#this is all kinda basic history and you could easily look most of this up lmao

[macabre-discotheque]

every now and then i will have a thought about the 70s and then spontaneously combust into a thousand fla[gets dragged away by security]

[rin-may-1103]

Delilah's language (part two)

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"Tomorrow?" Danny repeated, glad he had set his cup down.

Mr. Wayne smiled, relieved Danny hadn't completely brushed him off. "yes, it's tomorrow. Damian, my son, is a huge conservationist. he gets it from his mother."

Danny blinked but before he could cut in, Mr. Wayne continued, "Oh! not that I don't care about the environment and stuff, it's just-"

"I get it," Danny reassured. he did not want to get stuck listening to Mr. Wayne try and fail to 'fix' his self-perceived mistake. "but I still don't really understand why you want me there..."

like sure, the kid's a fan of Danny or whatever (he was still trying to wrap his mind around that one.) but would the kid actually want Danny at his party? wouldn't that be like... he didn't know, weird? to just have this random guy from Illinois show up?

"Right!" Mr. Wayne coughed, scratching his face in embarrassment. "once Damian learned that the purple back gorillas would be in Gotham, I suggested we have his birthday party at the zoo. He told me he wanted to know everything he could about their species. so, I invited all the scientists working with the gorillas to the party so he could talk to them."

Danny nodded in understanding when Mr. Wayne glanced at him, even if Danny thought that that was the most fruitloop way he could have gone about it. then again, Danny's pretty sure all billionaires were fruit loops...

"He started digging into their history once he learned about them, and after some digging, he discovered that you basically saved their species. He has declared that he must meet you at all costs. something about needing to know their language?" Mr. Wayne trailed off, looking at Danny as if to see if he knew what his son meant.

If the kid was looking to Danny so he could learn the language then that meant he read the same paper Danny had. the scientists that had dedicated themselves to studying Delilah had printed one claiming that the purpleback Gorilla language was apparently hard to learn. (Even if Danny had been able to understand it pretty easily and told them so.)

they had listed Danny as the only person fluent in it so far, which now that Danny thought about it was kinda rude. they hadn't asked to put his name in there and now look at him! being visited by Fruitloops looking for him to be at their son's birthday parties.

anyways.

so, if the kid, Damian, read the same paper, he must have concluded it would be easier to learn the language from someone who was already 'fluent' than try and teach himself. (something Danny can't blame the kid for, but still.)

"KIDS!" Dad's voice bellowed from downstairs making Mr. Wayne startle and turn to glance down the hall. "IT WORKS! IT WORKS!"

...

"so, when do we need to leave?" Danny asked, all previous paranoia and reservations thrown out the window.

mr. Wayne slowly turned back, his brows furrowed in confusion. "we, uh, we'd have to leave in," he glanced down at his watch, his eyes widening a little, "an hour. I have to leave in an hour."

mr. Wayne then frowned as he looked back up at Danny, "I just need your parent's permission and you can come with me now, or I can arrange for another flight for you later tonight or early tomorrow?'

danny did not want to find out how they were going to test their new machine, so, he turned and cupped his hands around his mouth as he shouted, "HEY MA! CAN I GO WITH MR. WAYNE TO HIS KID'S BIRTHDAY PARTY?!"

it was silent for a second before she shouted back, "SURE! JUST BE BACK BEFORE WE LEAVE FOR OUR TRIP!"

oh, right. his parents had a trip planned for their anniversary. something about a huge ghost or demon trap in Wyoming they wanted to investigate.

"YOU'RE LEAVING TOMORROW THOUGH!" Danny shouted back, "DAMIAN'S BIRTHDAY IS TOMORROW! I CAN'T GO IF I WANT TO BE BACK IN TIME!"

"OH! UH, THEN JUST BE SAFE! TAKE YOUR BLASTERS WITH YOU!"

Danny blinked, then shrugged. He could do that. turning back he found Mr. Wayne staring at the floor, his brows raised and furrowed in concerned confusion. Danny didn't know someone could make a face like that, but seeing as Mom had finally gotten Mr. Lancer to curse in front of him last year, it wasn't that surprising.

"let me pack my bag and then we can get going," Danny announced, standing up and grabbing his cup from the table, silently offering to take Mr. Wayne's as well. the man handed him his full cup and watched as Danny walked away.

well, at least Danny had already told the other ghosts to leave him alone for the rest of the week. they shouldn't get into too much trouble while he's gone. speaking of trouble, Mr. Wayne lived in Gotham, a place riddled with crime and violence.

dupping the cups into the sink, Danny turned and rushed up the stairs. unplugging his phone, Danny sent Sam and Tucker a text to let them know he wouldn't be in amity for the rest of today and tomorrow. he also let them know he'd keep them updated.

once done with that, Danny turned to his closet and rummaged around until he found his old backpack. pulling it out, he dumped the contents onto his desk and made quick work of packing his essentials. Clothes, phone chargers, and ectoplasm in case of emergencies. Mr. Wayne said he'd pay for the travel fair and hotel expenses, so Danny only needed to worry about food.

glancing in the mirror, Danny finally noticed he was still dressed in his pj's. he took a second to debate whether he really cared enough to get dressed properly or not before shrugging. Mr. Wayne's already seen him in them and they're comfy, no point in changing.

zipping up his bag, Danny tossed it over his shoulder and quickly ran downstairs. Mr. Wayne was walking around the room, studying a few of the leftover project pieces that his parents had left lying around. man, Jazz was going to be so annoyed once she learned they hadn't been picking up after themselves. again.

"Alright, Mr. Wayne. I'm ready when you are." Danny greeted, stepping into the room. the man turned to look at him, a strained smile on his face, "Just Bruce is fine."

"Alright, mr. bruce then." Danny agreed, gesturing for the man to start making his way to the door.

mr. Bruce heaved a sigh, shook his head in resignation, and turned to walk out the door. digging his keys out of his pocket, Danny turned to shout into the house one more time, "BYE MA, DAD! I'M LEAVING! HAVE FUN ON YOUR TRIP!"

not waiting for a response, he closed the door and locked it. turning around, he found Mr. Bruce studying him. lifting his brow in confusion, Danny started making his way down the steps and over to Mr. Bruce's fancy car. why the man had a fancy car when he said he'd be flying Danny didn't know, but he's pretty sure it has something to do with image or something.

Vlad did the same thing after all.

Next

[godslino]

MIGRATION | bang chan first date series. strangers to lovers.

pairing: bang chan x fem!reader word count: 5.5k genre: fluff, romance, falling in love at first sight summary: you've never been lucky when it comes to dating, but a blind date with chan just might turn that around

chan | minho | changbin | hyunjin | jisung | felix | seungmin | jeongin · · · ♡ series masterlist · · · ♡ taglist · · · ♡

author’s note: hello and welcome to my first date series!! i seriously had so much fun writing this and i’m so excited to continue with the other members. i hope you all enjoy! if you liked it, please remember that any and all feedback is appreciated!! happy reading <3

“So…I know a guy.”

You groan, throwing your head back against the cushion of the booth you’re currently shoved into. Changbin drops his fork to gesture at you with his hand, a look of exasperation on his face.

“Come on, I haven’t even said anything yet!”

“The problem is that you’ve said anything at all.” You say, glaring at him as you reach for your drink.

Changbin, as much as you love him, is notorious for being the worst wing man in the history of wing men. His most recent pick, Jooyoung, was a friend of his from high school. A freelance writer, the owner of a snazzy apartment in one of the more sophisticated districts of Seoul, and conveniently single. They’d recently reconnected after a mutual friend threw a party that they both went to, and he was ecstatic to try and set the two of you up.

You’d been reluctant, rightfully so, but Changbin is anything but a quitter and you also just so happen to be the world’s biggest pushover (his pout is just too good, okay?), so you’d agreed on the off chance that it just might work out.

Long story short, it didn’t.

Jooyoung was probably the biggest asshole you’d ever been on a date with. Not that you were surprised, though. Changbin’s circle of friends when he was younger mainly consisted of grade-A douchebags who were born with a golden spoon in their mouths. Perks of being born into a wealthy family and attending one of the most elite private schools in the country, apparently. Changbin had attended a university on the outskirts of Seoul for a reason. Lesser known, laid back—to study music of all things—and the sole reason for his father’s headache, as he’d put it. That’s where he met you.

“Okay, but I think this guy might be the one.” He makes air quotes around the two words, and you scoff as you cross your arms.

“And what would you know about that?”

“Um, a lot? You’re my best friend, I know exactly what you’re looking for.”

This is the part where things go south—or so you assume. Changbin puts on the puppy eyes, jutting his bottom lip out to hell as he stares at you from across the table. You glare at him dead on, unwavering. He won’t get you this time. Not over your dead body.

“At least let me tell you about him?”

“No.”

“I met him at the company. He makes music just like me, only slightly better. And you know how I am, I don’t just say that stuff. That means he’s really good.”

Choosing to ignore him, you go back to poking at your noodles.

“He’s from Australia. Born here, moved there when he was young, then moved back to pursue music. Kinda ballsy if you ask me. But he speaks English, so at least communication won’t be as much of an issue as other guys.”

A small crack in your composure. The idea of this guy growing up somewhere other than Korea is…pretty intriguing.

Despite moving here three years ago for school, it’s still kind of hard to communicate when your Korean could be more polished than it is. You’d basically kept to yourself for the first year until you met Changbin. He’d easily integrated you into his group of other music majors, even though you stuck out like a sore thumb as both a foreigner and a stem major. But if it weren’t for him, you think that you might’ve hauled ass back home a long time ago due to the isolation. So to be introduced to someone who can speak english, under the prospect of possibly dating them, sparks a bit more interest.

Changbin notices the slight twitch of your brow and smirks, one side of his mouth pulling downwards. Bastard.

“Hmm, what else? Oh! Dude’s got a killer set of dimples. You’re into that, aren’t you? You used to go on and on about that younger guy in your physics class during senior year. What was his name—Jeongsuk? Jeong—Jinyoung? Jeongin! It was Jeongin.” Changbin snaps his fingers like he’s impressed with his own memory, pointing at you as you fix him with a blank stare. “He has dimplessss.” He sing-songs for emphasis.

And, really, this should not be the breaking point. You’re better than this. You’re not so shallow that you would throw away your pride for a man you’ve never met—let alone never seen before—all because he has dimples.

But, once again, you’re a pushover. A big one. So yeah, fuck it.

“What’s his name?”

Changbin blinks like he wasn’t expecting you to fall for it. “Seriously? That’s what got you?”

“You have five seconds to tell me his name before I change my mind.”

He scoffs, mouth agape. “I went as far as disregarding my own talents to play up this guy and his music making abilities—”

“Five.”

“—tried to give you a little bit of a backstory, too—”

“Four.”

“—and the dimples are the final nail in the coffin?”

“Three.”

“Chan! His name is Chan. God. Just—stop counting. It freaks me out.”

Chan. You throw the name around in your brain for a bit, pointedly ignoring the way Changbin is whining about how you sound like his mother when you do the whole number thing. It’s kind of…cute. Not enough to conjure up an idea of what he might look like, but putting a name to a faceless stranger with dimples in your head is gonna have to do for now.

“You swear this guy is normal?”

Changbin rolls his eyes. “Define normal.”

“Okay, let me rephrase myself,” you push your plate forward, laying your forearms on the table as an indicator that you’re serious, “Is he an asshole?”

“No.”

“Hm. Okay. So that’s a maybe.”

“What the fuck? I just said no.”

