#sad for her! best ending.

[adelaidedrubman]

why does it always have to be wednesday

tagged today my dears @socially-awkward-skeleton @direwombat @inafieldofdaisies today to share a wip! thank you my beloveds

sadly i haven’t had the brain functioning to make progress on anything much besides the sexless kinktober oneshot i won’t inflict on the general masses, so you’re getting some older america’s sweetheart epilogue that was written/occurs before the excerpt i posted last week from the same scene (and which i also posted a small excerpt of before unprompted)

Long, wild cascades of copper dyed deep crimson fluttered in the wind, a too-bold contrast against the rich green of the pines to grant Jestiny any semblance of stealth as she ran.  She made a futile effort at weaving herself into the shadows, darting in the thick of the forest where trees grew denser.  Her own heavy panting drowned out the crunch of footsteps against brittle grass, so that she had to glance quickly over her shoulder to see how close he’d managed to follow her — too close, the glint of a silver blade popping out from the tree trunk behind her. 

She ducked — just in time for sharpened steel to bury itself into bark rather than her skull. But her efforts at bolting further forward were still met with pain splitting along her skull —an ear-splitting shriek burst from Jestiny’s lips as she found her long hair caught and twisted in a low-hanging branch.  “Divine intervention,” the knife-wielding man exclaimed with a demented laugh as he caught the hand reaching to yank hair from the branch. “How many times must it happen before you see God is on my side?”  Tears welled in her eyes as she struggled, thrashing her head back and forth in an effort to pull her hair free. “Just get away from me!”  “Oh, Deputy.” John released her wrist, weaving the fingers of the freed hand in the length of taut-pulled hair to grip and shove her against the tree trunk, guiding the tip of the knife to the throb of her jugular. “Did you really think we wouldn’t meet again? That a gang of sinners with badges blazing in to save the day would be the end of it, simple as that?”  “So you’re going to end it now?” she croaked out, defiant, blinking away her tears. “You’re gonna really kill me, this time?” she asked, darting her eyes between gleaming silver and unblinking blue. “Or — Or just skin me alive?”  “Not today,” he answered, tracing the tip of the knife along her jawline, up to the dip beneath her ear. “Your death and your Atonement are yet to be scheduled,” he purred, dripping with sadistic delight as he raised his arm, pulling the fistful of hair high enough she was lifted off the ground by it. “But…”  His eyes finally left hers, ratcheting upwards to focus on the length of hair he held stretched against the trunk of the tree as he muttered, almost as a recitation to himself, “But I need to cut something up…”  With that, he dragged the blade across the copper flattened along the tree — her hair falling to brush along her jaw as she dropped to the ground with the tether she’d hung suspended by severed.  She curled her finger into the brittle grass, balling into fists as she lifted her head to look up at him, tears streaming down her cheeks.  “My hair!” she cried, throwing a hand up in defeat to rain confetti of crushed brown grass to fall onto her lap. “My beautiful, long hair! How could —”  “And so, the Lord had left —”  “Cut!” Jestiny screamed, stomping onto the set before Andrea could move to block her. “I mean, Jesus fucking Christ, pun intended — cut!”  “That was the fourth wig today…” “That was the fourth shitty fucking take today!” Jestiny shouted in reply to the man shuffling his way back to the wardrobe department, before glaring between the actor playing herself and the man cast as John. “I mean — are y’all trying to fucking bomb? This is my life, people!”  “This is my production,” the director said sternly from off set. “And only I say cut. Why do you keep interrupting perfectly good —”  “Because it’s all fucking wrong!” Jestiny bellowed, waving an arm about wildly before taking a hearty gulp from her venti Starbucks cup, the stench of whiskey soaking heavy into the air as she did. “That’s not how any of it fuckin’ happened!”  “Was the line wrong?” Flynn asked, lowering his prop knife. “Did I misquote, or —”  “No, that’s what he said. Word for word.”  “Then did we do something wrong?” Olivia pressed, taking off her wig. “Get something out of order or —” “No,” Jestiny answered. “That’s exactly how things went down when he chased me through the woods and chopped my hair off the day after the arrest.” “Then what’s wrong?” “The whole fucking tone of it, that’s what’s wrong,” she spat, beginning to frantically pace. “It lacks authenticity. It lacks intimacy. It —” She ran a hand through her hair. “Did you even read my memoir?”

