#okay but genuinely I think it would work really well

[dollgxtz]

Roleplay with Zayne...

✧˖° Just a thought but…I see people say doctor x patient roleplay with Zayne would be hot but I can’t help but think he would be too busy pointing out plot holes and taking it a little too serious LOL.

Word Count: 446

Tags: zayne x gn!reader, sfw, funny, fluff <3

You lounged on the edge of the bed, your leg crossed just enough to hint at something more, as Zayne adjusted the stethoscope hanging around his neck. The pristine lab coat he usually wore to work fit him perfectly, and his usual serious expression made him look like this was genuinely an examination.

He clicked the end of his pen and looked at you expectantly, his clipboard poised in hand. “Shall we begin?” he asked in that smooth, professional tone.

You let your lips curl into a sly smile. “Doctor, I’ve been feeling…strange lately. Like, really tense. I think I need a hands-on examination.”

Zayne tilted his head, his brow furrowing slightly. “Hmm. Tension could be due to several factors. Could you be more specific about the location? Is it muscular, neurological, or psychological?”

You blinked, caught off guard for a moment. “Oh, it’s…all over,” you replied, recovering quickly and leaning forward, lowering your voice to a suggestive whisper. “Maybe you could check for yourself?”

Zayne stroked his chin thoughtfully, his gaze narrowing in concentration. “‘All over’? That’s highly unusual,” he said, tapping his clipboard. “Are you experiencing fever or chills? Perhaps this is an early indication of a systemic issue—though I must question why you waited until now to seek assistance. This could have been an emergency.”

You stared at him, incredulous. “Zayne…you’re not supposed to focus on the symptoms,” you said, trying to stay patient. “You’re supposed to—”

“Not focus on the symptoms?” he interrupted, looking genuinely alarmed. “How can I, as your doctor, ensure accurate treatment without proper diagnostic attention?”

You opened your mouth to argue but decided it wasn’t worth it. Instead, you inhaled deeply, trying a different tactic. “Okay, fine,” you said, waving a hand. “Maybe it’s… stress-related. Maybe I’ve been so busy I haven’t had time to…relax.”

Zayne nodded solemnly, as if this was the most logical explanation. “Stress is a common factor,” he said. “I could prescribe a course of action to alleviate that. Let’s see… meditation? Yoga? Perhaps I should refer you to a licensed therapist to explore these deeper issues—”

“The therapy I need,” you interrupted sharply, cutting him off, “involves you. Right now. In this room.”

He blinked at you, his face perfectly blank for a moment. Then, slowly, he nodded. “Unorthodox,” he admitted, “but I suppose direct intervention could be beneficial. Very well. I’ll need you to lie down.”

Finally. Some action. You let out a relieved sigh, leaning back and sliding onto the bed. “Oh, gladly—”

“Now,” Zayne said, grabbing his clipboard again and flipping to a fresh page. “Tell me about your sleep schedule. Do you consume any caffeine past 3 PM?”

“…”

“…”

[gay-dorito-dust]

Could we please have a batboys (and Bruce) x reader who can break the 4th wall?

This was rubbish.

Dick

Would rest his head on your shoulder and ask. ‘Who are you talking to sweetheart?’

He genuinely wants to know considering the first thing he heard was you talking back his beautiful back and perfect thighs, only to find that you were saying all this to no one in particular.

‘Oh just the lovely people reading this.’ You tell him happily and Dick would only see the walls of your shared room.

‘And what are they saying?’ Dick would then say.

‘Oh I can’t hear them, nor can I really see them exactly but I just have this feeling that we are being watched -or read in this case- by many people, I can sense them and i want them to feel included in my love life with the most beautiful man Gotham has to offer.’ You tell him as you kiss him on the cheek, making him smile.

‘Well as long as they know that I am taken by you, then we’ll be okay.’ Dick replied as he kissed your forehead sweetly. Dick at first though you were just the type to talk to yourself like some people, but seeing as how it seemed as though you were more or less addressing someone rather then just talking to yourself, Dick then assumed that you might have an ability that allows you to look past this reality and into another one entirely that might be looking into this one.

It was a scary thought to think that he was being watched ,or read as you put it, by another reality but it was intriguing nonetheless the less that there was a possibility of multiple dimensions. So he could only imagine what you were able to experience if you were able to see beyond this reality to address people who probably saw him in a different form entirely.

If anything he’s extremely curious as to how your ability worked exactly as it was something that was clearly unheard of. Somedays you would address the audience as per usual but other times you didn’t address them at all, almost as though you knew where and when they’ll pay attention to you both: all so that you could entertain them for as long as possible without it coming across as excessive or too long winded.

He would try to act like he could see them too as to not have you feeling so alone, but would get flustered when you tell him that he was looking the wrong way.

He’ll leave the fourth wall breaking to you instead and will be nosy and ask all sorts of questions about your ability, all before saying that your powers was the most coolest he’s come across, but you knew he was only saying that because you were his beloved partner but that didn’t make what he said any less true.

