#or because they're hashtag relatable

[4lph4kidz]

homestuck is a partially improvisional serialized narrative so yes some parts of the story emerged over time and writing decisions were made on the fly. and some readings of the comic that i think are really good are probably not what the author intended. but no i do not think that it is 'good on accident' actually.

like do some of you think hussie wrote a good comic by accident

[autumnfangirler]

Becker family shenanigans >:) (ft. @villainsidestep's fawn becker and @idlenight's river becker! this was also inspired by their posts)

text is in the alt text, and click for better quality because tumblr is apparently determined to kill the quality of everything i post

[arolesbianism]

Some more Steward doodles

[icewindandboringhorror]

I still very loathe the Media Trope of ‘’cold genius man doesn’t feel emotions and never has relationships... UNTIL.. one random relatively bland Preddy Woman comes along and warps his entire personality and ability to think, his heart has grown and his seeming asexuality has evaporated, he is now Normal :)” or whatever like... AS a walking generic hermit archetype myself.. we would NOT act like that .... just let people be detached weirdos in peace, you cowards .. OR, don’t bother to write one in the first place if you find us too boring to exist realistically in our natural state lol.. pathetic 

[miserye]

i just had subway and two things, one. i fucking love tuna and 2. that churro is a crime against humanity and they should be sued for selling something that bad

[darlingofdots]

I do not actually use tiktok but I do scroll through instagram reels (which are just reposted tiktoks) way too much for my own health, and I also occasionally use reddit, and I can't help but think that these platforms and the emphasis on building your "brand" or finding your niche are pushing people to attach way too much meaning to labels. "Can I like flowers as a butch" "you shouldn't wear yellow as a deep autumn" "what my sensory-seeking child ate today" "when you Find Your Style and realise your teenage outfits were hideous" STOP. People don't work like that.

There's two angles to this, I think: It's always really obvious when somebody found an audience by posting about a specific thing and now they're trying to retain that audience by talking about it as much as possible, so they end up relating every aspect of their lives to it even when it makes no sense if only so they can use the right hashtags; whereas on the other end of this interaction, people who mostly receive this kind of content get the impression that there are rigid and hard rules that dictate who gets to identify a certain way or engage in an activity or what a health condition looks like. Have you ever noticed how many shortform videos but also internet comments begin with a version of "As someone who..." as if it's some kind of certificate or qualification? There is such an emphasis on labelling and clearly defining your experience! And don't get me wrong, labels and diagnoses and community identification can be really useful, and there are conversations in which being upfront about your positionality is helpful and productive. But so many posts on the lesbian subreddit the app made me join when I made my account are along the lines of "can I still be a lesbian if x?" and "do femmes think y is attractive?" as if any of these things are monolithic, strictly defined fundamental conditions of the human soul! Even medical conditions don't work this way because every body is different! Open yourself up to the complexity of experience!

[etesienne]

"Beauty seekers who aspire for a pair of “manga legs” or “chopstick legs”—thin, long, and white gams as straight as chopsticks, like a manga character—“calf-muscle blocking surgery” has become trendy. The procedure removes some nerves on gastrocnemius muscle in order to slow its growth, leading to slimmer calves.

Compared with procedures like Botox, which require regular shots, calf surgery is lauded by online influencers as a "simple" one-time process to get rid of several “unimportant” and “rarely used” nerves with lasting effect, and allegedly no side effects. A hashtag related to the procedure attracted over 260 million views and 24,000 comments on Weibo in a couple of days in late May.

However, health experts pointed out that after these nerves are removed, people cannot walk as fast, or run or do other active sports that requires the use of calf muscles, without falling; moreover, their lower legs will probably recover to original size or even become deformed because of compensatory growth in other parts of the calf.

The procedure originated in France in 1985 as a way to treat club foot caused by spinal cord or cerebral injury. It was first performed as a cosmetic procedure in China around 2005, but is no longer offered at legitimate plastic surgery hospitals because the removed nerves cannot be recovered and the impact is irreversible, according to the Beijing News. Despite those warnings, two Beijing hospitals that the newspaper visited had received a flood of reservations for this service during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday from June 12 to 14."

Horrifying. What happens to these women when they're chased, in danger, at the scene of an emergency, and can't fucking run ??

[izzyspussy]

the ONLY ofmd characters who are into taylor swift more than passingly are alma, mary alamby, and edward fucking teach. and that's IT.

listen i like taylor swift generally speaking more than the next guy, but if i see one more person say frenchie ofmd would be a swiftie i might actually lose it

[0hmanit]

Some old tweets from the official Rain World twitter account that I find interesting

It seems that FP's overseers had a larger range, and could appear in outskirts. It also could be possible that they're were to guide you instead of Iggy. And after looking enough, this next gif confirms that:

This led me to the original forum post, have a nice read

The account retweeted a possible scrapped room? (2016)

Old rooms and a rare early look of the room SU_B04! (2014) I can't post them all, but if you scroll here you can find more screenshots of early Outskirts rooms. It's also so unbelievably funny to me that the old account was basically obsessed with using #slugcatlife in almost every Rain World related post (same with Videocult's account). It's a shame they removed their old bio and stopped doing that, because I think it's gold.

Can we bring it back please? I'll start using #slugcatlife just for the fun of it

If you're more interested in posts about Rain World's inspiration, thanks to the RW discord server I found this reply.

Another legendary slugcatlife tweet

Looking in the hashtag results in old fanart, screenshots and Videocult tweets. Like this early look of the White Lizard:

Or this gif of the noodleflies:

A couple of more honorable mentions: The room above Early DLL AI Cool decals

And FINALLY, these goofballs^

[meimi-haneoka]

Clear Card Trivia 4 ~ The most ancient Magicians of Europe, the Magic Association and their role in Clear Card

Welcome back to my corner focused on eviscerating all the thematics, hidden messages, trivia, aspects of Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card!!

We're at the 4th "episode" of this series (you can find the previous ones under the #clear card trivia hashtag) and this time around the tone of the thematic will change a little bit. We get into a darker corner. Yes, because when it was time to decide for the next thematic I would delve into, I felt it was finally time to address everything concerning The Magic Association and Akiho's clan, the so-called Most Ancient Magicians of Europe.

I've been feeling the need to delve into these two "entities" appearing in Clear Card for long time and for several reasons. One of those is that there are still so many people out there who tend to conflate the two and confuse "who did what". It's time we dot the i's and cross the t's on who's who. And rest assured I made sure to mention every single thing we know (and don't know) about them. For this reason, the post is a bit long, but I wanted to make it as comprehensive as possible.

Moreover, these two groups of people hide a very deep and important role inside Clear Card's story. Despite representing the darkest, most horrible part of this arc (I'd daresay if we have to find a villain in CCS at all costs, we have quite found them), I can see and appreciate a lot the social commentary CLAMP made through them.

If you're curious to know what this social commentary is and read in one place everything we know about these magicians, just follow me under the cut!

The Magic Association of England

Let's start with them. The first mention we have of the "Magic Association of England" (in Japanese イギリスの魔法協会 or they've been called 魔術師協会 - Magicians association - too ) is in volume 4, chapter 15, when Eriol over the phone reveals their existence to Syaoran, and even correctly speculates that Yuna D. Kaito might be one of their members.

Basically, the Magic Association of England is a congregation of powerful magicians (not necessarily related by blood) who associate together for their mutual personal benefit. Their headquarters are, of course, in England.

They are recognizable in the story by their long black robe with purple lining and a headpiece that covers their heads and faces entirely, shaped vaguely like the head of a dragon.

It seems like they are organized according to a hierarchy, for two reasons: some of them wear an additional layer of clothing on their shoulders, as a way to indicate a "higher rank" of magicians (they're probably the oldest ones, or the ones who run the entire thing), but they also assign "titles" to their magicians basing on their level of magic - Kaito is basically the strongest (while not being part of the higher hierarchy, because he doesn't wear the additional piece of clothing) and he's been assigned the title of "D". That's what the "D" in his (fake) name means, nothing else. We can assume there are magicians of rank C, B and A too, in this Association. They even seem to have a collective magic circle, as we can see in more than one scene, but more clearly in chapter 79:

As Eriol implies very early in chapter 15 (and as we will have plenty of opportunities to see with our own eyes), their activities are shady at best and criminal at worst (that's why Eriol replies to an unaware Syaoran "Your clan probably hasn't mentioned them to you yet, because of the plenty bad rumors about them").

It also seems like they constantly try to recruit new members and actively look for powerful magicians to add to their ranks. Like they did with little Kaito, reaching him at the unknown location he was living in (beware, this is often a point of confusion but the men with the caucasian-like headpieces we see in the flashback are not part of the Magic Association. It is just a "circle of people" where little Kaito lived for a period after being separated by his parents.)

Not only that, but in order to achieve their main goal, they also seem to form "alliances" with other influential parties. This is apparently done for the common goal of broadening the Association, their authority and influence in the magic world, as stated by little Kaito himself in volume 13, chapter 60. Although, little Kaito also says that they won't think twice in betraying those alliances when they see fit, and it seems to be customary because the boy says that it's certain to happen.

And "alliance" is the type of relationship that connects them to the next subjects of this post.

The Most Ancient Magicians of Europe

The "Most Ancient Magicians of Europe" (in Japanese 欧州最古の魔術師達) get introduced for the first time in volume 6, chapter 25. Yet, the very first mention of a "clan" Akiho belonged to appears as early as volume 5, chapter 21, when Akiho explains to Kaito she recognized the robe passed down in her clan in the vision she had unwittingly shared with Sakura.

