#what do you even post on Facebook when you’re a villain!??

[maddiviner]

People say TikTok is terrible for witches, and plenty of terrible stuff about witches on Tumblr. Let me tell you. Facebook’s worse. I’m on there for my friends’ meme pages and a few political and local groups. I still belong to some witch groups, but don’t visit them often or engage, really. Because it’s such a dumpster fire.

Shadow work is a popular thing right now, as is posting other people’s images without credit, so naturally, you have people occasionally spamming those “shadow work prompt” images on the groups. As is usually the case with shadow work, it asks uncomfortable questions like, “what is your biggest regret?” and “what is your most negative trait?”

I’m starting to think people just don’t get the concept, though. You get people who don’t grasp that shadow work is (usually) supposed to be private writing novels in the comments section about how their biggest regret was being friends with people who didn’t appreciate them. Their most negative trait is just that they care too much and give too freely, of course.

This is typically followed by four or five people simply replying, “Same!” “Me too!” And “OMG so me!”

I realize shadow work is personal, and I shouldn’t try to judge other people’s progress as such. However, when it’s posted publicly like that, I kind of get the impression that these sort want someone to read it, absorb it, and have an opinion? Otherwise, why post it? That doesn’t mean it’d be appropriate to reply or comment to them or where they can see it, of course, so I’m not doing that.

It’s just hard not to read that kind of thing and think, “maybe this concept is broadly misunderstood?” I don’t think telling yourself the same stories about your life that are already in your head counts as shadow work. I’ve always thought shadow work is about dismantling those narratives.

You can’t escape the concept of narrative, though, personal or otherwise. It’s just what we’re stuck with as part of being conscious beings like we are. It’s beautiful and frustrating at the same time.

You can deconstruct your existing narratives, though, and rebuild new ones that suit your life now, that are healthier, more productive. Sometimes this merely means recognizing that you’re not the de facto protagonist of the story, and may sometimes have even been the villain, so to speak, but that’s for another post, i guess.

I just have to wonder if there’s any benefit to this kind of work if you’re not dismantling what you already have, examining your past and your self-image. I’m sure if I had replied to those comments, the person would’ve said “I’m definitely doing that!” But were they? 90% of the time, when someone’s posting their “shadow work” publicly, it never seems to involve serious admission of fault or self-criticism. I guess that might be why they’d post it publicly, but is it really shadow work, then?

I don’t know, though. Shadow work is very personal, and I think that when doing it, we’re all kind of walking alone. Might not be my place to be critical of Facebook people. Do you have thoughts on this?

[oohaena]

happy opening! genevieve (s/h, 21+) here, writing for han haena. (way) more about her under the cut, but i do also have a little profile & background for her if you're not reading all that. i’m available on ims and discord, so just drop a little heart if you’re interested in plotting!

the importance of financial independence is hammered into haena from a young age- soy sauce over eggs and rice, while a really fucking good meal, gets pretty stale when it's all that's in the pantry a week before mama han gets paid. the meagre cheques her father sends quarterly bounce more often than not, and her mom likes to lament that her marriage to him was the biggest mistake she made in her life.

marriage and education are just about the only viable ways out of the working class. with the way her mom talks about her ex, haena decides to work towards the latter. it's at yonsei business school she meets kim hyunwoo, who loves her drive until he realises he'll always be below her career in her list of priorities when she misses their wedding cake tasting for a meeting. he spirals, realises he feels unloved by her, has a quarter life crisis, and moves out of their shared apartment on a thursday afternoon.

he's not the focus of the story, so back to haena, who sells all his crap on karrot the next week. unfortunately, that's still not enough to cover all the cancellation expenses AND her current rent. coincidentally, she finds a flyer advertising an apartment for rent nestled between her windshield wipers. she views it her next day off and moves in the next weekend.

tldr: the brunette career-focused hallmark movie villain, but also living like the do you think a depressed person could make this meme.

has been here 2 months and is already considering breaking her lease early and moving out, because what is up with these vivid ass dreams omg. she wakes up mad as hell at her ex and goes and posts a hate comment on his yoga facebook page. forget kendrick, SHE is the biggest hater. she's chalking it up to the stress of ending such a long relationship + her being considered for a promotion at her job, but the deja vu will start soon...

works odd hours, because her boss dgaf when/how long she works as long as her projects get done. sometimes she's in the office 8am-12am, and sometimes she's at home working 3pm-2am. she codes and shit... don't ask me what she actually does. idk either. she loves her job, but it's also really challenging to go on as normal when her personal life is in shambles. does come off a bit deranged when you interact with her, but she's just an intense person.

her mom still doesn't know her engagement's off, because haena can't quite bear to break the news that her precious daughter's not living the life she's always wanted haena to live.

and honestly, haena's kinda putting it off because telling her mom makes it feel real. it's not that she's in denial--- if her ex came back to her, she'd probably have to go to jail for aggravated assault--- but that she hates that she couldn't have her cake and eat it too. it's just that it's all she hears: how women have to give up their careers for marriage. by getting engaged, she thought she'd beat the odds; unfortunately she doesn't even make it down the aisle.

do not get married just because it seems like the natural conclusion to a long-term relationship. what a lesson to learn the hard way, but haena's always liked her challenges.

power T. does her best to relate, but she's also a triple aquarius, so you should also know not to approach her for anything feelings-related unless you'd like to be smacked in the face with a verbal hammer.

possible meetings: haena's moving furniture @ 3am. your muse knocks on her door, because have some decency? she claims the feng shui here's awful and they get to talking about these weird dreams they're having / your muse runs into haena accosting mr 'excuse me SIRR!!!!!' and badgering him about carbon monoxide alarms, because there is something real weird happening to her / she's passed out, face-down unmoving in the lobby after a work dinner and your muse thinks she's dead

sorry i yapped so much, but anyway. if you're up for your muses to be the other charas in her Big Hallmark Movie Sequel where she gets her redemption arc after being Transformed by People, please hit the like! i'm big on chem & brainstorming, so i'd like to see what we can come up with, instead of set dynamics :^)

[izzyeffinhands]

The only Facebook group I feel safe in as an Izzy Hands stan is Our Flag Means Daddy.

Even though I am apart of the two main groups as well, i.e. Our Flag Means Deathposting, Our Flag Means Fans, I do NOT feel SAFE. I see the wildest and hottest fucking takes in these groups and they piss me off. Are you even watching the same show? I’m also sick and tired of people calling Izzy a villain when he clearly is not. Also there are many that don’t recognize he’s gay, even after season 2. If you voice you’re upset and betrayed? You get attacked. I was again last night.

I guess I’m a proud Izzy “apologist”, but it fucking baffles me how fans just give Ed a pass on all the brutal things he did. Oh but the love story—- NO. Recognize you’re an Ed apologist as well. I like both Ed and Izzy, but I recognize the horrifying things Ed did.

The day of the finale, I posted my thoughts on various social media. I got attacked. I got messages even on tumblr from anon cowards who I imagine followed through Twatter. I was called the t slur. That I was stupid, fat, all sorts of things.

It’s because I said I’ll never trust David Jenkins again. Now, do I have my own thoughts as to whether parts of the finale are a dream state/gravy basket that Stede himself is in? Absolutely. But let’s dive into why I was especially hurt.

First off. I am disabled. For those who know me, I’ve also had two leg surgeries and my injury has ruined my life. So seeing Izzy with a false leg, as a disabled character, still being badass? It felt good. It boosted my confidence for me to keep going. I had so much metal in my leg it caused pain that left me bedridden and using a wheelchair and cane. Many a time I wish they’d chopped my leg off.

I see a lot of myself in Izzy. I swear, he has the traits of an Aries with his anger and intense emotions. This man feels deeply for those who cares for, even though at first this seemed to just be Edward. Despite the hardened shell, he’s a romantic at heart. I’m very much the same.

