#so there's that camaraderie there

[redmyeyes]

USA men's gymnastics team (Asher Hong, Paul Juda, Brody Malone, Stephen Nedoroscik, Frederick Richard), celebrating Nedoroscik's pommel horse routine, which clinches them the Bronze.

[sunsetuniverse]

"There's a power in seeing yourself in another, in resemblance..."

[canadiangold]

[vaxxman]

Do you like red oktoberfest (like romantically)?

Aha! Interesting and very valid thing to ask! Thanks for your question!

I shall not answer straightforwardly!

Doodle (1) and rambles you didn't ask for below the cut. The answer is in the last paragraph.

Clown language.

I admit I personally prefer showing characters interact with each other and allowing their interaction to be interpreted as either romantic, platonic, or even nothing at all.

I think this approach makes relationships less framed by "signpost cues" of friendship/attraction/love (not that I do not enjoy seeing these either). I think it leaves more room for interesting human interactions, independent of what expectations the reader has for the two characters. Some people seem to search for actions like kissing, hugging, confessions, in order to confirm whether something was supposed to be romantic or not. But then, the absence of such cues make them arrive at conclusions that ignore other forms of relationship-building interactions all together :(

(Fig.1: The unparalleled amount of different flavours of intimate feelings that are evoked from "getting shot and dying on your shoulder" - disease)

So for me, it's Schroedinger's character relationships, with a generous amount of "the true value of this relationship is the collection of interactions we have made along the way" and it doesn't need a name. So with that out of the way:

I am not averted to the idea of Medic and Heavy finally getting their hot steamy Tf2 Sex Update thanks for readin-

[nyamcattt]

i saw ryoko kui's dunmeshi page of laios hugging everyone in his party, and i wanted to make one for sombra with everyone in talon

[casscainmainly]

If Cassandra was the one taking Batman's mantle back in 2009 instead of Dick, how do u think would've been her dynamic with Damian?

Honestly possibly similar to Dick? In Batman and Robin (2009), Dick wasn't like overtly praising Damian or being outwardly affectionate (until later). What Dick gave Damian was someone who didn't treat him like a prince, but also someone who stuck with him through every mistake; a steady presence during a tumultuous time. Cass could totally provide those, so the foundation of trust that flourished between Dick + Damian would probably flourish for Cass too.

Some key differences would be that Cass, I think, wouldn't feel as immediately responsible for Damian as Dick did. So the beginning would be a lot rockier, and Cass would be giving Damian the silent treatment while he follows her around and insults her. (I also think Cass wouldn't shrug the insults off as easily as Dick). Damian's decision not to kill is also fundamentally different from Cass', so she'd be uncomfortable around him, and they wouldn't have the same sort of lighthearted banter that Dick and Damian had from the beginning.

However, Damian would probably respect her more quickly than he did Dick. And Cass would be more overtly enthusiastic about his decision not to kill, and understand just how big that decision is given his upbringing. This shared understanding would bridge a lot of the cracks in Cass' ability to handle kids. If events play out the same, I think after issue #3 (when Damian fails to save Sasha and is shaken by it), Cass would understand Damian as a person more, and their relationship would improve significantly.

I think they would physically fight a lot more, though, given Cass' tendency to confront with fists. She'd win every time, which would annoy him, but add to the respect thing. This is one area where Cass, if she realises beating up Damian all the time isn't helping, might outsource to Steph.

Anyway in the ideal version of this Dick and Steph would be around to provide the emotional stability a grieving Cass wouldn't be able to give, but I do believe (because they are deeply compassionate people, and Batman and Robin), they would end up being very close.

[feroluce]

For some weird reason, I've always been fascinated by how wildly different Sampo operates in the Underground vs the Overworld.

Sampo is present in both places and even in official sources, he's not really counted as one side or the other- now that the theory has been confirmed in-game, he's generally just lumped in with the Masked Fools.

But there really is a big difference!

Probably the most obvious and well known instance of Sampo's...business practices *cough burglary and fraud COUGH* in the Overworld is from the Belobog Museum event. In it, you don't find out Sampo is the main culprit until near the end, because Pela has to set up a sting just to catch him in the act. And that sting is necessary all because the initial suspect they arrested, Norbert, had pretty much no idea of his partner's identity. Sampo wouldn't even speak to him face-to-face.

And whereas Sampo is normally very pleasant and friendly with the trailblazer...when he thinks he's talking to Norbert here, he straight up says that they are NOT friends. Like he really shuts that shit DOWN.

There's also an Overworld NPC, Chavez, who heads the "Dark Blue Scam Support Group." And he. Really really really does not like Sampo fjkdasjklfdj

Chavez clearly wants Sampo caught, and has literally no positive feelings about him. So. Why call it the Dark Blue Scam? Why not just out him by name? Chavez obviously doesn't give a single shit about Sampo's dignity or privacy. But he never once refers to him as "Sampo," and even the pamphlets he passes out make no mention of it. No one in the entire support group seems to know how to identify him or how to refer to him except by his hair color. If the trailblazer says his name, Chavez reacts as though he's never heard it before.

