#safe u kno

[rainbow-arrow]

fuck this lovesquare nonsense i think adrien should give wayhem a shot

[vaguely-concerned]

I have seen people question whether dios apate minor really needed to happen the way it did. it's the 'this could have been an email' of htn. 'augustine this did not have to be a threesome', I hear people saying. and boy do I have an obnoxious amount of things to say to protest this perfectly sensible assertion so here we go haha

1) yes it absolutely had to be like that. It says so on this piece of paper *hands you a piece of paper that says "because I said so and also it's narratively and thematically Sexy"* in my half-legible handwriting. seeing tamsyn muir describe harrow the ninth as a book about being a kid and realizing your parents probably had sex has given me such validation, I am unstoppable now. (to be serious for a moment, harrow the ninth is essentially a bildungsroman, and the threesome scene does a whole lot of thematic heavy lifting around harrow glimpsing elements of adulthood, relationships, and sexuality she clearly finds at the same time repulsive, bewildering and fascinating, and around opening her and especially our eyes to how much john is just a man with human longings still, under the god stuff. dios apate is crucial plot- and character-wise too -- it's a loadbearing threesome in terms of delivering the clues you need to piece together the mystery plot of the book, which is simply delightful -- but even more so thematically. and then the scene at the end where they confront john gives gideon some of that same opportunity to peek into adulthood and go '...well shit I guess', as a sort of mirror, just without the french kissing that time and more murder. the things magnus and abigail model for the girls about love and adulthood? mercy and augustine are providing the opposite-day batshit insane version of that fhdskjfa, you know, for contrast and spice)

2) listen... it gets lonely out there in deep space with your 'legendary unamorous' brother, two infant pathetic baby kitten sisters who you'll probably have to kill one day when you take another stab at god if they don't manage to get themselves killed along the way on their own, and the two people you've spent the last ten thousand years having separate yet connected married & divorced arcs with and also btw one of them is god... honestly a threesome over the dinner table is probably The most well-adjusted reaction one might hope for under those circumstances

3) on a characterization level I think Augustine is actually doing something incredibly deliberate with it: he's presenting John with yet another chance to admit what he did. which is notable especially since the deal he and mercy agree on as a condition for the threesome to happen at all seems to be that they're going to give the ol' godslaying another game try sooner rather than later. (I get the sense that it's not so much that he disagrees with her ultimate goal so much as that he thinks she's being dangerously indiscreet and hasty going about it, before. “though I think it will be the death of us,” huh.)

notice how he's structuring the whole thing: he's invoking the intimacy and love in their strange little threeway relationship and how long it's been by truly playing along with john's 'we're a happy family really when we're at home! :)' delusion (helped along by lowered inhibitions via enormous amounts of alcohol and what I've previously described as a joint mercy/augustine leyendecker themed thirst trap. ah, a classic). he brings up alecto and what happened to her -- or rather, he is clever enough to make john bring up alecto and how she is totally dead, right?? by seeming to make a careless statement that leads there and then acting contrite about it after. he (helped along by mercy, who I think realizes exactly what he's doing -- this is very much a two-man con) brings up how much they all loved their cavaliers, and wow funny how that's been haunting us for ten thousand years now huh :) wow, a lot of our other lyctor friends slash family sure are super dead in the name of some unknowable greater reason neither of us quite grasp and that you won't fucking tell us, aren't they. these are all the main grievances he and mercy confront john about at the end of the book, but put forth much more subtly and not phrased as an accusation -- he's baring his and mercy's vulnerabilities as bait, essentially. if john had, say, a conscience where his conscience should be instead of a black hole, it probably should have stirred something in him.

(also let me just say... the way augustine just takes a pneumatic drill to the TWO tender spots g1deon seems to have and then has the audacity to be like 'oh dear. did that upset him. ooof my bad *loooong dead-eyed slurp of his wine*' is just sooo... he's such a bitch!!! he's the only person who could ever have held their own in a ten-thousand-year bitch-off with mercy and I love him so much. well even if it wasn't all to get g1deon into murder range for harrow I think he wouldn't enjoy sticking around for the 'getting our tongues on god' part of the evening so maybe it's a kindness, really, and totally not pent-up aggression from the last twenty years or so breaking through)

he is all but shaking john by the lapels begging him to just... come clean about it already, to stop thinking he's still kidding everyone else along with himself. it's clear throughout the book that augustine knows exactly what john is at this point -- and all of the most cynical things he does say about it turn out to be distressingly right. john is always less sentimental than you'd think. john wouldn't forgive mercy, he will abandon in a heartbeat anything that isn’t necessary to him anymore, whether emotionally or in some other way. and still he seems to hold out some desperate absurd hope that the man he wants, the man he thought was there, is in there, somewhere deep deep down, if he just gives him the chance to show himself.