That hardened shell is also a form of masking to me. In my opinion, and in my own headcanon for this roleplaying blog, Israel is neurodivergent and suffered sexual assault on ships when he was young. It’s part of the reason he has bowel issues. He had to force himself to put on that rough motherfucker mask in order to protect himself. I was bullied mercilessly in school. When I started middle school, I decided to align myself with the “bad kids” as a form of protection. Guess what? Part of myself was masking I was a bad ass, part of myself became the badass I was masking to be after years of torture.

Also. I am transmasculine. I’m pre-HRT. But to me, Izzy is very transmasc coded. This was even confirmed by Con himself when a transmasc fan at Supercon brought the conversation up. I’d just like to say again how much I adore him for supporting the trans community, particularly transmascs who often are glanced over.

Then David Jenkins, a straight man, that swore he wouldn’t fall into the kill your gays trope did exactly that. So let’s exclude here the thought that this is possibly a dream state, or even that he might be resurrected by Buttons as a zombie or ghost which I fucking hope not. We’re talking about my initial feelings. Now it felt like they were setting him up to be killed but I said oh no Jenkins wouldn’t do that to us. He promised he wouldn’t.

Guess what?! He fucking did. Not only that, he murdered off the disabled, gay, transmasc coded character after giving him the most beautiful character arc of any character on the show. You can have a gay pirate rom com, you can understand some characters can get hurt, but killing someone as a means to advance plot? Fuck you. Also, the fact that Izzy apologized to his ABUSER?! As if the victim blaming and shaming wasn’t enough for Izzy Hands, which I see plenty of still, that’s fucked up on so many levels.

So to me I watched a version of myself be murdered. It hit me in the hardest way imaginable. I cried for days. I’ve never been so attached to a character in my 38 years of existence. I’m sick and tired of people saying they like his redemption arc. Izzy never needed redemption. He just needed one, single, person to tell him that he was loved and cared about.

So voicing that I felt betrayed and that I no longer trust Jenkins got me nothing but vitriol. Then toward the end of the day, he made a tweet about how there’s no version of the show without Izzy and had the comments turned off. He knows what he did. And then in the FB groups, if you dared say you were upset that day, requoted Jenkins, you’re a horrible person? Right. I didn’t start attacking the writers. I just said I’m betrayed and I can’t trust what I thought was my comfort show. Because of that, I got hate.

As much as I’d like to believe Izzy will return, the interviews David has done post season 2 talking about his character give me little hope. It’s like he just stabbed every fan in the back. Id like to think the rushed finale is really a dream sequence or gravy basket deal. Id like to think that Izzy will come back thanks to Buttons. But now I just don’t trust David Jenkins.

And if you dare voice this opinion anywhere but Our Flag Means Daddy and Twatter, you get attacked. So here goes. Thanks for my TED talk.

[sshbpodcast]

Top 3 Star Trek Voyager characters

By Ames

We’re inching ever closer to the end of Voyager on our watchthrough over on the A Star to Steer Her By podcast, so we’re starting to wrap up the show here on the blog as well. You saw us do it earlier with The Original Series, The Next Generation, and Deep Space Nine, so we won’t disappoint. Here are our favorite minor and one-off characters from Star Trek: Voyager.

And you know what? There are so many good ones that we barely had any overlap! The show really does a good job in creating new characters from the Delta Quadrant who are original, relatable, and intriguing. Some of these will seem familiar because they probably came up in some of our season wrap posts or other blogtivities, but we’ve got more to say about them here! Grab a seat in the mess hall, check out our faves below, and listen to our banter on this week’s podcast episode. The real voyage was the friendships we made along the way.

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Caitlin – I’ve grown accustomed to your face

Barclay

Icheb

Q2

Caitlin’s kicking us off this week with some characters that really grow on you over the course of their stay on the show. While we may not have always been onboard with him in TNG, Barclay comes into his own in Voyager when he gives himself a purpose that is commendable, watchable, and perpetually successful. We’re also big fans of the understated, nerdy, and traumatized Icheb and the more he showed up, the better he got. And Q2 came so far in his eponymous episode that we couldn’t help coming around for him and his journey!

—

Chris – Stick around, why don’t ya?

Quinn

Danara Pel

Mezoti

Boy do we wish we could have kept these characters around, and their episodes teased us all over the place with whether they would continue existing or not. We have opposite conclusions between Quinn and Danara Pel, the former opting heartbreakingly to end his existence despite the crew’s well-made arguments otherwise, and the latter being convinced by the doctor to keep going even after a taste of life without the Phage. And finally Mezoti, our favorite child character hands down, we’ve discussed at length already.

—

Jake – A few good dead men

Tuvix

Telek R’Mor

Gotana-Retz

Jake has a habit of picking characters who just want to do the ethical thing and get martyred for it, like Jarok in TNG and Marritza in DS9. And he’s done it again! Tuvix, for instance, becomes a beloved crewmember who just wants the opportunity to live in the extremely thought-provoking episode of the same name. Our Romulan friend from the past chooses to trust the Voyager, but his fate has already been sealed. And Gotana-Retz saves the ship from his fast-moving people after learning more about what’s really going on in his sped-up life.

—

Ames – Resistance is not futile?

Lon Suder

Mezoti

One

My three characters all learn to overcome their programming (sorta; you try coming up with themes) to become better, more lovable people. I’m probably entirely biased because I’m so easily swayed by Brad Dourif’s amazing performance, but Lon Suder is also just plain fascinating! And by his second appearance, he’s put in so much work into changing that it’s even more fascinating! Again, I’ll laud our amazing droneling Mezoti, and raise you one One to boot because I just can’t help but love it when Borg characters find their humanity.

— You probably picked up the pattern by now, but this means we’ve got Voyager villains on the docket for next week, so definitely make sure you’re following along so you don’t miss that. Also don’t miss the couple more episodes of Voyager watchthrough coverage over on SoundCloud or wherever you listen to podcasts, tell us who your faves are over on Facebook and Twitter, and don’t provoke the Borg.

[nerdybibeans]

I swear to God I did no edit this in any single way!!!! This is just a random screenshot from the scene when he’s writing in his diary / Journal whatever you wanna call it/ and I scrap you not he has Facebook open and this is one the screen! Why the hell has no one ever knows this before!!!!!

[silver-ink-iron-words]

Outside the Know, Part 2

A/N - So, multiple people were asking for a continuation of Part 1 in the comments and reblogs. Thank you so much to those who expressed interest! I seriously wasn’t expecting that snippet to get the attention that it did

Though, going forward, if you’d like a continuation, could you please send me an ask? I find those are easier to keep track of than reblog tags

------------------

Part 1

It only took a little bit of digging to find the rock the civilian had been living under.

Heroes were usually harder to track; they had both the motive and the resources to keep their identities hidden. But civilians never imagined that nefarious actors could ever be interested in them.

Thanks to the villain’s subordinates – a pair of talented young hackers they’d snatched up before law enforcement could – they soon had a stack of tax forms, medical records, and printed out social media posts sitting on their desk.

With context, it was clear why the civilian had been so out of the loop.

As the villain suspected, the civilian was outrageously underpaid, and they worked long hours to make ends meet. They also lived with their sister and her young kid. The villain didn’t have any children, but they’d met enough couples with kids to know that if the civilian was even marginally involved in raising the child, it would take up a substantial portion of their time and attention.

Plus, if the sister’s facebook photos were anything to go by, the TV was typically dominated by PAW Patrol and Sesame Street. The evening news probably wasn’t on very often.

This all explained why the civilian didn’t recognize them, but a more grating question remained.

The villain had a few supporters – mostly communist twitter-users with anime profile pics – but almost everyone thought they were too extreme. So, in a city full of people ready to lick the heroes’ boots, why had the civilian been more hesitant?

The villain was itching to know, and the answer wasn’t going to be found in any of these documents.

_ _ _

When the civilian stepped out of their local coffee shop, they collided face-first with another person. Hot coffee spilled all over their front. They sucked in air, probably to keep from cursing.

