#ten years is a long time for one thing

[amaraudermind]

Has anyone considered the hilarity of a reverse robins au wherein a young Steph hits the streets as spoiler wanting to kill her dad. And then, years later, a certain young boy keeps sneaking out intent on killing his parents' murderer.

I think rr Steph should call him her mini me just for that alone

[batsplat]

what do you think of how marc is adapting to a ducati? I was impressed but then I read dovis quote and I felt like I should have been even more so

it's highly impressive! I don't have that much to say on it... come to think of it, I suppose we don't actually have that many particularly recent examples of people switching to ducati to compare the adaptation period with? they've really mostly been hiring directly from moto2 and promoting internally. the other most recent obvious example is marc's brother and he did have quite an impressive early season last year, which was a good omen in terms of how that switch would work out

the main problem was always going to be how long he'd been riding the honda, how he'd moulded his entire riding style to that bike and how that bike had been moulded to his riding style. and that's what he talked about most early season... the ducati is quite a friendly package overall but it's still one that requires a different approach than the honda in a lot of ways, really only took him... what, three races? to figure it out? that's a lot of years of instinct he was having to undo. I think marc has that level of kind of obscene talent where you kind of run out of things to say. I always believed he'd do this, now he's doing it... you just kind of expect it from him? the biggest surprise is how much extra he's had to get from that bike to keep up with the gp24's, just because that's not really been the pattern these last few years. I don't think the disparity between the two bikes is quite as dramatic as certain gp23 riders are making it look (*coughs* bez *coughs* which clearly is also him not really clicking with that bike rather than just its 'raw pace'), but very clearly it's not as competitive as it was when you compare it to last year's gp23 vs the gp22. so yeah, he adapted to the bike quickly, he's already doing something special with it by putting it in completely different positions than everyone else on that bike

am kind of curious whether the single lap difficulties stick around! marc's average grid position in 2023 was 8.84 vs 7.58 this year, while his average finishing position was 9.72 vs 4.08 (obviously not counting the crashes, which there were rather a lot of especially last year). so the grid position has on average been bumped by only 1.26, versus a whopping 5.64 difference in finish position. obviously, a lot of caveats with reading too much into these numbers, but... does show there's definitely something going on there. y'know, even prime marc was never really a friday merchant and some of his dodgier weekends were kinda 'eh just pull out a quali lap from somewhere and we'll figure something out saturday evening'. idk I do mostly think they'll figure it out, and of course marc's numbers last year were flattered by how obscenely good he got at catching a tow on that honda. do wonder if he'll ever be quite as lethal in quali as he once was - which I don't really mind, makes the races more interesting. we'll see!

[pastafossa]

Some sad health stuff about a pet so scroll on if not your thing.

So my poor old kitty Cato. I don't post as many current pics of him cause he's not looking great. He's lost a ton of weight in the past year or so, upset stomach, fairly skin and bones now. Vet put him on prescription food and an elimination diet 5 weeks ago. And while he's stopped losing weight, and stopped vomiting so much, he's still not gaining his weight back, either. I'm technically feeding him more than the bag recommends, too. He's getting fed four times a day, almost an entire cup of food total which is HUGE when - even at a healthy weight of 9 pounds - you were a small animal.

I'm worried there's something wrong at a deeper level. He should be gaining weight back, and he's not. He's always, always hungry. He's sore if touched around his back half unless you pet him very gently. And you can feel all his little spine notches when you pet him.

I have had this cat for 13, almost 14 years. I realize that might not seem like a lot depending on age. But at mine that's a very large chunk of my life. And the idea of having to weigh what his quality of life is of this cat I've raised from a kitten, who has curled up with me by my pillow every night until fairly recently, who always follows me and sings to me and bonks his head on my face... this feels way too soon.

