#tl:dr No I Won't

[abirdie]

Gael García Bernal in Another End (2024, dir. Piero Messina)

(these gifs also feature Renate Reinsve)

Gifs are all 540px wide so you can click to see larger.

[other gael filmography gifsets]

[cheshii-re]

You are not... in league with them, are you? The ones that rot? the ones that eat without mouths? The ones that, when you chew them, chew back? That would rend open your throat from the inside and blossom without a second thought? The ones that give your body back to the earth when you die? Those ones?

[gffa]

One thing that caught my attention while watching The Phantom Menace in the theater, a movie I didn't expect to find anything new with after how many times I've seen it and analyzed it, was that Sidious mentions multiple times that he has to change his plans to fit the new circumstances. It got me to thinking about how Palpatine gets credit for his carefully crafted plans, but often times not for how flexible he is in changing them on the fly, especially in time travel fics where someone destroys one of his plans and that's the end of it. Which, I'm not advocating against, I love a good Take That Wrinkled Walnut The Fuck Down However You Gotta Do It fic and I don't want them to change! But in canon Palpatine makes note of things he's not expecting, like:

When Valorum sends the Jedi as ambassadors, it's not part of Sidious' plan: DAULTAY DOFINE: This scheme of yours has failed, Lord Sidious. The blockade is finished. We dare not go against the Jedi. DARTH SIDIOUS: Viceroy, I don't want this stunted slime in my sight again! This turn of events is unfortunate. We must accelerate our plans. Begin landing your troops. NUTE GUNRAY: My lord, is that… legal? DARTH SIDIOUS: I will make it legal. NUTE GUNRAY: And the Jedi? DARTH SIDIOUS: The Chancellor should never have brought them into this. Kill them immediately!

On the Trade Federation ship, after Queen Amidala has disappeared from Naboo, Palpatine originally planned that she would be forced to sign the treaty, and then brings in Maul to deal with this. DARTH SIDIOUS: And Queen Amidala, has she signed the treaty? NUTE GUNRAY: She has disappeared, My Lord. One Naboo cruiser got pat the blockade. DARTH SIDIOUS: I want that treaty signed. NUTE GUNRAY: My Lord, it's impossible to locate the ship. It's out of our range. DARTH SIDIOUS: Not for a Sith. This is my apprentice. Darth Maul. He will find your lost ship.

On Naboo, after Padme allies with the Gungans: NUTE GUNRAY: We've sent out patrols. We've already located their starship in the swamp....It won't be long, My Lord. DARTH SIDIOUS: This is an unexpected move for her. It's too aggressive. Lord Maul, be mindful. MAUL: Yes, my Master. DARTH SIDIOUS: Be patient... Let them make the first move.

Palpatine's plans aren't static, they adapt and change with the events that happen, just as the other characters react to new information and head in new directions for it, so too does Palpatine and I think it's interesting to note that part of what makes him such a good villain is that he has an outline for what he wants to do, he sets up the dominoes of what he needs, but even when they don't fall precisely into place, he generally gets what he wants. He originally intended that Padme would sign the treaty, the Jedi wouldn't be involved, and that would lead to a vote of No Confidence to oust Valorum, using the sympathy for Naboo as a way to boost himself into the position. But he didn't really need her to sign it and still managed to use the sympathy for Naboo to get elected, it ultimately didn't matter what happened to the planet, so long as it was in danger while he needed it to be, he could use it either way. Nor, honestly, do I think he ever planned for Anakin Skywalker's existence, he had no idea they would find such a boy on Tatooine or how useful he was going to be, that was another way he changed his plans once the opportunity arose. Or a lot of his plots in TCW--he has Cad Bane steal the list of Force-sensitive children and kidnap them, bringing them to Mustafar for some sort of program to use them probably not too unlike how he uses the Inquisitors later. That plan is foiled by the Jedi, the babies are returned to their families, and Sidious' plans fall through, but that doesn't really change the outcome. tl:dr: I don't think Palpatine gets enough credit as a villain whose plans shift and change along with the new events that happen, just as much as the heroes' plans shift and change when new things happen. Yeah, he's a great villain because he creates an impossible trap for people, but also because the thing about him is that he's incredibly charming and charismatic and he knows an opportunity when he sees one, that any one given plan might fall through, but it's not necessary to his overall plot.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for kicking my friend out of the car, then refusing to pay for her uber?

I (23f) am terrified of cars. It took me until just before my 22nd birthday to get a license because i'd break down crying while trying to drive, but I live in a town in the US with little public transport and almost no sidewalks so it's my only option if I wanna get around.

My friend (21f) asked me if I'd drive her home from work because her car wouldn't start up in the parking lot, and they had to call some people to fix it. I said sure, I don't like to drive if unnecessary, but she needed to get home.

I pick her up, and the first issue is that she refuses to put the seatbelt on. Says it 'makes her shoulder hurt' or something. She fumbles with her phone to connect it to bluetooth for a while and all is well, but when she can't get it to work she starts talking to me. I tell her i'd prefer to focus on driving, and we can text when she gets home.

She presses on anyway and goes on about how "you know seatbelts can actually kill you in a crash", which is bullshit by the way. I know everything about car safety, I can safety proof a car like it's my job. Again, terrified of cars and crashes. So while I'm trying to explain that the whole seatbelts thing is actually a few unlucky outliers and a trick of statistics, she reaches over and undoes my seatbelt. while i'm driving.

I pull over into the nearest parking lot and park my car, and then tell her to get the fuck out. She acts like I'm joking up until I completely shut the car off and tell her that we're not moving until she gets the fuck out of my car, that she can't just undo my personal safety equipment, and that frankly her not wearing her seatbelt can also put others at risk in the event of a crash if you were to ricochet around and slam into other occupants. She cusses me out for being a 'grandma' but does eventually get out.

When I get home, she's already sent me an angry text about how she called an uber and I need to pay her back because it's my fault she had to call the uber. It's been like a week and she won't stop trying to get $30 out of me for the uber, saying i'm "killing our friendship over thirty bucks because I can't handle driving." I think I could've been a little less harsh, but I don't wanna have to pay the uber. She never would have had to buy it if she just put her seatbelt on and respected my boundaries.

