#so the bare minimum was done to include her

[ploppythespaceship]

On my latest Doctor Who rewatch, I'm struck by something in "The Doctor's Daughter" -- I don't really know what Martha's doing in the episode. She gets separated from the Doctor almost immediately, and has her own plot befriending the Hath that doesn't really give us anything new or interesting. We see that Martha is extremely intelligent, hyper competent, and above all caring and open-minded -- but these are things that we already knew about her. Then when she reunites with the Doctor, for the rest of the episode she's just sort of there. The writers went through a lot of trouble to include her, only to give her a repeat arc that doesn't impact the rest of the story. If you removed her from the episode, nothing about the overall plot would change.

You know what would have made all the difference in the world? If Martha and Donna had switched places.

Pairing Martha off with the Doctor for this episode would have been far more interesting for that point in their relationship. Martha has already chosen to leave this life behind -- and suddenly she's thrust right back into it alongside him. What kind of emotions does that bring up? Does she miss her travels at all? Does she have any regrets about her decision? That's the kind of situation that would bring all of those questions up organically.

Meanwhile, if Donna had been separated from the Doctor first thing and forced to work with the Hath, it would have been fascinating for her character as well. It would be the first time seeing her figuring this stuff out truly on her own, without the Doctor to help her, while she figures out how to communicate with a truly alien race and find her way back to her friends. It would be more interesting with Donna because it's a new setting for her -- we know that Martha can handle that, but we haven't seen quite the same from Donna yet.

[fairyofthehollow]

“i can’t think of anyone more deserving of person of the year than taylor”

think harder.

[britcision]

GANG I AM SURE IT IS OLD NEWS BUT I HAVE BEEN DOING MATH AND LEMME TELL YOU A FUCKING THING

EXHIBIT A: MITHRUN’S TIMELINE PER THE DUNGEON GUIDE

EXHIBIT B: KABRU’S TIMELINE PER THE DUNGEON GUIDE

EXHIBIT C: MILSIRIL’S COMIC PER THE DUNGEON GUIDE

HYPOTHESIS: Milsiril was bare minimum visiting, caring for, and feeding Mithrun at points in his timeline between year 480 (trying to recover) and 500 (appointed as a captain - this is also noted to have happened immediately when he was fit for work, since they were running out of people)

In the comic, Milsiril specifically references Utaya (year 499, from Kabru’s timeline - it’s the only demon incident in Utaya), as she uses the incident with the demon in Utaya to get Mithrun to eat and get his act together

Kabru lived with Milsiril in the elven capital from year 499 to 510

Milsiril specifically dislikes and avoids other elves… now with the apparent exception of Mithrun, who she thinks she might have quite liked pre-nuking

Milsiril would not want to go to Mithrun’s family estate and deal with his entire family every time to take care of him… and they may not have been keen on her dolls or cooking

The only thing we know about Mithrun and his family is that he hated his brother, and visits him every five years (brother has extended a permanent invitation for Mithrun to visit any time pretty sure Mithrun overestimates how much his brother cared/noticed he didn’t like him)

His parents deadass aren’t mentioned except to note that he’s the bastard child, and his parents ignored his older brother. There’s an implication here that they preferred Mithrun… until they sent him to a death squad

Milsiril has a repeatedly-mentioned tendency to take in strays, usually kids of short-lived peoples, and strong nurturing instincts that may/may not be pretty dehumanizing

CONCLUSION: there is a non-zero chance that Mithrun and Kabru LIVED TOGETHER FOR A FUCKING YEAR post Utaya at Milsiril’s house and just didn’t even fucking notice

I am losing my mind

This is incredible

Mithrun deadass coulda been The Crazy Uncle In The Attic for a full fucking year

He was busy going feral and blaming himself for Utaya cuz it “could have been different” if he’d been there and recovered for the same fucking year THE LAST SURVIVOR OF UTAYA was in the next room

What kind of unhinged interactions did they have

Kabru was fucking SEVEN the state of Mithrun in that comic woulda fucking RETRAUMATIZED HIM any mention of him being a dungeon lord???? NOPE

We know from the changeling incident that Mithrun barely considered Kabru a distinct person so 0% chance he would ever put it together but KABRU

Kabru is an observant little thot and his favourite thing is making assumptions from his observations

Just a MENTION of Milsiril and Kabru shoulda been all up on that

Mithrun FULLY DID mention her as Milsiril the Gloomy when exposing his backstory and Kabru just… tossed every single name in the garbage

(Which, fair. Elves live a long time, the odds of there being only one Milsiril are 0% and she wasn’t all that gloomy with Kabru, and, frankly, he had bigger concerns named Laios Touden)

Ugh too much too many bits Otta’s comic includes them actually talking about his adoptive mom but without names they were SO CLOSE I am going insane

Fanfiction

So much fanfiction

It MUST be post Kabru/Mithrun this ship is all angst and tbh the whole “desiring someone who can’t desire” is only gonna consternate Kabru for so long so once that is done I want a slice of “WAIT A FUCKING SECOND you’re the guy in the attic???????”

[kraviolis]

i told y’all. i told y’all i was gonna go crazy over this post made by @gummy-goat-galaxy​

full disclosure i drew literally all of this before looking into the details of the AU so this is 70% my interpretation of his original post but i need to explain my thought process so. here’s the post explaining the details of the actual AU!!! and below is what my brain made up on the spot

ok so belos finds tiny child luz and is like “fuck everyone. this is mine now” and treats her like a goddamn princess. to him, she is a Gift From God to remind him to stay on his Righteous Path. an innocent little girl who is just so bubbly and always tries to see the good in everything, including him. she is a reminder of how Pure and Good humanity is, and seeing as though she’s the literal only human he’s had any contact with besides caleb in 400 fucking years, he is never letting the demon realm corrupt her like it did to him.

she’s basically his Lamb and he the Shepherd, and because he’s so desperate to keep her “““pure”““ he strictly keeps her within the castle and even then not all of the castle is available to her. he keeps her contact with witches to an absolute bare minimum.

he entrusts her protection specifically to hunter, despite the fact he’s only 2 years older. his reasoning is “caleb did a pretty good job raising me so this’ll be fine probably.” when belos himself cannot keep an eye on her, it’s hunter’s job. luz and hunter end up being raised in a sorta similar situation to catra & adora from she-ra but they are actually siblings and not just best friends.

(if u havent seen she-ra, basically its their abusive caretaker creating a golden child + scapegoat dynamic, where one kid can do absolutely no wrong (which doesnt mean they cant still be abused/manipulated!!) while the other kid is blamed for literally everything that goes wrong. the caretaker also regularly pits them against each other to encourage competition & keep the all power in the caretaker’s hands.)

similar to catra & adora, the whole competition thing doesnt really work. luz is just too damn kind and too damn good for hunter to ever resent her, and she’s all he really has. because hunter is the scapegoat, he grows wise to belos’s manipulations WAY sooner. it’s easier to figure out when you’re being mistreated when you literally watch ur guardian treating ur sibling so much better than how they treat u.

unfortunately, because luz cannot help but see the good in absolutely everyone and can be empathetic to a fault, she doesnt realize belos’s game until she ends up sneaking out of the castle. she actually really loves belos and is thankful for him taking her in for a long time. she calls him uncle like hunter, despite belos nudging her towards seeing him as a father bcus he sees her as a pseudo-daughter. (but luz remembers her dad, and has no desire to replace him with someone else no matter how much she cares for belos)

belos does love & adore luz, he would do almost anything to keep her happy and “innocent” and “pure”, but not to the extent that he could still end up redeemed. he still manipulates & subtly emotionally abuses her to keep her in line, but it’s only when she sneaks out and meets eda the owl lady does she start getting clued into this. and once luz learns what belos has done to hunter it’s all fucking over.

hunter loves luz. she is his sister and always will be. but while he’s stuck to belos because of his duties as golden guard, she sees how green the grass is on the other side and doesn’t even hesitate to hop over there. watching her slowly grow more and more distant while she keeps sneaking out to visit with her new friends (eda, king, willow, gus, amity, etc.) is one of the most painful things hunter has had to deal with.

he feels betrayed at first, as if luz is replacing him with other people who arent broken like he is, and when luz actually leaves for good- belos lies to the public and says she was kidnapped- hunter is the one who leads the hunt to find her and bring her back home safely. when they confront each other, luz tries to do her whole dramatic speech about how wrong belos is and how he’s been lying their whole lives, but hunter already knows. the only reason he stayed was for luz, but she couldnt even stay from him? it fuckin hurts man.

they end up on opposite sides for a minute. hunter gains no satisfaction from trying to ruin this new life she’s found for herself but goddamnit, he has a job to do. he cant just defect. and then he defects after watching belos try to kill luz because she’s let herself become corrupted by the witches.

thats about all my brain got for this so far. TL;DR basically just listen to the “first time in forever” and “mother knows best reprise” and “broken crown” by mumford & sons and thats pretty much the gist of it.

