#bc this is a really big deal and huge sign of hope actually!!!

[reasonsforhope]

"The world's coral reefs are close to 25 percent larger than we thought. By using satellite images, machine learning and on-ground knowledge from a global network of people living and working on coral reefs, we found an extra 64,000 square kilometers (24,700 square miles) of coral reefs – an area the size of Ireland.

That brings the total size of the planet's shallow reefs (meaning 0-20 meters deep) to 348,000 square kilometers – the size of Germany. This figure represents whole coral reef ecosystems, ranging from sandy-bottomed lagoons with a little coral, to coral rubble flats, to living walls of coral.

Within this 348,000 km² of coral is 80,000 km² where there's a hard bottom – rocks rather than sand. These areas are likely to be home to significant amounts of coral – the places snorkelers and scuba divers most like to visit.

You might wonder why we're finding this out now. Didn't we already know where the world's reefs are?

Previously, we've had to pull data from many different sources, which made it harder to pin down the extent of coral reefs with certainty. But now we have high resolution satellite data covering the entire world – and are able to see reefs as deep as 30 meters down.

Pictured: Geomorphic mapping (left) compared to new reef extent (red shading, right image) in the northern Great Barrier Reef.

[AKA: All the stuff in red on that map is coral reef we did not realize existed!! Coral reefs cover so much more territory than we thought! And that's just one example. (From northern Queensland)]

We coupled this with direct observations and records of coral reefs from over 400 individuals and organizations in countries with coral reefs from all regions, such as the Maldives, Cuba, and Australia.

To produce the maps, we used machine learning techniques to chew through 100 trillion pixels from the Sentinel-2 and Planet Dove CubeSat satellites to make accurate predictions about where coral is – and is not. The team worked with almost 500 researchers and collaborators to make the maps.

The result: the world's first comprehensive map of coral reefs extent, and their composition, produced through the Allen Coral Atlas. [You can see the interactive maps yourself at the link!]

The maps are already proving their worth. Reef management agencies around the world are using them to plan and assess conservation work and threats to reefs."

-via ScienceDirect, February 15, 2024

[chirpsythismorning]

Do you think there's a possibility that they might straight-up cancel ST because of the strike?

Because of the strike? No.

The only way ST would end before it was supposed to, is if the world was literally ending, or Netflix took a huge hit somehow and lost all their investors or something? Even in that case I think they would go out with a bang and invest all of their money and resources into a final season of ST tbh lmao

This does make me think about how the WGA is not encouraging the public to unsubscribe to Netflix or other streamers (yet), as a way to support the strike. I think it could be in part leverage they are saving for later, because maybe that's something they can encourage people to do if the strike is going past like the 3+ month point? It's also been said that Netflix wants to up their prices again for their plans, but with the strike going on, many are speculating that it would be too much of a risk for them to increase prices rn. If they did, say in the summer at some point, that would be a great time for the writers to tell the public to unsubscribe, because the impact would be massive since so many are already unsubscribing anyways, writers getting paid horrendously could have the potential to be the final push for subscribers already ready to call it quits.

But it also could honestly be because they don't want to totally ruin the relationship with their employer, who ideally they still want to work for when this is all over. Hurting Netflix financially with intent, is where it might get into nasty territory for future collaborations together.

This is also why I think the production for ST all around is fairly quiet. They themselves cannot do too much bc they are SOOO tied to Netflix, quite frankly they are Netflix. There's a reason they're not posting pictures together out during the strike, there's a reason all of the million dollar actors are being pretty quiet. Because when filming inevitably starts back up again and ST5 is being promoted and released, they're going to be back to praising Netflix for all they do for them. And spoiling that relationship, by going too far, might make things, at the very least, awkward in the future, or at the worst, well I don't really want to think of hypotheticals for that.

I think all they could do at this time, is have the Duffer's themselves speak out in support of the strike, disclosing that they will not begin filming ST5 until a deal is made for the writers. And so they did that, and now all they can do is wait and stay pretty quiet hoping it goes well. THIS is why they're out here trying to hint at it subtely to get fans involved. In that context the byler sign is actually quite hilarious, bc it is potentially a big spoiler and therefore a fuck you to netflix, but bc it was posted on tumblr and no one really takes us seriously, it's gone under most of the audiences radar. Like I'm pretty sure there has been zero official reporting on it, whereas the Steve one did get that. Though that one was, again also from a writers account sneakily. So there is definitely this feeling that subtlety might be their only option rn.

Otherwise when it comes to the strike in general, we've got SAG AFTRA potentially joining in, which means now you've got actors striking. And then potentially even DGA joining. Directors are a lot harder to pin point in terms of their potential support, though in this day in age, I think they have a lot more in common with being exploited just like their writers/talent do. Not saying that plenty of high paid directors aren't in kahoots with studios, but also, the honest ones want a good environment for their productions and I doubt they would want everyone below the line hating them (and it being rightfully deserved).

Shawn Levy is a big name director, with both ST and Deadpool under his belt. It's likely he would support a directors strike, and others among him could as well. There's only been one DGA strike in our history and I guess it lasted like 3 hrs, bc that's how fast the studios were willing to make a deal to get the directors back... So directors have a lot of power to put a stop to this hold out by the studios. Not only that, but writers, actors and directors have never in our history had a strike all at one time. We'll have to wait and see.

For a rough timeline of what is to come:

May 17th: SAG agreed to allow its members to vote on a strike authorization. SAG represents 170,000 members roughly, so that's a lot of people in the industry making that choice to potentially stop filming to strike in order to fight for a fair deal themselves. Right now, it seems like there is a lot of support from SAG saying that they will be voting yes.

June 7th: SAG will begin negotiations with AMPTP.

June 30th: The current SAG contract with AMPTP will expire. If negotiations between the TV/Theatrical negotiating committee and the AMPTP are unsuccessful, the National Board may declare a strike. The current DGA contract is also set to expire that same day as the SAG. This would essentially be like May 1st with the writers strike all over again. If a deal isn't reached on June 30th, a strike could begin on July 1st.

It's possible a deal with the writers and studios could be reached before then, especially if they are preparing for the other two to strike and make deals as well. They might have no choice but to get their shit together sooner than later while that is happening.

But who knows. In a worst case scenario neither SAG nor the DGA would strike and it could go longer without more support. The support right now from the public is also good, but it will need to continue full force and not dwindle if we want to see things get resolved sooner than later.

Very cautiously optimistic rn, but prepared for anything to change.

[kissgoodknight]

💕 pls and thank u. choose ur fighter. hahaha.

aw yissss 💖💖💖 i'm ofc gonna choose sir griffin bbcmerlin bc i have probably the most lore for them call that loredred

so griffin (born gruffudd) was born to two mages, though they did not meet either for a very long time and they show no signs of having magic. it's revealed later that their father is taliesin (who i revamped in my universe to make more sense and be better for the show so he's a lot younger). their parents left them as a baby with gaius, promising to be back for them later - but their parents never returned.

growing up, griffin was always kind of a weird child, but good and kind and playful and so loving. they always had a love of music and was gifted a lute by gaius at a fairly young age. they never really understood why they were so drawn to music their whole life, but it was undeniable. they're honestly about as close as you can get to being a bard without actually being one lmao. also fun fact they befriend all the stray cats that wonder around camelot!!

so at the start of season 1 when merlin comes to live with them griffin is.. honestly a bit standoffish. gaius is confused bc they're usually a lot nicer and a little jokester and he's like wth is going on. but it becomes clear they've got issues with abandonment bc of their parents and they're afraid that with merlin around gaius won't want them there anymore - which he works tireless to prove is not the case!!!! griffin does warm up to merlin (who tries very hard to be friendly with them) and they get rly close. he's like a big brother to them pretty much. they're a little appalled when he starts working for arthur bc "that guy was always a JERK to me, you should smother him in his sleep!" as gaius quickly reminds them SH, the king will NOT take that lightly, even from someone your age (uther does not like griffin bc they have red hair and make potions out of grass and mud and have been smarter than him since they were like 7)

shit goes crazy when mordred comes to camelot for the first time!!!! griffin insists on helping keep him safe and brings him gifts like frogs and sticks and demands to sit with him on morgana's bed, wooden training sword in hand, to protect him. also griffin has such a like.. little kid crush on morgana tbh like she's too old for them but they're baby and they can dream

as they grow up they grow closer with their family (which now includes the knights) and even with arthur, who is slowly changing over time and no longer a huge dick to them all the time and even promises to make them a knight one day, something that their younger and uneducated self had dreamt of for years. they're knighted as of the ending of season 3 when they're old enough and are proud to serve him !! they would've rather died than server uther. bitch

so at the beginning of season 5 it gets even WILDER bc mordred is reunited with this sleepy lil goofball when they're adults and he's like oh. oh i'm in love with them. and the feeling is MUTUAL and merlin fucking hates it. he is not happy about it one bit but he just has to deal. this is the first time in a long time there's genuine tension between him and griffin bc he confides in them about most things and they can't stand the way he treats mordred.

some time in season 5 griffin's powers finally come into play. they work in a very particular way but the gist that they figure out is that their abilities stem from giving hope and inspiration and breathing light and life into the world, generally in the form of song because they're literally a dnd bard what can i say and while afraid for them, mordred and their family are so proud

in my universe, which is the right and better and not poorly written rushed ending one, mordred still joins morgana because griffin gets seriously hurt and he uses magic to save them. he knows it will bring consequences but he'd rather that than lose his source of light. by camlann, griffin is heartbroken beyond belief - this call back to their fear of abandonment after all - and does not want to fight. they do come face to face with him on the battlefield but all they can do is find a place to hide together before griffin reveals that they were wounded, and passes out. the sight of him carrying their unconscious body is what makes arthur and morgana both pause their confrontation and think - this is two people they care deeply about, forced to be enemies, still finding a way to be lovers, just wanting to be safe and sound together. while things are still incredibly tense, they get griffin to safety to be healed and decide that maybe it's worth talking things out.

[thatkpopwriter]

Anomalous Fate - String Theory

Hey everyone, i'm back ! This is Chapter two (finally!) It's more so a filler chapter bc i just want to get to the concert already, and continue from there, but still a good read i hope.

Obviously as the story goes on, hopefully i will be getting better at writing it and filling in some spots. But i hope you enjoy this chapter!

Warnings: sort of?yandere!bts, mentions of saseangs

After news broke out that BTS would be in L.A all week due to their nominations in the American Music Awards and the concerts, practically everyone was talking about it and all three friends were buzzing at the fact that the tannies were in their city.

It was four days before the concert, and the girls were out shopping, having a bit of girl time before they each get busy with final exams coming up.

Jasmine’s scrolling through twitter when she sees that BTS are actually doing package deals for the concert and her eyes widen at the opportunity. She thinks for a second before turning toward her friends, “Did you guys want to meet them, like actually meet them? Because they’re also doing the packages for those who are vaccinated, they just announced it, and my dad could get them for us if they’re not sold out.”

Y/N stuttered in her steps and her shoulders tensed at the news.

Of course, she wanted to meet them, but at the same time, meeting them would mean confirming whether J-Hope was her soulmate or not, and honestly what would happen if he was? She knew if he wasn’t she would just go about her life the way she was, albeit a little disappointed.

However, she was more nervous if it was the opposite. If he was her soulmate, what did that mean for the both of them? He lives in Korea; her whole life is here, not to mention how young she really was. And come to think of it, even if it wasn’t J-Hope, her soulmate would still be from Korea. How would that even work?

Y/N hadn’t really thought much of it until now, when you meet your soulmate, aren’t you supposed to be together? If her soulmate lived across the world, would they move with her or would they want her to move with them?

Kristie interrupted her thoughts when she jumped excitedly, “Actually get to meet and speak to them? Of course, I want to!”

Y/N shook her head a little and nodded nonetheless, “They’re BTS, who wouldn’t want to meet them?”

Jasmine smiled at her friends’ excitement and ran off to phone her dad.

“So, are you excited?” Kristie teases, and Y/N shrugs, “It’s hard not be delulu about it, but I’m trying to remember that whatever happens, happens. It’d definitely be a huge deal if he was, but even if he’s not, that’s okay too.” Kristie nods at her friends’ words, “If it helps some, I think there’s a pretty big chance that he is, but we won’t know until...four days from now.”

Kristie had a strong feeling about J-Hope, and since finding her soulmate, you could say she just knew when people are meant to be, as they show the same signs she did before she found hers. All she ever wanted for her two friends is happiness, and she was determined on making sure they were, every single day. She was the oldest amongst the trio, born a few months before Y/N and Jasmine, with Jasmine being the youngest, so it came naturally to her to sort of play the big sister role in their lives.

Jasmine was much of the same, despite being the youngest, she loved to care for her friends and show her appreciation in any way she could. That’s why she asked if the packages were a good idea, she too had wanted Y/N to find her answer, and what better way than to meet him? Even if he wasn’t Y/N’s soulmate, they would be super grateful to get to talk to BTS and be able to hug them and just tell them how much they mean to the trio. It was going to be a win either way.

With that in mind, the girls were shopping for the rest of the day and ended with going home with more bags than they could carry.

When they reached their shared apartment, Jasmine told the girls that her dad was able to get three full VIP packages, and to celebrate, they bought some wine and listened to music as they sorted through what they had bought that day.

“I don’t know if I want to wear pink or purple to the concert.” Jasmine held up two shirts toward the girls, and as they all pondered over the two, Y/N felt a tug on her pinky, and she looked down to see it wriggling. It happened often, sometimes during class or grocery shopping, it wriggled a little bit, but not too hard. She wondered if they were exercising or something of the sort, and she felt her nose scrunch in disgust when she thought of her soulmate doing something that wasn’t PG-13.

