#to quote the twitter trending page

[cooliopumpkin]

It's time.

[hiael]

Obey Me! Headcanons that the voices in my head created

The pact marks don't affect the MC in general, but when they are used, the color of the user's eyes tends to change to the color of sin (when Solomon sees the color of his eyes changing to the colors of his brothers, geez, jealousy boy), it happens more often than you think and in addition to the marks on the body, it's a reminder to everyone that you're connected with the lords of hell.

Human beings can speak very quickly and neither demons nor angels can keep up when this happens. Scientifically, we talk fast because of anxiety, nervousness, excitement or the communication conditions that the environment provides. Solomon and MC talking about something they thought was cool during the tea? For the others it becomes a RAP battle and all they can hear is "hum, nah, ha, hehe", the rest is indecipherable. More than once, during a presentation or debate in class, MC was told to shut the fuck up or slow down so that everyone could understand.

All material related to the history of the human world is more or less 100 to 200 years out of date in the library. Satan is slowly trying to update this, but they think that 200 years is almost nothing for humans to change, so unlike technology (which they think they created with magic) they just don't care. A new iPhone ok, now the human being landed on the moon during a bloodless war? Their lie, do you still believe what mortals say?

Humans sleep more than angels and demons, but even less than demons from the circle of laziness. MC, Solomon and Belphie (and sometimes Luke) usually sleep in some places at RAD during and between classes.

All exchange students have their own fan club. Luke's must be the quietest, everyone friendly and kind so as not to disappoint the little angel. Did you see him walking past you today, sad that he hadn't managed to buy a keyring at the RAD art fair? Bitch surprise, his fan club are still demons, the keyring will mysteriously appear on his desk in the classroom written "To Luke, a little big ray of sunshine in our lives" and the person who bought it has left the RAD, anyone know why?

Still on the subject of fan clubs, we're not talking about Solomon's. If the number of demons he has a pact with isn't enough of a warning, there are others walking around in capes and blouses as if they were cosplayers and sending letters to his house with phrases like 'roses are red, violets are blue, can we make a pact? Signed: Demon X' should be a better warning

And to end the fan clubs, MC's are trained in the art of being meticulous, a silent army that lives in the shadows - meaning they are in the devildom version of twitter. Lots of photos taken on the sly, fanart of all kinds, fanfics, merchandise and videos edits of (and when were they sheep? There are millions and millions of images circulating out there). Ever wondered why Miss Em sold so much? The MC fandom. They won't compete with anyone for their attention, the sweet human is simply appreciated the way they are (and they don't want to be on the brothers' list to "get away from the MC"). The Human Appreciation Club was not approved by the student council and they removed their devilpedia page, but that didn't erase these demons desire to idolize MCs. Live, love and laugh for MC, the way simps are.

At some point, the Real or Cake trend went crazy until Luke, who started making desserts that looked like everyday things, only stopped after surprising Simeon by cutting a cell phone-shaped cake (Simeon tried to break his with his hand after that, thinking it was cake. He spent 3 weeks without a phone)

Every time MC returns from a trip to the human world, they have to bring a suitcase just with souvenirs from there. Luckily, it can be anything they find fun, like a frog-shaped coaster, a jar of M&Ms with a pinwheel on top, a whole corn cake, a tie with a motivational quote, a children's book, or a coin of a specific year. Everyone just loves the fact that MC was thinking of them and they love using the gift they received. Barbatos's favorite tea set is now a completely transparent one with gold floral details.

Children's cartoons from 1940 still show on Devildom TV and Beel watches while eating or working out.

Lucifer has a family photo inside his wallet, Mammon once tried to steal his credit card, he was so shocked that he ended up screaming, he was caught and punish. Neither of them mention the photo.

[wingzie]

Keeping a "Safe Place" on Social Media (As Army and a Jikooker)

In my opinion, social media needs to take responsibility for what it has become. I don’t think it ever will, because it feeds on negative attention, but I try to focus on what I can do to help. For myself and others.

My bio on Twitter includes the sentence “A Positive and Safe Space for everyone” and I take this very seriously. As a baby Army, I used to be in several GC’s for report pages. Back then, reporting used to be primarily done in GC’s privately and we tried to limit any engagement. Soon afterwards, I started to witness a change: Egos started to get big, there was a saviour complex with Y/N tendencies, some would start engaging with the posts we reported and deals were being made behind the scenes to protect certain accounts. It made me sad to see this change in priorities and it wasn’t why I joined them in the first place, so I left when things started to go bad.

What did I do instead? Mute, block and report with my own system. I tend to “mute” someone first if they really annoy me and then “block” a second time if they are a repeat offender. I will automatically block and report someone if they say something really bad. I do not engage. That includes: liking, retweeting or quoting. It boosts the harmful tweet. Even more so if your display name includes something related to BTS or the members and it will add to the trends. By taking away the engagement, you are taking away their audience that they are hoping to gain.

I have mentioned before how a particular anti revealed that they would aim to get on a report page's radar, because the posts on them helped advertise their posts and accounts. Their plan was rather like a business model and it was scay how well thought out it all was. It was also clear that they had help and was in a GC thrmselves, just like the report pages were. When report GC's started to die out, they grew even more with how public the fighting became. The antis figured out how the change in social media worked in their benefit, before the rest of the fandom and even the social media creators itself did. They still fail to this day to understand how fandoms (and the language within them) changes over time. The algorithm encourages these type of negative posts too. On my second account I accidently liked a BTS tweet and my feed suddenly contained so much negativity about them, rather than about their projects or joy.

But how is all of this linked with being a Jikooker? Because we sometimes end up boosting that negativity that we really shouldn't. I quite honestly do not care what their theories are, but I always end up seeing them somewhere. More than I see actual posts about Jikook sometimes. Someone reached out to me that they felt like they knew more about tker theories than about BTS or Jikook as a whole. It's also why, whenever something negative happens, I start to spam more Jikookry instead. It's actually how the Live Reactions series was created, because I wanted to counter those talking bad about it. And to help us relive it with fondness.

I also think there is a lack of understanding about what the word "cult" actually means. It is up to an individual to try to break free, but it might also be difficult. There was a post by a young girl who had been added to a tker GC by a friend from school. She wanted to leave, because it was quite frankly bullshit, but was afraid to because she had given the GC owner some private information that they had threatened to leak if she left. That is terrifying and I sometimes think back to that girl and how she is doing. If she did manage to leave or not. For some, they are persuaded to stay whether they really want to or not.

That adds an entire new layer to all of this: Children being on the internet too young or not understanding the implications of certain things. I am a 90's kid. It was drilled into me religiously about the dangers of The Internet. That doesn't seem to be a thing anymore though, or they are quite literally left to their own devices. Because of this, we sadly saw an increase of online crimes aimed towards children during lockdown. There needs to be more done and again social media needs to be taking responsability. Ticking a box claiming your age does nothing to protect anyone. Not every Army with questionable intentions is a child though, of course. There are those that refuse to watch content or rely on heavily edited clips. I get a lot of those edits myself in my inbox, either by tkers or jkers who have found them and asked if they are true. My common answer: No. This is also why I try to give sources and encourage anyone to try to watch all the BTS content that they can. I know there is a lot, but it will help you on your journey. What can be done to stop them? Honestly, not much. We can hope to encourage them though and stop those that wish harm in their tracks. How do we do this? By being louder in our support. Because, at the moment, we're being louder with our hate and social media is boosting that even more. Rather than the praise and love that BTS and Jikook deserve.

