#that has happened to so many people i know. literally the same job description but you can do it for free !!! :-)

[faeparrish]

the fact that having a degree means absolutely nothing anymore lol almost everyone i know from uni has had to apply for benefits 😍

[m1ssunderstanding]

Understanding Lennon McCartney Rewatch Part 1.1

So disclaimer: I took screenshots instead of photographing my screen this time, but the quality of footage is a thousand times worse so the images are still mostly shit. But anyway, here we go :)

We're going to have to keep a tally on how many times they refer to their relationship in romantic terms. Less than a minute in, Paul has used the description, “great love affair.”

And John's right on his heels with “the sexual equivalent of . . . People in love.” So there's 2 already. Oh boy.

That opening montage of John and Paul just living for the light in each other's eyes should actually be the official music video for “I wanna hold your hand.”

Also I wonder how many songs they have about hiding. Someone's got to have a list somewhere right?

I adore the absolute lack of reaction to John manhandling Paul.

And then This Look. He's in love with him, ladies and gentlemen.

I remember seeing somewhere that this footage was literally right after they'd finished “she loves you.” Which was pretty recently after Bob Wooler, which was right after Barcelona. And if you're like me and you think that song is secretly about their relationship? If Paul's just been singing “she said you hurt her so, she almost lost her mind, but now she says she knows you're not the hurting kind. She said she loves you” at you, after all of that? Of course John's acting like a fucking puppy dog.

Poor George tally number 1

Excuse me??? John wants to live in the Beatle apartment instead of with his actual literal wife until Paul decides to move in with his girlfriend? What? He's so insane. Cynthia, you're lucky Paul's a fucking social climber.

I think it's indicative of two things that Paul said “screw secret girlfriends” while John happily went along with secret wives. One: different levels of security in masculinity (John doesn't have gay eyebrows etc) and two: different relationships. Jane and Paul's relationship was a smart career move for both of them and I think, being upper-class, and having her own career, and not being a mother, Jane was in more of a position to have a say.

Every time I watch that footage of Ken Dodd asking about their parents I physically cringe. Poor poor babies. Do your research you idiot! I don't think that ever happened again. I wonder if Brian made sure of that.

Paul literally talks like such a husband here. “We've thought about it, and probably the thing that John and I will do . . .”

Obsessed with Paul shouldering himself between George and John after George's little joke shove. It's so protective and yet so subtle. Exactly the same strong posture and easy smile as when he stepped between John and that interviewer during the Jesus scandal.

Poor George tally number 2 (you can't quite tell from the pic but John is shoving him out of the way because how dare he put his suitcase by Paul's?! That's John's suitcase's spot!!)

All the Beatles were cuddly with each other. It's one of the cutest bits about them, the puppies in a basket aspect. But I think we'll need a “noticable spacing difference” tally for this rewatch, too, and here's the first.

Paul wearing John's hat for attention and it fully and completely doing the job? They're so embarrassing!

I actually love that John's imitation of his upper-class Scottish family (which Paul can't do) is actually much more convincing than his broad Liverpudlian (which Paul nails in two variations, one based off his own family) I'm obsessed with the class dynamics between them.

Poor George tally three. He shares this one with Ringo. That moment when Paul's pretending to interview them about their purple hearts and cuts them both off with, “thank you. Mi-mister Lennon,” and John and Paul proceed to completely forget the other two exist for who knows how long – certainly longer than the videographer was willing to record.

I find John sliding into Paul's raspy “tiiight yeeeah” with his very turned on “mmmMM it's been a hard” extremely suggestive. I'm sorry but I do.

It's like he thinks if he looks away for too long he's going to disappear or something. Which. Now that I said that. Yeah. That is what it is. Poor separation-issues baby.

Ringo: Paul, you wrote a beautiful song and you sing it great. John: yeah and you're SEXY! Let's not forget that, everyone.

Am I crazy to obsess over every little musical similarity in their songs? Yes. Can I help it? No. The little “oh-oh ohoho” in the If I Fell demo is exactly the same as in Imagine and (frothing and writhing) it means something I can feel it! I just have no idea what.

I also find the lyric change from “i hope that she won't cry” to “i hope that she will cry” extremely interesting. There's always a heterosexual explanation. Trust me, the straights are the Simone Biles of mental gymnastics. But while the published lyric can be read as a man bitter toward his ex girlfriend hoping to hurt her by flaunting his new relationship, the demo version is trickier. Could it be that he doesn't want to hurt his wife's feelings by letting her know he's in love with someone else? But who else could John Lennon possibly have been in love with at the time?

“Too too much in love. Woah, too too much in love with you.” My heart

[mokisano]

Osuke Neko-Kun | Yarichin Bitch Club x Male reader [Pologue]

cw: Threesome, male sex, blow jobs, creampies, hate fuck, mating press, possible polyamorous relationship, mostly Ayato Yuri x Reader, Platonic relationships, oral sex, fingering, anal, BDSM, gangbang, sex toys eg. vibrators, pegging, rough sex, fluff, mentions and light descriptions of abuse

Summary: The new transfer student, [Name] [Last Name], has been moved to study at the 'great' all-boys boarding school Morimori Academy and has been quite excited to meet his best friends from middle school Yuri Ayato and Tamura Yui, especially Yuri, thinking nothing has changed from the year they haven't seen each other but oh boy is he wrong. Everything he seemed to once know about them has changed once he joined the school's Photography Club.

He's in for a hell of a ride. Literally.

People who identify as Female and minors DNI! This is not for you! If older female readers are looking for a Yari-bu x Reader I suggest reading 'That Girl' by @mozumon the story will also have content warnings like mine and their writing also has influenced me to make this story! Of course, it will not be the same but I'd still like to share their series with others! I'd like to include the reader has three little hairs poking out on his hair, I wanted to say this since I will be using this detail quiet a lot This story will also have major spoilers for the manga so read with caution! I don’t own the characters, all were originally made and written by Ogeretsu Tanaka.

You were laying down in your room, unable to sleep as you scrolled through your phone trying to forget about everything that happened during the day before getting a message from one of your closest friends. Once seeing the contact name you didn't hesitate for a second and pressed the name.

-

Yuri-kun : 'NEKO-CHYANNNN'

-

Once you saw what he said smiled lightly to yourself at the silly nickname. You never really understood why he started calling you it once he started High School with Tamura, and no matter how many times you asked about it you never understood a thing he said, but you liked the name regardless.

Recently the iconic pink-haired male has been texting you nonstop after you finished your third year of middle school and you messaged him you managed to get your father to let you go to MoriMori.

-

'Yuri-kun?'

Yuri-kun : 'Neko-chyan join Club?!?'

'ah, I haven't really thought about it. What club are you in Yuri-kun?'

-

You waited for a couple of minutes for Yuri to reply, seeing that he was thinking about what to say, which didn't really bother you much until he suddenly replied with:

-

Yuri-kun : 'Photo! PEWPEW CHIN!'

'Photography..It sounds like one of the more calming clubs'

Yuri-kun : 'COM!! JOIN JOIN~'

'www I'll see! Oyasumi Yuri-kun ^-^'

Yuri-kun : 'OYAsUmI~ aeuehefa~'

-

You sighed with an embarrassingly big smile on your face as you turned off your phone and put it on charge and snuggled up in your blankets and pillows, even after all this time Yuri hasn't changed a bit and it somehow comforts you knowing that things haven't changed that much.

You slowly started to fall asleep, your eyes looking at the stickers on your guitar in the corner of your room before finally sleeping.

