#so what right do *i* have to impose things on the Real People(TM) around me when i am just a thing? a decoration?

[slippery-minghus]

oughoughoughhh maybe i'm just not in the right headspace to be reading it right now but the "the beginnings of self-definition" chapter of susan forward's toxic parents book is fuuuuucking me up

[rametarin]

The purpose of the activism in question is to be a mindworm into the social dynamics and relationships and disseminate them to the grassroots, letting them know what new things are taboo or will get you considered a Bad Person with the weight of a bad impression or negative assessment coming to you if you look like the potential offender.

It's to draw lines in the sand and go, "If you're beyond this line, we will consider you a Bad Person, or adjacent to Bad People, for good people stand behind this line, not in front of it," And then watch you to see what you do. Do you go where they want you to be and say what they want you to say to prove your goodness, or do you out yourself and expose yourself to their hostile ignorance and polarizing world views, where they blame you for your own lack of cooperating or being mindful of their sensitivities for what they do to you by reaction.

When I was a young man, there was a period where the big swansong activism was to maintain that any time an unfamiliar white person used the word black to refer to those of sub-Saharan African descent, it was considered inherently close to a slur. The discourse that, "whites are inherently racist because white culture is racism" wasn't spoken out loud, but they would say, "You sound like an ignorant racist Confederate America Georgian slavemaster when you say black. Say African American." And if you just said black casually, someone that wanted to treat you and perform bad faith would just say they "read the racism" from you using the word black. Tried to make when non-black people used the term black out to be as archaic as using the word colored or negro. So if you didn't get with the program and slipped up, people that were punished and informed the word black was off limits would let you know, you'd just hit the same social faux pas as using a racial slur casually. And they used that to ostracize and shun people, because "tolerating racism is bad and if you do, we'll note it and tell others about you doing it."

Online activism is merely the same sort of interpersonal activism and nannying to "spread awareness" and impose new social moores and mentalities and justifications for whom gets punished for behavior or misbehavior, and what is the basis for what is correct and what won't be allowed to be the rules.

And anything can be MADE toxic and radioactive at any time if there's willing participants that will use any given logic to retroactively turn someone someone did, "problematic." There's lots of left-wing ablism that went into making fun of Ronald Reagan's dementia that would be decried now as "a product of its time" and wrong. It's about organizing control over what is acceptable and not and why and getting a mechanism to disseminate it from above. Social studies in college do this and have an entire social eco-system not unlike how churches in the North American Deep South function (or, used to)

And further examples? Look at any TERF space. That's simply radical feminism (derogatory). But, it's feminism centered around woman as a biological state, not adopting the belief that a woman is purely a social construct and gender existing outside of biology, divorcing the term from its biology and denying biology is necessary for it to exist as a woman at all, or that biological females were ever women on the baiss of their biology. TERFs writing poetry about being a female and synonymous with woman become ripe real estate for Trans INCLUSIVE Radical Feminists jumping up and going, "EXCUSE ME MA'AM BUT YOUR FEMINISM TREATS TRANSWOMEN AS WOMAN AS CISWOMEN, RIGHT?" And we all knows the answer to that question and the shitstorm it brings. Out of a seemingly positive, benign, shaped-to-seem-uncontroversial statement. That Trans Women Are Women, Just Like Cis Women, so cis women defining being a woman by their female sex are commiting a Bad Thing and Not Being Inclusive(tm) so they're committing a badthink and wrongthink.

Peer-to-peer activism would then dictate that the TERF then get cast out and rebuked by right-thinking radical feminists for their "bigotry" (whatever their true feelings and level of respect they have for transgendered people. Whether the usual slavering growling cis-exclusiveist or someone that believes transwomen are valid but woman is defined by their cisness first) And then those peers inform the rest that Samantha isn't cooperating by rebuking all ideas gender is anything but an idea you wear like a coat.

And Online Activism goes further, because the new Bad Thing comes from academic articles and academic writers that write thinkpieces that become the next two minute hate and outrage and because of their institutional authority and hierarchical position, the weight of their opinions becomes manifest in their sycophantic understudies. So any academic decides to write a piece about how microbrewing is white supremacy? The underlings beneath them follow, accept that as true and then decide to be progressive, good people, they have to treat microbreweries as white supremacist and microbrewers as racists- if they're white.

And as we saw during Gamergate among the Games Journos, that would organize the writers and then perform what were called Information Cascades to hitpiece certain subjects and treat that like they were the mouthpieces of Gamers and Good Videogame Culture, as if that was what gamers and gaming was clamoring for as an industry. They'd write about how "modern gaming is racist and white supremacist- here's how we can fix that" and postulate their ideological bullshit, using gaming culture as their platform no matter what the actual gamers had to say about it.

Online activism is about trying to create realities and control groups of people through fear via standards and ideology.

I feel like. Part of the reason we're seeing hot takes like "video games like Stardew Valley are bourgeoisie and you should feel bad for playing them" and "if any actor in a TV show even hints at supporting any part of Israel then we need to boycott that entire show" and stuff like that is.

Online activism does virtually nothing. It does virtually nothing, guys. You can reblog and repost stuff all day and it does nothing. And so there's this desperate need in people's minds to Do Something, but social media platforms have so thoroughly trapped us into the idea that This Is How You Connect With People, that we think blogging = activism.

But nothing we've reblogged thus far has made a significant difference in the world. So we keep reblogging, desperately, convinced that if we root out the real evil in our media consumption or if we pare down our beliefs to the One True Ideal and force everyone around us to share that ideal, then finally Something Will Change For The Better.

Log off. Go give blood; there's a critical shortage right now. Help someone in your community; it might not fix wars that are thousands of miles away but it'll help that person. Call or email your local representative about issues that matter to you. Fucking vote. Do something in the not-online space. It'll matter more than 100 posts in a row about Important Things.

