Photosynthesis is one of those things that you usually learn about in a simplified way when you're little, that we grow up kinda taking for granted that we "know how that works."

But the process is actually so spine tinglingly bizarre, that if you heard about it for the first time as an adult, you wouldn't even believe it.

Plants are just transmuting light beams into highly complex molecules of sugar. By using the light as a fuckin' battering ram to shatter molecules of water apart. And we're just like "oh yeah, they do that, no big deal" as if that's not a seven layer bizarro dip of what the fuck.

Today, I was rewatching The Hunger Games and watching the love triangle between Peeta, Katniss and Gale got me thinking of the last lines of Mockingjay and one of the main reasons I love Shenko so much (yeah, there's a connection, I promise).

"On the night I feel that thing again, the hunger that overtook me on the beach, I know this would have happened anyway. That what I need to survive is not Gale's fire, kindled with rage and hatred. I have plenty of fire myself".

There are loads of differences between the situations and characters, I know that. I also know Shepards can be different personality-wise depending on the background we choose, if we tend more to paragon or renegade and so on. However, I still think they all share the fact that there's a huge responsibility on their shoulders and that they all will do whatever it takes to end the Reapers. Yeah, Paragon/Renegade Shepard will have different ways of going about that but, despite what our personal headcanons might be, the truth is that in-game, all Shepards end up working for Cerberus and destroying the Alpha Relay because that's what they think they NEED to do. We also talk a lot in fandom about how Shepard seems (maybe unknowingly) almost suicidal in the sense that they will throw themselves almost blindingly into anything because, again, that's what they NEED to do.

And, of course, it couldn't be any other way, because as Anderson says in the opening scene of ME1, that's the only kind of person that can protect the galaxy.

However, although they are special, the people surrounding them are almost as equally important and while, yes, it's great and necessary to have all kind of friends and companions, what they really need is a cornerstone, someone to hold the kite so they won't drift too far away, someone who can contain their fire so they won't end up burning. Being that cornerstone is not easy, because, sometimes it will mean saying "yes, let's freaking steal the Normandy" and "let's go on a crazy adventure", but sometimes it will also mean asking the hard questions, calling them on their bullshit or saying "lets stay home for dinner (because you need to get some actual rest)".

And that's Kaidan. No one could be that cornerstone better than him because he's thoughtful, caring, gentle, capable, straight forward but ready to own his mistakes, has himself already sorted out and has his own moral compass.

People like to hate him for this, but I'm 100% convinced that it's actually what Shepard needs in the long-run.

Actually, he's the only companion that was hand-picked by Anderson, and I'm sure he knew exactly what he was doing there by having him in the same crew as Shepard.

And, well, that's it. Just another reason to love our canadian biotic brought to you by Katniss Everdeen 🤷🏻‍♀️

SaL anon here friend and I don't know about you but I'm so, so tired. Amazing how the rush of excitement I got at seeing the promo pics for an actual dramatic emergency could instantly be taken out by a 7 second promo. I feel like KR got the news well before the official announcement and said "I'm going to turn this finale into everything I want", and basically decided to push everyone but Buck to the sidelines and make them observers while pairing him with her failed self-insert. And ugh, the only thing equally as bad as the prospect of L being involved in saving everyone is the prospect of the emergency just being like a quarter of the episode and us wasting the rest of the time on wrapping up Buck's many, many, many storylines. I know we don't know for sure this is what would happen, but KR has given us no reason to think it won't. Frankly I think we should let ABC know that should they, in taking over 911, choose to retcon anything (or everything) from the last two seasons we're okay with that, and no questions will be asked.

And yeah, I can definitely agree that while Buck taking over during a crisis would be a nice way to get closure on his doubts from episode 1, the path there (if one can call it a path, which implies it goes somewhere) makes absolutely no sense. I don't even want to think about how they are going to shove Natalia (I think she's around next episode?...still) and a baby into the whole mess. I honestly would have easily taken 50% less Buck this season if they had just taken the time do the leadership arc well and have this grand emergency to show that off.