ᴍ✿ʟɪꜱᴛ! | Previous Chapter <☆> Next Chapter

[zelenbug]

more rayman headcanons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i wrote a LOT here

some general descriptions of like 31 whole characters in my headcanon lore. at least those i had much of note to say about. so like, some pretty important characters are missing sorry

rayman - hes cool and a doofus at the same time. hes also a little bit stupid. he values having friends so so much and has no clue what romance is because hes never felt any kind of romantic attraction. he was raised by his fairy mom (betilla has her exact r1 design btw.) and theyre still on good terms : ) favorite activities: inventing ridiculous fun new things to do with globox

globox - he is exactly like in rayman 3 aside from the odd parts in the first map of hoodlum headquarters. silly idiot with a big ego, plays himself up to be mega competent and awesome at everything despite also being a coward. loves his family and haveing fun and his friends. hes good at coming up with ridiculous stupid conclusions. he dislikes glutes (I MEAN THE BIRDS IT IS WHAT THE BIRDS IS CALLED) because they kept biting him and stealing his lunch when he was a kid. he is terrified of rabbids. hes a red wizard but hes bad at being one (due to being tall, bald, not red (anymore) and not much of a wizard (he knows like 2 spells (hes really good at making rain happen though!!!))). his parents dont like him very much for being too much of a silly idiot

uglette - basically globox 2 in a lot of ways. not a coward but is averse to adventuring so she doesnt do that (also isnt as arrogant). kicks your ass if you threaten her kids though. not as much of an active participant in various fun activities despite being fully supportive of it BUT DONT GET IT WRONG she is still also a silly idiot. she doesnt like math either but is surprisingly good at counting which is the only reason her and globox know how many kids they have (globox was barred from helping out with counting, hes so bad at it which is why they were miscounting as over 650 for a while, its really just 651). uglettes parents dont like her very much for unclear reasons (hwy do you think shes named that)

their kids - allowed to run everywhere and have as much fun as possible which includes them punting every other glade inhabitant they can get to like the ball. they are UNRESTRICTED MENACES. if confronted about it (usually by murfy) both globox and uglette would go "its good parenting". at worst they get told off like "hey dont be mean please". andre is one of the kids btw

murfy - he is exactly like in rayman 3. hes actually really good at different voices which is why hes really squeaky at times (he puts on an act and pretends to be nice when polokus is around, that includes making a stupid squeaky voice). has flirted with rayman who remains completely oblivious to this. attempted to date a lot of people otherwise, didnt go so well, one of them was a literal girl with great big eyes though (a mosquito). also he would rather pursue acting than whatever his job ended up being

goth teensy - i wrote a post about him already. nice naive little man. his memory is awful for no reason. he doesnt remember how he got this watching over the dead door job either and he barely does it because he keeps getting distracted (and justifies it with "well how likely are the nightmares to get out anyways?")

raymesis - his one goal in life is to be raymans greatest rival and make sure everyone knows how bad rayman is (raymesis fails horribly at this. when he pretensd to be rayman literally everytone can tell that is not rayman). he is a giant cringefail loser. he wears cringy gamer shirts (like. over his hoodie) at home, which is a horrible dingy apartment. has several other embarrassing interests he doesnt even let glombrox know (who basically lives in his apartment due to constantly finding new ways of breaking in)

glombrox - claimed by raymesis to be his sidekick, actually just goes along with it because hes smart and can also kick raymesis in the back once his own plan goes awry. raymesis is both his favorite target to mess with and the closest thing he has to a friend. he smells horribly and hates baths, he loves beating up people for fun, he writes in cursive so fancy its legit unreadable. he was also an asshole as a kid (hes no longer allowed anywhere near his relatively normal family) and found more company with darktoons who only slightly influenced him. somehow everyone keeps thinking hes globox. he hates it. he can eat mold

teensy queen - honestly kudos to my friend for coming up with most of this because this is like really good. teensy queen is just kind of nuts and also a giant drama queen (lmao), like fake fainting with back of hand on her forehead. her targets of attraction consist exciuslvely of women and rayman. she has probably spoken with ghosts

andre - unfortunately for him, stuck at globoxs village permanently after being turned back into a black lum at some point (during rrr's events). globox and uglette and their kids literally all consider andy a family member, he hates it and he hates everyone here. he doesnt even try to escape anymore because SOMEONE will inexplicably get him back there (ie his siblings catching him in a bug net. they kick him around too btw). hes still trying to plot some evil plan that he hopes to execute eventually. hes terrified of rayman more than literally anyone else in the glade

ales mansay - NOT the magician, just pretended to be him to try and get on the heroes' good side. ales is slightly taller than him actually. anyway ales likes mr dark very very much (this is not reciprocated whatsoever). hes really bad at magic for a teensy (his organ thing that works with magic just doesnt work right?) and he got bullied as a kid relentlessly for it, he was already mean but this just made him worse. hes the closest thing the glade can get to a techbro (if he makes all hte tech himself). was even more mean to goth teensy in particular (who was just trying to reach out and become friends maybe) when they were classmates

polokus - hes seen even by the other gods as a weird little silly man. he can shapeshift between pretty much any kind of look (he has to remain beige though) but the design in origins is his "true" form i guess. he created the glade and its inhabitants long long ago and set them loose, he created globoxs spcecies in his own image but thought itd be funny if they didnt have legs. when hes not vacationing god knows where (like himself) (anyway he went there during rayman 3) hes pretty easy to talk to and become best friends with. he is divorced (over teensies)

voodoo mama (NOT THE NYMPH this is literally not what the nymph is called ignore raywiki IM TALKING ABOUT mama hite) - God's Ex. she thinks hes too much of a silly idiot too. she literally only likes one teensy (romeo patti), thinks all the other ones are ugly as hell. nowadays (aside from hanging out in land of the livid dead briefly before getting kicked in the eyes. yknow. big mama.) lives at the sea of serendipity with red wizards, offering her weird concoctions and whatever else to people, usually they do some magic effect they want (ie how rayman recolored himself like globox for fun) but with Side Effects. all the red wizards are convinced shes just some tall lady thats really good at magic and not literally, like. another god. even though she doesnt bother to hide it that much. sorta acted like a better mom to globox than the one he actually had, it took him a long time to also learn she was, in fact, God's Ex

LIGHTNING ROUND,!? the (unique) BABYS!!! brainox is obviously the smart one, a polite little guy, he has albinism and thus doesnt like sunlight, looking at it OR being in it. so hes more nocturnal bimbette is just cutie pants (from fancy pants) basically. she is a huge brat. lacks eyelashes for some reason zikox (remember hes the yellow one this is a canon name from the dreamcast localization file) pursues rap sure he secretly really likes poetry. wouldnt let anyone know. oktette is obviously the other smart one but shes REALLY smug about it. she literally looks down on people shes the tallest of the babys. (actually theyd be like teenagers by now almost?) hardrox isnt mean but hes just annoyed all the time by everything. he has a cool rock band, his dad is the only other member (as you know globoxs rayman arena desc says he likes rock music) catastrox is confused about everything constantly he has a hard time understanding anything. actually one of the least chaotic kids. he also just didnt really understand robo pirates were bad because he didnt know morals yet (also bc he hatched with the pirates somehow)

flaming teensy is the cool old (not that old, hes in like his 40s equivalent) man. despite appearances (and whatever happened in mini) hes actually pretty nice. looks over the tricky treasure as a job. hes in a relationship with another teensy but hes from the cold part of gourmand land this time

(i didnt intend to pick images of both magicians (i guess. you can see i refuse to call ales that) with no hats on. i just thought they were funny. this one is from an educational game btw)

the first king is the actual old. hes oldest teensy that has ever been alive, he refuses to die out of sheer stubbornness and just constantly complains about "kids these days". hes like cranky kong with less video game references

jano - one of the more minor gods, only one created by polokus (it was an accident). then he made a mess and now nightmares and the scary part of land of the livid dead exist. hes gotten more neutral over time, but not exactly nice and he doesnt regret making nightmares happen. nowadays he actually guards the way to land of the livid dead (cave of bad dreams is just a part of it), which is a somewhat different job from goth teensy

(side note r3 and origins land of the livid dead exist in the same "space", but the origins one is in a sort of pocket dimension. pocket dimensions have mostly been created by group efforts of powerful teensies for convenient travel purposes, ie the highways or the hall of doors, or some other purpose like the tower also in (r3) land of the livid dead. anyway nightmares reside in the origins land of the livid dead. and it wasnr created by teensies just to be clear, its that most of the other pocket dimensions were)

dark globox - nobody invited him to these races one time he just showed up. everyones scared of him, hes not even mean or evil he just throws people into walls for some reason. he speaks in BFGKBLFBDKFHMMDFKS but hes like, a sapient person with thoughts in SOME form? still the same species as globox but hes the most weird shaped one. everyone just called him that due to approximate similarities to the only other competitor who was also the same species (unless you count globette) anyway dark globox is literally the only person glombrox genuinely respects

tily - like a cat (full of mischief) that can fly. unstoppable, chaotic, bites people (mostly globox. for no reason). if caught in the act (for example, pushing fragile objects off tables for no reason) she acts like shes entirely innocent and hasnt done a single thing wrong or bad at all. which keeps working, every time. but she can be persuaded to stop for a little bit with some treats of candy (thats a difference from cats, cats cant taste anything sweet at all!). i dont know what her relation to ly is but theyre both cats in some way

the magician (the real one this time) - has always been a rayperson. hes a grown man but is shorter than most teensies for no reason. obviously great at magic but anything involving technology confuses him to no end. hes maybe just a bit mischievous at times, hes nice he just messes with people a little bit sometimes for fun. Ok so i can really only describe this best with an image also from an educational game

red wizards arent like. one character but i could go into more detail on them. so they live mostly around sea of serendipity and mystical pique. at least the older ones are absolutely committed to being always serious and never having fun or being silly ever, and they hope to also teach the same values to god with their boring mantras. you can understand why globox didnt fit with the other red wizards like at all. ALSO red wizards gossip a LOT, htey end up knowing about everything remotely adjacent to them (but nothing outside of that, they had no idea there were robo pirates at all for example)

romeo patti - why did he decide to live in land of the livid dead?? anyway he kind of has the easiest job in the world because most of his patients are already ghosts and you cant do much about that. so he spends all his time smoking all kinds of stuff, thats kind of why hes the only teensy voodoo mama likes. hes also one of the tallest known teensies, its hard to tell because he also has the worst posture of all the known teensies

