#are you asking if i'm british

[cuubism]

I’m BEGGING for more “retired!Dream opens up a weird magic fey bookshop” au. Its so intriguing!

you are in luck. i wrote more

--

"So," Hob says, leaning in the doorway of Dream's study-of-sorts, "much as I love the recommendations, do you mind if I browse?"

He's taken, recently, to meeting Dream on the upper floor of the shop, bringing coffee and watching Dream label and sort his new books in incomprehensible categories. He usually gets some interesting book facts out of it, too, or strange little stories -- "this book washed up on the Sardinian shore some years ago", "this was signed by a long-dead author, I've been curious to see how long it will take for a collector to find it," "an old man bestowed this upon me on the eve of his death, it's the only copy in existence" and so on -- not to mention the pleasure of Dream's company. He is so odd, and so engaging.

Dream looks up at him now with a tiny smile that crinkles the corner of his eyes. "Of course. Find whatever you wish."

Hob has been wondering if Dream's serendipitous knack with books will extend to browsing, to random finds. Only one way to know.

He leaves Dream to his labeling and goes to wander the shop.

This time, he does get swallowed in Oneiromancy, where he finds Sleeping Worlds, a book about dream travel. Then he wanders deeper into the shop, passes categories like, "Cat Training," CLOCKS, "Mathematics: Easy -> Impossible", and, "♾". Of course he goes into Infinity, and picks up The Birth of Numbers, a book whose text starts in the center of the page and spirals outwards, font growing larger as the book goes on, and in another section called "Romance: DIFFICULT LEVEL" -- whatever the hell difficult means -- he picks up a tiny book that's just one line, one syllable on each page.

I

on

ly

want

ed

you

to

see.

God, Dream's shop is weird.

Dream finds him there some time later, deep in Sleeping Worlds. "I see you've had a productive day."

"Yeah, sorry, lost track of time."

Dream keeps looking at him with a little smirk.

Worry darts through Hob's stomach. "Wait, what time is it?"

"Midnight," says Dream, with satisfaction. "I've absorbed you."

Yeah, no kidding. Hob scrambles to his feet. "Jesus, Dream, sorry. I'll get out of your hair."

"No matter. This is what The Library is for."

Hob goes to hand him the books, and he waves a hand. "Keep them, I will get them back eventually."

Ominous. Great.

"Gonna break into my house and retrieve them?" Hob asks. He probably wouldn't even mind, to be honest.

"Nothing so alarming." He gestures Hob forward, and Hob follows, lets Dream walk him out.

It is, indeed, pitch dark outside on their shared street. Hob's supposed to open the cafe at 6. Whoops.

"Thanks for the books, Dream," he says. "And for. Ten hours of distraction, apparently."

Dream leans in the narrow doorway of his shop. "Of course. Come browse... anytime."

And he melts back into the shadows as Hob steps down onto the street.

--

Hob wonders if he's an idiot for wanting to ask Dream out. Dream is clearly some kind of other thing, and hanging around him did kind of get Hob cursed. But the way he bites his lip when he's making notes in books is so cute. His unerring ability to make perfect book selections is both strange and endearing -- even the books Hob had picked up on his own had been exactly what he hadn't known he was looking for. Hob's heart picks up every time he steps into the cafe.

But if he's to ask out Dream, his own personal weird bookshop creature, he has to do it right.

And he knows how.

The next time Dream comes in for coffee, Hob sits down across from him and hands him a book. Dream looks at it in surprise, and Hob has the sudden thought that as the all-powerful selector of tomes, he probably isn't gifted books himself.

The book is called, Broken Hands. Hob had pulled it off his own shelf. Dream doesn't ask him what it is, instead he flips open the cover and reads, as Hob had hoped he would.

The first page of Broken Hands has the following paragraph:

Kissing her hand, he came to know himself. Kissing her mouth, he came to know them both. When they went onward, for now only in his mind, he kissed more of her, and more, and more, and then, he knew her. He wanted to know her.

Dream reads it, and looks back up at him. Offers a tiny smile. Yes, Hob knew he would get it.

"You have something you would like to ask me, Hob Gadling?" he says softly.

"You have something you want to answer?"

