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soupedepates · 12 hours ago

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Before dawn

I don't count my hours when a patient gets into labour

She is having her first child

She is doing great

The baby is crowning

"You're almost there

You're doing so good"

***

Before dawn, I drink some redbull and I go back to the stove. Mutton stew for one table - who wants a mutton stew at 4am in a gay bar seriously?- and fries for another. I've told the boss I could keep the kitchen open until we close the whole establishment. Am I regretting it?

Well, haven't I took a quarter of an ectasy pill before the service, I would regret everything. But now, I am in a frenzy and I'm so efficient I haven't fallen behind in the orders.

Oh my, Sigi would totally kill me.

But hey.

I need money to treat my princess.

***

I stay with the old guys because I am having a party at the hospice. Peeps and colleagues let me organise that shit and welp, the grannies and gramps are loving it. I am blasting some Elvis Presley and looking at the cute old couples forming on the dance floor.

Ol' Marie-Eveline comes to me with her cane. She has dementia so usually I pretend I am a struggling single dad and I hand her a doll I call my baby. She smiles with the cutest old smile ever.

"You don't have the baby today, have you found a nanny like I've told you?"

"Yep, and a good one", I smile.

"My husband won't like it but he isn't here and he will never know... Do you want to dance with me?"

"Sure, Marie-Evie", I reply as I take her by the arm.

***

I can't sleep because Dima is sick so I'm taking care of him. I brought him to the doc during the afternoon, it's a bad case of stomach bug.

So he is puking and puking. His forehead is so hot against my palm. I hold his hair back when he vomits, I wipe his tears, I put him back to bed and I clean the bassinet. This is a perpetual movement.

Because he can't sleep like that, I try to entertain him. So far we've read all the children books and I'm starting to consider one of the big volumes from Agatka's collection.

My phone rings. Fuck. It's Danuta.

"I've been hearing the kid having trouble from my bedroom."

"Well", I reply dryly, "he is sick and I am trying to take care of him."

"Do you want some help? May I remember you I used to be a physician in another life?"

***

I've waken up due to bad nightmares. I've left the bed after tucking Harue in. She is so cute...

Oh, I missed three Byleth's texts. Nothing important. Just a proposition to have a coffee. We're friends now so that's not weird. I had a talk with the morgue director last time I went to the hospital for a check-up, because I just love to talk to everyone. She is a dear, and she gave me valuable advice about what to do about Zaladong.

"Sounds great, what time?"

"Shouldn't you be sleeping at this hour, Reine?"

"What about you, Byleth?"

"Touché. It's your nightmares, again?"

"Always will be. And it's your work?"

"What can I say except you're right?"

***

We are in Germany because I wanted to do some researches in Köln for my second Ph.D and, somehow, Pharaildis' family learnt we were there and now we are stuck at a restaurant with the whole Hilstein lineage.

This is peculiarly awful.

At least the food is tasty.

I hold my soulmate's hand. She is shaking, but she softens at my touch.

"This was a stupendous evening", I say as I sit up from the table. "However we have a train by 6 so we must get going. Thank you again for the meal and the wine, it was a much needed break."

"The pleasure is mine", Einhart Hilstein answers back with a warm smile. "Please tell us when you're back in Germany, we miss our dear Pharaildis."

"We won't be back soon I am afraid", I pursue while Pharaildis gathers her belongings. "We have to submit a huge paper for a periodic and it is a dreadful amount of work."

***

Goodness gracious thank YOU Daphne for being such a good liar. We wander in the streets at night, back to our hotel. No train, no paper, no such thing.

Gosh I thought I was going to cry.

But no.

The fresh air of before dawn caresses my face. I light up a cigarette.

"You handled it like a pro."

"You were feeling bad, honey", she responds. "And your comfort is in my priorities. We couldn't escape this dinner, but at least we have successfully fled."

"Still..."

"I don't do it because I owe you. I do it because we are the two faces of the same coin. Two parts of the same soul."

And she says simply: "I do it because I love you".

#oc #writing #lysara #modern au #sweet #fluff #love #i need some soft stuff sometimes

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a-queer-seminarian · 2 years ago

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big ol' worry dump, i promise i'll post something rebloggable soon but i'm still processing everything and have not had time to write it coherently! cw queerphobia from the pulpit, church hurt, verbal violence, and brief csa mention (not a specific case)

SO. for anyone not keeping up, this past Sunday i visited my childhood church in ohio, and was devastated when near the end of his homily (Catholic word for sermon haha) my childhood pastor suddenly switched from celebrating the Spirit who bursts through closed doors to proclaiming that The Church Is Under Attack from people like the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. :/

After he finished and sat down, i stood up and got behind the lectern/pulpit to remind him and everyone in the room that queer and trans people have the Holy Spirit too, because his words implied otherwise. And i could not risk that any other person there felt suddenly and utterly alone — i had to make sure they knew that not everyone agreed with our priest's message.

(Here's a place you can watch a clip of the homily — obviously mega content warning for homophobia, please keep yourself safe and remember you are loved!! — as well as my response)

Not long into speaking, I was escorted peacefully out of the building. Two parishioners followed and found me outside, and thanked me for what i said. They were very sweet <3

As we were talking, another parishioner stormed out and got very, very verbally violent. It was scary shit.

Other parishioners eventually came out and led Scary Man away, thankfully. The church's other, younger & newer priest, Father Jim, also came out to apologize profusely to us. Then i went home. My wife and i flew home to Georgia the next morning.

____

and...stuff keeps happening.

i did not expect this to make the news, but it did. the Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote on it, and so have other papers across the country.

an officer called me to ask if i wanted to press charges on Scary Man. I don't, because i'm just not convinced the results would be helpful to actually stopping him from doing what he did again.

if anyone has resources or someone smart i could talk to for advice on alternatives to cops & court for a situation like this, please hit me up!!!

after agreeing to an interview with the Plain Dealer reporter, which used my first and last name, folks have been finding me on social media to offer their support, which actually has been so uplifting and i plan to post some of the messages later!

my parents are proud of me and support me BUT my mom is worried sick that someone is going to, like, find out where i live and come attack me. i'd be more worried that they find out who my parents are and go attack them, tbh.

i've had more sudden spikes of adrenaline in the past five days than i have in the past like, 2 years lol

i've also talked with more different individuals on the phone in the past five days than i had over the rest of 2023 so far

i was scrolling through twitter last night and randomly came across a tweet featuring a TikTok of a cut-down version of my priest's homily + my response...i really don't like what parts they cut out, or what they titled it. and it's got over a million views. :OOO

there's a lot of confusion in the replies — people who don't realize i'm a former parishioner, not an active one; people not knowing how to gender me which is fine but it's, you know, getting a little grating; and of course, people resorting to saying Father Tim must be "closeted gay" or otherwise have a Sinister Secret himself to say what he said...I hate that kind of rhetoric.

