#see the beginning of 2011 I guess?

[hannahssimblr]

A flute of champagne. Delicate thing in my hand. Protective of it as I navigate through the gallery, past groups of observers, making comments about the pieces using German words I have not learned yet. Anspruchsvoll. I commit that one to memory. Something to look up in the dictionary after I get home.

She’s at the back of the room, black polo necked top stark against the white paint on the wall, and the spill of her hair down her spine. Steffan, the art history lecturer, listens with intent interest to whatever she is saying. Sees me coming, eyes flicker to me, before pretending he hasn’t, and he deepens his frown of concentration. 

Midway through her point, I don’t interrupt, but quietly slot into place next to her. Confidently voicing the intention of her work.

“...this incredible societal push for positivity. It’s almost aggressive, actually, without direction or nuance,” she takes the champagne. “I wanted to make work that disrupts that. That invites a kind of… necessary slowness. I tried to make something that… advocates for introspection, I suppose.”

“Yes, of course,” Steffan, nodding. “I sensed that. Particularly with the collection of three displayed together. Your work seems to represent an offering of solace amongst the fatigue of contemporary life.”

German. Something I understand well without speaking well. A frustrating thing. A link missing between what I want to say and what I actually can, like a via missing in a circuit board, a connection faltered, and nothing to carry the words to my mouth. 

Like now, when Steffan acknowledges me right before it might be considered rude not to. “Jude must have some fascinating thoughts about the work, too, seeing as he has been spending so much time in your studio.”

I falter. Plaster on a grin. “Yes, it’s true,” I say slowly, foreign accent seeping through the words. “I have spent some time watching her create the work. I even helped her… um, I helped her to photograph it for the… magazine piece.”

She leans in and squeezes my arm with pride or embarrassment, I’m not sure. 

“Aha,” Steffan says, eyebrows creeping beneath his tousled flop of hair. “But what exactly is your impression of it?”

I squint at a piece balancing on a pedestal, an abstract mass of porcelain, vaguely Roman-temple-esque. Black and purple glaze dribbles down the sides like ink from a newspaper left in the rain. It’s like deciphering a riddle. Something about collapse. Something classical, then undone. Post-something. Post-truth? Post-intention?

“I think it’s… anspruchsvoll.” Pray the word carries the right kind of weight. I leave it hanging there, like it should mean something profound. Steffan’s eyes flick to my girlfriend, amused. 

“Ah, right, of course. But as I was saying to Astrid earlier, it’s really the concept behind the work that’s most intriguing, don’t you think?” he says, the effortless flow of native German pouring out of him. “It’s all about the intellectual rigor. You’ve likely noticed that, too, but maybe not in the same way as Astrid. I’m sure it is anspruchsvoll to you, but I might have thought you’d have a more sophisticated understanding of the work by now, no?” He laughs then, so I know it’s a joke. 

Astrid, with a brittle smile on her lips, sips her champagne. “I think Jude’s got a pretty sharp take on the work, actually. He just needs the right words, don’t you think?”

“Ah, but we are in Germany, no? Shouldn’t we all be speaking the language? Jude, you’ll be writing your dissertation eventually, won’t you? Might want to brush up on some of the language for that. ‘Anspruchsvoll’ only goes so far, after all.”

I nod. Yes, Steffan. Thank you Steffan. Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten I’m a foreigner. Haven’t forgotten the diabolical art history grades I rack up in your class. Those big smug question marks on my misspellings appear in my nightmares, thank you. An essay that took me five days, tossed back on my desk like it had been written on a takeaway napkin, big note on it, saying, essentially: What???

“God, Steffan,” Astrid laughs too quickly. “You’re being an ass.”

“He knows it’s a joke,” He slaps my arm, stands too close, as though we are friends. That thin, patronising smile on him. “Just kidding, Jude. Your German’s definitely better. Just needs a little polish for the heavy lifting ahead.”

His eyes drift over my shoulder to someone more interesting, and then he leans in to Astrid, touches her arm. “Oh. I have a friend over there I’d like to introduce you to. Could I take you to meet him?”

She hesitates. Glances at me like she might ask, might defer. Then back to him. “Yes, sure,” she says. “That would be fine.”

I look too, through the crowd at groups of arty types, examining the work, speaking in hushed tones. Each of them indistinguishable, variations on the same theme, in the same jacket, the same shoes.

“Won’t be long,” she mutters, before Steffan whisks her across the gallery, hand touching, just a moment, the curve of her lower back. That thin, practiced touch. The kind men use when they’re testing the water, or reminding you it’s already warm. Hackles rise along my spine. Idiotic. I take a moment to remind myself of who I am, and who he isn’t.

I watch them go. Wait a beat longer than I should. Then amble to the champagne table, careful not to glance at her. Fetch a glass, stem slippery with condensation. Try not to look like I’m waiting.

Beginning // Prev // Next

[sangfielle]

also i remember really disliking kite as a teen which didnt help my ants opinion and i havent gotten back to him in 2011 but i feel ive softened on him upon looking back

[snufkinsong]

This is going to be a more serious post, about (yes) seals.

It is warming my heart to see so many people celebrating the birth of Yo's baby. She is the seal that made me fall in love with pinnipeds a few years ago, and she is also where I got my social media namesake on the godforsaken hellhole that is twitter. I hope some old twitter mutuals might see this and guess who I am haha (besides the friends who I've stayed in touch with beyond twt like @seaps who is the sweetest ever).

Anyways, for anyone who isn't familiar with Yo and her history, I am going to rehash and paraphrase/shorten my old "yo biography" that I put in a hidden page on my neocities website a while ago. She is a ringed seal who resides at the Okhotsk Tokkari Center, one of Japan's only marine mammal rehabilitation and rescue centers. Yo was rescued in Rausu town on May 3rd at the age of approximately one month and two weeks old at the beginning of the May of 2011. Like many rescued seals, she was found separated from her mother and needing care.

Yo's name was officially announced on September 5th, 2011, after accepting suggestions from July 22nd to August 21st. According to the Tokkari center website "The name comes from the idea that "we hope she grows up healthy like the sun."

I want you all to know that Yo has been a mama for a while now. Hikaru was born in 2018. Her keepers didn't know she was pregnant, but were surprised one day to find little Hikaru worming around on the floor as baby ringies do. Hikaru means "shining light."

"Hikaru, just as his name suggests, was a shining light to everyone and grew up to be very healthy."

She tragically lost her baby Hikaru in 2021. This letter in his memory is one of the things that solidified my appreciation for the caretakers at the Tokkari Center. You can also read about the details of his life and passing here.

It is titled

To Hikaru in heaven: A message from former zookeeper Masako Okazaki about the love nurtured between a seal and a human

The final words say:

My beloved Hikaru, thank you for being born.

I cannot speak to how much animals may feel grief. I hope Yo, as a seal, did not have to feel the pain of losing her baby as her caretakers and the people who grew familiar with Hikaru did. (If you would like to see videos of him, I highly recommend checking out the account of my insta mutual hakuhime_az. He loved to sing by making little hoo hoo noises. Yo made hoo hoo noises as a very small baby according to an old blog post I read, but Hikaru never grew out of it! Some Hikaru singing videos should be on her profile if you scroll enough!)

Nonetheless, it makes my heart warm to see Yo fiercely protecting her new pup this year. Seeing her able to raise another baby, I feel full. Just know that she has been a strong and feisty mom for a longer time than you might have thought :)

On that note, let's all enjoy the adorable videos and photos of her and her little baby, and please do not repost the videos and photos of photographers and videographers without permission. (Azara's typically have messages in their sns bios asking people not to do this)

I love animals and appreciating how they care for each other.

[turcott3]

angel

matt rempe x fem! reader

warnings?: switches from third to second pov a few times, cursing, talks of fighting, talks of smut, crying, alcohol

loosely based on black mirror episode ‘arkangel’

(third person will be written in italics)

masterlist

-

2011

you found your way to the open pavement as the final school bell rang. the basketball court and black top was where everyone hung out that didn’t ride the bus, which was honestly a good chunk of people.

you found your way to your everyday meeting spot, and sat down on the large rock. the same rock where you met up with your sister everyday. you noticed the trouble maker kid outside as well.

his name was matthew. he was in the third grade, you in first.

you tend to watch him from afar, listening in on his conversations. something about him drew you in. you were so intrigued by his presence. recently, you’d discovered that he plays hockey, and now he was getting deeper into it

hockey this, hockey that. that’s all he talked about now.

all his friends were called over by their parents one by one and soon he was left alone, drawing his attention to you. he walks quickly over to you.

the two of you knew each other vaguely, you were at least on a first name basis given you’d been outside together many times before your sister graced you with her presence.

“so you play hockey?” you ask.

“yeah, how’d you know?” he asks, tilting his head to the side slightly.

“well i just heard you talking.” you replied.

“oh so you were snooping?” he retorts.

“well no i-“

“you wanna learn about it?” he offers and you nod.

“i think i should tell you about my favorite part.” he smirks.

he begins rambling on vaguely about the sport but focusing on his alleged favorite part.

fighting.

“and then he takes his fist and he-“

“matthew stop it!” your sister shouts, speed walking into frame.

“what?” he asks.

“stopping scaring my sister. you’re freaking her out with all your scary, violent stuff.”

“i haven’t even told her anything about it yet.” he spat his words out strongly at her.

“whatever. she’s 6, she doesn’t need to know about that stuff.” your sister says clenching your shoulder one last time.

