#real life is complicated and there's many situations where you wouldn't think of that and I completely get that

[running-in-the-dark]

the most infuriating thing in a book is when there's someone who's constantly lying about things they said to the main character, things that happened and stuff like that, and it causes problems. and yet the main character doesn't at any point think to use their fucking smartphone (that they definitely own because it has been mentioned several times) to record any conversations they have.

like I'm sorry but that's just ridiculous. at least write in a reason why they can't do that (phone is broken and they can't get a new one for some reason, the other person keeps surprising them in some way that makes it impossible to start recording, they can't find their phone because the other person hid it, etc.) or that the recordings are gone when they want to use them as proof (phone gets destroyed later, other person deletes recordings, etc.) or literally any reason why they don't think to do it.

security cameras are also a thing that I'm pretty sure everyone knows you can just buy for your own home at this point. they're not expensive. they're not hard to get.

honestly if this happens for let's say the fifth time and it's causing you massive problems, maybe... just maybe... you're a bit of an idiot for not at least trying to get some sort of proof.

[capquinn]

Under Red Skies | Q. Hughes

summary: after a fight with your ex-boyfriend, you go back to the one person you know will always have you. pairing: fem!reader x quinn hughes content: angst, insinuated smut, sorta fluffy word count: 935 ↪ masterlist

⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

Shutting your car door soundlessly, you let herself into Quinn's apartment with the key he cut just for nights like this.

The nights that end in catastrophe when you and your boyfriend fight and breakup, and you run to the only person you know will have you.

“This is stupid,” Quinn whispers, watching the rise and fall of your body in the dark. Blue tinted and tempting.

“What is?” You question, though you already know the answer.

Stop going back to him, you hear his voice in your head. Just as he had told you the second time you found yourselves in this peculiar situation.

Childhood friends turned something more - you weren't sure there was a label that existed to describe it all exactly. There was history there, but it was juvenile. A fling as teenagers which fizzled as you both left for college, and things had remained platonic and normal ever since.

It was when you started seeing a guy who travelled in the same social circles that suddenly Quinn started looking at you differently. He found himself rolling his eyes whenever you arrived together at the bar and went looking for reasons to hate the bloke. It was hard at first but once you called Quinn that first night you had a fight, angry and crying, finding reasons wasn't such a challenge anymore.

That was when things changed between you. He had listened to your ranting and reassured you that things would be okay, and then when you were saying goodbye at the end of the night, the hug lasted for a moment longer than you were used to. His hands lingered on the small of your back, and suddenly you were friends and something more.

Quinn hesitates, unsure if this needed to be questioned again. Did he really need answers or real reasons? “You don’t have to go, y’know,” he says instead, extending a gentle hand to caress the delicate skin of your cheeks.

“You know I do,” you reply in a breathless whisper. You lean into his hand, and then turn onto your side. You're face to face, almost sharing the same pillow.

It’s silent.

You take his hand into your much smaller one, bringing it to your mouth and kissing his palm. He knows what it means. It came each time, and it hurt just as much as it did the time before that. What was once a gesture of utter adoration, he feels differently now. All that he cannot have is made explicit.

He rolls onto his back and sits up, resting against the headboard.

“We can’t keep doing this," he mutters.

You scramble to sit up. “I know,” you say hopelessly, allowing it all to come flooding right out from where it has been dammed for weeks now since that very first night. “It’s just… it’s complicated." You aren't sure if you're sticking around with this guy for the hope of things turning around and your love life lasting longer than a handful of months, or if you were protecting your relationship with Quinn. Afraid of the unknown and reluctant to jump off the precipice. "This is complicated. What if this is ruined? Will it be worth it?"

How are you both able to live on the threshold of something special and what disproves it all?

“I think it is,” he answers, reaching over to turn on the lamp.

He sees you clearly now. He’s been here one too many times before. Asked bad questions, wished for things to be different and distracted his heart from cracking until you come back the next time things went wrong.

“You deserve more than whatever he's giving you," he tells you firmly. "And you know that too or else you wouldn't come here every time you end things. Why won't you give us a try?" He's met with silence, and he feels the familiar ache in his heart. "If you're worried about what happened when we were kids happening again then you're making a mistake 'cause we're older now and I'm ready for it this time." He's not normally so forthright, and now you're dazed. It's difficult hearing what he's saying over the hammering of your heart. "Truth is, I wanna be with you."

And here's another truth. You knows his eyes. He means everything he says.

You fill the space that separates you both and kiss him. It’s electric. You're whirling around his galaxy except that he is right there underneath you.

Something thuds inside you that is more than mere heartbeats. It brings you so close to blurting things out that you probably shouldn't.

And you do.

“I love you,” you murmur, overcome with one too many truths.

He kisses you once more. “Don’t say things you don’t mean,” he mutters, his heart not quite willing to believe you. He presses your foreheads together, and he's breathing heavily, noses brushing.

“I do. I do mean it,” there’s a strain to your voice. Desperate for him to hear. “I want this. I want you.” Your lips brush his, hands clutching at his shoulders, fingers digging into bare skin.

He’s silent, and you press your cheek against his, pulling meanings out of shared breaths. Make lightning speak with your lips along his jaw in a way that he hasn’t experienced before.

Who is he to question love?

“Take what you want,” he pleads, hands sliding down your sides. “I’ve been yours all along.”

[tirsynni]

There's a popular mindset that I'm seeing within fandoms right now, and it's the type of mindset which destroys fandoms and makes enjoying any type of storytelling difficult.

"Well, I don't understand why the character just didn't do this."

"If I was in that person's shoes, I wouldn't have done that dumb action."

"OBVIOUSLY, the character just should have done this."

One, if the character did all of that stuff, there wouldn't be a story to tell. Two, if the character had such a godly, clear perspective of everything and the emotional detachment to complete all of the actions, it would be a boring story. Three, that's not how shit works. That's not how stories work, and that's not how real life works.

"Why did that character run up the stairs? That was stupid of them."

Do you think they knew what genre they were in? How many horror characters know they're in a horror story? Many of them think that if they're in any genre, it's romance or something.

In that specific moment, with the known options available and no information beyond what is immediately in front of them, what option will the character take? The viewer or reader is outside the action. They can pause the movie. They can put down the book. The character doesn't have that option.

Characters within a story are also bound by the laws within that story. If they have the time and ability to think on their options, that still doesn't give them complete freedom of choice. They are still bound by specific options, with each set of options having possible positive and negative consequences.

