#it'd be fine if i was allowed to have my stuff be in other places in the house i think

[lunar-wandering]

i seriously need to move out cause my room isn't big enough to hold all of my stuff anymore and it's genuinely causing problems

[hyunfilms]

blue side of the sky (lmh) | nineteen.

♡ spotify playlist | series masterlist

—summary: waking up after 3 months with no recollection of your past, your friends do what they can to help you remember. except, they omit an important piece to the puzzle - afraid you would remember the heartbreak and hurt all over again.

—pairing: lee know x f. reader

—genre: (18+) exes to lovers, bestfriends to lovers au | fluff, angst, smut

—word count: 3.3k

—chapter content/warnings: just the very much needed talk for oc x minho, crying, cute lil random flashback at the end

The phone sits on your bed for a good awhile before you contemplate on actually picking it up and texting him. Your talk with Jisung was about a week and a half ago, but you figured you could at least talk to Minho and get things straight without anyone getting in the middle of it.

Even though you missed Minho, you knew you weren't ready and that you still needed time to properly say your peace to all of this.

You would let the universe handle it, allowing you to have Minho in your life however it'd like you to have him— even if that meant at a distance, even if things never returned to normal. You would be sad, but you trust in the universe to take care of you this time around. 

Whatever is meant to be, will be. 

It all still feels terrible.

You grab your phone when you finally gain the strength to call him, nervously letting out a breath when the other line starts to ring. By the third ring, you almost regret calling him. You start to slowly pull the phone away from your ear when you hear Minho hastily pick up the call— music playing in the background.

"Y/N?" He calls for you as he steps around the corner of the studio, hoping the music is a bit softer outside of the room.

"Hi. Sorry, are you in class? I didn't mean to interrupt." 

"No, no." He clears his throat, also experiencing nervousness as he continues to talk to you over the phone. "I was just hanging out with Hyunjin. We were working on a random piece and just messing around with choreo."

"Still. I'm sorry to interrupt."

"You're not. Don't worry. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, it will be." You chew on your bottom lip for a moment before speaking up again. "I was just wondering if we could talk."

"Are you sure? I just don't want you to feel uncomfortable or anything, I'll wait until you feel completely ready."

"To be honest, Minho. I don't know if I will ever be completely ready. But, we should talk. Alone. I need to let you know what's been going on my mind, too."

"Okay. I'll be leaving in about 15 minutes. I'll shower and head to your place? Unless you wanna meet somewhere else, but uh—" He clears his throat. "It's kinda cold. I just, I don't know. Whatever makes you comfortable."

"My place is fine."

"Okay." Minho lets out an inaudible sigh, a bit nervous about how the rest of the evening will go. "I'll see you in a bit."

"Sounds good." You respond softly before ending the call. Minho stills in his position for a bit before returning to the studio, his heart beating in his chest— because he is scared, he is nervous. But, nonetheless, he knows whatever is meant to happen, will need to happen. 

This is just another chapter in the book, another learning lesson; another step in becoming better for each other, your friends. Unlearning bad habits, leaving the past where it belongs.

"You good?" Hyunjin furrows his brows at Minho, watching him slowly walk back into the studio. Hyunjin has his hands on his hips, using his shirt to wipe the sweat from his face. It takes a minute before Minho reaches his gaze and responds with a shrug.

"I don't really know. I will be." 

"Who was that?"

"Y/N. She wants to talk."

"Oh." Hyunjin purses his lips into an 'o' shape before nodding. "Is she okay?"

"I don't know either." Minho lets out a pathetic chuckle. "She said she's not sure when she'll ever be ready to talk more about this but she has stuff she wants to tell me."

"I see."

"I really messed up." Is all Minho says as he walks over to his duffle bag on the ground.

"You did." Hyunjin sighs. "But, you are acknowledging it and trying to learn."

"I just, I don't really know. I had her back and I tried to take the chance to fix it without really... fixing it. If that makes sense."

"It does, and I get it. I honestly might have done the same if I was in your position. Plus, I know Jisung just wanted things to be okay for a bit." Hyunjin comes to stand next to Minho as he grabs his water bottle. "Promise me you'll give her the time she needs this time around."

"I will. At this point, I don't wanna lose her as my bestfriend. Even if that means I need to give her space for awhile—" He shrugs and throws the duffle bag strap over his shoulder. "However long it takes." 

"Mm, yeah." Hyunjin nods. "It'll be okay. Are you gonna go straight to her house?"

"No, I'm gonna head home first. Are you just gonna stay here?" 

"Yeah, I'll probably stay posted here for a bit longer. Still wanna get this choreo down." Minho gives him a tiny, toothless smile before waving goodbye.

"Alright, I'm out." He throws up the peace sign just as he heads out the door and to his car. He tosses his bag into the passenger seat, letting out another breath as he gets situated in the driver's seat. He's dreading this talk even though this has already torn you two apart— but he is determined to fix this the right way;

The right way as in putting it in time's hands.

When Minho gets home, his roommates are all tucked away in their rooms. He slips out of his shoes and tosses his duffle bag to the side of his room, adding to his laundry pile. He grabs a hoodie and some jeans, stepping into the bathroom for a quick shower. He quickly runs the towel through his hair before stepping out and grabbing his keys— heart still racing in his chest as he returns to his car. It's one of those drives where Minho has the music incredibly low because he needs to hear himself think; can't really focus with all these what if's and imaginary scenarios about how the evening will turn out.

Pulling up to your place, he sees Uncle Adrian home, but tucked away in the house somewhere. He can see a the dim light in the kitchen on, with another one of the room lights also on. He parks his car and pulls the hood over his head while walking to your small detached suite, taking a moment before knocking on the door a few times. You're sitting on the couch indulging in a new series when the knocks come— instantly throwing the blanket off of your legs to greet Minho at the door.

"Hey." You quickly eye Minho standing there in his hoodie and jeans, stepping aside to let him in.

"Feels nice and warm in here." He shakes off the cold a bit, plopping onto your couch.

"I'm glad." You chuckle, returning to your position on the couch. "How was the studio?"

"It was okay. Nothing too bad."

"Did you eat?" He shakes his head.

"I'm not really hungry."

"You sure? I have some leftover pasta." You point at your kitchen counter, making Minho smile.

"Promise, I'm good. Thank you." He switches his attention back to the TV. "Watching a new show?"

"Mhm. Finally finished the other one."

"That's new."

"I'm trying here." You respond before subtly biting onto your bottom lip. Great, the silence is settling in and it's awkward.

But luckily for you, Minho is quick to break the silence.

"So, how've you been feeling?" You sigh and turn your body towards him, giving him your full and undivided attention.

"I've been alright. I think I've seen brighter days. What about you?"

"Mm, not sure. But, it's alright. I'm making it through my days." You nod. Silence. More silence filling the room feels a lot louder than it actually is— probably due to all your thoughts and the neverending spiral of overthinking.

"Minho." You call his name and he feels his heart constrict for various reasons. "Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?" 

"Y/N, I'm sorry. I should've, but I was too caught up in us. I brushed things over without thinking about you or Jisung. I-I thought—" He sighs. "I really thought I could fix the past by doing better now, but I know it doesn't work well that way." He looks at you. "I planned to tell you, I just let it slip away from me. Selfishly." You look at him and you aren't sure what your heart is trying to tell you. You're angry, you're upset. You're sad, you're missing a piece of yourself because of all this.

"Do you know where we went wrong?"

"It was nothing you did." He responds lowly. Somehow, this statement triggers the tears that are suddenly streaming down your cheeks, and you can't help but quickly wipe them away. Minho has the hardest time preventing himself from reaching over to console you; but, he stills. He knows he can't, he shouldn't.

