#rachel has mail!

[rlbbackup]

Hi Rach!

I'd like to ask something for the fic writer game:

😊 The fic that you’re the most proud of?

🪡 The scene you worked the hardest on in any fic?

🪜 Tell us a random fact about any fic!

Pretty please and thank you 😊

Whateversawesome! Thank you for the ask, dear 🥺♥️

😊

The fic I'm the most proud of... By a very close margin is probably Out of Routine. The fic came together really wonderfully and I still go back to read it from time to time. It was a joy to write and I felt such peace when I finally posted it (in a good way)!

A close second/third would be White Roses (because it's about my dear favorite assassin dad Matthew McMahon 🥺) and Beyond Sun and Moon (which was the start of my Myth Au anthology and was so much fun!)

🪡

A scene I've worked on the hardest in a fic... Would probably be the "He's fading 😭" scene from Fading Ink.

“Yor?” a voice called from the door, causing her to jump and clutched her wrist to her chest. Loid stood in the doorway, his blonde hair falling into his worried eyes as he watched her, one hand reaching towards her while the other hovered over his hip. It was an odd pose, but she didn’t really consider the implications. “What’s wrong? Are you alright?” She knew she should stay silent, claim that maybe she had a bad dream or that she had forgotten something important. Anything but the truth. He shouldn’t be burdened with this, not after he had lost his soulmate. But her emotions were running too high, her heart pounding in her chest so harshly it was practically screaming “No! NO! NO!” She needed someone to tell her she was seeing things. That Roland wasn’t disappearing. That he wasn’t leaving her. In the end, she broke down.

While it came together smoothly, I polished this scene quite a bit because of the emotion punch. I think it turned out pretty well!

🪜

Random fact about a fic:

The Fighting the Heart Series (Snake with Blue Eyes, We Never Knew, and Sleeping with the Telephone) all started because I had a deeply painful emotional realization last year. I mentioned in the Author note for We Never Knew that I had a bad day and wrote it to process and that's partially true. It was more of a bad week and I'm thankful that I wrote it and it's prequel/sequel. I love this series and am forever grateful for that horrible week and the joy that came from it.

[scoobydoodean]

"cas's only crime in season 6 was acting like a protagonist which is why he's punished for it bc dean controls the narrative of early seasons" is a take i've seen and im like. you mean chuck right. like. chuck is the guy who punished castiel constantly. chuck put the leviathans in purgatory. like i know dean is the pov character but like. he doesnt have that much narrative control

What if I said I think that take is insufferable hair brained nonsense that’s transparently motivated by a desire to ascribe a level of power and control to Dean that he simply has never and will never possess in order to villainize him for Cas’s mistakes because Cas simply making a choice that he knew was dangerous and could easily backfire on him and subsequently did is so distressing to deancrit casgirls that they can’t cope with it and have to do 5 rounds of olympic gymnastics inventing entire new worlds of Things That Did Not Happen to find a way to make it Dean’s fault that Cas got teen pregnant

[mzannthropy]

The better question would be what is NOT a bad take I've read/heard.

I think it will always be that one line in Guardian that said Sam Claflin's performance was dull and it was hard to believe he was the big rock star. Bc while there are many, many bad takes here on Tumblr, most of these are from kids who have no idea what a relationship even entails, they think two characters looking at each other and kemmystri means they are soulmates or whatever (when Sam jointed tiktok he made a video with Riley standing next to him where she said, welcome to tiktok and Sam said "toktik" and that was it, a user here giffed it and someone rb the gifs tagging with "spouse goals", that says everything), DJATS has, for some reason, acquired a very young fanbase and gen z is developmentally behind already bc of the pandemic, not their fault but so it is, so takes like "Camila and Billy divorce!" and "Eddie has the biggest 90s stepdad energy" are maddening, but understandable considering the circumstances. Forgive them for they do not know what they do, etc. It was worse seeing shit from official channels. But that review from Guardian really HURT. And mind you, this was after he received his Golden Globe nomination. I admit I've not felt the same about the paper, even though I still use it as my source for news, bc I don't know where else to go. So yeah, that would be it.

Daisy Jones and The Six fans, worst take you've read/heard?

Mine is: Eddie would be a good dad to Julia.

@mzannthropy @andreabaideas @jesstasticvoyage @emdure

[trans-axolotl]

US Harm Reduction Resources

continually updating, not a complete list. feel free to add on any resources you find helpful.

Free Safer Supplies:

Each organization will have different supplies, but generally, harm reduction orgs provide things like syringes, safer snorting + smoking kits, Narcan, condoms, lube, and wound care supplies. Each org has different policies for how to get supplies--some do deliveries, some have drop in centers, some only do one to one needle exchange, some are more flexible.

Next Distro: mail based syringe provider for certain states. Also mails free Narcan.

NASEN: national map of syringe providers

a lot of harm reduction collectives aren't going to have their information listed on big national websites--it's always worth searching "harm reduction in my area" and seeing what's around you. Even if you don't live in a big city, there might be a harm reduction organization in your state that can help you find someone closer to you. there's a lot of rad people doing underground work who want to be there to help you who aren't as easy to find online. If there's street medic collectives, mutual aid groups or groups like Food not Bombs in your area, you can ask people in them who might know where to find harm reduction services in your area!

Drug Users Unions:

Drug users unions are activist groups made for people who use drugs, by people who use drugs! Drug users unions do advocacy work to end criminalization, as well as providing vital community support. Many drug users unions are also inclusive of sex workers and work to decriminalize sex work as well. You can search for "drug users union" in your state.

Urban Survivors Union: National, has resources for creating drug users union

Chosen Few: Drug users union for Black drug users in DC

San Francisco Drug users union

Sex Work Advocacy Groups:

Organizations that do decrim advocacy and provide support for sex workers.

Sex Worker Outreach Project USA- National, has chapters in many states.

Black Sex Worker Collective

Sex Workers Project

How to Use Safely:

Guides, videos, toolkits for safer use!

Harm Reduction Coalition Resource Library

Getting Off Right: A Safety Manual for Injection Drug Users

Safer Crack Smoking

Safer Snorting

Safer Hormone Injection

Levels of Risk: Veins

Wound Care video w/ ASL

How to Use Fentanyl Test Strips

DanceSafe-testing kits, including reagent testing kits!

Erowid-shares experiences people have with different drugs, dosages, what things to expect

Bluelight- another forum for discussing experiences with drugs.

Drug Interactions Checker

Sex Work Resources:

Tricks of the Trade by L. Synn Stern: tips for street based sex work

A Quick and Dirty Sex Worker Safety Toolkit

Girls Do What they Have to Do To Survive by YWEP

Dis/Organizing: How We Build Collectives Beyond Institutions by Rachel Kuo & Lorelei Lee

Tryst Blog

Hotlines:

Never Use Alone: 877-696-1996. Overdose Prevention Hotline--Volunteers stay on the phone with you while you use and call emergency services if you overdose.

