#the rest are normies compared to him

[alligaytorswamp]

OH MY GOD 😭😭💘💞💘💘💞💕💝 THANK YOU ???

how did taiki and his poly all start dating? how do they like to cheer each other up when something bad happens?

aughhghhhh thank u for the asks 😭

god given me the right to talk too much so like. warning i talk too much:

run down on their meetcutes and such (vaguely presented here too):

taiki was dragged by his coworker junpei to hang out with idols under their label, they prolly only talked to andromeda and ishindenshin that day, regardless this is how taiki was simply introduced to kotoya, they didn't even talk

howeverrr kotoya is a pretty boy, the type of idol known for his beauty, and yes ofc taiki was mildly aware of that? he kind of looked at the photos of some idols, but he didn't care all too hard. BUT upon meeting kotoya irl he had that gay moment of 'holy shit he is even prettier in real life what the fuck' and now had a dumb crush

but kotoya is introverted as hell, and an idol! taiki has no clue how to rizz him up. not to mention he doesn't wanna do anything cringe to essentially a colleague, right?? so yeah for the first time in ages taiki just feels stupid because he out of all people doesn't know how to ask a man out

regardless he now tries to hang out around the company building more in hopes they can naturally come across each other, and plot convenience strikes he just knows some ishindenshin members will be recording smth, so he goes to that part of the building

altho again he is unsure how to talk to kotoya, he can't really just walk in to say hello to pretty much stranger- boom. rokuro spawns

he also got some shit to do, and he- unlike taiki - knew kotoya for a good while now. their respective groups are close friends and they all know each other pretty damn well. rokuro himself spends enough time at ishindenshin's dorm and hanging out with kotoya specifically

so as a good friend ofc rokuro goes out of his way to meet up with kotoya, yet this time he comes across an entire taiki. and given that rokuro is very friendly he just immediately nice to taiki, asks him who he is, why is here, etc

taiki introduces himself and vaguely says that he met ishindenshin before and heard that some members were here and wondered if he should say hi... (smooth king). naturally rokuro is immediately like 'omg yea? come with me!'

so rokuro highkey forces a proper personal interaction between kotoya and taiki that at least later allows taiki to confidently interact with kotoya on his own

but plot shall continue- kotoya and rokuro already in their slow burn era. like they just extremely good friends, who are sweet and cuddly, and rokuro will come to hang out with him after a day of training just to listen to kotoya talk about smth complicated (or watch him play games)

taiki got his 'love at first sight' thing going on, where he is very much trying to very casually and slowly rizz up kotoya and kotoya is honest to god very receptive to this (albeit shy asf)

and while this is a thing rokuro and taiki become very good friends too, like they just hit it off, but there is also an odd level of gayness in there with certain flirty comments that are once again received well

cue taiki kind of losing his mind because he can't understand who he has a bigger crush on and how he supposed to deal with this (plus he starts to suspect kotoya and rokuro themselves seem to have close relationships, maybe he is a homewrecker or smth)

rokuro is chilling, he doesn't even worry about a single thing, sure he apparently likes two people but the experience of having a crush is fun for him. + taiki and kotoya are awesome. and on top of that like even if they reject him or simply end up together he would be totally happy ??? (open minded king)

kotoya didn't have much going on he was honestly in survival mode because he is already shy, and there are maybe two people flirting with him, he deadass refused to think about it too hard. god bless his gentle heart okay

(cue them like being progressively more gay in any 2 ppl combos, and when it's 3 of them - because yes they eventually start hang out all three - it's like rokuro leading the convo, complimenting one person, but like involving the other, so it's like he is both rizzing up somebody being a wingman for the other person. crazy stuff really.)

now the rest doesnt have cool details

basically i think atp all of this is entirely too gay, and taiki gotta make a move but he doesn't know with who

so he confesses to rokuro, but he straight up says he also likes kotoya (in a way trying to say 'sorry i dont think my head is in the right space for this relationship with you') . to which rokuro is just like 'oh yeah me too!' LMAO

yeahhhh it's kinda goofy. i think they chat about it and come to a proper conclusion that they both like each other AND like kotoya

then taiki and rokuro very bravely ask kotoya out (by basically going out together and then ending it with a confession where they just say that the two of them together now BUT they also like kotoya and wanna date him as well)

likely kotoya needs like a few days to even process everything but then he agrees and peace and love on planet earth, my rgb poly became real!!

cheering up (thank god this is less words):

kotoya is a physical touch king, so he would just offer his company (hand holding, hugs, etc) + he is good with reassuring words and advice <3

rokuro tends to just ask if there is anything he can do + give gifts/show fun videos/etc

taiki i think is more of a listening ear, but also when possible he can initiate a pretty random date to hopefully keep his bfs' minds off something bad

[kivrumi]

GEEK! SATORU GOJO / FEM! READER ᗢ𓄹 ׅ ࣪ ˖ ⊹

⚠️ WARNINGS: masturbation, dirty fantasies and thoughts, pervert behaviour, down bad Satoru, submissive Gojo, no actual smut (smut in part 3), very suggestive, NSFW, virgin Gojo who is severely downbad for reader. fluffff. sub gojo

A little bit of Geto x reader

PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3

geek!gojo who is entirely obsessed with anime, video games, and whatever weird shit he can find on the internet. He can play boring simple games but they are nothing compared to the ones with heavy lore. Is it weird he is also obsessed with the lore behind all of these games? How the games were founded, what they mean, the creators themself, why was it made and the depth of every character.

whenever he found something new and intresting it will take over his entire personality.

geek!gojo would know weird facts about the creators of his intrests too. Like who bothered to find out or who even cares to find out that one of the creators of animal crossings birthday is April 7th? If you ever had a birthday that was the same as one of them he is IMMEDIATELY informing you.

geek!gojo who rambles to Geto about fortnite lore and any other lore he needs to tell someone, no one else cares to listen to him. Hell even Geto don't give a fuck but listens anyways (his ass is NOT listening and Gojo knows that).

geek!gojo who is in college and is a known loser. Glasses, Dragon Ball Z wallpaper, and a fucking random dinosaur as his phone cover. Trust me, that dinosaur has a lot of lore too that you WILL be informed about if you are anywhere near him.

Hence why no one goes near the guy.

geek!gojo who sees you for the first time, a transfer student. You are so utterly beautiful in his eyes he is already thinking how to ask you out with cheesy pick up lines that refrences his favourite game at the moment.

geek!gojo who seethes with jealousy seeing how easily you fit in with normies, its not like he knew if you had intresting taste, he just gave you his own little headcanon on some things he assumes you will share intrest with him.

annoyed!geto who has to not only hear about Satorus geeky ass topics, but now a girl he has never spoken to being his potential future wife. Sure you were overly pretty, but would you really want a geek like Satoru?

geek!gojo who has been eyeing you for almost a month now, same classes as you but never had the chance to utter a word at you. Instead he sits at the back with Geto, staring daggers at you (his way of rizzing) for not paying attention to him. He is mad how you found yourself in a big popular friendgroup, and seated sooooo far away from him.

geek!gojo who knows YOUR lore. Geto says its creepy but Geto doesn't know anything. Gojo is aware of how many siblings you have, your favorite food, drink, color and everything he could possibly grab by purposely earsdropping on your conversations.

Yet no sign of you sharing geeky intrests with Gojo... oh well, if you really are just an extremely pretty and cute normie, he will just have to teach you about everything he likes one by one!

geek!gojo who gets teased and bullied by the other people in your friendgroup, it was never physical, just constant nagging comments.

"Whats the nerd doing here" they would say, or "Isn't that the guy that has a roblox girlfriend?" He didn't have a roblox girlfriend that was just a rumour! It was just his own Miku avatar they got confused with! He hopes to god you dont believe that rumour! He is single and looking, looking at only you!

YOU who never batted an eye at him when your friends would tease him. It bothered him, not exactly how you would think...

Yes, he would love if you defended him, he would cry tears of joy. He wants that more than anything.

But you wouldn't give him that, the least you could do is join in the teasing. He ached for you to give him any sort of attention. Why were you standing there minding your own business when the rest of your friends are gossiping about him! After all this time do you not care to know about him? Even if it is to laugh about how much of a loser he is?

nerd!gojo who starts trying to find ways for you to notice him. Did you not realise how lately he only wears your favorite color? Look! He is eating your favorite snack!! Don't you want to ask for some? Ask him how much he likes them? Where he bought them? If you want to get some with him? Date him?

tired!geto who constantly bugs Gojo to forget about you, as the two sat in class. The teacher was reading out who gets paired with who for some project. Wait!! This is it!!! The sensei is obviously going to pair you and Gojo, thats how the fanfictions go... right?

geek!gojo whos ears perk up at the sensei calling your name, then swears someone shot him 568 times when he hears the name to go along with it.

"Suguru Geto"

geek!gojo is fuming, this is not how it's supposed to go! What happens if you get too close with Suguru during this two week project?

"Satoru and Sukuna" of course, he has to be paired with your annoying friend. There were even rumours of you two dating! Does this mean he is paired with your maybe secret boyfriend?

geek!gojo who suffered the two weeks of dealing with Sukuna and his friend getting you in all your glory. He would beg for Suguru to ramble on about you. But of course Suguru never gave much information to feed Gojo's curiousity.

geek!gojo who has never had pussy in his life. Actually, he was never one to think about girls that much. His games were far more important, and catching up on the authors life from his favourite underground manga sounded better than dreaming about girls.

But damn his mind never forgets to think about how cute and sexy you look everyday.

You come in every day with a skirt, he thanks the heavens when it looks a little shorter then the last time he saw you. When you wear baggy shirts and hoodies is allows him to fully visualise how you would look in his, and that just aches his cock...

The days you wear knee high socks its like you decided to gift him with life, blessing him, giving him a reason to come into college, reason to live. Don't get him started on the days you wear slightly revealing tops, or extremely tight ones.

Hell when you wear a baggy shirt that shows your shoulder he is fucking losing it, mumbling under his breath about how much he wants to lick and bite your exposed skin. He can see your bra strap and its driving him critically insane, why does he act like such a loser virgin teen. Well, he is two of those things.

geek!gojo who has all the compliments in the world to give you when he sees you walk through the doors, sitting far away infront of the class with your lame friends. But he cant bring himself to utter a word to you, how dare he be the first to speak to you, a lowly thing like him.

geek!gojo who is ripping his hair out at the back of the class, as much as he loves your laugh and giggles, it poisons his heart knowing they are all towards... Nanami? What the fuck! You even started speaking to Nanami before him!! Did you really look down on him, to the point you would neither pay positive or negative attention to him?

Oh well... because geek!gojo has many fantasies of you in his head, curing him from the loss of your attention and touch. Sure, his thoughts of you spiral in his head whilst in your presence and he can't contain himself nor his constant boners in class from the sight of you. But once he is all alone in his dorm room he can finally releif himself from his dirty thoughts.

Hand on dick, biting down on his lips, pants discarded.

geek!gojo was never one to masturbate that much, the sensation from how he used to do it before you to now is totally new and much better and sensitive because he actually had someone in mind, someone who deserved to be the one to make Gojo feel like this. So whiny, so needy, so.. submissive...

"ah- pleaseee let me come"

"ahh! ngh i need it baby"

He begs as if your there, the one toying with him. His hand is fast and he is getting more desperate. He cums quick by visualising your soft lips, nice smelling hair and wide innocent eyes.

Fuck. He was in deep...

