#which is 1. stupid and 2. irrelevant

[ghastbutlikegay]

getting pissed over the suggestion of "magnifying mirrors" for doing makeup while nearsighted. i still have to get just as close to the mirror to see what im doing. magnifying does NOT make my reflection clearer. i have to get so close to see clearly, that most of my face isnt visible, which means i cant actually see whether my face products are blended properly. and i cant just put my glasses on to check because itll fuck up whatever product is on my nose, because i cant set my face until i know everything is blended properly*.

has anyone suggesting "magnifying mirrors" actually TRIED that before? or do they genuinely not understand how nearsightedness works? i cannot see. I CANNOT SEE. MY REFLECTION IS NOT EXEMPT FROM "NOT SEEING."

have you ever tried to see the side of your face from 3 inches away in the mirror? have you tried to see your jaw and neck from 3 inches away in a mirror? try it. try it and tell me a magnifying mirror helps with that. tell me you arent impossibly straining your eye to look far enough to the side to actually see the side of your face from 3 inches away. now imagine that it's also fucking BLURRY.

does anyone actually realize that reflections are blurry? i have a mirror on my desk. if i take off my glasses and look at the reflection of my room, it is JUST AS BLURRY as if i looked at the room itself. my own face is not exempt from this. im convinced everyone replying to these threads im reading are either very mildly nearsighted, or arent actually nearsighted at all. because not ONE person seems to understand how nearsightedness or reflections work

*properly means "to my taste" in this context. if you tell me that "it doesnt have to be perfect" you are intentionally misunderstanding my point and should shut the fuck up.

[rowie264]

If someone criticizes something, it doesn't mean that they hate it. It also works the other way around. If you like something, it doesn't mean that it's done well from an objective point of view.

I love Jinx. Her design, her story, her personality, her character arc... I was just fascinated by her. Jinx has become one of my favorite characters in media in general. It was the continuation of her story that I was waiting for the most.

Jinx is still my favorite character in season 2. I love almost every scene with her. How she did Sevika's arm and the subsequent fight with the Smeech, the fight with Vi in Act 1, the prison break, search for Vander in the mines, epic appearance during the battle against Noxus.

I got a lot of positive emotions while watching s2 and especially during Jinx's appearance on the screen. But… an emotional response and objective assessment are two different things. And objectively, Jinx's character in season 2 is OOC and poorly written.

Removing very importand part of her story and personality. Her mental issues almost completely disappear. This is a very important aspect of her character. And no, Isha's presence and a "more favorable environment" would not heal her, the whole 2nd act is completely unrealistic and looks stupid, since all her problems with her mental health were magically solved off-screen;

Irrelevant piece of plot. Her arc of "Zaun symbol" passes by her - she becomes a symbol by accident, ignores the consequences and directly encounters all this revolutionary mood only during Isha's saving from Stillwater (at the same time saving her followers - an indirect action, not a purposeful one). So this arc is kinda about her, but she doesn't seem to participate in it herself, and it ends with literally nothing (like the whole Zaun revolution);

Making her more appealing to wider audience. Her hatred of Piltover and Caitlyn just disappeared. Yes, while she was with Vi in the mines she said "piltie goons who murdered mom and dad," but… that's all? Jinx doesn't kill a single enforcer in the entire 2nd season (although, for example, she could have in Stillwater) and tells Caitlyn "I didn't know your mother was there." Let me remind you that Jinx literally giggled in s1 when she killed a dozen enforcers during gemstone kidnapping, killed enforcers on the bridge without any care, she hated Caitlyn fiercely because she "stole" her sister from her, and she couldn't not know that Cassandra was a councilor. It isn't showed how and why she changed her opinion and this is important thing to her character, you can't explain such change with microexpressions or parallels;

Unrealistic happy family reunion. The reunion of Jinx, Vi, and Vander is a spectacular moment from Disney. Do you remember how Jinx reacted when Vi returned? Yes, she was happy but as soon as she spotted Cait she freaked out and immidiately thought that Vi betrayed her. Imagine what would happen if her supposedly dead - bc of her btw - father had returned and now looks like some animal;

Silco mattered much more to Jinx. A very "subtle" replacement of Silco for Vander in the role of father (Jinx calls him father, sniffs Vander's jacket and not Silco's), although Silco played probably a bigger role in this? And Jinx remembers about him like 2 times? Although it's been about 7-10 years since Vi's "death" in season 1, Jinx was still triggered by just a similar appearance. Apparently, Silco wasn't that important to Jinx (which is not true); I could still keep talking about Jinx, but let's leave it at that.

I love Jinx even in season 2. I like watching scenes with her. But my emotional attachment doesn't stop me from seeing that Jinx's character in s2 is not a continuation of Jinx's character of the end of s1. Her image is broken, the arcs are not completed, the relationships with other characters are poorly written.

[myhaikyuuacademia]

Totally Fake | Ant Vaughn x reader (Heartbreak High) ||

This is officially a series haha, trying to make it slowburn-ish but let's see if i can hold myself back

Fake dating, fem!reader

@foxxyhun

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Thankfully you had managed to get Ant’s number by Friday, not so thankfully you spent all day chatting with him about stupid, irrelevant stuff and Not about what your gameplan was going to be. And if, IF, you were actually going to the party later this evening, he’d probably be too wasted to talk about it anyway.  Which means SLUTS was the last chance you had with him still sober and not hungover. Except you had no idea how to go about it, especially without drawing the attention of your friends who had been watching you like hawks all week. You were the first one in the classroom, anxiously ripping your notebook paper into tiny shreds while thinking about all the logistics. You didn’t get very far when you sensed someone sitting down next to you. “What did the poor paper do to deserve that?” Ant asked amusedly. “Wrong place, wrong time.” You grimaced and shrugged, immediately stopping and throwing all the paper shreds into your pencil case. “Oh no, don’t stop because of me, I’m sure it deserved it.” He joked before settling in his seat. “You don’t wanna sit next to your friends?” You asked, with a nod to the table they usually sat at. “Nah, I’d rather sit with my girlfriend.” He said casually. You didn’t feel very casual as you choked on your spit. God how embarrassing. It took you a minute to calm down, Ant worriedly asking if you were okay, and offering you some of his water, which you declined with a hand gesture as you were starting to calm down.  “Sorry, sorry, I’m fine.” You coughed out. “Actually, that’s what I’ve been wanting to talk to you about.” He looked at you, almost disappointed, “You’re backing out?” He assumed. “What? No!” You hurried to say. “I wanted to talk about lining up our stories and everything, ground rules and stuff, you know?” Relief flooded his face, “Ah, okay gotcha!” He seemed much happier. The class was slowly filling up and you were dreading the moment your friends would enter. “Well I already told pretty much everyone that you’re my girlfriend.” He added, catching you completely offguard as you watched the doorway waiting for the inevitable arrival of your friends. “Oh.” Surprised you turned your head to look at him. “Okay.” You added after a second. “What about your mom?”

“Nah, not her yet. But like, Spider and Dusty.” He clarified. Your face felt warm. “Did you tell them it was fake too?” You leaned in closer to whisper it, now that the class was almost full. “No.” He grinned at you conspiringly. You grinned back at him, his answer, and the way he looked at you, making your whole body tingle. “Oh. My. God.” Darrens dramatic voice came from opposite the table. “You two totally ARE together.” Amerie beside them looked satisfied with herself, while Quinni stimmed excitedly, jumping up and down and clapping her hands. They sat down at your table while Ant put an arm around your shoulder, “Yeah, so what?” He asked. Your face was burning, as was the parts where his arm touched you. Darrens mouth wide agape, while Quinni looked just as excited as before. “Oh my god, y/n, that’s so cute!! Congrats!” She said, happily, but after a second she looked a little less happy and a little more confused. Disappointed, even. “But why didn’t you tell us?” She asked. “Thrill of a secret relationship I bet.” Amerie added, feeling much cooler than she actually was. “But really, him?” Darren pointed at Ant. Wow rude. Your brows furrowed and you leaned into the boy next to you a little more without noticing. “What do you mean? You don’t think he's cute?” Trying to paddle back Darren stuttered out something a long the lines of, “No, that’s not what I mean, I just, I didn’t think he was your type is all.” “well, to be fair, we never knew what her type was.” Quinni added. “She never told us who she was crushing on, or what she liked in a guy, or girl.” You nodded, she was telling the truth, you usually kept things like that to yourself. “Well, I for one, am happy for you two, though I totally didn’t get any vibes when I was asking for a slap band earlier this week.” Amerie said, crossing her arms. She sounded accusing, like she was about to interrogate the two of you, when thankfully Miss Obah asked everyone to pay attention and started class. Ant didn’t take his arm off your shoulder the whole time.

When he finally did, after class ended, you couldn’t suppress your pout. Logically, you understood it was so both of you could pack your things, but this whole thing didn’t feel very logical, no matter how hard you tried. So instead, once both of you had finished, you grabbed his hand and threaded your fingers with his. Still slightly pouting. He looked down at you and laughed, “What now?” “I think she’s upset you took your arm off of her.” Darren, eagle-eyed gossip lover they are, supplied. “Oh, really?” Ant seemed surprised and looked at you for confirmation. “Yeah, kinda.” You mumbled embarrassed, avoiding his gaze. He chuckled before leaning in close and whispering in your ear. “I’ll touch you all you want at the party later.” Your face was beet red. “Ant!” You whisper shouted, scandalized and wide-eyed. He just tugged you along with him, towards the school exit. “They’re so cute together.” You overheard Quinni say to Amerie and Darren behind you. “Something’s fishy.” Both of them replied in unison. You ignored it, keeping going with Ant. “What now?” You asked once outside the school gate, still holding his hand. Refusing to be the one to let go, actually. “Well, I have some time before the party starts, which, you totally are going to right?” He asked in such a way that you felt a no would break his heart, so you just nodded. How come you are immune to peer-pressure when it was your friends but not when it was the guy you’ve been fake-dating for less than a week. “Great! Well, wanna hang out until then?” You smiled. “Sure!! Oh, we can talk about the logistics of it all, like when did we even start dating and what church do I go to? Or is that even something that’s important to your mother?” You dragged him along, totally rambling at this point about all the different things you had to decide on for the story to be foolproof. When you turned to look at him, waiting for him to say something, you noticed the way he was smiling at you. “Oh, what? Am I overthinking?” You questioned out loud. “No, no, it’s fine. I just don’t think I’ve ever heard you talk that much.” He still looked at you in a way you had trouble deciphering. “Oh. Well, I guess I don’t talk a lot. Usually. But also we haven’t really spoken before this week so…” You trailed off. “Hmmh, yeah, but we’ve been in the same year for a while now.” He said, before turning back to look at the way ahead. “You usually only talk when spoken to.” Oh. He had noticed that? He had noticed you? Before you ever talked to him? “Oh, um. I guess that’s right.” You squeezed his hand subconsciously. “I like hearing you talk.” He squeezed your hand back. “Plus, you’re so smart, I wouldn’t have thought about half of the things you mentioned. Maybe we should write it all down.” You nodded. “Yeah, good idea.”

