#these are utterly irrelevant and useless facts

[justaballoffluff]

Tari uses Kleo or Violet as her favored aliases. her favorite flowers are violets and orchids

[icryyoumercy]

disability services decided they want one of their doctors to assess me, and then assigned a doctor from a different canton to do so, which. seems odd? they're organised by canton? why get a doctor from a different canton? do they not have any of their own?

[kyoghurts]

atsumu never not thinks about you.

he doesn’t think about the ways in which you charm him that it pisses him off in an inexplicably good way or that he finds you attractive and annoying when you do not tolerate his scathing remarks and stupid fucking condescending attitude and he doesn’t think of how you don’t look at his way when he wants you to and he doesn’t think of you all that bad to the point that a singular message from you makes him jump as his mind blows up the moon, that he’d send a reply much too quickly so the conversation could flow seamlessly as if time is irrelevant. because it is, when it comes to you.

no, he doesn’t think that he’d want to rip the guy’s skin who have touched you when you looked uncomfortable and no, he doesn’t think that he’s fairly certain he’s not your type. he’s all scrawny and bones and nothing— an awful mismatching colours combined as he watches from a distance and you looked so … bewitching, so fucking beautiful compared to that loser nobody— no, fuck, why’s his hand twitching and itching to grab yours right now and leave the place together?

he doesn’t think of the consequences as he bites a handful of insults and ‘fuck-offs’ to that nobody as he drags you away and he doesn’t care if you yell at him for being so rude despite the guy driving you up the wall. atsumu forgets that he's holding your hand so firm and that you've been walking towards absolutely nowhere in particular that his mind shuts off completely once everything sinks in, once he finds your silence too loud and overbearing that he'd rather listen to you babble about your weird facts of the world that are useless but nonetheless a noise that fills the space like a reassuring blanket draped over your relationship telling him you're fine. he's fine. everything is fine for the both of you to be like this.

but you're not talking, he's not looking at you, and he's squeezing your hand as if you'll run away far from him if he lets you go. he doesn't think about what he's going to say but he's too far gone to back out now, "go out with me." because he can't stand anyone getting close to you, he can't stand to watch you while you're being pretty and amazing without him by your side, he can't stand that you do not understand of his wants but it's more achingly painful to admit that he wants to be yours. in perfect absolution.

when he does turn back to face you upfront, it's like he's going get dizzy just by the sight of you smiling so smug but there's also a glowing, tiny little specks of adoration twinkling in your curled eyes and maybe even stunned amusement weaving on your grinning lips thrown into him and he can't take it well. he doesn't think your low, silvery "okay" could make his heart drop at the bottom of a well and into the bed where he wakes his cooked up feelings sizzling to life like a fire but then it does and there's no reason to hold back anymore so—

his hands immediately curl around your neck as his forehead connects with yours, he whispers against your lips "i'm gonna kiss ya now." he doesn't think how utterly soft you are more than he anticipated, and all the things you've made him into this melting and desperate dipshit flashed beneath his closed eyes like a film on replay.

he doesn't think about the time you complimented him that you like his hair after your band practice and you're wearing system of a down graphic tee with a tamed hunger in your movements, the same way after he's had really good matches and the adrenaline subdues. it's—wow. holy shit. he finds himself in awe that your compliment kind of pierces through his consciousness too hard that it never left him for days, it travels to the unconscious world in the form of him carding his fingers through his hair when he's around you, your voice in that gruff and exhausted tone as you voiced out "hey. i actually like your hair, asshole." haunting him until his ears are painted pink.

he doesn't think that it's really nice when you talk or when you don't until he's gotten close enough to be able to sit next to you without any expectations afterwards. he likes the silence, but he likes it more when you talk of none-sense, and he adds a pile of them even more until it prolongs after class to midnight calls. he doesn't think he'd feel annoyed whenever you watch a series without him, he doesn't think that osamu would notice his mood swings whenever you're elsewhere until he calls him out literally as you're done with your practice.

he doesn't think of it now. he's kissing you and your hands find their place in his hair, easing your fingers around to where it belongs. even as he parts, even as you remove your hand he still doesn't think. but he grabs it to make you comb his hair more. like it's not enough. keep going.

he doesn't think. he doesn't. no, he doesn't. but he's head over heels for you. truly, he doesn't think it'd matter anymore if he likes or hates how you mess with his head and heart. with that stupid smug smile of yours. with that awful and criminally attractive aura you carry. with the searing tongue but sweet lips and everything that you are.

(quit it, though, or he's never ever going to leave you alone now. maybe he won't. or maybe he can't with the way your arms pulling him closer in a warm and fulfilling hug at the moment. maybe you don't want him to leave you alone. maybe he doesn't think about you, or maybe he doesn't like you all that much.)

(oh. wait. he actually does. fuck.)

hello atsumu enjoyers it is i <3

[utilitycaster]

Can I get your opinion, since you seem to be a pretty straight shooter ?

Do you think that Orym is lying to himself when he says he doesn’t want the sword for revenge or isn’t motivated by revenge? In the same way that Laudna was lying to herself and the others about why she wanted the sword?

I’ve seen a lot of ~discourse~ over whether or not orym is being truthful here and tbh I don’t know what to make of it.

My short answer: I suppose it's possible revenge might be among the many factors motivating him, but I don't believe it's his primary motivator.

My real answer? Who fucking cares.

There has been a pretty consistent pattern in which a lot of people who defend Laudna (and Imogen, for that matter) are so laser-focused on their motivations that they utterly ignore the actual consequences of their actions. Because that's the thing, right? You can make speculative claims about motivations; there is no true way to prove that Orym has absolutely no vengeful bones in his body since there's a myriad of reasons to go after the Vanguard and its leadership of which revenge absolutely is one. But you can't deny actions without someone inconveniently pointing out the truth that the action was, in fact, performed by a particular character. So it's a popular focus for people who don't actually have any evidence of their points.

Intent and motivation is, obviously, useful in understanding what a character might do. It's useful in understanding whether they could perhaps be swayed one way or another (eg: Liliana's intentions are in fact of vital importance for that reason, because if they understand what drives her, they might be able to change her path). But it's useless in judging harm done to other people. If someone kills a pedestrian in a crosswalk because they fell asleep driving because they'd stayed up all night for a charitable cause, or if they kill them because they were drunk driving, someone's still dead because of their actions. (For that matter, and I said this in an earlier post, the pedestrian is also equally dead if the driver were drunk driving because they are a well-intentioned alcoholic who fell off the wagon vs. an asshole who doesn't think the rules apply to them.) I don't blame the victim's family for hating the driver in any of the scenarios, even though I think that the some of the above drivers are far more likely to be people who will attempt to rehabilitate themselves and for whom I as a person more removed from the situation may have more pity.

Ultimately, how others see a character in-world is going to be a measure of their actions. So, for example, it does not actually matter if Imogen floats allying with the Vanguard because she wants to connect with her deadbeat mom; Orym is still justified in being hurt and offended because she said something insensitive in front of him. It's better that Imogen is doing this out of an idealized desire rather than malice; I think far better of her as a character and believe there is room for growth; but that doesn't change what she did and that it was, in fact, insensitive. It speaks well to her that Laudna's pressure point is "this sword could hurt your friend" and not "hey what if you could have a sick evil sword of your own", but she did still attack her friend in the middle of the night even with good intentions.

