#fact checking someone when they’re actually wrong about something is one thing

[worm-in-a-trenchcoat]

Everytime someone points out something racist or not quite right in this fandom there’s always that small group of people that are like “um actually I don’t believe this, you’re proof isn’t good enough” or people just telling us that we’re wrong, when we literally aren’t 💀.

First with people saying Miia Harris is too light skinned to play Clawdeen and people saying she’s not, when she literally… is? Like there’s no denying that she is. The girl is nearly white passing, idc what y’all say.

Then when Clawdeen’s Gen3 dolls dropped and lots of people pointed out that her new doll is lighter than her OG Gen1 doll, a pretty decent amount of people (who didn’t own her new dolls) were disagreeing and calling us liars. When like, we had the dolls in person and could see the difference side by side very clearly?? Even doll YouTubers were pointing it out ffs.

And now people are pointing out that the werewolves are being (not necessarily deliberately but-) whitewashed, skin tone wise and facial feature wise. If you watch any episode where they go from wolf to human you can see it, it’s right there. It may not be the most blatant thing, but it’s there. And yet, we’re still hit with the “I need more proof” like?? Watch the fucking show yourself and look at the characters with your eyeballs?? It’s right there.

I don’t get it, like what is the deal? 💀

This isn’t a call out to any specific accounts, it’s just a pattern I’ve noticed that I’m sick of.

[mo-mode]

Back on my Screenwriter soap box while watching PJO: They should have bought a bunch of oil diffusers.

(Edit: This post was made before someone pointed out to me that I missed a key line of dialogue, but my points and theories still stand for the same reasons backing up my original post so I’m not changing anything. The dialogue I missed lets us know that Hermes told Percy the lotus was being pumped into the air off-screen. It’s also implies (? I’m still on the fence about this one?) that Hermes told him what day it is, but I missed these during my first three watches because of how quick and vague it was. Which actually kind of supports my point on why visual indicators are so important. Without these, it’s easy to miss key information. And remember, it’s a kid’s show. ANYWAY my conclusions haven’t changed, and I still believe these edits would work better than the quick line of dialogue so just keep this in mind. Thanks.)

(I’m not being nit-picky. I swear. Just hear me out.) So the weirdest thing to me in episode six was how Percy just…learned everything so quickly without any visual indicators? Like they know time passed because it’s dark outside, but how did he know it was Thursday? They know they were affected by the lotus flowers, but how does he know it was pumped into the air? This irked me because even if he’s smart enough to figure some of this out himself (which he is) we as the audience should still be able to follow his thought process instead of learning after the fact.

What if there were oil diffusers?

So imagine the trio walks into the Lotus, figures out this is like the Odyssey, and decides not to eat anything. They waltz in super confident that they cracked the code, but they were wrong. How do we know? Because the moment they enter the crowd, we get an establishing shot of a lotus-branded oil diffuser letting out steam.

Immediately, we as the audience realize their mistake, making it just that more tantalizing to watch. As the episode continues, we realize they’re everywhere. There’s a diffuser in the plants, on the counter, between the game tables, always right out of the corner of our eyes. They just keep churning out lotus-scented oil into the air, which we can infer because we’re smart. (Remember that.)

Now when Percy realizes what’s going on, we know HOW they’re doing it and HOW Percy knows without being told!! Because they were there the whole time.

Onto Thursday.

Consider: A watch.

What if Hermes has the only watch in the casino until the trio walks in with their own?

Let’s give Annabeth one of those cheap, funky watches that gives the time, day, month, year, etc. Something you get from a kids toy catalogue. It’s waterproof, glows in the dark, has an alarm or whatever. I feel like Annabeth would have one of those. (And honestly, she might already. I forgot.) The most important feature for us, though, is the day. It clearly tells us the day of the week.

It’s pretty easy to establish that Annabeth has the watch. Just do it the same way they establish the date: Percabeth arguing over it in the truck. Annabeth shows him the watch. Establishing shot of the watch’s face. That’s it. No bells or whistles necessary. Then when they get to the casino, Annabeth checks it one more time (without an establishing shot, she just does it casually) and they walk in.

(It’s so easy. I promise.)

While Grover is walking around alone, he tries to check the time and realizes there’s no clocks. (Which ngl is super common in casinos already, but it’s creepy nonetheless.) Yada yada, he gets sucked in by Augustus and that’s how he gets got.

Meanwhile, Percy and Annabeth keep meaning to check the time, but every time they do, someone tries to hand them an appetizer or a drink, which makes them forget OR Annabeth’s hubris keeps her from checking. (Percy: Time check? Annabeth: Its only been five minutes. We’re fine. We need to focus.)

And that brings us to Hermes. After their chat, yada yada, Annabeth “leaves” and Hermes gets all cryptic, then he makes a BIG show of checking his watch, and THAT’S when Percy realizes something’s wrong because oh no they haven’t checked the time. So he finds Annabeth, they see it’s dark outside, they check her watch, and it’s Thursday.

“But we didn’t eat anything!” Annabeth says. Percy looks at the diffusers by the entrance. It dawns on him. “They’re pumping it into the air.”

That’s how you VISUALLY SHOW US THINGS instead of Percy just figuring everything out off-camera and telling us!!!!

Now, you may be thinking “Oh but do they have the budget for that??” Do you know how cheap these props are? Just bulk buy like six oil diffusers, slap a homemade sticker of a lotus flower on them, and keep moving them into every shot. And they’re quiet!! They wouldn’t interfere with the sound, the steam is visible enough to be caught on camera without messing with the lighting, they actually look really cool in some lighting, and they fit the atmosphere of a hotel/casino!! Then the watch is like $15, fits with Annabeth’s character, and totally matches her outfit.

It’s CHEAP! It’s EASY! It DOESN’T CUT INTO THE RUN TIME! It’s AESTHETICALLY PLEASING! ANNABETH GETS A SICK WATCH!! NO DOWNSIDES!!!!

The biggest problem with this show isn’t how accurate it is to the book or how much money they have or that they’re “Disney-fying” it. The problem is they are TELLING US things instead of SHOWING us. And not to beat a dead horse because everyone’s heard of “Show Don’t Tell” but like??? This is exactly why everyone is taught this over and over again in school?? Because people still do it anyway all the time???

There’s also something else I learned (or really just picked up) when I got my B.A. in Creative Writing: Good shows are predictable.

Whether it’s a case of the audience learning what’s going to happen before it happens or them watching the show again and realizing how obvious the answer was the whole time, audiences always want to feel smart. They want to interact with the material. If you don’t give them the opportunity to pick apart the mystery themselves by setting down clues, they’ll give up on interacting with the show and lose interest. That’s why you SHOW them things. There are several moments where this show is completely unpredictable, not because it’s complex but because it doesn’t let you predict it. That doesn’t make it bad—the comedy and character development is doing a great job of carrying the show’s weight so far. But it definitely doesn’t make the show good.

It’s like Rube Goldberg machines. Or dominoes! We don’t watch those crazy 1000+ domino videos so we can watch the last one fall. We watch it to see HOW they fall. Take one domino out, and it’s unsatisfactory. It doesn’t work anymore.

But some oil diffusers and a watch??? Little clues that make the realization that more visually appealing??? THAT’S SATISFYING

Anyway, these are just two things that could have been done, but weren’t. Most of the show is stellar. I think it just needs a little bit of editing here and there. I studied this for like years, and I needed to get this off my chest. That’s it.

Rick Riordan, if you ever see this, I am available for hire :) I would love to be a script doctor please please please please

[thisrobinisred]

Spoilers for TBHK - Especially the more recent chapters

Do you ever start thinking about stuff like how Kou and Mitsuba haven't exactly realised that this is a new/wrong timeline yet. Which is odd, considering Mitsuba is supposed to be dead (and a supernatural) and that Kou is an exorcist. Surely they would notice something is up? But, they don’t. They have the faintest clue, through “dreams” or doing things that they would do routinely without thinking about it - yet it’s not the right way of doing it. For example, when Kou set the table up for only three people (him, Teru and Tiara) instead of five people.

However, one of the biggest, glaring issues about this timeline - one that surely both of them would realise,

That Mitsuba Sousuke died. He, quite literally, shouldn’t be alive. Yet, somehow, in this timeline he is. The funny thing is, that Kou hasn’t realised yet or called it out - despite the fact that in the picture perfect arc, Kou knew something was wrong, even going as far as confronting mitsuba about it. But he hasn’t even noticed anything wrong. Even when Mistuba is going on about these dreams he’s been having during chapter 115, Kou is startled as he’s obviously been experiencing the same; he just shrugs it off, telling Mitsuba they have something else to focus on at the moment.

I know that within the next few chapters, due to Teru and Akane finding them, they’ll most likely find out about the whole timeline situation and quickly connect the dots. However, this got me thinking.

