there's so many things in tsc that just come at you all at once, so it's hard to focus on just one thing to break down, but the most glaring thing that stood out to me is how hard it is to really put someone back together. especially someone so shattered that it's nigh impossible to glue them back and pray they don't crumble under your ministrations.

if jean is neil's foil, then jeremy is andrew's direct antithesis. whereas andrew is a steady bedrock because he's been broken too many times to know how to weather the storm, jeremy is too soft hands and an even softer soul. he cares and cares and cares. so empathetic and so gentle it almost breaks your heart. you pray for the impossibility that jeremy can survive knowing the truth because if he doesn't, then what hope does jean have? so you pray he can be steady too. that he can weather the storm as well. that he will not break when knowing that just under the surface lies shark-infested waters.

but then you remember the beginning. "even knowing everything could go completely sideways, you'd make that choice every time"

in every other universe, jean has not survived. but in every other universe, he did not have the trojans.

(re: sssniperwolf and jacksfilms) It's laughable that she escalated it that hard. Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty sure stalking him like that is illegal and it's terrifying regardless, but Jack said in a stream (can't remember which one) that he wasn't about bringing up past controversies of hers or cancelling. And now she shows up outside his house (wtf!!!). Like he was willing to only call her out for stealing and freebooting but she's gone and stalked him and Jack doesn't seem like the type of guy to take that shit. Actual WTF moment from her part. wild

omg long post below bc apparently I have opinions: YES!! THAT'S WHAT'S SO INCREDIBLE ABOUT THIS... Jack has been genuinely diligent about keeping things on-topic in his streams, and hasn't brought up any of her other Stuff, or anything Personal. Despite the fact that she kickstarted the whole thing by making it INCREDIBLY personal and attacking his physical appearance... His goal has been to call out and bring attention to content theft, and he's stuck with it. Dude's also cared about this for years, and she's not the first content thief he's criticized. He just hates the way that freebooting has become so accepted-- to the point where youtube praised her for "coming up with such creative video ideas"? Hey! Ew! Dude wasn't trying to get her cancelled though, there was no smear campaign of her character. He's been rallying to get her to CREDIT the creators that she relies on for all of her content. It would set a precedent for all other "react" channels on the platform for one of the biggest channels on youtube to actually give credit where credit is due. Or, god forbid, get permission first? It's not hard. It's already done the job of making some other people who do "react content" self-analyze whether or not their content is transformative, and to maybe care about crediting the creators they rely on for their genre to work. There is a way to make this kind of video that isn't so slimy. And making fun of her lackluster-at-best reactions is so far from even being a big deal. Bc she literally does just sit there and say nothing. Plus, his goal has a clear End built into it: if she started shouting out the creators she takes content from, and put links directly to their pages in her video descriptions, the job would be done! That's what he's asking her to do. Real bare minimum stuff. It legit would have been easy to steer away from the content theft and to also talk about her history of lying to her audience! her ghosting a dying kid with cancer who was a big fan of hers! the fact that she's been arrested for armed robbery! her history of transphobia! He would also get more clicks that way, which is what she claims is his sole goal- to get more clicks. I'll bring it up though! She's been a terrible person the whole time, and has kept a steady course of manipulating her audience of young children and/or, let's be completely honest, simps- into thinking that she's a Wholesome creator. (And now, into thinking she's an innocent victim.) All of the actual effort put in by her has gone toward optics, not the content she puts out. A carefully constructed online persona, for one, but also literal appearances. Jack totally can't say this, bc she already went off the handle and said the only reason he doesn't like her is bc he Hates To See A Woman Be Successful. But I can! That was a cheap shot for her to use that argument when, for once, it's not applicable! Much the opposite, even! Dudes online wouldn't go to bat for her if she didn't look the way she does. And it weakens any case she'd have against him by making baseless claims like that. She banks hugely on being an attractive woman to get her clicks/following. A massive amount of effort is put into her appearance. The makeup, the lip fillers, putting her hair in little pigtails, the chokers and tube tops, the big non-prescription Nerd Glasses, the thumbnails where she has her mouth open in That Expression?

I don't even have to say anything. But making a weird facial expression and putting your hair in pigtails aren't moral failings. Showing up at someone's real life home (whose address you shouldn't even have access to), filming the front of their house at night, doxxing them to your audience of millions of people? Because you were mad at them online? That is fully scary! Yeah girl I'm pretty sure that Jack can press charges! There is absolutely no way to take the moral highground now that she's literally stalked him, and doxxed his home. She tried to goad him and Erin (Jack's wife) out of the house, also, which creeps me out even more-- because what was she planning to do? The fact that she's been arrested for violent crime before does pop into my mind! lmao! Jack was streaming a game at the time that she was outside his home, and these clips of him, his friends, and Erin reacting in real time to what is genuinely a scary situation have been taken down in case he needs to use them in legal action. Shit is legitimately serious!

