#everyone does such a cool job on their stuff and it feels like a waste every time

[heybaetae]

.

[joys-of-everyday]

The more I think about it, the cultivation world and academia are similar. High drop out rates? Reverence towards the people who 'make it to the end'? Meritocracy but not really? Age old 'talent' vs 'hard work' vs 'privilege'? Possibly just side effects of being learning institutions but yeah. Anyway, headcanons for peak lords as professors.

SQQ (SY) The chill professor everyone loves. Is often absent for months at a time doing field studies but comes back with loads of cool stories. Has a tendency to veer off course and everyone's grades may suffer because of how little time is actually spent on examinable material, but at least you'll enjoy yourself. He says he's only there for the fun and doesn't do much research, but you've spied a number of very big names going to him for advice. If you manage to make him drunk, his personality does a 180 and he complains extensively about everything, including his latest webnovel obsession.

og!SQQ (SJ) The salty professor everyone hates. Obsessed with rankings and citation counts, has a constant rivalry with LQG, and does the absolute minimum when it comes to undergrad teaching because he thinks it's a waste of time. He's convinced there's an agenda against him because he didn't get funding for the third time in a row and takes it out on the students. But damn does he know what he's talking about, and you've heard he's actually a genius, albeit one with complicated background. The few phd students he has are utterly enamored with him.

SQH Everyone forgets that he's not a student, including himself. When he teaches, it feels like he's giving a presentation and waiting for feedback. He answers questions with questions. Nobody knows what research he's doing, including the other members of department. Both Shens and LQG alike think he's a waste of space. But he seems to have some mysterious connections to a very fancy research facility up north.

LQG Absent professor. Literally cannot teach. Reads off last year's notes (written by other people) and calls it a lecture. But he's got many fancy awards under his belt for his research and the rest of the department talk about him with awe in their voice. If you take work to him, he will undoubtedly rip it to shreds, but not in a mean way. Half the students hate him. Half the students make him a meme. A few of them worship him like a god.

YQY The nice one. He teaches amazingly, heads a healthy research team, and has some banging papers under his name. The students know him as the best teacher, but behind the scenes he is literally keeping the department together. Wrangles with management and does a lot of outreach stuff on top of all of this. The students are convinced he literally lives on site because they keep seeing him at weird hours of the day. This is half true.

MQF The Professor. When you say 'professor', MQF is the person who comes to mind. The students think he is actually a robot, because they've never seen him do anything other than his job. His teaching is adequate but without personality, and he is extremely mild mannered. Unbeknownst to them, he is known as the 'mad scientist' of the department - he has a bizarre attitude to safety and often goes utterly crazy with experiments which are only just toeing regulations. A pioneer of his (somewhat niche) field.

QQQ Social justice warrior. The one who actually strikes when there's a strike on, and organises all of the diversity events. The student have mixed views on her. She struggled against a very sexist department back in her day and still gets a lot of hateful feedback, so she's learnt to take zero fucks. Which is cool but also means a lot of valid criticism gets taken as personal attacks. With all the drama, everyone seems to forget that she's actually a really big name in the field, receiving some fancy awards around the same time as LQG. Her phd group is surprisingly chill.

[kinda-neutral-thingy]

Hi hope your having a good day, can i request all of the members of the Stardust Crusaders with a younger teammate who they swear to protect since their younger than all of them( fem reader would be great). Thank you drink water😊🦋

Protective Stardust Crusaders with platonic! youngest! gn! Reader

Warnings: swearing, no Y/n usage

Notes: Hi, thanks for the request! Since there are a lot of characters here, I didn't spend a lot of lines on each of them. Also I didn't really used any fem pronouns or terms, so it's kinda gender-neutral

Noriaki Kakyoin

Noriaki is not used to protecting anyone, so he has to learn as he goes

He will not openly declare his desire to protect you, but he will not hide it either

In battle, he will try to repel enemy attacks from you with Hierophant Green

But during non-battle time, he will most likely monitor your well-being and will remind you of certain things like putting on sunscreen, drinking water, etc.

Since you are likely closer to him in the age group, he will be willing to listen to your age-specific problems

Despite the fact that it is awkward, he tries his best to help you anyhow, because deep down he thinks that this adventure is too much for you (hypocrite)

Muhammad Avdol

I see him as some kind of mentor or teacher

He is ready to protect you, but also tries to train you so that you can fight back the enemy

Initially, he was opposed to a young person like you joining the team, but he had to give up

Like Kakyoin, he will keep an eye on your condition, but he will be more open about his concerns

"You should focus more on the opponent's weaknesses and react to any of their openings. Being so careless won't do you any good!.. I really don't mean it in a bad way. Your enemies won't show mercy to you, so I want you to be able to fight properly. You are already doing a great job, but on our journey we should transcend our limits."

Jean Pierre Polnareff

Oh, he's definitely not projecting the situation with his younger sister onto you/sarc

He is one of the most open about his intentions in the team

He tells you directly that he wants to protect you

He will feel nervous if you are somewhere without someone to trust (aka a teammate)

Although it took him a while to get attached to you, perhaps some similarity between you and his sister was the catalyst for this

Random headcanon: He likes to show the team and you the cool stuff he finds in the markets you visit

"Look, it's an ashtray in the shape of a clock!"

Jotaro Kujo

He will definitely not show his real attitude towards you and will pretend that you annoy him

To be fair, he does this to everyone

He will even bitch about saving you from the enemy standuser

"Yare yare, why am I even wasting time on you, kid? We'll never get to Dio like that..."

Dude-

Don't even expect him to be gentle with you

The only time he'll show you that he cares is in the battle. You can see his concern only for a millisecond

Joseph Joestar

Oh, this old man-

He'll constantly tease you about your age

"Oh look, it's just your size!" he says, pointing to the clothes for a school-age child

He doesn't do it out of malice, he just doesn't want to miss the opportunity for a joke

In the first battle next to Joseph, he will share the signature technique of the Joestars with you

Wdym "this is cowardice"? This is just common sense/hj

Still expect from him old grandfather's advice that does not fit modern realities

He sincerely thinks they will help you

Well, it's 50/50...

Iggy

He'll bite people that are mean to you, or even fart on them

Like Jotaro, he will act like he doesn't care

No, you definitely imagined that he bit the leg of a salesman who sold you low-quality goods for a lot of money/sarc

[icebearinacornfield]

Rating Alex Rider Villians on a scale of 1-10 on how supportive they'd be of me telling them I'm Agender:

[Just so we are clear, the concept for this came from a TikTok-er who does a good amount of Alex Rider content/analysis!)

Harod Sayle: 5/10 He's too focused on his own revenge plot against British school children to care and he wouldn't entirely understand it, but I get the vibe that he'd ask some follow-up questions about what I meant and then just be like "ok cool IG". He'd misgender me a lot, but it wouldn't be from a place of malice, it would just be because he forgot. He'd be quick to fix his mistake though. All in all, Harod Sayle's just too spiteful to have the energy to expend on being transphobic/enby-phobic/agender-phobic (I never know the right term to use, please send help!), so he simply wouldn't be. If I were British, however, he would be the most transphobic person on Earth to me!

Nadia Vole: 10/10 She'd ask for pronouns upon introduction and always make sure that she's using the right ones! If nothing else, Nadia Vole is a professional, and professionals use people's correct pronouns, names, and honorifics. I also get the vibe that she'd not put up with anyone's bullshit if they're intentionally going around not respecting other people's identities. She also just gives the energy that she's queer (especially in the graphic novel), but then again it might just be me projecting.

Mr. Grin: 5/10 Bro's literally just doing his job and couldn't give less of a fuck. He'd respect my pronouns and stuff, but it'd be out of total indifference to me. Just like, he doesn't have the energy to waste, so it wouldn't matter to him whatsoever.

Dr. Grief: -10/10 He's a racist/nazi/white supremacist/fascist jackass (probably a stronger word would be better suited for this, but I don't feel like putting it in), so going off of what we know already, I can make a very educated guess as to what his stance on me not fucking with gender would be...

Eva Stellenbosch: -10/10 Same with Dr. Grief. She'd also just straight-up hate crime me for fun, so there's that too.

Alexei Sarov: 8/10 He'd be a little confused/not know entirely what being agender meant, or even what it is for that matter, but after it was explained to him, he'd make an effort. He'd read up on the subject, he'd ask questions, he might mess up on pronouns and such pretty regularly, but there'd be an effort on his part and that's what matters!

Conrad: 1/10 He's a chaos gremlin of pure hatred and murder. He is alive solely out of bitterness and spite. He'd purposely misgender me/be actively transphobic just to feel something. Anything. Conrad just wants to watch the world burn and he's got the gasoline.

Damian Cray: 20/10 There was no heterosexual explanation for that man to begin with! I also can't see him being super big on gender in the first place. He'd be out there actively fighting transphobia and showing his support for all of the LGBTQIA+ community! He'd validate me and he'd be aggressively supportive as well!

Nikolai Drevin: 0/10 Y'all saw how he was to his son Paul Drevin. Paul has been head-cannoned/heavily implied to be gay and we all saw how THAT turned out... I just feel like Nikolai Drevin would not hesitate to force me to go to conversion therapy. That's it. Maybe he'd pretend to be supportive at first to lull me into a false sense of security so he could kidnap me for conversion therapy, but it'd be a complete and total act. Believe me, this man IS ABSOLUTELY NOT an ally!!! That being said, he wouldn't outright kill me/other type of hate crime me. Not that conversion therapy is ok or anything, but the bar is so low on this list at points and I'm forced to give credit where credit is due. He'd kill me because I beat him at something which is something he does with everyone else so it's an equal opportunity thing.

