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obbystars · 9 months ago

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A Walk with Angels

Synopsis: An angel who bound itself to this hellish place, and a man-made angel.

Notes: A gift for @kulfyraz! love ya dad! / OC-insert x2 / No romance, just friends being silly / Sebastian is briefly mentioned (red buzzer) / Near-death experience / shockingly a lot of bickering / someone save Sebastian from these idiots / just a bunch of encounters, wanted to write some entities

Credits: dividers by @cafekitsune

(I love Corky guys, I love his OC sm. He’s so cute and silly I wanna squish his little face even though he’d bite me but idc. Also different layout for different character teehee. btw I plan to have the Oberon x Reader out next, so if you’re waiting for that, you’re in luck)

There was something glowing in the rubble and he wanted it. He’s been digging through it for the past few minutes until he finally gets it unstuck. Once it was finally free, its light had already faded. He shook it once and it turned on, but only for a second. He shook it even more and watched the light shine brighter. It even made a rather obnoxious sound. He grinned, knowing exactly who to annoy with this little light.

With that in mind, he stores it on his belt and continued on. He was careful to not run into the expendable prisoners that were being sent down here, but there was always a few that catches them off guard. It was nothing an angler couldn’t handle while he escapes elsewhere, and the angler didn’t even have to kill them either. As long as it slowed them down and allowed him to escape.

Corky eventually finds the open vent in the wall and crawls through, only to find the room empty. Everything was moved. His fins lowered as he scowled. Sebastian moved shop again. If anything, it was probably because those Urbanshade guardsmen did a sweep of the area or got a little too close for comfort. He groaned at the thought and crawled back out. With how large the facility was, it was anyone’s guess where he could be now.

Back to more exploring then, was his only thought as he looks for a new route to explore.

Along the way, he chased off a wall dweller that tried to sneak up on him and yelled at the bull shark out the window for scaring him, but she couldn’t hear him. That’s when he spotted a certain item sitting on the desk, so he quickly picked it up and flashed the shark with the beacon before running off. He doesn’t bother taking it with him.

Once the shark was finally off his tail, he slows down and continues to explore and search through the drawers. He eventually opens a door and pauses at what he sees on the other side. A hotel lobby?

He steps back, closing the door. He took the green flashlight off his belt and shook it to process what he just saw and to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. He opens the door again and the room remains the way he found it. A hotel lobby, one that looks oddly taken care of but no one has been here for a very long time. There’s the sound of rain just outside too, but how is it raining? Everything is made out of wood too which wouldn’t be possible to keep out all of that water from outside, right?

He stomps his foot on the wooden boards, and it did make the kind of sound you would hear. He listens for that familiar muffled sound of the water outside, but it’s only rain. Thunder too. It was like he was suddenly brought to the surface. It couldn’t have been that easy.

“Oookayy…” He sighs, “Totally not weird at all,”

He goes to open the next door, and the hotel continues. He continues to shake the green flashlight as he continued on. The numbers on the doors kept going up as well. Sometimes there were plus shaped rooms, and other times there were T-shaped rooms. Nothing seemed to be hiding in the walls, the anglers were nowhere to be found, and there’s no way the bull shark can find him here.

As he opens the next door, the lights suddenly flickered.

“Huh? An anger?”

His fins stand up as he hears an unfamiliar sound. A loud, distant yet quickly approaching sound. He turns towards the door he just stepped through and sees something glowing a bright green approaching. That’s not Chainsmoker. It’s moving too fast.

As the face of the incoming monster becomes clear, Corky yelps and immediately darts inside the nearest closet. The creature remains in the room for a moment before it retreats. He opens the closet door slightly to peak through, only to feel something crawl up his tail. Almost instantly he jumps out of the closet with his tail in his hands.

“H-Hey!! Hands off!”

But there’s no one in the closet. His fin twitches as he hears the creature coming back.

“Seriously?!” He goes back into the closet and holds it shut, “That’s not Froger either! What the hell?!”

The creature leaves again and he steps out once its screams had faded. He remained close to the closet in case it came back.

“Corky?”

His fins perked up. He recognized that voice, “Hey, Oberon! Is that you?”

“Oh dear… I’m so sorry, you’re in one of the rooms I dragged here,”

“So this is your doing. Wow. Pretty impressive there, but how do I get out?”

There was a brief silence before a padlock fell from one of the closed doors, “Enter through that door. You will return to the blacksite,”

“Really? Just like that?” Corky walks up to the door and turns the handle.

The door is suddenly pulled open which causes Corky to stumble forward and bump into someone.

“Yes. Just like that,”

Corky looks up at the masked angel and smiles. He quickly stands up and hugs the angel tightly.

“Oberonnn!!”

“Hello Corky,” he hugs back.

Corky pulls away and shows him the green flashlight, “Look what I found,”

“Oh?” He leans down to look at it, “Well now, that’s not something you see down here often. Where did you find such a thing?”

“It was stuck under some rubble and I dug it out. Oh, by the way, Sebastian moved shop again. You seen him anywhere?”

Oberon nods as he stands up straight, “Why yes. I was just there a moment ago before I eventually sensed you wandering through those rooms,”

“Perfect! Take me to him!” He demands, “I wanna annoy him with it!”

“I believe it is called a “gummylight,” Oberon laughs, “What a funny name,”

“Ah, who cares what it’s called! It makes this ANNOYING sound when I shake it!”

Corky starts shaking it rapidly and the flashlight lets out a clicking sound. It would keep going for as long as he shook it, so Oberon gently catches his hand and stopping him from shaking the flashlight.

“Alright, alright. I was going to head back anyway once everything in those rooms were done, but seeing as it was only you, I suppose I’ll entertain you on the way,”

Corky laughs, “You came all the way here for lil’ ol’ me? Wowww, I wouldn’t for you,”

“Not even for your favorite angel buddy? Corky, I’m hurt. And after all we’ve been through…”

“Ughh!! Jeez, don’t be such a drama queen! Now c’mon,” he claps his hands, “It’s only a matter of time before that guy moves shop again,”

“Unfortunately, it may take longer than you’d like. I may have gotten here rather quickly through my abilities, but we’ll have to walk,”

“Aw, really?” Corky slumped, “Why?”

“Remember last time? The force had knocked you out cold for half a day,”

“Man…can’t believe this whole angel stuff is so difficult. My body has to get used to that? But I’ve been like this for years!”

Oberon sighs, “I understand, but you are not purely an angel. You were not created as I was,”

Corky rolled his eyes at that and huffed. He really had no other option, so walking is exactly what they’d have to do. The situation itself wasn’t that bad, however. All it meant was that Corky gets to spend quality time with Oberon as they talk. Oberon can also lead the expendables away should their paths cross at some point, so it was perfect. He wouldn’t need to call an angler to chase them off.

One of the rooms they’d come across would have pipes sitting on a wall. There’s an electrical hazard near the bridge as well. Oberon narrows his eyes as he looks to the pipes on the wall, then up to the camera sitting in the corner. He tilts his head, only using his finger to knock it off its stand then returns his attention to the pipes. He curls his fingers to form a fist and the pipes are snapped clean off. Water begins to rush through and soon begin to flood the bridge that connects the platforms.

“What was that?” Corky turns around. He was already in the next room.

“Oh, nothing. I’m just giving the prisoners a new problem to solve on their way to the crystal,”

The water should be electrified by now. Anyone stupid enough would walk through it, and part of him hoped that didn’t happen any time soon. It’s only meant to slow them down anyway. Hopefully he can also make sure knocking out some cameras can cause the sinners to lose track of their prisoners, but he doubts it’d be that easy. He hopes they’d find some way to escape from their clutches, but alas, the reward seems to be way too enticing. He’s learned quickly anyone would do anything for money.

They’d soon come across the server farm, and right now, Oberon’s only concern is the Good People. He hopes Painter sees it’s only them and leads the Good People away. As Oberon walked down the stairs, Corky had other plans. Instead, he jumped onto the support beams and balanced his way across the room.

Hearing the lack of footsteps behind him, Oberon turns and looks up, “Corky. How did you get up there?”

There was no bitterness in his tone, he wasn’t annoyed or angry but seemed to be playing along. He knew how he got up there, but he asked anyway.

Corky laughs and points to the stairs, “Take a good look. Perfect angle, and a nice little spot to lay on,”

Oberon tilts his head as he puts his hands on his hips, “Really? Is that so?”

Corky sat on the beams and tested the comfort by lying down. It didn’t take long for him to sit up, “Yeah, never mind,”

“Alright, come on down,” he walks up to him with his hands up, ready to catch him.

Corky smiled and pushed himself off. The other angel caught him without problem, and he jumps out of his arms and runs ahead. There was a code breacher sitting on the table beside the door he just ran through, and Oberon decides to take it along with him. He doesn’t often take the items with him as he leaves them for the expendables to pick up, but he makes a few exceptions.

Upon entering the next room, Corky seemed to have started looking through the drawers. There was a side room as well, but it was locked. Luckily for Oberon, he has a key to open it.

“Ah, hold on a moment,”

“Hm? What’s up?” Corky stops and turns to Oberon as he puts the strange sealed envelope down.

“Sebastian may like to have some of those loose assets inside,”

“Those are for those expendable guys, just leave ‘em!”

“Yes, but then those same guys will likely get eaten and swallowed up by a wall dweller, pandemonium, or even possibly fall into a hole. Or perhaps into lava, which means the data is lost and chances of leaving are further reduced,”

Corky scoffs, crossing his arms, “I hate it when you’re right…”

The door slides open after Oberon presses a few more buttons and heads inside. There were quite a few stacks of documents and a few flash drives inside. Corky decides to take a look as well and finds another code breacher in a locker.

“I’m guessing you want to take this along?”

“Yes. I have been seeing quite a few rooms with these locked sections,” Oberon holds out his hand and Corky gives it to him, “Besides, should the expendables be unlucky enough to not have one on them either, then that means less data,”

“Yeah yeah, I get it,” he groans, “Less data, no escape for us. No need to repeat yourself, jeez…”

Oberon skims through some documents before stacking them into a neat pile. He turns to Corky and holds a few flash drives to him, “May you hold onto these for me?”

“Fine,”

Corky stuffs the flash drives into the small pouches strapped over his chest. Oberon stands up with the documents in his arm and Corky follows him out into the next room.

“By the way Corky, the Eyefestation has been rather feisty. You didn’t do something to her, did you?”

“Huhh? Me? Nooooo, never!!” He smiled.

“Corky. You know I hate it when you start lying,”

“Ugh, alright fine! She scared me, so of course I had to do it!”

He lets out a faint chuckle and adjusts the documents in his arms, “My, she didn’t deserve that Corky,”

He huffs and turns away. Oberon stops walking as he closes the door behind them, knowing what room is up ahead. The path leads directly to the DiVine.

“Oh come on… I can’t stand going through their rooms…” Corky shivered.

“As long as you stay off the grass, they’ll leave you alone,”

“I know, but man some of them like to crowd around the door! It scares me every time!”

Oberon gently ruffled Corky’s hair before continuing on, “We’re almost there. Sebastian set up shop in their rooms,”

“Of course he did…”

The moment Oberon opens the door, Corky lets out a yelp as they see the humanoid vines surrounding the entrance.

“Ah, they think they’re being funny,” he laughs.

“They are so not!! I hate it whenever they do that!”

“No more fussing, let’s go,”

Corky pulls up his hood and stays behind Oberon in the mean time. Some rooms had their lights knocked out, so Oberon would make a small ball of light in his hand to light the way. It wasn’t too bright to actually bother the squiddles, but if they did stand too close for too long then they may react.

A distant scream is soon heard which makes Corky rather quick to defend himself, “I didn’t do that. She found her way here on her own,”

“I know,” he smiles, “Here, this room should keep is safe,”

The DiVine was in there as well, but didn’t seem to be doing much. The floor trembles as the pink angler passes by which does cause the DiVine to react, but they only turned towards the noise the angler had made.

“Ugh, does she have to be so loud? It hurts my ears…”

“Well, at least the lights don’t break whenever she’s here,”

In one of the rooms, the bull shark finds them again and seems pretty upset to see Corky. So he just makes sure he’s out of sight by using Oberon as a wall between him and her. Oberon did give her a wave before they entered the next room. He suddenly stopped walking which made Corky bump into him.

“Hey, why’d you stop?”

Corky leans to the side to see why Oberon stopped walking, but he quickly got his answer. Upon seeing the vent in the wall, Corky points at it with a huge grin on his face as he looked to Oberon. He didn’t need to say it as the angel already knew what he was going to ask, so he just nods. He watches Corky practically dive into the vent.

Oberon looks to some of the DiVine who were surrounding the light. One seemed a bit curious and was reaching towards it. He decides to turn it so it was directed away from the vent which causes a reaction. The DiVine moves away. With that, Oberon goes to join the other two.

“Hey Sebastiaaaaan!!” Corky then yells, “Guess what I found!”

The taller fish groaned, sitting up from the desk with piles of documents and vials and flash drives scattered about, “Ughh… What-?”

The moment Corky came out and held up the green flashlight, his ear fins lowered.

“Oh, no…”

Oberon stands up and dusts himself off, stifling a laugh, “I did not take him to the A-0001 containment room. He found it all on his own,”

“And you didn’t think it was necessary to take it from him? It’s so obnoxious!!”

“I’m not one to take someone else’s toys, my friend. Although, I find it quite amusing,”

“Oh, my suffering is amusing, huh?” Sebastian retorts, towering over the angel, “But look what I have here! A Necrobloxicon. Would be a shame if I opened it, huh?”

“I’d advise not to do that,”

“Yeah, exactly,”

#🌑 // the moon provides #roblox pressure oc #roblox pressure #pressure roblox #pressure oc #roblox oc #pressure sebastian #sebastian solace #oc insert #roblox #pressure #roblox fanfic #pressure fanfic

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newvegascowboy · 2 years ago

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so ive been going through the reblog webs added to posts since yesterday evening, and coupled with some previous math i've done, I find it really curious that the reblog to like ratio seems to sit at about 1:3 pretty consistently. and let me preface by saying i am not scolding anyone for the ratios of rbs to likes. this is math purely for my own amusement.

I would also like to say: don't base your value as an artist or writer on notecount! do not put more personal emphasis on your notecount or engagement than is absolutely necessary! I am doing this experiment out of curiosity to see where my averages lie. If doing this same experiment is going to put you in a slump, don't do it.

The math I'm going to do here is pretty easy -- I'm just going to divide reblogs by total number of notes in order to find the percentage of reblogs : likes.

So now lets look at some of my rb/like averages!

at the time of writing this, this post has a total of 811 notes with 239 of them being reblogs. 239/811 = .29 or 29%. Easy math.

this one is 253 -> 73 rbs which gives us .28 or 28%. You're getting my roll here.

here has a ratio of 33%. pretty good!

lets get some diversity in here! i dont post solely fallout after all.

this one is 326 -> 93 rbs. 28%.

this hellboy bust has a reblog ratio of 25%.

if i scroll waaay back to one of my most popular posts, the ratio is 1172/313 -> 26%.

Even further back to my most popular art post ever, the ratio is 1686/490 -> 41%.

the average percentage for ALL my art based on these numbers is a solid 30%

so that's good for art. lets check out the ratio of text posts, since text posts seem to have a lot more notes than art posts on tumblr nowadays - lets see if numbers back us up.

this is my most popular text post ever, with a reblog ratio of 44%.

another decently popular text post (for me anyway) with a reblog ratio of 46%!

this one sits at 42%.

this sits at 32%

and this sits the lowest at 29%

averages out to 38%

finally - fics!

im going to be pretty selective here and take from fics and snippets i've written that have a decent handful of notes, just so i can get a better assessment of the ratios. All of these fics have over 20 notes

here -> 23%

here -> 17%

here -> 12%

here -> 14%

this one has the highest ratio at 31%

averages to 19%

so what does this mean?

i mean, basically nothing. all it does is give us hard numbers (at least in my case). I'm a decently popular blog and I have a decent number of followers, but at the end of the day, I am a fallout blog and I post mainly fallout content - and that's pretty niche. Take all this data with a grain of salt. I have no idea how someone else's numbers would compare to mine.

It seems to hold true that text posts do consistently better in terms of engagement, albeit, not really by that much. None of the ratios I looked at were even near 50%. Engagement for fics was the lowest, as I anticipated.

I'm not really an analyst and I don't have the knowhow (or even ability, since I'm not really on any other social media platform) to run this experiment elsewhere. I don't actually know What It Means beyond the fact that tumblr has just shifted a bit further towards being a meme website, rather than a website on which to post art, gifs, or fics. Again -- none of this is done with the intention of likeshaming. Personally, I don't care.

It's been a long running issue within the community, and no amount of likeshaming or yelling is really going to make that change. People are going to reblog if they want to and they won't reblog if they don't it's that easy. As a person who runs a fandom blog, I really can't imagine not reblogging, because well... then I wouldn't have anything to post. But there are any number of reasons why someone choses to like instead of reblog, and at the end of the day, other people out there have explained it better than I can.