TOOK LONG ENOUGH TO GET TO MINIMUSES I GUESS? talking in plural because i think its mostly a set of teensies that steal the crown from one another. being The King is mostly meaningless but it makes them feel important and they get to shout commands at people. only one of them was brave enough to participate on some fun adventures with rayman and globox and goth teensy, he acts like the leader of the team which makes the other three go "?"

sir globrax - he keeps getting stuck in absolutely unreal situations. nobody knows how he does this. murfy for a time got assigned by polokus to watch over this poor chainmail wearing idiot and, while he wouldnt show it, murfy has never genuinely hated anyone more than this guy and his penchant for trapping himself in ways nobody on the planet can decipher. meanwhile his view on murfy is like. My assisant murfy who helps me when im in trouble : )

globteen and teensy ray together i guess - theyre like. friends but they mostly focus on being the number one biggest fan of whoever their respective favorite guy is. and they both run fanclubs but the globox fanclubs only members are globteen and globox. teensy ray will try and fight anyone who is mean to rayman, also hes one of the few teensies that isnt bald (he made himself not bald)

globteen is a funny little guy overall. his age is a mystery. most people find him kind of weird and a bit nuts so he doesnt have a lot of friends but he doesnt seem to mind that much. hes actually REALLY pale for a teensy for some reason, being a very light yellow color. its a bit hard to tell because he never goes out without his face painted blue (like globox). also he is literally this

might do more of this if i come up with things to write about other characters

[kindlingkeen]

I've wanted to ask this for a while: I absolutely adore how you write action scenes/sequences in your fics, especially in Asymmetrical Warfare. I can easily and clearly picture what's going on in my head, and the action is SO suspenseful. Literally, the chase and fight scenes have me on the edge of my seat *chef's kiss*. As someone trying their hand at writing fanfiction, I'd love to hear if you have any specific tips or methods for writing action. I also wanted to say how much I love your characterization of Jason. It's literally a breath of fresh, life-giving air among the muck that is current DC comics and fanon alike :)

Thank you so much, anon!! I love sharing my writing with people who love Jason like I do. 🩵 I'm so glad you're enjoying Asymmetrical Warfare and my action scenes in particular (they're my pride and joy). I'm sorry it took me so long to answer your ask, but I had to really think about it (I wasn't actually consciously aware I had a writing method, lol). I only started writing fanfiction in the last year, so I honestly consider myself a novice in this.

I can easily and clearly picture what's going on in my head

I've gotten variations of this comment before, and I think it reflects my knowing exactly what's happening in a scene, down to extremely minute details. You have to what you're trying to convey in order to do so clearly. This is also where practice comes in. I'm a novice creative writer, but I've had years of experience with technical writing. That means lots of practice conveying complex concepts in a limited number of words. It gets easier with repetition (especially the self-editing bit).

After some reflection, I realized I have a three-stage approach to constructing an action sequence. I start with a rough draft that conveys the feel and general idea of the action. Then I add very explicit details describing the physical movements (this is where I do research and sometimes get help from a beta). Lastly, I focus on adding sensory details and editing for tempo and flow. Here's an example from Chapter 3 of Harm Reduction, I started with:

While working on the next version, I found a couple excellent parkour videos on YouTube and watched them over and over in slow motion to figure out all of the movements. I also had my brainstorming buddy read parts of the chapter to see if they were interpreting my text correctly.

At this point, the paragraph does a decent job of conveying exactly what Jason is doing, but it isn't very engaging. From here, it's just ruthless self-editing, moving words and sentences around, trying different ideas, abusing my thesaurus, etc. I usually listen to music (sometimes the same song repetitively) that has the right tempo and dramatic feel for what I'm trying to convey while I'm working.

I often combine sensory details with descriptive actions and short, punctuated sentences to build tension. You can see me adding that above with "A kaleidoscope of roof and sky whirls wildly around him. Jason uncoils."

The last piece of advice I'll offer is to take your time. The above process takes me many, many drafts. For example, it took me fourteen days to write Chapter 3 of Harm Reduction. There are countless versions auto-saved in my Google Drive history (I stopped counting at 32).

I hope this is helpful, anon! Thanks so much for your ask. I had fun answering it. 💙

[donnerpartyofone]

Wow, I just saw where you put the comma in your user name. It's even funnier now.

I never thought of it as Donner, Party of One as a table reservation. Announced in an officious tone.

I pictured it as donnerparty OF ONE. Meaning there is only one person in the Donner Party. As in, you are all alone in the cold woods eating yourself. LOL.

Hahaha obviously this is the username that keeps on giving! It's interesting how people react to it. I don't remember how long ago I came up with it but I'm sure I was feeling VERY clever, it would be many years before I learned that Robin Williams made the same joke in some standup routine, and he probably wasn't the first person to think of it either. I once applied for a job where the person who interviewed me vigorously insisted that I got it from the movie SCREAM, and I'm sure that joke is nowhere to be found in any installment of SCREAM but she was so passionate about her assumption for some reason, I didn't fight her on it too hard; in retrospect I chose the irrational belief that that was an omen that that was going to be a really hard, shitty, low-paying job.

My conscious interest in cannibalism emerged during my first semester at college, where it became clear that I had been interested in cannibalism all along but had never really connected the dots. It seemed to be the most frightening and compelling thing I could think of. When I was a kid I had a copy of Silence of the Lambs that I carried around like it was the Bible, reading it over and over. I had intensely vivid nightmares about THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE for years before I would ever see the movie, my brain just seemed to know it would become a big part of my life. RAVENOUS came out right before I went to college and when I got there I made a cult out of it; I was watching it at-least-daily in the dorm lounge, which at first people hated, then some people started to join me, then after we came back from Thanksgiving I learned that a lot of people went home and showed it to their families! And then it seemed to happen that whenever I picked the movie, it would involve cannibalism unpredictably--none of us were Shakespeare-literate enough to know it would be in TITUS, and when it randomly came up in DEAD MAN everyone turned around and looked at me like I must have known, like I tricked them. There were other examples that aren't coming to me. At some point it just sort of became my identity. I used to have a couple of fork & knife clothing patches that I painted and wore on various things.

I just think it's interesting, like it has lots of allegorical possibilities. I'm mainly attracted to it as a description of extreme anti-sociality. Like in TEXAS CHAIN SAW, you have a nuclear family in the American heartland, but instead of a heterogeneous unit that makes more people, you have a clan that is somehow only males and they consume people. (I mean there's a mother theoretically but she's literally a mummy, which I think is pointed) I'm interested in that kind of unhealthy system inversion. But people react to it all kinds of different ways, it's curious. I recently contacted this woman who wrote a horror-related paper I loved and she replied that she'd be happy to talk to me about anything "except cannibalism :)". I said this elsewhere but when I arrived at this book launch I had to host last week, the author told me "You know you're doing something right if people are offended!" and explained that when the event was publicized with my bio attached, which listed some of my academic interests, some guy emailed him "THERE IS NOTHING FUNNY ABOUT CANNIBALISM!" and cc'd a bunch of different people like it was an emergency; I mean considering what else was in my bio, I guess he thinks I find murder and sexual exploitation "funny" too, but none of that stuff bothered him. After the event someone waited patiently to tell me about his favorite metal band that only plays songs about serial killers, including some prominent cannibals, and I had to promise I would listen to it. Whatever you think about it, it's a very provocative topic, and I guess it's good that people are still sensitive enough to have a strong reaction!

