#she's apparently older than 5!! which makes sense!!!

[spacenintendogs]

CRICKET JS GOING TO BE OKAY!!!

[n30nwrites]

Rewind (Bridgerton)

Pronouns: He/Him

Relationships: Anthony Bridgerton x Kate Sharma, Penelope Featherington x Colin Bridgerton, Benedict Bridgerton x Reader, Anthony Bridgerton x Reader, Kate Sharma x Reader, Penelope Featherington x Reader, Colin Bridgerton x Reader

Soulmate AU, Polygamy, Reader is autistic

Warnings; Mentions of homophobia? Mentions of absent parents, Christianity but the Reader doesn't believe in God, Talks of Unwanted touching, Talks about canonical child death and sickness

This is just a small excerpt because no one else will fulfill what I need because I am very much in love with the people surrounding Bridgerton. IDK if I'll continue it.

You weren't the eldest son, nor were you the youngest. A Classic middle child, having your older brothers torture you and your younger ones followed in their footsteps soon enough. But all of your siblings wanted one thing.

Your parent's attention.

Your father, The King George, was a mad men, at least he was considered one. Your mother was too busy ruling England and keeping everything picture perfect to really care about you guys.

Well you didn't really count yourself as one of your siblings.

Simply because you weren't meant to be here.

When you were first taken to this universe, you had been a babe, just freshly born. It was strange, to have full consciousness when being a young'en. The minute you could, you were walking and talking, far earlier than any other babe, but you had too.

By the time you were five, you had been considered a spectacle. The prodigal son, they claimed. You had your wits, you were respectable, truly the perfect gentleman.

You played your cards right, up until you couldn't.

Growing older meant more siblings, and you took care of them the best you could. But you hated these new rules. You couldn't be alone with a woman who wasn't a relative, your brothers were rude and loved it, and your sisters were innocent. Naive really, which you felt was a strange thing. To know about Sex but they couldn't. You tried to teach your sisters as well, education was the future.

But it was all useless.

Eventually you became a recluse. You stuck to yourself, in your room with instruments. Your English guitar, harp-lute, piano, and even the improper ones like a violin, cello and flute. You had to make the best of a situation, and that was what you did.

Even well into your adulthood, your brothers were still your biggest bullies. They thought you were a prude for never having Sex, which frankly if women couldn't without being criticized and shamed, then you shouldn't either. They said you were secretly a woman, or queer.

Well you could attest you weren't a woman, and well you kind of were queer. Bisexual, but they wouldn't know that word.

But you were brought into this universe for some odd reason. You weren't sure why, you didn't really get into Bridgerton like everyone else. Not that you were different from others, you just couldn't commit to watching a tv series, but you had seen the edits.

It just made no sense for you to be the one. It wasn't until the marks appeared that you understood.

Soulmates. That was a new adaption. Apparently they were rare, rare enough that out of all your siblings, you were the only one to have one. Your mother said it was a gift from God, though you thank she only said that because the bishop was there when you got them.

Them as in multiple, that put the bishop out of his head. He said it was blasphemous, you were too entranced with them to care. A matching soulmark would tie you to these people. 5 people.

That was a lot of people to keep happy. Especially when this century wasn't very happy with queer couples and polyamory. After that, your mother had insisted you hide them, and you weren't willing to risk a Romanov situation because people were too religious.

Your mother didn't like that you weren't religious, but she didn't bring it up again after one intense arguement that caused you to leave for a few weeks.

But you agreed with her, you wouldn't tell others. You were here to find a way out, you already had some ideas, one being a specific spot in the woods where you found something from the future.

A portable Radio/Cassette player. Wasn't that far in the future where you were, but it would work. You had headphones with it, and you finally felt some sort of sanity. Music in this era wasn't nearly as relaxing as yours was.

Keeping to yourself was easy after that. Every servant was ordered to knock on your door loudly by you, and to stop any sibling that would come your way just in case they caught you. Your servants were almost your friends, you knew they were reqired to be there, to be kind to you, but it was the closest you had to an actual relationship.

You stayed away from your mother on days like this. She's irritated, you don't know why, you don't care to ask. Your siblings are stomping around the palace but you don't move from your room, you instead walk around your room, shirtless, listening to your music. Your favorite servant, Zelena, is behind you, just watching you. She's always been touchy with you, your hair, your chest, you assumed it was just the way she communicated. And while you were uncomfortable with it, your mother had told you that you couldn't afford to be rude to people.

Zelena stayed next to you while you played the English Guitar. You knew enough about it in your old life, having made adjustments to the strings to be able to play older songs. The ones you could remember (Which you wrote down because eventually, you wouldn't.)

You ignore the knock at the door, simply nodding your head to Helena, who opens the door gently.

A gentleman is at the door, he's staring at you the minute he walks in. Like he's almost amazed at you, you didn't understand.

You never did.

He seems to look at you yet avoids eye contact. You set the instrument down to the side, gently. "Can I help you sir?"

He says your name, and you nod your head. "Can we be alone?" He asks. Your mother said it was improper to be with women alone, not men. So you nod your head and your maids walk out of the room. You figured this man was a duke or something, he had to be important considering he was in the castle. Perhaps a suitor for one of your sisters.

"My name is Benedict Bridgerton."

"Bridgerton? I've heard stories about your family before from my mother. She enjoys the drama that surrounds your family." You tell him, "Last I heard the Viscount found a wife."

"My brother, Anthony." He confirms.

"What brings you to my room?" You question. "Surely it's not to tell me about your family?"

"I just had to meet you."

"You really didn't." You frown slightly, to be fair, you knew a bit about Benedict. You weren't the biggest fan of his story, kidnapping a bride from her wedding day and tying her to a pole. It was strange, but you couldn't change the writers opinion. At least you think that was his story, TikTok could only tell you so much and it's not like you read the books.

You could only hope that it was different in the tv series, considering that's where you were right now. The actor himself you knew very little about as well, but you didn't really care for actors. You stood from the couch in your room, "Why is the artist here?"

"You know of my work?"

"I know a lot of things Sir." You take a few steps away from the couch. "Can you get to the point?"

He seems unsure now, fiddling with his fingers. "You're my soulmate" He tells you, and you look down at one of your marks.

"Which mark are you?" You question, and he looks hopeful. He pulls up his sleeve, the little feather on your wrist, in matching spots. You looked at your own and slightly traced it.

"Benedict!" The voice is angry and your door opens. You glare at the person who opened it. He didn't knock. It's Anthoyn Bridgerton, looking angry. "Benedict what are-"

"Next time Viscount I would ask that you knock instead of rudely interrupting." You cut him off, glaring at him. He seems to have brought a group of people behind him. Benedict stands up and walks right next to you. You put your hands behind your back, picking at your wrist. "It seems you've brought company." You tell Benedict.

"I was about to explain." He tells you, but you look at Anthony, more specifically behind him. You can see your mother through the crowd.

"If we must speak, we will not do it in my room." You grab Benedict's wrist, still refusing skin-to-skin, and pull him with you. Your glare causes the eldest Bridgerton to move to the side, he walks next to his wife.

Outside your room is a lot of people, it's almost overwhelming. There's the Featheringtons, really you only recognized Penelope but you knew by the yellow dress that they had to be her relatives. You could guess they were her sisters and the eldest-looking was her mother. You then saw your own mother, with what seemed like all of your siblings behind her. You rolled your eyes, your eldest brother seemed to glare at you. He hated you though, and you didn't particulary care. You just hated the drama that came with them. Then the Bridgertons. All of them, it seems. The eldest Bridgerton son is there with his wife, Kate. As is their mother, then Benedict who was next to you, Colin who seemed to glance between you and Penelope, Daphne with her husband, Simon. Eloise, Francesca (you truly hoped she got a better story in this show than the books), Gregory and Hyacinth.

"Brimsley, a pleasure to see you again." You avoid everyone to speak to your mother's right-hand man.

"Perhaps if you came out of your room more sir."

"Ah but if I did I might just die." You smile slightly, "Especially if I see William's face." Your brother takes a step towards you but quickly faltors at your mother's expression. "What have I done to warrant a family meeting without me."

"Being born really." George remarked and you smiled at him, cruelly.

"Brother you make me wish I wasn't and that instead I was with Charlotte, Amelia, Alfred and Octavius." What you said was cruel. Amelia died of tuberculosis, Alfred and Octavius died of smallpox, and the young Princess Charlotte who you weren't really sure how you died, you were barely there during the funeral. George (The fourth?) seemed to quiet down, looking sad. You were being rude, you didn't care. They back you into a corner and you attack, like always. "Edward! If you want to strike me you might as well try, but we both know you lack in that department, and many others."

"Quiet." Your mother tells you, and you wish you could care but you didn't. "This doesn't pertain you." She says your name gently, as if convincing you to calm down.

"Obviously it does if it has my soulmate running towards me." You jest towards Benedict. "What? Now that my attraction to men is out we must kill them all? It's not like it's been a secret."

"It is not godly." One of your brothers say.

"God is not Godly." You dennounce him, "You follow a book that has been rewritten multiple times, through many different languages. I do not believe in your God, you know that."

"Hush." Your mother calls your name and you just stare at her. "This was for the better of the Kingdom."

"Why does the Kingdom matter more than I?" You question, "Frankly, none of this does. But why are the Bridgertons and the Featherington's here?"

"You know who we are?" One of the other Featherington sisters say, she seems hot, considering the red to her face.