#not fallout #kal talks #tumblr #i have literally no idea how to tag this idk fuckin. data analysis

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igphtx · 1 year ago

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How To Calculate The Cost And Volume For Strapping

Perhaps you are an established company looking for the appropriate packaging materials for your products.

Then again, maybe you are new to product packaging altogether and are searching for the proper materials for your packaging line. After reviewing your options, you have concluded that you would like to use strapping material, also known as banding.

But, you are not sure how much strapping you need for your current packaging requirements. You could buy a batch in bulk, but you do not want to order too much.

You are trying to determine the exact amount of strapping required for your current packaging projects and how much it will cost you. However, you do not know how to calculate your required volume of strapping materials.

Don't feel bad. This is a common problem for many companies.

During International General Packaging's multi-decade tenure in the packaging industry, we have learned everything about strapping material. And, we know how to calculate the amount of strapping needed for any size packaging project.

This article will explain how to determine how much strapping you need for your product packaging. With the information here, you will know how to buy the right amount of strapping material for your packaging requirements. You will also be able to calculate the cost for your required volume of strapping.

How To Calculate Your Required Volume Of Strapping Material

When calculating how much strapping material you need for your packaging, there are several things you need to figure out. These items include the type of strapping required for your products, the width of your chosen strapping, and the length of strapping required to complete the job.

Identify Your Required Strapping Material

First, you need to figure out which type of strapping is the correct material for your packaging needs. Generally speaking, there are three main types of strapping material. These include polypropylene strapping, polyester strapping, and steel strapping.

Unless you are packaging ultra heavy products such as industrial equipment and construction materials, you will use polypropylene strapping or polyester strapping.

Most strapping machines will use polypropylene. However, polyester is more robust and usually applied by hand with a hand strapper (also known as a tensioner).

It should be noted that printed strapping is also available. Printed strapping can be branded with product information, warnings, and additional content. In this respect, printed strapping may act as a form of protective packaging.

Measure Your Required Strapping Length

Next, you need to figure out how you want to strap your package.

In most cases, it is recommended to use a 3/8" strap. This gives you a good bang for your buck at 12,900' per coil and will work on most applications.

Using your box/bundle measurements, figure out which way you want to strap the box and add up those figures to determine the length of each strap.

Divide Your Total Coil Length By The Required Strapping Per Box Length

Let's say you are using 2 straps for the length of your box and 2 straps for the width of your box. Your box is 5" high and 9" across. That would be 28" total; leave a little play to make it 30" per box. Take your 12,900' / 30" = 430 boxes.

Now you have the ability to calculate the volume of strapping that will be required to strap the number of boxes you need to strap.

How To Calculate The Cost Of Your Strapping Material

Finally, use the information above to calculate the cost for the amount of strapping required to complete your packaging project.

For example, let's say that you need to package 8,600 of the boxes mentioned in the section above. With 12,900' of 3/8" strapping being required to package 430 of your boxes, you will need 20 coils of strapping.

One 12,900' foot roll of 3/8" strapping = 430 boxes strapped.

8,600 / 430 = 20 coils of strapping.

Let's say the vendor you have chosen charges $72 per coil of strapping.

20 coils of strapping x $72 = $1,440.

Now you know how much strapping you need and what the cost of your required volume of strapping materials will be.

#industrial packaging #packaging materials #poly strapping #steel strapping #Buying Steel

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tarotwithdanise · 2 years ago

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WHO IS SHE?

꒰⠀sections

[ 1. ] who is she?

[ 2. ] what's her divine feminine message to her?

[ 3. ] what's her traits that most people look on her up the most?

how to choose pile?

꒰⠀from left to right ; intuitively choose the pile your mind, heart and soul desire for. if you are having trouble choosing the right pile for you, here’s some tips you can do ; (1) take a deep breath (2) close your eyes (3) ask guidance from your guides (4) finally open your eyes and you can choose the right pile for you by the guidance you ask from your guides. if you are still having trouble by choosing the right pile for you let me know because i am willing to help and guide you.

PILE ONE PILE TWO PILE THREE

rules, disclaimer and notes ☆

[ 1. ] just a quick disclaimer : this reading was made for entertainment purposes only. this is obviously a general reading so takes what resonates and leave when it doesn’t, you don’t need to force your energy to read this and leave such a bad comment just to say it doesn’t resonates with you at all because the answer is very obvious! i don’t own any these pictures i collected them from pinterest so credits to the rightful owners.

[ 2. ] please ignore any grammatical errors on my reading since english is not my first language, thank you for understanding!

[ 3. ] third to the last one, if you are not an avid fan of this kind of readings and not totally 100% agree about the outcome of this pac please just ignore this post and don’t engaged anymore, this pac can contains harsh, hurtful comments about you so don't take it seriously since this is general , so kindly read at your own risk and take how it’ll resonates.

[ 4. ] lastly, be happy and enjoy reading my works — feedbacks, comments, likes, reblogs and follows are really appreciated by the reader. (that’s me, lol :3)

for tips, donation and paid readings ☆

TIPS JAR🫙 DONATION BOX📦

PAID READING SERVICES🩶 MASTERLIST🎧

[ ♡ ] check out my second account @danisetarot.

SOURCE AND CREDITABLE : all of the pictures are collected and downloaded from pinterest , i don’t own any of them but credits goes to the rightful owners but edits belongs to me. i use the editor tools canva and ibispaint for the header and divider.

deck and tools used : waite-raider tarot, the light seer tarot, the divine feminine oracle, charms, intuition and alphabet and numbers 100 pcs wooden scrabble tiles + pen and paper for channelling the names and physical appearance.

PILE ONE

[ who is she? ]

temperance-the emperor-ten of sword rx-eight of wands-nine of swords.

She finally mastered the art of loving and appreciating herself more. She began to concentrate on her long-term ambition and goals. She has attracted a lot of attention, and people think she is fun to be around. Despite the fact that she is viewed as pretty and delicate by others, she also has insecurities, and for some reason, she has a tendency to believe that she will not be able to keep up with them. Before the sunset vanish, you'll occasionally catch a glimpse of her before she returns to her familiar surroundings, the moon and stars. She's very impatient, so she usually juggles many things at once and expects immediate results. She has shrunk the pain from the past and accept the truth, she experienced numerous tears and heartaches as a child and the empty existence she was led deep within her inner soul, with only few pleasant memories, that have left her exhausted throughout her childhood life; however, she now realizes that everything happened for a reason. She needed a long time to comprehend this significant substance. To emerge from the gloom, she had to go through a lot of hardships. She is now applying what she has learned from her previous difficulties and was trying her best even it's small or little progress.

She is also mature and old now. She doesn't want other people to go through what she have gone through, but she wants to use her skills and abilities to help other people like her. She is the kind of person who brings out the best in others. She will lead very different lives as an adult than she did as a child. She adheres to the rules; seems like a winter before becoming a ravishing spring, and she pursues her dreams and goals in the same way and with the same level of class and honoring her dignity. There is no need to rush anything that is taking place on her; everything is meant to happen. From her past, she has always preferred to remain out of the spotlight and kept her identity a secret, she anticipate becoming an excellent communicator when she is got older. Despite being a she, she possesses a strong masculine energy. She will be self-assured and certain of her own worth in the right time and ready to take charge of any circumstance.

[ nutshell/keywords ]

fear of showing their talent, impatient, masculine energy, moving from one place to another especially foreign countries, have a habit of walking, eating or talking fast. lesson learned, daddy issues, peace, anxiety and balance.

[ who is the divine feminine that have message for you and what are their message to you? ]

The Divine Feminine, Thecla and Mary Magdalene, have a message for you. You should know that your life is in your hands, according to your divine feminine. To do this for your own benefit, you don't need permission from anyone else. Right now, you hold the power. You are in controller of what you want for your future. Don't allow other people to rule over you. You are free to cut ties with those who are no longer serving you, if you just choose and wanted to. Your divine reminds you of your soul's mission for this lifetime and wants you to know it. They also want you to accomplish all of your goals. You can be anything you want to be. You won't have to worry because they will support you spiritually. They also want you to know that love, the love you had for yourself, is your true power. They want you to have self-confidence and stop doubting your abilities and talent. Because love is your power, it will never ends and will always reside within your heart. You are still a human being, so forgive yourself and accept who you are.

[ what traits that most people look on her up the most? ]

the lovers-ace of wands-the world-five of pentacles.

You are loving human, you like demonstrating or sharing your values to others is one of the qualities that people most admire to you. You may come across to some as someone who puts a lot of effort into their appearance. However, you are someone who listens with insight, openness, and honesty. I recently came across the phrase "on my way to my self-love," so perhaps some of you have made significant progress in your own personal development. Numerous issues that had previously held you back have been resolved. Just keep practicing self-love and acceptance. While if you have current partner right now, they look up your romantic nature. Do you really want to relocate, perhaps to another country? because there is always a sign that someone is moving here or moving to another location/place. People also do look up to you because of your abilities and upbeat demeanor, if you frequently travel to other countries you'll likely to impart your knowledge and skills. You also have a passion for learning; In fact, you need to continue learning in order to feel happy and better. Learning is an integral part of your journey and life. If you have colleagues/coworkers they look up on this trait of yours where the fact that you can be counted/lean on and can be trusted in every important matters of them to you. They also adore your success in achieving your goals, particularly your glow and self-acceptance. These people who love you the most will see how far you've come and how hard you try to keep up, but the end result is well worth it. You will ultimately be someone who rises from the bottom to the top.

significant zodiac signs : their chart have a strong gemini and sagittarius. aries, scorpio, aquarius, virgo, cancer and capricorn. (sun,moon,rising.)

initials/names : J-J-S-M-A-P-D-S-B-E-C-T-B-H-H-U-I-Z. ( pearl, sam, bea, kaori, ayemi, emily, pari, aadhira, emilliana, phoebe, sol, selene, diana, jenny, meera, thalia, ann, cordelia, joy, jade, denise and madison. ) I hope they were spelled correct, please me know if they don't.

possible physical appearance : deep dimples, brown/light shade of eyes, chubby with curves body type, long nails with nail polished, wear eye glasses/contacts, short hair to medium hair length that always tied up or only have one style, pretty hands, significant nose, reddish cheeks(maybe from make-up), moles on face, chest part and hands, might have rings(2-3), necklace with small pendant, flat/rubber shoes, likes to wear neutral color of clothes, pimples on the back, shoulders or face, nice and teeth straight, hair color is brown/black but might dyed into pink, red or purple shades.

extra messages : intimidating, cold, childish, type of person take a long of time to get the joke of someone but laughing of it like it was the best joke they ever heard in their entire life, might love cats rather than dogs, boyish, anime, quite type, kpop, taylor swift, paramore, melanie martinez, broke, might have problem on menstruation, intelligent, likes and enjoy to eating foods, abundance coming on her before this year ends.

songs that i picked for this pile :

Thank you so much for reading, let me know your thoughts, feedbacks as well tipping and reblogs is well appreciated !! ♡

࿙‌֒࿚࿙‌֒࿚࿙‌֒࿚ 𝓞 ops you already reached the end. ࿙‌֒࿚࿙‌֒࿚࿙‌֒࿚

PILE TWO

[ who is she? ]

She is unhappy in her current situation, and her lack of mental stability prevents her from pursuing pure happiness. Additionally, she lacks self-motivation, which results in missed opportunities that would otherwise satisfy her needs and desires. She feels distant and disconnected from others because she have lacks of trust. She believes that whenever she confronts them, people always speak negatively about her. People perceive her as aloof and quite but all she wanted was to defend herself from those who were attempting to harm her. She has a kind heart and is willing to lend a helping hand to anyone she thinks might benefit from it. She enjoys showing respect and class to others. She will be an effective leader and will thrive on financial security. She believes that anything is possible, no matter how difficult her life is or what she is going through at the moment, and no one can take this kind of nature away from her. She can sell sand in the desert if she wants to, and she might succeed in the business world.

She has a tendency to overthink a lot, but she has big dreams and moves well in any direction she choose. She can set trends because she appears to have magical powers and can turn anything she touches into gold. Somehow she is cruel to herself in some way and always pities and judges herself, but she was unaware that she is born as an alpha. She doesn't realize it yet but little she don't know is that she will be. She needs to believe to herself that she can do everything she wanted to be, she got a strong manifestation abilities.

[ nutshell/keywords ]

throw her in pack of wolves, she'll comes back leading it, manifestor, rought to themselves, dancer/singer, strong mindset for goals, kind, generous, can be a great business owner, missed some important things, likes to spread happiness but deep inside was hurt, ask univers to tap the bigger forces to make her desires come true and unstable.

[ who is the divine feminine that have message for you and what are their message to you? ]

The divine feminine that has a message for her are freyja and rita of cascia. You spent many days, hours and minutes of your life by choosing wisely which one is better and good for you. You know what is good for you, you understand the timing of divine and you have fully trusted it. Your divine feminine wants you to say yes only to where you think it's worth to have for and don't be afraid to say no so that you can only say yes what will nourish you. They want you to choose the life you want to have right now. They want you to know that every second you spending is very important. Be a warrior and not a worrier, always believe anything is impossible from this world and know that you are capable to do everything freely, don't lock yourself in a cell. Don't be a prisoner with a chain on their feet. Forgive yourself and others, forgiveness is about setting yourself free. Don't lose hope, keep praying and trust the divine timing.

[ what traits that most people look on her up the most? ]

queen of wands-page of wands-justice-seven of pentacles.

The fact that she puts in a lot of effort is one of her most admirable characteristics. You have a very upbeat attitude toward other people, especially with your friends. Despite having a lot of friends, you've thought that you were an introvert or a very introverted person. Despite this, people always try to figure out who you really are because they think you are mysterious. And the fact that you are always there for your friends when they need you is one of a trait that they admire in you. You may have been like a mother figure to this group of friends, which is why they see you as one of their closest and good friend. Everywhere you go, you bring harmony and equality. You wants lust for life, as I said, and she will be good at bringing everything she wants into her life. You adore the outdoors and find that a place like this brings you such inner peace and tranquility—perhaps for some of you it's your grandparents' property well maybe you visit often. People also admire you because you have a lot of patience and might want to plant seeds for a long time in the future. I'm not sure if you're the kind of person who doesn't want to be the center of attention but ends up being one. People adore the fact that you have a big heart and you don't hesitate to express how much you care about your loved ones. You are about to end a routine but are continuing to do the same thing but in new ways and strategies.

significant zodiac signs : aries-gemini-aquarius-cancer-taurus-capricorn-virgo-libra-sagittarius-scorpio. (sun,moon,rising.)

initials/names : M, V, Y, Y, S, M, T, D, H, I, A, A, A, B, P, C,R, U, U, U, Z, & K. ( ishi, victoria, may, melissa, dalia, dorothy, anna, alexa, ruby, athena, rose, chloe, leah, rhea, kyla, khyra, saira, sara(h), sandy, megan, belle, luna, lily, iris and ivanna. )

possible physical appearance : long curly/perm hair, hoodie eyes, light/dark color set of eyes, scars, tattoos, always have hair pins on their hair, lips is not too big nor too thin, smaller/average of height, hoodies, shorts, might have a stretch marks, hairy body, might have brace, have like a elephant moles, crop tops, long skirts, noticable eye bags, small bags or purse, red and black colors are significant for them.

extra messages : kind but can kill if anyone hurt their loved ones, somehow popular or well liked by others, type of someone who'll forgive but will never forget and no more second chances, end up making healthy choices when it comes to love and life, strong will for financial abundance, have many options right now, karmic relationships and lessons and missing the old happy and memorable memories.

songs that i picked up :

Thank you so much for reading, let me know your thoughts, feedbacks as well tipping and reblogs is well appreciated !! ♡

࿙‌֒࿚࿙‌֒࿚࿙‌֒࿚ 𝓞 ops you already reached the end. ࿙‌֒࿚࿙‌֒࿚࿙‌֒࿚

PILE THREE

[ who is she? ]

You can call her if you want to see someone who likes to be silly around with other people and laughs at their own mistakes. When she's around, she always makes everyone around her feel happy. She is the kind of person you can rely on when you have work to do because she is committed, dedicated, and fully focused on the task at hand. She'll be friendly and likely leave a big impression on others. She is strong, successful, and mature. She always looks for the good in every situation, and I can't blame her for being brave as a lion. She doesn't even question it when she thinks this is right. She continued to live her life, despite the times when she felt down, thanks to the strong motivation of her family and friends.

She will seize the power and opportunities. She makes every effort to improve herself and there's a high chance of her to establish an empire. She will succeed by working for herself example making her own business.

She enjoys having parties and getting to know new people. As long as they are the center of attention, she typically has a large group of friends with whom they enjoy interacting. People are most likely to fall in love with her frequently because of her style, beauty, and charisma, which will make them stand out wherever they go. She is most likely asleep when she vanishes where you can't see her everywhere and when you can't hear her loud and raucous laughter, conversation, or voice.

[ nutshell/keywords ]

a loud friend 24/7, might feel ugly and insecure with their body sometimes, positive individual, type of someone whom you can't turn down that easily, party people, well liked and loved, have a lot of secret admirers, considered themselves already successful person and dedicated with their works.

[ who is the divine feminine that have message for you and what are their message to you? ]

The divine feminine that has a message for her are kali and perpetua.