Jason

Would raise a brow at first but would keep this tendency to himself out of a need to protect you from those who’d gladly send you away for such tendency.

Jason isn’t phased by much but you talking to a wall as though someone was there brought a weird feeling to his chest.

‘His thighs? Perfect. His stomach and autopsy scars? Delicious. Arms, hands and back? Gorgeous but all of you at home are already aware of that and could only imagine how plush his tits are-‘

‘Who are you talking to chipmunk?’ He’d ask, cutting you off as he expected you to be on the phone to someone, so imagine to his surprise when he saw your phone on charge and you were in fact talking to thin air.

‘Just the people thirsting after you.’ You’d reply as though it was common sense.

‘Thirsting?’ Jason tried the word, not liking how it sounded coming from his mouth. ‘What’s that?’

‘Just think of it as another word for desire, but they can’t have you because in their reality you’re a fictional character who gets the short end of the stick constantly by people who don’t know what to do with you in general.’ You shrugged as you looked over at him with a smile. ‘Also you get stereotyped as someone you’re not by people who obviously lack a capacity for reading given how short their attention span is.’ The last part was muttered under your breath before bringing the conversation back to him.

‘Enough about me how about you honey?’

It wasn’t the first time you’ve done this and Jason knew it wouldn’t be the last either as he would find you passionately ranting to your invisible audience about something, and while it was cute to watch you be this passionate, he also became concerned for you in case you were going through something that you didn’t want to burden him with out of a need to protect yourself.

‘You can tell me if you’re going through something you know that right?’ He’d tell you one night as he holds your face in his hands.

‘Of course I do jaybird,’ you whispered to him before watching him as he fell asleep, only to move your head elsewhere to speak to the wall. ‘Isn’t he the cutest? Truly a man unlike any other, a dying breed if you will, but I can assure you dear readers that you too will find your Jason Todd because that’s what you all deserve in life is to be loved deeply by an non-judgmental and caring man.’ You fished before joining him in your sleep.

Tim

He thinks your maladaptive daydreaming.

What else was he meant to take away from you talking to seemingly no one so passionately as you did in that moment.

He didn’t want to say that you were insane but it wasn’t everyday where a sane person would idly make conversation with thin air or a brick wall as casually as you did.

That or you were extremely lacking in sleep and were now seeing things, if that was the case then he would be able to relate to you as he had those types of days also, more often then others that’s for sure but from what Tim could tell was far from the truth as you looked bright and too well rested for that to be the answer.

And honestly? He doesn’t want to know who exactly you were talking to as not to frighting himself shitless and would act as though you talking to a crowd of no one within your shared room was completely normal in Gotham.

God forbid you start talking to this unseen audience during the night, Tim will think he’s in some sort of horror movie that he was forced to watch with the rest of his family on Halloween. Seriously who knew fourth wall breaking could come across as though you were demonically possessed?

He wants to ask who you’re talking to, he really does but if he was running low on fumes that day, really tired and wanting nothing more then sleep he would forgo all logic and just agree with what you were saying to thin air.

‘I wish I could tell you just how mean Tim can be when he’s sleep deprived, you think you know sarcasm? Wait until Tim is on about two hours of sleep and then you’ll know true sarcasm.’ You’d say.

‘Says the one who’s talking to the wall as though it had ears to listen or a mouth to respond.’ He’d replied.

‘See what Im on about? Absolutely mean when he’s sleep deprived.’ He would hear you whisper aloud but he was on the verge of falling asleep against the table to find out the true reason to your uncanny ability to break the fourth wall.

Damian

Genuinely thought something was off with how often you would look off into the distance, as though you were addressing someone he couldn’t see, like a hidden camera that lead to an unseen audience.

‘Isn’t he the cutest when he’s acting all tough,’ he’d her you say, ‘it’s like if you give a rabid chihuahua a knife but ten times worse because he can actually back up his deeply descriptive threats.’ Damian’s brow would raise at this as he watched you silently as his mind wondered who you could possibly be entertaining with such things.

Gotham has an ability to make the most strong minded person break and needles to say Damian would keep silent watch over you while you had these kinds of episodes, even when you would proudly praise his artistic skills but never to him directly, but more so to seemingly thin air with a beaming smile.

‘He’s got a future as many things and in all honestly I’m envious of how multitalented my Dami is, but at least I get to be his hype man and cheer for him no matter what, which is something I bet half of you which you could have but here I am loving your fantasy!’ You’d finish with a cackle and it left Damian smiling to himself at your pride towards him, but also still very curious as to who it was you were talking to.

‘Who are you talking to.’ He would ask you one day.

‘The audience reading this fic.’ You’d reply as though it was the most casual thing to bring up in conversation.

Damian’s brows furrowed. ‘Audience? What audience.’ He tried looking in the same direction as you, only to see nothing but his bed.

