#baby you're not alone

[bribritenma]

It's Starkid innit was wonderful and this song in particular hit really hard live after 15 years of waiting for this moment.

Thank you so much Jaime Lyn Beatty for this.

[thesherrinfordfacility]

so, you know, a couple of things:

s2 is set in 2023 (ie around 4 years after s1)

voluntary uk driving tests were introduced in 1935, so around 90 years ago

bentley in the show is the 1933 model, and crowley has "had [her] from new"

im fairly certain im connecting dots here

this bitch

[ofswordsandpens]

Riordan: And the grand lesson that Percy needed to learn over the course of hoo, the culmination of his character arc of this series, the moment where the fate of the world hangs in the balance because of a single decision he has to make... is realizing when he needs to take a step back :)

Me:

[wistfulwatcher]

6.18 Lauren | 17.05 Conspiracy vs. Theory

[vivulapom]

scrolling thru the whump tag is like

male whump (every character in the story/snippet/etc is male)

male whump

prompt with placeholder names that uses masculine pronouns

male whump

male whumpee and whumper with female caretaker

male whump

gender neutral prompt

male whump

gender neutral prompt

male whumpee by himself

art of male whump

male whumpe

this isn't directed at anyone specifically but how about some FEMALE CHARACTERS perhaps. how about some WOMEN? and not just delegated to the role of "caretaker/the Responsible One"?? so often it feels like especially in fandom all the characters are not just male, but also gay, so the author doesn't have to subject themselves to the untold horror of Writing A Woman

[poppy-metal]

pls… for your consideration: ex/toxic baby daddy patrick 🤐

STAWP ‼️‼️‼️‼️ patrick is so deadbeat father who has a sudden realization he needs to get his shit together years later coded. like oh my god, i have a little babygirl and a hot wife and she sent me divore papers years ago but I've never signed that shit - we're still married - she's still my wife - thats still my kid -

its easy to hate patrick zweig from afar when hes just the man who broke your heart and left after he knocked you up - its not so easy to hate him when hes leaning against the doorframe of your home and then bending to his knees to meet the ball of sunshine thats your daughter - its not easy when you remember the nights spent dancing to electric music horribly until you collapsed into giggles into his chest, when you remember what his nose feels like skating up the collum of your throat, when you remember how he makes you laugh and how good he smells and how hes so intense, the way he looks at you, really looks at you and you want to sway into him, fall into his broad body and warm hands and feel him again.

but no. you have to remember the fights. the nights spent crying - while he lost himself in the bottom of a bottle - you have to remember the horror on his face when you'd told him you were pregnant like you'd slapped him. you have to remember how he left without a word.

he tells you he hasn't stopped thinking about you. he tells you he misses you. he tells you he was a fuckup and young and impulsive but he wants to try and be a man now, he wants to be a dad. he wants to take care of you.

you have the decency to wait until your daughter is tucked away in bed before you unravel. throw things. yell at him. tell him you hate him, he has no right to come here to you, to want to play house like its a game like its so easy. you dont need him. you dont, you've never needed anyone, especially not him.

he takes your anger - he lets you beat his chest. until you're wilted with exhaustion from it and then he reaches up to grasp your wrists. gentle. you startle to feel the wedding band around his finger - his eyes are sad. but he still has that fucking infuriating half quirk to his lips he'd always had.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"you can't fix anything, patrick. we're done. its over."

that fucking smirk. "yeah, we'll see about that."

[thranduel]

"i love you. i love this. and i want it all."

[hnnny]

Surprise! I've improved a lot since--*checks date of old post*--April 28th, 2021?? Hello???