TL:DR; Scared of driving, friend won't wear seatbelt and undoes my seatbelt while driving so I make her get out and call an uber. Now she wants me to pay the uber bill. AITA?

What are these acronyms?

[princess-dirt]

Number 1 Miquella defender.

Seriously tho (TL:DR), I'm seeing a lot of people online dismissing his character as pure evil, and it's insane to see. Although most of this is my fault for thinking the average gamer thinks about anything deeper than brainrot memes. DLC spoilers btw.

In a universe where there are like a dozen characters guilty of dozens of war crimes and genocide, calling the queer coded femboy pure evil for letting 2 people die and sacrificing himself to End Racism, War, and Genocide is a wild take.

I don't think I'd mind as much, but Ranni's ending and the Frenzied Flame endings are the two most beloved endings by the community. Like, it's ok for Ranni to kill her brother, but Miquella stealing his half brother's body after we kill him is too far.

It's ok to kill everyone because it means Melina gets to live. But Miquella making himself a god to save his sister from a life of constant horrible pain means he is power-hungry and evil.

And this isn't mentioning the whole "trecherous twink" and "Miquelester" memes that are rooted in homophobia.

But that part has a lot to do with misinformation being spread about Miquella's powers. People believing biased people who already decided to hate Miquella making up his powers or taking every bit of dialog or text to the absolute extremes.

The most obvious example being Mogh and how Miquella charmed him. I've seen delusional people go as far as to say Miquella mind controlled Mogh into starting a genocide and a blood cult. This despite the fact that it's entirely possible that Mogh started this process before Miquella was even born yet. Mogh was ambitious and wanted to be Consort to the next God. By all lore, even with the DLC, Mogh wasn't forced into anything. The line of text about the bloody bed chamber is also taken to the furthest extreme despite sexual violence and sec in general being devoid from all fromsoft games.

Even in Dark Souls, where cross breeding is canon and maidens being experimented on is also canon, actual sexual violence can only be inferred, and even then it's fringe theories. In reality, Miquella dies quite early as Mogh puts him in the cacoon and the "bloody bedchamer" is literal as in Mogh lives inside Miquella's blood. Making Miquella's corpse quite literally a bloody bedchamber.

But even if the incest happens. Yes, Mogh beats the rapist and kidnapper allegations, but nothing says he was forced into this. Miquella's power operates by making others not think negatively about him. While it can be argued that the use of the power is coercion, that is not the debate being had, and everything in the dlc shows us that his power can not force anyone to do anything. He can just convince people more easily.

Mogh is a tragic character like Morgott yes, but he is still a horrible person. The Tarnished (the player) kills him as easily as every other boss in the game. Miquella tricking Mogh and using the Tarnished killing him to steal his body is a bad thing.

I won't argue that Miquella's plan has some victims. Even if Radahn made a vow to be his Consort, Miquella still needed him dead to join him in the Land of Shadows. Radahn suffered even if he accepts Miquella by his own free will at the end.

As Ansbach says, taking Mogh's body is a horrible thing to do. Even if Ansbach is a murder cultist and heavily biased, he is right that it was still wrong to do. Ansbach even finds himself taking neither side and instead asking the Tarnished to make a new order. (It's just ironic that Ansbach describes what Miquella wants for the world)

Miquella sacrificing so much of himself is sad. We hear St Trina who is Miquella and likely Miquella's sense of Love personified, beg us to kill Miquella. Not because Miquella is evil, not because St Trina felt betrayed, but because Miquella can't love himself anymore and can accept the prison that is godhood.

And we see Miquella abandon his doubts right before he abandons his love and Trina, hiding them away from danger. We know even after sacrificing every bit of himself, he was still scared facing the Gates of Divinity. He leaves behind even his fear.

He does this all to fix the countless sins of his Mother and extended family and heal himself and his sister's curses.

It's not a coincidence Miquella's first action as a God is removing his own curse and taking the form as an adult. Showing despite everything, his goals remain the same. But of course, as the current or soon to be Elden lord ourselves, we stop him before he ever gets a chance to try fixing the world.

Some Tarnished even go out of their way to the Haligtree, slaughtering refugees from war, and killing Malenia, his sister, in cold blood. And I think this level of moral complexity and lack of clear right and wrong in the world of Elden Ring is tripping up so many people.

They see Mogh be a victim as a child and be tricked by Miquella and cannot fathom how he could still be evil. The genocide he is committing and his blood cult of murderous knights and "medics" are ignored.

Ranni can be forgiven because she is hot. Maliketh is never held at fault for what Marika does or did despite him only ever defending her and helping her. He is just super cool. We are the Tarnished so even when we chose the evil endings, there is still justification for it.

But the femboy who is very strongly queer coded can't be forgiven or understood. And another part of it is Griffith. Griffith is another morally complex feminine prince type character. Miyazaki is famously a massive berserk fanboy so characters like Prince Gwyndolin and Prince Lothric were often compared. But Miquella got the comparison the worst. Berserk spoilers btw.

And Griffith is objectionably a horrible person even before the Eclipse and when he stops being Griffith and becomes Femto. His moral complexity and the many nuances of his character often get forgotten because of the Eclipse, because of his horrible actions. Griffith being SA'd, self harming, having an unhealthy often one sided toxic love, and having so much self doubt that he nearly breaks down several times is forgotten about. They label him as pure evil and any deeper discussions about him as a character are lost.

And Miquella, as soon as he got the Griffith comparison because of his looks was destined for a similar fate when it is revealed he is an antagonist in the DLC. Griffith is pure evil, Miquella has a ton of similarities and thematic parallels to Griffith, so obviously, Miquella is pure evil. The classic no media literacy response.

I am yelling into he void I know, but I love writing and I love Miquella as a character so much. I think deep analysis and reflection is valuable even if it's just me talking to myself.

[thisoneblackjacket]

Another example of Eddie's potential role in Welcome home

First of all: SUPER excited for the Barn Makeship plush!! I gotta save up for it really soon

But second of all: I can't help but point out that even in the advertisement, the theme of Eddie being "unwanted" or only there as the butt of the joke is still present

Now there have been instances (especially after the new update) of Eddie being snubbed/dismissed/isolated, here are a few good posts getting into some specific instances (and what it can mean) and we can see that in the new Makeship video too:

When Howdy is trying to explain how the plush can help "Keep your home safe from even the PESKIEST of UNWANTED guests!", who is the example that he uses here? Eddie.