This character has concerns about his current military operation? What makes more sense? Dramatically going AWOL with all of its possible complications and consequences or staying in line? More often than not, the latter makes the most sense to the character at the time. They think that they have the time and ability to figure everything out. They don't have the information to know just how bad the situation is.

The tragedy within stories and what often makes them fascinating to us is all of the things which binds the characters to their negative choices. A story where a character realizes they're in a horror genre and are completely willing to get the hell out of there... except they can't. Because they can't leave their friends behind. Someone who knows their actions will probably lead to their own death but truly believes that it will benefit their loved ones. Someone who keeps making awful choice after awful choice for all the best reasons and can't back out now: they've gone too far and they're confident that the next choice will make everything better again.

The best characters are the ones whose positives are balanced by their negatives. Their strengths become their weaknesses. A character's confidence becomes arrogance which leads to their doom. Someone's love becomes obsession.

And sometimes, within the frame of the story, the character can make all the right decisions and still fail. As Captain Picard says, that's life, and that also makes for an intriguing story.

I love my fix-its. I love writing how something could have changed to make a happy ending. I rarely want the canon to change unless the writer made that awful ending for stupid reasons, though, like laziness or just going for stupid shock value. Even then, the best fix-its work with the tragedy inherent in the original story.

Darth Vader survives! Now what? It's never implied within the narrative that he thought the bad guys were wrong, after all: he just chose his son over the emperor, chose love and family over the Empire. Him surviving by a change in circumstances doesn't mean happily ever after. It opens a whole new can of worms.

And honestly? Sometimes the characters having two equal choices and choosing the bad, lethal choice is what makes the story that much more heart wrenching, because they were so close to that happy ending, and it was their lack of godly perspective and their mortal limitations which led to their tragic end. That's not a bad thing!

If every character made every proper choice and had no flaws which would impair their decision making, it would lead to a boring story. It would also be jarring within the context of the story and separate the characters from their own universe, elevate them above the narrative instead of allowing them to flourish or wilt within it. It's more fun to dissect what led to those choices than to just say, "Well I would have just done this!"

[xclowniex]

Hi! I ask this with full respect! But am I Jewish?

I’m an Armenian Jewish Israeli, and I live in the Armenian quarter of Jerusalesm. I was born to a Mizrahi Jewish father and an Armenian mother, and I also practice the Christian faith. I won’t say I’m as deep into Jewish culture as some but I have participated in throughout my life, and I do genuinely have a love for it.

I was just wondering if I would be considered Jewish because my mother isn’t Jewish and I follow a different faith that isn’t Judaism. Not necessarily on here, but I’ve talked with some more conservative Jews who wouldn’t consider me one.

I was just hoping to what your opinion was like because I really like your opinions.

Shalom!

Hi! Your asks are no problem at all, you don't have to apologize for sending a follow up ask with more context.

I did pose your ask to some friends of mine to garner other perspectives outside of just my own.

Jews will welcoming in terms of interacting with you as long as you don't proselytize or go down the messianic route, which you do not give the vibes for either of those.

Messianics are "jews for jesus" and are mainly made up of Christians with no jewish heritage claiming to be the real jews and practice a mix of appropriated judaism and Christianity.

What I think is that you are welcome to call yourself jewish on your dad's side as well, you are and you have grown up around the culture. My own journey has not been linear and neither has many jews I know online or irl. I grew up orthodox with a non Jewish mother, converted as a child, stopped practicing as a teen and explored other religions before settling on judaism, specifically reform. I may become orthodox again later, but I'm happy now with reform. Though I will start attending the orthodox synagogue Friday evening services when I move closer to it as after a 30m service I get a free dinner so why not lol. At the last monthly shabbat potluck I went to with jews around my age, there were a few jews who never grew up religious, mainly due to a similar situation where one parent was jewish, the other catholic or Christian and whilst they view themselves as atheist, they do still want to participate in the cultural aspect.

I wouldn't really just use the word "jew" to describe you as that does come with the connotations of you being either religiously jewish or secular, aka non practicing but culturally jewish, so specificity is nice, but I also wouldn't say that you aren't jewish in any capacity as that is blatantly false. If you took a dna test, roughly half of your DNA would be jewish (give or take as you might not have inherented generically exactly 50% jewish dna as dna and genetics is more complicated than an easy split).

Some other people I posed your query to would say is that you would be best considering yourself someone with jewish heritage/ancestors, because you do believe in Jesus.

The reason why I think jewish on your dad's side fits you a lot better than saying jewish heritage is people who usually say they have jewish heritage are people who like their great grandparent was jewish but converted to Christianity and their grandparents, parents and themselves never practiced judaism, both religion wise and culture wise. But that's just purely my experience with what I have seen.

I do understand why some jews would be hesitant with you calling yourself jewish as there are people who have jewish heritage either with one parent or a grandparent who act like an authority on everything jewish as well as just caution surronding messianic jews in general, but again like I've said, you don't give that vibe.

It honestly your choice and does depend on how heavily you want to associate with jewish culture as well as how much jewish culture you partake in. I will say thought that you shouldn't really mix jewish prayers with Christianity, but again, that's not the vibe I get from you.

If you do want to make a tumblr, I would recommend that you specify in your bio or pinned post that you are ethnically jewish or have jewish heritage and are Christian. Just so people are aware and don't assume you are messianic lol.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Hello!

If you'd like to share, I'm curious about what your ideas were about:

"The Agreste's aquiring the miraculous is far more morally complex, makes sense, and was not done for explicitly selfish reasons"

(really liked your reverse crush set-up (￣︶￣) )

(Post that spawned this ask)

There are so many ways to do this, but I personally like the idea that Fu had nothing to do with the miraculous going missing because there was no real reason to do that in canon. Yes, it made Fu paranoid, but the show keeps insisting that paranoia is good and Su Han has basically the same rules that Fu did, so this is just a needless complication. I don't think anything would change if Fu was a fully realized guardian. I don't want the guardian order to be a thing, though. There's just a single guardian.

With that in mind, somewhere along the line, the holders of the peacock and the butterfly went rogue. In the resulting fight, the peacock got damaged by whoever was wielding the black cat because that should be the only way to damage a miraculous. None of this drop it and it breaks BS. In spite of the damage, the peacock and the butterfly escaped. They've been missing ever since and no one has even heard of them being used.