"I know of Penelope." You looked to her and nodded. "Who wouldn't? She's absolutely beautiful." You notice the looks that you recieve after you say your words. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, I just think its best-"

"She wants to discourage us from going after you." Benedict says as he grabs your wrist causing you to look at him.

"Us?"

[yuwuta]

pls tell us more about itadori twin au with sukuna being the reject degenerate akfjsviusd

ofc this is really just my everybody is alive and well (sort of) fix it au but cw: sukuna slander since apparently he has lovers 😐

yuuji is the older twin and he doesn’t hold that over sukuna, but he does like to remind him of it just to piss him off sometimes. in the grand scheme of things, it makes sense that sukuna is the youngest—youngest brothers are the only ones that act like they know everything, like they hate everyone and everyone, like they never need help with anything 😐

choso is the oldest, and he’s older then them by maybe 5-8 years? idk i haven’t figured it out, just that choso is definitively the eldest, but because he’s so much older, there’s a point where he’s off at college and yuuji and sukuna are on their own and yuuji is technically big brother and sukuna hates that 

the first friend yuuji makes in school is yuuta. the first enemy that sukuna makes in school is rika. they’re all five and learning to write and yuuji gets help spelling a note for yuuta that says he loves him and he’s his best friend in the world, and sukuna uses his talents to make a note that says “i hate you” instead of “i love you” and switch out yuuji’s note. yuuta gets sad and tells yuuji it’s fine if he doesn’t want to be friends with tears in his eyes, which makes yuuji cry, which makes rika mad. she figures out what sukuna did and then gets in trouble for pushing him off of the jungle gym. yuuta and yuuji make up, and rika stays awake at rest time glaring at sukuna for the rest of the year. 

the pattern of sukuna interfering with yuuji’s friends continues throughout elementary and middle school. todo finds a weird sense of joy in it, always claiming it’s “brotherly love” but always offers to substitute in some kinder brotherly love for yuuji when sukuna is being the worst. rika has moved away by now, but yuuta holds her grudge even stronger than she ever did; he’s still scrawny, but he’s not afraid of sukuna anymore and rika was sure to teach him the ways of her death stare, and he’s become quite proficient at it. sukuna does make his own friends, who he treats as his lackeys. mahito won’t admit that he thinks yuuji is actually kinda cool because then sukuna would hit him. urame doesn’t really care. 

sukuna learns to stop messing with yuuji’s friends when nobara comes along. honestly, at this point, nobara isn’t even really yuuji’s friend, but he considers her his friend, plus she’s a girl, which is enough for sukuna to be annoying. she’s the first person to really kick his ass since rika—and she doesn’t even do it for yuuji, she was just having a bad day, and sukuna was talking shit, and the next moment they were fighting. they both get pretty roughed up, but sukuna is the only one with bite marks, and he was about to lose an eye because nobara picked up a rusty nail from near the fence and was 100% about to stab him until a teacher came and pulled her back. they’re both suspended, but everyone at school agrees that nobara won that fight. when they come back, they never speak a word to each other. later on, during high-school, this silent staredown between them still goes on, but weirdly enough sukuna has developed a strange sense of respect for her. he’d die before he admit that he’s scared of her, but she is the one person he doesn’t like to bother. 

when megumi enters freshman year, he’s heard the stories about the itaodri twins, and he’s hoping nobody at his new school knows that he was an ex-delinquent himself because he promised his mother that he’d grow out of it. he has the displeasure of encountering sukuna first, who doesn’t say or do much to him but is kind of a dick. it makes megumi roll his eyes when he’s sat next to him later in his english class, and he asks to borrow a pencil. megumi thinks he’s got some audacity when he was so rude earlier, but then he takes a good look at the boy next to him—his hair is pinker, he’s not frowning, and he feels kinder—and megumi realizes he must be the nice twin. yuuji does indeed clarify that he is not sukuna after class, and their friendship goes from there. unfortunately, it takes megumi sometime to be able to differentiate the twins at a glance, and sukuna likes to take advantage of that by pretending he’s yuuji to mess with megumi. one day he takes it too far, and yuuji ends up being the one to wail on him and the office calls in choso to pick them up, who pinches them both by the ear and smacks them both himself. it’s the catalyst for sending sukuna to the highschool down the road starting junior year. 

by the time you come along in college, sukuna and yuuji have no reason to be tied together anymore. sukuna takes a gap year while yuuji goes off to college. he starts taking school more seriously, starts playing sports, even got himself a part-time job—which his how he meets you. and he really likes you, he likes being next to you in class, he even starts liking group projects because it means he gets to spend time with you (even if you and yuuta constantly correct his grammar), and he really likes it when you stop by the gym just to talk to him while he’s working. and you like yuuji too, he’s sweet, smarter than he gives himself credit for, and really cute, and you’re really, really happy when he finally makes a move and asks you out. 

yuuji is pretty honest with you about most things, so it’s a genuine shock to your system when you find out he has a twin brother. a twin brother that you had the displeasure of running into at the gym, a twin brother was quite rude and crude towards you and put a sour taste in your mouth because you thought your boyfriend was being mean for no reason, only to have the strongest whiplash of your life when you storm out of the gym and into your boyfriend again. you’re trying to convince yourself you’re not crazy, that yuuji can’t teleport, and trying to cope with your hurt feelings all at once when yuuji catches you and explains that you met sukuna. it still takes you a week to digest the information (you’re mad at yuuji and your friends for never mentioning that your boyfriend has a twin), and when you’re finally ready to talk to yuuji again, you knock on his door and it’s choso that opens it saying, “oh, you must be yuuji’s girlfriend! i’m choso, his older brother,” and you swear you’re gonna pass out from anger or confusion because how many brothers does this boy have. 

[playertwotails]

I have a very funny idea about Sonic that's gonna require me to go into a bit of a tangent on a funny personal story for it to make sense but stay with me. (I do not personally have any memory of this story but my mom likes to retell it sometimes cause it's funny)

So to the story time. When I was a toddler my parents were worried I might be mute or partially so because I would either not talk at all or just say one word and no complete sentences. This kept up until I was 2 years old and after taking me to specialists one finally realized there was nothing actually wrong with me but my older sibling was talking for me so I just didn't. (Sidenote, my older sibling is not much older than me, a bit over a year apart so it's all toddler v toddler at these ages, just saying this so no one thinks my sibling is like mean or something, they were about as much of a baby as I was )

Fast forward after the "diagnosis" and I'm still 2 not talking and up until this point my older sibling has been getting away with stuff cause I wouldn't talk.

Well one day our mom comes back to me crying and my sibling not saying what happened and our mom out of habit just starts asking me "Oh what happened?" She was not expecting a response but according to her I pointed to my sibling and said in a very clear sentence "They hit me with a broom!!" To which my sibling in the shock of the moment just said "THEY CAN TALK??!!"

(Apparently baby me had impeccable comedic timing on when to snitch on my sibling)

Moving on from personal story back to my obsession with the Sonic series. So I'm a big fan of mute/selectively mute younger Sonic, it's *chefs kiss* for me.

I had a funny scenario in mind where Sonic has been battling Eggman for a while and Eggman is well aware that Sonic does not talk. And Eggman has a new cannon fodder accomplice in what ever new scheme he's got cooking up for the week. And he tells this new meat shield not to bother really talking with Sonic cause he's not gonna say anything back.

Maybe this is sometime after Sonic got Tails and they were fighting Eggman and his new chump of the week. Eggman and Sonic are alone and Eggman starts ranting about how he was going to 100% betray his new sucker of a partner in like the next hour. Cause to Eggman, Sonic is pretty good sound board since he doesn't talk back so why not tell him his petty schemes.

Cue a bit later they're all back together all out brawl style and Tails gets hurt or captured or something just enough to piss off Sonic and immediately Sonic turns to the new Eggman stooge and just goes "Eggman said he's gonna betray you here in like 5 mins."

Eggman is too shocked to deny it, just immediately shouts "SINCE WHEN DO YOU TALK!!!????!!!"

Which not a great defense against the betrayal accusations and Eggman now has a new problem of fighting a, as of 5 seconds ago, new enemy.

Idk I was just thinking about the story my mom likes to tell again and brain rot connected the dots back to Sonic lol.

[etaindelaserna]

Hello, hello...What do you think are KakaSaku and DraMione’s each greatest personality strengths and weaknesses? Why? What do you love about their dynamic each?

(Hope you don't mind, that I copy the same questions from that same ask of that anon about SukuIta).

P.s Also can I ask your top 5 fav fics of those 2 ships? Please and thank you.....

Greetings!✨ Minding? Are you kidding me? I get to talk about my favourite characters and ships soooo let’s get down to it, shall we?

Kakashi is a genius in all ways that matter to become the perfect shinobi: he’s intelligent, capable of cold logic, perceptive, talented and has the will to perfect his skills. To me his greatest quality is to think fast and outside of the box. Not only does he analyse situations quickly but he also knows how to adapt his plans according to the changing variables.

Greatest weakness? Hmm…younger Kakashi certainly had more than one but older Kakashi? Probably still his tendency to judge people too quickly. I think, since Naruto and Sasuke were the troublemakers with the greatest potential he focused — naturally — too much on them and neglected Sakura’s training. He knew she had the best chakra control among them and still abandoned her. Maybe he thought she would be fine without too much guidance but I think he underestimated her potential because she acted like a typical teenage girl.