[leossmoonn]

dilf | mike schmidt

summary - mike as a dad

warnings / includes - reader is fem. otherwise fluff :D (also there’s so much background and plot like sorry not sorry lol I really like to ramble)

————

if there’s another fnaf movie… mike needs to be a dad. i know that’s not the plot at all and wouldn’t make sense, but i think the box office would benefit from that!

mike is already kind of a dad. he’s been raising abby for a few years now. he wouldn’t consider himself any type of caregiver because well, he thinks he’s quite terrible. and the term ‘brother’ is so much less daunting than ‘dad’. so when you two found out you were pregnant, he felt more fear than excitement. it wasn’t a surprise really. you two hadn’t been using condoms as regularly, but he was more stunned that now he was going to be a father and he was terrified.

regardless of how he felt, he supported you in every way possible during pregnancy. he was literally perfect. dude did the bare minimum and more! every day he would ask what you wanted to eat each day, no matter how weird the cravings were, and he would try his best to honor them. he gave you massages, went on walks with you, talked to the baby, went on doctor appointments with you — he even scheduled extra ones when you weren’t feeling well because he was so scared of you or the baby dying or something.

and after the whole freddy’s pizzeria fiasco — glad you weren’t pregnant during that lmao — he was able to get a job as a sales associate and become a manager with the help of him taking some online college courses. (you definitely helped with convincing him he was good enough to go back). abby was making new friends at her school and even helping you out when you were pregnant: making desserts for you, giving you advice on baby clothes, already making plans with the baby to play house or dress up. things were looking up.

until you give birth.

now, as we mentioned, mikey poo was a little nervous when he found out you were pregnant. and things went so well with your pregnancy, he kind of forgot to think about what it was actually going to be like when the baby was here. he was about to shit his pants fr while you were giving birth. but then they put the baby in your arms and everything just came together for him. cliché to say, i know, but it’s real!!!! and god, when he finally got to hold his baby, he was wrapped around her little finger. (i’d like to think he’s a girl dad — we already kind of see that with abby). she has mike’s big brown eyes and your cute nose. she looks exactly like a mix between the two of you.

for the first few months, mike was more focused on you than the baby. don’t get me wrong! he’s great father, but he just had that mindset that everyone wanted to take care of the baby: your parents, vanessa, even abby, but nobody was taking care of you. (doesn’t that just make your ovaries scream??) so he made it his mission to help you out with everything he could, on top of the baby, which he absolutely didn’t mind. lowk, mike is a house wife.

in the night, you two would trade shifts for the baby. there were times where he knew you were so tired from breastfeeding and just taking care of the baby during the day in general — he had to work full time still to be able to provide for you guys — that he would take full night shifts and let you sleep. it was basically like working at freddy’s so….

when you started going back to work, mike would make sure the laundry was done, house was always clean, each meal was made, abby got to one place or another. of course, he spent as much time taking care of the baby as he did with other things, but you were just under so much stress and he felt as though the best thing he could do for you was take most of the mental load. soon you became accustomed with being a mom and soon your workloads were basically evenly split.

okay enough of the background.

mike loves playing with the baby. sooo crazy, right? lol. he loves doing tummy time with her, playing peek-a-boo, talking in funny voices. he also loved picking out outfits for her, even though he actually has no sense of fashion and you quickly banned him from buying anything in the store. i think his favorite thing to do with his baby girl is making her laugh. ugh! baby laughs are so cute in general, and it just made his whole world. unlike everyone in the world, besides you and sometimes abby, no one really liked mike. well, no one gave him a chance and to be fair, he didn’t really let them. it wasn’t until he met you where we felt complete and whole and happy and not afraid of risks. and it wasn’t until the baby where he felt a true sense of purpose and he was happy with how his life turned out.

his absolute favorite sight in the world is seeing you, abby, and the baby play. the house has never been filled with as much joy as it is when y’all are playing. everyone’s giggling, teasing each other, fawning over the baby. its literally like the perfect family he never got to have :,).

he also absolutely adores you as a mom. he thinks you are the best mom ever. and of course he should think that anyways, but he believes it with his whole being. being a first time mom, you were nervous of course. but in the first month, all you did was berate yourself for not being a good mom and not knowing your baby’s needs, but with mike’s reassurance and time, you gained more and more confidence.

when the baby starts going to daycare, mike is actually terrified. he starts to look for jobs he can do at home because he’s so scared that what happened with garrett is going to happen to his baby. but with multiple background checks, questions, lowk spying, he tries to trust the daycare center you two choose.

random note before i stop talking. mike is a sleepy guy and so is the baby. the two often nap together with the baby on top of his stomach. AH. looks so cute. sometimes his hand is on her head or back, or her little fingers are wrapped around his thumb. you have countless of pictures of them in this one situation. i’d like to think mike doesn’t really sleep when the baby is on his stomach because he’s afraid she’s gonna fall or he will roll over, but he stays as calm and quiet as he can so she can rest.

[haileyywrites]

Summary: After most nurses and doctors were either scared away or refused to treat the would-be-god you volunteered to do it, much to everyone's bewilderment. Though he was crude and difficult to deal with you never gave up on him. He couldn't understand why this was...

Partings: Scaramouche/Balladeer/Wanderer x gn!reader

Notes/Warnings: Completely gender neutral reader! Poc friendly! Reader is a nurse! Reader is "threatened" by him, but it's light-hearted! Scara/Wanderer is a bit possessive! Sweet fluff!

After the defeat of the Balladeer he was in dire need of medical attention and the benevolent god she was Lord Kusanali ordered the Akademia's doctors to treat him. Many outright refused after all he had done to them and their Archon, clearly forgetting it was the Grand Sage who locked her away in the first place... Those who didn't outright refuse stopped after bare minimum was done to treat him and refused to continue treating him any further. You weren't a doctor, but you could continue to take care of his injuries as a nurse - you actually volunteered to do so, someone had to take care of him so why not you?

You didn't understand what all the fuss was about as he had been asleep since his defeat and it never caused any problems for you when you took care of him - if anything it was easier, yet your coworkers feared and despised him as if he was some kind of monster. For someone so feared and powerful his sleeping face sure was like an angels... You didn't know what came over you as you slowly reached closer to his face and his silky indigo locks. You were stopped moments before you could make contact with his porcelain face as he grabbed your wrist tightly, a gasp of horror and surprise left your mouth.

“Where am I?” He demanded instantly, his violet eyes glaring at you with burning fury.

“At the medical station!” You managed to answer.

You winced painfully as his hold on your arm didn't relent, if anything he held on even tighter! You could hear your heart beating erratically in your ears as panic began settling in from his painful hold on your arm - luckily the door was opened and Lesser Lord Kusanali walked in. The Balladeer let go and pushed you away to the side where you remained frozen as the two began conversing with one another. You couldn't listen in on their conversation as you were too busy trying to calm yourself down...

You too were reluctant to continue treating him in fear he would get more physical with you in the future, but as you looked at him while he was conversing with the Dendro Archon you could see the broken and defeated person he truly was. He had simply been scared and confused of where he was and likely though you were a threat to him as he had just woken up. He felt vulnerable after his defeat and woke up to a stranger reaching for his face - of course he would react the way he did.

To everyone else's surprise - including his, you agreed to continue treating him until he recovered. He wasn't quite happy with having someone taking care of him and though you didn't relish upon taking care of the person who tried to overthrow your god it was still your duty and a task given by the Archon herself. You didn't blame others for not accepting the task, but still frowned upon them for forgetting their sworn oath of treating any patient. The patient himself didn't make things any easier by acting difficult and annoyed at everything possible, but you didn't let it hinder your work.

At first it felt like constantly walking on eggshells around him before you decided to just ignore him and not entertain his antics or attitude. This made him even more annoyed, but eventually he gave up and allowed you to do your job with minimal complaints, though his attitude was back the moment someone other than you tried treating him or even entered his room... You weren't sure exactly why this was, perhaps you had gained some form of trust after treating him for some time or respect for not cowering like the others and not allowing him to bully you. Perhaps it was both. The only exception was Kusanali as he seemed to at least respect her in some capacity after she defeated him with the help of the traveler.

Your interaction was minimal to non-existent at the beginning, neither of you wanted to engage with one another and both of you were fine with it. You were just doing your job like you were told to, he just needed to let you do it and you would be out soon enough. But as time slowly went by both of you became more talkative and you would stay around longer. He mostly liked just criticized everyone and everything around him - but very rarely did he mention you during his rants about how everyone and everything around him sucked. You started noticing how he and his awful personality had started to slowly grown on you, like fungus!

“Good morning!” You said cheerfully.

“What's so good about it? And it's hardly morning anymore.” He grumbled.

“It's only ten o'clock, it's still morning for most people. You also don't have to take everything so literally! If you want to be grumpy then be grumpy, but you don't need to sour everyone else's moond.” You smiled at his light glare.

“I'm not grumpy. If only you knew what would be done to you if I wasn't still bedridden.” He warned.

“Yeah, yeah. Now let me change your bandages and then get ready to take your medicine.” You gave him a look telling him to not fight against you again.

“Tsk. I know, don't treat me like a child.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

“Then don't act like one.” You kept smiling at the light-hearted threats and daily banter.

You carefully take off and change his bandages to fresh ones, you were glad to see he seemed to be healing very well. Perhaps it was because he wasn't human... Of course you were informed of it by Lord Kusanali, it was vital information for you to treat him correctly as your patient. Honestly you weren't entirely sure of what you were doing since you've never treated a non-human patient, but thus far he seemed to be doing just fine. Even his complaints had become increasingly rare the longer you treated him and spent time with him.

Still, even after all this time his eyes were on you like a hawk as he watched your every move carefully while you treated him. Every touch of yours gave him goosebumps and made him lightly shiver despite how many times you had done it, he likely hadn't had close contact like this in a long time. It made you feel sad for him that the only person to give him positive contact was his nurse... You didn't know about his past or even really know him, you were just a nurse after all. But you could tell there was huge trust issues caused by something in his past that still effected him to this day.