So while I'm kind of resigned on the finale for OG, I have a bit more hope for the LS one, though I too am hard side-eyeing the "earn the wedding" comments. Who exactly has to earn this wedding? The audience? They make the effort to tune in regularly despite some pretty shitty writing choices, I think they're owed a debt. The characters? Not sure how two people being in an long-term relationship and seeing each other through hardships hasn't earned them a wedding. We'll see what happens, but at this point its the odds are 50/50 that this "tragedy" will involve either a hospital or a crime scene (or both)

Hi my friend! I have been under the weather this week and ended up being out of town all day today so I am *literally* tired, but also I am WITH you on my excitement for the finale getting sucked away by half that promo being of L and her once again butchering line delivery on something as minimal as "mayday" 🙄 I already got my hopes up for a good firefam feels focused episode and got let down by 6x11 SO HARD, so I'm just going to operate under the worst assumptions that way I can, hopefully, end the episode with a "could have been worse I guess". Although I went into 6x17 with zero expectations and the show still managed to let me down anyway soooo 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

I'm sure KR knew something was up, the negotiations were *rough* last year so I'm sure they were all told to prepare. And since it's something the show usually does, wrapping up nicely each season, it won't feel out of place, however I'm also worried the emergency won't be that long. Seasons 2-4 all had a cliffhanger in the penultimate episode to get people to tune in to the finale but 6x17 did NOT give people a lot of reason to HAVE to tune in. At least s5 made the effort of showing that firetruck crash like 8000 times over the week and making it look like Bobby was in danger, even if it was just a 5 min emergency that ultimately didn't do anything at all or affect anyone. They couldn't even be bothered to give a promo until Friday and without a cliffhanger, what's the hook to draw everyone in for the finale? Because you know those casual viewers are scouring the internet for news about the show, hell, most of them probably figured with no promo that 6x17 WAS the finale! Madney got engaged which is usually a season finale thing so I wonder how many of them though that was it!

"I honestly would have easily taken 50% less Buck this season if they had just taken the time do the leadership arc well and have this grand emergency to show that off." 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 SAAAAAAAME. They should have spent less time trying to turn everything about his storylines into a joke and actually delved into HIS emotions more. Instead we got the whole sperm baby now being about some rando characters we don't even know or care about's emotions for some reason?! His death being turned into "haha funny math skills for ONE episode only!" And this whole death doula thing where we haven't even heard them actually really talking about anything and what we did see was her being DEEPLY insensitive and unempathetic for her line of work, and then a parade of Buck's awful choices to remind everyone of them for??? What reason exactly? To give her a reason to leave? When after what we've seen we....didn't even need her in the first place? Like, WHAT has she actually said or done that has actually been meaningful or addressed Buck's death? We saw some of the aftermath in his talk with Eddie at the cemetery but what purpose besides giving Buck another LI he met on a call is she actually serving? Anything important could have been imparted by a victim at a call, and that triggered Buck to talk to someone in his firefam (OR HIS THERAPIST FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST!), and given us a peek into Buck's head about it. Instead we have wasted all this time on what? An excuse to bring two of the most audience hated characters back? WHAT?! Like, literally, who allowed this to happen? WHOMST in that production team looked at this absolute mess that KR presented as an idea and said "yeah, that works!" ?!?!?!?! Sorry, I'm too grouchy to try and make sense of this, it's just SO stupid and such a waste of time, the ONE thing KR is good at.

As for LS, I still haven't gotten to watch last week's episode. I'm hoping to watch it tomorrow but at this point I'm just watching that show with an "eh. This might as well happen I guess" because I'm out of energy for much more than that. I've seen some of the spec floating around but mostly I'm just excited that we were all right and Paul is officiating. Bobby is gonna be sooooo jealous. But for real, WHAT is this idea on shows that characters have to "earn" happiness and that always meaning that someone like, dies, or they have to be miserable in 98% of the episodes to get one or two happy scenes before the next tragedy strikes? Because I think the WRITING should have to earn the payoff and neither show has managed to do that this season.

Here's expecting the worst so we aren't TOO disappointed, while holding space to be happy if Andrew manages to get around the nonsense KR insisted on to give us a decent emergency because I doubt we'll get a satisfying wrap up for anything else on the Buck or Eddie front. Maybe we'll get extra lucky and the backlash after this week (and on that TVLine article, seriously what did they expect with that question?) will get L's scenes cut as much as possible again. For old times sake. Pretty much every article comment space, review space, and SM space I've seen has been pretty clear about KR needing to be gone so here's hoping ABC is taking notes! At the very least, their promo team can't possible be worse, right?

