#two different writing teams

[mamadoc]

The Rookie timeline drives me bonkers.

Nolan and Bailey decided to try for a baby literally seconds after the Chenford break-up. But in this episode (6x7 which is only 1 day long), Nolan consoles Bailey that it’s only been TWO WEEKS.

But when Grey talks to Tim about his first day back on patrol, he says he’s been reprimanded for reckless behavior and broken up with his girlfriend WITHIN THE LAST WEEK.

This somewhat confirms my suspicion that the writers for Nolan and Bailey don’t talk to the writers for Chenford.

The Bailan team is dishing out love and happiness. The Chenford team is trying the dig the hole deeper each with each episode and enjoys watching their main characters struggle.

The Bailan team LOVES cheesy lines, awkward scenes, and sexy references that are anything but sexy. The Chenford team seems to be preferring soul-crushing breakups, a strong theme of dishonesty, and a focus on mental health.

It’s like watching two different shows that cross over each other occasionally.

[aroaceleovaldez]

they girlbossed Sally Jackson

[batsplat]

do you know why vale seems to have a soft spot for pedrosa?

there's not any single one reason, I don't think, but here's are a few contributing factors that come to mind:

history! in large part because of the honda link, dani's the alien he's known the longest... valentino was the number one honda rider at a time at which dani was honda's rising star. photo on the right is from the 2001 honda celebrations at the last race of the season (when dani was sixteen); from oxley's valentino rossi: all his races: "that night vale celebrated in style at a raucous honda victory party, where he taught honda youngsters daijiro kato and dani pedrosa how to drink". they've known each other forever! valentino was getting teenage dani drunk! quite natural to be fond of someone you've seen grow up like that, even if they are being moulded to be your next big rival

circumstance! the way it basically works with valentino is that if you want to have a feud with him, you generally need to have a title fight with him when you’re already ‘established’ rivals (ignore marc, that’s its own thing, 2015 is a freaky season). biaggi and valentino were enemies headed into 2001 and then were worse enemies, he was cool with sete in year one but not year two, mostly *wiggles hand* the same with casey and jorge… feuds aren't build overnight. valentino and dani weren’t ever really direct title rivals - closest they got was 2006 and 2008, but in both cases valentino probably didn’t see dani as his main problem that year. there wasn't really any competitive necessity for valentino to get nasty... also with one or two notable exceptions, valentino did kinda have dani handled in their actual wheel-to-wheel fights, which let’s face it probably didn’t hurt

yapping! so this is just a theory but it’s one I believe strongly in. you know how valentino loves to talk, right? the thing about pressers and podiums is that you're always going to have a few regular attendees, if you will, corresponding to the front runners in any given year. now, unfortunately for valentino, there were periods of time where almost every other regular attendee was someone he had pretty active beef with. that doesn’t mean he always avoided yapping at them, but relatively speaking you want a guy you can build up some good repartee with to pass the time. dani was his guy… less complicated than casey and jorge, plus dani is polite enough to go along with it and maybe even enjoy chatting to valentino (it’s been known to happen). pressers can be boring and at podiums you're still full of adrenaline, valentino wants to share a joke with someone! my completely unscientific sense is that valentino does this a lot with dani around 2008-ish to 2012, then for two years marc is the number one yap victim, then for a while it’s a bit…? oddly valentino does seem to chat quite a lot with jorge in 2015... he likes to throw in a quirky behavioural pattern sometimes to keep you guessing. anyway then in 2016 he is Actively Ignoring two of these men so vale goes!! hi there dani!! and takes it from there (though the field is more mixed up post-2015 so he becomes more of an opportunistic yapper). in general, valentino will chat to pretty much anyone with A Few Exceptions, but he does usually have a bit of an order of preference

dani’s personality! now, obviously dani is very much capable of feuds, but he’s not that naturally combative a character. valentino generally needs a competitive justification for beef, though some personal animosity can help too… but he never really hated any of that trio of young riders to come through. valentino's known dani forever, he’s been around dani a fair bit because of their respective statuses in the sport, dani isn’t going out of his way to pick fights with valentino, so no reason not to get on! he does clearly quite like chatting to dani and seems pretty fond of him even towards the start of the alien era, at a time in which it was broadly expected that dani not casey would emerge as vale's primary challenger... god knows if the relationship would have soured if dani had assumed that mantle (probably at least a little lol) but failing that, valentino does just seem to quite like him. y’know, sometimes it’s like that