“Yeah? You also set me up with Jooyoung, remember? The guy who literally started flirting with the waitress right in front of me five minutes into our date? And then proceeded to yell at her when his fries weren’t salted?”

“How was I supposed to know…” Changbin mumbles, looking off to the side guiltily.

“Nevermind. Just—if this goes bad, I’m blaming you. And then I’m never going on a blind date with one of your friends again. Matter of fact, I’m never going on a date again, period. Deal?”

Changbin grins, the apples of his cheeks shiny under the restaurant lighting. He holds his hand out for you to shake, and you take it hesitantly, grimacing when he uses his strength to jostle your arm like a ragdoll.

“Deal.”

🎥🍿

Any hope you had for the date going smoothly starts to dwindle once Chan texts you the day of.

You’d gotten his number from Changbin, who had so kindly already given Chan your number before he’d even broached the subject with you. The resulting lecture about privacy and consent may or may not have extended the rest of your time at the restaurant, a sheepish Changbin rubbing at the back of his neck while you berated him for his lack of common sense.

When your phone buzzes on your bathroom counter, Chan’s name flashing across the screen, you mistakenly think that he might be messaging because he’s early. Which, given the fact that you were standing in nothing but a towel, hair still wet from your shower and face covered in moisturizer you hadn’t rubbed into your skin yet, would be less than ideal.

Chan [12:32p.m.]

Hey! I’m really sorry to have to do this, but can we push the date back an hour?

Something came up at the studio

I tried to get out of it but I have a deadline to meet, client probably won’t be too happy of their track isn’t done on time

Great. Already off to a rough start.

In his defense though, you appreciate the fact that he’s messaged a whopping two hours in advance. Most people probably wouldn’t be bothered to allow that much of a grace period.

You [2:33p.m.]

no worries!!!

you didn’t buy the tickets yet, did you?

Chan [2:34p.m.]

Nope! So we should be fine

I’ll purchase them for 6 and then be there to scoop you up around 5:30 if that’s cool?

You [2:36p.m.]

sounds perfect

hope stuff goes well at the studio!!

Chan [2:40p.m.]

You’re sweet

Thank you, I’ll see you soon :)

You’re sweet. You stare at the words on the screen, your brain buffering for a moment. A big fat loading circle floating above your head.

Suddenly it’s way too hot in the bathroom. You blame the fact that you shower with the water cranked all the way up to boiling, because really there’s no other explanation for the warmth spreading throughout your cheeks.

To be fair, it’s been almost a year now since you’ve had any sort of positive interaction with another male. On one hand, your last relationship ended in a ‘It’s not you, it’s me’ ordeal that most definitely gave the impression that it was you. On the other hand, most of the dates you’ve been on have ruined themselves within the first five minutes, never really giving you the chance to feel any sort of connection. Cocky attitudes, overly pushy encounters, and even someone who walked into the cafe you were seated at, took one look at you, and walked right back out. That one still hurts.

It’s a little sad that Chan is the only guy out of the mix whose elicited any sort of reaction out of you. Especially since you haven’t even met him yet.

The extra hour that you have to compensate for flies by a lot quicker than you expect, and before you know it Chan is messaging that he’s five minutes away.

You take one last glance in the mirror: a pair of light wash jeans that sit right above your hips, black halter top bodysuit, and a thin cream colored cardigan to tie it all together. Simple and cute. A movie date doesn’t really call for all the dramatics, and you’d hate to overdress for a first impression.

You’re in the middle of reapplying your chapstick when the doorbell rings.

Take it easy, you say to yourself, inhaling deeply as you reach for the door handle. You let the air out with one final huff, swinging the door open only to be met by a bouquet of daisies directly in front of your face.

You blink in surprise. Well that’s a first. Before you get a chance to speak, the bouquet is being lowered, and the moment Chan’s face comes into view causes a small gasp to fall from your lips.

He’s…cute. Beautiful, even. A bright smile, dimples that tuck themselves into his laugh lines as his eyes disappear into crescents much like the moon, and lips that make your head spin when his tongue darts out to wet them nervously. His hair falls messily across his forehead in a faded hue of purple with hints of brown, definitely unconventional and an obvious result of one too many washes, but he makes it work. He makes it work well.

He clears his throat, brings a fist up to his mouth to emphasize it, and then grins. “Hi there.”

It takes a second for your brain to catch up. Even his voice is attractive. He’s using english, which leads you to assume that Changbin has already told him that you’re not from here. His accent is there, not too noticeable but also strong enough to be picked up on.

“Hey.” You smile, rubbing a hand up and down your arm.

“These are for you. I, uh, as an apology for being late. Is it too much?”

You shake your head quickly. “No! No, these are—they’re beautiful. I love them. Thank you…Chan.” His name rolls off your tongue hesitantly, but it all disappears as soon as he flashes that smile again.

“Good, I’m glad,” his voice catches the breathy end of the laugh he lets out, “This is weird, isn’t it? I’m sorry, I don’t really do well with this kind of stuff. But you look really nice, and I’m excited. My car is parked just out front if you’re ready to go.”

Honest. Awkward. A laugh that makes you want to hear it over and over again. You were sold the minute his eyes met yours. Chan offers his elbow for you to take like you’re in some cheesy romance movie from your childhood.

Yeah. This one is definitely gonna go well.

🎥🍿

Chan might not show it, but he’s just as nervous as you are.

You wouldn’t be able to tell at first glance that he spent an entire forty-five minutes deciding on an outfit, only to settle with some jeans and a white shirt, a jacket thrown on top for some color.

When Changbin first proposed the idea of going on a date with you, he was adamant that he wasn’t looking for anything right now. But as soon as you opened the door, eyes wide and looking like the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen, he’s glad he said yes.

“So what movie are we seeing?” you ask, frowning when Chan laughs. “What? What’s funny?”

“It’s a surprise.” He smiles, rushing forward to hold the door of the car open for you. When he puts his hand against the top part to block your head, you have to suppress the smattering of butterfly wings that start to clamor against your ribcage.

Chan is sweet. He double checks that you’re buckled in before driving off, he asks if there’s any specific music you want to listen to before foregoing it all entirely to ask about you instead, he listens with an attentiveness that has you feeling seen and heard, and he smiles with such genuinity and warmth that you feel cold once it disappears. You stare at him in awe, like he’s a figment of your imagination.

Chan’s been staring back, too. He spares glances in your direction when you’re not looking, feels the steady thump of his heart gradually increase whenever you lean a little too far to the left when he makes you laugh, and he thinks your voice is prettier than anything that’s ever played on the radio.

You learn more about him as he drives. He moved back from Australia when he was seventeen, he’s got two younger siblings and an adorable puppy named Berry back home (and pictures on his dashboard to prove it), he prefers Australia’s summers over Seoul’s winters but he finds more inspiration here in the city than anywhere else. You resonate with the fact that he doesn’t really have anyone here besides a small circle of friends. No family, no one to fall back on when things get tough.

Chan talks like he’s an old friend, like he’s re-telling a story you’ve heard a thousand times. He makes it easy to fall into step with him as if you’ve been here all along.

By the time the two of you get to the movie theater, the initial awkwardness that had hung in the air is gone, replaced by comfort and ease. Chan throws the car in park and all but books it out of his seat to open your door for you, and you giggle when he makes a dramatic bow as you exit.

The theater is kind of busy for a Thursday night. There are families with their kids lined up to get tickets and groups of teenagers at the concessions, all of which make for a crowded lobby. Chan glances down when you place a hand on his arm, mostly because you want to stay close, but also because it’s hard to ignore the feeling of being magnetized towards him. He smiles, bending at the elbow to allow your arm to slip into his.

There are cardboard cutouts along the sides of the lobby, all of which serve to promote the newest animated release about a family of ducks. You squint at the showtimes once the two of you make it to the front of the counter, letting your eyes scan the movie titles until you finally land on—

“Two tickets for Migration, under Bang Chan.”

The girl behind the counter looks up, her eyes bored. She can’t be any older than sixteen, most likely resentful about the fact that she’s stuck here on a school night. “The kids movie?” She asks, unimpressed.

Chan braves a glance in your direction and—ah, there goes that grin again. Cue the butterflies. You’d agree to a three hour long showing of static and white noise if it meant he’d never stop doing that.

“Yup, that’s the one.”

Tickets in hand, a smiling Chan right next to you, and a massive line for popcorn that honestly might have the two of you late for the previews. “We’re seeing a kids movie?” You ask, moving up a spot in the line.

“Mmhm. I spent so long looking at all the options. The romcoms seemed boring, Bin mentioned that the newest superhero movie was bad, and I figured a scary one was too cliché,” he eyes you sidelong, “Unless you’re into that.”

You huff out a laugh, not really expecting him to be so straightforward, “I definitely am not.”

“Hm, so the old yawn to put my arm around you trick won’t work?” His eyes are playful, but something about the idea of being in even more contact with him has your stomach doing flips.

“Nope. Sorry. Seen that one before.” You say, making him laugh, his earring dangling when he drops his chin towards his chest.

“I guess I’ll have to figure out something else then.”

Another thing you learn about Chan is that he enjoys interesting food combinations.

“You like peanut m&ms?” he asks, throwing a bag of them onto the counter when you nod your head. After he pays, he pockets his wallet and turns to you with a bucket of popcorn tucked under his arm and a large drink with two straws in his hand. “Could you grab the candy?”

First door, theater one. There are a bunch of parents and their kids entering ahead of you, all of them buzzing with excitement. It’s a little funny, the fact that two grown adults—no kid in tow—are walking into the showing of a kids movie.

Chan leads you to the very back row. “For the kids, just in case they can’t see over us.” He quickly clarifies after noticing the way your eyebrows shoot up in silent question, but even in the dim lighting you can still see the tips of his ears turning pink.

“Taking me to a kids movie and then propositioning me in the presence of five year olds? You’ve got some nerve.” You say, timing it perfectly as Chan is leaning forward to take a sip of the drink that’s placed in the cupholder between the two of you. He sputters around the straw in surprise, coughing into his fist.

“That’s not—” You laugh, cutting him off as he stares at you with red eyes from his coughing fit. The mood shifts after that, and Chan visibly relaxes into his seat as he starts throwing jokes out a lot easier than before.

“Learned this from my dad,” he says, opening the bag of m&ms, “It’s my favorite thing to do at the movies. Haven’t been in a while because—well, I don’t really have anyone to go with.”

You watch as he dumps the candy into the popcorn bucket, shaking it to mix everything together. He reaches in to grab a piece of popcorn and an m&m at the same time, popping it into his mouth.

“Oh my god,” he sighs, slumping into his seat, “Forgot how good that is.”

When you don’t respond, he looks over. “You okay?”

Are you? You’re not sure. Every bone in your body is screaming bloody murder because Chan is making it really hard to not want to lean over and kiss the concerned frown off of his stupidly pretty face.

The thing about it is that you don’t do blind dates. And you most especially don’t enjoy them. But Chan is different. Chan holds doors open for you and makes corny jokes. Chan laughs at everything like it’s his last day on earth and he’s making up for lost time. Chan listens when you talk and responds with genuine interest. Chan compliments the little girl in the theater lobby who’s wearing a princess dress to watch the new superhero movie. Chan shares something as special as his dad’s favorite movie snack with you. Chan is just…Chan. And you like him. A lot.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay, I’m just—thank you. For sharing that with me.” You say, the corners of your mouth lifting.

“Stop doing that.” He mumbles, eyes trained ahead.

“Doing what?”

“Smiling. It makes my head spin.”

