#the perfect victory

[apprentice-s]

i am such a staunch black paladin lance believer like its not even funny

[spooksier]

these will be colored later but in the meantime, ily 2010s cartoons 5ever

[proxythe]

sorry im really obsessed with this pair … 🧚 u guys must understand… i have a rare pair addiction …

[corpusdiem-seizethedead]

*Angel and Husk taking Nuggets for a walk, minding their business*

Some rando: Slut!

Angel: *stops*

Angel: Hold my pig-

Husk: Kick his ass, baby. I got your pig-

[formulanni]

KMag as the Ace of Swords:

This card symbolizes the potential for immense power and success. But remember that the sword is double-edged - depending on who wields it, its power can be used to shelter and protect or to mercilessly strike down for cold and ruthless self-gain.

The Ace of Swords is a card of mental clarity, breakthroughs, and success. It reminds us of the power of our intellect and the importance of clear thinking and effective communication.

Tag list: @st-leclerc @rubywingsracing @saviour-of-lord @three-days-time @the-wall-is-my-goal @albonoooo @ch3rubd0lls @brawngp2009

[fraudulent-cheese]

...So i promised myself i'd try to assign responses to the second Super Mario Game survey Jan Misali made to Total Drama characters. Here's the first couple!

[emilyliuwho]

sports au: 1st year pitcher felix and 3rd year catcher sylvain

[kiyomitakada]

"This isn't what I meant by 'bonding activities,'" Misa says.

L has his entire arm, up to the elbow, stuffed into the Jenga tower box. Light silently prays for his hand to get stuck. "Did you not say you wanted company, Amane-san?"

"Yeah, but I didn't mean with you," Misa retorts. "I said I was lonely without Light around!"

"Yes, and Light-kun is attached to me," L explains patiently. He successfully withdraws from the box; the missing Jenga piece dangles between his thumb and index finger. Damn it. "Many couples play tabletop games together."

"I don't want to be in a couple with this creep," Misa says. "You don't either, right, Light?"

Light sighs. "Misa, you're a suspect in a murder investigation. It doesn't really matter if you want to or not."

"What?! What about consent?"

Since when have you cared about consent? Light does not say aloud. Instead he says, "Whatever," because he's a nice person. "Let's just get this over with."

"Beh," Misa mumbles, but she settles down on the sofa to peer at the Jenga tower pieces L has dumped onto the table. Light and L sit opposite her; L, with uncharacteristic grace, places the last wood block on top of the pile.

"You know," Light remarks, "I'm pretty sure the pieces are already arranged as a tower when you first buy them. You didn't have to scatter them all out."

"Oops," L says without a hint of remorse.

No one moves. Eventually Light, with another sigh, leans over and starts stacking the tower up himself.

-

Light has played Jenga before, obviously. With friends during recess when it was raining outside, yeah, but more often with Sayu and Mom over the holidays. Mom is brilliant at it; Sayu's alright, but takes too many risks. Light's no strategic master, but he's also never lost, as far as he can remember — he just plays it safe and goes for the loose blocks in the middle.

Suffice it to say that this round is going to kill him.

"This should not be standing," he says in a desperate plea to the rules of physics.

Misa grins. She's only been taking blocks from the left side of the tower (and putting them on the right side, to be fair, but that should not nearly be enough to balance this structure). Even one piece in the base level is gone. "But it is!"

"Ryuzaki," Light says, gesturing at their inadvertent creation of the Leaning Tower of Pisa's inferior cousin, "how is — how?"

"Amane-san is quite a good opponent," L muses, neatly dodging his question. He leans forward with a smile, pressing his thumb into his lip. "I am honored to be playing against her."

Misa brightens. "Hey, Ryuzaki, you're not so bad!"

"I'm here too," Light mutters.

"Hmm." L tilts his head, thumb digging deeper. Light watches the way the strands of his hair fall out of and into place. "Let's see…"

Five seconds pass. Then ten.

Light, all of a sudden, realizes he's been staring at the way L's hair curls just slightly when it brushes against the nape of his neck for far too long. He drops his gaze immediately; it lands on the chain between them instead.

The chain. The chain connected to L's hand. He could end this hell with just one tug —

No, too suspicious. If he cheats at Jenga, L will surely jail him (again) for mass murder.

"Can you hurry up?" Misa crosses her arms, leaning forward. "It's only supposed to take a minute, you know."