HIPS Hotline-​​​1 (800) 676-4477. Emotional support for drug users and sex workers. Does not work with cops.

feel free to add on more resources. love + lube <3

[princesssmars]

hazel falling in love with her childhood family friend is rotting my brain actually.

wc : 1383

sfw and slight nsfw? fem reader. thanking emma and rachel for making hazel rich because i love writing rich people stuff. i’d say maybe a good mix of cocky!hazel and loser!hazel because i love both so bad.

so for the first six years of her life she spends her winter holidays at a beautiful chalet in aspen with her parents, spending the days having snowball fights with her dad and falling asleep by the fireplace with her mom.

just like. she's rich, and her mom seems like one of thos wealthy women who loves to go on vacation to show off her perfect life and her perfect friends, so she or her husband definitely had a vacation house they'd visit every year.

when she turns seven they finally let her start skiing on the bunny slope, figuring it’s better than the little evil genius thing she does with the pots and the tiny snowmen. for a little kid she's pretty good at the sport already, if not taking the pizza and french fry tip a little too seriously.

about an hour in though, she's taking her umpteenth trip down the hill when a four foot mass slams into her right side, going at way above whatever speed limit was allowed in this area. she's lying flat on the ground, her right arm aching and her hound pounding and she's about ten seconds from crying when she looks over to see you, face planted in the snow and your shoulders shaking as you laugh like you're insane.

both sets of your parents rush over to make sure that the both of you are ok, and after you manage to calm down a bit and give hazel a very formal sounding apology that your mom whispered in your ear, you ask hazel if she can help you learn to control your speed on the slopes.

so after an hour of driving her crazy as she tries to teach you how to control your speed, your moms sit at a table watching over the both of you while sipping on their drinks and becoming fast friends.

ever since then, each winter was spent together. whether it was spending time in the snow, (hazel continued to excel at skiing, eventually giving up on trying to teach you), sharing stories of your normal lives over cups of cocoa at the cafe in the ski lodge, and helping each other decorate your christmas trees that you both had to beg your parents to buy.

whenever she went back home the days following new years, she’d count the days until she could see you again. to compensate for the time apart your parents let you send a horde of letters and e-mails to each other, letting the two of you share long phone calls on their phones when you were still to young to have your own.

hazels secret favorite hobby became photography. you couldn’t go twenty minutes without her shoving her polaroid camera in your face. she’ll tell you it’s because she’s using the vacation time to explore and try new things, and not that she constantly looks back over the photos of you with a big smile and a flush to her face.

(she also won’t mention that she’s addicted to the feeling she gets when pj and josie come over to her house and pj goes ona ten minute rant about how impossible it is that a girl that pretty could spend time with hazel without being insane. she ignores the insult because she’s hung up on the fact oh called you pretty.)

now i think hazel was pretty much always aware of the fact that she liked girls, if not because she realized that being obsessed with a certain scene from cruel intentions and always volunteering to play the husband when one of her friends wanted to play house on the playground was, in fact, not straight.

but at this point she’s maybe fifteen, she’s starting to grow into her looks and she’s definitely not ready to admit she might has a crush on you. at this point you both have had your own phones for a while, and she couldn’t even count the amount of times she had fallen asleep with you over facetime.

over the course of that year she often found herself wondering what your sexuality was. dumb ass stereotypes had her believing there was no way you, pretty and popular and preppy you could possibly be gay. and if you were a lesbian there was no chance that you'd like her back.

it was just made all the more confusing when once she had complained about how she hadn't had a girlfriend, let alone a first kiss yet and she was nearly halfway through high school with no experience for the hundredth time that you told her you had a solution for her on your next shared trip.

so you can imagine her shock when three days after landing in aspen you pull her into your room in your lodge and sit her on your bed before telling her you knew the perfect way to get more experience was to experiment with you.

"your first few times kissing and stuff can be pretty awkward, so why not just do it with me? i can show you the ropes and stuff.”

now on the outside she seemed normal, agreeing with an easy smile on her face, but on the inside her brain was playing the loudest tornado siren known to man.

it starts tame, the first few days consisting of you just telling her about your past experiences with girls and how to take it slow and everything. she knows its important but it honestly feels like torture. every time you talk to her she's wondering about what you'll do to start the physical lesson, if you'll set her down on her plush bed and softly touch her, or if you'll finally get fed up with the waiting like she is and press her and take her against a wall.

if you had known you would have prepared, but hazel was a freak in disguise and had decided that she was ready to take things into her own hands. you had invited her to sleep over at yours and drink hot cocoa while watching christmas movies and she had accepted in a heartbeat. what she didn't expect was for you to be wearing really cute pajamas, your legs covered in little hello kitty's and christmas trees with a plain red top and geez she could see you weren't wearing a bra.

hazel was a ticking time bomb, and when the two of you were sitting on the couch and she watched the reds and whites and golds dance across your face and you looked ovver at her with a 'what's wrong, hazie?' she exploded, smushing her lips onto yours in a mess of limbs and teeth.

she can feel your giggles in her mouth as she presses you down into the plush of the couch, her excited hands gripping your cheeks before brushing over your chest and gripping your waist, grinding her hips into yours and groaning when your giggle turned into high pitched moans.

it feels like she kisses you for hours before you reluctantly stop, your hands going to press into her shoulders when her head follows yours to resume making out. "hazel, as much as i'm enjoying this we were supposed to be taking this slowly. since when did you know how to...do that?"

"i dont know i just," she sighs as she tries to catch her breath, starting to get embarrassed about what a virginal mess she must look and be acting like. but you seem to like it, so she starts to not care all that much. "i just really want you. i wanna do everything with you."

you smile and hold her cheek in your hand, her eyes fluttering shut at your touch. you look at the gentle expression on her face, the slowing of her breath, and how her hips still occasionally stutter downward looking for yours, and you cant find it in your heart to deny her. you never really could.

"ok, hazie. we can do whatever you want-"

you're cut off before you can finish, the girl quickly rejoining your lips together and groping at your body once again.

when she gets back from vacation, hazel is less single, less unexperienced, and more than ready to throw this in pj's face.

i kinda lost inspo for this can you tell :,(((( but i thought the idea was cute so take this thing. bye.

[invisibleicewands]

Bringing revolution to Port Talbot - by Michael Sheen

On a recent February morning, I woke up to find I was wrong. Not a particularly uncommon experience in itself, but unusual to discover that on this occasion I was being publicly accused of it by the Secretary of State for Business and Trade. “Michael Sheen has said that ‘the people of Port Talbot have been let down’,” Kemi Badenoch wrote in the Daily Mail. “But he is wrong.”

It was a big day. I spent all of last year directing a three-part drama series for the BBC called The Way, which was to air that night. It begins in my hometown of Port Talbot, where a strike at the local steelworks becomes the spark that ignites a violent descent into national chaos. Clearly, Ms Badenoch had been given a sneak peek of the series before forming quite a strong opinion on it. But no: reading her article, Ms Badenoch admits that she hadn’t watched it at all. Why let a total lack of information prevent a full-throated denouncement, eh? Presumably, she also assumes that we managed to write, film and edit the entire series after Tata Steel announced the imminent loss of some 2,500 jobs at the steelworks mere weeks ago.