‘Oh I don’t expect you to see them but they are there,’ you tried to reassure Damian but it only came off as ominous and albeit cryptic, ‘they are always there, watching.’ You’d add and needles to say your words only made Damian go into a defensive posture at the aspect of being spectated by beings only you could seemingly engage with.

Well done you’ve made Damian somewhat paranoid as to what this audience you speak to wanted, what they wanted with you to have you keep engaging in conversation with them and what they could be planning.

‘Always watching?’ Damian asked.

‘Yep,’ you replied, ‘but not when we’re in the bathroom, that’s just really weird but other then that we are merely entertainment for them to consume on days of boredom and to grow a parasocial relationship with us to their leisure.’ You added and when you looked over at Damian, his jade eyes were wide and you winced internally, wishing you hadn’t said anything at all because now you’d knew Damian would start reaching for his sword out of instinct now.

Try and tell him it’s a joke as much as you like but Damian would now take your ability to break the fourth wall as a sign that someone was out there, watching all of you, an invisible enemy that he couldn’t kill and it pissed him off. He’ll break you free of the curse…sooner or later.

Bruce

‘That man is finer than a mother fucker and he knows it. And I know damn well all you thirsty bitches are making edits of my sexy Bruce to the song of older by Isabel LaRosa. I just know it you absolute sluts, but I can’t blame you because I would too.’ Bruce had just finished showering and the first thing he sees is you seemingly talking to a wall as though you were talking to a group of people in a whole different plan of existence.

He’s seen a lot of things in his time as Batman but someone talking to people who aren’t there? He’d assume you’re either clairvoyant or have another ability that can allow you to talk to an audience of people whom he can’t see, for whatever it was wouldn’t change Bruce’s opinion on you, powers or not.

‘My darling.’ He’d greet you as he holds you from behind. ‘May I ask why and or who you were speaking so passionately about me to?’ He adds.

‘The people reading this fanfic.’ You’d tell him as though it was a completely normal thing to admit as it was something you had been doing for as long as you could remember. Your parents thought you were talking to an invisible friend like other kids your age, but it grew concerning when you were still talking to no one in particular well into your late teens.

Bruce just raised a brow but would assume that you had some ability that you weren’t comfortable to admit to him, and he didn’t want you to feel pressured to talk to him about such a thing, especially not if you had admitted to someone in the past before and their reactions were negative.

He would just try and look deeper into this sort of thing in hopes of finding any pre-existing information about anyone showing similar signs as you and reading it deeply and intensively so that he could be well informed to know what you were going through. Bruce loves to be educated on things that he didn’t understand with the hopes of understanding it on a deeper level, so if he did managed to find something that perfectly describes what you were doing, then he’ll be reading it until he could recite it in his sleep.

He didn’t want you to feel as though you should be ashamed of your unique ability and would often take notes and things that he’d noticed you do as you addressed the invisible audiences in vivid detail. Your ability to see into another reality or anything similar to talk to people was a powerful thing to have and Bruce was fascinated by such a unique power, a power that could prove that alternate realities exist.

But Bruce would find himself intrigued with how you talked to this invisible audiences, almost as though you were greeting an old friend, whether or not this was your way to cope with the fact that you could sense an audience watching your every move and leave no privacy to be had for yourself. It was unfortunately something Bruce wasn’t quite sure but until your ability was causing you harm he would contour to watch and observe while acting as though he was unaware/ unfazed of your tendency to talking to seemingly no one.

Basically reader: you should know this too

[ir-abelas-vhenan]

I wanted Solas to be able to steal your companions (or at least some of them) away from you

On my first playthrough I genuinely thought that the test of your leadership abilities was going to be if you could keep your team together despite the machinations of the Dread Wolf himself. Obviously that was not the case, but I like the idea enough still that I want to share it now!

(Idk if I should tag this as a critique or not because while it IS me saying I wish the game had done this, that sentiment is also like. The extent of the displeasure you will hear from me in this particular post. So instead, I'll just put the divider in and give everyone a heads up now that while I am about to descend into a spiral about something I think would have been cool, me describing the cool thing I would have liked is not peppered with hate and might therefore still be fun for you to read. )

My brain went off the rails the first time I heard Harding tell Rook and Neve that Solas can go into people's dreams and kill them. (Which, was this something we learned in Inquisition/Trespasser and I missed it? I totally probably did if that's the case because I did not do a replay before jumping into Veilguard, but that line freaked me out when I first heard it lol I was like "since when?!").

While Rook assures both that they're a-okay, all good, it's just a little bid of blood magic, I thought we had just been blessed with some hella foreshadowing. Based on:

-My belief that Solas was going to have followers at his disposal

-The knowledge that he likes to mirror people and give them what they're dishing out

-Him telling Rook that once he found out they were pursuing him, he did his research

-My belief that reminiscent of other games, low approval could result in companions turning on you/leaving the party/speaking against you

I thought that Rook was going to learn that at some point in the game, Solas approached the Veilguard companions in their dreams and tried to sway them either to join him or abandon their leader. And I think there was a lot of opportunity for this to work really well.