Not every person who spouts homophobia is secretly gay. The Biggest Homophobes are usually, shockingly, straight.

And flippantly suggesting that anyone, even a Catholic priest, is a pedophile without facts to back that accusation up only serves to harm csa victims — because then when there really is a case that needs to be pursued, people may not take it seriously.

one big thing that's bothering me about how everyone on every side of the debate is interpreting Father Tim's homily is they are focusing mostly on his condemnation of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence — and while I certainly oppose what he said about them, it's actually the first half of his message that scared me more: the stuff about the church being under attack and how Christians must defend it. He ended with a vague reminder to do so "peacefully," without any examples about how that's even done. And obviously, Scary Man didn't absorb that part of the message.

sigh. i was really hoping that agreeing to an interview with the plain dealer reporter who wrote the first article would give me a chance to explain why i felt i had to interrupt Mass, but unfortunately they didn't include those quotes. i'm really disappointed.

that article's title also says "attendee fired back," using exactly the kind of violence-coded language that I had a problem with in F. Tim's homily. So that's really unfortunate.

which is why i want to write up my perspective. i did send a long ass email to father tim the other night explaining what i did, why his message was hurtful AND fueled his parishioner's violence, and asking if we could talk about alternative ways to hold Scary Man accountable beyond the law. he hasn't responded yet.

anyway. yeah. it's been. a lot. good vibes and prayers are so very appreciated! and seriously, if anyone has resources about alternatives to legal action when we're dealing with someone who got very verbally violent and physically aggressive, i'd love some help figuring out what to do. also any thoughts about like, keeping myself safe? yeah

Anyway, gonna end with the affirmation that God made us Good; human diversity is what it looks like to be in the image of an Infinite creator; and queerness is a holy gift that the Body of Christ can't do without!!

Amen and amen.

#log #gonna start tagging these #Pentecost Incident

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lady-lazagna · 1 year ago

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i hope u dont mind me throwing in three little guys for thr oc ask

ashton vita and acec >:3

I mind very much how DARE you >:0 /j

I’ll start with our resident Filipino legend Acec since he’s in the same timeline as my gang. Xe’s a very OuO guy, so I think at first Ash and Kylie would be a bit put off, maybe try but struggle to hold conversations with him. They may eventually they warm up to him when they realise xe is just A Guy and not a changling of some kind. But fellow autism Madina knows there’s no need for flowing conversations when you have funny little pictures to share. They’d hit it off best with their simultaneous lack of seriousness and genuine sincerity. They snoop around team Dungeon collecting The Goss. They sit quietly and watch mcyt videos for hours on end, eyes dead and legs bouncing. Madina would pick him up and swing him around like Mario swinging Gay Bowser. Also they both like beautiful men. Maybe they can double date and re-introduce Tsubasa and Bao to each other, since they definitely do not remember each other at all. God bless amercia o7

Trucker Dave is the person who’s most likely to know Vita and the crew since he's Coach Steel’s husband. Idk if Steel’s still the main coach in the Zero Era but ain’t no way he’s out of there completely, so Dave still passes through from time to time. And if he notices a kid having a rough time, he'll try to offer a bit of Queer Trucker Wisdom. With Vita being the leader of her team and also queer, it's likely Dave could notice her going through some Stuff and give some good ol' advice, maybe let her pet his dog while she vents a bit. They both seem to have very calming and trusting presences so I think they'd get on quite well.

Now, ASHANTI. Ash would LOVE Vita. In her time, she was the only female team leader in the championships, so seeing an up-and-coming female team leader would be absolutely delightful. At that point she's also a beyblading coach, so maybe she could reach out and give some advice? Offer some training or even a mentorship if she can stand being in the US for that long? They're both sort of "older sister" figures, so she could also help Vita navigate the feelings that come with that (also them combined with Aria and Kylie?? Slay).

The Birrung girls would see Ashton Angsto and think "man aren't we glad we had no dudes on our team" or maybe "wow the kids these days have problems. we had problems once." But they don't see him as a threat to anyone as much as just a dickhead who'll hopefully learn about the magic of friendship, as all other minor dickheads in the championships tend to do. So long as he stays in his lane and doesn't join any evil corporations, they won't sick any wild hounds on him (although if Ash is also Vita's mentor... then that might change. Go full Madina mode if you know what I mean (I really don't care that you're a baby, I'll snap your neck like a twig)).

#autism gang autism gang #eeheehee wise mentors go brrrrrr #mfb oc #mfb original character #oc ashanti savage #oc kylie cook #oc madina ndukwe #oc trucker dave #lazagna ocs #oc ask game

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blackstarchanx3new · 1 year ago

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FSR Rambles revenge of the sixth

The titles are dumb.

I'm dumb.

We're all dumb and reading my cringey gay fan comic for a book that has completely taken over my life.

What are any of us doing here.

I don't even like starwars.

This chapter takes place during the "The Fall of Hyrule Castle" chapter aka chapter 2 of the manga.

And yeah there will be quite a few of these and I'll specify where they take place in the break downs. (I try to make it obvious in the comic itself but ya never know.)

Shadow is rambling evil little nonsense and gets dragged to the hell dimension which will look very familiar to us...

This is Dark Link's crib where he lives with all his Links hot chicks Does literally anybody get that reference lmfao.

Also where the four heroes are trapped for 7 years. Well when they stopped being disembodied voices anyway.

Vaati drags Shadow here though to talk.

Shadow's just a cutie pie that wants to please the dude Ganon's no doubt been hyping up as a good alley lmao.

So that's why he recognized the ol wind mage. He saw his divine face before. Vaati's been shown to having shapeshifting magic so I found it fitting he could just...Look like his old disguise.

With the context for this line given: Makes you wonder what else Shadow knows lol.

Vaati being a mentor figure is smth I've always kinda seen him as. I noticed after skimming Vaati's scenes in minishcap Still haven't fully READ it but holy shit there's so many interesting things that link back to FSA....Like uh...How Minish cap Link MAKES THE FOUR SWORD.

I noticed they basically share all their abilities. So I head cannoned Vaati taught him things.

I like Vaati as a pathetic simp who is also a terrible abusive father. COPE. HE'S MY VAATI I DO WHAT I WANT WITH HIM.

Since I've spoiled Hero's shade showing up at some point Woops if you haven't seen any of his art lmfao this also mirrors how he teaches Twilight Princess Link things.

Baby wanted to impress his new dad but new dad is a fan of tough parenting. Vaati sets his expectations high from the get go.

Again: Shadow recognized this attack because Vaati freakin' taught him it. X'D

Fool him once, shame on him. Fool him twice, now Vaati you're just an asshole-

Smth you might notice if you've read the manga a million times:

He blows the four heroes away EASILY but can't get Vaati to budge.

Vaati is powerful lmao not Shadow being weak. XD

Vaati also links his disappointment to physical pain.