[milflewis]

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[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

My thoughts on Mai is probably so irrelevant right now but i love thinking about the wasted potential in exploring Megumi’s dynamic with the Zenin Clan because he had to have some contact with them over the course of his childhood, meaning that Mai had to interact with the kid at some point (which she did I think it’s canon) and for Mai to instantly know that Megumi is a little child genius/prodigy. Also for Mai to have a little crush on Megumi (I know most find this disgusting seeing that those two are family but I think everyone forgets that the Zenin is built on incest)

Mai putting her hopes into Megumi of him somewhat changing the Zenin when he becomes Clan Head only for those hopes to be crushed bc Megumi fucked off? I find that so depressing because she probably didn’t understand (or fully comprehend) the reasoning behind Megumi cutting off contact. I know it probably hurt her for a while because she genuinely wanted to be close to him seeing as he was the only boy (i’m assuming) that was ever truly kind to her and her sister.

I’m clinging onto that Mai tag for dear life because I’m really interested in seeing her thoughts on Megumi. Admittedly, she probably grew out of the hero worship she had for him. Maybe it was replaced with some bitterness seeing as he wouldn’t be the Clan Head now unless something happens to Gojo, so Megumi won’t be her hope in that clan. She’s stuck with Naoya who probably wants her as a wife.

NAOYA. God my thoughts on his dynamic with Megumi…it could be something so complex. Like Naoya could see Toji in the boy, who he has an obsession with but he also see Gojo, and he also see the little brat who may fear him on some level but is not afraid to stand up to him which pisses him off. He also sees his replacement, a boy who has the potential to rival Gojo, making him the potential heir. I could see him being like the only one out of the Zenin who wants that kid gone, out of sight and out of mind. Like everyone else abuses him to make him become something great. Naoya would do it to take out his anger on the kid who is everything he always wanted to be and he doesn’t even know it.

Naobito. I have no thoughts on the old drunk. I do find it interesting how Kamo said something about how Megumi is either more useful or more suitable than Naobito. I forgot the wording. I can see Naobito truly caring for Megumi though in his own fucked up way because Megumi is everything he wanted in a heir. But that care doesn’t really stop him from hurting Megumi.

Maki. Well. Best aunt/nephew duo. If the Zenin ever had a family dinner or get together, those two are definitely the ones who sits in the corner and talks shit. They definitely try and fuck shit up in the house. You would find them in the kitchen spitting in Naoya’s food. You’re gonna look me in the eyes and tell me I’m wrong? I dare you. All in all, they see a sibling in each other. Especially after losing Tsumiki/Mai. Megumi if definitely her favorite kouhai. Some may argue it’s Nobara. But listen. SEE THE VISION. Megumi has the family pass. Megumi gets Maki in a way that most don’t. But Megumi is still Yuta’s boy though. Maki sometimes fight for custody however.

Excuse my rambling guys. I was just in a silly mood thinking about Gege and his….questionable writing decisions lately.

This has been sitting half answered in my asks for like a month. If you have an ask that never got answered please know that it’s probably in my drafts haunting me.

Oh Gege’s sure. Made some decisions recently. And they’re uh. They sure are decisions. That he made. For some reason.

Maki and Megumi are the bio family dream team to me. I simply love their bond. They have identical resting bitch faces. They’re always on the same bullshit. Both are completely insane in the same way. The bio family they each always wanted but never had. Megumi is Yuuta’s Boy but that doesn’t stop Maki from making her own play for the title.

Mai’s entire thing with having a crush on Megumi becomes a little bit more comfortable if it’s framed like “he was the best option.” The Zenin do practice incest, so her entire dating pool was likely framed to her as blood family from the start. She also is the only female (other than Maki) born to that bloodline around clan leadership that we know of, so she was probably viewed as a “desirable” spouse. Marriage was probably used as a means of navigating social status, so her parents are probably planning to use her as a chip for their own political games now that their own future has sort of stagnated. After all, both their kids are sort of failures by Zenin standards, and they don’t have any other kids incoming that could do better. This is basically canon to me—they did try to make a marriage contract with Naoya, who’s very high in the clans leadership and the only other contender for clan head other than Megumi himself. She’s probably spent her entire life knowing that her parents would try for marry her off to the person in the clan with the highest status, and that’s probably been considered Naoya or one of his brothers for a long time.

