#this was more to share an additional piece of evidence

[ripplestitchskein]

Brace yourselves Stolitz fans, I think it’s gonna get bumpy. We kind of already knew that but I think it might go longer than we hoped?

So last night I shared my Stolitz pic with my DnD group, I’m doing art for their characters and we have an art space in our game discord and a few of them watch Hazbin and HB. An IRL friend who is also an HB fan asked about the OC in the pic and I shared it was based on the rumor that Stolas is getting a new boyfriend, they could be a parrot potentially voiced by Harvey Guillen but that this was not confirmed or anything. He said “HMMMM that jives with what her assistant told us.”

I’m like “What! Tell me. “

I guess while waiting in line for her to sign for the person in front of them at Mega they were chatting with an assistant and said they loved Look My Way and were interested in where the Stolas and Blitzø story was going. The assistant said they had seen the rest of Season 2 and “You may not love the way it goes if you like the coupling”.

I spiraled immediately, like full on upset. Bitch I cried. I’ve spent hours analyzing this cartoon and that broke me a bit. I’m not necessarily concerned with my ships being “endgame”, I’ve shipped lots of couples that rarely interact just for interesting dynamics. Or couples where one half is literally dead in canon, where they are mortal enemies and not in an enemies to lovers way etc. It just seemed so final and is contradictory to everything the show has setup so far and what I’ve been enjoying about the show and it really fucked me up if I’m honest. I also have a really bad brain though and I know this. I’m not equipped to rationally think about it.

I hesitated to even share what was said because I dislike bumming anyone out but as a speculation and spoiler goblin I’d also like people to share with me so I can prepare myself?

Ive had some time to sit and process and cope a bit “is that information really that different than what we have already?” And the short answer is no, not really. It’s also like their job to tease fans. It was also one sentence I didn’t even actually hear with my own ears lol. My brain just did what it does and took it to the worst place. I took it as “they are killing it completely” and are about to destroy the only reason I enjoy this show so much. Which maaaaay have been an over reaction but I can’t like, help that.

I just honestly cannot fathom how they could so sharply pivot at this point and have it make sense? I can’t fathom why they even would. I don’t even know what role Stolas could possibly have in that scenario. I think that was what upset me the most, Stolas is my favorite and his entire character within the world of the show is completely dependent on his ties to Blitzø to be part of the narrative because he has no ties to IMP outside of it. The idea of him being shelved, even temporarily, is upsetting to me. The show so far is not setup to view characters lives outside of Blitzø and IMP so I can’t see them having Stolas go off and do his own thing without removing him from the narrative completely.

I’m just sad about it and I think I’m putting too much thought into it. Maybe they just meant what we’ve thought all along and that we wouldn’t be happy because of the boyfriend character, and as I’ve said before the split up absolutely has to happen for them to reconcile and come back together. It is actually a good thing story wise for that to happen but the phrasing (though second hand) just depressed the fuck out of me so I wanted to vent a bit and maybe get some outside perspective from people who’s brains work better than mine. It’s possible this is a situation where i know a thing “Stolas is getting a new boyfriend” because I am terminally online and gobble up every like react and ambiguous emoji and assign meaning to it, and the assistant was just talking about that same information assuming my friend didn’t know that (he didn’t) but because I already knew it I’m assigning new meaning to it as if it’s additional different information. That’s a distinct possibility.

Even if it’s the worst case scenario, I’m not a hate watcher, if I don’t like the direction something is going I bitch a bit in mourning and then remove myself completely. So I’ll see how it plays out and see if it makes sense narratively. Maybe I’ll love the direction, who knows. If it what’s we originally speculated based on the narrative setup so far, the boyfriend character is a catalyst to help Blitzø reconcile his feelings and to let Stolas do his own healing and character development but it all that leads to the completion of the story they’ve been telling up to this point that’s perfect. If it leads to less Stolas and a completely different direction than what we’ve spent 1.5 seasons on so far, I don’t know how I would feel about that. I want it clear though I wouldn’t be mad at the creators, it’s their story they can do what they want, and I’m sure others will enjoy whatever they offer up but I personally would just quietly move on to something else.

I’m interested in how others view the response. Just a tease about the boyfriend, and thinking we’ll be unhappy because of that but ultimately it’s going how its been setup? Or should I break out my violin and start up “Nearer, my God, to thee”. I just really need some better brains to give me some perspective,

#helluva boss spoilers #Stolitz #Stolitz spoilers #this was more to share an additional piece of evidence #but also to work through my feelings about it #if you have a perspective I’d love to hear it

[ecoterrorist-katara]

Why I feel like Ka/taang is one-sided, despite textual evidence 

ATLA does try to convince us that Katara has romantic feelings for Aang. For example: she seems thoughtful when she realizes that Aang is a powerful bender; she’s offended that he didn’t want to kiss her in the Cave of Two Lovers; she gets jealous when Sokka says On Ji and Aang look good together.

So…what’s wrong with anti-Kataangers? Do we just lack media comprehension? 

To be clear, on their own, these gestures can indicate romantic interest. But at the same time, we have stuff like “Aang is a sweet little guy, like Momo.” We have her ambivalent facial expression after he kisses her before the eclipse, and her hedging during Ember Island Players, and her anger when he kisses her anyway. In the context of these conflicting cues, Katara’s possibly romantic reactions can absolutely be interpreted in a different way, because: 

Acknowledging a friend as a potential romantic interest is not the same as actually being romantically interested in them. (Imo this is something young women struggle with, due to a combination of romance-centrism and heteronormativity that make women feel like they should be in romantic relationships, and that boys and girls who share intimate and deep feelings for one another must be romantically into each other) 

Wanting someone to find you desirable is not the same as desiring that person. (Which is something a lot of women, especially young women, struggle with. Remember all the discourse around Cat Person back in 2017?) 

Being jealous when someone flirts with your friend is not the same as wanting to be with your friend. (Especially when you see your friends as family, or if you’re accustomed to a specific type of devotion from that friend. It is jealousy, and it is possessiveness, but it doesn’t always arise from romantic feelings) 

Growing up in a patriarchal society means that your desires are always filtered through what men want from you, sometimes in an abstract male gaze-y way, and sometimes in a very visceral and interpersonal way when a boy wants you specifically. And Katara’s reactions are just that — reactions. Reactions to what other people — including Aunt Wu, Sokka, Aang himself — have insinuated about her and Aang. She’s not really proactive in her interest in Aang: we don’t really see Aang, romantically, from Katara’s POV. Under the framework of “Katara is reacting to a romantic prospect she’s kind of uncertain about,” it is completely plausible — and indeed likely — that she would sometimes act in ways that indicate romantic interest, in addition to moments where she indicates the opposite. 

Ka/taang shippers often bring up other evidence, like Katara’s despair when Azula hits Aang with lightning, or how protective she is of him when Zuko joins the Gaang. The thing is, these pieces of evidence aren’t necessarily indicative of romantic love. The fact that Katara genuinely loves Aang makes the whole thing more complicated, not less, because — especially at that age, especially when Aang is twelve years old and grew up in a sex-segregated society of monks — it is really difficult to tell the difference between platonic love and romantic love. Their mutual devotion is layered and complex yet straightforward in its sincerity. What was not straightforward, until the last five minutes of the show, is whether this devotion on Katara’s end is romantic. The romantic arc for Katara and Aang is not really an arc, as Sneezy discusses in this classic ZK video. Katara actually becomes more conflicted over time and we never see an event that clarifies her feelings. She seems more interested in him in The Headband than on the Day of the Black Sun, and she has never been more hostile to his romantic overtures than in the penultimate episode. 

And in light of this, it’s pretty easy for fans to fill in the blanks with a different interpretation: maybe Katara’s weird expression after their kiss at the invasion means she didn’t enjoy it; maybe the kiss made her realize that she doesn’t actually feel that way about Aang; maybe against her will and her better judgement, she’s developing feelings for another person, a person who hurt her and whom she fervently tried to hate until he pulled off what is in my opinion the greatest grovel of all time in the form of a life-changing field trip. Maybe. Am I saying that Zutara has more romantic interactions than Ka/taang? Of course not. But ironically, the lack of romantic interactions means that it’s not inherently one-sided, the way Ka/taang became in the latter half of season 3.

I’m not arguing that Katara’s unequivocally not into Aang. Obviously the text declares that she is, because they get married and have kids. But I am saying that there’s a very good reason that so many people, especially women, see Katara’s interest in Aang as ambiguous. It’s not because we can’t pick up “subtle” hints of growing affection. It’s because we know not all affection is romantic, and it’s really easy for someone else’s insistent romantic intentions to muddle what you want.

P.S. I first started thinking about these topics (platonic vs romantic love, desiring someone vs wanting to be desired, etc) in the context of compulsory heterosexuality, a term describing how queer women contort themselves into relationships with men even if they’re not really into men. I saw a post a few days ago joking about why so many queer women seem to be into Zutara. I wonder if part of the reason is because as queer women, we are very sensitive to the ways in which we can talk ourselves into wanting things we don’t actually want, and Katara’s romantic interest in Aang can be easily seen that way. 

#Anti Kataang #Zutara #anti Bryke #Katara deserved better #From Bryke who offered her so little romantic agency #I actually think Aang and Katara’s mutual devotion is really compelling because the wires get crossed when you have such intense love #And navigating romantic vs platonic feelings can be very complicated and interesting #but no we did not get that bc I guess they just had to end with a romance however shoddily developed #my meta

[petrichor-writings]

ＬＡＣＥ (18+)

toji fushiguro x fem!reader

warnings : smut, slightly controlling toji, non-sorcerer au, oral sex (both receiving), implied age gap, fingering, edging, unprotected sex, using a lace ribbon as hand restraints, the use of the word "mamas" and "ma", toji's thighs are fucking huge, so are his hands, innocence kink, daddy kink, lowkey breeding kink, dumbification kink, dacryphilia, toji is a tease, couch sex, author can't be bothered with proper capitalisation so it's in lowercase.

wc: 2.2k

ao3 link

(a/n): haven't written smut in a WHILE and as my first post on this account i hope it's not too terrible loll

the bow had been a mid-day addition to your outfit. a simple piece of  lace you had seen at the craft store that matched your outfit perfectly, and somehow doubled the innocent angel vibe that your outfit gave off. which is why when you came back to your shared apartment wearing the delicate white lace in your hair you nearly gave toji a heart-attack. 

of course, you couldn’t tell that toji was basically going into cardiac arrest on the couch, as he was still rather stoic. the only real indication of his internal struggle were his narrowed gaze, now tracking you across the room, and the slight crunch of the metal beer can in his now tightened grasp. it wasn’t until the older man opened his mouth that you realised what you were in for. 

“what’s that you got there mamas?” his voice was low borderline growling. 

“what toji? the shopping? it’s the grocery’s you wanted and the stuff from the craft store!” you responded with a smile, trying to feign innocence. 