Vaati just showing off his power while also making thin threats. A blatant display of who's more powerful, he reenforces Shadow's fear of the light.

Haha. The wording here might ring a bell if you know specific lines from the manga.

Who the hell made Shadow feel worthless before?

Vaati. The answer is Vaati lmfao. Ganon probs too but he's being ignored rn cause I'm unsure if I even wanna touch him tbh.

Vaati's advice comes in handy here actually in more ways than one:

Shadow could shift into one of the heroes, and cause problem.

Shift into Link and cause issues for them.

Also Vaati mentions nobody trusting Shadow how he is.

Ties back into how he shifts into Vio later in the actual manga hah.

Again Vaati veils his and Ganon's disappointment as something to fear, but gives Shadow a small reward of physical affection.

Shadow Link imo obviously craves physical affection so Vaati giving it here is just to keep him on the line of behaving how they want him too.

Shadow can't tell he's being yanked along oof.

Vaati makes his relationship with Shadow clear: Keep in my good graces, I will reward you. Make me angry or disapointed and I will hurt you.

Shadow likes to think he has SOME amount of superiority over Vaati, that they're at least equals but Vaati ain't interested in that.

Hahahha. So much for that plan buddy.

Shadow's eyes were red the entire scene because he's a demon.

I don't got a lot to add to these pages cause they're pretty self explanatory. XD

#four swords returns #Four Swords returns rambles #FSR rambles

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daisydays-26 · 1 year ago

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I feel compelled to make this post for whatever reason so here it goes. This is a really personal post (i mention homophobia and anxiety) so if you don’t want to come to my blog for that content feel inclined to ignore this.

So, I’m really young. I’m 19 (at the time of writing this) and until very recently I thought I was straight. Yes, until April of this year I was in the closet to even MYSELF, which there’s no problem with, of course. Everyone discovered themselves at their own time.

I, however, have grown up in a very Christian household in the south section of the good ole USA. You can imagine how most gay people are treated behind closed doors. That’s not to say people are getting rampantly abused or outcast where I’m from, but I did have to grow up with lots of homophobia and transphobia as of recently being spit out from my parents (mostly my mom).

That’s scary. I used to always feel bad when it was said but now when it’s me they talk about without knowing… It’s different. Additionally, being Christian doesn’t help. I love God, always will. I consider myself a Christian despite being queer and I always will. I always thought the LGBTQ community should be welcome in the church. Why would God turn away his own children from his word? He wouldn’t.

Nevertheless I’m scared for my future. Nervous is closer to how I feel. I worry about losing my parents and such. Religious guilt. There was a time very recently where I overly worried about my relationship, about being a “sinner,” and a disappointment. All these feelings got jumbled up and it lead to a lot of anxiety. I overthought everything thinking about the future and what could happen. I was crying in class it was so bad.

In fact, my August kind of sucked bc I was adjusting to moving into my apartment, dealing with a bunch of issues for the new semester, and grappling my new found gayness in one month. It double sucked bc I was originally excited about all of these changes. Oh well.

Having calmed down, I feel way better! I’m sure I’m not the only person dealing with overwhelming anxiety, the social issues that come with being gay, being gay in more conservative situations, or hey even all three! So I just want to share some advice I’ve been thinking about.

Literally, don’t worry about it.

And I don’t mean don’t think about it. These anxieties could very well be for a reason. However, the more I thought about my worries the worse I felt. I was trying to fix a situation that didn’t exists, and my mind kept shutting me down every time. It’s not fair to me. And it’s not fair to you either.

So I forced myself to be in the moment. I can enjoy the wonderful love I’ve found in my queer relationship and with my queer friends. I can enjoy God’s love I find in that too. I can worry about the future when it gets to me.

Life is meant to be lived. It’s not perfect. And sometimes it’s messy. But you have to let it be messy when it’s ACTUALLY messy. You can’t re-vacuum a floor that you just vacuumed bc it COULD get dirty in the future.

I think the best way to say what I’m trying to say, is to think of anxiety as a fire. If you give the fire more oxygen by watching it and thinking about it, it’s gonna grow and get out of control. But if you let the fire just be a fire, and you don’t hold anything to it, it’s eventually going to dwindle out. There’s plenty of factors that randomly spike out anxiety, it’s ensuring you don’t feed into it and let it consume you that’s important.

Idk if this was helpful at all I mostly just wanted to share what I’ve been dealing with. I’m kind of a whole new person now and I feel like she’s worth sharing. I hope this helped someone, especially if you feel like you’re in a very similar situation. Trust me, you’re never alone.

#personal #rant #text #sorry guys you can ignore this if you want #advice #coming out?#idk

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andro-dino · 2 years ago

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Yoooo I was wondering if you got any headcanons for Tsubasa, Kyoya, and Hikarus dynamic?

jshdhdhd okay so, first of all

them.

anyways

Interestingly enough, despite really liking all three of them and their dynamic together, I actually haven’t come up with many ideas for them.

I think Tsubasa and Hikaru both take their jobs at the wbba very seriously and are very hard at work a lot of the time and occasionally Kyoya will hang around while they work together. It’s definitely a kind of “ughhh oh my god you guys are so boring this is so lame” “ok no one’s forcing you to be here; go do something else” “fuck you I’ll do what I want” kind of energy. Sometimes they kick him out because goddammit they need to meet their deadline and are running on caffeine and spite and cannot deal with Kyoya’s bullshit right now-

Kyoya unfortunately has some good ideas sometimes though, and that’s the only reason they still let him hang around.

Tsubasa has both of their coffee orders memorized. He usually gets them some whenever he goes out for it.

Kyoya interestingly is the only one with a decent sleep schedule between the three of them. I like to think they have a group chat between the three of them and he absolutely is the one to yell at them to go to sleep.

I think they’d share clothes and stuff. obviously not everything since their not all the same size but like, Kyoya definitely has some big ol boots that Hikaru borrows, Tsubasa and Hikaru share jewelry and skirts, etc etc. I could picture them going out to like a mall or smth and buying clothes together.

