#these people have genuinely nothing better to do

[ms-demeanor]

Genuine question about earplugs.

At the concerts I've been to i ussaly put in my Bluetooth headphones, like the little raycon ones that stick in your ears. Is that sufficient protection or do you need the dedicated earplugs?

That is better than nothing but you really should be using something that is meant to provide sound dampening, not sound delivery. If that is all you have at a concert, use those, but it's very worthwhile to get some actual earplugs. A lot of people in the notes are recommending Loops, personally I use an extra-small size of these types (not this brand, this is just an example):

[thebreakfastgenie]

You literally posted that chart blaming ppl who abstained from voting and then replied snidely to someone who pointed out that it's victim blaming. You don't want to talk about genocide because you know that you're in the wrong for shaming non-voters

That post has literally nothing to do with Gaza. I didn't even talk about Gaza in response to that comment, I just said that if they truly did not believe Harris was preferable to Trump they had nothing to complain about. If Harris wouldn't be better, then Trump being president is not a metaphorical crime, and therefore there are no victims to blame.

I am shaming non-voters, I'm right to do it and I'll do it again and again and again and again. Choosing not to vote is shameful. I think that even about elections without Donald Trump on the ballot because I have a strong sense of civic duty but it's extra shameful in elections like 2016 and 2024. If non-voters genuinely believe Trump being president is not meaningfully worse than Harris being president, they won't feel shame and they won't care what I think. The problem is that non-voters know they're in the wrong because they can see what's happening as clearly as anyone else. When people ask them "can you honestly say Kamala Harris would [pick anything Trump has done in the last 16 days]?" they never say "yes." Because they can't.

No one wants to actually make the argument that refusing to vote for Harris over Gaza was worth the suffering Trump's election is causing, because it didn't do anything to help Gaza and it didn't pressure Democrats into agreeing with them. The only thing it did was make non-voters avoid feeling bad about voting for Harris. But now they feel bad anyway because they have a sinking feeling that Trump winning is worse. Most of the non-voters now whining wanted Harris to win so they would get the benefits of Harris being president and Trump not being president, but they wanted her to win without their votes so they didn't have to feel bad.

I don't want to talk about Gaza because it's a serious and sensitive topic and I don't feel informed enough to speak about it on my blog, especially when my political posts have been getting thousands of notes. I posted that ask to dissect the insidious pro-Trump rhetoric, not to address the content, and I did not want the piss on the poor website to have a slapfest using people's extreme suffering to score cheap shots at each other in the notes.

The term victim-blaming is for, like, victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. It's not a magic word to avoid taking responsibility ever. Grow the fuck up.

[corviddusk]

It's actually so depressing how people will try and take my transness away from me because they don't understand that my body is literally NOT "female" I'm intersex my anatomy is fucking weird, I need surgeries and I want to socially transition. I was raised as a boy and never got put on E but was put on T instead.

But because I was AFAB even though that never effected my gender of rearing, even though nobody ever truly let me be a girl, even though I was bullied my whole life and told I wasn't a real girl and I was a disgrace, it doesn't matter.

"Oh you're just an AFAB TME cis woman trying to invade our spaces"

"Oh come on you're better off as a man anyways you basically are one. If you want to be trans then you're a man. You are only allowed to be a man you're too gross to be a real woman anyways"

No I'm not cis I'm literally transitioning socially and medically. I'm looking at getting on E and maybe some way to block my high levels of T. I'm looking into bottom surgery. I've gotten massive help and pointers from other trans women because they're the only ones who understand my position. I literally engage in transfeminism and do everything I can to further help my sisters but it just ends up with me being stabbed in the back over and over.

I'm still going to help others. I still care about transfeminism, and I won't take shit from people who treat me like garbage for being intersex. I don't care if you're going to be openly transmisogynistic to me and try to chase me out of the only spaces that have genuinely welcomed me. Nobody in my personal life has ever had an issue with me being transfem now. All my friends who are trans women have been nothing but supportive and kind to me. Both intersex and perisex.

I will still be against the term "AFAB transfem" as it's gross and pushes to forcibly label many transfems as "AMAB" and makes a traumatic event into an identity that it should not be.

Saying that people like me who are intersex are incapable of being transfem is disgusting and the same as forcing us to be men. Fuck you.

[sexycornenthusiast]

eden's garden minecraft server headcanons

Damon: Guy who loves elaborate piston doors. Thinks he's a better builder than he actually is. He and Eva take turns upgrading random stuff in each other's bases while they're offline as a show of dominance. His storage "system" has been a disaster since she was banned. Keeps finding chickens all over the place and doesn't understand where they're coming from.

Eva: Dug herself into a mountain 10,000 blocks away from everyone to build absurdly complicated redstone contraptions, none of which have much utility beyond being cool (eg. working calculator, world's most efficient pickle farm, machine that automatically launches chickens all the way to Damon's base, etc). Likes to build traps in random places. Currently serving a month long ban sentence for blowing up Wolfgang's entire base in a fit of rage (nothing survived. you can see bedrock in some places)

Wolfgang: Has been living out of Grace's basement since The Incident and spends most of his time out on quests to get her whatever items or blocks she asks him for. Building anything stresses him out because he's a perfectionist so he's pretty much embraced the homeless lifestyle.

Grace: Builds almost exclusively out of white concrete. Surprisingly good at making minigames and has recently been preoccupied trying to find the best way to build Minecraft golf. Never collects her own resources. Anything Wolfgang can't get for her, she steals from someone else's storage - usually Damon, Wenona, or Diana. She would love to steal from Eva, but Eva only has one chest with two string and a poppy.

Jett: Also makes minigames but they're kind of bad in a charming way. Claims that Mark lives with him, but Mark has never been to his base. Teamed up with Cassidy and Jean to build a subway system (ice boat tracks) between everyone's bases and has since become enamored with the idea of iceboat racing.

Mark: Does nothing but dig perfect 16x16 holes to bedrock. No beacon, no enchantments, just pure love of the game. It's stress relief for him. Anything he doesn't directly need for crafting more tools gets left behind in a chest. Every once in a while Jett comes by and throws him 4 stacks of cooked pork chops so that's all he eats. The others eventually realize that if they fence off an area and label it as 'to be cleared' he'll just show up and do it.

Cassidy: Technically the server owner but hates admining. Flexed her speedrun strats by beating the ender dragon on day one. Gave everyone a free elytra in the first week (Wenona threw hers into lava in front of her and they've been Minecraft enemies ever since). Spends most of her time either doing community projects or pranking people. Was in the middle of trying to convince Eva to help build a fully functional postal system before The Incident.

Wenona: Has a huge villager trading hall and a farm for pretty much everything. Half the server is indebted to her in some way. The true extent of her infrastructure is unknown even to her closest friends. If you visit her at the wrong time your game WILL drop to 10 fps. Has been caught online at 3 AM multiple times but always claims she was "just AFKing" (this is a lie).

Ulysses: Bad at video games. Can barely play and has a death count in the multiple hundreds. Makes a full map of the server every week or so. Whenever he isn't doing that, he just finds someone doing something interesting (usually Wenona but not always) and watches them like a personal livestream.

Ingrid: Better at the game than anyone expected and has died the least amount of times. Obsessed with armor trims and has a downright unreasonable amount of dogs. Doesn't trade with villagers but uses them as "background characters" for her medieval city build. Constantly the target of pranks like turning her house into an aquarium or encasing it in obsidian, but seems to genuinely believe her friends are just giving her gifts in silly ways.