If Orym wants to kill Ludinus out of vengeance for the deaths of his family or if he wants to do so because Ludinus has done immeasurable harm already and very well might destroy the world (and I certainly do believe Orym is motivated by the latter, even if the former plays a role), Ludinus still ends up dead. Sure, if he's motivated only by revenge it might change how you interact with him, the way how Bells Hells treat Keyleth quite differently than they do Ira, but in terms of analyzing whether any specific action was helpful or harmful? Utterly fucking irrelevant.

Anyone making the argument that Orym might not have the purest motives either, as a means to defend Laudna, is either too dumb to even find the correct questions to ask or deliberately throwing up a smoke screen, and as this post indicates, doesn't fucking matter if they're stupid or malicious - they're a waste of your time. Don't even bother.

[headspace-hotel]

My friends and I have been discussing how poorly designed/balanced the Warden is in MC and not only have we come up with several different ways to fix it but we've also concluded that Mojang is just utterly shit at balancing their game. Look at end city loot compared to other structures that are even harder to conquer, or how pigs are almost completely irrelevant for farming if you have any other passive mob, or the fact that invisibility potions are completely worthless because they don't work at ALL. I found that last one out the hard way and lost half a month's worth of gear from Mojang's incompetence. They seriously need to get their shit together.

I think loot from structures in Minecraft is somewhat intentionally under-powered, because the game is about building and exploring and farming and the lion's share of your resources are meant to come from your own gathering and farming activities. However you're definitely right.

For example, bastion remnants have really good loot and are relatively common; I've gone on trips into the Nether where I found and cleared more than one in the course of a single trip.

Meanwhile, woodland mansions are vanishingly rare and the valuable rooms may not generate at all. You could have to travel tens of thousands of blocks to get nothing but a bunch of wool and books.

Jungle pyramids are the ones I hate the most, they never have anything worth it in the chests.

But...ancient cities. I love the atmosphere and gameplay experience of the ancient cities, but they really unbalance the game in a lot of ways.

They have more and better loot than basically any other structure in the game, they can be cleared with nothing but skill, no armor or weapons of note needed. I think they USUALLY are a rare find, but this is the trouble with the procedurally-generated nature of the game; I've found multiple seeds with ancient cities directly under spawn, and multiple seeds with two ancient cities within ~250 blocks of spawn.

I think the mechanics and everything of the Warden are very well thought out and I deeply, deeply appreciate how you don't really have to risk the Warden if you are slow and cautious enough.

I complained lots about the Warden, but in hindsight the complaints had more to do with the Warden being prioritized at the expense of everything else and less to do with the Warden itself. We have to admit that the Warden is much better than lots of other hostile mobs in the game. Ghasts have too-small, janky hitboxes and can shoot you with fireballs from OUTSIDE RENDER DISTANCE. The Warden is a huge improvement in that you can prevent summoning him by being careful.

Also, recent updates have been fixing some of the most egregious issues with balancing. Before Caves and Cliffs, clay generated exclusively as small patches on the bottom of lakes and rivers and until the Wild Update it was not renewable. You had to intensively farm vines to get mossy cobblestone. I've only been playing since just after Village and Pillage and I Remember

Metal ores have only been affected by Fortune since 1.17!!!! Before that you had to mine stacks and stacks of ore blocks! Before axolotls were added, tropical fish existed and were completely useless!! Minecraft olds can tell you more.

[davekat-sucks]

that anon is on point with Damara, I actually find it dangerous how this fandom endorses the idea that crippling someone is okay as long as you agree with the justification or that all abusive behavior/manipulation is as obvious as someone like Cronus does it

so this is a reminder that KURLOZ disabled Meulin AND Mituna and was in TWO abusive manipulative relationships with them, he mind controls Meulin to help him aid Lord English double kill all the ghosts in the afterlife and even gaslights and demeans her by calling her a 'kittybitch'. And he was also stalking Vriska to get her coat so he can help Lord English exist in the first place, and even implied to know/ give Gamzee the idea to get into an abusive relationship with Terezi in vriskagram.

Kurloz is fucking worse than Gamzee or Eridan or Vriska and I'm baffled that he gets away with it and even woobified when this fandom is so utterly obsessed with demonizing male characters or thinking female characters can only be victims. What about him and Meulin? That's a textbook example of a man abusing a woman, can't the fandom activists talk about that instead of constantly reminding us every 3 seconds of the obvious fact that a useless, irrelevant sad sack of shit like Cronus is a bad person?

Kurloz x Cronus aka "Manipulate, mansplain, malewife" aka "Troll Harry Potter and Voldemort" aka "Boner killer" aka "fish bones" is better than davekat

Kurloz x Cronus aka Fish Bones is better than Davekat. We do live in a period where mental disabilities is more of a top priority over physical disabilities to some people, so I wouldn't be surprised they were fine with crippling, even if there cases that leaves people unable to move, hear, speak, taste, or feel anything. It's fucked up.

[fittingoutjane]

If you are a book lover, I recommend some time working in a library. You learn a lot about it, but you also lose a little of that excessive reverence for the printed word.

It's not inherently a sin to destroy a book. Mass-market paperback that's falling to pieces? Recycle it. Computer Science textbook that's a decade or more out of date? Utterly irrelevant.

Books are valuable. Rare books are very valuable. But useless books are, in fact, useless. Sometimes you just have to say, YOU CANNOT GIVE THIS STUFF AWAY. NO ONE WANTS IT, and toss the damned thing.

Brought to you by last week's bookshelf purge in my house.

(I did set aside one box of stuff to give away, but I limited it to things in good condition that another person might reasonably want.)

[lorei-writes]

To remember is a heavy burden to bear I

Chevalier x OC (OC Chart: Esther) Chevalier's POV (Light) Angst

Because having a perfect memory is a double-edged sword...

This work deals with the topic of debilitating illness. Reader discretion is advised.

It is hardly an unexpected change, considering that the symptoms she has reported could lead to a mere handful of outcomes… The only unforeseen thing about the current predicament is that the reaction first evoked by this conclusion has not yet grown any duller. The specifics of her condition stir the memories from back when she first arrived at the palace.

Observation is the prerequisite to treatment. The current situation, however, does not call for the initial diagnosis to be reassessed – much rather, it stands in support of it. It is utterly superfluous for me to be here.

But I am.

The sun hangs high on the sky, the silence within the room merely confirming that Esther has failed to rouse. I step further inside, my body acting of its own volition to conceal any traces of my ever being there, the carpet muffling my footfall sufficiently. The dark shadows cast over her eyes suggest my caution has indeed been warranted.

Esther sleeps. Quiet breaths lift off her pillow at gradually extending intervals until she enters the state of deep slumber. The hair that would be disarrayed on any other day is now bound in a braid; although it may be a deceptive trick of light, her freckles do appear darker. I sit down at the edge of her bed.

I don’t have any particular reason to do this.

