#she gets so misguided about things- she says things without actually thinking it through

[deepwoundsandfadedscars]

Sat down to have a chat with my cousin before he flies home tomorrow to his wife, just cause I was anxious that she would try to twist it against me if she talked to him first, I explained my side of what the interaction was and the blatant lies she claimed, and he's not at all surprised and in fact is already planning on getting a paralegal when he gets home to start getting her the fuck out of his life

Me last night: hmm maybe I want another tattoo, I'm going to start talking to this artist *sends message*

My cousins wife: *sends an incredibly hostile message about how I've been ignoring her and she's gone above and beyond for me trying to be supportive of me, when in reality she hasn't texted me first since November and when I text her, she's very short with me and makes no effort to continue a conversation with me*

"Yeah hi, artist? Make that three tattoos"

[tiredfox64]

Too Late? You’re Still Young!

Prior notes: DILFS! I LOVE THEM! I LITERALLY HAVE A I ❤️ DILFS SHIRT! YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE I LOVE? CONSENT! WE 👏 LOVE 👏 CONSENT👏!

Pairing: Johnny Cage (MK11) x Virgin! Afab reader

Warnings ‼️: NSFW, fingering, praising, nipple play, safe sex is sweeter, mating press, aftercare (is freaking important)

So you spent all of high school and all of college with you virginity in tact. Impressive, but it wasn’t your choice. With a sheltered home life like yours you struggled to understand the dating scene. You were too afraid to have a boyfriend since you worried you would get in trouble with your family. You never had the talk before but your hormones were a big indicator that you were missing some important information about your body. You somewhat found the solution when you placed a pillow between your legs and it felt incredible good to you.

Through Sex Ed class and word around school you figured out what you were in need of. But to get it seemed so difficult. At least now you knew your fingers were a good option.

That frustration grew in you and you couldn’t voice it out. Even telling it to your best friend Cassie felt wrong. You’re almost graduating and you still have your v card! You can’t do this anymore. Maybe it’s time to ask Cassie for advice. Even if she can’t help you maybe one of her friends can. Two of them are engaged to each other you doubt they are waiting till after marriage. Heaven knows you can’t.

══💤══╡°˖✧🦊✧˖°╞══💤══

You went over to Johnny’s mansion since you remembered Cassie was staying with him for a bit. You knocked on the door and waited patiently with an anxious look on your face. It was Johnny who opened the door.

“Hey! I haven’t seen you in a while,” He paused for a second, “Woah, what’s up with that face?”

“Hi, Mr. Cage. Is Cassie here right now?” You asked sheepishly.

“Nope, sorry. She just went out with Jacqui. But you should still come in. I’ll get you something to drink.” He invited you in.

You went inside, taking your shoes off at the entrance like a decent human being. You followed Johnny into the kitchen where you sat at the island. He gave you a glass of water which you thanked him for before he started talking.

“So what’s going on? You don’t seem to happy. Let me guess, a professor gave you a bad grade.”

He knows you too well. That could be true but not at this moment. You did smile though which is the reaction he wanted.

“No actually, it’s more of a…body issue.” You tried your best to explain it without saying it out loud.

“Ah, shark week I’m guessing? That’s why you need Cassie.”

“No! No! It’s another kind of issue that I have a hard time saying.” Your voice grew quieter the more you spoke.

Johnny stayed patient. He waited to see if you would say it yourself. You were being vague so he really didn’t understand what was going on. You sighed before continuing.

“The thing is I’m still a virgin. It’s really embarrassing. I feel so frustrated knowing that my body needs something but I either don’t know what it is or I can’t get it.” Now he understands.

He stayed silent for a bit as he thinks about what you said. He would say it’s no big deal but he’s a man with a high body count so he shouldn’t be talking. Still, he doesn’t want you feeling bad about it.

“Cassie did tell me you were a bit sheltered. But I don’t see why it’s a problem. You’re a nice and intelligent girl and I would hate for some dick to take your virginity as if it was nothing.”

“Everybody says that to me! I know what I am and I understand I need a good man to do it with. But how will I know what is considered a good man if no one tells me.” You were really expressing your frustration.

You had a point and Johnny could see that. You were at risk of being misguided. Everyone is at risk of that no matter what but you had a disadvantage. He had an idea that might work out but it seemed so stupid. Hormonal stupid. He’s been deprived for a while now and getting the chance to have some fun is really tempting right now. But he doesn’t want to take advantage of your situation. It won’t hurt to ask.

“Alright listen, how about you and me…do it. I’ll show you how it goes and what a man should be doing to you. It’s up to you. I won’t force you to do anything.” He said calmly.

You froze up and your cheeks started to feel warm. You were surprised he would suggest something like that even though you knew of his flirting habits. Was it a good idea however? He is your friend’s dad and he is way older than you. You can’t deny though that he is still good looking for his age. Older does mean more experience, right? He’s been so nice to you too so you can trust that he’s a good man. Screw it, he’s the best option!

“You wouldn’t mind doing that? I mean I do feel comfortable with you, especially since I don’t have any guy friends.”

“Of course, but only this one time. Promise me you won’t tell Cassie, right? I get it she’s your best friend and best friends tell each other everything and whatnot. But she is still my daughter and I doubt she will be happy that I banged one of her best friends.”

“I promise. She will never find out.” Better make sure of that.

He nodded before taking your hand and guiding you up the stairs. It was exciting yet nerve racking. Johnny could sensed that and squeezed your hand to tell you it’s gonna be alright. He’s gonna take good care of you.

You two walked into his bedroom. His bed was large and comfortable which helped settle your nerves. He brought you over to the bed and had you sit next to him. He may be an expert in this but he has never really dealt with a girl who was so nervous before. He better take this real slow and talk you through it.

“Alright, first things first, a man should never go right into it. Foreplay is very important. It will help make the experience better for you and prevent you from getting hurt down there.” He instructed.

You had no idea what foreplay was but you trusted Johnny enough to not asking him about it. You were right to do so since all he did at first was kiss your neck. Already that was a lot for you. Each kiss felt like a little tingle that shot down between your legs.

Johnny’s hand was slowly tracing down your body till he got to the waistband of your pants. Your breathing hitched which alerted him you were getting nervous again.

“Shh, it’s okay. Remember I’m taking it slow. I won’t hurt you.” He whispered against your neck.

You relaxed a little as his hand slipped under. His fingers lightly touched your clit and you whimpered immediately. It felt way different than when you would do it to yourself. This is way better, probably cause you are receiving it from someone else. Johnny wanted to see how you were a little more down and was surprised at how wet you already were. He could easily slip his fingers in if he wanted to.

“Damn, you’re really wet. I’ve never had a girl get this excited so quickly.” He commented.

You were embarrassed by that. Barely touched and you are soaking wet down there. You turned your head away from Johnny to prevent any further embarrassment. He just chuckled lightly at your reaction.

“It’s not a bad thing. It makes it easier. You’re doing good.”

One of his fingers slipped into your pussy with ease. You gasped in surprise and pleasure. You never fingered yourself since you never felt anything from it. But you sure felt it now. That one finger slowly pumped inside you as his thumb rubbed your clit. You were keeping yourself together which was good. Johnny felt like you could take a little more.

“You think you can take another one?”

You nodded your head confidently. You wanted more anyways. Your body was in need of it. Now having both his ring and middle finger in you was like heaven. He went a little faster while his thumb kept rubbing your clit.

Your whimpers to turned to quiet, breathy moans. Now it felt too good. Without thinking you were trying to close your legs. You don’t know why you do it you just know you don’t want to make it hard for Johnny.

“Gotta keep your legs open for me. I promise it will be better for you if you do.”

You listened and tried your best to keep your legs open, spreading them wider than before. That should do it.

“That’s it, good girl.” He whispered.

Immediately you had a reaction. Your heart did flips and you felt warmth in your stomach. Johnny caught on when he felt your pussy clench against his fingers. Not surprising considering you always did seem excited by praise no matter what. He’ll keep that in mind when he fucks you in just a moment.

Your body grew hotter the longer this went on. It didn’t help that Johnny was so close to you. So close that his other hand went to the small of your back to support you. You didn’t know what to do with your hands so you were left clenching the bed sheets. Suddenly he asked you a very important question.

“Wait, now that I’m thinking about it, have you even had your first kiss?”

Nope, you didn’t even get that. You nodded no.

“Well I must look like a jerk. What kind of man am I,” He said comedically, “Let me help you with that as well.”

This must be some sort of dream. A dirty one at best. A dream where you are kissing your best friend’s hot dad as he fingers you. Even if you weren’t the best at kissing, Johnny was making it work. Thank goodness your lips were soft cause you’d be embarrassed if they weren’t.

This was all enough to send you over the edge. It really didn’t take much effort since you were so deprived. Your eyes were shut tight as you felt pleasure pulse through your body. You were moan against Johnny’s lips. He felt your pussy clench his fingers which was enough evidence to show he just made you cum. Damn, in three minutes? That’s a new record. To him that was impressive and boosted his already high ego. You were embarrassed, thinking that cumming too early was a bad thing. It’s only bad when it’s guys, you’re fine.

“I’m sorry. I thought I would last longer.” You apologized.

“There’s no need to apologize. It just means we can get to the really fun part now. Take your clothes and get comfortable on the bed.” He instructed.

Johnny gave you a quick kiss on the cheek before slipping his hand out from your pants. He wanted to make sure you were still comfortable. There was no need to feel embarrassed around him. The important thing is if you’re comfortable and still okay with this.

You took your time when taking your clothes off. Obviously you never stripped down in front of a man. Even when you would go to the pool you were nervous to take your shirt off. This was a big leap but you felt like you could do this. Deep breathes and take your time.

While you did that, Johnny went over to his bedside table to grab a condom. You could see how prepared this man is when you saw the long line of condoms he had. It’s been a while for him, they’re still good.

When you took all your clothes off you were quick to get on the bed and cover yourself with the blankets. He doesn’t mind he understands. He started to strip his clothes off and oh…wow.

You don’t care what anybody says he is like fine wine. He looks like he’s still in his prime. You couldn’t deny you felt yourself get wetter and you pressed your thighs together to alleviate the pressure down there. Then he took his pants off. Girl, you’re in trouble but a good kind of trouble.

You’re not mathematician or scientist but you can definitely say he was bigger than average. Was it supposed to be that thick? He saw how wide your eyes were and decided to tilt your head up so you could look at him instead.

“You should probably keep your eyes on me for now. Might scare you if you look down there for too long.” He’s not wrong but he sounds arrogant saying that.

He got on the bed and slowly pulled the blankets off you. You were still being shy which is fine. There is no need to rush into this he will make sure you are comfortable with going ahead. Plus, he’s gotta comment on those tits.

“You have a nice pair on you. Do you mind?” He was asking for your permission to play with them.

You nodded and he went in slowly. You felt his hands cup your breasts gently. His thumb rubbed against your soft skin. You were surprised by how calming it felt. Sure you were even more turned on but you also felt less nervous. Johnny came in closer and started to leave kisses all over them. At first it was gentle but then he decided he wanted to leave hickeys on them. Nothing too big but they were the perfect spot since no one will see them. It was definitely a new feeling but when you saw the marks he left on you, you knew you liked it.

You know what else you liked? When his tongue ran over your nipple. It surprised you but you soon relaxed again to the feeling. He sucked on your nipple gently, not wanting to overstimulate you just yet. His other hand went to pinch your other nipple which excited you more. Once again it was another situation where it felt better when someone else did it instead of you. With all this combined you started to grow needy. There was no sense of embarrassment or nervousness anymore, only this need to be fucked. You started to whine which let Johnny know you were ready.

“Alright, alright, I get you. Just give me a second, babe.”

It didn’t take long for Johnny to put the condom on, what a manwhore. He angled himself before holding your hand. It was for support.

“Just tell me if you need me to stop, okay?”

Then he started to push into your wet pussy. The feeling of being stretched out for the first time was deliciously painful. It’s not what you expected. You expected to be screaming and for a bunch of blood to come out. Nope, not at all. Inch by inch he slowly pushed himself inside of you till he was fully in. He didn’t start thrusting immediately since he knew you had to adjust.

“You okay?” He asked.

“I’m more than okay.”

“That’s good. You’re doing so good. So good for me.” Johnny started to give you kisses on your face which you appreciated.

After a few moments he started slowly thrusting into you. Your hand squeezed his but you never told him to stop. The pain slowly turned into pleasure. Finally, the pleasure of being fucked. Each thrust was another wave of pleasure through you. It was confusing at first, like your mind couldn’t comprehend something this good. Your body could.

Johnny started picking up the pace when no sign of pain was present in your face. You stopped having control over your moans. You weren’t being loud like a porn star. It was more like you couldn’t fake it even if you tried.

Damn, that’s what I sound like?

He didn’t want to push it too far but he was so tempted to pound into you. It’s been so long and you honestly felt amazing. He loved looking down at you and watching your breasts jiggle every time he thrusted in. You squeezed so nicely around his cock. He was trying to hold himself back from getting rough and you could see that. You wouldn’t push your lucky but your body says otherwise. Hormones are crazy like that, they will yell at you to do anything to get the pleasure you need. Your arms wrapped around his neck and your legs around his waist. You looked into his eyes and you said something that seemed so out of character for you but was what you truly wanted.

“Please go harder.” You begged.

“Fuck, are you sure?” Trust me, Johnny wanted to but he was still worried about hurting you.