“mmmm.” toji said, setting down his beer and beckoning you over. “thats not what i meant. and i think you know that.”  

you now stood in front of him, in between his spread legs, trying to still feign innocence in the situation. he smiled but it was more of a smirk, his eyes darkening as he removed the shopping bags from your hands and set them on the coffee table to his left. 

your cheeks began to warm as his large hands found your hips and dragged you into him, now having you straddle him on the couch, the evidence of his arousal pressed against you. one of his hands kept you in place, a silent warning to not move as the other reached up and untied the bow from around your hair. 

“still don’t know what im talking about?” he grinned as he dangled the strip of lace in front of your face. “i don’t remember seein’ this in your outfit this morning. which means it wasn’t approved, was it?”

“oh… that.” you couldn’t deny it now, not with the evidence of your rule breaking right in front of your face, grasped in between toji’s thick fingers. “m’sorry” you said eyes struggling to meet toji’s. 

“what're we sorry for mamas? let’s be specific huh?” he asked, the hand on your hip moving to your thigh, kneading the thick flesh there. 

“m’sorry for not following the rules, for not getting it approved by you before adding it to my outfit.” you mumbled, sheepishly meeting his eyes. 

“mmm that's a good apology baby, but what happens to pretty little girls who break the rules?” he cocked his head to the side, looking at you expectantly.

“we get punished.” your voice was a whisper now and toji’s grip on your thigh had become bruising.

“that’’s right!” the grin coupled with the menacing look in toji’s eyes simultaneously unsettled you and aroused you. and you knew he knew, you knew that he could feel the wetness pooling in the white lace panties that he had picked that morning, just below the little pink denim shorts he had also picked. 

"now… what punishment to choose is the question…" toji's voice trailed off in thought, the gears turning in his mind as he looked mischievously between the lace still clutched in his hand and your face. 

"sweater off and wrists out baby." he said, all but growling in excitement. "no touching for today." 

you whined in protest as you offered your wrists to the man, "but-".

"no buts. or else we'll add no cumming to that list. in fact you should be grateful you're even gonna get to cum today, after breaking my rules. how 'bout a thank you, lil ma?" 

"thank you daddyyyy." you said, dragging out the y in the word as he tied the lace tightly around your wrists in makeshift handcuffs. 

"mmm, that's what i like to hear." toji smirked, pressing a quick kiss to your lips before lifting you off his lap and onto the floor in between his thick thighs. slowly he pushed down his sweats, revealing his hardened cock, the tip an angry red and leaking. "you know what to do ma, but remember no touching. or else you really won't like what happens." 

the older man gripped the base, holding it in place as you placed small kisses along the shaft, working your way up to the tip, licking the beads of precum off his skin before taking him into your mouth. his hands retracted from himself before they threaded into your hair and slowly you bobbed your head up and down, trying to take him in further with each movement. 

"just like that baby…" toji says with a small groan, breathing getting heavier with every movement of your mouth around him. you smile internally as you let your own moan reverberate through your body, the vibrations around his dick sending waves of pleasure through toji. 

you can tell he's nearing his release, his deep moans and groans becoming more frequent and his cock twitching in your throat. suddenly the hands that were loosely threaded in your hair become rigid and he pulls you off of him with a pop. 

"as nice as that feels, the only place i'm cumming tonight is in that pretty little pussy of yours." toji releases your hair but grasps your bound wrists, using the lace to guide you back onto the couch as he slots himself between your thighs. 

slowly the man runs his hands across your thighs, working them up your hips before his fingers find the button of your shorts, peeling them off of your body and chucking them haphazardly across the living room of the apartment. his fingers find you again and he locks his gaze with yours, smirking as he lazily strokes your core gently through the white lace of your underwear. 

this goes on for a few moments before you finally whine in annoyance, grinding yourself down further into his hand. "please toji, need it so bad." 

"aww do you need somethin' there mamas? if you do use your words like i taught you." he responded, fingers teasing the edge of the cloth covering your now drenched cunt.

"please toji, need your fingers, mouth anythin', pleaseeee." you half begged, half moaned.

"well, since you asked so nicely." toji's finger curled around the edge of the white lace at the crotch, tugging the material down your thighs and legs, discarding it to join your shorts elsewhere in the room. 

slowly he sank one of his long thick fingers into you, mouth moving to capture yours as he did so, swallowing the moan that you released at the intrusion. he broke the kiss as he began to pump the digit in and out of you, adding a second and relishing in the mewl that escaped your lips before working his mouth back down your naked body, licking and kissing and bruising the flesh that was fortunate enough to come in contact with his mouth. 

when he had reached three fingers inside of you he could feel your orgasm rapidly approaching. most of the time he could tell it was coming before you did, knowing the subtle signs your body let off like the back of his hand, but he waited until it was clear you knew your release was approaching, face contorting in pleasure as you felt the knot in your stomach heat and curl, waiting to snap, before completely stopping his movements and retracting his hand altogether. 

your eyes snapped open as you felt your orgasm get ripped away from you, looking down at the devilish green eyes staring back at you. your arms flexed instinctively and toji gave you a sharp look as your hands moved, a silent reminder of your punishment.

"daddy please, please you said i was still allowed to cum." you frowned, eyes welling up with tears as you looked at the stoic man below you.

"you will mamas, i promise, just not yet, okay?" you nod enthusiastically at his response and let out a squeak as he returns a finger back to your dripping and needy hole without warning. 

he works your hole faster this time, second and third fingers joining fairly quickly before dropping his mouth to your fleshy thighs, still pumping his fingers into you, curling his fingers to hit that squishy spot inside of you, but now also pressing hot open mouthed kisses along your skin. 

he quickly makes his way to the apex of your thighs, before latching his mouth to your clit, gently teasing the nub. as you whine and moan and twitch above him toji removes his fingers once more, immediately replacing them with his mouth and tongue, eating you out like a man starved as his fingers take up the job of stimulating your sensitive clit, tracing delicate circles into it. 

you reach your high faster this time, and same as before toji rips himself away from your core just seconds before you can get there. you're crying at this point and toji smiles a little, relishing in the fact that you're so desperate for the pleasure that only he can provide you, you'd allow yourself to cry over not getting it. 

"you taste so sweet baby, too sweet to be crying." he lifts himself from the ground, licking the rest of your slick from his lips and fingers before leaning over you and carefully kissing away the tears that rolled down your cheeks. 

"jus' wanna cum daddyyyy" you sob, breathing shallow as your hole clenches around nothing, longing for your boyfriend to give you any sense of relief. 

"you will baby, jus' wanted you to wait until i was inside, wanted you to cream on my cock, is that so much to ask?" he asks with faux sadness, lining up his still rigid cock with your slick covered entrance. 

"no toji, s'not too much." you keened, tears still falling as the older man pushed himself all the way into you.

"still so tight babygirl, gripping me like a fuckin' virgin." toji groaned, head dropping to the crook of your neck, leaving a trail of soft kisses along your neck contrasting the brutal pace he set as he began to thrust into you.

as toji had his way with your body, cock hitting all the right spots with that perfectly rough yet pleasurable pace, lips kissing along the column of your throat and hands leaving bruises across your waist and hips, the urge to touch him grew, and your hands started twitching above you, tears falling more rapidly from your eyes. 

"please, please toji-" you cried, breath hitching as the tip of toji's cock bumped your cervix, "please wan' touch you so bad, please." the sobs were wracking your body now, mixing with twitches from the stimulation toji was providing everywhere across your body, creating a sweet melody for the black haired man. 

"sorry baby, but i gotta stick by the punishment-" he groaned, hips beginning to stutter as he neared his high, "else you'd jus' go 'round breakin' all my rules." 

"no- no- toji, 'd be s'good, a good girl" your protests devolved quickly into incoherent babbling and pleasured noises, as one of toji's hands released from your waist and starting circling your overstimulated clit. 

"you gonna cum for daddy soon mamas?" toji questioned, smirking as your fucked out brain lost any ability to speak, instead whimpreing and moaning in response. "aww you too fucked out and dumb to give a proper response?" he asked, only getting another whimper in response.

"s'ok, s'good, we're gonna cum together and who knows maybe i'll actually fuck a baby into ya, make you a real ma."

the sentiment sent you over the edge and you smiled, drool pooling onto the couch cushion as the coil in your stomach finally snapped. white hot pleasure firing through your half limp body. toji pounded into you, fucking you through your high, but each thrust became sloppier and less rhythmic than the last, before his hips faltered and stopped, cock pumping you full as your cunt clenched hard around him, pussy subconsciously milking the man for every last drop of his seed. 

with an unceremonious sigh, toji pulled out of you, watching for a moment as the mixture of your releases dribbled out of your used hole, before grabbing a wet wipe from the coffee table, (that you kept there for this exact reason), and carefully wiping you down and then sitting back down on the couch beside you, dropping the wipe onto the table with the long forgotten beer. 

"mmm c'mere, lemme undo those hands of yours." toji said, pulling you back into his lap, carefully undoing the lace before pressing soft kisses to your slightly red and raw wrists. "i hope you know we're doing this again 'n i'll buy you as many of these pretty little hair ribbons as you can find."

"mmm sounds good 'ji, love you" you said, pressing sleepy little kisses to his throat, his lips and lastly the scar on his lips before passing out into a fucked out slumber on your boyfriends chest. 

#petrichor-writes #toji fushiguro smut #toji fushiguro x reader #toji x reader #toji fushiguro #toji smut #jjk toji #toji jjk #fushiguro toji smut #toji zenin x reader #toji zenin #toji x you #toji fushiguro x you #jjk smut #jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen x reader

[ausetkmt]

Three young Black girls were strangled and left in a pond last summer in east Texas, and no arrests have been made in a case that advocates and experts believe has been severely mishandled by local authorities.

Nine-year old Zi’Ariel Robinson-Oliver, 8-year-old A’Miyah Hughes, and 5-year-old Te’Mari Robinson-Oliver, known as the Oliver 3, were reported missing on July 28, 2022, in Atlanta, Texas. The girls’ cousin, Paris Propps, who was watching the three sisters and their siblings while their mother was at work, reported the girls missing around 9 p.m. Hours later, on July 29, all three bodies were found in a nearby pond.

Initially, authorities said it was a drowning. But in March, nearly eight months after the girls were last seen alive, the Cass County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement that a homicide investigation is underway.

“Autopsy reports concluded the manner of death for all three girls was homicide, indicating evidence of strangulation. The girls also suffered lacerations to their faces,” the press release obtained by Yahoo News from the Cass County District Attorney’s Office said.

Now advocates are stepping in to demand answers. On April 3, Minister Quanell X, the leader of the New Black Panther Nation, traveled four hours from Houston to hold a press conference in Cass County and demanded that the FBI and Department of Justice step in to investigate. The FBI has not responded to a request for comment from Yahoo News.

Quanell X stood beside the mother of the Oliver sisters during the press conference. “She was told that they drowned, but she always had a suspicious feeling that the girls did not drown. Well, her suspicions were confirmed by the autopsies,” Quanell told Yahoo News.

