#we also all know how toxic such a workplace can be and she was a woman after all so take everything with a grain of salt

[pruneunfair]

My feelings on, part 11: This isekai maid is forming a union and why it is the best otome isekai I have ever read.

SPOILERS: DO NOT READ BELOW IF YOU WANT TO READ THIS COMIC YOUSELF.

The very first canvas webtoon I've done a review on and it is one of my favorites as well 😊

This story as the name implies, is from the perspective of a maid named Bridgette who has been reincarnated multiple times but always as a maid in another OI leads story who is now looking to start a union for workers rights.

Already it has a very unique version of the typical isekai genre, instead of Bridgette dying in the real world to get into the fantasy realm of Teffrah, she is actually still alive. The Bridgette we see is actually another version of her who also possesses her memories of all the crappy otome isekai she read. A really unique aspect for an isekai.

The plot itself starts off calling out gross OI tropes for what they are such as but not limited to: Work place abuse, (Maids in OI are typically threatened and slapped to keep them in line) toxic male leads, romance involving a slave and their master, racist caricatures of POC often found in OI (POC are usually written as savages in OI) etc. This really helps set the ground not only of what makes this comic different from others of the same genre but also establishes the refreshing feeling of knowing you aren't alone when you thought these tropes were disgusting and everyone else just excused it.

But a plot can't substain itself solely on social commentary can it? Well no, it really can't unless it's a pretty short series which is why isekai maid union brings more to the table. Characters besides Bridgette have their stories, traits, backgrounds and character arcs. You got some of Bridgettes friends like Marina, whose past as a former student in a magic academy explain her possession of magic rocks and Shellie who was originally the typical cheerleader maid who gained her own personality.

World building

The world building itself is also great. The previous lives of Bridgette aren't just examples of workplace abuse, they also play a role into the present setting. Some of the most important outside of the current story being "The wicked woman delivers" and "The rain falls gently on the villainess" Two stories within the universe that I'm pretty sure we're inspired by the more problematic aspects of the popular villains are destined to die.

Wicked woman delivers explains the backstory of one of the antagonists of the comic, Phobe, a reincarnator whose ignorance evolved into total toxicity, getting her and her tyrant husband overthrown.

And The rain falls gently on the villainess straight up disses villains are destined to die for its most problematic subject: Penelope buying and abusing a slave. In this version, it was a woman named Eriadne but I swear she's inspired by Penelope. This plot point ends up playing a role into Geralt and his daughter, Nora's (a supporting character) story.

Side note: I may enjoy reading villains are destined to die but only because I'm reading from the perspective of Penelope being an awful person, she did not deserve to become an empress in the end after what she did even if Eckles was written with Stockholm syndrome. It always bugged me how the fanbase continues to baby Penelope for having a side backstory as if that justified owning another human being so seeing a popular comic actually call this out proved I wasn't just being sensitive.

Finally there's the actual use of magic in the series, in many OI, there is typically a fantasy element in the form of mages and magic that unfortunately ends up being pushed to the side in favor of romance, sometimes to the point where the book forgets about the magic aspect entirely, here, magic is not only remembered but a key ingredient to the plot, not just in the stones Marina sells to other maids but also in fast travel and of course, in gemeter. The rules of said magic can be a little hard to comprehend without reading over and over a few times but it's just something that makes me happy when the fantasy aspect of a romance fantasy is remembered.

The villains

Even the wicked nobles are given more depth outside of being evil. This comic takes the lesson of OI writing maids as evil and lazy and uses that as what not to do when writing the antagonists.

Lord Demeter is the personification of a toxic male lead with pretty privilege. He does have a background that explains his behavior but it doesn't justify him literally murdering several servants just to prove how broken he is. Several chapters are dedicated to him and a green stone-version of him affectionately nick named "Gemeter" which, while they still prove he is no good person, it's still nice to see more then just a toxic man. He's got other traits just like any human being.

Phobe is everything I despise about certain OI leads and boy does she succeed at pissing me off but there are still some sense of morals in there such as being genuinely pissed when she discovers her desert company is using inedible ingredients in the cookies. This doesn't serve to make her look good but simply to add more to her other then a purple haired Karen. She can be a bitch and still care about the integrity of her buisness.

What about the other nobles?

One complaint I hear all the time about this comic is how it supposedly makes all OI protagonists look bad by over exaggerating their willingness to slap a maid.

First of all: OI literally do the same thing by villainizing maids as people who would purposely serve you raw steak with tiny utensils.

Second of all: Thats actually not the case.

While most other non-antagobist nobles range from not caring about the staff to straight up finding them revolting, they still have chatacter development, the best example being Iseul or more commonly called by her new name as a reincarnated noble woman: Annette, who grew from being a typical maid slapping asshole to someone who felt genuine empathy for the people she hurt, now she is her own person with her own story just like everyone else.

Any critiques?

One thing all of us need to accept is that no story is absolutely perfect, there will always be flaws to be seen by someone but if anything, the only big flaw I saw in isekai maid union was that it actually takes a long time for the whole "union" to actually happen, this was admitted by the author who apologized for the wait and promised it for the final season (I think, I could be wrong) so I'm all good here.

Conclusion:

The story is phenomenal but not just because it's meta, it takes the issues we all have about problematic tropes in OI and turns them into a cohesive narrative, something that can be enjoyed by almost everyone and I'm glad it's getting so much recognition finally 😊

And for once, I'm glad to actually make something more positive for once after a little while.

[ginnyruin]

i'm sorry but the nurchie "art" is clearly AI generated??? can we please stop sharing and praising shit that some algorithm spat out without ever asking the original creators whose work it steals and regurgitates for their permission

- sincerely, a pissed-off artist

Hello,

I’m going to set the record straight, and I’d suggest you read carefully before making any more baseless accusations. Nurchie is an actual artist—a trained one, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in digital art and two-dimensional studies (drawing and painting) from a prestigious university. She has 16 years of professional design/digital art experience, and a publicly documented portfolio going back well before AI art even existed.

go look at her earliest work on Deviantart and you'll see how precisely detailed she draws hands, fingers, and clothing. Everything, really.

If you had bothered to do any homework, you’d see that her work reflects thousands of hours of dedicated practice and the expertise of a seasoned digital artist.

Calling her work AI generated is BEYOND insulting. it’s lazy, dismissive, and downright disrespectful to a person who has spent years honing her craft.

She doesn’t ask for clout, she doesn’t do commissions, she doesn't have a patreon or Kofi. She only made a Twitter years ago because I asked her to share her talent with the world or she wouldn't even bother.

This tendency to label any polished work as “AI” just shows ignorance, plain and simple. Real artists deserve better than to have their skills lumped in with AI machine-generated content by people who can’t tell the difference.

Each of her digital paintings takes anywhere from 30-80+ hours. For Altered State specifically, she's been working on all these art pieces for months while I've been on a posting hiatus. Her incredible work keeps me inspired; I would have literally quit ages ago. We go back and forth on details from the writing in the fic and I see these changes she makes in real time.

She paints in her limited free time for these niche fandoms because she loves the stories and wants to support the writers in it. In a world where fandom is becoming increasingly commodified, she is a rare gem.

I didn't even want to bother Nurchie with this silly comment of yours, but she's such a good sport she just laughed at the idea that anyone could accuse her art of being AI generated. She uses a combo of adobe CC suite and clip studio to draw.

nurchie messaged me this, and I asked for her permission to share it: [I just think they are probably some struggling artist, upset that they feel replaced by soulless AI and are lashing out any time they think they see it. I'm sympathetic to their feelings, and understand the annoyance. I've been battling the improper usage of it in my workplace. AI is not AI but just a data collection tool, and I completely agree that the human eye could never be replaced by it.]

yeah, she's the most chill, sweetest person ever, too. So maybe think twice before throwing around accusations you clearly can’t back up. You're trying to hurt a real artist.

-sincerely,

A writer who knows a real artist

https://www.deviantart.com/nurchie/gallery

edit: also accusations like this drive away real fanartists. Why should they bother sharing their work if their talent and skill are being dismissed as some algorithm's output? it's toxic. fandom spaces will be flooded with AI-generated content in the future because all the true artists will have left.

[yannaryartside]

Shapiro’s angle

I don't think this guy is bad news, or a bad guy per se.

I think he is just an opportunist. And I think he is doing this mostly for himself.

I may be wrong, but for me, the most on-the-nose foreshadowing about Shapiro was Luca telling him:

"Are you getting your sticky fingers on everything again?"

This was right before he asked to talk to Sydney (about the partnership) at Ever's funeral. It was definitely a sign.

Now, it could be a warning about his bad intentions; sticky fingers could be related to wanting to trap someone and never let them go. Maybe Syd should have Pete revise that new partnership agreement.

Mostly, I have a hard time thinking Andrea Terry would have a CDC that was actually toxic or damaging; his true colors would have shown at some point, and she would have known. Maybe that's me being optimistic. Maybe he would show his actual colors when he doesn't have to answer to anybody. Luca hasn't seemed to get awful vibes from him, either.

FINGERPRINTS OF LEGACY

But I associate the sticky fingers comment more with Shapiro wanting to get a "fingerprint" on Sydney. The way a fingerprint may alter the presentation of a fine ceramic plate. Is about marking it as yours, it was in your hands.

Shapiro may think that he has gotten as good as he can get on his own merit, he said he would have stayed with Andrea forever if she hadn't closed Ever, which is a remark on his lack of ambition as a cdc. I think he may be a chef who (also, as he said) is tired of the all-day cooking job, but he still wants to get some glory under his name without all the work. Proteges are a good way to do that.

The only thing about Sydney he knows that could indicate her potential (besides her cooking, which he only tested once) is that she works for Carmen. Carmen has been awarded the best in the world, and the fact that he sees something in Sydney may be enough for Shapiro to bet on her (and a huge bet, considering how much freedom he promised her). Now, what kind of mentor would he be? I would like to think he will try to be Andrea and see where it gets him.

He may have seen the bear's kitchen's obvious lack of functionality and seen it as an opportunity to steal Carmy's best asset from him while she is still unknown by the industry. She could become more expensive to get in the future if she gets a name under Carmen. Shapiro has better chances to get her now. He may even say in the future that he was the only one capable of forming her like a chef while Carmy didn't.

So yeah, he is making a bet on an unknown asset with the hope that it will pay off later since Carmys is not looking. We don't know much about his character besides the fact that at Ever, everyone was cool with him.

I DON'T WANT SYDNEY TO FAIL OR GET SCREWED

Besides how much I care for her—I know it sounds obvious—I don't think it would be a good narrative for the show either way.