You whined and wrapped your legs even tighter around his waist which let him know you weren’t playing.

“Alright, I get it. Never would have expected you to be so needy.” He teased.

He’ll do you one better. How about a new position? Nothing crazy but you will like it. He grabbed your thighs and pushed your legs back before putting you into a mating press. And you thought he was already deep enough. Good thing you are surprisingly flexible.

You really do need to keep your legs open more. It felt amazing to you when Johnny started pounding into your pussy. This position made it easier to hit that sweet spot inside you which you didn’t even know about.

You could hear a wet, squishing sound coming from down there every time he pulled in and out. Not only that but there was also the sound of skin slapping every time he rammed into you. It turned you on even more. You know why? Cause that’s the sound of being fucked, honey!

Johnny had a nice view in front of him. Listening to you moan for him as he continues to fuck you. You make him feel young again. He still has it in him. The energy to have fun with a girl and make her moan. Fuck, he is so glad he is doing this now.

You would be thinking the same but all you could focus on was how big he was and how all of that was slamming into you. At this point why hide any of your moans. No one is around and this is your first time. You should have as much freedom as you want. Get the full experience. You were keeping your eyes closed out of embarrassment but that won’t last for long.

“Come on, open those pretty eyes for me. Can you do that just for me, gorgeous?” Johnny whispered to you.

When he says it like that how can you deny. You slowly opened your eyes to look up at him. Sure you were still embarrassed but you realize that it was just hotter this way. The connecting that the eyes make. You’ve never seen a man look at you in such a way. A look that makes you feel desirable. There might even be some affection behind it. Because Johnny does care for you. Even if this is a one time thing he wants you to have the best experience and walk away with no regrets. It’s working for you.

It was all so much. The sounds, the feelings, the connection, the intimacy is all getting to you. Your nails started scraping against his back lightly. Your toes curled and your legs shook a little. Your eyes almost rolled back and your moans grew louder. You were about to cum and Johnny could see that.

“You’re gonna cum? You wanna cum, pretty girl? Go ahead. Just keep looking at me.” He commanded.

You kept looking at Johnny as he slammed into your sweet spot again. This orgasm was better than the last one. It felt like a heat radiated through your body. All your worries came undone just like you. Like a knot just unraveling in your stomach. You looked at Johnny with half-lidded eyes as you let out breathy moans. Damn, he could have came right there on the spot but he was holding himself together.

“Bet that felt good, didn’t it.” He teased before leaving some kisses on your face.

You knew Johnny would feel like a king after making you cum twice. He’s cocky like that. Ah, but you forgot. He hasn’t cum yet.

“You think you can go a little longer for me, baby? Just a little longer.” He asked to keep going so he can cum.

He didn’t wanna overstimulate you during your first time but it’s your call. You’re a trooper, you can go a little longer even though you are incredibly sensitive down there now. You nodded which made him smile.

He stopped pressing down on you which was a relief for your legs. He still kept them open. He started thrusting into you again, not as rough as when he had you in a mating press but it still felt great. He watched as his cock went in and out of your pussy. Your wetness coated the condom and it still made a wet sound. Oh how he wished he could just take it off and fuck you raw. Fell how warm you are and cum into that sweet pussy of yours. But that’s a stupid idea. One that young Johnny would make and he’s a better man than that. Still won’t stop him from thinking about it.

And that view of you, mwah! Watching your legs shake slightly from being overstimulated. Your hands gripping the sheets around you. Your breasts kept jiggling no matter how hard he pounded into you. He can see your eyes grow wet as you handle the sensations. All that combined with his little fantasy of cumming inside you sent him over the edge. One more thrust in and he was cursing softly as his cum filled the condom.

You both were left panting after that wonderful experience. Johnny pulled out and went to dispose of the condom. Damn there was a lot in there.

You were pretty exhausted but happy nonetheless. You don’t really know what you are supposed to do after. If you’re supposed to just put your clothes on and walk off as if what happened didn’t happen. That’s not how this goes. Not with Johnny.

He came back to you with a bottle of water in his hand. He went next to you and helped you sit up, placing his other hand on your back.

“You’re probably really exhausted after that. Here, drink this.” You gladly accepted the bottle of water, not even realizing how parched you were.

“So, what now? Do I just leave?” You asked which just proved to Johnny that it was best that he did it with you first.

“If a man ever told you to leave right after he’s an asshole. Don’t ever let a man do that to you. Come here.” Johnny pulled you close to him and made you lay down.

Your head laid on his chest which his arm was wrapped around you. He pulled the blankets over you to make sure you were comfy. His fingers ran through your hair which soothed you even more. This was incredibly nice. You didn’t realize how tired you were till he put you in this position. Your eyelids started to grow heavy and your breathing slowed down. There was only one thing left to say to him.

“Thank you…” You said softly.

You drifted off to sleep in his arms as he gave you a kiss on your forehead. Maybe Johnny was getting pretty old since he needed to sleep as well after that. He too started to fall asleep, happy to have a wonderful girl next to him again.

══💤══╡°˖✧🦊✧˖°╞══💤══

Cassie and Jacqui just came back from their little, or more like big, shopping trip. Cassie was about to call out to her dad till she saw your shoes at the entrance.

“Oh shit, she’s here?” She said.

She went around calling your name, surprised you weren’t out in plain sight. in fact, neither was her dad. She guessed that maybe you were upstairs in her room. Nope, not there either. Well if anything her dad had to be in his room or something. She knocked a few times but no answer. She just decided to open the door herself.

“Hey dad, do you have any idea where-“ Cassie stopped herself when you looked at the scene in front of her. Even Jacqui gasped out loud.

She slowly closed the door again, a shocked expression on her face. She looked at Jacqui who confirmed what they saw was true. Out of all of Cassie’s friends she would have never suspected you of sleeping with her father. She doesn’t even think you did it on purpose you’re not that kind of person. This was all so much and she could only mutter three words.

“What the fuck.”

After notes:🍊…🦊so like, you gonna pay rent or something? Do I gotta feed you? Fuck do you even eat? One of your comrades came crashing through the window this early morning. Who the fuck gonna pay for that? Ah, anyways. My daddy issues have come to say hi. Can’t tell if fucking Johnny will heal me or having him be a father figure to me will. Just need him to ruffle my hair and tell me my professors are the bitches not me. Hope y’all have a good day! Adiós!

[thecursedjazz]

Postal 1 dude isn't evil (and is genuinely the most morally grounded and decent person we've actually met in the Postal Universe)

From what we gather he was living a very normal life prior to going crazy, not like the other dudes who go on senseless rampages when tasked with mundane everyday things. As Promo material does state he's a well educated and mannered person so it's only realistic that this man did have a genuine job and was generating a level of income prior to his decline in mental health and moving to Paradise.

And as stated before he is well mannered in the sense of being stated a "quiet nice boy" and "voted the most likely to succeed". From what we gather this guy was the text book example of a model citizen. The only "flaw" is that he kept referring to a girl he only dated once as his girlfriend but even then that could come down his delusions along with his lack of grip on reality causing him to genuinely think she's his girlfriend or  the fact he's canonically quiet (as shown from the Promo material and also the fact that he doesn't actually physically speak AT ALL during the game) and most likely doesn't understand social ques as of it.

---------------------------------------

But the most important thing is that he doesn't even have malicious intentions.

The very first thing he proposes after being "attacked" by "groups of lunatics trying to invade his home" is.....go the sherrif for help. The Dude didn't have any Intention to go on a murder spree, he'd rather of just went to the authorities like any other average Joe. The whole thing really tells us that he's not usually a violent person.

Even rewinding back to level one: the war journals (and Vince) did state that the Dude was entirely convinced that he was being attacked by group of lunatics, one of which even firing rockets at him, goes without saying that self defence is really the only option here.

Course it remains solely as self defence until the Dude reaches the train station, the significance being his war journal where he writes "if I can get out i can warn everybody...YES, I CAN WARN EVERYBODY!". The dudes goal has shifted into saving the country as a whole rather than himself which ultimately steers him into going to the air force to find out what has happened to cause the supposed hate plague. The dudes actions represent him more as selfless now with him now doing this in the bigger scheme of things rather than his own self preservation. If its not clear already: maniacs wouldn't care about warning/ saving people from a hate plague, Dude 2 most likely wouldn't give a shit and let it spread since he was totally cool with nuking the entirety of paradise and its innocent civilians.

Furthermore he openly states that he doesn't want to kill people. At the trailer park he writes that "There must be others like me, immune to this...germ warfare or whatever it is". Practically he's saying that he'd much rather run into some normal people instead of having to kill them, it's a stark contrast to the other dudes with the Postal 1 dude appearing as genuinely empathetic whereas the others will literally kill people for something as simple as waiting in line and afterwards not think anything of it.

Also very worth noting that when he enters the ghetto he mentions he's genuinely worried he'll get mugged, we're really getting the picture that he's literally just some normal ass guy with the idea of going to the rough side of town shakes him up.

(Even worth pointing out that only for the ghetto does he go back to calling it a diary like he's momentarily lost his soldier/war mentality at the thought of going into the rough side of town).

---------------------------------------

So simple and short:

Postal 1 dudes literally just some average everyday guy (who's been through some really fucked up shit that's forever gonna remain unexplained beyond the veteran theory) who's trying to do the right thing but he's woefully misguided due to his deteriorating mental state as well as being possessed by an entity beyond his broken minds comprehension.

He's literally the complete opposite to every other postal dude (and if anything he's one of the most morally grounded people in the franchise as crazy as it is)

Oh and if this wasn't enough: rws did say on a twitter post that he's literally Just some average guy who's had some shitty days.

(I wrote this at 4am so soz if it's all over the place)

[toomuchracket]

if you're too shy (office nerd!matty x reader fluff)

in which the other music journalist at the magazine you work at is the cutest weird boy you've ever met. enjoy <3

in hindsight, coming back from a two-week holiday the same day the magazine goes to print was a misguided idea.

your editor-in-chief tells you as much when you enter the office, pulling you into a half hug. “don't get me wrong, it's lovely to see you,” she says, scraping her hair back into a bun and securing it with a pencil. “but you'll be doing nothing all day, i'm afraid. maybe some last minute proofing, but i think everyone in nightlife and reviews has been alright. double-check with marianne.”

you do just that, weaving your way through people running copy and coffee between departments until you reach your own. it's mercifully quiet compared to everywhere else, the ten or so people dotted at desks around the sunlit room looking at their laptops and wearing headphones; you actually have to flick marianne on the back of the head to get her to notice you. “oi.”

“who the- oh, hi!” marianne's face softens when she sees it's you, and she stands to pull you into one of her infamously bone-crushing hugs before pulling back to get a good look. “well, you look annoyingly well-rested. but i suppose a fortnight in a spanish villa will do that to you. bitch.”

“i had a great time, thanks for asking,” you grin. “how’s everything been with you? stressful, without your star reporter?”

“well, for starters, you've been succeeded for that title.”

you frown only half-jokingly, scanning the room to try and guess which of your colleagues has replaced you as marianne's unofficial favourite. “who the fuck…?”

“language,” she lightly slaps your arm, in spite of the fact she was just about to say the same thing, then smiles suspiciously. “and i’m talking about our newest recruit.”

the brewing annoyance in your stomach dissipates immediately, replaced by a flock of tiny butterflies. “oh,” you try to keep your smile to a minimum. “that's okay. i like him.”

marianne sees right through you, though. she rolls her eyes. “oh, you would.”

“what?”

she sighs, motioning for you to lower your voice and modifying her own to a whisper. “he’s a curly-haired pretty-eyed vaguely scrawny white boy. you'd like him even if he didn't think the sun shone out of your arse.”

“marianne!” you hiss. “he does not!”

“don’t act all indignant, he has literally looked over at you once every thirty seconds since you walked in - and don't look, idiot, you'll freak him out. we need him on the ball, today of all days,” she rubs her eyes. “but yes, he’s very good at his job. i like him, even if i've no idea what in the world he goes off on his tangents about. great writer.”

“yeah, he is,” you risk a glance towards him, but all you can see is the back of his laptop - covered in stickers for things you can only name half of - and dark curls peeking out from the side of his headphones. “i like the references. different perspective from me, innit? that's why we hired him, after all.”

“who's we? you were too pissed off that i was hiring another music critic to agree to be part of the interviewing panel.”

you'd love to disagree, but you really were pissed when marianne and the other editors told you they were expanding the nightlife section. it didn't matter that it was in response to an increase in funding and readership, with the magazine switching to a print format as well as the online edition you'd contributed to since its creation - your fierce independence and pride meant you didn't take the news well, made you think it was an issue with your competence and writing ability that meant you'd be getting a new colleague. but once you were reassured that you'd still get to keep the Big Gigs and restaurant reviews to yourself, you were slightly more agreeable to the idea.

and once you actually met the new guy, stumbling over both his words and his own feet as he introduced himself, you couldn't quite remember why you'd been opposed in the first place.

“well,” you say, snapping back into reality. “thank goodness i'm over it now.”

“because you want to get under him?”

“no!” you stand indignantly, and then grin. “on top, maybe.”

“good grief,” your boss shakes her head. “don't you go bringing it up to him - excuse the pun - before this edition goes to the printers,” she points at you as you move to walk away. “or talking to him at all until then, actually, you hear me? i love you, but you're a distraction to him, and he's my best journo.”

“he's not, but alright,” you pat her head as you walk back towards the door. “i'll be in the staff room if you need me. and i won't talk to anyone, mum, i promise.”