Listen, it's not hard to believe that I've been obsessed with this game and its characters for a long time lol

This was a heck of a lot of fun to draw though! I had to get creative with the composition to fit some of the characters I didn't originally include, but it was worth it lol

Here's an alternate version under the cut where Brianna and Mandalore aren't covering up the midground crew:

[sergle]

what I was talking abt earlier. we have fully looped back around and away from feminism, societally, whereas before it was very Feminism 101 to acknowledge that many parts of existing as a woman in a misogynistic society are painful and upsetting. not that being a woman is Inherently Negative in a bubble. but that living on this earth, in the conditions we're living in, is hostile to women. and that gender is a performance. that many of the Staples Of Femininity as accepted by society are things that you have to create and perform and mold artificially and aren't inherent, that COMPLAINING about day to day difficulties of existing as a woman is something that you're allowed to do. acknowledging these basic, again, feminism 101 things, that something tied to womanhood is more time consuming or more expensive or more dangerous Because Of The Problems. does not CREATE the problems. that when women complain about having to perform femininity, they are not, in fact, oppressing themselves. the call does not come from inside the fucking house. saying that you HAVE suffered does not fucking equate that you believe you SHOULD have suffered.

like I could talk about this for hours. how braindead and one-dimensional the Takes are getting. "being a woman is looking in the mirror and going fuck yeah i'm a woman" damn. I guess any negative experiences you have by living in a misogynistic world... are your fault if you are anything but positive? "you don't actually want liberation" we've fully gone back to telling feminists "you WANT to be oppressed" when anything negative about our society is pointed out. it's not real until I say it out loud, I guess, and then I'm actually the one who caused it. if anybody expresses any unhappiness with how they're treated or the status quo or the language and culture surrounding womanhood and femininity. they've created it, right that second. they invented it just now. it wasn't a problem before somebody complained, right? also trans women aren't braindead zombies who just follow the flow of whatever cis women around them say. I am pretty fucking sure they are very much aware of pain, and are MORE than aware of the swirling torrent of misogyny and standards of femininity than anybody else. actually. and I am pretty sure someone complaining on tumblr that being a woman means always putting on a performance is going to make someone change their mind about transitioning. also "performing femininity" as a necessity to being treated well as a woman is not fucking NEWS to your Local Trans Woman. I AM PRETTY SURE SHE GETS THE CONCEPT. using trans women as a scapegoat for this braindead perspective on gender politics is spineless, meritless, and pathetic.

[whatimdoing-here]

Lessons in Chemistry | 1.04

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 67

Dan is not happy. His limbs are too small, his hands too pudgy and his body too squishy. And his so-called cousins are the same, despite the fact they were all finally going to turn eighteen (again in his case!) literally the next day! 

…

Um, hello strange masked being, back the fuck off! Who are you?! Put him down- actually put all four of them down thank you! Those claws are very big and he’s not worried but seriously, he doesn’t want to deal with this, he wants to go back to how he was! He’s not fucking growing up a third time! 

…

Did you just click at him?! Hell no, he’ll bite you, don’t think he won’t! So what if his powers aren’t working or that he’s now a squishy toddler thing, he’ll still bite your stupid fingers if you make his cousin-siblings scared! 

…

Talon is just bemused at the tiny (even smaller than the ones who usually follow it!) talons that appeared in front of it with no warning. Sure they have strange green eyes instead of yellow but they smell like Talons, have claws like talons and fangs like talons, and even sound like talons! Hm… It has even more hatchlings now! 

[cheebotthings]

Makes you wonder what Megs caught Starflare doing before this eh? Starflare belongs to @wishingstarinajar

[everyryuujisuguro]

[ywpd-translations]

Ride 749: The last Straight Road*

(NdT.: same pun Kinaka always makes with his name and the word for straight road)

Pag 1

1: I....

3: Imaizumi-san!!

4: Go- good work!!

Good work!!

You were taking a long time for this lap

Pag 2

1: Yes, teh, I got a fl-fl-flat- my bike!!

Yessir!!

2: It's the tire!!

4: Only tires can get a flat

Ah- damn, yes, that's right

Right!!

6: I thought something like this might have happened, so I brought these

Replacement tubes, tire levers, and a pump. Use them

Pag 3

2: This is unusual!! I never thought Imaizumi-san was the attentive type – is it just for us!?

Yeah!! I thought first and second years were just not important to him....

3: You don't want to use the,?

We'll use them, thank you so much!!