I think it’d be funny if for a while, Tsubasa had absolutely no clue what he and Kyoya had going on between each other and went to Hikaru for advice about it. He explains every little detail about their weird back and forth gay rivalry/flirting/?????? thing they have going on and is wondering if it actually means anything or if he’s reading too much into it or something and Hikaru just kinda stares at him for a second. blinks. rubs her eyes a little bit and just very disappointedly goes “jesus christ you’re so fucking gay”

#axel’s silly little thoughts #very funny group I love these guys #i think it was one of your fics with the three of them I read a while ago and like #man #I love that fic so much man u have no idea

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cantsayidont · 2 months ago

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Teevee:

DOCTOR CLIMAX Season 1 (2024): Colorful, poppy Thai comedy-drama, created by Ekachai Uekrongtham and set in the late '70s, about "Doctor Nat" (Chantavit Dhanasevi), a dorky dermatologist who parlays his experience treating STIs into a second career as a pseudonymous sex advice columnist for the Bangkok Express, scandalizing half the country and drawing the ire of an outspoken conservative MP (Bobby Nimit Lugsamepong). Ironically, Nat himself has a terrible sex life, and pursues an awkward flirtation with the newspaper's foxy graphic designer Linda (Arachaporn Pokinpakorn) rather than fixing things with his timid wife Tukta (Chermawee Suwanpanuchoke), who eventually has a sexual awakening of her own. For the most part, DOCTOR CLIMAX endears with its goofy sense of humor, surreal touches, and good-natured sex positivity, although it doesn't do a great job of conveying the passage of time and it stumbles when the story turns more serious — particularly in a later sequence in which Nat's well-meaning advice to a young gay man has unintended consequences, and in the season finale, which is marred by frustrating ambivalence about abortion. CONTAINS LESBIANS? Strangely not. VERDICT: Doesn't really stick the landing, and the dorkiness can be a bit too much, but charming overall. Photosensitive viewers should note that the final episode has some flashing/strobing effects.

WU-TANG: AN AMERICAN SAGA (2019–2023): Passable but overlong and overly sanitized fictionalization of the formation and early years of the hip-hop supergroup the Wu-Tang Clan. Created by Wu-Tang co-founder the RZA (Bobby Diggs, played by Ashton Sanders) and Alex Tse, the show is neither fish nor fowl: It's much too drawn out for casual viewers, who may get restless with the pacing (the group isn't even formed until the middle of the second season, while the third season's depiction of the members' many ego clashes starts to strain patience), but dedicated fans may object to the various dramatic liberties it takes with the story. My knowledge of Wu-Tang lore is not deep, so I can't tell you exactly what's been changed or nerfed, but the tang of artificial flavoring is hard to miss, and it's telling that several of the other members say they never even watched the show, feeling that it doesn't represent their story. WU-TANG actually works best when it steps further away from its mundane network TV dramatics for the occasional surreal fantasy sequence; there are several episode-length examples in Season 3, including a Blaxploitation spoof/pastiche directed by Mario Van Peebles. Ironically, while the show presumably represents how the RZA wanted his own story told, Sanders is by far the weakest of the ongoing cast, and the show's young RZA often comes across as deeply corny even when he's right. Nonetheless, the show's most interesting episode (S02E06, "Protect Ya Neck") makes an earnest effort to visualize his creative process, and makes a strong case for the artistic legitimacy of hip-hop sampling. CONTAINS LESBIANS: Ol' Dirty Bastard's alter ego in the Blaxploitation episode has a mff threesome, but that's it. VERDICT: Most viewers would probably do just as well sticking with Season 2, which covers the more expected biopic territory of the group's formation and debut.

#hateration holleration #teevee #doctor climax #chantavit dhanasevi #arachaporn pokinpakorn #bobby nimit lusamepong #chermawee suwanpanuchoke #wu tang an american saga #wu tang clan #rza #ol' dirty bastard #method man #mario van peebles #music #hip hop #alex tse

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talenlee · 7 months ago

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Let Me Tell You About Ligma

Oh, you already know about it?

Are you – are you sure you do?

Oh, you’re very sure? You’ve got a recording of a lecture on it? Oh, sure I guess I’d listen, you said it’s on some CDs?

Oh damnit,

It’s an all too familiar scenario for all of us. Someone in a conversation outwits us, and we get hit by a dreaded Ligma joke. But would you know that believe it or not, there’s an application to Ligma jokes that involves talking about it in Pride Month without it being complaining about Ligma jokes being actually homophobic or something incredibly discourse-brained like that!

What do you know about Croatia?

Kinda a loaded question huh.

Look, Croatia is one of those countries that, by dint of not being very important to America, doesn’t really show up in conversations about countries. It’s more of a punchline in Britain, where people will talk about going there as part of a cheap holiday, back when British people could go on holidays. I understand that despite my impulse to say, from my education, that Croatia is part of the Balkans, the Croatians do not agree and it’s best to just leave well enough alone. Tourist advice includes such fun notes as ‘take off your hat in church,’ and ‘you drink the tapwater,’ and ‘try not to be too openly gay in public.’

Hm.

Turns out that Croatia is a country with a pretty complex relationship to LGBT rights, and I say that because I need to research which of these groups calling themselves Peoples or Communists actually were like, Nazbols or whatever (and if you don’t know what that means, ask Decay, especially since they’re the only person who should be getting these jokes). Plus, it’s not like my country’s history is actually good, what with a bunch of states decriminalising homosexuality in my lifetime, and still allowing trans panic defenses in Queensland and I am getting distracted.

In 1989, a lesbian political alliance formed in Croatia. It was called the Lila group and it faded out pretty quick. 1989 was not a good time for the area, there was this guy, Slobodan Milošević who you may note will only be mentioned once because spelling his name at speed and getting the diacritics is hard. Anyway, Mr… That Guy… was a whole bunch of not good news for the region, and probably, in the whole, why you know the word ‘Kosovo.’

Anyway, so then Croatia had a big ole war for independence, which I dunno, I’m not in a good position to judge but it seems in hindsight that not being ruled over Big Slobs was probably good? At the time it was also a country called Yugoslavia and I told you this was complex. During this time, from 1989 to 1993, in addition to the, you know, warring, the economy of Croatia shrank by 40%. That’s a lot. That’s disastrous financial contraction. If you’re one of the graph touchers we call economists, you can make a much better metaphor for what a 40% reduction in economy size means, but for most people, it just means real real bad.

Point is, big period of destabilisation and upending and protests in the street and uh, crimes against humanity were happening. This was a Live Fire Zone. This was very bad things happening and where laws were being in part shaped by who had the bullets. And it was during this time that the lezbijska i gej akcija, or the lesbian and gay action coalition was formed. Sometimes it’s abbreviated as the Lesbian and Gay Men’s Alliance. This is because in Croatia, it’s abbreviated as LIGMA.

What they did, mostly, is manage to exist for five years and not die, which is impressive because again this is a period of history where people are throwing bombs around.

And all of this, the entirety of this history, was only known to me because I thought it’d be funny to make a reference to it with a screenshot of Google Scholar. I punched the joke into Scholar, just the word LIGMA, and I read the results. These results included a really interesting assortment of articles examining the acronym as a term in German for a particular engineering method, but the results also included a reference to the work of Sanja Sagasta and the paper I. Lesbians in Croatia (2001). That combination of words prompted surprise, and that led to me investigating further, which wound up being this entire article’s genesis. Most of above is gleaned from the Wikipedia page. That’s not a bad thing, you know; the point of Wikipedia is to be an encyclopedia, and ‘I read the encyclopedia and now want to tell you something interesting I found’ is like, just how general education communication works.