“i'm only five years older than you!”

“whatever you say!” you reply in a singsongy voice, giggling to yourself as you wander towards the sunny kitchen. the little radio on the windowsill is on, as it always is, and you nod along to the cure while you wait for the kettle to boil. once you've made a cuppa (and grabbed a slack handful of the chocolate digestives marianne always keeps the cupboard stocked with), you settle at the table with your laptop, typing out ideas for your next feature and doing your best not to think about the boy down the corridor you've been instructed not to talk to for the time being. for the most part, you succeed.

that is, until he walks into the staff room two hours later.

you frantically wipe your face of biscuit crumbs as he does, smiling as sweetly as you can for someone with no idea if she has chocolate on her teeth or not. “hi, matty. how are you?”

“oh, hi! i'm, uh, i'm alright,” matty smiles widely enough that his verbal emotional downplaying is blatant - still, he's so cute, beaming at you like that with his little sweater paws. he’s always in a jumper or cardigan or hoodie of some kind, and on more than one occasion in the three months you've known him, you've absolutely thought about literally cosying up into him instead of doing any work. “how was spain? and the wedding - it was a family wedding you were going to, yeah?”

“that's right,” it’s not a big deal, but you glow at the fact he remembered. or maybe it's the soft intent he looks at you with. “it was lovely, yeah. although - wait, have we gone to print?” you ask, suddenly recalling marianne's instructions. “i'm not keeping you from work?”

matty's curls bounce as he shakes his head, light hitting off the metal hoop in his earlobe (that you're only mildly obsessed with). “we've gone. i'm just in here to get my lunch,” he pulls a tupperware from the fridge, cheeks rosy as he waves it. “made some soup last night.”

he makes his own soup. the thought is so endearing that it takes everything in you not to sigh; you settle for a smile. “carrot and coriander?”

“you can tell from one glance?”

you shrug. “s'my favourite.”

“really?” matty's face seems to light up. “mine too,” he busies himself with putting the tupperware in the microwave, taking his time pressing buttons and turning dials before looking bashfully at you. “so, you had a nice time at the wedding, then?”

“i did, thank you. do you, um,” you start, suddenly shy. “d'you want to see some photos from it, while you're waiting for the soup to heat up?”

he nods back just as shyly, sitting quite awkwardly on the seat next to yours; while you open your photos app, matty twists a stray curl around his finger, and the movement seems to send your nerves into vibration as well as the molecules in the air. with a series of shallow breaths, you locate the folder of the wedding pictures and set your phone on the table. “feel free to flick through them, if you like.”

“thank you,” matty sits forward, carefully swiping through the album. you lean on your elbow, doing your best not to beam adoringly at the way he looks intently at each photo before moving to the next. “the venue is really beautiful.”

“yeah, it was stunning.”

the next picture is one of you in your bridesmaid dress, taken by your sister the morning of the wedding. you watch, slightly heartsick, as matty's mouth falls open as he looks at you; the feeling worsens when he tentatively does the same thing in real life, those pretty eyes of his sparkling as he smiles softly. “so are you. really. like,” he looks down at the photo again, shaking his head slightly before looking back up at you. “that colour is beautiful on you. honest. you look incredible.”

“thank you,” the words come out in a whisper, and the two of you silently smile at each other for a moment until you clear your throat. “um, there are more of the official pics on my instagram, let me… actually, do you have my private account?”

“oh, no,” matty shakes his head again - god, you love the way his hair moves. “just the one for your writing.”

“well,” you tap on the app with an almost-imperceptibly shaky finger. “that's the username there, if you'd like to follow. no pressure, of course. don’t wanna fuck up your algorithms or anything.”

your nervous chuckle at the end of the sentence turns to a giggle when you see matty's face as you share your username; it lights up so much that you'd be forgiven for thinking he'd just won the lottery. he pulls his own phone out and taps away at it. “you don't have to follow me back, by the way,” his cheeks flush a deep red, a beautiful colour. “m'not posting anything interesting.”

doubtful. he might be one of the most interesting people you've ever met, all talent and sweetness and a wealth of cultural understanding wrapped up in a sweater and a pretty face. “no, i'd like to.”

“alright. thank you,” matty's cheeks seem to get even redder as he watches you hit follow back, face twitching as though he’s trying to stop himself smiling too big. when the microwave dings, he all but skips over to it, almost tripping over the leg of his chair in a sweetly awkward way; he swears under his breath when he lifts the steaming container out, turning back sheepishly to look at you. “sorry.”

“don't worry,” you grin at him, feeling slightly bold. “i still think you're sweet when you swear.”

he giggles, and the noise makes your heart leap; in addition to being one of the most interesting people you think you've ever met, matty healy is without doubt the cutest. watching his lips pout in concentration as he stirs the soup and checks the temperature, you briefly imagine what they would feel like against your own, how he would be if the two of you were to kiss. just as giggly and endearingly awkward as he usually is, you think - eager to please, lips and tongue a little sloppy and unsure but enthusiastic enough for you not to mind, slightly unsure of where to put his hands so as to not make you uncomfortable… the scene is as clear as day in your head, and you really, really want to recreate it. you'd devour him right now if you could, the sweetheart.

and then, matty reaches up to get a bowl from the shelf, the hem of his shirt goes with him, and your want to devour him suddenly takes on a less pg-rated meaning than it did a second ago.

he has a fucking hip tattoo.

you’re pretty sure it's only a sliver of the full design you can actually see, but the hints of red and blue and black ink and the glimpse of his happy trail are enough to fuck you up completely. as you register what you're seeing - what you're discovering about the seemingly buttoned-up, shy, unassuming-to-everyone-but-you matty - your breath catches in your throat, forcing you to cough quite obviously on the mouthful of lukewarm tea you'd just taken. one cough turns into another, and you clap a hand over your mouth to make your tattoo reaction attack the least obvious it can be.

still, the ever-perceptive man across the kitchen notices, running over to crouch in front of you with concern filling those beautiful eyes of his. “you alright, darling?”

darling?! no, you most certainly aren't alright.

but you can't tell matty that, so you stick to gesturing to let him know you'll reply once you've managed to swallow your tea. “i am, yeah, thanks. tea just, y'know, went down the wrong way.”

matty tilts his head. “you sure?”

“yeah,” you smile, slightly embarrassed. “really. thank you, though.”

“of course,” he smiles in return, knee brushing lightly against your leg as he steadies himself; he looks down, eyes widening as he registers how close the two of you are, and quickly stands. “i'd better, y'know, get my lunch.”

you nod, despite the strange loneliness settling into your bones at the lack of him next to you. “i can head back to the office, if you want peace?”

“no, no, please stay!” matty all but gasps, turning to look at you like a deer caught in headlights - he clears his throat, blinking a few times before speaking again. “please don't feel the need to leave on my account, i mean. or feel obliged to talk, really - i was just going to read.”

“you're sure i won't be a bother to you?”

matty smiles warmly, shaking his head. “that'll never happen.”

christ.

“okay,” you whisper, winking at him - and savouring the little giggle that bubbles out of him when you do - before turning back to your laptop. 

matty settles at the table a minute or so later, pulling a paperback from his back pocket and holding it open quite attractively with one hand. you peek over the rim of your laptop at him every so often, never for more than a couple of seconds at a time; partially to avoid the mortification of him catching you, but mostly because if you look at him any longer you know your mind will wander back to that fucking hip tattoo of his, and what it might look like completely visible to you, and what it might feel like under your lips, and what noises matty might make if you slowly dragged your tongue all over it before moving to the side to lick a wavy line up the length of his-

enough. he's literally right there.

the room feels hot, all of a sudden, your cheeks flushing and throat drying to match. on only slightly shaky legs, you pick up your waterbottle and head to the water fountain, crouching as best you can to fill it. even though he stays silent, you can feel matty’s eyes on you from across the room, but it doesn't bother you or freak you out in the way that other men ogling you at a water fountain would - it's quite obvious that matty has some sort of more-than-platonic affection for you, but his gaze has always been one of appreciation and awe when it comes to you, not the predatory one you've come to expect from men. and yet, his is the only male gaze that makes you feel slightly nervous, unused to being looked at with such reverence and tenderness by an attractive boy; in complete contrast, though, it also makes you lower your guard, pull down the bricks from the wall you've built around your heart, and allow yourself to actually feel something for matty, for once. something good, honest, promising.

matty looks up from his book as you sit down, smiling pleasantly. he opens his mouth as if to talk, and then closes it immediately, shaking his head slightly.

this intrigues you. “you okay, matty?”

“hmm? oh, yeah, i was just thinking,” his cheeks go a shade of pink you would buy in blush form if you could find it. “when you were first talking about the wedding… you said although, and then we got off-topic slightly. what, um, what were you going to say, if you don't mind me asking?”

“oh, right,” you wrack your brain, doing your best to not get distracted by how cute you find his perception. “i think i was going to say something about how, as good as it all was, there's nothing like a family wedding to remind you of how single you are.”

his jaw falls open. “you… you don't have a boyfriend? wait, sorry,” he blinks. “or a partner?”

you shake your head, biting the inside of your lip to stop yourself smiling. “no boyfriend, no. and thus, constantly advised by a never-ending flock of aunts that i should get one so i could get married.”

“christ,” matty winces. “yeah, my cousin's getting married in a couple of months - not looking forward to everyone asking me when i'm going to meet a nice girl and settle down, as if i can answer.”

no girlfriend. how interesting. “you're single? really?”

he rolls his eyes, still smiling at you. “be serious. course i am.”

“i am being serious! that surprises me,” you lean on one elbow, tilting your head to look at him. “you're lovely, matty.”

matty’s eyes widen, and he blinks adorably a few times before he smiles shyly again. “thank you. i think the same about you.”

“you do?”

he simply nods, total sincerity in those pretty eyes. 

you feel your cheeks warm, but you make no effort to hide it. “thank you.”

matty shrugs. “just telling the truth, darling,” he looks panicked when he realises what he's said. “sorry for calling you that, twice, it just-”

“i like it, matty, it's alright,” you say reassuringly. “and i like-”

“oh, thank god you're both here,” marianne bursts into the room, carrying her laptop; you frown petulantly at her for ruining your moment, but shuffle your chair round closer to matty's so she can sit at the table too. “something weird’s happening.”

matty squints. “what d'you mean by weird?”

marianne pushes her laptop towards you both. “there's overlap in your planned reviews - the band you're going to see at the end of next week, matthew, have just been announced as the opener for the next Big Gig. i need to know how we want to go about this.”

“oh,” he looks at you. “i don't mind if you want to just review them as part of yours.”

you're shaking your head vehemently before he even finishes talking. “no, that's not fair,” you tap your lips with your index finger the way you always do when you concentrate, trying to ignore the glow within your body when you see matty looking at them from the corner of your eye; inspiration strikes, and you turn to marianne. “matty could come with me, couldn't he? if he reviews their headline gig, and then he does a follow-up review of their opening set in the Big Gig feature - we could just do a joint byline, work together on it.”

both of them turn to look at you in slight shock. marianne is the first to speak, her words trickling out slowly as she processes the fact you've just agreed to let someone else work on a Big Gig for the first time. “you're… happy with that?”

“if matty is, yeah,” you turn to him, smiling. “sound alright?”

he beams. “more than. thank you.”

“of course,” you turn back to the boss. “there you go. sorted.”

she sighs, relieved. “thank goodness for that. alright,” she stands, picking up her laptop and heading back to the main office. “i'll coordinate press passes. thanks for making that simple - you're both stars.”

“anytime!” you call after her, before turning back to matty. “you're sure you're happy to do this? i realise i've just given you more work to do, but…”

he laughs, a beautiful sound. “nah, i don't mind. also,” he shuffles in his seat, bashful again. “i actually have a spare ticket for the first show, if you'd like it - bought it before i saw it was on the review roster. doesn't seem fair that i get to go to two gigs while you only get one, i think. i mean, no pressure, obviously, but the offer's there.”

god, he’s so fucking cute. how could you ever say no to him? “i'd like that a lot, matty, thank you,” you beam at him. “i think us working together is going to be a lot of fun.”

matty beams back just as enthusiastically. “i think so too.”

[the-s1lly-corner]

Various HH characters x autistic!reader

Prize 1/5 for @coldsushisworld ! I hope you enjoy!