There’s Naobito, the actual clan head, who appears to have had all sons. Toji appears to be Naobito’s nephew, meaning his father or mother was directly from that same line, and Megumi’s its continuation. And Naobito’s brother is Maki and Mai’s father, who produced the only girls.

The Zenin clan values power above all else, so we can assume that the line that is leading the clan tends to have a lot of cursed energy and skill. Mai and Maki didn’t get that, but they are still close tie to the line.

Mai was never supposed to be a jujutsu sorcerer. She didn’t have enough cursed energy for it. She only ended up going to the Kyoto school because Maki fucked off and the Zenin wanted to make a point. But we know how the Zenin treats women—since she didn’t have enough potential to be a sorcerer but was a member of a powerful bloodline who had cursed energy herself, she was probably viewed as a prime candidate to continue the family line, as seen with them trying to marry her off to fucking Naoya, who was a pretty high candidate for heir to the clan.

Of course, Megumi inherited the Ten Shadows. He actually did beat out Naoya for the position of heir without having put any effort or involvement into the position. He likely would have instantly shot to the top of the list for clan heir the second they knew he existed. Like, he was still installed as clan head when he actively had nothing to do with the clan. When he was a kid, and everyone was assuming they’d be able to bring him back into the clan and raise him as Zenin? It would probably be considered as close to an absolute as anything gets to them.

I could see Mai kind of romanticizing the idea of Megumi as a result, especially when she was younger Naoya was actively abusive to her and had the personality of a used gym sock dipped in shit and left on highway to rot. Megumi 1) wasn’t raised with them, so felt the least like her family 2) was actually nice to her, the one time she got to spend time with him and 3) was nice to Maki. And as bad as it was for Mai, Maki was the least accepted member of the clan at the time. She was a girl and she had little to no cursed energy. Mai canonically idolised her sister as a young girl and probably hated to see how everyone mistreated her.

Megumi intervening on her behalf when Naoya targeted her would have been monumental to her. It would have been the ultimate way of saying “everything will be okay” when she just didn’t have that sense of the future growing up.

For one thing, Megumi was guaranteed to have a position of extreme authority within the clan itself as he got older. But when he intervened on her behalf, he didn’t.

He didn’t save Mai with his own authority within the clan. He didn’t extend his protection over her, because he didn’t have any protection. When they finally all got caught, the first thing Naoya did was strike him across the face hard enough to knock him over.

They all got beaten horribly for that stunt. And they all expected it from the start, because that’s what their family did.

Megumi stuck his neck out for her. He took a beating because he didn’t like Naoya bullying her around. He intervened for Mai when it was to his own direct detriment, and she never forgot it. Her own parents weren’t doing that.

Which meant that she sort of hoped that when Megumi got older and became an authority in the clan, people would stop hurting her entirely.

Megumi didn’t have the authority as a little kid to just order Naoya to fuck off, but he was pretty much guaranteed to have it one day. There had always been people in the clan where, if you had their favor, no one could touch you. Mai had just never had anyone’s favor before. But Megumi was the Ten Shadows, and he was practically cosmically ordained as the most important person in their clan in five hundred years, and he was kind to her, and he said they could be friends. He said they’d stay friends.

It cost Megumi a lot to protect her as kids. It gave her a lot of very real hope that he’d keep doing it when it cost him nothing, and that there would come a day where it would just stop hurting so much.

And it wasn’t just her. It was also a future where Maki could maybe be happy.

One of the central facets of Mai’s character is that she desperately wishes for a world where Maki would have stayed in the clan with her. She wanted Maki to keep her promise. She wanted Maki to just be content doing a few chores and keeping her head down.

At this time, Maki hadn’t broken her promise yet, but I think that Mai still wanted that as their future. Her and Maki together, with Maki never leaving her, and both of them safe in the compound from the curses that terrified Mai.

Even if Megumi was nice to her, there should have been the lingering doubt as to whether he would also make the clan safe for Maki, but that fear got shattered when she joined them in Mai’s hideout.

