they're both SO young and so much of the shit that they've gone through happened to them when they were literally children. Astarion was thirteen when he won gold, Gale was fifteen when he met Mystra. It's one of the reasons why that brief mention of Romeo and Juliet is so loaded, because Astarion is looking back and remembering how it felt like his whole world was defined by this one thing when he was that age, and how much has changed since then. How much more he's had the chance to be, and how he was so close to losing the chance at that. Also one of the reasons why it's so easy to write him being protective of Hestia. He can see Gale trying to give her a better childhood than either of them had and he's absolutely going to try and help.

[foxes-that-run]

I don't wanna live forever

In the video Zayn arrives in a classic convertible, similar to Blank Space. She 'called out' Harry's cars in KoMH "'Cause all the boys and their expensive cars / With their Range Rovers and their Jaguars"

Then the hotel looks a lot like the Bowery Hotel where Harry stays in NY. Also, not to sound flippant... but it's Zayn and Taylor.

Harry and Taylor refer to Hallways in 10 songs and in the Perfect MV.

There are white roses throughout which Taylor pulls apart. Since Red, TS Roses have been about Harry, he has a rose tattoo. On their May anniversary in 2013, she posted roses saying she thought something would grow. She threw white roses in the Blank Space MV.

The people in the background are dressed like Harry and Taylor at the Victoria Secret show, which is also the subject of So it Goes.

They trash the hotel room, which mocks Perfect's MV. 1D's made a mess, Taylor and Zayn smash a mirror and a lamp.

i don't wanna live forever came together very quickly. wrote it with taylor and sam dew and produced it at home mostly on paper sounds. recorded taylor at my house. zayn sent parts from LA – we did it in a week basically. i've never had something come out that quick — jackantonoff (@jackantonoff) December 9, 2016

Zayn said that Jack approached him, then Zayn spoke to Taylor who already knew the track. I think given the importance of Jack and Taylor's relationship it's more likely Taylor choose Zayn and Jack was an intermediary than Jack raising it.

The collaboration itself is enough to confirm who it is about and caused a directioner-swiftie Twitter fandom storm. Many viewed it as a way for them both to mess with Harry, I think in part it is a response to Perfect. To suggest it's not about Harry for either is... a choice.

When was it written

Jack and Taylor were in the studio recording the bulk of Reputation in September 2016, Zayn was was in LA then, so maybe. But Fifty shades wrapped in April 2016 and it was likely wanted then.

Live performances

Taylor performed it 7 times in promotional events and then only twice in concert, interestingly both times was it the first week of June:

June 9, 2018, Manchester's Reputation Surprise Song. They were in a good (and maybe more) place then. Also Harry's hometown (he was in Florida)

June 3, 2023, Chicago Eras surprise song. It is sadder that above, the MH split announcement was 2 days later so maybe related. Haylor relations seemed warm before and after that.

Taylors split from CH and Harry left to shoot Dunkirk in June 2016. From I did something bad / High Infidelity / Ole we know CH was over earlier and they had spent some time together in February and April 2016. Playing this in June, when Harry left for Dunkirk and his IG going colour after the 2016 Met Gala has me side eyeing the end.

Lyrics

[Verse 1: ZAYN] Been sittin' eyes wide open Behind these four walls, hopin' you'd call It's just a cruel existence Like there's no point hopin' at all

Eyes wide open is a reference to Eyes wide Shut, the Stanley Kubrick erotic psychological drama. Like Fifty shades is features a masquerade party.

Harry and Taylor refer to waiting for calls in: AYHTDWS "Here you are now, calling me up, but I don't know what to say" August "Cancel plans just in case you'd call". Maroon "the rust that grew between telephones" FTDT "Even my phone misses your call, by the way"

Cruel existence is a theme of referring to their relationship as something they are trapped in. Cruel Summer "It's a cruel summer with you", MMIH "Cause once you go without it / Nothing else will do" and others. Taylor also had no hope in Treacherous "This hope is treacherous"

[Pre-Chorus: ZAYN] Baby, baby, I feel crazy Up all night, all night and every day Give me somethin', oh, but you say nothin' What is happening to me?