Kali and perpetua are the divine feminine beings who have a message for her. Your divine feminine urges you to remove anything that no longer serves you because doing so will be beneficial to your own well-being. They don't want you to waste any more time proving who you really are, but you're doing fine right now. You come here to show respect, love, and care to others. They want you to know that you don't have to be afraid of everything and that your purpose in life is not to please others or make them proud of you. There is wisdom and truth within you, so if you believe you are not on the right path, you can begin again. Being real and authentic is your greatest power. Writing can help you express your inner voice, whether you already have a journal or want to start one. And as you dare to live the truth, that voice transforms into your own light—a fire—that calls you and claims you.

[ what traits that most people look on her up the most? ]

the fool-six of pentacles-the heirophant-strength.

I adore how each pile allowed for its own puzzle to be solved. Okay, people look up your originality and uniqueness, and yes, I can understand when you act childish at times. You are able to see the good in everyone, and this ability of yours, you have an access to make people more likely to be taken advantage of, if you use to. You are not as concerned about the material world as the rest of society, which is frequently noticed by others. People see you as creative, and your ability to think outside the box helps you succeed. Because of your generous and caring nature, children will admire you and adore your presence. They've always wanted to be near you, even though you don't want to be with them. Some people think you're good at singing because of your beautiful voice.

People adore that you are an open-minded individual who is open to other people's ideas and beliefs. Last but not least, these people will admire your bravery—not only are you open about the beliefs of other people, but you are also not afraid to stand up for yourself when other people try to get in your way.

significant zodiac signs : leo-virgo-taurus-gemini-aquarius. (sun,moon, rising.)

initials/names : G, G, T, P, J, C, A, R, Y, U, K, L, L, V, Z, X, X ,I ,E, W, & S. ( jane, julie, patricia, ross, ysballe, ymir, zoey, catherine, shane, genevieve, geneva, lou, louse, angela, emilia, ella, eva, ena, kaye, urja, urshita. ) let me know if they were spelled right.

possible physical appearance : significant chess part, petite, long arms and fingers, tshirts, sweaters, likes to appear dark and light feminine, might have hair highlights, crooked teeth/nails, short nails but may have nail polish/colored, have a strong smell of perfume, might wear eye glasses and noticeable veins.

extra messages : funny person, likes bird, dogs, cat, have a crush start with j, m, t or p, eating chocolates, savage, light colors is their favorites, eating noodles and schedule is their wallpaper.

songs that i picked up :

Thank you so much for reading, let me know your thoughts, feedbacks as well tipping and reblogs is well appreciated !! ♡

࿙‌֒࿚࿙‌֒࿚࿙‌֒࿚ 𝓞 ops you already reached the end. ࿙‌֒࿚࿙‌֒࿚࿙‌֒࿚

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀:¨ ·.· ¨:⠀⠀

Hello, everyone! It's been a long time since i uploaded my latest pac. I hope everything that i've said make sense about you even though I know that this is a general reading. I send a message to Universe that may everyone will be blessed, stay healthy and happy everytime they come across with my account. Happy weekends, expect more pacs contents to be posted. ૮꒰ ˶• ༝ •˶꒱ა ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀ `· . ꔫ

773 notes · View notes

ykwrites · 3 years ago

Text

Slow burn

Pairing: Daichi x F!reader

Warning:SMUT MDNI🚩

Rating: NSFW

Requests: OPEN

Note: Characters are aged up!

MASTERLIST

Wonderful divider by animatedglittergraphicsnmore

“So you like him, huh?”Sugawara elbowed you playfully, pointing at one of his teammates sitting very far away from you two.

You started to regret coming for lunch at his practice court, Sugawara was a very good friend but maybe not so much that you would let him embarrass you in front of his professional volleyball team.

“Stop it or I’ll leave with your food” you threatened, probably red faced.

“It’s mine, you can’t take it”he pouted in response, mouth full and holding the bento box for dear life.

“Well, I cooked it so I can”

The usual bickering back and forth continued for a bit longer, Sugawara fighting for his meal like a starved child until someone finally interrupted.

“Why are you two always fighting?”

Of course it had to be him, the whole reason why your friend teased you in the first place.

Daichi Sawamura, looking as enchanting as always with his black number one jersey on, tall and extremely attractive. You had known him for a long time, but being around him still raised your blood pressure and your brain often messed with you imagining sinful things about him.

“Y/n cooked this delicious meal, because she can cook really good”Sugawara spoke, weirdly trying to make you look more appealing “and now she wants to take it from me”

“I’m sure you did something bad”Daichi sided with you, a smirk crossing his lips.

“He always does something”you tried to converse like a normal person.

“I know”the captain looked at you smiling.

“Oh, ok”your friend got up dramatically “Then I’ll leave you two alone so you can plan my downfall, but I’m taking the food”

And just like that, Sugawara performed a scene from a soap opera and stomped off to join the other teammates.

At that moment you felt thankful knowing Daichi is not someone who lets silence or boredom take part.

“He should be an actor”he joked, sitting next to you.

“Totally”you responded, a bit stiff because he was so close.

Honestly this man was something else, something about him rushed your heart, and dare I say hormones ,so wildly it didn’t seem normal.

“Hey, remember that wine I told you about the other day?”Daichi suddenly changed topics.

“Yeah, that red wine that cost more than my left kidney”you said, reminiscing about the conversation you had earlier that week.

“Well, I got a bottle yesterday and I was wondering if maybe you wanted to come by and give it a taste”

This caught you by surprise, usually you two would recommend things for the other to try and then give a little feedback or opinion, but this was new.

“Are you insane? That bottle costs around three hundred dollars” you couldn’t help but react.

“Four hundred, actually, but good quality costs money”

“Daichi, that’s a lot of money”

“Come on, I’m doing well and can afford it, don’t worry about my finances” he laughed lightly “are you coming by later then? I was thinking we could also have dinner together”

For a little while you didn´t respond, panicking inside and trying not to get over excited with the idea of this plan being a date. It probably wasn´t a date but a hanging out with friends kinda deal.

After a few seconds of silence, Daichi got visibly nervous at your lack of a response and started over explaining himself.

‘‘I´m sorry, maybe I’m being too pushy, you don´t have to come if you don´t want to or have other plans’‘ he said, as gently and understanding as always‘’It´s okay’’

‘‘I would love to have dinner at your place’‘you responded, after all he was someone you had known for a long time and it didn´t make sense to run away from hanging out with him.

‘‘Great!’‘a now relaxed smile painted his lips ‘‘Come by at seven? we can cook together!’‘

‘‘Sure’‘ you couldn´t help but smile back.

The coach screaming for everyone to get back to practice interrupted before Daichi could respond, but he woke up and gave you a thumbs up before reuniting with the team.

Was this really happening? Now it may be a good moment to elaborate that ‘’knowing him for a long time’’ meant since highschool, Daichi and Sugawara were part of your friend group since you started studying at Karasuno.

After school you stopped talking to everyone but Sugawara because he also went to college with you, the rest separated to do their own thing growing up to be adults and do different things, it just randomly ocurred that when Sugawara got the opportunity to join a professional volleyball team, Daichi was already the captain and you three reconnected.

It was so fun seeing them live their dream,in comparison your job was a very boring office thing but with a decent pay.

You patiently waited for practice to end and left with Sugawara, he wanted to get some groceries and obviously needed to drag you along.

Bad thing you decided to wait until you were in the grocery store surrounded by strangers to tell him about the dinner plans.

‘‘So you two are going on a date?’‘of course, he screamed.

‘‘Shut it! it´s not a date’‘you pushed him embarrased.

‘‘He invited you over for dinner and WINE’‘

‘‘So what? we are friends’‘

‘‘Correction, he is your crush since you were like fifteen and invited you to the adult equivalent of netflix and chill’‘

‘’I don´t want to get my hopes up’’

‘‘Cool, don´t forget to bring protection just in case’’

‘‘You are so annoying’’

‘’I´m being a responsible friend!, I see the sexual tension between you and Daichi, everyone does’‘

With that statement, your friend changed topics like nothing happened and left you in shambles. Sexual tension? more like you thirsting over Daichi and him just doing his own thing.

Even when Sugawara took you home and left, your head played a thousand different scenarios every second so you decided to get busy taking a shower since you still had a couple hours before leaving.

Maybe shaving and moisturizing wasn´t such a bad idea, if Sugawara was right then great because if the opportunity was there oh boy would you take it, and if it turned out to be a normal friendly dinner you would´ve simply done a bit of selfcare.

Around six thirty you rushed to finish getting ready and ordered an uber, so nervous that you almost fell down the stairs a few times. Obviously Daichi wouldn´t mind you getting there a few minutes late, but the anticipation was too much for you to handle.

Before you could process the way there, you were already knocking at his door, nervously tugging down the short black skirt you decided to put on and fixing your hair.

Daichi didn´t take too long opening and when, leaving you speechles at the sight of him without a shirt on.

‘‘Hello! you look amazing’’he complimented ‘‘ come in, I´ll go put my shirt on’‘

You waited for him in the living room, putting your purse and coat on his big dark couch and looking around to see everything neatly organized, as always. The coffee table already prepared with cuttlery and fancy wine glasses.

‘‘So, what do you want for dinner?’‘Daichi entered the room, now dressed with a black button up that fit him perfectly.

‘‘I haven´t thougt about it, anything is fine’‘you shrugged, smiling at how inviting he was.

‘‘Salmon and vegetables? I know you like salmon and I happen to have some’‘

‘‘Sounds perfect’‘

The fact that he remembered dumb details about you was even more exciting, just because it was him.

‘‘Come here’‘ he said when you entered the kitchen.

He had an apron in his hands and instead of giving it to you, he did it himself, tying the lace and fixing your hair from under the top string, so sweetly that you wondered if he did this on purpose to make you nervous.

‘‘We don´t want that beautiful outfit to get ruined’‘ he explained giving a little wink and taking his own apron.

‘’Thank you’‘you responded, face blushing hard.

Honestly, cooking with Daichi was so fun, and except for the effect he had on you, hanging out and cooking together made you realize how little you two spoke on the regular. The conversation kept going from the kitchen until you sat next to each other with everything, including the wine, served.

Memories about your Karasuno days resurfaced, laughing with anecdotes and fun moments like when Hinata and Kageyama joined the team and how they fought constantly, making Daichi act like a father dealing with rowdy children.

‘‘Do you keep in contact with any of them?’‘you asked, taking a little sip of wine.

‘‘I text with Nishinoya sometimes. and it´s hard not to see Hinata on tv almost every day, the kid is famous’‘he responded ‘‘What about you?’‘

‘‘Obviously Sugawara, he´s attached to my hip’‘you laughed jokingly ‘‘Asahi and I dated after highschool but it didn´t last long’‘

‘‘No way! Asahi?’‘his eyes widened ‘‘I never pictured you two together’‘

‘‘It was a weird summer’‘

‘‘I didn´t know you liked him, and I knew everybody’s business even if I didn´t want to’‘

‘‘Oh, I didn´t’‘

‘‘Then how did you end up dating?’‘

‘‘He confessed and I just wanted to try, we ended up as friends tho’‘you explained ‘’I had a crush on another boy’’

‘‘Now way! now you have to tell me’‘

‘‘You first’‘

‘‘What?’‘

‘‘Your crush’‘

‘‘That´s easy’‘ he laughed, drinking his wine before responding ‘‘you’‘

Ok stop.

You? really? Daichi was messing with you, or maybe not, but, who cares? that was in highschool.

‘‘I guess’‘ you forced youself to say something ‘‘You were my crush’‘ be brave or go home.

Daichi stayed silent for a second, squinting his eyes and hitting his own head lightly.

‘‘I want to punch my teenage self so bad’‘

‘‘Please don´t, he was such a nice kid’‘you kept the joke going.

‘‘He was a coward’‘

‘‘Not at all’‘

Surprisingly nothing in this conversation was uncomfortable, yeah your face was probably bright red and your bravery sourced by expensive wine but it felt just like two people remembering old times with fondness.

‘‘Wow, the wine is good’‘Daichi said,comfortably leaning against the couch.

‘‘For the price it better be’‘

‘‘I mean, I can pay it every day if that means you coming over for dinner’‘he turned to look at you, eyes sparkling even with the dimmed living room light.

Your heart skipped a beat, and you thanked liquid courague for making it easier to respond.

‘‘I don´t need that, cheap pizza and a good conversation is enough for me’‘

‘‘I´ll take note on that, today I wanted it to be better tho’‘

‘‘Why?’‘

‘‘You know, a first date must be special, altough I realize I didn´t tell you it was a date, at least for me. It´s okay if you don´t view it as such’‘a small, nervous laugh scaped his lips.

‘‘I was hoping it was a date’‘you confessed.

Somehow confessing wasn’t as hard as you thought it would be, it felt so nice and even better knowing he felt the same.

‘‘Y/n’‘ Daichi called your name, making you stop daydreaming and look at him ‘‘I truly don´t want to rush things or make you uncomfortable, but I´ve been thinking about kissing you since you walked trough that door’‘

How bold of him to say that, how bold of him to scan your lips with hunger, how bold of him to get closer when you smiled and how bold of you to kiss him first.

Daichi Sawamura, a good person and a fucking good kisser. He followed your lips wonderfully, inviting his tongue in your mouth with ease and placing one loving hand on your thigh and another on your waist.

At least for you, things got heated fast, he already attracted you by just existing, so his touch was exhilarating, and you wanted more of him right at that moment.

He seemed to feel just as excited and slowly moved until you were liying with your back agains te couch and him hovering over you, his hands taking advantage of the freedom you gave him.

‘‘You look even prettier under me, and I didn´t think that was possible’‘he said breathing heavily and moving down to your neck.

‘‘You´re such a tease’‘you unbottoned his shirt slowly, a little whimper scaping your lips when he bit the skin on your neck.

‘‘Says the girl wearing a short black skirt’‘he came back to look directly into your eyes, his hand creeping under said skirt and smiling when he felt the material of your underwear ‘‘with lacey panties under it’‘

You so badly wanted to respond, to tease him back, but his thick fingers pressing against your clit shut you up with a moan that Daichi took as an invitation to paint little circles of pressure while kissing you passionately.

Messy breathing and even messier kisses shared between you when you felt inside his pants, the outprint of his dick enough to give you animalistic hunger and make your pussy drip with anticipation.

Your lips only disconnected to take yours and his top off, you could tell Daichi was more on the slow passionate lover side and normally you would be happy to comply, however now both of you needed the contact frantically.

He stared at your boobs for a moment before attacking your nipples and putting his hand on your pussy again, now inserting a finger with ease and moaning with you when you finally freed his dick and started stroking.

Saying Daichi was good just with his fingers would be an understatement, this man knew exactly was he was doing to touch the right spot every time, so fine that he found your g spot with a simple finger, all while getting distracted with his own pleasure.

‘‘Daichi’‘you moaned his name, wanting him to look at you, and so he did ‘‘I need your dick inside me now’‘another moan interrupted your words.

‘‘I can make you cum with my fingers too, baby’‘

‘‘But I´m sure your dick feels better’‘

He smiled, lust on his eyes, and removed his hand to take his pants off and let you finish undressing as well, but to your surprise, he didn´t go back on top of you right after.

‘‘You can have my dick, but we’ll do it my way, sounds good?’‘he said, taking a condom from the back pocket of his pants and putting it on.

‘‘Yes’‘you didn´t care at all, his way it was if it meant him fucking you already.

‘‘Ok, turn to your side, beautiful’‘

You happily complied, laying on your right side as he got behind you, his torso against your back so you felt his erection brushing your ass. You let him move you, left leg slightly lifted up over his enough to line up his dick with your entrance.

First he entered slowly, adjusting so you both would be comfortable and then put his arm under your left arm, giving himself plenty of freedom to grab your boobs or neck however he pleased.

‘‘For the love of god, Daichi, move’‘you pleaded, desperate to feel him more.

‘‘Hush baby, I will’‘he moaned into your ear, biting the lobe.

And just like that he started moving, so painfully slow but so good, the angle drove you crazy with every stroke, like he wanted you to feel every vein and detail of his dick inside you. You wanted to scream, to beg for him to fuck you harder, senseless, but at the same time no one ever fucked you this good with so low effort before.

It was obvious that overstimulation was rising, his hand playing with your nipples and teeth biting your shoulder just to tease, you felt him smile against your skin every time you moaned in frustration.

‘‘What do you say’‘his sinful tone against your ear again, breathy and controlling ‘‘should I move faster?’‘

‘‘Oh g...’‘you tried to respond, silenced by a hard thrust.

‘‘Tell me, beautiful, I´ll do what you want’‘mocking you he slammed hard again, electricity running all over you.

‘‘Yes!’‘

No need to say more, as soon as you spoke, Daichi moved his hand to hold your hip in place and started pistoning inside you even harded than before, making your vision hurry, moaning behind you as the sound of skin slapping together filled the room.

The neighbours must’ve been shocked at your screams, they were surprising to you too.

At that moment you wished this date happened earlier if you knew he fucked this good, his name was a good one to moan.