What would you be like in bed? Submissive? would you be shy when he enters you or would you shout at him for taking so long? Would you be more dominant? Order him around, straddle his face and crotch. Tell him to be good for you for a treat? Bark Beg for you? Oh and now he's hard again...

consultant!geto who tells Gojo to

"start giving up, seriously. I dont want to see you hurt Satoru"

Is Suguru right? Gojo asks himself...

Maybe... he should try to stop... thinking about you so much... you're out of his league anyways and you've made it clear you want nothing to do with him. Gojo can take a hint, right?

geek!gojo who is sprawled on his bed again the same night, hand moving in a fast pace, moaning and screaming for you in pleasure. He misses you despite never getting to be around you. He needed you so bad.

geek!gojo who is panicked in class. Not only is Suguru off sick, making him alone, but you weren't in today. What was the point of him coming in? What was the point of him practicing how to talk to you infront of his mirror like he does everyday before college?

His heart is tainted, looking at your friend group bunched around together but your seat staying empty.

The lights in the class dimmed, a short film the sensei is playing about some aspect of human biology. Whatever, he wasn't one to study much or pay attention, he thinks as he carelessly pulls out tetris. Around seven minutes go by and right beside him the door opens. Gojo's seat is right by the entrance of the door, so he got a good view of you walking in, out of breath, tight top, knee high socks and messy hair.

Apologies to your teacher were said, the sensei dismissing your poor sense of time as you were usually never late. Gojo is extremely curious on why you were late, wants to question you like an insecure clingy boyfriend.

"Its fine, just quickly find a seat and dont interrupt the film" The teacher says to you as your eyes scanned the room for an available seat. Walking to your usual seat would be a nuisance... you would have to embarrassingly walk in front of everyone and interupt the film again, and Sukuna was near your seat, you dread to sit next to that weirdo.

geek!gojo who is ultimately curious at the sound of Sugurus chair being pulled back, and someone else taking it.

"Is Geto in today?" you ask quietly. You were staring... right... at him... Gojo was silent, still staring. Your first words ever to him. Even if it is about Geto, you spoke to him. That's all he cared for in the moment. It took him 13 seconds to respond to your question by shaking his head 'no'. You looked at him awkwardly, obviously you were weirded out by him being so... dumb? silent? lost? out of it?

He can barely function in your presence, and your words and your lingering eyes and your attention.

He finally gets what he has been wanting for ages but hes being all shy and weird about it, you were probably regretting your decision of sitting by him.

But geek!gojo was jumping and frolicking in joy in his head. YOU were sitting right beside him. You looked in his eyes, talked to him (even if he didn't say anything back) and is sitting by him for the rest of the film. He hops to god this film would never end.

"You are fine with me sitting here, right?"

you whisper again, eyes glues to his face, worried if Gojo is annoyed by you and thought you were overstepping his boundaries. This time he nodded his head 'yes' a little too fast, scared if he was hesitant you would leave. You gave him a quick smile before turning all your attention to the film. You smiled at him?! His fingers are already fidgeting with the desk, his tetris long and forgotten about.

its been about 4 minutes and geek!gojo wont stop geeking. He smiles to himself, leg bouncing up and down. His poor heart can't handle this.

He can tell you were bored out of your mind, he watched you pull out a peice of paper from your bag and start to... doodle?

He feels like a fake fan for finding out so late that drawing is one of your hobbies.

He desperately needs to see and praise every art work you've ever made, his eyes continously peek at your paper.

geek!gojo who immediately recognises the characters you drew. Kirby? Six from the game my little nightmares? Hello kitty doodles and stars everywhere. His heart melts, he loves your little style and finding out you share a few intrests of his make his heart bounce everywhere in his body. He is afraid he cant control his racing heart and only you can catch it.

"kirby" he says. It's all he says to you.

You two share an awkward silence, but Gojo can't back down now.

"Sorry i uhm i uh- i uhh" he stutters, he cant make the decision to look straight into your eyes or his fidgeting hands "uh i also like kirby. Although, i wouldn't grant kirby to be my favourite character from the kirby games, he is infact a good main character and i hold no dislike for him but i do find meta knight to be a much better character. Not for the main character lead, just in general, meta knight has a very intresting, cool character design and i find him to balance out the game correctly and appropriately. I think meta knights introduction to the game definitely holds-" He was interrupted by a giggle by you, your smile wider than ever. Hell, he never knew you could smile like that, all it does is make his hear flutter and face flustered. He got to be the reason you're giggling and smiling at him like that?

"I agree meta knight is awesome, although, i personally like waddle dee the most. His character design may be simple but i still-" Hearing you ramble on not only surprised him, but made him happier than ever. This entire time you truely was his dream girl? His headcanons about you were canon.

geek!gojo who got to talk to you for the rest of the lesson, quietly of course. You two talked about things you shared intrest in, and he talked about stuff he likes that you've never heard of. He loved how you would question stuff about his intrest, showed intrest in what he was talking about and actually listen to him. You cared for what he had to say about his useless stuff.

geek!gojo who paid attention to everything you say. When you hit him with a fun fact about something he already knows and thinks its bare minimum knowledge for real fan, he is acting like it’s all new to him. You talked about topics he never really knew of too, every word spoken by you made him fall for you deeper and harder.

geek!gojo who is now rambling on about you to Geto after Geto asked why he was so smiley over facetime.

"Idiot Suguru! You said i never had a chance with her, look at us now"

jealous!geto who immediately knew you and Gojo would hit it off if you guys spoke to eachother once. Spending time with you during the two week project let Geto realise how great the two of you would be together, yet, Geto wanted to... gatekeep you? Who knew Geto would start feeling something for you too.

note: i have much more to yap about, there WILL be a part 2

part 2 is out :p

PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3

@kivrumi do not steal / copy / reword / translate my work

[brandwhorestarscream]

Now I'm thinking about the kids aging

Cybertronians are biologically immortal. They don't die unless some outside force kills them, and they age incredibly slowly. Bumblebee has been a late teenager for hundreds of years. Arcee has been in her late 20s/early 30s for even longer. Even fussy old Ratchet has been this way for millenia. It takes them thousands or even millions of years to go from one mental development stage to another, and some mecha never "age" past a certain point because they've reached what feels like the oldest/best version of themselves.

But the humans don't.

Imagine the shock, when one day they realize that Raf is 'older' than Bumblebee. He starts losing interest in his racing games with Bumblebee, stops tinkering around the base. Now focused on studying for the ACT and SAT, apologetic but firm when he tells Bee, "Sorry buddy, I can't play with you right now."

They all thought Rafael would go into the tech field and stay with them forever, but no dice. Imagine Ratchet's delight when Raf tells him that, while he'll always enjoys computers and electronics and helping with base maintenance where he can, it's not what he wants to do full time. He's thought about it a lot and he wants to go into the medical field: he wants to be a doctor. Like Ratchet. Specifically, he wants to be a pediatrician. He loves kids, and wants to help them the best way he can.

They're all proud of him, and when he flies across the country for undergrad, they don't see him for 4 years. He works internships and student research all summer, and his family can't afford to fly him home for the holidays. When he finally comes back, he's a completely different person: several inches taller, having completely grown out of his baby face compared to when he graduated high school. There's stubble on his face and dark circles under his eyes, but he looks happy.

He greets Bumblebee's eager beeping with, "Hey kiddo! I missed you!"

While he's been gone, a lot has changed with Miko and Jack as well. Miko went home to Japan after graduating: she loves the bots and had come to enjoy her time in Jasper, but after 4 years she missed her parents, and wanted to spend time with her cats before they passed away. They were beloved members of the family and were getting older. She goes into teaching, and becomes a beloved kindergarten teacher at an international school in Tokyo, where her fluent English combined with boundless energy make her extremely popular with the children and parents alike. She doesn't manage to get time off to fly back to America until she's in her late 20s, and by then 🤭 she's a fully adult woman. She doesn't dye her hair anymore and is wearing what she used to gripe at as "normie clothes", and has developed an unfortunate tendency for migraines. The rest of Team Prime swore they saw Bulkhead’s soul leave his body when Miko told him to, "TURN THAT SHIT DOWN, MY HEAD HURTS!"

Jack is the only one that stayed in Jasper, mostly out of concern for his mother. She's getting older and doesn't have anyone to take care of her after Fowler passed away, and he can't just leave her alone. He goes to the local community college/trade school and becomes a full time mechanic. It's simple work but he really enjoys it, especially since it means Arcee can hang around without arousing too much suspicion.

But all the bending over vehicles all day and the heavy lifting have started to take a toll. His back has started to ache, he has callouses all over his hands. His rides with Arcee get shorter and shorter, until eventually he asks her--very remorseful--if maybe... she wouldn't mind if he road with someone else, or just drove a normal car. He's too old to be riding around on a flashy motorcycle like he's still a teenager, and honestly, it really hurts his back to have to hunch over her alt mode, and

Arcee is so confused. "'Too old'? Jack, you're only-"

"'Cee," he sighs. "I know you don't age the way we do, but I'm 35. I'm tired. I- I just can't anymore, and besides... with the baby coming, I need something with more than one seat. And airbags. And space for a diaper bag. Hey, c'mon, don't make that face hon, it's not personal."

She knows it's not. That's not why she's frowning.

It just really hit her that he's an adult. That they're all adults.

They continue to watch them age, even after the war ends. Even after they go home. They visit earth frequently, whenever they can, but Cybertron needs most of their attention and in the blink of an eye, several human years can pass.

They grow up. They find their careers. They make their own families and have children of their own... and eventually, those children have children. Their hair starts to lose it's color, turning gray and white. Their faces wirnkle, and their fingers turn thin and brittle. Suddenly, they're rushing to earth after a frantic call from Raf's grandson, saying great aunt Miko fell and broke her hip. She's in the hospital for weeks, and after the replacement surgery, she has to learn to walk again. Even though she swears up and down that she's fine, quit worrying, she'll be up and about without her walker before they know it, they can all see the way her hands tremble and she struggles to hold herself up.

Jack is even worse: he starts showing signs of dementia, his memories fading and becoming more and more disoriented. Arcee visits at least once a week, and her spark breaks seeing what used to be her little recon partner withering away to nothing in his bed. Until one day, he reacts with fear when he sees her, screaming and yelling about, "What is that thing?! Sabrina, SABRINA! There's a robot! A big blue robot!" and his flustered great granddaughter, who works as his hopsice nurse, runs in to soothe him. "Papa, shhh, it's Aunt Arcee! She's not gonna hurt you, she's-"

"Get it outta here, go AWAY!"

"I- Auntie, I'm sorry, could you please step out-"

He dies only a few short months later, and they unfortunately aren't able to get a wheelchair-bound Rafael to the funeral. Miko isn't physically able to make the trip, even with offers of a ground bridge. Says she's too old to go jumping through space portals. She's 95, after all.

95 years to a cybertronian is nothing. 95 years is barely enough time for a sparkling to stop nursing. But for a human, it's their entire lifespan. Bumblebee is still a teenager. Arcee is still in her late 20s. Ratchet has barely aged and their three little human children are now older than him. And theyre slipping away one by one: Miko passes only 8 months after Jack, and Raf lasts another 4 years. They've left their descendants behind, doznes of people that share their bloodline, but nothing soothes the ache.