Toshiko: Building in the same city as Ingrid but in completely different style. Somehow they've made it work. Never affected by the pranks against her basemate because the last time that happened she made them regret their entire lives. Tries and fails to hide the fact that she's afraid of the nether. Types in chat in full grammatically correct sentences complete with punctuation.

Jean: Has admin privileges and does most of the work on that front. Had the final say on Eva's punishment after The Incident. Can never stay in one area for very long and has built something unique in every one of his classmates' bases. Not all of them are aware of this fact. Has sooo many tridents and no one understands how he gets such good drop rates.

Desmond: Spawn-proofed his entire area immediately and now plays the game as a chill farming sim. Only leaves said area on special occasions. Has more food than he could ever use and doesn't care if people take it.

Eloise: Beat all the in-game bosses in a span of like a week then got bored and stopped playing (this is valid).

Kai: Built an actually really impressive castle, but it's all facade and no function (there are no lights on the inside and it doesn't even have a back). Lives in a pile of chests and shulker boxes in an open field. Can never find anything in it. Has a pink bed.

Diana: Plays with shaders. Builds beautiful landscapes like a painting in Minecraft and focuses a lot on little details and atmosphere. Loves doing interiors. Don't ask her what a repeater does because she will not know. Gets all her materials through hand-gathering and generous donations. Eva also tried to blow up her base, but she found the TNT and dug it all up, leaving behind only a few minecarts that did minimal damage.

[fandoms-x-reader]

Replaced

Requested Anonymously

Oneshot

Summary: When R/N comes to the Devildom as the new human exchange student, everyone wants to get to know them, disregarding MC to do so. But things backfire when R/N and MC get together instead. Word Count: 2,269 Replaced!MC AU

You never thought about the possibility of another human exchange student coming to the Devildom. It was something that made sense after it happened. After all, Diavolo’s goal was always to have the Devildom integrated with the other two realms. And, it was hard to do that with only two students from the human world and the Celestial Realm attending RAD.

Still, you never imagined it happening so soon.

Everything was going great for you down in the Devildom. You had friends - genuine friends - who loved you and wanted to spend time with you. And more than that, you had the potential to find love.

You were happy.

And it was because of how happy you were with your friends that you would do anything you could to help them. And the biggest thing you could do to help, according to Diavolo, was to help the new exchange student settle into the Devildom.

You didn’t think anything of it at first. Everyone was excited to meet them, maybe a little too excited. But, it was a new human, so who could blame them? It’s not like humans came to the Devildom in groups or anything.

You knew that everyone was being a bit overbearing, asking the new exchange student as many questions as they could. They wanted to know everything about them.

It was strange for you to see how everyone acted around the new student. When you came to the Devildom, everyone acted cold to you. No one wanted anything to do with the new human. You had to fight to prove to them that you could belong there whereas they were welcoming the new student with welcome arms.

You tried to push your slight jealousy of that aside. Ultimately, it was your influence and good experiences with them that probably allowed them to be so open-minded with the new student.

And you had to admit, the new student was something special. They were kind and caring - and way more attractive than you expected them to be.

They were always kind to you and treated you with respect and you found yourself becoming fast friends with them. You believed they would be a welcome addition to your friend group.

It wasn’t until a month later that things started taking a turn for the worse. 

It started with small things.

The demon brothers would forget their plans with you because they had made plans with R/N. They stopped calling you the endearing nicknames they had bestowed upon you, referring to R/N in that way now. And when it came to outings, they all fought for R/N’s attention over yours.

Diavolo and Barbatos were no better, favoring R/N when it came to studies or events at RAD. And Simeon and Luke were expressive in their preference on who they would rather hang out with.

Even Solomon, a fellow human, was completely under R/N’s spell. You had asked Solomon multiple times to help you with your magic but he was somehow always too busy for you now.

It was frustrating to see people who you loved so much, and who had once claimed to love you, cast you aside like you were nothing - like you hadn’t been the one they were the closest to just a month before.

But the most frustrating part about it all was that you had no one to blame. R/N was still someone you considered your friend and even after they had earned the affections of everyone else, they never changed the way they acted toward you.

R/N was living in the House of Lamentation and because of that, the two of you had an opportunity to begin to grow close. 

You had spent a lot of time in their room and they had also spent time in yours as well. Something was comforting about their presence - a sense of home that you didn’t even know you needed until the two of you started talking.

As time continued the love that the others once held for you turned into disdain. You were left out of conversations, uninvited to outings, and overall ignored.

R/N would see the way they would treat you - your so-called friends - and they would always be upset about it.

They didn’t fully understand why everyone had begun treating you so poorly, and to be honest, you weren’t even entirely sure either.

You hadn’t done anything to deserve the swap in attitude towards you, yet they all did it so effortlessly. As if they had been planning to do it all along but were just waiting for the right moment.

R/N was your only source of comfort during this time. They were always there to lend a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on. And, because of that, the two of you continued to grow closer to each other.

Their kindness never faltered towards you and the way they could always bring a smile to your face or relieve your pain with just one look or statement didn’t go unnoticed by you.

Before you knew it, you were catching feelings and just praying that they might feel the same way.

You planned to confess your feelings to R/N, but before you got the chance to, you got into a huge fight with the brothers.

They claimed that you were taking too much of R/N’s time. That you were being selfish by wanting to spend time with them when everyone else wanted to as well.

It wasn’t a good conversation to begin with, but by the end of it, you were all practically in a screaming match and it ended with you leaving the House of Lamentation.

But, you didn’t have the ability to just go back to the human world and you weren’t in the mood to ask anyone for help in doing that.

So, you continued to attend RAD, avoiding the brothers at all costs and subsequently also avoiding R/N. You hated living like this, but you weren’t sure what you could do to change things.

R/N hated seeing you like this - in pain. They had also developed feelings for you and they wanted to do everything they could to fix it for you.

They attempted to talk to everyone, to try and get them to see how they had been treating you. But, their message fell upon deaf ears.

R/N tried to get others to spend time with you, hoping some quality time would help the situation. And the brothers agreed to try and spend time with you - because it would make R/N happy.

Whenever one of them approached you to “apologize” or “ask to spend time with you” you would always reject the offers because you could see how forced it was.

They weren’t doing it because they wanted to. They were doing it to gain R/N’s favor and that hurt worse than them avoiding you all together.

When R/N realized their plan had completely backfired they approached you to apologize. They explained that they just wanted to help you because they hated seeing you upset. 

You were teetering on a very fine line when you asked why they cared about you. But it was a question that you needed answered. And when they answered you were relieved to hear that it was because they had feelings for you.

R/N was embarrassed to admit the secret they had been holding back this entire time but when you told them that you had feelings for them as well, it was as if everything clicked into place.

The two of you started spending a lot more time together. Whenever one of the others would ask to spend time with R/N, they would be rejected without a moment of thought.

They noticed how much time the two of you were spending together and it sent them into a wave of emotions. Anger. Jealousy. Confusion. There were almost too many emotions that they were feeling.

But the most prominent one they began to feel was loneliness.

Not only did they not have the human they had been fawning so hard over but they were slowly waking up and realizing they had lost you too.

It wasn’t something they meant to happen. It wasn’t even something they realized they were doing. They had just been so focused on getting R/N to like them that they couldn’t care less about anything else that wasn’t R/N.