These long ago rogue holders end up being Emilie's ancestors or the ancestors of someone she gets close to or even just people she gets close to because she's nice and does stuff with the elderly. Whatever the path, it leads to Emilie getting her hands on the miraculous. You could even match canon and replace the rings with the miraculous since canon went the family heirloom route already. The setup is there!

If we keep the good Emilie read that canon so clearly wants us to have, then we can have Emilie become a world traveler specifically because she wants to figure out how to fix the peacock. She uses her wealth to go all over the place, looking for clues on the guardian, but without the guardian order, there's no specific place to look. On these travels she meets Gabriel and they end up getting married. Gabriel enjoys traveling with her and helping her in her quest, but it's just a thing they do on the side. This keeps the world traveler element and explains how these two know about the miraculous since they no longer need to magically find out about the miraculous on their own AND KNOW WHERE TO FIND THEM???

Mini rant time: the fact that Gabriel, Nathalie, and Emilie were able to successfully find the miraculous is such total BS. They weren't lost in the ruins of the guardian temple. They were lost while Fu was running away! How would they even begin to know where to look unless Fu told them? Even then, he dropped them into an open cavern! That's like finding a needle in a haystack. And why did they find the miraculous, but not Feast? Wouldn't they be in the same location? It actually makes more sense for them to find Feast as an indicator that this is the right spot since it's so much bigger! None of this makes sense. As an amature historian who knows the basics of how archelogy works, this plot point infuriates me. It's so dumb.

Anyway, somewhere along the line, a situation pops up where Emilie is forced to use the peacock even though she knows the consequences because she should ABSOLUTELY KNOW THE CONSEQUENCES!!! I do not believe for a second that Nooroo didn't warn them. I could possibly buy Dussu being too out of it, but then that raises questions about where Nooroo was and there's no good answer to that. It's nonsense. Emilie not knowing is a copout and so lame! It ruins all the drama of her using the peacock. If her getting sick was an accident then just give her cancer or something.

Why she uses the peacock is up to you. Have Adrien be sick and she picks saving her son over a long life. Have her and Gabriel get into trouble on their travels and so she transforms to save him (oh the guilt! Makes Gabriel's obsession make even more sense, doesn't it?) Whatever you choice, make sure it's not explicitly selfish and you've got a wonderful complex situation where Emilie's death really wasn't deserved and Gabriel's obsession truly feels like a man trying to right a wrong and not like an egomaniac trying to stop the consequences of his own bad actions, which is one of the main reason I keep saying I like good Emilie. The story is so much more interesting to me if Emilie is good. It doesn't justify Gabriel's actions, but it makes them more compelling. Canon went the most boring route possible for this backstory and I hate it.

[feminismisstillahatemovement]

What are your thoughts on porn? I know it's something feminists disagree about so I was curious where you stand

I've answered this a number of times before, and I always end up upsetting both 'sides' of the debate.

I guess my position is that it's not ideal, because its presence just intensifies the loneliness and isolation of the modern world and the breakdown of deep connection between the sexes.

On the other hand, it's something that has always been with us in some form, as it is really just people thinking and writing about and depicting sex, which seems to me a perfectly natural flowering of our perfectly natural obsession with sex's hold on us as a species. It's become a societal 'problem' of some sort really only because of recent massive advances in technology; first the mass-produced porn mags and movies of the last century, and now the far-more constant presence accompanying the rise of the internet. Before that, it wasn't really possible to live a life constantly distracted and titillated by watching other people making the beast with two backs for your pleasure 24 hours a day, 7 days a week: we were all too busy worrying if the sheep in the top field had gotten out or whether the mineshaft we were in was going to collapse again today.

So my general thoughts on the matter, which won't satisfy anyone reading this, tend to be that, to improve whatever is detrimental about the present situation, we should be looking for ways to fix the pain, sadness and meaninglessness of most people's lives that make so many give up, retreat and hide from the complicated horrors of the world in fantasy and dopamine hits, and instead promote at every turn deep, happy, loving, supportive and fulfilling connections with others, so that the 2D facsimiles of porn and all the other distractions of TV and consumerism and the internet and social media hatemobs and gossip mags and erotica and other forms of escapism no longer seem so worthwhile and fulfilling as real life.

I told you you wouldn't like it. But I'm right.

[crownmemes]

Detective Sentences, Vol. 16

(Sentences from various sources for detectives and/or muses that like to solve mysteries. Adjust phrasing where needed)

"I thought you hated the police?"

"So many people think that when you're exposed to death and suffering every day, you become immune. It's quite the opposite."

"The way I look at it, he wouldn't be trying to stop us if what we were doing wasn't threatening to him, and he wouldn't be threatened if he wasn't vulnerable."

"What makes you think you're such a catch? A scruffy copper who only comes home when he feels like it?"

"Is there a mystery here? Yes. Will there always be unanswered questions? Most likely. Sometimes that happens, and when it does, you just need to learn how to live with it and move on."

"You were right; it's not like the books."

"Would you care to be a little more specific?"

"You're cutting corners! You're threatening witnesses, and you're going to get yourself into trouble!"

"You have a very individual approach to detection, but we're all part of a team, and teamwork's what gets us results!"

"We all come out of this a lot less human than we went in."

"For once in your life, admit that you are up against something bigger than you!"

"Your attention span might be very short, but I need it all right now."

"Is this a real case, or one of those imaginary cases that happen when you’re bored?"

"In police training, you learn how to deal with every situation, but I think I must have been sick on this day."

"Bravery's good news. It's got to be maximised."

"You can read people. You understand them."

"You know, it'd have been a lot easier if you'd come clean when we first spoke to you."

"I do hope that you will be able to remember a few things. I do tend to come down rather heavily on people who are holding things back."

"You are not the first who has come to seduce me with some irresistible case."

"I just made a few mistakes tonight that made me question whether I should be a cop at all, you know?"

"Okay, bear with me here because some people sometimes consider my thought processes complicated."

"The truth can be so very hard to determine, but in this case, the truth seems very hard to deny."

"Are you going to read me my rights?"

"From the state of her face, there must have been blood everywhere - but as you can see, the place is immaculate. No blood, no mess. Everything in its place. He must have tidied up after himself."

"When you entered, I noted your shirt hadn't been pressed; you hadn't shaved in quite some time. I extrapolated you were a person for whom detail is not a major concern."

"Once you've got the smell of what human beings do to each other in your nostrils, you'll never get rid of it."

"Don't you dare play the innocent with me!"

