#and that this makes sense. this is a ramble to the max.

[not-equippedforthis]

really love characters who have varied panic responses. kirk stating himself that he does not panic outright, externally, not in high-stress dangerous situations, but instead becomes tense and level like a wound string, on-guard: mostly because his role as captain necessitates that he maintain level rationality even when facing potential death as his training as 'the guy who tells you what to do when shit hits the fan' requires, but also because his childhood experiences taught him early that drowning in the desperate haziness of panic won't help you survive. especially as kirk already follows his intuition so deeply. he learned to grasp and contort the feeling. spock is the main person who represses his emotions, of course, but kirk does it to those deep-set, personal ones (this includes how he doesn't reveal anything truly personal about himself willingly 90% of the time, only what others already know/shallow anecdotes) in a much more subtle way that's really interesting to me. certified expert at avoiding the subject as long as he isnt caught out on the lie. professional bluffer.

in terms of past or parents we dont know much!!! hes known as the heart-on-his-sleeve guy!!! like yes he yells, he gets irritated, excited, hes a whirlwind of quick-thinking and plans and intuition, he goes out of his way to connect with his crew and shows it, when he puts on a little act or bluff he puts his heart into it and clearly enjoys the dramatics so much, at times he wears his heart on his sleeve, he laughs openly and is honest to spock about what he means to him, he's very sun-coded to me in a burning, passionate way, always intertwined with the stars and seeking them out, but when it comes to genuine deep-set turmoil? we dont actually know all that much about him??? hes so full of emotion and character (i love fics where spock characterises jim's mind/bond as a whirl of colour and sensations, hes a quick thinker!!! intuitive!! lively!!!) and yet its still so outwardly surface level. tarsus iv gets mentioned like twice? so especially here where kirk gets briefly jumpscared by the creature, because like:

its subtle but his eyes. his eyesss!!!!! kirk commands with his emotions but there's always some sort of level of control to it, or he transforms them into something that spurs on others or uses them to ascertain a goal: seeing unguarded fear/distress in his eyes even if its faint and brief (in this instance) makes me go insane every single time. like!!! its such a small moment!!! he isnt even panicking!!! really, he just got jumpscared!!! its insignificant!!!!!!! but seeing a two-second flash of actual, naked apprehension is just...oughhh,,,,,,,,,

oh god, and dont even get me started on the galileo seven episode where he assumes a tense level-headedness throughout the whole thing, irritated and apprehensive but not panicking, making sure he maintains intelligent rationality, even when he has to leave them behind, but when spock and the crew are confirmed safe and the bridge is occupied the camera pans to him and his eyes look like they're fucking watering and he's so achingly relieved. don't even talk to me. im. fuck.

he shows so so much but at the same time reveals so little.

[half-oz-eddie]

I have had a vicious gripe with the dbros ever since the 1st episode of season 4 where that "easter egg" "I'm just trying to be normal, Billy" can be heard on the TV in the background while Max is feeding her dog. Only for the duffers to apologize and say the easter egg was a fucking "accident."

In case you didn't know, that dialogue was from an episode of a series called Misfits of Science. The characters in this series have abilities.

In the specific episode Max was watching, there are characters named Billy and El (coincidence). Billy asks another character (Gloria) to use her abilities and they have an exchange like this (Which is the one heard on Max's TV).

BILLY: Gloria. Look, this is your old friend Billy talking here. You know, you just—it’s just a little favor and I don’t think it’ll matter.

GLORIA: I’m trying to be normal, Billy!

Again. This is the accident they claim.

Anyway the episode progresses and they travel to an ancient underground temple (in California btw) and there are symbols on the wall, when translated, mean something that would absolutely remind me of Billy.

"Will I leave only this? Like flowers that wither. Will nothing last but my name?"

As I said.

This was all a fucking "accident" and supposedly none of it means anything. And that's why I do not trust the dbags to put any thought into anything. Everything's just a coincidence. Or an accident.

They picked that specific episode to play at that specific scene in that specific moment from a show that has characters named Billy and El and they travel to California to a temple with symbols that translate to a sad quote that reminds you of Billy Hargrove's tragic death.

But Billy still showed up that season, so who is to say, really? They just lie I guess?