The Cass County District Attorney’s Office is currently working with the Texas Rangers and the sheriff’s office to investigate the murders. “Multiple witness statements have been obtained, DNA testing is ongoing, and the investigation will continue,” according to a statement obtained by Yahoo News from the district attorney’s office. Yahoo News contacted the office for additional information but a spokesperson declined to provide more details.

According to U.S. Census data from 2022, Cass County has a population of 28,539 people, and advocates say the town does not have enough resources to investigate three homicides.

“They were presumed drowned because of a sham investigation, a lazy investigation by investigators who obviously didn't have the resources, the training that was necessary to properly address an investigative crime scene,” Quanell said.

Investigators are still searching for suspects, but experts say the months-long time lapse could have been avoided.

“The usual time frame [for autopsies] depends, I would say within two weeks,” David Thomas, professor of forensic studies at Florida Gulf Coast University, told Yahoo News.

But for small towns, “they send those autopsies off to a whole different county, hours away from that county to do the autopsy,” Quanell said.

However, the autopsy reports are just one piece of the puzzle. Thomas says more could have been done at the time investigators found the girls in the pond.

“They sat and they made an assumption that they had drowned, which would be unusual for three people to drown at the same place, at roughly the same time — [it] doesn’t make any sense,” Thomas told Yahoo News. “If it was Gabby Petito, the world would have come to a stop.”

Revolt Black News weekly recently reported that authorities were aware that a crime had occurred soon after the incident, but just recently released the information to the public last month. “However, they didn’t say why they delayed sharing the info,” the article stated.

“At the end of the day, any seasoned investigators when they retrieved the bodies from the [pond] would have been able to see that this was more than some accidental drowning by the bruising on the faces and the necks of the girls,” Quanell said.

Quanell believes the investigation is not a priority because the young girls are all Black. “I think Cass County is doing what Cass County historically does when it comes to investigating injustice and murder involving Black people as victims. They’re not taking this case seriously in my eyes, because it’s not three young white children,” he said.

“National statistics tell us that over 60,000 Black women are missing, and Black women are twice as likely than they appear to be victims of homicide,” Brittany Lewis, co-founder of Research in Action, told Yahoo News in March.

Now experts say the investigation will be much harder because of the lengthy time lapse. “That eight month time gap is devastating,” David Carter, professor of criminal justice at Michigan State University and a former Kansas City, Mo., police officer, told Yahoo News.

“The longer time between when the bodies are found and the investigation begins, the harder it is. It’s harder to find suspects, certainly harder to find witnesses, and harder to find evidence,” Carter said.

Carter says that as a former member of the law enforcement, there’s no excuse for the delay in the investigation. “I’m really at a loss of why a criminal investigation wasn’t started immediately,” Carter said.

As authorities continue to investigate, advocates emphasize that whoever committed these crimes is still at large.

“They could be anywhere,” Thomas said. “But I would say the likelihood that they knew that pond was there would probably give you an indication that it might be somebody local or somebody that's very familiar with the area.”

“This sounds like a very, very targeted personal crime,” Carter added.

There have been no arrests in the nearly year-old case, but more people are pushing for justice. Recently, civil rights attorney Ben Crump and celebrities like Viola Davis and Niecy Nash shared a montage video on social media of the Oliver 3. The video was created by Black Girl Gone, a true crime podcast that sheds light on Black girls and women who are missing.

“A child killer. A serial killer is on the loose. One who was not afraid to murder three children. And if you kill three you will kill more. Especially when you believe you will get away with it like this perpetrator has,” Quanell said.

On April 26, Quanell and the New Black Panther Nation plan to host a town hall in Cass County, as they continue to seek justice for the Oliver sisters.

#texas #Black LIves Matter #3 Black girls were found dead last year in a Texas pond. Police have made no arrests

[vanteguccir]

new addition | dean winchester

Dean Winchester x reader

Summary: Where Y/N discovers she is pregnant and worries about how her boyfriend, Dean, will react.

Warning: None.

Requested?: Yes, on Wattpad.

Author's note: That is my work, I DON'T authorize any plagiarism! | English isn't my first language, so I'm sorry if there's any grammar error.

༻✦༺ 　༻✧༺　༻✦༺

Y/N closed her eyes tightly, leaning forward over the closed toilet seat as she clenched her hands into fists around the pregnancy test, pulling a puff of air through her nose as if trying to keep herself in reality.

The woman had noticed changes in her body through last weeks, especially in her breasts that seemed larger and more sensitive than normal, which made her wonder if she was close to her period, as this is one of the symptoms of it, but her calendar showed that her period would only come 2 weeks later.

But then the week of her menstrual cycle arrived but there was no drop of blood, the pack of pads Dean had bought the week before was untouched on the counter, and then she began to worry, several possibilities swirling around her mind, but none of them were that one.

Until the day before, during a conversation between herself and Castiel, where the angel blatantly blurted out something he shouldn't have.

"...But that's all I've been able to find so far, Cass. With all the evidence and research, I think we're dealing with a different species of werewolf, but I'd rather read up a little more just to be sure." Y/N informed Castiel, pointing to the open book in front of her on the central wooden table in the bunker room.

"Uhm... Just don't overwork yourself, it won't be good for the baby." The angel responded, getting up from the chair he was sitting next to Y/N and straightening his coat.

The sound of choking echoed through the room, Y/N having choked on air at the older man's response.

"Who?" She asked, looking at him intently.

"The baby." Castiel replied as if it were obvious, his blue eyes widening seconds later. "You didn't know?" He asked slowly, swallowing hard.

"Castiel, what are you not telling me?" Y/N asked, standing up from her chair.

"Wow look at that, Dean is calling me, I have to go." And then the angel disappeared, leaving Y/N alone.

"Hey baby, how are... Y/N? What happened?" Dean entered the room seconds later, interrupting his speech halfway when he saw his girlfriend's frightened and pale face.

"Nothing." She responded quickly, leaving the room with everything behind.

Y/N spent that whole day thinking about what Castiel said, putting the pieces of the puzzle together, and the worst of all, it made sense; her body changed, her mood changed, her desires were strange and her period was late.

The woman managed, later that afternoon, to escape the bunker for a few hours and go to the nearest pharmacy, where she bought four pregnancy tests in the absence of one.

The next day, today, she took advantage of Dean and Sam's departure to investigate more about the current case to take the tests, spending long minutes staring at the closed boxes and wondering if she was ready to know the results.

Finally, working up the courage, she took two of the four tests, leaving the other two closed just in case.

Tension took over her body and she wondered how she would tell Dean if the result was positive, what direction her life would take, her life as a hunter...

Finally, 5 minutes later, she opened her tightly closed eyes, lowering her head and looking at the small screen where the result would be shown.

Pregnant.

༻﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡༺

That night, Y/N found herself sitting on the bed in her shared room with Dean, the two tests inside a small box that she had found among the Men of Letters' mess which she held in her hands, her eyes attentive to the closed door, seeming to hold her breath.

The sound of the bunker's entrance door opening and closing seemed to wake her up, Y/N blinked her eyes quickly, shaking her head and sighing, briefly looking at the box, but her attention was taken by the door again as she heard it open.

"Hey honey." Dean smiled big when he saw his girlfriend waiting for him, placing his suitcase on the floor and closing the door, starting to take off the tie that was part of his "costume" during the interviews he did regarding the current case.

"Hi Dean." Y/N replied quietly, a tight smile settling on her features, tilting her face slightly upwards as she saw Dean move closer to kiss her.

"Um, is this for me?" The hunter asked when he saw the box in his girlfriend's hands, bringing his hand closer to take it, stopping in his action when he saw Y/N move the box out of his reach.

"Um." She cleared her throat, taking a deep breath. "Sorry... Dean, yes it's for you, and I want you to understand the seriousness of this... gift. It's very important to us." Y/N informed, finally extending the box towards the taller man, who was looking at her in confusion.

"Wow, are you asking me to marry you?" Dean joked, taking the box gently and sitting next to his girlfriend, pulling on the makeshift navy blue bow and carefully removing the lid.

His hand that was holding the lid stopped in the air, his body tensing in seconds as his mind seemed to stumble on thoughts, green eyes almost popping out.

"Dean?" Y/N called nervously, her hands were shaking and her heart was beating like crazy, fear was settling in her body and questions were running through her head, the last thing she wanted was to lose Dean, but she wouldn't know how to act if he didn't want the baby.

"A-are you... There's a..." Dean stumbled over his words, never before feeling as nervous as he did in that moment. "Are we going to be parents?" He finally asked, putting the lid and box aside and taking the two tests in his hand, alternating his gaze between them and Y/N.

"Yes Dean, I'm pregnant." Y/N responded, smiling in relief when Dean laughed loudly with joy, pulling her into a long kiss full of smiles.

Y/N laughed as Dean laid her on the bed, lowering himself a little over his girlfriend's body and lifting his own shirt that covered half of her smaller body, looking enchanted at his girl's belly, still not completely believing it.

Dean never exactly imagined himself having his own family, having grown up in a completely unstructured one, his biggest fear was that he wouldn't be a good partner, much less a good father. But after he met Y/N and his heart was completely encircled by the woman, all he wanted most was to be with her forever, only seeing her with him when he thought about the future.

He knew that he wanted a family with her.

༻﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡༺

Dean took a deep breath, turning his head to the side, his eyes carefully analyzing Y/N's face, her eyes practically closed and directed towards the ceiling, feeling extremely relaxed with her head lying on the man's shoulder, listening to his heartbeat, and that's how she realized something was wrong, the sound of the heartbeat becoming louder and faster than seconds before.

"Baby? Is everything okay? Your heart..." Y/N raised her head, now more attentive and awake than before, her eyes focusing on his, feeling her own heart heavy with the confusion of emotions installed in the green pool's.

"What if I can't protect him? What if... What if all our enemies-" He swallowed hard, shaking his head. "You will be vulnerable in these 9 months, what if you can't protect yourself like before? What if I'm not with you at all times and something catches you? The demons, Lucifer, even God... We have so many enemies spread across the world, I can't even imagine the danger he would be in just by breathing." Dean spoke as his eyes darted around the room, trying to find something that would make him think rationally.

"Hey, breathe baby." Y/N sat up straight on the bed, bringing her hands to Dean's cheeks and pulling his face so he was looking back at her. "Are you with me?" She asked, following his eyes until he looked back, nodding. "Dean, we won't always be there for him, we will raise our baby for the world and not for ourselves, the last thing I want is to keep him with us, that would be selfish of us. We will protect him throughout his life, and I guarantee you that we will do a great job at that, you know why? Because you are an incredible man and you care, the way you take care of Sam and practically raised him alone says that in itself. Yes, we have many enemies, more than I will ever be able to count, but we will learn together how to deal with this having this new addition in our lives, and I'm sure you'll get it right."

Dean sucked in air through his nose, his eyes filling with tears as a smile spread across his face, approaching and planting a lingering kiss on the lips that he already knew by heart and would never get tired of tasting.

"What would I do without you?" He whispered against Y/N's mouth, feeling her lips move into a smile.

"I don't know, but you would definitely be lost."