They Have Also Had Their Disagreements, But There Hasn’t Been Much Cause For It To Escalate Further. these disagreements have tended to be over racing standards, where dani is generally in the ‘you people are all insane’ camp and valentino is generally in the ‘ah it’s fine’ camp (though, obviously, there is nuance here… cf vale also criticising sic over the le mans 2011 incident that left dani with the broken collarbone). generally, they don't get into direct conflict over it, more of an underlying difference in positions (hey, aragon 2013 is an example)... but there’s been dani’s suggestion that valentino’s sepang 2015 stance is inconsistent with his generally laissez faire approach, and also some other isolated little scuffles over the years like say 2017 aragon (see below). pretty small scale stuff in the grand scheme of things and if you've been on-track rivals for that long it's kinda inevitable you'll eventually disagree about some stuff, but perhaps worth bringing up

went through all of the alien combos in my head and these two slot in just behind dani/casey as probably the two most consistently beef-free inter-alien relationships? dani/casey gets extra credit for surviving The Teammate Test. but, y'know, the thing about valentino is that he's a sociable, outgoing guy... he likes talking to people... he's actually interested in them... he's a decent conversationalist, easy to get on with, all that stuff. so if you expose valentino to this nice fella who at most was like... perhaps a bit more reserved towards the start of his time in the premier class (partly due to his mentor's approach), but really was generally pretty chill... well, if valentino isn't given any reason to hate dani, then default state is that he won't. good on them etc

[bluejaybytes]

I procrastinated putting my idea onto paper so long I had to change it from SpringFest to Summer Nights BUT. Squits :]

[bunnygirl678]

Because I need to work on my WIPs and not add another I'm putting this out into the stratosphere, please as always (and literally any concept you see me throw around even if i wrote a fic about it i want more stories) feel free to steal it, draw it, write it, or use it to distract yourself from the pain radiating from the massive cut in your foot that has decided to just bleed all night (oddly specific bunny is not okay) anywhosers

-royalty au

-red is like the sole prince of a small nation, Pallet, his mom is the queen, despite the nation being small , they are increadibly strong thanks to pokemon trainer prince who beats everyone

-rocket nation with king gio had been attacking and waging a full out war but Red's pushed them back, now rocket nation is trying to form alliances, so Red's mom has to the do same thing

-a neighboring nation, Oakland (ha) had always fought with Red's nation over resources or something, but rocket is attacking them so they form an alliance

-and to form an alliance King Samuel sends his grandson Green to be married off

-cause daisy's the oldest so she'll be queen, and honestly the king thinks green is shit at everything so getting rid of him is a weight off his shoulders

-and green is pissed cause he's a strong trainer and had been doing a lot to protect his nation but his grandfather doesn't care

-red and green immediately hate each other but like they're married so they have to be around each other

-and green like snuck his pokemon with him and keeps sneaking away to train and eventually red catches him training and is like hey wait you like pokemon battling

-all the while rocket is forming alliances and planning a sinister take over of pallet then Oakland

-red and green bond over training

-and like all of the nobels and military leaders treat green like he's just arm candy but now Red's like hey wait you actually know stuff and are almost as strong as me

-green starts coming to planning sessions and the elite 4 generals dont take him serious or whatever then red is like okay go battle him

-green kicks their asses and earns their respect

-they do planning and training and all the while red and green are falling for each other but neither will admit it, cause they think the other just sees this as duty or whatever

-finally the battle comes rocket vs. everyone else

-it's going well until green gets hurt, like maybe he and red are joking around on the battlefield some cause it's easy and they're kinda having fun and flirting a bit, but then someone sneaks and stabs green or whatever

-one of the elite 4 take green away to medics and red goes feral (think achilles) he beats giovanni for good

-all of the allies meet up to divvy up rocket's territories, and green is like hanging on by a thread or whatever and his grandfather is like who cares he only exists to further Oakland's control

-red is pissed threatening to wage ware against oakland

-daisy ends up finding out green is hurt and immediately comes to pallet to see him (cause she actually loves her brother) and that calms red down

-red's mom ends up somehow getting oak to step down as king and daisy becomes queen

-green gets better and red's like hey i know you don't love me and were just forced into this by your grandfather so here is this country called Viridian it's yours youre the king now

-and before green can be like wait im in love with you too, red fucks off to mt. silver (cause of course right)

-green is devastated, red is devastated

-the story is over... or is it???

