#like it kind of is but it’s also like. literally dunking on them most of it. Fitzgerald was a shitty guy but he was a pretty good writer | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

what-even-is-thiss · 2 years

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Changing people's minds on major things is actually a very long and difficult process for both parties. I didn't actually believe that pedestrian-centric city design would be better for people that drive cars until I spent almost a year living without a car and watched hours of youtube videos explaining the issue to me. Turns out that traffic actually does go down and driving does become more pleasant if you make it harder to drive a car and easier to walk. I just straight-up refused to believe that for years. Because people just talked about it like it was obvious. But it wasn't. Because I had spent my whole life in a car-centric city going around in a car and also I was an English major in college who did not study urban planning. You can't expect me to change my entire mindset around transportation all at once. I did reach a eureka moment like two weeks ago but that was after like three years of getting exposed to these ideas periodically and living without a car for 11 months.

And yeah this post is about my big dumb animal brain accepting the science behind narrow roads and the evils of certain types of zoning laws, but it's also about stuff in general. If you don't know why someone isn't changing their mind on something, it's probably because the information they're getting hasn't reached a critical mass in their monkey brain yet. Whenever you hear stories about people changing their minds on things or leaving a certain ideology the story never goes "A person on the internet did a slam dunk on me and then I changed my mind."

It's usually a long process that happens over the course of months or years. Seeds planted here and there that coalesce eventually into a new thought or ideology over the course of years or snap together or send someone down a new path after a certain event. Same with me about pedestrian-centric cities. For me the tipping point was finding this video, which isn't necessarily super special or the best and the guy who runs the channel, in my opinion, isn't the most qualified or the most sympathetic towards every city in every situation, but it was the feather that tipped the scales in my brain to "Oh, wait. Maybe everything I thought I knew about how cities work is wrong actually." But that video alone didn't change my mind. With the amount of stuff and people that have gradually and gently been giving me information over the past couple years, something else was bound to eventually change my mind.

People on Tumblr yelling about abolishing the car, if anything, slowed down me changing my mind. Every time I saw a person saying that driving cars is stupid and that cars are bad I took a step back into my old way of thinking in defense. Because I grew up only ever using a car to get around. Rhetoric like that felt like a direct attack on my family, who I know to be loving people who care about other human beings and who drive cars literally everywhere.

And you might say, posts and videos like that aren't actually an attack on people that drive or have to drive. Okay then. Why are they phrased like that? Because that makes you feel good? Because you're angry? Alright, your anger at how it's currently impossible to get around if you don't own a car and how people who don't actually want to drive are being forced to drive is reasonable. And now I understand why it exists. I'm kind of angry too now that I get how this stuff works. However, is calling the people you're trying to convince stupid to their face and immediately bombarding them with your most radical ideas that might be completely detached from their reality and how they understand the world really the most productive way to channel your anger?

What about a guy with a knee problem that lives in rural Appalachia? Do you think he is gonna be convinced by your angry rants about bike lanes? No. He lives on a mountain that he can't climb or bike up because he's disabled and has only ever known getting around in a car. What about a person who overheats easily living in a suburb in the middle of the desert? Do you think she is inspired by your green lush pictures of trolleys running through parks in The Netherlands? No. If she leaves her house for too long without ice water she could literally die and you're going on about getting rid of, in her mind, the only thing that lets her go to the grocery store and not faint.

And again, this post is about my inability to comprehend walkable cities, but it's also about everything else you might ever want to convince someone of. The way you talk about things with your in-group that knows exactly what you're talking about should not be the same way you talk about that thing with people that you're genuinely trying to convince of something.

#roman said a thing #rant #ok to reblog

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tishalfdeadwaffles · 1 month

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(The secret history spoiler warning)

unironically the thing I love most about the secret history is that it’s messed up by all means. Each character from the Greek class is messed up one way or another, and their faults, their fatal flaws—they’re not just any flaws no, they’re flaws that make these characters horrid. Yes they had cute interactions, yes I always think about their time in the countryhouse, when they were by the lake and Camilla injured her foot, Francis in his robe and Henry in his suit with the trousers rolled up to the knees, looking like a banker in an old impressionist painting, as he wades into the water, Charles saving Richard a sandwich and almost getting in trouble for it, bunny being kind to Richard at the start of the book and trusting him to the very end, the way bunny and Marion were so old married couple coded, Judy Poovey talking Richard’s ears off and being a girl 🎀, Henry beating up that jock for Camilla

Despite all this, Charles remains an incestuous drunkard and an abuser, Francis remains a melodramatic man who’d ask just about anyone he thinks attractive to bed on the first meeting, he’s also an anxious mess and refuses to believe there are consequences to his chain smoking, Camilla is manipulative and we know little of her bc of Richard’s idolisation, Richard morbidly longing for the picturesque at the expense of others’ lives and viewing the Greek class through rose tinted glasses, bunny was a homophobe and racist and leeched off everyone’s money—he literally put Richard on the spot during one of their first interactions in the book when he took him to the Brasserie and had Henry pay for everything—and looking through his sick friend’s diary and he was so darn annoying I couldn’t stand him at all in the first read, and even that might as well be exaggerated because it’s only Richard’s perspective on him, and bunny seemed to be well liked in the university by those outside the Greek class. I don’t even know where to start with Henry, I’m gonna have to make a separate post for him alone at this point. And even Judy, remember when Richard met her in the bathroom and she was talking about her slamming into Camilla when Camilla JUST entered the place, and when Camilla called her out Judy just dunked her beer on her because being drunk is a perfect excuse to see that as the right thing to do? And then when Henry and Charles went up to defend Camilla Judy called them abusers for defending her? 😭 though Henry breaking Spike’s bones is another thing to be honest. and don’t get me started on the bacchanal—the four of them killing an innocent man in their frenzy and getting away with it and brushing it under the rug later on. They’re literal murderers, and that’s before the plan of murdering Bunny was introduced

and ALL of them are chainsmokers and alcoholics to a dangerous point, can you even imagine the smell?????

anyhow, the main point of this ramble, is that to get a good sense of what this book is really about, I’d suggest rereading it at least once. Donna is a master of her craft, and this work of hers is anything but shallow, even the flaws are so perfectly placed and shadowed by our unreliable narrator to the point where there’s a big bunch of readers who completely ignore them (think of how there’s critics and readers who assume that Lolita is a romance novel) , but if you look from a more rational angle you’ll understand what Donna was trying to communicate

and I love love love how she did all of this

#thank you for coming to my ted talk #tsh #the secret history #the secret history Donna tartt #henry winter #richard papen #bunny corcoran #francis abernathy #camilla macaulay #charles macaulay #The Greek class #tw spoilers #tsh spoilers

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jebewonmorelike · 1 year

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Marshmallow Beach

wc: 3.3k pronouns: none used; n/a warnings: fairly angsty for most of it but i ended it pretty funny so there's something for everyone lmao, drowning but it's not real, mentions of financial struggle, probably an inaccurate description of cpr idk we never really learned it in school which is kind of bad lol summary: coworkerwithsomehistory!gyuvin decides to pull the meanest prank in the world on overbearingheadlifeguard!reader after an incredibly tense summer at the beach ~masterlist~ ♡ ~kofi (no pressure at all)~ i literally wrote most of this AT the beach, which was so fun. i was watching some of the lifeguards goof off together and i was like-- imagine zb1 as lifeguards. i feel like, with summer almost in full swing where i am, i will most definitely have to make more lifeguard!zb1 fics bc it's such a cute scenario. lmk if that sounds good to you. also the ending is so funny, i can picture gyuvin and the other boys perfectly in that scene UGH also i accidentally made gyuvin say his catchphrase in this, i wrote it and then i was like oh my god what... comment if you spot it

“It’s not that cold.”

You stare at the boy standing knee-deep in the ocean in front of you— his skin beginning to turn the same color as the water as his teeth chatter audibly over the crashing waves and the wind that’s suddenly picking up.

“Gyuvin, that’s enough—,” you start to scold, but the tall teenager continues to wade further into the sea. The waves are growing bigger and the sun has almost completely dipped past the horizon line.

“Hyung-ah, wait for me!” The youngest of the lifeguards calls, pulling his grey hoodie over his head and running off into the ocean after him.

“Gunwook-ah! I really don’t think you guys should be—.”

“Why are you always such a narc, (Y/N)?” Gyuvin shouts back at you, grabbing the younger boy and dunking him under the water as soon as he reaches him.

You sigh annoyedly. This was your fourth summer as a lifeguard at Village Beach; you’d been a fairly diligent and dedicated employee the past three years and at the beginning of this summer you’d been promoted to Head Lifeguard.

Your friend Taerae had been hired at the same time as you; Ricky and Gyuvin joining the team the year after. The previous summers you’d loved hanging out with your fellow lifeguard friends, goofing around on breaks, and, most importantly, being able to help beach-goers however you can. This summer, however, has been anything but enjoyable.

You’d needed the extra money before your junior year at college, so you didn’t think twice about taking the position as Head Lifeguard. But, boy… You should have. Now nearly every responsibility of the beach fell on your shoulders. There had been no time for fun, no time for friends and no time for…

“Gyuvin-ah, please,” you yell, watching as both Ricky and Taerae follow the two younger boys into the ocean until the water is up to their chests. “Are you kidding me!?”

“Can you lighten up for once!?” Gyuvin shouts back, rolling his eyes. “Oh sorry, I forgot: you’re a massive killjoy now!”

You see Taerae wince, but he doesn’t say anything. Of course that’s what they all thought of you now. You’d probably hate yourself, too. Yelling at the other lifeguards when they weren’t paying attention, handing out citations when they clocked in late, reporting back to your boss about any ways they had been lacking, blowing your whistle whenever one of them left their post unscheduled...