While the winds of change have only been blowing in one direction for many years, the events in our story were dreamed up some years ago and act as a fictional catalyst for all that follows. Surely even Tory ministers understand there is no VIP fast lane for making a TV series. This isn’t a PPE contract, after all…

Nothing to see here

After that episode aired, it occurred to me that such shenanigans in the right-wing press could have been about a couple of things. Since the ITV drama about the Post Office scandal, Mr Bates vs The Post Office, caused public outrage, I imagine the government has a new fear of the impact a TV show can have. A pre-emptive strike against a series it perceives to be criticising its actions around the steel industry must have seemed a useful tactic. And, having seen Breathtaking – based on Rachel Clarke’s memoir of how the Covid crisis unfolded in the NHS, which aired on ITV the same night as The Way – I wonder if her piece was an attempt to distract attention away from more dangerous territory.

It gave Ms Badenoch a chance to trot out her line about how the people of Port Talbot should be grateful for all that the government is doing to save the steel industry, not moaning about the impact job losses will have on their community. But the people of Port Talbot have been let down, no matter what Ms Badenoch wants us to think. Not by any single entity, but by years of neglect. That she immediately assumed my comments referred to her and her government tells its own story. In the words of a much older drama than mine: the lady doth protest too much, methinks.

Then and Nye

“This crisis is a privateering racket with your friends lining their pockets!” No, not an accusation against Boris Johnson, but something I currently say to Winston Churchill every night. We opened a new play called Nye at the National Theatre this week. I play Aneurin (“Nye”) Bevan, who attacks the prime minister for turning a wartime crisis into a money-making scheme for him and his cronies. It’s one of many moments in the play that seem to speak to past and present at the same time.

The entanglement of “now” and “then” is heightened by the fact that I am wearing pyjamas. Nye is lying unconscious in his hospital bed at the end of his life, and we follow him through a dream of his past. He wanders from childhood memories of overcoming his stutter in Tredegar library to his meteoric rise through local politics, to becoming the youngest member of Clement Attlee’s pioneering postwar cabinet. And, of course, as minister for health, his tumultuous birthing of the NHS on 5 July 1948. It’s an extraordinary, surprising and moving experience telling this story on stage each night. That shared space between actors and audience, where all is felt but unseen, crackles with electricity.

Once more, with feeling

It seems that exploring the motives of politicians, the uses and abuses of political power, and the quest for justice that saw the creation of the NHS taps into deep wells of emotion. Like the pockets of gas that miners feared within the coal seam, their release brings risk and reward. At a recent show, we had three instances of people needing to be helped out of the theatre, the final one forcing us to pause the show moments from its end. Thankfully, it was nothing more serious than someone fainting. But emotions are running high.

I’m more than happy to invite Ms Badenoch to a performance. But I realise, of course, there’s no guarantee she would make it to the end.

[steve0discusses]

S5 Part 51: Name Stuff

Hello, I did not die! Though don’t get me wrong, a mix of lingering long covid that gets me the flu every other week (I think I’ve had the flu well over 30 times last year, it’s been nuts) as well as other life obligations took me away from the blog for a bit. Which, I know, is a grand sweeping understatement for how long it's been.

But, what better balm than to discuss an old anime my bro and I finished like over a year ago and I’m only remembering distantly, like fondly revisiting high school. Except I’ll be real I did not go to my high school reunions. But revisit Yugioh? Of course I will!

In my absence, my computer died, and I had to move everything. A lot of files were corrupted, but mysteriously, not Yugioh. My computer destroyed hours and hours of client work and maybe hundreds of hours of personal project work and etc that I actually needed for a deadline, but it didn’t touch my Yugioh files because it knows better. lmao.

So while my memory is shady at best, last we left off, Yami had just been slammed dunked by the Kaiju that is Bakura that also has an appendage shaped like a dragon on a phallus. It was embarrassing for everyone.

So Yugi and company appeared, having just recently dug through the tomb that has Yami’s name and the ability to stick Zorc back whence he came.

You may wonder, if it took like 12 weeks to get to that tomb, how are we just flying through the air back to the capital? And the answer is because they spent most of that 12 weeks like barely moving around the city. It was, in fact, the racist genie who flew them there. Flying is just hellllllla efficient in Egypt geography. Don't worry about it.

Zorc/Bakura threatens them with these horse guys. Which like, I have to credit the animation team, that is a lot of animated horses in one frame, I would also reuse this clip of horses running like 8 times in a season.

Unless these horses got wings, give your hands a break and don’t draw (counts them) my god, there’s 6 horses here. 

This is such a season of excessive extravagance except where you actually need it. Which…is a lot of media in this era (looking at you, Kingdom Hearts) so I just have to accept these horses in plate mail that were done on company time, while the whirlwind whiplash of Yami’s ending of this season is just kinda left there hanging.

Yeah we’re gonna talk about that ending. Don’t worry this is the episode where I can finally start talking about the dead as hell and only getting deader elephant in the room. (I can’t believe he freakin died lmao what the hell, Yugioh.)

With the power of manifesting their thoughts into reality, they will play cards. Because that’s how these kids know how to communicate and solve all of their problems.

2004 Rachel would have said, if I had the power to use the last magical vestiges of the world as we know it to make whatever with a string of words, I would do something way more impressive than play a card game I can just do with physical cards. 

But 2024 Rachel knows all about how, when we finally had the technology to spit images together from a prompt, we immediately used it to break copyright law and ruin the ability to thrive and compete in the art industry so Rachel had to pull a new career out of her ass. No fun allowed. No creativity allowed. Only fake promises to encourage angel investors to get scammed of all their dollars before the technology eventually bursts its own bubble and disappears from relevance when not enough people actually use it.

So really, Seto Kaiba using the power of prompts to play cards means he’s the only venture capitalist to have ever existed that has done some actual creativity using AI-like tech. Sure it's database is unethical because it is made out of the souls of an entire city, but he would have at least turned that AI into a dragon he already owns full copyright of (because hell we know all about how well he paid Pegasus for the right to that art) and he would have used it to fight Zorc, just as god(s) intended.

Wow none of that rant made sense. I’ll delete it later. (jk, I won’t, I really need to post this thing)

Fueled with the power of “I don’t want to admit to Pharaoh that I’m illiterate,” Yugi fights Zorc with all he’s got. 

Relatable. I forgot how relatable this kid is.

Does Yugi ever realize he’s murdering the Bakura he's known a majority of this show? I…I don’t remember. Probably? Yugi probably knows, but is also like "there's enough doubt to ethically continue this fight"

They scoop up Yami, and today’s designated prone body carrier is:

Joey!

Good choice.

Their reaction to “Seto is here in this imaginary magical mind maze.” Is a lot of “Huh. Not even remotely surprised.”

I have a friend who has this thing about always wanting to go inside places she’s not allowed into. She even decided to take magic lessons from the Magic Castle. Why? Because she wants to go IN THERE. Seto is basically that friend. Except everything but taking magic lessons because he does not believe in magic or enjoy magic in any way (despite being a very competent wizard). We all have a friend who just appears in random places like Seto.