"Eventually, you get a case, and you know it is the last one you can stomach and still know your soul."

[flilisskywalker]

I guess what keeps me up at night is asking what's the point of Sabine's search for Ezra, like... as an emotional arc.

(This text is an adaptation of the thread I wrote on Twitter)

Because when I rewatch the fourth season of Rebels, I get the impression that they are paired together in many episodes as a way to prepare us for a hurtful goodbye between the two at the end of the show, which is to me the same reason why they decided to go heavy on confirming Kanan and Hera's romance because they knew he was going to die.

I don't really know if the parallels between Sabezra and Kanera are intentional considering how Filoni talks about the former, but Ezra does become Kanan (even has a whole stretch arms sacrifice) and Sabine does become Hera (Deep grief for losing him) and not in a "The kid got this from his/her parent." sense, but in the sense of that the situation is really similar, which is interesting because it wasn't like this originally.

Ahsoka made Sabine's grief towards Ezra not being by her side all the time a thing.

Instead of simply letting Sabine's mission be about bringing Ezra home like in the original animated epilogue, Filoni complicates things a little bit by implying that Sabine is not doing this for Ezra, but for herself. Beyond that, almost every character notices how devoted she is to him and it even confuses some of them.

Thrawn, for example, has studied Sabine. He is well aware that Ezra is her compatriot and friend and yet... he is confused by her choice. Sabine states "You wouldn't understand." and then accepts to be stranded on Peridea just to see Ezra again. Once she found him and even after hearing he wants to get home, she did not say a word about Thrawn being his only ticket home. Instead, she simply enjoys time with him.

If you know Sabine Wren, you know that she would never ignore a huge Imperial threat and put in danger people like Hera, who is definitely an older sister type of role model to her, or feel that Ezra is the only family she has, so I do understand why people think she is very distant from the original show.

There might be a reason for all of this. A reason that I'm not sure Filoni wants to dive into, but the way he's been writing Sabine, the vagueness every time Ezra is the conversation's topic, feels like she has fallen in love with him during his absence and honestly? This makes far more sense than any other explanation.

We've seen in Star Wars before, fiction in general, that love is blind. Sabine's focus on finding Ezra is described by Baylan as something that blinds her. Not only this would justify her out of character attitude, but also the parallels with Kanan and Hera.

Star Wars live-action TV shows this year have been interesting to decode. In both The Mandalorian season 3 and Ahsoka season 1, there's a lot of subtle implications that characters want to build a life with somebody.

Mando does this in Chapter 22 - Guns For Hire, an episode surrounded by romantic love, where a droid bartender tells Din and Bo that human life is so short and then they look at each other. They want to be together, but that has not been verbalized yet. It is still very much in the subconscious.

Ahsoka does it in Part 7 - Dreams and Madness, by showing Sabine's lack of urgency regarding Thrawn and simply enjoying Ezra's company. It really implies that this was what her mission was all about: Be with Ezra. Her real desire is build a life with him, but that desire is still in the subconscious.

I believe Favreau knows all of that when it comes to Din and Bo.

BUT DOES FILONI KNOW THAT WHEN IT COMES TO SABINE AND EZRA?

[miss0atae]

Random Thoughts about Love Sick 2024 (EP 6): Misunderstandings and Teenagers' expectations of love.

Today, we got the beach episode you expect from any Thai BL . In between we also saw how other characters are coping with the difficulties and fun time you can get during teen-hood. The episodes are quite long so you get to see many things, but I feel it wouldn't work any other way because there is a very large cast for this series. It's the only way to give enough screen-time to everyone (I'll be more than ready for Perfect 10 Liners this way).

This episode wasn't really centered around Phun and Noh even if they got several scenes together. What I mean is that nothing really changed for them in this episode. They are still stuck in the same stage where they both admit they care for the other one, but they can't do anything about that. Phun is still with Aim because he also care for her and he still gets jealous when he see Noh interacting with other people who he know could flirt with him (Yuri or Earn). Noh is also experimenting jealousy because he saw Aim admitting her feelings for someone else and he doesn't know what it could change for her relationship with Phun. It will get messy I think, but I hope in the end they will learn what they really want.

Talking about Aim, I felt quite sad for her in this episode. She crafted this trip at the beach to be able to see Li/Lee, but nothing changed. She told her again that she likes her, but something happened in the past and we don't have enough information. Li/Lee isn't with Aim and Aim is still hurt by this fact. I hope they will get to really talk in the coming episode (ending up together at the end of the series would be great too). She is also pressured by her mom to keep doing her influencer's job and she doesn't seem to find a real joy of doing this. The series shows also how some people feel free to voice their negative/unwanted opinion of influencers out loud and doesn't really respect them as human being. Aim is quite young and we know this type of fame can be damaging. She must also be struggling with her identity/orientation.

Even if the series is mostly showing queer relationship, I liked how they also decided to tackle on the pressure women can have in heterosexual relationship. I think it was interesting to see how Yuri felt like she had to "do it" with Noh. It also showed how men can be as lost as women in this type of situation. I don't know enough about this to really talk about it properly. I would say the series tried to show bias around gender role and how hurtful it can be.

I also want to add that Noh saw Aim and Li/Lee's conversation and he filmed it. I wish he didn't do it. It never ends well. I think he will probably talk about that with Grace because he is lost and he needs someone to help him understand. Obviously he can't really talk about it with Phun. In addition, he may not feel like talking to Ohm because it would need for him to explain his complicated relationship with Phun. I just hope he won't do something stupid like post the video online. It doesn't look like something he would do, but we never know. I still want to trust him because I really appreciate him as a character. However, no human is perfect. He wouldn't be an interesting character if he didn't have weakness.

Of course, we also get to see more about Ohm and Mick. I wonder why Ohm is so harsh to Mick. He is supposed to be his mentor, but I feel like he doesn't exactly know how he should act. I agree that "you should know yourself the best", but it seems a bit laughable that a teenager would say that and doesn't give room for "learning". Even adults don't know who they really are and it takes more time for some people to really discover it. He was acting like if Mick can't run and fail at doing this simple task, he would fail in every other situations in his life. I doubt Ohm knows himself so well. He is still young and things in life will probably impact his views and change them. Maybe he is just faking it like we all do and it's just teenager's bravado.

