#who deals with my bullshit

[batfambrainrotbeloved]

CHAPTER FOURTEEEN IS HEREEEEE

AY AY- BEFORE YOU STARVIN VICTORIAN KIDS GO- REAL QUICK-

GO GIVE SOME LOVE TO MY BETA ✨ @op-sys-chaos✨

WHO OWES SO MUCH CREDIT MORE THAN I CAN SAY I OWE THEM SEVERAL KIDNEYS (accepting donations to pay my debt :) BUT GO GIVE THEM SOME SUGAR

[suddenly-frankenstein]

uhmhmhmmm just occasional thoughts about Daniel's interaction with Marius

[bigfatbreak]

Wait a minute…papa Tom doesn’t seem too hostile towards Nathalie. Or at least she doesn’t seem nervous/blackmailed. Does Tom not know her past allegiances or…is there an alliance in play?

Viceroy employs many in his arsenal, and as far as Nathalie is concerned, Tom is a coworker. :)

[misternibbs]

shitty comic that doesn't really mean much WOOOOOOO happy new year

I'm glad I have something to look forward to.

[gunsatthaphan]

#attaboy.

[expectiations]

The Doctor does NOT and has NEVER loved River Song (And If You Think Otherwise, You Must Be Watching a Different Show)

Listen, folks. It’s time to face the facts. The Doctor has NEVER loved River Song. Not even a little bit. And I have 17 rock-solid, completely canonical, absolutely not contradictory reasons to prove it:

He only took her to Calderon Beta to show her the starriest night in the universe on her first night in space jail, which was also their honeymoon night. A night that is literally impossible to replicate with anyone else ever again. But no, not romantic. At. All. Just two people who happen to be married, spending a totally meaningless night under the stars.

He only stuck around for the mystery of her and once it was solved, he… checks notes …continued planning elaborate dates, risked his life for her, wrote her poetry, spent centuries in her company, and doing domestics with her. But yeah. Definitely just a phase.

He kept an entire diary to track their time together. But that’s normal, right? Just an intergalactic, timey-wimey version of a Google Calendar for the woman he definitely does not feel any sort of romance for.

He was willing to let all of time and space collapse just so they could have a linear married life. You know, because that’s what you do for a woman you have no strong romantic feelings for whatsoever.

He planned intricate dates just for her, dressed up for the occasion despite usually looking like a sentient pile of laundry, and bought her custom-tailored outfits so they could match. You know, just friendly little outings. Buddies. Chums. Mates.

Whenever she calls, he comes. No matter the situation, no matter how much danger he’s in, he drops everything and rushes to her side. He’s probably just really into checking his voicemail.

He wrote her love poetry. But, like, strictly in a platonic way. Just some totally neutral iambic pentameter for the fun of it.

Despite being universally known for his terrible time management, he is always perfectly on time for her. Which, of course, doesn’t mean anything. He just suddenly became a scheduling genius when she was around.

He keeps asking her to travel with him. Like, repeatedly. Like, he can’t take the hint that she has a life outside of running around in space. Almost like he wants her there. But that would be ridiculous.

The entire universe knows that the easiest way to lure the Doctor into a trap is to put River in danger. Because he will always come for her. But that’s not love. That’s just… reflexes.

He “only” took her to Darillium because he was lonely. And then, in an act of sheer, meaningless, absolutely not-love-driven desperation, he spent 24 years (and more) being domestic with her. Just hanging out. Not a big deal.

He built a whole planet just so they could have a little more time together. You know, because nothing says "total indifference" like terraforming an entire celestial body.

An entire archipelago, famously known as "The Lovers Dreaming Island", exists where the islands literally form the shape of their intertwined bodies. That’s just standard planet-building, really. All geography is accidental.

He physically defied the laws of the universe to hold onto her data ghost. The whole "ghosts can’t be touched" thing? He literally said, "Mmm, no thanks" then proceeded to french kiss her goodbye. But that’s really just the kind of farewell you give to someone you were forced to be with.

He keeps a spare TARDIS key inside a book called The Time Traveler’s Wife. No significance whatsoever. Probably just the only book lying around.

Her words gave him hope when nothing else could. Her voice became his mantra. But no, not love. Just, you know, some lady saying things.