This post includes: charlie, vaggie, alastor, Lucifer, adam, and lute

CHARLIE

Honestly I can see Charlie herself being somewhere on the spectrum! So she can relate to you in some way when you're having some struggles. Shes so so accommodating when it comes to your needs, quite literally bending over backwards to make sure the hotel is a safe space for you. Theres likely a sensory room somewhere in the hotel, where you (or really anyone!) Can go to unwind and just vibe. Protective of you, as she is with everyone else she cares about. You.. may have to get her to cool it if things get a little too heated. Warm and smells like apple pie, and I dont know about you guys but that's possibly one of the most pleasing and calming combos

VAGGIE

Very quick to shut things down if someone tries to get on your case for your needs for whatever reason, same goes for anyone who does it without intending to be harmful/doing it unknowingly. Shes your guard dog, and shes going to make sure you're safe mentally and physically. Likely stands trying to choose between different fidgets to pack for an outing trying to determine which one might come more in handy. Packs both. Actually she definitely has a pack somewhere for you that has a bunch of items to carry on you to help you out (water, headphones, ect ect). Despite that she does think you're capable and will step back if her worries cause her to overstep and make you feel bad. Vaggie does tend to have trouble gauging how much effort and feeling into things

ALASTOR

In the nicest way possible, he does not care. Obviously he doesn't care in the "I dont care that you're ND and I'm not going to avoid doing things that trigger you", it's a "I dont care because it is what it is", and besides hes got manners! Sometimes the static ambience around him can be comforting, like white noise.. sometimes he hums or softly plays music if you need something to focus on during an overwhelming moment. However if it makes things worse it's getting cut the second you say something. You're the only person allowed into his radio tower, if you need an escape

LUCIFER

As stated above I headcanon that Charlie is somewhere in the spectrum so he already has an idea of what to do to make things easier and more welcoming for you! Thankfully his home isnt too chaotic and he doesnt usually switch up his routine so if routines mean a lot for you Lucifer is your man! Puts his crafting skills to good use and makes you personalized fidget toys! He loves talking to you but if you need him to be quiet for a while he'll be understanding and work quietly on his ducks. Similarly to his daughter he doesnt let anyone try to make you feel bad for trying to tend to your needs. Though hes less of a pushover/holds his temper a little easier than charlie, but hes still quick to shut anything down

ADAM

In the beginning he can be a little.... how does one say this nicely? Not the best.. hes not at all educated so you're probably going to have to sit him down and find a way to get him to listen. Hes a little misguided when it comes to helping you moving forward but there is a new added effort in there. Takes you away from environments that are too overwhelming for you, or tells everyone to shut the hell up.. which might make things worse thanks to his shouting. He's got the spirit but his methods are not the best. His wings are soft and as long as you dont pluck anything out, he let's you run your fingers through his feathers. Would get sucked into those sensory and/or asmr videos with you

LUTE

I can see her being on the spectrum too tbh but I dont think shes aware, so anytime you try to bring up the possibility of her being ND she kind of just dismisses it. "Everyone does that," mindset. While she doesnt totally understand all of your habits and needs, she still does her best to make sure you're satisfied. She can be callous with others, often causing conflict to those who choose not to listen to an exterminator.. though to heavens citizens what status to exterminators have..? Shrugs. Shes a little.. tense? Harsh? No harsh sounds mean. Shes not used to being tender for someone else, so this is all a learning process for her.. its going to take a while before she grows accustomed to you autism or not.. but shes trying, because she does love you even if shes not used to these feelings!

[sawboans]

the fact that i have seen so many disingenuous takes on harding's banter with a romanced emmrich is wild, and maybe it's because the banter is actually part of a set and people aren't triggering the full conversation? but (more so on other social media) the jump to villainize her is genuinely surprising to me because i thought she made it pretty clear that she was coming from a place of concern - specifically, she was worried about emmrich.

whether it's reflected in the game or not (imo it isn't but that's another can of worms), he and rook are apparently moving fast, and a relationship between an older person and a younger person does in fact come along with some real considerations. not just how other people will see them, and how much this will change about their lives, though those are both also factors. i think in the case of emmrich and rook they're on even footing in a lot of other regards, but the prospect of emmrich dying first is absolutely on the table and, yeah, are we sure the guy with A Well-Known, Debilitating Fear Of Dying has thought that through fully?

their argument near the end of the game tells me that no, he hasn't. like... rook clearly has. they're confused why the issue is getting brought up at all after so long of already being together. but emmrich spends the whole game talking about how real, lasting romance was a dream he never quite reached, and goes on about summer companionships and failed courting attempts, and says he and rook are just exploring things and the game uses words like paramour and companion, significantly not anything more permanent. he hasn't even reached the point of saying the big scary L word (and doesn't until basically right before the final battle). he has been avoiding thinking about the specifics of a long-term, committed relationship with rook and rook can call him out on it during their argument - it's because he's scared. and harding is pointing that out; that he jumped into this relationship because rook was just so exciting and now they're running at, as she says, full gallop without looking out for branches, aka the genuine considerations of what this will entail for them moving forward. even if the banters with harding had never happened emmrich was always going to have a crisis about this - she says he's been mopey and distracted, it's clearly been weighing on his mind, and the night before tearstone island is when it comes to a head because if they pull this off, if the threat of the gods is over, then what will he and rook do? plan for the future? god forbid. no wonder he's such a bitch during the argument, he's trying to get rook to cut things off so he doesn't have to (because deep down he doesn't want to, he's just trying to pull the emergency brake)

anyway tl;dr imo harding was showing real concern about how emmrich is approaching the relationship and was fair to point it out. if you bring the two of them around often enough to hear their banter, they actually seem like very good friends (they dig into each other's pasts and interests more than a lot of the other companions and harding asks him for quite a bit of advice, emmrich asks her in turn for a lot of reflection on her connection to the titans... he even starts to take care of her plants if she dies) and i would fully expect my friends to bring up this sort of thing if i was in his situation because it's coming from a place of care. you can interpret that as misguided if you want, but even if she's romancing taash it doesn't necessarily come across as hypocritical to me - maybe taash and harding have already discussed their circumstances and worked through it, but it's clear that emmrich has not.

[iamnmbr3]

I think its… kinda of odd and a little uncomfortable how much JK… HATED Draco. idk if it was from the start or maybe as time went on but the more I hear and look into the writing of Draco, regardless of how interesting his struggles were and how well it slowly developed… JK kept writing the narrative and there fore manipulate the audience to hate him. even when he was redeeming himself or at least TRYING to it just... seems odd for a grown woman to hate her own character that much when they were literally written to be a brainwashed misguided child.

Idk if her excuse was that it was totally Harry's perspective and thats why or if it was her own personal opinions about her own character but it's just so.... weird.

I agree. What particularly bothers me is the condescending and sexist and heteronormative remarks she's made about fans of the character and about the actor who played him. She seems to really struggle to cope with anyone reacting to her work in a way different from what she intended. That post on the wizarding world website (originally pottermore) where she said (I'm paraphrasing here) that Draco's fans were just girls who thought Tom Felton was attractive was so disrespectful.

It should go without saying but it's an incredibly sexist comment to assume that women who like a character are just silly girls whose brains fell out because they saw an attractive man. It implies that all his fans are women (not true), that all women are attracted to men (not true) that all female fans attracted to men are attracted to the character or actor (not true) and that female fans who do find the actor or character attractive are somehow lesser or incapable of thinking and analyzing and acknowledging the things Draco did wrong (not true) and that the only reason people who watched the movies responded to the character was because of Tom Felton's looks not his acting ability (not true). All these things are both untrue and offensive to suggest. For someone who claims to fight against sexism she sure spends a lot of time repeating sexist narratives. Maybe instead of attacking trans people she could work on her own sexism...

And yeah I genuinely don't understand why she seems mystified that people would view Draco differently than they view an unrepentant Death Eater like Bellatrix Lestrange when SHE is the one who wrote him the way she did. She could've made him love being a Death Eater but she didn't. And then she got mad when people reacted to that distinction. I've got something in my drafts somewhere going through the post on Wizarding World (formerly Pottermore) that she wrote about him because she gives even more (actually pretty cool) details about how Draco changed postwar and abandoned his previous beliefs...and then goes on this bizarre self righteous rant about how he didn't get redeemed and fans who likes him are dumb. After literally a paragraph before talking about his redemption arc. It's so strange.

And I agree it's extremely frustrating because to me Draco is one of the most interesting characters in the story with one of the most compelling arcs. Precisely because of his flaws and how he gradually becomes a better person and makes better decisions while still remaining imperfect. He's a great character with a great story but she seems totally unaware of what she wrote and actively hostile to people who enjoyed the character and even towards the character himself which stops him getting to live up to his full potential. Lowkey wonder if after he became so popular post book 6 maybe she reduced his "screentime" in book 7 out of spite or something. I have no proof whatsoever of that but I do wonder.

[raptorific]

I saw your post re: the silver lining to Biden stepping down. I felt relieved to remember that Trump is now the only incoherent old guy in the race. However, the relief quickly subsided when I remembered that Hillary was very well-spoken and polished, if not quite as young as Harris.

Harris fortunately doesn't have quite the same baggage as Hillary, so I'm hoping that will make the difference. What do you think?

*I realize this could sound like I'm trying to agitate, and I'm not, so no need to post if you don't want to.

So, apologies in advance, because I foresee a lot of Words happening in my response here. It's worth getting into because I feel like a lot of what you're bringing up are legitimate fears but also coming more from a place of Anxiety than from an actual pattern forming

First things first, to be clear, my post about Biden stepping aside did not highlight a silver lining in otherwise bad news. Biden stepping aside has been an objective boon to our chances of securing the White House in November. I wasn't saying "this is bad news, but look on the bright side," I was saying "that dread you're feeling is misguided, because this is, in its entirety, good news."

To your point about Hillary Clinton being well-spoken and polished: that's true! She very much was! However, crucially, the 2016 election was not one characterized by a debate over how polished or articulate the candidates were. The reason this can be considered a "shit the bed" moment for Trump is because of a factor that is present in this election, that was not present against Hillary Clinton: in this election, he spent all his time and energy selling himself as the younger, healthier, less senile of the two candidates, and now he's without his primary selling point in the eyes of this election cycle's electorate.

Now, Trump is actually showing signs of severe mental decline while Biden only shows signs of "a speech impediment" and "being over 80" and on a physical level Biden is very obviously much more healthy than him, but nonetheless, through a series of lucky breaks and crafty rhetoric, he was able to sell the public on the idea of Biden being some sort of Corpse Puppet. The reason why that matters is because he successfully sold voters on the concept "someone who is old, who can't get through a sentence, is not fit to be president." That narrative wasn't a factor in 2016, and it is in 2024.

The other important factor to remember about 2016 is the context in which that election happened, and why the dirty tricks and bigotry leveled at Hillary by the right actually worked on the public. Specifically, at the time, we were coming off eight years of a black president, a historic first, who the republicans had spent years and years trying to oust or otherwise discredit, and who was poised to come out of office as a fairly well-respected figure.

Voters have a tendency to view white men as, for lack of a better term, "Default" or "Normal" with no modifiers. Many of the people who voted for Trump were people who had, in reality, no specific problem with a black president, but felt that after eight years it was time to get back to "Normal." They saw Clinton, another huge Historic First as the would-be First Female President, and a lot of them said "no thanks, we just had a president who's African-American, we don't want to switch to one who's Woman-American, let's reset back to a Normal-American (read: White Man) before we do any more Progress, otherwise it'll feel like the world is changing too fast."

There's obviously other factors at play. I'm not denying Clinton had other problems as a candidate, but an overwhelming amount of why she lost was rooted in the electorate's misogyny, and their desire to return to a status quo of a white man-- almost any white man-- with no other Identity Categories, as president. It's why I do think Joe Biden would've handily won the 2016 election, had he chosen to run, but I'm not here to play the what-if game.

It's also worth mentioning, at this stage, that most of the country actually was okay with having a Woman President, and, specifically, with having Hillary Clinton be that woman president-- she received more votes than Trump by the millions-- it was only due to the system-rigging done hundreds of years ago by slavers that he was allowed to become president despite the will of the voters.

So, the reason why this matters: voters tend to like a change, to a certain extent. Barack Obama was largely able to win election in 2008 specifically because he was a young, handsome, charismatic black candidate, who stood in stark contrast to his opponent, an older white guy who just kinda seemed like a redux of the bumbling old white guy everyone already hated as President at the time. Trump won largely because of a pendulum swing away from Historic First Barack Obama being the status quo.

Right now, we've been governed by two Old White Guys for the past eight years, one from each major party. In the 2016 climate, a Historic First, electing a Something-American, was scary and intimidating to a lot of voters. This year, in 2024, we're playing a different ball game: Donald Trump is selling More Of The Same (old white guys who've been in all the elections for the past eight years and who both come across somewhat bumbling) while Kamala Harris is selling a refreshing change of pace (a younger Black and Indian woman who is visibly competent, intelligent, charismatic, and let's not downplay the effect this has on the electorate, attractive).

I maintain that running a female candidate in 2016 was, unfortunately, a political miscalculation. I think that if it had been two straight, christian white guys, the election would've been made about the issues and it would've gone to the democrats. Novelty was a liability for a candidate in 2016. In 2024, "more of the same" is a liability, and novelty could prove the greatest blessing.

Hell, look at how excited people got when Biden dropped out, and suddenly people had something election-related to pay attention to other than "BREAKING NEWS: ELECTION STILL COMING IN NOVEMBER, PROBABLY WILL GO BAD."

To your point about the baggage with Clinton: an important thing to understand is that the Republicans identified her political ambitions as early as the 1980s, and started drafting their "Running against her for President" playbook as soon as Bill was president. They were ready to take her down in 2000 when they worried she'd run, and in 2008 when she was a frontrunner for the nomination, and then finally managed to use it in 2016 when she actually was the nominee. Trump lucked into a showdown with, to re-use a recent analogy, an enemy whose Kryptonite he happened to have inherited.

The misogynist attacks on Hillary Clinton largely worked because they had been thoroughly seeded over the preceding 30 years. Many people, even democrats, really didn't like Hillary, for reasons both Fair and Unfair, and a lot of the people who voted for her were, as the cliche goes, holding their nose and voting blue. A lot of the median swing voters fell hook, line, and sinker for the GOP attacks on her, and either stayed home or voted for the other guy.