4: You saved us, teh....!!

That's true

6: Ah, uhm... but..... Imaizumi-san

Earlier you said that

7: Sugimoto-san won't come”, what did you mean?

Pag 4

1: He retired

Pag 5

1: He's still displayed on the board, but

3: There's still time until midnight

If Sugimoto-kun....

4: Please leave the possibility open in case Sugimoto-kun wants to come back!!

5: Onoda insisted

6: Re... tired.....

Sugi..... moto-san....

Pag 6

1: He used up all his stamina and mental strength in his fight against Danchiku, and he was defeated

2: You didn't notice because you've been on the course the whole time

4: Ah... actually, when it got dark, Sugimoto-san and Danchiku-san passed us various times... teh

Huh!? That? So at that time-!?

5: You have no time to talk about unimportant things

As soon as you're done with the repairs, run, first years

6: Soon

Pag 7

1: Waa, ye-yes, teh, thank you for the tools

Yeah, there's still 40km

2: If we join our strengths....

Don't cooperate

5: Teh!?

7: From now on, you can't allow yourselves to run like friends

8: Huh....

Our “buddies” stickers.....!?

You have to fight

Pag 8

1: And win the last spot to be an Inter High member!!

Pag 9

1: Fa.... ight....

2: Against.... Kinaka-kun

3: Against.... Rokudai

4: 35km left!!

Gooo!! Kinakaa, Rokudaii!!

Do your best...!!

5: I feel like they'll be able to run the 1000km!!

Amazing!

Ah, but there was no distance between them just now?

Pag 10

1: Fight....

2: The spot as a regular in the two-times national champion, Sohoku....

3: I can't take it by just being friendly....!!

4: And also

5: There's Sugimoto-san's wish!!

Pag 11

1: Wa- wait, please, Imaizumi-san

But.... if in this training camp the condition to become the sixth regular was to finish the 1000km first....

2: Then why did Sugimoto-san and Danchiku-san race!?

4: I came here to give you a message from Sugimoto

5: I think, I think it's necessary, you know

Sohoku is a team that connect and support each other

6: Just like during our first year, you, Naruko, and Onoda, connected your wishes and aimed for the goal

7: And last year Kaburagi ran with Aoyagi-san and carried the team until the mountains on the third day

8: So I think we need it

9: Our third year Inter High members

Pag 12

1: Definitely need a “first year”!!

3: Even if he knew he was making his own situation worse, he thought about the best shape for the team would be

4: He accepted it, and fought

Pag 13

1: For the fifth place

3: Among the first years, those two are left, I look forward to see what they do!!

That's too much food

4: Danchiku probably understood it, too

That's why he fought with all his strength

6: Now you two have to run with the weight of those expectations on your back!!

7: Fight, against your opponent and against yourself!! Use all your strength

Pag 14

1: And pull to yourself that last jersey!!

2: Straaa-

Pag 15

1: Straight roaaad!!

2: - traight!!

3: …. ngh

Ugh.....

4: Kinaka-kun.....

5: Don't cry, Rokudai!!

Pag 16

1: What are you doing, oi!! I'll leave you behind like this!! I'll tear you off!!

If you give up, then it's lucky for me!!

2: My goal has always been the Inter High jersey!!

To get back at those senpai who made fun of me!!

3: To show it to the Onii-san who taught me how to ride bikes!!

So, for that....

6: So I'm telling you not to cry!!

Pag 17

1: But, Kinaka-kun....

It's that your “Straitgh road”, wasn't fast at all....!!

4: You knee? It's your knee, right?

Since when? Since a while ago?

5: Since when we were at about 800km

Pag 18

1: It's a race, Rokudai

2: You should have told me, teh

I didn't notice, teh!!

3: I'm such an incapable former manager, teh....

4: Since when I lost to you in the first years' race

6: I've been thinking that I would definitely not lose the next time we race

7: Even though the truth is that I don't really care about that anymore

So, once again...

Pag 19

1: It's a race, Rokudai!!

3: Let's do it, Rokudai!!

I can't, teh

4: Race me, pedal!!