Sakura is intelligent. She might not be a tactical genius like Kakashi but she definitely matches his analytical talent. It takes her till Shippuden to not only be good at analysing situations but to also come up with good plans. That and her chakra control make her formidable.

Her greatest weakness? I have to go with simping for Sasuke. On the one hand focusing on getting Sasuke back and not wanting to stand in his or Naruto’s shadow helped with her training, on the other hand it limited her options of what she wanted to do/achieve in life. We never find out. She had the obligation to do something with her talent apart from “stopping” and “loving” Sasuke and it was waaaaaasted.

KakaSaku

To me it made sense that in another universe or time or under different circumstances those two characters could have been close friends or more. They are both intelligent and nerds in their respective fields, which are traits Sakura — even when she was a Sasuke fangirl — appreciated. They are both kind, empathic but also prejudiced characters with similiar values. I always had the impression that Sakura definitely would go for a partner, who matches her intellect and competence. Canon-wise Kakashi never invalidated Sakura’s feelings or made her feel bad about herself for not being or acting like the perfect shinobi. He looked out for her, saved her or comforted her. I think the moment Shippuden rolled around he also respected her as a fully fledged shinobi. He acknowledged her skills but never stopped looking out for her in dangerous situations. Kakashi showed her the level of care and kindness her love interest should have given her. But since Sasuke couldn’t allow himself to have such bonds, the contrast between his behaviour towards Sakura and Kakashi’s was even more apparent. Not even Naruto was so soft with her:

The softness of that gesture... During the Kaguya fight we get more than one scene where they are both so soft with each other. Not to mention every time Sasuke acts like a dickhead we get a reaction shot like this from Kakashi:

Kakashi was always good a reading her. It looked like as if they had some sort of understanding of one another that didn't require a lot of words, probably because they are both very perceptive. Apart from that I think the difference in their temperament is the best combination for a power couple. They remind me of Minato and Kushina in that regard. He, the quiet, logical and kind one. She, the explosive emotional and intelligent one with too much doofus energy. Take that and their shared history and you have so many interessting arcs and story building elements you can explore.

Favourite Fanfictions:

I Found You Missing by Wolfy Tales

Unbroken by princezsupastar

Duty Before Honor by SilverShine

Will of Fire by Cynchick

Christmas Confessions by Cynchick

Draco always had a lot of potential. His intelligence and creativity as well as his love and commitment to his family are his greatest strength. I think during his attempt to kill Dumbledore all of these attributes are combined and show what Draco is able to accomplish if he sets his mind to it. He is a problem solver and is able to make connections that aren't obvious to other people.

His insecurity and need for recognition is what is holding him back. It's also what fosters his cowardness. For some reason he is the Malfoy heir and still feels the need to compensate for not living up to his father’s (?) expectations. He is also more tilted towards the easy way instead of working hard or taking responsibility.

Hermione is brilliant and very persistent. A deadly combination. When she has a clear goal in mind she is working rentlessly towards it. Sometimes even with no regard towards others. Her ambition, studies and her talent to think logical saved Harry and Ron more than once.

Greatest weakness has to be her disregard of other opinions. She can be close-minded and has a hard time accepting other views about the world, especially about topics she has already thought through. Everything she doesn't understand or isn't able to dissect with logic, is dismissed or questioned by her.

Dramione is an intriguing idea because on the one hand they are opposites of each other: the Malfoy heir and the girl next door, the pureblood and the muggle born, Slytherin and Gryffindor, Death Eater and Golden Girl. And yet they also mirror each other in various aspects: Draco makes fun of her blood status showing he his set in his view of the world but so is Hermione. Accepting other views is hard for her. Draco can be analytical and hellbent on achieving his goal. Similar to Hermione. He can be cruel but so is she. He knows exactly what to say to trigger people but so does she. They are both impulsive. He is insecure ablout himself as is she. He wants to be recognized as does she. You can ask so many story building questions with these setups alone — even when you don't count in both the canon and headcanon moments and the shared history of those two. The clashes of their personalities and ideals makes for pure entertainment and drama, but their similiarities and the conflict of them being on different sides of the war is what great love stories are made of. They play well off each other in every situation you throw them in. I always thought that Hermione needed someone who is as smart and ambitious as her, but who is also able to question her world views and who isn't afraid to push her limits. Also he would charm her with his ingenuity. As for Draco (and that's purly speculation on my part), I think he would've reacted well towards somebody, who values something other than the Malfoy name in him.

Favourite Fanfictions:

Inverse by Elesrea

Osculum Annuum by MyDelphi

The Green Girl by Colubrina

The Right Thing To Do by LovesBitca8

Dragon’s Heartstrings by pinkinku

[attackfish]

5 headcanon for Azula is significantly older than Zuko. What happens when Aang is forced? Obviously Zuko would be too young to be banished. But does something happen to Azula? Does she turn to the Avatar to help protect her brother from their father?

Continued from: [Link], [Link], [Link], and [Link].

I presume you mean when Aang is found?

1. When Ursa leaves, her son is a babe in arms. When Aang is found, that same boy is a six year old, learning his first lessons in firebending, and learning to write his first characters. But something is already apparent. He isn't leaping ahead with the lightning speed of his sister at that same age. And that might not have been remarked upon, if not for something else. Little Zuko is... soft. He gets angry and upset when birds of prey kill turtle-crabs on the beach. He tries to sneek abandoned owl cat chicks under his bed, and is distraught when they don't make it, because they were too young. He puts himself on the side of the weak and vulnerable, and tries to protect them from the powerful and from the uncaring universe. And in doing so, he earns his father's scorn.

2. Azula couldn't tell you if it happened gradually or suddenly. She remembers both a sense of sudden dislocation, and change to a new reality, with new rules, and also a gradual creeping dread, as the world, their father's world, shifted around them. All she knows for sure is that one of her very woest fears has come to pass. Zuko is no longer a little ball of potential that she is being measured against at all times. Now he is weak, and pathetic, and she promised. She promised she would protect him, and teach him what he needed to know, and how can she, when their father is so big, and so powerful, and Zuko doesn't even understand what she's trying to teach him, and it makea her so angry, when he just doesn't get it... And she feels like he must have, the day on the beach, with the turtle-crab and the hawk, and she can't help worry that someday her dad will realize she's pathetic and weak too.

3. When the Avatar is first found, he is Zhao's problem. Azula never thought much of Zhao, but by all reports, the Avatar is a twelve year old child with training in only one element. It doesn't occur to her that Zhao will fail to capture him. But he does. Again and again. And after the debacle at the North Pole, Azula finds herself kneeling at her father's feet, telling her it is her turn. She must find and capture the Avatar.

4. And she must capture, or preferably, in her father's eyes, kill, her uncle. Because her uncle disappeared a less than a month ago, and showed right back up, at the North Pole, helping the Avatar and opposing Zhao. Her father is of course outraged at his brother's treason. Azula's thoughts are more tangled. And more wounded. He would leave to help the Avatar, a stranger and an enemy to her people, when he barely deigned to notice his own niece and nephew. And that's the thing, isn't it? Azula's whole life has been marked by the presence of so many people, so many adults, who either didn't notice what her father did to his children, or just let it happen. Her uncle is just one more. Only her mother ever tried to protect her.

5. Azula has to leave her brother behind, in her father's care. Which is why, for her, the goal isn't just to capture the Avatar and deal with her uncle, it's to do it as fast as possible. Which is why she goes to Mai and Ty Lee. And if she has qualms about threatening Mai's baby brother to remind her of what she has to lose? Well, it's her own baby brother on the line.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Adrien's feather allergy as foreshadow of his status as sentimonster is reaching on fandom part. But fandom claimed Felix being one isn't. His name being the episode name definitely foreshadowing his status as sentimonste, considering in s1-3, the episode always named after either akuma or sentimonster bar the Origins. That's what I call foreshadowing. Not whatever feather BS people like to claim.

Felix being a sentimonster is just make senses, always make senses for me, considering he seems harbor a jealousy toward Adrien especially at his remark "You always do everything your father tells you to do?" Considering as sentimonster he couldn't disobey whoever had his amok while human Adrien can disobey anytime he want yet choose not to, in his view.

Then come s4 and 5 with a huge retcon.

Also prior to s4 I don't believe the rings is amok, Felix want it because his mother want it since it's her family heirloom. Again, make senses that she want one of it considering Emilie is dead at this point. She has the right to own one of her family heirloom, Gabriel don't.

One of the episode in s5 implied that Felix always know that the rings are amok and this doesn't make senses if we were to connect back to his debut episode where he just give the ring he stole to his mother, even if say Amelie is a better parents/human than Gabriel, Felix who claimed to love his cousin and want to free him, should know better than to give his cousin's amok to his mother. The math is just not mathing, unless Felix doesn't know the rings are the amok in his debut episode and only know later which is a huge plot hole.

The retcon isn't inherently bad per se, in initial plot Luka is supposed to be Juleka's brother older by two years, s4 retcon him to be her twin. This isn't a problem because it's a minor thing that people either doesn't notice or doesn't care. But when what retconned is almost about the whole world building and lore, that's when it become a big problem. S4 onward doesn't seems like the same series as it's prior season.

,

Would you also argue that Nathalie is a sentimonster given the name of the final episode of season two?

[Image showing that episode 25 of Miraculous season two is named "Mayura"]

And what about the first episode of the origins two parter? Does this mean that Marinette and Adrien are both not humans?

