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jtl-fics · 1 year

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Fluent Freshman - Part 20

FF had watched more than a few self-defense videos when he believed that Andrew Minyard was looking for a dark alley to stab him in. He had learned how to turn the attacker’s momentum against them. Had learned about disarming the person trying to stab him.

He’d even had Matt teach him a few punches claiming that it was for the dust-ups that tended to happen on the court.

He, naturally, does not use any of that knowledge because his mind immediately reverts into Lizard panic mode the moment Jackson Plank takes another step forward with a knife (HUGE. Is it wild that he is thinking about Crocodile Dundee right now?)

“If you come quietly you won’t get hurt.” Jackson says and he reverts to who he is as a person and he freezes. His bravery was used up maybe it was only ever tied to great pump up songs and now in the silence of the alley he is back to being Stone-Faced Smith.

“You’re going to dial up Wesninski and if you don’t say EXACTLY what I tell you to then I’m going to have you SING in agony.”

Y’know in that moment he stops thinking about Crocodile Dundee.

He thinks about a movie that is far more ingrained in his mind than any number of self-defense videos or one-off lessons with Matthew Boyd where he’d been trying not to flinch. A movie he had watched in better days with his family and had been a favorite of his Grandma’s (and his).

He thinks about Miss Congeniality.

Sandra Bullock as Gracie Hart has taught him everything he ever truly needs to know when he takes a step back and Jackson comes at him.

He strikes right at Jackson’s nose with the palm of his hand.

“SON OF A-“

The knife is dropped and FF kicks it under a dumpster.

FF grabs the single weapon he has on his person.

The McDonald’s Megamind Happy Meal Light Effects Brainbot.

He points the LED light straight at Jackson’s eyes and just like Aaron in the car on the way back, “Shit, that’s bright!” And now completely blinded by a combination of watery eyes and LED McDonald’s toy he proceeds to SING just as Gracie Hart had taught him.

S - Solar Plexus. He punches Jackson there as hard as he can.

I - Instep. He smashes his booted foot down on the inside of Jackson’s shoes (who the fuck wears LOAFERS to a kidnapping?)

N - Nose. He’d feel bad about hitting it again if Jackson wasn’t y’know…a hitman out to hurt Captain Neil.

G - Groin. He may have to give himself just half a second to apologize to all of mankind for what he is about to do. His step brothers had definitely kicked him in the groin plenty of times to try and get a reaction. It’s an art to not let anyone know that your ball has retreated up into lower intestine. He kicks Jackson as hard as he can (collegiate athlete) with the boots that Nicky had let him borrow. He is right on target with the toe of his shoes.

Jackson goes down.

The next thing he does is not something Gracie Hart had taught him but does still feel like the right thing to do in this situation. He kicks Jackson in the head and the man goes limp.

If FF throws both hands up in the air and lets out a “I am Miss Congeniality!” Victory cry into the alleyway well no one is around or awake to know that.

He feels like he deserves a sash and a crown and some flowers.

He looks down at Jackson and then over at the van the man had hopped out of. He was definitely PLANNING on kidnapping Captain Neil so he probably has like…some kind of restraint?

Well, better to completely subdue this guy before he tries to figure out the game plan for Romero. Wait, what’s that next to the Crocodile Dundee knife, are those...?

***

Roland is calling for a second time.

Andrew had let it go to voicemail the first time. It was usually Roland complaining about Nicky, Aaron, or Kevin doing something exceptionally stupid in their inebriated states. They have a system. Roland will call and leave a voicemail detailing the dumb shit his family has gotten up to and then he’ll let it go.

If Roland calls twice then there’s an issue.

Arm still around Neil’s shoulders he answers the phone, “What.” He asks.

“You need to help your new friend. There’s some guy following him, he’s armed and dangerous and looking for someone to grab to get Neil’s attention. He tried to lead the guy outside but he’s standing watching it for now so there might have already been someone waiting?” Roland gets out in a rush and Andrew is up and moving towards the stairs even as he’s closing the phone to disconnect the call.

Neil, of course, is right on his heels. “What is it? Did something happen?” Neil asks and they are up the stairs and pushing past Frank and his stupid pineapple shirt. Andrew spots Nicky and he spots Aaron.

“Get Nicky and Aaron somewhere safe. I need to go help Smith with something.” He says because whoever this is wants Neil and Andrew will not let Neil get within grabbing distance and won’t mention it. Neil, blessedly, does what Andrew asks without question.

