#I SAY AND QUOTE ONE TEXT POST MEME

[aqqleshiqqing-archive]

[harringroveera]

Billy’s love language is just aggressive words of affirmation

[wrinkleintime]

enterprise text posts: featuring trip (and friends) in Situations

[headspace-hotel]

Just spent a couple hours digging into this book. I'm not even sure what has worse environmental impacts, the paper the book is made of or the opinions printed within.

Is "post-colonial" literary theory a joke? It's distressing that a book printed in 2021 by a reputable academic press can be so painfully Eurocentric, and I mean PAINFULLY. The philosophical and literary frameworks drawn upon in most chapters are like what some British guy in 1802 would come up with. In most of the chapters, every framework, terminology, and example is inseparably fused to Latin, Greek, and/or Christian philosophers, myths and texts, even down to the specific turns of phrase. You would think only Europeans had history or ideas until the 20th century.

Don't get me wrong, non-european and even specifically anti-colonial sources are used, and I don't think all the writers are white people, but...that's what's so weird and off-putting about it, most of the book as a whole utterly fails to absorb anything from non-European and in particular anti-colonial points of view. The chapters will quote those points of view but not incorporate them or really give their ideas the time of day, just go right back to acting like Plato and Aristotle and Romantic poets are the gold standard for defining what it means to be human.

In brief, the book is trying to examine how literature can shed light on the climate crisis, which is funny because it completely fails to demonstrate that literature is good or helpful for the climate crisis. Like that is for sure one major issue with it, it shows that people *have* written stuff about climate change, but it sure doesn't convince you that this stuff is good.

Most of the works quoted are rather doomerist, and a lot of the narrative works specifically are apocalypse tales where most of Earth's population dies. The most coherent function the authors can propose that literature fulfills is to essentially help people understand how bad things are. One of the essays even argues that poetry and other creative work that simply appreciates nature is basically outdated, because:

“One could no longer imagine wandering lonely as a cloud, because clouds now jostle in our imaginations with an awareness of atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and other atmospheric pollutants” (Mandy Bloomfield, pg. 72)

Skill issue, Mandy.

The menace of doomerism in fiction and poetry is addressed, by Byron Caminero-Santangelo, on page 127 when he references,

the literary non-fiction of a growing number of authors who explicitly assert, some might even say embrace, the equation between fatalistic apocalyptic narrative and enlightenment…they are authoritative in their rejection of any hope and in their representation of mitigatory action as the cliched moving of deckchairs on a sinking ship

He quotes an essay “Elegy for a country’s seasons” by Zadie Smith, who says: “The fatalists have the luxury of focusing on an eschatological apocalyptic narrative and on the nostalgia of elegy, as well as of escape from uncertainty and responsibility to act." Which is spot-on and accurate, but these observations aren't recognized as a menace to positive action, nor is the parallel to Christian thought that eagerly looks forward to Earth's destruction as a cathartic release from its pain made fully explicit and analyzed. Most of the creative works referenced and quoted in the book ARE this exact type of fatalistic, elegiac performance of mourning.

I basically quit reading after Chapter 11, "Animals," by Eileen Crist, which begins:

The humanization of the world began unfolding when agricultural humans separated themselves from wild nature, and started to tame landscapes, subjugate and domesticate animals and plants, treat wild animals as enemies of flocks and fields, engineer freshwater ecologies, and open their psyches to the meme of the ‘the human’ as world conquerer, ruler and owner.

This is what I'm talking about when I say it's dripping Eurocentrism; these ideas are NOT universal, and it's adding nothing to the world to write them because they fall perfectly in line with what the European colonizing culture already believes, complete with the lingering ghost of a reference to the Fall of Man and banishment from the Garden of Eden. It keeps going:

“Over time, the new human elaborated a view of the animal that ruptured from the totemic, shamanic and relational past.”

Okay so now she's introducing the idea of progression from shamanic nature-worshipping religions of our primitive past...hmm I'm sure this isn't going anywhere bad

“While humanity has largely rejected the colonizing project with respect to fellow humans, the occupation of non-human nature constitutes civilization’s last bastion of ‘normal’ colonialism. A new humanity is bound sooner or later to recognize and overthrow a colonialism of ‘nature,’ embracing a universal norm of interspecies justice.” (pg. 206) 

OKAY????

Not only denying that colonialism still exists, but also saying that humans' relationship with nature constitutes colonialism??

Embracing limitations means scaling down the human presence on demographic and economic fronts…(pg.207)

ope, there's the "we have to reduce the human population"

Embracing limitations further mandates pulling back from vast expanses of the natural world, thus letting the lavishness of wild (free) nature rule Earth again” (pg. 207) 

aaaaaaand there's the "we have to remove humans from wild nature so it can be freeeeeee"

don't get me wrong like I am a random white person with no particular expertise in anti-colonialist thought but I think this is an easy one. I'm pretty sure if your view of nature is that colonialism involving subjugating humans doesn't exist any more and actually humans existing in and altering nature is the real colonialism so we should remove humans from vast tracts of earth, your opinion is just bad.

Anyways y'all know I have an axe to grind against doomerism so it was probably obvious where this was going but good grief.

[qsycomplainsalot]

So as a good NB bisexual trad wife married to a Jewish trans person I was in church this morning trying my hardest not to fall asleep on the good lord's shittiest seating arrangement, as is custom. Cutting right to it, the sermon was weird. What I listened to was a French translation of a text by one Gary Heinz, whom I've been told is a Canadian pastor but the only one I could find online is from the Carolinas, with a degree from Charleston, so for the purpose of this post I'll just say he's American in the same vague way as his tomato-based namesake.

The sermon was talking about the tale of the good Samaritan, which most people know about, and was composed thuszthly. First it goes over the tale again, then it helps define the elements of it and how they're relevant to the point made by our boy Jesus. The priest sees a naked beat-up man on the side of the rode, presumably from a mount, and decides not to get involved even though if he had any way to know the man had been Jewish he would have been bound to help him. The second man is a Levite, traditionally someone who helps priests and knows the law just as well, but decides not to get involved either. The third guy of course is a Samaritan. The Samaritans are a distinct but very closely related ethnoreligious group to the Hebrews/Jews, who we are often told hate them. The Samaritan helps the person, provides first aid, props him up on his horse and walks him to an inn where he houses him by giving the innkeeper two pieces of silver and promising to pay any extra cost on his next trip back. This according to the preacher is a symbol of limitless charity, we'll get back to that. The context of the tale was a smartass asking Jesus what to do to be saved and when being told to do unto thy neighbor as you would doeth unto thineselfe (in Middle English, which was very confusing at the time), follows up by asking who his neighbor was, aka who he should apply the law to. The point being made is that although the law could be read and almost bent into only applying to people you care about, only people you're explicitly meant to treat well and even then only once you're absolutely sure they're marked as such, it's more important to follow the spirit of the law which is to be kind to everyone. Which is a good message.

So why am I kvetching ? That was only the first part of the sermon, and if you thought the second part would be about linking that message to current event you'd unfortunately be wrong. It's instead focused on finding, or making up really, symbolism in the story that foretells the passion of Jesus. You see the Samaritan was really a stand-in for anyone you might hate, including, and I quote, "a Nazi or a member of ISIS", because even they can be saved and be your neighbor for the purpose of doing unto them like unto thyself. And the two silver coins well you see they would pay for two nights and on the third one Jesus comes back from the dead. Now I'm not an expert on the cost of living in Ancient Judea. But Gary Heinz isn't either so I'm gonna say it, he pulled that number out of his ass. Also a little confused about the same storytelling element being earlier compared to limitless charity, only now to be quantified as worth two nights at a B&B. But that's just nitpicking, what I'm really tired of is every reading of the holy texts [cut to meme] by Christian preachers devolving into improv rapping about Jesus and how he died for us. The lessons in the Bible stop being broadly applicable to daily life and are instead contrived into fifty different ways to say "he is risen" like it's isn't the sole fucking reason we're in church to begin with. That's usually bad enough, but when a pastor says that the Samaritan in the tale of the good Samaritan was here for shock value and could be "a Nazi or a member of ISIS", this changes the meaning of the tale to "be kind to everyone regardless of who they are, including Nazis apparently", from the original condemnation of prejudices. The Samaritan didn't chose to be a Samaritan, he's not doing any harm being a Samaritan, and the tale shows that his religion being slightly removed from orthodox Judaism isn't as important as his doing good and helping his fellow man. I don't think someone who joined a political party predicated on the extermination of minorities would fit that message, and I think changing said message to a more broad declaration of love from Jesus is ignoring what people need to hear these days where prejudice against minorities makes up 90% of the news.