“Woah, your room is awesome.”  Ant was currently walking through your room looking at all the little trinkets that were… everywhere frankly. Picking them up and putting them down again. “Haha, thanks.” You sat on the edge of your bed, not knowing what to do with yourself as you watched him. “Woah, you like Marvel?” He seemed genuinely surprised. “Uh yeah, I love it.” You laughed. He put the action figure down and turned around, very serious all of a sudden. “This calls for a movie night.” He explained. You grinned. “Sure, I’m always up for a movie.. But let’s talk business first.” You scooched to the side and patted the spot next to you. He groaned dramatically and walked over before sitting down. “Why does this feel like homework all of a sudden.” Your face scrunched up at that. “Sorry. But this is just so our story doesn’t fall apart.” He turned to look at you, head hanging to the side. “You really think it’s necessary?” “Well. Yeah.” You reply. “What if your mom asks us how we met, our what our first date was, and we say different things. Better to be prepared.” He pouts playfully, “Well, fine I guess.” In the end you agree on simple things, you met at school, duh, and worked a project together, after which you became friends, before Ant asked you on a date to the diner, and then a second date to the movies, before asking you to be his girlfriend. Easy enough. He said it was okay not to go to church as long as you were still acting Christian enough in front of his mom. Whatever that means. The reason he was only introducing you now was because you could disprove what was written on the map. You were scared of meeting his parents, so it had taken you a while to gather the courage, and he wanted to be sure before bringing a girlfriend home. Easy. Plausible. Good story. Boring, but believable. In the end you wrote it all down, twice, one copy for you and one for him, just in case you needed it. “Can we finally watch a movie?” He whined as you gave him his paper. “I don’t know, the party is soon, and I don’t know about you, but I definitely have to get ready. You think we can manage to squeeze a movie in?” He nodded, completely convinced. “How long can it take to get ready.” Not believing this was an issue. “Oh buddy…If only you knew.” You patted his shoulder before getting your remote and turning on the tv. It was difficult, at first, to concentrate on the movie, when he was so close and warm, shoulder against shoulder, and legs touching. Your body felt on fire. After a while he wrapped his arm around you too, pulling you ever so slightly closer, if that was even possible.

“Oh! I love this part.” He pointed towards the screen with the hand not resting on your hip. “What? No way, that’s my favorite part.” You looked up at him excitedly. “No way!” He turned to look at you too. You nodded emphatically. “You’re so cool.” He gave you a squeeze. He turned back towards the screen, and you did too, after staring at him for a little while longer. In the end, he ended up staying, watching you get ready, since there was no time for him to go home before Dusty’s band performed. “Whoa, wait, what is that?” You were about to put on your fake lashes, putting glue on the strip when Ant’s head popped up next to you, dangerously close to poking your lash with his finger. “My fake lashes.” You explained. “Your lashes are fake?” He turned to you, staring intensely into your eyes, inspecting your lashes. “No, well yes, sometimes. I have real lashes. The one you’re looking at right now.” You laughed. “But sometimes I put on fake lashes, which looks kinda-“ You  leaned towards the mirror to put your lashes on. “like this.” You said, leaning back to show him. “Oh my god that’s crazy.” He breathed out, totally stunned, which made you laugh even harder. After that he stayed next to you, watching you apply your makeup closely. “Hmmm..” You pursed your lips as you put the last thing in place. “I think that’s it.” You concluded.  Before you could even turn to the side to face him, his voice piped up as he asked: “Can you put some on me?” The request came unexpectedly, but you happily obliged. You opted for some chrome glimmery dark blue green ish, you didn’t really know how to describe it, glitter shadow to put on top of his eyelids. Dabbing it in softly, he leaned in closely and you could feel his breath on your skin. “Okay, try opening your eyes.” You requested softly, holding his chin in your hand and looking at him intensely, assessing your work. He opened his eyes hesitantly. Chewing on your lip you came to the conclusion that this look needed some black liner, so you added a line underneath his eyes on his waterline, dragging it out into a straight “wing”. A difficult job, with this being a sensitive area and Ant not used to having stuff put this close to his eyes. He kept squirming and blinking, but eventually you got the job done to your satisfaction. “This looks sick.” You say as you remove your hands from his face and lean back. Giving him time to admire himself in your mirror, you put away your brushes and powders and liners. “You want to do something to your hair too?” He turned to look at you at that. “Kinda.” You look on your phone to check the time, before grimacing. “Sorry, I don’t think we have time. Actually we really need to go if we wanna make it in time.” You stand up and hold your hand out to him, pulling him up from where he was sitting. Your friends were definitely going to give you shit about barely reaching out to them later.

[maxdibert]

Hi! Could you tell me your top 5 least favorite Harry Potter characters and why?

My 5 most hated characters in Harry Potter are:

5 - Molly Weasley: I can’t stand this woman. I can’t stand how she acts like a morally superior, pure-blood yet holds endless prejudices, especially (and mostly) toward other, younger women. I don’t like her tradwife vibe, and I don’t like how overbearing and suffocating she is. Seriously, in real life, I’d feel the urge to tell her off—she’s that typical annoying woman who doesn’t know where the boundaries are.

4 - Remus Lupin: Zero sympathy for a man almost forty who got a 24-year-old girl pregnant and then abandoned her. Remus Lupin is a coward and a piece of trash, a bullying accomplice who keeps his head down regarding his own actions and needs a 17-year-old to teach him a lesson in manhood. I really wish Tonks had left him and taken off with Teddy to get as far away as possible from that pathetic excuse for a person.

3 - Dumbledore: Starting with the fact that the entire problem of the story basically stems from his irresponsibility with Tom Riddle, which already showed that he was a terrible teacher. He only shows concern for students who can serve his purposes or suck up to him, and his involvement throughout the story shows a moral stance I find nauseating. I mean, he’s a guy who has the nerve to lecture his former students who “chose the wrong path,” but when those same students were under his care, he constantly neglected and rejected them just because they didn’t belong to a certain house. He had the audacity to call Severus Snape “miserable” when it was Dumbledore himself who allowed Snape to be bullied and almost killed without lifting a finger to stop it or punish the bullies. This same Dumbledore scolds Draco Malfoy for not trusting him when from Draco’s first day at Hogwarts, all he saw from the old man was favoritism toward a certain house and certain students, completely ignoring the rest. Honestly, I’d have banned him from teaching. There’s a lot said about Snape as a teacher, but Dumbledore was responsible for everything, allowed terrible things to happen, and turned his back on many vulnerable children and teenagers. Then he acted all surprised when they ended up in bad places. Screw him, hypocritical old man.

2 - Ginny Weasley: The “I’m not like other girls,” the “shut up, Hermione, you don’t know anything about Quidditch,” the “everyone look at me, I hex people, I’m one of the boys, I’m not vain but I’m hot, but I’m not prissy,” the “I make fun of girls who are pretty, flirty, and feminine because I’m a textbook pick-me girl” who is shoved into the end of the series. She’s a character who didn’t matter at all throughout the story; she’s barely mentioned in some books, but suddenly she’s Harry’s love interest because J.K. Rowling needed all her characters to end up married with 468749284 kids, and Harry needed to be part of the Weasley family. So, they had to do something. Ginny is a terrible character, going from irrelevant to some sort of Mary Sue who even the Slytherins drool over and who, of course, is not a “typical girl” because being a “typical girl” in Rowling’s world is somehow the original sin. So, she’s great at sports, hexes people, pulls pranks because she’s so cool, uh uh uh, she’s not like the others, uh uh uh, but she has internalized misogyny that you can smell from here to China. Honestly, someone should have slapped her for being so damn stupid.

1 - James Potter: There’s nothing I haven’t already said about James Potter. He’s a character who really grinds my gears because they try to sell him as some kind of hero, but he was just a spoiled rich kid who decided to torment a poor, vulnerable boy simply because that boy was friends with his crush. He used his social power and status to get away with all the crap he pulled, attacked in groups, lied to his girlfriend saying he’d stopped bullying people when he really hadn’t, and when he was supposed to be locked up in a house with his wife and son, he was off fooling around with his best friend. James Potter was an ass, and defending him is defending classism, elitism, and whitewashing social classes. I’m not going to explain why.

[tidescaller]

this a gorgeous gifset for wicked 💗

https://www.tumblr.com/tidescaller/781106467228073984/glinda-in-wicked-part-i-happy-birthday?source=share

I would appreciate a tutorial for the first gif blending and colouring

Hi anon! thank youuu, i'll leave the tutorial under the cut ૮(˶˃ᆺ˂˶)

As always, basic knowledge on making gifs is required to do this type of edits. I linked some useful guides on my previous tutorial here.

PART I: BLENDING

STEP 1, BASE GIF

I recommend getting ready the gifs you're going to use before any try on blending them. And which ones are right to blend? That's just depends on the scenes you're working on. On this gifset, I made two previous blends that didn't make it to the final version cause I didn't like how it turned out. It's all about trial and error.

For this specific blending, as I'm working with only 2 gifs, I'll start editing first the base and then the one "blended". Adjust your BASE GIF in your canvas as you want.

I sized mine like this cause I imagined the second scene of Glinda behind this one.

STEP 2: BACKGROUND

i followed becca's coloring tutorial for this part, except I didn't add any adjustments yet. only coloring the background for a later gradient blending.

STEP 3: BLENDING

Duplicate your other gif into the canvas and change its blending to screen

Now add a layer mask (the button marked with red in the picture) and, with a soft brush at 200px/300px, start erasing whatever you don't want. Remember black is 0% opacity and white is 100%.

STEP 4: THE BLENDED GIF

The problem I noticed by this point is that my background coloring on the BASE GIF was kinda irrelevant cause now the BLENDED GIF completely covered it (｡•́︿•̀｡) and I also wanted this one to be pink. In order to do this, I created a gradient map layer and made it as a clipping mask so it wouldn't affect my main gif.

PART II: COLORING

STEP 5: BASE

For the base coloring, I always follow this tutorial cause it's literally how I learned how to do it. Honestly, check all maziekeen's tutorials (she made A TON) cause they are so good and your learn a lot. However, I tend to give my personal touches like adding another vibrance layer if i feel like it, cause I like the colors to pop; or skipping steps if I don't think they fit my gif/style. Anyways, this is the result for now:

and these are my settings

i tried to translate as much as possible (,,>﹏<,,)

STEP 6: SMALL TOUCHES

Could leave the gif as it is, but when I was working on it, I felt like something was missing. So the last step is to apply/paint some small touches of pink (or whichever color you're working on). This trick I learned it from this beautiful and very detailed tutorial from dani (she is awesome!! and her tutorials and gifs are flawless!!)