And at that moment Dean knew that the two of them would make it work, and in the near future they would have their complete family.

#x reader #dean winchester #dean winchester x reader #supernatural #sam winchester #castiel #hunters #angel #dean x reader #dean #winchester #imagine #oneshot #fanfic #fanfiction #fic #dean winchester fanfic #dean winchester fanfiction #dean winchester fic #pregnancy #love #angst

[purpleqilinwrites]

first.

a/n: these days have been feeling yucky to me (unrelated to fandom), so i wrote a little nanami thing to cheer myself up.

fandom: jujutsu kaisen

character: nanami kento

genre: fluff

info: established relationship (nanami is your husband); reader is also a jujutsu tech alumnus

warnings: high school dumbassery

synopsis: allegedly, gojou was your first kiss. allegedly.

word count: 1.3k

Nanami Kento

"Can I help you?" you asked, your smile evident in your tone as you looked at Nanami from over the novel in your hands.

There was a certain sullenness that knitted his brows together, one you recognised as being a symptom of having a few too many necessary interactions with a certain white-haired sorcerer. Nanami slumped backwards into the armchair, running a hand down his face with a tired sigh. You chuckled lightly to yourself as you waited for him to speak, eyes fixed on the words on the page in front of you but not reading any of them.

"Gojou-san said something to me as I was leaving the school, and I'd like you to confirm or deny it," Nanami said, finally.

You let out a thoughtful hum, slotting an expired stamp card into your novel before closing it and leaving it on the coffee table. "And what did he say?" you asked, feeling the beginnings of a strain in your cheeks as your smile widened, anticipating.

Gojou did say the damnedest things sometimes.

Nanami groaned, his hand immediately going to his already loosened tie to tug it off his neck. The collar of his dress shirt fell open in the absence of the tie, and you allowed yourself to be distracted by his Adam's apple for a second before bringing your attention back to the increasingly interesting conversation you were having.

"Before I say anything else, I want you to know that I'm asking purely for curiosity's sake."

You nodded along, urging him to continue. He let out a long exhale as a means of pause, and you mirrored the break in his words to settle into a more comfortable position on the couch, still anticipating.

Nanami was uncharacteristically hesitant with his words, as though he was rephrasing himself several times before anything could leave his tongue. When your husband was like this, it brought to remembrance a younger version of him who tended to cut himself off in the middle of sentences because he wasn't satisfied with how his thoughts came out. He had always been more careful when he was speaking to you.

You mentally put aside a reminder to buy some kikufuku for the sole purpose of eating the whole box in front of Gojou and not sharing. If you felt particularly devious when the day came, you could always flick some of the rice flour left at the bottom of the box at him. Maybe leave a suspicious white handprint or two on his back for his students to pester him about.

"Of course," you said, still smiling, still waiting. "But please, just say what's on your mind. I don't think I can take much more of this mystery."

"Gojou-san seemed to be under the impression that he was your first kiss. He said—"

You couldn't contain the violent cackling that boiled over your lips, slapping your hands on your thighs and folding over in your seat. "I'm-I'm sorry! Hah! Please— Go on," you said, your words coming out in pieces as you tried to stop laughing long enough to hear Nanami out.

He sighed at the sight of you misty-eyed and happy, a fond smile pulling on his lips.

While you busied yourself with wiping your tears on the ends of your sleeves, Nanami stood and stepped around the coffee table to sit beside you. You moved to swing your legs over his lap when you felt the couch dip with the addition of his weight, scooting close enough to prop your cheek on his shoulder. His hand naturally came to rest on your hip, and he leaned in to press a few kisses into your hair.

"That's what you wanted to know?" you asked, eyes bright and still slightly out of breath.

Nanami regarded your face for a moment, silently admiring you. His other hand came to cup your jaw and you obliged him, your mouth pliant against the insistent press of his.

"Is it true?" came your husband's voice, his breath warm on your face. You shook your head, chasing his lips and relishing how they curved into a smile against yours.

"But I did kiss Gojou once," you said, breaking the string of saliva with your finger as you reclined into the backrest of the couch. The pleased expression on Nanami's face immediately soured terribly. He motioned for you to elaborate before placing a hand on your thigh, squeezing lightly.

"It was in the first year of high school, sometime at the beginning of the school year," you started, laughing when Nanami's eyebrows shot up. "My first kiss was actually Shouko. After, I kissed Getou and then Gojou. All on the same day."

The pinch of his lips told you that he was still processing this revelation, so you waited. It was a lot to process even for you, when you suddenly remembered it when the school year came to an end. Three people you kissed in one day, simply because Gojou hounded the rest of you to "live life a little".

You idly smoothed the palm of your hand over the muscular plane of Nanami's chest, feeling the steady rise and fall of it as he breathed.

"You kissed all of your classmates? And on the same day?" he asked, incredulous. You nodded to both questions, your smile turning sheepish. Nanami's hand on your thigh squeezed again, more firmly this time, as if there was some written confirmation in your skin about the time you kissed three other people who weren't him.

"Tell me how it happened."

You blinked.

"Are you disappointed?" you asked, already looping your arms around Nanami's torso and tucking your head under his chin, an offering. He dropped a kiss into your hair and let his lips linger there, a quiet reminder that you never needed to fear him harbouring such feelings against you.

If anything, he was disappointed in all three of your classmates for whatever transpired in those early months of your time in Jujutsu Tech. In Ieiri, Getou, and especially Gojou.

"No matter what, I love you, remember?" was the promise that he whispered into your hair, a reprise of the firm promise he gave you on your wedding day.

You giggled, repeating the words into his collarbone. It tickled him, both the feeling of your breath on his exposed skin and the assurance that you felt loved in his arms.

"Gojou started it," you said, and it made perfect sense. Nanami had suspected as much when he first heard the words from Gojou's lips. Of course, it was his upperclassman's fault. "He was convinced that having a 'kiss fest', as he called it, would be a good bonding experience for everyone. Like it was something normal to do in high school."

You left room for him to ask questions, knowing him and knowing that he'd definitely want to know more. Mentally, you replayed the whole 'kiss fest' and everything that led up to it, catching yourself by surprise with how crisp some of the details were in your mind's eye. It was a thing that you happened to participate in while you were in high school, completely uneventful and entirely disregarded.

After all, the best part of your high school years was meeting your husband. Everything else was just happenstance, smooth rocks that marked out the road that led to him.

"Did you enjoy it?" was the question that pulled you from your reminiscing.

You put your finger to your chin in thought. "Based on what? Like, taste or something?" you asked, drawing a blank when you pondered how best to answer the question posed to you. You knew when it came to him there was no wrong way to say things. It was more that you wanted to properly convey how little those three kisses meant to you.

It was Nanami's turn to laugh, the sound warm and inviting you to do the same. You brushed away the stray golden strands falling in his face, taking in the handsome image before you and committing it to memory.

#jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen scenarios #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jjk x reader #nanami kento #nanami kento x reader #fic #fluff #kaija writes #kaija writes: jujutsu kaisen #i love one (1) man #!!! #i think gojou was a funky lil guy in high school #and nanami wasn't having any of it #anyway #i thought it would be funny if gojou told nanami #“hey man i kissed your darling once” #or something like that #because nanami would be normal about it you know #i can't say that for much of the cast of jjk #in general

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

BY: GILEAD INI

Before looking at specific examples of disinformation by the “critics,” as the Times and NPR calls them, we should address a few broader points.

Despite evidence of rape, those defending Hamas from charges of sexual violence point to a lack of forensic evidence — the kind that might be revealed at the denouement of a television crime show. Indeed, Israel’s frontier with Gaza on and after Oct 7 was less untouched crime scene and more battlefield and disaster zone.

But this is neither exonerating nor unusual. “There is very much what’s known as the CSI effect, where there is a perception that without forensic evidence or DNA, then you don’t have a case,” an expert on sexual violence in conflict zones told NPR. “And that’s just patently not true.”

In this case, the full CSI treatment was impracticable. “As is common in war, collection of physical evidence was hindered by ongoing combat and a large, chaotic crime scene,” NPR reported.

With limited resources and such a large-scale attack, compromises were necessary, journalist Carrie Keller-Lynn explained. “Instead of going through CSI, which would make it possible to produce evidence of crimes, the bodies are being processed through the disaster victim identification (DVI) track, as is common for mass casualty events,” she reported. Or as the UN mission put it, there was a “prioritization of rescue operations and the recovery, identification, and burial of the deceased in accordance with religious practices, over the collection of forensic evidence.” (The mission noted additional factors, too, that hindered the collection of forensic examination. See paragraph 46 of its report.)

The deniers had also pointed to lack of testimony by victims — a puzzling defense in the context of this story, where survivors describe women raped then murdered; where recovery workers noted naked and bound corpses; and where released hostages say those still in captivity had said they were sexually assaulted. Which category of those victims, exactly, would the deniers expect to have heard from? (When a hostage did eventually speak out about being sexually assaulted, the self-appointed investigators were not particularly interested, or worse, dismissed her account.)

None of this means every testimony is beyond reproach. Just as the record of 9/11 was contaminated by multiple false accounts and fake survivors, likewise after 10/7 false accounts were reported by pretenders, and some unfounded atrocity charges were shared, believed, and repeated. The “critics” did not miss the opportunity to capitalize on these inaccurate accounts in order to push the idea, through innuendo or explicit denial, that every witness of rape and every first responder account of sexually abused bodies are fake.

The Critics

NPR’s story about “critics” of a New York Times piece on sexual violence repeatedly cites The Intercept.

Once of many acknowledgements by The Intercept that its claims come from the further fringes.

And across The Intercept’s incessant efforts to discredit those shining a light on Palestinian sexual violence, its reporters cite Mondoweiss, Ali Abunimah of Electronic Intifada, and Max Blumenthal of Grayzone.

It is an echo chamber of Hamas apologia — invariably, one story links to identical accusations by the others, which link back to similar pieces by the rest. The common theme, other then denial, is the extremism of its participants.

Consider, most relevantly, their response to the Oct 7 massacre:

A writer for the Intercept, at least, grants that the attack was “horrifying” — though this was in a post whose argument was that we shouldn’t view it as horrifying.

Others are less subtle. Denier Ali Abunimah, for example, was self-evidently delighted by the slaughter of civilians in Israel. He not only defended the attack, calling it “just”; not only insisted we shouldn’t feel bad about it (this just minutes after he posted video of elderly female hostage paraded and taunted on video); but also viciously attacked those — including critics of Israel — who would dare share any sympathy for the victims of the mass slaughter of Jews.

Mondoweiss summarized the deadliest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust with an announcement that “Gazans have broken out of their open air prison imposed by Israel and launched an elaborate surprise attack on their occupier,” while pooh-poohing the idea that Hamas had started a war. As the extent of the atrocities became apparent, Mondoweiss’s defenses of the assault grew more emphatic. On Oct. 8, its culture editor Muhammed El-Kurd insisted the attack was a cause for “celebration.” On Oct. 9, it published a piece insisting we “must shout our support for the resistance from our rooftops.”