Their ceremonial outfit is composed by a white robe with a light blue cloak hemmed in yellow, just like the removable headpiece covering entirely one's face when pulled up. They also have a collective magic circle identifying the magicians part of the Clan:

As opposed to the Magic Association, this clan is a big family of magicians, all related by blood. They do not seem to have a common last name they go by, like the Li Clan does for example. This gives an inkling about their very broad reach. Although the ones closest to Akiho seem to have their headquarters in England just like the Association, the name suggests that their scope and/or presence might be spanning all over Europe. The family is so big that Lilie basically married one of her distant relatives, part of the same clan.

In this regard, I have to make a very important clarification about a translation mistake in the ENG localization that affects concretely the plot. This mistake made it to the printed volumes.

As you can see here, the ENG translation basically makes a Clan member state that they have the same blood as Clow Reed. We all know that Clow Reed was born from an English father and a Chinese mother and since in this scene the Clan is talking about their rivalry with the Li clan, it is almost automatic to assume that they are the Reed Family.

This is a very egregious translation mistake, as the correct translation is the version that the scanlation group RhapsodyInBlue uploaded back in the day:

A "They are of Clow Reed lineage" (as the Li's indeed are) turned into "For the blood of Clow Reed", giving birth to quite a big misunderstanding.

This clan has never been officially confirmed to have any blood ties with Clow Reed.

Any indication in that sense is pure speculation and fan theories. I know "it's the official English translation that says so!" but unfortunately this is not the first and definitely not even the last translation mistake that affects severely the understanding of the plot.

The only thing we know for certain about the Most Ancient Magicians in Europe (I'll call them "Squid Clan" going forward, cause this is a common nickname I've been using forever in fandom) is that they hold a grudge against Clow for unknown reasons (they wouldn't be the first ones) and consequently they are constantly competing with the Li Clan (blood relatives of Clow) for who is more powerful and influential between their Clans. Although we don't know if it's mutual, this rivalry is nothing recent, as it was already there when Akiho and Syaoran were born, and it's certainly part of the cause that pushed the Squid Clan to turn Akiho into an artifact (to compete with Syaoran of the Li Clan). Syaoran is very well aware of who they are, as he's the one recognizing the robe in Sakura's dream in volume 10, chapter 46.

Another thing that I wish to point out is that, although fandom spaces sometimes call this Clan as "Shinomoto Clan" or even arbitrarily call Lilie as "Lilie Shinomoto", none of this has been hinted at or even confirmed in canon. In fact, the sticker with a phrase from Lilie that is being given out at the CLAMP Exhibition held in this period in Tokyo, indicates her name as just "Lilie", not "Lilie Shinomoto", while all the other characters are fully featured with their first and last name. As it's been revealed in chapter 80, Akiho uses an alias in everyday's life, following a common practice in magic clans. So it's very likely that the entire name "Akiho Shinomoto" is an alias and "Shinomoto" got nothing to do with the Clan Akiho was born in at all.

When they were still alive, Akiho's mother and father were the most powerful magicians in that Clan, with dreamseer Lilie being the top magician. And as we can hear from her own words, the Squid Clan's collective goal is to put their hands on the magic of the entire world and on any means to operate it. That is particularly evident in the purpose for which they have turned Akiho into an artifact. It is also what seemingly steers their interest when it comes to marrying off their members: feelings and happiness of the parties concerned are of no importance, all that matters is how profitable that union will be for the Clan in terms of power. That's why they were thrilled to know Lilie and her husband decided to marry, but then considered it a failure and said they should've never let them meet when they lost their life in an accident and all they left to the Clan was a magicless little Akiho.

Kaito and the Magic Association

Next, let's review how both of these groups affected the other characters.

The Magic Association approached little Kaito in the community he was living in (unknown location) when he was very little, asking him "to help them out". They had certainly sensed his astounding powers for someone so young and saw an opportunity to make their Association grow. Little Kaito didn't particularly want to help them out (or do something for someone else, for that matter), but due to his already problematic growth process and emerging child depression (from what we can see in the flashback, he was seemingly feared and kept at arm's length by the people of that community, so he was already growing up in solitude - I wouldn't exclude they were the ones calling the Association to have him taken away), he didn't even feel strongly against the idea, so he just decided to accept.

What followed were years where Kaito kept growing up in solitude despite being surrounded by so many adults, fending for himself, feeding on anything that was edible enough (Lilie will find him eating a Calorie Mate for lunch), without a shred of love, care or emotional education, simply used as a tool and exploited for his strong magic powers. The boy had the opportunity to train and develop his powers even further, quickly becoming unrivalled in magic battles.

Along the story, Eriol (in a short chapter) came into possession of secret documents about Kaito's life in the Association (the sheets bring the Association mark) and he said that they included his "spectacular war records". What exactly he meant with that term isn't clear, but it's legit to assume that the Association might had young Kaito fight against other magicians (we don't know the extent of the violence of those fights).

Kaito's impressive performances in magic earned him the title of "D" in the Magic Association, the highest title that can be bestowed on a magician in their environment, and he was allowed to attend the Association's meetings with the higher members of the council. During a "character exposition" moment, Eriol reveals that the request that the Association made to Kaito the most was to use time magic for their benefit. This, well knowing the effects that time magic has on the caster. They had a young boy performing that dangerous magic, shaving off his own life span, while they continued undisturbed and unaffected.

Note that in all the flashbacks we saw of Kaito in the Association, we never saw him taking initiatives in their activities, but just merely following passively the orders he received. From his bored behavior we can see in volume 7 chapter 31, he wasn't particularly keen in attending their meetings either. Even the abomination the Association did on Akiho, he never took any part in it, he was merely informed at "fait accompli" (this might be harder to get for how they translated this in the ENG version, but in the flashback in Japanese the Association talks in past tense, as something that had already happened).

From all the hints and scenes we can see of young Kaito in the Association, up to the conversation he had with Lilie and the multiple warnings he gave her about their intentions, my idea is that Kaito wasn't aligning with their wicked morals and felt uncomfortable among them, that's why he strived to be kept alone as much as possible, but being the only adults he could cling to, and with an already crippled self-esteem, he didn't even have enough will to leave that place forever.

Until Akiho came into the picture, that is.

When both Kaito and Akiho were two little children, the Squid Clan requested to the Association to have their most powerful magician to "check up" little Akiho at a distance for any trace of magic power in her body.

This is the incident that basically started everything: Kaito said with honesty that the girl had no powers, "just like a blank book", with the hope that her Clan would expel her and let her live a normal life. Sadly, some years later, that same comment had been taken literally by Akiho's blood relatives and gave birth to a very sick plan for Akiho's purpose in the Clan.

Despite seeking his assistance due to his massive magic powers, the Association was at the same time very wary of Kaito. His unbothered and disinterested behavior might also be the reason why the Association and the Squid Clan didn't trust him and decided to engrave the "Seal of D" on him when he offered himself to escort Akiho in her travels around the world, unknowingly seeking for magic to write on her body (I'll talk about this whole matter in the next paragraph).

The "Seal of D" is a magic of "confinement" that works only on magicians with a title of "D". It's easy to imagine why this thing exists in the first place: magicians with such enormous magic powers are convenient but also pose a threat to the authority of the Association, especially considering how there's no sense of comradery and loyalty in this group of people, and they're ready to betray anyone at any moment. The "Seal of D" works as some kind of "trap" that is triggered by the undesired behavior of the magician (in this case, they had programmed it as "should the magician tamper with the magic artifact in any way, activate the Seal of D on him"). Young Kaito had no qualms in accepting to let them engrave it on himself, because at that time he already had a rampant self-loathing and probably the guilt of what he realized he had caused was already wrecking his mental state. They even had the nerve to ask him "Do you understand what it entails?", as if shaking the responsibility off themselves. Of course he didn't know. He didn't have a complete idea of what he would have to sacrifice, at that time.

Following Kaito's refusal to return Akiho to their abusers (roughly around 1 year prior the events of Clear Card), they excommunicated him officially from the Magic Association and started persecuting both of them. In volume 7, chapter 33, we saw one of those attempts at attacking them to take Akiho back, promptly repelled by Kaito in secret to not let Akiho notice anything. It is easy to guess there had been other attempts in the past. This is also very likely the reason why for Kaito it was absolutely vital to live in Eriol's ex-mansion once they arrived in Japan, as the house was naturally a perfect place to store and protect magic artifacts.

When Kaito exchanged the artifact implanted in Akiho's body with his own pocket watch, the Seal of D and everything that happened afterwards was triggered automatically, sealing Kaito away in a hidden dimension where time was destroyed, stripping him of his humanity and caging him in the form of a dragon, unable to talk, to move or use his magic. Any attempt to free him would trigger an endless stream of magic attacks, like Sakura and Syaoran had the displeasure to realize later.

One peculiar thing that I'd like to remark and that contributes to emphasize even more how despicable those magicians were, is that when Eriol started investigating to understand who Yuna D. Kaito was, with the help of the Li Clan he found out that the "official version" of why Kaito was excommunicated from the Association was that he had "lost" an important taboo artifact that shouldn't have been removed from its premises for no reason. Furthermore, rumors over rumors said he didn't "lose it", he actually ran away with it. All of this is of course a lie spread to make Kaito look like a delinquent who stole the magic artifact (Akiho), when in fact they were the ones willingly sending Akiho away. It is very likely they were the ones spreading this misinformation to both make Kaito look like a criminal but also to not lose face in front of the magic world.

Kaito's permanence in the Magic Association worsened exponentially an already precarious situation with his upbringing, exacerbating his low self-esteem, denying him a childhood where he could know the warmth and comfort of love, exploiting his magic powers at his own expense, while not meeting any resistance from him, reacting to this abuse with a concerning "apathy" as self-defense, for something he could not comprehend entirely yet, and so he could not effectively consent to it. It is a kind of "silent abuse", where they didn't use violence on him (at least not for what it was shown and not till he was still living with them), but still wrecked him on the inside in ways that are not visible to the eye, and it will probably take years and years to heal. Akiho alludes to those scars in volume 6, chapter 29, when she confides to Sakura her fear that Kaito might be suffering in silence from scars "invisible to the eye".