Taylors pre-chorus is the same but "I gave you somethin', but you gave me nothin'"

IWYW has a similar line "You always knew how to push my buttons / You give me everything and nothing" and Say "don't go" "I said, "I love you" (I said, "I love you") / You say nothin' back"

[Chorus: ZAYN] I don't wanna live forever 'Cause I know I'll be living in vain And I don't wanna fit wherever I just wanna keep calling your name Until you come back home x2

Taylor has referred to not wanting a life without Harry in Is it over now? "Oh, Lord, I think about / Jumping off of very tall somethings" Hoax " Stood on the cliffside / Screaming, "Give me a reason"" This is me trying "Pulled the car off the road to the lookout / Could've followed my fears all the way down"

In Where do broken hearts go "Now I'm searching every lonely place / Every corner calling out your name / Tryna find you but I just don't know / Where do broken hearts go?"

I don't want to fit wherever seems a response to Perfect "Or the arms that hold you any time you want them / But that don't mean that we can't live here in the moment / 'Cause I can be the one you love from time to time". HS had not been available because of the band, but wasn't in 2016 when Taylor wanted someone there for her but I expect was focused on his solo career and Dunkirk so not in the band or available. To me this line could be why it still didn't work out.

[Verse 2: Taylor Swift] I'm sittin' eyes wide open And I got one thing stuck in my mind Wonderin' if I dodged a bullet Or just lost the love of my life, oh

In second Verse Taylor has let it go, dodged a bullet/lost the love of her life is pretty straight forward - but it's an interesting link to Love of my Life on Harry's House which was still 6 years away. (yes I know his only 13th track on the album he released on their 10th anniversary is about England.... ....)

[Bridge: Taylor Swift, ZAYN, Both] I've been looking sad in all the nicest places Baby, baby, I feel crazy I see you around in all these empty faces Up all night, all night and every day I've been looking sad in all the nicest places Give me somethin', oh, but you say nothin' Now I'm in a cab, I tell 'em where your place is What is happening to me?

Looking sad in all the nicest places reminds me of:

This is me trying: "And it's hard to be at a party / When I feel like an open wound/ It's hard to be anywhere these days / When all I want is you"

Hit's different "Freedom felt like summer then on the coast / Now the sun burns my heart and the sand hurts my feelings"

Take the cab to his place is also similar to other times they go to each others house:

DBATC: "I Take the long way home"

Wish You Would. "It's 2 A.M. in your car / Windows down, you pass my street / The memories start" and "It's 2 A.M. in your car / Windows down, I pass my street / The memories start"

[Outro: Taylor Swift, ZAYN] I just wanna keep callin' your name Until you come back home Until you come back home

Finally, home is an important concept to them. Generally, they refer to each other as home. However in this song and Sweet Creature, "Wherever I go, you bring me home Sweet creature, sweet creature When I run out of road, you bring me home"

Sweet Creature and IDWLF were both written in 2016 they refer to HS coming home to her.

The lyric 'And I don't wanna fit wherever / I just wanna keep calling your name / Until you come back home". Is a hope that eventually they will be together, but accepting not yet. This idea is in several songs:

HYGTG "Broke your heart, I'll put it back together / I would wait for ever and ever (I want you for ever and ever)"

Suburban Legends " When you told me we'd get back together / And you kissed me in a way that's gonna screw me up forever"

Someday "Someday maybe when we're old and gray / We could be in love once more / Till then I won't give my love away / Darling, I'm forever only yours"

Something Great: "One day, I'll come into your world and get it right / I'll say we're better off together here tonight"

Happily "We were meant to be but a twist of fate / Made it so you had to walk away."

Satellite "Spinning out, waiting for ya to pull me in / I can see you're lonely down there"

[alloveydovey]

Dramas from this past month :) I was on a trip the whole time, so I watched random stuff and rewatched a lot.

Love Between Fairy and Devil, 2022 (cdrama) 9

The Lord supreme of the Moon Tribe gets out of fairy prison after 30.000 years thanks to a seemingly innocent orchid fairy who accidentally frees him and links them together.

This was epic. I'd say I was lost 40% of the time, but I enjoyed it a lot. It was my first cdrama of this type, and I wasn't expecting to be into it, but I totally binged it.

I Hear Your Voice, 2013 (kdrama) 8

19-year-old ML partners up with FL lawyer to help her win cases with his ability to read minds. Ten years prior, she had been a key witness and helped get the man who killed his father in jail.

I need to remind myself that I usually get a bit bored with lawyer dramas. It's hard to explain if I enjoyed this one or not. On one side, I loved LJS, and Lee Bo Young was great as the FL. The storyline had great aspects, and I binged most of it, but I wouldn't say it left an impression or something. I spent the last episodes skipping because I was already tired of it.