You quickly fetched him his medicine, which he took without complaint for once. “Alright, that's it for today! Food such arrive in an hour so just rest or occupy yourself until then.”

“You're leaving early?” He suddenly asked.

“Um... Yes, I have some plans for today. Is something wrong?” You asked concerned.

“No. You just aren't usually in a hurry.” He mumbled.

“Oh, I see. Well, have a good rest of your day then, I'll see you tomorrow!” You waved him goodbye - which he did not return as per usual.

Somehow you got the feeling he was upset despite denying it... His face was the same grumpy expression as before, but something just told you he wasn't just being grumpy. Perhaps it was because of time you had spent together had made him grow attached to your presence and conversations, since others rarely wished to speak to him and he even less with them. Still, you couldn't rule out that he was speaking the truth and was simply surprised to see you leave early.

Absentmindedly you turned back to look up at his window and were surprised to see him looking back down at you - both of you freezed and continued to stare at each other in surprise for some time. You managed to finally snap out of it and once again waved him goodbye with a small smile, he broke off from his trance and just looked away with an annoyed expression. You turned back around as you continued on your way, still perplexed by his unusual behavior.

When you returned the next day he was again by the window watching as you came in, had he been waiting for you? This behavior was completely unusual for him and you had no idea how long he had been standing there since he tended to not rest long, because he didn't require sleep. You felt a bit bad for leaving early yesterday when he kept acting like this, as if he was lonely... For most it would be hard to imagine someone like him to feel lonely, but to you it seemed like loneliness was something he was all too accustomed to.

“So, where did you go yesterday?” He asked as you entered his room.

You turned around to look at him with a confused expression, “Um.. I went out with some friends.”

“Did you enjoy it?”

“What's with these questions lately?”

He looked away from your gaze with tinted cheeks, “Nothing. Just wondering...”

“Okay, well yes I did. We went to my favorite restaurant that I haven't visited in some time.” You smiled fondly at the memory.

“...”

“Good news! It looks like you're fully healed, but I'll have another doctor take a look just in case.” You smiled brightly.

“Is that really necessary?” He sighed.

“It is!” You didn't stop to listen to his protests or complaints as you quickly rushed out to fetched another doctor for a second opinion.

The entire time he was examined by the other doctor he had an angry scowl on his face, but did as the doctor instructed while looking at you with an annoyed expression. You were used to it by now and just smiled back at him to annoy him even more. The doctor confirmed what you had said, he was completely healed and no longer in need of bedrest. The other doctor quickly got up to fetch Lesser Lord Kusanali for instructions or orders on what to do with him next now that your job was done.

“Happy to finally get rid of me?” He asked nonchalantly, but genuinely sounded at least slightly hurt by the idea.

“Happy that you're healthy! As for getting rid of you...” You were interrupted by the door opening.

Lesser Lord Kusanali walked through with the blonde traveler and their companion not far behind. You bowed your head slightly in respect and stepped back to allow them closer to your patient. The traveler and the Balladeer didn't look happy to see each other in the slightest, they threw petty insults at each other and you could finally see the progress you had made with him. Though he complained and "threatened" you it wasn't like this at all... Those two were not kidding, but wouldn't act on their threat's with Nahida scolding them. With you it was always clearly light-hearted and you weren't ever in danger despite his personality.

“After what you've done I've decided I'll have to have someone watch you before I can trust you not to cause anymore harm to Sumeru and it's citizens.” The Archon proclaimed.

“Hah! You'll give me a babysitter?” He laughed dryly.

“Yes. It will hopefully be only temporary, but that depends entirely on you.” She nodded.

“I hope you didn't invite us here for that!” The flying pixie shrieked.

“Well... I was going to suggest it, but it seems it would be better we find someone with less of an antagonist history.” She pondered.

You didn't know what came over you and before you could think or stop yourself the words flew out of your mouth, “Lord Kusanali! If I may, then I would volunteer to look after him.”

“What?!” He and the traveler shouted in unison.

“Hmm. Are you sure?” Nahida carefully asked.

“Yes. I think I may be one of the only people in Teyvat who can stand him.” You smiled.

“Excuse me?” He glared at you.

“Then I'll trust you to keep looking after him.” The Archon smiled at you with an approving look.

“Paimon's still worried...” Paimon said.

“It's okay! I've been his caregiver thus far so looking after him should be no problem.” You reassured her and the worried looking traveler.

“Do I get no say in this?” He scowled.

“Do you have an objection?” Nahida asked.

There was a brief silence as the Balladeer turned to look at your slightly hurt expression before he sighed loudly, “No.”

“Then it's settled!” The young Archon announced.

Mostly everyone was satisfied with the outcome, though some had their worries about it. It wasn't a problem like you had assured them as your dynamic didn't change much, you would spend more time together as he lived with you. Still, much to the dismay of Wanderer the traveler would occasionally visit you to see how you were doing, while it was incredibly sweet it was entirely unnecessary as you always told him. The person they knew had changed much after his defeat - including changing his name to fully start over.

He also never gave you a reason to actually "watch him" like you had said you would, most days he would simply follow you around as you ran errands ect. Sometimes you would follow him around if he had something to do like meet Nahida, which he did quite frequently - you of course gave them space unless you were asked to stay. You were both quite content with this dynamic despite his previous protests.

Even after Nahida told you she no longer required you to watch after Wanderer you didn't stop hanging out, you had grown too close by then. After being abandoned by those he trusted countless times he wasn't just about to let you do the same after all you had done to make him care for you. Thankfully you weren't about to leave him be either, he didn't even move out of your home after being released of the watch he was under.

Feel free to like and or reblog if you'd like <3

[ilguna]

☼ grim (Finnick Odair) ☼

summary; you were going to wait to tell Finnick you're hurt, but you can't.

warnings; swearing, death, death mention, weapon usage, gore.

wc; 2.2k

–

The streets of the Capitol have never been so eerie before. They were designed to be brightly colored, even the sidewalks that line the asphalt are tiny mosaics. Each street is themed after a different fantasy, it’s like a rainbow threw up all of its colors, took a breath, and then continued.

A couple weeks ago, this neighborhood would’ve been filled with the people that live here. They woke up later in the day, worked for a few hours, went shopping and came home to a full fridge and not a single worry in the world. They were excited for the next Quarter Quell and the hell that would follow it.

And now they’ve deserted the place they call home.

It’s almost wrong, the way that the buildings have been destroyed. A number of pods have been set off prior to your squad’s arrival to ensure that you’ll travel safely to the mansion. Which means that the building’s paint has gone from brand new to smokey from the fires. There’s large chips on the exterior, ruining its pristine condition. And most, if not all, of the windows have been shattered onto the mosaics.

The sound of glass crunching beneath your black boots is the only noise that fills the air. Everyone has been lost in thought for the past hour, following Boggs through the streets, hoping that he’s leading you in the right direction. Supposedly, with the device he has, he’s able to locate every pod that you’re approaching, can tell what they contain, and he’ll steer you away if they’re too dangerous.

You’ve been on the tips of your toes, waiting for a mistake. It’s too quiet out here, it feels like there’s someone watching you around every corner. When you told Finnick about the creepy feeling, he did close to nothing to help ease the tension from your body. He told you there’s a good chance that you’re right.

He hasn’t been very comforting as of late. 

As much as you’d like to be mad at him for it, you can’t really blame him. There’s been a tornado of shit that’s been going around you two since the Quell was announced in the winter. It’s a miracle that you’ve managed to stay together through it. After what happened in the arena, you thought for sure that was going to be the end of (Y/n) and Finnick.

Boggs suddenly stops at the opening of another block, a ring of apartment buildings with a nice courtyard right in the center. The group of you gather around as he pulls out the Holo so you can see a projection of the block and where the pods are inside. You cross your arms, listening to him explain how you’re going to do it.

There’s a gunfire pod positioned a third of the way down, above an apartment awning. He wants to trigger it with bullets, which means for a volunteer. As for a second pod, it’s at the far end, almost the next corner. That pod requires a body to set it off, needing another volunteer.

Several people raise their hands, not including you. Ever since you found out last week that you’re here for decoration, you’ve been doing the bare minimum. You’re not going to put yourself in unnecessary danger just so they can film you and manipulate the country into thinking you’re actually helping. Besides, no matter who raises their hands and their capabilities for the situation, Boggs tries hard not to call on any of the victors. Star Squad professionals, only.

Katniss gets sent to Messalla to get her makeup done for the filming. You follow Boggs’ directions to position yourself for when the pods get set off. It takes a couple minutes for the camera crew to get the angle they want. You watch as Messalla throws a few smoke charges to make an atmosphere for the video, and resist the urge to laugh. It’s comical.

On Katniss’ lead, you follow her through the smoke and down the path. Everyone has been asked to shoot a window, but when Finnick sees that you’re not participating, he does it for you. Gale’s the one that’s been selected to hit the pod, causing the rest of you to duck into doorways or flattening against the colorful stones in order to avoid being hit by the bullets. 

When Boggs feels like it’s not going to react to any movement, he orders you forward, only for Cressida to stop everyone before they move and ruin her vision. She wants close-up shots of your reactions, falling to the ground, grimacing, diving into the doorways. 

