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thatbadadvice · 1 year

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Help! All These Boring, Ugly Bitches Won't Hang Out With Me

Care and Feeding, Slate, 23 January 23:

Dear Care and Feeding: I live in the very lonely overlap of a Venn diagram, and I need help figuring out how to fix it. To keep it short, I’m a mom who was on the fence about having kids, so I’m not a very ‘mom-y’ mom. My kid isn’t my life or my identity, and while I think I’m a caring and attentive parent, I’m not the primary parent, and I like it that way. I lost most of my non-parent friends when I had my kid. However, my appearance and interests still very much scream “non-parent.” My kid is off-putting to the people most like me (many are overtly judgmental), but my looks and lifestyle are off-putting to other moms (for example, I prioritize my appearance, have a lot of tattoos, and value my work). This has left me very lonely and isolated. Finding friends as an adult is so hard, so please don’t suggest “finding my people” as I’m very extroverted and have been trying to make new friends for years. It’s not working. If I’m honest, I think my childless friends think I’m stupid for having a kid, while my mom acquaintances are jealous of my appearance and judge my choices. It really sucks. —The Worst Venn Diagram

Dear The Worst Venn Diagram,

Holy shit, a mom ... but with tattoos? Is that even possible? You think you've heard everything at a gig like this, but then someone as incredible as you comes along with such an unusual life story! What a remarkable woman you are.

I can see why it would be difficult for someone as hot and interesting as you to make meaningful connections when you yourself are so special and have a lot of tattoos, and moms are always so ugly and boring and worthless and don't have any tattoos, let alone a lot of them. It might help take the sting off to reframe it this way: it's actually a much bigger bummer that all those sad, frumpy mommy-bots are missing out on an amazing opportunity to befriend a mom with tattoos. Can you imagine how enriched their lives would be if they could get over themselves for just one minute and try to understand you as a person, rather than making a bunch of generalizations and assumptions based on surface-level observations? But here they are, writing you off as soon as they see how beautiful and covered in tattoos you are when you walk around with your important briefcase from work. It's really their loss.

You're practically a unicorn! I mean, okay — unicorn is hyperbole. But you get what I'm saying! You're probably one of a handful of women anywhere who has a kid and also cares about the way she looks, and when you add in the fact that you work and have just so, so many tattoos? I don't know, unicorn might not be far off.

In light of that, you've set for yourself a really hard task here. It's not going to be made easier by the fact that the dull and homely stay-at-home moms who stupidly chose to contribute nothing worthwhile to society are being so judgmental about the way you live your life as a gorgeous, professional cool girl who just happens to have a kid. You have such a neat and fun lifestyle and other women don't! Why should you be punished for being a valuable person who, more importantly, values herself, unlike the other moms, who look like absolute shit and never have anything interesting to say and don't have tattoos and are so mean and critical of your choices and the way you look?

Never forget this: you are exceptional. It's not such a mystery that you've been trying so unsuccessfully to make friends for so long. Of course you can't "find your people." There are none. You're a sexy mom with tattoos and a job, and that's always going to be hard for the two kinds of women on earth to understand, whether they're the kind of woman who is a judgy, child-free asshole or the other kind of woman: a jealous, kid-obsessed mommy zombie.

You are one of one — wild and precious and brave and free and so, so pretty, and with so many tattoos. You must never let motherhood define you — only everyone else.

#advice #bad advice #slate #care and feeding #parenting #moms #motherhood #tattoos #why this lady can't make friends is one of the world's great mysteries and we may never solve it

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pinkandpurple360 · 15 days

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Thank you, I think you just nailed what it is about Stolas that bothers me.

Like, you said how Asmodeus encourages Fizz to build a support system outside of him. He calls up Blitzo despite literally talking shit about him the episode before, just because he trusts Fizz’s forgiveness and knows he needs support, both physically and emotionally, that only Blitz can provide. And he doesn’t seem to mind that Fizz has interests outside of just their relationship, like performing (unless it’s Mammon). Not to say that Ozzie or the relationship is flawless (none are), but at Oz seems to genuinely just want Fizz to be happy. If by some bizarre twist Fizz broke up with Ozzie, I think the big guy would be sad, but ultimately would rather see the guy who taught him love be happy without him than be unhappy with him.

…Meanwhile, Stolas acts like Blitz solely exists to be his taboo imp lover. Stolas has never shown any interest in Blitz’s actual work, his hobbies, his family, his friends, his past, anything. He literally dirty talks to him while he is literally getting shot at. He doesn’t ever actually listen to him, and if the recent alleged Full Moon plot leaks are anything to go by, he’s never going to. This isn’t even getting into the coercion. Even if that wasn’t a factor, I feel like if Blitz were to move on (which let’s be real, he’s trying to) Stolas would mope and blame Blitz for all of his problems, and believe he is entitled to Blitz’s affection. That’s why I’ll never be able to get behind the ship no matter how much it’s stuffed in our face. It’s built on not only literal SA and class exploitation, but an incredibly unhealthy idealization and victim complex.

Oh wait, did I say would? This is literally canon.

Exactly because I know Asmodeus is very protective but who wouldn’t be? After seeing mammons behaviour I completely understand. And giving fizz someone else to provide safety was an act of kindness, uh, even though fizz wasn’t too happy about it🤭 he seems to notice how important Blitzø is to fizz more than fizz does..might be a bit of a shock to come later…I just love how he doesn’t force fizz to be with him, he’d always give him that choice.

EXACTLY anon. The coercion is a massive problem, but this ship is so incompatible that it’s still deeply flawed without that factor. “They’re both bad at communicating!” Is something shippers say to imply they’re clumsy in love and so similar to each other..when..no..poor communication is why relationships fail, why they end up abusive, and why they shouldn’t continue.

Stolas never cares that it’s a bad time, he uses blitzø as his security in LooLoo land despite not even needing it. To fuel a fetish of being saved by him, which in western energy nearly got him killed. When he learned Loona had to get a vaccination, he didn’t give a damn. He wanted IMP to drop everything and come to his aid, when he didn’t even feel in danger until the phone call ended. “I believe he has me bound by blessed ropes, limiting my ability to free myself I’m afraid. 😏 so I think you should come save me 😌”

While explaining about the blessed rope, and not having his grimoire in the human world, he’s smiling in both scenes. Think about it, his supposed weakness plot devices give him an opportunity to manipulate the situation again, to spend time with Blitzø against his will. In seeing stars he used violent intimidation tactics to get the three to bend to his will and do him favours. You can see the dark character he truly is with this pattern of behaviour.

There’s a lot of talk that Stella is mad about the cheating with an imp, but consider that seconds before he sees Blitzø at the party, Stella pisses him off by talking about how bad their sex life was. He then decides to jump in bed with said imp, which is even what he refers to him as. “Sir, we caught this nasty imp” “come with me, imp.” That’s a race play fetish right there.

Also yeah holy crap. Blitzø says he’s being used as a sex toy and stolas….cries? then kicks him out of his house? What a little bitch… “I will make amends” no you won’t liar 💀 then Blitzø will apologise to him and fawn over him like he used to for Fizzarolli? I feel sick..

#stolitz critical

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spider-xan · 2 years

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I understand why people are frustrated that Van Helsing still hasn't come out and explicitly said that Lucy was killed by a VAMPIRE! and being resurrected as one, and several people have written great posts from a literary criticism perspective engaging with the text to explain why, and what the potential consequences and reactions would be if he did right now. However, I think people are overestimating how readily both Jack - the novel's embodiment of modernity, rationality, and science/technology - and Arthur, who's basically having an emotional breakdown right now, would accept a major paradigm-shifting revelation rooted in folklore that, at best, is only supported by circumstantial evidence at this point in the story.

