#the second man in empire

[spaceprincessleia]

Thank you for your presentation, Magistrate. Unfortunately, we will not be moving forward on this deal with you. Shout out to @velvetsunset who has given me the Morgan and Pryce brainworms.

[regrettablemeasure]

I'm seeing, like in 2020 and 2016, a lot of talk about immigrating out of the states etc. and not even going into how that isn't feasible for a lot of people for various reasons I also just. don't see anyone talking about what if I don't want to fucking run away from my own home.

As a white woman I'm far from the first person to experience living in a homeland that you want to love but hates you politically. None of this is new for every other minority group in our country. But I remember first feeling it as a lesbian teen in the south and it's something I've heard shared by other friends of mine of different backgrounds from the US - especially red states. Even though I theoretically could get a visa somewhere else which is a privilege in and of itself - it's not fair that I should be pushed to consider it. Maybe I don't want to go to Europe. Maybe I like how diverse my home country is. I like our music and food and people and the little pockets of community we do manage to scrape together. Maybe I was born here and I want to fucking stay here rather than let the dickheads just win out over me and I don't want to run and pull up the ladder behind me.

I don't have an overarching point to this post and I'm not trying to shame people looking for a "way out" but it sucks to see. It sucks to see non Americans shittalk us, too, like there's not good people across the country - a whole half of the country - that didn't want any of this.

[fogwitchoftheevermore]

(context for watcher/listener!sausage can be found in the “videos” tag on my blog if you want it, but this ficlet can be read without said context)

- - -

“Y’know, of all the Hermits I was expecting to be pulling me into a dark corner tonight, I did not expect you to be first, Grian! I love the initiative!”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” Grian says in a voice near a hiss. He’s got Sausage by the wrist, leading him into a small area of the upper floor of the tavern in Sanctaury that does look like it was built for the exact purpose Sausage is implying. Grian decides to ignore that as well.

“What are you doing here?” Grian’s straight to the point. He always has to be, with these Things, if he doesn’t want to get trapped in a loop of slant rhyming pleasantries.

“What do you mean?” Sausage asks, shaking his wrist out of Grian’s tight grip and leaning comfortably against the wall. “This is where I live. It’s my home. If anything, I should be asking you mysterious strangers what you’re doing here, but I’m sure you’ve heard that question enough for one day.”

“You know exactly what I mean.” Grian crosses his arms and tries his best not to look petulant, but he sure feels like it. “I thought They’d given up on trying to snatch me back, so why would They send you of all people? What’s your game?”

Sausage laughs, honest to god laughs, like he can’t believe Grian’s even asking him such a question. Grian thinks it’s a reasonable question, in this scenario, but what he thinks and what’s reasonable rarely seems to matter with these things.

“They didn’t send me,” Sausage looks him up and down in that way that makes Grian have to physically stop himself from curling inwards. This is why he never talks to Them. “Nobody sends me anywhere, they don’t tell me what to do and I like it that way! I just do my own thing. Isn’t that what you’re doing?”

“No you’re not! You’re not- you can’t be! That’s not how this works!” Grian begins to notice that he’s no longer whisper-shouting and starting to just-normal-shout and takes a deep breath, trying not to draw the attention of his friends enjoying themselves on the floor below. And, realistically, in the other dark corners Sausage seems to have built into this place.

“That’s exactly how this works. You didn’t think you were the only person who’d left, did you?”

Grian opens his mouth, closes it, and thinks. In hindsight… yeah, he had kind of assumed he’d been the only person who’d left. Not for lack of trying, probably- but They’d tried for so long to get him back, kept him closely surveilled even when They’d accepted he was gone- surely some people had caved to that pressure eventually. When there was no sign They’d ever let up, ever let you go… he could understand eventually letting it overtake you.

“Did- did you leave, too?” Grian doesn’t remember the last time he saw Sausage’s face. He didn’t know him back then, of course. He probably would’ve connected the man with the person Pearl so often spoke about sooner. But he knows it’s been a long time, maybe even longer than the last time Grian had gone There. He doesn’t think Sausage had been There, that day. This might explain why.

