#we need to get paid

[realstrap]

04/22/2024

Help us get groceries!

It's the day before I get paid, but we have too many expenses to be able to really make room for a lot of food so we need help!!!

We just need enough to be able to fill in the gaps and get some groceries so we can stop relying on takeout, it's unsustainable to have to keep ordering out so we really need this!!!

We need $120 by today

CA: $lezsalt or $sleepyhen

VM: wildwotko

Dm 4 PP

[introspectivememories]

best ending: they talk it out after lewis wins his 8th wdc and we end up with brocedes in each other's lives again. lewis shows up on nico's yt channel. nico is on lewis' insta. vivian dogwalks both of them for letting the divorce last that long. i join the convent because this is clearly a miracle from god and reblog gifsets of brocedes interacting from the chapel. rinse, repeat.

ending we're most likely gonna get: whatever the hell we have now. nico talks about lewis. lewis will say karting is the best time of his career. for two seconds out of the year, lewis will say nico's name. i will sob, rinse, repeat.

worst ending: they shut the fuck up about each other forever. they process the divorce and move on with their lives without each other. i will go on tumblr and reblog angsty web weaves about their relationship and what could've been. i take psychic damage. rinse. repeat.

[ratuszarsenal]

very funny to me that every polish person who watched 1670 on here is writing posts begging non-polish people to watch it. including me.

[pestilentbrood]

VERY long Ramble incoming

honestly now that I'm looking at the auraboa lore situation, I'm just disappointed. There was such POTENTIAL in the idea of the Loop and the horror of a new generation inexplicably being disconnected from it, forcing the newly hatched children into a world totally separate from that perceived by their parents (I mean, hell, they perceive TIME differently!).... but then the writer(s?) just fell ass backwards into Icky Tropes.

I feel like I can see what the idea was, especially with the recent alterations to the Encyclopedia entry... It seems like staff fundamentally understands the true Horror potential here, but... Instead, through the short story, they proposed it through the lens of a condescending outsider character, turning the fears of the older generation into something trivial. And also weirdly demeaning the Auroboa's situation by portraying them as overreacting.

Why... why would you do that? Like, from a storytelling perspective? What's gained from that? Why not embrace the true horror and even Emotional significance of that disruption? Why instead go for "ohh we NEED outsider help we NEED to be saved because we are so helpless and it is so Silly that we, creatures who have never experienced such things, do not know what sleep is"????

And if they WANTED to have a condescending outsider, I feel like they COULD have done that, but it would have to have that character realize the horror at some point. And make it obvious that their attitude towards distressed parents and children facing Eldritch Shit and the Sudden Deconstruction of it was not cool!

(or at the very least be a bit more...idk. Consistent with said outsider character? Juniper just goes from "omg I am so honored that the fascinating creatures of the behemoth have chosen me to speak to" to "oh their wasting my time because they don't know what sleep is. I'd rather be sleeping!! 🙄" like girl... c'mon now. Why are we trivializing it like this. Do you want me as the reader to be invested in their plight or not.)

I mean come on. They're beings connected through one networked hivemind-like system, yet each still maintains a silver of individuality that allows them to move freely throughout the Behemoth that they care for. And they've got an eldritch understanding of time that no other dragon could understand. They're seeing the future, past, and present unfold simultaneously. They're witnessing the birth and death of the world at the same time, and have no way to communicate it to other dragons. The best they can do is maintain their home, and even then, they see its roots spread and decay all at once.

And then the newest generation is suddenly disconnected. An inherent link between parent and child and all dragons in-between, that has existed since the creation of their species, is just suddenly GONE for the newest births. With NO explanation for it. The children have no easy way of communicating with their parents. The children are experiencing time in a way that was not meant for their species. They've forcefully been shoved into a circadian rhythm that they are Not! Built for!

The only way a parent could communicate properly with their child would be when the latter is sleeping, something that is also completely foreign to this species. It would be terrifying for all involved!!!

They are literally experiencing eldritch horror from the perspective of the eldritch being forced into the mortal.

Like why WOULDN'T there be panic!!! And why would that panic be trivialized! Why are we only shown the perspective of an outsider who looks at this situation and goes "Oh the silly tree beasts are being so silly over nothing, it's no big deal!"

That and the way the auraboas talk to outsiders. Like. There was such potential there. Real opportunity to explore how ancient, time-bending beings would communicate to someone who couldn't even BEGIN to understand the intricacies of it.

Instead we got what feels more like baby talk (even described as though they were hatchlings enunciating their first words, which... I dunno man, maybe we don't want to compare them to children like That) and less like... Beings that experience all of time at once. I mean, the hatchlings and the adults speak the exact same way, and that doesn't make any sense given the literal time barrier going on.