[prsk-krow]

HA HA HA!

IT IS I, THE ✨ANON✨ THAT WRITES STUPIDLY LONG PHARAGRAPHS JUST TO NOT FULLY UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY JUST WROTE IN THE END (the one with the secretly talented Reader)

can i request another Mafuyu x Reader and perhaps a Mizuki x Reader (´•᎑•`)?

The Reader is just a calm most of time and nothing seems to phase them. Like you could give them the biggest scare and they would just laugh it off with a smile. All it takes is just one, really, bad day. And when that day did come because someone is unreasonably rude to them, Reader snaps.

That's honestly all I could explain. Sorry if I couldn't describe Reader's description that much ಥ◡ಥ

{Mafuyu/Mizuki with calm reader that snaps!}

Alright, back to headcanons! Sorry this took so long! Caw.

Mafuyu Asahina

Mafuyu finds comfort in your calm behavior. Even though she puts up her good girl persona to almost anyone, she feels more or less forced depending on the person. You just happen to lighten her act by not asking or expecting much of her, to which she finds comfort in!

She asks you to eat with her at the far ends of the cafeteria to stay away from all of the noise, and you comply without asking the why's or the details of her request. The weight that lifts off her shoulders is a feeling she didn't expect to feel so nice.

Especially when you noticed how uncomfortable she got when receiving praise from the other students, and you started making sure to respectfully send them on their way whenever they approached to annoy her. She didn't expect to enjoy this time with you as much as she did...

However, with so many times that you had shooed away Mafuyu's fans, there was bound to be some trouble, and one day that trouble came in the form of an annoyed group of students demanding that you step away from the 'glorious honor student's table. Looking back at her, her smile was more forced than ever, trying to do the same that you had been doing to dissipate the masses, but to no avail.

Eventually, you stood up, determined to make them leave both of you alone, and you grabbed the leader's shirt, staring at him straight in the eyes as you mercilessly talked him down, making him aware of how badly they were frustrating their 'idol', and how they were literally ignoring her wishes for their selfish gains. Needless to say, they ran off in a hurry to not get into trouble.

"Oh... Oh my! I can't thank you enough! You know, those are the exact reasons why I don't want to go back to being around them as much... Although I guess you already know that, huh?"

You made sure that she didn't speak much more, as she had forced her smile enough in those few suspenseful minutes. She went back to eating her meal in silence, thinking about how much you truly knew, to which you responded that you knew it was fake, but you weren't aware of the truth.

Internally, Mafuyu sighed in relief, as she now knew that she didn't have to worry about you knowing too much. And besides, holding up the mask had been way easier with you by her side! Maybe, just maybe... Did this mean that she could consider you a friend...?

Mizuki Akiyama

Mizuki always loved their part time job at the clothes store! Not only did they get a first hand look at all of the new products that would come out in the future, but the also got to recommend them for some customers or other employees! And one of their favourite targets was you!

After your shifts were over, they always dragged you to the dressing room to try on all of the outfits that she liked, but didn't look too good on her! You simply chuckled and complied; after all, their excitement was entertaining, and their expertise was phenomenal!

They couldn't dismiss how well you worked, either! You were always so calm in front of any customer, helping them perfectly no matter their attitude or mood, and even managing to convince people to recommend the shop to their family or friends! It was awesome to see, and they were always fascinated to watch you do it!

However, one day that they were watching you, they didn't notice another customer trying to get their attention, and now he appeared to be angry at them! Mizuki was caught off guard, and nervously tried to calm him down to no avail!

They also didn't expect you to suddenly stop the customer's angry rambling with a shoulder grab, and coldly direct his attention to the lady you had been helping! The angry customer suddenly grew quiet, as you made him aware of how much he had disturbed everyone around him, especially this lady! He walked off with the her, who apparently was related to him!

"... Pff-Oh my god! Look at them! He's literally getting scolded like a little kid-ahahaha! Ah... That's what he gets! Oh, um, thanks for the help back there, I certainly didn't expect to be approached like that, hehe... I'll pay you back with the best clothes I can pick out later, I promise!"

You chuckled once again at her enthusiasm, as you two went back to your work. True to their word, Mizuki brought you more clothes than usual for your dressing room session! You couldn't help but laugh at how they were addressing you as their savior the whole time!

However, you weren't aware of how the things that that man told them had affected them. It certainly brought back memories that they would prefer to forget, but they weren't planning on showing it in front of you. Guess that you'll have to stay in the dark for a while longer...

[blue-kyber]

Ya know, I say "It's about those intense emotional scenes," - and for the most part, it is. We love them. We love reading them. We love writing them. We love it when we hurt people with them and make them feels things (we writers are sadistic that way. Sorry not sorry for making you cry.)

But who's really getting the most punch out of these scenes?

I'd have to go with the Writer.

This thing has to come from us from somewhere.

We have to see all of this in our heads, find the right words, the right structure, and the right emotions to really make it hurt.

Which means, we have to feel it.

We have to feel... EVERYTHING.

While we're creating that dialogue and those heart-wrenching descriptions, we're in the headspace of our characters experiencing it. We share what they're going through as if it's happening to us (in a way.)

My goal is that - if a scene turns me into an emotional mess, or has me mentally wrecked somehow before/during/after writing it - then I hope it'll RIP the reader the same way.

If it does, if you feel anything - if we hurt you, or made you laugh, or made you feel love - then we've succeeded. We've done our jobs of manipulating your emotions and dragging you into our worlds.

I AM NOT the only writer who's burst into tears while writing, become so angry I wanted to scream, become so depressed and actually grieved and needed to go get some fresh air at 2am to the donut shop (not saying I'm going to do that tonight, but I might do that tonight), or made those little effort sounds while searching for the perfect way to show the reader that the character made that exact sound by feeling it ourselves.

If we do it, if we hear it, the right descriptive words could magically appear.

So, I'm just saying, writing is very VERY internal, which is why for many of us, our work is a part of us. Because...because, I mean,...well, it is.

Original writers - we are literally creating entire worlds from scratch.

We have influences, of course, but ultimately, it all has to come from us.

Even fan fiction, because in order to do it some justice - to try to create something good - we have to at least know the basics of the material so we can do our best to keep the characters IN CHARACTER. We come up with the situations we put other people's little guys in. We have to go into our heads for this.

Sometimes it's just fun, freeing, and refreshing to play in someone else's sandbox for a while.

I don't know about other authors, but I do my best to stay as true as I can to the source material I'm writing a fic for, while also taking creative liberties and having fun, because...ya know... FIC.

Other writers, feel free to weigh in on this.

Is this just me?

[queenlucythevaliant]

Do you think Behemoth and Leviathan were actually real and happened to be dinosaurs? Behemoth was a huge and formidable land dinosaur while Leviathan was a pleisiosaur. Technically, plesiosaurs weren't dinosaurs, but you get my idea?

So I've been sitting on this ask for a little bit because I honestly didn't know what tone to take in answering it. I don't know your background, and thus don't know whether to be more blunt or delicate. Ultimately, I settled on blunt, simply because I could not figure out how to answer this question delicately. That said, I hope you take this in the gracious spirit in which I have written it.

SO. That's a hard no from me, friend. Let's discuss!

So typically when you hear people say that Behemoth and Leviathan were dinosaurs (or dinosaur adjacent), it's in the context of arguments in favor of young earth creationism. It's a fairly big talking point with the Answers in Genesis crowd. Basically, they make the argument that Biblical texts referencing creatures that superficially resemble dinosaurs are evidence that humans and dinosaurs could have lived at the same time.

This works out if the earth is only 6,000 years old, but not if we take paleontology, geology, or human evolution at all seriously. The writer of Job would have had no way of knowing that dinosaurs and plesiosaurs existed because they had already been extinct for many millions of years. Even if you want to argue that maybe God is describing creatures with which Job was unfamiliar, it still doesn't track. God's address to Job treats these creatures as something for which he has a point of reference. It also just doesn't make sense why God would choose this moment to reveal the existence of dinosaurs. Talk about a tangent!

I don't know where you fall on the spectrum of Christian beliefs regarding origins and the age of the earth, but I've written at length on this blog about the case for theistic (old earth) evolution, so I won't rehash that here. Check out my all truth is God's truth tag or shoot me an ask if you want more on that. Regarding Behemoth and Leviathan, however, I think some of the same exegetical skills involved in reading (or misreading) Genesis are involved in the relevant chapters of Job.