Dream takes a long sip of his coffee, but looks at Hob over the rim of the mug, a smile in his eyes. Then he swipes away the milk foam from his upper lip with his tongue and says, "I'd say that you are very foolish, to still wish to associate with someone who did, in a sense, get you cursed. But that I find myself grateful for this foolishness. People do often come back to the library, once they find it-- but they don't often come back for me."

It makes Hob sad to imagine--Dream the perennial custodian of The Library, shepherd of its patrons, gifting small touches of coincidence and magic, but always in the background, a bridge and not a destination. Meanwhile, Hob likes the strange books, but it's Dream he keeps wanting to hover around, to lure back into his own space.

He dares to take Dream's hand and squeezes. "...So?"

"I'd say that I'd like to get coffee with you, if you know a place."

Cheeky thing. "Yeah, there's a Starbucks a couple blocks down," Hob says, gesturing, and Dream chuckles. Hob's still holding his hand, and brings it to his lips for a light kiss, and gets to watch as Dream's cheeks tint pink. His heart lifts in his chest. So easy and light.

"You're gorgeous," he says, and that blush deepens. "I'd suffer even Starbucks for you."

"You would suffer much, then," says Dream.

"We'll get our Starbucks and wander around WHSmith and have a fabulous date," Hob says, and Dream's face goes through the most exquisite journey of horror.

"You demand too much," he says, faint. "You enjoy my suffering."

"Little bit, yeah." Hob's certainly enjoying the reaction.

Then Dream looks at him in challenge. "Very well," he declares. "You've set the date. Now you must follow through."

Hob can't even spare a thought to the distasteful activities he's now gotten himself into--he has a date with Dream. "So that's a yes?"

Dream smiles again, a tiny, pleased thing. "It is a yes, Hob Gadling."

--

They do go to Starbucks. Hob is treated to the glorious sight of Dream sipping a pink drink out of a long straw, which is so worth dealing with the coffee. Then he indeed drags Dream to WHSmith, where Dream stands in the middle of the brightly-lit store, spins in a circle staring at carefully lined book displays with wide eyes, says, "Hell would be more merciful," and bolts away. Hob follows him, laughing.

Outside, he finds Dream leaning in the shade of a tree, looking vaguely shell-shocked. Hob really shouldn't keep laughing at him, but he can't help it. "Were you traumatized permanently by the big chain store?"

"Yes," says Dream, but, despite the perilous adventure, smiles. "You are a cruel man, Hob Gadling."

"Nah. Just harnessed the fluorescent lighting to chase you back into the safety of my arms."

"Oh?" Dream pushes off the tree and steps closer, until he's standing just before Hob, close enough to touch. "Was that the goal?"

Hob takes the leap that's offered and touches Dream's cheek with a light hand. "Did it work?"

This close, in the midday light, Dream's eyes are almost grey. The shade of the tree dapples his skin. It's still odd to see him out of the contained space of his bookshop, of Hob's cafe, but it does make this feel more real. A part of the world beyond the spun-sugar story of their orbiting binary stars.

Dream rests a feather light hand on Hob's chest. Studies Hob from under his eyelashes. And instead of answering, he leans up and, with that same light touch, presses his lips to Hob's.

Hob revels in the mere touch of him for a moment, but doesn't let it stand at light for long. He takes Dream's face between his hands and deepens the kiss, sweeping his tongue into Dream's mouth, swallowing Dream's hum of pleasure. If only he could put into the kiss what he had felt when Dream had handed him Nightingales. A sudden finding of something long lost that was always meant to be rooted in his heart.

When they part, he makes good on a promise and does pull Dream into his arms. It feels like a great indulgence. It also feels right.

"Make me a solemn promise, Hob Gadling," Dream says against Hob's cheek, arms wrapped around his back.

"Anything."

"Never take me here ever again."

Hob laughs into his hair, squeezing him tight. "What could one possibly want from here when The Library exists?"

This seems to greatly gratify Dream, who preens in Hob's arms. Hob kisses the shell of his ear, then his cheek, then they part again, and he takes Dream's hand. "I'm glad you expanded your horizons with me for a day."

"And now I will shrink them again," says Dream. "Except for one." To which he runs his thumb along Hob's lower lip, a touch Hob sways forward to follow almost drunkenly as Dream smirks. "Come."

