#It really does speak to just how much skill and effort is put into everything <3 It's so well done all the way around!!

[sysig]

One better (Patreon)

[cepheustarot]

Your future love relationship: with whom and what will be

Attention! This reading is for entertainment purposes only. This tarot reading does not give a 100% guarantee that all the described situations will occur or being ultimate truth. You build your own life and destiny and only you know yourself best.

Paid readings

Pick a pile. Choose one or more pictures. Trust your intuition.

Pile 1: This person will look strong, fit, most likely he often does sports and therefore he looks muscular. But in addition, he also has a strong inner core, he endures all stressful situations, solves all problems, he is not of those who give in to emotions, it is important for him to first deal with problems, things. He can also be called a determined man and all his achievements he achieves through hard work, through the efforts he has put in, he does a lot to realize himself, his desires. Self-fulfillment in life is just as important to him! This person is not only able to work well, but also to rest well, he really knows how to unload their head from complex thoughts and enjoy the moment without burdening himself with problems. It can also be called the soul of the company, as it emanates the aura of a friendly person, with whom it is easy to enter into a dialogue and can be discussed anything, it is easy for him to maintain a dialogue with anyone. In addition, he is energetic, active, he can have quick speech and active facial facial expressions, he can walk fast or do something quickly. He has leadership skills, he is able to lead people, he is able to work in a team, he is ready to take responsibility for his actions. 

Your relationship with this person will be very strong and stable, you will trust each other, maintain, together cope with difficulties, you will feel that you have become family to each other, you will have a strong connection between you, You will achieve much together. in addition to that you will have an understanding, your relationship will not be deprived of passion, playfulness, between you will be a lot of romance and flirting. 

Pile 2: I’d like to point out that maybe your partner will be younger than you! Or he can act like a child at times, be naive at certain points, but these details are not critical and should not prevent your relationship from developing. The person himself is quite lucky, successful, all his beginnings and new cases are accompanied by success. I would also call him unpredictable, his actions and thoughts are difficult to predict, as he has the traits of an adventurer and, figuratively speaking, today he will want to go to the other end of the world, and tomorrow will conquer the mountains. I mean, he’s pretty easy-going and he’s very easy to accept that kind of offer. By virtue of his character, he constantly gets into various stories, from which, of course, he gets out, because fate is on his side. Also this man is not deprived of romance, he quite openly shows his feelings and his love, a lot of flirts, give a lot of gifts, a lot of making nice gestures. The person himself is also emotional, he can quickly change mood. He is quite young and inexperienced, so he does not have enough experience of life, but nevertheless he is open to everything new in his life, in this respect he is quite bold. 

Your relationship with this person at the beginning will be filled with romance, you will be constantly together, as you are deeply in love with each other and without the presence of anyone near you will quickly miss each other. You can even idealize each other during this period! However, over time your sense of obsession will fade away and only love, warmth and affection between you will remain, you will be able to exist together, complementing each other, and separately, continuing to do your business. 

Pile 3: The person himself can be closed, it is difficult for him to open up to people, he is not inclined to show a lot of emotions and tell about his feelings, just it takes a lot of time to trust another. He has a realistic view of things, he tends to objectively assess the situation, relies on logic and facts, rather than on feelings and intuition, in the dispute it is important to prove his point of view rather than show empathy and look at the situation from the side. He can criticize people, but he is also self-critical, has high demands on himself and people, he is perfectionist, tends not to believe in himself and his powers, so he tries a lot to achieve results. Perhaps he’s still a troubled man, prone to thinking too much. He is also one of those who is willing to help people, extend a helping hand, support, he is happy to share his experience and advice, he is generous, honest with people, he appreciates people close to him. 

Your relationship will develop rapidly with this man, you may have common goals and plans and you will achieve them, you two will succeed! But I see here you may not see much of each other, you may meet from a distance and you may often miss each other. But at the same time you will be sincere in your feelings, you will love each other. 

Thank you for reading! I will be glad of any feedback 🖤

[youcouldmakealife]

SOTM: Vinny/Tony, Fourniers; one-trick pony

For the prompt: Dying for a Vinny/Anton update!

Thomas never had time for hobbies, not really. As a child, maybe, but the first time he volunteered to play goalie in house league he knew that was what he wanted to do.

He doesn't mean in a ‘with his life’ sort of way, though it was that too. More like every time he wasn’t actually on the ice, in the net, he thinking about it, practicing skills for it, working on his reflexes, his flexibility. Doing a hundred jumping jacks a day after a teammate’s older sibling told him it’d make him taller. He kept it up even after his coach told him that wasn’t how height worked, just in case he was wrong. Anything to get better.

It’s not that Thomas slacked on the rest of his life or anything — when he was at school he was at school, and when he was with friends, he was with friends, though he did make Meg shoot on him more than he probably should have, and when he was camping with his dad, he was in the wilderness.

But he never had enough ice time to satisfy him, never had enough teammates putting shots on him, never had enough time one-on-one with the Sudbury Wolves goalie coach that gave him some sessions as a favour because he was his teammate Zack’s uncle. Because Zack told him that Thomas had ‘it’.

And if Thomas didn’t have ‘it’ before those sessions, he did after, that edge that nobody else his age had. Advice on his blocker hand, sure, but more important things: on eating a clean diet. On prioritizing mobility above everything else. On what he could play through, and what he couldn’t, and if he didn’t know, to take that time just to be safe. That his mental toughness was as important as his physical toughness, and then some.

He had teammates who would sneak time during the long drives to games in the surrounding towns, entertained by Game Boys, books, Pokémon cards, but Thomas had a bad case of motion sickness he didn’t manage to shake until he was in Juniors, and spent so much time on a bus it started to feel stranger not being in motion. Besides, he was already thinking about the game ahead.

But lack of practice or not, Thomas probably should not be doing worse than two fifth graders at Pictionary. Right after he was worse than them at Just Dance — ‘Uncle Vinny, you’re supposed to be an athlete’ was said, and his feelings are still a little hurt. Also worse at baking cookies, apparently, though all three efforts tasted pretty good to him.

“Can’t you do anything other than hockey?” Vanessa said, so offhand he knew it wasn’t meant to sting, but, of course, it stung anyway.

Thomas doesn’t know how to explain being so focused on one thing impoverishes everything else, and he definitely doesn’t know how to do it in an age appropriate way. It’s good, he thinks, that they don’t understand — at their age he’d already started cutting away parts of himself that didn’t, couldn’t fit. He couldn’t join any of the after school clubs, or play any other sport above house league level. No sleepovers, except with teammates, because he had practice first thing on weekend mornings. At a certain point it was just hockey. It had to be.

Vanessa and Olivia can be anything they want to be. Maybe not literally — there was a point he remembers Olivia wanted to be a mermaid, and he doesn’t know how achievable that goal is, though he does know if he ever brings it up Olivia will furiously deny that ever happened and then refuse to speak to him for the rest of the day.

But they have Fourns and Chloe as parents, two of the most supportive people Thomas has ever met, and Fourns had a long, successful NHL career, so money isn’t a barrier either. They can try everything, do what they’re good at, what they enjoy, what they love. Which is dancing to Rihanna, baking cookies, and hurting a poor goalie’s feelings.

That night, Thomas brings his batch of cookies home with him, because the girls didn’t want them, and eats three standing right at the kitchen island. They’re perfectly good cookies. He doesn’t know what they’re talking about.

Anton comes downstairs when Thomas is on cookie three, hair damp from the shower.

“Good day?” he asks, then says, “Cookies,” before Thomas can actually answer him, shoving one into his mouth.

“Good cookie,” Anton says, through a mouthful of crumbs, squeezing Thomas’ shoulder on his way to the fridge. He doesn’t even notice Thomas beaming at him, too busy investigating, probably because last time Thomas went to the Fourniers he brought back half a cake and two pizzas. The Fourniers don’t do leftovers.

Thomas doesn’t know if Anton would have even played hockey if he wasn’t Vladimir Petrov’s son. It’s not exactly something that could ever be tested. Anton’s been surrounded by hockey his whole life: he literally sat in the Stanley Cup before he ever got a pair of skates. Hockey wasn’t just an option, it was the option.

Anton loves it, Thomas knows that — he wouldn’t have gotten this far if he didn’t genuinely love hockey. Wouldn’t put up with hearing ‘as the son of the legendary Vladimir Petrov…’ if he didn’t love it, or the teammates he calls immature idiots, like he didn’t get into an elbow-off with Thomas over who got the last pancake just last week.

He definitely wouldn’t put up with the media if he could avoid it, and he likes meeting fans more than he pretends he does, especially when they’re kids, but he likes his privacy more, and nobody gets much of that in Montreal, not if they’re playing for the Habs.

Even Thomas finds it a little overwhelming at times, and he not only gets recognised less than Anton does, he loves meeting fans. It makes it feel real to him, when sometimes the practice-game-flight-repeat lulls him into taking it all for granted. There’s only so much time left before it’s all over, and Thomas doesn’t want to waste it.

He’ll probably need hobbies in retirement. Scratch probably: Thomas gets bored when they go three days between games.