I totally get why people thought there was just a language barrier and that auraboas had their own language, thus causing the disjointed speak, and not that it was because They Do Not Experience Time Like We Do. And I feel it would've been far easier to get it across by just... I dunno. Do anything else?? I saw someone on here suggest they speak in the "wrong" tenses, or using multiple tenses in the same sentence, which I think would've been far more clear.

Like, as opposed to "saplings wilt! saplings silent!" just "the saplings will wilt in silence, they've wilted in silence, they are wilting silently." Said all at once like all things are true simultaneously. And if we're going for hivemind, have each auraboa speak in a different tense, all at the same time, and have them switch it up every time. Have our outsider get confused and be like "which is it? are they wilting now, or have they already wilted?" and the cluster of auraboas respond in a cacophony of yes's, no's, and maybe's all at once.

Would've probably gotten across the "alien" vibe they were supposedly going for far better than wide-eyed desperation for an outsider's guidance conveyed through disjointed, in-world described as baby speech.

And also maybe would've had less accidental connotations. Because as it stands, I completely see why people have made the connections to the real world where they have. This doesn't read like eldritch timey-wimey intrigue, or even a respectful look at how younger generations can become detached from their families' cultures over time and the struggles that come with it. It reads like a culture being perceived by an ignorant outsider who (despite supposedly respecting these dragons) scoffs and rolls their eyes because the tree beasts with their funny words are being silly again, and that Hey, isn't it actually a great thing that the children are fundamentally different in all manners now? Because now they can join the rest of us in the "real world."

Yknow. Ick.

(I Personally think it would've been better to have the perspective be one of the Auraboas themselves, especially one of the children, to really understand what was going on here. Give us the full brunt of the mind of a creature experiencing all of time interwoven as one shape. The waters fall and the oceans crash with waves. They've now fallen to drought. The ocean has yet to be born. Caves have been carved out through the waters' currents. And when I break from this timeline, I open my eyes to see a child, the child not yet born, the child born now, the child born yesterday. Why can't I hear it? Why couldn't I hear it? Why won't I ever hear it?)

I dunno. People more qualified than me to speak on this matter have already torn the lore apart, I'm just... dropping my own two cents. Potential got weirdly squandered and we ended up instead with unfortunate implications and tropes that could be connected a liiiittle too awkwardly to irl situations.

*Also, before anyone points out: Yes, I know the hatchlings aren't COMPLETELY detached from the Loop and can join it when they sleep. But the fact is, these thangs never had to sleep before. That wasn't in their species' nature. So that's still weird and foreign for them on both sides. And since the hatchlings now have a circadian rhythm, they can't stay connected to the loop permanently. And also Also, seeing as the previous generations aren't experiencing time linearly, who's to say they even recognize when their child joins the loop? They'll speak with an echo of their child when that child was last asleep ages ago, not knowing that it's not them presently, because there is no 'present' for the older generations.

[nellienelsonspring]

just a not so gentle reminder to our fandom in regards to the strikes. strikes are meant to be inconvenient and cause disruption.

we will very likely be having little to no press content for season 2. there will be less content in general in the run up and after the season comes out. it may also significantly or even permanently delay season 3. none of this matters

what matters is that real people are striking for their rights and reasonable wages. the vast majority of actors are not the ultra wealthy A listers you know of. they are working class people struggling to make ends meet and they deserve our support and solidarity ✊

[spacebeyonce]

people on twitter are truly smoking dick and doing the most VEHEMENTLY standing TEN TOES DOWN in the belief that the ao3 volunteers shouldn’t be getting paid because the ao3/otw is non-profit. like we get it y’all don’t know how non profits work. once again, y’all need to read the revolution will not be funded: beyond the non-profit industrial complex

[rebouks]

Darien: You’ve got two options; a shitty flight that’ll take over twenty-four hours with two stops, paid for by yourself, or I’ll pay the difference for an eleven hour one. Brynn: The shitty one. Darien: Alright… Brynn: I not think I have enough money yet. Darien: You just didn’t know where to look. Brynn: Thank you. Darien: It’s fine-.. are you excited? Brynn: Not really. Darien: About the baby…

Brynn: Oh, yes! I always think about having babies one day. Darien: With Wyatt? Brynn: Not in the beginning, maybe. Darien: I’m sorry-.. for everything. Brynn: Is okay, I have also trodden on other people to get ahead sometimes. Darien: You seem pretty understanding about it all. Brynn: Life is too short for grudges and regret, no? People change. Darien: I suppose you’re right. Brynn: You know he is called Kaito now? Darien: I know, where’d you think he got his paperwork from?