In light of their death, their visits to earth become more and more infrequent, before drying up all together. It's just too painful, and they can't stand to watch any more humans slowly wither and die.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Big Tech and “captive audience venues”

I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel PICKS AND SHOVELS. Catch me in CHICAGO with PETER SAGAL next WEDNESDAY (Apr 2), and in BLOOMINGTON next FRIDAY (Apr 4). More tour dates here.

Enshittification is what you get when tech companies, run by the common-or-garden mediocre sociopaths who end up at the top of most businesses, are unshackled from any consequence for indulging their worst, greediest impulses:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/20/capitalist-unrealism/#praxis

The reason Facebook was once a nice place to hang out and talk with your friends and isn't anymore is that Mark Zuckerberg is no longer disciplined by competitors like Instagram (which he bought) nor by regulators (whom he captured), nor by interoperable tech like ad-blockers and alternative clients (which he uses IP law to destroy) nor by his own workforce (who have become disposable thanks to workforce supply catching up with demand). It used to be that Mark Zuckerberg couldn't really move the enshittification lever in the Facebook C-suite because these disciplining forces gummed it up. He had to worry about losing users, or about users installing alternative technology, or about regulators hitting him hard enough to hurt, or about workplace revolts. Now, he doesn't have to worry about these things, so he's indulging the impulses that he's had since the earliest days in his Harvard dorm, when he was a mere larval incel cooking up an online service to help him rate the fuckability of his female classmates.

When we had defenses, Mark Zuckerberg had to respect them. Now that we're defenseless, he's shameless. He's insatiable. He will devour us to the marrow.

When I'm explaining enshittification to normies, I often make comparisons to other places where you can't escape like airports and sports stadiums: "Facebook can afford to abuse you once they have you locked for the same reason that water costs $7/bottle on the other side of the airport TSA checkpoint." It's an extremely apt comparison, as you can verify for yourself by reading "Shakedown at the Snack Counter: The Case for Street Pricing," a new report from the Groundwork Collective:

https://groundworkcollaborative.org/work/street-pricing/

"Shakedown" makes the point that – as is the case with tech giants – sports stadiums and airports are creatures of vast public subsidy. If this seems counterintuitive, try Mariana Mazzucato's Entrepreneurial State, which lists all the ways in which the tech revolution represents a privatization of publicly funded research, as with the iPhone, whose semiconductors, internet connection, voice assistant technology, touchscreen and other components all count the public as a key investor:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/the-entrepreneurial-state-appl

And, as with airports and sports stadiums, the proprietors of the iPhone business are able to reap this gigantic public subsidy without taking on any public duties. Regulators that could impose some kind of public service obligations as quid pro quo for using public funds are AWOL, or worse, captured and complicit in the ongoing, publicly financed ripoff:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/08/15/private-law/#thirty-percent-vig

Airport, stadiums and tech platforms are all walled gardens – roach motels that are hard to escape once they've been entered. Thus the scorching prices of stadium and airport food, and the 30% transaction fees imposed by Apple and Google on app revenues (this is 1,000% higher than the average fees charged by the rest of the payment processing industry!), the 51% fees extracted by Google/Meta from advertisers and publishers (compare with the historical average of 15%), and the 45-51% that Amazon takes out of every dollar earned by its platform sellers. Once you're locked in, they can turn the screws, either by gouging buyers directly, or by gouging sellers, who pass those additional costs onto buyers.

Groundwork has a proposal to address this in physical settings: regulation. Specifically, a "street pricing" regulation that keeps the charges for food and drinks within these walled gardens to prices comparable to those on the outside. They note that these regulations enjoy wide, bipartisan support. 76% of Republicans support a regulation that can only be described as "price controls," two words that normally trigger head-explosions in the right.

How is it that such a commanding majority of Republicans can get behind government price controls? Simple: it's obvious that when a company no longer faces market discipline – when they're the only game in town (or on the other side of the TSA checkpoint) – that government discipline has to fill the vacuum, and if it doesn't, you will get mercilessly screwed.

This is where enshittification – a form of monopolistic decay unique to the tech sector – departs from everyday monopoly abuse in other sectors, like aviation and league sports. Tech has an in-built flexibility, the inescapable property of "interoperability" that comes standard with every digital system thanks to the universal nature of computers themselves.

Interoperable technologies let you hack Instagram to restore it to the state of privacy- and attention-respecting glory that made it a success in the first place:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/05/battery-vampire/#drained

They let you monitor Facebook's failures to uphold its own promises about not profiting from paid political disinformation:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/06/get-you-coming-and-going/#potemkin-research-program

They let you claw back control over how Facebook's feeds are constructed:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/08/unfollow-everything/#shut-the-zuck-up

They let Apple customers maintain their privacy, even if they have the temerity to be friends with Android users:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/07/blue-bubbles-for-all/#never-underestimate-the-determination-of-a-kid-who-is-time-rich-and-cash-poor

They let shoppers use Amazon to order from local mom-and-pop stores:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/10/view-a-sku/

They even let you destroy the net worth – and power – of Elon Musk:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/08/turnabout/#is-fair-play

Interoperability creates a unique, easily administered source of discipline over tech bosses that just isn't available as a means of countering the ripoffs we see elsewhere, including in sports stadiums and airports. That means that, far from being harder to fix than other disgusting scams in our society, tech is easier to fix. All that stands in the way is the IP laws that criminalize the kind of reverse-engineering work that allow the users of technology to have the final say over how the devices and services they rely on work:

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

Those IP laws were spread around the world by the US Trade Representative, who insisted that every country that wanted to export its products to the US without punitive tariffs must pass laws protecting the rent-extracting scams of US tech giants. With those tariff promises now in tatters, there's never been a better time for the rest of the world to jettison those Big Tech-protecting laws:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/15/beauty-eh/#its-the-only-war-the-yankees-lost-except-for-vietnam-and-also-the-alamo-and-the-bay-of-ham

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/28/street-pricing/#sportball-analogies

Image: Daniel Brody (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:South-Station-snack-bar-1970.jpg

CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

[koipepo]

😭 bruh when antis be like "it's rape!! It abuse!!" Like we don't know. Yes Helen, that is why we ship it. I know there's delusional shippers out there that put a wholesome paint brush over toxic dynamics but that's usually the antis who do because that cognitive dissonance is the only way they can ship something morally reprehensible and still sleep at night. The rest of us don't give a fuck nor do we gauge people's morality by their media tastes.

WARNING FOR LONG ASS RANT under the cut

(honestly theres still merit on reimagining toxic ships in healthier AUs but it still rubs me the wrong way when lines get blurred so i tend to stay away from "sweeter" AU of any toxic ship. The clarity of obscene dead dove feels safer for me but this is just my preference)

Re: antis keep making argument that its toxic and therefore shouldnt be shipped; it's regurgitated argument that feels like baby's first forray to fandom. thats why i never tried to engage with any of them in my inbox, even when theyre not throwing out kyes or insulting me.

Why should i keep explaining fandom's basic shipping tendency to you when sammick has such back-to-basic villain x protagonist final girl trope 😩 you dont need to keep repeating that its bad and toxic and unhealthy, yeah i know!! Remmick is a goddamn vampire!! Drinks blood and kill people!! We love the toxic stuff precisely bc its not real!

Also like, antis who keep trying to make shipping the God-honoring way lol please... as if we are referencing fictional ships for actual real life relationships goals. Giving me the vibe of "women shouldnt read books bc they would be too influenced by them". Dont ship anything that deviates from canon -> such normie take that i see too often in any fandom nowadays. Honestly its 100x more worrying if you gotta have fiction to be unblemished/untainted because your moral backbone can be influenced that easily. Please take a step back and distance yourself if you feel easily influenced by transgressive media, seriously✋

it makes me kinda mad too that Sammie as black man (also as bottom in my preference) gets so much scrutiny and pearl-clutching treatment when it comes to shipping when non-black characters get away for so much crazier dead dove stuff.

i saw someone in sa/mmick tag in twitter saying that this ship is white propaganda bc it detracts from pearline/sammie and i had to stare off into the distance for a good minute. Hard to take this think-pieces like this in good faith when they talk about shipping in such condescending and inflammatory manner. also how they treat shipping like activism when its literally just convergence of random strangers playing make believe in small corner of internet.

My fav is Sammie and i think the most about him out of any character in Sinners, and Remmick comparatively is treated by like scary vampire dildo for him LMAO (i still really like him tho, but it's fun to rag on him from time to time)

the plot demands Remmick to be obsessed with Sammie (only with his talent or his whole being, its undeniable that Remmic zeroes in on him) and like. As Sammie's fan, who am i to NOT utilize the clear text of the movie for my entertainment? Why shouldn't i use the canon plot to further my expression of appreciation on Sammie? My way of appreciating him, which includes shipping him with the Big Bad of the movie, is not anymore less valid than anyone's.

I understand the movie and its allegory to toxic, unhealthy cultural/racial assimilation and i also can switch on my shipping brain when im in fandom. Most samm/ck shippers treat sammie like the talented coveted princess that he is and remmick as garbage stank man, no centering whiteness at all in majority shipping posts lmao. Treating sammi/k shippers like we're such big blight when actually we're such small blip in Sinners tag, sammi/ck aint even explicitly canon like other het ships in Sinners so like... Stop making it as if we're such big problem damn 😭 the fact that we properly tag our shit too, antis could easily block us out of existence if we bother them that much but in reality theyre too addicted to being mad and love rage-baiting others

anyway i went on for too long 🤧

Its not too bad in sa/mmick tag these days, sometimes some antis misuse the tag but sa/mmick fans are so much more productive to counter that :) its really fun & welcoming here

[aspiringtrashpanda]

Pixel art in the graphic done by the amazing @priestessofpie!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEVI! HERE'S A 7K WORD FIC FOR YOU! Also shout out to @zephyrchama for reminding me that this WIP existed!

Read the fic on Ao3 HERE and catch an excerpt below the cut!

If you had to think about it, you supposed the first time was right after forging your second pact.  

So much had happened at the beginning of your stay in the Devildom, your presence the flap of a butterfly’s wings in the House of Lamentation. Simply breathing was enough to set the seven brothers on edge, unsure of how to coexist with a human exchange student. Thus, you believed it to be valid that the more mundane memories would blur together, would grow fuzzy around the edges. It was hard to hold the recollection of Mammon accidentally using Satan’s toothbrush (a window was shattered), or Asmodeus testing a new eyeliner on Leviathan’s Seraphina figure (the stairs were destroyed), to the same sharp quality as nearly dying a handful of times.  

It was easy to become accustomed to the bizarre when you were muddling your way through an unfamiliar world with a rather eccentric cast of characters. In fact, it was becoming increasingly difficult to surprise you with each passing day.  

Maybe that was why, a month into your exchange term, you started to scrutinize things you had previously dismissed. Maybe that was why you frowned down at the chocolate bar in your hand and thought—When exactly had this started? 

“So? Less or more?” Leviathan peered at you from beneath his fringe of indigo hair, orange eyes curious as they darted between the candy and your face.  

You understood what he meant.  It was routine by this point. What he was asking was simple – did you like the chocolate less or more than the gift he had given you yesterday?  

“Um,” You furrowed your brow as you read the fine print—heinous honey and acid lavender white chocolate. That, actually, sounded pretty good. “More. Definitely better than the bloodberry dark chocolate.” 

He nodded enthusiastically, strands of purple flopping with the motion, “This one is Belphie’s favorite!” 

You weren’t sure how to feel about that, and it must have shown on your face, for he was quick to add, “Er, not that that’s important at all! You, uh... Maybe don’t think about that.”  