[bunnyathy]

my favorite and funny silly headcannons (not rlly) and ooc ideas about the batfamily:

Damian Wayne:

- has a dedicated social media accounts for his pets. he gets income and sponsorship from luxury pet brands all the time because of it. he doesn’t really care about the money he’s just happy his pets get to have free stuff that give them a better and spoiled life.

- bro’s a gen alpha he’s probably a brainrot humor kind of kid but he hides it well but it comes out at random times

- he’s a dedicated hater, he loved kendrick lamar’s drake diss songs

- his personal/ official Damian Wayne tiktok account is literally just a hate page for his brothers (but in an endearing way he still loves them)

- prefers watching reels over tiktok bcs of the funny comments and the unhinged reels that come out there

- Damian Wayne is a weeb… he was absolutely there during the Anime tiktok lockdown era (if he was even born yet idk) so he knows all the cringe weeb shit.. he quotes it at random times….

- Damian was strictly shoujo mangas and anime but Jon showed him My Hero Academia and he LOVED it. he respects Koda and likes his quirk. MHA was one of the only mangas he read that’s not shoujo lol. (lets ignore the part where there was official damian wayne art where there was a chainsaw man manga with him (i dislike csm))

- he probably did one of those kpop pc decora things out of a printed picture of his fave anime character cough bakugo and tamaki suoh cough (he got influenced by flatline nika)

- he most likely listens to Twice bcs Flatline suggested it to him (this is not bcs I am a once (yes it is))

Batfam:

- to be able to keep up with Brucie Wayne’s diva it boy appearance he occasionally does those derma clinic facials and time to time he invites his kids. Stephanie absolutely is always with him, Cass as well but she’s only there because Steph seems to love it so she’ll always do what Steph loves. It came to a point where Tim Drake, Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson, Duke Thomas started to become pretty boys (Jason is not there he could not stand Brucie persona)

- there has been rumors of Brucie Wayne having a bbl and to prove them all wrong Brucie posted a gym workout where his focus was his ass. lets just say BRUCIE JUICY ASS?? on twitter was trending and the kids HATED it. maybe haha certain heroes liked it a little more than others lmfao

- Damian got hyperfixated on into the spiderverse and across the spiderverse he forced his whole family to rewatch it with him

- Jason got asked to come over to the manor by one of the siblings and took a sneaky pic of his whole body just to put it in one of those “dance if you love your family” ai dancing thing on tiktok. he never came back to the manor….

- Tim and Damian have this online feud in tiktok where they comment unhinge and insulting comments to their public official account each other but ofc its filtered so it can cross the tos. Damian once commented “I hope to see you hanging in the streets” and almost got banned from tiktok

- whenever any of the fam asks something from Cass that she doesn’t wanna do she goes “sorry I’m mute” (she takes advantage of her not so disability) Stephanie taught her that she said it would be funny. it works sometimes bcs the other was probably too tired to notice or just goes along bcs they think Cass learning gen Z humor is funny.

aight ive ran out of ideas they were just mostly damian and batfam AHAHAHAH

[saturnisfallingdown]

what’s going on with dan and phil? did one of them just cone out?? i thought they were already gay?

HI NORA LMAOOOOOO . YEAH THIS MUST BE REALLY FUNNY FROM THE OUTSIDE ... but they are in fact already out and have been since 2019!!

the modern day context of what got them on the trending page of every social media at once is:

dan released a proshoot of his stand-up special (very good btw !!!) on youtube and it resulted in this exchange on twitter

[ID: A screenshot of Twitter, showing a tweet from Daniel Howell (@/danielhowell), linking to the We're All Doomed! Full comedy special, and saying "presenting my live theatrical comedy show that asks - when the world is this bad, should we all just give up and die? enjoy/sorry/thank you🧡". Phil Lester (@/AmazingPhil) quote retweets the post, reading "every time i see this it makes me laugh and cry at the same time until i’m a shaking mess on the floor. great show thanks danny!!". A reply from Daniel Howell reads "🧡". End ID]

fans went bananas because thats far more public sincerity than is normal from either of them. this led to your normal combo of "awe they support each other's creative projects so much 🧡" and "PHAN IS REAL ??" posting. this all exploded about 1000x over when this morning dan posted a screenshot of the whole interaction to his youtube community page just saying

[ID: A Youtube Community post from Daniel Howell, reading "gay" with a video link and attached screenshot of the previous twitter interaction. End ID]

[joshleyson]

summer 2023 on film

El Nido + Puerto Princesa

shot entirely using Fujifilm Simpleace 35 mm camera

☾

“Some of the earliest memories I can recall are of my mother instructing me to always “save ten percent of yourself.” What she meant was that, no matter how much you thought you loved someone or thought they loved you, you never gave all of yourself. Save 10 percent, always, so there was something to fall back on. “Even from Daddy, I save,” she would add. Stop crying! Save your tears for when your mother dies.”

- Crying in H Mart, Michelle Zauner

This was a part of my 10%. To be able to disconnect. To breathe. To try to heal and maybe, that would be the last thing that can save me.

So happy to finally go back to the majestic islands of Palawan for the third time after a year, this time specifically in El Nido (and a side trip in Puerto Princesa). The last time I’ve been to El Nido was 5 years ago when I flew back to Manila with a copy of my leg X-ray and prescription meds after my first vehicular accident. But this time, amidst the Betty super typhoon, I and my friends were still able to pull it off safely and enjoyed wandering from one island to another, relaxing on the beach for hours, and having lots of mango shakes! This trip I also finished which I feared to be my Book of the Year which is that quote from above. Michelle Zauner literally took me on a surprisingly, meaningful journey which was a great accompaniment for my 6-day vacation trip. Also, I’m planning to compile my “recent book list” of the year just to break the usual “travel beach photos” trend on this page (I know 😅). I still have a lot to post from this trip but this dump of photos captured on a Fujifilm summarizes the beauty of nature and the summer season that’s so real, quaint, and frozen in time, but will always hit me with a wave of comfort and familiarity.

Goodbye, summer. See you next year ☀️

J.

🎥 watch the short mood film here:

//

FOLLOW ME:

Instagram/TikTok/Twitter: joshleyson

(Music by GIVEON. All rights belong to him and his publishers. For personal and non-commercial use only. Stream his great music on Spotify and Apple Music.)

[flowerpotmage]

Tight Grip, Broken Dam (15)

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You don’t question it anymore, when Miguel appears in your bed at night. He’s not there for sex, no, you’ve never even kissed—though you would be lying if you said you weren’t open to the idea of kissing him. He’s there for comfort. For rest. If only it could stay so simple.

Pair: Miguel O'Hara & GN!Reader

Notes: for chapter: poorly written in-universe journalism, friendly sparring, miguel in his feelings

Word Count: 2.9k

Read this chapter on Ao3 here. If you like my work, please consider leaving kudos there as well! You do not need an account to do so.