But yeah, sure, he never loved her. The universe must be wrong. The Doctor must be wrong. The literal geography of an archipelago must be wrong. The foundations of time itself must be wrong. Or… maybe the Doctor is just the most emotionally repressed idiot in the cosmos, and we’ve all spent years watching a romantic tragedy disguised as sci-fi nonsense.

Final Conclusion: The Doctor absolutely, 100%, definitively does not love River Song. And if you believe that, I have a prime piece of real estate in the Medusa Cascade to sell you.

[clockwork-krow]

I've been thinking a lot about Kai and Morro again, and specifically their parallels (dangerous thing, I know) and I just really wanted to ramble about what I've taken to calling the inferno of destiny parallel.

As a beginner ninja, both Morro and Kai dealt with arrogance, recklessness, and anger. We see this in how Morro took extremely dangerous risks to get Wu to save him, with how he assumed he was to be the green ninja when Wu told him he believed Morro was to wear green, and how Morro reacted when the weapons didn't react to him (ripping off the sliding door). We see this in how younger Kai jumps into situations without a genuine plan, how he gets angry and often (literally) explodes with fire when something frustrates him, and how he kind of defaults to the coolest person on the team/the hot one/the center of attention/etc when that's just really the immature persona he's thrown up to try and be the best.

Both Morro and Kai want to be the best at what they can do, and when they heard about a chance to be even better than their original concepts of the best (becoming the Green Ninja), both of them jumped at it.

Morro trained so hard he ended up hurting the kids he was training against and worrying Wu

Kai tried so hard to be the green ninja he ended up placing unnecessary strain on his relationships and even went so far as to risk letting people get hurt/die because he was prioritizing what he thought might get him closer to being the Green Ninja (a competitive line of thinking that Kai's been known to buy into in addition to his constant needs to try to be the best in the situation before he matures) (btw I'm talking about him originally trying to get the fang blade instead of. yknow. the CHILD about to burn lol.)

So, where do we see the shift from heroic to villanous in these two suspiciously similar characters? Well, it's when both of them are placed in an inferno scenario where they have to choose between pursuing their perceived destiny and their true destiny; hence, the inferno of destiny parallel.

Morro

When Morro searches so long to try and find a way to become the Legendary Green Ninja and rewrite destiny, he eventually finds himself in the Caves of Despair. We don't have the details of what happened, but we see the ninja try to escape Morro's fate in season 5 episode 7 titled "The Crooked Path". Here we see them encounter geysers that are releasing poisonous gases at an alarming rate, and they also spray boiling water/steam out in addition to rising the temperature to an unbearable level in the cave. It's reasonable to assume that Morro experienced a cave-in due to the caves' lack of structural integrity (also experienced by the ninja)* and then was killed either from burns from the hot steam and/or due to inhaling too much of the dangerous gasses.

The point of Morro's inferno: Morro couldn't accept the fact that he was not destined to be the Green Ninja, so he wasn't willing to turn away from his perceived destiny to save his own life. He wouldn't leave the cave because he couldn't let go of the fact that his perceived destiny wasn't his true destiny.

Kai

When Kai trains and practices to become the Green Ninja, making rash decisions (like jumping down for the Fang Blade again) and reckless choices that hurt his relationships (like barricading himself into a room to fight Garmadon for… literally no reason other than his desire to be the Green Ninja), he eventually finds himself in a similar inferno: The Fire Temple. An ancient temple constructed inside a volcano that once held the Sword of Fire, this is where the fourth and final Fang Blade is located and where the ninja must fight against Pythor and the other Serpentine generals for it. The volcano begins to erupt and collapse in on itself, and Kai ends up with a choice: save young Lloyd from his inevitable death in the erupting volcano, or try to reach the Fang Blade before it ends up in the hands of Pythor. This is the critical moment* for Kai, as he has to choose between his percieved destiny (becoming the Green Ninja and getting the Fang Blade) or his true destiny (protecting Lloyd in the hopes of saving both of their lives). In the end, he chooses to give up the thing he'd been working towards for most likely months now to try and be the best in the favor of saving a kid that used to be a massive pain in the ass (no offense, little Lloyd).

The point of Kai's inferno: Kai gave up his perceived destiny in the end, and only then was he able to unlock his True Potential in addition to being able to escape the Fire Temple safely with Lloyd and himself still alive. He was able to save himself and Lloyd because he gave up something that had felt like such a core part of his being, that he believed was his destiny, even though it turned out not to be.