I want to advocate for this behaviour: Playing around with ideas, using investigative tools and looking at the world around us is a way to discover things. You may be overly used to thinking of education as a thing that comes to you from a position on high, some expert delivering it to you for a serious reason in a structured way. But there are so many things you don’t know and every day you can find out a new thing. The only trick is finding it, and engaging with ideas and words in a playful way is a way you can do that without needing to stress yourself about it. Make silly memes, so you have to google for templates. Check your spelling on things. When you encounter a new word, or people talking about something you don’t understand, no need to get involved, you can google it and see if you’re curious to know more. Sometimes when you do that you discover a very funny name for a group of people who were doing some hard work in one of the hardest periods of recent history to do it.

Hold on to this. Our history is all around us and we’re able to find it if we take advantage of our moments of curiosity to learn. And every time you successfully make a ligma joke, you’re able to connect your own place in queer history in a greater context that reaches back through history, through your queer family and forebears.

Which makes it really weird that Steve Jobs died of it.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

#Politics

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shrimpella21 · 1 year ago

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Dormant/Retired Characters

My dormant characters! They are not in use right now. I might bring them back to play with in the future as I cycle through characters, but for the most part I'm going to keep them here for history's sake. Feel free to let me know if there's a character here you're interested in <3 I'd be happy to discuss playing with them!

Also! If you'd be interested in a roleplay but need a realistic faceclaim, I UNDERSTAND. You can ask me for one and I'll find something that works for both of us :)

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐌𝐀𝐍

LUCAS PATTERSON

FINISHED (rework needed). Stephen James.

Lu, Chimera. 30. He/him.

Chicago. Single. Gun-for-hire.

Bisexual & biromantic.

Best home cook in NY. Has the cutest dog ever. Was kidnapped for three years. Is a millionaire now (w/ mental issues oops). Killer but has a moral code. Loves his mom.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐒𝐓

BROOKLYN TORRES

FINISHED. Chester Rushing.

Brook. 25. He/him.

Baltimore. Single. Owns a flower shop.

Gay af.

Owns every flower he grows in his shop. His home is a garden jungle. Complete sweetheart, will make bouquets for all his friends. Pretty friendless, unfortunately. Has Addison's disease and takes a ton of medication. Always at risk for getting sick. Treats life as a blessing.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐆𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐍

FAUST BLACKWELL

UNFINISHED. Dave Franco.

No nickname. Immortal. He/him/it.

New York. Single. Magician.

Bisexual & Biromantic

Don't give him sharp objects. Major backstabber. Is biologically immortal, still acts like a child. He'll do whatever it takes to hold onto his powers. Stupid but dangerous. Can and will black widow somebody. Mild shape-shifter, but it hurts like hell.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑

SILAS SHAW.

UNFINISHED. Cillian Murphy.

No nickname. 40. He/him.

Rochester. Single. Owns gambling rings.

Gay af (closeted).

Owns a gambling ring, runs on everything from horse racing to fight rings. Small man with a big personality. Dislikes children, he makes them cry. Will shoot someone without hesitation to save his business. He thinks he's cool but he's really a loser. Acts younger than he is bc he can't believe he's already 40.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐔𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑

RUSS LARUE

UNFINISHED. Chris Pine.

No nickname. 41. He/him.

Wichita. Single. Butcher.

Bisexual & Biromantic.

Is a well-known butcher, known around town for supplying mystery meat to special customers. What is it? Who knows. Where does he get it from? Also unknown. Overall he's a friendly guy but there's something wicked hiding behind that pretty facade.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐑

LIAM KENDRICKS

UNFINISHED. Will Poulter.

No nickname. 29. He/him.

San Jose. Single. No job.

Bisexual & Biromantic.

Pretty boy who uses his daddy's money to travel the world. Has yet to ever work a real job. Surprisingly kindhearted, if not a bit cocky. Knows five different languages. Has a small blog channel on YouTube that he uses to give people travel tips and advice. He's hoping it'll blow up someday.

Shardik

Shardik is a big, fuzzy, killer werebear. Do not trust him (he will eat all ur food and steal ur heart). He's russian and a pretty rough guy but all he really needs is some lovin! He was an experiment so he's been through a lot of tough shit. He's got a sexy human form :) and has about 13 references atm. I'm literally so desperate to use him!! HERE IS HIS INFO SHEET!!!

Thalion

Thalion is originally a DnD character. He's a big nasty naga :) May or may not eat people. He's based on an eyelash viper which is pretty cool - he either carries venom in his fangs or an aphrodisiac substitute~ Has about 4 references.

Aaron

DILF DILF DILF DILF. He has so much nsfw art - please ask omfg. He's a total sweetheart! Has Meniere's disease, which is an auditory condition, but it just means he's super good at ASL! He reads lips really well (and has part hearing in one ear) so he's still fairly functional. Also he has a big ol german shepard <3 Has 21 references. SO many NSFW pieces.

Buckshot

Buckshot is a lil bit of a human experiment in regeneration. You could compare him to a zombie except he doesn't rot, nor does he eat brains. But! His body is in a constant state of regeneration and he's always 'shedding' skin, like a lizard would. The skin always varies in color and texture. He's an amazing fighter since he's so quick to regenerate.

Kane

Self-made egyptian diety, I am OBSESSED with him. He was created by his village to fight a bitchy god named 'Jatraw. He's not a full god, so he gets his ass kicked a lot, but he has a ton of fun powers!!!! He's also perfect for any environment and time, since he goes into hibernation for years and wakes up fuck knows where. He's got about 30 references rn. He also has a fully coded bio on toyhouse!

Edgar

BOAR BOAR BOAR

Has a feral form + anthro form + human form. Imagine a car-sized boar running 25 mph at you. Scared? Good! Edgar likes to think of himself as morally righteous, despite being far more agressive (and dare-I-say deadly) than he has to be. He does his fair share in helping the community out tho. And the fc is Pedro Pascal ;)

Cosmo

Cannibal by kesha is the song that suits him best. He is a maneater and all-around whore. He is a crocodile shifter. Still working on vibe and info! fc is Oscar Isaac 😎

Cerellios

Cerellios is a unicorn CENTAUR and a well-known teacher of magic. He's willing to work with anyone, whether they have years of experience or none at all. He has a coded bio on toyhouse!!!! just click the roman numerals at the bottom of the fancy box to move from page to page~

#ⲯ﹍︿﹍︿﹍ 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰 ﹍ⲯ﹍ⲯ﹍︿﹍☼#ⲯ﹍︿﹍︿﹍ 𝘰𝘰𝘤 ﹍ⲯ﹍ⲯ﹍︿﹍☼

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thatkippycat · 1 year ago

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"Hey, Max, right?"

"Yeah. Do you need something, Elliott?"

"I wanted to talk with you real quick. About..."

"...My sister?"

"...Yeah."

"What'd she do this time?"