There was no doubt as to why their treatment towards you pushed you and R/N both away from them. But, they were desperate to try and find a fix because they couldn’t handle how things were now.

You and R/N had decided not to say anything about the two of you dating yet. After all, the demons tended to overreact a lot of times.

But, their lack of knowledge on the topic didn’t stop your relationship from growing strong. The two of you were finally fully happy, always talking and laughing.

And it drove everyone else absolutely crazy that they weren’t invited to join in with the two of you. It drove them crazy that you didn’t need them.

When they were fed up with sitting on the sidelines, they decided to approach you first - their original human.

They apologized for the way they had behaved and explained everything they had been feeling lately. The loneliness and the regret of not having you in their life.

They were desperate to find a way to get you to come back to them. They were desperate for you to forgive them.

It was a lot to hear and take in. You didn’t like seeing them like this. You didn’t like seeing them so sad. But, still, a part of you couldn’t help but feel like they did it to themselves.

They were only about halfway through their spiel of professing their love and apologies to you when R/N approached you.

They stopped speaking when R/N smiled at you, asking if everything was alright. Their biggest fear was you being cornered by the others and them ripping into you with their words while you had no backup.

You gave them a nod, telling them that everything was alright before turning towards everyone else. They looked between you and R/N and they could tell something was different about the two of you.

There was a certain tension, a certain air, that surrounded the two of you and it was way louder than the words any of you had yet to speak.

You were the one who decided to talk first, figuring at the very least, you could give them an explanation.

“Thank you for your apologies, but things can’t just go back to the way they were,” you began, taking a breath. They immediately tried to argue so you continued, cutting them off before they even got the chance to by saying, “And I wouldn’t want them to.”

Those last words made all of them fall silent as they waited to hear the rest of what you had to say.

You glanced at R/N to silently ask if it was okay to reveal your secret and when you saw nothing but support in their expression, you decided to continue.

“R/N are dating and we’re happy. So, thank you for telling me how you feel, but I’m perfectly content with how things are right now,” you replied. 

“We both are,” R/N chimed in, wanting to make an additional point.

Your friends had put you through so much pain when they cast you aside. You shouldn’t feel guilty for being happy and for moving on.

But as you watched their faces fall with despair at the news, you couldn’t help but feel a little bad. You weren’t sure if there was anything they could do to fix things with you, or R/N for that matter. You weren’t even sure if you wanted things to be fixed.

But, right now, all you wanted was to grow in your relationship with R/N. Someone who wouldn’t turn their back on you and someone who made you feel loved no matter what.

“Come on,” R/N told you softly, gently coaxing you away from the scene and leaving everyone else to process the news on their own.

And as the two of you left, they all realized just how badly they had messed up. They didn’t know how they ended up here but they knew that they had thoroughly pushed you away and they weren’t sure if they could ever get you back.

Knowing for a fact that they had lost you hurt a lot worse than just watching you be happy without them. Because knowing for a fact meant that they knew that they would never be able to do anything they used to do with you again.

They wouldn’t be able to make any more of the memories they cherished so deeply. They wouldn’t be able to compliment you and admire the blush you would get whenever you received one. They wouldn’t be able to hold you in their arms whenever they felt like hugging you or feeling the warmth of your comforting embrace.

They lost all of that and more and it was all their own fault. And that last thought alone was enough to drive them all mad. Because they could have done something to prevent this, at the very least stop it from getting this far. 

But they didn’t and now you were gone.

[g0nta-g0kuhara]

[Taken from under the cut]

"The localization definitely did change some things about the portrayal of Angie’s religion, but I would hesitate to say that they changed the overall feel or messages of Chapter 3. The original was already pretty… well, I don’t know if “atheistic” is the best term for it, but the point of Chapter 3 in the original was definitely to have a kind of clash between western and eastern religion that reached a boiling point. I don’t think any of the general negativity associated with Angie and her cult, or Korekiyo and his séances, was impacted by NISA so much as it was already there in Kodaka’s writing.

As far as I could tell when playing the localization, in fact, Korekiyo’s translator didn’t change or alter much about his dialogue. Other than the “Kiyo” nickname, I agreed with most of the choices they made (translating “Kagoinu Village” and the “Kagonoko Ritual” as the “Caged Dog Village” and “Caged Child Ritual” respectively were really good choices or a localization, in fact, since they made them easier to understand). All of the reveals that happen in the post-trial (as in, those reveals, about his sister) were adapted pretty straightforwardly from the original. Nothing was cut or altered significantly; his motives really were that messed-up.

As for Angie, the term “brainwashing” actually is a direct translation and not something altered or swayed by the localization! The term 洗脳 (“sennou”) comes up as early as Chapter 2 in both the original and the localization. I believe the first instance of it is in an optional dialogue session with Himiko on the night of Saihara’s first training session, where she mentions that she should’ve “had [Angie] undo her brainwashing sooner.” The following morning, when discussing Himiko’s magical show, Angie is pretty quick to change the subject and avoids answering any questions when she’s asked by the rest of the group what she did to Himiko.

What’s more, there seems to be a very intentional correlation between Angie’s talent and Mitarai’s. While not entirely the same, the two bear definite similarities which come to light especially if you do Angie’s FTEs. In her third FTE with Saihara (her 5th overall if you did Kaede’s), she shows Saihara a picture she was painting, only for him to lose consciousness immediately upon looking at it. When he wakes up again and asks her if there’s anything intrinsically special about the painting itself, she says she’s not sure, and that she just “creates her art exactly the way god tells her to.”

It’s pretty heavily implied (more like confirmed, in her FTEs at least) that her artwork is how she gets people to listen to her and do what she asks, both on her home island and within the religious student council she sets up. There definitely seems to be a much larger degree of free will involved with her abilities than there was with Mitarai’s, the game is pretty emphatic about the fact that she does brainwash people to go along with her ideas. The effectiveness of her brainwashing is up for debate, though; Saihara remains pretty unaffected in his FTEs with her despite her best attempts to force him to marry her, Tenko was only pretending to join the student council in order to keep an eye on Himiko, and I highly doubt Tsumugi was ever actually brainwashed because of, well, reasons.

Overall, the general feeling with Angie (in the narrative at least) seems to be that she was someone whose intentions weren’t necessarily bad, but that she still did some pretty unsavory stuff nonetheless. It’s pretty clear that she does, in fact, want the killing game to end—she’s one of the most outspoken characters of the opinion that “greed” and “desire” only lead people to commit murder, and that they’d all be better off staying within the school and making it comfortable for themselves, rather than continuing to try and escape the school.

Unlike other characters who have brought up similar plans before, like Celes, I think Angie did genuinely believe what she was saying, too. There’s an optional dialogue moment in Chapter 4 if you click on the door to Angie’s lab while exploring around the school, where Saihara pretty much outright says that he couldn’t agree with her methods, but that he does realize that she was trying to stop the killing game in her own way, then follows up with a really nice comment about how he’ll never forget her. He has similar comments for most of his classmates following their deaths in each subsequent chapter, but I thought it was a really nice touch nonetheless.

As you point out though, if there is a fault in the localization to be found, it’s in changing Angie’s god altogether from a very general, unspecific god to “Atua.” Ever since I heard about that particular localization decisions, I couldn’t agree with it for a number of reasons, not least of all that it’s extremely disrespectful, as Atua is an actual, real deity in Polynesian mythology. Adapting a real-life deity and applying it to a character whose backstory, island, and god are all deliberately undefined (and fictional) is a very bad choice all around.