“Eh, not quite?”

“What-“ Grian flails, both mentally and with his arms a bit. “What do you mean not quite?”

“Exactly what I said! I was never- it’s complicated, y’know?”

“Explain. Now.”

“Well, uh,” Sausage seems to flounder for the first time since this conversation started, which Grian is choosing to take as a victory. “Look, I wasn’t- they didn’t pick me. For this, or for anything, ever. Sometimes things just happen and you get yourself into a place you shouldn’t have and then… they can’t get rid of me, I can’t get rid of them, it is what it is.”

Grian stares at him for a long moment. Really stares at him, in the same way Sausage had looked him over earlier, in the same way that makes you feel like you’re under a microscope. Judging by the sudden nerves in his eyes, Grian can assume he feels it too. Grian remembers his face. That had been the first thing he’d noticed, when the Hermits had arrived. It had been a long time since they’d seen each other, but Grian knew his face. And now that Grian was studying him, really trying to remember… he’s not sure he quite likes what memories he’s dredging up.

“What are you?”

“Grian!” Sausage’s voice drips with mock offense as he puts his hand up to partially cover his mouth. “We only just met, do you think that’s polite?”

“Answer the question,” Grian sighs. How Pearl deals with this man on the regular, he doesn’t know.

“Well, if you insist.” Sausage sighs, somehow even more exaggerated than his previous movements. “It’s just… if you’ll believe it, it’s somehow even harder to answer the first question.”

“It shouldn’t be,” Grian says. “They’re two very different People, you know.”

“But they’re the same species, when it all comes down to it. Like, you might be very different than a chicken, but you’re both birds in the long run.”

Grian pauses, fanning his wings out a bit behind him as he considers. “I don’t think that metaphor’s quite landing the way you want it to.”

“No, me neither. Anyways, let me continue.

When they don’t pick you, things go a little differently! You don’t get sorted onto one side or the other since, well, you’re not really supposed to be there? So I’m… whatever I want to be, really. I think I’m feeling like more of a Listener, today, but we’ll see how the mood shifts.”

Grian flinches at the Name, on instinct. He doesn’t know how to feel about that, so he files it away to be dealt with at a later date. As for the rest of what Sausage said-

“What?”

“You heard me.” Sausage shrugs. He’s so nonchalant, Grian thinks he might strangle him, if not for the worry that that’s exactly what he wants out of this, somehow.

“Did I? Did I hear you?” Grian wants to pace, but that requires leaving the security of the corner, so he forces his feet to root themselves to the floor. “I thought- I thought you had to- if you wanted to change sides, I thought you had to-“

Grian closes one eye and takes his thumb to it, twisting the finger into his eyelid. The gesture seems to get the point across.

“Well, that’s the funny thing about this, actually.” From the way he’s been talking, Grian assumed Sausage thought this whole thing was funny. He restrains himself from saying that out loud if only so Sausage will finish his explanation.

Sausage reaches up to his left eye, pulls his eye lid back a bit, and unceremoniously pops out his prosthetic eye.

“All these processes and rituals actually have a lot of loopholes.”

Grian doesn’t know what face he’s making, but it’s enough to make Sausage giggle while he pops the eye back in. Because of course he does. Because this how his day is going, apparently. Walk through a weird portal in his basement and wake up in a world filled with his friends who don’t recognize him and also a guy he only ever saw There, who he was never supposed to see again. Sure. Of course he’s laughing about it. Grian thinks if he was a slightly different person, he’d be laughing too. It is, undeniably, absurd.

“Well, I think we’re done here then!” Grian would probably object if he weren’t so shocked about the loopholes. As it is, he just stands there a bit stupidly.

Sausage turns away to return to the party before turn around again for just a moment, reaching over, and ruffling Grian’s hair. That shocks him enough to shake him out of his stupor and swat Sausage’s hand away, though not before his hair is suitably messed up.