Max Blumenthal minimized Hamas’s slaughter as ”guerrilla bands bursting out of a besieged ghetto with homemade weapons.” In response to a Twitter post noting that at its attack on a music festival Hamas “began shooting those in attendance,” Blumenthal mocked the victims and justified their slaughter.

The motivation for their leap to action at the first accusation of rape, then, is as simple as it seems: It is born of sympathy for Hamas.

#rape #rape deniers #hamas #gaza #mondoweiss #the intercept #npr #electronic intifada #max blumenthal

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

In my last update post, I linked to the NYT piece, that investigated for two months the rapes and sexual abuse that took place during the Hamas massacre. I just wanted to highlight something, for anyone who (understandably) doesn't want to read the whole thing. While most of those raped were either murdered or kidnapped, so they couldn't testify to what happened to them, some survived. When people doubted the rapes, they heard it. When people demanded physical evidence for the rapes, they heard it. When people justified the rapes as "resistance," they heard it. The whole idea of "believe all women" was to not victimize a second time those who have been sexually abused, and had a hard time coming forward and talking about it. I want to make it clear that EVERYONE who doubted the accounts of the rapes, who mindlessly reblogged or shared or spread posts expressing this doubt or justification in any way, this is what they're guilty of. The further victimization of Hamas' victims (that's on top of past victims of sexual abuse, who heard these people and were triggered, like Linor Abargil).

In addition, I wanted to share that a Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist, who was captured alive by Israeli soldiers in Gaza, has admitted during his interrogation, that he has raped Israelis on Oct 7. There were already terrorists, who admitted that a part of the plan was always to commit rapes, but they spoke generally. This man confessed to his own crime.

And in case people still have doubt that the rapes were pre-planned, not a result of the "heat of the moment" during the massacre (as if that would have been less of a war crime), here's a reminder that the terrorists carried with them translations into Hebrew of orders for the victims to undress.

While we're at it, the same Hamas terrorists who raped defenceless civilians, are also the same cowards who hide behind women and children to fire at Israeli soldiers.

Here's a vid from today of an anti-tank missile fired by Hezbollah, and landing in Israel's north, not too far from a civilian car, as captured by the dash cam. Journalists said that as a result of the blast, the windows of the car were shattered, and the driver was wounded.

Israeli elections for local councils (for cities and towns all over the country), which were supposed to be held in October, have been postponed until February 2024, because almost 700 candidates are currently serving, fighting in Gaza, and can't be discharged to run in the elections.

The evacuation of all Israelis living up to 7 kilometers (almost 5 miles) from the border with Gaza, at the expense of the state, has been prolonged until February, too. It should be noted that there are Israelis, who have no official evacuation orders (and financial support that goes with that) from the state, but still felt too unsafe to remain close to Israel's southern or northern border. At the same time, the residents of two towns that are not too far from the eastern border have been reporting hearing noises of digging (similar reports in the past by residents of the south turned out to be Hamas digging terror tunnels into Israel, and by residents of the north, terror tunnels being dug by Hezbollah). Recently, terror tunnels were uncovered in Jenin, which isn't too far from these eastern border towns. You can hear a recording of the drilling in this vid, starting at roughly the 1:52 mark:

These are best friends Uriel Avraham (left) and Noam Suissa (right):

They served together as policemen. On Oct 7, when they heard that terrorists had infiltrated the town of Ofakim, and there were difficult battles there, they headed for the town right away. While they were still driving, they realized they only had pistols while going up against terrorists armed with assault rifles and RPGs, but they kept going. They fought several terrorists, clearing paths for civilians to be evacuated from their homes. As more and more security forces poured into Ofakim, Uriel and Noam heard on the police radio that there were even worse battles in kibbutz Re'im (not too far from where the Nova musical festival massacre happened), and the two decided they were needed more there. In a battle with terrorists, Uriel was wounded. Noam wouldn't leave his side, protecting him from the terrorists, until medical help could make it to them, but sadly, 27 years old Uriel didn't make it. May his memory be a blessing.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

#israel #antisemitism #israeli #israel news #israel under attack #israel under fire #israelunderattack #terrorism #anti terrorism #hamas #antisemitic #antisemites #jews #jew #judaism #jumblr #frumblr #jewish #Youtube

[jovenshires]

endless au edits: smosh theatre's seasonal lineup (2/4)

keeping up with the run of smosh classics, smosh's second production of the year will be a rendition of little shop of horrors in the spring, directed by the other esteemed smosh co-founder, ian hecox. as per usual, any hecox production is certain to be a delicious twist of comedy and tragedy, and this show fits that descriptor to the t. packed to the brim with bright and colorful costumes, elaborate props, and punchy dark humor, little shop makes perfect sense for a director well-known for finding the bright spots in the darkness (and vice versa). with his trusty stage manager sidekick and previous fellow director, spencer agnew, by his side, hecox is sure to make this musical a hit. as for the cast, fans will be delighted to see smosh's resident powerhouse courtney miller as audrey, a hopeless romantic with a heart of gold. miller is not only a vocal and theatrical legend, but also both nonbinary and queer, something they noted that they hope to bring to the role of audrey. miller shared the news on twitter earlier today, saying, "i cannot wait to bring to you this fantastic person i've gotten to know over these past few months. i've put a little piece of myself into her, and i just want you all to know this is our best, gayest show to date." smosh certainly leaned into this idea by making her leading man fellow queer actor and fan-favorite funnyman, tommy bowe. bowe has been with smosh for seven years now; over that time, he's gone from lighting director to bit-part actor to, finally, leading man. this will be the first smosh show bowe's ever taken the lead on, and as i know firsthand from working with him on several other theater productions, no one deserves it more. bowe also shared the news to his social media today, saying on his instagram that this is "a dream come true." we previously saw bowe and miller side-by-side in last year's production of les miserables as thenardier and madame thenardier respectively. as you may recall from my review, the two than proved that they have electrically fun chemistry and excellent comedic prowess, which is extremely promising for this production. i, for one, couldn't be happier for them, and i cannot wait to see how queer this show can really get. other than the two incredible leads, this may be one of the most interesting and unique casts smosh has ever assembled. starring in his first feature role at smosh is trevor evarts as orin scrivello, dds, audrey's controlling, masochistic boyfriend. known for his previous (and part-time continuing) work at the mythic playhouse, evarts is a mangenue on the rise to stardom, and this show is the perfect launchpad for his career. in an interview posted today with theater weekly, evarts said that he was "so excited to join the cast," stating boldly that, in his opinion, "smosh is the future of theater." as trevor's talent is so evidently rooted in his quick-witted, raunchy comedy, there is no doubt in my mind that evarts will make the perfect killer dentist. you know how the saying goes, though; something old, something new. thus, it should be no surprise that we will see two returning faces to the smosh stage, specifically mari takahashi (audrey ii) and joshua ovenshire (mr. mushnik). after nearly four years of absence, the two original cast members are returning for a much-anticipated reunion with the smosh crew. since their original leave, takahashi and ovenshire have worked together on several minor productions, as well as beginning their own podcast. today's episode confirmed that they would be making their re-debut on the smosh stage, discussing why they left and, more importantly, why they're coming back. as an actor, takahashi is known for her rich singing voice and commanding presence on stage, while ovenshire's specialty lies in physical humor and over-exaggerated personas. i can't think of better additions to this cast - although it will certainly be interesting to see how well the old blood blends with the new...

#smosh #tommy bowe #courtney miller #ian hecox #rpf #fic #edit #smosh au #mine* #aued* #au #ian #spencer #joven #trevor #mari #courtney #tommy #theatre au #this is what this whole thing is for btw. JUST this.

[luffy-is-aroace]

Do you have the source in which Luffy was confirmed aroace? I’m making a project on the ace and aro communities that includes a list of aro, ace, and aroace rep in media and I can’t find where it was confirmed, but I hear everyone say he is. Thank you.

luffy is very very much aroace coded but neither he nor the author have ever directly said the words "luffy is asexual" - one piece's canonical queer rep is limited to transgender characters

that being said, here's the relevant passages, and some context if its needed:

in chapter 516/episode 411, luffy stumbles across boa hancock, the worlds most beautiful woman, in the bath. she has an ability to turn people to stone when they feel some amount of "love, lust, or adoration" to her; ie. when they are attracted to her. heres how it goes:

this is the first time hancock meets a man who isnt affected by her power. it basically suggests that, by not turning to stone, hes not attracted to her at all.

eventually, she develops a crush on him, and she wants to marry him, which he outright rejects (chapter 598)

in regard to the "mero mero" moment, a fan noticed a discrepancy, and asked the author about it in the SBS corner from volume 54. luffy had previously responded to the naked body of a woman the way all the other guys did. oda decided to blame it on luffy imitating his friend

"That's not the Luffy we know." "When Luffy is alone, his reaction is what it was with Hancock. He's interested, but he's not entranced by her." Luffy acting in a certain way because Usopp does - going along with the mood of the moment, or performing, or however you want to say it - feels awfully aspec to me. It's definitely a common aspec experience to try and force yourself into amatonormative - or, in this case, I guess allonormative? - behavior.

In the SBS for volume 88, oda was asked about why luffy called a woman a "beauty" at one point. The response:

Luffy understanding physical attractiveness as a classification, understanding it but not caring about it - that suggests he probably doesn't experience aesthetic attraction (appreciating someones appearance, disconnected from sexual/romantic attraction). this definitely speaks to my experience as an aroace individual.

also, this isnt necessarily evidence for luffy specifically, but moreso a general answer - in the SBS for volume 34, oda was asked if there would be romance between the main characters, and he brushed it off:

my impression, personally, is that Oda is generally fairly uninterested in pursuing any romantic relationships between his main characters.

in conclusion, I personally feel like the evidence here suggests that luffy is aroace, or at least aspec, given some of Oda's wording (which is probably a little up to interpretation, given it's been translated from japanese). His answer in volume 54 has always felt like a retcon to me, like Oda only came to a conclusion of sorts on this when Luffy met Hancock, and had to go back and find some reasoning for why Luffy would have responded that way. Luffy, more than anything, wants to have an adventure, and romance and sex aren't part of that for him.

I'm not gonna try to police how people view Luffy. it's not healthy for me to do that - luffy and his aroaceness is something that's very very personal to me and itd be way too messy. In addition, in the past I've had people point out that this evidence would only necessarily suggest luffy isnt attracted to women, and he could be gay; I personally don't see him that way, and I seriously doubt Oda would make that choice in canon, but people can do what they want. I think, however, it's pretty telling that a lot of aroace and aspec people see themselves in him.

This morphed into something of a modern take on my thesis here instead of just answering your question; sorry about that. I'd be interested to see your project when you're done, if you're able and willing to share!

#asks

[hotel-japanifornia]

Lately, I've been seeing the take that Mia is just as bad as Misty for leaving Maya in Kurain. True, they both did leave Maya in Morgan's "care", but I think people are forgetting the difference in intent. Misty left her daughters because she felt great shame for disgracing her family; Mia left because she wanted to find out what happened to her mother, and also because she didn't want to feud with Maya over the Master role. She had seen how her mother and aunt argued over who should have power in Kurain, and decided she didn't want that with Maya.