Create a new layer, use the soft brush tool at 1000px, zoom out your gif and start painting out of the canvas (you can totally paint inside if you feel like it) Play with different opacities and blending modes of the layer, this is literally how I created all these gifs. I know it sounds stupid ajskjas but it's true!! Try what best fits the structure of the gif. The first one I made is with multiply at 60% and you can see how much the gif changed already.

The second being color at 100% and the third one hard light at 30%

STEP 7: THE CHERRY ON TOP

Finally I added an animated overlay from this post. Changed the blend mode to screen and erased a bit of it on glinda's face creating a layer mask and with a soft brush. Added my texts... and that's a wrap! :D

I used the same process on gifs 3 and 5 ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

[warblogs17282]

The signs and clues that always pointed towards Stella being a shitty mother to Octavia.

A revamp of an old post that I really should've gotten to earlier but hey, I'm in the mood now to catalogue literally everything pointing to Stella being a shit and neglectful mother.

Evidence 1: S1 E2.

Pay attention to the fact that Stella is not concerned in the slightest about the fact that Octavia is very clearly upset and is actively calling for both her and Stolas, which is very obviously seen by the fact by she makes Stolas deal with Octavia, not even bothering to even move a muscle to help calm Octavia down, already showing us our first signs of Stella being a neglectful mother towards Octavia.

Plus, Octavia's nightmare was specifically about her not being able to find Stolas, Stella wasn't involved in the nightmare at all, which I believe was another very intentional writing decision to subtly point to how little Stella is involved in Octavia's life.

To add onto this, look at some of the drawings that Octavia drew as a child that we see in the same episode, pay close attention to the rightmost drawing, we see a drawing of both Stolas and Octavia, but what I find interesting is the fact that we don't see Stella in any of the drawings at all, in pictures like that drawn by young children you'd normally expect the whole family to be in the picture or there to be another drawing including Stella, but we don't see that happen at all, we only see a drawing of specifically Octavia and Stolas, also giving us another clue that Stella isn't involved in Octavia's life much.

This appears to be a pattern as well, in Sinsmas we see yet another drawing of specifically her and Stolas, with us still not having any drawings of Stella, only Stolas.

Which I believe shuts down the argument that I've heard before that goes something like 'there could be more drawings that we haven't seen yet', because the team is 100% making it a recurring pattern that Stella is suspiciously absent from Octavia's life for the most part, as we can infer from these drawings.

Evidence 2: Literal fucking child abuse.

I think we can all agree that this section of s1 e2 is just Stella blatantly committing domestic violence against violence against Stolas, not even bothering to give a single fuck that Octavia is awake and is actively witnessing the event go down, showing us even further how self-centered and neglectful Stella is,

and giving us airtight evidence of Stella committing child abuse, by actively abusing Stolas right in front of her.

Evidence 3: Stolas' assassination plot.

Other than the fact that Stella is completely willing to rob her own child out of a caring and loving father to fuel her own self-centered agenda without even a second thought, as is most obviously seen by this scene where Stella literally screams that she wants Stolas dead right in front of Octavia as well. (The fact she was wearing headphones is entirely irrelevant to the point I'm making, she still said all of that right in front of Octavia.)

Which very clearly shows us just how self-centered Stella is, and how little she actually cares about Octavia's feelings as well.

Which is something we see happen again in that conversation with Andrealphus in s2 e4, alongside not giving a single fuck about how Octavia might feel if her dad is killed, we also see that Stella literally did not even consider Octavia into her self-centered assassination plan before this point, so forget about Stella caring for Octavia emotionally, she never even really considered Octavia in a practical sense as well, because truth be told, I cannot attribute that moment in the show happening purely because Stella is just being stupid.

It very clearly shows that Stella is purely interested in what she wants, her own agenda.

Evidence 4: "You leave with Via on weekends."

We never see this get expanded on at all, it's literally just that and nothing else, we don't hear any specifics of what Stella does with Octavia while she has her for the weekends, which if we consider how Stella behaved during the whole of Sinsmas, it really points to the fact that Stella did not make any attempt to bond with Octavia at all while she had her over the weekends, instead just choosing to her own shit while leaving Octavia to her own devices all the time, showing even further how absent Stella is in Octavia's life.

Not to mention Stella literally sidetracks that line from Stolas with "I like tormenting you."

Evidence 5: "What? No! I'm not turning her against you--"

Let's be real here, we all know that Stella doesn't care for Octavia, not to mention that Stella was already screaming at Stolas over petty shit before this, so it's pretty obvious to me that Stella is not actually worried about Stolas turning Octavia against her, it just screams like she's using that as a weaponized statement of sorts against Stolas instead of actual concern.

Plus, that's very clearly also just Stella projecting like crazy, as we can see by the fact that Stella is literally just insulting Stolas right in front of Octavia as well, calling him a deadbeat in this scene.

Evidence 6: "I'm glad one egg fell out of me."

The fact that Stella called Octavia as "an egg" has always irked me, like, out of any possible way she could've phrased that statement she chooses the one way that refers to Octavia as "an egg", instead of saying something like her name or her daughter for instance, which even furthers points to me that Stella does not care for Octavia at all.

Plus, this is also a pattern, we see a very similar event play out in Sinsmas as well.

Instead of saying something like Octavia's name or our daughter for instance, she chooses to say "his daughter", Stolas' daughter, which really gives me the impression that Stella doesn't even consider Octavia to be her daughter, something that appears to be further backed up by the fact that Stella referred to Octavia as "an egg" in s2 e1.

You could argue against this point, but personally I really think it was an intentional decision to have Stella say "his daughter" for this exact reason.

Evidence 7: The portraits.

The main example here has to be the Loo Loo Land picture, and I say that because of the fact that you can see Stolas actually be happy in this picture, while if you look at Stella, that smile is barely there for her, like she's forcing herself to smile.

Plus, you can see the fact that she also has her arms crossed, which while I could be reading into this a bit too much, I believe further points to the fact that Stella is not happy to be at Loo Loo Land with Octavia at all, and is forcing herself to smile as a result.

Plus, in Sinsmas we also see quite a few new portraits involving Stolas, Stella and Octavia.

Let's look at the first one, we see something extremely similar to the Loo Loo Land picture, we see that smile from Stella that appears to be barely there while Stolas has the whole open mouth smile thing going on with him, and she's also crossing her arms in that portrait as well, further pointing me to the fact that Stella doesn't even want to be in those family portraits at all, which really points me to the conclusion that Stella doesn't care to be in Octavia's life at all unless necessary for whatever reason.

Plus, I want you to pay attention to the 2nd and 3rd portraits here, pay attention to the fact that while Stolas' smile fades significantly with each progressing picture, Stella's smile seems to grow and grow, which if we remember the line of "I like tormenting you.", very clearly shows us that Stella is taking joy in beating Stolas down, taking joy in tormenting Stolas on a daily basis, not because she actually cares for Octavia at all, she is smiling in those two portraits because she takes joy in tormenting Stolas and nothing else, further showing just how self-centered and cruel Stella really is.

Evidence 8: Parental Isolation.

Again, let's look at this scene early on into the Sinsmas episode, we see Stella completely snatch and confiscate Octavia's phone from her the moment Stolas tries to call her in order to make contact with her following the Mastermind episode, and we know that Stella has never given Octavia her phone back at all during the month that passes in this episode, considering that Stella says that Stolas has been trying to reach Octavia for a whole month, and the fact that when we see Octavia again later on in the episode, instead of having her phone, we see her holding some sort of music player that really looks like an iPod.

Which in turn, shows us that Stella is employing a parental isolation tactic by preventing Stolas from making contact with Octavia via phone calls and/or messages. It is also completely irrelevant to discuss the specific reasons as to why Stella did this as well, what actually matters is the fact that Stella confiscated Octavia's phone from her, which in turn, helps to prevent a method Stolas had to easily make contact with Octavia, which in turn makes me believe that this is a parental isolation tactic that Stella used here.

With parental isolation also being commonly referred to as a form of child abuse as well.

So in conclusion, I have pointed to a number of different ways throughout the show that shows just how much Stella was absent in Octavia's life, alongside her also being neglectful and abusive towards Octavia as well.

[slyfpy-head]

Lachesis - Part 2

part 1 - part 3

Chishiya × f!reader

His mind keeps coming back to you. a/n: Tumblr is always down, so this is a repost-

That was not part of his plan.

Was not part of his backup plan.

He’d chosen a house at random—just another hollow shell in this graveyard of a city. A place to scavenge, to strip for parts. Nothing more.

And yet, of all the empty doorways, all the abandoned ruins he passed by…

It had to be yours.

Fate, that fickle bitch, had led him straight to yours.

This feeling.

Regret.

Or pleased?

Which one should he feels?

He doesn’t know. Doesn’t want to know.

You.

If he’d turned left instead of right, picked a different house, a different street, a different moment—he wouldn’t be standing here with the ghost of your voice still ringing in his ears.

If he hadn’t walked out with that singular purpose—tools, supplies, survival—none of this would’ve happened.

He doesn’t believe in fate. Doesn’t believe in cosmic irony or twisted destiny.

Always a stupid concept. A crutch for the weak. Those are the delusions of people who need meaning in chaos.

And yet, here you are. Defying logic. Defying reason. Defying him.

But he does believe in patterns.

You. You’ve always been a pattern he can’t break.

But will he still meet you again with all the possibilities? Would he have found you anyway?

On the street.

In a same game.

At the Beach.

He hates thinking about it.

Thinking about you.

Reunion. That’s what it was.

Meaning this isn’t over.

He shouldn’t have come there. Shouldn’t have lingered. Shouldn’t have let himself fall into the trap of your presence again.

But he had.

And now, the weight of it sits heavy in his chest, an unwelcome reminder of everything he’d once had—and everything he’d thrown away.

The streets are empty as he walks, the world around him is dead, but somehow, it’s you that makes him feel the hollowness of it all.

You made him feels alive.

His fingers brush against the tools in his pocket, the cold metal grounding him. Practical. Useful. Things that make sense.

Unlike this.

Unlike you.

He’d thought, perhaps foolishly, that seeing you again would be nothing. A blip. A minor inconvenience.

But the moment he heard your voice calling out his name.

Really heard it.

The way it wrapped around his name, frayed at the edges but undeniably yours.

”Shuntaro.”

Your voice echoes in his skull, that fractured whisper wrapping around his given name like a noose. No one gets to say it. No one ever will says it like you do. 

Something in him had shifted.

And now?

Now he can’t shake the way your eyes had looked at him—sharp with anger, yes, but beneath it, something softer. Something achingly familiar.

He scoffs under his breath.

Your door.

That's the problem, isn't it?

Every step away from your doorstep is a step he shouldn’t have taken. Not toward you. Not away.

Idiotic.

He’s survived this long by being ruthless. By treating people as variables, not anchors. Yet here he is, mentally retracing the flicker in your eyes like some lovestruck fool.

Pathetic.

A gust of wind carries the stench of rotting concrete. The city’s corpse breathes its last around him, but all he smells is the faint trace of your shampoo—something floral, stupidly out of place in this hellscape. Had you always used that scent? Or was it new?