Release came fast, both of you ending up a sweaty, exhausted mess and your pussy feeling empty when he slid out and got up, coming back in seconds without the condom on and laying back down to hold you,

‘‘You should stay the night’‘he said, voice tired and husky, leaving a trail of lazy kisses on your shoulder.

‘‘I don´t have any comfy clothes’‘you said, caressing little circles on his arm.

‘‘I can give you one of my shirts, or my jersey if you want’‘

‘‘That sounds perfect’‘

‘‘We should shower, although I don´t promise not to be tempted to make love to you again if we do it together’‘

‘‘I am not complaining’‘

He laughed, like music to your ears, and that night, was the first of many you spent next to Daichi.

#Daichi x reader #daichi smut #daichi sawamura #daichi scenario #daichi imagine #hq smut #hq scenario #hq x reader #haikyuu smut #haikyuu x reader smau #haikyuu imagine #haikyuu headcanons #hq headcanons #daichi x reader smut #fem!reader

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bumblewarden · 2 years ago

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ok so it's a bit late to the party, and my ao3 has had a few additions since this last chapter went up, but i've been wanting to look at some numbers, so here are some i just collected ^^

Diagram A. Top Five by Word Count. "Rites of Passage" had a final word count of 30,069 (nice). This makes it my longest fic by a large margin and about triple what I expected when i first started drafting it. Mostly, i just love how it looks just squishing everything else that tries to creep its way onto this list. Maybe someday it'll have some proper word count competition!

Diagram B. Cumulative Lengths of Fanfiction. "Rites of Passage" is the single longest fanfic on my account and accounts for just over half of total word count across my entire account. "Aftermath of a Tabris" is the series "Rites of Passage" is sorted under. "Novhen Tabris: Excised from Canon" is the sister series to that for the fics that are specifically AUs to "Aftermath of a Tabris".

Footnote B-1. The "Aftermath of a Tabris" category excludes "Rites of Passage" from its word count on this chart.

Footnote B-2. The "Dragon Age" category excludes "Rites of Passage", "Aftermath of a Tabris", and "Excised from Canon" from its word count on this chart.

Diagram C. Word Count Before and After Editing. Divided by chapter from "Rites of Passage". First draft is defined as the first point at which the individual chapter was completed. The original Chapter 3 was removed completely from the final fic, so the chapter numbers from after that point actually reflect the chapter number before that in the final published work (eg. What here is listed as Chapter 5 is in the final version Chapter 4). The majority of chapters became slightly longer after the editing process with the exceptions of Chapter 3 which was deleted and Chapter 10 which was shortened.

Diagram D. Rites of Passage Word Counts by Chapter. Here is the numerical data Diagram C uses for its chart. This version of the data also includes the calculated percent change between the two points. As sometimes Ao3 and Google Docs sometimes differ in their reported word counts, it is worth noting, the numbers used for the chapter-by-chapter analysis come from the word count tool in Google Docs.

Diagram E. Final Chapter Word Counts. Here we are back to labeling the chapters with the same numbers as in the published fic. Chapter 7 felt like a long one writing it, but it's interesting to me to see just what a big percent of the fic it takes up

---

thanks for looking at numbers with me! this is my favorite part of bringing a big project like this to completion (but hey i wouldn't be mad if you wanted to give it a read and leave a kudos either XD)

It is finally time for the Joining and the conclusion of this story! I’m sure everything will be fine :D

#playing with numbers

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yaboylevi · 4 years ago

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Shingeki no Kyojin's Ending Interview (May 2021)

Translation commissioned by @goldsword07, DO NOT REPOST in full, always include credits and a link to this post if you use or share any parts of it.

Question: Congratulations on completing Shingeki no Kyojin’s serialization! How do you feel now that you have finished writing the final chapter?

Isayama: There’s still some work left to do when it comes to putting together the final manga volume*, so I don’t actually know how a “life without deadlines" feels like yet (laughs), but by publishing the final chapter, I feel like I can finally breathe again. However, there are still several things that need to be done.

(*Translator’s note: usually, putting together a volume includes: fixing drawing mistakes, sometimes even redrawing certain scenes if the author wasn’t satisfied with how they looked/their composition, fixing text (both wording or simply changing the Japanese characters used), drawing omake/extra pages, like the High School Caste fake previews, which usually take up 2 pages, and so on. So, of the 8 extra pages he mentions below, probably only 6 at max will be used to add new original story content.)

Q: What?! What else is there to be done?

Isayama: At first, the draft for the last page of the chapter was neatly divided into 5 panels, but I was feeling quite indecisive about it. At the time, that last page was a scene of 3 people running towards a tree on a hill. After having a meeting about that with Bakku-san and my other editors, I decided on a last-minute change, and I turned it into the one that is now published in Bessatsu Shonen Magazine. The limit for each printed chapter in Bessatsu Magazine was 51 pages, but since up to 8 extra pages can be added in manga volumes, I want to finish up everything that I couldn’t draw in the printed magazine and add it in the final manga volume.

Q: As for the serialization, which spanned 11 years and a half, have there been any changes about the way you think about mangas?

Isayama: Up until recently, I had drawn as if sexism wasn’t a thing, but when drawing the Marleyan military, which was comparatively more modern, if I had added, with no explanation whatsoever, female soldiers like I did for Paradis Island, it could’ve given the impression that Marley was quite a developed nation. It would’ve felt out of place. That’s why, as long as I was drawing a story set in an era of the past, I couldn’t draw female characters as part of the top brass of the military, because it would’ve meant acting as if there was no actual history of gender discrimination at the time.

It might be a story set in a fictitious world, but if you don’t connect it in some ways to the real world, it could end up becoming a story people cannot relate to.

Q: The unraveling of events that led to the final chapter has been quite shocking. Especially when it comes to Eren…

Isayama: I have been frenetically checking any and all reactions to that. There are as many honest opinions as there are people, and they’re all correct. With how I portrayed that part, it’s not so strange that it was interpreted as if Armin accepted the massacre. My portrayal was lacking. Armin didn’t approve of the despicable measures taken by Eren, but he ended up benefiting from the mass slaughter, regardless of his intentions. Armin, who couldn’t possibly understand Eren, faced their last farewell with a firm “Thank you for becoming a mass murderer for us”, essentially conveying how he himself was also an accomplice. He wanted to feel closer to Eren, even if just a little. I realized the final stage in particular had too difficult themes, and my portrayal was inadequate. I deeply regret that I wasn’t able to fully express them in the manga proper.

I’ve been drawing this manga for 11 years and a half, and when I completed the manuscript I truly believed that “everyone will be happy with this”. I was conceited. I apologize to those who have supported me until the end but have felt let down by the ending.

Q: During these 11 years and a half of serialization, have there been any memorable events?

Isayama: I’m happy that I could deepen the relationship with my assistants, as “manga friends”. When the serialization started, everyone was in their twenties, but now some of them are married and have even become parents, and we have become close family friends.

Q: Was the manga becoming an anime a memorable moment, too?

Isayama: The anime adaptation can certainly be considered another part of Shingeki no Kyojin. Lots of people got to know this story through watching the anime. Personally, it was refreshing for me too, as I could experience the story anew. In addition to that, the characters were taken out of my hands - in a good way - by the directors and voice actors, they began moving as independent “existences”. It was a first and interesting experience.

Q: Do you have a favorite scene?

Isayama: As far as drawings go, the scene I like the most is the one in chapter 104, “Victors”, when the Jaw Titan claws at the Attack Titan. Besides the fact that I feel like I can’t draw anything better than that, there also haven’t been that many action scenes with titans after chapter 104.

Q: Well then, what about your best chapter?

Isayama: One of them is chapter 71, “Bystander”. I feel like that chapter exceeded my abilities at the time. I like the way it doesn’t feel like “Shingeki no Kyojin”, as the spotlight was on the life of a single character who isn’t involved with the original story.

Q: Chapter 69, “Friends”, also depicts some characters’ personal life.

Isayama: I like that chapter, too! At the time of drawing its draft, I flattered myself with words such as “Uh? Aren’t I so mature?!”. Normally, I would draw the main story’s continuation, but in chapters 69 and 71’s case, it felt like I was drawing stories that were complete on their own.

Q: With the start of the Marley arc in chapter 91, “The other side of the ocean”, both titans and modern times’ weapons made an appearance in battle.

Isayama: That battle scene was the time I had the most fun while drawing mangas, I was in a state of total concentration and full energy.

Q: How has Shingeki no Kyojin been for you?

Isayama: It’s as if youth has come a bit late, a third of my life has been packed into this work. …Of course, there have been hard times, too, but it’s been a chapter of my life that normally you wouldn’t be able to experience and even now I struggle to think it was real. Although I’ve been spoiled by my readers, I had planned to draw all the while accepting even harsh opinions.

Q: Finally, a message to the readers, please!

Isayama: Through Shingeki no Kyojin, I could connect with an unfathomable number of people. I’ve been happy to share this time of my life with my readers, which is something that, if I had had a normal life, I would have never experienced.

Also, now that the serialization is over, I have been freed, so I want to stroll around a small city with a can of One Cup sake in one hand. That’s what I would call freedom.

#shingeki no kyojin #isayama hajime #armin arlert #eren yeager #snk official #snk translations #vivitranslates #snk spoilers

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oivsyo · 3 years ago

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I was scrolling through Twitter and it’s your birthday? Happy birthday if that’s the case! You don’t know how nice it is to have such a talented artist as part of the fandom :)

And totally off topic, but I was wondering if you also write? Some of the background stories behind your art are totally fic worthy

Yeap, January 28 was my B-day :) Thank you so much! It's a pleasure to contribute to the NejiHina community and to know that my art reaches the shippers’ hearts!

I wish I could write. I have skills in text-editing and translation (this is exactly what I was taught at university), but I’ve never been good at creating fictional texts from scratch. I have a vivid imagination and plenty of ideas, but I can’t turn it into a complete fanfic even in my native language and writing in English only makes it even a greater challenge that takes a lot of time.It’s kinda my personal tragedy, because many of my ideas are left unrealized and it literally burns my desire to create out but I keep trying to improve, ahaha.

Here is a really long text below, but if you are a ficwriter, you may be interested =)

Since I returned to NejiHina a year ago I started thinking about my own version of the story and writing down some ideas.

For now I have ideas for a half ‘canon compliant’ and a half ‘fix-it/canon divergent' headcanon, I‘ve already written 30+ pages of notes and I keep working on it. I conditionally divide the events into three large parts, starting with the Chūnin exam (probably) and developing the story till MCs are ~30+ yo in the epilog. At the moment I have a draft of about half (?) of the planned events, I’m still not sure what will happen after the end of the war. However I know how the story should end, I already have an outline for the final chapter.

My headcanon has Neji, Hinata, Hiashi and Kō as 4 main chars and POVs that show different time periods, sides of the story and problems that face different clan’s members and the clan itself. There probably will also be Hizashi (for flashbacks), my OC, Naruto and team Gai and team 8 members as occasional POVs.

I adjusted many canon things such as chronology, timeline, and secondary characters' motivation and details about their bio. I’d like to add such things as traditions, folklore, religion, make hierarchy and political structure clearer for I’m sure that can make the story more mature and wholesome. I've always considered NejiHina to be a mature ship that has various layers in it, not only romance and emotions between Neji and Hinata themselves.

My main sources of inspiration are the Game of Thrones universe, The Stormlight Archive saga and The Crown Tv-series (+ infinite number of smaller sources). I’d like to make a darker and more realistic AU, where political intrigues and plotting take place, wars start at the whim of individuals or because of their incompetence and the end of the war doesn’t bring the era of peace. Characters face moral crossroads and die for their beliefs or get killed because of them.

I also have many ideas about extending the Hyūga lore, especially such aspects as their social structure and characters’ powers, physical and chakra abilities. Most of my arts are related to this headcanon so I share some ideas the way I can. Tho I’d love to share even more T_T

Above this I have ideas and plots for at least 5 AUs, including Modern AU, The Last AU, Time Traveling AU, Cyberpunk AU, Runaways AU. These are more like 'I'd love to read this fic', but they are not my first priority.

Moreover I have ideas for several standalone short stories and drabbles, that may or may not be the parts of my main HC.Besides I always end up creating short stories in my head when I draw art, so most of my arts have a context.

I understand that I can't make it all alone, so if there are ficwriters who want to write NejiHina fics and have no ideas - let's discuss! I have a bunch of ideas to share, those that I'll never write myself, but I'd be extremely happy to read them, ahaha.

I also like questions about the Hyūga lore and my HC bc answering such questions is a good opportunity to 1) write down ideas and make them material 2) see where I have incoherencies in my own logic and fix them 3) share my ideas so that they won't be left as disembodied thoughts

Yes, I may need some time answering such questions for reasons I've mentioned above, but I truly enjoy it.

Well, to sum up, I hope to finish at least something from this list someday, gods, preserve me X_X

#nejihina #hyuga headcanon #fic draft #ask

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oh-boy-me · 4 years ago

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I just read both the australia and museum post and the chaos levels are top tier, but like imagine the chaos that ensues if lord diavolo discovers about amusment parks and immediately just buys tickets to disneyland. Lucifer is basically the dad trying not to loose his children(lord diavolo included). Lord diavolo wanting to ride a loopy rollercoaster and just having the time of his life! (Also I highkey see diavolo ordering lucifer to make a disneyland in devildom tbh) Also mouse ear headbands!

This..... this took forever

Hey there anon! Sorry it took literally a year to answer this! If you’re still into Obey Me, I hope this was a pleasant surprise.

Also for the first time ever a scenario post is being put under the cut for length purposes. This scenario is 2.6k words Jesus

Please note that the last time I went to Disney was in 2015, so anything that’s newer than that is taken from the extensive reading of Disney advice blogs I read in preparation for this post. Anything older than that is likely from experience.

Also, I tried my best to keep this spoiler free for the attractions that can be affected by it.

So the Devildom DOES have the concept of amusement parks. I slept on this ask for so long that we’ve learned about Devil’s Coast. It seems to be more akin to a smaller-scale theme park, though. Small-ish. I’m used to NYC idk what constitutes as small.

Something like Disney World is on such a larger scale!! When Diavolo heard about that, he knew they had to go.

They are going to Disney World in Orlando because it’s the only one I’ve been to.

Lucifer is REALLY getting tired of these field trips, but there would be no weird animals, and there would be no sobering lessons on global extinction events at a family-friendly amusement park. He. He can handle this.

Solomon has actually been banned from all Walt Disney theme parks. We’re talking blacklist-level banned. He’s barred from ever entering any Disney park ever again. However, this was back in 1976, so this must be, like, his son or something, right? There’s no way this is the same guy. Thought the security guard who let him in.

What did Solomon do to get banned? When asked, he only gave a curious hum. “Yeah, I wonder.”

The place is split into four parks, so they’ll spend one day in each.

Barbatos continued to flex his power as the only one in the group with a brain cell, being sure to get them all fast passes. He even set time back just for the passes while they were booking the rides they wanted to cut the lines for, so if they don’t get used he’s going to be very snippy.

Also for convenience sake this is taking place in an AU where everything is the same but COVID doesn’t exist to shut down some rides and attractions.

Day 1: Hollywood Studios

MC and Simeon basically have to coerce Lucifer into letting everyone run free instead of making them all line up with a walking rope all day. He relents on the condition that everyone checks in periodically so he can at least know they haven’t killed anyone.

Nobody will check in except for maybe Beelzebub and those at Purgatory Hall.

Levi immediately gathered his fellow Star Wars fans (which basically meant calling over Mammon Belphie and Asmo and then pulling in two unsuspecting people suddenly given the title of “Star Wars fan”), and made a beeline for Galaxy’s Edge. There’s a LOT to do there and damn it if he wasn’t going to hit all of it.

First up for their group is the interactive Millennium Falcon Smuggler’s Run. They fail the mission. Levi’s pretty pissed, but everyone agrees that it was fun nonetheless. They really felt like they were doing a mission in the Falcon! Plus, the gameplay element was totally up the alley of most of this group. Simeon does feel a little nauseous from Luke’s jerky steering, though.

Did you know that Diavolo loves Toy Story? He does. He’s very much enjoying the Slinky roller coaster with Barbatos.

Barbatos would rather be spending time at the shows and performances, but oh no god forbid we don’t get an autograph from Doc McStuffins. Lucifer please come find him and save him.

Lucifer somehow wandered into the Frozen Sing-Along Celebration. He wants out. Barbatos please come find him and save him.

In general, Lucifer isn’t a fan of these sorts of places, so honestly he’s just hiding from the others and waiting for today to be over. Barbatos told him that there are parks that don’t revolve around rides and characters, and he’s holding out for those.

Luckily for them Diavolo wants to do LITERALLY everything, and that does include the shows, so Barbatos and Lucifer can have at least some fun today

Levi, Asmo, and Beel are about to start their relay for getting character autographs when Satan shows up out of nowhere and starts dragging everyone over to the Tower of Terror. Solomon bars all attempts to flee on a certain Avatar of Greed’s side.

The line to the Tower is so long, and honestly? Satan feels like the ride didn’t live up to the literal hour they waited to get on. Like yeah it was fun, but way too short.