You opt not to participate, which it met with a stern look from Boggs. You two have had plenty of conversations these past couple of days about Coin’s wants and how you need to follow them. He stopped bringing it up after you kept repeatedly telling him that she is not in control over you, therefore he isn’t either. The one reason why you’re still part of the squad is for Finnick, no one else.

“Pull it together, Four-Five-One,” Boggs tells them firmly, they’ve been laughing at Messalla for trying to reenact how he felt. You look up from where you’re rolling a bullet back and forth on the mosaics. Boggs is backing away, Holo in his hand as he tries to see through the haze to find the next pod, his foot landing on one of the orange tiles.

You want the tile sink.

An ear-splitting explosion shakes the ground, as you take Finnick through the doorway with you. You hit the carpet, struggling to breathe through the toxic air. A second explosion goes off nearby, your ears begin to ring. You take in a breath, and you’re immediately met with a sharp stabbing pain.

You stop, turning away from Finnick as you try to see around your vest where the pain is coming from. Your face twists, fingers searching along your upper right side, around your ribs. You’re met with torn fabric, so you gently press into the exposed skin.

You let out a cry, gritting your teeth. You slam your head back against the carpet, eyes shut to prevent the dizziness that’s beginning to make the room spin. Your fingertips are met with a smooth object, and the moment you prod it, you almost black out.

“(Y/n)?” Finnick’s voice is loud, hands touching your face, “Are you okay?”

You let out a noise, wincing, “Yeah, I just lost my breath there for a second.” You extend your hand to block his view of where you’re touching. When you open your eyes, you can see that he’s searching your face. “I’m okay, go check on them.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes, go.” You hold your hand out, and he pulls you into a sitting position.

Finnick gets to his feet, and ducks out of the doorway and onto the street. You can hear screaming, panicked voices being traded back and forth. There’s a dark liquid traveling your way, resembling the consistency of blood.

You pull your hand away from your wound, and find your fingers are coated in red, too. There’s something lodged in your side, it’s causing you to bleed. If you don’t take it out, you risk the chance of more damage as you move. When you take it out, you’ll be opening the floodgates for blood. This is not a winning situation.

You slowly get to your feet, being sure not to jostle too hard. Instead of going out of the door, you travel further inside the green apartment, heading for the mirror that sits in the hallway. You have a sick feeling that you already know what’s inside of your body, and it’s confirmed when you lift your arm.

A shard of glass, large and sharp enough to pierce your skin. You grit your teeth, taking a few deep breaths, before you grip and yank. The lightheadedness is instant, you find yourself on your knees, slamming your fist into the carpet to combat the pain.

“(Y/n)?” Finnick’s voice is faraway, he must still be outside. “We need to get moving, now!”

“I’m coming!” You shout back, wrapping your left hand around your chest to press flat against the open wound. It’ll work for now, you’ll tell them as soon as you’re somewhere safe.

You slide up the wall, focusing on your breathing. When you step foot out onto the street, you’re met with murder. Boggs is laying on the street, both of his legs gone below his thighs. The blood on the sidewalk belongs to him, and it’s sprayed up the side of the building.

“Prepare to retreat!” Jackson shouts.

“We can’t!” Finnick shouts back, he’s got an unconscious Messalla in his arms, “Look!”

You turn to look where you’d just come in. A black, oily liquid geysers from the street, and high into the air, raining down between the buildings. It coats the side so thick that you can’t see the bright pink underneath.

Gale works together with Leeg to shoot a path to the other end of the block, anticipating other unmarked bombs. It’s right of them to do this, they set off another one about ten yards away. 

You take off after them, ignoring the pain that surges through your body with every heavy step. You can feel the blood leaking between your fingers, making your skin slippery and hard to cover.

Homes and Katniss each grab one arm that belongs to Boggs and drag him down the street the best they can. Boggs is screaming, not bothering to try and stay quiet. You guess noise doesn’t matter, not with the bombs, the gunfire, and the giant wave of black oil rolling toward you.

They don’t make it far, there’s a shout, and the sound of someone hitting the stones. You turn to see Peeta over Katniss, the butt of his gun aimed over her head. Mitchell tackles Peeta, managing to pin him to the ground, but Peeta’s still got strength despite the torture he went through in the Capitol.

He gets his feet underneath Mitchell and launches him further downhill. A loud snap fills the air as he triggers a pod, four cables break through the stones, stringing Mitchell above the street. It’s mere seconds before he’s covered in blood, because of the barbs that line the wires.

You pause briefly, but then your feet start moving again when you’re choked by the smell of the oil. You follow after Gale and Leeg, who have managed to shoot the lock off a corner building, allowing you to get inside. You watch from the doorway as they aim at the wires that hold Mitchell’s net, hoping to get him down.

There’s several people on Peeta to restrain him. Katniss has gotten back to her feet, grabbing Boggs with Homes, they’re the next ones to make it into the apartment. Castor and Pollux drag in a screaming Peeta, Jackson handcuffs him, and they manage to get him into a closet without much effort.

You travel further into the apartment when Finnick gets inside with Messalla. You follow them through the living room, past the hallway and into the kitchen where everyone else has gathered. Leeg, Cressida and Gale are the last three to make it inside, slamming the kitchen door shut and stuffing towels beneath the opening to avoid the toxic fumes of the oil. 

“Mitchell?” Homes asks, Leeg shakes her head.

You lean over the counter, wincing because the pain is getting worse. You stomp your foot, squeezing your eyes shut.

Peeta’s feet are slamming into the closet door, trying to break it down. You all quiet down to listen, you’re sure a few of them are bracing themselves for when he succeeds. With each quick, they grow quieter, weaker. And then he stops.

“He’s gone?” Finnick asks, you look up to see they’re talking about Boggs. “We need to get out of here. Now. We just set off a streetful of pods. You can bet they’ve got us on surveillance tapes.”

“Count on it.” Castor says. “All the streets are covered by surveillance cameras. I bet they set off the wave manually when they saw up taping the propo.”

“Our radio communicators went dead almost immediately. Probably an electromagnetic pulse device. But I’ll get us back to camo. Give me the Holo.” Jackson reaches for the device.

“Finnick.” You call, he looks up, face twisting.

“You’re pale.”

“I’m bleeding.” You turn your body to the side, lifting your hand for him to see.

“Holy shit.” He pushes through the kitchen to get where you’re standing in the corner, “Homes, will you—?”

“Yes.” He pops out the first aid kit, setting it on the counter.

“What happened?”

“It was a glass shard, I thought I’d be able to handle it for a little while, but I’m dizzy.” You tilt your head back.

“Okay, okay,” He rinses the wound, you let out a groan between your teeth. “It’s a good thing you didn’t wait, (Y/n).”

“Listen, both of us have gone through worse, I thought I’d be able to handle a little blood.”

“Except this isn’t little.” He presses a kiss to the corner of your mouth, “I’m going to cover it, but we have to stitch it as soon as we get the chance.”

You make a face, “Great.”

“It’s that or bleed to death.”

“I’m already halfway there.”

Finnick gives you a look, "I don't think that's funny right now."

You touch the side of his face, "I'll let you know if I bleed through or if I'm in any significant pain. I won't keep it to myself, babe. I promise."

"Good, because we're wasting time."

[anitrendz]

A Sign of Affection Episode 6

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this might be the first time in anime where a confession and the official asking-out was done completely in sign. I screenshotted the full scene, including the parts where he says out loud after he's already signed his feelings to Yuki and also asked her out in sign, but the reality is Itsuomi from the beginning was intent to talk completely in sign for this. I know some people will think this is bare minimum, but considering how rare it is to even see sign language in anime, I think this scene is so emotional and romantic. He wants to be with her so badly, he just needs her to see him communicate in her language rather than even ask her to meet him halfway.

[collegetennisoriginstory]

kind of cringe (and by cringe i mean transphobic and antisemitic) to be talking about harry potter when rowling is a well known transphobe and antisemite and trans and jewish people have been saying for a year+ now to stop talking about this series and this author, giving them a platform and keeping them relevant and in the public conscious. i really really like this game and enjoy your writing, but if you cant do the bare minimum of allyship for your trans and jewish readers then i wont be able to keep supporting this game. very disappointing, i hope you can grow and do better

First up, I think you make a very important point in needing to caveat that we disagree with an author's stances/views (I absolutely do not condone Rowling as a person nor her transphobic / antisemitic stances) especially because NOT doing so would, as you say, continue to keep their books in the public consciousness. I've added this caveat to the original post :)

My bottom line is still: I stand with trans people, and Jewish people, and I cannot abide by the things Rowling has said and done and I fully see those deeds and words as an attack on people I care about. I think, like you said, it's important in this climate to reiterate this strongly, and unequivocally. There's no nuance needed here.

However, I think discussion of the author's work ALONGSIDE discussion of the author's transphobic / antisemitic comments can sometimes be more fruitful than simply erasing all traces of this person's existence, because discussion is (to me) always more constructive than erasure.

In other words, I believe documenting / sharing reasons for one's censure is almost as important as the act of cancelling / not supporting the author (because ultimately, statements like "I do not support Rowling's stance on xxx because xxx" will spark important changes to societal attitudes far more than simple silence will—as the latter will simply be an absence rather than a presence of careful, measured discourse.

I have always engaged with both the asks/messages I agree with and disagree with, and I have always been honest and unflinching in my replies. I understand that you might have a different view ("all talk about a work is bad/too much talk", for instance), but I think there is room for us to respectfully disagree on that.

