#i'm trying to figure out the semantics

[sarah-yyy]

for ~reasons that i am sure y'all cannot guess at all 🌝, comment with your favourite c-actor gege

[todd-machine]

SUMMER ROSE NATION WE FUCKING WON

[gayofthefae]

Okay but birthdaygate coming to light in a similar way to the journals in the upside down with the guns being gone and everything. Just something simple.

Someone saying he’s 14 and Will just sadly correcting them: “I’m 15.” 

[ellecdc]

Okok can i overstay your house party by asking for one more???

♧ here for the drinks:

I actually dreamt about this, it was so funny

so basically one of the black brothers is injured and the shy and soft reader is trying to help but she faints when she sees blood😭😭 so then the poor injured guy has to help her and be like bitch no it's my turn to pass out

but also kinda hot coz he's assertive and telling her stay tf awake

i've always loved your comedic fics

it's a weird one but I hope u like it, if not that's okay!!! love u and congratulations once again🩷🩷🩷

-🩷

pink heart emoji, I am almost upset with you that you sent such a funny and cute request as a head canon blurb!!! this would make such a cute fic!! but, since I'm working slowly on fics rn and idk when I'd get to it, here's your head canons <3 also, I'm going with Regulus for this simply because I think it'd be funny to see him be soft/stern

you walk into (what was supposed to be) an empty herbology classroom to find Regulus crumpled over a desk

you make a startled sound, causing him to look over at you though he doesn't straighten up his posture

"Oh, erm, I- I'm sorry...I can...come back later if you're using the room?" he shakes his head quickly at you and looks back down at his lap

"No..you're fine just...mind the cabbages" he says, voice taught as you spot the Chinese Chomping Cabbages rolling their ways back towards their bed of soil

"Are you alright?" you ask cautiously, deigning to head towards him, he makes a grimacing sound

"they got me...the cabbage, that is, I'll be fine but I should probably get to the healer"

when you finally make it to Regulus' workbench, you see why he needs to go to a healer. "oh...oh! oh, uhm, huh, uhm, okay." you sputter, swallowing around your gag reflex and trying to stay upright, leaning your weight heavily on the workbench as your vision starts to blur

"Do you mind passing me my scarf?" he asks, motioning to it with his head as he applies pressure to the wound with the hand of his uninjured arm

you do mind, but you can't very well say that, so you do as asked and hand it to him not without your arm violently shaking

"you alright?" he asks you slowly, making a surprised sound when you sway slightly on your feet "Merlin, y/n, what's your problem?"

you try to mumble something to the effect of "shit I'm sorry" but you're not sure how effective you were when it feels like your mouth is filling with cotton

"oh for Salazar's sake" Regulus mutters, quickly tying his scarf around his arm tightly twice before reaching for his wand and vanishing the blood as best he can, though his white uniform shirt is a lost cause

"okay, we're both going to the infirmary, but you have to stay awake y/n, can you do that?", you think you say yes, but he asks you again. "can you stay awake for me?"

you nod your head because yes you would do that for him, but it was a mistake as you nearly land on your knees, only upright thanks to Regulus' good arm circling around your waist

"Nope. none of that. hey-" he heaves you up further so he can support your weight "no fainting, if anyone's going to faint, it should be me, yeah? come on, stay awake for me"

and for the love of all the gods you do your damned best, keeping your eyes shut and pretending you can't smell the blood on Regulus' person until you make it to the infirmary where he sets you gingerly against a bed, but as you open your eyes and catch sight of him again, you fall unconscious

you wake up to Regulus sitting at your bedside - a fresh jumper sans blood over him and the end of a bandage you can see near his wrist, and he's smirking at you

"why're you still here if you're all fixed up?" you grumble as you sit yourself up, and that only seems to cause his smile to grow. "it'd be terribly rude of me not to thank the person who got me to the infirmary, no?" - "you practically had to drag me here" you argue, only for him to shrug his shoulders. "semantics, anyways, I figured I better walk you to your common room too, you know, just in case"

well didn't he just about walk you everywhere in the castle from that moment forward <3

[respectthepetty]

Petty, I respect you.

I do.

However.

DONT BE QUITE ABOUT THE COLOURS IN ON1Y 1 BECAUSE I WILL READ A FULL THESIS ON IT, 20 PAGES!!!! 50 PAGES!!!!

PLEASEEEE Give

It

To

Meeeeeeeee 🥹

Anon,

You've opened a floodgate.

Because I always notice the colors, but just because I see colors doesn't mean I know why they are significant. Even if I see there is a pattern, it doesn't mean I understand its importance. And I don't think y'all should be subject to me screaming about Jiang Tian's paper bookmarks being yellow and pink in a book of (love?) poems where he has highlighted that "a girl's shyness is like a tender cherry under the sunlight" and "16- and 17-year-olds are like fruits in the morning sun, sparkling."

Sheng Wang asks who this is about, but we know who this is about. The colors mean things.

And more importantly, I actually didn't write weekly or episodic posts about shows until 2022. I used to wait until a show was over to write about the colors or background noise, and, mostly, I only did it when people would ask me about it. Big Dragon was the first show that I felt compelled to write weekly about the colors and background noise because it was so amazing, so 2024 is still an odd space for me to be in sometimes because as much as I love colors, I'm ALWAYS surprised how much y'all want to know about them . . . weekly . . . per episode . . . for all the shows.

I write for myself, but sometimes I think y'all don't need to witness me losing my shit every week for sixteen weeks over obviously color-coded characters in The Loyal Pin.

And sometimes I think y'all don't want to witness me losing my shit over colors that I can't completely understand like the grays in 4 Minutes.

And then other times I think y'all shouldn't have to witness me losing my shit over colors that I'm not sure are colors until I've watched enough episodes to feel sure that the colors are, in fact, coloring; then, the series, The Trainee, actually tells me the colors were coloring the entire time like I thought.

And that's why I try to be quiet about shows because I'm figuring them out in my head, or I'm waiting for enough information to feel confident about them, and I don't want to hog up the tag with my ramblings. I need to sit in it a bit to figure out what the colors mean.

Kiseki: Dear to Me was the perfect example. I didn't mention anything about colors until prompted by others because it took me until the third episode to feel certain that Chen Yi and Ai Di matched colors, then it took me close to the end of the series to realize all the cameo couples ALSO matched colors.

It took me until the end of My Love Mix-Up to realize Aoki's color had evolved.

It took me two seasons (and a movie) to feel secure that Kiyoi was a Heavenly Human in My Beautiful Man.

And it took me until midway through Semantic Error to figure out why the red disappeared.

That's how The On1y One is for me. I knew yellow/orange and blue would play some part in the story based on the posters, but I wasn't sure how until I started seeing more visuals appear.

Because even though I saw a yellow container of food for Sheng Wang in the first episode,

I didn't realize he mostly ate color-coded food until episode four.

It's such a tiny detail, so I could have easily missed it, but because I know that he is a picky eater, I feel like it's not simply a coincidence, and I quickly noticed it in the eighth episode.

But I needed to collect more images before I could state that. I needed to let the story develop before I realized it. I needed to settle into it. And that's why I wrote my halfway point post after a few people asked if I noticed.

Because I know I seem like a magician who shouts a lot, but I'm not. Sometimes, I have to be patient and let the colors sneak up on me while I'm simply enjoying the moment, like Sheng Wang's orange alarm clock nestled into the corner of his bed while he falls asleep on his light yellow pillow in his light yellow shirt.

I know not all visuals can be a literal bright yellow sign hanging from the color-coded boy's room, ya know?

I'm not Jenny who cannot grasp that she keeps taking food and drinks meant for Benny even when he realized if she could figure out the mug was about gay rights without realizing he was gay then someone smarter will along and piece the dots together . . .