Faced with the ironic problem that has plagued them for over 5 seasons, They decide to use the airport cartouche that you may not remember from like 2 years ago when I wrote that episode. But once upon a time, Tea gave Yami a Girlfriend Gift, and so with the power of Vague Girlfriend, she’s gonna save his ass.

Seto realizes that despite everything, he is still here, and somehow despite all of that, Yugi is still getting his ass beaten by whatever the monster of the week is.

I’m also not 100% if Seto is aware that this monster is actually the ghost that lived in Bakura, his old classmate from that school Seto never graduated from, and his old classmate that once stabbed himself in the arm and then walked directly into his blimp to ruin his blimp party.

But Seto doesn't need to worry about whether or not this is ethical, he'd probably only try to kill him harder if he knew Bakura was ever in his class.

That’s right, his name is Atem. Which I personally found out in like Season 1 because this show is very old and people online like to use his name in the tags. But also, it’s fine, because Atem is close to that name Aten, which is in Egyptian Theology, or Puzzles and Dragons, whichever you are more familiar with. I’ll look it up later when my brain isn’t fried. Maybe.

Alright, let's discuss the first elephant. 🐘

🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘+++++++ELEPHANT RANT FEEL FREE TO SKIP THIS BIT+++++++🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘

Pharaoh used his name once already in the past in order to stuff both Zorc and himself in their charms. That’s pretty straight forward. So…why isn’t it doing it again? As far as I can tell this is a recreation of what happened last time, so what's changed to prevent Pharaoh from getting put back in the golden tupperware?

The shadow game? Is it because this is a shadow D+D game? Was it not a type of shadow game the first time? I genuinely don't know, feel free to give your opinion about this because my bro and I discussed this in length, several times over this year, I have mulled it over, and I have no clue.

Pharaoh knows himself even less now than he did the first time he did this. Maybe the show is implying he’s more powerful this time but…this season really didn't build him up enough to seem that way.

And on that note, what does it matter if he finds his real name? Like yes there’s theological meaning there, especially in ancient cultures your real name had an actual power over your soul and so people respected it enough to even avoid using it.

But, Pharaoh hasn't been Atem in 5000 years, so Yami should have worked. Yami is connected to the puzzle and it's curse now. So is Yugi. So they never really properly gave us the significance of why this name is important. Like hell, why not just use "Yugi." He's wearing the necklace IRL, after all.

I can see the name being less of a symbolism and more of a key, since it was used to lock the puzzle the first time. But then…what are they using to lock Zorc away the second time? Still Atem?

Atem stuffed himself into a box and died. Yami lived in Japan and failed to attend high school. While there are similarities between the two, something I enjoyed about this season was seeing Yami realize he is different from Atem, with a different culture, different friends, different family, different guilt, and different responsibilities.

He’s a different person now. But for some reason the resolution to that was “actually, now Atem and I are one."

Which wasn’t enough for me. I think they could have handled this better. Yami going from a fragmented person to a full person by struggling with who he used to be was a great idea. That parallels Yugi/Yami's struggles with eachother in earlier seasons.

But Yugi just handing him some hieroglyphics was all Yugi’s doing. Yami spent his time finding his lost memories of his father and his friends. I feel like Yami never found himself in all of this. Just a name he isn't really attached to.

Not saying this season is bad or anything, cuz it's not, but some things could have been elaborated more cuz even if I didn't have long covid I think I would've been a little bit confused.

++++\🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘++++++

So, this will be a very long recap and I think that tumblr does limit pictures? Or at least they did a year ago? So part 2 of this episode will come soon, and sooner than a year, I promise. It's already in my drafts folder, it just needs some good editing.

And I truly mean that, like my bro edited this draft yesterday and today I realized I mixed up Bakura and Marik 2 times. 2 entire times. Damn. Like Both of those people are 2 people but Marik isn't even here! How did we both miss that!?

As always, you can read these posts in Chronological order, if you just got here and want to read like all 200+ episodes, by using "chrono" in the web address. Fun tumblr hack I love to use.

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

[ofmdrecaps]

12/01-02/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Rhys Darby; Taika Waititi; Vico Ortiz; Kristian Nairn; Samba Schutte; Rachel House; Dominic Burgess; Adopt Our Crew; Letting Writing Campaign for OFMD S3!; Fan Spotlight: Our Flag Means Fanfiction; Citizen Dame Pod; 2024 Podfuckery; OFMD Big Bang; Love Notes;

Hey crew, as you can see I'm slowly catching up. I've been sick and my dads back at the hospital so things are a bit cray cray at the moment. Thank you for all your patience <3

= Rhys Darby =

Rhys was out in Atlanta doing comedy with Steve Wriggles, and lots of our crewmates got to get out and see him!

Source: Rhys and Steves Instagram Stories

- More Darby Daily Doodles -

Source: Rhys' Free Substack

= Taika Waititi =

Lots of BTS is coming out with Taika on Interior Chinatown!

Source: Instagram

There's also been more BTS for the KokoFoundation event that he and Minnie did a few weeks back!

Source: Letters Live Instagram

This article features Taika AND Anapela! Thank you to Jess aka @summerlinenss.bsky.social‬ for the share!

Source: Summerlinens Bsky

= Vico Ortiz =

Vico recently received  the “Courage Award” during the 29 Palms Film Festival! Check out their acceptance speech below!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Vico Ortiz (@puertoricaninja)

Source: Vico's Instagram

= Kristian Nairn =

Kristian was out with friends doing some winter celebrations!

Source: Ryzymackay Instagram

And he had a wee update for everyone before heading off to Columbus OH!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kristian Nairn (@kristiannairn)

Source: Kristian's Instagram

= Samba Schutte =

Fantastic news! Best Life, staring Samba was nominated for a third award! This time New York Shorts Award!

Source: Samba's Instagram

And yet another trailer for Parallel! (It sounds like its working on amazon prime again incase you ran into trouble).

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Seasick Studios (@seasickstudios_)

Source: Instagram

- Advanced Chemistry BTS -

Our friend Alec Moore, writer of Advanced Chemistry and big OFMD advocate was kind enough to give us some BTS for the movie with Samba! Check some of it out below-- if you've seen the movie and have yet to review it on amazon, please take a moment to send them some love! Amazon Reviews

Source: Alec Moore's Bsky

A lot of the background pictures of samba's character Allen show Samba doing Air Guitar! Here are some closer looks!

Source: Alec moore

= Rachel House =

Rachel attended the @asiapacificscreenawards_ celebration and her film Te Maunga was nominated for "Best Youth film”. She sends out her "Massive congrats to the beautiful film Boong @lp_devi who deservedly won."!

Source: Rachel's Instagram

= Dominic Burgess =

Dominic always knows how to bring a smile to our face with cat content <3

Source: Dominic's Bsky

In addition, in case you haven't already checked it out-- Skeleton Crew is out on Disney Plus, and our favorite Jeffrey Fettering is in the show! Congrats Dominic!