Our City Spider, a new column by Karen Page

Speculations that our friendly neighborhood Spider had been taken off the playing field permanently, either due to disabling injuries or death, have been put to bed. It’s official: Spider is back.

The vigilante hero was seen early Wednesday evening near Crosby Street, with photos and videos of the web-slinger posted soon after to social media and trending locally shortly after. It had been just over two weeks since the hero’s last sighting, at the now infamous Club Scorpion slaughters where they had been seen with a large torso injury before disappearing.

“They saved me about a year or so back,” Twitter user hawkeyestan69 said in a quote-Tweet of another user’s photos of Spider. “I’m glad they’re still kicking.”

Although Spider has maintained a nearly five-star reputation amongst the people of the city, they remain notoriously elusive to the press and have yet to endear themselves to our police force.

“I’m grateful for their work in saving lives,” one member of the force has said on the condition of anonymity. “Especially at Club Scorpion. That could have been so much worse, and we all know it. But they’re still a civilian, and I worry about what that means.”

“The Spider has done work for the people of this city,” Captain Stacy, the captain on duty the night of the Club Scorpion slaughters, said in a recent press statement. “But they are still a vigilante. We cannot become reliant on them to protect this city—their absence, whatever the cause, reinforces that fact.”

Despite the difference in opinions across officials and the public, this reporter is glad to see our Spider back, alive and well.

Gwen flips over your head, arms tucked into her chest and body straight as a pencil. You duck and watch her, crouched low to the floor.

“Doing great, kids!” Peter calls from the side.

“Feel free to join whenever,” you say, launching yourself to the side in a roll and sprint when Gwen fires off two quick webs at you.

“I’m good over here with Mayday.”

You jump, doing your own flip off a wall and firing back your own webs at Gwen who dodges just as easily.

Open space sparring practice is weird for the both of you, but presents a unique challenge to you and the rest of the Spider-People (and sentient non-people) used to terrain filled with nooks, crannies, and surfaces to climb and jump off and hide behind.

“You're avoiding hand to hand,” a new voice says.

Miguel-209.

“Yeah, they’re really half-assing it,” Peter comments, half-sarcastically.

“Oh, you can do better?” Gwen says, standing and placing a hand on her hip, all banter.

Miguel-209 stands with crossed arms by Peter. He raises an eyebrow, looking from Gwen to you and offering a small smile when he sees you already looking at him. One that you return.

“I think I can, yes,” he says.

“Have some confidence man,” Peter says, tapping Miguel-209’s arm with the back of his hand.

You smile wider at the little glance Miguel shoots at Peter—not quite a glare—and nod at him to join you on the mat when he looks your way again.

“Alright,” he says, and walks towards you.

Gwen raises her eyebrows at the two of you and walks off to stand next to Peter, effectively trading places with Miguel-209.

“Are you much of a hand to hand person?” He asks.

You shrug. “I wouldn't necessarily say that.”

He nods. “But you know the basics.”

“Enough to get by.”

“Let's work on that then.”

You shift into a ready stance, and he scans you over and mirrors you.

“Go ahead.”

You hesitate, fists raised, and then shoot a web at him. He dodges by leaning far to the side, looking at you and then shifts back.

“That’s not hand to hand.”

You shoot another, and this time when he leans out of the way he grabs the long strand of web still attached to your wrist, pulling you closer. You stumble, ducking under the swing of his hand and finally shaking the web free from the spinneret in your wrist, balancing on your hands to swing a leg out at his ankles. Miguel-209 jumps back, landing with his finger pad talons extended—you watch as he retracts them.

“Pretty good recovery,” he says, smiling warmly. You catch a flash of his teeth, of a fang, before he closes his lips again and lunges for you.

It goes on like this for a few minutes. Miguel-209 attacks, you dodge and try to counter, he dodges, and it starts again. Attack, dodge, attack, dodge. You finally gain the upper hand when you use your webs again, landing one on his ankle and pulling hard. He topples, foot yanked out from under him and landing on his back with a soft oof from his lungs.

“You went easy on me,” you chuckle, catching your breath as you stand over him.

His eyes twinkle as he looks up at you from the mat. “So did you.”

You offer a hand, helping him back to his feet. “Again?”

He nods, the two of you retaking your starting positions. “Let’s kick it up a notch.”

This time you start, bolting towards him before the anticipation can build too much or he can prepare himself too well. Instead of going to block you, he swipes—big arms going to grapple you. You drop, sliding under his grasp and past his legs, swinging on the floor to kick at the back of his knee.

It buckles under the impact and Miguel-209 nearly drops to the floor, catching himself on his hands before his knee touches the mat. He spins, turning to face you and lunging again—

You barely blink before you’re on your back and Miguel’s got your thigh pinned to the ground under his foot, his palms pressing each forearm to the floor. His fingers aren’t wrapped around your limbs, and when you look you see it’s because the sharp points in his fingertips are out and piercing the gym-mat under you.

You look back up at him, and blink. “Damn.”

He laughs, and you catch a glance of his teeth again.

“Best of three?” you ask.

“Let’s call it a draw,” he says, pulling his hands back with a small tug, lifting his foot off your leg. He offers an outstretched palm to help you up, and you take it. “You did pretty good, I’d hate to embarrass you more in front of your friends.”

You laugh, dropping his hand now that you’re standing. “Sounds like projection to me.”

You switch with Gwen, who’s eager to give it another try after a short rest.

“He’s good,” Peter says when you lean against the wall next to him.

You hum in agreement, watching Gwen and Miguel-209 spar. His style is different from your own Miguel’s, and your mind wanders to the thought of sparring with him. He’s stronger than you by leagues, that’s a given, but you’re faster. If you put your all into evasion, would he be able to catch you? Maybe. He’s clever, afterall. What would that be like? Would he pin you, like 209 did just then? He’s comfortable with you, he’d probably get closer, crowd you in. Would he be less afraid to manhandle you? You hope so—

You blink, jolted out of your quickly devolving daydream, at the slam of Gwen hitting the mat, face hot.

“Good job,” Miguel-209 says, pulling her off the floor with an offered hand.

“Thanks,” Gwen grins, cheeks flushed and breathless from the exertion of the quick fight. She turns to you and Peter. “Anyone else hungry?”

“I could eat,” you nod.

Miguel-209 nods with you, and then the four of you—plus May—go to the cafeteria. You each take turns holding the baby so everyone can eat in peace, without her reaching hands in the way. While Miguel-209 answers Gwen’s stream of questions, Peter watches you bounce May on your lap, eyes scanning over your half eaten meal, and the little to-go box sitting next to your plate.

“Bringing food to the boss again?”

You look at Peter over his daughter’s head, his face one of carefully crafted and open neutrality. You don’t reply—but your face must say enough, because Peter looks at Miguel-209 next to you, then pointedly back at you.

You shake your head, not in response to his question but in response to… whatever that look was, and look back at Gwen.

“I was wondering if I could crash at yours again,” she says. “Things are stirring up in Hobie’s dimension, and I stick out like a sore thumb over there.”