There isn’t a thing here I have not been previously made aware of. The fact that I’ve remained informed of her condition, however, is now irrelevant.

Esther’s face is pale, paler, with sharp cheekbones. It is hardly an unexpected change, considering that the symptoms she has reported could lead to a mere handful of outcomes… The only unforeseen thing about the current predicament is that the reaction first evoked by this conclusion is yet to grow any duller. The specifics of her condition stir the memories from back when she first arrived at the palace.

It’s been over three years since then. I thought her worthless for my purposes. She was less than a Belle, which by itself was already a completely useless figure. Esther herself could hardly be considered a threat; however, were any third party actors to exploit her sister’s personal animosities, the masquerade they indulged in could compromise the internal security of the kingdom, potentially resulting in its annexation. I did not intend to allow for the situation to persist, not until…

“I am a dead woman either way,” the Esther of the past laugh-snarled bitterly. “If it took you a week to confront me about this, I do think that I’ve done an excellent job buying my sister time.”

Between hollow eyes and scrawny hands clutching onto the bucket of fresh vomit, she was quite a pitiful sight. Bony. Pale. Covered in sweat, feverish. Clearly malnourished and anaemic, as implied by her shortness of breath and thin hair. A poor diseased ferret cornered by a predator, both unable to move and unwilling to give up.

I towered above her. If I swung my sword, it would have cut clean through her throat. I stood in her only path of escape, although it was hardly a necessary precaution. It would be surprising if she as much as managed to raise from the floor. Nevertheless, Esther held my gaze and squared her trembling shoulders, even as my hand dropped to the hilt at my hip. Her knuckles grew whiter still.

“I have another offer to make, Prince Chevalier.”

I had no incentive to hear out the rest of her drivel. However, Esther continued to talk as I lifted the blade, the desire to live burning bright in her irises despite her prior statements. Whether the heart she possessed was the most beautiful within the nation was a disputable matter, but I could not deny her determination… Courage in the face of certain death is generally not the most obvious of choices. Not that she’d agree.

I turn my eyes towards Esther as she lies. Her face is not yet as angular as in the past, although that’s hardly a reason for satisfaction. She stirs in her sleep before opening her eyes briefly. Her eyelids flutter again the moment she becomes aware of my presence.

“Chevalier…?” she mumbles, her gaze unfocused. She attempts to sit up, likely worrying about appearing exactly as fragile as she is now. Ridiculous – it is hardly a reason for concern when it is only us. I push her down by the shoulders, to no resistance.

“Go back to sleep.”

Esther stares at me for a moment before assuming a fetal position. Being awake would only expose her to pain. I place my hand on her thigh and her eyes close.

Rest, Esther. Mornings are far too vile when you’re this unwell.

Tag List: @lancelotscloak @violettduchess @pathogenic @fang-and-feather @tele86

[banalityofambiguity]

I think there’s no level of political commentary more terminally online and utterly useless than motivated reality denial. I’ll use the example of one of the funniest people I have ever encountered on the internet, a self-proclaimed “Midwestern German Nationalist” who believed they were an oppressed minority in the United States and that their nation was a legitimate and real thing waiting to spring into existence as soon as the boot of America was removed. If they are confronted with evidence such as “basically nobody in your proposed borders even speaks German” they will respond that “that’s because it’s being suppressed”. In reality, all of us can agree that “Midwestern Germany” is not a real nation because nobody actually believes in its existence aside from this one woman on the internet. There is no conspiracy in place to suppress the “truth” of this nation’s existence, there’s just the very simple fact that in the real world, if you go to the Midwest, effectively nobody will describe themselves as being Germans oppressed by America. We can all agree that this is stupid, and that arguing with people on the internet about your imaginary nation-state in the American midwest is never going to make it actually exist. But if you truly believe in this absurd cause, you have to believe that it can exist, and that arguing with people about its existence will make it real.

This specific example is basically harmless, because it’s so stupid and niche as to be rendered irrelevant. But this is also done for issues that matter, despite it being utterly useless. Claiming that the United States of America’s populace is called “Americans” is just stating reality, and arguing that “it’s wrong to call them Americans” is stupid. If you want to criticize American imperialism you can just criticize American imperialism, you don’t need to have bizarre semantics arguments. You can argue that Ukraine should control Crimea without pretending that Russia hasn’t controlled it de facto for nearly 10 years. You can criticize the State of Israel’s invasion of Gaza, or treatment of Palestinians more generally, without pretending that Israel doesn’t actually exist. Because however you think the world should be, claiming on the internet that the world is different than it is achieves nothing but making you feel smug satisfaction that you’re “showing them” by refusing to engage with the world that everyone else lives in.

And this, in turn, just makes you appear stupid and profoundly unserious.

[zoyalannister]

i agree with everything you said. i don't understand why cassandra though it was necesary a flora redemption arc via travel with her daughter and partner to find their origins, i find it werid, as anna and ari have been so little together and i would not go with my mother in a travel with a partner whom i have been with less than a year, is awkward

i also noticed in the end all of them go away in some way or another, james and cordelia go to their honeymoon, thomas and alastair in a new home, matthew in his travels, so maybe the chocie was to show ari truly loved anna and like the rest left to be alone, that is why i don't get flora going with them

i know is useless thinking of this among many other issues this book has, but i have been wondering why this choice of narrative, as well as why flora is friendly with sona in the last scene and not mentions of her talking to anna's parents which i would have understood, maybe anna's parents were excluded in this family meetings flora organised? i don't get anything of this finale and the sudden protagonism of flora who had little to none in the other books

Anon, I would never go to a travel with my mother and my partner and we've been together many years at this point.

When CC mentioned that the finale would be bittersweet I thought she meant the characters parting ways, which it's kind of what happens, but the way she makes it happen is stupid.

Like, Kit died 6 months ago and everyone is happy to play happy family? Anna is "happier than ever" when her brother literally died in her arms? CC either has no siblings or deeply hates them to write something like that.

Also CC totally erased Gabriel and Cecily to give space and a nonsense redemption arc to Flora (btw, she is so irrelevant that when I read your other ask I didn't remember who she was and I understood she was Ari's mother from the context). Flora in like 24 hours switches from "No I pretend I didn't hear it, you are actually straight" to a total 180° turn that is very conveniently not shown, and now she basically holds PFLAG meetings in an era when in England being gay was illegal and people ended up in jail for this.

I could understand this change if the Shadowhunters were a more advanced and open minded society, but in 2007 Alec is terrified that his father may vaguely suspect that he's not straight, thing that now thanks to TLH is a huge plot hole because:

-In 1903 gay Shadowhunters could adopt children, like Anna and Ari consider, and the average reaction to homosexuality is "ahahah I didn't understand why he was making a huge drama out of the fact that he likes men ahahahahah";

-How can Robert's father be homophobic and raise Robert in a homophobic environment since he is literally Anna's nephew??

But back to Flora, she is an irrelevant character who suddenly had a role so CC can check out on the "representation checklist" the line that says "write supportive parents for gay characters". And her travelling with Ari and Anna is embarrasingly invasive and stupid, it would only make sense if, as I said, Anna is about to fall apart and Ari needs her mother's support to tend to her 24/7 until she processes her grief. But in CC's vision, Flora is just there to be a third wheel I guess?