Because like, girl, he's gay.

But it does take me time to collect images and get my thoughts in order, so until then, I'm going to be quiet.

Or as quiet as a loud ass like me can be.

[thisapplepielife]

Written for a @astrangersummer.

One Little Mistake

Week #10 Prompt: "I'm a great driver!" | Word Count: 791 | Rating: T | POV: Dustin | Characters: Dustin, Steve, Mike, Lucas | CW: Language | Tags: Steve & Dustin, Steve Teaches Dustin To Drive, And Mike, And Lucas, God Help Him

"No, no, no, stop, stop, stop!" Steve screams from the passenger seat, and Dustin slams on the brakes, sure he's about to run over a litter of puppies or plow into a field trip from the local preschool or old folks' home.

"What? Where?" Dustin asks, looking all around, as Steve clings to the dashboard of his BMW.

"A stop sign, right there!" he points, and well, Dustin for sure didn't see that. There was a bush in the way. Well, a bush near it. Behind it. 

Semantics.

It doesn't matter. There was nobody coming, so it's not like they were gonna die. They've been in way worse situations than this together. Steve's just being a little overdramatic. 

"Well, shit," Dustin says, "that'd cost me points if this was my actual test."

"It'll cost your life if you crash my car, Henderson, pay attention!" Steve scolds, and it just rolls right off Dustin's back. Nothing Steve says sticks very long. In one ear, and out the other.

"You're never gonna pass driver's ed, we may as well just get your bike serviced and call it a day," Mike says from the back, and Dustin whips around in his seat. 

Steve can pick on him. Mike can't.

"Shut up! You didn't do any better!"

"He did a little better," Lucas mumbles, and Dustin sees Steve smile out of the corner of his eyes.

"Steve! You're my friend. You're gonna take their side? I'm a great driver!"

"You are not a great driver. Only Max is worse," Steve says. 

Dustin lets out an annoyed huff of breath. "For one, false. For two, Max wasn't even old enough to drive back then. She could barely even reach the pedals. So, that's decidedly unfair and unjust, dickhead."

Steve lets out an exasperated sigh.

"Just. Get out. Lesson over for today. I've met my threshold," Steve snaps, holding his hand over the top of his head, and then gets out of the car. 

Dustin could drive off, leaving him, but figures Steve will just be pissier than ever if he does. 

Dude can't take a joke anymore. They've had one apocalypse too many. 

"Ten more minutes!" Dustin wheedles. 

"No, no, no. No more. Not today," Steve says, holding open the driver's door, waiting for Dustin to get out. 

Only after Dustin's gotten out, does he realize that he didn't put it in park, only neutral, which means the car tries to roll away into the intersection, forcing Steve to hurry up and hop in, slamming on the brakes. Mike and Lucas both screaming in the backseat, like they haven't faced literal monsters.

Steve gives him a withering stare as Dustin slumps into the passenger's seat, ready and willing to pout. It was one little mistake.

Maybe two.

Ten, at most.

They drop off Lucas and Mike, which is at least convenient, since they live next door to one another. 

And then it's just him and Steve driving him home in silence, before parking in the driveway. 

"Hey," Steve says, looking over at him, "you can do this. You're just overthinking it."

Dustin knows that's probably true. 

"Can we try again? Just you and me?"

"Sure, man," Steve says, and gets out to trade places. Dustin hadn't actually meant right now, assuming Steve was seriously done for the day, but Steve starts his spiel all over again.

And Dustin listens. Goes through the motions, the checklist, and then they ease back out onto the street. Dustin wants to learn how to drive, he just thought it'd be easier than it is. He's smart. He should be able to do this, easy.

But it's not easy. And that really pisses him off.

Steve is calmer this time around, just being the two of them is helpful for that, at least. Dustin knows Mike pushes Steve's buttons, even on the best of days. 

And today was not the best of days. 

But he eases up to the stop sign, rolling to a smooth stop this time. He doesn't mash the brakes, and they don't jerk in their seats. It's an improvement.

"That's it!" Steve says, reaching over to give him a high five. Then immediately shouts, "Both hands on the wheel!"

It makes them both laugh, erasing the tension from earlier.

Sure, he still makes mistakes, but they aren't as severe, or as stressful, one-on-one. 

This is how they should have done it from the start. Just them.

When they get back to the house, Steve adamant that he wasn't ready for after dark lessons, Dustin gets out and meets Steve around the front of the car.

He's getting older, maybe too old for this, but he quickly reaches up on his toes, hugging Steve tight, whispering, "Thanks, Steve."

If you want to write your own, or see more entries for this challenge, pop on over to @astrangersummer and follow along with the fun!

[x-other-souled-x]

No. Nope.

Using language that systems may also use in a medical setting to describe their expereinces and go through treatment is not appropriation. Full stop.

There is no culture being exploited, unless you want to argue that the medical-industrial complex is a closed culture somehow.

Which I have definitely seen posts saying something dangerously close to this, and I urge you to not base your entire sense of self on the guys making money off of you. Even if they're helping, there's intentional siphoning of money from poor patients.

Secondly, language is a tool used to communicate. Words exist as "bodies" to a concept, and sometimes this concept is interpreted a little differently from person to person. There are a lot of words that mean several different things depending on the context. The most important thing is the setting which they're used in. A good ammount of medical terms are also words that are used by laymen in other contexts, meaning something different.

A system is a group of interrelated parts working together as a whole.

An Operating System (OS) is a system of code and software that tells the hardware what to do in order to make your computer run. There's agricultural systems, government systems, the solar system itself. Are these things appropriating the medical-industrial complex by existing as parts that make one whole thing work?

And before anyone splits hairs about this, I am not equating human life to computers or the government. These are examples of things that are literally defined AS SYSTEMS. The main takeaway you should be having here is that system is a broad term with many many applications outside of the medical-industrial complex. That one institution does not own the word nor the concept of being multiple parts (headmates/alters/whatever) working together.

The concept still exists and system still is a word outside of a medical context.

In other words, people would have eventually came to the conclusion of calling themselves systems regardless of if it was used in a medical context or not. It's not hard to put 2 and 2 together, to see parallels in concepts and expereinces and decide those words work just fine. Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk.

This is a post online, made by a trauma-formed system. I'm not going to have the time and foresight to cover every little nuance, and I don't care to be pedantic and pick apart small case instances. At the end of the day, this does not actually matter to how I live my life, how I get therapy, how we as a system have to work together. Endos using terms that are also used in a medical setting (but also used outside of medical settings) is not harmful to me in any way. And quite frankly, I think anti-endo witchunting has done more damage to us as a system trying to figure out how to navigate life than any endo friendly post has. I'm not arguing semantics, I'm going to go live my life and go outside and do my job and pay my bills like everyone else.

All this discourse around stealing terms and what you can and can't call yourself is so seriously unimportant in the grand scheme of things. You all sound so comfy and privileged to be worried about something so trivial as a word or three that is used in multiple contexts accross human language.

[angelsanarchy]

One Long Weekend: - Clyde/YN One-Shot Series CH 01

"I'm not like trying to stalk you." "That's a relief.."

FRIDAY, 9PM

Clyde couldn't help but stare at her. She was like a ghost he ran into every weekend that hid behind a camera, snapping shots of the bands and crowds but never actually let herself be distracted with those around her. She was absolutely enjoying herself and the music but it was like she was in another world. He's been caught staring on more than one occasion but she never seems to want to hang around long enough to actually talk to anyone.

"Dude you've got to give it up. Either talk to the girl or move on. The whole creeping thing is starting to make the bartender nervous." Johnny clapped a hand on Clyde's shoulder startling him out of his gaze.