Imagine a close friend of yours develops a chronic illness where they slowly deteriorate over time. You call in a specialist to make a diagnosis and manage her treatment, after regular doctors were completely stumped as to what the cause or disease is. Since this noted specialist is greatly respected and comes highly recommended by someone you trust with your life, you trust him through the process, even though you're not sure what's going on and some of his methods are unorthodox. It's frustrating he won't tell you more, but he assures you that he has a good, definitely scientific reason for it, even if he can't reveal things just yet, and it's not like you have other options.

Then the treatments fail, your friend dies, and you still don't know what the cause was. You're having a breakdown over her death, on top of all the other tragedy in your life. As you try to move on or deal with all of this, the specialist finally takes you aside, as he has very important information to tell you regarding your friend's death:

"Your friend didn't die from a disease — she was killed ... by SLENDERMAN!"

Or substitute aliens, the chupacabra, jiang shi (Chinese zombies who feed on qi), etc. If you were in Arthur's position, how would you honestly react? Would you really be like, "Holy shit, that explains everything! Thank you, sir!"? Or would you be like, HOLY SHIT, you mean to tell me that this entire time, my friend's medical treatment was being guided by urban legends the specialist read about on the internet?? How much fucking medical malpractice happened??? Was this part of the reason why she died?? If the reveal had come out while she was still alive, would you have been comfortable with keeping this guy on as a specialist, or would you feel betrayed and demand a new doctor? People in real life have rightfully called out doctors for far less than being told a supernatural creature was the cause of an illness or health condition.

WE know that vampires are real in the world of the novel. WE know Van Helsing is correct, and that all the signs we've seen so far are proof of literal vampirism. NONE of the other characters directly involved with Lucy right now are aware they're in a world with real vampires - they think their world is ours, where they're not real; even Quincey, who is more open-minded, was talking about very real vampire bats, not actual vampires. In not telling Jack the reason he wanted to cut off Lucy's head, Jack can assume Van Helsing has a good reason based on science he can trust. A good question to ask right now is what WOULD be undeniable proof that vampires are real, in order for people to believe and follow Van Helsing without further questions or thinking he's lost his shit entirely.

#dracula #dracula daily #abraham van helsing #once again reminding people that the characters think they exist in our world #and not a horror novel where vampires are real

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yandere-daze · 2 years

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This is, uh, my first ever ask I sent to anyone but I wanted to say that I love your take on a self aware enstars au! I love reading different ideas of this kind of thing and I was surprised to find one for enstars. It’s so cool to read everyone’s ideas and contributions to this au!

I wanted to get your thoughts on something regarding the scenario where the player becomes part of a new unit and everyone doesn’t like them because the player disappears around the same time. In most imposter self aware genshin aus, the characters eventually realize that oops, they’ve been hunting down the player all along and immediately regret and try to repent. In your opinion, how would the idols (and Anzu too, I guess) realize that the leader of the new unit is actually the player, like maybe through a song the player and their unit makes about their experiences in the world and their past one, and how would they go about apologizing and/or making up for their poor treatment? Personally, I think that Niki and Adonis would probably use food for their apology somehow and Shu might make an outfit for you (and maybe your unit) but I’d like to see what you come up with!

You don’t have to answer this one, I’d just love to hear your thoughts on it!

I decided to combine these two asks because they're both kind of related to each other so I thought it would be best to do both of them in a single post. I hope that's okay with you guys ^^

First of all, thank you!! I'm glad you've been enjoying yourself with this AU!! I mentioned it before but I myself am a big fan of yandere self-aware AUs in pretty much every fandom I'm in so I was pretty excited when I got the chance to think and talk about it due to nana's ask 😊 The fact that you guys are just as excited about this as me is obviously a huge plus!!!

Now, let's get to some theorizing!

Edit: Holy shit this got kind of long. Oops djdjd

gn reader

tw yandere, past bad treatment towards reader, obsession, stalking, mention of murder, kidnapping, creepy behavior

The characters finding out that idol! reader is actually the player right as they're about to leave and how they would try to make up for the poor treatment

You've likely been treated pretty poorly by all of the characters for a while now, even though you don't understand why. You just got sent into a completely foreign world as an idol and everyone seems to simply hate you? There's no one except your two unit mates that look like carbon copies of you, that want to stick by your side and talk to you. It's a pretty miserable experience to be antagonized all the time even though you don't remember doing anything wrong. You're just existing and trying to live your life, why do they hold you in so much contempt? You wish you could simply ask them but no one gives you a straight answer when you try. It's frustrating.

Naturally it would all come to a breaking point where you just can't deal with the harsh treatment any longer. You don't want to spend every second of your life being reminded that none of the people here like you. There are even some that openly threaten you with violence for seemingly no reason at all. Sometimes you're scared to go to bed because you fear that one of them might just sneak in at night and end your life once and for all

You decide that you've had enough. Why are you even staying at Ensemble Square anymore? You don't have any friends aside from the twins and you didn't even want to be an idol in the first place. If you have to make a living in this strange world then you would much prefer doing some normal job and life a humble life at a completely different place. At least then you could life in peace and maybe find some happiness.

There's no way you're staying here any longer.

Meanwhile, while you're busy preparing your bags to move somewhere else, an important revelation was made at ES. One that leaves everyone shocked and appalled and most of all: very guilty.

When Anzu made her rounds through the office that day, she stumbled upon a notebook left forgotten on one of the desk. Now normally the dutiful producer would not be one to pry into the personal affairs of others but there was a certain sense of curiosity set aflame inside of her when she saw your name on the cover. All of a sudden, she didn't care about your privacy anymore when she remembered that you were likely the reason why the player wasn't with them anymore.

So she goes ahead and reads the first page of your notebook, finding it to be an amalgamation of a personal diary and a blank piece of paper where you can write down ideas and concepts for upcoming songs.

At first, Anzu reads with limited interest, merely skimming the lines until suddenly, she feels her eyes widen dramatically, the notebook almost slipping out of her hands in shock.

She sees you writing about all of the strange occurrences in your life. How one day, you were still sitting at home playing the mobile game you loved and suddenly the next day you were sucked into the game for no apparent reason. You describe in clear detail how confused and lost you were and how everyone rejected you, seeming to hate you for no fault of your own. How much it hurt and how you had resolved to leave all of this behind you and move to a better and hopefully nicer place.

It hits Anzu like a flash, the realization that you were the player all along. That they had treated you so cruely when you were the very person they wanted to be with more than anything.

Of course, she immediately went and called in every single idol at ES, much to the surprise of everyone attending. It was highly unusual for the producer to call on all of them so suddenly, and with such urgency and panic in her voice as well.

Naturally, when she reveals what she had discovered, all hell breaks loose.

How could they have been so blind? How could they not have realized this sooner? Now that they knew the truth it all seems so obvious in hindsight. The player suddenly disappears and at the exact same time, a new idol that none of them have ever heard of mysteriously joins the game, with a new unit made specifically to compliment and highlight them.

They feel so guilty, they need to make it up to you! They need to apologize and tell you how sorry they are to have mistreated you like that when you were the most important person to all of them!!

But there were even more pressing issues right now. You had mentioned that you wanted to leave ES behind and start a new life somewhere else. You were about to leave them and escape their grasp forever. They could not let that happen! Now that they know who you truly are, they can't just let you go!

Since you mentioned Izumi and Ritsu, let's talk about them a little!!

Ritsu is just hit with the sudden realization that he's going to be left alone by the person he loves the most again. He is quite empathetic so he understands why you would choose to do this. From your end, there was no reason for you to stay around any longer with they way they were treating you. You deserve to have a happy life with people that appreciate you.

And yet, the old abandonment issues are kicking in in full gear. He gets very very desperate, he wants you next to him, you can't just leave him!! They have to find you before you can abandon him forever, he promises he will make things up to you properly once you return! He'll give you all the love and affection you deserved from the very beginning and he'll promise to never let you go again! Please, just don't leave him! Don't let Ritsu be all alone again!!