And you might say it's not really a preacher's job to raise awareness for current events, but I'll ask you this: is hearing about how Jesus totally died for you every week supposed to make me a better Christian ? Or is learning that he told us pretty much in clear text not to hate minorities based on prejudice gonna do that. Cause I think most Christians need to hear the later more.

[husbandograveyard]

Hi babe! I'm here for one more request, and I noticed a certain sweet cinnamon roll isn't on the list yet, so can I have P from the fluff abcs with Inumaki please? Thank you! The event has been a lot of fun ❤️

Honestly, I was surprised you didn't ask for him sooner! <3 Here is a little fluff for you! thank you for asking me loads of letters and allowing me to write many a thing!

2nd person. GN reader. Pure fluff.

P - PDA - Are they upfront about their relationship? Do they brag with their s/o in front of others? Or are they rather shy to kiss etc. when others are watching?

Well, you won’t hear Toge bragging much, as you won’t hear him talk much at all. But you will see his affection towards you all over social media. Toge compensates for what he cannot say with texts and such, and even when it comes to public displays of affection, he is pretty open about it. So be prepared for loads of online bragging and cute posts.

He posts freely about your dates, posts pictures of you alone or you together with the most sappy quotes underneath, tags you in loads of posts. He is the meme king of affection, and it’s mostly done in a playful way, making sure to not overload or annoy you. Somehow he always manages to catch beautiful candid pictures of you and you don’t know how he does it. He always jokes that his camera sees you the way he sees you, and that’s why you look so good in all his pictures.

As for physical affection in public, it’s a bit of a hit and miss. He will hug you, hold hands and be touchy in a friendship type of way as well as a little more than friendship, but actually kissing and more intimate gestures he prefers to keep inside, with just the two of you. It’s not necessarily that he is shy, but more that he just really likes those moments to be just for the two of you.

[hollandorks]

haven

battinson! bruce wayne x f! reader

chapter eight

Summary: After the sudden deaths of your mother and grandmother, you’re forced to return home to Gotham…and to the man who broke your heart three years ago. Back in Bruce Wayne’s inescapable orbit, you vow to get to the bottom of your former best friend’s new cold personality. But Bruce’s secrets aren’t what you’re expecting. a

a/n: sorry I just get too excited about chapters and have to post frequently...I have like 13 ish chapters written (so like 5 after this one) and feel confident enough to keep posting quickly! I also just like...love this chapter. I made Bruce Wayne say a line I personally think is hilarious and just want to share it. Anyways I loooove feedback!!

Series Masterlist

word count: 2.7k

It didn’t matter. He didn’t matter.

Except, as much as she hated to admit it, he did.

Y/n was starting to look like a crazy person. 

All of her Batman articles, crime scene photos, and as much information as she could print about the Gallo family covered one entire wall of her bedroom. She’d bought red string to be funny–delivered to the lobby along with other groceries for security to inspect–but had ended up actually using it. 

She was standing before that wall now, a week after her visit to the crime scene. 

As she stared at it, hands on hips, she felt like a crazy person. She hadn’t left the tower in a full week and it was definitely starting to get to her. Sure, she worked on the case, occasionally called and badgered Gordon for information, texted Officer Martinez when Gordon was stubborn. But that wasn’t enough. 

She was trapped in a cage. A gilded cage, but a cage nonetheless. Everything reminded her of her grandmother or of happier days with Bruce. 

To make matters worse, Bruce ignored her. He literally fled rooms when she entered or darted around corners when he saw her coming. Not to mention that stupid elevator still wasn’t working so she couldn’t corner him like she wanted to. She couldn’t force him to talk to her, because he was never in his room and the elevator button never worked. 

Which meant y/n had no one to talk to except for Officer Martinez–who had a love for memes, she discovered–and occasionally Gordon, who was a lot less interesting. She hung out with Alfred, sometimes, but now that she suspected he was covering for Bruce’s secret girlfriend, every conversation felt awkward and stilted. 

She rubbed at her eyes, the red of the string blurring before her. When was the last time she had showered? Probably two days ago when she had been bored out of her mind without any other things to do, but she couldn’t remember for sure. 

Her mind was going fuzzy from turning the same information over again and again and again. But she looked again anyway. 

Her tired eyes fell on one article about the Gallo family, a piece written in New York by a relatively famous reporter. She’d managed to get an interview with a distant cousin who was in prison for drug running. It was a brilliant piece, more of a personal feature about the cousin himself than an exposé. Jerry Gallo, young and handsome and charismatic, had made the article a hit. 

At this point y/n could practically quote it from memory. 

For some reason, her brain latched onto an offhanded comment he had made about a bar–no, a pub–that had become an unofficial meeting place. Official business was held in the more secret locations. Jerry Gallo didn’t give those locations, though.He didn’t want to die, after all. He had made a brief comment about “the family’s reach” that everyone knew meant they could kill him, even in prison. He also made sure to note that he had gotten permission to do the article, since he was doing his time for the family. Permission from whom, he didn’t say. 

But the pub had a familiar name. 

“Maverick’s,” y/n muttered as she stared at her wall of insanity. 

She grabbed her laptop and leaned over it as her fingers flew over the keyboard.

Gotham had a Maverick’s too. 

Maybe it was a coincidence. 

But maybe not. 

So she started digging for information about the pub. 

Her heart stopped when she pulled up the public property records a few minutes later. 

It had changed ownership only six months ago, bought by some company that was obviously a shell corporation. 

Her nerves sang as she called Gordon. 

“I think I found something,” she said breathlessly. 

“Tell me you didn’t leave home,” Gordon said instead of a hello. 

“No, I’m still at Wayne Tower, but if you don’t follow up on this lead, I will.” She sat on the bed next to her laptop and pulled it closer. “I was reading this article from a Gallo cousin in New York, one who went to jail for them and got permission to do a piece about how much he loved his criminal family.” 

“Okay…” Gordon said. She heard a siren in the background and wondered where he was. Had there been another murder? But no–she still kept the scanner app up as background noise and hadn’t heard anything. She was jumpy at a noise as common as a siren in a city as big as Gotham. 

“He talks about some pub they liked to use for meetings. Maverick’s. There’s a Maverick’s in Gotham.” Gordon stayed silent and somehow still made it sound skeptical. “The owners sold it six months ago. It was bought by a Galway Atlas Luxury Co. Obviously a fake name–it doesn’t even make any sense.”

“Could be nothing,” Gordon said after a beat. 

“Could be something,” she countered. “Like I said, if you don’t want to look into it, I will.” 

“And show your face at a potential mob spot? I don’t think so. I’ll let you know what we find.” 

When he hung up, part of her was disappointed. She had kind of wanted to visit the pub and see what would happen. But he was right–if her hunch turned into something, the Gallos knew what she looked like. It would be a bad idea. A terrible idea. 

It didn’t stop her from wanting to do it, though. 

Her stomach growled. Satisfied that she might have actually found a clue, y/n decided it was time for lunch. And more coffee. 

Maybe she could buy a wig, she mused as she walked down the quiet hallway towards the kitchen. Do her makeup different, wear heels to look taller. Maybe they wouldn’t know. Maybe it would be enough of a disguise. 

But then, if Gordon was investigating, maybe her presence would screw that up. Maybe they’d send someone undercover who would recognize her. And with her luck, it would all go to shit, ending up with her and a cop both dead. The cop in her imagination looked a lot like Officer Martinez in street clothes. 

Maybe, instead, the Batman would do some reconnaissance. He could sit on a nearby roof like a gargoyle and spy on the place. Or whatever it was he did. Maybe he had fancy gadgets, like a spy. 

She smiled to herself as she imagined Batman on the edge of a roof, hunched over, cape blowing in the wind.

She scrounged in the fridge for some leftovers from…two days ago? Or was it three? Definitely not more than that, so the Chinese food was probably safe to eat again 

She closed the fridge door and screamed. 

Bruce simply stared at her as he sipped a coffee. He was wearing sunglasses inside like a douchebag and had bare feet half-hidden under baggy sweats. He wasn’t wearing a shirt either, which set her heart racing more than the startle had. 