When God addresses Job out of the whirlwind, he uses poetic language. He's talking about a real thing (his sovereignty over the universe), but it's something that transcends human comprehension on an overwhelming scale. Much like we can't ever hope to wrap our heads around deep time, we're simply not capable of grasping the extent of God's sovereignty.

When God describes storehouses of hail reserved for the day of battle, are we supposed to literally think that there is a giant building in heaven where God keeps all his hail? Or is it a picture of God's might as both creator and judge of the universe? If we know our Bibles, we see that hail is frequently used as a tool of judgement against God's enemies: Egypt, the Canaanites, apostate Israel, and ultimately the rebellious earth. So when God describes his storehouses of hail, we see the reality of his total control over the arc of history, his ultimate justice, his orderliness.

Likewise, Behemoth and Leviathan use the established language and symbolism of Scripture to convey truths for which plain language wouldn't suffice. Behemoth's description isn't that of any real animal, living or extinct. God paints a picture of a creature that no man could ever hope to tame and expresses that he, God, can.

Leviathan is the longer and more interesting image; it's a mighty creature of the deep that breathes fire and cannot be controlled. We know that in Biblical parlance, water is frequently associated with chaos (too many places to enumerate, but Psalms, the Prophets, and Revelation are good starting places). Leviathan is a picture of this chaos: mighty, rearing, deadly, uncontrollable, terrifying. Then God says to Job, "Can you draw this creature out with a fishhook? Can you make a covenant with him? Will he serve you? Can you injure him? Do you have any means at all of controlling the chaos monster? I do." It's poetry used to express a truth that we humans cannot hope to grasp otherwise: We cannot control the chaos of the world around us. We can't even try. But God can, and he does it effortlessly.

So no. Not dinosaurs. And I think that arguing that they are, especially trying to pick through the text and figure out which ones they're supposed to be and using that to argue for literalistic interpretations of Genesis, really misses the point and the power of what God is saying here.

I think Job's words back to God at the end of the book actually give us a remarkably important principle when it comes to Biblical interpretation: "I have uttered what I do not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know." The whole Bible is too wonderful for us. God condescended in order to give us his truth, and he had the magnificent grace to give it to us in ways that we can begin to grasp.

I think a lot of really literalistic reads on Scripture (Job, Genesis, Revelation, and elsewhere) are a kind of grasping at control. There's an assumption in it that God gave the ancients an exact accounting of things that humans just aren't equipped to fully comprehend.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't try! But it does mean that when we read Scripture concerning the Big Things: the Sovereignty of God, the creation of the universe, the origin of life, eternity, infinity, even spiritual mysteries like the Trinity and the nature of the Incarnation, we have to approach it as something fundamentally beyond our comprehension which God is showing us the edges of. We can see other, different edges of many of those same things through scientific observation (or philosophy, or whatever other disciplines-- not all of the Big Things are scientific in nature.)

It's like Isaac Newton said: "I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."

[chaoskirin]

The Newest AI Bullshit

So now techbros are flooding short story publications with AI-generated writing. It's not just one or two magazines, either. It's all of them.

I'm just going to fucking scream. This is what happens when you pull art out of curriculums. You have a population who both thinks art is "too hard" and also believes it's "super easy" for the people who do it. We have a bunch of assholes who think artists who've worked hard to learn principles of design, color, and composition are gatekeepers if they tell people to stop using AI generation for profit.

I just don't know what to say anymore. I've gotten so many hate anons and braindead comments on my AI posts that I can't even fathom the true depth of hate techbros have for people who create art--whether that's visual art or writing.

And I know... Deep down the people who regularly use AI don't WANT to create art. They want to AVOID creating art. They know AI generation has nothing to do with their own creativity. What they want is something for free, even if it's mediocre or lackluster, and they definitely don't want to learn how to make those things on their own. They want it handed to them.

Worse, they don't even care who they hurt to do it. There's no appealing to their better nature. Artists on the internet are only vague concepts to them. The other day, someone RT'd my "how AI-image generation works" post and discredited my argument by saying I'm a "30-something game grumps fan..." As if I didn't work my ass off my whole life to become an expert in my field.

These idiots also don't realize that I have literally studied computer science my whole life, I'm getting a master's degree in it, AND my job description is literally tech support and software maintenance for a whole department.

But techbros don't actually know how technology works. They think it's a cool toy that they get to play with and make money off of and that's where the buck stops for them. I can no longer even count the people who've looked at my anti-AI posts and told me "NO THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS" with a billion different excuses that come in waves.

First, it was "It's just like a collage, and those are legal!"

Then, "Stop gatekeeping!"

Then, it was "It's just a computer being inspired like a human!"

Then "It's not anything like a collage!"

Then "Datasets don't actually store images!"

And the same argument comes from multiple people at the same time, as if they'll try to convince themselves of anything except that it's fucking theft and they're bad people for abusing the technology.

I'm not tagging this because it's just a personal rant. Feel free to reblog, though.

[everythingsinred]

I spent a whole day reading your Natsume analysis and am so excited to read Mikan's version. I wanted to ask about your thoughts on what Natsume was doing during the four years he was apart from Mikan. In Kageki, we learn that he took a lot of missions to get credit. But what do you think his mental state was like? Do you have any fic recs? I love making myself sad from Natsumikan angst.

hi! im so happy you read the natsume analysis! it makes me happy to hear people enjoyed it! i just recently made a table of contents for my essays and general ga postings so if you need help navigating the mikan essays, check out my pinned post <3

to answer your questions about what natsume was up to while mikan was gone, im pretty sure in kageki narumi mentioned that natsume had some negative behavior and attitude, but the extent of that is left vague. allegedly the missions he went on after she left were not alice-heavy or life-threatening but we know that one of those missions was to be toma's bodyguard and... bodyguarding tends to be dangerous? thats in the job description, pretty much literally. im not entirely sure how he was expected to bodyguard WITHOUT using his alice, but thats what they imply. did he take martial arts? did he carry a gun? who knows really. either way he should not have been permitted to continue doing any missions.

just in general, i think he was pretty depressed without mikan around. i mean natsume was in a HORRIBLE suicidal depression for two years before he met her and falling in love with her happened because she saw value in his life that he hadnt seen before. while she was there, he had developed a sense of purpose in his life and a will to live he hadnt had. it was bc of her that he started bonding with class b. now that shes gone, im sure hes very upset especially because its not certain he'll ever be allowed to see her again, granted he even lives that long.

but as much as i see him being depressed and a little miserable, he still has friends and a strong support system at the academy now. he has his best friend, plus the kids he allowed himself to befriend while mikan was around. theres pictures in the memorial book that depict middle-school aged natsume hanging out with The Boiz, and there's photographs in kageki that imply he wasnt completely isolating himself from his classmates during mikan's absence.

so with that in mind, i think he's depressed and sad about mikan being gone for sure, but he still has a will to live, a support system, and a sense of purpose (seeing mikan again) so that he isnt ENTIRELY devastated during those few years.

we can see when he reunites with her that he kinda expected her to remember him as soon as she saw him, and that gives us insight into how exactly he processed her stolen memories. (smth like, "she doesnt remember anything. so even if i did see her id probably have to make her fall in love w me again and im not even sure how i did it the first time! but she did love me right? i mean if she really loved me, she'd remember me eventually. i cant imagine forgetting her so im sure since she loved me that she'll remember as soon as she sees me!" and then he holds onto that thought so tightly that he ends up shocked that she doesnt remember). those thoughts probably kept him afloat too.

i really have mixed feelings about mikan leaving the academy in the first place though. i just dont think that plot point was executed very well so i never really got very into it.

as for fanfic recs, i cant think of many off the top of my head that have much to do with that time period of natsume on his own, but there is this one, (paths that lead home by MCaroba) which is about natsume going on a road trip with his friends!

as for angsty fics that are NOT related to that specific time period, here are some:

Ten Years to Date by November Romeo (the kids are assigned to write about their futures and natsume refuses. canon!verse one shot) (ps lots of her canon fics are in the same universe and theres a deal of angst involved there too, though her canon!verse fics take place in an alternate future of the kids in high school. i do recommend reading pretty much everything she's written for ga)

Tired by FearandLoathingXIX (hurt/comfort related to natsume's sickness. canon!verse one shot)

My Happy Ending by Little Miss Giggle (au where the kids go to a music school.... it starts off silly and fun but it gets pretty damn angsty. multichapter and one of the better known fics in the fandom)

Steal (my breath away) by Rock-n-Round (au one shot where alices exist but they're a bit weird and hard to explain. this one is EVISCERATING. and very beautiful)

Before You Hit the Ground by Ducky-san (au multi-chapter fic where mikan runs away from an abusive home and meets natsume who is in a gang against his will. i actually LOVE this fic so much... but it does contain some triggering material, like discussions of child abuse and implied sexual abuse.)

