#Highly Likely

[zuppizup]

Another thing I find interesting about the Rayla/Kim'dael parallels...

Rayla is an assassin who "isn't capable" of killing, according to Aaravos. Which is interesting phrasing, in my opinion. Rayla is clearly capable of killing, in that she has the skills to do so, yet she's not able to kill Marcos because she empathised with him.

(Would she have been able to kill Callum, if push came to shove? Well, I've a ~120k WIP long fic exploring my opinion on that one.)

Rayla binds herself to killing Harrow and Ezran and suffers greatly due to her refusal to follow through with killing Ezran.

She (temporarily) kills Viren, but at the cost of her own life. (Or so she clearly assumed).

So the whole, “incapable of killing” thing when it comes to Rayla? It’s clearly not quite that straight forward.

Then we have Kim’dael (a Moonshadow elf who seems to have no qualms about killing and does so for selfish gain), who's bound and unable to kill as she so desires.

Two Moonshadow elves, outcasts, bound and with complicated issues around their role as assassins.

Well, I can’t top thinking about how this is all going to play out…

[driftwood-fireflies]

👀👀👀👀👀

[sheepdog-and-fakegoldenretriever]

I have eaten scrambled eggs, a portobello mushroom, kale, havarti cheese, lemon, & lemon herb seasoning for 2 days in a row... can we do 3

[clearwillow]

I went back and forth on whether to respond on a comment all evening, and since my motivation is ruined I might as well, cause if one person said it there’s probably some others that were thinking it. Spoilers for the chapter of Mercury that I just posted so if you haven’t read ch 7, it’s on you if you click under the cut.

Kagome is not a prude.

This entire chapter is essentially a bottleneck episode in that we don’t see InuKag do anything beyond bathing, and I did this solely for the purpose of them coming to grips with the reality of being switched. You have two very insecure people that can talk a lot of smack, but they’re not going to handle their routine being different. You see people all the time making jokes about how fun it’d be to be the opposite sex for a day, but chances are if it were you in the situation you’d be apprehensive too.

Kagome and Inuyasha are 19, getting close to 20. It feels like a slap to someone at that age whose not promiscuous to any degree to even suggest that a character who hasn’t had the experiences a reader might have had be called prudish. As someone who dealt with being called similar names at that age, it really stings. People have their reasons for why they don’t run out and explore every Tom, Dick, or Allen, and that doesn’t make them prudes. Sometimes it’s just a choice. Sometimes something personal pushes that person to make that choice.

Canon Kagome was never a prude. She was a 14/15 year old that had other priorities, believe it or not. She was raised to be respectful and not throw out her bits and bobs because it wasn’t considered a trait that people would favor. It would be bad character. Which brings me to my next part of the comment: just because she has a little brother and a grandpa that’s a “dirty old man” and lives in the modern world, doesn’t imply she should be more open.

First, Souta is roughly 9-10 in canon. In Mercury I think I made him 15 and ended up closing the age gap between him and Kagome. Either way, there’s enough of an age gap that she’s not going to want to see her brother naked. And I am well aware about families bathing together but in canon even this would be a stretch. Kagome is going to want her privacy. If it were implied that the siblings bathed when they were younger, it would’ve been a very small window because Kagome probably wouldn’t want to share a bath with a toddler once she started developing. If that’s up your alley, more power to you.

Second is calling Grandpa Higurashi a “dirty old man”. I haven’t read through the manga but I’m sure if there were any instance of him being a perverted old man someone would’ve said something by now. I don’t know what anime was confused with this one, or if there’s some other fic out there were Grandpa is a dirty old man, but I have not and will never write that. The very notion has had me physically ill all evening. Not sure if this is just a trope that the reader has assigned to all grandpas in fics or if this is an assumption about grandpas in real life - someone will have to tell me because I don’t have a grandpa anymore.

Furthermore, I haven’t written Grandpa into this story yet, and the only time Souta has featured has been chapter 1. Nothing about him telling Inuyasha “I really don't want to hear what you want to do to my sister” says that he’d be open to seeing his sister naked either.