“you can tell me another time.” you whisper to him, guarding your mouth from her view.

“i heard that y/n. and no, he won’t tell you another time. come on, mom is waiting.” she says tugging your sleeve. you couldn’t help but keep your eyes locked on his frame as he directed his story elsewhere. silly, frantic punching motions coming from the boy.

-

2013

you sat alone on the ground as you watched all the kids run around at recess.

more specifically, matt playing football with his friends.

you sighed as you picked the small weed flowers, stuffing the pretty ones in your pocket for later. you hear yells from the group of boys playing football and look up, seeing matthew slow to a stop, his eyes on you.

“hey guys uh, ill be back in a few.” he shouts, jogging in your direction. you felt a lump in your throat as he approached.

“hey y/n.”

“hi.”

“what’s wrong? everything okay?” he asks, genuine concern lining his tone.

“yeah, my friend is sick today so, i don’t have anyone to play with.”

“i’m sorry, here,” he pauses sitting down next to you, “now you have someone.”

you smile at the gesture. as much of a bad, misbehaved kid he was, he was always so kind to you, and you never knew why.

“so you play football now?” you ask, looking at the flowers you picked.

“nah, just here. can’t play hockey at recess can i?” he asks leaning closer, nudging your shoulder.

“yeah i guess you’re right.” you giggle.

“well since my sisters in middle school now, you can finally tell me about hockey. i just don’t wanna stop your game over there.” you continue.

“they can play without me.” he simply replies.

“oh…. okay.”

“so you wanna hear about it now aye?” he teases.

“yeah.” you reply shyly. he goes on to tell you about the new rules he was learning, obviously building up to his favorite part.

the fighting. again.

“i’m a lot bigger than the other guys so, it’s easy for me to beat them up.” he says.

“really?”

“yeah, i think i’ve broken a few noses. you should look on youtube when you get home. just look up hockey fights. they’re awesome.” he tells you finally as your teacher called out for you to come back inside.

“thank you for sitting with me matthew.”

“yeah you’re welcome, oh, and you can call me matt by the way.” he replies as you nod and walk away from him. growing more and more curious about him by the day.

-

2017

you were a month into your seventh grade year, freshly 13 years old. matt had moved on up to highschool. it made you a little sad not seeing him in the halls during school but since you rode with your sister, who was now a junior, you saw him sitting outside once school got out.

you sighed as you walked past him at a distance. swarmed by girls he seemed mildly interested in.

“ooo shiny new hockey player. kiss my ass.” you mumble to yourself, keeping your head pointed to the ground as you walked to your sisters car. you heard matt’s voice in the distance telling the girls he’d catch them later.

“y/n, wait up.” he calls to you, jogging to catch up to you.

“hey matt.” you smile lightly, blushing at him ditching all those girls to see you.

“how’s big ol’ seventh grade going for ya?” he asks as you continue walking.

“oh it’s good. kinda boring. middle school is dumb.”

“yeah well, i miss seeing you in the halls. highschool better come quick. i’ll catch you later y/n, my moms here.” he nudges your arm as you wave bye to him.

“was that matt?” your sister asks as you approach the car.

“yeah it was.”

“what did he want?” she scoffs as you both shut your car doors.

“he’s not some evil, disgusting monster you know? we’re friends, kinda.” you reply.

“i just don’t want him to be a bad influence on you.”

“you don’t see me fighting people at school do you?”

“well no-“

“then there you go. he’s not.”

“okay y/n.” she replies, pulling out into the road and driving home.

you had no idea why she had formed this resentment for him. he hadn’t done anything to her, she just took what she heard of him and ran with it.

the rest of the drive home was quiet, she made you mad and you were done. defending matt against your sister wasn’t on the books today, but you were sure to get an earful from your mother later.

-

2018

you walked with your friend away from the buses and to the side entrance of the school, seeing matt leaned up against his brand new range rover, girls and his friends swarmed in a small group around him.

“look at that, matt’s sick new ride.”

“yeah.”

“let’s go see it.” she says grabbing your hand and dragging you in his direction.

“y/n.” he shouts, everyone’s attention directing to you.

“nice new wheels.” your friend says, staring into his soul, but him still having eyes on you.

“how you been, haven’t seen you around much this summer.” he asks you honestly.

“oh i’m good thanks matt. and yeah, nice car.” you blush.

“thanks. bells ringing soon. we should get going yeah?” he says leaning up off his car leaving his crew behind, slinging an arm over your shoulder as eyes hit you like daggers.

“can’t let you get lost on your first day.” he says and you giggle.

“matt.” you mumble and he stops outside your classroom, your friend waving as she turns off down another hall.

“what’s up?” he replies.

“everyone’s staring at me.” you say, escaping his grip.

“it’s just because of my new car, trust me, they don’t actually want me…. i think.” he doubts his words looking around.

“matt you know that’s not true.”

“okay whatever it doesn’t matter, i don’t give two shits about people. they stare, they stare. that doesn’t change me walking you to class.” he says.

“well you need to get to yours before you’re late.”

“yeah yeah i know, meet me after school today though, ill give you a ride home.” he he says as nudges your shoulder.

“okay, bye.” you wave as he walks off.

“meet me after school.” you whisper to yourself and scoff.

you sat with an old friend in class and she mentions the homecoming dance coming early. something you’d totally forgotten about.

“oh shit you’re right. i gotta start looking.” you giggle as the teacher begins the lecture.

hours later you found yourself walking to matt’s car, where he once again stood leaned against it. once you were close he climbed in, you shortly behind.

“why are you taking me home?”

“felt like being nice.”

“oh, okay.”

“so what was it you wanted to talk to me about?” you asked interrupting the silence.

“i just wanted to ask if you’d go to homecoming with me? i know it’s early so i figured i should get ahead.” he says turning his head to you, a blush spreading across your face.

-

“no way, no. you’re not going with him.” your mom says as you sat at the counter.

“mom, why not.” you groan.

“because, that kid is bad news y/n. i don’t trust him.”

“he’s not though, he’s perfectly fine.”

“and i don’t believe you. you can go with your friends, no means no.” she says, setting your plate down on the counter.

“whatever.” you reply, knowing you’re gonna have to text him the news within the next hour.

a short month later you found yourself all ready for the dance.

“you look beautiful.” your mom smiles as you walk down the stairs. you were meeting your friends for dinner, and still going to the dance with matt. behind her back of course, you didn’t want to tell him no.

you spent a while at the dance before you left with matt and a few friends for a bonfire by the lake, wrapped in matt’s blazer.

“can you pass me that?” he says lowly next to you as his friend tosses him a beer.

“matt, you drove.”

“i know, this is for you to drink.” he smiles.

“what?”

“come on y/n. you know you’re safe with me.” he says unscrewing the cap and handing it to you. you couldn’t find it in yourself to deny him.

you’d never drank before and considering you were 15, you were a light weight. matt being 16 you expected the same but were surprised that he decided to only have one, which hardly gave him a buzz. next thing you knew you were sat in his lap on the log, hug him onto him. things around the fire had gotten awkward with all the couples making out.

“can we go sit in your car?” you whisper to him and he agrees, helping you off his lap and holding your hand all the way to the car, knowing uneven ground and heels were a recipe for disaster.

“i brought some stuff in case of something like this.” he says opening the back doors and revealing a few blankets and pillows. you looked up at him with a hazy smile as he tossed them in the trunk and pushed the seats down, the two of you climbing in and setting up camp.

you shed the blazer, tossing it in the front seat as you laid in a comfortable silence, the two front windows cracked for airflow.

“so.” matt says, leaning up on an elbow.

“so?”

“how’s the night been?”

“oh it’s been good.” you reply, turning your head to him and smiling to see his eyes locked on your lips, you quickly turning away.

“don’t get all shy on me y/n.” he giggles, pulling you closer to him.

“sorry, you just look really good right now.” you reply.

“and you look even better.” he mumbles before attaching your lips.

the night continued in full physical contact. he learned every curve and crevice of her body carefully, paying attention to every detail. making note of what she liked and disliked. teaching her the right ways to everything. his hands held her carefully as he worshipped her under his breath, quiet whimpers and curses leaving her lips every few moments, before it all came crashing down after a long few minutes.

“you know, you didn’t have to say those things.” he giggles to you.

“well those are things i learned while i’m watching porn on my phone at night, i- i didn’t know what to do. was it bad? i’m sorry.”

“no no, my love, you were amazing. you were perfect.” he says cupping your jaw and dipping down to kiss you one more time. moments later, they’re interrupted by loud bangs on the window.

“you’re so fucking busted. it’s almost two in the morning y/n. i had to come track you down.” you hear your sisters stern voice outside the car window.

“fuck oh my god, what the hell.” you scramble, making sure your dress was on straight.

“it’s not what it looks like.” you express leaping out of the car.

“yes the fuck it is.”

“please don’t tell mom. please i’m begging you.”

“no, i’m telling her you were with him after she explicitly told you not to.”

“hey that’s no-“ he starts and is quickly cut off.

“and you kissed him, and god knows what else. god just get in the car.” she sighs, pointing to her car up the hill.

“matt im sorry, i really am.” you sigh and he nods.

“it’s okay, i didn’t know they felt this way about me.”

“you don’t exactly have good rep, rempe.” you sister spits, shoving you along. immediately you text him apologizing profusely.

your sister knew he just took your virginity. it was no mystery, the windows were fogged and dripping, your hair came undone, his buttons were crooked. she swore not to tell all the details, but in no way were you ever gonna be able to go near him again. except for in the hallways at school.