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry! Here, I have napkins in my . . . wait, [Civilian]?” The villain whipped off their sunglasses, their expression a perfect image of surprise.

“Radi– ” the civilian started, but the villain clapped a hand over their mouth before they could finish.

At the civilian’s look of hurt confusion, the villain pulled back their hand. “Sorry, sorry,” they said, replacing their sunglasses. “I’m kind of undercover at the moment. It’s my day off.”

“What a coincidence,” the civilian said with a smile. “It’s my day off too.”

The villain wore a look of astonished delight that, frankly, should have won them an Oscar. “What? No way! What are the chances?”

The villain had to practically beg the civilian to let them buy them another coffee. The civilian was irritatingly resistant, forcing them to lay it on thick.

“Please,” they said, already directing the civilian back into the shop. “I might actually die of guilt if you don’t let me make it up to you.”

“Wow,” the civilian said, raising their brows. “You’re such a nice person, you know that?”

Ten minutes later, the two of them were sitting on a secluded park bench with a coffee in each hand and a couple apple cider donuts – the civilian’s favorite, according to instagram – between them. The villain let their conversation dance over the pleasantries and surface-level catching up of a typical run-in, before they advanced with their agenda.

“So [Civilian], I’m curious. I know you don’t care as much about us heroes. But what do you think of villains?”

“Huh?”

“You know, villains. Like the one who robbed a museum last week.” They took a sip, remembering. Though the civilian wouldn’t appreciate it, that heist had been some of the villain’s best work.

“Oh. Well. I think they’re pretty cool.”

The villain spat out their coffee.

“Hey, you okay there?” the civilian said, patting the villain’s back as they coughed.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good,” the villain said, waving them away. “But what do you mean by ‘pretty cool’?”

The civilian’s mouth hung open slightly, horror dawning on their face. “Oh no. That was a stupid thing to say, wasn’t it? They’re probably your arch enemy.”

“No, no, I’m not offended.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just . . . you’re so open and honest. You make me want to be as well.”

The villain wasn’t going to dwell on that. “Okay, but I’m still curious, what did you mean when you said that?”

The civilian paused, and the villain was afraid they were going to clam up. But then they shrugged and said, “It’s hard to explain. And, as we’ve established, I’m not the most well-informed. But, I don’t know, I just hear things. Like how they mainly target billionaires, and try to shine a light on corruption. It almost feels like they’re fighting for people like me.” They smiled, and the villain noticed they had dimples. “If someone stood up for you, wouldn’t you like them, just a little bit?”

“Yes.” The villain was staring directly at the civilian. “Yes, I think I would.”

_ _ _

It had been easy to find information on the civilian, and it was even easier to keep tabs on them. Which is why, when the civilian was in danger, the villain was notified that very same hour.

Part 3

[nightfurmoon]

OMAE WA INTERVIEW WITH ALAN ITURIEL ABOUT BH’S BOOK

SPOILER WARNING FOR THE BOOK. They aren’t heavy spoilers, but if you want to read the book completely blind, leave this post for later!

This interview was honestly one of the best ones. It consisted of two parts, in the first one fans came in with camera and asked Alan questions, and the interactions were just so goddamn sweet. The second part was the interviewer asking Alan very interesting questions, and you could see he’s actually a fan of Villainous AND lovecraft and it was just a pleasure to see. The link of the interview will be below, as tumblr doesn’t like facebook livestream embeds. 

Here are the most interesting questions and answers!

Will we ever see Kaleb in the show? That depends on us, the readers ;)

Kaleb was involved in Podemos Bailar but not out of his own volition. Circumstances forced him to be where he is right now. He basically was dragged into it.

In the next volume of BH’s book we'll know more of other characters that, like Kaleb, were trapped in the book.

The dialogues are what Alan put the most effort into because he wants each character to 'sound' different.

Alan loves references and takes inspiration from other media, he mentioned the little mermaid for the Huachi kingdom and lovecraft, for obvious reasons.

He has drawings of Tabet and Fuego but couldn’t fit them in the book because there were already too many pages. He also wanted to expand Kaleb and Nango’s romance more, but for the same reason he couldn’t.

BH keeps 505's original blueprints hidden; he seems to want to keep the process of his creation a secret. We kinda know why already, don't we? :)

The Hound actually is an entity that serves BH, he wasn't created by him nor is part of him. He's directly inspired by a lovecraftian creature that hunts its prey through dimensions and comes out of corners... My research says that this is the Hound of Tindalos!

Kaleb is 18-19 years old. He's been trapped in the book for 4-5 YEARS. Which means that Podemos Bailar has been training him to be a secret spy since before he was 13-14 years old... Either that, or he was 18-19 when trapped and he’d currently be 22-23. Alan didn’t specify. 

Alan also mentioned that's done on purpose because the show (and the ARG with Podemos Bailar) started in 2017! So, he was one of the first agents we saw infiltrating BHO, we finally know what happened!

Alan's always loved the cosmic terror as a kid and read the lovecraft books. He loves the concept of how humans react when facing the unknown, entities that escape their comprehension, something they cannot understand and go crazy when seeing.

Black Hat is obviously, no surprise here, one of these entities. Alan likes that the fans wonder why BH's doing what he's doing if he's so powerful.

Villainous came from that, from the idea of how a league of heroes would fare against one of these cosmic monstrosities, how they'd deal with it. Like for example if you put Superman in a lovecraftian book, what would he do?

Alan loves making fans investigate, and I adore that. I love that aspect of the show the most, it keeps me hooked even after 5 years.

Alan’s loving making these books because they aren't just episodes you see and that’s it, these books make you think and investigate things.

They talked about the say 'you're the villain in someone else's story' and the other way around as a hero. Alan was asked if BH is someone else's hero. He said he's dying to show us more of BH but for now, we'll have to wait and answer that question ourselves when we see it.

BH has the ability to trap people in objects. The question is, all those people he traps in objects, do they end up in the same dimension as we saw with Kaleb, or in a different one?

More crossovers apart from the V&V one are planned!

Again mentioned that an English dub for the episodes is being worked on!

Link of the interview in the source of the post!

[copperbadge]

The barrel tags - if that platform actually existed as you described - would also be really helpful for people who struggle with identifying their emotions, or do emotion tracking.

(Referring to my dream about a social media platform called Barrel that can tell what you’re thinking/feeling when you post something.)

Yes! I've been thinking about it almost nonstop really because -- like the tag only identifies what you're feeling (or sometimes doing), not the objective truth of it. So if you reblogged misinformation and didn't know it was misinformation it might get tagged like "angry" or "sad" because that's how you feel about the post, or even "sincere", but never "true" or "false". But it would still cut down on misinformation on the whole because anyone deliberately acting in bad faith would be tagged "lying" or "malevolent" since the app would identify that -- again not true-or-false but gauging the intent of the speaker.

So like if you were struggling with your sexuality and posted "I am gay" as a test, it couldn’t confirm or deny. It might tag you as "unsure" or "questioning" but might also tag you as "hopeful" which would still be helpful! And if you were just frustrated with your entire fucking life and posted to that effect...like...Barrel might tag you as hungry. And then you'd know. :D

Meanwhile you can be Barrelled whether you're on the app or not, so all someone has to do is Facebook-follow bad actors and then plug their own Facebook into Barrel, and they've immediately got a bead on whether, say, the FOX News anchor is genuinely angry, lying, or making shit up on purpose to stir the pot. And if you don't want to be Barrelled, you have the option to only post what you sincerely feel/believe, to post your lies anonymously and see it identified as such, or to get off social media. Which in its own way is a terrifying form of social control, like I'm not necessarily for that, but it does offer the option of reducing misinformation and hate speech while still allowing for anonymity and free expression.

There is actually a novel in this, somewhere, the idea of an app like Barrel simply coming into being -- all the other tech companies assume it's using some kind of facial-recognition or text-analysis algorithm to determine the person's emotions, but nobody knows for sure. Meanwhile very early on people have realized they can essentially use it to identify villains and shame them off the internet, and chaos ensues...