"How was it nothing when you upped and left? Clearly, something was wrong. Especially for you, somebody who was my bestfriend and knew me better than myself, to leave when things got rough between us." You tell him softly, though the words sting and they carry weight you are not strong enough to carry.

"It wasn't you. I was stupid. I ran when things got tough, I mistook a small ounce of infatuation and excitement as a way out of it. I'm so sorry. I didn't realize how stupid I was being right away."

"Minho, I don't really know what to say. After everything that's happened, I was starting to feel safe with you again. Like there was nothing you could do to hurt me. And I think what hurts the most is knowing that I was terribly wrong. That I, at one point, was an after-thought for you. Because of this small ounce of infatuation and excitement. If it was nothing on me, then you wouldn't have left." You continue to cry and Minho swallows the lump in his throat— his own tears threatening to spill. "If it was nothing on me, then you wouldn't have kept seeing her while I was in the hospital. I know I had no control over that, but you definitely did." You dig your head into your hands and cry.

"Y/N. Please tell me what you need so I can make this better." Minho's voice wavers, his need to pry you away from your hands almost becomes unbearable. The more he watches you, the more he realizes that this must be how things turn out. This is how it all ends, this is what you two have become;

Broken.

And there was no fixing this, no seal strong enough that could keep the cracks together. Because eventually, the seal wears off, it takes another blow, and everything comes apart— breaking to pieces all over again.

When Minho thinks about this, the urge to console you slowly subsides within him. It's not that he doesn't want to, but he realizes he is the cause of all the cracks he can see on you; all the cracks that are threatening to break apart because the seal isn't strong enough, no glue good enough to keep it together. All he does is add onto it, and maybe, he should just keep his distance like he originally did.

He loves you, and maybe this time, love meant he needed to let you go.

"I need time away from you." You finally look up at him again, and the silence that settles between you two is heartbreaking. "I just need to keep my distance because I don't think it's fair I didn't get my own time to process this, to properly get over it. I am grateful you told me and were honest about everything. Eventually, I'd like to move forward and say my peace to it. But for now, that's not the time. I'm not ready to."

He loves you, and maybe this time, love means he will let you go.

"Okay." Is all Minho responds with. But, you continue to cry and Minho isn't sure what he should do. Clearly, you can't let him in again. Clearly, the distance is what you need. 

"I hate this." You manage to mumble as you look at him. "I look at you and I don't want you to leave, I don't want you to just give me an 'okay.' I wish you could hold me and tell me things will get better. But then, I look at you and I also can't believe that you're the same person who managed to do the most damage to me. The one person I wasn't good enough for, the one who I wish never gave up. It makes me confused, angry. Part of me really wishing I didn't have to talk to you or see you."

"I'll do anything to make you comfortable and to keep you happy. I wanna show you that you are my biggest priority and that you are first before anything. Anyone. So, I'll give you time. I'll give you space. No matter how long it takes. Even if time eventually tells me that things are different between us, I'll take it. Because I'd rather have part of you than have none of you." Tears are slowly staining his cheeks at this point, but he continues to look at you; never once breaking contact. "I love you, and I'm gonna be here no matter what. But, I'll give you just that and let you be."

"I hope time can be good for us." 

"I hope so too." He stands, asking for your hand so that he can pull you up and hug you. You follow his actions, tightly wrapping your arms around his waist while letting your cheek rest against his chest. His one arm is wrapped around your back, while the other comes behind your head; his lips kissing the top of your head. He whispers an 'I'm sorry' against the surface before he says: "You don't need to forgive me. You know that. I deserve it. Whatever happens though, I'll always be here. Okay? I'll always be here. I'm not going anywhere." He repeats before placing another kiss on your head. You stay in the position for a few more seconds before pulling away to look up at him.

Looking at Minho makes your heart clench so, so badly. He can't help but return your look with soft eyes, nose slightly reddened from the crying he did earlier— hand coming to brush the hair away from your face before he steps back and starts heading towards the door. You wiggle your fingers and ball them into a fist, preventing yourself from reaching out, stop him from leaving. All you do is slowly and silently follow after him, now surrendering the rest of this chapter with Minho to the universe.

"Call me if you need me. I'll come no matter what." You nod, closing your eyes when he plants a soft kiss against your forehead. He gives you one last, tiny smile before turning on his heels to walk back to his car. You watch as he throws his hood back over his head, shutting the side gate closed behind him.

You nibble on your bottom lip as you find yourself walking into the house, hoping to find Uncle Adrian and be in his company for a bit. When you walk in, the kitchen light is still on and you find your uncle pouring himself a glass of water. 

"Oh, hey." He sees you pop around the corner as the back door shuts. His smile instantly fades when he sees the expression on your face, and the way you hug your arms close to your chest. "What's wrong, Y/N?" You start crying into your hands again and your uncle panics, throwing a blanket over your shoulder before walking you over to the couch. He pulls you into a hug, doing his best to ease the pain you're feeling. "Talk to me." He says.

"I wish things were easier." You mumble through your crying, finally looking up at your uncle again. "I wish things didn't have to be like this between me and Minho." Your uncle's heart breaks because he wishes he could do more for you. And he knows this isn't solely because of the breakup; your heart isn't aching because of your relationship, no.

Your heart is aching because you no longer see the same bestfriend, have the same bestfriend, that you had. You've come to re-learn Minho, how you two used to be even before the relationship— and before you could even have that back, you've already lost it. Your uncle knows that the relationship only makes up one [complicated] part of it.

Your uncle will let you because you need to. He's glad you two were able to talk it out properly, but he's certain it wasn't easy for you to put up those boundaries towards your own bestfriend. It makes him torn because despite the ups and downs of your relationship, Minho was always good to you as your bestfriend. He helped take care of you, he never wanted you to be unhappy, was always making sure that you never felt a lack of support, love or care from him.

He gets it. It's not easy, but hopefully these times, will bring you to better days. To happier times. To more trust, less worries. To brighter, blue skies.

Right now, he will let you be.

Right now, you are mourning everything about Minho. 

☁︎ FLASHBACK | HIGH SCHOOL

You drag yourself up the hill after your walk to the convenience store, suddenly craving for a specific brand of ramen and spicy tuna onigiri amongst other snacks you've grabbed as you pranced around in the aisles. You swing the bag gently back and forth, head hung low as thoughts continue to swirl around in your head at 100mph.

You miss Minho.

You haven't heard from him today since he had been busy with family on the other side of town, and you were starting to wonder if you should text him first instead of waiting. You were torn about it. Should you text him now? Would he think you're too clingy?

Is he thinking of you the same way you are?

Maybe you shouldn't, and maybe you should just let him be until he's free.

You let out a sigh, finally coming up the block to your house with the bag twirling around your fingers. You check your phone still seeing zero texts or calls from him, making your heart drop just a tiny bit. But, before you could let your feelings completely take over, you catch sight of a shadow up ahead. You look up and find Minho standing near the streetlight; making you pause in your tracks to take in how the light perfectly sits on him right now.

You missed him.

"Hey. I was just about to call—" Minho's head whips in your direction, a small smile creeping at the corner of his lips. You jog towards him, immediately throwing your arms around his neck while hugging him and keeping him close. "Woah." He chuckles, reciprocating the hug and wrapping his arms around your waist. "You okay?" He looks down at you, hand gently coming up to brush your hair back, to caress your cheek.

"Yeah."

"You sure?"

"I just really missed you." You mumble as you press your forehead against his chest. "I didn't hear from you all day and I wanted to text you, but I didn't because—"

"Y/N." He chuckles a bit, his breath visible in the air. "Slow down."

"I wanted to text you but I didn't wanna bother you."

"I'm sorry. I was busy, but I also wanted to surprise you." You look up at him. "I missed you, too." You let out a content sigh and pull away from him, hand still loosely holding onto his

"Did you?"