Your heart slams against your chest. You’ve spent the entire date trying to make sense of the way Chan makes you feel, trying to put it all into words. Yet here he is, right in front of you, saying his thoughts as they come and absolutely ruining your resolve in the process. Like it’s easy for him.

There’s no time to answer when the lights go down, the screen up front widening to signal the start of the movie.

Just like any other kids movie, it’s easy to get caught up in all the surface level jokes while also understanding the themes. You and Chan laugh outwardly at some parts, hold your breath at the suspenseful ones. It’s almost like you’re a kid again, enjoying yourself fully for the first time in a really, really long while.

Chan was right, the popcorn and m&m combination is good. You reach back into the bucket for more, freezing when Chan does the same and his knuckles brush yours in the slightest of touches, sending a jolt of electricity up your arm. It happens a few more times, each one leaving his hand lingering for far longer than the last, until eventually he makes a show of digging really hard for an m&m and hooks his pinky with yours in between the popcorn. It’s cheesy and cliché but god does it make your stomach do somersaults.

About three-quarters of the way through the movie, when it’s clear that neither one of you are willing to take it the next step further, you lean into his ear.

“You okay? You look kind of tired.”

Chan turns, confused. He’s certain that he wasn’t dozing off. He did have a late night last night. He was up working on the track that still somehow managed to hold him back today, hoping to have everything polished so that he didn’t run into any obstacles before your date. But that didn’t really work out in the end.

“Huh? No, I’m fine. Honest.”

“You sure?” you ask, a slight lift to your voice, “I don’t know, you looked like you were about to yawn.”

The light from the movie hits the left side of his face, illuminating all of his features in a way that makes your breath hitch. He’s pretty. So, so pretty.

Chan blinks, slow, and then his confusion slowly turns to one of understanding. Cue the grin.

“You know, now that I’m thinking about it…I am kind of tired.” He makes a show of fake yawning, stretches his arms above his head (and not blocking any children since you’re in the back row, thankfully), before bringing his right arm down and around your shoulders.

You spend the rest of the movie like that, tucked into Chan’s side while his fingers move gently against your shoulder. He’s unbelievably warm, and eventually you find your head resting in the spot just between his shoulder and his neck, his cheek pushed up against the side of your head. The position makes it easier to reach up and pat his eyes dry at the end, a single tear slipping out as he sniffled and mumbles a ‘M’not crying’ that has you giggling and doting all over him.

He doesn’t move his arm for the entire walk back to the car, and you momentarily mourn the loss when he opens the door for you (again!) so you can climb in. When he finally gets in on the other side, he says nothing, just reaches over to intertwine his fingers with yours and places your joined hands on the center console like it’s something you’ve done a thousand times.

“Ready to go home?” He asks, looking over at you.

You glance down at your hands, then back up at him. “Is it weird if I say no?”

“Not at all,” Chan grins, throwing the car into drive, “I was hoping you would say that.”

🎥🍿

“For you.”

Chan plops down on the bench, a hand outstretched with a steaming hot chocolate ready for you to take.

“Thanks,” you smile, cradling the cup between your hands.

After some deliberation, you and Chan had decided to come to the Han River. It’s quiet, the bridge lights reflecting off the water as the sounds of the city fade into the background. The temperature is slightly on the colder side, the tail end of winter just barely there. When he notices the slight shiver of your shoulders after a particularly strong gust of wind, Chan shucks his jacket off in a heartbeat to drape over you.

“Oh, you don’t—”

“You’re cold,” he scolds, pulling at the collar of the jacket to tighten it around you. His hand lingers near the base of your neck, fingers itching to reach out and touch. He doesn’t though, just smiles and settles back into the bench. “Plus I think Changbin might actually kill me if something were to happen to you.”

“Oh please,” you roll your eyes, “Ignore him. I’m not a baby.”

Chan takes a sip of his own hot chocolate, licks his lips to catch the excess. Not that you’re staring. “I’m serious. I mean, I get it. He told me that you’re here alone and stuff.”

You hum in understanding, turning your head to stare out at the water. “So are you.”

It’s Chan’s turn to look at you now, his elbows resting against his knees, and you watch out of the corner of your eye as his face turns unreadable.

The silence stretches thin, nothing but the sound of cars passing and a dog barking nearby. It’s kind of comforting in a way. Being on your own in a new place has been one of the hardest transitions you’ve ever had to deal with. There were times where it felt like a mistake, where you wished that you’d never even gotten on the plane. But then there were times where you felt lucky to be experiencing the things you are; to be able to try new things and pursue a life for yourself that you never thought possible.

“How’d you do it?” you ask quietly, turning to meet Chan’s gaze. “I mean, you were young. Seventeen is basically still a kid. Being alone in a place like this is scary as an adult, I can’t even imagine what that was like.”

Chan smiles, but it’s sad. His eyes twinkle with something like resentment, the lights from the bridge making it look like he’s glowing. A flame that’ll never burn out. “Would you believe me if I said I’m still figuring it out?” The end of it comes out as a laugh, but you can tell he means it.

“I don’t know, being a big shot music producer with deadlines and clients seems pretty figured out to me.”

Chan nods and stares at the cup in his hands. “My parents hated it. Still do, I think.” You don’t say anything. Chan is grateful for that; grateful for the space you’re giving him to explain. “They wanted more for me I guess. But I’m not sure that more would’ve necessarily been what I wanted, you know? I’m content with where I am now. I’m doing something I love, even if it took a while to get here. They don’t see it.” He chews his lip nervously, fingers playing with the soggy material of the paper cup’s rim.

Chan doesn’t know why he’s saying any of this. He’s not the type to completely bare himself out to anyone, to scoop away at his insides until there’s nothing left besides the hollowness he feels whenever he thinks about how he traded his life back home for a life of music. But you’re different somehow. Chan knew since the moment he saw you, felt it in the way your eyes lit up whenever he spoke and in the ease of how well the two of you got along. He was doomed from the start.

“I see it.” you say, your eyes still fixed on the water. “I might’ve only just met you today, but I see it. And I get it, too. Maybe not to the same extent, but the feeling of wanting to do something for yourself even if it meant losing something else. There’s purpose in that, in you. It’s okay to be selfish if it means you’re prioritizing your happiness.” You let the words settle for a bit, hoping that you don’t sound too shallow. When you turn to look at him, he’s already looking back.

“You don’t know me enough to say that.”

“I don’t have to know you to believe in you, Chan.”

A beat of silence, and then he’s laughing, short and punctuated as he lets his head fall forward with a small shake.

“You’re…”

“What? Corny?” you supply, smiling over at him.

“No,” he says, meeting your gaze. “Perfect.”

You huff out an incredulous laugh, looking away to hide the blush that’s spreading across your cheeks. “You can’t just—god, now who’s corny? Huh?”

“I never said I wasn’t corny.” Chan argues, sitting up to face you fully.

“Yeah but you can’t just say stuff like that.”

“Why not? I think you like it.”

Your mouth opens and closes quickly, lost for words. Chan’s closer now, a lot closer than he was before. One arm thrown across the back of the bench, loosely framing you in, he bends it at the elbow to bring a hand up and tuck your hair behind your ear.

“I never said that.” you mumble, your gaze flicking down to his lips and then back up again.

“You want me to stop then?” he asks, voice just above a whisper. You know what he’s implying the minute his fingers trace the shell of your ear, moving down slowly until they start playing with the collar of his jacket.

“Is it bad if I say no?”

Chan’s hand is warm to the touch, ice to fire. You lean into it. A moth to a flame, one that’ll never go out.

“Not at all,” he repeats, just like earlier, “I was hoping you would say that.”

A dog barking in the distance. Cars beeping as they pass by. A plane flying overhead. A group of friends laughing as they ride past on their bikes. The minute Chan’s lips connect with yours, everything fades, the sounds warbling together like static. Unintelligible; nothing besides the feeling of Chan kissing you matters.

It’s slow, nothing more than a press, but you feel it in every fiber of your being. Kissing Chan feels like the poles of the earth are colliding, meeting in the middle and sending its molten core spreading throughout your entire body. Warm, warm, warm. Chan is warm. He’s soft and gentle and his lashes tickle your cheeks when his eyes flutter closed halfway through because he was too busy etching your features into his memory.

You’re the first to pull away, admiring the way Chan’s eyes slowly peel open, lips swollen and pink. Unable to resist, you lean in and peck them once more, giggling when he blinks at you in shock.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been as compelled to kiss someone as I was just now.” You smile.

“Me too,” he sighs, resting his forehead against yours. “I don’t normally kiss on the first date.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t normally do dates anyways. At least not ones that don’t immediately go up in flames.”

“What about now?” Chan asks, raising an eyebrow. “Have I changed your mind?”

“Hmm, I don’t know. I kind of told Changbin that if this was a disaster I was never gonna go on a date again.”

Chan laughs and pulls you into his side, tucked right under his arm like the shape of him was molded in a way to make sure that you fit perfectly in his embrace.

“Is it bad if I say I like that idea?” He asks, glancing down at where your head is resting against his chest.

“Nope,” you say before leaning up to kiss him once more. He smiles into it when he feels your fingers playing with the curls at the nape of his neck, humming softly against your lips.

“Worst date ever, then?” he mumbles against your mouth.

“Yeah,” you sigh, pulling back to stare into his eyes, big and brown and brighter than the stars, “Worst date ever.”

[tags: @palindrome969 @summergirlsmj @n1staytiny ]

© all rights reserved. godslino 2024. please do not steal, translate, or re-upload.

[alpaca-clouds]

Try to learn about the old foods

I have most recently started to meal prep, with making a lot of foods and putting them in the freezer. This ended up allowing me to buy the foods in bulk from the local market. And, well... This allowed me to eat some of the foods that the supermarket does not have.

We do have a bit of a problem. And that problem mostly is that we got our food kinda messed up. Because people have lost the connection to the food they eat. But also because of colonialism.

The big thing that happened is, that we lost contact with most local foods. No matter where I go in the "first world nations"... The foods offered to me in the supermarkets are the same - and they also look the same.

This means that a lot of people have no real idea, what foods came from where in the world - but also do not know half of the foods that originated with where they are from, because they are not easily available.

Tomatoes are an example. Not only did historical tomatoes look and taste very differently from the tomatoes we eat today, but obviously... they came from the Americas. So they are not a food that originated with Europe and was not widely available in Europe until the 1600s. While, yes, the first tomates came here more than a hundred years earlier... it took a while for them to catch on.

This is parsnip. Another root vegetable that was commonly eaten in Europe for most of history. It has a more intensive taste than the usual carrot - but is also not that different from it, when it comes to consistency and how it is going to cook.

This is fennel. You might know fennel seeds as a spice or something you might drink as a tea. But the rest of the plant is edible, too, and a surprisingly strong flavored vegetable. It also is very crunchy and makes a really great addition to salads. But it is often not really sold in many places.

This is the Jerusalem Artichoke, another vegetable that originates within the Americas. To be exact, this is the root of a kind of sunflower. It got its name for being very similar in taste and tecture to the Artichoke. I honestly do not know, though, why it is called "Jerusalem Artichoke", because it does not have anything to do with Jerusalem.

The Potimarron is a kind of squash that - like basically all other forms of squash - originates in the Americas as well. It has a very nutty flavor. In Europe it was very popular in France for a long while, hence the french name. It has tons of meat and really makes for great stews!

This is a rutabaga, which originates from somewhere in northern Europe. We do not really know from where. All we know is, that it was a Swedish botanist who cultivates the form we still eat to this day in the 1620s. Which is why it is also called the "Swedish turnip". It does taste like a more bitter carrot, but makes really good addition to stews or can be served stamped.