He starts leading Hob back in the direction of their quiet street, and far far away from any fluorescent lighting, and Hob follows, touching his lips fondly. And lets himself be cautiously, tentatively hopeful that this will continue spiraling up into something real, because he wants it so bad. Curses and all.

#hob brilliantly asking dream out by giving him a book that basically said 'i wish to know you carnally' but hey it worked!! #and i'm sure he will know dream carnally soon #3 likes and next time they get to explore each others bodies #bookstore cryptid dream #my writing #dreamling #dream of the endless #hob gadling #dreamling fic #thank u louise for the extra special british accuracy in this one XD it is essential that my silly drabble stories channel the TRUE #and ACCURATE experience of the united kingdom. i'll die otherwise

[reactionimagesdaily]

#'im acc british!! (sorry)' #no see that's embarrassing because. I am also British. And listening to it back again it's very obvious to me that you are british also #before you ask how I missed my own brand of accent: I have absolutely no idea #I presume it's because I was tired as hell and emotionally compromised (I think I had just finished Baldur's Gate 3) #(very good game btw) #also sorry @ anyone else who submitted stuff - your submissions are in the queue! #I'm just bumping this one up because the queue is LONG rn and I don't want to continue a conversation a month later #lol #reaction image #reaction meme #daily reaction images #image mood: frick the frack off #submission

[kangals]

since i forget it's not common knowledge for non-Dog™ people, brief overview of the collie thing and why i was losing my shit:

idk every country, but at least for the American Kennel Club (AKC) and Canadian Kennel Club (CKC), "Collie" refers to a specific breed of dog, most iconic as the breed of "Lassie":

these three dogs are all collies. collies come in two varieties, "rough" (longhair, more common), and "smooth" (shorthair, less common). both rough and smooth collies are considered the same breed, judged to the same standards, and can be born in the same litter, similar to how a black lab and a yellow lab are both labradors. it is equally correct to refer to them as a "rough/smooth collie" or as simply a "collie," as that is their official breed name in the US/Canada. while they used to be extremely popular in the mid-20th century, collies sit at #39 on the AKC breed popularity lists nowadays, making them solidly "somewhat uncommon."

a border collie is a separate and distinct breed of dog. while they share a common ancestor with the collie and are also herding dogs, their appearance, temperament, and herding style are all distinctly different. they can come in many colors, but are most commonly black and white with medium-to-long hair:

while a border collie is a type of collie-dog, in the US they are generally referred to as "borders" or "BCs" rather than just "collies," as "collie" is already the name of a different breed. BCs are more popular than collies nowadays, so most laypeople are more familiar with them than with rough or smooth collies. but given that "collie" already refers to a different breed, in the US/Canada it's not technically correct to also refer to a border collie as simply "collie" (or call them a collie, who cares, i'm not a fucking cop).

however, this gets further muddled depending on which country you're in - for example in the UK and many european countries, there is no breed that's simply called "collie" - Rough Collies and Smooth Collies are two separate breeds, in addition to Border Collies, which are significantly more popular. in the UK, "collie" isn't the name of any specific breed, but most people will use it as shorthand for their BCs. "collie" in the UK and "collie" in the US often mean two different dogs.

and then you also have the bearded collie, again a distinct breed, but much more difficult to mix up due to A) their rarity and B) the fact that they look like walking muppets:

and honorable mention to the shetland sheepdog or "sheltie," which while related to the collie is, again, a separate breed, and most notably is significantly smaller than a collie. if you see a dog that looks like Lassie But Small, it's probably a sheltie.

IN CONCLUSION:

several different recognized breeds of collie-type dogs

only one breed is officially named "Collie" and that's the rough/smooth varieties in the US and Canada (aka "Lassie dog")

ergo, there is only one breed of dog that "collie" actually refers to (in North America at least)

however due to the differences in names between countries and the overall higher popularity of border collies, they and other breeds are sometimes also referred to as "collies"

i own a rough collie and she is very pretty and therefore superior and if you call any other type of dog a collie except for the rough/smooth type you're Wrong.

thank u for coming to my TED talk.