Right Before Your Eyes by pressuredtreasure (au... i don't think i can say much about this without spoiling it, but it's basically mikan missing natsume)

Oh Hello World also writes a lot of one shots, some of which are pretty angsty.

i'm really sad.... i was gonna link some other fics but i couldn't find them or remember their names and i'm scared they've been taken down. ah the pain of being in an old, less active fandom...

i also write fics too! ive only written aus so far (incidentally, not on purpose), but the angstiest is probably all things rancid and delicate, which is about mikan in a cult (it has a lot of dark elements to it)

im sorry if youre not much an au person, but i havent read much new ga ffn recently and not many good ones have survived the test of time it seems. it's all very sad. i miss reading fanfic all the time AND having lowered standards for gaffn specifically...

i hope i've answered your questions! if you have any other questions feel free to shoot me another ask! i love talking abt ga <3

[bisexualseraphim]

wait you’re actually Christian but also lgbt? how does that work?

So I’ve got a bit of a funny relationship with religion — I was actually raised Iehovah’s Witness at first (yeah that’s a story to tell…), decided I didn’t like that one bit, was then raised Protestant for a while, became antitheist out of rebellion, studied religion in depth, went through a few different phases, and then finally rejoined the Church as a Protestant again.

However, I would describe myself as more of an agnostic-Christian; I do not take any edition of the Bible at face value or, pardon the pun, as gospel. I also don’t see God as some bearded old dude in the sky who loves us yet has nothing better to do other than spread disease and watch us destroy all species.

Some people might find that contradictory and I do understand that, but I personally find it a lot more productive and comforting to see the Bible kind of like Aesop’s Fables — these events did not actually happen the way they are depicted, but there are valuable lessons to be learned from them and they are personal and open to interpretation by everyone who reads them. Every Christian you meet will have a different opinion on what it “actually” says and means. You’d be surprised how many claim that Ezekiel’s descriptions of angels are “wrong” despite literally being there within the text. At the end of the day it is a book, just like any other. No interpretation is strictly right or wrong.

…Which is exactly why I despise Christians who use it to excuse their hatred. “I interpret the Bible as saying that men having sex with men is wrong.” Okay? That’s personal to you. So just don’t have sex with men as a man if you don’t want to. However, many other people don’t interpret it that way or just aren’t Christian to begin with, so for you to tell them that their identity or their personal lives are against God is cunt behaviour. You are not Christ himself, it is not your job to “save” them or whatever the fuck. Mind your business.

I just think trying to apply a magical story that was written thousands of years ago in many different languages that can be translated and interpreted in many different ways to the real world in the 21st century is pointless and can only lead to a life of misery. I mean, Hell isn’t even spoken about in the Bible the way that 99% of Christians speak of it. Dante made up most of that shit in Inferno about 2700 years after the Bible’s first ever conception. They’re literally basing their idea of Hell off of, essentially, a fanfiction poem when they tell us that that’s where us gays are headed. They don’t even actually read the text they hold so dear lmao. You’re not technically supposed to wear mixed fabrics or shave your beard or cut your hair or get tattoos according to the Bible but that always goes ignored too 🤷🏻‍♂️ You can’t do all that but then rag on trans people for “rejecting His image” or whatever the fuck. People are the way God made them, and God made trans people. Not that anyone follows the Bible to the letter anyway. That would be practically impossible. (And, as I said, not everyone is Christian and interested in abiding by the Bible.) In short, do whatever the fuck you want as long as it’s not hurting anybody else. Love yourself and love each other.

So yeah, it’s a bit of a weird one for me. I think the Bible is a very interesting story regardless of whether it’s “real” or not and many could get something out of reading it if you just see it as kind of a cool comic book or something. I find the idea of Heaven and an afterlife comforting and I value the teachings of Christ. At the same time, I am open to all other religions and their teachings. Everyone has their own perspective on who or what God actually is — or many Gods, of course — and nobody has any right to tell them that they are wrong, because we simply don’t know. I think anyone who has studied the Bible would also greatly benefit from reading the Torah, the Bhagavad Gita, the Koran, etc to open up their world view a little more.

I just think it’s such a shame that religion is often used to divide when it could instead be used to connect and relate with others. I had many Jewish, Buddhist and Hindu friends as a kid and I greatly enjoyed discussing with them our respective texts and how they differed, but were also in many ways similar. And I do admit I sometimes feel ashamed for being part of a group who so often see an ancient book as the entire meaning of life, the universe, and everything and use it to deny human rights or even fucking science.

Facts and science should always come before faith, end of story. Science is a universal truth whereas faith is personal belief. And you should always, always, when you can, be kind. “Love thy neighbour as thyself” and all that. Funny how that always gets ignored. Just goes to show that people who spread hatred have some serious self-esteem issues.

And I hate all forms of bigotry but one that especially gets on my nerves is antisemitism by Christians because it is entirely baseless and Christianity literally would not exist if it weren’t for the Jewish people. (Not that bigotry ever has an excuse but you get my meaning.) Jesus was not killed by “the Jews.” Jesus WAS a Jew and he was persecuted by — who else — the Romans. And even if he was killed by Jewish people (he wasn’t) that still wouldn’t excuse any of the horrific things done to them throughout history. Antisemitism has been a problem since Judaism first became a concept thousands of years ago and I cannot express how much it saddens and disappoints me that it’s still so commonplace today. Many people are even antisemitic without realising due to all the dogwhistling (“lizard people rule the world,” anyone?). It’s abhorrent.

But yeah. It’s complicated. To sum up: I love Jesus. I believe in Something that created us but not necessarily exactly as the Bible says. I believe most if not all of the Bible is metaphorical and therefore using it to justify treating others shittily is bullshit. I believe science should always come before faith and church should always be separated from the State. Religion is deeply personal and therefore trying to enforce your personal beliefs and values from it onto others is, at the very least, fucking rude and preachers can kiss my well-bathed arse. I believe all religions are valid and have value and, if I’m being honest, I am primarily Christian rather than anything else due to its familiarity to me. If me from 20 years into the future time travelled back here and told me I’d end up becoming Jewish or Buddhist or Hindu or something else, I’d be completely fine with that. I am always curious about the world around me and try to be as open as possible, and, above all else, compassionate. (Except to bigots and to anyone else who’s plain cruel but I don’t feel like I can be particularly faulted for that.) And I believe Christianity and the Church as an institution has a lot of issues that it needs to answer for.

I don’t know if I’ve at all explained myself well here but if anyone has any more questions my inbox is always open. (But if you come in to say anything homophobic or transphobic or antisemitic or whatever the fuck in the name of the Bible you can go fuck yourself ✌🏻)

[winterpower98]

JQOSIAP I NEEDED TO WRITE IT IMNSORRY

The king was throwing a destructive tantrum, a very destructive tantrum.

After he finally got free from that furnace, he didn't spare any of those unfair and selfish celestial beings, demanding to get the throne.

dosen't really know why, he just wants that selfish, careless and annoying prick out of his throne and title. He doesn't deserve it.

he doesn't deserve to rule heaven he's not a good leader.

not like sun wukong is the perfect one, but he surely dosen't go and execute someone just because they said "what's up" to them. (Literally. The jade emperor wanted to execute wukong because wukong basically said "what's up I'm old sun" to the jade emperor and it's the funniest thing.)

The monkey full of rage as been going on for a couple hours by now, killing anyone he spots who he doesn't recognize.

Which is literally everyone.

His monkeys aren't here, he dosen't have to worry about hurting any of th—

is that Ma.

sh- is that Ma?!

"..Ma?"

His vision got extremely good, even though his eyes are red now.

He could see disguise, he could distinguish between demons and other beings, and from all of the celestial beings, there was a demon.

Ma.

what is she doing here?! She isn't supposed to-

whatever, just- break time i guess.

as a fast as light, wukong escaped and grabbed Ma with him, going somewhere the enemies wouldn't find him.

luckily they didn't even notice Ma, luckily he did before he did way more damage than he wanted.

"Ma- Ma what are you doing here, you're supposed to be in flower fruit mountain!"

The king whispered, even if it did hurt a little because of his raspy voice- and he kinda lost his voice a little, talking was difficult.