“Of course,” you smile. “You’re welcome any time.”

“You can always stay with me and MJ,” Peter adds.

You make plans for Gwen to come by yours later that night, before everyone finishes eating and goes their separate ways.

You bring your to-go container to Miguel’s lab.

“Hey,” you call into the shadows.

No response. Not entirely unusual, so you forge ahead.

“I brought you some food, in case you haven’t eaten,” you say, and then you see him.

He’s on his platform, the one with all the golden holo-screens and files and reports. His back is to you, tension in his shoulders and spine slightly hunched—microscopically, but you notice all the same. You’ve seen something similar enough times to guess at what’s happening.

A quick thwip of web from the spinneret in your wrist and you’re on the platform with him, setting the little takeout container to the side.

“Hey,” you say again, softer, quieter.

Miguel takes a breath.

You close the gap, walking slow enough for him to turn or stop you, and rest your hand on his back. He turns his head to look at you now, frustration and hurt in his eyes. You don’t lift your hand when he turns his body to face you, instead letting it slide from his shoulder blade around to rest on his upper arm.

“You okay?” you ask.

His eyes drop from yours, brow furrowing slightly more, his chest rising with a deep and steadying inhale.

“Yeah,” he says.

It’s automatic, the way your hand squeezes his arm in reassurance, the way something in the back of your mind flips at the size of it under your hand, the way you step forward to wrap your arms around his middle. He hesitates, stiffening slightly, and you start to pull back, but then his arms are around you—engulfing you—and you’re pulled back in.

He’s still tense. Still… off, somehow.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” you ask, cheek against the muscle of his chest. You can hear his heart like this, the cartilage of your ear against his suit. The red glows slightly, and you close your eyes against it.

It thumps steadily, kicks up and chugs along when Miguel shakes his head, face against the top of your head.

“Okay,” you say. “I’m here, though.”

Your heart stops when he kisses the top of your head, pulling away and unwrapping his arms from around you.

“You brought me food?” he asks, struggling to meet your eyes.

You clear your throat, turning and picking up the takeout box to hand it over to him. “I had a feeling you’d forget lunchtime, so…”

He accepts it, gloved fingers grazing yours. “Thank you.”

You swallow, tamping down the zing that races up your arm. “Want some company?”

He actually smiles a little, now. It’s tight, but it’s something. “Sure.”

You settle into your usual spot, leaning back against an infrequently used area of the console and watch him close out a task on his holo-screens. With his back to you he turns his attention back to the food you’ve brought him. You watch as he turns and mirrors you in resting his weight on the console—though its height is too tall for you to casually perch, it’s perfect for him to half-sit, half-lean on. You watch as he pulls his glove off with his teeth, your breath catching.

He looks at you at the small sound of your inhale, the glove still in his teeth and paused mid-pull.

You stare.

His eyes flick across your face, and then he continues, slowly pulling his hand fully out from the tight blue and red fabric. Once his hand is free he takes the glove from his teeth and sets it aside.

You swallow. “I always assumed you could just…” You gesture vaguely, the movement of your hand indicating sweeping something back from your face. “The mask thing. But that’s the second time I’ve seen you take your glove off like that.”

The corner of his lips twitch, looking down as he opens the takeout food container. “The shape of a hand is more complicated for the nano-fiber technology,” he explains. I need it to be tougher there than on my face, on account of…” he pauses, rubbing his fingertips together, before spreading his fingers and allowing the sharp points hiding in his fingertips to emerge.

You nod, looking at his bare hand. “I see.”

He retracts the sharp points—you briefly wonder at the correct terminology. Are they talons? Claws? Something else?—and begins eating.

“You know,” you begin, watching his hand. “I don’t think we’ve ever sparred.”

Miguel raises an eyebrow at you. “No, we haven’t.”

You meet his gaze. “Do you spar with anybody?”

“I get my practice out there,” he says, and you know he’s referring to his city.

“Mm. I see.”

He eats in silence for a moment, and you consider asking if he would ever spar with you, images your mind had conjured earlier returning to present themselves. You squash them own, and instead say:

“Gwen’s going to stay with me again for a little bit.”

Miguel looks down, and nods.

Miguel hates his apartment.

He lives in what amounts to a penthouse at the top of the Spider Society Headquarters building, and it’s just as sterile as every floor below. Sleek white walls and counters, gray furniture. He gave up on trying to keep a plant months ago, after seeing how healthy yours were in comparison to his sad attempts. The couch is bare with the exception of two stiff throw pillows—a slate blue-gray.

He passes the living room, the kitchen, and goes straight to the bedroom.

“Lyla, start the shower.”

“You got it, boss.”

The dull white noise hum sound of the shower starting reaches his ears as he strips, shrugging off the torso of his suit, pulling his arms free of the tight fabric like a snake shedding its skin.

The bed in the center of the room—overly large for just one person, even a man of his stature—looks all wrong. The bed sheets are too smooth, the blanket crisp and set as if ready to be photographed for an online shop listing.

He huffs a breath out of his nose, turning his attention back to shedding his suit.

He leaves it in a puddle on the floor, straightening up with a roll of his shoulders. The still air on his bare skin feels… odd. Almost unpleasant, even.

He leaves nearly all the lights off, and Lyla lets them be as well, as he leaves the room and makes his way to the bathroom—one light is on in here, dim and warm, soft on his sensitive eyes.

His shower is better than yours. The water pressure, the size, the quality of the water itself. But even so the enjoyment—and the sudden memory of the last time he was in here thinking about you, getting off to a wet dream—is muddied by an undercurrent of something he can’t name. He rushes through his shower as the water runs rivulets and rivers over his skin, helping lather and then clear off the soap he uses to clean every inch of his skin.

It comes back when he’s out of the shower, meeting his reflection’s eyes. He tries to rub it away as he moisturizes, as he returns to his room and dresses. It trots at his heels behind him through the hall and to the kitchen, rises up higher still at the sight of his pathetically bare fridge. He hasn't been spending enough time here to get groceries, so it's no surprise. He’s been putting more focus into your fridge, back home—

“Shock,” he whispers, squeezing his eyes shut and covering his face with his palm. His fork clatters to his half-empty dish.

Even though he can't see it, eyes covered as they are, he feels the empty space around him. Too empty. The air is closing in—

He takes a shuddering, deep breath. This is fine. He can manage to exist in his own home for one night.

When was the last time he actually did, though?

He’s barely there as he puts the remainder of his food in the fridge (he couldn't bring himself to eat the rest, the unease in his stomach is too vivid, too large) and places the dish in the sink. He’s miles—no, universes away as his body walks down the hallway to his room and slides under his bedsheets. The walls are too empty, he thinks while laying on his side.

He shuts his eyes and sighs as he rolls onto his back—then huffs a frustrated breath and rolls over onto his stomach, burying his face in his pillow. The smell of it is wrong, but the pressure on his chest is better.

He can do this. He can sleep in his own room.

<< Previous Chapter | Masterlist | Next Chapter >>

[i-like-turkey]

Twitter Trending Explainer

Why do we want to trend?

