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mostlysignssomeportents · 5 months

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An Epic antitrust loss for Google

A jury just found Google guilty on all counts of antitrust violations stemming from its dispute with Epic, maker of Fortnite, which brought a variety of claims related to how Google runs its app marketplace. This is huge:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/11/technology/epic-games-google-antitrust-ruling.html

The mobile app store world is a duopoly run by Google and Apple. Both use a variety of tactics to prevent their customers from installing third party app stores, which funnels all app makers into their own app stores. Those app stores cream an eye-popping 30% off every purchase made in an app.

This is a shocking amount to charge for payment processing. The payments sector is incredibly monopolized and notorious for its price-gouging – and its standard (wildly inflated) rate is 2-5%:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/04/owning-the-libs/#swiper-no-swiping

Now, in theory, Epic doesn't have to sell in Google Play, the official Android app store. Unlike Apple's iOS, Android permit both sideloading (installing an app directly without using an app store) and configuring your device to use a different app store. In practice, Google uses a variety of anticompetitive tricks to prevent these app stores from springing up and to dissuade Android users from sideloading. Proving that Google's actions – like paying Activision $360m as part of "Project Hug" (no, really!) – were intended to prevent new app storesfrom springing up was a big lift for Epic. But they managed it, in large part thanks to Google's own internal communications, wherein executives admitted that this was exactly why Project Hug existed. This is part of a pattern with Big Tech antitrust: many of the charges are theoretically very hard to make stick, but because the companies put their evil plans in writing (think of the fraudulent crypto exchange FTX, whose top execs all conferred in a groupchat called "Wirefraud"), Big Tech keeps losing in court:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/03/big-tech-cant-stop-telling-on-itself/

Now, I do like to dunk on Big Tech for this kind of thing, because it's objectively funny and because the companies make so many unforced errors. But in an important sense, this kind of written record is impossible to avoid. Any large institution can only make and enact policy through administrative systems, and those systems leave behind a paper-trail: memos, meeting minutes, etc. Yes, we all know that quote from The Wire: "Is you taking notes on a fucking criminal conspiracy?" But inevitably, any ambitious conspiracy can only exist if someone is taking notes.

What's more, any large conspiracy involving lots of parties will inevitably produce leaks. Think of this as the corollary to the idea that the moon landing can't be a hoax, because there's no way 400,000 co-conspirators could keep the secret. Big Tech's conspiracies required hundreds or even thousands of collaborators to keep their mouths shut, and eventually someone blabs:

https://www.science.org/content/article/fake-moon-landing-you-d-need-400000-conspirators

This is part of a wave of antitrust cases being brought against the tech giants. As Matt Stoller writes, the guilty-on-all-counts jury verdict will leak into current and future actions. Remember, Google spent much of this year in court fighting the DoJ, who argued that the company bribed Apple not to make a competing search engine, paying tens of billions every year to keep a competitor from emerging. Now that a jury has convinced Google of doing that to prevent alternative app stores from emerging, claims that it used these pay-for-delay tactics in other sectros get a lot more credible:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/boom-google-loses-antitrust-case

On that note: what about Apple? Epic brought a very similar case against Apple and lost. Both Apple and Epic are appealing that case to the Supreme Court, and now that Google has been convicted in a similar case, it might prompt the Supremes to weigh in and resolve the seeming inconsistencies in the interpretation of federal law.

This is a key moment in the long project to wrest antitrust away from the pro-monopoly side, who spent decades "training" judges to produce verdicts that run counter to the plain language of America's antitrust law:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/13/post-bork-era/#manne-down

There's 40 years' worth of bad precedent to overturn. The good news is that we've got the law on our side. Literally, the wording of the laws and the records of the Congressional debate leading to their passage, all militate towards the (incredibly obvious) conclusion that the purpose of anti-monopoly law is to fight monopoly, not defend it:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/14/aiming-at-dollars/#not-men

It's amazing to realize that we got into this monopoly quagmire because judges just literally refused to enforce the law. That's what makes one part of the jury verdict against Google so exciting: the jury found that Google's insistence that Play Store sellers use its payment processor was an act of illegal tying. Today, "tying" is an obscure legal theory, but few doctrines would be more useful in disenshittifying the internet. A company is guilty of illegal tying when it forces you to use unrelated products or services as a condition of using the product you actually want. The abandonment of tying led to a host of horribles, from printer companies forcing you to buy ink at $10,000/gallon to Livenation forcing venues to sell tickets through its Ticketmaster subsidiary.

The next phase of this comes when the judge decides on the penalty. Epic doesn't want cash damages – it wants the judge to order Google to fulfill its promise of "an open, competitive Android ecosystem for all users and industry participants." They've asked the judge to order Google to facilitate third-party app stores, and to separate app stores from payment processors. As Stoller puts it, they want to "crush Google’s control over Android":

https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/news/epic-v-google-trial-verdict-a-win-for-all-developers

Google has sworn to appeal, surprising no one. The Times's expert says that they will have a tough time winning, given how clear the verdict was. Whatever this means for Google and Android, it means a lot for a future free from monopolies.

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

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/12/im-feeling-lucky/#hugger-mugger

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joyswonderland1108 · 1 year

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Ara Ara

I’m just popping in to “clear” a debate, as i said before it’s exhausting to write long posts but my hands itch to write something anytime i see stuff going on. One of the reasons why it’s always better to be in the “not sure” zone instead of completely denying something that one may not even have knowledge about. Let’s get started shall we?

So Jimin, precious Mimi, beautiful Jimim, my beloved child (he’s older than me but shush) came live yesterday to share his emotions with us about his amazing achievement, his well deserved achievement, the slap on the face of haters who instead of working on making their favs rise to some level they decided to invest time and energy into trying to make other people win just to not only fail but let down their own favs 🤦🏻‍♀️ Well Jimin said “Fuck all your opps” anyways so

Now i don’t want to focus on the part where you can oh so very clearly hear a “ 빨리가“ at the very beginning (Surprisingly enough this girl actually understands some Korean don’t underestimate her) i wanna be realistic here, while i’ve seen some people wondering if they’ve heard a ppo-ppo sound i honestly don’t think so at all, i’m sticking with the the first one and the lights situation going on too but even that i’m not gonna focus too much on it, and for reference :

Moving on to our main subject which is the gaming chair, or chairs in that case

And as my bestie said and i quote “It doesn’t mean anything yet Jimin grabbed the phone like a hot potato“ i mean chile why would he panic, it’s just a chair right? WRONG!

Just to clarify, for people who may have thought that was JK’s chair from the studio, Jimin’s chair is an Arena and JK’s chair is an Akracing.. With an Arena cushion 👀

Well the point is no it’s not the chair from the studio but does that change the fact that Jimin has a second GAMING chair? No. Well, yes and no, lemme explain.

“It’s just a second chair he could be having one for if friends come over” key word here: IF. You may or may not know that there’s this unspoken rule where, despite having a spare chair or even 10 spare chairs, they don’t go with the setup, they go to a storage room or the garage or wherever you can put it away and take it out when needed, because why tf would there be a second or third chair chilling out there when the possibility of having gamer friends coming over is always questionable.

Speaking of gamer friends, have y’all seen a gamer in real life? they don’t even need to be in the same place everybody plays from home and they chat through their headsets. No matter how rich you are or how much you can afford expensive gaming chairs, a gaming set up is precious to its owner, one just doesn’t mess up with their set up, if you’re alone, you game alone, you put ONE chair. If you do happen to have a spare chair and a gamer friend decides to visit you THEN whip out the chair from where it was stored if you don’t have a spare one, the friend can literally sit anywhere, on the floor for all i know who tf cares.

Now i’ll be sharing this link with y’all so you can check it out yourself, just not to say that i picked out what i wanted or what fit the narrative and left out the rest :

See how gorgeous the set ups are? See how very expensive looking they are? (Well as a matter of fact they ARE expensive) See how neat they are? Notice something? Well actually you’ll notice two things :

1- Almost all of the setups have one chair like this one :

And where you can’t see the chair are tinier desks that can so very obviously fit one chair

2- The three setups that are designed for a “pair” are the following ones :

“Side-by-Side Couple PC Setup“

“His and Hers Wall-Mounted PC Setup“

“Father-Son Star Wars Gaming Room”

Notice something in common there? Basically all the “pair” setups are meant for two or more people who game and are living under the same roof, a couple, siblings, or parents-kids. Mind you even if you do have a partner but they don’t game, your setup will NOT be a “pair” setup, as i said above, those are precious, they’re almost sacred lol there’s an aesthetic to them, there’s a whole architecture going on there, so we’re not messing that up by adding a random second chair for a friend or friends who are barely there.

Do whatever the fuck you want with this information, but i hope that with this added “knowledge” people would stop with their “that’s not a big deal” bullshit, i see you, that one person who posted that lame ass excuse on Twitter. With that being said.. STREAM FACE!!!

#jikook #y'all aren't so sneaky damn lol #Kookmin #minkook #Minggukie #What's new really? Just another Tuesday

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lexygabe · 5 months

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in-yō / in-yō solovyova headcanons/rewriting/etc.