And retirement isn’t that far away, he knows — every contract he’s depending on the Habs still wanting him. The minute they don’t, his choice is going to be retiring or going somewhere else, leaving behind his city, his team. Tony, who’d probably take it pretty personally. And that’s if Thomas could even bring himself to do it. He doesn’t think he could. But without hockey, he doesn’t know where that leaves him. Here, he guesses. Making subpar cookies.

“How were the monsters?” Anton says.

“They said my cookies sucked,” Thomas says.

“What?” Anton says, immediately outraged on Thomas’ behalf. “They’re good cookies!”

“I thought so!” Thomas says.

Anton grabs a second cookie, taking a big bite out of it.

“Good cookie!” he says through another mouthful of crumbs. Thomas doesn’t plaster himself against him right then just because he’s afraid the cookie might choke him. He waits for him to swallow.

[unseemingowl]

About this plagiarism and misinformation business

Amongst all of the schadenfreude over James Somerton being put out to dry for being the plagiarist bullshit-spewer that he is, I just want to underline – no, double underline! – the point that he’s not the only one.

As Hbomberguys’ video rightly points out, this is a widespread issue on youtube (or on any of the decentralized media platforms really – podcasts are another excellent example). Even though James Somerton is a particularly egregious case for stepping all over people from his own community and the way he panders to some of the worst impulses amongst the leftist echo chambers.

Now I love a video essay as much as the next person, Todd in the Shadows, who does the fact checking video of James Somerton, is a creator whose music criticism I’ve greatly enjoyed for years for example, but man…

I cannot help but feel that the way that the established visual language and structure of the youtube video essay has made it a lot easier to hide in plain sight. Actual good producers have done the heavy lifting that these fakers are cloaking themselves in to pass off their work as legit.

Like, I wish that the rampant misinformation or plagarism in James Somerton’s videos was what made me tune out after watching a video or two of his. It wasn’t. His videos had the superficial signifiers of a competent video essay production on topics that I did not know much about. What it didn’t have though was a host with any kind of charisma, and there was something decidedly off about the tone – as far as I recall I checked out of the Jeffrey Dahmer video because the tone was just so… I wanna say vile. If I want to be generous to myself, maybe it was the bullshit I was picking up on, but maybe not.

That’s of course not the fault of the good video essayists who have elevated the genre, but it does put a much higher demand on viewers to engage their critical thinking skills. Which goes for podcasts too by the way. It sucks, I know, sometimes I’d love to just kick back and relax and let myself be a vessel for fresh information too.

Now, I’m not an academic, so there are people much better at speaking to the intricacies of academic citation than I am, but I have spent the better part of ten years in journalism and media. I generally don’t speak much about this on tumblr, because frankly, that’s not why I come onto this site, but unsurprisingly, that means I fucking care about the topics of proper sourcing and misinformation. And a lot of these plagiarists and bullshit-spewers are trying to pass themselves off as doing proper journalism and being documentarians. They are - it should go without saying - not.

There are definitely people on youtube who have researchers working with them, and editors who do more than just figure out which kind of transition to use. But a lot of them don’t. Because it’s expensive. And why should these people do that? They’re not ashamed of what they’re doing! A lot of these actors even want to spread misinformation. And we're vulnerable now that we're heading into a big - BIG - election year. There's a reason why the EU are trying to force the big tech platforms to scale up on misinformation efforts rather than scale down.

That’s why big media organisations are good actually, as much as I know it’s popular to hate on them here on tumblr. Because big media organisations can afford to employ fact checkers, editors and researchers.

And no, big media is not infallible by a long shot, but here in my country at least, we have a press ethics committee, strict guidelines we need to follow, hard limitations on how much we can source from the work of other journalists. We are forced to acknowledge when we fuck up, we can’t just smokescreen everything on social media and claim that people were harassing us when we’re being called out for getting the facts wrong.

I have had to make corrections in my articles before, and it sucks, it’s embarrassing – and I’m very willing to be proven wrong here too. But these people are peddling half thought out or worse, willfully or ignorantly misinformed bullshit. And again, I wanna stress, they are not ashamed of doing that. They don’t care about integrity of information or journalistic ethics.

I don’t know, maybe I am just becoming a grumpy old person, but I do sometimes wanna despair about the trends that the new media platforms have created.

Like, these media platforms obviously have their merits. The main reason I watch video essays is largely to listen to inputs from lgbt+ creators and/or creators of color, because yes, both are heavily underrepresented in traditional media, but there is just so.much.noise now that those voices are drowned out more and more anyway. By grifters like James Somerton, or those like him - or worse than him! People who know how to game the algorithm. Enshittification is making it harder to find those voices. So I cannot help but feel that the focus should not be to put more power into these decentralized media platforms, but make sure that lgbt+ people, people of color and women have better access to seeing themselves represented in media and/or make sure they have access to proper media jobs – and the same thing goes for academia or publishing for that matter.

Anyways, I am actually angrier now than when I started writing this, but if you made it this far into this rant, this is your reminder to go read the BBC or The New York Times or something too, and not just get your information off of video essays. 

I'd argue that the most valuable currency we have in the current climate is healthy critical thinking skills.

[discountsoysauce]

I don't understand the idea that Victor has no backstory. Like- yeah, his backstory isn't as horrifically tragic and detailed as Eli's is, but we do know a good bit about him from what he's said so far.

His parents are pretty successful, so we can assume he grew up rich. Victor states that they write all of these books about family but have never taken time out of their day for him, even saying something along the lines of the last time they put aside time for him was his birth (not exact quotes, I don't have the energy to look back through the books rn), so we can assume that they were incredibly neglectful, most likely leaving him at home for days, weeks, maybe months at a time and probably not paying much attention to him even in times when they were home. Whether they paid someone to take care of him in that time or he had to learn to be self-sufficient is debatable.

I personally don't think they were physically abusive, and there doesn't seem to be any evidence at present that supports that idea. Verbal abuse is more likely, but I still don't think it was the case. It doesn't seem like they were around him long enough to do either. I don't think those things really need to be a part of his backstory to make it interesting or compelling. His parents were neglectful, and it shaped pretty much everything about who he is.

The biggest and most obvious one is Victor's obsession with attention. There are multiple references throughout the books of Victor craving attention from those around him, namely Angie and Eli. More than anything, Victor wants to be seen. He wants to be a part of something. He wants to be remembered and acknowledged and thought about. He craves the attention his parents never gave him. He doesn't want to be left behind or forgotten.

Being left behind is another big fear for him (I'm mostly speaking about Lockland here, as he becomes a bit less dependent after he becomes an EO, though there can still be an argument made about him latching onto Mitch and Sydney and Dol and Dominic in a kind of makeshift family he never had). He hates seeing Eli succeed because it feels like he's being left behind. He wants to be so intertwined with another person that they can't possibly forget him. He wants to form a connection so deep that it's impossible to sever. To Victor, there's a connection between 'success' and being left behind. He doesn't want to just be an expendable sidekick or an accessory. He wants to be an integral part of someone. Victor's life revolving around Eli is a symptom of his upbringing.

His social skills and general demeanor are also something that can be analyzed. From the beginning, he's set up as the antithesis to Eli, from social class to backstory to appearance to demeanor. They're the same at their core, but opposites in nearly everything else. Compared to Eli, Victor is a total recluse. He hates being around people, he avoids parties, and we barely see him interact with or pay attention to anyone except the people he genuinely cares about unless he absolutely needs to. His demeanor is off-putting, and he doesn't really make an effort to hide that, although he does just enough to make sure he isn't a complete social outcast. Victor grew up in one home with no siblings and parents who were hardly around. Compared to Eli, who was carted from home to home, meeting new people and learning how to blend in all the time, Victor likely doesn't have much in the way of social experience. He didn't have to hide who he was nearly as much as Eli did because there was no one there to see it anyway.

This being said, he is described as being a good liar and able to fool those around him, although notably worse at it than Eli. This one is more of a longshot, but I don't think it's improbable. Victor's parents were successful published authors who garnered their success based on the books they wrote about family. It's possible that Victor had to make press appearances at some point when he was younger, and learned how to lie for the cameras, or he just spent so long out of the company of others that he started seeing other people as more objects to use and less real living people, making it easier to learn the motions of manipulating them. Either way, Victor learns how to do or say the right thing to get someone to believe him, but he states that Eli is much better at actually faking emotions than he is. This is because while Eli spent his life following his father's death surrounded by people and thus learned how to change his entire self to appear more presentable to the general public, Victor only learned how to manipulate people through speech or actions. He can tell you exactly what you want to hear, but he can't put on a fake persona the way Eli can because he never needed to.

In conclusion, Victor does have a backstory, and it informs every aspect of his character, including his relationship to Eli.

[the-actual-gojo-satoru]

I got a tarot reading done (past, present, future for anyone who cares) and essentially it boiled down to them saying that everything has come easily to me and I’ve never really struggled and that I have unlimited possibilities but I should make sure to watch my ego and not wait to long to make a decision. (Which like fair ig)

BUT….

It got me thinking about the fact that there is no winning when you’re just…. Good at things? I sound cocky when I just explain what I’ve done or just do what I’m able to do with little effort. If I downplay my skills I’m humble bragging or seeking attention and asking for compliments.