“It’s fine, Levi.” With a sigh, you curled your fingers around the chocolate a little harder than necessary. The wound ripped open by Belphegor’s betrayal and murderous intent had yet to fully scar, but you were getting used to the seventh brother’s presence in the house.  

A beat, and then, Leviathan was muttering something about a new game to which he was about to dedicate his evening. “Okay s-s-so, see you around?” 

“Of course,” You offered him a small smile, having expected him to dismiss himself from your room with some sort of excuse. “Thanks for the chocolate.” 

He laughed sheepishly, ducking his head in a failed attempt to hide the vibrant blush brightening his face “Yeah, well, can’t have you eating normie snacks down here.”  

And with the door closing behind him, he was gone. 

Placing the chocolate bar next to the textbook open on your pink duvet, you counted back on your fingers. Had it really been that long?  

For three weeks now, Leviathan had—like clockwork—walked into your room every Monday and Tuesday afternoon, gift in hand. You had never asked him to bring you anything, and there was rarely any significance to the presents. They ranged from a pretty aquarium stone (placed upon your shelf, glittering in the low lamplight of the guest room), to the aforementioned chocolate that you were convinced had you high as a kite for a whole two days (Lucifer was unimpressed). A gel pen in a lovely purple gradient rested between the pages of your textbook, paired with a Ruri-chan highlighter in neon pink.  

Each time, he would ask you to compare the gift, as if he was making a chart of your preferences for who knew what reason. Then, he would dismiss himself in lieu of keeping you company, or having meaningful conversation, just to repeat the same charade the following week.  

At first, you thought it was coincidence. He had seen something, thought of you, and in an attempt to be nice , had given it to you. When you considered the outcome of the TSL quiz competition, the gesture didn’t seem that weird. He had tried to kill you. Perhaps he had felt bad, and it just so happened that his remorse fell on the same two days, two weeks in a row. 

The third week was harder to explain. You shrugged it off as a Levi-ism. It was no secret that he housed a plethora of idiosyncrasies. He always cut up his food first, and then stabbed the bite-sized pieces with his fork. He had a favorite spoon. He triple-checked the placements of his figures every morning and every night, ensuring the dust on the shelf was not disturbed by a particular demon looking to make a quick Grimm. He greeted his pet goldfish before even glancing at his D.D.D. in the morning, and when forced to make the physical trip to RAD, he insisted on walking on the right side of the group (You had a hunch that it was to do with his peripheral vision and his bangs, placing his brothers in his blind spot in order to feel secure out in the wild. Though, he would never admit this to be true).  

You accepted this explanation, never bothering to question the specific timing of the gifts, or the lack of ensuing conversation. It was cute, in a strange way. You made sure to put each little present on display in your room, or use it to the best of your abilities. Just this afternoon, you had noticed his eyes light up at the sight of the aquarium pebble.  

It warmed your heart. If you were making him happy by playing along with... whatever he was doing, you would continue to indulge him.  

[toxicproud]

Stage I in becoming a toxic douchebro: Commit to what you wanna be

Stage II: Learn how to work out, learn the attitude, associate with toxic bros who will show you the way

Stage III: Start to suck in the complements and awe of normies and betas as you look better, let your narcissism take route.

Stage IV: Let your narcissism grow as you start to look really good by falling in love with your and your bros reflections in the mirror and start to feed it by taking vids sucking in how hot you are, get hard thinking how hot you look and how much better you are than the rabble

Look at the PURE SMUG coming off this kid! You get the feeling he'd whip the shorts off and show you how big his cock is if he could. He knows he's superior at the genetic level that's why he's showing off every inch of his body head to toe that he can get away with without the vid being taken down. He knows he's got it ALL. You can tell by his attitude that he is properly smashing pussy at the level he's at now, the element of "FUUUUUUUUUUUCK YEH IM SO FUCKIN HOT BRO" is off the charts with this boy. There are a hand full of guys online I'd love to see in action with a hot slut and this fucking STUD is at the top of the list he must be a proper demon in bed.

It always starts in the gym, once you start to look fuckin hot see if you can get away with working out shirtless, or even get a few sneaky shots of you doing it so the cucks THINK you can do it cos you're better than them. Make those gym newbies look at you, the tiny number who will ascend to alpha status will be inspired and it will drive them, the rest...it will remind the cucks of their place.

My boys here are starting to feel so in love with themselves they could not get through their workout without posting a pic of how fucking jacked and hot they look and how superior they are to bring in those DM's from sluts. The one on the bench has a GF but he's still going to fuck any hot slut he can.

Caleb (the one on the bench) brought his bro Henry (above) to alpha status making him a toxic douchebag just like him, he started out skinny now look at the kid: fucking legends.

If your gym won't let you go shirtless (chain gyms generally don't, smaller gyms are ok with it, get to know the staff, if there are bros on a shift you work out on you will be ok sometimes)...then do the next best thing to show your status, a low hanging workout top.

Showing your nips will really fuck with the newbies, give them a good look at those pecs.

After a good pump some days you'll think: 'fuck I'm so hot gotta get a pic of this'.

Stage V: Shove that shit in the normie and betas faces out in the world, MAKE them look at your superiority, don't let them hide from their lowly status

If the suns out go crazy show as much skin as you can...make um absorb every inch of perfection.

Make the faggots and cucks look at it. Kiernan Fagan is the new Mike Dean, a God that will show you the way. This stud shows it off any time he can.

You see how blatant my man James is? He's basically saying it, knowing he'd get people taking pics with him he's full on saying it: 'You're a fucking cuck loser compared to me, you're a bitch, you're nothing, I'm hotter than you could be in your wildest fucking dreams and you're probably going home to jack it thinking what it would be like to be me fuckin hot chicks in pairs of 2 or 3...but you never will loser ahhahahahahahahah fucking CUCK'

[tomorrowsgardennc]

🍠 harvesting sweet potatoes 🍠

this was my second year growing potatoes, but my first year growing sweet potatoes specifically. when i grew normie potatoes, i ended up with less than what i put in the ground... that's how bad it turned out. while researching why i did so badly, i learned sweet potatoes grow totes differently so i decided i would try those this year.

i am very happy i did.

i started off by bringing my teeny tiny harvest basket assuming i did horribly, but after half of the first plant i had to go grab my big boi harvest crate my dad made me. i also found 4 baby carrots that i grew last year during my harvest. ignore those.

prior to harvesting, i turned to the internet out of habit to see what needed to be done. sadly, the internet had varying degrees of how to handle both harvesting and curing potatoes. then i remembered farmer mama used to grow these so i hit her up for the true knowledge. i shall put it here for y'all.

there's no need to wait until first frost, and actually it's prolly not ideal if you wait. it's going to be first frost pretty soonTM so right now is just fine. it's easier to diggie dig if you trim back all the vines first. i did prune back the vines and leaves the deer left for me, and i tossed them in as my first layer of compost for the garlic bed (garlic post soon, i'm running behind on planting them...)

now i can grab on to the neck of the plant and rip it up. totally not morbid to phrase it that way. to say i squeed with joy when i saw large and bountiful potatoes this time is an understatement. hubs was prepping the perennial flower area to plant those plants and he thought i was getting attacked by yellowjackets again. my yipee and my panic screams are the same so i don't blame him.

for digging, since this was in my tall raised bed i just used my arms and hands and dug around. i had my shovel handy, but my acoustic self prefers to use hands for everything, and also because the shovel could pierce the skin of the potatoes. which isn't horrible, but an annoyance and an extra worry when curing so just not worth imo. the potatoes didn't go further than 8 inches below the soil, so no reason to keep digging. you can also tell when the roots get smaller and smaller. i also learned that for sweet potatoes like 90% of the taters are right under that neck, so also no real reason to dig around too much except if you want to find those baby outliers.

so incredibly happy with this harvest 😍❤️🍠

the purpose of me growing these was because, well, why not, but also because i want to offer sweet potato slips at the farmers market next april. i offered only a few this year because i just didn't know what would happen and if i wanted someone else to grow it and see how theirs turned out to compare. why purple? well, why normie???? purple is so much prettier and i'm actually going to focus on a lot of purple produce in 2025 lmao. but i digress.

ok so i hit the tumblr photo limit just from talking about harvesting these gorgeous purple divas therefore i shall do a 2nd post about the curing stage. spoiler alert: i am curing the baby tubers because market slips next year and i washed the big chonkas in my outdoor sink and boiled them immediately.

boiling was a mistake. good news is i learned the kitchen would look pretty with purple floors 🫠 and that if you clean up purple potato water on kitchen floor with clorox bleach that it turns the purple color blue 🫠 i love science.

since i got too overexcited i boiled too much. i saved enough in the fridge to make a sweet potato pie later this week, ate some for dinner, and then froze the rest in ziploc bags. i have a feeling i'll be making multiple purple sweet potato pies this season because why the hell not.

don't worry i'll have photos of the pie when i make it. hehe.

ok chores real quick then on to the next post about curing the potatoes, very important.

[moongothic]

Re-analyzing Crocodile in Marineford

So when I started falling down the Crocodad rabbithole, I did start by rereading Marineford to doublecheck the claims about whether or not Crocodile's behaviour truly was odd during the arc. And I did go into it with a good amount of scepticism, trying to find holes in the theory after having just learned about it. Well, it's been like a year now. I do feel like I've formed a strong idea of the Crocodad theory in my head, what we need to assume for it to be a viable theory, what supports it and where its weaknesses lie.

The thing about storytelling though is that you can read into things in truly wild ways if you want to find a way to support a theory, while also failing to understand/forgetting the pre-existing lore and what we know about certain characters.

So I want to reread Marineford again, but this time, having an understanding of the theory, I want to rethink how the Crocodad theory actually applies to this arc, and compare it to a more neutral reading, based on what we know about The Man of the Hour and what Oda actually (probably) wanted us to take away from the events of the story. So we're re-analyzing Crocodile in Marineford, but from two angles. The Normie Neutral Angle and the Crocodad Propaganda Angle.

Is this partially because I want to just prove to myself that I am actually delusional about Crocodad and been reading into things in the completely wrong way? So that when Oda finally debunks the theory I will be emotionally ready for it because otherwise the disappoinment will shatter my heart into a million pieces? Yes. Yes, that is why this post exists. But also I have wanted to do this for a while now because I did think it would be fun to return to this arc now that I'm MORE than familiar with the theory. Point is, I'm not here trying to ruin the fun for my Fellow Crocodad Truthers. I'm here to lower my own expectations and give myself a reality check.

So immidiately after arriving in Marineford in Chapter 558 Crocodile makes his way to Moby Dick to kill Whitebeard. Luffy forces him to back off for a second so the two can have a chat before he storms off to get to Ace. At this point, Sengoku gives everyone orders to kill Luffy because he is Dragon's son, making sure everyone on the battlefield knows too

Propaganda: The lack of Crocodile's reaction here is incredibly suspicious. So much so I wrote a whole metapost about that subject on its own.

The lack of Crocodile's reaction however could be just chalked up as his reaction not being important in this moment. Crocodile doesn't care about Luffy, he's only here to get Whitebeard's head and thus has more important things to worry about in this moment than that rubbery idiot.