Andrew scans the crowd and finds a man whose gaze goes between his phone and the back door.

A face that Andrew had memorized.

One of Nathan’s surviving men.

In the same Zip Code as Neil.

And that man has the audacity to still be breathing.

He looks and Nicky and Aaron (drunk, drugged, and useless because Andrew had wanted them to be) are with Neil and Roland is directing them to the backroom.

Andrew goes out the alley and can feel Romero’s eyes on him.

He’s prepared for a lot of things to see out in that alley. He’s angry that FF hadn’t just come down and grabbed him and Neil (he does not need TWO martyrs) and he wants to know what the fuck FF was thinking (or if he was thinking at all). Even with that anger he does not wish to see FF’s blood spilled all over an alleyway because Andrew’s family needed to be protected and FF was the only one sober enough and aware enough to do it.

He knows what Nathan’s men are capable of.

Knows that Romero was one of Nathan’s best so if there is someone out in the alleyway then it’s likely one of his other bests.

FF doesn’t even know how to use a knife. He had asked and FF had firmly declined every time Andrew had brought it up after the first fainting incident. “I’m not interested in learning that. No.” Had been the standard response.

He knew FF had at least taken a lesson or two from Boyd on throwing a punch considering the one he shot out a week ago when a Striker came at him after the third time FF intercepted a pass.

Still, Andrew had not anticipated coming out into the alleyway and finding an unharmed FF securing an unconscious Jackson Plank’s arms behind his back with fuzzy handcuffs.

“Am I interrupting something?” He asks and FF looks up at him with a flush on his cheeks.

“It’s not my fault this is a weird sex alleyway! They’re the first thing I found on my way over to the van to look for actual restraints.” FF says immediately and Andrew almost laughs at the insanity of it. “Wait, where’s Captain Neil?” FF looks around nervously.

“He’s with Aaron and Nicky in the backroom. Roland gave me your S.O.S.” Andrew says even as he quickly makes his way away from the door and towards FF. “Romero is watching the door. Let’s give him a reason to come out.” He says going over to Jackson and when he rolls the man over he raises an eyebrow at the piss stain on his pants and the blood dripping down his nose.

He looks to FF who resolutely does not look back at him.

It’s a story he’ll get out of his friend eventually. Looks like FF didn’t really need those knife lessons. Something settles a bit more in Andrew, it’s nice to have someone else in their group that could handle themselves in a fight.

Andrew finds a phone and FF rolls Jackson back onto his stomach, “He could choke on his own blood.” He shrugs and Andrew wouldn’t care if Jackson choked on his own blood in fuzzy handcuffs in a back alley but he can understand FF not wanting a murder charge.

Andrew looks at the phone and sees the the swipe pattern clear as day. It takes him two tries to get the order right but then Jackson’s phone is available for him to get over to the texting app.

The texts he reads there make him angry. There were a lot of plans on what the two of them were going to do to Neil before his body was offered up to a different crime family to show that Romero and Jackson had no loyalty left to the Wesninski line.

He types out a text to Romero that will have the jackass come out thinking everything had gone well and they had two hostages. He looks over to FF, “You ready for round two?” He asks.

“There isn’t a tap out option right?” FF asks and Andrew laughs at the joke.

Always cool under pressure it seems.

“No.”

“Then yeah, I guess just hit send.” FF says with a shrug.

Andrew does just that.

MASTERPOST FOR ALL PARTS OF FLUENT FRESHMAN AU

Didn’t wanna leave ya’ll hanging on that particular cliffhanger for too long ;)