Desmond McCain: 3/10 He'd try and do an exorcism of me. not necessarily because of the whole agender thing (not that that would hurt his decision though), but just because of me as a person. I don't care if he's not that kind of religious, but that wouldn't matter to him. He'd become that type of religious. Desmond McCain would also try to talk me out of being agender (not that that's someone that can do) by telling me that "God didn't intend for you to reject your natural calling as a woman." which isn't something that I think that God would agree with because I just don't... Either way, he'd say that I was a sinful person and going to super-hell when I eventually and he'd mean it too even if he's just faking being a Christian.

Dominic Royce: 4/10 He'd be on the quiet side, but don't let that fool you! He'd actively be doing everything in his power to pass anti-trans laws even though legislating is not part of his job! He'd refuse to acknowledge my saying anything about being agender and say condescending shit like 'You're too young to know that!" or "It's just a phase!" and would be calling me "young lady" or "Ms./Miss" a lot which would just be super uncomfortable.

Owen Andrews: 2/10 Bro totally leaves Reddit comments about how being trans/non-binary/agender isn't real/is a mental illness or some bullshit like that in his free time for fun and probably believes it as well. That being said, however, I don't see him being super transphobic out loud to my face. He'd definitely misgender me every time and place he got, but I could probably beat him in a fight and he knows this.

Darcus Drake: 6/10 He'd use the right pronouns, he'd be respectful enough, but mostly he wouldn't be too bothered with any of it.

Dr. Raymond Feng: 5/10 He'd be skeptical about it, but he'd hear me out and just accept it. I get the sense that he'd be thinking 'oh is this internalized misogyny or childhood trauma or something?', but I stand by my statement saying that he'd ultimately be accepting and validating to me more or less. Not a strong ally, not a transphobe, just a man who presumably has a doctorate in psycology with no quams about imprisoning and interrogating a thoroghly traumatized child. And I for one think that's beautiful. (Not actually, I just wanted to put that last part down there.)

Dwain Garfield: 1/10 He's a Trump supporter. 'nuff said. Source? Trust me bro.

Vladimir Sharkovsky: -5/10 He'd hate crime me or, more accurately, have somebody else hate crime me for him.

Harry Bulman: 2/10 Bulman would've been out there writing transphobic AF articles LONG before meeting me. Harry Bulman would be writing articles about how being trans/non-binary/agender was the latest 'fad/trend', go out of his way to make fun of the trans experience, and spread misinformation about how "gender/women are under attack!". Now, I don't think that he'd actually believe what he's writing (except for the whole thing about it being a 'trend' or mental illness or whatever), he's just in it for the money/the clout. Not that this makes it any better, if anything that makes it worse. In any case, he'd laugh in my face when I say I use they/them pronouns and then tweet about it or whatever and call me a 'crazy, blue-haired liberal' or whatever despite me not having blue hair. In short, metaphorically (never literally) fuck Harry Bulman!

Colonel Aubrey Sykes: 1/10 He'd just call me a 'snowflake' and say that he identifies "as an attack helicopter" because like many transphobes, he hasn't evolved much since 2016-2017. Also, since I'm not a veteran or active service member of the military and an American, I just get the vibe that he'd already have had absolutely zero respect for me in the first place even if I was cis. Also, he just gives extremely misogynistic vibes too, so whether or not I was cis wouldn't change much.

[Probably going to do a separate list for SCORPIA members and the Nightshade board. The same goes for MI6/CIA/ASIS characters. It'll be fun maybe!]

[kaiasky]

lots of people in my local sphere are praising bushwell's self immolation as a brave thing to do and it does kinda fuck me up. In my worst moments there is no greater comfort than the fact that if I killed myself in a specific way at a specific time then I could turn all my suffering and pain into something commendable and people would love me for my death in a way they never could in life. I think that's a little incoherent but you get what I'm saying right? I don't want to live in a world where that is an "necessary" or "beautiful" or "brave" sacrifice to make but when people refer to it as that- I'm forced to confront the fact that I do live in a world that thinks like that. That I live in a world where I really would be of more use dead. Again I'm being a bit incoherent but I felt the need to say something and get it off my chest I understand it's a complicated and touchy topic for everyone.

(re this) yeah.

idk, it's... i think we valorize lots of people for dying as a part of broader culture. war heroes, people who were assassinated, every martyred christian saint. including Jesus Fucking Christ. And so in that sense i think it's hard to blame someone for seeing somebody who killed themself and go, this is martyrdom, this is heroic, reblog reblog reblog. it hits you on a gut level.

But then like you said, you think about it and you go, oh yeah, valorizing killing yourself is a terrible thing (both morally, in that it encourages other people to consider killing themself, and politically, in that if all the most devoted fucking adherents to your movement kill themselves who will be around to fucking fight for change??)

I hope and suspect that the people who reblog this kind of stuff are simply unaware of this logic and that through having it gently pointed out to them they'll also come to see what's wrong with valorizing suicides.

Ultimately like, I think the choice to continue existing or stop existing is a decision everybody (gets/has) to make for themself, but we should do as much as possible to tip the calculus in favor of "keep existing" as possible.

It goes without saying and sounds sappy, but to all of you, you wouldn't be of use dead. if you were gone, regardless of how or why, it would be nothing other than a tragedy and a huge, irreplaceable loss.

(Tangentially related, but the only advice I've ever found that like, worked for me (ymmv) for dealing with suicidal thoughts is a post like, "alright, if you're seriously contemplating suicide, then you can do that whenever, there's no rush, it's be a waste to not fuck around before ending it, so you should 1. quit your job and become one of those cool ski bum guys who couch-surfs in the summer and works as a ski instructor in the winter, and try a year or two of that out first." And so whenever I'm doing bad, I think alright, is today the day I pull the trigger on the ski bum lifestyle? And for whatever reason that feels more extreme than suicide and so it snaps me back to "hm, maybe there are less-extreme solutions than those two")

[larnax]

outer worlds things i like so far

game does a very good job of the feeling of discovering something that is absolutely fucking terrifying. very clear feedback. im like hmm i wonder what happens if i do X and outer wilds IMMEDIATELY tells me that i have fucked up terribly and am now doomed to slowly asphyxiate in space

in general one of the best "games that initially seems very homey and comfortable and then rockets into horror" because it builds to it at a very natural speed. you get enough of timber hearth to get comfortable with the protagonist's home and then you lift off and probably discover a couple weird things but you're so preoccupied with everything being confusing that it doesn't hit you and by you i mean me that you're in a horror game until The Sun. and even when you ARE fully aware you're in a horror game and you know enough to get to the scary spots the comfortable world doesn't disappear. you can still find the other explorers on the world and have a comfortable place to rest. they always come back and you're constantly reminded that all these things exist in the same universe. which also makes it so much worse that you can't save them.

obv the environmental design is really good. the planets are big enough that you need to know where you're going but small enough that it feels like my fault i am literally always lost. i do wonder how the timber hollow people grow their food though. where are the sugar canes for the marshmallows....

same vein open world that's big enough to feel like there's a lot there but not so big that most of it's filler. big little world

clapping my hands like a fucking seal for the worldbuilding i love the nomai writing system it's so cool and the creative uses of the quantum crystals for architecture are so awesome. the foreshadowing in the museum is still my favorite though

the shuttle that just wastes your fucking time is really funny. i spent so long finding ways to kill myself trying to use it. very mean but i respect it

as a deep sea life fan i wanna be a hater so bad and say that anglerfish imagery is overplayed and them being the deep sea creature everyone and their mother uses for horror and how about you do some actual research and find a marine animal that has an interesting trait you can use for unique imagery..... but i must reluctantly admit. that the implementation. is extremely bad ass. and so i'm fine with it

things im not a huge fan of

i am on my fucking knees begging please just let me mark a spot where i am standing on my map. please. i know where the hanging city is i need to get to the specific spot in the hanging city where my thing is. would it be that gamebreaking for me to just be able to mark the location of the tiny entrance into the meltwater district. you don't even have to give me more than one.

not very robust accessibility stuff. the janky controls are intentional but an option for a slightly bigger margin of error for stuff like getting into/falling out of the elevators would really help for us shaky-handed bitches out there. also there are a lot of flashing lights including an unavoidable section every single time you die.