"What do you mean? I'm not even doing anything. The bartender just has it out for me because they lifted the ban from last time." Clyde bragged.

"Well it's still gives off serial killer vibes so chill." Clyde blew off Johnny's concern and turned back to where y/n was standing only to be disappointed she had disappeared.

Maybe Johnny was right. It was time to give up the cute ghost girl with the camera. He's been lucky she hasn't tried to kick his ass for the amount of times she's met his gaze with a concerned look. He should consider that a win.

He felt around in his pocket and walked towards the door to have a smoke, making sure to give the grumpy bartender and snarky wave before exiting. He took a drag from the cigarette and turned to walk to the smoking section when he noticed the girl.

Clyde immediately started choking embarrassingly loud causing a stir in all those who were also standing outside waiting for a ride or having a smoke. He leaned on one of the parking meters until a bottle of water was shoved into his face. He turned to see who was offering the relief, and was surprised to see she actually approached him.

"I don't think you're supposed to inhale that hard..." Clyde chugged the water to catch his breath before chuckling and gaining his composure.

"I will make a note of that." y/n nodded at him before turning away.

"Um thanks by the way. I'm Clyde." He gave a deflated wave.

"Y/n..." Clyde had finally gotten a name to put with the face.

"I guess this was kind of fate. Apparently I've been creeping everyone out by staring at you." Y/n's face froze in confusion.

"Is this the part that's not supposed to be creepy?" Y/n asks taking a step back.

"After saying it outloud, it sounds so much more creepy than I predicted. I promise I'm not some serial killer. I'm not trying to stalk you." Clyde explained himself.

"That's a relief. I was kind of hoping to try out my taser at some point but I guess I'll have to wait." Y/n wasn't afraid of him and it made Clyde smile.

"I mean I'm down to give it a shot but if I'm taking a jolt you'll have to owe me one." Y/n laughed. God she had a sexy laugh Clyde thought.

"Owe you one? Didn't I just save you from trying to suck the soul out of a cigarette?" She reminded making Clyde put his hands up in defeat.

"Semantics." Clyde smirked.

"So if you aren't trying to wear my skin as a meat suit, why do you keep gawking at me? I mean you're kind of ruining my whole blending in aesthetic." She gestured to the plain clothes she was wearing and Clyde shrugged.

"I don't know, you just have a really familiar face. I can't figure out where I've seen you before." Clyde explained.

"Well I spend most weekends photographing the bands at these clubs-" Clyde cut her off.

"No that's not it. I can't put my finger on it but when I first saw you at a show, I could have sworn I knew who you were. Now it's just kind of driving me crazy." Clyde raked his hand through his hair.

"Do you watch porn?" Y/n asked with a serious look making Clyde's eyebrows practically disappear into his hairline.

"W-ha" Clyde was speechless.

"I'm fucking with you! I promise you haven't seen me in your sweaty dreams." She gave him a shove and he felt the back of his neck warm up.

"CLYDE! We're out!" Johnny and the rest of the band stumbled out of the club, noticing the mystery girl standing in front of him.

"Oh wow you sacked up." Johnny gripped his shoulder and Clyde shook his head.

"Yeah we were just talking about her having my babies, you're kind of blowing the mood here." Clyde tried to get Johnny to give him some space but he swung his arm around Clyde's neck.

"My boy is a sweetheart in the streets and a freak in the sheets. You're in for the night of your life, just talk into his good ear!" Clyde shoved Johnny off of him laughing.

"Wow that's a helluva pitch." Y/n laughed.

"Yeah he's stupider than he looks. Did you need a ride or-" Clyde offered.

"As much as I'd love to be a statistic and get into a strangers van, I still have a lot of things to shoot before I call it a night." Clyde smiled a bit disappointed but amused by her humor.

"Ah but we aren't strangers anymore. Some might even call us best friends at this point." Clyde joked. Y/n laughed before pulling out her phone and holding her hand up.

"Hey Baby...yeah no I'm...I'm sorry I got held up...okay don't be an asshole. I'll be there soon." Clyde listened to y/n call someone baby on the phone and felt kicked in the gut.

"Clyde it's been strangely enjoyable meeting you but I've got to go. Try not to swallow anymore cigarettes or get arrested before I see you again." Y/n zipped her bag up and gave his arm a squeeze.

"No promises." Clyde called out to her as she jogged in the opposite direction. He watched her hop into a car with a guy behind the wheel and a girl in the backseat, giving him a small wave. Clyde didn't want his disappointment to show but a series of heckling from the peanut gallery leaning against his van brought him back to reality.

"You kind blew that one man." Johnny laughed.

"Did I? Or could it have been she just wasn't ready for all this?" Clyde waved his hands down his torso making the boys howl. Clyde jumped into the van and silently hoped he would see y/n again, if only just to stare at her a little longer.

[soullessjack]

Full disclosure I am not the previous anon but building off of their message: I'm saying this with all due respect. Not accusing you of abuse apologia for your opinions on a fictional character, but I honestly feel like you have a strange bar for what constitutes an abuser. I strongly disagree that abusers don't regret their actions. An abuser can 100% show regret or remorse for what they did, they can show genuine love and affection to the people they victimize and still be an abuser. Dean is obviously not a black and white villainous caricature, but very rarely in real cases are abusers black and white villainous caricatures. We tend to single out Dean when dissecting the family dynamics because his abuse was the most extreme but all of them, Sam, Dean, and Castiel, are a murder cult who groom Jack into their line of business. So I don't really see the point in the semantics game.

1. that’s a fair point! I just think there’s some distinction between being abusive and being a straight-up abuser, if not distinctive connotations for those terms. I’m also not trying to be apologetic about Dean’s behavior more so than I’m just trying to explain it and make it more understandable than a surface level viewing of him.

2. agree again! nobody is completely black and white and that’s always been a consistent theme (alongside free will and family) within the show, as well as the choice to be a better person, so it’s very confusing to me when fandom discourse is all semantical about who’s worse or who’s better. your favs are wanted by the FBI and violated the Geneva Conventions numerous times, but they still try to do the right thing where it counts.

3. actually I think dumbing down TFW’s dynamic with jack as a “murder cult who groomed him into their line of business” is playing right into the semantics game and the villainous caricature.

for one, hunting just is not a cult. please can we not turn cult into the next internet buzzword. it’s a lifestyle that almost nobody involved actively enjoys living (Gordon and the other dude from Black Rock are outliers) because it’s nothing but trauma and loss and violence constantly, but for one reason or another it’s incredibly difficult to leave, or even compromise with a somewhat normal life. even Dean views it as a death sentence, and the violence he regularly commits within it only ever added to his low self worth as he considers himself a designated “grunt.” even in the later seasons when it’s framed more casually or comedically, the violence and murder of hunting is still ultimately a bleak and begrudging necessity; grunt work for the grunts. to say it’s a “murder cult” is just wrong and, well, a little cartoonish if I’m being fr.

second, jack wasn’t ‘groomed’ into being a hunter/murderer. I swear takes like these make me question what show everyone else is watching ,I’m sorry. he’s literally a born-adult supernatural creature with a heritage and birth circumstance that’s been intertwined with the lives of all three of his chosen fathers since before they all existed and cosmically dangerous powers. there is no way he could ever be normal or have a life outside of hunting (or one that lasts, at least). and considering what we know from his first death now, he probably would’ve just died as a normal baby if Cas had removed his grace. Yes, TFW has some major dysfunctions in their parenting with Jack and it’s absolutely worth talking about, but they still make an effort to be good father figures for him, even with fathers that frankly set them up for failure in that regard. to say they’re all groomers is, to put it mildly, insane and ridiculous

[total-drama-brainrot]

Hello! About the fake dating!au, I was wondering how the episode Niagara brawls would play out if Alenoaheather was happening. Would Alejandro and heather still be paired up or would one of them be paired up with Noah?