(november/21/1990)

scorpio sun | capricorn moon | capricorn rising

INTJ - 5w6 - sp/sx - 153 - RCOEN - Phlegmatic-Choleric

general headcanons:

• cis, she/her, aroace lesbian,

• when she was younger her care-keepers used to take her to a lot of psychiatrists because they were afraid inyo might have had something from antisocial spectrum,

• she is descendant of siberian indigenous people (the nenets/insert other uralic nation here) that assimilated with russians (so that's where her last name came from) and then they moved to tokio. so inyo is third-generation immigrant (this term sounds so american but i couldn't find better words to describe this),

• inyo just like tiger and miko was growing up in the orphanage but she haven't had anybody to help her with a second language so she learned russian all by herself,

• of course she also knows english, so it means that she knows 3 completely different alphabets,

• when she is stressed out, she starts quoting shakespeare in her head (this is hamlet most of the time, but also macbeth),

• her favourite movie is audition [1999],

• silver >>>>>>>>>>>>> gold,

• even though she doesn't seem to be that type of person, she is maximalist, she needs to have everything under her hand,

• also she is interested in fashion history,

• she has ocd 😄😄,

• she has obsessions related to taboo topics,

• one of her compulsions is opening and folding the umbrella and counting sounds of footsteps under her breath,

• i think she also has social anxiety,

• bcs of the mix of her ocd and anxiety she sometimes has panic attacks (especially when sexual intrusive thoughts pop out in her head),

• she is picky eater and hates fastfood,

• she only drinks real-real coffee. she doesn't like cafes like starbucks, costa etc.

throughts the series (og tv show, rewriting):

• (season 6, hot property episode) she is presented as this mysterious female coach that meets with suspicions from others,

• so, before cognito played against strikas both of the teams met and inyo talked to shakes, convincing him to look up for a new house and gave him a penelope's bussines card (she rented an apartment from her for the duration of her stay in south africa),

• yeah, inyo and penelope are two different people, but hold on,

• the next day, she and shakes met accidentally at penelope's office, so while inyo was there bcs of a "payment problems", shakes wanted to talk about penelope's house offers,

• when penelope and shakes left for a few minutes, inyo copied from penelope's phone other clients numbers (including shakes) so she could impersonate as one of the employees of penelope's company (or penelope herself) and mess up with shakes,

• after some time, inyo dressed up as the notary arrived at shakes's new house and started installing small cameras,

• she didn't even used it to spy on him, she just informed penelope about damage shakes and spenz were doing and what was caught on the cameras, so penelope terminated the contract with our beloved male mary sue,

• oh and cognito won in this episode.

• (between season 6 and 7) inyo would be more of a minor but still important character here. i think she would just ghost everyone in this series. also bcs of the fact that we all loved the idea of helena being part of iron tank team, inyo and helena have the longest screentime together, next to the interactions between inyo tiger and miko,

• (season 7, mind over matador) very similiar situation to what happened to shakes in previous season, but this time inyo impersonate doctor carmen (who is also a completely different person and not inyo's alter ego), so when the real doctor carmen is not around, inyo undercover is fucking up with el matador's head,

• aileen was the only one that had odd feelings about this, bcs doctor carmen she knew was never much of a hugger.

relationship with:

• helena: open interpretation tbh, they can be queerplatonic but also queer in general. helena probably was the one who get attached first. they are like moon and sun, winter and summer. and bcs they are around the same age and one of the few women in super league they were forced to cooperate. but inyo trusts helena more than anyone, even tho she would never admitted it

ofc they are like crack version of romeo&juliet and whenever inyo visits helena colonel looks at her like: 😤🙄😀

• altivo: tbh altivo is inyo's rival but also internalized crush and it would be so obvious for everyone and they would look at inyo like: i know what you are👁👁, whenever inyo would plot something against her,

• others: ?????

fashion headcanons:

• she doesn't buy anything from fast fashion stores, she wears tailor-made clothes,

• has thing for gloves,

• a lot of lace decorations,

• corsets!!!!

music headcanons:

• the biggest classical music enjoyer you ever know,

• r&b.

#supa strikas #supablr #supa strikas women #headcanon: supa strikas #supa strikas inyo

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safety-pin-punk · 1 year

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i have honestly no idea how to ask this, but i'll try to put it into words. i feel like i agree with a lot of things related to being punk but at the same time im not sure if i even really comperhand what being punk means. i have no idea where to start the research.

i've seen people saying that punk is just rebelling, i saw others talking about how its related to many things from past and about standing up to the goverment, other ppl say that the fashion is important...

i feel like this is something i could connect to but i just have no idea how to discover which things are true and which are not.

This makes complete sense. Being ‘punk’ isn’t something that just has one definition. My proof:

And there are a lot of people who gatekeep the subculture, and a lot of people who claim to be a part of it, but don’t actually know the first thing about it.

So I’ll start with this: contrary to what you may think you don’t have to look ‘punk’ to be punk. Some of the most punk fuckers out there wear sweaters every day. So while the look is cool, fun, often cheap, and full of symbolism, it is absolutely not required to be punk.

My second point: you also don’t have to listen to punk/alternative/pop punk/metal/etc to be a punk. Sure, the music has a lot of historical importance to the subculture, and is still full of punk values, it also isnt required.

What makes someone ‘punk’ is limited only to their values and beliefs.

To go back to what you said anon, a lot of people do relate being ‘punk’ to understanding the past, and there is good reason for it. The punk subculture sprang up in the 70’s, so there is 50 years of history and symbolism there. A LOT of todays punk culture is deeply rooted in punk history. BUT, that doesn’t mean you have to be an expert on all things punk history - most people aren’t. Typically, you’ll naturally learn the history of what matters to you.

Another reason history tends to be important to punks is that politics and history are intertwined. Punk is a counter-culture, that means we are essentially ‘against the mainstream culture’. In today’s world, that is a bit murky and is instead typically thought of as ‘fighting for people’s rights and a better world’ which most of us can agree that in some way, shape, or form, mainstream culture and politics do not do.

So then, what does one have to believe and value to be considered a punk? I’ve mentioned this before in various posts on this blog, and my stance has stayed the same. Here are the 4 things I believe are the most important.

Learn how to think critically - it’s important to be able to come to your own conclusions rather than just blindly believing what others say is important

Learn about issues that are important to you - learning about issues is the first step to being able to understand the world and make it a better place

Be kind to the disadvantaged- one of my favorite quotes “In an age of performative cruelty, being kind is punk as fuck.”

Stay true to yourself and don’t let anyone compromise your values or sense of self

It’s important to remember too, that just like there are different types of punk music, there are also different ‘genres’ of punks. You have straight edge punks, you have anarchists, there are folk punks, crust punks are out there, you have rural punks, there are activists, you have skinheads (I recommend staying away from that group - though admittedly I don’t know much about modern skinhead groups). Each group is going to be unique and different, and may have their own ‘criteria’. For example, most skinheads will probably just cross out my third bullet point. This blog is more of a general punk blog because I want to use it to share punk culture with people.

All this being said, I think the best way to learn about punk culture and what it means to be punk, is to immerse yourself into the punk scenes. And if you like alternative music, its often full of ideology, especially the older stuff. But there is also no one correct way to be punk. If you don’t like mainstream culture, if you want to fight for a better world - you’re punk. I don’t care if you listen to country music and wear business casual, you’re still a punk in my book.

If you’d like some other sources to check out, here are my recommendations:

Tumblr Blogs: (a mix of punk aesthetic and political/activism blogs) @polyamorouspunk @punkshitposts @pxnkrocknerd @favouritescene @radicalgraff @politijohn @nofashinpunk

Non tumblr things:

Check to see if your local library has a punk archive (more likely in larger libraries)

Read some old punk zines

Read up on some history

And some more history

Listen to some alternative music

#im so sorry if this wasnt worded well #but the tl;dr is that being punk means thinking critically and going against what is mainstream #there is no one correct way to be punk #mail tag #punk culture #punk history

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luwukass · 2 months

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THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: THE ALBATROSS DEEPDIVE

alright this post is being written/drafted right after the announcement of this variant on feb 23rd after sydney night one

okay so taylor just announced a new ttpd variant this one is called the albatross this is the front and back cover

so first things first before we deep dive into the meaning of albatross and theorize about the track we have a new back cover. the albatross edition of ttpd says "am i allowed to cry?" i saw someone on twt say it might say "i am allowed to cry?" but that doesnt make much sense to me personally i think if she meant that it would say i´m and not i am but we will have to see. this is the third back cover quote we have gotten so far. i personally think these back cover lines are possibly lyrics either from the core album or from the bonus tracks they represent so "am i allowed to cry" might be a lyric from the albatross

okay so what the hell is an albatross?

it could be so many things bc words have so many meanings so im gonna take yall step by step through my thought process here

albatross meaning one: so the VERY first thing that pops up on google is the bird. i personally doubt the song is gonna be about the bird but its taylor so we have no idea i didnt really see much online about the bird that alerted me to anything but i had to include the bird

albatross meaning two: so an albatross is also a metaphor! it originates from you guessed it a poem! the poem this originates form is called "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge written in 1798. the poem is colerdiges longest piece of work published. wikipedia describes the metaphor as, "In the poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, an albatross follows a ship setting out to sea, which is considered a sign of good luck. However, the titular mariner shoots the albatross with a crossbow, an act that will curse the ship and cause it to suffer terrible mishaps. Unable to speak due to lack of water, the ship's crew let the mariner know through their glances that they blame him for their plight and they tie the bird around his neck as a sign of his guilt. From this arose the image of an albatross around the neck as metaphor for a burden that is difficult to escape" wikipedia also lists a musical metaphor of an albatross as "In music journalism, the term albatross is sometimes used metaphorically to describe the mixed blessing and curse of a song that becomes so popular it overshadows the rest of the artist's work." which in my opinion might apply to taylor in some aspects.

so now that we got those meanings done i wanted to talk about my personal theories about the song. i think shes probably gonna take the poetic approach and the song will be about bad omens and regrets, i have a feeling we might get a lyric along the lines of "that damned albatross" of her cursing the curse or we might get some ´hanging around my neck´ imagery

#my posts 💕#clowning 🤡#taylor swift #swiftie #swifties #ttpd #the tortured poets department #the albatross #taylor swift theories

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a-small-batch-of-dragons · 1 year

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Please, do you have any tips for getting the motivation to write? Not like, getting inspiration or figuring out how to write. I have so many ideas I have for both personal ideas and fanfics, but when I sit down to write, I get about one paragraph in, many two, then I just lose the motivation to keep on typing and figuring out how to structure my words. It's so frustrating and makes me wanna cry. Do you have anything you do to help you just sit down and write/type? It would be really appreciated! I don't want to be just called "lazy" anymore.

