#also billions is about like capitalism or something and i do not care for shows about capitalism

[sea-jello]

i dont want to hop on the "my toxic trait" train but there are times in my life where i become so unwell about a musical theater actor i go to their imdb and watch every tv episode and/or movie scene theyve done. and then sometimes i stumble upon things like this

this is will connolly playing the role of "dj skillitz" whos dead, uses the word "dudebro" very unnaturally and fucking piece of shit im halfway through the episode and the whiplash ive gotten in the past 7 minutes is incredible

#oh my fucking god #ig he just gravitates towards the shows with weird sex jokes #im just saying he better be getting hella paid cause i would not want to be associated with that #also im fairly certain the show is 16+ so. just giving you that heads up if you decide to watch it #shows called deadbeat s3 ep5 i hate it with every ounce of my being but like also please watch it i need someone to share the horrors with #he died fucking jacking it and thats all im going to say #i dont even know what im supposed to tag this #will connolly #my imdb stalks include mike faist and george salazar btw #funnily enough i learned george salazar was gay cause i watched the superstore episodes through the imdb stalks #then went on tumblr and saw something about gay people playing gay people #i was gonna stalk will roland but i havent gotten around to that yet #also billions is about like capitalism or something and i do not care for shows about capitalism

[shuttershocky]

Do you have a dislike for media universes that "rewards" people for watching/reading all of it in general?

Or do you think there is one that executes that idea well?

I'm answering this 5 months late, but I'm pretty sure I still remember this ask being prompted by a post making fun of the MCU.

Do I dislike story universes that reward people for reading all of it? Not at all. I mean, I'm a fan of both Middle Earth and Star Wars, I fucking love big, big universes with plenty of stories in them. When they intersect in some small way it's a delight to me, I love those little personal winks from the author for having read their other works or recognizing the most obscure names only a nerd would know.

However, there's a difference between a little reference in a story meant for people who can connect the dots, and making something almost required reading for your enjoyment. It's the difference between an acknowledgement from the creators that you liked the setting enough to come back for a new yet familiar ride, and a company realizing they've found their cash cow and can't wait to milk it for all its got until it's dead.

And dead the cash cow will be, eventually. It's been said before that the reason why the Big Two of western comics have ceded more and more ground to manga over the years is that Spider-Man has 10 different starting points while Naruto starts with Volume#1. That's not just a funny joke. Onboarding new readers has genuinely been Marvel and DC's problem for decades, which is why it was both incredibly predictable yet shocking all the same that this is what the MCU turned itself into.

Sure, early on you could ask the audience to watch a couple movies before the big Avengers crossover, but now they've got all these TV shows on top of the movies that you have to watch in order to "catch up", and it's not even about the cool characters anymore. More and more of their fanbase is going to stop caring once the barrier of entry gets too high, and it's ridiculous to me that Marvel went this road with their movies when they know this is what happened to their comics first.

I mean, are you serious, their next big bad is Kang? I am not watching several TV shows and an Ant-Man movie that's somehow worse than the second one all to see how the currently left Avengers meet goddamn Kang the Conqueror. He's in both the TV shows and the movies, which means they're somehow giving Kang more buildup screentime than Thanos. Why? Either I've been extremely out of touch with Marvel comics or the MCU picked a wild choice to headline their next billion dollar franchise when Doctor Doom is actually available to them now and barely needs an introduction.

Sorry, got lost for a bit. Back on topic, yeah I know I know, all art right now exists under capitalism which means every setting that becomes a wider story universe is an author trying to milk their existing fanbase. Whenever a creator makes a thing that I like, and then announces they have a new thing set in the same setting as their first thing but isn't a direct sequel so they can keep gaining a new audience while keeping their existing one, I know I'm being suckered in.

Just, don't make it so blatant. And don't make it so hard. I am the exact target audience for these shenanigans and even I'm starting to feel like it's homework because it's all fucking required now.

If I, a lifelong Star Wars fan, want to watch the newest Star Wars thing, I have to see a hundred hours of other Star Wars media first. If I want to watch The Mandalorian Season 3, I can't just have seen Season 1 and 2, oh no, I have to also see The Book of Boba Fett too, because halfway through that show became The Mandalorian Season 2.5. Well I did see Boba Fett, and the combination of my dislike for turning it into required homework AND the show itself just being kinda dogshit meant I never touched season 3 of the Mandalorian. That show used to be so great because it wasn't tied down to any existing story arcs or characters, so it stood on its own and made for an amazing watch no matter how much Star Wars you've actually seen. And then it succeeded and so had to become the new spine for the entirety of Disney Star Wars afterward. Fuck. Now if I want to watch their latest show Ahsoka, I have to have seen the Clone Wars animated series AND Rebels, because the Rebels cast are in it too! I mean I did see Clone Wars and Rebels, but that still sucks!

That makes me worried now! Andor was also really fucking good and it stood on its own so hard you didn't even need to see Rogue One, the movie that introduced Cassian Andor in the first place. But now that season 1 was a success and everyone sang its praises, it certainly means season 2 is suddenly going to get real cramped with Ahsoka and Luke Skywalker and whatever guys are currently alive in its timeframe. Shit, they're probably gonna add Cal Kestis in season 2 of Andor. The Respawn Star Wars games are still doing their own thing which means it's time to connect to something else.

I hate what all this has become. It was fun to read the Silmarillion and see what kind of fuckery one family of elves got up to that eventually turned Sauron from minion to big evil eye parked next to evil mountain, but you didn't need to read all that before The Lord of the Rings. LOTR didn't assume you knew anything at all (and oh boy did Tolkien never miss an opportunity to explain shit).

Let me repeat. I am the target audience. I live for the ridiculously nerdy habit of reading things set in the same universe as other things and connecting all the dots. If /I/ feel like it's become homework, I can't imagine what the average person thinks of all this. Make it stop. Stop running everything I once loved into the ground in the name of endless profit. Star Wars was already doing this to itself before the Disney acquisition and yet it didn't feel this bad.

#I would take hundreds of disconnected and mediocre Star Wars comics and books made in the Legends era #Over what's happening to it now

[polybiusplayer]

i am once again thinking about ninejuice (for the first time in a whole month wow)

thats all! have a nice rest of your day

ME TOO OML!!

Oh boy I’m gonna take this opportunity to rant about them.

Nine Juice rant below, read at your own risk.

I’m thinking about them so often…. ITS LIKE!!! I can totally understand people seeing them as only platonic!! And I’ve always actually felt kinda nervous to ship them for some reason… the 17776 enjoyers haven’t been much to do shipping, especially since romance is not really the point of the story, at all. but I just really believe they have a bond that just, is a lot.

There is a level of understanding and compassion that Juice shows to Nine in his own ways, he knows exactly how to help Nine cope after the intermission, he knows what they’re thinking when their communications fuck up. (Nine was indeed cussing him out, they said “fuck you.”) He is teasing as always, but not hesitant to reassure them afterwards.

Nine is very observant. They make note of Juices usage of grammar, how he capitalizes thing that are important to him. I can’t remember exactly which chapter that’s in, but I’m like 100% sure Nine pointed this out. Obviously, Nines name is almost always capitalized . This is a notable exception

Has he EVER used this many exclamation points?!

I also love the way the infodump to each other. Ten by this point has heard Juices rants a billion times before, she loves him, but is sick of them! Of course he sees no problem in that. But then suddenly there’s a new listener who is intensely eager and interested in what he has to say! It feels special, because Nine never seems to get bored of it. They love to hear him talk, about anything really, but especially what he’s passionate about. -

Which is mostly football. Football is how he processes the world. With sports and all the things that come with it he was able to come to terms with reality. He looks at it through such a unique lense in order to make sense of it all. Even his own football game is not just insane rules strung together all willy nilly, it’s truly a work of art with a deeper meaning. It’s like he’s painting with the fields, you know?

Nine understands this, and if they don’t, they WANT to. In my mind, Juices voice and rambles about lunchables or whatever start off confusing to them, but once they understand where it comes from and why and what Juice is trying to attempt with all this, they understand a lot.

Nine copes with history, they look into the past for comfort and familiarity. they feel so intensely behind, at first it started as a way to catch up and feel up to date with their friends, but then they discovered that the history of this world was just sort of a safe space for them. Juice loves to hear Nine talk about stuff even he never knew about. Nine is quite the researcher, and is always able to pull up SOMETHING. He is too, but not to this level. They share facts and information back and forth, intently listening to each other and trying to understand. Always.

Juice knows what Nines going through, it’s quite obvious with what he says here.

They ground each other in this reality, they give each other a person to talk about football with. Someone to try and not think about things too hard with. And then when things DO get hard? And the thoughts are too much? They’ll always be there for each other to help.

An underrated aspect about Juices character is how intelligent he is. SURE, he spends a lot of time joking around, that’s just his thing!!! But he is by no means stupid, he’s a little silly, but so so much more than that. He also cares, a lot! He is lonely, he loves his friends so dearly although he doesn’t express it nearly as much as Nine.

Nine is also a lot more than their troubles. A lot of their arc has to do with coming to terms with the state of existence, but they’re also incredibly compassionate and loving. SO SO loving. They’re blindly trusting, showing no hesitation with their love for everyone. They’re observant, and also a bit of a jokerster! They got that from Juice.

I don’t know where I’m going with this, I just really like the two of them, I love their dynamic. I feel like if they could, they would hug for a real long time. Unfortunately they’re way too far apart and made of nuts and bolts. But they still love each other, nothing changes that, not in a billion years

#polybius talks #17776

[alpaca-clouds]

There is something wrong about the narrative...

You know this kind of graphic, right? The population pyramid. And I do have a problem with it.

No, not with the pyramid itself. The pyramid is okay and valid. It just shows how the population looks in regards to age. No, my problem is with the narrative around it: "The pyramid is top-heavy and now the pension and care does not work anymore!!"

Technically this is wrong. And yes, the pyramid originally was exactly about that. About showing how the work done by the young people would pay into the system, so that old people could retire at some point and get care. Because originally, of course, we needed that bottom-heavy pyramid to make sure that there were enough people to do all the important work and take care of older people reliant on care.

Only... that it really is not true anymore, right? It more is like... it is just again the system being broken. Because capitalism sucks.

Let me address the two supposed problems with the entire pyramid and what not: 1) "Who is gonna pay for it?" and 2) "Who is going to do the care work?"

Who is gonna pay for the retirement?

See, the theory over here in Germany is technically that during your work time you pay into the social security net and should get back later what you paid in. But, obviously, you technically do not just save up for your own retirement. The money you pay into social security right now gets paid out to the people currently receiving their retirement benefits.

Hence the problem: When more people are on retirement benefits, while fewer people pay into the social security, the math does not work.

But... Like literally all problems related to people suffering from poverty (like a lot of old people are doing) it could be easily solved by redistributing the immense wealth of the super rich. Literally nobody needs to have more than 1 billion dollars. Heck. Nobody really needs more than 10 million, if we are really honest.

And no, giving that money to the rich does in fact not help the economy, if we are going by pro-capitalist logics. Redistributing the wealth, does.

Really, we do not even need retirement funds, if we just gave out UBI for everyone. (Or went communist.)

And that we can finance by taxing the rich. Also taxing any sort of stock trading.

But who is going to do the care work?

See, here is the other issue, where just capitalism is the problem. Because technically there is not a lack of people who would be able to do the care work and would be willing to do it, if only the jobs in care work would be a) fairly compensated and b) actually respected in society.

See, when we look at the job market today, we see in fact a lot of "bullshit jobs", as David Graeber calls it in his book by the same name. Meaning: Jobs that produce nothing of societal value. Jobs, that society could do well without and that quite often aim to enforce the hierarchies of capitalism. Literally.