Because she has survived Carmy, that has been horrible, but in terms of women in the workplace, at least she doesn't have to worry about being exploited (or other horrible things that we know could happen in these spaces) because Carmy cares about her well-being, the same as the rest of the family.

So, if she hypothetically goes with Shapiro because her voice is being drowned under Carmy's madness, and then Shapiro screws her over, and Carmy has to rescue her.

I am sorry, fuck that.

Because what is the lesson on that? Women should stick around toxic behavior, being grateful that at least they are not taken advantage of? Better the devil you know than the one you don't? Sydney is very capable, and you will punish her for believing in herself?

image by @gingergofastboatsmojito

[baldval]

idk if u like writing him so if u don’t feel free to ignore!! but picture this, adam with a higher up reader with high authority that kinda acts like beelzebub?? like adam sees them for the first time and expects them to be all wholesome and kind but she’s actually just a hardcore party gal! which kinda matches his frat boy persona too🌚 and maybe she even resembles bee a bit? UP TO U! i just love ur writing and thought of this

-🎞️ anon

ALTITUDE!₊˚⊹♡

characters: adam x gn!reader

wc: 1.9k

warnings: cursing, mentions of one night stands

A/N: i'm sorry if i failed you in the whole party-fun!reader aspect i just went on a different direction and when i realised i like this a bit too much. hope you like it too anon!!!!! 🫶

You weren’t ever too sure about Adam. He just seemed a bit problematic, loud, interruptive, and he never took things seriously. Not that you were the chillest person on heaven, quite the opposite, but still, there was something about Adam that threw you off. You felt like that was all a faced. You knew that, when he wanted to, he could be kind, and was actually very enthusiastic regarding his job at heaven. Not that he would ever knowingly admit it. So when Sera partnered you two for a, quite important job, you didn’t know what to expect, or how to feel. At first you thought he might try to run the shop by not letting you contribute any of your ideas. He thought you were a tightass that would try to make everything boring (exactly what he said to Lute).

However, both of you were surprised once time went on, and you got to know each-other better. He realised you were actually quite fun, he might even say careless. He found himself in shock, and partially offended, when he realised you actually hosted parties every few weeks. You found out that he was deeply misunderstood. And actually really cute and charming. And you also promised to invite him to your next party, once you had finished the long task Sera had appointed you.

"Adam? Will you read that to me again?" You sat cross legged on the carpeted floor of Adam’s basement, chewing on the end of your click pen. Adam was too busy trying (and failing) to get basketballs on a net at the top of his wall to notice you’d called out to him. Dropping the pencil down on your notebook, you let out a frustrated sigh, standing to get his attention.

"Adam!"

Startled, he stopped short, turning towards you with his eyes wide in surprise.

"Yeah? You alright?" He asked, putting down the basketball and appearing in front of you.

"Yes Adam, I just wanted to get this part done," you explained, rolling your eyes in annoyance. “Besides, why do I have to work? I would also love to be able to play with that fucking basketball." It wasn't that Adam didn't work, he just got distracted easily.

"Ha! As if you could play." You felt deeply offended even though you knew you did NOT know how to play basketball.

"Wow. Just wow. I thought you would've known about my years in the angel's basketball team. I used to be one of the bests." You lied, trying to defend your dignity.

"As if! I was on the angel's basketball team. Never saw you there." "It must've been waaaay before you got in. I've been here for longer, you know."

"Alright then, prove it."

"Prove what?"

"Prove you can play." He handed you the ball and you held it.

"I'm a bit rusty." You smiled at him as you saw him grin. He could see right through you and your lies, what he didn't figure out was that you could also see right through him. So instead of shooting towards the net, you hit Adam with the basketball right on top of his head. Watching it bounce on it only to later hit the floor.

"Ouch! What the fuck was that for?" he ran his hand through his hair.

"Get to work or I'll hit you again."

"Hey! That's toxic workplace behaviour, I'm gonna have to report you now." You groaned in annoyance. "What will it take for you to work on this with me for an hour? Do we have to make a deal?" You joke with a light chuckle. Adam jumped at the opportunity to compromise, knowing that he could work if he really wanted to, and that the deal would then be in his favour.

"A deal hey?" He asks, resting his chin in his hands, looking up at you with sparkling eyes.

"Yes, whatever you want for 1 hour of your precious time," you scoff, picking up your pen again to work. As a higher ranking angel, you knew better than to be stubborn. You didn't mind having to sacrifice a little something. Besides, the end was in sight, meaning you wouldn’t have to deal with him for much longer - however, you struggled to admit to yourself that it would actually make you sad not hanging out with Adam as much as you were right now, worrying you would go back to the stranger treatment you had with each other before.

"I’m not gonna tell you until the hour is up," Adam teases, retrieving a book full of sinners' names for your work from the couch and opening it to a dog-eared page.

"Okay read it again for me, and this time slowly," you emphasise on the word “slowly”, watching him let out a small laugh, shifting on the floor to get comfortable.

"Okay, ready?"

"Yes, Adam."

"Okay," Adam takes a deep breath before beginning, you’re skimming over your notes, making sure all of them make sense. Adam tries to memorise some of the names before you write them, wanting rather to watch you work than have his eyes glued to the book.

Adam rests his hands in his lap, noticing the way your lips part and your tongue juts out only slightly when you concentrate. He notices you fiddling with the edge of your notebook, your fingertips grazing the spiral as it winds to bound the book. He notices how effortlessly pretty you are, and how committed you’ve been to this assignment. He thought it was so funny that you were so oblivious to his blatant staring. He suddenly lets out the breath he didn’t notice he was holding in.

"Adam?" You ask, the same annoyance bubbling inside you from when he didn’t pay attention before.

"Right," Adam shakes his head from his thoughts and returns to reciting the book.

You hadn’t noticed you’d leaned slightly into Adam, your shoulders brushing. Adam suddenly feels warm, his shoulder tingling where you were touching him. His heartbeat hammered in his ears as he licked his lips, readying himself to read the next part.

He thought of how cunning his side of the deal was, and how much more tempting it got the longer you touched him. It was a gamble, but it was one he was willing to take.

Adam rested his hand on his thigh, inching his fingers closer to your joined knees.

You look up at him, finally noticing how close the two of you had gotten, but doing nothing about the close proximity. Something felt different, the air was harder to breathe, and your stomach felt like it was housed by a million butterflies. His eyes shun as they looked into yours, your faces inching closer and closer.

Adam finished reading and silence filled the room, accompanied by the small pants of your breathing, you pulled your body away, sitting up straighter and looking more alert.

"Good reading Adam," you let out a small cough to cover the awkwardness that had just washed over you. Fuck, you were so close to kissing him, and you didn’t know why. You scowled at yourself for being so cliche, and put down your notebook. Adam bit his lip in a smile as your cheeks blushed red because he knew you’d felt that too.

"Okay, deal time?"

You know you asked for an hour, but a break right now didn’t seem so bad.

"Okay," you say, as he scoots his bottom across the floor to face you.

"One kiss," he says finally, your jaw swinging open in shock. A kiss? Was he serious? Did you hear that right?

"A kiss?" You repeat, chuckling. At first you thought it was a prank - classic Adam. However, his face was dead serious, as serious as you had ever seen him. You hadn’t read that Adam felt anything for you, the same way you hid having a big fat crush on him by being sort of mean.

"Come on, you know you want to." He teases suddenly changing his behaviour and body language as he realised he had been perhaps a bit too vulnerable for his liking. But you has already seen him. You knew his true intentions when he asked that and you knew they matched what you wantes, so why weren't you kissing him?

Your lips form a tight straight line as you contemplate your choices. Give up the tough guy act now and cave to your feelings, or don’t. It was like Adam was giving you the perfect opportunity to do what you always thought of doing.

"Okay, only one," you narrow your eyes at him as he gives you a curt nod.

“Of course, whatever the lady wants,” he sends a wink on your direction and you can't help blushing as you try to hide the redness with a laugh.

You lean forward, securing a small kiss on his cheek, almost too close to the corner of his mouth as it curled into a small smile. Your lips linger there for a moment, before you pull away, just slightly, your face still so close to Adam’s. You contemplate whether you should just go for it. But before you could decide what you wanted to do, Adam does it for you, connecting your lips in a soft, passionate kiss.

It takes you aback, but you compose yourself quickly, cupping his cheeks in your hands, as his secure to your hips. He pulls you closer, until you’re practically in his lap, straddling his hips with your thighs. His tongue prods at your lower lip, and without another thought, you open your mouth, letting his tongue explore where no one else has. The feeling was magical, and after all those nights you lay awake thinking of this moment, it finally came in full force.

You had to pull away with a gasp when Adam’s hand started to cup your bare ass under your shorts, your hands resting comfortably on his shoulders as you stared at each other.

"Fuck I’m sorry- I shouldn’t have-"

"No! It’s fine, I just, I... I kinda like you? Adam... And I mean, I don't care if you want to just fuck or whatever. But... I guess I just don't want that." you let out a nervous laugh, wanting so badly to crawl into a hole and die from your confession. "It's not you! Well, I guess it is you? I don't mind one-night stands, I just..." Adam interrupts you by letting a small laugh, the back of his hand coming up to caress your cheek.

"I get why you assumed that. I mean, I am THE Adam, THE original dick, why would I settle down?" You roll your eyes at his cockiness and his expression softens. "But I do like you. I like you just in the way that you said it, truly."

"Really?" You ask him, your voice only just louder than a whisper.

"Yeah! I mean- you’re so smart and pretty, and we’ve spent a lot of time together, I’ve enjoyed getting to know you, wouldn't mind getting to know you better. The whole of you" he moves his hand towards your waist.

���I’ve felt the same way,” you reply, pulling Adam in for a hug, resting your head in the crook of his neck. He holds you close, before you sit back down on the floor across from him.

“So… you think I’m pretty?” He asks, shooting you a cheeky wink. You roll your eyes again, letting out a small laugh.