First off i'm so sorry that it took me so long to answer life kinda came up and grabbed me, also i can and will fight everyone who is calling you lazy because that's not okay, make them turn on their locations i just wanna talk

everything else under the cut bc this got long

Second! I think for me the biggest thing to just get me started is a first draft doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to exist. I just gotta spill words onto a page and then I can go back and like actually no i want this to read like this and this to read like this. Also why I'm an advocate for drafting in comic sans 'cause ain't nothing gonna look polished and finished in that font which means you can fuck up as much as you want just to get it down.

Third, and I don't know if this will work for everyone, I don't always write in prose the entire time--that is, sentences, punctuation, all that. One thing that I'm a big fan of doing is bullet fics where I'll just bullet point what I want to happy and not pay attention to tone consistency or any of that. Then I can break down parts that are being really loud in my head and do them with proper everything like how I'd write them out for a fic or a chapter but I can keep the momentum going of 'and then this shit happens 'cause they're both idiots' and just get everything out. I've had a lot of projects where they're about 20% actual written prose and 80% 'so this and then this and then this is what they're thinking' in bullet form. You can always go back and edit it later, just get it down and out of your head. I find sometimes re-reading the bullets can bring the daydream/story idea back to the forefront of my brain and then it's easier to keep writing as opposed to leaving it all up there where it's liable to disappear completely.

Kind of jumping off from that, there's a phrase someone told me once about not letting your pen rest on the page because you'll just get a big well of ink. Keep it moving and you'll figure it out. If i'm struggling to figure out how to phrase something or write something, I'll write the clunkiest version of it [or just put what happens in square brackets like this] and move on to come back to later. i find if i fixate too hard on the hump of what's giving me trouble in that moment i'll lose the rest of the story.

Then there are a few things that are more, like, personal ambiance things? I'll find a song or a soundscape to listen to that makes my brain vibrate at the right frequency to immerse myself in the tone of whatever I want to write and listen to it on repeat even if i'm not actively writing. For some longer pieces i'll take pacing breaks where i literally just get up and walk around listening to whatever it is while i make my brain spin about it without the pressure of putting it to words. If a few specific quotes or passages pop into my brain i might take the time to scribble them down but it's mostly about making sure i'm immersed enough in the world i'm trying to write so i don't have to concentrate so hard on making sure the technical parts of my writing matches with what's in my head.

I suppose something I will ask (and honestly maybe should have asked earlier) is what parts of writing make it feel 'complete' to you and where do you find it the hardest to pick up once you've left it for a bit? If it's the pressure to get everything down just so you can point to it and say 'see here's what's happening, here are the arcs, here's where the story goes,' then the bullet technique might be more helpful. If it's the art of figuring out how you want to phrase things and how you want your words to go, I'd suggest trying the square brackets technique so you can focus on the parts that feel really strong or that you really want to sink your teeth into without interrupting the flow of the words. It's totally okay to write things out of order (i still have to convince my brain of this sometimes too) and removing some of the pressure to make everything perfect (or even prose) first time around when you just need to write can be super helpful

I hope this was helpful and kind of what you wanted!!!!! If there are any other questions you have--or if you want more of these sorts of suggestions if they weren't very helpful--please lemme know

#dragonbabbles #i do have opinions on the matter

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hrts444taylor · 1 year

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How to get a girlfriend #4

004

"TEASE HER"

the following days were awkward for the two friends. mostly, because chris just didn't know what to say to the female anymore. how was 'your nose is cute' a good idea?

it wasn't.

the male is currently sitting in the cafeteria with his friends– romi excluded. she's working on something that she doesn't want her friends to see yet, so she's in her art classroom painting. again. for the third time this week.

chris sighs to himself, his head leaning on his right hand while he listens to alahna explaining something. he doesn't really care, which might come off as rude, but he's just been thinking about his best friend for so long and he can't help but feel bad.

why did it have to end like this? why did he say that her nose was cute? who says such a thing like that? apparently, chris thinks it's a good idea.

and yet again, it wasn't.

the two haven't been talking for four days now. sometimes they talk in a group, but it's not like they get eye contact with each other. they used to do that, and chris liked it. her eyes are so pretty. but, now with him acting like a complete idiot, he just can't look her in the eyes anymore.

"chris," nick says after a while, then nudging his shoulder, "are you doing alright?"

chris looks up, head out of his hands and his eyes focusing on nick. chris shrugs at his words, looking in the direction of the staircase right after.

"ohh, you're thinking about romi, aren't you?"

chris focuses his sight on nick again and nods a little. "yeah, maybe."

"aw, chris! brighten up! i think it's time for the next step, then! what do you think?" alahna says, smiling at her friend and sitting up straight.

nick grabs his phone and opens the safari app. the site immediately pops up, making the two happy. nick starts reading the site with alahna following too.

"the next step is to tease her," nick says, looking up to his brother, "that might be a hard step for you."

chris groans a little, crossing his arms. "this is stupid. this is never going to work. but you know, it can't get worse than this, can it?"

"what does it say?" matt asks.

nick jumps up from next to chris and runs towards matt. nick plops down next to alahna, leaning over her a little to let matt look at the phone screen.

"you're fucked, chris," matt says, starting to laugh. nick places his hand in front of his mouth and looks at chris.

"what?" chris asks, frowning. he stands up from the table as well, "what does the site say?"

nick laughs, "i quote: 'teasing is the easiest way to create sexual tension between you and the girl you like'. ah, how great! this will be good."

chris his eyes widen and he shakes his head. "what?! I'm not trying to create sexual tension between us!"

"you're such a pussy, chris," matt remarks.

the whole group is in shock as they turn their heads toward matt. did those wordsreally come from his mouth just now? matt, out of all people, saidthat? matt, who, used to take the long way to science class just because his crush from last year used the shorter path. matt, who, used to refuse to walk down the same corridor as her. that matt?

matt widens his eyes when, he realises his hypocritical words, "wait! no, wait. that's not what i meant! i mean– oh whatever. but chris, as you said, what is there to lose? you're already friends and you've told her that her nose was cute. i don't think you can fuck it up even more."

"thanks for the encouraging words, matt."

nick and alahna start to laugh at the two guys. chris rolls his eyes at their laughter and then sits down on the chair again.

"alright, what do i have to do?" chris sighs.

"yay!" the brown-haired girl shouts, jumping up from the chair. nick chuckles slightly at his friend next to him, but can't help it and feel a little excited too.

"the site says you have to start teasing her. it gets her interested in you because it shows them that you're not afraid of risking confrontation."

"oh, that reminds me of the time that chris went crazy in the hospital and thought he was a werewolf when trevor bit him or something," nick says, to which matt starts to laugh, mimicking chris's words.

"oh, yeah! that was great."

chris looks away, feeling embarrassed. "can you guys stop? i thought we were supposed to get a girl to like me."

"right!" alahna says, then turning to her friend. "just tease her with words. i think you'll be fine. crack a joke here and there, tease her about her performances at training or something... just make sure you're not being rude."

chris nods at alahna her words. "alright, i think i can do that."

but boy, what was he wrong.

a few days later, the students are standing on the field. they're all ready for their teacher to tell them what to do.

chris is standing next to nick and romi. he watches as mr macloed walks onto the school grounds, and then explains what the plan is for the day. they're playing capture the flag.

a while later, chris, romi, maya, nick and estella are teamed up against alahna, matt, judo, kole and aiden. they need to capture the flag and bring it back to their base– the same counts for the other group.

"so, do we have a plan?" nick asks, looking at his teammates. romi pouts her lips, then looks at their surroundings.

"we need to capture their flagand we need to protect ours so how are we going to do that?" romi says to her team, looking at nick in particular. "you can go head on, maybe it's a good idea that you keep a lookout."

nick nods at her words. "i think maya is great for getting their flag. maybe estella can go with her because once she gets the flag, she can move faster and bring it back to our base."

"that leaves me and chris to protect the flag then. i think that's great."

chris nods at his friend's words, then looks up. "now we wait for the start signal," he mumbles.

he's been thinking about something. how is he going to tease the girl then? he certainly doesn't know how to tease her in any other way.

"alright, let's go!"

the start signal goes off and nick, maya and estella immediately start to run in the opposite direction. they came up with a plan to capture the flag, and chris and romi trust them in doing their job. meanwhile, they will look around and try not to get their flag captured.

"if you spot anyone, tell me so I can turn into my alpha form and scare them away," romi says, eyeing every corner to see if no one's there.

"don't," chris says cringing and laughing. romi laughs with him, "i'm sorry. i'm on something i swear."

after the laughter has died down, chris starts looking around as well. now the only thing they have to do is wait and see if anyone tries to capture their flag.

"you know,"chris starts, not really knowing what to say next. but you know, it's a start for maybe a joke or a way to tease her.

romi looks up, "what's up?" she asks the boy, watching him look around the field. it's silent, and maybe a bit too silent.

"you're cool but, don't you think you're kinda embarrassing to be around?" he says, then looking at the girl with a smile.

romi her eyes widen and she bites her lip. "what do you mean? is it really that bad?" she whispers, feeling a bit insecure. why is he saying this? she can't be worse than chris, right?

"well, you're a weirdo. it's cool but maybe embarrassing too for others around you, you know! like sometimes I wonder why we're even friends."

the girl looks away. "if you think that way, why are you even friends with me?" she says, clenching her fists, "you're being an asshole, chris."

"romi, wait–"

the girl turns away and chris's eyes widen. "romi!" he shouts, but the girl scoffs a little.

"i'm embarrassing to be around, right? get the fuck away from me, then."

and without anything else being said, the girl turns around and runs away. she scans the area, trying to find some people while being done with the guy. if he thinks she's a loser, she will show him she doesn't need him, that fucking asshole.

as soon as he realises what happened, chris realizes he fucked upbadlythis time, even worse than before.

how is he going to fix this?

#chris sturniolo #chris #sturniolo #matt sturniolo #matt #matthew sturniolo #christopher sturniolo #sturniolo triplets #nick sturniolo #nick #nicolas sturniolo #izukistar #chris sturniolo x reader

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masterwords · 2 years

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Hello, can I please have 10 from the meaningful prompts with Hotch and Morgan? How you manage to find the time to do all these great prompt fics is amazing 😅

The prompt: Whispering jokes/loving words in a lecture/school/church/a meeting. Trying not to laugh/flirt back in fear of disturbing everyone else who's trying to pay attention.