Also, as you pointed out, it's utterly stupid that Flora talks to Sona and not to Gabriel and Cecily, her daughter's in-laws, but let me explain how this shitpile of a book works: why give Gabriel and Cecily any role, despite they actually had a personality before this shitty series came out and they are the ones who lost a child, when the useless mother of the Supreme Perfect Mary Sue of this series can have some space?

Your point is absolutely right, anon. This is just the latest shit tile in a huge shit mosaic.

[lecpenni]

gonna post about LEC both changing to League of legends EMEA Championship and the rumoured rosters right now since they're all solid except coaches

firstly the changes to the system are going to make the top teams way better i think, bo3 is better and the system is gonna be interesting, but the bottom 2 are going to be really really shafted and i think there's a higher chance of a rookie team blowing up nearly instantly, see BDS

i like 3 splits with winter and spring feeding into MSI, but i think one more cool thing could be the champion of winter (if they keep at least a 3 man core etc) facing the spring champion to actually qualify, since right now it feels like some teams will use winter split as a testing grounds and might create a "winter split doesn't matter" narrative which i desperately do not want.

summer is ending with something similar in the the big season finals, which I like a lot, and especially because the new format means that you can't coast in off of championship points like G2 and MAD did, which ended up sending what i think was one of the surprisingly weakest european teams ever to worlds, so i do hope winter and spring feed more directly into MSI with that suggested Winter Champ vs Spring Champ to qualify into MSI

but i like the format changes overall, it feels like a good first step and i'm way more into this than LCS's 8 team playoffs that looks like a fucking fiesta until top 2/3/4 and means that a team can coast and play like absolute fucking hogshit until they reach playoffs

anyways roster changes:

wooloo on twitter posted this

which was the final line up for each team as we know right now

quickly ordered:

VIT, HRTS, KOI, FNC

G2, XL, MAD

SK, AST

BDS

and then bigger explanations top to bottom:

BDS:

god it's so good they got rid of xmatty, he looked lost and alone in LEC and played really really badly for almost every game. even during jinx/zeri, but i genuinely don't know if crownie will be an upgrade. objectively? he's better, but his vitality run was really really underwhelming and he often demanded resources despite not using them effectively, depriving his topsides and usually just

not doing well

replacing cinkrof is a clown move, the man was dragging BDS to relevance while nuclearint had the occasional popoff, and the fact that he's teamless is utterly stupid, but whatever i guess people don't trust him after the OG run back in 2017 and then the cursed bds lineup.

if labrov and adam don't show the form they had in 2021 summer and ERLs respectively, bin the whole thing honestly

nuclearint seems like he'll be the "franchise" for BDS, which you know what, you could do worse

AST:

it's such a nothing roster, Finn was good as heck but usually got outclassed if he couldn't cheese a matchup on kled or irelia, 113 was the worst part of kcorp, dajor is Fine and probably a cheap pickup, and kobbe/jeonghoon are the only real chance they have to secure a top 8 finish, which they're gonna fistfight SK for i think

SK:

speaking of SK, after they made a big song and dance privately about hard investing into reaching higher in LEC, coming back in with sertuss is odd. he was fine? but he was just fine, nothing explosive or insane until he got akali, so we'll see if he keeps growing at the pace he has been

irrelevant had a very fucking good rookie split IMO, even if toplane was such a useless island and he crumbled a bit in playoffs, but tbf all of misfits did (rip bunny boys, you will be remembered fondly)

markoon was the shining new star of jungle, glad he has a team, can't wait to see him grow

exakick and doss were really bloody good in ERLs, doss' attitude has already started souring his reputation again, can't wait to see him booted for someone else (this is a joke)

XL:

well XL has my 2 favourite LEC players, Vetheo and Odo, so i know who i'm supporting

patrik/targamas will be interesting to watch after targa's middling worlds, and xerxe's return to EU was undramatic and perfectly fine, can't wait for him to play for 2ish years because he's one of the only veteran jungles left

VTO and odo had great years, and i still think VTO was the best mid player in both spring and summer, so i can't wait to see him be focused by every jungler in the league, and odo to rely so hard on tanks and outperform everyone until people realise a ban button is there

MAD:

i have no clue what to think, nisqy went from a new eu golden boy to winner of the dade award at worlds for a truly horrendous performance, chasy was decent? in NLC but nothing insane or impressive i think, elyoya spent the start of the offseason as the hottest property on the market, only to not be afforded by anyone, and hyli leaving fnatic was an unfortunate inevitability after the absolutely horrible performance he had in groups

but i think the most questionable pickup in the whole goddamn league was carzzy. i personally do not understand why carzzy was ever rated, i don't think the guy had a SINGLE good performance on VIT, and was usually the weakest member of MAD if armut got gnar, so why he's back on mad, with hyli no less is such a huge question mark. i don't really *want* them to succeed unfortunately, but they'll probably get somewhere with nisqy's shotcalling and elyoya's raw mechanical prowess

G2:

letting jankos go was the worst possible decision, but yike is a promising prospect after a good ass year on LDLC, caps hopefully can look more claps again after his insane playoffs run in spring, and BB is right now the second best eu toplaner by virtue of toplane in eu being such a bad role. the botlane is where all the hype is, and if hans/miky show up the way that that 2018 msf botlane did then G2 might have a chance

FNC:

fnatic's roster only swapping the botlane is probably the best course of action for it?

a lot of bad rumours around upset, and the really good temporary performance by rhuckz, and return of the king :)

honestly i think i'm just happy to see rekkles in black and orange again, and rhuckz looked very promising after his performance at worlds, so we'll see how fnatic does after super long of their insane aggression with bwipo and hyli

HRTS:

no clue about how this team will do, but i think they'll be the most fun to watch. jackspectra was probably the best ERL ADC, mersa was insanely confident and looked promising if nothing else?

the big one about HRTS though, is Evi and Jankos

frankly this is the coolest pair of signings this offseason, after it looked like jankos would miss out on spring/winter, and evi being the first ever japanese export. evi's a monster on urgot, a beast on kennen, and honestly was one of the stronger tops in playins and would've been in groups had DFM gotten there. really looking forward to seeing him there!