[Image showing that episode 11 of Miraculous season one is named "Ladybug & Chat Noir"]

In seasons 1 to 4, episodes were mostly named for akumas and sentimonsters, but it wasn't a hard rule, so that's a pretty weak argument for Felix being a sentimonster. Even if he was human, he's still the episode's main antagonist, so naming it after him isn't weird even if he was fully human. This is extra true since Chat Noir was originally named Felix, so calling the episode "Felix" apparently drove up hype from fans who were saddened by the change. People wanted to see Felix make at least a cameo and would even pester the head writer about it prior to this episode. A lot of people wanted him to be a former Chat Noir or Adrien's older brother or something like that. You can find a lot of fanfics that did this long before season three was even airing.

Plus what else would you call this episode? There wasn't a single akuma, there were three, and "Princess Fragrance, Lady Wifi, Reflekta" is both an awkward name and something of a spoiler since I think this was the first time that we saw one item lead to multiple akumas.

ALL THAT BEING SAID, I would actually buy that Felix was planned to be a sentimonster from the start. That doesn't feel like a retcon in the same way that Adrien and Kagami do because there is some setup for Felix. The "always do what your told" line fits him being a senti and evil "twins" are often revealed to be magical in origin in these kinds of shows. Plus sentimonsters were a thing at this point, so yeah, I'd totally buy it.

The big reason I still call it a retcon is because of the issue you bring up about the rings. The way they're handled in that episode makes no sense if they're supposedly Adrien's amoks because how would Felix even know that? Who told him? Amelie?

I mean, I'd buy that Amelie knew because it's implied that she was somewhat close to her sister, but that just raises more questions! Why is she demanding her nephew's amok? Why does she give it to Felix? What does she think he's going to do with it? What is going on here?

And, of course, there's the biggest issue of them all: why is Gabriel only mildly annoyed that Felix and Amelie have Adrien's amok? If that was me, I'd be demanding it back! I'd be sending akumas! I'd go to war! You are not controlling my kid!

But Gabriel does nothing. He just waits for Felix to bring it back in the next season. Like this is how he greets Ameilie the next time he sees her:

Amelie: Gabriel! I'm so happy to be able to thank you in person for giving our family's ring (kisses his cheeks) back to Félix. Gabriel: It was the sensible thing to do, Amelie. Adrien: That was very thoughtful of you, Father.

Dude, what are you doing? Why didn't you just tell her that Felix stole the ring? What is going on here? Why does this episode (Gabriel Agreste) end will Gabriel totally fine that he didn't get the ring back because he finally got his hands on one of Ladybug's magical charms? It seriously comes across like he the completely forgot about the ring even though this is the season where Adrien is finally foreshadowed to be a sentimonster! Writers, what are you doing???

A better version of the episode Felix would see Felix show up with the goal of learning if Adrien is also a sentimonster and - if yes - figuring out what the amok is. Have Gabriel give Adrien a command to be nice to Felix so Felix is a total brat to see what his cousin will do. This would be excellent foreshadowing because you could do all of that without directly stating what Felix is doing, but once the reveal happens, it would be a major "oh!" moment on a rewatch.

As-is, the episode is just weird. It may have been intending to set Felix up as a sentimonster, but why? What was the plan? What's with the rings? Why did Felix try to take away all of Adrien's friends and ruin his reputation? There are just so many questions raised here that - sentimonster or not - Felix was still massively retconned.

I will also agree that a retcon isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the writers claim to have planned everything out which is why I will point out every one as it clearly refutes that claim. Plus most of them aren't minor things like the weirdness of Luka's age. It's big stuff like all of the above, which does negatively impact the show. Everything about Felix is extremely unsatisfying and I don't think we're getting answers to any of the questions I asked in this post.

[positivelybeastly]

First question, what year was Hank born? Second question how might the events going on in our world have affected the characterization of Hank? Beyond the 90s incarnation of the character might make a post about this later…

So, asking for a set birth year for a comic book character is a bad idea, because with very few exceptions, they don't exist. For example, Google tells us that Captain America was born on the 4th of July, 1920.

Or maybe he wasn't? Apparently that got retconned and it isn't 4th of July, but it was 1920? Already we run into problems. COMIC BOOKS.

Outside of very specific characters, they just don't have birth years or birth dates, they exist within the Marvel sliding timescale. If you're not familiar with the sliding timescale, the basic conceit is this:

Modern Marvel comics began in 1961 with Fantastic Four #1. This is essentially the start of the modern Marvel era, and every other superhero group is contextualised in relation to this, pretty much. The Avengers were formed maybe six months, a year later, the X-Men not long after that.

For every 3-5 years that passes outside of comics, 1 year passes inside of comics. E.g. Fantastic Four #1 took place either 13 or 21 years ago, or somewhere in between, it's not an exact science.

As for Hank specifically, well . . .

October, 1983, was contemporary to Hank saying this.

That plot took place in a comic book from 1974, nearly ten years before this, and yet Hank says it's just "a few years ago." So time is passing, but slowly. Hank here is explicitly in his early 20s, maybe 22-23, but the Hank we saw in this week's X-Force #50 was not 40 years older than him. So, how to make it all make sense?

A lot of headcanon and kind of inferring based on contextual hints. Hank is depicted as being roughly 17-18 when he joins the original X-Men, given that he's stated in dialogue to be the oldest of the team, and seems to have been on the verge of graduating high school when his normal human life was interrupted. So, now you just work backwards.

If Hank was 17-18 when the original X-Men were formed, and it's been 21 years since then (referring back to the sliding timescale), then it stands to reason X-Force Beast is 37-38. If he's 38 in our current year of 2024, then logically, he would have been born in . . .

1986!

Which is what I've been running with for as long as I've been writing him. It isn't quite compatible with stuff like this, which is very obviously written in the 60s and set in the 60s, and which explicitly positions Hank as an Atomic Age hero, with radiation based origins and a super scientist pedigree . . .

But eh. We move.

As to the second part of your question

. . . Ooohhhhh boy.

Um.

There's a lot? And I hate to bring it all back to 9/11 and the War on Terror, but it's kind of all about 9/11 and the War on Terror?

Media about terrorism, security, threats to mankind, all looked very different pre-September 11th, 2001. Go back and watch Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and see how Kira Nerys, a character who is explicitly called a terrorist in dialogue, is treated for her actions. She's positioned more as a World War II resistance fighter than anything else. If that show were made now, she would be an intensely different character, because the American cultural and media consciousness has never recovered from that day.

If you want to read more about this, there's quite a lot of academic discourse on how this has all changed. Here's a decent start.

But specifically Hank? Well, the X-Men have had their own 9/11. Multiple times. The Genoshan genocide, as depicted in New X-Men #116, actually just a few months before 9/11. It's entirely possible that this entire storyline might not have been made if it had been written after.

The Xavier Institute bus bombing.

The Decimation.

The X-Men became a beleaguered minority, besieged on all sides, reduced to the island of Utopia, just 198 mutants and falling. Cyclops explicitly became far more ruthless, willing to ally with former adversaries and use kill tactics to get the job done, and you could see his portrayal, the infamous #Cyclops Was Right movement, gaining a lot of steam during this era. People really like this Cyclops.

And where's Hank in this? Well.

He's the moral counterpoint.

People don't like to acknowledge this, and I feel like there might be a degree of cultural difference going on here, but Hank is correct. I feel like it's not even controversial to say that kill teams are bad. Right?

But people hate Hank for this. They think he's a whiny little bitch who won't and can't help, who runs out on his people, who prioritises his morals over being there for the X-Men. People legitimately think this of him.

Hank is the left wing, conscientious objector and anti-war viewpoint. So, naturally, there's a tendency to look upon him as a whiny little bitch. Just look at how shows like 24 contextualise that kind of moral viewpoint.

I do feel like the writers of this era wanted people to at least question who was right, between Hank and Scott, but the readers pretty much unanimously fell on Scott's side, because even as Scott started to use morally corrupt tactics . . .

He wasn't doing it for America, bullying small countries out of their oil in the name of democracy. He was doing it for a marginalised minority metaphor, fighting comic book supervillains, which is simpler, easier to root for. He had to use those tactics, you understand. He was fighting monsters! He was fighting the good fight.

Is 00s era X-Men War on Terror propaganda? I don't know. I'm not a political scholar, though I do have a B.A. in History. Interesting how the fandom seems to view this ideological conflict, though.

Anyway, time moves on, and then something starts to creep into Hank's character. Something that inevitably happens to characters like him.

Anti-intellectualism.

No longer is Hank the moral counterpoint, now he's the intellectual who will lead us all to ruin because he's smarter than he is wise, because he's an idiot with no impulse control.

This characterisation is wholly incorrect and runs contrary to the fact that Hank learned his lesson about unethical experimentation practises in the 70s, in an incident that only harmed him, but whatever. It doesn't matter at this point, does it?

Only people with real world experience, who are level headed, who aren't eggheads, can solve the real problems of the day. People like, uh.

Hmm.

Who does have the solution to the problems of the day?

Ah, I see.

We just forgive him for all the heinous shit he did on Utopia, huh?

All that stuff he did, the releasing bioweapons, the kill teams, that was fine, because he did it to the right people.

Well, that's all right, then.

Mmm-hmm. So much better than the egghead. Look at him in the corner, fumbling around, making more problems than he solves. What a motherfucker.