[skopostheorie]

U’ve talked about kiyotaka being gay coded before but do u have any thoughts on mondo and whether or not he’s straight, bi or gay w comphet? I swear the next time I see someone call him straight but Taka is his only exception ill scream

OKAY.

let it be said right now that i argue with myself about this all. the. TIME. everyday i wake up and i have a different opinion on the matter. i literally have this saved on my phone

so i don’t have a solid answer for you. because i feel that it’s so hard to know, there’s no explicit “coding” going on unless i’m missing something really obvious. so we can hence speculate from a text-only point of view, and come to the conclusion that makes the most sense regardless of “coding” since there is none.

let’s assume oowada was intended to be into guys. not only did ishimondo happen, if you look at oowada’s school mode, which is intended to be the dating sim, he.... fell for naegi. i’m, like, 95% certain of this. the worst offender in that sim is when he blushes and says that he wants to be open with naegi about “what he’s into”, which ... is probably a euphemism/joke. that being said i haven’t found the japanese school mode online yet and i haven’t unlocked it, so whether that was an addition in the translation remains to be seen. i’ll get back to you.

assuming this is true, a lot more of his character clicks into place. like when naegi asks him to hang out and oowada insists, totally unprompted, that he “doesn’t swing that way”. his entire character was about a masculinity he imposed on himself that meant he had to surpress his true nature; and that he can only let that need to be physically “strong” go around ishimaru, really (and naegi in the school mode).

however, as you also know, one of his ftes is entirely dedicated to how he struggles with asking girls out. he’s asked ten girls out and gotten rejected everytime (....lol). problem is, he doesn’t elaborate on any of these girls, we have no idea what he’s into, and it’s hard to know if asking girls out is hence also a part of the facade he builds in order to appear like a True Man Leader(tm); and why he gets nervous when asking is because he doesn’t wanna look like a fucking idiot, rather than because he actually likes them.

he had a small crush (allegedly) on maizono according to the artbook, but it’s super fleeting. if you bring maizono up in the school mode he has no real interest, so it’s safe to say he didn’t really like her.

the quote that actually makes it super hard to know whether he likes girls for real is... this one.

oowada’s more interested in motorbikes than he is in girls. is it just meant to be joke about how much he likes motorbikes (kinda like this quote);

or is it meant to be a “monokuma effect”[1] sort of quote in which they’re trying to tell us he doesn’t like girls at all? there’s no way to know, which is why we have to leave the idea that he’s gay on the table, but also understand that we could just be reading too much into things. it’s also worth mentioning that any and all interest he had in girls vanished after he and ishimaru became a thing. he even gets offended at one point if ishimaru implies he wants to get girls in that drama CD.

it all honestly depends on how aware of these issues kodaka and friends are. a lot of people think the kind of insecurity about masculinity only applies to gay guys, for some reason; that bi guys don’t really have that problem cuz we can just go date a girl instead. needless to say this isn’t true, but There’s Just No Way To Know If The Writers Knew That.

they’ve written bisexual characters before, so they definitely know what a bisexual person is and can write them fine, but the first blatantly bi characters were in sdr2 so they may have not really understood how to write a bi character during the thh era.

personally i guess i... see him as bi? i honestly have no idea. i ship him with girls so i guess that’s just an obligatory headcanon but when it comes to the actual text there is lots of varying and conflicting evidence. there’s no actual proof of him being into girls in the series that we can see (again we don’t know his motivations for asking girls out and there’s nothing like that happening with his classmates), but whether the writers meant to do that to show he never actually liked girls or if it’s just that the writers didn’t pay much attention to him and were like “wait, shouldn’t he have a crush on a girl or something?”.

tl;dr yes <3

[1]the monokuma effect : in which an incredibly traumatic, disturbing, or otherwise groundbreaking event or fact is hinted at through, or immediately followed by, a (usually juvenile) joke. (In)tends to make the reader laugh at the traumatic event upon finding out about or seeing it. Frequently involves gallows humour but is not a necessity. Effect refers usually to its presence within the Danganronpa franchise itself, but it can refer to any situation where the definition could apply.

[nyalapeno]

Salt in the Sea - chapter 1

To celebrate Ei-chan’s birthday! <3 He’s my eternal fave character so I wanted to write something for him. 

So here it is - my Eijun-centric Miyusawa fic :) I’ve posted it on Ao3 as well - here it is. [Salt in the Sea]

I hope someone out there will smile reading it~

Chapter 1 ~ I don’t give a damn about my bad reputation~

She... she wasn't listening. At all. His protests went ignored. Gramps had slapped him, but that was still a reaction, if negative - she wasn't reacting, just saying whatever she wanted. Was she purposefully ignoring everything that didn’t fit in with her plans because she was even more bullheaded than an average Sawamura? Or was she deaf? Did she need hearing aids? Was she old enough to need hearing aids?

"Do you nee--" SLAP!

Thus interrupted, Eijun winced and rubbed his cheek to get rid of the stinging feeling. His Gramps couldn't read minds but having known him for fifteen years he could certainly make a fine impression of it. In this case the slap was a preemptive measure as he'd been about to indirectly make a comment about the recruiter's age, and age and calories were risky topics at times.

But it would've been fine! It wasn't like she was listening in the first place.

And now she was tapping on her phone while sharing a table with her hosts. Rude! His mom, instead of telling her off, was watching the proceedings with interest.

"I can reserve the tickets for tomorrow, will that be alright?"

"Certainly!" his mom agreed. "I'll inform Ei-chan's teachers. It's not every day an opportunity like this comes along so I'm sure they'll understand!"

"What," Eijun deadpanned as he listened to his immediate future being planned out without his say so.

"Don't you 'what' me!" Eitoku scolded him. "A recruiter from that Seidou comes here personally to invite you and this is how you react? You should be thanking her on your knees!" Eijun huffed. He already said exactly what he thought about schools like 'that Seidou', not that anyone’d paid him any mind. Wasn't he allowed to have an unpopular opinion?

The recruiter, with his family's full support and encouragement, reserved tickets for Eijun. The travel plan sounded complicated as he’d apparently have to change trains a few times. Tomorrow morning he was going to be visiting the place and there was nothing he could do about it. Well, in theory Eijun could ignore the summons and not go unless Takashima came back in person and dragged him to Tokyo by his hair - when he was younger he used to try such tactics. But they'd just gotten him slapped every time, and besides it was a waste of daylight. So yeah, in theory only. In practice he was stuck.

Honestly, half of the reason he was protesting so much was the woman's total dismissal of his objections. No one liked being seen as an opinionless doll to be dragged around the country willy-nilly. Maybe he was exaggerating but sitting here and being ignored was unpleasant. He'd even rather she yell at him or tell him he was an idiot for not wanting to go. And his family still wondered why he wasn't jumping on the Seidou bandwagon. Were all students treated like air, or was it reserved for prospective students like him? Great advertising. Exactly who did it attract? Masochists?