“you know he’s trouble y/n. you let him get in your pants?”

“yeah i did, and he’s not as much trouble as you think he is. he’s very nice to me.”

“it doesn’t matter. you’re not seeing him again, you hear me?” she says sternly and you sigh, resting your head against the window.

“yeah.” you reply, a tear falling down your cheek as he texted back, repeating that everything was fine.

-

“what were you thinking young lady.” your mom startles you awake.

“what?”

“you were kissing matthew in his car at the bonfire? really?” she says standing at the foot of your bed with her arms crossed.

“i’m sorry.” you sigh, tears threatening to spill again.

“what did i tell you about being around him?”

“i know mom i’m sorry, i really like him okay? he’s not how you think he is.” you reply wiping the tears that started to fall.

“yeah well, i really just don’t believe you. he’s not a good influence y/n. it’s just a warning this time, you will not see him again.” she finishes and you nod.

“you know i love you.” she says walking toward your door.

“i know, even if that’s a tough thing to believe.” you reply and she chuckles exiting you room.

and that you didn’t. you didn’t hang out outside of the school halls. all you did was text. every. single. day.

-

2022

matt knocked on the door and anxiously rocked back and forth on his heels. he knew that her sister and her mom weren’t his biggest fans. hell, you could say they hate his guts, but he knew he had to make it right.

“we don- matt? what do you want?” her mom sighs opening the door.

“i’m taking your daughter to prom.” he says firmly, a light smile on his face.

“she has a boyfriend?” her sister interjects walking up to the door.

he sighs as he looks down at the flowers.

“listen, i know you guys aren’t my biggest fans,” he starts.

“yeah, you could say that.” her sister mumbles.

“but i know this isn’t my news to air but, he broke up with her this morning. we’ve been friends for years, texting for years, whatever. she was so excited for this dance and i- i really fucking, sorry, i really care about her. i really want her to have a good night, i’d do anything to make sure she’s happy and i’d do anything to make things right with you guys.” he states heartfully.

“well.” her mom sighs, her heart seemingly growing larger for the boy that stood in front of her with a large, fresh bouquet of flowers and a nice ironed tux.

“and she doesn’t know, i wanted to surprise her, if that’s okay?”

“yeah it is. thank you matthew. we had no idea, we only saw her this morning.”

“yeah that’s about when it happened.” he replies scratching the back of his head as her mom shuts the door behind her.

“her rooms up there on the right.” she smiles lightly.

“thank you mrs. y/l/n. i really do appreciate it.” he replies making his way up the stairs, knocking lightly on the door.

“are you ready?” he says through the door.

“what?” you call back.

“can i come in?” he asks, you not recognizing the voice. you sat at your vanity with curlers in your hair and your makeup half done. you couldn’t stop crying.

“yes?”

“hey.” you see matt’s face peek through the door before stepping in, fully dressed in a tux, with a large, lush bouquet and a sweet smile.

“matt?” you say, putting down your brush, immediately standing up from your chair and walking over to him.

“i got these for you, i tried my best to match your dress.” he says looking over at the dress that hung from your closet door.

“matt.” you frown sweetly. for the first time since your freshman year, you hugged onto him, tightly. you feel him freeze for a moment before tossing the flowers onto your bed and wrapping his arms around you, picking you briefly up off the ground.

“thank you for this.” you say sweetly as you pull away, his hands still placed on your waist.

“you know i’ll always come around. anything for you.”

“really?”

“yeah, really.” he smiles, pressing a short peck to the top of your head.

“hey, we got reservations in an hour, chop chop pretty girl.” he giggles into your hair.

“i’ll be done, just give me like 30 minutes.” you reply, picking up the flowers and inspecting them.

“of course, no rush. it’s close by. i’ll be downstairs okay?”

“okay.” you smile lightly as he exits your room, your heart pounding in your chest as you got ready quickly. you zipped up your dress and grabbed the flowers, looking in the mirror at the perfect match he’d picked. you sighed in relief knowing the boy you’d been longing since you were a little girl surprised you and is waiting downstairs for you.

you breathe out as you open the door and turn the corner, walking down the stairs where matt and your mom were waiting, his eyes following you every step down.

“you look beautiful honey.” your mom sighs, looking at the gorgeous dress you’d picked out a few months ago.

“absolutely stunning.” matt says, eyes still locked on you.

“thank you guys.” you blush.

“let me get a picture of you two, uh, y/n stand on the second step, i want the full dress in without having to cut this giant’s head off.” she laughs stepping back with her camera and snapping a few photos.

“thank you for doing this for her matthew, i really appreciate it.”

“of course, anytime truly. your daughter is incredible.” he smiles at your mom, her eyes growing into hearts in an instant.

“you two have fun and be safe please.” she says, opening the front door for the two of you.

sis: use a condom, left some in your wallet ;)

you read the text aloud to matt when you got in the car, laughing at your sisters sudden approval.

“she gave you some? hell i already have some.” he laughs, backing out of your driveway.

“you know to this day, you’re the first of only three bodies that i have.”

“was i the best?”

“well i guess yeah?”

“what do you mean you guess?”

“i mean you were really the only one that paid any attention to my needs.”

“well of course, that’s extremely important to me.”

“then not i guess, you definitely were the best.”

“not were, are.” he winks, intertwining his fingers with yours in your lap.

the night was incredible. after the dance, your mom let matt come and stay over at your house, and you couldn’t believe it. he’d truly won your family over. you spent the whole night laid up in bed, kissing and touching and loving on each other for the first time since you were fifteen. everything felt the same, yet different. a mature kind of passion injected into the kisses you shared and the touches he laid on you. you would never trade his intimacy for the world. when you were with him, it’s like the world stopped spinning, and you were the last two people alive. he made your heart jump in the blink of an eye. you wanted him all along, even against your mothers wishes, and that’s something you’d never change.

“can i ask you something?” matt says as you laid contently on his bare chest.

“yes.” you reply leaning up to lock eyes with him.

“listen i know this is really really fast after this morning, and you can say no and i will understand either way but um, would you be my girlfriend?” he asks nervously and you giggle, locking your lips on his.

“yes, a million times.” you smile, speaking on his lips, reconnecting them after your brief words.

“you have no clue how long i’ve been trying to get to this point. it was hard with your mom and sister hating my guts. and you just got broken up with this morning.” he giggles.

“yeah well, i was gonna start hanging out with you again behind their backs if they didn’t start liking you. and, i’ve been wanting to be with you for years matt, nothing is too quick when it comes to you. nothing.”

-

2024

“matt.” you call out from the couch, adjusting your position trying to get comfy.

“yes my love.” he says running and sliding across the wood floor of his apartment.

“can you PLEASE get the pizza off the counter and bring it over here.” you beg.

“of course, you wanna watch a movie or something? maybe not do a whole lot of watching.” he says with a smug look on his face as he rounds the end of the couch, placing the box on the coffee table.

“how about we finish this box first and then we can talk….. or not talk.” you reply teasingly.

“i love you so much.” he smirks.

“i love you, matt.” you reply with a scrunched nose, pressing a short kiss to his lips as he got settled on the couch next to you.

over the course of the last 2 years, you’d grown inseparable, falling in love in a matter of weeks. he was there for everything. graduation and all. you hadn’t left his side since the night of your senior prom, and you fully planned on starting a life with him. which unbeknownst to him, this life you’d talked about had already begun.

“hey so, i actually had some news.” you start, finishing your slice.

“go on?” he mutters, shutting the box.

“well, fuck i wanted to make this like a big deal but i’m telling you before we fuck.” you sigh, realizing you should wait.

“no no, what is it, it’s okay baby.” he perks up, taking your hand in his.

“matt im pregnant.” you spit out, gritting your teeth waiting for a response.

“are you for real?” he says, his eyes widening, a quick nod following as a response. a huge smile grows on his cheeks as he practically jumps on you, squeezing you so tight you can hardly breathe.

“you’re carrying our baby. like our baby. wow. i can’t believe it. oh my god, i’m so lucky, i’m so excited wow. i love you so much y/n, you’re gonna be the best mom. i’ll make sure you have everything you need and so much more.” he says, his hands placed on your cheeks.

“thank you handsome, i’m glad you reacted well to that, i was nervous. thank you, i love you.” you reply hugging him back.

you were anxious to start this life with him, but you knew from the start all those years ago that you were taken care of.

ever since the day he approached you on the playground in third grade you knew he was never gonna leave you. never in a million years.

-

[illwynd]

Eternally confused by assertions that Thor and Loki don't like each other.

They love each other, obviously. And sometimes they fuckin hate each other (well, Loki sometimes hates Thor. And Thor is sometimes at least very goddamn righteously pissed off at Loki, whether he'd call it "hate" or not.)

But they do also like each other.

Thor clearly likes Loki. Enjoys and appreciates his company and admires many things about him, despite their many conflicts. And although that's a comics reference, consider Thor's "well of course I want to have my brother come with me on an adventure!" attitude when he's trying to convince his friends to go to Jotunheim with him at the beginning of Thor 2011, and it seems like it's pretty applicable to the MCU as well, at least before TR's moronic retcons.

Is it mutual, though?

... is that a real question?