—1000 YEARS OLD · Episode 8

Okay so realistically speaking, giving birth is an excruciating, painful nightmare, and from the few Crocodad fics I've seen most people seem to prefer to write realistic pregnancy and make Luffy's birth a (physically) painful thing. Because it makes sense, it might be more relatable for some writers that way etc, and that's perfectly fine (like genuinely, it's not an issue at all, this is not a critique or a complaint)

God I don't know how to make this segue- Have any of you watched Ore Monogatari!! (My Love Story)? It's a great early 2010s romantic comedy series, funny as hell, super cute and sweet, would reccomend, but that aside. During the series the protagonist Takeo's mother gets pregnant and she ends up giving birth to Takeo's baby sister. And it's that scene, where Takeo's baby sister is born, that I keep on thinking back to whenever I wonder how Luffy's birth might've gone.

Takeo and his mother alike are Sturdy Motherfuckers. Like absolute gigachads, borderline superhuman, it's great and it's funny as hell. And because of that near superhuman nature... Takeo's mother goes to give birth at 4:15 pm. And she has finished giving birth at 4:16 pm. One fucking minute is what it took for this woman to bring a child into this world. An absolute legend

The screencaps do not do justice to how fucking funny this is in the actual episode

And so like

Like we know Crocodile's been through absolute hell, being an amputee and all. And as Domino told us at the entrance of Impel Down, we also know the man did not even flinch when forced into Impel Down's traditional 200 Celsius cleansing bath (or 392F)

So Crocodile has better pain tolerance than the average person. Like, you might have to put in a bit of effort to cause him actually hurt. So if giving birth to Luffy was an absolute cakewalk for Crocodile, not only would it make perfect sense in-universe and be completely in-character for him, but also

It would be objectively funny as hell

the absolute lack of media literacy from people who haven’t even seen oppenheimer is making my head spin but whatever

AITA for getting angry because I wrongly guessed the identity of my companion’s boyfriend?

I (2000-ishM-ish) have been traveling with my companion (28F) for ages now. We’ll call her Claire. She’s been there for me through some big changes in my life, and I’ve improved her life a lot. We used to have a sort of thing, but I was married at the time, and now I think I’m too old for her. Anyway, onto the story.

Claire started dating her boyfriend (29M) at some point. I honestly don’t remember when and honestly can’t be bothered to. His name is Dave. He works at the same school as Claire does. I recently took on a temporary job at their school as a caretaker. I met several of the teachers there, including a very handsome young man who likes literature (Claire loves literature) and reminds me a great deal of my younger self. I didn’t know anything about the man Claire was seeing, so I assumed it was this man. It would make sense, I think, considering our past feelings for each other. As it turns out, however, this man is not Claire’s boyfriend, but instead she’s dating a former soldier who now teaches P.E. at the school!

I hate soldiers, and Claire knows this. I thought she hated soldiers, too. She told me so herself. She was very clearly lying to me all this time about this fact, and she was lying to him about me, too, presumably so we would never meet and I would never find out the truth. For a while, Dave believed I was Claire’s father, which I don’t mind, but she didn’t say anything to correct him. Dave mockingly saluted me and called me “sir,” and claimed I’m an officer. He implied very heavily that I’m dangerous to be around, which is complete nonsense, because I’m always saving Claire from dangerous situations. She never says no to traveling with me, even once leaving in the middle of dinner with Dave to go on a trip. I shouted at Dave for his blatant disrespect, but now Claire is upset with me for making things difficult between her and Dave — he’s angry with her for lying to him about how she was spending her time the past however long of their relationship. I don’t regret shouting at Dave, though. I really hate soldiers, and he’s no better than any of them.

I don’t know. It would be different if Claire was dating this lovely bowtie-wearing gentleman, who really looks so much like a younger me it’s uncanny, but you would think she wouldn’t date a soldier when she knows just how much I hate them?