Prompts don't always call to me, but when I'm doing these big chapter stories I get all antsy and want to leave those worlds/need distractions and then I just devour prompts. I don't know why but I'm glad you guys indulge me. Thank you! <3

(1.9k words / On AO3 if you prefer / mostly deaf Hotch and Morgan and JJ at a lecture not exactly behaving themselves)

Hotch stretches his legs, one and then the other, straight in front of him. His left knee pops loudly, flooding him with a strange and instant relief in the once aching joint. He's been sitting in this chair for the better part of the day, give or take a break that wasn't much of a break because everyone wanted to talk to him. He's really starting to feel it creeping in his lower back.

These chairs needed replacing at least two decades ago (that's being generous), when the BAU was still the BSU and they were nicely situated in the far reaches of the basement, when no one gave a shit about them. These chairs needed replacing when people still used finger quotes to denote anything the BAU did. Oh, you created a “profile” huh? Fascinating. Now it's the hot button topic at the Bureau, and his team is expected to not only guest lecture but also sit through an absurd number of them so they can be useful to everyone everywhere, that's the idea anyway. He has other suspicions, but he keeps those to himself.

Well today, it's Andy Swann up there talking about the link between social media and trafficking, and he really does find it interesting...hell, he even helped her prepare some of it. Even knowing what she was going to talk about he took pages of notes during his first time through. He managed to find a few things of note the second time too things he'd missed in the first session. Aaron Hotchner would never be considered anything but an attentive student under most circumstances, but now he's on his third go around on this carousel, the last of the day, and he's more or less just supervising. Making sure everyone who was supposed to attend did, which he considers to be micromanaging and a task he loathes. He's a highly paid chaperon, and he's also completely done. His head is throbbing, and his back is killing him, not to mention that he hasn't had time to eat anything since he ate the last two bites of Jack's frosted mini wheats when the kid said he was too full to finish, and he has to pee because the four styrofoam cups of coffee he's sucked down have finally gone through him.

He reaches up and turns off his hearing aids. It's instant relief of the one complaint he has that he can control. Just like his knee popping only maybe better. The pressure in his head almost vanishes along with the sound.

He's been wearing hearing aids for nearly a year now. Sometimes only an hour or two, sometimes the whole day, it really just depends on what he's got to do. How attentive he has to be to what's going on around him. His hearing has been bad his entire life, or close enough anyway. He doesn't remember a time when he didn't struggle and his mother would tell you that he passed all of the hearing tests as a baby so she's not sure what happened. He could tell you, but he doesn't tell her because she wouldn't listen anyway. His dad's penchant for knocking him around on those nights when the whiskey went down easy like mountain spring water, bring those up to her and she'll give you her best I don't know what you're talking about smile and that's the end of her willingness to entertain the topic. In any case, he always figured it didn't really matter when it started because it was a bomb placed under his SUV in New York that did him in, and that made the topic easier for her to swallow too.

When his doctor looked him right in the eye and told him that his hearing wasn't likely to improve after his continued exposure to sudden loud noises, he was able to take it with a grain of salt.

“Will it get worse?” was all he could think to ask, and her solemn features as she considered her words carefully told him more than anything she actually said.

“The hearing loss is irreversible, Agent Hotchner, but if we're careful, we can mitigate further damage. The right ear is worse than the left. Wearing hearing devices will help.”

He knew everyone expected him to be upset, to take it the way he took everything else. Derek had watched him rip an IV out of his hand and sign himself out AMA while his ears were still bleeding after that bomb...that he was now so willing to accept this was nothing short of a miracle. But they don't know that he's been reading lips since middle school with an intensity that gave people pause. Practicing, maybe, but some part of him knew that it was an eventuality and Hotch never liked to be blindsided. He likes to be ahead of things.

By high school he was better at reading lips than he was at making or maintaining eye contact. Learning ASL from one of the school librarians had been a hobby for a while, something he thought he might need but maybe not...better to be prepared. Plus she was nice, and if he was there then he didn't have to be at home. She knew his concerns, and she argued that if he knew it then he could teach other people when the time came. And if it never did? Well, being fluent in another language is never a bad thing.

He's been working with Jack now for a few months, the kid is picking it up quickly. Jessica (for reasons she's purposely evasive about) already speaks ASL very well, she's helping with Jack. And Derek says he wants to do it by himself. (Except it's he and Garcia and a computer, squirreled away in his office late at night with a bowl of popcorn and sodas and their talking hands.) He tries not to think too hard about that one, it'll make him cry.

He knows the rest of them are learning, too. JJ has been signing with Henry since he was a baby, it was a natural thing for her to continue. But, again, the whole crying thing...he doesn't ask. They're all adapting, and anyway, he has his hearing aids, so they don't need to worry too much. It's only when they surprise him in the office, when he's turned them off or taken them out for some peace because the way they amplify the sound makes his head hurt if he wears them too long.

So, really, the fact that he's uncomfortable and a little distracted is easy to understand. That he's turned his hearing devices off in the middle of a lecture is probably considered rude, but he'll apologize to Andy later, she'll understand. She signed as the witness at his wedding to Haley, their friendship is a long and winding road. It's not likely that she'll hold it against him. She'll probably ask him why he didn't do it sooner.

He's hovering in this serene, nearly silent world when JJ uses her pen to tap him on the knee and gives him a knowing glance. He raises one eyebrow, and his eyes flick down to her hands. She signs quickly to him that Derek is trying to get his attention from the end of the row. They're exactly thirteen seats apart, might as well be separate planets. Derek has been working with a new group of recruits at the Academy all week, this is the first time they've seen each other in at least that long. He nods and silently thanks her before turning his eyes to Derek. He can barely mask his relief, or whatever that huge feeling in his chest is that he feels just knowing Derek is around.

But then Derek lowers his hands just out of sight of anyone who might be casually watching and signs something to Hotch. Something lewd (why not just hello?) and Hotch turns away quickly, forces his attention back to Andy on the stage. He pretends to try and read her lips and Derek knows he got to him. He's smiling and he's definitely blushing. He knows that it's a problem that Derek and Penelope are learning together, because they're not just learning the basics, they're not just becoming conversational, they're figuring out how to flirt. They're learning the inappropriate things that they will both eventually teach Jack. Hotch's stomach twists and he nervously reaches up to adjust the lay of his tie.

Twice.

Just to keep his hands busy, because he wants to sign something back at Derek, but he won't. He won't because someone would surely see him.

JJ taps him again. She looks exasperated, her eyes are wide and she's missing the lecture, but she flicks her pen in Derek's direction and Hotch watches as he flirts a little more appropriately this time. At least Hotch thinks he's flirting, he's still pretty rusty and he makes the sign for hot while waggling his eyebrows. It's not exactly correct, but Hotch understands what he means, and he can feel a warm prickly flush spreading like wildfire through dry underbrush beneath his collar.

He adjusts the lay of his tie again. As if it's moved.

When JJ taps him a third time, he wants to tell her to stop. If they just don't give Derek attention, he'll turn his attention to Andy and be done with it, they're just fueling his fire by giving him an audence. The thing is, he kind of doesn't want it to stop though. He looks up and Derek is asking him if he wants to get a drink later. His sign for hot had been so clunky, but this is crystal clear. He's been practicing.

Hotch can't help what he does next, he really can't. He looks at Andy at the front of the room, she's using her pointer and showing some statistic on the power point. Quickly he turns back to Derek and smiles, dragging his forefinger slowly from his chin down to his collar bone with a wink. I'm thirsty, he says, his finger pointing to his own chest.

This makes Derek laugh out loud, the absolute asshole.

Hotch has been keeping a straight face the whole time but Derek can't handle one cheeky reply? Hotch turns toward Andy and frowns when he notices her stop, glance at him first, and then at Derek. He turns his hearing aid back on, just the left one, because he's good at reading lips but he might need to be on higher alert for this one.

“Agent Morgan?” Andy's voice is cool and calm, but she's looking directly at Derek with those piercing eyes that make her so damn scary. Hotch's veins run with ice; Derek doesn't seem the least bit bothered. Hotch can't look at Derek any longer, so he turns his attention to his paper, mortified. “Would you care to share with everyone what's so funny?”

Derek clears his throat and smiles with that infuriating calm he has because he's so damn self-confident that things just don't rattle him. Even when they absolutely should. (And for a long time, Hotch thought it was just an act, was sure he could get under his skin but now he's glad for it. He leans on it, leans into it.)

“Nothing, ma'am. I apologize. I was just asking Agent Hotchner if he wanted to get coffee after the lecture.”

She shoots Hotch a dangerous glare, one that says he owes her big time for not making him repeat exactly what his response has been because she saw everything. Everything, her eyes say. And she won't be letting him forget it any time soon.

“You'll buy me a coffee too, for interrupting my lecture, Agent Morgan.”

“Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry again.”

“And a muffin. Apple cinnamon.”

“Whatever you want, Agent Swann.”

#aaron hotchner #derek morgan #andy swann #jennifer jareau #criminal minds #hotchgan #mortch #fanfiction

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therecordconnection · 1 year

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Ranting and Raving: “Unholy” by Sam Smith and Kim Petras

youtube

I'm always about fifteen years late when it comes to things that are trending so I'm only just now hearing the new Sam Smith and Kim Petras collaboration, "Unholy". I'm not on TikTok because I’m a curmudgeon so I have to find out about new music and music trends like an old person. Sue me.