Brynn: Ohh, you are very clever. Darien: It’s who you know, not what. Brynn: That is true. Darien: Okay, your flight’s booked for tomorrow night at eleven thirty-four. Brynn: Is already tomorrow. Darien: Tonight, then. Brynn: Ough, I am nervous now! Darien: He might take it.. okay-ish? I feel like I don’t know him as well as I used to. Brynn: In a good way though, yes? Darien: Yeah, I think so.

Previous // Next

[skunkes]

[hesherehesthere]

i've been thinking a lot about roy being on richmond while rupert was owner and cartrick was manager. i'm sure it was hell for everyone, but roy seemed genuinely glad to see rebecca pretty early on (greeting her in the hallways when most people ignored her), and he verbally expressed his distaste for cartrick as a manager on live tv. he's also immediately Alert when ted is hired and is clearly trying to figure out how he's going to handle certain situations. he has a clear shift towards respecting ted more after he benches jamie. it seems like in some ways he was expecting a repeat of cartrick (playing jamie even tho he was a dick, just because he was good). idk what this means, if anything, i've just been thinking about it

[inkskinned]

im gonna start a fight; and, at the same time, i need you to take this in the most good-faith way possible, but:

videos that involve body-checking and intentionally (and uncritically) show a mealplan of an unhealthy number of calories are just a revamped version of pro-ana food diaries.

and yeah, i know there's arguments. i address some of them under the cut. but at the end of the day, we're just coming back to romanticizing mental illness; we've just found a better platform for it.

this is already something we've done. we knew it was wrong and tried to stop it. and tbh. it just wasn't enough.

there are people who argue "well, what if you have an eating disorder, you can't help it if you don't eat!" except that as someone with an ED; we are not infants. we know what we're doing. part of having an ED is that you are like, maybe too self-aware. even if we can't help our own food choices, we don't need to fucking romanticize the disorder - something we've been warning you about since 2013. there are hours of setup, filming, and editing that go into these videos. they do not happen to fall into place randomly. there is a reason they are pieced together to be beautiful, bright, inspiring.

there's this woman who pretty much only posts daily plans under a normal amount of calories, and everyone defends her saying but it's better than nothing! and i'm like. except she opens those with images of her showing off her body and provides no context in the video or caption that suggests that she believes what she's doing is unhealthy. she has hundreds of thousands of followers on a platform designed for young kids and teens. i refuse to believe that by accident her content just happens to be cheery advice on "healthy" versions of starving.

for any other symptom of mental illness, we would be incredibly enraged by this kind of placid acceptance of a "tips and tricks" fast-start guide. imagine if people posted pink & pretty videos saying "best places to cut yourself" as if it was a fucking storytime. we, as a society, are so fucking fatphobic that we would rather accept blatantly harmful displays of self harm than admit that we are obsessed with a hyper-thin body type.

i am not suggesting someone never talks about their disorder. i talk about mine. actually, it's a plot point in my book.

here's the difference: i recognize it's a fucking mental illness. i am very careful to never mention a specific weight, eating pattern, or calorie plan. i always make sure to position it as something that ruined my fucking life. i do not put cheery music in the background and hearts and sparkles over my worst moments. i do not film it in bright light. i do not start each passage with an image of a thin body followed by "here's how to look like her."

eating disorders should not be framed as aspirational. and the problem is that society worships the "after" image, so long as you don't get too sick. there is a reason so many people who quit being "influencers" will later admit - i wasn't eating well that whole time; an obsession with food was completely destroying my life.

we let any uncredited, uncertified person write the most backwards, fucked up shit about how to get the body you desire! because the underlying, secret belief is: well, at least they're thin! and the real thing that fucking gets me each time - they make fucking money off of it. their irresponsibility and societal harm literally pays off for them.

"why do you care so much." "don't like it don't look." "so what if people experiment with new ways of thinking of food?"

thank you for asking. we're about to get extremely personal. it's because when i was 18 i discovered "thinspiration"/"thinspo." and it absolutely influenced, shaped, and codified my pre-existing eating disorder. i went from having some troubling habits and traits to being incredibly unwell within what felt like a matter of days. there were actual pages designed to train me on how to have an ED correctly. it was all so suddenly easy. i was sick; and the nature of the illness meant - i wanted to be sicker.

it takes an average of 7 years for a person to fully recover. i know this personally - even now, 10 years from the worst of it, i still fucking struggle. i am so much happier now and i eat what i want and i literally don't think about food at all (19 year old me would shudder) and yet - i still fucking know the calories of plain toast with butter.

an eating disorder is one of the deadliest types of mental illness. over 1 in 4 people with an ED will attempt suicide.

and i'm sorry. i just do not see the exchange rate of "high rate of engagement" versus "the value of a human life."