Hence, heck, even if we had too few people to work in care (something that technically really is not true), we could easily just get rid of those kinds of jobs. In general there are a lot of jobs that only exist to give the appearance of keeping people busy. (The story of why the 40 hour work week is bullshit is a story for another day.)

But yeah, the reason why most people are kept away and pushed out of the care industry is just how underpaid and overworked everyone there is.

See, caring for people is actually something that many people find fulfilling. But not under those circumstances. So, better the circumstances and you will have enough folks to work in care.

So, yeah. Whenever someone keeps whining about "top heavy pyramids" just tell them: "The problem is not birth rates. The problem is capitalism."

#capitalism sucks #fuck capitalism #anti capitalism #bullshit jobs #care worker #population pyramid #explanation #retirement #retirement age #tax the rich

[mdhwrites]

Sorry if you've already explained this, but what do you mean when you say that toh dislikes being a fantasy?

So there's the obvious route I could go with this in that "It subverts fantasy tropes which means it dislikes fantasy media" but that's not it. Honestly, I think part of WHY it's a bad subversion is that it doesn't seem to like fantasy media because a REALLY good and proper subversion probably needs to like and know the genre better than a celebration of the genre. Otherwise, its subversions are going to be shallow, mean spirited, pointless and often VERY played out which does fit a lot of TOH's subversive elements. No, instead my reason, besides the bad subversive elements, for saying it is kind of that it's a vibe thing. Now yes, fantasy elements are always there to serve other things like themes, characters, plots etc. but they usually don't feel like they're ONLY there for those things. If they're not just getting in the way at all. A perfect example of this to me is Reaching Out. Any other story would make an excuse to do a tournament episode and COMMIT. It would be happy to finally get a reason to really show off its world's magic, to test its protagonists, do a bit more creative and fun choreography than a life or death stakes situation would allow. It'd be the focus of the episode. This is also partially because the tournament structure in someway would allow an exploration of the character or larger narrative ideas going on. But... Instead we get two meh fights with not much going on and then the Warden Wrath monster is barely a fight if you want to even call it that. The entire episode effectively, CONSTANTLY, wants to just ignore that the tournament exists. The fantasy element there seems to be getting in the way of what the writers actually want to be doing. It's kind of the only explanation to me how someone like Luz entirely ignores the danger, or pain for that matter, her girlfriend is in in that entire episode because the writers aren't taking any of it seriously.

And that's just the general vibe I get from the show. Why is it that there are a billion covens? So they can make job fair jokes. Why is abomination magic better than plant magic? The job opportunities. Why is every villain just a blue collar conman? Because we get to make commentary on things like capitalism and crunch then. This is what I mean by just a vibe coming off of TOH. Belos is not a part of the show for the most part. Replace covens with college and wild witch with freelancer (including one having health care and one not, which is pertinent to S1) and you don't really lose a lot, do you? A lot of the jokes could the same, a lot of the characters could be the same, etc. like that. Replace "Emperor's Coven" with "Harvard" and literally nothing changes about Amity. That sort of shift shouldn't be so easy with a fantasy show. Bare minimum, it should feel like you would mourn something. But Luz's love of magic is barely a thing. Her journey with magic doesn't impact her character much. Her power with magic isn't an arc but instead just whatever the episode demands. It's just... Not something the show cares about. And if you focus on what the show does care about, what it spends its free time on... Wing it Like Witches and Them's the Breaks Kid are the two most fanficy episodes of the series and the latter is 99% pointless and the former is still probably 80% pointless. And both those episodes focus mostly on ships. Grudgby is a very boring fantasy sport that is just admitted by the show to be Quidditch and REALLY wouldn't change if it was just Rugby. Frankly, it'd probably be more violent then.

Them's the Breaks has MORE magic and actually one of the few times where it's used in a more casual- Oh, no, never mind. It's either serving Eda's 'troublemaker' claim or it's plot related so I can't really praise the simple but nice touch of a bard making their juice taste better with magic. Not only that... But the episode mostly portrays the world as not liking magic. Like nothing Eda does is that shocking or bizarre as far as a fantasy context goes but everyone is just CONSTANTLY annoyed by her or entirely unimpressed. Why? Because it makes Raine's interest more special. So the main point of the episode doesn't need magic... It just needs Eda to clown around. The magic just intensifies that a LITTLE. But not really by much (minus the genuinely great "IT HAPPENED AGAIN!" joke).

And that's the only real thing I can give TOH as a fantasy show: It does allow more spectacle than would be possible if it were just trying to be Lucky Star 2. But also barely because it so rarely allows the real payoffs that that spectacle allows or it doesn't want to commit to the spectacle because this dude's actually a stoner or the like instead of something to be taken seriously. Just... ask yourself how many episodes the magic is fairly basic in its introduction, escalation and resolution versus how many are like Lost in Language where the show genuinely has fun with the concept of the magic, the escalation plays on the magical concept, not the social concept, and then the payoff is magically satisfying instead of "Smash it."

It never commits and for a genre that I would probably say is the most celebratory of the fun of creativity and the impossible... That lack of commitment, that lack of celebration EVER is just... It's a vibe I don't like and one I just don't think fits the genre.

#the owl house criticism #toh critical

[dictee]

18, 19, 22 and 2 BUT not re loustat -- armand/Daniel.

PLEASE No this is fun and fresh and not something ive talked about six billion times <3

18. it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on... this is a cop out answer but i DONT . care. threesome w louis. not enough threesome with louis its THERE in the books even though theyre not together at the same time it is ALL about the triangulation. daniel imagining louis when he's turned and "you were a gift to me from louis" etc. and it is OBVIOUSLY there in the show. i'm not biased in any way who my favorite character is has no bearing on this response

19. you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like... anne rice's kept boy fantasy

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores also not an answer but like literally every word of the devil's minion chapter is fucking insane and therefore getting shortchanged. i will say that the voyeurism and blenders get well not too much attention but other things deserve attention too . what about the amulet of blood w the letter A carved on it out of tiny contorted human figures. what about the CAPITALISM of it all. the shopping mall island. "the riches were maddening him he wanted to possess all of this forever" immortality as somehow legitimizing unstable limitless growth of capital bc u are around to enjoy it forever and u cant die? has everyone read little kidnaps.

2. a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom well first of all obviously armand is a career dom and also like if a stone butch was a gay man. second of all if they do go eternal sunshine theory with it in the show there is something DEEPLY compelling about a daniel who claims to be straight normal guy not only having slept w men in his repressed past but also crawled on a leash

#which i KNOW. is not the same thing as bottoming. but for the purposes of this question. #ask game

[struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor]

I don't think mass buying is ridiculous per se it serves a specific purpose which is to compensate for radio points they will never get its just not a sustainable long-term thing regardless of opinions about it though its not illegal and throwing out all website sales including physical cds can't be written off as anything other than blatant sabotage internationally skewing numbers to push him down the chart and the push to stream and buy and focus on numbers definitely can be exhausting sometimes but when you look at things like what happened with bb its like yeah its exhausting because it's designed to be exhausting they screw bts over in broad daylight repeatedly in an attempt to exhaust us into giving up and then they snatch 100k sales with no explanation whatsoever just because they can when we all know how quick they'd be to throw us under the bus if we'd actually done something wrong its just a power play

Okay, mass buying is meant to compensate for radio points, but it's still buying the same tracks multiple times when most Army already have multiple premium subscriptions to streaming platforms and own all album versions. It's literally just throwing money away so your favorite artist (who is already rich and famous) can chart well. Even if fans are choosing to do so - unlike listening to a song on the radio, for example - it's still beyond absurd and in no way representative of the popularity of a song. If BB charts have any chance of representing actual music consumption in the US, then the one purchase per lifetime rule is fair. Most Americans were not listening to Like Crazy. It wasn't even a top 50 hit probably. Why were people not listening to Like Crazy? Was it because it wasn't pop friendly, or because it was a song by a Korean artist with no radio spins despite fans requesting the song multiple times and without good playlisting? Ofc the most popular songs are popular because they get a chance to become popular, something getting a no. 1 on the Hot 100 can help towards. I understand why fans want Jimin and BTS to top Billboard and how significant and important it is to do so. It opens the door to other foreign artists and shows that the industry can and should change to become more inclusive.

So this is a complex issue because there are pros to mass buying - if the system is corrupt the only way to beat it is to "play dirty" - but at the same time you're still giving BB power by caring about obsolete charts most people aren't even aware of at all (I didn't know about the charts until BTS). You're also injecting even more money into a billion dollar industry and, in particular, making Hybe, Apple, Amazon and other disgusting corporations even richer, just so you can beat some record. At the same time, BB charts lose whatever meaning they still have because, discussion of privilege aside, people in the US were not listening to Like Crazy more than most other songs on the top 10 of the Hot 100.

I'm not trying to defend Billboard because they are crooked and allow a lot of backroom deals to happen, but they're not totally wrong on this matter. They should, however, take that same energy for fairness and apply it to literally anything else - but they won't, because that would mean the end of them, and because they are clearly bigoted. And transparency is important as well because they decided to apply these rules out of nowhere apparently and blindsided not just Armys but other tracking accounts. So, yeah, Billboard is shady and dirty.

Fans could just boycott BB and the Grammys, but BTS care about BB and fans care too much about their pride to give up on those charts - other stans and the media would immediately jump on BTS and call them flops or whatever. Hybe would also lose a lot of money, which, for some reason, would upset many fans. I really hate capitalism.

#ask #bts #text #thanks for the ask

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Hi BPP! I’ve been thinking a lot about BTS’ career moves these past years and what Tae said in their Burn the Stage docu about reaching heights faster if they wanted, but they wanted to do things their own way. I feel like they could have become more mainstream or at least bigger (if that was even possible lmao) if they had decided to, just to name a few

1. Officially sign with a US label, not just the distribution one they had with Columbia

2. Released a full english album back in 2018 and releasing English singles every year after

3. Did payola to get the BB100 number #1s faster

4. They could’ve just toured the past few years (if covid didn’t exist or if they had… different sensibilities) and earned billions of money. And ARMY would’ve celebrated too, I don’t think the fandom would’ve care if we had no new music since a BTS live show is something we’re always hungry for

5. Capitalized on Dynamite and Butter even more, instead of releasing BE and Proof

Basically, do whatever USA artists are doing now.

In fact, they deliberately seemed to choose to do stuff that made things harder for them. I think this concept of fairness and doing things the right way has been simultaneously been a boon and a curse for them. A boon because they would’ve been absolutely crushed if it came out that they had underhanded tactics but because they’re squeaky clean, the most people have had to say is that ARMYs are bots LMAO. A curse because they truly could’ve achieved even more if they had done things the way most artists do it.

I think it’s really interesting that BTS has always been careful to not slip up for both the optics, but also because I think it’s just part of their creed as a band, and a part of their personalities as individual people. I will never forget about Jin’s speech back in 2019 where he gently reminded everyone that it’s better to do music honestly instead of doing sajaegi, which is doubly more poignant considering the amount of shit they got for unfounded sajaegi accusations.

Idk, I just have a lot of respect for them for sticking to their guns. I feel like Hybe would be open to a lot of the business tactics above but I think BTS themselves are the ones who put their foot down. It’s impossible for me to think otherwise especially because of Namjoon’s statement from FESTA this year: I wish we could continue to perform sincerely and talk like this without thinking about the rules of the world. It was heart wrenching. It just makes sense considering the statements he’s made over the years.

**

Hi Anon,

I agree 100%.