#common british L #no one asked for this but i'm working remote today and wanted to procrastinate #anyway this ones for all the ppl who arent obsessive about dogs #i hope u learned something today pls ask if u need me to elaborate #this is so overly long lmao #long post #i dont like the way the UK handles rough/smooth collies in general so this is just another note on my long list of grievances #'country of origin decides the breed standard' yes but have you considered: british bad

[captainofthetidesbreath]

not to be like this but all of the posts (and there are many across multiple platforms) right now going "I mean obviously I'm not mad or whining or anything but it sucks that there's all these three week breaks, how am I going to survive, this is awful, I cannot believe this is happening to me" like, it does in fact come off as entitled no matter how many qualifiers are put onto it

and the a smaller subset of THAT going "CLEARLY C3 isn't a priority for the studio" or "they're obviously trying to kill C3" or even posting stuff that comes off as "um, don't they know that if they keep doing this I won't shop here watch anymore", like, come on

as a tangent, genuinely, I feel like a lot of people have trouble admitting that they don't actually like C3 so they get existentially worried about them losing interest over a slightly longer break because it'll force them to acknowledge that they aren't actually interested, but it's fine not to be interested!

#I will not be engaging with any asks or replies about this #yes I AM cranky in general in life today so that cranky tone is not imagined #like frankly I'm not *as* invested in C3 as I am C2 but like I AM interested in it so the break isn't killing me or my interest so it's ? #like come on I've waited longer for cable television shows. Candela fans wait this long. Don't get me started on British TV. #I'm a D.Gray-man fan and that releases QUARTERLY. Monthly comics. Novels. #Why are we all having hyperbolic breakdown posts over three weeks. Truly I do not understand this culture that's developed around C3. #every time there isn't an ep this week (incl for the regular week off) there's an outpouring of hyperbolic “i'm DYING” posts and I'm like ? #also the break between episodes 40 and 41 was a whole month (November into December 2022) #the break between 8 and 9 was three weeks (December 2021 into January 2022) #Like were you people not here for that? #Critical Role things

[marc--chilton]

i wonder what house's peers thought of him in school

#house md #like he's so weird but also he's kind of charming in an unorthodox way #he's got that. british face (this can be a pro or a con depending on who you ask) #surely he had a Unique reputation #i forget the point i was trying to get at here i'm gonna be honest #not a loser not popular but a secret third thing

[subtle-as-an-earthquake]

he's so fucking pretty and RIDICULOUSLY sweet oh my goodness AAAAHHH 😭😭💞💞

i told him the OMB was incredible and that i'd been listening to it on repeat and he was like "really? 🥺 that's so kind" and then i gave him some turtle socks i'd brought him (bc why not 🐢) and he loved them and called me a fucking sweetheart and then he hugged me tightly and kissed my cheek 😭😭😭😭🫠🫠🫠 i got so giddy i forgot my record he signed and then he had to walk after me to give it to me 😭 whoopsie

#he also asked where I was from so I told him 'here' and he said 'oh i thought you were british' #so i told him i used to live in london and he said oh cool me too! and i was like I know 😭 #lmaooooo #fuck he was so sweet #I'm glad he liked the turtle socks bc I was a bit like 'is this lame' lol #awww #anyway this was incredible I'm so glad I went #🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 #lovely lovely turtle man #I'll upload some videos later ✨️ #miles kane #minnie talks

[fullscoreshenanigans]

Your analyses are the best. They are so fun to read and I over think everything afterwarrs

Thank you!

For analyses above my level, I highly recommend checking out these if you haven't already read them:

The two chapters of Kei Toda's Reading The Promised Neverland with a British/American Literature Scholar (2020) that have been translated into English by fans (Chapter 2: Religion by @thathilomgirl & @0hana0fubuki0 | Chapter 3: Gender by @1000sunnygo)

Anime Feminist's "Emma’s Choice: The gender-norm nightmare at the heart of The Promised Neverland" article (2018) (good follow-up to Toda's chapter on gender)

Jackson P. Brown's "Thoughts on… The Promised Neverland, and Black Women in Manga" (2018) blog post and Zeria's video essay/blog post (2019) on Krone's depiction

Jairus Taylor's "The Unfulfilled Potential of The Promised Neverland Anime" (2021) which made me more open to the idea of a remake of S1