[toomuchracket]

I remember when Matty called out tabloids and magazines for making up rumors about him so what about Matty yelling at them either at a show on on socials or to their face about them invading him his girl and his kids privacy? (I think he would’ve love to use the baby carriers on his chest but can’t due to protecting his kids privacy so they opt for big hooded strollers instead)

oh this feels like something matty would mention during a show/interview. like let's say you do have one of those baby bjorn carrier things (i love them i think they're so cute lmao) and you do get to use it for a bit - matty fucking loves it, and the baby is always most settled when either you or matty are holding them so it's the best thing to use when you're all out and about. and you've agreed that you'll only publicly post pictures of your kid(s) if and when they can consent to it themselves and properly focus on privacy for your family (i think matty especially would be keen on that, given his own upbringing), so both of you are fucking raging when a group of tabloid photographers start to tail you on the walk you all go on to get coffee on sunday mornings. they don't post pictures where you can see the baby's face, because they know you would sue them within an inch of their lives if they did (hence why you don't end up using a stroller), but that's beside the point - they're there every week, and you ignore them at first in the hope that they'll eventually give up, but they persist and start shouting questions at you about the baby and your careers and some shit from the past that they really have no business mentioning, trying to goad matty into reacting. but he doesn't, just firmly says "you're not gonna get anything from us, you're wasting your time, so you might as well leave my family and i alone" and tbh matty is quite intimidating when he wants to be (that video from the other day that started all this dad chat is proof) so they do leave you alone after that. but it's been a solid few months of constantly being tailed by them, so everyone's reacting a bit on socials - you tweet a screenshot of that "get a proper job you dicks" thing from the 1d days, denise has a bit of a rant shitting on tabloids (as she does fairly often) and berating them for pestering her son and daughter-in-law and grandchild, and i actually think a lot of the fans would step in and start tweeting in support of you as well. and matty... i think he does bring it up at the first show he does after the whole debacle - maybe it's only the week after, or something, so it's still fresh in his mind. i think he'd probably reference it in relation to a song, so like maybe after liiwmi he's like "you know, originally that song was going to have lyrics just made up of tabloid headlines... fucking tabloids, man, they're scum. fucking following me and wifey and the baba trying to get a story out of us. no fucking respect - not like you guys, you guys are all great if we run into you, we love how supportive and cool you are! wish everyone was more like you lot. s'pose i shouldn't be surprised, though, they've been doing this shit to me my whole life. mentioned it in a song back in the day, actually, do you wanna hear that one now? let's do it". and matty like nods to the boys and says stuff to them, and they launch into pressure (which everyone goes mental for) - matty is practically SPITTING at "living in a house with just three walls so i'm always getting recognised". but he gets it out of his system, and you guys are kinda left alone after that, which is good <3

[knife-moth-mc]

Listen idk what y’all out in this mcrp to make it so blorbo (actually I do, its genuine care for the story you’re creating and sincere commitment to creating cool characters with arcs that are both interesting and have a satisfying payoff) but I have not had a special interest this intense in literal years. I am incredibly attached to EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER do you know how rare that is. In almost ANY other media there’s at least one i dislike or at the very least see as wasted potential but there’s literally NOT A SINGLE ONE I don’t absolutely love with haven. You guys are creating something great

It's the raw passion i think. We're not really bogged down by outside interests, so we can just do what we want. The nature of improv is such that we often end up with genuine reactions to turns of events, but we also plan ahead enough to make sure arcs are cohesive and no one gets left behind.

This is the redacted version of the timeline i made for the events leading up to the convergence. I asked everyone what they wanted to get done before then, wrote each thing on a piece of paper (or rather had someone scribe for me bc my wrists are fucky lmao), and moved them around until they clicked. Some of the plot points did end up getting dropped or moved to later in the timeline (such as the shearing, as sleep noted in his last stream! That was originally intended to be part of the ramping up of the wall conflict leading to the convergence!) but almost everything did get done and i think for the most part people were happy with how it all turned out.

Part of what makes Haven work so well is our willingness to hear someone say "i want to do x" and respond with "okay, how do we make that happen?" Mouse does an incredible job translating our ideas into actual usable mechanics, but it's also interpersonal stuff. Like, in the time leading up to the ironing, i went to navn and said "i need moth to have tnt. If you try to give it tnt it will not accept the tnt. Please solve this problem" and they managed it so smoothly. Or, i gave navn and sleep justification for sending k to ohio, and sleep masterfully wove it into the metaplot. Or, during the lux stream not too long ago, i was frantically texting mischief and jackdaw asking if we could do lux spying on moth showing jackdaw its scars, and this did end up happening and it was such a good moment for all three characters. I know all these examples involve me but, you know, most of the examples i was involved in enough to know all the details involved me.

We make each other better. I could never, ever, not in a million years have written moth and anathema's story on my own. I suspect a number of other havenites feel similarly about their plots. I am so so so glad and grateful to get to be a part of something this raw and powerful, with people this open and talented, and I'm beyond delighted that we get to share this with others it resonates with. I'm looking forward to everything we have planned, and keeping an eager eye out for anything we don't.

Sorry if any of this is incoherent i'm having a flare and it makes words hard. Idk how to put emojis in posts so imagine i put a peace sign emoji here

[notsp1derman]

an unimpressed review of saltburn, directed by emerald fennell

[may contain spoilers]

All my friends know that I'm a stubborn little shit that will watch all the new and hyped stuff only MONTHS after everyone stopped talking about it. So to everyone's surprise, especially mine, I watched Saltburn just weeks after its release.

My boyfriend and I decided to do a double feature of Call Me By Your Name and Saltburn, because people kept comparing the two of them, and to those people I say: WHAT THE FUCK? Do you even have a single braincell between all of you? Saltburn actually made me realize how immature my first opinion of cmbyn was, because you can't just take one or two questionable sex scenes in a beautiful queer coming of age movie and compare it to whatever the fuck Saltburn is. I'm dead serious.

This film was tailored to be edited into aesthetic tik toks from people thirsting over Jacob Elordi, which is understandable I guess, and to make all the boring average people of the world SCANDALIZED by o b s c e n i t i e s in this weird wave of exaggerated purity we're having. Then Fennel slapped some stereotypical and dull social commentary right at the end and tried to make it look purposeful, as if it's not just a fetishization of the bourgeoisie and old money.

That's the short version. The long-ish version is that this movie had so much potential, and I'm shocked to see that it was mostly wasted till the end. I'm not kidding when I say that the only thing keeping this afloat is the cast, and they're far from the best jobs of the main actors, despite them all being great at their jobs. Jacob Elordi is the only one not completely stereotypical, Barry Keoghan has only one facial expression, and I don't really care for the rest. At least Rosamund Pike is having a blast. The queen that she is.

The plot looks promising until you basically figure the rest of the movie barely after arriving at Saltburn, and then have to plough your way through montages of rich people Being Cool and Loving Being Rich. It baffles me how we end up feeling pity for them instead of the psycho main character, even though the plot screams at you to take him seriously. Dude, you can't have it all in one film ok? Sometimes you have to choose between a tour-de-force with a weird as fuck main character that is pure entertainment OR a social commentary on the rich with a realistic approach to nuanced themes. Saltburn tries to be both and fails miserably, a little baby bird that flew (not that high, but to some distance) only to fall down in the end. At least the last song is a banger to make up for it.

The rest of saltburn isn't nearly as groundbreaking as it seems, and its use of aesthetics to paint the rich in an elegant and aristocratic light does a great job of obliterating the very same "eat the rich" commentary it tries to shove at us at the end. Instead of the very much real and terrible financial inequalities and its consequences, we get the most unoriginal "look, money doesn't make them happy!1! they're human after all!!1" plot, and oliver just looks like an unhinged dude that's really jealous of the lavish lifestyle of the rich.

So no, thanks, I'll be leaving this film for the 14 year olds on here to thirst over jacob elordi. have fun kids.

★★☆☆☆

[thefaiao]