(mercy definitely has her own side of this whole thing, I'm just focusing more on augustine because this evening was like. his idea in the first place and I feel like we can Read Some Things into that fact lol. now that we have both ntn and htn to go from I sort of have this sense that the things augustine wants from john are more... personal? more interpersonal? they both love him equally, but mercy's love seems tinged slightly more towards the religious (augustine accuses her of knowing 'only worship without adoration', which like... also the eight house's entire Vibe lol) -- mercy at the end of that book is totally a person breaking up with GOD, not just with john -- while augustine's vibe is more like a man in the last not-with-a-bang-but-a-whimper days of a marriage that sort of felt like it could have been something real and good once but all your illusions about it have since been taken from you and trampled underfoot into the mud and you've had the divorce papers signed and ready in a drawer for over a year now, hell, as it turns out, is other people etc. lmao)

having a threesome over the dinner table with god is one thing, having a threesome over the dinner table centered on the one man and god who has yet again let you down in a way so fundamental it can barely fit into words and who you both still love in a way anyway, miserably, and also just reaffirmed your joint resolution to murder (all under the pretense that it gives your baby sisters the chance to murder your brother of ten thousand years yeah that's why this is happening no other underlying aching emotional motivations here haha)... listen mercy and augustine are simply on a different level, theologically. they've added horny shrimp colours to the religious spectrum. who else does it like them

[bylertruther]

ngl. it was kinda crazy for el to say "i want today to be about me and you" as if will wasn't right there with them and supposed to spend the day with them, too. as if he's not mike's friend, too. as if she doesn't know that he's important to them both. as if she doesn't know that they're both excited to see him. as if he's just straight up fucking invisible or less than a stranger even, just totally erased from their memory it seems like.

how crushing it must be for will to see her do all of that—everything he's been denied, that he's allowed only in the dreams he can't ever talk about—in his clothes.

how fucking devastating it must be for will to watch mike tell her he loves her later, the thing he apparently couldn't say, all because he told him to; because he had to open his mouth and give her the only thing—the one fucking thing—he had left that was still his own.

wild.

[wumbsie]

2022-2020 redraw of the GIRLS!!!!!!!!!!

[equalseleventhirds]

heyo, the motw podcast i'm part of (formerly once upon a monster of the week, recently renamed welcome to reddington) is currently recruiting players and gms for its sister twitch show, continuity errors. knowledge of the podcast (or the previous season of the twitch show) is not required; as the name suggests, continuity is... malleable.

the high concept of the entire CE show is that characters are wandering between universes (and between game systems/game masters), and shenanigans & adventures ensue. last season was a little bit sliders; this upcoming season will take place on a weirdly dimensional train. ....yes, a little bit infinity train, no, not quite infinity train, but we do all love a fucked up train, don't we? also multiple game systems, also weird universe-hopping shenanigans, also.... or is that just me?

applications can be found here, and they close in about a week, so please do apply!! gms would need to run one game, and players would need to participate in at least three of the total six sessions planned (more always welcome ofc). the final schedule will depend on player & gm availability; we're flexible and down to work with what you're able to do.

this would be a volunteer show, as unfortunately we can't afford to pay anyone for this, we're just hoping to have a good time playing games together. i in particular want to help introduce people to some new and fun game systems with new and fun people to play with!

if anything in the application is a barrier to you (equipment, gaming experience, timelines, etc) send me a message and i'll chat with the production team! as noted this is purely volunteer and mostly for having fun, so we'll be as flexible as possible to help you join us. (some things won't be possible, but we'll at least see what we can address.)

ETA (for clarity): this casting call ends on April 30, 2023. also while we may play motw for one of the games, the plan is to play with a whole bunch of different ttrpg systems (different one each session); as noted this is a sister show to the motw podcast, and runs a little differently than the podcast does.

ETA2: applications extended through May 1, 2023. GM applications in particular are low, so very encouraged! feel free to reach out to me with any questions, concerns, or if you'd like help with your application!

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[chmydarling]

❛ what has two thumbs and wants to be held very badly? ❜

❛ ... ❜

❛ this guy. ❜

[inkykeiji]

omg for touya nii i feel like it’s expected that he’ll get mad at reader kind often BUT NATSUO OMG i would be sobbing if he got really stern n angry with me reader,,, like on the floor can’t breathe LOL

no i totally get what you mean! natsuo is mostly sweet to reader UNLESS touya and/or his relationship with touya is in any way threatened. touya still comes first, always. but other than that, he’s evidently less scummy (by like, a hair) and more soft than his brother is, which is what would make his scolding hurt that much more—because not only is it unusual and unfamiliar, but you also know it’s coming from a place of genuine anger/disappointment, otherwise natsuo wouldn’t be scolding you in the first place. & when i say scolding, i don’t mean playful scolding about like sugar or attitude or whatever, i mean serious reprimanding coming from a place of being sincerely upset with you.