-it isn't obviously, cause bunny has to have her happy ending cause real life sucks ass so fantasy has to be great in the end

-prince gold from johto makes friends with green, hears the story, and how technically green and red are 100% still married

-so he and his merry band of mischief makers (silver, lyra, kris) go on a journey to bring red down

-they make up some story about green being in trouble

-red obviously rushes down the mountain to save green, but like green's just hanging out in his castle bored as hell playing spoons with alakazam or something

-he see's red and rushes to him and they embrace and kiss

-and green's like i can't stand it i'm in love with you and red's like oh shit me too

-then they merge viridian and pallet and have a second more fun wedding where it's happy instead of an arranged thing

-and they live happily ever after

[sugarcoated-lame]

should be asleep bc i have to be up in like 5 hours, but instead i’m awake and thinking about an idea for a best friend’s brother/college!joel au fic 👀

[quohotos]

Another thing I really appreciate about the Underland Chronicles is how it's both grounded but still having a bit of fun. There's SOME thought given to practicality, logistics, and realistic inspiration, but that's held in the same hand as a healthy dose of rule of cool. The people ride on bats and they have acrobatics themed fighting styles that utilize triple bladed swords. Is that practical? Does it even make physical sense? I don't care.

It's grounded in the sense that no one casts a spell, and the nature of free will is left up in the air, but there are prophecies and there are dinosaurs. It feels real but it never feels embarrassed to be fantasy (like SOME OTHER SERIES I WON'T NAME). Sometimes you get scientific justifications for things, and sometimes you don't because it's not important. How do apple trees grow underground? Moving on! No lamp-shading! L+ratio+use your imagination.

[dallonwrites]

the first chapter of lover boy is really intense on an emotional level because So Many Things happen in quick succession it's like beau barely gets a chance to breathe and process it. meanwhile RR opening chapter is just felix and dorothy arguing in a laundromat.

[inanimationinsanitation]

I thought TSTOE was done dirty in TPOT 10 imo cause Two literally chose a robot as a contestant and realized that robots don’t dream and they didn’t even bother waking robot flower up and use a different teammate

I guess so From an in-universe stand point they probably didn't think about choosing a different contestant, since just slightly altering the win conditions was easier, or maybe they couldn't reverse it (unlikely)

Though what would theoretically been Robot Flower's dream, had she been able to dream. I think in her nightmare TSTOE would've found RF as the actual Flower, because that's what she wanted. But as soon as RF starts to interact with the rest of the dream world, they find out that still no one cares. That it doesn't matter if she's herself her pretending to be someone else, they just don't care. Because let's face it, Robot Flower wants people to care about her, and what would be scarier than to change everything about yourself just to realize it was all in vain

[yesyourstalker]

Mahi: hello?

Neta: Hey Mahi don't come into work today. Don't come into work tomorrow or the day after that.

Mahi: Why what's happening?

Neta: *sigh* turn on the news..... I swear it's always me.

News channel: salmonoids have invaded the barnacle and dime mall. We advise everyone to steer clear of the surrounding area. Volunteers and employees of the grizz-co company must arrive as soon as possible to fix the issue. We will keep you all updated on further information we'll receive. In other news is turf war...... ruining our kids education??

Mhai: holy shit!! The whole mall is flooded!!.... Thank fuck we're on the second floor!!

Neta: *sigh*.............. We're still going to get damaged..... The mall is going to smell like salmon shit for weeks........ Anyway I got to head out. I just got my slop suit.

Mahi: what you work for grizz-co??

Neta: No, I'm volunteering. I just want to protect my store! I work way too hard just for it to go-

Cirrina: Aunt Candi's here can we go?!

Neta: yeah I'm coming Sweetie! Yeah I got to head out. Bye.

_______________________________________________

Mahi: mizole babe, let's go.

Mizole: We're going to raid Neta's apartment?