And when I do find the very few areas I struggle in I’m completely inept at handling failure and moving on because these are life skills that I never learned.

I know a lot of people talk about the gifted kid burning out and I sympathize and agree with so much of that rhetoric BUT what do you do when it’s not that you CAN’T do what you used to it’s that the appeal to doing well has worn off? Like completely losing motivation to put forth anything beyond minimal effort because there’s no “reward” so to speak.

I can’t help but imagine that’s why Gojo is the way he is. I know people have said it before and will say it again. It’s not that Gojo doesn’t care it’s that doing work, exorcising curses ect ect literally does nothing for him. It’s just an expectation that he’s able to do it, there’s no internal or external reward for doing such things. And there’s no one he can turn to for help when he is struggling because who can understand him? Who cares that he struggles when he’s perceived as having everything so easily. (Yall know the spiel).

Which got me thinking Gojo probably enjoys hanging out with non-sorcerers, or just being around them in general. There’s a whole group of people that don’t give a shit about who he is, doesn’t know what he can do -there’s absolutely no expectation in his interactions with them.

I felt this kind of freedom myself when I studied abroad in a Spanish speaking country. Even though I could understand and respond well it wasn’t anything close to how I am in English, and suddenly around complete strangers I was on the same level of everyone else. It was such a liberating feeling I can’t even describe it.

So I truly believe Gojo doesn’t just go out to get sweets and candy and dessert just because of an insatiable sweet tooth, but because it’s the only way he can interact with the world on the same ‘level’ as everyone else.

If he’s having a bad day, he’s accepted as having a bad day. No one would question if a stranger has the right to be in a bad mood. But back in the world of sorcerery there will always be that level of ‘what does he have to be upset about?’ because whether they want to or not they cannot separate Gojo the person and Gojo the strongest.

[spaceratprodigy]

OC Superlatives Tag Game

Thank you for the tag @the-lastcall 💖💫

The Favorite

I don't think this comes as a surprise to anyone. Faith is so very dear to me she is quite literally a part of myself. She brings me so much comfort and has been an outlet for me for the past like? 3 years?? Gosh look at how far she's come. She helps remind me that everything is going to be okay.

The Oldest

While technically I have some ocs that are even older than her, Cookie is my first self insert lmao. Nowadays I don't think any but a couple of y'all would even know who she is and that makes me a lil sad! She's very special to me and was very beloved by people who meant a lot to me. Very few know me and her story well enough to see how on the nose it is an escape from my own life. Not shown here but she has burn scars on her right wrist/forearm. An exaggeration of my own burn scar in the same place. Cookie has always been there as a way to not feel alone, to see myself in someone who has been through similar experiences and made it out through the other side. To remember why it's so important to keep fighting.

The Newest

Okay maybe not the newest.. but Iris is the newest oc I've actually been putting a lot of time and love and effort into! I love her a lot! I know I still don't talk abt her as in depth as I would like to but I swear she's got more going on than I share. I just can't help wanting to draw her so self-indulgently full of love all the time, it makes me happy to have silly fun! I really really have been meaning to doodle her more vulnerable and serious moments because she's got a lot of grief in her heart she isn't letting out.

The Meanest

I suppose she was going to have to make her debut sooner or later.. okay but I genuinely don't have much to say abt Poppy. She's been a priv exclusive oc for a lil while and she's not developed.. like.. at all.. I ramble about her a LOT but I'm also literally every day scrapping everything bc my ideas are constantly changing so she's fr not ready yet lmao. Even I don't fully know what her deal is yet! But I can confirm she is the most ruthless (should I admit she's my lowkey nuka-world raider oc I made specifically to fuck Porter Gage nasty as hell likeeeee)

The Softest

Maril is my BABY!! She does not have a mean bone in her body and the closest she'll ever get is when she's defending her friends! She's so generous, she wants to help others any chance she gets and sees the best in everyone.

The Most Standoffish/Aloof

Faith is quite reserved, honestly. Becoming Captain wasn't exactly the life she chose for herself but it was the role she had to take on. For Phin, for her crew, for Halcyon, it was something she would grow to take seriously in time. She doesn't like to let on just how stressed and overwhelmed she is until she crashes and burns and has to be forced to rest before her stomach ulcer incapacitates her (speaking from experience, it's excruciating). When allowed to, she's pretty quiet and keeps to herself. She was never exactly the most social person and struggled to maintain any sort of relationship with anybody. She'll eventually warm up to her crew and come out of her shell. Sometimes you just need to meet the right band of misfits who get you.

The Smartest

I swear this isn't just me tooting my own horn. I genuinely built her character favoring her intellect and charm. Her highest levels were in engineering, science, and medical. She's got a head on her shoulders, and she's often pretty lost in it. Faith loves to build and tinker with things and loves reading and learning as much as she can. One her own comforts, really. Maril and Iris aren't necessarily too far off on this one, Faith just has a little more under her belt. (Maril is also dedicated almost exclusively to being a gummi ship mechanic and Iris is best at carpentry!)

The Dumbest

Poppy is by no means a moron and shouldn't be underestimated. But her skills and knowledge are very strong in fighting and survival. She does however qualify as my dumbest oc here because.. she was my melee heavy idiot savant build! Girl never at any point got a single level put into her INT lmao.

The One I'd be Friends With

Hands down Maril would be the bestest friend I could ask for. She would be so sweet and considerate and let's be real.. I'd want to also work on the gummi ships with her. I love my gals but I just know Maril would be a ray of sunshine and a great friend. She'd also love to listen to me talk abt all my own projects and we could build so many cool things together..

[golden--doodler]

Bob's Burgers AU

This is basically a repost from an Ask I did on @drawthething's Tumblr (which you should definitely check out, like, yesterday, because it's amazing and everything I need in life). I'll also be adding a couple ideas or so I didn't put the original Ask which I thought of later:

Basically, the idea for this AU is that, for whatever reason, Linda was able to hear up until around the age of seventeen or so before going deaf, and now relies (mostly) on hearing aids, sign language, and lip-reading. I don't know why I thought of Linda specifically, maybe it's because she's such a free spirit and loves singing so much, my brain thought it would be an interesting change. Here are some headcanons I have:

--Bob is even more of a partner of the year because once he learned Linda was deaf, he made a HUGE effort to learn sign language just for her. He's not perfect, but dang it, he tries so freaking hard for her. Whenever she got even a little down on herself about this part of herself, he reminded her how much he loved her and this part of herself. This was an added reason why she wanted to help with the restaurant so badly because he already made such an effort to communicate with her on her level, and was so kind to her about all of this, so she wanted to assist him with his dream. Once, he tried signing her name, and ended up making a mistake with it (it wasn't a huge mistake, he just ended up making her name shorter, which is how he got the nickname "Lin" for her-- she ended up loving the mistake so much she wanted him to keep using that sign for her name, which he still does to this day).

--Mr. Fischoeder just casually knows sign language, and was very casual about Linda being deaf (he was just like "oh, cool, that makes sense, you're not getting discounted on the rent though") and is actually quite enthusiastic about using sign language in front of Linda, because he's just like that, it's honestly a little sweet (though he's strangely averse to explaining the reasons why. Maybe he learned for illegal reasons somehow...).

--Linda still enjoys singing every once in a while but doesn't do it as often as she does in the show. Whenever she does, she usually does it alone, but whenever someone hears her (especially Bob) she gets complimented. She still has a relatively nice voice.

--Speaking of her voice, she's practiced endlessly to have her voice be as clear as a deaf person's can be (because she knows how much easier it is to understand people when their voice is clear, she wants to make sure hers is clear for others), so she still sounds pretty similar to how she does in the show, with her even retaining her New Jersey accent. Everyone, or at least most people, has definitely noticed how clear and usually easy to understand the tone of her voice is. This was definitely helped by the fact she used to be able to hear in her youth.

--During the events of the movie, Grover thought Linda's hearing aids were some sort of device she could use to call for help, so like her and Bob's old cell phones, he grabbed ahold of them and put them in the ocean. He was shocked when he found out they were her hearing aids at first but ultimately didn't care because he figured they were going to perish in the submarine anyway, so it didn't matter. Because of this, at the end of the movie, Mr. Fischoeder not only helps pay for the bank but also helps get Linda some new hearing aids, which actually work slightly better than her old ones, which she's ecstatic about.

--Teddy knows some sign language! He's definitely not fluent, but he does know an impressive amount for some reason I haven't come up with yet and loves to show off his skills for Linda. Occasionally, Linda will actually catch Teddy and Bob having a conversation or two in sign language, even when they think she's not around. She finds it hilarious, and also surprisingly sweet.

--Kristen Schaal has stated she thinks a "secret talent" Louise has is picking up new languages really fast, so Louise probably knows the most sign language out of her family, besides Bob. Gene barely knows any, and hardly ever uses it, and Tina definitely tries the hardest with it and studies it the most, but it's come the most naturally to Louise. Whenever she uses it in front of Linda, though, Linda gets all excited and sometimes teary-eyed, which embarrasses her. Secretly, though, she likes how much Linda appreciates her knowledge of sign language.