Her cheeks grew hot and she desperately prayed he didn’t notice. 

She quickly whirled to grab a plate. 

“You scared the shit out of me, Bruce,” she said as she dumped her food onto the plate and slid it into the microwave. 

“I was here the whole time,” he said. She tried not to think about his abs on full display or the slight layer of hair across his chest. “You were daydreaming.” 

“I was working,” she said, voice almost a snap. She wasn’t sure why she was defensive. 

“Work makes you smile? I always knew it was your one true love, but…” His voice trailed off and she finally looked up at him. 

She wondered if they were thinking the same thing. It had been a joke about her work, but he had always been her one true love. Her entire body flushed with heat this time. 

“I was imagining catching the son of bitches who are after me,” she said after a moment too long. Her eyes trailed down, down, down without her permission, from Bruce’s eyes to the waistband of his sweats. 

She had to bite the inside of her cheek, hard, to focus again. Bruce was ripped. She had seen it before, had seen the broadening of his shoulders, the way even his baggy clothes couldn’t hide it. But it was another thing entirely to see it in all its naked glory. She had thought a six pack was a thing of myth, only seen in movies. That, and that delicious v-shape of muscle pointing like an arrow below the waist. She didn’t know those kinds of muscles existed on real people–and especially not on Bruce. 

The microwave beeped, startling her again. 

“Jumpy today?” he asked. Thankfully he didn’t seem to notice her ogling. Or he had, and was putting her out of her misery. She wished she could see his eyes. The lenses were dark, reflecting her own face back at her in miniature. 

She turned back around with her plate and started scarfing. She hadn’t had breakfast and she hadn’t had dinner the night before, either. When she was working, it was hard to remember mealtimes. All she remembered was coffee. She eyeballed the coffee machine and wondered if anyone would notice if she stole it to put in her room. 

“Happens when a mob family wants you dead, I guess,” she said around a mouthful of noodles. Bruce leaned back against the counter, crossing his legs at the ankle. He lifted his mug to his lips and those two simple movements made his muscles ripple. She shoved more food into her mouth to help hide her staring. 

Her chewing slowed, then stopped. 

Bruce was covered in scars. 

Covered might not be the right word. But Bruce definitely had several scars she’d never seen before. Though he wasn’t one to frequently run around half naked–he’d always been shy, even after his slutty college phase had given him more confidence and her more of a broken heart–she had seen him shirtless a few times. Mostly it was when he was working on a car and got grease or oil or some other car fluid on him and had to change before going upstairs. 

“Jesus, Bruce,” she said. She gestured to his torso with her fork. “What happened to you?” 

Another too-casual sip of his coffee. “I started doing sit ups,” he said wryly. 

She almost choked on her food. Laughing, she said, “No shit, but I meant the scars.” 

God, it felt so good to joke with him. So normal. Bruce had always reserved his sense of humor for her, and she had missed it. 

He took off his sunglasses. He looked down at himself and seemed to contemplate it. “A few things,” he shrugged. He poked two different scars. “Car accident. Among other things.” 

“A car accident?” she asked. Her brows furrowed. Her grandmother had never told her about a car accident. As far as she knew, Bruce hadn’t been in any car accidents as of three years ago, including his street racing days. “Why didn’t I…?” She trailed off. She knew, though, why she didn’t know about it. 

She was no longer important to Bruce Wayne. 

“A lot can happen in three years,” he said softly. His bright blue eyes bored into hers. She took back her wish for him to take off the sunglasses. 

Tears welled, unbidden, in her eyes. 

The words were like a barb. They stuck in her chest, drawing blood, breaking open all of the hastily stitched wounds there. 

“Yeah,” she agreed softly as she put her plate in the sink. “A lot can.” She had to grip the edge of the sink for a moment to compose herself before facing himself again. 

It hurt to look at him. Especially when he was standing there, looking at her, his face more open than she’d seen it in…well, forever. He didn’t seem upset with her but he wasn’t making any moves to apologize for three years ago either. God, he was probably leaving to see a secret girlfriend, for all she knew about him these days. Maybe he was getting his knuckles banged up working on her car or something. That seemed like the kind of boyfriend Bruce would be. He’d only pay for something if he couldn’t fix it himself. 

“For instance,” he said, seemingly ignoring the suddenly heavy atmosphere in the room. He poured himself more coffee as he spoke, eyes carefully averted. “I don’t even know if you have a boyfriend or anything. Or girlfriend.” 

Y/n blinked at his back. It was the last question she expected him to ask, and the question she most wanted him to answer. 

She’d dated in the past three years but nothing had stuck. And oh, how hard she had tried to fall in love. But just like when she was sixteen, none of the kisses she had gotten were from Bruce Wayne, and her brain never let her forget it. There had been one guy, two years ago, that she had dated for six whole months. He was perfect on paper, really, and would have been perfect for anyone else. He was a news anchor, charming, charismatic, made decent money. He was funny and kind and surprised her with flowers. 

But he hadn’t been Bruce Wayne. 

He had asked her if there was someone else when she had broken up with him. She had said no, but they both knew it was a lie. 

“No,” she said after a too-long silence. “No boyfriend or girlfriend right now. Kind of hard to keep up with dating when your life is in danger.” Instead of sounding like a joke, it sounded…dead. Her hurt was creeping into her voice. She cleared her throat. “What about you? That where you’ve been sneaking off to all the time?” 

His gaze was sharp, calculating, when it met hers again over the edge of the mug he held to his lips. “No,” he said. “No girlfriend right now.” 

Then why did y/n get the sense he was lying? 

She nodded idly before grabbing a mug–her grandmother’s favorite, one that y/n had ordered online that she had covered in pictures of herself as a joke. Her heart ached at the sight of it, but holding it made her feel closer to her. She could imagine the warmth seeping through the ceramic, her grandmother’s hands curled around it, her eyes kind as she listened to y/n. 

Bruce made no move to get out of her way as she aimed for the coffee pot. Their bare elbows brushed as she poured a mug. She shivered at the electric contact, more than she’d had with him in forever. 

Even if he was telling the truth, the right now implied that there might have been someone, once. Someone who wasn’t her. Or maybe he had someone in mind. Someone, again, who wasn’t y/n. 

She inhaled deeply to calm her nerves but that only made it worse. The scent of coffee and Bruce assaulted her nostrils. He smelled clean, freshly showered, manly in that way all men’s deodorant smelled. Her heart skipped a beat. 

She replaced the coffee pot with a shaking hand. 

When she looked up, Bruce was staring down at her. She hadn’t remembered how tall he was up close. Three years was a long time, and the details of him had started to blur in her memory. Like how blue his eyes really were, made bluer by the long, dark lashes that any woman would envy. 

She swallowed around a suddenly dry throat. Her stomach swooped. Here he was, shirtless, less than three inches from her. But he had never felt farther away. 

“I should get back to work,” she said. Her voice cracked embarrassingly. “I have a lead to follow up on.” 

She hurried away before she could say or do anything stupid. She wasn’t sure what, but if her love confession three years ago was anything to go by, it wouldn’t end well for her. 

“You’re leaving?” Bruce asked, his voice dipping lower. Something in the back of her mind noted it, but she was too busy trying to run to the sanctuary of her room to figure out why it rang a bell. 

She paused at the threshold of the kitchen but didn’t look back. “Not that it’s any of your business anymore,” she said, the words clawing up her throat. “But no. I’m not. I’m going back to my cell, don’t worry.” 

He said something she didn’t catch on her way out. 

It sounded a lot like, “It’s always been my business to keep you safe.” 

But she knew those words weren’t true.

Next Chapter

taglist:

@ktficworld @grunge-n-roses5 @anon-cat-posts @projectdreamwalker @warsaur @lachillona02 @crazyunsexycool @doetic @alexiris @that-girl-named-alex @harry-bowie-mercury @vaniasagitaa @widows-writings @missing-loki @exactlyelegantwizard

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

02/09/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Day 30 in the Gravy Basket; Cast & Crew Lovely Letters; Resources; Starfury Convention; Astrodglide Fic/Pic Week 18+; New Watchparties; People of Earth; Wrecked; SchadenFreude; Coyote Vs Acme; Articles; Morale; Love Notes; Daily Darby/Tonight's Taika

Day 30 in the Gravy Basket. (FYI Long Post is LOOONG today was a very busy and long day) Well we made it folks, we made it to one month since Max cancelled OFMD and we're still going strong. Some CRAZY stuff has happened since then and some of our crew put together some fun lists of what's happened.