Loki idolizes him, wishes he could measure up to him, thinks the sun goddamn rises and sets on Thor. "Loki felt no rancor [...] -- his stepbrother was perfect: beautiful, powerful, golden. He adored him. And if Thor repaid that adoration with little slights and humiliations, it was a price Loki was only too willing to pay for his company" (R. Rodi, Loki: Blood Brothers). Yes, another comics reference, but doesn't that also jibe with the movie depiction of Loki who clearly has a less than ideal relationship with the rest of Thor's crew but hangs out with them nonetheless because that's the only way to spend time with Thor?

Genuinely, I can't think of a better metric for liking someone than wanting to hang out with them even when the circumstances make that less than fun for other reasons. Seeing their company as satisfying even if you're both just sitting there doing something that would otherwise suck. And they both seem to have each other as first choice for that, with everyone else a very distant second if they rank at all.

So I just don't get how anyone can try to slot them into some cliche of "siblings who love each other i guess but also can't stand each other at all." These dumb bastards would spend their lives in each other's pockets if they could. They probably had their own secret language as kids, like figured out a way to get around the Allspeak to invent one no one else could understand. Anyone else that either of them dates had better be ready to have the other brother as a constant topic of conversation, because the moment you express annoyance at that they're going to be shoving breadsticks into their bag and making excuses to gtfo. "they don't like each other" what the fuck are y'all talking about.

[1nk20ul]

I would love to know the birthdays of the other tma characters (particularly Gerry, Micheal Shelley, and Tim)

TMA Birthdays Revealed (Continued)

You've got it.

Let's go in the order that you requested, starting with Gerry Keay.

(This is a continuation of my previous post, where I determine Jon and Martin's birthdays to the best of my ability. Make sure to check it out if you haven't yet!)

Spoiler alert: Gerard is one of the few characters for whom we have an objectively correct/confirmed answer. Just like last time, I'll list all of the results in the tags as a TLDR. Let's begin!

As I said, Gerry's birthday is shockingly the easiest to find out of everyone in the entire main series. However, none of our clues are actually found in Archives. Rather, it's the Magnus Protocol ARG that flat-out gives us this answer. Compared to last post, I feel like I'm being spoiled.

For those unaware, chdb.xlsx (Child_Database.Excel) is a 250-row list of participants in the Magnus Institute's Gifted Child programme. Of these, last names like Dyer, Nolan, Barker, Baldwin, etc. appear, although it's possible some are simply a coincidence.

One we know is not. Behold:

(Yes, his last name is spelled Kaey in this dataset. It's an easy typo to miss in a 250-row document. Don't worry about it.)

According to Chdb, Gerry's birthday is 4th February, 1988. For those paying attention to my original Birthday post, this is exactly two days after my calculation for Jon's birthday, down to the year. This pleases me.

I'll even throw in a bonus for you. Based on his data, he is quite empathetic - yet not very susceptible to peer pressure! You're welcome, Gerrianators.

Let's move to Michael Shelley.

Unfortunately, we're not as lucky this time. Michael's age is just as twisted up as what became of him. Here's what we know:

Michael worked with Eric Delano prior to Eric's resignation in 1990, but was also hired to replace Fiona Law during or after 2003.

Michael's death was sometime between 2009-2011, however was supposedly already distorted in 2006.

Jonny joked on Twitter that Michael "is 92 at all points in the timeline."

There is virtually nothing to go off of here... The month and day are an absolute mystery to us as well. So congrats! His birthday is 92.

Thankfully, Tim is a little bit easier on us.

We need to use Danny Stoker's death as a starting point here. We know that Danny died in 2013 at no younger than 21 years old. Beforehand, Tim spent the previous 5 years at Victory House Publishing. Before that, in 2007, he completed his First in Anthropology at Trinity College. As a Bachelors degree typically takes three years to complete, we can assume Tim was most likely 18 in 2004. The birth year is easy to calculate from there.

For month, all we can do is process of elimination. Let's start with when his birth month isn't. Since the tapes contain no mention of a birthday party like Jon and Martin had prior to MAG 40 (when shit hits the fan), we know that it is less likely to be between September to mid-March, although this is mainly a mix of speculation and educated guessing. We can at least confirm the September cutoff, though, by cross-referencing age requirements for schooling in the UK. Unfortunately, this is where our luck ends. All in all, I think we still did quite well here.

Our final result is April-August 1986. He died at 31 years old. Bonus: He is anywhere from 1-6 years older than his brother. This is not a surprise to absolutely anyone.

A recap of our final results:

Gerard Keay - 4th February, 1988

Michael Shelley - Permanently 92 years old

Timothy Stoker - April-August, 1986

Thanks again, everyone. I have a wonderful time making these, it's great fun! I have a few more posts in mind that I'd like to make, so feel free to leave an Ask. See you next time!

[junkdrawerfan]

Idk if anyone will read this post but I've been trying to learn a bunch about different characters. And I've so far been learning about Tim. He's got so much content to sort through. I think only Dick (in terms of the Robins) has more content than him. So here are my thoughts while reading through some of Tim Drake's Robin run.

Part One:

Next

Batman 468-469:

Tim has really been set up to be the "Robin who Saves Batman." Because Tim is a Robin who does not have an internal desire to run around as a caped crusader, "why is Time Drake a hero" seems to be an essential question to his existance from the beginning:

This is after Tim has lost his mother and his father is paralyzed and unable to care for him. As such, Tim is staying at Bruce's manor (though no offical adoption has taken place. In fact his living situation is not explained beyond him just living with Bruce. So i assume a fostering situation?) Already, we see Tim stepping in to care for Bruce and remind him he's not invunerable.

I'm really enjoying the 90s action vibe they give Tim. His first nemesis is King Snake who'd feel right at home in a Jackie Chan movie! The fact that this 14 year old boy has the "second greatest figher in the world" (right after Lady Shiva) shaking in his boots is WILD even though its King Snake confusing Robin & Lady Shiva haha

This is after Tim has lost his mother and his father is paralyzed and unable to care for him. As such, Tim is staying at Bruce's manor (though no offical adoption has taken place. In fact his living situation is not explained beyond him just living with Bruce. So i assume a fostering situation?) Already, we see Tim stepping in to care for Bruce and remind him he's not invunerable.

I'm really enjoying the 90s action vibe they give Tim. His first nemesis is King Snake who'd feel right at home in a Jackie Chan movie! The fact that this 14 year old boy has the "second greatest figher in the world" (right after Lady Shiva) shaking in his boots is WILD even though its King Snake confusing Robin & Lady Shiva haha

I get why he had the longest running Robin solo act.

Bruce is very very protective of Tim in this arc. Makes sense since he just lost his old Robin and was spiraling because of it. We're -- time wise -- about a year and a few months since Jason's death. It makes sense that Bruce is having a hard time since another boy in danger, especially in a situation where that boy is being targetted by the big bad of the run. I guess they have to get Bruce to a point where he'll let Tim run around without as much helicoptering (and eventually found the Young Justice!). Its a really fun emotional core.

Batman 470

Just fun romps. I know I should switch to Robin II (Robin I covered his training with lady shiva & meeting king snake which i wrote about here) to keep learning about Tim. But I do like the Batman comics. I do not understand the difference between the Batman & Detective Comics. Like I get the Detective Comics are the original Batman comics but they're both about Batman so like.... why have two batman runs about the same guy and characters in the same universe? Just put out more detective comic runs? Makes no sense (plus having dual Batman v Detective Comic runs really fucked over Jason's time as Robin. I'm excited they're putting out the Batman & Robin: Jason Todd comics soon so we can finally have a definitive Jason Todd Robin characterization.)

Batmna 471:

WTF! Killer Croc oh my god! You poor thing!!! He just wanted to hang out with his family and watch cable tv!

Okay. Switching to Robin II series to continue to learn about Tim Drake!

(Side Note: Thoughts about the Batman comics though. I dislike that they stopped in 2011. I mean this comic series has been running since the 1940s! Its cool for a character to have that much history. Honestly, they shouldn't have rebooted the OG lines like Batman/Detective Comics/Superman/Action Comics. They're such long running series its more fun to let them just keep going. Especially since they ended up rolling it all back anyway. Its just a weird choice to decide the shit that kept your company alive from the 1940s doesn't matter anymore?)

[panelshowsource]

Slightly random question, but I wonder this myself a lot. If you were on WILTY, what would your unlikely truth be?

LOL I'VE NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT THIS

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

well

one that i couldn't tell but is my go-to dinner party story is the time that jason bateman cursed me out on the street lmao i noticed him and his wife walking past my friends and me, and i pointed (i thought subtly???) so my friends would see him like ~ooo a celeb is walking by~ but actually HE noticed ME and was like "why are you pointing me out!!!! i'm trying to go about my fucking day and have lunch with my wife!!!! take out a billboard on my location why don't you!!!!! fuck!!!! what the fuck is your problem!!!!!!!!" it was so intense LMAO obv even if i tried to keep it light and funny for wilty, he would just come off like an asshole, plus that's such an american namedrop for a bbc show

while we're on subject of flop celeb encounters that wouldn't work for wilty here's another one — back in 2011/2012 i lived across the street from paul dano, and at the time i was interning for the pr agency that was working on swiss army man (SO underrated pls watch it my fellow comedy fans). one day, i saw him in the subway and mustered up the courage that i typically never have to go up to him and say "mr dano! just wanted to say i saw swiss army man and you were fantastic. congrats on the production. really :)" and he just looked at me blankly like ........... and after about 5 of the longest seconds ever said "it hasn't even come out yet. how would you have seen it? 😐🤨" i was so shocked i was like 🧍‍♀️ LMAO but i eventually coughed up "oh i'm working with the pr team :) we're very excited about the film!" and he was just like "ah" and i said "okay i'll let you get back to your morning" and that was it. later when i saw him (and dan radcliffe, who was an angel <3) at the press stops, he didn't recognise me hahahaha GOOD. that would have been embarrassing. 😃 but i lowkey love that he practically accused me of lying or, like, having seen a leak or something. he said i don't trust no bitch!!!