His jaw tightens.

Irrelevant.

Sentimentality.

Always his downfall when it comes to you.

-

Sitting in the council room, Hatter, as always, stands at the head of the table, his grin too wide, his eyes too bright. Talking about making the Beach, which he himself called 'the paradise', better for all the residents here. 

“The Beach is stable,” he declares, fingers drumming against the polished wood. “But stability isn’t enough. We need progress. More cards. More players. More control.”

Chishiya doesn't listen, he doesn't care. He sits motionless, gaze fixed on the wall just past Hatter’s shoulder. He offers a vague hum when addressed, the bare minimum to feign engagement.

Hatter’s voice fades into static, no longer making sense. Because his mind is nowhere near here.

It’s on you.

Your gaze.

The way you looked at him when realization struck.

Your hands, trembling slightly, finger resting on the trigger—as if you could’ve pulled it. As if the bullet, instead of staying locked in the chamber, could’ve been buried anywhere in his head, in his body.

And yet, it didn’t, still stays in the gun.

You’re still there.

Letting him leave.

Unscathed.

Untouched.

Not even the ghost of your warmth against his fingertips.

He shouldn’t be thinking about you. He should be thinking about the plan. The games. The cards. He needs to stay sharp. Stay detached.

Hatter’s voice finally filters back again into his awareness, a dull buzz replacing the memory of you.

Good.

Let it drown you out.

“We need more manpower. Loyalty. Usefulness.” His gaze sweeps the room, lingering on each face. “Bring me people who can contribute. People who won’t break under pressure.”

His fingers tap idly against the armrest, his mind already drifting again.

To you.

But thanks to Hatter because-

Hatter claps his hands together, snapping him back. “Dismissed!”

The room erupts into movement, chairs scraping. Chishiya stands slowly, his hands slipping into his pockets.

And as he steps out into the room, heading back to his room, one thought lingers, stubborn as a stain:

This isn’t over.

And for the first time in years.

He isn’t sure if that’s a threat.

Or a hope.

-

His mind drifted back to Hatter’s earlier words.

Useful people. Loyal people. What a joke.

Chishiya’s lips curve, just slightly. The stolen tools—your tools—click together as he adjusts the taser's wiring. Kuina lying on his bed, sprawls like a discarded jacket, words tumbling out in an endless stream, rambling, gossiping about things as she always does when she’s bored. She doesn't care if he's listening - she just needs to fill the silence.

He wondered if you’d be a good recruit.

Would you fit in here? Would you like the neon-lit chaos, the false promises, the way people clung to each other like survivors of a shipwreck, dragging each other under in their desperation to stay afloat?

Would you survive?

His chest tightens.

He doesn’t want to think about it.

But he does.

The Beach would chew you up and spit you out—if the games didn’t kill you first.

This place was a gilded cage, its residents dancing like marionettes for the illusion of safety. They drank, they fucked, they laughed too loud—anything to drown out the knowledge that tomorrow might not come.

You’d see through it in seconds.

You’d hate it. You’d hate the noise. The chaos. The way people here pretended they weren’t already dead.

And most of all?

You’d hate him for being part of it.

And then there’s Niragi.

The Beach’s threaten—a rabid dog let off its leash.

Everyone knew what he was, what he did. Chishiya’s seen it firsthand—the way Niragi’s eyes light up when someone begs. The way he grins as he pulls the trigger.

Chishiya exhales through his nose.

That dog means nothing to him.

In his eyes, Niragi is just a fool, a brute who mistakes violence for power, cruelty for strength. He acts without thought, without strategy, a rabid animal in a world that rewards cunning.

But.

If you were here—

The thought coils in his gut like a blade.

Niragi would be the first thing you’d need to avoid.

He’s seen what the man is capable of. The way he puts a bullet between someone’s eyes without blinking. The way he preys on the weak, the way he takes what he wants.

He’ll torture for fun. He’ll kill for less. And no one stops him.

Hatter turns a blind eye. The inner circle laughs it off. The rest? They scatter like roaches when the lights flicker on.

But to Chishiya?

Niragi means nothing to him.

Just another rabid animal in a circus of clowns, mistaking cruelty for strength, brutality for power. A fool who thinks dominance is the same as control.

Pathetic.

And yet—

You.

If you were to stumble into this so-called paradise, into this chaos, Niragi would be the first thing you’d need to avoid.

No, more than avoid.

Escape.

Because Chishiya has seen what that man does to the weak. To the defiant. To the ones who interest him.

He can picture it too clearly.

You, standing in front of Niragi, breath caught in your throat, eyes wide with something too close to fear. Niragi, circling you like a predator, hungry for the way you don’t cower.

And then—Fuck.

He doesn’t want to picture you lying in a pool of blood. Blood on the tiles. Your body crumpling.

Or worse.

You beneath that bastard’s weight—

His hands tighten.

He hates this. Hates the way his mind conjures the image without permission. Hates the way his mind lingers on possibilities that shouldn’t matter. Hates the acidic burn of something too close to fear curling in his chest.

But most of all?

He hates how he can see himself in Niragi, the flicker of something sickeningly familiar in Niragi’s reflection.

He recognizes it. The hunger. The selfishness. The way Niragi chases what he wants without hesitation, no matter who gets trampled in the process.

It’s familiar.

Because Chishiya is selfish too.

He understands the calculus behind those cruel eyes. The ruthless pragmatism. The willingness to sacrifice pawns to win the game. They'd played Diamond together once, after all. The man wasn't stupid - just unrestrained.

But there are lines even Chishiya won't cross.

He doesn't get off on pain. Doesn't revel in suffering. His manipulations are clean, surgical - sever the connection, walk away, no messy aftermath. No sobbing victims. No bloodstains on his pristine white jacket.

He’ll sacrifice pawns to survive. He’ll manipulate, lie, and discard people when they’re no longer useful.

But that’s where the resemblance ends.

Niragi is a beast, driven by base instincts—violence, domination, the need to make everyone hurt as much as he does.

Chishiya? He’s better than that.

He’s calculated, precise. He doesn’t revel in suffering, he simply acknowledges it as a variable. A means to an end. He doesn’t revel in the blood—he simply acknowledges it as a necessary cost.

Niragi wants you to know he’s a monster.

Chishiya is one—he just doesn’t feel the need to prove it.

And that’s the difference.

Where Chishiya calculates, Niragi consumes. Where Chishiya manipulates, Niragi destroys.

That’s why Niragi disgusts him. Not because he’s cruel. But because he’s weak. A slave to his own impulses, his own rage, his own pathetic need to be feared. He only needs control. He gets off on the power, the fear, the way people shrink when he walks by.

Chishiya doesn’t need fear. He doesn’t care about the screams, he’s not the one making them happen.

Not like Niragi. That bitch is everything he refuses to be. A rapist. A murderer. A weakness disguised as strength. The filth who stains everything he touches.

Survival isn’t about mindless brutality. It’s about adaptation. Control.

Niragi thrives in the chaos, a cockroach surviving in the ruins of the world.

And Chishiya?

He’s already thinking ten steps ahead.

Niragi doesn’t survive.

He infects.

As well as The Beach.

And Chishiya won’t let that sickness touch you. Wouldn’t let it touch you.

Because this world doesn’t reward monsters.

It just creates them.

＿＿＿

© 29/03/2025 [ @slyfpy-head ]

[hyunjiiza]

hi everyone !! since lots of people are asking and some people are acting like there’s two sides to a VERY clear story, let me set some things straight. there’s no two sides when you did something wrong, point blank. you can share whatever reasons you did something for but i’m not going to be criticized for speaking out on something that someone else did AND shared. yani literally talked about it on the discord server AFTER i left which was a bit of time after me and lily told her what she did wasn’t okay so she clearly didn’t take it serious enough to not talk about it. (mind you she was saying she understood what she did wrong.. then proceeded to make people uncomfortable by talking about it in a joking manner again..) she said that we “went against her wishes” by sharing her personal life when

1. she talked about it on discord (that’s public for anyone to join) AND on tumblr. multiple times, with people other than myself and lily.

2. when you do stupid shit like that as a public figure (yes i know we aren’t famous) it’s going to get out no matter what.

3. i have every right to say whatever i want to say especially when people were saying it seemed like me and lily teamed up. im going to speak out and i’m also going to speak out about something that i think is wrong. i didn’t reveal any details that she hadn’t already even though she said it in a way that seems like i did.

4. you can’t be racist in private and an advocate in public.

as far as her saying that there’s “things in the middle we left out” what things? because i’m sure she wouldn’t prefer us putting out screenshots? what happened was pretty clear. she did what she did, we told her it was wrong and we cut contact with her. the reasons why she did what she did are irrelevant to me because she said herself it was racist. that’s the point. she says that we’re leaving things out and that us speaking on it is crazy but when asked to share her side she says she doesn’t want to. why? because she knows she’s wrong. because shes afraid of backlash! no one is asking anyone to pick sides, at least me and @cosmicalily arent. but we aren’t going to stay silent because our morals aren’t performative. thank you to everyone who’s been supportive !!

[dukeofdelirium]

You should know when it is your place to speak because I am going to prove you wrong @fuglyjeans and don’t even think about whining in a potential response, because you opened yourself up to this by lying on my post and with complete conviction too!

“There’s actually a lot of evidence” no there isn’t and I don’t need to listen to a fucking PODCAST to know that. Want to know how I know? Because I’ve pulled every god damn court document that exists on Michael Jackson straight from the source and have studied his cases for over 12 damn years.

Don’t fucking come onto my shit telling me to do research when you’re recommending random ass podcasts as valid study sessions for the most disgraceful witch hunt carried out by the American judicial system in the last 32 years.

The child you’re referring to is Jordan Chandler. Say his damn name or shut up. I bet you didn’t even know his name before commenting this stupid shit. Complete lie you made up, btw. Let’s get into it, shall we?

Jordan Chandler accurately described absolutely fuck all! Wanna know how we KNOW? Because not only did the police officer that interviewed Chandler state that he said Jackson was CIRCUMCISED which his official PUBLIC AUTOPSY REPORT DISPROVES, but the Chandler Family’s fucking lawyer moved to BAR these photographs of Jackson from court!

FYI, because you clearly seem to need it: The Smoking Gun was a media mouthpiece for the prosecution in 2005’s trial. They deleted this article after Jackson died and his autopsy disproved what the officer said.

Hmmm… what’s that I spy with my little eye?

Hmmmmm.

Wow, shocking. Also, the idea of “splotches” is fucking irrelevant. 1) it was literally never proven to be true that the child could describe certain markings and 2) Jackson had fucking vitiligo which everyone on planet earth knew by that point (meaning markings on his skin were ever changing) so no matter what the child said, the prosecution could try to explain it whether it was right or wrong or “relatively close” as Sneddon put it, therefore it can’t be believed beyond a reasonable doubt and 3) the cops would absolutely ask if Jackson was circumcised. This would be the first thing an alleged victim of SA is asked about a male perpetrator. Jordan Chandler had a 50/50 chance of getting it right. He got it fucking wrong.