After dinner, the trio went their separate ways and Y/N found herself lying in bed and thinking about the soulmate situation again. She hasn’t thought about it this much before, and she blames it on the concert coming up. She toys with the string around her pinky, swirling it around her wrist, and then back the other way. Her eyes follow it as it lines toward her door, but then disappears into thin air, the only time she will actually be able to see it and how long it is, is when she is in close proximity to her soulmate.

She wonders why the universe gave her a soulmate that lives across the world, and not just next door or something. It would have made things a lot easier, because now, here she is, in her bathtub, questioning whether a celebrity is her soulmate, like a freaking delulu.

She huffs at the incessant thoughts and changes her clothes before trying to fall asleep.

As soon as Y/N wakes up, she goes to the calendar on her desk and marks off the day, showing only today, and tomorrow left until the concert. Y/N and her friends haven’t been up to much lately, mostly getting outfits ready for the concert, and preparing for the exams that are coming up, but she couldn’t contain her excitement as each day passed.

The first concert was going to be held at the YouTube Theatre, and it’s a generally small building meaning the setting will be a little intimate, but the next day BTS will be performing at SoFi stadium, before going back to Korea. BTS had explained that to start off the two concerts, they wanted to be a little closer to ARMY, seeing as it’s been two years since they’ve seen them, which is why they chose the theatre, but to give other ARMY a chance, they will also be going to the stadium.

Seeing as the tickets weren’t as expensive at the theatre, she chose the first show and got three seats in the third row, a little bit to the right of the stage. Her nerves were through the roof since this would be the first time Y/N and her friends would be seeing BTS in person, ever. In all her years of being a fan, she’s not once seen them in real life.

Jasmine and Kristie were out with their lovers, having a bit of one-on-one time since they haven’t been able to in the past few days. Y/N walked out of her room and grabbed some juice from the fridge, pouring herself a glass and thinking about what her plans for the day were. She knew she had to continue studying but she also needed to eat, so with that thought, she moves back to her room to change and gathers her laptop, putting her textbooks into her bag before grabbing her apartment keys and heading out.

She opts for staying at a nearby café, seeing as it’s not a far walk, picking a table near the window and pulling out her books. She finds the café quiet, and it’s a perfect spot for her to focus without any distractions.

“America always has the best breakfast.” Jungkook speaks and his hyungs nod in agreement.

“So, did you guys want to do some shopping or just head back to the hotel?” Namjoon asks them and they all think about it

“Jin hyung and I will probably head back..” Yoongi informs, and Joon nods and looks toward the maknae line, knowing they’d like to walk around a little bit more, “I’ll stay with you guys.”

J-Hope nods as well, “Yeah, I’ll stay here too.”

All seven men part, and soon the five of them are walking around the area, bodyguards around them just in case, until Taehyung sees a nice little clothing store, “Can we go in here?”

As they’re all walking in, Jimin feels his pinky being tugged at and when he looks down, his eyes widen when he sees that the string has extended completely, allowing him to see where it goes. His line of vision follows the string, and he finds himself moving with it.

He’s quick on his feet, the possibility of finally meeting is soulmate, heavy on his mind.

J-Hope glances at a funky hat before turning to show Jimin with a smile, knowing he’d probably buy it, but frowns instantly when he notices he’s not with them.

“Where’s Jiminie?” He taps Joon on the shoulder, both men glance around and Namjoon immediately takes action upon not seeing him anywhere in the store, having two bodyguards follow him out the door. He has J-Hope stay with the maknae line and jogs out with the two men.

Jimin on the other hand is already half a block down, moving closer and closer, and he sees that his string has moved to the left, inside what looks like a café on the other side of the street, right across from him. Jimin looks and spots the crosswalk, and it’s a bit far, but nonetheless jogs toward it, anxiously waiting for the light to change.

“Jimin-ssi!” He hears and he turns to see one of his bodyguards jogging his way over, he sighs looks back at the café, about to start pleading that they allow him to cross, when he sees Namjoon with a slightly disappointed look in his eyes and he knows that he has no chance.

His shoulders sag in defeat and he walks up to his older member, ready to apologize and explain but Namjoon just wraps his arm around him and quietly mumbles, “Let’s go.”

The hyung line all gather around, with Jungkook and Taehyung sitting on the side, at the edge of Jin’s bed, and Jimin sitting on the couch, with his head down, playing with the fabric of his jeans.

“I just wanted to see if my soulmate was in there.” He whispers, and Yoongi is the first to speak, “Jimin-ssi, we all want to meet our soulmate someday, and we understand how excited you might have been. But you can’t just run off like that, especially in America, and especially without anybody with you. It’s dangerous.” Jimin nods at his words.

“We’re not mad, we were just worried, anything could have happened. You could have been mobbed, paparazzi could have spotted you, there might even be sasaengs around here.” J-Hope walks up and puts a hand on his younger’s back, “Just, next time be careful, and ask for someone to go with you.”

Jimin sniffs and nods once more, looking up at his hyungs, “I swear though I didn’t really mean to walk off, I just saw my string and followed it. I didn’t know how far I had gone until you called for me. I’m sorry.” He really didn’t mean to; he wasn’t aware of his actions, and he hoped his members would see that he genuinely didn’t mean to cause them any stress or worry.

All boys nod this time, and the older members, sit on the couches, Jin and Hobi sitting on each side of Jimin. “It’s alright now, as long as you’re safe.”

“You’ve been studying all morning, come have lunch with us.” Kristie’s voice comes through the phone, and Y/N shakes her head, “I can’t, I’m almost done with this textbook, I just need a few more notes. I’ll come to dinner anyways.” She hears mumbling on the other end until Kristie talks, “If you’re not coming to us, we’re coming to you.” Y/N furrows her eyebrows, “You don’t even know where I am.” This time, she hears Jasmine’s voice yell, “Snapchat bitch!”

Scoffing in disbelief, she hides her smile and rolls her eyes, “Fine, fine. See you soon,” She knows the other two are smirking at the fact they won, “See ya.”

Y/N looks at the time and her eyes widen when she realizes how long she’s been here, and as if on cue, her stomach rumbles, mentally thanking her friends for the phone call, knowing it’s best if she were to meet with her friends now. As she taps her pen against her table, she notices her pinky string was longer than it usually is, but when she follows the line, it’s fading away, and she freezes.

Her soulmate was close to her, and she didn’t even know, she scoffs at herself incredulously, so much for a meet cute, she couldn’t look up from her books for one second to check her surroundings.

Y/N begins to put her things away, keeping her laptop open for her music, and just as promised, her friends show up to the café hurriedly, “Oh my gosh, did you hear?” Jasmine whispered frantically, and Y/N shakes her head, “What?” her friend looks around before leaning in, “Not many people know, but BTS were shopping around here like fifteen minutes ago.” Y/N blinks, “How do you know that?” Jasmine shrugs, “Twitter.” All girls nod and Y/N debates on telling them about her string, but decides to keep it to herself for now, not wanting to get into a discussion of how a BTS member is her soulmate and possibly be labeled as a saseang in this café.

“Where should we eat then?” Jasmine asks, sipping on Y/N’s, now warm, juice. Y/N stares at her and playfully glares, “That’s my juice.”

Namjoon sighs and collapses on his bed, he’s reaching for his phone that won’t stop buzzing and holds it above his face, reading the message from Jin until he feels his arm start to itch.

He scratches it over and over but when it doesn’t go away, he swears, “What is…” He pauses and his eyes are wide, watching as a little heart is drawn on it, then a smiley face, then the BTS logo.

He sits here in confusion, wondering what the hell just happened until he’s frantically searching for his phone for some answers, scratching his arm in the process.

“Alright stop, that tickles…” Y/N squirms from her friends grasp and giggles, looking to see the little drawings on her arm, “very mature”

All three girls were sitting in their living room, nail polish and foot baths surrounding them, after the long day they decided to have a little self-care time which included face masks, hair masks, foot baths, pedicures, and movies.

“I can’t believe we’re going to see BTS.” Jasmine smiles and her friends nod their heads, Y/N scratches at her arm but pays it no mind, “I honestly can’t wait, it’s going to be so fun.”

“It’s a little last minute, but let’s be real, last-minute plans are the best.” Kristie pipes up, putting white polish on her toes

The itch is incessant now and y/n can’t ignore it, “geez, what’s in that ink you used? My arm is on fire-what the fuck?” she shrieks, and Kristie and Jasmine heads snap up, “What’s wrong?”

“What happened?”

“My arm! There’s drawings popping up!” As each girl inspects the doodles, they’re sorta relieved to only find stars and smiley faces, and not…..anything else.

“That’s so weird.” Jasmine whispers, meanwhile, Kristie is googling it on her phone, letting out an excited squeal when she finds a page, “It’s a tie!”

“Another one?” y/n lets out exasperatedly, Kristie nods, “It says that wherever you or your soulmate write on yourselves, it will appear in the same place on your soulmate, it lasts until one of you washes it off.”

“Say hi!” Jasmine pushes and gives y/n the marker, y/n huffs and takes it from her, opening the cap and writing down a small, “hi :)” 

They wait a little until a little “hello” comes back and just before she can respond, another one comes in, “I think this is a tie.”

She nods, cheeks turning red when she remembers he can’t see her, she thinks about it before writing down, “I think so too, it’s my first time seeing.”

This goes on for an hour or so, not really learning about each other, but just talking about anything and everything. How bright the sun was today, how there was a nice breeze yesterday.

She’s completely unaware of the idol that sits on his hotel bed but a few hours away, smiling to himself and writing on his own arm.

Both looking like idiots, but fools somewhat already in love.

However, she doesn’t think twice about the letters that are written in English, she doesn’t think for a second about how Hobi isn’t fluent, she doesn’t think about any of that, all that mattered to her as she wrote back and forth, was that she really enjoyed talking with her soulmate, whoever it may be.

+bonus:

“Hyung…” Jungkook murmurs from beside Jin, who looks at his dongsaeng in question, “Do you think I’ll ever have an experience like Jimin-hyung?” Jungkook is timid when asking his question, indicating that it’s been on his mind heavy, but too nervous to get the answer.

Jin sighs at his youngest member’s words, not wanting to hurt him but also wanting to tell him the truth,

“If I’m being honest, I don’t know. I don’t know if you have a soulmate tie, none of us do. Jimin can see his, which is why it’s easier for him to find his soulmate. But, even if you don’t ever find yours, you will find someone who will love you all the same. There’s a lot of people who haven’t found theirs, that have found love elsewhere, I’m sure the universe has something in store for you either way.”

Jungkook thinks over what Jin had told him, his brows furrowing in focus, but Jin can see tears gather in his eyes, pulling Jungkook in for a hug, “Chin up little one, you’ll be just fine.”

Yoongi walks into the living room to see his two members cuddled up, seeing tears on Jungkook’s cheeks, and he places a hand on his shoulder as he walks by to sit across from them, “What’s up?”

“Someone isn’t feeling too good about this soulmate thing.” Jin explains, Yoongi nods slowly, “Yah, Jungkook-ssi, why don’t you research what kind of different ties there are?”

Jungkook sniffs, “I tried that, I don’t have any of those ones, at least the common ones. Rare ties have a very little chance of developing if there’s none in your family, and mine all have common ties.”

“Don’t get discouraged, it’s also very rare to not have a tie, only 0.1% of the population don’t have one.” Yoongi tries, Jungkook’s eyes widen, and he bursts into tears, “That’s still 800,000 people, and I could be one of them.”

Both the older men wince at their mistake, and Jin continues to console him, “Shh, it’s okay, he’s not correct in that calculation...”

Jin shoots Yoongi a look that says, ‘look what you did,’ and Yoongi throws his head back and rubs at his face tiredly.

[bratz-kitten]

attack on titan characters - birth chart analysis 🌙

Here is my take on the big 6 of Levi, Eren, Armin and Mikasa of attack on titan/shingeki no kyojin! I kept their sun signs since we know the day and month of their birthday and since I think they’re absolutely perfect. If you want me to do my take on the others (like Jean, Historia, Erwin, Hanji, Connie, Sasha, Reiner, etc) please let me know! (spoiler warning!)

Levi Ackerman

sun in capricorn - levi mf ackerman is fuelled by three things and three things only: LOYALTY, a strong moral code and power. he is seen by most people as a heartless, unemotional bastard but is canonically the most emotional character - he shows love through very indirect ways and he’s the peak of capricorn in the sense that he represses his emotions – he smiled literally ONE time in four seasons, and didn’t once shed a tear. he’s very hard to read. has a lot of respect for his superiors and follows the orders of only those he’s loyal to. he’s driven by his moral codes in the sense that the protection of humanity is his prime motive for fighting titans. like a true capricorn, is the master of his field of work and cares the most about being a survey corp member. please protect this tragic baby. 

virgo rising - two words: CLEAN FREAK. this man has a strong need to be presentable at all times and hates getting blood on his hands for the single fact that he needs himself and his environment to be clean. his obsession with being clean is very much due to his childhood trauma and how he lived in in poor conditions in the underground. he has many quirks that correlate with this: the way he holds his cup, the carvat he uses bc of his mother, and the way he always cuts his own hair because that’s the way his mother used to do it.  intimidating and demands respect. DRY HUMOUR. 

moon in scorpio - i think he has many similarities with mikasa, especially in the moon and venus. introverted and hates people but will go to the ends of the earth to protect the ones he loves and respects. represses emotions and internalizes his hatred until he has a mental breakdown - which happens in the form of extreme violence. VERY sensitive and emotional even if he doesn’t show it. he’s very intuitive and often acts based on gut; he’s secretive and vindictive. very wise and great at giving advice. doesn’t let himself get manipulated and uses shitty situations to his advantage (like with the reeves company). trust is the most important thing to him.

mercury in aquarius - levi is extremely logical, and hates when others involve their feelings in the making of decisions. his decisions are always backed up by strong arguments and others often see him as cold and detached. i saw someone  mention something extremely interesting about aquarius mercury’s/people with their mercuries in the 11th house: despite not being very sociable, others are drawn to them for friendships – and often they’re the introverts who get “adopted” by extroverts. this is 100% levi’s case, hanji and erwin practically adopted him. being very vulgar with his words and having a distinctive sense of humour, he’s very humanitarian and is actually really talkative but only when he’s very comfortable around someone. blunt, always tells it like it is – like when he tells eren he can’t know what the right choice really is and he needs to choose it himself. teases and insults his friends as a form of affection.

mars in scorpio - levi’s a fighter, a survivor. he knows what it’s like to come from nothing and have to build himself up. very confrontational. reclaims his power by exerting intimidation and mastering violence. others fear doing as much as make a joke at his expense. understands other’s motivations and characters very easily. he’s very intuitive. very serious due to his need for having an intense and demanding presence, for being respected and valued. he’s the one who everyone sighs of relief when things go to shit and he appears because you know he’s the strongest and most dependable person.

venus in capricorn - good luck getting this motherfucker to open up. his trust is very hard to gain but is necessary for working with him – he places his full trust in his comrades and demands the same from them. very work-oriented and takes relationships very serious; it’s really telling that he cares little for romance because capricorn venuses are the ones to date to marry, and will only devote themselves to someone once they believe they’ve met the one. they either want a more powerful and mature partner or they exude that energy (levi is the latter). slightly parental – we see this in the way that levi is pretty much the dad figure. it’s called squad levi for a reason, after all. very responsible. takes care of loved ones and often uses tough love as a form of discipline.