Pretty harsh words to direct towards somebody just trying to do his job, right? Might even make a fella feel less like a welcomed neighbor than ever...

And as Barnaby is getting into his stand up routine, he mentions how he hadn't seen that many lemons (talking about the Wallys, very cute actually) ever since he had "chased Eddie up the lemon tree!"

Which seems a bit more of a rude thing to do to someone rather than funny. Poor Eddie was probably trying to not get hurt again

Not that the audience is really concerned though- they still readily laugh at it

The only person really tried to somewhat stand up for Eddie was Frank, (which might hint at them being more involved with each other than the others know (heck ye protect ur man)).

But the problem with that is that he's literally being labelled as a "Comedy Sourpuss™️", both here, and probably other instances. So while Frank might be giving a legitimate criticism of it not being funny (likely because it was at Eddie's expense), that itself can be easily be dismissed as him being only that. A Sourpuss that doesn't get Comedy and is just trying to ruin the fun for everyone else

It's certainly tough to say at this stage, but I have a hunch that as the story continues on, we might run into an instance of Frank trying to protect Eddie from this treatment in some way (here's a post I saw that gets into that a lil bit via the gelatin and pea dish symbolism).

However, I think he won't be successful in doing so, as the other neighbors (and on a greater scale - the show and its producers themselves) are just as easily ready to dismiss his arguments as him being "too uptight" rather than that of a legitimate concern, leading them to continue on

And while in usual circumstances it would be relatively fine for a show to have a character purely dedicated to being the butt of the joke, it might not so fun when that character has possibly become AWARE of being just a character for a tv show, because they might soon realize that they were only written/designed/wanted as the butt of the joke for that tv show, and nothing more.

This all to say - Eddie is really going through it right now, and there might not really be a way for anyone to help him out, even if they wanted to.

Who knows how and if he can continue to handle all that?

....

(tl:dr - The new Makeship video shows more instances of Eddie being labeled as unwanted/only useful as the butt of the joke, which might be a running theme/future conflict for him as a character in the WH story. If so, it will be difficult for him to escape that predetermined role in the show, which would put him in even more turmoil)

....

But anyways, thank you for reading yet another unwarranted, overanalyzing ramble based on like three new lines✨

[bijoumikhawal]

whenever I see people complaining "why can't men be friends", my response is "they can when being mistaken for gay doesn't get them killed, which is also when actually being gay doesn't get you killed, and I don't control that"

btw people complaining about the lack of well-written or intimate or whatever the fuck friendship between men on tv and film are insane. what the fuck do you think most art is about if not hetero couples where women aren't seen as fully human and relationships between men. familial platonic workplace mentor-student etc. and they have profound effect of each other's lives they make and break each other they build their lives around each other. google homosociality. the real problem is homophobia and misogyny. that's why there are so few well-written romances between men and we get queer baiting and queer coding and physical intimacy between male friends is limited to the battlefield and the boxing ring and men irl and on screen are afraid of looking 'gay' and so many female characters who couldn't possibly have anything meaningful with anyone because women aren't seen as real people. but male friendship. be serious.

[creative-clawmarks]

So I wanna talk paralytics and paralysis in regards to Alex's venom (bc I like going on random science deep dives) SO- as I understand it- there are a few different types of paralytics which affect different bodily functions via different methods, but when most people think of temporary paralysis, they think of neuromuscular paralysis, which is what doctors use during surgeries, and some species of jellyfish and snake use to be absolutely terrifying.

Neuromuscular agents won't knock a person out or prevent pain, they just prevent movement. The problem here is that the diaphragm is a skeletal muscle and is affected by neuromuscular paralysis, meaning that without a ventilator or another breathing apparatus, suffocation is practically guaranteed. Really this applies to all neuromuscular agents/neurotoxins.

Here's the interesting thing I found however- Tick Paralysis, which doesn't always affect breathing. Usually starts out as acute ataxia (muscle weakness) and can progress to muscular paralysis if the tick isn't removed. While tick paralysis is also caused by a neurotoxin, my guess is that because ticks are so small the venom isn't particularly potent, and they don't produce a ton of it.

For Alex's venom to not outright kill via asphyxiation, the potency would probably have to be low enough to allow for diaphragm movement (though probably still weakened) but high enough to trap prey, which is a hell of a needle to thread. That, or it's a neurotoxin that specifically avoids effecting the diaphragm, which doesn't really exist as far as I know (then again, vampires don't either)

TL:DR - Neurotoxins are scary as hell and it's likely that someone envenomed by Alex would experience weakened breathing, if not outright suffocation.

(there's a 2008 movie called The Burrowers where the monsters use a venom that effectively causes Locked-in syndrome, but the science is kinda iffy. Roanoke Gaming as a video on it)

You've given me the perfect opportunity to go into depth on this.

So there's this trope I see in vampire stories where something about the vampire's bite makes it so their victims don't struggle. Usually this is due to supernatural influence, a charm or compulsion that makes the bite pleasant instead of painful.

But I wanted the bite to be painful, and more than that I wanted just the idea of being bitten to be terrifying. So I though, what is something naturally occurring that makes it so that something can't move but can still feel pain?

Why, paralytic venom of course!

(I then proceeded to do zero research lol.)

With this new information I can confidently say that, yes, Alex's venom is a neuromuscular paralytic. It makes it so that his prey cannot escape but leaves them conscious and able to feel pain. It does not, however, bring a risk of asphyxiation, because if Alex is going to kill someone I want it to be on purpose. I suppose that means his venom doesn't target the respiratory system, which considering we're talking about fictional monsters I'm gonna say we can suspend our disbelief here.

Humans stand basically no chance against something like that, but other monsters could fight if off much faster due to their regenerative abilities. That's how Tim survived Entry 56/57, Alex was banking on his venom to keep Tim down but instead he shook it off and managed to flee. He would've gotten away if it weren't for the Operator.

Ok, that should be everything...

"But wait!" I hear you cry, "If Alex's venom is super scary and not at all pleasant, then why does Jay like getting bitten by him?"

Because Jay is a freak. Next question.