He voices those thoughts, and Levi, who Satan knows is afraid of heights, is pretty fucking livid and drags him to Rock n Rollercoaster as revenge. Satan hates roller coasters.

As for the others, Asmo and Luke have a lot of fun on the thrill rides. Mammon and Simeon do not. Beel is a little spooked by them but still manages to have fun, while Belphie and Solomon think they’re alright.

Eventually, Simeon gets too sick to move, and they assign him to Luke. They say it’s because he’s too short to ride some of the rides (even though he’s literally not, screw you guys.)

Barbatos messes with time a lil bit so they can enjoy the Fantasmic Show and Fireworks to wrap the day up.

Levi is very jealous of Diavolo’s Doc McStuffins autograph. Somehow Asmo has Buzz Lightyear’s number.

Day 2: Animal Kingdom

Satan is vibrating

He literally instantly sprints to the Kilimanjaro Safari. And good for him; that’s something best done while the sun isn’t high up. The whole gang actually agrees to check that one out, and while Satan isn’t thrilled to be within 50 feet of Lucifer, he’s glad Simeon is there because he remembers how his presence lured animals out in Australia.

Simeon also finds himself pulled along the trails by Satan and parents watch in horror as a gorilla gives him a friendly pat on the back.

If you didn’t know, Animal Kingdom is divided into the two continents of Asia and Africa, as well as the secret eighth continent Avatar (2009). Diavolo heard great things about the Flight of Passage ride, but he totally forgot to tell Barbatos about it, so they’re stuck on a three hour wait line now.

Levi takes Luke on the Everest roller coaster because Simeon saw it in the distance and looked like he was about to cry. Levi wouldn’t shut up about how the yeti effect needs to be fixed and Solomon had to explain that the effect literally couldn’t support itself.

Simeon, having escaped a roller coaster for the first and only time on this trip, grabs lunch with Lucifer and Solomon and they enjoy the Lion King performance together. Solomon’s the only one of them who’s seen the movie, but the others still found it fun. Solomon keeps making up random plot points that don’t exist, though. Remember when Simba was captured by pirates?

Mammon found the Bugs Life show very scary. Normally Asmo would laugh at him, but he’s afraid of any bug he’s never seen before and at least Mammon was afraid of the things that were supposed to get you. They agree that bugs are still not their friends.

Satan has many things to say about the Dinosaur ride and most of them aren’t good. Belphie thought it was pretty ok, though. Lucifer can’t believe there was a sobering lesson on a global extinction event at this family-friendly amusement park.

Diavolo is still in line. Barbatos abandons him. He accompanies Luke to the kiddie fossil thing and actually finds it more tolerable. Oh yeah that’s the other secret ninth continent, Dinoland.

Beel and Belphie spend most of the day together at the various petting zoos. Belphie comes back knowing more than he ever wanted to about conservation. He thought Rafiki’s Planet Watch was going to be about watching other planets, not this one!

Asmo gets very interested in the costumes of the performers, as well as the parrots in the bird show. He could probably make some really colorful designs with those as inspiration.

Nearby, Mammon runs into Kevin and squawks in surprise. The zoo staff spend the next two hours trying to find the bird that escaped.

Diavolo says the ride was worth it, don’t worry.

Honestly this park has a lot of stuff that wouldn’t translate well to a funny scenario post so this part might be a little short compared to the others. I can only talk about a zoo for so long.

Anyone remember the Honey I Shrunk the Kids 4D show? Apparently it closed in 2016 to make room for more Star Wars stuff.

Anyway, at the center of it all there’s the Tree of Life, which is really pretty all day. Lucifer is thrilled to have a decently obvious meet-up place, too. They get to catch the brief awakening show at night.

They’re very bummed to learn the Rivers of Light show isn’t happening anymore, so Levi pulls it up on his phone so they can watch it in spirit.

Then Satan learns about the Wilderness Explorers badges and the others spend the rest of the time preventing too much collateral damage over the fact that nobody told him.

Day 3: Epcot

Finally, Lucifer thinks. Boo, Luke thinks.

Beel didn’t expect this park to be that interesting to him (he’s much more into the wonder and immersion of Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom), but then he learned about the restaurants. China, Norway, France, Mexico, Germany, Morocco, Italy, Japan, Canada--Canada? Huh. Canada. There’s so many different restaurants from so many cuisines to try, and yeah he knows that it’s definitely not the same as going to the place and it’s overpriced (sorry Lucifer), but it’s all right there. He makes certain to take MC on a deluxe Epcot restaurant tour.

Oh yeah MC. That’s the first time we’ve heard from them in a while. They’re doing whatever you want them to I guess.

Levi buys so much from the Japanese gift shops that he has to go back to the hotel for a bit to drop his bags off.

Satan and Diavolo aren’t much better, but their stashes are more varied.

Also, Diavolo found Mouse Gear, and bought everyone a pair of ears. Lucifer says that everyone has to keep them on because it’s what Lord Diavolo wants, but he is by far the most upset about them. Mammon snaps a picture and Lucifer throws his DDD into the lake.

Asmo and Belphie decide they’re gonna take it easy this day, and they nab Solomon and Barbatos for some exhibition hopping.

Luke finds Mission Space and please father no Simeon thought he was safe he thought he was safe here no please

Aside from that, though, Luke honestly finds this part of the park boring. He’d have been more interested in these attractions elsewhere, but as a kid he’s in Disney for roller coasters and Mickey Mouse.

Simeon is very grateful that Luke doesn’t have much that he wants to do, because it means that he can enjoy the Gran Fiesta and Living with the Land boat rides and have a single moment where he doesn’t feel like he’s about to be sick. He’s not even afraid of the rides; he just gets motion sick easily.

Asmo makes sure to see the Chinese acrobat show, and Mammon catches that with the show-hopping gang since there isn’t much he wants to do here either.

Epcot has alcohol and Solomon hasn’t been able to drink in ages so he really wants to spend some time doing that with MC. No demons allowed, thank you very much. He doesn’t hold his liquor as well as he’d like you to believe, but he just gets really talkative when drunk so it’s ok.

Epcot is a nice day to take a breather and Lucifer and Barbatos definitely needed a breather before tomorrow.

Day 4: Magic Kingdom

This is the day Diavolo has been waiting for. The crème de la crop, the best park for kids and kids in a future king of the Devildom’s body.

Also I feel like now is a good time to mention that this probably isn’t a reasonable order of events because I don’t remember the map layout of these places idk Disney city planning

This time. This time, Levi, Asmo and Beel are gonna get those autographs, dammit. Levi doesn’t even know who half of these characters are but hell if he’s not getting their autograph.

Mammon actually really loves the mascots too, but he’s embarrassed about it so he’ll only try to get one if he can use the guise of MC wanting one. MC, please help him out

Belphie isn’t big on rides, but he does have a soft spot for the more retro ones like Dumbo and Seven Dwarves. And like I said before, Beel loves Magic Kingdom for its wonder. So Belphie is perfectly happy being led (read: piggybacked) around by Beel today, because their favorite attractions match up pretty well here.

Actually, Beel’s favorite Disney movie is Lilo and Stitch, but. RIP Stitch’s Great Escape ride 2004-2018

Diavolo and Lucifer take a moment to enjoy the Carousel of Progress, and they reflect on how much the Human World is always changing and how much about it they still don’t know. It really does make them think, like. Grandma found the VR games at Christmas! The Devildom doesn’t have grandmas!

Mammon is terrified of the Haunted Mansion ride, and Satan has literally never felt so much schadenfreude in his life.

Mammon’s afraid of most rides to be fair, but he likes water rides, so Levi eventually takes pity on him and they go on Splash Mountain together more than once.

The Peter Pan ride broke down

Luke wanted to go on Space Mountain and Simeon was the only one around, so. RIP Simeon ????-2021

Diavolo was That Guy. If you know, you know.

Beel accidentally spun the teacups way too fast. Not even Solomon got out of that one unscathed.

Following that, Solomon manages to drag Barbatos onto the Jungle Cruise while Lucifer is busy. What is Lucifer busy with? Riding the Buzz Lightyear shooting ride over and over until he hits every single target and gets a perfect score at a Disney ride, something that is normal to want and possible to achieve. Anyway, Barbatos finds it really charming and Solomon finds it a nice break that he didn’t know he needed.

While looking for a food place that sells water for a reasonable price, a kid runs up to Asmo asking for a picture and autograph. He’s kind of confused, but goes along with it to make the kid happy.

Turns out, Asmo’s so naturally charming that they mistook him for a prince. Other groups see that family and follow suit. Mammon eventually catches wind of it and shows up to charge a fee. The parents are pretty sure Disney doesn’t charge fees like that, but their kids really want a pic with Asmo so they hand over the two bucks. (“Oh it’s so low” come on Mammon’s not a dick to children.)

And that’s the story of how Mammon and Asmo ended up in Disney Jail. You’re very much not allowed to pretend to be a cast member and then charge money for it. Lucifer has to bail them out as their “guardian,” and as punishment they aren’t allowed to opt out of It’s a Small World.

Small World isn’t that bad imho, and those like Diavolo, Satan, Simeon, and Levi would like it a lot. But Lucifer has been playing parent all day, Belphie does not like the noise, and Solomon has literally been on this ride at least fifty times. Very mixed feelings on this one, but it feels fitting to end with that and a fireworks show.

All in all though this wasn’t the worst trip Lucifer’s been on (cue everyone applauding for some reason).

Barbatos by far had the least fun of them all because for four days he was stuck in a park where the mascot is a fucking rodent and he wasn’t allowed to annihilate Mickey Mouse where he stood

“Disneyland Devildom when” “Lord Diavolo, no”

Masterlist

#obey me #obey me headcanons #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me diavolo #obey me barbatos #obey me luke #obey me simeon #obey me solomon #my favorite park is def epcot and my favorite ride is def splash mountain #also my sister helped me out by reminding me about animal kingdom but most of her photos were of random birds

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dailymeruem · 4 years ago

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How much does Meruem weigh?

Being a fan of a particular series or character means you want to know everything you can about them, even when certain information is not explicitly stated. Although we are privileged to follow Meruem from his conception to his death, there is still a lot of information we are not given about him. One such mystery is his weight!

Fellow Meruem lover and colleague Lurm (Wicked_witchart - Insta, TikTok) has done some casual sleuthing and maths, and has come up with a reasonable estimate as to how much Meruem would weigh!

I have received permission to share that info with you here, so if you would like to find out how much mass is contained in this tiny chunk of man, read on!

First of all, as noted at the outset, we are never given official specific physical stats in the manga by Togashi or in the anime. There is Meruem’s entries in the HxH guidebook(s), but the credibility of the guidebooks is often debated. Thus, these findings are by no means canon, but are a fun estimate that might add to your appreciation of the character, or could help members of the HxH fandom in fanfic, rp or art endeavors!

To begin, we will be establishing some base estimates regarding one thing we have a better idea about: Meruem’s height. This will be the base of our weight calculations, as you shall see.

Again, Meruem’s exact height is not stated in canon, but we do have 2 clues: the HxH Guidebooks, and comparing his height visually to characters we do know the exact height of. I won’t be getting into finding all that here, that’s another topic, but I will be using these two sources for my base height estimate:

This video that was put together by a fan based on speculation and the HxH guidebooks;

and this chart made by a fan on Reddit based on the same sources.

Based on these, we came to the conclusion that a relatively acceptable estimate for Meruem’s height would be 169cm (nice), or 5′5″. Short King!

Step 1: Base Assumptions

This brings us to the beginning of our calculations. Before we figure out his main body weight, we need to consider one very important extremity: his tail.

Starting from our base assumption of Meruem’s height, we are going to attempt to decipher the length, diameter, and then volume of Meruem’s tail. We can then figure out how much his tail would weigh, which we can add to his total body weight at the end!

Fig 1.1 is our base assumptions for our calculations. Using Meruem’s head as a measuring guide, we see he is approximately 6 heads tall.1/6th of 169cm = 28.2cm, so we will use that figure as a Head Height.

To figure out his tail width, we will take these things into consideration:

his tail is made up of 10 segments

each segment seems to be around the width of his hand (measuring the segment width vertically down the tail)

2 measurements of Meruem’s hand width = 1 Meruem head height

With this info, we can conclude that Meruem’s tail is about 5 Heads long, or 5/6ths of Meruem’s full height. Subtracting the Head Height from the Full Height will give us the tail length:

Full Height (169cm) - Head Height (28.2cm) = 140.8cm Tail Length

We will use this measurement next to find out how much the tail would weigh!

Step 2: Tail Volume

Fig 1.2 is going to help us visualize how we find the diameter of Meruem’s tail in order to plug it into our calculation.

Looking at official Meruem art for the anime (which is what we are using for this research as anime refs tend to be more consistent), his tail appears to have the same approximate diameter as Meruem’s face, from his chin up to the “brim” of his hat.

We have to rely on eyeballing for this, and this boy has a big noggin, so we are going to be generous and say that the diameter of his tail is 1/2 of his head height, to allow for the rest of his head, the height of which is depicted often inconsistently, even in the anime.

1/2 of Head Height (28.2cm)= 14.1cm Tail Diameter

We now have the Tail Length and Diameter. Now the math begins.

The tail is a cylinder, so we will be using the formula for the volume of a cylinder- V = πr2h

Radius = 14.1 (Diameter of Tail) divided by 2 = 7.05 Tail Radius

V= πr2h = π·7.052·140.8 ≈ 21985.21725

V ≈ 21985.22 cm3

So, what do we do with this number?

~~~

Step 3: Tail Weight

When thinking about weight, you need to think of *what* is making up that weight. In humans, aside from fat, a major factor in weight is skeletal muscle.

As you may know, muscle is quite dense, and for a being of Meruem’s power, I’m sure he has a lot of it. Judging by the speed, power and precision that Meruem can swing his tail around, it’s safe to say that thing is probably entirely muscle mass. We are going to figure out the weight of Meruem's tail using it's volume measurement and the weight measurement of skeletal muscle per cm3!

> OBJECTION!!!! <

But Beamie!, you may exclaim, Meruem is an ant! He doesn’t have a skeleton! But remember, Meruem was made up of entirely human genetic material. He’s not all human, but he is also not all bug. I am going to quote Lurm directly here as they explain their reasoning:

I would argue that he does have an inner skeleton

His hands don't seem to have any junctions, and his face has too much free movement and is too smooth to be made of such hard material

But at the same time it's not floppy meaning he has something on the inside keeping it together

For me it makes no sense for him to have lighter bones (like birds) cause he needs the structure to keep his body erect and suspend his helmet, also higher risk of fractures which we have seen he's very resistant against

Also also he has a freaking big ass, muscular TAIL which probably adds quite a few kilos to his total

For the reasons above, we are going to go with the assumption that Meruem does indeed have some sort of inner skeleton, as a supplement to his exoskeletal parts.

Back to the calculation. Skeletal muscle weighs 1.04 gram per cubic centimeter. So to find out how much the tail weighs, we are going to multiply this weight by the volume we figured out in the last step.

1.04g/cm3 x 21985.22 cm3 = 22864.63g

Tail Weight = 22.9 (50.4lbs)

That’s one heavy tail!

~~~

Step 4: Body Weight

Almost there! This is the section where we are going to do the most estimating. Meruem is not a tube we can easily find the volume of like his tail, so the closest thing we can do is compare his body to a human male of the same stature.

Looking up average body weights of a healthy human male of 169cm, the ideal range is between 57.1kg (125.8) and 71.4kg (157.4lbs) . Because Meruem’s is most likely entirely muscle, we are going to go with the highest number here to cover our bases. This is a dense chunk of ant man.

With the body weight of 71.4kg, the final piece of our puzzle is the exoskeleton. We have no way of knowing a)precisely how much exoskeleton we are talking, and b) how much it would weigh, as we don’t know how thick it is. There is no real way to measure the weight of a real bug’s exoskeleton either, aside from weighing molted skins or something. The best we can do is to compare the material of an exoskeleton (chitin) to something similar. Keratin might be the closest we can get.

Lurm came up with the ballpark number of 5kg (11lbs) for the exoskeleton weight through their science ways and I don’t know about all of you, but that sounds reasonable to me.