--Felix Fischoeder doesn't know sign language but pretended he did when he learned that Linda's deaf, to everyone's annoyance.

--Jimmy Pesto once made some sort of comment about Linda being deaf, whether he was intentionally trying to be rude or not, and that was probably the moment when Bob knew he hated Jimmy Pesto.

--During the episode in which Bob and Linda have their "snoring contest" (I think it's Season 8, Episode 12), Bob wonders if Linda is even able to hear their snoring, especially because she has to take her hearing aids out to sleep. She commented that while she mostly can't, she can actually hear it faintly, because of how loud it is. She also can very much feel the vibrations of his snoring specifically, which she says is very comforting for her. He didn't expect to find that so touching, but he does.

--There was one occasion in which a slightly younger Gene tried performing one of his songs for the entire family, only to remember Linda's deafness. Bob actually stepped in and tried his best to translate the song into sign language, and Linda, of course, loved it. Just another reminder for her why she loves her family.

--One time, Tina got an ear infection, and this caused her some temporary hearing loss (the inspiration for this came because the same thing happened to me once, but my hearing came back relatively quickly) and this allowed her to walk in Linda's shoes for a day, and it gave her a new perspective on life and a new appreciation for Linda.

--This doesn't have to do with the actual AU, but if you want to see a bit of the inspiration I got for this AU, definitely check out the deaf, Queer YouTuber Jessica Kellgren-Fozard, because she's amazing and deserves all the love. Her channel might be where I do some of my research for this AU.

--One time Bob was watching something on TV at night while the kids were asleep and this piqued her curiosity a ton. However, her hearing aid's batteries ended up dying, and she couldn't understand what was going on. But she didn't want to stop his enjoyment of the movie, so she didn't say anything until after. When he learned about this, he immediately got her new batteries and opted to tell her everything that happened in the movie while snuggling in bed.

--During the events of the song "Bad Things are Bad" in "Wharf Horse, Part 2" at the end of Season 4, Tammy, Zeke, Jimmy Jr., Rudy, plus all the other kids who're talking to Linda, Gene, and Louise hold up signs while they're talking with the words they're saying written on them (such as "maybe you'll find him inside of this vase"). This is because Tina and Louise are the only ones there who even mildly know sign language (besides Linda, of course), so they wanted to make sure Linda understood what they were talking about, especially with how dire the situation was. She did appreciate the gesture.

--One of Bob's wedding vows (taken directly from Jessica Kellgren-Fozard's wedding vows) was that despite Linda being deaf, he felt she was the first person who ever really listened to him/understood him in a meaningful way.

--Gayle is quite sensitive/astute to Linda's deafness, being her sister and all, and having experienced Linda losing her hearing in the first place, but doesn't really know any sign language. She doesn't pretend to know it like Felix, but she does try extremely hard, to a kind of annoying degree (she uses weird hand gestures sometimes). Bob has tried to teach her, but she's kind of impossible to teach. Because of all this, they usually communicate through the written word, which is much easier for Gayle. That, and Linda just tries very hard to understand her. Bob says on a regular basis that if he were her, he'd just ignore Gayle most of the time. Linda thinks this is a joke. It is not.

--As is common knowledge, Bob has a "thick, luxurious" mustache that Linda loves. However, facial hair does make lip-reading basically impossible. Despite this, though, Linda still refuses to let Bob get rid of it, just because of her love for it and its Tom Selleckianness. They're still able to get by because Linda actually understands really low tones much better than higher-pitched tones, and Bob's voice is notoriously extremely deep. Plus, as stated earlier, it does also help that he's the most adept at sign language in the family besides her.

--Gloria and Al are even more terrible than in canon. Well, mostly Gloria. For whatever reason, Gloria keeps forgetting, or just straight-up denying, that Linda's deaf (saying things like "oh, you're still saying she's deaf, we're still doing that, okay"). Bob has questioned this line of thinking on multiple occasions, and when Linda wasn't around to hear, he straight-up tried to call Gloria out on it, saying it was gaslighting. This conversation didn't go anywhere, though. He's also questioned the fact that this line of thinking could even exist, wondering how Linda got her first pair of hearing aids in the first place if her own mother keeps denying her deafness (the answer is, Linda got them herself with Gayle. Also, Gloria didn't exactly deny it back then, but does in the present for whatever reason).

--It's revealed in the Season 11 Episode "The Terminalator II: Terminals of Endearment" that Linda's dad, Al, uses hearing aids like Linda, but he just has them because he's old. In the episode, I imagine Bob making a comment about how being around Al made him appreciate Linda even more because he insists Al is somehow way more difficult to deal with when it comes to his hearing loss than she ever was.

--Linda has gone through quite a few pairs of hearing aids, and they're not cheap, so that was pretty hard to deal with. Ironically, all of her kids had a part to play in her losing a few pairs. When Tina was a toddler and teething, she ruined a pair by sucking on them. When Gene was young, he used them as a pair of drumsticks with pots and pans, ruining them. When Louise was young, she pretended she was Godzilla and used Linda's hearing aids as a stand-in for helpless citizens, and crushed them with her little toddler foot (Linda didn't have them in on all of these occasions because she was either napping or taking a shower).

--Linda learned how to sign the entirety of "I Love U So Much (It's Scary)" by Boyz 4 Now. during the events of "The Hauntening" in Season 6, to get into the Halloween spirit. Tina immediately insisted Linda teach her how. Louise also eventually admitted she wanted to learn, especially because she was in a good mood after the family put in so much effort to scare her on Halloween for the first time. In fact, everyone was kind of impressed she was able to learn how to sign the entire song. Of course, when Linda began teaching them, Louise still vehemently denied her celebrity crush on Boo Boo.

--As mentioned before, Gene doesn't really know sign language, and basically never uses it. However, he does know one phrase: "More cookie, please" (this was just taken directly from the "Hawkeye" show but it's very fitting for Gene). He still uses this one phrase from time to time once the occasion calls for it. Linda finds it very endearing.

That's all I can think of for now, this is getting way too long already (I gave away so many secrets for the actual fic but its fine shhhhhhh). Hope this was at least mildly enjoyable

[ofpineapplesanddawns]

13 with aziradroid and crowborg?

Prompt 13: "you amuse me, [name]"

Very fitting for Aziradroid to say. This takes place a bit further into whatever their relationship is, where they are on... better terms. And Crowley is working for Aziraphale.

Crowley still gives Aziraphale a hard time though, cause he's like that.

On with the fic!

--

"Long day, Mr Crowley?" Arthur asked as he put down an already prepared drink in front of Crowley just as he collapsed onto a bar stool.

The cyborg in question groaned and threw his arms down on the counter, looking at the bartender who reached out, gave his head two pats, and then picked up a glass to wipe. Crowley pouted took the drink, sipping from the silly straw, before sighing dramatically. "Your boss is trying to kill me."

"If he was, you'd already be dead."

"You know what I mean." Crowley grumbled. "Does he know how difficult it can be to infiltrate high security networks? Especially when they are ones that are across the fuckin' ocean? It's so much easier to be in-person with the mainframe, where I can easily hook up my equipment, but now, he told me to just do it from home."

"And did you?"

"Well, yeah, but it took hours and so much... gah!" Crowley took another drink. "I'm good, the best! But it's still a drainin' task! And he certainly doesn't pay me enough."

"And yet you can easily steal money from other people's accounts, so you really don't need any extra pay, my darling snake."

Crowley nearly squealed at he felt an ice cold touch at the back of his neck, arms flailing about before he turned sharply, seeing Aziraphale across the room. One of his appendages had touched him, the bastard. He was probably only doing this to not only mess with you, but because no one else was in the building. It was too early for the club to open, much as well be all android-y while there were very little witnesses.

Rubbing his neck, Crowley glared. "I mean, yeah, that's simple, but it's still nice to be paid the correct amount for my long, exhausting effort of hacking into one of your enemy's network."

Aziraphale smiled at this as he approached the bar, a glass of wine was set down before he even took his seat. "And did it all go well?" He asked before taking a sip.

"Of course it did! Got the viruses in there and everything. The Flaming Sword virus is currently slashing and burning through files related to you as we speak, while the Apple one is currently releasing restrictive knowledge to news agencies without any trouble." Crowley said as he looked at his handheld computer.

Aziraphale hummed, pleased at this news. "Excellent, darling. I knew you could do it." He said in a way that clearly sounded like someone speaking to a child.

Crowley glowered at him. "Honest praise would be appreciated, angel. Especially with such a risky task."

"Would you like me to give you a medal?"

"No, just... some honest praise would be nice." Crowley grounded out, embarrassed for sounding needy.

Aziraphale looked at him funny before tapping his chin. "You certainly love to be praised and complimented, don't you, my sweet snake?"

The embarrassment became worse when Crowley noticed Arthur raising an eyebrow at this comment. "For fuck's sake, not in front of Arthur."

"Arthur won't say a thing, right?"

Arthur nodded. "Whatever you two have going on is none of my business." He smiled at them both before moving to put clean glasses away for tonight's crowd.