And, unlike Misty, there is some evidence to suggest that Mia didn't just dump Maya in Kurain with no plans on seeing her again. For example, this line in 3-4:

Mia: (The detective back then was Valerie Hawthorne!) At first I thought shooting someone for a kidnapping was crossing the line, but... If it was to protect her little sister, I can understand why she did it...

Now, this is the closest Maya ever gets to being alluded to in the flashback cases, but it's telling. If Mia could understand Valerie's potential reasoning for shooting Terry, then it does seem to suggest that Maya is dear to her. Dear enough to go those lengths for her, which does explain why Morgan never pulled anything on Maya before Mia's murder. And considering how much she resents Maya, she could've tried.

In addition, there's their conversation at the beginning of 1-2, which does suggest a close sisterly relationship. We're never told exactly how much Maya knew about Redd White, though she probably knew more than Phoenix. Regardless, she knew enough that Mia trusted her with an important piece of evidence. That, and the tutorial Maya gives you about the press mechanic, implies Maya sat in with Mia during at least one trial.

I know the two don't interact a lot on screen, but from what little time they do share, and also how highly Maya seems to regard her; seems to suggest that Mia's leaving was less like child abandonment and more like a close sibling leaving for college. Mia likely did whatever she could to make sure her relationship with Maya was properly maintained. Perhaps, introduce her to burgers, the food Maya loves so much?

My point is that take misses the nuance in Mia's own reasoning for leaving, and also makes Maya and Mia's relationship feel more unnecessarily angsty than it really needs to be. I'm sure Maya did feel upset when Mia left, but I think as she got older, she would resent the system that played a part in that decision moreso than her own sister.

#ace attorney #maya fey #mia fey #fey sisters #fey clan #just something that's been on my mind #also as a side note let's compare the way misty and mia reacted when hearing maya's life was in danger #misty cared enough to bring along a weapon but was generally dismissive of maya #and considering her conversation with bikini apparently the woman wasn't even going to allow maya closure if she lived #meanwhile mia was straight up just like i'm going to help you save your own ass #idk how she knew dahlia was attacking maya but somehow she did

[morallyinept]

A full character analysis on MAXWELL LORD from the film WONDER WOMAN 1984

I've created this as a point of reference when writing for Pedro's characters, and I hope you find it useful. Even if you just want to learn more about the character. 🖤

FULL MASTERLIST OF PEDRO'S CHARACTERS ANALYSED

FULL CHARACTER STUDY:

Basic Details:

Full Name: Born Maxwell Lorenzano, known as Maxwell Lord (he changed his last name to Lord when he created Black Gold Cooperative)

Nickname(s): Max

Appears in: Wonder Woman 1984, 2020 (voice heard on screen via TV screens at approx. 11:15. First appearance on screen at approx. 31:41)

Age (if known): Unconfirmed, suspected late thirties/early forties, based on appearance

Sexuality: Straight - Max was previously married and had a wife

Nationality: Not confirmed. His original surname Lorenzano is of Italian origin, however it is never confirmed in the film Maxwell's nationality. He appears to live and work in Washington DC in the United States.

Family: 1 Son, Alistair

Spouse/Partner: No mention of a current partner

Relationship Status: Divorced, he and his ex-wife share custody of Alistair

Current Living Status: Alive

Languages Spoken: English

Education: Presumed at least college educated as he started his own business

Occupation:

Job Role/Title: Owner/Director of Black Gold Cooperative, a failing oil company

Special Skill(s): Granting wishes

Notable Colleague(s): Barbara Minerva, Diana Prince (Wonder Woman)

Distinguishing Features:

Tattoo(s): None

Piercings: None

Scar(s): None notable

Other Markings: None notable

Prominent Feature(s): Clean shaven face

Injuries: Maxwell is drained each time he grants wishes becoming weaker. His eyes become bloodshot in the scleras and he suffers intolerable headaches and nosebleeds

Eye Colour: Brown

Hair Colour: Caramel/honey blonde

Personality:

Traits: Unlucky, persuasive, misguided

The film is primarily set in Washington DC, where Max's Black Gold Cooperative Offices are.

Max Lord is famous for being an extremely charming, charismatic, and powerful individual as well as a motivational-esque speaker with addition to being highly manipulative and cunning in order to obtain what he seeks, using his vast influence over people to get them them believing him and his words.

Max's original surname is Lorenzano which is Italian, however his nationality is not confirmed in the film.

Max comes from a poverty stricken family background with a violently abusive father. Max has a son of his own, Alistair, whom he seemingly pushes aside for the Dream stone and it's power, fearing that Alistair will see him as a loser father figure without it, only to realise in the end that his son loves him regardless of how successful he is, and he should be a better father to Alistair rather than seek success and fortune.

Max feigned interest in Dr Minerva to gain control of the Dream stone by tricking her into giving it to him under the guise that he could "help her in her research.” Max then wishes to become the embodiment of the stone itself, granting him its wish-granting powers, but at the price of draining his lifeforce with every wish he grants.

Due to it being the 1980's, the fashion back then for men's suits were larger padded shoulders in the suit jackets, of which is evident in Max's suits.

Fashion/Outfits:

Outfit 1 - (Opening scene on TV commercial) Light grey/cream suit suit, white shirt with red stripes, red, black and grey tie with matching breast pocket handkerchief (On the boat in the commercial Max wears a open collared white and blue striped shirt)

Outfit 2 - (Meeting Dr Minerva scene) Blue pin striped two-piece suit, white/pink striped shirt, silk tie and matching breast pocket handkerchief, gold tie clip

Outfit 3 - (Museum benefit party scene) Black tuxedo, white shirt, dark gold bowtie and matching breast pocket handkerchief, black dress shoes

Outfit 4 - (Simon apology scene) Blue three piece suit including waistcoat, white pinstriped shirt, yellow patterned tie with matching breast pocket handkerchief, black shoes

Outfit 4 - (In Egypt scene) Cream plaid patterned two piece suit, white shirt red patterned tie with matching breast pocket handkerchief, dark shoes, sunglasses

Outfit 5 - (In office capturing wishes scene and remaining film scenes) Grey three piece striped suit, including waist coat (which he is later seen not wearing with the suit), white shirt, navy pattered tie with matching breast pocket handkerchief, black shoes, blue patterned braces

Accessories: Gold Rolex watch, gold ring on left pinky finger, sunglasses when in Egypt

Weapons Used:

Weapon(s): (Exact weapons pictured below)

Maxwell's main weapon is the Dream Stone, which he becomes himself. Through the power of wishes he is able to garner strength, more fortune and becomes almost invincible.

Modes of Transport:

Vehicle(s):

Maxwell's personal chauffeur driven car appears to be Lincoln Town car

Dialogue:

🗨 See Maxwell's full dialogue from the film, including deleted scenes.

Further Character Links (if any):

Wonder Woman 1984 Behind The Scenes, Meet Maxwell Lord, Max Lord DC Wiki Page

Info on ring & watch via Styleofpascal IG

FULL MASTERLIST OF PEDRO'S CHARACTERS ANALYSED

#pedro pascal #maxwell lord #pedro pascal characters #wonder woman 1984 #Maxwell lord wonder woman 1984 #pedro pascal character database #pedro pascal character study #pedro pascal character analysis

[hyba]

The Star Seal, drafting

I haven't worked on my Scareuary stories much this past week, as I'm a bit sick. Something about the creative thinking work involved in the writing of a story was a little too much; but now I'm starting to feel a bit more up to it, and I decided I would also start sharing the drafting of my short story wip "The Star Seal".

"The Star Seal" is about an archaeologist who, late one night while working in a museum, removes a star seal from a life-sized ancient statue, unleashing a monster...

This short story is the one that I've been sharing as a Write-With-Me type of thing, so I've been drafting directly on my blog, and now I'm going to be sharing that draft here. It hasn't been edited, and is a very first draft. I'll reblog with any additions, but to get the full process and behind-the-scenes, you'll want to follow it on the blog.

So, without further ado, I present to you my horror story in the works, The Star Seal.

The statue was an oddity, as far as statues from the region went. Perhaps of Akkadian origins, it depicted what seemed to be an anthropomorphic creature, with the head of a woman, and the clawed legs of some kind of raptor - perhaps a vulture. The figure wore a robe, but there was something about it that seemed stiff, thick, not quite... fabric-like. There was what seemed to be a headdress, though the sculptor hadn't been particularly detailed, and it might have also been a pair of wings. While the position of the wings was strange, it was not unknown for the Akkadians to present Ishtar as a winged creature. For that reason alone, and the fact that the figure seemed evidently female, and that it had been dated to the Akkadian period, many scholars believed this to be a statue of Ishtar.

He wasn't so certain. Something about this statue was... off. He ran his fingers over its stone surface, taking note of every single ridge, bump, indent, and abnormality. In fact, the whole thing was rather a strange abnormality, when taking into consideration contemporary pieces of art which held a realism to them that this could not begin to replicate. 

Certainly, it was an unsettling piece, with its sunken eyes, staring darkly out at him, and its life-sized proportions, but so were many depictions of Ishtar. It was entirely possible that this was a nuanced and unique representation, but he simply couldn't shake the feeling that there was something else to it. 

The carriers had helped him move the statue, such that it lay upon a table, tilted slightly onto one side, so that he could investigate and study it more thoroughly. Were it not for them, the small, peculiar, circular figure at the bottom of the pedestal upon which the statue's clawed feet were clenched might have gone completely unnoticed.  

It was perhaps five inches in diameter, and seemed to jut out ever so slightly from the rest of the statue's base. The circular piece depicted a nine-pointed star with a circle around it. At first glance, he almost conceded. Clearly, if the very symbol of Ishtar was engraved in the bottom of the statue, his previous suppositions of false identity were wrong. But Ishtar's symbol was an eight-pointed star, not a nine-pointed star, and he generally speaking, people didn't make such mistakes when it came to these things. 

What did a nine-pointed star symbolize? He wracked his mind, but found nothing. Deep in thought, he reached out and traced the edges of the stone seal with his fingers. As he did, he felt it give slightly. To his astonishment, the seal turned in its place. Fascinated, he turned it little by little until he felt a significant cluck, and out the seal came, a cylindrical thing of perhaps seven inches in height. 

For a moment, it was all he could do to stare blankly at the stone cylinder in his hand, and stare again at the gaping hole where it had been hidden. A chill rushed up and down his spine, and he shook himself slightly, trying to regain his composure. This was new. This was a new discovery - nobody else knew of this, or it would have been in the notes! 

He glanced around, half-expecting his supervisor to step into the room and take the star seal from him, but of course that was nonsense. He was working late - that was the deal. If he wanted to do any research of his own, he'd have to stay after hours and do it. But, during work hours, all he worked on was his supervisor's research, his papers, even his darned blog posts. Any discoveries made during that time were his supervisor's discoveries, and any mention of his hard work or contributions almost never happened.  