Total Body Weight= 71.4kg (157.4lbs) + 5kg (11lbs) = 76.4kg (168.4lbs)

~~~

Final Results

Meruem’s total weight:

Body Weight 76.4kg (168.4lbs) + Tail Weight = 22.9 (50.4lbs)

99.3 kg (219 lbs)

Solid, but still within lifting range. If you worked out, you could carry him bridal-style. Can’t knock this boy over with a pail of water. He can sit on your lap but your legs might fall asleep/need amputating. Nice!

I hope you enjoyed this scientific journey!! Over-analyzing anime characters is what we do best here at DailyMeruem. Peace!

#hxh #hunter x hunter #meruem #meta post #meta #science time here on the blog again! please enjoy

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unpopularly-opinionated · 4 years ago

Link

I don’t play WoW but I used to play Overwatch and Diablo and this touches on just the general issues that are inside of Activision Blizzard right now regarding the major decline of World of Warcraft and how they’re losing to Final Fantasy XIV, how if the latest WoW expansion or Overwatch 2 flop as they’re projected to do then Blizzard’s most definitely going to pivot almost entirely to mobile games, and how the differences in age demographics are actually dividing the company into multiple camps.

It’s important to note two things: 1) this could be fake but also 2) the link came from Grummz, a former team lead on WoW and producer on Diablo II and Starcraft. It still could be fake despite this, but if he’s sharing it then I feel like there’s at least some measure of truth in this.

Transcription below in case this gets deleted and/or you don’t wanna click the link. Warning, it’s fairly long.

“I’m dropping this here after getting chewed out for three hours over shit the chewee did at work so fuck it. Assume larp and let me vent.”

>Shadowlands is a shitshow. Critical response, Player drop off and just about every engagement metric outside of cash shop have been catastrophic. No higher up expected this because of their “we are too big to fail, if we built it they will come” mentality. They refuse to accept their focus on the world being a begrudged mechanic to funnel players to raiding is not appealing to the player base at large because it appeals to them. They have spent the last 4 months trying to course correct but there is no solid direction and the response to 9.1 has only made things worse.

>Sylvanas is planned to replace the Arbiter despite so many people in the company and god knows how many online saying this would be a total replication of Kerrigans storyline in Starcraft 2 that killed none competitive interest in the brand entirely and you can only go “no, no they WILL like it eventually” for so many real world years before its time to change course. Thus far that has not happened.

>The elephant in the room is FFXIV. To the people in charge they are acting like this came out of nowhere and don’t even seem to understand why its drawing players away in their tens of thousands. We have all tried to highlight things it is doing that are clearly appealing to an mmo audience and not, in my opinion, focussing more on mobile game style retention traps to keep MAU users and habit forming personalities logging in. Its not that they don’t care. They just seem so pig headed and digging their heels in with their fingers in their ears thinking all the problems will go away because WoW is “too big to fail”, there will never be real competition and “they will keep coming back”. But they aren’t coming back anymore. Not in the numbers they used to.

>The people making the spending choices know this. The new model for WoW is market the hell out of a expansion pack for a huge quarter then use 6 month lock ins to pad numbers for the quarters after that. Even if corona had not happened 9.1 still would have been dropping after the initial 6 month subs expired to “keep the chain holding”.

>The mood in the company is tense but also very much “its just a rough transition period”. Activision has been pushing hard for Blizzard to release more regular product and to generate more income per user. As far as i know this is going to be a transition over the next 5 years to a much larger mobile/tablet gaming focus. By all accounts not just WoW but Overwatch was intended to be the moneymaker in the interim but once again someone had the bright idea to kill a game casual players loved on the alter of e-sports hoping for another Brood War. From what i hear the “told you so’s” were loud and a lot of people walked beyond Kaplan.

>The sentiment that was shared quietly in private but being spoken more often is simply that the leadership at Blizzard are not bad people, nor incompetent people but people who had to fill seats left when the old guard jumped ship wether they were suited for it or not. Brack is a genuinely good man out of his depth, Ion is a fantastic raid designer put in charge of designing a virtual world he has no interest or real ideas for and so on. They have been taking form the roles they excel at to be put in positions where they get to do far less of that purely because there is nobody left with the experience to do so and the trickle down is a lack of concrete direction, ambition and focus.

>2021 has seen the playerbase, media and gaming at large “turn” on WoW to a degree i don’t think the leads in their “positivity dojo” bubble considered possible. Its gone from people going “This is how Blizz needs to fix WoW!” to “WoW is no longer salvageable, time for greener pastures” and i think on some level this was never considered as a possibility so there have never been any major plans beyond the usual “try and minimise player drop off by arranging releases around competitors launching updates/products”. The official forums being filled with talk of FFXIV and worse “why do we actually pay a sub?” hasn’t helped.

>There have been some testing the waters lately from certain higher ups if we can remove the line “No King Rules Forever”. Read into that what you will.

>There are still arguments going on about the Kael’thas Voice actor shitshow. I don’t know much about it but i know its heated, wouldn’t be the first time a knee jerk reaction only seemed to generate bad press. We lost a noticeable amount of pvp engagement after the Swifty thing.

>The Preach interview was treated as a disaster and there was talk of more strongly vetting interviewers for “bad actors” and only engaging with a list of questions Blizzard provides. Some pointed out that could just be used to create some form of Fireside Chat akin to the FFXIV “Live letters” but that fell on deaf ears.

>The two sentiments right now among the team are either “we really need a win” or “theres a dedicated cabal of internet trolls out to kill WoW”. Right now we are crunching hard to get 9.2 ready to wrap up the jailors storyline so we can get an expansion out early 2022. If that doesn’t happen there are talks of major shakeups coming down from Activision that have been threatened for a few years now. Its an all hands on deck feeling thats been around to some degree since the “Is this an out of season April Fools Joke” Blizzcon. A make or break deadline is coming closer and things like Diablo 4 were not planned before then. Blizzard needs a significant win not just in initial profit but consumer goodwill. Nobody likes working at what the public now seems to see as “the bad guy” of the mmo industry.

>This has also made new hires decline. Not significantly but the “you WANT Blizzard on your resume” line doesn’t seem to have the appeal it used to. This has lead to more hiring via friend of a friend, to some rumblings about nepotism, and people severely lacking in experience “because they get great twitter optics”.

>On the topic of Twitter we are not being told to “disengage” from it. Multiple employees like Nervig and Holisky publicly attacking paying customers because they got too heated and couldn’t keep quiet is bad press that could have been avoided. A email reminder has gone around more than once lately stating “if you are not customer relations you should not be representing the company to customers, especially if you cannot remain professional”.

>Lastly the biggest elephant in the room is “yo’ boy” Asmongold. The newer hires cannot stand him. They have used terms like “toxic masculinity” and “dogwhistles to dangerous males” while some of the oldest crowd still remaining have called him “based” or “telling it like it is” which has lead to friction to put it mildly. People are told not to talk about him and the recent FFXIV stuff only made it all worse. The idea that an outside element can have such an effect on the product genuinely upsets people. Like Zach is engaging in some malicious act of cyberwarfare. Many of us have point out the now famous quotes by Naoki Yoshida about understanding that players will drift and we need to make something worth coming back to because they want to but some people for lack of a better word see out customers -or “consumers” as they refer to them nowadays- as some kind of antagonistic relationship where the goal is not being an entertainer putting on a show for a crowd but some kind of game hunter trying to trap a large, profitable kill. I wish i could blame Activision but this is a sentiment from more of the younger crowd than the “tech boomers”. Which personal opinion is probably why so many folks like Metzen and Morheim left.

>Before you ask, yes the topic of “wokeness” has shown up in group talks. Its not all some grand sjw conspiracy, people really do want to feel welcome and represented. However the “we need everything veto’ed by people not working on it to see if its inoffensive and bland enough” rubs some of us the wrong way. Like anything in life you can take something too far and lose sight of the core ideals and with everything gone on since Blitzchung it feels like people are forming little factions to pull people in different directions to decide “What Blizzards identity is now” and how to appeal to new players. There has been some drop offs with “go woke go broke” as the only answer in the survey when unsubbing but honestly we are losing subs in unforseen numbers anyway and still making more money than ever through cash shop “heavy users” so it honestly doesn’t make an impact.

>All in all things are rough right now. Blizzard doesn’t have the love of the customers anymore, is no longer treated as an industry giant and while D4,D2R and Immortal aren’t going to kill Diablo even if they fail the sentiment for World of Warcraft and Overwatch 2 are a lot more tense and stressful. The phrase “it might be good to brush up on your mobile development portfolio if we get another underperformer” has been doing the rounds a lot. If Shadowlands continues its stark decline and Overwatch 2 is looking to underperform like its current projections suggest i think the Blizzard of a few years from now will be imitating King a lot more than trying to learn any lessons from Square Enix’s mmo division.

#random #video games #Blizzard #Activision #WoW #World of Warcraft #Diablo #Overwatch #Starcraft #Activision Blizzard

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florrickandassociates · 4 years ago

Text

TGF Thoughts: 5x10-- And the violence spread.

So, that’s it for season five. I’m still trying to sort out how I feel about the season as a whole and Wackner’s arc. I’m hopeful that writing this will help me decide.

This episode has a Previously, and it’s rather conventional. I’m guessing it’s here to bookend the season, with conveying information being only a secondary objective.

Did we see Rivi scream, “You’re done, Wacko, you’re done! Canceled! Canceled!” in the last episode or is that new to this previously? I feel like I absolutely would’ve had things to say about a) Wackner being called “Wacko,” which has been RIGHT THERE this whole time, and b) the use of “Canceled,” which is a thing Rivi would never say but is VERY thematic (you know, cancel culture and also Wackner having a TV show and also this being a TV show that’s wrapping up* Wackner’s arc).

* The way things end this episode, I’d say we’re done with Wackner. The Kings have said they aren’t sure about the plan for season six, so never say never, but I think that if we see Wackner again, it will be as part of a different arc.

I went back to 5x09 and while we do see the same shots of Rivi screaming, whatever he’s saying in 5x09 is in Spanish. So either he was saying this in Spanish or the dialogue here is totally new.

I’m a little sad that I knew in advance Robert King had directed this episode, because I want to know how long it would’ve taken me to guess. I’d like to think this first shot, of Diane flopping down on her bed in a very pretty floral print dress, then Kurt flopping down in the opposite direction, would’ve given it away. We usually don’t get shots that are both striking and kinda balanced unless RK’s directing.

This also has some big season three opener vibes—the scene where Diane turns to Kurt and says, “I’m happy,” thus jinxing the entire season.

Diane and Kurt are about to go on vacation, which means, of course, that Diane and Kurt are definitely not about to go on vacation. I’ve watched 12 seasons of this show; I know all the tricks!

If I didn’t get it from the initial staging of the opening shot, the camera panning to Diane and Kurt’s suitcases and then back would’ve been another clue that RK directed. He ALWAYS has the camera in motion.

I love that Diane’s travel outfit is a dress you could wear to a fancy party and a statement necklace. Of course it is.

And if I needed evidence that RK and MK wrote this episode (which I didn’t; it is a finale so I knew they wrote it), Diane quoting Waiting for Godot is a clue there.

I really should read Waiting for Godot, shouldn’t I?

“Wow. Educated and a good lay,” Kurt responds. I know that the political stuff between Diane and Kurt can get more than a little murky, but banter like this reminds me why they stay together and why politics never drive them apart. Also, it’s really nice to see Diane and Kurt have some fun banter that isn’t about politics.

And Diane making kissing noises and asking Kurt to meet her halfway! This just feels like I’m spying on someone’s private life and I love it. Not in a voyeuristic way, since this is actually a little uncomfortably private, but in a, “ah, yes, these do feel like real people” way. This is the kind of “a little goes a long way” character moment I always want more of, and Kings episodes ALWAYS include stuff like this.

And there it is. The phone rings as Diane and Kurt are about to start out for the airport. Diane thinks the call must be for Kurt, but it’s for her. It’s a very flustered Liz, informing her that STR Laurie’s execs are on their way to the office for a surprise visit.

If the Diane/Kurt scene didn’t tell me that Robert King directed, I almost certainly would’ve gotten it from the sudden cut to Liz, walking through the hallways and doing a million things at once with a ton of background noise. No one loves chaos the way Robert King loves chaos.

This episode STRONGLY reminds me of the Wife season five finale. It is equally chaotic and also spins a ton of plates. But, mostly, the similarity I see between the two episodes is that they are both extremely fun and captivating to watch because of how much momentum they have, but everything just feels slightly hollow and not exactly focused on the thing you want to see.

(Shout out to my friend Ryan, who messaged me the 5x22 comparison before I could message it to him!)

I decided I should rewatch the first few minutes of 5x22. I am now 15 minutes into 5x22 of Wife and 2 minutes into 5x10 of Fight. Oops.

Apparently, STR Laurie planned a surprise visit because they heard RL was dysfunctional. You don’t say!

I felt like 5x09 concluded with STR Laurie being won over by Allegra and the RL team, so this is a bit of a surprising place to start the episode. But, since Diane seems surprised too, I’ll allow it.

Now Liz and Diane have 90 minutes to agree on a financial plan! Kurt’s on the phone with the airline before Diane even hangs up with Liz.

Diane is determined not to lose out on her vacation and asks Kurt to change the flight to 8:00. “Kurt, we are going on this vacation if it kills me!” is a line I would worry was foreshadowing on basically any other show.

The RL/STRL PowerPoint template is pretty ugly. They want to call 2021 their best year yet, thanks to the deal between Rivi and Plum Meadow Farms we saw last week. Even though we saw champagne and signatures, the deal isn’t done yet because Plum Meadow can back out if Rivi goes to jail.

RK also loves close-ups more than any other director on the show; I do not love close-ups.

The Plum Meadow deal is such a big deal that for the quarter, they go from $45 million to $5 million without it. They should just not say numbers. I can believe it’s big enough to take them from a modest profit to being behind projections or whatever, but I can’t believe that they have $5 million in other business and $40 million on this one deal.

It seems that Rivi was arrested. I don’t think it is ever said in this episode why. I assume the arrest relates to his behavior in Wackner’s court, since there were police officers there, and I suppose that Rivi is a big enough deal the police would actually take him to real court, but are we not going to address the weirdness of Rivi being arrested in a fake court where his employees are being tried, then taken to a real court by the same people who just an episode ago were disillusioned with real court? This seems like a plot point.

Carmen on a frantic phone call in the backseat of a car feels very 7x22.

Who is James that Carmen has in her contacts!? And why does everyone always put Liz in their contacts as “Elizabeth Reddick” when everyone calls her Liz?

Carmen calls Marissa to go argue in Vinetta’s court since she’s on Rivi duty. Carmen doesn’t take Marissa’s job in Wackner’s court seriously and then notes that this instruction is coming straight from Liz, so Marissa falls in line.

Wackner’s case of the week is about rural Illinois wanting to form its own state separate from Chicago. There’s a farmer who feels like his tax money is only going to the big city and he wants it to stay in his community.

They’ve just now added stage lighting to the set of Wackner Rules, dunno why they wouldn’t have done that earlier!

I don’t know what standing you’d have to have to bring a case about wanting to divide the state in two to court, or if this is even something a court would or should decide, but, sure, Wackner and Cord, go for it. There are no rules!

This map splitting Illinois into two new states that Cord is holding is a dumb prop because Galena, where this farmer is from, is in the same section as Chicago. Do I pause every reference to Chicago on this show and then google information to see if the writers bothered to look it up or pretend they’ve ever set foot in Chicago? You know I do.

“Secession!” the audience screams. Does the audience of Wackner Rules really want to see this?

A Good Fight Short! And it really is short: “Stop this obsession with secession and breaking up the Union. It’s boring and it’s dumb, end of song.” I feel like that’s the thesis statement for this episode, or one of them (that this episode seems to have about ten thesis statements is kind of my problem with this episode, tbh). This episode is very much about danger of things becoming too fractured—the COTW, the copycat courts, the firm drama—and I feel like the writers come around to just saying no, this is enough, we need structure and consistency.

But more on that later. MUCH more on that later.

Marissa is swearing more because “the world has required it.” She notes this to Wackner as she calls him out on the secession case. Cord barges in.

Take a look at the employee of the month poster on the back of the door at 5:39. Then at 5:40, look at what’s in the box just to the right of the center of the screen: it’s an employee of the month poster with Wackner on it! Cute easter egg. (Would Marissa definitely notice this and have questions? Yes. Is this here as a cute easter egg for eagle-eyed fans? Almost certainly.)

“Insane is just one step away from reality if you get people to believe, and you know what makes people believe? TV.” Cord explains when Marissa asks how they can possibly be litigating this case. That’s thesis statements two and three, folks. The first is that if you get people to believe, then anything is possible, which sounds like a tagline for a Disney movie but is actually super dangerous; the second is that reality TV is a way to persuade people and change opinions.

So we’ve got: (1) Factions are bad. (2) People are persuadable and the rules don’t actually matter. (3) Reality TV changes minds. Let’s see if there are more.

(Yes, these theses do kind of add up to a whole—The rules don’t matter, so if you persuade people, through reality tv, you get factions of people believing their own sets of rules and facts—but what I'm interested in tracking throughout this episode is how well the writers actually bring these theses together.)