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KO-FI

[byslantedlight]

Hello OFMD Tumblr thingie, and all the amazing people who are out there, and especially the ones who've been making all the posts that have made me so happy over the last few months. 💖💖💖 First and most importantly, thank you, thank you, thank you, to anyone who sees this!

This is my first post to Tumblr (probably pretty obvious from my huge lack of Tumblr sophistication! And the length of this post...) If you don't count reblogging things that I wanted to be able to find again. I've braved up to comment thank you to people a couple of times, but that's been it so far. I must admit it all looks a bit scary from this side of the glass, even though I can also see how friendly people mostly are.

But OFMD fandom is big! And you've been here a long time! I loved Series 1 when I watched it, and knew I wanted to watch out for Series 2, but it wasn't until I re-watched it when the Series 2 trailer came out on BBC iPlayer that I fell veeeery in love with it! And by then you were already here, and there was a language and debates about things I'd barely even noticed, and it's mostly me staring with big eyes thinking wow, and sometimes huh? and... well, you know. Plus there's trying to work out Tumblr, which I definitely haven't actually managed to do yet, and possibly never will, so... I decided to just jump in and post summat. Even just rambling, which is a bit of a specialty of mine... I mean - what's the worst that can happen, right? 😬

So... how come now? Well, I can't make art or gorgeous screenshots or gifs. I do write, but I'm still hanging out to get the right voices in my keyboard... I know them when I hear them, but you've gotta get the right rhythm going, and I'm not quite there yet, I don't think. Although really, I should probably just sit down and try (and stop waiting for work to shut up and give me time - I should be a pirate and take it!)

Anyway (told you about the rambling...) what I'm mostly doing apart from rewatching the eps on a constant loop is reading the fic. I'm picking it according to kudos on AO3, and according to recs that I see on Tumblr, and it's occured to me that alot of the stories I'm loving must have been recced looong ago, and that newbies like me totally missed them, and so maybe I could do my own recs, even if they are of older stories, and someone might find them useful. You know, if I work out how anyone else might ever see my posts. 😁 And if people aren't put off by my probably age-revealing use of emojis. (But I am entirely age-appropriate for Ed and Stede, and if I had to look up what zaddy meant too, well, that just means I matched Rhys Darby's expression in the bts, right? ��)

So it's not much, but I'd like to contribute even just a tiny bit to OFMD fandom in return for everything it gives me, so... yeah. That's my plan. I'll start in a bit, but this post is probably already too long since it's just rambling. And kind of dull. I should probably have said tl:dr at the top, shouldn't I, but then maybe anyone who actually saw this wouldn't, so... See, I kind of live in hope. 😊

Okay. Tags next, right? ... ack ... why won't it let me create new tags instead of just using ones from the drop down...? Well, those will have to do for now... maybe someone who sees this will have mercy and tell me how? I'll just be over here being a slight failure at Tumblr... And if you've made it this far (how long is an acceptable post over here?! Not this long, I don't think...) - thank you hugely for just that, and may your dreams be OFMD and joyous!

[rookiesbookies]

Greek God!Captain John Price x Maiden!Reader

TL:DR - this is what happens to the sacrifices sent to Price from my if the boys were greek gods post. Just a little thought exercise for myself.

Please send requests! I love hearing from you guys! Also Masterlist is pinned on my account❤️

Each of the boys have a forest dedicated to them surrounding the small village. Each are great hunters so it made sense, Konig has the mountain that separates the village from the neighboring war people, serving as protection.

When the neighboring war people did attack, it wasn’t pretty. Often killing half the men and taking whatever women they saw fit.

However, this girl escaped. She ran from their tents, and bolted into the woods. It wasn’t long before the men chased after her. Axes in hand. Yelling. Sprinting. Laughing darkly. Taunting her.

She ran as far as she could. She could see the fir trees. The big, thick, Grand Firs that were close together like a shield. She was lucky they hadn’t gotten her past the mountain. She would have been done for.

Her knees scraped against the limbs of the trees. Sap stuck to her whole body. Her dress tore against the branches. She began to cry.

Until she saw it. The glittering alter to one of their gods. She flung herself atop it.

She breathed out a prayer.

“Dear God Price, please God of Protection, save me now. Take me as a sacrifice if you must. Please, I beg of you. Protect me or send me a savior.” She cried out against the gold bench. Her fists clenched in the thin fabric of the drape over the altar.

She could hear the shouts of the men, gasping and crying harder.

She turned over and put her head in her hands, pulling her knees close. She prayed they’d run right past her.

She felt a warm hand touch her shoulder. She opened her mouth to scream but another covered it.

“Don’t. You’ll give us away, lass.”

She wanted to cry as she watched the war people stand in front of her, peeking around. It was as if they didn’t see her or the altar.

“See, yer a bit young for what I normally take as sacrifice, but I’m sure I can put a use to ya.”

As the people walked away she sighed and mumbled, “where do the other women god?”

“Simple, really. I see if they would fit as a bride for myself. If it doesnt work out, say we aren’t compatible, I see if I can find a man in another neighboring town that would best suit them and protect them. I put an illusion on the town yer from, as it is so remote, so that if you ever saw any of the women you wouldn’t recognize them.” He cleared his throat, “not very good pickings from your village as I see it.”

“So what is to happen to me?”

“I will see if you will work as a bride, if you do not, I will find you a protector and husband to care for you for the rest of your days.”

She shot up and hugged him. She didn’t expect gods to be this benevolent, much less a son of Zeus, but she had dreamed of escaping her village for so long. The torment of the war people was too much.

“But you said I was too young-“ she started. He patted her head.

“If it works out it will be a miracle. You’re about 10 years younger than I wanted my wife to be for the rest of time, but it will do.” He sighed, “most women do not seem to get along with me, so it would be a great deal of luck needed for you to.”

He tucked a hand under her knees and one behind her back. She held onto him around his neck as he flew. He landed in a far section of the woods. There was a cottage on top of a hill, it looks very nice and large. There was a big chimney sticking up from it with soft smoke coming from it.

“Did you mean to leave the fire burning?”

“I was in a bit of a hurry when I heard your prayer.” Price gently set her down before making his way inside. “I’m going to be chopping wood to keep the fire going out back. If you need anything, I won't be hard to find.”