He even says this himself to Sensei Wu: "I knew when I had to make a choice. I wanted the Fangblade so badly, to prove I was good enough to become the Green Ninja. But then I figured it out. All of my training to become the best ninja wasn't in preparation to become the Green Ninja. It was… to protect him." (s1e10, titled "The Green Ninja")

Kai and Morro both experience infernos that threaten their lives and rely on their ability to relinquish their percieved goals in favor of the objectively best choice in the moment. Morro was unable to give up what he truly believed was his destiny, and he ended up dead and sent to the Cursed Realm as a result. Kai was able to give up what he had been working towards for so long, and was able to save his life and Lloyd's life (especially entertaining when you remember that Kai had to give up trying to be the Green Ninja to… save the Green Ninja, lmao)

The critical moment I noted with a * for both Kai and Morro is that this point is the moment where each of them have to decide what's more important to them: what they believe is their destiny, or what would save their life. Morro tried to push through to his "destiny" and became too hurt or sick from the fumes to escape, and eventually died there. Kai gave up his "destiny" and just barely managed to escape with his life and Lloyd's.

So yes, I love the inferno of destiny parallel quite a bit! All three of these characters are very near and dear to my heart and they're rotating in my brain like a rotisserie chicken lmao

[sergle]

there is something funny about the worry of being parasocial in regards to witnessing my bullshit rn. like. as if i'm not the one telling all my business on the internet. i feel like the terms "parasocial attachment" and "traumadump" rose in popularity at a very inconvenient time for my breakdown

[xxplastic-cubexx]

it doesnt need to be said but its genuinely so funny how at-the-hip charles and erik are in krakoa like they really had the green light- the OBLIGATION- to be as obnoxiously close to each other as possible and abused that right to the fullest extent

[anistarrose]

trying not to start an online fight in a comically inappropriate venue, but people also have some genuinely concerning misconceptions about this, so: if someone tells you that they can't go vegan because of dietary restrictions, you do not know more than they do about those restrictions in question. and they are under no obligation to share personal medical details in order to prove that you are wrong.

moreover, a world in which anyone has to "prove" their need for dietary accommodations to any authority — to say nothing of being denied them a priori because of a refusal to engage with even small scale, ethical animal husbandry — is enacting ableist violence on our bodies. personally, I want nothing more than for for-profit animal agriculture to burn with the rest of capitalism — but you have to understand that telling people like me to "just stop being selfish and stop eating animals" can only be translated as either "only eat things that make you violently ill," or "stop eating even the minimum amount of protein that a human can survive off of."

if you have an impulse to accuse me of overreacting, consider that the refusal of actual medical institutions to take legume and grain allergies seriously has caused me bodily harm throughout my life and to this day — with consequences for my overall lifespan that have yet to be revealed. I am not overreacting.

[stranger-theory]

Can we all give Mike Wheeler some understanding, please? I don't wanna hear your whiny ass say that Mike Wheeler isn't good enough for Will one more time, I WILL find your home address. (Directed)

"Will isn't 'head over heels' for Mike, he just has a crush" I'm sorry but did you have your eyes closed in the interview in which his actor explains how he's been in love with Mike since the first season?? Hello???

Mike Wheeler is a gay boy in the '80s. Mike Wheeler is dating a girl he doesn't love romantically to appear "normal". Mike Wheeler has seen several people brutally die in front of him. Mike Wheeler had to witness the disappearance and possession of his best friend. Mike Wheeler has dealt with thinking two people he cares about have died. Mike Wheeler is a boy who went through homophobic bullying. Mike Wheeler is a boy who had to save the world four times already.

MIKE WHEELER IS A BOY.

He dealt with all this bullshit at the VERY young age that is 12-15. You want to tell this kid he's a bad person for being stressed? He has so much on his mind at such a young age from literally all of that and you expect him to act rational? Peaceful? "Correct"??😭

You are literally stupid if you think that's the proper opinion. He is going through the same shit as the other characters, the only reason you don't get pissed at Will is because he internalizes his feelings, rather than kind of exploding (which is what Mike does). These are just different responses to trauma, dumbass. Sorry it doesn't look pretty for you, but that's not how it works.

Erm, have the day you deserve, I guess. Bye, chat.