"What am I doi- wukong what happened to you? You- your eyes and your golden furr-"

"Listen- Ma it's fine i look stunning, I'm perfectly fine. Go back in flower fruit mountain and make sure no one's hurt I'm busy here okay? Y'know great sage things."

He doesn't even know about the fire! If he knew about it, his tantrum would have been even worse.

"no- there are the others for it, i came here to look for you because you've- what kind of sick execution did they do to you?"

Ma asked without expecting an answer. It's wukong, you think he won't lie about it? He's the king! He's supposed to be invincible!

"Let's go back to flower fruit mountain, let's forget about these stupid assholes."

Ma demanded, taking wukong hand, it felt very warm and the burned furr almost cut her.

But wukong got his hand away immediately, not because he didn't wanna come back, he did! But contact right now was the worst thing he ever felt, that's it.

"N- Ma you go back there, I'll stay here and finish the job i promise I'll come back."

"No wukong you're fucking hurt— wukong stop trying to look immune to injures you are NOT! If those celestial beings can die and are immortals so can you!"

Ma biggest concern right now was any of her friends dying. She was worried sick for months! For..YEARS. even though for wukong has passed only 49 days.

"Ma, go back to flower fruit mountain, that's an order from your king."

Wukong was never the type to give that many orders to his people, he let them do whatever honestly, whenever it was an order it was when he had to get people to safety.

"No wukong, I'm not gonna pretend like you aren't- dying."

he does look like he's dying, and honestly now he matches the description of many people! now he's a demon i guess. Good for him.

"Ma-"

"let's go."

she clearly understood that for wukong contact must be horrible right now, i mean he was still burning in some parts too, but she dragged wukong anyway in the same path she used to get here, and go back to flower fruit mountain to help Wukong, his people and hopefully avoid heaven.

- 💚

AND I ONCE AGAIN SOB AND CRY

Could this be considered a "good ending"?

I mean, Ma is still here. Wukong wasn't imprisoned under a mountain... Heaven is probably still angry as hell but there is the possibility for the monkeys to be in peace now

[redwineconversation]

Lyon - Guincamp Preview / Lyon - St Polten Postgame Thoughts

I think there is a genuine case to be made if you say the St Polten game was the worse game Lyon has played all season, which is saying something because we had just suffered through the Dijon game a few days earlier.

It was a boring game, none of the Lyon players were good, and it was really a case of whom was least bad rather than actually good. Van de Donk and Bacha deserved their respective Player of the Match trophies, although I do think Bacha should have swept it, as much as that will upset van de Donk's nutcase stans. Anyway, those two players were good, the rest should be graded on a scale of "not bad" to "they made me wish I could be drinking at work".

People were ripping into Carpenter's "crosses", and I am using quotation marks deliberately, and let's be frank. They weren't wrong to do so. The day Carpenter crosses accurately is the day I will finally know peace. I long for that day. I truly do think it will even happen one day, and I just hope I am alive to see it happen.

But she wasn't the worse player on the pitch, and that's why certain fans screaming that Sombath should be starting over her really perplexed me. Sombath doesn't have the maturity or physicality to handle pressure from high intensity teams. Yes, Sombath can hold her own against the likes of Dijon, but against the heavy weights? We just have to look at what happened to Lyon last season when Carpenter was out to answer that question.

The other reason I am slightly perplexed at the screaming towards Carpenter is, well, she was also doing her job as a defender. I feel a lot of the time when Carpenter abides by her job description, which is to actually defend, people start breathing very heavily into a brown paper bag because she is not contributing to the attack. Yes, I like Carpenter and Diani's overlapping runs. You know what I also like? Defenders who do their job.

Does Carpenter have room to improve? Yes. Will there ever be a day when she can cross accurately? Who knows. But her experience and ability to handle high pressure games puts her above Sombath. Just because Sombath scored a couple of goals against relegation level teams doesn't automatically qualify her as a starter. Let's not offend anyone's intelligence by pretending otherwise.

For me, the one who deserves proper criticism in the St Polten game is Hegerberg. I struggle to remember a performance as bad as that one. There were absolutely no excuses for that kind of misses. She was missing passes, her shots were off, her timing was off. Everything was off, even her attitude. It was an atrocious performance from her. Let's be frank here and now: a player who puts up that kind of performance deserves to be benched for the next game.

Which leads us to the Guincamp ("EAG") dilemma, aka how many bad decisions can Bompastor possibly make before I open a bottle of wine regardless of the time of day.

Gilles was released early to join the Canada WNT camp. Now, this is emotionally conflicting for a variety of reasons. Positives: I don't want Gilles run into the ground and therefore am supportive of giving her breathing time whenever possible; the only way M'Bock will get back to match fitness is to actually play 90 minutes. I am supportive and agree with both those arguments.

But: if Lyon is releasing Gilles early to join the Canada camp, why aren't they also releasing Carpenter as well, since Canada will be playing against Australia? I don't have the exact numbers in front of me but I don't believe that Gilles has played a dramatically superior number of games than Carpenter has, so the excuse of resting Gilles ahead of the international break ahead of Carpenter is perplexing since they will be traveling the same distance. Literally.

The second thing is, Bompastor argued that the players who played little to no minutes against St Polten will be starting against Guincamp. Based on that argument, Sombath is starting over Carpenter since Carpenter started the St Polten game. In that case, again, why not release Carpenter rather than have her start on the bench? The reverse holds true: if Carpenter starts, then why have released Gilles early?

Though maybe Bompastor is keeping some of her typical starters on hand because she too remembers the horror show against Dijon, as much as we would all like to put that collective nightmare performance behind us. And this is something else I want to talk about because the Twitter analysts are really getting on my nerves here.

Becho is not a starter. This isn't even me being biased. Camille Abily said as much: Becho isn't there yet as a starter. Abily can see it but for some reason Bompastor decided otherwise and we got the absolute horror show that was her performance against Dijon. Are we supposed to sit here and pretend that within the space of 10 days, which included a UWCL game, Becho developed the nerves and maturity to start?

Now, if she scores a hat trick in the first half, I will gladly admit that I was wrong and that Abily's judgment was off, too. I am willing to recognize my mistakes. But as things stand here and now, Becho has proven consistently that she is not fit to start. Dijon showed us as much. Guincamp will most likely show us the same.

Third problem: Dijon also showed us what happens when Marozsan and Majri start. The midfield's performance against Dijon was atrocious. It was horrible. They could not string passes together, they moved with the same pace and intensity as LA traffic at rush hour on a Friday afternoon. Bompastor had to throw on Horan and van de Donk to save face, and we're most likely going to get a repeat of that against Guingamp.

Which again is conflicting: I don't want van de Donk and Horan to be run into ground what with both of them being part of the stronger midfield; I don't want to have to suffer through Dijon 2.1 (St Polten being Dijon 2.0). We shouldn't be in a situation where we have to rely on van de Donk and Horan to save us because the remaining offensive midfielders haven't run since circa 2019.

Now, for all the complaining I am doing about Lyon's performance, I will also - grudgingly - acknowledge that it's harder on Lyon to play freely when they're up against 5-4-1 formation. Low blocks are harder to break down, it's frustrating to play against teams whose sole ambition is to park the bus, blah blah. I get that. I agree with it.

I also don't think it excuses Lyon's performances against Dijon and St Polten, and it won't be an excuse against Guingamp (whom if I remember correctly, Lyon drew against last season, so we really do need to prepare ourselves for a third horror show performance in 10 days).

Lyon is a team more or less stacked with experienced international players. It would be great if, for the first time in 10 days, Lyon would act like a team more or less stacked with experienced international players.

Anyway, that's that. Thanksgiving break is over so I will be getting back to my unpaid hobby of translating Lyon content so people can see this frustrating but complex team the way I do.

[perfectarmony]

I am actually frustrated with TCL this season cuz where is the armony magic??? Like they are hell bent on showing us Nadia/Arman and thony always fixing luca and going loco loco in the process. I seriously though that this Western drama would make me stick to it but nope...

I mean who are we kidding here! The showrunners of this are the same devils who ruined the 100

What a waste of time

Hello anon, and sorry for the delay!

Okay, I could literally feel the awkwardness and frustration here on tumblr given how quiet the tag is 👀

Warning as usual: this is just my opinion - but it's also completely understandable for people to get frustrated when they're passionate about something 😉

I hear you anon, and I understand the frustration with the teasing and anticipation each week if you focus and wait for some Armony content - but really, the show is so much more, and I don't think the showrunners have failed us so far.