Source: Dominic's Bsky

== Adopt Our Crew ==

Thank you @adoptourcrew for sharing this article on OFMD from Screenrant! Check it out here.

Source: Adopt Our Crew's Instagram

== Letter Writing Campaign! ==

Our friend Molly aka @aproperpirate.bsky.social has started up a letter writing campaign to try and convince Netflix to adopt #OurFlagMeansdeath!  Check out more info below! (If you don't have bluesky, Molly has agreed to let me post the instructions on the repo as well.)

What?

Letters and/or postcards explaining why you want Netflix to adopt OFMD. Highlight its accolades, reviews, representation, or simply what it means to you. Be honest and authentic! Send as many as you want!

Where?

Mail to:

Netflix Corporate Headquarters

121 Albright Way

Los Gatos, California 95032

When?

Plan for your letter(s) to arrive anywhere during the week of January 5-12, 2025 to coincide with the one year anniversary of cancelation on January 9.

Source: AProperPirate Bsky

== Fan Spotlight ==

= Our Flag Means Fanfiction =

New episode of Our Flag Means Fanfiction is out! Check them out on spotify! "Today we’re talking with Molly, Dahlia and Tessa about crime, criminals and outsiders; and how nefarious law-breakers actually have a positive impact on society — especially when they’re sabotaging authoritarian regimes"

Source: Our Flag Means Fanfiction Spotify

= Citizen Dame =

For those of you subscribed to the citizen dame podcast, the last two episode of OFMD S2 are up! This OFMD Series is for subscribers and it's a been a blast to go over all the wonderful things in the last couple episodes. Wanna learn more? Check them out on Patreon!

Source: Citizen Dame Patreon

= OFMD Podfuckery =

Some fun news! There's a new ofmd podfuckery going on! Several of the resident podficcers of the OFMD community are recording fics in their own style! Wanna follow along with the fun? Check out their bluesky!

First on the list is The Hunt - by our dear @petrichorca and read by @kninjaknitter.bsky.social! Are you a podficcer and wanna get in on the fun? Jump on in and keep an eye out for the #podfuckery tag on bsky!

Source: OFMDPodFuckery Bsky

= 2024 OFMD Big Bang =

The 2024 OFMD Big Bang, hosted by @ofmdbigbang is officially over! You can check out the completed works list here. If you haven't already checked out their tumblr, they've posted all the amazing works people have put together for it! Check them out over on @ofmdbigbang!

Source: OFMDBigBang Tumblr

== Love Notes ==

Hey lovelies. It's almost 2025! Holy moly! I can't even believe it honestly, where has this year gone? I have been so blessed to be able to spent a lot of it with so many of you, and getting to share in your laughter and your tears, and I am so very grateful for that. Tonight I just wanted to send you a quick reminder that if you need to get something off your chest -- please ,oh please, do. I know a lot of us worry about whether or not there are "worse things" going on for other people, and you know what, something is going bonkers for every person everywhere, and if we all just didn't talk to one another every time someone else was struggling with their own issues, no one would ever talk. Of course, be sure to ask if people have spoons, or find a group you know is cool with chatting (and obviously if they're laying in a hospital bed, maybe dont bug that person unless they say its okay)-- but please find someone to talk to. It's easy to fall into the pattern of "I don't want to bother people" or "My problems seem like so much less". You'd be surprised how much of your crew really cares and wants to help. I myself, when things get really tough, feel better when I get to talk to other people about their own issues, because I can put some love out into the world that I'm not feeling as strongly at the moment from elsewhere.

You never know until you ask, so please ask <3 Love you crew, take care of yourselves, ya hear?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Women Who Run With The Moon (@womenwhorunwiththemoon)

Img Source: WomenWhoRunWithTheMoon Instagram

[all-pacas]

house live-ish blogging: maternity

i love how the writers of this show only know like. 3 names. the baby is almost named amber. instead she is named max. max is also the name of the liver donating girlfriend in sleeping dogs lie. this show also has about six roberts, two chis, 5 rachels…

honestly love this episode. i wish the series had more "everyone pulling a 3 day shift, the only thing that matters is solving the Mystery" episodes, they're so good

i just looked up who wrote this episode to see if it was the same writer who wrote sleeping dogs lie re: the max thing. it isn't. instead it's peter blake, aka the chase whisperer: he also wrote the mistake, cursed, the itch, the tyrant, lockdown, and chase. (a couple shared credits but. damn. apparently this dude just wrote all the greatest hits for our useless nepobaby and his divorce. coincidentally, chase is great in this episode too. god now i want to do a tangent because the same writer wrote cursed/the mistake/lockdown/chase makes perfect fucking sense to me, because in each - when i say chase gets angry and resentful and shuts down when he's upset. when i say it's consistent. him lashing out at rowan isn't that different from him accusing cameron of never loving him, of accusing house of changing him. there's a throughline of these episodes: chase vulnerable, chase angry and upset, chase refusing to open up no matter who begs. and throw in the tyrant, his bonding with dibala and the way the murder is framed as chase lashing out in betrayal rather than moral imperative - man!!! ANYWAY)

i've always loved wilson's little "i can get you a key to the oncology lounge… we're getting TiVo" line. because when i was a kid, my dad got tivo. and when i say he bragged about it. when i say he would bring visitors into our house and show them the tivo and demonstrate the wonders of dvr in those olden days (of the early 2000s) (even if i was watching cartoons). so you know what wilson. i appreciate the flex. it is cool you're getting tivo.

in the script, it notes that chase is taking a nap while foreman studies and cameron reads houses mail. in the episode, chase is still taking his nap, but the other two are just standing around. i mention this just because it's interesting to see what character details are written and which are acting choices. to me.

the script also notes that the gays who lose their son are "comp lit grad students." not sure why we need to know this but i'm glad we do

foreman stepping up and lecturing cameron on bedside manner is. very funny. not that she doesn't need the lecturing in this episode (it's a Theme), but… considering how as time goes by, one of foreman's defining traits is terrible bedside manner… it's very main character of him lol. he truly is the best of the group in these early episodes. no weaknesses, only strengths.

cameron's "it's easier to die than to watch someone die" is so fascinating. it's so loaded with implication. what was her husband like? how much emotional labor was she doing for him? was he in denial of his prognosis until the end, meaning that cameron was stuck both taking care of him and pretending everything was okay? or is cameron, unwittingly, exposing her own selfishness here: does she actually kind of believe her pain is worse because she has to live with it?

that said i do like how even in this scene: cameron freezes up and is awkward at telling the patients bad news, but she's quick to (and good at) reassuring them a moment later. "kim is right," she says, using the patient's name. she's good at bonding with patients and comfort, just not when it's bad news. which, unfortunately, in her job…

i find the differential portions of this episode really interesting because it sets up as foreman has an idea, cameron has an idea, they argue their ideas, they want different treatments, house referees. they each get "assigned" a family and baby. neither are treated as more wrong or more right (although i guess cameron technically is — "her" baby is the one that dies because her treatment is wrong, but medically she did nothing wrong, it's more a larger theme about cameron struggling this episode). and meanwhile chase exists. this has been the case every episode so far lmao: foreman is the main ideas and treatment guy, cameron sometimes chimes in to back him up, chase offers no useful input or contributions. the difference is, this episode chase actually very much pulls his weight with the treatment and his work in NICU; he really is the Procedure Guy, not the Ideas Guy. which makes him a really interesting hire on house's part tbh - chase is almost useless in differentials (so far), he was hired just for his practical skills.