He didn’t treat her like garbage. He said that they could be friends too. Maki bossed him around while they played, and the most he did was grumble at her. He treated Maki better than their own parents were treating them, and he did it without a thought.

So yeah. Mai had a lot of hopes pinned on Megumi when she was a very young girl. And I think if she had any feelings for him, it was more trying to force herself to have those feelings, because the world he offered was by far the one she wanted the most. Whether she was in love with him was almost the least important consideration.

If Mai was going to be married off to the heir to the clan, better Fushiguro “respect women” Megumi than Zenin “if she breathes she’s a thot” Naoya. He made her see a future she and Maki could be happy in for once, and then it all got ripped away.

I definitely see Mai as having a lot of bitterness towards Megumi leaving the clan, but I don’t think it was initially against him. I think she was initially bitter as hell against gojo. She was a little kid buying into the propaganda, which is that it wasn’t their Ten Shadows rejecting them, no, it was gojo stealing him away. That’s definitely changed and developed over the years, but I won’t say how.

[loverboydotcom]

looking myself in the mirror like am I really about to completely reshuffle the lover boy timeline just so i can get the single release of i want your sex in there and write beau’s live reaction

[magdaclaire]

my parents being fucking weird has ruined so many of the activities queers typically salivate over

[fridayyy-13th]

well i'm having an evening, certainly

[pastel-rights]

And then I finally end it off with some doodles of them… they make me feel things.

[starbuck]

the fact that i don’t have time to fall in love right now is literally SO unfair.

[properbastard]

isn’t teresa just the best? i’m rewatching the sharpe series after finding your blog again and i’m just so overwhelmed with love for her. she’s so kind and patient, i missed her bad af when i read the book version of sharpe’s rifles 🥺💕

[ she IS the best, anon, absolutely. Teresa's character is so unique and amazing--she's kind and patient, but she's also ruthless and cunning. Her story is absolutely heartbreaking, but she manages to find love and happiness in spite of everything, and that is such an incredibly powerful thing to see. She's everything to me and has been for a long, long time, as has @lacomandante, my very best friend in the whole world who writes Teresa!!! Go show her some love, too!!!

I haven't been on this blog often lately, but I'm hoping to be back soon and regularly! I'm very glad you found me again--it's messages like this that make keeping this proper bastard up and at 'em worthwhile!!! ]

[maddy-ferguson]

i'm only 21 isn't that way too young to be watching season 19 of grey's anatomy

[orcelito]

Ok though its actually kinda nice to see some of my earliest rps... 15 year old me just having fun 🥺🥺🥺

Might go digging more later. Don't rly feel like getting That into it tonight lol

[meownotgood]

au where I help aki heal his inner child by forcing him to play all of the games I hyperfixated on in my youth

[spockulative]

.

i am just....................................................................................

so. angry.

my psychiatrist changed my appointment time without my agreement and I'm just.. I'm furious, honestly. and the way they changed it was by calling me and leaving a voicemail THE NIGHT BEFORE "reminding" me of an appointment occurring an hour earlier than it should have been. I had it in my calendar as I remember it. I got an automated text confirming that the same time that i had. (which, to me, confirms that it was that time in their scheduling system as well) and, sure, i probably should have checked my voicemail sooner and called back to be like "yo we agreed this other time why do you think it's this time" but also???????????????????

if it was just the discrepancy between my calendar (I'm 98% I put in the date/time agreed upon last we met but there's a 2% chance I'm remembering incorrectly) and theirs (maybe they put it in wrong and it was a genuine misunderstanding) but the fact that i got my usual reminder text with the time we had initially agreed upon? that I was called with a "reminder" for the first time EVER???

I feel like I'm being manipulated and deceived and I am so mad. who does that??? I would have understood a call to cancel or reschedule. Acting like I had the wrong time all along infuriates me. I know I didn't

anyway now i have to find another psychiatrist. AGAIN

[allmyoldhaunts]

watched into the spiderverse and the batman back to back and while they are totally different movies, it is really obvious that the people who made them a) really love comics, and b) love really different comics