These boys have been accused of Epstein-level crimes since they popped on the scene in 2013. Some years back I used to find it amusing how people seemed so eager to catch them in some kind of slip up, how k-pop stans would be in forums tallying up their music core points to prove fraud...

It was lame, of course. But that's just the sort of thing k-pop stans of Big 3 groups, groups that were constantly bouncing from one drug scandal to another fraud investigation to Lord knows what else every few months, would do to smaller 'squeaky clean' groups. K-pop Twitter wasn't a thing back then so that's how people passed the time. BTS was often a target and each time, k-pop stans would come up with nothing. Even after escalating their accusations to the Korean president's office.

It's been interesting seeing the theories they've come up with to explain the lack of dirt on BTS including, (1) Hybe owning Dispatch, (2) Hybe owning Mnet, (3) Hybe buying up MAMA, (4) ARMYs blackmailing journalists, (5) Hybe buying Harvard shares (lol), (6) BTS dating chaebols, (7) ARMYs being a well-networked cult that buries everything bad about BTS, (8) BTS members funding album purchases, (9) BTS all being asexual, and so on and so forth.

Ngl I enjoy reading the theories.

But on a more serious note, and to tie in to your ask, BTS are not stupid. They, more than anyone, know that even though 90% of the industry uses payola tactics and media-play to get ahead, the minute BTS lean too heavily on those methods they'll be made an example of. It's the model minority conundrum within a k-pop context writ large. It's why despite ARMYs not doing anything other fandoms aren't doing, ARMYs in fact choosing not to employ tactics in fandoms such as Bad Bunny's, TSwift's, and BP's, ARMYs are still the most heavily scrutinized. Lol.

One thing that makes me chuckle when I see k-pop commentators waxing lyrical about BTS's rise to the top and why they dominated in ways no one else has, is that none of these people seem to realize that in addition to the barriers put on BTS, the group deliberately handicapped themselves in many ways.

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for the guys to just say fuck it. I'd like to see what it looks like for HYBE to deliver all the tools at their disposal for ARMYs to use, let's see what happens when 10+ versions of whatever American artist is in the running with 10+ versions of a BTS release, with the same playlisting/radio considerations et al.

I expect that over the next two years with the members' solo roll-outs and with other groups under their manangement, HYBE will be doing a lot of experimenting. Seeing what's tolerated and what works.

In 2026 the world will be a very different place, but somehow I think it will be the perfect time to see what a no fucks given BTS looks like.

#bts #bts fandom #kpop industry

[max--phillips]

imma be honest. I legit have NO idea why Tumblr (I've seen it mostly here lol) r hating that new LOTR series.

I've never been interested in LOTR so i could care less about the original movies and the new series.

But this hate is like NO other. WHY do people hated it so much even before it came out?

I do agree tho that Amazon prime spent 1billion(I'm like 99% sure I'm right about this) money on the series is legit too much omg ?

😐

Here’s why people hate it: Amazon is an evil corporation that is playing a major part in the late stage capitalism that is bringing about the fucking end of civilization as we know it, Amazon spent one BILLION dollars on this show, and as far as I know nobody asked for a LOTR show. Also, have you seen the intro? The intro looks like something you’d see on some public access show from the 90s about historical figures of some shit. I also don’t really have any stake in the issue (I’ve never watched any of the LOTR movies) but I’d say most of the hate is really just a hate for Amazon. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#tori answers questions #max answers questions #anonymous

[the-firebird69]

They have had some advice from these guys it's about 2 or 300 pieces of advice don't let him train in front of us don't give him anything on and on still not shut up. It's not really covered with a million people are doing it now and they got horrible and it was a bit much so I began to say I don't want to see him wasting this and that and there is that really it's like a half a pound of cold gas well with the current rates he's spending about $2 for half a pound and the sandwich is 7 bucks so it doesn't make sense so trying to see what he can do here trying to get some detergent and it's not bad if you have to say lakes retired you understand that it is horrible someone is showing her butt and he says it looks like mine when I was pregnant so wouldn't be bad if she was pregnant and he says that's true

So is the dilemma again he's got to eat something you can't seem to get it and it's off to try and get the power bar or something

We have some announcements to make and he's going to have to buy something the announcements are going to be pretty short have a few things that are going on your huge that are huge

-there is a space war continuing a brief update there are about 50 billion ships fighting off Titan and there of all different groups fighting each other. Just about 40 billion ships off of the tower ships and they are all fight each other. And there are ships out there in large numbers there's a ton of them there are probably around the 50 billion okay total and sitting there threatening him to say something different ever so yeah we don't change all the time it's still the same we have a few other things to announcement that's where the Mac morlock fleets are and that's the status they are also fighting here. In there fighting quite a bit they don't give it up and they won't stop fighting when is The nightmare really huge numbers of people are fighting each other here Giant giant giant numbers of people are in trouble and they are not making it it's a huge deal it's it's happening here in Charlotte and also happening in all the capitals are they going at it very hard and people getting hurt and when our son out of the way and safe there's a few more items occurring along with the space battles and they are fighting pretty fiercely the tower ships are cut in half from what we last announced there getting smaller and smaller and Trump is beginning to see it but it doesn't seem care that much he says and he has an ax yet he has an act and it is active raining over reality unfortunately for him his other announcements but this is going on now we suspect there will be a Victor we do think Trump and Tommy f they are holding half of the planetoids each and we think that they will have a fight there and for some reason Trump holds them off we think it's a robot and poor equipment on the part of Tommy and it's coming down to that man I guess he can laugh if he wants to he says yes and we also suspect that the pseudo empire lunch several attacks and established bases and Trump is going to be sitting there and he thinks he can hit them to gamble and he's going to do it but it just does not sound good

We're going to publish this is very big news and then we are going to begin other announcements

Thor Freya

Olympus

It sounds like it might happen now and there are several factors that they may that it may help that from happening but there are several factors that may cause it to happen I think it's going to happen later and it's been kind of drilled into me then it's going to happen slowly and you've been doing it too yeah but it's kind of drilled into you and it's kind of annoying play the truth and we're not the ones doing it most of the time it's extremely annoying it does nothing and really they're getting it like a d as a grade and it just does not it is not a passing grade and it's horrific and it's horrifically annoying but we think something else will happen and my husband was hitting on it and he's saying that the places we fought over and the remaining ships will be probably chased away and you can see it in many many films and videos did they are chased away that they don't have very many shifts but they have them and they do have stone chips so it's kind of premature I think but it keeps happening that way reason why they are trying to actually get to Venus for the iron and are being chased away by practically everybody and that's because they are having a lot of problems with each other and getting stuff and right now we don't think they can hold it although others might want to let them they probably can't physically hold it that's a huge issue

Hera

[lilacofficial]

i rlly hope ur post was just bait but if not imma say sum things:

1. ya kno u dont have to do blackface or anything to cosplay as a black character, you can simply dress up as her, u dont need to do anything with ur hair. white people literally cosplay as characters with dif races (esp in anime spaces) all the time and nobody bats an eye

2. the reason why lizzie's design was changed (atleast from my pov) is bcos grizzly specifically capitalized off having lizzie be "ambiguous" and acted as if that was enough representation -- which is honestly pretty shitty, white characters can be confirmed to be white in the show, but the best we had for any POC in general is "oh she has the same skintone as rhianna :3 she has braids" and then turn around and have a white woman for the design. the best i can describe it for you, for what i assume is a white queer (or at the very least a non-Black queer), is that it felt like queerbaiting but for representation of POC.

3. and honestly the "why not introduce characters that are Black from the getgo", aside from the reasons i mentioned in 2, i wanna add that it is important that atleast ONE person who is a reoccuring, is integral to the plot, and close to the main characters is POC. becus the reoccuring crew is literally entirely white aside from lizzie. i personally dont want representation where a character appears for one arc and then disappears, i want someone who is reoccuring and has a deep and meaningful exploration of their character. this late into the series i genuinely doubt grizzly would be able to squeeze in a new meaningful character to the main cast.

4. if u dont feel comfortable cosplaying lizzie, there are literally a billion other pirates to cosplay. u dont need to take what little POC representation (esp Black representation) there is in riptide and invalidate it for u to find another pirate to cosplay.

all this to say, you need to go outside more. You have internalized anti Black racism that needs to be worked on, you may not have intended ill will, but that was so racist omg

All of your assumptions are incorrect. You should really not assume someone's sexuality, race, ethincity, gender, etc on a Tumblr post or account. Also the post was 100% not bait. I am perfectly aware I do not need to blackface nor would I ever do that. The reason I said the whole thing about the dreadlocks is because although it would be acceptable for me to do so I do not have the type of hair that can be put into dreadlocks so I'm sure a wig with dreadlocks would look bad on me. I also do genuinly understand why people were adamant about the intial design change because Grizzly's intial description of her. What you seem to be misunderstanding from my post is that Lizzie (the second design at least) is a part of the little POC representation for some of us, myself included. When I was talking about new and diverse characters I was not talking about someone who whould stick around for one arc and then dissapear. I genuinly do think that a new character who is not white could be brought into the world and be meaningfull to the main cast. In fact, considering what Grizzly has said so far one new, diverse, important to the crew and story, and future reoccuring character does exist, Ensa! I was so excited when he described and showed the art of Ensa because she is some great representation and I was so excited to hear her character wants to be a pirate and to see Grizzly say this, "Eventually, I think she will join the crew more full time on the ship. She's already apart of their little family, helping take care of Ollie & his mom.". I understand that you are angry with me but I am definetly not trying to "invalidate it (representation) for u to find another pirate to cosplay.". It was not racist. If I had said something like, "Ew. The new Lizzie design is gross and ugly.", then I would understand how it would be racist but as I already said, I do like design. I would feel the same way if a character got a redesign and looked exactly like me. Representation is incredibly important and I think that changing a character that is already known isn't truly the best way to do representation.

#Thank you for your message though #I do enjoy hearing about other people's thoughts on the redesign #Oh also I have definetly seen people “bat an eye” at white people who cosplay non white characters #Also if part of the problem is that Grizzly's original description dosen't match her first design the the second design #is the most canonical

[sundanceritz]

captain earth spoiler analysis aka ‘posts nobody can read’

out of all of enokido’s shows this reminds me the most of melody of oblivion (not counting eva/rahxephon which are obvious). that show ended up being about how adults and capitalism systematically traumatize children (well that’s what i thought it was about) and i think that’s the point behind the planetary gears too

ok, on one hand they are eternally-old aliens who came to the solar system to watch humanity evolve over billions of years so they could devour their libido, so really, they’re more like the unstoppable inhuman forces of the monsters in MoO, right? well, in lore, yeah. but what’s key is the seventeen years they spent as humans (i.e. the ‘childhood’ they spent as humans)

when they’re awakened to their true self, it can seem very abrupt that they instantly become cold-hearted alien invaders. but in reality this too is just a reaction to the childhoods they lead up to then, which have given them no reason NOT to turn around and decide “we should devour humanity”. they’re abused kids who see no value in the world that hurt them. simple as that, outside of all the sci-fi setup.

this is demonstrated in so many different ways - zin was perpetually unhappy and owned by the mob. baku was a victim of human trafficking before also becoming owned by the mob. ai was an idol (enough said about that!). lady setsuna was raised by someone with ulterior motives framed as predatory. the bike girl was doing relatively alright, but very listless in life, and all of these kids grew up in a shelter program before being tossed aside to be used in all these different ways and industries. the idea that they’re just getting brainwashed to “the evil side” is something of a trick, before you get to baku’s episode in which even after being turned he still cares about the one thing he had left to protect - until he can’t anymore. then you look back and realize that none of the others had anything to care about.