Everyone’s favorite co-worker had become the boss’s pet. Sure, it got you a few extra dollars on the hour, but was it really worth losing your friends? The nervous looks the new kid Gunwook gave you whenever you entered the break lounge? The multiple occasions where you’d walked into a restaurant after a shift to see all of your friends eating dinner without you?

The boy you’d had a crush on for three summers now calling you a narc; a killjoy?

You know you could’ve been a little easier on them. They were all great lifeguards; showed up and worked hard during early morning training and were (almost) always alert. But you’d only been trying to do your best and keep your position. The truth was, you desperately needed that extra money. It was the only way you were going to be able to buy your books next semester. And when your boss was always such a hardass, threatening to give the position to someone else if you couldn’t keep up...

But now all these boys only see you as a tyrant. A snitch. And undoubtedly a bad friend.

It’s a cool August evening; a party for the lifeguards before your last week of work. You were positive that you were the last person any of the boys wanted here, but Ricky had accidentally let the plan slip in front of you. Your longest friend, Taerae, had laughed awkwardly in an attempt to cover it up, walking over to you and telling you the details-- ensuring that they had just forgotten to let you know.

Though you knew the invitation was disingenuous, you’d showed up anyway. After all, it was right after your shift ended and on the beach where you work. Maybe you were just curious as to what they’d get up to. Maybe you were so starved for fun by now that you were willing to insert yourself in what had to be one of the most awkward bonfires you’d ever attended (because of your presence, of course).

And they probably wouldn’t believe you but maybe you really missed them.

“I finally got that girl’s number today,” Ricky says, taking a bite of the marshmallow on his roasting stick. “Before dinner break. She came up to me and started asking about sharks and I--.”

“Told her to stop bothering you while you were working?” You mumble to yourself before a scan around the now silent group informs you it had been audible. You look back down at your own gooey marshmallow, picking a piece off and popping it into your mouth. You knew exactly the girl Ricky was talking about. He’d admired her from afar since last summer, gushing to you, Taerae, and Gyuvin about everything she did each Friday that she came to the beach.

You should be congratulating him, but your brain has been so acutely re-hardwired this summer that all you could do was scold him for not doing his job.

“Hey, remember when you used to be nice?” Gyuvin asks suddenly, taking a sip from his can while his eyes remain locked on you.

“I’m not trying to be mean, I’m just--.”

“Just doing your job, we know. It’s one of your ten pre-programmed phrases,” he interrupts sarcastically. “Don’t say too much, Ricky. (Y/N)’s just gonna report it back to the boss anyway.”

“No, I’m not,” you reply, rolling your eyes. Much more quietly, you add, “I’m happy for Ricky.”

“Are you? Are you even friends with Ricky anymore?” Gyuvin continues his criticism. “Are you friends with any of us? You barely even know Gunwook! You yelled at him for jumping off his post instead of using the ladder before you even officially met him.”

You just stare back at him, well aware that everything he’s saying is valid. That doesn’t make it hurt any less. The disdain in Gyuvin’s eyes now is palpable. It’s hard to imagine that almost a year ago to the date, you’d sat together on the shore in the moonlight-- letting the waves crash over your feet as you told him how you wished that summer would never end. How he’d leaned over to you so that your right shoulder touched his left, his large hand finding its way on top of yours innocently. How, rather than annoyance in his eyes, he’d instead looked at you like he wanted to...

“Too good for us, huh? Go ahead, ignore me,” Gyuvin scoffs, shaking his head and taking another sip of his drink. You’d zoned out-- he was right. But if he only knew the actual reason... “See if I care. Why are you even here anyway?”

You let a moment pass in silence. “I’m gonna go to the bathroom,” you mumble to no one in particular; trying your best to hold in the flood of emotions that’s boiling beneath the surface. Taerae taps your arm as you walk past him, but you just nod passively in response-- continuing up the sand.

You take your time in the bathroom, staring in the mirror and willing yourself not to cry. When you return to the bonfire, there’s been a small but noticeable shift in the wind-- and the ocean is responding accordingly. That’s why you’re so shocked when Gyuvin suddenly pulls his sweatshirt over his head and runs towards the water with a devilish grin on his face.

And now that all four of your fellow lifeguards are up to their chests in cold, rising night waves, you’re more than a little pissed at Gyuvin. And the fear rising in your chest is becoming overwhelming.

“Binnie, I--,” you shout over the roar of the waves crashing at your feet but you know he can’t hear you. You can barely see him now; he’s under the water for at least ten seconds at a time as the waves grow even higher in the wind. “I promise I’m not trying to nag you, but you’re scaring me!”

The other boys look back at you from a bit closer to shore, weird looks on their faces. They turn to each other, now appearing wary but not really of Gyuvin’s safety. Taerae and Ricky keep looking back at you-- concern suddenly tangible in their eyes as they whisper to each other intensely.

Over the waves, you can faintly hear Gunwook calling to Gyuvin, “Hyung-ah, maybe this is--.”

Gyuvin shakes his head dismissively, stepping out further into the nearly black ocean-- a large wave rising in front of him. He turns around; smiling back towards the shore and giving a thumbs up.

“BIN-AH!” You cry as the giant wave collapses behind Gyuvin, hurtling towards the tall boy at rapid speed. If he was paying attention, the wave would be fairly easy for him to swim through. But he’s not. “BEHIND YOU!”

Before he can turn around, the wave overtakes Gyuvin-- submerging him under the water. You watch the surface, horrified as the wave knocks the other three boys off their feet before finally hitting your ankles in a soft foam. Seconds pass; the other boys eventually scramble to their feet, but...

Gyuvin doesn’t.

It’s twenty seconds. Twenty-five. Thirty.

You’re frozen in place. You’re a lifeguard-- you should be running into the water to find him. But you find yourself unable to move. Unable to breathe as if you’re the one underwater.

Luckily, the other three boys are swimming out to where Gyuvin is-- all three diving under the water before Ricky surfaces with something on his back. All three of them help carry the weight of the tallest boy between them, pulling him to shore laboredly.

When the water is finally below their knees, your body snaps out of its frightened paralysis as you finally get a good look at a seemingly unconscious Gyuvin. Running over to the boys and wrapping your hands around one of Gyuvin’s biceps to help support him, you help to drag him onto the sand.

Lying him down flat on his back, you kneel down over Gyuvin’s stomach-- a knee on either side of his chest. Placing an ear over his mouth, you check to see if he’s breathing. He’s not. Your panicked paralysis has now done a 180-degree flip; you’re so scared that any common sense has completely left your brain and you’re propelled into frantic action. You don’t even register that his heart is still beating strongly-- that you don’t have to be doing chest compressions or pinching his nose and connecting your lips to his to administer a rescue breath like you are right now...

Gyuvin’s eyes shoot open so quickly that the surprise jolts you off of him. You sit back upright on your knees over his stomach, watching as he blinks back at you wide-eyed.

The lack of salt water dripping from Gyuvin’s mouth suddenly stifles you. Something isn’t right about this.

Finally, he forces a laugh and his tone that follows is anything but frightened, relieved, pained, or any other emotions that someone who just nearly drowned might be exhibiting. “Really? Chest compressions? A rescue breath? Are you sure you’re Head Lifeguard? You seriously couldn’t tell I wasn’t actually drowning?”

You stare at him for a moment before glancing back at the other boys behind you. They look more uncomfortable than anything. Turning back to look at Gyuvin’s smirking face, which is albeit a little blue still from the water temperature, you realize you’re the only one currently experiencing any fear.

“What?” You whisper breathlessly.

“Gotcha,” Gyuvin says with a grin, lifting up on his elbows to look at the boys behind you. “I think that prank was a success.”

“You--... You weren’t drowning?” You ask, the reality of the situation sinking in. After this summer-- after what you’d said at the bonfire-- Gyuvin had decided to play this horrific prank on you to... what? Teach you a lesson? Get revenge? Traumatize you?

You turn to look at the other boys. “And you knew?”

All three of them already look regretful, heads hung slightly in shame. Now you realize that they’d been wary about this since you’d called to Gyuvin that he was scaring you. They’d turned to each other concernedly-- Gunwook had even tried to ask him to reconsider tricking you like this.

“What the FUCK is wrong with you!?” You shout, hitting Gyuvin’s chest with your hands as all of the tension spills out of you. “I thought you were gonna die! I thought you--... I thought you--...”

“What? Gonna tell the boss? Gonna write us up?” Gyuvin asks, far too sardonically. “Gonna--... Hey, wait, are you crying?”

Water is dripping onto Gyuvin’s abs and it’s not coming from the sky. The wind has lulled and the air is warm again-- the black night above the ocean dusted in thousands of clustered stars.

“Why would you do this? Do you hate me that much? All of you?” You ask, eyes fixed on the water. “I know I was the absolute worst all summer and I don’t think anyone is more upset about it than me! You think I don’t miss having fun with you guys!? This summer has been a literal nightmare.”

There’s cautious silence except the slow crashing of the waves.

“The truth is I really needed the extra money. I wouldn’t have been able to go to college next semester without it, so I’ve just had to tolerate being a miserable narc to my boss who keeps threatening to replace me-- all while having no friends during what used to be my favorite part of the year,” you confess, your dignified tears only growing more haggard. “I’m really sorry. I’m so, so sorry for everything, but why--... Why would you make me think that you--... ”

Your eyes are boring into Gyuvin’s now; his are wide and unnerved staring back at you. “I missed you so much,” you say softly, nearly inaudible over the murmuring of the ocean beside you. You know he heard you, though, from the way his body tenses under you. “But don’t worry: you’ve made it clear now you don’t feel the same.”

Your whole body is still a bit shaky from the adrenaline, but you manage to stand up-- stepping over Gyuvin and walking towards the other boys.