I also already talked about how I felt like Per and Mawin had a weird relationship dynamic. In the previous episode, it was like they were already together, but couldn't be out, but now it seems like Per is doing something for Mawin's family and he must not "go soft" on him. My guess is that Mawin's family knows he has feelings for men and mostly for Per, but they don't accept it. I don't know what they expect from Per, but I think it's a little too much to ask a teenager to do anything about it. In the previous episode they were really cute to each other and this time Per rejected Mawin and asked him to go home. I hope the next episodes will give us more clues about what is going on.

Finally, we have Phong/Pong and Ngor. I don't know why, but I really like them. They have the least screen time among all the other characters, but there is something compelling about their story. I can't wait to see more of them.

Finally, at the end of the episode, Earn is here again. He wasn't at the beach so we didn't see him a lot, but now we're back at the school and Earn is still set on flirting with Noh and winning his heart. It also probably mean we'll see more of Pete too.

I already can't wait for next episode!

[intertexts]

@stuck-in-the-ghost-zone WOE. NHW TRIGGER EVENTS BE UPON YOU.

-dakota was young-- maybe a bit older than in canon-- & out in the city with his parents when they all got caught in the collateral of an attack by some member of the slaughterhouse 9 (my impulse is siberian or one of the other messy ones) & dakota got lost and separated from them. the emotional state associated with his trigger isn't really even the horror of finding what was left of them. it was before that-- the sudden terror and panic and desperation of losing them and searching for them and not being able to find them in the crowded, violent packed rush to get away. he was up close to the fight when the heroes got there because he wouldn't leave without his parents (he's like. nine years old!! of course he won't :( ), close enough to be sprayed with hot blood, & saw firsthand the wanton violence and gore of it all & was half terrified because of it & also because he just saw her gut someone like cutting through soft butter. and he can't find his parents. that bone deep terror of oh, i'm *alone* & knowing that something dreadful is happening and you're not there and you don't even know where it is or where to be but you feel it in your gut. there isn't a thing in the world he could do to find them or help anyone. that was it. & also the other big part of it is how fucking sudden and out of nowhere it was. one minute you're having an awesome afternoon n the next minute it's a waking nightmare.

--virion saw his father betray the rest of his team in cold blood. he grew up around capes-- his parents both headed the independent team the greats, & the rest of them were always around the house n helped raise virion his whole life. he had so many cool aunts and uncles who did awesome hero work with his parents!! think new wave if it wasn't a torment nexus. he was never allowed out with them, except on patrol sometimes, but he never really had a burning desire to be a cape? he enjoyed being on the other side of it-- they all taught him how to shoot and fight hand-to-hand and resist mind shit & all of the unpowered parahuman response type shit, everything they knew so he could take care of himself. it was good. eventually he started sneaking out to watch their fights & shit, see what they do and how they do it. as much as he didn't want to be a cape, he couldn't just sit and do nothing! the last fight he snuck out to watch was the final confrontation between them and the real, dangerous warlord embedded deep into their city-- the lich. he shouldn't have come. it was so dangerous. they'd have been so mad. he saw their big confrontation and all the bluster and everything. saw his dad shrug and apologize to their family and toss down his weapons. it was a trap, of course, and the first time virion ever wished he had powers, realized how fucking useless his pistol and taser and flares were useless in this situation. he watch, helpless, as they all were quickly and brutally and unceremoniously killed, so efficient that the lich must have studied them for a very long time. or had inside information. he triggered from the bubbling cocktail of visceral betrayal and horror and wanting, above all, to have the power to do something, anything to help his family-- wishing, for the first time, that he was like them, and being frozen powerless.

--william is a bit more complicated (partly bc i want to learn more about deadwood and double check that all my assumptions r correct) but he triggered from the isolation. living somewhere that hated him, where it felt like there were threats in every tree, every aisle of the ancient grocery store, always something awful and malevolent behind him. & the social isolation too, especially. being alone and mostly friendless and wanting to get out, not sure if the awful things he's seeing are real or not, if he's just irreparably fucked in the head or he's living in hell, or what. everyone thinking he's fucking crazy. that always being the only thing he's ever known. anyway. he fell. i still have ambiguous thoughts as to the intentionality of it, as in canon. he didn't die, here, though. just-- mostly died. landed fucked up, bone poking out where it shouldn't and stuff, couldn't move. lay there for hours, knowing that no one would come, knowing that deadwood was still fucking toying with him even as he lay numb and in excruciating pain and bleeding out. anyway he triggered when they found him. <3 & yes it is extremely important that it was when they found him, not before. do u get what i mean?

[ominous-feychild]

CHARACTER INTRO:

RISING FROM THE ASHES

SAMMY BARDALES

(half-jokingly) “That was all part of the plan to make you think that was the real plan.” - Sammy Bardales

Once a homeless boy of dubious origin in the capital city of Roucon, Kihroin, Sammy was recruited into the prestigious Lotus academy after displaying his prodigious healing magic during the relief efforts of Vemor.

Kieran Caron—founder and headmaster of the Academy—personally recruited Sammy following his aid in Vemor, covering for the expenses related to his attendance, helping him adjust to life off of the streets, and giving him the last name and identity of “Bardales”.

“Sammy Bardales” is supposedly the son of Maya Bardales, an ex-Cirranian coliseum healer who escaped the country with her son, hid within Roucon to avoid re-discovery, and eventually died due to health complications arisen from the plague.

Except... Maya Bardales never existed.

But there's now a lot of paperwork suggesting otherwise.

In Caron's words, he helped Sammy because “regardless of his reasons of doing so... Sammy carried out a highly selfless act to his own detriment. He's the exact kind of person Caron wants attending his academy—and Sammy otherwise wouldn't have the chance to. Thus, Caron's giving it to him.”

So, that leaves reality: who is the REAL Sammy?

Caron doesn't know, and Sammy refuses to tell.

It's left an awkward tension between the two, but Sammy has still been allowed into the academy and given the many advantages he needed to start his life there.

All he needs is to keep the truth hidden.

Convenient.

Because that's something he's very good at doing.

In Other Words...

Sammy is a fifteen-year-old once-homeless boy with near-miraculous Life magic that defies well-established arcane laws.

At the beginning of the story, Sammy's magical energy essence levels “don't match” the strength of magic he uses, he was near-unremarkable to even Caron's trained arcane eye, and he's able to accomplish incredible feats of magic with little to no training.

Sammy was snatched up by Caron and recruited into the academy to help him expand upon his magical feats and (hopefully) eventually use his skills for far greater goods than growing and selling weed on the streets.

... because that was exactly what Sammy did prior to meeting Caron.