Cope.

They also brought Katherine Jackson to speak before the grand juries to ask her whether her son had plastic surgery to alter the way his dick looked. Oh yeah, sounds like we have a winner here, boys!

Not only did they not want the photographs to be shown because it disproved what the child said, but there was obviously not a fucking match because if it HAD BEEN, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN PROBABLE CAUSE AND CORROBORATING EVIDENCE!

Do you honest to god think this means nothing or something? Or are you just clueless to the facts? This would be corroborating, which means this would be grounds for arrest, which means 2 grand juries would absolutely have indicted Jackson had it been a match. Trying to explain this to you is like talking to a toddler or something. Use your brain.

The Chandler family originally had Gloria Allred as their attorney. She gave a public press conference where she stated she had 0 interest in a civil case and only cared about criminal Justice. 24 hours later? They fired her and replaced her with another attorney that cared about getting money from Jackson. This attorney used legal trickery and loopholes to force Jackson into a corner, by arguing that the child was 14 and thus too young and might forget if he didn’t have his case heard as soon as possible in a civil proceeding. This was what led to the civil settlement and the violation of Jackson’s constitutional rights.

You idiots think you’re so damn smart and knowledgeable about Michael Jackson because you listened to some circle jerk discussion on YouTube or some shit. And then you make complete fools of yourselves for everyone to see when you try to speak to people like me who know every detail of said cases. Fucking embarrassing. Jackson was not only never arrested in 1993 or 1994 during the police investigation into these allegations from Jordan Chandler (which he would have been had the description matched), but he also was never indicted by two separate grand juries that oversaw all “evidence” that chucklefuck Tom Sneddon had, which was fuck all.

Jordan Chandler evaded all attempts to make him testify against Jackson. Jackson’s legal defense prepared for over 500 witnesses and dozens of these witnesses on the list were there to testify against Jordan Chandler had he shown up.

“Y’all can’t wrap your heads around victims blah blah blah” don’t ever fucking presume to tell me shit about child sexual abuse. I am literally a male survivor of CSA. I know very well how it feels to be sexually abused and I know how it feels to struggle with memory problems.

Don’t even try to make an excuse to me about it, because Jordan Chandler never said he had memory issues to begin with. Neither did Jackson’s next accuser Gavin Arvizo. He was asked by the psychologist that interviewed him if he struggled with memory or with fears relating to CSA as well in 1993, and you want to know what he said? He said he had no fears of any kind, no struggles, and only that he was afraid of cross examination.

Sit the fuck down and shut the hell up. Consider yourself served and silenced.

[imperator-kahlo]

I'm still ruminating on that scene between Gail and Tommy in 2x03. About what Gail says about Ellie.

I think it's important to the season, potentially quite troubling in its implications, and the first major change from the game that just kinda stumps me. What are they going for here?

(Is this post just a lengthy justification/reconciliation of my initial very positive response to Gail? Nope, absolutely not, I don't know what you're talking about.)

First off: I'm assuming competence on the part of the writers/showrunners. YMMV, but I believe the changes they're making are purposeful and considered. I think most of the changes last season were highly successful and that most of the changes this season are going to turn out to have been successful, too. So I'm coming at this with the assumption that both this scene and the character of Gail are there for a reason and thematically tied to the story.

Beyond the show and games, I'm drawing on the official podcast for season 1 but I haven't listened to season 2 and don't intend to until the season's over. Wild speculation ahoy!

The scene

Tommy: You see things that others don't. I'm nervous she's gonna do somethin' stupid. Gail: What, you didn't believe her speech? Tommy: Did you? Gail: Course not. She's a liar. Tommy: Well, there's a difference between lyin' and being a liar. Gail: Oh, I know. And that one? Liar. There was maybe one person she told the truth to, and he's… But we can agree to disagree about that. What matters is you're afraid. So, let's talk about it. Okay. Free of charge. Tommy: I just don't want her to go down the same paths that Joel did. Comin' up with justifications and such. All he was really doin' was lashin' out. Gail: So, you think she might have learned that behavior from him? Turns out nurture can only do this much. The rest is nature. If she's on a path, it's not one that Joel put her on. No. No. I think they were walking side by side from the very start. Tommy, I get it. You inherited her, and you wanna keep her out of trouble. Take it from a psychotherapist of 40 years. Some people just… Some people just can't be saved.

Does Gail matter?

I think she matters a lot. Gail appears in three episodes this season, according to IMDB. She gets a good amount of screen time in "Final Days" and "The Path". We linger on her reaction to important moments: the New Year's Eve fight, Ellie's speech in the town meeting. These pauses with Gail suggest that what Tommy says is true: she sees what others don't.

This is a considerable investment of precious screen time in a new character. They hired an absolute powerhouse of an actress to play her, and put her in scenes with three very important characters: Tommy, Ellie, Joel. Her presence in Jackson looms large.

And Gail was married to Eugene, a character we recognise from the game, a character who has been referenced several times in the first three episodes, and a person whose death is no longer natural. Instead, Eugene's death is linked to Joel (and, I suspect, to Ellie—more on that later). This killing is supposed to be on our minds. There's something more to learn about it.

Does this scene matter?

Look, it's the absolute lowest form of media analysis, but... this scene contains, almost verbatim, the episode's title. This episode, 'The Path', is a decisive one for Ellie. She's found, not to belabor the point, her path. And this entire conversation turns on Tommy's fear that Ellie will "go down the same paths that Joel did." I think this scene is pivotal for Ellie and for the themes of the show (which I don't think will be identical to those of the game). I don't think we can just throw up our hands, say "Gail's just a bitter drunk," and write it off as irrelevant to Ellie's arc.

Additionally: Mazin and Druckmann have been interested in exploring a darkness in Ellie since the beginning. In 1x01, 'When You're Lost in the Darkness', we get this unsettling reaction to Joel beating a man to death with his bare hands:

In the official podcast, Mazin says of this moment:

Ellie sees [Joel beat a man] to death, [punch] him over and over and over and Ellie is activated. And this is going to echo forward. This is something that Neil and I talked about a lot. Which was understanding where Ellie goes. And understanding what the connection is between Joel and Ellie. That there's a thread between them that is more than just I used to have a kid and you're also a kid. There's something else. That there's the connection already between Joel and Ellie that is different from his connection with his own daughter. And perhaps potentially stronger and certainly potentially more dangerous.

When they talk about where Ellie goes, they're talking about this season. Where Ellie goes is Seattle. And this scene is telling us something about what's at the end of that road.

Why does this absolutely fucking suck?

The million dollar question about this scene, imo, is whether Gail is a credible interlocutor. Are we supposed to immediately reject what she says about Ellie? I'm convinced we aren't, but I'm less certain where we should be on the spectrum between Gail-tells-the-absolute-truth and Gail-is-insightful-but-ultimately-mistaken.

At the end of 2x01, I was convinced that Gail is a somewhat dysfunctional person whose professional ethics were left back in some QZ in the early 2000s, but that she's also a gifted and insightful therapist. I thought what she did with Joel was more calculated than she let on, that it took both compassion and GUTS (that flinch when he suddenly stood, woof), and that she came within a whisker of getting him to open up.

Let's assume for now I wasn't just wildly incorrect!

I was stoked to see Gail again in 2x03. Her interaction with Ellie at the hospital was pretty neutral—I was mostly just amused by the fact that Gail clearly knew Ellie was full of shit and Ellie clearly knew that she knew.

Then we got to the chat with Tommy and I got whiplash. I want to talk about three things: Gail's identification of Ellie as not lying but a liar, as an equal partner to Joel in the events of season 1, and as, like, biologically predetermined to violence (Gail, what the fuck) and thus beyond saving.

Ellie, the liar

Ellie lied to Gail in the hospital. She lied again in her speech during the town meeting. These are the sorts of lies people tell all the time: I'm not comfortable opening up to you, the therapist I didn't consent to see, so I'm going to fob you off with a little story about how everything's fine. I want a particular outcome in this political debate, so I'm going to craft an argument that's persuasive. These aren't lies intend to hurt. They're intended to protect Ellie from emotional pain. I haven't sat down to catalogue every lie Ellie tells in season 1, but I'm pretty sure they were almost all intended to protect her physical and emotional safety.

And Gail has to know this. To jump from what she's seen this season to Ellie is a liar is wild to me.

But there is one lie that Ellie is always telling. Her immunity. That's a secret she's keeping for her safety, but the danger of telling the truth is sort of abstract. Sure, it endangers her out there, but in Jackson? This is a safe community, where Ellie is building relationships and working towards everyone's security. She's close to key people in leadership positions, so they probably wouldn't immediately try to dissect her. And it's easy to think of scenarios in which her patrol partner gets hurt or killed because they were unaware that Ellie could survive a bite. (This isn't an argument that Ellie should disclose her immunity, just that there are material risks to others to not disclosing.)

So I think this is what we're supposed to take from Gail, here. She sees things others don't, we're told, and she sees this kind of foundational dishonesty in Ellie. I think we're supposed to think of Ellie's secret immunity as a corruption: something destroying Ellie's closest relationships and isolating her from everyone around her.

After all, we know that even after five years, Ellie is on the outskirts in Jackson. I'm not sure all of that marginalisation is down to homophobia (there's an uncomfortable parallel here between an immunity she hasn't "come out" about and her lesbianism, not great).

"I think they were walking side by side from the very start."

Fine, this is a nice line. It echoes the final shot of the credits. But this poetic turn of phrase is buttressed by what precedes it: Gail dismissing the role of nurture in shaping the personality in favour of biological determinism. It is an argument that Ellie's violence is in her blood: it's not that she was born into a post-apocalyptic hellscape, that she was raised in a military orphanage to be a soldier, that she went on a dangerous and life-changing cross-country road trip, or that she took that trip with a man who was good at violence. It's in her blood.

This idea makes me really fucking mad! This show exists in a social context, which we all bring to watching it, and the real-world implications of the logics at play here are awful. First, the suggestion that she and Joel both had the same amount of agency in season 1. She was a child, Gail! Real she might be fourteen, but she was soooo mature for her age vibes. Gross.

And second, if violence is an inherent genetic legacy, we're about two steps away from eugenics and race science. Ellie is white, so the racial implications of Gail's position are a bit obscured for a white audience (we're the default, after all! /s). But imagine for a moment how this line would have felt if said about, say, a Black character.

Okay. It's problematic. Putting that aside, why would Gail say it and why would Mazin write it? I'll come back to Gail at the end. As for Mazin, I think a similar thing is happening here as with the Ellie-is-a-liar thing. From 1x09, "Look for the Light":

Marlene: Our doctor… he thinks that the cordyceps in Ellie has grown with her since birth. [...] It produces a kind of chemical messenger. It makes normal cordyceps think that she’s cordyceps. It’s why she’s immune.