So how is Kagome considered a prude, then? She’s spent her teenage years fighting demons and trying not to fail her classes. There’s not time for dealing out handjobs or whatever the hell people assume all teenagers do. Is she late in getting around to exploring her feelings for Inuyasha? I don’t think so. I think it’s a matter of seeing the bottom of the plate for the first time in years, so she has a moment to really think. It’s hard to think about the future when you’re drowning under everything else. When her thoughts keep circling back to agreeing to moving in with Inuyasha, it’s because that future is more real now than it would’ve been while she were in school.

Her having an existential crisis about seeing and having to clean Inuyasha’s body while she inhabits it is basically her being thrown head first into the pool again. She has no experience with the situation. It’s not something she’d seek out within the family to answer questions, so she has limited knowledge from the books she read. Frankly if she went to her brother or grandfather and asked, I’d be horrified, but that’s just me. Also should point out that if I’d written Kagome in such a way that she had no qualms about getting to business and scrubbing away without a care while in Inuyasha’s body, it would be deemed OOC or she’d be accused of being improper.

On the flipside, because Inuyasha was never mentioned once in the comment, I think it really says a lot about reader views in general. It’s fine for Inuyasha to look over Kagome’s body and ask questions, but Kagome’s not allowed to be nervous? Inuyasha is equally nervous - like when he has to ask Kagome if it’s okay to take her panties off. It’s new territory for him too, but because he’s more outspoken and blunt it’s fine. For Kagome to internalize her anxiety is wrong? She doesn’t want to make Inuyasha feel like he’s disgusting (he already assumed that from her grumbling and it was discredited at the end of the chapter) so she tries to be mindful of what she says.

I don’t know...I’m just...tired. This story was one that I have been nervous to even dig into, and when I started writing parts of it here, no one seemed to mind. I’m in the process of editing ch 8 but haven’t written any more, and tonight my motivation sunk. I’ve read this chapter twice today, but not once did I think Kagome read as a prude. I’m confused at what part made someone choose to leave that comment, but if you’ve read it and felt the same way, I hope this explains why I wrote it the way I did.

[inspectorspacetimerevisited]

While it’s never been publicly confirmed,

it’s highly likely that the Seventh Inspector returned Dynamo to Greenwich long before his trip to Earth where he reincarnated into his eighth incarnation.

[vinylandcoffeecollection]

Ideas for fics (I'd write this myself if I had any talent haha) - I've always thought about what it'd have been like if matty would've become a dad before the band got famous (I know he had a long term girlfriend who went on to have a child shortly after they broke). I think young dad matty managing the break of their band would be so interesting!

Anon this is such an interesting idea - I’m fascinated by the idea of Matty as a parent! ATPOAIM 3 and him talking about an army of Matties broke me 😭

Parenthood isn’t the only route to happiness - I deal with this a lot in the later instalments of the Poses series - but it sort of breaks me that Matty would love to be a parent but thinks he’d be a shitty one. YOUNG Matty being a parent - this really isn’t the kind of story I’ve ever read. There’s a gap here!

Also Anon - shut up! You DO unquestionably have talent and I think you should write this yourself! Stop metaphorically beating yourself about the head!

[callingallcars]

what are the chances frank uses a photo of this street for one of his toronto posts

[cuppachar]

R/J Smutty idea: Based on those videos of ladies who bought these viral tiktok ladies and surprised their men, who all loved the way their butts looked. Roy's yoga mom buddies somehow convince him to buy a men's version of these leggings, saying they are comfy for yoga. He orders them and is trying them on when Jamie come by and stops dead in his tracks because holy fucking hell does Roy look good. Jamie pounces and Roy's left incoherent once Jamie's done all many of naughty things to him.

I really would like to see this too...

[spooksier]

passages that make you whisper "oh my god"

[irregularbillcipher]

nobody understands this highly popular fictional character at all except for me and my carefully curated panel of mutuals

[i-write-sin-not-tragedy]

Cannot stop thinking about Angels voice change.

I cannot stop thinking about how even his voice was an act.

The way his accent got stronger, how the pitch got lower. The way he finally spoke with his real voice when he was talking to Charlie and Husk. Im unwell.

Pairing it with the visual reveal of his real name was just the cherry on top like oh my god aaaaaa

[formeryelpers]

Highly Likely, 5526 N Figueroa St, Los Angeles (Highland Park), CA 90042

This stylish, all day casual restaurant is Highland Park’s new camping spot/meeting spot (and yes, lots of campers have already found it). You can order breakfast, lunch, and dinner there with coffee, tea, cocktails, and more. The breakfast menu has breakfast sandwiches, chilaquiles, French toast, and toasts. The lunch menu has grain bowls, sandwiches, falafel, salads, etc. The pastries are from Friends & Family (love Friends & Family).