Why haven’t they realised yet?

And that’s when this one thought crossed my mind:

This timeline is something that the two of them have both practically wished for at one point or another in the story.

Let’s start with mitsuba,

Not long after he’s introduced (and dies for the second time), we find out that the wish he made to Tsukasa was for someone to remember him, or to actually have a friend; which was found in the form of Kou, who decided that it didn’t matter if Mitsuba was alive for them to be friends and realised that it was the same boy who sat infront of him during their first year. Something that Mitsuba really wanted.

And then, once he became one of the seven mysteries, he desperately wanted to become, or live a life as close to being, a human. Hence his actions during the Picture Perfect Arc. It’s clear that he doesn’t quite like what’s he became, due to his new and more inhumane tendencies. Additionally, nobody will really ever understand him despite how much anyone, including Kou, tries to help him. Which leads to his want of wanting to be human again and be able to live a normal life. A life that he can spend around his friends and what’s left of his family. A life where he’s closer to the other students, as seen through his worry for the group of younger girls in the photography club which prompted him to ask Kou to check the place out with him.

To add to this, it’s clear that if Mistuba hadn’t died (like in this timeline) that he and Kou would be even closer than they were in the original timeline. This can be seen through the fact that Kou refers to him as Sousuke a few times.

Now let’s have a look at Kou,

During the red house chapters, we end up seeing quite a few of the things that Kou really wants - his desires I guess. Amongst these wants, is two specific people.

His late mother and Mistuba Sousuke. (I do know that this version of Mitsuba that he sorts of wants is really clingy and is acting like he can only rely on Kou and that he, himself, is useless etc. However that is a complete other ramble about Kou and how he feels about Mitsuba- but I think you get the point on why I mention him-)

In this new timeline, both his mother and Mitsuba, are present and alive. The exact thing that Kou had wanted.

He doesn’t even question how they’re there. No remarks, or concerns or visible confusion. He’s acting as if this is his normal every-day life.

Perhaps this is why the two of them haven’t quite realised that this isn’t where they’re supposed to be. That this isn’t their place in reality. After all, for the first time in a while, things have gone mostly their way (even without them having any hand in causing this situation) without things being too devastating.

This timeline is practically their ideal world.

A timeline they won’t be able to stay in.

A timeline only good for them.

Once again sorry if this isn’t written too well- I just kind of get thoughts about the characters and start rambling without thinking about what I’m writing- lmao

[litiyerses]

calypso having an emotion-centered character and being viewed & getting treated as the ‘evil woman’ is actually a reflection of how every woman's emotions are villainized when they’re shown vividly and are a main part of their character in popular media.

in general media and riordanverse specifically, women with emotions are always looked down upon because showing emotions is regarded as a dramatic act so when a female character shows and acts on their emotiotions they get degraded and instantly despised because of it. this is done with every single female character while male characters who show emotion are treated like saints and found worthy of self redemption. this happened with annabeth when she didn’t want to believe luke was the bad guy and wanted to try bring him back because she was manipulated by him her entire life, meanwhile luke, who did batshit crimes like causing hundreds of innocent deaths, manipulating little girls by flirting with them, admitting his crush to a 16 year-old at his ripe age of 23, is remembered as a hero and considered ‘redeemed himself’ after sacrificing himself while annabeth was called insufferable when she didn’t believe he was evil in the first place. let’s not forget piper, who’s a lesbian that was forced into a relationship with a man by a goddess and thought she was in the wrong for not feeling right with jason. during the entire relationship she was experiencing a very hard comphet and couldn’t figure herself out because of the fake memories, everybody was bashing her when she was acting confused, when she was, in fact confused. i have a longer post about this specific topic, so if you guys wanna check it out it’s right here. 

 coming back to calypso, first we need to clear out the misconceptions about her curse on percy that affected annabeth. she wasn't blind nor was personally attacking annabeth, her curse was to make someone feel like how she was feeling all time and that’s why percy and annabeth couldn’t reach out to one another while being right next to each other. annabeth’s blindness came from the titan she defeated in the sea of monsters and is actually the first curse to be put by the arai on them, so it has nothing to do with calypso. the curse was affecting annabeth because she happened to be the person percy loved and was right next to him. if percy was there alone either percy would feel alone and abandoned or the curse wouldn’t affect him at all, since there’s no person he can go back to save. and the curse itself wasn’t even a death wish type of curse she just wanted to be heard, be acknowledged and wanted free off her island. not to forget the curse wasn't harming or killing any of them yet it’s still demonized more than by literally every other thing that happened in the books. nothing luke has ever done is seen as evil as her curse just because it was by her and i’m pretty positive if something like this was shown in pjo by luke it would be glossed over and romanticized in the fandom. further proof of how a male character's actions get brushed off and forgiven easily but soon a female character does something even slightly questionable they get villainized on the spot.

she is also despised because she doesn't let everyone's favorite man get away with his misogynistic stuff. calypso doesn't treat leo any worse than he treats her. whenever she starts arguing it is a response to something leo has said or done, which in the most case she's in the right but leo gets so much slack from his past and being fandom favorite to be held accountable for the way he treats people. he's always been written as a misogynist, he never treated any women with any respect. he always had some sort of disrespect for every female character he seems have some sort of closure with like piper, hazel, calypso, the list goes on, but yet calypso is always expected to be more 'tolerable and understanding' bc of his trauma, as if every single character in the series isn't written upon a single trauma they had and have their character built on it. and he always had a problem dealing with others and their emotions and instead of expecting him to be working to change that, calypso is expected to adjust his manners.

oddly enough, she's also expected to show some gratitude towards leo for saving her, when she never asked him to do so and not for a second believed that he was actually going to come back when he said he would. is she grateful that he came back and freed her? yes. should she feel any obligations to make him feel greater because of it? NO. everything leo did for calypso was his and only his choice and nobody else's. calypso is happy that he did so, but expecting her to tolarate every single thing he does solely because of that is wrong.

[risustravelogue]

How Do I Know

Summary:

How do you know if you're in love with someone?

Featuring:

Alhaitham, friend!Kaveh, gn!Reader (they/them pronouns used)

Tone:

Crack-ish, fluff.

Note:

My second-half entry for @soleillunne's saudade milestone event! First half was written by @kazumist. I changed the capitalization, hope you don't mind >.< P.S. We love ourselves an idiot Haitham don't we lmao-

🔗 masterlist 🔗

What does it mean to fall in love?

No, scratch that.

How do you know if you’re in love with someone?

Alhaitham has been asking himself that question lately.

Believe him, he had never actually thought that much about love, and he had never fallen in love in his life. So it’s safe to say that yes, Alhaitham is pretty much an idiot when it comes to romance and the like. 

Kaveh feels hopeless for him; he knows—hell, everyone knows at this point! You could just see it in how Alhaitham looks at you. There’s just something in his eyes that says it all for him. That he had helplessly fallen head over heels for you. Don’t even get his roommate started on how he’s been acting lately.

He and Alhaitham had a rule that they’d go on an alternative schedule for grocery shopping. But when it was Alhaitham’s turn, he had you tag along! (Don’t get him wrong, Kaveh thinks you’re a lovely person. But was there really a need to bring you along? Then again, if that’s what his roommate is happy with, who is he to interfere?)

Archons, there’s also the fact that of all, or at least the majority, of the conversations that Kaveh shared with Alhaitham, he’s sure that at least 97% of them were about you.

And Kaveh knew it was going to happen again right now.

“Are flowers really a good gift for someone?” Alhaitham asks, and Kaveh almost spits out his drink.

“What?”

“I said what I said.”

“I mean, why do you ask?”

“(Name) said it’s a nice gift to receive, but I disagree with it since what if the one you gifted it to can’t take care of plants? Wouldn’t that be troublesome for them?”

There he goes again, the architect thinks.

Kaveh is surprised that, for a smart person like Alhaitham, he’s really an idiot in love.

“Hey,” Kaveh drawls, giving his glass a swirl.

“What is it?”

“Have you ever considered the possibility that you’re in love?”

Alhaitham feels paralyzed. No, that thought has never crossed his mind. Not once, not until now, when his roommate had opened the topic. But now that he has, the gears in his mind start gearing as he connects some dots. He isn’t stupid or slow (or so he says), yet... for once in his life, he isn’t quite sure if he’s right in his answer.

“I haven’t.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

How do you know if you’re in love with someone?

Alhaitham’s answer to this predicament is “Alright, Mr. Love Expert, so give me a list of things I need to check.”

“Huh?” Kaveh sputters in disbelief.

Alhaitham sighs. “Give me a checklist is what I’m saying.”

“No, no, I get that, but why ask me instead of love advice books?”

“The House of Daena doesn’t have those kinds of books,” Alhaitham says with a deadpan expression.