Eren Jaeger - im not even kidding with this one, he has extreme aries energy

sun in aries - eren feels the need to be very independent and he hates whenever he has to depend on mikasa and others, wanting to be strong enough to reverse the roles. he’s very self-confident, bold and direct. very impulsive, he’s quick to anger but is also very quick to forget - especially seen with his arguments with jean, fighting him is basically a love language at this point. aries suns are very fast thinkers and their strong energy may come off as intimidating. they have great intentions but that often becomes muddled with their impulsivity and the fact that they don’t think ideas through. eren is unabashedly himself and fights relentlessly for what he wants. his aries energy also makes him extremely motivated! he believes in the impossible and will make it happen no matter what.

aries rising – aries risings are the trailblazers. they ooze intensity. eren has very much a baby face and, due to his impulsivity and childish charm, people tend to baby him a lot – in the sense that he’s this kid surrounded by adults who needs supervision at all times or he’ll get into deep shit. aries risings are also marked by their extreme need for action, they’re the ones to do now and apologize later instead of asking for permission to do something in the first place. he is guided by his passion and is a natural leader who inspires everyone to fight alongside him. aries risings have a lot of energy which they need to express in a physical way, making them be prone to be very athletic and lead very active lives. he’s also extremely competitive and is driven by the force of becoming stronger than mikasa, and often feels angry when he realizes how stronger than him other people can be. at the same time, this pressure to be better is put solely on himself. he’s a dumbass with a good-heart and pure intentions.

moon in sagittarius – all this motherfucker talks about is freedom and seeing the world past the walls. he craves adventure and is extremely optimistic. but even if a sagittarius moon needs their freedom, they are still absolutely ride-or-dies and once they’ve commited to something, NOTHING or NO ONE can stop their determination. these are also the people to try their best to always appear cheerful and full of determination to hide their sad façade – like when he was nearly vomiting when talking about the titans to the other recruits when they began the training in the military but still forced himself to say that the titans aren’t scary at all and that they aren’t a big deal; he naturally inspires others and fills them with courage. but the way they put on this strong and brave façade leads to a strong emotional turmoil, violent urges and a sudden hostility to others. they are filled with surpressed anger that can lead them through very destructive paths – and the happy-go-lucky child might just lose her hope. we see this in eren in the most heartbreaking way.

mercury in aries – LOUD!!! eren speaks what’s on his mind with NO hesitation whatsover. he’s very quick to defend his friends and points of view, and speaks openly about his passions and dreams. he’s very assertive and tenacious. short attention span and not afraid to give a different opinion from someone else’s. very passionate about what he argues about. very expressive and when an aries mercury disagrees with you, you’ll know it immediately by their facial expression. confident and thrives on inspiring others. remember him being mad when it was discovered the possibility of all titans being humans because now he didn’t know who the enemy is and he NEEDS to hate someone and blame them in order to keep going? ARIES MERCURY ENERGY!!

mars in aries - people look to mars in aries to lead them. they’re full of energy and dynamic, and very athletic - eren exceeds at hand-to-hand combat and, in the other subjects where he’s not so good, his determination makes him push forward and become better. VERY hot-headed and confrontational, which is both the source of all their problems and their strength - they are not afraid of going after what they want and are willing to go through any obstacle to do so, and they’re also not afraid of upsetting other people in order to do so. eren is courageous, loves to take initiative and is very enthusiastic - something that is very contageous. competitive and hates compromise, he likes getting his own way. aries mars are also very individualistic and can have a huge ego.

venus in pisces - i know this is going to confuse a lot of people - like, how does he have so much aries energy, how is he so intense yet has one of the softest venus placements? i deeply believe he’s a pisces venus, and here’s why. his friends are EVERYTHING to him. pisces venus’ love very deeply and are very dependent on their loved ones, and eren is extremely protective of his loved ones and is willing to do anything to protect them. pisces venus’ are very vengeful, too, something that people seem to brush off about them - they might not do anything when you mess with them but as soon as you mess with their friends it’s game over. i also get a lot of “there was no other way, the word had to be fixed” vibes from this placement? like, this placement gives me the energy of someone willing to commit awful crimes under the excuse of it being for the greater good, which is something he dramatically experiences as he grows older and witnesses the cruelty of the world.

Armin Arlert

sun in scorpio - armin very resourceful!! he easily adapts to the circunstances he’s in and works his way around it. very intelligent and with great memory. extremely manipulative, cunning and perceptive. scorpios are known for their capability to be great investigators due to their natural curiosity, and armin has this deep need to see the world outside of the walls and he studies all there is to know about it with great passion. determined to succeed. 

cancer rising - armin just wants to achieve his dream and it’s so soft. cancer risings are very receptive of other’s emotions and incredibly sensitive, but it’s difficult for them to open up to others. his appearance is very soft and delicate. loves to help others and has a naturally warm presence that makes others feel comfortable in his presence. give off a very grounded and stable energy, but this is often because they try to hide their most intense emotions and don’t know how to deal with them/don’t want to bother others by opening up about it. 

moon in pisces - one word: EMPATHY!!! very compassionate. tendency to become a martyr and be very self-sacrificial. VERY imaginative, he is the strategist, after all. can feel others emotions and read them very easily. avoids confrontation but feels a strong need to take the weight off of others’ shoulders and to solve all their problems. very loving and giving, in tune with his emotions and emotionally intelligent. on the other side, this caring side of him can make him see other people through rose-colored glasses, and he is prone to believing in the best in people and giving them the benefit of the doubt. but when they’ve proven their true nature to him, he’ll see them for what they are and will no longer defend them, even if still feeling remorse. notice how he’s always like “this had to be done, we had no other choice” to justify his actions.

mercury in scorpio - bro armin’s eyes are so intense. when he gets on his manipulative bullshit it’s IMPOSSIBLE to look away from his gaze. he practically communicates through the eyes. armin is very sharp and his innocent appearance has everyone still thinking of him as a sweet angel as if he isn’t a whole war criminal. he easily psychoanalizes others to know what they want and uses it to his advantage, like how he used berthold’s love for annie to manipulate him to let eren go after him and reiner kidnapped him. scorpio mercuries be knowing shit, they be knowing everyone’s secrets and others usually confide in them as if they’re their therapists. 

mars in pisces - mars in pisces makes a person avoid physical confrontation at all costs. notice how armin’s first response to everyone wanting to kill reiner and bertold/the marleyans was “please let’s just talk about this first”? he hates violence and deems it not worthy most times. he is very physically weak and aware of his limitations, unlike eren and levi, whose first instinct is to use violence in order to get what they want. no, armin has developed a much more subtle and effective way to get what he wants without using violence: emotional manipulation. he is the KING of appearing innocent and naïve and having people feel bad for him and want to baby him and protect him, and due to his extremely intuitive nature, he knows EXACTLY what to say to someone to get under their skin. he twists his words and emotions to get what he needs out of people and it’s both incredible and dangerous. also, very self-sacrifical and his goals are based on his emotions.

venus in cancer - he loves so much and it’s so beautiful and heartbreaking. he gives everything to the ones he loves and thrives off of being helpful and keeping everyone safe. reads a lot into the behaviour of the people he loves. very emotionally intelligent, wants stability and to maintain peace and may bend over backwords to achieve that. needs to feel understood and has a soft spot for troubled people, those who are more demanding and assertive (eren and mikasa), people he can take care of and who can take care of him in return. very affectionate and communicative. warm presence, you can pretty much feel the love radiating out of him. 

Mikasa Ackerman 

sun in aquarius - if you get past the emotional walls of an aquarius that has them appearing detached and distant because they’d rather use intelligence than seem emotional, you’ll be met with an incredibly soft, loving and caring person. an aquarius strength is their ability to be very unique, individualistic and humanitarian individuals - they truly march to the beat of their own drum. mikasa possesses a great deal of determination and isn’t afraid of being rebellious, especially when her loved ones are in danger. 

capricorn rising - people with capricorn rising had to learn to be very independent from a very young age. mikasa is very intimidating but she has a very doll-like beauty, common to many capricorn risings. these people have had to deal with a lot ever since childhood, but they are fighters and their determination has them being able to survive even unsurmountable odds stacked up against them. capricorn risings tend to be serious and disciplined, and with a melancholic aura to them – which mikasa perfectly embodies. but the fact that these people have cancer in their descendant makes them strongly emotionally attached to their loved ones.

aquarius moon - even under the most stressful and dangerous situations, mikasa always remains in control of her emotions. she thrives in those situations, it’s the adrenaline of the moment that has her being so good at controlling her emotions until it’s safe to be anything but racional again. aquarius moons are feel very misunderstood and tend to racionalize their emotions a lot. however, it’s only due to their fear of vulnerability that they build this emotional walls, because they experience very intense emotions. i always think about that survey corp member saying “what did you have to go through for you to be like this?” when she was perfectly stable in a life-or-death situation. 

mercury in capricorn - mikasa is incredibly action-oriented and she speaks in a structured but confident way. although she’s on the quieter side and is reserved, she’s able to inspire everyone when all hope seems lost, and she’s taken up eren’s words of “if we don’t fight, we can’t win” and uses it constantly in order to keep going. she’s very hard to read due to her usually expressionless face, giving her a mysterious aura. she’s very ambitious, persuasive and determined. 

mars in capricorn - when people say that mars in capricorn people are the scariest when they’re angry, they’re not wrong. they act so calm and collected until suddenly they’re fixing you with a death glare and you’re rethinking all your life choices up until this point. mikasa might be extremely rational and calm, but as soon as someone threatens the ones she loves, she’ll stop at nothing to eliminate the threat. it’s like she fears nothing but ever being unable not to save them. she’s very responsible and reliable, with a lot of physical strength and stamina. very PROTECTIVE, grounded and GIVING 

venus in virgo - this is one of the things that makes mikasa so similar to levi, the way they love. this bitch is LOYAL to her very core. she knows very well where her loyalties are - eren and armin - and is ready to kill all her close friends and superiors in order to protect them. she threatened to kill historia if she got in the way of getting eren back home safely, jumped levi on sight when he wanted to save erwin instead of armin, and got pissed at connie for doubting eren’s intentions after the whole marleyan ordeal. acts of service are very much her love language - she constantly picks up eren’s and armin’s stuff and carries it herself or orders them to rest while she works. it’s very hard to gain her trust and loyalty but once you do it’s forever, she’s very selective about the people she cares for. she’s possessive, too - giving historia the coldest death glare in the world when she saw her with eren. i’ve also noticed that venus in virgo are very difficult to declare their emotions!! they’ll just wait for the person to notice their indirect acts of affection. very attentive to the needs and details of loved ones.  

[7fckingidiots]

Would you be alright with writing some HCs about the brothers and a MC who's a trans guy? Sorry if it's a tall order or too vague, they're a big comfort for me and I'd like to see what ideas you have bcs your headcanons are fantastic ;w;

HELL YEAH DUDE!!!! IM ALSO TRANS!!! AH!!!!! demigirl rights :3 but i also find a huge comfort in the boys and i hc all of them as trans because no one can Stop Me •• but i really hope you enjoy these and remember you’re valid and i care u so much! Also i hope you don’t mind but i kinda made it gender neutral so every trans folk could enjoy!

The Brothers With A Trans MC

Lucifer

He didn’t know until you came out to him honestly. He knew all his other siblings were trans but with all the work Diavolo gave him and adding new students from different realms on top of that he hadn’t really had time to notice any minor changes in you.

He feels guilty about this and immediately makes sure(like everyone else)to ask for your pronouns, name, and how you would like to present yourself from now on.

Fixes your ID cards and your papers with Diavolo right after dinner

God. He’s such a dad and he gets you things that have your new name on them. You wake up to see you have a new pencil case with your name embroidered on it with matching pencils. God.....he’s so weird i love him so much

Asmo does most of your clothing shopping but for formal wear he takes you shopping! He’s not about to buy you some cheap tux or gown ok it’s gonna be over 2000 grim and he’s gonna get you three of them STOP HIM

He’s not the best with verbal affection so he writes down notes that are like “you looked very handsome/pretty today.” or when he first starts writing them they’re like “you’re a boy/girl/kid. i’m proud of you.” Thank u mr morningstar

You want surgery or to start hormones??? He will stop all his work with Diavolo and spend forever looking up things for you, he wants you to be as safe as possible(pls he almost fainted after he realized you’d have to give yourself a shot like everyday dhdhdhjdhd hc that demons/angels don’t have to do hormone therapy i’m so JEALOUS)

Practices saying your pronouns in his study when you first come out. He just wants to make sure you feel as safe as possible in his care(and he remembers how terrible it felt to be misgendered)

Guess what....he loves you no matter what :)

Mammon

You’re blind as hell if you couldn’t see his top scars but I respect it

King DOES slip up on your pronoun change but always immediately corrects himself. Satan has a spray bottle that he sprays Mammon with when he does it. Mammon is NOT amused but the same can’t be said for Belphie.