Because of this, his relationship with other people and the way he goes about things might appear particularly troublesome and hard to understand. He definitely doesn't react to things as someone with a healthy upbringing. His abuse and exploitation has been explicitly mentioned by Mokona sensei in a Twitter Space, so even if it's pretty evident once you carefully read the chapters of his backstory, it's confirmed even on the author side.

Akiho and the Most Ancient Magicians of Europe

Cosmos, whom we've known as "Akiho Shinomoto" in the story, was born into the clan of the Most Ancient Magicians of Europe as a result of the love and union between Lilie and her husband, both part of the same clan and respectively first and second strongest magicians in that family. It is immediately horrifying the realization, along the story, that Akiho's abusers are people of her own family, tied to her by blood.

But let's proceed in order.

As soon as the accident that killed Lilie and her husband happened, the Clan took care of their only surviving daughter.

Ever since the first panels of Akiho's backstory, the Clan members are shown having great expectations about what kind of magic she would develop, as everyone else in that family had done till that moment. When they heard about Lilie and her beloved's engagement, they were already fantasizing about what incredible powers their offspring would have. That's all they ever cared about. At the "ripe old age" of about 1-2 years, the baby girl was expected to show some signs of magic as soon as she started walking, but she had none. It is roughly in this period that they had Yuna D. Kaito, from the Magic Association, evaluate her at a distance. Even though the boy declared she had no trace of powers, they seemingly decided to wait and see.

But by the time the girl turned 6/7, when she was old enough to read books, still no fragment of magic appeared in her. That was, for the clan, something unacceptable. And the beginning of Akiho's tribulations.

It was in this moment that they started to compare her to Syaoran, of the Li Clan in Hong Kong, and the concern with her non-existent powers began to look more and more like an obsession. They actually started seeing her as a stain on their Clan's pride. Suddenly, the focus was all on how they could surpass the other rival Clan, and Akiho was isolated, left in the grip of loneliness. A magicless member of the family was a member who didn't even deserve being talked to. An interrogatory, at most. They didn't really care if the little girl wanted to socialize, if she wanted to play, if she was the only young person in that Clan, missing her parents who died so early on. All the questions Akiho stubbornly made them about her parents were sistematically ignored, save for one little detail that she was able to snatch from them, probably out of exhaustion: that both her parents loved mint chocolate. It was an apparently insignificant detail, which for Akiho became everything she knew about her parents, and the only "proof" she had of her connection to them. She was also denied any picture of mom and dad, probably deeming her unworthy of them.

In the short story n. 2, Akiho tells Kaito that her Clan denied her even plushies. Even if she asked for some, they would tell her "if you've got time to play, then you've got time to read". In this sense, it is a miracle that Momo managed to stay, via the guise of a plushie, by Akiho's side throughout her childhood.

The girl grew up, and the situation stayed the same, or rather, it worsened. The members of the Clan became more and more cruel, calling her “worthless”, “useless” in her face, in one scene they even doubted she could really be the daughter of her powerful parents. They kept making all kinds of attempts and experiments to see if she would develop any powers. As Akiho herself told Kaito in volume 13, chapter 60, she remembered how they'd repeat countless times how unfortunate it was that Lilie, a dreamseer, wasn't able to foresee her own demise, and that if all they would leave behind was such a worthless, magicless child, then they should've never let the magician and her husband meet. Basically, declaring in front of Akiho that it would have been better if she had never been born at all.

This was the moment where they completely went out of their mind and remembered Kaito's comment on her: if she was "like a blank book", they would make sure to turn her into one.

With the collaboration of the Magic Association, they executed a magic ritual to turn a human being into a magic artifact, engraving a magic tool inside Akiho's body (the infamous book that we will see in its entirety in volume 16, chapter 79. Note, this is DIFFERENT from the white Book of Time guarded by Momo that Akiho carries with her everywhere). We never saw entirely the scene of the crime, but the few flashbacks CLAMP depicted are horrifying enough: Akiho floated over an altar, seemingly tied to it by a chain made of pearls around her ankle. She was completely surrounded by members of the Clan and the Association, and we could even spot both the Clan's and Association's magic circles hovering over and under her. In a particular scene, we saw Sakura in Akiho's place, and she seemed to be suffering. Probably what Akiho herself went through during the real thing. After the successful completion of the procedure, it seems the magicians burned the book they took this taboo ritual from, as a way to have the exclusitivity of the artifact for themselves.

The ritual didn't come without a price though, even for those who executed it. The magicians discussed the toll that such a taboo ritual would take on them, but since their greed was stronger than anything else, they still considered it worth the loss. When the Association's higher members informed Kaito of the successful experiment (and bragged about how magnificent it was), they also mentioned the price they had to pay: several members of both the Clan and the Association lost some magic spells and rituals forever.

It is to be noted that Akiho doesn't seem to have any recollection of this ritual and what happened during it, nor she's ever aware that she carries a magic artifact in herself, so it's pretty much legit to assume they've put her to sleep throughout it. Or....the trauma caused her some memory loss.

Either way, from that moment onwards, Akiho was just considered "an artifact" created and owned by both the Clan and the Magic Association, for their own consumption. The plan was to make little Akiho travel the world to hoard all the magic she could absorb from several grimoires, as that was less risky (in their sick mind) than bringing all the grimoires to her. And in chapter 80, we saw the amount of grimoires that Akiho had unwittingly engraved on herself along the years.

As if this wasn’t horrifying enough, the spell hoarding all the grimoires progressively tried to crush her soul and conscience, until it would get destroyed completely. So when the artifact reached its limit, it would've been the death of Akiho as a human being. Only a shell of her would remain. And judging by what was said by Kaito in volume 8, chapter 35, they actually hoped for her to lose her consciousness completely, so they could make use of her more easily.

As we all know, that's when Kaito decided to step up and change the course of his and Akiho's lives forever, offering himself to accompany her in the travel they planned for her.

Just like in Kaito's case, rehashing Akiho’s past in the Clan is important to understand her personality and behavior fully. CLAMP, in the Clear Card manga, have portrayed the story of her past in a very peculiar way: it starts as any other fairytale, with light tones and cute designs. But as the story progresses, and the horror ensues, the tone of the tale changes, and so the drawing style too. It becomes serious, darker and “realistic” (as opposed to the initial cutesy style). What started as a possible generic fairytale, turned into a real nightmare.

Mokona sensei described Akiho as having "nerves of steel" in a Clamp Space, and that certainly helped the girl surviving her childhood in her Clan. Yet, certain things will simply wreck you up inside, willing or not. And in the flashback of volume 6, chapter 25, we could see Akiho struggling to comfort herself with the fantasy stories she would read to keep herself company. Despite wanting to enjoy them and smile, tears of loneliness still cut through her eyes. The mental abuse the Clan inflicted on Akiho showed its effects throughout the manga, with various moments where the girl's optimistic and cheerful nature would crack at the memory of what she had to endure while she lived with her relatives. Her apologetic behavior, constantly seeking for validation, is another symptom of that trauma. All of this, ignoring that her abuse didn't stop at mere verbal one. Because what they engraved into her with that ritual crosses any boundary and trespasses into physical abuse too. This is truly the most horrific part of Clear Card and it's no surprise that's been received by the fandom with criticism and concern while the serialization was going on.

Yet, I think the fact CLAMP wanted to introduce and depict the abuse these two magic groups perpetrated *in Cardcaptor Sakura*, of all stories, totally makes sense and in the next paragraph I will hopefully explain why.

How Sakura Was Affected By Them

Now that we have eviscerated both the Magic Association and the Squids Clan in every possible aspect, it's time to look at what CLAMP tried to depict through their presence in the story and what kind of role they have in the journey of self-understanding and growth for the main character Sakura Kinomoto. None of this is possible without taking in consideration all that I've explained above. ☝️

Truthfully, the Association + the Clan touched and affected (or we should say wrecked) Kaito and Akiho the most, directing their dangerous attentions towards Sakura only a couple of times. But they were very important for her growth too, since they represented the first "taste" of what awaits her as one of the most powerful magicians out there, and they led her to make the most important decision she's ever made till that moment.

After all, Eriol said it loud and clear. Powerful magicians are naturally drawn to Sakura, since she is a powerful magician herself. And Sakura was meant to meet all the magicians she encountered throughout her story.

The first point of "contact" with these two groups of criminals happened in volume 6, chapter 27, in the infamous scene of Fujitaka's library. The strong energy present in that place (capable to protect Clow Reed's book and the guardians) triggered the artifact inside Akiho, opening it (almost) completely. It was heartbreaking to watch Akiho push Sakura away with the last crumble of consciousness left in her, seemingly to protect her, before the Clan and the Association took control of her body through the artifact and started commenting on Sakura's powers. Several members of the two groups, both male and female voices, took turns in talking through Akiho, almost as if they possessed her. A scene that, if they'll decide to keep it in the anime adaptation, will be creepy at horror movie levels. Of course this is another one of those details that was completely lost in the English translation, as they didn't keep the difference in fonts that you can see in the Japanese one, hence you don't understand that it's not Akiho speaking, but most importantly there are several people speaking through her. I think what's most disturbing of this depiction is how it conveys perfectly how much they consider Akiho a property. A property they can exploit and literally manipulate and make use of as they please.