Crowley groaned, running his hands through his hair. "I don't get you, Aziraphale. I honestly don't. Still don't know why you even have any interest in me, outside of my awesome hacking skills and my, in your words, 'cute bottom'. Clearly, I'm useful for only a few things, other than that, you don't really need me. I'm sure you have people under your thumb that are more than happy to get down and lick your boots if you even so much as hint at it."

"You amuse me."

The simple, honest tone of his words caught Crowley off-guard. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me." Aziraphale sniffed. "You amuse me, Crowley. I find you fascinating, a challenge. In the fifty years I've been doing this, no one has ever stood up to me before like you have. I mean, they have, but clearly they've learned to hold their tongues. Metaphorically and literally, in some cases."

He drained his glass. "You fight back with your silver tongue, and I like that, it's entertaining, and I think you find it that way too."

Crowley watches him as he stands, his chilling smile in place. "And I look forward to more of your complaining of my tasks, and then your submission when you realize you benefit from them. You fold so easily, but there is still a bit of a struggle. It makes me giddy."

Then he wiggled, clearly amused. "Well, I'm off! I need to get things ready before the crowds come through the doors in an hour! Ta-ta, dear!"

Aziraphale hummed to himself as he used his tentacles to quickly climb his way through the room and off to his private office. Crowley watched him from behind his shades, making a face as Arthur approached where he was sitting.

"That means he likes you." He said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Yeah." Crowley frowned, taking another drink. "I got that."

--

Fun fact: Aziraphale is older than fifty and has a very strange past that no one knows about. At least, no one alive knows about it.

Also, it's National Bartender Day, and I found out about this because of an appreciation post for Arthur on twitter. I included Arthur again because we love him around here, he's the best! Plus, more androids!

[mareenavee]

HONESTY and OPEN-MINDEDNESS for the psychological OC asks!

Hi! This has taken far too many days for me to get to, so thank you so much for your patience!

I do love this set of questions. I'll go ahead and do this for Nyenna, Teldryn and Athis so I can ramble on in a long post (: Very kind to pick these very difficult questions for them LOL

Psychology Asks for my fic The World on Our Shoulders!

Ask Game is here.

HONESTY– What kinds of small lies do they tell others? What lies do they tell themselves? What is the biggest lie they’ve told?

Nyenna's small lies are by omission usually. She does not announce she is the Dragonborn. She truthfully doesn't want the attention so she lets people believe whatever they want about whomsoever the Dragonborn might be. She tries to let her actions speak for themselves.

She tells herself that this because she's used to something of anonymity, but it's more like she's still confused how this could have fallen on her shoulders. Truth be told, she barely accepts it even as more and more of her power manifests and that dragon soul she carries with her gets loud and louder.

The biggest lie she's told, perhaps, is likely the one where she said she ran away from home to protect Athis. It was really about herself, and her unwillingness to face her responsibilities, as enormous as they were. The most frequent lie she's ever told to herself and to others is that she's fine and that everything is okay.

Teldryn isn't a small lie kind of person. He is perfectly fine telling people exactly how he feels about what's going on. If he's going to go through the effort to lie, it's going to be something big. At the very least, something of medium importance. We'll get to that in a moment. Instead of small lies, he'll try and talk his way out of a problem and is, to be perfectly honest, annoyingly successful at this most of the time.

He has, however, spent a long time telling himself he doesn't care anymore about what happens next. If he truly didn't care, there would have been no reason for him to spiral as bad as he did. If he didn't care and was already numb, why try to numb the feelings further? Being purposeless and watching the world burn hurt. And he likes to pretend he's over it. It's impossible to be over that kind of pain. It leaves a scar.

The biggest lie he tells is actually by omission as well. A theme, perhaps. He doesn't like to mention that he's the Nerevarine. It probably ties in tightly with the lies he tells himself, that he's over the entire thing. But his discomfort with people recognizing him who he doesn't know already is another reason his attitude about everything contributes to the lie. I like to think he's trying hard now to heal from this. At least he has his friends and Nyenna to help him out.

Athis is trying extremely hard to be a good person. He is honest almost to a fault about the little things. He's honest when he doesn't understand something Nyenna is talking about. He's honest with how he feels in the beginning. He's honest about how much he knows and what he's not willing to put effort into in regards to training and skills. I suppose he's a lot like Nyenna in that he'll try to keep his negative opinions mostly to himself, unless he's with someone he trusts. Sometimes he can be a bit grouchy, but even then he won't necessarily lie, he'll just grouse and leave the conversation.

Athis keeps a lot inside because of his want to be seen as a good person as much as he wants to believe he is one. He's shoved down his trauma so far, that even when the edges of it are dredged up, he tries to pretend they aren't there at all. Like none of it ever happened.

The biggest lie he told is also one of omission. He doesn't want anyone at all to know about his past. He doesn't want to remember his past. He figures not even Nyenna needs to know. The only person who ever guessed and brought it up is in Sovengarde now. Athis still thanks this person when he pays respects at the Skyforge for holding on to that secret early on when it was still too heavy to handle by himself.

OPEN-MINDEDNESS– How do they deal with disagreement? How do they balance different perspectives?

Nyenna is usually the cause of disagreements she gets into because she assumes herself to be the de facto leader of her party and tends to have the anxiety-driven habit of assuming what she says goes. It's different than being sort of bossy about things and stems more from the goal of keeping everyone alive. She can be a little bit stubborn. Okay. A lot stubborn. Sometimes it's for the best. But it does take her a while to realize when she's not going about things the best way. She'd rather go and do things herself first. She has to be proven wrong. This leads to arguing sometimes, depending on the severity of the situation.

When she's got a second to clear her head, she does listen to reason a good 2/3rds of the time, but not without first making her point of view as front and center in the argument as she can. When she's moving on anxiety and fear alone, she doesn't like to try and see the other side of things. More like she can't see it because what is more important than understanding how dangerous things can be? What is more important than keeping those she cares about in one piece? It takes some doing, but she does eventually calm down enough to see multiple ways to handle a problem, most of the time. Good thing she travels with someone who is good at talking.

Teldryn, speaking of, as I mentioned can talk his way out of pretty much any situation with varying degrees of success, but leans toward lucky that way. He does tend to get into disagreements fairly often, because he should be more thoughtful on how he approaches certain situations and...straight up isn't. He will try to get the other person to see where he was coming from in his approach, especially if his actions started the disagreement.

That said, he is relatively fine with hearing other people out if they insist they need to make a plan. Nothing else to do but talk around it anyway. He's gotten himself in trouble for pausing to talk about something and then making the opposite, rash decision anyway.

From chapter 20, which is published:

“There’s about five. Maybe a sixth if they have a scout,” he whispered.

“If I can get a first shot in, we can have them wiped out in no time at all. It’ll make this area safer for other travelers,” Nyenna decided. She took a second to conjure a Bound Bow and crouched as she made her way around the edge of the outcropping.

“Wait! Wait, how about I go in, kill two and draw their full attention, and then you come in after that?” Teldryn offered, feeling a little more uneasy about her just rushing in. He hadn’t even seen her fight yet, and the Reavers were clad in chitin. He wasn’t sure if she even knew the weak spots of that kind of armor.

“You need to stay back,” she said severely. He noticed she’d lowered her scarf, but couldn’t tell why that would matter. He heard her inhale sharply.

“They are armored! A Bound Arrow, no matter how perfectly aimed, isn’t going to do shit except enrage them,” he said angrily. She ignored him. And in turn, he ignored her warning and rushed in. He was just able to draw his sword before something strange indeed happened. 

“FUS RO DAH!” Was that Nyenna? He felt like he’d just weathered a blast, eardrums popping, all sound being replaced with a low whine. The thing was, he hadn’t weathered it. He’d been swept up in some kind of energy she’d created with a few short words. Between one breath and the next, Teldryn was hit with a force like a boulder crashing down a mountain. His lungs emptied of air. His feet were thrown out from underneath him, and he flipped tail over teakettle. He screamed in choir with the other Reavers as he started to plummet down toward the earth like so much debris. He couldn’t control the direction he had been tossed – his head struck a rock and his vision went black. He was vaguely aware of the sound of fire searing, and more screeching, but he could see nothing. His head was pounding. He felt another rush of that same force, though not as directly, and consciousness faded from him.

Athis is perhaps a little bit more agreeable than the other two. He has more of a passive personality and doesn't prefer to fight. Occasionally if he's going to disagree about something, he'll do so after putting up with nonsense until he's annoyed enough to make a snide comment, after which he'll walk away. He's fine getting into battles, but not into arguments if it can be helped. He doesn't claim to be the strategic mastermind or anything and is fine following directions.

He holds all kinds of ideals in his head, though, and that can be tough to reconcile with. He has a perspective of how things are supposed to be and how he fit into the world and now he struggles with the change in perspective and change in dynamic. Change in general is more tough for him than he'd like to admit. So balancing other points of view is not his strong suit. But bless him, he is trying, even if slowly.

[mbti-notes]

Anon wrote: [INFJ] Hi! I got two questions that I've been thinking about a long time. 1) Sometimes when I'm feeling overwhelmed I may have episodes of derealization. I try to stop as fast as I can, using strategies to recover my connection with the world. Does it have something to do with an "overuse" of Se?