Kaveh grumbles. “You’re such an– ugh, fine!” The blond architect grabs a small piece of scrap paper and a pen. He starts scribbling on the paper carelessly, as if he wants it to be over already.

“Keep in mind that I’m giving you this only because it’s becoming increasingly painful to see the great Akademiya Scribe being such a dumbass,” he says, handing over the checklist to his old friend.

A small smile creeps onto Alhaitham’s lips as he reads the checklist.

1. Your heartbeat speeds up whenever they’re around. 2. You smile a lot when talking with them. 3. They are in your last thoughts before you fall asleep. 4. Their opinions weigh a lot in your mind. 5. You feel jealous whenever you see them getting physically intimate with another person. 6. You walk toward them hastily, as if impatient to interact with them. 7. You have thought about spending the rest of your life with them.

The scribe nods in approval. “Thanks. This will be really helpful.”

Kaveh’s mouth goes agape. “Are you actually being sincere with me right now?”

“Shut it.”

That night, Alhaitham puts a check mark after number three.

—

By the end of the work week, Alhaitham thinks that Kaveh is sorely mistaken.

He takes out the worn scrap of paper out of the book he’s currently reading and sighs. His handwriting litters the gaps on the paper.

1. Your heartbeat speeds up whenever they’re around. Normal heart rate. Invalid. 2. You smile a lot when talking with them. Is once every conversation a lot? 3. They are in your last thoughts before you fall asleep. ✓ 4. Their opinions weigh a lot in your mind. Nonsense. Every opinion must be weighed objectively. 5. You feel jealous whenever you see them getting physically intimate with another person. This never happens. 6. You walk toward them hastily, as if impatient to interact with them. I do that, but not because I’m impatient. 7. You have thought about spending the rest of your life with them.

Leaning back into his work chair, he lifts the paper until it’s mere inches from his nose and stares hard at number seven. Kaveh’s tired words from this morning echoes in his mind.

“Alhaitham, if you checked number 7, you can consider all the others checked and confess. To. (Name). Already.”

Really? Alhaitham thinks. Spending the rest of your life with one person? Do people really make foolish promises like that?

As Kaveh’s hasty handwriting starts to swirl, he pinches the bridge of his nose.

But then… that doesn’t sound so foolish if it’s with you…

He takes a deep breath and gets up from his work chair, stuffing the list back into his book with a sigh. It’s time to meet with you in the House of Daena.

… How do I know if I’m really in love with you, (name)?

The question floats around in the silver-haired scribe’s mind as he walks into the majestic library with his headphones off, his sensitive ears searching for the sound of your voice. Once he hears your exasperated sigh, he quickly walks toward your direction and sits beside you.

“I see the formula is as tough as ever,” he says, a smirk on his face.

“It is!” you hiss, banging your forehead onto the wooden desk. “I enrolled in this course to get away from numbers, and what I got is a super complicated formula to calculate substance release for the final assignment,” you pout. You ramble on to complain, and all Alhaitham can think is how adorable you look when you’re irritated.

I wouldn’t mind hearing you complain for the rest of my life, he thinks.

You stop and turn to face him, your eyebrows frowning in disbelief. “... What did you just say?”

Alhaitham blinks. “Did I say anything?”

“You just said you wouldn’t mind…”

“… hearing you complain for the rest of my life, yes.”

Several seconds of silence hangs in the air while every gear in his head snaps into place.

“Ah. So that’s how it is,” he smiles. Before you can respond, he takes your hands into his and tugs your fingers gently.

“(Name)... it looks like I’m in love with you,” he declares, his gaze meeting yours, both the relief of realization and the flames of excitement twinkling in his eyes. You feel a blush blooming across your face.

“You idiot…” you mutter, averting your gaze away from him. “Confessing in the middle of the library, and so loud, too…”

“But Kaveh said–”

“That doesn’t mean you have to say it so loudly in here! You could’ve taken me out to a nice dinner first… or something…”

“Oh, sorry.”

He tries to pull his hands away. Try being the keyword, as you pull them back to keep them in place.

“That said, I’ll forgive you, since I love you too,” you say with a smile.

His lips then meet yours in a tender kiss, as if uttering a silent promise.

Now I know, and I won’t know any other.

© @risustravelogue 2023 • no to reposting, yes to reblogging. feel free to send an ask to suggest, chat, etc. :)

[myfairkatiecat]

I think you're misunderstanding my point a bit, the problem is not "accidentally agreeing with someone when they also disagree with you on other points". I agree that worrying about that is silly. However both my hypothetical post and the actual post, in my opinion, have the problem of presenting a false dichotomy which is indicative of bias. "We need more single mothers in media" is a point which is completely unrelated to the much stupider point of "there are TOO MANY women with jobs in media", and the fact of the matter is that being bothered by seeing women in media who have jobs is, not inherently sexist, but certainly something you would expect more from a misogynist than a non misogynist.

Similarly the original post pairs a point that many agree with - "more fandoms/media should portray close brotherly friendships" - with an unrelated (and in my opinion, very entitled) complaint about fandoms being too gay, as if it's not possible for both gay relationships and brotherly ones to both be respected and given validity without choosing one as the correct or more valid interpretation. Or as if, as the person who responded to that post was alleging, the post was trying to imply that interpreting characters as gay is inherently worse than interpreting them as brotherly. Given that that's a very bold claim, I think supporting that claim with "btw this same person has said this on the topic of gay people irl" is quite normal?

The reason context matters is not because valid points become gross and wrong when said by the wrong person, but because valid sentiments can be used to mask other, less valid sentiments. If you agree with both points, that's one thing, but if you think complaining that fandom is just too gay is indicative of homophobia, "the person who said that has also publicly stated that they don't support the LGBT community" is relevant information in that discussion. And I frankly think that "actually, my friend thinking that fandom is too gay is completely unrelated to that same friend thinking being gay irl is sinful" is a very strange claim that I struggle to believe, in the same way I would not believe it if someone said "the fact that I get mad when I see women on TV with jobs is completely unrelated to me thinking women shouldn't have jobs because then I could sleep with them more easily".

Ok so this is the post in question by @gracefulchristiangirl:

why aren't guys allowed to have strong brotherly friendships anymore without being queer headcannoned anymore. like- not all strong relationships are because of romantic or sexual desire??? some people have life-long friendships with other guys who are literally their brothers???

Reading comprehension check: “NOT ALL strong relationships are because of romantic or sexual desire.” This post is a response to the frequent sexualization of male friendship, which feeds a culture of toxic masculinity. If showing affection is consistently interpreted as inherently gay (like posting a gif of Sam and Frodo with the caption “there is NO heterosexual explanation for this” which does happen quite frequently) then straight men are going to be discouraged from being affectionate with their friends because, understandably, they don’t want people unanimously agreeing that they must therefore be a sexuality that they aren’t.

This post is about people erasing the possibility of friendship between two men when they see a certain type of behavior, usually expressions of care or love. This isn’t a response to “I think it would be cool if Merlin and Arthur were gay so I’m going to write a fic where they’re gay,” it’s a response to “look at the way Merlin is looking at Arthur in this scene with so much love in his eyes. Look at the way he holds him tenderly ad he dies. They’re literally so gay, like wdym they aren’t lovers??” One such statement owns that it is something made up by the person with the headcanon, while the other statement makes affection between two men seem inherently romantic! I used the merlin fandom as an example because I have seen that second statement made, almost word for word, and it’s sentiments like those that make me glad for posts like the one we are discussing.

The post is not about gay people. The post is about viewing close male friendships as inherently romantic or sexual in fandom spaces, which is unfortunately very common.

This post is also not about fandom spaces being “too gay,” as you said in your ask. *wags finger like an aunt* mm-mm-mm, that’s not what OP said! She didn’t say fandom spaces were too gay!

[aubreysheadspace]

Hello! This is my first time requesting something like this so I’m a little bit nervous <:3 But anyway can I request the omori faraway gang (including Mari) with a partner who is just in LOVE with snakes. Like they have several snakes at home, both big and small. She knows all these facts about snakes and how to take care of them. Just a reader who absolutely loves sneks :3

MAIN CAST WITH A READER WHO LOVES SNAKES

OMG SNAKES LOOK SO COOL but I’m absolutely terrified of them honestly . THIS REQUEST IS CUTE THOUGH??? hope u enjoy ! (Spoiler alert: they’re all a bit afraid)

this man SUNNY has definitely never seen a snake personally, i mean he has no reason to after all, he lives in a town! either way he’s probably afraid of them without even realizing it

once he visits your room full of snakes.. he doesn’t move from his place. he’s petrified. you might need to help him walk from his spot at the front of your door.

conclusion: he’s never coming over, which sucks but hey, the man’s afraid after all. sure he had a snake give him daily allowance in his HEADSPACE, but that was in his mind!