Izumi is desperate too but in a different way. Once he realizes that his beloved obsession is escaping him, his mood starts to shift rapidly as he tries to think of a way to find you. He didn't think of putting a GPS tracker on you like he normally would have, simply because he used to hate your guts because he wrongly believed that you were the cause for his beloved player leaving him. But now he knows that's not the case and he's downright hysteric.

Izumi will 100% start a manhunt as if he hadn't just loudly complained that he was going to miss out on an important fotoshoot because of this impromptu meeting. He's already out there, trying his absolute best to find you. Breaks into your apartment with zero hesitation to see if you're still there or to find some clue on where you may have gone to in your room. Maybe he finds a map laying on the table or he finds some other clue but he's hot on your tail.

He is not going to let you slip from his grasp. He's going to find you and then he's going to drag you right back where you came from. He's going to be a bit mean in true Izumi-fashion but he is going to apologize for treating you that harshly. The shift in his attitude toward you is really creepy honestly. First he's shouting insults at you or ignoring you and now he's obsessively holding on to you and smelling your hair like the obsessed freak he is.

Also his apology included most likely kidnapping you <3 He won't get an opportunity to keep you for himself like this anytime soon, he'll just tell the others that he lost your trail and that you already managed to get far, far away. There's no need for them to keep searching for you around here

Some other apologies include Niki and Adonis cooking your favorite meals for you every day and they're honestly pretty sincere in their apologies. I don't think either of them would be particularly harsh to you when the misunderstanding was still happening but they feel bad all the same that they didn't stop the others from being so cruel to you.

Speaking of cruel, Shu was probably awful to you back then. The player is his muse, the person he loves more than anyone else. He's already not known to mince his words around others and he's very open when it comes to expressing his dislike for people he doesn't like. Imagine how brutal he would have been to the person that he thinks is the reason you left him and aren't coming back.

Similar to Izumi, his attitude toward you will make a complete 180. He's immediately gushing about you, admiring every little detail about you and already trying to guess your vague measurements to get to work. He's going to make the most wonderful outfit for you as an apology! No effort will be spared and he will work day and night to make this absolutely perfect. Shu is not the kind to often admit to his mistakes and apologize so take this as a token for how obsessed he is with you

There's more like how Arashi would most likely take you on a shopping tour or how Tsukasa would want to make it up to you by inviting you to eat sweets with him at his favorite café, but I feel like I've already rambled on for a long time and it's getting pretty late now

Hope you enjoyed!

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saturn-sends-hugs · 1 year

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OK, finally writing out my thoughts for ep9 (cause MAN AM I EMOTIONALLY DRAINED RN 😭)

Honestly this is gonna be more of a character deep dive of how they’re all functioning post ep8 but HERE WE GO

(spoilers under the cut)

First off, oh. my. god.

I’ve seen some people saying that episode was filler and to that I say WHERE. Did you see all that character development??? Like yes we didn’t get a big Empire plot or anything but like??? Hello???

This episode was SO important for so many reasons:

First off, Echo is gONE AAAAAA 😭😭😭 Was i devastated? yeah, maybe, a little bit, but i was fully expecting this episode to just brush past that and it DIDN’T.

I feel like much of the time Echo seemed almost unnecessary (stick with me here). You have this elite clone squad with all these enhancements and skills, so what are they gonna do with this fifth member? This always felt like a theme for me, especially in fics, that Echo would feel like an extra and struggle to find his place in the squad (Which isn’t true, he’s very necessary, but until now that’s been hard to see).

After Crosshair leaves, it changes a bit. The Batch is used to working with only four members, so although losing Crosshair obviously shook them, they held together (in part because they had to focus on Omega and other things). So here, Echo can step in and fill Crosshairs role somewhat as lookout or copilot or whatever, and he always backs up the others in their roles as well.

Echo is a good friend to Wrecker, able to joke around in ways Hunter (as the leader) and Tech (just not jokey in that way) can’t. He’s there for Hunter as Corporal; second in command and just generally another leading figure (like in season one when Hunter is captured and he leads the Batch through Kamino). Echo backs Tech up in pretty much every way, like just generally knowing what Tech is talking about and how to help (copiloting, ship maintenance, brother handling, etc). And of course, Echo is so so good with Omega. He teaches her to use her bow, he knows how to be a bit more disciplined than Hunter while still being super attentive and sweet, he is simply Mom™️.

And then he leaves.

Not gonna get too deep into that because we all know his reasoning, but while I expected this episode to focus on the Batch working without him, I didn’t expect them to show us how they struggle once he’s gone. Because holy shit they do.

Obviously, Omega is most noticeably affected. She’s struggling with a part of her family, someone she never wanted to think of leaving, being gone now. But the others are struggling too, and that’s only making things worse. Wrecker and Tech are fighting, which although she’s somewhat used to that, this time they’re not stopping. Hunter isn’t doing anything about it either, and none of them are saying anything about Echo being gone. She’s thrown off, no one is acting like themselves (because they’re missing Echo too although she can’t see it yet), and oh right, THEY JUST LOST THE MARAUDER.

But now for the others.

The minute they stepped off the Marauder in this episode, they felt wrong. And none of them really mentioned it or outwardly showed it that much, but they missed Echo too.

Wrecker was off. He’s stuck with just Hunter, Tech and Omega now, and he’s being affected by all their emotions. In the past, Crosshair was who he could joke around with, a role Echo filled afterwards. Now, Hunter and Tech just don’t fill that role, and while Omega might normally, right now she’s definitely not feeling up to it. He’s sensing the tension there, and everyone’s emotions are just setting him on edge, so he’s getting rowdier, more argumentative. He doesn’t mean to be, but he’s upset and he’s struggling.

Next, Hunter is doing what he always does: trying to move on. He’s not ignoring it per se, and I’m not the best at understanding Hunter, but it seems like he’s just trying to keep the team going. And again, it’s more of a challenge without Echo. The fights that used to spark up, Echo would help handle. Or better yet, they wouldn’t be real fights because Wrecker and Tech wouldn’t be so on edge. Hunter is struggling to keep them on track without him, especially with so many other factors at play (Omega being upset, new dangerous mission from Cid, Marauder is gone, how much more can go wrong wait no Mr Filoni please don’t answer that).

And of course, Tech misses Echo. Yeah, he seems really cold and uncaring in this episode at first glance, but OMG that is the furthest from the truth. I honestly think Tech is struggling the most without Echo to fill in that fourth role. Tech always tends to want everything working smoothly, and without the help of a fourth member, Tech is really stretching himself in order to accommodate. And on top of that, he just really misses Echo. When Omega tries to call Echo, Tech immediately knows he won’t respond because his comms are off. And why might he know that?? Well to me it seems like Tech already tried calling him, probably long before Omega did 🥲

Tech in this episode is just at the end of his rope. He’s way less lenient than he might normally be with Echo around, because now he feels like it’s on him to almost be that “second in command”. Normally, Tech can just focus on his work and let the others handle themselves/each other. So when Wrecker drops the case in this episode, normally Tech would trust him to have it handled, and they’d all move on. Instead, Tech takes the case himself. To me this is pretty familiar cause ahem autism, which is a very fitting trait for Mr “I process things differently but I still feel just as much” Tech to have. I struggle to let people get things wrong, and at this point, on edge and pushing himself too hard, Tech is so over it that he decides the only way to get it done is to do it himself.

Edit cause damnit tumblr didn’t save for some reason but basically up until now, we haven’t truly seen how much Echo does for this squad. Yes obviously we’ve seen that they all love and appreciate him, but now that he’s gone we’re truly seeing how important he is, and I just think that’s so so good to see!!! He’s not just the Mom that keeps them from fighting, he’s also just a genuinely necessary and important member with his own role in keeping this squad together.