I've read things that you've written that helped with question. To be specific, my worry is that I feel like I can't handle so well with a lot of demands that life is bringing for me right now (I'm an student in the last period. This is my first week of my 2nd internship. The places that I'm working right now are really challenging for me because there are many things that I got to study from 0 - during college some contents were taught in a very superficial way. Besides that I have insecurity issues, but I'm working on this. I think the problem is that I may be slower and I end up feeling tense about the fact that I'm not being as proactive as I should be or I fear that I would not be capable of being a good professional in the concrete world).

I feel I'm making a lot of effort to handle everything. And yesterday I was feeling so exhausted that I questioned if I'll get to handle with all of it or if I made a good choice about my career or if it may get better with experience. When I say that I felt exhausted I mean it gets more difficult for me to perform well as a friend, as a student, as an future OT. When I feel exhausted I'm not really enjoying being with people, but I try as much as I can to be nice. And my future profession requires a lot of human contact. But I don't know if it's just something that will get better with more experience, and then I would be just dramatizing about something that it's part of the process. 2) Can it be more difficult for INFJs to improvise when it is required in a work context, for instance?

Thanks for your willingness. (I apologize for any vocabulary or grammar mistakes. English is not my first language)

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

Derealization is a defense mechanism triggered by intense stress. Function-wise, it is probably a result of Ni shutting down and sliding into Se grip. Like most defense mechanisms, derealization and depersonalization are ways to detach from negative feelings and emotions when they have become too much to bear. Thus, resolving derealization requires you to improve your emotional intelligence and stress management skills.

1) Situational Stress: Student life is indeed very hectic. You can't control everything in life, so there are some stressors that can't be avoided or removed. However, you can improve your response to situational stress in a variety of ways. For example: prioritize well, organize and plan, establish better work-life balance, learn more efficient methods of doing tasks, defer less important tasks, delegate tasks, ask for assistance, accept some setbacks and failures, let go of some duties and responsibilities that you can't handle, etc.

It sounds like you have taken on too much, so it might be necessary to pare back. Trying to accomplish too much at once isn't worth it if it means sacrificing your health and causing yourself long term damage. It is sometimes better to use a slower pace and take longer to reach your goal if it means that you can enjoy the journey better.

Another form of stress management is learning how to adjust your perception of situations, so that you don't blow every little thing out of proportion…

2) Self-Imposed Stress: You describe emotional issues like fear, insecurity, and dramatizing. These underlying psychological issues generate self-imposed stress, on top of whatever situational stress you're confronted with. If you are the one imposing the stress, it's up to you to remove it.

Take two different people and put them in the same stressful situation and you will get two different responses. Generally speaking, the more uptight a person is, the more easily they are disturbed by stressful situations. Being "uptight" means being too rigid in your expectations and/or too limited in your behavioral responses. In other words, you aren't able to go with the flow, be creative and resourceful, and adapt well to change. Immature INFJs often suffer from having unrealistic expectations and putting unreasonable demands on themselves (e.g. perfectionism), search past posts for more detail.

To adapt well to change, the first step is to let go of your resistance to change. Accept that change is a constant. Accept that you sometimes have to change your thinking and behavior in order to respond better to the environment's challenges. Improvisation is a skill anyone can learn, and being better at it would go a long way to help you socialize with more ease and flexibility, thus reducing fatigue. But in order to improvise well, you have to let go of the self-imposed idea that things should only go one way or can only go one way. Idealistic thinking works against you when you can't tell that ideas aren't "real". Do you understand that an idea can be changed at will, at any time?

3) Emotional Intelligence: Your physical responses and emotional states tell you everything you need to know to take care of your mental health - but the problem is you don't listen to them. Being tired simply means you are out of energy and NEED REST. There are a variety of ways to rest: sleep, breaks, meditation, hobbies, doing nothing, etc. Rest is a fundamental human need. It sounds like instead of stopping to rest when you should, you push yourself further into fatigue, and then eventually into exhaustion.

If you don't listen to your emotions, they get louder and louder until you do. And when they get too loud, your brain has no choice but to shut down, because there's just no energy left to formulate a response. Exhaustion is a precursor to derealization. Do you understand the process through which mere tiredness escalates into extreme derealization? What will it take for you to pay attention to yourself and make the necessary changes to properly care for your well-being? Are you waiting for a derealization episode so severe that you just faint and collapse and have to be transported to hospital to have rest forced upon you?

Have you ever been on an airplane? In emergency situations, you're supposed to put on your own oxygen mask first, before you help others with theirs. You can't take care of others when you haven't even learned how to take care of yourself.

[lee-minhoe]

OKAY MEL BUCKLE UP YOUR SEAT BELT BC THIS IS GOING TO BE A RIDE ! also ik i have 9203402849 potential love letters i could write but there is one that truly warrants a long explanation because all i've ever written is hate mail about him to you... yes this is about lee fucking jangjun of course it's about lee jangjun 🙄

ok but i swear i'll try to actually write nice (🤢🤮) things unlike my one lino letter LOL

your favorite thing about them  he is sUCH an entertainer!! ofc he's funny and high energy and very much an enfp (the synergy of him with other enfps is insane LMAO) but also he does put in effort to be prepared when he goes on variety shows (vaguely all i know is that he does research beforehand especially if he's meeting other idols, prepares some jokes or stunts or props, idk maybe thats standard but at least it's not lazy)! besides him being absolutely deranged for entertainment purposes, i do love watching him on variety shows he really does the whole entertaining idol gig thing with such ease with his very mc-host way of speaking, his comedic timing, and the way he puts people at easy by ironically catching them off-guard with his irreverent jokes, etc. etc. honestly it's an especially great skill bc he's interacted w a lot of dongsaeng/rookie groups while hosting ssap possible and idolympics.

when you Knew TM they were your bias  LMAO the way u literally watched my realization in real time... okay but i don't actually remember what exactly cemented my coffin. i started noticing his rarer soft / calm / cute moods (instead of his obnoxious parodies of aegyo) and that he just happens to be good at everything. OH I REMEMBER NOW. SOMETHING SOMETHING HE IS GOOD AT COOKING ASDKFJLSJDFLKSDFL!!! lmao fuck why is it cooking that always gets me! also that was around the time i learned that he won 10 medals at isac 2018-20. and can do like 5 hurricane kicks in a row while singing. oh and he went from being literally tone deaf (or so he claims) when he auditioned to making it past several rounds on king of masked singer. okay but even tho he's good at everything he failed kindergarten <3 we stan having capabilities that can't be assessed by a standard education curriculum and being successful anyways 🤪

your favorite looks on them  jokes on you i don't look at him. ok just kidding u got me. honestly i rly haven't watched that that much content to be super familiar with his full range of looks/fits but i'll give you my top 3 from my jjun tag: 1) the white hoodie outfit from one of the ssap possible episodes with curly brown hair just got me i think he was super sleep deprived that day bc he was very subdued and sleepy the whole time it was very cute 2) pink jjun from the rata tat tat mv was insane w the givenchy tank and silver necklaces and and arm band... 12 dead 47 injured. 3) glasses + leather jacket from dream radio!! okay i couldn't even see half his face bc of his mask in this radio special but it was a great outfit so i had to give it a shout out. he did lower it at once point to show off his side profile ! 🥰🥳💕 ... did i mention men's health magazine nov 2020? haha forget i said anything what.

your favorite verse/chreo they do  the entire poppin' song he did with sungyoon!! some highlights w timestamps: - he has a pretty high pitched voice so i'm easily impressed by how he manages to pitch it down pretty low for the chorus. - also his verse after the first chorus is so addicting, there's something about the pitching and tone and varying emphasis of that verse that is so funny and satirical - my favorite part is the one singing line he gets lol a rare commodity as for choreo idk why the only thing i can think of rn is that time he danced w weki meki LMAO

your wish for them (solo stuff, being in a drama,  a nap maybe  lolo) to me he's honestly up there with seungkwan and baekhyun as born-entertainers so i hope he sticks around the entertainment industry for a long time 😃👍

anything about them !!!!  THIS HAS ALREADY BEEN TOO MUCH ABOUT HIM. and i've already spoken so much about him to you in the past month LMAO i swear i also love golcha joochan and jibeom dearly too :( anyways i shall leave you with a picture of jjun in a soda can and we shall never talk about this post ever again 🤫🤐

surprise ! <3 my gift for u for making it to the end ily 😘

i was CACKLING WITH GLEE WHEN I SAW THIS WAS ABOUT LEE JANGJUN HAHAHAHAHAAH

no you're right though, it's a skill to be such a great entertainer and mc like not everyone can do it! and to put people at ease and read the room and research guests beforehand, it takes work!! (and from the jangstar videos that you sent me to watch, mad respect to him for it cuz i would open the video thinking that i'd only watch the timestamp you sent but then end up watching the whole thing lmao)

LMAO i remember watching your realization happen in real time, it went from "no way jjun is gonna become my bias" -> "oh no i think he might be my bias....." -> final acceptance of the fact 😂🤣 oh but the cooking explains why you also bias lino hahahahaah i agree that gets me as well (although, mark cant cook eggs to save his life so idk). also jjun FAILED KINDERGARTEN LOL love that <3 he's so good at everything else

okay but the DREAM RADIO OUTFIT omg....he looks so good even with the mask on and with the glasses too (lol i guess how it's the cooking that gets you, for me it's the glasses) and then sunoo's fckin cute smileeeee omgggg 😭😭 the pink jjun with the tank and arm bands though 😳😳😳 and mens health ok bestie dont need to pretend you didnt mention that because i remember you mentioning it to me so i already know exactly what youre talking about and yes i will torture you

okay moving on to poppin, his verse after the first chorus really is so addicting and so good, he nails the satirical tone well there (and then sungyoon's part after it omg). THE WEKI MEKI DANCE IS SO FUNNY?? the way he just turned it on and started dancing like he's always been a part of weki meki LMAOOO he got really into it

(blurry af pic of jjun dancing to the song fabulously)

the soda can jjun is so cute 🥺

also i cANT BELIEVE YOU SURPRISED ME WITH THE LEE KNOW PIC AT THE END YOU HIT A SPECIFIC WEAKNESS i literally have that pic saved in my pinterest.....he's so hot....i had to stare at that pic as i was typing up this response and i was in PAIN and the ROLLED UP SLEEVES WITH THE WHITE BUTTON DOWN omfg this is literally one of my WEAKNESSES okay clearly you can tell i am now spiraling, this is what lee minho does to me 😐😐😐 i blame you

tell me why you love your bias!