"I did." He kisses your knuckles. "And I'm here now, right? I'm not going anywhere."

☁︎ END

⇢ 19.5 [cloudy days]: here

♡ taglist: @ppiri-bahng @jihanlovic @meloncremesoda @sweetlikecherry @asjkdk @hoes4lino @skzddicted @skzho @edgaralienpoe @harui-zen @bestleeknowstan @havenwithleeknow @septicrebel @heesdazed @borahae-reads @yoontaethings @pearbunny @bintificreads @lukeys-giggle @ajxreads @everglowdaisies @allaboutsan @endzii23 @leeknowsramen @heres-your-ramen2000 @morningstardada @mal-lunar-28 @downbadreading @lilysophie @feelikecinderella @urmomma0324 @ddazed-lhs @djeniryuu @melanctton @i8rsie @maru-matt @sleepyleeji @taerifin @nattisbored @jisunglyricist @m111nho @drhsthl @nixtape-foryou @arminseas @guiltycoco @syuuji @sulkygyu @cadihyo @reianagarcia @leeknowyah @smndjdufuehr @dprkbyn @xxibreinaxx @mxnsxngie @reiheis @mellowmentalitydragon @vixensss

[pastelwitchling]

Okay, here are my thoughts on episode six of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Fair warning, a lot of it is a rant. I love the show, I loved certain scenes, but I have my complaints, like any fan:

Wow, my thoughts are kind of all over the place on this one, so I'll start from beginning to end here.

I'm sorry to all Percabeth shippers, but that "Why do you guys sound like an old married couple" was so cringey and forced. To me, Percy and Annabeth in that moment were mostly having a funny conversation ("no, you died on monday," I mean, come on), and then they're a married couple? Guys, they're twelve. Can we chill on the insistent shipping all the time?

Really? Clarisse? I mean, it's a good fake-out, but the problem is that this deduction truly does make Grover completely useless in this show so far! It'd be fine if they had let him unmask Medusa or save Percy and Annabeth from the Water Park like in the books, but because they gave those roles to Annabeth (who didn't even need to do that stuff to be a valuable character), this now makes Grover completely pointless! There was a part in the episode when Percy says that they can't do this quest without him, and I swear, I just went, Really? That was true in the book, but here, he hasn't contributed a single thing!

The Lotus Hotel? sigh. What a bunch of nothing. In the book AND the movie, they show Percy and the others spending time there, losing focus, until Percy wakes up and goes and warns the others. I don't care how people whine about the movies, they kept the fear-factor up. The Lotus Hotel was a legitimately frightening place, especially when Percy started to realize what was going on. Here? They already know the dangers before even going in, and even then the threat's treated like nothing! The movie actually has the Hotel staff chasing Percy and his friends down to stop them, in this they chase after a guy who we'd never seen before (was he even mentioned at all before that point when Grover goes after him like we're supposed to have known who he was?), and who had run off for no reason. Why had he been trying to escape anyway? It makes no sense!

The moment with Hermes was also, I'm sorry, very lackluster. I still remember Nathan Fillion's hilarious portrayal of Hermes, I still remember his lines and it felt like the Hermes from the books, but this was just... dramatic and serious and edgy and teary-eyed, and it's like... why is everything so serious and dark all the time? The books were fun and funny, you had Lin-Manuel Miranda as Hermes and you didn't take advantage of having him at all. I didn't want him to start singing or anything, that's not what I mean, but LMM's very funny when he wants to be, and you just had him miserable and depressed the whole time, how's that fun?

Also, someone else brought this up, but in the books, they clarify that the reason the gods don't interfere in the lives of their kids is because they're not allowed to because of their own laws. In my opinion, this creates a compromise later for Percy and the gods. It teaches Percy that while he does want his father to be like a normal, mortal dad, that's not who Poseidon is, and the gods recognize the human side of their children and that they do need attention and help every now and then. Not everyone has that picture-perfect relationship with their parents, and it was a good lesson for both child and parent, that these relationships are more complicated than they would initially think and sometimes, you have to find that compromise to make things work and keep your family. Percy eventually recognized this, just as the gods recognized that they do have to be better with certain things.

Now the gods don't interfere because... they just don't know how to be parents. Awesome.

I saw some people talking like, Finally! Pan is mentioned! But I honestly felt like it came out of the blue. Searcher's license? When was that a thing, Grover? This stuff was Grover's entire storyline since the beginning, and here, they finally mention it when there's only two episodes left? Really? Do the writers even care about him, or are they too busy trying to make Annabeth look flawless that they've just completely dismissed his role?

We didn’t need to know about Luke’s mother yet. We really, really didn’t need to about Luke’s mother yet. How much more powerful was it when we EXPERIENCED time with her in the fifth book? At least SHOW her? What impact did they imagine more exposition would do?

That cab ride? Funniest thing I've ever seen, easily the funniest scene of the series so far.

THE SUMMER SOLSTICE IS JUST OVER???? WHAT????? FIRST OF ALL, THAT UNDERWATER SCENE WAS RIDICULOUS, I COULDN'T SEE A FREAKING THING. Second. The deadline, the moment when Percy ran into the gods' meeting just as the final second ticked down and screamed to WAIT, that's just not going to happen? I know I make a lot of comparisons to the movies, but that's because ALL RR does is crap on the movies, and yet THEY actually stayed true to the books' feel, pacing, and intensity. You FELT how important that deadline was, just like the book characters did. You FELT the excitement of every action scene, just like the book characters did. You FELT the colorfulness and playfulness of every lively moment, JUST LIKE THE BOOK CHARACTERS.

Sure, this book adapted more scenes from the actual book, but MOST of the actually important stuff from the books? GONE. It's not fun most of the time, it's exposition and dreary conversations and action scenes that are pushed into the last two minutes. It's not funny, it's serious and miserable. It's not colorful, it's (literally) too dark (to see)!

Say whatever you will about the movies, and I know RR hates them (sometimes, quite unreasonably and meanly, if you ask me, especially for the actors that had loved filming them and loved the characters, like you can lay off for two minutes, okay?), but in terms of which adaptation captured the HEART of the books? Don't get me started.

The movies actually had characters use their POWERS from the very first scene, the movies tried to establish the grandness of the gods, the movies were more concerned with making something bright and colorful than completely true to the books, yes, but if this is RR's ideal adaptation? I'm sorry, but I just thank the gods we AT LEAST have the movies to fall back on for a fun time.

Again, I know some people think you can't critique something and enjoy it, but I do enjoy this series, and I thank the gods that when everything else comes out lacking, AT LEAST we have the main characters to count on. The gods only know that in Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Walker, Leah, and Aryan are the most (and often, ONLY) Percy Jackson things about it.

[callmearcturus]

aw yeah lets do this

S-Tier, AKA the Legitimately Good Tier:

HAWKEYE: Maybe my favorite MCU thing I have ever watched.

+ If you let Jeremy Renner actually act and give him a script, he's fucking great. + Kate Bishop is a perfect mess and I love her, I love she's young and excitable but also takes things seriously, she feels like she's a work in progress, I love her. + MAYA. Holy shit the gravity well of this character, how her presence dictates any scene she is in. Truly stellar. + This entire miniseries is like an extended apology for Hawkeye in every other appearance. "Sorry we dropped the ball with this character so consistently, we will bring the A game here." + The importance of disability. I'm among the ppl who was upset that Hawkeye's disability was dropped, so the way it is centered over and over and over in this, how its practical, how it's funny, how it's sad, how it gives us the most devastatingly emotional scene in all of the MCU yes I am talking about the phone call scene, finally. Fucking finally. + Florence fucking Pugh and her entire charm offensive. + The car chase scene.

- The first episode is unfortunately REALLY slow. - Nah that's all I got. I love this one.