Thank you to @gheyandwoke on twitter for these memes:

And that's not even everything that happened! So just remember, when it feels like it's been way too damn long, A LOT has happened

== Cast & Crew Lovely Letters ==

For Valentine's Day we've set up a Kudos board for our cast & crew of OFMD! (it's on an unlimited version so make as many posts as you'd like!) You can send pictures, gifs, videos, or just text, and we'll be sharing it to them on valentine's day across as many platforms as we can.

== Resources ==

One of our crew members, Lady Penni, aka @Pellington21 on twitter was kind enough to send in a HUGE list of Positive Critic Quotes to the Repo today and they got added in. Speaking of Resources, do you have images/gifs/infographics/text you want to share with the crew? Please feel free to send them to our contact form over at the repo. @quirkysubject as well as some other crew members are being kind enough to help me get it filled in and up to date (as well as updating the accessibility) and we want to make sure if you want to share your resources you can! Let us know what name you'd like to be credited by and we'll get things uploaded! Repo Contact Form

= Starfury OFMD Fandom Convention =

So as a heads up, the first Our Flag Means Death specific event has been anounced by Starfury for Heathrow, UK 8 Nov - 10 Nov 2024. Details at www.starfury.co.uk I would like to point out as it's been brought up QUITE A BIT that it would be good to hold off buying tickets for now. Apparently Starfury is NOTORIOUS for saying certain guests will be there, when they haven't been confirmed yet (and they did that today with Rhys Darby) so it may be good to wait a bit before purchasing. This did cause some "Come to my convention" clowning for various people on twitter, which produced some fun stuff.

= Watch Parties/Events! =

= Astroglide Fic/Art Week 18+ =

You heard that right. 02/09/2024 - 02/25/2024 is Fic/Art Week

Please feel free to @Astroglide on twitter, or even here on tumblr @astroglideofficial and use the tags: #LubeAsACrew #SaveOFMD

= New Watch Parties! =

Thank you @iamadequate1 for getting these all in one place! Twitter Thread

Feb 12 - Feb 16: People of Earth S1

People of Earth is no longer on any streaming platform, but it is available for digital purchase (ex, on Amazon). If access is an issue, DM @gentlebeardsbarngrill

Season 1 watch next week from February 12th to February 16th.

Skipping the week after in case people want to participate in the n next Palestine strike.

Season 2 watch from February 26th to March 1st

Times will be 10pm GMT / 5pm EST / 4pm CST / 2pm PST.

Watch two episodes per day. Episodes are 21-22 minutes each.

Use the following Saturday for the tags/watch if interested but not able to make this time.

Hashtags:

#PiratesOfEarth

#SaveOFMD

#AdoptOurCrew

Mar 4 - Mar 8: Wrecked Season 1

Wrecked is no longer on any streaming platform, and it is not available digitally on US sites. (Apparently, it is available on German Amazon?) There are sources being passed around. If access is an issue, DM @gentlebeardsbarngrill

Season 1 watch from March 4th to March 8th.

Season 2 watch from March 11th to March 15th.

Season 3 watch from March 18th to March 22nd.

Times will be 10pm GMT / 5pm EST / 4pm CST / 2pm PST.

Watch two episodes per day. Episodes are 21-22 minutes each.

Use the following Saturday for the tags/watch if interested but not able to make this time.

Hashtags:

#WreckedPirates

#SaveOFMD

#ForOurCaptain

== SchadenFreude / Coyote Vs. Acme ==

So some crazy stuff happened today. Apparently Zaslav made a decision to not only remove Coyote Vs. Acme from Max but to shelve it so no one else could purchase it.

Wanna learn more? The Final Days of ‘Coyote vs. Acme’: Offers, Rejections and a Roadrunner Race Against Time | Exclusive

Coyote vs. Acme's Fate Might Have Been Sealed by Real Judge Doom David Zaslav

Now what does that have to do with Our Flag Means Death? Well, just like we've been seeing for weeks now the WBD stock has PLUMMETED like crazy since The Wrap article came out this morning.

It sent the following trends all over twitter: (Thank you Mich for capturing these!)

Wanna help out Coyote Vs. Acme? Please sign their petition to get it saved: Petition

Seeing this much negative press for WBD is great and shows it's not just OFMD they're cancelling, they're making crappy decisions left and right. The term "Zaslovian Blunder" was also coined today on the @saveofmdcrewmates tumblr:

*Zaslovian (adjective): to make a decision that is unanimously deemed absurd, that almost seems to purposefully damage one's reputation, company, self, and others.

== Articles ==

5 TV weddings to celebrate the 20th anniversary of same-sex marriage in San Francisco

Peak TV Is Officially Over: FX Tallies 14 Percent Drop in Scripted Series for 2023

== Morale ==

In honor of 85k signatures, our friend @lucyrosebutler on twitter shared the rest of her Cameo with Rhys. (We'll see if it explodes this post, please don't I will cry)

Full video clips on twitter.

== Morale Cont'd ==

Hey Lovelies. 30 days is a LONG time. I get that. I'm feeling it in my bones too. I want you to know it's totally normal if you are feeling frustrated, and exhausted, and just over all of this effort to get our show back.

It's okay to feel that way.

You don't need to be positive all the time, you're allowed to feel grief. I know we've grieved several times since the original announcement, but just like progress, grief isn't linear either.

It's going to come up again in waves, and hopefully those waves get smaller each time, but they will keep coming until we get our show back.

I say UNTIL WE GET OUR SHOW BACK, because despite my own frustrations, I don't really have any doubt that it will happen at this point, it's just a matter of when.

What makes me feel that way?

Chaos Dad's silence

The fact he hasn't told us to just stop cause there's no way it's gonna happen

The whole "everybody is ready to go" in Aotearoa we heard from Wee John Wondays

Rhys' continuous pile of support

The Cast and Crew being more active on social media again

The continuous positive press

and so many other little things that continue to happen that keep making it feel like we're inching forward.

I'm not an expert, I just have a feeling, based on staring at every happening that's happened over the past 30 days.

So if you need to, go grieve lovelies! Get mad, get frustrated, scream, cry, it's normal and it's healthy. You deserve to let feelings those out.

You are human, and you are wonderful, and you can't be a ray of sunshine all the time (nor should you have to be).

And for those of you who aren't grieving, and instead feeling renewed excitement, that's absolutely wonderful too. Don't feel like you have to grieve if that's not where you're at! Every one of us has a personal journey through all of this, and not one of us will share the exact same experience, so remember not to judge your progress based on everyone else.

Anyway, I'm rambling now, so on to the love notes:

== Love Notes ==

YOU are beautiful.

YOU are doing so damn well.

You are trying your best at whatever you're dealing with in your life, and you're kicking ass, no matter how much it doesn't feel like it some of the days.

You are a glorious piece of stardust, and whether you're shining bright or dim today, you are radiant.

Remember to breathe, and drink some water, and get some rest so you can keep shining.

Love you crew, hope wherever/whenever you are on this big blue marble you're doing well.

=Daily Darby / Tonight's Taika =

In honor of the Love Birds Watch Party I'm including it in tonight's theme. Idk about the Taika one, they seemed to match, or I'm just tired.

[0ncem0re]

yandere classmate (he/him) x reader with emotional issues (you/your)

a/n: self-indulgent as hell 🙃. first post, feedback very welcome.

Yandere Classmate who hears what you say under your breath, who notices your choppy and sudden movements, who sees that you're just barely able to keep yourself together sometimes.

Yandere Classmate who sets off to go to the restroom one morning and finds you crying in a stairwell. He startles when you throw your backpack at a wall, softening when you crumple to the floor immediately after.

Yandere Classmate who calls out, "Hey," and whose heart breaks a bit when he sees the fright in your eyes, directed at a well-meaning classmate, no less. You dart away from him.

Yandere Classmate who begins to see the person behind the anger and hostility. You sit just slightly away from your friends who are all talking and enjoying one anothers' presense, while you give much milder reactions. Your other classmates that often regard you mockingly. How you try to make connections with the teachers as opposed to other students. It's no wonder you're so upset.

Yandere Classmate who sits across from you at lunch one day. The conversation that transpires is awkward for you. This boy had seen you practically throwing a fit and now he's smiling and wanting to learn more about you? He's with them.

