#so knock yourself out

[idv-the-scientist]

@yellow-rose-embalmer replied:

To be thanked for his words, his support, his presence, the meaning is disproportionately received in Aesop's ears. It is a sweet ambrosia, it is the oasis he has stumbled upon after far too long. What a waste it would be not to drink it all up, the simple drop of politeness (perhaps obligation) stringing the embalmer to bow ever so slightly before Glenn. "Any time, Mr. Collins." Then, an abrupt halt in the middle of a sentence catches Aesop's attention, his eyes widening. Surely, there was an ending to that thought, but all that he can gather is a throat tightening, breath forcing its way out where words could have been, were expected to have been. He wants to say something, but he wants to give the space needed, the time to come up with something, if that does not work, if a revision needs to be made. A redirection to speak to someone else. It is not something Aesop understands, but... there must be a reason for this. "...I see. I will have to find him then. Also, is your throat all right? Do you need some water or tea?" Aesop knows the sound of hoarseness well, and he may not know everything of how to deal with such a thing, but if aid is needed, then who would he be not to provide?

“It's quite fine, thank you”, the professor replies. He has become used to this feeling. It'll soon go away.

A sudden thought made him hesitant: You have pushed your problems and yourself on others again. And while Glenn knew this to be untrue - there was no pushing if the other was willingly indulging - he felt bad. Maybe, he could at least make it up to him?

“B-but we could get some tea, if you'd like!”, he hastily added. “There is a young lady here, who is a baker, if I heard correctly. I am sure I can ask her for something sweet. Or not, if you prefer something else...”

( @yellow-rose-embalmer )

"Good evening, Mr. Collins. I have heard about your study of memory. I... find it quite fascinating, truly." Aesop pauses, fixing his posture and fussing with one of his gloves. "I am curious what made you choose that to research. Forgive my asking, but... would you say that you had something that you did not want to lose, even if it was no longer 'here'? Or even something you couldn't physically keep in general."

That was… How-? No, no. No need to panic. While his guess was good, it wasn’t spot on. Maybe the two of them simply had some curious overlap in their motivations, that’s all. But it’s better to make sure. After all, what if he did know something? It could be valuable information on his own situation.

The professor extended a hand, politely but intrigued: “Glenn Collins. I do indeed research the human brain with a focus on memory and memory loss. Have we met before? And may I ask what is behind that curiously specific questioning of yours? Any way I can help?”

[guinevereslancelot]

i always wanted someone to make blackout poetry of one of my posts but so far i have only had one blacked out to say egg. i guess you if you can't write the poem yourself you can't choose the poem

[weekendcuckdate]

snl cast/alumni, for new york magazine.

[nixnuevo]

taylorpilled swiftmaxxing

[star-trek-dumb-comics]

Hi guys, I have and weird request. Can anyone who bought theses stickers send me pics of them ? (Preferably stuck on something - but I'll take pics of them as is too)

[simptasia]

if julian and garak were to have children (and i imagine they do), i think the kid(s) would have the last name "garak". not only does it continue mila's last name, but it destroys richard bashir's oh so precious legacy

[serenedash]

Since there's Foretellers at it- Gula? Or, y'know, Skuld, best girl-

I bet you weren't expecting a screenshot redraw and that's okay because I wasn't either

[wikitpowers]

quick pretend ur me in the comments i’m tryna see something !!!

[eebie]

i will always be a little smug about being all over spot before the movie even came out Before the trailers even dropped When he was just a teaser poster and an actor namedrop… spot superfans rise….

[bigweldindustries]

sorry it's just always rly funny to me when I get to be like "SURPRISE" and show ppl my tummy. like U thought I looked normal????? surprise bitch no bellybutton. who's normal now. not me I nearly died for this thang

[thstarsofsilver]

one of the lowkey craziest things about the massive fight scene was that it took kwon STABBING himself and literally DYING for gunther to finally yell "cut the feed". bitch your supposedly dignified and prestigious tournament at the pinnacle of competitive karate descended into all out anarchy, and it's been livestreamed internationally, plus you've been conscious long enough to have shut it down immediately, and only then when everyone has literally watched him die does it occur to you to end the feed???

[leosgreyfringe]

literally can’t get my mind off the match. I already obsess over poor arsenal results but this one included MY LITTLE GUY….

[is-it-cute-gf-au-edition]

since you're a raccoon now can we rate you

Well, just being a raccoon isn't enough. I need to make a post for you to rate.

I'm also not a pet.

[fallloverfic]

I'm not sure why someone would leap to compare Cait/Vi from Arcane and Mizrak/Olrox from Castlevania: Nocturne, as they're characters from different shows, different story universes, and different studios (Arcane was made by the French studio Fortiche, and only distributed by Netflix, while Nocturne is made by the US studio Powerhouse Animation, which makes a lot of shows for Netflix). Cait/Vi also has existed in a series with two seasons, while Nocturne has only 1 season (season 2 airs at the end of January 2025). It's also comparing an f/f couple and an m/m couple, different dynamics, and the former is a pairing of a white woman/a mixed-race woman, while the latter is two men of color.

CaitVi is a story about classism and police brutality, while Mizrox is a story of European and Christian supremacy, colonization, and racism. The main through-lines for comparison are the analysis of privilege and how opposites meet and attract on a battlefield, and that they're both queer pairings. But whereas Cait is privileged over Vi for being rich and a member of a policing organization (which murdered Vi's parents) while Vi is from a poor background in the slums, Mizrak is privileged over Olrox for being highly ranked in a supremacist European religious organization and Olrox is a member of a marginalized indigenous group, which was colonized by followers of Mizrak's religion. You can compare the writing of the two, but to pretend they're 1:1 just because they're both queer pairings in shows that are on Netflix is bizarre.