Lucanis is perhaps the easiest example to work with here, but there's potential with all the companions because all of them can relate to Solas' experiences.

Solas, through communications in the dreams of his followers or through snooping through Lucanis' himself, would have been interested in the parallel the two share of "extreme loyalty to an important woman in their life that they look up to and take orders from" when it comes to Mythal and Caterina. Solas also knows what it's like to be gone from the world as you understand it to be for a long time and struggle with the adjustment to come back. It would have been wild to find out that he inserted himself as an interested party who sympathizes with Lucanis' struggle and had slowly been showing him all the reasons he shouldn't put all his faith in Rook while playing as a supportive mentor to Rook at the exact same time.

I think depending on how Rook handled Spite, it would have been interesting at either high approval to have Lucanis be like "hey I just want you to know that Spite caught Solas snooping around in my head last night and we shut him tf out" or a low approval Lucanis being convinced that there's no place for him at the Lighthouse/he isn't understood/is too feared and that he needs to try and help through other means. That, consequently, would create some additional difficulty when it comes to trying to kill Ghilan'nain or gain loyalty with the Crows.

And obviously him going for every single companion would have been hard to do or made the game repetitive, so maybe if at a certain point in the game it just took your companions with the lowest approval and triggered Solas attempting to sway them, that would be fun and add an element of replayability. And if you manage to raise their approval enough after getting kind of a warning-sign cutscene where they're more frustrated with Rook than usual, they then tell you "hey yeah I heard from him but I shut him out."

For brevity so that this doesn't go on forever:

-He could have very easily nerded out with Emmrich and convinced him that the world he wants is what's best for the spirits (especially since he does genuinely believe this)

-He could have come to Neve and been like "you don't have to like me because I did kill Varric, but you do love your city, don't you? As I loved mine? And wouldn't you do anything for it?" (especially if Rook saves Treviso over Minrathous)

-He could have promised Taash a place amongst his followers where they don't have to hide their fire/potentially shared some compelling truth he learned in his nerd travels about fire-breathers that they, craving more about their identity, would be tempted by

-He could have tried to play on Davrin's sympathies for the griffons and shared that all he wants is to create a world in which those he harmed have a chance to be at their fullest capacity once more, especially after its revealed that the wardens abused the griffons and then hid from their history. (Now, Davrin is a king and I see him being very hard to persuade even at low approval, but I didn't want to exlude him)

-With Bellara, I mean come on. He is the least sinister of the old elves running around, and she has always craved questions. Knowledge about Arlathan is one of the strongest connections she has with Cyrian. I also think he might try and argue that Rook could have spent more time/energy towards rescuing Cyrian, OR offered her information on the Forgotten Ones that would save him in exchange for her assistance

-Finally, I think it would have been cool if Harding is the only companion Solas actually refuses to try and sway regardless of their approval with Rook. Much in the same way Varric didn't nickname her because he feared her, I'd like to think Solas would know that having fucked with the dwarves enough, she's off-limits to manipulate because he regrets his actions so much. It would have been a cool way to actually explore that part of the narrative a little more, especially because I personally think (especially if you don't have Cadash in the game or a dwarven Rook) someone deserved to have a tough discussion with him, and given Harding's quest line, it would make sense to be her. Assuming she survives past Ghilan'nain's death, I think a cutscene while Rook is in the fade of him coming to her when we know she wants to believe that he can be saved or else it's all for nothing (I can't remember the exact quote right now, so apologies if I'm way off) and them having a really meaningful conversation about the Titans and the rage she holds would have been cool, especially since they did know each other and fight for the Inquisition together.

So yeah, just some thoughts I've had brewing, that's all.

[mcytegg]

id love to see flame and a locked in ro team up tbh. like i feel like it either goes very well for both of them bc they have the potiential to work well together, given ro's ambitious nature and his way of loving to just Do Things w his teammates and flame's loyalty nd apparent (unconcious) way of seeking out someone to follow and do fun things with.

or it could go EXTREMELY poorly bc of who they are as people since flame is a wild card with a lot of pride that can be used to set him off and ro just isnt an assertive person, esp w people hes not as close to, so if someone made flame crash out and he started doing things ro didnt like, itd cause an entire Thing cause it can end one of three ways. ro doesnt saying anything and is upset by it and it festers. ro DOES say smt and flame doesnt care or gets upset w HIM. or ro says smt and flame listens to him.