THOR: RAGNAROK

+ "Asgard isn't a place, it's a people" is maybe the most poignant message any MCU film has ever managed. + Literally the funniest movie, but also basically a repair job of character building for everyone in it. + The camerawork in this one makes me so happy. + Tom Hiddleston is given so much to do and he's there with heels on, spectacular. + The giant turret/pegging visual pun, god bless. + Cate Blanchett can kill me.

- uuuuuuuuh. It's not as good as Hawkeye. Yeah.

GOTG Vol 2

+ Sorry but I am a GOTG Truther, I really do think its the one storyline in the MCU that is allowed to get away with really fucking intense character drama because it's not considered "main line." There is a reason ppl rioted when they tried to remove Gunn, and I'm with them. + The only good thing Chris Pratt has done since Parks and Rec. + The way this storyline centers on death and grief is devastating. + Rocket Racoon is the best character in the MCU and we all know it.

- I think the initial treatment of Mantis is REALLY rough even though in the end I think it works, but that's a hell of a hump to get over.

A-TIER, AKA the Great for a MCU Flick Tier:

BLACK PANTHER

+ My biggest problem with the MCU is the creative desert of its set and costume design, the way it feels like nothing is given time to breathe in the creative process. BP is the antithesis of that. I would watch a four hour documentary just on the visual design of this movie, from the architecture to the costumes to the make-up, everything. I don't want to hear from the director or writers, I want to hear four hours of just the craftspeople talking about their work. It's monumental. + Best Villain in the MCU, bar none. + Only MCU film to move me to actual tears in the movie theatre.

- I loved this movie! For the life of me I could not tell you the plot. I understand the plot of every Mission Impossible film but I don't know the plot of this movie. - If this movie was allowed to cut, like, 20 minutes of action and replace it with more character drama, it'd be the best MCU film.

IRON MAN 3

+ The MCU Movie That Pulls Exactly Zero Punches About Being About Mental Health And PTSD Holy Shit + Rhodey and Pepper get so much to do and I like an ensemble piece so much + Shane Black is in love with RDJ and I'm so happy for him + Pepper gets to be a lil monsterfied and that's hot

- Doesn't have Sam Rockwell. - The plot is kinda fully secondary to the character work, which imo is fine, but yanno.

GOTG Vol 1

+ All the stuff I said about GOTG Vol 1

- It's not Vol 2, which benefits from having all the bedrock foundation built by this movie to spring from.

B-TIER, AKA It's Fine I Guess:

IRON MAN 1

It's good! It invented the wheel! Part of it are fucking agonizingly painful to watch in 2023 but it also has more heart than 80% of the franchise so.

IN A CAVE. WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS.

LOKI

Okay it feels shitty of me to judge this one on its technical faults bc apparently it was shot during the pandemic and that causes a lot of the issues with the camerawork, the awkward editing, and just how Weird everything was put together. But also it's REALLY stilted and awkward, which butts up against the good script and the better acting, so IDK man.

Owen Wilson is amazing. Even my mother thought the way they canonized Loki being bi was a cop-out. And the final twist pissed me off. I hope Season 2 is better.

THOR 1

I DUNNO WHAT TO TELL YOU, BUT KENNETH BRANAGH UNDERSTOOD THE ASSIGNMENT.

DR STRANGE AND THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS

This movie is a mess but once i figured out it was trying to be The MCU Does Gothic Horror, I was a lot more on board. It has all the flaws of the original Dr Strange and is hard to visually follow like most MCU films, but also has America Chavez, who I adore.

IRON MAN 2

It has Sam Rockwell, I don't give a fuck.

C-TIER, AKA I wish I cared but I do not 8C

DR STRANGE

I dunno I like the actual character of Strange weirdly, I like what a complete fucking asshole he is, I like his god complex and how he reacts to his disability as a surgeon. On the other hand what the fuck is Tilda Swinton doing here, this is just awful. My biggest issue with this film is that it didn't have to be this terrible but every decision made about it feels so fucking thoughtless and myopic.

WANDAVISION

yanno. i cannot even explain why i fell off this so hard. Like, this one Had Me all the way up to and including the Agatha reveal, but like the final episodes after that reveal somehow left me completely cold and uncaring. it's genuinely weird.

D-TIER, AKA Oh my god no thank you

AVENGERS

I hate the writing. Like, I haaaaate the writing. I feel like the only likeable relationship in this is Tony and Bruce, and that does not carry this movie. The quip-driven writing, the way the need for a joke supercedes naturalistic voices and dialogue making sense, it pisses me off. I hate the writing. Heartless movie.

BLACK WIDOW

oh my god i'm actively angry at this movie okay because for the first 20 minutes, I was like "wait, is this going to be a real movie," because it felt smaller, the action felt more realistic, that fight between the Widow and Yelena in the beginning felt like it could have been out of MI: Fallout, and the other fight between Natasha and Yelena in the safehouse was also good, I really thought for a few moments that this could be Good

and then it just took a hard right into The MCU Tries And Fails To Make MI: Fallout (They Even Stole The Mask Gag, What The Fuck Was That) and not only was I disappointed, I was like retroactively pissed for the 20 minutes when I had hope in my heart. If not for David Harbour's character, I would have just left in the middle of this movie.

AVENGERS: ENDGAME

Its not at bad as Infinity War! Nebula and Rocket carried this movie on their fucking backs. But what do I know, I liked Renner's mohawk of sadness.

F-Tier, AKA Fuck This Movie

INFINITY WAR

Fuck this movie with a rusted steel dildo, fuck this entire fucking movie, I despise it. The writing is so actively fucking terrible I want to fistfight whoever is responsible. I fucking hate the attempts to humanize Thanos over how sad he is about the daughter he abused and then murdered, boo fucking hoo, I hate the joylessness of the superhero combinations, I hate the quip-driven writing, I hate this movie with a burning passion. This might be one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Soulless and destitute.

[tired-reader-writer]

3, 6, 8, 12, 14 + Kushina!

Thank you for this, my friend! For the others who might be interested, here's the original post of this ask game.

With that out of the way, let's talk about Kushina!

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

HOO BOI DO I HAVE MANY THINGS I HATE. Not Kushina herself, no, but rather the way the narrative handled her?

Where do I even start, the fact that her background as a genocide survivor is never elaborated upon? The way she has so little space in Naruto's entire deal, him not being allowed to be her son more than he is Minato's?

I think this next one takes the cake, though, the fact that, to my memory, she did not resent Minato for what he did to their son, and the fact that she never got to resent Konoha itself. She was there, she saw what happened to Naruto, she was against it, and ????? she just never???? She's suddenly fine with it??? Also the fact that she's not allowed to be bitter towards Konoha, this place that used and trapped her, and then turned around to do the same to her only child???

Yeah, not a fan of that. Not a fan of that at all. Let her be angry, dammit. In ways that actually matter.

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

Not gonna lie, my brain bluescreened at this question because I feel like I don't really know myself all that much. I guess it'd be the way we both feel/are isolated/alienated from the people around us, the fact that, for some fucking reason, we seem to be bully magnets? Only Kushina had the balls to fight back though. And our self-esteem issues.

...damn.

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

I've been fairly divorced from the Naruto fandom outside of precious few mutuals I trust and their beautiful works, so I'm afraid I don't have an accurate grasp of what horrors are going on outside of my immediate bubble. I almost fear what I might find out there. I guess I would hate the stuff that unironically regurgitate her canon problems without bothering to examine them deeply.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

For some reason, I imagine her really liking persimmons. And salty food. It's just the vibes I get. Oh and that she's really good at like, braiding bracelets and charms and stuff? It was a big thing back in Uzushio, and this keeps her grounded when she feels like she's losing her footing and overwhelmed, or just understimulated and bored, and reminds her of home.