She spotted dishes in the sink and decided she could have some use. So, she grabbed a wash rag and began to wash the glass cups and ceramic plates. She noticed the table had four places set. She wondered why, she assumed most gods spent their time alone. Maybe a second would make sense for whatever sacrificial woman he had at that point. But four?

There was a loud knock at the door. Without hesitation, three men came strolling in.

“Hello lass, could ya point us in the direction of Price?”

She pointed softly towards the back door of the cabin, the man with the mohawk and the tanner man walked toward the door. The blonde one stood there and stared at her.

“Bit earlier for a sacrifice ‘in’it?”

She opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out, so she looked down at her feet.

The man huffed and watched the back door. The two men came back in with Price, the one with the mohawk had his arm around Price’s shoulder and they were laughing.

“I hope Simon didn’t scare you too bad, love!” The one with the mohawk chirped. “I’m Soap, one of yer resident gods. And that’s Gaz.”

Gaz gave a little wave.

She would admit, she hadn’t assumed gods played poker or that they ate. However, Price did end up cooking a noodle meal with beef sauce. It had a couple vegetables like onions and peppers in it, which he had asked her to help slice. She did so with no complaints.

“I see you took to washing dishes earlier.”

“Was I not supposed to?”

“I was just a bit surprised, love, most of the women just make themselves at home on the couch or try to take me to bed to see what a god can do.”

“Oh,” she said softly. She carefully watched the knife as she cut. Price stepped away to get a spare chair from a closet, Soap and Gaz unfolded the table to reveal a hidden piece that made it longer.

Price helped teach her how to finish cooking the meal before plating for the boys and themselves. Price guided her to the seat next to his and they all ate merrily.

“Say, Captain, how do ya feel about a wee game of poker?” Soap began to deal and she gestured that she didn’t want to. “Ever played, lass?”

She shook her head.

“Watch the master then.” Soap flexed his arms with a proud smile, Simon rolled his eyes and Gaz jabbed him in the stomach, making him smack his hand pout.

The game continued and she watched all the men play, Price was showing her his card and talking her through the rules and the different hands as the game went on, using it as a way to throw Soap off. By the end of the night, Simon had won two games, Price had won three, Gaz had won two, and Soap had won one.

The boy began to head out and Simon smacked the back of Soap’s head, “so much of a winner now are ya,” and laughed to himself.

Price laughed to himself about it as well, under his breath though, he didn’t need Soap hearing him and getting upset or offended.

“How was that for a night, love?”

She giggled, finally starting to warm up to the god in front of her, “pretty fun.”

“I hope you don’t mind helping me clean up.” He said softly as she pushed a chair in and took plates to the sink. Price cleaned up the drink Gaz had accidentally knocked over on himself when Simon won.

Her cheeks began to heat up as he stood behind her, putting a plate in the sink. The were meer inches between them. “There’s spare undershirts of mine in the bottom drawer of the wardrobe up stairs. Go get some rest, I’ll take the couch.”

“I-I can’t rob you of your bed! That feels cruel!”

“Are you sure?”

She nodded profusely.

“Than I suppose I have another idea, since I refuse to make a lady take the couch.”

Part 2 is on my pinned master list

Let me know in comments or my inbox if you want a part 2! Please sent requests in my inbox!

[3-why-am-i-here-3]

Venting about the discourse regarding Gwen and her relationship to Miles in this fandom, not because I think it will do any good, but because i just want to say it.

What happened between Miles and Gwen in ATSV and the consequential fallout opened the door for some very interesting discourse. Discussions can be had about the events leading up to Gwen's blunders, whether she can earn forgiveness, and how these things will affect Mile's relationship with her, as well as how these types of situations play out in real relationships. These discussions have been happening to an extent, but not in a way that is conducive to good discourse.

What often keeps people from healthy discussion of these topics is the many different interpretations of Gwen; specifically the very polarized opinions people have of her. Some believe what she has done should never be forgiven, while others believe she has done nothing wrong to begin with.

I fall somewhere in the middle; I like Gwen, and I hope she is redeemed in the next movie, but I also acknowledge that she does need redemption. Obviously, you can like Gwen; you can also dislike her, but there is nothing wrong with either. What I see a lot of, though, are people who like or dislike her to the point of mischaracterization.

I believe there is room for interpretation of her character, but there does come a point where it becomes illogical. For example, some people who dislike Gwen will make her out to be completely evil, and the sole reason for every bad thing that happened to Miles. Others who do like her will paint her as a martyr and a saint. Neither are true. Gwen is a teenage girl who was caught between a rock and a hard place. She messed up and needs to work to earn her forgiveness. Both these statements are true, but depending on which side of the debate people fall on, they will only believe one or the other.

People don't (or won't) seem to understand that Gwen (and her situation) were nuanced. It is not black or white, but some shade of grey. And maybe you're reading this and thinking, "duh," but even if many people know this, they don't act like it. I'm not saying you can't criticize or praise Gwen, but I see people get so caught up in either blasting or defending her that it destroys any opportunity for an actual good discussion. I think Gwen's character is complex, and that's why I like her so much. I love it when characters accidently pave the road to hell with the best intentions, and I love seeing discourse about what they did wrong and what they did right. All this fandom does, however, is wage wars over whether Gwen is a demon or an angel at the expense of her character and Miles', for that matter.

I also see so many people engaging with content that would be better ignored. I can't stress this enough: if there is a user saying something that you don't like and it's not harmful to you or anyone else, then unless you intend to respectfully give your opinion in a way that's conducive to productive converstaion, DO NOT ENGAGE! Block them, report them, whatever, just don't interact. I see so many people in the comments of posts that they simply disagree with being disrespectful to the poster or anyone who agrees with them. What's even more infuriating is when the post is obvious rage bait. I've seen so many rage bait posts about Gwen trying to ignite either side of the debate over her character and they always get what they want: a bunch of people arguing in the replies.

It's such a shame because this could have produced some great conversations, but people have instead faught over it. It all comes down to a lack of nuanced opinions of a nuanced character, in my opinion. I'm hoping BTSV will calm people down and maybe then there will be room for more respectful conversation, but right now? It's a war zone and I want no part of it.

TL:DR: People who don't understand nuance and only deal in absolutes have made this fandom a lot less fun.