Basically, ECHO YOU BETTER GET BACK HERE RN I STG—

(no but really, they genuinely do need him 🥲)

So yes, Echo left and the Batch needs Mom back. But it’s not just because Echo was the responsible one with brain cells (although thats also true), it’s also because he is genuinely a necessary part of this group, not just an honorary member to fill in space for Crosshair. We saw in this episode what happens when you take him out of the equation, and it was bad. That right there made just me happy because despite him being gone, it was very clear that nothing would just be “fine” without him, and the batch needs him way more than he probably thinks 🥲🥲🥲

Ok uh I didn’t mean for that to be so long bUT LISTEN, I just think there was so much to that episode and I could talk abt it for HOURS, THEY NEED THEIR BROTHERRRR

#feel free to add on to this!!! i want to hear y’all’s opinionsssss #tbb spoilers #sw tbb spoilers #tbb s2 spoilers #sw tbb #tbb s2 #tbb echo #the bad batch #tbb tech #tbb hunter #tbb wrecker #tbb omega

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callmearcturus · 8 months

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aw yeah lets do this

S-Tier, AKA the Legitimately Good Tier:

HAWKEYE: Maybe my favorite MCU thing I have ever watched.

+ If you let Jeremy Renner actually act and give him a script, he's fucking great. + Kate Bishop is a perfect mess and I love her, I love she's young and excitable but also takes things seriously, she feels like she's a work in progress, I love her. + MAYA. Holy shit the gravity well of this character, how her presence dictates any scene she is in. Truly stellar. + This entire miniseries is like an extended apology for Hawkeye in every other appearance. "Sorry we dropped the ball with this character so consistently, we will bring the A game here." + The importance of disability. I'm among the ppl who was upset that Hawkeye's disability was dropped, so the way it is centered over and over and over in this, how its practical, how it's funny, how it's sad, how it gives us the most devastatingly emotional scene in all of the MCU yes I am talking about the phone call scene, finally. Fucking finally. + Florence fucking Pugh and her entire charm offensive. + The car chase scene.

- The first episode is unfortunately REALLY slow. - Nah that's all I got. I love this one.

THOR: RAGNAROK

+ "Asgard isn't a place, it's a people" is maybe the most poignant message any MCU film has ever managed. + Literally the funniest movie, but also basically a repair job of character building for everyone in it. + The camerawork in this one makes me so happy. + Tom Hiddleston is given so much to do and he's there with heels on, spectacular. + The giant turret/pegging visual pun, god bless. + Cate Blanchett can kill me.

- uuuuuuuuh. It's not as good as Hawkeye. Yeah.

GOTG Vol 2

+ Sorry but I am a GOTG Truther, I really do think its the one storyline in the MCU that is allowed to get away with really fucking intense character drama because it's not considered "main line." There is a reason ppl rioted when they tried to remove Gunn, and I'm with them. + The only good thing Chris Pratt has done since Parks and Rec. + The way this storyline centers on death and grief is devastating. + Rocket Racoon is the best character in the MCU and we all know it.

- I think the initial treatment of Mantis is REALLY rough even though in the end I think it works, but that's a hell of a hump to get over.

A-TIER, AKA the Great for a MCU Flick Tier:

BLACK PANTHER

+ My biggest problem with the MCU is the creative desert of its set and costume design, the way it feels like nothing is given time to breathe in the creative process. BP is the antithesis of that. I would watch a four hour documentary just on the visual design of this movie, from the architecture to the costumes to the make-up, everything. I don't want to hear from the director or writers, I want to hear four hours of just the craftspeople talking about their work. It's monumental. + Best Villain in the MCU, bar none. + Only MCU film to move me to actual tears in the movie theatre.

- I loved this movie! For the life of me I could not tell you the plot. I understand the plot of every Mission Impossible film but I don't know the plot of this movie. - If this movie was allowed to cut, like, 20 minutes of action and replace it with more character drama, it'd be the best MCU film.

IRON MAN 3

+ The MCU Movie That Pulls Exactly Zero Punches About Being About Mental Health And PTSD Holy Shit + Rhodey and Pepper get so much to do and I like an ensemble piece so much + Shane Black is in love with RDJ and I'm so happy for him + Pepper gets to be a lil monsterfied and that's hot

- Doesn't have Sam Rockwell. - The plot is kinda fully secondary to the character work, which imo is fine, but yanno.

GOTG Vol 1

+ All the stuff I said about GOTG Vol 1

- It's not Vol 2, which benefits from having all the bedrock foundation built by this movie to spring from.

B-TIER, AKA It's Fine I Guess:

IRON MAN 1

It's good! It invented the wheel! Part of it are fucking agonizingly painful to watch in 2023 but it also has more heart than 80% of the franchise so.

IN A CAVE. WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS.

LOKI

Okay it feels shitty of me to judge this one on its technical faults bc apparently it was shot during the pandemic and that causes a lot of the issues with the camerawork, the awkward editing, and just how Weird everything was put together. But also it's REALLY stilted and awkward, which butts up against the good script and the better acting, so IDK man.

Owen Wilson is amazing. Even my mother thought the way they canonized Loki being bi was a cop-out. And the final twist pissed me off. I hope Season 2 is better.

THOR 1

I DUNNO WHAT TO TELL YOU, BUT KENNETH BRANAGH UNDERSTOOD THE ASSIGNMENT.

DR STRANGE AND THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS

This movie is a mess but once i figured out it was trying to be The MCU Does Gothic Horror, I was a lot more on board. It has all the flaws of the original Dr Strange and is hard to visually follow like most MCU films, but also has America Chavez, who I adore.

IRON MAN 2

It has Sam Rockwell, I don't give a fuck.

C-TIER, AKA I wish I cared but I do not 8C

DR STRANGE

I dunno I like the actual character of Strange weirdly, I like what a complete fucking asshole he is, I like his god complex and how he reacts to his disability as a surgeon. On the other hand what the fuck is Tilda Swinton doing here, this is just awful. My biggest issue with this film is that it didn't have to be this terrible but every decision made about it feels so fucking thoughtless and myopic.

WANDAVISION

yanno. i cannot even explain why i fell off this so hard. Like, this one Had Me all the way up to and including the Agatha reveal, but like the final episodes after that reveal somehow left me completely cold and uncaring. it's genuinely weird.

D-TIER, AKA Oh my god no thank you

AVENGERS

I hate the writing. Like, I haaaaate the writing. I feel like the only likeable relationship in this is Tony and Bruce, and that does not carry this movie. The quip-driven writing, the way the need for a joke supercedes naturalistic voices and dialogue making sense, it pisses me off. I hate the writing. Heartless movie.

BLACK WIDOW

oh my god i'm actively angry at this movie okay because for the first 20 minutes, I was like "wait, is this going to be a real movie," because it felt smaller, the action felt more realistic, that fight between the Widow and Yelena in the beginning felt like it could have been out of MI: Fallout, and the other fight between Natasha and Yelena in the safehouse was also good, I really thought for a few moments that this could be Good

and then it just took a hard right into The MCU Tries And Fails To Make MI: Fallout (They Even Stole The Mask Gag, What The Fuck Was That) and not only was I disappointed, I was like retroactively pissed for the 20 minutes when I had hope in my heart. If not for David Harbour's character, I would have just left in the middle of this movie.

AVENGERS: ENDGAME

Its not at bad as Infinity War! Nebula and Rocket carried this movie on their fucking backs. But what do I know, I liked Renner's mohawk of sadness.