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

I can see her in clothes of all genders, honestly! I think she'd rock a suit, waistcoat and all. She'd look good in black I think— y'know those like Japanese girl gangs? All-black or monochrome, long skirts/pants with long coats, baseball bat or bamboo sword...

You see my vision?

Also things like these that make her look gallant:

[dragons-hoard-of-fandoms]

Late to the party but making an entrance, Murder Drones Episode 5 is finally out so at long last I can stop with the memes (for now) and share my thoughts on Dragons Rising so far.

Okay, first things first, I'm gonna be 100% honest with y'all: I low-key do not care about any of the new characters. I know, I know, BURN THE HERETIC, I can't really explain it myself. Maybe I'm just too attached to the OGs or haven't gotten to know the newbies well enough yet, but so far all I'm seeing is Average Shonen-Esque Protagonist, Nya 2.0 Catgirl Edition, Cute and Easily Marketable Dog-That-Is-Not-A-Dog, The Only One With A Mildly Interesting Backstory, and a bunch of generic cookie-cutter villains. It's not gonna make me stop watching or anything, it's just that they could all randomly vanish by the next episode and never be brought up ever again and I'd be totally fine with it. Certainly wouldn't be the first time this franchise has completely dropped something out of nowhere and hoped no one would notice.

A'ight, got that out of the way, now to start nitpicking: I don't understand why they're pronouncing Riyu as "Rai-yu." I thought it would've been "Ree-yu," like the dude from Street Fighter, and I'm not gonna say it any other way. And why do they keep trying to convince us that Lloyd had to be trained for years when in reality he mastered Spinjitzu within, like, a month at most? I'm going to assume that either A) He's just blatantly lying to make Arin feel better, because there is literally zero chance that Season Two took place over the course of multiple years, or B) Lloyd himself has absolutely no concept of time and can't even remember that he's, like, an eighteen-year-old in the body of a twenty-three-year-old by this point.

BTW Lloyd please do not try to be like Wu, you of all people should know what being like Wu entails. You're already in the "training child soldiers" phase, you can not go further or else you are going to hit the "keeping way too many things to yourself" stage and you know what always happened when Wu didn't tell anybody jack squat until it was too late. Heck, there is still a very real possibility that the Merge wouldn't have happened in the first place if he'd just been like "hey so all the Realms might start trying to fuse together soon and as per usual you're the only ones with a chance at stopping it" instead of sticking to his "The Apocalypse™ is coming for like the seventh time and all I'm gonna do about it is be needlessly vague and cryptic for no real reason" schtick.

They should not have given Ras and Rapton such similar names, I'm going to inevitably mix them up. Also Rapton you will never be Iron Baron. I never thought I'd say anything positive about Iron Baron but I could actually tolerate him, whereas I just wanna see Rapton get run over by a bus. And not even in a cathartic "I want she-whose-name-we-do-not-speak-in-this-household to be brutally murdered onscreen in such a horrific and violent manner that it'd never be allowed anywhere if they weren't Legos" way, just in the most apathetic "please remove this character from existence" way you can imagine.

I'll give them this, tho, the show itself is gorgeous to look at, and the concept is pretty nifty. And while I may not be completely in love with Sora and Arin, I'm still glad they didn't go the braindead babymode easy route of making the "next gen" series revolve around the OG Ninja's kids (even if it is mostly because it completely avoids the possibility of being forced to endure the timeline where Lloyd actually thought getting with she-whose-name-we-do-not-speak-in-this-household was a good idea). I'm definitely gonna stay tuned for Part Two, even if I'm admittedly not the biggest fan of what we've got so far. Hopefully it's all uphill from here.

(More spoiler-y stuff under the cut)

Wow I can't believe they somehow managed to make a Cloud Kingdom character more punchable than Fenwick. The scrollworms are pretty cute, tho. Also, uh, Euthanasia or whatever your name was, Morro would like to know your location.

DING DONG, THE WU IS DEAD! BAGELS FOR EVERYONE!

So on the one hand it seems like we might be getting slightly more focus on Lloyd's dragon side this time around, but on the other hand we've already had multiple instances where it could've been brought up but just wasn't, which could mean that it's all just more of the same token Chosen One™ nonsense we're used to and this post got hit by Quanish's dodgeball of prophecy. (Seriously, surely at least one of the super-mega-ultra-powerful Source Dragons should've been like "Kid what is wrong with your blood," right?)

But, on the chance that the former is the case...

What if the Imperium finds out about it and decides the weird little Oni-dragon-human grandson of literal God is a far more valuable prize?

Also this is how we can still get Garmadon's dragon half to show up please I am begging on my hands and knees

[namedafterflowerstournament]

I understand oc’s, but why aren’t mcyt and hp allowed?

They're often banned from tournaments and my reasoning is the same than the one of other poll runners :

- MCYT characters are too close from non-fictional for my comfort

I hope it was asked in good faith and you're not a TERF looking for trouble but :

- JKR's openly using her platform, influence and money to back vile and hurtful transphobic politics in the UK and claiming supporters of her work agree with her shitty views. You'd think it'd be enough of a reason, but I also have to address the blatant antisemitism of the last HP game. JKR's work has been decried for a while for making goblins consistent with Jewish caricatures (you know, the kind sprouted by nazis during WW2 ?). What's new with this game ? Goblin culture is more Jewish coded (you can look it up, Jewish bloggers who looked into it explain it better than I could) than ever and they're antagonists you have to fight.

It's heartbreaking for many people who grew up with HP including trans and Jewish people and have good memories about it. As a socially awkward person, I used to use it as an ice breaker. It was my and my trans childhood friend's favorite subject of conversation.

However, I think I can put aside a few happy childhood memories to not give any publicity to narrow-mindness and bigotry and show support the Jewish and the queer communities. I'm doing my best to make this blog a safe place for everyone and it starts with letting people know their lives are worth more than any media and that they have the right to exist and not be hated for it and that others are ready to defend them.

I couldn't care less about people chosing to include MCYT characters because that's just a personal preference but I encourage poll runners who were unaware of the HP stuff not to give it any publicity to protect their followers - which probably include minors. We have a duty of care.

TL;DR : JKR's a bigot, I'm trying not to be. MCYT characters are fine overall but toeing the 'real people' line.

[smol-tired-binch-blog]

Ask game. Well you didn't specify which characters so: Kuze Awano Shibusawa Dojima Shimano Matsushige Jingu Arase Shindo Kanda sorry <3 have fun <3

Ooh you absolute bastard (affectionate) Just the absloute Worse of the Worse. Hmm.

Marry - Daisaku Kuze. He's the least objectionable tbh (he actually is in the running for my 'top 10 most attractive RGG' men list that I really should get back to at some point), and worse comes to worse I can kill for his money.

Drink tea with - Futoshi Shimano. Idfk man he likes tea, don't he? Let him try and pull some mind game manipulations on me, nod my head like "sure man" and just not take any of it onboard.

Party with - Hiroki Awano. The man clearly knows how to party! Y'know, assuming he doesn't shoot me to make a point to Kiryu, but I actually quite like my chances. The moment I see the dragon coming I'll make a run for it.

Kiss - Koji Shindo. Like he's fine looking. I'm not actively repulsed by him or anything, he's basically the least objectionable.

Go out on a date with - Keiji Shibusawa. Not because I think it'd be good nor have any type of chemistry or enjoyment, but because I think he would just allow me to sit in unimpressed silence and not try to big himself up by boasting about his cool yakuza life, pay for my food, and then we simply never contact each other again.