There is cordyceps inside Ellie. It's in her blood. I think, once again, Gail is seeing what others can't, but she doesn't have the necessary information to understand what she's seeing. She sees a darkness in Ellie, but doesn't realise that darkness comes from the fungus. It's not inherent to Ellie.

From 1x08, "When We are in Need":

David: ... You see a lot. So do I. And you know what I see when I look at you? Me. You remind me of me. You’re a natural leader, you’re smart… loyal. Violent. Ellie: You don’t know anything about me. David: But I do. If I let you out of that cage right now, put that knife of yours in your hand, you’d stick me in a second. You have a violent heart. And I should know. I’ve always had a violent heart. And I struggled with it for a long time. But then the world ended and I was shown the truth. Ellie: Right… by God. David: No. By Cordyceps. What does Cordyceps do? Is it evil? No. It’s fruitful. It multiplies. It feeds and protects its children, and it secures its future with violence, if it must. It loves.

I think Mazin and Druckmann are driving at something here. In the game, Ellie's immunity is sort of irrelevant to her arc. It kickstarts the plot, yes, and it provides a reason for Joel to take away all her agency and then lie to her about it. It allows her to survive when Riley didn't, thus piling on a bunch of survivor's guilt. But all the same plot and character beats could have been reached other ways.

In the show, I think her immunity—and especially the fact that the immunity comes from being infected—is important. The cordyceps inside her is going to be fundamental to who Ellie is and who she becomes.

Some people just can't be saved

Pretty much everything I just said about the nature vs nurture stuff.

I did see someone on here—I'm sorry, I can't remember who—suggest that Gail is saying that some people have to save themselves, and can't be helped because they won't accept that help. That's true, and it squares nicely with Ellie's arc in the game. I'm not sure it squares with everything else Gail says in this scene, in which she displays no compassion for Ellie and basically writes her off as an inherently bad person. I think maybe this is another case of Gail accidentally saying the truth while meaning something else.

So why, Gail? Why?

A thing that struck me: In Gail's therapy session with Joel, we see how angry she is at him, how much she hates him for killing Eugene. But even so, she had compassion for him. She promised to help him. When she spoke to Tommy, I didn't see an ounce of compassion for Ellie. It was a really hostile, angry, judgemental way to speak about a young, traumatised woman that she's only therapised for like five minutes. Maybe Gail just has a gift for projecting compassion she doesn't feel when she's actually in session with a client, or maybe there's something we're missing.

Gail's back in episode 6, and she's bringing Eugene with her (Joe Pantoliano!). I think that episode's going to recontextualise this scene between Tommy and Gail. Maybe Ellie was involved in whatever happened to Eugene? Perhaps something she did or failed to do led to Eugene's infection, or at least that's Gail's perception, and Joel did what Ellie's actions caused him to have to do?

Or, you know, maybe Gail just fucking sucks.

Finally, a conclusion?!

I've speculated above about what Mazin and Druckmann are potentially driving at with Ellie's arc. I think there's also some interesting parallels happening here: between Gail, Abby, and Ellie; Joel and Eugene; David and Gail. Between Gail's confrontation with Joel and Ellie's eventual confrontation with Abby. In the immortal words of Billy Ray Cyrus, much to think about.

I'm interested in the choice to make Gail a therapist. Psychology is a field with an incredibly troubled history and it continues to do plenty of harm. Young women (like Ellie) with neurodivergence and/or complex mental health issues have historically been misdiagnosed at high rates with borderline personality disorder, which is very stigmatised and, like all personality disorders, often used as an excuse to write a person off as beyond help and inherently abusive and dishonest (sound familiar?).

But I think a lot of casual viewers would just read Gail as a mental health expert and thus a reliable commentator on other people. Last season, the only person to provide this sort of read on Ellie was David, a blatant villain. This season, we hear it from somebody pretty likeable, presumably insightful, trusted by both Joel and Tommy. It's an interesting choice, regardless of whether Ellie's arc ultimately confirms or denies what Gail says.

Much to think about.

[foreingersgod]

Can you write a CC x country reader that has a heavy accent, like Texas or smth and how it makes people react to it?

this is such a cute idea, i decided to put my own little twist on it so i hope you like it!

Texas Twang . CC

pairing: caitlin clark x reader

synopsis: you were born and raised on a texas farm, eventually moving away for college where you met caitlin. here’s a list of 5 times she’s fallen in love with you and your accent

A/N: #5 is a wee bit spicy (trying to feed ya’ll as per request) so please skip it if you’re uncomfortable with that!

also i got these sayings off of google cause i dont know any texas slang or how to convey the reader having an accent so sorry if they’re literally not real 😭

༶•┈┈୨♡୧┈┈•༶

1. when you first met

you were panicked, running around your small room trying to find your stupid fucking phone. you were already running 5 minutes behind, the clock on the wall told you, but you wouldn’t be able to find your first class of the morning regardless if you didn’t find your phone. checking under your heap of blankets, in the drawers of your desk, and even in your laundry basket, you found nothing.

then, after throwing every book out of your backpack as a last resort, you saw it laying below discarded orientation papers and sticky notes. with a sigh of relief, you snatched your phone and sprinted out of your building.

you were running at full speed, which was a little embarrassing considering every one else on campus was just walking normally. but you were extremely behind and would be so mad if you were late to your first class at this school. so you continued to weave through people. you dodged campaigners, sped through large groups on the lawns, probably knocking down a few people in the process.

your sprinting seemed to pay off when you noticed the building up ahead. you glanced at the time, seeing you still had a few minutes to make it if you really hurried. your legs ached as you continued to speed walk past bypassers.

then, without notice, you ran right into someone passing by. the force of your impact causing the both of you to fall to the ground in the middle of the quad. if you weren’t late already, you surely would have been now.

“shit” you heard the other person cuss under their breath. you looked up, still planted on the ground, to the person in front of you.

she was an insanely attractive woman. lean, about 6 foot, muscular, just your type you might add. she was pushing herself off of the concrete side walk, brushing the gravel from her pants. you followed suit, standing up then apologizing profusely for running into her.

“oh my hell, i’m so sorry” you exclaimed “i was goin’ way too fast, i apologize”

she gave you a crooked smile, shaking her head.

“no you’re ok, it happens, i should’ve been paying attention”

“no, really ‘s my bad”

her face twisted ever so slightly as you talked “you’re not from around here are you?” she blurted “sorry, that’s completely irrelevant, i just noticed the accent”

you laughed, this wasn’t the first time someone was confused by the heaviness of your accent “it’s fine, i don’t mind. yea, no i’m from a small town in texas, i moved up here for college recently”

“oh really? that’s cool” she smiled, extending her hand to you “well, i’m caitlin by the way”

“i’m YN” you returned her handshake “ ‘s so nice to meet you, but i’m runnin’ late for class”

“wait” she stopped you before you ran past her “do you think i could grab your number, maybe i could take you out sometime?”

you were all smiles “i’d like that, i’d like that very much”

2. your first argument

you don’t even know how it started. all you knew is that some girl was getting flirty at the bar and, according to your girlfriend, you were letting her seduce you. this was obviously not true. you and caitlin hadn’t been dating that long, but it has going really well and she’s incredibly important to you. important enough that you wouldn’t just be flirting with other women at the bar.

nonetheless, you were being dragged out of the bar. caitlin was oozing jealousy as you headed back to your place for the night.

“she was all over you, YN” caitlin sneered, following you into your apartment and slamming the door.

“oh my god, she wasn’t!” you rolled your eyes “good lord, arguing with you ‘s like tryna piss up a god damn rope”

“what?”

“what do you mean what?” your accent was thick, rolling off your tongue.

“what the hell does ‘pissing up a rope’ mean?” she looked at you confused, dropping the girl from the bar entirely.

you looked at her equally confused “you don’t say that here?”

“uh no, i think that’s a you thing” she said “your texas slang is distracting me and it’s making it very hard to be mad at you right now”

you chuckled, kissing her cheek “ ‘s just my southern charm, baby”

3. when you sing in the car

caitlin hated country music for the most part. but when you came along, you made it your duty to get her to enjoy it at least a little bit. she had never been subjected to small farm country music and to you, that was a sin.

so you’d play it for her on occasion, if she let you. and surprisingly it was pretty often. she would never tell you, but she only put up with country music just to hear you sing it. she was completely mesmerized by the way your accent mixed with the tune of the songs.

one day you were in the car together, on the way home from a get together with friends. it was a warm summer evening, sun on the brink of setting causing the sky to glow shades of orange and pink. cait was driving, per usual, you being her honorary passenger princess. she rolled down all the windows for you (even the sunroof) just how you liked it. you loved feeling the hot summer breeze blow through your hair with the radio turned all the way up.

“you follow me, and lead me on..” you hummed lightly, ‘all your’n by tyler childers sounding through the car radio.

she snuck glances at you as she drove down the empty street, watching how you let your arms hang out with window and let the wind fan over your face.

“so ill love you till my lungs give out” you closed your eyes, lost in the moment “i ain’t lying’”

caitlin so desperately wanted to pull over and listen to you sing all night long. your voice was like a gift from the gods. the way your accent slurred with each word had her melting in the drivers seat.

“i’m all your’n” you looked over to caitlin, smiling “ ‘n you’re all mine”

she smiled back, reaching across the console and resting her hand on your thigh.

she let you play your music the rest of the way home, just wanting to listen to you sing for a little bit longer.

4. when you met her family

you had waited months to meet caitlin’s family. no really, families were your thing. growing up in texas, it was common to be in or surrounded by a big family. and you knew big families more than anyone else, having 9 siblings, you being the middle child. it was a setting you thrived it and you tended to get along with people pretty well.

caitlin was hesitant to introduce you, she was freshly out of the closet and had never brought a girl home before. but this thanksgiving, she thought it was the perfect time to introduce you.

“so, YN” caitlin’s mother asked from across the table. “i’m sure you’re not used to such a small family, caitlin told me you come from quite the family tree?”

caitlin’s hand found your knee under the table, squeezing it lightly for comfort.

“oh yea,” you chuckled “my mama had a whole litter with 9 ‘a us. it was always crazy around the house, with 5 brothers n 3 sisters. and my daddy wasn’t around to help out off’n, but that’s a whole ‘nutter can a worms”

the way her family reacted to your voice made caitlin laugh under her breath, watching how they slowly dissected your sentence trying to make out the words from beneath the accent. she thought it was cute, lucky to have such a unique and special girl.

even the way you interacted with her younger cousins had her fawning over you, you were just so sweet and gentle.

“hiya, sweetie” you smiled as caitlin’s baby cousin accidentally fell into you “took a bit of a spill there didn’t ‘cha?”

you were the perfect picture of a warm welcome, full of beauty and grace and kindness. caitlin knew, from this moment, you’d be in her life forever.