again, it is so weird to see foreman, champion of talking to patients. i mean, i do buy he knows how and is perfectly script accurate. but it was dropped as a trait so quickly

speaking of early installment weirdness: wilson calling cameron allison will never not be weird.

and likewise cameron's angry insistence that the women would rather have hope than truth is. very telling. like yes, we know she deals terribly with loss, but this is… what was her husband like? when did she find out he had cancer? does she wish she had been able to be ignorant longer? it's very clear – to the viewers and everyone in universe – that cameron is seeing this all through her perspective, that she's talking about herself at all times, but… (also imagine this perspective mixed with s6 and dibala. you think part of the reason chase didn't tell her for so long was because he really did think she'd prefer to be ignorant? how wrong or right was he in that?)

in the script, when the baby dies and chase is trying to revive it, there's a note that house puts his hand on chase's arm to get him to stop. not in the episode :( but i like their little interaction here: it's not much, but chase is clearly upset and house lets him go, doesn't scold him. house can in fact be pretty understanding about this stuff! he doesn't like wallowing but he has moments of being a good boss. and then he turns around and has zero sympathy for cameron lol.

cameron trying to foist the "inform the parents" thing on chase is very. hahaha. i always think of chase in forever trying to foist baby duties on her. it's not a great moment for cameron (it's not meant to be), but it… hm. i wouldn't say it's out of character; she never really gets better at dealing directly with death, but trying to weasel out of telling the parents by saying chase (or whoever) should do it seems… off, you know? her freezing up and wilson stepping in feels more on brand. but she's not supposed to be right this episode. she's lowkey supposed to suck.

(and from house's perspective: chase is sad about the dead baby. so is cameron. chase is still doing his job, he can be sad, it's not getting in the way. cameron is sad, and actively avoiding her job/trying to get others to do it for her. that is getting in the way.)

fascinating, too, that cameron is therefore stated in this episode to be bad at talking to patients (compared to foreman being good, and chase being a little awkward but fine).

"chase, you're the intensivist" -- love when the show tells us people's specialties. no one has called cameron an immunologist yet, but we have the guys now. and flash forward a few years, i don't think we technically ever learn thirteen or kutner's specialties (on screen).

in the lab end of the episode, cameron and chase are sitting way too close together. it is very funny how often this happens. i know it's because the actors were dating were not paying attention to body language but still. this is why everyone thought you were dating in s3, cameron

another good moment for cameron at the end of the episode, calling in the surviving baby's parents to hold her for a bit. (love that chase then reported this to house: it's not clear if house asked him how cameron was doing — he asks foreman, so it makes sense he'd check with chase too — or if chase reported it on his own, which also makes sense because chase telling house every bit of gossip he hears is a very consistent character trait lol)

speaking of foreman, his insisting that cameron has everything handled just fine is a) a blatant lie and b) very funny from foreman. which makes him sound like a douche but. he really did gain his ruthlessness later, didn't he?

actually, if house asked both the boys how cameron held up, and foreman lied and chase told a story of cameron having a Good Idea, that's kind of sweet. they're both covering for her/sticking up for her…

i haven't mentioned it but the clinic patient this episode always makes me laugh. shoutout to the actress, she just keeps saying this stupid stuff "oh man! wow!" but with this sincere, no brain cell enthusiasm that is so funny to me.

"do you think you could — " "no." "do the prenatal?" "no." "or deliver the baby?" "that would be no." "oh - kay!"

even though it's probably just a pillow they stuck under her shirt or something, i actually appreciate wardrobe remembered to have the woman who gave birth two days ago have a very noticeable stomach while sitting around in street clothes. realism!

house is oddly gentle with cameron in this scene at the end. "you look tired… you had a hard time this week." i know you can read it as oh, he's in love with her, but i don't think we're supposed to; i'm pretty sure it's a fragment of his nicer s1 personality. because we really don't see it again after s1, even with people or in situations where he's trying to be gentle. ("oh, it's because he's in love with cameron" i'm really not convinced that was the direction of this episode.) it also make's cameron's angry reaction a little odd - not that she wouldn't be defensive, but… house is being so nice, lol. he's not being a bastard at all! just wait until he really starts meddling in your life, cam!

i find it very unlikely that cuddy, tearing apart the hospital for days, didn't notice the old lady loitering around the maternity ward coughing constantly. i find it unlikely no one mentioned her. i get that we're not supposed to worry about these facts

house's soap opera doctor has exactly the same hairstyle as chase lmao

[rlbbackup]

Hi Rach! Here comes a train with two questions for you…

🥚 Any easter eggs you put in a fic that you hoped people would notice?

😮 Anything you included in your fic that you didn’t expect people to like?

Hi mint! Thank you for the questions! 🥰

🥚- currently I have no intentional Easter eggs in my fics 😅 the only ones that have something close to that are in series which just makes them continuation of plot 🤣

😮 - honestly! I'm really surprised at how well people take my use of the Japanese honorifics/names in my fics. I understand it can take people out of the immersion but there's this...depth - I think is the right term? - that I feel adds to the language of the fic. Yeah I could just use the English translations, but it hits differently in my opinion and I'm really glad people have rolled with that with me!

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Rachel Leingang at The Guardian:

Donald Trump, campaigning in the border swing state of Arizona on Thursday, called the country a “garbage can” because of immigration policies under the Biden administration.

“We’re like a garbage can, you know, it’s the first time I’ve ever said that,” Trump said in Tempe, Arizona, the home of Arizona State University. “And every time I come up and talk about what they’ve done to our country, I get angry. First time I’ve ever said garbage can, but you know what, it’s a very accurate description.” Candidates and their surrogates for both presidential campaigns are blitzing swing states like Arizona in the final two weeks before election day. The Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance held two campaign rallies in Arizona earlier this week. Joe Biden and the former president Barack Obama are set to visit this week, as is Tim Walz, the Democratic vice-presidential pick. A banner behind the stage said, “Vote early!” – a change in strategy for Republicans and Trump, who have cast doubt on early and mail-in voting by falsely claiming it is an avenue for widespread fraud. He said of Arizona voting: “They got a problem. Gotta make it too big to rig.” An image of Trump, raised fist and bloodied ear after his assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, showed before he came out. Early on, he displayed on screens behind him the chart of migration that he has attributed with saving his life.

Donald Trump, an anti-American shitstain on humanity, calls the US a “garbage can” due to immigration.

See Also:

HuffPost: Trump Escalates Dehumanizing Immigrant Rhetoric: ‘We’re Like A Garbage Can’

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also Preserved on our archive

By Meike Leonard

Long Covid clinics across the country are closing their doors, leaving desperate patients without vital treatment and feeling ‘abandoned’, they have claimed.