(And this is setting aside that key themes in previous episodes, that I think many of us were looking for resolution on, included outlining the flaws with the extant “real” justice system and exploring the role of prison in the justice system. From this episode, I don’t think the writers ever intended to really tackle either of those issues. That’s fine—I'm not sure that TGF has something to say about prison abolition and I don’t want a thought experiment where the writers actually try to fix the legal system—but feels a bit disjointed. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, but 5x08 and 5x09 needed to do a better, clearer job of setting up this finale. The key themes of Wackner’s arc were always present, but they needed to slowly narrow the scope so the resolution felt inevitable and clear. Instead, we spent time on things like parking spaces (when we could’ve had a real plot about how Wackner’s court gains legitimacy through violence, incarceration, and playing on people’s frustration with the real systems) and Del’s focus groups (when we could’ve instead done a plot about Wackner gaining fans who wanted to use his methods to do ill). Everything I just mentioned in the parentheticals is in the show! It’s not subtext! We see it all! We see Cord use violence and prisons to enforce Wackner’s rulings; we see the cops turn to Wackner out of frustration; we see that the people drawn to Wackner Rules and to Wackner’s court are increasingly sounding more and more like right-wing populists! I can’t be too hard on this arc because, again, all these ideas are there. I’m not coming up with them on my own!)

I’m just saying: this ending would’ve been a lot clearer and a lot more interesting had the writers focused on what I mentioned above instead of the distractions of the last two episodes.

Whew, that was a ramble. Hope you’re ready for more rambles.

On a similar note, I’d like to reiterate my problems with how the writers used Marissa after the private prison reveal. I don’t have much more to say than what I wrote last week, but it’s another example of the same problem. Marissa objecting to Wackner’s court because she notices what it’s becoming and how Cord plans to use it for political gain (two Illinoises (??) changes the Senate and the Electoral College...) always was going to be part of the endgame. Marissa only seriously objecting after the fourth or fifth line Wackner crosses feels bizarre.

Cord does NOT like that there is another court, and wants to protect Wackner’s IP. Wackner, as we saw last episode, does not feel threatened by the other court. In fact, he seems to be excited by it.

I love Liz questioning Diane’s outfit like it’s unprofessional. It’s a little low-cut and showy, but I don’t think unprofessional is the word I’d use for it.

Now they have 45 minutes to decide The Future Of The Firm and Diane wants to be considered a name partner. Oh, that debate is still raging?! Every time I think it’s done it comes back, which should probably be a sign to Diane that her options are to leave and start something new, jettison Madeline and the others, or step down. Staying on as name partner and calling it a black firm is just not an option.

“Diane, there is a split in the firm that...” Liz starts, before asking some associates to leave the room. Ha! The reveal Liz and Diane aren’t alone is a pretty fun touch.

“The Black equity partners don’t want to be in your work group,” Liz informs Diane. “Because they think they’ll be punished by this firm?” Diane asks. “No, that’s paranoia. We don’t punish here,” Liz responds. “Of course you do. My fracking client. My union client. The Black lawyers who work on those cases—they're considered traitors” Diane says. “Because those CEOs are racists,” Liz counters.

Lots going on here, and I’m not sure I understand it all. Why would the equity partners—who are partners—feel like they’re being punished by being in Diane’s work group? (And also what does a “work group” mean and why haven’t they talked about it in the past?) When Diane starts talking about the lawyers who staff her clients, she’s not talking about equity partners; she is talking about associates.

And people are giving associates shit for working on Diane’s clients whom they happen to be staffed on!? That’s sad, though believable.

“So what do we do? Only bring in clients who can pass the racial smell test?” Diane asks. I mean, actually, yes. IF the goal is to be a black firm and to have that designation mean something in moral terms rather than marketing terms, then yes.

“It’s okay if you’re a drug kingpin like Rivi, but it’s not okay if you want me as lead attorney?” Diane says. Also, yes. Diane makes good points here.

“Diane, this is not about you,” Liz counters. Um, sure, but it has to be about something, Liz. Unless you’re trying to build a firm you don’t control that makes 88% of its revenue from a drug dealer (40 million out of 45 million this quarter = 88%; I told you they shouldn’t give me numbers) but happens to have black people in charge, you have to grapple with this question. I don’t think anyone who’s fighting for the firm to be a black-led (not owned, bc STRL) business is the type of person who thinks that having a black-led firm that does all the same shit as any other firm is in itself a good thing, so you NEED to address your client list. Madeline is anti-Rivi, anti-Cord, anti-Wolfe-Coleman (the rapist guy), pro-social justice, and pro having a black led firm.

“I mean, why... why do white people personalize this?” Liz asks. “Oh, now I’m just a white person?” Diane responds. I... don’t know what to do with this! Liz is right that Diane is taking this personally; Diane is right that Liz needs to deal with the rest of the client list. But no one is saying the things that REALLY need to be said: That all their decisions are meaningless in the shadow of STRL, and that deciding to be a black led firm isn’t the end of the discussion if they haven’t decided what types of clients they want to have.

“What happened, Liz? Last year we were intent on an all-female-run law firm,” Diane starts. Oh, THIS AGAIN! Diane never learns, does she? She never seems to realize that no one she’s approached with this idea is NEARLY as in love with it as she is. She probably still wonders to herself why Alicia—who partnered with her at the end of season seven basically just because it was the easiest, most frictionless thing to do—didn't seem more committed to their firm.

“Diane, there is history here that we are trying to...” Liz says, but Diane cuts in to note that women (women like Diane Lockhart!) have history too! In fact, she’s spent “35 years fighting gender discrimination to get to this position.” “And we have spent 400 years fighting racial discrimination to try and, you know...” Liz starts, before cutting herself off to get back to the ticking clock.

Sigh. Just talk about the actual thing instead of talking around the thing, guys. Diane is obviously deserving of A name partnership, in the abstract. This is an undeniable fact. And while Diane is definitely making this about herself rather than the big picture, I don’t think Liz trying to trump Diane’s 35 year career with the history of black people is going to win her any arguments? Like, just say what you mean and say it clearly. What Liz, I think, wants to express is that Diane’s individual accomplishments aren’t the issue here and everyone thinks she’s deserving (though Liz suggested Diane was not deserving a few episodes ago, which I didn’t understand then and don’t understand now). The problem is that Diane is trying to fight a battle that’s about something much larger than herself with, “but I'm a good lawyer!”

And that’s KIND OF what Liz is saying here, if I add all her sentences up and read between the lines, but, again, why not just say it?

“Alright, now we have 43 minutes to fix race relations, gender relations. STR Laurie’s gonna fire our asses, and you know it,” Liz says. I am curious what that would look like. Wouldn’t that just mean that STRL wouldn’t control them anymore? I’m sure being fired would be bad and all, but wouldn’t it free them from the contract they wanted out of last year?

“Let’s split the firm down the middle. I hire half the lawyers, you hire the other half,” Diane suggests. What does this mean? Why are you hiring your employees? Huh?

“You hire the white associates, and I hire the black associates?” Liz confirms. This seems like a very bad idea that would make things a lot worse and open them up to lawsuits! I also still do not know what they’re even talking about. And I don’t know why Allegra isn’t a part of this conversation.

“I’m not saying it’s good. I’m just saying it’s what we’re left with. It's what we can agree on,” Diane says. I really wish I understood what “hire” meant in this context because I don’t understand why they have to split anything or why this has to be done now and I don’t understand why this would possibly be a good solution. Can you imagine the backlash when people realize all the white people report to Diane and all the black people to Liz and that people were taken off of the accounts they’ve worked on for years to accomplish this? And this must be something that the employees would know about eventually; otherwise they could just randomly assign half to Liz and half to Diane.

I’m sad Madeline isn’t in this episode because I feel like we needed to see more of her POV as well as the associate POV. I don’t really understand the divides at play within the firm or what the staff and other partners are asking for, but I suspect it isn’t this.

Hallucination Jesus is back, and at least there’s actually a point to him this time (he shows up when Jay is in Vinetta’s court and reminds Jay that Vinetta will rule based on her religious beliefs). I still dislike the hallucinations.

Jay advises Marissa, who is Jewish, to talk a lot about Jesus in her defense.

Charmaine Bingwa is really great as Carmen, and obviously she is not fluent in Spanish, but it’s so funny to me that the only time you can hear that she’s Australian is when she’s trying to say Oscar like she’s speaking Spanish.

"I know you’re hiding something when you speak English,” Rivi says to Carmen. Heh.

“Community court” is such a nice, unthreatening term for referring to Wackner and his copy cats. Thanks for that, Carmen!

It’s a smart plan to mention Jesus a lot, I guess, but Jay and Marissa both should’ve realized that Vinetta is too smart to tolerate obvious pandering. I’m a little surprised Jay doesn’t get up and argue since Marissa is, obviously, not familiar with the New Testament.

Marissa wins this round with facts and logic.

Why is the judge who was handling Rivi’s previous charge now in bond court? Make it make sense.

I like that Carmen calls out the ASA for swearing hahaha

Why... would this Matteo kid just casually mention he was holding a gun, omg.

In Vinetta’s court, you can be charged with murder and tried because... you had a gun and also there were murders at other times. Coolcoolcool no problems here.

Community courts for civil cases? Sure. That’s basically arbitration. Community courts for criminal cases? Bad, bad, bad idea.

Vinetta’s reasoning: “Those murders happened on our street, and the police haven’t convicted anyone because they don’t care. We care. This is self-defense. And how is it different from your court?” Aside from the whole imprisoning people in her basement thing, Vinetta’s not wrong. I almost brought this up last week but hesitated because I couldn’t remember the details enough to decide if I wanted to recommend it, but there’s a book I read a few years ago that seems relevant here: Ghettoside by Jill Leovy. Again, been a while so don’t take this as a wholehearted endorsement or anything, but from what I remember, the central issue at the heart of the book (it’s non-fiction) is that a poor black community (I think in LA?) doesn’t trust the police (in part) because the police don’t solve murders, and then with no way of getting justice through the court system, there’s more violence as a stand-in for justice. https://www.vox.com/2016/8/26/12631962/ghettoside-jill-leovy-black-crime

I’m not sure if that’s QUITE what Vinetta is saying but it seems similar, and it’s a decent point (though not a justification for her court). Why should she trust the system to improve her community when it’s ignored her community for years?

I like that the writers chose two very different, very understandable characters for their community courts. It’s easy to see why Wackner and Vinetta feel the need for alternative courts; it’s easy to see why others would trust them. This arc doesn’t really work unless there’s a legitimate frustration with existing systems...

Marissa calls Wackner’s court a “joke,” which she should understand by now isn’t the case. (Marissa’s smart; she knew it wasn’t a joke the second she saw David Cord get involved.)

Vinetta accuses Wackner of copying her court, which alarms Marissa. This isn’t addressed again, and I don’t know if it’s true! I could really go either way on this. On the one hand, I absolutely believe that Wackner saw/heard about it, liked it, and did it himself without thinking much of it—and if this is the case, then the ending where Vinetta gets in trouble for violating Wackner’s IP is a lot more of a gut punch. On the other hand, I don’t really feel like the seeds for this were planted. We see Wackner innovate a lot and try new things and he has an explanation for why he does everything—how much of that is Vinetta? And Vinetta clearly watches the show and likes it or she wouldn’t have recognized Marissa, so it’s a little hard for me to just believe her claim when literally all I know about her is she has a court that looks like Wackner’s and she is aware of and feels positively towards Wackner rules. Also, Wackner knows about Vinetta’s court (from Marissa) and sounded excited about it last episode. Sure, he didn’t necessarily know which one it was, exactly, but I assume if he’d copied the idea and then heard about a case involving people from the exact same community where he found the idea... his reaction would be different. So IDK. My reasons for doubting Vinetta’s claim are probably based a little too much in things I’m not meant to spend that much time paying attention to.

“I fucked up. It’s in the same court, but now it’s a murder case,” Marissa tells Diane. I do like hearing characters admit when they fucked up!

Diane hears that STRL is delayed, so she heads out to help Matteo. When she goes to change into her pantsuit, she finds that she’s grabbed Kurt’s bag by mistake. “Of course. That makes sense,” she reacts.

Diane pushes her flight to the next day, also telling Kurt, “And yes, for some reason, I took your suit instead of mine, so fuck it.” I love it when the characters feel like real people.

I am not sure why Kurt is getting to the office when Diane is leaving or why Kurt is there—to pick Diane up on the way to the airport, maybe?

Carter Schmidt walks into RL at the worst possible time, threating to blow up the Plum Meadow deal. Another 5x10 to Wife 5x22 similarity: he’s in both episodes.

Liz heads out to help Carmen with Rivi, and then STRL arrives. Oops.

Credits!

One thing about Wackner’s court that should definitely be a warning sign even though it seems noble: he ignores just about every warning sign, like this rowdy crowd screaming WE LOVE YOU WACKNER or the potential interests at play in a case about secession, because he thinks his fair judgement can overcome these obstacles. If the world worked that way, there’d be no need for his court in the first place.

Is anyone representing the State of Illinois in this trial? If not, then... how is it happening?

Dr. Goat, some dude who claims to have some hidden historical document about how Illinois is actually two states, is clearly making stuff up and yet Wackner indulges him and Cord. I feel about this the same way as I feel about the Devil’s Advocate: That Wackner would not allow this to go on for more than five seconds before calling bullshit and therefore there is no reason I should have to sit through it.

Why is some guy screaming, “No taxation without representation” like dude you absolutely have representation. But of course, I’m expecting him to be logical, and the point is that he is not.

Dr. Goat’s Latin phrases—shock!-- don’t actually translate into anything like what he said. Even though this information is verifiable by a quick google search, the crowd starts screaming “Liar!!!!” at Marissa. If only I could say this felt unrealistic.

Wackner asks Dr. Goat to bring in the document.

“You look like you’re heading to the beach,” Vinetta says to Diane, who looks like she’s heading somewhere but definitely not to the beach. Vinetta asks where Diane was headed on vacation. Diane says she’s headed to Lake Como, and unnecessarily clarifies that “It’s in Italy.” She assumes Vinetta doesn’t know that... but Vinetta does.

“So you’ve been there before?” Vinetta probes when Diane says it’s beautiful there. “Just once. We don’t get away often. We thought we’d splurge,” Diane says. Vinetta stares at her and smiles, and Diane hits her head on a basket that’s hanging in Vinetta’s kitchen. If I just write out the dialogue here, it sounds like a perfectly average conversation, but everything about this conversation is so charged: Diane is afraid to look like a wealthy white woman; Vinetta’s pleasantness is pretty clearly also a way of sizing up Diane.

Vinetta shows Diane pictures of neighborhood children and young adults killed as a consequence of gang violence. You can see she’s not trying to do anything other than help her community, even if her methods are highly questionable.

Diane argues that Matteo should be given over to the police; Vinetta disagrees: “The police haven’t arrested anyone for those murders, any of these. Since the BLM movement, they’ve pulled back from our streets. No one’s coming to help. That’s why I started this court. It’s not a joke to us.” Wait I’m sorry did Vinetta just blame lack of good detective work in black communities on... the BLM movement?!?!?! Is there any foundation to this!? Why can’t it just be that the police weren’t actually doing a good job of policing/finding justice and were being antagonistic towards the community instead of being helpful and no one trusted them?? That explanation is literally right there.

Jay suggests the Jesus strategy, again.

“It’s women! We could just move on, install men,” STRL guy says. I don’t know if he’s joking, but ugh. Also, what is RL if it has neither Diane nor Liz? A bunch of lawyers who will all promptly quit when they see their bosses get fired and a few opportunists?

Kurt is watching golf in Diane’s office, and the STRL people love it. Of course Kurt accidentally makes friends with them.

Court stuff happens. It’s not good for Rivi, and then Liz and Carmen come up with a theory: Plum Meadow is stalling the deal so they can find Rivi’s more stable second and make a deal with them instead.

Wackner giving Dr. Goat a single point on his stupid little board, for any reason related to his obviously fake totally unverified document, is dangerous. Why would you signal to a crowd that’s clearly not interested in fact that they have a point? That’s basically egging them on.

I know Wackner’s judgment is obviously not 100% sound—need I remind you of the PRIVATE PRISONS?-- but I thought it was more sound than this.

Wackner shows off his knowledge of paper and proves that Dr. Goat’s document is a fake. Why... did he just give Dr. Goat a point???

Or is he moving the point from Dr. Goat to Marissa?

Dr. Goat sounds like a fake name I would call a character in my recaps long past the point of anyone other than myself remembering the joke. (See: Mr. Elk)

“The truth is ugly. The only thing uglier is not pursuing it,” Wackner tells Marissa. How is taking on a case about very obvious falsehoods, funded by someone with a vested interest in the case, that gets people riled up, some noble pursuit of truth?

STRL and Kurt are now drinking and discussing hunting, while Diane’s arguing for Matteo in Vinetta’s living room. Vinetta is—as was always obvious, sorry Jay—far too smart to fall for this patronizing bullshit. She screams at Diane and plays back a recording (on a baby monitor) of Diane coaching Matteo to lie about his faith.

Soooooo yeah no you can’t do that, that is bad, recording conversations between lawyers and their clients is not good even if it leads to you exposing their schemes...

Then Vinetta places Diane under arrest, which obviously isn’t going to end well for Vinetta.

Liz and Carmen suggest a post-nup to Rivi to see if Isabel is planning on turning on him.

“I’m going to have to kill her,” Rivi says sadly. I don’t think Rivi will ever kill Isabel because we already did that with Bishop.

I’m going to assume that Diane chooses to stay in basement prison instead of calling one of the many, MANY, MANY people she could call to get her out/take down Vinetta because she doesn’t want the situation to be publicized or further deteriorate. That said, it’s really not clear why Diane just accepts being sentenced to basement prison with a cell phone.