Mahi: yep

* texting *

Mahi: Warabi get up our boss is not home let's break in

Warabi: can't Neta is making me do a shift at Grizz's I'm getting overtime

Mahi: :/ fine is Baja still there?

Warabi: you mean my boyfriend ;p <3

Mahi:..[typeing]..... [Typing].................. Yee

Warabi: no he's with me

Mahi:.... [Typing]........ [Typing]..... Ok

_______________________________________________

Mizole: you know I expected his place to be a lot shittier......

Mahi: Right? I expected it to be like some sort of depression cave or something.

Mizole: hmm.... So what do you do anyway when you're here?

Mahi: nothing much. Watch TV, play his Nintendo, eat his leftovers, go through his shit........ find some really nice stuff. I took a nice t-shirts and a pair of his old sneakers. They don't fit but they're really nice....... There's a lot of interesting stuff if you look for it.

Mizole:...........hm..... .. If I take the base do you think he's going to notice?

Mahi: put that down. I'm not planning on attending your funeral if you do something stupid.

Mizole: boooooo Mahi stop being such a killjoy I thought you said we can steal whatever we want.

Mahi: I meant stuff he won't miss!

Mizole: what's in this drawer- UH!.....uhhahahahahahahahha! how about this?! You think he'll notice this being gone?!

Mahi: *slams close* I didn't see that! I'm erasing that from my memory. lets go down stairs.

Mizole: hehehehe....I mean it'll be funny-

Mhai: SHUT UP!.......... I saw nothing!...... Let's go.

_______________________________________________

Mizole: *eating * so.......... Baja. I guess he's here to stay?

Mahi: ugh yeah.. I guess....... He got a job at the Annaki store and is planning on moving here. ..... Pffth

Mizole: Hey, I mean if we're lucky the salmons will destroy the mall and he'll be out of the job.

Mahi: I'll be out of the job too.

Mizole: you got me, don't you? Heheh.. [kiss]

Mahi: I want my own money.........

Mizole: you don't like Baja?

Mahi: It's not that I don't like him...I like him, he's cool. It's fun to boss him around and tell him what to do. Since he's getting close to Warabi....*eating* They're dating now.......... He's going to be around more often.

Mizole: knowing Warabi. It'll probably be 2 months

Mahi:hehe...... What if Baja wants to move in? We have to buy another mattress... He won't be next to me.. What if Warabi wants to move out again? I'll be here by myself........ again........ what if he forgets me and replaces me with Baja.? A taller better looking vers-

Mizole: *eating* Babe shut up that's not going to happen. Ok? Warabi loves you. He's not just going to replace you with that weenie. I mean look at him....... Look at him Mahi! You can punch him in the face and he'll probably apologize to you! You worry too much babe you'll be fine....... And besides if he moves out you can move in with me.

Mahi: really?... Are we really at that stage?

Mizole: I feel like we are. It's a nice upgrade too, an apartment to a big house in the hills. What do you think?

Mahi: .... ... That sounds nice...... really nice.............. nice big house... We need to keep them together.

Mizole:hahahahahaha.....

_______________________________________________

Warabi: okay, just jiggle the pick. I know there's like three notches annnnnd I.... got it! ..... I knew you guys were going to be here!

Baja: are you at least a little worried that he might find out about this?.......... Oh hello

Mahi: hey

Mizole: hm

Baja: you must mizole.... You're the front man of what floor!

Mizole: and?

Baja: I'm a big fan of yours. When Mahi told me that they were dating you. I was really excited to meet you. I've been following your work for a long time. I was a big fan of you when you were with 'the deep sea divers'

Mizole: Yeah I have a lot of fans that's what happens when you have a tale- you know about the deep sea divers?

Baja: yeah! I saw you guys playing at the conch shell club 8 years ago.... Your first rendition of undertow amazing. I mean I like the final cut of it but your first draft was art!

Mizole:.......... You actually like that?

Baja: yeah!... they had a lot of personality in it. Why did you change it? It was so rugged and aggressive now it's all polished now which I love but the original one had such character

Mizole:............... Wow.....uh.......*humph*. You know heh .... when I got signed to a label they wanted a specific genre and all that....hehehe..........* Inhale* ...... What's with the bag and why is it moving?