~ A while back, an anon told me it might be best to not expect anything from Armony, and take crumbs if there were any - and it's pretty much the voice of wisdom in this case. If you look at the characters' development - how the different relationships affects them, and how they evolve, the quality of the show hasn't diminished at all.

When you think about it, Thony started selling drugs because she needed the medicine for Luca, and wanted to help those who didn't have access to medical care. Then, she turned away from that, to become as Gabriel called her, a drug dealer - to help Arman. It wasn't so much about Luca anymore - it became about getting him out and then quickly about themselves getting out - it was about her/their survival. Arman is now kinda free of Kamdar - yeah, he's not free at all when at least 3 men want him dead, add Tarik to the mix and it makes 4 - but still, he doesn't have to work for him anymore. So now, Thony proved her worth and we're back to the show's core - keeping Luca alive any way she can.

Wait for it, I'm about to use that quote again. It's not about doing things the right way or the wrong way - but any way you can. That's what it has always been about - and Anna-Mae telling Thony that she ''always knows the right thing to do'' was also a nod to that quote, and to Garrett telling her in 1.09 that what she's doing [helping Arman] is wrong, and to Fiona telling her she's someone who always things she knows better than everyone else, and to 2.04 - how we do it isn't always the way we want/Bahala Na. And there are more!

Again it's just my opinion, but it all makes sense, and they are still doing an amazing job putting this story together.

And again, I completely understand that the fandom expects so much more when Armony has been so vivid in S1 - but the spark is still there. Plus, they barely had time to sleep since the season started. I'm not going to list everything they all had to go through - but I mean, Arman has been arrested on October 15th, and if TCL's timeline is now synced up with real life, so much has happened in just ~6 weeks from 1x10 to 2x09!

That being said, I would be lying if I'd say I wasn't also frustrated at times and didn't sometimes wish for more for the entire show - but mostly because I'd like to slow down a bit, and spend a bit more time on some scenes.

~ I haven't watched the 100, so I don't know much more about that other than what I saw amongst the vidding community when reading video descriptions and comments on Bellarke fanvids - but I'm kinda aware of the anger many fans felt in the fandom. I guess that's what you're refering too? Or are you talking about character development in general? Miranda was indeed working on the show for a while - and I can completely understand your reaction, but unfortunately can't go any further than that when I haven't watched it, sorry 👀

But where I can compare is with Queen of The South. If you haven't watched it, I 100% recommend it - and even more as a show you can binge-watch! I won't go into too much details to not spoil the series for those who haven't seen it - but it has always been about Teresa Mendoza and her journey to becoming the drug queenpin in white. A ship - Jeresa - quickly emerged, and long story short, James wasn't in s4 and came back for s5, which was announced as the final season. And of course, with the clock ticking and each week getting us closer to the end, everyone - me included - had big hopes for their reunion and wanted them to be together. There was a lot of heat, anger and frustration amongst the fandom - that I watched from a distance, but also saw in comments on mine and other fanvids.

To sum it up without giving too much away, their ''relationship'' was..stopped/paused?..in the second episode, and with everything she had gone through, it made sense too. She was scared, had lost many people, was getting deeper and deeper to desperately make it to the top to finally become legit and be untouchable / and feel safe - and was also protecting James by pushing him away.

All of this rambling to get to the point that Armony and Jeresa are the magnificent cherries on top of a magnificent story. No matter how powerful a ship is, I won't be sticking around if the rest makes me want to fast forward. I was drawn to QotS by Teresa, then also fell in love with James, Camila, Branda, Pote, Kelly-Ann,...Thony's story made me want to watch TCL, and then I fell in love with her little human, Fiona, the kids, Arman, Mateo (who was supposed to be my parallel to Pote 🤧 rip), Nadia,...

If you really aren't enjoying the show as a whole anymore, I feel like it might be a good idea to take a step back once the season is over, and binge-watch S1-S2 once your frustration has hopefully eased off 😉

I hope I could somewhat help anon? And I'm sure we'll have 3 amazing last episodes with Armony content - don't give up on it just yet ❤️

[champion-of-thedas]

WoT Reread: New Spring Chapter 2

Next installment! This chapter definitely had a lot more comments from me. I think I’ll also include a quick summary from now on in case someone comes across this and forgot what happened.

Chapter 2: A Wish Fulfilled

Moiraine and Siuan serve tea to Tamara and Gitara and end up hearing the prophecy of the Dragon’s rebirth. 

·My babies! Moiraine is on my top ten list (sorry Siuan) so it’s always exciting to see her and I also see so many parallels between baby Moiraine and baby Rand (my increasingly unapologetic fave) , so that’s always fun. The biggest trouble I’ve had is trying to grasp her voice and creating the right amount of slightly petulant and wisdom born of experience. Weirdly, the show is making that so much easier.

·Moiriane thinking about things in order to give us exposition about the Tower. Also I’m so amused that Moiraine wants to join the war just so she knows what is going on.

·Okay quick thing: When I was reading Gathering Storm I was on a server and we discussed the lack of experience that the head of the Green Ajah had and it bothered me that Egwene was showing so much more composure that the HEAD OF THE GREEN AJAH. Someone pointed out that in this book it was mentioned that the Green Ajah never saw war (I’ll wait until something reminds me). BUT! Moiraine just said that the Amyrlin and her Keeper did not seem to be bothered because “they had certainly seen the aftermath of more battles than any general”. While this does not mean that they fought in those battles, the implication seems to suggest as such. I’m super confused. What the hell Jordan?

·A lot of description given for two people that are not going to survive this book.

·Once again, we must know too much about women’s dresses and jewelry and their breasts. I love these books, but I will be giving a lot of eyerolling literally any time he brings up problematic gender dynamics, which is all of the time. I think someone in a discord server put it once that if he wrote these books today, he would have probably written that part differently, and I agree. That doesn’t make it less frustrating, especially since a lot of the more interesting parts of his writing (commentary on institutions and power) suffer greatly from the fact that many of these institutions are solely run by women. For instance, instead of making it a commentary of institutions (whether military, political, economic, or academic) in general, he unintentionally (and I think it was unintentional) made commentary on women-run institutions. Just getting this off my chest before we keep going, but I will be frustrated by it multiple times. Just know that I am frustrated out of love for these books and how much better I know they could/would be (also my reason for being super excited about the show, which has been doing a better job of this so far).

·Ha! It’s called a wish fulfilled because Moiraine wants to see a foretelling and she definitely will.

·Okay so it just explicitly said that no Aes Sedai have taken part in battle since the Trolloc Wars. What the hell Jorday?

·I do get it, since they are trying to be impartial and taking part in battle would be taking aside. At the same time, this goes back to the weird gendered stuff and also irritates me because now we have a Battle Ajah with no practical experience. Again, I get the idea of an institution resting on its laurels and being something in name only, but we once again run into the issue of what is meant by the narrative and what actually comes across given the nature of the world. RJ created a patriarchal society where women just happen to be in positions of power instead of matriarchal one and sometimes he likes to remind me of it. I promise I do get less salty and I do love these books, but weirdly this first iconic chapter is getting me in my feelings. At least I’m getting this out now so I have less to say later.

·As some who is 5’0” (152 cm), I feel the frustration with other people being irritatingly taller. I feel it strongly.

·Moiraine and Lan clearly both truly bonded over being horse girls. Hell yeah.

· Moiraine being uncomfortable with someone reading erotic fiction and then confronting her about why she can’t read it seems to hilarious. I feel like Moiraine later in the series wouldn’t have bothered or would have just said exactly why she shouldn’t.

·The foretelling! Only a few minutes on page and Gitara has by far one of the most dramatic moments in the series.

·I appreciate Moiraine being in shock in this moment. I can’t imagine being in a position where someone with authority over you that seems almost mystical in their own right (given the way Moiraine thinks about Gitara) just drops dead. The denial and disbelief are there in spades.

Be careful what you wish for indeed. Definitely some food for thought. We’re still not quite where I’m starting, but I feel like a lot of this chapter is helpful both to get Moiraine’s perspective and also because this moment is technically the inciting incident of the series. A prophecy about the end times is said and because of it our Gandalf goes out to see it fulfilled in a way that keeps the world going rather than end it. There was a LOT of discussion of the culture of the Tower which could be very helpful if someone chose to read this book first (although I would not personally recommend it; too many spoilers). I definitely like where my initial placement of it in the series was, because I feel like it was a good primer for the increase in Tower politics that would be coming in Lord of Chaos.