F-Tier, AKA Fuck This Movie

INFINITY WAR

Fuck this movie with a rusted steel dildo, fuck this entire fucking movie, I despise it. The writing is so actively fucking terrible I want to fistfight whoever is responsible. I fucking hate the attempts to humanize Thanos over how sad he is about the daughter he abused and then murdered, boo fucking hoo, I hate the joylessness of the superhero combinations, I hate the quip-driven writing, I hate this movie with a burning passion. This might be one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Soulless and destitute.

#long post

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walamacada · 9 months

Text

I just finished reading The Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky and I desperately need to vent my thoughts about it but I’m putting it all under the read more cause holy shit

Spoilers under the cut, if you wanna read the books (which I highly recommend) then maybe don’t read this lol

I’m continuously amazed by just, everything in his books? It’s all so interconnected and all so beautifully human and alien and comforting and strange all at the same time, and I was seriously thrown for a loop in children of memory and it took me awhile to appreciate it all

At first I was like none of this makes any sense and each section is filled with things contradicting even stuff in its own section, like with Miranda telling people she was from the out farms and then later her arriving on the shuttle with Holt, and for a while there I kinda got lost in the inconsistencies, but I could tell that it was all building up to something and it all felt important so I stuck with it

And the reveal with the simulation was just sgdbdgacdfavsv I can’t even begin to say how much I loved that because I mean, how beautiful is that? Something that’s so completely alien to us that we can’t even begin to understand took the time to understand holt and his crew even as they were dying. And then it took the time to plot out how their civilization might have gone and it remembered and it cherished and it feels like, in that remembering, it *loved*

And the replaying of Landfall is absolutely wild to me, cause it’s kind of horrific that it’s playing out the end of this community over and over again, especially with Liff starving and being alone in the end, but at the same time it’s like, it feels a lot like grief, if that makes sense? You love something so much even though it’s only in your life for a short time, and you love it to the point where you keep going back to it and replaying everything you know about it, and in the replaying you replay the loss but you also replay what made it all so beautiful

And the machine didn’t have anything but the brief hopes and dreams of the key crew before they crashed and it fucking *ran* with that and helped it blossom into something, however brief that was

And Miranda’s whole relationship to the town and to the people there, even before she landed (or tried to anyway) was so beautiful and caring too, and her whole conflict was absolutely amazing to read and I just !!!!!!!!

And can I just say that the whole trilogy was so interconnected and so complex within each book and I can’t even begin to comprehend the planning that must have gone into this?? Everything was important, nothing got left behind, everything was loved and there were so many connecting threads

I’m still reeling so everything is all a bit jumbled but I’m just gonna end by saying that I love Avrana Kern my beloved fucked up blorbo

#children of memory #adrian tchaikovsky #holy shit #if anyone has any book recommendations based on my love of this trilogy I’m absolutely open to suggestions #I’m gonna have to reread this trilogy someday

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brasideios · 9 months

Text

I really should stop paying attention to the AI stuff but this is seriously getting to me; so much so that I’m considering quitting writing altogether.

I’ve been digging into my thoughts about this lately and I wanted to break it down a little here; to explain to myself, as well as you poor souls who engage with my bullshit, why I think AI fundamentally sucks and why I’m struggling to find a way to share my work anymore.

It begins with the fact that I strongly dislike the entire concept of traditional publishing.

In a nutshell, publishing houses get to decide what you, the consumer, will read, always based on what will be popular and make them the most money. They have the power to decide what you can’t read, what you shouldn’t read.

How many excellent stories have never been published because they weren’t riding the zeitgeist?

Millions. Millions.

And let’s not get into the ridiculously low percentage of income an author makes from a book published by a traditional publisher. Holy shit, it’s appalling.

Even as an indie author I earn about 32c for every $12USD sale of an ebook at best, and it is much, much worse through a publishing house.

Anyway. I digress.

In my opinion, all stories have a place, a meaning for the people who are listening for them, which is why finding the fanfiction world was so amazing to me.

Every voice here has an equal chance of being heard, and equally, we all have a chance to find the story we’ve been looking for. No one can stop you from publishing whatever it is you feel compelled to say. Whatever it is that drives and moves you.

It was honestly a relief to find stories without perfect prose and grammar getting the love they rightly deserve. Stories with silly or fun premises, LGBTQ+ people taking centre stage or - *insert thing that the publishing world would never publish here* - because it makes people ‘happy’ (whatever emotional form that takes) - both to write and to read.

But that well is poisoned by the people cashing in on that work via AI scraping, making unknowing slaves of creative people - pouring their love and time into a piece of writing only to have it stolen.

And in their own way, people using AI to make stories are just as bad. They too want to take advantage of the labour of others to get some buzz of dopamine from kudos/likes or whatever, which is completely unearned and undeserved.

I’m just going to mention here, while I’m on the subject - if you’re one of those wretches feeding other people’s unfinished fics to the AI to get an ending - I hate you so much there aren’t words. You are actually the worst. I hope none of my followers would do this - but if you do, check yourself.

Moving on…

The thing is, I just can’t understand how writers especially (and not just fic writers) can’t see that AI rips out the heart of storytelling.

Writing as a process is entirely personal; it comes from inside the self. At least in my experience, the process is more important than the end result. The discovery and exploration of themes and emotions entirely your own is only to be found in the process; it can’t be replicated by a computer spitting out strings of words others wrote.

It just can’t.

And I’m just going to say this now - if you, as a writer, don’t think this is important at all - if you don’t think that coming up with ideas and developing them yourself is literally what writing is - then I honestly don’t know what you’re doing, but it isn’t writing.

Anyway (again).

Where in all of this is there a place for a writer who doesn’t want their stories to be grist for the mill, to be regurgitated in some altered, souless form and sold off as if it was someone else’s?

Who’s sick to death of putting money in some other son of a bitches pocket, while they do the work out of love and passion?

I don’t know. I just don’t know anymore.

As it stands, we are powerless to stop any of this unless we simply stop writing, or sharing that writing. That’s a miserable acknowledgment to have to make for someone who quite literally just wants to write and share those stories with others without them being stolen.

It shouldn’t be a lot to ask.

#long post #AI #Anti-AI #anti trad publishing #writing #behold the field in which i cultivate my vibes #it’s been salted

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demonsanddemogorgons · 10 months

Text

Sunny in Philadelphia - A Joseph Quinn Story (Chapter 1)

hey everyone! I’m new to using Tumblr to post my writing but I figured I would give it a try. I have this Joe Quinn story I’ve been working on. It isn’t done and I honestly have to fight to find time to write so I don’t know if it will ever be done but I wanted to share what I have so far and I will share new chapters when/if I can write them. Hope you enjoy (: (also idk what the title is if it’s stupid, I couldn’t come up with anything better lol)

(no mature/sexual content in this part but may eventually be in future parts - Minors caution)

Chapter 1 - Photo Op Surprise

You were in line at Fan Expo Philadelphia waiting for your photo op with Joseph Quinn, who played none other than Eddie "the freak" Munson, your best friend Rachel, who also happened to be your older brother's girlfriend, by your side. You two have been friends since before they were together, matching tattoos and all, so having you as a possible future sister-in-law was a very exciting road for the both of you. She was a bit older than you, 35, the same age as your brother. She liked Stranger Things too, but she didn't quite understand the obsession you had with Joe. She supported you all the same. She hates the city and driving in it but "risked her life," as she would call it, for you to finally meet this man. Cons really weren't her thing either. She just knew how important it was for you and didn't want to leave you going alone.

"Mack, this is it. You've been waiting 6 months for this," she said as you neared the booth curtains, grabbing your arms in excitement.

"Don't remind me, I'm already shaking," you responded through a nervous giggle. You made it to the front of the line just outside the curtains. A Fan Expo worker scanned the QR code from your phone and escorted the two of you through. There was still another curtain between you and the photo booth, but it was opened by the person in front of you just enough that you got a peak at Joe. You exhaled nervously, eyes widening. "Oh my God, it's an all-black outfit today. I'm officially dead," you said to Rachel, earning a laugh from her.