"...Blech!" Eijun made a face as his imagination ran away with him. His dad lightly smacked the back of his head. Probably decided it already took enough abuse today. Speaking of, the recruiter had been impressed with his slapping skills and in fact appeared to approve of him starting a brawl after the match. He was really beginning to wonder about this super fancy baseball school. Masochists and brawlers... was this real-life Deimon High? Did they maybe have Hiruma Youichi the second? If he went there and met a violent student a year his senior who was called Youichi he would scream, Sena style.

He already felt like screaming to be honest. What the hell was this situation?

The scout was already saying her goodbyes, apparently having finished up with the ticket thing. Everyone was bowing and spewing niceties with not a thought spared for basic human rights while Eijun folded his arms across his chest and scowled at everything, unaware that his attempt looked more like a pout. His verbal protests had been ignored so maybe a visual one...?

"Sawamura-kun," the recruiter said, turning to him. She paused, took in his Rebellious Teenager PoseTM, then smirked. What the-- "I've reserved tickets for you, your mother has the details. Make sure to not be late for the train."

"As if I would be!" Eijun snapped, his offense at the situation temporarily transforming into offense at the insinuation. He was never late! Unless it was on purpose.

"Very good," the lady smirked at him again. Eijun's mouth fell open and he stared, bamboozled. She pretended not to hear the stuff that didn’t fit with her plans but responded to stuff that did? How convenient! "Then I won't be imposing on you any longer. Sawamura-kun, I'll be waiting for you at the first interchange station so you don't get lost." with this parting shot she left, leaving Eijun spluttering as he was insulted for the nth time in one conversation.

"I won't get lost!!" he bellowed after her.

Slap!

"Shut up!" Eitoku shushed him. Like Eijun with scowling, he had his own unique version of shushing.

"Don't complain, Eijun," his dad scolded. "It was thoughtful of Takashima-san to offer, the metro system in Tokyo is confusing. If you really were to get lost you'd be in Big Trouble," he shuddered, as though remembering something unpleasant from his past. Eijun blinked.

"Is it really that bad?" he asked, curiosity overriding offense. He hadn't seen much of the metro during his time in Tokyo so he had no clue.

"Even natives have trouble navigating it," Eishi said gravely. "It's better now, with all the apps they made for passengers, but it's still too complicated for comfort. I'd feel better if you had a guide."

"And I'd feel better if I wasn't going at all," Eijun muttered crossly.

"You ungrateful grandson!" Eitoku shook a fist at him but didn't slap. Maybe his hand was tired? "People make the effort to organize transport for you and you don't have to pay and you still complain?"

"Aaargh, I'm not complaining about free transport! I just don't want to visit this school in the first place, like I keep saying from the beginning! But everyone turns deaf when I speak! What is wrong with this world? Nobody’s listening! Nobody understands me!" he dramatized. Eitoku side-eyed him.

"Well, if you can go on like this then clearly you're just fine," he commented.

"Everyone," Chieko called out before anything else could be said. "I think this calls for a family discussion so why don't we get back to the table? I'll make more tea."

"I'll help!" Eijun yelled then bolted into the kitchen before anyone could stop him or talk some more nonsense. His mom followed while Eishi and Eitoku sat down at the table. Eijun collected the necessities while Chieko put the kettle on. The water was soon ready because they used an electric kettle and not a tetsubin. They did own a tetsubin, but it was being used as a decorative flowerpot instead. Which was just fine with Eijun who didn’t want to boil water on the stove. Not that he boiled water by himself very often.

"Mom, can I have hot chocolate instead?" Eijun asked, hesitating over the fourth teacup. He wasn’t really in the mood for tea.

"Of course, Ei-chan. Just try not to spill milk everywhere again." The kettle clicked as Eijun pulled out his usual mug and the can of instant cocoa.

"Mom! That time it was a new carton, it couldn't be helped!" he defended and went to fetch the milk.

"It could if you poured more slowly."

"Urgh… fine," Eijun waited for his mom to pour the water, then added cocoa powder and milk, making sure to handle the carton carefully. Full cartons could be tricky. "Ha!" he beamed at his success when nothing was spilled. Happy, he stirred the contents of the mug energetically, which resulted in some of the liquid flying out and forming a chocolatey puddle on the counter. "..."

"It's all right, Ei-chan, just clean it up," his mom didn't even seem fazed anymore.

"Uh, yeah, cleaning up now! Sorry!" Eijun wiped up the counter. Somehow, Chieko managed to prepare the tea and snacks in the time it took him to prepare his own drink. Respect. Together, they carried everything to the table.

"All right, Ei-chan," Chieko asked once everyone was sitting down. "Out with it. Why are you so reluctant about giving Seidou a chance?"

Eijun glanced at all his family members one by one. Unlike when Takashima-san was still around this time they looked ready to listen to what he had to say, if a bit skeptical (Eitoku).

"Because..." he took a deep breath. "Because look at how that lady acted! She totally ignored my opinion and just did her own thing, and she's someone who takes care of kids at this fancy boarding school! What if everyone's treated like that all the time? That's really bad especially because they live there! And she told us how she always looks at matches to find and pick the best players for her school like players were flowers or something, and that's so impersonal! Is this a school or a bouquet?  And it sounds like they're all about results and winning and I just don't like it at all! When playing baseball you should enjoy it, not feel like a soldier who'll get killed if he doesn't succeed! And I already promised everyone we'll all go to Miyoshi and recreate our team there so that we can have fun playing together as long as we can and I can't just go back on that because I got scouted somewhere! It's just all bad! And-- and--” he stuttered, hesitant to mention the last reason in front of his Dad and Gramps who’d likely laugh in his face... or slap it. “And the place is probably stuffy and sucky and full of snobs! " With this crowning argument Eijun broke off, huffing. Face having grown hot from his rant, he placed his hands on his cheeks to cool it.

"All I'm hearing is that you're assuming a lot of things about this school you've never seen before, because of what one woman told you," Eitoku commented. "You know what they say about assuming, right?"

"Gramps!" Eijun made a face at the lame comment.

"Hmph," Eitoku scoffed but didn't dwell on the subject.

"Why don't you just go there tomorrow and see if you're right or not?" Eishi suggested. "One visit doesn't equal to signing a pact. You can use that chance to see the place and decide what to do."

"So long as it's an informed decision and not one you made based only on prejudices, we'll all accept it," Chieko added.

"That's right."

"But..." they'd missed the most important part! "But I already said I'll go to Miyoshi with everyone!"

"And I suppose you think that if something comes up that will make you want to change that decision, your friends will get so offended they'll shun you forever?"