    About two months ago my laptop’s HDD died. I couldn’t really recover anything in the moment, and just left it unplugged inside the case until I could take it somewhere to check if it the files were truly unsalvageable. I wasn’t that annoyed by it. I had backed up most important files relating to game work, and I didn’t care too much about drawings that I already posted. I wouldn’t mind backing them up, but I wouldn’t lose sleep over it since they are posted somewhere already.     This HDD actually had been on a long journey with me. It, together with the laptop, carried me through a whole year of living alone and isolated for everyone I knew. It had been having problems since forever but it soldiered through most of it. It’s actually impressive how long it lasted, to be fair. But any times it would show hints of death then, I’d have a nervous breakdown. My anxiety and isolation were at a critical level. Drinking some Monster sent me to the hospital for pure anxiety. So all the bad stuff blended together at the time, and I couldn’t bother to fix all of it. When you are living day by day and hanging on by a thread on all sides, every loss can feel very major.     It only died after I moved back home. The worst part about losing the HDD was having to reinstall all the programs, and relearn my routine. When working on long-term projects, routine is really the only thing that can carry you further. Games are composed of so many different pieces. The amount of programs you have to use really incentivise terrible habits, like leaving the computer on eternally, or having multiple programs open at all times.     When I got my first drawing tablet, my thought process was: “If I put this in front of me, eventually I’ll draw on it, even if out of boredom.” This actually worked. I think that by leaving all the different programs open, I am hoping to finish the game out of boredom. But it doesn’t work as well when you are on your mid-twenties and the weight of life starts creeping up your back. It just feels like you are stuck in some sort of hell, and if you aren’t using those programs or drawing, you aren’t really doing anything. I wasn’t a teen trying to teach myself how to draw like those cool internet artists; rather, I was an adult, with a faulty income source, alone, in the middle of nowhere.     I think moving out of my Mom’s apartment was a form of attempted suicide. I think I just wanted to leave the world, make the game or die. Games take longer than it’d take me to die. Maybe I didn’t know this consciously, but deep down I think I understood. It’s hard not to feel like a failure.     My parents always let me follow my whims. My Dad supports me, but I feel he sees me as more of a symbol. I don’t think he could describe my interests in detail, or the person I am. I am similarly distant to him, but I know he likes Blade Runner, and records, and running, and pretending to smoke big cigars. I like Blade Runner too. I wish he saw that I’m happy he likes Blade Runner, because I got to like Blade Runner because of that.     My Mom does understand me, and is able to describe who I am. But I don’t ever feel she is happy with my choices. She doesn’t mention it actively, perhaps out of tiredness, but she wishes I had a normal job, or had chosen another subject that not games. I don’t think the drawings or the commissions I’ve done mean anything to her. I don’t think they mean anything to anyone outside of my circles... I managed to support myself with them, but I wouldn’t say it was a completely successeful endeavour. I think she sees the game as a waste of time and energy, especially if it doesn’t make any money. It might not make any money.    It’s understandable. She won’t be here forever. I need a stable source of money, not just enough to pay some bills, sometimes. I feel I almost got tricked by the world into following my dream. I felt everything was telling me I should be honest with myself, and that I should chase after the things that mattered to me. So that’s what I did, and what I’ve been doing still. I’m not sure where I’m going in life. I think I just heard what I wanted to hear, and I always wanted to chase after a dream.    Two days ago, my new SSD died. I had used it to boot the laptop back up after the HDD died. I had already gotten into the routine again. It was brand new, and gifted by my friend to me. I didn’t ask for it, she just did it because she knew I needed it. I often complain about life, but thinking back now, this is truly something not everyone gets. It was brand new.    It died suddenly. I lost a good chunk of work on the game. We are getting closer to finishing the demo, so each part is major. I may have lost a model of the boss. This time I did have a nervous breakdown because of the loss of the laptop. The truth is that this past year has been setbacks after setbacks, and I feel my time ticking down.    Money worries from both my parents. Dog getting a tracheostomy, and all the medical care surrounding it. Having to live apart from my girlfriend, which I am dedicated to being with as long as I can. Having to constantly move to other places, without any certainty for the future, for reasons internal and external. And death, death everywhere.     I’ve gotten the habit of looking at my dog knowing he is living on borrowed time, getting sad, and petting him just a bit. I think that through all of this, I do a similar thing to the game. I look at it. Wonder how much time I have left to keep working and polishing it before moving on. Be happy about how far its come. Notice how much needs work on closer inspection. Get back to work.     When I spend a few weeks away from the game I noticed how much I care for it, and how much I like what it is. I don’t think everyone will notice why this matters to me, but maybe that is fine. And similarly, I feel like this about my dog. He may pass away soon, but he came so far, lived fifteen years and had many adventures. And I got to take care of him. So it’s not so bad. And he still barks everyday, and he still takes sunbaths. He still thinks, and decides.     The people who’ve been with me despite all of this puzzle me. My girlfriend has stuck with me through these decisions, and always says I am destined to make great things. The programmer, whom co-develops the game with me, has stuck with me and this game, and is willing to keep going as far as we need to make it complete. Things like this make me wonder if my dream is actually possible and real. And that I can brave through all these setbacks.    Is the game really that good? Is my work that good? Does it even matter if it is? I often show it to people and they don’t understand what’s good about it. All I know for now is that despite everything, I want to work on it still. I want to make this weird dream come true. I won’t get to play a game like the one I’m making, but maybe someone else out there will get to play it the way I wish I could.

[adultswim2021]

Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job #31: “Origins” | March 16, 2009 - 12:30AM | S04E06

In this episode we get to find out how it all began. When Tim met Eric. When Eric met Tim… they’ve never run a website before! What are they going to?

At the end of the opening sequence, we start flash back with photos of earlier Awesome Show, Tom Goes to the Mayor, and their acclaimed viral hits Humpers and Cat Film Festival. We’ve now traveled back to the auspicious occasion of Eric meeting Tim, who has cool long hair, a pair of devil sticks, and plenty of Gen-X ‘tude. Eric looks like he stepped out of the Funky Groovin’ video (not really, he looks much weirder, but I wrote this sentence before rewatching the Funky Groovin’ video and I think I literally misremembered him being dressed like he is in this episode). Tim’s name is Q, but Eric needs him to change it to Tim because he already bought the domain timanderic.com. Q, now Tim, agrees to join the team of Tims. 

I like this one fine, but I respect it for being high-effort and a little cinematic. There are funny jokes and lines. Tim’s delivery of “they’re devil sticks, anyone can use ‘em” is great. The fact that the website is being run out of a huge building with Foosball tables and shit is so funny. They do a pretty good job skewering the 90s dot com boom, moments before the bubble burst. It ends with the website being hacked, unfortunately, meaning Tim and Eric never become famous or make this show I’m writing up. So, sorry for wasting your time, everyone. None of this is real. Everything I talk about from here on out is fake and made-up. (Joel Hodgeson voice) It’s like they’re just making all that stuff up.

The Married News Team show up for the first time in a while. They do a Brule sketch that again plays up the tension between the three due to Jan and Brule’s clear attraction to one another. There isn’t much to this sketch, which basically amounts to Jan getting hooked up to a machine that reveals she’s horny. The best moment is when Brule reacts to Jan’s freaking bra. Wait, why am I skipping around? That wasn't the first standalone sketch!! AHHH!!! I am going crazy!

The first standalone sketch of the episode is “Make My Bub Bubs Bounce”, which features a pregnant woman demanding a line up of would-be suitors make her “bub bubs” “bounce”. This isn’t explained directly in the sketch, but her Bub Bubs are the two fetuses in her womb, who won’t dance to just anything. The three men try in vain to make the woman’s Bub-Bubs dance, but then the master, Palmer Scott, arrives via jet pack (this is taking place on a weird video-game style jet-propelled platform) and gets the Bub-Bub’s bouncing.

This one feels like the kind of thing they would’ve split up into small parts and scatter throughout the episode, but this gets to play out as a complete work. I respect art, and i consider this art. Also, the whole concept of “Bub-Bub’s” and them bouncing does come off like childish bullshit that anyone could come up with, sure, but the video component really elevates the material. Despite (or possibly because of) it’s simplicity, it has found a permanent home in my head, and I reference it frequently whenever talking about a small pet or objectifying a body part. It’s good, I like it and respect it. 

There’s also “Daymare”, which hearkens back to similar season one style bits of brief silliness. They’ve done a couple bits that remind of season one. Tim and Eric really did take things back to basics in this season, and you gotta admit that sounded really smart of me to say. 

There’s also the Cinco Mouth Decorator, which holds the distinguished honor of being one of the very few sketches from the show that I had absolutely zero memory of. It’s nothing special, and seems pretty easily digestible as far as Tim and Eric goes. This would be the kind of thing SNL would do and people would go “THIS IS LIKE TIM AND ERIC! WOW!”. This one has it’s moments, though. The weird linger at the end is good. 

…

[izzy-b-hands]

Lucius thinks maybe some gay sex will make Izzy better, or at least feel better? His theory needs proving, in other words, and what better way than to just literally test it by *checks papers* treating Izzy like a human being with feelings, treating him nicely, taking in interest in what he does (even if that is basically work and work alone usually), and finally treating him to a night out in a port with some shopping.

---

"You're cool if I fuck him?"

Pete nodded. "Not only that, but I want to make it a bet."

Lucius scoffed. "Are you doubting my skills?"

"Not you, I just mean that..." Pete hesitated and gestured towards Izzy. "He is... himself, ya know? Might not be an achievable thing."

"I don't believe that," Lucius said briskly. "I'm not only going to fuck him, but he might even be bearable as a person once I'm done."

--

"Can I help?"

Izzy frowned. "Why?"

Lucius picked up the nearby broom. "Why not? You always encourage us to do chores more often, so...here I am!"

Izzy nodded. "Broom is infested with spiders."

Lucius looked to his hand on the broom, eyes widening at the tiny black dots starting to crawl all over it.

"We should get a new one," Lucius smiled sheepishly and did his best not to drop the broom on Izzy as he shoved it away. As it was, he surely already shook off a spider or two in his direction on accident.

"You can let the captains know that," Izzy said.

They stood awkwardly for a moment.

"What did you come down here to do?" Lucius asked once the silence started to make his skin crawl. "I'd be happy to help."

"I don't think you would."

"You don't know that!"

Izzy shrugged. "Fine. You won't want to, but fine. Sick of arguing with the lot of you today."

He led Lucius further down the hall, into the jam room. There, a corner of the room had been reconfigured for his purposes.

"Oh," Lucius said as they sat in the corner. "These are a bunch of Ed's shirts."

"Aye."

"Are you...do you darn all his clothes for him?"

Izzy nodded, and picked up a purple crop top. "Thread is in the basket behind you."

He reached in and tossed Izzy a bundle of purple thread. "How often do you do this?"

"At least once a week. Used to be more, when he was with Jack more often. You can imagine how that went."

Lucius nodded and grimaced. "Does Ed know about this?"

"Presume so. That, or he doesn't care so long as his clothes show back up clean and fixed."

"I'm sure he cares," Lucius said. "He must wonder how his stuff keeps getting fixed up."

"He's got other things to worry about. That's part of what a first mate does, not that any of you would know that. Except maybe Olu. You take on everything else so your captain can concern himself with things that are actually important."

Lucius let the conversation die again. It was making him sad for Izzy, and that was a weird feeling he wasn't sure what to do with yet.