"Not all of us have your reality-manipulating powers, Amane-san," L murmurs. His thumb has not left his lip.

"Or maybe I'm just better than you."

L's gaze flickers upward. "Did you often play Jenga in the past?"

"Not really." Misa shrugs. "My friends weren't all that into it."

"Then I find that rather unlikely." L glances back down to the pieces he's considering; Light lets himself exhale.

"No, it just means I'm a natural talent!"

Instead of responding, L reaches and plucks a piece away. It happens so fast Light has no time to blink, exactly the same way L eats sweets.

The tower wobbles and —

No. Still standing.

"Jeez," Light mutters.

"Unhappy I'm winning, Light-kun?" L puts his piece down on the top level. He puts it down vertically. (He's already placed five other pieces this way, packed together in a geometry that is apparently conducive to structural support. Light wishes he could strangle him.)

"Who says you're winning?" Light and Misa say simultaneously.

They blink at each other. Then Misa beams, putting her hand up for a high-five. Light meets it hesitantly.

"I do," L says, unconcerned. He tugs the chain. "It's your turn, Light-kun."

"I know that." Light leans forward, narrowing his eyes. Despite everything, this shouldn't be difficult. All he has to do is find a loose block, and then this tortuous game will continue on as usual.

He briefly considers collapsing the tower on purpose.

No. Light Yagami does not lose. He taps at one of the pieces; nope, load-bearing. Another one. Nope. Another —

Suddenly he's falling — wind whistles in his ears — and then he hits something bony and angular with a thump.

Light stares. He'll deny this later but he stares and stares and stares, until he finally registers that he is lying in the lap of quite possibly the second worst man alive and jolts back upright, pushing him away. "What the fuck, Ryuzaki!"

L's laugh is low and slow and amused. "I only moved my hand a little," he says. "I didn't know Light-kun could tip over so easily."

"You are cheating," Light accuses. "You wanted me to lose!"

"The tower is perfectly intact," L says. "No evidence, no crime."

Light tears his glare away from L to check. Yes, the accursed tower is still standing. Damn it all.

"That's the whole problem, isn't it," L continues. "No evidence…"

Misa slams her hands down on the table, making the tower judder. Light startles; he'd almost forgotten she was there. "You locked us up for two months and didn't even have evidence?!"

"There is plenty of evidence in your case, Amane-san." L turns to look at her. The loss of his gaze feels a bit like a punch, but a mild one that Light is not affected by whatsoever. "And besides, I was referring to Jenga."

"Well, what about my boyfriend? He never—"

"Just drop it, Misa," Light says. "He's not changing his mind."

For a split second, Misa glares at him. Light almost flinches — and then it's gone again, replaced with a pout. "But he's insufferable!"

"You'll only have to suffer me until we catch Kira," L says dryly. "So I suppose we'd best do that as soon as possible."

(Aizawa, muttering from the control room: "Oh, really.")

"Yeah, well, we will," Misa says. "And I bet Light's going to beat you to it, 'cause he's so much smarter than you. Right, Light?"

"It's still my turn," Light says. "If you pull me again, I'll break your nose."

"Hmm. Ten percent."

Light steadies both feet on the ground, clenches his chained hand into a fist, and reaches for the tower again.

He taps. And keeps tapping. With growing horror, he realizes that there are no loose pieces. Every level is made of just the middle block and the right block now, and none of them are pullable. They’re just not enough on their own.

…Wait.

Light takes a long inhale and holds it, just in case a breath would disturb the structure. He squeezes his eyes shut, then open. He reaches for the level 75% of the way up.

Slowly, agonizingly slowly, Light uses his thumb and index finger to maneuver the middle piece into a diagonal —

There! The right piece slips out easier than butter.

Light does not indulge his first instinct, which is to yell FUCK YES!!!!!. Instead he leans back, exhales, inhales, and then puts the piece back on the top layer.

The tower does not fall.

"Your turn, Misa," Light says, attempting to school his smile from "deranged" to "enthusiastic."

Misa claps in delight. "That was amazing!"

"Interesting," L muses. "Interesting."

"What?"

"I was under the impression that moving a piece other than the one played was a rules violation," L says.

"Wh—" Light nobly does not punch him. He weighs the possibility of claiming he had never done that, but the middle block is indeed at a distinctly unnatural slant now. "That's not true. You made that up."