[weheartchrisevans]

BOSTON — So you're Tim Scott, the Republican senator from South Carolina who opposes Roe v. Wade and wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and you get a call from Chris Evans, a Hollywood star and lifelong Democrat who has been blasting President Trump for years. He wants to meet. And film it. And share it on his online platform. Can anybody say "Borat?" “I was very skeptical,” admits Scott. “You can think of the worst-case scenario.”But then Scott heard from other senators. They vouched for Evans, most famous for playing Captain America in a series of films that have grossed more than $1 billion worldwide. The actor also got on the phone with Scott’s staff to make a personal appeal.

It worked. Sometime in 2018, Scott met on camera with Evans in the nation’s capital, and their discussion, which ranged from prison reform to student loans, is one of more than 200 interviews with elected officials published on “A Starting Point,” an online platform the actor helped launch in July. Not long after, Evans appeared on Scott’s Instagram Live. They have plans to do more together.

“While he is a liberal, he was looking to have a real dialogue on important issues,” says Scott. “For me, it’s about wanting to have a conversation with an audience that may not be accustomed to hearing from conservatives and Republicans.”

Evans, actor-director Mark Kassen and entrepreneur Joe Kiani launched “A Starting Point” as a response to what they see as a deeply polarized political climate. They wanted to offer a place for information about issues without a partisan spin. To do that, they knew they needed both parties to participate.

Evans, 39, sat on the patio outside his Boston-area home on a recent afternoon talking about the platform. He wore a black T-shirt and jeans and spent some of the interview chasing around his brown rescue dog. Nearly 100 million people didn’t vote in the 2016 general election, Evans says. That’s more than 40 percent of those who were eligible.He believes the root of this disinterest is the nastiness on both sides of the aisle. Many potential voters simply turn off the news, never mind talking about actual policy.“A Starting Point” is meant to offer a digital home for people to hear from elected officials without having the conversation framed by Tucker Carlson or Rachel Maddow.

“The idea is . . . ‘Listen, you’re in office. I can’t deny the impact you have,’ ” says Evans. “ ‘You can vote on things that affect my life.’ Let this be a landscape of competing ideas, and I’ll sit down with you and I’ll talk with you.”

Or, as Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who has appeared on the site, puts it, “Sometimes, boring is okay. You’re being presented two sides. Everything doesn’t have to be sensational. Sometimes, it can just be good facts.” Evans wasn’t always active in politics. At Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, he focused on theater, not student government. And he moved away from home his senior year, working at a casting agency in New York as he pushed for acting gigs. His uncle, Michael E. Capuano, served as a congressman in Massachusetts for 20 years, but other than volunteering on some of his campaign, Evans wasn’t particularly political.

In recent years, he’s read political philosopher Hannah Arendt and feminist Rebecca Solnit’s “The Mother of All Questions” — ex-girlfriend Jenny Slate gave him the latter — and been increasingly upset by Trump’s policies and behavior. He’s come to believe that he can state his own views without creating a conflict with “A Starting Point.” When he and Scott spoke on Instagram, the president wasn’t mentioned. In contrast, recently Evans and other members of the Avengers cast took part in a virtual fundraiser with Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala D. Harris.

“I don’t want to all of a sudden become a blank slate,” says Evans. “But my biggest issue right now is just getting people to vote. If I start saying, ‘vote Biden; f Trump,’ my base will like that. But they were already voting for Biden.”

(In September, Evans accidentally posted an image of presumably his penis online and, after deleting it, tweeted: “Now the I have your attention . . . Vote Nov. 3rd!!!”)

Evans began to contemplate the idea that became “A Starting Point” in 2017. He heard something reported on the news — he can’t remember exactly what — and decided to search out information on the Internet. Instead of finding concrete answers, Evans fell down the rabbit hole of opinions and conflicting claims. He began talking about this with Kassen, a friend since he directed Evans in 2011’s “Puncture.” What if they got the information directly from elected officials and presented it without a spin? Kassen, in turn, introduced Evans to Kiani, who had made his fortune through a medical technology company he founded and, of the three, was the most politically involved.

Kiani has donated to dozens of Democratic candidates across the country and earlier this year contributed $750,000 to Unite the Country, a super PAC meant to support Joe Biden. But he appreciated the idea of focusing on something larger than a single race or party initiative. He, Kassen and Evans would fund “A Starting Point,” which has about 18 people on staff.

“There’s no longer ABC, NBC and CBS,” Kiani says. “There’s Fox News and MSNBC. What that means is that we are no longer being censored. We’re self-censoring ourselves. And people go to their own echo chamber and they don’t get any wiser. If you allow both parties to speak, for the same amount of time, without goading them to go on into hyperbole, when people look at both sides’ point of view of both topics, we think most of the time they’ll come to a reasonable conclusion.”

“What people do too often is they get in their silos and they only watch and listen and read what they agree with,” says John Kasich, the former Ohio governor and onetime Republican presidential candidate. “If you go to Chris’s website, you can’t bury yourself in your silo. You get to see the other point of view.” As much as some like to blame Trump for all the conflicts in Washington, Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.) says he’s watched the tone shifting for decades. He appreciated sitting down with Evans and making regular submissions to “Daily Points,” a place on the platform for commentary no longer than two minutes. During the Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Coons recorded a comment on Judge Amy Coney Barrett and the Affordable Care Act.“ ‘A Starting Point’ needs to be a sustained resource,” Coons says. “Chris often talks about it being ‘Schoolhouse Rock’ for adults.”

It’s not by chance that Evans has personally conducted all of the 200-plus interviews on “A Starting Point” during trips to D.C. Celebrities often try to mobilize the public, whether it’s Eva Longoria, Tracee Ellis Ross and Julia Louis-Dreyfus hosting the Democratic National Convention or Jon Voight recording video clips to praise Trump. But in this case, Evans is using his status in a different way, to entice even the most hesitant Republican to sit down for an even-toned chat. And he’s willing to pose with anyone, even if it means explaining himself on “The Daily Show” after Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas posted a selfie with Evans. (Two attempts to interview Trump brought no response.) Murkowski remembers when Evans came to Capitol Hill for the first time in 2018. She admits she didn’t actually know who he was — she hadn’t yet seen any Marvel movies. She was in the minority.“We meet interesting and important people but, man, when Captain America was in the Senate, it was all the buzz,” she says. “And people were like, ‘Did you get your picture taken?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I sat down and did the interview.’ ‘You did an interview? How did you get an interview with him?’ ”What impressed Murkowski wasn’t his star power. It was the way Evans conducted the interview.“It was relaxing,” she says. “You didn’t feel like you were in front of a reporter who was just waiting for you to say something you would get caught on later. It was a dialogue . . . and we need more dialogue and less gotcha.”

“Starting Points” offers two-minute answers by elected officials in eight topic areas, including education, the environment and the economy. This is where the interviews Evans conducted can be found. “Daily Points” has featured a steady flow of Republicans and Democrats. A third area, “Counterpoints,” hosts short debates between officials on particular subjects. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat from California, debated mail-in voting with Dusty Johnson, the Republican congressman from South Dakota.

“Most Americans can’t name more than five members of the United States House,” says Johnson. “ ‘A Starting Point’ allows thoughtful members to talk to a broader audience than we would normally have.”

The platform’s social media team pushes out potentially newsworthy clips, whether it’s Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) discussing his meeting with Barrett just before he tested positive for the coronavirus, or Angus King, the independent senator from Maine, criticizing Trump for his comments on a potential peaceful transfer of power after November’s election. Kassen notes that the King clip was viewed more than 175,000 times on “A Starting Point’s” Twitter account, compared with the 10,000 who caught in on CNN’s social media platform.

“Because it’s short-form media, we’re engineered to be social,” says Kassen. “As a result, when something catches hold, it’s passed around our audience pretty well.”

The key is to use modern tools to push out content that’s tonally different from what you might find on modern cable news. Or on social media. Which is what Evans hopes leads to more engagement. He’s particularly proud that more than 10,000 people have registered to vote through “A Starting Point” since it went online.

“If the downstream impact or the byproduct of this site is some sort of unity between the parties, great,” says Evans. “But if nobody’s still voting, it doesn’t work. We need people involved.”

#chris evans #mark kassan #joe kiani #a starting point #the washington post #news

[doubleddenden]

Random thought: My only arguments against time travel existing are the following

1. Paradox law, whereby going to the past to do or undo something, you erase the thing you were going to do, thus erasing why you would need to go back in time

2. In the event that Time Travel follows multi universe theory and either cuts off the traveler from their previous time or doesn't actually change anything except make a separate timeline from the one they currently come from, there's still 2 big reasons it isn't real.

1. Stephen Hawking threw a time traveler party and nobody showed up, and there is absolute record of the exact time and date it would have happened. That's not only rude but unreasonable to think anyone from our fucked up future would turn down the opportunity for free food, let alone a party, let alone a party with Professor Stephen Fuckin Hawking

2. Capitalism. Do you really think that oil companies would let thousands of years of untapped oil go to waste?

I mean think about it, they already mistreat natives who already own the land in THIS timeline. You cannot convince me that they wouldn't try to just go a bit further back in time before laws and regulations would stop them to drain the planet of oil.

"Oh but wouldn't that cause a temporal anomaly? Wouldn't that just fuck up our planet quicker?"

THATS MY POINT ENTIRELY THOUGH! Oil companies don't give a shit! We have scientists saying if we don't change things NOW, the world is fucked! And they don't care! They're doing worse! They're spilling billions of gallons of oil into our oceans! They're not doing a thing to counteract the billions of tons of carbon they put into the air! They clearly show no care for anything except the pockets of their investors and CEOs!

So of course if time travel was real, either reality would crumble due to their negligence, or we'd suddenly have a fuck ton more carbon emissions and oil leaks stemming from an Earth circa BC or Dark Ages era that has an atmosphere and environmental disasters worse than ours

Also, let's be real, we'd have seen a YouTuber make a video of themselves scaring some poor 1700s child with Rickrolls that would spread around like wildfire, no matter how hard any secret time patrollers or whatever could try

#time travel

[razorblade180]

Twin snowflakes part 24: Date Night.

Part 23 here! <-

Still exhausted, Veronica flopped back onto her bed with the help of Nick. The girl let the mattress steal all tension from her body, letting out a sigh of satisfaction. “Aaahhhh! That’s the stuff. Appreciate the help.”

“Don’t mention it. Especially after what you just did. Frankly I had no plan to get Summer to cooperate.”

Veronica chuckled the best she could. “Hehe, not often Nicholas Schnee doesn’t have a plan. I guess you owe me then? Lucky for you I take words of affirmation as payment all the time.”

Nick smiled. It was nice to see Veronica joking. Encountering Shiva always put a dread over him, but she seemed to not care much. That’s Veronica alright, refusing to take crap from anybody. “I could praise you, or how about I praise you over a nice dinner?” Nick quickly responded.

All the neurons in Veronica’s brain suddenly came to a screeching halt. Her body immediately came flinging forward to sit upright to stare at the smiling boy. “What…?” She asked, still processing the question.

“Let me take you dinner.” He said again, “I have a reservation at this place in Atlas tonight. I was gonna cancel but we could just have a night out together. You still haven’t tried much food from here right? Plus I know you still have to be hungry. This works out.”

Veronica couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Did Nick just ask her out on a dinner date? That didn’t sound right, even if it was a thank you gift. As quickly as her eyes lit up, they began to squint at him with skepticism. “What happened with Valerie?”

Now his eyes got big. He wasn’t expecting that response. “Uhhhh what?” His voice gave away his nervousness and Veronica could clearly tell.