And to pretend Mizrox has no build-up is to not have eyes. Olrox is an investigative person who's curious about the world overseas he's been invited to. As a member of a marginalized group now in the hotbed of the world that mass murdered many of his people, he's going to be wary of them and treat the area with suspicion. He knows they view him as lesser, even though he's a powerful vampire (likely he assumes the vampires view him as lesser). He likely wanted an in to learn things that Erzsebet, Drolta, and Emmanuel wouldn't tell him themselves, and it makes sense he'd target Emmanuel's right-hand man as a potential in, particularly if he found the guy attractive, as he seemingly did. Maybe the fact that Emmanuel, this uber-white French guy, had a man of color as his right-hand man intrigued Olrox, too.

Olrox was clearly extra intrigued by Mizrak's training and their conversation in the courtyard, especially when Mizrak didn't attempt to hurt him and just talked to him, and it seemed like he had fun with their tussle (like you can tell from Olrox's expressions he was enjoying the back and forth). I imagine the "this dude is hot and I want to bang"-ometer in Olrox's head skyrocketed. And I don't know how much action Mizrak has been getting in his position, especially when, unlike Olrox, Mizrak has to live around anyone he sleeps with. Olrox is a foreigner and can just go home if he makes a mess. A hot guy who's interested in Mizrak, seems a bit different from other vampires, and has some civility seems like someone who would intrigue Mizrak, especially if he wants more intel on the vampires coming to his city that he won't get from Emmanuel or Erzsebet.

Even if you're watching the story for the first time, the whole set-up for the courtyard sequence is incredibly obvious. Whether it appeals to you or not is subjective, but pretending the later scene of them in bed comes out of nowhere is bizarre. Olrox very clearly invites Mizrak to meet again with sexual innuendo at the end of the scene, and Mizrak is very clearly intrigued, even if you don't have the English subtitles on while Mizrak is staring after Olrox's departing back.

You can just see a lot in his expression. He's not disgusted or repulsed: he's curious. The story doesn't need to show every single moment of them reuniting somewhere, talking more, or perhaps just immediately moving to physical intimacy if one or both of them just really want to get off. I mean I'd personally love more of their story, which is why I wrote my main fanfic of them, but it's not necessary from an overall narrative standpoint. Olrox is introduced at the start of the story, and the team was clearly interested in exploring who he is as a character more. He doesn't have to stalk Richter for the entire narrative to do that, and having him pair up with Mizrak also develops more of Emmanuel's organization because we get to know Mizrak, who has no apparent connection to the heroes other than he works for Emmanuel. It also better develops the vampires as Olrox and Drolta vie for power, with Mizrak as a potential pawn. And overall it makes the different factions in the story feel full of people with their own agendas, ready for a showdown where those agendas don't fully align, but is bound to be interesting when it happens (such as when Olrox appears to stand between Mizrak and Richter in the dungeons).

Also enemies-to-lovers is a very popular trope. And if you haven't heard of people going overseas to get laid um... what rock are you living under? Sudden make-outs/flirting in action stories are also pretty common. Not even getting into the historic appeal of Christian x the vampire as a trope, including opposites attract.

I don't know that I'm biased because after watching the scene they meet for the first time I immediately wanted to write fic where they banged (but held off because I wanted to see the rest of the season and then was pleasantly surprised that the show delivered on it), but that was my literal reaction the first time I saw it.

I do think Nocturne S1 had some feeling of rush on it, likely due to the desire to tell something of a whole story over worries of there not being a season 2 (it was renewed like right after the series was aired), and you can make criticisms of just not getting enough Mizrox, but the elements are there and I'm not sure how someone would miss them, especially if they were looking. And I honestly think it still works just fine as a narrative. Most narratives with a cast of more than 2-4 people are going to be a bit tight in TV format. Arcane also had elements of rush, which is likely due to it only getting 2 seasons.

Anyway, as someone who loves both Cait/Vi and Mizrak/Olrox, they're both good pairings.

[velveteen-vampire]

can i ask what nine sols is? your posts have intrigued me...

YES YES I CAN

its a metroidvania apparently inspired by hollow knight, sekiro, and katana zero (my sources have informed me that that last influence is heavy) and i got into it when my boyfriend randomly pulled it up to try it out and the world and story captivated me instantlyyy

its got a very well thought out world that it drip feeds you lore about throughout the game and some genuinely stunning environmental design that conveys that world building beautifully. they love to call this game "taopunk" (taoist cyberpunk) in the marketing and i suppose that is the most efficient way to convey the vibe tho im not sure how specifically cyberpunk it is vs just scifi. i really appreciate a scifi story that feels like its truly rooted in the culture its from instead of generically americanized. the story follows yi (thats the little cat with the big jacket that i have feelings for) as he goes on a revenge quest against his former colleagues after they tried to murder him 500 years ago. lots in there about death and acceptance and and technology vs faith. very good game. true ending made me cry for real. and thats not even getting into the way the gameplay is actually fun and rewarding to master and how its got customizable difficulty so if you hate dying over and over like me you can keep the game fun. its a good game!!!!! everyone should plays it :) please.

[salt-ofthe-middle-earth]

[slaps roof of Bilbo Baggins] this hobbit can fit so much migraine in him