AUBREY grew up in FARAWAY TOWN, so she also had no experience with a snake. nobody owned a pet snake until you moved into town (last time i checked). she always listened to when you spoke facts about snakes.

it was weird that you knew so much, she clearly didn’t take the hint that you probably owned one. so when she came over one day… let’s just say AUBREY saw the life flash before her eyes. (exaggeration)

conclusion: she was TERRIFIED at first, but of course you let her know your snakes weren’t venomous. at one point she even held a tiny snake in her hands, until she got too frantic and tried to shake it off. she’s also not letting them around her pet BUN-BUN at all, her bunny is not food for your snakes!

BASIL is a fond of all animals just like he is with plants, but snakes and other scarier animals are just.. scary to him. they are fun to read about.. but to actually meet one in person? he’d die from a heart attack for sure.

even thought that’s the case, he loves hearing all about your snake facts! your conversations are like a deal being made. you give snake facts, and in return basil gives you plant facts. it’s a win-win on both ends. so when he finally comes over and meets all of your snakes..

conclusion: he fainted, well almost. he tried to keep it cool but flinched at every one of them that tried to move. eventually he starts calming down and sees that they’re kinda cute! just.. just don’t ask him to feed them with a dead animal or he’ll actually pass out.

while KEL moved to FARAWAY TOWN when he was just a kid, he had grown accustomed to the town and never expected to meet any strange wild animals. if he did, he would totally go, "woah look! a cool looking bear!"

KEL loves when you rant to him about the snake facts you have up your sleeves! he thinks snakes are so cool and awesome, it’s like he doesn’t even think he’s gonna meet any..! until the day you invited him over.

conclusion: give him time to process the many snakes in your room. he’s gonna think they’re so cool! he definitely the type who goes up to one of them in their glass tank and taps the glass to say, "hey little guy!"

HERO is probably a guy who would pass out the minute he sees an wild animal roaming the streets. thankfully he never had to deal with an exotic animal in his life until.. you came along!

he’s a guy who would ask questions about the things a person is interested in, and would allow them to ramble, so of course he does it with you and your wild facts about snakes! when you asked him to come over, he doesn’t mind and happily says yes! i mean, what could go wrong?

conclusion: you might’ve just given him a new fear. spiders are still his number one enemy but snakes might be in his top 20. of course he tries to like them for your sake but.. it’s hard for him when they’re constantly making noises at him like they wanna bite him..

MARI is someone who’s a fan of regular pets like a cat than exotic ones like a snake. she doesn’t judge though, because it’s MARI after all! you can talk to her about anything and she would always listen!

so of course when you talk about snakes with her, she loves all the snake facts you bring to the table. she’ll even surprise you with a snake fact the next day, she researched it in hopes you enjoyed it! even after all this, she never expected you to actually have snakes in your house until the day she came over..

conclusion: she’s very … flinchy around your snakes at first, so you might wanna help her with that. eventually she’ll grow to love your snakes and start to think they’re adorable the more she focuses on their cute face!

[lurkingshan]

Kinou nani tabeta/What Did You Eat Yesterday?

You should know that I attempted to start this write up about half a dozen times before I managed to get a single word down. Every time I tried I just ended up staring at the wall. I don’t think I’ve been this emotionally stunned by a show since I Told Sunset About You, and I don’t say that lightly!

So, is this a good show? My god, YES. What an understatement. Let me tell you, as my MDL can attest, I’ve watched nearly 300 dramas. I’m sure I’ve watched even more Western shows since I had a 30 year head start on those. And I can say confidently that I’ve never seen anything quite like this gem.

Kinou nani tabeta, or What Did You Eat Yesterday?, is a drama about two middle aged gay men living their everyday lives, making and sharing food, reckoning with their identities and expectations, and figuring out how to be together in a long term relationship. That’s it, that’s the show. If that sounds boring to you, I gotta tell you: YOU ARE WRONG.

We meet Shiro and Kenji when they’re in their mid 40s and already a couple years into living together. Over the course of the show, we learn more about their relationship - how they got together, how they differ, where they struggle, where they shine, what they are still figuring out - and we see them work through it all, together. We see them at work, with friends, with their families, out in public, and in the privacy of their own home - we get a full and complete picture of their lives. And we are invited in to experience it with them and get up close and personal with their relationship in a way that feels both cozy and thrilling.

Now, I am not going to go into detail about everything that happens in this show, or attempt to provide deep analysis about its story, its characters, or the various cultures it depicts. This show was released in 2019, the manga began its run many years before that, and there are folks on this website - like @isaksbestpillow and @bengiyo - who have been at this a hell of a long time and thus have a broader context and lived experience from which to critically examine the show and its messages as they relate to Japanese familial values, life as a queer man from an older generation, and building community while living in a culture that is actively hostile to who you are. I implore you to go read their thoughts and learn from their wisdom. But what I will do is mention a couple (3… no 4, okay 5!) things that really made it stand out to me, a lifelong romance reader, avid media consumer, and drama enjoyer (I’m going to keep plot stuff vague because I hope if you’re reading this, you will be watching very soon!):

Let me repeat: this is a drama about a middle aged couple in a long term relationship, and the ongoing growth and deepening of their relationship is the main plot. Do I have to tell you how unique that is? The romance genre is rarely interested in what happens after the couple gets together, and even in other dramas featuring a couple in a LTR, the plot is usually about something else with the relationship in the background. And I’m fairly sure this is the only show of this nature in the entire bl genre (@absolutebl please fact check me if I’m wrong). In this show, the relationship is the point. It’s a rare look at what it actually takes to learn to deal with your baggage and share your life with someone, and I found it deeply moving.

My god these actors. With all due respect to the many fine actors in the bl industry, these two are on another level. We just never get to see seasoned actors of this caliber headlining ql dramas. If I have one tiny critique of this show, it’s that I found the moments when they let us listen in on the characters’ internal monologues mostly unnecessary - every emotional beat played out in their faces and body language. There’s this one scene I can’t stop thinking about, where the main pair are fighting, and one of them says something he doesn’t mean, and you see the regret on his face instantly, followed by a quick aborted movement as if to take it back, but his partner has already turned away and doesn’t see it. Just perfection. And the acting was so good in the finale (@waitmyturtles informed me my absolute fav moment was improvised for fucks sake) that it actually laid me out for like an hour, I was just sitting there in a crying daze.

The writing is so fucking smart. What’s absolutely brilliant about this show is that it’s structured like an episodic slice of life drama, but there is a deeper long term emotional arc at play and the writers forget nothing. Just like in life, in each episode something will happen, it won’t really get fully resolved, and the characters will move on. But on this show, it always comes back around, usually when your guard is down and they can inflict maximum damage by sucker punching you right in the solar plexus. I can hardly believe how many times this show managed to sneak attack me with emotional realness (official Shan cry count: 8/12 episodes caused me to burst into tears, sometimes more than once).

This show will take you through every possible destination on the spectrum of human emotion. I was so emotional while watching this show, in every sense. Crying both happy and sad tears. Swinging wildly between giddy delight, deep sadness, low key anger, and belly laughing. Sometimes the switch happens literally one scene to the next! And yet, there is an evenness to the tone and assuredness to the filmmaking that makes it all feel smooth. You never feel jerked around by the narrative. This is a credit to the writing, acting, and editing all coming together with perfect precision. The people who made this show are masters of their crafts.

OBVIOUSLY I MUST MENTION THE FOOD. Every episode of this show features at least one instance of a character making Japanese food that looks like the best thing you’ve never gotten the chance to eat. I do not recommended watching this without feeding yourself first, because it will have you salivating. And they don’t just show you the characters making the food (even narrating the recipes for you!), they always show you the characters actually eating and enjoying it. Some real foodies were involved in this production and as someone who loves to eat and absolutely was raised to view feeding people as a love language, I loved it.

So now that you are obviously dying to watch it, you must be wondering: where can I find this show? Let me point you to this post on @kinounaniresource, where the amazing Siiri has compiled all the video files and English subs you need. If you’re not familiar with how to use these, you’ll find instructions on her blog (if you get confused come ask me, please don’t bug her about it). I know sometimes shows being a little hard to access is a big deterrent to watching them, but please trust me that this is absolutely worth your time and effort, you will not regret it.

[spidey-x-male-reader]

Pls do spot with a non-binary spider reader who not only thinks he and his abilities are cool, but teaches him how to properly use them. Pls I have so much brains of for this man I'LL TAKE EVEN THE TINIEST CRUMB JUST PLS🙏🙏

Pairing: The Spot x nonbinary!reader

Warnings: ///

A/N: God I was really trying my best with this one. I hope it's alright!

REQUESTS ARE OPEN

MASTERLIST

Being part of the spider society probably isn’t your dream job (mostly because you don’t get paid for some reason?) but it was fun most of the time. 