I will continue to engage where I have the energy and time to do so, because I believe these conversations are the only way we can prevent society from becoming echo chambers / isolated, polarised camps. Censorship (including self-censorship with the intention to withdraw support from something) to me is far more nefarious than robust disagreement/dissent (in the vein of George Orwell's 1984 and Swyngedouw's argument that the absence of disagreement is the state of "post-democracy", where everything is always already decided.)

P.S. I think discussion of an author's shitty stances, and reiteration of allyship has to be done alongside cutting off all material / financial support for said author. I'm more than down with the latter. I am fully in the camp of not watching/reading/buying the books and movies, but I do believe continued discussion of the work and the author's stances go hand-in-hand with this.

Cheers!

[ponett]

I have now finally seen the Mario movie. It was Pretty Good. Here are my wordy thoughts on it. (I am going to spoil the entire movie. Duh.)

In many ways, the Mario movie does what I wish the first Sonic movie had done. They just took the characters and the premise and the world from the games, and made it a straightforward animated adventure movie. It's bright and colorful and remixes things JUST enough to include fun elements from multiple games, and it doesn't make Mario get adopted by James Marsden or whatever. It even has the music!

That's all you really need, right? Right...?

I'll get this out of the way up front. Chris Pratt was fine. He's fine

If anything, it really feels like they did the movie a disservice by letting us hear so little of the Mario voice in the previews. It took one scene for Pratt to disappear into the role for me. It was totally fine. If anything, I found Charlie Day's normal voice coming out of Luigi WAY more distracting, even if I did like him in the role.

Everyone else was pretty good, for the most part. Jack Black was obviously very good as Bowser, but I'm biased. Seth Rogen does the Seth Rogen laughs as Donkey Kong, but I thought DK was fun, too. (I liked his little rivalry with Mario where he was just constantly giving him shit.) The only casting choice I truly hated was Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong. I hated every line that came out of his mouth. He sounds atrocious. Just the worst. I swear to fucking god if they do a DKC movie and we have to hear him for 90 minutes

I did think Peach was lacking, but that was on the script, not Anya Taylor-Joy's performance. It's cool to see Peach fight, but it's one of those all too common instances where the writers put so much effort into making the main girl kick ass and be an effortlessly confident girlboss that they forgot to give her an actual personality. Not that I'd point to Super Princess Peach and its mood swing superpowers as positive representation or anything, but there's a happy middle ground, surely. Shrek was 22 years ago, just having the princess do flying kung fu kicks isn't enough.

Okay. With the voices out of the way, let's talk about the big picture:

It's way better than the words "Illumination Mario movie" implied, and I mostly enjoyed my time with it. The spirit of Mario is there 100%. But I'd also describe it as "ruthlessly efficient."

This was perhaps the main complaint critics had, and they were absolutely right. People have responded to these totally average reviews with "Well, what did you expect? Shakespeare?! It's MARIO!!" Like, yes, I would prefer it if the movie I paid to see had writing that was good instead of bad. What a shocker. My issue isn't that it's not "high-brow" enough. The problem is that it feels mercenary. It feels like an editor went through and deleted almost every line of dialogue that isn't some form of exposition, at the expense of the pacing. Any scene that's not a montage or some sort of action is kept as short as they could make it, with barely any room for embellishment, character interaction, or anything other than the bare minimum word count to hit all the typical Save the Cat Hollywood screenwriting 101 story beats to the letter. There aren't even as many jokes as you might think (and the ones that are there are extremely hit or miss, including a lot of the slapstick with Mario himself).

Mario and Peach's little arc together in the front half of the film is probably the worst example of this pacing. Even having read reviews that complained about how fast Peach goes from meeting Mario (by her admission the first other human she's ever met) to deciding to train him as the new savior of the Mushroom Kingdom, I was SHOCKED at how fast it was. They don't even lampshade it.

Peach takes Mario straight into the big training sequence where he learns how to use mushrooms and jump over platforming obstacles. Peach is apparently already a hypercompetent platforming pro and a great fighter, so there's no clear reason why she's taking the time to train this random guy to be half as good as her when the world is in danger. Then they set off on their adventure, Toad joins them, and we get a VERY brief travel montage. It's about thirty seconds total - just long enough to give Peach a line about how she wants to protect this beautiful world of hers to try and give her some stakes. We get the genre-mandated nighttime campfire heart to heart, which is exactly long enough to have Mario say he misses Luigi and to have Peach give the two sentence summary of her origin story and not a second longer. Then they reach the Kongs, and their big journey is complete. (They barely interact for the rest of the movie.) So much of the movie is like this - always ready to get on to the next scene as soon as a new one starts.

I'm not criticizing the script because I expect The Super Mario Bros. Movie to be a prestige drama - although there are certainly halfhearted attempts at a dramatic arc. The stuff with Mario's family was a fun enough idea, but again, ruthless efficiency. We get one quick scene with them at the start to give Mario some pathos, because I guess Save the Cat said he's gotta have some pathos. And then Mario gets his dad's approval amidst the action of the final battle in Brooklyn to resolve his arc, just so the movie can end as quickly as possible once Bowser is defeated. (Despite now having the approval of their family and their community back in Brooklyn, Mario and Luigi move to the Mushroom Kingdom off-screen without a single word dedicated to this decision, because that's where they live in the games.)

Look. I am not comparing it to The Godfather. Don't give me that shit. I am not asking for an extra half hour to explore Mario and Luigi's childhood trauma. I am not asking for the complex inner workings of the Mushroom Kingdom monarchy. I know this is gonna be a basic Hero's Journey adventure for kids. It just feels like it's turning down so many opportunities to have a little fun with the characters, to let them interact and play off of each other, to let there be some adventure on this adventure. This is the first time we've gotten to see these characters interact with fully voiced dialogue in a very, very long time! "Yeah, it's not High Art, but it's FUN!" Stories are fun! Character interactions are fun! The script could be having so much more fun!! It is adamantly against making the Story parts of this story-driven movie any more Fun than they functionally need to be!!!

Mario, Peach, and Toad's journey to find the Kongs is shorter than the training montage that precedes it. After the opening, Bowser mostly just sits in his castle and waits for the third act to start. Luigi's there, too, but he only gets one scene with Bowser and then the movie mostly forgets he exists until the climax. He doesn't even get to try and sneak out of Bowser's castle and get up to hijinx. He's just there to be a motivation for Mario, so he sits in a cage for half the movie. It's the bare outline of a script with action scenes added in.

Aside from the fact that it's Jack Black singing as Bowser, I feel like this overly-efficient script might be part of the reason why the "Peaches" scene stands out so much. It's a moment that didn't strictly need to be there to keep the plot moving or to provide an action setpiece. It's not even a reference to another Mario thing. It's just a fun and memorable little character moment that's there for its own sake. That's what the movie needed more of. To stop and smell the roses more often. To play in the space.

To be clear, this isn't a unique problem with this movie. Critics have been noting for years that second acts are disappearing from big Hollywood movies in favor of the Act I plot setup and the Act III action, even though Act II is supposed to be where you get to explore your actual premise. And lots of animated movies give me this exact same vibe of being too "screenwriterly," or feeling like they had an executive breathing down their necks and demanding changes based on focus testing. But these common issues are why I come away mostly feeling like the movie is on the better end of "average," rather than totally blowing my mind. You have seen this movie many times before, just not with Mario in it.

And, of course, there's the music. The score by Brian Tyler based on various classic Mario and Donkey Kong tunes (frustratingly all attributed to Koji Kondo) is absolutely beautiful, but it's unfortunately frequently overshadowed by the licensed music. Everyone already complained about things like the use of Take On Me in place of a lovingly arranged DKC medley, but it feels illustrative of the tug of war the movie is caught in the middle of, between wanting to be a lavishly faithful Mario movie and wanting to be a generic tentpole animated adventure movie. Every single licensed song used is the most obvious, overused song they could have picked for the scene. It reeks of cynical executive meddling and it took me out of the movie every time.

But there really was a lot of care and love put into this movie - more than probably any other video game movie ever made, not that that's a high bar. I don't want to underplay that too much amidst all my complaints spurred by the absolutely insane response to the reviews.

Aside from the countless background references that people will be picking apart for years, touches like the Captain Toad tune playing in the background of Toad's introduction or the Mario Kart 8 menu music playing in the kart garage really help bring it to another level of authenticity. I also enjoyed seeing some more obscure Mario enemies that felt like they were picked more for being fun to animate than for being nostalgic and marketable. No matter how many times I sarcastically pointed to the screen and deadpanned "reference. reference." I am not immune to noticing these things and smiling. I am not immune to the DK Rap. These alone don't make the movie good, but it's nice to have a video game movie that feels like it was made by people who like video games.

Most importantly, the animation is great throughout. It's leaps and bounds ahead of other Illumination work, and it's the best the Mario cast has ever looked. They even made Donkey Kong handsome, somehow. They're all so squishy and expressive, and they move so fluidly - especially in the action scenes. I particularly liked the more kinetic ones like the aerial Banzai Bill chase and the Mario Kart sequence. Truly, the Mad Max-inspired car battle on Rainbow Road where Mario literally does the speedrun shortcut is this movie firing on all cylinders.