Full House, 2004 (kdrama) 7/7.5

Already known lol. A scriptwriter is duped by her friends and loses her house to an actor. To regain possession of it, she enters into a contract marriage with him.

I kinda like watching old kdramas because I find them more bingable… until this one lol. Full House was a bit a lot of a mess. Granted, the 00s seemed to be THE time for MLs who spend half of the drama chasing another woman while the FL tags along, but this became difficult to follow quickly. The only reason I kept going was because Song Hye Kyo and Rain were really charismatic and fun to watch together (also, they're both really good looking it's insane)

I really wanted to like this oldie, but their chaotic coming and going broke me.

The Legend of the Blue Sea, 2016 (kdrama) (rewatch!) 10 ⭐️

A mermaid meets a con man in Spain and falls in love. When the bad guys come for him, they both separate with the intention of meeting again in Seoul, except his memory is erased and he doesn't remember her.

I'm not sure if this is a 10 for everyone, but it's certainly a 10 for me. It has everything, and Jun Ji Hyun is absolutely perfect in it, truly a comedy queen. It's also probably my favorite Lee Min Ho role. Rewatching it made me laugh, aww, and giggle all over again. (I kinda think the reason I liked it is because it reminds me of My Girlfriend is a Gumiho but better lol)

An Incurable Case of Love, 2020 (jdrama) 8

A girl falls in love with a doctor while visiting Tokyo and decides to become a nurse to meet him again.

This was very much like Mischievous Kiss/Playful Kiss, but maybe lighter and sweeter? Definitely more watchable. Emotionally constipated MLs get a bit annoying at some point but I remain a big fan of sweetheart FLs.

The Date of Marriage, 2023 (jdrama) 7.5/8

A girl with a life plan is two years away from thirty but still hasn't achieved what she wanted (marriage). A co-worker proposes that if she still hasn't found someone by the time she turns thirty, he'll marry her.

The premise in this one is rather weak. Boy likes girl, and girl likes boy, and so there really is no reason for why they shouldn't date when both established such a promise (getting married by her 30th bday), but because of insecurities, they come and go about whether they like each other or not, and it's annoying. On the other hand, this little drama is super original in its way of storytelling. Breaking the 4th wall with authentic ways for the characters to express themselves. It's also visually dynamic. The colors make for an extremely nice watch. Aaaaand, both ML and FL are cute as hell with great chemistry.

Shopping King Louie, 2016 (kdrama) 7.5

The overprotected successor of a business empire gets into an accident and loses his memory. A girl from a rural area who is in Seoul looking for her brother (whose disappearance is linked to the ML's accident) decides to take him under her wing as they both try to make it on their own.

Seo In Guk heavily saves this drama, lol. I kept watching mainly because of him, Nam Ji Hyun, and the decent cast. I kinda started annoyed at the secondary characters and ended up really enjoying them. It's a silly fun drama where the premise is obviously not the forte, but still, I had fun watching.

Rewatched Dramas! (That I'm not adding above cause I flash-watched them = meaning I skipped a lot of scenes lol) ⬇️

Destined With You, 2023

I wanted to rewatch this one to see if the rating I gave it held up, especially since I feel like it was the beginning of a long list of kdramas with a similar premise (and, like, they all came out around the same time—what was that?).

To me, at least, it deserves a decent 8.5. It was probably my favorite of all the ones with similar storylines (My Demon, A Good Day to be a Dog, The Story of Park's Marriage Contract, My Man in Cupid). The first episodes grab you completely, and then the story kind of lowers the quality a bit, but Rowoon and Bo Ah keep it entertaining.

The Secret Life of My Secretary, 2019 ⭐️

ML hires secretaries only for a year. Despite her impeccable behavior, FL is no exception. Just when he fires her, ML loses the ability to recognize faces except for his secretary's, the one he just fired.

This is def a 7/7.5 type of drama, but I think it’s the one I’ve rewatched the most. 100% a comfort one for me. The plot is insane, and I don’t always like it, but the chemistry between the leads is so worth it. Their whole boss-secretary dynamic is so original and cute and just perfeeeect. Both actors truly nail the cute persona.