"Well, you know we got into a big fight, and I'm not sure how to talk to her now."

"That's fair. She's always been over dramatic. I've seen her break up with guys for less, but since you're cute and funny, she probably just needs a day."

"Did you just... call me cute?"

"Well, you know, objectively...?"

"Max, I don't want to be too intrusive, but are you, y'know..."

"Yeah, I'm gay. Please, don't tell my family."

"Don't worry, I won't. If I'm being honest, I'm actually bi."

"Oh thank God, this would've been so awkward if you were straight."

"Oh absolutely...but, you said I was cute?"

"Well yeah, have you looked in a mirror? Cutest boy around if you ask me."

"Heh, that feels kind of good. Mary doesn't really say that kind of thing."

"She never does. Listen, I really, really like you, so I'll give you some advice. Run as far as you can from her. She'll ruin you, I know because I live with her. I've been given a front seat to her tearing apart every boy she doesn't think is "perfect" enough for her. Trust me, you should get out while you can."

"What about you?"

"Hm?"

"Who'll take care of you? I've seen how she treats you Max, so what about you?"

"I'll be fine. We got, what, another year before college? Soon as I get the chance, I'm leaving on a scholarship and never looking back."

"Max..."

"I'll be fine, I have to be fine. Besides, it's not like you're going to sweep me into your arms and run away with me."

"Y'know, that doesn't sound too bad."

"Huh?"

"I, I don't know, okay? I mean, maybe it's because you're so nice, but I think I feel some little butterflies when I'm around you. And besides, Mary isn't the best to be with."

"I- You can't just leave her for me! I mean how would we even work?"

"I don't know, but I want to try atleast."

"...Ok, how about this. There's a spot on the mountain I go to when I need to get away from my family. We can go there tomorrow and, I don't know, have a little date?"

"Yeah, we can even make it a little picnic, say we're just trying to become friends."

"Yeah, that sounds good."

"I...I really want to kiss you right now, but, like, I don't know if you're okay with that."

"I absolutely am. I love me some good ol' physical affection."

"So, I can kiss you?"

"...Get over here you big dork."

(Yo, another snippet, except this time it's just dialogue between the bunny boy (Max) and racoon boy(Elliott). I'm not great at formatting dialogue, so critique and advice would be much appreciated. Hope you enjoyed!)

#writing #short story #character dialogue #furry #gay #my little skrunkly #original character

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cowboyjen68 · 3 years ago

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Happy holidays Jen! May your celebrations be warm and love-filled, and the new year full of health, wealth and blessings for you and your loved ones. Xx

I have a bit of a dilemma to share, though my plan is to continue to conduct myself with respect and integrity, so I'm not outright asking for advice, although should you choose to bestow it your wisdom is always a delight to read.

In a nutshell, I have a slight crush on my straight married best friend, and recently her behaviour has changed in a way that suggests she has some attraction to me too and she's not sure what to do about it.

She gets awkward and goes a bit distant, especially over (totally innocent entirely friendly) messages, but when we're face to face we gravitate to each other, she makes an effort to carry on conversations past natural parting opportunities, she's full of the big genuine face scrunchy smiles, so many other signs too. She pays attention and remembers the small things, I was quite ill recently and she was always checking up on me.

A lot of this I could categorise as friendship/ adopted family kinda love, but then there's the "accidental"? arm round my waist for a group photo with her hand squarely on my ass, or the time she knew I was dropping something round quite late one evening and answered the door in a low cut silky nightdress, hadn't bothered to grab a robe. The way she looks at me sometimes, or the way I catch her eyes on me when I'm interacting with someone else in a group setting. This one time I looked over unexpectedly and saw the unguarded love shining out of her face as she was watching me in my happy place making a big ol fuss of our friend's dog.

When she invited me to hang out over Christmas, the invitation was accidentally(?) innuendo laden. Word play and innuendo are frequent jokes we share, but this basically amounted to suggesting "Netflix n chill" before laughing and rephrasing. I know I won't make a move, but I couldn't swear I'm strong enough to turn her down if she were to.

Make the yuletide gay indeed!

The easy answer, my mom voice, says NO. She is married and, whether to a man or a woman, she is committed to another and you want NO part of getting in the middle of that. The fact that she is married to a man is even more concerning. Not to generalize but a jealous man or one who feels betrayed can be dangerous.

Now, the friend and lesbian who has been around the block part of me understands things are much more complicated than that. Perhaps she is bi and either happily or unhappily married. Lots of bi women enter into a straight marriage before they even understand than they can love women. So, while they might love their husband, a part of them feels unfulfilled.

Your friendship with her might have awakened the chemistry she has craved but didn't understand exactly what she was missing. If this is the case there are a few questions you have to ask yourself.

Can you be her experiment, knowing full well she is not likely to leave her husband and once the "rush" is over she will be wanting to move away from an intimate relationship to you?

Are you okay being her side partner. She may very well love you and enjoy intimacy but, again, there is a good chance she will not leave her husband. If you are, does he know? Are you okay with him knowing? Or not knowing?

If you decide to pursue a sexual relationship with her under any circumstance, is the bond you share strong enough to survive and allow your friendship to survive? Will the heartbreak of going back to friendship be something you can handle? Are you wiling to risk friendship for the intimacy?

Love and sexual chemistry can sometimes be worth pursuing in weird situations like this but it can also be too high of a price in the end.

If she is a lesbian that brings up a whole other set of questions.

If she decides, only based on her love for you, to leave her husband are you ready for that commitment and responsibility? If she is unsure about coming out to him or family or even to herself how much of that are you willing to help her walk through?

Communicate. Don't try to read minds.

I know you have probably thought through many of these questions already but sometimes it helps to see them listed. I hope it helps a bit to know that you are not alone and many a women have dealt with this.

Be honest with yourself every step of the way.

#lesbian #bi #love #dating

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digtothecore · 3 years ago

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Ipswitch it Up: Analysis of the soundtrack, characters, and other various details

Because what better way to show your love for an improv show than overanalysing it and pointing out things that were probably unintentional?

This is basically me going through the role of each Ipswitch song, corresponding scene, and a couple of the characters, then noting some smaller details. Be warned, there are a whole lot of stretches.

Anyways, here we go :D

Songs

Take a Piece of Pizza:

Okay, so this obviously sets up the relationship between Samantha and Marissa. They're in love, their first date was in Pizza Hut so it's pizza-themed, and they immediately mean a lot to each other because they helped them open up and realize some things about themselves; see: "I've never felt this way about another woman before" (Marissa being Sam's gay awakening is great btw mwah chef's kiss).

Even if this scene is cut short and Samantha dies immediately afterward, you can see just how much they like each other; the scene before where they were being cutesy and awkward shows this too. It's clear their bond is already very strong.