As I mentioned in my previous post, they don't have much of a playbook for Kamala Harris. They've done zero preparation for the possibility of her presidential run because they thought they wouldn't have to worry about her until 2028, if at all. They've tried "she laughs weird" but it doesn't really work because people are finding it endearing and because their guy does everything weird. They've tried "she's a childless cat lady" and that offended everyone's casually conservative step-parents and lost them a bunch of support. Trump's campaign has been tripling down on bolstering support of their small but vocal Base, by hammering down on the idea that she's a "far-left radical" but that's just a page out of the playbook they use for everybody, and doesn't really play with anybody who isn't already voting for them.

And, I already hear people typing to remind me not to forget this, they have tried the racist angle, painting her as a "DEI hire" and an "affirmative action vice president," or even claiming she's ineligible to serve because her parents were immigrants. Firstly, again, they're borrowing a failed page from their anti-Obama playbook for that last one, and second, the actually competent republican strategists have been begging the public-facing parts of the party to please stop attacking her on the basis of race and gender, for one simple reason:

Mask-off racism loses you votes. It's why Trump always has to pretend like he cares about "black jobs" and that his problem with immigration is that "Mexico is sending us all their bad hombres" rather than admitting that his problem is just that the people immigrating are Mexican at all. It's why top Republicans spent the past 16 years talking about birth certificates and constitutional eligibility for Obama, instead of just calling him slurs.

You can win voters by saying "we're okay with a black president, but the Democrats are breaking the rules by letting this guy in particular be president, it's not about him being black, it's about him being ineligible." You don't win voters by saying "keep the white house white." The people who that second thing would work on? Already voting republican 100% of the time.

Which is another important reason to have hope here: in 2016, the Republicans were still maintaining the (objectively false) pretense of not being racist. I don't think anything's changed about the Republican party between the Nixon era and today except that now, they say the quiet part loud. They've spent the past eight years systematically eliminating the power-players who maintain the Not Racist masquerade and replacing them with people who will actively say overtly, unabashedly racist shit without pretending it's about something else. It's why the republican strategists keep begging people not to attack her on the grounds of race: it will lose them voters.

That's more or less the short version of my summary of why I think 2024 will go differently than 2016. I hope I'm right. I'm right about a lot more stuff than I'm wrong about, but I'm also wrong about a lot of stuff, so I might not be. Nothing's over until it's over. If you don't want to see a repeat of 2016, go make sure you're registered to vote, and then on Election Day, go vote for Kamala Harris. Either she, or Donald Trump, will become the president at the end of this year. There is no third option that is mathematically capable of happening. If you are legally eligible to vote and physically capable of doing so, voting for Kamala Harris is the only action you can take (including inaction) that can prevent Donald Trump from taking over the country and doing away with any semblance of US Democracy altogether.

We can win this. With all of our help, we will win this. Doomerism on the left benefits nobody but the right. People being genuinely excited from now until November might actually translate into electoral victory.

[beemovieerotica]

Hadestown is NOT bad explain yourself this instant

ok so. it felt very concept album, like it still had a ways to go until it was a fully fledged production. they had the idea of the railroad station and the whole mining town aesthetic, but it was kind of window dressing to the story and didn't really mean much beyond imparting vibes and accompanying the genre of music they chose.

there was the whole theme of industry and greed from hades which i guess was an attempt to create political relevance but it didn't fit snugly anywhere? we're supposed to just understand that hades is a bad man who is doing bad things because he's bad - and then this creates the predicaments that eurydice and persephone find themselves in.

so basically the industry & modernization didn't have a purpose in itself, it was just a set-up for other things to happen narratively. i don't think they had to stick with the original myth or anything like that at all, they can make hades whomever they want, but i feel like i had to fill in the gaps in my head for all the character motivations to understand why they were doing the things they did. the hades / eurydice bit just happened and then was never addressed again, it seemed like something they threw in just to say "look, the capitalist boss also uses people for sex" - again, just to make a point to the audience but it didn't mean anything in the story.

so it did click with "oh! hades is creating warmth and brightness down below because he misses persephone's warmth and brightness, but he's doing it in a way that is harsh and glaring and deeply misguided and destructive, and it deprives the surface of trees and it pollutes the living things that persephone cares so much about, so he's ultimately driving her away by trying to replace her..." but they...did not explore that. they did not get into the deeper meaning and themes behind what was happening in either song or dialogue. i found myself kind of taken out by some of the lyrics just at the simplicity / cliche, i was wondering if it would go deeper at all and it really didn't for me. and then persephone and hades made up instantly at the end? just with a hand hold and a couple of meaningful words / looks? like there was so much potential to have some gut punch moments of meaning and heartache and reconciliation between them, and it just didn't transpire, like they ran out of time at the end.

so they seemed to have gotten halfway through developing the characters; all i know about eurydice is that she was cold and hungry. and hungry and cold. orpheus was a little bit more of a person at least in terms of making him a "head in the clouds" character, but they wanted to use shortcuts to just get to the love story without spending time on it. i get that inclination because, yeah on one hand it's a classical myth and we can accept that they just fell in love and all of it unfolded from there...but if you're going to stage it and make a musical at all, then why not explore how they fell in love, who they were, and what they actually meant to each other? there was no dimension to it and it just relied on the audience's acceptance of "this is how things happened in the myth."

i'm not completely sure what was going on with the wall other than it being another appeal to topical politics---and i don't like pedantry in media analysis BUT they chose to craft all of this in a deliberate way and they established multiple times that their world worked this way, so i have to ask the question: if there are supernatural forces that keep people from going in and out of hell on a whim.........what's the point?

like they were hovering between the subtext of "shhh this is actually busywork to convince the people that their labor is valuable" and "actually we want to keep people from trying to leave because it sucks here" with the latter contradicting their established rules of the world; all while hades is textually saying "we don't want people taking what we have" but people COULD just kill themselves to get down there anyway and be allowed through the wall. which eurydice did. which all dead people get to do. which makes me circle back to the conclusion of, yeah, some of these songs / plot devices got thrown in as a "this is so relevant wink wink hi audience" moment rather than actually enriching or making sense in the world of the story.

specifically for the broadway production, i can count on one finger the number of times the set was used in an interesting way [the crack in the wall]. it was very black box theater and i'm not opposed to minimalism, but it only works if there's something very engaging and compelling going on with the characters and the performances themselves, and a lot of the blocking & dancing was just not...interesting to look at. they moved chairs and tables around. god i would have loved if the final moment between orpheus and eurydice actually used the original lines where they say "You looked back" / "I missed you" like it would have meant something but they just had this weird tendency throughout to not lean into full emotional dialogue.

tldr; i think the vibes and intentions were good but it was messy narratively and the depth of character development and songwriting wasn't there for me. i think the Fates served cunt at every turn and i loved them, though i would have liked them to be used much more to really deliver those gut punches i was expecting but didn't get from the story. i'm a snob. sorry.

[purplink8]

Naomi is one of my favorite characters so I decided to compile my thoughts on her in this post! :D

(Disclaimer: I do not particularly like the fanon version of Naomi & while I do dislike Raye, I still believe without a doubt that he cared for Naomi (enough to go along with Light when he threatened to kill his loved ones, and the first one to pop up in his head was Naomi) and had his (however misguided (by sexism ofc)) best interests at heart for her. That does not absolve him for being, frankly, really really rude + sexist to Naomi and I will forever be annoyed with him for that.

tl;dr I'm neither a fanon!Naomi stan nor a Raye apologist. Anywho-)

Before I talk about Naomi, I want you to take a look at this panel directly above the one in which she first appears.

Before Naomi's first appearance, Ryuk says "I guess women being tough in crisis goes for humans, too." This is said in reference to Yuri being unphased with the bus-hijacking and dragging our fave sexist murderer to Space Land haha.

But I think it's significant that the above quote was said by Ryuk for all women (maybe the real feminism was the Shinigami we found all along!) JUST BEFORE Naomi's first appearance.

Even before Naomi is introduced, the canon has (however jokingly (side-eyeing you Light-o)) established that women are tough in crisis. I do think that's saying something- especially when you'll see (which will be discussed in length in this post) that this statement holds true ESPECIALLY for Naomi.

But we'll come back to this later; let's move on to Naomi actual appearance in canon.

We're introduced to her as Raye's loving fiancé who is also attentive (receptive) towards him as she asks him why he's tired to which he mentions the bus-hijack.

She's quiet in noting down her observations in her head as she asks Raye for more info regarding the bus hijack:

Look at the '...' she has before asking Raye for details. We can read it as hesitation to voice her suspicions before they sound strong enough or as the pause to think it all through OR more likely as we'll see in the panels below, she perhaps hesitates due to the conditions she agreed to with Raye. The pause may also be due to her analytical mind starting to work, she has to mull over the details she's just been given before reaching to a conclusion.

She does speak out on her misgivings as she clearly cares about Raye and thinks (& correctly at that!) that he met Kira.

Only to get shut down by him. Raye is, obviously, sexist and rude here but we have to remember that Raye thinks he's doing the right thing (according to his sexist 'i have to protect her from danger' attitude anyway). He does admit that she was an excellent fbi agent but still, he's not respecting her opinions.

Now this is where my hate for Raye shines through like

"once you pop up some of my babies, that habit won't pop up anymore" ~Raye Penber, probably, i wish i was exaggerating

Raye is unbelievably dismissive of Naomi here. Not only does he not take her concerns seriously, he also follows it up with a 'joke' about directing her intelligence towards being his future wife. Now, I do believe that Naomi wanted to quit her job too but that doesn't make it okay for Raye to y'know treat Naomi like this. And Naomi (being genuinely apologetic) politely chuckles it off.

I think this brings us to an important aspect of her character: she has a sort of passive attitude. She is not that assertive imo instead preferring to be compliant and yielding. She values harmony in her relationships & avoids conflicts by being agreeable (at least with Raye).

Then Kira happens to Raye Penbar and other FBI agents. I find it interesting how these panels are placed next to each other:

These panels are juxtaposed to each other to perhaps show us that while killing the FBI agents may be like a game to Kira & L, there are real stakes involved for those related to Kira's victims- they become pawns in Kira & L's game-: Naomi being the prime example, who is shown grieving Raye's death.

She is intelligent enough to deduce that Raye was murdered by Kira.

Now instead of wallowing in her misery (remember what Ryuk said about women being tough in crisis? yeah this is what's happening here), the former FBI agent picks herself up, gathers her wits + composure, and gets ready to investigate.

We're then shown panels of Naomi travelling alone. I want you to remember that the emotional wound of losing her fiancé is still fresh & forefront in her mind (trying to catch Kira is a very close second). Even if her thoughts are not depicted (her ride to Shinjuku is deathly silent: with neither dialogue nor thoughts- meant to express how she deals with her grief- Naomi takes action and does so quietly), we get an idea of how she feels.

Alone. Torn between feeling lonely/helpless yet determined to catch the murderer who killed the man she loved. Still, she perseveres.

And she gets info from the bus conductor, that there were six passengers other than Raye during the bus-hijack. She figures that since Kira must've been someone out of those six people, Kira may be living somewhere near that bus route. It's a small lead but a lead nonetheless.

Naomi also infers that Kira is able to kill people by causes other than heart attacks too. More importantly, she is of utmost confidence that her finding IS a fact which means she wouldn't be shook off that belief any time soon. Which is really, really bad for Kira as it narrows down the list of Kira suspects considerably well.

I'm gonna focus on Naomi's POV (you'll know why later):

_____________________________________________________________

She enters the NPA building and the receptionists are being much help: saying that there's nobody on the task force here despite her appointment with them, which was made the previous day + asking her to just leave a message when she insists on meeting the task force personally.

This is important to her. Why are they being so difficult? She'd had an incredibly long day, her fiancé is dead and only she seems to have a clue of Kira's powers extend to killing people by causes other than heart attacks. She absolutely needs to tell this clue to the Task Force. If only somebody actually listened to her. (Even Raye, when he was alive, refused to do that).

Then a young guy, who introduces himself as the son of the task force Chief, comes in and talks with the receptionists about a case he had helped solve in the past. Whatever. That information does not help her in the slightest. She came here for one purpose and one purpose only: speak to the Task Force. Why are the receptionists so warm towards him while being so useless to her? And then the boy says something interesting:

He (if she heard correctly) may be able to beat L in solving the Kira case. He's definitely got her attention now. Either he's way too confident or there may be a degree of truth in his statement (well, they did just say how he helped them solve a case when he was a high schooler). Still, it's not like this guy can help her catch Kira when he's not even in the task force, right?

She's just about to mentally dismiss him when:

...he shares valuable information with her- something which the receptionists haven't (even if they had their reasons) and even better, offers to help her (he's the first person to do so ever since Raye died). He chooses to trust her (he had no reason to do that but does so anyway maybe due to the goodness of his heart? (she doesn't know- still he has helped her out a great deal already)).

It feels weird accepting his help but the boy is very polite + willing to help so she does. And offers him her sincerest thanks.

He also seems to think that Kira has greater powers than people think. That surprises her.

To think this young guy has deduced something which she had too...she chooses to confide in him a little (not so much, just a little without details, just as vague as his statement was) that that's why she's here.

The stranger tells his name. Light Yagami. And asks for hers. She's not taking any chances. Raye died because of giving his ID to someone in the bus (who, she's sure, was Kira) and while this kid seems relatively harmless, she's cautious. She has prepared for this. So she gives him an alias. Shoko Maki.