"Whu-- huh?" Eijun spluttered, thought process derailing like a faulty train. The depressing vision was unpleasant to consider and made his chest clench, but it was also unimaginable. He just couldn't see such a thing happening. His friends... they weren't like that!

"Is that how little you think of your friends and the bond you share?" Eitoku thundered, probably sensing weakness and decided to strike while the train was derailed. "Is your friendship something so flimsy and shallow it'll break because of distance?"

"No!" Eijun protested, because he didn't think so. "But we made a promise! That matters, okay?"

"Rather than a promise, I think you've been making plans together," Eishi corrected. "Unless you summoned spirits of warriors from ages past and took a blood oath under the moon?"

"We-- what?" Eijun gaped. Where did his dad even get that from? And people said Eijun was weird. "There was no blood oath, what the--"

"Then you were making plans. And plans can change sometimes, which is something I'm sure your friends understand."

"But WHY should I even change those plans?" It was so exasperating. That woman turning deaf to his protests was in its own realm of irritating but this was something else. This was his family telling him that they valued a stranger’s opinion over his. And sometimes the family had a point but it was still grating. The one going to whatever high school he ended up in would be Eijun, not his parents or his Gramps or that recruiter. Didn't he have the right to decide by himself? Whether it was Seidou or Miyoshi or something completely different...

Oh.

"Yes, Ei-chan," Chieko apparently noticed the dawning realization. "We just want you to consider all your options properly, not get fixated on one and reject all others due to lack of information and your defiant, irreverent, bull-headed personality." The adjectives were like anvils falling upon his head and Eijun's elbows slipped, face meeting the table.

"Urgh," he groaned into its shiny surface. He knew he could be bull-headed – hello, his zodiac sign was Taurus the bull – and had no qualms admitting it, but having it pointed out by someone else was a bit... And what was wrong with being irreverent? Japanese were too reverent, someone had to break the mold--

"Ei-chan."

"Yes!" he jumped up like a startled cat. "I understand! I'll... give Seidou a chance..." he trailed off, grimacing. Now that his family was discussing things with him properly his earlier ire had dulled, but he didn't like going behind his friends' backs like this. When he failed to show up to school tomorrow and they asked around and found out he was visiting some snobby school in Tokyo, what would they think?

"What's the problem this time?" Eitoku got to the heart of the matter.

"It just feels like I'm going behind my friends' backs, not telling them about this."

"Then tell them! It's the 21st century, don't you have phones and emails and those liana accounts you use? Why do I have to tell you this?" Eijun felt his jaw drop from sheer disbelief.

"L-- liana account? Wha-- Gramps, you have a LINE account! You talk to me on it! You send stickers! I know you know what it's called!"

"Don't you sass me, young man!"

"Now, now," Chieko mitigated the bickering duo, unable to hold back a smile.

"I'm the one who plays the fool in this house," Eijun grumbled.

"We know," three voices answered in unison, flustering him.

"All things aside," Chieko fixed Eijun with her  ‘I’m onto you’ look. Had she figured out he’d omitted something earlier? Probably. His mom was smart like that. “I think you should consider challenging yourself more, and this is a great opportunity to do that."

"You're never challenged anywhere, are you?” Eishi picked up the line of thought. “Definitely not in baseball, because you're the one who's challenging your friends. And every child your age should test their mettle at some point or they'll never grow. Your mother is right, Seidou might just turn out to be good for you."

"Will it really? How am I supposed to know if it's for me?" Eijun was understandably skeptical.

"You can't know until you find out yourself. By going there if you have to," Eishi paused for a moment, thoughtful. "Did I ever tell you? At one point in my life I wanted to be a musician." Eijun blinked.

"No, you didn't!" He definitely would've remembered that.

"I thought it was what I wanted to do in life, so I set off for Tokyo," Eishi smiled ruefully. "It took me three months to find out that it actually wasn't for me, and then I came back home--"

"Crying to me how 'Tokyo was so scary!'" Eitoku mocked him. They started a minor brawl which was broken up by Chieko before it could escalate. Eijun watched it all and grinned. A random visitor might think Eitoku was in charge of everything going by his personality, but Eijun knew who really wore the pants around here.

"My point," Eishi continued once he settled down, "is that it's fine to decide on something and then realize it was a wrong decision. Making such mistakes is a part of growing up. If you decide to go to Seidou and it won't work out for you, you can always transfer to Miyoshi, or just go back and help out with the farm. No one will blame you for it or laugh at you."

Okay, Eijun took back every complaint he made about his family today. They were the best.

"Speak for yourself, I'd definitely laugh at him," said Eitoku right after Eijun thought that, making him facefault.

"This is supposed to be encouragement?! I take back what I just took back! Ha! See? I'm not that stubborn if I can change my mind twice in under a minute!" he announced triumphantly, causing confused blinking as the others couldn't read his mind and thus had no idea what he was talking about.

"...Back to the subject," Eishi attempted to move on from the weird exchange. "Now that you've been offered an opportunity to attend a school like Seidou I think you should take it, if only to try it out. Even if you're not convinced, being scouted by a school of such renown has to be at least a little flattering, right?" He gave Eijun a questioning glance. Eijun flushed and turned away, grumbling to himself. It was, but hell if he was going to admit that. The pleasure and happiness that bubbled up in his chest when he realized that someone thought he had potential as a pitcher just didn't fit with the rest of his emotions, so he'd made sure to push it to the back of his mind. The feeling was still there but he could ignore it... until his dad's comment right now.

"Right," Eishi nodded after getting a good look at Eijun's reaction. "Whatever you may think now I can assure you, this feeling won't go away. If you don't take the chance it may die down for a while, but then it'll come back when you least expect it and you'll end up wondering what could've been. But by then it'll probably already be too late."

Too late. Eijun flinched as he realized his dad was speaking of regrets. His least favorite flavor was bitter and regrets basically personified it. If he chose to not even see the school, would he end up regretting it? Forever wondering what the place was like and if he could’ve fit in there if he'd given it a chance? He… had no idea. He’d been so stuck on going to Miyoshi with his friends that he hadn’t considered anything else.  Now the possibility his dad evoked made him feel vaguely ill, a heavy feeling settling in his stomach. Remembering his hot chocolate he sipped at it to get rid of the bad taste in his mouth. The sweetness on his tongue washed away the bitter taste the thoughts left and the liquid settled warmly in his stomach, warming him up from the inside and slowly loosening the knot of nerves.