Back in the Good Ol' Days:

here's where the stretches begin This song has a few purposes: first, it reiterates how keen Marissa is on technology and how useful it is, and two, it can also serve as foreshadowing how the future– or rather, different present– is going to turn out. Jillian talks about how the good old days are better and how technology ruins everything, when this is what basically happens; Marissa abuses technology to change the present, and in turn makes everything worse. Hence making the "good old days", or the previous timeline where Samantha died, much better in comparison.

It's also ironic how Marissa says Jillian is stuck in the past when she herself hasn't gotten over Samantha's death. You could argue that this is where the theme of moving on originates, with Marissa giving advice that she herself should really follow.

The Beatles:

Okokok hear me out, this is definitely more of a stretch and this section does probably mean nothing in the long run. But. I do feel like Marissa contributing to the success of the Beatles could've inflated her confidence about changing the past. Hey, if she contributed to one of the greatest rock bands in music history, then surely she can save her girlfriend without ruining anything, right?

Plus, kind of adds to the "what will happen will happen" theme.

You Must Not Give Up (You, Shut Up!):

THIS SONG. I've talked about this song before in another post but I'll briefly repeat it here. This is a great subversion of expectation because not giving up is a common lesson we hear a lot and that we know to be correct most of the time. It's empowering and tells us we can do anything if we put our mind to it, and if you give up, then you're a wimp, and everything will stay the same. It's a little strange to be hearing it this early in the show though, as songs with conclusive lessons like this are mostly used as a sort of encouragement when the hero is at their lowest. But really, rather than serving the purpose we think it's supposed to, this song is instead foreshadowing the fact that Sid is right– you can't change the universe's plans, and if you do, you might make everything worse. What will happen will happen anyway. It's all futile. So why try? Just give up.

5! 6! 7! 8! and She Feels Alright:

This was definitely more of a deceptive uplifting song. Sort of like the scene in Wild Feast where Mr. Pickles visits and makes Stitch laugh for the first time in 10 years. It's all nice and soft and happy, so when shit hits the fan, it hits harder.

Because they're just celebrating Marissa's birthday and acting so damn cute, and Marissa is trying to cover up her worry about losing Sam again. Then Samantha shows her the birthday present with the rowing club's art and the cheerleading squad trying their best to put on a show. And they're alright, aren't they? Everything is perfect and there's nothing to worry about. Absolutely nothing.

Except there is.

Physically:

Ough. So again, the purpose of this song is more obvious. It's the breakup. Marissa is pushing Samantha to leave Currys-not-Currys, and Samantha is upset since she thinks Marissa is trying to push her away and discredit her work. And the split happens, the split that will change the timeline for good.

It's heartbreaking because it's very clear that they still care for each other, and Marissa doesn't want to break up with Samantha at all; see: "There's no need to overreact," and "Physically you're still in my heart". The relationship wasn't all that rocky, literally in the same scene they were clearly in love and having the time of their lives. Marissa didn't foresee that this would happen, she thought they would be okay if she asked Sam to leave Currys-not-Currys.

But soon she realizes that this is just what will happen if she makes Samantha stay away from Currys-not-Currys. So she resigns to it, and even if the conflict isn't that bad at its core, she digs into it to deepen the divide (see her whole rap section). Anything to make sure Samantha won't get hurt. Even if she still holds a piece of Marissa's heart, Samantha's death hurt so much that Marissa would rather see her alive than have their relationship stay intact. It's okay as long as Samantha is still alive.

There's a parallel as well to this exchange between Marissa and Sid:

Marissa telling Sid that he doesn't need to be anyone's sidekick and he can be himself (which is ironic because her own goal is also trying to find her partner) parallels Samantha saying "I can be something without you", and again with the lyric "I'm better off by myself (by myseeeeeEeEeeeelf)".

Marissa: Maybe you don't need to be someone's sidekick. Maybe you can just be you.

Sid: Oh, come on now, don't be so silly. That's a dream for a... not a sidekick, that's hero talk. That's you!

Funnily enough, with the individuality that Sid assigned to the role of a hero, Samantha becomes a villain.

And thus, they move on from their relationship, leaving that and the other future behind.

Simon's Lullaby: see Simon's section below

Ipswitch it Up:

The finale number. Again, obvious in its message, and doesn't foreshadow anything since it's the last number. But it is the culmination of everything we've learned in this show. They reminisce on the good old days, what could've been, decide that they've just got to trudge on with what little time they have left. Marissa sings, "I don't regret a single moment," as a closure to her character development, as this shows she no longer wants to change anything. Finally, she'll just accept and let things be. As they count down to Samantha's demise (5, 6, 7, 8) they're given one last reminder to just give up and let fate take its course. Which it does, via another one of Simon's clangers. Truly, it shows that some things will never change.

And now, onto the next section:

Characters

Marissa

It's not hard to see what her role is; she's the main character, it's obvious. But I do want to take a moment to look at her arc. For most of the movie she's dead set on one thing: keeping Samantha alive. Even after the world is plunged into a Samantha-induced dystopia, she still asks if there's anything she or Samantha can do to prevent her death. She really gives the impression that if she had to destroy the world to save Samantha, she would. She almost did. It's that yearning for control at the cost of Samantha's free will. Eventually, what she's done– ignoring the experienced Sid telling her to give up, the sacrifice of the town's dignity, (metaphorically) throwing Jillian under the printer, all for Samantha– finally catches up to her. But it's in that final moment where Samantha cements what Marissa feared the most, that she lets her go.

And it's in this moment as well where we see Marissa's fully fledged trust in Samantha. That belief she emphasized before is put into play by her actually believing Samantha when she says there's nothing they can do. She lets Samantha be, because not only does she know that she's extremely intelligent now and has no reason to doubt her (as shown by her overtaking of Ipswitch), but Marissa does now see Samantha as her own person, not someone she should force to stay. It's not up to her to decide. Knowing that this universe offers so little free will, she realizes more than ever that it's important to respect that, as well as one's choices.

I'd say more, but I touch on her more in Simon's section (that sounds strange, but bear with me).

Samantha

Ah yes, the ultimate definition of fridged. Yet despite that, she kind of interacts with the theme of individuality set up by Sid. Arguably her dark ideas were subdued by working at Currys-not-Currys and being with Marissa, but once they broke up she emphasized that she can be her own person and cultivate her own ideas. And that, of course, led to her downwards spiral into Overlord Samantha. Thus Marissa's extreme swerving of history led to Samantha's extreme indulgence of her dark machinations. But in turn, this does show how fragile Samantha's confidence is, as deep down it still does depend on Marissa. When Marissa pushed her away and made Samantha think that she wasn't good enough, she did everything to prove otherwise. Through this we also see how Samantha deals with her own grief, which is similar to Marissa's, developing technology to seize control of a situation she couldn't really control in the first place. So once again, there is shown a danger in going too far and depending too much on another person for validation, toppling when that validation is yanked away. She gets it back eventually, though with Marissa's help, it's still sweet, even as she's wracked with guilt knowing that all the dystopian measures were for naught. And in the end, Samantha is the one to teach Marissa to let go.

