#the pessimist and the realist

[ioannemos]

the particular bad guy of this episode, a little apprehensively: the audience wants to see me die?

nate, with more sincerity than anything he's said to anyone in her presence before: like you wouldn't believe

[v8mpvrse]

i will say one thing: the canucks THRIVE when being underestimated and i’m seeing HELLA ppl already write them off. “a big accomplishment they even made it this far!” um? it’s not over? there’s still a game? “oh but brock is out it’s over!” yall we are not the oilers we will survive without one of our stars. we’ve proved that. time and time again. THATS why the canucks are good. they operate as a UNIT. all together all in. all. together. all. in.

[charlescherie]

people on twt calculating the possibilities of charles winning *it*, how many ver and nor dnfs are needed, they compare him to kimi, theyre doing all the repeated numbers stuff (eg 16th race, number 16, 16th ferrari champion), all the coincidences and like .... please i am BEGGING you. i CANNOT go through this again. do NOT make me go through this again.

[nukacourier]

Whenever I get mad about how popular defeationist narratives are becoming in apocalypse media and media in general I look at an image of Arcade Gannon and I calm down a little

[pratchettquotes]

Rincewind was a coward and an unwitting clown, but he had several times saved the world in slightly puzzling circumstances. He was a luck sink, the Archchancellor had decided, doomed to be a lightning rod for the fates so that everyone else didn't have to. Such a person was worth all his meals and laundry (including an above-average level of soiled pants) and a bucket of coal every day even if he was, in Ridcully's opinion, a bit of a whiner. However, he was fast, and therefore useful.

"Look," said Rincewind, "a mysterious urn turns up and suddenly it's all about football. That bodes. It means something bad is going to happen."

"Come now, it could be something wonderful," Ridcully protested.

Rincewind appeared to give this due consideration. "Could be wonderful, will be dreadful. Sorry, that's how it goes."

Terry Pratchett, Unseen Academicals

[traaumaa]

it's weird that i've been living like this for so long that i don't even really see an issue with it anymore. i just accept this as my life, and i know it's different than how others live, i know it's damaging and i wish i could change and i can imagine a better life, i just can't see myself actually ever living it

[blluespirit]

Zuko is gruff and imperfect in his attempts to show kindness, and yet fighting comes as easy as breathing. I love fics that tackle that awkwardness, that stumbling kindness, but don’t portray it in that way that makes Zuko just seem hopeless, and actually explore it. He wants to be kind. He wants to care, but he’s lived a life where that is few and far between.

We’ve seen zuko fight in all different ways, with bending, with swords, with knives, hell, even hand to hand. And yet, he stumbles over his words when Jin flirts with him, offers Li only a knife - a tool of violence - to show he’s thankful, pushes Jet away the second he reaches out when they meet on the boat. He steels that man’s swords from him out of revenge and selfishness and steals Song’s ostrich horse rather than face her and the truth. He robs the rich man on the highway, and lures a secret police officer into an ally to frighten him into spilling information.

Yet, he blanched at Song’s easy compassion and at Li’s parents offer to let him stay. It’s the easiest thing in the world to leave Jin behind, to leave Li behind, to fight Jet in the streats in Ba Sing Se. It’s easier to steal and fight and scream. It’s easier to fight for survival than ask for someone’s kindness. After all, he wouldn’t know what to do with that.

[wyllaztopia]

Hey but...Nightmare also To hide things from his brother, he hid the fact that he was being harassed! Wait, we have to agree: Nightmare is angry with Dream because Dream forced himself to go well and so he hid his problems from Nightmare by telling him nothing, but on the other hand we also have Nightmareb who hid from Dream the fact that he was being harassed so he too lied to his brother, right???

ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ

oh nah, nightmare was pretty upfront about it. that's why dream would try to convince the others nightmare isn't a bad person but that would make some kids misunderstand and start doubting dream - which is what lead to dream getting bullied.

nightmare describes the harassment towards himself really goofily though, something along the lines of "oh btw dream, some kids tried to insult me but used the wrong grammar lol" "but nightmare! that's awful D:"

i should clarify the kids who mistreated both of them aren't that stupid though. the way they bullied each brother is different.

nightmare's was pretty straightforward, he got called suspicious, untrustworthy, a bad omen, etc.

dream's on the other hand, was more sneaky. they took advantage of his kindness and dream thought it was okay because he's the guardian of positivity. that sense of duty to keep being optimistic and happy is why dream hid his feelings.