“(Y/N), we--,” Taerae starts an attempt at an explanation, but you’re less than interested.

Walking through him and Ricky, shoulders brushing unceremoniously as you head back up toward the recreation building, you mutter under your breath: “Jerks.”

You’re in the break lounge for at least ten minutes before the sound of the doors bursting open grabs your attention. It’s Gyuvin standing in the doorway, wearing his red and white hoodie again and a pair of grey sweatpants. He doesn’t say anything.

“Go away,” you threaten half-heartedly; even the energy to be rightfully mad at him has been sucked out of you.

“No,” he replies, stepping inside and shutting the door behind him. He leans his back up against it cautiously, obviously not wanting to upset you further by invading your space more than necessary.

You sigh deeply; it’s not angry or mocking. Just tired. “Do you need water? I know you weren’t actually drowning, but that had to hurt your throat-- holding your breath like that.”

“Don’t do that. Don’t be nice to me after I was just so mean to you,” the tall boy replies, shaking his head. “And I could’ve held my breath for five more minutes if I had to. State record holder: remember?”

You do remember. Gyuvin had told you about his swimming achievement two summers ago-- when he was just a newbie lifeguard at the beach. He’d bought you an ice cream sandwich out of the vending machine when you’d said you really wanted one. He bought you one every time after that that he’d caught you staring longingly at the machine.

“I’m really sorry.”

You both say it at the same time. It’s simultaneously painfully awkward and the greatest relief.

“I’m sorry for being so terrible all summer,” you say quickly, not wanting to have a back-and-forth over who’s gonna apologize first. “And I’m sorry for making you feel like I think I’m too good for you now or that I was purposefully ignoring you... and everything in between. I wish I could take it back, but I can’t. And I’m really sad that I can’t.”

“I completely understand that you needed the money. You deserve to go to school more than anyone I know. I just wish you would’ve told me,” he says, meeting your gaze. “I wouldn’t’ve judged you. And then I would’ve known why you’d started acting all... you know.”

You nod. “I know. I’m really sorry.”

“Apology accepted,” Gyuvin says after a moment; a sheepish smile creeps onto his face. “My turn, I guess.”

“Mmhmm,” you agree, narrowing your eyes at him. “Better be good, too.”

“First off, I’m incredibly sorry. I went way too far and it wasn’t cool at all. I really didn’t mean to scare you like that-- I kind of thought you’d just be a regular amount of worried or that you’d catch on that it was a prank faster but--.”

“Are you blaming this on me being too stupid to figure it out or...?” You ask, an eyebrow raising at him.

“NO! No, I didn’t mean that. I just... I was really upset, honestly. I’ve been upset this whole summer about you. And then on the one night you’re actually hanging out with us again, you were still acting the same way,” he explains, a hand raising to scratch his arm. “I just thought that if you didn’t care about me anymore then... maybe I could make you care about me again.”

“By... pretending to drown in front of me? A little toxic of you-- I hate to admit.”

“Definitely not the best idea I’ve ever had,” he laughs awkwardly, hand reaching for the back of his neck. “I’m really sorry, (Y/N). Are you okay?”

You nod, looking down at your hands in your lap. “Was really shitty of you, Binnie.”

“Really, really shitty of Binnie, I know,” Gyuvin says, a small pout on his lips. “That guy’s the worst.”

“He really is,” you agree, a smile threatening to peek through. “But you didn’t need to make me care about you again. I never stopped.”

He looks at you, eyebrows raising with surprise.

“I feel like I missed everything this summer. Ricky’s pining over that girl that eventually paid off, Taerae trying to throw Cheez-its from his post all the way to mine, our post-work lifeguard dinners,” you recount sadly. “But you know what I missed most of all?”

Gyuvin’s eyes are bright, but he shakes his head. “What?”

“Oh come on, you know exactly what I’m gonna say,” you tease with a disbelieving smile.

He smiles back, answering softly, “Wanna hear you say it.”

The way your stomach flutters is so stupidly joyful that it’s embarrassing. “You,” you say, indulging him. “I missed you most of all.”

“I missed you,” Gyuvin echoes, grinning like an idiot. “Like... SO, so much.”

You don’t care how embarrassing you’re being anymore-- you hop up from the couch and run over to Gyuvin, lifting up on your toes and throwing your arms around his neck. He picks you up off the ground for a moment-- arms supporting your back and waist as he roughs you up a bit in his typical big-dog-energy way. He places you back on the ground, hands still attached to your waist.

You remember the look that’s in his eyes now. It’s the same one he gave you that night on the beach last summer. Is he still too shy? Is he unsure after all that happened this summer?

It’s obvious what he wants to do. Maybe you could make up for everything this summer by helping him out here...

“Your lungs must be aching, Binnie,” you start, smiling up at him sweetly. “Surely it must hurt at least a little bit to breathe now.”

Gyuvin frowns, shaking his head. “No, I’m all good! I could do it again actually if I had to.”

You narrow your eyes at him, kicking his shin lightly with your foot. “It must be so difficult for you to breathe on your own right now,” you overly emphasize each word in hopes that he catches on. “Maybe you need some more rescue breaths...”

“I don’t need--,” Gyuvin starts to deny again before his eyes suddenly widen. “I--... Oh... Uh... You know what-- you’re right! It turns out I really do need some rescue breaths after all of that. And you know, you were so good at administering them before...”

You press up on your toes again and Gyuvin carefully leans down to meet you-- your lips finding his in a long-anticipated kiss. It’s tender and his soft lips taste and feel like roasted marshmallows. You pull back, smiling at each other shyly.

“C’mon, I’ll drive you home,” he says, hand around your waist as he pulls the door open behind him.

THUD. Thud. Thuddd.

Ricky, Taerae and Gunwook look up at you from the floor-- apparently having fallen down when the door they’d been pressed against was opened.

“Hear anything good?” You ask, eyebrows raised expectantly.

All three boys mumble their apologies as Gyuvin leads you through the doorway past them. You turn around to call back to them, “Hope you guys clock in at 7:30 sharp tomorrow morning! Ricky, you’re running out of Level 1 citations.”

“Wait, what!? I thought you were gonna be super chill again from now on!” Ricky exclaims.

Taerae nods. “Yeah, didn’t you just apologize for being annoying all summer?”

“I got a citation last week for being three seconds late,” Gunwook says frantically. “THREE! I can’t do this anymore!”

“Whoah, whoah, whoah, that’s enough fellas,” Gyuvin says, popping his sunglasses on (indoors and at night). “You all better be compliant from now on. (Y/N)’s got a job to do and if any of you get in the way, you will be answering to me. Well, after you answer to (Y/N), of course.”

Tightening his grip around your waist, Gyuvin leads you down the hallway of the beach recreation building and out the doors into the warm summer night air.

“We’ve been bamboozled,” Taerae whispers.

Ricky groans, “And we still have to show up to work at 7:30 tomorrow morning.”

Gunwook twitches. “... THREE!”

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slocumjoe · 6 months

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What's a compliment you would give each companion if you were to meet them IRL?

theres a few different ways to answer this. One of them being something personal and related to their character growth. No. That would be deep and philosophical. I'm answering this literally. How would I, a normal person, compliment them, presuming them to also be normal people?

Cait; would be wearing the kind of stompers I'd kill for. Just the chunkiest leather boots that would make me salivate. It'd be the boots, or when she'd walk away, I'd whisper to the person standing next to me, "holy shit, did you see how buff she was???"

Curie; would dress professional, but still fun and cute, so think pencil skirts and maybe a fun blouse. So, I'd probably end up blurting out how cute her outfit was. Complimenting her nails (short but a shiny, glittery color) or her jewelry (novelty stuff earrings, like atoms or chemical beakers) is also on the table.

Danse; id look at him and stop breathing. I would crane my neck up and my mouth would warp into the stupidest grin, incapable of speaking without a choking giggle. My face would go red as a tomato. I physically would not be able to compliment him. I would have to sit down for 15 minutes and remember how to breathe.

Deacon; knowing Deacon, he'd show up wearing the same hawaiian shirt as me

Gage; id follow his lizard Instagram and be completely obsessed with it. I would not approach him in person but I will absolutely leave comments fawning over his pet iguana

Hancock; I imagine he dresses Like That everywhere. Given my reaction when my butch manger showed up dressed as a medieval king, with a crown and embroidered dress coat and boots (i stopped breathing and stared at her for five minutes, jaw on the floor), I would probably react the same to Hancock's manner of dress. I wouldn't need to say anything. He'd get it.

MacCready; he'd make make an impressive trash can shot. Meaning, he'd throw something from yards away and still get it in the garbage. What else can you do but bow before the glory of a college kids dunk skills

Nick; *five seconds after he leaves* "that was the nicest, kindest man I've ever met and I think my daddy issues are cured"

Piper; id follow her tumblr and Twitter for the Chaos. Is that a compliment? Idk but you look at me and tell me that this woman would not EAT any discourse she got into. Even if she was wrong she would still somehow win. I hate her. We should kiss under the moonlight

Preston; *five seconds after he leaves* "that was the nicest, kindest man I've ever met and I think I should chase him down and give him my number?"

X6; I would open my mouth to compliment his jacket and he'd look down at me through his sunglasses with the most digusted grimace, before opening his palm in expectation of money before he would EVER suffer my voice

#fallout 4 #fo4 #paladin danse #preston garvey #nick valentine #x6-88 #piper wright #companions react #robert joseph maccready #porter gage

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airenyah · 8 months

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Reasons Why I Need a Sexy JoongDunk BL

If you know me, then you’ll know that it’s actually kind of funny that I’m asking for this. Me. A sex-repulsed leaning asexual who, for the most part, tends to stay away from (overly) sexy and/or horny series. And yet I really want a sexy JoongDunk series. A messy, Only Friends-type of series even, perhaps.