Yandere Classmate who's delighted when your distrust lets up as you give into your desire for positive attention. He waits to walk with you after class. He discusses music and books with you. He offers to help you on your assignments. He sends you memes and encouraging, albeit cheesy, quotes.

Yandere Classmate who hugs you and tells you he loves you when he notices you're off. The first couple times your head had spun trying to decipher whether he meant that platonically or not. It's commonplace now and you return the phrase, wanting more of his affections.

Yandere Classmate who takes advantage of your feelings and desires. He notices how quickly you come to him when he opens his arms. He knows you listen to everything he says, wanting to please him, to return the favor. He loves seeing the frequent notifications he recieves telling him you've interacted with his newest post or even some of his oldest.

Yandere Classmate who feeds off your dependency.

Yandere Classmate who goes out of his way to make you feel special, to feel adored, to feel as if the only way you're ever going to feel whole is with him. And you play right into it, giving back and going beyond what he shows you, you need him to see your usefulness. He can't cast you aside.

Yandere Classmate who says you can hit him and scream at him all you want so long as it makes you feel better. Whether you take the offer or not, the mere proposal makes him feel entitled to enact the aforementioned on you.

Yandere Classmate who tells you as much. Who screams that he loves you while he goes on and on about how you take advantage of his kindness and patience. That you make it so difficult to want to love you while he grips your upper arms so tightly it's hard to focus on his words with the pain caused by hands that had just a few hours embraced you and a voice that had said it would never leave you.

You ran out of his house quickly after that, uncontrollably sobbing. A fun night between friends had sent you in a guilty spiral - because you believed him. How could you not? You had spent months with that boy and after all that he had become fed up, you weren't giving him what he needed after all he had done for you.

You didn't go to school the following Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. You couldn't bare the thought of looking him in the eye. You were scared that in them would be something you had seen far too much: hatred. You wanted to preserve your version of Yandere Classmate that loved you, and held you, showed you how it felt to be cared for.

You recieved a text Wednesday evening that you couldn't ignore. "Can I come over?" Your stomach churned as you hesitantly replied yes.

[cleveradjacent]

ogata moodboard made from semi old russian memes i've had saved for ages. translations in alt text and under the cut (with context where needed)

"AAAHAAAA I'M AN IDIOT LOOK AT MEEEE!!" "looking."

"drowned in what i have created"

"come on mimick my behavior i'm your mother after all" "i'll be mimicking the behavior of the strange shadowy figures because they're around much more than you mom"

"what am i living for" (alternate translation: "why am i alive") context for this: taken from a post years and years ago that had, i believe, a picture of a yoghurt that said "yoghurt with thoughts" instead of "yoghurt with muesli", because "thoughts" in russian is "misli"

"you're so unique, i wonder what's going on inside you" "nothing" (fucking nothing)" "lol"

"depressed?" (in russian, we say "in depression?") "do i fucking look like i know where i am"

"you're an embarrassment to the prestigious profession of pathetic nobodies" this one was taken from a meme page that posted quotes from russian YTPs edited onto aesthetic photos. and i do believe this is ogata's attitude to fellow soldiers

"go fuck yourself" "wait stay". this is funnier in russian because it literally reads "go to dick" "stay". also both messages use the formal respectful way of addressing someone in russian

the print on the door: "OOO A Path To Yourself" (the "OOO" means it's the title of a business). the sign: "away from yourself" (this is how we mark "push" doors in russian)

[roseharpermaxwell]

RWRB FirstPrince Tech-Based Fun Recs

Texting, Online Dating, Instagram, Wrong Number, Social Media, etc. Click below for my favorites!

my husband by @coffeecatsme. T, 750 words. This isn’t the first time Alex roped Henry into a TikTok prank—there are videos of there with millions of views and enough compilations of Henry’s exasperated face that it’s become a meme.

Or, Alex ropes Henry into the latest TikTok couple prank.

Toe the Line by @orchidscript. G, 1k. Henry plays piano while Alex studies. Alex gets caught live-streaming. Henry has a response handy.

swipe right on me by coffeecatsme. T, 1.3k. Henry is scrolling through a profile—a redhead with freckles and a toothy grin that apparently made gym his personality. Alex almost wants to cry when Henry swipes right. Then, there’s the brunette he swipes left on, the Asian man with a dog he lingers before he swipes left as well, and then—

Alex drops his pen on the desk. That’s his profile.

you and i go from one kiss to getting married by vibrantsaturn. T, 1.3k.

Prince Henry @PrinceHenryUKI adore you so much, darling. Never change.

 

Alex Claremont-Diaz @theagcdthat's cute i would literally go to federal prison for you

who's afraid of little old me? (you should be) by @waterloolovers. G, 1.7k.

les 🤠 | fratboy acd truther @agcdiazzz

so has anybody actually seen henry since his abdication bc like… he was seen getting into a car with acd at the airport and it’s been 3 months

call it what you want by vibrantsaturn. T, 1.9k. Alex Claremont-Diaz @theagcd

guys it's 3am and i just found henry crying to taylor swift in the kitchen in the refrigerator light i love this motherfucker so much

Prince Henry @PrinceHenryUK

She makes me feel things.

Alex Claremont-Diaz @theagcd

BABY SHE MAKES ALL OF US FEEL THINGS

william @alltoounwell

THERE'S NO WAY HE JUST CALLED PRINCE HENRY MOTHERFUCKER LMAO

or,

Alex live tweeting his favourite FirstPrince moments. That's it. That's the fic.

all i do is kiss you through the bars of a rhyme by dreakawa. M, 2.2k. Comments flood the screen as more and more viewers arrive in the chat. Alex knows he looks like hell, but quite honestly, he doesn't care; he's had half of a bottle of whiskey and needs to get his feelings out there somehow. Fuck it.

His fingers grip the bridge of his guitar as he continues.

“I've been listening to a lot of music, and especially a lot of The Killers. There were a few different songs I'd considered playing today but one stuck out to me and… well, here we go.”

AKA: Singer!Alex pours his (broken) heart out via song on a livestream one week after Henry ghosted him.

let's be friends (so we can make out) by eclvpsed. NR, 2.2k.

Henry Fox ✓ @HenryFox

Thanks for the cover feature @gaytimes. New issue out now.

19K Retweets 26.1K Quotes 118K Likes

|

alex claremont-diaz ✓ @theacd

no guillotine could take away the head i need to give him

76.2K Retweets 55.6K Quotes 462K Likes

-

OR, actor!Alex Claremont-Diaz publicly thirst tweets about actor!Henry Fox because he is a delinquent and a plague in every universe.

Ever After Era by badmetaphors, gleefulfoxes. T, 2.3k. The Super Six watching the Ever After finale as told by their group chat and the aftermath on Twitter

watch before it ends by @indomitable-love. G, 2.4k. He should be working on this essay so he can spend more time with Henry this weekend. He really, really should be working on this essay. But.

But.

Henry is going live on Instagram.

Bold Statement by regularis_vas. T, 2.4k. Alex attends Milan Fashion Week with Nora and June. they arrive outside the Dior fashion show and let’s say… Alex turns heads.

Or

Alex goes shirtless, Ellen nearly has a stroke and the internet goes wild. (So does Henry)

A Thousand Words by Thunder_Cakes. G, 2.5k. After that Han/Leia mural both their accounts go silent for a while. For months, actually.

They’re both in therapy after Alex tried to post a selfie with June after election night and had a panic attack before he could hit “Share.” Suddenly the thought of sharing the details of his life and loved ones with the world is paralyzing. Wonder why.

or: Alex, Henry and what they choose to share of their life

Bacardi and Hot Sauce by httpstobes. T, 2.5k. Henry’s words are slurred, and Pez hits the ‘Add to Story’ button without a second thought before tossing his phone aside. The song Murder on the Dancefloor comes on, and both of them jump up to scream the lyrics.

That’s the last Percy remembers of that evening; Henry had blacked out a long time before that. Fuckin’ lightweight.

OR: Pez accidentally posts a video of Henry thirsting over Alex. They go on Hot Ones together the day afterwards.

spread (me on your) sheets by @everwitch-magiks. E, 2.6k. Alex creates a sex quiz to determine how well people’s bedroom preferences align with his own. After a night of too much tequila, he sends it to a lot of people.