You hang out with people who understand you better than most people around you do, you have fun missions and get to kick ass. What’s better than that?

Of course there’s the occasional multiversal threat but you are great at dealing with that. And you would never get compromised because of anything…never…definitely…

“Oh my god he’s so cool” you mumble to yourself while swinging after the spot.

You were alone for the while, Jess having stayed back to do some damage control, but Miguel has clearly tasked you to catch the Spot and make sure he didn’t do anything dangerous. But currently you are way too focused on how cool the guy looks to think about catching him.

“Hey! Can I ask a question?” you ask while swinging next to him.

“Wha– I guess?” He seems more confused than anything. As much as you can judge from…his non-existent facial features.

“Do your powers have some kind of limit of distance or could you like…go to Italy right now if you wanted?”

“I–” he stops moving and stays standing on a rooftop. “That’s a good question actually.”

You stop standing next to him, carefully touching his shoulder. It feels pretty normal. You imagined something else.

“...aren’t you going to arrest me or something?”

“I’ll think about it when my boss starts paying me.” you shrug. “My name is (y/n) by the way.” you hold your hand out to him. Ah yes. Telling your secret identity to the guy you’re supposed to be hunting. Miguel would give you the most disapproving glare if he saw you right now. 

“The spot.” he shakes your hand. “But…I guess Jonathan if we go by first names” this was probably the weirdest interaction you had all week…or the second weirdest.

“So…tell me more about your powers. How do they work?”

“What? So you can make fun of them?”

“Fun? Are you kidding? This is like…the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. And I saw a guy that turned into a giant rhino. And that’s pretty cool. But those powers are like…” you look up to (were you guess) his face is. “...absolutely incredible. They’re beautiful.”

“Well that’s the first time someone says that…usually they tend to make fun of it or just…the way I look.”

“What’s wrong about the way you look?” you frown, looking at him. “Sure…it’s a bit weird to not have a face to look at but I think we can work with that.”

He doesn’t say something for a few seconds, just studying you silently. “Thank you” he eventually says.

You want to say something when your communicator blinks as you hear Jessica’s voice out of it. “(y/n)? Have you caught the spot?”

You look up at him for a moment. “...no. I lost him. Sorry.”

“It’s okay. Meet me at the meet up point. We’re going to have to think about a new strategy.”

“Of course. I’ll be there in a few minutes. I’ll check the territory once more.” you say before hanging up. “I do not like lying to Jess.”

“Why…did you lie?”

“I didn’t see the reason for turning you in.” you smile at him. “And…you know. Maybe I can help you if you need some more help with your powers. I mean I’m not an expert at portals and stuff but I’m good…positive affirmation.” you grin at him before stepping to the edge of the building.

“How am I…going to find you for that?” he asks, taking a step towards you again.

You turn back to him again. “Don’t worry. I’ll be the one finding you.” you grin and let yourself fall off the building backwards.

That looked cool, right?

You are hoping it looked cool.

And you’re trying to do your best to not think about the fact that you wanted to impress the new villain.

….that was okay….right?

[colonelpancakes]

Season Six Episode Five "Moonless Night" lets go! Given the fact that one of our protagonist’s is a MOONshadow elf, this title makes me worried. Like, I know it’s referring to the prophecy thing but still…

Skjsklf I love Rayla. She wants NO part of this ding dang prophecy business.

Hmm so Callum wants to know more about whatever Startouch magic item they could get for doing the quest. Interesting. I wonder if he’s still thinking about ways to defeat Aaravos? Since "from the heavens" does sound like it would have something to do with the Startouch elves, "beings from the heavens".

Stella’s little “just kiss already” look is killing me.

I love Soren checking in on Ez to see if he's okay is so sweet. I love his character development so much, going from considering killing Ezran to being a dedicated crownguard and making sure Ezran's okay.

Oh wedding?? That’s happening now?? Yay!

Surely nothing will go wrong, Ezran will have a nice relaxing break and Janai and Amaya will have a lovely stress-free wedding and nothing will go wrong and the fact that the episode after next is called "The Red Wedding" means nothi-

Ezran sidestepping actually saying Viren’s name and even Soren faltering a little bit before he says it. The impact he’s had on both their lives is so clear even in these little moments.

They’re so sweet they are going to melt my heart I love themm 🥹

Ohh... and Soren's upbeat demeanor vanishing as soon as he leaves Ezran's room because he knows Ezran needs the reassurance...

Fly caught in a spiderweb imagery how interesting…

Oughh poor Soren. And the voice acting is so good here. You can hear how much effort Soren is putting into keeping his voice steady and tough so he doesn’t give Viren any control over him again.

Rayla gives the exact same response as Sarai did in season two. The Ice Behemoth is already giving me huge Magma Titan vibes I really feel like killing it is the wrong move. And Rayla’s right, they don’t know anything about the behemoth or why its causing the storms. “Does it think? Does it feel? Does it have a family? […] Then is it the last of its kind?”.

Yeah, that’s something I was thinking about too. It’s interesting how Callum is the one so interested in this prophecy when before this point, he’s always been the most resistant to the idea of destiny, or the concept that there’s something you “have” to do and there’s no way around it. I wonder if there’s something else at play?

🥺🥺🥺 Rayla singing a lullaby???? Holding Stella like a baby???? My heart…

Viren, respectfully, please shut up.

I wonder if the reason Soren keeps coming down is because he needs to see for himself that Viren is still locked up so that it can be real for him? Like if he keeps checking on Viren that means he can see with his own eyes that he’s still there and isn’t escaping or hurting anyone, and it'd be hard to get that reassurance from a guard. It could also be that he feels some form of responsibility for Viren and doesn't feel right passing that to someone else. Idk maybe I'm totally off, but I could see that contributing.

"And that’s why I abandoned your sister on a beach."

Yes, including abandoning your daughter on a fucking beach. Viren. It’s good that you're acknowledging how much you’ve hurt Soren but please also acknowledge that you are in fact still actively fucking up in the parenting department.

Ohh. Soren… He’s finally hearing his father tell him the things he’s wanted to hear for so long, the things he’s had to figure out on his own. That the way he was treated was cruel and wrong. That he’s not lesser, or a bad person, or stupid or the things he’s been told aloud or otherwise for most of his life. That is father sees who he is and is proud of the man he’s become. But the last time he was down here with Viren, Viren told him that all of the awful things were in his head, that he was imagining them. That he was too stupid to understand Viren’s instructions and of COURSE his dad had never done anything wrong. He was literally gaslit and it has (understandably and rightly) absolutely destroyed his ability to ever trust Viren again. How could he when Viren lied to and manipulated him for his whole life? It’s too good to be true, so it must be a trick.

And then Soren getting angry, reaffirming that he knows who Viren is and what has happened and that it was real out loud so that Viren can’t gaslight him again, can’t convince him that nothing was wrong in the first place, can’t manipulate his point of view or taint the happiness that he’s finally found in the palace with Ez and Callum and Corvus and Opelli.

Oh, Soren…

On a much happier note, Stella holding Sneezles!!!!!!!!!!

sjaklffsjdkaljfd I love them so much. Callum, what are you doing?

Also, I noticed while screenshotting that Stella is still holding Sneezles and I just think that’s so cute.

Ooh interesting. I wonder what determines the prerequisites for a spell being cast. Like, what characteristics distinguish spells that need a physical element or a magic object from spells that can just be cast aloud with runes?

Yeah, I still don’t think that killing the behemoth is a good idea in the first place. This magma titan part two. Hopefully with a different ending this time.

Ohhhhhh I am imagining wet socks in that kind of weather and that sounds hellish. Hopefully the Celestial Elves have some spidersilk socks they can lend them.

Aww, Callum sheltering Rayla from the storm with his arms.

The behemoth’s heart even glows in the same way the magma titan’s did! Actually, how do we know this isn’t just an ice titan? Maybe titans aren't all humanoids, I mean we've only seen one type so far.

Okay I'm less than halfway through the episode and I've run out of images. Dang. Continued in reblogs

[thestobingirlie]

I think both Steve and Robin initially *do* have a lil’ bit of ick RE each other being nude/seeing each other as sexual beings - BUT I also think that that is something they’d overcome fairly quickly.

(Robin moreso, actually. Once it really hits her that she can trust Steve, I think her view is very much “you’ve seen plenty of girls naked” and that can useful. Steve is more hesitant *because* he doesn’t want Robin to feel uncomfortable)

They’re best friends! Steve would absolutely want to consult Robin on certain things because she’s so smart (and this, along with the fact she figured her shit out before him, also means he tends to assume that she knows more/everything about lgbt-stuff). Robin would definitely want Steve’s opinion because he’s better at people than her and has more real world experience RE romance.