Hi! I just dropped to say thank you on the comment you left on that fic writer complaining about having "old people" reading their fics. I'm 35 and it's already difficult to be an active fan within kpop because everyone thinks you're old, and now to tell me I could be Felix's mother (not even close) so I shouldn't read smut about him it's just so... Invalidating. He's an adult, he's in his 20's, I've seen people date with bigger age gaps (usually the man being older), and reading is just a fantasy??? It's a lot, for someone to tell me who and what I can and can't like? Awful. Sorry I end up venting, but I really wanted you to know I appreciate the comment because you really explained the point there perfectly.

I hope you had a great start of the year ❤️

Hello and happy new year! I first want to say thank you this message whoever you are anon. It encourages me to know that others feel the same as me. I'm sure even as anon, it wasn't easy to send this message especially when the fic writer is active on here (although blocked by me). And you're welcome. I was so bothered by it that I couldn't let it go without saying something. Ageism has never been an issue in fanfiction when I was growing up and I sure as hell am not going to let it happen now.

I'm gonna put a read more after this and dive into your message that I hope you see. 💜

I've been discussing this issue with fellow fanfic writers and readers and we're all on the same page thinking this situation is silly. One, although it is real person fiction, the Felix in the story is a character. He is not the exact embodiment of Felix of SKZ. The reaction of said fic writer gives the impression that they believe the Felix in their story is a perfect and exact replica of him. Which is impossible considering none of us know h personally or that intimately.

Two, he is 22 fucking (pardon) years old. He is a legal adult. I type up marriages at my work and I've seen people with 30+ age gaps get married. And shockingly, married couples often have sex. It might be odd for most of us, but it's not wrong.

Three (this topic really gets me ranting), if there is an issue with Felix being sexualized by an older reader (who really isn't that old), there should be an issue with him being sexualized in the first place. He can see anything written about him. It's on a public forum. The funny thing about public forums is anyone can read anything. Minors, adults, anyone.

Four, will the fic writer take down their fics once they hit 35+? The Felix in their story is his current age of 22, yes? So, that would make them too old to read that fic if they plan to live by that rule. Also, when they get older, will they decide to read smut between people their age? Or is it not sexier to read about younger adults getting in on when you still remember what that part of life was like? Being that it's fiction, it's not creepy or perverted to read it. Even in real person fiction because it's as you said: fantasy.

I want you to know that it is valid for you to feel that way about someone saying a certain age can't read smut about a 22 year old despite it being fiction and fantasy. Most people our age can define the line between reality and fiction. We know that Felix in a smut fic (or any fic) is not Felix irl.

To the reader who was condemned for reading that Felix smut, I'm sorry if the situation has made you feel shunned from a hobby you've probably held for a long time as a way to escape. Fanfiction has always been an open community since even before I started reading it and there's been an unfortunate shift that is killing off readership and I hate that it's happening. I'm sure you understand that the Felix in fics is a character and not the real person (boy that'd be pretty awkward 😅). It's not your fault that a writer can't see that it's just fantasy that you were enjoying. If you haven't blocked them, I would encourage it. They don't want you to read their stuff anyway so 🤷🏻‍♀️.

To all older readers/writers 35+, know that my blog is a safe space for you. You can share your rants and sadness and any other emotions you have about this strange trend in fanfiction. Reading smut about real people who are younger than you is not wrong. They are merely characters who share some characteristics and a name.

Sorry I turned your message into a ranting platform, but I've been so bothered by this issue because it shouldn't even be an issue. If you haven't blocked the fic writer, I encourage that you do because you're right in that age range of people they don't want reading their stuff. They won't miss your readership. I honestly blocked them as soon as they responded to me because it wasn't worth the battle and they clearly don't want my readership either. The beauty of Tumblr is how easy it is to block blogs to eliminate toxicity. ☺️ Thank you again for the message and I hope you find future fics with writers who don't mind older readers reading their smut. 💜 And you also have a safe place here on my blog.

First of all, love your blog. You are my favourite - a voice of sanity, always backed with receipts and respect. Thank-you!