As soon as the Clan and the Association realized who Sakura was (till that moment she was very likely shielded by that protective spell that Eriol and Kaho applied on the girl, the same that Momo and Kaito had to see through to find her), they immediately tried to absorb her power into Akiho. That, as I've pointed out earlier on, would've instantly meant the death of Akiho's soul, as her "capacity" was almost full by the time she reached Tomoeda. This attempt will be foiled by Kaito through time rewind at his own expense, but the criminals will try again in volume 7, chapter 34, when Sakura used her magic in stopped time. This triggered Akiho's artifact again, and this time they successfully managed to trap Sakura into the big book that emerged beneath Akiho's feet (the same scene we saw afterwards in chapter 70, once the artifact passed to Kaito). Once she was inside the book implanted in Akiho, thanks to her intuitive powers Sakura was able to see a flashback of the moment when Akiho was turned into a magic artifact, living it (and suffering it) from Akiho's point of view. Even this attempt to absorb Sakura's power was foiled by Kaito once again, with a time rewind.

In chapter 46 Syaoran mentioned the existence of the Clan to Sakura after seeing their robe in her dream. Other than that, Sakura won't come in direct contact with them again till the end of the story (the attacks at the fake moon were triggered automatically and they didn't have a direct intervention from the Squids/Association), but I'm pretty sure that once she regained all the memories of the un-rewritten world (including the memories erased by the time-rewinds, as we can see in some scenes featured in the "film strips"), she had already pretty much connected all the dots, hence why she proposed to Kaito and Akiho to erase their existence from the memories "of those people".

At the moment of the climax in chapter 78/79, Sakura finds herself in a situation where she starts to grasp that behind Akiho, the real Akiho, and this guy she doesn't remember but who's Akiho's most important person, there are people who want to hurt them. She doesn't know much, just what Akiho told her in bits and pieces throughout the story, but that's already enough for her to come to a very important conclusion (and decision).

The conclusion that in front of straight-up cruelty, she can't compromise, she can't keep being the good little girl who tries to be everybody's friend. Cruelty is inexcusable in Sakura's eyes, as it should be. All the more if the ones being hurt are people who are important to her.

Sakura finally learns with her very own eyes that in this world there isn't only the love, protection and comfort she grew up in, but there's wickedness and evil too. That such cruelty isn't a "far away thing" but it can actually hurt people very, very close to her. Of course, CLAMP calibrated on the target audience the depictions of such cruelty and Sakura's involvement with it, never crossing certain lines. The culmination of this realization is Sakura's decision to erase the existence of her friends from their abusers' memories, saying "What I'm about to do is probably not right, but I can't be on everyone's side". I thought that was one of the most powerful, most empowering messages that CLAMP hammered in our brains with Clear Card's finale. Our Sakura isn't a perfect, spotless angel. Within reason, she will stain her moral record a little bit, if it's necessary to protect the people important to her.

And here it's the right moment to introduce the symbology of the Magic Association and the Clan in this story. This is strictly connected to why Sakura made that decision, and why CLAMP decided to not have Sakura confronting the magicians directly.

A Message of Hope Through Social Commentary

Long time ago I had a very interesting discussion with a Japanese CCS fan on Twitter. This fan was wondering why the two groups seemed so important, like the source of all the problems behind this arc, yet they kept being depicted with their cloaks and headpieces pulled up, effectively hiding their identities from the readers' eyes. And the fan had found a very valid reason for it.

One of Ohkawa's private Twitter Spaces pretty much confirmed it for me, later on. Back then the topic was "prejudice" and chatting away, she ended up discussing a bit about CCS and particularly about Kaito's behavior in the chapters that were being serialized at the time. Her message between the lines was clearly "I know you think of him in a certain way right now, but don't let your better judgement be consumed by prejudice. When this story will be over, try to reconsider his behavior". The whole Space was centered on her effort in everyday's life to not let prejudice rule her decisions and assessment of situations.

With Clear Card's story over, I can finally attest that it truly was a story where CLAMP constantly tested our prejudices, time and time again. Not only with Kaito, but with Syaoran and other characters too. And the Japanese fan I was mentioning above explained that in their idea, the reason why CLAMP kept the Squids and Association's faces hidden the whole time was to prevent us from applying a prejudice over them too.

Their appearances don't matter. They can become distracting. This story isn't about them. It doesn't matter what skin color they have, if they're tall or short, if their hair is blonde or dark. We barely know they are located in England, we don't even have a name to call them with. Inside this story, all we need to know about them and focus on are their intentions and actions. Their actions are what define them and what we should be judging them for.

And that's when I realized the "no faces" approach also allowed for CLAMP to turn these two groups of people into a symbolic representation of abusive systems. Thanks to the fact that they're faceless, the readers can literally see in them whatever they can relate to basing on their own experiences: abusive families, exploitative working environments, but also modern society on a larger scale. Never doubt for one moment that CLAMP aren't still doing social commentary in their latest works, even after all these years.

Particularly, in this story Akiho's family is "just" a magic clan, but on a metaphorical level they are the representation of abusive families that burden children with expectations that destroy them psychologically. Think about how strong this metaphor is: "the spell that's been activated on Akiho by her clan will suffocate her soul until it gets destroyed completely, making her easier to manipulate" which is like saying "the family loads the children with lots of expectations, so much that they end up losing their identity, becoming 'puppets' of their family members". Some time ago I've read of a disabled Japanese fan who saw themselves in Akiho's character. Her lack of powers and the way she was treated by her family reminded the fan of their own disability, and what they had to endure everyday due to society's expectations and ableism. They were grateful to CLAMP for introducing a character like Akiho, with a story like hers, and that Sakura and all the Tomoeda kids accepted her and loved her for who she was.

In this way, it becomes clear that the Squids and the Association are representative of systems and concepts that are just too big for a little child to fight against on their own. And that's indeed what happened in this story to Sakura (and Akiho) too. Those magicians are ruthless, organized in big groups and magically very strong. There's no way an eventual fight would've been on equal footing for her, no matter how strong she is. She's just a 13 years old girl, she shouldn't be taking on herself the burden to go against such an overwhelming danger.

Just like in real life, darkness will always accompany light and evil will always exist alongside good. It's unrealistic and unfair to expect that a child could be facing evil all on their own. Even if they are supported by other dear people, it's just impossible and utopian to hope to eliminate evil from existence like Sakura would've eliminated the Squids and the Association in an eventual magic fight. Sakura is the heroine of the story, yes, but she isn't magically nor mentally equipped for such a thing. CLAMP didn't want to lie to us and to their youngest readers. Some battles might be just too overwhelming to fight, and if there's ONE thing they hammered like crazy in this arc is that, no matter what you do, even if you're protecting someone you love, you always have to remember to keep yourself safe at the same time. Reckless heroism doesn't really benefit anyone. That was valid for Syaoran, for Kaito and for Sakura too, in the end.

That's why CLAMP, through Sakura's choice, decided to not let her have a direct confrontation with those two groups of criminals. Besides, let's be honest. There's no way she could've made them convincingly "change their mind" and pressured them to turn suddenly into good people with just a couple of idealistic phrases. It would've honestly looked like a joke and an insult to all the readers who had to endure abuses in their own lives. Oh, how nice, Sakura turned the Big Bad Evils into good people! ...Sure, but what about the pain, neglect and suffering that were inflicted on those who were just little children? Erased by wiping those people's slates clean?

Honestly, the only viable way that wouldn't have insulted the reader's intelligence would've been a straight-up violent fight, and that would've been not only jarring to see in CCS, where violence is certainly not how you solve problems, but also probably resulted in Sakura's death. Which of course, no one wanted to see.

So what do we do when we find ourselves in front of an evil too big to confront, too big to fight on our own? We just give up? We just succumb?

Nope. That's indeed why CLAMP have Sakura deciding to erase the memories as an ultimate, well calculated attempt to free Akiho and Kaito from the grasp of their abusers and at the same time stop the attacks that were threatening to kill all of them. Instead of focusing the resolution of the problem on the abusers, engaging in a fight with them that would've probably worsened the situation, she decided to prioritize the people she loves and ensure their safety first and foremost. I believe CLAMP never wanted to make it all about Sakura vs. Evil Magicians in the finale. That's not the kind of story they wanted to tell. I believe their constant focus and concern in the finale was the marginalized, abused party and how Sakura could help them out from her "privileged" position of a girl blessed with love and protection from all sides. How she could make use of her gifts (both her magic power but also her safety network of people she loves and who love her in return) to do good. Real, effective good.

So, summarizing all the above: by not showing any of the Squids/Association's faces or names, CLAMP successfully conveyed the idea that in the climax Sakura didn't judge and repelled individuals, but rather, the systems they were representing. Sakura didn't oppose "Mark, blue eyes and dark hair" "Elizabeth, green eyes and blonde hair" but actually their systems AND their actions, the atrocities they committed. And what I appreciated is that she didn't need for Akiho to tell her every single thing about her past in order to make her decision, because that's something for Akiho to disclose IF and WHEN she'll feel ready to. She just needed to hear and concretely see that her friends were being literally hunted, and let herself be guided by her affection for Akiho. Sakura did all of this prioritizing her abused friends, the oppressed minority (here it comes out again the topic of minorities so dear and precious to the CCS franchise) while ALSO protecting herself, by not engaging in any dangerous fight with those horrible people.

CLAMP's message for all those children (and even adults) who are suffering for situations that are just too big to defeat on their own, is to first and foremost figure out how to break away from the abusive environment. Run away (like Kaito did), cut ties (like Sakura helped to do), find help so that the poison can't reach you and bring you down again. You have to look for help first and foremost, but also find in yourself the will to be helped.

Akiho and Kaito received help from Sakura, but they also wanted to be helped by her (that's the part where Sakura asked them for their consent on the memory-erasing spell not one, but THREE times). And that's pivotal. The two things are interconnected and salvation isn't possible if you don't genuinely find in yourself the will to be saved.