Also, RE the notebooks; Robin *absolutely* leaves Vickie/her girlfriend instructions on how to look after Steve when she has to go out of town. E.g. he needs to hear he’s objectively beautiful at least once a day. If you can ask him for help with chores or something so he feels useful.

oh yeah, there’s not 100 percent comfort immediately, they’re awkward teens lmao. but i think they find their way there fairly quickly, if only because i imagine they’re pretty honest with each other, and that brings about weird sexual questions haha.

i see it both ways tbh, like steve not wanting to make robin feel uncomfortable, but also robin hasn’t really had any experience with the opposite sex, so i could also see her being a bit more uncomfortable. i guess it just depends.

anyway, yeah, our girl robin is a bit of a hypochondriac. she’s had steve check out moles and weird spots, and a lump on her boob once (steve’s been around more!! surely he should know if something’s wrong lmao!). and who else better to ask awkward sex questions to than your best friend!

robin tells both vickie and steve that they need to check up on the other so they don’t get lonely lmao. it works the first few times, but eventually they figure out she’s putting them both on babysitting duty. but she just worries!!! she likes to know someone’s with them in case of an emergency.

but yeah, she’s got that day to day check up list prepped and ready baby. “he likes to feel useful. he doesn’t like cooking for one, so have dinner together at least a few times. he likes it when you notice if he’s done something new with his hair etc”

[cal-daisies-and-briars]

🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟

210 for 🧟

---

Chimney watches them as they head out. He watches Eddie say goodbye to his son. 

“You be good for Maddie, okay?” He says  to the little boy, voice wavering like he’s trying to hold back tears. “What she says goes, alright? Same for all the other adults here.”

“Okay, Dad,” Christopher sniffs. His face is red and puffy. He has been crying. 

“I’ll be back soon, kiddo,” Eddie says, hugging him. “I promise you.”

Christopher tucks his head into Eddie’s shoulder. 

A few feet away, Buck is hugging Maddie goodbye. They’re speaking quietly to each other. An exchange Chim can’t overhear. 

Again, Chimney feels this displaced sense of envy. This green, lonely little monster on his shoulder that he hates. What a stupid thing to feel while watching people saying goodbye to their loved ones. There must seriously be something wrong with him. 

▪️▪️▪️

After saying goodbye to Buck - and Eddie, he supposes, though that didn’t feel nearly as significant - Chim goes to check on May. The teenager is recovering well. Chim thinks she’ll be feeling well enough to be moving around again soon. Which really is a miracle. He’s never heard of someone surviving being scratched by a zombie without contracting the illness. The fact that she did just that, and survived a secondary infection? Well, May Grant has good luck. 

“How are you feeling?” He asks her. 

“Okay,” she mumbles. “I kind of have cabin fever, though.”

“As long as it’s not an actual fever,” he replies. “Can I grab you any books? Something to entertain you?"

May blushes a little. “Anything paranormal romance?”

Chim chuckles. “You got it, kid.”

“No zombies!” She adds. 

“Yeah, that’s fair.”

It’s upon looking for young adult paranormal romance novels that Chimney runs into Maddie. She’s a couple of rows over, in the kid’s section, talking to Christopher.

“Can I play with Denny and Harry for a while please?” Christopher asks. The kid had clearly taken his father’s instructions seriously.

“Of course, sweetie,” Maddie tells him. “Just don’t go outside without an adult.”

“Thank you, Maddie!”

Chris leaves to join the other boys, and Maddie turns, pausing when she sees him. She looks at the stack of books in his hand. 

“Are those teenage vampires?” She asks, smirking. 

“Um, I think one is a demon hunter,” Chim protests. “And they’re for May! She’s bored, but still feeling crummy.”

Her smile softens. “You’re a good doctor.”

“I’m a paramedic,” he shrugs. 

“Well, there’s no med schools or boards anymore,” she reminds him. 

“That’s true,” he mumbles, a little awkwardly. 

Maddie makes Chim feel a little awkward, in general. Not in a bad way. Not through any fault or lack of social grace. It’s just… Well, how to put it? She’s beautiful. That’s the first thing. Even sunburnt, with broken ribs, and looking like she’s been on the road for months upon months, she’s absolutely beautiful. And not just, like, in a superficial way. Though there is that. She’s also just sort of got a presence about her. A warmth. Something that draws Chim in. It’s been under three days, but he can’t help but find himself wanting to be near her whenever she’s around. 

This is slightly problematic, he knows. For one thing, he doesn’t know anything about Maddie beyond what Buck has said about her. And that she’s sort of badass, to have made it here for Pennsylvania, just on the hope her kid brother was still alive. For another thing, Maddie is the first age-appropriate presumably heterosexual woman he’s encountered in months. He might very well just be feeling pent up. That doesn’t mean she’s as charming and wonderful as his brain is currently telling him she is. There’s also the slight problem of Buck being his friend. But that seems very much less pressing than it probably should, when Maddie is standing here smiling at him with very glittery eyes. 

Jesus, what’s wrong with him?

“Can I ask you something?” Maddie says. 

Chim nods. “Anything.”

God, see? It’s stuff like that. He could be a bit less eager, really. What if she asks for something ridiculously unpleasant?

“What can I do to help around here? Beyond Chris, no one has put me to work.”

Oh, so ridiculously pleasant and decent, then. Cool. Not helpful, Maddie. 

“You have a broken rib,” Chim points out. “No one expects you to do manual labor. We’re also not making May work.”

“Well, there’s no reason I can’t do something,” she says. “Like those security camera shifts? Or, Evan showed me his fishing stuff. Maybe I can do that while he’s gone.”

“Lifting fishing nets with a broken rib? Carrying buckets of fish up and down stairs?” Chim challenges.

“Evan says he does it with a kid!” Maddie laughs. “Come on, throw me a bone here.”

Chim smiles. Her laugh is beautiful. 

“Okay, okay,” he relents. “I’ll talk to Bobby about adding you to the cam rotation. As for fishing, I got stuck with it while your brother is away. So maybe you can help me out tomorrow morning? Within reason.”

Maddie smirks. “Okay. I will help you fish within reason.”

“I appreciate it, anyway,” Chim says. “I do not share your brother’s fondness for the ocean.”

“It was a bit different when I lived near it in Boston, so I can’t say yet,” Maddie replies. 

“Boston?” Chim asks.

“Where I went to nursing school,” Maddie fills in.

“Very cool.” Chim nods. “I always wanted to go to Fenway Park. Although now I guess… That’s not gonna happen.”

The fact that Chim will never see another new baseball game again doesn’t sit well with him. It’s lots of morose rewatches of Field of Dreams and A League of their Own for him from now on. 

“It’s a nice city,” Maddie says, but doesn’t elaborate. Something shifts in her tone slightly. Chim suspects Boston is not a topic she wants to linger on. 

“Well, hey…” Chim says. “I’m out in the gardens for the rest of the day, but I usually try to watch some movies in the evening after dinner. The library has a decent collection. If you want to join, you can even pick the film.”

“Oh, quite an honor,” Maddie says.

“It is! I don’t hand it out to just anyone. That’s how your brother ends up over-playing anything with Owen Wilson.” 

Maddie chuckles. “Well, I’d love to do that. I haven’t watched a movie in a very long time.”

“We don’t have popcorn or soda,” Chim admits. “But we do have veggies and clean water.”

“Perfect,” she grins. “I promise to pick something with neither Wilson brother.”

“Oh, well, hey. I won’t say no to Legally Blonde.” 

“Well, then good. I look forward to it,” Maddie tells him.

And to Chim’s delight, so does he. There’s not a lot to look forward to at the end of the world. Maybe Maddie being here will change that. 

▪️▪️▪️

Maddie does end up choosing Legally Blonde. 

“Well, you mentioned it!” She defends her choice. “Plus, lighthearted feels good, right now. And it’s not entirely inappropriate if Chris wakes up and needs me.”

Chim can’t argue with that. 

“Legally Blonde is perfect,” he concedes. 

They have a fun evening. It’s not that Chim hasn’t had fun evenings since the end of the world. He has. Lots of board game nights, movie nights, and card games with the gang here. They’ve found lots of ways to entertain themselves. Though he regrets the time he challenged Buck to a headstand competition. 

It’s not that his life has been filled with boredom at all. Lots of days, they work too hard to be bored. He finishes his days by falling into a dark, dreamless sleep. He isn’t lacking anything specifically. 

But still, having Maddie sitting in a chair next to him, watching a classic rom com, Chim feels like he’s gained something he was missing. He doesn’t know how to explain it. He just really hopes Maddie is here to stay. 

September 7th, 2018

Christopher, Denny, and Harry all join Maddie and Chim for morning fishing. It feels a bit more like they’re running  a summer camp than doing important food-collecting. Chim is used to Denny following Buck around like a puppy. It does make it slightly harder to focus on the task at hand. But Denny is helpful, and explains all the rules to Chris and Harry that Buck has given to him. With the air of authority that can only come from a child wanting to show they know more than his friends. 