Next time we see Crocodile is in Chapter 560. He's been blown away and off the Moby Dick. And while he is trying to get back on the ship so he can fight Whitebeard, he is failing miserably at it (being hindranced by mere goons) and is clearly fucking annoyed about it

Propaganda: His gloomy expression and hidden eyes are suspicious, considdering this is soon after hearing Sengoku's announcement. If Crocodile just learned Luffy is his son, then in the past few minutes we haven't seen him he has gone from learning that truth, to realizing he nearly killed his own son with his own hand (three times), to knowing Luffy has ran off straight into the lion's den and most likely certain doom, and understanding that even if he wanted to help Luffy, Luffy fucking hates his guts and wouldn't want his help anyway (+Luffy wouldn't know about their blood relation, now would not be the time to break the news, if ever). Luffy does have help in the form of the rest of the WB Pirates, Jinbei and Ivankov, so it may be for the best to Crocodile to try to focus on what he came to Marineford to begin with; getting his petty revenge and taking WB's head. But still, that shocking revelation could be getting under his skin, he might be having a bad time digesting everything.

Croc's petty revenge gets distracted by Jozu blasting Crocodile off and Doflamingo joining the fun by annoying Crocodile even more, until Crocodile sends the pink bastard flying out of his sight. He seems to continue trying to reach Whitebeard without any progress until WB gets stabbed by Squard, which causes Crocodile to burst out with a shocking amount of emotion

We know Crocodile has trust issues. We don't know what caused them, though a likely assumption might be that he may have been betrayed by someone (if not multiple people) in the past. Although impossible to confirm, if that is the case then watching Whitebeard get betrayed by one of his own could be a bad reminder of what may have happened to him in the past, not helped by Whitebeard immidiately choosing to forgive his son, something Crocodile might not be able to accept as easily.

Additionally, we know that Crocodile lost to Whitebeard when WB was in his prime. In this moment Croc would realize and have to face the fact that Whitebeard is an old man, he's not the same as the Primebeard who crushed Croc so long ago. Meaning, whatever catharsis Crocodile may have yearned for, he would not be able to actually get. There is no satisfaction to killing a weak, dying man.

Propaganda: This moment may have forced Crocodile to reflect on his weird relationship with his extranged son. Whitebeard forgave his foolish son for stabbing him, and while Crocodile may have no lingering grudge against Luffy for thwarting his plans in Alabasta... would Luffy ever forgive him for all the things he did? Could Luffy forgive him?

Crocodile then proceeds to stop Ace's premature execution attempt, and when confronted about it by Doflamingo, Crocodile confirms he has not taken Whitebeard's side.

This reinforces our understanding that Crocodile loathes the World Goverment so much he'd rather spare one of Whitebeard's own than let the WG get what they want. This is not a pro-WB move, this is just an anti-WG move

Propaganda: For one, Croc's hate of the WG could support to the idea he may have been involved with the Rev Army at some point, even if just temporarily. But most importantly, indeed, he did NOT spare Ace for Whitebeard's sake, which leaves us with only two other options; he did it for his own sake (=spite against the WG), or for Luffy's sake. He has seen the desperation and the efforts Luffy will go to for his loved ones, so Crocodile could only imagine the heart break Luffy would go through if he lost someone dear to him. So, even if his son hates him, he can't just sit by and watch Luffy get shattered right in front of him

As he is rushing to reach Ace, Luffy uses his Conqueror's Haki by accident to stop another execution attempt, which leads Whitebeard to order all his men to back up Luffy. As he runs, Luffy is almost cut down by Mihawk, only slowed down by Daz Bones and then finally stopped by Crocodile

Considdering Mihawk's earlier comments about Luffy's terrifying power of bringing people together to follow him, this is meant to be just a call back to that; not even Sir Crocodile is immune to Luffy's draw, much to Croc's own annoyance. Which isn't great, considdering he's already in a horrendous mood over Whitebeard, who had just now given his approval and acknowledge'd Luffy's value on the battlefield (after having ignored Crocodile nearly this entire time)

Propaganda: If Luffy is Croc's son then of course he would not let Mihawk kill him right in front of his face. Crocodile's foul mood and solemn expression is also explained by the realizations that hit him after Sengoku's announcement (as I explained earlier)

The war continues, Ace is freed and then killed by Akainu, causing Luffy's brain to shut down out of shock. Crocodile seems to watch Whitebeard's final stand though where he is and what he's doing exactly is vague during this time.

Jimbei however announces he has chosen protect Luffy with his life and is on the run with Luffy in his arms, while Akainu pursues them, eventually catching them and wounding both, severely.

Crocodile jumps in at last second, cutting Akainu in half and blasting Jimbei+Luffy out of his reach, allowing the two to finally escape.

Crocodile's comments here are calling back to two things. The latter is about his hatred of the World Government and not wanting them to have what they want, especially after WB finally kicked the bucket and they took Ace's life. Not wanting the WG to get the third bird with the same stone, Croc is making it his personal duty to be the biggest thorn in the WG's side right now. But the former, "if you want do protect something, do it right" calls back to Alabasta. Crocodile made it clear then and there that weakness is a sin, and only the strong can afford to have idealistic views (like Vivi wanting to save her people and her country). Crocodile berating Jimbei here is a lecture; if Jimbei claims he's going to protect Luffy with his own life, then actually put your money where your mouth is and do it. Jimbei, a (former) Warlord just like Crocodile, should be able to do better than this.

Propaganda: Crocodile''s comments at Jimbei are a confession; he has someone he wants to protect no matter what (and that's his son). Also, the phrase "love is always a hurricane" has been repeated over this Saga numerous times, and while it has been in reference to romantic love... What did Crocodile save Luffy's life with if not a sand twister, a hurricane?

The war ends and we see Crocodile looking solemn over everything that has transpired.

Maybe he is quietly paying his respects to Whitebeard and taking it all in.

Propaganda: The last Crocodile saw of Luffy was the unconcious, wounded boy being taken into a submarine that vanished into the waves, followed by Kizaru and Aokiji's attempts to sink the ship. Crocodile has no idea if the ship survived the attacks or has already sunken, but even if they managed to escape, between the grave wounds Luffy had recieved and the trauma of Ace dying, the boy's survival was not quaranteed. The war could break Luffy, forever. And there'd be nothing Crocodile could do about it. It was out of his hands now.

After taking some time to recover, Luffy, together with Jimbei and Rayleigh go have some fun in Marineford and pay their respects to Whitebeard, ending up on the news that even Crocodile gets to read about.

(Sidenote but Viz's official translation here is a bit off, "The cheeky rascal" isn't about Luffy but is directed at Daz, so it should be "You cheeky rascal")

He has recovered from his wounds and the frustrating disappointment of Whitebeard dying (and not by his hand), but is ready to set out into the New World, Luffy's infectious energy seemingly having inspired him once again to see what the seas have to offer.

Propaganda: Daz's comment here is strange, as he makes it sound like Crocodile had been like... what, moping? Sulking? For the past few weeks after the war? Crocodile's reaction to Daz's comment ("Are you sassing me you little shit") doesn't help either. It certainly makes it sound like Croc had been in the dumps, but considdering he would've had no idea what fate fell upon his son until now, yeah, him being worried and depressed would make sense. As would the way he immidiately perks up after finding out the idiot son is just fine

And that's it, that wraps up Summit War.

It's kind of sad, really, how when you get down to it Crocodad does make perfect sense in all of these scenes (maybe some more than others). But the Crocodile acts during this arc isn't weird when you get down to it, his behaviour is completely reasonable considdering everything else that is going down around him and the little we do know about his view of the world. And that fact makes Crocodad so easy to just brush aside as looking too deep into things when it's not meant to be that deep

But also, Oda is insane, and you can never fucking know when something WAS meant to be that deep from the begining until he gives out the full truth and spills the beans

Did I come here trying to debunk Crocodad for myself? Yes. Did I succeed at doing that? Not really. Did I have fun regardless? Yeah, and I hope this was at least vaguely interesting to some of you

[twistedminutia]

A Million and One Minutia: Space Flight

Idia and Ortho learn about space flight.

Find the rest of the chapters here and crossposted to AO3 here.

Ortho leads me through the high-ceilinged interior of Ignihyde, floating a bit above the ground on pale jets of blue flame. The dorm is a bit cool, though I’m not sure if that’s due to it genuinely being cold or if the blue and silver architecture just gives that impression. I hug my bag against my chest. It squirms.

“Here we are,” Ortho says, coming to a stop in front of a set of large doors. We’re a ways into the Ignihyde dorm at this point, but I haven’t seen anyone. It’s an oddly quiet dorm, compared to the others- especially Scarabia. Which isn’t to say it’s silent, but more to say that the noise it produces comes from the soft whirring of machinery rather than any people. “Idia!” Ortho knocks on the door. The sound isn’t particularly loud, but it carries in the quiet of the hall.

There’s a pause. Then the door creaks open just a crack. A single eye, framed on one side by locks of blue-flame hair, appears. “Did you bring the stuff?”

I answer by holding up my bag. It squirms again.

“Whee hee hee!” The door opens more, just enough to let Ortho and I through before slamming shut behind us. “Yes! Time for some ultra-rare loot!”

“Gimme a sec,” I say, fumbling with the zipper. Idia stares in anticipation as I tug it all the way open. The bag rustles, shimmies, and then Sassy’s head pops out the top. She mews, then struggles her way fully out of the bag until she has been dumped onto Idia’s floor. There are a few wrappers and bits of trash strewn here and there and Sassy delicately picks her way around them before settling on the floor to lick daintily at a paw.

Idia grins. “Look at the widdle kitty!” He crouches down, still keeping some distance from Sassy. “Hi widdle kitty with your cute widdle paws…” Sassy pauses in her washing to stare at him. “It’s okay. I’m just gonna pet you…” Slowly, Idia approaches, one hand outstretched. Sassy watches as he creeps closer until his hand’s barely an inch from her hand. Then she leans over and bunts her head against him.

“Whee hee!” Idia takes the opportunity to scoop her up like a baby. She looks bewildered, but doesn’t try to fight or get away. Just blinks as he kisses her head. “You’re a good little kitty, aren’t you? Yes, you are!”

“Idia, you’re smothering her,” Ortho protests.

“He’s fine. If she was really bothered, I don’t think she’d let him hold her,” I say. Sure enough, after a couple more squeezes, Sassy starts flailing and Idia lets her get down.

“Here, do you want treats? I have treats! And toys!” Idia pulls a small assortment of treat bags and toys from his closet. I have to admit, it’s a reasonably impressive collection. A few different flavors of treats, along with cat toys ranging from strings to mice and balls to those feathery wand ones. Sassy sniffs with interest at a bag of chicken treats and Idia pulls it open.

“How come you own so many toys and things if you don’t have a cat?” I ask. “Actually, if you like cats so much, how come you don’t have one?”

Idia frowns as he feeds Sassy a treat from his hand. “Ugh. School rules don’t allow pets. I’m totally annoyed about you getting to flout that rule, BTW. How come normies get to do whatever they want while us without social skills have to take whatever life hands us?”

“Uh.” I’m not sure how to take that. Feels like a backhanded compliment. I wouldn’t consider myself someone who’s particularly social. And it’s really strange coming from the one guy on campus who has special permission to not attend classes in person. “Technically Sassy’s not really my pet. She was kind of hanging out at my dorm when I got there and now she just sticks around and follows me places sometimes. I didn’t bring her here or anything. I try to put out food for her, but she doesn’t even eat it all that often- I think she hunts mice or something when I’m not around. Headmage Crowley doesn’t seem to care to look into it too much.”

“Lucky. What I wouldn’t give for that kind of oversight,” Idia says. He bounces one of the feathery toys in front of Sassy’s nose. She gives it a thoughtful swat.