@i-have-three-feelings @blep-23 @dreamerking27 @andreilsmyreligion @belodensetdust @rainbowpineapplebottle @yarn-ace @iwouldlikesometea @lily-s-world @obscureshipsandchips @booklover242 @whataboutmyfries @sahturnos @pluto-pepsi @dreamerthinker @passinhosdetartaruga @leftunknownheart @aro-manita-muscaria @hologramsaredead @Chaoticgremlinswishtheycouldbeme @tntwme @tayspots @nick-scar @crazy-fangirl2524 @blue-jos10 @stabbyfoxandrew @splishsplashyouropinionistrash @sammichly @the-broken-pen @bitchesdoweknowu @very-small-flower @ghostlyboiii @its-a-paxycab @bisexual-genderfluid-fan @cheesecookie @theoneandonlylostsock @foxsoulcourt @blueleys @adverbialstarlight @elia-nna @can-i-just-stay-in-the-corner @nikodiangel @foxandcrow-inatrenchcoat @hallucinatedjosten @satanic-foxhole-court @vexingcosmos @chalilodimun @insectsgetcooked @angry-kid-with-no-money @queer-crows @lillyndra @themugglemudperson @readertodeath @apileofpillows @mortalsbowbeforeme @hellomynameismoo @next-level-mess @youreonlylow @interstellarfig @notprocrastinatingatalltoday @percyjacksonfan3 @queenofcrazy27 @bsmr261 @ghostlyscares @spencellio @adinthedarkroom @harpymoth @sufferingjustalilbit @anxietymoss @oddgreyhound @ohno-myhyperfixation-itsbroken @ken22789 @atiredvampire @isoldescorner @not--a--pipedream @azure-wing @bushbees @roonilwazlib-main @crumplelush @foldedaces-paperbirds @thesenseinnonsense @let-tyrants-fear @ketchupfriesandallthingsnice @legowerewolf @deadlydodos @but-we-respect-his-craft @cariniqe @zanypersonapricotbiscuit

The requests to be added to the tag list keep being spread out across a few different areas. If I missed you please just ask again in the replies I promise I just missed you.

As stated before if you’re up here and I spelled it right but you didn’t get a notification there might be something switched around in your settings that won’t let me tag you properly?

#Fluent Freshman AU #I would like to thank Sandra Bullock's performance for allowing me to write the stupidest fight scene ever #I would also like to thank my sister for getting engaged on April 25th so Miss Congeniality was floating around in the noggin already #Andrew: Smith is really cool under pressure. He can make jokes at a time like this.#FF: What if no one believes me that I found these handcuffs in the alley?#He's too focused on the embarrassment of using those handcuffs to focus on the fact that round 2 is about to happen #Did my 'research' involve finding out EXACTLY what McDonald's happy meal toys were being offered November 2010 #Perhaps #The internet really does just have like a whole shitload of people who will just have a database of seemingly useless knowledge #I love those people #Neil may be pacing up a storm in the back room but Keeping Nicky away from the dance floor is a full time job #For ONCE Aaron is the easy one to deal with #Roland just gave him a virgin drink and he's happy #AFTG #AFTG OC #AFTG AU #AFTG Fic #My Fics #It's shorter because I didn't wanna leave ya'll hanging #FF - Pt. 20

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danandfuckingjonlmao · 6 months

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imagine your 18 year old comes up to you and is like “hey i’m gonna go take a train into the city to see this 22 year old man i met on the internet in person for the first time alone and stay with him at his house” ??¿?¿¿??,?¿?

#like what the fuck #dnp #dan and phil #i would have called the police and been like “some internet creep is trying to steal my little twink son”#phan #dear god the one thing i didn’t miss about tumblr was having to type the word “phan”#yeet my deet #yeet my deenp

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orphyd · 20 days

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✅ Officially a Girlfriend 🫡🍾🥳

#real life has been BUSYYYYYY partially bc of this but also summer classes and work at the same time #i miss my little internet corner i wanna be back soon 😭😭 i didnt think my unintentional hiatus would be so long #but YEAH #four year relationship drought OVER #nia.txt

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maddy-ferguson · 5 months

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#me

#this is what the average person on tumblr is missing. what i meant when i said the average person on tumblr should see misogynistic men talk #on the internet regularly they would benefit from that #not incels or andrew tate guys. normal guys #in november #and like i say: brf slt #i remember in 2016 when i was just getting into feminism as like a thing of the present the big thing on french twitter was for guys to say #meuf = pute: girl = whore. they would just say this. 24/7. not even a creative way to be misogynistic. but i was like oh!#then when girls would talk about getting harassed they would be like you made this up you're too ugly a film directed by quentin #tarantino etc. i think one of the most frustrating things they do is say no boy has ever sexually harassed a girl in middle school because #all they thought about at that age (that age being. from 11 to 15) was football and video games like OH MY GOD we were literally there #i mean no there's worse a lot worse but it's one of the most annoying ones like how are you all coming together to collectively #gaslight us #i could give more examples but it's not that interesting just these people HATE US!!!!!!#it's never just one or two guys or even ten or even twenty it's SO MANY PEOPLE just united by their hatred of women...heartwarming #in a way #but whatever i know people are awful on the internet or whatever but these people exist irl i'm pretty sure. im just not blissfully unaware #i'm sure that's nice. it's probably a bliss even. frustrating for normal people who have to interact with that though #or maybe not for normal people misogyny is a very widespread thing idk if you know this...frustrating for me!#like why does seeing frankly misogynistic tweets kinda not bother me as much as seeing posts that act like misogyny isn't a thing. at least #they're honest!!!!!#like it does feel very bad. but i'm used to it. kind of