So, yes, let's talk about American anti-intellectualism.

I don't necessarily think Bendis is anti-intellectual. But I do think he spends a lot of time across multiple comics criticising Beast and valorising Cyclops, considering the worst thing Beast had done up until that point, vandalising the space-time continuum to get the O5 back into the present, was done explicitly so Bendis could play with X-Men with only 8 issues of continuity to keep straight.

But anything Cyclops did? All that X-Force stuff? Ehh. Don't worry about it. The only crime we care about is the death of Charles Xavier, for which Scott was possessed, so we can't make a moral judgement.

It's a whole ass topic, and a lot to get into, but I genuinely do think that Hank is one of those characters who especially suffers when written by a writer who doesn't trust vaunted intellectuals, because he's certainly not going to fucking flourish, is he?

And then it all comes full circle.

Ben Percy, enter the ring.

Wolverine, the unequivocal hero of X-Force. Beast, the unequivocal villain of the series. The heart vs. the head. The man of action vs. the intellectual. The rugged thug vs. the fancy pants necessary bastard.

It's the same thing, just more extreme, really. I think X-Force is meant to be a critique of the CIA? If so, it's an extremely bad one, considering it ends on this note.

Ah yes. Our heroes. The CIA.

I'm gonna quote the frankly incredible @brw here because they put it way better than I could on this point:

"This is genuinely a larger problem I have with Krakoa, is that rather than explore the culpability and complicity of all the characters involved in not just the creation, but the active maintenance and survival of what is, categorically, an eugenicist, oligarchy ethnostate, we instead act as if Krakoa would have been fine if not for Evil Hank/Evil Moira/Evil Sinister for ruining it all for the rest of us.

Because are Sage or Logan ever properly thought to be bad people for standing by as long as they did? It isn't even that X-Force are the people who do the dirty stuff–it's Hank that does that, and the rest of the character get to keep their hands relatively clean, at least narratively. They're sympathetic, or understandable.

Hank is positioned as this demon in the shadows ready to snatch you up and kill you which is a weird decision to make with what you describe as the CIA.

The CIA isn't evil because evil people are in charge of it, the CIA is evil because it is a fundamentally evil institution based off evil systems! Benjamin, you can't write mutant CIA if your closing statement is how awesome the mutant CIA is, and it's a shame about that one evil blue guy that ruined everything for everyone."

Good thing we got rid of that Beast guy! What a fucker, right? Nasty, gross, intellectual pustule he was, with his oily words and grossness. Look at him, reading books. Sage is fine, though, because she doesn't read books. I mean, she's quantifiably grossly incompetent in this series, but we like her better than Beast, so it's fine.

Beast, from the 2000s era onward, is a very political character. It's just a shame that a lot of comic book writers tend to be grossly ill-informed when it comes to actual politics, capable of only surface level hot takes like CIA bad or kill teams good, actually, because now we've gone from 'Beast is the left wing conscientious objector' to 'Beast is the literal anti-Christ,' and I don't really like what that implies about what we think of the former.

But eh. I'm just a writer.

[kinokoshoujoart]

SOS:AWL— various NPC gossip / trivia from the child’s gossip dialogue file

starting with the bachelorettes

i included all variations of a given line, so it might get repetitive…

also including the biographies you got from linking AWL and FoMT since they complement these well. they should be complete but i have no way to verify if i did it correctly, there’s also some glaring typos and i can’t check the jp. there SHOULD be the same character bios for linking AnWL and MFoMT, once i’m moved i’ll try and get those if i can to see if they were translated differently

there’s three types of lines in this file: secret, personal, and comment.

“secret” is the most lore-ish, and only kids with naughty/normal personalities will tattle the town’s “secrets” to you (and say different things)

not sure what personal is since 2/3 of each npc “personal” lines are replaced with “What?”. but it seems to be how they interact with your kid

“comment” is stuff said by normal/shy kids only, mostly their opinion of said npc…

not all of it will be new info but maybe the thoroughness will help if you weren’t sure what your kid’s personality is.

"secret"

I heard someone wondering if Ms. Lumina and Ms. Romana are really related at all. (ch. 3 naughty son)

I heard someone say they think Ms. Lumina and Ms. Romana actually aren't related at all! (ch. 3 naughty daughter)

Ms. Lumina said there are days when she loves piano and days when she hates it. What's up with that? (ch. 3 normal son)

Ms. Lumina said she loves playing piano some days, and then other days she hates it. That doesn't make sense.(ch. 3 normal daughter)

Apparently, Ms. Lumina is a really talented singer. (ch. 4 naughty/normal son)

I guess Ms. Lumina is good at singing, too. (ch. 4 naughty/normal daughter)

All the people Lumina has fallen in love with have been older than her, apparently. (ch. 5/6 naughty/normal son)

All the people Lumina has fallen in love with have been older than her. (ch. 5/6 naughty/normal daughter)

"personal" (yes these are marked Lumina)

Mr. Sebastian does aaall the chores at Ms. Lumina's place. (ch. 3 son)

Mr. Sebastian does aaall the chores at Ms. Lumina's place. Does he like chores? (ch. 3 daughter)

"comment"

I wonder what Ms. Lumina would do if she got married? Would she move away? (ch. 3 normal son)

I wonder what Ms. Lumina would do if she got married. Would she...maybe move away? (ch. 3 normal daughter)

Ms. Lumina's like the older sister I never had. (ch. 3 shy son)

Ms. Lumina's like a big sister to me. (ch. 3 shy daughter)

I think Lumina would've become even better at piano if she'd had a proper teacher. (ch. 5/6 normal son)

Lumina's such a talented pianist. If only she could find someone to teach her. Then she'd get even better. (ch. 5/6 normal daughter)

“secret”

Someone told me that Ms. Nami is actually SUPER rich! (ch. 3 naughty son)

Know what someone told me? Ms. Nami is actually really rich! (ch. 3 naughty daughter)

I heard that Ms. Nami actually comes from a really rich family. (ch. 3 normal son)

Know what I heard? Ms. Nami actually comes from a really rich family. (ch. 3 normal daughter)

Ms. Nami has a difficult time talking to women. (ch. 4 naughty/normal son)

It doesn't look like Ms. Nami can talk to other women very well. (ch. 4 naughty/normal daughter)

What? (ch. 5/6 naughty/normal son/daughter)

"personal"

I'd never be able to hear such cool stories if Ms. Nami hadn't come back. (ch. 3 son)

I'd miss out on all sorts of cool stories if Ms. Nami hadn't come back. (ch. 3 daughter)

"comment"

Ms. Nami's the coolest! I wish I had an older sister like her. (ch 3. normal son)

Ms. Nami's the coolest! If I had a big sister, I'd want her to be like her. (ch. 3 normal daughter)

Ms. Nami's kinda quiet, but that's what's cool about her. (ch. 3 shy son)

Ms. Nami's kinda cold, but that's what's cool about her. (ch. 3 shy daughter)

“secret”

Ms. Molly's eyebrows are actually tattoos, which makes things WAY easier! Um... Actually, I dunno what it makes easier. (ch. 3 naughty son)

Ms. Molly's eyebrows are actually tattoos, which makes things lots easier. Um, actually I dunno what it makes easier. (ch. 3 naughty daughter)

I heard Ms. Molly's always trying to look more beautiful. How come? I think she's really pretty already. (ch. 3 normal son)

Ms. Molly's always trying to look more beautiful. How come? I think she's plenty pretty. (ch. 3 normal daughter)

Ms. Molly made a lot of money when she worked in an office. (ch. 4 naughty/normal son/daughter)

What? (ch. 5/6 naughty/normal son/daughter)

"personal"

Mr. Gavin's lucky to live with someone who's so much fun. (ch. 3 son)

Mr. Gavin gets to live with someone who's so much fun. Lucky! (ch. 3 daughter)

"comment"

Ms. Molly is really pretty! (ch. 3 normal son/daughter)

Ms. Molly always smells nice. (ch. 3 shy son/daughter)

“secret”

Ms. Vesta said that Ms. Cecilia grew up with really strict parents. (ch. 3 naughty son)

Ms. Vesta said that Ms. Cecilia's parents were suuuper strict when she grew up. (ch. 3 naughty daughter)

When Ms. Vesta and Mr. Matthew fight, Ms. Cecilia plays, um, what's the word... Oh, inter-meedy-airy. (ch. 3 normal daughter)

When Ms. Vesta and Mr. Matthew fight, Ms. Cecilia plays, um, "inter-meedy-airy." (ch. 3 normal son)

Ms. Cecilia is so...innocent. Honestly, I feel kinda embarrassed for her sometimes. (ch. 4 naughty/normal son)

Ms. Cecilia is so...sweet. It's like she's as innocent as a baby. Her aura makes me feel kinda embarrassed for her sometimes. (ch. 4 naughty daughter)

Ms. Cecilia is as innocent as a little girl...for better or for worse. Honestly, I get secondhand embarrassment just thinking about it...(ch. 4 normal daughter)

What? (ch. 5/6 naughty/normal son/daughter)

"personal"

Ms. Cecilia says she wishes she had a cute little brother like me. (ch. 3 son)

Ms. Cecilia says she wishes she had a cute sibling like me. (ch. 3 daughter)

"comment"

Ms. Cecilia is so gentle. (ch. 3 normal son)

Ms. Cecilia is so nice. (ch. 3 shy son/daughter)

[linesonscreens]

Let's Read Peanuts (Only 45 more years to go!) – January 1955

There are lots of great strips I just don't have room to comment on. I strongly encourage everybody to read the full month at the official GoComics page. Today's month starts HERE.