Two moments that I would like your input on:

1. The ‘I was with JK at 4 AM’ press moment. People usually note the smile on JK’s face when JM is finally able to get this out to the world (like he seemingly wanted to on the Vlive) but I have ‘t seen anyone mention how JK also immediately looks to someone behind the scenes (management) and RM also appears to look in the same direction a couple of times and also the smile he gives JM is kinda like ‘you little fucker’ (in that RM way of being stuck between supporting his bros and towing the company line). Anyway, just a comment to say 1) do others see the same thing? And 2) I love when JM pulls defiant shit like this. 3) once again, the reactions are sus - why would management (or whoever) care if the public know that JM and JK were together at 4AM unless…

2. Totally unrelated to the above other than being Jikook so cut this out if you want! But re: the infamous Kleenex stealing moment (ha!) (and, admittedly I have never seen this in context, just clips), but it looks like JM purposely throws the tissue far back TO JK and that he also looks back to like, make sure he got it?! Like, what goes on you two?? Anyway, again, just a question of whether I am seeing things although even if this is what happened it still doesn’t answer anything, and just makes both of them (adorable) weirdos instead of just JK. :-)

Thank-you!!

Hello lovely! Thank you for the kind words 🥺 all these compliments lately! It doesn't feel deserved! Thank you.

I talk about the Dynamite 4am stuff here:

I did go and watch again to look for what you pointed out. Joon just has his "they are at it again" face on while also just letting it go and letting them be, joining in on Jimins story telling with a dramatic facial expression. Lol JK DOES look off to the same spot about 3 times during Jimin's whole little speech. Why? I couldn't tell you. I will say that that all tend to look over at that spot a few different times, when the interviewer is speaking. So maybe they are over there? Or someone is relating to their next questions. Not sure, but I'm not sure if JK is looking over there checking for responses, or if he is just looking because it's where his attention is supposed to be, on the interviewers or the camera. And the other 70% of Jimin's story, his attention is on Jimin. Lol

Now the tissue mystery. Lmfao it's his face for me! No I don't think Jimin was giving him the tissue. He used it to wipe his tears and then tossed it behind him. I think he looked back because he felt/heard JK shifting around. So we don't know wtf was going on there. But if you want me to GUESS, I would say that JK is a very clean guy. He likes things neat and orderly. Jimin is not that. Lol I think he was cleaning up after Jimin and the face could have been because he got caught doing it. Or we all know he sometimes just randomly makes that zoned out, eyes wide, is anyone home face for literally NO reason. 😂

Or maybe he runs a secret ebay account selling used Jimin items. 🤷🏻‍♀️ If you ever find something like that, someone selling a towel with dried Jimin sweat... who knows. Maybe it's JK 😂😂

I've been reflecting (and missing) on the series and I've had a question. How long were Nia and Brainy separated for? a month? Because the Leviathan thing was so quick. However, it felt like an eternity. And obviously time is not important but... like everything happened in a couple of weeks. Do you know the answer?PS: I always come back to this site every time I miss Brainia, hoping that you would write something or just talk about it.

Aww, that's so sweet, thank you! I'm always open to talk about Brainia and whenever I have a free moment I try to cook something up in terms of short fic prompts from my inbox. 😉

In terms of canon, I have absolutely no idea how much time passed from Brainy and Nia's break-up to Brainy infiltrating and nearly dying on Leviathan's ship, but I would assume it wasn't too long - maybe a few weeks or months at a push. If it was stated in the show at any point, I certainly wasn't paying attention, but honestly I'm usually pretty awful at noticing that kind of stuff so I'm sorry that I couldn't be more useful. 😅

No matter how long it was canonically, it certainly felt like an age, and it hurts knowing that Nia had to spend so much time believing Brainy had grown that distant from her. Additionally, it's painful to think how long Brainy had to go suppressing everything taking off his inhibitors had awoken him to.

Although, I did like that we got to see how the break-up affected Nia over time, especially how her heartbreak morphed into her trying to outright distance herself from Brainy and how that affected their communication on a work/superhero basis, going as far as invalidating her own dreams about Brainy's situation.

It was cleverly done for sure, but how long it was meant to be I'm not so certain. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[FIC AUTHORS SELF-RECS]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favourite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love.

thanks for the tag @hinnyfied & @alohaemora! i'm putting these in alphabetical order :).

castles (hp) (in progress - 126,935 words):

as a disclaimer - please check the tw on this fic. i'm always a bit hesitant to rec it because of the topics it touches on, although i hope to always treat those respectfully and without sensationalisation. at the same time, it is one of my favourite things i've written, so i figured it should feature on this list, but just read at your own risk, you know?

the premise of this fic was to write my version of the harry potter, canon-compliant (meaning which complies with all elements explicitly referenced in the books), post-war trope. i.e., answering the simple question: what happens after the end of deathly hallows, during the "blank" nineteen years, and beyond? while this has been written by different people countless times, i set out to write this fic in particular because i couldn't find a canon-compliant long-fic that felt realistic and fit within the ideas i had for the post-war canon.