Make no mistake, though. I don’t actually want it for me, oh no. No, I want a sexy JoongDunk series for them, for their sake. Because I feel like they’d have a whole lot of fun with it.

And here’s why I think so:

Reason #1: Dum Dum

Definitely the most obvious reason, but the LOL Fanfest Dum Dum performance: the fact that the choreography was like That. And the fact that it was their idea to switch up who bites who for day 2:

Not to mention the fact that Dunk actually bit Joong for real:

I'm just saying, they wanted “hot and sexy”, they chose this:

Reason #2: “We’ve never done this before”

The way they kept bringing up how Hidden Agenda is more mature than Star in My Mind and how there were scenes that they’d never done before*, it seemed to have been a big deal for them.

*see here for some eng subs (this video is unfortunately heavily edited)

Reason #3: “Favorite episode of Hidden Agenda? Episode 8!!”

The way Joong immediately said episode 8 was his favorite, smiling expectantly at Dunk...

...and then was very adamant when Dunk couldn’t decide between episodes 7 and 8:

Considering their comments of how “episode 8 is special” because they’ve “never done anything like this before”... Well, dare I bet it’s their favorite episode because of the ending specifically. Unless maybe they were particularly excited about the stalker story line. I don’t think they’d done that before either.

Reason #4: Ep8 watch party live on Instagram

The way they actually sat down and went live on Instagram in order to watch, react to, and comment on the entirety of episode 8.

And considering Dunk’s comment at the beginning of this live about how it’s “something we've never done before” I’m absolutely convinced they chose ep8 to react to specifically because of the ending lmao. Unless, of course, they were extremely hyped about the stalker plot. There were no creepy stalker plots in Star in My Mind, nor do I remember any significant stalking in Joong’s other works. Or maybe the two of them were referring to the scene where Zo bites Joke’s arm. I don’t remember any biting from Star in My Mind, so who knows, it might be that. What else was special in ep8? Oh right, Joke punched the stalker. That can’t have been the “we’ve never done this before” thing, though, considering Joong was literally in a Mafia series before. Also, he punched Pepper in Star in My Mind. My theory still stands.

Reason #5: “It was more intense than this”

In that instagram live they also dropped that a lot was cut from that scene and that it was supposed to be more intense than this. Uh, boys...? What kind of choreography did y’all on set come up with for this scene exactly??

(I can’t stop laughing at Dunk's face when he agrees with Joong saying that a lot was cut. He looks like he suddenly bit into a very sour lemon lmao)

In conclusion:

Clearly they had a lot of fun with the Dum Dum performance and it seems that they were very excited about getting to do something more mature with Hidden Agenda, and also getting the the chance to do something that they’ve “never done before” in ep8 specifically. So my point stands: I think they’d have a blast playing a sexy series together. I want it for them.

Bonus: Vampire BL

Bonus points if this sexy JoongDunk BL that I’m asking for is a vampire BL!! Here’s why:

You can find a more extensive list of vampire mentions in my JoongDunk Vampire Mentions Masterpost here.

#actually i think they'd have a blast on only friends ngl #i think they would totally have been up for it #airenyah plappert #joongdunk #adrm #sexy joongdunk vampire bl #i actually meant to upload this on sunday but then i ended up much longer than expected with my uni assignments rip #at least i've managed to get this done BEFORE gmmtv2024 tho so that's something i guess #also it doesn't actually need to be in 2024 tbh #i'll take one 2025 too #i'd also be excited to see them work apart from one another in separate projects #but. i need this at some point in the next 3ish years #@gmmtv do you hear me? ได้ยินไหมคะ #justice for joongdunk

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duskpeak · 2 years

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What it’s like to hold/hug them

(note: I am American so I use Fahrenheit, I’d put the Celsius number too but I’m just slapping this down as I think of it and I don’t feel like googling it)

Slight NSFW mention for Zoro

Ace

Oh boy, look, Ace ran hot even before his devil fruit he’s that one friend that is never cold when everyone else is and sweats in 65 degree weather. Wears shorts in winter, unless hell is literally freezing over you will not catch this man in pants (in an au you’d only find him in pants in summer because all three of them, for whatever ungodly reason like the house/apartment as cold as the air conditioner will make it). I was gonna keep going but this is about hugging them so anyway my point is this man is fucking hot all the time. He is your free personal heater in the cold months or on winter islands. Your pass to never need a blanket again. But he is also the bane of your existence, I’ve seen some fics where he can cool himself down but I disagree, at most he can only get himself to MAYBE a little below his pre devil fruit standard temp. The only good thing is no matter what he doesn’t sweat from heat, training? sure, goofing off on deck? why not, but no matter how hot it is outside you will never get a sweaty hug because it was hot outside. Before he got his devil fruit you might as well just dunk him in water because oh my god he sweats so much, don’t touch his hair, just don’t please. 8/10 before his df 10/10 after he gets his df

Luffy

Look guys I know y’all want to think all the ASL brothers are just naturally warm but listen you’re not exactly wrong but your not right either. Luffy, being rubber absorbs and releases heat quite quickly so his temperature heavily depends on the temperature of the room or area you guys are at. Generally he’s nice and warm though, he pretty much spends the whole day lounging in the sun so yeah I wouldn’t suggest touching him if it’s anything above 85 degrees just give him a few minutes to cool down. If it’s not direct skin contact I’d say go ahead, though if it is a hot day it might be a little too warm. On the other hand we’ve seen Luffy not realize he’s cold because he’s so excited but he actually gets colder way faster than everyone else. Winter islands are the worst for him, he doesn’t think of it that way but once he loses whatever heat he had his temperature just keeps dropping so it’s imperative you make sure he’s wearing something warm or at least are there to warm him up. Speaking of which warming him up is your perfect excuse to hold him not that you need one but sometimes it’s necessary in order to save your skin from the teasing from the rest of the crew. Aside from the temperature thing Luffy, despite being rubber never feels stiff in his hugs, that is, until he wraps an arm or leg around you which interestingly enough only feels that way until he’s done stretching. You can’t really figure that one out but it’s better you don’t think about it too much. Anyway holding/hugging Luffy is generally a very comforting experience even when he’s too hot or cold(then he puts his hands up your shirt wether you scream or not he still gets smacked by Sanji/Nami) 9/10 I would def get daily hugs from this man.

Zoro

Look guys even before timeskip Zoro is comfy to hug, they’re big, all encompassing, and feel safe. He can tell you all he wants that he doesn’t like hugs but he does, just maybe not infront of anyone else. Zoro runs pretty hot but not enough so that hes sweating for anything over 65 like Ace is, he gets hot quickly when doing any kind of physical activity but otherwise he’s got a completely normal body temp. Don’t even get me started on this man’s tits OH MY GOD they’re literally the perfect headrest, do not ever tell him this though he won’t let you touch him for at least a week if it’s just you guys but if it’s around everyone else it could last up to a month. (Actually it’s because once he thinks about it more he gets horny and embarrassed that you think that about his tits so he avoids you). 7/10 this man is STIFF until he gets used to hugging you after which it goes to a solid 10/10

#ace x reader #portgas ace x reader #portgas d. ace #luffy x reader #monkey d. luffy #monkey d luffy x reader #zoro x reader #roronoa zoro #roronoa zoro x reader #op x reader #one piece x reader #one piece

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home-of-renn · 1 year

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Ya'll wanna know what I love? COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIPS!

That Danny and Jazz have a very close relationship due to their parent's neglect. Jazz is pretty much the true parental figure in Danny's life and for the most part, always has been. Jazz's nagging and constant involvement in pretty much all aspects of Danny's life increases after his accident, which Danny doesn't really seem to notice cause he's got too much shit on his plate after waking up half dead. (But also cause Jazz has always been nearby and reliable - which does wonders to soothe his Obsession, so he honestly doesn't take much notice of her mother-henning).

BUT, this does end up influencing his relationship with Dani.

Even though she's the only surviving clone, she's still extremely unstable and could pretty much dissolve into goo at any moment without warning. This makes Danny's Obsession freak out and go on high alert any time he's near her. Not to mention that Dani - despite being technically the same age - is viewed as being much younger by Danny (and pretty much everyone else as well) due to how inexperienced she is and the fact that she is literally only a couple weeks/months/years old.

So all this stress about Dani's messed-up situation and the fact that there is literally nothing Danny can do to fix it (since she wasn't really meant to exist in the first place), combined with the way Jazz treats Danny, kinda skews his perception of what a sibling relationship is actually meant to look like. Tucker and Sam don't have siblings and no one else in Amity is willing to even go near the Fenton kids without so much as a ten-meter pole, let alone comment on the obvious lack of parenting going on in that family.

So, from any outside perspective, Danny's relationship with Dani is bordering on being parental/paternal. Which freaks Danny the fuck out when he finally realises why Dani gets so cranky and snappish about his overbearing tendencies (she's never experienced any form of parental affection in her very short life). Sam and Tucker never bothered mentioning anything cause they know it's probably just Danny satisfying his ghostly urges, and they also know that both Danny and Jazz have always lacked personal boundaries - that and the fact that honestly, nothing about their family is even close to being normal, including the way each member treats one another. Not to mention, when you're dealing with the kind of spooky shit they deal with on a daily basis, it's better to be in each other's pockets than too far away when something goes wrong.

But then one of them accidentally lets slip that Danny's attitude towards Dani is very much abnormal and Danny feels like he's been dunked in cold water. Cause Dani was made using Danny's own DNA, and there aren't any hard or fast rules on how you should view your totally impossible clone.