This is the Chinese Artichoke and another root vegetable, that as the name suggest originates from China. It was cultivates in China in the late medieval period and has later made its way to Europe, especially France. It has a really sweet and nutty taste and can be eaten raw or in salads. Though there are dishes mashing the vegetable, too.

These are tigernuts, a vegetable that has been around forever. It originates in southern Europe, southern Asia and northern Africa. It is a dried fruit, with a sweet and earthy taste and it is known a lot in Spanish cuisine, but also in the cuisine of southern Asia.

Yacon is a root vegetable that originates with Peru, where it is still eaten, while the rest of the world mostly forgot about it. Well, except Japan, where it is currently getting more and more popular. It is a vegetable, but it has a very fruity taste.

I could now go on and name more vegetables from all around the world that were once grown and fed people, but got forgotten more and more in favor of the very limited diet made up of potatoes, corn, potatoes, peppers, cucumber, onion and tomatoes, that is basically what you will get to eat in most places.

And... Well, the thing about it is that... It is not really a good thing that we grow the same stuff everywhere. It is not good for us and it is not good for the environment. It is not good for those foods, either.

I really wish people would try and eat more of the stuff that originates with their region. And that they would eat the not-so-perfect looking foods as well. Because it is gonna be more sustainable in the end.

[dearweirdme]

https://www.tumblr.com/dearweirdme/758726248544550912/has-there-ever-been-a-time-during-ur-taekooking?source=share

“I have a pretty solid idea of what I feel has been going on, and still is going on.”

Would you please explain more about this part in case there are no previous references on your blog? I’m interpreting what’s written as you have a specific tk timeline that I can follow. I’m interested to know more about your point of view on their history.

Hi anon! Mmm, timeline wise I'm pretty much in line with everyone else I think. I was talking more about how I see the bigger picture. People so often focus on details and specific moments, but what matters most to me is how Tae and Jk behave and interact in general and how their relationship fits in the context of BTS and SK.

What I see when I look at Tae and Jk's history, is two boys who had an almost instant connection. I think they quickly became eachother's sources of comfort. They were placed in extreme circomstances at a very young age. I think they kinda made each other their home away from home. The other hyungs were there as well ofcourse, it's no wonder they are all so close, but Tae and Jk just are closer and always have been. I think Tae was Jk's hero before he became his crush, and I think Jk was Tae's little brother friend he got to take care of at first. I think they both gave each other something important. Tae gave Jk convidence, and Jk gave Tae acceptance.

I think... when their feelings became clearer, perhaps the difference between them was that when Jk looked at Tae he thought 'there is no way this isn't right' but when Tae looked at Jk he thought 'Is this right for me to give into?". Tae being the hyung, both of them probably knew that getting involved would cause problems.. I think it was very unsure for quite some time. When something you really want, seemingly stands in the way of something else you really want.. it's a really tough situation.

However, I think the attraction between them was just too strong. It was probably unavoidable, since they were together so much. Every opportunity to fall deeply in love. I think the hyungs noticed, I think management noticed, and that resulted in Tae and Jk being separated. Had they been in a relationship while rookies.. I'm pretty sure they would have thrown Tae out (being the hidden member). But since BTS were already making name when imo Tae and Jk got more serious, getting rid of one of them wasn't that easy anymore. I think BTS members stuck up for them. I think extreme measurements were taken, and that's why sometimes we see weird things and not the 'normal' signs of two people in a relationship.

Though many people have lots to say about this and will disagree, there is no duo as strong in skinship as Tae and Jk. They are basically a level up from all other duo's friendships. They are more prone to touch, more prone to go to each other, more prone to sit closely, more aware of what the other does, more attuned to each other. Last year magnified how they single each other out by the mere fact that they weren't functioning as a group. I get annoyed by the asks that say their skinship doesn't mean much and it's just learned behavior. No, skinship is a strong indicator of a deep conection. I got that anon last night about Jkk being familiar with their touches... Tae and Jk top that easily, because with them it's not for moments of banter or comfort.. it's a constant.

Thats's basically what Jk and Tae are imo... they are pretty constant. I think they have had some real tough times. I don't think they ever really broke up, but I can imagine them having had times where they maybe were on a little break. I'm not really going through the years and all their interactions to look at when those might have been though. That's theirs and I don't really need to know all the inns and outs of their relationship.

I could truly talk all night about the different aspects of their characters and their relationship 😂 there's so much to say about it.

[slut4megantheestallion]

"Tag You're It!"

Billy loomis x Stu macher x Black!reader

Summary: You're new to Woodsboro but Billy and Stu take a liking in to you, they would do anything to have you even if it means killing anyone that's get to close of around you.

Y/n was new to Woodsboro since her parents got a new job here, but she later on got to her new school and made quite alot of friends when she moved here, Y/n first met Tatum in history class and that's when they become fast friends and she later on became friends with Sidney.

Y/n loved Tatum and Sidney they were like sisters Y/n never had. Y/n joined cheerleading and she became very well known and popular in school that she caught the attention of most of the boys in school, especially Billy Loomis and Stu Macher they both had girlfriends but they would easily kill them just to get close and have Y/n all to themselves.

Y/n first met Stu and Billy on her first day here, Y/n first met them in history class one thing Y/n could say they were very attractive but they both are dating her bestfriends Sidney and Tatum, so Y/n really never thought too much about them dating her best friends.

Billy and Stu were obsessed with her, when Y/n would get home from school and take a shower they would secretly look through her window and watch her get naked and stare at her body.

"She is so fucking hot." Stu said awestruck staring at Y/n's body.

Billy didn't respond back he was to focused on Y/n's boobs and ass to even form a sentence back at Stu.

"We need a plan to get Y/n, to be ours even if it means killing anyone, we'll scare her just a bit but we won't kill her she's to precious to be hurt. She's special." Billy said as he licks his lips watching Y/n walk away and getting inside her bathroom.

As Y/n takes a nice shower. She was kinda paranoid because there was killing spree, she was dating this one guy from the football team, but he was killed by the Ghostface killer. Y/n stopped going to Cheer practice and stopped going to Sidney and Tatum's house. Those letters were getting a bit creepy she got a letter with blood on it. Y/N was so freaked out she told her parents about it that told the police. Y/n was so freaked out by Ghostface she let Billy and Stu walk her home every single day. Billy was very skeptical about Billy, since he was arrested for being Ghostface but is a false alarm and he was actually innocent so Y/n didn't really think too much about it and just let it go. Y/n really liked Stu he made her laugh and made her feel less paranoid about the murders that's going on.

Y/n got out the shower and saw her window was unlocked, so she closed it back up. "I remember I close this window?" Y/n said questions. Y/n dried her body and took of the towel leaving her bare. She moisturized her body and put on a matching blue lacy panties and a blue bra. She put on a white crop top and some black sweatpnats

Y/n made it downstairs and turned the TV on, ber parents were at work and they would come back next morning. Y/n was getting very paranoid but she just thought it was her paranoia getting the best of her.

Y/n heard the phone rang so she picked it up. "Hello?" Y/n responded, all she could hear was breathing which freaked her out.

"Listen, who the fuck is this I don't have time for this." Y/n said growing irritated.

"Whats your favorite scary movie?" The voice responds, even though Y/n was irritated she couldn't lie the voice was very sexy that it turned her on.

"Can I tell you that I don't have a favorite scary movie." Y/n said as she rolls her eyes.

"Oh, Cmon everyone has a favorite scary movie, why don't you have a favorite scary movie?" The voice says questioning Y/n.

"I just don't find them scary, like the main character is a dumb basic blonde blue eyes chick who doesn't know any better and dies."Y/n said explaining why she doesn't have a favorite scary movie.

"Thats a bummer I really liked you and the way you look so sexy tonight in that white crop top." The voice said making Y/n's heart stop.

"What did you say?" Y/n said as her heart starts beating as she takes a little sneak peak at the window looking around closing the curtains quickly.

"I didn't say anything? Let's continue talking." The raspy voice said but Y/n was to scared to continue.

"Yeah I don't think so you fucking pervert." Y/n shouts over the phone as she was about to hang up the voice starts shouting.

"You hang up, I'll gut you just like I did to your boyfriend, you don't want your guts to be spread on your parents doorstep, do you?" The voice taunts Y/n, Y/n was so scared tears started to from in your eyes.

"What the fuck do you want from me?" Y/n shouts over the phone getting scared.

"Good girl, let's play a game, you like games do you?" The voice says over the phone.

"Yeah, whatever just tell me what game we're playing." Y/n said as she grows impatient, angry, and scared.

"Let's play Simon says." The voice says.

"Simon says... touch your knees." The voice says Y/n could tell he was smiling over the phone, this... sick fuck.

Y/n bends over touching her knees, even though Y/n couldn't see The killer doesn't mean he couldn't see her, As Y/n was bending down, Billy couldn't help but stare at her ass.

"How long is this gonna last?" Y/n says irritated.

"Until I say so, sweetheart." The voice chuckles, even though Y/n was fucking mad she couldn't get over how sexy his voice was.

"Simon says take off your crop top." The voice says over the phone. Y/n has never been this scared in her life.

Y/n does what he says and slowly takes off her crop leaving her in her blue lacy bra, Billy has a boner just by you wearing a bra, he really wanted to see what your tits look like without the bra.

"Simon says take off your bra." Billy says as Stu opens the window for Billy to get in. As Billy made it into Y/n's room he felt like he was in heaven. Billy gives Stu a confused look as he sees Stu opening Y/n's underwear drawer.

"What are you doing?" Billy whispers growing irritated as Stu smiles to himself.

"Chill out dude I'm just taking a little souvenir." Stu said in surrender taking a pair of Y/n's underwear as he shoves it in his pockets under his black robe of the Ghostface costume.

Y/n takes of her bra leaving her bare, Y/n felt the cool air on her tits.

"Simon says take of your sweatpants and underwear." Billy says as him and Stu makes it downstairs innthe living room quietly, thank God Y/n could see them since she was facing the window, giving time for Stu hide in the kitchen.

"Simon Says turn around." Billy says, Y/n heart stopped as the voice felt like it was right behind her, Y/n turn around seeing Ghostface right in front of her.

Y/n punches Ghostface in the face, giving Y/n enough time to run, Y/n runs to the kitchen to see another Ghostface right in front of her. "Surprise, Y/n." Ghostface says but Y/n felt like she heard that voice before.

Stue takes off the Ghostface mask making Y/n shock, Y/n wanted to cry but beat the shot out of them since they were the killers that killers her boyfriend and Casey and probably others.

"Oh, you should've seen you're it was priceless, but God your body is perfect." Stu said whispering in Y/n's ear giving her chills down her spine.

"You're such a fucking slut, Y/n taking off your clothes for us." Billy said coming closer to Y/n behind whispering in her ear.

"What the fuck are you sick fuck gonna do, kill me?" Y/n says.

"No, you're to precious for us to kill." Stu said cupping Y/n's face kissing her out of nowhere, as Billy smiles watching Stu kisses Y/n.

Y/n wanted to stop but she couldn't stop kissing him it was to good, Billy starts kissing Y/n's neck making her moan.

"Do you want to take this upstairs?" Billy whispers in Y/n's ear.

Theres a part of Y/n that wants to say 'no' and called the police but she didn't want to stop, she felt so fucking guilty

"Yeah." Y/n moans out which turn Billy and Stu on, the just couldn't keep their hands off of you.