Baja: oh They're salmonoids. I got some during my volunteer shift at grizz-co. Got a lot of these little guys. I like to eat them raw.....*eating* I got them for you mahi ait tons of them during my shift.

Mahi: nice! Thanks I like to eat them raw too...*eating* They're juicer too

Warabi: *ugh* I can never get used to that.......Any of y'all know Neta 's finflixs password?

Mhai: bassbaba@86

_______________________________________________

Mahi: okay so what's the plot of this?

Warabi: okay, so it takes place during the great turf war. Two soldiers one inkling and one octoling who grew up together and are childhood best friends. And the story switches from backstory to backstory until it goes all the way to present day and then it all comes together during the end of the movie. It's really sad like it's so sad.

Baja: Oh I saw this... We had to watch it in school

Mizole: eh

Neta: Why are y'all in my apartment?!

Mahi: *eat* hey boss. you look like shit.......

Baja: AHHHHH... I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I told myself that I wouldn't do this again and I did it again. I'm really sorry I'm so sorry!

Mizole: would you get the fuck up! Stop kissing his ass. It's not going to do shit!

Neta:..................*sigh*........*moan*........... I can't do this today .....*sniff*...... What are you watching?

Warabi: 'war-torn brothers'

Neta: The one based off the book?

Warabi: yeah.....

Neta:............ Cici order something to eat and take a shower okay baby?

Cirrina: ok....You didn't go to my room did you?

Mizole/mahi: no

Cirrina: good Don't want your grody hands all over my stuff.......... Unless it's you baja hi!!

Baja: *waves*

Neta: I'm going to go take a nap......... Maybe have a nice hot bath first........Yeah that sounds nice.......... Nobody bother me and all y'all need to get out of my place by 6!

______________________________________________

Mahi and the gang did not leave around 6 they left around 11 but Neta didn't notice. The minute he got out of the tub he passed out @fish-at-fish-fish-resort

[hellenhighwater]

hi! I was wondering if you ever ended up publishing your pigeon article. I'm actually in the process of procrastinating writing my own note right now and found your post as I was going through my tumblr likes. would love to read it if so! :)

Unfortunately, I never got around to it--I joined international Moot Court, Mock Trial, competitive negotiation, and mediation, and just never got back around to the article publication process. Sorry!

[chiropteracupola]

got my heart right pierced by a pin!

[flintlock fortress is, as always, a collaboration with @dxppercxdxver]

[buriedinmyownfeelings]

Nothing is worse than shipping a rare pair so rare that there is literally not a single piece of media about them in this world

So if I want something I have to make it myself and no one wants that because I am unreliable even to myself

[cigaretteparfum]

anyway, go read ikoku nikki.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

thinking about how of course billions is about people trapped in eternal battle world, and trapped because they won't ever exit, and don't want to because that's the only way they can define their idea of themself or like move through life, to the degree they have to just create or find another battle if one ends or they don't have enough going on at once or they're unhappy about anything & can only respond to that the only way they'll respond to anything: finding someone to consider a target to Defeat & being like nice, i'm so competent & active as a person, so with any other issues in my life, i'm sure it's not my fault at least

and it's been clear that to be someone at the Center of the show means needing to be inflexible enough to never leave that life, which also probably means never engaging in genuine self-reflection besides like, fuming in distress for 5 sec & then immediately searching for blame for someone else, or calling up your designated moral supporter who'll tell you you're upset b/c you're very complex & sympathetic & maybe if you do [xyz] you'll be able to Keep Winning, so like, don't worry, we'll never get too off track here. you have someone like connerty who cares so much about playing by the rules ft. ethics, but he was also someone completely inflexible who would give a shit like "ha ha you broke the law" and be Defeated b/c like yeah damn you do got him in that situation. he may then have gained the flexibility to throw a punch when he's already imprisoned but he's still just gotta retire & pursue some completely different goals