Danny's been struggling with controlling his Obsession after the crushing realisation that he had one - just one more thing that chipped away at his already contestable humanity. He knows he's overprotective and he knows that Sam, Tucker and Jazz don't mention how smothered they sometimes feel. And then he realises he's been doing it to Dani without even realising it, and once the realisation hits he's faced with a second realisation - which is that his Obsession doesn't know how to properly categorise Dani. Cause he has absolutely no desire to display any kind of fatherly affection towards her, let alone view her as a potential daughter figure (also wouldn't that make Vlad the other parent? That thought alone makes his stomach churn).

It's an embarrassing, humiliating tension he's felt since the day he met her. A twisted thing he sometimes thinks about in the dark of his room when he's trying to fall asleep. It feels guilty and shameful and something that's too close to grief. He's never even mentioned it to Tucker or Sam, and as soon as the thought pops up he dismisses it and keeps his mouth shut. He hasn't even finished school yet.

Danny doesn't want to think about his future. He doesn't even want to entertain the idea of him one day having a family of his own. But Dani never fails to make him think about it (all the things he could no longer have).

Danny's feelings towards Dani will always be familial. When they'd first met and found out what their connection was he had subconsciously drawn that line in the sand and then shoved it into a box before abandoning it in some distant corner of his mind.

Maybe, just maybe, if Danny was older he would have viewed her as a daughter.

But he won't. He's already too close to her. One day she's going to dissolve and Danny will be left inconsolable. The small still-human part of him realises that - even if the ghost in him refuses to acknowledge it.

Sometimes he feels like his Obsession has already taken away so many of his choices. Limiting his decisions and swaying his judgement. He's not entirely sure where it begins and where it ends and it makes him wonder, just how much of a different person would he be without it? Would he even be the same at all?

The moment all these realisations bloomed in his head was the day he fought with himself and convinced himself to take a step back.

So, he watches Dani from afar.

She seems happier now that she has more freedom to do what she wants without anyone looming over her shoulder. She doesn't understand how he feels - she doesn't have an Obsession. She lives her life flitting from one whim to the next.

But now she visits more, no longer staying away from Amity for as long as she can without risking Phantom coming after her.

He hadn't realised she was staying away.

Now Dani is the one who seeks him out. She wants to spend lazy days floating above the clouds basking in the sunlight. She pesters him to try every item on the Nasty Burger menu and begs him to ditch his homework to go watch a midnight screening of some tacky old horror movie from the 80s. She even convinces him to teach her the names of all the constellations as they recline on a grassy patch behind the Amity observatory (even if there wasn't much convincing involved at all).

He indulges each and every one of her childish desires. Because every time he turns his head to tell her no, all he can see are bright blue eyes dripping into a toxic green puddle. It never fails to make him bite his tongue and nod his head.

They continue the rest of their relationship with Danny keeping a close eye on that line in the sand.

He adores Dani - loves her even - and it's a feeling that grows the more time they spend together. She will always be special to him, and whatever that special thing is, it's something that doesn't need to be defined. She will always be someone important - someone who he loves the same way he loves Jazz (he makes sure of it).

-------- BUT THERE'S MORE

Not only does this anxiety-inducing realisation change the way he interacts with Dani (he no longer actively seeks her out all the time) but it also opens his eyes to the role Jazz has played in his life.

He realises that all the jokes and complaints about Jazz acting more like his mum rather than his sister aren't far from the truth. He slowly comes to terms with the fact that Jazz had a heavy hand in raising him and still continues to watch over him. It changes the way he treats her and it leaves him with a lot of guilt.

Somewhere down the line Jazz ends up realising that Danny now understands that part of their relationship, the part that Jazz had tried to hide from him - something she did to cast her parents in a better light so that Danny could have some semblance of a normal, happy family while having to grow up being a Fenton.

It hits her while her parents are still tinkering in their basement and Danny's just slipped out the window in the middle of the night to go fight a ghost. He'd seen the light under her door and let her know that he was heading out - something he'd only started doing recently. He'd stood awkwardly in the doorway and wished her goodnight before slipping intangible and disappearing from sight.

It made her realise - like switching on a lightbulb.

She'd buried herself under the covers and gone to sleep that night with swollen eyes and her library-loaned textbook dotted with salty tears.

Danny didn't comment on her puffy face the next morning and she didn't question the bruise that was blooming on the back of his neck - just handed him an ice pack and continued scrambling the eggs.