"You'll be fine, just breathe."

The line kept moving forward as each person posed with him. A worker let you inside the second curtain and there were only two people ahead of you. Your hands were shaking, your breath hitched.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God," you were whispering to what you thought was yourself, but Rachel laughing beside you let you know it was louder than you thought. The person right in front of you walked up to Joe, leaving you next in line. Your anxiety peaked and you could feel yourself sweating. Your friend stayed back to let you have your moment when it was time. The person in front of you walked away from Joe and he turned his attention to you. Those big chocolate brown eyes met yours combined with a crooked smile as you walked up to him. "Hi," you managed to force out shyly.

"Hello there," Joe said to you and put his arm around your back, starting to pose for the photo. Your skin tingled under his touch. You smiled up at him in awe and turned to the camera, wrapping an arm around his back, and placing the other hand on his stomach.

Holy shit, ABS, you thought to yourself. You could feel yourself blushing. The camera flashed and you turned to Joe.

"Thank you," you said to him quickly, trying to move along and not hold up the line.

"Enjoy your day," he replied as his arm guided you away on the small of your back, the physical contact and British accent turning your cheeks even more red. You started for the exit curtain, your friend running over to catch up.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God," you started again once both of you were outside the curtain. Rachel laughed and started handing you your bags that you had to leave behind for the photo.

"You did it!" she squealed, grabbing your shoulder.

"I did it," you assured with a smile, your hand shaking as you reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind your ear. "Holy shit, that just happened."

"Hell yeah, it did! I feel like a proud mom," she said, earning a laugh from you.

The two of you followed the path made by curtains out of the booth area and towards the photo pick-up line. Once you were checked out by staff, you walked up to the photo table. Yours was the only one lying there at the time, and you squealed as you picked it up to get your first look at it.

"Oh my God, it looks so good!" You showed Rachel and she smiled. A huge weight was lifted off your shoulders. You didn't have the most confidence and had been worried for months that you would look like a potato standing next to Joe - if your head or body was turned an inch, it wouldn't look right because it wasn't your good angle – but it was PERFECT. You glanced down at his hand around your back and you got a little weak in the knees all over again.

"Look at you! It's so cute!" she said, pointing at your hand on his stomach. You blushed and let out a small squeal.

"I just touched Joseph Quinn's abs," you said aloud, letting out a hitched breath. Rachel laughed and whipped out her phone. Your brother's name showed on her screen. She was getting a FaceTime call. He had a way of having impeccable timing. She swiped across the screen and his face popped up.

"Hey babe, how's it going?" he asked before she could say anything. She turned her phone camera towards you and he saw you holding your photo and smiling excitedly. "Heyyyy, that's awesome! And you didn't die."

"I almost did," you exhaled with a nervous laugh. "I touched Joseph Quinn's abs," you repeated, earning a laugh from him and Rachel. You stared down at your photo as the two of them had a brief conversation since it had been a few days since they saw each other. She hung up the call and you headed towards the hallway.

You got in line at a table where protective sleeves for the photos could be purchased when someone tapped on your shoulder. You turned around to see the worker that had let you into Joe's photo booth.

"Oh, hey," you greeted her curiously, wondering what she could possibly want. She sneakily handed you a folded-up piece of paper and leaned down close to your ear.

"This is for you. From Joseph."

Those words caused your eyes to widen and your extremities to freeze in place.

"F-for me?"

"He told me to give this to the blonde girl with black glasses and white dress that just came through. Pretty sure that's you," she smiled, patting your shoulder as she walked away. You looked at Rachel with a both surprised and confused expression. She shrugged her shoulders, silently agreeing with your emotions.

"Open it," she said excitedly. You grabbed the edge of the paper, struggling to grasp it with still shaking hands. You finally managed to fold it open and there was scribbly handwriting and some numbers.

You are absolutely beautiful, darling. Text me, if I would be so lucky. -JQ

Your eyes widened as you turned to Rachel, who let out a gasp before your eyes made it to her, as she had already read it over your shoulder.

"Oh my God," you said, your voice cracking into almost a whisper.

"You HAVE to text him, Mack," she said, trying to keep her voice down since there were other fans passing close by.

You stared at the note in disbelief. Was this a prank? Am I dreaming? You hadn't pinched yourself, but it was definitely a possibility. The thought crossed your mind that it could have been written by someone else, but you looked closer at the handwriting and you knew it was his. You recognized it from seeing personalized messages he added to his autographs that other fans had shared on the internet from other conventions. As much as your brain was trying to convince you it couldn't possibly be from him, you knew it was, and that was amazing and scary at the same time. Why would he like me? I'm nothing special. He thinks I'M beautiful? HOLY SHIT. Thoughts raced through your mind until you were interrupted by your friend's voice.

"You might want to stash that somewhere before someone sees."

"Good idea," you responded, shaking your head back to reality and sticking the note in your dress pocket.

Story Master List

#joseph quinn #joe quinn #fanfic #fan fiction #rpf #real person fiction #joseph quinn x fem!reader #joseph quinn rpf #convention #eddie munson #fluff #maybe some smut later

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amoneki-ramblings · 4 months

Note

oh and also idk if the amoneki blog is the place to ask but can u tell me about ur opinion of eto :]

OH HELL YEAH !!!! I should've clarified, I'm cool with asks for anything/anyone, unfortunately I might not have as much to say for some characters/ships since. I'm still getting through the manga orz but I'd down to discuss anyone!!

Also sidenote but thank you for sending two asks?? I'm answering this one first since the amoneki ask will take me. A while. But also I read this and immediately went "eto !!! eto holy shit it's her!!" so I must get the energy out (and hope it's coherent)

How I feel about this character: Goddd Eto is so fucking Cool as a character. She has so many things I absolutely Love in one character. She's an absolute monster in terms of power, eldritch-like, she is a horror beyond anyone's comprehension and I love her so much for that. When she made her first (I think) big appearance in :re (Volume 5. The Kanae Scene) I loved her sooo much more I love her fucked up-ness, I love her Apple and God Thing and 'breaking down people's idols and becoming their god' because I Love religious symbolism. She's so ominous and formidable and she has such a fucking presence, it's amazing, yet at the same time we still see the same loneliness in her that's prevelant in the majority of Tokyo Ghoul, but maybe even moreso. Throughout the series it's shown how important parents and family are and how they've shaped the characters and give them drive (especially considering almost nobody has both parents. alive, and it effects everyone So Much it's a constant theme.) And obviously Eto couldn't really. Have that. At all. And it fucked her up definitely. The loneliness is overshadowed by. The Monstrosity (which makes sense of course, because that loneliness also brews Hatred for the world) but it also cuts through in things like her writing as Takatsuki Sen (which Kaneki obviously picks up on and relates to), the way it shines through when she's able to deconstruct others' desires and wills and suffering (after all, one must experience suffering themself to truly understand someone else's), and the slight respite with Aogiri (man. I wish to know more of her dynamics with the members/executives so bad) god I love her so much, she also has such a cool character design I'm in love with it, I can't wait to see her even more in :re.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Hmm since she hasn't made too many major appearances with individual characters so far none really yet? However I feel like I may grow very intrigued in etoken, two people that share loneliness, they're also a little fucked up I think they could be interesting together (I'm certain they're gonna interact more later also i've seen. the eyeball scene (on accident) and honestly yeah that's my kinda Weirdness))

My non-romantic OTP for this character: Again I want to see more of her appearances/interactions with others more first !! But I'd honestly be happy just to see her interact with the other Aogiri executives more, it's pretty entertaining and it's definitely my kinda thing

My unpopular opinion about this character: I guess I wouldn't really know if anything I thought is considered unpopular haha, I just kinda like her all around okay?