“Are these toys from home, then? Do you have a cat there?” I ask, trying to get the subject back to my initial questions when Idia doesn’t say anything else.

“Our home isn’t really a good place to have pets,” Ortho says. Oh, right. The Isle of Woe didn’t look super inviting to people, much less animals.

“I can’t even take care of myself, much less an animal,” Idia adds. He’s bopping around the feather toy while Sassy chases it, though his expression looks rather grim. “But there are some stray cats on campus, so I keep toys around in case I come across them. Gotta be prepared.”

“Huh,” I say as Sassy practically backflips in an attempt to catch the toy. She manages to grasp it in her from paws and starts bunny kicking it. “Geez, I didn’t even think about there being other stray cats around here. That’s not good. I hope Sassy doesn’t get herself pregnant or something.”

“My current scans don’t indicate any signs of pregnancy,” Ortho says. “Though if you wanted to decrease those chances, it would be better to keep Sassy indoors. That way she has no chance of encountering other cats.”

“Yeah, cats shouldn’t be going outside too much anyway. They can aggro the environment like no one’s business, and they’re stealth builds, so they can get picked off by tanks if they aren’t careful,” Idia says. “Anyone who owns cats should know THAT.”

“Like I said, she’s not actually my pet. And I have tried to keep her in my dorm, but she keeps getting out. I think there’s a crack or hole in the basement she can get through.”

“Hm,” Ortho says. “Cats are quite adept at sliding through small openings. Perhaps I can do a scan of your dorm at some point to see if there’s anywhere she could get out.”

“Oh. That’d be really helpful, Ortho. Thanks.” He beams at me- again, it’s hard to tell with the mask, but I think I’m getting better at reading his expressions. We both watch Idia play with Sassy for a little bit until she gets bored or tired and starts poking around his room. Idia snaps a few photos, using a floating iPad-like device to get good angles. Ortho and I chat about classes- he’s highly enthusiastic about school, moreso than anyone else I’ve met here. And I’ve met Riddle. But Ortho’s enthusiasm isn’t about grades, really, more about the novelty of learning.

“Professor Trein has already made it clear that I’m not to use any external knowledge other than what is directly stored in my memory banks!” Ortho says. “I suppose I could store the textbook in my data banks and simply access the info that way, but that wouldn’t be in the spirit of the agreement. And I’m looking forward to being able to learn organically!”

“It’s not that exciting,” I say, though I guess for someone who can look everything up with the same effort it takes me to remember something, it might be. I wonder why he even wants this- but I guess it’s a novel experience for him, something that makes him feel more human. Even then, I’m not sure if it’s the same- from what Ortho’s told me, he’s got perfect recall, so it’s not exactly the same. Then again, I suppose that’s just the same as a human with an eidetic memory.

“-learning about the Mage’s Thaumatic Agreement, which is a fascinating piece of history,” Ortho is saying as I force myself to tune back in. “Though I’m also excited to try potion making on my own now! I’ve been talking to Professor Crewel about what gear I’m allowed to have- I wasn’t sure if he would want me not to use my temperature sensors, but he says it’ll be fine as long as I’m making the potion myself.”

“That sounds really great, Ortho.” I’m trying to be enthusiastic, but it must not come across well, since Ortho pauses.

“I’m sorry, Gray. I forgot, you can’t participate in that class.” He slumps a little, looking so apologetic that I rush to reassure him.

“Don’t worry, I sort of participate. Grim has to do the combining, but I can help out sometimes.” My grade in the class is primarily based on my ability to recognize ingredients and explain theory. And keep Grim in line enough to make the proper potion. I’ve been trying to maintain my grades out of habit more than anything. I had good grades at home, but I guess there’s not as much of a purpose to doing that here. Either I’m going home, or I’m graduating from a famous magic school with absolutely no ability to do magic. It’d be like going to a school for engineering and graduating with a degree in art history. I have no idea what I’m going to do about the internship- what could I even apply to? Unless Grim and I applied as a set? Would anyone be willing to hire Grim?

I shake my head. That’s at least two years off. And who knows, maybe I’ll be home by then. There’s a little pit in my stomach when I think about that. Well. It’s a lot bigger, these days.

On the ground, Idia is trying to ply Sassy with treats. She blinks at him, neatly ignoring the tube of mashed fish Idia is trying to feed her. “I brought the cat. Are you going to hold up your part of the bargain?”

Idia sighs, but he does pack away the fish treats and moves to his computer. “Yeah, yeah. Gimme a minute.” The computer whirs on, flicking up a blue screen. Idia types in something I assume is a password, because the screen then changes to an image of three women in brightly colored outfits. Idia pulls up another folder and starts typing again.

“Even in STYX’s restricted files, there isn’t really much about interdimensional travel,” Idia says. He talks a little fast. I have to get closer and listen hard to figure it out. “Even in the database we share with Olympus, it’s all theoretical papers.”

“How theoretical?” I ask.

“Completely theoretical. More like hypothetical, really,” Idia says. “Most of them are about whether or not other worlds are even possible.”

“That’s it?” That’s… basically nothing. Like, nothing at all! What point is there in reading a bunch of papers talking about whether other worlds are theoretically possible when I already know that they are?

“W-well, there’s one about, uh, interdimensional communication,” Idia says, hunching even closer to his computer screen. It almost looks like he’s trying to merge into it. “I, uh, only skimmed it, but it’s all about the, uh, idea that mirrors can pass messages between places that aren’t necessarily connected, but also between places that, uh, aren’t on the same plane of existence. Like, some people say you can use mirrors to enter the spectral realm, which was actually a really big plot point in the season three finale of ‘Journeying to the Underworld as a Mortal Bard.’ It’s such a powerful moment when the main character figures out he can use his lyre to enchant a mirror into taking him to the Underworld after three seasons of adventuring in a desperate bid to save his best friend from the cold claws of death! Seriously, I could have cried when I saw it. Of course, the fourth season was a total letdown, IMO. Like, who decided that it would be good to have the main character fall right into the River of Memory and forget why he was down there in the first place? Sure, the reuniting scene was a total tearjerker, but after having to slog through basically the first season AGAIN, it felt kinda cheap, you know?”

I stare at him. I caught less than a third of that. Something about an anime, maybe? “So what you’re saying is that pretty much all the papers you found for me are debating about the existence of something we already know is real, and are, therefore, no actual help to me at all?”

“Erk!” Idia shrivels again, like he’s trying to fold into himself. “L-look, it’s not easy to find this stuff! You’re asking me to do something on total hard mode! I can’t find stuff that’s not written anyway!”

“Idia,” Ortho says, shaking his head slightly. “Are you okay, Gray?”

I slump back to sit on Idia’s bed. He makes a slight noise of protest at that- maybe I’m sitting on limited edition sheets. Or maybe it’s just weird to him to have anyone sit on his bed. I get the impression he doesn’t have people over much. “Yeah. I guess I was expecting more. But Idia’s right, that wasn’t… it wasn’t fair of me. You’re doing your best.”

Ortho pats my shoulder and Sassy crawls up into my lap. I pet her absently. Every time we take a step forward, it feels like there’s a dead end in front of us. If I got here by magic, which I’m assuming I did, because I don’t know what else it could be, then why is it so hard to send me home by magic?

“It’s okay, Gray,” Ortho says. “Don’t give up! Even if it seems impossible now, it might not be! Right, Idia?”

Idia looks like a deer in headlights. “Uh. Y-yeah. Right, Ortho.”

“Sure,” I say. Sassy nuzzles my chin, purring frantically. “I guess they thought putting a man on the moon was impossible for a while. Up until they did it.”

There’s a pause. Idia and Ortho look at each other. Oh no. “So. I guess you guys… haven’t done that?”

“A person was on the moon?” Ortho asks, big yellow eyes boring intently into mine. “On the moon in the sky? Really? It’s not a metaphor?”

“No WAY,” Idia says at almost the exact same time. “That’s like something out of a sci-fi anime!”

“It’s not a metaphor,” I say. “We really did send people up to the moon. Quite a few people, as I remember. There was a whole space program for it, the Apollo program. At least in my country, anyway. Other countries had their own programs.”

“How many people?” Ortho asks, still brimming with enthusiasm.

“Oh, uh. That’s a good question… I can really only speak for my country, since that’s the only one I’m familiar with, but not many ever got there. Less than one hundred- less than fifty, probably. I think it was close to twenty from us.”

“That’s less than I thought,” Ortho says.

“Yeah, I would have though it’d be a colony or something, like in ‘Last Chance Rangers: Hope and Heroism in High Orbit.’ It’s a touching tale about a group of space adventurers who take up running a colony on the moon, protecting Twisted Wonderland from the perils of space!” Idia adds.

“It wasn’t that exciting,” I say. “No space colonies. We didn’t have the technology to maintain something like that on the moon, and I can’t imagine how expensive it would have been to ship food and supplies up there. I think it’s pretty expensive to keep the ISS running as it is.”

“ISS?” Ortho prompts.

“Uh, International Space Station. It’s a big spaceship in orbit around Earth. Close orbit, not as far away as the moon, but still in space. It stays up there and the crew has to fly to and from it to get on and off.”

Ortho’s practically got stars in his eyes. “Wow.”

“I’m kind of surprised you guys haven’t gone to space yet,” I say. “I would have figured it would have been easier, with magic.”

“I’ve been to space,” Ortho says. Cheerfully. Nonchalant.

“Wh- you’ve been to- what?” I sputter.

“At the Starsending. To take the wishing stars up to the actual stars,” Ortho says. “Remember?”

Oh, yeah, I do vaguely remember helping Deuce and Trey out with that. I think I’d heard, at some point, that Ortho had taken the stars up to the sky, but I hadn’t really put together what it meant until now.

“It was only to the edge of the atmosphere,” Ortho says. “I don’t think I could go all the way to the moon. I’d exhaust my battery before I got there.”

“There’s got to be a way to increase the output with the same input,” Idia muses. “Maybe I can do some research on rocket efficiency…”

“It’s okay, Idia. I don’t need to go to the moon,” Ortho says. “It’d take a long time, anyway. I’d miss out on class.”

Idia stares, like it’s the strangest sentence he’s ever heard in his life. Kind of wild they’re brothers.

Sassy mewls and I turn my attention back to her. She’s sniffing at my phone- well, Crowley’s phone, but he never asked for it back. The time’s getting late, and I’ve got homework and studying waiting for me back at Ramshackle. “I should get going,” I say. “And thanks for looking, Idia. Even if you didn’t find much.” I hold out my bag toward Sassy and she hops in, wriggling around until her little head pops back out the top. Her eyes, big and dark, reflect the many lights of the Ignihyde dorm like stars in the night sky.

“Yeah, sure,” Idia mumbles. Clearly he’s not comfortable with compliments. “Uh. I could. Keep looking. As long as you, um, keep bringing Sassy around.”

“Sure,” I say. “Thanks.”

“I’ll go back with you,” Ortho offers. “I can do that scan of Ramshackle.” He leans a little closer to me, eyes bright with excitement. “And you can tell me more about going to the moon!”

I laugh. “Sure, Ortho. I’ll tell you about going to the moon. What do you want to know?”

He hovers next to me as we head down the hall. “How did you manage to get up there without magic? I was able to ascend into the upper atmosphere because I don’t need to consume oxygen, as long as I have stored ignition fuel. Your world would lack the magic needed to create rebreathing spells or vacuum containers or proper gravity fields to sustain a person in space. Even for us, gravity magic is quite difficult to manage!”