Other, more hand-to-hand fights nail the Popeye-esque vibe Mario should be going for. He's an underdog who gets the shit kicked out of him by bigger, stronger opponents until he gets his signature powerup and turns the tables on them. My favorite animation of all probably came from the use of Cat Mario to turn the tide in the DK fight. They had so much fun making Mario move like a cat. Again, it feels like a choice made because it'd be fun to animate rather than just a nostalgia move.

It's that animation and that attention to detail that carry the film, really. They elevate it from mediocrity into being a fun watch for a fan like me, albeit one I couldn't help but pick apart with Anthony as we watched it at home. I'm glad I saw it, but there's a lot of room to improve with the inevitable sequel. I hope they do. I can't deny that I had fun with the movie, but I hope next time that fun is partially because of the script instead of in spite of it.

Stray thoughts:

Overall, I would say I enjoyed the movie a lot more than Sonic 1, but probably not as much as Sonic 2. Not that these movies need to be pitted against each other.

I hated the Luma. I hated how hilarious they clearly thought the Luma was. They have the fucking Luma break the fourth wall to end the movie and start the credits. This is going to be a deep cut for fans of bad animated films, but the whole time I was just thinking of the little fish from Romeo & Juliet: Sealed With A Kiss who's just the director's kid saying random nonsense. You know I'm right

I rolled my eyes at the "our princess is in another castle" joke and several other jokes that would have been dated in a gamer webcomic 20 years ago but I guess they had to be there

How much of Brooklyn did Bowser's giant floating castle take out? We know 9/11 happened in this universe because the Freedom Tower is there, hasn't New York been through enough

I can't believe there's a Diskun easter egg

The dog is the most Illumination character design in the movie. It felt like it wandered on set from The Secret Life of Pets

Mario being a gamer and playing Kid Icarus of all things just made me remember this tweet:

Yes Anthony did get mad at me for being thirsty for Bowser

[spreens]

A couple of notes on 'Jay' (@/JayyBio on twt)'s reply on behalf of Quackity Studios, from a Public Relations and Crisis Management perspective.

Preface:

This analysis attempts to keep as neutral of a stance as I can on this. I will support any worker's right to fair pay, especially with the hours that the QSMP admins put into this project. That being said, we, the viewers, cannot fully understand everything that has gone one with regards to privacy and confidentiality within the project.

Delivery:

The source of this media release comes from Twitter account JayyBio, an account created within the last 24 hours for the purpose of posting this message. The verification for this account was a follow from the official Quackity Studios account. This is absolute bare minimum and really shouldn't be done for anything, ever. I understand that they may wish to reduce the impact on viewers following the Quackity Studios account that are unaware of the situation, but doing this (and attaching a seemingly personal account to it) significantly impacts both the credibility and visibility of the statement.

Removal of Lea from the team:

Immediately, the attacks on Lea attempt to put the admin on the defensive. The evidence regarding her removal (including the 'grooming' screenshots, which she refers to vaguely, and even calls the notion crazy) is designed to target a sore spot within the community, and further complicate the situation.

As a managing body, it is administration's responsibility to clarify things like pay, fair compensation, and work. The screenshots don't call it 'stuff to do' or anything that would imply casual activities. Lea calls it work. As Lea was in a paid position instead of a volunteer one, the responsibility falls on the Studio's head to clarify these things.

The only proof of unavailability is two screenshots, a month apart, with the responding manager enthusiastically giving confirmation with no warning or advice. The only thing this proves is that Lea was not scolded (in the images provided) for taking unavailability.

This whole unavailability thing is a huge, underlying managerial issue, because a discussion should be had if a paid employee is unable to make what the team believes is the minimum activity. Both extremes claimed by both parties, i.e a full on scolding OR complete blind support are not viable solutions.

In short, either they're still not releasing the full reason for release (due to privacy or confidentiality reasons), or someone is lying. Regardless, the whole situation is underpinned by a much larger issue for the managing team.

NDAs:

Honestly, the fact that they weren't using NDAs right off the bat shocked me. In business (and a lot more frequently than you think) NDAs are used to preserve confidentiality within an organisation for a variety of reasons that I don't have time to cover. Depending on your labour laws however, they cannot be used to hide information regarding employee wages.

Quackity Studio's NDA was valid for the use of:

Protecting Copywrited Assets

Minimising Security Breaches and/or Risks

Protecting Storylines and "Lore Leaking"

Protecting the Privacy of team members and CCs

The NDA was *not* valid for:

Penalizing the formation of personal relationships (yes, even parasocial ones)

Communicating with other members of the team, even regarding Wages and Working Conditions

That isn't to say that the cases not covered by the NDA can't be called unprofessional (especially in the case of parasocial relationships) but they are not grounds for being sued.

You know what is grounds for being sued?

DOING A Q&A REGARDING SENSITIVE INFORMATION ON TWITTER!

The threats from QStudios from Lea's initial posts, while deeply unprofessional and drawing a fairly worrying image of the working environment, were just empty threats. Now that Lea has well and truly broken an Actual Signed NDA, this gets real complicated.

I'm not in law, so I'll leave it up to the armchair law students, but this is just a summary of my thoughts while reading up on the reply PDF.

Items not Covered:

Pay for the overall position (I do not know enough about french labour laws)

Treatment of staff who spoke out prior to Lea's statement (too much back and forthing)

Further Action:

Quackity Studios, please set up an account for statements and releases. I cannot emphasise how D-tier this is reading it through a brand new unbranded account.

ALSO GET YOUR CEO'S APPROVAL BEFORE POSTING A STATEMENT?

[misteria247]

Do you have any head cannons on a 12 non-verbal Leo… like if his throat injuries start to bother him a lot more?

Ooooooohhhh boy do I got some-

Like I've stated before Leo isn't much of a talker due to his vocal chords acting up sometimes. He only talks when he needs to or when he's forgotten about his injuries. However when he does push his vocal chords too far and ends up going silent it usually results in this.

When Leo's voice gets incredibly bad, his brothers almost know immediately. It's the way that Leo acts, he's more quieter than he usually is. He'll swallow a bit more, and when he speaks or clears his throat there's a barely concealed flinch of pain and discomfort. Leo of course will try to act like nothing's wrong but it becomes quite obvious that Raph, Donnie and Mikey are already in on his little game and are already going into protective brother mode. Once they enter into that mode Leo will most times just accept it, knowing that arguing is pointless, especially since he can't speak.

Mikey's the first one to help Leo, by essentially becoming one of his main voices in talking to people or talking to him and keeping Leo's openings of possibly talking to a minimum. They'd come up with a system the two of them, which they later teach to Raph, Donnie, April and Casey. Whenever Leo needs Mikey to speak for him it's usually in little signals of sorts. Tapping on his little brother's shell or shoulder, drumming his fingers on Mikey's hand, brushing up against his shoulder. Leo doesn't have to say a word for Mikey to catch on fairly quickly, the youngest Hamato being so in tuned with his brothers. Mikey's also a bit more watchful of Leo, always watching him for little ques to let him in on how his throat's doing. Leo doesn't mind it, in fact he's quite relieved that Mikey's able to understand him without words just as well as he does with words.

Donnie's the second one to come to Leo's aid when it comes to his throat and damaged vocal chords. Donnie's first step is to get Leo a cup of tea, or more specifically a special medical brew that Donnie himself had created to help aid and soothe Leo's throat. He also checks him over, making sure that his vocal chords aren't getting worse than they already are. Leo let's him do as he pleases, mainly because he can't really say anything without being in agony and it makes his little brother feel better to examine the oldest Hamato. Once Donnie's done he'll be in mother hen mode afterwards, tending to his older brother's needs (though Leo is perfectly capable of doing it himself) and making sure that he has the right stuff in helping to aid him. Donnie and Leo had also taken up sign language should such a situation like this occur, and the two will often times be nothing more than a flurry of hand movements as they converse to give Leo's throat a break.

Raph's the last to help Leo out. Since he's not exactly chatty like Mikey nor is he medically inclined like Donnie, it's Raph's duty to be the support of Leo. And by support I mean he becomes a temporary speaker of the clan and family in Leo's stead. While Mikey is the speaker of Leo's unspoken needs, Raph's the speaker for everything else. This includes important things and missions should Leo's vocal chords decide to give him hell. Due to how close Leo and Raph are, it's not difficult for them to communicate with one another. Silent conversations spoken with tiny movements or eye contact with one another or just a simple small hum from Leo and Raph's able to figure out exactly what his older brother wants. It's honestly quite freaky to those who don't know how close the two eldest boys are, but to those who personally know them it's a pretty normal occurrence.

And if April and Casey are around when Leo's voice gives way they too do whatever they can to help their friend.

April who's also taken up sign language will have conversations with her friend, taking Leo's mind off of the pain and discomfort that he's feeling. She'll also give him reassuring squeezes and gentle rubs on his shoulder or shell to let him know that he can take as long as he needs to speak. April's incredibly patient with Leo, and if his vocal chords are so sore that he's not even up for signed conversations, April will then just sit quietly with him, offering her comforting older sister presence to the hurting leader.

Casey meanwhile gives Leo that much needed dosage of normalcy. While Leo appreciates his brothers and April's care and efforts in helping him during this thing, he's still Leo who if he gets overwhelmed by being unintentionally babied so much, will most likely flip out, sore, swollen throat and vocal chords be damned. With Casey he makes sure to treat Leo the same way as he always does, reassuring Leo in some way that he's not being invalidated by his family and that they still see him and hold him in a normal viewpoint.