[chaifootsteps]

that tweet anon shared with the analysis clip - the guy's not entirely wrong that if Stolas said 'what can I do to prove [his love] to Blitz', Blitz wouldn't know what it would take

but here's the thing - Stolas doesn't even ask. He doesn't even make a commitment that he wants to prove it to Blitz no matter what, he doesn't promise to be better to prove it, he doesn't even give Blitz a minute to process his own feelings

Look My Way Stolas had the dramatic turning point that he was going to try to make amends for how he'd made Blitz 'a means to an end' (probably because Paranoid DJ wrote it, not Viv, and removing that moment wrecks the impetus of the whole song). Even When I See Him Stolas recognized he had behaved monstrously

but when it comes to the moment of truth Stolas wasn't interested in doing much more than ending the deal, then expecting Blitz's love immediately in return. There's such a disconnect here where in both songs Stolas is concerned he's treated Blitz badly, yet he doesn't consider maybe Blitz needs time to trust he means what he says and that he (Stolas) needs to be the one to put the effort in this time

but he just doesn't do that. It doesn't matter to Stolas that Blitz is the one who's bent over backwards to please him in bed all this time in order to keep his business going and the most effort Stolas has put in has been wishy-washy texts where he won't come out and say what he actually wants and is incapable of connecting with Blitz on any real level because he doesn't recognize the power imbalance and fails to take much real accountability for it

in Stolas' head Blitz may have been hurt but it doesn't matter that much, because ultimately the relationship he wants isn't that difference than the one he had. he wants Blitz putting in all the work to make him feel wanted and to validate his feelings. in his head Blitz's feelings are just confusing and inscrutable (and ultimately they don't matter that much) even though he's had several opportunities now where he could have conversed with him. Blitz gave him that on a silver platter in apology tour and Stolas bungled it again. like yes he was drunk but ditching to make out with another guy is really the sign of where his priorities lie

saying 'oh Blitz is too traumatized anyway to accept it if Stolas treated him well' or 'it's Blitz's fault for not indicating what he needs to hear to believe it' is shifting the blame again, because Stolas never asked about what Blitz needs or showed any signs of caring.

they have Stolas say 'we really must converse' in the duet but when the scene comes, he makes no attempt at doing that. he freaks Blitz out taking the book back, does a big grandstanding romantic gesture where he just talks at Blitz and then when Blitz doesn't immediately trust it's genuine (understandable) Stolas avoids the opening to converse with him and instead immediately shuts down because in his own words, he's got his 'answer'

that's not a conversation, that's a binary 'do you want me or not' proposition that Blitz clearly wasn't expecting or ready for

and after that Stolas just jumps right into 'I feel hurt therefore I'm the one who's been wronged', gaslights Blitz horrifically then still rejects him when there was yet another opportunity to talk

tl:dr but Stolas was never interested in proving anything to Blitz. He treats him like a slot machine where he assumes treating him with the basic respect of ending the deal entitles him to Blitz's love, immediately as he wants it and how he wants it

To sum it all up, here's a quote that Stolas and this fandom could both stand to memorize.

[duckprintspress]

Sorry for being a little in the dark, but can you explain what happened with NaNoWriMo? Or at least point me towards some resources pls?

Hey anon!

Never apologize for that. Life is so fucking busy, no one can be apprised of everything going on all the time. Our brains would break even trying. Anyway, multiple things have happened with NaNoWriMo, but for the current debacle, the best answer is probably to read their own words as appended in a reblog to my original post about how to delete.

The TL:DR is, to paraphrase NaNo's own words (after they got a sponsorship from ProWritingAid, an "AI" company), they support using "AI" as part of NaNoWriMo, accusing people who disagree of being ableist and classist.

Having read both their statements, they at least imply that they mean "AI" such as grammar checkers, rather than generative "AI," but they don't actually clarify and it's at best ambiguous if they include generative LLM as being allowed and reasonable. When people got upset with them, they doubled down, saying things like "not everyone can afford an editor," which as someone who personally couldn't afford an editor and so taught myself to edit at a professional level over ten years, I'll own I find a fucking insane and insulting take. A lot of us worked our asses off to learn these skills, and it's not classist to suggest that other people...can learn too. But also...like...if I was certain they only meant grammar checkers, I might be a bit more forgiving (I mean, I use Word's grammar checker, though it's often wrong), but which LLM usages they're actually defending isn't clarified and they jump right to defending their position by tarring people who disagree with them as -isms, and that's some kinda bs argument right there.

To be clear, I think policies banning people from using LLMs in events like NaNoWriMo or on platforms like AO3 is an exercise in futility. Bans are unenforceable, and attempts to moderate will turn into harassment tools. The line between "work written by someone who isn't proficient yet" and "LLM" isn't clear, and policing that line would consume huge amounts of moderating effort for basically no benefit. IMO, for places like AO3 the best bet is simply transparency, as in, people using LLMs should fucking tag it.

To be clear secondarily, putting my "I own a small Press" hat, if someone sends us something verifiably LLM-generated, they will be permanently banned, but honestly, even something I can't verify as LLM-generated, like. Won't be good writing. It might be technically precise but an LLM can't generate a coherent story because it can't think or remember. It's just a word-probability engine. We've never had an LLM-generated submission to the best of my knowledge, but if we did, well. Ban hammer.

Anyway. Sorry. I got off topic. The point is, NaNo basically said we were all ableist and classist because we want people to write (even if they write badly!) for the...write a novel challenge.

And this made a lot of people very angry.

[yellowocaballero]

hi! i've been reading some of your older fics and was wondering if there's any merit in watching buffy for the first time in the year 2024

This may not be obvious, but this is actually an extremely complicated and highly subjective question. I'll try to go on for too long.

As background: my mother loved Buffy and its spin-off Angel growing up. It was our Bible (besides the actual Bible). Not kidding, she was on the forums and fan groups and wrote fanfiction for it and everything (These days, she's really into kdramas and Asian dramas, and calls me about how the Thai seem like big fans of gay people). So I'm quite biased.