I don't want to, teh....

5: Fight me!!

I won't pedal, teh

Pag 20

1: Because, if I fight you now, Kinaka-kun, I'll end up winning, teh

Pag 22

1: With that kindness of yours, support our senpai during the Inter High

[fictionadventurer]

I went into Ruth expecting a dreary read. How could a Victorian "fallen woman" story be anything other than dark and depressing? So I was shocked right from the beginning to find a sweet, gentle, romantic story. The dressmaker's apprentice who sits in the coldest, darkest part of the workroom because that's where there's a panel painted with flowers that remind her of her country home? How could I not adopt her as a favorite character? Ruth's innocent, romantic outlook on life gave us some beautiful descriptions of the scenery of both city and countryside, and my imagination went on overdrive to create very vivid images of the story. Even the love story, which we know is going to go very wrong, starts out sweet, with a kind, charming love interest who only shows flashes of just how wrong his character is going to go.

Even after Ruth's fall, the story is so gentle, putting Ruth among kind people who are willing to risk and sacrifice a lot to help her. And then the story gets almost too gentle--after some initial struggles with depression, Ruth resolves to bear her troubles patiently and work toward virtue, and her sweet, too-innocent character gets flattened out into someone who's just Good. Life just goes on, with things generally going well, and every potential turn toward drama results in someone deciding to be reasonable, which can make the story drag.

But, in a story like this, the lack of drama becomes the plot twist! It is refreshing to see characters who don't always jump to the worst conclusion or take the worst action, who pause and consider the whole story and act like decent human beings.

And in the places when the drama does kick in, it's good drama. Painful drama. It's also (especially in the last section of the story) melodrama. There were sections of the book where I was rolling my eyes at the cookie-cutter Victorian path the story was taking--but then there'd be one line or one moment that would just stab me in the chest because of how beautifully specific it was to this story. Just enough to elevate it from something bland to something unique and fascinating.

I often had the thought that this book could be about a third of its length without losing anything--yet it should also be just as long as it was. If the story cut all its repetitive musings about Ruth's regret, and used that space to develop the side characters and and show the plot instead of telling us about it, it would be a much deeper story. I found myself wishing Gaskell had reworked this one later in her career--the way that North and South was a more skillful reworking of the issues explored in Mary Barton. In a way, she sort of did in Wives and Daughters, with the story of Molly the quiet innocent getting tangled up in the intrigues surrounding her headstrong, flirtatious stepsister Cynthia serving as a more layered, personality-flipped version of the story where headstrong, sheltered Jemima gets tangled in the story of quiet, sweet Ruth and her past romantic intrigues. (The doctor at the end of the story also feels like a proto-Mr. Gibson).

Yet I'm still fascinated by the themes specific to this story. Contrary to expectation, this "fallen woman" story isn't about sex, or gender, or how unfairly women are treated (though it does touch on that in the end). It's about sin. It's not questioning why Ruth's behavior is considered a sin or looking to dismantle the society saying that it's a sin. It comes from the Christian perspective of saying that sin is real and harms people--so how are we going to deal with that?

The story shows lots of people struggling with temptation, failing, and dealing with the consequences (or harming others with the consequences). Sin is always a case of either not caring enough to do the more difficult, good thing, or a case of "the ends justify the means", where people rationalize their bad behavior as something necessary in this specific case. It always leads to harm, but some people--and some sins--suffer greater consequences in the eyes of the world, whether or not they deserve it. I wish the story had developed and resolved this theme better in places, but the raw material there is fascinating food for thought.

This book is Gaskell at her preachiest, but also Gaskell at her kindest. It explores deep, difficult issues in a very loving way. As a story, there are ways it could be better, but I'm very glad I read it. Perhaps I'm making a point to be kinder to it because I know it's the type of story that today's readers tend to judge harshly. But amid my issues with the story, there are some lovely images, some great messages, and some wonderful characters that going to be living in my heart for a long time.

[thranduel]

"but they deserve happiness. we all do. and i will forever be grateful to have found it with you."