“What was that for?!”

Sausage smiles as he reaches up to rough up his own hair as well. “I assumed you didn’t want your friends asking questions about why you were dragging me into a dark corner, you know?” Sausage even goes far enough to pull his shirt a bit out of where it’s tucked into his pants, because of course he does. Grian tries not to cringe, but Sausage is right about this one thing. It is the easiest way to dodge any questions about where he’d gone off to- at the expense of the many knowing looks and teasing remarks he’ll be getting from the other Hermits instead.

“Have a good night, Grian!” Sausage calls over his shoulder as he turns to leave for real this time. “And remember, drinks are on me for all you guests tonight! You look like you need it.”

[autistic-danieljackson]

I truly did not realize how much Atlantis: The Lost Empire is just Stargate in an animated font

[magiefish]

DOES THIS MEAN SUTEKH WAS AROUND FOR ALL OF THE EVENTS OF ZAGREUS. WAS HE THERE WHEN THE EIGHTH DOCTOR FLEW DIRECTLY ONTO A CASKET OF ANTI-TIME. WAS HE IN THE DIVERGENT UNIVERSE. IS THERE A SUSAN TWIST IN THE DIVERGENT UNIVERSE?? HELLO??? RTD????

[lixettzunderscore]

empires season 1 superhero au doodles :D

here's some doodles i made for some of the character designs i made for a superhero au i've been drafting in my brain over the past while! well superhero is probably the wrong word; fwhip and jimmy are more so vigilantes but uh i originally pitched it as a superhero au so i'm rolling with it--

(codfather's design is very heavily inspired by @doodle-list's design of the codfather head and is thus subject to change. also he looks too green so i might change that too, idk)

! general ramblings and link to au masterpost under the cut !

basic gist of the au, for those interested, is that empires is a big ol city that starts getting terrorized by a weird group called "exor industries" (think like a mix of team rocket in the mainline pokemon games and team cypher from pokemon colosseum in terms of vibes) and fwhip, seeing that the authorities are doing nothing to help, decides to take matters into his own hands and puts on all his weird nerd gadgets and tries to stop them.

largely due to the element of surprise, he succeeds, and footage of him goes viral among the public as citizens begin hyping up a dragon-inspired superhero called basilisk. the evil plots didn't stop and the people seemed quite hopeful of the new hero, so fwhip just kinda rolls with it.

jimmy becomes a vigilante at one point after attacks start getting more hectic and he and fwhip immediately declare each other as rivals despite working towards the same goal (gem, scott and pix, who are part of fwhip's impromptu little hero squad, are very much annoyed by how counterproductive their rivarly is)

sausage does end up becoming part of exor industries at some point in time and he does have a silly little supervillain persona in this au (to go along with the pokemon comparison, think of him and joey as like admins in evil teams but more extra) but i only have a very vague idea of his design so i didn't doodle it :(

i do have plans on both writing and drawing lots of stuff for this au tho so uh look out for that!! :D (it is all i think about, wra my beloved <3)

(AU Masterpost!!)

[vanillevs]

https://www.tumblr.com/vanillevs/756598317411074048/this-is-just-me-rambling-and-being-insane-but-i?source=share

saw this and couldn't help but agreed though iirc someone said on a TikTok comment ( and that is coming from an RB fan ) that dts and Netflix kinda made look toto scary. also if we were being honest he's silly and funny ( I mean look at how Gunther Steiner said in that one podcast that Toto is one of the funniest tp out there and look at how he and Fred would always joke around each other ) people would look at Toto the opposite way because of him being tall ( literally towering anyone ) and the way he is Austrian - German ( probably a stigma and whatnot ) and his deep voice ( husky voice that Susie likes ok dndhdh )

also if we were being honest here DTS and Netflix made Toto look bad and made Christian Horner a good guy ( even though he isn't )

tbh toto is more awkward and shy than he is of being bad and scary lol

Exactly, anon! Toto was portrayed as the villain in DTS just because him and Mercedes were winning nonstop and everyone was kinda cheering for his downfall just to make F1 more interesting.