“Don’t play dumb with me Nick. I’m not gonna call you a liar or anything, but I know you, and you know me; as well as my feelings.” She said that last part sheepishly. “You aren’t the kind of person to play with my emotions or offer a dinner date when you’re crushing on Val, so what’s up? Be straight with me”

It was becoming clear to Nick that he apparently could be read like a book. This is the third person within twenty four hours to look at him and automatically knew to ask about Valerie. This was ridiculous! His life had many things that made him bummed out. How are people guessing right on the first try!?”

“Uhhhhh” he scratched the back of his head and sighed. No point tip toeing around it. Not like it was a secret or anything, yet his stomach felt queasy all the same. “I ran into her yesterday. She was pretty upset that I didn’t tell her I got sick. I apologized and tried to smooth our recent bickering over with dinner. It was going okay, but then…Val immediately started to brush me off. I got upset, she started deflecting, people started staring, then she really started saying some things that really got me upset; kinda made a little scene out of it before walking off. Nor really princely, huh?” He tried smiling at the self jab, but failed. “Anyways, next time we meet per her request more a less will be at the tournament. We currently aren’t on speaking terms. Something she should be fine with since distance was what she wanted in the first place.”

Veronica could hear a little venom in those words. Val really did have Nick upset. He’s never this openly bitter. Though maybe it was being behind closed doors that allowed him to drop the facade of being consistently pleasant. Frankly, that made Veronica a little happy for him, in an odd way. However… “I see. So I assume that this dinner reservation was for you and her?” An answer wasn’t needed. Nick’s moment of sulking was replaced with a guilt ridden look on his face the moment she asked. “You know, kinda shitty you’re asking me to a dinner meant for another girl that turned you down. Not a fan of being someone’s second choice.”

Nick closed his eyes and let in a sharp breath like he had just been hit. “Oooo yeah, yeah that was pretty messed up for me.”

“Mhmm, big time. No girl wants to hear that you know?”

“I didn’t mean- I wasn’t trying to...sorry. That was tasteless and selfish of me.” He looked down, shamefully and with genuine guilt. It was only when Veronica’s hand lifted his head by his chin did he see the girl stare at him with an observing gaze and lips pouting to the side. She then crossed her arms and looked away from him, ears tucked and a tinge of red visible on her.

“You’re lucky you’re a good person and I am hungry. I…guess you could apologize with a good dinner?” Veronica knew he wasn’t trying to be insensitive. Still, she was more than a little ticked off at herself for letting him off easy. Darn his good qualities! Being mad towards him for long was never gonna happen. Not to mention having a calm outing together is a golden opportunity. No way she wasn’t gonna capitalize off of Valerie’s mistakes. Her eyes shifted towards Nick to see a relieved smile that only made staying upset harder.

“This place better be good! Also I’m gonna order every expensive thing possible!” Veronica declared, attempting to save face.

“Hehe, thank you, and go right ahead and order anything you want. It’s not until around nine so please, get some rest.”

“I should be saying that to you. Isn’t going out at night in the cold while moody only gonna give you more sniffles?”

“Pfft, I’m sick anymore. Just focus on healing and rest. Not that I have to tell you this, but you gotta dress nice for where we’re eating.”

Veronica smirked, pointing at a closet of designed outfits. “Careful. I may not be worth billions but I’ll make you look like a pocket change if you don’t wear you best.”

The boy let out a cocky chuckle before walking to the door. “For your information, I’m two billion.” He said puffing out his chest playfully, leaving on that note. He could hear her gentle laughter behind the door. At least he could lift one girl’s spirit. As for the other, Nick looked at his sister’s locked door. He couldn’t help himself. He wasn’t going to knock, but he had to at least walk to it. Come to think of it, Nick had a hard time remembering when this door remained open. Most days it kept either the warmth in, while shutting others out. Slowly he rested his hand against it. The wood, cool to the touch.

“Tell me what you need.” He thought, “I’m not a mind reader…” Nick could only sigh. He removed his hand and stepped back. As he began to walk, the door moved. As if something was pressed against it from the other side.

“I know you’re there.” Summer said from the other side. Nick quickly walked back to it. Somehow he could imagine how she was on the other side. One leg extended while the other was bent as she pressed her back to the door. Nick took a seat himself, mimicking the pose he envisioned.

“You okay?”

“Far from it, but that’s par for course…” Summer looked over her shoulder as if she was actually resting against her brother’s back. “Honestly I feel so fucked up some days that therapy feels like a joke. I think I need a break.”

“What kind of break?”

“The usual…” Summer let her words draw out lazily. The back of her head rhythmically tapped the door. “Care to join me?”

Nick tugged at the carpet fibers, mulling it over. “Mmmm sorry, I’m not in the mood for that kind of relief. Besides, I already have plans. I’ll cover for you though. I think venting could do some real good for ya. Just don’t stay out too long. Leave around… half past nine.”

“Will do, thanks Nick.” Even though a door separated them, Summer could feel the care from the other side. Veronica’s words back in the forest about Nick and how Summer treats their relationship struck an all too sensitive cord. “I promise not to worry you. Have fun with whatever you’re doing tonight. I’ll keep you updated and everything.”

“Don’t stress about it. I believe in you. Anyways, I gotta get going. I think I’ll do a bit of distressing in my own way.” Nick stands up. “Better go while there’s daylight.”

“Gonna pay respects?”

“Yep. Enjoy your outing. I’ll see ya tomorrow if I don’t see ya tonight before I leave. Love ya.” He walked away after that, not expecting a response. Didn’t need one. After all, Summer coming to the door said enough.

All in all, things felt okay. Life felt okay. By no means was it perfect, but Nick was thankful he had blessings to count. He’d feel better after the tournament. What should’ve been an exciting time was getting more troublesome. Training, performing, fighting Darren in the duos, and now a not so friendly rematch with Valerie. At least Eliza still had a sportsmanship attitude. He still needed to ask her favor as well. By the end of this she would certainly be sick of him. Nick was surprised she didn't block his number yet. That would royally suck.

His slow walk took down the stairs and back to the front of the manor. He heard dishes clanking from the door to the far left while he grabbed his dark blue winter coat off the rack. “That you dad?” The kitchen door swung open to show Jaune drying a cup and Yang waving in the background as she held a slice in her mouth while talking to Blake. How they managed to swipe pizza out of Veronica’s room was beyond Nick.

“What’s up?” Jaune said, noticing his son put his jacket on. “Heading out? Your mom and aunts should be back soon. Pretty sure they’d want-”

“Veronica and I are going on a dinner date later.” Nick interjected. As planned, his father was derailed. Stammering footsteps came plopping out of the kitchen in the form of a very wide eyed blonde, and a shocked ninja. Blake’s ears even did the little twitch Nick as seen Veronica do whenever she’s caught off guard. “Yeah I thought you all should now. I’d say don’t bug her about it and let her rest, but considering Yang’s feet are already pointed towards the stairs…”

Yang looked down. “Huh...how about that?” She said, walking up the stairs with Blake trying to stop her.”

“Let her rest Yang!”

“But I wanna say stuff~” she whined, “I guarantee you she’s listening to us right now.”

Yang was right on the money. Veronica was currently judging how much strength it would take to lock the door. Her odds were bad. “Okay I don’t care how cute he is. This was cruel!” Veronica thought loudly to herself.

Jaune watched Blake slowly get dragged up the stairs by trying to stop Yang. Without looking, he leaned forward and reached out to grab Nick’s shoulder, who was trying to slowly back up to the door. He faced forward and smiled. “Good attempt, but you’d need a better distraction than that.”

“Eh it was worth a shot…” Nick sighed. He was pulled forward and fell into a surprise hug. He stood silently for a minute before wrapping his arms around his dad. “You needed a hug?”

“Not really, but you looked like you did.” Jaune said, squeezing tired. “You know you’re growing up into a fine young man. Better than me by a long shot at your age. I hope you know your entire family is proud of you.”

“I know dad…” Nick said, his voice getting stuck in his throat a little.

“I know I can’t relate to some of the pressures you feel. Honestly being a part of a household with this much attention and expectation still gets me anxious from time to time. So don’t hesitate to vent to me. You’re a young adult yeah, but I’m still my son and sixteen. Weiss and I would much rather see you yell at an annoying cameraman or get scrappy with a bully than see you try to hold it in for the sake of family image. Remember that.”

How did he do it? It was unfair, downright cheating almost in Nick’s eyes. How could so many people easily call him out? “What’s the point of enduring if everyone I wanna reassure sees right through the act? So much for a brave face.” He muttered. Jaune finally let go of him. The compassionate father poked Nick right where his heart was.

“Enduring an ordeal for the sake of others is pretty brave in my book, but who said you couldn’t endure hardships and still be open to those who matter? Have you meant your friends and family? Besides your sister I don’t think there’s a soul close to you who isn’t an expert of seeing past masks. Val and Vee live with bleeding hearts and the rest have had to put up with me!” He chuckled, “Just like I’m sure you know when someone is upset.”

Nick had his doubts. “Mmmmm, starting to think I might not know them as well as I think. Val is...ugh, I don’t know she is. Learned about Vee’s traits recently for the first time, and Summer-”

“Okay, I see your point. But! Learning new things about them and knowing there’s things you don’t know, doesn’t erase what you did. Y’all are teens. There’s a bunch of things to sort through. At the end of the day though, you know them where it counts. Does that make sense?”

“....Yeah, I think I do.” Nick nodded, thanks dad. Seriously. It’s kinda scary how good at talking you are.”

“Comes with practice, specifically learning to listen and just watch closely. You may not realize it but you do this plenty. It’s a big reason people gravitate towards you. Well… people who are just money hungry anyways, but that’s more of a rich person policy than a Nick-ism. I digress! You better get going before your mother comes back and give you her own talk.” Jaune said. He opened up the door for Nick to leave. “From the way you’ve been acting I assume you’re heading to pay your respects?”

Nick nodded, “I’ll try not to be terribly long. Don’t tell mom unless she asks. You know how she gets?” Nick walked through the door, fist bumping his dad on the way out.

Jaune closed the door and went back to the kitchen. Somewhere above him he could hear giggles and a few squealing. “Hopefully nothing catches on fire up there.”

“You are starting a fire!” Blake yelled, trying to contain Yang’s excitement so the blonde’s hair would stop flaring up. “Use your words.” Blake laughed.

“Please…” Veronica groaned. This level of energy was higher than usual. “You’re more excited than me. It’s just a dinner date. Barely even that. More like a thank you gift I suppose.” That being said the blush coming to her face clearly sung a different tune. “Can we please talk about anything else? I mean mom, you’re here!”

Blake crossed her arms. “So I heard you got into a fight? Let’s talk about that.”

“Ummm, so this date, any suggestions on what to wear?” Veronica poorly deflected. Blake didn’t even respond and Yang was smart enough not to. There was no choice but to talk about it unfortunately. “Sigh….I know okay? Ma told me I should’ve eaten and I didn’t listen. I should’ve, or learn to walk away from-”

“I’ll stop you right there. Don’t think for a second I wasn’t okay with a person getting hit when they were clearing harassing you.” Blake took a seat on the bed. “Expecting you to balance instinct, emotions, and logic here in Atlas was never in the cards, because frankly we don’t know what that balance is. Not to say I assumed you’d fight here. All I wanted was for you to try and...take a break from the norm.”

“If that’s the case then school should’ve been removed right off the back. It doesn’t matter the location, people act the same. Different faces, same insufferability. Only difference is these bozos are rich and human.”