SPICE AHEAD

5. during sex

she’d be lying if she said that damned accent didn’t get her riled up. because truly, it had her wet the second you started talking.

when she would have you pressed up against the wall, one leg wrapped around her torso as she kissed down your collarbone and onto your cleavage. the way you would moan “oh darlin’” oh so sweetly in her ear had her going crazy.

the rare instances in which you would take the lead in bed, watching as you crawled atop of her, stripping her bare. how you would hook your fingers under her underwear, tugging them down her long and toned legs. she was already bucking her hips into nothing. then you’d fasten your arms under her thighs, pulling them apart to place delicate kisses along the insides of her legs.

you’d tease her a bit more before dropping your head low, hot breath fanning against her glistening cunt. she bit her lip, trying to suppress moans of pleasure, and you had hardly touched her yet. you took your time with her, tongue dragging deliciously against her, savoring the taste.

“well you’re just sweeter than cherry pie, aren’t ‘cha baby” you’d praise, having her arching under your touch. with that, she couldn’t hold her moans any longer, completely coming undone as you continued to treasure every inch of her body.

you were going to be the death of her. 

༶•┈┈୨♡୧┈┈•༶

A/N: alright guys i tried to make it a little spicier, so feedback is much appreciated cause i honestly feel like it sucked lol

[elainsgirl]

It is actually so naive of eluciens and gwynriels to think the bracket thing is just a popularity competition. As if it isn't a marketing ploy. As if BB themselves didn't obviously have a hand in what moments were selected. As if they didn't design the pairs to be beneficial to their pr and marketing strategies. We're talking a whole ass industry running on more money than any of us could grasp. They don't mess around to please raging fans when they have a business to run and casual readers to capitalize off of (no shade, we get our books, they get their money). And yet I only ever see Elriels even talk about publishing as an actual industry.

The antis should seriously just think about it for a second.

AS IF Blooomsbury would let Lucien be absent from that bracket thing if he is to be the next MMC. AS IF they would set Gwyn up against an iconic Feyre moment and doom her to fail, if she was to be the next FMC. AS IF they would include not one but two Elriel moments (yes, I think both are Elriel moments because they chose to explicitly mention TT in the Elain moment), and put them up against each other to make sure it moves on to the next round. As if they'd do that if Elriel was an "ended ship", not relevant for the future plot. And right before we are likely to get an announcement. To do all this and then pivot to Elucien or Gwynriel, is  incompetent marketing. It would never happen. The idea is laughable.

This isn't fan service. It's marketing, cheekily framed as a fan service event, ahead of an anniversary and an announcement of a huge release. But anyone can see that this is carefully orchestrated. It HAS to be, because publishing is an industry. Its orchestrated, and not in a nefarious way. Just in a perfectly normal standard for the industry type way.

Seriously, I've had quite a low opinion of BB given how they have handled Acotar the past four years. But this? Top teir marketing. Chaotic, to the point, no mercy for the small but screeching crowd of antis. Just ignoring them, dropping casual truth bombs about Elain. Whoever came up with this? Mad respect. Give them a raise.

And antis? Are antis really this naive? Or are they just holding on to a fantasy for dear life?

idfk atp. Its so obvious its a marketing stragety to bring engagement to their page and allow acotar to reenter the romantasy audience all before the big ACO10. BB had full control over what enters the brackets, some where fan submissions other selections where always going to make it. BB has a very a good idea of which moments are going to win each round and what type of narrative they’re creating. They do not gaf about catering to any fans. Right now their main priority is bracing the fandom for aco10. BB aren’t stupid. They know which topic is running hot in the fandom and what their readers are expecting.

Lucien didn’t make it into the brackets at all…it says a LOT about 1) how little the fandom cares about him aka he’s become irrelevant to the main fandom 2) BB haven’t prioritised him as important…hypothetically if an elucien book is next - by not including Lucien, they’ve just shown us he isnt that important RIGHT NOW. Yes Gwyn made it into the bracket but we all know how many people and which people voted for Gwyn moments- it would be to obvious that this is all calculated if Gwyn wasn’t included regardless…she was put up against a very iconic feyre moment. BB did it on purpose. Gwyn had no chance of making it and look - her scene is out. She’s gone…for a gwynriel book being next again this isnt a good look.

An Elain AND an elriel moment made it through. BB intentionally set them up against each other…why? Because 100% one scene will make it through. They even have a chance of beating the next few scenes. For an elriel book being next - this is very interesting and telling. Its bringing focus to Elain and elriel. AND both moments had TT which we know for sure will play a role in acotar 5 due to HOFAS.

it IS marketing. Its reminding old readers of acotar, convincing new readers of acotar and making the fandom active - with many people constantly visiting BB’s page. They’ve been very active and its not a coincidence that the last few months many big outlets are talking about acotar - all of this is building up towards aco10. Their big event. And you’re right - it is all orchestrated. Sarah is aware to an extent of whats happening and what her publishers are doing. The book is probably ready to be announced.

BB has been ruthless towards antis. They haven’t interacted or given in to the antis that where whining about elain killing hybern not being canon - ruining the event for everyone else - instead just ignored them which goes to show how irrelevant these people are. People aren’t going to believe a random account with a few thousand brought followers over the actual PUBLISHERS of the series whose reach is in the Ks. Its a slap in the face for antis, putting them back down into their positions. Reminding them, they’re nothing compared to the publishers of the series. The ones that have the final say and know what’s happening.

You know what I think? I think some antis are beginning to realise they’re wrong. They can’t jusyify everything - and this is making them insecure which they take out by being bitter towards elriel. Some antis have convinced themselves they’re popular names in this fandom - enough to believe majority would agree w them arguing w the literal publishers over a canon scene in the books they published when in reality everyone else was cringing and laughing at the sheer disrespect and audacity. Antis are only going to get more insecure and bitter. But I do think some are naive about this whole thing and are looking towards others to help them feel secure in their crackships again.

[unadulteratedstrawberrypeanut]

BREADHEAD HEADCANONS.

I saw that many people have already written their headcanons on various characters in the area (Even Jack! My favorite.) so I decided to share mine too

1. Breadhead is the eldest child in the family. He was created by Ken to make the routine work at the store and the caresses of the smiling dead gang easier. While everything went well with the second one, things weren't so great at the store.

2. Breadhead is not stupid, rather he doesn't care about the things that surround him. With the exception of his own family. No one cares who to kill for them or money. And everything that happens that is not related to them is almost irrelevant. Until it was accidentally right in front of his loaf. Breadhead doesn't think about many things, but when he encounters them directly, he can finally get interested.

3. Actually, because of the second factor, he didn't do well in the store. Working with dissatisfied customers is clearly not for him.

4. Ken was confused for a long time about what he could offer his son in the store. Therefore, for the last time, do not stay on the sidelines, wanting to help him with all possible efforts. In the end, when Mel appeared in their lives to Breadhead, our work sat with her like a nanny.

5. Mel was a hyperactive child who wanted to learn the whole world with a very high level of development. She often got into all sorts of stories, and Breadhead was always next to her. Regardless of new things that previously seemed unnecessary, but with his sister I became full of mysteries and secrets. For example, why his sister could fit in her father's boot, but he could not ....

6. Since Ken was even more nervous while looking after Mel and the store, it was at this point that Breadhead decided to study music. Either he read or someone told him (little Mel or Mud) that music can calm people down.

7. He tried different instruments. Drums, brass instruments, guitars. But they were too small and fragile. Breadhead could easily clamp some part, which caused the sound to become unpleasantly distorted or the instrument to break altogether.

8. The piano was also not easy for him right away. It was easy to break them by pressing on the keys. But then. Keys can be big and small, right? That's why he liked them.

9. Breadhead doesn't feel bad not having many friends. His family, his main friends. However, naturally, having a narrow circle of friends, sooner or later you can feel lonely. When everyone is busy, for example. At such moments, he plays his piano or tries to start casual conversations about music with someone.

10. As a child, Breadhead could involuntarily feel like an unloved child. Because little Mel demanded a lot of attention from Ken. At such moments, he most often spent time with his uncle. Sometimes wondering if his father loved him as much as Mel. Mud always answered that both children are equally annoying, and therefore equally loved. After that, he taught the little bun to shoot.

11. The tattoo of the word dad inside a heart was inked by Breadhead on the first day of official membership in the gang of smiling corpses.

12. Never. Hurt. Your. Family. This rule is almost sewn into Breadhead's consciousness. He can smash, chop, be incredibly cruel to others. But to raise a hand against Mud, Mel or Ken, even by accident, is a terrible nightmare after which he will never be able to forgive himself. Actually, that's why he doesn't really like taunts like "I'll give you five skorobeys if you turn Mud inside out." His grains were collected too carefully to harm his family.

13. Mud is Breadhead's favorite relative (after his father, of course). Since they spent a lot of time together as children. The nephew often helped his uncle look for the head after Ken took it off.

14. He doesn't like birds.

15. But he loves to eat cars!

That's all! Thanks for reading and have a nice day! =D

[nalyra-dreaming]

to all your anons sending asks saying.. I cant believe stupid drama over website and Assad etc... perhaps they haven't been here long? or they should look into it?? it's NOT just about a website.. if it was just that one thing people would have not reacted at all... it's cherry on top of so many things already boiling up in the fandom.. Assad was no part of any PR in season 1 for obvious reason.. but in season 2 he continued to be ignored.. yes he was in few panels last year but other than that like it's been literally said 100 times but he's been passed over in mentions and award considerations many times how.. all PR accounts always skip honoring him properly. if anyone is excluded somehow it's always him.. and now this mistake on top of it.. it just compounds and it's ALWAYS HIM. so for those anons to act like people are mad just about that website thing.. they are either playing dumb and are very dishonest or are totally uninformed

Okay, I'm gonna say this real gentle, because I get the high emotions subject, as said.

But:

You are extrapolating on a parasocial relationship, feeling hurt for Assad here, based on your feeling that he should get all the nominations and awards.

And you know what? I agree, he does. He is AMAZING as Armand.

He is also not (co-)lead.

He is a supporting actor, whether you might like that, find that appropriate or not.

Season 1 was split due to covid - which resulted in them having to dig into Dreamstat, because it is the Lestat & Louis show, built on the friggin' Vampire Chronicles. And which resulted in a perceived shift in lead, with Lestat "dropping out", and Armand taking over. But Sam and Jacob are the leads. That has been stated, often enough. (It's even been stated that the shift of "supporting" will happen in s3 wrt Jacob(!)) There's contracts for AMC to consider here - and also the structure of the chronicles themselves.

I said it before, some people also seem to think it's the "Louis show" because the title of the show is "Interview with the Vampire" (and because Jacob has at times underlined the "the").

But in the next season the "the" vampire will be... Lestat. Imho the show is called IWTV because "The Vampire Chronicles" is way too close to another vampire show, "The Vampire Diaries".

And it's a very, very different beast than that show.

Armand is one of the big corner stones IWTV is built on - Loustat being the main focus, then DM - but he is still a supporting character. Who will have a big part in the upcoming seasons! But he is not lead or co-lead.