Gender affirming activities??? Oh yeah like robbing a bank?? That’s pretty gender neutral and trans right?? Yeah!!! Wow such a good supportive brother.

If you want you can wear the formal wear Lucifer bought you to the said bank heist. Boom trans rights

You can practice painting his nails or doing his makeup if you’re too nervous to do it on yourself first!! Dw if it’s bad he also can’t do makeup or paint nails so once you let him return the favor you’re both laughing and Asmo is distraught.

KING at dying hair he will get you whatever you need and if you want an entire different hair cut entirely he’s ON it

Very used to being Loud and Brash but if you need someone to talk to about anything really he always calms down and sits down to listen to whatever you have to say.

Lots of gendered gifts from him. This said for men??? Oh ok adds to cart. Oh pink??? For ladies??? yeah that can go in there too

You’re never gonna believe this.....But he loves you and supports you :)

Levi

He was the first one to come out to you at the house!! He was just so excited! Same hat!!!

Gets literally any video game where you can design the protag/have custom pronouns and will play games like that with you for hours

Would you like a pride flag.....for u.....He has too many.....Please take the trans flag please he has no room....he bought in bulk for a pride event and didn’t consider the consequences of his actions

Miku binder but irl. He will get if for you but unironically.....thanks King. He just likes binders with patterns and i respect IT

Dysphoria?? He gives you his hoodie bc that was his trademark dysphoria hoodie and i GUESS for you he can share............he would give u anything just ask nicely he’s sensitive

Reads any character that matches up with your gender and is like!!!!! That’s you!!!! OMG!!!! You in da IRL

Goes back and edits his tweets if they use your old name or pronouns(also has he/they in his bio. this is for nothing just makes me :D)

If you haven’t chosen your name he’s gonna suggest so many fictional characters. POV levi kin assigns you.

You listen to music together that just has Trans Vibes.....maybe u cry together but there’s no judgment!! It’s just nice :)

God it’s wild but! He loves u and thinks ur great :)

Satan

Enby Satan. That’s all :)

He’s very quite about it, he supports you! He’s just not loud like his brothers

He brings you book about gender studies and LGBTQ history that he thinks would interest you(there some of his favorite books and they’ve made him feel the most comfortable in his gender)

Gives you a name list if you haven’t named yourself yet! He cares about you and wants to make sure you have the right name that suits you

He’s the one that tells you that it’s ok if you’re still figuring it all out, learning about yourself is a very tricky process and if anyone knows that it’s Satan

Any of the brothers would kill anyone who misgendered you but with Satan that shit is ON SIGHT

Asks you how you know and what were the signs that gave it away to you, but only if you’re comfortable telling him!! He just finds everyone’s experience interesting and would like to know yours as well.

Spells for fucking DAYS Satan personally kills body dysphoria the best he can(mainly bc he’s HIGHKEY afraid of you getting surgery he hates knives so much)

Makes your comfort food for you when you’re feeling down about yourself and will read whatever you want to hear outloud to you.

!!!!!! GET THIS !!!!!! He loves YOU :0

Asmo

Fucking excited!!!! This means you two are going to buy so much clothing together and he gets to style you let’s GO

Buys you whatever you want but he will make you try it all on so be CAREFUL what u wish for.....ur gonna be there till the store closes yeah......

Paints your nails with the trans pride flag!! Also does your makeup and gives you tips on how to look more masculine or fem!!

VOICE LESSONS

He will help you lower or raise the pitch of your voice if it KILLS him. It eventually becomes like a mini class after school

Helps with internalized transphobia! Hes dealt with his fair share and knows how awful it can be and he will NOT being having you experience that as well we r practicing Self Care now

Picks apart any one who misgenders you until they’re crying he has NO fucking time for that behavior in this HOUSE

Sometimes self care is eating whatever you want and sitting in the dysphoria hoodies while watching chick flicks with Asmo

He likes dressing you up but he’s always sure to set boundaries so he never puts you into something that makes you feel uncomfortable

ALSO edits his posts and takes down anything that makes you uncomfortable!!

He loves you so much!!!!

Beel

another one to hand you The Dysphoria Hoodie and it’s very large and comfy!

he’ll help you make out a work out routine that will help you get the body you want and it makes him really happy to work out with you :)

he’s gonna hold your hand if you have to take shots and will give you puppy eyes if you don’t let him. He’s just worried!!!! He wants to help

stands behind you whenever you’re nervous about coming out to someone, he will NOT have someone making you feel bad or misgendering you

he’ll see food with trans pride colors and gives it too you, probably doesn’t even know what it is half the time but it made him think of you so he makes sure to get it for you

he doesn’t trip up on any of your new pronouns or name and makes it seem like he never even knew them. dead name???? what’s that??? a type of sauce?????

will let you vent to him whenever needed and will always make you a sundae after you’ve finished. it’s comically huge but it’s tasty and does make you feel a lot better, thanks beel

makes sure you remember to take off your binder if you’ve been wearing it for more than eight hours! and if you’ve been wearing heels to feel more fem he reminds you to take those off too and has a pair of slippers for you in his room that you can wear instead

hey! get this! He loves you so, so much :D

Belphie

you’re trans? ok kid join the club. he doesn’t make a big deal at all

are you still gonna cuddle with him and join him in his quest to make lucifer’s life difficult? yeah? ok then cool what’s ur name 

if he hears someone misgender you he waits till you’ve left the room and just kills whoever did it, dude’s unhinged what did you expect from him honestly

he’s actually really curious about any hormone therapy you’re on and likes listening to you rant about it to him. he likes seeing your face light up and it partly reminds him of lilith

calls your hormones something stupid like “oh dude, your gamer girl juice arrived.” or “hey your little man potion is here.” ...thanks belphie

will NOT let you sleep in a binder or push up bra!!! not healthy!! let ur chest breath guys 

like mammon, he gets you gendered gifts but they’re so fucking weird? you didn’t need a girls version of a collectable hot wheels set???? he got you blue lightning mcqueen sheets?????? those EXIST here????!!!!! when does he even shop......

introduces you to new people like “this is our resident boy/girl/human. they don’t do much but i think they’re cool.”

he really does care about you but he remembers when he came out he just didnt want people to make a big deal about it so he’s just doing what would have made him feel the most comfortable, but you can still see how much love he has for you when you look into his eyes

he loves you, so, so much :)

[bthump]

What do you think about the point in the story we are at now? Would you say you like the direction Miura is going in or not? What are the things you dislike about Berserk as it is now?

lol this is hard to answer because it’s so heavily dependent on what happens next. I think we’re at a point where everything could start coming together in a way that really appeals to me or where everything could just fall apart and I’ll have to accept that this is no longer a story I’m particularly interested in.

Though I am slightly leaning towards the former right now, whether that’s based on real evidence or mostly blind optimism I’m not entirely sure lol.

Basically I think it’ll depend on a) whether Moonlight Boy becomes a major motivational plot point or turns out to be more of a red herring or brief inciting factor in the shift to a new arc, and b) whether Guts and the rpg group overcome the imminent challenge they’ll face thanks to their personal growth and friendship or whether it’ll fuck them up.

But the reasons I’m feeling tentatively optimistic right now are:

all the foreshadowing re Guts losing himself to the armour and wreaking some havok, which has to happen at some point lbr

fetus as the focal point of Casca’s traumatic memories and symbolizing her thorn-covered heart, which to me screams sacrifice material, which would be the only thing that could make it time sharing Griffith’s body interesting to me (ie what happens to Griffith if it’s sacrificed?)

I’m gonna link this post because I’m still mostly feeling the basics of this theory, ie Skull Knight and Elfhelm in cahoots plotting to use the behelit to entrap the godhand, at Guts and Casca’s expense. Plus another possible way for Moonlight Boy to come to nothing is if it’s a manipulation of Danann’s.

I think Guts is purposefully being written as emotionally distanced from the rpg group, which is a good sign for the power of friendship not saving him yet, and there are also aspects of Guts+rpg group that parallel Griffith+Hawks in the golden age (eg Farnese’s feelings for Guts being paralleled to Casca’s feelings for Griffith, Guts gaining followers who compare him to fire, etc) which also gives me hope that tragedy will strike.

Miura’s little bait and switch wrt Guts and Casca’s relationship that honestly felt like gentle mockery of people who wanted them to immediately get together lol. Yk Casca getting sent out in a pretty dress to meet Guts complete with romantic double page spread and having a breakdown, then changing into pants and cutting her hair and saying how much better it is, and not being able to look at Guts now.

Also more recently, Guts at a loss now that he’s brought Casca’s sanity back and it didn’t actually solve any of his issues. “The hell do I do now?” “You have reached the end of your journey. It is not always a happy thing.” I’ve been worried for a while that Guts’ complex issues have been dropped and we’re meant to see him taking Casca to Elfhelm as him genuinely growing past them, and that one moment was such a huge relief when I read it lol. It really suggests to me that this sidequest was always about Guts trying to find a distraction to avoid dealing with his actual issues (fear/trauma, insecurity, love/hate feelings for Griffith, regret, etc), and those are going to make a return sooner rather than later.

Miura implying in interviews that we’re not all that close to the end, so there’ll probably be at least one more arc after Elfhelm, which gives me more hope that this whole rpg arc will lead to some amount of narrative-shaking tragedy and we’ll get some interesting stuff after.

this parallel with the climax of the Millenium Falcon arc and my firm belief that it has to come full circle.

other stuff like complex apostle characters, the lost chapter worldbuilding, schierke suggesting that her elemental guardians are holy see angels alongside implications that holy see angels are the godhand. Basically my hopes for worldbuilding that doesn’t boil down to good spirit world vs evil spirit world.

all the little suggestions that NGriff isn’t as emotionless as he’d like to be that have nothing to do with a demon fetus giving a shit about its parents

So I guess my answer is that I do like the direction I hope Miura’s going in, but there’s also enough counter evidence that I may be wrong about that direction.

So some of the things I dislike about Berserk now are:

Moonlight Boy and the Fear that he will derail everything and the plot will soon revolve around, idk, Guts and Casca trying to free their kid’s soul bringing them closer together or some awful shit like that.

Moonlight Boy and the Fear that Miura is actually going to ignore the absolutely incredible foundation he wrote in the Golden Age to support the hints of Griffith’s current capacity for emotion in favour of pinning it all on a magic baby.

I have some lowkey fears that Guts “bleeding” for Casca is gonna be a thing, largely based on me recently re-reading the scene where Farnese gets upset about everything Guts has done for her while bathing her. Like yk, maybe Casca will remember Guts saving her and warm up to him... tho in all honesty I can’t actually think of an example of Guts being the one to save her post-Eclipse lmao, he fucks it up every time. Maybe when he first put on the armour and killed an apostle in front of her or w/e, yk. Some shit like that. Like I can come up with 50 counter arguments but those only work if you accept the basic premise that Berserk will be good, yk?

The fear that we are meant to understand that Guts has overcome most of his flaws throughout the Millenium Falcon/Fantasia arcs and will get a big moment to demonstrate that and overcome the armour or save Casca or whatever.

And less speculatively and more generally, like many people I’m not a fan of the current art style, I think the larger cast on Guts’ side is causing some poor writing and not helping the pacing issues (and tbh I think Berserk is paced fairly well up until the boat stuff), I don’t like the lighter more comedic tone right now bc I got into Berserk for the grimdark vibe and tragedy and characters succumbing to their fatal flaws and making huge mistakes and I miss that a lot. I’m not saying Berserk can’t be light and funny and campy but I prefer that Black Swordsman or Conviction Arc style where it’s offset by a lot of fucked up shit, or Golden Age style where there’s an underlying sense of dread bc we already know shit’s going to go wrong, yk? If shit does get dark soon I might end up being a lot less critical of the current tone on re-read tbf.

So basically to sum up:

hopes: tragedy, character flaws that haven’t been dealt with yet coming home to roost, Moonlight Boy becomes a non-issue.

fears: power of friendship staves off tragedy, slower gtsca romance, moonbaby affects plot and emotions, guts’ flaws get brushed under the rug instead of fucking him over

I can argue that the former makes a lot more sense than the latter, but I’ve been burned a lot in my life and I know a lot of fans would argue the latter makes more sense than the former so yk, everyone has their biases including me and idk how blinded I am by those biases lol.

Anyway ty for asking!

[lizacstuff]

Sen Çal Kapımı Fragman 35 Asks

Speculation and Spoiler asks about the 2nd fragman under the cut. (also a few ep 34 asks as well) 

Anonymous said: Thoughts on the new fragman for epi 35?

[Sing-song voice]  Serkan said he loves her! Serkan said he loves her! Serkan said he loves her!

The reign of Deniz and Selin terrorizing them is OOOOOOVER!  The reign of Deniz and Selin terrorizing them is OOOOOOVER!  The reign of Deniz and Selin terrorizing them is OOOOOOVER!  

Serkan said he loves her! Serkan said he loves her! Serkan said he loves her!  [END Sing-song voice]  

Anonymous said: Liza.. That. Fragman!!!!! Whew I had a good feeling the memory loss plot was coming to a close after the 1st fragman revealed they were so close to the wedding day and a new character was announced.. not even mad they spoiled it bc tbh, I needed SOME kinda hope. Based on different translations I'm not sure if the wedding was real yet or not.. and I was wondering what would be the new "thing" for drama in the story.. but edser are back! if it is real, I have hope they're gonna face it together.