(I've seen people say this means Sampo Koski is an alias and not his real name? But Ray pointed this out, and honestly I agree; even the Fools call him Sampo, after all. I think it's just that Chavez never knew Sampo's name in the first place, and given his immense distrust, immediately assumes it's an alias.)

And then there's his characters stories, where he proceeds to pull off a heist in the Overworld while in disguise as Brughel Poisson the entire time. Literally his own stories don't mention Sampo's name even once.

So anyway, all this shows that when he's up in the Overworld working cons, Sampo is incredibly slippery and secretive about his identity. The only people who seem to know him are Pela, Serval, and Gepard. He doesn't get close to anyone else, and is even surprisingly unfriendly. Nobody knows his name. No one knows his face. He has zero qualms about backstabbing or double-crossing, and even plans for it in some cases.

Meanwhile, down in the Underground, I'm pretty sure literally the worst thing we hear of him doing is scalping tickets in front of the Fight Club. Which isn't even illegal in a lot of places (although it's certainly a dick move).

In Hook's companion quest, a vagrant miner steals Fersman's equipment and tries to sell it to Sampo. Even before the trailblazer and Hook jump in and out the vagrant as a thief, Sampo hesitates to buy it because it sounds like stolen goods, which he doesn't want any part of.

Even knowing that a geomarrow detector is rare and incredibly valuable in the mines, Sampo makes no attempt to double-cross Hook or profit off of her loss, and even tells her who to go to to get it fixed.

And my favorite example of Sampo in the Underground is the Survival Wisdom adventure mission. In it, Sampo starts up a business with Peak, another miner. And like. In wild contrast to all the cons he pulls above ground, Sampo is actually super nice and helpful here.

Just the same as with Hook's quest, Sampo talks to Peak face-to-face, with no disguises or barriers. When the trailblazer finds them, they're just in the Great Mine, no secretive meeting places. Peak knows Sampo, is familiar with him, and calls him by name. It's not even a con! There's nothing illegal going on; it really is just a business partnership. Peak is more than happy with their deal, he's even pretty enthusiastic about it, because thanks to Sampo he can now make enough money to get by while also accommodating his chronic fatigue.

The only person Sampo lies to in this whole ordeal is the trailblazer, who he manipulates into getting Peak's mining equipment back from the vagrants that stole it in the first place. And when it's done, he rewards them with a legit treasure map.

So when he's working in the Underground, Sampo is MUCH more upright and lawful. Part of this is probably to do with his "business" model- Sampo only takes advantage of the wealthy, and poverty runs rampant in the Underground. When he charges Peak an extra 30% (the same percentage he charges Norbert as a consultation fee in the museum heists- Sampo seems to go by percentage instead of a flat rate, which means his prices are more fair for lower incomes) for carelessly losing their supply, Peak literally starts counting out pocket change.

Dude's working for pennies and good will down there dknsmdmd

And you can twist this into a Robin Hood thing if you want- Sampo IS technically working to feed orphans and heal the sick. He says himself he's more than happy to make up the shortfall between the greedy and the marginalized- I mean he says it in the shadiest way possible, but I doubt the people benefiting from his work really care that he's a slimeball if it means they can survive another day. Even the two heists he pulls in his character stories are literally just him stealing absurd amounts of food.

Personally though I think it is solely because of Natasha, and Sampo is hilariously well-behaved specifically for her, because she keeps him on a short leash JSKZJMSMSKS

[storge]

Don't kill them, okay? People don't die that easily.

MIZUSHIMA HIRO as Iguchi Tatsuya Drop (2009) dir. Shinagawa Hiroshi

[lucy-moderatz]

[blueskittlesart]

cold fruit in a hot kitchen (so i had this great watermelon last weekend)

[lbhslefttiddie]

actually since im talking about vague ideas i like but havent worked into a useable setting yet: i think, under very specific circumstances involving sy, lbh and sj could become a horrible and terrifying collaborative force. like i think it would be fun and also funny in a shen bros au dealio where sj and lbh are just constantly at each other's fucking throats because of their respective Deals and then the second sy lands himself in a sy-brand Situation they both react with such vicious like-minded fury one would think they had coordinated their actions. i think they could reach an Agreement of sorts if they were put in a position which showed them that they both prioritize sy's safety to the same insane degree. something so fun about having to confront that the person you'd so comfortably despised for so long has shown themself to be very human in the face of the suffering of someone you also love dearly. that there may be no one in the world outside yourself who you would be able to trust your loved one's care to except that bitch you cannot stand

[aaandbackstabbed]

Della and Donald: you’ve told us this story many times

Scrooge: and you’ll hear it again!

[icantalk710]

Not a bad get from work's sample sale the other day tbh 😌

[agaxso]

that one mxtx mistranslation: "lqg is straight"

the official eng book:

[ibrokeeverything]

I just started a rebels rewatch and I can't get over how touchy the ghost crew are. It's just constant reassuring or steadying hands on shoulders, kanan cuffing ezra on the head for being dumb, zeb shoving Sabine when she's being silly, hera laying a hand on chopper since he's family too.

It's making me insane and I'd kill to see stuff like this in more media!

[serenitysands]

WHAT THE FUCK IS UP BUTTERCUP!!!