He is actually soooo funny, you can totally see his personality shine through in older pre-DTS videos and interviews though I do think he can be scary when needed (cue the brocedes crash in Barcelona and Lewis recalling that’s when he has seen Toto at his angriest, rightfully so) but he is just really intense because he has this drive to win.

I don’t think Toto would have gotten this far by just being the scary type. It’s his charm (along with hard work and brains) that has gotten him this far! He is a natural comedian like he is so effortlessly funny (cue him mocking Alonso swerving when Lewis came out in front of him in the pits last year, when they were filing the Mercedes factory like a good 10 years ago him walking to his office and commenting to his staff about the cameras in the office “they’re filming for James Bond…I’m the villain” or when a fan was like “Toto you’re the man!” And he just replied immediately “tell that to my wife!” Lol) he just be saying shit, he is so funny!

His relationship with other TPs shows it. Recently in an interview he said Gunther is really funny and that he wrote a foreword for Gunther’s book (this was after the interviewers brought up Gunther and Toto, in the most serious voice was like “Gunther fucking Gunther…wanker” and the interviewers cracked up lol)

And yes! He is also a little bit awkward too! Half the time he doesn’t know what to do with his 6’5 frame a d long limbs and he is bashful when people remind him he is really hot (though I’m sure he is deeply aware he is so sexy lol)

Overall…he is just really funny and part of that comes from his awkwardness in certain moments he is just so funny and charming….he is so misunderstood!

[denebolablack]

Tony: I won't accept the use of any old-fashioned pet name to refer to me! I'M THE FUTURE-

Bucky: *Enters the room walk8ng directly to the fridge* Mornin' dollface.

Steve: *Following Bucks* Good mornin' sunshine.

Tony: *Giggles* Hi~

Nat:*Lifts an eyebrow*

Tony: They're a special case, Nat.

Bucky & Steve: *Smirk*

[seawitchkaraoke]

Love how Cleo and Scott are like... substitute besties to each other, like Cleo's bestie is Joe and Scott's bestie is Owen but whenever they are left cold and alone in an smp without their besties, they see each other and just immediatly team up, no questions asked, it's beautiful

It is even more beautiful that Joe reacted to meeting his replacement by shooting him for being homophobic

[skotiwolves]

Ep7 spoilers

-

-

Ok I was never big on all of the ‘tech being alive delusion’ even though I do believe in ‘no body, no death’

POINT BEING.

they could’ve easily killed the man. they threw him off of a waterfall. clones have died at so much less. he could’ve easily hit his head on a rock on the way down or that water could’ve been shallow.

but they DIDNT.

that man is either a new character who is important beyond belief for the rest of the season

or it’s Tech

[daguerreotyping]

Carte de visite of a French officer with an astonishingly slim waist and what I'm tempted to describe as an upside-down fleur-de-lis goatee, circa 1860s

[quatregats]

Hornblower as a character is like catnip to me but C.S. Forester is so so annoying <3

[general-kalani]

Brain STOP WANTING KO-FI COMMISSIONS CHALLENGE-

[redjayson]

I want to buy john scalzi books but I have choice paralysis because there’s so many of them. do I buy ones I’ve read already? new ones? should I read them all by borrowing them from the library as I’ve been doing and then decide which ones to buy first? what to DO?

[plasma-studios]

Dream, shitting himself: Hello, there. Do I know you?

[bormgans]

FOUNDATION TRILOGY - Isaac Asimov (1951-'53)

For about a decade I didn’t read any fiction. About 14 years ago a friend recommended me Anathem by Neil Stephenson, and I’ve been back at reading fiction since. Some Culture novels by Banks followed, and I became enamored with science fiction as genre. So I dove into its canon, and the Foundation series became the first thing I read after I gobbled up Iain M. Banks. It became one of my favorite…