For tumblr posts (some of these I'm linking through my blog because I either had a minor link addition or think the OP's/prev's tags deserve to be seen and rebloggable, but you can just click through to the original post):

@puff-poff's exploration of the demon world's culture (Part 1 & Part 2)

@just-like-playing-tag's examination of the farm system, Emma character analysis launched by a minute change in S2e02, and mini-Isabella analysis regarding her treatment of Ray (along with her blog just being a wealth of knowledge in general)

@hylialeia's post on the series' handling of Norman's plan/the oppressed and oppressors

@avadescent's analysis of the S2 ED album art (Norman and Emma are perpendicular; Emma and Ray are parallel.)

@linkspooky has a lot of analyses from when the series was running but special mention to this analysis of Norman's character

@vobomon also has a lot but special mention to her Norman is autistic and Norman has PTSD posts

@goldiipond's "Ray is autistic" essay

@emmaspolaroid with some of the best Emma and Emma & Isabella meta in general

@nullaby's post on Isabella and Ray's relationship

#The Promised Neverland #Yakusoku no Neverland #YnN #TPN #TPN Meta #Character Analysis #FSS Chatter #FSS Asks #TPN Krone #Sister Krone #Kei Toda #Reading The Promised Neverland with a British/American Literature Scholar #definitely forgetting some but these are the ones that first come to mind and I could easily find again #there's also some fanfics out there that are so foundational to me for my interpretations of the characters #(𝐵𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝐹𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑠‚ 𝐵𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠 my beloved <3; along with bsa's and sae's works and others) #but this is already a bit of reading #also probably a number of discussions on TPNtwt that I'm missing out on but I fucking abhor the format for long-form discussion #even with thread unrollers #Sunny idk if it's just my browser but I think some of the pic links on your blogspot are breaking </3 #if you take a shot for every time I mention on this blog how I still can't believe the S2 ED album art is real you'll get alcohol poisoning

[homkamiro]

This part in My Balls (rock version) almost made me shit my pants

#benatar you dork #he asked in such an inoccent way with this british accent i'm going to cry #kinda fruity if you think about it #your favorite martian #yfm #puff puff humbert #benatar #your favorite martian benatar #fanart

[totheverybestoftimes]

listen to me. put Rhys Darby on Taskmaster NZ.

#tell me kiwis: would this be a bigger get than lee mack on the british version? #what are the fame levels relative to the culture #(i'm asking you to tell me it's possible. please.) #taskmaster #rhys darby #shit katherine says

[bonefall]

Suggestion: not-UK has one of the historical alternative names, like Albion

Albion sounds pretty cool, I like the sound of it. FIRST I just want to check to make sure there's not something... you know, horribly imperialist about it. I know that "Britannia" has such an association. I went and checked and it seems like Albion is fine

Origin of the term: Albion is from the Latin word for white, "albus," probably of Celtic origin, referencing the white chalk cliffs at the southernmost part of the island. It's the earliest recorded name for the landmass.

Question to the Brits + Others impacted by Brits in my audience: Is Albion a fine name to use for the Not-England region of the Not-UK that I use as a setting for BB?

OR should I keep looking because "albion" has some association I'm not aware of?

#Basically I'm sending out a dogwhistle check #Also if it is a dogwhistle please explain it in the replies so I can RB it as a PSA #Not accusing you of it btw anon #Just making sure that I stay informed and check all my bases #bone babble #Also the rat post is coming up soon #I asked my partner who is British first btw and they aren't aware of anything sussy about albion

[the-busy-ghost]

Alright uninformed rant time. It kind of bugs me that, when studying the Middle Ages, specifically in western Europe, it doesn’t seem to be a pre-requisite that you have to take some kind of “Basics of Mediaeval Catholic Doctrine in Everyday Practise” class. 

Obviously you can’t cover everything- we don’t necessarily need to understand the ins and outs of obscure theological arguments (just as your average mediaeval churchgoer probably didn’t need to), or the inner workings of the Great Schism(s), nor how apparently simple theological disputes could be influenced by political and social factors, and of course the Official Line From The Vatican has changed over the centuries (which is why I’ve seen even modern Catholics getting mixed up about something that happened eight centuries ago). And naturally there are going to be misconceptions no matter how much you try to clarify things for people, and regional/class/temporal variations on how people’s actual everyday beliefs were influenced by the church’s rules. 