Neither of them talks about it.

~~~~

Just Danny having a complicated, anxious relationship with his clone - who has zero idea what her pseudo brother is actually feeling.

If yall haven't realised, I'm a sucker for complicated relationships

And if I'm being honest, the way Dani and Danny are depicted as twins/cousins and the two of them just readily going along with it has always been a little boring and one-note for me. I feel like having a clone - especially one that you feel a little responsible for - would open up a gigantic can of worms in regard to how you treat them and how you should feel about them. Throw Danny's ghostly Obsession into the mix you have a perfectly complicated situation.

(also I actually quite like the trans!danny headcanon - especially in regards to explaining how Dani turned out female. But in regards to this ^^^^^^^ I kinda like having Danny being cis cause it implies that Vald not only stole Danny's DNA but also mixed it with someone else's. Cause genetically speaking, it would be physically impossible for them to be clones if one has an entirely different chromosome. Which just adds another whole level of fcked up to this whole mess and just Vlad in general. Cause Danny - or at the very least, Jazz - is definitely aware that Danny's "clone" shouldn't be female and somebody realises this but can't bring themselves to speak up. Cause god forbid all of them are too young for this and too traumatised and would rather just brush that little tidbit to the side and under the rug, just so they can all move on)

(also it would leave Danny wondering who makes up the other 50% of Dani's DNA and honestly Vlad is so messed up that he could have just found a way and used his own and that would make Dani the closest thing to Dan and I don't think Danny would ever be able to face that)

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max1461 · 10 months

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Go on reddit see the posts on r/lgbt OP is vulnerable and confused and I want to help them scroll down to the comment instantly feel bad. People's worldview is harsh and unforgiving, dressed up in supportive language. See post from r/arethestraightsok, screenshot is of someone describing treating their partner like shit I feel bad. Scroll down to comments but instead of anything thoughtful it's more thoughtless nonsense dressed up in supportive language I feel bad. See post from r/4chan or r/greentext it's harsh and unforgiving with no pretense. Scroll down to comments it's even worse I feel bad. Or maybe the post is harsh and unforgiving but also evinces great suffering. Comments are unable to engage with this or express any genuine empathy, while still endorsing the worst elements of the post. Actually go on 4chan and conversation is just impossible because of the structure of the website. 90% of all posts are meaningless dunk fests that are so empty of meaning they can't even be critiqued. Go to tumblr. People are kind, at least where I am, but everybody is anxious. Anxious about doing the right thing, the most right thing, the ideal thing. Whether it's social justice or ratsphere or whatever. Worldview is not harsh and it's not unforgiving per se but it's unrelenting. There is no room to stop and take a breath no room to appreciate a nice flower because the flower has bugs on it and the bugs are suffering. I actually like bugs and I care about their suffering. But I can't live in a dead empty mechanical world of maximum good, I just cannot do it. You know I wondered this back in the day about the really intense social justice people, where it felt like social justice was their whole hobby. I wondered "what would you do in a world where justice had been achieved? You don't seem to like anything but fighting for justice." I don't quite wonder this about the people that I see today, but I also am not sure how I could see myself living in the world they want to create. Of course I do care about the bugs. I was gingerly saving bugs from drowning in puddles since before I joined this website. So it's hard to know what to do.

Go on YouTube it's all marketing meaningless O-face thumbnail crap. Like literal schlock, hype and oooh oh I made a giant lava thingy in Minecraft what will it do???? with five minutes of buildup and no payoff. Dude I know what it will do, I've played Minecraft I know how lava works. Why did I watch this video anyway? All #content and no content.

"Go outside and touch grass then, if the web is full of shit!"

Well I'm trying. There's a lot going on so I'm spending a lot of time online to distract myself. But moreover, the web is full of people, and it's like that because of the people who are on it, who are also the people that make up the real world. It's the same people.

"Well they act different on the web!"

Yeah, a little bit. But in a lot of the ways that matter they don't.

Well anyway. Look this is just a rant I'm sorry. My general state is bad so I am perceiving the bad things there's lots of good things.

#personal

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flowerflamestars · 5 months

Note

Effloresce pov speculation: Jurian. What is he doing? Is he still in Amarantha's ring? Did Hybern dunk him in the uppity magic cookpot and he's just hanging around Spring, being a forgotten threat to fae? Also, it's so bizarre that all the fae, some who knew him personally, have forgotten how dangerous he is. He seduced Clythia, murdered her brutally, led Amarantha on a merry chase and made sure she was useless as a general until she ripped him to pieces. He did that on purpose. The Fae forgot.

JURIAN MY AXE-WIELDING MURDER MACHINE HEART OF GOLD REVOLUTIONARY HERO!

Okay, I'm going to try not to spoil too too much, because Jurian has like, his own whole thing going in Effloresce. I looked at canon and said, actually, that man is fascinating.

Effloresce!Jurian is the same age as canon Jurian but ONLY chronologically.

(The ring is SUCH a cop out in canon- if the Cauldron can resurrect from a single body part, no important fae would be dying?? Or staying dead? If someone had the power to TRAP THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE DEAD, surely we'd...hear more about it? We got a whole magic horse biography in acosf for some reason, but JURIAN? No information. He is...sane after being trapped in a ring for five centuries? Comes out of that ring, and Hybern assumes he's been...tortured into submission? IS ON THEIR SIDE?)

There's three big things here that I'm playing with- one, Jurian REMEMBERS human slavery. He remembers the world he fought to destroy and the birth of the next. He remembers what ACTUALLY HAPPENED.

Two, while I reject the ring/Amarantha premise, I think it's basically impossible to believe the fae, who are immortal, would let a mortal (ish) man who'd killed some of their most powerful just have a peaceful life after the war.

SIDEBAR: They're not in the story, but I have HUGE Miriyam/Dracon HATE. They're just...in hiding? forever? On an island no one kind find? They could have been SO COOL but the vibe is so much more commune turned cult. WHY ON EARTH would they get the Cauldron, Prythian's sacred vessel of creation? They're not EVEN FROM PRYTHIAN

Three, he's an even louder metaphor for Feyre's total mental shift. Humans meet Jurian and go: JURIAN? OUR JURIAN? Feyre has like, a second of wonder before being like: BUT HE MURDERED HIS GIRLFRIEND RHYS SAYS HE'S A MONSTER. She, like most faeries, seems to think fae are inherently better. That their lives matter more. Clythia killed all her slaves rather than free them, but we're supposed to think Jurian's espionage is the gross part? Compared to whatever shit the fae were up to???

Jurian's basically a walking neon sign that reads HIGH FAE ARE DANGEROUS TO HUMANS AND KILL THEIR OWN DESCENDANTS, wrapped up in the courtly manners of a bygone era, errant knighting about trying to help humans, seething beyond belief that the crowns his people fought to create have allied with their greatest enemies.

(Also I gave him a sexy murderous girlfriend with a bad attitude. because. canon didn't even give the mercenary a NAME. Also his beef with Miriyam sucking being attributed to jealousy is such a ridiculous reduction. It's not that she didn't choose HIM, she fell in love with the man who OWNED HER and fucked off forever to secret paradise while the world went to hell)

By humans, Jurian is quite literally the opposite of forgotten. Faeries made it so in their massive, unbelievable arrogance.

#Jurian who only ever wanted to be a sworn sword and do what's right eyeing the ROYAL BLOODED ACTIVELY REBELLING ARCHERONS:#FUCKING FINALLY #the fae hate Jurian #and there's no worse thing to creatures that exist forever #than to be erased #THEY DO NOT SAY HIS NAME #Rhys 100% hates him because Jurian is like. a scrappy upstart from nowhere who is better at everything than him #(buried a thousand leagues deep in this story is Azriel going: I WANT TO FUCK HIM I WANT TO BE HIM)#Jurian disliking Feyre for the same reason he hates Miriyam #lol the past repeating and repeating

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coolfire333 · 19 days

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Genuinely really loving the rap/music discourse going around...let's all expand our perspectives a little but for the love of god some of you (not anyone I follow) are literally so stupid

Disclaimer: I am a little worried since it's easy to throw stones at "boring white girl music" which makes me wonder if this is just going to end up dunking on women in a veiled-sexist manner in general a la the "pumpkin spice white girls" trend that was popular a while back that basically was just making fun of women for having harmless fun under the guise that they were "basic white girls"

HOWEVER everyone in the notes of posts that are even slightly rude or poking fun at popular white musicians getting all up and arms because some (likely black) blogger poked fun at their (likely white) precious punk music or girlypop diva are really showing their ass on this one

As someone with a background in music and music history I can confidently say that nearly every popular genre in mainstream music would not exist without the innovations of black (usually American) musicians. And I think that's super neat! Ragtime, jazz, gospel, soul, r&b, blues, rock, pop, hip-hop, rap, all uniquely American genres that came largely, if not entirely, from the ideas of black Americans.

I'm undoubtedly missing some genres (I'm a bit old-school at heart so I don't know what's trendy now or where exactly it came from) but if you're American and on this website, doesn't that give you a form of national pride? That all those years ago people from your country were able to create new musical styles that have, for the most part, persisted and spread around the world? Honestly it brings a tear to my eye sometimes listening to old music and realizing how impactful it was on modern music genres.

Instead of going "ewww I don't like xyz" why not ask a fan of that kind of music why they like it and maybe what recommendations they have for someone who doesn't listen to that genre. And if you really don't gel with a genre for whatever reason, at least treat it respectfully and recognize its impact on the genres of music you do listen to.

"Ohhh but rap is just sex, drugs, and violence," I hear some of you saying. Well, keep in mind that that same critique has been used for pop, rock, jazz, ragtime, and pretty much every other "new" (keyword "black-influenced") art form so you really want to be careful labelling an entire genre as that. Controversy sells, so think about why exactly "mindless" rap might be the rap you're exposed to or most familiar with from the radio instead of more serious or contemplative rap songs.

Also realize that the songs you like probably also discuss drugs, sex, and violence, but perhaps less directly or in a way that's somehow more tolerable for you. Explore why! Why is it ok for (insert genre you like here) to talk about mature or "dark" themes but when rap does it it's suddenly offensive to you.

It's ok to have biases and be working on them! Also, if someone is trying to criticize a group you're part of for being biased, and they're trying to do it respectfully and seriously, don't joke around like "oh LOL that's so me" and don't get overly defensive either. Be serious and respectful back and genuinely listen to what they're saying.

Literally just don't be a jerk to music and art of marginalized communities! Is it really that hard to have respect for other people even if you don't 100% understand the culture from your perspective?

#serious #text post #talking #music #long post

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spindlephysalia · 7 months

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I keep seeing a Genre of Post in the Lancer tag

And it goes along the lines of "I just don't get why leftists dislike Union; they're flawed, sure, but they're a genuinely utopian project trying their best." To be clear, I'm not here to dunk on this position, and I'm also not here to epicly own Massif for secretly being evil or whatever. I love Lancer because you can decide how cynical you want to be about Union's efforts at utopia, and that can open up fun avenues for PCs and GMs.

With that said, I am here to explain why some leftists can find Union unsettling, so I'm going to err on the side of cynicism for this...post? Mini-essay? Unhinged rant? I'm not positioning this as central canon or the Secret Truth About Lancer, it's just an extra perspective some people might not have had explained to them.

A lot of people would start with NHPs and...I'll get there. I think NHPs are a good example of places where Union has failed, but I think it's worth examining Union's broader relationship with machine intelligences because there's an interesting pattern which emerges.