Running from city to town to city across Kihroin, working odd jobs and selling pot until he was close to discovery. Then running off to the next.

Although he refuses to voice it, Sammy feels a lot of guilt for the life he lived prior to his academy days. He hid his magic—terrified of others discovering it for similarly-concealed reasons—and refused to help anyone else beyond life-threatening situations... where he then escaped before they could be traced back to him.

He could've done so much good, but he didn't.

Selfishly.

A fact that's been slowly bothering him more and more as the years go by where he does nothing.

So, when he heard of the disaster at Vemor—and that the palace and academy were sending healers for aid—he had to help, right?

Right?

Appearance

Sammy is a Cirranian (Fantasy!Latino), 4'8 (142cm) fifteen-year-old boy who appears to be thirteen at most.

He has tan skin; short, curly brown hair; freckles; and heterochromic eyes—one pale blue and the other dark brown.

He tends to carry an air of joking arrogance, awkward amusement, or complete and utter insecurity depending on his current “act”.

Lastly, Sammy can usually be found wearing hoodies regardless of the temperature, overly-casual clothing (even in formal situations), and crawling with plants. Plants naturally grow over him no matter how often he removes them... or whether or not he had any semblance of plant life around him prior.

It's worse with dirt.

Existence, does Sammy hate dirt.

Personality & Motives

Sammy is a capital-L Liar, a manipulator who's adept at reading people, crowds, and situations and then turning them into his advantage.

Before joining the academy, Sammy used his young age and even-younger apparent age to navigate around social situations, make people underestimate him, and run away at any moment he felt the tables turning on him.

Sammy is a major control freak, terrified of losing control of a situation, and a noted-even-by-Caron flight risk—all it takes is for him to think he's lost, and he'll run away... not even to fight another day.

Just... to run away.

But it's different at the academy: under his newfound false identity—and after the years it's been since—surely he doesn't have to keep running?

He's no longer committing crimes, he's no longer refusing to help others so he can remain hidden, and he's able to use the countless people-skills he developed over the years for good.

Sammy often hides his sharp eye and social savviness behind a joking, silly, and/or insecure persona, where he tries to make people underestimate him and think he's less competent than he is.

Despite the manipulation that's marked so much of his life, Sammy wants to be a good person.

He really, really does.

He's just terrified of things catching up to him.

Rising From The Ashes Taglist:

@honeybewrites @the-golden-comet @illarian-rambling @ashirisu @urnumber1star

@the-letterbox-archives @48lexr @aalinaaaaaa @thecomfywriter @an-indecisive-nerd

@leahnardo-da-veggie @world-of-iridensia

Introductory Taglist:

@paeliae-occasionally @pluppsauthor @thelovelymachinery

(request to be added to the permanent taglist if you'd like to be! You will be dropped after a few introductory posts!)

Dividers made by @saradika!

[embraceyourdestiny]

From Travis's perspective, Laura is a legal adult (or only a few months shy, seeing as she and Max are applying to colleges and allowed to make a 500+ mile roadtrip unsupervised) who deliberately ignored his attempt to keep her safe (leading to him having to deal with the fallout of putting a bullet in his brother), shot him, and then murdered an innocent child while trying to kill a different member of his family. All to release her boyfriend from a curse he wouldn't have had, if they'd done as Travis told them two months ago.

Not saying that I think he was justified in killing her, just that I can see why he snapped, especially since violence is what he grew up with.

Ehhhhhhhhh I don’t know. That’s definitely his perspective and makes sense in a point A to point B perspective but. He hated his family (even if he did love them), he was intentionally fucking with max and Laura, lying, and kidnapped them. Truth be told there’s not “right” person in this situation, the entire thing is a cluster fuck and complicated on purpose. Still, Laura is justified. knowing your attacker’s sob story doesn’t suddenly magically make it okay. Not that you’re saying that, I just mean that regardless with or without the info what he did was fucked up and it’s crazy that he was rageful at her. He also planned to kill her when she escaped, before the actual showdown and murder when she was just a victim. Travis isn’t a hero even in his best ending. To be honest, Laura isn’t really either. No one “wins” in the quarry. You just gotta do what you can to survive. In a sense, that’s what Travis did too. She was a threat to his family. There’s no excuse for anyone’s actions, the bottom line of the story is honestly, what would you do to survive? What’s your justification for all this dark shit in this ugly world? All the characters have something to live with even if they all live. So, is your family’s life more important, or the life of innocents? That’s why Travis can either kill his entire family or not. He decides based on Laura’s actions if it’s all worth it and with your play you can decide no it’s not, or yes it is. The competing perspectives is what makes the quarry so cool and complicated. It’s truly just a big fuck up all the way around and I love it so much. Still think it’s ridiculous to murder someone over all that though lol. There’s only a hand full of scenarios where you can actively choose to murder someone in the quarry and I don’t think that’s for naught and the severity and horror of cold blooded murder (from humans and from not) is definitely a tool used in the quarry’s narrative. Idk. The quarry’s just cool man.

Also idk if “legal adult” is really on anyone’s minds outside of the minds of people on tumblr, in the real world you’re either a kid or an adult to a lot of people and the fact Travis calls her a stupid girl I think it’s clear he sees her as a kid and that’s why they develop a kinship because she, like many of the people Travis failed, should be protected from his family. (Travis has a lot of guilt regardless of how the story goes down and that plays into it very much honestly)

And idk. I do feel like this is blaming Laura wayyyy too hard. Just like Jacob laura had no way knowing this was gonna happen. Like Laura points out Travis’ fault is he isn’t forthcoming with information and that puts them all at jeopardy (*sits Laura down to show max’s transformation, Laura: jeez! You could just said…, by this point Laura is a little more aware of what’s going on and does see Travis’ kind potential and that he’s not just doing this out of malice). It’s a crazy situation honestly but he easily could’ve convinced max and Laura “hey this shit is fucked up and you have no idea what you’ve stepped in” and they could a worked together. (At least explain it after a couple weeks. Two months? WTF??) Like, he does, kinda, but he’s so vague even after narratively we the audience know what’s going on that if you were Laura in the situation you wouldn’t just be trusting this fucking guy that kidnapped you ya know? He is dangerous. Laura doesn’t know what he’s gonna do. It makes complete sense how hostile you can play her. But in my head adding all that up, it’s crazy he wanted to kill her because she escaped. Like I know she shot him (lol) but he comes back perfectly fine in chapter 9 so whys he butthurt lmao 😭 I’m sure there’s some stuff missing because of the game’s cuts but still like I said he decides to kill her after escaping and I think he’s a little tender over it considering he kidnapped them and is in some way responsible for max getting bit because he didn’t warn them and even if he had warned them properly he’s still at fault for pussyfooting with his family’s curse which Constance calls him out for.