I hate it here.

[jounosparticles]

jouno’s eyelashes - a quick analysis

yes im analyzing jouno’s eyelashes. im obsessed with him what can i say.

one thing i’ve noticed throughout my many rereads of jouno’s segments of the manga is that he is actually given eyelashes in a lot of the panels he is present in! often times they’re just thin white lines but they’re definitely there. here are some examples.

now, if we recall back to what harukawa said about eyes a long time ago:

the darker ones eyes are, the more tainted or corrupted a person is. someone who is doing good and/or feeling good may have whiter eyes. to rephrase, one who’s eyes are dark are typically doing something corrupt and/or are in an emotionally bad state. we see this numerous times throughout the manga with many characters, the shade of their eyes changes with their emotion at the time usually.

now what does this have to do with jouno? well, i believe his eyelashes are used to display his intentions since he keeps his eyes closed constantly.

now, there are definitely some exceptions to this. panels where his eyelashes are small could be hard to colour this way, so im looking past a few instances for that purpose.

anyways, i believe looking at his eyelashes in this perspective also hints towards his betrayal of fukuchi, since you can see he has good intent. more on this later.

i'd also like to preface this by reminding you that jouno believed he was in the right with most things he did. he was sure the agency was in the wrong for a long time, times where his lashes were white while dealing with the agency was likely because he believed himself to be doing what is good.

now, starting with his debut in chapter 57, his eyelids are almost completely black as he arrests dazai

his eyelashes appear a bit darker as he torments people i find.

such as shortly after he slices kunikida's notebook and asks tetchou to kill yosano.

one scene i actually want to put a lot of emphasis on here is chapter 78's interaction between jouno and kunikida.

here is his face when he first walks in, he's simply making small talk over how a terrorist attack is awful

we can see his lashes pretty well.

we can also see it well when he's talking about his asian pear. maybe he just really likes them.

however, as the conversation progresses onto tormenting kunikida, his eyelids casually grow darker.

they're not completely black yet, but you can tell he is enjoying bothering kunikida despite his claim of innocence.

after this, you can see his lashes are a little brighter as he announces that yosano is going to be executed.

this makes sense remembering that he is under the belief that yosano is guilty of terrorism and is getting the punishment he believes she deserves.

after this, jouno walks away as kunikida cries out in anger.

his eyelashes are almost completely black here, likely because he is getting nothing but personal enjoyment out of kunikida's grief. he isn't doing good by this and this could definitely be seen as corrupt behaviour.

a huge contrast to what i've been saying falls in chapters 71 and 72, the cafe scenes.

you can see the white of his eyelashes in nearly every panel he's in.

what makes this different than when he was bothering kunikida is that bothering the cafe owner was moving his case forward. he believed he was pursuing justice and doing what is right by extracting important information here; as opposed to doing nothing but mentally torturing someone who isn't improving his case. from his perspective, his actions weren't tainted in anyway except possibly approach, but since he was doing what was right his eyelids were painted white.

another example of this is in chapters 60 and 61, when he is fighting the agency for the first time.

and when the agency escapes and he's surprised to find out the pursued terrorist group would have allies in chapter 62.

i found that these three chapters had a lot of small panels where you couldn't really see the detail of his eyes, but generally they were white as he caught the criminals. they were also white as they escaped, since he was likely confused that people were easily supporting the group he perceived as evil.

my last example of this is his eyes being very white as he tortures the bank robbers in the flashback scenes in chapter 92.5.

he believes that he is seeking justice here. the robber gets what they deserve, and his intentions are what he believes in just which explains his eyes being white.

anyways, to summarize this all: jouno's eyelashes colour often displays his morality. his lashes seem to be coloured more white when he is doing what is morally right from his perspective. even if what he is doing is considered brutal by most, his eyes glow white if it is in pursing of justice or good. in contrast, if what he is doing has no overall benefit and he is just distressing someone for purely his own enjoyment, his eyelids often are coloured much darker.

however, as i said above i believe this subtly hinted at jouno's betrayal of fukuchi.

in chapter 92, we can still see by his eyelashes that he has the right intentions when hunting for the agency.