[thepoparena]

Thoughts on "Quiet on Set"

I imagine, being one of Youtube’s “Nickelodeon Content Creators”, you want to know what I thought. QUIET ON SET, the new four-part documentary detailing inappropriate behavior and abuse on the set of Dan Schneider’s various Nickelodeon shows, starts off on its worst foot, with all the earmarks of trashy tabloid journalism. A couple of gossip journalists walk us through events and interject how you’re supposed to feel about them. There’s one moment where Leon Frierson, former ALL THAT cast member, talks about how uncomfortable some of the costuming made him, about how the noses on a nose-themed superhero costume has some unfortunate phallic resemblances, and then we cut to a writer from Buzzfeed going “and then the sneeze gag is basically a cum shot joke!” Frierson never says that. In a later episode, a similar comparison is made to a gag on ZOEY 101, but there it’s actress Alexa Nikolas making that connection from the workplace environment she had found herself in. It’s an authentic observation, where in the earlier example it was outsider sensationalization, playing to the “crusaders” on Twitter and Tiktok where the public side of Schneider drama has mostly lived over the past decade. They bring on Marc Summers, Nickelodeon elder statesman who had virtually no presence in this era of the channel, for all of twelve seconds so that he can watch a clip of a Schneider show and go “oh, wow, they aired that?”

You can imagine how the producers' eyes must have lit up when they learned that Brian Peck, former Nick dialogue coach and convicted sex offender, owned a John Wayne Gacy painting. I mean, yeah, that’s fucked up, but it has virtually nothing to do with anything. It is, however, a perfect “can you believe this” moment that can be clipped and shared on social media for shock value. It’s something that the documentary can ride as a viral moment.

QUIET ON SET was produced for Investigation Discovery, whose bread and butter is schlocky true crime documentaries. Shows like EVIL LIVES HERE and WHO THE (BLEEP) DID I MARRY. Not exactly tasteful television. The channel is owned by Warner Bros Discovery, and was simultaneously released on Max. Warner Bros Discovery owns Cartoon Network. The documentary puts emphasis on Nickelodeon being on the top of the children’s cable game, and often brings up the Disney Channel as Nick’s main competitor. At no point is Cartoon Network mentioned, because, well, nobody wants to say their competitor is doing better than them, and saying you’re doing better than Nickelodeon would defeat the documentary’s narrative. My point is that I do not believe QUIET ON SET comes from a genuine place. It’s cheap schlock shock documentary filmmaking that wants to attract the same crowd who watch serial killer shows for fun. However. It’s also a space where a lot of people who were hurt during this time at Nickelodeon have come forward to tell their stories, and that pretty much nullifies all the gross exploitation elements present in the early parts. When these people start speaking for themselves, the documentary has no choice but to let them speak, and its more garbage instincts fade away. By the time Drake Bell starts telling his story, the gossip journalists all but vanish until the end, and there’s a stronger sensitivity to everything. The topics raised are harrowing. Workplace discrimination, sexual harassment, child abuse, sexism on set, racism on set, and general mispractice paint a meaningful picture of the toxic environment Nickelodeon was allowing at this time. The stories told by AMANDA SHOW writers Christy Stratton and Jenny Kilgen are infuriating. And then the sexual assault of Drake Bell by Brian Peck. Not an easy watch. It shouldn’t be an easy watch. What a fucking awful thing. It’s heartbreaking to watch. The documentary handles it with an unexpected tact and evenhandedness. It doesn’t excuse Bell’s later behaviors, and it allows Schneider to come off as one of the few adults who handled the situation correctly, even if the rest of the documentary is largely against him. I wish this had been the tone of the entire piece. QUIET ON SET is an important document of a terrible entertainment workplace. It’s a shame they dumped a bunch of trash on top of it. It’s not an easy watch, but it’s one of those things that’s going to be referenced to a lot over the years, and I hope that the people who make children’s television were learn the right lessons from it.

[cherryblossomchronicles]

The revelation of Seok-Ryu's past was a gut-wrenching blow.

Going from the high of deciding to spend the rest of your life with your partner to realizing you might not even have the time for that must have been devastating for her. But then choosing to not tell your best friend about it, your family? It would have totally crushed her to go through all of that alone and put a strong front for them.

“It’s okay Seok-Ryu, it’s not a big deal.

I’ll get better. I’ll tell them after I get better.

It’s not a big deal, its nothing.”

As an elder daughter, Seok-Ryu had internalized the societal expectation that she should be the pillar of strength for her family. This pressure to always be "okay" had become so ingrained in her that she felt compelled to hide her struggles. Her reassurances to herself that "it's not a big deal" were a desperate attempt to maintain a facade of normalcy.

This is such a consistent thing with elder daughters in a family. We must have it all planned, we must be able to solve everything, survive anything that we prefer to tell anyone about our problems when we have already solved them. This habit becomes so ingrained in us that we stop telling people even about the things that we should.

“I’m going to worry about a recurrence next year and the year after that.

Even if I remain in complete remission for five years, I won’t be completely free.

I’ll always be near death’s door. I am going to feel a little anxious and sad.

That’s how my life’s going to be.”

This is the life of a cancer survivor. Even if you’ve risen triumphant from the battle, war is not yet done – rather your entire life is now a war. You can’t rest it easy. Stress, anxiety and fear will constantly dog your steps and make a home in your routine. This is what Seok-Ryu’s reality look like with her mental health taking a steep nosedive due to her physical health. She had to let go of so many aspects of her life to deal with her new reality. All this while she was also dealing with her slowly crumbling relationship with Hyeon-Jun.

When she could finally let go of that threads tying her back to the toxic part of her life and decided to come home, she realized there is another battle that she must face – lying to everyone she loves day-in and day-out. And she did, pretended that everything is fine, that things didn’t work out for her, that she had burnout – that she came back due to workplace harassment. Everything was acceptable but the truth. That little nugget was something that no one could know about. For all the problems, scorns and disappointment that she had to face and go through, the reality of the hellscape her life turned to was known only to her and she was happy in that escape. Even if she had to pretend, make herself sick, avoid the situations and deny herself the things she wants, if she could believe that everything is back to normal for few moments – all of it would be worth it.

“That’s why I don’t need love anymore.

The stomach I have left can barely handle digesting my dream.”

In all this, one thing that made me immensely sad was her decision that she and her situation is the problem. What happened with Hyeon-Jun made her think that no relationship would be able to survive the stress that comes as a complimentary gift of being with her. And she? She swore off it. Everything is acceptable in her books, everything, but ruining her friendship with Choisseung.

She knows he likes her, she also remembered that she liked him first, in their past but she would rather be selfish and keep Seung-Hyo in her life as her friend. At least with it comes a guarantee that even if he gets angry, mad or furious with her, it’s all temporary. That their friendship is made of sterner stuff to crumble under this pressure. She can’t say the same about relationship and repeating the slow death of a relationship like the way she experienced is the last thing she wants to do. Especially when the person in question is someone, she holds very dear.

Having decided upon the truth about being with her, she went ahead to turn him down as gently as she could, crushing any hope while also trying to preserve as much of their friendship as she could.

Seok-Ryu wants. She wants to be happy. She wants to not have to worry. She wants to cook for a living. She wants to see her parents happy. She wants to see Seung-Hyo successful. But more than that – she wants to keep seeing that smile on his face and she knows being with her is the fastest way to lose it.

[buckevantommy]

S8 bugs me so much because the way we went into it was so promising with so many interesting threads to pull and then... Gaah! Nothing has been handled well. How tf has TM managed to make it to the position he's at? He's so bloody useless! 911 could have been a really good show in more capable hands and I think that's what frustrates me the most, all the waste. 😭😭 The cast, the crew and the show itself deserve so much better!

Piss off to Nashville Tim, I beg of you!

truly!! there was so much to dig our teeth into, but then..

i know people enjoyed the planemergency, but imho it was wasted on guest characters and should've featured more of the 118 and their resident pilot ofc. the black book, gerrard, and ortiz were all done away with in a snap, and suddenly we had to deal with fanboy gerrard and all the brad bs?? likeWHAT??!! they traded some delicious workplace angst for THAT SHIT??!! throw in some nonsensical abby*tommy where the only link is a first fucking name, terrible advice to buck all around, and ofc follow that up with the commencement of everyone treating buck like a baby who doesn't know his own heart/mind for the rest of the season, then cap it off with turning his grief and attempts to help into attacks, blame games, and guilt-tripping (when he tries to distance himself from the toxic(written) people around him). and WHERE was tommy?? no interactions with his old pal howie?? barely any screentime for buck's boyfriend?? we all know how much screentime and individual plot taylor got - if tommy doesn't get that in s9 is2fg..

and that's not even touching on eddie's near-pointless texas sojourn and horrible treatment of buck. or maddie's non-existence as an independant character, she's just a house-zoned mom, suddenly terrible advice giver, and abuse victim who can't escape bc the plot apparently needs some rando to violate her for shock value. even hen and chim - who have long been entertaining as well as a good dynamic for difficult conversations - had too many of their scenes fumbled or just not exist.

but ALSO: the ensemble show has had its cast separated with little to no crossover in friendships and dynamics which not only makes the characters feel disconnected from each other but sever the audience from that beloved group dyanmic as well as the varied character dynamics. this season seemed to be all about plot twists - nearly every fucking ep had a plot twist, each one dumber than the last, like tim was trying to do something we wouldn't guess instead of, y'know, writing a comprehensible narrative for an enjoyable viewing experience - bc WE DON'T CARE if we guess what happens!! that means the story makes sense and we can journey with it!! what we DON'T WANT are plot twists done for shock value, like hell no - gimme character studies and nuanced fucking drama with technically interesting first responder incidents where the team does their thing!! gimme found family vibes, not: i feel sorry for these ppl being stuck working in that toxic environment vibes.

*HEAVY FUCKING SIGH..* 😤😩🙄😒

..rant over.

on a bright note: ravi's return and main team inclusion and budding friendship with buck was *chef's kiss* he's such a welcome breath of fresh air to the team and the show in general, y'know? this ensemble show needs to respect and keep more of their developed characters.

idk what the fuck happened in the creative team this season but it was a MESS. tim fumbled and torpedoed multiple characterisations, storylines, and plot. like. is he okay??? wtf??? now i'm thinking how wonderful it would be if he fucked off to nashville and let s9 be written/run by someone(s) else. i'll take anyone at this point tbh bc i don't want a repeat of that fucking dog's breakfast of a season.

s9 wishlist: ravi mainstay, buck in his own place AND transferring or taking some time off AND ravi/others friendship, bucktommy friends then love for the longrun, maddie gets to be a character again, captain/chief hen, tommy individual storyline, howie grief counselling, gerrard dies offscreen and no one goes to the funeral, ortiz return for vengeance(?), brad dies offscreen - only seen on the front of a newspaper in passing, may and harry living with athena(?), FIX EDDIE like idk - make him a medic and keep ravi as buck's partner and make eddie not be a dick, and improve josh's involvement bc he was annoying af and pointless in s8.

+ bonus: return of sal deluca - captain of elsewhere and friend of tommy, return of lucy - tommy's friend and coworker, and other first responder guest characters we see for more than 2 seconds.