Visibility. If we reach the trend page, anyone who gets curious and clicks on our trend will learn about our fight for NCIS: Hawaii. Maybe they do nothing with that knowledge. But maybe they get a bit annoyed on our behalf and decide not to watch CBS’s programing. Maybe they see the link to the petition and put their name down. Maybe a journalist sees the trend and gets curious and wants to write about us. All of those outcomes are vital wins.

Strength and Unity. Trending also shows our strength and unity as a fandom. If we can come together to consistently trend, it will let CBS know that we aren’t going away and that we will continue to annoy the hell out of them until make this right. And what will happen if they don't make it right (Loss of viewership, canceled Paramount+ subscriptions, etc.)

Media Coverage. Trends are also important as we solicit media coverage. We can point to each trend as an accomplishment worthy of writing about in addition to all of our other efforts. Media coverage is one of our biggest weapons in this fight. We’re getting some coverage, but we’ve yet to get coverage from the places that matter (trades, magazines, big newspapers). We can get that coverage if we yell loud enough.

Catharsis. Trending is also just a damn good way to release our feelings. We can vent our grief or anger or come together to celebrate the good times we’ve had a fandom and the characters and show that we love.

How do we trend?

By tweeting a lot within a short amount of time. Twitter’s algorithm prioritizes emerging conversations. That’s why we always want to have a fresh tag alongside #SaveNCISHawaii. The fresh tag is our best chance to trend. #SaveNCISHawaii is there because it is the home for the campaign and what people can click on for more context about our tweets.

What counts as success?

Getting on the worldwide or country specific trend pages is the best possible outcome. If we make it there, we’re getting our message out to more people. Making the Entertainment trend page is a very good outcome. We might not reach as many people as the worldwide/country trends, but it’s still more visible than the For You trends which are selected based on user behavior.

What should I write in my tweets?

Each tweet should include #SaveNCISHawaii plus the daily tag and whatever words and emojis you want that are related to the show and/or the daily tag. DON’T use hateful speech or anything else that will get you banned from Twitter or lead to law enforcement knocking on your door. We can be angry, but not that angry.

Do retweets help?

NO. Use a quote tweet instead of a retweet. Add both tags and a couple words.

[mistbow]

I love Sorey’s ending MA in Rays, Raijin Souhyoujin (雷迅創雹刃).

It is an Ice- and Lightning-elemental MA, the elements reflecting his connection to Mikleo and Gramps respectively. He’s really an Elysian through and through, in the end, going back to his origin (historical technicalities would make his hometown Camlann, but that’s just historical technicalities; his heart belongs to Elysia forever.)

Also love how they went for “雹” instead of plain “氷” for the “ひょう” part of the name. “雹” or “hail” in English, is a type of precipitation (condensation of water vapor) that usually gets formed during thunderstorms. Again, you could see the connection to his Elysian family.

雷を呼び、限界を超える全身全霊の一撃を放つ魔鏡技。 A mirrage arte that calls forth lightning and unleashes a blow of one’s whole body and soul transcending the limits.

Again with the 全身全霊/whole body and soul, but this time transcending even the limits. He even says it in the quote.

来たれ神雷！オレの全てで！限界を超える！ Come forth, divine thunder! With my everything! I will transcend the limits!

Popular theory has it that Sorey might be Heldalf’s biological son (there are more than just that one manga page supporting this theory, btw, hints were even in the game itself, but we’re not getting into this today) and in a way, he inherited Lion’s Howl (獅子戦吼) from him, so now even beyond that, he inherits one from his actual parent, the only one that matters to him.

I know Sorey being mostly associated with the Lightning element is not a new thing; after all, both his MAs in the original game, Bolt Tempest (雷迅双豹牙) and Divine Wrath (烈震神雷牙), are for all intent and purposes Lightning-elemental anyway, they’re only Void in the game because it’s Zestiria that classifies Lightning/Light and Dark under Void... but here are some other fun stuff while we’re at it:

Kimura Ryouhei (Sorey’s JP VA) suddenly tweeting Indignation chant, which made Indignation trended on Twitter on that day too. In Tales of Memoria, years before this tweet was even made, Tales-related questions were asked to the VAs, and one of the questions was what arte they would want to use, and Kimura answered Indignation to that.

Speaking of Indignation... I’ve always wondered why Sorey’s profile in Perfect Guide has Maotelus’ crest instead of the usual Shepherd’s dragon’s crest.

In the official Chinese localization of the game, Sorey’s name is rendered 史雷, very fitting for him since it consists of the characters for “history” and “lightning” and I will always love his Chinese name for this... really unintended meaningful name.

So yeah, Lightning child Sorey. As far as Sorey is concerned, Zenrus is his parent, the one who could give him more than enough love that he couldn’t get from the father and mother he’d never had.

[kenzie-ann27]

I really would love for some sort of conversation or interview with both Anthony Carrigan and Arian Moayed, specifically about what it was like to take those guest characters that they auditioned for and how they just completely remade them into series mainstays; NoHo Hank was meant to die in the pilot, Stewy Hosseini was only meant to be in one episode, yet they're always standouts, always the fan favorites in the episodes we were lucky enough to see them in. I mean, a quote about Stewy's sexuality was trending for hours on Twitter. We had a more visceral reaction to Hank's death than Barry's, and he was the main character! It might just be me, but it'd be fascinating to hear what it was like to play such amazing characters that were somehow more loveable than the main characters that we spent every single episode with for the past five years.

Adding to this to say these characters literally could not have been played by anyone else, which might add a lot to their charm. I imagine they were written as very one-dimensional characters, the Chechen gangster and the Wall Street financer, but Anthony and Arian brought so much nuance and ugliness and beauty to these characters. They were tragically doomed lovers, they got complex backstories, they were so much more than what they were written to be, which is why these typecast actors fit them so well. So used to being taken at face value just because of their looks that they made these characters so unapologetically open, so pridefully themselves. Basically blank pages, they had stories to be written, and they got exactly the right actors who knew how to write them.

[archivxx]

✯[0.11]✯

Previous || Next

AN: i recommend reading [0.11-extra] before this, some things may not make sense completely without it.

Note: I agree to things before I have the chance to fully think them through, I’m impulsive and that’s certainly not benefitting me.

You had arrived to fake-dating Thursday on time, for once. Not something that happened very often for any event, let alone fake-dating Thursday. In fact, you weren’t just on time but you were early. You were now sat in the cafe at ten minutes to ten waiting for Clyde to make his appearance.

A small part of you actually wished he wouldn’t come today, after the embarrassment that was yesterday. The scene of you massaging sunscreen into Clyde’s chest replaying itself in your head. You would never live it down, by far, out of everything that was the worst thing you’ve ever had to do in this fake-relationship. Hell, it was the worst thing you’ve ever had to do in your life. It was humiliating.

But, you couldn’t keep dwelling on it, plus, considering Clyde’s track record he probably wouldn’t address it. So instead you decided to focus your attention on planning an outfit for the concert, you wouldn’t be leaving next week and you swore you would dress your absolute best. This definitely wasn’t the first concert you’d ever done but this was definitely the first one with meaning so deep to it.

You continued to busy yourself by reading the most recent updates from some of your favourite critics—they had all written some amazing comments about the band—they always kept your mind occupied when you needed it. You quickly checked the time, Clyde was late, which considering his “character” tardiness was the last thing your expected.