EDSER IS BACK!  What do we always say? Fragmans are misleading. And they really chopped up that scene, lots of cuts. So my gut is saying that they want us to think Deniz and Eda marriage is actually legal, but I don’t think that it is. I think it’s a misdirect. 

Because what does Eda and Deniz being married do? Eda will get the Turkish equivalent of an annulment and it’s over. If Deniz did something to trick Eda into a real marriage when she thought it was fake, that will only make her hate him so it’s not like he gets anything out of it. It’s time for this story with Deniz and Selin to be over, so after 6 straight episodes of them having the upper hand over Eda and Serkan, why would the show hand them one last win right as our protagonists are about to triumph over their lies and manipulations?

I saw one translations where the registrar said something like, “awhile ago these two signed a real marriage contract.”  If that’s true, who are these two?  Did Deniz trick Eda into signing a marriage contract awhile ago? Or does this have something to do with Serkan and Eda’s original marriage contract? I have no idea. 

Sadly, With the information we currently have, I assume that is the last scene of the episode and will be a cliffhanger so we may have to live with this question for 10 days, not 3. Hopefully, we’ll have more context after the ep, though.

Anonymous said: Fragman 2 came out I’m so excited!! But idk something is telling me not to get too excited? What if serkan is pretending to remember just to stop the wedding because he fell in love with her again?

I guess my question to you would be, what does it matter? Whether Serkan stopped the wedding because he remembered, or he stopped the wedding because he fell in love with her all over again and said that he remembered because it seemed like the easiest way to make sure she didn’t marry another man, in my mind it’s still all good. He still said I love you, stopped the wedding and is hugging her. I’d say that is plenty to be excited about!!!  

Anonymous said: Or shoot do you think the wedding/remembering might just be eda or serkan’s dream? :(

Oh boy, possibly, but I’m so tired of the speculation that the pivotal moment in every fragman is a dream. I know that the proposal in 25 being a dream eFFed us up, but honestly, it’s no fun to theorize or speculate when you assume everything is not really happening. If it is, so be it, but I’m not gonna spend a ton of energy on that theory.

Anonymous said: The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that the wedding and remembering is serkans dream. The whole point of eda doing a fake wedding is to provoke serkan right? So if he wasn’t even there (he ran in late) why would she be acting it out, about to say yes? And would the writers really spoil the reunion in the fragman?

Okay, I guess I will spend some energy on it. Good point about her going to the point of fake saying yes when he wasn’t there, but in the fragman she says she’ll do anything to get him back. Maybe she was hoping he would come busting in and as long as its fake, does it matter? Here’s my thing, would the production actually spend a full day shooting with the ENTIRE cast at that wedding location for a dream? Seems like a pretty big expense for a dream. Also they showed a bunch of reactions. Engin, Piril, Leyla, Erdem, and Selin’s. Would a dream go into that level of detail? Complete with Engin being exuberant and Piril looking like she sucked on a lemon? Would Serkan dream about that and having a bruise on his face? Maybe, it would certainly clear away all the problems this scene potentially creates, but it’s not the most plausible scenario to me. 

Anonymous said: Maybe the confession is serkans dream, which makes him realize that even though he doesn’t remember, he still loves her so that provokes him to stop the wedding for real, and then the running/car scenes are real and the ep ends with him walking in on the wedding? Bc during the running/car scenes and when it looks like it first walks into the wedding he has a brown jacket but during the confession he doesn’t

Okay... I guess this theory is super popular. Obviously could be. However, check out the reaction shot of Engin at the wedding again, he’s holding Serkan’s coat.  So a lot happens (obviously) that we didn’t see. I guess somehow Serkan comes down the stairs and takes off his coat and hands it to Engin?

Anonymous said: I wonder why eda has a different wedding dress in each fragman?

Maybe Eda was just trying on dresses when he came in and perhaps there were several? Or maybe she decides not to wear the dress that caused Serkan to look at her like she was the stars and moon combined and say she was beautiful, to fake marry another man?

Episode 34 asks:

Anonymous said: In 34 when Selin takes the pictures to Deniz and they have their argument, did you notice that when Deniz angrily throws the photos/envelope onto the table, one (or two, I can’t remember) photos falls out unnoticed onto the floor? And when Selin takes the envelope back, presumably to dispose of the photos, she doesn’t pick up the one on the floor. Do you think this is significant at all?

I’ve seen this theory, but then I also saw someone point out that when Selin looks at the photos later they are both there. I think that might just be a continuity issue. However, we shall see. Someone has the copies and is texting them to Selin, so it’s not like there’s a shortage of ways for the show to get other eyes on the photos. 

Anonymous said: I agree with you that Eda slapping Serkan after the kiss was a little harsh. When I read the summary for the ep I was expecting him to say something mean, but what he actually said was the best case scenario. Him taking that big of a step in actively WANTING to remember her, especially after the way Ceren worded what she said to him about Eda, was a big deal! And I was like girl, did you not do this exact same thing to him in ep 29 in an effort to make him remember as well? 😂

I agree that his reaction was the best case scenario. She did do that exact same thing. And his reaction was to dazedly wander off and propose to another woman to try and stave off the feels and confusion her kiss wrought. All in all I prefer the slap. 

Personally, I think it was a huge thing that he wanted to kiss her, especially after Ceren’s unbalanced Eda-hate soliloquy at his loft. He didn’t seem to care about Eda being manipulative or selfish, he just seemed jazzed because if true it would mean that she hadn’t been able to move on from their love.

[thatbeluga]

college rant

idk why this semester I'm feeling a lot more out of place than I did last semester. Now that I have more in person classes, and I'm actually hearing the other students hear talk, I just feel like my brain is not the same as theirs. Like there's a whole high level of operational speed my brain isn't even wired to function on. And I don't even know if it's bc most of them went to super expensive private schools or what. Like, I can get most of the material eventually, my brain can get it, just not in the same way as everyone else.

And then there's just the fact that my college is FILLED with rich people. Like, I thought I was comfortable, and then I heard the very casually delivered words "Yeah, I think I'll work in NYC for a few years but I'd rather raise my kids in London" and I realized I am NOT in the same space as some of these people here. On breaks everyone just "hops on a flight" to see their friends across country. I usually go one maybe one flight every one or two years for a big family vacation.

Or how everyone seems to have all these connections in high places. I have friends who could get a job at Goldman Sachs tomorrow if they wanted to. I have a friend who casually made almost 50K at a job he worked at for a few hours a week (He also apparently knows a few Netflix producers?). They did internships at major firms or political lobbies or research facilities last summer. I picked up dog shit. My connections could get me... a casserole when I'm sick? A few hours of work here and there if I need it in a pinch?

And then there's just people from places that just don't think the same. I'm a crass, sarcastic, and sometimes rude person, because I come from a place where being crass, sarcastic, and rude is a sign of affection. And people here just... do not get it. At all. They take my every word seriously and get offended by it, when it's literally an attempt by me to connect with them. Back home, sharing insults is how you know someone is comfortable with you. And that's not something I can just shut off, it's a part of who I am, and it's so, so, frustrating when other people don't get it. But I can't even be mad at them, because I know it's not their fault!

I'm the only graduate from my high school currently at this college. There have only been a handful from my high school that have ever gone here. Getting accepted was a HUGE deal for me. It was probably my second farthest reach school, and it was a big moment for me when they told me they wanted me. That all my hard work meant that much. And then, the other night I talked to someone who said he hoped his kids wouldn't "settle" for this college. He even admitted that he "settled" for this. As the conversation progressed, he told me that this college is "where kids who didn't get into the Ivy's go." and I know that's just a difference of perspective, but it felt like a slap in the face. I was never aiming for Ivy's, I aimed for this college and was so lucky to hit the mark. He also hit the mark, but to him he missed. And that was just a perspective I couldn't fit into my head.

First semester, a lot of the stuff I just ranted about was a point of pride. Being a rural, middle class public school graduate at this institute was something I was PROUD of. I loved when I would occasionally slip into my family's accent. I loved being the wild, scrappy, worldly one in the group. I even liked being an average student, after being a really high achiever all through high school. But the charm has worn off a lot of that. People have turned out to be a lot shittier than previously thought. I'm starting to realize I don't actually have to like the people I pretended to like last semester.

The reason all of this is really weighing on me is because something I always had, something that always kept me here, was that I got here on my own merits. It wasn't some relative in admissions, or rich parents, or sports prowess or other connections that got me here. It was MY accomplishments that got me here. I have tons of friends who struggle with that, because they know it's not their accomplishments that got them here. For a while, knowing that it was my abilities that got me here was enough, but do I belong here?

Hardly anyone here gets me, and I don't get them. I miss home where people make sense. Where everyone else can afford one plane trip a year. Where "I hate you so much" means "You're my favorite person." Where the speed my brain works at is fast enough. Where knowing the old guy that fixes up houses or the church gossips are all the connections you need. Where you can boil a fucking lobster alive and no one bats an eye.

I just can't wait to be done here, and go home, and raise a family there, instead of fucking London.

[ih8paris]

i hate paris

Do people still use tumblr? I’m so old. And I never used it. I don’t keep up with the times. I don’t give a shit. You know what? It all passes. Except facebook. They made a deal with the devil and really, was it worth it? I use facebook. I live in Paris and there are these groups for women, expats, cheap people like me that want free yoga. That’s what I use it for. And news. BBC CNN ABC NBC MSNBC, you get it and the posts. They report what the people supposedly want, but then we can see what the people are actually saying. Donald Trump won’t win? Look at voices talking? Look at the little people. It looked like he was going to win. What do you know, he did. But what if he had lost. What if Hilary didn’t get a handle on COVID and then Donald won in 2020? We would all be so fucked right now. Maybe we already are. Anyway, I’m not here to talk politics. I’m here to process my life choices and see if there were signs that I was making HUGE mistake. 

So here’s the thing. I’m a bit untraditional. Growing up was shit. Chuck left and made sure to shit all over everything before he did. And the whole get married in your 20′s have babies get divorced get remarried have more kids bc hey you’re not old at 30 and this is the guy you actually wanted to have kids with. I rant but you get it. Traditional not for me. Also not traditional, i have some money. This money has paid for college, pastry school and yes this wonderful covid filled experience in paris: the city that hates me. I’m fortunate. I don’t live lavishly. It’s not that much money. I grew up poor, I pinch pennies. Then i do exciting things. Or maybe challenging things? I am fortunate and grateful. And guilt filled. I am given this gift and shit it away, trying make something out of this paris experience. It’s like a bad relationship where i keep begging to give it one more change. It will get better. I’m a fucking idiot. So here I am, you know third times the charm, right? Back in paris. Vaccinated. I’ve made connections with people. I feel confident that this will not be a waste. It will be fun. It will be educational. I will network. Gain experiences. Omg learn so much. Be able to travel. OH the hopes and delusions i had. But maybe we should start from the beginning. 

Omg, which beginning. Paris, i guess, we can go back further when the moment calls. So 30 is approaching. I’ve moved back home. That’s story for another time. Remember my life is not traditional. So I’m home to help out and idk try to figure out what the fuck i want to do with my life. See the big mistake i made in my 20s was listening to people i don’t admire. i graduate with an art degree. my college exit interview said i am qualified to work at a bank or Kraft foods. no connects, recommendations. No direct. And my family keeps talking about getting a job, benefits, 401k. At one point a little later on, my grandpa was pushing for me to go into service. Sorry gramps, they don’t want me. My education was good. I learned a lot. They had good resources and a lot. But then nothings. So i worked at a bakery. I worked hard at this bakery. For more than a few months i worked 7 days a week. I didn’t have a life. i had money. Money i made. And apparently that was the most important thing, from the talks i keep getting from my family. And of course i wasn’t earning enough, so needed to work harder and climb the ladder. There is no ladder in a bakery. Whatever, I rant again. We’ll come back to this. 

So 30. It’s looming. I’ve thought about grad school. The money I mentioned earlier. It’s had time to grow. The GRE expires after 5 years, not that i took it but 7 years after I graduated, i wasn’t taking it. So Europe. Europe is artsy. I would like to make good money, enjoy the work okay, but mostly make good money with the least amount of actual work. So teaching. My mom teaches. Computer programing. She’s the head of the department. She fucking hates it. The dude that was suppose to get that job, he died. It was sad. But they also didn’t replace him so when the other guy retired, it became her job. It was an unpleasant 10ish years. But again, I digress. So teaching. Work hard and play hard. And it’s always changing - ish. I guess as much as you want, or don’t. New students every 15 weeks. breaks at all the holidays. Summers off. And when you’re just about to get bored, you’re back at work. Maybe because this is the only lifestyle i know, but it doesn’t sound bad. I worked in an office of women in high school. That i for sure knew i never wanted. But teaching. College. Okay. I need a masters. Learn about MA and MFA. Start looking for jobs in Cali because life’s too short to fucking deal with the snow and mosquitos. Idk everyone doesn’t live in Cali. So now the plan is MFA. They are much more rare and more in demand at universities. More money - but this time i think chasing the money necessary bc Calif = expensive. Now back to looking in Europe. I love Italy. I would love to live in in Italy for more that just a semester but actually live Italian or close to it. The language makes sense. The people make sense. The art makes sense. And it’s omg gorgeous. Alas, no American accredited MFA programs I could qualify for in Italy. I don’t know if there were none but if there were, they would have been in textiles, or digital/graphic design. Which I don’t know anything about. I’m old school, metal work, drawing, printmaking - although so far we haven’t gotten along, another thing i going to try to make work before i leave this city that hates me, for good - painting, ceramics, you get it. I hate computers. I appreciate technology but my mom teaches computers therefore there was never a working computer in my house so we (my brothers and me) don’t do computers. So i find this school - in english and in Paris. Paris, so glamorous. Home of famous artists and their art. The Louvre and Eiffel Tower and Fashion. So okay, i check out their programs. One i have no fucking clue what it is. Still don’t. Another is Photography - pass. Graphics - no. List continues. Then i see Drawing. That’s interesting. I can draw, i draw well. This is a program i could probably get into. SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: you can get into any program. No program is ever full. It’s bull shit. Masters program. Undergrad = everyone is applying at the same time. Masters = ages range and much fewer people go. So don’t fall for that shit - EVER. 