[changeling-fae]

I think my new silly headcanon is we don’t realize how bad our security is and Raphael is making Korilla work overtime to keep our asses alive while we sleep.

Voss was only let through because Raphael needed to plant the seeds for the hammer but considering how much we sleep through any given night (SH and Lae’zel trying to kill each other, Lae’zel trying to kill us, Astarion biting and potentially killing us, Durge’s gruesomely murdering a bard right next to Karlach’s tent, etc), poor Korilla is the one keeping outside forces from just annihilating us in our sleeps.

[destinyandcoins]

lmao i know it’s 2 seasons later but it just occurred to me: what if, at the beginning of s1, instead of deciding his funeral was the best way to get everyone back in one place, reginald decided to have a wedding instead

not only do we get the entertaining side-plot of this poor person reginald has bribed/blackmailed/begged to marry him For The Con, but the only reason any of the kids show up is because they got a wedding invite and immediately went “oh now this i gotta see”

[rovermcfly]

got tired of all the misanthropic customer service memes, I love getting to talk to people of all walks of life and getting to help them out and learning about regulars' lives. people are wonderful and diverse and kind and the handful of mean ones can't ruin that

[thelaurenshippen]

Hi there! I started relistening to the bright sessions (as one does) and had a random question come up. When did you know that Mark/Sam wasn't going to be endgame (romantically)? I know in s4 they both fall apart separately and together, but even in Safehouse pt 2 (my absolute beloved) they argue about their coping mechanisms. Did you know then that they weren't going to end up together? How did you come to that conclusion?

hey!! this is a great question - I definitely did start the show thinking they were endgame and that's mostly what I was thinking at the time of safehouse too, despite their issues. I think it was really in writing Season 4 actually, when I realized that I was no longer telling a story about two people in love working through their issues, but was instead telling a story about two people who were in love but realized they shouldn't be together in that way. I started to feel those tension points in Season 3 (I would say the safehouse episodes were a true attempt for them to learn to work through their issues), but it wasn't until planning S4 that I really made the decision.

there are a lot of things that led to this that I'll try to articulate, because the honest, simplest answer as to why the plans changed was "because it felt like they should". but if I were think back and pinpoint a few reasons for that...

there was never supposed to be a love triangle. Mark was always bisexual but he and Damien were never supposed to develop feelings for one another. but the first time we got Andrew and Charlie into a room and read through their first episode together it was like "oh, OH-kay" (which, sidebar: clearly I was writing something between them subtextually because it wasn't like Andrew and Charlie were strangers to each other - I'd watched them act ALL sorts of scenes together in acting class but the romantic chemistry popped OUT with Mark/Damien. pretty much from the second motel episode on, I was writing leaning into that dynamic). that threw a lot of spanners into the works because while I never had plans to put Mark and Damien together, I hadn't anticipated Mark grappling with feelings for someone else.

similarly, I'd underestimated just how flawed Sam was. Sam is not a bad person, but she sometimes doesn't really know how to be a person who cares about other people. when you add that to the dynamics of Damien and Joan kind of, like, hovering over Mark in various unproductive ways (for Damien, it's destructive and invasive; for Joan, she's just a too-involved older sister sometimes), Sam becomes another person who is kind of, like...controlling Mark, or trying to, because she loves him and doesn't know how to (I mean, I'm pretty sure I'm just regurgitating actual lines I wrote lol). this is not to say that her flaws make her unable to be in a relationship (Mark is also deeply flawed!) but just that their flaws clashed against each other in ways I hadn't planned.

finally: Joan and found family. in my mind, there was something grand and romantic about Sam meeting Dr. Bright so that she could be led to Mark - like they were somehow always fated to meet. in actuality, it's not that at all - instead, the bond that Sam and Joan have is just as important as the one she has with Mark, albeit different. I don't believe in soulmates personally, but I've always liked the idea that you have people out there. soulmates in a more general sense - people you click with, have a connection with. it can be romantic, familial, friendship, work or creative partnerships, whatever. I think the Bryant siblings and Sam have that. I think Sam and Mark are meant for each other but in a non-exclusive way and in a...maybe not non-romantic way, but a way that doesn't have romance at the forefront. they love each other deeply and they fit, but a romantic partnership might not be the best way forward for them. and Joan and Sam are the whole heart of the show to me in some senses. as I was writing the finale, I very intentionally ended with the two of them - both because the final appearance of every character is in order of when they first appeared, but in reverse and also because the show starts with both of them in dark, destructive places and while there's broken trust between them throughout, they ultimately help each other get better. I thought Sam's story was about finding love and it was, but that love looked differently than I had planned.

okay, god, this has gotten waaaaaay too long and rambly. I hope this answers your question? one of my favorite things/the thing I miss most about making a show like TBS is being able to shift things based on chemistry/what the actors bring/etc. so often now, I'm writing entire seasons of things and then handing them off to production, in which anything can happen! the flexibility of recording episode by episode in TBS is something I took full advantage of.

thanks for listening and relistening!!