KOI:

previously rogue, their only change is szygenda in the top lane, which might be an upgrade? in erls and previously in LEC he was both a solid carry player and able to play tank duty, with his gwen especially being feared in the ERLs. besides that, the 4 man core who looked very solid at worlds are staying, so i think KOI are a shoein for winners, especially if jarvan stays in meta

VIT:

when i say i have no expectation of vitality it's because they have a terrible track record. after buying their way into EULCS, fielding middling rosters, having the worst import of all time in Hachani, then scraping into worlds 2018, they have yet to really pop off and show europe anything. but they're a big money team, and after going from last place nji and skeanz with milica and benching comp, to a suprisingly fun and interesting core of szygenda/selfmade/lider, they threw it out the window and spent huge money on alphari/selfmade/perkz/carzzy/labrov, only to bench the only functioning part of that and then sign haru who was

Perfectly Fine

and again, they're doing this again, signing kaiser in support possibly the most overhyped part of MAD, never forget the "i wasted flash on leona, time to run under tower because i need to wait 5 seconds for hexflash", neon in botlane who I'm so happy is keeping an LEC spot, blacklisted LPL jungle prodigy Bo and upper tier LCK CL top player photon, i have no clue what to think

bo's a monster, photon seems to be brutally consistent and likely scrimmed vs zeus and played vs thanatos in LCKCL, so i'm expecting more than i would if they signed a different ERL top

some people are probably already saying "ew random korean player" like they did for malrang and jeonghoon, but here's the thing, random korean player can throw hands with the best, and korean players are usually the best, and the signing makes sense since no LCK teams probably needed a new toplaner except for the lowest tier ones, and spending longer on challenger teams isn't exactly the best path into LCK. point is, photon is going to be good, and probably get signings in korea if he dislikes vitality if he shows up, which vs the caliber of tops in europe, he will

final thoughts:

i like the new format, and the teams have made very interesting changes. as for coaches, the only coach rumour i heard is vitality signing misfit's coaching staff, who were world class and took a team who should've been fighting for 6th and put them within 1 bo5 of worlds 2 years in a row. i can't wait for lec this year and i absolutely am going to support XL and HRTS, but i can't say i'm gonna dislike anyone, except BDS, who are physically unsupportable

TL;DR: LEC has a better format and the teams are exploding and reforming in a beautiful way

[doctorguilty]

Bbbbb

For what it's worth I'm definitely feel unhappy and concerned about the current application of ai art in like industry and how the prognosis looking in regards to to, but it's absolutely impossible to have any kind of meaningful or productive conversation about it because the social media populace at large has still not moved past the most bottom shit tier arguments, namely a) "it doesn't count as art because art is made by humans and art has meaning and soul" (as if the philosophical definition of "art" isn't one of the most subjective things in the entire world, but more importantly, this is a 100% irrelevant point) and b) "making ai art is stealing other peoples art" (it's not, and "stealing" is just a really nonapplicable word when talking about visual art and derivative work at large), and these points keep coming from echo chambers made up almost entirely of people who actually will see close to no consequences of exploitation of ai generation, because they aren't working in any professional industry (they're just convinced ai will undercut their independent commission revenue or whatever) or, even worse, people who don't do any digital art whatsoever but are just parroting "support human artists" talk

I said this from THE BEGINNING that ultimately, the debates about what constitutes "real" art and everyone's collective lack of understanding about fair use and deviantart circa 2007 mindset that referencing a pose too closely = stealing are all utterly irrelevant points to the entities with the power to exploit the tools and cut back on their staff and produce more and more quick, cheap, low quality material for a profit. Companies like Disney, for example, don't give a shit about art having enough "human soul", they don't give a shit about whether or not copying artstyles or scraping data is "stealing" because they can do literally whatever they want with their impenetrable legal team (and they most definitely have no moral hangups about it)

But everyone is so latched onto their hyper individualistic mindset about art, all the discourse that should have been dedicated to the bigger picture is instead constantly funneled into "protecting" themselves (from the threat of other independent artists online allegedly looking to "steal" from them) and attacking anyone who so much as fucks around with some silly prompts in dall-e or anyone who's trying to like, direct the conversation away from the useless vitriol that will harm absolutely nobody who holds any power to exploit the medium, and instead making us just like, crabs in a bucket, you know?

It's been, what, a year now? And no amount of raging about it online has stopped companies from publicly flaunting how much ai they are using, so clearly it's not even a PR issue, which should give all the picture necessary that the points people are angry about don't matter. And that makes everyone MORE angry, but instead of like, considering WHY the discussion isn't going anywhere as it is and conceding that the answer to "what is art? 🤔" is "who give a shit", everyone's turned it into a black and white moral issue about the perceived correct answers, and if you're not on board with them you're saying "no I hate art and I hate all artists I hope they die" it's exhausting. That's why I kinda gave up talking about it because I feel the debate is kinda lost, not because I think I'm incorrect, but because it doesn't seem like we're budging from those irrelevant arguments (and complete misinformation I didn't address that but my god there's so much misinformation being passed around as fact) and there's nothing I can really do about it except watch it all go up in flames

[afro-elf]

fine, i’ll elaborate on my thoughts about tylor sift but they will be disorganized

disclaimer: i know a few people will read this and be like “op is a hozier fan can she really talk about the cultural obsession with mediocre white art?” and the answer is yes because a) i’m black and i have an english degree so can do whatever i fucking want, b) hozier is a better artist than taylor objectively, like his mediocre tracks would be considered her great ones, and c) the comparison of taylor to hozier is part of the problem Genuinely because i don’t even think white people like half the music they listen to, they just don’t wanna be left behind, we’ll get into this later. i’m sorry to everyone who is tired of hearing about him but hozier will be returning later in this post jsfglsjlgldsjlfd

second note: read this

i don’t just dislike taylor because she’s white. i don’t dislike taylor because she’s a woman. i don’t dislike her because she writes mean and petty lyrics about past relationships and people who wronged her. i don’t dislike taylor because her public circle of friends is almost exclusively blonde white celebrities with their own laundry lists of issues that includes ryan reynolds and blake lively who are poster children for white privilege and pseudo-excellence if i’ve ever seen them. i dislike taylor because the amalgamation of all of those things is so exemplary of a huge problem i have with the music industry in general but also like american society

fuck it, numbered list!

1. taylor swift consistently releases the same mediocre album but in different colors. every album is the same lyrically and tonally. her body of work rarely goes very far above “good for taylor swift”. folklore as both title and musical aesthetic is irrelevant to the actual content of the album, which is just every taylor swift album except set to folk pop and with a bit more cussing, congrats for baby’s first swear. i’ve seen folklore compared to much better bodies of work and even propped up by stans as album of the year, a distinction that rina sawayama and chloe x halle will be battling it out for if there is any justice in the world at all. the fact that she is allowed to do this and still be considered great when this is something that even white male artists are butchered critically for... astounds me. like we all know how well received all of coldplay’s similar sounding albums are.... Come on. 

2. i don’t think taylor or her work is particularly feminist and yet for some reason every time she frowns an army of white women brings her kleenex. i’m not saying taylor’s anger has always been unjustified, but her feminism to me has always felt like “i can do whatever a man can do” feminism, which is utterly fucking useless to me as a black woman. it’s only useful to her because as a wealthy, white, straight, cis white woman her ONLY obstacle in life is her gender. and if she just didn’t have that tricky little bitch then maybe people would take her seriously. like, just think about her music video for the man... what was the thesis of that? what was the point of that? with all of her privileges she’d just be gaining a single extra privilege. she’s a blonde blue eyed thin white girl, the world kisses her feet. i have no interest in proving myself any better or any worse than white men, they are not the standard for how a person should be treated, they’re cautionary tales, and white women are too. i think taylor capitalizes off of white woman victimhood, and it’s all over her writing style. even when she’s trying to be empowered, like in mad woman for example, there is this tone to it of victimization, poking the bear, unleashing the beast if you will. she invokes the imagery of salem witches and even more boldly chooses a noose to write about in the song which is..... surely going to be a white tumblr staple for many gifsets to come but holy shit is it hollow. she also tends to come back to teenage memories in her music and she’s thirty. i don’t think about being seventeen unless i’m being held at gunpoint but she seems to think about it All The Time. and part of this is to keep herself young, at least in her music, which only further ingrains this image of fragile teeny bopper taylor into the mind of the listener, fueling her victim image. this imagery and language means nothing because the world always rallies around taylor. even when she was the butt of jokes for not being beyonce (which she is not and never can be) and writing about her exes (which she does), she was largely supported by the industry and by critics. look at how many fucking awards she has!