So they stayed silent. He helped grab Izzy new thread as he needed it, and folded the finished shirts as Izzy handed them over.

"Bored?"

Lucius shrugged. "Not really. Kind of nice, sitting away from everyone else for a bit."

Izzy stood with a soft groan, and retrieved the pile of shirts. "Planning to keep following me?"

"For now. If you don't mind."

"No stranger than anything else anyone's done on this godforsaken ship."

They traipsed back up and he followed Izzy to Ed and Stede's quarters.

Their captains were engaged in each other, though still clothed as they tangled on one of the new couches they'd stolen.

Lucius frowned when neither of them so much as looked up at their entering the room. They didn't say a word at Izzy putting away Ed's clothes for him. Not even a glance.

"That wasn't cool," Lucius muttered as they left. "He could have said thank you."

"Blackbeard doesn't need to thank me for doing my job," Izzy said.

"Yeah, I can't agree with that," Lucius said. "Let's get lunch and I'll explain."

"Unlike the rest of you," Izzy sighed. "I don't waste any of my time during the day with that."

"Literally all you've had is coffee," Lucius said. "You need food."

He took Izzy's hand and was pleasantly surprised when Izzy let himself be led towards the galley. Might have been out of shock, but he was going to take it as a win anyway.

--

They walked in, and the galley cleared out.

"Ah," Lucius started, but Izzy waved him off.

"That's normal. Understandable. Anyway, what do you want?"

"I can get my own food," Lucius sighed. "Turn off work mode for two minutes, and eat."

Izzy promptly got a cup of coffee, and sat at the table.

"I know you did that to irritate me, and I don't care," Lucius said with a smirk. "And I'll show you why."

He grabbed one of the few square plates they still had, and piled it full with the leftovers Roach had yet to put away: fresh hardtack that wasn't actually as hard as a rock yet, boiled chunks of potato, and sandwiches. He grabbed three of the latter; it wasn't subtle, but he didn't need subtle right now.

He sat across from Izzy, and popped a potato chunk into his mouth.

Izzy's eyes ran over the plate as he sipped his coffee. But he didn't say a word.

"Don't see you eat much at dinner either," Lucius said in between bites. "Or do you seriously survive on coffee alone?"

"I'll find something at night," Izzy replied. "Usually. Need something to do while on watch anyway."

"That's really unhealthy," Lucius said. "Besides, you must be hungry. I won't force you, but-"

He moved the plate to be more in the middle of the table. "Feel free. I won't tell if you don't."

He was still shocked when Izzy took a sandwich, quickly, as if he expected Lucius to try and take it away.

--

Over the rest of the day, they:

-brought Ed and Stede numerous cups of tea or coffee, with Izzy so oddly attuned to their usual general schedule that he just Knew when to motion towards the galley and then find the captains, who at least smiled at him each time. Lucius had been hoping for at least one thank you, though.

-Did more laundry. Not just repairing everyone's clothes, gathered from the various corners claimed as storage by each person, but washing them in an old wash bucket Lucius didn't even know they had below deck. The line to hang them went from one side of the jam room to the other, where the light could filter through from the deck above and help dry everything.

-Cleaned more than he thought was possible in one day. From swabbing the deck to watching Izzy scrub and chip away at the barnacles on the hull. He helped in bits and pieces, mostly handing Izzy whatever he asked for.

Finally, Izzy paused in front of his room. "Well. That's it, for now."

Lucius nodded. "Time for a break! You deserve it."

Izzy didn't seem to know what to do with that. "I guess? I usually stop long enough to nap before night's watch."

"You can't be assigned watch every night," Lucius chuckled. "Where's the chart Captain Stede put up?"

Izzy led him to it, a short distance as it was now tacked onto one of the walls in the closet Izzy had taken over as his room.

On it, everyone else's name had been scratched off.

"Did you do this?" Lucius asked. "Izzy..."

"I got sick and fucking tired of waking up and finding the deck empty," Izzy scowled. "No one in the crow's nest. Buttons is sometimes out there of course, but he's moonbathing then. So, yeah. I took it, crossed out everyone else, and I take watch every night now. At least it gets done then."

Lucius nodded. "I'm sorry. You shouldn't have had to do that."

"What?"

"You sleep a little, and I'll meet you tonight for watch, okay?"

He walked out with Izzy still muttering in confusion. He needed to talk with the captains.

--

"So, it's just. Really weird to me that no one noticed and addressed this earlier," Lucius concluded. "I mean, I hate some of the stuff that needs doing and I'm not exactly eager for it, but..."

"Let him do it then," Ed shrugged. "If it makes him happy."

Lucius scoffed. "That's it?"

"I think someone might be a little sweet on Izzy," Stede smiled. "That's kind of you, Lucius."

"What the fuck is going on here?" Lucius asked in shock. "I know you two can be bitchy, as can we all, but what the fuck?"

"Lucius!" Stede said sharply. "I could ask the same of you!"

"Maybe I just realized how much he does and how that's like...all he does, and if that was me I'd want help! Or a break, or at least some acknowledgement!"

"He's a first mate," Ed said gently. "He knew what that meant when he took the promotion."

"Wow," Lucius said. "So, what about chores makes him happiest, do you think?"

Ed blinked, and opened his mouth to speak.

"Because I think he couldn't tell me or you two what actually makes him happy, because he doesn't think about anything besides work and how to keep living off of mostly coffee. Did you know he usually skips lunch? I had to tease him with food until he finally broke down and ate something!" Lucius said sternly. "If you care about your first mate like you say, then that means caring about him beyond his ability to wash and rehem your shirts!"

He turned on his heel and walked away before they could get another word in. They could let that all marinate in their minds and figure out how they could be better. For once, they could do that part on their own.

--

"Brought you this," Lucius handed Izzy a wrapped sandwich. "Had Roach make it fresh before he went to bed."

"He did not agree to make me food this late," Izzy said, but he took the sandwich.

"I may have told him it was for me, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him."

The crew had taken to sleeping below deck, after a few squalls had taken them by surprise and soaked them to the skin. That meant an eerily silent and empty deck to traverse.

"You can eat," Lucius encouraged him gently. "I can help keep an eye out while you do."

Izzy looked at him, seemingly studying him. Then, he considered the sandwich in his hand.

"Alright."

They settled up in the crow's nest, so Lucius could easily see out, and Izzy could sit and relax while he ate.

"This is sort of nice," Lucius remarked as he watched the moonlight glimmer off the crest of each new wave. "Sandwich good?"

He looked, and had to laugh. The sandwich was gone, in the blink of an eye nearly.

"Did you taste it?"

Izzy nodded. "Thank you for that."

"Of course. Someone has to keep you from wasting away on us."

The tension that fell was a new one. An expected one, for Lucius, though he hadn't thought they'd get there in one day. Leave it to Izzy to surprise him with lingering glances and a hand creeping closer to his.

"You can go to bed, if you want."

Lucius frowned. There was the usual Izzy. "I'm good, actually. Unless you'd rather be alone."

He waited for the gruff command to fuck off, but it didn't come.

--

He didn't want to be smothering, so he let Izzy be for the next day or so. Checked in, brought him food, but otherwise let him get about his business. Ed and Stede seemed to be paying extra attention to that as well, and he didn't want to distract them from seeing that Izzy, for all his faults, did clearly care about all of them and the ship. If he didn't, why would he bother with all the work he did? He could just as easily have left and joined a different crew, a more traditional one.

But he didn't, and Lucius felt like that was important.

On Friday, he changed it up again.

"So, you know how Pete is happy to share me and have fun with everyone now and again," the words tumbled out. "And I thought maybe, since we're stopping at a port for the next night or two, I could take you out."

Izzy stared, and Lucius worried he'd actually broken him.

"Me? How much did everyone else bet you to do this?"

Lucius shook his head. Pete had never formally made his mentioned bet anyway. "No one bet me. No one is making me. I want to."

Izzy couldn't seem to look him in the eyes, but he nodded.

"That would be fine."

--

"I figure shopping, food, inn?"

Izzy nodded. "You told the captains we'd be gone?"

Lucius couldn't hold back a roll of the eyes. "Yes, Izzy. They know we'll be on land for tonight and at least part of tomorrow. It's all good."

"I just don't want them wondering why things aren't getting done, that's all. You can't tell me you'd want to listen to that whining if we'd get back and find them out of the loop, thinking we'd fucked off to who knew where."

"That's true," Lucius admitted. "Come on. I have an idea."

He knew very well that Izzy had nothing for clothes aside from what he wore. He'd watched him strip down to clean and hang them to dry for fuck's sake, sitting in nothing but his underclothes while he waited to be able to dress again.

"I know it isn't anything as fancy as Captain Stede wears, but I also know you like your leather anyway," Lucius said as he led Izzy into the shop. Its walls were mainly lined with leather clothing, but there were linen and cotton blouses too, all in black or dark navy or deep plum. Nothing bright or airy, but if that wasn't what Izzy wanted, then why bother with it?

"We can't afford this," Izzy said. "For either of us."

"When was the last time you got new clothes?"

Izzy glared and thought. "1709."

"That shirt has survived almost ten years?!"

Izzy looked down at his shirt. "It isn't that bad."

"I can see through parts of it!"

"It's usually warm anyway, that is a feature, not a fault!"