[ceasarslegion]

U have taken so much shit, what made u snap??

(is there backstory?)

There is so much backstory that I don't have the time to get into it all. I'll just bullet point the important things to know:

-this airport is a shithole

-no, it's like a SHITHOLE. Like, we have a BAD reputation wrt a toxic work environment. We're known to have the worst, most high school mean girls-coded, bitchy, toxic, cliquey workplace in the entire North American aviation security sector. If you want to see a room of grown ass adults acting like middle schoolers, apply here!

-to make matters worse, we also have the most insane levels of oversight of ANY airport in NA. I can't even laugh at something one of my work friends says without 5 CATSA goons descending upon my ass to slap me with disciplinary action for "unprofessional conduct." That's isn't an exaggeration, that has happened to me. We also aren't allowed to have water because it's "unprofessional," we aren't allowed to sit when we aren't dealing with passengers, and we have to put our hands up and ask permission to use the washroom like we're in kindergarten. And then they make us clock in to take a shit so they can discipline us if we take too long.

-our union doesn't give a shit about us. They let the company walk all over the rest of us as long as their personal friends get all the specialest boy perks. The moment the reps got their homes and retirement paid they told the rest of us to go fuck ourselves. They dont fight for better pay, they dont listen to anybody unless theyve been there for 20 years, they dont care if we get fired. They couldn't even get my birthday right on my health insurance card and no amount of emails will get them to fix it, so I'm paying 75 bucks a month for jack fucking shit. I would opt out of this piss poor excuse for a union if I could

-they treat seniority like a cult. I am also not throwing that word around. I have run their behavior around seniority through the BITE model and gotten 3/4ths of the boxes checked off. Never in my life have I been in a workplace that so incredibly obsesses over their seniority to the point where being number 7 on the list means you can pick and choose what you want to do, and decide to sit on your ass and do nothing all day. I've watched officer number 7 throw a disgustingly massive temper tantrum because she was told to do her fucking job when she wanted to go sit on her ass all day instead, and then she accused them of being racist to her because she was white. I wish I was making that up, its horrifically embarrassing.

-they let people get away with MURDER if they throw big enough tantrums. Pitching fits and screaming and stomping your feet will make management do anything you ask them to. And those of us who act like the fucking adults we are? That's seen as weakness, we're seen as people they can walk all over, because we don't cry and scream and stomp our feet like toddlers.

-its so incredibly toxic here that it turns people bitter and angry, because in order to survive, you have to he just as toxic.

So with that out of the way, let's get into the bullshit of the week:

The afternoon shift supervisor for the US checkpoint has, for the last week, sent me to the international checkpoint every. Single. Fucking. Day. When I am SCHEDULED THERE. And has refused to bring me back.

Every. Single. Day. She has pulled people from the other checkpoints. Who WERE NOT SCHEDULED. Her excuse? Nothing. Other than "well they have more seniority than you"

That doesn't matter. If someone is scheduled there, that takes precedent over how many more hours they have over me.

I've had a bad week man. I've been spat at, sworn at, called a fascist tool of the state by passengers, and had to deal with the most entitled motherfuckers on the planet that I work with. I've had my neck breathed down by management. I've been documented for "not using the right hand to pat down their back." All because she won't keep me where I'm scheduled.

So today, I decided that if the only thing they listen to is fit pitching, then I would pitch a fit.

And i let her HAVE IT when she sent me the other checkpoint, and then I saw her pulling other officers. I stormed right over and asked if they were scheduled, they all said no. So I turned on her and raised my voice and demanded to know why she was treating me like shit all week, why she was targeting me by disrespecting my scheduling, my certifications, AND MY SENIORITY IN A WORKPLACE THAT TREATS YOUR SENIORITY LIKE A CULT (BECAUSE THE ONES SHE PULLED WERE LOWER THAN ME, THE FUCKING HYPOCRITE). I let her have it for a good 5 straight minutes in front of everybody, pointing out that the only time anybody is treated like a human fucking being in this shithole of an airport is when they throw a huge public fucking tantrum about it and pointed out that if all they care about is their image then they should start caring about all the goddamn middle school level shit they feed into and then ignore.

Whole time she just gave me meek little "i understand your concerns" and "im sorry you feel that way"s. Jesus christ, grow a fucking backbone if you're going to dish it out like that. Then she told me to take my break to calm down.

And then I came back and they made every single effort under the sun to put me in every position where we get the most abuse and deal with the most shit until I went home. And stuck 2 supervisors on my ass to breathe down my neck until I clocked out.

This is the same supervisor who loudly announced my deadname to every officer present when I told her to stop, and then treated it like a joke and kept repeating it. So I don't feel bad about how much I humiliated her and I hope she learns real quick that just because I'm quiet and professional and will do what I'm told doesn't mean she gets to disrespect me.

[fromtenthousandfeet]

https://www.tumblr.com/fromtenthousandfeet/766065012296056833/so-basically-what-im-getting-is-that-hybe-and?source=share

You know I've worked under a CEO who had a massive ego. With men like that and companies that have a culture like that, you'll see that ultimately decisions will be based on the CEOs "gut instincts". I'd bring up data driven proposals based on market research and argue for initiatives I believed in because I naively thought my success = company profits from my proposals. I quickly realised that nope, people who showed worse results than me got shifted to better projects because they were massaging the CEOs ego better. You'd have treat his ego like a delicate baby bird egg and make him think what you want is his decision. This is a dynamic in a lot of places but it's esp strong in asian workplaces and being a woman also unfortunately makes a difference. I admit instead of sticking by my principles, I adopted a similar approach and immediately started getting more acclaim for my work even though imo it was actually worse than before. I ultimately got tired of all of it and moved to an mnc where things are less about catering to one man.

Anyway this long rant was just to say, you'd think that in the face of overwhelming evidence that they're not backing a strong solo talent like Jimin enough, this dumbass music label would course correct and fix their mistakes. This is why so many pjms think Jimin's not continuing with hybe. But I'm gonna say men like bang si hyuk who probably solely credits himself as the brains behind the success of BTS more than any member and think their thoughts are always right, would rather double down than admit they made a mistake and did not identify Jimin's solo talent correctly.

Of course I don't have any inside scoop on Hybe and perhaps I'm projecting too much of my personal experience here but as much as I don't like MHJ, I can identify with that aspect of her complaints which were obvious from the messages she exposed that she exchanged with BSH. Or that post by the Hybe employee you shared who talked about getting pushed out of the company. Hell even the myriad controversies that keep getting exposed about Hybe employees bitching about their artists on forums, getting exposed for insider trading, potentially being on DC gallery and selling info to ssngs, the cloying nature of that internal report, embezzlement scandals etc - I know they're a big corporation but it is not normal to have so many issues in such a short period of time. It's a symptom of a toxic workplace where things are festering under the surface.

A bunch of misogynistic, old Korean men decided to back JK and his bad boy aesthetic instead of Jimin whose appeal is more soft and unisex - it's not surprising right? We talk about how men look down on kpop esp boy groups because their fanbase is primarily women, and we talk at length about how sea countries have a higher tendency to shun Jimin because of some internalised homophobia (wild considering we don't know anything about his romantic life) - but these are the same type of people who are in charge of orgs like Hybe. Of course their asses don't back him or see his potential. Also why they're struggling so hard to break into western markets. They cannot see beyond their own twisted ideas of what makes a successful artist - esp a male solo artist

Truly I think they personally don't see his appeal or like his music and they think that means he can't make it even though at this point it's becoming kind of obvious he's perhaps the most popular member in the US and latam. And damn with who, he's doing amazing in Russia, Europe and India too. Will they get their heads out of their asses and give him the promo he deserves? I really don't know. I don't think he's parted ways with Hybe like some pjms so unless he plans to in the future, I can only hope they're eventually forced to see the light.

PS I'm from a sea country, currently working in the middle east so I don't bring up Asian work culture or sea / asian countries to be derogatory but from personal experience. Also sorry about how long this got!

Thank you to the anon who sent this to me so long ago (in response to the weekly industry trends leak). I've been waiting for the right time to share this and today feels like the day with the announcement of the new BigHit CEO announcement.

I saw the most amazing comment from a KPJM today - only pigs survive in pigsties. Maybe the new CEO will be great and a much needed fresh start, but it's also possible that she's held on for so long in the company because she's willing to do what's necessary to keep her job and move up the ladder. We shall see. I'm staying neutral for now.

Thank you for sharing your personal experience and your insights.

[pseudowho]

genuinely asking to arm myself better in the future: how would you respond to coworkers/strangers who feel entitled to comment on your appearance?

i had a coworker tell me the other day i look very pale in front of everyone on my team and in response i just asked, “really? i look pale?”. she then said “you look like you just got out of bed” & so i said “oh wouldn’t you know it i woke up the same time today just like yesterday” and just felt absolutely silly. i wish i had a better comeback.

+ another coworker felt it was necessary to send me a slack message complete with a video attached of how he thinks that i “should do my hair like that”. i didn’t reply to the message but i’m honestly just tired.

extra credit for men in my workplace who apparently talk about how i dress & objectify my body so much so someone who worked in a different branch approached my manager abt it, who then proceeded to tell me that my pants were too tight and that i was violating the dress code. my manager proceeded to make the joke that “well maybe you just grab their attention. can’t blame them for looking.”

maybe i should just quit my job since this all happened within the span of one week. anyone hiring for a tech role? or any recommendations for a better industry to work in? will be taking notes because i hate how much emotional energy these interactions take out of me

Be bold. Be confrontational. Be brave.

People who pass unwanted comments on other peoples' appearance 100% rely on societal constraints and the fear of embarrassment preventing people from calling them out. These people say snide, backhanded little insults, poorly masquerading as concerns, which are easy for them to backpedal into if you show any offence, or make you look like you're overreacting if you show offense.

If you roll over once, or twice, or three times, people will cotton on; you can be walked over, too! Let's change that, shall we?

I say: fuck you societal constraints! Let us embarrass the rude, as follows (all said in a beautiful, light-hearted, "they'd look like a piece of shit if they argued with you" tone):

"Oh, that's not very nice. I was raised to believe that commenting on someone's appearance is rude. Were you not?

"Maybe YOU should do your hair like that!"

"I'm quite happy with how I look. Are you not happy with how you look, and just projecting on me?"

"Why are you looking at my pants and not my work? Have you got a copy of the uniform policy please? Can you explain to me how these pants are indecent? Oh, I see. So you just see the female form as indecent? Can we clarify with HR and perhaps some legal representation?"

"Unrelated, but do you have any policies on sexual harassment in the workplace?"