Love the STRL man looking at that picture of Diane and HRC. They’ve gotten so much mileage out of that photo.

Wackner’s court has no rules, but at least since it has no rules, I can’t complain about how its rules make no sense!

What is this, debate practice?! Ugggghhhhh I can’t deal with this case for much longer.

Marissa takes a breath, then decides to pursue a strategy she knows could blow everything up.

“Then why care what Judge Wackner decides? Why should you defer to him? Why defer to anyone?” Cord says that’s the point—the people have decided to trust Wackner. “So if you don’t like this court’s decision, you’ll just start a new one?” Marissa asks. “I guess,” Cord concedes.

“So then why does this matter? This court?” “It matters only insofar as we continue to agree that it matters,” Cord says. “So if you don’t like Judge Wackner’s rulings, you can just ignore them and create a new court?”

Good point, Marissa. Good point. (Does this count as a thesis?)

“I’m guessing that I will like the way the judge decides,” Cord says. Well, that’s basically a threat.

Wackner takes a break and heads to chambers—without Marissa.

Kurt goes to visit Diane in basement jail. He’s granted a conjugal visit, which means Matteo gets moved up to the bedroom so Diane and Kurt can have some alone time.

Diane is staring at an image of Lake Como in her cell. I thought it was odd she brought a printout of her vacation destination with her, so I LOVED the line where she explains that Vinetta printed it out for her. COLD. (You know who also would’ve done this if they’d for some reason had a basement prison? Bree Van de Kamp. You know what show DID do a basement prison arc I’d rather forget? Desperate Housewives!)

I love how Diane responds to basement prison by making jokes non-stop.

“I thought the craziness would end with 2020,” Diane says. Nope.

Kurt brought alcohol; Diane brought pot gummies.

I love that Kurt has never had pot before. I was going to say that I bet Diane’s had a few experiences with recreational drugs when I remembered we had a whole damn season of Diane microdosing.

Christine and Gary’s acting and their chemistry really bring these basement prison scenes to life. The writing and directing are really sharp, but it’s the actors who make these scenes something special. You can tell Diane and Kurt love each other a lot. You can tell they’re disappointed about their vacation and exhausted by the chaos of the day. You can tell they’re in disbelief over this situation but also find it funny.

Didn’t Rivi and Isabel have an adult daughter who died of COVID a few episodes ago? Weird she isn’t mentioned in this scene. Maybe from a different marriage/relationship?

Isabel called the SA’s office because she thinks Rivi’s a threat? I think this is a power play.

Heh, Carmen saying, “Shut a black woman up!?” in disbelief in court. Love it.

Isabel instead flips her story and supports her husband and fights for his release. With no intervention from Plum Meadow, this gets the judge to free Rivi. I don’t really understand what’s happened here or why. I get the resolution, but I don’t get why Isabel called the SA or why this went away so quickly. I still don’t even get why Rivi’s been arrested.

Diane and Kurt put up Christmas lights for ambiance and talk about how they never go on vacation.

“I wanna see the pyramids on this coast!” drunk & high Kurt insists, hilariously. “I mean hemisphere. I like the Aztecs. They, they care about people.” I’m not going to transcribe the rest of the dialogue because it loses its magic when you’re not watching the scene.

After some fun banter about travel and movies, Diane changes the topic. “I should quit, shouldn’t I? That judge upstairs? She looked at me like I was the most entitled white bitch on the planet. And that’s the way they look at me at work.”

Kurt tries to say that’s not true, but Diane knows it is: “Yes they do. I’m the top Karen. And why do I care? I mean, I... I could find another firm. I could quit. I can’t impose my will on people who don’t want me.”

YES. I see a lot of debate over what the “right” thing to do is here. But I think we are long past “right” and “wrong.” At a certain point, this stops being about absolute moral truths. If Diane doesn’t have the respect of her partners and employees, that is a very real problem for the firm and for Diane. How can she continue to impose her will on a firm that doesn’t want her, all the while claiming to be an ally? (The back half of that sentence is the most important part.) Forget whether or not Diane “should” have to step down. Forget what’s “fair.” If the non-Diane leadership of RL thinks the firm should be a black firm, and the employees of RL think so too, and Diane just doubles down on her white feminism, she’s creating an even bigger problem for herself and ruining her reputation in the process.

Kurt stands up on the prison cot and warns Diane she might make a decision she’ll regret. This scene is so cute. Why can’t other shows do drug trips where the characters just act silly and have great chemistry? Why does it always have to be some profound meditation on death whenever characters get high?

“I think I like starting over. I like the chutes and ladders of life. I mean, I want the corner office, but then I wanna slip back to the beginning and fight for the corner office. I mean, I think maybe it’s better that I don’t get the top spot,” Diane says. LOVE to hear her admit this. I’m not sure I would’ve come to this conclusion on my own, and it sounds like it’s a bit more about how the writers like to write (you know, the “we love our characters to always be underdogs”) than Diane, but... you know what? I believe it. I fully believe it. Diane LOVES to fight, LOVES to feel like she’s in the right, LOVES power plays and to be making progress. She LOVES winning. The fact that she isn’t just choosing to retire right now, even though she’s past retirement age and has a great reputation, is in itself enough for me to believe that she would find it fun to repeatedly start over.

Plus, it’s a fun new direction for the show to take in season six, because they’ll get the same sense of conflict without the actual conflict. This season’s arc was firm drama and resulted in a firm name change... but it didn’t feel like a knock-off of Hitting the Fan. Diane trying to work her way back into power (I assume by becoming a better actual ally, otherwise doesn’t she just end up in the same exact situation?) should also provide conflict without being repetitive.

Hahahahahaha Kurt immediately reacting to this serious statement by being incredibly silly and horny and then Diane singing “I Touch Myself” to him, man, I love these two. I want to know the story behind this song choice.

Wackner emerges from his chambers. The score is tied. Wackner calls Cord corrupt and notes that they can’t just decide to call Downstate Illinois a new state based on his ruling. Now it’s thesis time!

“I was taken by Mr. Cord’s arguments of individualism. So much of our country has been built on people finding their own way, not being held back by bureaucracy. Yet, if we only follow individualism, that way lies chaos. And that was not the point of this court. Or at least not my point. Judgment for the defense. There will be no Downstate Illinois.”

“If we only follow individualism, that way lies chaos.” is probably the clearest of the many theses of this episode. To recap, we have:

(1) Factions are bad. (2) People are persuadable and the rules don’t actually matter. (3) Reality TV changes minds. (4) Institutions only exist when we collectively agree they exist (5) Individualism = chaos.

But let’s put a pin in this for now and let the chaos of individualism play out.

The crowd does not like Wackner’s decision, and decides that an appropriate way to express their displeasure is to make anti-Semitic remarks towards Marissa and then start throwing chairs. What nice people.

As the crowd goes totally 1/6 on Wackner’s court (thanks for pointing this out to me, Ryan—I cannot believe I didn’t make the connection myself!), the door slamming into the desk finally pays off since Marissa and Wackner are able to use it to keep the crowd from reaching them.

They immediately turn to the police, or they would, if they could get service. I’m sure it’s not a coincidence that as soon as things get bad, they want to involve the existing system.

Wackner Rules is, somehow, still taping in the midst of all the chaos. I don’t know if I think they’d air this, but someone certainly would. (I wonder if any of the cameras we see in these scenes are actually the cameras filming the other angles of the riot.)

Cord shakes his head and walks out, unharmed.

“You think they’ll kill us?” “I think they might,” Marissa and Wackner fret.

“My dad said the whole world would be a better place if everybody realized they were in the minority. ‘No matter where you are,’ he said, ‘Make sure you keep an eye on the exits, and make sure you’re closer to the exit than the Cossacks are to the entrance.’” Marissa says. Love Eli Gold coming through with thesis number 6 (and maybe thesis number 7).

“Your dad sounds a little paranoid,” Wackner says, correctly. Remember how I mentioned I accidentally wound up watching 5x22? Eli calls Alicia and responds to her hello with, “DISASTER!!!!” I miss him.

“He was, but he wasn’t wrong. He said, ‘Stay away from parades. They’re cute until they’re not. And don’t trust any pope who was Hitler Youth.” “What’s that law called?” “Godwin’s Law. My dad said anybody who argued for Godwin’s Law has never been near an actual crowd. Crowds love you, they hug you. Then they grab a gun and try to kill you.”

“Why? Why do they do that?” “I don’t know. Hate is fun. It’s clear-cut.”

I really like all of this. It is a little preachy, but it isn’t wrong and it’s self-aware. And, more importantly, it’s in character. I absolutely believe that Marissa would tell lots of stories about Eli in a moment of extreme stress. It’s nostalgic, probably comforting, and it also helps her feel like she’s on the right side with the right arguments. So, even backed into a corner, she’s still a winner: she has theory on her side.

Wackner speaks a foreign language (I do not know what language but I wish I did) and says, “A guy could get killed doing this,” which makes him and Marissa laugh as things crash around them.

Idk about you all, but I couldn’t really get myself to actually worry about their safety during this scene. Maybe Wackner’s, just a little, but I got the sense we were supposed to focus more on the chaos and destruction and monologuing than on the actual danger. That’s not to say the stakes didn’t feel high, but rather to say that this didn’t feel like an action sequence where you don’t know what’s going to happen next. The point was to watch the court fall and think about why it fell, not to worry about if Marissa would live.

Diane and Kurt are woken up by sirens and loud noises. The cops arrive and are shocked to find professionally dressed white people in a basement cell. They let Diane and Kurt out with compassion, but scream, “don’t you fucking move” to the people on the floor.

“It’s okay, they didn’t do anything,” Diane says. This is, as I theorized earlier, probably why Diane just sits there until her punishment blows over instead of escalating things.

If the cops weren’t there to free Diane, why were they there? Why, because they like David Cord and David Cord has gotten Chicago PD officers to protect Wackner’s IP.

If I had to say one thing in favor of Vinetta being the originator of the community court idea, it would be that it’s SUCH a gut punch to watch Diane and Kurt walk away from their bizarre little adventure as Vinetta gets arrested in the background, and it hits ten times as hard if Vinetta’s only being charged because some white guy is claiming IP that’s actually hers.

(I think Vinetta is probably, at this point, actually being arrested for imprisoning people illegally, but, still.)

“Pfft. Some judge,” one of the cops who adores Wackner says of Vinetta. Racist much?

Marissa and Wackner emerge from the backroom. “I think I better get back to work,” she says, meaning her RL job. "Me too,” Wackner says, grabbing a Copy Coop apron. He’s an employee of ten years.

I don’t think this lands as well as it’s meant to. I think the point is supposed to be that Wackner’s just some guy—not a billionaire, not an academic, not a judge, not a lawyer—with an idea. But it’s a little too neat. And it doesn’t explain how Wackner financed his court initially, nor does it explain why he has basically unlimited access to Copy Coop space and resources. I’d buy it if he were the OWNER of Copy Coop, but I have so many questions about him being an employee.

Diane tells Liz she’s actually going on vacation this time, and they laugh about how Kurt bonded with STRL.

“I want you and Allegra to be name partners. I’ll be an equity partner,” Diane says. “Why?” Liz asks. “Five years ago, when I hit rock bottom, this firm took me in. So I don’t like the idea of splitting this firm in two. And I can’t lead if no one will follow.” “And your clients?” “We’ll manage them together.” YES! I love this. I don’t love it because I necessarily think it had to go this way, but because it’s so refreshing to see Diane say that she actually is willing to take a step back because she cares about the firm and the people there more than she cares about being a name partner. This isn’t something we usually see. When we hear “this firm took x in” it’s usually being said incredulously against someone who’s decided to leave and steal clients (cough, Hitting the Fan, cough).

It’s been pretty clear for most of this arc that Diane and Liz like working together and they like their firm, but that no one (other than Diane, I guess) is willing to let RL lose its status as a black firm, and that the employees and equity partners weren’t going to be satisfied until Diane stepped down. Diane really had three options: Stay and piss everyone off and claim the whole firm for herself, quit and go somewhere else and totally abandon the good working dynamic she had, or step down and put her money where her mouth is.

Also yeah the clients were never actually going to be an issue! They were only an issue because Diane intentionally went about informing them she was stepping down in a way she knew would make them worry!

“I think I need to prove myself,” Diane says. I’m not sure that’s the key issue or that she can ever prove herself fully, but we’ll worry about that next year.

“I missed you,” Liz says. “I’m here,” Diane replies. “I know. Thank you,” Liz says.

Diane decides she’s going to move downstairs so Allegra can have her office. I think there’s another office on this floor, since she, Adrian and Liz all had offices. This feels a little bit like Diane’s in love with the idea of making things difficult for herself and maybe hasn’t fully grasped the point, but, you know, I’ll take it.

Diane tells Kurt her decision and he asks if it was the right thing to do. She says she doesn’t know—but she says it with a smile. Kurt notes he’s going hunting next month with the STRL folks and will put in a good word for her. Ah, yes, because STRL still controls all of this and all of this is moot! Thanks for the reminder Kurt! Diane says she wants in on the hunting trip. Of course.

And the elevator doors close. Remember how closing elevator doors was a motif earlier this season??? It’s back!

Then we get a little coda with Wackner Rules airing a new episode that’s just violence and destruction. This sequence seems to straddle the line between being there for thematic reasons for the viewers and there to show what happened in the show’s universe, but I think it’s main purpose is theme, so I will not go on a full rant questioning why Del would want to air this.

A white blonde lady in an apron watches the destruction of Wackner Rules. She looks concerned. “That was violet,” she says with dismay. And then we see she’s holding a guy in a jail cell in her kitchen.

And then we see other courts, as America the Beautiful plays. One’s in a garage debating kicking someone out of the neighborhood; another is across the street about the same case. There’s one in Oregon about secession. There’s one among Tiki Torch Nazis deciding only white people can own property. There’s (inexplicably) one about pronouns. There’s one with arm wrestling, one that happens while sky diving, and a bunch of others. It’s pretty ridiculous, and not necessarily in a good way. It feels at once like the natural extension of the Wackner Rules show and like an over the top parody you’d see on another show. Tiki Torch Nazis screaming “only white people can own property!” is the opposite of subtle writing. Tonally, this sequence feels more like the zany humor of Desperate Housewives or the insanity of BrainDead than anything TGF has done before (and TGF’s been plenty surreal), and it doesn’t quite work for me. It feels like it is trying to prove a point in the corniest, most on the nose way possible. It almost feels like it’s parodying its own plotlines.

On my first watch, this ending for Wackner left me stumped. I knew the writers were making an argument against individualism (Wackner’s speech + the repeated references to The Apprentice) and cults of personality. But I couldn’t figure out a real life analogue to Wackner’s court, and since this ending was so obviously trying to be About Something, that bugged me. Sure, that last sequence could be an argument against people making community courts, but WERE people making community courts? I didn’t see the urgency.

And then I talked to @mimeparadox. And as soon as he said that it was about factions and people playing by their own sets of rules beyond the justice system, it clicked. I’d been looking for Wackner’s plot to be a commentary on the legal system. It is much broader than that. It’s a commentary on the weakening of democratic systems (the Big Lie, etc.), more broadly, and Wackner and his common-sense approach are just a way to get liberal viewers to go along for the ride.

Now that I understand the point, or what I think is the point, I like this conclusion. Circumventing the system leads to chaos; that’s why we have institutions and bureaucracy, and I think the show is arguing that these institutions should still be respected despite their flaws. The many theses of this episode all come together to make this point (though the reality TV stuff is a little more tenuous and I'm a little shocked we got through all of this without any commentary on social media?): If we stop having a shared belief in institutions and instead follow individual leaders (whom we may learn about through reality TV), the rules will stop mattering and we’ll end up with a fractured country and widespread violence.

But, and maybe this is just about me being upset I missed both the obvious 1/6 parallels AND the point of the arc the first time through this episode (my defensive side feels the need to also note I first watched this episode at like 5 am when I was barely awake), I don’t know that I actually think this episode does a great job of driving its point home. There are SO many moving pieces to the Wackner plot and SO many references. There are so many threads we never return to from earlier in the season, and there’s so much that strains credulity (like Wackner taking Dr. Goat seriously for more than a split second). It’s pretty clear what the themes are—even though I’m saying I missed the point my first time through, I've hit on all these themes separately in past recaps and posts—but, I dunno, something about this episode just feels scattered. Maybe it’s all the moving pieces, maybe it’s all the moments where it sounds like the characters are voicing related ideas that don’t quite snap together to form one coherent picture, or maybe it’s that Wackner’s plot gets two endings (the actual ending + the coda) and it’s up to the viewer to put together how they relate.

I really don’t know. At the end of the day, I think there was a little too much going on with Wackner and that the writers needed to use the episodes between the private prison reveal and the finale to narrow—not broaden—the scope of what they were trying to do with Wackner. But I also think that what they were doing with Wackner was really, really smart and original. I don’t think I can overstate how impressed I am that the writers took an idea that sounded, frankly, awful when I first heard about it and turned it into something captivating and insightful that I was happy to spend nine weeks watching.

Overall, a few bad episodes aside, I thought season five was the strongest season of TGF yet. I haven’t seen this show be so focused in... well, maybe ever. Having two overarching plots that received consistent development and felt like they were happening in the same universe at the same time REALLY helps make season five feel like a coherent whole, and I can’t wait to rewatch it.

#tgf thoughts #the good fight

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