Stu carries Y/n bridal style as he made it uo the stairs as Billy follows behind them

As they made it to Y/n's room Stu places Y/n on her bed, Stu stands infront of the bed unbuckling his belt leaving him bare, and that could y/n say it was... big.

Stu gets in bed with Y/n as he inserts himself in Y/n making her moan wrapping her legs around his waist as stu grunts as his thrusts were fast. Billy watches as he felts his dark getting hard. "Cmon... Billy I want you to join." Y/n says through moans as Stue thrusts her getting harder and harder.

"Flip her over stu, head hanging off of the bed." Billy instructs as he walks over to the bed as he unbuckles his pants.

Stu flips Y/n over where her head was hanging off of the bed as Billy stands right infront of her as stu pounds into her.

"Open wide, sweetheart." Bilky says as he shoves hisndick down Y/n's throat almost making her gag, Y/n sucks Billy off as Billy groans as he places his hand on Y/n's head making her go lower. Y/n felt so worn out.

"I'm almost about to cum." Billy said.

"Me too." Stu says as he pounds into Y/n.

Billy and Stu both groaned as they both came at the same time, Y/n moans as she came making her pant.

Billy lightly grabs Y/n chin kissing her making Y/n moans in the kiss.

"We should do this more often." Stu smiles as he puts his pants on.

"We should." Billy says still making out with Y/n.

"That was amazing." Y/n smiles looking back at Billy and Stu.

"Well we gotta go, princess we'll finish this nextime." Stue says as he kisses Y/n on the cheek.

"Maybe, next week we'll play Tag You're it." Billy says putting his pants on buckling is pants.

"I can't wait for that." Y/n says smirking.

"Bye, princess." Stu said as him and Billy walks out of Y/n's room,leaving Y/n alone in her room collecting her thoughts.

"What the fuck am I doing?" Y/n thought to herself knowing there was gonna be alot of drama coming her way.

[coinandcandle]

Hello, I'm the anon who asked about reading recs! I did respond back right away, but since you just asked for asks, I get the feeling Tumblr ate my ass 😄. In case it did, here it is again:

I'm trying to get my footing into witchcraft in general. I'd really like to start practicing, especially anything nature related, but I truly know nothing more than what you'd get scrolling through the tumblr tag. So I'm supposed I'm looking for a good starting place to learn my history around the practice (I know "the practice" is an incredibly broad way to describe it. But I don't know enough to be specific. I suppose anything that could give me a foundation to build from?) and something(s) that could help me dip my toes in for the first time. I've been watching everyone else swim in the pool for years, but I've never even touched the waters.

To simply put it, I'm trying to figure out the very beginning steps of witchery. I know I described everything broad and vague, but I don't really know enough to be more specific 😅

(if Tumblr didn't eat my ask and you haven't responded to my ask for any other reasons, no worries! I'm certainly in no rush)

Omg hello! No tumblr didn't eat you but I was waiting on some responses from friends who I asked for reading recs and my draft box DID eat your ask lol. Thank you for following up with my ADHD-addled ass!! <3

The good news is to start you just kinda jump in. I'm not saying throw yourself into the deep in but you can get your feet wet pretty easily.

Unfortunately during my beginner years most of the published books available were heavily soaked in Wiccan ideology which is absolutely not my vibe and not something I think people should start out with since there's a twisted history to it that you have to unwind but I see why people are attracted to it--it's structured in a way that solitary practice isn't.

I found my start online, honestly, then followed my gut to see where it took me next. All that said;

Here are some recs from me and my buddies:

Magic in the Middle Ages by Richard Kieckhefer (History)

Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits by Emma Wilby (History)

Popular Magic by Owen Davies (History)

Grimoires: A history of magic books by Owen Davies (History)

Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World by John G. Gager (History)

The Crooked Path by Kelden (Traditional Witchcraft)

13 pathways by Daniel Schulke (Occult Herbalism)

A Deed Without a Name by Lee Morgan (Witchcraft)

Of Witchcraft and Whimsy by Rose Orriculum (Witchcraft)

Grovedaughter Witchery by Bree NicGarran (Witchcraft)

Queering Your Craft by Cassandra Snow* (Witchcraft + queer)

Condensed Chaos by Phil Hine* (Chaos magic)

Outside the Charmed Circle by Misha Magdalene* (Witchcraft)

Sacred Gender by Ariana Serpentine (Witchcraft + queer)

Kitchen Table Magic by Melissa Cynova* (Witchcraft)

*Queering Your Craft and Kitchen Table Magic are that they both feel more basic, Condensed Chaos is more of a "102" type book for chaos magic specifically, and Outside the Charmed Circle is strongly Wiccan in influence but brings up some very interesting topics and ideas. (Note from Jasper)

Make sure to keep an open mind and take no one's word as law when it comes to witchcraft and magic. Take in the information and come up with your own conclusions based on your experiences! :>

Thanks to @windvexer , @stagkingswife, @jasper-pagan-witch, and @rose-colored-tarot for help with the recommendations!

Feel free to comment or reblog with your own suggestions!

[wesavegotham]

Batman vs Robin #4...spoilers and a long rant under the cut.

Waid continues what he started doing in the preview and wastes Bruce's inner monologue on listing the martial arts moves they are doing. What is he trying to tell us with this? They know a lot of fighting techniques, what a revelation. The parts not about martial arts aren't that interesting either.

When I got to this page I thought for a split second that Bruce was finally going to reflect on his relationship with Damian a bit, but it's the most basic, surface level deep stuff you could possibly write. And instead of picking something meaningful from their history (Bruce gifting Damian Titus, Damian giving Bruce one of Martha's pearls he searched for in the sewers, the scavanger hunt, their trip to the moon, Bruce reviving Damian...) the artist gave us...this. Heartwarming. You can really feel how much writer and artist care for the relationship this book is supposedly about according to the title.

Also apparently obligatory Talia bashing.

I believe Bruce saying "he's my son" here was supposed to make me feel something, but it's all just so damn basic. He's Bruce's son, and? He doesn't seem to like him as a person and Damian being Bruce's son has never stopped Bruce from letting Damian down. Badly. If Damian being his son truly meant anything their relationship wouldn't have gotten this bad.

If anyone feels happy that Bruce's injuries from the last issue didn't get ignored here, let me assure you, despite it looking like it for a few pages none of this is going to matter later.

(I'm going to skip a page here, it's just more martial arts move and Bruce thinking that Damian can counter all of his moves. I'm really not sure what Waid wants to tell me with this. Am I supposed to think that Damian is a real threat? But Bruce already said that he could easily beat him under normal circumstances. Pride? But again, he's doesn't seem that impressed? Idk. I don't get Waid's Bruce.)

It's not compelling.

Also, as if anyone would even think for one second DC would let Bruce seriously be beaten by Damian. DC makes Damian lose against characters that picked up martial arts like two weeks ago to hype them up or to "teach Damian a lesson"

(Another uninteresting page of Damian punching Bruce and talking about killing him I'm going go skip here.)

Because why should Damian ever be allowed to have a win?

Also, we could have gotten a cool scene of Bruce rescuing Talia and talking about saving their son together, but instead Waid chose to go for the boring "gotcha, Bruce always pulls something out of his ass" route. I swear to god, DC writers are so afraid of letting Bruce make mistakes or be in real danger that it's infuriating. It's so boring to read Bruce. I know this twist is coming, I'm just always hoping they don't do it because it's such a predictable twist at this point.

Yay. Batgod😒

With the power of the helmet Bruce simply breaks Nezha's control over the possessed characters and teleports most of them home.

Damian immediately begging for forgiveness from Bruce kinda irks me. Especially when I consider how Bruce talked to Damian in the first issue and how he thinks about him...it just all gives me the vibe that this book is trying to "put Damian in his place". It's all so...patriachal? In a really bad way.

Bruce starts fighting Nezha. Bruce is batgod and Nezha is boring.

Talia and Damian go after Mother Soul, but Mother Soul can't really do anything on her own, so they beat her easily. She's also boring.

Nezha continues to be generic.

Bruce's line could have been really cool and touching. If Waid had built up to it. But at no point did Bruce reflect on anything Damian said to him during this book or think about how his mistakes as a father landed them in this situation, so when and how did Bruce reach the conclusion that this was actually about being the father Damian needs?

Because to me it feels like Damian was only in this as an excuse to draw Batman going up against demons.

*sigh* I feel like I read this dialogue 100 times already.

Bruce is still fighting Nezha, but is too cool to use magic correctly, so Nezha is able to pull the helmet off his head and the helmet breaks and lands in the lazarus pit, releasing all the magic it accumulated into it. If Damian had pulled something like this he would be laughed at for his arrogance, but this is Bruce so instead Nezha just rants about how great Bruce is:

You know, for one second I thought Damian was actually allowed to something useful for once in this story and save Bruce, but of course it doesn't go that way.

Instead Bruce ends up saving Damian. Why actually talk about their relationship issues if you can just throw in a heroic sacrifice to resolve it all?

Do you know how many times DC has "killed" Bruce this year? He'll be fine.

Also, Bruce had basically nothing nice to say about Damian or Talia this entire book so seeing them care so much about his death is just...guys, he's not worth it.

King Fire Bull arrives and starts fighting Nezha because he apparently killed his real parents. I don't care, they are both generic.

Black Alice revives Bruce with the lazarus magic running through Nezha's veins. I guess that is why Bruce turns into a demon in Lazarus Planet.

Nezha flees, the humans run to the plane Bruce arrived with and King Fire Bull blows up the volcano that spews the contaminated lazarus pit water all over the world.

Uff. I just feel like Waid has absolutely nothing interesting to say about Bruce and Damian's relationship. There is zero reflection going on. This book only exists to make Bruce look cool and everyone else is only there to give him opportunities to do so.

[exeggcute]

there's a developing story in Australian media about Tiktok pixels collecting unauthorised data in an aggressive manner via their ads on thrid party websites, and I was wondering what a Professional like yourself made of it

ooh reading into this now... full disclosure that (1) until/unless I get another job in adtech I am technically not a Professional anymore lol and (2) pixel tags weren't a big component of my last role so I only have a fairly basic understanding of how they work. but from what I'm seeing here it sounds like the main issue with tiktok rn isn't the data collection per se, since these pixel tags are functionally identical to the ones employed by facebook and others, just that tiktok isn't obtaining user consent the way other companies are ostensibly do. although even that seems like a convenient lead-in for the whole Oh My God A But Chinese Company Is Doing It thing.

and tbf I kinda can pull that in both directions—on one hand facebook in particular has gotten in a lot of trouble before for bad data collection practices and putting that data in the hands of people who used it to (maybe, allegedly) sway public opinion, so the general fear underpinning this thing is like, not unfounded right. (even though I don't think the issue behind the cambridge analytica scandal was centered around tracking pixels specifically?) on the other hand the very nature of facebook's rocky history re. data and privacy proves that western companies can and will spy on their users and it's for sure disingenuous to act like ~shady foreign governments~ are the only ones with any incentive to do so lol.