[hournites]

L*nce is going around taunting hournite shippers in his Facebook group by telling them that wanting Rick and Beth to become a couple because it’s comic canon means that they want Beth to also die because that’s comic canon. 

Not only is that logic SO grotesquely faulty (like ?????????), the way he is targeting and putting words in peoples mouths is manipulative, as though to want Rick and Beth together would be somewhat racist…? And if you genuinely BELIEVE that Hournite canon will cause Beth’s death because of villain who has already canonically turned to TOAST maybe you need to check yourself… there’s clearly other issues you’ve got at hand about why you don’t want them together if you’re going to grasp at straws that bad to victimize Beth over it.

It’s deliberately gross to tell fans of any character, but ESPECIALLY a POC, and ESPECIALLY MORE a WOC that their romantic happiness with a white love interest should cost them their life. I’ve heard this so many times for other interracial couples, not just Hournite with this right now, and it’s always by people who start bringing up the POC’s character death out of pocket. This is blatant racism. It is so disgusting and I’m truly sick of it. 

This man has an audience of over 12k people and that’s the message he wants to spread? And yet he wonders why Anjelika refuses to join his group or fall for his online harassment and agree to be interviewed by him. This man is a delusional attention-seeker, egotistic pathological liar, and an online harasser to the point actual crew and writers of various shows have tweeted outright that he makes their life difficult and do not want to talk to him or about him. 

1. Everything this man says and does is for clout. Every day it is a new lie (today it is pretending that he owned a $225,000 USD action figure that was never sold) and a new way to get more people to fall all over him and his “insider content” which he gets by sending other people to do stuff for him and then taking the credit for. He enabled the leak of the trailer, and then he leaked the “official episode titles” by exploiting the trust that other members in his brought to his attention and has absolutely no authority to have done so. 

2. Every time anyone so much as questions his judgement or logic they get the boot. So. Just keep in mind when you see his content to take it with a grain of salt, even if what he says is true, the way he is sourcing his info is unethical, unprofessional, and obnoxious. He truly does not deserve this much engagement. I think he has at least 7-10 of these facebook groups, if not more and comments on virtually every post with nonsense to stay relevant. I have never seen someone so madly desperately in need of attention. It’s about time he got blasted. 

[ur-favorite-queer-queen]

Internet Friends

For Maribat March day 4 theme internet friends

Master List

It was peaceful for once in the manor. Dick, Tim, Damian, Steph, Cass, and Babs were all in the living room doing their own thing. However peace cannot last forever and the silent atmosphere was interrupted by one Timothy Drake-Wayne. 

“Guys come check this out!” He exclaimed, his phone facing the others in the room. They all gathered around the phone, some more annoyed than others. On screen was a video and Tim hit play. 

It showed a girl with dark hair, blue eyes, and pale skin motioning for someone off screen to come over. There was music going on in the background and the girl was obviously getting impatient. The figure came on screen and they were all shocked to see it was Jason. Then at the top of the screen the words ‘Doing this trend with my overprotective best friend’ appeared and now they were very confused. Jason had never mentioned this girl before.

The music stopped and the girl repeated the lyrics “Look at my ass, look at my thighs” as she turned around. But before she could turn around Jason picked her up and carried her off screen before the video ended. 

“What was that?” Dick asked after a few seconds of silence. 

“It’s a trend on tik tok that girls usually do with their boyfriends, but in this case Jason and this girl are just best friends.” Steph answered. 

“How does Jason even know this girl?” Dick pointed out, asking the question that was on all of their minds. Unfortunately, no one, not even Tim, knew the answer. 

Cass then spoke up, “Watch more.” She grabbed Tim’s phone and played another video, however this time it was Jason holding the camera. He came over to the strange girl who looked to be baking something. She looked up at him weirdly, asking something that couldn’t be heard because of the audio playing, luckily they could read lips. 

‘What are you doing?’ She asked

Jason responded with ‘Just listen.’ 

She turned her attention to the camera as the lyrics “That’s my best friend, that’s my best friend” played. Jason was moving to the beat and that seemed to convince the girl to also move to the beat. The song continued with more lyrics playing “She’s not my girlfriend, she’s my best friend”. Then suddenly the lyrics “I just fuck her her from time to time” played and the girl whipped out her spoon and started whacking him on the head with it. She was screaming ‘LIES’ just before the video cut out. 

This led to them going on a spree of watching their tik toks. Apparently this was their shared account and both of them had separate accounts they planned to look at later. An hour had passed of them just watching their tik toks before they stumbled upon an intriguing one. The caption was ‘You guys asked for it, so I’ll explain. This is going to be my side of the story.’

It showed Margot, as they had found out her name was, sitting on her bed recording herself painting her nails a blood red as she talked. 

“Ok so you guys have been asking for this for a while so here it is. How I met Jason part one. And Jason will also be doing his side of the story, just so you’re aware, watch that after this. But this also takes place after the whole ‘Hawkmoth and Lila Incident’ so if you haven’t watched that storytime on my personal account, you should probably go do that.” 

One look at each other and they knew they were gonna look at the story afterwards. It was getting too good to leave now.

“So a long time ago I had a venting account on Instagram. Now I had many venting accounts, all with different usernames, including Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, all that good stuff but Instagram is where I met Jason. I posted something about how death could never stop me because I had died by the hands of an akuma before but ladybug’s cure brought me back to life. But then later on in the post I said something about how if this one boy, you all know who he is, couldn’t take a hint then I would rather let death take me than bother living in this mortal realm. Jason ended up seeing the post since we were following each other at the time and DMed me. Now he said and I quote ‘Yo, my username at the time, if you need me to come and beat this guys ass I would be more than happy too. I would gladly let death claim me as well without your shit posts to relate to.’” 

She had tried to make her voice sound deeper and had stopped painting her nails so she could do air quotes. “Looking back on it now, that is such a Jason thing to say, but at the time I was pretty confused and mildly concerned. And time’s up, part two will be posted right now.” 

“Wait, what the heck is an akuma and ladybug’s cure and why did she die from it!?!?!” Dick shouted once the video ended. 

“Dick you don’t know what she’s talking about?” Babs asked in disbelief. 

“Tt, Grayson, and I thought you were one of the smart ones in this family.” Damian scoffed. 

“Does everyone here, but me, know what she's talking about?” Dick questioned, getting yes and nods from everyone in the room.

“Okay Dick,” Tim began, “This is gonna be pretty unbelievable and complicated so I’ll try to explain it as best I can in a short amount of time so we can finish her side of the story before dinner. So while I’m explaining don’t interrupt me.” 

He waited for Dick to nod his head before continuing. “There are jewelry called miraculous that house mini gods that grant powers to whoever has the jewelry. Each miraculous houses a different god thus a different power. Miraculous themselves, including the gods bound to them, are neutral so they can be used for good or evil depending on who wields them. 

Hawkmoth and Mayura used the butterfly and peacock miraculouses for evil purposes and were basically emotional terrorists to the people of Paris. Hawkmoth was able to send out a butterfly with magic to a person feeling negative emotions and manipulate them to do his bidding. These butterflies and villains created by the butterflies were called akumas. If you were or became an akuma you were akumatized. Mayura was able to send out a feather with magic that also used negative emotions to create a monster that aided the akuma. The feathers were called amuks and the monsters were called sentimonsters. 

That was when the heroes Ladybug and Chat Noir also came along and fought Hawkmoth. Ladybug had the ladybug miraculous which granted her the power of lucky charm and miraculous ladybug. Lucky charm gave her an item needed to defeat the akuma and miraculous ladybug reversed all the damage a fight caused. She also had the task of purifying the akuma, turning it back into a butterfly. Chat Noir had the black cat miraculous which granted the power of cataclysm, which made it so he could destroy anything he touched. The 2 worked as a team for around a year before they brought in other temporary heroes who are not that important. Eventually all their temp heroes’ identities were outed and they could no longer use them so they were back to square one. 