this in contrast with like, what a coincidence (surely not) that the more flexible characters are the ones who also do introspect & reflect & genuinely think about & question themselves ever, & how even beyond that, being in this world of people who overwhelmingly are thee opposite & aiming for a static sense of self & thus strategy for navigating life & all interactions & situations, the more reflective parties also tend to accept both Blame & the fruitlessness of pushing for more/different/better from the people & relationships & situations they're amongst. those willing to take on responsibility at all surrounded by people casting all of it off, always, w/the former already primed to take blame & the latter primed to be looking to find the blame in anyone else, a powerful mismatch....which allows the flexible parties to also put up with shit for longer lol like if they got fed up that quickly or recognized the dead-end here they'd just leave the show lol. like wow can't believe taylor spent their whole life already stuck having to deal with someone who's so very much like these bullshit central men & those trying to emulate them, & perhaps also then have a lifetime of experience extending endless patience & sympathy with little to no expectations for more from people who put up with such a bullshit man & his effects on everything around him, like, what do you mean taylor's mom hasn't seen them b/c douglas didn't want to see them b/c he wasn't yet motivated enough to have to exercise begrudging shows of basic respect. whilest sure seems like taylor felt more concern & basically stated their responsibility re: trying to make their relationship with their dad work / basically take on the task of making his life work for him according to his sense of himself (genius! who deserves the recognition thusly!) and doesn't seem to take on this role re: their mom, who nevertheless is just presumed to move closer to them along w/douglas. and here's taylor never truly putting their foot down re: wendy, no matter what, able to have no real positive expectations in how wendy treats them or thinks of them, but also always able to extend sympathy / decent treatment themself

thinking of like team ben out here as the Nicer axe cap or mpc people who also happen to be people absorbing the L's, blaming themselves for being at the bottom of the hierarchy & being subjected to the always negative treatment doled out to them accordingly, and, winstonesquely, still generally like extending genuine gestures of amicability, efforts of constructive actual communication, etc, & this being shut down & likely punished by all the people around them who won't handle that kind of thing. that Of Course nobody's actually supported around here, like, at best they'll get some kind of "well you're actually talented & valuable :)...." (so why aren't they already treated in a way such that they're aware of this?) "....so just have more confidence already god!" wherein (a) again that just means it's Their Fault that they're having a miserable time at the hands of others & (b) their having "confidence" doesn't really mean like, an emotional buffer between their sense of self-esteem & the message of inferiority in how they're treated, it has to mean externally acting different in some ways, more like A Winner, more like everyone else. the limits of ben trying to sometimes be a buffer for tuk as that kind of friend/mentor role, where either it simply fails or ben's Help is more unilateral "correction." that generally only any increase in aggressive hostility gets them anywhere, and really not that far.

the way dollar bill could always act however he wanted & they could always clean up his messes / save him from himself / just flatout blame other people for what dollar bill did to them or someone else; success in being a mini axe in that way for sure. dollar bill going off the rails over his literal dollar bill & that's not a problem, he's validated b/c he's upset, & b/c rudy knew he'd be upset it's really all rudy's fault....who just so happens to be more of a loser, what with his glasses & possible masturbation ever and all. whilest even when dollar bill is like every season being shit at his job & life, well, just find a loser to trounce while everyone ignores this, cheers you on, takes on responsibility for fixing things for you, blames the person targeted probably. dollar bill couldn't even do in office transphobic hate crime physical attacks, or that but while yelling the r word at the autistic guy he's already harrassing & threatening, without it being really basically the target's fault, & hey, as long as no investors are watching. and we're still dragging dollar bill back to the office b/c uhhh yeah!!