Angie already suffers from a lot of bad, racist writing tropes on Kodaka’s part in the original. It’s pretty clear that since she’s both dark-skinned and a “foreigner” (and we don’t know anything regarding whether her pre-game self is actually a foreigner or not) she was designed to be the “exotic, quirky island girl” whose religions and culture teeter between baffling and downright creepy.

The portrayal of her island’s religion and customs already isn’t positive in the original game; between “blood sacrifices,” purchasing organs and children off of the internet, and the hypersexualization of both Angie and her people (she tries to take off Saihara’s clothes in the same FTE I mentioned before, and there’s a lot of talk about the people on her island “comforting” each other sexually or “sharing the bride” at weddings), it feels like Kodaka was just one step short of calling them “un-civilized,” which is… eugh.

Taking all of that messy and unsavory writing and directly correlating it with actual Polynesian culture and mythology is such an incredibly disrespectful decision, moreso when I highly doubt that Angie’s translator for the localization is Polynesian themselves or did any actual research into the subject. There was no need to slap a name onto Angie’s god in the first place—her island and culture are still entirely undefined in-game, so why NISA felt that her religion needed to be equated with a real-life one is still beyond me.

Other than the general racism though, I don’t think a lot of the rest of Angie’s dialogue was changed. There was a brief, optional line in the bonus mode when she comes to invite you for a date where her translator decided to have her say “Alola!” (which, you know, a Pokemon region based on Hawaii isn’t even the same as the Polynesian islands, but okay), but otherwise her translation was pretty faithful to the original dialogue. I think her translator didn’t have too much of a problem capturing the feeling of her character; their main problem was simply the decision to make an unnecessary correlation between Angie’s fictional, made-up religion and all its negative aspects and with actual Polynesian religion and culture.

Overall, I think a lot more of the issue stems back to Kodaka’s own racism and flawed writing, though. I don’t think he was trying to leave a message of “religion = bad, always” in Chapter 3 so much as he was just… unaware of how it might come across to others. Religion in Japan is decidedly different from religion in the west, so it’s important to remember that Kodaka was writing from a Japanese perspective, rather than an all-around western atheistic perspective. He definitely wanted a sort of clash of ideas between Angie’s very foreign, western, cult-like religion, and Korekiyo’s research into eastern culture and spirituality, but the writing got… well, very messy along the way.

This is just my take on it all, anyway! The association with Angie’s religion and “brainwashing” was definitely there in the original game, even very early on, but I do think the localization would’ve improved overall if it hadn’t bothered trying to put a real name to any of it. Thank you for asking this question by the way—it’s always good to clear this kind of stuff up, especially since all of the “Atua” changes must make it really difficult for anyone playing the localization to know how much else was or wasn’t changed in Angie’s dialogue. I hope I could clear a few things up!"

here's a question ive had since the localization came out; did the localization do anything to enforce more of an athiestic bent and put angie and shinguji in a more negative light wrt religion and spirituality (particularly angie)? or has that always been there? the whole "brainwashing" angle felt p harsh, not to mention saying angie's god outright is Atua instead of the general "my god" that the translations seemed to have. plus akamatsu seemed very internally harsh about her god in their FTEs

The localization definitely did change some things about theportrayal of Angie’s religion, but I would hesitate to say that they changedthe overall feel or messages of Chapter 3. The original was already pretty…well, I don’t know if “atheistic” is the best term for it, but the point ofChapter 3 in the original was definitely to have a kind of clash betweenwestern and eastern religion that reached a boiling point. I don’t think any ofthe general negativity associated with Angie and her cult, or Korekiyo and his séances,was impacted by NISA so much as it was already there in Kodaka’s writing.

Keep reading

[milder-manners]

What about Sapnap and George ? Do they consider Dream a friend too ?

Did they know about the experimentation and how okay were they with it since they weren't Revolution's leaders ?

They care about him yes! Their relationship is a bit too complicated to label as “friends”, but they absolutely do care about him. During their adventure they were forced to trust and rely on one another, and eventually grew to form a camaraderie of sort. While the two didn’t necessarily trust Dream or like him in particular, they still treated him with basic decency and respect and wanted him to talk to them. This eventually led to Dream laughing (genuinely) for the first time.

This was a change that meant more to Dream than he can explain; Sapnap and George gave him something that meant more to him than he can explain.

He was basically a dead thing, before them; something that moved by rote schedule and orders and nothing else. The joy and emotions he was feeling when sharing dinner with them was like seeing colors again.

Dream gains enough of himself again to give back. He teaches George and Sapnap how to better navigate terrain, fight, and other tricks. They still were wary about him, but he didn’t do this because he wanted something back.

It was after Techno and Brad’s rescue that the three truly started to bond.

Sapnap and George were good people. They saw this human being trying to be better and do good … what else could they have done but care? They understood him is the fundamental truth.

So their relationship is a bit more complicated than friendship, but there absolutely was care there. (George and Dream were also exchanging … weird glances. Sapnap could feel the strange tension and his only reaction was ew, don’t do that when I’m around.)

They absolutely opposed the rebellion’s plan to experiment on him, but Dream was taken far far away before they could help him. Horror, is the only thing left.

[eddiediazismyhusband]

Ok so how are we feeling about the Diaz parents

(Full disclosure I don’t like them. I mean you see your son and he tells you he was with the exact doppelgänger of his wife and you don’t stop and think: “Wait this actually might be a cry for help maybe we should stay here and help OUR SON and his son” )

oh i absolutely fucking despise them both as people and as characters

(get ready this is gonna be a long reply

for context, i have to talk about the bts of it all

the way the show handled the whole situation w gavin’s restricted filming schedule due to his family moving really pisses me off as a whole because like- he barely showed up in s7 anyway and no one questioned why we were getting fewer chris scenes bc we as a fandom understood that gavin is getting older and his family moved and thus that creates some scheduling conflicts; so the logical solution would be to just give him less screentime like may and harry as he gets older (even though yeah, it sucks but it’s better than the alternative we got)

but instead of just doing that, they chose to have eddie go off the deep end (and not even for a good reason because nothing about this plot has furthered his character in my honest opinion- 806 did absolutely nothing for him that wasn’t already done in previous arcs and it just felt like “oh we have to give eddie something after hyping him up all season” so they shoe-horned that arc in and it fell completely flat for me.) just to give them an excuse to send christopher away on screen rather than just giving him less screentime to work with gavin’s schedule.

but as far as the diaz parents of it all; it honestly ruins the quality of their characters within the story bc now they’be gone from bad parents who stick their noses into their son’s business a little too much and don’t understand him to now being complete comic book super villains who are hellbent on making their son miserable for their own gain and it’s like… for what reason?

bc before this happened, even though i think the diazes are awful parents, i do think they genuinely love their children (hell we even had that whole plot in s5 w eddie and ramon coming to a little bit of a reconciliation) but tim minear has been using this philosophy of “shock value and drama are more important in this show than the actual storytelling” so he just completely threw out the love that they do have for eddie to replace them with these evil heartless characatures of themselves looming over the narrative.

like i personally have a rocky relationship w my own mother- she’s a super conservative christian woman and im a socialist nonbinary gay person, but at the end of the day no matter how rocky pur relationship is she still loves me and would never do anything to intentionally harm me for her own benefit.