“Uh, so, as far as I know, we just used technology to seal the cabin the astronauts- that’s what we called them, astronauts- would be in so that it’s airtight. I think they had big containers of oxygen that got used up as they were in space- if they stayed up too long, they could suffocate. As for gravity, they just floated. No gravity necessary.”

“What about food?” Ortho asks. “It seems like it would be difficult to eat with no gravity.”

“It is. The food’s dehydrated and freeze-dried, and they drink out of little packets, so it lasts for a long time and there’s no chance of water getting into important components.” Ortho nods furiously. I get the idea he’s taking notes. “Are you interested in going to space again? With more people?” I suggest. I would think he’d want to go with Idia, but Idia seems like a poor candidate for space flight- I’m pretty sure you have to be in good shape to be an astronaut.

“Well, maybe,” Ortho says. We pass through the mirror into the Hall of Mirrors and start hiking toward Ramshackle. “I think it would be cool to have a space program, even if I wasn’t one of the ones going up. And the logistics are interesting. But it’s also really fascinating to hear about how your world is so advanced despite not having magic! In some ways, you’re even more advanced than we are, technologically speaking!”

“Well, we don’t have anything like you, Ortho,” I say. He laughs.

“That’s because you don’t have Idia,” he says. “When we find a way back to your world, maybe we’ll be able to communicate back and forth! It would be amazing to chare our accomplishments.”

“Yeah,” I say. “When.”

It takes me a moment to realize Ortho has paused behind me. I glance over my shoulder. He stares at me. “You don’t think you’re going to go home.”

I stare at the ground. “It’s not that I don’t think I’ll ever get home. It’s just… I got here and no one seems to know how I got here, or even knows how it could have happened, much less how to reverse it. Crowley says he’s helping, but he seems to forget about me half the time, and I can’t go to anyone else because I don’t legally exist! I- I-”

Ortho slams into me with the firmest hug I’ve ever experienced. I wrap my arms around him. The hug does feel metallic and harder than a human hug, but there’s a pulsing warmth from him and it somehow still feels strangely alive.

“I’ll help you get home,” he says. “I promise. I’ll get you home.”

I smile. Even if I still have my doubts, it’s hard to feel upset in the face of such genuine optimism. “Thanks, Ortho. I appreciate it.”

He extricates himself from the hug. “I know! I’m sure I can get you some IDs, if you’re worrying about not being a legal entity! Idia gets into those systems all the time for fun, it’ll be easy!”

I blink. “Uh. Is that even legal?” But Ortho’s moving on ahead, too wrapped up in himself to pay attention to me.

“Come on! I’ll scan Ramshackle and then we can get started! Shouldn’t take more than an hour.”

I laugh breathlessly. “Okay. Sure.” Sassy wriggles herself free of the bag and plops down next to me. She winds around my legs, purring comfortingly. She’s a sweetheart when I’m upset. “Thanks,” I tell her. She mews back, and we head after Ortho together, watching the bright blue flame of his hair and propulsion jets flicker in the night.

Find the next chapter here.

[vren-diagram]

I’m moderately willing to play ball with “ability to accumulate $ correlates with ability to accumulate resource such-and-such”. Out of curiosity, what do you think the quality being measured actually is?

I honestly can’t figure it out, IQ is an easy guess, and almost everyone I knew in high school who was desperately stupid is financially struggling. That said, some of the smartest people I know are fairly impoverished post-grad students.

The tech/venture capital scene in general is dominated by people who frequently lack what I’d think of as trademark executive/leadership/“great man” qualities. Bezos seems vaguely normal in mannerisms and social vibe, and that’s high praise compared to the rest of them. Steve Jobs is one of the few I could see as a plausible charismatic and skillful leader.

It’s wildly low-hanging fruit, but Elon is consistently successful at acquiring and raising the stock value of businesses, but he’s also negatively charismatic and doesn’t even seem that bright. I can’t imagine taking the guy seriously as a leader, but he must have something going for him. (I also thought this when he was a much more centrist political figure)

I’ve noticed people who are highly successful in legacy industries, or who come from legitimate old money backgrounds, do seem to much more frequently have a noticeable version of some type of “vibe”. I work near an area with a lot of vacation homes for very upper crust people, and the very-multi-generationally wealthy often have an aura that the nouveau riche kind of lack.

You definitely see “it” in career military guys who made it to very high ranking positions, they’re just kinda built different in some way I can’t quite put my finger on. I met several of the Apollo astronauts, working in event security, and they were strangely impressive in person. Also solidly below average in height, as you’d expect for “guys who needed to be able to fold into a trashcan and get shot into space”.

I’ve got a buddy from high school who ended up a congressional staffer, and I’d say congressmen are split between aura-havers and completely normie small-business-manager types. No huge correlation with party, some real impressive people and some real bozos each way. Also doesn’t correlate with how much I want them in a position of power, JD Vance comes off like an absolute snake in the grass, but I don’t doubt that he’d be able to play his cards for success in a lot of scenarios.

I guess it depends on what we’re talking about when we draw the lines of rich, poor, and average. If you’re saying “many adults working for retail wages or living on the street have something badly wrong with them” that’s so obvious that it’s practically redundant. I’d expect that an awful lot of destitute poor people have some severe deficits of impulse control or long term planning. The upper-middle-class are disproportionately likely to be workaholics with enough brains to make it in a white collar field, and so on. I’m willing to consider that there’s some secret sauce that separates some of the extremely wealthy from the merely upper-class, but I can’t really put my finger on what it is.

At the “great men of history” end, obviously Napoleon has unbelievable value over replacement, but there are lot of people with quite a lot of money and power who don’t have those Jennies (certain je ne sais quoi). And I don’t think we’ve had any legitimate history book characters like that in a very long time, at least not in the last few decades of US politics.

the post kinda got to you, didn't it anon?

not everything that is is named.

[prettyflyshyguy]

Alright for the freaks who are oldschool Supernatural tumblr people, or just normal supernatural people, and for the rest who are just like me and don't know shit: I'm dumping all my garbo takes under the cut.

Mostly gonna be me either being really enamored or really upset.

No in-between. These things are either great or the worst. My tastes are specific and I'm picky with vampire fiction and rarely do I find media that ticks the boxes yet, I still watch almost anything I can find obsessively.

Who knows maybe this'll become a new casual TV series if I like the dynamics. Anyway, long post warning under the cut.

They got Bela Lugosi's Dead playing in a room full of nu-metal heads LMFAO

truly the alt communities have always been done so dirty in media

least they did their research on song choices

-

jesus christ

flashbacks to my steampunk phase circa 2011

-

I LOVE that this woman looks so normie and looks so delighted when she meets this equally normie looking dude in an alternative bar (i want to go there the people seem chill and the vibes are impeccable)

anyway who is this guy he seems familiar

love that they made the most normal dude in the bar the real monster good on them :)

christ they just took one look at twilight and went yeah lets TV parody this shit just for a laugh didnt they

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SHE'S 17

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO(DID SHE HAVE A FAKE ID I WASNT PAYING ATTENTION)

OK ok ok you get big bonus points just for this bit. Just for this bit.

Thank you supernatural go off

-

"I'm just scared I'm dreaming and I'll wake up in math class" girl me too

im sorry this woman looks so much older than 17

POINTS DEDUCTED

POINTS DEDUCTED

BAD TEETH

great eyes, horrendous teeth. very dissapointed. I'm only here for the fucked up canines because we already HAVE them and whats better than perverting the existing human form into something subtly wrong

-

This show has such an aggressive title screen compared to buffy and the x files LMAO

-

ok i can get behind the chevvy, the chevvy is nice

-

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

POINTS ADDED - holy shit points added for this cheesy poster alone really capturing the schtick of the late 2000s

ok i get it, i get it guys, they're fun, they're funny, they've got a great sibling energy, the periodic 'screaming' happening in the background of this scene is sending me

-

this has been too fun so far i feel like somethings gonna ruin it

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Ok this is so self aware yet the degree they're committing is just.

its marvelous. this is peak. I'm into it.

there are so many ads please i want to see dean have a bad day

Holy shit is that Skinner from the x files i love that guy

-

the fashion. iconic. if anything I'll be coming back to this for inspiration for myself.

-

the way Dean just slammed that guy on the car yelling "OPEN YOUR MOUTH"

yeah instant favourite.

you've rounded a corner, a dude has just beat the shit out of your brother and now he's about to force feed him blood and your response is: stand there staring like the shocked pikachu

oh so you wait till after he's done to scream "no!" in a half hearted tone

is there something I'm missing here, i know Sam gets a bit cooked at some point (does he get possessed??? idk) so I'm gonna assume thats whats going on

this is the best 'turning' scene I've ever had the pleasure of witnessing in all my years of trawling through vampire media

holy shit the team that wrote this episode fucking get it

the audio design, the acting, is so on point

Supernatural Crew you cooked so hard and I'm deeply thanking you for it

this was fucking made for me what the fuck what the fruck what the fuck what the fuc

Nooooo dont have an emotional breakdown in the bathroom looking at your fangs, but you're so sexy aha

The constant heartbeats anytime Deans in a room with someone got me grinning like :]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]

ok points deducted, again, for bad teeth but my god

the "I gotta go-" scene GOOD SHIT GOOD SHIT

someone get this kicked puppy a sippy cup

a red fanta chug jug

where is his sippy cup

look i know its probably not fun, at all, to drink red mystery meat juice on set but its gotta be cheaper than CGI teeth. Please.

Please let more relunctant vampires reluctantly chug jug (with you)

Oh Never Mind they wrote it in that he can't drink or he's stuck >:(

im still having a good time, just a bit less of a good time

YEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAA

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

-

using a large serrated knife to cut appart a horde of vampires seems like a great idea and getting covered in blood you're not supposed to drink is inevitable

but watch out

Sam: thats a pretty mentally stable thing to do

I REALLY WANT TO

CHUG JUG WITH YOU

ok this scene of him makes up for the lack of authentic blood chug jug I'll take what I can get

-

Ok final thoughts: that was a solid 7 and a half out of 10

thank you Supernatural you hit almost all the high notes when most stuff falls flat for me. Still, you came soooooooooo close. And got so far. And Yet in the end it doesnt even matter.

Still, this one's going straight to the pool room, and I can comfortably say I'm throwing it on the shelf of 'comfort media' that I can go back to on a bad day.

This had some fucking BANGER scenes that surpassed my expectations and deeply pleasantly surprised me. Good shit! As someone who is hard to please, this was a riot. Still; a shame they arbritrarily rules-d him taking a chunk out of someone. Would have been sick. Could have had the great slow build up of the initial turning scene - him and the love interest, holding back - then him cracking it after holding out and snapping.

It is not too much to ask, I swear. It's a good trope.

Do I dare take the risk of trawling through fanfiction to find another horribly specific weirdo like me, because Supernatural seems huge and a scary place to fanfic trawl.