cause like, okay flames thing seems to be that he generally returns the energy of everyone he interacts w. mane and pentar have done nothing but be loyal to him so he is FIERCELY loyal to them both. he felt like wemmbu was a leech and as if it was only a matter of time until he betrayed but since wemmbu never actually did he never acted upon it. the empire has always treated him as a hostile enemy so thats what he is to them in return. the only person in the server aside from mane and pentar that he seems to genuinely adore and respect is pangi (to the point of being Against it when ash wanted to kill him) and i think a very big part of this is bc pangi has continued to treat him like a person and to treat him w kindness in spite of what he has done and regardless of if he deserves it given how much he has done to hurt pangi specifically

and like w how ro kind of just lives in the moment and makes his decisions based on what is happening just naturally in the moment (unless u are mapicc LMFAO. in which case he will always do his best to be friends w mapicc) i can see them synergizing well. but also if ro played the server and had fun as a team w flame only to vanish once again, i dont think itd go well at all bc i do think flame would remain loyal but i also think he'd do whatever he thinks is fun, and given his little knack for destruction itd give them enemies ro doesnt want yk .

as im saying this all i cant help but think theyd be similar to s4 dualities but the ending could only be on opposite extremes of them thriving and ending the season together, or w some sort of betrayal and flame being determined to ban ro himself bc he REALLY doesnt seem the type to just be ex teammates and to leave it there. for as similar as flame and mapicc are, they are equally as different. idk if any of this makes sense, ive just woken up after 3 hrs of sleep but whatever i just wanted an excuse to talk abt ro and flame

[allison3k0]

MR S UPDATE - Friday (BIG DAY OML) (Last day of school before the winter break)

I F*CKING HUGGED HIM TODAY.

Alright, so, today was chill cuz it was the last day of school before the winter break, and since I was done my animation project tomorrow, during animation (3rd period) I asked my anim teacher if I could go see Mr S cuz I had something to give him, and he let me go so I started going. My anim period is also Mr S' prep so it works out well to give him stuff without him being in a rush to leave or anything.

So I peaked my head into his room cuz he left the door open, and it was dark so I was wondered if he was there, and he was in fact there, so I saw him and said "Hey!" and he said "Hey!" and then I walked in with the mug with the candy canes and said "So, I have something for you" and set the mug down on the desk in front of him and he said "Thank you!" and then I set down the two packets of hot choco I brought him too, and he said "Thank you" again. He picked up the mug and looked at it and said "Oh my gosh, did you draw this?" and I said "Yeah, I drew it myself" and he said "Oh my gosh this is adorable" and I said "Thank you!" and then I said "I also have this" and put a crochet little duck made with grey yarn for the body and green yarn for the accents like the bill and feet and a little tuft of hair on top of its head (it reminded me of him for some reason), and he said "Oh my gosh, (as if he was surprised by the number of things) I didn't know you crochet, I'll have to make sure my dog doesn't get this" and I said "Yeah be careful your dog doesn't get it. Yeah, I don't crochet often, but I learned from my mom" and he said "Wow, thank you so much!" and I said "No problem" and then I was thinking about asking him for a hug but I kept hesitating and then I chickened out, and then he was saying stuff to end the convo like "Well, I hope you have a good break, a good holiday, and I'll see you in the new year." and I interrupted him saying "Wait, I'm coming in after school" and he said "Oh, you're coming in after school?" and I said "Yeah" and then he said "Oh okay" and then I said "I'll see you later then!" and he said "See you later!" and then I left to go back to class.

So then fourth period I was just daydreaming about how to get a hug from him, and what would happen after school, going through every possible scenario and how to word it when I ask for a hug cuz I'd much rather ask than assume he's okay with it and embarrass myself. That period dragged on foreverrrr and then I was finally able to go to my locker and then go see Mr S.

I went to his classroom after school as usual but he was talking with his EA so I was waiting til they were done to say hi, and I did, and they both said hi back. And Mr S said "Hi, how was the rest of your day?" and I said "Great, actually" and he said "Great actually?" and I said "Yeah, psych was really chill, we had a lesson but it was a chill lesson and we had a big class discussion in between too" and he seemed genuinely interested. And then his EA left and we said happy holidays and whatnot. Me and Mr S talked about his plans for the break, and he said "WE'RE going to (town name) to (continues)" like I'm sorry, who tf is WE? He was talking about his fam before that, so maybe he was referring to his fam? But maybe he was referring to a partner? Then he asked me about my plans and I mentioned how I'm going to see a movie tomorrow (still not sure if that's actually happening) but he asked who I'm going to see it with, so I told him "My friend E (Insert first name here, we'll call her Bestie E or E), the one that took me to her cousin's wedding" and he was like "Oh" but like... Why does it matter to him who I go with? Is he trying to figure out if I'm single? Cuz I am 😏.