January 9, 1955

I'm pretty sure I gave myself a black eye doing this as a kid.

Twice.

January 17, 1955

Oh. She's still around. Fantastic.

January 22, 1955

There are these little hints every now and then that Schroeder is some kind of professional piano wunderkind doing big shows when he's not on camera. I think that's a neat detail.

January 25, 1955

The time shenanigans have begun.

Charlie Brown turned 4 years old on October 30th of 1950. Patty was significantly taller than CB was, which would mean she was at least 4½-5 years old at the time. If she's 5½ now that would mean that at most a year has passed in just over four years of strips.

Except that Schroeder was clearly around 1 year old when he was introduced in May of 1951, which should make him 2 at most now. But that doesn't make sense because he seems to be around the same age as Lucy (if not slightly older), who claims in this strip to be just over 4. That's at least 3-3½ years of time passing.

So either Schroeder and Lucy aging more quickly than they should be, or Patty, Charlie Brown, and the rest of the gang are aging more slowly.

Oh, but it gets weirder. In addition to looking much closer to 4 years old than 2, Schroeder being 4½ years old would mean that he's gotten 3½ years older in 3½ years of comics. An almost perfect match, which kind of implies that the Peanuts timeline is moving in sync with our own. But if that's the case then why are Patty and Charlie Brown not 7-8 years old at this point? Why were they still in elementary school in 1999? Are they trapped in some kind of time-anomaly, doomed to live eternally as children as the years slowly but inevitably weigh down upon their souls and sanity?

Yes. Yes they are.

Anyways, I guess my point is that trying to keep track of things like this in Peanuts is a recipe for madness and it only makes less sense from here.

January 26, 1955

OK, you saw that right!? Snoopy was clearly thinking in panel 1 but in panel 2 he's using a normal speech bubble.

I'm just going to say it: This proves Snoopy can outright talk like a person. This is canon now.

Also apparently Charlie Brown just outright overheard him do it just now. Which explains a LOT about their relationship over the next several decades.

January 27, 1955

Is... that an F-bomb joke?

January 31, 1955

One.

Joke.

Thoughts:

Actually, trying to sort out all of the stuff that doesn't make sense in Peanuts is incredibly fun. I highly recommend it

[villagegreenpreservationist]

may 28th review— the kinks are the village green preservation society!

what better way to start this blog than with the album it’s named for! the kinks are the village green preservation society by the kinks (shortened to VGPS from here on out) is the 6th album by the kinks and the second in what was considered one of their musical runs (something else, VGPS, arthur, and lola vs the powerman).

this album is truly an experience and while I’m super biased towards the kinks as a band, I do think this is a great album with lots to offer musically and lyrically.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

1. the village green preservation society

• what. an. opener. the entire song sets a nostalgic but ironic and sarcastic tone that carries through the rest of the track. all the references to old british… things basically. the vibe is so wanting of a better, older time and the idea of a village green (which to my understanding is sort of like a park minus all the swings and stuff, basically a nice open area void of anything urban) preservation society as a concept, doing their best to hold onto traditional british society here, is done super well. preservation societies are a real thing, and it’s interesting to think that through all the social change of the 60s, this song was really only concerned with the way things were. food for thought (or am I insane?)

2. do you remember walter?

• I couldn’t tell anyone why, but this song reminds me of mr. blue sky for some reason?? I’ll admit, this one took some warming up to. apparently, walter was a real friend of ray davies’. after drifting apart for a few years they reunited and found they had nothing to bond over or talk about. I don’t know if I’m just a punctuation nerd or what, but it comes across more as if ray is asking if someone remembers walter rather than if walter remembers something (do you remember walter? vs. do you remember, walter?). I honestly think both are pretty valid listens of the song, and could be combined into ray asking him if he remembers his old self.

3. picture book

• PICTURE!!! BOOK!!!! this song was my third top song of 2023. the fun guitar riff, the jaunty upbeat tone, the imagery that comes with the music in this one. this is a song where I think the music does a lot of the storytelling. the tambourine in the background and the campfire song esq riff makes it so just, fun sounding. even then, I feel like the opening line is just a little ominous?? “picture yourself when you’re getting old” is just such an insane line to open with. like yeah. picture yourself fighting the inevitable passage of time but at least the guitar part is fun :) I know the entire album is meant to be nostalgic and a love letter to the way ray davies grew up, and I’m going to say the word nostalgic 20000000 times, but it’s seriously just the set vibe. picture book is a wonderful look back at childhood memories through the lens of someone who didn’t know how much they’d miss those days once they were gone.

4. johnny thunder

• fun fact, new york dolls guitarist johnny thunders did get his stage name from this song! in all honesty, I don’t take much from this song tbh. it’s just one of those I’m happy to listen to, but won’t actively seek out, you know?

5. last of the steam powered trains

• a really solid blues-rocker! in the review I watched (vinyl mondays are great!!) abigail devoe mentions that this is the song that kinda loses the nostalgic focus of the album. I agree for the most part, but I don’t think the britishness is lost at all like she adds. steam train preservation societies are a thing and I think that’s more what ray was going for. that sense of holding on if that makes sense? anyways, musically this song is the most rock out of the baroque landscape and I really enjoy it for what it is.

6. big sky

• your girl loves a good old critique of religion. ray’s sarcastic nature shines through here and the idea of a “big sky” being uncaring towards humans is only a little scary. the switch between spoken word and singing also vaguely reminds me of church? going from songs to preaching to more songs. maybe just a me thing? who knows…

7. sitting by the riverside

• this song. wow. I think this is where the music tells most of the story. the big build into the dissonance after the first and third verses is so off putting yet so, fun with the honky tonk piano in the background. you really just have to listen to know what I mean. anyone who’s a fan of a day in the life by the beatles would probably like this one!

8. animal farm

• this song, sadly, has no relation to the orwell novel of the same name (which is kinda what I was hoping for when I went in, at least we have pink floyd!) this song is pretty straightforward in its imagery. ray laments his home life and instead wants to live with animals on a farm, and have a much “simpler” life. I think this can also be a way for ray to express his disdain for city life? the “people are real people” line seems to be a jab at city goers and how people in the countryside are more genuine. just my thoughts, though.

9. village green

• in my opinion, one of the best songs from this album. the opening orchestra is beautiful yet haunting and I love the way that vibe carries throughout the song. there’s such a genuineness to lines like “I miss the village green” which is just so. straightforward in its writing and delivery. ray does miss the village green and all the simple people. the delivery is so melancholic and I just can’t get enough of it. he’s melancholic yet jealous and nostalgic and maybe even a little angry at what could have been. this is the kinks at some of their finest imo. just. wow.

10. starstruck

• ray davies seriously just hates city life. this entire song is just one big warning about city life and how it’ll affect you. it’s pretty pessimistic, honestly, but it’s not like anyone was complimenting ray on his wonderful personality. it sorta reminds me of life on the road (for anyone who’s also a big kinks fan). ray is very obviously not a fan of the usual rockstar life and the manufacturered. on the music side, the harmonies in this one are great and the vocals are probably my favorite part! that chorus will be stuck in your head for days.

11. phenomenal cat

• now this song is just plain weird. apparently it’s about a cat who tries LSD??? it sounds a lot like a children’s song or fairytale and the chorus is just so goofy. dave davies sounds like he’s seriously on helium. bringing up vinyl mondays again, I agree with her comparison to syd barrett!! if you liked piper-era pink floyd, this is a great song for more of that storytelling.

12. all of my friends were there

• this song is apparently based off of a true story in which ray was supposed to play a show, but got sick and didn’t go on, and all of his friends were in fact there :( this song has a much better plot twist though, and I like the music hall vibe of this one! not the best song on this album, but I have fun with it.

13. wicked annabella

• probably the least “oh I miss old britain!!!! woe is me!!!” of this album. the drums in this song tho?? the vocal delivery???? there’s still plenty to enjoy here and it’s a fun track that has some great witchy vibes pretty similar to rhiannon or witchy woman tbh. if your name is annabella and you like the kinks you basically won the lottery here. dave pops off on these vocals and his scratchy tone is a lot better suited for songs like these.

14. monica

• somehow a song about a prostitute was snuck on here and made it onto the radio through subtle writing. the beat here really shines! it’s got a beachy vibe and I could definitely lay around on a pool float with this song in the background, it kinda loses the theme of the album, but with the way recording for this album went I’m really not surprised it lost focus on some tracks (for anyone who wants to hear the full story of its creation— shoot me an ask!)

15. people take pictures of eachother

• as someone who comes from a picture family (my mom is a photographer and my grandma is insane about her pictures) this song really hits tbh. the whole idea of people just taking pictures of each other to prove they exist is somehow still relevant today?? (enter “we are a society” and “instagram bad” here.) anyways, especially for me, it can be hard to find the balance between preserving memories and wanting to live in the moment without a camera shoved in someone’s (or my) face. the reference to the oak tree from village green (the song) makes me think this was meant to be a closer, but who knows.

overall I give this album a solid 8/10!! it has its weaker moments, but the stronger songs seriously hold up to the test of time and I still revisit some of them and find new things to enjoy.