Shit. You were thinking about him again.

You made a quick effort to think of something, anything else. Clicking on random tabs and websites to distract you, even going as far as to accidentally click on a pop-up-ad of some random “milf” supposedly 20 miles from you, in a desperate attempt to essentially jumpscare the thoughts out of your head. After clicking on the pop-up-ad, it had absolutely worked. You quickly x-ed out of the tab and went onto twitter, it had been a while since you last properly checked it.

You opened up twitter and went onto the trending page only to find yourself gobsmacked.

You stared at the tag, Clyde was trending? Why the fuck was Clyde trending? You clicked on it, a force in your finger that almost snapped it in half, you could of sworn you felt it throb for a moment.

You read through a few of the messages then re-read them, well it was nice that none of them were necessarily negative, however, you were absolutely not prepared for, for half a moment your thought you’d fallen off your chair. Then you focused on the first one, it was a quote tweet, the original poster was Stan. What the fuck? Your mouth practically unhinged.

By now Clyde had arrived however you couldn’t bring yourself to look up, in fact, you couldn’t take your eyes off the computer screen, no way this had gotten out of work. You felt physically sick. You looked up at Clyde your mouth still agape, he cocked his head ever so slightly. You slowly raised your hand and motioned him to come over, he quickly rushed around and bent down next to you staring at the screen. You heard the faintest of gasps.

You turned to Clyde with a look which must have been horrifying as when you made eye contact he flinched, only slightly. He sighed and stoop up, straightening his back then he walked over to the chair opposite you and folded himself in it. The chair looked like a kids toy chair compared to him. It felt like ever since yesterday, after seeing his body, he seemed even bigger than usual, like an illusion of sorts.

You opened you mouth, you were going to say something profound had you not been in a total state of shock and disbelief, completely void of things to say. Clyde, surprisingly, seemed to pick up on your state and decided to speak for you, “I’m going to be honest, Y/N one of the first things we agreed was that this deal was strictly for in the work place, even my public relations manager had advised we do as such, I’m sorry you friend did something so shitty, but I don’t know how going to deal with this, however we will so you need to try to calm down. It’s not the end of the world.”

You redirected your wandering gaze towards him. What was he saying? Whatever it was it didn’t make sense to you, you were sure you were going to hurt. Right now, all you needed to do was pretend this wasn’t real and deal with it when you aren’t as worked up about it—which would probably be never.

“I doesn’t matter. We’ll deal with it later, Clyde. Let’s go get coffee.” You quickly clicked off the tab and closed your laptop. You had, for a very long time, known how to condition yourself and how to fake it, which, as of right now was your biggest ally. If you faked it, you faked it to yourself and if you fake it to yourself you didn’t have to think about it.

Luckily for you, Clyde had caught onto what you were doing and simply got up and followed you to the counter, not saying a single word. All he did was stand next to you, so close you could feel his body heat, like it was radiating. For some reason, it made you feel safe—protected.

The barista gave the customer before you their order and walked up to the cash register, giving you all her attention. “Hi! What can I get for you today?” Her voice was sickeningly friendly you almost told her to get real but instead your bit your tongue and answered, making a point of staying polite.

“Hi! Can I get a chamomile tea and an iced coffee? Two pumps of caramel.” Clyde gave you a look before paying for the order. The barista wandered off to prepare your drinks. You sighed, realising a breath you hadn’t even realised you’d been holding. You felt so incredibly tense.

“I heard your don’t have a room for next week? Getting one lest minute is going to be really hard you know?”

“Yeah I do know, Clyde. What is the aim of telling me something I already know.”

“Well I was thinking,” he paused, seemingly deep in thought. Looking for the words. “Without this sounding obnoxious maybe you could share with me?”

You felt yourself suck in some air. What was up with him today? You whipped your head around to him, your mind felt frantic. What could he possibly want sharing a room with you? You stared at him, hoping he would explain or tell you something, anything that made the whole idea sound even a little bit less creepy.

He stared at you for a moment before trying to explain only to get too worked up. He stopped and took a deep breath. “Okay, that’s not what I mean, I mean I have a room booked for the week from Pete as a thank your gift for letting him stay at my place. However, I’m only going to be there for three days, two before you’re supposed to arrive and the day of. I have a few meeting down there then I’m preforming then you perform then the day after I have to leave, I have another performance so we’d only be sharing for one day.”

You swallowed thickly and nodded, slowly. “Okay but that one night we do cross over, we’re going to have to share a bed.”

“No, we won’t. The room I booked is two bedroom.”

“Oh.”

Really, there was no reason decline, no matter how hard you searched and racked your brain. You began to weigh up the options, but really you hadn’t considered any negatives aside from the one of you maybe walking in on the other changing and concluded that declining would be foolish. You were already struggling enough trying to work out what you were going to do a free room would be really perfect.

You sighed. “Oh what the hell. Yeah, if you don’t mind, I’ll share with you. Thank you so much Clyde.”

He did his mouth-twitch-thing. “You’re welcome.”

You tried not to focus too much on his face, or that fact that his mouth-twitch-thing—which was now the technical term—only seemed to be reserved for you. It, honestly, made you happy that Clyde could trust you enough to be a “vulnerable”—but not really just a little laid back—version of himself. It was like this deal you had was also a secret alliance, it was nice.

The more you thought about how the deal had brought you closer the more the anxiety of it ending in just under a week began to peck at your head. Would you just go back to normal like nothing had ever happened? Like you hadn’t kissed him—twice—or like you hadn’t sat on his lap? Would all that just be forgotten and you return to a normal life like you had just 3 months ago?

The thoughts began to form into anxiety in the pit of your stomach, if anything, you really liked Clydes company, you’d even gained solace in it once or twice, you didn’t want that go away, you honestly wanted him to stay a part of your life. But for now, you had to dismiss the thoughts, you couldn’t entertain them till next week, right now, you just need to focus on being happy. Being in a bad mood wouldn’t help anyone while your practice and prepare for the show next week.

Almost as if on cue, the barista called your drinks out, knocking you off your train of thoughts completely. You took a step forward and grabbed your drink, taking a sip of it. Any sadness you’d had vanished completely in that moment, this drink was exactly what you needed, you felt yourself physically brighten up.

You made your way back to the table, sitting where you had sat before when your found out about—

It didn’t matter.

Clyde folded himself into the chair across from you again. The silence was awkward but telling. You both know something had to be said or you would be stuck here staring at each other longer than needed. Alas no matter how much your racked your brain you couldn’t find a single conversation, considering how close you and Clyde had gotten you still weren’t unfamiliar to awkward silences with him.

Clyde picked up his phone and check up them sat up straight. “Fuck.” The “u” lasted for longer than what was probably necessary. “I’m so sorry but I need to go.” He got up and grabbed his bag and left quickly, not waiting for your goodbye.

A little rude.

You let out a breath, you didn’t know you had been holding, and slumped back in your chair. Today was absolutely going to be a long one.

You opened up your laptop again and logged back in. Happy to not see twitter when you opened it. You would have to ask Tolkien to make a statement about it and make one yourself and get Clyde to make one.