But anyways, we continued talking a while until he started packing up and I started packing up so I wouldn't miss my chance to hug him while I had it, but holy sh he gets ready fast and he was at the door ready to lock it while it was open, and he was saying "Well, have a great break, don't work too much on school stuff" and I missed the rest cuz I was panicking inside cuz he was about to leave and I wasn't about to let that opportunity go, so I put down my backpack and purse and said "Wait, can I hug you?" in the most frail, barely audible, tiny, lowercase voice ever 😭 and he said "Sure, of course!" AND GAVE ME THE CUTEST MOST GENUINE SMILE I'VE EVER SEEN HIM HAVE. IT WAS LIKE A FACE OF ADMIRATION OR ADORATION. And omg the hug was so short it's so sad but when I first hugged him, I PUT MY ARMS AROUND HIM UNDER HIS ARMS AND HE PUT HIS ARMS AROUND MY SHOULDERS KIND OF- I JUST REALIZED I HUGGED HIS BODY LIKE I TOUCHED HIS BODY OMFG SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP FOAMING AT THE MOUTH- Anyways, he was so nice and warm, AND FOR A SECOND I LAID MY HEAD ON HIS SHOULDER WHILE WE HUGGED, and then I felt the hug was gonna get awkward if it went any longer, but he didn't exactly pull away, I just kinda felt like it was time to let go so I did and the hug was over 😭 it was so short.

When it was over I said "I haven't had a hug in a while" and he said "Oh really?" and I said "Yeah, thank you" and he said "No problem!" with the cutest ahh smile I've ever seen on him before. And we were getting ready to part ways so I said "Alright, thank you so much" and he said "Of course!" and then I said "Bye! See you after the break!" and he said "Bye! Have a great break!" and then I left.

After I left, my hands were shaking so much and so were my knees and I could barely walk so I had to stand outside for a minute before leaving to go home.

[didalexiabreakupwitholgaisback]

thank you for your post haha i feel crazy seeing people dismissing real criticism of Viv literally for what? Like do you guys think shes exempt from mistakes? That shes mena woman and queens white saviour with her selective activisms acts?? Just dense people genuinely

anyways I also wanted to share this really interesting thread by former Chelsea player who when asked to sign Viv beloved petition asked for the genocide to be brought up first to radio silence from all parties

https://x.com/hedvig_lindahl/status/1848440227917906025?s=46

thanks anon! 🫶 listen, i try not to get too personal on this blog, but i will here. i don't want to clown on players or fans, but to give my perspective on activism and what i view as helpful or harmful. and people should really listen to why so many arab and muslim women are upset with her statement and why we are not just bitter arsenal fans or whatever people are saying to dismiss our concerns.

i am a gay woman of arab/muslim heritage in my 30s living in a 'western' country whose family emigrated a long time ago to settle here. i have dealt with racism, homophobia, xenophobia, and islamophobia my entire life. i will never be spanish enough or arab enough or white enough or whatever enough, and frankly, i have stopped caring. 💅

therefore, my views of human rights and activism are very much centered on my own life experiences. and that is what i am sharing with you all! 🙏

people talk about lgbt rights in arab and muslim countries as if queer arabs and muslim do not exist. hello, we exist! 👋 in these countries and the diaspora as a whole. and that we should silence our voices in favour of a privileged gay white woman just doesn't sit right with me.

so my perspective on viv's 'statement' doesn't treat it as existing in a vacuum but rather places it in the context of what we have come to view as the stereotype of the 'reel' bad arab.

when it comes to selective activism, i think about all the depictions of arabs and muslims in media. go to netflix and pull up any show. we are almost always the gangster, terrorist, 'bad guy.' there are studies as to what this does to condition society as always seeing arab/muslims as the other, the barbarian, the backwards.

the same goes with mainstream journalism. when mahsa amini was murdered by the iranian regime for not wearing her 'hijab' properly, that's what gained worldwide news (as it should!) and gained broadstream feminist support, but what about the fact that europe is passing hijab bans, burqini bans, and preventing women from covering to do their jobs. where is that coverage and where are the same feminists with the same energy?

when every piece of activism associated with arabs and muslims (unfortunately by many white women) is negative, negative, negative, that our countries and people are terrible backwards places and it's okay to look the other way when we are killed in bombings and in genocides because we are evil, right? then yes, the constant pile on without mentioning the other side is harmful. because not only does it not change anything in society for us, it causes even more backlash, racism, and hate towards us. that's what these types of one-sided statements do. and arab/muslim activists are left with double the work, at home and in our heritage countries. because we are actually trying to change conditions for the better.

why is it okay only to criticise us, our countries, and our people, but not speak up on our behalf? and when the people who do speak up in favour and support of us get backlash and blacklisted, that's what is acceptable? are we are not people worthy of living and worthy of respect? do we not deserve empathy? or should we always 24/7 cater to white fragility over our own needs? 🙏

this is a case of intersectionality and i understand very well the pros and cons of what the anthropology and sociology communities have termed 'white feminism.' and i would encourage everyone to take the time and read about intersectional feminism, positive allyship, and what it means to help communities of colour around the world. because there are homegrown grassroots efforts and allies who are doing good work to actually *improve* the status of women and minorities in saudi arabia! and we should continue to support *these* efforts and not empty words 🫶

and many kudos to former swedish player hedvig lindahl who is probably one of the only female footballers who is using her platform to continuously (not just one tweet or throwaway lines in a column) bring awareness to the genocide in palestine. but i also have to recognise english former player gary lineker and lise klaveness, egil olson, and the norway football federation for their efforts too! impressed by the scandis 🫡

[all-pacas]

the houseswapped au is fascinating to me. how do you think chase hires his fellows in this au, and how do their interviews go?