Push down the stairs - Kyohei Jingu. And then I push him again. And kick him. And punch him. Take his kneecaps. Y'know, classic stuff <3

Slap - Sohei Dojima. I'd like to do worse but Nishiki's got me covered on that front <3

Invade the dreams of - Matsushige. Before Nishiki gets his hands on him I'd like to carry out some fun torment on him myself first <3 that's what happens to disrespectful yakuza who don't remember their place <3

Take a nap with - . . . Tsuyoshi Kanda. I'm HONESTLY surprised myself. Idk man like, he's weird and kinda gross but I think I could deal with him.

Rob - Kazuto Arase. This man is so unimpressive I forgot about him and his bitchy little boss fight AND that Virtical Point is his theme??? For some reason??? But he's yakuza, he's gotta have money, and I can nick his guns first.

[egg-emperor]

Hey! Uhh just a thought, maybe a separate server for the nsfw stuff?

Why? I don't see the point in making a whole separate server because I'm gonna bet that not a lot of people are gonna be interested in joining a server that would be focused on game design Eggman ns4w and f*tish. I barely know anyone that's actually interested in classic and modern Eggman ns4w, only Boom and the movie (I'm pretty even sure most of my followers of my ns4w blogs aren't but still follow anyway ;w;) and it's sad but true lol. And already making two is a bit much for me, it's enough just to make one for the first time.

It really doesn't feel like it'd be worth it just for maybe a handful of people or less to join it but I still really want a Discord space to get to talk about it and locked restricted access channels for general ns4w and f*tish would be a good way to do that. That way it's fine if there's only a few people, they'll still be other people in the other channels. I've found there's a way to lock the ns4w channels so the wrong people can't get into them. (And whether I allow minors in sfw channels or not, I also don't want to let every adult in the ns4w ones too easily) Plenty of servers I've been in have seemed to manage this quite well, it should work out okay.

The whole point of the server is for the opportunity to create a place of comfort and freedom to discuss this version of Eggman, as there aren't any servers focused on them that I know of. Part of that freedom is also to have the place to discuss ns4w in different ways than Twitter and Tumblr, so to not include them would pretty much defeat a huge part of the purpose, as the ns4w space is also important to me. I want to believe that it can work out being in the same server with careful management and restricted access in place. I really hope it does.

[spikeinthepunch]

your cryptoalia post about vehicles is interesting! I love seeing how people world build like this, with such freedom and then where they end up. From my personal experience, something is missing for me though - bikes! I couldn't imagine a world without that kind of easy personal short range vehicle, so I'm interested whether you have considered it all.

Another thing that stood out for me is "work" vehicles like garbage trucks or tractors for field work. How does that work?

I'm asking because I find it fun to talk about this stuff but please tell me to fuck off if I'm bothering you lol

thank you! and im am so glad to have anyone ask further about the ideas! honestly it helps me further develop, since i dont always think about certain questions people would have on the outside. its good to bounce off others when they question things i just dont think of.

very good to question non-motorized vehicles like bikes, so much of my world has been built around a mysterious "energy source". the world basically relies on this energy source for everyday functions and it is known to be 100% reliable, and generally not questioned to use things outside of it due to convenience.

buuut its not like things like pushed skooters and pedal bikes havent existed (the influence on human history would not have been old enough to stop that from existing)-- rather they likely fell out of style greatly because of the convenience of electric vehicles. still, thats not to say theyre gone i think. people have interest in vintage history, or some may want to do something outside of the "system". overall, motorcycles are likely the only thing you'll find if you were to try and buy a "bike" and even then it'd be locked into the digital system tracking all tethered vehicles. so to consider something powered by your body would be to deny the ease of current life, and that could lead to be further thinking about those who dont want to follow the near utopia like system-- but. back to vehicles

body powered things like that, may have more levels of strictness in certain areas. because for our main setting (the most strict of places as Elias oversees it directly) tracking tethered vehicles and the way theyre used is important- hacking it, going off road in specific areas, etc result in fines or potentially jail time depending on what youre doing. body powered vehicles like bicycles cant be tracked.... so, thats a problem. most people would wonder why tf youre using something body powered anyways because energy powered bikes are so much easier, mostly when they put you on a track you can just follow with ease! i wouldnt say youd get thrown in jail just for having one lol- youre allowed to indulge in them and say theyre hobbies- and youre allowed to ride them on the tracks provided-- but like anyone else youd be greatly fined for doing something already considered illegal, but maybe with the added consequence of it being taken away from you too.

onto other things though- yes, i didnt really specify other kinds of work vehicles (was on my mind but didnt think to elaborate).

all kinds of work vehicles- like for construction, mail, garbage etc work a bit differently in order to conserve on space. those vehicles as we know are big, and the world has become very tight due to the lack of parking lots and roads.

Garbage trucks dont exactly exist in the same way and are entirely automated- not run by people. for ease of access these automated garbage trucks follow a specific invisible track in order to reach all households and trash containers. they aren't "untethered" in a traditional sense, because they are automated and their paths are predetermined. trash is gathered in specific areas/containers, which is where the garbage truck picks it up.

mail is also automated entirely (but post offices exist still) in a similar fashion as garbage trucks.

for things like.. forklifts, cranes, etc etc- a lot of the time, these vehicles are also automated to come degree, with users actually managing them outside of the vehicle itself (in an office/building where the company owns it). why? think of it this way-- the cities have become very compact in order to fit everything into it. the tracks for subways/trains and individual vehicles take up a lot less space which means more buildings. more buildings and way less roads means everything squashed together. when something needs to be built or taken down in such an area, precision it key and so is making your vehicles super small in order to actually work. Too small and skinny to want to put a person into it- it costs more, it can be dangerous, etc...!

theres probably more i could expand on in this department too-- as work related vehicles turns me to... farming etc... is that automated too? to some level, again yeah. its not to say those kinds of labor jobs dont exist in this world- i am heavily focusing on the current setting which is probably the most "advanced" in this regard, while other countries may not do everything this way because of money/scale/etc. Cryptolalia's world is... supposed to come off like a "utopia" where things are "easy and safe" even if a little strict in places, but often places that dont matter much to those who live there. lots of jobs are admittedly, office jobs... management, organization, political, etc with lots of labor falling out of style unless someone has a passion for it. but that will be a blog post for another day unless anyone is curious about something specific lol.

[lesbianmaxevans]

ok just finished sex education s4, so disorganized thoughts

I like most of the new characters -- I adore aisha and abbi especially. joanna was insufferable. I wanted to like o, but the writers clearly wanted her to be the "villain" this season and she was so underhanded for like 75% of the season and then we're supposed to accept her apology and get over it in the last 2 episodes which didn't work for me

why did so many characters from the previous seasons disappear????? where was ola????? rahim???? steve??? layla???? I missed them so much.

CAN I GET A HELL YEAH FOR AIMEE/ISAAC? also aisha/cal was so *chefs kiss*. adam/jem was also cute.

glad to see abusive partners being discussed, but like damn why was that storyline given to vivienne??? I feel like the writers always throw so much bad stuff at her like can she just have a good time for more than one episode?