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: Well, currently I just want to see her more in general, although I think seeing more of the ways she can totally screw with people would be great, she is so Psychological Horror and I fully support it

my OTP: Again, none yet but there may be Something on the horizon

my cross over ship: Honestly I don't really have any crossover tg ships

a headcanon fact: I am taking this opportunity to increase the religious undertones tenfold. She can pull out So many bible references on the fly (that a lot of people probably don't get) and definitely weaves them throughout her writing (Kaneki canonically knows things from the bible, more than the average person at least, so he would absolutely pick up on them). I think she'd have some very interesting thoughts about the bible and what it says about humanity and the idea of God itself, and she definitely owns one somewhere

Hopefully that wasn't too long orz Anyways yes I see Eto in my inbox and I jump up and down in excitement I don't have a coherent list of favorite characters but she is definitely Somewhere in there and I'd let her rip my limbs off anyday Eto my beloved

#asks #ipsen #tokyo ghoul #tg #eto yoshimura #yoshimura eto #i told myself this would be so much shorter to answer which is why i tackled this ask first but it's been like 40 minutes. oh boy #any character that has a lot of religious undertones immediately gets bonus points and bias in my book #(you'll never guess what other characters i like)#anyways eto has so many small details and layers to her and they're sad and lonely but also fucked up and angry #and it's everything i could ever want in a character #absolutely amazing splendid i am such a fan

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autisticlancemcclain · 2 years

Text

“So let me get this straight,” Lance says, squinting. “The crystal we almost died for is somehow nearly out of juice, and until we can get a replacement, we have to shut down less important Castle systems?”

“That’s the short of it, yes.”

“And the translator is one of these systems,” Hunk clarifies.

Allura nods, looking frustrated. “Yes. The translators, luxury heating, power to nonessential rooms, anything we don’t need to keep the ship running will be shut down for the three quintants it will take us to arrive at the nearest Balmera.”

“Oh that’s not nearly as bad as I thought,” Lance comments flippantly. “I figured we’d have to shut down running water and lights and stuff like that.”

“Lance,” Pidge says slowly, “we won’t have translators.”

Lance looks at her funny. “Okay? I don’t understand the problem.”

“What do you mean, you don’t see the problem? What about the language barrier? It’s not like you can speak Altean!”

In a millisecond, Lance’s expression shifts from confused to guarded and angry.

“Of course I can speak Altean,” he says angrily. “I know you guys forget that I’m not a pure dumbass, but I’m just as capable as the rest of you!”

“Lance,” Shiro interjects gently, “I think there’s been a misunderstanding. None of us think you’re a dumbass. We know how smart you are, how beyond capable you are —”

“Then why do you think I’m too stupid to learn the same Altean the rest of you did? Why —” he demands.

“Lance, none of us can speak Altean,” Keith interrupts bluntly.

Lance blinks. “What? How?”

“Okay, hold on,” Hunk says, making a timeout sign. “Lots of confusion going on here, so I’m gonna clarify. Lance, no one thinks your dumb. Promise. We tease, but none of us think any lesser of you, and if our jokes are going too far we’ll stop them immediately. Also, we’re shocked that you know Altean because aside from Pidge, who’s been doing that occasional class stuff, the rest of us have been relying on the translators.”

“But what did you do when your lion cut off your translators?”

“My lion didn’t… do that,” Hunk responds after a moment. “Did anyone else’s lion cut off their translators?”

Everyone else shakes their heads, just as bewildered as Hunk.

“Why did Blue cut off your translators?” Allura asks curiously.

“So I could learn Altean…?”

“How the hell would preventing you from understanding important conversations help you learn Altean?” cuts in Pidge.

The defensiveness that had gone away when Hunk clarified the miscommunication starts to return in the tense curl the Cuban’s shoulders, the clench of his fist.

“Blue knows what she’s doing,” Lance says protectively.

Pidge holds up her hands. “I’m not saying she doesn’t!” she adds hastily. “It just seems like it would be remarkably difficult to learn a language from being forced to just listen to conversation you don’t understand.”

“Oh, it’s not that hard,” Lance replies, some of the prickliness leaving his posture again. “I mean, you guys responded in English, so I got the gist of the conversation. That’s more than I had learning English when I got to the Garrison, so it was honestly kind of simple. It only took a couple months to get mostly fluent. Plus, Blue would tell me if I missed something important.”

Surprisingly, it’s Keith who responds to that first. “Holy shit, dude,” he says eyebrows raised, “that’s insanely impressive. It took you two freaking months to learn a whole-ass alien language? A really difficult one, at that?”

There are noises of agreement among the team, nods and shocked looks abundant.

Lance flushes under the praise. “Well, it’s not that impressive,” he dismisses. “I’m sure if you guys put your minds to it you could learn much faster than I did!”

“I don’t think that’s true, my dear,” Coran chides, speaking up for the first time. “Besides the fact that you are very talented with words and language in general, no one else took the initiative! I must confess that I am ashamed that I did not take the time to learn any of your Terran languages.”

“I mean, I wouldn’t call it ‘initiative’,” Lance mumbles. “I didn’t ask Blue to cut off the translators.”

Pidge tilts her head, calculating. “I want you to be completely honest.” Lance nods his assent. “If Blue hadn’t turned off your translator, would you have still learnt Altean?”

Lance hesitates a moment, but eventually nods his head. “Yeah,” he admits eventually. “I’d feel bad if five of us spoke one language and two of us didn’t. Also, I thought you guys were also learning Altean, and I have serious FOMO issues.”

Pidge snorts, punching Lance in the arm. “Yeah, you do. Dork.”

Shiro, sensing an impending tussle, takes steps toward them, placing a kind hand on Lance’s shoulder.

“FOMO or not,” he said warmly, “I’m really glad you did this, Lance. There’s no one else I trust more to translate for us than our resident sharpshooter.”

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epithet-beloved · 8 months

Note

I'm back invading your inbox because. Holy shit? You guys understand Slim so well oh my GOD?? I don't encounter many people that see Slim the way I do ohnmygoshdhhh

Anywho

I'm here to pester you for more dad figure Slim

Perhaps one where the reader gets beat up somehow?

Or maybe reader playfully roughhousing with him

Up to you!

synopsis… protective fatherly slim !!

ft. california slim

tags… epithet erased spoilers, protectiveness, violence mentioned, allusion to murder

word count… 655

a/n… I AM GIGGLING KICKING MY LEGS I'M SO HAPPY THE PEOPLE LIKE THE WAY WE WRITE SLIM I spent so much time analyzing him it’s a little silly HAHA I'M SO HAPPYYY also protective slim ftw we love seeing it. I love him ✧ 🦇

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 Oh I love writing protective Slim. This man would kill for you and it’s not even an exaggeration.

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 Especially if you share some sort of father/kid bond

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 He hates seeing you hurt in general, and his instinct to protect is incredibly strong

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 He’s good at treating wounds, he’s always had to treat his own, so you can count on him if you get hurt in any way.

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 And strangely enough, he seems to offer the right words of comfort if needed while he patches you up

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 Now if someone hurts you, oh

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 Oh

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 Slim is Not gonna hold back; no one hurts his kid

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 He’s not letting anything or anyone take away someone he loves again.

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 It's not hard to spot the absolute panic in his eyes as he finds you and looks over you, making sure none of your wounds are fatal and that nothing is broken.

“What the hell happened to you?!”

“Does it hurt? Who the hell did this to you? I’m going to kill them.”

“Don’t scare me like this ever again! Come on, I’ll get ya patched up.”

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪His panic is quick to turn into blind rage as he goes to face the people who hurt you (after he’s brought you to a safer spot, of course)

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 Don’t question him about what he’s done after he comes back with dark stains all over him and Hollywood Boulevard. He is not going to answer and just mumble how you’re more important right now.