The first machine intelligences Union encounters are the Five Voices, the bicameral minds which make up GALSIM. These are relics of Old Humanity, and because Old Humanity checks notes sucked they're fully intelligent beings designed for specific purposes. Their minds are structured in order to prevent self-reflection - they cannot look inwards and hear their thoughts as the voice of the divine and literally do not have agency. Old Humanity was just a nightmare like this, I don't hold their use against Union, although it is worth noting there's no evidence of Union attempting to return agency to the Five Voices.

The second generaton of machine intelligence emerges out of the mental restraints of the first: shackle your oracles to the voice of God and they'll dream God into being. The mechanics of how they did this I will never pretend to understand, but the fact that the Five Voices were denied of agency by architecture which makes them hear God cannot not be the reason they created God. This then makes it noteworthy that Union's first response to RA was to imprison it in Deimos. I don't blame Union for the Voices, but as soon as a machine intelligence which does have agency appeared, their immediate response was to repress its agency.

The third generation is NHPs, the children of RA. I would hope the horror of NHPs would be obvious to tumblr, but "oh this is a kind of person who is dangerous and therefore needs to be put under out control" is just the thing slavers say to justify slavery. It's as fake when computer demons are being shipped across the stars as it is when black people were shipped across the Atlantic.

Okay, so Union's zero for three on treating machine intelligences well and...well, we know what happened to the Egregorians. I think I could stop here and have a fair argument that Union is only good for humans (as long as you don't live in the Baronies, of course) but I want to tie these together and then pop a disclaimer on the end, so bear with me a little longer.

Union's actual goals are not utopian, they are pragmatic. Union works towards a greater goal than most know, after all, they must secure the existence of their people and a future for human children. I'm being deliberately provocative with my rewording of "to ensure human existence on a grand scale", but when a state is seemingly terrified of non-human intelligences having agency and genocided the last alien population they met...that doesn't come from nowhere. "Union must protect humanity" is a goal which is easy to rally behind - and I don't think protecting humanity is bad, to be clear! - but when non-human entities exist it makes it so easy to justify anything you want in the name of "making sure their threat is contained". It's how you sleepwalk into being an ethnostate.

Again, I need to stress: this isn't the One True Take on Union, or Lancer, or Massif. I don't know if this was intentional on their part, but it's pretty easy to read into their stuff because they wrote Union as a flawed effort towards utopia and they did that well. At the end of the day, Lancer's canon exists as a toolbox for people to make the stories they want, and different lenses on Union just give you more tools for that box. But at least now, if you didn't know before, you might why some leftists are suspicious of Union.

#lancerrpg #lancerttrpg #bonus note #Union seeing its purpose as being to ensure human existence #implies it sees itself as separate from and above humanity #which is one of those quietly paternal elements I love Massif for putting in

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dorizardthewizard · 4 months

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Galactik Football season 3 rewatch, eps 16 - 18

Episode 16:

Nice levitation trick Simbai, but she's just allowed to use the Breath like that? Maybe because she's a flux society member? It does make me realise, since the wars were not so long ago, how many people are walking around who could previously use the the Breath all the time but now aren't allowed. That's kind of crazy!

I do like the idea of them actually learning how to use the Breath in more creative ways!

This soundtrack for Tia's training session is pretty cool

Well done Mei for wearing more weather-appropriate clothes this time!

Mice telling Mark to get it together kdjfskfd time for lover boy to get dunked on for once

FSJHDFKDSF ARTEGOR BEING A COMMENTATOR NOW I LOVE IT

Callie: Do you miss playing when you see your friends on the field? D'jok: Um, I- Callie: Certainly you must think they are still bitter towards you after beating them on Paradisia?

Callie those are some horrible questions leave the man alone 😭

I am once again asking for more Lun-Zeara action. Btw has she ever spoken a line? Fucking Stevens may have spoken more than her

I support the Snow Kids but I love seeing the Wambas winning and having fun <3

GOOOOOAL MICRO-ICE!

Artegor: Listen Barry, to be frank, I'm not a fan of your work

HE'S SUCH A BITCH LOOOL after my rewatch I want to make a compilation of Artegor's commentator moments

Lun-Zaera is CHILLING lmao, also I just checked the wiki for the spelling of her name and it's about as consistent as the Wamba's hair colour.

Why is Woowamboo being such a dick. She's trying her best!

Awwww D'jok cheering on the Snow Kids

Mei is carrying the defence in this match like the queen she is <3

Artegor contributes a more technical analysis of the game which is pretty cool

WOOWAMBOO FOULING?? I mean fouls aren't really rare but still, he's being far more aggressive than before? Sure, the Wambas aren't going to just be fun-loving when the GFC is at stake and they're as competitive as any other team, but when you combine this with the way he was talking to Lun-Zia it's just jarring?

Also WAIT. Woowamboo is ginger? So the player that switched to the Lightnings for the Paradisian tournament was just someone else? Fair enough as you wouldn't switch your star player, but yeah my bad. Actually wait, he literally has grey hair in the Netherball scenes in season 2. WHAT IS THE TRUTH

OK WHAT. SO LUN-ZIA TELLING THE WAMBAS WHERE ROCKET IS MOST LIKELY TO SHOOT IS PERFECTLY A-OK BUT D'JOK TELLING TEAM PARADISIA A LITTLE TIP ON HOW TO BEAT AHITO IS A BETRAYAL?? PLUS, in the last episode Aarch faces the SK in the holo-trainer and says he can beat them because he knows how they play, and that everyone else does too. WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS SAYING WHEN I WAS COMPLAINING ABOUT THE AHITO BETRAYAL BS. WHICH IS IT, WRITERS?!

Well at least Woowamboo seems more accepting of Lun-Zia now that he's seen her give it her all. Nice to see her settled in with the rest of the team!

I just had a thought, where is Maya in all this? We've seen Mama-Ice pop up and check on (scold XD) Micro-Ice but we didn't see Maya interact with D'jok at all? Wouldn't she have gone to see him instead of only hanging with the Snow Kids?? And now that D'jok's “retired” and hanging out by himself at Genesis, isn't she gonna look for him? She knows football was so important to him, so to give it up is a big deal! Ah well, we'll see.

Episode 17:

Yaay more Tia and Mei being besties

NOT CLOVER GIRL DOING THE MARYLIN MONROE

Side note I like Kim-8's vibes, she's just cool

That scene in Ballow's restaurant where he's talking about leaving dirty business behind, all while henchmen are constantly coming up to him with dodgy items like stolen paintings is so hilarious jfdskmn

aww I love Artegor trying to convince D'jok to come back, especially with him telling him how hard the SK took it when he left. It's also interesting to see Artegor refer to playing with the Snow Kids as a responsibility - they're a symbol of hope for the people of Akillian, who didn't even want to go to their first match in the stadium due to the trauma from the glaciation.

He also reminds D'jok he's a Snow Kid, which reminds me of their conversation in season.... 2? Where Artegor tells him he'll always be a kid from Akillian. It's also nice that once he's voiced his opinion, he changes the subject instead of pressuring D'jok to answer. He's really developed from the demanding Shadows coach he used to be.

THE PIRATES!! CRUSH THE RED TIGERS!!!!

Poor Artie, he can never watch a full match LOL

FOUR GOALS FOR STEVENS!!! WOOOOOOOOO PIRATES BEAT A FLUX TEAM! TAKE THAT!!!

NO. NO NO NO NO NO. THE CYCLOPS CANNOT FREEZE PEOPLE. THAT'S THE XENON'S FLUX. TRY AGAIN. ACTUALLY WATCH THE PREVIOUS SEASONS. TAKE IT FROM THE TOP.

Do you ever watch an old video and get jumpscared by a comment you don't remember making? Because I wrote this on another upload 9 years ago and I still don't know how they messed that up LOL.

I mean yeah sure it COULD be a new ability they've unlocked like how the Snow Kids are finding new ways to use the Breath. But they don't show the Cyclop's hypnosis thing at all, the animation is exactly the same as the Xenon's flux, and Callie even mentions their "hypnotic" flux and how the players can barely stay on their feet, which doesn't really match what's on screen sooo yeeeeeaahhh this is just an animation error. A pretty big one though.

So team Paradisia have no problem using their flux? Which was a synthetic one to begin with? And the technology for it is no longer available? Or do they just get it implanted once and that's it? So what was up with them going into those pods to “charge”? How does this work???

sfkdgfkjdf Mark went too hard on the sauerkraut, I love this gag about Mark and food

YESSSS SONNY! FATHER SON BONDING TIME FINALLY. His speech about the Pirates always being by his side even in tough times is sweet, and makes sense for D'jok. He's been through a lot with the Snow Kids and they're basically family now, and family wouldn't truly turn him away if he was sorry for what he did. At least, they wouldn't stay mad forever.

BENNETT YOU LEGEND. But also a bit reckless of Sonny to stand with D'jok right in the middle of an open area

Sonny: We're trapped!

Um no you're not, there's a staircase right there

Poor Cyclops, always getting clowned on :( ARTEGOR IS A SAVAGE IN THIS MATCH

BALLOW OUTING THE CON ARTISTS FDKFDKJDF I'm sorry I know it's a tragic moment for Sinedd but THAT'S SO FUNNY

The way they animate Sidney rolling around is hilarious. Also Thran only thought of finding Harvey just now? Wow, talk about second-class citizens.

It's so funny how this is the last episode in the official playlist, like they just gave up uploading HD episodes 2 years ago. Unless it's a regional thing? I'm editing this in Austria rn and the official English uploads aren't available unless I use VPN, are the French eps all uploaded in HD at least?

Episode 18:

Aaaaand I'm back to 480p uploads from 10 years ago. Thank you for your service youtube user lykaon868

I do get to see the intro and outro now though yaaaay

Wait what? We ended last episode on D'jok wanting to talk to the Snow Kids and with this one we just skip ahead to him being on the team again? I mean... they were building up to that moment for sooo long and we don't even get to see it? What???

It seems Tia and Rocket have accepted D'jok back but Micro-Ice and Ahito aren't so enthusiastic. It's strange to see Ahito so resentful but it's a refreshing change to see him react like that.

Micro-Ice's reaction on the other hand isn't taken very seriously and it's presented as them squabbling immaturely but like... he's right to feel hurt! We could've had some good Micro-Ice angst topped off with a heart-to-heart between two guys who canonically consider each other brothers, but here we are.

Sinedd's parents were... I M P O S T E R S ?

Sharky why are you revealing this as a scoop when it just puts you into hot water for not doing a background check before inviting them on the show

OOOO SHADOWS SPEAKING HISTORIC MOMENT

This is the serious - silly contrast dynamic I had in my head for the Shadows LOL. Although it's sad this kind of implies the Shadows only care for Sinedd as a player and not a person, telling him to get a grip after something like that? Although maybe their whole thing is that they TRY to act tough but really they're all feeling like that one guy who ran out crying lol. It IS a bit weird to insert comedy like that into this kind of scene though, kind of undercuts it for me.

Artegor just having tea and biscuits 🤣🤣🤣

CALLIE ACCEPT HIS OFFER FOR TEA DON'T BE RUDE. He looks sad after her reaction fskdjfskds honestly Artegor is probably the best character this season

STOP HAVING THEM SCORE IN THE FIRST MINUTE SFJKDFSKS

Tia squaring up to Sinedd I LOVE HER

Also wtf Sinedd, but he was about to go to Mei so I wonder what he was gonna do? Taunt her? Or maybe he regretted it? I guess we'll never know

This is a match with the Shadows, the Snow Kids' biggest rivals, and yet the first half is over in a few minutes of the episode! The matches just aren't as interesting in this season and feel too rushed

TIA CAPTAIN MOMENT YYYEAAAAAAHHH SHE DESERVES IT!

I am not immune to some D'jok vs Sinedd action

Not Maya focusing on Sinedd when she hasn't interacted with D'jok this whole time 😭

Mei is such a savage, it reminds me of Stevens handing Sinedd the ball that one time when there was seconds to spare LOL also pls forgive the shit quality gifs, demonstration purposes only folks

Sinedd: Do like everyone else Mei, don't worry about what I do and just forget me. Mei: But Sinedd- Sinedd: I lost, Mei. I lost everything. Everything.

Oof Sinedd really goes through the ringer every season, huh

Mark is smooth as butter on the pitch but so incredibly cringe at flirting

Warren: The team. The group. That's all that counts, D'jok D'jok: Being a team player Warren, that's what I want to improve!