It seems she hadn't heard the end of his deductions. According to him, Kira can also control people's actions before they die- and she finally has someone intelligent enough, trustworthy enough (he trusts her AND has helped her out a lot) who is willing to listen that she cracks, offering him the final piece of the info she has puzzled out: that Kira can kill by causes other than heart attacks.

More information trickles out her (the kid, Light Yagami- she reminds herself- is surprisingly great at putting her at ease)...she tells him about her fiancé meeting Kira before his death. He's silent. When asked about it, he tells her it is due to the shock of hearing that.

Light is a patient listener, asking her details, offering his views on the matter so she doesn't mind telling him everything she has concluded thus far with utter conviction:

He's initially skeptical of course:

Still, he agrees that it's worth investigating into and that's what matters to her.

After thinking about it for a while, he informs her that he's convinced of her theory. Not only does he take her seriously, he also takes notes of the details of the incident.

Light has been as useful as a person in his position could have been and she's really grateful. She wishes to tell the task force herself so she heads back to the NPA.

He's still following her. Maybe he's doing this out of politeness? She tells him that she'll be fine on her own and thanks him for all his help. She turns. The kid approaches her again.

Only to tell her why the members of the task force were said to be absent.

Now she's suspicious. Why does this kid know so much about this investigation which ought to be kept secret from the general public? So she asks him. Only to get hit by this bombshell:

He is, if he's telling the truth, a member of the task force. Well, that explains a lot.

He tells us that all the members of the task force have been hand-picked by L.

Then she doesn't need to go back to the NPA, as she has already spoken to Light who, by his own admission, is a member of the task force which means her insights will be passed on to L.

Now that she knows that L selected Light himself, she allows herself to trust the kid enough (as she completely trusts L) to tell him that she worked with L on a case 2 years ago when she was in the FBI.

Naomi reveals that she'd been reluctant to trust the police and even the task force compared to L who has her complete trust (her plan was to ask them to let her speak to L directly, i.e., she didn't even want the task force to know her insights). Light asks her then why did she tell him something which should've been for L's ears only.

She gives him her reason.

She feels that Light & L are similar somehow (I think it's her gut feeling) and since she trusts L, she also, kind of, trusts this kid as he reminds him of L.

Then, something crazy happens. He asks her if she would like to join the investigation... She is flabbergasted, to say the least. She had come thinking that she'd be lucky if she got to talk to L directly but joining the task force herself?

Still, she has to admit the kid is nothing if not convincing. She feels indecisive. She doesn't know what to do; she's been feeling lost since Raye died. They were in Japan for a short while only. Hell, they were going to get married & get settled permanently in the USA. And now none of it was possible.

Raye was dead. She had to accept that.

What should she do?

But when the kid brings up how she's still a young beautiful woman for this dangerous investigation, she finds her doubts shattering and her resolve hardening. She realizes that she has gotten a new purpose now.

With her fiancé gone, she's got nothing left to lose anymore. Getting Kira (who was responsible for his death) is the only thing that matters to her anymore, as she says in her outburst. She'd do anything, regardless of risks to her life, to make sure that Kira is caught.

She's very determined now to join the investigation and requests Light for the same. He asks her some proof of her identification.

She hesitates, but feels this can't be helped: she reasons to herself, as she apologizes for giving out a fake name earlier. He praises her carefulness. And she gives him her driving license. He asks her some details about the time she was in the FBI. And keeps glancing at his watch strangely often enough to prompt her to ask him why:

He, once again, looks down at his watch as he replies.

He is Kira.

Light Yagami is Kira.

She is horrified, with realization dawning at her eyes that she has already given him her real name, and is filled with dread of what is to come.

And just an instant later, she turns sharply (not unlike clockwork) away from him. She feels as if she's in a trance. He is speaking something to her.

What's the matter?

An answer comes unbidden to her lips, as if that's what she's been supposed to say all along, like she has practiced this chat with him before,

"There's something I have to do."

The words feel foreign to her, and yet she feels that that's what she was destined to say anyway.

Didn't you want to talk to my father?

The words are a blur as she replies mindlessly.

"No. I have nothing to say to him."

_____________________________________________________________

...well, that. was. Dark.

No, really, it's so fucked up how Light taunts Naomi in her final moments that's why I hate him during this scene.

But anyway, I wrote those 1.4k words talking from only Naomi's POV so that we may understand why she allows herself to trust Light.

I think the argument of her trusting Light "that easily" is uh... debatable? If you pay attention to the plot, it's not that hard to believe that Naomi comes eventually to trust Light.

I think people take this panel at its face value...

...which is just Light self-congratulating himself AFTER he got Naomi's real name (only to think 'that was a close call...' in the next panel itself) like? You guys, don't fall into his trap thinking that Naomi trusted him way too easily.

This guy cognitive-restructures his way out of every setback. Just because Light wants to convince himself that it was that easy to overcome this setback of a woman, doesn't mean you have to be fooled into thinking the same as Light too. This is just his hindsight-bias talking.

We know how hard it was for him to figure out a way to get Naomi's real name after she gave him an alias (while being as cool as a cucumber too). Do not forget that before you chide Naomi for being too naive (yes she IS a little naive (y'know the trusting L a 100 percent? after working with him through a computer screen?) but we shouldn't blame her for giving Light her real name). She was being careful all along.

Until Light, with his genius social skills (remember he's exceedingly polite & helpful + just. a. Kid in Naomi's eyes), focused all his intelligence to achieve his goal of getting Naomi reveal her real name and succeeded as he's an excellent manipulator and got luck on his side while Naomi's degree of luck is exceedingly low.

Also remember that Naomi is freshly grief-stricken and this polite kid is the first one to stop and listen to her (+ agree with her respectfully). And then too she gave him an alias. But was forced to give out her real name because the situation called for it.

(I don't put much stock in htr13 stats but I think we can safely conclude that it's correct about Naomi lack of good luck. Also, she dislikes stalkers and Raye stalked Light (yes he was just doing his job but still you have to admit it's a lil funny that she was gonna marry a stalker- ok I'm done now with the htr13 discussion)). Moving on!

After Naomi's death (she was only 28 at that time), L accepts the phone call from her parents reporting her as missing and comes to know that she's Raye Penber's fiancé. L finds her name familiar and has Watari look her up, to find that she arrested the preparator of the LABB case, which reminds him that he worked with her on that case.

When Aizawa & Matsuda suggest that she may have killed herself after hearing news about her fiancé, L disagrees with them saying that the Naomi Misora he knew had great inner strength and was an excellent FBI agent. He thinks that she's try to go after Kira (and he's not wrong).

And that's all the info about her that the manga canon offers us.

In conclusion, I think Naomi is very intelligent yet a little gullible/trusting of people (she chooses to believe in the good of the people methinks), polite, quiet, introverted, a tad passive, and tremendously emotionally tough (seriously tho, she's in grief sure, and that makes her vulnerable to Light's tactics to get her to trust him & all that but it takes guts to go after a killer who can kill just by knowing your name & face just after he killed your future husband).

Canon!Naomi is far more complex than the girlbossified fanon version of her and I love her <3

[clavissionary-position]

What Emma Would Do

Ignore me. This is just me working through my own thoughts and feelings on this. Also I'm an idiot.

***BIG EDIT: I misread and misinterpreted. Azel was nearly drugged and SA'd, so his reaction, however cruel, makes complete sense to me. If he was real I couldn't apologize to him enough.

Moving @/caffedrine's billion-dollar comments up here.

My original, misguided post is below the cut if you're interested.

I have to ask myself what Emma would do. Within reason. And only within the scope of this fictional game, because I'm not about to touch this topic as it exists in the real world. That's for people much smarter than me.

But for the game, my dismissing of Azel as a cruel misogynist without seeing his circumstances and worldview shuts down the conversation the same way it does when Azel dismisses a woman as a slut without seeing her circumstances and worldview.

(Did he actually use the word 'slut' or did google just translate 痴女 like that for me... I should double-check... edit: oh my bad, he calls her a "female molester", which... I can't say he's wrong considering she tried to give him an aphrodisiac...? The word also means "stupid woman", so he could very well have meant it that way too, especially for some reasons I get into later in the post.)

Soooo, he didn't actually call her a slut. I'm an idiot 😌 I'm sorry, Azel. Dunno if any of my points below mean anything, but I'll leave it here anyway:

The running theme in Ikepri is to look beyond the beast and see the human inside. To meet them halfway. To see their heart. And that heart is always so very terribly scarred. All these guys have gone through their own traumas and come out the other end behaving in ways designed to be armor, to protect themselves from any further pain.

I can only speculate about Azel this early in his story arc, but being showered with the same adoration and reverence that people only show a god, day in and day out, probably fucks with your mentality a bit if you are still only human at the end of the day. Having women try to seduce you only because you're The Living God, well, we saw what that kind of shallow treatment did to Silvio. Women see you as an object and so women become objects to you. You want to be loved, but you don't want to be hurt.

That might only be scratching the surface with Azel, though. He's also clearly jaded from listening to the same old interpersonal problems people have when in relationships. Love is actual trash to him, not even worth a single penny. It's trash because the very people who follow him prove it to him on a daily basis, I imagine.

Yet that's still not the full picture. I mean, we obviously won't have the full picture until his main route drops, but there's another key factor to consider with Azel.

He quotes Pascal in Licht's sequel. "Man is only a reed, the weakest thing in nature; but he is a thinking reed." The full quote goes onto say:

"All our dignity consists, then, in thought. This is the basis on which we must raise ourselves, and not space and time, which we would not know how to fill. Let us make it our task, then, to think well: here is the principle of morality.”

(Did I read the entire context of the quote? HA! What do you take me for? A scholar or something?)

Free will and independent thought is arguably the most important thing to Azel. He has no respect for the sheep who flock to him for direction (though he'll happily take their money and tributes). Even with the dancer who tried to seduce him in the prologue, when he tells her to lick up the food she dropped after he tripped her, he presents it as a choice. Nevermind that the staggeringly unequal power dynamics at play made it so this was nothing short of coercion in the end; there was no way the dancer was in a position to stand up for herself and say no, even if that's exactly what Azel wanted. But from his perspective, defiance would have been welcome. That's why he phrased it as a choice. That she started licking up the food only solidified in Azel's mind that this woman is an unthinking reed without dignity. If you're going to act like trash, he'll treat you like trash... maybe that was part of his thinking.

On a slightly different note, I think another reason he hates the idea of love so much is because love makes people lose their ability to reason, to think. I believe he outright says as much, iirc.

In the end, I don't know from where exactly Azel's fury and cruelty comes from. It could be all of these things, it might be something else entirely. All I can think is, you can't be 'God' everyday and not be scarred by humans.

In conclusion, I can't excuse Azel's behavior. I don't excuse it. But I think Emma would try to understand the why of it, like she does in any other route. The other running theme in Ikepri is that, as a certain someone would put it, the essence of all people is love. It's their environment that twists them. Somewhere in Azel is the purest kind of love. A kind that would make any god look away in shame. That's what I want to believe in, anyhow.

Also, I need stress that I was SO wrong about whether he actually called the dancer a slut or not. Google fucked me over by translating it that way! Ah, Azel, I'm so sorry!

[utilitycaster]

I just want to say, that I agree with almost all of your Critical Role takes and you have 1000% better and more nuanced takes than all of Twitter and I greatly appreciate it! The takes over there regarding Liliana and the gods are just wild and you bring some much needed sanity to the content I see

Thanks! I hope you don't mind because I've been thinking about this re: the Twitter takes but the thing about Twitter and Liliana specifically that I've seen is that there's this really bizarre fetishization of like, the fact that she is a (white) southerner (this also weirdly happened for Birdie though to a much lesser extent, and the person who spearheaded that wasn't even American so I have to assume this is a specific corner of Twitter Culture At Large). And like, here's the thing. It's true that fantasy tends to be very British in its accents, and it's also true that accents in a fantasy world are used to convey the same things we'd assume in our world - RP British for educated, southern American for rural, Cockney for rougher types, etc.

It's also true that laying the exact socioeconomic parallels from our world onto, say, Liliana and Orym (who reads to me as non-regional but I, like Liam, am from the Northeast originally) is a recipe for disaster. Or rather, it's not, but it is going to reaffirm your own biases, some of which are dangerous to reaffirm.

There was a popular post on Tumblr a while back, probably not long after Trump was elected, of someone talking about how they were convincing a relative with the confederate flag towards socialism by appealing to the idea of "isn't in unfair how uneven wealth distribution is and how a small group has so much control" and a number of people were rightfully like "uh, maybe you should focus on the racism" or "hey OP ask your relative who they think that small group in control is because I'm getting a really bad feeling they're going to say it's The Jews." And I feel that a lot of the empathy for Liliana from those spaces feels like that OP. Or in other words: I get that you see your relatives in Liliana. Unfortunately, I cannot help but see me and mine in Orym.

You see someone trapped by circumstance and desperation in a dangerous ideology. I see the fact that I haven't gone to a synagogue in easily 6-7 years without there being a security guard present and usually, the doors locked with someone looking through the window to let you in, and then in the sanctuary there's been an installation so that you can quickly bar all the doors in case an alarm goes off or you hear shots in the lobby.