[mo-ok]

Jiraiya being exceedingly useful for (almost) 3 minutes

[cryptdfish]

“white mourning.”

[momosandlemonsoda]

For the WIP game, @mekare-art asked for "DMBJ CM: Xiaoge is hurt Please!" This is part of my Club Moonlight 'verse A Tiger is a Tiger not a Lamb, where Liu Sang and Wang Can are twins in a band together, and they are hooking up with Wu Xie and Xiaoge. Here you go!

*

Liu Sang was grateful that the servant who answered the door at Wushanju the next morning was familiar to him. It was the first thing that had gone right that morning.

“Uh, good morning, Miss— Uh, Mr— Uh, I mean, Liu-ye,” the boy stuttered, taking in Liu Sang in one of his more demure qipaos, long sleeved, tea length, a pretty dark green color, and Wang Can in his best trousers and a button-down shirt. The sleeves were rolled up, of course, and he’d refused to wear a tie or jacket, but Liu Sang hadn’t had the will to keep fighting. “Um. Laoban is, um, not taking visitors today.”

“Oh,” Liu Sang said, and then stepped on his brother’s foot when he heard him growl. He made his eyes big, and blinked them vacuously. “Oh, really, Kan Jian?” The boy blushed. Good. “It’s just that we heard that Xiaoge wasn’t well. We really wanted to give him our good wishes ourselves.” Wang Can shook the basket of fruit they’d picked out in a threatening manner. Liu Sang forbore from rolling his eyes, and instead looked hopefully at Kan Jian.

“Uh,” Kan Jian said. “I mean, um.” He looked behind him. “Um. It’s just. Uh—” 

Liu Sang smiled sweetly. “Do you think maybe you could check, Kan Jian? I don’t want to bother Wu Xie, but,” He bit his lip. “We really are worried.”

Kan Jian wrung his hands miserably. “I want to help, Liu-ye, but—”

“Maybe,” Liu Sang said, delicately reaching out and patting Kan Jian’s hand, “You could ask someone else?” He gave Kan Jian’s hand a little squeeze. “Please?”

Kan Jian broke. “Okay. Liu-ye, um. Mr. Wang. Come in and I’ll get Pang-ye.” He let them into the first courtyard and barred the door again, turning to hurry down the corridor. 

Wang Can started after him, and Liu Sang grabbed his arm. “Didi.” They had a silent fight. Liu Sang won, but he knew he wasn’t going to be able to hold his brother back for long. Now that they were inside, Wang Can wasn’t going to be denied the chance to check on Xiaoge. Neither was he, of course, but he was still trying to play this carefully. 

***

Kan Jian came back with Wang Pangzi, and Liu Sang could hear his brother sigh in relief. Wang Can liked the man. Apparently he’d joined Wu Xie, Xiaoge, and Wang Can for a bar fight a couple of times though Liu Sang understood he’d demurred on the post-fight… entertainments. He’s a good fighter, Wang Can had said. High praise indeed from his brother.

“What’s this, Kan Jian?” Pangzi asked, after taking them in. Liu Sang had straightened when he heard Kan Jian returning, but Wang Can was still leaning insouciantly against the wall, cradling the basket of fruit. Pangzi snorted, turning to the man. “Do you really think that Wu Xie doesn’t want to see them? After all,” and here he grinned, slipping into what Liu Sang suspected was habitual innuendo, “They’re Wu Xie and Xiaoge’s intimate friends.” the man winked at Liu Sang, “I think we can trust them.”

“But Pang-ye—” Kan Jian protested, and Pangzi shook his head. 

“I’ll talk to Tianzhen, Kan Jian. Don’t worry.” Pangzi patted the young man on the shoulder while waving Liu Sang and Wang Can back. “Look, they even brought fruit. Not a lot of people bring fruit and then try to kill the recipient.”

Wang Can grinned at that. “Well, this pineapple—

Liu Sang cut in quickly. “No bloodshed over the fruit basket, I promise.” 

“See,” Pangzi said, giving Kan Jian a push. “This Pang-ye will make sure they don’t yell too loud.” He offered his arm to Liu Sang, who accepted quickly— he wasn’t going to refuse a potential ally— and the three of them headed down familiar hallways.