They have a one year and two year program. The second year is less than half the first year so makes sense to go the second year and get the MFA vs MA. So that works out. I’m reading and checking it out. Not sure what I’m looking for but in hindsight, i knew something was missing. Talk it over with my mom and her peers who are also teachers. Consensus - don’t be part of the first group. So i have an interview to get it - what a joke. It is also a time for me to learn more about the program. So i ask, is this new? How long has it been around. Answer: Oh no, it’s been working several years. Very confident. I didn’t have a follow-up, just said I don’t want to be in the first group. I said those words. Her response: Oh no no don’t worry. I was so naive. And yes this continued through the whole program. People’s personalities are what they are. So she lied to get me into the program and just kept lying. No respect for the insane about of money i was paying for this ‘experience’. No respect for the education i could have gotten somewhere else. Because this program had NO educational value. I’m not being bitter or dramatic. It was a complete waste of time and money. Then covid happened. Might have been a blessing in disguise. I can go into detail of the program later. This is just an overview of the beginning. 

So, I get accepted. What a surprise. I’m now officially 30 and this - i feel- is my last hoorah. After this i will be an adult who can get an adult job and become an adult. But first i need housing. And a visa. Which is very confusing. So the French and Italians - Italians I am familiar  with, tell you about it later. So they’re similar in that lazy, lack of thoroughness, that’s their thing. Difference being Italians own it, French hardcore deny. So I’m reading this paperwork and it says thing like you need to have all your documents before your visa appointment including plane ticket. Well I can’t go without the visa so why would i get a plane ticket? Cart before the horse shit - it’s very french, wait until you hear about banks.  

[roseapothecary]

Idk if this is bc I'm not American or just am an idiot but why is being on SNL "one of thr biggest moments of Dan's career"? Like what's the big deal about SNL?? (NOT throwing shade at Dan AT all, just trying to understand the cultural importance of SNL is all. Like it's a sketch show and he's an Emmy winning actor?)

wow, i’m sorry. tumblr just doesn’t tell me about messages anymore! someone else might have answered this for you, but just in case...

you are not an idiot. it’s definitely an american culture thing.

it’s a big deal here in the u.s. being asked to host snl is considered a really big honor, almost like a sign that you “made it.” it’s one of the longest-running shows in american history and it’s a stage where many, many legends have stood. it’s being part of something truly iconic, having his picture on the same wall as former hosts who are seen today as true LEGENDS of comedy.

not to mention, schitt’s creek wasn’t really “mainstream” here until right before the final season and, although they did win those emmy awards, he’s still very much just breaking into that space where literally everyone knows who he is... and snl is a huge sign of that.

live sketch comedy is also incredibly difficult and doing well on snl has historically done really great things for the careers of its guests. and, if someone flops, it definitely can actually hurt them a little bit.

... i hope that answers your question.

[hshouse]

heyyy, how are you? im sorry for the rant and hope u don't mind, i really need to talk about this, just get it out of my chest, yk? so, i started to follow you yesterday, i think so? so, i've been here in the fandom for a couple years, since 2013 to be specific but just went really into larry in 2015 (what a blessed year to became a larrie, innit?)

then, i stayed here until early 2017 when i took a break, lost hs1 era and all that came with it, even lost harry coming to my country, that's how much i was far from the fandom lol.

i came back in september/october 2019, and then, as you can see, i lost a lot of drama on the fandom and got so so confused to get into everything again but okay, i searched and saw everything happened during these years. im kinda ashamed to assume but lol i even had a weak crisis because of hamille, thought they broke up and stuff. (like cmon girl, i went through babygate and was weak for that? 😭) in my defense, i wasn't on tumblr so much so my source was twitter when i came back and there is a hell as everybody knows, but yeah. nowadays i'm okay about everything but i'm feeling a litte bad today. (if u can like, idk, hide this part if u post the ask, i don't want some people to know who i am lol). my friend received some asks about harry×rob stringer and okay, i went to reply it for her because she was busy and stuff. i full well know they have a professional relationship and harry's one of the biggest artists sony has nowadays, so i said this, explained that he isn't the evil that rads try to make him look like and i really believe that. that probably will seems contradictory since i defended him and now i'm like 🤯 about some things. anyways, idk, it just makes me uncomfortable, yk? i know he works under sony and they are independent artists, that harry is making a lot of money for sony/rob know and that's why rob will move the world to promote harry if needed but like, idk, i completley agree that louis would never ask harry to give up his dreams and work, and that he knows how to separate things but it's just weird to me that harry doesn't seems uh? idk the right word to say but like, he's not bothered at all about this while rob is putting so much for him and louis was being sabotaged by the same person, yk? i get now we don't even know if he still under sony since syco is dead but yeah, it's just weird to me... i think part of this feeling i have rn is just because of some gross comments i saw from antis today on twitter and that makes me feel bad, normally i really don't care and imlike bulletproof about them but today it's hitting me (as if it isn't enough, im also brazilian and i think you saw about this guy named fiuk, don't care about this at all lol, but the antis comments started bc of what he said 😂 honestly...)

i choose to send it for you bc i saw you are more on harry's lane although you are also a larrie, and im kinda identify with you because of that so i would like to know how you think about this whole situation and if that maybe can help me to organize my thoughts... im really sorry about this lonnnng text, hope u have a nice day.

hi bby,

I’m good and yes 2015 was iconique. (gonna try to address everything you said)

I personally found Hamille harder to deal than other stunts, I feel you.

Let’s get our ducks in a row first. 

Rob Stringer is not involved in Harry, or anyone’s, promo. That is not his job at all. He is the CEO of a huge company, he is most likely in meetings making sure Sony has money and the shareholders are happy. What I said, and I absolutely fucking maintain, is that Stringer knows Harry is one of the biggest artists on his catalogue and is going to make sure he is treated well and receives what he wants (within reason). 

Harry and Louis are completely different artists and there is a very limited way they can interact business-wise in the way people want it. A label will not, and an ethical artist would never ask, please one artist by giving help to an artist they personally are not working with. They are not even on the same label so it would be like “hey can you give my boyfriend a multi-million dollar deal? can you fit that in the budget?”. He is not asking for a signed vinyl from Miley for his cousin, this is a big deal. I don’t really understand what soap opera moment people expect to happen in the background? Any couple that has millions on the line in their job works to make sure their finances and opportunities and everything is separate. This is not weird? A husband lawyer will not quit because his wife was fired from the firm? That’s not like spicy. 

I’m fairly confident Louis is still under Sony, since changing majors is a huge thing and I doubt Sony would be willing to just give him away and not negotiate further. He probably got a better deal in another Sony label. 

I will say this. Out of all the reasons to not believe in Larry this is a dumb fucking one. It’s business AND we have no idea about what is actually happening. At all. So like to again make all these jumps just to say Larry isn’t real? There way less messy ways if that is your end goal yk. 

Also I want to say that I understand, feel and agree with the frustration over Louis’ career. I don’t think anyone doesn’t? Just because I don’t subscribe to this one narrative it does NOT mean I am suddenly thinking he has the best team and promo and everything is rosy and perfect. I just don’t think this is the story and I think it is way more complicated than we even think.

[tfw-no-tennis]

mtmte liveblog issue 19

it’s 2021 now!! time for more transformers 

we start off w/a flashback showing tyrest retrieving ultra magnus’s body from the ship - and we get a look at magnus’s spark, which is the green color of a 0.1%er [eyes emoji]

tyrest punching magnus..... grrrrr leave my dad alone bastard man

‘the divided self’ what a good title 

rodimus is like listen man this is a lot for my poor thot brain to take in

in flashback land, we see tyrest immediately launch into a crazy person spiel about how he can and will edit the law as he sees fit to conform to the situation, because that doesn't seem like a blatant abuse of power or a huge conflict of interest or anything 

oooh the screen in the corner that says ‘thought warfare,’ I see that

oof, poor magnus. its gotta be rough to hear your boss rant about how bad at your job you are....especially bc this is right after overlord called magnus a joke and nearly killed him

its especially brutal bc as magnus says, his job is his life 

augh, I love the panel where the armor is falling off around minimus, and then the one where he’s holding the ultra magnus head...poetic 

its fascinating that there was an ‘original’ magnus who was an actual guy, and then tyrest chose to make him into this legacy symbol - I'm assuming the OG magnus had no say in this, and probably didn't even know that he was gonna become this lawman legacy figure

I do wanna know though - obviously everyone thought that ultra magnus was one dude, but how did the different guys wearing the armor deal w/that? like, did minimus have people coming up to him like ‘hey ultra magnus old buddy! remember when we fought those guys in that one place? good times!’ like, do they have to study up on the lives of the past armor wearers to prepare for the role of ultra magnus?

augh poor minimus, of course he’s been wondering about what happened with overlord after he was KO’d

oof, drift...I feel like minimus looks surprised and a little skeptical at the idea that drift was the one behind the entire overlord thing - which is interesting bc as we saw at the beginning of the story, he doesn't exactly trust drift, but it’s still pretty far-fetched that one person orchestrated the entire thing

tailgate :(

the concept of a load-bearer is SUPER cool, I love it so much

it also puts a much-needed limit on things - as in, there IS a limit to how much weight/mass a normal cybertronian frame can carry, which is why you don't see everybody upgrading to be Massive - bc they actually CANT

oof, the worst part is that tyrest is RIGHT, minimus essentially DID have a nervous breakdown after the war ended bc of the rigid way he views the world

mental health support is clearly in shambles for cybertronians, yikes. they literally have 1 therapist for their entire race, and he’s not even licensed anymore due to hipaa violations. what a mess

the ‘attention deflectors’ thing is so cool and clever and also a great explanation as to why ratchet or anyone else never said ‘hey wait a minute, you're actually a much smaller dude in a trench coat’ 

I love tailgate knowing all the stuff about the autobot code bc of magnus...my BOY

and THATS why minimus was asking about skids specifically earlier!

oh minimus, please don't put so much stock in tyrest being stable and resonable...

aaaand there's skids and swerve! brainstorm says it best - ‘because something unexpected hasn't happened for at least nine seconds.’ lmao ily brainstorm 

finally checking in w/whirl and cyclonus - god I love that. whirl asking cyclonus how many cons he killed and cyc is like psh I wasn't keeping count....................ok it was six

hhhhh cyclonus IS looking for a cure for tailgate, even though he told tg that there wasn’t anything to hope for....excuse me as I go be emo 

and now we flash over to the unethical medical conduct hell zone, where pharma is being weird and horny and ratchet is appropriately horrified 

I seriously love how unhinged pharma looks, the art & colors do such a good job conveying his feral energy 

ratchet has some massive dick energy for taunting pharma when he’s currently just a head and pharma has dual chainsaws for hands 

ugh, I love whirls speech about anger...and I feel like he really does see cyclonus as a peer, despite cyclonus wanting to kill him, which is why he tells cyclonus all of this 

I fuckgin love that cyclonus’s reaction to very suddenly getting stabbed thru the abdomen is to just glance down at the sword, looking mildly inconvenienced 

back over to ratchet - and at first its like oh wow I can’t believe pharma was stupid enough to let ratchet goad him into this contest....but then you see first aid and ambulon and its like UH OH this is gonna be BAD

the idea that getting sliced in half is no big deal for a cybertronian is wild

‘you're gonna let doctor djd cut us in half?’ yeahhhh that's an appropriate reaction, yikes

FUCKING LENGTHWAYS GOD

pharma you piece of shit

poor ambulon :( :( :( that's fucking brutal. amazing panel but....jesus

and like, to further my point from last issue’s liveblog - the fact that this very gore-y panel is okay, but swearing isn't...that's really funny honestly. I guess robo-gore is acceptable, while I'm guessing regular ole run of the mill human gore wouldn't be

then back to cyclonus, who is still looking only vaguely put out by the sword stuck right thru him

and then cyclonus just pulls it right out, which is a very bad idea for humans but probably not as big of a deal for big near-immortal alien robots

circle of light stuck in capitalistic urban hellscape cubicals 

poor skids, being asked to stand trial while having no idea what his crime is due to Big Amnesia 

OH SHITTTT I totally forgot that getaway shows up here

that is super clever though, with chromedome confusing the name ‘getaway’ with the concept ‘needing to escape’

cant believe tyrest is really dumb enough to tell minimus all his evil plans

BUT that means its time for some very important forged vs constructed cold lore

jro spelling ‘program’ as ‘programme’ made me remember when he said that he considers everyone on the lost light to be british, which is perhaps the least valid thing he’s ever said vhbghjsdbfjkhasbjk

the idea that they used the matrix - which is portrayed as kind of a holy object - in reproductive experiments is really interesting

AUGHHHHH this is all so good and interesting...im really fascinated w/this particular brand of like, alien robot racism/constructism/whatever you wanna call it - I feel like it does such a good job as a plot device, where many other ‘fantasy racism’ concepts from other franchises fail, bc there's not really a ‘human metaphor’ being used here (as far as I know/can tell) - as in, this isn't a thinly veiled metaphor for something that happened/could happen in human history

in fact, this type of bigotry (or w/e you wanna call it) isn't something that is even really possible in humans - I guess if there was a stigma against being born via ivf or something...? but there isn't, so there's no obvious real-world equivalent, which I take as a sign of good writing and worldbuilding - it makes the cybertronians feel more Real, bc of course they would have their own types of bigotry based off of completely different things than humans 

additionally - and this is crucial - tyrest is wrong: there’s no like, inherent moral corruption in cold constructed bots. there's no difference at all, other than method of construction. fantasy racism plotlines often flounder here, with the oppressors having a ‘valid reason’ for oppressing the oppressed, but tyrest is just operated on religious zealot bs and some biased science

like, dude, did you ever think that maybe there are other reasons why your trials only condemned cold constructed bots? like, maybe the trial itself was biased? or societal conditions were to blame? correlation is not causation, my dude, especially when the conclusion is ‘cold constructed bots are inherently SINNERS’ lmao 

like, tyrest rlly said ‘FUCK separation of church and state,’ huh

anyways I just think the whole cold construction vs forged thing is really interesting and well-done, and serves as a good precursor to the more fleshed-out functionism stuff we see later 

so tyrest is clearly off his rockers w/the whole drilling thing - dude, you accidentally gave yourself a lobotomy, okay - but I find it kinda funny that he’s right about a lot of that stuff he said at the end, about primus and the guiding hand and stuff being real 

cyclonus saying ‘tailgate and the others’...I see you, man, I see you

also cyclonus looks fine now??? didn't he just get stabbed??? 

ah, tyrest sprinkling a little light genocide onto his plan to find salvation. nice, dude!