AMC chose this setup, and they are pushing the FYC campaigns accordingly. With addition of Delainey because she is part of the unholy family. (And you don't want to argue against her performance, do you.)

Again, whether AMCs choices may be something -I- find appropriate - or you - is irrelevant here. You can get upset over it, you can rant - but this is it. And, given the structure of the chronicles, I can only recommend accepting that.

Because they are doing the books.

[eschergirls]

March 2025 Caption Contest Winners!

It's been 2 weeks it's time to announce the winners of the March caption contest!

The captions were all really good this month (as usual) so since we had so many, I'll pick 3 honorable mentions and 3 winners (1st, 2nd, and 3rd place ranked).

Each winner will get to choose a prize if they wish (but you don't have to, you can just participate for fun too.) The prizes are extra Steam codes that I've acquired. If you won and want a prize, please contact me. 

The honourable mentions can get a prize if any of the winners decline (I will contact you if that happens, the prize order for honourable mentions will be selected randomly so the order you're listed here doesn't mean that's the order I will contact you in).

So here are the entries, organized by the platform they were submitted on:

Fedi/Mastodon:

Adriano: "Look, I like you, I know we both lost our legs in a mysterious jungle-related incident far away from our woods, we have a lot in common, but you still really really need a bath!" Maeve Moon: "Listen Snow, I know you like playing outdoors, but this would be way easier if we went back to my place!"

Disqus:

Imry:  Whenever you say "lol those two are inseparable" I imagine them melting together into a single entity despite their most desparate protests. Y'know, like this:

Tumblr:

betsybugaboo: Snow White and her girlfriend discovering tribadism boreal-sea: “I told you Velcro underwear was a stupid idea!” elkian: "Stop pushing!" "Shut up, if only one of us makes it out of the body-melting trap it's gonna be me!" encephalopoda: "I already said no smooching before you brush, Snow!" fyrenwater: Stories would get the details wrong, but Snow White was actually killed by the assassin Poison Apple, infamous for her throat chops. harukami: This year's batch of dryads were planted a little too close to each other. lythar-wolfe: Whatever they're doing is irrelevant, her hand is backwards on Snow White's throat. pinlc-candy: "Now is NOT the time to do palm reading, Snow! We need to get to a hospital stat, before it's too late for them to surgically reattach our lower legs!" rubybelladonna: argument breaks out in the middle of scissoring spider-honey: They're gonna need more than True Love's Kiss to fix this one. thecomicsrack: #this looks like a botched game of pattycake whatyadrawin: "Stop moving Snow! This will Re-align your spine the right way,  I saw it on a mirrorbook post" woodsworth: Grimm Physique Tales

The honorable mentions go to: encephalopoda, pinlc-candy and rubybelladonna

The runner-ups are: 

In third place: @fyrenwater: Stories would get the details wrong, but Snow White was actually killed by the assassin Poison Apple, infamous for her throat chops.

In second place: @harukami: This year's batch of dryads were planted a little too close to each other.

And the winner is... @boreal-sea: “I told you Velcro underwear was a stupid idea!”

Congratulations to all the winners and a big thank you to everybody who participated! I love reading all your creative and funny captions. xD

Stay tuned in April for another caption contest!

If you won and would like a Steam code as a prize, please message me with which prize you would like.  If you came in 2nd, message me with 2 choices in order of preference...  I'll give you your top choice that hadn't been taken by the other winners. (To clarify, every winner only gets 1 prize, but winners other than the one in first place should give me their list of games in order of preference so if one is taken, I'll give you the next on the list.  It makes it easier for me to hand out the prizes.)

If the winner or the runner ups don't claim a prize, then I will pick from the honorable mentions randomly to claim a prize if they want one.

The Steam codes I have available as prizes are for: Aragami, Beyond The Edge of Owlsgard, GoNNER, Hotel Giant 2, Peachleaf Pirates, Riot: Civil Unrest, Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, Such Art: Genius Artist Simulator, Survivalist, and Verne: The Shape of Fantasy.

[blossomthepinkbunny]

My full Stolitz rant

Like many other people I really dislike Stolitz as a ship and the newest episode proved that further. I decided to just make a full rant about everything that comes to mind, instead of making multiple posts, focused on different general aspects/themes of HB or HH like I usually do. So this will not cover the issues I have with the writing of other characters like Stella or Octavia (I briefly talked about Stella and the aspect of woobyfying Stolas in my Adam post already). This also won't cover general problems with writing relationships in HB/HH or anything that breaches out of their relationship for that matter. It will probably also be focused mostly on Stolas because Blitzø isn't in the wrong in their relationship really.

One of my problems is that I've seen some people try to defend Stolas' actions by referring to Blitzø as a sex worker to which I just have to say:

1. He isn't a sex worker, he's an assasin. He only has a transactional relationship with Stolas, for which he didn't have a choice, otherwise he would lose his job and the opportunity to provide for his workers and daughter. It's not like we see him generally have sexual relations for payment with other people, only Stolas which makes sense, because he isn't a sex worker and doesn't want to be.

2. Even if he was a sex worker/qualifies as one in the specific relationship he has with Stolas, that doesn't mean that he owes Stolas anything other than sex. It's not Blitzø's fault for not wanting to have anything to do with Stolas and he doesn't owe him kindness, understanding or love after what Stolas put him through, just like real sex workers don't owe a romantic relationship to any of their costumers.

It was genuinely kinda refreshing to see Stolas finally acknowledge what their relationship isn't good and that Blitzø needs to be away from him. And seeing him give the Asmodean crystal to Blitzø was a nice gesture. But this is immediately made irrelevant by the confusion of what Stolas' character is even supposed to be here. He goes towards being somewhat likeable by understanding that what he did was wrong and having that finally be recognized and called out in the show. Called out by Blitzø, who has many good reasons to dislike him and give Stolas that reality check. But then the show wants us to pity Stolas again by making him say that god awful cringy line and making me immediately roll my eyes again. Because them acknowledging the bad actions of the character (something the show wants to pride itself on so badly) was something I wanted to see ever since HB started to victimize that stupid owl. I was ready to see this character less negatively when the reality of his actions finally hit him, with the genuine breakdown Blitzø has because of him. But he gets woobyfied immediately so now he seems like a manipulative hypocrite once again, because the conversation they have might as well go like this:

Stolas: I want you to be free because I realized that the relationship I set up wasn't right and I don't want you to feel forced to love me. I care for you and I want to love you, but at the same time, I don't want you to have an obligation to be kind to me or have a relationship with me.

Blitzø: Is this a joke?

Stolas: No, I am giving you freedom, so you can stop feeling forced to do whatever I say.

Blitzø: So you're acknowledging that you suck and that you weren't nice to me and you're giving me the freedom to choose how I will proceed with our relationship.

Stolas: Yes, I am.

Blitzø: Well I do think you suck because of the reasons you mentioned and I'm gonna give you my perspective of the things you said and explain just how badly you hurt me, especially when you're just sending me away like this, giving the impression that you're throwing me aside, after you got everything you wanted from me.

Stolas: How can you think of me like this?! I love you so much and you just think I suck?!

What reason did Stolas ever give Blitzø to like him? Apart from the coercion even, there is no common ground they have. They never hang out just casually or talk like normal people, who would realistically be able to form a relationship. The only date they had (from what we can assume from the context clues in the show) that wasn't just a meeting for sex was in Ozzies and that went south really quickly. It honestly reminds me of Twilight, where Bella and Edward are said to be a great couple (by the movies atleast, haven't read the books) when they have never had a normal conversation or an interaction that could give them chemistry. All of the interactions Stolas and Blitzø had so far were either scenes talking about/having/having just had sex or them talking/singing about how tragic their lovestory is. The only exception to that are the scenes were they are children and that's obvious because it would be weird to have literal children talk about sex or about the tragedy of their relationship, when they've only known eachother for a day or so. But even these scenes don't make them seem greatly compatible or even interesting because they only hung out for hardly a day and then didn't interact for like 30-40 years until they meet again (for the first time since they were children) and Stolas just immediately assumes Blitzø wants to fuck him.

And what also weirded me out is when Stolas said something along the lines of: "why do you always make this about sex?". As if Stolas ever gave Blitzø a sign that he wants to have anything but sex from him. Again, Ozzies is the only example for that and after that, their relationship was not that important until now. But even then, Stolas made sexual remarks towards him in "Seeing Stars" and talked about how good he is at sex in "Western Energy". And this sexual relationship they have is something Stolas set up, when he could've also just given Blitzø the book without forcing him to have sex and get closer by genuinely being kind to him. We don't even really know what he likes about Blitzø except for how he is in bed, so why am I supposed to care about their relationship and be sad about it not working out. Because they never give us the impression that either Blitzø's or Stolas' life would be better with the other in it (this is excluding sexual context becasue Stolas made it clear that he doesn't just want a sexual relationship in this episode). The only thing they have in common is that they both have daughters they struggle with but even there is a huge difference. Blitzø desperately wants a good relationship with Loona and constantly gives her affection and compliments, to which she responds with annoyance and abuse. Stolas has a daughter so understanding and just really neglected by him, on one hand because he always prioritized Blitzø over her (something he'd probably judge Stolas for, because spending time with a daughter who actually likes him and wants to spend time with him would probably be one of his dreams).

And nothing of this is even mentioning the sexual harassment Stolas puts Blitzø through. It starts with the pilot and the first episode, where their deal starts, at a point in the story where Stolas' whole character joke was just talking about wanting to fuck Blitzø. In the first episode their deal is established, a deal Blitzø hastily agrees to, because he is literally being hunted down, something Stolas is fully aware of. In the second epsiode Stolas makes sexual remarks towards Blitzø in front of his daughter and in the rest of the episodes he is in general very touchy and diminishing, something Blitzø is never shown to be a fan of. Stolas also very blatantly either fetishes Imps or is downright abusive towards them, showing that he doesn't see them as equal and that Blitzø's assumption about Stolas thinking he's less important is probably true (which is just a great setup for a relationship I'm sure).

In the end Stolitz is a confused, manipulative, victim blaming mess of a ship which could be used to great potential, if there was ever a point were they use this dynamic to genuinely portray a toxic relationship that shouldn't happen, instead of acting like they're meant to be together despite the toxicity and as if Stolas deserves my pity when Blitzø rightfully tells him to fuck off. Sometimes people just aren't meant to be a couple because they genuinely are too different or have other issues. But they can't have the story be about Blitzø breaking away from Stolas, because then the show couldn't mainly be carried by shipping and selling cutesy merch of a couple which actually sucks.

I do not care for the stupid owl and I probably never will. I do not think Vivzepop has the writing ability to turn this whole thing around and make Stolas end up as a well-written, flawed but still sympathetic character. The more they go into victimizing him by showing all the characters that call him out as abusive, inconsiderate or heartless (Stella, Octavia, Blitzø), the more I will dislike him and miss what the show once started as.