Now that he was trying to be less bull-headed about the issue (what, he could admit his faults if only to himself), he realized he was curious to see what the snobby school looked like. The recruiter’s stories didn’t count as she was expected to show her school in the best light, and besides he hadn’t been too impressed with what he’d heard. So he should probably go there and form his own opinion. Like his dad said, the visit had no strings attached so there should be no problem. Well, as long as no one expected him to pretend to be impressed if he wasn’t.

A slurping sound cut through his thoughts. Eijun blinked, coming back to himself as he realized he’d finished his drink and was now trying to drink from an empty mug. Snorting, he set it down.

"Right," he shook his head to clear it. "I want to talk to my friends about this first, but tomorrow I'll keep an open mind."

"That's the spirit!" Eitoku said, nodding grandly in approval as though this was a state meeting.

"That’s settled then. Crackers, anyone?" Chieko offered, moving the bowl to the middle of the table. One third of its contents was mysteriously missing. Caught off guard, the men (and boy) stared at the different types of crackers like they've never seen any before. Chieko rolled her eyes.

"Alright, more for me."

"You're gonna eat the whole bowl?" Eitoku wondered. "That's probably a lot of--" SLAP!

"Go ahead, dear," Eishi sweated nervously, hand still covering his father's mouth after the strategic slap. As previously stated, age and calories were risky topics.

"Are there any spicy ones?" Ignoring the byplay Eijun peered into the bowl.

"The triangles," Chieko pushed it towards him.

"Yay!" Eijun grabbed a triangle and happily stuffed it in his mouth. He loved spicy food... Wait a second. "Eeeh? These aren't spicy at all!"

"Not for you, maybe," Chieko corrected him. Out of curiosity Eishi tried a supposedly spicy cracker and frowned in thought.

"It is spicy."

"What? No it isn't!"

"Sorry Ei-chan, you're outvoted."

"Let me try," Eitoku also grabbed a cracker. "Hah? It's not that spicy, what’re you talking about?"

"Ha! Two for two! It's a tie now!" Eijun waved his hands in a mini victory dance.

"Your opinion shouldn't count in the first place, Eijun; you once put a whole habanero pepper in curry."

"Hey! I ate it later, didn't I?"

"Because no one else would touch it. Not even dad."

"Excuse you, I'm perfectly capable of eating real man's food! ...But that time he overdid it."

"I don't want to hear that from someone who later made jalapeno ramen!” Eijun protested. “Which I also had to eat, by the way!"

"Of course you had to eat it, no normal person would eat such a thing." What a hypocrite!

"Then why even make it in the first place?" Eijun yelled in exasperation.

"Now, now," Chieko soothed them. "Ei-chan, it's getting late. If you want to talk to your friends you should do it soon. There's no way to tell how long you'll take, and you should also make sure to pack something for the road. It's three hours from here to Tokyo, even if you take the shinkansen."

"Right! I'll just make a group chat, I guess," Eijun thought out loud. Eitoku rolled his eyes but didn't comment.

“But first please help with the dishes,” Chieko said with a pleasant smile. Somehow Eijun didn't think this was about the dishes - well, not only. But it couldn't hurt to have an additional talk with his mom.

He went.

Then he had to go back for the mugs.

[hillaryisaboss]

8/25/2016: Hillary was the first to call out Trump's racist history and dog whistling to racists.

This speech should be required viewing. Required reading. The woman who got 3 million more votes called it. She was 100% right. She had the crystal ball. If only a few more of us had listened.

This speech needs to be burned into our memories forever:

"After all, it’s hard to believe anyone – let alone a nominee for President of the United States – could really believe all the things he says.

But the hard truth is, there’s no other Donald Trump. This is it.

Maya Angelou once said: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

Well, throughout his career and this campaign, Donald Trump has shown us exactly who he is. We should believe him."

~Hillary Rodham Clinton; 8/25/2016

She warned us.

"Everywhere I go, people tell me how concerned they are by the divisive rhetoric coming from my opponent in this election.

It’s like nothing we’ve heard before from a nominee for President of the United States.

From the start, Donald Trump has built his campaign on prejudice and paranoia.

He’s taking hate groups mainstream and helping a radical fringe take over one of America’s two major political parties.

His disregard for the values that make our country great is profoundly dangerous.

...

It takes a lot of nerve to ask people he’s ignored and mistreated for decades, “What do you have to lose?” The answer is everything!

Trump’s lack of knowledge or experience or solutions would be bad enough.

But what he’s doing here is more sinister.

Trump is reinforcing harmful stereotypes and offering a dog whistle to his most hateful supporters.

It’s a disturbing preview of what kind of President he’d be.

This is what I want to make clear today:

A man with a long history of racial discrimination, who traffics in dark conspiracy theories drawn from the pages of supermarket tabloids and the far reaches of the internet, should never run our government or command our military.

If he doesn’t respect all Americans, how can he serve all Americans?

Now, I know some people still want to give Trump the benefit of the doubt.

They hope that he will eventually reinvent himself �� that there’s a kinder, gentler, more responsible Donald Trump waiting in the wings somewhere.

After all, it’s hard to believe anyone – let alone a nominee for President of the United States – could really believe all the things he says.

But the hard truth is, there’s no other Donald Trump. This is it.

Maya Angelou once said: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

Well, throughout his career and this campaign, Donald Trump has shown us exactly who he is. We should believe him.

When Trump was getting his start in business, he was sued by the Justice Department for refusing to rent apartments to black and Latino tenants.

Their applications would be marked with a “C” – “C” for “colored” – and then rejected.

Three years later, the Justice Department took Trump back to court because he hadn’t changed.

The pattern continued through the decades.

State regulators fined one of Trump’s casinos for repeatedly removing black dealers from the floor. No wonder the turn-over rate for his minority employees was way above average.

And let’s not forget Trump first gained political prominence leading the charge for the so-called “Birthers.”

He promoted the racist lie that President Obama isn’t really an American citizen – part of a sustained effort to delegitimize America’s first black President.

In 2015, Trump launched his own campaign for President with another racist lie. He described Mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals.

And he accused the Mexican government of actively sending them across the border. None of that is true.

Oh, and by the way, Mexico’s not paying for his wall either.

If it ever gets built, you can be sure that American taxpayers will be stuck with the bill.

Since then, there’s been a steady stream of bigotry.

We all remember when Trump said a distinguished federal judge born in Indiana couldn’t be trusted to do his job because, quote, “He’s a Mexican.”

Think about that.

The man who today is the standard bearer of the Republican Party said a federal judge was incapable of doing his job solely because of his heritage.