tags out to my beloveds @quickhacked @jackiesarch @v0idbuggy @orionlancasterr @stacispratt @8bitpizzacoupons @strangefable @shallow-gravy @roofgeese @florbelles @josephslittledeputy @afarcryfrommymain @poetikat @just-another-wasteland-merc @voidika @captastra @confidentandgood @belorage @deputyash @blissfulalchemist @shellibisshe @thedeadthree @nightbloodbix @ladyofedens-blog @miyabilicious @simplegenius042 @henbased @clicheantagonist @firstaidspray @strafethesesinners + opt in for wip day tags here!

[novantinuum]

somewhere up above the stars the wreckage of a Universe floats past

an AU ancient lonely god Steven I have. his moniker is Astra and I am obsessed with him right now.

[fear-no-mort]

i cant get over the whole time in the real world rick just sat there watching over morty and when he woke up finally rick sounded SO happy the way he just yelled his name excitedly the second he woke up,,,

[unordinary-diary]

Seraphina and Arlo: The Brainwashing of High Tiers

Exposition:

— Remi, Episode 50.

There is a heavy implication that Seraphina and Arlo were raised in much the same way. The pressure on Seraphina comes from her parents, so I’ll extrapolate that the same goes for Arlo. This raises the question: how do the authorities create such a strong societal pressure on such a small percentage of the population? Most high tiers will probably not know any other high tiers besides their parents. Take Wellston Private High School for example: it’s the most prestigious private school around, and canonically has the “highest concentration of high tiers in the region”. There are six high tiers in Wellston. Apply this to god tiers specifically, and there are only three. Not to mention that this current group of students is uniquely strong, even for Wellston. In Rei’s senior year, he was the strongest at 5.8 max.

So much of this brainwashing relies on the parents to do all of the work, and it only takes one or two people to break the cycle. So how are the authorities creating this immense pressure? One tactic could be by isolating high tiers. There is a very widespread concept that one shouldn’t associate with those outside their level range. A caste system like this that affects everyone is much easier to create and maintain than an expectation for a small group, and it also means that high tiers are only being influenced by those who are also high level. This creates an echo chamber. I’ve researched cults and how they brainwash victims, and the first step in the process is isolating them in exactly this way.

But, if there are so few high tiers, how the hell are they supposed be isolated from other groups? The answer is that high tiers are just isolated in general. Take a look at Arlo: his only friend is Remi, and even her, he keeps at an arm’s length. Arlo is only close with Remi in the first place because he was close with Rei, who, at the time of meeting Arlo, was presumably close in level with him. [EDIT: I forgot about Holden, which I think says a lot about his relevance. He is kept at more than an arm’s length and doesn’t seem to have any actual influence on Arlo, let alone a deep relationship. He is also not presented as an equal.] Take a look at Seraphina: before meeting John, she didn’t seem to have any friends other than possibly Arlo. Seraphina and Arlo pre-John seemed to have had more of a professional relationship, and while they were not close in level, Arlo did fit the bill of being a fellow god tier, and strong enough to also be brainwashed.

Now let’s look at Remi. In episode 60, Cecile says to Remi: “And yet here you are... Always hanging around those two monkeys, Blyke and Isen. Letting them treat you as an equal even though you’re in a completely different league.” This struck me as odd because, aside from Cecile herself, the Wellston students closest in level to Remi were Arlo, Blyke, and Isen. And who is she friends with? She actually was doing a pretty good job at following that social convention, unless Cecile wanted to be friends with Remi, which she clearly didn’t. But... her friends were still not close enough to her level. Was she supposed to just not have friends at all? The answer seems to be a resounding yes. Can you think of any genuine friends that Cecile has either?