He was thankful, of course, to have even that opportunity. It was like the old man to deny him all chances completely, but he'd been in a rather good mood of late, due to a terrible book of his getting a feature in some magazine or other, and of course he'd taken advantage of the situation immediately. 

So, this was his time. And this was his discovery - he was going to make sure of it. Nobody was going to take this away from him.

#writeblr #writing #amwriting #horror #the star seal #my wips

[shayewrites]

my dear partner

not sure if villain!heizou is a thing, but it is now!

(god sometimes i wish hoyoverse used this model, but i guess it can now serve as villain!heizou au)

warnings: implications of of violence, deception, possible yandere themes. gn!reader

masterlist. navigation.

villain heizou, who secretly works for the fatui, helping fuel the war in inazuma by “harmlessly” visiting watatsumi island in the midst of the conflict on a “vacation”. in actuality, he’s been scouting out the area for reconnaissance, casually leaving delusions to be found by the watatsumi forces. sure it’s a little underhanded, but he’s never minded using such tactics on cases before.

villain heizou, who is quite the character in inazuma, cracking cold cases and bringing wanted criminals to justice, but no one knows the truth behind his methods. to keep his cover, he turns in the occasional turncoat or low life scum, manipulating the evidence in his favor. with no partner, other than his own intuition, there’s no one left to oppose him. that is until you come into play.

you were a new addition to the detective agency, filled with the grand notion of bringing justice to inazuma and making it a safe place for everyone. you took case after case, roaming all of inazuma in search of justice, but your potential suspects and key witnesses would mysteriously go missing before you could question them, and the locals would only shudder in fear when you went searching for a reason for their disappearance. it was clear something, or someone was keeping you from finding the answers you needed, but they always seemed to be one step ahead of you.

frustrated with chasing countless cold leads, you decided to go to your senpai, heizou. surely he would have some wistful insight he’d be willing to share. in all honesty, you had only spoken to the detective maybe two or three times in passing, but he’d offered to help if you ever found yourself in a bind so surely he’d be willing to help you out with this case.

heizou already knew you’d be looking for him when he reached the agency. after all, it was only a matter of time until you had exhausted all of your leads and resources and came to your genius senpai for assistance. he was counting on it.

surely enough, he found you asking around the agency for him. it was adorable, the way you thanked each of your dull coworkers with a respectful bow, something heizou would have laughed at had it been anyone else. when your eyes finally met his, they shone bright like the stars above teyvat as your lips lifted into a relieved smile. the sight made his own smile he returned that much more genuine.

“good morning, my dear kouhai. what brings you to the agency today? i was sure you’d be out hunting for clues.” he chimed enthusiastically.

you sighed softly, “usually i would be, but i’m a little…” you knew you needed his help, but that didn’t make it any easier to have to admit it aloud. “i’m a little stumped by a case. if you’re not too busy, would you mind helping me out?”

he chuckled, his softened green eyes reflecting his clear amusement, “why sure! i’ve got a bit of a break since i just dropped off my last case file, so i’ve got plenty of time to help you.”

you explained the case, walking him through each piece of evidence and the mysterious disappearance of your prime suspect and potential witnesses. apparently, the suspect wielded an electro vision that allowed them to escape every time you were able to corner them. if you didn’t know better, you would have thought they might even be enjoying the thrill of the chase.

heizou glanced at the file you’d put together, impressed by each of your deductions and inferences neatly organized into a nearly perfect profile. it would have been perfect if only you were slightly more observant. for example, the electro vision seen on the suspect was nothing more than a delusion at play, and the suspect wasn’t just enjoying the chase, but pulling you into it yourself. it was clear that the suspect was toying with you, but you hadn’t seem to catch on, which meant he had a little more time with you yet.

“this case sure looks like a doozy,” he said, finishing up the last paragraph of your notes, “it has me lost for words at the moment, but don’t worry, my dear partner.” he closed the file and tucked it underneath his arm, “i’m sure we can crack this one together.”

shayewrites tumblr 2022

send me your villain! heizou thoughts! id love to hear them!

#genshin impact #genshin x reader #genshin impact x reader #genshin headcanons #genshin fanfic #shikanoin heizou #heizou x gender neutral reader #heizou x reader #genshin heizou #heizou headcanons #villain heizou #fatui #inazuma #shayewrites #anime #shayewritesgenshin #yandere genshin impact #yandere heizou

[aihoshiino]

different anon! but i 100% upvote other anon's comment of you being the professor of hoshino-aiology 😎👍 your posts about her give me a newfound appreciation for her and imo you should be the one writing 15 year lie frfr 🤧👏✨️

and if you haven't written anything abt it, could you share your thoughts abt the spica ai chapter? i liked ai and saitou in it but i was shocked at how intense the b-komachi bullying was :0 poor ai 😢

THANK YOU ANON…….. god can you imagine what this manga would be like if i had been given that kind of creative control. you're going to read my 15 volume hoshino ai backstory flashback and you're going to love every single chapter of it!!!

When it comes to Spica, I have pretty mixed feelings on that first chapter. For transparency's sake, I broadly dislike the novel overall and I think it takes away from the relationships it depicts more than it adds. Like I mentioned in a previous ask, my issue with Spica (and its depiction of OnK's world and characters) is its tendency to flatten and simplify many of the interesting interpersonal wrinkles that characterize these central dynamics in the main story. This is much more evident in the GRSR chapters (as outlined in that post) but you can absolutely see it in Ai's chapter as well.

POST-WRITING CLAIRE EDIT: So while this post initially started as me broadly skimming some of the issues I had with chapter 1, it has ballooned into a much, MUCH longer essay about what it is about Spica that I disliked and why, broadly, I think it fails to work both as a standalone piece and as an addition to OnK as a canon. I'm pretty negative about the book in this post and very critical of the writing so if you really liked Spica and it would bum you out to see me take it apart, feel free to skip this post.

On the surface, Ai and Saitou's dynamic is pretty true to the main story and I will admit that I do enjoy their rapport in this chapter and just that we got a chapter focusing on this relationship full stop. Ai and Saitou's relationship is one I've always been particularly soft for and getting a whole chapter that was basically just exploring its early days was really nice. But it's also a very rose tinted view of that relationship in a way I think does it a bit of a disservice. I discussed this in my OnK anime rewatch but Spica's take on Saitou (and thus on his relationship with Ai) frames him as a wholly positive and supportive figure whose desires for money and success in the entertainment industry are explicitly, textually said to be secondary and unimportant to his uncomplicated kind desire to support them as they succeed. There's almost this sense of "wow, isn't it so noble and cool that saitou is kindly allowing these tweenage girls to work themselves ragged making money for his company!!!" that's a bit icky to read.

This is in line with the bizarre ways Spica portrays idol culture, in particular the 'oshi'/fan dynamic. This is another thing I've discussed before, so I'll borrow my previous words on the topic:

The Japanese text of [chapter 137] takes this dehumanization a step further: Rather than the wasei-eigo term アイドル (aidoru), when calling [Ai] an idol, Gotanda uses the word 偶像 (guzou) - an idol by its original definition. It goes beyond just reducing her to an animal - it’s objectification in the very literal sense. Ai is an idol, a ceremonial object of worship, an inanimate vessel for the dirty desires of the people around her. [...] Spica [...] depicts the moment that Ai starts down this road, committing herself to being an idol who will love and support everyone, even people who hate and scorn her. This is framed by the novel as being something of a breakthrough for her and being liberating for it but I came out of it feeling deeply unsettled in a way I don’t think the novel wanted me to be. [...] Spica depicts the moment that Ai goes from アイドル to 偶像 without seeming to realise that’s what it’s doing and thus does so in a way that is not just uncritical but wholly celebratory. In a lot of ways, this makes sense - Spica, broadly speaking, is about the “oshi” part of Oshi no Ko: the emotional fulfillment of not just receiving support but in the act of giving support yourself, in cheering someone on and seeing them succeed. Spica depicts these sorts of relationships in a straightforwardly and uncritically positive light, even in cases of parasocial relationships between fans and celebrities.

There was a lot on that topic that I left out just because that chapter review was already getting so fucking long and unhinged but Spica's entirely uncritical and celebratory view of idol culture in general always leaves me feeling deeply uncomfortable every time I engage with the text. There's a degree to which this can be excused, because Spica takes place in the POV of characters who have drunk the industry kool-aid and thus would not necessarily interpret some of this stuff with the same critical lens as a reader. A charitable interpretation of the material is that, like Viewpoint B and 45510, the story is choosing to refrain from commenting on these troubling elements for the purposes of allowing the reader to have their own take on it.

This would be nice… except it's just not how Spica handles emotional beats at all!

When talking about Spica in the past I have jokingly referred to it as being written like 'the emotional equivalent of the Superdictionary' and by that I mean that it has absolutely no restraint or subtlety when it wants you to Feel Something. When Spica has an emotional beat, it hammers it in until any organically resulting resonance with the material has been reduced to a fine paste. When it has Thoughts and Opinions about a topic, it will explain them to the reader in excruciating detail so there is no risk of the reader taking away anything that wasn't intended by the author.

My point is that there is every indication that Spica's straightforwardly celebratory portrayal of idol culture and the way fans respond to idols is something intended to be taken at face value with no further interrogation. Spica is, by and large, entirely uninterested in acknowledging the ugly underbelly of exploitation, dehumanization and misogyny that drives idol culture and idol fandom.

I think the best way to illustrate this is to look at the scene near the end of the chapter where Ai finally sits and reads her fan letters. The first two are genuinely warm and sweet but the third always jumps out at me in a way I don't think was intended by the author;

“Hello, Ai-chan. I'm a devoted listener to your streams. B-Komachi's songs and talk shows have honestly become my sanctuary. I'm currently stuck working to the bone at a terrible company. They hardly pay me anything, and every day I just want to die. But what keeps me going is knowing I have your streams to look forward to every week. I’m not even kidding. Ai-chan, you're my reason to live!"

The story does not for a second pause to linger on this letter but I want you to stop and really take it in. While we know nothing about this letter's author outside of what's written here, but given that they have a job they can be presumed to be an adult. In addition, the final line of the letter in Japanese is 『アイちゃんは俺の生きる希望！』, using the masculine first person pronoun 俺 (ore), implicitly gendering the writer as a man.

An adult man writes to Ai to traumadump on her uninvited about his suicidal ideation and telling her in no uncertain terms that she is the sole, singular reason he is alive. Ai is a twelve year old girl.

Spica frames this as an entirely good, wholesome and affirming moment for her. It's one of many similar moments where Spica's celebration of idol culture clashes so strongly with the main story's that trying to make them tonally cohere is almost impossible. In fact, mild tangent, but I was working with the Spica TL team on chapter 1 right around the time chapter 137 dropped, and reading the ending of this chapter back to back with 137's tearing down of Ai's exploitation at the hands of the idol industry was some real injury-worse-than-whiplash inducing shit.