One blond, blue-eyed respondent scores a hundred. - Also, companion fic Alex Claremont-Diaz’s Comprehensive Coitus Questionnaire by stutteringpeach (M, 2.6k). 

come pick me up by @smc-27. T, 3k. ‘I’m here for you’

He can tell that the person will receive that as a text message as well as in the app, which is a relief because sometimes people like, order rides then absolutely pay no fucking attention to the app. It’s really annoying to have to wait forever for folks.

’Thank you. I’m going through a difficult time currently, so this means a lot.’

Alex stares at the message he received, frowning, and then another comes through.

‘Apologies. I’ve lost all my contacts. Who is this?’

Oh, Christ. This is going to be awkward as fuck.

’This is your Uber driver. I’m outside.’

OR, Alex is an Uber driver. Henry needs a ride the airport.

freddie by @coffeecatsme. T, 3.3k. “Didn’t know BuzzFeed was still relevant enough to do interviews.” He watches a grin spread on Henry’s face, and the glint in his eyes is enough to tell Alex that whatever it is, it’ll at least be fun. “What?” he asks, tugging Henry’s hands. “What is it?”

“They just might be relevant enough for this.” Henry’s palms close around Alex’s cheeks, brushing his curls away. “They asked whether we’d be interested in doing a puppy interview.”

Something To Be Proud Of by @cha-melodius. M, 3.3k. Henry stares at the carbon copy of the email in his inbox and wills time to go backwards. Just a few minutes, that’s all he needs. Enough time to go back and keep autocorrect from transforming whatever he’d typed after ‘he’ in his pronouns after his name into… that.

(Or, an unfortunate typo in an email, lots of dick jokes, and the joy of finding yourself at Pride.)

how would you feel if i told you i loved you? by @waterloolovers. NR, 3.3k. He lasts all of five minutes before he’s opening the link to start a message to Alex.

‘I have been in love with you since the moment I first saw you, but I’m too scared to tell you x’

twitter fox hunting by alyaasca. T, 3.5k. In the middle of another war with twitter bots, Alex notices that the comment 'my pussy in bio' comes from a weird account and goes to explore. There is, indeed, a pussy in bio. A furry one. A cat named Snowflake.

well we're not here to fuck ducks by @dumbpeachjuice. M, 3.7k. Henry is looking for someone to help him with his duck study. He makes quite a serious typo in his 'All Staff' email.

Text Me, Rate Me, If You Want to Date Me by @happinessofthepursuit. E, 3.8k. “He gets over his initial nerves about making conversation fairly quickly, realizing that he has nothing to lose as long as he’s completely anonymous. But Alex still doesn’t really know how to reply to low-effort photos of dicks.

One day, he opens a message to a particularly poorly lit photo of a half-hard cock with minimal grooming. Before he can think twice, Alex replies, ‘2/10, no thank u’ and suddenly, he has his answer.”

Or, Alex rates dicks on Grindr, and Henry has the perfect cock.

kiss me through the phone by @violetbaudelaire-quagmire. M, 3.9k.

[Unknown Number] *Attached image: a shirtless, tanned torso, cropped at the top of shoulders, holding up two brightly patterned ties* which 1?

Excuse me?

or, Alex accidentally texts the wrong number and then just never stops.

self-rec of my contribution to the fandom: Shoot Your Shot. M, 4.2k. Jimmy raises his eyebrows in anticipation. “First celebrity crush?”

As usual, Alex’s mouth is moving before his mind can catch up.

“Oh,” he gestures, like this is both obvious and the easiest question he’s ever been asked. “Prince Henry.”

checkmate by eclvpsed. G, 4.2k.

Alex Claremont-Diaz ✓ @theagcd

let’s be honest the closet was made of glass

110K Retweets 97.7K Quotes 475.2K Likes

|

Alex Claremont-Diaz ✓ @theagcd

i literally went viral last year for staring at arthur fox on the met gala carpet and yall thought i wouldn’t want to climb his son like a tree too

281.2K Retweets 137K Quotes 853.4K Likes

OR, actor!Alex confesses that singer!Henry was his bi awakening, so Henry casts him as the love interest in his new music video. Seen through stantwt.

i would stay forever by vibrantsaturn. T, 4.5k.

Henry Fox @HenryFox

I can’t stand him

[alex covered in cake, flipping off the camera]

 

Pez  @likethesweets

send help they’re flirting on the tl

 

Alex Claremont-Diaz @theagcd 

you know i love a london boy

Three times is a pattern by @clottedcreamfudge. T, 4.8k. “Hi,” an amused voice says on the other end of the line. “You’re through to Alex at L&G. Can I start by taking your name please?”

“Henry,” he admits, although the lure of a false name is calling to him like a siren song. “I’m – look, how long were you on the line just now?”

There’s a pause before the man answers. “I’m legally obligated to advise you that these calls are recorded for training and monitoring purposes. Is that enough of an answer?”

Henry just about manages not to swear. “Thank you. Unfortunately that is very clear.”

“Great. How can I help you today, Henry?”

He wonders if they offer euthanasia.

One Number Away by smc_27. T, 4.9k. “Hello?” a confused sounding voice on the other end of the line says.

It is not Pez. Pez doesn’t answer like that. With the fanfare of “my dearest Hazza” or “my sweet prince” or “you absolutely unforgivable scoundrel.” Only the first of these has any root in truth or accuracy.

Also, Pez is not American.

“I’m sorry. You’re not…Not Pez. Right. I’m sorry.”

OR: Henry dials a wrong number. Alex answers.

fall back into place by @vibrantsaturn. T, 5.1k. The hardest thing about being in love with Henry, Alex thinks, is keeping it a secret.

or,

People have been shipping Alex, a recording breaking musician, and Henry, a five time Academy Award winner, for years, despite them never interacting in public, or even following each other on social media. They've been secretly married all this time.

if evil, why so cute? by everwitch. E, 5.4k. Alex’s cat hates Alex, but loves Henry, the Bookstagram influencer who’s on vacation in Alex’s quiet seaside town. And while Alex is pretty salty about his grumpy cat’s inexplicable affection for a complete stranger, he must admit he can see the appeal; Henry is fucking gorgeous. It’s why Alex follows him on Instagram in the first place. It's just, Alex had never thought he’d be officially introduced to Henry by his own goddamn cat.

Or: Henry takes a two-week vacation to a seaside cabin with the intent to read a lot of books. Instead, he has a lot of sex.

Are You Screwing With Me? by @rmd-writes. E, 6.5k. Alex is only downloading Grindr because he’s curious. It doesn’t fucking mean anything, right? And when he answers a call for help from a very hot neighbour – who has no business having a shoulder-to-waist ratio like that – he’s just being friendly. It definitely doesn’t mean that he’s going to discover things about himself that he’d assumed were just passing curiosity.

Or, the Grindr meet-cute AU

I hope you don't mind that I put it down in words by knowledgeiscake. T, 7.2k. NBC News @nbcnews

Journalist Alleges First Son Alexander Claremont-Diaz Cheated with Him on Vice President’s Granddaughter Nora Holleran

An epistolary fic blending the book and movie verses where ACD gets outed by Miguel before Philip and Martha's wedding even happens

and you can tell everybody by @14carrotghoul. M, 7.7k. Rising star Alex Claremont-Diaz slowly reveals his secrets to the masses.

Give You The World by quill_and_ink. E, 7.9k. Alex loves to tease Henry in his TikTok videos. For his birthday, Henry turns the tables.

(Door)Dash to the Heart by bleedingballroomfloor. M, 8.1k. The man looks up when Henry opens the door. "Henry?"

Henry clears his throat. "That's me," he manages.

"Cool," the man says. "You're making me hungry for breakfast with this order, man. Which is bad for me, because my breakfast is usually just coffee, and there's no way I can drink that this late."

"Uh," Henry says. He's pretty sure dashers don't talk this much during orders.

"Anyway," the man says, handing the bag of food to Henry, "enjoy your night."

Five times Henry gets late-night food from his insanely hot DoorDasher Alex, and one time they get food together at a normal time.

Bake It Til You Make It by OrchidScript. T, 8.4k. The chaos dead-ended in a linked TikTok video. By the looks of it, just a pasty-faced white dude in a tee shirt with a mug of… something. Why that would be interesting to anyone, Alex didn’t know and didn’t guess. He rolled his eyes and clicked on it anyway.

“Are you serious?” He asked, a second later dissolving into laughter. The video froze, a small banner appearing over a stagnant image reading 'Man Pleasing Appetizers 1971'.