However many people noticed that Chat Noir was not taking his job as seriously, he began sitting out battles, flirting with ladybug while there was an akuma, and even getting civilians killed, relying too heavily on ladybug’s cure. We’re not exactly sure what happened, we assumed she snapped because one akuma attack Chat Noir was not there. Instead, there was a whole new team of miraculous wielders including Murder Hornet wielder of the bee miraculous who had the power venom which let her temporarily paralize her opponent, Red Illusion wielder of the fox miraculous who had the power mirage which let him create illusions, Peridot Protector wielder of the turtle miraculous who had the power shelter which allowed him to create indestructible shields, Medusa wielder of the snake miraculous who had the power second chance which allowed her to reset the time line as many times as needed to win the battle, Mustang wielder of the horse miraculous who had the power voyage which let him create portals, and a new black cat holder, Midnight. 

The team took 6 months to defeat Hawkmoth and Mayura, who turned out to be Gabriel Agreste and Natalie Sancour. The Justice League tried to recruit them but they all wanted to live normal lives. Ladybug still checks in every 3-6 months to reassure everyone she still has all the miraculous. I don’t blame them, especially Ladybug, for wanting a normal life. This whole thing started when they were around 13 and ended when they were around 17.”

Tim then clicked on part two of her story, not even waiting for Dick to recover from the huge information dump. 

It was the exact same place she was at in part one, and she was still painting her nails the same shade of blood red. “Okay guys part two of how Jason and I met. If you didn’t watch part one go watch then return to this one. So picking up where we left off I Dmed him back and we ended up having a very long conversation about murder, people not understanding the word no, and spineless cowards. This went on for quite a while of us just messaging each other and eventually we gave each other our emails and then phone numbers. I gave him my phone number just before I moved out of Paris. After like 6 months of texting we planned to meet up at some park in New York that was near the apartment I lived at at the time. Now in hindsight that was a very dumb move on my part so to all the kids watching don’t go meeting up with strangers you meet on the internet. Do as I say not as I did. I almost regretted my decision to meet up with him because he is intimidating as hell! He’s like over 6 foot tall, with muscles the size of my head! I honestly thought that I had put myself in a very bad situation but thankfully he was just as nice in real life like he was over text. We ended up hanging out a lot more and long story short we’re best friends!” 

It was at this point that she looked directly into the camera with a glare that could rival Batman’s, stating, “Literally just best friends to all the people who think shipping us is okay!” And just like that, it was gone, “Anyways see you guys next video, bye!” 

And with that the video ended and the Wayne children, minus Jason obviously, were left wondering how they missed the fact Jason had a female best friend. One where they declared their friendship on the internet nonetheless!

“Well that was certainly something.” Steph commented. 

“Yeah, who knew Jason could have a non hero friend that we didn’t know about.” Tim joked. 

“So are we gonna watch Jason’s part?” Dick asked. 

“I don’t think we have time for that, but we can watch it after dinner.” Tim suggested, “Alfred is probably on his way to get us right now.”

“Tt, what do we do now?” Damian questioned. 

It was then that Cass stole Tim’s phone and started to play a new tik tok. And it showed Margot trying to teach Jason how to do the WAP dance. They were never letting him hear the end of this.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am literally so sorry for that huge information dump with the miraculous. I did not expect to get that carried away while writing and by the time I realized it, it was too late and I had to post. Honestly because of how much I wrote I will probably use the miraculous holders names in a future fic, cause I’m lazy. :P Also if you wanna guess their identities feel free to! Anyways tomorrows prompt fic thing will be like a prequel for this one, it’s basically why Marinette now goes by Margot and why she lived/lives in New York. The prompt “Betrayal" will be connected to this as well. :)  Also sorry this was posted so late, I had things to do, that I still need to do...I hate procrastination

@maribatmarch-2k21

[bittersweetcandybowl]

ik this is FAR from being a new development, but how do you handle all the grown adults screaming in the comments at fictional teenage cats?? sometimes I forget how bad it is and then a dramatic arc starts and suddenly everyone's taking the characters' actions personally as if the cast is reading the comments after each page is posted lmao. and then they demonize the shit out of the cast for not being perfect, like...??? does it take a toll on you or are you just used to it at this point? :(

Oliver: As community moderators we want to keep things welcoming and inclusive of divergent viewpoints when feelings get intense.

This is often at odds with the way people behave — tribes emerge, memes are deployed, and all of a sudden you’re reading every page with “Mike is awful” or “Lucy is awful” glasses, loudly proclaiming how objectively correct you are, forming bonds with your compatriots and rallying against the dissenters. Making good friends! But scaring off everyone else as you do so.

And various troublesome habits can spice it up and make it even harder to maintain a healthy space — personal experiences can make for extreme opinions that are basically unassailable without demeaning the person sharing them, therapyspeak can lend unwarranted scientific certainty to the diagnosis of this or that Bad Teenager, etc and etc.

It seems that the more time people connect with each other, the more likely people are to take sides and stop listening to others. I think the Patreon commenters are pretty good. But on Facebook and on Discord, battle lines are drawn and people start to lose that spirit of generosity and openness to others that I think makes for a good community. It’s hard and we need to do better shaping those discussions.

As authors following public reactions, it’s easy to say “wow, it’s great that people are going apeshit!! Shows they really care!” but there’s a fair bit more to it than that.

Bittersweet Candy Bowl isn’t supposed to be a black-and-white morality tale where there’s a Designated Bad One To Hate, so it does feel like a bit of a storytelling failure when a bunch of readers can’t connect with a character who's intended to be multifaceted and relatable. In some sense, extreme opinions can hurt, and it makes you think “oh, did we fuck this one up?”

So the hope is that people who have demonised a character will eventually come around. They’re just emotional. Consumed in the moment. Or maybe not a good fit for a story like this? There’s a few spicier alternatives I also keep in mind, too, but it starts to sound infantilising to air those out, I guess. But in the end, we gauge how we’re doing by hearing from those who engage with the story thoughtfully. And who like the sort of stories we like.

And as a simple comic reader, someone who loves the characters and likes talking about them... well, it's just fun that so many takes are out there, isn't it? I like reading people flesh out interpretations that align with mine. I like reading challenges from people who have different takes and seeing if they give me reason to rethink things. The intensity of it all doesn't matter to me so much as the volume of thoughtful, considered commentary. And for BCB, there's a lot!

Veronica: My basic stance when it comes to this is that you’re allowed to hate a character.. you’re allowed to hate them a lot, in fact! But it gets out of hand when you hate a character so much that you’re judgemental about other readers who don’t hate that character, and use words to imply there is something morally bad about those people. That’s when it becomes less analysing characters in a comic to personally attacking other readers.

“Mike has been horrible to Lucy and that’s why I hate him” is different from “Mike has been horrible to Lucy and that’s why I side-eye the people who relate to him..”, this is made even worse when words like “abuser” and “manipulator” are used. You don’t know the other readers! You don’t know their history! You don’t know why they might empathise with Mike!

At the end of the day, BCB doesn’t have villains. Mike doesn’t make mistakes because it’s his life goal to hurt Lucy, but that being said, you’re allowed to hate him! That’s not what the issue is! Just be mindful of who you might be targeting when it comes to implying there’s something wrong with you if you even have a semblance of empathy for Mike, and that goes for any other controversial character.

[writernomore]

Villain x Gn!Reader

Imagine getting severely injured you and your teammates try to fight this villain who planned to kill all of humanity with a device and there is no possible way to stop him.

You try to protect your friends because their as equally as injured as you are and finally you drop to the ground as the villain laughs of victory, due to your injuries you can't get up again.

Seeing you fall your friends gather together and escape, fleeting without you as you watch in confusion why tour friends are leaving without you, one of them glances behind them and furrows their brows but turn their head back and run out.

You struggle to get up because you took the blow from them fighting the villain personally since it seemed like your job to protect them, seeing this the villain looks down at you with an unreadable expression.