BTVS is both a product of its times and ahead of its times. It was a show about feminism and the struggle of living in this world as a woman, when very few shows were doing that. It was the first show to have a long-lasting lesbian couple, and the first show to depict a kiss between them. For better or for worse, it was one of the codifiers of broody vampire boyfriend. It was pretty unafraid to be experimental in a lot of what it did. It had incredibly complex and nuanced character work and growth that I still aspire to. Spike's arc is still matched in quality only by Avatar's Zuko. Angel's long term arc, from Buffy to his spin-off series, still makes him one of the most complex characters on TV. It had the most complex depiction of depression on TV at the time and I still think it's one of the best. I think the show had very high highs.

It also had very low lows. Some of the feminism is problematic in retrospect. The sapphic couple has a rather famous element that was severely problematic. There are, overall, some deeply atrocious arcs that I can appreciate objectively but not in practice. Xander: a whole-ass character aged awfully. On a meta level, the workplace conditions were bad (thanks, Whedon.) There are no people of color. The spoiler's sake I won't go into detail on this, but in general the good stuff was so influential and the bad stuff was just awful.

I think these days people tend to brush off the entire thing because it's Whedon. That is more than fair. But I'd also say that Whedon & Buffy is extremely similar to Brian Michael Bendis & Ultimate Spider-Man. Bendis was fantastic at writing sassy, bouncy, permanently stressed-out teens - issue was, he wrote entirely different serious adult characters the way he wrote these sassy teens. Same with Whedon: the annoyingly constant quips are perfect for Buffy, because that's who the characters are. They're awful in Marvel, because Steve Rogers is not Xander. Kinda similarly, Buffy was genuinely feminist for 90s TV - issue is, Whedon has not grown or developed his views, and now his works feel so sexist (oh my fucking god why did you treat Natasha like that). After a certain point it's egotistical: you're writing like that because you're Joss Whedon and it's how you write, not because it's what's best for the characters and story. But it was really important to me to get the character voices right, and it's freaking difficult to endlessly write dialogue that distinct, full of voice, witty, and clever.

I think BTVS & Angel TV's greatest influence on my writing is how intensely character-driven both of those shows were, and how intricate the characters were. What every character did was something they would do, if that made sense. Even the stuff I hated to watch, that made me uncomfortable, was the culmination of so much (usually). I think I also picked up the constant wit and humor lol. On a personal level, the conversations I would have with my mother where she broke down the character motivations and composition of the story was my first exposure to looking at storytelling from an analytical perspective and a framework of critical analysis, which was an approach I carried into the rest of the media I consumed and that was the primary reason I was able to become a decent writer. Thanks, Mom. Have fun with your kdramas.

TL:DR: There is merit, especially if you care about good character work. There are things about it that may make you want to drop it, which is extremely valid. Season 1 is rough but interesting, Season 2 and 5 are the best, Season 3 is pretty good, Season 4 and 7 skippable, and Season 6 is........epic highs, epic lows......

[talisidekick]

No. I will not contribute.

The subject matter of your questionnaire is extremely narrow. You're only focusing on the one "half of transgender" people who have experienced sexual assault or physical assault. This isn't a comparative analysis because you're not including a control group of transgender individuals who haven't experienced sexual assault and their own experiences with transition. Furthermore, you're not including cisgender people who've experienced sexual/physical assault and how that has affected their gender identity, and cisgender people who haven't and their experiences with gender.

By narrowing your scope of investigation to such a specific group, you're denying yourself the possibility of any other factors that may contribute across the mentioned groups. You're looking for a subset of a subset of data without reference or context to why that data may exist. The only thing this questionnaire can do is say "the reason some transgender people are transgender is because of sexual/physical assault" because that's the only thing you're factoring in.

The only inference that can be pulled from this is that being transgender is psychological and thus 'malleable' or 'changeable' by possible exposure therapy, ie conversion therapy.

This isn't a study, this is cherry-picking information to write a paper or piece guised as academic study to promote propaganda that promotes disproven and ineffectual medical practices whether you realize that or not.

TL:DR No, I won't contribute. This is a terrible investigation into the transgender experience that is being performed with blatant position bias.

To any transgender person thinking about answering this questionnaire: DO NOT. There are better studies out there that have done this, and are currently doing this (I'm a part of one already) with proper control groups and included context.

[namecantbeblank]

Can you give me a little TL:DR for begore the brazilians came? It's just too much to accompany and im lazy, sorry-

Anon, there is a ton to go over, but I'll just give you some big plot points okay? I'll try to organize them! People please reblog/comment with more points. Sit back. Hold your breath. This won't be in exact order, and this is slightly English POV heavy, but it's what I can think of right now.

Before Eggs:

The original Spanish and English members arrive on a train, split into two groups. They solve puzzles to escape and blow up the wall that was separating them both.

They 'meet' the Duck through videos, telling them what to and most importantly, to not blow up the wall, which Vegetta immediately does.

They meet Osito Bimbo / Cucurucho , a fully white snowman/bear like creature that claims they're from the QSMP census bureau. Seems harmless, and some fun is had with them.

La Villa de Sacapuntas is created, consisting of Wilbur, Jaiden, Phil, and Slimecicle, serving as an early civilization and interaction before Spreen, Missa and Roier took it over. Lots of lighthearted events here, great interactions between people.

Everything is lighthearted for a bit until the egg event. I honestly recommend watching day 1 vods.

Egg Event:

Live translation is introduced, as well as the eggs! Players are introduced to the concept, rules and partnerships regarding the eggs, which are as follows:

The eggs are Dragon eggs, and players must protect them until the mother returns.

Each Egg has two lives. They may be lost through dying or failing to complete egg tasks (Lethal and Happiness tasks)

The family with the happiest egg will be rewarded, and any families with eggs that die will be punished.

Each family has a partner who speaks a different language (minus single parents, Bad and Quackity)

If an egg bed is broken, the egg loses a life.

Everyone adopts their eggs, names them and gets their partners. Some parents, like Phil and Missa and Spreen and Fit, have one of their partners go on a trip, so they're basically single parents.

Families begin, some more stable than others, and egg personalities are learned.

Family Disputes, Early deaths, and Satan:

In the early days of the eggs being around, there were a few deaths, but none permanent.