EDIT: Many incessant commenters were asking, so I’ll clarify. Yes, I was a soldier centuries ago. Yes, I watched thousands of people die, and I believed for several centuries that I was responsible for the death of the entire planet. I don’t like to talk about it.

really weird thing ive noticed lately re: hermits getting critiqued for stuff theyve said or done is that as soon as someone holds a shit opinion (even if it's just them being stupid, or a centrist, or saying a bad word without knowing what it means, or whatever) people immediately seem to flock to the 'this guy should die' 'kys' 'why are we giving this person a platform' rhetoric and like. that's not how meaningful change is made?

like, yeah, if one of my beloved CCs posted a tweet or video tomorrow about how much they hate gay people, or believe in conservative ideals, or they just said a bunch of slurs or whatever (these are hyperbolic examples obviously) then yeah, fuck them, they should go rot. but like, having some dumb takes, or saying bad things in the past, doesn't = evil terrible person...

idk, i feel like we can critique content creators without getting so insane about it. like, shit, there are things some of my favourites do that i don't like, but theyre not even really worth bringing up tbh. unless its something actually important, i feel like it just creates more drama out of nothing and all these assholes come crawling out of the woodwork to tell everyone how much they hate that creator. or find their content boring anyway so clearly they have no real merit to anyone.

more of an explanation of what i mean in the tags but yeah.

And there she stood. It seems the stars had been kind enough to at least give her the decency of a normal appearance. She stood there, her tail gently swaying as he walked in her direction. She smiled, the stars in her form glowing a little brighter at the sight of him. He never realized how much he had missed seeing it. Seeing her. If not for the current state of things, it was as though the incident had never happened at all. It had though, and her eyes were the proof.

So, my top 2022 dramas so far

Subject to obviously whatever may air later and the two airing ones not derailing.

5. Alchemy of Souls (Korea) - inventive fantasy fun with an epic OTP.

4. Bloody Heart (Korea) - visually stunning, grim and moving.

3. Love Like the Galaxy (China) - a period romance with characters who would be villains in another story, hilarious and tragic by turns.

2. Heroes (China) - gorgeous, grim and tragic, a wuxia fever dream.

1. Love Between Fairy and Devil (China) - the only one on this list going into my top drama 10, perfectly written and made and making me feel the way I did as a small child watching fairytales.

The thing I was losing my mind over earlier. This fic probably won't see the light of day in full for a while because I'm about 6 fics back in terms of proper context...but one day. And what the hell? I spit out a little over 1k of it today and I'm proud of it...so into the tag it goes.

Rated M. Ultimately not explicit, but highly suggestive. Some mentions of death that will be much more explicit in the first chapter I've yet to write.

***

“My most precious treasure beating just under the palm of my hand.”

“If that’s your most precious treasure then—”

“Don’t.” His voice was low but harsh, and the word would have bordered on a threat if it wasn’t tinged with the desperation of a plea. “Do not joke. Do not minimize yourself or what happened, please.”

Her breath stuttered at the intensity of his brown gaze, and she was certain he felt her heart skip several beats under the breadth of his palm. No jokes, no minimization, no trying to ease what happened, he wanted to sit with it and let it rest heavy between them when all she wanted to do was forget and move on. Gale was right though, a part of her knew that. They both needed to acknowledge it, though the longer the silence stretched on, the heavier it hung around them. And the heavier the weight became, the tighter her throat constricted and the hotter her eyes burned.

“Am I…am I truly?” Nox forced out, blinking the tears back.

“Oh, my love,” Gale sighed and leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers.

She was still hyper-aware of every movement he made. His hand slid the rest of the way down her sternum and then around to her back, the tips of his fingers leaving hot trails in their wake and the side of his pinky lightly grazing her breast. His palm flattened across her spine, fingers splayed against her upper back before he pressed her close to him. Their bodies flush against each other, he tilted his head to capture her mouth with his own. The kiss was soft and slow but purposeful, and he delicately took her top lip between his for a moment, before moving to her bottom lip with a light graze of his teeth, and then finally covering them both with his own. His tongue slid out languidly and outlined over the curves of her lips, as much an act of idle worship as it was a request.

She parted readily for him, moaning against him as his tongue slipped over hers and started exploring her mouth. She steadied herself for a moment, both hands splayed over his shoulders before she wrapped her arms around his neck and tangled her fingers through his hair. Without thought, one leg rose and wrapped around his hip, yanking him even closer. He responded favorably, moaning into her mouth and wrapping his arms under her to hoist her up against him. She sighed, utterly content as she wrapped her legs around his waist and sunk further into his embrace.

Any other night, and Nox knew she would have been begging him to slip inside her and exhibit how he’d drive them both to new heights of physical pleasure. After their success, it was the celebration that should have been happening tonight. Instead, the closeness that they shared—bodies pressed against one another as tightly as possible, heavy breaths mingling as they kissed each other senseless, hands caressing over hair and skin and scars—finally broke the dam, and the first few tears started spilling over from the corners of her eyes.