Well, to be entirely honest, I haven't really thought too much on it yet. Mostly because it's still kind of up-in-the-air as to when Noah's elimination would take place in this AU. I think we've sort of settled on post-merge, so he would be present in the Niagara Falls challenges, but the timeline's still really vague so I personally haven't really invested any time in figuring out the semantics of how each episode would play out.

But since you asked, I might as well toss my hat into the ring! I'll just type out my thoughts as they come, so please excuse this response if it's a little all-over-the-place or formatted weirdly.

Off the bat, it's been fairly well established that the canon final four remains unchanged, so at the very least both Sierra and Cody are still present in this challenge; this is important, since in canon the only reason Heather ends up partnered with Alejandro is because Sierra is the one who rejects him as a husband first. I don't really see a reason to change the canonical play of events here, unless a brainstorming session later on down the line necessitates Noah being paired with either Heather or Alejandro for whatever reason. Mostly just because keeping as many "pre-written" plot points as possible lessens the workload on our shoulders (us, of course, being me and @perpetualexistence, and occasionally @ur-local-brown-multifandomist).

But that does leave the question of who Noah would be paired with.

And again, this would be super dependant on who's left in the competition at this point; since Noah's made it to the merge, we know someone has to have taken his place in the London elimination- just that small change could have potential consequences on all of the subsequent eliminations afterwards, so the merge cast might look almost completely different to World Tour's "official" line-up.

And this is also super dependant on whether or not it's Blaineley who wins the Aftermayhem challenge- I'm not sure if any of the others intend to swap her out for a more interesting/plot relevant contestant (which, as much as I do love Blaineley, she's just find of there with no real relevance to the story) like perhaps Lindsay, Leshawna or maybe even Beth- I assume it'd have to be a girl, since the show itself works to even out it's gender ratios, but it could hypothetically be anyone.

So Noah's partner could be... literally anyone, save for the Final Four (Alejandro, Heather, Sierra and Cody).

...Unless?

Now, don't judge me here, but I do kind of like the idea of Noah ending up with Heather as his partner. Maybe it's the vast potential of how their (entirely self-constructed, and self-indulgent) character dynamic could play out in this scenario, or maybe I just want the opportunity to write Noah trying and failing to pick up Heather, eventually leading to her being the one to carry him across the Falls tightrope like a pathetic, soggy kitten. Or maybe I'm just getting my Noaheather on- who knows?

All I'm saying is, they'd be giving a lot of Connecticut Clark and Malfina vibes and I'm so here for it.

And maybe I just want to see something new; there's so many explorations of how an Alenoah Niagara Brawls challenge would play out (and they're all wonderful, don't get me wrong!) so it's time to give some other pairings the spotlight!

Plus, this particular scenario would not only allow the contestants to see Heather and Noah acting like the "fake" couple they're supposed to be, but Alejandro could also play it as either a double-breach of his trust (since he's also supposed to be "fake" dating Noah, at least, and he has his whole romantic rivalry with Heather) or take advantage of his position and try to charm whoever he's partnered up with and either secure a valuable ally for later on down the road, or beguile his next elimination target into a false sense of security- since a huge part of Alejandro's character is his conniving flirtatiousness, and I don't want to completely negate that.

Now that I'm thinking about it, Alejandro's flirty nature could be a conflict point between himself and his partners. That's a thought for another time, though.

But, again, it's still very up-in-the-air and I don't really think I can give a definitive answer until a proper elimination order has been established- or, at the very least, the elimination order pre-merge. So, uh, sorry for the lack of a definitive answer!

[ourghoststories]

Batman 2 Theories

Hey just a PSA I figured out some stuff and basically this is just me brainstorming but The Batman has Easter eggs in almost every frame of the movie and if you enhance or edit some of the photos you can see the stuff and some characters (that's what I think anyway) just a theory.

Basically they said they're gonna keep it true to the comics and they like us solving stuff hence the moniker Detective Comics.

The logo on Elrataalada.com is a lock symbol like the riddler has been using and the rest is explained in the photos below.

Basically they're gonna introduce a bunch more bad guys, I'll write more later.

They'll be from the court of owls who are all people of wealth and influence and are high up in certain positions so they have a lot of control and killed other members of the court which is the connection to all the rats in the first movie.

Robins origin story will be incorporated and he'll be a central character in the movie.

The riddler and the joker will try to and maybe even succeed in trapping batman in an escape room like lair and try to blow him up, they've also placed bombs around the city just like the one used to blow up the seawall.

Catwoman will come back.

Also the source code on the website is not finished, it has a ¿ Which in Spanish indicates "It does not mean anything. It is void of semantic meaning: “¿” is just a question mark (signo de interrogación) that we use at the beginning of the sentence."

https://www.quora.com/What-does-mean-in-Spanish?top_ans=1477743759433903

So there will be more although we know that it's not done, I just thought that was interesting.

I feel like there's more of the code to crack and there's some sort of puzzle to solve so maybe this can help with some of the investigation and problem solving, although there might not yet be anything else.

I feel like it'll be a showdown, an infinity war/civil war esk battle between the infamous court, with many more appearances from some of the most loved heroes and villains.

There's more lore I think but I'm tired lol and haven't figured it all out, see if you can

Hope this helps

- Darcy

[ahgasegotarmy116]

Semantic Error | A Jeon Jungkook Series | Chapter 2

Based off of Semantic Error (bl) by J Soori Summary: While y/n starts to discuss her vision for the game she finds out that JK was someone she had hoped she would never have to deal with again. Giving up on her game for now she focuses on work and school but Jungkook has other plans for her this semester. Pairing: Techie inexperienced fem!reader x Artist fuck boy Jungkook Word count: 2.4k~ Warnings: Explicit language (a little bit). Idk that's pretty much it for this chapter. A/N: This is heavily based off of the original bl (boy love) and it covers chapters (episodes) 2-12. I've switched around the timeline and got rid of a few scenes here and there so they're not exactly alike but I would like to stick close to the original story so let me know what you think! P.s. If you don't mind spoilers I would highly suggest reading the original story. I read it on the app Manta with the english adaptation being done by Angy and you can also find the Kdrama on Viki :) Read from the beginning

Sitting down with JK and explaining my vision for the project is becoming increasingly annoying, he picks out the flaws in the designs that Hana drew up as well as called my whole concept boring, basically making me want to just start ground ground zero at this point.

"Are you sure you'll be able to actually be able to create what I want? In terms of functionality and the coding behind it all on your own?" he asks, questioning my abilities.

"If you give me a chance I'm sure I'll be able to create a fully functioning 2D application" I say simply, knowing what I'm capable of. 

"You know there are other aspects that you have to think about besides the design factor of it all. Have you figured out how you're going to go about that or would you be needing my help as well?" he asks getting cocky, trying to belittle me.

"I am aware and it's your choice what you plan to help with. I just need a character and gaming environment design from you. I'm able to handle the rest if need be" I say plainly stating my intentions.

"Well if you want me then I'll work on it with you". We work out a rough layout of how this will all go and when I feel it's time to end the meeting I hand him my phone and ask him to put his number in so I will have a ways to contact him to set up future meetings. 

"Looks like you already have my number" he says and I tilt my head curiously, not sure how I would've found myself in a situation where I would need his number.

He calls himself from my phone so he has my contact as well and I see the name Motherfucker pop up on his screen. "Wait you're a girl?" he says clearly as confused as I am. JK = Jungkook, how did I not put that together?!??!?!