Chim knows Denny usually helps Buck with the fishing nets, but this morning he is more interested in entertaining. The kids mostly play on the beach while Maddie and Chim do all the work. Which is good. He likes watching them get to be kids. Chim always felt that he had to grow up rather suddenly, after his father left and his mother got sick. It makes him happy to see kids being kids, despite the literal end of the world as they knew it. 

“So, I got added to light kitchen duty,” Maddie says as she wades in the water a few feet from Chim while he pulls up nets. “Which I feel like is still too easy. But I appreciate you all letting me help.”

Chim laughs. “Okay, you say that now. But wait until we start building the fence. Then you’ll wish you were on kitchen duty.”

“Fair point,” Maddie concedes. “When will that be?”

“We’re still collecting supplies,” Chim says. “Though this week has thrown us off.”

“Right,” Maddie replies.

“But I guess I’m making assumptions,” Chim says. 

“What assumptions?” She asks. 

“Well… I guess,” Chim sighs. “I mean, I don’t know what your plans are. Like if you mean to stay.”

“Oh,” Maddie says. “Well, yeah. I guess I haven’t given it a ton of thought.”

“That’s totally fair,” Chim says. “You had a long way just to get here.”

“I don’t want to leave my brother,” Maddie says. “Not after everything it took to find him.”

Neither of them says it, but Chim knows they’re both thinking it, anyway. She may not want to leave him, but he left her. Albeit temporarily. She will have a different decision to make if he doesn’t come back.

[the-bjd-community-confess]

Since there’s been a lot of yume related confessions, I want to give my whatever cents as something of an ex yume. I think that the community is misunderstood to a degree. However I think the view that most are nuts and unreasonable is also not unfounded at all, and that’s mostly why I don’t associate with the community anymore. It doesn’t surprise me that there’s considerable crossover with dolls - dolls are a really good way to have a 3 dimensional version of your FO (fictional other) and I actually got into this hobby through yume stuff! As for why I left? Well.

From the outside or to a newcomer the yume community is very welcoming and they make a huge deal about being ‘just like everyone else’ ’just normal people’. They will insist the stereotypes are not true (fighting over fictional characters, hating people over tiny things, ending friendships over head canon differences). The problem is this only rings true if you’re also a yume or until you ship their FO with another character. I’ve met people I was convinced were the nicest people to ever exist until they found out I shipped their FO with an existing character. You can truly only maintain decent friendships in that community if all your FOs are unrelated and there’s no clash, and I am saying this from years of experience in the community. If you are lucky you can find a group of people with the same FO who assure you ‘sharing’ is ok and just want to bond over a shared love of the character but you are one wrong headcanon away from ending up on their bad side, and you HAVE to be ok with the fact that at least one (often most) will appoint themselves as THE fan of that character and act like their word is law and matters more than anyone else’s, they WILL secretly judge anyone they don’t thing is as obsessed (rich) as them (usually cos they don’t buy as much merch) no matter how much they pretend they don’t (again, I know this from YEARS of being in the community) if so the stress of wondering if the person they’re subtweeting about today is you just isn’t worth it.

I admit I still check in on yume accounts on twitter for content purposes (to make a long story short I like the concept and dislike the community) so I saw yume people tearing the recent confessions apart and it reminded me why I left, it really showed me again how unselfaware they are about their own actions. One of them I recognize as a person who is extremely over protective of their FO, constantly making angry posts about how people with the wrong opinions on him should die, insulting or back hand complimenting shippers of the main ship for their FO, but they’re still insisting they’re a normal and rational person being subjected to unfair assumptions from outsiders and the confessor is the bully. Got RTs about how positive and wholesome the community is. They even accused the confessors of aphobia?! Well, this confession is coming from inside the house (as well as from an ace person confused what the hell being yume has to do with it given that the entire spectrum of sexuality is well represented in this community) although it’s a house I’m leaving because of people like you. I still sympathise with the reasons someone would be yume, including wanting a doll of their FO. It can be a very comforting thing for people. Lord knows just holding my dolls hand has gotten me through some tough days. But I regret getting involved in the actual yume community and all its rotten malice disguised as toxic uwu positivity so much. I don’t judge anybody for seeking comfort in imagining a relationship with a fictional character, that’s not the red flag for me.

The red flag is being active in the yume community itself, which I will never not associate with bullying, classism, crab bucket mentality and a persecution complex to exclude and belittle ‘outsiders’ by design. And when you add the doll community to that mix, it’s like the worst of both mixed together. I expect the usual suspects will have something to say about this confession over on twitter and elsewhere but I’ve heard it all before. I expect you to blame me for my experience and insist it’s a really positive space, because I know exactly what you guys are like and how much you love victim blaming. I know most of you won’t but if at least one of you would stop for a moment and think why people like me are saying things like this, maybe you can fix your attitudes and your community won’t stink as awful as it does.

~Anonymous

[neolxzr]

you do see my point though, I was saying that yes a piece of media can have a character imply they are queer, but it’s frustrating when they won’t explicitly confirm such, because of (in the case of… checks app store purchase statistics…. A multi million dollar game franchise!) the need to market to as many people as possible. Shumika will never be “canon” because some people just don’t like shumika and won’t spend money on the game if shu and mika are in a relationship, whether or not that’s because they like the ship or the characters or are genuinely homophobic or whatnot. If the writing team cared about telling a love story, they would tell a love story, not go “well maybe they’re in love, it’s up to viewer interpretation!” like this works, sometimes it adds to the meaning of the work, but enstars really doesn’t have an excuse for their constant “this character might have feelings for this other character, but we’ll never have them say it out loud!” except the fact it makes them a lot of money, since they can market to people who like a character being the way they want that character to be, whether that’s with that character being in love with another in game character or self-shipping or whatever else. Outside of shipping, this is why some characters like Shinobu haven’t changed despite wanting to change (he continuously talks about how he wants to be more mature and taken seriously but his cards continue to make him look small and cute because his fans like that about him and god forbid we change anything!) I just think enstars should not be your first thought when someone asks you about a good piece of queer media because they’re doing just about the same job as large cast games with characters of the same gender (minus Arashi) who continue to have characters go “we’ll do all these things to imply we could be in love, but we’ll never have our characters actually date! teehee!”

i can understand being frustrated about your ships not being "confirmed", but the obsession with what is "canon" and "not canon" is just straight up not a very interesting discussion to have. what happyele's or the writers' agenda is is not of particular importance to me. one of the first things they teach you in classes about media analysis is that once a work is out there, the intentions of the creator no longer matter. the only thing that matters in your analysis is your own thoughts and the way you interpret a text.

if we were having a conversation about how much the creator of something sucks, then sure, talk about that all you want, but i am specifically referring to discussions about the piece of media and these characters and their relationships and their growth and the themes of the work etc. those things are removed from whether or not the company writes the way they do because of profit motives or whatever. companies make money, that's just what to expect. if you want art that is free of profit motives, read something by an independent creator.

even so, it feels strange to place enstars into the bucket of "stuff that should be gayer but the bad company that makes it wont let it be" because the characters ARE so very openly queer. there are so many instances in it where characters pour their heart out to each other or offer themselves to another character in beautiful and poetic ways, and i think it's wrong to claim it doesn't count because they didn't confirm their relationship status at the end of it. if you ask me, there is absolutely no way to interpret enstars in a way completely free of queerness. there is so much explicitly queer text that ignoring it is just plain incorrect. but, if homophobic people like this game and choose to look the other way at all of the gay shit, again, that is not my problem.

why is canonization the only thing that matters? is a shitty BL with awful writing better and more worthwhile than enstars as a queer narrative because the characters had explicit gay sex on screen? are poorly written gay characters in the background of other media with nothing going on more worth talking about than shumika or wataei or rinniki or whoever else just because they say the words 'i'm gay' out loud?

queerness is so much more than all of that. it is so much more than labels and it is so much more than relationships that are easy to understand. it is so much more than the extremely narrow view of it that the internet has concocted about it over the last few years, where you’re only allowed to talk about queerness if you yourself are openly queer and out of the closet, and even then you’re only allowed to make art that makes for “good representation.” that is just so incredibly limiting. i would rather tons of companies who are trying to profit off fujoshis make vaguely gay media with unconfirmed romances and relationships that aren't easily defined by labels than have less queer art in the world.

more queer art means more queer people who will find something to really connect to. more queer art means telling more queer stories. why should who is allowed to write lgbtq media be limited? why should the kind of media people are allowed to make be limited?

its fine to criticize happyelements if youre unsatisfied with the way they do things, im not always 100% in love with everything they do either. i wouldn't even consider enstars to be the worlds' best example of a queer piece of media. but no one is forcing you to like or engage with it or give the company money if you're unhappy with how they write and market their game. they don't owe anyone explicit confirmation that any of their characters are dating, and it doesn't even matter if they do provide that confirmation or not.

regardless of who made it or for what reason, queer stories are worth talking about, "canon" or not.