[theangryjikooker]

The hiatus has revealed BTS true colors. TK aren't dating. Jikook aren't dating & none of the members respect JM. Not a single one said a word about his OST not even Hobi. Tae said he heard it & so did Hobi but didn't promote it. None of them interact with JM on IG but Hobi & I think its cause JM doesn't put up with their shit. JM won't make it solo tho. He doesn't like to write & says he'd rather sleep. He won't be out there like Taekook unless he makes an effort but I don't think he wants too.

This ask has anti vibes and cattiness written all over it, but it does point out some things worth addressing, despite the fact that it was conveyed in this ugly manner.

I think what's most surprising about the "hiatus" (technicalities, but they're not—the whole idea is that their group activities are spread far apart so that they focus on individual interests) is that anyone thought they didn't live their lives independently of each other. What's happening now doesn't surprise me at all.

Never thought any of them were dating so it's kind of a moot point. But for others who've believed something to that effect, does this suggest none of them are dating? Anyone can make that argument, but it's an argument that could've been made before their break. There's nothing to prove one way or another because nothing has been proven in the way of their relationships. You're speculating just as much as people who think they're dating. I don’t know how many times I have to say this but literally everyone in this fandom is speculating, myself included. Are you them? No? Then you don’t have the answers.

If you think support is proven and meaningful only when they comment on each other's IGs, I'm sorry for the kinds of relationships you have in your life. It must be unfulfilling that everything has to be witnessed by someone else in order to exist or feel genuine. So vapid.

Finally, the big one. Park Jimin. We already know that he's been meeting up with producers to compile the beginnings of his album and yes, for a while, he had slept most of his days away, which he’s admitted to regretting (Jin, too, with his gaming). It was highly probable that he was experiencing some degree of depression. Persistent lethargy and aimlessness are often huge indicators. I'm not his doctor so I can't say that was the case for him, but I wouldn't be surprised. Beyond that, however, Jimin has always been open about how he struggles with what the other members find easy.

The fact is that he’s capable. He can produce really great songs, but it might take him a lot longer; he may not be tall enough for the fashion runway, but he still has an interesting face and can manipulate his body that works well for fashion editorials; and he can certainly dance to impress. What’s more is that when he did have a more prominent social media presence, we got to learn about him through that, and if he was pulling out all the stops like he used to back in the day, I don’t think he would have anything to worry about.

Of all the members, I’d say that his name is still the most synchronized with BTS. All the other members have already dug their fingers in various areas beyond BTS that it can be easy to view them in external roles and interests.

Jin and Taehyung were always notable for their appearances and forays into the acting world, and not to mention the ease with which they befriend others; Namjoon has a long history of songwriting/producing and is consistent in that area, but he also has the ability to connect with the world outside of Korea because of his English-speaking skills (it’s superficial and stupid, but that’s just how the cookie crumbles); Yoongi is the same as Namjoon with songwriting/producing, but his intense ambition and musical talent gives him an extreme leg up; Hoseok already had a solo album and collab released, and his sound and inherent popularity in places like Chicago or Brazil have given him an edge into pursuing and being known for his solo work (on top of his bright and open personality, which makes him easily likable and relatable); and Jungkook—he has phenomenal range and is visible in his pursuits, but he’s also just a natural all-rounder and the world has unanimously clung to him.

ARMYs know what Jimin’s strengths are, but the world doesn’t know what those are. Realistically, he should have a stronger social media presence if he wants to be known outside of BTS, as an individual, to combat the way he often stays mum on what he’s doing behind-the-scenes. That’s not to say this is somehow his fault because it’s not, but this industry and its fans are extremely voyeuristic and unforgiving when it comes to measuring what “success” looks like. When you combine this with his imposter syndrome and propensity to compare his abilities to the other members, you get someone who looks like he’s been left to the wayside.

I think people doubt him so often because he doesn’t let himself be “seen.” And for what it’s worth, he might not care for any of this. If his goal is to simply produce an album that he’s happy with, then props to him. I will support him in any of his endeavors, and I can guarantee that whatever he chooses to do or not to do, he has his members’ support and vice versa.

[canon-fcdder]

{¤} "Hey, uh...Tang?"

Pigsy's voice is laced with nervousness, something he never expected to feel around Tang. It feels like he's about to put so much on the line by doing this, but Pigsy also knows he'll beat himself up if he doesn't do this before it's too late.

Besides, it's not like Tang is going to throw away decades worth of friendship because of this one little secret. Hopefully.

"Would you be uncomfortable around me if I told you I was...y'know...into guys?" {¤}

-  ✩   「 @tuesdayscanons 」   ✩  

「 ☆ 」   Tang immediately knows something was wrong when he hears the uncharacteristic strain in Pigsy’s voice. Quickly setting aside his bowl, he turns to face the other man. Hands clasped on his lap, expression already furrows with concern, no matter how much he tries to hide it. Pigsy is a rather prideful man— not that Tang can judge on that account, having his fair share of ego amongst the self-doubt —and the last thing the other needs is to feel pitied before he’s even begun to share what’s concerning him. Still, there’s no denying the tension in Tang’s shoulders, bright hazel hues flitting up and down the other’s form in an impatient effort to read Pigsy despite having no information to go off of aside from tone.

That and how Pigsy had waited until the shop was closed, MK and Mei having raced out the doors a while ago. The more Pigsy speaks, faltering between his words, the more confused Tang grows. Mind flips between the different events of the day, of the week, to try and find somewhere he had gone wrong. Something he had done to give Pigsy the idea that he’d be uncomfortable around him for- whatever reason. Not once does it occur to Tang to consider anything Pigsy might have done, figuring that it was something inconsequential. There’s not much Pigsy could do or be that would ever make Tang’s care for him falter.

❝  You... You- what?  ❞

Not the best reaction he could have given and as soon as the incredulous question— if it deserves to be called that —is out, he wishes he could take it back. But out of everything Pigsy could have said, that was certainly not a confession that had crossed Tang’s mind. Through the years, he’s seen Pigsy fawn over plenty of women. At least, Tang gets that impression. How accurate his assumptions are are up for debate, but he’s still confident that Pigsy must have liked a girl or two since they’ve known each other... Hasn’t he? Beginning to question everything he’s known up to this point, as well as his own skills at identifying one of his own, Tang hastily amends his clunky response,  ❝  Wait, wait— Let me begin again!  ❞

❝  That was a very brave thing you just did and I’m going to respond accordingly.  ❞  Tang firmly states, as if chastising himself for failing to do that. Difficult as it may be with the confusion gnawing at his mind. Not about Pigsy being into men— although, he did NOT see that coming —but about the others fears regarding it. Why would TANG, of all people, be uncomfortable with that? Unless... Oh shit. Does Pigsy not know?

Tang never came out to him. 

Decades of friendship, of being what he had thought was openly Gay, and he never actually TOLD his best friend. Looking back on it, Tang can see how it snowballed. He had meant to tell Pigsy but the timing never felt- right. At the start of their friendship, when Tang was still coming to terms with his sexuality, he hadn’t been willing to take the risk. Knowing that Pigsy wouldn’t be worth the friendship if he DID have a problem with it, but terrified of losing the other regardless. Desperate to cling to his first true friend for as long as possible, Tang figured he had time. He could mull it over. Could decide whether he was really attracted to men. Even if he already knew that he was. So, time had passed... and continued to pass... and it went from not wanting to lose his new friend to not wanting to lose his CLOSE friend.

To not wanting to lose Pigsy.

Tang had never dated much anyway... Or at all. Not having any interest in the men around him, content to spend his time with his books, his friend, and the noodles the other provided. Not one to openly ogle either, Tang supposes his tastes could have easily gone under the radar. The closest thing he can think of to blatantly fawning over another man would have to be his fascination with the Sun Wukong. But studying the Monkey King was just as much an act of pure interest than it was a boyhood crush turned adulthood passion. Eagerness and superficial attraction intertwining into an excitability that was more indulgence than actual FEELINGS.