I think there's a great case for seeing yourself in Imogen, who is in a painful struggle with the fact that her mother does love her very much but is in dangerously deep and has done a number of incredibly terrible and harmful things. That latter point is important, incidentally; I get that cult members sometimes rise through the ranks but all but the leader are being manipulated. But the fact remains that a brainwashed person can still commit atrocities, and in this story, they have, many times over. It's especially true because like...sure, plenty of people are like "I lost my relative to a cult and I just want them back and I couldn't harm them," but also, as we've seen, this cult can and will harm Imogen! Plenty of people are also like "yeah I gotta cut them off, it hurts but unfortunately my horribly bigoted and violent relative, while a victim of brainwashing, is a threat to me too." It's not even the full picture of the Temult side of things, let alone the picture that includes the Vanguard's victims.

I also think the Southern gatekeeping is unhinged because it's like. guys there's QAnon members and other cults across the country; the Confederate flag example above was actually notable in that OP wasn't even Southern so you couldn't even write the flag off as deeply misguided heritage but rather was explicitly being used as a hate symbol. It's awfully presumptive to assume all southerners have the same experience (especially since the Temults are portrayed, physically and in accents, as white southerners, not that the experiences of white southerners aren't also incredibly varied). It's awfully presumptive to assume that people find Liliana threatening because they have no personal experience with people like her; often, it's because they have all too real experience with people like her, and it says something even worse about you if you can say "but you guys, I see me and my family in Liliana" when people are telling you that they see them and their families in Orym. I would not, personally, publicly admit that one's empathy extends to the people who remind you of your family but runs out before it reaches their victims. Nor would I publicly admit that I assume everyone who disagrees with me clearly has never had personal experience with this topic.

I should also note that, as I've noted a number of times before, that these are fictional characters and not real people. Twitter seems to be really fucking bad at grasping that. Like, yes, this is the other thing; I do not think that OP should kill their Confederate flag-toting relative, whereas if Imogen did so to Liliana I'd be like "hell yeah." The former is a real person who I do hope gets deprogrammed, just, you know, maybe adjust those priorities; the latter is a fictional character in a story.

[persephoneprice]

lily, please elaborate on your clemmie and lyssie post 😔🙏🏽

i know i did this to myself but i’m actually nervous to write this out because i don’t think anyone is going to agree with me but here i go!

before i start- i do want to clarify that i love both characters and this is in no way me hating on clemmie or implying that lysistrata is perfect! clemmie is miles ahead in terms of being caring versus her peers.

however, i do not see clemensia as a truly good, kind person. (again, this is all my personal interpretation and i could be way off!)

a few things stick out to me about clemensia that make me feel this way (pre-snake bite, obviously! def unfair to hold post snake-bite against her).

the first example is when they are discussing how to force people to watch the games.

clemensia says-

“The real problem is, it’s sickening to watch”

lysistrata says-

“Most of us don’t want to watch other people suffer.”

to me, i see this as lysistrata acknowledging and putting focus on the children suffering- where clemmie focuses mainly on how it makes her feel to watch.

clemensia also talks about her first meeting with reaper-

“Mine wouldn’t speak. Not a word”

not horrible by any means- but it still feels lacking in empathy (and not great that she referred to reaper as ‘hers’).

another example that comes to mind is when clemmie and coriolanus are discussing the games after arachne death and she says this-

“Yes, or make them Avoxes, or something,” said Clemensia. “It’s awful, but not as bad as the arena. I mean, I’d rather be alive without a tongue than dead, wouldn’t you?”

this isn’t a bad thing necessarily! but to me, i see it as misguided and failing to actually put herself in the shoes of these children and sort of failing to have genuine empathy.

another example is regarding iphigenia-

“Clemensia had once told Coriolanus it was the only revenge she could take on her father, but refused to give any more details.”

again, miles ahead of most of her peers because she refused to elaborate further but i believe that exposing that to coriolanus at all was a deeply unkind thing to do.

and then here are some examples where i see lysistrata displaying kindness (though i’m aware that it may be unfair to bring up things lysistrata did during the games bc clem didn’t get the same chance to bond with reaper!)

she makes the effort to help jessup even before he protects her in the bombing-

she’d apparently been working hard to connect with Jessup “I brought you some cream for your neck,”

she is grateful to jessup after he protects her instead of just assuming that her life is worth more. she’s also willing to speak out and tell everyone this despite knowing how people view district citizens.

“She’s going around saying that big, ugly boy from District Twelve protected her by throwing his body over her, but who knows? The Vickers family loves the spotlight.”

it’s also worth noting that coriolanus follows this up by saying he’s never seen a vickers trying to claim the spotlight.

she also says this-

“And who wouldn’t rather be the victor than the defeated?”

“I don’t know that I have much interest in being either,” said Lysistrata.”

which i think is very decent considering she lived through the war just as much as her classmates.

she displays empathy and understanding for dill & reaper when her classmates do not-

“Isn’t he the one who promised to kill all the others?” asked Pup.

“Doesn’t look so tough to me,” said Urban.”

“She’s his district partner,” said Lysistrata. “And she’s almost dead now. Tuberculosis, probably.”

she’s also quick to call out her classmates during the games-

“Like musical chairs,” said Domitia with a pleased look.

“But with people dying,” said Lysistrata.”

when jessup has rabies and is chasing lucy gray-

“If Jessup can’t win, I want Lucy Gray to. That’s what he’d want. And she can’t win if he kills her,” she said. “Which might happen anyway.”

to me, this shows that she has been able to empathize and understand who jessup is as a person.

also while other classmates display anger or frustration at losing the prize she says this-

“Coriolanus could barely hear Lysistrata whisper, “Oh, don’t let him die alone.”

because she cares about jessup. she also sends food to lucy gray directly after that.

and of course there’s this interaction which i think speaks for itself-

“I do.” She took a deep breath. “What I’d like people to know about Jessup is that he was a good person. He threw his body over mine to protect me when the bombs started going off in the arena. It wasn’t even conscious. He did it reflexively. That’s who he was at heart. A protector. I don’t think he would’ve ever won the Games, because he’d have died trying to protect Lucy Gray.”

“Oh, like a dog or something.” Lepidus nodded. “A really good one.”

“No, not like a dog. Like a human being,” said Lysistrata.”

but the fact that she firmly and openly asserted his humanity in front of the entire capitol essentially is massive to me.

and of course there’s the fact that she had been nice to sejanus-

“Snow had invited Festus and Lysistrata to join the party, as they’d liked Sejanus better than most of his classmates and could be counted on to say nice things.”

of course this is all rambling that doesn’t actually answer the question but i feel like it was important to try to explain why i saw them as slightly different.

essentially i think my thoughts on kind vs nice can be summed up by this quote-

Niceness, then, is often expressed through words or gestures, while kindness is often expressed through acts.

and lysistrata proved repeatedly that she is willing to act by speaking up consistently despite how taboo it is in the capitol. whereas i don’t view clemensia as someone who would be as willing to directly assert a district citizens humanity so publicly (again, my own personal interpretation.).

because of this- i believe lysistrata is a lot more likely to get herself in trouble quicker by opening her mouth and sticking up for the district citizens, especially after this experience. whereas i do not think clemensia would be as likely to risk her safety to do so.

[ikeromantic]

Mitsuhide, dear, 😚 ???

Ahaha! I don't know what this even is. My brain is leaking fluff. Approx 800 words of dear Mitsuhide.

Mitsuhide was amused. The chatelaine was responding quite adorably to his teasing. She pretended not to notice him when he went out of his way to bump into her as she bustled around the castle. Her gaze would stubbornly focus on the middle distance while her cheeks heated.

He found himself planning his days around her shifts with the castle maids. When simply watching her wasn’t enough, he found new ways to surprise her. By stepping out of unexpected places like dark corners or ‘empty’ rooms. Borrowing the items she was working with, like her broom or cleaning cloths. Once he even swiped a tray of tea and snacks. 

She would squeal and huff and tell him to leave her alone, all the while blushing fiercely. 

Mitsuhide wanted to do the same today, but duty, ever his burden, called. Today he would need to leave the city for several hours to ride out and check one of the crossroad villages. But he didn’t want to leave her without his attention, so he sent a note to her before leaving. 

Nothing special. Just a promise that he would be watching. And that he looked forward to being entertained. She would spend the day searching for him and that made him smile, even if he wouldn’t be there to appreciate the results in person. Kyubei had strict orders to report her every move when Mitsuhide returned.

His errand went quickly - the problem - a misguided group of ronin - were easily dealt with. They needed only a little encouragement to find their inner loyalty to the Oda. With Akechi soldiers keeping an eye on them, they would spend a few days setting things right at the village and then report for training with Keiji in Azuchi. 

It was dusk by the time he got back to the castle. Mitsuhide was looking forward to hearing about the chatelaine’s day from Kyubei. He’d been thinking about it the whole ride back. But Kyubei was nowhere to be found. 

He moved through his mansion, peering into the usual places his vassal was found. Not in the office, nor the porch, nor the garden. Kyubei wasn’t in his bedroom or Mitsuhide’s personal quarters. 

Mitsuhide turned, feeling a sudden suspicion. And there she was, stepping from a dark corner into the lantern light like a spirit. Close enough for her clothes to brush against his arm. Anyone else might have jumped in surprise, or shouted. He just laughed. 

“Oh come on! I scared you, didn’t I? Just a little?” The chatelaine crossed her arms and pouted. 

“Will you be pleased if I tell you yes even though it is a lie?” Mitsuhide felt a surge of affection for his daring little mouse. 

She glared at him. “Yes. Yes I would. Because you are evil and I deserve a little revenge!” 

Mitsuhide smoothed her hair away from her face, surprised when she didn’t slap his touch away. “Evil, hm? And what makes you say that?”

Her little growl was more suited to a baby bear than a mouse. “You had me jumping at shadows all day. Ikept thinking I saw you but - but you weren’t really there! And then I found Kyubei skulking around like a rat and I knew!” She poked him in the chest. “I knew you just sent me that letter to freak me out.”

Mitsuhide took her hand and caressed the back of it with his thumb. “It’s alright, little one. You can admit you missed me.”

“I didn’t! Oh. My. God!” She did yank her hand away then and crossed her arms over her chest. “Just don’t leave me creepy notes.”

“Now, now. I understand. And I promise next time I’ll bring you along.” He patted her shoulder. “No need then for a letter, hm?”

Her face turned a shade darker and for a moment, Mitsuhide feared he might have triggered some deep penchant for violence. But after a strangled sigh, she slumped. “Oh fine. Just keep mocking me. I don’t know why I even tried to get you back.”

She was so adorably disappointed, so precious, that it hurt. Mitsuhide wanted to pull her into a hug. But she might actually hit him for it. So he only ruffled her hair. “Because you enjoy the game as much as I do. And that is why you play along, though you always have the power to end it in your hands.”

The look she gave him was incredulous at first, but she must have seen something in his gaze because her expression softened. She let out another sigh, though her heart wasn’t in it. “You know, sometimes I think I really hate you. Then you look like that and I -”

“Realize you love me?”

“Pfffft.” She stuck her tongue out at him.

“Oh? Is that an invitation, my dear?” Mitsuhide leaned forward. 

She smacked him and scrambled back a step. “Hey! No way!” Her anger fell away as she realized he was holding back a laugh. “Oooooh you.” The chatelaine huffed. “I’m going to bed. Alone,” she added when she saw his lips twitch. “And I will see you tomorrow.”

“I am looking forward to it.” Mitsuhide watched her go, a warm affection suffusing his chest. She was truly precious to him. More so, perhaps, than he was willing to admit. He’d missed her today too.

[celestiall0tus]

Court of Miracles - Chapter 12 - Assembly

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            Adrienne took her seat in the council room with the other heirs. She scanned the room for Luka but didn’t see him present by the time Marc took his seat. Nerves clawed at her as she stared at his empty seat.

            “I call together this meeting to discuss the evening of the Winter Solstice. The incident in question is Juleka and her disregard for the celebration and humiliating the court. I know many of you have concerns that you’ve discussed with me. I call to those to state their case,” Marc announced.

            Felix was the first to stand. “With all due respect, punishment needs to be delivered. She blatantly strolled in, soured the entire celebration, and then insulted every one of us. We cannot allow this behavior to go without some consequence.”

            Marc hesitated. “Well, I… will consider it.”

            “Consider it? Consider what? Letting her off the hook? Letting her continue on with this insulting, rude behavior? She needs to be reminded of her place!”

            “And what is her place, oh mighty Black Cat? What is her place as a Shifter?” Nathalie challenged.

            Felix opened his mouth but shut it.

            “Perhaps it is better you think before you open that trash chute you call a mouth. Need I remind you that Juleka has only been here for two weeks. In that time, she’s been holed up in the greenhouse with only the other snakes, Sass, and Mylene having constant contact with her. In all that time, has anyone shared with her how things are supposed to even work?” Nathalie questioned.

            “Mylene, would you possibly know?” Marc asked.

            “Well, I’ve tried. Whenever it’s just us, I try talking to her, but she usually dismisses anything regarding the court. Even when she speaks with Sass, he never addresses court formalities. I did tell her what the Winter Solstice was about, but she just kept going on about it being a season of death and saying we shouldn’t be throwing big parties like this. Then the whole thing at the actual event,” Mylene explained.

            “Speaking of, I know a fair few also spoke up about her dower mood and… misguided ideas about the celebration of the solstice. I figured perhaps we could discuss that as well along with her… behavior. Perhaps we could get a voice from our kwamis as well?” Marc asked.

            Silence passed through the room as the kwamis materialized as a mix of human and kwami forms.

            “E-excellent. So, uh, who’d like to start?”

