#ngl this finale is not what i was expecting

[eriqueclaudin]

hello??? jay and little destiny??? baby finn??? pep tank??? like im glad theyre okay but WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED....

[5hrignold]

reminder

[tabooi]

going to hold back from making any judgements until we have good pictures of all or most of the characters but erm..

[kaiiscottage]

☆. Preview pics for the 12th and last episode of Bucchigiri?! + preview vid :”)!!

[dangaer]

YOU CAME / YOU CALLED. is such a godtier dynamic i will not elaborate.

[multiversal-pudding]

Dumb/crack Roblox Pressure idea:

Sebastian getting 3 fingered webbed/shelled hands treated as body horror… except its working with the blocky player model instead of assuming he starts as human. The body horror is him growing hands in the first place /j

[woodsborostabathon]

pondering the kirsch siblings orb yet again and you really cannot convince me that quinn would not have been moving like depression era bella in new moon from the moment she even FOUND OUT richie was moving to modesto...

[get-more-bald]

the fuck do you mean I have to leave....

[tomwambsmilk]

really curious to see how people's finale opinions will develop once we get some distance.... personally I feel like I'm still reeling so hard from the gut-level emotional response that it's difficult to really assess or analyze it esp. within the framework of the whole show and I kind of wonder if others feel the same

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2024: THE GIRL IN RED by Christina Henry.

We took a trip to Red River Gorge this weekend, and I both started and finished this book while we were there! It was a very speedy read.

While I did really enjoy the genre-savvy protag, I was expecting more Wolf Presence in a Little Red Riding Hood retelling, either literally or metaphorically (I mean, come on, look at that cover??). There were a couple references to (metaphorical) wolves and one coyote-man comparison early on (also metaphorical), but it felt like the Wolf Motif mostly was dropped, which was an Interesting Choice™, given that the plot entire was Red walking through an apocalypse and the forest to her grandmother's house. (Yes, she really goes by Red, which is not her name--she just really likes her red outerwear.)

This was also much more ongoing-apocalypse than post-apocalypse, and said apocalypse is referred to in-book as "the Cough" (publication date: June 2019?? wild). Family Units are endangered and fall sick on page, be warned! In addition to the Cough, there's also quite a bit of gore (via both brutal axe murders (self defense) and chest bursting a la Alien (which is the in-book comparison lol--see "genre-savvy protag")(admittedly this chest bursting subplot did feel very What The Hell Is This Fresh Bullshit, and not exactly cohesive with the rest of the story...not sure why that's in there lmao)).

Again: Quick read! Not super complicated or twisty, but it was a nice simple read after making it through THE BITCH QUEEN CHRONICLES, and I'm glad I read it for my own LRRH retelling reasons.

[fragmentedblade]

I've actually found a coherent (negative) criticism on Jingli.u's quest!! Wow!! It's in Chinese on weibo

This user said her behaviour is very double standard. That she criticises and condemns both Dan Fen.g and Yingx.ing severely for trying to bring back Bai.heng in any way, but then she goes to visit Bail.u and tells her that seeing her is better than any medicine. And the user is right! That's exactly why they did what they did (well, I've always been of the opinion that Dan Fen.g had more reasons going on based on the in game information), so why the insistent asking to Blade?

The user also says that Jingliu doesn't really behave at all like a friend, that while very believable that she loved and was close to Bai.heng, it's hard to believe the same thing when it comes to Yingxi.ng and Dan Fen.g. They said that nowadays we still see instances through the Xianzhou in which they are both spoken about in positive terms, that Yingxi.ng is talked about as a legendary furnace master, and we can even stumble upon good opinions on Dan Fen.g, but that Jingli.u never shows that kind of understanding for people in theory she loved, knew personally and was close to.

I don't agree entirely with this, I do think there was a lot of fondness from Jingliu shining through despite everything (especially towards Yin.gxing, in my opinion), but I do think it's a somewhat fair criticism. I loved how they mention that despite everything the Xianzhou's view on Yingxin.g and Dan Fen.g isn't just negative. They're right, and it's a detail I love.

[lesbianlenas]

have to be real & honest w u….they post who gets the highest grade in each class & this one girl got the highest grade in our writing class both semesters and i had peer reviewed her one assignment last semester like our big assignment & i do not get it……like if my professor wants me to write like that i do not want an A 😶 she had like 30 cases she cited and would write like a single sentence on each case or just like a parenthetical her writing was so hard to read bc she put way too much info i’m like how is she getting an A w that. like i was peer reviewing it w another girl & she was also like u use too many cases i’m mot crazy 😭 and like even my dean’s fellows were like u should find 3 or 4 good cases to use i guess this is why my professor did not enjoy my legal writing bc i didn’t use 20 cases 😔 sorry i 1. don’t have the will for that and 2. try to make my writing comprehensible. guess that is not what they want in law school 😩

[pippytmi]

Wildmoore Week 2023 Day 4: Nightclub/ “You think the dj/band takes requests?” / (+ a soulmate AU where the first words your soulmate ever says is on each other’s wrists)

/////

There is nothing, Ryan decides, quite as bleak as a public restroom in a nightclub.