I snatch my phone out of his grasp and see the contact name I've assigned to his number and my heart drops seeing the name Freeloader 3 on the screen. Grabbing my bag I run out of that study room and don't stop until I've made it home. 

Closing the door behind me I pray I've somehow lost him and that he didn't chase after me to see which way I took to go home.

I'm a girl so there's no way that he could cause physical harm to me. Right? He seemed somewhat of an intimidating guy so I guess he could go either way. Guys like him seem like they could get away with murder if they wanted to.

I shiver as I feel all of my hairs standing on end praying that that somehow won't be my fate. 

That was a shit way to start off my summer but hopefully I won't have to bump into him ever again since I won't really have any reason to go to campus these days.

I'll just focus on working at the PC cafe and save up so I won't have to worry about working when classes are back in session.

~~~~~~~

My summer is uneventful just as I had hoped for and just when I thought that I had forgotten that disaster none other than Jungkook walks into the the cafe.

I keep my head down hoping he won't see me but as soon as I hear a lull in the conversation he was in I knew I was screwed.

I look up at him and see that he's clearly staring me down and as soon as he confirms it's me he rolls his eyes and scoffs before he makes his way over to one of the open PCs.

Why couldn't he have just turned around and gone somewhere else? There's another perfectly good cafe on the other side of town so why did he have to pick this one? 

Who am I kidding why would he go out of his way to go across town when all we had was a little argument and he's mad at me because he thinks I'm to blame for keeping him from graduating.

As soon as I finish restocking the snack bar I get a notification of a customer placing an order and I check the notification and see that low and behold it's from Jungkook.

After retrieving his food from the cook I make my way over to him and place his items down in front of him. He looks me up and down before opening his mouth to say something which I could only assume is utterly irrelevant to me.

"Hey we seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot, do you think there's a chance that we could just start over? I could even introduce myself since I never really got a chance to do it in the first place. Hello my name is Jeon Jungkook and I'm a visual arts major" he says while holding out his hand as a peace offering. 

"And that matters to me why? I don't think we have any reason as to why we should be interacting anymore since I don't want to work with you anymore. It's best if we just forget it and remain as strangers" I say turning to go so I can get back to work.

He follows me over to the front desk where I unfortunately am forced to stay so I'm stuck having to listen to him until he goes away.

"I'm not looking for a fight I promise. I just want to start over. You seem like a pretty nice girl and I would love to get to know you better" he says flashing me a smile that I'm sure many girls have fallen for before but I don't find it the slightest bit charming. 

"Sounds like you should try to get a bit more creative with your pickup lines, I'm not interested" I say and look through the system begging for someone to give me something to do.

"I promise I just want to get to know you, no ulterior motive on my part, but if you wanted to go about things that way then I can't lie that I find you extremely attractive a-" 

"I suggest you go back to your seat unless you would like me to call management to get you permanently banned and file a restraining order for sexual harassment" I say taking care of some emails from our vendors for next week’s shipment, finally having found something productive to do.

"Okay I get it I'll back off, I didn't mean to offend you like that. For what it's worth, I really did want to be your friend" he says and goes back to his seat, finally providing me some peace and quiet.

~~~~~~

The first day back at school I fall back into my usual routine.

I always get up at a certain time so I have time to exercise and take a shower before class, I get my bike downstairs at 9:16 on the dot and I have my whole route calculated down to the second. I make sure to get to class half an hour early everyday so I don't have to worry about rushing and I have time to mentally prepare myself for the rest of the day.

Walking into the lecture hall for my Chinese class I find myself buffering at the sight of a bag on top of the usual seat I sit in. It's the perfect seat that provides me with the best view of the board and allows for next to no distractions. It's kept at a comfortable temperature and it gives me the best route out of the classroom when the lecture is over. 

Glaring down at the bag I'm temped to just move it but decide that I'll just wait until the owner comes back and ask them to switch seats.

I'm surprised that out of all the seats in this big lecture hall that they picked my exact seat.

I brush it off and go through the material we are going to cover today until I'm greeted with the mysterious owner of the bag that has caused me so much turmoil this morning.

Looking up to make eye contact with them I'm left with the sight of a smug looking smile from the bane of my existence, Jungkook. 

"What are you doing here?" I whisper since more students have started to make their way in. "I'm recruiting for my pyramid scheme. What does it look like I'm doing?" he says while taking a seat.

"Switch seats with me" I say standing up expecting him to do as I say. "No this is my seat" he says and starts to get out his class materials.

"Just switch seats with me" I demand starting to lose my temper, but before he's even able to mumble a response our professor comes in and asks us all to sit down, prohibiting me from trying to get him to give me my seat back. 

"Oh Mr. Jeon what a pleasant surprise, I thought I saw that you signed up to be my TA this semester. Class this is Jungkook, he lived in Beijing for a year so feel free to ask him a lot of questions. You'll also be turning in all of your assignments to him so if you have any questions please feel free to reach out to either of us. Right Mr. Jeon?" she asks to confirm.

"Yes I'm here to help" he announces to the class. "And I'll be right there to hold your hand the entire time y/n" he mumbles to me, using my name to address me for the first time. It some how sends a shiver through my spine and I can see from out of the corner of my eye that he's pleased with my response.