Once you can break away from the source of abuse, you can start again. You can take control of your life once again, lick your wounds, heal, move on and find happiness again. That's the concept of "we won't go back, we'll go on" that echoed loud and clear in Sakura's words during the finale.

I think the wish that inspired CLAMP while they were writing Clear Card's story is that any of their readers who are stuck in suffering can hopefully find their own support system.

Though the "Clans" or "Magic Associations" will keep existing out there, we don't have to face them alone. Our loved ones can help us getting out of that toxic environment and never look back.

[cher-rei]

afterglow- pt 10 [ T.A.A ]

pairings: trent alexander arnold x fem!reader

summary: young and aspiring marketing and business major jamie carter (you) is privileged with working alongside the liverpool marketing and public relations team while also getting entangled with their star player and right back, trent alexander arnold.

genre(s): friends to lovers, fluff, slowish?? burn

[w.c: 5.6k] [part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5] [part 6] [part 7] [paet 8] [part 9] [part 11] [part 12]

notes: another reallllllyyy lengthy chapter

it was still 0-0 at half time despite the amount of action that has taken place. arsenal had 13 shots on target but none of them hit the back of the net which was insane. and you guys a good few opportunities as well but none of them were good enough unfortunately.

so as the half-time whistle blew, jurgen was already halfway down the tunnel and darting for the dressing room as usual. you stood with your hands on your hips as you watched the boys come off the pitch, heaving and frustrated. you pat jarrel lightly on the shoulder and shot him a small smile.

"are you okay bud?"

he let out a breath and nodded, accounting for the small fall on his ankle earlier. it had you worried but he managed to get up again and played on without any issues.

when everyone was finally in for the break, you gestured to clara that you were heading up to the booth to check on the media team who were handling the team's social platforms. just as you entered the corridor, your phone buzzed in your pocket, and funny enough, it was from laura— one of the team members in charge of monitoring the media feedback.

"yep, I'm on my way," you answered and continued up the flight of stairs, ending the call soon after as you entered the room where the team's staff was set up.

"feedback is looking great," laura said and spun around in her chair to look at you, her hand gesturing to her laptop screen that had the twitter feed open.

you leant over her and scanned through the hashtags. it was better than you expected, but unfortunately for arsenal it was the opposite. but a part of you couldn't help but be slightly rejoiced, and it definitely had to do with the fact that michael and kelly were here.

when you made eye contact with him earlier you tried your best not to show any reaction despite the bitter taste on your tongue. you wondered if he knew that you were going to be here, and if he came just to spite you. but you pushed those thoughts aside, and tried to focus on literally anything else.

your main issue at the moment— trent coming over to your apartment. that didn't seem to calm your mind either, instead, it filled you with more anxiety because you didn't know what you two were going to do.

clara suggested that you watch a movie and chill, and though it seemed like a great idea you didn't know which movie to watch. what if your taste in movies was completely different to his? heck, what if he didn't watch movies at all??

the anxiety settled in your stomach and you needed fresh air. "thanks for the updates laura. do me a favour and get an idea of who they're interviewing after the match besides trent."

laura gave you a thumbs up. "yes ma'am." and you were off again, just in time for the second half to begin. you were practically rushing through the corridors, funny enough to meet both teams lining up halfway, chatting among themselves.

you were greeted with a few polite "hello"s and waves from the home side to which you returned, as opposed to the visitors of today's match who were yelling at you for completely different reasons.

"jamie!" your attention was caught midway by curtis and as much as you wanted to leave him hanging just for the fun of it, you gave in.

"hello to you too," you greeted sarcastically and he faked a laugh.

"I need your help with the interviews. not today, I can't answer those questions today," he pleaded desperately and you nodded, telling him that you were already on it.

just as you were about to leave again, you were pulled back by someone else. only this time, you didn't mind. you happily obliged and turned to look at trent, struggling to breathe a bit. you've told clara this before, but him in the purple away kit had you on your knees.

maybe it was the lighting, but he looked breathtaking.

he smiled at you softly. "are you okay?" he asked loud enough so that only you could hear. the question was strange but you nodded regardless, and asked why he was wondering.

"you kept on looking over your shoulder," he said and your stomach dropped. "and you looked stressed."

there was a genuine look in his eyes and you wanted to tell him everything, mentally cursing yourself for feeling this vulnerable with someone who probably couldn't care less. but you swallowed your pride and gave him some explanation.

"michael's here," you whispered. trent was taken back by your answer and suddenly he stood up straight with his eyes wide in shock.

"he's here now? is he alone?"

you tried to shush trent but that got the rest of the team's attention, and if it was one thing that you knew then it was that they were one nosy group of men. trent flashed an apologetic smile as the others leant over to hear what you were talking about.

"who's here?" dom asked with a cheeky grin and trent nudged his arm, only for a few more questions to be thrown into the air in the middle of the tunnel with seconds until the second half began.

you managed to break free from the huddle, and apologised despite their pleas for an answer. "you guys should be focusing on the match you know? good luck!"

the group of men watched as you left, annoyed groans leaving their mouths as they got ready to leave, only to earn them a few very confused looks from the arsenal squad who watched the entire interaction.

joe took the liberty and chucked awkwardly. "we love her around here."

harvey was quick to interject, "who's we?"

"how has no one scored yet?" it's jota who spoke up at the 50' minute, reflecting everyone else's thoughts as they watched from the side. the ball would just not go in. no matter how well the passes were made, no matter how far into the penalty box they were— the ball was in a mood today.

it's not long after his comment that jurgen told jota to start warming up, and the squad member happily obliged with a muffled "finally" that made you and clara laugh.

not much happened after that, other than even more frustration and missed opportunities to score for both sides. everyone began to grow agitated, and you couldn't blame them. you got up from your seat for a bit, just to loosen up some tension.

jurgen stood just centimetres from the touchline as usual, his arms crossed with a snarky grin on his face. he waved you over, and you knew what was coming. if there was one thing that this man could do, then it was complain and rant. but you didn't mind, because you just so happened to be a professional in both of those departments.

he went on for a bit and you agreed with him, and suggested that maybe some changes would do good. just to flip the dynamic a bit, seeing as they were getting nowhere. jurgen nodded, looking down at his watch now that arteta was making his substitutions.

funny enough harvey had just gotten booked for dissent, and that pretty much summed up everyone's frustration. you felt a light pat on your shoulder. "get the kids ready for harvey and curtis."

you left without any hesitation while jurgen went over to talk to pep about something. there was a smile on your face as you called on conor and bobby who were watching the match eagerly, their eyes lighting up in disbelief when you told them to warm up.

the board went up and you wished them luck but there was a sly smirk on your face as harvey and curtis came to sit down. "calm down tiny." harvey stopped to look at you with a hardened expression. "I can see the fumes coming from your ears."

the rest of the bench found your comment quite funny but that prompted harvey to throw his water bottle at you, but suddenly you jolted in your seat at the roaring sound of the away fans. in frantic you turned to the pitch, only to see that arsenal scored an own goal thanks to trent's free kick.

the stadium was alive again, the supporters began to sing and chant again and you were filled with hope that arsenal wouldn't equalise. 88' minute rolled around and you were sitting back in your seat, chatting with clara while your eyes subconsciously followed trent until you caught something.

not sure if you were being paranoid or not you leant forward in your seat to get a look. he did have a fall a few minutes earlier and even got booked for the tackle but it didn't seem that serious. "he's limping."

"who? trent?" clara asked, slightly confused but you remained silent. you watched as he went behind the goal line to grab the ball for a throw in, a slight hop in his step that had him scrunching his face in pain.

nobody else noticed the way that he bit his jersey to contain the pain, the captains armband holding much weight for him at that moment but he carried on. you made an appeal to pep, bringing his attention to the right back who was clearly not okay.

it was rolling into the 4 minutes of added time but you were extremely uneasy. yeah sure you had feelings for him and you were aware of them, but this amount of worry was a little weird. there was seconds left on the clock and lucho managed to score the winner, but you weren't able to rejoice.

the full-time whistle finally blew and the players stood on the pitch for a bit as usual but the minute to saw trent alone, you waved him over and walked with him to the dressing room.

"a normal person would've asked for help if they felt that they were hurt you know?" you said and hooked your arm into his for stability, just in case.

trent let out a scoff, fighting back the pain shooting through his leg. "there was 5 minutes left so it didn't matter. and," he looked pat the captain's armband. "I had a role to play."

there wasn't any point in arguing with him, so you just rolled your eyes. "okay, captain fantastic."

when you got to the dressing room, he sat down with a heaved sigh and just in time, the medics arrived. they couldn't do much at that moment but it was bad enough that he had a physio assessment the following day. the medics left shortly after, and you stood in the middle of the dressing room with a look of pure fear.

a smile tugged at trent's lips as he watched you, not being able to help that he found your concern for him endearing. "you're more stressed out than I am. and I'm the one that's injured."

that didn't help you at all. just the mention of an injury made you upset. there was a moment of silence before he spoke up again, leaning his head back onto the locker. "so what are we doing tomorrow?"

we??

you shook your head at the question. "no there's no we. there's only you, who's going to go home and rest because you need it."

"I can just rest at your house though?" he shrugged his shoulders, clearly not understanding the depth of the situation and his potential injury.

you seriously tried to fight him off, urging him to go home and rest, and that you'd pick up your hangout another time. unfortunately for you, this man was stubborn beyond comprehension. he would not back down without a fight and insisted that he needed the distraction anyway.

when you finally gave in, he was more than happy, which left you slightly annoyed. but at least that meant that he actually enjoyed your company so it was a win win situation... kind of.

when you were done wrapping up your work and bidding everyone goodbye, you took a stroll to your car with clara, who was conveniently parked next to you. of course, the first thing she asked about was if trent was still coming over, to which you nodded with an eye roll.

it was safe to say that she was more excited about tomorrow than you were. at least you had some time to prepare because trent still had to go home and freshen up. you offered to drive him but he said that his brother would probably drop him off since he couldn't drive.

all of that was extremely convenient, but there was still a small amount of fight in you that told him to cancel and rest at home. which didn't make a difference at all, but there was no harm in trying.