MINIMUS NOOOOOOOOO

‘fully deserved’ SHUT UP BIIIIITCH

poor minimus is taking a lot of Ls this arc, geez

oof, great issue! again, as usual....I loved the lore we got this issue, its so interesting...and some good character stuff too. I love minimus, I feel like he’s gonna be my fav this readthru; my first read my fav was brainstorm, second readthru was whirl, and I feel like its minimus/magnus this time. I just love his character arc...

hype af for more B) 

[lizacstuff]

SCK/Edser ask (33 & 34 spec)

(asks under the cut)

Anonymous said: Do you know what happened with the second set of writers? I know Ayse left on her own accord but why the sudden shift from that second writing team to these new ones? I don't think they even announced that the writers were changing, the fans found out during the credits one day. If that second set of writers was still here, I'd be fully confident that we're going to get a great payoff with Serkan when he remembers but they're not, so my expectations are rock bottom at this point

Such a bummer! No idea what happened to them. I’m wondering if they signed on for a certain number of episodes and when those were done, they moved on? Only being around for 7 or 8 episodes is not a lot though. One wonder if it was them or the production company wasn’t happy with them? Though the episodes were pretty well written so I’d hope the production company didn’t jettison them. Or just a run of the mill scheduling conflict.

In any case I agree, I’d have so much more confidence in their execution of this story if they were still writing. 

With this new team, I honestly thought that episode 32 was decent, but 33 just sort of dashed that away it was so poorly executed. 

Anonymous said: Hi - I always value your thoughts on SCK so thanks for taking the time to reply to asks! :)

Something that’s been plaguing me since the amnesia plot began is that nobody seems to have told Serkan about the BIG DETAIL that his father was responsible for the death of Eda’s parents???! Like surely that would provide some crucial context to Serkan and raise several questions e.g how did I manage to stay in a relationship with this woman, we must have had a strong relationship/overcome huge problems/trusted eachother etc. It just baffles me that everyone seems to have forgotten about what used to be a major plot line. How do you think it could play out if Eda or maybe Aydan revealed that back story to amnesia Serkan?

Thanks, I appreciate the kind words!  Agreed! This is a headscratcher. When he came back I kind of assumed that he knew that part of the history, at least at a superficial level, just because he sat down with Engin and heard the story from his perspective. I can’t imagine Engin would leave that part out, and it’s pretty integral detail in how Eda’s grandmother, and then Eda, ended up with 45% of the company. 

I also would guess that Selin would have told him about it, just because it allows her to paint Eda as potentially someone who was out for revenge from the beginning, someone who targeted him and manipulated him because of it.

So I think he must know, at least something about it about it, what’s frustrating is that it doesn’t seem like something that weighs on him or that he’s curious about. Or perhaps when he first heard about it he compartmentalized it and it didn’t weigh with him because at that time Eda was some evil person out to manipulate him, so he hasn’t paid it much attention, but now that he’s gotten to know her and realizes he has feelings for her, he hasn’t really revisited it? He’s very confused and has a lot going on and he’s thinking about her all the time, while trying not to, so it may have gotten lost in that tug-o-war. 

I do hope it comes up and they have a conversation about it. How has he not already asked her, “If my father was to blame for your parent’s death, why would you want to marry me?” Because regardless whether or not he’s in love with her, this is new information to him.  And he hasn’t dealt with the emotional fallout of finding out his father did that and hid that, and the affect it would have had on Eda.  One would hope that even robot Bolat would feel some compassion toward a woman his father was responsible for orphaning. 

Anonymous said: one of the asks you got about serkan not remembering things via their special "objects" had me thinking about one line he says waaay back during their breakup where he says something along the lines of he "doesn't need things for him to remember her" when he gets rid of her things at his house.. i know the writers aren't writing it with that in mind bc i know even most of the fandom doesn't remember it since it's been so long, but i still think it's quite apt for the situation 🥺

YES! it’s in episode 24, when she is over at his house and she notices that none of the things from their time together are there and she says something like that it’s probably for the best because if they’re here you can’t forget. And that’s when he says:

“In my opinion, things are not needed to remember a person.” 

I agree that it’s quite appropriate for the current situation. It’s not about the things or the objects, it’s about them. 

Anonymous said: i know people feel like we've been going in circles, at to some extent we ARE.. (i mainly think as long as the engagement games keep going it will feel like that) but serkan has made huge progress since he came back in 29.. the serkan in 29 or even 30 would not be reacting like the serkan in 34.. sure he still says things that are frustrating to eda and audience (mainly to rile her up, but also bc he prob doesn't realize it's hurtful) but his progress IS happening even if it doesn't feel like it

Oh, I 100% agree. Serkan has made huge progress, the things he said to Engin this episode would have been unthinkable in any other episode since the amnesia. Serkan going to the flower shop and helping her plant terrariums would also have been unthinkable pre 32. However, I get where the frustration is coming from because he always sort of circles back to a place in his interactions with her where it feels like little to no progress has been made. Though, as I said last week, I do think they show cumulative affect, when they have those big moments where they make progress, he’s further along than he was during the last big moment. But I think him stepping really far back in other interactions is one of the problems of the writing. They need more nuance and they need to let us see more into what’s going on in his brain. 

Anonymous said:  After everything that has happened I cannot see Eda appreciating a kiss from Serkan while he is still engaged to Selin. So maybe her first reaction after the kiss is to ask if he got his memories back and then something about Selin. When it becomes clear that they are still together then I could see her telling him off. Something like “when you’re engaged you aren’t supposed to be kissing other people and if you want to kiss other people then maybe you should not be engaged.” Or even “when we were engaged if I had found out you kissed someone else, it would have killed me” so you need to figure out what you want & stop hurting people. I could care less about Selin being cheated on because she is the worst but Eda deserves way better than that. Plus it would show Serkan that she really is a good person especially since it is very clear how much she dislikes Selin. She gave back the ring after he got engaged to Selin and unlike Selin, is not willing to accept crumbs given to her by anyone let alone Serkan. Maybe that finally results in Serkan dumping Selin by the end of the episode to chase Eda. Probably grasping at straws right now but I so badly want to be positive about this next episode. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Yes, I could see something like this, but right now, if I had to bet money, I’d say that kiss is his fantasy, so we won’t actually be dealing with this issue. 

We shall see!  

Anonymous said: Will episode 34 finally be when Selin leaves? Surely 6 episodes of her is enough? 😭😭😭

It was spoiled for so long that she’d be leaving in 34, but at this point I don’t see how that would fit! She appears to have been at all the location shoots. 

What do we need to do to get rid of her? Some ancient good riddance ceremony? A gofundme? I’m in!!! Whatever it takes at this point I’ll do any ritual that will get rid of her. 

Anonymous said: I think it's interesting that Ayfer actually hasn't been that anti-Serkan since this amnesia storyline started (maybe its b/c she hasn't had too much time to think about it since she was spending all her time on Alex lol), even though it'd kinda be the perfect time to dig into it since Serkan is now treating Eda differently. But now Ayfer is better than Aydan, Miss "I knew your fiance was alive but didn't tell you." I thought what she told Eda before the restaurant was sweet. She gets 1 point.

Agreed, she gets one point. But just one. We’ll have to see how she does going forward. I kind of assume that she saw Eda’s devastation when Serkan was missing and it sort of snapped her out of her selfishness when it came to her not wanting Eda with Serkan. 

[vivalamusicaltheater]

Types of art reposters, ranked by how much I personally hate them

Hey so I haven’t personally had art reposted bc I’m a small artist and not that good in terms of technique yet (this isn’t self deprecation, just an acknowledgment that I’m not that great at anatomy and lighting and shading and such yet), but I see art reposters all the time on Instagram and (occasionally, not actually that often) here, and I’ve seen the negative effects art reposts have on other artists and I’m big mad about them, so I decided to make this list. This is gonna be a long post so if you want to be salty with me (or genuinely don’t know why I think art reposting is bad and want to find out) just know that this is gonna be fairly long.

Disclaimer (and I know this may seem obvious so I’m sorry to everyone who already knows but I feel like I have to put this here because I’ve actually seen people confused about this): reposting is not the same as reblogging. Reblogging is a function on tumblr (the little black arrows in a square right next to the like button at the bottom of posts) where you can share an artist’s work to your blog. Reblogging is good because it provides an artist with more exposure, as you probably have people following you that don’t follow them, so the more people who reblog someone’s art the more people see it and the more attention the artist is able to get, and because reblogged art provides a direct link to the original post and the artist’s blog. This way if someone likes an artist’s work they can go directly to the artist’s blog and see if they have more work they like. Reposting (saving someone’s art to your device and uploading it to one of your accounts) is bad because it takes away that direct link to the original artist. This means that is is way harder for the original artist to gain exposure for their art and often leads them to be discouraged when they see a repost of their art that got way more attention than the original, which can make them a lot less motivated to make more art. That out of the way, time to rank reposters.

13) People who directly tag/provide a direct link to the artist and provide proof that the artist allowed them to repost their work/that they allow all their work to be reposted

I don’t actually hate you if you do this. I don’t really understand why you’d want to repost someone’s art instead of just reblogging it or putting a link on your Instagram story, or retweeting it if you’re on Twitter, but by directly linking to the artist and showing that you asked them about it or know for a fact that they’re okay with it, you’ve shown that you respect the time and effort they put into their work so thank you for being a decent human being.

12) People who directly tag/provide a direct link to the artist

Ok so you didn’t actually ask permission (or at least if you did you didn’t let anyone know that you did) so I don’t respect you as much as the people who do ask for permission to repost artwork, but at least you did provide a direct link to the artist so you’re not as bad as you could be.

11) People who provide the artist’s correct username and what platform they’re on but don’t directly link to the artist

Again, good that you provided their username and where to find them, but because you didn’t directly link to the artist, many people will just be lazy and like your post and move on, or like your post because they don’t have whatever social media the artist is on. This takes away notes that should go to the original artist, which frustrates me. I don’t flat out hate you but you’re on thin f*cking ice

10) People who provide the artist’s correct username but don’t specify what platform they’re on

Hey if you do this, especially if you post art that was originally found on another platform, it makes it significantly harder to find the original artist. People are even more likely to just like your post and go on with their days instead of checking out the original artist. This barely counts as credit and you have got to do better.

9) People who credit the wrong person

Usually when people do this it’s an accident, so I don’t hate you nearly as much as some of the other people on this list, but not taking the time to make sure the information about the artist you provided is correct is lazy and shows you don’t respect their work as much as you should. By the way, if you credited the wrong person on purpose so the original artist wouldn’t find out you were reposting, I hate you a LOT more.

8) People who ask the original artist for permission to repost their artwork but don’t actually wait for them to say yes before doing it

If you do this it’s clear that you are entitled and asked the artist for permission not because you actually cared about their answer but because you wanted to be able to say that you asked for permission. It’s clear that you don’t actually respect artists, and I hate you.

7) People who credit the right person but purposefully put a / right after the @ sign so it doesn’t actually tag the original artist

The only reason I don’t hate you for doing this is if the original artist knows you’re reposting their work but specifically said they don’t want to be tagged because they don’t want to deal with the notifications or something like that. If that’s not the reason than you’re likely just doing that so the original artist doesn’t get a notification that they were tagged in a post and thus doesn’t see that you reposted their work. That’s cowardly you’re a coward and a loser and I hate you.

6) People who don’t credit at all, but don’t claim to be the original artist and it’s obvious they’re not

If you don’t even bother to try to credit the artist then it shows you don’t care enough about their labor and just expect an endless supply of art that you can repost and get thousands of notes for even though you didn’t go through the effort of drawing it. I hate you with a passion. Credit artists you sack of sh*t.

5) People who say “credit to the artist!” or “credit to google/pinterest” or “I don’t know who made this but dm me if you do!”

Listen. The fact that you’re only my 5th most hated type of art reposter is not because I don’t hate you on an ASTRONOMICAL level, but because there are (unfortunately!) people who repost in worse ways than you do. “Credit to the artist!” is NOT actually giving credit to the artist because you’re not telling your followers who the artist is!! It’s not credit if you don’t specifically name who it came from!! I see this so much and I hate it I hate you if you do this. Similarly, “credit to Pinterest/google/some other website!” is not credit either!! A website did not draw that art, a person did and I will drop kick you off a cliff for refusing to acknowledge that!! Finally, and I think you can probably see where this is going, “I don’t know who made this but dm me if you do!” is, you guessed it, not crediting the original artist! The fact that you are so lazy as to not find the original artist but you also ask your followers to do it for you? Unbelievable!! The level of entitlement!! And these happen so much!!! I hate you I hate you I hate you.