Families like Charlie and Mariana, Quackity and Tilin and Max and Dan quickly show how dysfunctional they are. Either with outright arguments or lack of proper interaction with their egg. But everyone tries their best

Families like Roier and Jaiden, Philza and Missa, and Bad and Dapper are very positive and have little issues for the most part. Everyone is becoming attatched to these eggs.

A new person joins the party: Satan (The Devil) and Lil J (The Angel/Jesus). Played by Rubius, each of these characters talk with the parents and give them rewards for performing tasks. The Angel also has contact with a higher God, allowing eggs to be revived or given another life.

Egg Death 1: Misclick

After going AFK, Mariana accidentally clicks on Juanaflippas bed and destroys it, taking her last life.

Everyone is distraught, especially Charlie.

Charlie goes a bit insane. He starts a plan of revenge, trying to murder all the other eggs in an attempt to bring Juanaflippa back. He fails and is talked down.

Egg Death 1.2: The Rebirth of Juanaflippa and The Court Case

After failing to kill the other eggs, Charlie starts a court case against Mariana. He gets five lawyers. He kind of loses.

This is honestly a stream worth watching from any POV. Very funny.

The Judge allows Juanaflippa to be reborn. The dysfunctional family is back together.

Charlie and Mariana make up and have sex. Again. This happens multiple times on screen. I hate them

Egg Death 1.3: She fucking died

After Charlie exiles himself, Juanaflippa and Mariana stay in the greater island.

Mariana, while fighting a vindicator, fucking kills Juanaflippa again

Osito Bimbo visits Charlie in exile to tell him his egg is dead. Charlie doesn't believe them, and they have an argument.

Both parents are in a strong stage of grief, wanting to kill other eggs sometimes.

There is a semi-ongoing attempt to bring her back.

Egg Death 2: The Neglect of Trump

After the court case, Trump loses his second life. His parents are Maximus and DanTDM- Dan hasn't been on since the beginning, and Max forgot to take care of him.

Maximus goes a little crazy after. I don't remember the details but he started like, eating a lot

Trump has been found in the promotional posters tho?? And there's a lot sus about him. Don't quote me on that though.

Egg Death 3: Misclick PT.2 + Quackitys downfall

Before Juanaflippa died the second time, she and Charlie were taking care of Tilin. Tilin was going to go with Roier, who usually took care of them, but Charlie took her instead. During the night, Charlie accidentally hit Tilin while fighting a mob with a sword, killing him.

Juanaflippa is distraught that her friend died, Roier is yelling at Charlie, and Charlie and Mariana are officially named misclick duo.

Quackity finds out. He's out for revenge. He goes mental, planning on killing eggs and Charlie. He is eventually talked down a bit by Wilbur, forming his attachment to Tallulah, but it doesn't end there.

(Modern day) Later on, in the strip club, Vegetta and Roier perform a... show.. for Quackity specifically, where Quackity reveals he wants to kill the eggs still. He's basically just been spiraling since his kid died.

The Funeral

The third official event scheduled, the funeral was an event to remember Tilin, Trump and Juanaflippa. Slimecicle watches from exile as the other parents of the dead kids speak.

Mariana tries to blow up the chapel and everyone in it. He was stopped.

They all go to the graveyard after, where the cameras are destroyed (Max thought they were from the census bureau), and Osito Bimbo appears.

Osito leads the parents to a place, much like a limbo, where they can see their dead eggs one more time. Charlie comes back from exile for this.

Bad and Spreen fight lmao

As a result, Quackity asks Charlie to fight, and Charlie lets him win.

Wilburs return/Tallulah

I think he technically came back a bit before the funeral

But when Wilbur returns after being on Tour, him Fit and Phil go to the adoption center and check the attic.

They find an egg, Tallulah, and Wilbur adopts her.

They spend the day making the house, when Quackity comes up to him

Quackity thinks Wilbur is the father of Tilin, so they have a whole argument, and Wilbur goes to Tilins grave.

They end on decent terms, but later on Quackity insists on taking care of Tallulah, calling her his adoptive daughter, etc. Even when Phil is taking care of her. You see this become a bigger issue in recent streams

The Rise of Gegg

Charlie Slimecicle, grief-ridden and poor, makes a plan with Quackity to make a fake egg to rob people. It quickly gets out of hand.

Charlie morphs into a green, squishy egg and is found In a room in the adoption center. By using the excuse that Charlie is in exile, and with this egg acting like a regular egg, Gegg is now created.

Quackity adopts Gegg but quickly abandons him, so Gegg has to interact with others for help

Not many people really like Gegg. But Charlie is committed to the bit. He is Gegg now. Gegg is real. Gegg has taken over Charlie. Gegg. Gegg. Gegg.

Six Days.

The members get a video stating that in six days, their eggs will die. There is also a secret code in the video that hasn't canonically been solved

Panic and disbelief obviously happen, and parents take the time to take care of their kids and do extra events with them.

The night before the sixth was very emotional.

Parents wake up to their kids being gone, and the Brazilians coming in the ship.

Other points I couldn't fit in:

There are so many relationships, flirting and cheating that there's no way for me to list them all. But it does create drama. This is gay island at this point. LGBTQsmp.

The mobs are progressively getting stronger and harder, with new strange mobs appearing

The Code Monster, as we see more of now, attacked Phil before he and Fit killed them.

Roier becomes a psychologist and also has a female counterpart named Melissa.

There are some cases where people have "Nightmares," aka noncanon egg deaths. Sometimes there's a mob that is uneccessarily strong, lag happens, or other circumstances that lead them to giving the egg their life back and the event being retconned. Examples of this are Chayanne and Tallulah, Dapper, and Bobby

Luzu has a whole arc about being like, a robot? Arin? But I'm not caught up on that. Someone help

Bad is often the designated babysitter for eggs, followed by Phil

Maximus is actually a really fucking good actor and won awards for roleplaying. Fun fact

Maximus had a chess match with Osito Bimbo, which ended up in Osito giving him information.

I'm going to tell you right now, I could probably make a whole other list of running inside jokes

Quackity is canonically two people. English Quackity and Spanish Quackity

Roier got stabbed by Spreen with the help of Quackity, and is now looking for revenge

Check out clip channels/tiktoks for fun stuff. There's some blogs here too!

Hope this helped some, Anon! I know this is a big read but I hope you can at least scan and understand. If anyone has anything to add please reblog!