[lawful-evil-novelist]

Jon’s Romantic Relationships During the Scarecrow Years, Complete with Why They Ended

So, as I work on my timeline and settle on details, this rather spur of the moment idea came to me.  Jonathan was active as Scarecrow from 2011-2014, then again from 2016-2018.  For the sake of consistency, I will also include his romantic relationships from 2014-2016 just to make it clear that he wasn’t single during that period.

Another thing I want to note, just for the sake of clarity, is that Jonathan Crane is not exactly one of those people that gets into healthy relationships.  The reasons these relationships are toxic are not one sole person’s fault.  Some of them are abusive, some of them are just unhealthy.  Jonathan is also just not a particularly good person, and at his worst moments he can be one of the worst people in the Rogues Gallery to date.  So if you read here something Jonathan or another rogue has done and think that makes them a bad person: that is the point.  The Rogues are not good people, they’re not supposed to be, and their relationships are going to be messy and unhealthy.

Harley Quinn (2005-February 2012): Two reasons for this.  First, Jonathan had gone off his meds for a year without telling Harley, who found out around the same time she found out he was the Scarecrow and Jonathan, kind of in a haze of adrenaline, threatened her not to tell anyone.  Not even a month later, Harley startes a relationship with Joker and hid it from Jonathan until she was caught committing a crime and arrested.  Jonathan and Harley got into a very heated argument in the visitor’s area two days later in which Harley outed Jonathan being off his meds and tried using that to justify cheating on him.  Jonathan promptly ended things and left.  They did not talk for over a year afterwards.

Killer Croc (September 2012-January 2013): As will become a running theme, Jonathan broke up with and ghosted Waylon while dealing with Hugo Strange and did not tell Waylon what was going on.  Waylon found out through a mutual friend.

Two-Face (February 2013-September 2013): Another two reason situation.  Firstly, this was about when Jonathan’s issues with addiction were hitting an all time high and he definitely cheated on Harvey several times during the relationship, several times specifically to make Harvey jealous.  Secondly, Harvey’s mental health was at an all time low, and he was prone to very violent outbursts that turned into routine abuse.  Harvey ended things at the suggestion of his therapist at the time, both for the sake of his mental health and Jonathan’s safety.

Riddler (September 2013-November 2013): Edward realized he was a rebound and broke things off, suggesting Jonathan maybe work on himself for a bit.

Joker (December 2013-February 2014): Jonathan didn’t do that, then realized Edward was right and maybe he shouldn’t be dating an abusive piece of shit who is still dating his ex.  He had to break his phone and leave the state to get Joker to leave him alone.

Harley Quinn (April 2014-November 2014): Remember how lying and infidelity were the reasons these two broke up the first time?  Yeah they kept doing it the second time and it only ended because their respective green-toned bestie chucked their phones into Gotham Harbor and dragged them out of state.  They broke up via bestie communication and Ivy had to drag Harley out of state a second time when she tried to key Edward’s car.

Riddler (November 2014-January 2015): Jonathan, once again, ghosted his significant other while dealing with Hugo Strange, only this time he didn’t tell Edward they were breaking up.  Edward found out when someone told him Jonathan was in Europe.  He had been worried about Jonathan for ­weeks.  Yeah, they broke up.

Constantine (June 2015-January 2016): Jonathan had to return to Georgia to help his then 14-year-old sister, Adriane, deal with palliative care for their grandmother, as their mother had lost custody of Adriane 6 years prior.  Further, after their grandmother’s death, Jonathan had to handle custody of Adriane—which he could not take over at the time, the will and estate, his mother being an absolute nightmare by trying to impose a conservatorship on him and retake custody of Adriane, and grieving the only parent he ever had a stable relationship with…and the whole time Constantine was completely unreachable and proceeded to pretend he didn’t know Jonathan when they crossed paths again.  Jonathan didn’t just end things, he threatened to kill Constantine if he ever saw him again.

Riddler (January 2017-): At current the last relationship of Jonathan’s Scarecrow years.  I don’t have an end date at the moment because I’m not actually sure they end things after they leave their old monikers behind.

[partisan-by-default]

Rebecca Solnit / Facebook:

Fuck the media explanations that Trump won because he was talking to them about the economy, because he was talking to them primarily about himself in his bizarre monologues that also covered the dick size of a dead golfer whose career peaked sixty years ago, windmills killing birds, kids coming home from school having had their gender changed maybe during recess, and a whole lot of Hannibal Lecter apparently because in the broken jelly of his brain there was some kind of association between insane asylums and refugees seeking asylum, and on top of that a lot of threats against and menace to women and anyone who opposed him, juvenile insults, and a whole thing about sharks and batteries, and a certain amount of slurring words and a whole lot of words in no particular order conveying no particular meaning, along with the promise to put the world's richest man in charge of the economy, who in turn promises to wreck it.