& then of course there's winston, who, like a loser, says things in real efforts for real communication with others, that they winningly can only bring themselves to respond to as "he's not allowed to talk, that's out of line, i have to punish/deny this to reassert our respective status" except for, sometimes, taylor actually communicating in turn, or even simply receiving the information. winston in a duo with the very winning & worthy rian, being something of a quasirival for 5 seconds but even during then, and since, trying to be amicable to establish an actually positive dynamic, trying for actual communication, engaging flexibly & actively based on her feedback & her terms & etc to try to find some more success; versus rian completely inflexible, unwilling to respond to efforts to communicate, unwilling to have an actual relationship with any flexibility & genuineness in turn, or see winston as a person of course, and engage with real emotions. which is hardly an exclusive response of hers, like, everyone else is just the same, she's just also the one interacting with him more often and personally bullying him & standing next to him & immediately responding with clear contempt when he tries things like earnest expressions of "hey rian could you not do what you just did b/c it makes me feel like shit, probably b/c that's what you're trying to do" and "hey that was cool what you just did b/c it makes me feel like—" b/c like, what a loser. real winners cannot handle engaging with another person as a person. when you can just make up & stick to a narrative about "oh but i don't hate winston, who i feel is inherently beneath me. i wouldn't wanna feel bad about killing him, not when i could feel fine about administering more of a death by a thousand cuts with some other people helping out & hey maybe it was their cut that did it after all....but also if you're like 'pwease' then eh sure" or that winston's got a lesser inner existence anyways, some classic dehumanization, no complexity there, & hurting him isn't real, & it'd never be you in his position anyways! especially the more you're buying into "yeah i'm more of a person / more deserving / more real & sympathetic & correct than him :)" & being cheered on as you act that out. pretty cringe of winston to be earnest, flexible, openly trying & wanting & needing things, sounds bad & silly. unlike the winners around him who really cannot handle him or any of these things about him. of course near equivalent in loserness, tuk, is the person with the realest most amicable relationship with him. both of them too incompetent to realize their mutual failings in this, ha ha, real winners are repulsed & fleeing & can't handle a basic exchange with either of them. and the imbalance re: how little others are willing to give them in interest, consideration, time, words, etc, while they're always trying Too Much re: the disinterested others, totally proves their unworthiness

winston and tuk always having to stay at the bottom of the hierarchy, winston only able to be shitted on even as he extricates himself, ending up surrounded by people who will only act "correctly" according to their superior roles & this mf wags only processing anything as "did that reinforce my being a correct/winning person???" & only responding by trying to reassert to others how much of a winner they are, which requires establishing a loser, and crushing them. winston having recognized / gotten fed up with a bullshit scenario & had realistic expectations of those around them & spent those years being treated like shit yet never crushing an enemy to restore his ego & also spent those years trying to communicate and work with others and share actual info and make actual connections & now independently choosing to make a big shift in his life so that things can be different? is definitely the contemptible loser here while everyone else looks very good faffing around for an episode getting some temporary ego boosts & being very "correct" in every response to winston, even pointing out that rian even noticing something genuine & positive from winston in the absence of it anywhere is first & foremost incorrect, which rian will Also immediately drop in the face of that "well yeah it's more correct to prioritize Anything else. like that he's pathetic & mpc 5ever" like wuh oh rian being doomed from 5x08 "time to embrace acting more correct now" & being truly inflexible from that point on, never had a moment of conflict not resolved by [ignoring that] &/or again just getting someone more correct to declare how it'll be answered. taylor at their most flexible and Taylorest and most juxtaposed with central men & static ossified "winners" when they are also at their best in engaging with winston. taylor Like winston & vice versa in so many substantial & interesting ways, despite their relating to / sympathizing with / devoting much more effort & interest to people more like the central men. that here we are, when taylor might have to give up on Being A Winner, someone who'll walk away with status & resources & a seamless transition into some established business foundation, to really get the wins that matter, against pince, &/or to clock out of a sunk cost factory, &/or to not have strangled every part of themself that can be in conflict with this general situation into eternal dormancy. don't You dare blame latency lol, the taylor who gets to exist outside the conditional "well i guess you're a winner who's very useful to me, like dumping work on you & blaming you if it goes awry. and you can act like a Real winner in the ways that really matter (crushing people)"....is also a taylor who can be rejected & shut down & shut out & have their value denied & be treated shittily despite even knowing they'd be / are good at this shit, superlatively even, & could never feel okay just being regarded as a tool stashed away at someone's disposal. & Has been treated shittly & is liable to accept blame, unilateral responsibility for other's selves & feelings & actions & lives, & marinate in self-loathing. while people who refuse any introspection, questioning, responsibility, awareness, etc, & refuse to handle the least of genuine interactions/relationships with others as real people, are glad to scoff at them & dismiss them & imply or assert their superiority, like, wow have You got a lot to learn, or maybe you can't b/c you're inherently inferior. all just like re: winston!

tl;dr shoutout to the flexible characters who like can & do reflect & change things up actually, just so happening to always be Losing for this in the [only way to win is not to play] arena of fake winners seeing if they can consider themselves superior to everyone else & only even possibly correct always & forever, in the pyramid scheme of social hierarchy & also capitalism

[bambino1294]

the absolute severity of the change in my ability to work quickly post-covid is insane