Dedicated clinics set up to support long Covid patients in Surrey, Croydon, Hertfordshire and Lanarkshire have been shuttered, The Mail on Sunday has learned.

A service in Devon will close in the New Year, patients have told this newspaper, and we have learned that clinics in Frimley may also be facing the axe.

Now, campaigners and doctors speaking to this newspaper say this winding down of long Covid provisions will have a devastating impact on the millions suffering from the condition.

‘It shows that the NHS and Government are not interested in long Covid,’ said Kent-based GP Dr Stephanie De Giorgio.

‘They genuinely don’t consider this a priority despite the vast amount of people who currently need treatment – and the many more who may need treatment in the future. This isn’t a niche service – the NHS needs to accept long Covid as a real and far-reaching problem.’

While most people recover from Covid within days or weeks and make a full recovery within three months, for some the symptoms last longer. An estimated 1.9 million people in the UK were suffering with persisting issues after Covid, as of March 2023.

Patients report fatigue, shortness of breath, problems with memory and concentration – so-called ‘brain fog’ – muscle aches and joint pain, dizziness and palpitations among other things.

For some, these can be so severe it prevent them working, going to school or carrying out even basic daily tasks.

This was the case for 36-year-old Rachel Hext, who was forced to give up work as a nurse two years ago after catching Covid and never recovering.

The mother-of-two first became ill while working on a Covid ward in her hospital, just after returning from maternity leave. Later on, Rachel regularly had treatment at her closest long Covid clinic in Torbay, Devon – having been referred by her GP.

These services, launched in November 2020 with a special £10million ring-fenced fund, were designed to be a one-stop-shop staffed by a range of specialists who could help tackle the variety of complaints that hit long Covid patients.

But Rachel says her local clinic is soon to close. ‘In spring, my doctor called to tell me that the clinic would be closing in the summer,’ she said.

‘He said that I would still be able to get treatment by specialists for whatever conditions had already been diagnosed with.

But he couldn’t answer what would happen with new referrals, or how I would get help for any new problems that might crop up.’ Rachel said she was later informed that the facility had been granted an extension but would be closing in the New Year.

When contacted by The Mail on Sunday, NHS Devon denied there were plans to decommission their long Covid service, although e-mails from clinicians working at the clinic contradict this.

‘There are some people who have a huge number of issues and they won’t be able to get proper treatment without dedicated long Covid clinics,’ she said.

Long Covid campaigners say the closures are due to funding issues and the fact that fewer people are seeking care from them.

Originally run by NHS England, responsibility for the clinics was handed to integrated care boards (ICBs) – the 42 bodies in England which allocate funding to local health services – earlier this year.

In Scotland, 14 NHS Boards have a similar role. Support groups say that since this shift, patients and staff have reported closures and a scaling back of services. They say that key personnel are being redeployed or leaving the NHS altogether.

‘NHS England de-prioritised long Covid by not mandating that ICBs keep running the clinics,’ said Manchester-based lung expert Dr Binita Kane.

‘They may claim that fewer people are using the services, but I suspect what’s actually happening is that fewer people are testing for Covid now, making it harder to get a long Covid diagnosis further down the line.

‘Long Covid patients who have had it for a while may have improved or are ironically considered too severe for treatment. This may make it seem like the clinics are less necessary – but there are many more long Covid patients still in need of help.’

The challenge if clinics all close down, Dr Kane added, is that these patients will now have to be absorbed into existing services that aren’t set up to deal with their complex symptoms.

NHS England and the Scottish government have been approached for comment.

[allwormdiet]

Buzz 7.1

Oh boy, some calm, thank goodness, I hope there's no storm that might interrupt this somehow

Oh, Taylor. You've gotta find a better way to score physical intimacy with people than this, you are not going to get what you're looking for

I was already a bit reserved about whether I thought these two would work out and that was before reading the rest of this arc, so...

Does Lisa know that this is going to end the way it does? I can't imagine she would, she wants her team happy and the way things are about to go between these two is not going to be super happy. Maybe she's reading Brian wrong, if what he said is true about not being so good with girls, and her power is misinterpreting the data

Taylor, you both fucked that up last night, don't pin it all on Danny. You could have told him and given him the opportunity to prove you wrong, to give you something better than the worst-case scenario, but you overruled that and left your home out of. Pride? Shame? C'mon girl.

Fucking finally we get the Alec backstory

Fucking creepy power, though I guess the real creep factor is that he's willing to use it and has used it to make a fucking slave army out of brainwashed women

On the one hand, I get pressing Alec for information, because all of a sudden that's something that the rest of them may have to worry about, but I'm not sure threatening him into talking is the way...

I think that's the youngest age we have for a trigger event so far. And it was deliberately induced by Alec's father. Utterly horrifying.

So... Alec doesn't seem to think he has any kind of moral core, and I'm not sure that's true? Lisa is still the only one out of the group who carries a gun, and Taylor is out here with a knife that she's used to take eyes and toes at this point; Alec's got a comparatively nonlethal loadout, so even if he doesn't feel bad about killing, he doesn't put himself in a situation where it's easy to do.

Taylor, hon, I don't think it's on you to judge him, much as you would love to

Like. Was Alec even treated as a person before he got his power? Was he treated as a person after that? None of the adults in his life ever made an effort to raise him, because they were either his monster father or his father's brainwashed slaves who only cared about him, so any "parenting" would've come from older siblings probably about as fucked as him.

You know what? I'm laying it out here now. The fact that Alec is lazy, selfish, and kind of an asshole, who's not great at reading people and prioritizes personal pleasure over most other things? Actually no joke a huge mark in his favor, because that's who he's figured out how to be after spending 12-13 years of his 15-16 years of life in Hell (which, as I've long suspected, is contained within Montreal) and then three years on the run as a career criminal. The worst thing that I can say about him is that he acts like a shitty teenager, and people act like shitty teenagers while coming from normal homes. Congratulations, Alec, you will be getting a trophy for good behavior (given the circumstances) delivered in the mail

This is sweet. Even with this unpleasant surprise, Brian is still reluctant to act like they'd leave Alec to deal with Heartbreaker alone

This is the most obvious downside of the arrangement, setting aside the matter of "can we trust Coil" (hahahaha)

Rachel, fucking bless you for being the voice of reason here

Yes! Bonding time with Rachel! Friendship rank up with Rachel! Upgrade your Social Link with Rachel in order to strength Personas of the Chariot Arcana!

Actually has someone made a read of the Worm cast as Persona S.Links because I feel like you could make some interesting choices there, obviously Taylor fulfills the Fool/Wild Card role

This is smart as fuck actually. She's basically cutting Brian off before he can interject as the head of the team and establishing her own stance within the hierarchy

An explicit bargain, made with rules for Taylor to follow and consequences if Taylor breaks those rules, all slanted in Rachel's favor.