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wrylu · 3 months

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idk why i'm so moody these days but i find my despair funny

aka my average day as of now

#1. impulsive silly thoughts #2. STOP FORGETTING TO EAT!!!!!!!!!!!!1 please :3 (note for myself me myself and i)#3. i get sad 🥱#4. tired #(tumblr deleted half of my tags. isnt that nice though you wont have to listen to my essay of vents nobody wanted to hear that)#vent art #wrylu #lu's canvas #negative thoughts below :) have some flowers 💐#sometimes i feel like i should get up more and spend time with my family i miss how it used to be #but you know what i suck and im practically glued to my chair and im lazy like if i was one of the 7 deadly sins i would be sloth #im surprised im not dead yet #this is purely for myself to speak my poor mind #no i actually hate this #i wanna die #i wish i was dead #not really #but still #i wish time just stopped so i can re evaluate my life #and whoa damn dysphoria makes an appearance ever #i wish i had a schlong (funny)#this is awful #sometimes i feel manipulative like i switch my emotions and personalities so hard #am i manipulating you guys??#i feel like im being sad for attention #ugh i hate that the internet is my comfort #thats bad isnt it #i feel like an attention seeker #why am i even writing this 🥱🥱#i cant wait to fall asleep forever

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carnivalcarriondiscarded · 2 months

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Since your most likely not gonna continue Lights Out, could we get some of the lore for it you haven't gotten the chance to reveal?? If you still wanna keep it on the down low that's understandable too!

hmmm i don't know! i wouldn't know where to Start, not that there's all that much... by the time i stopped thinking about it it was still full of holes and a bit Vague plot-wise for a solid chunk of it

#'stopped thinking about it' i will admit.#i have been thinking about what i would change given our updated knowledge #but like. there's not enough to Fix The Problems!#so. putting her on a shelf! sadly!#lights out is reserved for my indulgent brain thinkings #bedtime story...#wh lights out au #rambles from the bog #some lore some lore... it was rather uninspired looking back on it #very basic i think! which is part of what disheartened me - it was just... unoriginal and boring to me in the end #but hm... what could i say that would Not inspire a slew of asks about it...#well my initial butterfly howdy thoughts were For This Au for one #ummm Home sacrifices itself for Wally. uhhhhh #eddie has to learn how to use the internet.... sally made wally a heart-shaped rainbow patch for his missing eye <3 #hm hm hm. the pit was a portal activated by sunlight #etc etc there was a lot </3

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ingravinoveritas · 8 months

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nabrrie replied to your post "I thought I was the only one who was weirded out by…”

@ingravinoveritas thanks for the answer and sorry for the rant in your askbox, but your blog feels like a safe place. I wouldn't discuss this on other socials bc I don't have the strength to deal with GT fans. To be an unplanned child is a topic that I still discuss in therapy, so seeing it treated so lightly by a mother as excuse to brag about her sex life disturbed me. Interesting that who claims it's wrong to ship D/M bc it's disrespectful to the kids is ok with this. And for that matter, she’s not a high school girl bragging about her boyfriend. The “I shagged DT and you didn’t” attitude is immature and out of place. You’re having sex with your husband… so? We know that you’re married. David is handsome and fans can be creepy sometimes, but she’s an actress, her father was the Doctor - she must know very well how to deal with the fans. I’m sorry if she feels insecure, but I don’t think she’s handling this very well. And, if she does feel insecure, I don’t think it’s about a bunch of strangers online… And you’re right, no mention of the word love whatsoever… (end of the rant, sorry)

@nabrrie No need to apologize at all! I'm glad you felt safe enough to rant in my inbox. The fact that people are refusing to see anything wrong with that caption solely because it was Georgia who posted it is disturbing to me. (I even saw one person say "If this was anyone else I would be disgusted, but Georgia is an icon.") If your first instinct is to be disgusted by that caption, it should not matter who wrote it. It should not matter that it's "British humor" because humor being British doesn't mean it also can't be wildly unfunny or even hurtful. And it's wildly hypocritical to me that these fans who rail against RPF and say how it could harm their children are the same fans who have no problem with Georgia writing a caption like that.