Anyway, I've been finding "Unholy" infuriatingly fascinating. It's one of those songs where the things that are great about it are great and the things that are bad about it drag it down. Let's cover the great things first. 1) We now have a major hit song that features both a nonbinary performer (Smith) and a transgender woman (Petras). Regardless of the criticisms I have about this song, that's a big deal and I'm happy to see that kind of representation in a year that has been pretty damn boring for the pop charts. 2) That hook is great. The gospel choir that accompanies it is infectious and makes for an earworm that will stick in your head for a bit. It fits in well with Sam's "Theatre Kid" energy. 3) Pretty sure the bassline is just "Sober" by Tool, but that's a plus because while it's simple, it hits. My only wish is that the production made it sound dirtier. 4) I love Sam on this song. They've always bored me as a performer, but over the last couple years they've been turning that around by getting more adventurous with their music. Sam sells this song to the best of their ability and it sounds great. 5) I got to hear Sam Smith sing the lines "While she's droppin' it / She be poppin' it" and while it does sound comical coming from them, it made me laugh in a good way so it gets a point for that.

Alright, we've covered the things I enjoy about this. So why do I find this song to be "infuriatingly fascinating"? Easy. To quote the late Norm MacDonald's review of Interview With the Vampire: "Not gay enough." I'm aware that's a strong accusation due to who the two performers are, but here's how I know it's not gay enough. I've heard So. Many. Shitty. Heavy. Metal. Covers. Of. This. Song. If this song was truly as gay and unholy as it advertises, metalheads wouldn't even touch this with a ten foot pole, as that community still contains some of the most homophobic scum still walking the Earth. The only reason I was able to find so many of them is because doing metalcore versions of lame pop songs is what gets the views these days, kids. Most metalheads would take one look at Sam Smith, use the wrong pronouns, and then call them a word that rhymes with “maggot.”

But even beyond that, I keep asking myself this question: "What's so unholy about infidelity?" At this point, the idea of a devout religious person having a passionate affair/cheating on their spouse is about as old as the Holy Bible itself. It's not so scandalous in a world where, not even forty years ago, televangelists like Jim Bakker or Jimmy Swaggart were in hot water when people found out they were cheating on their wives. Hell, Swaggart even admitted it on television back in 1988. I've heard this song before... It's called "Miracle Man" by Ozzy Osbourne. Ozzy tore into that hypocrisy with style and made an unholy man look like a clown. I have no questions about what that song wants to say or do. This one I only have questions. So, I ask again, what's so unholy about infidelity? If you're gonna make something that truly lives up to the song title "Unholy", I better be hearing about the most fucked up thing imaginable. I may not be on TikTok, but I've seen enough videos from that app where people admit to wild, fucked up, and pathetic things that you would have to waterboard in order to get out of me.

Another issue I have with the song is in the way it doesn't play to the strengths of its performers. Who the hell is Sam supposed to be playing in this song? Are they a priest? Are they a neighbor? Are they an omniscient third person narrator? Who? I keep thinking that the song would be a million times better if it was framed around Sam playing the role of a priest. Imagine this: Sam is in the confessional. They're hearing people confess their sins and all that, but then, this guy walks in and reveals this news: He's cheating on his wife... with a trans woman. Now, imagine that while Sam is hearing this wild confession, their first idea is to start jacking off to it. You want to talk about unholy? There's your double whammy right there. I think the idea of the man in the song having an affair with a trans woman is a really important detail, considering that not only does this song desperately need something to make it more noteworthy lyrically, it has arguably the most famous trans woman in pop at the moment being completely wasted on this song. You want to really get Christian wine moms clutching their pearls? Tell them Nancy’s husband was out all night with a trans woman. Now that’s quite a story for the neighborhood.

This is to segue into how I think Kim Petras' verse on this song is the weakest part about the entire thing. Her performance is great, but she's utterly wasted on a verse that really any woman in pop could've done. Lizzo, Cardi B., Ariana, Dua Lipa, Halsey, your indie friend with a single on Spotify that has just over ten-thousand listens, etc. You would think she would be going off and telling me all about the wild sex-capades that are going on in the body shop, but nope! It's a just a verse about a guy who gives her decent sex and spends a lot of money on her. BORING. Like I said, any woman in pop right now could do this verse and you'd lose nothing. That's why it's the weakest part of this song to me. Kim Petras has something that none of the other names I mentioned have... being transgender. That makes for a really great detail in a song that could really explore a fascinating question: How would religious circles deal with someone having an affair with a member of a group of people they despise and fear? You see it happen with men cheating on their wives with other men, but how would God-fearing, Christian women react if they heard someone in their neighborhood was going across the tracks and fooling around with a trans woman in a fucking auto body shop of all places? It makes for a great premise that the song never truly bothers to explore.

Plus, it's Kim Petras for God's sake. Regardless of what you think of her due to her problematic working relationship with scumbag serial abuser/producer Dr. Luke, this song wastes her strengths. It especially sucks because if any woman could make this song live up to the name "Unholy", it would be her. We're talking about the woman who just last year made an album called Slut Pop! The woman who made a whole dance song just about her tits on "Coconuts", the woman who made "Throat Goat," "Treat Me Like a Slut," and "They Wanna Fuck"! The woman is known for nasty, highly sexual music and if you need someone to get absolutely filthy and unholy on a track for you, she’s a damn good choice. But what does she get here? Boring lyrics about designer clothes and shopping on Rodeo? Boo! I don't need an Incognito tab to listen to this song. I've heard this song on the radio unchanged. Sam already did the cutesy "censor out the bad word with a sound effect" trick for me. Come on! Unholy... There are church kids probably listening to this song right now. There are probably wine moms doing TikTok dance videos to this right now. There’s probably a whole plethora of Halloween playlists that have this song in it. Sam Smith is still probably the only gay person you could safely bring home to your grandma who truly means well but is just a little backwards. Unholy, my ass.

Look, if you want overt gayness that will really look unholy to people, look at the Lil Nas X videos for "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)" and "Industry Baby." You can find those on my new CD compilation, Now That's What I Call Gay, hitting store shelves soon.

This song's biggest sin (HA!) is that it pulls its punches when it could've been so much more. "Unholy" is a song that, while I do enjoy listening to it, is a song that is playing it way too safe and doesn't live up to its full potential in my eyes. Even though I've complained about what I don't think works here, don't let that diminish what this song's success means culturally and what it could mean going forward. If this song breaks the barrier and allows for more non-binary and trans representation in the mainstream, then this song should be celebrated on that alone. It's the first hit song I can think of that features both a non-binary singer and a trans woman. Like all experiments, sometimes the first result isn't the greatest, but it gets you excited for what the next results *could* be if we keep at it.

#original content #ranting and raving #unholy #sam smith #kim petras #music essay

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braxien12 · 2 years

Text

ShuYuka - SITS AU

Finished : 08/28/2022 Words: 2,081 It was originally a band AU but this works too.

Yukari's meticulously cared for hair was in danger of being pulled out strain by strain.

S.E.E.S's fans have been waiting a long time for their new album. It's been in the works for months now and is only one song from being finished.

It's just that Yukari has no idea what to write!

Of all the songs, this one has been the one asked for the most. Soul Phrase: a song about the death of a loved one and the promise of moving on and forward even though they're gone, was a huge hit with their fans.

For the final song of the album, the band wanted to accommodate the fans. For the finale, they wanted to give The Answer: the reply from the departed about the loved one's new found resolve.

But the answer just wouldn't come. She was drawing a complete blank for the song, which made no sense. Mostly every member of S.E.E.S has had to deal with death. She's definitely no exception. She should be able to come up with this.

She's tried everything: hot tea, took a few breaks, even moved around the apartment for a different atmosphere. This was her third move and though the recording room had excellent acoustics, it was super cold.

A low rumbling sound echoed around the room.

Scratch that. Screw the acoustics. She was just starting to get the hang of ignoring her stomach too.

"Maybe I should've gone out for sushi with them after all," Yukari huffed. She leaned back in her chair and rubbed her aching eyes. They were starting to cross from staring so intently at a blank sheet of paper for so long. A shiver racked her. She quickly rubbed her bare arms. They were cold to the touch, Maybe a tank top and shorts wasn't the best choice of clothing for an empty recording studio.

"You should've. Would've made it more interesting." She jumped at the sudden voice. Something was draped over her shoulders next.

Minato dropped himself in the chair next to her, his leg thrown over the other and his torso too bare for the weather conditions happening outside. She now knew what was draped over her shoulders: Minato's peacoat.

"You're back."

"Mmhmm. Made any progress on the song?" He nodded his head towards the small notebook nestled in her lap.

"Absolutely zero. It's so frustrating!" She huddled up in her seat, bringing her knees to her chest while being careful with her notebook. She still side-eyed him. He always made it a habit to catch her off guard. "And why do you always have to sneak up on me like that?"

He gave a ghost of a smile. "Your reactions are cute."

This bastard.

"What about using personal experience? What about that video your father left you."

Before her father passed away, he had left her a video recording. It had taken her so long to find it. But after she found it, she felt relieved and sad. Relieved that she now knew how her dad felt about her and didn't want to leave her, and sad because she wanted so badly to tell him she loved him too.

"That's different. Soul Phrase is more of a message towards a friend or a lover. Quoting dad's message wouldn't fit it."

"So what you're saying is that you can't write it... because you haven't experienced it before."

"W-Well, yeah. More or less I guess." She blushed. It was an embarrassing topic for her.

Her stomach rumbled low again in the quiet room of excellent acoustics. Her blush deepened. Maybe this was her stomach getting revenge for ignoring it all this time.

"Come on." Next thing she knew he was pulling her chair back and pulling her out of the chair by her arm and leading her towards the door.

"W-Wait! Where are we going?"

"Octopia's. You might want to get changed first. It's cold outside."

"How can you eat that much takoyaki after coming back from sushi with everyone?" Yukari asked him as she watched him pop a whole takoyaki into his mouth. She'll never understand how Minato's able to pack so much away. Maybe it's true he has a bottomless stomach.

He shrugged his shoulders. "It's a gift."

"More like a curse. I don't know how being hungry 24/7 can be a gift. I also don't see how this is supposed to help me with the lyrics," Yukari said before taking a bite of one of her takoyakis.

"Who said this was for the lyrics?"

"Wha-! Minato!"

"Your stomach isn't complaining." He shoved another ball of takoyaki into his mouth.

"Minato! I need to get these lyrics finished by tonight! I can't just spend the rest of the day walking around the station eating takoyaki like- hmpf!" Her rant was stopped by the rest of her takoyaki being popped into her mouth.