3. folk and indie and alternative music is in a moment of transition, where musicians of color are getting the chance to really speak about how they’ve been treated in these overwhelmingly white circles and create their own standards and their own voices. and for taylor swift to swoop in with aaron dessner and jack antonoff fantano and almost reassert that mid-2010s indie sound as The Sound of folk pop in the popular consciousness.... it makes me violent! it! makes! me! violent! 

4. back to hozier! finally, i wanna talk about white standom, fandom, bandom, and womandom. i often see these very superficial comparisons between hozier and taylor (and hozier and florence and hozier and stevie nicks and hozier and whatever other white woman in fashion) and they frustrate me for more than one reason. i know that hozier has met taylor and said she’s cool, which is nice of him and he’s a nice man, but i’m not a nice man so i’m going to just say it: none of the people who have made those posts have listened to more than four hozier songs and it shows. the reason why this matters is because these posts catch on and create an image and preconception of hozier’s music that is divorced from reality and divorced from his influences and most importantly divorced from the deliberate and reverent blackness of his musical style. hozier has his white male privilege in the industry for sure but he’s not as towering of a giant as taylor and taylor’s music is an unsalted chicken, plain oatmeal, white paint drying on a white wall, a stick of unflavored gum. her music is so white it told me that its dad is a cop. i am, as a black hozier fan, exhausted with having to share space with white women who don’t know why hozier’s music kicks me in my lungs sometimes and think that taylor mentioning a tree ONCE in her 3 minute acoustic guitar slog about whatever suburb is the same when it simply is not. i swear some of you are pretending to love taylor because your friends love her and you don’t wanna be left out of the hot new musical discourse but she’s only the hot new musical discourse CONSTANTLY because she’s a white woman, she’s almost the Perfect white woman. like if someone asked me to describe a white woman, it would be taylor swift. her position at the top of the musical pyramid among people who eclipse her musically, vocally, and lyrically is only allowed because she’s The Perfect White Woman. she’s an ideal. white girls relate to her immediately because of it and now we have this unshakable mob of unbearable white women who think that the world has wronged someone who literally wrote fanfiction about the rich oil heiress white woman who owned her rhode island mansion before her aklghlghdhlgs it drives me fucking NUTS 

anyway that’s all. if you made it this far, listen to adia victoria, kaia kater, samantha crain, valerie june, kelsey lu, corinne bailey rae, brittany howard, kimya dawson, japanese breakfast, cold specks, left at london, rhiannon giddens, aisha badru, shea diamond, nadine shah, xenia rubinos, karen o, mirel wagner.... Anyone

[ladydaemon]

ayooooo can i get some jealous nikolai please!!!! like seeing you talking to someone else and getting all angry only to admit he really wants ur attention ! pls and thank u <3333

A/N: This is set in Siege and Storm (i think lol it's been awhile) so spoilers for that. Also, this is technically Sturmhond x reader but we aren't going to talk about that. This is probably not what you wanted and honestly it's so short I hate it, sorry in advance.

Summary: One of the Darkling's Grisha flirts with you, only for a pissed privateer to intervene.

Warnings: swearing, um insecure nikolai but not really, also beware i haven't read rule of wolves yet sooo

"Herring is fucking delicious."

"We can't be friends anymore."

"Bold of you to assume we were friends in the first place."

"Honestly, fuck you, Tamar," Y/N huffed, scowling at the woman. First, there was the Darkling demanding passage back to Ravka with his prisoners and prissy Grisha, and now her best friend telling her she liked the one food she despised?

Betrayal of the worst kind.

Y/N turned back to the deck of the ship, watching with a sort of disgusted curiosity at the newcomers on their ship. They're like parrots, she thought. Brightly colored, virtually useless, and they don't stop talking.

The Grisha were doing nothing - walking around, trying to look important and above everyone else, and pestering the crew with questions like, when are we getting there? why is it taking so long? wait, there isn't a hairdresser on board?

"Oh, look at him. What, did he have a rebellious phase as a teenager and didn't grow out of it?" Tamar's voice brought her out of her thoughts, pulling them towards the Darkling. Y/N had to admit, Tamar was right - he was staring pensively out at the ocean, black cape billowing around him, and he generally looked very much like he was brooding.

"An hour of deck-swabbing says the girl down there is his ex," she snorted, swinging her legs over the edge of the boat. It was one of those days where the seas were calm and the breeze was light, and only a couple people were needed to keep the boat moving. Y/N and Tamar were enjoying the free time while it lasted.

"If you think I'm making that bet you are out of your mind. I agree completely."

Y/N hummed, enjoying the sea breeze for a bit before a small cough made her look up to see a broad-shouldered man in a blue kefta with red embroidery standing beside her. "May I sit with you ladies?"

It was clear he wasn't asking, and Tamar and Y/N exchanged an amused glance. "Sure."

The man settled gracefully next to Y/N, kefta pleated like a schoolgirl's around him. Y/N stifled a giggle. It was silent for a beat before she and Tamar resumed their argument, bickering and laughing.

The Grisha put his hand on her thigh.

Both Y/N and Tamar froze for half a second. Tamar raised an eyebrow, a silent question, but Y/N shook her head, ever so slightly. She wanted to just how long the poor man would last.

Y/N turned to face the Grisha, a honeyed smile on her face. "Yes?"

He was obviously pleased that she had recognized him, and took it as his chance to speak, though his hand never left her thigh. "I don't believe we've been properly introduced. My name is Aaron."

"Y/N."

Aaron began to strike up some odd conversation that she barely payed attention to, grinning in a way that he probably thought was flirtatious. He was utterly oblivious to the rest of the crew noticing and snickering, placing bets on when Nikolai would intervene.

A cold, tight voice interrupted Aaron midsentence. "I suggest you take your hand off of my commander's thigh before I cut it off. We wouldn't want any mini Y/Ns running around now, would we?"

"A truly terrifying thought," Tamar agreed.

Y/N looked up to see one Nikolai Lantsov glaring at Aaron, who looked up at him in surprise.

Well, it wasn't really Nikolai Lantsov - this version of him was red-haired and green-eyed, with a weirdly-shaped face and a gaudy teal peacoat covering an equally gaudy yellow tunic. This was Sturmhond, privateer and sailor, not Nikolai, prince and royal.

It really came to no surprise that Aaron decided that he was of a higher status and that she was his for the taking. He stood up, chest-to-chest with Nikolai. "And why should I, thief?"