I've said this before, but it bears repeating: Georgia should not be immune from criticism simply because she is David's wife, or because she is an ally to the LGBTQ community. Being an ally does not mean someone can't be rude or a jerk, because human beings are complicated and can be more than one thing at a time. Calling her out for using her kid's birthday post as an excuse to brag about her own sex life is not some outrageous act--it's a reasonable response, particularly from people such as yourself who have experienced the consequences of being an unplanned child.

It's amazing to me how people have read things into her caption, or made assumptions because of it based on what they want to believe her and David's relationship is. I've seen people say it meant "They were madly in love when they had me," but the word "love" was never used anywhere in that caption. They were madly in drunk when they had her (or at least Georgia was), and that's all it takes to have a baby--two people having sex, whether they are in love or not. And at the end of the day, that is what her caption was actually about: Georgia letting us know that she is having sex with David and the rest of us are not.

But she clearly is insecure, because it looks like she actually did respond to one of the numerous tweets criticizing her this morning:

So, let's take a step back here. She's over on Insta bragging about getting to shag David and how great their sex life is, but instead of actually shagging him, she is searching for her name on Twitter again and taking the time to respond to stuff like this. The paradox is quite something, really.

Also, the fact that she does not or cannot recognize that what she said in that caption is not normal seems to indicate that she thinks she can say and do whatever shes wants, regardless of who it affects or whether it sends her kids out into the world with a very skewed idea of what is "normal." Interestingly, though, I don't think we can say that she doesn't care what people think, because if she didn't, she wouldn't be searching her name (again) and looking for comments to which she can respond.

Whatever the case may be, I agree with you that whatever has her feeling insecure has nothing to do with people online (@irvinis has volunteered a particularly interesting theory on your original Ask). And for someone who has dealt with fans for so many years (as you also mentioned), she definitely is not handling this in the way you would expect. I guess we'll have to see if she pushes back against any of the other critical comments...

#nabrrie #reply post #georgia tennant #david tennant #soft scottish hipster gigolo #i don't think anybody here is being a prude either #i am 100% about sex positivity #but there are plenty of places she could brag that aren't her 4-year-old's birthday post #i mean you have to think she will see this someday #because even if Georgia deletes it the Internet is forever #also can we think for a moment how different this would be if the genders were reversed #if G was a man saying he had no self control with wine or his wife #that would seem at least slightly concerning #yet because Georgia's a woman no one seems to care #and any inkling of how David feels about this caption is completely missing #stop giving your blorbo's partners free passes 2k23 #thoughts #discourse

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ardri-na-bpiteog · 4 months

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Modern life just has...too much stuff to keep track of. Too many deadlines and logins and accounts and emails and messages on multiple different platforms and constant bombardment of information and I can tell my brain is really struggling to manage it all.

#while smartphones and the expansion of the Internet have been helpful in many ways #a lot of things were just...simpler or slower back in the day and I think we're becoming overwhelmed now #i do sometimes miss the days when someone would just have to leave a message on your answering machine if you weren't home #and you'd listen to it when you got back #and we didn't have a constant bombardment of news #if you wanted to see it you had to buy a newspaper or turn on the TV

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dreamieclvbs · 5 months

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me screaming into the void cause even though i'm cringe and free, i also embarrass easily and can't say this to my twt mutuals:

I FUCKING LOVE TROLLS

I CAN'T STOP WITH THE FUCKING BROPPY

I'M OBSESSED

#AARRRGDHSKHVNSDUIWDMKX #i watched all the movies in a row after christmas and IM HOOKED IVE BEEN HOOKED #i cant stop listening to the music #i even made a chronological soundtrack playlist cause i HATE when sndtrks are out of order #ive been reading broppy fics since we got internet back and its so HUMILIATING #i read everything on ao3 so its fanart and comics time #i fell for the broppaganda so fucking hard man #IM NOT EVEN MAD ABOUT JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE #AND I CANT STAND THAT GUY #EVERY TIME I HEAR BRANCH I SMILE #DAMNNIT !!!!!!!!!!!!!#uugghhhhhdshbcsjsdksd #(i thought regularly reading x readers (not trolls related) would be my embarrassment closing out 2023 but no. obsessed with a childrens ip #(again.)#((god i missed tag rambling))