The floor is wet with remnants of rainwater from outside, the bass is bumping so loud the walls shake with it, and someone is humming entirely off-beat in one of the stalls in a manner that is distinctively—wait.

“Mary? Are you…good?”  

“Uh-huh,” Mary sing-songs from wherever she's at. “This is so fun, Ryan. Isn't it so fun?”

Ryan finishes washing her hands, but there's no paper towels left in the dispenser and she has to shake her hands out over the sink in a futile attempt to dry them. “Yeah,” she agrees haltingly. “So fun.” On the mirror, someone has taken a Sharpie to the glass to write their Instagram handle, and it shows up on Ryan’s forehead like a taunt. 

Honestly, she had expected something more…fancy for tonight's festivities, not this club-bordering-on-dive-bar that Kate Kane has selected. But this is Mary's favorite sister and maid of honor they're talking about, so Ryan will wisely keep all such thoughts to herself tonight.

(Even the fact that this is the strangest turnout for a bachelorette party she's ever seen).

Mary comes stumbling (read: banging) out of her stall. “We should do shots,” she gasps, as if this is an epiphany she's just had and not a repeat of the very first sentence she'd uttered when they arrived.

“Sure,” Ryan agrees, and waits patiently as Mary joins her at the sinks.

“And we'll save one for Sophie.”

Sophie Moore is the only elusive bridesmaid that Ryan has yet to meet. Not the last to arrive, though; Kate hasn't even deigned to show up yet. Only Alice—Mary's other sister—is waiting for them back at the bar. Truth be told, Ryan isn’t quite sure what to make of her. Alice always makes snide comments about Ryan's clothes and always, always seems to undercut Mary's fun with snark, but Mary tends to excuse it. She likes to fall back on the fact that Alice has become somewhat of a bitter person since her soulmate died; Ryan might not understand since she's never met her own soulmate, but she's pretty much of the ideology that nothing excuses being an asshole.

Kate Kane not showing up to her sister’s bachelorette despite picking the location trumps all of that tonight, though. Mary hasn't said anything about it, but Ryan has already decided she'll glare at Kate all night to make up for it.

“So who is Sophie, again?” Ryan remembers to ask as they squeeze out past the bathroom line and back into the deafening bass of the club.

“My dad’s favorite child,” Mary has to half-shout. “He was seriously devastated when she and Kate broke up.”

“Wait. One of your bridesmaids…is your sister’s ex?” Ryan says, bewildered. “Isn’t that—I don't know. Kind of awkward for them?”

“Aw, no, we love Sophie. And she and Kate are cool! Trust me, you'll love her.”

The topic of Sophie is quickly forgotten by the time they rejoin Alice at the bar for another round of tequila shots. Three shots in, Ryan is finally feeling a warm buzz, and she's loose enough to allow Mary to drag her into the crowd to dance. (Alice is there too, but she can ignore that.) She can even ignore the music, which has been a strange mix of either 90’s hip-hop or weird 70’s disco. 

“You think the DJ takes requests?” Ryan turns to yell at Mary, but she ends up shouting this at a complete stranger behind her instead—a very pretty complete stranger, whose brown eyes grow impossibly wide as she catches the question.

“Oh my God, Sophie!” Mary is suddenly catching said stranger into a frantic, tipsy hug. “Ryan, this is—oh my God this is my song! Alice! This is my song!”

Ryan fondly watches Mary drag Alice into an one-sided hug, swaying them back and forth to “Stayin’ Alive,” and knows in an instant that anyone sober will absolutely not survive tonight; she takes pity on Sophie Moore and leans in to close enough to say,

“Hey, I’ll go get you a drink!”

She carefully extracts herself from the throngs of sweaty dancers, all too grateful to escape, and nabs a seat at the somewhat-quieter bar. The bartender is high in demand tonight, but he still makes time to toss over his shoulder, 

“What can I get you?”

“Two shots of Patron,” Ryan says, fishing for a twenty from her wallet. The one perk of this place is cheap enough drinks that otherwise would have cost her twice the amount. 

He nods at her, harried, and Ryan leans her arm against the sticky wood to wait. She casts a curious glance back to where Mary might be, but is surprised when she sees Sophie instead, walking over with a strange look on her face.

Ryan tilts her head questioningly, but is not kept in suspense long; Sophie comes to a resolute stop before Ryan, wringing her hands together, before she speaks. 

“This,” Sophie says, “is officially the weirdest night of my life.”

Well Ryan can officially second that thought, because those words might as well have been imprinted in her mind. That is her soulmark. That means Sophie Moore, the fabled ex of Mary’s sister, is her soulmate.

“Wait,” Ryan says, “are you—?” She is holding out her arm in a second, and Sophie is matching her pose. Sure enough, there are the words you think the DJ takes requests right on Sophie’s wrist. “Well shit.”

For a moment, all they can seem to do is stare at each other. Sophie is, impossibly, even prettier up close. Perfect eyebrows, heart-shaped face, parted lips in open surprise; she is simultaneously everything and yet nothing like Ryan anticipated.