OKAY ANYWAYS hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

something for wilty hmmmmmmmmmm

maybe that when i was in middle school i shit myself on the local news 😃

because i was a track n field champion for our state and there were junior olympic scouts visiting our school, the local news came to the first meet of the new season. i was hella nervous but ran my lil race, jumping hurdles, and got to the finish line — and i got first place!! yay celebration!! but right away i noticed no one was cheering or even smiling. my coach was there, my mom was there, the news people were there with their big ol camera, all looking like 😧😧😧 then i felt it...going down my legs. i looked down. POOP LEGS ☹️ i guess while i was jumping the hurdles i kinda...released ☹️ pooped myself ☹️ some of my teammates laughed at me ☹️ everyone pitied me ☹️ me, the winner ☹️ with poop legs ☹️ AND my parents have the recording of me finishing my race and beginning to walk towards the news people with my poop legs ☹️ thankfully wilty wouldn't ask for the clip bc no respectable network would show an old video of a child with poop on their legs ☹️

(don't worry, the local news didn't show my poop legs on tv, they just gave the recording to my parents)

IS THIS AN ACCEPTABLE UNLIKELY TRUTH 😃

[respectthepetty]

How does it feel to stay winning Petty? Also who would've guessed that baby Barcode would be the one of the BOC boys to collect kisses from all the homies!?

Anon, I appreciate you sending this because, right now, I feel like an elite status female rapper. Like CL from 2NE1 rapped in their 2011 hit, "I am the best", Be On Cloud owns me, and y'all can't tell me shit about this show.

I know I have some Wild Ass Theories and I'm always clownin' in these BL streets, but I love when my theories actually hit their target like . . .

When I knew Teacher Chadok was in a relationship with Teacher Dika since the first episode of The Eclipse.

When I knew Kanghan's house was going to be robbed and his dad would be shot since the third episode of Dangerous Romance, even though I thought Saifah would do it.

When I knew Pat was working with Joke to win over Zo since the first episode of Hidden Agenda.

I love making Wild Ass Theories no matter how crazy they are, like my belief that the twins' dad is involved in this whole murder and sex work plot in Playboyy. No matter what happened in this past episode, I still believe it and am eagerly awaiting the upcoming chaos to see how hard I clowned.

Which is why I LOVE Dead Friend Forever.

I want the record to state that no matter what happens after episode seven, that at this exact moment in time, I love this show. It makes me happy to be alive at the same time this is airing, and I'm not joking. I want to remember that at one point, this show was everything to me, and even if it goes down hill, it had all my attention in the first seven episodes. I want to appreciate it right now because regardless of what happens, it did everything right in the first half.

With the way some shows keep losing their footing in the end, sometimes we forget how good they were in the beginning, and the emo in me doesn't want to forget this feeling. Some of my favorite movies are Scream, Heathers, and Jawbreaker so this show has been giving me the explicitly queer version of kill your frenemies since the very first episode, and I love it.

My internal alarm went off the second Tee got upset that Phi was speaking to White in episode one, then the dark hand touched him making him enemy #1. I didn't like the way he told White he needed to obey him, and I feel like the dark hand wasn't too pleased with it either. It was a vibe.

And now Non has a hurt hand in the past from falling off the bike . . .

Then, Jin was the main character of the previous film, so he was either the killer or the biggest baddie.

But Phi was just so sus, that I clocked him as a killer.

Which meant Phi and Jin were the killers, but Tan has no backstory and people with no history are intentionally hiding it, so they can kill everyone and peace out.

So in my mind, Tan and Phi were regulated to the killers, Tee was the second to last to die, which I'm hoping it's by his boyfriend White who he thinks disobeys him, and the rest of the squad would die as needed. Which left Jin to be the baddie.

All of my theories could blow up at any second because we don't know if Jin actually sent that video or if his computer fizzled out before it finished uploading, so he could still be a killer avenging Non instead of a baddie who wronged Non (but he took the video and that is messed up regardless of what he planned to do with it).

But either way, I'm hoping it comes down to Phi and Jin in that forest because the show started with them.

And I don't think Jin realizes who Phi is to Non since Jin never got a good look at Phi's face in the past.

The Twitter folks spotted that Phi's dad was the police chief from the letters the boys got calling them in for interrogation in episode six.

And now the knife from episode two is showing up in the past in Non's backpack.

Up until this point, I feel the show has laid out a solid story with a good cast, and I think Be On Cloud relied on their KinnPorsche casting to throw people off in this show because who expected Us to be doomed in the first episode? That was like Drew Barrymore dying at the beginning of Scream.

People have felt off about JJ's character, but the show wouldn't really have JJ do anything bad to sweet Barcode, right?

And Barcode and Ta being paired together was a pipe dream for the Macau x Porchay shippers, so it could never happen here!

Especially because Ta and Copper won The Hidden Character, which meant they were going to be the main pair of this show, right?

WRONG!

Barcode is gonna be involved in some fucked up shit, and according to those MDL comments, people are realizing they messed up making any assumptions before this show started based on what the actors previously did.

I truly feel like BOC looked at its lineup and said "Baby Barcode was babygirled so hard for the past two years that the audience won't even think his character is capable of such things"

and I love that for us.

BOC gave these youngsters (19-23 in age) a script from Dr. Sammon and the Pit Babe writers and said "go HAM, bitches"

And the audience stays winning.

This isn't about my Wild Ass Theories coming true. This is an appreciation post for what this show has given to me up until this point - a good mystery.

Every week I have more questions and none of them feel like they will go unanswered. Is Non dead? Did Jin actually upload the video? Is Tan a killer? Why did Phi hook up with Jin? Will White finally snap, crackle, and pop like a bag of Rice Krispies treats for the mere fact that he simply wanted a nice weekend getaway with his boyfriend and now has to deal with all this bullshit?

But most importantly, when did Phi realize he was going to kill all of them after making them run around scared for their lives?

Because by time the show makes it back to the present day, I'm sure we're all going to want to watch these kids suffer in the worst ways possible.

Manipulate, Murder, Mayhem

[tragic-ships-tournament]

Well folks.

It's finally time.

It's finally fucking time.

For the finals.

A little more than 2 months ago on November 23rd, 2024, I decided to answer one singular question: What is the best Tragic Ship? I was inspired by the other tournament blogs around me, and also, there are a lot of tragic ships. And so I started this blog and embarked on a long, 2 month journey.

We started out with 64 ships. And now, we've gone down to 2.

And let's be honest, none of us knew it was gonna be these ones.

But hey, before that, let's do some honorable mentions to those who lost this round.

Don't worry Lawrence and Adam- you two are winners in my heart. Maybe not Jigsaw's though. But our favorite horror yaoi finally falls in the Semi Finals, coming SO close to making it.

But you know what was even more surprising? Destiel lost in a clean sweep this round- in the Destiel website no less! I guess the Supernatural writers were in charge of this round's results.

Wait a second... both of these ships.. they were... holy shit, there's no yaoi in the finals. We actually did it. Oh my god.

So let's finally get down to who bested them.

In the red corner, the winner of Bracket A, is an absolute classic in tragic ships. They were the og's, even. And years and years after their stories were told they were brought back, this time on the Broadway stage by Anäis Mitchell and winning 8 Tony awards, and now with a proshot on the way! Keep on walking and don't look back because our first pair of finalists are ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE!!!

And in the blue corner, the winner of Bracket B, is our favorite anime timeloop yuri! With the critically acclaimed first season airing all the way back in 2011 and a movie in 2014, these two have still somehow managed to capture the hearts of fans all around more than a decade later. I wouldn't mind being stuck in an eternal maze for them, it's MADOKA KAMANE AND HOMURA AKEMI!!!

Two absolute TITANS of ships going head to head against each other, and the question on all of our minds is who will come out victorious? And to give you all ample time to vote and blow up my notifs, for the first time ever- the final round will be 1 week long, starting from tomorrow, 8:00 AM Eastern.

But before we get to that, let's just take a quick second here.

Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for everything you have all ever done in this blog. Whether you've just followed me or you've been here since the beginning, your support means the world to me. I started this blog just as a fun little project and a way to escape the shit going on in the world that November, and I'm sorry for being corny, but it's turned into so much more than that. I love reading all your little analyses and thoughts and memes and I love seeing how invested all of you have gotten into this silly little tournament. It really is just a testament on how people will come together for even the nichest arguments just for a metaphorical crown.

It's gonna be weird not having to check this blog's notifs everyday. But readers at home, I invite you to raise a (hypothetical or real, it doesn't matter) glass and enjoy this next week while it lasts.

[phoenixkaptain]

I don’t want to get into a debate on whether or not Tim’s parents were actually abusive, but I do want to state outright that it doesn’t really matter, because Tim didn’t trust his parents.

What do I mean by this? Well, the beginning of Tim in comics is A Lonely Place of Dying (I’ve talked about it ad nauseum at this point) and one thing you may see people mention is what Tim says about his parents in it.