[deliciousdefendorinternet]

FR tho how long after the main films events was that ending scene meant to take place? because the Bros really do just act like their suddenly the ideal family its kinda disturbing tbh 😕😕

these guys were ripping chunks out of each other with seething hatred only a few scenes prior to this one and none of the previous scenes actually had any meaningful development that would explain this level of love suddenly being between them

like did they all just get stoned off screen and that's why their all so happy now? 😂😂😂😂

the scene really does seem like it should take place like 5 years in the future or something after they've had all this meaningful development with each other and ya know actually bonded a bit.

at the moment tho these guys barely know each other 20+ years is most of their lives and all of Branch's life pretty much.

so Floyd saying that he likes the new them just feels kinda tone deaf like Floyd can you name one thing about any of the people around you that you know for a 100 percent fact is still true of them in present day and isn't just something your remembering from when you were kids?

I really hope the writers don't think they did all the development they needed to do and that Brozone are just fully fleshed out characters now.

because they ain't frankly they didn't even have the Bare minimum development their on the same level as cloud guy in the tv shows just massive jerks who didn't get any comeuppance in the end.

they still need to go a long way with these characters for them to not be toxic frankly.

personally I'm kinda Hoping in the future we see them make an effort in some way like maybe due to the age gap between them Branch feels somewhat left out in the family.

like the older bros all talk and fondly remember all these events from when they were younger from before Branch was born and they all laugh and get along easily pretty much picking up from where they left off.

and Branch slowly starts to feel awkward trying to laugh along with the rest of the bros but feeling kinda down since he keeps on not knowing about any of the things they are referring to.

and overall just not knowing even basic things about them that they still remember about each other like maybe he asks Floyd about them going for a ride on those hover bike things.

only for the other bros to remind him that Floyd's always been deathly afraid of Hight's.

and Branch cooks a special meal for everyone as a surprise only for one of the bros to be allergic to something he used in the meal which is pointed out by the others.

and Branch just well and truly feels like the odd man out in the family and his bros do notice this and actually make more of an effort for him to feel included.

maybe bringing up some memories from when he was a baby that he'd actually remember and taking more of an interest in his current interests.

that's one idea and I'd actually like to see something involving their Grandma as well that doesn't involve her being made into a comedic punchline 😞😞

like maybe the bros go to hang out with Branch only to find him hold up in his Bunker with worse off colours and he eventually tells them its the anniversary of her death. and despite the Bros wanting to help or just spend the day with him he tells them he'll just deal with it on his own like he's always done.

as its just what he's used to but after talking the Bros do come back more determined to help.

and they try various typical Troll things to try and cheer him up only for it to obviously backfire and result in Branch just getting angry with them and being more determined to just deal with it on his own.

but eventually the Brothers do figure out how to be there for him maybe they just hang around the outside of the Bunker and all share their own fond memories about Grandma and the things they miss about her. while not necessarily trying to cheer him up or anything but just being there like they never were before.

which does get Branch to open the Bunker and let them inside so they can all just get through that day together.

just a couple of ideas I just wanna see Brozone redeeming themselves by actually working and making an effort to be more supportive in the future ya know?

the fandom loves doing short fics and art of them just behaving like normal siblings light heartedly teasing Branch and whatnot but honestly those ideas kinda bug me as.

their not normal siblings frankly they will never be normal siblings way too much happened for them to ever be that and in Branch's case they missed out on the most important years of his life that form who a person is. their never going to be able to just come back from that entirely to the point they have the same sorta relationship that you do with your siblings who you've most likely known your whole life and in most cases have grown up with. yes large age gaps exist with siblings and in some cases you can not discover you have a sibling until later in life but those relationships are frankly a whole different area. 2. leaving aside the fact that the Brothers simply haven't earned the right to act like that towards Branch or even each other. there's also the fact that literally one of the main conflicts in the third film was them not respecting Branch as a person aka behaving in childish manners towards him. childishly teasing him and not respecting basic human boundaries. so the fandom doing all these cutesy arts of them behaving the same way towards him is actually kinda ironic given its ignoring one of the points of the film. basically what I'm saying is the fandom is really jumping the gun with Brozone imo. sorta like how everyone got annoyed when that TBGO episode had Creek come back and be instantly given another chance and accepted back into the village. despite no real effort on his part its the same with Brozone both with how their Treated in the film and how their Treated by most of the fandom. I just wanna see some actual meaningful development and effort way way before we see them playing happy families and partaking in comedic gags with each other and whatnot. we should still have a long way to go before we're even close to seeing that sorta stuff. anyway Rant over I guess thanks for reading 😅😅😅😅😅😅

[ahgasegotarmy116]

Semantic Error | A Jeon Jungkook Series | Chapter 1

Based off of Semantic Error (bl) by J Soori Summary: y/n is a Computer Science major that definitely fits the bill. Some call her a robot since she seems to have zero emotions or empathy for the people around her and only cares about finishing her degree. What happens when she prevents Jungkook, a Visual Arts major from graduating and finds herself in need of his help? Pairing: Techie inexperienced fem!reader x Artist fuck boy Jungkook Word count: 1.6k~ Warnings: Explicit language, corruption kink, smut, angst, trauma, idk I suck at writing warnings.

A/N: I'm planning on making this a shorter series so let me know if you're enjoying the story and I'll make it a little longer. This is heavily based off of the original bl (boy love) first chapter because I wanted to get the basic plot set up correctly but I will be changing things here and there (for example this is a straight version with a female reader). If you don't mind spoilers I would highly suggest reading the original story. I read it on the app Manta with the english adaptation being done by Angy and you can also find the kdrama on Viki :)

Walking up to the podium it doesn't surprise me to see that half of my group members aren't even in class. I look over at my professor and see the puzzled look on his face, clearly confused as to why I'm the lone presenter but I give him a nod anyway and start the presentation. Scanning the room I see how most of the students are already asleep or aren't even bothering to try paying attention and to be honest it makes my job a bit easier, not having to deal with any nerves that might arise from public speech but if I'm honest it doesn't really bother me much.

I've hear my classmates refer to me as a robot or a walking computer simply because I speak in a monotone voice and I don't bother wasting emotions on those that I deem unimportant. Some might call me stuck up but in reality I have no intention of making friends in this educational institution. I'm here to get my degree and hopefully never have to deal with anymore of these freeloaders that the bother labeling as students.

After my presentation is finished our professor wraps up the class rather quickly to every ones delight and soon sends us all on our way, except for me.

"y/n can I talk to you for a second?" he asks and I make my way over to his desk after having gathered my belongings. "I wanted to speak to you about your presentation" he starts off, showing his slight discomfort in discussing the topic.

"Was there something wrong with it?" I question not sure what might've gone wrong.

"Oh no the presentation was fine, in fact it was excellent but I noticed that your name was the only one included on the presentation as well as the fact that you gave the presentation solo. Did your group members not contribute to the project?" he asks curious as to how this whole situation all went down.

"No they did not" I say plainly giving him the bare minimum.

"Do you think you could explain the situation to me?" 

I explain not only the lack of participation but also the pitiful excuses they gave me to somehow compensate for their lack of effort.

"One of them told me about the passing of their great aunt so I was aware that he wouldn't be giving the presentation but what happened to the other two?" he prods further pinching the bridge of his nose.

"One of the others didn't send me their research on the agreed upon deadline last night so I had to write their part as well as take care of the tasks I had delegated to myself" I explain. 

"And the other?" he asks finally understanding the situation that I had been left in.

"He didn't bother showing up to any of the planned out meetings we set up" I say hoping that I can go now.

"I see that he's a graduating senior this year. He had told me that he had some sort of ceremony to attend to over seas but I see that he had attended all but the last two classes so his attendance hasn't been much of a problem. Don't you think it's a bit harsh to leave his name out of the presentation completely?" he questions hoping to level with me. 

"No, not at all. If he had shown up and contributed to the project in the slightest then maybe but he didn't lift a finger. I understand why he missed the classes but expecting someone else to do the project that he was assigned was negligent on his part so I do not see any reason as to why he should be given credit for it" I finish hoping he'll understand my point of view.

"Okay, thank you for taking the time to explain it to me, you can go now" he says dismissing me.

"Okay" I say and give him a shallow bow before making my way out of the building.

When the day that the final grades rolls around I'm hit with a bunch of texts and calls from the free riders that no doubt failed the class because of the executive decision I had made. I go through and block the three of them before going on my way since I won't be needing any sort of contact after this train wreck of an ordeal. As I make my way to the PC cafe I frequent I hear talks of a story that sounds very familiar.

"I guess Jungkook can't graduate because someone snitched on him for faking attendance and they also took his name off of their final project" one guy says.

"Wasn't he supposed to go study abroad this summer?" a girl chimes in.

"Well I guess he's screwed now, I don't think a program like that wants to take on a slacker like him" another guy says, openly bashing him.

"Yeah he said he's gonna kill the person that did that but he never bothered learning their name. He tried to find them but no one knows who they are" the first guy says.

"What's their major?" the girl says hoping to see if she could help find them. "Something along the lines of computer engineering".

I shiver at the thought, 'I think I pissed off the wrong guy. I guess all I can do is avoid anyone by the name of Jungkook and fly under the radar. Considering that I always do I don't that'll be much of a problem. I log into the same computer I use day in and day out with the intention of relaxing for a bit but I'm interrupted by a text that I had thought I had been waiting for for the past few days. 