She needed this, the closeness. She needed to be wrapped in his arms, just as much as she needed him to be wrapped up in hers. She needed the proof they were both still alive.

Despite everything, they were still alive.

It was overwhelming, and when it became too much bursting in her chest, she pulled away. Despite being rosy and kiss-swollen, her bottom lip still trembled, and she bit down hard in an attempt to keep herself contained. Her vision grew cloudier with tears though, and her heart beat erratically in her chest, overcome with a sense of joy and a sense of grief. A sense of relief that they were both still standing here. Anger that they were both still standing here. And love.

Overwhelming, all-encompassing love. A love she almost sacrificed everything for.

Gale opened his eyes, his heated brown gaze falling intently down on her. He softened immediately upon seeing her tears though, and he brought a hand up to cradle the back of her head, arm braced against her back while he pressed her head back against his.

“Gods above…you are everything to me, Nox’ani,” he breathed out. “And I believed I lost everything once; I survived it, though only just barely and with the help of my dearest friend. But losing you?” He gave a rough swallow and shook his head lightly against hers. “I would not survive losing you.”

“I’m sorry,” Nox croaked, choking on her tears and left near breathless at the sentiment he was speaking. “I didn’t mean…I…I didn’t want…”

She swallowed hard, trying to clear her throat enough to speak. Instead, she swallowed her voice altogether as what little words she had left her. With speaking no longer an option, one hand untangled itself from his hair and trailed down his chest, traveling to settle over his heart. She applied a little more pressure and felt his heart beating just as erratically under her palm as her own did under his.

“I promised,” she whispered, gaze finally lifting to meet his.

Recognition flashed in his pretty eyes before they closed altogether with a sigh. He shook his head again, grimacing with a mixture of pain and understanding. “Nox…”

“I promised,” she repeated. “I promised you that you would live through this day and we’d figure out the rest together after.”

“That’s hardly a promise kept if you aren’t by my side,” Gale pointed out softly.

“I know,” she agreed. She did know, in the aftermath of the fight, she recognized the hypocrisy. “But that didn’t matter at that moment. What mattered was you. What mattered was not losing you, not losing…” Her voice broke off as a small sob shook through her, her tears falling harder.

“Nox,” he mumbled. His one hand slipped forward to cup her cheek as his thumb brushed away a few tears. “I understand.”

She shook her head, silencing anything else he might have said. He did understand, she didn’t doubt that, he knew her enough by now to understand exactly her thought process leading up to her decision to jump in front of that blade. It didn’t matter, it was something she still had to say.

“I…I’ve lost many. You know this,” Nox whispered. “And I’ve survived too. But you?” She shook her head, another, small cry pushing past her lips. She reached up to cup his face in her hands. “You? Gale, I wouldn’t survive losing you, either.”

I love lyla/miguel for a few reasons but honestly it may be best for no human women to date miguel. Also his gf and closest friend being an AI is funny bc this loser cant keep up relationships and cheats on women

Plus lyla makes fun of him all the time. Deserved.

they spent the first half of the episode making it absolutely clear that Haruka and Michiru were being chill and looking after baby Hotaru and her dad, so them showing up on the top of the ruins, Michiru playing the fucking violin, and then provoking Usagi and the other girls into a fight is sooooo fucking hilarious

because they knew Usagi was right at this point. They knew she was the messiah, and they knew they were gonna leave this fight by basically swearing allegiance to her. they weren't even bothered by it, it seemed. they had like fully accepted all of this and were ok with it.

but FIRST they were gonna show up and be dramatic haters one last time

Hot take: Black Friday is the most american hatchetfield musical

Chay goes to Wik's fanmeet and sees Kim in cat ears and a black leather choker .

Later when he performed on stage he wore his crop top and suit ensemble, along with the God awful choker.

He had never in his life had to hide an awkward boner with so many people around , but luckily noone was looking at him.

After the session ended , he found Kim in the vanity while he was just about to take off the choker after removing his rings.

Chay took Kim's hand in his own , turning him around in his chair to kiss the blood red glossy lip that Kim had yet to remove. "Can you keep it on till we reach the compound?" Chay asks , Kim turns around and looks at Chay's flushed cheeks and bright eyes in the mirror , and Chay leans down to kiss Kim's neck.

It’s going to be so bad when ray finds out that top and sand have some kind of history. He already hates top’s guts but that’s going to push him over the edge and I can’t wait