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piedpiperart · 7 months

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About to go to the Peace Corp and I am struggling to decide which books and movies to download to keep me entertained for the next TWO years

#they were like yeah brings some movies and books and games and music #uh yeah that’s great #how do you expect me to choose #out of all these #*guestures to literally everything I have ever watched*#despite not seeing it in years I absolutely MUST bring frozen to show my host family #every Disney movie ever?? how to train your dragon?? KUNG FU PANDA!?!#not even including anime and cartoons #what will I do without my xmen evolution?? my justice league unlimited?? my my hero academia????!#I will be somewhere with limited internet access for two years and if I am to be missing all of the new releases for that time I absolutely #have to bring the essentials #every marvel movie you say?? one piece??#since being gay is illegal there I cannot bring *everything* I think #avatar the last air bender is also a must #and then I have to ask myself #would my host family enjoy shrek???

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27-royal-teas · 11 months

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the fall out boy fuck it we 8 ball tour (so far) 🎱

joe has a scavenger hunt mini quest for his book going on

the ENTIRETY of the magic 8 ball thing that im not even going to go into because it makes me feel emotions I can’t explain. they’re very complex

PATRICK ON DRUMS ??!???!

moreover, patrick’s piano solo cover things.

nobody puts baby in a corner but ACOUSTIC

they commissioned a gigantic puppet dog head. why? idk it was probably pete’s idea

honestly just how theatrical the entire show is. Pete’s magic trick

the comeback of folie songs (with the audience reception they deserve!!!!)

pete is wearing a skirt :)

i am adding 27 onto this list because I will never get over the fact that they played it not once but TWICE and I was there the 2nd time

PATRICK PLAYED SPOTLIGHT!!!!!! this makes me so fucking emotional every time

joe got a new tattoo midway through the tour

MIKEY WAY PLAYING BASS FOR SATURDAY

WILLIAM BECKETT APPEARANCE

the uncovering of new lore via 8ball song introductions

we didn’t start the fire cover drop, like, two days into tour

#tourdust #toby speaks #fob #fall out boy #pete wentz #patrick stump #andy hurley #joe trohman #please add onto this did I miss anything #i still feel like patrick in shorts would bring the whole internet down but he still insists on wearing long pants #at a CONCERT #in the MIDDLE OF JULY #idk how hes not dying of heatstroke

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blinkpen · 1 month

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i can change my profile description thing back i guess, should i go back to "these are the cliff's notes of pain" or the other one i've been tempted with sometimes, which is... where ok there's a lot of variations to what amounts to a semi-facetious existential comparison to henry darger while ducking certain key attributes/having very stark differences besides, but, i have yet to optimize the best one, and i don't if that's slightly too obscure a cut for people to take as a joke or not,

#sporadic warbling #i have a lot of good ones but i'm not a chronic description changer so it needs to be something i won't go Why Did I Do That within a week #like 'organic nightly broths' or 'D.I.D. THUNDERDOME' or 'profoundly limp pizazz' or 'radially symmetrical wife'#or other such esoteric inside jokes there's a lot deep in my sanctum #'pneumatic potato delivery tubes' was a good one too #i know you miss 'welcome to cyclops hell' i do too but i want febreeze #from software lesbian henry darger with internet access thus avoiding the maximum tragedy of an outsider artist's isolation #with way more going on than anyone ever suspects even to those with whom the passion is shared #....but that is not what i would call a snappy marquee ysee #hello people who read all the tags hiii i'm kind of in the stratosphere atm not bc i'm on anything my brain's just weird #and i ramble like a loon much more than i used to hiii

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cuubism · 1 year

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If you don't mind me asking - what do you think Dream's attitude/reaction towards Tolkien's works (including the legendarium!) would be? (I'm asking a lot of Sandman bloggers this, because I'm extremely curious regarding your takes on this.)

oh! hang on i gotta brush up on my tolkien because i haven't actually read any of the books since like. 2011.

i guess my main thought would be about how dream missed like, 95% of his work when he was stuck in his Jar. my understanding (read: google search) is that tolkien was building up the mythology for his stories before 1916 (when dream was captured), but most of it was not finished/published until a while after.