[thesummerstorms]

I went to clean up my Rook questionnaire document that I'm using for character building, decided it would be easier to just retype at this point, and then somehow ended up with two divergent versions of how Arsinoë ended up stabbing a Templar and ending up with the Crows instead of just one

Now I can't decide and I still haven't gotten past question 5.

So... No promises this is binding (if anyone even sees it) but which do you think works better?

Option One: Arsinoë was turned in by one of her mother's friends who at the time was taking care of her. She was taken to the Circle in Antiva City, where she was often beaten and punished for being “sullen” and “rebellious”.

When she was twelve, a Templar who had attacked one of the older girls was drunk and alone on watch in the Chantry. He had often made comments about Arsinoë being fated to become Tranquil due to her defiant nature. Despite not liking the older girl, she was angry that nothing worse had happened than "an investigation" and tired of living in the Circle where she couldn't see the sky.

She stabbed the Templar and attempted to murder him, though a Smite threw off her strength and her aim.

An Antivan Crow disguised as a Chantry Sister had been contracted to kill the same Templar for political reasons. She killed the Templar, bribed the other on Guard duty, and took Arsinoë with her.

The Crow was from a cuchillo house allied with House de Riva, and Esma de Riva stepped in to claim the new Fledge, forgiving the other Head of House’s debt from a recent hand of cards in exchange. Esma de Riva then gave her to Viago to train, supposedly as a test.

Option Two: Arsinoë was twelve and restless when Filomena, her mother's friend, betrayed her. She was taken on the road with two Templars, who she knew only as “Gaspari” and “Notaro”, with the intent that she be brought to the Circle in Antiva City.

The woman, Gaspari, was a strange mix of harsh and sympathetic, and was the one who hid Arsinoë’s name. She offered to let Arsinoë spread Filomena’s ashes, let her read the terrible Chantry moralist novels she carried, and made sure Arsinoë was fed. She also did nothing to protect Arsinoë from Notaro.

Notaro vacillated between trying to seem kind and indulgent and threatening Arsinoë with future Tranquility if she didn’t stop her rebelliousness. Notaro would offer her sweets in one evening, and beat her for “trying to run” in another. The drunker he got, the more he would leer at Gaspari and threaten Arsinoë.

Arsinoë attempted to ambush and kill Notaro a few days out from Antiva City either after he had hurt her or knowing that once she entered the Circle she wouldn't make it out. She was badly injured and suffering from a Smite, but managed to stab him.

She was interrupted when Viago, on a Contract, stepped in and ended Notaro’s life.

Gaspari apparently knew about the contract because she calmly offered to let Viago take Arsinoë in exchange for a discount. Arsinoë doesn’t know exactly what happened after, as she passed out, but when she woke, she was a Crow compradi in House de Riva, andEsma de Riva announced she was in Viago’s care.

---

I feel like One is more stereotypical for me because all my protagonists except Hawke were at some point Circle mages who hates the Circle. It's also less realistic because she was successfully taken out of the Circle. But it's less common for a de Riva, I think? Her relationship with Viago is always more ambiguous here because he didn't choose her.

Whereas version Two 's relationship with Viago is a lot more common for a de Riva, but their relationship is based on a moment where he decided to keep her. Still ambiguous in whether he regrets it. But also the stabbing and escape are more plausible. She never saw the inside of a Circle, but the sense of "I won't be broken, even by this" determination is less.

[toriwritesstories]

No one tagged me in one of these but I saw the questions and wanted to participate hehe

20 Questions for Fic Writers

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

53 total, technically 1 of those is under a different pseud because it's the only fic I ported from FF.net onto Ao3 and I used my FF username as the pseud for that reason.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 

Just checked and apparently it is 2,416,967 .... sooo that's totally normal right?!?!!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I struggle to write for more than 1 fandom at a time so right now I'm pretty much only writing Shadowzel from BG3.

BUT the others I've written for are, in order of recency:

Hosie from Legacies

Deanoru from The Runaways

Choni from Riverdale

Clexa from The 100

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 

Pretty sure that they're all going to be Clexa but lemme go pull the list...

1) Pristine (Clexa)

2) Come With Me (Clexa)

3) Lift Me, Catch Me (Clexa)

4) Still Made of Gold (Clexa)

5) Online Lifeline (Clexa)

Yep, no surprises there. But actually my 6th is Choni: She Didn't Know It Then but seems like my older fics from the fandom that was probably the biggest I've been in have the most kudos, makes sense to me hehe!

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to respond to as many comments as I can while I'm posting. Unless I feel the urgent need to respond to a comment, I only respond when I'm at my desk about to update. So I don't usually respond once a fic is finished unless the comment really compels me to. This is simply a time and effort kinda situation, I read them in my email and they always make my day, and I'm always happy to respond on social media if anyone ever wants to chat about any of my fics!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

The angstiest ending?! Uhhh I'm a happy ending girlie. I guess technically it's probably one of my Hosie oneshots in my A World Where I Was Yours series, just because it's my version of post canon of Legacies!

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

There are too many happy endings in my fics for me to decide aaahhhh. Ummmm. Maybe it's hard to breathe (when you're in the air) which is one of my favorite Hosie fics that I wrote?? but idk seriously they're all happy endings in terms of the pairing so it comes down to which characters in which fics had the happiest overall life situation and there are too many to think about it lol!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I've gotten negative comments for sure but I dunno if I'd call it hate exactly. The negative comment that I remember the most was on a Choni fic and they complained that the characters were too OOC, and it was nooooot done constructively at all and someone else (possibly same person different guest user) piled on even more rudely... so that wasn't fun (and also yeah all my characters are kinda OOC because that's what happens when you write AU?)

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes, yes I do. I feel like it's fairly vanilla. I used to mark everything rated M before I was informed that perhaps I've been writing E smut without realizing it lmao. So now I rate new fics with smut as E.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I haven't ever posted any crossovers, but I did start one that was a Legacies/The Runaways crossover because of an idea that seriously amused me, but once I wrote the premise I got bored and stopped lol.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not a whole fic but back in my FF days someone took a Halloween Party chapter (wow I write those a lot actually, I'm not even a Halloween party girlie) and used it as a flashback on their Wattpad fic and someone kindly let me know and I had to message them to take it down.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? 

Yes! I had a few fics back on FF.net that were translated into French :) but the deal was that I wanted to post them because I wasn't comfy with someone else doing the posting of my ideas. And now I typically turn down offers of translation just because I'm less comfy with it now then I was when I was younger.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? 

I haven't, but I'd be open to doing so if it was for an idea I felt like me and the other author(s) were really vibing with!

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship? 

Impossible question. Whichever ship I'm currently obsessing over is my all-time favorite. Which would be Shadowzel rn. But probably in a few years I'll feel differently lol. I strongly feel that all the ships I've ever shipped are the best ever and I cannot choose a favorite.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Sooo many. I have a ton of Choni WIPs that I never finished, including one that got to like 20-30k words but just sits all dusty in its word folder. I once started a Part 3 to my Clexa travel fic (Come With Me linked earlier) that I couldn't get into but the vision was soooo cute. I also started a Part 3 to my Choni travel fic which also had a great vision but I'm just not as into Choni anymore so it feels hard to go back to now.

16. What are your writing strengths? 

I think I'm good at dialogue and characterization, those are my favorite parts of my own writing at least!

17. What are your writing weaknesses? 

Dude. I apparently cannot get enough of adverbs. I have to prune so many when I'm editing fics. Ugh. And I have some repetitive phrases that I also end up having to prune out.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? 

I've done it before with google translate and made modifications when people who spoke those languages corrected me haha. But it's not something I do often just because it hasn't really been super relevant to most of what I write.

19. First fandom you wrote for? 

Glee. It was Glee. I was 13. We don't need to talk about it.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? 

My favorite?!!? It's always my latest fic, I pretty much always feel like the latest thing I'm working on is the best and so it's my favorite right now for sure. And that would be Reignited (Shadowzel).

Anyone who sees this and wants to participate, feel free to copy the questions, I know this is a tagging game but I don't do that kind of thing, I just saw these questions in another post and felt like talking about my fanfic lmfao.