These are both from Batman (1940-2011) #441

Alfred asks, basically, “You do have parents, don’t you?” And Tim’s body language as he talks about them is strange to me.

Tim scratches his face. This is the only time Tim touches his face in these comics. And his eyes, he stops looking at Alfred, who he’s talking to, and looks at Dick, all the while changing the subject.

Is he lying? No. He’s uncomfortable. A part of this is that this interaction takes place before Tim tells them who he is, which Tim doesn’t want them to know. This is just the first time we see any hint of uncertainty on Tim. Interesting.

More interesting is, in the same issue

“I never told them, but for years I kept having the same nightmare over and over again.”

This is pretty clear cut. He doesn’t tell his parents things. He doesn’t tell them important things. And, well, it’s probably because he doesn’t talk to them very often

These two are from Batman (1940-2011) #444

First things first, Bruce brings up the subject. This isn’t the first time, post his introduction, that we see Tim and Bruce talking. They talk in #443. But Bruce has to broach the subject.

And Tim is avoidant. He says they don’t call often, and he isn’t bothered by it, or he doesn’t appear bothered by it. He doesn’t say what they’re fighting about, nor does he actually say what they’ll do if the trip doesn’t help. He’s very offhand about the whole thing. He almost treats it like he isn’t talking about his parents, but just two people in some circumstances he happens to know about.

Tim cuts Bruce off by pointing out the computer. He doesn’t want Bruce to finish, he doesn’t want Bruce making a promise he ultimately won’t keep, he doesn’t want Bruce to focus on him.

Tim’s relationship with his parents, especialy his father, is, from what I know, always presented in this detached way. Even in Young Justice, when Tim talks to his father, he does so through a newspaper. He doesn’t make eye contact, which is a strange thing because Tim always makes eye contact.

(That’s part of why Tim is a bit unnerving in his introduction. He is always making eye contact. Always.)

Tim doesn’t trust his parents. Why doesn’t he? Because they’re busy. Busy with work, busy with fighting, busy with each other. He doesn’t tell them things. He doesn’t tell them about his nightmares, he definitely didn’t tell them about his vacation week roadtrip, and he doesn’t tell them about Bruce.

Does that make them abusive? I guess not. Not in these issues, anyway. Down the line, I think his father especially crosses the line, but at this point? They’re mutually ignoring each other. Tim talks about his parents in a detached way, as though it doesn’t effect him. And, maybe it doesn’t. This was 1989, not exactly the pinnacle of mental health awareness with proficient knowledge of how absent parents effect the children they’ve not been raising.

Or, Tim used Batman and Robin as a proxy for affection, which is why he feels so strongly towards them and why he tells Alfred they mean everything to them and why Tim is unafraid in the face of his own death but panicky in the face of Alfred’s death. Batman and Robin are just his hyperfixation, something to obsessively focus on and keep track of to keep his head above the water, something he’s been obsessed with since he was three and saw Batman for the very first time, something he says himself he’s followed since he could read to the point that he listened to news reports on the off-chance Batman and Robin might be mentioned at the age of nine.

Who knows? ¯\ _(ツ)_/¯

[hxhhasmysoul]

Thoughts on this video? And their take on Gon?

https://youtu.be/_nCRBRM76bk?si=S_J5JCUxi0B6mg9R

This video gets 1 star out of 10 for using they/them for Pitou.

I don't exactly know what their take on Gon is, apart from them not liking Gon much as a person and trying to add "intellectualism" to it. It was honestly kinda exhausting to watch due to the tone of the speaker alone. I was worried I hurt my eyes, I was rolling them so hard when the speak hit every trope of pretense to "intellectualism" and being above the material he was analysing. These are all hallmarks of: we'll now hear some derivative bs rn.

I don't know how popular AI was when the video was created but if it was written by gen AI, I wouldn't be surprised. This or it was written and then recorded as a draft without a second pass over the text to eliminate at least the basic issues it has.

The video is extremely internally inconsistent and also very selective about what is and what isn't important in the text. Basically anything that could add depth and nuance to Gon's character is unimportant.

It hand waves how trauma shapes a person, discarding the near death experience with Kon's mother and Kite saving his life as anything that could've shaped Gon. The speaker insists that it shouldn't have, that it's bad writing. Especially because Kite, an adult, forgot about it... The author very clearly shows that they don't really understand the difference between a child and an adult. Or the fact that for Gon it was a completely different kind of experience than for Kite.

Also Kite is mentioned in the manga in other places. While the author just shows the first chapter and then the meeting again at the beginning of the Chimera Ant arc, which leads me to believe that the author hasn't read the manga, only scanned the bits they needed fro the vid and read some of the chapters after the 2011 anime.

Same with Mito's memories of Ging, they should've been forgotten by her because she was a child then according to the author. Not like she was losing her whole family gradually to death and the last person she latched onto semi consciously as a child, someone who seemed larger than life to her abandoned her so of course she fucking internalised it. It's laughable levels of pretending that traumatic experiences don't matter.

It completely hand waves abandonment issues as something that could shape a person.

It also veers into false claim to expertise at the beginning to do this. The speaker says that their family was pretty shitty so like they know what it's like... This is such a red flag when someone thinks their experience of something is so universal that any depiction or testimony of that that isn't like theirs is by definition wrong. Especially that messed-up family can mean many things. There's an infinite number of possibilities of what kind of family situation it could be and how an individual could be shaped by it.

The video seemingly acknowledges that Gon's family is messed-up. all of them, including Mito and her lies, but again hand waves that as a formative experience.

One more note about the Kite scene and how it's described by the author. And how the author talks about how Gon perceives nature. All those bits are extremely pseudo-intellectual, very tainted with both the myth of "human nature" and the myth of separation of "humanity" from nature. And the projection in those bits is so fucking strong. The author ascribes to Gon so many opinions and deeply held values based on... well vibes I guess. We need to trust the author on this one because sure as fuck the vid does not circle back to the text to give some evidence for all that bs.

The author says that Gon is "a stupid child" but also consistently holds Gon up to the intellectual and introspective standards of an adult, see all that conjecture about Gon's attitude towards nature and others.

I will coin a term now (if someone did this before, I'm sorry, I genuinely don't recall). The "Killua effect" - it's when someone who watches/reads HxH gets used to Killua's stream of thought inner monologue and unusual levels of introspection and seemingly adult world understanding and common knowledge and then unconsciously starts applying that as a standard to what a kid's thought process should be, especially in the context of putting Gon down.

So yeah, the author of this vid suffers from a severe Killua effect in what he says about Gon.

They claim that Gon gets away with everything because he's so strong and no one can control him... Idk... what? I don't even know how to comment on that one.

The part about Greed Island is so shallow, I get it, the author doesn't like it. I guess that's okay then for them to hand wave it. It's honestly another red flag when someone doesn't acknowledge how their personal bias skews their interpretation of something. This is re their interpretation of Greed Island and Gon. Like whenever I write about Kurapika or Chrollo, I make it my fucking point to make my bias explicitly clear and point out that it colours my opinion.

The author acts like they're above the world building. Aka, they don't understand hyperbole and fantastic elements as means to tell a story and to exaggerate certain elements of our reality to make a point. So the author smugly fails at media literacy 1:1.

Because like when the world is not our own, the story should be also analised in the context of that reality because world building has a purpose in storytelling. So applying our world logic one to one breeds nonsense videos like this.

The author of the vid is right, Gon is written very consistently but not exactly for the reasons they state. Yes, Gon goes through a crisis because his idea of the world and his morals crumble, but the video just purposefully interprets everything about Gon in the least charitable way it can and thus misses the point.

There are some points in the vid that feel good out of context of the whole vid. But in context... it feels like the author read them elsewhere, maybe on reddit. Didn't fully understand them and tried to string together an argument leading up to them because they sounded intellectual. So like I said at the beginning. Either Gen AI shat this all out based on some reddit posts and other stuff fed to it. Or this is a shining example that Gen AI is completely useless because people are capable of that kind of bs writing on the own.

I hope this answers you in any way. For a more detailed answer, I'd need to rewatch the video several times and take notes and probably make a table when the author contradicts themself, projects their own opinions onto the characters, especially Gon or hand waves shit because it would require them to ad nuance to their interpretation. But I won't, it's not worth it, I already watched it once till the end to see whether the author will give me anything not to roll my eyes about, and well, I got the they/them for Pitou so like win?

[nicoscheer]

Miles Kane, What It's Like to Play as a 'One Man Band'

We met Miles Kane as a founding member of important bands such as the Last Shadow Puppets with Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys and the Rascals. In the last several years, the Liverpudlian has been on a solitary path, as the name of his recent release suggests. We spoke with him shortly before his long-awaited return to Athens, at "Arch Club", on Friday 5/17.

How has your tour been going so far?

The concerts so far are incredible. I'm excited to play by myself, so I'm very happy. I think people are relating and connecting with the songs on my new record and it's taking me to places I haven't seen in a long time. And Greece is one of those places.

Can you tell us a few words about how you wrote "One Man Band", your most chart-topping album to date?

The album was created in Liverpool. We worked on it with my cousin James Skelly, who used to be a member of The Coral. We went back home and that gave birth to the desire to make a completely straight album. Writing songs is what I do best, not thinking too much, just talking about my feelings, my worries and how I want to be better. I guess life in general is what "One Man Band" is all about, stomping on some rock'n'roll, surf music. We had a clear idea of ​​what the album and its sound should be and we followed it to the end. This is also the reason why it is my favorite work of all that I have released so far. I feel very proud!