Did he just-

"Takeba-chan, trust me." He dropped the toothpick back into the tray. His hand came back towards her face. He swiped the pad of his thumb across the corner of her lips, the callus scratching pleasantly against her skin. The close proximity made her cheeks feel hot.

It was no secret that Minato was attractive. The man himself had a plethora of fan clubs himself as the lead guitarist and lead singer. Many would've paid an arm and a leg just to spend one night with him.

But Minato brushed them all off. The love letters and emails, the gifts, the blatant flirting(that one really worked on her nerves). He ignored them all. With his normally quiet and aloof personality, no one really took offense to it either. In fact they loved him all the more for it, thinking it cute and so cool of him.

There were some that protested though. Junpei couldn't believe his gall, mostly because he wishes he could have fangirls like that too. Mitsuru worried that his aloofness would ruin his image and urged him to at least answer a few emails. Akihiko didn't see the problem since he himself throws away his love letters and gifts too (unless it's protein). Mitsuru seemed to protest less when she discovered this knowledge.

If it was one thing the females of S.E.E.S could say, they could definitely trust their men.

She was brought back out of her thoughts when he pulled his thumb away. Her mind imploded when he brought his thumb to his mouth.

"Eat your takoyaki and follow me."

They left Iwatodai Station and they set off, dumping their trays before they left the strip mall. The further they walked the more and more familiar the path became.

Naganaki Shrine is still as peaceful as it is in the day. It seems to have a different atmosphere with the shift of time. The sun was starting to set, and even though the shrine was usually empty, the setting sun gave it a more ethereal feel.

"We made it in time." Minato wasn't looking at the shrine.

"Huh?" Minato grabbed her hand and raised their hands together, he pointed. Yukari followed the way he was pointing and jaw dropped.

Long ago when she used to write small skits and lyrics in her Hello Kitty notebook, her mother told her of a wonderful source of inspiration - a special moment that happens only twice a day - that only a few are able to catch. She called it The Golden Hour: a time of day that made everything look absolutely beautiful. The newly bloomed cherry blossoms were no exception. A soft wind coursed through, carrying the petals in the breeze.

"It's beautiful." She was breathless.

"When I saw this, you were the first person I wanted to share this with."

She hasn't a clue why that made her cheeks darken in color. He could've just meant he wanted to share it with her as friends.

"Well, I'm glad you had me in mind. It's beautiful."

"When I was little, my parents would come here every spring together." Yukari was shocked at the explanation. Minato has never talked about his parents and she didn't make him; she knows how hard it is to talk about past traumas, so she listened intently. She could tell this was important. "My mom used to love gazing up at the branches while the petals fell down around her. She would make it a game to catch as many in her hands as she could carry, and when she was done my father would kindly walk up behind her and pluck the cherry blossom petals from her hair and kiss her on the cheek."

"That's sweet. They sounded very much in love."

"They were. Even though my memories of them are hazy, I still know that they were each other's whole worlds."

There was a silence between them. They just stood there and enjoyed the view, but the longer they stood there, the antsier Yukari became. She wasn't kidding when she said she really needed to get back to finish the song. She would also hate to sit through Ikutsuki's terrible dad puns for too long.

"This is beautiful and all Minato, but I really have to get back to writing the lyrics..."

"Takeba-chan, I can't say that I know what it feels like to lose a close friend or a lover, but I'd like to think that I'd know what I'd say to them if I died." He joined their hands together down by their sides. His skin was warm against hers. Her heart was skipping beats, but why was he doing this? Did he know about her feelings for him? Was he doing this just to humiliate and turn her down later? No. Minato wasn't like that.

"I know that I wouldn't want to worry about me, to move on, and know that I loved them dearly. With everything I am and everything I had." Her breath thinned as she listened to his words and completely left her when he turned to look at her with such deep meaning and emotions in his eyes that her eyes were tearing up to reflect them. He brought their joined hands up and he brushed a stray strand of hair away from her forehead and slid down to cup her cheeks. He stepped closer, even closer than they already are, until their breaths mingled.

He leaned in. Or she did. Neither of them knows.

He tasted sweet. She could still taste the remnants of the takoyaki and she's pretty sure he can taste it on hers too. This kiss was sweet, no heat or other intentions, just the gentle brushing and soft pushing of lips meeting in the middle; enough to reciprocate. He pulled away, and the resulting smile absolutely took her breath away.

"I hope this helped you, Yukari-chan." He leaned in again - like her heart wasn't beating fast enough already - pecking her lips again and pulling away before she could kiss him back. He already can't get enough.

Sure enough. She's pretty sure she's found her inspiration.

Even from backstage the fans' screams could be heard loud and clear as S.E.E.S finished their third song of the night. Their loud cheers chased the band backstage. Minato ran straight to Yukari. He was slightly sweaty from his long performance.

"The fans loved it. Good job, Yukari-chan."

"What are you thanking me for? I wouldn't have come up with anything if it wasn't for you."

He shook his head, "Not true. You just needed the motivation."

"Listen to that crowd calling our names!" Junpei reveled in the applause. He was practically jumping on his toes to get back out there. "They're asking for an encore. Come on, Minato!"

Junpei ran out first with the others behind him, Mitsuru fondly rolling her eyes at the guitarist's eagerness. Minato hesitated to follow them.

"Go on ahead. They're calling for you. I'll be right here."

He still hesitated, looking between her and his teammates. Seemly making up his mind, he turned back towards her. "What do you say after this we go to the Paulownia Mall tomorrow? They just opened up a new store, I heard."

"That new cosmetics store? Sure." She needed to pick up a new skin treatment anyway. It'd be more fun if Minato went with her too.

He smiled, "Then it's a date."

Then he leaned down and blew her mind again.

She could distantly hear an off-key guitar chord.

#persona series #persona 3 #p3 #shuyuka #minato arisato and yukari takeba #minato x yukari #minato arisato #yukari takeba #fanfiction #writing #fanfic #AU #voltage otome #sits #scandal in the spotlight

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adultswim2021 · 1 year

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Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job #18: “Innernette” | January 14, 2008 - 12:15AM | S02E08

Now you’re in for a treat. And, that treat is, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job. Lotta fun skits and bits and I’m gonna watch them all twice and laugh at all the parts where they are funny.

This one has a cold-as-hell opening of Jeff Goldblum advertising his new venture Jeff GoldBluMan Group. It’s literally just Jeff Goldblum being blue like those Group guys. “It’s a sizzler, please watch.” I often say that the show rarely uses pop culture references, but this very much qualifies as one of those “rare times”. This bit comes back later in the show in the form of a music video where the Jeff GoldBluMan just whistles, and then gets dollar signs in his eyes. I don’t remember finding this bit particularly funny the first time I saw it, but I sure howled this time around. It is just pure stupidity, the type I really admire.

A very strong and memorable wraparound features Tim & Eric selling “The Internette”, which is a version of the internet that’s contained on a mini CD-Rom. It features 5 virtual friends who can chat with you, and 103 songs, and various ways you can simulate being connected to a large network even though you are not. This is maybe one of their easiest-to-grasp sketches and it’s only a touch deranged. They have a thoughtfully tacky look. I feel like as the show went on, the wraparounds would become a much more mixed bag, and more inspired ones become fewer and further between. This is a GREAT one, though. I feel like this is a good “for beginners” sketch for a would-be Tim & Eric fan.

On Uncle Muscles we are treated to a Casey Tatum (and his brother) song for their mommy. The song and accompanying video (made up of home video footage of a younger Casey and His Brother being abused) are a very tragic depiction of one mean mamma! This bitch is a handful, and you’ll just love seeing her neglect her sons. It’s so sad that singer guy hurls. Sick!

David Cross is BACK! I forgot this sketch exists. It’s a fake ad for Pussy Doodles, a product that lets your cat paint by mistake. I think this sketch is sorta weak; I think they knew it wasn’t the strongest idea on paper but figured David could make some gold out of it anyway. He does an okay job. I think he’s being a little self-consciously “more Tim and Ericy” in this. I do like when he wails in despair because his cat escapes it’s harness and runs away. That single joke is maybe the perfect marriage of his and Tim & Eric’s sensibilities. A reprise of the sketch features faux behind-the-scenes footage of Bob Odenkirk as the director of the commercial, yelling at him. The best part of this is when the cat in the sketch scratches David at the end, and you can hear David break character a little bit. It’s always nice when these two daddys get back to mackin’ with each other, you gotta admit, and agree.

There’s also a living with Dr. Steve Brule about living on your lonesome. Funny area for a sketch, and Brule is usually at least a little amusing. This one seems a little too tossed off and I think there’s anything truly exceptional in this one. Brule’s advice is very general, like saying about how you should meal prep and go to bed early. There’s a surprise third one that I won’t spoil! It’s about making your own puzzles.

There’s also a fun dance party featuring some of Tim & Eric’s wack pack. We also see Casey Tatum’s mom from before. “All I want to do is dance and fuck!”. GREAT LINE. I thought maybe it was quoting Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me, but searching it in quotes pulls up so much Tim & Eric stuff. It could be in the spirit of that one scene.That one scene I thought it was quoting.

#adult swim #adultswim2021 #tim and eric awesome show great job

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seths-wife · 2 years

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"What in the world is evil?" Discussion on the personal responsibility of the evillious "contractors" - Gammon’s take - (2)

Disclaimer: you can read the chapters I'm referring to on the underlined links.

Now, let’s look at Nemesis, another “involuntary contractor” in the series, this time with Seth Twiright. You can read about Seth’s conversation with the protagonist about the contract in the “muzzle of Nemesis” novel, specifically in the twelfth scene of the third chapter.

Now, I want to say that her case is indeed a special case, compared to the other contractors’, and that would be not because she is an “involuntary contractor”, like Riliane, but because Nemesis is also (and foremost) a natural “her”.

In fact, throughout the “muzzle of Nemesis” novel, Nemesis sometimes reports hearing of something she calls “another me” or “her own voice” that encourages her to commit violent acts (look in this scene for example)

In her delusion, Levia Barisol comments that those auditory hallucinations are themselves symptoms of “hers”. You can read about that in the 9th scene of the third chapter of the same novel.