But it would help if historians studying the Middle Ages, especially western Christendom, were all given a broadly similar training in a) what the official doctrine was at various points on certain important issues and b) how this might translate to what the average layman believed. Because it feels like you’re supposed to pick that up as you go along and even where there are books on the subject they’re not always entirely reliable either (for example, people citing books about how things worked specifically in England to apply to the whole of Europe) and you can’t ask a book a question if you’re confused about any particular point. 

I mean I don’t expect to be spoonfed but somehow I don’t think that I’m supposed to accumulate a half-assed religious education from, say, a 15th century nobleman who was probably more interested in translating chivalric romances and rebelling against the Crown than religion; an angry 16th century Protestant; a 12th century nun from some forgotten valley in the Alps; some footnotes spread out over half a dozen modern political histories of Scotland; and an episode of ‘In Our Time’ from 2009. 

But equally if you’re not a specialist in church history or theology, I’m not sure that it’s necessary to probe the murky depths of every minor theological point ever, and once you’ve started where does it end? 

Anyway this entirely uninformed rant brought to you by my encounter with a sixteenth century bishop who was supposedly writing a completely orthodox book to re-evangelise his flock and tempt them away from Protestantism, but who described the baptismal rite in a way that sounds decidedly sketchy, if not heretical. And rather than being able to engage with the text properly and get what I needed from it, I was instead left sitting there like:

And frankly I didn’t have the time to go down the rabbit hole that would inevitably open up if I tried to find out

#This is a problem which is magnified in Britain I think as we also have to deal with the Hangover from Protestantism #As seen even in some folk who were raised Catholic but still imbibed certain ideas about the Middle Ages from culturally Protestant schools #And it isn't helped when we're hit with all these popular history tv documentaries #If I have to see one more person whose speciality is writing sensational paperbacks about Henry VIII's court #Being asked to explain for the British public What The Pope Thought I shall scream #Which is not even getting into some of England's super special common law get out clauses #Though having recently listened to some stuff in French I'm beginning to think misconceptions are not limited to Great Britain #Anyway I did take some realy interesting classes at uni on things like marriage and religious orders and so on #But it was definitely patchy and I definitely do not have a good handle on how it all basically hung together #As evidenced by the fact that I've probably made a tonne of mistakes in this post #Books aren't entirely helpful though because you can't ask them questions and sometimes the author is just plain wrong #I mean I will take book recommendations but they are not entirely helpful; and we also haven't all read the same stuff #So one person's idea of what the basics of being baptised involved are going to radically differ from another's based on what they read #Which if you are primarily a political historian interested in the Hundred Years' War doesn't seem important eonugh to quibble over #But it would help if everyone was given some kind of similar introductory training and then they could probe further if needed/wanted #So that one historian's elementary mistake about baptism doesn't affect generations of specialists in the Hundred Years' War #Because they have enough basic knowledge to know that they can just discount that tiny irrelevant bit #This is why seminars are important folks you get to ASK QUESTIONS AND FIGURE OUT BITS YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND #And as I say there is a bit of a habit in this country of producing books about say religion in mediaeval England #And then you're expected to work out for yourself which bits you can extrapolate and assume were true outwith England #Or France or Scotland or wherever it may be though the English and the French are particularly bad for assuming #that whatever was true for them was obviously true for everyone else so why should they specify that they're only talking about France #Alright rant over #Beginning to come to the conclusion that nobody knows how Christianity works but would like certain historians to stop pretending they do #Edit: I sort of made up the examples of the historical people who gave me my religious education above #But I'm now enamoured with the idea of who actually did give me my weird ideas about mediaeval Catholicism #Who were my historical godparents so to speak #Do I have an idea of mediaeval religion that was jointly shaped by some professor from the 1970s and a 6th century saint? #Does Cardinal Campeggio know he's responsible for some much later human being's catechism? #Fake examples again but I'm going to be thinking about that today

[laquilasse]

i am sooooooooooo happy you're enjoying yugioh, ive been a fan of your stuff since like 2019 so its like, super cool to see. im so curious on your thoughts on it so far!! anything specific you like in particular?