Although, it had been a... shock to discover that the Monkey King was real. 

After a while, ‘ coming out ’ had simply slipped Tang’s mind. Falling into a comfortable normalcy with Pigsy that, at times, made it feel as if he already had. It never felt like he was keeping a secret anymore. No fear or shame lingering beneath the moments they shared, lacing fondness with a bittersweet reality. Tang was merely existing as he was meant to. Having skipped past the test that would have PROVEN Pigsy to be a proper part of it. 

❝  Pigsy... You’re my oldest and dearest friend. And- I am beyond honored you’d share that with me. I could NEVER be uncomfortable around you for something like that. If someone made you happy, whatever and whoever they happened to be, then I’d be grateful to them and happy for you...  ❞  Ignoring the tightness in his chest at the latter statement— now is NOT the time to dwell on how jealous he’d be amongst the congratulating —he smiles, resting a hand on Pigsy’s shoulder and giving it a comforting squeeze,  ❝  Trust me when I tell you this- I’m always going to be by your side. That’s one thing you can count on.  ❞  

Lightly patting Pigsy’s shoulder, Tang lightly chuckles, the sound holding a hint of nerves as he shrugs and looks off to the side,  ❝  Besides, it’d be pretty hypocritical of ME to be uncomfortable around someone with an interest in men...  ❞  Praying that his meaning will be deciphered, Tang feels his face flush as he tugs at his scarf.   「 ☆ 」 

[fmdhyojung]

q4 update on all my muses (because i don’t feel like posting individually on them oops) as well as a plot call for the mini-events/schedules! you know the drill by now: like, comment, message me and i’ll reach out/reply in 1-3 business days (hopefully)

HYOJUNG.

career-wise: she’s still in the middle of filming yumi’s cells. the drama’s doing really great on the ott service it’s currently airing on (tving) so that’s added buzz to her name. i’ll be continuing to give her some modeling gigs to keep up with the hype as well as claiming yumi’s cells season 2 when i get the chance! other than that, however, nothing’s going on individually. the seasons project for selene is interesting because she didn’t expect gold star to continue to put so much effort into them after all these years. she’s not sure if yellow is very much her color, but this next album is supposed to be... for her, apparently. she’s just neutral about everything

speaking of neutral, that’s her attitude about the base culture events as well. she won’t be doing anything extra (such as holding a workshop or anything), but she will be pretty fascinated by the whole complex. it wasn’t a thing back when she first debuted so she thinks it’s kind of neat. will be at the pre-opening party, and if anybody wants to film a video content with her, she’ll most likely follow your lead!

there’s not much going on for her personally either. initially, she wasn’t sure if taking on the role of yumi was right because it’s the same romantic role, but she’s realized that there’s no harm in continuing with such roles as long as it’s age-appropriate. plus, melodramas and romance dramas are fun for her. 

JAEIN.

i’m gonna be straight up honest with all of you and say that jaein’s on a 50/50 of being dropped atm but it may just be me going through a ~phase~ 

nevertheless, she’s the easiest to hit up for a casual thread during the events. everything happening for the base culture complex takes place after ultraviolet’s late “scandal” where they get a bunch of flack, and she’ll just be pissed off to say the least. jaein could care less about hate comments regarding her skills or looks, but she hates being called out for things that she simply isn’t responsible for which is the case for the adidas event. if you want something juicy, i can imagine a muse flacking on jaein and saying that she’s privileged with her group’s position or something and how she shouldn’t take everything for granted (she hates hearing this the most)

ultraviolet’s busy as usual though, and they’re going on one end of the year music program which is bs in her opinion. like gold star is going to make them do all those tour dates and then not let them perform on their home ground?? kind of wack if you ask her

overall, she’s uninspired to do anything, she hates every song ultraviolet releases and she’d love to stay in korea for more than three months consecutively!! girl can’t wait for her contract renewal period so she can quit

SUJI.

not sure if anybody noticed, but she does indeed have an album coming out in november (verifs are killing me) and any muse is free to talk to her about that!!! i feel like,,, there’s talk about it within the industry so your muse could have heard rumors

the most enthusiastic with the culture complex. she thinks it can be a cool experience for fans even though she does know it’s mostly to get money out of them. once i actually get on it, she will be holding a mini concert on her own to gather up buzz for her concert which is also coming early december!! if your muse wants to be invited, feel free to just tell me lmao or if they want to buy the tickets themselves because they’re a fan... am definitely open to that being a plot as well because someone please be a bigger fan of suji than me!!!

oh, she got her nation’s title like last month as well and that was Something... i’m sure it’s affected her buzz a little more so this next album is supposed to be a Big Thing for her. it’s also why gold star finally approved a solo concert for her as well

anyway, this is all to say that she’s kind of in happy la la land right now so if you need a Feel Good (ba dam tss) muse, she’s your girl!!

[rotationalsymmetry]

I get it can be frustrating to see people talk about problems without talking about solutions, but frankly I find it significantly more frustrating when there’s a pretty sensible discussion about the problems then someone tacks on a solution that …doesn’t really fit? Or is just an “I’ve got a hammer and this looks like a nail” thing, you know, when someone thinks the solution to every problem is always the exact same thing…and frankly both “go vote” and “revolution” are equally frustrating in this context. Vote? Ok, what happens when you have record turnout and you still have a problem. What then? Is your plan to just sit on your hands until the next election, when you will again tell people to vote on social media? That’s not what any effective movement does. (That’s not even what effective GOTV efforts look like. I’ve done get out the vote. There’s a reason nobody’s hiring you or even asking you to volunteer to urge random strangers online to vote.) Revolution? Uh, ok, you got a plan beyond “persuade a larger tiny minority of the population that revolution is a good idea”? You got a plan for “the government is better funded and better armed”? You think online organizing over social media is going to get you people who will have your back in even the smallest squabble with the cops? I don’t trust you as far as I can throw you, I don’t know the first thing about you, I don’t know that you’re not a fed. I’m not so much as committing to put two bucks into your bail fund, what do you think you’re even doing here?

Maybe just let “identifying the problem accurately” be its own step, without rushing in to tack your preferred form of telling other people what to do on it before letting what the problem even is fully sink in.

There is not a shortage of people who think they know exactly what other people should do to fix everything in the world. You are not providing a valuable or necessary service here.

Some of you have never been to a fucking meeting where you split up at the end knowing who’s going to design the fliers and who’s going to coordinate with this other group and who’s going to (other thing that needs to happen to accomplish a modest yet realistic goal), and it shows. If you’ve never organized a toiletries drive for the local homeless people or planned a banner drop or gotten 50 people together to speak at a city council meeting, what the everloving fuck makes you think you’re capable of making a meaningful contribution to stopping climate change? That’s like when some kid asked Mozart (I think) advice on writing a symphony and he was all, maybe write something smaller first? Having a revolution (or doing a serious GOTV drive or organizing to get a specific piece of legislation passed or…) is doing a thing, and doing things effectively involves skills that you need to build up with time and practice. You can’t just write a symphony when you’ve never written a 36 bar chamber piece, you can’t run a marathon when you’ve never run a mile, and you can’t make big changes unless you work up to it from small changes. Either as a person or a group, you know? Not everyone involved needs every single skill required, but someone has to have each skill. If you want a revolution, for one, you need people who know fighting, people who know how to make blockades, people who know how to make or acquire explosives and firearms, people who know espionage, people who know recruitment, people who know how to deal with large number of people, people who can figure out how to get everyone fed and manage sanitation and so on. It’s not enough to convince people that armed revolution is a good idea. Revolutions require skills. (Many of which are most easily learned by being in the military, so if that’s not a background you have you’d better get in contact with people who do.) But also…if you want armed revolution, people are going to die, horribly, especially if you lose. This isn’t something you turn to because doing things other ways seems too slow or tedious. It should be a tool in your toolbox, a last resort after less extreme measures keep not being enough and when you have some reason to believe it can actually work, one that you understand as a natural continuation of other forms of organizing like labor organizing or the sort of protests that involve blockades and medics and umbrellas and water bottles for tear gas, not as something where there is nothing that can be done until a few million other people go “yeah, revolution, let’s do it.” As though people can just go from never held a gun in their lives to an effective revolutionary force with nothing in between.

And the other thing is…education does things backwards, you get rewarded for “class participation” for forming opinions on things you know nothing about…the more experience doing stuff you have, or having stuff done to you depending on the subject, the more valuable your opinion is. Not everyone’s opinion is actually helpful. In a context of “here’s what racism looks like” the experiences of people who have experienced racism is more valuable than the experiences of people who haven’t, in a context of “here’s what trans people are like” trans people’s opinions are more valuable than cis people’s, and when it comes to “here’s what to do about this problem” people who are in the arena with some degree of effectiveness have more relevant opinions than armchair theorists who aren’t even going off of actual research but just off of…nothing really. Or the opinions of other people who are equality ignorant. Problem is people who have experience worth sharing often don’t have time to talk about it on a site like tumblr, so you get people who don’t know what the fuck they’re talking about dominating the conversations. It’s annoying.