"Oh my god...my point is, you deserve something new! You can still wear that thing until it disintegrates into a fine dust, but at least you'll have another option!"

He expected Izzy to fight against being pulled into a dressing room, but he didn't. Nor did he fuss at Lucius coming in with him, calling out to the tailor what would need adjusting before they left.

To his delight and shock, Izzy left the shop in one entirely new outfit, and with an extra new shirt.

"See, not so bad, right?" Lucius asked as they dodged people walking the main path.

"Could we stop at the room?"

He nodded. "Of course! There's no rush to do anything else right away. We can go out later and get food, could even bring it back to the room with us for the night!"

There was tension again, but he wasn't entirely sure which kind now as they made their way to the dingy building that had the gall to call itself an inn.

"Hey, I know this was kind of a lot," Lucius said as they got inside the room. "And I sprung the shopping thing on you at random, I know. I just had heard about the shop and figured-"

Izzy damn near actually threw himself at him, with enough force to make Lucius stumble as he caught him.

The kiss was just as forceful, which he didn't mind. It wasn't anger behind it like some of Izzy's other actions. It was want and need and an urgency Lucius was more than familiar with himself.

"Is that a thank you?" he asked softly after Izzy broke the kiss.

Izzy looked stunned. "You aren't upset."

"No? Why would I be? Honestly, if you hadn't made a move tonight then I would have at least asked if you were interested or not."

Izzy still looked stuck, wheels turning in his head.

"Come here," Lucius pulled him towards the bed. "Be lazy with me. We'll go out and find food later."

He didn't expect Izzy would fall into it so quickly, without any grumbling. But he kicked off his shoes by Lucius', and tossed his new black leather vest to the floor, only to promptly pick it back up.

"Doesn't feel right, doing that," Izzy blushed. "It'll take enough abuse later as it is."

"You're cute," Lucius smiled. He meant it genuinely. It was adorable watching Izzy brush nonexistent dust off the vest before gently setting it over the chair in the corner of the room.

"I think you must have me confused with someone else," Izzy said.

"No, I don't," Lucius replied. "The bed is cold; come warm me up."

That he didn't have to ask twice.

Izzy climbed onto the bed and into his arms, and after a moment, relaxed there.

He melted into the lazy slow kisses Lucius gave him, kissing back with unexpected but welcomed wandering hands.

"Just take it off," Lucius teased after Izzy's hands lingered under his shirt for the third time in as many minutes. "Take yours off too, while you're at it."

Izzy sat up, tossed his shirt off, and waited for Lucius to do the same. Fingertips tapping, eyes wandering over Lucius.

"You can't wait, can you?" Lucius asked. "I'm not teasing. Just asking."

He finally pulled off and tossed his shirt away. "Come here."

He'd always figured Izzy was a better lay than he might have seemed. There was far too much passion (for his job, Ed) overall for it not to exist in the same capacity in bed.

Now, with Izzy in his lap kissing him breathless, it seemed he had proof. The start of some, at least.

A hand toyed at the waistband of his trousers. Izzy kissed him again, gently, before asking: "May I?"

"I appreciate the asking and you absolutely may," Lucius smiled. "I didn't know if fucking would be a step too far too fast-"

"We can play it by ear," Izzy said as he climbed off of Lucius so they could finish undressing. "If we don't want to do everything, we don't have to."

Lucius nodded and let himself stare.

It wasn't like he'd ever have said Izzy wasn't hot. He was; from the silver in his hair (that if he kept growing it, would be fun to tug and play with) to the hair that covered his chest and the strong muscles that were on show regularly if one followed Izzy around while he worked.

But that was while he'd still held more distaste for Izzy, more frustration. Now, knowing more of Izzy meant it was an active and warm attraction that left him dying to find a way to show it more.

He finished stripping, waited for Izzy to do the same, then walked to him. Kissed him hard once, before dropping to his knees to open his mouth and let his tongue loll out. He didn't want to leave any question about what he wanted next.

"Fuck," Izzy murmured, a hand reaching out to cup Lucius' face in his hand. "How does Pete get anything else done if you do this around him?"

"I figured you would say you knew exactly why he doesn't get more done now," Lucius teased. "I'm a horrible distraction."

"A distraction maybe," Izzy said, as Lucius leaned into his hand enough to press a kiss to it. "But not horrible."

"I almost think you like me."

"I think I might."

[panic-at-the-hydra-base]

So I saw fnaf… (no spoilers above the cut)

(First of all I’m not a movie reviewer or anyone special I just like to talk abt movies)

Okay I have like a lot to say and some worries about this movie. Let’s start with the good, as a fan the movie was so fun! It’s been in production hell for so long and I’m so glad it even got to see the light of day and that Scott got to be involved that all makes me thrilled. The Henson creature shop did a spectacular job and I hope people realize the balls it took to even go that route versus just cgi-ing all of it. Massive props to them and just ugh all of it was fantastic looking I could go on all day about the animatronics alone. Now I say “as a fan” because if I wasn’t a fnaf fan the movie wouldn’t be good. It just isn’t and I now totally understand and agree with the first critic reviews that came from people who have (assumingly) no knowledge of the game before hand and I agree with their low ratings. It just isn’t really a good movie🤷🏽‍♀️and that’s fine! Seriously if all it is is a kitty fan service movie where everyone had fun making it and watching it then who cares! Blumhouse made their money before it even premiered and honestly I’m not even worried about not getting another one because they know enough of us will be paying to see whatever else they do next- better or worse. I wouldn’t call it a good movie at all but was it fun? Hell yeah it was fun!

SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT

This is just me rambling because why not

I saw it Thursday opening night and my theatre was relatively quiet with some loud “harharharharhar”s before it started versus some theaters I’ve seen who are filled with ppl laughing aloud and doing other fun stuff (like fist fighting) so I wasn’t sure what to expect if it was gonna be the same vibe as like seeing a marvel movie opening night where people are verbally responsive. Idk just curious how other peoples theatre crowd experience was. The movie was really just okay as I said the part of me that’s a fan had fun but the part of me that loves movies was bored. The building a fort was kinda stupid but I understand why it was done for the plot entirely to show that Abby thinks they’re all friends okay but god it was just kinda dumb. The connecting via dreams was odd? I’m not sure how I feel about it because I’m trying to separate this movie from fnaf lore and treat it as a movie by its self but that’s really hard to do. Obviously I’m not saying everything has to/will be canon compliant but it’s still hard to have that knowledge and not compare it to the movie. I’ll have to give it another watch but it’s hard to hodge the movie alone by itself. Anyway- FOXY!!! God his feet were so silly looking I love him so much and they kept the humming/singing that he does? Loved that. Also was the animatronic they were trying to put Abby in at the end supposed to look like baby specifically? It was enough that I caught it but also not exact enough where I thought maybe they just picked a random doll like character idk I can’t remember who’s soul is in baby at the moment but whatever. That fuckass balloon boy made me unreasonably happy idk why like I saw spoilers and knew he was there but still laughed so hard when I actually saw him myself. Also loved the matpat cameo it was just enough and rolled very smoothly, good for him. I again do wanna give them credit for showing the bloody stuff considering the rating like the shadow of someone getting bit in half was good. I understand from a company standpoint of keeping it pg-13 so “kids” can go see it and give them more money but they did what they could and I thought it looked good! Vanessa was cool, kinda weird mike didn’t ask any questions earlier and also why did that bitch chuck mike’s pills into the water bitch that man has no money and you just wasted prescription sleeping pills? Gurl you you but okay whatever anyway- mike was cool nothing like crazy special to say about any of them honestly. I hope they use Matthew lillard more in the future, that’s purely me being a fan of his and nothing more honestly. He wasn’t in the movie much at all. Back to the dreams and stuff- having mike get injured in his dreams was also a bit idk…. Stupid? Like it just seemed idk pretty dumb I can’t fully explain what bothered me about it but it just didn’t seem to go with it all. I just gotta watch it again at some point because I’m very torn abt actually liking it or not. I do have a worry that people will not realize that the animatronics are actually puppets and complain about them being funny looking and moving slow. Puppets aren’t used as much anymore everything’s cgi and animated so I can totally see someone thinking it’s just badly created when it’s actual real people moving them and they’ll think poorly of it when they simply don’t know that it’s real! Again so happy that they chose that route to create them and not cgi it soooo greatful for that and I’m glad to see that’s still being used for movies. Overall very torn about this movie. Again I’m just rambling here and I’d love to think what others think abt it weather you saw it with prior knowledge or not.

[spidey-bie]

this has been in the back of my mind for DAYS but if you do the HR spidersona please tell me because I love that!!!

Like I wish there was 'the Office' but with people who work at HQ. And then the IT Crowd for the tech people like Margo. And when anything breaks (Hobie snatched a part they needed) Margo just stares into the camera.

I'll even throw in a new spidersona - like Spider-Secretary or sumn , Miguel's assistant. But instead of doing the cool stuff like Lyla she does the things Lyla can't. Like getting him coffee and standing there going 'Mhmm. I can understand why you're upset.' while Miguel throws a fit. Lyla is literally her boss. Meanwhile HR is getting constant reports of Miguel throwing garbage cans at people

I've been thinking about this. Hopefully this ain't going to turn into a new OC but who am I kidding. But right off the top of my head if I did happen to create an HR spidersona:

Their world's medium would be sticky notes and each of their actions would be told flipnote style.