[arttsuka]

If I may- *ahem*

BEGONE FOUL PESTILENCE THAT PLAGUES OUR DEAREST ARTIST’S TOOTH! BEGOOOOOONE! WASHASHASHASHASHAA!!! 🪄🪄🔥✨✨

Thank you for trying to magic away my pain, greatly appreciated ✨️

[strangeygirl]

Who the fuck decided that the power of love/friendship was a lame cringy trope, I just want to talk (ง'̀-'́)ง

[crazysnakey]

Vislor Turlough my beloved you are so so special to me because of. how circular you are when you start off, character and motivations. his life in exile is basically a loop between "I want to go home (I want to be somewhere I belong)" and "I can never return home (I will never find a place where I belong)" and. and idk but that hurts and kind of reminds me of the doctor.

like. you want to go home. you can never go home. it’s all you’ve ever known. you have no idea what’s happening there. it’s where you were born and raised. you don’t know how things have changed since you left. it’s associated with your good memories, of family and friends and education. it’s also associated with some of your worst memories, of war and death and separation. but you want to go home. that’s the problem, isn’t it? you can’t help yearning for it, that familiarity that can’t be replicated anywhere else. it’s your home, your people, you don’t know where else to go, where else you could go. you can't go home. if you go back you will be exiled again or executed. but it’s the one place you may truly belong, you're tired of being an outsider and you want to be somewhere you belong. you will always be an outsider, you will never find somewhere you belong. you want to go home. you can never go home.

[sharonisthebettercarter]

I need the Gen-v kids and writers to fold Billy's ass because they're not like Maeve, Kimiko, Ryan, nor Starlight to take the disrespect from Billy. I need the to go off on his monkey ass because he not finna disrespect them, like he disrespects the former. Fuck around and find out.

oooohhhh i wish. but i can't picture it honestly, i get the feeling he will absolutely trick and hurt them as per that usual game of his

billy's been fucking awful from the get go and very good at it, it's only now that his team is getting fed up with his bullshit but that was a long time coming. i love this motherfucker to death in all the wrong ways but i ain't fittin' to turn a blind eye to all the shit he pulls and how grossly manipulative he is, even with hughie

ESPECIALLY with hughie. AND STARLIGHT.

like it's very concrete clear *what* he is from the start, something a certain darling mentioned to me was that billy technically never actually lies about who he is to the reader/viewer (don't get me wrong, there is a bit of deception and the build up and showcase is also def there, rather i should say, he lies to those around him and this is made clear to the reader/viewer)

he is awful, makes it clear he's going to be awful, and then does awful things that line up perfectly with the total piece of shit he is

but it is SUPER consistently clear.

*it's the characters around him that don't see the truth in what he is, give him the benefit of the doubt, or at the time being, don't see through the lies he gives them*

astonishingly enough, even when he's *actually* honest with them.

mallory said it perfectly

"you're only here because you're desperate and fucked and you want something!"

mmmmmmmmmmhmmmmmm~<3 mah FAVORITE kinda billy bean<3<3<3

and mallory in both settings is one of the few people able to see through butcher's lies but i have big doubts those poor kids are gonna be on mallory or starlight's level, or even kimiko, because they just don't have that experience with him or what he brings to the table, especially if he starts promising 'jUsTiCe' for them. (it's not, it's never about justice, it's just straight up revenge porn. billy bean is a revenge porn addict--)

but hell, he drags mm back into that whole mess and mm won't blame him, but i sure as hell will because *mm has ocd* and butcher fucking *took advantage of that fact*, AND THEN--even mm says it

"always about becca with you." and "you are so hot for homelander right now"

LEIK--... i'm not gonna go into mah regular trash butchlander rhetoric (hey~<3) but leik, homelander literally does not give a damn about this man, there is always a legit *reason* or bargain that is *the* reason he *lets* the mofo live.

first time was becca cutting a deal with him, next time was blackmail, but like this mofo DID NOT hesitate to try to kill butcher when they met at herogasm which just shows how thin that ice is or how flimsy the 'scorched urf' deal was and how he's itching to be done with butcher, third time was RYAN. who got his attention and pulled him away before he could kill butcher when he very clearly wanted to, and now we're gonna get the euthanasia offering??? OOH--

yeah, homelander gives no shits about butcher beyond him being an inconvenience and it's pretty clear the main reason he hasn't bothered killing him is because he still doesn't perceive billy as any sort of threat to him... but butcher?

butcher is OBSESSED and yeah leik i know i say it every goddamn time but like he's really REALLY obsessed to the point where his brain rot for homie is 1000x WORSE than anything ANY of the girlies in fandom *COULD* have for homie--

oops look at that accidentally threw in a little more butchlander garbage lmao

there's def always a part of me that blames fandom misogyny for giving this boi a free pass half the time (motherfucker spends all his time shitting on becca's memory for his revenge porn fantasy+the way he treats all our lovely lady supes--)

amazingly, the framing is actually really well done because even though we know billy is fuckin' awful beyond any reasonable doubt or redeemability, it's still enough in what the characters around him believe to lead people astray and have them wishing for him to do the right thing even when we know he won't (with the rare few exceptions it's something that benefits him...)

altho deep down i think they know billy will just disappoint them because his whole ass job in the story is to make things HURT lmao.

the boi does know better... he just *chooses* to do *worse*...

i do think that because these kids have less experience with billy and aren't completely alone for him to be a vulture about, it also means they might be quicker to learn especially if they get help from starlight or the others. but unfortunately, i don't picture these kids being able to handle this crafty slimeball. maybe make the attempt but...

gawd, i do not have high hopes for these poor youngins...