Also on what planet is 'pants too tight' violating a dress code? Sounds like the female form being hypersexualised again, doesn't it?

How dare you be woman have shape make man feel sexy thing be inppropriate make peepee feel strange make think violent thinks!

But fundamentally: If you're in a toxic work environment where they value nasty little appearance criteria over competence, however, and no amount of standing up for yourself changes it, I'd get the hell out of dodge, honestly.

Love,

-- I Swear To God, One Day I Will Start Stabbing And Just Won't Stop xxx

[justanotherpersonsuniverse]

Holy shit I’m a week late to a new chapter how did i manage this

Oh my god i’m so hype

Holy shit

Cap

Omg

I fell behind on my thorough reread cause college, actually experiencing romance of a sort, choosing tattoos and all that so i sincerely apologise but you must know; as soon as i saw this new chapter i started writing this

Obviously, i can’t just jump into the new chapters i have to familiarise myself with the latest one so it’s a smooth transition. Not that i’ve forgotten shit, god knows i’ve read it too many times to do that, but i do this for all things with gaps between updates

Deary me i’ve missed your writing… instagram reels have been rotting my brain

Just a note; juleka saying “we’re very alike. I like that about you.” in chapter 74 is sooo… toxic yuri ladynoire my beloved is that you? I can hear it.

I always adore how juleka thinks in fights, especially when she recalls stuff someone has said like her mum

16 THOUSAND WORD CHAPTER?? OH MY GOD

HERE YE HERE YE BEWARE FOR SPOILERS OF PN CHAPTER 75 ARE BELOW READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

[— — —]

Ok word, timeline information, good to know, i think that makes them around 17 now? Anyway, what has hawky been up to over the summer to keep him so quiet? Certainly not using the time to bond with adrien i’m sure

Ah ofc, lila pov for the start of chameleon

Oh dear, lila’s mother doesn’t know she was akumatised? Is she vying for third place of worst parent after Gabriel and Audrey?

Bloody cunt, course lila’s not told her about being aroace. 

Im curious about this conspiracy board… is it about gabriel or the heros

What attack on agreste?? You have piqued my interest over and over cap fabulous start to the chapter

“We will spread our wings and take flight into a changing future.” yeah ok mister butterfly metaphor, how does he make dad jokes about being a supervillain

Ah ofc, it’s about gabriel, i really must read that again to refresh but i remember the gist

Nooo, i really like how you’ve characterised lila in this and her shit always seems to be heartbreaking the poor we lamb

Ok the way you’re describing the transformation is incredibly chilling, i adore the line “her lips curled into his grin” blegh. Fantastically written.

It’s reminding me of the scene where the girl becomes enchantress in the first suicide squad movie, i love that scene.

—

Alright pov change to… caline? Very fun

Love the in world reason as why they’re in the same class, i just KNOW your ass couldn’t be bothered switching it up but needed a reason

CONFIRMATION ON CALINE AND ANARKA?? DAMN OK

I mean we knew but so much outright is very exciting, and a wonderful segue into discussing juleka

The workplace banter between caline and valerie is a joy to read, i think you’ve hit it perfectly where caline isn’t acting like a sugary teacher but also isn’t acting like a different person

Aww cute moment with sabrina and chloe

I always love seeing what other characters think of each other so this is a treat, Juleka would be totally miffed by how much they worry about her

Wait. you’re not telling me were going to get caline and Anarka in the same room are you? Hold up

Ruh roh

Intern with agreste? I beg that it’s paid for marinette but uh

Ruh roh

Especially with adrien and chloes reactions

Hey i nearly forgot about chameleon where is she lila? Pspspspsp

Adam making a return was not the comeback i expected, however detective Rena is a wonderful treat

OOO WAIT ARE WE GOING TO TREAT THIS LIKE A MURDER MYSTERY

I might be too hype for nothing but that would be so much fun

Ladybug just watching rena fuck about is cute

Rose and alix conversing? In MY panthera noir fic?? This is awesome

Rose and panthera have a crazy relationship… i like to think about it from rose’s perspective sometimes and like damn i’d be baffled and flattered too

I love alix. Ugh the way you go about her minute traits is just fantastic

WAIT

WHAT

THATS A CHOICE

OK GIRL I SEE WHAT YOU’RE DOING

Oh i feel like a fake fan for not knowing if panthera is chameleon or if juleka is after the first line. Panthera has to be chameleon right? Why would lila choose juleka?

OK SO IT’S PANTHERA TIME TO REREAD HER LINES

Oh i thought it was weird she winked, i was a bit happy cause playful panthera is always good but i also felt a bit weird about it cause it’d been so long

Ok i don’t think i would’ve noticed. I’m ashamed. Lila is a good actor tho? Nah that’s pity points. I shall live with my shame.

It is weird having panthera and juleka in the same room, alix. Very weird. 

Rose is so cute about juleka fr, the way she behaves is so endearing

Oh i just love the direction you’ve taken this in

Oh ok black scary magic veins thats fun. Short end of the stick or what jesus, ladybug doesn’t get lasting effects. I don’t think? It’d be interesting if she couldn’t heal herself or something but i don’t think you’ve gone in that direction

Oh it is funny seeing lila flirt in pantheras body, girl you don’t know how to do this. Are we gonna get civilian juleka getting caught up in the mix again? That’s always fun

For me, no one else finds it fun

Good that luka keeps up his right as an older brother and annoys juleka with tiktoks

Wait

There are tiktok edits of panthera

There are probably tiktok edits of ladynoire

Wait this is the funniest thing ever, a more chill chapter or scene delving into their fanbase would be funny lmao

“Panthera what that tail do” is an atrocious cat call (dya see what i did there?) 

OMG RENA GETS AN INTERVIEW

NVM JULEKA CALLING HERSELF A SLUT IS WAY FUNNIER HELLO? GIRL??

Someone in this freaky friday world must be getting major twilight zone vibes from seeing juleka and panthera next to each other. How does that not break the glamour. 

Help juleka you can’t ask for a selfie from your clone transformed self that’s crazy

Juleka just being raging this whole time is wonderful

Oh ew i don’t like it as much anymore, girl paws off this is just weird to imagine

Ladybug is that jealousy?? Crazy move at this time

Ladybug has to know right? She’s seen how she’s acting weird and she just called her Noire. I don’t think she’s ever done that before

HA toxic ladynoire my beloved you’ve made a comeback

I love when juleka says shit she means to think like she ruminates so hard

Be crazy is ladybug found out juleka is panthera

She won’t it wouldn’t make sense

Or would it

I think I just want to know what would happen if that was uncovered. Anyway. The electricity has to be because of the magic right?

Omg marinete is so silly, calling her jules is a wild move she’s lucky she already knows like damn

That whole paragraph about wondering how to talk to LB when it’s one sided trust? Chefs kiss, muah, I adore it. I want them to interact outside the mask more so bad because it’s always weird as fuck when they do. 

Like holy shit I love this chapter

EEEE their relationship is literally so much fun to read and see develop

She knows everything about her aww they’re so sweet

They should kiss

No they shouldn’t that cheating on rose but you get what i mean girl

Plagg just being out and about without anyone seeing nout is crazy

Why did i become dr seus 

Alix is such a cheeky cunt i love her

Sorry got absorbed by the accusation, that was perfection Cap, i love it

Omg i forgot about the parent teacher conference. This is so funny. Ops on juleka walking in and finding them making out?

Och nvm but them drinking and going for it full tilt is the best i can get 

Hey what happened

Why is lila in there oh we just skipped the fight? That sounds so bitchy I’m sorry, I was just a bit confused

Panthera picking lila up is so cute… the poor thing tho, man…

Caline is doing gods work i love her in this, fighting nathalie about adrien is bold but needed

Oh lila you poor we thing, man it’s just such a shame… its so heartbreaking seeing just how much lila loves the heroes and yet because of her fuckwit mother she cant seem to see how that connection is just as valid as a romantic one if that makes sense? Like you do have feelings towards people please lila i beg. 

Ew gabriel

His attitude is just so offputting. Leave her alone! To like everyone in his life fr. 

THIS WAS FANTASTIC CAP

PN is always a treat and this chapter was built amazingly <3

i'm sorry if this is less energetic than usual, the winter sickness has been hitting me.

GLAD YOU ENJOYED!!! Also- yeah- Sorry about the sudden fight skip. Both for skipping it and for not making it clear that it was skipped. Was burning out hard at the end and I couldnt figure out a way to just keep the fight going without staying interesting. Glad you enjoyed despite that.

Stay safe out there! Glad you enjoyed!

[pruneunfair]

Ranking all the OI I read. Part 1: the lesser.

It'll be like my tier list except with added stories from the haven't read yet section and of course my opinions.

Since Tumblr only allows 30 images per post and a daily pass based on how many pictures can be posted at all. I'll be posting this list through multiple parts starting with the worst. Get ready because there's gonna be a lot of negativity right now.

Starting with the tier I like to call "Absolute dog shit." Terrible plots, gross content being glamourized and little to no potential at all.

honestly picking the worst of the worst was hard cause there's so many to choose from.. and I think the title of the absolute worst doesn't go to Remarried empress or Today the villainess has fun again..

Its this one: beware of the brothers

I really can't say I was surprised 😭. I mean.. look at the damn title. The FL gets adopted into the family because she looks like the ML's dead sister and it just.. escalates into step-bro love. "But it's not related by blood-" still incest and even if they didn't grow up together, WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO FUCK SOMEONE WHO LOOKS LIKE YOUR DEAD SIBLING!?

The order of slave breeding

Yes this is an actual manhwa.. I genuinely wanna know why the author just looked at themselves in the mirror and said "Yes this is a good idea." As the title suggests.. it's about a slave merchant for a FL and her slaves falling in love with her and as if it couldn't be uncomfortable enough it is one of the few manhwa with a dark skinned ML. I don't care how many times they'll offer excues for the lead I don't fw slavery being used as a romance device in media.

I belong to house Castillo

Technically I didn't read all of it, I just read the spoilers for the rest of the chapters but to be fair, I just got finished cursing myself by reading stepbro fantasies and master/slave ships, I'm not trying to give my FBI agent a reason to search my hard drives. It's a basic and cliché found family where the FL Estelle is sold by her mother to her father and the ML is a 17 year old who basically grooms her..why? Because raising your love interest is the "only" way to make a story stand out amongst the other generic found family tales.

I tamed my ex husband's mad dog.