thank you for sticking around!! it's always very fun when I get into a new thing and people are still here for it. thoughts on yugioh are: I love the kaibas obviously, and Yugi and Yami's relationship also makes me so happy. he has an older brother that lives in his head and tells him that he can do anything if he believes in the heart of the cards. yugi's such a little goth sweetie he deserves a cool guy who believes in him. And what's not to love about kaiba. he's fucking hilarious AND he doesn't give a shit about anything in the world except his little brother. chef kiss. the drama of "if I can't beat you then I can't save Mokuba so you may as well kill me. go ahead and knock me off this castle wall" I'm obsessed with him. also I'm currently a couple episodes into s5 but I miss s3 because marik and ishizu and odeon... wobblecry..!!!!!! also the baby kaibas. unparalleled.

#s3 said you get to see BABIED MODE and I loved babied mode always #there's more but I'm so sleepy. i love yugioh #bakura is also funny he's just like let me pretend to be a little british boy #ask #neuro-typical

[shredsandpatches]

The article this quote was in is a review of the two major Doctor Faustus productions in Britain in 2016 and one thing that it underscores (it opens with a scholarly quote about Faustus as "the quintessential consumer") is the very secular nature of the temptations with which each production's antihero grapples: although both have their roots in the text, the spiritual struggle seems to be downplayed and in the Harington production, Faustus' ultimate desire is celebrity; in the RSC production, it's suicide.

As you all know, I like to complain about efforts to secularize DF and one thing I think would be really cool in production would be to just lean into an evangelical/midwest gothic/fundamentalist aesthetic (a reasonably old-timey one so you can put a bunch of Sacred Harp songs into the soundtrack*) and ALSO into the homoeroticism--but the secret sauce is that this is to underscore that Faustus' pact with the devil and ensuing shenanigans are, ultimately, liberating. If you're a queer intellectual in a fundagelical universe, sometimes facing God and walking backwards into hell really is your best option.

*obviously I have not already picked out the exact ones to use, why would you think that

#doctor faustus #hot faust summer #imaginary df production #suicide mention #i feel like this would have to be directed by someone with a similar background #which i am not but again: no one is asking me #i also don't think a british theater director would think of it #the vibe i'm thinking of is very american #but it'd be great #prolly pretty controversial depending on where you staged it

[duchessofostergotlands]

just listened to the pod and although i agree the william doesn’t HATE women’s football, a lot of your arguments relied on “whataboutism”…. like sure the late queen or charles didn’t go to support their patron sports team, or the prime minister didn’t go either, but that doesn’t absolve william. you downplay the importance of his attendance but also stated he’s the reason you even know about some female players. but anyway, i also think he should definitely step down from the FA presidency - it involves too much passion for a “neutral” figure head

I can understand why you've interpreted it that way - to the point where I already had most of this answer prepared in my drafts - but it's inaccurate. I can only speak for the things I said in that episode so if you have a problem with something Grace said you can talk to her (she'd be happy to argue with you and tbh I think it's pretty telling about your view that you chose me to message and not Grace...) but that segment of the episode has two parts:

Why I don't think it's a big deal William didn't go and

Why I'm upset by the general narrative from the public and press

There were only two reasons I didn't think it was a big deal that William didn't go. I can show you my notes if you refuse to believe me.

The work he does for the England WNT and the men's national team is not drastically different now. It's not the same situation as it was in 2022 when William had done absolutely fuck all for women's sport and we both criticised him extensively. The players themselves have spoken repeatedly about the support and engagement they feel from him and

It's Australia. It's 10,000 fucking miles away. Spending tax payer money (from all four nations of the UK) to send a leader in climate change to Australia for what is effectively 5 minutes of work celebrating England is frankly absurd and I genuinely cannot fathom why anyone ever thought he'd go. Especially as it risks inflaming tensions given no one has been to Australia since the change of reign. If you listen back - I don't know, maybe you skipped over this bit, maybe you chose to disregard it - I clearly state that the problem wasn't that William didn't go to Australia it was that he didn't prepare for the fact he wasn't going to Australia. We both stated that he should have done more to support the team but he should have done it from home.