[shuriken696]

//I'm legit should be writing my fic rn but this is getting to my head.//

Has anyone ever thought of an AU where when SQQ is dead, his soul via self imploding, goes to Ghost City?

But the way that it's been transported is a complication. A Sun and Moon Dew flower is a 'rare plant' after all. You can't just come back to life that easily.

Hua Cheng just looks at Shen Yuan who is confused af as to why he was in front of a throne. He knew that Shang Qinghua messed up on the SMD Mushroom but he didn't think it was that bad!

"Fuck, am I actually dead? Is this Hell?" Shen Qingqiu asks Hua Cheng. He tries calling on to the System but it was to no avail.

"Daozhang is a curious case. His stay in Ghost City is only temporary only when his 'plant' is fully ready is he able to go." Hua Cheng tilts his head. He did not expect something so unexpected to happen today. This soul didn't even turn into a ghost flame upon meeting him! He just came fully corpreal like it wasn't even a problem at all.

Well, at least Shen Qingqiu isn't fully dead if that counts as anything. He would be able to come back. His plan would work.

But, PIDW had never mentioned anything about a Ghost City, or any description of the man in front of him!

PIDW was more extended than just the novel? Or was it a deleted outline that Shang Qinghua robbed the readers of?

"How long would that be?" Shen Qingqiu had to get back as soon as he could. What if Binghe got mad at someone else now that the scum villain is gone? "Can I leave this place? I need to be somewhere and it has to be as quick as possibe" He figured that maybe he could float around and haunt people like they showed in the movies?

"I can't allow you to do that, Daozhang. It's against the rules." Hua Cheng raised his eyebrows. This man refused to rest in peace even though he had sacrificed his life for his disciple.

Or was he just like Hua Cheng, refusing to rest in peace until he reunited with the one he loved?

"That man who you sacrificed your life for, what is he to you?" The Ghost king asked. Shen Qingqiu pulls out a fan from his sleeve.

"He is my student. The sword's influence on him was too much so as the one who was responsible for all of this, I had to repay him for the faults I did." Shen Qingqiu answered easily.

Hua Cheng wanted to snort. With the way he's answering, this was more than just a Master-disciple relationship. But if the man didn't know, then he wouldn't tell him. It was more interesting this way anyways.

But for the sheer fact that this cultivator wanted to go back to the man he sacrificed himself for (or what he could assume by reading in between the lines) Hua Cheng couldn't help but see himself in him and respecting him, just a bit.

"I can get you a good place to live while you're residing here but daozhang hasn't told me his name?"

Shen Yuan bows.

"This humble one is Shen Qingqiu, Peak Lord of Qing Jing Peak of the Cang Qiong Mountain Sect."

There was more to 'Shen Qingqiu' that met the eyes, but everyone had their own secrets. As long as he didn't mind Hua Cheng's business then he wouldn't pry into Shen Qingqiu's as well.

"And I am Hua Cheng, the ruler of this city."

Oh shit, I was talking to the leader this whole time?! Shen Qingqiu wanted to smack himself in the head for messing up that badly. Of course the man who was sitting on the fancy throne would be of high status!

Shen Qingqiu bowed again, apologizing for his lack of manners earlier and Hua Cheng waves him off.

"It's alright. Daozhang didn't know."

After that, Hua Chang and Shen Qingqiu became somewhat friends and HC tells SQQ about him trying to find Xie Lian.

(In between that, Wei Wuxian also pays Ghost City a visit, but thats a story for another time)

Years after Binghe and SQQ are married, they find Hualian on a crossing path and Hua Cheng just looks at Binghe and then to Shen Qingqiu.

"Does he treat you well?" Shen Qingqiu hid a smile behind his fan. He didn't think the Ghost King cared that much.

"He's alright. When I saw you, I never thought he and I would get together."

Meanwhile Binghe is so confused. How does his Shizun know this man thats reeking of resentful energy? Why is this man holding hands with someone who had pure energy? Is that even possible?

His Shizun had some explaining to do later!