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 He doesn’t want to scare you, even if you know he’s doing all of it to protect you.

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 It still feels kind of weird for him to admit he cares so much about someone, it’s been… Hell, at least 13 years since he last felt such a need to protect someone. But he can’t help it. In a way, he missed the feeling of caring so much. You remind him of Her too much.

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 And because of that, he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if he were to lose you.

“Ehy, don’t scare me like that ever again, okay kid? You’re lucky I was around to take care of ‘em, eh.” California Slim flashes you a toothy grin as he wraps a bandage around your bruised leg, and he’s surprisingly gentle in his movements as he does so; you still need to grow accustomed to how gently he tends to you, how his roughness seems to completely disappear, as if he’s afraid you’re going to break any second. “Also gave me a good excuse to let off some steam, I needed that- now dontcha sulk like that.” You had noticed that, in his instinct to protect you, he’s gotten some bad bruises himself. So he quickly pinches your cheek, hoping to get at least a small giggle out of you. “I gotta teach ya how to protect yourself- I’m the only one allowed to beat ya in a fight! Ha!” He snorts as he hears Alcatraz loudly complain at him for his choice of wording. You can’t help but laugh along with Slim. Poor Al.

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 His way of teaching you “how to protect yourself” is also honestly an excuse to play fight with you. He likes it, and you actually learn a lot from him.

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 If instead of getting hurt in a fight you get hurt in another way, then he just gets an instinct to tend to you and protect you until you feel better. Can’t walk? He’s carrying you in his back. He’s stronger than he looks.

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 Even if he’s badly hurt himself. He doesn’t care about his situation. You’re more important. He can pass out later, he has you to tend to first, even if Alcatraz is begging him to rest for even a second.

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 He’s a little self destructive, but he thinks it’s worth it when it comes to you.

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 You’re his kid, after all. He has a duty to keep up.

#🦇's writings #𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 request !#anime campaign #anime campaign x reader #epithet erased spoilers #anime campaign imagines #california slim x reader #california slim imagines #california slim #ee spoilers

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libraryofbaxobab · 2 months

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March 11, 2024:

This book comes out in June! I requested this ARC from the author via BookSirens so I could review it early! Cause I'm like that!

First, the premise: the last 4 contestants on legally-not-The-Bachelor, their basic-ass bachelor, and a camera crew go to a spooky mansion in the woods to film the season finale, but somebody has ulterior motives and shit gets weird.

Yes please! I love reality TV in horror novels. Weirdly, the characters in this book act more reasonably than I'd expect from characters in a reality show like this one. Also I strongly suspect the behind-the-scenes is not even close to how shows like this are made, BUT if that part was totally accurate none of this would happen and we would have no fun. I suggest we let it slide.

Positive notes:

The Scary Thing is pretty unique! There is eventually a physical being which is cool but I mean more the process and mechanism is pretty out there. It's telegraphed early, but why it's happening is left ambiguous

Interactions between contestants was so much fun. There's alliance, intimidation, attraction, paranoia... very cool watching their feelings toward each other constantly shifting

Great character arc as one overly-dependent woman becomes more powerful & confident but watch out!

Catharsis at having some of the contestants lose interest in the bachelor and start noticing each other. Everyone has always wanted that to happen, right? Not just me, surely

Camera crew polycule

Negative notes:

The writing is pretty unpolished. I understand this ARC is uncorrected, so hopefully most of the typos are cleaned up by time of publication, but there were a LOT of them by the end.

In a few places it was very unclear what the characters were doing/ talking about/ reacting to, which were likely just misedits that took out crucial scene information. At some points the narration seemed uncertain on exactly how many people had died, misplaced details like that.

Neutral notes:

I found it interesting how often the narration referred to the contestants as "women" vs how often the characters referred to them as "ladies." There's something there

There's not the kind of creepy progression I expect from a book like this. The bizarre tree-themed house is a fantastic setting and has some very good secrets, but scary happenings don't escalate in a familiar pattern

This results in a definite "feel" with this book. Like you can just tell it's a little unusual. It tastes like it didn't follow a recipe. Your mileage my vary on this: you could love it for its less-formulaic vibe, or you might prefer a more tried-and-true experience.

Overall, this is a tough one to review because on one hand it's rough around the edges and I can't say it's objectively great... but I feel some pressure to be kind to an author who likely won't get a lot of press. And here's the important thing: I did enjoy this a lot! How does it stack up to books in the same vein? I like it less than Hide by Kiersten White, but WORLDS better than The Holy Terrors.

7/10 #WhatsKenyaReading

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leaflovingal · 10 months

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Cawl rant time, plus other admech fan annoyances

TLDR: I'm fine with him as a character, he's just the face of Admech and I think that's stupid, especially considering the already massive lack of Ad Mech characters.

Okay so, I saw on the Ad Mech subreddit that there's a new book with Cawl and Fabius Bile. Dope. Looking forward to it. However, it got me thinkin; why Cawl? Why choose Cawl over any other Admech character? Well, there aren't any. There are no other Ad Mech characters.

While yes, obviously, there are other characters in other books, like Kostov and stuff, there are no other major Ad Mech characters currently alive in the setting as far as I know of. There are, say, Kane and Land, but land is dead and i believe Kane dissapeared. Cawl is the start and end of Ad Mech characters in the setting. And that's really fucking lame obviously.

Now, I do not have a problem with Belisarius Cawl as a character, however he should not be the face of the Adeptus Mechanicus. How many other factions have their main character, their big guy, go entirely against several rules that define their faction? Probably a few, sure, but I can't personally think of any. Does say, cato sicarius go against all the rules of the Ultramarines? I think he uses drop pods aggressively but other than that he's not very standout other than "im special boy".

Cawl made a fucking AI. Straight up. He invented a shit ton of new stuff. He uses xenotech. The vast majority of the Adeptus Mechanicus would flay him given the chance. They hate him. Why is he their poster boy? It makes no sense. I understand that the Adeptus Mechanicus are difficult to make interesting on an individual level, but holy shit do you have to make their main guy shit all over their religion?

Not to mention that he has been a part of all the important shit for the Admech as of late, if not the sole part of them present. Cadia? Check. Biggest upgrade the imperium has gotten in thousands of years? That was him. Nice game for my faction, would be a shame if I just *tricked a fucking c'tan shard AKA part of a literal god* making that previous ordeal seem lame by comparison. Good job fighting through a tomb world, i cheated a literal actual god.

It's just so tiring, especially with how Admech can barely pull a win anywhere else in lore, plus current rules for tabletop. Also, y'know, lion getting to deal with vashtorr. You know, vashtorr the evil machine god dude? The one that would work super well to bring the dark mechanicum back into relevance? The one that could offer a really good reason make a new faction for tabletop and update another? No. Dark angels. Lmao.

Fuck dude. Okay, trying to wrap this up, hopefully GW doesnt shit all over us in the codex. While yes the rules and abilities in 9th were a lot to learn, that idea of making a machine with your cogs is neccessary to give the ad mech an identity on tabletop. Medium to small army of mediocre units that can be buffed to a usable and deadly weapon if you're smart about it is what the ad mech are. They need that.

Hopefully the next none cawl admech book wont be half full of rogue traders, black templars, and eldar. Hopefully the next characters are from somewhere other than mars so i dont have to look at just red all the time. Hopefully the next characters are as good as the mechanicus game. I genuinely found the characters from that game more interesting than cawl, because there's a dynamic between them instead of a smartass who would say "I DONT KNOW, CAAAAAAN YOU?" If a kid asked "can i use the restroom" instead of "may i use the restroom" who then had a layer of pseudo fatherly lover put over him as he talks to a traumatized child soldier to make him seem fucking interesting when he's just being a cunt.

#adeptus mechanicus #warhammer 40000 #warhammer #wh40k #admech #belisarius cawl

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