I DESERVED JACKSON/VIV ENDGAME!!!

adam working at the farm was really cute. I love seeing his passion for animals. I don't like that this means that we didn't see him with the other students tho.

jackson's screentime being devoted to a cancer scare was. very weird. I guess it fits with him having anxiety and diving into that but idk I didn't like it. his other plot being him trying to find his dad was fine, but the resolution was really disappointing imo

jean is still one of the worst parents of all time, I'm glad otis was allowed to chew her out a bit, even if the narrative wanted to make him seem unreasonable.

otis/maeve has been annoying as shit for 3 seasons so I'm completely fine with them having goodbye sex and ending things lmao

maeve + isaac friendship my beloved!!! cal + eric + aisha + abbi + roman friend group my beloved!!!!

cal + jackson's dynamic in s3 was one of my fave things, I can't believe that they only shared like 3 scenes this season -_-

adam and his father's arcs of unlearning their harmful behaviors was really lovely, even if I'm slightly annoyed to see so much effort going into redeeming abusive white dudes (especially when some of the other villified characters (from more marginalized backgrounds) did not recieve nearly as much sympathy from the writers)

ncuti!!!!!! so glad he's getting so many opportunities now he was incredible in the final season even if I feel very ???? about his storyline

maeve going places with her writing is so 🥰

the sit-in protest for isaac was so sweet!!!! and very important for isaac and aisha to both discuss their grievances with their accessibility needs not being thought of by the school

liked it well enough but the completely new school setting and a bunch of characters who had been important in previous seasons + a whole lot of brand new people made it quite jarring. I think it'd be even more so if I did a full series rewatch without the hiatus breaks. wrapped things up for maeve, otis, and eric pretty decently, I feel like most of the other characters didn't get as much closure.

[sortyourlifeoutmate]

The BBC's coverage of Gaza remains, ah, sub-optimal, but I do have a certain level of respect for Jeremy Bowen, one of their guys over there. He's clear that he's not where he wants to be for reporting and he's not especially strident in his tone (this is the BBC, after all) but you can tell, I think, that he's under few illusions about the situation.

I'd rather be writing this story in the Gaza Strip, not Jerusalem. After many years of covering wars, since El Salvador in 1989, I'm convinced that nothing beats first-hand reporting. Unfortunately, in this terrible war, international journalists can't do that. Israel and Egypt, the two countries that control Gaza's borders, do not want us in there, reporting freely. Israel allows some closely supervised visits with its army. I have been on only one, back in November. Since we cannot get in, we rely on Palestinian journalists who can't get out. I have huge admiration for their courage and dedication to truthful reporting.

I can understand why Israel isn't letting journalists in, but I'm slightly confused by Egypt won't. Either Israel leans on them not to, or else it'd just be a hassle they can't be bothered with. Other than that I'm not sure what might be stopping them from doing so. Sure they have their reasons.

Israel claims what [aid and humanitarian relief] goes in is adequate. International aid groups say on top of the fact that innocent civilians in Gaza are being killed and wounded, they are also being starved and deprived of medical treatment. The Geneva Convention says that punishing civilians for crimes they did not commit amounts to collective punishment, which is a war crime.

Cough cough hint hint he's not saying that Israel isn't letting enough in he's just saying that they're saying they are and everyone else is saying they're not. So. You know. Work with that. Oh, also, he's also reminding us all that if they were doing what they might be doing that it would be, you know, a war crime. Just hypothetically.

The Americans have since 7 October urged Israel to respect the laws of war in Gaza, specifically to stop killing so many Palestinian civilians. The fact that American officials, from President Biden downwards, keep repeating and strengthening their criticisms shows they believe Israel has ignored them.

Mean, why else would they keep having to repeat themselves?

Then he quotes Blinken a bit, saying a lot of stuff that sounds fine but is, you know, profoundly useless, particularly because:

Even so, the US has chosen not to attach conditions to its huge military and diplomatic support for Israel. It continues to supply Israel with weapons, even though it does not approve of the way that they are being used.

Quite.

Air strikes already kill many people in Rafah, but despite American calls for restraint, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has ordered the army to attack the town once it has a plan to move Palestinian civilians out of Rafah. Since nowhere in Gaza is safe, residents do not find that reassuring. Perhaps Mr Netanyahu is trying to mollify Mr Biden.

I do love all this reported talks of 'plans' because it's all clearly bollocks. Moving any amount of people is difficult. Moving over a million starving, freezing, exhausted people when there is literally nowhere safe to move them is impossible. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it, it is impossible, assuming you want to do it properly. Which I have my doubts about.

Like, their plan before for getting civilians 'safely' out of the way of their attacks was basically to throw a bunch of messages at them saying "Go to these places or die" and then just bomb mostly everywhere anyway. And that led to this. So my faith is not exactly towering in their capabilities.

Israel has set a high bar for victory that might be unattainable, even over many months. It wants to wipe out Hamas, restore Israel's security and free the hostages Hamas took on 7 October. Many of the families of Israelis held in Gaza and their supporters do not buy the prime minister's argument that only force will free the hostages. 

Given that the IDF a day or two ago admitted that their airstrikes had killed some more of the hostages - so I heard - and that they fairly spectacularly shot some of the hostages a few weeks ago, this seems a reasonable position to take. Remember when hostages did get released? How did that happen? Did it start with a 't' and end in an 'ruce'? Maybe you should consider that?

No? Just more bombing and tanks? You sure? Well, alright. Tell me how that works out.

(Also there is something very grim about the IDF having to paw through mass graves and heaps of corpses to check for hostages. That's a bad sign, you'd think. You'd think that'd make you question your approach.)

The Americans are trying to construct a path to a peaceful future in the Middle East. Secretary of State Blinken has laid out a vision of Saudi Arabia normalising relations with Israel, if the Israelis allow the Palestinians to have an independent state of their own. Prime Minister Netanyahu says Palestinian independence will not happen. He insists Israel will press on until it achieves "total victory".

The yawning gulf between the present Israeli leadership and basically every single other world leader is quite something. There's a divide between those who do or don't blame America (rightly, let's be honest) for the continuation of the conflict but other than that it seems like everyone in the world wants the war to end and most everyone in the world thinks a two-state solution is the way towards that.

And you have the main guy from one of the states in question flat-out saying "No."

Like, what are you meant to do with that? Nothing, apparently. Just keep asking them to stop committing maybe-war-crimes? Great work.

But yes. Jeremy Bowen. Doing the best he can from where he is.

[ink-stained-words]

-It'd be an early flight, because I dislike flights in the afternoon, it takes up the day in an unhelpful way

-Which means I'll be annoying & make us get to the airport unreasonably early

-I'll buy you a silly neck pillow thing so you can take a nap if you want. Or, more likely, I'll buy you coffee & a monster as an apology for making you wake up at 345am

-I don't understand the appeal of neck pillows. They're not comfortable. As far as Things To Sleep On Upright goes, it's like. Other people's shoulders (always in very low supply, sadly), a wall, literally everything else, & then neck pillows

-They're deeply uncomfortable

-But I digress. Airports are less busy super early so security won't take too terribly long to navigate

-We can people watch while we wait. Find the people with the strangest outfits. Or the people who's clothes we'd steal

-I saw someone with a very cool coat at an airport once & nearly sent a picture to you. Figured it'd be weird to take a picture of someone, though

-Then we could walk to the gate & walk down all the fun hallways with the lines on the ground that bump into our suitcases, & they'll make the fun clicky noises

-I like airport hallways. I genuinely love them

-Then we can find nice seats in the terminal (such things do not exist but let me dream) and set our bags down as if we won't need to pick them right back up to go get breakfast

-Bc c'mon, we don't think anything through

-Then we can find a nice food shop even if it means we have to walk to the other side of the airport for something we both feel like eating

-I repeat, I *love* airport hallways, we'll be there super early & have time to kill, we can go exploring

-Then we can actually get on the plane & sit for Forever & it'll be very boring, but friends always have more fun on flights

-It's fun watching them sometimes. Sharing a book or headphones (we could have Spotify hours!!) & being very quiet as the other takes a nap & laughing at jokes a bit too loudly

-It'll be such a long flight

-We'll have to play every single silly game, like hangman on the back of the napkin the flight attendant brings with the snack things

-We will definitely bring our own snacks. Overpriced airport snacks, whoo

-We'll get very bored. Restless & anxious

-But we'll also both be restless & anxious, meaning you don't have to glance over to the other people who are doing Perfectly Fine & feel weird bc why are you having an awful time when they're all vibing