[scaredofthetimes]

So this is my sister (covered her face and name for obv reasons) she doesnt identify as anything other than a woman and it’s really sad to see her (and other women) post these things so openly and never read into their feelings on it any deeper it’s just ok time to put some makeup on!! ,, >:( it’s frustrating when women lie to me with the same lies they tell themselves like we’re not the same and i haven’t told myself the same lies and have watched the women around me tell themselves those lies too. I watched my sister sink into materialism and vanity always chasing this unattainable ideal and getting ever further from the image she’s obsessed over while never stopping to think of where she got this image from? it didnt just pop into her head one day that she NEEDED to look *specific way* or else she had no real worth or value. The bare face and natural state of being for a woman is not masculine to say that is entirely contradictory.

[sureihsan]

who: @thalassofins​​ what: damn ! no one understands his art ! where: some dumpster in some alleyway

the dumpster of the alleyway he had been occupying not even ten minutes ago -- oh, he heard rummaging ! oh, he had to take charge before it was too late, whirling around to go parading down. “ oi ! what’s the idea !? ” he called out, entirely ignoring that the other man was... basically closer to shark than human. hence why he was going through the trash, ihsan supposed. after all, ihsan had rummaged through trash for less ! nights when the drug money ( you know, money from being a ‘human’ lab rat and testing their new fancy drugs and creams ) wasn’t quite enough -- nights that he hadn’t sold anything. ( and the most annoying part ? he could easily force people to give him their money, he could easily force himself into the most admired creative mind of their time, but the one stand-up quality he had left ? he wanted that... artistic integrity (or maybe he just wanted to be validated every time someone ooo’d and ahh’d at his work) ). suffice it to say: trash could be delicious ! but then... he spotted something among the trash that had taken a tumble... and it was the saddest thing ever : “ oh -- come on, now ! ” he picked up one of the paintings he had sold that day... that had been thrown into the trash. he had the money, which was a plus, but at what cost ? they just saw him and thought ‘oh, that fucker could use a buck, let’s pretend to like his work then throw it in the trash!’ -- he remembered what they looked like... and made a mental note to find them later that night. but now ? “ you -- you, my friend, look like a man of taste. ” -- even if that sentiment went directly against how he had just been acting towards the shark ( no disgust, but certainly... a desire for him to leave -- though that would have branched towards essentially anyone ! ). “ is this a good painting ? -- don’t hold back, be honest. ”

[bylertruther]

y'all are gonna hate me for this one but i think it's worth nothing that eleven levels up and develops more as a person whenever she breaks up with mike, and how the vines were tightening around her as he was giving his speech and roping them back into a romantic relationship/context (not his fault btw no mike slander here + it's complicated), but when she's reviving max the source that she pulls her power, focus, and resolve from are memories where max is reminding her to be her OWN person, that she doesn't need anyone else, and she is more than enough as she is with "not hopper. not mike. you." and "there's more to life than stupid boys."

she performs a miracle by believing in herself and the one and first ever person that ever taught her to do so. the girl who viewed her not as a superhero that happens to be a girl, but a girl that happens to be a superhero, too. the girl who encouraged her to grow and change and put herself first. that's who and what give her the courage to fight on.

like literally how much more clear do they need to make it that her romantic relationship with him is holding her back? just look at seasons three and four as well as how the flashback they used for mike's speech was of her in the woods which is undoubtedly a nod to the fact that he doesn't see her as she is now and is stuck in the past while she desperately wants to move forward.

i just. !!!!! i'm sorry but Be Serious Please we can admit this and be real about it. it's okay. it does not make either of them a terrible awful character okay We Can Say It! It's Okay! and i focused on el's perspective here, but the show makes it exceedingly clear that they are not compatible in this way at all and that this relationship is something that makes them both feel worse about themselves in serious ways. they don't have a strong foundation between them to fall back on and they won't be able to move forward and fix things between them until they forge one. everything is shit because at the end of the day they don't feel secure or comfortable with each other in a way that actually matters.

[hirokiyuu]

on the topic of exocolonist characterization stuff i like probably one of my absolute faves is this really really small thing from vace.... during his 50 event he asks if u’d wanna go into space one day and no matter what u say he agrees w/u. like if ur like “no way” he goes “yeah me neither im a soldier ill stay” but if u go “yeah!” he goes on and on agreeing its v fun... i really like that aspect of his character

[angelmush]

seeing other people healing their relationship with food helps me along in the process to heal my own, and you are one of the biggest examples ive seen of this recently. thank you so so much for sharing your joy in cooking and sharing love thru food!! i hope you have countless wonderful meals in your future <3

i won't lie 2 u it's still really really tough sometimes and i absolutely have lapses in recovery, but learning to enjoy cooking (and through that, to enjoy eating) has been the single most helpful piece of my healing. every time i get asks like this i get soooo tearyeyed, u r so deserving of recovery and the vibrant life that comes with it. i love love love love u <3

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[springthings]

allie constantly doing the 'wait it's not safe.... take this :)<3' before her loved ones leave and putting cool rocks and leaves in their hands and flowers behind their ears or in their hair or flower crowns and giving them teeny creatures to hang out with them. maybe like a button too idk

[cyancherub]

i know we hate [redacted] and all but i do love how they animated her.. the closeup on her face!!