Even the Republican Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, described that as “the textbook definition of a racist comment.”

To this day, he’s never apologized to Judge Curiel.

But for Trump, that’s just par for the course.

This is someone who retweets white supremacists online, like the user who goes by the name “white-genocide-TM.” Trump took this fringe bigot with a few dozen followers and spread his message to 11 million people.

His campaign famously posted an anti-Semitic image – a Star of David imposed over a sea of dollar bills – that first appeared on a white supremacist website.

The Trump campaign also selected a prominent white nationalist leader as a delegate in California. They only dropped him under pressure.

When asked in a nationally televised interview whether he would disavow the support of David Duke, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, Trump wouldn’t do it. Only later, again under mounting pressure, did he backtrack.

And when Trump was asked about anti-Semitic slurs and death threats coming from his supporters, he refused to condemn them.

Through it all, he has continued pushing discredited conspiracy theories with racist undertones.

Trump said thousands of American Muslims in New Jersey cheered the 9/11 attacks. They didn’t.

He suggested that Ted Cruz’s father was involved in the Kennedy assassination. Perhaps in Trump’s mind, because he was a Cuban immigrant, he must have had something to do with it. Of course there’s absolutely no evidence of that.

Just recently, Trump claimed President Obama founded ISIS. And then he repeated that nonsense over and over.

His latest paranoid fever dream is about my health. All I can say is, Donald, dream on.

This is what happens when you treat the National Enquirer like Gospel.

It’s what happens when you listen to the radio host Alex Jones, who claims that 9/11 and the Oklahoma City bombings were inside jobs. He said the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre were child actors and no one was actually killed there.

Trump didn’t challenge those lies. He went on Jones’ show and said: “Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down.”

This man wants to be President of the United States.

I’ve stood by President Obama’s side as he made the toughest decisions a Commander-in-Chief ever has to make.

In times of crisis, our country depends on steady leadership… clear thinking… and calm judgment… because one wrong move can mean the difference between life and death.

The last thing we need in the Situation Room is a loose cannon who can’t tell the difference between fact and fiction, and who buys so easily into racially-tinged rumors.

Someone detached from reality should never be in charge of making decisions that are as real as they come.

It’s another reason why Donald Trump is simply temperamentally unfit to be President of the United States.

Now, some people will say that his bluster and bigotry is just over-heated campaign rhetoric – an outrageous person saying outrageous things for attention.

But look at the policies Trump has proposed. They would put prejudice into practice.

And don’t be distracted by his latest attempts to muddy the waters.

He may have some new people putting new words in his mouth… but we know where he stands.

He would form a deportation force to round up millions of immigrants and kick them out of the country.

He’d abolish the bedrock constitutional principle that says if you’re born in the United States, you’re an American citizen. He says that children born in America to undocumented parents are, quote, “anchor babies” and should be deported.

Millions of them.

And he’d ban Muslims around the world – 1.5 billion men, women, and children –from entering our country just because of their religion.

Think about that for a minute. How would it actually work? People landing in U.S. airports would line up to get their passports stamped, just like they do now.

But in Trump’s America, when they step up to the counter, the immigration officer would ask every single person, “What is your religion?”

And then what?

What if someone says, “I’m a Christian,” but the agent doesn’t believe them.

Do they have to prove it? How would they do that?

Ever since the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock, America has distinguished itself as a haven for people fleeing religious persecution.

Under Donald Trump, America would distinguish itself as the only country in the world to impose a religious test at the border.

Come to think of it, there actually may be one place that does that. It’s the so-called Islamic State. The territory ISIS controls. It would be a cruel irony if America followed its lead.

Don’t worry, some will say, as President, Trump will be surrounded by smart advisors who will rein in his worst impulses.

So when a tweet gets under his skin and he wants to retaliate with a cruise missile, maybe cooler heads will be there to convince him not to.

Maybe.

But look at who he’s put in charge of his campaign.

Trump likes to say he only hires the “best people.” But he’s had to fire so many campaign managers it’s like an episode of the Apprentice.

The latest shake-up was designed to – quote – “Let Trump be Trump.” To do that, he hired Stephen Bannon, the head of a right-wing website called Breitbart.com, as campaign CEO.

To give you a flavor of his work, here are a few headlines they’ve published:

“Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy.”

“Would You Rather Your Child Had Feminism or Cancer?”

“Gabby Giffords: The Gun Control Movement’s Human Shield”

“Hoist It High And Proud: The Confederate Flag Proclaims A Glorious Heritage.”

That one came shortly after the Charleston massacre, when Democrats and Republicans alike were doing everything they could to heal racial divides. Breitbart tried to enflame them further.

Just imagine – Donald Trump reading that and thinking: “this is what I need more of in my campaign.”

Bannon has nasty things to say about pretty much everyone.

This spring, he railed against Paul Ryan for, quote “rubbing his social-justice Catholicism in my nose every second.”

No wonder he’s gone to work for Trump – the only Presidential candidate ever to get into a public feud with the Pope.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, Breitbart embraces “ideas on the extremist fringe of the conservative right. Racist ideas.

Race-baiting ideas. Anti-Muslim and anti-Immigrant ideas –– all key tenets making up an emerging racist ideology known as the ‘Alt-Right.’”

Alt-Right is short for “Alternative Right.”

The Wall Street Journal describes it as a loosely organized movement, mostly online, that “rejects mainstream conservatism, promotes nationalism and views immigration and multiculturalism as threats to white identity.”

The de facto merger between Breitbart and the Trump Campaign represents a landmark achievement for the “Alt-Right.” A fringe element has effectively taken over the Republican Party.

This is part of a broader story -- the rising tide of hardline, right-wing nationalism around the world.

Just yesterday, one of Britain’s most prominent right-wing leaders, Nigel Farage, who stoked anti-immigrant sentiments to win the referendum on leaving the European Union, campaigned with Donald Trump in Mississippi.

Farage has called for a ban on the children of legal immigrants from public schools and health services, has said women are quote “worth less” than men, and supports scrapping laws that prevent employers from discriminating based on race -- that’s who Trump wants by his side.

The godfather of this global brand of extreme nationalism is Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In fact, Farage has appeared regularly on Russian propaganda programs.

Now he’s standing on the same stage as the Republican nominee.

Trump himself heaps praise on Putin and embrace pro-Russian policies.

He talks casually of abandoning our NATO allies, recognizing Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and of giving the Kremlin a free hand in Eastern Europe more generally.

American presidents from Truman to Reagan have rejected the kind of approach Trump is taking on Russia.