so yeah- i hated the diazes as parents before but they at least were decent characters in eddie’s story, but unfortunately s7/8 have just made me completely hate them even as characters bc tim and the writers have just ruined the dynamic they had going bc they would much rather infuse shock value and cheap, unearned drama into the show to grab people’s attention rather than take the time to create a meaningful story that would in and of itself provide sufficient room for drama within an actually enjoyable narrative.

overall… im super disappointed with how all the diazes have been written since 707… even eddie. it feels like they took a character who has so much potential for interesting storylines snd turned him into a narrative punching bag, snd have kinda turned him into a watered down version of who he used to be all in the sake of cheap tv show drama- and as an (obviously) eddie diaz stan, it disappoints me that my favorite character and his arc are being treated so poorly by the writers to the extent that a story and character dynamic i used to relate to so well has been destroyed in favor of hamming up the plot purely for shock factor purposes (if any of that made sense i’ll be shocked by im literally typing this w one eye open im so tired)

i’m sorry this may not be the exact kind of answer you were looking for but your ask hit me right while i was actually thinking about all of this and i just had to share my whole thought process lol 😭 thank you for the ask bestie <3

[johannestevans]

genuinely don't understand many other self-published fiction people's approach to marketing, which seems to take its cues from like. people who sell self-help books, or like. fucking do drop shipping

your goal is to find the people who like work like yours and connect them with it.

i think it's really difficult for people to envisage this because they're just poisoned by commercialism & capitalism as exists today, where every company is basically trying to strongarm, manipulate, and trick every single person in the world into buying their product

it's not just stupid and impossible from a marketing perspective, even for whatever garbage they might be shilling, but it's particularly misguided to do for a piece of fucking art or entertainment

and part of it i suppose is just like. a lack of identity but also a desperate fear of rejection

in order to meaningfully think about who will like, love, identify with, crave, and otherwise want to engage with your work, you have to meaningfully think about the people who won't

and that's scary bc a lot of people want to be vulnerable by creating art but don't want to be perceived or judged

and certainly don't want to be rejected, or receive negative reviews, or have people say "egh, it's not my thing", as if that's going to be the immediate death knell on their career

but it's just like. the thing of "i must try to make everyone in the world buy my book" will lead to MORE rejection

idk man. who are you? what's your work, like, about, at the core of it? what are the problems in it? what's the pathos, the core tragedy or core comedy, the meaning? what makes it entertaining? what makes it fun, or miserable, or horrifying? why did you write it? that's why people will read it

what's funny is that i talk to straight people all the time who can't do this, and they think that the way i do it is just by being like. hey boys, i'm a homosexual crippled jew, and my work is about that. and then i sell my books to my fellow disabled gay jews and such

which, sure, a bit

but what my work is actually about is like. trauma and trauma recovery. making peace with the many limits of your body and your relationships, and the limitations placed on you by your scars or your circumstances. fucked up monster sex, which is itself radical acceptance of the horror of our bodies

a lot of gayjew cripples and trans folk identify with that shit because… you know. of fucking course

but a lot of other people do as well, my work is in many ways informed by my identity, but the core themes aren't

many people DON'T like my work bc it's not plotted or structured traditionally

"what was the point?" many disappointed readers ask. "there's no actual STORY here," many complain. "nothing happens," many understandably grumble.

any jew or homosexual will tell you - there's no story. there's just suffering, and then you try to make it better, and then there's more suffering.

but you try to make it better, and it gets a bit better. you take your painkillers, you put balm on the wound. you fall down - maybe someone pushes you down. doesn't matter. get up again.

and for a lot of people, that's fucking dull as shit. where's the adventure? where's the fucking stakes?

and that's fine. there's plenty of books written for those people, they're just not written by me. i'm too busy doing my thing. and what i'm also too busy doing is selling my work to people who actually WANT it, rather than trying to trick people into buying it who won't.

part of the horror of meaningfully looking at your work and going, "okay, who is this for, and who is it NOT for?" is like. not just accepting your limitations, but also having genuine faith in your work. some people won't like it, but some people will fucking adore it. and you have to lean into it

and mostly stop paying for fucking facebook ads. jesus wept. what's wrong with you.

[reiding-writing]

Well, basically, it would be a "Spencer × female reader" One Shot and in it, the reader should be a woman (as I already said) the same age as Spencer. She is not an FBI agent, though. She is a stay-at-home mom and together, she and Spencer have two kids, a 2-year-old twin girls (you pick the names, just keep the age and gender the same. I picked age 2 because I love that age and I'm also about to start to work with kids that age). And Spencer arrives home after working on a case on his birthday. He is exhausted and isn't expecting to get anything, but his wife and daughters welcome him with cake and presents. It's not exactly a party, but they are all together and that's what matters to him. What do you think about this idea? I think it would be cute, so if you'll write it, thank you🙂. — @lucreziaq2001

SURPRISE! — S.REID

what better thing for spencer to come home to on his birthday than his girls?

spencer reid x wife!reader | 1.5k | fluff | masterlist.

a/n — fluff was promised, and fluff has been delivered 🙂‍↕️

Spencer had seen many things in his life—more than any one person should ever have to witness.

His job as a profiler meant he spent more time immersed in the darkness of human nature than anyone should. Yet, despite the chaos and the constant threat of danger that shadowed his every step, Spencer knew there was one thing that made it all worthwhile: you.

You weren’t an FBI agent. You weren’t involved in his cases, never surrounded by bloodstained evidence or haunted by the victims’ stories. You were a stay-at-home mom, and together, you and Spencer had built a life that brought him peace.

His mind was always working, always calculating, always trying to figure out what made people tick. But when he came home to you, when he saw the sparkle in your eyes and felt the warmth of your touch, the world slowed down. It was a calmness he treasured.

And tonight, after a long and exhausting day of chasing down leads, after the case had gone longer than expected, Spencer was coming home to something more precious than any solved mystery.

—

As Spencer pulled into the driveway, he noticed the house was dark. It was almost 9 PM, and he knew his girls, Julia and Ava, would be sound asleep by now.

You, too, would likely be tucked into bed, content to have a quiet evening after the chaotic day of caring for the girls. It was a routine that worked for you, the silent and subtle balance of home life.

You had everything under control while Spencer was gone.

He hated that he wasn’t there more, but he made it work. He made it work because he loved you and the girls more than anything else in this world.

Opening the front door with a quiet turn of the handle, Spencer slipped inside, trying not to make a sound. The house smelled faintly of vanilla and lavender, the scent of candles you liked to burn in the evening.

As he stepped deeper into the house, he could hear muffled voices coming from the kitchen. Curious, he followed the sound, silently walking down the hallway.

When he reached the kitchen, he stopped short, blinking in surprise at the scene before him.

There you were, standing near the kitchen table, smiling up at him with that warmth in your eyes he could never quite get enough of. And in front of you, perched on high chairs, were Julia and Ava, both girls grinning from ear to ear with cake smeared on their faces and hands.

“Happy birthday, Daddy!” Julia called out, her little voice echoing with excitement. Ava immediately chimed in, “Happy birthday!” The two of them clapped their hands in unison, giggling in the way only two-year-olds could.

Spencer’s heart swelled at the sight. He had been expecting nothing. He was used to spending his birthday alone, at the office, working cases that kept him up late into the night. But this—this was the last thing he expected.

You stepped forward, holding a small cupcake with a single candle flickering brightly atop it. Your smile was soft and genuine, your eyes filled with love and adoration.

It was the kind of birthday celebration Spencer had never allowed himself to want, but the kind he realised he needed more than anything.