Friendship simply isn’t considered a necessity for high tiers.

But... why is it that Arlo and Seraphina were brainwashed differently? Creating a societal norm for an isolated group of people is one thing, because those people’s mindsets feed into each other. Putting pressure on individual families to keep them in line, but doing it all in different ways? That would be near impossible. My theory is that Seraphina recieved the typical high tier brainwashing, and that Arlo was raised differently because he was being groomed to work for the authorities. Seraphina didn’t have a set career path planned out for her, but if she’s trying to be “perfect” by the standards of those controlling her, she’s bound to end up going in a direction that pleases them. Arlo on the other hand was specifically planned to become an authority figure. That’s why his brainwashing is so centered on leadership. Also, growing up with direct contact to the authorities makes it more possible for them to customize his brainwashing in this way.

But does all of this apply to high tiers in general, or is it specific to god tiers? Let’s take a look at the high tiers in Wellston. We have Seraphina, John, Arlo, Terrence, Remi, Cecile, and Blyke. John is a unique circumstance because he wasn’t raised by high tiers, so we’ll cross him off the list. Terrence was also unique, so we can cross him off as well. Remi was different from the norm as well. Why is that? Well, Remi actually wasn’t raised by high tiers either. Rei said on screen that both of his parents were elites. We can cross Remi off. Blyke doesn’t fit the bill either, but that’s easy to explain. He was an elite for a large part of the story, and he shot up rather quickly. We don’t know much of his family, but he probably wasn’t expected to be a high tier at all, and was raised as an elite. (All of this also serves to emphasize how much of this brainwashing comes from a person’s parents.) That leaves only Seraphina, Arlo, and Cecile to look at.

Cecile does seem to have high tier brainwashing, but it’s not nearly as intense as with Seraphina and Arlo. She doesn’t seem “obsessive”, and she wasn’t one of the examples Remi mentioned in chapter 50. It’s clear that high tiers are brainwashed in general, but god tiers are kept on a much shorter leash. This makes sense, obviously, because keeping a population in control like that is less necessary the lower the level. However, it’s also a chicken an egg situation: god tiers are both more important to keep in control, and also easier to keep in control. It’s important to note just how many exceptions we had to cross off. People like Remi and Blyke aren’t actually that unusual— a lower leveled high tier is much more likely to have non-high tier parents, or to have not always been a high tier themselves, or just in general, to have way more day-to-day interaction with non-high tiers. The brainwashing gets more and more diffused the lower down the ladder you go.

[moghedien]

Shadowheart cottage ending is wild because her parents went from experiencing torture at the hands of their (brainwashed) daughter for decades to living on a farm with that same daughter who now acts like a goddamn Disney princess with wild animals just following her home

[transthatfag]

theyre doing a sick cover of the winner takes it all

[chemicalarospec]

you've heard of: aroacespec "is this person flirting with me" confusion, now get ready for: Does this person think I'm flirting with them (and also are they flirting "back" with me) because I accidentally bumped into them a lot?

[dualcontrol]

she needs to have fun and be happy and stuff

[myokk]

Okay, question for you- is Eloise’s hair tied at the end and curly, or in a ponytail and curly, or is there no tie and I’m just blind?

I was going to answer this quickly but I am EXTRA & had to do a write-up of her hair (sorry🙏)

First, she normally does wear her hair in a braid!💓 I do NOT know how to draw braids nor do I want to learn, so I do my weird way that looks terrible and I really should spend like 30 min researching😔🙏

When I remember, I like to add the bow but I forget a lot🥲

Her hair is CRAZY and thick, and has been the bane of her existence her whole life. I’m just channeling her inner Black (she is like a great-aunt or something of Sirius and Bellatrix) so OBVIOUSLY i had to give her amazing hair.

Since she is a Proper Young Victorian Lady™️ who spent the last 5 years at a muggle finishing school, she NEVER wears her hair down, and felt scandalized the first weeks at Hogwarts, seeing girls her age wearing TROUSERS😨 and having their hair DOWN😳 and although she’s used to it now, she still feels uncomfortable thinking of herself doing it.