You stop struggling, and just let sleep take over you as your eyes blur with tears as they fall to the thought of your friends leaving you behind and not coming back to get you.

Maybe taking a nap would be okay....

Then you wake up in an unfamiliar room, sitting up with caution you see that your wounds were attended to and you're all bandaged up, your abdomen wrapped with bandages and you feel some bandages on your face, you were wearing a button up that only had 2 of the buttons unbuttoned it wasn't to tight or loose on you so you didn't bother buttoning it up.

Your clothes were torn when you went on your mission with your friends so it was nice of the person to change your clothes, the dread washed over you as you remembered of the past events with your teammates leaving you to die and the villain proceeding to kill all of humanity.

But they were still alive so then did that mean that the villain-

And in cue that someone opened the door, they looked up then tensed up to see who was there at the door, it was them! The villain!

.....but they were in civilian clothes and didn't adorn that mask they wore, holding a tray of food the villain just stared at them with a stoic expression "Oh, your awake good thing you didn't die, don't want a dead person in my room now don't we?" They said as they smirked walking to you.

You were on high alert and on guard confused and unaware what their objectives were, why didn't they just press the button and got things over with?

They furrowed their eyebrows even more as they watch the villain sit down on a chair next to the bed and placed the tray on their lap stirring the soup with a spoon, now that they look at them without the mask their eyes were really pretty and their face too the scars complementing their face features.

"Why am I still alive?" you asked.

"Hm?" they hummed looking up at you.

"Why didn't you just leave me there to bleed and proceed with your 'master plan'? " You said raising your hands to gesture to the word.

"Hmm... I don't know, but I think I should just keep you as a pet for entertainment." They said nonchantly.

You froze up, seeing this they bursted into laughter and threw their head back, after waiting for their laughter to die down they swipe a tear and pick up the soup and get a spoonful of it and point it at you, you look down at it and then back at them.

"I didn't poison it I promise." They smirk.

You look down and went to hesitantly eat it, surprisingly it was good and wasn't poisoned.

You didn't know why your alive right or the rest of humanity at that point but you'll figure it out soon enough as soon as you recover and figure out his intentions with you.

-----------------

This was randomly made when I was doing some stuff on the laptop and the idea just suddenly appeared I wanted to share this because I posted this on facebook at first.

Also the Villain can also be you want to be it can be anyone or you can just make up a random look that would suit them.

Potentially enemies to lovers, anyways this was just kind of a self insert?? Anyways Villain uses they/them pronouns and the self insert is gender neutral with they/them pronouns too!

Villain can be a girl or boy your choice.Imagine getting severely injured you and your teammates try to fight this villain who planned to kill all of humanity with a device and there is no possible way to stop him.

You try to protect your friends because their as equally as injured as you are and finally you drop to the ground as the villain laughs of victory, due to your injuries you can't get up again.

Seeing you fall your friends gather together and escape, fleeting without you as you watch in confusion why tour friends are leaving without you, one of them glances behind them and furrows their brows but turn their head back and run out.

You struggle to get up because you took the blow from them fighting the villain personally since it seemed like your job to protect them, seeing this the villain looks down at you with an unreadable expression.

You stop struggling, and just let sleep take over you as your eyes blur with tears as they fall to the thought of your friends leaving you behind and not coming back to get you.

Maybe taking a nap would be okay....

Then you wake up in an unfamiliar room, sitting up with caution you see that your wounds were attended to and you're all bandaged up, your abdomen wrapped with bandages and you feel some bandages on your face, you were wearing a button up that only had 2 of the buttons unbuttoned it wasn't to tight or loose on you so you didn't bother buttoning it up.

Your clothes were torn when you went on your mission with your friends so it was nice of the person to change your clothes, the dread washed over you as you remembered of the past events with your teammates leaving you to die and the villain proceeding to kill all of humanity.

But they were still alive so then did that mean that the villain-

And in cue that someone opened the door, they looked up then tensed up to see who was there at the door, it was them! The villain!

.....but they were in civilian clothes and didn't adorn that mask they wore, holding a tray of food the villain just stared at them with a stoic expression "Oh, your awake good thing you didn't die, don't want a dead person in my room now don't we?" They said as they smirked walking to you.

You were on high alert and on guard confused and unaware what their objectives were, why didn't they just press the button and got things over with?

They furrowed their eyebrows even more as they watch the villain sit down on a chair next to the bed and placed the tray on their lap stirring the soup with a spoon, now that they look at them without the mask their eyes were really pretty and their face too the scars complementing their face features.

"Why am I still alive?" you asked.

"Hm?" they hummed looking up at you.

"Why didn't you just leave me there to bleed and proceed with your 'master plan'? " You said raising your hands to gesture to the word.

"Hmm... I don't know, but I think I should just keep you as a pet for entertainment." They said nonchantly.

You froze up, seeing this they bursted into laughter and threw their head back, after waiting for their laughter to die down they swipe a tear and pick up the soup and get a spoonful of it and point it at you, you look down at it and then back at them.

"I didn't poison it I promise." They smirk.

You look down and went to hesitantly eat it, surprisingly it was good and wasn't poisoned.

You didn't know why your alive right or the rest of humanity at that point but you'll figure it out soon enough as soon as you recover and figure out his intentions with you.

-----------------

This was randomly made when I was doing some stuff on the laptop and the idea just suddenly appeared I wanted to share this because I posted this on facebook at first.

Also the Villain can also be you want to be it can be anyone or you can just make up a random look that would suit them.

Potentially enemies to lovers, anyways this was just kind of a self insert?? Anyways Villain uses they/them pronouns and the self insert is gender neutral with they/them pronouns too!

Villain can be a girl or boy your choice.Imagine getting severely injured you and your teammates try to fight this villain who planned to kill all of humanity with a device and there is no possible way to stop him.

-----------------

This was randomly made when I was doing some stuff on the laptop and the idea just suddenly appeared I wanted to share this because I posted this on facebook at first.

Also the Villain can also be you want to be it can be anyone or you can just make up a random look that would suit them.

Potentially enemies to lovers, anyways this was just kind of a self insert?? Anyways Villain uses they/them pronouns and the self insert is gender neutral with they/them pronouns too!

Villain can be a girl or boy your choice.

***********************************************************

Anyways, time to post this here on tumblr because I literally forgot to post it after a while of it staying on Ko-fi.

The donate button looks pretty, it would just be 3 dollars to give one coffee and it would be such a big help because it could be exchanged to my countries currency, It's okay if you guys don't want to donate just getting feedback about my writing would be enough because it would help me grow as a writer.

[bobbystompy]

65 Quotes I Enjoyed From 2021

Below are my favorite quotes from 2021. Though most occurred throughout the year, some took place before but were encountered during.