So if you can tell me where the whataboutism is there that would be grand as those were the only two arguments I made.

The rest was about the general narrative - as I said in the episode - and has no impact on my standpoint on William's decision in any way. It wasn't about William at all from my perspective, and what I said was entirely about the undercurrent of bigotry in the criticism of William. I am a Scottish woman and I don't think it's wrong that I find it upsetting when people believe English women matter more than anyone else. See the disparity in the reaction to William not going to Australia vs the reaction when Welsh people spoke about his lack of support for their team. At least he actually wanted the English women to win!! Whether you care or not, it is a problem that William got crucified for not going to Australia, and yet Welsh or Scottish people (and tons of other groups) get crucified for just politely asking for him not to want us to lose. In the course of a conversation about football and the public reaction to inequality in William's support, it is natural that a Scottish woman would mention the fact that the public and the press have shown nothing but bigotry towards us for the entire 17 years William has been President of the FA. It's natural that I would mention that even if William's support for the English women's team could be better, the public and the press treat the English women's team a million times better than they treat the Scottish or Welsh or Australian women's teams. If now isn't a good time to discuss it because it's "whataboutism" but every other day of the year is also not a good time to discuss it because it'll lead to a public hate campaign by the press and the public, when exactly is the right time?

So I don't consider it whataboutism because I was not saying that William's choice was any better or worse as a result of my point. I consider it a related conversation about my personal issues with the fact that people are claiming on social media to be holier than thou because of their standpoint in this while at best deliberately ignoring and at worst actively celebrating other, worse, forms of inequality. If you consider that whataboutism I truly don't care, because I'm right.

#also we very very very clearly stated that the conversation about the queen was in response to people claiming she would have gone #we didn't bring it up at random #ask #dianawonder #prince william #british royal family #on heir #on heir podcast #the fact i'm genuinely scared to post this because of the hate i could get #but no one was afraid to post that william was wrong to not go to australia #tells you everything

[solradguy]

i swear i have never seen a playerbase that hates their character and themselves more than strive ky downplayers. i think it’s because ky’s catholic guilt is so powerful that it projects into the minds of his downplayers giving them the brand of self-loathing unique to catholics like him. but whatever gets him buffed i guess

sincerely,

a catholic

It's gotta be that catholic guilt, absolutely. Zato and Axl mains are both without shame for their blond men. Bridget and Venom are basically French and their players love them unconditionally, so it can't be that Ky's French either.

Catholic guilt is too powerful. Daisuke, please address this.

#asks #Swinging a bat at both the British and Bridget & Venom wasp nests with this one but you know I'm right

[bronzewool]

Getting any documentation done in California is like going to subway, but instead of just writing the prices of all the sandwiches on the board and letting you decide what you can and can't afford, the guy tells you specifically that your sandwich will cost X amount.

But it doesn't.

What he's doing is telling you how much the bread cost. If you want a sandwich (you know, that thing you came in for) then he'll gladly let you pick out the meats and salads and sauces, and then tell you how much it actually costs at the till.

That may not seem like a big deal to most people, but it offends me in a way I can't seem to properly articulate. Why would I walk into a subway for bread? I can buy that anywhere. Why did you tell me a baguette was a sandwich? It's not. The bread does not make the sandwich. All the pieces when assembled make the sandwich.

What you gave me were the bare bones of the product you were selling, and when I was already committed to playing out this farce, you then hit me with hidden fees that added up to the real price of the sandwich.

#I don't wanna keep bitching about CA and its many laws #but again this would not happen back home #I would ask for a policy #it would give me a list of options #tell me exactly what was included in each one #and then let me make an informed decision of what I wanted #with the prices all laid out to best accommodate my finances #CA does not do this #it wants to drag out a pretty simply questionnaire over the course of a week #tell me what I'm entitled to #and then keep me hostage on the phone while they take a decade to explain what I actually signed #but making it sound like its the best system because they tell you the bad news politely #this kinda embodies what I appreciate about british customer service #we don't do fake pleasantries. because we're miserable as fuck #but also because we get straight to the fucking point #this is the thing. this is everything in writing what the thing is. this is the price we promised you. do you want it? #if not I don't care. I don't get paid enough to care