“You make it sound like you aren’t crushing on a rich human whose parents are allowing you to stay in their manor.” Yang deadpanned. “Not making you go to school would only leave you bored and gods know what you’ll do with too much time on your hands. Then again you managed to stir things up already by stealing a spot on the cheer team.”

Blake did a double take. That wasn’t mentioned earlier. “Cheer team? How did that happen?”

“A girl got cocky with me so I out performed her. Honestly I was more than a little surprised by it all. Holding pom-poms, doing flips on mats, and even the couch blowing the whistle, kinda forgot what those things were like until I was in the moment.”

“See? That’s a change from norm.”

“Pretty sure that counts as a return to form.” Veronica countered. “It’s whatever though. Just a temporary thing. Although I’ll admit that Eliza chick, Marigold’s kid, she’s pretty decent.”

Blake wasn’t expecting that easier. “Oh? Well that’s nice. Sounds like that could be not so temporary?”

“Eh, whatever happens, happens.” It was a nice thought. Veronica couldn’t deny that. “Any other thing you wanted to discuss with me? I’d like to lay down for a bit longer.”

“How’s it feel to discuss all this genetic stuff with Nick and Summer? Call it what you want, but telling them was no different from a therapy session if it made you feel better.” Blake stated.

Veronica frowned. “Not how I see it. I’m pretty indifferent for the most part I’d say. Haven’t thought deeply about it. Veronica plopped her head on the pillows and turned away.

Blake and Yang took their scrappy daughter’s hint to leave. Blake got off the bed and was more than fine revisiting the discussion later. Yang briefly bent over Veronica’s covered face and kissed her head.

“Muah! By the way, I’m pretty sure Nick would love to see you in his colors. No heels though. He’s a little touchy about his height.” Yang left after that, closing the door gently. Veronica could only lay there pondering the advice.

“Hmmmm that could work.”

xxxx

While the youth finally got some rest, Adults were hard at work trying to piece together all that’s happened. Ruby and Weiss scoped out the undisturbed frozen lake along with Winter, Nora, and Penny most importantly. Though there wasn’t much to go on. Just crushed rocks, claw marks from ferocious grimm, and a mix of blue and red blood that made Weiss particularly uncomfortable. Ruby sensed that uneasiness and quickly began rubbing her partner’s back.

“Your daughter’s fine.” Ruby reassured. “If what she said is accurate then she never actually lost control.”

“Yeah but the blue dyed snow before us means she just barely held on. That’s too close for comfort.” Weiss held her hands together gently. “It feels like things are getting worse.”

“Because you’re in the thick of it.” Nora spoke, projecting her voice to get their attention. The strong and prideful woman made her way over to them. “Every day you’re worried for her and wake up knowing your daughter is a few rooms away upset. A parent is only as happy as their saddest child, and seeing Summer so distant makes it difficult to see the good stuff. This situation is trying, yes, but Summer still fought back. Your daughter fought Shiva off and killed grimm to protect someone. Determination like that is a sign Summer isn’t done fighting by a long shot, so that means you shouldn’t mope. I mean she gets all that strength to defy assholes from you.”

Ruby gave a big smile. She couldn’t have said it better herself. “Yeah! Nora’s right. We’ll turn this around.”

“....Geez, you two ever stop being helpful?” Weiss said, smiling gently. She was happy to have them here. “Thank you, especially you Nora.”

“Considerate my way of apologizing if Valerie really upset Nick. I told her she needed to call him, especially after him having the decency to call me so I could keep her in the loop about this. Apparently she wasn’t very pleased that he was ill and didn’t mention it. She’s….a lot sometimes.”

“Hey, so were we. I’m sure she means well and I’m not oblivious to the fact Nick can be...a lot as well. I’m partly to blame. I enable some of his actions towards her from time to time. I think I’m projecting a bit. Maybe I should tell him to move on?” Weiss sighed. Perhaps she played matchmaker too much and misread things.

Nora could only chuckle. “Hehe, I wouldn’t. Believe me when I tell you Valerie doesn’t hate having Nick look her way. A little forwardness is the only way she’ll acknowledge problems she doesn’t want to deal with. I can’t say for certainty what those problems are but I don’t pin any of it Nick. Val has a way of wanting her cake and eating it too. She’s gotta learn hard ways that’s not how life goes. I just hope Nick finds it in himself to not hate her because of this.”

“Pfft, I don’t think hate truly exists in his vocabulary.” Weiss laughed. She could count on her hand how many times Nick truly despised a person. “He’ll be petty about it I’m sure, but that’ll go away. Space between them might be good. At the end of the day I at least want them to still be close. Val has a way of motivating him that I like. He actually has fun.”

“Yeah, my Little Thunderhead excels at moving people, that’s for sure. Her semblance would be pretty mediocre otherwise if she wasn’t.”

The three continued talking lightly until Penny eventually walked up with Winter. “Okay, so I’ve finished running some tests of the area and the deposit of Diamond Dust. I have….unique results.” Penny said, a bit baffled.

Ruby wasn’t a fan of that statement. “Ummm that doesn’t sound great coming from a person who reads books written in binary. What did you find?”

“This dust is less volatile than the samples in my lab, even though it’s been untouched for longer. By all means it should be more refined.”

“Well isn’t it a good thing that it isn’t?” Weiss asked. “We barely handle what we have.”

“True, but it’s strange. There’s a couple possibilities that may explain this. Summer may have used up some unintentionally, or maybe Shiva herself was syphoning it.”

Winter folded her arms, “Not a fan of that second option. Based on the story though, what if it wasn’t touched at all?”

“Panic attack.” Penny said immediately. “She hasn’t been here since the accident, right? It’s entirely plausible that Summer’s mind and body remembered the trauma. Repressed memories or outright fear and anxiety could be the basis for this entire event. I tried contacting Oscar if he’s noticed anything different in Summer’s behavior, but I can’t get in contact with him. The seas have been rather violent lately due to weather changes.”

“So what you're basically saying is we're as lost as usual?” Weiss said, falling backwards into the snow. “Juuuuuust great. I’m going to assume the pain attack option then. That’s something I can work on with her. If Shiva is by any chance stronger now then the only thing we can do is what we always do. Brace ourselves.”

Ruby looked down at Weiss. “And option one actually means we have less dust to deal with. That’s a plus!” She knew it was a small amount of positivity but every bit helped. Weiss smiled at her and sat up.

“Here’s hoping for option one as well I suppose. We should probably head back. This place creeps me out a bit.”

Ruby helped Weiss up and everyone began leaving. Penny kept staring at the data she collected and trying to call Oscar. Unfortunately the man wasn’t answering. Her displeased sigh was heard by Winter, who rubbed the girl’s back.

“Not to be insensitive, but your son and Qrow wouldn’t do anything too crazy out a sea would they?”

Winter laughed nervously. “Hehehe….I’m sorry.”

“That doesn’t inspire confidence!” Penny yelped. Now she was only going to think about them being stranded by the gods or in a storm. Hopefully she would hear from him soon. “I guess a deeper study will have to wait. Ruby, can I stay at your place with Whitley for a bit? I don’t wanna go home yet. Too lonely.

“Sure thing! Door is always open. Though I bet you’ll have a livelier time at the manor these days.”

Penny tried her best to act like that would be a good idea. “Tempting, but a certain blonde teenage girl wouldn’t like that much, considering her parents so desperately want my husband to be her therapist. Summer also sees me enough as is. Nick would be happy I was there.” She said in a happier tune.

“He’s not home if I know him well enough.” Weiss frowned. “Times like these, I’m sure he’ll visit the graveyards.”

Truly, her son was easy to read.

xxxx

Right now the boy in question walked through an alley of tombstones and snow, his and covered in pollen. Atlas’s central graveyard had become a place for Nick over the years. The wide space and solitude became a welcoming barrier that blocked out most strangers from approaching him. Even the paparazzi had enough tact to not disturb a person here. His feet carried him down multiple lanes towards an old tree barren of any leaves looming over a grave with no actual tombstone. Standing before it was Eliza, wearing a dark blue winter coat and deep in thought. He wasn’t expecting to see her today.

Nick kept approaching until he stood beside her silently. A cool breeze went by them as the air itself felt still. Eliza eventually shifted her gaze to him, completely aware he was there. She looked down at his dusty yellow hands before speaking. “Talking to your grandma again?”

“Yeah. She says I should eat more sandwiches. Afraid I’m a little too then.”

“Heh, always witty. Visited your gramps yet?”

Nick shook his head, “No that’s halfway across Atlas from here and further from my home. It’s the next stop. What about you? Didn’t expect you to be here today.”

“Haven’t been in awhile.” Eliza waved her hand to cause a brief gust that blew away the snow from the grave and several others. “It needed cleaning and I was in the area. So what brings you here specifically? You only visit here on anniversaries, holidays, and when you’re moody. Last time I checked this is a random day, soooo”

“Eh don’t worry about it. Everything is alright now. Just decompressing.”

“Fair enough.” Eliza put her hands in her pocket and went back to thinking, until she realized Nick was looking at her again. “Uhh can I help you?” She said a little confrontational.

Nick got a little defensive and spoke quickly. “No, just surprised you’re not pressing me to open up.”

“Why? Your business is your business unless you make it my business. Something you’ll do if your attitude negatively affects the preparation for the tournament.”

“Ouch...well if that’s the case then the favor I’m about to ask you shouldn’t refuse.”

That peaked her interest. Eliza actually turned around fully. “You’ve been asking a lot of favors of me lately.”

“I’ve asked like two favors, and you’re the one telling me to directly involve you if-”

Eliza covered his mouth, irritated by him being right. “I know what I said! Sigh… what’s up?”

Nick looked down at the hand on his mouth, getting Eliza to remove it. “You’re lucky I didn’t lick it.”

“You’re lucky I don’t beat you up on hollow ground.”

Nick smirked. “Oh, so you think you can finally take me?”

Eliza squinted at him as her face got a little red. Why the hell did he have to be like this sometimes!? “The next words you speak better be your favor, or I’m walking away.”

“Well I wouldn’t exactly call it a favor but if you’re training by the harbor tonight, I’d appreciate it if you swooped by the seventh dock. The one with the huge building they rarely put cargo in. Summer is going to be there blowing off some steam. I don’t think anything will go wrong but you know, if you got the time…?”

“Hmmm I guess that’s not unreasonable. Wait, how do you know I train by the harbor!?”

“Did you forget my cousin literally owns a ship? If I’m correct, one time he said his sail caught on fire when a random bolt of lightning came down one day.”

“......” Eliza put her hand back in her pocket and began walking. “You’re really annoying Nick.”

“I’ve done nothing! Also I’m not done talking! I actually do have a real favor I’ve been mulling over for about a day!” Eliza kept walking away from him. “Hey! Don’t just- Can you train me!?” He shouted, hoping to gain her interest again.

It worked wonderfully. Eliza stopped mid-step and pivoted around. “Excuse me?”

“Training, yeah uh there’s this thing Schnee’s do called the candle test. Helps with our glyphs. Long story short, I’m ass at it hehe. Summer has stuff going on and it’s not really clicking with my mom or aunt. Since your magic is sorta like what I have to do, I thought maybe-”

“We are in a contest against each other, Nicholas.” She said firmly. “You are my opponent! One of two people currently in my way from reaching the top. Why on Remnant would I help you?”

Nick’s eyes avoided contact with hers. He began to scratch the back of his head as if he’d been caught red handed in a lie. “Because… you value sportsmanship?” He looked at her to receive an unamused blank stare that was colder than the snow. “Uh, and also you helping me in any capacity will let you in on a proposition that you’d find very intriguing. But I’ll only tell you when we’re training.”

“Tsk, I would think a Schnee would know better how to do business negotiations. Why would I make a deal when I don’t know if I even care about it? You tell me now or not at all.”