Before they arrived at Wu Xie’s bedroom, however, Pangzi turned them aside, into an open, airy room, light streaming in from the courtyard beyond. Liu Sang had wandered through the house a bit, and he knew his brother had as well— once a house-breaker, always a house-breaker— but he’d never been in this room. The walls were lined with shelves of books and scrolls and there were gorgeous calligraphy hangings. The enormous desk in the corner gave its purpose away. Wu Xie’s study, he guessed, and, ah, there was the man himself.

As Wu Xie rose from his desk, Liu Sang noted that his dark curls were longer than usual, and tousled so badly that he’d probably been dragging his hands through them for hours. His skin was sallow and the circles under his eyes looked almost bruised. His clothes were a mess— gone was the dandy who gladhanded his way through the club and flirted as easy as breathing, and in his place…

“You look like shit,” his brother said, haphazardly dropping the fruit basket onto a convenient sofa and walking closer. 

Wu Xie blinked owlishly. “Xiao Can,” he said slowly, “what are you doing here?” 

“Carrying fruit,” Wang Can told him, pointing with his thumb. Wu Xie’s brow wrinkled.

“Fruit?” He caught sight of the basket, then his gaze darted back to Wang Can, then over to Liu Sang and Pangzi. “What… why did you bring fruit?”

“I hear that it’s a good gift.” Wang Can shrugged, then took another step forward. Wu Xie tensed, and his brother stopped, posture loose, lightly balanced on his feet. 

As Wang Can spoke, he kept his hands slightly away from his sides, shoulders relaxed, voice calm, and it took Liu Sang a moment to realize that he was acting to put Wu Xie at ease, to make himself less of a threat, while at the same time drawing Wu Xie’s attention to make himself rather than Liu Sang a target. Liu Sang’s hackles rose, and he looked closer to see what his didi was picking up. One of Wu Xie’s hands was clenched, and his posture radiated a warning, as if he could spring into violence at the least provocation. Liu Sang was reminded, suddenly, that Wu Xie was heir to what the Wu family politely called a business, and that that business often required violence to keep order. 

“Xie Yuchen told us that Xiaoge was injured and we wanted to pay a call. See if there is anything we can do to help.” 

As soon as Wang Can said Xiaoge, Wu Xie tensed further, and Liu Sang watched him grope a hand back on the desk and close around a metal letter opener. If he noticed it, then his didi certainly had, but Wang Can kept his posture open and relaxed. Liu Sang, on the other hand, could feel the situation start spiraling out of control. 

Suddenly, Pangzi boomed,“Tianzhen, sit down before you fall down. I bet you haven’t slept all night, have you?” He strode over to Wu Xie, who looked up at him, confused. 

“Pangzi?” he asked, and his voice sounded plaintive.

“Tianzhen,” Pangzi sighed, “you’re a mess. Your friends came to pay a visit and here you are, practically still in your pajamas. Not,” he apparently couldn’t resist adding, “that they haven’t seen you in those before.”

[litsenn]

THAT kind of magistrate 🙃 To his defence: He was a magistrate 200 years before the events of the game, and then he was completely taken away from Baldur's Gate everyday life and justice system. Think about the justice and laws in your own country 200 years ago... Do you get it? (I know, we can't really draw that kind of parallels between our world and Faerûn, but I like to imagine how out of touch he is with the world/times he lives in, after so many years of coercion.)

[starryalpacasstuff]

Let's talk about how lonely it feels once you realize that everyone you grew up with hates an integral part of what you are. Let's talk about wondering what goes through your friends' minds when they make crude, insulting jokes while knowing that you're queer. About learning the hard way that acceptance cannot be your default expectation in the world you live in. Let's talk about the horrible game you have to play with every person who isn't openly declaring their hate for gay people to figure out where a person stands on queerness without ever mentioning them. About how you already know what the result will be, but you allow yourself to have a tiny bit of wretched hope every time that you will be proven wrong, only to be proven right every time. About learning to expect the worst instead of the best from people. Let's talk about how people don't even use slurs because 'gay' is insult enough to them. About how tired and alone and pissed you feel. About being exhausted of compromise, compromise, compromise when all you want is to be loved for who you are. About wondering why can't people just let people be. Let's talk about smiling awkwardly and faking laughter at jokes that make you die a little inside. About wanting to scream and fight but knowing that ultimately, it's useless. And let's talk about feeling completely, utterly, helpless to do anything about any of it.