Interestingly, a similar dynamic is presented in the “bloodstained switch” song with the unknown Mayu-coded patient that is under Levia’s supervision.

The one who pressed the switch,

it wasn’t me.

The one who pressed the switch,

it was another me. (“bloodstained switch”).

Now, here comes something interesting: the “other me” Nemesis mentions uses a particular speech pattern…

“Give over to it.

To the feelings inside you

And–destroy everything.”

I had meant to scream that at the “other me” who had been speaking [...] (“muzzle of nemesis”, 3–memory of the four seasons; scene 8).

That’s the same exact formula as the one the series’ demons (except for Seth) use, thus reinforcing the idea that contractors and natural hers are hers all the same (as you can read in the prologue of the lunacy of the duke Venomania).

An objection to this would be: what if it’s Seth tempting and speaking to her as a demon?

No, the novel makes clear that the “other me” Nemesis speaks about is her own voice. That’s the “hers” of the false goddess.

There was no mistaking it.

That was none other than my own voice.

(“muzzle of nemesis”, 2-memory of the forest; scene 6).

You can read about that in the first scene of the 6th chapter as well, in which Levia’s “hers” (which is also Nemesis’ “hers”) exhorts the woman to destroy the “third period”, as we already know that the “will of a ‘her’” is the “annihilation of the gods” and the “destruction of the world;

I’ve quoted this many times, you can read that in the “recollection h” of the “fifth pierrot” novel.

Moreover, getting back to the counterarguments to the aforementioned objection…when Seth speaks to Nemesis, his voice is recognized as different from the one of “other me” that frequently pops up in the novel.

“…Are you mr. ziz?”

And then I heard a voice speak directly into my mind.

It wasn’t the “other me” I would usually hear. It belonged to the same man as before. (“muzzle of nemesis”, 3–memory of the four seasons; scene 12).

What makes Nemesis different from Cherubim, Banica and Riliane is the fact she’s hardly influenced by the “demon” she involuntarily contracts within the novel.

The only instances in which he does so is when he encourages her to live after attempting suicide upon Nyoze’s death;

“—I…wanted to die. Along with Shakuson. I would probably just try to do so again.”

“Are you really fine with that? Living while set adrift by the people around you only to helplessly give up and run away from this world—if you died now, that would be the sum total of your life. Isn’t that wretched? Don’t you have any regrets!”

[...]

“Nemesis…the weak you is the one who died just now. From this moment on will be your true life.” (“muzzle of nemesis”, 5–memory of flames; scene 2).

or when he suggests to the girl a proposal of a chance of “atonement” to Gallerian, in this scene.

Time after time in the novel, we can see how Levia’s “hers” influences Nemesis by fueling her negative feelings, just like the evillious “demons” do to the other “contractors.

In particular, we see that in her last encounter with Nyoze: the girl feels betrayed by him because she comes to understand that he originally approached him so that he could get close to the organization he was fighting against: the “dark star bureau”.

Moreover, Nemesis also feels betrayed by “master”: the one who would commission her to kill, having discovered from Nyoze his identity as her father.

After that, the girl gets completely overwhelmed by her distrust and disappointment towards the world and points the gun at Nyoze.

And…it is in that moment that the “hers” (part in red) kicks in, fueling the girl’s feelings, inciting her to destroy everything.

“Ha–ha ha ha…enough!” I screamed, unable to hold in my feelings. “Every last one of them, they’re all garbage! Nikolay, Bruno, Gallerian–and you too!”

I once more pointed the gun I had lowered at Shakuson.

“Everyone…everyone should die!”

That’s exactly right.

Give over to it.

To the feelings inside you

And–destroy everything. (“muzzle of nemesis”, 3–memory of the four seasons; scene 8).

Another instance (a very remarkable instance at that) in which Nemesis’ hers fuels on the girl’s despair and disappointment over the world is the crucial moment she accepts the firstmost betrayal: her mother abandoning her after she was born, ordering Nikolai to kill her as soon as he could.

Said “hers” fuels the girl’s despair to destroy the evillious world.

–Poor Nemesis.

Continuously betrayed by those you believed in.

Unable to make anyone happy no matter how hard you tried.

You aren’t to blame.

The one at fault is–

This very world itself.

So you need to purify everything.

Destroy it all. (“muzzle of nemesis”, 6–memory of mother; scene 1).

So, now you can see how Nemesis is different from Cherubim, Banica, and Riliane. In the series, Nemesis Sudou is not influenced by the “demon” she involuntarily contracts with (almost) at all.

She is under her “natural hers” influence though, but said “hers” doesn’t ‘make her do anything or transform the character without or against her will. Similar to the other cases we saw in the last part, Nemesis's natural “hers” in the series fuels the character's already preexistent despair and negative feelings.

In this instance too, Gammon proves himself to be correct: “hers” and “demons” in the series can’t do anything if the contractor doesn’t give a solid base to fuel on.

#evillious #evillious chronicles #nemesis sudou #seth twiright #gallerian marlon #nyoze octo #levia barisol

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frontproofmedia · 2 months

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BERLANGA VS. MCCRORY: FINAL PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES AND IMAGES

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Published: February 24, 2024

Eddie Hearn “Welcome to Orlando ahead of a huge night of boxing at Caribe Royale live on DAZN around the world, top class match-ups from top to bottom, headlined by Edgar Berlanga, looking for a shot at the the World championship, but chasing him is Padraig McCrory, two huge punchers, labeled ‘Shootout’ on Saturday night, and it really will be. “There are 50-50 matchups across the board, leading off with Yankiel Rivera in a huge step-up against Andy Dominguez in a Puerto Rico vs. Mexico clash, there’s Puerto Rico vs. Puerto Rico as Antonio Vargas takes on Jonathan Rodriguez, who broke our hearts by knocking out Kal Yafai, and the eliminator for the World Welterweight title as Shakhram Giyasov takes on big punching Pablo Cesar Cano. “I get told off for shouting my mouth about fighters sometimes but let’s be honest, Andy Cruz is a potential pound-for-pound great. He is one of the greatest amateurs of a generation and he’s moving like a train in the paid ranks, he’s in his third fight but he’s stepped up every time and last time out he demolished Jovanni Straffon to become IBF International Lightweight champion on the Devin Haney-Regis Prograis card. I believe he’s a couple of fights away from challenging for a World title and I would put this man in with any 135lber on the planet right now. But Brayan Zamarripa is so tough, we saw him in an incredible fight in Tijuana with Angel Fierro, a fight that could have gone either way on the cards. He was in tears in the dressing room afterwards and I said we would give him another opportunity, and that opportunity is a huge one but a huge one but a tough one against Andy. “And our main event, a fantastic fight between two huge punchers in the 168lb division. Padraig is looking to beat Edgar and land a dream shot for the World championship, but Edgar is one of the rising stars in boxing and comes into this having filled up The Theater at Madison Square Garden last time out and looking for his own World title shot. “Canelo Alvarez is without an opponent on May 4 currently and we will put Edgar’s name into the hat with an impressive performance on Saturday night, but Padraig has other ideas.” Edgar Berlanga (21-0 16 KOs) defends his WBO NABO Super-Middleweight title against Padraig McCrory “We don’t overlook anyone. Padraig is a tough guy, he’s coming from Ireland, he’s undefeated, he’s coming from the bottom just like I am, and we’re ready. “Every fighter is going to come to try to beat me, and we know that. I know that the competition is getting heavier and tougher, so we’ve prepped very well in this camp. At this level, anything can happen, and we understand that. In the Super-Middleweight division, you can have no power but when you put ten-ounce gloves on, anybody can punch. So, we’ve taken him very seriously and I’m happy that he took the fight. “At this time, Saturday is my focus, Padraig McCrory. I don’t give a f**k about Canelo, Munguia, it’s this man across from me that’s trying to take my ‘0’, so I have to put my focus on him and handle my business and then eventually, we can focus on those guys. “We come from the slums too, I haven’t had it all nice. When I turned pro, no-one wanted to sign me, my first three fights were in Mexico. He’s Irish, we’re Puerto Rico, we get it popping. It’s statement season. Superstar week, because I have to shine. Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano, they sell out a lot of fights because it’s Puerto Rico vs. the Irish, and I take my hat off to the Irish fighters because they are tough, and they come to fight.” Padraig McCrory (18-0 9 KOs) challenges Edgar Berlanga for the WBO NABO Super-Middleweight title “I want to thank you, Matchroom and Mick and Jamie with Conlan Boxing for this massive opportunity. It’s the biggest fight of my career and I have trained like it is. Now it is up to me on Saturday night to put on a show. “There’s been a lot of work going on for me, I started in 2017, I’m 35 and people are questioning why only 18 fights. But I didn’t fight until I was 29, and then COVID happened. So I have been very busy, I’ve built my career to this point and people believe in me, but the main thing is that I believe in myself and that this is the platform and opportunity that I need. “He’s a very good fighter. He’s the main event, the star, it’s the Berlanga show and I’m just here to show up, I’m just a guy from West Belfast, no-one expects anything from me. But I think I have got what it takes to win this fight, we’ve trained hard and meticulously gone through tactics so whether it’s Game A, B or C, we’re ready for what he bring. “He fights the way he fights so if I don’t put in place what we have planned, it’s a very tough fight. I’ve been screaming for this opportunity, Matchroom and DAZN is the biggest platform for me in the sport, and now it’s here I have to show up.” Andy Cruz (2-0 1 KO) defends his IBF International and WBA Continental Latin-American Lightweight titles. “I’m always ready. Yes, there is pressure, yes, there are nerves, but I see that as a positive and in fact, when I am feeling that way, I am at my most dangerous. I am prepared for the fight, and it’s one thing to sit here and say you are going to do what you say you will do, as we all have the same objectives, but another thing is doing. “As a boxer we all have goals. I hear a lot of what is going on around me but I don’t listen to it too much because ultimately, I am the person that has the final word in the ring, so I just want to demonstrate that I do belong at this level and I can go on and face the best. “I feel that I really progressing well in this kind of new style of boxing. With every camp I have I progress even more and that’s thanks to my great gym mates and my trainer. You are starting to see a more complete Andy Cruz, a more complete boxer, and on Saturday I am going to demonstrate those qualities and I think you are going to see a mix of Cuban boxing fused with Philadelphia.” Brayan Zamarripa (14-2 5 KOs) challenges Andy Cruz for the IBF International and WBA Continental Latin-American titles. “Thank you for keeping your word, Eddie. As a good Mexican, I come here to leave everything in the ring and that will be no exception. I am coming here to get the victory and to take those belts home. The fight with Fierro is in the past now, I am here to get the win and don’t be surprised to see me take those belts on Saturday night. “Andy has a lot of experience as an amateur, but I also have that, so I can box off the front foot or the back foot, but one thing that’s for sure is that I am taking home those titles. “I’m here to take this opportunity, this is my moment, and I won’t let it pass me by. I am ready to face anyone, whether it’s the best Olympian out there or the best fighter, I am ready for the best.” Shakhram Giyasov (14-0 9 KOs) faces Pablo Cesar Cano in an eliminator for the WBA World Welterweight title “For me it’s a good fight, a big fight, it’s one step from being in a World title fight. I am ready, but I am always ready because I am born to be here. I love boxing and I want to put on a good show for the fans. “I know he’s got power, a good punch, but I am faster, I am smarter, and I am ready.” Pablo Cesar Cano (35-8-1 25 KOs) faces Shakhram Giyasov in an eliminator for the WBA World Welterweight title “It’s great to be back on such a big card, it’s almost like the phoenix rising from the flames, I am coming back. This won’t be the exception. I am prepared and ready for the war. “I always love to go in and trade, to have a war. I think he is exactly the same so I think that this might steal the show on Saturday.” Antonio Vargas (17-1 9 KOs) faces Jonathan Rodriguez in an eliminator for the WBA World Bantamweight title “It’s a big opportunity for me and I’m very thankful to be here. I am looking forward to Saturday night and the chance to display my skills. This is my hometown, so I am looking forward to giving the fans a good fight and make sure you get your money’s worth. “The loss definitely helped me to grow build character and strengthen me, I learnt a lot from it. I corrected a lot of the mistakes from it and it’s just a hunger I have because I know I belong where these top guys are at, I am a top fighter, and I am looking to showcase my skills on Saturday night.” Jonathan Rodriguez (17-1-1 7 KOs) faces Antonio Vargas in an eliminator for the WBA World Bantamweight title “This is what it’s all about, taking step-ups to get to where you want to be, which is a World champion. I am one fight away from that, so I am going to do anything and everything I can to come out victorious on Saturday night. “The Kal Yafai fight made me feel good because it made me feel like I belong where I am at now. I am just going to keep doing what I have to do to keep getting the wins and making statements, and to become a World champion.” Yankiel Rivera (4-0 2 KOs) faces Andy Dominguez for the WBA and WBC Continental Americas Flyweight titles “I’ve trained very hard and I’m ready to fight and to win. We’re ready for this, we’ve had a really good camp. We know Andy is a really good fighter, but I love challenges, they are what I live for.” Andy Dominguez (10-0 5 KOs) faces Yankiel Rivera for the WBA and WBC Continental Americas Flyweight titles “He’s a good fighter, he’s an Olympian, I’ve had more professional fights than him, so I feel like this is an even fight. It’s Puerto Rico vs. Mexico and you know how that goes, so it’s going to be a good fight.”