More cases of grooming except this time it's the FL as the perpetrator. ML looks like he's 8 but he's apparently 16.. so we got a groomer protagonist in the form of Reinhardt who also neglects her first child and favors her second child she had with her victim with the excuse of not wanting to care for her son being that he looks like her toxic ex. Lady what? That boy deserves his own villain arc holy shit.

No more turning a blind eye.

This one really dissapointed me 😔. The cover looked stunning, the artstyle while a little off was still eye catching and the title sounded promising. Nah this is a hunk of junk that had a gentrification plot for some reason.. and you were supposed to sympathize with the guy who wanted to render hundreds of people homeless to make room for art galleries or whatever it was they wanted?

The dragon kings bride

I already knew this one was probably gonna suck judging by the title. First off it treats dark skinned people like barbarians, the ML Hakan meets Lucina when she's a child, Lucina is threatened with death if she doesn't marry him and you can probably guess where it goes. Like I said I don't really have a right to be shocked but it still goes on the list for its weird obsession with Lucina being so tiny that having sex with Hakan could kill her along with a not so hidden pregnancy fetish.

I became the tyrants secretary.

Its just workplace sexual harassment, theres not much to it. Cannot stand the ML who is a basic garbage human and Rosalyn is a block of wood when it comes to personality. She wants to do all these things but she has no spine and no will to actually do them but at the same time shes so good at everything on a whim. I usually don't mind a clueless FL but Jesus christ! She makes Adrien Agreste look smarter!

The villains savior

Gotta say the artstyle is really pretty and the FLs design is so cute. Everything else though is pretty bad. The point is basically the lead Ezlay is trying to essentially "fix" the ML as the title suggest. A lot of people dislike this one because Ezlay is very emotional and cries too much but that's honestly the least of the issues here. Now to be fair, Aseph is a villain so it's expected that he's gonna suck but that doesn't mean Ezlay needs to have the personality of a rock either, it's not that she cries a lot that annoys me, she's literally just a male fantasy personified. All she is absolute patience and acceptance for what Aseph does to point of enabling that toxic behavior.

Now we enter manhwas that are horrificly awful, not much difference except these ones have a bigger grain of potential

Lucia

This one got a lot of hate tiktok so naturally I had to read it and yeah, it was pretty bad. The artstyle though just.. I'm sorry but Lucia's face is literally just 👁 👄 👁 and thats not even mentioning the ML Hugo. It's really crinegy and it tries to fill that void with poorly made smut. The plot is also really and I mean REALLY dead set on 1950s values for women and the relationship between Lucia's and Hugo is downright toxic. In fact I don't even think there's a plot.. it's just porn. The only reason it's not in dogshit tier is that it's so iconic for being awful that it deserves to be higher up.

When the villainess is in love.

Okay all I can give this one is that Libertia has a better character design than Lucia. She's a mary sue but at this point that's a lot of leads nowadays so it's not a total shock but this is definitely a case where the story would be so much better if it was the actual Libertia as the protagonist instead of a carbon copy of the ogfl taking over. The worst part though is the fashion and I normally do not care about how dresses look in OI as long as they at least look good and fit the setting.. and dear God a lot of those dresses are nightmares to look at. Thankfully I had heard the novel was better.

Today the villainess has fun again

not a fan of the protagonist. Reilynn is really insufferable to follow since she's basically just an entitled asshole who thinks that just because she got transmigrated as the wealthiest woman in the land that she must be in the right because she's not like Iris who is a basic pick me girl. Beyond the fact that watching her throw money at people to get past an obstacle without effort she's also heavily written as a pedo because out of her options which had 2 green flags her age, she chooses the slave she bought who acts and looks like a 10 year old boy with attachment issues.

Try begging

what is with Solche and their weird obsession with rapist male leads? It's somehow worse then cry or better yet beg. Basically the FL Sally/Grace is a spy and when the ML Leon finds out.. he basically tortures her and SA's her multiple times and somehow they fall in love. Do with that what you will, the only slack I will kind of give Try begging is that it at least warns you of what your getting into beforehand. I really hate that Solches writing actually has so much potential to be amazing yet they use their talents to make rape fetish content. I want to know why manhwa tiktok likes this so much, they're all about girl code until a rapist looks hot (Leon isn't even hot, hes mad ugly)

Abandoned empress

Ah yes, good ol abandoned empress, the manhwa communities favorite punching bag so it's only right it lands here. For all the writers out there if your making a character you'd want the readers to support as the love interest you typically would give them an interesting personality and to tone down anything you think is too much for a healthy relationship. Abandoned empress decides to do the opposite of that and even after scenes of Ruve abusing his wife Aristia by cheating on her, beating her, SA'ing her, killing her dad, and causing her to miscarry so you would naturally think "okay clearly Ruve is the antagonist." But instead they pulled some bullshit "but he's not doing it anymore because he was poisoned in the last timeline!"... what!? Were there any new writers by any chance because how did we go from a abusive monster to a misunderstood Lil guy? I would say more but I think everyone already agreed a long time ago Abandoned empress is ass.

Revenge on the real one

the protag is essentially those villainesses in regression stories that cause the heroines initial downfall. I was already aware of what would happen before I even read and let me tell you it was accurate. The protagonist Helga is AWFUL. The torture she puts Hillian through is overkill and at this point Hillian deserves her own regression story to stand up to Helga because my girl was not that bad for her sister to ruin her life because of a stupid tragic origin story. The worst part is the Helga fans I see on places like tiktok who just don't want to admit their FL is a bad person. "Oh but Helga past was so sad! It's not her fault she's like this." Don't mean she has to banish her sister from her own nation when Hillian was innocent.

Villain Dukes precious one.

I really dislike the reincarnated as a baby trope and I can only ever tolerate it when it's just for a few little chapters. They always feel like those weird ass Elsagate videos with embarrassing humor to come across as funny and this one is no different. Even after the FL grows up the plot is still bland and cringe inducing. I don't have a lot to say about this one other then it is weird as hell. Apparently it also got a little incest-y so no thanks!

Poisonous Lily

While the characters looked basic in terms of design the title sounded intriguing. Unfortunately the translation is horrible, they can't even get the whole Lily flower theme right on the tapas version by giving her tulips to carry on her wedding. The dialog is..interesting to say the least. I won't lose it too much though on this one though since I'm pretty sure this is a lower level book trying to make it out in a sea of over advertised manhwa

I thought my time was up.

You know those porn/no plot tags on ao3? That's basically ITMTWU in a nutshell. Within only 20 chapters, the male lead Asrahan is already obsessed with Lariette after chapters of her violating his personal space to force a relationship between them. The whole magic plot is pushed to the side, Asrahans curse isn't allowed to be an actual rotting flesh curse like it's described as cause he's still gotta be pretty, and the rest of the plot is basically just soft core porn and fanservice that does little to actually move whatever is left of the plot.

For my derelict favorite.

The. Hypocrisy. How is this book gonna make the entire message about deconstructing main character centered morality and then almost immediately backpeddaling with justifying Hestia for attacking a woman who doesn't know her for rejecting her favorite man and proceeding to just ruin her day whenever she can. Hestia would say "im not like other girls." Hestia would be an avid fan of those trust fund baby GMV. Hestia would put her hair in a messy bun, shit on whatever is popular and act like she's making a statement . Even calling her Hestia feels like straight up disrespectful to the real goddess of the hearth who funnily enough is known as one of the most chill Greek gods.

Marry my husband

now Marry my husband is not insanely problematic wheras it's just cliché, predictable and in general pretty bad. It is a fast food manhwa designed to fulfill the classic top boss takes good care of you fantasy so naturally a lot is put on hold to showcase the sweet relationship between the central characters and almost everyone needs to have a lover. It's so bad it's actually kinda funny because the villains are so cartoonishly evil for office workers. Sumin is out here speaking in 3rd person, dressing in clothes found in the little kid section of Walmart and makes comical comments about her desire to ruin Jiwons life, Minhwan is basically a borderline discord mod who casually killed jiwon in the first timeline and goes "Oh well." and there's this random ugly old man who's name I can't remember who's the only one interested in Sumin till the end because he basically wants em younger without the risk of going to federal prison.

Remarried empress

I don't think i need to explain much at this point, if you know my account then you already know how I feel about remarried empress. Season 1 was pretty good though.

Divorcing my tyrant husband

I think we all know at this point that's whenever a title has the word "divorce" 9/10 of the time there is never going to be divorce and it'll devolve into the FL changing her mind and staying with her trashy ex husband because he now decided that Robelia wasn't like other girls and left his mistress in the dust. The plot kinda started getting out of hand when Robelias love interests expanded to one of her obsessed slaves and a Duke to prove that Alexandros was the better option. The villian Aisha is a joke who gets her ass handed to her over and over because "damsel woman always bad." and the art starts to lose its touch. I usually don't mind when artstyle changes but dear God do some of these characters look a Lil fugly.

Cry or better yet beg.

The final story that is in the awful section, why? Because it has the most lost potential. As terrible as this CoHo equivalent is, it details the very realistic parts of being a mistress to a nobleman. In most other stories, the mistress is an evil wench who could easily back out but in cry or better yet beg, Layla is unable to escape Matthias's abuse because it could risk her uncles job. There's a lot to this manhwa and novel that could've made a tragic story about a girl trapped in an abusive relationship with little help, the art is gorgeous and the characters for the most part were well written. It's a real shame that it turned out to be a rape apologist work instead.

next up are the mediocre manhwas, finally there will a little more positivity.

The villainess is a marionette

its.so.boring! This one was hyped up all over the place on Instagram and tiktok and the art looked stunning so I gave it a shot. This is definitely one of those stories that only got popular because of its art in my opinion because the plot is so confusing. Events are happening left and right, the pacing goes from too fast to too slow, characters personalities and traits keep warping, and while this might just be the result of poor adaptation her brother comes across as incestuous a couple of times. while Cayena isn't the worst FL, she's a mary sue by all definitions. Sorry but it's a bunch of jumbled wires. The reason it earns a spot in "it's okay" is because I heard the novel like usual is better so it might not be the fault of the original author

I was the male leads ex

It wasn't bad just boring but a little less boring then the former I'll give it that. The artstyle looked prettier in the beginning so that was kind of sad to see it change in later chapters. What drew me to keep reading was the chance that the ogfl Julianna may not be evil but even a potential love interest. So I got excited and apparently there's the idea that Julianna is actually her brother in disguise which.. would just ruin it tbh, there goes any chance at a ogfl being a human being and not a plot device. Not a huge fan of Erica or really any of the love interests.