4) People who repost work from artists who have specifically stated that they don’t allow reposts or who refuse to take down reposted work after the original artist asks them to

If you respect artists so little that you repost their work knowing they don’t want you to or refuse to take down their work after they ask you to, you are a horrible person. That art does not belong to you, you did not take the time to make it, and I HATE you so much for thinking you’re entitled to it. “Well then they shouldn’t have posted it on the internet -” shut UP that’s how they choose to share their talent! Art is art even if it’s not displayed anywhere, but artists who post their art on the internet are kind enough to share their talents with the world. Maybe the artist put their work on the internet so that they can find people interested in commissioning them, which helps provide them with funds that could be necessary to their survival. Or maybe art is something they do for fun that they could very well stop doing because of people like you who feel like they own sh*t just because it was posted on the internet (hint: posting artwork on the internet does not equal consent for everyone to use it)! I hope you have a sh*tty life. I hate you.

3) People who say “I’m not gonna credit, what are you going to do about it?”

If you do this, you’re most likely a troll, and most DEFINITELY an awful awful human being. If I met you in real life I would actually physically fight you regardless of whether I thought I could win or not because I hate you that much. Step on a rusty nail and learn basic respect for people’s time and effort. I hate you. (Also, if the original artist finds out what you’re doing they can at least file for copyright and hopefully get their work taken down. If you’re an artist whose work has been reposted by someone like this I’m deeply sorry for you and hope these reposters get all the sh*tty things they deserve in life).

2) People who pretend to be the original artist even though they’re not

They say imitation is the highest form of flattery, but definitely not in this case. If you have the AUDACITY to take credit for the work someone else put their time and effort into and accept all the praise and attention that the original artist should be getting, I hate you so unvelievably much. How is it possible to be that awful of a person? You are stupid and I hope you lose your job or something else similarly awful. (Again artists if you have ever experienced this I’m so so sorry for you).

1) People who repost art for the sole purpose of making fun of it

Congratulations, if you do this you are the worst asshole on this list of huge f*cking assholes. Not ONLY are you creating all the usual problems that come with reposting but you ALSO have the nerve to call someone’s art bad?! There is a SPECIAL place in hell for you. Likely if you do this you also make fun of marginalized people or kids, as most “bad art” blogs feature lgbt+ artwork done by lgbt+ people, or art of people of color, or children’s ocs that have like rainbow hair and vampire fangs and wings or something. I don’t CARE how bad you think their anatomy is and I don’t CARE if they have the “calarts art style” or “tumblr art style” the fact that you are taking the time to repost something somebody spent time on and criticize it is despicable and I hate you more than I hate anyone else besides bigoted people. I also don’t care if you think it’s a “joke”, if the original creator of the art ever found your repost it could be really harmful to their self esteem, and could cause them to stop making art, which means they’ll never have a chance to get “better”. Doing this is a personal attack on someone’s passion and I hate you so incredibly much for it. If you want art that you think is good so bad then f*cking make it yourself. What’s that? Oh you don’t make art you just think you could do better even though you’ve never drawn in your life/you just know what “good art” is? Sit down and shut the f*ck up. I hate you.

(Disclaimer #2: this category obviously does not extend to things like art that is racist or transphobic or anything like that. There’s a difference between calling out something that is genuinely harmful and mocking artists for drawing things that make them happy. The former is good the latter is bad.)

Anyways that is my list of art reposters ranked by how much I hate them! If you are any of these kinds of art reposter besides 13, 12 and maybe 11, then congratulations I hate you and hope you have an awful day!

[ton-e]

Lol ok so I didn't wanna do aesthetics so I wanna brainstorm possible scenes instead

Ok so the premise is, basically, Viktor, an aspiring kid looking to enter this straining affair of the boxing world. He's young and impressionable and he's got something to say. Something that old underground New York pubs and junior gyms don't provide enough eco for.

Barnes, a big shot star in the 80s, is pretty much known as the best of the best there, holding the impressive score of 34-1. (Tho I don't know if it can count as a victory since he wasn't even there for the fight, anyway) but after a near fatal shooting which happened right before his big championship match with Rollins, a bullet piercing his right shoulder which leads to the amputation of his limb, he dissapears into the shadows. The world moves on.

I like the idea of Barnes being trained by Mary who was in his exact same spot years ago but had to give up her career to have Anthony which she doesn't regret! Between her heart problems and the growing annoyance of public attention, a baby is practically a blessing and if it puts Jarvis and Howie to rest then it's a bonus. (I also kind of like the idea of her having only losing once and it was against Maria lol)

And maybe Viktor goes to her first but, while she does seem fond, like she's looking at an old memory twice, she refuses. "Kid, I'm gonna tell you exactly what I told my old pain in the ass when he stood in your spot: I can't."

"Why?"

"Because us Carbonells train to kill, not fight. Alright, what you think boxing is, - this cookie-cutter bullshit version you kids have today? The civilized conversation, the heavy editing, the contracts promising defenses, - that doesn't mean shit. Apollo Creed had a contract.

Muhammed Ali had a contract. So did Jimmy Doyle, Frankie Cambell, and Brad Connels. A sheet of paper can't protect you from the ring, and I'm not having another kid on my conscience. Besides, these guys? They have purpose. Whether it's money, or sport, or just to chase the high - they have it. You just want the glory."

"Yeah? So what?" So what if he wants to be seen? So what if he's doing all of this hoping to impress? So what if he has to prove he's worth someone's time. "If I die I die. Big deal."

For some reason, he wants to both cry and retaliate at the look of pity that crosses her face. "Go home, kid. You're gonna break your momma's heart." Are his last words to him before she closes the door.

In a Viktor fashion, he does the exact opposite.

He likes the street fighting, - the vibrations under his fists, the crack of his bones, the violent taste of crimson metal blossoming in his mouth, it's liberating. He doesn't think about anything. It's just him and his adversary, not an enemy, just someone seeing him as Viktor sees them. That rush could ruin a man.

It doesn't hurt he's making pocket money on the side, either. Certainly better than watching some snotty kids or mowing laws, in his book.

No, what kind of hurts is seeing the sharp scrutiny in Aleksei's sharp eye and the soft disappointment uncovering Ryurik's Dad Stare when they come pick him up from the station.

He and his mother are alike a lot in that aspect, - really he's pretty sure the five, Sasha and him have had an agreement to collectively throw themselves off a cliff if they disappointed Ryurik in some way. A broken arm, bruised ribs, and black eye? Pale in comparison to what Ryurik's power really holds.

I refuse to believe Aleksei doesn't freely parent other people's kids sksk Aleksei only stops scolding him when a police officer says ''He's going to spend the first part of his life in the streets, and the other in the grave. I put my life on it." Well a certain fashion teacher is gonna design the outfit for your funeral BITCH-

"You're so damn lucky Talusha was busy digging her medicure through someone's intestines right now. Do you even know how bad you look right now? Of the mountain of trouble you're into? Are you? Viktor Iosef Novak, you look at me when I'm talking to you, -"

"Relax, relax, take it down to a two, " Viktor pushes back a laugh watching Ryurik placate his husband bc it's just cute, and ignores the shush river of Russian pet names bc they're not for him to hear. It makes him feel vulnerable tho, that Ryurik feels the need to somehow hold Aleksei back. He can take the heat just fine.

He can take it and give it just as good, because every battle he's been into before has been on his own name. But this is harder because it was never a fight, to begin with.

Fighting is easy. Stopping is harder.

It doesn't stop feeling bad when Sasha bandages his wounds and his back doesn't cool town from the target five pair of eyes fixate on. Yasha's burn the hardest thought. "The fuck you looking at?" He playfully glares, the good part of his shoulder bumping against the other boy's, who tries to small but it lifts with a strain.

"An idiot."

"Are you looking for a mirror?"

"Fuck you, Vitya."

"Hard pass."

"Okay, Viktor you're not getting away that easy, " Ronin says, arms still bound tightly around Antoska's slender shoulders and Sasha's frail middle. Despite his easy going tone, Viktor uncovers the touch of concern underneath. "Why can't you just ask your mom to teach you? Or Papa? I mean, you want to be on a knuckle sandwich diet be my guest, but it's not really good for digestion from what I hear."

"It's not the same. Your father knows another kind of style."

'He doesn't want to learn from mom and uncle Ryurik because she's a girl,' Sasha signes irritably, eyes making an impressive tumble. 'My brother, the 14 year old, making sexist comment. What a never heard of fact.'

"I didn't say that!" He exclaims, flushed. Hissing when Natalia kicks him in the tender bruise he sports on his hip. "I just said, that I want to learn boxing! And that's not the same thing as what Ma does, or you guys do. Boxing is special. But if I can't learn from Barnes specifically, then there's no point!"

The red head huffs in indignation. "Okay, so, boo hoo, some washed-up Rocky Balboa doesn't want to train you. You have options, V. People give up over worse."

He doesn't feel like being home anymore, so he flees, the call outs to his name going ignored. in the street or just outside, he doesn't know. He just knows red follows him, that concrete shakes under the stomp of his heel and that the wetness on his cheeks freezes on his face. No one gets it, no one gets HIM. It hurts, that a part of him, the part that tells him he's worthless and insignificant and forgetful , really does think Barnes has better things to do than train him.

A sleek car, long, vintage, a touch too expensive for the streets he's haunting right now, stops beside him. He continues. It follows him, engines unusually quiet.

"Mr. Novak?" A deep voice, subdued, but persuasive nonethelesss coerces him into stopping. The windows roll down, revealing a man with a smile too friendly to be true and eyes too kind to be nondeceiving. "My name is Alexander Pierce. And I happen to have an irresistible offer."

"It's in the process of extension, " Pierce expresses later, as he leads Viktor through the underground fighting bar. Its practically a huge stadium in a molehill and his mind struggles to compute how Pierce pulled it off. "I'm looking for capable young talents to craft into tomorrow's brightest stars. I'm assuming you've heard of Rumlow before?"

"Crossbones? 23-2? Yeah, I heard. He's currently heavyweight champ, right?" Barnes should have been, he wants to say, but reading the room better he thinks against it. "I don't... Actually think I've seen him around much. Maybe since '98, but that's his most recent match. What's ... Up with that?"

"He's kept that belt around him for closer than two decades. Id say its time for some adjuments in the records, don't you agree?" He doesn't like it when Pierce smiles. Bad things happen when he smiles, of that Viktor is certain. "That being said. I think you could be our following breakthrough. What do you say? I'd love to see a performance. "

"I'd be surprised if you guys had a Juniors league." He snorts, expecting a smart retort, but all he gets is a sinister grin. All of a sudden he's in the ring, without even noticing he was moved, and before him stands a beast of a man, two heads taller and promise of pain in his eyes. "... What juice do you give this kid?"

"You're charismatic. You'll need that in this world. He's your adversary for tonight. I'd suggest an old fashioned glove bump for the sake of sport, but, seeing as you're barehanded id advise against it. "

"You can't do that, " nervousness bubbles in his throat. "That's against the rules. I can't fight like that."

"Oh! Don't worry. You don't have to fight. You just have to die."

--

The last time Rumlow sees Barnes is on a stretcher, arm bathed in blood and with the press around an ambulance.

He doesn't know what they were. Fuck buddies to almost friends to friends with benefits? He doesn't know what he had, but he knows he lost it. All he has is a sheet of paper with scratched blue ink, digits that no longer call, and some gold on leather.

"You should treat that belt with more respect. " Rollins scolds him. Rumlow uses it as feet rest next, and doesn't flinch at the sharp slap he receives. Instead, he smiles mockingly, lower lip sticking out in a tempting pout.

"Hit a bit harder next time and maybe it'll be half close to how Barnes used to do it. Just because it felt good with him doesn't mean you'll receive the same response." The pout slips into a smile that drinks into the frustration sizzling around the air. "Besides, I don't listen to cowards, Jackie. Thought we established that."

"Oh, please. Are you ever going to let that go? I ain't gonna repeat it a thousand times till you get It through that hard head of yours, but I didn't shoot your boy toy."

'' I didn't say you shot him. Pussy like yourself, I'm thinking you hired someone. Why did you do it? Hm? Were you that scared to fight him that you wanted to kill him? Hell, I don't blame you. Man sprints like Ali and serves like Creed. "

It's Jack's turn to return that grin, that fucking blood-curling grin. " Used to, for sure. Remember when he fucked up your pretty face in '84. Now? He's a street rat barely getting by, sniffing after junk and scraps just to stay alive. Must be hard to think about, I guess, that he used to give it so good and now he can't even hold you, can't he? Not with his cripple self. "

The beer can in Rumlow's hand spills over. Neither comment. "I ain't afraid of no half-man, Brocky, " Honey-sweet words make him sick. He wants to kick Jack out, but they both know he won't stay away, and that Rumlow won't keep him away. He's too dependent on him at this point. "And not stupid enough to think he's coming back."

"... You're right. You're not afraid to fight him. You've got a lot of words worth to point the finger at, but chicken shit? Ain't one of them. You know what I think?" Rumlow sits back, smirk wide and nasty, contradicting the sadness on his tongue, the venom, the tired. " I think you were afraid to be him. That he just? Didn't give a shit. Just like I did. That he could fuck me whenever and wherever he damn well pleased without giving a shit about who had something to say about it.

You were afraid I'd say something about you, even if we both damn well know that never happened, that he found out. I think you were terrified he was gonna tell the world Jack Rollins was a faggot just like his daddy."

He can't snapshot the moment his body makes contact to the floor. He doesn't count the punches either, letting them numb over his face, no longer present for the beating. At around one point, his neck snaps to the TV screen, in sync with Jack ceasing his onslaught, and his eyeballs follow his stunned gaze.

Rumlow can recall the time Barnes lost his right hand.

And he'll brain engrave the image of him kncoking some goon out with his left.