We should, too.

All of this adds up to something we’ve never seen before.

Of course there’s always been a paranoid fringe in our politics, steeped in racial resentment. But it’s never had the nominee of a major party stoking it, encouraging it, and giving it a national megaphone. Until now.

On David Duke’s radio show the other day, the mood was jubilant.

“We appear to have taken over the Republican Party,” one white supremacist said.

Duke laughed. There’s still more work to do, he said.

No one should have any illusions about what’s really going on here. The names may have changed… Racists now call themselves “racialists.” White supremacists now call themselves “white nationalists.” The paranoid fringe now calls itself “alt-right.” But the hate burns just as bright.

And now Trump is trying to rebrand himself as well. Don’t be fooled.

There’s an old Mexican proverb that says “Tell me with whom you walk, and I will tell you who you are.”

We know who Trump is. A few words on a teleprompter won’t change that.

He says he wants to “make America great again,” but his real message remains “Make America hate again.”

This isn’t just about one election. It’s about who we are as a nation.

It’s about the kind of example we want to set for our children and grandchildren.

Next time you watch Donald Trump rant on television, think about all the kids listening across our country. They hear a lot more than we think.

Parents and teachers are already worried about what they’re calling the “Trump Effect.”

Bullying and harassment are on the rise in our schools, especially targeting students of color, Muslims, and immigrants.

At a recent high school basketball game in Indiana, white students held up Trump signs and taunted Latino players on the opposing team with chants of “Build the wall!” and “Speak English.”

After a similar incident in Iowa, one frustrated school principal said, “They see it in a presidential campaign and now it's OK for everyone to say this.”

We wouldn’t tolerate that kind of behavior in our own homes. How can we stand for it from a candidate for president?

This is a moment of reckoning for every Republican dismayed that the Party of Lincoln has become the Party of Trump. It’s a moment of reckoning for all of us who love our country and believe that America is better than this.

Twenty years ago, when Bob Dole accepted the Republican nomination, he pointed to the exits and told any racists in the Party to get out.

The week after 9/11, George W. Bush went to a mosque and declared for everyone to hear that Muslims “love America just as much as I do.”

In 2008, John McCain told his own supporters they were wrong about the man he was trying to defeat. Senator McCain made sure they knew – Barack Obama is an American citizen and “a decent person.”

We need that kind of leadership again.

Every day, more Americans are standing up and saying “enough is enough” – including a lot of Republicans. I’m honored to have their support.

And I promise you this: with your help, I will be a President for Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. For those who vote for me and those who don't.

For all Americans.

Because I believe we are stronger together.

It’s a vision for the future rooted in our values and reflected in a rising generation of young people who are the most open, diverse, and connected we’ve ever seen.

Just look at our fabulous Olympic team.

Like Ibtihaj Muhammad, an African-American Muslim from New Jersey who won the bronze medal in fencing with grace and skill. Would she even have a place in Donald Trump’s America?

When I was growing up, Simone Manuel wouldn’t have been allowed to swim in the same public pool as Katie Ledecky. Now they’re winning Olympic medals as teammates.

So let’s keep moving forward together.

Let’s stand up against prejudice and paranoia.

Let’s prove once again, that America is great because is America is good.

Thank you, and may God bless the United States."

~Hillary Rodham Clinton; 8/25/2016

The woman who warned us.

Trump is a con-man propaganda artist:

Never Normalize Trump.

#strongertogether

[survivorsinnoh]

Rites of Passage

Drew - you didn’t deserve what you got Jordan - Matt I love you so much I wish this game wasn't ugly and you weren't first boot <3 Logan - I never got to play with you, but I hope you’re doing lovely!

Drew - The only ghostie to die when we were still ghosties, the game never even knew you existed. RIP Taylor….. <3 Emma and Salem Jordan - idk you Logan - I hope you’re having a great day, sorry we never got the chance to play! Steven - an okay team member but didn't really do much to stand out

Drew - ngl I was glad you weren’t in the game anymore after Aegean, playing with you is a trip, but I’m sorry for whatever was going on in your life that you couldn’t commit yourself to this game Jordan - I was sad you left but you didn't even vote so there isn't much I could have done to save you Logan - Dani, you my favorite cracked child. I loved playing with you, I’m sorry it ended homie. Steven - fun while they lasted

Drew - idk you Jordan - idk you Logan - I also never got to play with you, but obligatory have a great day!

Drew - KING OF AEGEAN SEA we could’ve secretly raised hell huh, no one would’ve seen us coming Jordan - idk you Logan - I never got to play with you but I love you my sweet son. 

Drew - Sorry you went from F13 to F19 and then got voted out, that must have been a rough life to get a worse placement than the number of people you thought were in the season Jordan - you are so sweet and funny just not the most active Logan - YOU WILL FIND YOUR SHEBREW, HAPPY NEW YEAR Steven - I wish I got to know you more

Drew - the winner of the season and we all know it Jordan - ugh I really wish you would have stuck through this game because I really wanted to work with you and make it to the end with you love you queen

Logan - I hope you’re doing fabulous lovely, and I hope the reason you felt you had to go has resolved or is doing better. You deserve the world, hun. Steven - you were a fun tribe member to have around

Drew - Listen I’m aware that you will probably never see this but I’m about to get super emotional so I’m sorry to everyone else who has to read this. Getting to play a season with you two years after Malaysia, when I thought you’d never come back to the community, and seeing you a little in Hosts, and then through the entirety of Circle, and finally getting to go through a little of what we went through here in Sinnoh was a huge deal to me and felt like some closure I didn’t know I wanted from that era of my org life. I fully support your reasons for leaving this game, and from the little I see from your snap it looks like it was the right decision for you, but I broke down and cried when you told me because I thought we’d have more time. This game was not ready for the both of us, and if you’d stayed??? Babe I’ve managed to raise some hell in this game but together we would have had this whole place wrapped up like a puppet show on strings. These kids are lucky they never had to see what we could pull off….I love you, kid. Jordan - I'm sorry you had to quit I hope your life is going ok <3 Logan - I never got to meet you, but I’ve heard such amazing things. I hope you’re feeling okay <3 Steven - I wish you could've stayed in longer

Drew - The real victim of the aforementioned “Things Scott And I Can Pull Off” Jordan - who dat Logan - Ah my love, I hope you’re also doing okay, sorry you had to go. Steven - There can only be one Brit XD

Drew - BABEEEEEEEEEEE you dun goofed huh, I really did everything I could to set us both up to make merge and it didn’t work out and I’m crushed for that, but we’ll always have the food court ;) Getting to meet you while this game was still happening was something special <3 GOOD LUCK IN ISLA DE LAS MUNECAS, I'll keep the Jacob Candle™ lit for you!!! Jordan - 

using my super idol Logan - AH IT WAS SO GOOD WHILE IT LASTED. I hope you’re doing swell! Steven - talked to me a lot during the game and I thank him for that

Drew - It always ends up being you dying a split second before merge in games we play together these days...I’m sorry you died in that way and partially by my hand, but you don’t come for a ghostie!!! I tried to warn y’all...much like with Scott, we hadn’t seen as much of each other as I’d have liked since Malaysia, so getting to reconnect with you through these games and Andalucia has been really important to me. Jordan - I like to think we boned a bit in this game even though you are one of my best friends.