Sebastian daydreams about it all the time though😇🙏

Some quick doodles I sketched up for this así.

1) her crazy hair when it’s down💓🫶

2) Imelda LOVES doing Eloise’s hair. She’s never really had girl friends before, and the ritual of gossiping/doing hair/hanging out reminds Imelda of her childhood bc her mom used to do her hair and tell stories🥹🥹 and Eloise has NEVER had friends before OR the experience with her own (awful) mother so she LOVES IT TOO💓💓💓 (Imelda teaches her Spanish some nights)

[frayedcircus]

secret life smp lizzie designs!!!!

i saw lizzie’s final episodes and immediately lost my mind

she’s living a sad little fairytale and there is significance and tragedy in everything that happens to her !!

sorry everyone else but lizzie is the main character. secret life ended when she died. i don’t make the rules.

pumpkin head, yellow and red life versions below v

(sorry i ended up writing a LOT in the tags whoops)

[swans-chirping-in-the-distance]

Okay so I finally finished merlin. Since I already knew about the sad parts, I was pleasantly surprised at all the fluffier moments and how precious it is to watch arthur truly recognize all merlins done for him. It's not how I would've ended the show but it was a beautiful ending.

[cestacruz]

In F/SR, Chiemon was the victim of the Shimabara Rebellion, his family and his village all died because They were christians

He doesn't ever stop being religious, he still prays to God, even if he has given up everything else

He has no hopes of going to Heaven, so what he wants is to see that Hell he lived again

Because that's what he believes that he deserves

And yet, at the end of the day, the only thing Chiemon wants was to be saved (from the DLC 1, Lancer's Team ending, he prays at (possibly) his mother's grave)

But he can't allow himself that because he doesn't even believe he should have survived at all

Why only him

His mother, his father, all of them killed

And he was the only one who survived

Left in that hell

And then you have Lancer

He prayed her summoning, he started the chant as a prayer

Jeanne, who gave her life to save everyone

Who was fine with being killed because she had saved her country

They are opposites and they are one and the same

[likeabxrdinflight]

you know what kills me as an adult

when cinderella, in the disney version, comes down the stairs in her pink dress, thinking she's filled her end of the bargain and her stepmother will definitely let her come to the ball with them as a full member of the family- the first thing she does is ask for lady tremaine's approval.

"isn't it lovely? do you like it? do you think it will do?" she asks, clearly excited, clearly somehow hopeful that her stepmother will agree despite all evidence that this woman never would have even if the dress was the latest parisian fashion.

because this movie is old school disney there's very little complexity to the narrative or the characters- lady tremaine is evil because she is- but if you think about it, she's also probably the only mother cinderella can remember well. and there must have been a time, before her father died, that lady tremaine pretended to care for her and treated her as a full member of the family.

this scene makes me think there must always have been a part of cinderella that hoped her step family would come around someday and welcome her back in. why she held onto that hope isn't made clear- though she is a rather dreamy sort of character- but she doesn't seem to give up on it until after the dress is destroyed.

the main criticism of this movie (and the cinderella story generally) has always been that cinderella is weak because she just puts up with the abuse and doesn't fight back against her step family. thankfully there's been some pushback against this narrative in recent years, but I think one possibility that's often lost in analyzing this story, is that there must be some part of cinderella that wants her step family to love her. some childish part of her thinks if she's just good enough, just does enough for them, maybe someday they'll let her back in. maybe someday they'll finally see her as a daughter and sister.

that's a hard hope to cling to, sure, especially given the circumstances, but it's probably an even harder one to let go of. every kid wants their mother to love them- even if it's their stepmother.

[pixelatedraindrops]

I finally did that one meme everyone was doing

tiny babies too pure for crime

(yet they both have a body count)

[discjude]

Yeah this is about right (as always my thoughts are in the tags so there's actually kei content there lmao)

[aflawedfashion]

Elizaveta Tuktamysheva | Russian Nationals 2022/23