I guess you could argue that facebook's incentive for all the spying was simply Making Money, even if they took money from people who did use that spy data to spread propaganda; like, to the parent company, the propaganda wasn't the goal. whereas many will obviously argue that with tiktok data some undefined form of propaganda is the goal. but seeing that tiktok ads are a multi-billion dollar enterprise(!) I'm way more inclined to believe that tiktok is also spying for the sake of Making Money. clearly a whole fucking lot of money!

this is something I've for sure said before but I also wholeheartedly believe (and to some extent, know, although again pixel tracking isn't my exact wheelhouse) that advertising data is a lot less granular and therefore less useful than most people imagine it to be, which severely limits the kind of compromising shit you can pull under normal circumstances.

even in the article I linked, where they talk about tiktok pixels being able to track the shopping/browsing habits of users, basic device info, and occasionally some PII like phone numbers and email addresses... like, okay, so let's say tiktok knows that junglejim4322@yahoo.com used an iphone to look at a website that sells orthopedic shoe inserts. or even maybe something more salacious like, idk, questionably legal gas station dick pills. from a "let's use tiktok to spread propaganda" perspective I really struggle how that information would be valuable or what you'd do with it other than emailing that person outright to taunt them about their fucked up feet and/or dick? (if the goal is to show people certain kinds of content in tiktok's app then certainly you have both the means to do so and plenty of behavioral data to draw up on in the app itself. it's a literal video platform lol.) otoh from a "let's use this data to create advertising segments" perspective then you can easily monetize this info by telling advertisers that you know a guy who's a prime target for ads about podiatry treatments or whatever, in which case advertisers are more eager to spend money on ads because they think they're talking to a relevant audience. and in that case advertisers don't really care what the guy's name or email is, just that he ticks certain boxes that make him a worthwhile use of ad dollars. and even in cases where bad actors do want more specific data for shady purposes, it's pretty difficult to collect it and even harder to propagate it across different platforms; one thing I think gets overlooked a lot with cambridge analytica in particular is that it happened on a platform where users willingly share their full name, birthday, gender, relationship status, political leanings, job title, etc. outright, and then create connections between other people who also willingly share all that info. in some ways I don't think it could've happened anywhere but facebook, because this is a situation where you really didn't have to squeeze anything out of users—they just came out and told you! (it's also part of why non-shady facebook ads are so lucrative; you don't have to guesstimate audience data when you can literally just specify that certain ads should only be shown to people whose profile says they're between the ages of 35 and 55.) and as far as I'm aware tiktok just does not have anything remotely approaching that kind of profile data.

anyway lol. as far as I can tell I think this is a GDPR-y consent issue first and foremost, which will probably turn into a thorny battle over whether tiktok can/will be held to EU data standards or similar statues with a good helping of Chinese Company Bad mixed in for good measure. also side note but remember the whole thing about tiktok data transparency but the american company they put in charge of it is fucking oracle?

[wack-ashimself]

Know what I never want to hear again, not even ONCE, the rest of my life?

"Our government would never do that."

YES, THE FUCK, THEY WOULD. THEY HAVE. THEY DID. THEY WILL, EASILY, AGAIN.

If we could also include to avoid: "Our government never did that" and "Our government COULDN'T do that*" It would be much appreciated.

During #JFK: They wanted to do a #falseflag, and blame it on #Cuba. During #Nixon: Crack to the blacks.

In the 70s, the #CIA OPENLY admitted they had a gun with a dissolving bullet that could cause an undetectable, natural looking heart attack. NOW, they have radar dishes they can point at people to give them execrating pain, making them nearly immobile.

We started with a genocide to fund the #usa, had slavery for far too long, made concentration camps for Japanese-Americans during #WW2 where we stole BILLIONS from their houses and assets, and today? Today we have the largest #prison#slave population in human history; yes, more than when we actually had legalized slavery. The biggest military EVER, which, historically, has killed more than any other military with new age weapons. Yeah-can't deny the whole white phosphorus, regular ole bombs, and of course, NUCLEAR WEAPONS. What's ironic? Japan actually hates us more for the firebombs we used on them (more suffering instead of instant death). Didn't know about the #firebombs? MOST DON'T.

And then we get to 9/11. Ya know. When our government shut down all airports, but let a FEW special planes go out of #Florida just after it happened, containing some very unique individuals (proven). Or how about how not 1, not 2, but 3 buildings fell down perfectly straight, which is basically impossible from being hit on ONE side. Oh, and the 3rd building, building 7, which contained a lot of classified government documents was never HIT by anything!? Or how JUST before all this happened, the pentagon announced (not for the first OR last time**) they lost trillions of dollars, and had no idea where it went? OR how the guy who owned the #twintowers insured them for terrorist attacks just months before it happened?

Finally, today....where our #DEMOCRATIC president, brain dead #biden, is openly funneling guns, weapons, and worse to a terrorist colonizing state called #israel, against a nearly completely defenseless people in #Palestine? A #genocide, in real time, for MONTHS now, funded by our government. They're trying to pass another funding bill of billions as I type. Over 12k children killed in cold blood. MULTIPLE RAPES have been proven done by the israelis. You literally can not imagine a worse thing to happen due to a government (outside adding cannibalism).

SO PLEASE, never fucking god damn say again "Our government would never do that" when they have done it EVERY-FUCKING-TIME! <Forgot to mention the experimentation on their own citizens. That's a whole other post!>

Because when you live in an #oligarchy, you got to assume the rich in control will do ANYTHING IMAGINABLE AND UNIMAGINABLE to maintain their wealth and power. Historically, they always fucking do. WAKE UP!

*The technology they hold back and use against us may not come out to the public for DECADES. We have proven weather modification is real AND works. Not a debate. And Direct Energy Weapons (DEW) have been documented to being real just recently...You really think they can monitor, categorize, AND filter ALL THE DATA we say and do without AI? No. And they've been doing that for HOW long? Over 20 years? And when did we get access to AI? Side note-pentagon RIGHT NOW strong arming their way thru congress, trying to force them to allow the military to turn on AI's capabilities to choose what it kills. So that's...#terminator fun.

**The #pentagon, aka, the military, losing money has been a tried and true method of filtering money to the bad guys. It's kinda like how Tony Stark found out he was arming terrorists in Iron Man. You forget we helped for Al-Qaeda and #Isis? WE DID. Osama Bin Laden was a CIA asset! Why? To fuck with everyone in the Middle East all the way to Russia. Look it up if you didn't know.

<When we do physical or mental labor for taxes to be taken away, they usually go to murder. When you do your job, your taxes pay mostly for the rich to get richer and murder. Nothing else. If I'm wrong, look outside at how great it is, how free everyone is, and all the happy smiles. We allowed this to happen. We can create something better without them. What's the harm in trying? It can't get worse, sadly. But at the same time, inspiringly: we can only go up from here. :)>

No war but the class war.

[bohemian-nights]

Rhaenys is my favourite character on the show - a show that was overall a massive disappointment - , and along with Visenya, Rhaena and Alysanne, she's my favourite character in the book too. I prefer the book version. The book,while sucking at many points, at least allows much more interpretation since it’s just a history book written by some dude years and years later. Therefore I can literally do whatever I want with the "real" story and don’t have to mind other interpretations. Now the show overshadows and ruins everything Lol.

Okay, but the thing that annoys me personally most is the romantization of Rhaenys/Corlys. First I was angry they made them the same age. I mean, come on! The creators clearly have an issue with depicting age gap relationships since Daemon never ages despite marrying one childbride after another (funnily enough a new haircut doesn’t make me think: oh, look, he grew older). Book!Rhaenys married a man twice her age, which is totally fine, if it weren’t for the fact that she was just 16 years old at the time. (And just btw, in the real Middle Ages people FROWNED heavily on matches like this - even in noble and royal circles). So Rhaenys was basically just a child, who I think was legit infatuated with the older and exciting man. Corlys in turn was glad to score a Targaryen princess, who was then heir to the throne, a dragon rider and pretty. But this relationship only has trouble written across it!!! Corlys isn’t a gentle man. He's got pride and plans - every part of his story shows us an ambitious, determined man, which is okay. If you ask me though, he could only end up grooming Rhaenys. She was a child, and despite all her brains and whatnot, at 16 she still had a child's naivity, that can be too easily shaped by the right person. By someone like cunning Lord Velaryon. The show, however, bust decided to make them this random straight couple from any 80s drama, and completely missed out the potential of a complicated relationship.

And I agree with you regarding the Council of 101. Rhaenys and Coryls could've done more lobbying/politicing for their cause. (I have my theory on why that didn’t happen, but if I say that I attract even more hate from Corlys stans).

But you know, this is why I'm so angry about the Rhaenys/Corlys dynamic on the show. Give me a damn twist. Show me this cool woman finally snapping out of her stupor and realising how she's been manipulated, trying to please men all her life (I see the irony in the Alicent & Rhaenys speech, even though I actually enjoyed that moment. It's good acting). Watching her daughter marry an even worse man, who then immediately after her death grabs the next girl he groomed (killing off her husband on the way) - what better premisis would there have been for Rhaenys to finally wake up??? But what does the show do? They give us a Rhaenys who runs around in circles, telling people she can’t make decisions without her husband and blah blah blah. For f*sake! Let her be a dragon! But no, in this setting women can only be as strong as it's comfy for patriachy and then we have to sell it off as feminism, because "she loved him so much".

I also never quite got why Rhaenys went to Rook's Rest on her own. When Daemon goes to the Riverlands there's an army with him, but Rhaenys heads out all by herself?...bad bad writing. And just as bad to me is the remark on how angry Corlys was about her death. I mean, come on, he was only angry because he basically lost his most powerful tool. Lucky though, that he had those bastards waiting in the background, ready to claim another dragon for House Velaryon.

Note: I would also like to thank the other anon who mentioned they didn’t like Daemon at all. I'm glad and relieved to hear other people share this feeling!

Rhaenys is a really interesting character who has so much potential to be this amazing woman, but then she kinda just goes along with the tide without really putting up a fight. I agree that book!Rhaenys’ actions are a little more understandable(although yeah her going by herself to Rooks Rest is a choice 😬), but show!Rhaenys’ actions don’t make a lick of sense past episode 7(cause why side with the woman who you think killed your son who just married the man who made your daughter so miserable 🫠).

How they handled her relationship with Corlys has been another choice. They’ve still kept the fact that he cheated on her(unless they make Alyn and Addam Vaemond’s bastards) so Rhaenys running around talking about I won’t do anything without Corlys is only going to make her look stupider when those boys show up(and some people say they’ll appear in episode two and she’s probably still alive then😬).

It would’ve been nice with the changes that they made she snapped and said enough is enough, but yeah that doesn’t happen. She never puts herself(or her granddaughters) first. She’s exactly who she claims Alicent is except she might be worse considering she had way more power than Alicent ever had yet she threw it all away for reasons🤦🏽‍♀️

At this point, it’s pretty obvious that this show is all about giving girl boss-looking moments(see having Rhaenys come in through the floorboards), but at the end of the day these women just look silly and weak(getting choked out, cheated on, slapped around, abused, acting oblivious to what’s happening around them, being smiling pretty puppets, etc.)

For a feminist show these women sure do lack agency🤷🏽‍♀️

Can I just say I love how people trash Daemon on this blog even though he's my favorite🤣 It's super amusing, but I get it cause he is very out there. He's an acquired taste.

[no-romo-hoes]

I hate VENOM as a film. I hate it. It sucks. But I also love it. It's great. I'll never watch it again. Let's back up a bit. (Before we begin, No I haven't watched the second VENOM movie, so this is from what I remember from the first one)

I love Venom because it's so fucking funny. The symbiote itself, not the film. It's so strong, it's blood-thirsty, it's horrifying to look at, it's an alien, it's murdered and eaten dozens of innocent civilians, but it's got sass, it's easily offended, it likes tater tots and chocolate, and it provides the funniest commentary of any marvel film. It's like having a really freaky roommate that'll tease you all day if you get flustered by an attractive person, then demand you buy them food, then murder your highschool bully because they called you a mean name. He'll even "leave the apartment" for a night if you wanna do something privately. But he'll tease you endlessly afterwards. And the fact that he explained to Eddie how he was considered a loser on his planet makes their duo that much more lovable. Two outcasts from different societies meeting and becoming best friends/in love (whatever your view on their relationship is 'cause it's kinda vague). I seriously love Venom as a creature.