Why can't my body just cooperate with me just once? He's just a mildly attractive guy that's it, don't let his antics distract you.

~~~~~

After class ends I rush over to my next class and am greeted with yet another bag on my favorite seat.

He couldn't have gotten to this one before me as well right? Is he some kind of super villain that is hell bent on making my life miserable? Maybe it belongs to someone else and I'll actually be able to reason with them this time.

As I sit waiting for class to start I see a flash of red show up in my peripheral vision "Oh are you in this class too?" I hear him buzz right in my ear as he sits down next to me yet again. "Jungkook what are you doing here? This class isn't even close to what your major is. It's also one of the more advanced classes so I know that you're just here to annoy me" I grumble while taking my textbook out. 

"And how do you even know my class schedule?" I ask and widen my eyes as the sight of the notebook I thought I lost a few months ago.

"How did you get that" I ask while reaching for it, which he childishly moves out of my reach. "You left it at the library that one day that you ran away from me. I was going to try to stop you to tell you but by the time I stepped outside the door you were already gone. Was I really that scary?" he says mockingly.

"No, you were just unpredictable so I didn't feel comfortable being in a private room with you, that's all. Now give me my book back!" I demand, trying to reach for it again and as soon as I think I've got a chance at reaching it I hear the professor walk in. 

"Mr. Jeon is it?" he asks, unamused at the sight he's presented with.

"Yes sir" he says while both of us quickly take our seats. "If you plan on taking this class just for the purpose of flirting then I suggest you drop it, especially since it looks like this isn't required for your major" he says clearly already annoyed with the both of us already.

Thanks for getting me on his bad side already Jungkook, I think to myself, trying to control the blush that wants to grow from the embarrassment he has just caused me.

"I'm sorry professor it won't happen again" Jungkook says apologizing for both of our behavior. "See that it doesn't" he scolds and starts the lecture.  

He finally gives me my book back and doesn't speak to me again, but he sure as hell still makes his presence know with all the fidgeting he's been doing.

As the minutes tick by I feel myself losing more and more of my concentration and as soon as the lecture ends I'm up and out of my seat and head out of the building as fast as I can. I can sense that someone is following me though so I decide to stop and then feel someone bump into me.

"Hey you could've knocked us over!" he says acting like it's my fault. "Well if you hadn't been following me then we wouldn't have had this problem now would we?" I finish crossing my arms.

"What is it that you want from me? Or are you just trying to make my life miserable because you failed that class and you feel like it's my fault?" I say genuinely curious as to why he's acting like this. 

"Well I mean I'm willing to put the class thing behind if you just start being nice to me. I'm actually a really nice guy to be around and I really meant it when I said I wanted to be friends. Plus you've got me interested in that game of yours so I was wondering if you would take me back?" he finishes really making an effort to start over just like he said before.

"So your way of trying to make amends is by annoying the crap out of me? You're a lot dumber than I thought you were" I say walking away and much to my distaste he ends up following me.

"Come on just think about it, I saw the way your eyes lit up when you saw my portfolio, admit it you need me" he says regaining that cocky attitude.

"I don't need anyone, and I especially don't need you. There are plenty of designers out there, you're replaceable" I say and storm off hoping my honest feelings stopped him from wanting to talk to me for the rest of the day.

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[aurumacadicus]

Hello things are getting a bit too chummy around here.

--

"Tony," Steve said.

Tony did not screech in alarm, but he did make a high-pitched sound in the back of his throat. He decided he was proud of this, although he also didn't know why he'd been so surprised. This was the bar that Steve had introduced him to, a bar SHIELD agents frequented. Of course Steve would get the bar in the breakup. Tony had just hoped that if he kept his head down and avoided the group at large, Steve would allow him to continue coming alone. Apparently, that had been too much to hope for.

Steve, at least, allowed him the dignity of pretending it didn't happen. "I thought our breakup was supposed to be amicable."

"...It is?" Tony finally answered, perplexed. He hadn't said one bad thing about Steve to anyone. He reserved that for screaming rages alone at home with only JARVIS to witness, and even then, he was always sorry after.

"So why did Bucky and Sharon just tell me that you said I broke up with you because I think you're annoying?" Steve asked sternly.

Tony blinked slowly, trying to parse why 1) that wouldn't be considered amicable and 2) Steve was so offended by it. "Because it's true," he finally answered, words drawing out with confusion as Steve seemed to look even angrier. "It's not acrimonious if it's true."

"I don't think you're annoying," Steve began angrily.

Ah, a semantics error. Tony sighed. "I didn't say you did."

Steve stared at him, mouth gaping open. He looked too offended to speak.

"I said you broke up with me because I'm annoying," Tony continued blithely, turning back to his drink. "I know I am, though. It's just self awareness. It's not my fault that Bucky and Sharon are bad at playing telephone and made it sound like your fault."

Steve was silent for a long moment, to the point that Tony was certain he'd left. Maybe to go extol the virtues of being clear and concise to his friends, Tony thought.

"You think I broke up with you because you're annoying," Steve started, making Tony turn back to him in surprise. "And it's your fault... for being annoying?"

Tony narrowed his eyes as he tried to figure out what Steve was saying. It sounded like a trap. He knew he was annoying. Everyone told him so at least once. Steve had told him so, but had apologized after he'd finally gotten control of the remote. Sure, the words had been, "It's not you, it's me," but that had always been to take the sting out of it. No one wanted to be the asshole who said, "Actually, it is you. You're annoying." Still. It wasn't as if Tony wasn't self aware of this one facet of himself. He knew all his faults better than anyone else, usually.

"I broke up with you because I hated lying to you," Steve said flatly. "I didn't think it was fair that you could tell me whatever you wanted when I had to keep secrets."

"...You're a SHIELD agent," Tony said, still perplexed. "I knew you had to keep secrets going into this."

"Tony," Steve sighed, exasperated. "I'm not a SHIELD agent. I'm Captain America."

Tony opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

"And I know you don't like Captain America," Steve continued after waiting for him to speak for a moment. "You think Captain America is an old fuddy duddy, or a relic of his time, or whatever. And for a long time after waking up in this century, I didn't want to be Captain America, so I thought, fine, we both don't like him, something to bond over. But then we saved the world together, and I realized that even if I didn't like him, maybe the world still needed him. And I started to enjoy being him again. But you still hated him--me--and I couldn't keep lying to you about it, Tony."

Tony blinked at him slowly, trying to take it all in, but mostly he just noticed that no one else at the bar seemed surprised. Had they all known about Steve being Captain America? Had everyone? Did Rhodey know, he wondered, and couldn't help his heart sinking in his chest when he remembered that after a mission Tony had had to sit out, Rhodey had started referring to Captain America with a lot less animosity.

"Did everyone know except me?" Tony asked quietly, afraid his voice would crack if he said it any louder. He needed the confirmation. Needed to know how much of a fool he was.

"SHIELD agents knew," Steve offered, anger fading as he sensed something between them shifting. "I never told anyone else. They just figured it out. And I worried about someone telling you, so I just. Thought it was best to leave it before either of us got too hurt."

"I see," Tony said, feeling like the world's biggest joke. He slipped down off the barstool he'd been sat on and swallowed thickly. "I suppose that's good to know."

"Tony," Steve began, an edge of franticness entering his voice. "Wait, that came out all wrong, I didn't--I didn't break up with you so I didn't have to worry about you finding out, I just didn't want to hurt you by continuing to lie and I didn't think you'd accept me if I came clean because you hated Captain America and--"

"Right now I hate Steve Rogers more than I ever hated Captain America," Tony told him, and this time his voice did crack, so he turned and left the bar as quickly as he could without looking like he was running.

[surplus-of-sarcasm]

100 Follower Special!

Thank you sooooo much for 100 followers! 🥰🥰 (technically 101 now, but semantics, semantics) I know that's a relatively small number, but I've been here for about 3 months, and I'm still happy anyway. Love you guys so much! 🩵🩵

TW: minor violence, bruises mention

Villain knows this. They've spent the past few weeks studying every detail of Hero's base meticulously. This was why Supervillain had chosen them for this mission. Because they didn't get distracted easily and they kept their full focus on their task.

Sneaking inside admittedly wasn't easy. Villain had spent hours racking their brain for answers as they typed away on their keyboard, trying to hack into the system. And after many sleepless nights and one too many large mugs of coffee, they'd finally gotten through Hero's security.

The positions of every door, every hidden door's placement, every secret passageway, and even where all the cameras were (they'd managed to disable them) were all etched into their memory.