            Gimmi, Marc’s kwami, stepped forward. “I would. With the events in question, Juleka and Sass acted as was tradition. This season is that of death. For us to celebrate like we do now is a mockery of how it’s meant to be. I imagine having not only the first Highborn since the Black Death and to also have the first shift in more than a thousand years, Sass likely wanted a return to form. And Juleka seemed to be following her instincts as the Highborn shifter that she is. As such, I move that nothing is done to her, but a reflection on the court and what it means to be the representatives of your concept. Right, Vana?”

            Vana looked up from the sketchbook he looked over with Nathaniel. “What? Oh, yes, sure. Whatever you say, Gimmi.”

            “Are you even paying attention?”

            Vana turned back to the sketchbook. “Of course. Solstice. Tradition. All that nonsense.”

            Gimmi rolled her eyes. “What of my brothers and sister? Please, share your thoughts.”

            “I enjoyed it. Didn’t realize how much I missed the traditional celebrations until Sass and the shifter brought it back. Better than celebrating with those parties,” Plagg remarked.

            “I don’t care for the season and personally prefer the parties, but this isn’t my season. It’s Plagg’s. Still, I enjoyed the change of pace,” Tikki commented.

            “I speak for Ursa and myself that we prefer the return to traditional celebrations. We’ve seen countless versions of this season across the universe, and it is celebrated as Juleka and Sass did that night,” Oron declared.

            “Same for Moirai and myself. All things have a beginning and an end. We celebrate the beginning in spring, the joys of life in summer and autumn, but winter continues that when we should be celebrating the end of all things. Parties are nice, but we are betraying ourselves by continuing with these newer ways,” Orsus announced.

            “Winter has no influence on my concept, and I have no opinion on the matter,” Aislinn said.

            “I love the idea of returning to form. Don’t know why we stopped in the first place. Sure, not all winters are the same, but it is a time of quiet, hibernation, and a fight for survival. Plus, parities are stupid,” Longg hissed.

            “They are not! But I do agree that a return to tradition wouldn’t be the worst thing. Though, can we keep things looking pretty? Longg said it herself. Winter isn’t the same everywhere and we should be allowed to have some pretty things and not just ugly barren snow wastelands,” Duusu complained.

            “I like the idea of changing things back to how they were. Perhaps we can remind more of the heirs of their places, so to speak,” Nooroo said as he shot a glance at Felix.

            “Whatever they want,” Wayzz commented.

            “No comment,” Terra said.

            “I think it’s a good idea. We spend the longer seasons all wrapped up in everything that it’d be nice to return to form. I actually had some ideas of how to enhance the season throughout and not just for the solstice,” Psyche declared.

            Vana cooed. “You’ll have to share those with me.”

            “Later. Memoria, Lethe, continue,” Gimmi said.

            “It might be for the best, it just can be hard. We had this change because the heirs needed a change. They needed something to lift them up, especially after the mentioned Black Death,” Memoria reminded.

            “Oh, yeah, forgot about that, but that was then, no? Shouldn’t we just forge ahead?” Lethe asked.

            “We should. Winter has always been about learning from our past and preparing for something new. The time after the Black Death has long since passed and we should have returned to form a long time ago,” Luz pointed out.

            “Whatever you guys want. I’ll just enjoy everything the back here,” Trixx remarked.

            “Silkii and I’s concepts have no place with winter, so no comment,” Pollen said.

            “I feel it is best to have this return,” Fang said.

            “And I think based on the past and what has been shown, we should have more return to form than just the Winter Solstice,” Min commented.

            “Agreed! There’s so much more we could improve to better connect with our heirs again. Right, Daizzi?” Mullo asked.

            Daizzi shrugged.

            “Well, yes, but we do need to careful about how we approach it. Sudden shifts may cause more distress and discomfort. We need to go about it carefully,” Fluff pointed out.

            “I agree. You’ll have more problems if you move too quickly,” Kaalki added.

            “C’mon, everyone! We never babied the heirs or families before. When we spoke, our words were final. Let’s just return to form. Sass showed us what we could have again, so let’s do it!” Roarr exclaimed.

            “Unless you’re all too scared,” Styx mocked.

            “This is all stupid,” Orikko grumbled.

            “Well, it’s… concerning, but it might be a nice start. I know I’d like to have better connections with my pups,” Barkk stated.

            “C’mon, winter can be more than depressing nothingness! We should keep the parties and remind people it’s still a fun season!” Xuppu argued.

            “Not everything is fun, Xuppu. Winter is supposed to be a time of quiet and reflection. As the others have stated, it is a time of death and quiet,” Corbin countered.

            “Exactly. Rest is very important,” Mell said.

            “Sure, whatever he said,” Stompp added.

            “I agree with the others to return to form. Not all celebrations need to be wild, crazy parties, and Sass reminded us of that,” Ziggy said.

            Mill nodded.

            Adrienne watched the other heirs speak with their kwamis while Marc looked down at his hands. The uneasiness in her stomach clawed its way to her throat. She fought to keep it down when Marc looked to the council.

            “Take your kwami’s words into consideration for this vote. Know that whatever is decided here I will convene with Velze about our next steps. The matter is this: do we return to tradition and how we used to celebrate the winter and abstain punishment for Juleka and Sass, or do we keep with how we celebrate now and punish the pair. We’ll start with Nathaniel and work our way down the ranks. Nathaniel?” Marc announced.

            Nathaniel blinked and looked around. “What are we talking about again?”

            Marc pursed his lips as he fought for composure. “New addition to the vote! You can be for the change, against the change, or no vote. Nathaniel is no vote. I, myself, vote for a change. Marinette? Felix?”

            “I agree with Tikki that this isn’t my area to speak, but I wouldn’t be against it,” Marinette said.

            “What? Absolutely not! Juleka and Sass need to be punished. These are not our ways!” Felix roared.

            “Are you kidding? Could you not imagine all the things we could discover? All the different traditions we’ve abandoned that we can bring back? I’m all for the return!” Jalil cheered.

            “It’d be a nice change of pace and a different way to celebrate. You all have no idea how hard it is to really plan all these silly parties you seem to like to throw. Let’s change shit up,” Alix commented.

            “I like the parties. I vote to keep them,” Aeon said.

            “We’re celebrating one way or another, so I don’t care,” Mireille said.

            “Our concept may have no place in winter, but I still say no to returning to tradition,” Wayhem said.

            “I mean, I suppose there’s no harm?” Mylene asked.

            “I see no issue, but I want to keep some pretty things. I agree with Duusu that not all of winter should be seen as ugly,” Adrienne said.

            “What? No! We shouldn’t change things if they aren’t broken. Right, Socqueline?” Zoe pressed.

            Socqueline hesitated as she looked at Marinette, then Zoe. “I… I… no comment!”

            “I agree with Zoe. The parties aren’t hurting anyone. Besides, winter is so boring without them,” Kim complained.

            “I think it might be interesting to bring back older traditions, but what if we added new stuff that aligns with it? Like Psyche suggested,” Ondine pressed.

            Nora hesitated. “I don’t know. No comment.”

            “No. Final answer,” Lila said.

            “I’d like one season without endless parties and ruckus. The quiet would be nice to reflect before spring,” Nathalie commented.

            “I’d like a season to forget, so yes,” Veronique said.

            “No comment,” Chloe said.

            “No way! Juleka’s ideas were boring and stupid!” Manon whined.

            “I feel the same as Fang. Let’s change things,” Alya said.

            “And I think the same as Min, so yes to change,” Max said.

            “I like the idea of changing things back to tradition but bringing in new ideas like Ondine suggested. Let’s do that!” Jessica cheered.

            “I don’t like any of this. It’s stupid and confusing. I say no,” Chris grumbled.

            “I suppose we’ll see how this goes?” Ali asked as he looked at Rose.

            “Y-yeah! I’m sure it’ll be amazing!” Rose cheered.

            “I say let’s do it!” Fei Wu exclaimed.

            “I’d rather keep things the same,” Nino muttered.

            Aurore looked up from her phone and flipped off the other heirs.

            Sabrina chuckled nervously. “Don’t mind her. I think we’d both like to see those changes. Maybe incorporate what Ondine and Psyche were suggesting?”

            “I agree with Xuppu. My vote is no,” Bridgette said.

            “I liked the Shifter’s methods. My vote is yes,” Delmar said.

            “What are we talking about, Ivan?” Kagami asked.

            “The Winter Solstice and returning to more relaxing ways of celebrating winter,” Ivan said.

            “Oh. I want relaxing, whichever option that is,” Kagami said.

            “Whatever she wants,” Ivan added.

            “I could use some more relaxation. Planning these parties get so boring and hard,” Jagged Stone complained.

            “You mean Penny has enough on her plate already doing the actual planning because you’re too lazy,” Ivan commented.

            Jagged Stone waved his hand dismissingly.

            “Um, Penny? What about you?” Marc asked.

            “Huh? What? Ask me later, whatever it is. I have-,” Penny started.

            Kagami shifted and touched Penny’s shoulder. Penny gasped as her eyes rolled back and she passed out.

            “Uh, Kagami? Why did you-?” Marc started.

            “She needed it. Even ants need sleep,” Kagami said with a yawn.

            “R-right. Well, with a majority vote for change and to clear Juleka and Sass of punishment, I will bring this decision to Velze. I will also present the notion offered by Psyche and Ondine to include new ways of celebrating that reflect the original meaning of the Winter Solstice as presented by Sass, Juleka, and all records Nathalie and Jalil can retrieve.”

            “You’re making a mistake, Marc,” Felix hissed.

            “I… I am just the figurehead. We all decided on this, Felix. You cannot blame me just because not everyone shared your perspective. You are welcome to stay and present your case to Velze, if you think you can convince him,” Marc challenged.

            Felix sneered and growled. “Are we done here?”

            “Yes. Meeting adjourned. I will summon you all back once I have spoken with Velze. Kwamis, I ask you remain for this task, please.”

            Everyone stood and left while Felix stormed off. Adrienne lingered a moment longer as she looked back at Luka’s empty seat. The unease didn’t fade and still held a death grip on her.

            “You look ill. Are you getting sick?” Alya asked.

            Adrienne jumped and took a step back. “Uh, no. I just… I’m worried. You know, Luka.”

            “Oh, do tell.”

            “It-it’s nothing. Just… uneasy.”

            “Like something bad is going to happen?”

            Adrienne looked away. “Something like that.”

            “Well, don’t ignore that feeling. That’s your intuition speaking to you, fancy bird. If you feel something bad is coming, then something likely is. Keep an eye on your little toy,” Alya warned.

            Adrienne paused and looked back into the council room. Thoughts of the worst case stormed her mind. She gulped and pushed them away. She reminded herself that everything would be fine. Nothing bad would happen. Everything would be fine.

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[pythoria]

something about bg3 i find fascinating is just How Many characters are good and compelling. Usually with most media, be it games or tv shows or movies you have one or 2 characters you get attached to, but with baldur's gate i love almost every single character in their own way.

Astarion is instantly charming and witty, he's the sassy vampire who most people find themselves drawn to, but he's not the only compelling character by far. Gale takes some time to grow on you, but after you actually see how his story unfolds and maybe even romance him, you start understanding that he's just as hurt and sad as any of the other characters, groomed from a young age and misunderstood because of it. Astarion sees himself as just a body to be used, but Gale also thinks he's worthless deep down, especially after losing the bulk of his magic. He's passively suicidal and thinks his abuser is worth sacrificing everything for, and needs the whole camp to yell at him for being stupid to realise he might deserve to live and even, get this, find happiness.

Shadowheart's story and ending isn't talked about a lot, but it is HEARTBREAKING, and both endings for her are the only ones that actually brought tears to my eyes. In a similar way to other characters, her bad ending gives away a lot about her character, almost more than her good ending, and without spoiling it, i'll just say: it's impossible to make her character evil. she will always be governed by a sense of good and justice, and the only thing that goes wrong for her is being misguided and unable to turn back. Whatever she does, she does it because she thinks it's good and just.

I can't go in depth about every character, although they are all incredible, but honourable mentions for me are literally all the villains. Gortash is instantly compelling, and how could he not be with a voice actor like That. Him and Orin are also incredibly visually interesting, as well as their personalities being so magnetic. Ketheric is deeply tragic in his own way, act 2 is practically dedicated to his shattered family and it's so fascinating to see the shards of a broken man scattered across a broken, cursed land.

Raphael has the best theme song by far, he's overflowing with charisma, he speaks in riddles and verse, he's the perfect devil. He draws you in, you almost start to like him, and then you arrive at the House of Hope and the illusion both shatters and builds even further, because his lair is by far the best map in the entire game. You find out he only ever wants to sleep with himself, but that he's terrible in bed according to his succubus. You see people's lost souls pop in and out of existence, and you can only watch them beg for reprieve, but cannot interact. You see debtors crawling around rabidly on all fours, or worshipping his toilet, or sitting in front of his budoir, endlessly bound to watch him and his succubus through the peep hole but never allowed to join. And then there's the final fight, with its incredible song that everyone should experience for the first time in game.

So many compelling characters and i could write an essay about each one. i've barely scratched the surface, and i haven't even mentioned all the origin characters. it's just insane to me how detailed every story is, how they all have their own individual arcs and motivations and they're all fully fleshed out, and feel so god damn REAL. Yeah, bg3 should get GOTY, but honestly that's not even enough. The voice actors need oscars, the composer needs a grammy, and so on and so forth. what a game.