'Hey y/n it's Hana, I got an internship for the summer and it looks like I'm going to be pretty busy with it so I don't think I'll be able to help you with the gaming application you are trying to develop. But on the plus side I do have a friend that has some free time this summer and I told him about it and he said he would be interested in taking it over for me'

'Oh okay that's too bad, I really liked your art style' I say selfishly wishing she would make time for it.

'Oh he's a lot better than me and I feel like he can definitely do your game a lot more justice than I can :)'

'Oh okay do you think you could give me their number at least?' I ask hoping I can establish contact as soon as possible. 

'I don't have his number since I ended up breaking my phone and lost all of my contacts but I told him the time and place we were planning on meeting so he'll meet you there. His name is JK'

I thank her for putting in the effort to find a replacement and close out our conversation. Leaning back in my chair and taking off my glasses I'm left feeling stressed at the uncertainty of how this project is going to progress but I just hope that whoever she's sent as a substitute is able to work on this as efficiently as I know she would've been able to.

She was kind of slow at responding and making time for this but when she had the time she would really put her all into it, making up for the lost time. I take a deep breath to release some of the built up tension I can feel is building and decide to head back to my place to formulate a new plan of action and prepare a new proposal. 

Sitting in the little study room I had reserved in the library I keep on checking the clock waiting for his arrival. 'He's late. It's four fifteen and I explicitly explained to Hana what time we would be meeting here. I could always count on her to be a few minutes late but so much for good first impressions with this new guy. Maybe I'll give him a few more minutes. He could've gotten the address wrong or maybe he got lost and is just trying to find the room.'

Another fifteen minutes goes by and I can feel myself losing my patience. 'How could someone be this late? What if he changed his mind and Hana just couldn't bring herself to tell me? Or maybe he just blowed both of us off because he didn't really want to do it in the first place? Whatever, I'll give him a few more minutes and then I'm leaving' I wait for about five more minutes until I finally can't take it anymore 

"This is ridiculous, I'm just waisting my time at this point" I say out loud mentally exhausted from having to wait this long, not even caring if he were to show up now. I gather up my belongings but as soon as I reach for the door handle to leave it swings open and almost hits me in the face. I step back just in time to be met with a wall of muscle barging into the room without regard for anyone else and look up to see a man two heads taller than me looking down on me.

"You're the designer?" I ask hoping that I've made the correct assumption. 

"Oh um yeah" he says as he continues to keep eye contact, almost studying me.

'Yeah?' 'That's all I get? Showing up this late and I don't even get a sorry? Who does this guy think he is?' I think to myself fuming even more from seeing the stupid look on his face. Little did I know just how much this little 'arrangement' was going to mess up the rest of my life.

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[the-empress-7]

“Harry wasn't marriage material and had way too many skeletons in his closet, so some hypothesized that this marriage of convenience was arranged for him.”

I very much doubt the family arranged a marriage of convenience for him BUT am sincerely beginning to believe he may have cooked it up himself with Skippy/Inskip’s help.

Why?

If we trace back Harry’s various comments from 18-30 about not liking England and no one wanting to be King what strikes me most is his resentment of expectations - the publics and his family’s.

Harry is a lazy wastrel. He resented having to do more than the bare minimum. He resented having to step up and even spent military service skiving off and playing video games.

He couldn’t design an exit strategy for himself as he didn’t get dividends from his late mother’s trust fund until he was 25 so he had to play along until then. He got control of that at 30 in late 2014 and celebrated with drunken antics in Vegas.

I think after the the family’s expectations were made very clear to him at that point and he started looking to see how he could escape them and punish them. Punish them for what?

I’d say for judging him/his behaviour, aside from his envy and jealousy of William.

If he got control of his trust fund in late 2014 and met Meghan at the Instanbul Soho House opening in 2015 this really tracks as to him planning his.

I truly loathe the ginger twunt for what he has done to his late grandparents, his family and to the country.

Politically I am not of the opinion Megan was a honey pot BUT I do believe they were seen as useful idiots and so were used by certain people.

*puts on hit hat*

Do you know what theory I do believe? That Meghan was an escort that Skippy hired for Harry (through Markus at Soho House), and the rest was history.... including the excisement of Skippy from Harry's life. Allegedly. In my opinion.

However I don't believe he "met" her until 2016.

[mdhwrites]

Thought you might want to know, but all of Season 2A was written without knowledge of the shortening. Dana Terrace says this at the 16 minute mark of the April 28th Post Hoot.

Thank you! It's neat to know and kind of the assumption I'd had for a long time. In production and being written should be two different phases for a show after all. For the Amphibia outline I did earlier today, it'd mean losing an episode which.... *sigh* But yeah, I've effectively always treated it mostly like S2A was unaffected by the shortening and there are some plotlines I'm sympathetic about with that... But not by much.

Again, I've gone harder into this in the past but S2B had to mostly be the way it was for the sake of S3, full or shortened, unless S3 was DRASTICALLY different than what we got. Hunter needed to be an ally enough to go with them all into the portal so Sport in a Storm, Hollow Mind and Labyrinth Runners would have still happened. You do need to explore Belos and prepare for King's Tide with him so Hollow Mind bare minimum still needs to exist but also for Luz's angst arc, Elsewhere Elsewhen needs to exist. King being a titan needs to be confirmed so Edge of the World needs to exist. We also need to make King the most patient, kind, wisest person to exist so Titan, Where Art Thou needs to happen. And Clouds on the Horizon leads directly into the finale so while a lot of the A plot of that episode is pretty wasteful and lacks payoffs, you definitely still need to include it for where everyone is for the finale unless you alter the finale a lot. And Falls and Follies is a good recap of position and sets the stakes for Raine but... It'd pretty questionable too.

This makes the only episodes who's main plots could really be altered to a drastic degree be:

Reaching Out: Amity's relationship with her father barely pays off and frankly it'd have been almost just as jarring to have King do his conversation during Clouds on the Horizon even without this episode. Otherwise, it shoots the worldbuilding in the head and harms Lumity for the sake of double daddy issues. You also have the confirmation for Eda that The Day of Unity is bad news but no one who lives at The Owl House does anything with that. So let's of setup for effectively no payoff.

Them's the Breaks: I hate that I cannot justify this episode because it is EASILY the most of S2B but... It damages Raine's character, only really shows a potential reason why Eda gave up on the covens but the only story part is the last two minutes. You could have done ANYTHING else, like I dunno, an episode actually about Darius and Hunter/the rebel coven heads, and ended it with the Raine reveal.

That is two episodes. The fact that there are two episodes even is... OOPH, especially when Reaching Out at least has arguments but Them's the Breaks is just Dana gushing about the fanfic she wants to write for her own series. The fact that there are only two, with maybe being able to cut one of Hunter's episodes for his arc, is not good. Not unless the Day of Unity wasn't supposed to be the S2 finale.

And if it wasn't... What the fuck was the original plan?

This is a lot of why I talk about not wanting three seasons. It wanted WAY MORE. I think Dana assumed it'd be so popular and big as to have five or more. There are PLENTY of issues with that conceptually (again, S3 could never have been great) but it is the vibe the story gives. It is too redundant and too slow to be otherwise. TOH's biggest argument against being claimed as having a lot of filler is mostly in that a lot of episodes get a LITTLE done in way or another but it takes very few leaps. When it could do that, actually have a big payoff and move along, it cuts it off at the knees for the sake of 'realism'. This happened with Willow... and also fucking happened with ALADOR. IN SEASON 2B. WHY!? Why would you make a plot point specifically say more work and time will be needed when you DON'T HAVE TIME!?

Even S3 has this. In a season with THREE. EPISODES. Luz has THREE finishes to her arc. In Thanks to Them, she gets reassured by quite literally everyone that she did nothing wrong and should feel confident about her choices before she confidently prepares to head into the demon realm! Then... In show it's like five, ten minutes tops when Luz is self hating and self martyring herself again until the end of the episode has her confidently state that she wants to be understood! And with her friends and new palisman by her side, she will face the Collector!

Only to start the next episode with a dream sequence where she believes everyone fucking hates her, doesn't understand her and that she deserves to be hated. This only gets resolved when the FUCKING GOD of the show tells her she's A-Okay and she has nothing to fear. She's just too gosh darn good in order to have any reason to every doubt herself!

I'm not going to even ask why this happened. I can actually tell you mostly why because Luz is the only character besides Hunter with any character payoffs left to do. So if you want each episode to have a big character moment, Hunter can only replace one of those. They still tried to have Willow do one anyways by dredging up something that hadn't been a thing for TWO. SEASONS. But Luz was still given three different endings.

No, the bigger question to me just fucking HOW!? this sort of thing happens. This has fuck all to do with the shortening after all. Wasted time at this point, moments that mean literally and do nothing, are their choice. They are still the writers who decided to waste all this time despite claiming how much they wanted more time.

It makes it look like any potential S3 would have just been... Well, more of this. More repetition that dilutes its themes and doesn't really go anywhere. After all, if they couldn't fill three hours with actual story and pushing forward the narrative and themes... Why should we assume eight hours would have been suddenly so much better?

I didn't mean to go so hard on this. Sigh. But yeah, there's a lot of reasons why the shortening is not the excuse that people think it is. Why it honestly feels so much like a blessing to the show because people just have this go to statement to try and shut people or shut their own brains up from any issues they might have, even if those issues are self contained to a single episode.

TOH was never perfect and has flaws that run incredibly deep and start early on. No excuse will ever change those facts.

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