Logan - You were robbed, I’m sorry that you had to go. We were so good together and I’m glad this game was better than the last.

Drew - (1/2) I’m eulogizing you and Eric together because you were both my people and I tried to protect you and I failed you both. We tried to prepare ourselves for what was gonna come next, but...Between my status coming into merge, the fact that it was the merge vote, and a double vote with so many people on top of that, …... Jordan - we never talk in games  so idk you that well Logan - Oh my wild cracked ass love. I love your kittens and I love YOU! Steven - you did so well to stay in as long as you did

Drew - (2/2) I was too scattered to fight for what I wanted, and I let the game happen to me instead of imposing myself and my will on the game. And because of it, I lost you both, my two ghosties, just as I finally got to see you again. Y’all were my turning point in the game, when I decided that for better or worse, I was not gonna play scared for the rest of the season. I’m sorry it happened a round too late. Jordan - I was shook when you left. I didn't expect that to happen at all but we didn't talk so I guess it worked out for me Logan - Congrats on jury!! I hope this game was fun for you, and I hope it ends well for you too. Hope your day is great. Steven - was strong and helped us ghosties

Drew - Highkey the person I was most scared of, your conversation style throws me off my game. There’s a directness and a bite to it that will serve you so well in these games. I don’t meet all that many people who are new to me in games anymore, and this was our first game together, even though we knew each other briefly before that, so you were probably my biggest delight. Jordan - easy the hardest decision I had to make this whole game. Backstabbing you was a big regret but I knew it needed to happen if I wanted a chance Logan - BIG HEART EMOJI!! You were Robbed tm Steven - you always checked in on me when I was asleep XD

Drew - Eye for an eye, bitch!!! Our conversation the day you left when you knew you were leaving and knew it was because I was killing you? One of the highlights of the season, Chicago snapchat included. Drewbert (Andalucia/Normandy Host) [1:39:44AM]: me @ Zach out of games: I LOVE THIS PERSON, BEST FRAND EVER 12/10 WOULD FRIEND AGAIN me @ Zach in games: okay but he so sketchy thooooooooo me after I inevitably kill Zach or he inevitably kills me: wow but we could've done so much damage together whew Jordan - daddy voting me out <3 Logan - For once, you died for me. Are we even now? I love you.

Drew - MY BABY BOY we always end up here on opposite sides of the line and I can’t wait to see what kind of things you said about me in your confessionals this time <3 You were the last of the trio I wasn’t working with so it was the last of the “easy” choices I had to make but it still lowkey sucked. Pulling off a 4-3-2 though??? Cool. Jordan - I'm sorry the ugliest got you. Fuck drew honestly I enjoyed talking to you when we finally got to be on the same tribe and I was sad when you left Logan - my sweet son. You are so good, you’re so pure, and I’m sorry we had to stop being together in this game. You are fabulous.

Drew - (1/2) BILLY my Johto ride-or-die and one of the people I talk to most without a game attached because there’s something really comforting about talking to you. I’m combining you and Gaston for the purposes of this because it broke pieces of me to write both of your names down. I didn’t do either vote until the last five minutes, which I’m sure Jay has loved from me, but the surety that it was the right move for the numbers to keep all of the options and failsafes I needed but it…... Jordan - you weren't very active in this season and keeping you around didn't feel fair to the people who wanted to play Logan - From the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry. Steven - you got slammed by those you thought of trusting

Drew - (2/2) didn’t make it any easier to do. Gaston especially, I was so shocked when it turned out to be you, I only knew I needed someone from that trio to leave but I thought it would be Mitch, I never dreamed they’d flip onto you after two times of failing to get him out. I’m sorry that in the two times we’ve played together recently, I haven’t been the ally you deserve. Jordan - I honestly loved talking to you the one time we actually spoke bgdjhfvdjhbnfdvij I think you were a big threat to me though. Logan - I LOVED PLAYING WITH YOU AND GETTING TO KNOW YOU! You are so fun, and while your sleeping schedule is wack, it was awesome chatting. Live it up! Steven - There's no one like Gaston

Drew - After more than a year and a half of knowing each other, I’m running out of amazing things to say about you. As an adversary, I knew what had to be done as soon as Wings Over Water was announced as the comp, but I went into work an hour early and played through my lunch break to try and make it so I could keep you one more round. You’ll always be best friend material. Jordan - you know I adore you and that I didn't want to have to vote you out but it had to happen and I didn't think I had a shot in hell against you Logan - I’m sorry. I loved working with you, you’re truly an amazing ally and an amazing person to be around. You own the pun king crown.  Steven - You were a power player who got shut down

Drew - I have no words. I love you and while this is the ending I’d been planning for some time now, I wish so much that it had come under different circumstances. I’ll always be around if you ever want to talk but I understand that if that happens, it will take time. I’m sorry. Jordan - I'm honestly sorry I made you feel like shit as you left and I didn't mean to make you feel that way. I know I backstab you a lot in these games but just know I never mean to hurt your feelings because I do consider you a friend.

Logan - YOU DID SO GOOD. You played this game so hard, and I truly believe you would have won had you made it to the end. I’m so proud of you I can’t even speak to it. Steven - you tried so hard and got so far. But in the end. It didn't even matter

Drew - Steven the first time we played together was almost a year and a half ago and we didn't get to see much of each other. I'm always gonna be grateful we got a chance to try again and see as much as we did together, after spending so much time with the Gorlleys. I don't know if this was your first Survivor since Atlantis, but I hope you surprised and impressed yourself with how far you were able to make it. It was a true delight to work with you. Jordan - Arcy you are jays boyfriend so I support you even though we never talked Logan - Im love u ur such a good bean