Ya know why I mean?

Travis is a flawed guy. Period. He’s interesting. It’s why so many people like him. I think it’s fair to be like lmao about him sometimes

Edit: Oh I kinda missed the important part that the context to get Travis to kill you is to simply play Laura resistant and fierce to her attacker and Travis decides this bitch is annoying and hates her THAT bad over it , it’s so petty it’s funny honestly 😭

[doloresdisparue]

i just finished chapter 24.... kinda in shock.... i have so many thoughts about charlotte and who she was as a character i should make a post when i can better organize them but the gist of it is something like how (if we are to trust H.H.'s narration) she constantly belittles her daughter and doesn't know how to connect with her and yet when she catches a glimpse of H.H.'s true personality doesn't hesitate to take steps to protect her daughter, like with the way she was shown to be so infatuated with H.H. before combined with the disregard for her daughter's existence it could've easily gone the very sour and horrible way it sometimes does in real life where partners shield and enable abusers but it wouldn't have, not if she had lived and we (and delores) were robbed of a world where charlotte started a new life for the two of them... i have a feeling that i will be thinking about her character for a long time...

I'm SO sad more people don't appreciate Charlottes character. She may not have been a good mother to Dolly most of the time but she was also a single mother in the 40s who lost both her husband and her very young son. A lot of people overlook Dollys brother and while that may not be an excuse to be so cold and harsh with Dolly it does explain it to a degree imo. She was struggling immensely, propbably depressed and as far as we know didn't have any friends. She moved to Ramsdale not that long ago and she might have had to move because the house in Ramsdale was left by Harolds mother for all of them and with his death she might not have been able to afford their living situation in Pisky(sp?) anymore at some point. And thats before the added struggle of Dolly entering puberty at which point theres always fighting even without the pre-existing trauma.

But despite all her struggles and complicated feelings towards Dolly she put her foot down when it counted. She did love Dolly and loved her more than she loved Humbert and the life and social status he could give her if she looked away and let him have his way with Dolly.

And thats only if we trust his framing of Charlottes death being an accident (which is dubious and doesn't even hold up for the entirety of the novel). He also deliberately omits (and draws attention to that omission) what he said to Charlotte before her death so you could make an easy case that she may have stood up to him even more than he lets us know.

She is a complex character and I wish more people saw past the caricature Humbert draws of her for most of the novel.

[viviennevermillion]

Benjamin Linus Trivia Headcanons

should i start writing for this fandom? would i get an audience from like, the 10 active lost blogs on tumblr.com? i can do reader-inserts and general stuff. have some random ben headcanons that live rent-free in my brain

warnings: some angst, mentions of child abuse (all my homies hate roger linus)

Ben learned to cook when he was still a kid. Roger didn't have a lot of interest in cooking anything and was probably fine living off microwaveable DHARMA meals and dry cereal. Ben often stayed over at Annie's house for dinner and learned early on how to manipulate conversations so they'd end with the adults giving him food or letting him stay for lunch or dinner because aside from that he didn't really get a lot of warm meals. Sandwiches were one of the first things he learned to make but it quickly evolved into complicated meals. He only ever cooked when his father was at work so Roger wouldn't demand to have some of the food as well and reprimand him if it wasn't to his liking. Ben eventually taught Alex how to cook.

Ben had the typical abused kid habit of hoarding stuff under his bed and wherever he could best hide his possessions in his room because he feared his father wouldn't approve of them or destroy them when he was drunk and enraged by a minor inconvenience.

This became a habit that continued way into adulthood. A lot of his drawers have secret compartment where he keeps items that aren't necessarily secret or vital to his plans but just a little more valuable to him than everything else he owns.

Ben became so used to lying as his default that after he becomes Hurley's #2 he has to actively correct himself. Hurley would ask him a question and Ben's immediate response is to lie before he goes "oh wait hold on-" and then says the truth.

After Alex dies, everytime he's in mortal danger he's struggling with the thought that now no one's going to remember the real him or hardly anything about him that wasn't based on a lie if he died

His favorite songs are "Uptown Girl" by Billy Joel and "New York, New York" by Frank Sinatra.

Has gone to Jacob's cabin at least once to rant about how much he thinks Goodwin sucks

One of those people who brush their teeth before breakfast

The thought that Jacob might not actually exist is definitely something that has occurred in Ben's mind and he tried to push that idea away everytime it creeped up on him.

Worst hay fever known to man. Is fine on the island but everytime he leaves it in spring or summer he has to pop 2 allergy pills a day to function normally

Has these cute little cat sneezes. People have definitely tried not to laugh about it in his presence.

He has never been held as a kid and it's very noticeable

Ben has been in many situations where his life was in danger but two of them include choking on cereal and attempting to teach himself how to drive after Roger refused to do it

Has never been drunk. Only over his dead body would he put himself into a situation where he's at risk of spilling all his secrets in an intoxicated state.

The music that plays in the bear cage when you earn a fish biscuit doesn't actually come from the DHARMA Initiative; it isn't in the Hydra Orientation video even though there's sound when they activate that mechanism. Ben added that music in retrospect for his own personal amusement. Definitely sat in the surveillance room snickering to himself whenever Sawyer got a fish biscuit.

He tried to draw an identikit of Jacob solely based on Richard's descriptions on more than one occasion.

[artsycrapfromsai]

What's been your favorite character arc for Amaryllis while you've played her?

Hewwo!

Hmm... That's a toughie. its hard to choose!

💕 one of them is about her and this Inquisition, who are all anti magic and magical creatures. They tend to just go and kill anything touched by it, including Brightmaids like Amy.

And that kinda traumatizes her a little, because she grew up learning that these people exist, and even having them hunt her down as a child, but the way these people kill those like her without any remorse and take horns and such as trophies - they don't see her as a person.