“I’m sorry it’s not much,” you said, your voice warm with affection. “I know you’ve had a long day, but we wanted to make sure you knew how much we love you,”

Spencer’s chest tightened, his throat going dry as he took in the sight of you and the girls. The exhaustion of the case, the stress, the dark thoughts of the day all melted away in an instant. It wasn’t much, but to him, it was everything.

“Mommy helped us make cakes!” Ava announced proudly, her voice still full of excitement.

“Wish, Daddy!” Julia urged, her eyes wide with innocence.

Spencer blinked and then looked down at the cake, its candle flickering gently. He felt a lump form in his throat as he made his silent wish, his heart full of gratitude.

You had done this for him. After everything, after a long day and the stress of his work, you had taken the time to create something small and beautiful to remind him of what truly mattered. His family.

Spencer blew out the candle, not taking his eyes off the girls as they giggled and clapped again.

“Wish, Daddy! Wish!” Julia repeated, her voice high-pitched with excitement.

“I did,” Spencer said quietly, still caught in the beauty of the moment. “I can’t tell you though, because then it won’t come true, hm?”

The words were barely out of his mouth before both girls came charging toward him, arms outstretched. He kneeled down to meet them, his arms opening wide as they both threw themselves into his embrace.

The smell of their baby shampoo filled his nose, the soft warmth of their little bodies against his chest filling him with an overwhelming sense of love.

“I missed you both so much,” he murmured, pressing his face into their soft hair.

“You’re home, Daddy,” Ava said, her voice filled with contentment as she pulled back to look at him.

Spencer’s eyes fluttered closed for a moment, just taking in the feeling of them in his arms. The world outside didn’t matter here. The cases, the crimes, the endless work—it all faded into the background. What mattered was this. What mattered was the family he’d come home to.

You were standing a few feet away, watching them with a soft smile on your face, arms folded over your chest. You were so beautiful in that moment, so at peace, that Spencer couldn’t help but stare at you.

It didn’t matter that he was tired, that his brain was fried from the long day. The sight of you and the girls filled him with a sense of calm that no case could ever take away.

“This is all I ever needed,” he said quietly, his voice full of sincerity as he looked up at you. “You and the girls.”

You walked over to him, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder gently. “I know,” you replied, your voice soft with affection. “We know you’re always thinking about us, Spencer. We think about you too,”

Spencer smiled up at you, his heart racing with love. “I don’t deserve you,”

You shook your head, a playful smile tugging at the corner of your lips. “Yes, you do,”

Ava tugged on his sleeve then, her little hand reaching up toward him. “Cake, Daddy! Please?” she demanded, her voice all but pleading.

Spencer laughed, nodding as he stood up to cut the cake. Julia helped him by handing him a fork, and the three of them made sure to pile his plate with an obscene amount of cake, all of them giggling as they served him.

The cake was messy—mostly frosting with a little bit of cake in between—but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except that they were all here together.

As Spencer sat down to eat with his girls, you watched from the side, your heart swelling with love. You hadn’t planned anything extravagant, no party or guests to help celebrate. But you didn’t need to.

Spencer’s happiness wasn’t found in expensive gifts or big gestures. It was found in moments like this: quiet, simple, and surrounded by love.

The evening passed slowly, filled with laughter and stories as the girls played with their toys and Spencer told them about his day—filling in the details in a way they could understand. As tired as he was, Spencer was so thankful to be home. To be with you.

“Thank you,” he said quietly, leaning toward you after the girls had started to doze off, their energy finally fading after a sugar-induced high. He kissed your forehead gently. “This was more than enough. This... is everything,”

You smiled softly, your fingers brushing against his cheek as you leaned into him. “I’m glad you’re home, Spencer,”

[daisies-on-a-cup]

s2 ep08 being the episode that shows hannibal continually being surprised, and genuinely surprised, and a billion and one amazing character scenes and dialogues, but!!! something i want to talk about is hannibal's tiny monologue about feeding the caterpillar and whispering into the chrysalis. he gives this speech shortly after not only lowering will's gun and stopping him from pulling the trigger by physically placing his finger in the way, but also after failing to convince will not to shoot. he gives two arguments to try and convince will not to kill ingram: 1) it won't feel like killing hannibal, and 2) it won't bring peter justice. what's really intriguing is that both of these arguments fail!!! will says it doesn't have to feel like killing hannibal and he says nothing at all to the point that killing ingram will change nothing. will keeps his gun raised and even begins pulling on the trigger!!

however!! hannibal does say something that i think convinces will he wants to kill ingram. he says "you have to do this for yourself."

there's a lot of discourse on how much hannibal manipulated will into a darker version of himself, but remembering earlier on in the episode when will says hannibal made him realize that doing bad things to bad people makes him feel good, i think is pivotal for this scene! will acknowledges that killing ingram won't make him feel better about hannibal or make peter's situation better, but. will realizes that killing ingram will indeed make himself feel better. he comes to the conclusion that he's not going to kill ingram for peter or for a replacement of hannibal- he's going to kill ingram because he wants to

and that's why hannibal's caterpillar speech is so interesting afterwards!! i think hannibal was genuinely surprised that will came to that conclusion, even with hannibal actively working against it in that moment. for everything hannibal put will through, for all of his manipulations and fiddling with will's life, hannibal is surprised to realize that he cannot and will never have control over will's mind. hannibal will never know will completely, or at least enough to predict or say what he thinks will might do next, which is why hannibal, from thereon, always acts physically with will. where hannibal relied on his ability to control will mentally, he now must change his strategy and physically intervene in order to get what he wants out of will- which is still a challenge for him

[solargeist]

What are your opinions on kov grian

hmmmmmmm, hmmm....... So i haven't seen KOV in full, and don't plan to, but i have seen clips, even the infamous ones, so everything i say can be taken with a grain of salt.

My opinion on kov Grian... is............... he is devastating !!! of course !!!! I don't even know how this character even came into existence, like is sam, taurtis, or grian, fans of Berserk /s? bc KOV Grian is pretty inline for the ~Berserk Character Experience imo, i mean.. the... rat... ? hello..?

But... i also think.... He is genuinely the only well written/played character in that series. When awful things happen to him, it effects him for the rest of the series, Grian doesn't ever seemingly play it for laughs.

Starting out as a character that wanted to be helpful, to a character that kills innocent people out of his own anger and grief, is interesting. He won't allow anyone to ever hurt him again, he'll never let them get close. This, doesn't heal him, he doesn't feel better, but it does not matter. He's lost everything. Theres a sort of peace in that, but in the same way an empty house is, theres nothing, theres nothing.

It makes me sad no one takes him seriously, it wouldn't have saved the series, but i think handling serious subjects better could've helped it with its aging. The lack of seriousness also ruins the story imo, like why are you laughing and making jokes while your friend is tormented--multiple times, what story is this ? Bad writing. You can barely claim it as improve but thats still bad improve, or just friends having fun, but the series IS scripted, sam forgot to edit out multiple parts where they do retakes in puzzles, so it makes me wonder the thought process...

Also... His cubito is so cute. its a shame.

(I've mentioned kov Grian a few times in reference to my (saint) Xelqua lore, since Xelqua can basically meet any version of Grian he wants. He meets kov Grian, but only after the damage is done, so he gives him a new staff, new clothes, and follows along behind the scenes, watching.)

[drvirgus]

Glow

Danielle X Reader

Description: Despite your initial distrust of Dani's relentless optimism, you discover that having someone as bright as Dani in your life is exactly what you need.