To be clear, I don't need Oshi no Ko to have a huge UM ACKSHULLY THIS IS WHY THIS IS BAD!!!! digression every time characters have positive interactions with the concept of idols. It is fundamentally dishonest and lacking in nuance to portray idolhood as something entirely and unrelentingly negative or to act like idols hate every single second they spend as idols. Sarina and Gorou's POV chapters do a very good job of highlighting what I talked about earlier - Spica's ruminations on the 'oshi' part of Oshi no Ko and how a relationship of support can be emotionally fulfilling both for the person being supported and the person unreservedly providing it. But that's purely from a fan perspective and I think it would be really interesting to Spica to take the opportunity afforded to it by being in Ai's POV to properly interrogate what Ai enjoys about being an idol.

But the way it chooses to do so just feels atonal both with Ai's arc and relationship to idolhood as portrayed in the main story and ways the manga has talked about 'oshi' culture in chapters published before and after Spica's release. It clashes with Oshi no Ko in ways I find difficult to satisfyingly reconcile.

This sense of clashing with and contradicting Oshi no Ko is an issue Spica has more broadly, in big and small ways. Some of this is just small, incidental details but other issues are larger and added all together, it results in a sense that Spica was not written by a person fully keyed into Oshi no Ko's world and characters. Like, just off the top of my head, here's some things that stuck out to me just from chapter 1:

Ai notes that she was separated from her mother a long time prior to the story's timeframe but given the ages give for her in 131 and here in Spica, it cannot be more than three years max since she was removed from Ayumi's care.

B-Komachi's formation and Ai's joining the group are both said to have happened 'three months ago' as of chapter 1's timeframe and thus to have happened more or less at the same time. This contradicts the Akasaka written material that consistently frames Ai as being one of the senior members, yes, but as having joined the group after Nino, Takamine and Watanabe.

The portrayal of Ai's bullying by the other B-Komachi members in no way matches Nino's account of it in 45510. This isn't even in a way you can put to Nino being an unreliable narrator. The details are so different that the only way to reconcile them is to assume these are two separate instances of bullying and that Nino just. Didn't mention the first time it happened for no reason.

On the subject of the bullies, the two girls targeting Ai are implied by their physical descriptions to be Takamine and Mei. While we don't really know anything about Mei yet, the vicious and unapologetic hostility Takamine displays clashes with her 'tough love' roughness that we are shown in the main story. In addition, this contradicts 45510's very explicit statement that Ai's bully was IMMEDIATELY fired from B-Komachi, no questions asked, the instant Saitou knew who she was. There is no indication in Spica that Ai's bullies so much as get a slap on the wrist for their behaviour.

Spica attributes B-Komachi's current success almost entirely to Ai and portrays her as working very hard on set and communicating with every other member of staff almost excessively to the point of annoyance. Not only does this contradict the early manga's portrayal of Ai as being antisocial and uncommunicative on set prior to her being sent to Lala Lie, it also contradicts chapters that were released following Spica that explicitly credit Nino as the key figure for B-Komachi's initial boom of success and states that Ai joined the group after Nino had cemented their popularity.

There are absolutely ways that you can handwave these contradictions and sew up the internal logic but to me, the nature of these contradictions matter to me less than the fact that they exist in the first place. This implies, especially given that some of these are in material written by Akasaka after Spica was published that he and Tanaka were, to some degree, not on the same page about the book's material.

There's some other things scattered about that aren't necessarily direct textual contradictions but nevertheless feel really out of step with OnK's takes on these characters. And like… I have tried to be relatively measured and good faith in my critiques so far but there is a part of chapter one that makes me so just bees buzzing around in my brain flames on the side of my face blood boiling in my veins insane that you must allow me to just uncharitably tear into it.

[Ai:] “Ah, now I get it. Are you buying a gift for your girlfriend, President? You like them young, after all…“ Finally, it clicked. The president, being considerably older than his girlfriend, needed the insights of a girl closer to her age in order to pick out the perfect gift. If that was the case, that explained why Ai had been roped into this. [Ai:] “Well, not that I should be getting into your business or anything, but…President, be careful when you mess with underage girls, okay? Nowadays, you’ll seriously end up in jail.”

I'M SORRY. WHAT THE FUCK AM I READING RIGHT NOW. SHE WOULD NOT FUCKING SAY THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This moment actually makes me so angry that it is difficult for me to clearly and calmly articulate what I find objectionable about it. I understand that it sounds very dramatic, but this is the first in a very consistent line of Spica bringing up the idea of adult men engaging in romance and/or sex with underage girls with this blithe, jokey and dismissive tone that entirely undermines everything Oshi no Ko itself says about CSA. The fact that it starts off this trend by putting these words in the mouth of Ai, WHO IS HERSELF A FUCKING CSA VICTIM, and treats the entire exchange as a throwaway joke honestly makes me feel a little bit sick.

This is part of a much broader and more troubling trend in Spica of Hajime Tanaka simply not being able to write young women in a naturalistic and human way. It's difficult for me to express exactly what it is that feels so off other than to say that it's Covered In The Fucking Ooze in a way typical of Men Who Can't Write Women. Ai's bullies in chapter 1 are so cartoonishly and stereotypically catty and mean that they barely feel human and they are written with all the distinct individuality as Thing 1 and Thing 2. The more complicated, two-sided conflict between two flawed people as seen in Ai and Nino's relationship is totally absent here. It's just the most vapid, stereotypical depiction of Teenage Girl Bullying you can imagine.

On top of that, there is a consistency with which Tanaka puts the topic of sex into the mouths and minds of these young women that fees… icky and offputting to me in a way I find difficult to articulate. In general, the voices of these young girls feel off and inauthentic in a way the main series never struggles with. For all I've criticized Oshi no Ko for in the past, something I think Akasaka is consistently and surprisingly good at is writing female characters who feel just as distinctly well realized and fleshed out as his male characters and that he does so in a way that does not rely on completely degendering them - their experiences as women are important to and inform that their characterization but does not entirely rule it. Despite overwhelmingly centering girls as the heart of its narrative, Spica barely feels capable of writing them as people.

All this together gives Spica this really strong sense - to me - of not really fitting in with the spirit of Oshi no Ko as a story. It's not just that the narrative voice is different but that there is an underlying flavour to Spica's takes on this world and its characters that clashes with the original. The cast as a whole just feels off, not blatantly OOC in a way you can directly point to but just enough to feel uncanny and give me a THEY WOULD NOT FUCKING SAY THAT!!!!! moment for almost every single person with a speaking line. It feels, as I put it on the Oshi no Brainrot server, like a thing that exists not because there was a part of the OnK narrative that worked best as a light novel but because somebody, somewhere thought a Oshi no Ko light novel would make some money and decided to have one churned out.

oh my god anon I'm so sorry lmfao you did not ask for this GIGANTIC ODYSSEY OF A POST!! This was just one of those asks that tapped into a topic I had already been having extensive conversations with myself about in my brain (I have a very boring job with a lot of time spent alone lol) and the more I typed, the more of those thoughts spilled out. I think a big part of why I am so compelled (derogatory) by Spica's missteps and mishandling of its material is that there is so much potential here and so many points where the material really comes close to just being flat out good.

A moment in chapter 1 that I think about a lot is Ai thinking about why she hasn't been reading any of her fan letters - because the last letter she got was her mom's lawyer telling her that Ayumi had gone missing after her release from custody, thus confirming for Ai that she had been abandoned to the system by her. Because of her association between those emotions and the act of reading a letter, she simply can't bring herself to open any of her fan letters because of the lingering anxiety.

Not only is this an entirely human and believable traumabrained anxiety kid fear for her to have but it's totally in line with Ai's flaw of avoidance and unwillingness to engage with or confront things that make her anxious or uncomfortable. It's also paid off wonderfully and in spades when she does finally confront that fear and is rewarded for it by an avalanche of love and support from her fans. It's one of the few moments in Ai's chapter where I think Spica really does well in conveying what a person like Ai gets out of being the 'oshi' in the oshi/fan relationship.

But this otherwise great moment is ruined by like… all that shit I said up there lmao. Spica is just laced through with this issue where moments that come so, so close to working and being really good are just marred by other issues in the text around it or trip themselves up in other ways. It's frustrating both because it comes so close to doing fresh and interesting things with the characters and because… I didn't want to dislike Spica! I was so, SO excited for it to come out and so willing to give it the BOTD even as summaries leaked and I was put off by the plot beats. But the more time I give to it in my brain and the more I try to engage with it in good faith, the more I come away frustrated and feeling like my time has been wasted.

#oshi no ko #oshi no posting #onk asks #meta essays #onk spica #onk spoilers

[bohdank]

> Users aren’t stupid, but we are all human. Revealed preference is often the complete opposite of the stated preference, and we have the data that shows that. Our goal is to optimize the experience not kill features because “tumblr staff just wants so”.

I absolutely agree that data, research, user interviews, a/b tests, all that stuff is a far better source of information that "posts about tumblr." But the thing about data is that it's also very easy to draw incorrect or misguided conclusions from it. It's pretty well known that if you're good enough with statistics you can bend data to say nearly anything you want it to.

I don't think tumblr is doing this -- y'all want the site to succeed and deliberately misinterpreting your own stats would be beyond stupid -- but you absolutely may be doing this by accident. And the stakes here are Really High. The set of numbers you choose to pursue will drastically change the way you plan and impliment changes.

And internally, it's very easy for a conversation about statistics to become something of an echo chamber. I really really wish that y'all would actually share the reasoning and justification for the feature changes that you make *and listened to user feedback while open the the possibility that you aren't perfect.* I know that's a lot of work but I think the benefits in goodwill and trust that you reap from working with that level of transparency would be highly worthwhile.

I feel very strongly about this because I've recently come from a site that has effectively fallen apart due to the company chasing the wrong numbers -- I won't go into it because it's all over my blog but I really hope I don't have to watch it happen again. :(

First off, I appreciate the nuance you’ve brought to the conversation. Data is indeed a powerful tool but, as you pointed out, it’s also a tricky beast that can easily lead one astray if not handled with the right level of caution and diligence.

The risk of falling into an echo chamber is real, and there’s something to be said about the danger of falling in love with our own ideas to the point where we ignore contrary indicators.

But I want to reassure you and the rest of our community — we’re not just blindly chasing after numbers. To be frank, I don't know why people think we are just looking at numbers and not talking to real humans. We indeed strive to make data-informed decisions, not data-driven ones. It’s a subtle distinction, but an important one. It means we take into account qualitative feedback, anecdotal evidence, and even gut instincts in addition to the quantitative data.

We regularly run user interview sessions and use other qualitative research instruments to inform our product decisions. To say more, we want to involve our community in the decision-making process as much as possible, not just as passive recipients of the changes we implement but as active contributors.

That being said, it’s a tough balancing act. We’re constantly trying to find the sweet spot between sharing enough to make people feel included and informed, and sharing too much that it becomes overwhelming or confusing. But rest assured, every piece of feedback is invaluable in helping us strike that balance.

#tumblr #tumblr staff