I get that there's a lot of economic unhappiness and real struggle, but that didn't start with the Biden Administration, which gave people pandemic relief at the beginning of its term, but Republicans wouldn't let them renew it, which is why people remember being better off four years ago. Meanwhile the Harris campaign promised to help with in-home healthcare, the cost of housing, and raising the minimum wage, and I know no one knew that any of these campaigns had content because the media was too busy rewarming frozen scandals. But also a lot of people got good green jobs from the Inflation Reduction Act and a lot of people got debt forgiveness, both Biden administration things that began as, respectively, the Sunrise Movement's Green New Deal and the debt activism that emerged from Occupy Wall Street (I've been thinking back to Occupy Wall and how it created space in 2011 for people to reveal how crushed by housing, medical, and student debt they were--Harris went after predatory housing lenders after Occupy, when she was California's attorney general.) Biden, who clearly modeled himself after FDR, was hailed in some quarters as the first non-neoliberal president since Reagan came 44 years ago to destroy the New Deal and the Great Society and make the poor poorer and the rich richer.

It is its own form of disinformation, how the mainstream media settles on explanations about what just happened and why when they happen not to be true. And we heard the same bullshit in 2016 when mostly white people voted against their own economic interest for a racist, sexist, incompetent member of the 1% and middle class people claiming to speak for the working class insisted this was all economic dissatisfaction. Trump is a puppet for forces that will make ordinary peoples' lives far harder and then they will blame Antifa or immigrants or something and the media will repeat these ridiculous allegations as though they deserve serious consideration.

One point no one should forget: abortion is an economic issue for anyone who can get pregnant. Immigrant rights are not just an economic issue for immigrants but for the whole economy, which would fall apart without them.

Brookings Institute: "The Trump campaign decided that Harris’ stance on transgender issues was the Willie Horton of 2024 and invested heavily in negative advertising that dominated the airwaves throughout the South.1 Anecdotal evidence suggests that this campaign helped weaken Harris’ effort to portray herself as a common-sense center-left candidate rather than an emissary from San Francisco."

Wired: "Trump ran a campaign that stoked culture war grievances and divisions, and was defined by lies, a desire for vengeance, and, at times, threatening rhetoric. In social media posts he threatened mass arrests of his political opponents in revenge for “stealing the election” in 2020 (though evidence conclusively shows the 2020 election was not stolen). Lawmakers, election workers, school board members, federal agents, and judges have been repeatedly targeted over the years with violent threats by his supporters who believe they were acting on his behalf. Trump repeatedly promised his supporters he would “destroy” the deep state, invoking the popular conspiracy theory of a nefarious web of faceless bureaucrats working to destroy the US from within. He cast himself, alongside the people who stormed the Capitol on January 6 over election lies, as “political prisoners,” even “hostages” who were being persecuted by a “tyrannical” Biden administration."

Robert Hubbell: "Just as the media normalized Trump before the election, there is a wholesale effort to “normalize” the election results. Pundits are claiming the election was decided by voters’ concerns over inflation, immigration, or crime. Those issues are post-facto rationalizations offered by voters to conceal their real reasons for voting for a convicted felon and adjudicated sexual abuser over an eminently qualified candidate."

Brian Merchant, tech journalist extraordinaire: "Apart from Trump himself, there are few more obvious victors that Elon Musk; for $100 million or so and a few months’ display of unrestrained fealty, he just bought himself some real estate in the inner sanctum of Trumpworld. It may be the most fruitful investment he ever made, a bargain really. ...Suffice to say that Elon Musk is the closest that a Silicon Valley tech titan has been to the White House, in a position of overt and direct power. There is of course a long lineage of the Valley linking up with Washington for defense contracts, help in avoiding regulations, and other forms of material support—see: Malcolm Harris’s Palo Alto—but this is the next level. It could even, perhaps, be considered a logical culmination. It’s time to face facts. In Trump, Silicon Valley got what it wanted: A president that will kneecap antitrust efforts, embrace deregulation, and defang labor laws."