"Privateer, actually," Nikolai corrected smoothly, and if you hadn't known him, you wouldn't have seen the barely leashed anger, the fury in his eyes. "And because you spoiled brats don't know how to sail a paper boat, let alone a ship such as this. Good luck getting back to Ravka without my crew's help."

Aaron bristled, but Nikolai had the upper hand in the squabble, and everyone knew it. The Inferni scowled and walked away as Nikolai sat down next to the woman in question. To anyone else, he looked casual and in control, but his eyes were narrowed and his fists were slightly clenched and his breathing was far heavier than it should be.

Y/N sighed.

"Well, come on then," she grunted, pulling herself up and offering a hand to him. "Let's go to your room so you can all that teenage boy angst out."

He huffed, stuck his tongue out, but took her hand (not letting go, a fact noticed by Aaron, who whitened in understanding) and followed her belowdecks to his spacious office-slash-bedroom.

"Now, how about you let out all your-" Y/N began, starting to turn around – and stopping halfway there because she was being hugged from behind by one teddy-bear of a man.

"Pay attention to me, please," he whined softly, burying his face in the crook of her neck.

She stifled a giggle, reaching over her head to pat his hair. "Your coat is gaudy, your hair is too red, and your face looks like a donkey's ass."

Nikolai huffed a breath, the warm air tickling her skin. "If you insist on being stubborn-"

"I'm not finished-"

"Please?" His voice was almost childlike, almost shy, and Y/N found herself willing to indulge him. "Tell me about Novyi Zem again."

Ah. Honestly, it was a surprise that she hadn't expected it.

Y/N had grown up in Novyi Zem - she was the daughter of two farmers, and had grown up in the fields. Nikolai, being royal, was utterly fascinated by. He wanted to know how the plows worked (and how he could make them better), how the crops were rotated (so he could improve the rotation), how much money a farmhand costed (so he could determine if they were overpaid or underpaid), how much money went into the pastures and barns.

But most of all, he wanted to hear about her. Her childhood friends, how she had spent her days. He would listen for hours, just soaking in tiny details that seemed irrelevant to her, and commit them to memory. He knew that she had had a dog name Foxie, she rode with an English saddle, that she had named one of the cows Milky, that she hated working in the garden but loved plowing the fields, and that her childhood crush's name was Maurin.

"What do you want me to tell you, sobachka?" Nikolai huffed slightly at the nickname. With the Darkling on their ship and the Grisha onboard, it wasn't safe to say his real name, even in the safe quarters belowdecks, so Y/N had gotten around to calling him his nickname. It felt more him than 'Sturmhond', and it was common enough name that nobody would question it.

Somehow, Nikolai had managed to maneuver them both to the one windowed seat in the room, her sitting comfortably between his legs, back resting on his chest. She had barely noticed. "Anything. Everything."

And she told him. Talked and talked until the sun began to set and their legs had fallen asleep. And he listened, following each word, each syllable with rapt attention, mouth quirking upwards when he saw the glint in her eye until she went quiet, her voice used and spent from talking so much so she just rested her head on his chest and he held and at that moment, Prince Nikolai Lantsov of Ravka knew that he would do absolutely anything to get her attention.

[officialsporkintheroad]

here’s a prompt :) — tom and hermione dance at the yule ball. tom comes to terms w/ his feelings for hermione but does not confess right away. the next morning, she is gone (she went back to her own timeline). he wants to find answers.

(A/N: I know it's been literally months, but I finally got around to this prompt and I had so much fun writing a little snippet for it. Hope you like it, love, and thank you so much for sending in the prompt <3 )

warnings: brief violent/murderous thoughts, toxic relationships, possessive behavior, Tom being a little bit of a creep in general

The whole ordeal is tedious.

All parties, in Tom’s opinion, possess a certain dullness that seems utterly inescapable once you reach a certain point in society, and while the Yule Ball is a school function—and therefore not quite on the same level as, say, the Malfoy’s annual Yule party or even Slughorn’s more exclusive events—it’s still burdened by the same rules of propriety and small talk that Tom loathes.

Therefore, tedious.

Made worse, still, by the fact that Hermione Granger is floating around the dancefloor in a pale blue, satin gown that flatters her lithe body and delicate curves, her riotous hair half-pinned up, pearls peeking out between the wild curls. In the silvery atmospheric lighting, she looks ethereal, an otherworldliness that suits her bizarre personality. She is not the most graceful dancer nor the most practiced, but there’s always a confidence to Hermione that seems almost daring, as if to say, “My faults are irrelevant in the face of my accomplishments.”

And she is accomplished, Tom will admit that now. Four months of watching her breeze through classes, mastering spells on the first try and giving him a run for his money with her theory work. He has seen her do things that he had previously only thought himself capable of, has watched her match him wit for wit, barb for barb.

She is the only woman—the only person—that comes even close to being his equal, and yes, he had resisted that at first, but now…

But now, he can’t stand the thought of her dancing with anyone but him.

His feet are moving before he’s even really finished the thought, slipping through the crowd of dancing couples with ease as he makes his way to her. She sees him, of course, because no matter how hard Tom has tried, it seems like Hermione always sees him—or more specifically, sees through him. Her eyes—caramel brown, thick lashes, wary and angry and curious all at once—narrow, but she doesn’t stop him when he taps on the shoulder of her current partner and asks to cut in.

The boy pales a bit, throws Hermione an apologetic smile, and bows out. It’s nice, Tom thinks, how even now, with few knowing even half of what he’s truly capable of, there’s still an understanding that when Tom Riddle asks for something, he’s not really asking.

“You’ve given poor Adrian a heart attack,” Hermione comments idly, casually, like it’s just an observation and she couldn’t care less. He isn’t fooled into a false sense of security—they have been playing this back-and-forth for months now, and he knows her anger is always ready, always burning just beneath the surface—but admittedly, he enjoys it too much to ever back down.

“Perhaps you should have acquired a date that doesn’t startle so easily,” he muses, enjoying the subtle twitch of her jaw.

“Perhaps you should learn to wait until the next song to ask for a dance. I hear patience is a virtue.”

It burns, a little, that she’s right. He could have waited for the song to end, waited to approach her during the lull in music. It would have caused less of a scene, certainly. Would have seemed more gentlemanly, less…desperate.

But then, it hadn’t really been a conscious choice in the first place.

“And you could have refused,” he tosses back, because he’s petty and it’s true anyway.

The pause that follows is one that Tom doesn’t expect. What he expects is for her to push back, snarl some insult about Tom being childish and greedy, or snark that she could never dare to refuse the great Tom Riddle—all said with the heaviest, driest sarcasm he’s ever heard in his life. Instead, she sighs.

“I’m tired of fighting useless battles,” she says, and there’s something so bitter and sad and…and tired in her voice that it makes him stare. Because she’s definitely not just talking about the dance he stole from her.

Because maybe… Maybe, despite all the anger and derision and sheer viciousness that has tainted their every interaction since she arrived the beginning of September, maybe she, too, feels that he has worn her down in the way that she has done with him.