and towards the end of the chapter we see his eyes still have a small white streak, implying his bluff on actually being willing to switch to the other side. at the same time, the thinness of the lash could be so small because he is lying to his superior as well, which i suppose could also be seen as tainted behaviour.

however, after fukuchi's plan is unraveled we see the brightness shine again.

as i stated above, when he isn't doing what he believes is right or is tormenting people for no reason but his own enjoyment, his eyes look black. but if you look at the image below you can see his eyes are partially coloured white, hinting that he was going to do what was right. it is subtle colouring, i assume that is partially due to the fact that his face was rather small on the page. but regardless it is still noticeable.

and what do we know? he did switch up and betray fukuchi shortly after saying this.

with that in mind, there's one scene i deliberately avoided bringing up until now; the scene i believe heavily tries to avoid hinting at jouno's betrayal of fukuchi. im referring to the scene where jouno confronts aya.

as i said, if jouno is acting corrupt towards someone for his own fun, his eyelids are dark, but if he's doing something that he believes is just his lashes remain partially white. i believe that out of context his eyes would likely be black as he torments aya, however since he secretly had good intention they would have actually been white.

however, the readers had yet to know the context of his approach until the end of chapter 93, so they needed to hide the fact that he may have had good intent here.

so harukawa kept his eyes covered (or coloured his face differently) throughout the scene.

the most we see of his face in this whole scene is his side profile, which is small enough to not need to colour his eyelashes in.

i believe this was an intentional choice to keep the readers from guessing that he was doing something he believes is right here.

anyways, to sum up this segment i believe that jouno's eyelashes in chapter 92-92.5 subtly hinted at the fact that he was indeed siding with aya and was preparing to betray fukuchi.

in conclusion, i believe jouno's eyelashes hint at his true intent a lot. they show that he is a good person hiding behind a facade. the shading of his eyelids is a lot more subtle than how most character's eyes look in the manga, which i believe helps add more to jouno's somewhat moral ambiguity. he is an incredibly well-written character and i can't wait to see more of him!

[sircolinmorgan]

i finally got round to watching the last episode of Inspector Morse, i have watched quite a few episodes in the last year but i've never really managed to get into it, i think i'm just too attached to Endeavour.

anyway, my point is that i'm just very emotional about Morse and Jim Strange. they had a friendship (albeit a complicated one) that lasted for 30+ years! jim was there when morse died and had his back right until the end! morse was always a terrible friend, he lets jim down at important moments and he never fully trusted him (with good reasons at times - the masons being one of them) and yet jim is always there even when morse is pushing him away. Jim has no idea about Morse's feelings for Joan, he just wants his best mate by his side when he gets married.

jim gives morse a place to live, is the only one listening to morse in Zenana with his unexplained deaths theory (and gets himself stabbed in the process), gets him back in CID in s6, needs his help investigating george's death and doesn't give up even though morse doesn't want to know, and in IM he's still there picking up the pieces wherever morse goes.

What i think is interesting is that Jim was brought up by his grandma, i don't think it's ever said what happened to his parents or if he had any siblings. His grandma doesn't seem like a warm and friendly person, did Strange have a lonely childhood too? Does he recognise that loneliness in Morse? i think the pair of them are more alike than morse would care to admit.

[nico-di-genova]

So.... on the topic of those new charles photos, how like it is that one day engineer charles is so tired from looking at all the data and his eyes are hurting that he forgoes the contact lenses and goes for the glasses. And like once max sees him he just HAS to make the executive decision to never let charles wear contact lenses ever again so they keep disappering somehow from then on??? Maybe im projecting.....

YOU GET IT!! YOU UNDERSTAND!!!

The new Charles photos are now my Roman Empire.

No lie, one of the very first bits of the fic I wrote (to be posted in a later chapter) was Charles in bed going over a data report from the earlier free practices.

He’s wearing his glasses and not thinking much of it, till max gets out of the shower and comes into the room and just…stops. Because he’s seen Charles in Ferrari red, and a Red Bull polo. He’s seen him in hoodies and a suit and in absolutely nothing at all, but he hasn’t seen him with his glasses on yet.

“What?” Charles asks, looking up from the report.