And it kinda eats at her for a while, and makes her depressed at some moments, because of that feeling of being looked at as just an inhuman thing to destroy just because she exists

But after some time, battles won, and experience, she gains more confidence and self righteous anger and is able to push past those feelings and fight/kill the man mainly responsible for them (alongside her compsnions, who experienced similar)

So that was really satisfying, bc Amy spent so much of her life hidden from this threat and becoming strong enough to defend herself, and then truly faced that uncaring evil for the first time, and like. Nothing can really prepare you for that, even when you try. But she got past it and came out the other end satisfied with herself and her actions and her own abilities

💕 another favorite of mine is Amy in regards to Percy. Because she and him were growing closer and closer- they initially started out antagonist at worst, neutral at best. But then they become friends, and maybe something more

And that's when Percival betrays the group, and sends them into the void (something he deeply regrets, which is something he never does. It wasn't a plan for them, but someone else, and he knew the risk, but went through with it anyway, and ended up with the deepest regret of his life)

And for Amy and co., Time is passing, years go by, and when they finally return to Percy and the others, time hasn't passed there.

So it's basically still right after that betrayal

And Amy spends a lot of those years away thinking about it, why it happened (it was pre- determined because the world would end otherwise), how it happened, if she should still trust him, why she still cared about him, why it hurt so much- thinking through all these scenarios about it, and agonizing about it, because she's the only person who actually got to know Percy as a person, because he hid himself from everyone else

In the end, she couldn't gain any sort of conclusion until she returned. And she wouldn't even know if the Percival she returned to would the same one she got to know and get close to, because another Percival from another timeline (Percy B) asked her to give his memories to this Percival (Percy A), because they explain all about the way his life has been manipulated and for what purpose and why.

But those memories would also change him into someone else with both sets of memories (Percy C), and there was a very real chance that her friend might have just vanished into a completely different person, and she was terrified about that

It was all a really complicated situation, with so many conflicting emotions (sadness, betrayal, regret, affection, yearning, fear...), where Amy was hurt by a man she cared about, but she finds out it wasn't entirely his decision, but she might not even have a chance to talk with him before she lost him again

That was her first real experience with betrayal and complicated feelings like that, and it was really fun to play with and explore those emotions.

In the end, Amy decided that while she loved Percy, it's his choice to choose who he'll become, and she'll respect that, bc everything else in his life has been someone else's choice.

But she still needed a genuine apology from him for what he did, because she wasn't just going to accept and forgive and move on. She deserved an apology and proof he regretted his actions and that he meant it- and he gave her that by sacrificing his hand to save her from being killed. No hesitation, it was her life or his hand, and it was an easy choice to make. And he further proved it by saying that he doesn't mourn losing the hand that hurt her so badly.

Them getting together was a really long and complicated character arc for both, and it was really fun to play with those deep and painful emotions - but I'm just glad they're together now and they can have fun, silly relationship stuff now lol

[isfjmel-phleg]

Why I like it: Mike and Psmith

It's Psmith Pseptember! I regret I haven't arranged anything formal because I have too many projects already and I feel like I ran out of intelligent things to say about this series years ago. (Apparently if you do a thesis on something you love, you will get burned out on it indefinitely. Rude.)

However: I am not an Intelligent Things To Say vending machine and I shouldn't expect myself to be. So I'm going to keep it psimple and just gush a bit on every Psunday (except this time, on Monday, because I ran out of steam yesterday, sorry) in Pseptember about why I like these books, one by one. At least, that's the intention.

I read Mike and Psmith because I wanted to get into Wodehouse, who had been recommended to me. I didn't know where to start, got the impression that the Psmith series was one of his early things, and figured I should start from the beginning. I was in my first year of community college and I interlibrary-loaned Mike and Psmith and I loved it.

The humor got my attention first, as is usually the case with Wodehouse. The book is very approachable, even for a twenty-first-century American woman with no background in cricket or Edwardian public school, because it's utterly hilarious. The narration, the situations, pretty much every word out of Psmith's mouth--it's all brilliant. Humor can be a means to get an audience invested; I probably wouldn't have loved Mike and Psmith as much if the narrative had taken them and everything else with complete seriousness. In fact, Mike and Psmith would probably be a lot less likable if they had been earnestly angsty and sullen throughout. And furthermore, because of the humor, the more dramatic parts take on especial poignancy because of the contrast in tone.

But I fell in love with the book because of the characters. Psmith is so delightfully audacious. He says and does things that probably no one in real life could pull off but that he can through sheer self-confidence and indifference to any social norms he finds inconvenient. For someone like me, that was a refreshing escape to read about. Psmith stands out for his wit and unconventionality, but what promotes him from merely amusing to outright likeable is his capacity for caring about others and the tension between this admirable trait which he nonetheless endeavors to hide and his public persona of detached selfishness. He's complicated. But ultimately good. Meanwhile, Mike isn't really the nonentity that many readers dismiss him as, the ordinary foil to Psmith's exceptionality. He's not highly complex, but he doesn't need to be--he's real and relatable in a way that Psmith cannot be. The reader may daydream about what it would be like to be Psmith but may be more likely to see themselves in Mike (prodigious cricket talent notwithstanding). He's a believable teenager, caught up in the Supreme Tragedy of having to give up a dream as a consequence of his own poor choices, surly and belligerent at times, bad at thinking things through, but at the same time his heart is in the right place, and unlike Psmith, he is unself-conscious about it. He neither seeks praise or tries to conceal; he simply acts on his natural compassion for anyone in distress, even if it puts him out. He and Psmith are so alike and so different, and their friendship makes total sense.

The book was written primarily to be entertaining. Wodehouse was not trying to make a statement. I'm sure it has No Allegorical Significance whatsoever. But that doesn't mean that it doesn't have anything worth saying. Wodehouse's previous school stories, set in the same universe, had a more traditional public-school worldview. In these stories, the school was a community with its own particular values and code, which were not to be questioned. Those who failed to live up the community's standards--such as shunning sports--were to be viewed with suspicion and ostracized and must conform in order to finally gain acceptance. Mike and Psmith fit the pattern of the sports-shunning outsider, but they are presented with sympathy, and when they finally do choose to participate in cricket, it is not due to social pressure but because they conclude that it is the right thing to use their skills to help a friend in need. It's not a story about living up to the schoolboy code and restoring the arbitrary social order; it's about doing the right thing on a personal level, about the duties of one human being to another. A theme lightly treated, of course, but still something worth saying.

Anyway, this book helped me through a time in my life when I was just as annoyed with my new school as Mike ever was, and while I may not have met a real-life Psmith to help me survive it, I was still all the better for having made the acquaintance of Psmith on the page. Fictional characters are excellent companions in misfortune.