1) “I try not to say never or always” - Julie Emery

2) “My phone eats last” - Brian Bedford

3) “I may be old, but I’m still a baby” - Brendan Kelly

4)

5) 

6) “There will always be villains. There will always be heroes.” - @RaeMargaret61

7) “Yesterday was horseshit for what happened and today will be horseshit for what will not.” - Drew Magary, on the January 6th capitol insurrection

8) “I love that which doesn’t exist.” - Pharrell Williams, on creating

9) “So Trump has access to the nuclear codes but he can't Tweet or post to Facebook.” - Andrew Ross Sorkin

10) “To not even wear a mask when it would protect your identity while committing crimes is so fucking funny” - @metalgearobama

11) “Sweet can be had anywhere” - The Night Of, on finding enjoyment in prison

12) “There's literally nothing wrong with just showing up, doing the absolute bare minimum of your job, and leaving.” - @butsh_feygele

13) “I answer the phone, but I don’t dial.” - Brian Bedford

14)

15) “Most of what America is now is just boxes going back and forth.” - Family Guy

16) “I've spent at least 12% of my day deciding whether it's Wednesday or Thursday.” - Jason Benetti

17) “You clean your room and suddenly anything is possible” - @manlikerex

18) “I love the stock market because when it goes up we get nothing, but when it goes down, we all lose our jobs. Except during a pandemic, when it goes up and we still lose our jobs” - @yeoldedad

19) “If you’re the most interesting person in the room, there’s no reason to shut up.” - Brendan Kelly

20) "There are no atheists in foxholes” - Unknown (via Greg Barnett’s journal)

21) 

22) “"Legacy’ is the most misused word in sports. Legacy is what you leave behind, not what you achieve. Serena's legacy isn't 23 Grand Slam titles, it's Naomi Osaka.” - J.A. Adande

23) “It gets late early out there” - Yogi Berra

24) “The last generation of Americans that will be remotely secure in their retirement, who enjoyed prosperity their grandkids won’t, have decided they’d rather spend their last years seething and terrified about cable news bullshit.” - David Roth

25) “Maybe death has a way of darkening a room before it leads you away.” - Aaron Gilbreath

26) 

27) “You can’t muck when you’re getting bucked” - Tate Frazier

28) “Only thoughts reached by walking have value.” - Frederich Nietzsche

29) 

30) “If you’re late to the game, goodbye” - Tracy Cunningham, on being late to the game

31) “When you find gold, you don’t go looking for silver.”

32) “A bad quality is not a quality.” - Eddie Lichstein

33) “I don’t die on oddly chosen hills so much as I live alone on them.” - Drew Magary

34) “I’m a gulper, not a sipper” - Anthony Bourdain, on fancy coffee

35) “Don't forget that most men with nothing would rather protect the possibility of becoming rich than face the reality of being poor” - 1776

36) “Writing a novel is most like writing lyrics, as far as music goes. When I write lyrics, I sit down and start throwing out abstract ideas. Then they slowly form into something coherent after lots of things have been discarded. Writing a book is like that. A series of failures molded into a narrative made out of the dross that floats on top of all the crap. Salinger said something (vaguely) like, ‘You have to be really tortured to write a book, because it is so hard.’ Meaning, you have to have something driving you. It's a long, problem-laden marathon, where a set of lyrics is more of a run around Lake Merritt. However, the actual tussling is more or less the same.

I don’t know if my musical background helped me. I have always made some kind of art and in a way it always seems like the same thing. You just make it because you’re an alien and that’s what you are good at. I am wired for this activity. I say that without any pretensions of being ‘special’ or anything. More like being sort of fucked, as far as the world’s priorities are concerned.” - Jesse Michaels, on writing his first book

37) "Don't spend a lot of time imagining the worst-case scenario. It rarely goes down as you imagine it will, and if by some fluke it does, you will have lived it twice." - Michael J. Fox

38) “This thing, on this scale, with this level of visibility and prestige, is simply not something that anything but a terminal culture would produce.” - Chris Thompson, on Space Jam: A New Legacy

39) “I’m not a crier, I am moved easily” - Julie Emery

40) “I never have, and never will, say no to brunch” - Dave Rokos

41) “We may have whiffed it pretty hard on the pandemic when it was very clear what to do, but now that there are a bunch of nuances and caveats, I think we’re gonna crush it” - Sarah Lazarus

42) “We came to El Bulli without a spirit, and we left with a soul” - No Reservations

43) “As long as I have lived, any coach who has used the phrase ‘disrespect the game’ have NEVER been worth a shit.” - Drew Magary

44) “The job of the newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”

45) "I believe I read somewhere in a Chinese proverb 'Whenever you have the chance to watch the sunset, take it. It might be your last'. I do this because it reminds me how fast time goes. If you don’t believe me, just watch the last 60 seconds of one. I'm tired of wasting time worrying about what people think of me, self doubt, and fear. I’d rather trade all that in for a purpose driven life." - Michael K. Williams

46) “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”

47) 

48) “Everything we say at funerals we should say at birthday parties instead.

We leave so much love unspoken.”

49) “Gambling is a disease, but it's the only disease where you can win a bunch of money.” - Norm Macdonald

50) “I’m pretty sure, I’m not a doctor, but I’m pretty sure if you die, the cancer dies at the same time. That’s not a loss. That’s a draw.” - Norm Macdonald

51) “One day, I was high on mushrooms, and I convinced myself I was the Internet” - Vic Mensa

52) “Words are the first step on the road to deeds” - Liz Lemon, 30 Rock

53) “Joy is so rarely untainted by other emotions” - Catherine Whitaker, on Emma Raducanu’s U.S. Open title

54) “There are no rules when you’re flying this high” - RossWB, on undefeated Iowa (before the wheels very much fell off)

55) “To be interesting, you have to be interested.”

56) “Damage is quick, recovery is long.” - Brian Cook

57) 

58) “Don’t accept criticism from someone you wouldn’t accept advice from.”

59) “Every writer either quits drinking or dies from it.” - Drew Magary

60) “Most rappers die in their own city” - Lil Boosie

61) "You invite more love into your world, you're bound to invite more loss at some point." - Drew Magary

62) “Finally dad, finally!” - Nicolle Oldenburg, on Michigan football’s victory over Ohio State after a 10 year drought

63) I’m glad somebody understands marriage.

“I understand it because I know how to ruin it.” - Z.W. Martin

64) “The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time of moral crisis preserve their neutrality.” - Dante

65) “If you're just operating by habit, then you’re not really living” - Andre, My Dinner With Andre

[melodyalanaroster]