Max has a towel wrapped around his waist and he’s dripping water onto the hotel carpet, the beige material darkening under his feet.

“You wear glasses?” Max chokes out, hands tightening their grip around the material of the towel.

“Yes?” Charles says, still not sure why Max is behaving weirdly. He doesn’t piece it together until Max swallows, adams apple bobbing visibly. Until his eyes darken with an all too familiar expression of want.

He makes sure to forget the contacts more frequently after that.

Also! Max has like an entire photo album of Charles photos and this is definitely one of his most absolute faves:

[animnightmare]

I feel like Klinger is the type of guy to keep comedically avoiding getting poisoned.

[sweepy-stringbean]

psssst wanna talk about the Erathia/cfdau Nancy chin scar? -Eska

*laughs, rubs faces, gets up to stretch* YOU already know this hehehrsshdjf

Alright, I take it back these are not simple. I am sorry.

My Erathia 4 nonsense -

OG Erathia 4 feat. Flayed!Moss w/ Tenar backstab, in post cfdau - For this film, intense method actor, Henry Creel is cast to be the EVIL BIG BAD VECNA. Everyone hates him, he's creepy, often wears the stupid bucket on his head, and if not that he finds some one-eyed mask. Nancy and Henry have an amazing tension, are competitive, and push each other's skills. They take learning to sword fight seriously and it's kinda scary to watch. In the big final battle between Tenar & Ged vs. Vecna, it's the crew Dustin, Nancy, and Henry. Robin, Steve, and Max have the day off since their characters are deliberately kept from helping Tenar and Ged by Vecna. With this being the last scene between Tenar and Vecna, the two just go all out, 110%. Unfortunately, this leads to Henry accidentally cutting Nancy's face with a dulled but still real sword. There is a moment when they realize what's happened, but from all their practice, they developed subtle nonverbal cues, and signals to continue the scene. Everyone is stunned and just lets the two get to a good break in the duel before intervening. Nancy fusses to leave her face be for continuity. Ultimately lets her face scar as a feck you to the media and tabloids. She's tired of trying to maintain being perfect and everything they push onto her. Insert cfdau Nancy POV angst about reconnecting with the character and seeing a stronger woman in the mirror, something something. Robin is FURIOUS upon hearing this. The battle turns out amazing but Robin seethes whenever she sees the clip of Nancy getting hurt.

Erathia 4 VARIANT 1/? (FLAYED!Tenar AU AU) - A what-if that I LOVE. I really have committed crimes against Erathia and her people for this one. ANYWAY, a key difference between Moss and Tenar being mind-flayed is that Vecna lets Moss have some control and puppets her as needed. Whereas with Tenar, Vecna has one shot, and KNOWS he has to lock her down. He must have absolute control bc he's awful. I imagine poor Tenar gets basically put in a dark mind prison (think the void Eleven goes in the show). Her body becomes Vecna's Nazgul. Brutal, emotionless, too quiet (only heard by her armor), is always staring, always watching, just creepy as hell. When Lark and CO go to confront and begin their plan to separate Vecna and Tenar, Vecna decides to give a show of power. Using a knife he cuts Tenar's face and receives no reaction from her. (GOD I HATE HIM. I LOVE TO HATE HIM).

Listen I love dramatics and I have a long commute everyday to think about this stuff.

[sophiewagentje]

I think the whole discussion about Max giving rbr an ultimatum about Marko’s contract so stupid

Like in what world would Max involve himself in the management politics of red bull inc? Marko has no direct influence on the inner workings on the team so maybe he’s miss Marko but it wouldn’t actually change anything for Max so why put your head on the line? Cause of ‘loyalty’? Sure Marko put Max in the car but he didn’t give him the car, the team or other things like that that Max needed for his career so why would Max risk his career for someone who should’ve been retired for awhile already?

[wholesome-cryptid]

my crazy theory about Legends ZA is that Looker is going to play a role of some kind, the Looker Bureau being located in Lumiose City, Looker working closer with Anabel in Sun and Moon and him randomly washing up with no memory on the beach of the Hoenn battle resort in ORAS- it's all tied together i swear.