[thenixkat]

ive got 23 chapters left and i'll be caught up on what's out of Kaiju no. 8

kaiju no 10: stop fronting and admit you like fighing just as much as me so we can kill my younger sibling

using swords is more fun than shooting things heh

imagine finding yer platonic soulmate and its a big bloodknight dragon that just wants to fight fuckers and maybe eat you too

of course yall tied a sword to yer tail. 3 swords

that;s what happens when yer fighting two fuckers and dont pay enough attention to teh support

the vice captain and no10 sacrifice their tail to win the fight kaiju no 10, after everything: Cool we beat my younger sibling. That was fun. We should fight your teammates too

the vice captain apparently shut his older brother out of his life years ago for trying to demotivate him and not supporting him

so teleportation is a thing that kaiju can do

…Mina's going to ride her pet tiger into battle against the teleporting monolith and just carry her bfg

the tiger still isnt cool. The exotic pet ownership and animal endangerment is just distracting. AT least put some armor on yer cat also yikes the legs on that tiger are janky

so kafka failed the exams for 5 years b4 Mina was able to take them. Which given he's 5 yrs older than her makes sense

but also sir you failed a test 5 years in a row and then kept trying for another 7 yrs b4 presumably aging out of being able to try until they raised the max enlistment age at the beginning of the story

and then Mina decided to be mad at Kafka for just not being able to pass and leaving her to fight monsters alone breaking his promise to always be there but like he tried for over a decade. some people arent built to join the military

and because she turned out to be talented for taking out big targets she got pushed to having to be perfect by the one the only shitty rich dad who gives everyone issues who he decides to train to be the future of the nation's defense

we just keep finding out that this asshole just traumatizing so many people for teh greater good

oh you have some talent? lets throw you onto the front lines and inform you that if you fail yer risking the lives of yer comrades and civilians

ma'am I doubt Kafka being there would have changed shit other than you'd talk to him more often. Like he would have been at the bottom teir of shit if he was an officer, they'd have his ass on support and evacuation at best if he hadn't have become a kaiju that was deemed useful local high stress career was not good for her mental health

pls dont put everything on one person's shoulders. That's a great way to break them or have them burn out young ma'am Kafka being in the Defence Force would not mean he'd be allowed to be at yer side in situations like this. Yer mad at him when you should be mad at yer superiors for putting all this pressure on you

its easier to blame Kafka than her superiors apparently

good fucking lords that tiger's anatomy is bad damn brah practice drawing animals pls

damn my guy Kafka really busting his ass to achieve his dream, rekindle his friendship with his childhood bestie, and uphold his promise to her when she just decided to use him as a scapegoat for all the pressure she's under that her superiors put on her and decided to freeze him out for not being able to meet the military's standards for enlistment even tho he tried for over a decade both of them just need to find other friends hot damn

like sometimes yer childhood bestie isnt a major badass like you and can't accomplish the thing you both want him too. Getting mad about it is kinda fucked

[stoopid-turtle]

BTS in Order Addendum 2

Second and final addendum for rn! This covers the translated bts clips for June that I found. Sadly, the playlist did not have July or Aug, so I can't go over those. If I ever do find July and Aug, I'll try to add it on.

As before, the timeline posts are already updated. I'm just highlighting some things here for those who don't want to hunt for the updates. Also, I tried to clean up some of the formatting but y'all, the formatting on Tumblr is just weird. I can't figure it out and I'm not gonna invest the time to do so, so I've done my best!

I can see where the WZC/GG pairing came from. GG and WZC seem quite close, often playful, and similarly physically affectionate to ggdd. Their dynamic is different, but I can def see how people could pull together a compilation of their bts clips for CPFs. (Not saying they were a real couple, like ggdd.)

Madam Jin did not seem to realize she was cast in a bl adaption.

There's much mentioned of dd's afterglow on 6.19 after the Dragon Boat Festival date, but I've never seen anyone mention that GG is also in a really great mood the next day. His first scene is in the forest with JC and JL, and he's all smiles and says, "I'm so happy this early morning. I really love my team."

JC says "Happy? What nonsense!" For some reason, this sets gg off on the giggles.

Needless to say, GG had his own afterglow.

Also on 6.19, there's this cute exchange between gg and the older lady producer (?), who is also from Chongqing:

Crewmember: So many beauties come from Chongqing. GG: I'm beautiful. Producer lady: More beautiful than me? GG: How can that be? Can't compare!

And then, a couple days later on 6.23, when dd is still gone, gg is in a hellishly rotten mood. He's visibly moody and unresponsive to xl and JC, both of whom try to cheer him up. At one point, he asks someone (his assistant?) if he has any crying scenes that day. And later he says, "Remember this feeling. After a month, when filming, definitely will..." I think he says something more to XL here, but I guess it was too quiet for the translator to hear. The implication to me is that he's gonna try to bring up the experience of his feelings in later scenes when WWX is having similar feelings.

Not everything with regards to the boys has to be about ggdd, so it's possible that gg's bad mood is bc of something else going on in his life. Family, friends, something with his company, politics, a stranger being a jerk, whatever. DD's one possibility among many. I did check out what dd was doing on 6.23 and 6.22, and he's on Produce 101, where he looks as DD (with a mullet) as ever. But there aren't any bts or unscripted clips of him where he might reveal a similar mood, so it's hard to say anything.

So basically, make of gg's bad mood what you will. It could be literally anything.

I need to talk about JC's fake butt

So the clip on 6.25, with JZX, Mianmian, dd, XL, and gg all chatting starts with them talking about JC wearing a "fake butt". I'm guessing butt padding? Some highlights:

DD is confused because he's "not even wearing jeans", to which gg asks if it makes sense to wear a fake butt in jeans.

The "reason" why JC wears this is apparently only known to XL and GG. XL refuses to explain.

GG says if she doesn't explain, dd will just walk up to JC and ask him, "JC, you wear a fake butt?"

Poor WZC did seem a bit put-upon on the set.

Also, unrelated, dd thinks sweat is sexy.

Also, the nasal spray that got passed around: looked sus, but not actually that sus. It's a Thai herbal nasal inhaler, which apparently looks a lot like people doing some uppers. (So much so that gg chastises the cameraman for filming it and XL turns her back to do it)

Also also, gg's rotten mood is gone. The clip on 6.23 of him being in a bad mood is only about 5 min long, and there's only a 45sec clip for 6.24. So basically, we have no idea what might have cheered him up and there are almost a full 2 days of stuff we know nothing about.

[lulu2992]

Hi! I had a question. In multiple audios and even in game, there’s a pattern that John is fixated on pain and even women’s pain (Joey, Mary May, and the young woman he mentioned in the collapse that he killed after a night out because of anger) and even he was being a big creep when Mary May saw him for the first time (she was 16-17 wasn’t she), “eyeing her like a piece of meat”. If you can believe the ages given to us, he’s clearly much older than Mary May, and the cults been there for 9-10 years, she’d have to be minor.

My question is, why do you think the fandom and people dismiss his violent urges toward women and he was fixated on minor but still demonize Joseph when John was clearly unhinged on his own?

Sorry if its all wordy and all over the place, I just love your takes and respect your thoughts!

Hi! And thank you very much for your appreciation :)

We know John has a fixation with pain because of the “freeing” experience he explains he had when he was young, and he hurts people for this reason, but I really don’t think he enjoys inflicting it on women specifically. It’s probably a coincidence that Hudson is a woman and was sent to him instead of Jacob or Faith. The game never suggests that he would have treated Pratt or Burke differently if they had been placed in his “care” instead.

Someone in Far Cry 5 says John is “obsessed with the people in Fall’s End, and with Mary May in particular”, but nothing clearly indicates it’s because she’s a woman. The way I see it, it’s because the Resistance is strong in Fall’s End and Mary May is one of its “three biggest pillars”, as John himself wrote. Evidence shows he’s also “obsessed” with Jerome and Nick for the same reason: they keep resisting and fighting back. Mary May is stubborn, refuses to sell her business to Eden’s Gate, continues to serve alcohol, and essentially keeps saying “no” to John, so I think that explains why he has taken an interest in her. By the way, during the Deputy’s Atonement, even though Mary May is there, John mostly focuses on hurting Nick and Jerome instead, so it doesn’t look like he prefers torturing women to me.

And we’re not sure how old Mary May is, actually. The only official age we have for her is revealed in Far Cry Absolution: 30 years old. I know the Wiki says she was born in 1993 (so 25 years old in 2018) but I think that sounds young… For what it’s worth, Tasya Teles, who played Mary May in Far Cry 5, was born in 1985. And in the novel, John is said to be about 40, which makes much more sense, mathematically speaking, than his age on the Wiki (32 years old). When the Deputy arrives in Hope County, Eden’s Gate has been there for at least 9 years (since August 2009), so if John visited the Spread Eagle in 2009 and the age provided in Absolution is accurate, Mary May was about 21 at the time.

As for the woman John supposedly murdered before Joseph found him… like every new piece of information “revealed” in the Far Cry 6 Season Pass, I think it should be taken with a huge grain of salt. The incident was never mentioned anywhere else before, and while there’s no denying that John is capable of violence and murder, I don’t think him losing control and killing someone while he was working as a lawyer makes sense. According to The Book of Joseph, John Duncan’s anger was strong but it was also “suppressed”, so I doubt he would have physically assaulted anyone at that time. He was “full of rage” but apparently never let it out when he was still “society’s very model of success”.

So I don’t think the fandom ignores that John enjoys making women suffer, thought 16-year-old Mary May looked sexy, and murdered one of his lovers out of anger because these “facts” are all conjectures in the first place! If many people never mention those things about him, I think it’s simply because they know they’re not really canon and mostly come from the fan-created Wiki (which was also used as a source of information by Collapse’s writers). It’s undeniably canon that John is violent and obsessed with pain, but it’s not that he likes to inflict it on women specifically or that he committed murder as John Duncan, and Mary May being only 25 was never officially confirmed, either…

It’s true, however, that people tend to demonize Joseph more than his siblings and blame him for the bad things they do. He’s not innocent, of course, but John, Jacob, and Faith already had a lot of personal issues before they became his Heralds, and I disagree with those who say that they would have been better off without him. Things would have been different, yes, and maybe the cult wouldn’t have existed, but I don’t think their lives would have been better. In my opinion, they would all just have died sooner (and in poorer mental health)… In John’s case, considering he was on a self-destructive path and desperately trying to fill the void inside him, I believe he would have let “John Duncan” consume him completely and ended up drowning in his excesses.

So I agree with you when you say that John already was “unhinged on his own”, in a way, and that Joseph is often blamed for everything, even what he didn’t do. However, I wouldn’t say that the fandom dismisses the other things you mentioned because they’re not facts, just fan theories and interpretations not everybody likes or agrees with.