“I was not expecting this,” Sophie says, her brow crinkling in distress. “Fuck, I almost didn’t show up today. It’s a goddamn miracle I even—” She pauses. “I didn’t get your name.”

Ryan would laugh, if she weren’t equally as shell-shocked. “Ryan,” she says. “I’d ask how you know the bride, but…”

Sophie winces. “Right,” she mumbles. “You can imagine why I wasn’t crazy about showing up.”

“Oh you’re good, Kate never even came,” Ryan says unthinkingly, and immediately wonders if she’s said something wrong by the way Sophie eyes her strangely.

“She’s…actually the DJ,” Sophie informs her. “She plays the last Saturday of every month here.”

“Damn,” Ryan blinks, “and here I thought she was just a flake.” She is slightly relieved to know Kate did not abandon Mary, but still: “Hold on, did she seriously throw a bachelorette party for her sister at her job? That’s kind of…”

“Shitty?” Sophie finishes knowingly, and this time, Ryan does laugh. Thankfully Sophie does too, a kind of sheepish, shared understanding of the situation.

“Well, Mary’s having fun at least,” Ryan says. “And Alice hasn’t murdered anyone, which must be a new personal record, or something.” A flash of movement to her right momentarily distracts her—the bartender has finally had a chance to pour the shots, and Ryan hands them off to Sophie. “Here. I think you need both of these.”

Sophie’s expression twists, ever-so-slightly, into trepidation. “Thanks,” she says, slowly easing into the first, and then grimacing and shooting back the second once the first seems to hit. “God, I haven’t had tequila in forever. That’s vile.”

“Really? I even sprang for the good stuff,” Ryan says, shifting over so Sophie can join her in leaning against the bar.

“I’m more of a vodka girl, I guess,” Sophie sighs, and takes the unspoken invitation to move closer.

There is something thrilling about it, to have a soulmate. Ryan knows, logistically, that she has always had one. But meeting her—seeing her—is something different, and Ryan is inexplicably on the edge of her seat. Her stomach is somersaulting, her heart is hammering, as if the mere proximity of Sophie Moore is a drug.

“This is weird,” Ryan feels the need to announce. Or at least, her mouth certainly seems to think so, already one step ahead of her head. “Does it feel weird to you?”

“I think,” Sophie says slowly, “if it didn’t feel weird, then that would be even weirder. If that makes sense.”

“It does,” Ryan says. Her arm is brushing against Sophie’s ever so often, and Ryan feels herself itching to close the distance altogether. “Everyone used to make fun of my soulmark, you know. They’d say I was going to be the worst date.”

“That couldn’t have been worse than being told ‘maybe you’ll meet your soulmate today’ at every single event where there was a DJ,” Sophie muses. “That was only, oh…every single party in existence.” 

Ryan pauses to consider this. “Okay, you win.”

Sophie smiles with the corner of her mouth, and she gazes at Ryan from under those long, pretty eyelashes, and yeah—Ryan’s a goner. Shit. This really could not be the worst time to meet her soulmate. She always imagined something more romantic, like standing in the rain while meeting eyes. Or bumping into each other in a nice restaurant, hands brushing against each other in a lucky accident. Or, really, anywhere that does not have drunkards screaming along to YMCA while the scent of spilled rum lingers in the air.

“Should we go find Mary?” Sophie asks. “She’s probably going to be looking for us.”

“Maybe, yeah,” Ryan is reluctant to agree. But when Sophie takes a solitary, expectant step, all Ryan knows in that instant is she doesn’t want to go back. “Unless…we could get out of here. Walk around, get some tacos until they’re done here.”

Sophie’s smile melts into something gentler. Something curious. “Kind of like a date?” she prompts.

“It…could be.”

There’s a split second where Sophie sways right into her again, so close their faces almost touch when she leans down. Her breath is warm against Ryan’s ear when she whispers apologetically, “I think we might be even shittier friends than Kate if we ditch Mary.”

“Right. No, that makes sense,” Ryan is loathe to admit. “Especially if we leave her with Alice.”

“Exactly.” From the way Sophie suddenly frowns, it’s clear she must be remembering her own sour encounter with Alice. “But, um, if you’re not doing anything next weekend, my friend is kind of getting married…maybe you’d like to be my plus one?” There’s a hint of shyness in the way she shifts back, in the way her gaze darts anxiously over Ryan’s face, and Ryan’s lungs burn with her ensuing rush of relief.

Hell, Ryan even manages a joke of her own, just about ready to bite through her bottom lip in an effort to keep a grin at bay. “You know,” she says, “I think I can manage that. We might even be going to the same place now that I think about it…”

“Wow,” Sophie plays along, her gaze soft and undeniably hopeful, as they melt back into the crowd together. “Talk about a coincidence.”

Or fate, Ryan thinks, but the words go unsaid; they settle instead in their linked hands, in the shared glances they exchange the rest of the night, in the way neither is willing to say goodbye when 2 A.M. rolls around.

(The promise, however…that remains).

[sevenyeargap]

.

[shawcl]

4.2 looks fucking INSANE

[astrxealis]

sorry for rambling so much about milgram btw my thoughts are often a mess and i think too much about it but i am good now i think <3