"yeah and then we're going to..."

clara trailed off with her sentence, her lips parting at the sight in front of your car. your breath hitched at the sight of michael with his hands in his pockets, his attention focused on the floor.

shit.

kelly was nowhere to be seen so you assumed that he told her to wait in the car or something. there wasn't much you could do since he was in front of your car, so you took the last few steps and he lifted his head to look at you.

he straightened his posture and took a quick glance at clara who was staring daggers at him which made him visibly uncomfortable. you pursed your lips to stop a laugh from escaping and gave a light squeeze to clara's hand, indicating that you'd be okay.

she wasn't too keen on leaving at first and pulled you in for a quick hug. "call me when you get to the hotel okay? drive safe."

"you too, angel." you waved her off, watching as she safely excited the parking lot.

the second she was out of sight, michael cleared his throat and took the liberty of taking a step closer. you swallowed the lump in your throat and tilted your head at him, urging for him to speak.

he licked his lips and cleared his throat. "this brings back memories, how ironic." there was an awkward smile on his face and it took a moment for you to realise that he was talking about your outfit.

you looked down at your liverpool jersey and back to his arsenal jersey with a bitter taste in your mouth. nothing came from it though, and you stayed silent. you didn't see any reason for you to respond, having more important things to do.

"I uh..." michael rubbed the nape of his neck. "I wanted to say hi since it's been a while. how are you?"

is he being serious right now?

the chill of the evening air was starting to pick up, a few goosebumps rising on your arms. "I'm great." you crossed your arms for some warmth. "how are you--" your nose scrunched, an irritated smile tugging at your lips. "--and kelly?"

a flash of hurt struck across his face and you relished in it. what gave him the nerve to talk to you after everything? that was the question plaguing your mind at the moment, you weren't even mad— you were just really irritated.

it took him a moment to come back from that but he simply nodded. "we're okay. I don't think she knows you're here by the way an--"

you sighed and checked your watch for the time. "yeah, let's keep it that way." it was nearly 9 and you had to get home. "michael, can we please speed this up, I need to leave."

"oh?"

you narrowed your eyes at his answer and it was clear to him that he wasn't going to get the light of day, definitely not from you. "I mean, yeah, sure," he hurriedly corrected himself, putting out his hand but quickly retracing it.

he noticed that you were growing impatient, and checked over his shoulder for a moment. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry jamie."

you were barely listening, and instead began fishing for your car keys from your handbag, not wasting a second to move him out of the way and unlock the door. "aw, good for you buddy."

your answer caught him off guard. this wasn't how this interaction was supposed to go apparently but you couldn't care less. it was water under the bridge and you didn't have the energy to worry about it, but clearly he thought otherwise.

just as you were about to get into the driver's seat, michael put his hand on the door to stop you. your eyes shut in annoyance, and you had no choice but to look at him and the pitiful look on his face.

"michael, what do you want from me?" you asked, the anger slipping out in your tone. "it's been a year, we've both moved on and there's nothing we can do. so why are you talking to me right now, please enlighten me?" there was some mock in your voice because the situation was genuinely amusing.

"I'm here to apologise, and you're not listening to me," he answered in offence but you only rolled your eyes.

"I don't need an apology." you moved his hand away from the door. "I need to get to the hotel because my bus leaves in 40 minutes."

"jamie!" he raised his voice this time but you weren't fazed, only reflecting his energy.

"what michael!?"

he ran a hand through hid hair in frustration. "I'm trying to be decent and set things straight and you're acting childish."

"no, what you're being," you dropped your bag in the passenger seat and glared at him. "is an inconvenience. I don't want you to apologise because you were supposed to do that before I fucking left london."

of course, his apology wouldn't have made a difference back then and you still would've left but at least it would've been something. but you moved on, you got your life together and buried that part of you.

the emptiness of the parking lot echoed its silence as you stared at each other. your eyes filled with hatred and his with something you couldn't care less about. the moment was thankfully interrupted by the sound of a woman calling his name, and for the first time in a while you couldn't have been happier to see kelly.

"babe, hurry up we need to get home."

a smile crept to your face and you waved to kelly who was approaching, watching as she stopped dead in her tracks. "your girlfriend is calling you and I need to leave."

you shut the car door in his face and drove without looking back. this was your last goodbye to whatever part of you was left in london and you intended to keep it there.

when you got home a little after 12, you didn't say a word. even on the bus you sat in silence with clara holding your hand the entire ride. her understanding was seriously appreciated and that was all you needed, some emotional support.

sure, you didn't sleep as well as you usually would but when you woke up you were back to normal. the surprise encounter was water under the bridge once again and you had no reason to think about it. for your off day however, there wasn't much to do except having trent over.

he had his physio assessment earlier that day so he'd be over after 3 which gave you enough time to prepare. there wasn't much on his injury yet but it was practically confirmed that he'd be missing his match against fulham on tuesday, which he was immensely upset about of course.

so that was your plan today. to help him relax and distract him from the setback. since he couldn't walk, you set up a few things you could do at your apartment which was ideally your ideal idea of a date. not that this was a date! it was just a friendly hangout and nothing more.

anyway, you'd start the afternoon with an icebreaker. not just any icebreaker though, no you'd be building a puzzle. although it might've seemed strange, but just as you told clara, "trust the process." your friend wasn't too convinced by your answer but she went with it nonetheless.

after that, you'd have a few movies lined up. (5 of your best recommendations) after the movie and lunch you'd head to the kitchen for a little baking activity. and to wrap the evening up, you'd play a few games and just hang out.

it was perfect.

and by the time you were done with most of the setup, there was still enough time for you to make a quick stop. it was the christmas present that you'd gotten for yourself a while ago, but you were only allowed to pick it up today.

the drive to the shelter was a quick one, your excitement and eagerness for the long-awaited present pumping your adrenaline. you don't even remember properly stopping the car before you were at the reception and signing in.

you were led to a room on the far end of the building, where a litter of puppies were happily wandering and playing with each other. your heart nearly exploded in your chest, and you carefully stepped into the pen to tend to them.

"unfortunately their mum didn't make it, so I'm glad that we're able to find at least one of these babies a home," the employee who helped you said with a lopsided smile.

they were the most previous litter of golden retrievers you'd ever seen, and you couldn't have been more grateful that your complex allowed pets.

in no time you chose one of the pups, and were at the reception once again to finish up some paperwork. she fit perfectly in your arms and not to be emotional but you felt like crying.

everything was already back at your apartment— her toys, her food and water bowl and her bed. it was just a matter of finally welcoming her home, which wasn't much of a problem.

"come here bubba, " you called with a smile as you sat on your living room carpet. the golden retriever was a but hesitant sr first, tilting her head to the side before slowly approaching you until she took refuge in your lap.

your heart swelled in your chest and you pet her gently and took a picture for your instagram story.

spamjam._. added to their story

it wasn't long after you uploaded your story that your doorbell rang. honey, who wasn't familiar with the sound jumped up in fright which caused you to laugh. you picked her up, cradled her in your arms and opened the door.

on the other side, stood trent with his hands in his pockets. he flashed a smile, one that had your breath hitching but you managed to compose yourself and let him in.

"and who's this angel?" he asked and bent down to look at honey, who was more than eager to accept his ruffling of her fur.

you watched with a smile as he interacted with honey, taking her in his arms and baby-talking her. it was genuinely the most heartwarming experience, seeing him be so gentle and bashful with your puppy.

"this is my baby and the new addition to my family," you answered and sat beside him on your couch enough space between the two of you for the puppy. "she's a little christmas present from myself."

"well she's absolutely gorgeous," trent complimented and kissed the side of her head. he lifted honey in the air to get a better look and took a quick glance at you, the smile on his face not faltering. "you definitely take after your mother."

your heart stopped for a moment, unsure if you heard him correctly or if you misunderstood what he said. when he saw how you froze trent was quick to interject with a teasing scoff. "I'm sure you're used to compliments by now. unless mine just make you flustered?" his eyebrows raised with a cheeky grin.

all you did was roll your eyes to hide the fact that you were flustered. by now it was obvious that he knew that you had feelings for him, and some part of you felt that he felt the same way. so if this hangout went well, then you were on the right track.

after a few more minutes of chatting and getting comfortable, you started the first part of your dat-- hangout! the puzzle wasn't anything too crazy, just a picture of some aesthetic scenery. you'd been meaning to put it together for a while now, but there was never time.

you set it down on the coffee table along with some snacks. both you and trent took your seats on the carpet, side by side, but you made sure that he was comfortable. he had a knee brace on at the moment and was still limping.

the conversation between the two of you picked up quicker than before, there was no tension in the air or the need to hold back on saying something. everything just felt so free and light. there wasn't a moment where either of you wasn't laughing or bickering with each other, and that made it all the more fun.

the conversation sprung from topic to topic with ease. at some point it got to your family dynamics and the relationships between your parents and your siblings. you asked about how it felt to be the middle child, and why he was the only one of his two brothers that pursued his football career.

"I mean tyler is my manager now so he's still kind of in it, does that make sense?" he asked, more to himself than you and you nodded. "and marcel..." he paused and looked up for a moment, not knowing what to say. "he's just marcel. you know how younger siblings are."

a scoff left your lips as you scavenged across the array of puzzle pieces in front of you until you found one that might fit. "I am the younger sibling. unless alex counts then all the knowledge I have is from the word of mouth."