This shit was too much for a Thursday morning.

You went onto a random gaming site. Usually when you were upset or stressed about something, playing crappy online games helped. Your favourite one had to be and of the Papa’s games, today though, you had a craving for Papa’s Freezeria.

You had been playing for roughly 15 minutes when your brain decided to abruptly remind you of the deal you had made with Clyde.

Shit.

You had originally agreed because a free room is a free room, a lunatic would turn that down. But then you remembered, this was your shitty life. Nothing ever went the way you wanted them to go, no you essentially were a rom-com now. There was no way you would get out of this amazing offer unscathed. You knew for a fact, without a shadow of a doubt there would not be two beds.

There would be one.

Of course there would.

You would have to share a bed with Clyde Donovan.

Masterlist

Taglist: @h3artilly @bootsieboo @ryenwritess @southparktegreity @lacunaanonymoused

(Taglist is still open)

[stevemarmel]

A Non-Technical Review of Spoutible

I have been one of a handful of people that have been beta testing Chris Bouzy's Spoutible (Http://www.Spoutible.com) for the last few days. 

Before I go too deep, I'll say this: I'm still on Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram and have a page on facebook. But... those are interconnected. Post one, it lands on the other. If you wanna find me, here's the obligatory linktree. I'll be adding to it, eventually.

I think 2024 is going to be the election where we have to utilize a lot of different social media platforms to get our messages out and organize.

So... This is a very non-scientific review but I'm not going anywhere. I hope to use Twitter (ugh), Mastodon (I use Ivory), Post (of course) and others. As easily as possible.

I am making a point of figuring out which of these Twitter alternatives I want to park on and use the most. I'm looking for familiarity, all the best tools of Twitter, without the "Tools on twitter." It's vile, and I tire of the pale emperor.

So I'm looking for a good service that is run by someone with good intentions. And that's what I think Spoutible is.

It has all the stuff i like on Twitter. Threads. Character limits. DMs (except they're encrypted!) Trending topics.

I'm enjoying the diversity of opinion there even in the beta. I am hoping that stays the same. I know that's part of Chris Bouzy's vision. I am hoping that I am part of a wide variety of opinions.

And yeah, that includes the right, as long as it's not the racist, trolling right wing (OR left wing). I don't need another bigot thunder dome and it seems as if that's the goal. I'm not looking for a silo but I am looking for civilization.

The site itself is beautiful and clean. Pictures load. Links load. DMs are private. You can easily follow, share or quote. Obviously, right now it has that new car smell and we'll see what happens when the flood gates open. Like other services, I (and I hope you) give it a chance to have and overcome flaws.

I also hope that it allows connections between Twitter, Mastodon, Post, Instagram, Counter Social and more.

You can find all my links here: https://linktr.ee/stevemarmel

Twitter was great when it was the giant public mall we could all safely hang at but... let's be honest. That twitter is on life support. It's like we're all communicating in a war zone. It's still necessary for activism but man, it's a slog.

Will Spoutible be a tool to organize and activate in 2023 and 2024? I hope so. I believe in it. I'll ride the roller coaster with the rest of you... I think there are at least 150K waiting to get in when the doors fly open on Feb 1.

I know this isn't a TECHNICAL review. It's a personal one. I made a TON of actual friends on twitter. Real life people I'd never know were it not for the service. I miss that the most. It's what I hope for the next wave of social media. I saw "Everything Everywhere All At Once" a few days ago and resonated with the character who begged "Please Be Kind."

And fighting unkindness with kindness.

#BreachDay is coming. (Well, that's what I'm calling it). I look forward to seeing you there. I am Marmel (surprise!)

P.S. I coined "#Spoutipets" - here's Lambeau as they anxiously await the launch.

[pokeheros-drama]

kavina being transphobic

alright folks, tord here. ive got an absolute bone to pick!

here is whats started it:

i blocked out the other users as they werent involved whatsoever, the feed this takes place on is on trending at the time of writing so you can find it if you want!

now, since this little shit wants to call me pro groomer, im airing out her other feeds because theyre directly related to what i commented about (at least, the ones i myself took screenshots of, i know of others but arent going to drag diff users into this), i do NOT PLAY WITH THIS.

LETS START AT THE BEGINNING…. :)

after being called over to see a troubling transphobic post kavina made, which, i didnt screenshot but will quote (this feed was made april 22nd, 2023):

“It is not transphobic to want to feel safe in your sorority house. It is not transphobic to be concerned about the safety of our children. It is not transphobic to understand that the process leaves one infertile. Anyone who says otherwise is misogynistic.”

this already makes some… troubling assumptions about transitioning and trans people, right off the bat. obviously i, and most likely others in and out of the group it was shared in reported it. kavina was locked the same day:

at the time, this led me to look through her latest feeds, and guess what i saw…

anti transitioning rhetoric !! and if youre wondering what gays against groomers is… have a look for yourself

-snip-

and if you dont WANT to look, well, ill just show you what the very front page says:

pretty obvious what kavina’s stance is, huh?

theres also this (which, iirc the original feed was someone bitching about being warned over something mundane? but i dont have it stored anywhere)

but like… it shows that she plays off her deserved warnings as lesser things to continue her stupid agenda and beliefs, and from the most recent instance, i doubt shes going to stop.

heres your PSA - also i checked blair whites twitter and the comments are full of people mocking different LGBT groups so please be invited to fuck off and block my everything if you participate in that audience xoxo

Mod edit; Only removing the link because I, personally, don’t want anyone engaging in that.

[chaos-and-cookies]

i finally saw the barbie movie yesterday with my bf and best friend

while cute and fun and i liked the plot a lot, i think it falls victim to something I've seen a few modern movies fall victim to, and that's very unnatural dialogue randomly thrown in in order to say/teach a message but it just always feels so unnatural when delivered (by no fault of the actors) and comes across as someone quoting a twitter post or lecturer's powerpoint. And with that said, i see why so many ppl were calling Barbie the feminism 101 movie. Because half of the dialogue feels like it was ripped straight from a feminist activist's twitter page rather than natural dialogue you could imagine coming from 2 actual people talking irl. Like i understand it's a movie so not every movie is going to have "natural" speech patterns, sure, BUT i also shouldn't feel like the characters are speaking like my old sociology professors giving a lecture from my women's studies courses lol.

I first saw this weird dialogue stuff happen in The Blackening, a black horror comedy movie, and didn't think too much about it considering it was an indie movie and all and it was only a few times, but when huge budget movies like BARBIE is having these weird twittery "chronically online" type of speech patterns thru the entire movie I think it's time to point it out and question it a lil bit. Because you know once a billion dollar movie like barbie did it it's definitely going to become a trend. I just? I feel like there's better ways to put a message into a movie without feeling like I'm in my college lecture halls again with how academic they talk. And this is ALSO why so many conservatives try to trash on things like this simply because it's low hanging fruit to pick apart because they're using terms they know they dont like and won't bother to actually learn the message being said because they used words like feminism and patriarchy thru the entire thing. So the ppl that need to hear/learn the feminism 101 messages will blalantly refuse to learn it simply because of the language used and the way they spoke you know?