Blondie was a Brit, and Alex wasn’t going to lay there and say that didn’t do something for him. He’d come to terms with his bisexuality enough to know that made the stranger hotter — even just the littlest bit. Especially when the video started rolling again

Alex falls down the rabbit hole of an H.J. Fox's Tiktok videos, falling a little bit in love with the terrors and treasures of cooking past he finds there, while recovering from a sinus infection. Back in class and confronted by H.J. Fox -- Henry Fox, to be exact -- in the lecture seat next to him, Alex does what any normal, well-adjusted adult would do: He suggests his recipes, just to watch Henry make them.

Will Alex get to watch his cake and eat it too, or will he get something sweeter than hoped for? 

Amazed at How We Talk (Once, Successfully) by @sparklepocalypse. E, 8.7k. And, well. Fuck that guy. Alex isn’t about to rub elbows with people who can’t even stand to be in the same room as him.

Alex isn’t sulking when he sidles up to the bar and steals a man’s whisky. He also isn’t sulking when he obtains a second glass, this one neat. Or when he snags a large plate of canapés from one of the waitstaff and nonchalantly strolls out of the room.

(Movieverse; a riff on the trope that asks, What if Cakegate didn't happen?)

do you think i've forgotten about you? by @vibrantsaturn. T, 9.3k. Henry and Alex are singer-songwriters who've been dating each other on-and-off for ten years, and talking to each other through lyrics while dating other people.

The importance of the 'recall email' feature by clottedcreamfudge. E, 9.6k. "What did that email even say?" Bea interrupts him again, and he glares at her.

"He was asking for an extension."

"Scandalous," she says drily, and he rolls his eyes, stealing the umbrella from her mocktail and wondering whether or not he could use it to end his misery.

"He... addressed me in a fairly comical way. It was quite rude, but apparently unintentional. We've all been there."

Pez nods solemnly. "I once called my tutor 'Carrie' when in fact her name was 'Carey'. Incredibly embarrassing. I couldn't look her in the eye for a week."

"Er, yes," Henry says haltingly. "Yes, just like that." 

Well It Ain't Missionary by @everwitch-magiks. E, 11k. Alex Claremont-Diaz, a ballet dancer, is asked to list his ‘favorite positions.’ His hilariously suggestive answer goes viral, as does the unexpectedly flustered reaction to it by the Internet’s very own FoxySexEd. So obviously, Alex has to slide into Henry’s DMs. How could he resist? When a man that attractive wants your dick, only a fool would pass.

Henry is surprising. He wants to be pushed around, thrown for a loop, and he wants Alex to do it for him. But whenever Alex tries to soften his landing, Henry clams up like he’s been burned.

Alex can work around that, obviously. He's a dancer. If you're gonna toe the line just right, pointe shoes are a must.

Or: Alex and Henry fuck. Not in missionary.

whenever you're ready by @tedddylupin. E, 12k. “Pez. Please, will you stop tagging me in TikTok thirst traps?” Henry asked as he stepped into his friend’s car.

Pez lowered his Gucci sunglasses on his nose, looking at Henry without anything obscuring his vision and just laughed before pushing them back up with his middle finger. “Don’t fucking lie to me, I know you love them.”

Or: the one where Henry falls in lust with a TikToker making pottery and leaves drunken thirst comments

once, successfully by vibrantsaturn. M, 12k. Grindr, once (un)successfully, etc., etc.

misdial by rizcriz. T, 13k. His phone starts ringing as he’s wringing the coffee out of his shirt in the tiny coffee shop bathroom. He groans, sliding his finger over the answer button as he pulls his shirt up. “June,” he says, as politely and patiently as he can muster, “Now’s really not a great time.”

A distinctly male voice that does not belong to his sister, says, “Er.” He drops his chin and looks down at the counter, where a blond haired beauty is staring up at him from a facetime call. In the top corner, Alex can see what the man sees; himself, partially shirtless, standing over the phone, his abs dripping with coffee.

Alex has no idea who the fuck this man is.

Or, the facetime call that changed Alex's life.

Everyone Knows Who You Are by smc_27. T, 26k. Look, it’s not that he doesn’t feel influencers deserve representation or have complex management needs. It’s just any time he’s met with an influencer, he’s not only had next to nothing in common with them, but he’s also got no bloody clue what they’re talking about half the time. It’s a world far away from the one he typically resides in. He deals with authors and musicians and the occasional up and coming tennis player or gymnast or swimmer. His niche.

He walks into Conference Room B and sees Alex Claremont-Diaz sitting there in a smart black button down shirt, unbuttoned just enough to be devastating but not inappropriate. Henry’s boss is there, too.

When Alex sees Henry, he smiles, but also gives a discreet look up and down. Oh, god. No.

We’ll Invite Something In by smc_27. E, 26k. Alex is grinning a little too hard.

This is absolutely idiotic and pointless and fun.

The cover of Hello UK with a photo of him pulled out and a photo of His Royal Highness Prince Henry Fox-Mountchristen whatever the hell the rest of his names are (Alex knows; he being a dick) with the admittedly stupid but flattering headline which reads: His Royal Highness: He’s just like us and crushes on Pres ACD.

Ignite My Heart by @absoluteaudacitywrites. M, 30k. “So, I’m making you an account and we’re going to swipe right on some men and you can thank me later,” Pez says.

The 'We met on Tinder' AU

RWRB YouTube Interviews series by @happiness-of-the-pursuit. M, 31k. Hot Ones, etc

Hashtag Soulmates by everwitch. E, 44k. Alex is perfect and handsome, the golden boy, everybody’s secret crush. So there is absolutely no way that he is the reader who screeches in caps lock every time that Henry posts as much as a drabble. There’s no way. Except Alex just closed his browser fast as fucking lightning, but not before Henry had gotten a good glimpse of the page Alex had open: AO3. ‘Don't Stop Me Now’, Henry’s current wip. The one that Henry literally just updated.

Sweet Jesus. Could it really be?

I only tag an author once per post, but I'm still figuring out firstprince author handles. If you see one I may not know or find a broken link, please give me a heads up!

Master List of RWRB FirstPrince Recs

Master List of Recommendations

[harringroveera]

“Billy is homophobi”—WHEN?

[n0maku]

Some details from the Undertale Legends of Localization book

271 pages! If the localization of Undertale into Japanese interests you, I suggest getting the book off of Fangamer yourself. Anyhow, here's some details I noted from my reading:

-"mt.ebott is "toby" backwards, inspired by mt. itoi from MOTHER" (translation note from Toby to 8-4). This detail is also mentioned at another point in the book.

-An image of the debug tool that 8-4 developed to quickly jump to points in the game has "No Mercy" as a tab...(?) selector...(?). I don't quite recall what other names have been used for the route 'officially', so found it interesting enough to note. It is also referred to as such a few other times in the book.

-The name they used for the fallen human (shown in their debug tool menu image) is "Rose".

-Toby instructed the translators to keep ICE-E somewhere, even if to keep it funny the wordsearch got changed to something else.

-It has been known by people already, but the book notes how each item has three names! One standard name, one abbreviated for battle menus, and one abbreviated for battle menus during serious scenes. I think I recall some post calling it "Serious Mode"...? For example, the Butterscotch Pie goes in the battle menu from "ButtsPie", to "Pie" in the Toriel fight from "Serious Mode" . (Though, it says they cut the abbreviating for the Japanese translation as there were less space needed for the item names. I guess that means the japanese version didn't get any 'silly' item name variations...?)

Now, this gets pretty long, so I'll just put a readmore here...

-The translation of the Wrong Number Song comes up in the book, and it actually references that the main fan theory for who the "G" is is Gaster! BUT it reveals nothing about it basically. Toby remained mysterious about the "G..." person referenced in the call, with his note on it being "Character's name beginning with "G"... Actually, it might be suitably bizarre if you leave this line completely intact in English." Disappointing, but admittedly expected that this book wouldn't give any more details about it.

Apparently initially the localization team also thought it was meant to be "Gaster" and put a "Ga--" in an early draft, but it got overruled by Toby's decision to keep the call in English.