Next, I love how different the hero is to other marvel heroes. Iron Man is a billionare weapons designer, Black Widow has been trained to kill since she was 12, Thor is a literal god, Black Panther is the freaking king of the most advanced civilisation on the planet, Captain America is a super soldier and the textbook definition of a "good person". And then look at VENOM. Eddie Brock is a stressed, unemployed, drug-addict in a shitty apartment that just got dumped by his girlfriend. He is the textbook definition of a "loser". Then he meets this random glob of alien black-cat-energy and he's just like "aight". The most relatable superhero in the history of superheroes.

But I hate VENOM. I was so disappointed when I watched it. The writing of the dialogue was good, but it could have been way better, we didn't really get to see the development of the relationship between Venom and Eddie, nor the character development we would want for Eddie now that he has something to fight for. We see the classic sacrifice-yourself-for-your-friend-but-oh-turns-out-you-survived trope, but there was no time for Eddie to properly mourn. Basically, there wasn't enough angst. There wasn't enough time for it. I think it would have been better as an episode series instead of a film, that way we could have a lot more time for character development, awesome battle scenes, as well as general Roommate Comedy™. To add to this, I was disappointed at the lack of a training montage. Cliché as it is, they went from having just met to "we're unstoppable and have codes and battle strategy and shit", so having some training time on screen would have eased that transition significantly, and the flow of the film would have improved.

This is the most irritating part of the film; the fact that the concept and characters are brilliant but were executed poorly. I would have no issue with a film that was just bad, but to have such a fun and new idea written in such mediocre fashion is infuriating. Now I feel no shame when I say I have searched for reader-insert fanfictions that include the symbiote (not x readers though, I'm not a monster fucker) and there are very few of quality. If you can correct me, please do. So my appreciation of Venom must remain tucked away in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the front saying "beware of the leopard".

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

I have posted a little bit about this before, but I finally read some very old X-Men issues to learn the brief history of the Changeling, the character who got retooled into Morph my beloved.

Changeling was absolutely an unambiguous villain back in his first appearance, and he talked basically the same way most comics villains talked back in the   60′s.

That’s Changeling in the goofy-ass purple helmet, Kevin, wtf are you wearing, bro?  Are you okay?  (Of course, he wasn’t Kevin back then, he didn’t have a name other than Changeling.)

Changeling was part of a group called Factor Three that wanted to heat up East-West tensions in order to trigger WW3, and destroy humanity to create a society ruled by mutants.  This was a pretty short-sighted plan given that most mutants could die in a nuclear blast just as easily as humans, but whatever.  The group consisted of old X-Men enemies like Vanisher, the Blob, and Unus the Untouchable, with the mysterious Mutant Master as the leader, and Changeling as his second-in-command.

The only interesting thing about Changeling in this first (and mostly only) appearance is that he starts to question Mutant Master’s actions.  Not in a “maybe this is morally wrong,” kind of way, more in a “I don’t trust your motives” kind of way.  Xavier also attempts to appeal to Changeling while he is captured by the group.  It apparently works, because Changeling winds up freeing Xavier and Banshee, then confronting Mutant Master in Xavier’s form to call him out.  Why that callout required Xavier’s form, I don’t know, but it was a fairly anti-climactic reveal of Changeling’s previously unspecified shape-shifting powers.

Mutant Master turns out to be an alien who actually wants to destroy ALL life on Earth, not just humans.  The other Factor Three members are wisely not down with that, and help the X-Men defeat him.  Then the groups just kinda awkwardly part ways. 

That’s the last we see of Changeling until the retcon.  Next is the story in which Xavier dies, and which was apparently originally intended to be the actual death of Xavier, until they wanted to bring him back and realized that they had a convenient shape-shifting character running around.

In the story, Xavier is acting weird, and sterner than usual, while making apparently irrational decisions and spending a lot of time alone with Jean.  Meanwhile, the X-Men fight some dude named Grotesk, who is the last survivor of an underground society, and wants to destroy the world with an earthquake machine, and it’s all so dumb I really don’t care.  But in the end Xavier stops Grotesk’s machine, and is mortally wounded in the explosion,  Then as he dies, he reveals that he was already dying of an illness, and he pushed the team so hard because so they’d be prepared to fight on without him.

It’s a sad story when you read it as Xavier, but even sadder when you re-read it as Changeling going through all this, while wearing another person’s face.  He’s genuinely heroic here:

“There’s no need for you to want to see the Earth destroyed!  No reason!”  Changeling, buddy, you were trying to start WW3 like three weeks ago.  But I’ll call this character development.

Changeling takes “commit to the bit” to another level by dying as Xavier.  He was already terminally ill, but since he’d only been leading the team for a few weeks, it’s safe to say his remaining time was shortened here.  He basically sacrificed himself to save the world, and was buried and mourned under another man’s identity.

In issue 65, Xavier’s death is retconned and Xavier shows up alive and explains the switch.

Changeling now talks like a gangster from the 1920′s, and I’m somehow imagining him with a Brooklyn accent. You can see where Morph’s character design came from, although I’m pretty sure TAS series Morph is meant to be much younger.  Changeling here looks middle-aged.  Although maybe it’s also because he’s dying?

Given that the Xavier’s death story was originally written to be actual Xavier, this sad little one-page retcon is all we get of the Changeling redemption story.  He was basically just a plot device to bring Xavier back.  And I have so many questions, the biggest one being:

He was in the basement?  Xavier let another man die in his place and let his team mourn his death, and the entire time, he was in the fucking basement?!  When I first heard about this story, I assumed that Xavier had to go away somewhere to do something really important to prepare for the alien invasion, and left Changeling as a temporary stand-in.  But apparently, he just really needed time alone to concentrate, because he let his team of teenagers cry over his supposed dead body while he was in the fucking basement of the mansion the entire time. 

Putting a former terrorist in charge of his students was already a pretty bad idea, even if Xavier could read his mind to know that he sincerely wanted to reform.  Was Xavier monitoring things at all down there?  Was he available to offer help or advice if Changeling or Jean came to him?  Would he have done anything at all if Changeling changed his mind and went bad again?  I feel like the answer is, “Probably not.”  If Xavier needed absolute, uninterrupted time alone to plan, letting Jean or Changeling pop in to ask questions every day would kind of defeat the purpose - he may as well just keep leading the team. 

More important, did Xavier intend to fake his own death?  He knew Changeling was terminally ill, but the time frame was six months.  He presumably couldn’t have predicted Changeling being killed by Grotesk.  Was he going to come back and let Changeling retire for a peaceful death, or was he going to let him die as Xavier.  Was Changeling’s death part of some messed up plan to force the X-Men to stand on their own, or just some unfortunate wrinkle in Xavier’s strategy that he ran with?  Xavier actually had a “final message” to the X-Men that he had pre-recorded, which they play in X-Men 43 after the funeral.  Who is speaking on that recording?  Is it Xavier himself?  Changeling?  Were they really planning on having Changeling die while still in Xavier form?

And that’s not even getting into poor Jean.  Jean was the ONLY one who knew the truth, and to hide it from the rest of the team.  She was basically a teenager, and had to bear the burden of helping Changeling as fake Xavier, and watching all her team-mates mourn and struggle after Xavier’s death, never revealing the truth.  There was an interview with Chris Claremont where he said that he thought Xavier’s retconned actions in issue 65 were really messed up.  He doesn’t get into the isolating of Jean, just that it was an absolute dick move to fake his own death (either deliberately or unintentionally) instead of just telling the team that he needed to go off somewhere alone and they’d have to fend for themselves for awhile.  In an issue retelling the X-Men’s history after Jean’s Dark Phoenix death, he wrote Cyclops as actually being somewhat resentful of Xavier’s decision. 

If Changeling ever does get resurrected on Krakoa, I’d actually like to see some interaction between him and Jean.  Jean was the only person who knew the truth, and the only person he could confide in or ask for advice during his tenure as Fake-X, assuming that Xavier was totally locked away.  What did they talk about in private?  Did he ask Jean for advice on how to properly be Xavier?  Or was Jean just like, “I understand that you’re dying and all, but could you be a little less cranky?  The team is starting to notice.”  Jean also seems to be the only one who maybe mourns him.  She appears to be just as upset as the rest of the team as “Xavier” dies, even though she knows the truth.  And her comment on Changeling is “He....was a fine person, at the last.”  Jean seems to care more than Xavier, who brushes the death off pretty quickly.  “Yes, team, I let someone else die in my place while I hid in the basement, but that’s all water under the bridge.  Now lets train to fight the aliens.”

Anyway, this is a weird story, and some of the weirdness is partially just due to the retcon.  Changeling would have been a footnote in X-Men history if he hadn’t been adapted into the happy-go-luck Morph, who is so completely different, whether in TAS, AoA or Exiles.  I still want to know Changeling wound up being such a cold-hearted and ruthless character compared to his alternate counterparts. 

Also, Professor Xavier is a jerk.

[hermespie]

ehehe i wanna send in a silly matchup req for your valentines event!!! could you give me a genshin impact boy pleeeaaase? :)

my pronouns are she/her and im a silly little enfp.

personality wise im a huge extrovert who loves making friends everywhere I go.. lol people tell me that I could befriend a tree if i wanted. im always drawn to introverted people because i hate seeing someone quiet and lonely lol. i also tend to be a bit of a goof. i like making people laugh. i get really invested and interested in other people's interests and i pick up a bunch of different things to be able to bond with people i meet.

im very much a talker, i can talk people's heads off if it's about something im interested in. I'm basically very energetic at all times. I can never take things seriously and most of the time i really need someone to reel me back in and tell me if i need to be serious or not.

despite all thattt, under certain extreme conditions, my social battery can run dangerously low, and sometimes i need to sit in silence to chill out for a bit. im also the type of person to speak up for others but never myself lol. im a little bit of a pushover in that regard.

my hobbies, i love singing and music and dance with my entire soul. poetry is also something that i love reading, as well as photography. i do a little doodling on the side too!!!! i love writing and history and sometimes i even enjoy a little math.

but..thats all I can think offfff! have funnnn with this oneeee hehehe >:)

HIII omg I'm so excited to see another fellow ENFP! It's like looking myself in the mirror while reading your description ( nah cuz fr)

Thank you for participating in my Valentines Day event and taking your time to write this! Let's see what we can deal with here <33

#GENSHIN IMPACT MATCHUP

I match you up with......

SHIKANOIN HEIZOU

Credit: Official art

I took a long time thinking about it, and this is the result I had!

Heizou is not an easy person to easily get along with, so I could see that your first encounter with him would be quite awkward at some point. I could see him purposely avoiding you when you're in your extreme extrovert mood as you keep on finding ways to bother him.

But I think after days after days 'trying' to avoid you, instead of completely neglecting you and mind his own business, he starts to find out interesting parts about you and got to know you better.

Like how you suddenly drain out of energy and just sits down below a tree and mind your own business. It's really interesting for Heizou to see you out of your extrovert mood. And we all know Heizou loves random mysteries he discovered.

Having a relationship with Heizou would actually be very entertaining. The two of you would have an absolute fun with each other joking around and pranking people. Probably something like run up to a random person and yell "tag, you're it!" and create confusion.

Something also tells me that Heizou's love language is quality time. He likes to look at you when you're both just doing nothing and stares at your eyes. He also likes to hear your rambles as if it was an opportunity for him to get to know you better, kinda similar like getting clues for a detective case or some sort.