[starteas]

I feel kind of silly for worrying if Lumi won’t reach it’s next crowdfund goal despite how much people have shown that yes, they do want to see this and my anxiety is just mean to me in thinking that they won’t.

At the same time it’s still a very real worry to have, but it also lead me to severely doubt myself last time and I feel if starting to creep in all over again…

[my-current-obsession]

So I've only played Baxter's step 4 (and 3) once so far so maybe I missed the options to lead me down the path I wanted, but for the first time in this game I felt pretty railroaded.

So for context, I did get romantically involved with him in step 3. Was okay breaking things off when he left because I understood a long-distance relationship wasn't feasible but I had hoped to stay in contact as friends and didn't appreciate him shutting that down. But I did respect his wishes and not even bother reaching out to him when it was clear he wanted to cut ties entirely. I chose the "for better or worse you don't really care anymore" option about how I felt when step 4 kicked in, because I'd like to believe I would be over any pain/anger from a brief fling from five years ago.

Of course, then you unexpectedly reunite and he proceeds to continue trying to freeze you out WHILE highkey reminiscing and wanting to relive all the good moments you shared, which is confusing and frustrating.

I was wanting to play things in a sort of "once bitten, twice shy" way. I was open to giving him another chance and wanted him in "my" life again, but only if HE was also willing to put in the effort. Beyond getting answers for his behavior and why things are the way they are, I actually DIDN'T want to be pushing to be part of his life. Not while he was still pushing me away. Why should I be making an effort and getting hurt repeatedly when ANY kind of relationship (not just a romantic one) takes work and dedication from BOTH sides?

But this is where the game absolutely failed to provide me the stance I wanted, which in turn make the entire resolution to the conflict not sit well with me. Once Baxter started opening up about WHY he cut ties and was continuing to be avoidant, I felt very "but thou must" about the choices. Again and again, 4-6 choices with slightly different tones/connotations that ultimately serve to reinforce how we want to help and be close to Baxter as opposed to any other more complicated or negative feelings towards him.

I understand that we're meant to like Baxter and I'm definitely not UNsympathetic to his severe self-worth issues and how that affected how he sees all relationships, but for the first time I feel like the story prioritized painting HIM in such a good light that it forgot to account for a protagonist that was anything other than 100% willing to continue loving and throwing themselves at someone that had ALREADY pushed them away and hurt them before and was CONTINUING to do so.

Why should "I" have to keep chasing relentlessly after someone who repeatedly rejects me? Why do I essentially have to keep bashing my head against this brick wall even when it's obviously bad for me?

What I desperately wanted but felt denied by was a confrontation that led to compromise. I wanted to be able to clearly express "my" hurt/anger and make it clear that while I cared about him, I WOULD NOT keep endlessly trying if he wasn't going to meet me halfway. I cannot single-handedly save the bridge that he is burning, he actually has to STOP burning it for us to get anywhere.

But no, it is only after you prove that you WILL keep trying and caring about him NO MATTER WHAT, no matter how much he continues to hurt and reject you, that he is able to overcome his issues and reciprocate. And really, what's doubly unsatisfying is... aren't we just validating his insecurities this way? It's literally by proving ourselves so stubborn and kind (to our own detriment) that he truly believes we'd never give up on him that he can trust and reach out in turn. Whereas if I had the option to make it clear HE has to work for this if he wants it, then he genuinely needs to face his problems and decides he cares about us more, that we are WORTH the risk.

A relationship takes two... but in this case I felt FORCED to do about 95% of the work in pursuing him AND playing therapist for him. It would have been much more satisfying if, after he rejects you one too many times, you CAN say "screw it" and give up on it just for him to finally turn around and be the one trying to chase YOU instead. I was frankly already pretty fed up with things, but by the ending when he avoided us AGAIN at the wedding (AFTER he'd opened up, more than once, and just generally made it clear that he DID care about you; truly this man is a master of the mixed message) I wanted DESPERATELY to just be able to say "fine, if you won't make an effort then I won't either" and leave it at that. If I was just allowed to express that dissatisfaction and hurt, then him coming around and trying to forge a true, long-lasting connection with us despite his uncertainty would have been so much better.

[newathens]

my stream of consciousness is not the most upbeat and honestly so outlandish half the time that as a result im just constantly performing to others and nobody gets to experience me as i am but its not exactly like i can be honest when the closest thing ppl would end up labeling me as is a debbie downer

[pratchettquotes]

"You'd be well advised to stay along o' us," said Ghenghiz Cohen. "You'll be safer with us."

"Oh, I'm not sure about that," said Rincewind, grinning horribly. "I'm not sure about that at all."

By myself, he thought, only ordinary horrible things can happen to me.

Terry Pratchett, Interesting Times