From maid to queen

This is the newest of the lineup I read and it was actually interesting for once to see a new story where the MC was the concubine. First off the maids feel less like women employed to do the chores of the palace and more like the cartel 😭, in early chapters whenever Urania is aiming to be the concubine, being lazy with her job or getting comfortable with a powerful man in general they're already out with sticks ready to ruin her day and they even try to kill her. Lot of people don't like that Urania isn't a girls girl but honestly I can't blame her for wanting more out of life then poverty, where she comes across as stupid is that she's still wanting that role even after it got her killed last time. I think that it could work though since it shows that urania is more human and not a perfect goddess of a woman however that does not make up for the shit world building (like what the hell was that mushroom that could turn into a perfect still corpse of you 💀)

The villainess maker.

Ill admit I'm a little harsh on this one on my tier list. The plot still isn't great but there are so much worse out there so it ended up moving up on the list due to default. The plot is mostly just bland and generic down to all the characters and the tropes. Ayla is a girlboss in the villainesses body, Charlotte is a super "revolutionary" kind girl turned wicked wench and the ML is another "touch her and I'll kill you" type. What i will give the Villainess maker is the distinct artstyle. It's not as stylized and while it does get lazy at the end it still is very recognizable.

Abellas dessert shop.

Its another extremely underrated manhwa that's another isekai about a wronged woman looking to move on from her shitty fiancé and start a dessert shop. Ngl the moments where Abella is forced to put on a kind face despite her cheating fiancé or her ex friend popping in is definitely relatable especially in the workforce. Still a little bland but wholesome.

I didn't mean to seduce the male lead.

Eleanor is the FL hired to convince the ML to accept women into his life with the hopes that he will fall in love with the ogfl Irene. Tbh this one can get very icky with how it tries to force the notion that you must fall in love but the guy just instantly falls in love with Eleanor so.. I guess that's a little better? Regardless though i will not fault this manhwa too much because unfortunately the author died before the story was over so it deserves a little slack since it never got the chance to be more. Rest in peace author.

Who made me a princess.

Ill be straight with this now: it's Mid. Objectively the story isn't too terrible and I do find Athy a good protagonist not to mention my love for Jennete but everything else is pretty "meh." Not a huge fan of Claude from his design to his personality, the ML is another case of a grown as immortal meeting his wife when she's still a child (theres a little credit ill admit for Athy being mentally a grown woman but that doesnt stop me from thinking its uncomfortable to acknowledge) It can be cute sometimes and I'll give it that but I don't think I'll ever reread it, just not for me.

Actually I was the real one

Good god this was such a bastardization of the original novel. With that said I'll admit i was still entertained reading it since you could say that the novel wouldn't be an instant cheat sheet to learn what was gonna happen. Still it could've at least tried to be a loyal adaptation. They give Keira 2 options to choose as a love interest when she had none in the source material, Zeke is pushed to the side and the maids honestly get on my nerves with their one note personalities. They also seem to forget that Cosette is literally being possessed by a demon he'll bent on destroying humanity (which she succeeded in the first time) because what was built up as an amazing antagonist is just a joke now. The only other redeeming factors are that in the Manhwa Cosette is still alive and the whole elemental plot stays constant. Despite my complaints on the adaptation it is still a interesting read but the novel will always beat it no matter what.

I know it sounds like I'm just being a negative Nancy with all of these and I'm sorry for being so negative but the next part will be more positive.

Next time on part 2 will be the decent stories.

[knarme-stray]

I have a soft spot for Sephiroth's real mother, Lucrecia, because she's like... A victim of the most toxic workplace bullshit ever, fell for a scary sexy guy (Hojo 🥵 like I understand this COMPLETELY actually,), and actually...

...No, she didn't make the bravest choices. She also didn't make very "good" choices either. Nightmarish environment, bad choice after another, also abuse she had no control over...

And after everything?

She hides herself and can't face the world.

Like yeah, she was just somebody in the system. Not a hero because a lot of people are too scared and traumatized and frozen to be "brave", or maybe in extremely authoritarian environment many people will just live in survival mode. Like everyone else making that system roll, she contributed to its evils, she is guilty.

I know she wouldn't be one of the most hated FF7 characters if she was a guy so pls let me love this flawed tragic woman pls?

Like. Idk what redeeming qualities she even has. She's like, just not some great person but what if her potential just never had a chance? Guess what, deadbeat losers are some of my faves.

Like... Genesis is also a badly written mess and has said things that almost sound like a school shooter manifesto (honestly the most unsympathethic thing about him) and his value system seems pretty reduced to just personal revenge etc., instead of allying with Avalanche against Shinra etc. more interesting paths to take... And look, I'm also a Genesis fan... I used to be completely obsessed with him actually. Frame by frame tried to analyse every bit of his screentime and what hidden symbolisms about his relationship to the other characters I could find in it... Even if just reading into it too much. <\3 But yes we love this BPD-ridden greater than life drama queen.

Something can have crap writing but you can still like it... Honestly many of the spin-off characters are like that. I think many of my favorite characters in any media are either very underrepresented side characters, or ones with a really juicy good idea about them, yet a bad execution. (*coughs* Seph's besties. <3)

(coughs. shakes Kunsel violently because I love him)

Also if we don't count Org XIII from KH, Namine is one of my faves too (despite how I've loathed reducing female characters to this kind of role all my life, - Namine just has themes about her I find somberly relatable and she has a significant place in the KH AU fanon that exists in my head).

She feels like she's defined by someone else whose shadow she exists in (Kairi) and kind of... Leads this somber lonely existence of disconnection. In that game where those lesb- I mean Marluxia and Larxene are the main villains, Namine's only close people who even talk to her at all are these... Abusive mfrs. She idealizes and loves Sora whom she doesn't even really know, also gets mega rejected too.

Like bro. I project a major "traumatized autistic teen who's preyed on by the only people who talk to her and who loves this boy she doesn't even really know" LIKE. RELATABLE. POOR BABY. NAMINE IS SO INTERESTING AND DESERVES EVERYTHING ACTUALLY.

And that she's soooo frail. She doesn't get much chances to really punch back, just like Lucrecia. Ah, the turning knife in wounds that is getting 0 justice. Being too frozen to fight bcs PTSD is a beast like that. Etc. Etc.

Like. Neither of these characters is exactly some power fantasy. Claiming more agency is something that often remains a suffocated hope, as you know, learned helplessness gets.

That's such a human experience whether you like it or not.

Pls don't be butthurt about me calling Genesis badly written, it really is my opinion about many things I love and enjoy. I like things. Oh my god.

[jasper-tarot-reader]

Hi Jasper - this is for the Three Kings spread!

MHL

they/them

King

In Court

Water

Question: What specific red flags/warning signs should I keep an eye out for during the job interview process?

Background: I’m looking for a new job and want to make sure (as much as possible) that I don’t end up in another awful work environment. The last couple jobs I’ve held had horrible managers and toxic workplaces that resurfaced a lot of trauma for me, and I would REALLY like to avoid that this time around. I’m primarily concerned with dodging another bad manager, since those have had the most impact in the past.

Excited to help test this new spread, the decks you’re using are all from media that’s very near and dear to my heart. :> Thank you so much!!

Three Kings Divination Explanation

As a reminder, the D&D Tarot is the querent. In this reading, the Neopets Tarot is the Queen, while the Skyrim Tarot is the Fool.

You are the King of Wisdom, ruler of the Court of Water. Your advice to yourself is the Ten of Charisma (Fire) and the Emperor. What does the long-term success of a job with your interviewers look like? How many people stick with the job long-term for reasons other than "it's hard to get a job these days"? How much agency and independence does an employee get, is it a level that is comfortable to you?

In my practice, Water and Fire are enemy elements, but Fire's willingness to challenge Water is the important part of this section. Fire isn't going to let Water just roll over for this and provides queries that Water can then take and use. I do not typically associate the Major Arcana with elements unless they come already-associated with elements.

Your Queen is the Queen of Cups, the Soup Faerie. Her advice to you is the Six of Swords (Air) upright and the Nine of Wands (Fire) reversed (which turns it into Water). She is warning you against assuming every job will be as painful as the last ones, but she knows that old habits die hard. Even when scorned, you have to be willing to keep trying, because we live in a capitalist hellscape. But she also warns that if the employer is unwilling to compromise or describes themselves as "competitive", it may be time to slip out. You may have to be realistic, however, as you may need a job more desperately than you need a perfect one.

In my practice, Water and Air are best friends, sharing many similar ideas and approaches. They work well together, and Water is most willing to listen to Air on matters that are important.

Your Fool is the Page of Voice, Einarth of the Graybeards. He's not particularly certain about this reading, given that he is a hermit who lives at the top of a mountain instead of a modern man living on Earth, but he has some advice regardless in the form of the Sun upright and the Hermit upright. He advises you to watch out against claims that seem too good to be true and to avoid jobs that dislike employees speaking to each other. Both of these can lead to a perfectionist atmosphere that is essentially payed slavery.

Again, I don't associate the Major Arcana with elements by default, so nothing interesting in this little blip.

Please reblog this with feedback or send feedback to the ask box, as this is part of a test of the Three Kings Divination!

These readings wipe me the hell out, so any insight, munching and crunching, and rambling thoughts you have about the reading will be very helpful with me analyzing how well this spread is doing!

~Jasper

[professorzombiesquirrel]

How to live in a toxic environment

A while back, I was in a toxic workplace situation. I couldn't afford to quit, but it was a miserable place to work: the viciousness, the cliques, the political gaming, it was chipping away at me, and I didn't know what to do.

I looked around at the people who had been there longer than me. Not the mean ones; not the ones who seemed to find joy in creating and maintaining this toxic situation, but the ones I respected. I wondered, "How has that person managed it? Why do they stay? Do they know something I don't?"

And in answer to that final question: those people, the ones who seemed to be genuinely good people living through a bad situation, they all seemed to do two things to make it through intact: one thing that was common amongst them and one that was unique to each individual.

The common thing? They stayed true to who they were. They didn't give up parts of themselves to "fit in" or to be a "good colleague," as we were often told to do. They weren't confrontational about it, but they also didn't hide who they were. They were unabashedly themselves.

And let me tell you, as a person just starting out, that was so good to see. I had often been told I needed to hide parts of myself to fit in and get ahead, and here these people were simply showing up as who they were.

The individual thing? Each of them figured out the best way through FOR THEM.

One of them, she found ways to engage with the people we served, but stayed out of the workplace culture as much as possible. She did her job--but she invested in the people we were serving rather than the ones we were trying to work alongside. She formed a community with the people we served, and it was a beautiful thing.