L leans over the side of the sofa and plucks the manual out, flipping through it carefully. "'Any blocks moved but not played should be replaced'—"

"—'unless doing so would make the tower fall,'" Light reads over his shoulder. "And it would!" The middle piece is clearly the only one holding up the entire layer. "Take that, Ryuzaki!"

L frowns. "You, Light Yagami, are a sore loser."

"I think you're the sore loser here, to be honest," Light says, faintly giddy. He could kiss someone right now.

"Your turn!" Misa says triumphantly.

They both turn to look at her. Misa has removed the other side of the base layer. The tower is now standing entirely on one block, wavering uncertainly in the faint air-con breeze.

"What the fuck," Light manages.

Misa grins. "Good luck, Ryuzaki!"

[ @deathnotetober day 21: games ]

[lunarharp]

shirahama-sensei reminded me she has a thing for the teacher from pokemon s/v so i randomly went off on an au where qifrey is the professor. etc

[faelapis]

i know most read "good luck babe" by chappell roan as being about a lesbian in denial. and that's probably the intent... but i dont think it's invalid to read it like an angry ex projecting.

the song's instrumentation says "big, heroic 80s romantic lead"... but the lyrics are still a variant of "they can't make you happy like i can." in my view, you can read her either like a hero or villain.

in particular, the line "you're nothing more than his wife" is a LOT. it feels potentially condescending. i get the intent is to do commentary, to say what society expects of women - but it also kinda sounds like you agree with how society sees straight women? if you're that mad about it? or you think this is how straight women see themselves?

ultimately, we don't know how honest the framing is. we don't get this other woman's perspective. chappell could be bitter and heroizing herself, or she could be telling the truth. we don't know, because it's not about her. the girl in question has no voice.

"you know i hate to say it, but i told you so!"

no you don't! you LOVE saying it! you just wrote a detailed fantasy about how this girl is going to regret breaking up with you, couched in the self-righteous language of liberation and accepting queerness.

see what i'm saying?

i should clarify, none of this is a critique of the song. i like all of this. i enjoy angry, self-righteous breakup songs. you do not have to be a "good person" in a song. todd in the shadows has a great video on that.

all of this was actually my way of saying that its my favorite song of hers. i love how unfiltered the anger is. it shows how in the heat of the moment, we make ourselves the hero - but it can still come out kind of ugly on the page.

to put it in fandom terms, for my fandom audience: you could easily imagine pearl singing this at the point in her life where she's angriest and most bitter about greg. very easily.

or it could all be true! obviously, chappell frames the singer like the hero - but we don't know. it's an interesting bit of ambiguity in such intense self-righteousness.

[somethingsomethingstarward]

topaz is autistic but she is specifically autistic in the "social interactions are a game and i am going to win" way

[bistaxx]

oh god my heart.... Cellbit walking up to Bad and thanking him and saying they did it together... I don't know how in character it was... but

"It was good fighting by your side again"

"like old times"

"... and watch out because I'm gonna kill you next time"

"Alright, we'll see!!!"

"*fond laugh*"

YOU GUYS I-

[54625]

Sometimes I'll just be going about my day and then I'll remember how drastically my brain chemistry changed when Fit said "if I had to choose between the two it'd be a dad" and how I've never been the same since

[ansonmountdaily]

Strange New Worlds Dragon Con 2023 Panel (Friday)

Anson Mount talks about the axethrowing place he took his Strange New Worlds co-stars to as a mid-season gift, and how great Celia Rose Gooding's axethrowing skills are! :)

Anson Mount, Celia Rose Gooding, Ethan Peck and Christina Chong at Dragon Con in Atlanta, USA, September 1 2023

Source: Full panel video by ashwar007, Anson's video of Celia

[whydotheycallmechimney]

the vampire diaries universe really has a difficult time letting their female characters be simultaneously kind and nurturing while also showing them to be strong and capable women, which is why hayley is so refreshing to see. yes, she’s a mother and a voice of reason within the chaotic mikaelson family but she’s also ruthless and petty at times. she’s headstrong and able to speak and fight for herself, but she’s also vulnerable and longs for someone to take care of her (which I think comes from her being forced to grow up with herself as her only form of protection)

[thepersonalwords]

Whatever begun with planning, ends in a victory.

Amit Kalantri