[lrdvyke]

so in the want to figure out a way of life for escaped vyke should the cure prove too impossible to get ( it is 😭 ), i started to look for ways to help deal with the madness build up. it's going to always be there, it doesn't just go away be it through plucking out the eyes or the three fingers dying. from the clues that the game gives, the madness itself seems more physical in the way of what one may call a disease of sort. sometimes even just due to the fact that one's mind is not capable enough to continue caring for the body, but i'm digressing a little.

so i looked at the clarifying boluses for the biggest tell, as they are meant to get rid of the buildup of madness before it gets too much in the person's body / system:

Madness accumulates slowly, inflicting heavy damage and reducing FP once the threshold is reached. Take one of these in timely fashion to avoid such events.

the ingredients to make these are as follows: eye of yelough, crystal cave moss, and dewkissed herba, but the main one i want to touch on first is the eye of yelough due to the fact that it says more as to what kind of help it provides aside from the typical "medicinal" just by the item description alone:

Grown in lands afflicted by frenzy, it's used for its pain-relieving properties… Though it's also known to be a dangerous intoxicant.

when i say madness is more physical, i mean it in the sense that the body is in constant pain at all times. with taking the name "frenzied flame", from the looks of the people affected by madness and how their eye sockets hold a little glowing flame within them, along with the fact that the burn wounds never heal on your tarnished, i have reason to believe that in gaining the madness, there is a small source of flame inside of you that is constantly in a steady burn that brings with it a continuous amount of pain within the afflicted. also hyetta's words to you: ( which granted, she says this because you have become the lord of chaos, but it also tells of the other afflicted. you just take in the main source, being the vessel of the outer god, while the others afflicted have only an offshoot, if that makes sense )

Ahhh, the flame of chaos has nestled within you.

with the crystal cave moss and dewkissed herba, my guess is that it's included because of possible infection as they are both ingredients for preserving ( scarlet rot ) and rejuvenating ( death blight ) boluses. but i think it does something extra for the clarifying boluses because once madness effects you, your focus is punished as well as your health. focus is necessary for spells, to which the crystal cave moss is within crystal caves that are being mined by the academy. dewkissed herba is noted as being "soaked in arcane dew" and in the ingredients list for glowstones; thus sources of magic that push for a larger focus and in doing so, clearing a mind beset by madness.

ok but besides pain and infection, there is another: not eating. or in hyetta's words:

They rest their trembling hands upon me. Howling wordlessly, they gently stroke my eyes. Their frail fingers, emaciated... Yet still, they give me the grapes. But you...seem somehow...firmer.

there is no ability to undertake that demand. they waste away from the pain, the sickness, the inability to speak without screaming, a mind that can no longer focus enough for the afflicted to take care of the body. but there is a promise that the lord of chaos would take it from them, so that they may live happily again.

tl;dr life for vyke could be possible under the right circumstances should no cure come to him. it would just be impossible to do it alone, as he would have no mind to do anything let alone making the boluses, eating, or even treating the burns upon his body. he would simply act like the frenzied flame villagers: immovable in their pain until forced into violence.

[nibblelinephym]

elaborate on trans max please i want all details of this headcanon i am intrigued

going tb so h. its mostly just projection and the fact trans max sounds a little like transmasc

but for realsies hes so ??? the way he makes his masculinity the center of his being to the point of it being toxic and using it to intimidate those he sees as less-than is so tboy of him in a way i cant explain. we only ever see him acting in traditionally masculine ways. hes the star quarterback. he wants to fight the ghost and the skele'in (if he goes home he will be seen as weak. if his father is the kind of guy that wouldnt approve of him running because he was scared, i imagine its because hes the kind of guy that would see it as 'feminine' (even though its not))

[fcb-mv33]

To talk about Max’s upbringing in a interview is so so wrong.

At the end of the day everyone can have their own opinions on the way Max was raised but for Seb to talk to the media, when he knows how the media do treat Max is so wrong. He isn’t Max’s family, he’s one of 20 drivers who Max knows that doesn’t give him the right to comment on it especially the wording he used.