They almost glide around with such ease, they might as well have owned the place. But their outwardly calm and collected demeanour was a somewhat fragile façade. Hero may have kept up a friendly persona and thrown quite a bit of banter their way, but they were dangerous in their own right, with deadly control over their power. The scattered bruises lining the villain's body are a testament to that.

They weren't sure they'd like to imagine what Hero would do if they caught them sneaking around in their own house.

But they're Villain, for God's sake. They'd fought and won against people much worse than Hero. Yet they'd never been even half this nervous.

Steeling themselves, they take a deep breath as they try to push all the negative thoughts out of their head. They place their ear to the door, listening for any noises, and the action brings a comfortable sense of familiarity to them from the number of times they'd done it. Hearing no sound, their hands work as swift as machinery, taking the lockpick out of their suit's pocket and working on the lock.

They finally manage to get it open, the door leading into their nemesis's living room. What kind of psychopath locks their living room's door? But the criminal didn't find that a surprise. Carefully lifting the dark green plush rug off the floor, they manage to loosen the fake floorboard underneath, leading to the trapdoor. Another detail they'd discovered spying on Hero through their computer.

Lifting the door, Villain wills the air in the room to return the floorboard and the carpet back to their place as the door shuts. They smirk to themselves at how smoothly their power works as they carefully make their way down the long staircase.

When they finally reach the end of the staircase, they are almost giddy with excitement. One that you could never read off their somber face. The same rush of blood and adrenaline pulsing through them as their first heist.

Walking carefully around Hero's base and resisting the temptation to explore the sleek, well-equipped place, they quickly find exactly what they were here for. The flash drive in the shiny glass case, more precious to Villain than any treasure. It may have looked so easy to get a hold of, but simplicity was impossible with Hero. There was a sick, twisted puzzle only a psychopath or a bitter STEM major could dream up that they had to solve first.

Their heartbeat quickly grows erratic, and their hands shake as they go through the bloody puzzle. Their eyes light up with glee as the glass case unlocks, and they reach inside, fingers almost closing around their prize.

Almost.

"Well done," a silky voice croons. It sounds proud rather than annoyed.

The crime-fighter stands there, leaning against the wall, arms folded over their chest with an amused glint in their eyes. They were dressed in a dark, satin robe thrown carelessly over their figure and tied at the waist, not even bothering with a mask. They regard Villain the same way one regards a child who'd been caught sneaking yet another cookie.

They chuckle lightly. "Ya know, if you wanted an invitation, you could've just asked. I believe I gave you my number last time we fought, hm?"

"Hilarious," they counter, whipping around and making a run for it, flash drive in hand. They try to send a blast of air towards their enemy, except there was barely any air in this damned basement. So all their attempts served was to send a pathetic, little breeze towards Hero.

As though they needed any further humiliation.

It barely takes a moment for the crime-stopper to confiscate the flash drive, twisting the villain's arm somewhat painfully and shoving them into the wall, and they toss the drive back into the case. It locks automatically.

Villain does not appreciate their current position at all. Pinned against the wall, a horribly overused cliché, leaving them mortified, if the look on their face is any indication. Said face is now flushed a bold red, their normally sharp tongue now rendered useless.

Worst of all is Hero's smug, lopsided smirk and the way that they look at Villain in general, with their prying eyes, their gaze sparkling with curiosity. It made them feel like a specimen being examined.

"Shh, it's no use struggling, darling," Hero purrs somewhat soothingly. And their words hold truth because Hero's super strength doesn't falter, and Villain's squirming serves little to no purpose but to embarrass them, and apparently entertain their nemesis.

"W-what are you going to do to me?" they all but squeak.

The crime-fighter laughs, and they feel their heartbeat quicken to impossible degrees, not just out of fear, but out of something far more dangerous. . .

"Relax, I won't hurt you. I'd hate to mess up the oh-so-beautiful artwork, hm?" they murmur

Heat spreads through Villain's body like wildfire. Their words catch in their throat, and their breathing becomes shallower. They'd kept it all professional when responding to Hero's flirtations, being dedicated to their job meant adhering to the concept that they were strictly enemies. But then why are they an incoherent mess of emotions right now?

Hero's honey-sweet tone, the blinding grin flashed on perfect white teeth against dark tan skin, and the flowery scent of their fragrance don't sit well with the criminal. But nothing compares to the way they fix their gaze on Villain, as though they were someone to be admired, someone alluring, more than just a weapon. And, it's not like their life had been devoid of romance, but no one had ever looked at them with the same awe-filled fiery passion like Hero did.

"What do you want?" they breathe out. An honest question.

"Right now at least, I want to invite you to have breakfast here with me, it bring pretty early in the morning. It'll be fun, sweetheart," They run the fingers of their free hand along their nemesis's jaw, a feather-light caress.

Whatever the hell Villain was feeling had just intensified to impossible degrees. They are intoxicated with the almost magnetic charm that made it difficult impossible to think straight. And they didn't want it to end.

"Fine," they answer, trying to keep the shakiness out of their words, which come out at a higher pitch than they intend. Damn you, Hero.

Their enemy's whole face lights up, and they flash them a huge grin. Not one of their seductive, lopsided smirks. But a big smile full of utter joy.

That's adorable. Am I growing soft?

"Sure, but I just have one more request."

"Enlighten me."

They trace the shape of their mask in the air. Well, if they're going to have breakfast with this hero, in an outright romantic setting, then the usage of the mask didn't seem to make much sense.

Hero lifts their arm off, and Villain had half a mind to run off and get a hold of the drive. But one look into those gorgeous sea-green eyes, and all their plans were swiftly discarded and shredded to smithereens.

They peel the mask off, heartbeat now erratic.

"Y-you're absolutely breathtaking in every sense of the word, Villain," Hero coos, snaking an arm around Villain's waist and pulling them close against their side.

"You're not so bad yourself, hotshot," they laugh, pleased to finally have anything on the hero.

This was foolish, risky, and it broke every single goddamn rule in Villain's book. But never in their life had something ever felt so right.

Tagging for this one specifically: @thelocalnemesis @deckofaces @onlywhump @justalittlecorrupted (u usually ask me to tag u on my stuff, I hope this isn't too presumptuous, Corrupted!) @featheryvee

Also, some of y'all r alr on the taglist, so you'll just be tagged there.

✨️Le Taglist: @larinzz @syberianjade @lateuplight @altu-whump @enbious-prince @astr0-mj @thelazywitchphotographer @addictedsandwhichaki @justalittlecorrupted @quaggasus @dodo-docs @vernilliom @sirrsnakesssss

Wanna be on the taglist? This will take you there!

[gorgynei]

The Tyler Split Personality Theory

AKA why Tyler Galpin is 100% innocent. And deserves a hug.

Foreword. I know that DID being represented as like an "evil mode/personality" is harmful and not accurate, but I do think its what the writers are doing with Tyler (and hydes as a whole), so heres my theory on why:

Tyler, to my understanding, has 3 modes: Regular Tyler, Evil Tyler, and the Hyde. Regular Tyler is the nice, sweet guy we spend most of the show getting to know. Evil Tyler is the manipulative and cruel side that gets shown off in episode 8. The Hyde is the literal monster (I'll be referring to Evil Tyler and the Hyde both as "the hyde" because they're the same entity, and just calling Regular Tyler "Tyler"). Thinking about Tyler and the hyde as two separate people with different morals and motivations really helps to understand the dichotomy at play with his character.

I believe that Tyler can't control what the hyde does and doesn't enjoy doing violent things, at all.

1. Tyler admits it. Sort of.

To start off, this conversation between Wednesday and Tyler is very very significant. The show lends a lot of weight and screen time to this supposed mural destruction from a year ago for, seemingly, no reason. Yes, it informs how Tyler and Xavier act around each other, but I think it represents Tyler's feelings on his destructive actions as a hyde.

The way Tyler looks off into the distance when he says "I could give you a million excuses, but... the truth is I'm still trying to figure that out" leads me to believe that the hyde had something to do with it. He isn't quite sure whether that was something he did intentionally, or if he was commanded to. If you read everything Tyler says here as him talking around being the hyde and doing violent acts against his will/knowledge, the conversation suddenly means a lot more than it did at face value, and it has a real reason to be present in the show.

In particular, Tyler mentions a "boot camp" which is presumably his torture sessions with Thornhill. He also does not call himself a normie, rather a "townie", which could be semantics, but it's worth mentioning. Tyler saying "I did a terrible thing, but I swear I'm not a terrible person" is also a great way of foreshadowing his split personality and guilt over his actions in a subtle way (assuming this theory is true).