Their origin story would be one day picking up a pen with a spider design on it outside of a toxic waste management center

They spray ink and excuse a calming pheromone so people enjoy talking to them

They never run out of office supplies and nobody knows how.

No one ever leaves feeling unsatisfied after talking with them

Was also an HR worker in their old world

All their villains are just unsatisfied employees who got a wee bit corrupted and tried to seek havoc on their company

But after advocating for better workplace benefits or working to actually help employees with their concerns they're usually able to stop their villain.

Quit their job after realizing that there's literally no way that they could meet everyone's needs if management didn't actively start caring about their employees.

I need to stop doing this before I fr come up with a new OC. I have my hands tied with Ansi as is 😭

[mega-gogo-man]

Evening Date

After a nice evening together, June and Sheena find an inviting pool and decide it'd be a waste not to use it.

A short, fluffy, romantic story of my OCs I came up with last year whilst drawing this picture.

This was clearly a case of me coming up with a story after I'd drawn the pic, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

The dark theatre was flooded with bright stage lights as the performance I had just witnessed drew to a close. A thunderous applause roared through the entire venue as the flamboyantly dressed actors bowed to the crowd. As I clapped along the rest of the audience, June was in the seat beside me, cheering out loud as she seemed to be wiping tears from her eyes. She’d been talking about how she wanted to see the play ‘In Secret’ for a long time, so I decided to take her to see it as a treat as I’d been busy at work and June had been occupied with studies at her university before the summer. The play was about a royal knight who falls in love with a princess, so the princess had to disguise herself as a hand maiden to ensure the King wouldn’t find out about their relationship. Apparently, it was based on a book or movie or something that June liked. The finale clearly did the job at ending things in a spectacular way and it was a hit with the entire theatre.

As the curtains drew for the final time, the crowd eventually died down and people began making their way out of the theatre. Me and June walked out into the night as the crowd dispersed into the streets.

“That was so cool!” June smiled, still giddy from the spectacle of the finale.

“I’m glad it turned out to be everything you hoped it’d be.” I replied. We were in fancy evening dresses, June wearing a silky teal dress with frills, whereas I went for a red, full length velvet gown. We rarely dress ourselves up in makeup and fancy jewelry, so I felt a little strange wearing all this extra stuff I’m not used to. Walking in these high heels felt especially awkward, even if I did end up liking how they looked on me. June, with her makeup, dress and decorated nails, looked incredibly elegant. Her hair was tied back into a ponytail as she usually does, but this time it was held together with a hair clip adorned with shining pearls. Despite her mature allure, she was still acting like a kid at Disneyland.

“Hehe, I was tearing up a little at the end.” June giggled, “Oh, Sheena. Is my makeup ok?” She turned and leaned towards me. Though I noticed her eyes welled up during the applause, it didn’t seem like any tears ran down her face to smear her eyeliner.

“You look fine, June, don’t worry!” I reassured her.

“Oh good.” she replied in relief. The crowd around us was thinning as we continued to walk down the night streets. “So, what did you think about it?” She asked me.

“Me? Yeah, I liked it a lot...” I paused to think of something other than ‘yeah it’s good’. I ended up liking it more than I thought I would, too. I’d never really been one for theatre or dance, so I didn’t really know what to expect. I did feel like I was a little out of my depth here, everyone was dressed in formal wear which isn’t something I do often, and I always felt like there were elements to their performance I was missing that a more distinguished audience would be able to better appreciate or critique. I at least enjoyed the spectacle of their bombastic performance and the music. “The music was really good; I was surprised by how well it all came together.”

“I know, right!?” June beamed, “The way the composer used the motifs from all the previous songs in the finale was genius.” I honestly hadn’t any clue what she was talking about, but I still liked seeing her gush about this kind of thing. We continued walking down the night streets lined with bars, clubs and hotels, illuminated with garish neon signs that bathed us in many different shades of hot pink and bright blue, as we made our way back to our hotel. Eventually, June seemed to have calmed down from the rush, but she was still glowing from the night we had. She took my hand and held it gently. “Thanks for taking me to see the show, Sheena.” She smiled.

“Hey, don’t mention it. I had a really good time.” I smiled back at her. It was nice to be together like this; it had been a little while since we had the time to do our usual diving sessions, let alone the time to just hang out. Maybe it was because of how long it had been that being together made me feel a little giddy inside too. Eventually we arrived at the hotel. It was now late into the night, so it was quiet in the lobby area. Since the theatre was quite far from home and the performance was late, we’d booked a room here and were due to check out first thing in the morning. Our room was out towards the back, but there was a shortcut we could take by walking out into the courtyard and climbing some stairs up towards a balcony. We entered the courtyard where the outdoor bar area was, which seemed to be closed at the moment.

“Hey Sheena, look.” June pointed the hotel pool which was at the center of the courtyard. Illuminated by the underwater pool lights, the surface of the water sparkled like a shimmering emerald as the rest of the courtyard was dimly lit. Half the surface of the pool had a plastic pool cover draped haphazardly over it. It seemed like it was past the opening time for the pool. “Hehe, the pool looks so inviting doesn’t it~?”

“Yeah, it does...” I replied. It was a pretty warm summer, and even the cover of night provided only mild respite from the humid heat, so the idea of taking a swim right now seemed divine. Not only that, it’s been far too long since we went swimming together...

I missed seeing June underwater...

“I’d love to go swimming right about now... It’s a shame we didn’t bring swimsuits.” June lamented. We hadn’t intended to go swimming; we didn’t even know the hotel had a pool and since we were leaving early in the morning, we wouldn’t have any time to use it. Since there’s a pool here, though, it seems like it’d be a missed opportunity not to use it while we’re together.

“Hmm, well we don’t need swimsuits to swim, do we?” I smirked at her, as a devious idea formed in my mind.

“Huh?” June turned to me, looking perplexed. “What do you mean? I’m not gonna strip off out here!” Stripping hadn’t even crossed my mind, and although that also sounded fun, I had something else in mind.

“Well, you can stay in your dress if you want.” I smirked. I took off my heels, relieving some strain from my now bare feet as I began to make my way towards the pool. “Since we have a pool here, I think I’ll cool off for a bit...” June paused for a moment, before I heard the footsteps of her heels rushing towards me.

“Wha-? Wait, stop!” June blustered in a hushed tone, grabbing me by the arm. “You're gonna ruin your dress!”

“Come on, June.” I teased, giving her a smirk. “The water looks great.”

“W-Well... Yeah, it does...” June stammered, turning red as she tried not to make too much noise. “But! Look, the pools clearly closed, you’re gonna get into trouble!” She was right, the pool cover had been unfurled and, although it only covered half the pool, it was clear no one was meant to be using this at this hour.

“Haah, fine. You’re right, I shouldn’t get myself into trouble...” I feigned a dejected sigh as I turned back towards her. June gave a relieved sigh as she foolishly let her guard down. I gently grabbed her by the shoulders and whispered to her... “I’ll let you get into trouble first.”

“... Wha?” June barely had a moment to react before I gave a firm shove and pushed her into the pool. She let out a surprised squeal before it was cut off by her splashing into the once still surface. I felt the water splash over my dress as she fell in, and couldn’t help but laugh at what I’d done. After a moment, June emerged from the surface, coughing and spluttering. “Gaah! What the fuck, Sheena!?” she yelled angrily, wiping her soaking hear from her face. Her hair, once tied back, was now flowing free; it seemed like the impact of the splash dislodged her hairclip. Her long, frilly dress flowed around her legs as she treaded the water, exasperated. I laughed again that I actually managed to do this to her, but after a moment I felt a small spark of guilt run in my stomach. June didn’t seem to be finding the situation as funny as I did, as she looked at me with a disgruntled look, furrowing her brow as she wiped the water from her face.

Maybe I went too far?

I took a second to compose myself before I knelt down by the pool edge.

“I’m sorry, June, I couldn’t resist.” I chuckled, “I mean, you said you wanted to swim!” June pouted, and gave me a brief look of contempt before she slowly swam towards me to pull herself out. By now I really was beginning to feel bad; I probably messed up that dress of hers. I might have ruined an otherwise amazing evening for her just because I was being a jackass and thought I was funny.

I’ll have to think of a way to make it up to her.

As she approached me, I reached out my arm to her. “Sorry, June. Here, I’ll help you out...” June huffed as she contemplated even taking my offer at all, before she almost reluctantly took my arm. She reached out and grabbed my arm with her delicate, slender fingers.

Man, she did a really nice job with her nails...

In the brief moment whilst my mind was distracted, June tugs my arm fiercely, causing me to lose balance. I let out a startled yelp before I find myself pulled forward and I am plunged into the turquoise pool water. It was a little colder than I was expecting; the heating must have been turned off at this time. I ended up falling in face first as I sank upside down. Kicking my legs, I reorientated myself upright, before pushing myself up to the surface. As I emerged, June was beside me, laughing hysterically to herself.

“Alright, Sheena, I forgive you now~” We both giggled at ourselves as the waves we created lapped against the pool edge. We were both illuminated by the pool lights below, our bodies glowing in a serene blue hue. Water was still trickling from our soaking wet hair. The warm smile on June’s face was precious, and also a pleasant relief after I thought I might have offended her. I couldn’t help but smile back. After what felt like a long moment, June seemed to notice me staring at her as her chortling subsided. Her grin gave way to a gentler smile. She slowly approached me, and placed her fingers along my cheek as we began staring into each other's eyes... “This is nice... I’ve missed this...” she whispered.