-So it'll be. I dunno. Validating

-Spiritiually I'm giving you a hug or simply holding your hand for all the anxious boring awful parts of the flight, when time starts dragging on for forever & time feels wrong & everything's awful

-Our hands would get extremely sweaty bc flights are always both too hot and too cold, but that's fine

-Landing in new airports is fun. More things to look at

-More hallwayssss

-And then we can drag out suitcases along all of the click clack lines on the ground & up escalators & stuff & rent a car bc I'll be damned if I can't by then

-Stupid fucking car rental laws

-Then we can drive to the hotel or just get coffee if we haven't completely crashed yet, & we'll just

-Be there. In a place where the schedule & structure is entirely decided by us. No planning things around people, hoping they stay on task

-We can drink boba & sit in the pool & I'll inevitably get a bit sunburnt & you're not allowed to laugh at me for it (I know you wouldn't, but it's funnier to say it)

-We could watch boring movies in the hotel room before giving up & crowding around a phone & watching Netflix

-I miss listening to your commentary

-I wonder how nice our hotel would be

-Maybe it'll have a mini fridge

-I'll wake up early & try very hard not to wake you up & fill it up with monsters & vitamin water (bc I also should probably drink things)

-I might bring my laptop for tv things. That'd be fun. You can watch me finish Portal 2 since it's taken me More Than A Year to complete it

-I'll work more on it tmrw when I get home

-We could find tiny shops to walk around

-Window shoppinggg

-I'll buy you a souvenir stuffie

-Much more fun than a magnet

-You can collect them & give them silly names based on one of the best silly inside joke things we did during that trip

-Sylas I could've bought you one at Sequoia. You could've named it Everything Bagel. Sylassss this is a tragedy

-What would the one from our sleepover have been named

-I need ideas, that was your trip, what stood out the most from that visit for you, I was very very sleepy for most of it

-Sleepy in a very content way that means that I found *everything* hilarious & couldn't possibly pick out one thing

-But yes back to the trip. We'll be broke college students but we'll have enough money to do some nice fun things

-We can get ice cream or literally anything we want. Boba twice in the same day. Spontaneous movie time bc we have 2 hrs to kill & that silly horror movie can't be *that* terrible

-Coffee potionnnnn

-And going to the beach as late as we can bc maybe there'll be a sunset, beach sunsets are so so pretty

-We're definitely going to a beach

-I dislike sand but we have to build a sandcastle

-What should our castle be named, I'm deeply curious. The combined architectual efforts of Sylas & Lauren

-That should be its title

-And yes your name goes first, it always does. Fuck the alphabet. Molly goes before Yasha so Sylas goes before Lauren, I'm rearranging the letters

-Greeks or whoever invented it did so a long time ago & it could do with some revamping

-First on the agenda: L goes after S. But before J

-That's the entire agenda

-We still need to go to one of those photo booths in the mall

-I need one for my wall, & yours can go on your wall

-I feel it's very unfair that you have multiple Polaroids of me & I have none of you

-Tragic

-We would go through a lot of polaroid film on a trip

-I'd see a squirrel & become very emotionally attached to it & need a picture of my brand new second bestest friend

-You'll still outrank the squirrel, don't worry

-Anyways I'm rambling. I hope your trip is good. I know for absolute certain that the London part will be, & I'm so so excited for you

-But I hope all of it is nice. You could even have vc nights with Ronan! I'll still say g'night like I always do, but it'll be at the wrong time. Apologies for the silly time zone things

-We'll go on an adventure some day

-You'll have to deal with me getting excited by silly things like clouds out the window or mountains or *water* & airport hallways & escalators & people walking by with cool coats

-It'll be brilliant. We'll walk all the way to the other side of the airport to get the perfect snacks & talk the entire way, there and back, surprising no one

-Everyone will be very annoyed with our existence

-I'm very happy that you exist. I love you

-And thus concludes the list about travel things

[gaycey-sketchit]

(Gary anon) And considering how many subsections of Pokemon exist, clashing of opinions isn't limited to just the main series' numbered gens or mechanics. (In some ways, it does make it 'easier' to stay a corner than constantly being thrust into the equivalent of town square like more niche franchises. We can all be happy about a new gen, and then quickly go back to our spaces until more news) Something that gives the fandom some fuel to play with, but without the sense of egotism and

.

(Part 2) entitlement. Though I do wonder what would resonate more, Adult Ash's design or his voice? (Plus a whole new protagonist would allow them to do different things they couldn't really do with Ash, despite the many barriers he broke. It'd take time, but with the right care, they can make their own legacy) Definitely not against more Chronicle-like episodes, it's just Gary in particular I don't see being a upfront mainstay. Works better in short bursts.

(Part3) (I'd love more Ash/Gary interactions, but stuff like Oak, Tracey, Dawn, Goh and Project Mew were a nice way to give him more sides. Him staying with the same group that has one goal for too long kinda hinders that, imo) Since they have a history, Goh and Tokio deciding to be a traveling duo would be a good endgame for both. Whether they stay with Project Mew or go on their own. (If what I'm hearing is true, and it seems like it, Alain is about to fed to a shark instead)

(Part 4) Giving it some thought for a long while, I get why they did this to avoid redundancy. No repeat final matchups. (It really just depends on long the PWC is, I doubt the Mew search will be as long) It is the only battle format they never fought in, I just don't know if it will stand out other than just being them battling again. (As we discussed, a 1v1 after possibly winning the PWC would leave a bad taste in the mouth to the fandom if Gary slams Ash a 3rd time after a big win like this)

(Part 5) (And even if it were Blastoise/Umbreon vs Pikachu, Ash winning really wouldn't mean much with this current win streak) Since it's been 20 years since that Johto fight, it'd be nice if they had a climax that felt more "them" than another game reference.(Ending JN with Ash's first rival just seems symbolic. With a tie to show they still got work to do) But for a 6v6, we'd need 2.5-3 episodes at best. (Yeah, it was 4 technically. Unless you want to count the Arcanine/Bayleef race as a 5th)

Yeah.

It does make things easier in some ways, yeah. And I honestly do my best to ignore what 90% of the fandom is saying anyway, I only really care what my friends and mutuals think about anything.

Yeah. I wonder, would they recast for an older Ash? Or would the current VAs still do it? I can't imagine Rica Matsumoto being removed from a role she's done for 25 years (and I've heard recasting a character while their current VA is alive is considered an insult in Japan). (And while I have... Opinions about Sarah Natochenny, I think her voice acting is fine and her Ash, particularly back in Battle Frontier and DP, sounded older anyway.)

True. While parting with Ash would hurt, a new protagonist with a different personality could have their own path to take things in a new direction.

Fair. While he may spend some time with the Project Mew team, I fully expect him to eventually go his own way, like he parted with the research teams he worked with on Sayda and in Sinnoh.

Yeah, Goh and Tokio ending up traveling together would be a good way for them to depart when Journeys draws to a close.

Oh, well RIP Alain then I guess. XY fandom might not be too pleased about that but I'm fine with it, I never saw XY so I can't say I cared too much about him in the first place.

Yeah, fair. Avoiding redundancy is good.

Yeah, I suppose so. Guess we'll see how it goes.

If a 3v3 is the best we can hope for at this point, it's what I'll hope for for sure. I feel like it'd be enough to stand out by virtue of being the first real battle between them in so many years.

Yeah, very much agreeing with that. A battle that's distinctly them, Ash facing his first rival again, would be the perfect way to conclude Journeys. Journeys had so many callbacks, why not come full circle? And a draw would be the best way for it to end--they still have plenty to learn on their respective paths.

Good to know I didn't forget any, then! But wow, they really only battled four times and one was just basically just the first battle from Pokemon Yellow. Here's to them getting to battle a fifth time!