“I can’t say it now! I gotta smooth out details.”

“Then I guess we’re done here.”

“Fine, then I guess you don’t want a shot at gold with a sure fire way of at least getting silver!” He boasted, catching Eliza off guard. Nick slicked his hair back and crossed his arms to intimate his uncle’s calm yet assertive demeanor. “Yeah that’s right. I’m saying I have an idea crazy enough to benefit you and I. Everyone wants gold of course. However, you got a little more riding on this, don’t you?”

Eliza remained silent. Nick began walking a little closer to refrain from speaking too loud. “Last year was your real debut to the public eye and it was pretty good one at that. Third place is nothing to snuff at in the singles bracket. However...trust me when I say I know third is the worst seat in the house. That’s where the pressure and stress is. One mistake and you're off the podium and that feels terrible when people finally start looking your way.”

Eliza began tapping her foot. He wasn’t wrong. Not by a long shot. Confident as she was, Eliza was aware of her only two options. Do better, or hit the same bar. Winning was the goal but no one was gonna give her shit for losing to the top two contests. Nick and Valerie have been dominating for about three years now, and here he was saying he can get her to second. “Get to the point.”

Nick unfolded his arms. Time to be gentle again. “I cannot get into specifics at this time, but if you wanna show up at the manor anytime this week to help me, we can talk. I can get you second at minimum in King of the Hill.

His eyes burned with eagerness. Eliza had so many questions but obviously he wouldn’t answer them. This plan clearly had to be in his favor to get first, which neither of them had earned before. However, Valerie was first. How did she fit into this? What was going through his head!? Eliza had to know what regardless if she’d actually be okay with it. Her eyes narrowed at him. “Tsk, I take back what I said. Guess you are a Schnee. I will see when I can come over and help. Now, any other obnoxious request before I get driven away from this conversation?”

“Well……” Nick could feel just how dangerous this situation was. “It’s quite a walk to the other cemetery from here….hehe.” Laughing was hard when someone’s nostrils were flaring at you in frustration. Getting closer might’ve been a terrible decision.

Eliza closed her eyes briefly, then turned around to walk away. She went a few steps before briefly stopping. “Knock the snow off your shoes before you step in.”

Nick lit up like a Christmas tree. “You’re the best!!!”

“Why did he get more votes than me!?” Eliza internally screamed.

xxxxx

The day seemed to drag on. It had taken some time for Weiss to return home with the company of her sister and Ruby. Nora had departed earlier to check in on her family. Penny had opted to head towards Ruby’s home before her. They would’ve gone together but Ruby did want to see her niece and Blake. Penny had yet to properly see her friends. Though she wanted to, she thought it best to hold off for now.

The trio walked into the house and were assaulted by the strong scent of what had to be Jaune’s amazing cooking. They could practically see the aroma of spices dance in the air. One spice in particular hit Ruby. It was subtle but sharp at the same time. The kind of spice that sent a zing through your nose and hit your tastebuds. A mouth watering smile spread on her face and her stomach growled.

“Mmmmmm” Ruby hummed, “Somebody brought spices with them from Menagerie.” She sang. Ruby and Weiss wasted no time heading to the kitchen. Inside was an apron-wearing knight stirring a pot of stew, and their favorite faunus in the whole wide world in an apron cutting vegetables.

Blake didn’t even need to turn around to know what giggling pair just entered the kitchen. She put the knife down all the same and turned around with her arms wide open. “Well-” she couldn’t even say her boastful introduction before her two cheecky smile teammates dove in for a hug. All three of them just became a choir of happy laughter as they embraced one another.

Weiss finally let her friend go to get a good look at her. “Look at you! Traveled all this way and you’re helping make dinner!? I don’t deserve you!”

“Well I saw Jaune breakout a pot and I figured he’d enjoy some help without fear of something burning.” Blake jabbed. Ruby immediately tucked her lips to stop herself from snickering at the diss.

Weiss’s jaw dropped. She still smiled however, crossing her arms. “Oh ha ha, I’ll have you know my cooking is leagues better than what you remember since last time you had it. I can cook amazing meals all by myself!”

“As long as it doesn’t involve a fryer.” Jaune added, walking over to kiss his wife’s cheek really quick.

Weiss’s face got a little flushed. “Grease is bothersome.” She mumbled. Blake could only chuckle at the remark while walking to the pot and dumping the vegetables inside. The smell of the stew intensified and reminded Weiss she is still very much the weakest in her friend group when cooking was involved. “How are you going to outdo me in my own home? Why’d you bring spices in the first place!?”

“Don’t question it!” Ruby shouted. Her body went on autopilot to grab the plates and cups for the dinner.

“Ruby, aren’t gonna make dinner at home?” The room said, thinking about Whitley.

Ruby then proceeded to grab one of Jaune’s tupperware containers. Apparently they were now feeding Whitley as well. Ruby knew they wouldn’t mind, so she felt no remorse when filling it. Her boldness knew no bonds.

“Ruby, how do you know they aren’t making enough food for the people in this house?”

“Because this household would crumble anytime Jaune did a mission and didn’t make enough food for weeks.”

“I can cook!!!!” Weiss yelled.

Jaune playfully rolled his eyes and patted Weiss’s back. “Ruby isn’t completely wrong. Anyways she can take as much as she wants. Nick and Veronica have a dinner date tonight so they won’t be joining us for dinner. Then I don’t if Summer-”

“Nick and Veronica have a date!?” Weiss and Ruby shouted.

“Oh yeah… that happened while you left.” Jaune tried to reach for the ladle for the stew but Weiss swatted his hand before turning his head back to her. Fortunately Blake swooped in to continue stirring. “Yeah so they’re going on a date tonight. I don’t know details.”

Weiss turned to Blake who shrugged. “I didn’t press Veronica too much about it. Yang should be upstairs with her trying on dresses.

“Behold! A beautiful sunflower in the snow!” Yang cried out from outside the kitchen unexpectedly.

“Or I guess she’s downstairs now.” Blake turned off the burner on the stove and moved the pot before following her friends out to the main hall. Outside was Yang standing proudly with her hands on her hips and staring up the stairs proudly. Jaune and Weiss’s eyes went wide while Winter seemed….impressed? As much as she could be. Her feelings towards Veronica in general were mixed. The girl was definitely beautiful though. That was just a fact.

Blake looked up to see her daughter all dressed up at the top of the steps. She wore a white, thin strapped dress that had a light blue sash around her waist. The skirt portion went down to about knee level and the flats she wore were also white. The bottom of the skirt brought more color in by being an intense light blue that faded to white half way up; lace snowflakes were intricately etched on to that portion to break the color up. Gloves that went just passed her elbows followed a similar scheme but started white at the hands before transitioning to blue. To top it all off, a pretty little light blue ribbon formed a bow on top of her head. It was that accessory that made Blake notice that not only wet her ears gone from sight, but so was her tail.

Veronica’s face was stricken with a decent shade of red. Her feet shuffling in place a little as she rubbed her left arm. “So….ummm thoughts?” She said anxiously. “This is just one of several ideas so no need to hold back.”

“Several? What, did you make these in a couple hours?” Winter asked.

“No. I’ve been working on a Fire and Ice collection recently. This dress in particular was already put together for the most part. Although the snowflakes at the bottom was a last minute decision I made half an hour ago.” Veronica swayed to make the skirt flow side to side. “Normally I’d say adding flames or snowflakes is a bit heavy handed since the colors of the outfit already speak fire and ice, but I don’t know. Felt appropriate. Especially since the white lace is on the blue. I even have them on the upper rim of the gloves. Made sleeve versions too.” Veronica inspected the stitching to make sure it was okay. “Hmm not my best work, but I kinda like it.”

“I kinda love it!” Yang proudly said. “Oh it takes me back to the Beacon dance a little. Back then another Schnee was outdone by a Xiao Long wearing white.”

“Ha, no! Your dress didn’t even look done!” Weiss shot back, refusing to take such slander. “This dress is ten times better than what you wore.”

Ruby nodded. “Yeah sis, your dress was pretty plain. Didn’t even have a bow.”

“I couldn’t find one!” Yang defended.

Judging by the banter, Veronica was getting positive vibes from the dress. She looked at Winter since the woman was there. Surprisingly, a thumbs up was given. “Well that was more positive than I expected from her.” Veronica thought. The only person who remained silent was Blake. Veronica turned to see her mother assessing what her daughter had on. The silence she gave made Veronica a little concerned. “What’s up mom? Not a fan of how thin the straps are? It’s not a low cut anywhere.”

“No, all that is fine. I just have to ask, why-” before Blake finished, the front door opened once again with Nick coming through it this time. Everyone froze in place by his sudden entrance. Including him!

“Uhhh why is everyone just standing in the front of the house?” Nick questioned. It was only when he looked up the left staircase did he get his answer. “Oh, that’s why. You look...wow.” He said, rather clumsily. “I didn’t think you’d get ready three hours ahead of schedule. I still gotta wash up from the grav- I mean my walk. Yeah, walk, around town. With no real location stopped at.” He had no idea why he kept saying things. The deadpanned look on Winter and Weiss’s face clearly showed they knew where he was.

Weiss gave a reassuring smile and poked his forehead. “No need to lie, especially so poorly. If talking to them brought you some form of clarity then by all means have at it.”

“Yeah it’s not my business either.” Winter added, ruffling his hair.

Veronica wasn’t exactly sure what they were discussing, but it looked like things were going well. Nick even looked like he was in a better mood then when he left. His eyes went back to Veronica and made her fidget a little. The gaze he gave her was focused, deliberate even.She didn’t know how to feel about it until Nick began to look a tad displeased. “I-Is something wrong?” Veronica asked hesitantly.

“Not wrong, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you cover your ears. Tail yeah, since it can get in the way a bit, but why the bow?” He asked, pointing at it from afar. Everyone looked towards her for an answer, especially Blake. Nick had beaten her to the question.

Veronica looked down at her feet for a moment before looking at her family, crush, others. She never really knew what to call Weiss or her siblings. “Well normally I wouldn’t cover them, but while you were gone I kept thinking about this date…and how I wanted it to be a simple night out.” Heat began to rush to her cheeks. “So you know, people will stare and judge less if I’m like this. Not that their opinions matter, but I’d like to keep things peaceful as much as possible tonight. That’s all.” She looked at Blake who was looking right back at her. The answer didn’t seem to upset or surprise the mother. Veronica played with her a bit. “Is...that okay?”

“Hmm? You’re asking permission? It caught me off guard seeing it. Whether it be for aesthetic or personal reasons, I won’t dictate how you wanna design your clothes as long as it’s appropriate. After all, ribbons and I have a history. Couldn’t judge you if I wanted.”

That was a relief to hear. Veronica had completely forgotten her mother wasn’t a stranger to trying to blend in. “Well if that’s settled-”

“Hold on.” Nick softly said, his calm footsteps walking up the stairs to meet her. Everyone fell speechless as they watched him. Veronica for some reason felt as if the mood had changed. The room was quieter, air completely still. The face of the boy in front of her began to look more earnest than it has ever been as it got closer, stifling her breath. Nick extended his hand out slowly till his fingers clasped a corner of the bow, then unraveled it.

The ribbon flowed slowly into his palm and then was brought down towards Veronica’s. “If a calm night means you have to hide, then is it really a calm worth having? Like you said, those people don’t matter. Besides, I like your ears.”