"yeah, you're privileged. younger siblings are such a pain."

it took him a while to realise what he said, and by the time he turned to apologise, you were already glaring at him. in an attempt to fix the situation, he held his hands up in surrender. "every younger sibling except you of course."

your eyebrows quirked. "uh huh? and why's that?"

trent's lips tugged up and he eased back down at the sound of your teasing tone. his eyes flickered between your lips and your eyes for a moment, but not long enough for you to realise. "because you're just the sweetest person ever. genuinely such a pleasure to be around, with all your screaming and laughing--" he put his hand on your shoulder. "--and not to mention your constant complaining."

your lips parted at the way he was mocking you. "oh, that's how it is?" you slapped his hand from your shoulder but he continued to ramble on jokingly, despite your protest.

"but I'd listen to you complain and scream any day, trust me."

your nose scrunched at his answer. "and the laughing?"

it felt like the space between the two of you had decreased a significant amount because your knee was touching his thigh. his doe eyes caught yours for a moment and you reminded yourself not to do anything rash.

"it's like music to my ears," trent answered in a mote gentle tone. and once again, you couldn't tell if he was being serious or not.

the moment was interrupted by honey barking, probably because she was hungry. you cleared your throat and got up to tend to your puppy and trent's eyes remained fixed on every movement. the way that you gently cradled honey and spoke to her, the way that you tucked a strand of her behind your ear— the strand that always seemed to bother you.

it was all so miniscule but he couldn't look away or ignore it. not when there was a reoccurring tightening in his chest whenever you were near him.

after more than an hour, you had finished about half of the puzzle and it was time to eat and watch one of the movies you'd picked out. now usually you'd just order a pizza or some sushi, but for some reason you felt like cooking for the occasion.

you plated the fettuccine alfredo and got your drinks out. it wasn't too dark outside yet so you left the lights on and got comfortable on the couch with the remote in your hand.

"okay, so I have no idea what you're into," you sighed truthfully and held up your finger. "but I have movies that everyone should like."

"and if I don't like them?"

you shrugged at his answer. "then consider our friendship over."

"jamie, that's just unfair," trent protested and turned to look at you but you weren't paying attention and settled on a movie.

you sat back and got comfortable, waiting for the movie to start. the familiar soundtrack sounded through the living room which caused trent to stop eating immediately.

"are we watching karate kid?"

when you looked at him you had to bite back a laugh and simply nodded. "It's one of my favourite movies. play it at funeral."

it was about 15 minutes into the movie when you both finished eating, and you were quick to take your dishes in while trent went to the bathroom. you washed the two plates and left them on the drying rack and quickly got back to the lounge.

trent was already huddled comfortably beneath the blanket with his legs spread out in front of him on his side of the L-shaped couch. the lights we all off now except for the t.v, and you couldn't explain a more relaxing feeling.

"come here, my angel," you said sweetly and placed honey on your lap.

after a bit, you felt the need to stretch your legs since they had been crossed for so long. the only issue was that trent was there, and if you put your legs on the couch, it would stretch over his lap.

for a few minutes, you mentally debated with yourself and endured the sharp pains shooting through your calves. trent must've noticed, you're not sure how, but he just did.

he caught your attention by tapping his lap lightly, giving you a look that said "I can see that you're dying". you declined of course and as usual, it was a back-and-forth about your comfortabity.

he won though. but it was by force. he literally leant over and grabbed your legs and put them across his lap, shushing you whenever you wanted to say something.

it was difficult to pay attention to the movie, seeing as all you could concentrate on was the feeling of his fingers trailing along your shins. you felt yourself drifting off to sleep at how comfortable you were, but you fought it off.

instead, you both basked in the atmosphere and the other's company. even if it was silent for most of the movie, the presence of each other made a significant difference. even if your feelings for each other were up in the air at the moment, something was bound to happen.

"we should do this more often."

you perked up at his sudden retort, and unbeknownst smile crept onto your lips. "just say the word and I'll work something out."

there was a beat of silence.

"word."

you rolled your eyes with a hearty laugh. "oh wow, you're hilarious."

the evening continued and came to an end quicker than you liked. you could hear in trent's voice that he wasn't too happy about it either, glaring at the text from his brother saying that he was outside.

you didn't know how to say goodbye. were you supposed to just wave? were you on hugging terms? like you said earlier, it was all up in the air. just floating around.

you stood awkwardly at the front door and bid him goodbye. and just when you expected him to then around and leave, he pulled you in for a hug and placed a gentle but quick kiss on your cheek.

and when you finally processed it. he was gone, leaving you alone in your doorway with a pounding heart and a feeling of slight emptiness.

trentarnold66

liked by liverpoolfc and 4 453 223 others

trentarnold66 best way to fix my leg 🥱 [tagged: spamjam._.]

view all comments below

spamjam._. your welcome 🙄

→ trentarnold66 I can hear you smiling

→ spamjam._. bro get a life [liked by trentarnold66]

user uhm what is going on in the house of commons???

user the math isn't mathing, but at the same time it is???

clarashaw someone stole my bitch 🥲 [liked by trentarnold66]

szoboszlaidominik 😟💔 [liked by trentarnold66]

judebellingham when my two worlds collide but I'm in another country 😃 [liked by trentarnold66]

→ spamjam._. tell jobe to change the netflix password back

→ jobebellingham I didn't change the password ?? 😭

→ spamjam._. @judebellingham kys.

→ judebellingham tehe 🤭

user WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THESE COMMENTS???

user this is the first time this man has posted in months and ya'll are worried about the comments 😭

user are they a thing??

→ user nah they're just friends, there's been rumours about trent and some other girl. iris I think?

[gyernon]

SYMPHONIC INSANITY || INANIMATE INSANITY AU

(actual deets below the read more)

hi guys I have no idea how to format this shit, I'm not new to tumblr but I've never actually thrown out my ideas for AUs into the wild. i'm a violinist and i'm using my experience being in some form of orchestra for half my life to write this yippee. alot of this au also draws from my experience being in my current community orchestra :]

inanimate insanity, except they're all in an symphony orchestra!

i literally came up with this yesterday, so things will probably change as time goes on. check back on this post for edits. however, i'm mostly confident with the assignments i've given everyone. deets below the cutoff.

SOME THINGS TO NOTE:

I like ships. I will tag them accordingly but just be aware that Toipad and Knifecase will probably be talked about when I post about this au

Everyone is fully humanized (including Meeple devices and bot)! There are no fantastical elements to this au.

I am confident on the assignment of instruments, minus the brass section lol. I saw a lot of people that played brass instruments respond to my post so if you guys have better suggestions, feel free to give your input on that. However, I am unlikely to change the string instrument assignments. I'm not even religious, but god came down and told me that Lightbulb is a violist.

With that, anything is bound to change because this au is still pretty new.

The events of Symphonic Insanity are not a one-to-one match with the events of II! However, there are parts of the au that do line up with events or character roles/arcs in the show.

I'm not sure yet what I'll do with this au, I'll probably draw art here and there and maybe put some writing on AO3.

ALSO I AM NOT A BAND KID. If I get anything wrong, please let me know!!

Also if you have questions, feel free to ask me! I love yapping about this au. Plus, it'd help me continue to flesh things out.

All posts about this au will be under the hashtag #Symphonic Insanity

MePhone is a conductor familiar with the music scene. He becomes the director of a small orchestra, finding local musicians willing to join. This initial group consists of the season 1 contestants.

They have a concert which draws more attention to the orchestra, and the new group of people that join are the season 2 contestants. Along with that, MePad and Toilet join in as conductors.

After another performance, more people are drawn to the orchestra and this last group of newcomers are the season 3 contestants.

In the beginning, MePhone's orchestra is tiny and he's kinda just handling everything by himself. After their first concert and the addition of Toilet and MePad (along with some others), Mephone now has a team to help him run everything. The orchestra gains attention and popularity overtime, which gets the attention of Steve Cobs.

Steve Cobs is Mephone's estranged father, for good reason (I also imagine Mephone is adopted in this au?). Cobs originally was a solo violinist when he was younger. In the present, he is an influential figure in the music world. Maybe a professor at some school or the head of a music association? A distinguished composer? Who knows, but he's definitely highly regarded.

The growing popularity of Mephone's orchestra would put him on Cobs' radar, chaos ensues... but that's for later.

The story I want to go for with Symphonic Insanity is that of growth. I think quite a few characters would have arcs as musicians that would match/relate to their arcs in the show. I realize writing this that the nice thing about this au is that nobody is competing against each other. At least, they shouldn't be. Instead, they are all working towards the same goal--to put on a good show and improve as musicians.

Everything I laid out above is the general idea of the au. Everything will probably get fleshed out with art or writing as time goes on. With that being said, here are the assigned instruments/roles for everybody:

NON-MUSICIANS

Conductors:

Mephone

Mepad

Toilet

Staff:

Cabby (Logistics)

The Floor (Finances)

Bow (Social Media Management)

Dough (Sound Tech, handles getting recordings and helps out with misc tasks. Also Dough does play the piano, but he just doesn't perform with the orchestra.)

MUSICIANS

Strings

Violin:

Silver Spoon

OJ

Test Tube

Pepper

Salt

Viola:

Clover

Paper

Lightbulb

Bot

Cello:

Soap

Paintbrush

Baseball (can also play Bass)

Bass:

Pickle

Woodwinds

Piccolo:

Balloon

Flute:

Suitcase

Marshmellow

Apple

Clarinet:

Taco

Tea Kettle

Oboe:

Goo

Bassoon:

Nickel

Brass

Trumpet:

Trophy

Knife (for some reason, I am tempted to give Knife Bass Clarinet)

Tuba:

Tissues

Bomb

Trombone:

Cheesy

French Horn:

Blueberry

Percussion

I usually see percussionists being able to play multiple instruments so the ones outside of Piano and Harp aren't strict assignments.