Being in the pool felt just as good as it looked before we got in, as we floated together, bobbing on the surface. The gentle waves of the pool licked and caressed our shoulders. The faint dripping sounds of droplets falling and trickling from our wet hair punctuated the sounds of the rippling pool and the distant traffic on the streets beyond the hotel. I could feel the soft fabric of my gown flowing around my legs as I tread water.

Her face edged closer and closer to mine; I could feel her warm breath upon my body. I took a deep breath, taking in an oddly alluring aroma of both the chlorinated pool water and the floral scented cologne she was wearing, which still faintly clung to her despite being in the water. The cool pool water only made the warmth of her body against mine all the more apparent. Her eyes glistened, reflecting the glittering night lights like jewels. Her eyelids and cheeks looked a little darker as the eyeliner she had been concerned about before was now running down her face. Her smiling lips were slightly parted. Her lips, so soft, so alluring, edged ever closer to my own. Slowly, I gently placed my hand behind her head. I pursed my lips and, slowly, leaned forward. My lips hungry for hers, ready to...

Just then, both our attentions turned towards the main building. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed movement from the curtains of one of the hotel rooms. It seemed like people were noticing the commotion we made. It was pretty late, after all, and we were probably disturbing a lot of people trying to sleep. Not to mention we weren’t even supposed to be here in the first place. It wouldn’t be long before someone who worked at the hotel would come along and see what we were doing.

“Uh... We should probably get out of here before someone yells at us.” I chuckled.

“Y-yeah, probably a good idea.” June blushed. I gave her another smile before I turned and began to swim to the edge of the pool. “Ah, wait!” June exclaimed, looking flustered and concerned.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“My hair clip, I can’t find it.” June was frantically looking around her. Of course, her hair clip came off when I pushed her into the water. I looked around too; the pool wasn’t particularly deep and the water was crystal clear and well lit, yet I also couldn’t find any sign of it.

That’s weird, it couldn’t have gone far...

It was then my attention turned to the other half of the pool that had the pool cover over it. It’s the only place we couldn’t see from the surface.

“Wait a sec, June. I’ll look for it under there.” I paddled towards the pool cover and then, after taking a deep breath, dove beneath the surface. It turned out the pool cover was covering the deep end of the pool. Suddenly things began to make more sense; the pool floor sloped downwards, and June’s hair clip must have sunk and slid down the slope towards the deepest part of the pool. I kicked my legs and dove deeper to find it. Swimming in a full evening dress was a strange feeling; my flowing gown liked to wrap around my legs as I kicked, making things feel a little awkward and more constrained than I was used to. I still had no problem diving, though as I pushed my way through the water.

Sure enough, I could see the decorated hair clip resting at the point the pool floor flattened out. The deepest point was about 12 feet, maybe deeper. I crawled myself towards the hair clip and grabbed it. As I turned around to swim back to the open part of the pool, I was startled by the sight of June, who I hadn’t even realized had followed me beneath the pool cover. She wore a slight, mischievous grin as she swam quickly towards me.

Huh? What are you doi-

Before I even react, June threw her arms around me pulled me towards her, and firmly pressed her lips against mine.

“Mmblpl!?”

It was all so sudden I couldn’t help but let out a surprised gurgle. However, the surprise quickly faded into bliss, as I quickly relaxed and began kissing her back. I ran my fingers along June's free-flowing hair, gently caressing her head as she continued to kiss me with those soft lips of hers. Our evening dresses flowed around our legs; the long, draping fabric almost intertwining with each other. Her body was on top of mine, almost pushing me down as we floated together, just barely touching the bottom of the pool. I could feel her run her fingers up and down my back as she embraced me underwater underneath the pool cover, hidden away from the prying eyes of any of the hotel guests. Bubbles trickled gently from June’s nose, as they rose and began to pool against the covered surface above us. I hadn’t even noticed my hands had already dropped her hair clip again just so they could feel up June’s soft skin on her arms.

We both knew that we needed to get out of the pool as soon as possible; like the Knight and Princess in the play there'd be dire consequences if we were caught. None of that mattered, though. We continued to enjoy each other's embrace beneath the cover. Our lips continued to peck and caress each other, playfully nibbling and suckling at our soft, sensual flesh, as small bubbles trickled between our lips each time they parted. How long had we been underwater? When was the last time we shared a moment like this? None of that seemed to matter as we were both lost in the moment. More seconds, maybe even minutes passed, before the reality eventually creeped in and our lips finally parted. June smiled gently, though she had a slight look of discomfort on her face that signaled she needed to breathe. I nodded as she turned to swim back up towards the shallow end of the pool. Almost forgetting her hair clip, I picked it up from the pool floor where I had dropped it and promptly followed her.

Eventually we broke the surface of the pool. June was catching her breath from our dive, her dripping wet hair was draped over her eyes. It’s clear why she prefers to tie her hair back, but the sight of June in her element with her hair down was an undeniably appealing sight. She turned and looked at me once again, and her panting gave way to chuckling before she descended to elated, uncontrollable laughter. The laugh was so contagious I couldn’t help but join in and laugh at our absurd situation; fully dressed in a pool we weren’t supposed to be in, looking as ungraceful as possible as the water had ruined the makeup we put so much care into as our dumb laugher drowned out the complaining of one of the hotel staff, dressed smartly in his uniform standing beside the pool.

"Ladies, you need to get out of that pool now.” he said, sternly. Me and June tried to compose ourselves. Dealing with our nonsense is probably the last thing this poor guy needs right now, so we decided to bother him no further and take our leave. As we pulled ourselves out of the water, our waterlogged dresses dragged heavily around our legs. I made a token effort to wring out the water, the sounds of the water splashed against the paved floor of the courtyard. June approached the hapless receptionist and began to apologize profusely. She clearly felt bad for being caught, but since she was so giddy the apology almost seemed disingenuous. She must have worked some of her natural charm, though, as the man could only let out an exasperated sigh. “... It’s fine, just get out of here before I call security, you’re disturbing the guests.”

June nodded, and then ran back towards me, grabbing me by the arm, and we sheepishly ran back to our room. Our still soaking dresses leaving a wet trail along the court yard floor. In the corridors we tread silently, as to not disturb any of the guests and get us into any deeper trouble than we already were. As we approached our room to finally end the long night, June grinned, and leaned in towards my ear as she whispered quietly.

“Next time, we’ll bring swimsuits...”

[jaydonsjam]

Werewolf By Night XII

Werewolf By Night #22-23

Werewolf By Night #22-26 - writer: Doug Moench | penciler: Don Perlin (22-26) | inker: Vince Colletta (22-24), Don Perlin (25-26)

The Werewolf fights a disfigured actor! Steve Rand is out for vengeance on everyone who worked on the movie that caused his disfigurement. I gotta wonder if Jason Voorhees’ face was based on Rand’s (or Atlas as he calls himself) because it’s a spitting image of Jason. I checked the dates cause it was bothering me and Friday the 13th didn’t release until 1980 while this comic came out in 1974. Just to put it to bed, since you aren’t hearing my voice or tone, I’m kidding but look at that resemblance!

Anyways, I liked the story here but it does hit on the same type of themes that we’ve seen this comic cover already. Jack fights another monster and accidentally plays hero. I did enjoy the framing around Hollywood and movie sets. That made for an interesting backdrop into the motivations for the villain. Don Perlin did a great job drawing the action sequences and fights. A fun read but it’s also been a couple weeks since I last read this comic so maybe I just missed reading this series but either way, I liked this arc. Plus Buck Cowan actually had stuff to do and a real reason to be in this storyline which I loved.

Werewolf By Night #24-26

The Hangman returns! We get two antagonists in this three issue arc which ends in a three-way-fight at the end of #26. We find out a Doctor by the name of Winston Redditch has developed a serum which is meant to remove the “evil” animalistic side of humans leaving only the “good side”. The problem is that he’s a terrible scientist and doesn’t label his own beakers so he accidentally mixed it wrong and in a Jekyll and Hyde type situation he drinks the evil one! Seriously this dude is an idiot but whatever I can look past it. He then becomes DePrayve and starts wrecking havoc on Los Angeles. Now what does this have to do with Jack Russell? Well Buck wants to get the serum and see if it cures Jack of his lycanthropy. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t work. How does The Hangman come into the story? Well he tracks the carnage that DePrayve had wrought and found Redditch and Werewolf fighting. Instead he bides his time and strikes at Jack when he’s running through the city and in a callback to his previous appearance, strings Jack up by his noose. It was interesting to see The Hangman come back but he ultimately gets captured by cops. I still find the idea that he sees everything as black and white and if you stray in between at all, it means you deserve to be punished and dead. The three-way-fight was cool enough. I dug all of the action and I’m glad they took care of The Hangman pretty quickly because that was already starting to feel like a retread. The Jekyll and Hyde wannabe DePrayve plot line with the serum ended up not working so it felt like a waste. It was just another reason and monster for our Werewolf to fight. It does seem like Lissa is going to take center stage soon so I’m interested in that Werewolf plot line with her to be tied up but besides that and Moon Knight coming up, this book seems to just cycle through similar antagonists a bit too much.