It is not love—Tom is absolutely certain of that—but it is something startlingly closer to it than Tom ever imagined he’d feel: a sort of raw possessiveness over her that pisses him off nearly as much as it gratifies him, an understanding that she is likely the only person alive that could ever satisfy him on an intellectual level, and the only person he has ever wanted like this, even if he’s half tempted some days to strangle her and throw her carcass down in the Chamber so no one finds the body.

It is strangely compelling that he can see hints of that same violent and conflicting desire in her.

When the song ends, she disappears into the crowd and Tom lets her go. After all, he doesn’t need to chase after something that is already halfway his.

*****************************************

Hermione is not at breakfast. She is not part of the group of students that Tom escorts to the train platform, and she is not at lunch when he returns. He asks the Ravenclaw 5th year prefect if he’s seen her, checks in at the Hospital Wing, and finally ends up at the library—where, truthfully, he really expects her to be.

The library is empty.

Almost.

“She’s not here,” a voice says, and Tom stiffens at the sound, an automatic response he can’t control no matter how he tries.

Dumbledore, always poking his nose in where it’s not wanted.

“Sir?”

“Miss Granger left this morning.”

Tom frowns, because he knows she didn’t get on the train, and the deputy headmaster must realize this because he sighs.

“She returned home, Tom.”

“Home,” he repeats flatly, because Dumbledore is lying. He’s sure of it.

Because Hermione doesn’t have a home to go back to. She told him as much—parents dead, all her distant family either deceased or estranged, and even if she could get in touch with them, none of them wanted to take in a war orphan. She was alone and lost when she came to Hogwarts. She can’t have gone home, because Hogwarts is home. For her, and for him.

“Miss Granger was only here on a temporary basis, Tom. You know that,” Dumbledore is saying. “Arrangements have been made with her mother’s cousins in America…”

That’s around the time Tom stops listening. It’s all bullshit, every word. It’s funny. As much as Dumbledore has always managed to know when Tom’s up to something, it goes both ways. It always has.

“I see,” Tom says eventually. “I…am sorry I wasn’t there to wish her off. We had been getting on better these past few weeks. You don’t happen to have an address for her, do you? I’d like to write her, if I can.”

“Ah, unfortunately not, my boy. Her relatives are travelling people, I believe.”

They both know they’re both lying. Neither of them blinks.

“I see,” he says again. “Well, thank you for informing me, professor. I’ll be off to dinner now, though.”

Dumbledore watches him with undisguised suspicion for a good minute before smiling. “Of course, Tom. It’s shepherd’s pie tonight. You certainly wouldn’t want to miss it.”

Tom holds his calm, impersonally polite smile through dinner, relieved that at least most of his peers in Slytherin have gone home for the holidays so he’s not subjected to their inane chatter. He keeps it in place through evening rounds, through his nightly routine. It’s only later, having sneaked down to the Chamber a little after midnight, that he lets the façade crack, firing off spells at the wall with a vicious, raging anger while he shouts his frustration.

Impulsive and erratic as it is, it does make him feel better. Steadier. Clearer.

He’s Tom Riddle, he reminds himself: prodigiously talented, sharp and clever and determined, the brightest mind of the century. And then he smiles.

There’s nowhere Dumbledore can hide her that Tom can’t find.

send me prompts if you want <3

[madara-fate]

"they all say that she never did much for the plot but who healed most of the character" LMFAO as if healing characters makes you relevant to the plot. who cares frankly. like i know she heals people, good for her, she's not completely useless in terms of skills, but who really cares? i sure as hell don't read shonen to see other characters healing. fact is, she is irrelevant to the plot. her character is irrelevant to the themes of the manga, doesn't really have outstanding goals of her own, she's more of a support character than anything, always in naruto's shadow, following whatever he wants to do. and she's a damsel in distress more times than the times she's actually useful. like yeah it's not cool to invalidate someone's skills just because there are other people who have the same skills, i completely agree with you on that, but it was never only about her skills. why do her stupid fans bring her medical prowess when someone talks about her impact on the plot? what does her medical skills have to do with the plot? to they generate plot? lmfao

Why are you stalking my blog Anon? If you're so confident in the shit you're saying, then surely you should at least have the nerve and decency to say it with your account right? What are you so afraid of?

LMFAO as if healing characters makes you relevant to the plot. who cares frankly. like i know she heals people, good for her, she's not completely useless in terms of skills, but who really cares? i sure as hell don't read shonen to see other characters healing. fact is, she is irrelevant to the plot.

I'll come back to this point at the end where I'll demonstrate just how utterly stupid it is. It's also funny how you ask who cares that Sakura heals people, and then you go and say how you don't read shounens to see people healing others, as if anyone cares why the fuck you follow shounens. So let me ask, who cares why you read shounen? Just because you don't care for the medics doesn't mean everyone else shares your mindset. Excuse me for caring about more than who can create the biggest explosions.

Her character is irrelevant to the themes of the manga

How so? What are the themes of the manga? Never giving up on your bonds? Forgiveness? Redemption? Working hard to achieve your goals? How is Sakura irrelevant to those themes? She never gave up on her bond with Sasuke, she along with Naruto were intrinsically linked with Sasuke's redemption, she was among the first people to forgive Sasuke, Obito etc, and she worked hard under Tsunade to achieve her goals. So explain, how is she irrelevant to the themes?

Doesn't really have outstanding goals of her own

One of her goals was for Sasuke to be saved from his hatred, she accomplished that.

Another one of her goals was to be able to stand beside Naruto and Sasuke on the battlefield rather than standing behind them watching as they fight her battles for her, she accomplished that.

Another one of her goals was the establishment of a Children's Mental Healthcare Clinic so that orphans like Naruto and Sasuke wouldn't have to experience such traumatic childhoods, and she accomplished that as well.

So what are you talking about?

She's more of a support character than anything, always in naruto's shadow, following whatever he wants to do.

Seriously, what on Earth are you talking about? Her choices aren't dependent on him. The most prominent goal for both of them during the story, was to save Sasuke from his dark path, and in case you've forgotten, Sakura wanted to do that before Naruto did. Honestly there's just no thought behind anything you're saying. If she just followed whatever Naruto wanted to do, then why would she have prepared for Naruto to hate her after carrying out her plan to deal with Sasuke herself? Just think for a moment, my goodness.

She's a damsel in distress more times than the times she's actually useful

I dare you to prove this point.

Why do her stupid fans bring her medical prowess when someone talks about her impact on the plot? what does her medical skills have to do with the plot? to they generate plot? lmfao

And now I'll demonstrate just how truly stupid this point is - Her medical skills have a lot to do with the plot because without those skills, characters who are very significant to the plot would have died. She kept Hinata alive after Pain impaled her, she kept Shikamaru alive after his chakra was drained to critical levels, she kept Naruto alive long enough to reach Minato after he had Kurama extracted, I could go on and on. Why would you to think that Sakura's medical skills have been useless to the plot, when they have literally been the direct reason why plot significant characters have been able to remain in the plot in the first place? I mean what? Do you honestly think that the plot would have remained the same if those characters had died?

Please, answer these questions, and I'll look forward to your anonymous response since you're too scared to say things publicly.