[scarefox]

me: I am distant because I am scared about other peoples judgement and discrimination towards me because I am a weirdo nerd ( and queer), always was and always will be

therapist: so you secretly dislike and judge other people and project that on others, humans often do that

me: no... I am actually very tolerant and accepting... but often witnessed people talking shit and judging others for things I like / do too

therapist: hm sometimes we do have these blind spots about things we don't want to admit

me: uhm no 😐 I experienced dismissal and bullying because of me not fitting the norm (which i don't want to be forced into if I don't like something)

--

therapist about alternative folks (being a mix of intentionally separation from the "normies", trying to hide, but also looking extra eye-catching different)(we have 3+ alternative folks in the group, with me): people either do it because they are stuck in their puberty rebell phase, want to feel special, want to separate from the normies and signal that to other normie-haters ................ or rarely they just really like the stuff that they wear or do

me: actually my dad is the puberty metaler rebel anti-normie fraction which I got raised into as well but I learned that his worldview sucks and I became the opposite now, am more open, more tolerant, accepting and love to try new things

therapist: so you are rebelling against your father then

me: is that bad that I piti and deny his negativity and intolerance? 😐 the only thing I want is to prove him that the world isn't as negative as he thinks

--

It bothers me that she thinks that "being different" means you actively intentionally try to be better than the rest and if you solve your mental knots you become normal again...

The one goth girl in my group feels pressured to remove her face piercings and wear not black. Which she tries sometimes but then feels unauthentic and uncomfortable. Even if some of her style is due to provocation and piercings partly as selfharm maybe, doesn't mean she needs to wear colors now and remove all her piercings to get better.

Other older guy, I love his style. He's a bit of a nordic myth metal guy. Bald head, long grey beard BUT hawaiian shirts. He looks so friendly that way. But now he feels like his shirts are basically a bit attention seeking because they are so colorful despite him being so quiet (he has depression) ... :/

And for me she thinks I am disinterested in "normies" because I try to be different. No ma'am I am that way and simply refuse to change to fit in the norm boxes. My life would be easier if I would do that, sure, but at what cost? I literally had a nightmare about that once. I am totally fine with "normies". I am happy for people who are happy about stuff I am not interested in. idk how that's me discriminating against them.

But now that I attempted to explain myself to her 2 times, she says I am very sensitive about being compared to others. 😐 I just hate to be put in wrong boxes, which is connected to assumptions and expectations I don't want to fulfil.

[bearbait-adventures]

Calm for now.

86 has been on light duty as he’s still adjusting to the changes, learning how to use his newly awakened augmented body along with the prosthetic arm. Light duty for Spartans is still quite a bit when compared to the normies though, and getting to know the other Spartans… Well, that was also harder than one would think. 86 was different. He was bigger than most of the Spartan IIIs, and still technically in the process of growing, but he was already damaged goods, already a failure. Nobody wanted him on their squad, he was a cripple, a liability, a mess.

Needless to say it made eating lunch in the mess hall a lonely endeavor. He wasn’t welcomed at most tables, it gets awkward real quick if you sit where no one wants you. The silence and the judging stares… It makes him sick to his stomach and he hates it. He stops trying, finds his own table, eats quickly and leaves most days. 

“Orbital Drop Shock Troopers” or ODST. They’re a rowdy bunch. They normally don’t get along with any other branch, very tightly knit amongst themselves. Remarkably brave or just plain suicidal or maybe some crazy mixture of both, funny how those things are often interchangeable.

A group of them enters the cafeteria they’re loud and laughing with each other. 86 has never seen them here before. The ODST and marines have a staggered lunch time from the Spartans. An attempt by higher powers to keep them from fighting apparently it had happened before. Something about a fight over a weight room. There aren’t many seats left, at least not where they could sit all together, the mess hall is crowded and they set their sights on 86’s table. 86 is surprised when they all pile in, but makes no protest. After all there isn’t anywhere else for them and it’s not “his” table. They don’t really acknowledge his existence, but they’re not rude so he just rolls with it. At least he’s not alone anymore. 

This continues over the next couple days. 86 claims the table and the ODST fill it in a little later. From what he’s overheard so far is that these ODST plus more and more Marines have been transferred here to runmore joint ops with the Spartan IIIs. It wasn’t long before 86 started paying more attention, sticking around a bit longer, listening to their jokes and their stories. He started to drop his guard, and started laughing too. 

Until one of them says something to him…but they’re on his bad side and he doesn’t hear them. “Hey! Are you deaf!” Is what he finally hears as they slam a fist down next to him. He startles. Sliding his chair back away from the intruder, defensive and surprised. He didn’t recognize this soldier. Was he a new one? “I said move. You don’t belong here, swabbie.” The man spat the words like a curse. The rest of the table had gone quiet, an awkward silence. No one seemed to know what to say to that. 86 felt a spike of panic go through him. This was “his” table. He was here first. He was used to sitting here. He didn’t want to move. But before he could verbalize any of that, his internal panic was interrupted by a “hooting” sound. One of the ODST across the table smacked it loudly before flapping his hands wildly at the newcomer. His hands started grumpily forming shapes that 86 vaguely recognized, something similar to military hand signs but not quite that. “Gunny, wants you to kindly fuck off. That’s our Spartan. You find your own table shit-for-brains.” Another ODST translates Gunny’s signs. The new comer growls but does thankfully fuck off somewhere else, allowing 86 to finally sit back down… Flabbergasted.

Had he just been adopted? By ODST? Gunny made more signs at him. 86 watched with wonder but still didn’t understand. “He’s asking if you can hear on that side.” The ODST that translated earlier spoke up after a moment. 

86 clears his throat, slightly embarrassed by the whole situation. “Ah, yes… A little bit…but not very well apparently…sorry.” 86 apologized as he rubbed the back of his neck with his good hand. More signs come from Gunny, hands flourishing about excitedly. “He can’t hear either, too many bombs, too close to his stubborn head.” The same ODST laughed this time sitting up and offering his hand out for a shake. “Name’s Joker.”

86 took the hand, his mechanical arm whirring quietly as he reached out. He was mindful of how much pressure he put into his grip as human hands were much more fragile than most of the things he held. “Holy shit! You really are all fucked up aren’t ya?” A bigger ODST off to his side spoke up, well big compared to normies anyway. He punched 86’s mechanical arm. “They like to call me Monster.” He introduced himself. “Ah, Yeah.” 86 nodded with Monster’s previous observation. “They told me I got blown up I guess…” 

Joker laughed with 86’s explanation. “Dent and ding special it is then.”

Gunny started signing again as 86 watched. Monster translated this time. “Strays are always the best.” 86 couldn’t help but laugh, he wasn’t entirely sure what any of that meant but the tone sounded positive so he went with it. 86 later found out these three would be assigned to him as part of his training squad. Claiming they didn’t want to be with those “Pretty Spartans.” He ran missions and trained with them as an ODST…a “Helljumper.” They would give him an “ASL for Dummies” book. It was well worn and properly vandalized and signed by all three of them. Joker would teach him all about breaking the ice via terrible puns and worse jokes. 86 would even go as far as downloading an entire archive of them once he was given the resources, namely his very own set of SPI Mark II Armor. Gunny would teach him all he knew about explosives and their unconventional uses. Monster would teach him how useful a combat knife could be and to never go without…several of them. He had a little family, a crew, just a Spartan and his ODST.

[beepartcollection]

Artist ask game 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 20, 25, 27 👀 (No pressure to answer all of them, it was just a really good list)

1. Art programs you have but don't use Remember months ago when Rebelle went on sale for like $10? Yeah I bought it and havent touched it since. I also have Blender but I'm too used to Maya

2. Is it easier to draw someone facing left or right (or forward even) Left, definitely. Begging you for all my net worth please never make me draw someone facing forward with a neutral expression (ie the expression on all character ref sheets)

4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw Our beloved crab spider man :3 (Godrick the Grafted). He's got some good flow to him and I think he'd be fascinating to draw more, but my god. Sweetie. Why so many fucking arms. Where is your center of gravity. H e l p

8. What's an old project idea that you've lost interest in

I don't know how many people remember this painting I did back in 2021, when All Tomorrows was popular, but I remember wanting to make a mini comic with this where this Bug Facer meets a Symbiote who takes her out for coffee and lunch and he chats about how amazing it is that in the cosmic scale of the galaxy, it was infinitesimally lucky that they all got to meet, let alone be physically in the same space, let alone survive after the Qu. Then he says he knows she's not an alien anyone's ever seen before, her method of stealth was terrible, and then asks her about her culture. I believe it ended with her begrudgingly knowing she has to run back home, but she's happier now because she finally got to see this grand cosmic unity between posthumans the rest of her people refuses to interact with. Along with this was a comic in the same vein about a family of Pterosapiens, and it's just about a little kid on her first day of school and the family encouraging her to go and have fun, and it's a comic about how love persists even after we're gone.

20. Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy Well other than Godrick, I really enjoy drawing and rendering armor! I also enjoy drawing the tf2 mercs as they really are- just guys. They have fat, wrinkles, bits of grey hair, scars, hair, etc. I really dislike when people take those qualities away.

25. Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by Disney. I reeaaally don't look like Disney. I also really don't like Disney. Just a- and I really hate using this word- normie saying anything that looks vaguely cartoonish is Disney.

27. Do you warm up before getting to the good stuff? If so, what is it you draw to warm up with Oh god my fatal flaw is I spend too much focus on the warmups and never get to like, the good shit. Or I just jump right into the good shit, knowing I spend too much time on warmups, and then burn out cause my dumb ass is like 'why does my art look bad why cant i art today'

[bisluthq]

I’ve been in this fandom since debut and usually I’ve been uninterested about who songs are about and most of her personal life cause I used to just really not care.

But this joe -> matty -> Travis thing is the first time I really want gossip in the songs lol. Like I want to know what went down in her perspective with the joever. I want to know if she’ll self mythologise more and mention returning to Cornelia street (or something to imply it) as like a ‘lol I thought I’d never be able to function without you but like I’m girl bossing it and referencing only songs about you haha’

I want to know if she’ll address matty at all or if she’ll just be like ‘I already wrote long story short… I clung to the nearest lips, it’s what I do guys’

And as pure gossip, I want to know if Travis (or whoever is the next ‘oh wow I’m love and hope this works out with you’ person is) will be aware of all the love songs and awesome sex songs and be like ‘ok, I need to raise the bar and make you think religion is in MY LIPS! I’m the drug you’ll be using for the rest of your life!’ And will Taylor write songs deliberately with the intention of reassuring the next person ‘yes I swore up and down he was the best sex and love and I’d die if broke up but NOW IM ALL ABOUT YOU😍’

Like I headcannon that paper rings and lines like ‘all the boys and their expensive cars… never took me where you do’ was her addressing an insecurity of his where he might of been comparing herself to her exes and being like ‘I’m living with my parents right now and you just broke up with someone who could buy you diamonds for breakfast and I’m buying you a $100 necklace but they’d send you $400 bunches of flowers’ type thing. Which would be a fully valid insecurity imo.

And usually you end a LTR and move on with someone else and you’ll say ‘yeah we thought we’d get married but it didn’t work out, so it was rough’ and that’s sort of all your next partner will know about your ex unless you talk about them. But everyone including his family, friends and team knows (or only has to play an album out of curiosity) to know she was having otherworldly sex and that he helped pull her out of the darkest time and that she couldn’t imagine life without him.

And that’s normal stuff to write when you’re in love, but not everyone gets the creative writers brain and I so want to know if Travis/ whoever will feel like they have to compete with the ghost memory of joe lol

all very valid thoughts tbh. Absolutely - when us normies date someone we know they had past relationships where they got married/almost got married/whatever and it ended and it was rough and shit but we don’t have to hear about how in love they were with that person while like grocery shopping lmao. I’m not a jealous person at all but ngl I wouldn’t be thrilled to hear Lover in the mall if it had been written about my current partner’s ex 🙈