i have since learnt that the reason why i couldn't find anything that fit my ideas was because my ideas and my vision of the series are a bit fanon-controversial 😆 and that my tone, view on the characters, and style are not what you would typically encounter in potter fanfic. that's alright, makes sense, but that was very enlightening to find out 😆. so, half of my readers on this seem to love the fic, and half seem to hate-read it, which is phenomenon i can't really explain but sure look, why not? 😆 if you're a bit like me, that might intrigue you enough to read it haha.

as far as i'm concerned, i see castles as my headcanon for what the post-war life could look like, for harry & co. the main point is to provide a realistic take (or at least, a take that i think is realistic) on the post-war world, and to answer a key question: what does "all was well" really means? we're about ten chapters in, with six chapters (ish) left to go, so if anything in the above description feels of interest to you, feel free to click on that link and hope on the bandwagon haha.

ce ne sont que des cailloux (hp) (4,293 words):

this is a character-driven one-shot about fleur delacour. it stretches from fleur's childhood, through the war and after it, and centers around her relationship with bill. do not let the french title intimidate you, it is in english, although it definitely war influenced by my experience, growing up in france. it is a fic that doesn't necessarily get a lot of visibility but those who do read it seem to like it, as it has my best kudos/hit ratio, 😆. the piece is mostly about bravery, and it doesn't have to be innate, but can also be the result of a conscious choice. i think it's a bit of a dreamy, poetic story as well, and definitely one of my faves.

listening for that angel choir (spooks) (6,980 words):

i was a bit hesitant to include this one in the list - i'm aware that most of my following is there for potter content, but the fact of the matter is that i am a multi-fandom writer, and this is one of my favourite fics, so 🤷🏻‍♀️.

this piece is another character-driven one-shot (they are part of the same series) focused on wes carter (fiona and adam's child). ever since i first watched the show, i couldn't stop thinking about this poor kid, and what his life could have been like, both before and after the death of his parents. it's honestly one of my favourite stories i've ever written - i wanted to take wes's example to write a story about resilience and unconditional love, and just the way that life goes on, even when terrible things happen to you. i wanted to show that bravery isn't necessarily guns and self-sacrifice (which would probably have been his parents' definition) but just being able to build a life after such a tragedy.

if you haven't watched the show (which, i will admit, is pretty fucking niche), i still think it's a piece you could read. wes is hardly ever mentioned in the show and the only thing you really need to know about him is that his parents were spies.

the fault in faulty manufacturing (hp) (27,575 words):

look, this fic might just be on the list because it's my most recent one and my most recent stuff are always my faves, but if you haven't read it yet, i would strongly encourage you to read it. this fic is another character-driven story, but this time about seamus finnigan. it is long (perhaps too long), detailed (perhaps too detailed), and it is chivalrous and brave, and happy, and sad, and it just makes me want to hang out with seamus's sister a lot, as well as giving seamus a hug. the story stretches from seamus's childhood in northern ireland in the 80s to him going to hogwarts, the war, and post-war. the whole story is about lies and family secrets and coming to grow up and accept who you are, as well as seamus's friendship (and later romantic relationship) with dean. i adore this story, it's very dear to my heart, a lot of love for the characters and for ireland went into it, and i hope you like it.

truth (peaky blinders) (6,458 words):

i truly hesitated between this one and children for the last rec but as the last peaky blinders season is currently ongoing, i thought i'd go with truth instead. is this my all time favourite fic that i've ever written? no. it has its strengths and it has its flaws - i love the structure of it and most of the writing, even though a lot of the plot has now become moot/au, given that this was written post s3. the story begins after s3e6 and goes into what could have happened afterwards. the pairings are mostly grace/tommy and may/tommy, (although obviously grace is dead by this point, so most of his interactions are actually with may). the fic explores his relationship with her, and his relationship with charles. it also seems to be well-liked on the fandom, as it's almost got 100 kudos and was, for years, my most kudo-ed fic haha, so maybe that means something. @whatthefawkes also seems to like it, if you trust their opinion more than mine 😆.

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okay, i'm not tagging anyone explicitly cause i think i'm at the end of the tag loop here, but if anyone wants to do this who hasn't been tagged, please feel free to do it!