Edit Feb 3 2023: Made a few realizations so I'm adding on.

Tyler isn't just talking around his actions as a hyde or being symbolic, he's literally talking about them, and about his mom. Tyler holds (or held) a lot of resentment towards Nevermore because his mom wasn't offered the tools to try and contain her hyde. When he says "a bitter townie that blames everyone else for the shitty hand he's been dealt", I'm pretty sure he's talking about his mom and how her death was directly caused by Nevermore's failure to help her. Thornhill releasing his hyde specifically using information about his mother feeds into this idea, it unlocked a rage inside of him once he learned that fact.

When he destroyed Xavier's mural, it was an act of anger and frustration. A way of getting back at Nevermore for his mom's death. But afterwards, he realizes that's not who he wants to be. He doesn't want to be an angry, resentful person that acts out and blames Nevermore for his mother's death. He even completely stops pranking Nevermore students, which he did often with the other normies before he "went soft". He forgives them.

Unfortunately, the hyde is an amalgamation of all of that hatred and is being wielded by an even more bitter victim of Nevermore (Thornhill), so he's forced to do terrible things in order to try and take down Nevermore.

Tyler not only refuses the hyde, he also refuses to hate Nevermore for something it did in the past. There's no possible way that he's on board with anything that Thornhill is doing.

2. Jekyll and Hyde

Obviously there's the hyde's namesake: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. If you're unfamiliar, Jekyll is a brilliant scientist that unlocks his alter ego, Hyde, using a chemical mixture. He's aware that he is Hyde and knows that Hyde is doing terrible things, but allows him to do so (at first) because he feels like needs to keep the "evil" inside of him separate from the "good" inside of him.

While it's possible that Wednesday borrowed the namesake just to allude to the well-known story and add to the "monster that transforms into average person" mystery, a INCREDIBLY crucial aspect of Jekyll and Hyde's story is that Jekyll is a good person but also can't control Hyde. While Jekyll unlocked Hyde intentionally, he quickly lost control and Hyde took over more and more until Jekyll was forced to commit suicide. I strongly believe this is also a big part of being a hyde, with the individual affected by hyde-dom taking the place of Jekyll.

Tyler had his hyde unlocked by Thornhill, not by himself, which is immediately a deviation from the old story. To me, this just means that Thornhill tortured Tyler in order to force him to let it out, weakening his ability to hold the hyde at bay, and increasing her hold over him.

3. Tyler's Therapy with Dr. Kinbott

In episode 2, Tyler mentions that he's seeing Kinbott because he has "court ordered" therapy. This is odd given that court ordered therapy is usually only given to people if they are a direct harm to themselves or others, like in Wednesday's case. It's unclear whether this is the result of his hyde getting him in trouble or if he was just ordered therapy following his mother's death because it was especially hard on him.

Near the beginning of episode 8, there's a scene where Sheriff Galpin is listening to recordings from Kinbott regarding Tyler's therapy sessions:

"When I press him on his mother or any sensitive issue, he snaps. It's like I'm talking to a different person. I'm increasingly concerned. I believe the trauma of losing his mother may have left Tyler with deeper psychological scars that I had suspected"

That scene serves zero narrative purpose outside of letting the viewer know this information about Tyler, so it has to be significant. In particular, the line about him turning into a "different person" is especially relevant. It seems like some part of Tyler (hyde or otherwise) is very defensive about his mother and has an extremely hard time even discussing her. This may be the result of Thornhill using his mother to coax the hyde out (see: "Tyler honey, make Mama happy and shut her up."), so any discussing of his mom makes the hyde come to the forefront.

4. Tyler's relationships

A lot of the things Tyler says and does could be interpreted as an extremely well thought out manipulation plot, but I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. I genuinely believe that Tyler is a good person and that most of what he says pre-e8 can be taken at face value.

Tyler does genuinely care about Wednesday. Many of his actions with her are likely influenced by the hyde (especially their date lining up perfectly with Thing's stabbing), but he put so much care put into their dates and conversations that it's hard to believe it was all a lie. If Tyler really didn't care about Wednesday, he might not have go so far to decorate a crypt, apologize so profusely for wrecking Xavier's mural, or help her escape Jericho when he knew Thornhill needed her for her plan.

5. Episode 8

There's a lot of small but crucial things in episode 8, so I'll just mention them all here.

This tiny moment is EXTREMELY concrete evidence in my eyes. The way the music rises to an intense swell but then fades almost immediately (as if some danger has passed) and Tyler goes from smirking and being all confident to almost crying, it's just the only explanation that makes sense. Tyler was taken over by the hyde and then regained control of himself. Seeing how shaken and afraid Wednesday was overwhelmed him with guilt, so he backs off immediately.

Edit Feb 4 2023: It's also worth noting that when Tyler says "You have no idea what's coming" it is, at least partially, a warning. Wednesday even interprets it as one, later telling Xavier that "Tyler warned me that something bad was coming". I do think the hyde is almost entirely in control in this scene until the moment I described above, but some part of Tyler, some speck of his true self, wanted desperately to try and help Wednesday.

Similar to the scene in the police station, it seems like Tyler snaps himself out of the hyde's control for a moment. But this time, instead of it being at the end of an outburst, it's Wednesday mentioning his brief torture at her hands that brings him out of it.

At first, Sheriff Galpin's involvement in the Tyler vs. Enid fight seems strange and sort of pointless. He doesn't contribute much other than giving Enid the upper hand for a moment and futilely calling out for Tyler. To me, they included the Sheriff here in order to demonstrate that the hyde is not Tyler. If it were, he might have calmed for a moment or even just hesitated before rushing to attack his father, but he didn't. I believe they're using the Sheriff to represent Tyler's humanity, which the hyde has completely stripped away in this moment.

6. Master/Hyde Dynamic

A hyde becomes a "slave" to the person who unlocks it. This is a big part of the unraveling mystery of the show and it seriously calls into question Tylers agency and free will. Even if Tyler was a completely terrible person who wanted to do everything Thornhill told him to do, he would still partially be a victim because hydes by nature form a weird and dependent bond with the person who freed them, even if the hyde was freed against the individuals wishes.

Aand thats all! I'm sure theres more stuff I didn't mention, and there was even stuff I left out because I didn't want to get to bogged down in the micro-expressions, but! There it is. Can Tyler haters give him a break now?

[canmom]

I don’t think you need to be embarrassed for your long Star Wars takes! Reading people’s opinions on stories is very nice, if there’s been some thought put into them.

I thinks it’s fine to be a little bit of a rat, at least once in a while.

you are entirely right, anon. i was being ridiculous, and also very rude to my friend Ash @centrally-unplanned, who i really like talking to on this website, and don't actually intend to stop >_<

unfortunately after all this time I've still not stopped being an insane person!

sometimes a scrupulosity or subcultural affiliation anxiety from the 2010s will just grab the reins for a while and I'll imagine some scenario where all my friends will think I'm annoying or evil and abandon me over (xyz). not an entirely baseless fear, given shit that has happened, but i have a completely fucked sense of what other people actually find offputting and what people actually like about me.

to get perhaps excessively introspective, ig there's also this fear of like... i got into lesswrong back in... probably 2009-2010 right. got into online social justice about the same time. both of them being extremely demanding rules based ideologies, at least as i perceived them, filled some sort of void for me. after a couple of years i concluded lesswrong was a cult and distanced myself; after some more years i developed similar feelings towards the online sj subculture (while trying not to throw the baby out with the bathwater). i flirted with other ideologies - my sister still jokes about my 'Maoist phase' - and got involved with the anarchist/antifascist scene a bit while i was in London. in that time i had a very standoffish stance towards the rationalist subculture on here, something I've evidently softened a bit on nowadays.

but there's still this anxiety about like... falling into old ways that I've rejected. if 'long back and forth discussion in the notes of someone's post' is a rat habit i found offputting when it was done on my posts back in the day. so basically i panicked over something so utterly banal and trivial as talking about Star Wars on the Internet. lol amirite.

obviously the actual problem is my brain categorising everyone as representatives of subcultures and worrying about where i belong in the great invisible battle for affiliation. which might have a lot to do with the culture of tumblr trans girls in the 2010s. this is the fundamental insanity i'm exhibiting i think. everyone is trying to navigate this shifting semantic field, same as me.

anyway i think I'm stabilising today. i had a couple days of meds disruption recently and that always throws me pretty bad. that and, well, aftermath of the move, figuring out what kinda person glasgow!bryn is going to be.