[narwhalandchill]

man dont you hate it when you lovingly handcraft a build for your chiori to get it as balanced as possible with crit rate but also with a nice juicy brag worthy crit dmg only for genshin optimizer to go all 🤨🤨 Are You Sure About That

[prncssrninactive]

Although they're talking about different faults (moving to Hawkins/flaying people) here but it's kind of interesting that this whole FAULT theme is highlighted in both seasons. I feel like Billy actually feels guilty (although he's not guilty, moving was Neil's decision) in S2 but it's too hard for him to admit it because duh, he's been through so much to process things adequately.

And in s3 it's even more unbearable because someone's using his body to hurt people and he can't do anything about it and probably blames himself for it.

It's also interesting how Max's "Yours [fault]" changes to "I believe you" through the series. This might be the sign that their relationship improved between seasons two and three.

[skelswritingcorner]

Uhhh weird idea warning for pregnant robot. This is mostly just chaos.

So, I've had this idea since going to bed. The jist of it is that the members of the Lost Light end up finding a Decepticon facility where a peculiar Cybertronian is being held. Despite being forged during the war, they've been kept secret the whole time.

Basically, the Cybertronian has the ability to forge protoforms by constantly producing living metal, and most of her midsection is a gestation tank where the protoforms are created. Given how she's a minibot the size of Tailgate, it makes it even stranger. The genetic code of a "sire" is required for these protoforms to take shape. Along with that, she can't go into alt-mode during the forging of a protoform.

She is known only as The Forge, and the people at the facility have been using her for about half the war, and even after it ends to create Decepticon soldiers. Usually, with the code of either other valuable Decepticons or of captive Autobots of high interest. Most of the sires don't know about this either.

The Forge is usually able to pop out a protoform within a few months. However, when she is discovered by members of the Lost Light, she's been forging a protoform for years. This is because the protoform in question is pretty dang massive, and since she's, y'know, a mini, it takes her a while to forge a protoform that big.

When she is discovered, the presence of the protoform in her is very quickly noted. After being brought to Ratchet, he has to physically remove the protoform himself with First Aid's help. Very peculiar experience for them, but not for her. The protoforms tend to get stuck sometimes and can't be removed the usual way, so one of the people in the facility modified the gestation tank so that the protoform can be removed directly (basically a robot c-section).

Except it's kinda stuck, hence why the protoform has been in there for so goddamn long. Nobody knew how to remove it without severely damaging The Forge, which the Decepticons kinda needed for repopulating. Ratchet found a way tho.

After the protoform is forcefully evicted, The Forge (I really need to give her a name) is confused when the protoform isn't immediately taken away, and even more so when First Aid offers them to her. The protoforms are usually taken right away, never to be seen again.

When Perceptor is able to read the documents (including a list of sires), everything quickly goes into WTF territory. Drift has to confirm that no, he is not one of the sires. The sires never see The Forge, and as he sometimes guarded her during his Decepticon days.

So, EVENTUALLY, Fort Max appears. And shenanigans ensue because the moment he saw them, he IMMEDIATELY feels protective of the protoform, and he does Not Know Why. It basically goes like this:

Fort Max: I don't know why I feel compelled to protect the protoform.

Perceptor, with a datapad with a list of sires and Fort Max being the most recent one listed: Who knows?

Also, for extra shenanigans, the protoform is also attached to Maximus. Literally reaching out a servo to him once he gets close. Everyone is either losing their mind or confused as fuck. Mostly losing their mind. Perceptor, who has the documents, isn't surprised. From what he could find, in the occasion that the sire interacts with the protoform after fully developed, they feel incredibly protective of them. They don't know that they sired them.

Perceptor ends up taking Ratchet to the side, explaining that The Forge requires a sire's genetic code to help initiate the creation of a protoform, and that the protoform just removed from her has Max's genetic code.

I have no idea what to add next, so I'm just going to post this at the ungodly hour known as 5 in the morning.

[highlifeboat]

I bet pre-op Max hated his maid uniform to some degree honestly.

Not because of the dress, but just because the outfit is fairly form-fitting. And at the time he really started spiralling in his gender crisis, before he told anybody, having something he wore almost everyday that didn't "hide" anything was really screwing him up.

And he probably did ask Alcina about getting a bigger size, but she denied the request. She claimed the loose fit didn't look professional, and the one he had still fit him fine.