The interior has a large counter where you place your order and they make the espresso drinks. You can also sit at the counter. The cocktail bar is in the outdoor patio area. Once you place your order, they’ll give you a number and bring your food and drinks to you.

Curried black rice bowl ($16): They were out of black rice, so they subbed brown rice. Brown rice, sesame seeds, green curry dressing, roast butternut, roast maitake mushrooms, Persian cucumbers, pickled onion, arugula, pink pickled egg. This was a good amount of food and it was fresh and interesting (lots of flavors and textures). However, I was surprised that the rice wasn’t warm and the butternut squash was served cold. Only the maitake mushrooms were warm. The curry dressing was decent but I didn’t love it (not enough curry flavor).

Cappuccino: They worked with Common Room Roasters to come up with the house coffee, which is a medium roast. The cappuccino was good though it had a bitter finish.

The place is bright and hip with light wood walls, concrete floors, white ceilings, a skylight, and hints of a dark orange/warm brown. The interior has a large counter where you place your order and they make the espresso drinks. You can also sit at the counter. The cocktail bar is in the outdoor patio area. The outdoor patio has heat lamps, plants, and plenty of seating.

The wi-fi is free and no password is required (so it’s not secure). The music was mellow.

4 out of 5 stars

By Lolia S.

[laptopcamper]

Highly Likely, 5526 N Figueroa St, Los Angeles (Highland Park), CA 90042, 35/50

This stylish, all day casual restaurant is Highland Park’s new camping spot/meeting spot. You can order breakfast, lunch, and dinner there with coffee, tea, cocktails, and more.

Score: 35/50

Food: 5/5 – The breakfast menu has breakfast sandwiches, chilaquiles, French toast, and toasts. The lunch menu has grain bowls, sandwiches, falafel, salads, etc. The curried black rice bowl was fresh, healthy, and interesting (lots of flavors and textures). The pastries are from Friends & Family (love Friends & Family).

Coffee: 4/5 – They worked with Common Room Roasters to come up with the house coffee, which is a medium roast. The cappuccino was good though it had a bitter finish.

Wi-fi: 3/5 – Free, unlimited, not secure. It seemed fast and stable.

Ambiance: 5/5 – Bright and hip with light wood walls, concrete floors, white ceilings, a skylight, and hints of a dark orange/warm brown. The interior has a large counter where you place your order and they make the espresso drinks. You can also sit at the counter. The cocktail bar is in the outdoor patio area.

Noise: 4/5 – Loud but mellow instrumental music

Plugs: 0/5 – Didn’t see any

Parking: 3/5 – Can be a challenge but if you’re willing to walk a few blocks, you should be able to find free parking

Comfort: 3/5 – Variety of seating options, from padded counter stools to padded banquettes and chairs inside. There’s also a large outdoor patio.

Bathroom: 4/5 – Two restrooms

Art: 4/5 – None but it’s a stylish place

Tips: Place your order when you enter. They’ll bring your food and drinks to your table. You can get breakfast all day.

“Laptop Campers Unite!”

[taffywabbit]

reminding myself there are no truly "bad days", because every single day, someone somewhere in the world has taken a photo of an extremely tiny animal and shown it to someone else, and that's very good actually

[thedreadvampy]

people seriously pretending EEAAO is overrated suddenly bc it swept awards? it swept awards largely because it is very very very good. I cried like someone who's just had a religious revelation BOTH times I watched it bc it touched something raw and real and beautiful but it was also just very, very funny. everyone's performance kills and the concept is creative and interesting and doesn't distract from the emotional core. you guys are just contrarian.

[dkettchen]

cursed construction core hi vis bra that came to me in a dream

In the dream I saw it in the window display of a hardware/DIY/trade shop, implying it was meant to be a practical garment designed for actual female constructions workers in a Female Armour level missed-the-brief attempt at gender inclusion

The practical support from the visible underwire combined with the hi vis implying it’s not meant to be worn as an undergarment, I just-

I blame my binge-reading ND Stevenson’s gender comics talking abt masculinity and femininity incl the one abt Victoria’s Secret lingerie yesterday for this monstrosity x’D