You started a great career by participating in various bands, such as Last Shadow Puppets. What motivated you to follow a more solitary path in recent years?

I've been doing solo stuff since I was 22 and I'm 38 now. I learned so much from the bands I was in, the Rascals and the Little Flames. Being on my own and free to work with whoever I want and do whatever I want – even if it sounds selfish – I think suits me best.

And what's the biggest lesson you've learned from playing as a "One Man Band"?

Not playing with a band is completely different for me. It's a huge challenge and not many could pull it off to be honest. It has made me improve my performance as a guitarist, as a singer and as a performer.

What is the most important experience from this journey?

It may sound cliche but I really had a lot of good times in my career. But I feel that who I am today as a person in life and on stage gives me new meaning and life. At all these smaller concerts where I meet new fans, I realize that the younger generation brings a whole different energy to it all. I feel that the phase I am in now is the happiest of my life. I feel more connected and hope to stay on this "path".

Are you excited to be back in Athens ("Arch Club", 5/17)?

Yes! I think I can't remember the last time I visited Greece because it's been so many years. I hope people come because I plan to give you the best night of your life.

What constitutes a successful live?

A great outfit, some "golden" dance moves and an audience! I need to feel like people want to be involved as much as I want to be. This is the only way we can go to the next level.

What are your plans for the future?

I'm trying to write something new and prepare a new album, but I'm having a hard time doing it right now. I don't want to stop the flow of things. I'm quite a simple person and I know what I like in life... Music. Maybe next year I'll be ready for a new release.

Is there another side project in the works?

We're not working on anything with Alex. [Turner], like Last Shadow Puppets. But I have this new little side project going on called The Evils and it's an instrumental surf idea. We'll see how this goes... [s.s. In the time between the interview and its publication, Kane along with Oscar Sholto Robertson and Dave Bardon released the E.P. "Miles Kane & The Evils".]

Miles Kane's albums in his own words

"Colour of the Trap" (2011)

"The beginning of the adventure, when I was still searching for who I am. This album opened the way for me. You can hear all the different sides of me in it."

"Don't Forget Who You Are" (2013)

"Probably one of the best songs I've ever written [inc. the title]. Something keeps me coming back to it. It's like coming home to the roots for me. Sometimes in life you can get sidetracked and forget who you are. This song defined me as an artist and as a person."

"Coup de Grace" (2018)

"An intense rock'n'roll, punk period! Coming out with such an aggressive album is not as easy as you think."

"Change the Show" (2022)

"My chance to show my love for Northern Soul and Motown...Growing up I listened to everything from Diana Ross and the Four Tops to whatever was on the radio."

-

Full Greek article

[sophietv]

Kaylor Timeline BEFORE VSFS 2013

It's a thread I did on my Twitter that I'll transfer here.

Once again, I used amazing Tumblr posts to do it. So I'll credit them as we go (If I need to do something else tell me, I'm new to the Tumblr etiquette).

So the official story is that Taylor and Karlie crossed path a couple of times without interacting and met for the first time at the Victoria Secret Fashion Show in 2013 🤔

Well they met A LOT of times and interacted before actually 😅

Let's see the Timeline before that VSFS in 2013!

***I'll edit this post as I find new interactions (because I feel like I'll find a lot of them) I'll add this 🆕 beside new additions and dates when it was added at the end of the post.

First meeting!

So what motivated my thread in the first place is this Interview Taylor did in 2014 with Andrew Bevan of Teen Vogue.

Here's the YouTube Link (X)

But here's the most important part of that interview:

He is saying that he introduced Karlie and Emma Stone to Taylor!!

Ok we know that Taylor met Emma at the 2008 Young Hollywood Award.

I don't think though that he is talking about that event. Because he says that he congratulated her for her cover.

Taylor did two covers with Teen Vogue, one in 2009 and one in 2011.

Following the Timeline and everything it's most likely the March 2009 one:

EDIT:

Thanks to this Anon! (X)

A magazine cover is planned 2-8 months in advance, up to a year for major celebrities.

The Young Hollywood Award was on late April 2008 and the cover was for March 2009 so it make sense.

So it's most likely that Taylor met karlie for the first time at the same event she met Emma for the first time.

🆕 Really cute fact.

On the Cover of that magazine, Taylor wears a dress from the Calvin Klein Spring 2009 show. (X)

Guess who walked that runway??

Karlie! (X)

I exceeded the limit of picture so click on the (X) to see the posts.

Tommy Hilfiger spring 2010 collection:

Septembre 16th 2009 Taylor attends the Tommy Hilfiger Spring Show during New York Fashion Week. (X)

Karlie was there too! (X)

In this post, you can see videos of Taylor watching Karlie on the runway: (X)

Here's the YouTube video : (X)

🆕Met Gala 2010:

They were both at the Met Gala in 2010

🆕In Milan together

Although they were not at the same Fashion Show (that we know) Taylor and Karlie were in Milan at the same time during the Fashion Week.

Another interesting facts. This could explain the "1958" reference of Timeless:

Thanks to Izg on Twitter for giving me this!!

Roberto Cavalli 40th Anniversary Party:

Septembre 30th 2010

Taylor and Karlie attends the Roberto Cavalli 40th Anniversary party in Paris.

Met Gala 2011:

May 2nd 2011

Karlie and Taylor both attend the Met Gala:

This is also the first time that we have confirmation of an interaction between them:

Thanks to that amazing post! (X)

Karlie said in Teen Vogue that they joked about having a baking date.

Rodarte Spring 2012 fashion show:

Septembre 13th 2011

Taylor attend Rodarte Spring 2012 fashion show where Karlie walks.

Here's a link to the video (X)

Vogue Febuary 2012:

January 17th 2012

Taylor mentions Karlie in her Vogue interview: "I love Karlie Kloss! I Want to bake cookies with her!"

And this quote, made history.

Karlie answers the same day:

Vogue Fashion's Night Out:

August 2012

Thanks to this post (X)

Taylor and Karlie star in the same commercial about Vogue Fashion Night Out:

Thanks to @hairpinraindrop for the video

Karlie and Taylor were present at the event too on Septembre 6th 2012

Paris 2012:

Septembre 30th 2012

Karlie walks the runway for Jean-Paul Gauthier in Paris:

Taylor is in Paris at the same time to film the Begin Again MV:

Funny Koincidence(?), I went back and watch that MV again, and look at the opening scene!

The Love Lock Bridge!!!

Elie Saab Spring Summer 2013 show:

Octobre 3rd 2012

Taylor is still in Paris and attends The Paris Fashion Week (X) at a fashion show where I'm pretty sure Karlie walked (I'm still searching for photos/videos).

But we know that Karlie was at the Paris Fashion Week too! (Thanks Astra!)

Here's a video:

🆕Met Gala 2013

They were also both at the Met Gala in 2013. Wich was in May.

So there you have it! All of Kaylor interaction BEFORE the 2013 VSFS!

This explains the timing of it all.

Because they allegedly met at the 2013 Victoria Secret Fashion Show in Novembre.

But as we know, Taylor moved to New York because Karlie asked her:

Timestamp 1:23

And people believe that she moved there after their Big Sur trip in March 2014.

Actually. Back in January 2014, Taylor was already looking to buy an appartment near Karlie's:

And she actually bought her Tribeca oenthouse in February.

Thanks to Bigsurlor for this!!

So they definitly knew each other before 2013!

Edit August 19 2023: Met Gala 2010, Milan trip together and Met Gala 2013 and the appartment hunting

Edit August 27th 2023: the Calvin Klein Spring 2009 dress section

[quietbluejay]

Dark Imperium #1

guess who's back back again

so okay i really liked this trilogy first time i read it, you know, chewing on the furniture in a good way type of deal so i'm hoping it'll hold up

okay so let's start out with DEATH OF A PRIMARCH so the whole thing starts by going on about how human minds just can't grasp the size of space and reality, especially if you add in the warp etc etc I'm pondering, whither this somewhat-flowery prologue why did Haley choose this way to introduce his book? honestly, I got nothing right now

this is what it segues into btw yeah i'm remembering how i didn't like this opening blah blah two fleets are fighting hey wait okay let's look at this

right from the beginning, we're doing this, huh right from the beginning, Haley is drawing an equivalence between them

anyways the narration goes on to talk about the space marines

yeah this is continuing to not pull punches again i am wondering why people say Haley unironically thinks the Imperium is the good guys etc etc even a giant void battle that seems all consuming is nothing compared to the death of stars, etc etc

"care how they are spent" nugatory that's a new one

dangit, haley, why'd you make me eat my words and now it's time for our narrator to judge Fulgrim's decoration abilities

narrator: even though Guilliman's ship had more gold on it, it was still in better taste than Fulgrim's "an affront to decency"

Fulgrim and the EC managed to outmaneuvre Guilliman and turn a rout into a trap [4:40 PM] I feel like when your whole thing is being plan guy, and the guy who just wants to go back to Margaritaville and who has quit fights before because they're boring regardless of the strategic consequences outmaneuvres you, that you should take a good hard look at yourself and also not compound the mistake by being a leeroy narration: Once, Guilliman wouldn't have made such an error

narration: he's at his freakin limit

i thought that was the funniest way to phrase that sentiment, in case you are wondering