(this became an insane and mostly unrelated rant i am so so sorry)

i think a lot about how much of his own... area of work and power dream missed when he was trapped. the 20th century, generally speaking, was a time of rapid growth in storytelling methods and media more generally. dream missed almost all of radio, particularly radio as it became a medium for stories. radio was invented in the late 1890s but didn't see a proper rise into a storytelling medium, rather than mainly a direct communication one, until around the 30s. so dream missed the creation and growth of the first, i guess you would call it, networked storytelling, and technological storytelling, and what was... probably? the biggest return to an auditory type of storytelling since the original oral tradition, folk tales, great epics etc, for radio at its peak of cultural relevance (at least in the US and probably the ""West"" more generally, alas i can't speak as knowledgeably for other parts of the world, obviously plenty of other parts of the world had radio in the early 20th century and onward, but i don't know much about its use as a fictional storytelling medium versus for news and government broadcasts. something to look into! part of why radio became such a medium in the usa was because of our rampant capitalism and commercialism lol, so less capitalistic places might have approached it differently - here, advertisers wanted to figure out a way to monetize radio better, but obviously people aren't going to just listen to hours of ads, so they packaged them around stories, live music performances, and variety shows. that's where soap operas as a form come from -- they were originally sponsored by soap companies! also serials, though of course books have also been serialized in the past. and sponsored radio programs also birthed the sort of episodic comedies that eventually evolved into the half hour TV comedies we know today)

which also means - as a direct result of missing radio, dream also missed the rise of television as a medium - it grew directly out of radio, even the big networks we know today, CBS, NBC, and ABC were originally radio networks. television has ended up being a huge change in visual storytelling, not only in its inception, but especially in its more recent years - it's probably the only long-form audiovisual storytelling medium, which is something that didn't really exist before. huge shift in storytelling possibilities. he also missed the development of comic books, and the internet, and the resulting increased accessibility of art and storytelling to both artists and art lovers. he missed an absolutely huge, HUGE shift in the democratization of art and the ability to share it. and, once again, the development of totally new methods of storytelling in the form of internet video! not to even mention the accessibility of MUSIC, music recording and sharing was still in its infancy when dream was imprisoned and now you can get, and make, and share pretty much any music imaginable! and the new genres! and the intermediality of everything and the cross-cultural awareness!

this is not even getting into the new ease of photography, or film, which was also relatively new in 1916. imagine going into a coma when there were only silent films, and waking up to everyone and their mother making tiktoks. the last film you saw was one of chaplin's or something and then you come back and see interstellar in imax 3d. i think i'd explode. (dream would love film, too, it's very dreamlike)

dream returning to the waking world in 2022 and immediately having the entirety of tiktok beamed directly into his head:

(another thing i think about a lot but won't get into because i'm already rambling - hob witnessing the entire development of accessible writing from the printing press to fucking social media. insanity. i want to pick his brain on it

what pushed hob over the edge, do you think. what's the one thing he saw written online that briefly made him regret ever getting involved in printing at all and wish everyone was illiterate again. it was not porn, btw, mr. monsterfucker gadling can handle anything, ok. no, it was something much worse...)

anyway. rambling over. this is all to say that i am not a tolkien expert and haven't read much of his stuff anywhere recently - though i was quite obsessed with it in middle/high school - so my main thought is in relation to dream getting cut off from all of these great stories. it must have been like, to put it flippantly, your favorite tv show getting cancelled halfway through after a cliffhanger XD. he has all these stories from great storytellers - tolkien included - storytellers who are building their whole own worlds in his realm, storytellers he's nurturing and supporting in his own way - and gets ripped away from them. and when he returns, they're all gone.

here's hoping someone who knows more about tolkien can give you an answer more specifically relevant to that. that's all i got for now 😂

#never get me started talking about media history. then again i kinda started myself on it this time #thanks for the ask! sorry for the lack of relevant answer lol #dream of the endless #tolkien #hamelin-born #ask #i think dream would actually like tiktok after he got over the sheer volume of existing content lol #like i feel like the endlessness and interconnectedness of the internet is similar to how it already feels in his mind #media history #belatedly thinking AGAIN about all the stuff dream missed like all of the cultural changes? the story genres? the new poetry and new style?#NEW ART MOVEMENTS? THE MOVEMENTS HE MISSED. DREAM MISSED FUCKING SURREALISM THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE IT WAS LITERALLY INSPIRED BY HIM #all the subcultures of story and art creation he missed. i'm gonna lose it actually

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