Idk. Sorry for the rant. Barbie truly was a good movie but the dialogue just truly did bother me with how unnatrual and weird it was to me. And? Idk like ik they're dolls and a lot of the movie is supposed to give the "kids playing with dolls" feel, but once they're in the real world that doesn't rly apply i think? And also a lot of things felt like they were playing in jepoardy in a way? Like once barbie said "i feel afraid without any direct thing to be afraid about" and a random mom walked by and she said "that's anxiety!". Like what 😭 that feels like a jeopardy question not a human interaction! I understand she was only in the real world for a few hours at that point but still?? This was almost a repeating pattern of speech as well and i just??? Maybe its because i used to write a lot in my early 20s and teens and it was very dialogue based fanfics so maybe thats why its bothering me *especially* cuz it was a hobby of mine for so long but i just... i just rly hope this kinda speech pattern of dialogue doesn't catch on. I don't need movies to all feel like every human interaction came off twitter instead of genuine humans communicate irl 🥲

[olderthannetfic]

The YA/SFF book drama on twitter is always entertaining and scary, but I think now I can safely say that 90% of the time, it's about eliminating competition when authors call out other authors for their works. Recently, the trans writer Maya Deane has traditionally published her book Wrath Goddess Sing, an Iliad retelling featuring trans Achilles and received criticism from another author who said her story was racist for featuring "Brisewos" (trans masc Briseis) as Achilles' slave and tacky because Deane strayed from the original myths. To be fair I don't personally like Deane's novel because it warps too much of the Iliad and Greek mythology in ways that don't make any sense ~like making Achilles the daughter of Athena and not Thetis, which would, in turn, mean the Trojan war wouldn't have happened because there would be no wedding for Eris to not get invited to~. I was willing to read other people's thoughts too. It's like twitter critics skip over the part of reading the original text wherein it's about Greek warriors and Briseis was Achilles' war trophy. After the critic was confronted by others saying he's making an incorrect reading of the geopolitical readings of ancient Greece and pointing out Hittie people weren't Black, he tried to backtrack his words. He liked a lot of tweets of people quote retweeting him, saying Deane is a racist and shouldn't have a career as a writer and calls for people to completely not buy or promote her book, significantly affecting her livelihood. Then, people realize he has his own series of romance books based on Greek mythology he's trying to get picked up by any agent featuring an Athena who has a sexual relationship (what?) with Dionysus (what? why? how? What happened to following the Greek myths closely?).

In other news, we all know what happened to Isabel Fall. One of the writers who defended the harassers of Isabel Fall after the fact put out a long twitter thread, basically saying she's tired of consumer-as-identity, bad faith readings, and purity culture in bookish online spaces. It's a fair statement, but it ignores her own cultivation of this growing trend for at least the last 7 years by calling a queer book critic a nazi for just saying "to understand any genre, specifically SFF, you have to read the 'classics' in the genre, not just new stuff or stuff you like." And calling a gay author a homophobe based on reading 2 chapters of his book preview online. Turns out, this author just got published traditionally. Her book is a m/m political arranged marriage fantasy featuring the r*pe and forced outing of one of the male characters in the first 20 pages. So, it ticks the boxes on everything her audience of purity-enthusiasts (and herself) would hate another author doing *insert anti-fujoshi rhetoric and paper-thin ownvoices talking points here* My best bet is within the month, more people are going to read her book and try to call her out, so she put out this twitter thread to get ahead of the bad press. Let's all start thinking for ourselves and take twitter media criticism with a grain of salt from now on.

--

No. Let's all stop reading twitter entirely.

[angelacheung-comm]

Play📱Learn 📚 Give 💚 Help us fill a bowl!

For this blog, I want to talk about a non-profit website, Freerice. This website is created by computer engineer John Breen, then donated to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), a humanitarian organization that is committed to ending hunger and achieving food security and improved nutrition by 2030.(https://www.wfp.org/overview) This website was launched in 2007, it combined education and charity, allowing people to fight world hunger with their knowledge(https://freerice.com/about-us). 

Freerice provides trivia questions in multiple categories like math, languages, science, geography, etc., and 10 grains of rice will be donated to WFP for each correct answer. This system allows people to contribute even when they don’t have the financial ability. My teacher from my middle school introduced me to this website, and I have been using it on and off for the past few years. It gave me a great sense of achievement knowing that I’m able to help fight world hunger without donating my parent’s money. Freerice has raised more than 220 billion grains of rice ($1.8M worth of rice) over the past years. The website reached 1 million users in 2012 and has grown into a global community of 8 million players a year.(https://www.wfpusa.org/get-involved/) However, I question how much better the results would have been if they have better promoted their website.

From what I can find, Freerice has an active Facebook page and an active Twitter account. The Twitter account (https://twitter.com/Freerice) was created in May 2009, it has 11.6k followers and they post a few times a month. Unfortunately, most of the content is only getting less than 10 likes. The Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/freerice) is in a similar situation, with 62k followers, but only 10-20 likes for each post. There used to be an Instagram account, but the page may have been removed and merged with the Facebook page. The TikTok link on the Freerice website is for the WFP account that’s not specifically for Freerice, but there is only one video about Freerice in the last 30 videos they posted. As I was going through the Twitter page(https://www.twitch.tv/wfpfreerice/videos), I found out that there is actually a Twitch account created in November 2022, which I believe is a great way to reach out to the younger generation.

I would say that they have made different attempts to raise awareness, such as creating campaigns and challenges during the holiday seasons, posting visual content, reacting to comments, and even collaborating with famous chefs and influencers for interviews. They understand their targeted user base and try to get their attention through social media platforms that they are more active on. The strengths they have in the past campaigns are the visual and educational content, the posts with quotes and challenges brought the most attention to their pages. Another advantage is their user base is different from most other non-profits, so there's less competition between the organizations. According to Similarweb (https://www.similarweb.com/website/freerice.com/#demographics), 30.79% of the users of Freerice are between 18 and 24 years old (the website doesn't show the age distribution status of underage). Their biggest weakness is not using many trendy hashtags or keywords, therefore, the algorithm is not able to promote them to the correct audiences. I believe their posts will be more popular if they can create or “hop on some trends”. It’ll also be beneficial if the website can collaborate with certain schools for some events, creating a somewhat competitive environment for the trivia games, because the main audience group of the non-profit is younger people who can't support charities financially. Challenging influencers to create videos or live streams about the games or educational content can greatly promote the website too. In my opinion, WFP could create something that can be compared to the “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge” to raise awareness. They can even utilize the charity features on Twitch to set fundraisers, collaborate with streamers to do charity streams, and give the viewers event related emotes to further promote the website (https://help.twitch.tv/s/article/twitch-charity?language=en_US). In that case, the threats would be how to make the challenge as meaningful (if not more meaningful) as the ALS challenge and make sure the donations are transparent so it wouldn’t negatively impact the reputation of the organization.(https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-swot-analysis/)

All in all, this is a non-profit that I think is contributing to a great cause while providing opportunities for people to expand their knowledge. I hope one day it'll get the attention it deserves, and reach their goal of ending world hunger by 2030.