My Candy Love Love Life Episode 14

Yeah, I know, I’m nearly a week late on this... I’ve got a lot on my plate.... Those of you in my Discord know what, so I’m not gonna go into detail unless someone asks me directly. This post is a little long. It goes in depth into my opinion of my playthrough and my theories about the future. Honestly, this episode seemed rather short and uneventful. Yes, I know, Candy essentially loses the Cozy Bear in the end, and if the player chooses the bad end, she loses the Love Interests.... But it still really didn’t do much for me. Now, for those of you who don’t know, I accidentally lowered my affinity with Nathaniel in Episode 12, I did re-raise it within my first couple of choices in this episode and kept it raised. As for the outfits... I am not against them... I think the whole “flag” theme to the pants is cool and I love the black shirt. I love that the second outfit is free and that the only real choice for the outfits is “Which extra illustration do you want?”. As much as I love how hot Rayan looks in his extra illustration, I, of course, chose the extra Nathaniel illustration. I’m REALLY glad this cool black top is part of it! I had forgotten that I took Dan up on his offer in previous episodes... However, it was just an oral agreement. My brain has been kind of fried these past few months, due to my IRL issues, so I really don’t remember what I did... Just that I got Nina’s illustration from the episode where Dan proposes it. When Dan tried to bring me down with him, Candy stated that it was just an oral agreement, then Nathaniel became relieved... I asked the girls in my Discord and they think that I agreed to Dan’s proposal, but went with the option of having a lawyer look at the agreement. With Dan and his desire to use Candy, I found that fascinating. His original intent was to use her for his personal gain and then eventually throw her under the bus. However, when he realized that her love of art was as sincere as his, he grew to see her more as a comrade and felt guilty for using her. This was kind of endearing... To go from “You stupid girl, you’re an easy target.” to “Your passion for art is the same as mine, I feel guilty for what I’m doing to you.” is always interesting to see. Yes, he is the villain of her story in this case, but, he does feel remorse. I went with the option that angered Eric. Frankly, I’m annoyed with myself for not lowering his affinity more... But, I tried to play nice with him in early episodes because of his friendship with Nathaniel. Its what I do. I try to be nice to my darling’s friends so that there is little to no friction.  The point where Candy was crying in front of Sweet Amoris did seem like a healthy dose of foreshadowing.... But, until Episode 15 comes out, I won’t have anything else to back that up. However, I am not the least bit surprised that she will likely lose the Cozy Bear. It does not seem like the café is her ultimate goal. There must be more to it. The scene with Miss Paltry was interesting... I get that she was upset with Rayan but she more or less used Marina as a means of getting back at him for being what she deemed as “inappropriate”. Now, I hated the Marina situation from all sides, and I was only nice about her because of Chani and Rayan. But, damn... You’d think a woman in Miss Paltry’s situation would be more mature about it. I really want to know what he did or didn’t do to her to make her go on this crusade against him. I picked the option that keeps Rayan at Anteros. I didn’t see Hyun, Priya or Castiel this episode. But, I did see Auntie. As much as I love Castiel, and wouldn’t mind seeing the other LIs... I understand why I didn’t see them. Rayan’s arc needed closure, so we saw him even if you’re not on his route. The other routes were somewhat tied up with bows, so you didn’t really need to see them if you’re not on their paths. Now, to the main course... Nathaniel. Firstly, I HATE his last name. Carello just does not fit him the way Jacott does. If you don’t know where Jacott comes from, there is an old Facebook post that Beemoov made of Amber naming her as “Amber Jacott”. We all assumed that Jacott would be Nathaniel’s last name. Hell, I’ve even written it several times throughout Alana’s Canon. Some people assume that Jacott is Francis’ last name, that Carello is Adelaide’s maiden name and that Nathaniel must have changed his last name to his mother’s in an effort to distance himself from his father... However, Beemoov is known to be very inconsistent.... This is probably just another one of Beemoov’s MANY inconsistencies.  Nathaniel you beautiful bastard, I love you so much! There are many points in this episode where I just want to kiss him! Each time he called me little pet names, and smiled, I just melted! Now, I am a loyal girlfriend, and Nathaniel is no exception to that. I did not cheat on him. I’m also an honest girlfriend, and was more than happy to tell him about Eric’s advances. Of course, he has full right to be angry with Eric. However, Candy does have a point. Eric’s advances are probably a side effect from all of the drama, stress, and strain he’s been going through... Even if he did cause all of it... Nathaniel’s sweetness and appreciation for our honesty always moves me. While the moment left me craving more, that’s how I always am with this moments. This moment was not disappointing. I am very happy with it. The emotion, the illustration, the ending, it was all very loving... As usual, I just wish there was MORE.... I have heard that Episode 15 will be the final episode of Love Life. I really hope that, if there is a Season 4, we will FINALLY marry our love interest. I hope we get to meet the other LI’s parents. Yes, I know, we’ve already met Nathaniel’s and Castiel’s parents, but, in game, we haven’t seen them in nearly a decade. We’ve seen a lot of Hyun’s parents, but have never seen Priya’s or Rayan’s. I also want to see Amber again. I also REALLY want Nathaniel to finally get the therapy he so desperately needs! I also think that the game might come full circle and have Candy become an art teacher at Sweet Amoris. If we get a Season 4, it will likely be the final season of MCL and it will be very cliché, yet appropriate, for it to come full circle. I feel like the next season may be called Married Life.... Or, at least, I hope it is....

[butmakeitgayblog]

So... I was trying to expand my group of Clexa-loving friends.

This Facebook, “We Are Wonkru” group, I joined had a poll of which “villain” should have been eliminated in some stupid poll they had going on.

They had THE AUDACITY to include Anya in the “villain” group alongside Pike, Emerson, A.L.I.E., McCreary, Ontari, and a few other post season 5 villains...

I just....

Dude like...

ANYA WAS NOT A VILLAIN

Am I wrong??? What are your thoughts?

Fuck no Anya wasn't a villain 😒

I'm gonna preface this by saying based on that alone I don't trust that group, but I digress. In what goddamn world is Anya a villain? You're talking about a woman whose village was destroyed because the little dipshits burned it down. Accident or not, still gone. And she didn't know it was by accident, for all she knew it was cold blooded murder. The 100 kids were idiots and in any sane person's mind, invaders. Unwitting or not, unknowing or not, they were invaders. And even when they did realize there were people, they still felt entitled to just claim ownership over land that wasn't fucking theirs. We literally make movies about evil aliens from outer space coming down and trying to take over earth, and how we earthly beings fight them and their invasions off in heroic battles, but because the little fuckers were the main characters all of a sudden the people opposed to having their land and life taken over and DESTROYED are now the bad guys? Gtfoh with that nonsense (them, not you)

Beyond that, Anya was smart. She didn't trust until she felt she had a reason to. And she changed her opinions based on new information when it was presented to her (something few in this world do because of pride). She did end up wanting to work with Clarke. She wanted to form that alliance when she decided Clarke could be trusted, but the dumbass colonizers killed her because that's what they did best: ruin fucking everything.

Just so we are 100% clear, the Arkers were the villains in this plot. Everywhere they went they destroyed and took over people's way of life with the justification that they were so much more civilized and advanced and moral and reasonable than everyone else so reeeeally they were helping them by invading. *Stares at camera* Sounds familiar huh😒. People who fall for that superhero/savior complex when it comes to Clarke and all the people from the Ark are completely missing the reality of what actually happened in that show.

Anya was a victim. Lincoln was a victim. Hell even Indra was a victim because she was forced to either assimilate to the Arkers way or die because the Arkers were invaders.

Lord knows I will love clexa till my dying day but in the same breath I have to say if Anya had just killed all the skyrats when they came down I wouldn't have blamed her for a second

[nanowrimo]

Building Naturally Diverse Characters

How do you know that you’re writing diverse characters, not only for the sake of having numbers but because they add to your plot? We asked NaNo Participant K. Lawrence her opinion.

Characters deserve to be well-rounded, multi-faceted individuals. This is true no matter whether your character has a disability or what sexuality, gender, race, or age your character is. This post focuses on character creation as a whole because, when done right, diversity should naturally find its way into your writing.

Writing Character Bios:

Character bios are a great way to get a feel for who your characters are. Bios can list whatever you like, from physical traits to things like drives and desires. Your character does not exist in isolation of course, and just like real life their upbringing and location can shape their personality. Your initial idea for your story will also play a part in molding each character as you will have certain things your character needs to do and they will require certain traits to see them through.

So, how does this feed into a diverse cast of characters? Giving each character a bio forces you to think of more than one aspect of their character and will pull you away from the major pitfalls of writing characters who are not like you, like falling into stereotypes or one-dimensional, one issue characters. Even if the plot focuses on your character coming out or a struggle faced by a specific group please remember that your characters are more than avatars created to discuss those issues.

Treating Your Characters With Respect:

Research anything you are unsure of. Ask questions. But remember the experience of one person who happens to be the same race, sexuality, or gender as your character does not equate to the experiences of all people in that group. If you do write something that gets a negative reaction from the group the character belongs to then listen to what they are saying, understand why they are saying it. There is no shame in making a mistake with anything in your writing as long as you learn from it.

It can be really simple, seemingly harmless things like your villain being the only character who is agender or making any characters with disabilities perfect, overly nice people with no negative traits that may hurt the most. Be mindful of who you are picking for each role in your book and ask yourself why you are making those choices.

Don't forget that having diverse characters is more than a numbers game. Filling your story with every different kind of person you can think of will not only harm your story and make it unrealistic but could come off as offensive. Characters should have a purpose, whether that is as your main character or the doctor they happen to meet once in your story, and even the bit parts should have a bit of substance behind them.

Writing a diverse cast of characters doesn't have to be hard. Just be respectful of where your characters come from, remember your research, and stay true to who your main character is and who they would realistically come into contact with based on the location and time period of your story. Though it may seem daunting to write outside what you know, please make the effort to include diverse characters. Your writing will be more realistic and richer for it.

K. Lawrence is a writer, live streamer, and artist from the North East of Scotland and is the author of the novel, The Raven and The Nightingale. She also has short stories published in various erotica and horror anthologies, all of which can be found on Amazon. She lives with her husband, son, and a ginger and white cat called Jerry. When not writing or painting, K.Lawrence enjoys listening to music and meeting friends.You can find her on Twitch, Instagram, Facebook, and Amazon.

Photo licensed through Creative Commons by Davide Taviani.