@ppthsworstlapdog has gone into this a bit i think - but here's my take, because i agree, this au is incredible, the universe that keeps giving:

Chase probably had a couple fellows before House (much as House had a few before Chase in the 'real' world). He's less abrasive, but his apathy and less-than-involved teaching style made him shed fellows pretty quickly: Chase didn't really want a fellowship; Foreman probably foisted it on him, and Chase passive-aggressively ignored his applicants until they quit or found other jobs. House interviewed because, hello, diagnostics? Mystery cases? It-doesn't-matter-if-you're-nice-it-matters-if-you're-right? and Chase hired him because why not, he doesn't really care.

House's interview did not go well. He more or less interviewed Chase; is his reputation bullshit? Is he really that cool? What happened to his back? What's his deal? Anyone else would have been offended, and it's not like Chase loved it (or answered any of the questions), but… I think he understood the nosiness/curiosity as a form of caring and passion; House wants to know things, he's interested, he's engaged, and it's been a long fucking time since Chase did. He never really wanted to be a doctor, he never even really wanted to start a Diagnostics department, and House's blatant excitement was… nice. Genuine.

For a while it was just the two of them, but House was naturally a problem child from day one, starting the tradition of breaking an entering and really pushing Chase down the road of Malpractice Medicine (not that Chase was all that inclined to not break the law beforehand, of course. They just made one another Worse.) Foreman wanted House fired almost from day one, Chase by this point likes House and is passive-aggressive at the best of times…

He hires Wilson.

Chase was theoretically always hiring, although again in practice he never had a single interview or was all that interested. (Sometimes, okay, if there was a female applicant and she wasn't too young… but he wasn't interested in hiring, just using it as the world's laziest dating service.) House had thrown Wilson's application into the pile and Chase had figured out it was House's doing (House only has one friend, and why would an oncology resident even apply for this?), but he still couldn't be bothered to hire him……… until he did.

Wilson's interview went okay. Wilson was trying to impress and it worked, but Chase had already decided to hire him and didn't really care about him or what he said. But… actually, he gets along with Wilson in this universe. Wilson's great at the manipulation and smarm school of malpractice, and just off his first divorce, and Chase is kind of like………oh, same hat. Oh, a romantic disaster who likes to pretend to be nice to people. I can deal with this. In a way, he probably gets along with Wilson better than House, which is in its own way a weird fucking love triangle situation: House and Wilson have only been friends a couple years, are not fully intertwined and obsessed, Chase is House's mentor, thanks, lay off Wilson, it gets kind of weird.

House actually looks up to Chase in his own weird stalkery House way (going through Chase's trash, etc.), and Wilson isn't actually here to undermine his boss; Chase is also really good at his fucking job and gets to use all his perceptive asskissing powers to keep the kids in line. That said, there are definitely moments where the two of them sort of… overpower Chase with force of personality, not least because Chase is not super interested in being a boss, being any kind of leader; he's here to do his job and try and teach and what the kids do in their time isn't his problem as long as they don't undermine him. Which means that often House kind of acts like he's in charge and gets away with it because he's the strongest personality in the room.

This probably led to a The Mistake or even a Nobody's Fault type scenario, where House goes too far, does his House thing and gets someone killed. Chase goes to bat for him, but the whole thing is a mess and gets written off as failure to supervise; Chase gets a brief suspension… and more than that, it drives him to realize that maybe the dynamic is a bit fucked.

So he hires Cuddy.

Again, he was "always" "hiring," just not actually doing interviews or reading resumes. Chase is assertive and sticks up for himself, but he also doesn't care or really want to overrule his team when it's not medically necessary; he sees Cuddy and her medical administration degree and goes you know what could be interesting. She's a completely strategic hire, he hires her to balance out the teams and provide a counterweight to House so he doesn't have to be one. (Chase is a good strategist and a lousy leader.) He doesn't know that she and House are already acquainted at the time, but when he finds out he thinks it's absolutely a plus. Cuddy sort of struggles with the medical/diagnostic elements of the job, but she's really good at dealing with people — difficult patients and House — so she slots into the group really nicely. She's furious when she finds out Chase didn't hire her for her medical skills, though. ("What medical skills?", House asks.)