Burst, Veronica felt like her heart could’ve burst. The blush on her cheeks deepened greatly and her eyes went wide from the shocking words. She had barely remembered to breathe. If she paid attention to the audience below then she would’ve been embarrassed by the grins that went ear to ear but no. Veronica only noticed Nick and his gentle smile that matched his words. Her mind finally caught up with itself and Veronica grasped the ribbon ever so slowly.

“O-Okay…” she said without thinking. Anybody else may have gotten more of a debate on it. Not him though. Not after words like those. “I’ll...make a few adjustments then.” She said, flattered and flustered as she walked back to her room without any more words.

“Take your time. You still have about three hours like I said, plus I gotta wash up.” He reminded her, not realizing just how sweet his words were. He turned back around to see smug faces and contained laughter. “What?”

“Nick…” Winter said, smiling with her hands on her hips. “And you wonder why girls flock to you obsessively. You’re too much.”

“I’ll say.” Blake said, admiring the boy. “But you know what? There’s something perfect about that. Nicholas, thank you.”

He wasn’t entirely sure what he did but he got embarrassed all the same, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. At least things finally felt relaxed in this house. “Umm you’re welcome?”

With teasing done and the mood lightened, everyone went back to doing their respective things. Jaune and Blake went back to prepping food. Weiss went with Ruby to set tables and properly catch up, while Yang decided to keep Winter company since both her son and Qrow were off adventuring. The chatter filled the hallways and even reached upstairs to not only Veronica, but Summer, who finally managed to fall asleep peacefully. Even Nick found a bit of proper rest in the bath. The soothing warm water filled with epsom salt was more than enough to make him doze off. Time steadily went forward and the adults began winding down. However, the kids were just getting ready for the night.

xxxxx

Dusk finally came. Winter leaned up against the main door waiting until she saw Nick coming walking down the stairs looking dashing. His crisp white suit, ice blue tie and handkerchief were perfectly in place along with his slick back hair.

“Hey Whitley jr.”

He groaned, “Please don’t. This is why I do nothing with my hair. One minute I look like dad, then the next I’m uncle.”

“Grow it out more then.” Winter suggested.

He shook his head. “That’s a slippery slope. Too long and I’ll be compared to you, mom, and sis. I guess my face is just too great.”

“Pfft, you just know you can’t compete with all this.” Winter sassed, turning her head to sway her hair. Nick would have objected if she wasn’t right.

“Whatever hehe. Anyways, everybody still here?”

“No, Ruby eventually headed home, but everyone else is strung about. I’m heading out myself but I figured I could drop you and Veronica off for your date.”

Nick gave her aunt a huge smile. “Awww, auntie!”

“Oh hush, don’t make it a big deal. It’s convenient, that’s all.”

“Well I appreciate it nonetheless. Veronica will too.”

Winter mumbled,“She better show it by not getting you or sister into trouble.”

“I heard that.” Veronica called from up the staircase. Winter and Nick looked in that direction to see her walking down. Nick wasn’t prepared.

Veronica had switched the gloves out for detachable sleeves that still exposed her shoulders. They also followed the same white to blue pattern. What really changed was she used the ribbon to make a high ponytail and now dawning jewelry. A pearl white necklace rested around her neck and complemented the pearl earrings she wore. Slowly she approached Nick with her hands holding each other in front of her. Veronica’s face was still a healthy shade of red. This close, Nick couldn’t help but smell of peach nectar. An interesting and oddly refreshing choice for perfume.

“Well...ummm...you weren’t kidding when you said you would out dress me.” Nick said, captivated. “I’d say you’re one billion, easily.”

Veronica chuckled nervously. “Hehe,th...thanks. I wouldn’t go that far, but I appreciate it.” Looking at him was harder than usual. Men’s dress shoes had a bit of heel, so Nick actually was a bit taller then her now since she chose flats. It could only be by an inch or two but it made a hell of a difference to her. “I had a little help near the end. These are actually your sister’s pearls.”

“Really? Oh, that’s right! I think the only reason she got them was so this other rude girl couldn’t. I don’t remember the specifics.”

“Wow. You two are….extremely petty at times.” Veronica said. Yeah pettiness was nothing new to her, but she’d never bought something to spite someone else. That’s the lifestyle in Atlas she supposed. “Anyways, if you’re ready to go then I am too. I’d really like to avoid-”

Click! The sound of a camera cut her off. The two teens looked back to see their parents all taking photos. Trying to stop them would be impossible. The only thing they could do is quietly wait for the clicking to stop, which was thankfully over in seconds.

“Gee I didn’t realize I lived with paparazzi.” Nick quipped. Another flash came from up above the second floor. Summer and her bed head leaned against the railing. “Summer!? You too!?”

“I came down to eat and saw we were embarrassing you. How could I not?” She took one more photo and then made her way down to the kitchen. “Have fun. I’m gonna eat and go right back to bed.”

Nick knew she was lying of course. That was the real reason she came down now, to announce she’d be sleeping in her room so nobody would disturb her. Summer, never missing an opening, also collected everything she needed from upstairs without anyone noticing. It was scary how far she’d plan ahead sometimes.

Winter finally decided to open the front door and head out. “Let’s move people. Rich or not, it’s rude to be late for reservations.”

“So strict. Almost think that you’re about to go drill instructor on me.” Veronica jokes, walking out the door.

“Don’t think I won’t make you drop and give me twenty just because you’re in a dress.” Winter shot back, closing the door as Nick walked out.

“The sad thing is she isn’t kidding…” Weiss nervously said. “That’s gonna be a long car ride.”

Summer came out of the kitchen with a bowl of stew and an evil look in her eye. “Why are there less left overs than usual? Who had seconds?”

“Ruby took some for Whitley. As well as had seconds…”

Summer squinted as if Ruby was there to actually receive the grumpy look before putts spoonful in her mouth and walking back upstairs.

“Ma’am, the table. Not your room.” Weiss said, using her mom voice.

Summer did a heel turn to the dining room. “Who made this stew!?” She said annoyed. Jaune and Blake both raised their hands. “It’s fantastic!” Was all she said as she continued walking.

Blake and Yang looked at each other confused before looking at their friends.

“Hangry.” Was all Jaune said.

“Ah…” the couple said together.

The moment Summer was out of sight from everyone she put the bowl down and searched around the living room quickly until she found her guitar case. Quickly, she grabbed it and opened a window towards the side of the estate and tossed it on a set of glyphs that hopefully propelled it right into her open room window. She then ran back to the dining room to sit down and eat comfortably.

“Phew! That was the last thing. And now I wait.” She took another bite of the stew happily. Nothing tastes better than an escape plan coming together.

#rwby #rwby au #rwby twin snowflakes #jaune arc #ruby rose #weiss schnee #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #nora valkyrie #nicholas schnee #summer schnee #val valkyrie #winter schnee #penny polendina #veronica belladonna #rwby whiteknight

[flying-elliska]

so, I finished the magnus archives ...(spoilers)

unfortunately i'd been spoiled for most of what happened in it but it was still cool to listen to especially since the audio work on it was incredible (those haunted tape noises are the coolest thing i've ever heard on a podcast, it was so slick)

it worked for me on the level of the emotional reaction. it was very sad and poignant. i often find horror stories difficult because either the characters are assholes and then i don't care and the whole thing becomes pointless for me or i get too attached to the characters and then I'm devastated when bad things happen to them and this was definitely the former. I really wish these characters existed in a spooky paranormal fantasy/workplace comedy-drama where they could get the comfort and overwinnings they deserved, but alas. i get they were bound by the genre though and that bad things needed to happen. i think they did a good job of balancing the horror and tragedy and not making it too grim at the same time.

it didn't blow me away either tbh, like for instance the s4 ending did. but i think after all the insane levels of world-building up they did, it was bound to be a bit underwhelming, with some arcs and characters left underused (Agnes!!!!). it misses a bit of a wow factor i had at other times in the series. the thing with horror is that there is only so far you can push character growth before it becomes too optimistic, and so when you go really deep into a character arc that's not strictly a corruption, it can often feel frustrating and unfinished in terms of emotional payoff.

I have mixed feelings about s5 as a whole. It's really cool that they experimented with something new, the concept of the fearscape is fascinating, and some of the statements are among my favorites in the whole show (the Sick Village, Recollections, the Gardener, Wonderland, the Processing Line, Moving on...) and really bring the cosmic horror/metaphor for the horrors of capitalism/ableism/abuse/etc in a way that feels strangely cathartic and understanding and glorious - but a lot of the others, especially in act 2/3, felt very forgettable and repetitive, and less like stories that could stand on their own, which i loved about the more traditional statements. Once it becomes clear that Jon (and Martin as a consequence) can't really be hurt, and the more it all becomes very detached from the real world, the sense of doom and foreboding that they did so well throughout the whole show kind of vanishes. The tension weirdly feels lower because the worst has already happened. I really believe in 'more is less' when it comes to scary things, and in a hell world where everything is horrible everywhere, it has less impact after a while. I did love the relationship between Jon and Martin providing those moments of humanity and warmth in the midst of it all, though, that was sweet.

the end itself...well, I found the dilemma interesting on a character level. of course Jon would sacrifice himself ; he feels so guilty he would doom the entire world to die rather than have to shoulder even more guilt for the fears potentially conquering other dimensions. he's spent so long feeling powerless and out of his depth that he would grasp this chance to finally make a choice and have agency and protect at least some people and keep the fears from extending their reach. but i love that he wasn't able to see it through either. it's so human. him and Martin breaking their promises to each other isn't miscommunication, it's deeply rooted in their respective personalities. of course Martin would do anything not to lose Jon since that love is basically the thing that saved him from the Lonely.

i don't think any of the options they had were the 'right choice' - both were shitty and atrocious, but the one that ended up happening is the one i would have picked, because it leaves some space for hope. If Jon had chosen to end their world to trap the fears, killing billions of people in the process, that would have been certain doom. With the fears sucked into other dimensions - first of all they had no certainty that the fears didn't already exist somewhere else, and any of the other worlds still have a fighting chance. I mean, it still sucks tremendously, it's very scary and ethically questionable and a massive risk, but at least it's open and it leaves it up to the people in the other worlds to make their own choices. And their world has a chance to recover. I find the idea that people remember what happened and the concept of a post-post apocalyptic world fascinating. I also really like that Melanie, Georgie and Basira (and the Admiral) made it out alive, and that we don't really know what happened to Jon and Martin. For a horror podcast that's super dark, violent and depressing, it's kind of awesome how they managed to sidestep 'bury your gays' very elegantly.

I've read this head canon somewhere of Jon and Martin being scattered across dimensions as these not-quite-human anymore entities that work to warn people and counteract the fears, powered by love and the desire to make things better, and I think that's my favorite post-canon option, because while it's still kind of a horrible fate it's also the one that gives them the most agency and it's also kind of romantic (way too much for a horror podcast, I'm aware, but i like that open endings like these allow you to make your own decisions about what happened).

also, the Web won, which is terrifying. the idea that it's using people as neurons ! horrible. amazing.

on a philosophical level I'm not sure i find the whole thing all that interesting, as a thought experiment, because i don't believe the universe is this consistently evil in the real world, so i don't find it super relevant. I'm also not the kind of hardcore fan who remembers a lot of details about previous seasons, so maybe I'm missing something.

But yeah overall I think in terms of storytelling this remains a pretty decent ending with enough layers to make it satisfying. it wasn't transcendent but it didn't ruin the whole thing, at least (*cough cough the Black Tapes*) and I can see myself listening to it again in a few years. and i'm definitely going to need a few fix-it fics now.

#tma #the magnus archives #tma spoilers #jonmartin #tma s5 #tma finale #podcast review #also there is no better way to listen to a spooky podcast than to bike through the woods at sunset #both pleasant and kind of sinister it's great