Heizou is a person that is fun, but doesn't lack intelligence. So you don't have to worry if you can't read the room sometimes, cause Heizou would remind you about it respectfully. He is quite reliable on serious times, so it's fine to be yourself around him.

For him, you're his endless mystery and he just loves to spend time with you, no matter if its just a normal night having dinner with you or a grand event. And I think the two of you could actually get along pretty well!

Thank you for reading till this far! I hope you enjoyed it <33 likes and reblogs are appreciated!

[scathecraw]

Discord and the Online Ecosystem

Discord is an awesome service to use. Overall, it's user friendly to do "basic" stuff, like instantly updating, global text, image, and video posts with a near-infinite level of storage for those things. For 95% of people that use Discord, it's an incredibly convenient, functional service almost all the time. But Discord in fundamentally making the Internet - not the people interacting with each other, but the actual infrastructure and ethos of the Internet - worse.

I'm saying this not only as an "Internet person" - after all, I'm here with the rest of you, but as someone who is only now realizing that I am an expert on the function, technical details, and history of the Internet compared to most users of this place. I get paid to do it. I get paid to learn about how everything on it works, not as a researcher, but as someone that makes important parts of it work, at least to a certain scale.

Discord is a parasite on the internet, just like Reddit being a self-hosting image and text repository. The centralization of the Internet, I believe, is essentially toxic to how the Internet was built and used for it's most formative times, and losing that essence makes the Internet a worse place.

Here's the technical reasons it's starving out the Internet. Essentially, the Internet was built as a network of first a few, then dozens, then hundreds, etc. of small servers, each hosting data and sharing almost exclusively text communications and records. Usually, these were hosted on Universities and other technical institutions. As those developed, thanks to the nerds that were core to actually making the systems talk and work, those nerds started hosting little servers of their own, sometimes on the same machines as those big systems, sometimes just using the same infrastructure like power and networking. Then personal computers and home servers started to develop.

This entire time, if those big organizational servers were the Bones of the Internet, the flesh were those little sites that held the little services. Niche forums, mostly, where people could communicate their own small passions and hobbies. It was the beginning of the Internet being a global cultural hub, and caused the development of those niches into communities with their own histories and knowledge troves.

Then the Internet started making money. And technical changes made economies of scale more feasible. There was a transitional period where a lot of people didn't see what was coming. I was too young and wouldn't have predicted it even if I was the me of today. After that transition, consolidation of the Internet started intensifying. The Internet was no longer a facilitator to commerce, it could be commerce all on its own.

So sites like Reddit, Facebook Groups, Discord, even to an extent Github, and Tumblr and fanfiction.net, though lesser because Tumblr is more of a social media site related to random fandoms and FF.net is so public and archived, show up and gather the niche communities, which is great because they are providing a really good service to use. Until they decide to delete a niche because it hasn't had activity in a few years, or because they decided that it's a banned topic, and that trove of information about those people and their passion is gone forever.

This is part of "digital archaeology". Of keeping that knowledge around so we can look back at the world of today and know the cultural context of who we were. This is anthropology of the digital age.

Now on to the technical reasons Discord, in specific, is such a parasite on the internet. That's not a term of disgust, I literally mean that it's kinda latched onto the Internet as a whole and stealing it's nutrients from within. Discord especially is a problem because it's so good to use. It offers up instantaneous creation and use of a moderated chat space that can be shared easily, doesn't require any technical knowledge, and immediately does it's job unlike any previous niche gathering tool.

Those technical people developed how the internet worked using those niche communities. They shared technical ideas and designs and talked about how to do more with the technical resources they had. They built the internet protocol by protocol, bugfix by bugfix, and their knowledge, even after they stopped talking on those forums, was picked over by new people who had new ideas but also has problems that that niche could now solve.

And now those niches are put into walled gardens on Discord, privately managed, unsearchable from the wider internet, and where a year or two after nobody touching the chat, the history is deleted for the sake of ruthless business resource efficiency.

It takes the knowledge, extracts the value from the people who may or may not produce something with that community with that niche area, and then leaves no record of it for people outside that community to learn from.

Think video game developer communities. There's technical knowledge of how to get a game to run that is answered on those discords. FAQs and mods are hosted there. Lore is dropped. Depending on the scale of the game, patches might even be released. No one can try to start up a copy of that game in the future and have access to that knowledge once Discord, the business, decides to close it down.

This isn't a new problem. Servers, neglect, or even upset owners of the gathering places took their toll and got rid of a lot of knowledge over time. Historical Anthropology, History, Cultural Anthropology - all of those expect a certain level of information decay and loss. But this is a lot more.

And the worst part is I don't know what can be done about it. Discord is in a fundamental technical way, better at doing what it does than any other system we have. No other system could semi-publicly, instantly, in a structured manner and across the entire Internet landscape, share voice chat, text, photos, and even some videos natively to the service. Traditional web pages fail at the instantly part. Most services fail at the picture and video part. Practically none succeed at the voice part. It's just better.

[annikuh]

talking abt the animated high school show with the cloned historical figures but absolutely not tagging it bc I don’t need any randos to come argue with me abt it, so

‼️‼️for the folks who have the tag blacklisted (I don’t blame you LMAO) this is your sign to skip ahead‼️‼️

putting it under the cut bc it’s long, rambly, and has several significant spoilers for s2 and s3. it is mostly about Topher bc they did him so dirty LOL. I just gotta get it off my chest bc it’s all eating me alive to the point where it feels like grief😵‍💫

tonight I ended up yelling myself into hysteria about how devastated I am that they’re literally writing Topher out of the whole show (literally 6 minutes of screen time this entire season. like actually literally.) and how easily they could’ve incorporated him more but they refuse to respect him as a character. like they can’t even do the bare minimum of continuing ANY of his story from s2 at all & its honestly a disservice, like they’d rather force his whole character to being defined by a group of other strange losers who all feel the same way as he does and acts the same way as he does, rather than keep him as an individual and UTILIZE HIM. he was a total loner in s2 bc he literally did not fit in with anyone and that made him stand out. but now there are several other weird randos (one of which being the laziest clone I’ve ever seen in my life—like Jack the Ripper was not a sassy black lady, what are we even talking about anymore it doesn’t make any sense, even as a joke) who are ALSO total loners who don’t fit in with anyone.

they didn’t even try to do anything at all with him. the most basic example is that he literally said he had a crush on Joan in the prev season—to the degree that he would convince Abe to get molested and then blackmail him abt it to keep him from stealing Joan from him—& then nothing happened with that at all when there was SUCH A CLEAR IN for that storyline. another insane example: he spent the entire previous season only talking to Abe and said like one word directly to him directly the entire season and there was never any mention of them ever having any relationship. no conflict btwn him and Abe for the INSANITY that Topher put him thru, which is actually nuts. they just…don’t talk.

my honest theory atp is just that he was a character that was too funny of a concept not to include, and didn’t have much else in mind. they just kept giving him jokes that were silly and didn’t take a moment to realize that there was potential for a very interesting ongoing antagonist. his blackmailing storyline was the most interesting thing in s2 for me bc there were so many questions about his actual motivations (bc he surely did not seem to care abt Joan when she was in trouble in s2ep10). & also bc like that’s a character who’s genuinely interesting and dangerous. he’s a total ticking time bomb with no friends and a history of psychiatric hospitalizations that’s constantly overcompensating for who he inherently is as the clone of a genocidal colonizer yet still being disliked because he’s overcompensating so much, who is willing to actively victimize and traumatize the only person who tolerates him over a crush (whether it be him having a genuine interest in Joan or him not wanting to lose his only friend).

but now they have him like “man I hate the popular kids, ooh Joan go change a letter out from the cheerleaders signs lol it’ll make them look stupid” are you fr. “we’re gonna release venomous snakes to poison everyone” don’t even look at me. so shallow, nothing there. why did he give up on trying to seem like a good person? doesn’t matter apparently. I could easily make up a reason but it’s not worth it to talk abt in the show ig so whatever.

it’s just so insulting and kinda icky to see that these writers/showrunners/whatever actively dislike one of their characters this much that they completely ignore both his established character traits AND his mere presence. He isn’t even in the background in half these episodes. He’s just gone.

I would’ve rather the writers just be like “sorry he’s in the asylum forever goodbye” and keep him out of this season entirely bc to see him reduced into generic nothing was a personal tragedy.

I was screaming about this for at least 40 minutes like banging on my desk and trying not to angry cry lol.

ik it’s dramatic but honestly I’m kinda grieving the show as a whole ngl. like I’ve come to the conclusion that it just doesn’t have a place in this decade & in retrospect it shouldn’t have been brought back in the first place. it’s so different from what it started as and I just…I dunno man. this season didn’t have any original music, no musical episode, no celebrity guests as far as I remember, and its just like guys what are we DOIN. it’s just such a deviation from the core elements of the show and it makes how serious we’re meant to take the show even more obvious and strange imo.

AND ANOTHER THING‼️ on that same note of having to take the show and characters pretty seriously, it’s even more obvious that they’re writing Topher out bc he’s the only “main character” in the opening credits that doesn’t get PROFUSE amounts of in-depth exploration—he literally gets zero. whatever nonsense he said in that last episode abt enjoying that he’s a villain doesn’t hold a candle to what everyone else got and honestly means nothing to me bc like…how am I supposed to be even kind of impacted by that reveal when he hadn’t spent a SECOND of this season trying to get anyone to like him. all he did in s2 was try to seem like a good woke guy with his awful activism and he did NONE of that the entire season, so it’s like 1. ok why not like why didn’t he do that if it was his MAIN BIT (A: bc the writers do not care about him clearly) and also 2. so why am I supposed to care abt him embracing his lineage in the last ep? it drives me NUTS bc that could’ve been such an interesting development (ala “aren’t you tired of being nice? Don’t you wanna just go ape shit?”) if they fucking set it up at all but god forbid i guess.

they so easily could’ve just cut out the bleachur creachurs and forced Joan to ally herself with Topher alone bc now everyone knows he’s kind of a misogynist and Abe fuckin hates him for the obvious reasons, and we get to the same place. let him and Joan be seen together. that would absolutely add tension to Joan’s relationship with the rest of her friends, especially since all of the boys KNOW that Topher likes her. There we go, easy peasy set up; it keeps him in his role as an antagonistic force and allows him easier access to the rest of the fucking cast. there are endless fucking possibilities and I could draft up like five different ways they could’ve easily incorporated him in. it makes me so mad.

won’t even get into how they threw candide off to the side too. fucking crazy man.

this sounds so awful but if it doesn’t get renewed, I don’t think I’m gonna be too upset. & that honestly makes me want to cry my eyes out bc this has been my favorite show since I was 16 :(

im rewatching s3 now with my partner and im hoping ill change my mind and inhale some copium and force myself to like it, but at this moment this is how i feel and its exhausting. just bad. (honestly I have several other standout issues that i just don’t like with the season—e.g. fucking Mary is the stupidest character arc they could’ve used like this is so lame. we spent three episodes hyping her up so abe can get his dick wet and she just ended up being Bloody Mary trying to fuck him to death. we have time for this but not topher huh? no time for candide either huh? booo…hisss….stupid fuckin plot line and dumber reveal. some character issues with scuddy boy too…hrng)

anyway, I’m just gonna file the serial number off of Topher and keep him for myself, fuck this noise LMAO

(if you’ve read to this point you deserve a medal and I’m praying to Christ you don’t think less of me LMAO)