Once House leaves the team, hiring gets much easier, because he doesn't have to hire based on group dynamics anymore lmao. And, you know… he likes his team. He likes his weird dysfunctional kids. He even gets better at mentoring/teaching after a few years. Kutner and Thirteen are just normal hires who Chase picks because he likes them and thinks they're smart. Amber kind of doesn't work out — he picked her for her House-ish qualities and then realized he doesn't love those qualities when they're not on his favorite student — but by the time he hires Park, Chase is basically just going out of his way to hire misfits who are struggling in other jobs and grooming them into deeply capable doctors, so he does eventually learn.

[thecomet-and-themeteor]

I don't know how much sense this makes but I need a Langelique Cinderella AU, I think it'd work pretty well

[bitchthefuck1]

you know what, I actually will talk about this because it's bothering me. The issue with focussing so heavily on syd and carmy's potential for a romantic relationship isn't that there's something inherently unintellectual about romance or whatever, it's that a lot of people seem incapable of doing that without immediately flattening the story and ignoring or intentionally misreading any and all nuance for the sake of that romance. Every scene suddenly becomes about how it impacts their relationship, every analysis is done through a romantic lens, every frame or line of dialogue becomes about finding some easter egg or hint that "proves" these people should start dating. Their dynamic is absolutely a fundamental part of this show, but if you can only see it as a will-they-won't-they, you miss so much of what the story is actually trying to say with these two.

There are good versions of this story where their relationship is romantic and there are good versions of this story where it isn't, but as soon as you decide them being together is "the point," you lose the ability to actually judge the story for what it is, not what you want it to be.

[writhe]

[did-you-fall-for-a-shooting-star]

In what world is it considered okay to go and complain to someone about how much you miss a co-worker that died, MONTHS ago, when you werent too too extremely close. When the person you are complaining to about how you still struggle to do your job, had a really bad week this week missing him, etc. IS HIS CHILD??

Like Im sorry, I didnt realize I was supposed to be consoling YOU.

And to top it all off, HE WANTS TO HAVE AN EMPTY CHAIR AT THE DJ TABLE FOR HIS WEDDING TO HONOR MY DAD. Like look bro, Im sorry that he cant be at your wedding as your bestie or DJ. But ya know. I’m not gonna have him at my wedding either to WALK ME DOWN THE AILSE. SO MAYBE FUCK OFF.

[icewindandboringhorror]

It always seems a bit unbalanced on The Great Food Truck Race when there will be multiple teams who are cooking a wide variety of complex dishes with 10 different components and a bunch of prep work, and then there's that one team who like... exclusively serves plain crepes with some premade nutella on them, or plain waffles with just some whipped cream and cut up strawberries lol...

[crehador]

parting thoughts on ragna crimson (first cour)

i think it was... the first episode? that i didn't really vibe with. felt like a decent enough fantasy, but unremarkable in just about every way

THEN A WEIRD GUY APPEAR

iirc it wasn't until the second week that we really met crimson, which is kind of a shame because imo the show doesn't really start to come together until then. i like ragna well enough, but it's really the combination of the two of them that compels me

always love a duo where they have the same goal, but drastically different personalities/values/modes of operation/etc

always extra love a duo that's like "team up with me, a dragon, to kill all dragons then once we've achieved our goal you'll kill me too"

(like vanoe but with dragons. i think. my memories of vnc are actually very hazy)

and always extra extra love when ayu gets to just do his thing, playing guys who are girls who are guys who are etc etc etc

it's certainly not the best of the season, and still overall fairly unremarkable imo, but also not really bad in any way. if there's one thing i find lackluster i guess it's that i feel like they don't lean enough into this... pseudo-past life thing that ragna has going on (with the powers and presumably memories of his 'older self' passed down to him)

like ragna is still more or less his 'normal' self in terms of personality, which is fine, he's got a fun enough personality, but if he had some like... old man tendencies mixed in there, or if we saw more of his memories with crimson maybe? i don't know, just feels like something more could have been done with that fusion of past and present (or rather future and present)

looking forward to the second cour but at the same time... hoping this series won't be too long lol

[yoichichi]

I’m going to my new position this week but tell me why I’m feeling sentimental about the stupid ass shop I’m gonna leave 😭😭😭

[jovalencia]

not to be dramatic but I literally feel like I’m going insane lol

[chadsuke]

Books Read in 2023:

Liberated to the Bone: Histories, Bodies, Futures by Susan Raffo (2022)

Unflattering Photos of Fascists:  Authoritarianism in Trump's America by Christopher Ketcham (2020)

Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion by Elizabeth L. Cline (2012)

A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid (1988)

Why are Faggots so Afraid of Faggots? Flaming Challenges to Masculinity, Objectification, and the Desire to Conform edited by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore (2012)

The F*ck It Diet: Eating Should Be Easy by Caroline Dooner (2019)

The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple by Jeff Guin (2017)

Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash by Edward Humes (2012)

The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating (2007)

[ID: Covers of the aforementioned books. End ID.]