One day you're gonna call her Rachel in your own head, Taylor, and I can't wait for that

Current Thoughts

Main thing with this chapter is that we've gotten all but one Undersider backstory filled in with Alec's ties to Heartbreaker laid out. Lisa's the last holdout, and I suspect she'll remain mum on the subject as long as she can get away with it

I'm still of the position that Alec reads a lot more shallow on the surface than he actually is, but all we have to go off of is what he says and what he does, with the trick that it's filtered through Taylor's own fairly biased perspective (she thinks he's a coldblooded murderer because his father ordered him to kill an enemy gang member, and that's certainly a read of the situation but she's just as likely jumping to conclusions). He's also taken care to not do much when he can help it, save for the Bakuda fight where he worked his ass off keeping them all alive. It's a waiting game to get to the meat of his character, I suspect, same as basically every other Undersider except Rachel.

Speaking of which, really enjoy the next chapters with Rachel. By far the Undersider I'd spend the most time with. We'd hang out with dogs and not talk to each other for hours, it'd be great.

Anyway, after a brief little scare with my entire account getting temporarily dropped from existence, I'm going to start using the alt I made @wormstreetsback as a backup for this one, on the off chance something goes horribly awry again. It's just going to be reblogs of my own stuff so don't follow it yet, unless you're fine with doubled posts.

[willowser]

okay i've never really watched friends but the other day a clip came up on tiktok and it was like. ross listening to a voice-mail and finding out that rachel had/has a "thing" for him, and they just like. stare at each other 🥺 and i can't stop thinking about it aifbriskakal

i think confessing to bakugou could be a lot like that 🥺 either you tell him or he finds out someway and he just 🥺 looks at you, trying to keep a hold on his expression 🥺 and he doesn't even know what to say 🥺

[chillingwithtavesss]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-13794763/Kaia-Gerber-turns-bestie-Ayo-Edebiri-company-throwing-shade-d-ckhead-ex-boyfriend-cryptic-post.html

Turns out K did respond to the DM...with a pap walk with her Bottoms cast🤣🤣 She's not even hiding it anymore, that she does read what people say about her online. And didn't Rachel Sennott also comment on her post supporting her? She was also papped on this outing...neither Rachel or Ayo follow Austin, idk if they ever did, though. They give off "two dumb girls telling each other 'exactlyyyy'" vibes.

LOL the “exactly” sent me 🤣🤣🤣

But Daily Mail mentioning this AGAIN in yet another article ? Hmm let’s see how this goes . I won’t lie I kind of have trust issues with this just because we thought so many times before that this has happened and then we get hit with a damage control pap walk with Kaia and Austin. What I would say though that there is something definitely not right in the water if DM has written about the topic yet again.

[tangent101]

Imagine if Max's Rewind vanished...

One of the huge assumptions for Sacrifice Chloe is that by seeing Chloe die, Max gained the Rewind. Thus by going back in time to the Butterfly photo and not saving Chloe, that fixes everything. If you just pick at one or two threads the whole things falls apart and becomes what it truly is: a selfish divinity wanting a human sacrifice. But what if this was in fact the truth... that by not seeing Chloe die, Max doesn't gain the Rewind.

So then... there is one point in which Max would not have the Rewind and that would be when Max tries to save William. She would not have the Rewind. She would have no way of stopping William. He walks out the door and she knows he's going to die... and she doesn't go forward in time. She's stuck there. She is 18 years old and trapped as her 13 year old self.

However, Max has a far greater understanding of the world as a result and can fix the mistakes she made the first time around. And that would be that she refuses to stop talking to Chloe this time. She does everything to stay in touch. She goes to the library and e-mails Chloe. She works on her own mental health, knowing what she herself went through that first time, she goes to the school counselor perhaps, she mourns with Chloe (if from afar)... and something new happens this time around.

Max is there to witness the start of the problems with David.

Naturally Max is going to tell her to go to the authorities. Report David for abuse. But much as likely happened the first time, Joyce handwaves it away, the police ignore it, Blackwell ignores it. Max would be horrified by the fact Chloe is being abused by this asshole and no one will do anything.

But there's a huge difference this time. Because Max is in her life. Perhaps she talks to her own school counselor about this abuse and how no one is doing anything. Maybe she talks to her parents. In fact, I think she would do the latter... and I think that Ryan and Vanessa would listen to their daughter. More, they might even listen to how the police won't do anything and they know how worried Max is... so they contact Joyce. They offer an alternative.

Let Chloe come up to Seattle for the summer. It will give Joyce and David a break from the conflicts with Chloe, Chloe can settle down and be with her best friend... and I think Joyce would jump at that possibility. She may claim she wants a "family" in LiS but what she really wants is for the fighting to stop. She wants security. And I think that with time away from Chloe... Joyce might realize that she's happier with her daughter living away from her.

Perhaps Joyce is the one who suggests that Chloe start attending classes in Seattle. If the Caulfields don't mind. Nor do I think Ryan and Vanessa would mind. They see how much their daughter has just... brightened and become more alive with Chloe in her life. Chloe would likely have to start a year back because her grades did suffer after William's death, and having someone she knows attending the same year would help Chloe settle in.

Chloe meanwhile is flourishing. She is exploring the city with Max. She misses her dad something fierce but Max is by her side. Max is there to hold her when she cries, Max cries with her, Max doesn't tell her she has to toughen up, she says it's okay to cry. And I think Chloe would heal. She wouldn't be quite the punk she is in the timeline where she remained in Arcadia Bay to be abused and ignored, though I think she's embrace some elements of it. (Max would likely encourage her to dye her hair blue.)

Max would be surprised, but only a tiny bit, when Chloe dares her to kiss her. She'd jump at the opportunity.

There'd be no return to Blackwell. Max would be more interested in staying with Chloe, and let's be honest, Mark Jefferson was only ever an excuse to return to Arcadia Bay. And Max would be surprised to learn that Rachel Amber went missing one day. Perhaps she might even send an anonymous letter recommending the authorities investigate Nathan Prescott.

The death of Kate Marsh shocks Max. She wasn't there to save her. She doesn't remember her face. It's been five years for her. She forgot that she was on the roof, that she was the one to talk her down. But there is one thing that happens... and that's the arrest of Nathan Prescott for questioning a couple days later... and then Mark Jefferson going on the run as he sees the noose closing around his own throat.

Fortunately, Max now has Chloe there. I don't know if Max would ever tell Chloe the truth about the time travel. I mean... she might. She wouldn't be able to prove a thing, but I think Chloe would believe her because... Max changed that day. She stopped being the meek girl she was... and she remained in touch. Max was the one who reached out and helped Chloe find a new home when she was being abused. And Max would have to admit how the first time around, she just didn't stay in touch and she refused to make that mistake this time around. Maybe she couldn't save Chloe's dad but... she saved Chloe.

Would there still be a Storm? Would Arcadia Bay be destroyed three days after the death of Kate Marsh? Or would things go differently this time around? Without Chloe to be there for Rachel, would the spirit of Rachel seek to destroy Arcadia Bay? Or would she and Kate watch as Jefferson fled, a fugitive, as justice was served?

Ultimately it doesn't matter. Max and Chloe have a different destiny now. They are together in Seattle, falling in love all over again, slower perhaps, but more deeply. And they'd move on and live the life that was denied to them in another time.