I'm not really a fan of the style of the beginning, tbh i don't think haley can really pull off this style it just feels kind of obnoxious ah! it's like what thorpe did except thorpe did it for the entire book it's basically writing prose as if it was game fluff like if this was game fluff i'd say it was great

THIEL THIEL BBY ITS BEEN SO LONG Guilliman is going out in the armour of reason, which sounds like something a redditor from 2011 would make up and with Captain Andos and Thiel who is a captain now i do especially remember this section and how Guilliman and Thiel are written felt pretty jarring after Know No Fear and I was complaining about ooc thiel he's got more sass than this but you know what i'm gonna let it go as a different writers thing ok back to the story as per usual when a primarch shows up, there's the obligatory simping annnd also im just gonna let it go as a "this is guilliman's pov of thiel"

guilliman sadly thinks about how the new kids look so reverently at him and like dude thiel isn't one of those but like "thiel" and "modest" don't really go together anyways, i'm letting it go, i say

Andos is concerned-

yeah cmon man

andos: this is a bad idea guilliman: have you considered that IM BITING FULGRIM BITING HIM BITING HIM BITING HIM

oh, so he did actually put a little thought into it she said, throwing aside a large rock

okay but like the defenders have the advantage guilliman, bro

etc etc "he would not let his sons pay the price for his mistakes" well well well let's see what happens next like yeah okay guilliman is being stupid here but once again fulgrim is proving that he got smarter after he went full chaos

guilliman has weird experiences when being teleported

they're back to reality though it's not a very pleasant reality lol, there's a brief summary of the weird and horrifying places and things Guilliman fought in the heresy oh huh i thought it was going to say Fulgrim's ship was worse but it just says it's "of a similar ilk"

as we all know guilliman's special talent is microsoft excel yes that's relevant here it gets a brief mention

symbolism it's also lmao Haley took the whole thing about painting with bodily fluids and ran with it and was like "yeah everything is covered in mold" oh, hey, it's Corvo, I remember that name Novamarine dude (all the chapter masters are checking in with guilliman as they're fighting) Guilliman remember the last time he was on this ship and feels sad okay time to for real go into the main room everyone: it's a trap! guilliman: exactly! thiel: he could kill you guilliman: yeah i know thiel: dude i'm worried that the reason you want to do this is not entirely practical guilliman: what do you mean? thiel: pride goes before a fall guilliman: pshaw don't worry about it guilliman: anyways if i can't kill fulgrim in single combat i'll call you guys all in

and the chapter ends on guilliman walking into the room and yes this prologue has at least 3 chapters

Guilliman enters the Heliopolis which is full of bones and smells like "smoke and stale musk" grudgingly, i have to admit that at least some of Haley's style here is doing it for me even if i know he can do better

it's once again creepily silent and empty meanwhile he's getting the updates on his helmet

also we get informed that Fulgrim always kinda sounded needy but now it's the main tone of his voice "a poison masquerading as confidence" Fulgrim twits Guilliman about breaking up the legions which is an interesting first choice

Guilliman: I got honoured Fulgrim: nah, that was me Guilliman: anyways I'm a winner because I was slow and steady whereas you raced ahead into damnation Fulgrim: yeah actually I'm saved Guilliman: for fuck's sake and he gets a good look at Fulgrim

Fulgrim: yeah look what MY god did for me, a much better god than Emps Guilliman: the Emperor isn't a god yeah we really are getting a chunk of the high points of the trilogy established here

Fulgrim gets up in Guilliman's space enough for "his hot perfumed breath to caress guilliman's face" and either he's got really strong breath or - actually wait how does this work isn't he a giant snake is he leaning down to talk to guilliman like a child Fulgrim: join me Fulgrim: waggles eyebrows Fulgrim: aren't you tired of being nice Fulgrim: don't you just want to go ape shit Guilliman: nope, you got tricked Fulgrim: no, it's YOU who were tricked Guilliman: no YOU you can tell they're siblings Fulgrim twits him about loyalty and being more loyal to his little domain than anything else Fulgrim: oh yeah and how much of that is left after Angron and Lorgar? lmao Guilliman: bite bite kill kill kill Fulgrim: well that's convenient because i'm here to kill you as well

oh yeah Fulgrim revealed that the whole thing was a giant trap not just this but them showing up in the first place

as usual i'm not going to cover the fight scene Guilliman almost immediately calls in Thiel and Andos and then Fulgrim one-ups him by having a whole bunch of Emperor's Children hanging out silently in the room Fulgrim's evil sword cuts into Guilliman's armour and Guilliman somehow feels it "a spicy agony" ah, so, allergic reaction Guilliman manages to break the sword, which gets Fulgrim mad

meanwhile there's a ferocious battle going on between Guilliman's troops and the EC, and his side is rather outnumbered

Fulgrim is by this point pissed off with Guilliman he comes over and yanks off his helmet Guilliman gets a whiff and gags Fulgrim: pathetic is this foreshadowing for the mortarion confrontation yes, not even i am immune to making mortarion stinky jokes

Fulgrim aimed for where Kor Phaeron got Guilliman with the athame

guilliman collapses meanwhile the Ultramarines rush in to save him

:D Andos is panicking and uhhh i thought the whole point of making Space Marines not feel fear was to avoid this kind of thing??

that's a great bit "his armour caught on the corpses of his sons" he hears a voice and can't place if it's Thiel or not, and once again thinks about how many Ultramarines died to save him they teleport him out

and realizes he's dying for real and that Andos was right and he starts to panic about what's going to happen to the Imperium without him

and that ends the prologue!

[zmediaoutlet]

happy wincest wednesday z! it's very probable you've been asked this already, but, on a chance you haven't: between when you first got into wincest and now, what were the main shifts in your perception of the ship, in things you focus on, in things that give you the most heart palpitations? especially considering that you came in when the show was still about halfway in, iirc! would really love to hear about this <3

aw, bud! gumdrop! ty for thinking of me on the happy holy day <3

and you know, I don't think I have been asked this! It's a really good thing to ponder. My memory is Bad but let me try to cast my mind back to those early days in a sort of compare/contrast exercise and we'll see what shakes out. As you know I started watching spn in ~2011/12ish, and was fully caught up and watching ep by ep as of late s7/beginning of s8, so it is a little different that I binged the first half of the show and took the slow path for the second half. So what did I think initially...

I remember having an out-loud conversation with the bestie once I'd essentially finished s1 that I was surprised I wasn't shipping the brothers. A lot of those early s1 moments didn't get me at all, and I still wouldn't put s1 in my top five seasons. Like -- no chance. It was important getting-to-know-them time and of course there are great individual bits, but I didn't wincest about it at all. I think that took until... s2, maybe even s3. (It was a fast binge at first, admittedly. I think you also know that I watched almost all of s1 in the grips of a literal delirium fever, so I wasn't really grokking it until later.)

I think I really started to like Get Into the wincest once it was getting apocalyptic -- s3/4/5. I mean how could you not. The stakes are never higher than they were then, really. That was the deepest danger and it was such a five-alarm fire of -- oh, this is IT. This is what it means that they're brothers. Back then I liked more of the 'family horror' element, although obv I never went quite as melodrama hbo-spn as the current fashion is, bc I left that behind with like HP fandom in the 2000s, haha -- but still! I read my fair share of "Sam pines and this is why he leaves," my fair share of "Dean's torn up about how his little brother's hot and that's why he basically feel like he deserves to go to hell," you know. etc etc. They still hit in their way but I don't -- like that much anymore, because.......

so I was REALLY into the s6-7 arc, loved it to PIECES. I loved saint!Sam getting his martyr on, the insanity, etc. The first fic series I wrote for this fandom was Physical Graffiti and it was all about that. And I still love it! Still wonderful! Buuuuut I didn't realize, I guess, what delights there were in store for the Carver era, and I didn't realize either that Sera was still working firmly inside the Apocalyptic Model -- obv appropriate for the show, but even if it was all about consequence and messy "what if there's not destiny anymore", it was still very much about the destiny and how firmly tied they were to each other. But then there was --

Carver era! Which was a bumpy ride, haha. But even the first half of s8 was ROUGH to get through (god, those horrible amelia flashbacks, godddd) what became clear was that this was now the Choosing Era, and there's nothing that hornts me up more than Choosing. I love the apocalypse, I love the destiny shit, but it turns out that I love SO MUCH MORE the sense that there are ten thousand thousand other options that characters could be making and yet they nevertheless turn ever inward, because this is what they want after all, and not just what they are forced to have. Dude, that FUCKS. It's so good.

therefore, like, I get palpitations obviously still from things like s1, Sam saying "it's never gonna be like it was" and Dean pathetically going "could be?" Like that's good. Of course. But my established-relationship, adult complication, soulmates-are-made-not-by-fate-but-by-choice heart thrills more (and more every day!) to little things like... in the French Mistake, when Dean half-cautiously says to Sam that his life here isn't so bad, and maybe they could stay, and Sam just shrugs and says "we're not brothers here, man." Or when Sam could absolutely have stayed in Kermit at that shitty motel where Amelia would've waited, but instead he shows up at a cabin and eats bad chili with Dean, even if he's still mad. Or when Dean was a demon, and then had a mark, and Sam at any point could've said -- you know what, we could make a sacrifice play here and save several days, but I wanted you back, and Dean looks at him and then away because -- that's just true. That's a choice, made. Every day.

that's the shit, man. That's all I need.