[girl-named-matty]

Random Ominis Gaunt headcanons

Random Ominis Gaunt headcanons by me!

Aight I’ve been waiting a little while for this cutie. 

Probably got his wand at a younger age than most wizards/witches so that he’d be able to learn how to navigate around easier. 

Mom friend 

Sleeps anywhere, especially in the day because it’s always dark for him so it doesn’t need to be night for him to be super tired. 

He has more siblings than people think he’d have (this is actually canon). I’d say he has at least four siblings. Two older brothers, an older sister, and a younger sister. 

His family was actually concerned for a bit when he was born blind. After all the Gaunts strive for perfection and having a child with a disability wasn’t exactly the most ideal situation. They tried everything they could to give him proper eyesight but nothing worked. 

This did cause a bit of an initial rift between him and his family that was only exacerbated by the fact that he didn’t agree with them using the dark arts. 

Because he’s blind, he has really good hearing. He has a pretty decent sense of smell but his hearing is one of his strongest senses. 

It's part of the reason why he knows everything going on at Hogwarts. He’s always lurking around and sometimes even pretending to be asleep but because he’s already falling asleep in random places nobody questions it. But he hears everything, so he knows all the gossip. 

His ego is pretty big, but unlike Sebastian, he doesn’t let it show when his ego has been hurt. 

He’s not very competitive unless it's against certain people. But other than that, he could really care less if he loses at something. 

His handwriting is actually pretty nice, regardless of the fact that he’s blind. Sometimes he’ll have someone check his writing to make sure it's correct but his handwriting is gorgeous. 

The simplest of things make him happy honestly. He seems like a hard cookie all the time but he’s really sweet. 

Tiny things especially make him happy. Even though he can’t see them, if he can feel them and imagine them the best he can, it just makes him happy for some reason. 

Speaking of small things that don’t exactly make him happy, he’s not too good with children. I mean he doesn’t think there’s anything necessarily wrong with them, he just doesn’t really like them. They’re loud and chaotic, it reminds him far too much of Sebastian. 

That being said, if he did have kids he’d probably have only three max, no more than that. And if not, it definitely because he wants the bloodline to end with him. 

When it comes to relationships, it’d take him a while to really fall in love with someone. But when he does fall for someone, he falls HARD. 

It's hard for him to even stop thinking about them. The thought of them refuses to leave and after a while he just lets it stay and grow until he finally admits his feelings. 

He’s not too big on PDA. I mean, why would he? He can’t even see when he’s holding his S/O’s hand so why should anybody else get to see it?? 

But in private, he LOVES physical affection. He’s constantly wanting to cuddle, hold hands, etc. It's something he enjoys after not having it for so long. 

His favorite classes are Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms. 

He hates potions, not because it's boring but because he can’t seem to get anything right. Sadly for him and any other blind student in school, most of the classes aren’t very tailored to those who are visually impaired. 

He does like Care of Magical Creatures though just because every beast has a different texture and it helps him visualize it a lot better. 

And if he could get into muggle studies without his family scolding him, he would. (He did find a way to get into the muggle music classroom and he enjoyed it a lot) 

Maybe a tad bit stereotypical but I think his patronus would probably be a snake. Now I look past what his family is like and I’d say he’d find a lot of friendships with snakes since he can talk to them. 

But if you want to go in a less stereotypical route, it could be a Mongoose, who are famously known for killing snakes. (LOL) 

As for his Boggart, honestly I feel like it would be losing his hearing. Being deaf and blind would make life so much harder for him, not to mention magic probably couldn’t fix it just like his eyes. It would definitely be tragic if it ever became true and not just a fear. 

When he met Sebastian in their first year and Seb introduced himself, Ominis was a bit hesitant. After all, he had no friends up until this time. Ironically the Gaunts decided to live around muggles and of course they would forbid him from ever going out and playing with the muggle children so Ominis was often just locked up inside his room most of his childhood up until school.

But after he and Sebastian hit it off and he got introduced to Anne, his life got a lot better. He actually had some joy in his life. 

He definitely stood up to his family a whole lot more and started to outwardly and vocally defy blood purity now that he had friends who were giving him support. 

And after school he left, taking all his things and leaving. I doubt he would ever come in contact with them again and if he did, he wasn’t gonna let them pull him back into their blood purist cult. 

As for his job life after school, I feel like he could work well in the office side of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, mostly paperwork since he wouldn’t qualify for being out there fighting (as good as he at dueling, I doubt the ministry would allow him) 

And if not that, another subdivision in the Magical Law Enforcement that I feel like would do good in is the Improper Use of Magic office which is kind of ironic when you know who his best friend is. But I think this would stem from his family misusing magic all these years that he would want to help put a stop to it.  Ahhh, I love him so much. Lmk if you want a part two. (and requests are open!)

[phoenixinthefiles]

The first official entry of my Talia and Bruce “Healthy” Divorce au (otherwise known as “HEALTHY”)

inspired by this post I made

Damian Wayne sighed, sliding down the wall and resigning himself to a long wait. It had been at least an hour since his parents disappeared behind the door beside him and only five minutes after they’d entered the yelling started. 

He used to cry when they argued; lock himself up in his room, flop onto his bed and sob into his pillow until his father came up to check on him. Tears running down his face, while he was scolded for locking his door and not telling anyone he was in his room.

But that was years ago, Damian was still a little kid then; he’s used to the arguing now, especially after the divorce.

It wasn’t a surprise when it happened but it still took Damian’s breath away, he hadn’t known exactly what it meant. Jason had explained it to him, jaw tense and teal eyes clouded with emotion. 

“They won’t be together anymore you already know that, but it’s a little more than that. You know when we watched Harry Potter and Snape took an unbreakable vow? Well marriage is like that, you say these really powerful unbreakable vows. But when someone breaks the vow or can’t keep it anymore they get a divorce, it’s like a really powerful thing and it tears the connection of the vows and unlinks the two people who took them. As you can imagine that hurts a lot, it’s more than just not being together.

Damian still remembers the way he could hear Jason’s voice trembling on the last part . And how through tear-filled, blurry eyes, he could see the hurt on his brother’s face. He didn’t like to think about that memory during the day, but it was always waiting for him when he closed his eyes at night-so he had no choice. 

His parents always said they wanted the best for him, and that they still loved him even though their love for each other had stopped. But they also used to tell him that he was a product of their love. Damian knows Math, Jason had been teaching him about school since before he could talk.

If the number decides it doesn’t want to be in the same problem as a different number one, then one plus one could no longer equal two. So, if two people decide they don’t want to be with each other anymore,  what happens to their number 2? Jason told Damian that Math had practical daily uses, but it must be impractical too because it works really well on divorce. 

He’s interrupted from his thoughts by the sound of creaks from the floor. He looks over and sees Jason walking towards him looking thoroughly unimpressed with his eavesdropping.

“I don’t know why you’re listening in on them, just gonna be hearing the same old crap you usually hear.” Damian looks up at his brother and takes in his downturned brow, tense jaw, and frowned lips that always make an appearance when dealing with the topic of their parents. His parents thought he took the divorce the hardest, they couldn’t be anymore wrong. 

“I wasn’t listening,” Jason scoffs, “I wasn’t, not at first, but it’s different this time.” It was different; they weren’t as loud, there more spaces of silence, and from the occasional ruffling he heard, they were actually sitting. 

“Yeah right, don’t get your hopes up they’re not gonna magically love each other again.”

“I know that,” Damian retorts. He doesn’t bring up the fact when his parents first had the big conversation they made it clear they still loved each other. Even he wasn’t naive enough to believe that.

Jason is about to make another smart comment when the door handle to the study jiggles. Damian scrambles to his feet and he and Jason face the door, whoever was coming out must have stopped to say something. 

Damian doesn’t realize his hand until he feels Jason grab it and rub his knuckles. 

“Relax, D.” Damian nods aware of how dramatic he’s being, it’s not like they’re waiting on a jury’s decision. But it feels like they are because no matter what Jason says, Damian isn’t the only one still holding out hope.

The door opens and Damian’s mouth goes dry. His father walks through the door and shifts slightly when he looks at Jason and Damian, not surprised to see them but nervous? 

Damian feels Jason’s hand tighten on his when his father opens and closes his mouth. He doesn’t know why there’s so much build-up, they’ve been in this situation countless times since the divorce and the outcome is always the same. 

His father shifts again, this is the part where he follows the “how to talk to your kids during divorce” book, script.

“Your mother’s pregnant; we’re having a baby in six months.” 

That is not a part of the script. 

TADAAAA✨✨✨✨

@vvkan