Piano:

Fan

Microphone

Harp:

Candle

Marimba:

Cherries

Timpani:

Lifering

Misc/Plays multiple instruments:

Yin Yang

Aaaand that's everything you need to know about Symphonic Insanity! At least for now. Like I said, art and writing will come in the future if I don't lose steam lol. I do have some posts planned already but I think this is a good start. I hope y'all like it :D

[blueikeproductions]

Oh I'm so glad to see someone else who thinks that Hashtag should have had cassettes! For a new transformers race, I feel like the first ones should be different from each other, a group of unique individuals. They're kids for now, but one day they'll be known as the first Terrans, they should all be memorable.

Like if we threw in medic servos being a thing, we could have the first Terran medic. Actually we don't even need that, we just need any one of the Terran kids wanting to heal instead of fight. It would still be relatable to a lot of children since not everyone wants to get in on the action.

The only thing I can think of right now are Twitch and Thrash being the first two, then JB being the first dinobot and Nightshade having an animal for an altmode. (Ignoring the fact that he scanned a statue and not an actual organic. Actually, I guess he could be the first scientist)

Hashtag having cassettes would be the thing that makes her stand out from her siblings, especially if the quintessons invade and she becomes similar to Soundwave, hacking into their databases and spying on them. (Probably not the best comparison, she'd need some sort of character arc before I can actually see that happening. Which could be what the cassettes are for: learning the responsibility that comes with adopting pets. And just imagine the cute companions she could get! Or little sibling figures, if they're like Rumble.)

EarthSpark is a frustrating experience with interesting ideas but lack of interest to make them work as you’d think they should.

A medic seems like an obvious choice to better explain Terranit biology and how it differs from Cybertronian born Transformer biology. You could transplant Medix into a Terran, with his RBA personality but his G1/RB body type.

It would also be a better use of Ratchet, as he could bond with Medix and together with their applied knowledge better understand the Terrans and Cyber Sleeves.

In fairness to Nightshade, Scanning an object related to an animal or vehicle is something older stuff did before. Galaxy Force in particular shows Transformers can Scan pictures of cars or animal statues to gain the data necessary to Transform. Beast Wars era Transformers can Scan fossils and recreate the animal to Transform into it like Megatron, Terrorsaur, and Dinobot. Jawbreaker doing that is likely a reference to this.

Still this goes back to the medic idea, where Medix realizes Terrans might have a more advanced Scanning system that allows them to better adapt than regular Transformers.

Also I feel like Blaster and/or Jazz would be a much better fit as mentor to Hashtag. Both are already enamored by Earth culture and Jazz mentored Sideswipe in RiD15, so it’s not unheard of.

I don’t trust the old writers to make Decepticons into mentors because as we’ve seen they don’t seem interested in picking Decepticons better suited for that, vs forcing the popular ones in the role. It’d be much more fitting to have a well meaning Decepticon that isn’t Starscream or Soundwave give bad advice that the Terrans have to struggle to figure out with the Maltos and Bee. Like say IDW Flatline was another medic that Medix mentored under, but his advice and skills are considered ghoulish by Ratchet, but Medix is able to hybridize Flatline and Ratchet’s skills into something that helps the Terrans and Autobots.

The pet analogy fits pretty well as the cassettes I had in mind would be based on CatDog and Reptar.

[lestcat-de-lioncourt]

They blocked me nearly 24 hours hours ago, but apparently, they're still ranting about me saying stop trying to control hashtags and stop degrading people's intelligence if they don't listen.. and relating it to me calling them r4cist somehow UM UM 😐 it was also just her, nobody else, even though she's saying others and myself (?? To gain validity?) It's unfortunate people experience that Internet hate, but this isn't comparable, as I was trying to actually stop someone degrading other fans with ableist comments.

They excused it with they basically can because they're disabled.

"As normal, the AMC IWTV fandom have been largely silent," she's been saying this whole time that section never shuts up. (I'll add, I am a part of the book, movies, and AMC series, not just the AMC series fandom, but that is already known on here anyway)

This large post is still going on a day and night after she blocked me, though, and speaks volumes where her mind is at.

Someone got told what they were doing wasn't actually okay, and threw a strop.

This is so extreme over being told to stop equating bullies to disabled people as an insult and calling the AMC IWTV fandom as being The Worst over that.

They really think it's so tragic, don't they?

Oh, and she doesn't even want to see show fanart unless she can fet1sh1se queer men like a weird cis man would only watch qorn to fet1sh1se the lesbians making out because only intaking art of that is satisfying and the non nsfw art is apparently worthless. Ew? So creepy.

[ananke-xiii]

ah yes, of course I have more to say. This time it's not about a specific comparison/trope, more about how angels are perceived by viewers (but also partly by writers, too, tbh).

anything about angels being ethereal and divine etc: I think sometimes the non-in-universe view warps what's canon when it comes to angels. For instance, the way we the audience commonly perceive angels sort of interferes with the in-universe depiction of said creatures. Like, maybe we see angels as ethereal, celestial, incomprehensible figures but in SPN they're anything but. We can very much understand their motives, their feelings and what their agenda is. It's totally not beyond human comprehension, as amatter of fact, it's very much human but it's also NOT human at the same time because angels don't have the same morality as humans do and their notion of "good" and "evil" is quite peculiar, if they even have one. This is also why the "halo and a harp" joke is thrown around quite a few times as a reminder that SPN angels are not "our" angels.

The same misrepresentation happens when it's about angels and love (and sex). It's pretty clear that in SPN (hashtag not all but many) angels are actually very, very, very much interested in sex and love. I'll concede that they tend to confuse obsession for love and that there's a lot of repression/suppression/sublimation/you name it going on in that department but, frankly, it's not something so inherently alien that humans can't relate to.

Anyhow, I don't think it's only the audience's fault, though, as I see SPN writers implicitly inserting their own personal view into the story as well. For example, the idea that Lucifer is the "primary agent of evil" in s14 after we've spent a whole season dealing with how God has traumatized and abused both his own sister and his own "son" and how said sister has, in return, abused and traumatized Lucifer doesn't exactly hold up. I mean, if there must be one primary agent of evil in SPN everything seemed to point to Chuck well before s14's big "reveal". Moreover, from their first appearance in S4 angels have perhaps wreaked havoc more than demons and other monsters combined. Lucifer is admittedly a big problem (among other things because he is an abuser and a general piece of shit) but he's not the only problem in paradise (lol).

Related to the first point, how Dean's in awe with Cas because he's a celestial being etc: this is something that I read in a lot of fics so it's just both my own personal taste and my fic preferences (I like when fics stick to canon as far as possible because I like to see how different minds might have developed a particular storyline) that differ from others and that's fine, to each their own. The thing is, I don't really see it. Maybe S3-4 Sam was more in awe with the idea of angels but after Lucifer I don't think the guy's particularly moved by them. As far as Dean's concerned, I actually see him hating on angels the most. Vampires can be okay, werewolves maybe, he's surprisingly okay with demons as well, but angels? He doesn't like them at all. And I mean this, this is actually interesting because out of all the creatures in the world he hates (and who have hurt him and his family) he ends up getting a best friend/consort who belongs to that particular flavor he just can't tolerate and who probably hurt him and his family the most ("Angels are just monsters with good PR"). As in: Dean finds Cas amazing because he's Cas, not because he's an angel but he IS an angel nevertheless and that alone causes some problems. It makes for a very interesting moral dilemma and an engaging angle to explore where a good chunk of their issues stems from.

[londonsfinestscientists]

Hello everyone!

As the start of September draws near (and the reveal of the calendar) I'd just like to take the time to answer some questions people have had/might have! If you have additional ones, please don't hesitate to send an ask!

'Is it only for artists?'

Nope! Lodgetember is for everyone! Artists, writers, crafters, musicians, cosplayers, just general ramblers- anything you can think to do, you can do it! As long as it relates to the lodger or prompt of that day! Want to just talk about how much you love a lodger on their day? Or info dump and give fun facts? You can do that! This isn't just limited to artists :3

'Can I only post things on the certain day?'

On the day and anytime after! Once the official post for a certain day comes out, it's free reign! So, say Helsby's day has already passed and you were unable to do something for him before or on the day, well, you're still free to do stuff for him any time after! Just use the specific tag for that day, and you're good to go!

We understand that people are busy and life can get in the way, and we just want everyone to have fun with this with minimal time restraints. Even once September has ended, feel free to keep posting things!

'When are the posts for each day coming out?'

We're going to aim for the daily posts to be uploaded around 9 am EST ( or 6 am PST, so about 20 minutes before TGS pages drop), and once they're up you can start posting your submission for that day!

'Can I make something in advance for a certain day?'

You're absolutely welcome to start drawing or writing something for a certain day before it comes out! Just hold off on posting it until that day has come or passed :3

'How will participant posting be done?'

Each day will have a specific hashtag (ie LodgetemberArcher, LodgetemberFlowers, LodgetemberShips), and then we'll have an overall tag of Lodgetember24 for everyone to use! So, overall tag, then specific day tag! This'll help keep submissions a bit more separate when we do this again next year!

Additionally, we will be reblogging things people create, so all daily lodger and prompt posts from us will be tagged with #daypost24 to help keep them separate and easier to find via searching!

Otherwise, keep an eye on the blog, because the Calendar will be revealed within the next few days! Kitty is working very hard to make sure it looks amazing, and we're very excited to reveal it!

-The Lodgetember Crew, Leon and Kitty

(Reblogs are always appreciated, spread the word folks!)