-A section emphasizes how while Monster Kid's dialogue uses ore, a more masculine pronoun, ". . .Toby designed the character to have no clear gender," and "Monster Kid's gender is never specified in the original script." I personally found it nice how the section asserted Monster Kid's gender neutrality and emphasized the pronoun choices being more purely used to reflect character, and chosen after consultation with Toby. -Onionsan's unclear gender led to the translators choosing for them to use watashi (which the section describes as a "polite, somewhat gender-neutral" pronoun), or simply "Onionsan" (which works to emphasize their childish vibes). -There is nothing about Frisk/their name is never mentioned. A section on Parsnik only notes that Hard Mode is accessed when you "give yourself a certain human's name." -Apparently Toby says Alphys is pronounced "al-feez"

-It is noted that Toby did not mean to reference the "it's over 9000!" meme with the dialogue "OH YES! MTT-BRAND OVENS CAN REACH TEMPERATURES UP TO NINE-THOUSAND DEGREES!" -For the (slightly inaccurate) Kitchen quote CHECK text (two lovers standing over the cauldron of hell...), Toby asked the translators to just translate it directly instead of grabbing the exact lines from the Japanese version of Kitchen. The section emphasizes how Toby was so unattached to it being a reference that he specifically requested the translators to not bother with it.

-There is a section on Entry Number 17 (the wingdings one, not the unused alphys one)! However, it is not referred to as such, merely vaguely talking about it- how most people never see some of the lines in Undertale, and the process of translating the wingdings. (They wrote out the Japanese translation with English spelling, keeping the same wingdings font.)

The image examples they use are images of the wingdings "THE DARKNESS KEEPS GROWING" and it translating to wingdings "YAMIHA NOUDO WA MASHITE YUKU". Funnily enough, the section notes ". . .it almost feels like these messages contain dark secrets. . ." and ". . .the localization team wanted to preserve the 'dark, mysterious, and unreadable' vibe in Japanese too." "Dark" twice... ha ha, these writers, I swear...

Sadly, no mention of Gaster or any other insight on the entry. An example sentence they use for Wingdings is "I EAT BUGS EVERY DAY," so uhhh maybe that's a clue that he's a bug eater? (I'm joking...) -"Asriel Dreemurr" being an anagram of "Serial Murderer" is confirmed to be intentional by Toby. -Toby notes how the "But it refused" line has two meanings: One, that it can mean "refused to die," secondly, that it can mean "'re-fused', referring to how the heart fragments fuse back together again." It's another thing that's been noted by some people, but a neat detail regardless!

Alright, that's what I've got...! There's a lot of other stuff, like how dialogue that was referencing other games was handled, (which is a LOT), but these notes are what I found the most personally interesting and relevant to Undertale.

[samantitheos]

Weekly Tag Wednesday

Fandom This or That!

Thank you for all the tags lovely folks.

@mybrainismelted @deedala @burninface @sickness-health-all-that-shit

@francesrose3 @blue-disco-lights

I feel loved today. 🖤

Name:  Sam Location:  On the couch catching up on OMITB

Fanfic Tropes:

Canon Compliant OR Canon Divergent Only One Bed OR Fake Dating [but why not both?] Coffee Shop AU  OR  Historical AU [NTW i am looking directly at you] Omegaverse OR Soulmates [this one almost killed me, but my tastes are very specific when it comes to omegaverse and it has to be written so, so well, so soulmates edges it out just slightly] Fluff OR Angst [but only with a happy ending] Fix-It OR Post-Canon Slow Burn OR Established Relationship High School AU  OR  Fake Relationship College AU OR  Dystopian Future

Shameless Characters:

Date Night with Ian OR Netflix and Chill with Mickey Clubbing with Fiona  OR  Bike Racing with Lip Pub Night with Debbie OR Video Games with Carl and Liam Wandering the streets with Frank  OR  The Alibi w/ Tommy & Kermit Training at KevFit  OR Girl's Night with Veronica

General:

Reading Fics OR Watching Video Edits GIFS  OR  Memes Headcanons OR Meta Incorrect Quotes OR Text Post

Tags under the cut.

Calling anyone who wants to play to join! And saying hi to some folks. ✨

@annarowyn @mickey-milkovichs @vintagelacerosette @wehangout @sam-loves-seb

@gallavichsuperfan @gallawitch1 @iheartmoons @doshiart @palepinkgoat

@loftec @energievie @mmmichyyy @pookiebearmick

[thepupperino]

Weekly Tag Wednesday

Hi @mybrainismelted thank you for the game and the tag and thank you @deedala and @pookiebearmick for the tags as well!

A fandom this or that, you say? 😏

Name: Keely

Location: Utah

Fanfic Tropes:

Canon Compliant OR Canon Divergent

Only One Bed OR Fake Dating

Coffee Shop AU OR Historical AU

Omegaverse OR Soulmates (This one is evil to make me choose)

Fluff OR Angst (This one is evil too. And you're probably thinking, "Keely shut up all you write is angst" and you're right! However I am in control of that angst and I know it is coming! Reading it is a different story and it hurts me!)

Fix-It OR Post-Canon

Slow Burn OR Established Relationship

High School AU OR Fake Relationship

College AU OR Dystopian Future

Shameless Characters:

Date Night with Ian OR Netflix and Chill with Mickey

Clubbing with Fiona OR Bike Racing with Lip

Pub Night with Debbie OR Video Games with Carl and Liam

Wandering the streets with Frank OR The Alibi with Tommy and Kermit

Training at KevFit OR Girl's Night with Veronica

General:

Reading Fics OR Watching Video Edits

GIFS OR Memes

Headcanons OR Meta

Incorrect Quotes OR Text Post

I've been losing my mind so fandom questions was exactly what I needed thank you

Tags below :)

@sleepyheadgallavich @spacerockwriting @transmickey @heymacy @too-schoolforcool

@spookygingerr @spoonfulstar @gallapiech @crossmydna @heymrspatel

@wehangout @mickittotheman @jrooc @bawlbrayker @deathclassic

@reganmian @creepkinginc @palepinkgoat @flamingbluepanda @kiennilove

[shinesurge]

I'm sitting around waiting for our car to get serviced so I'm gonna take a minute to write a post I've been chewing on for a little bit lol

I think! A lot of creators talk about 'word of mouth' being the best advertising and it's TRUE they are right but I'm not sure the actual like, function of that is getting across because people still get confused about it when I bring it up, and I keep seeing people frustrated that their efforts aren't working (notably in spaces like the obscure webcomic tournament). Recommending stuff to your friends or writing stuff in to promotional spaces DEFINITELY helps don't stop doing that, but what people ACTUALLY mean by this is getting Visibly Excited about things in spaces where it can break containment.

Fandom content is what gets people into things!! Like, think about everything that "takes off" online; it's not because people post the plot synopsis over and over, or go "please read this it's good," the stuff that actually gets people engaging is seeing some cool fan work or clipped out content and going what the FUCK is that. The Barbie movie probably would have done fine on its own, but the insane phenomenon it's become certainly wouldn't have happened if regular internet users hadn't memed it to hell and back; this stuff works.

I didn't give a SHIT about Persona 5, or The Magnus Archives, or The Adventure Zone or any number of things I got dragged into until I saw fandom content for them. Persona 5 sounds like boring as fuck anime shit on paper, I do NOT care about podcasts, but people kept drawing the COOLEST stuff for them or posting insane fan theories until I HAD to know what was going on. That's what we're talking about with word of mouth! Sincere engagement with the thing is better than any advertising could ever be.

It doesn't have to be creative art or writing either! Make Character Appreciation Posts using the source material! Make an essay-length analysis of the story's themes! Set up a weekly post about how much you love a character or a count of how many days it's been since someone showed up, do Incorrect Quotes or paste tumblr text posts over characters, idk man there's entire blogs dedicated to posting every One Piece panel that has certain characters in it, there are no rules

What I'm saying is if you're wanting to help out smaller creators, please get involved, and PLEASE do it outside insulated places like discord servers. A thriving community that only exists inside a closed server still looks like a ghost town from the outside. "please read this it's got lesbians" helps get something on the radar, making a compilation post of the lesbians and posting it with a link to The Thing gets people's attention.

anyway that's all thanks @ Fans Of All Kinds for caring enough to want to help out independent people to the point i felt like it was worth making a post like this; to be clear, nobody is owed any of this stuff and you're certainly not obligated to put in all this effort to enjoy a thing! but i know a LOT of people are enthusiastic about indie media and want to help out, and sometimes a little extra guidance from the creator perspective helps them figure out how to do that effectively. love you have a good day