Warnings: insults; trauma; harsh words; foul language; kys/kms jokes; naughty jokes; drinking; smoking;

Chapter 19: Mezzo mix

Masterlist

———————————————————————————

This was something Yn definitely wanted to avoid. This whole situation. This uncomfortable situation, filled with oppressive silence and nervous glances that kept shifting.

Yn sighed. Not because she was annoyed. Okay, maybe that was a lie.

She was annoyed.

Annoyed that Jihye kept pulling her hand away whenever they accidentally touched.

Annoyed that Jihye was so obviously trying to avoid this meeting.

And most of all, annoyed that Jihye wasn’t talking.

Normally, silence wouldn’t bother Yn in the slightest—she actually preferred it. But she knew that Jihye was a chatterbox, and that made the silence feel even heavier.

Jihye, having noticed the student council president’s sigh, looked up from her laptop. A nervous grin played on her lips as her eyes darted around, already searching for an escape route.

Yn finally looked at the slightly taller girl and closed her own laptop. She ran her tongue over her dry lips to moisten them, then folded her hands together, trying to steady herself.

“What do you want to drink?” she asked, her gaze locking onto Jihye’s. But instead of meeting it, Jihye hastily grabbed the restaurant menu and buried her face in it.

Yn sighed again but didn’t say anything further. She simply leaned back in her chair, her eyes practically glued to Jihye. She just watched the girl in front of her, unaware of the small smirk forming on her own lips.

“A Fanta,” Jihye finally answered, slamming the menu onto the table—louder than expected. She winced, bowing apologetically to the people who turned their heads at the noise.

Yn had to fight the urge to burst into laughter.

Cute.

That was the only thought in Yn’s head as she took in the slight flush on the cheerleader’s cheeks.

“What about you, Yn?” Jihye asked with a nervous chuckle, finally gathering the courage to look Yn in the face.

Yn, still smirking, cleared her throat and sat up a little straighter. The barely noticeable smile faded from her lips. “Mezzo Mix,” she answered, making Jihye furrow her brows.

Noticing the unspoken question, Yn gave a small nod. “It’s a mix of Fanta and Coke,” she explained.

Jihye nodded in understanding, then suddenly declared, “Then I want that too.”

Yn hesitated for a moment.

Cute.

It didn’t take long for their drinks to arrive. Since this drink wasn’t available in this country, the waitress had to mix it herself, though that wasn’t difficult.

Yn waited. She didn’t even realize it, but she waited for Jihye to take her first sip. She didn’t want to miss a single second, a single reaction.

Jihye lifted the glass to her lips—lips that Yn was particularly focused on. Yn watched as the cheerleader’s eyebrows rose, her eyes widened, and then her mouth opened slightly.

“This is really good,” Jihye said, much more enthusiastically this time. A broad, genuine smile spread across her face.

And just like that, Yn smiled too. Much wider than expected.

Jihye froze.

She had done it. She had made Yn smile!

Okay, that made it sound like Yn never smiled. She did. More than people would expect. But all of those smiles were fake—masks Yn used to hide behind.

But this?

This was real.

A smile that could drive Jihye insane.

A smile that turned this previously awkward situation into something better.

Jihye, who had wanted nothing more than to escape before, now never wanted to leave. She wanted to stay. Right by Yn’s side. She wanted to see her smile like that again and again.

But there was also a slightly selfish side to Jihye. A side no one knew about. No one except her.

Jihye was the perfect child. Good grades, a flawless reputation, a perfect smile. Always cheerful, always friendly, always helpful.

But she could be different.

She was jealous. Possessive.

Selfish, if you wanted to call it that.

She wanted to see Yn smile like that. She really did.

But only if she was the one who made it happen.

Only if she was the one Yn smiled at like that.

She was very possessive…

A side of her that no one knew about.

No one knew this side of the perfect Jihye.

———————————————————————————

Taglist: @sixflame438 @saysirhc @illithharmony @somedaydream @yuyuy90 @wonyoungssi @peranoo @gornoi @multiliker @wtfisthisnoclueman @he------len

[monstrousproductions]

I haven't posted anything for a while and don't have much podcast related news to share so I guess it's time forrrrrr....

✨Impromptu Book Club!��

What's been on your bedside table lately? Anything good? Anything deliciously dreadful? I've been very firm in sticking to my new year's resolution not to buy any new books, which has had the delightful side effect of really increasing the amount I've been using my local library. Having fun isn't hard when you have your library card! Now, onto the books 😍

Currently Reading:

Rules for Perfect Murders (I think the American ed is Eight Perfect Murders? Much better title tbh) by Peter Swanson (audiobook performed by Graham Halstead). A bookseller at a shop specialising in crime fiction learns that someone is killing people according to a list he made of perfect murders in fiction, posted on the shop's blog some years ago. I started this like "oh I know what's happening here" and then Peter Swanson reached out of my phone and held my face in his hands and grinned and said "oh you do, do you?" Having an absolute hoot, do recommend.

I'm also reading The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty, as a direct result of my new year's resolution. I bought the first in the series, City of Brass, years ago and never read it. Picked it up last month and spent almost all of it thinking, "Wow, I wish this was better. I'm definitely not going to read the rest, but I do want to see how it ends." And then EVERYTHING kicked off in the last few chapters, and I immediately put a hold on for Kingdom of Copper at the library.

Recently Finished:

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (audiobook performed by Hugh Fraser) - The one where everyone gets invited to an island and popped off one by one. Got genuinely spooked listening to this at night, and had to turn it off 😅 As always with Christie, I had good fun being told how it all happened but didn't care in the least about anyone involved.

Emma by Jane Austen (audiobook by Juliet Stevenson) - I've listened to this over and over, and it's perfect every single time. By far my favourite Austen, and especially my favourite Austen heroine, not in a "she did nothing wrong" way but rather a "she absolutely did lots wrong and isn't that delicious" way.

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher - A fantastic wee novella that wastes no time getting stuck into the story and the world around it. A retelling of The Fall of the House of Usher, now with added mushrooms. Having read Mexican Gothic recently, it'd be impossible not to draw comparisons. While both were fun, I think there was quite a bit more skill on show here.

The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton (audiobook performed by Adjoa Andoh) - I love Adjoa Andoh with the power of a thousand suns, even when she is reading me a relatively boring story. A post-apocalyptic murder mystery, this should have been right up my street. But it lacked oomph, and I never had this on without having something more interesting to do while I listened.

Binned Off:

Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (audiobook performed by Ramón de Ocampo) - Started strong, and I was having a good time, but for a relationship with such huge stakes on paper, I never felt them while I was listening. It felt like every obstacle was very quickly overcome, and I found I didn't really care one way or the other. Eventually I turned it off and just... never went back.

That's it for me - how about yous lot? Let me know what you've been reading the last wee while! 📚✨

[tuliptiger]

Bro I hate Silco so much. Bro. And don't get it twisted right. He's a good character, he's well written or in THE VERY LEAST incredibly interesting and compelling. To me I guess. I still can't stand him, I hate him and I think he embodies every human flaw a person can have. And every bad decision we make at our lowest points.

And for that I can't stand him in the purest way and I think that's kind of awesome. Get him out of my face though lol fuck that guy. Great presentation of what I feel a lot of people in the world are like or have the potential to be like rn.