She manages to have a meal with the person she loves at the end, at least. :')

Sidekick Sid

Sidekick Sid beloved. Of course, he's there to offer advice and guidance to Marissa, but there's a bit more to him than that. In many ways, he is very similar to Marissa. They both time travel and wish to find their special someone. The difference here is that Marissa has a specific person in mind while Sid doesn't– he's still looking for them. And the comparison of their journeys is very interesting.

Marissa starts with discovering time travel and pretty much chases down the end of her relationship; Sid starts having given up serious time travel and looks for someone to share the rest of his life with, starting a relationship with Simon at the end. So, even though he has been time traveling longer than Marissa has, his journey is the reverse of hers. While Marissa learns that going through time and space won't garner what she's looking for, Sid learns that maybe it does. Or not, if he is from the same time period as Marissa. Nonetheless, he does find his special someone. Good for him.

Jillian

Jillian is a small character, but she does have two important roles: exposition, and foil. Exposition, of course, as every time there's a time jump, she's there to catch us up and state outright what new batshit thing related to Samantha has happened now. And she's a foil to Marissa because she's a contrast to her modern day tech approach; Jillian prefers the past before all the newfangled mumbo jumbo came and ruined everything. She values work to keep everything running normally and smoothly, opposite Marissa's work to completely change the past. Her rather dismissive and haughty personality could've contributed to Marissa turning to other coping mechanisms to deal with Samantha's death as well. We know she's pretty awkward when it comes to comfort, so if Marissa were to go to anyone about dealing with grief, it probably wouldn't be Jillian.

What's more, she was the victim of the second printer fall. I think about Nancy saying "Someone had to die by printer and now, it's got to be Jillian." It further emphasizes the inevitability of certain events. We love a character getting fridged for symbolism <3

Simon

Okay, listen. There's a reason this section is super long. Really, Simon is interesting because he's almost a sort of foil to Marissa. From what we can gather, Marissa is well-accomplished because she's good with tech, is manager of Currys-not-Currys, and was in a dedicated healthy relationship for a while. Meanwhile Simon screws everything up, dropping clangers left and right, and is lonely with almost no friends, or at least friends who won't scold him for dropping clangers. Simon wants the approval of everyone for once, while Marissa doesn't care if her boss or Sid discourages her of time machine shenanigans. Marissa is unapologetic of her actions for the most part, more reckless and bold, while Simon is hyper aware of every mistake he makes (with help from others). I feel that's because Marissa doesn't feel like she's making a mistake because she believes time traveling is a solution to something (Samantha being dead) while Simon isn't trying to fix anything. It's worth noting that the latter encourages improvement more than the former.

But they are more similar at a second glance, and Simon foils Marissa in another interesting way.

They both have strived to fix things, though what Marissa initially tries to fix was never her responsibility in the first place. Later on she does quite literally screw up everything, indirectly putting Ipswich under the rule of Overlord Samantha. She became even more sad and alone than when her partner was literally dead, and when she did eventually get Samantha back and told her the truth, she found out that she was going to lose her anyway. Marissa and Simon mirror each other in that, messing things up with no reprieve. Except, while they both fumble and fail to achieve their goals, Marissa lost something personal, while Simon didn't lose too much and did eventually gain a new boyfriend in the form of Sid (good for him). That's where he foils her.

Ultimately, where Marissa's actions were a consequence of not getting over Samantha and thinking it's her responsibility to undo her death, Simon's are just a part of who he is, and he simply moves on and tries to be better next time. It helps that one literally tried to selfishly change the course of history while the other is just minding his business and staying in his own little world. That showcases the risks of extremity and pride.

Miscellaneous

Now there are other little details and scenes I liked that I couldn't quite put in the other sections, so I'll go over those now (these are gonna be a bit more messy and much more minute lmao).

Pizza Hut and Currys-not-Currys really are a staple in this film. Some of the most important beginning, middle, and end scenes are set in them, particularly in relation to the main couple. Effectively, they are what bring Samantha and Marissa together: it's where they meet, where they go on their first date, then where they reunite and part for the last time. Backing this up is the fact that the one scene they have together that's not in either of these locations is the scene where they break up.

Currys is Samantha's "first real job", a job she takes specifically to get closer to Marissa, so it's no doubt that it's very special to her. Therefore it's understandable that she's upset when Marissa tries to get her to leave.

"You're gonna go really, really far, Samantha," sort of foreshadows Samantha's rise to the top as overlord. She did go far, just... too far.

Samantha is already set up as this character with dark ideas, so it's not really a surprise that she becomes an evil overlord.

Niall's characters have a thing with the "inside of people", like seeing inside people's minds as a Pizza Hut server, or telling Samantha and Marissa to, "Look at each other deep in the eyes / and look inside". This could be connected to the theme of individuality through seeing one's inner worth rather than external, as well as the fact that Samantha realizing she was more than Marissa and Currys helped in her decision to leave.

There's something about Niall going "Just one time!" during the end section of Physically, a reminder that the damage is irreversible and anything Marissa could do to make things better will always be futile.

The radio initially being set back a year when we go back to the new present also is in theme of being stuck in the past (yes this one is definitely a stretch but shhh).

Now, with all of this in mind, what exactly is Ipswitch it Up about?

Well, it follows one main theme: you have to move on. If you're constantly stuck in the past, that yearning will choke you and make you detached from the present, and you'll become selfish, pushing away things you need to actually care about for the sake of what you want. Staying in the past won't help you improve your present– in fact, it could make it worse. You need to let fate take its own course. If what you seek comes back to you, then great, but if it doesn't, don't put all your energy into forcing it.

That last statement leads into another supporting idea here, too: you've got to be your own person. Don't dedicate your entire life around one person, no matter how important they are to you. It's detrimental to you and possibly everyone else around you. You need to know your worth as your own individual and not be so dependent on someone to make you feel whole. Even if you make nothing but clangers. Even if the one thing you loved most is gone. You're still yourself, at the end of the day, and that's all you need. Going back to before, you've just got to keep trudging on.

TL;DR Ipswitch it Up is a reminder to value ourselves and not get too caught up in the past, and that we need to constantly move forward if we want to grow as people. We shouldn't take it to extremes, but healthily take care of ourselves so we can take care of others.

So, yeah. That's my whole analysis of Ipswitch it Up. Feel free to give me your own thoughts, if you want to add something, if I got something wrong or didn't make sense (likely). Join me next time for an Angstronauts analysis that's much stretchier than this and touches on real-world issues more than it needs to and/or a breakdown of Hot Swap Buns' soundtrack. Whatever I finish first :]

#mischief theatre #mmni #mischief movie night in #viiimmm #ipswitch it up #aaa spent several days on this im done #this was fun to work on though :D

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