(Featured Photo: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom)

#HF #Edgar Berlanga #Padraig McCrory #DAZN #Matchroom Boxing

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mercurypyrite · 1 year

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ok so i finished book 6 last night so this is a bit belated but whatever. longass masterpost of my thoughts on everything post 6-81 incoming

i felt awful for vil (3hrs of crying, he’s gotta be dehydrated) but it was lowkey kinda funny how malleus just popped up and was like “i’m in your debt (according to lilia) (pretty sure this was just for their own amusement?? idk man they’re fae) so i’ll help 👍” and just kinda poofed him back to normal.

i think this is the… third time we’ve seen him do smth like that? first at VDC, then during endless halloween night, and finally now. (though EHN came first canonically.) he seems to be making a habit of it. and that joyful squeal? love that. (vil’s normally so poised, though — goes to show how deeply book 6, and being rudely confronted by his fear of aging, rattled him)

leona: i’ve been fighting all night and i’m dead on my feet

ruggie & jack: sorry what. PLEASE elaborate

once i saw adeuce the only thought left in my head was “MY BOYS THEYRE HERE” i’m so glad they’re okay like damn. it feels like everyone’s been gone longer than 2 days lmao

“Human lives are as ethereal as silk thread on a spinning wheel — and just as easily cut short. But their fragility can be a boon. Interweaving and layering those threads creates the strong, resilient tapestry of their history. Such is the creature called man — neighbor to we creatures of the night.”

so so tempted to make part of this my blog quote but it sounds so pretentious. not like the current one isn’t i guess. also sleeping beauty ref goes brrr

ortho (lovingly) dragging idia is one of my new favorite things i think

“You don’t have any close friends who can keep you in line yet, and I don’t know if you ever will. Not to put too fine a point on it, but leaving you to your own devices is a terrible idea. So… I want to stay with you. Is that asking too much?”

“You’ve been my real brother for a long time now, Ortho.”

“Let’s go back to Night Raven College. You’ve got people waiting for you there.”

“…Yeah, I do, huh.”

LIKE GOD. THEM. i want to stay with you. you don’t have to act like my little brother but you’ve been my real brother for a while now. you don’t have close friends but you DO have people waiting for you. they won’t forget. (and then he ends up gaming with vdc gang and bantering with ortho around them, slowly coming out of his shell if only temporarily, and i’m so soft over that)

refurbished ramshackle was nice to see but… not really surprising, lol. looks directly at the guest room feature. twsten rlly likes doing things out of order huh.

also yuu spent “a few weeks” at pomefiore?? honorary heartslabyul student yuu is out, honorary pomefiore student yuu is in. they even got a uniform!!

jk they can coexist

(i will make them coexist. i love them both sm)

(i wanna see riddle and vil fighting over yuu /hj)

“I was called before parliament in the Land of Dawning. Bigwigs from STYX, the Department of Education, AND the Department of Magic all bombarded me with questions and glared daggers at me… ‘Why are so many consecutive overblots happening on your watch?! How do you explain this?!’

“That’s what I want to know! What have I done, except run this school as diligently as I could?! Night Raven College has resident counselors and medical mages appointed by the Department of Education as it is!

“Since the assembly saw no major issues with the school’s leadership, the inquiry came to a close… But I certainly didn’t expect one of our students to bring about an off-campus catastrophe even as we convened!”

crowley actually getting in legal trouble (or at least being threatened with legal trouble) actually surprised me a lot??? i’m so used to thinking stuff like this would more or less get covered up for plot convenience or wtv that it’s nice to see crowley get smacked with it. rip headmage

ALSO rip therapist yuu memes bc NRC HAS THERAPISTS (tho theyre not rlly dead bc. no one SEES the therapists. probably. stubborn kids.)

seeing ortho again = no thoughts left in my head redux, “BABY BOY” edition!! he looks so nice!! i love the lil buttons!! rlly i love all the details, looking like an NRC uniform while still being undeniably ortho

“‘I don’t get it’ is a perfect encapsulation of my current state!”

LOL. he’s not wrong though.

…of course crowley took a bribe. i dunno why i’m surprised to hear that.

though in vil’s words, “It’s hardly our place to interject if it’s a win-win for both parties, I suppose.”

crowley’s inquiry about grim’s health makes me side-eye him more strongly the more i think about it. yes i know why (grim attacked yuu, was more strongly affected by the blot, etc) but i’m still suspicious, i wanna know if there’s more to it.

“I’m truly glad that you — ah, that is, ALL of you — made it back to the school safe and sound.”

the way he added “all of you” made it seem to me like they were an afterthought compared to grim…

twst rlly put aaaall the fluff at the end huh. not like i’m complaining though!! it’s like a reward for getting through all the angst. idia’s gift is very him (lol) and idia and ortho playing video games with everyone is adorable

“We should probably make Idia play holding the controller backwards or something, though. He’s super good.”

“I see what you’re doing, Ortho. Trying to skate by without any handicaps for yourself, huh? YOU’RE the one who needs extra restrictions, like no items allowed.”

play for a crowd! is also up there on my list of favorite twistunes but i can’t play it while sleep deprived or my score goes down the toilet. ask me how i know. half the time normal mode is harder than hard mode.

also i haven’t said it anywhere yet but idia’s battle theme is a banger too. ignihyde osts killed it

and rook and vil’s discussion of ortho’s soul!! screams!!

“He — or rather, they — chose to try and boost their brother up from the depths below to the skies above. What do you call such love and affection, if not a soul?”

the “dream” sequence was so interesting!! yuu and mickey can’t see anything but each other. grim can’t see mickey either, and vice versa.

but. mickey could see silver. why was silver at ramshackle at night? a reasonable assumption is that silver went to ramshackle to find malleus, couldn’t, and left, but really…

why could mickey see silver at all?

i’ve heard (though i haven’t got a source for this unfortunately) that silver says — somewhere — that he’s seen yuu before, or that they look familiar, or something along those lines. i wanna know if this is connected to that. also, silver’s curse. that too. sleep/dreams vs reality etc.

and last but not least, lilia is dropping death flags left and right and malleus is Concerned. to be fair, so am i. what’s going on, dude?

(sidenote: damn it riddle’s hair went back to normal. i was hoping he’d just have white hair now 😭)

(also, eagerly awaiting the “gloomurai is idia and muscle red is lilia” reveal in book 7. yana pls.)

(i… may have gotten spoiled a bit. unintentionally. so now i know that in book 7, [REDACTED].)

#py liveblogs twst book 6 #twst #twst book 6 spoilers

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