For what he was meant to be, having just found out the original plan for him which I really shouldn't consider. Or maybe I should in favor of him, as a little grace for him. I guess Jinx and him were supposed to be like romantic. If that's your thing go for it I guess but I'm not going to talk nicely about it and it disgusts me as a heads up. Fair warning.

I'm forever grateful they didn't pull a Joker/Harley Quinn but because jesus christ I think I actually would've hated Arcane for that. For all you people complaining about Arcane, sure that's your right and it's all personal tastes anyway but it could've been actually, sincerely awful. It would've ruined Jinx as a character and undercut all of her nuance, her autonomy as a real, deeply thought out character. Her struggles, her mental health, her trauma, it would've fucking sucked.

I hate Silco for even the possibility of that and unfortunately i think it explains a little bit about some things. But anyway, back to hating Silco.

1.) He betrayed every single thing he's ever cared about in his life. He betrayed Felicia by trying to and knowingly kill her children. He betrayed the promise he made to not JUST Vander but to Felicia and himself.

Because what? Vander betrayed him first? Because he tried to kill him? Because he probably does feel genuine regret about maybe enacting the event that got Felicia killed? We never get the story but I think it's implied. Either that or Vander really was just deep in grief and rage and put that on Silco. I think they both fucked up for the record but Vander didn't CONTINUE that for the rest of his life.

What did any of that have to do with Vi and Powder/Jinx though? He's the reason everything bad happened, maybe you could blame Viktor since he went back to give Jayce the rune but every bad moment after that is almost exclusively Silco.

2.) He bribed Marcus contributing to the corruption in Piltover and Zaun. He fed drugs to Zaun for the point of nothing in my opinion. Because he couldn't come to terms with his grief, he couldn't make Piltover pay the way he wanted them too? He justified his own terrible actions for some idea of an independent Zaun for what? For who? Piltover may have taken from him but he actively chose to burn whatever he had left by trying to kill Powder and Vi.

3.) He's the reason Vi and her crew lost their loot, and their lives NOT Powder. He's the reason or at least the means for Singed to create more fucked up abominations and shimmer.

4.) He IS A HUGE SOFTIE he's soft as fuck. He loves and he loves deeply but he could never get over himself to do better. And this is possibly the main reason I hate him, he sincerely loved Vander and Jinx and Felicia and Zaun. People get hurt all the time, and it isn't the same as the trauma he faced but I DON'T think a reasonable series of decisions is to betray everything you are and have worked for to fuck over literally everyone around you. He is the scorched earth method, he wanted to hurt everyone and everything for what he felt and experienced. He's so incredibly selfish I cannot stand him.

5. A close contender, maybe even tied because I love Jinx so much. I hate that he is directly related to all of the hurt Vi and Jinx have experienced. I hate, I loath, I detest what he did to Powder and to Jinx. I feel so fed with season 2 episode 7, we DIRECTLY see what happens when Silco doesn't decide every day to hurt the world around him and hurt everyone in it. What happens to Powder without his fucked up influence.

I never thought anyone made Jinx specifically, like there isn't someone to blame because it felt diminishing to Jinx herself. But I'm rethinking it, I would say with certainty Jinx wouldn't have existed without Silco. I don't give him full credit, not in the creation of her and not her herself but the REASON she was reborn into a different person. Powder and Jinx created Jinx, but she created her because she had to, because Silco brought her into a fucked up world where she had to be different to survive.

Silco didn't support her, he enabled her, made her fear the world, fed her insecurities and projected himself into her. And because he does love, he really really did love her I think, that was what she felt she needed as a TWELVE year old girl. She needed a guardian who had her best interest at heart and not just love. Whatever support she had before, he ripped it from her and shredded it, and from that pile of rubble and ash Jinx had to find herself and emerge. But she picked herself up and chiseled herself into who she is in the series not Silco.

She's smart as a whip, she's so incredibly clever. She knew to some extent the reality of what was happening. But reality didn't have any real gravity anymore for her without something to hold her to it. Silco, at any time, could have stopped what he was doing. He could've seen her hurting and said, this isn't it. This isn't worth it. But he didn't, and she didn't need a reason to change because she had someone who fed her love when she had no one. When she thought it was all her fault and where Silco tried to convince her Vander and Vi weren't good people and that they didn't love her, won't love her.

I could go on, I fucking hate Silco. Once again, I think he's the weakest character emotionally and mentally but certainly not writing wise. He's spineless, he can kill sure, but in the main universe he couldn't get over his own feelings of guilt and hurt to do better. Nobody is satisfied with the slow progression of equity, of freedoms and peace. Silco wanted to take it all violently, take it all and take everything around it down with him.

In another universe, he's better. He makes better decisions because a different set of events led to reconciliation between Vander and him. Because Piltover made the first move of peace after Vi had to be sacrificed. Because Marcus saw a dead Zaun child in the arms of her younger sister. Because a lot of things, Silco is a better man and I think he's stronger for it.

The main universe Silco was wrong about everything he did, he made every possible bad decision on purpose over and over and over again.

The fact that I just wrote what feels like an essay on this bastard should at least show how I hate him, in the way I don't like hate hate him. I hate him in the way good art makes you hate it in just the right way. I think he's interesting enough to think about. I don't hate the alt universe Silco, I just hate the main one. He's multifaceted, he's a villain, he just kind of sucks, he moved the story in permanent ways. He forever changed the world by facilitating the events that led to Jinx as a person in Runeterra.

Anyway Yeah I really really hate Silco. Thanks for reading lol If you have some good points or different interpretations of events with Silco I would genuinely love to read them especially if they are different. I'm the first to admit I don't fully understand all the subtleties in Arcane and I love it for that, but I miss things. Changing my view on what actually happened in scenes is one of my favorite things to do right now. I crave the richer and fuller offering of a closely inspected Arcane provides tbh.

[headless-bram]

Bram’s jaw clenched so tight it felt like his teeth might shatter. That deadpan look Gem tossed his way? Like Bram wasn’t worth the time it took to breathe? Yeah, that was enough to light him up. His eyes burned with a mix of fury and something unhinged, the kind of look that made people cross the street when they saw him coming. But Gem? Oh, no, Gem just stood there with that smug little face like he was untouchable.

Bram let out a low, sharp laugh, the kind that didn’t have any humor behind it. More like a warning. “Oh, you’re glad to entertain? That’s cute,” he spat, stepping forward just enough to get into Gem’s space, his voice dropping to something dark and biting. “You think you’re some kind of hot shit? Walking around like you’re better than everyone else, like people don’t see right through you.”

He tilted his head, those crazy eyes narrowing in a way that was almost predatory. “You’re not fooling anyone, Gem Morey. All that ‘too cool to care’ bullshit? It’s pathetic. You’re just another asshole with a chip on his shoulder, pretending like nothing gets to you. But I see it.” His voice twisted into something almost sing-song, mocking. “I see it, and it’s hilarious.”

Bram laughed again, but this time it was quieter, like he was genuinely amused by the whole thing. He almost whispered not caring if the words grazed Gem’s ear. “Go ahead, walk away. Keep telling yourself you’re above it. But I’ll be right here, laughing my ass off when that facade cracks, ‘cause it will crack. And when it does?” He stepped back, his grin sharp and wild. “I’ll be the first one to say I told you so.”

He watched Gem with that same unsettling grin, daring him to say something back, to do something. But even if Gem didn’t bite, Bram would still win in his mind. Because nothing pissed him off more than someone thinking they were untouchable—and nothing fueled him more than knowing they weren’t.

@gem-morey

snow pitch :: Bram