One of them was willing to be a part of the workplace culture, but ONLY DURING WORKING HOURS and not a minute more. She didn't do extra work to try to ingratiate herself or to further the "battles" that were raging. She did what she was paid to do and nothing more. And then she went home and spent time with her family and friends and left the job behind her.

Another one found ways to engage with the people she felt safe with in non-work activities: a reading group; a monthly luncheon. And at each of these activities, we weren't allowed to talk about the job or the people there.

I was so glad to be a part of the group she felt safe with because it taught me that kindness, camaraderie, and fun are always good for what ails you.

My workplace situation now is better, but far from perfect. However, I have good strategies for staying whole and making it through, and now more than ever, I'm going to lean on those in all aspects of my life:

I am not going to shy away from who I am. I am in a space where it is relatively safe for me to do that, and I know that that is a privilege--I don't take that for granted. But I am so tired of trying to fit in or go along with the flow so as not to create ripples. That was slowly destroying me, so now, I'm me and I don't apologize for it.

I set hard limits. Work hours are work hours. Non-work hours are non-work hours. I don't let work seep in when I'm off the clock if I can help it. But this also applies to other things. If I don't want to engage with social media or the news for a few days, then I'm not going to--and the people around me aren't allowed to try to give me "a little peek" or "tell me just one thing." This also means that if someone wants to engage me in a conversation I'm not comfortable with, I'm going to say no and disengage. [Amy Poehler has a great line in her autobiography: "No is the end of the conversation, not the beginning of a negotiation"]. Finally, this means if there are people in my life who are't good for me, who are negative, abusive, or otherwise hurtful, I'm going to cut them out or avoid them to the best of my abilities.

I make sure to stay connected to those people who give me joy, who make me feel love and happiness and I make sure they know how much I love them. This is all about my people. My best friend lives on the other side of the country and has a horrible work schedule, but we make sure to zoom every two or three weeks just to check in. We also send lots of silly text messages to each other just to say hi or hugs or hey did you hear about that comic book?!? My partner and I often end up sending emails and texts during the day--little things or even cute stories--just to check in and say "hey, I was thinking about you." Even the people I don't talk to as regularly, I try to remind them I love them: I send cheap little Halloween cards, Holiday cards, and Valentine cards to them. I send emails out of the blue just to say hi. And I say "I Love You" to all of them as much as possible--I don't want any of them to ever doubt that there is someone who prizes and adores them--someone for whom the world is better because they are in it. We all need to know that, so I make sure the people I love do.

Do any of these strategies make the big bads of the world go away? Not necessarily.

But they make me feel more resilient, grounded, and ready to face what's ahead. And that is important.

Moving forward, I am going to protect myself and love myself. And I am going to love the people around me--just flood them with it. And together, we're going to make it through this.

[brian-in-finance]

Photo: Patch Bell

Outlander and Karen Pirie star Lauren Lyle on her self-belief and taking the leap to pursue her dream

Nominated for two awards at the Scottish Baftas this evening, Lauren Lyle promises it will be a celebration no matter the outcome.

The Glasgow actress has grafted hard to enjoy a remarkable rise over recent years, headlined by her first leading role in Karen Pirie, the acclaimed St Andrews-set crime drama based on Val McDermid’s novels.

Next year is set to be the 30-year-old star’s biggest yet, with several leading roles in film and TV, including a second series of Karen Pirie, so now seems like a good time to pause and look back on her career so far.

“I moved to London at 19 and if I’d told myself then that I’d have my own TV show, had done one of the biggest shows in America (Outlander) and would be working all the time, I don’t think I would have believed it,” she smiled.

“I would have thought I’d needed to have done something terrible to have got here, but I just worked really hard. I’m working on a show called Toxic Town for Netflix, which has Rory Kinnear and Jodie Whittaker in it, and I asked both what their secret is. They said they didn’t know, they just keep working, and they’re testament to doing great work and not trying to be famous.

“Rory told me he always wanted to be known for being good, and I’m the same. I’m trying to pick good things and be in quality stuff, things that excite me and getting to work with good people.

“I came to London to audition for drama schools and came close but didn’t get in. I think I’d only been to London once before as a kid but didn’t remember it. I was so hungry for it, and being around other actors in this world was so thrilling and I knew this was what I wanted to do and the place to do it.”

Taking the plunge

Lauren moved into a shared house with four people she hadn’t previously met. She took on several jobs to pay the bills while trying to engineer a break, joining a theatre company and eager to learn.

Photo: Patch Bell

“It was a risk but I put my head down and grafted hard,” she said. “I think I’ve always had deluded confidence that I can do something. My mum is a school PE teacher and I was a gymnast and runner and I’ve always been competitive to win the race, but that’s not helpful at times because there isn’t a finishing line or right answer here; there’s lots of different ways to do this, so I’ve had to put those feelings aside at times.

“I had a big agent for about a year before I got a job, and then two came within two or three weeks of each other – Outlander and Broke, with Sean Bean – and my life changed. I did my tax return for that year and realised I’d done about six jobs – dog walker, flyering, receptionist, in Zara’s stock room for 18 months. Random stuff that I did for ages.

“It was bleak at times but I loved going to the theatre and seeing this life dangled in front of me. It was quite inspiring.”

Karen Pirie

Lauren’s recurring role as Marsali in Outlander was her break, while BBC thriller Vigil, where she played activist Jade, introduced her to a different audience. When Karen Pirie came along last year, she felt ready.

“I’m so proud to be part of the show. It was so well made, beautifully shot, and with a crew who were hungry to be there. It was my first lead and I had creative control around what she looked like and who she was,” Lauren explained.

“The director, Gareth Bryn, writer Emer Kenny – who also executive produced – and myself were constantly in conversation. We all had such a brilliant time, and it was a story that meant something and said something of young women.

“It was about a young woman trying to solve a crime about another young woman, so Karen knew what it’s like to be afraid to walk home alone at night, and how a young person can be underestimated in the workplace and how difficult it can be to prove themselves.”

Photo: ITV

Based on Val McDermid’s novel The Distant Echo – about the cold case investigation of a 19-year-old woman’s death which is reopened and given to DS Karen Pirie after a podcast cast doubt on the original investigation – it was a Sunday night hit for ITV last year.

“Val has been complimentary and incredibly supportive of me,” Lauren continued. “She had to sign off on me playing the character. I was worried if she would be happy with the Methil accent. She visited the set and I prepared myself, but she said I was very good.

“She messaged me on Twitter when the awards nominations were announced and congratulated me and said we would need to go for a drink. I’d love to have a drink with her – I’m sure she would have some great stories!”

Scottish Baftas

The drink will be flowing this evening at the Scottish Baftas in Glasgow where, in addition to Lauren’s two nominations, Karen Pirie is also in the fiction director and scripted television categories.

“The show came out too late for the 2022 awards, but it’s nice that we’ve since announced a second series. We have a big Karen Pirie table. My parents are coming – my dad has a new velvet jacket to go with his tartan troos – as is my boyfriend, who is South-African-Australian, but we’ve recently discovered he has lots of Scottish heritage, so he might wear a kilt, and my agent will be there, too.

“Everyone is dead excited and the whole team is there to celebrate.”

Lauren’s nomination in the Audience Award category sees her vying with Brian Cox, Lewis Capaldi, Tony Curran, Hamza Yassin and Meryl Williams.

“To be in a category with Brian, Lewis and the legend that is Meryl from The Traitors, I feel that’s the only time in my life this will happen. I’m tempted to say to Brian that if he ever needs me to play his granddaughter or daughter, I’m here. Someone should cast us all as a family.”

New projects

With a second series of Karen Pirie expected to start shooting early next year and a rumoured return for the final series of Outlander – “we may be talking, who knows” is all Lauren will say – 2024 will be another busy one for her.

She will follow up her first starring role in a movie, Mercy Falls, which was released earlier this month, with another two movies to be released next year – thriller Something In The Water and The Outrun, with Saoirse Ronan and Jack Lowden.

Photo: Robert Wilson / Starz

“We filmed Something In The Water in the Dominican Republic. It’s like Bridesmaids but a thriller. The Outrun was filmed on Orkney. Saoirse and Jack saw me in Vigil and asked if I’d be part of this film, which is the first from their production company.

“I had to get the Orkney accent just right. At the first read-through, Amy Liptrot, the writer of the book it’s based on, said it needed to be a bit less Shetland and a bit more Orkney, so I went away and made sure it was right.

“Everyone was so welcoming on Orkney. The beaches were ridiculous. I was stung by a weever fish, which apparently is an unusual thing to happen. My foot was on fire for a day.

“I’ve also been making Toxic Town, a new series for Netflix which is about the Corby poisonings, one of the UK’s biggest environmental scandals, which no-one really knows about. It’s about mothers in a David vs Goliath battle for justice, and I’m wearing lots of ‘90s and ‘00s power suits.

“As well as Jodie and Rory, it has people like Aimee Lou Wood from Sex Education, Joe Dempsie from Skins, Claudia Jessie from Bridgerton, Michael Socha from This Is England, and Robert Carlyle, who is the nicest man in the world.”

Shooting in Scotland

Despite living in London, Lauren finds many of her jobs are being shot in Scotland, which she’s happy to see.

“Nowhere looks like Scotland and a lot of productions are coming here for that reason,” she added. “It’s really cool to see it happening and it’s a testament to the quality of workers you get here.

“Plus, it gives me a free trip home to see my family.”

Photo: Stuart Wallace / Shutterstock

At last year’s Scottish Baftas, Dunkirk and The Gold actor Jack Lowden spoke glowingly about Lauren Lyle.

The pair have since become friends and colleagues, and Lauren is keen to support new talent coming through in Scotland just as Jack did with her.

Speaking about this evening’s Scottish Baftas, Lauren said: “Me and Jack were talking about how great it is to get a lot of Scots in a room to congratulate each other, all these people doing well from this proud place, on international stages representing our country, heritage and culture, which we’re so proud of.

“It’s a great opportunity to shake everyone’s hands and say ‘aren’t we an amazing team?’

“I want to know who the other young people are. We’d like to be able to speak to the younger Scottish actors and welcome them in. Jack did that with me – talking about me, being supportive and asking me to be part of his film. I don’t know if we’d met at the point he spoke about me at the Scottish Baftas. I was very flattered.

“He and Saoirse have been really cool and supportive, and I hope to do the same at some point. With season two of Karen Pirie coming, I message its writer, Emer Kenny, and tell her to keep an eye out for this guy and this girl.”

Remember… she will follow up her first starring role in a movie, Mercy Falls, which was released earlier this month, with another two movies to be released next year – thriller Something In The Water and The Outrun, with Saoirse Ronan and Jack Lowden. — The Sunday Post