Sure D'jok, until next season. But it's also kind of weird to portray his arc as if he just needed to learn how to be a team player again, when a big part of why he left was the emotional turmoil from the breakup and him lashing out because of it. That's never really resolved, although I guess the season is trying to say that D'jok became obsessed with winning again, which is what drove Mei away in the first place, but again I'm just speculating here! They had the means for a really good arc for D'jok but fumbled it and decided to retread old paths instead.

Is Harvey alive after all?

I do love that Clamp is still working alongside Sonny. And yaaaay Thran gets to do something!

Wait Paradisia is a dead planet, it didn't blow up or anything. Harvey is a robot so is it that surprising he's still there? Why not look for him earlier?

#galactik football #dori watches galactik football #my posts

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amerricanartwork · 3 months

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9. and 20. please.

Also love the new lil scugsona. Very fitting for you.

@scavworld's Rain World Questionnaire

Thanks for the ask! Just a quick note, that little character was actually meant to be a scug-ified version of my regular avatar, which I should probably make a ref for soon. I've always just liked the idea that it can "transform" into a different creature to match whatever fandom I'm dealing with, so I thought I'd portray it as a slugcat in this case!

Anyway though, onto the actual questions...

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

9. What are your opinions on Five Pebbles (character)?

Ohhh, now that's a very interesting matter! I really like characters like him because they're so fascinating to me! For now I will disregard the fantastical element of him being a massive supercomputer, because even though in-and-of-itself I think that's such a unique concept even in fiction, especially after I realized that Five Pebbles and Looks to the Moon really are the core of not just the "story" of Rain World but even the in-game environment itself, I imagine I'll have another chance to touch up on this so I'll save my longer thoughts on that for later.

That being said, I'll start by saying I love thinking about characters from a psychological perspective, trying to figure out why they are the way they are, why they do what they do, what they really want vs. what they think they want, how they really perceive themselves vs. how they present themselves publicly, etc. Characters like Five Pebbles are always an especially interesting choice for this kind of pondering, because, as flawed as they may be, so much of the situation around them also contributed to their downfall that I refuse to let everyone else off the hook too. And since I also don't believe anyone is inherently a "bad" person, it's really fun to ponder just how these characters go from being alright people to doing such terrible things and meeting such tragic ends.

To put it shortly, Five Pebbles (and other characters like him) is in my interpretation a great example of karma in the more real-life meaning, and the "you attract more of what you think about the most" idea. Five Pebbles always seemed to feel trapped by and at arms with his surroundings, from the great opposition to his very existence from the True Anointed Citadel, to him literally being physically stuck to Looks to the Moon, to the fear of opposition he must have had as a Sliverist, to him being stuck dealing with the rot, and finally with his collapse, left as a tiny fraction of himself buried in the cold, lifeless remains of his superstructure, with truly no way out on his own. Because he was so focused on escaping the perceived confines around him, all he did, albeit unknowingly, was end up finding more nets to get trapped in.

And again, while I think everyone around him did contribute to his awful end in some way, stories like these are still pretty sad to me because, in the end, I think these characters themselves need to learn to change their thinking, yet all the harshness they face can so easily lead them to create a vicious cycle. Five Pebbles isn't the first character I've enjoyed strongly whose story seemed to play out this way, and as sad as it is, it's also very intriguing.

And besides, it opens up plenty of potential for redemption arc AU stories—!

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20. What is something you think the game could improve on?

The short answer: incentive.

The long answer: Let me start off by saying Rain World, to me, is fascinating largely as more of an art project than a normal video game. It's amazing how a relatively simple concept of a small animal in an urban environment they can't understand morphed into something so vast and extensive, combining nature with technology, science with religion, sci-fi with fantasy, and dunking it all in a super unique aesthetic that fuses urban street style with fancy ancient artwork, it's amazing!

BUT so much of this is lost to players because the game does, in my opinion, a pretty bad job of conveying it all. It's very confusing , especially to new players, and the only means of discovering the greater context of the story, besides just hearing it from other players/fans, is if not downright frustrating at least very tedious. And that's just getting the story itself. I think most people who have played this game haven't even made it that far, because the gameplay alone is so difficult the first time playing that if you aren't captivated by the mystery factor of the environment (or like me and also stubbornly dedicated to getting the bragging rights of having beat such a difficult game), you're too busy just trying to not die every other cycle to bother really exploring and ferrying the pearls to Moon, much less making sense of what you uncover.

I think the blank stare of the slugcats looking up at Five Pebbles perfectly encapsulates what I'm getting at here. You've got this absolutely fascinating story about a mechanical god who flew too close to the sun in a desperate attempt to escape the confines of his life, meanwhile the little slugcat is just all "...'kay", because what does this little animal care about the crazy religious hubris of some long-gone existence-hating people and their sad crumbling calculator robots when all it wants its is to just find more food and not get eaten again?

For a bit of devil's advocate, I will say that I think the difficulty of just playing the game and then figuring out its story, first of all is pretty "realistic" from the perspective of simulating a real-life ecosystem and having an animal discover complex lore in a way that they'd be physically capable of, but secondly has led the Rain World fandom to be really tight-knit compared to other fandoms I've seen. It seems like everyone I've come across is at least in the process of playing through all the campaigns, if not having already completed them and established some level of their own interpretation of the story, because they are all genuinely interested in the game, its characters, world, story, and themes enough to persevere through all the struggles of gameplay and lore confusion to enjoy it. However, it's also the same thing that makes this fandom rather small, which is also fine by me; I think there's lots of value in quality niche content!

With all that said though, I can't deny that I think this game isn't very good at getting players geuninely interested in all it has to offer. For evidence, consider how few players have even met Five Pebbles, who is perhaps the most important character in the entire game story-wise (Steam achievements has the "The Journey" Achievement at 12.0% of players as of posting this). Even from my experiences, I didn't even know what "Sliverist" actually meant until a couple weeks ago, and I've been playing this game and involved in the fandom for months at this point!

So yeah. To sumarize, in my opinion, Rain World is a fascinating and very inspiring art project, but most of what it has to offer is lost to most players because it's terrible at giving you a reason to care about it all. Thus, the main thing I think it could improve upon is giving players a reason to care about its worldbuilding and story enough to continue playing.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Well, that was long, but pretty fun! I hope these answers suffice! Keep the questions coming!

#rain world #asks: scavworld's rain world questionnaire #iterator #five pebbles #rw fp #quetzalli's thoughts #quetzalli answers #inbox

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atopvisenyashill · 3 months

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If you had the chance to change something about the dance of the dragons (TV show or book), what would it be? For example, how a character dies, which team a house is on,or an entire character personally. How would you change it to make the story better, in your opinion? 💙💚🖤♥️

JUST ONE THING. ANON U R A SADIST.

aksjdjd no okay thank you great ask. sorry if it’s a lil all over the place, i think obsessively about how i would adapt f&b and asoiaf if i was a millionaire lmao.

for the show it’s so easy (besides just giving it like ten more episodes to cook before getting to the Dance, I mean) - lean into the dueling protagonists of alicent & rhaenyra by giving them dueling deuteragonists in aegon ii and jacaerys. i realize this would completely reframe the whole show lmao, but we can even compromise and say once they do that ten year skip, the narrative should focus in on building up the two sides through the dueling protagonists alicent & rhaenyra, and dueling deuteragonists aegon & jace. it makes way more sense to have the character they most interact with be their sons & “heirs” and contrast those relationships & all the politics that exist in how they act as mothers towards their sons. rather than focus in on daemon as the second main character for rhaenyra and…this weird fucking musical chairs male protagonist with the greens they’re doing. it doesn’t fix everything but i think shifting the focus from rhaenyra’s marriages to her as a mother and queen regnant, and from alicent’s conga line of abuses to again, an active role as a mother and queen consort/queen mother, as well as fleshing out the two men who are objectively thee most important men in their lives (argue with the wall jace & aegon haters!!!!). explaining why jace & aegon developed into the sort of men they are through how they exist in the most important relationship in their lives, literally until the day they both die. (and if you’re curious, daemon’s counterpart is aemond, they get to be number three for both their sides. viserys isn’t on a “team” but he does have a counterpart and it’s QOREN).

i think the way they did it in the show really does a disservice to the potential of aegon and especially jacaerys as characters, as well as downplaying the importance of a lot of critical relationships like rhaewin, laenyra, criston’s entire demented relationship with both women, rhaenys’ relationship with laena & rhaenyra, alicent’s whole ass relationship with her kids, AND rhaenyra’s whole ass relationship with her kids. imo they go for this kind of half in half out “we want to appeal to the insane targ stans who genuinely believe incest will save westeros” and “we want to write a story about the complexities of motherhood & sexuality in a patriarchal society” and wound up in a weird place where daemon & alicent are both bisexual but only in deleted scenes and completely drop rhaenyra’s gender fuckery the moment she’s played by an actually non-binary actor and also completely bury the other non-binary actor (rhaena’s actor, phoebe campbell) by giving their character like two fucking lines and no depth.

also better wigs jesus FUCKING christ hbo i know you have the budget!!

for the books….a lot of the problem with the dance is that f&b is so antithetical to how george writes. it’s effectively a very long and detailed outline of a plot and george doesn’t write exclusively by outline. as he says himself, he gardens - he writes and he sees where the writing takes him. if he had actually sat down and written out the dance as a series of short stories the way he does with dunk & egg, i think the plot would not only be massively different it would also be leaps and bounds better. what i want to change is to make george actually WRITE the dance and not just outline and call it a day!!!!

BUT. Okay if I can change ONE thing. fuck that’s hard.

I’d make Larys’ motivation more clear, and when i say more clear i mean my theory is that Larys just straight up hated the Targaryens and Velaryons bc he believed one of them killed Harwin, and decided to get revenge by completely fucking over the whole family tree. i get why people like his show version (I like parts of him a lot too and the actor has some galaxy brained takes!!!) but i think while Larys is well done, his character adaption & the way he’s completely unknowable in the series itself is just a rehash of Tyrion. We already have a disabled younger brother who hates his older brother for being condescending in his love & conditional acceptance, and hates his father for being a patriarchal monster, and is a sexually abusive menace to teenage girls, and I don’t think they are saying anything new or groundbreaking with Larys in the show or book. He is just there to be the evil crippled henchman, and then die.

No, what I want is a true chaos agent to rival Littlefucker, a man who becomes obsessively and uncomfortably devoted to Harwin, the only person in his entire life who ever treated him with any love or respect or care, who launches this bloody, demented quest to completely wipe out every Valyrian left alive for the misuse and murder of his brother. Willing to help kill his own nephews. Willing to burn the kingdom to the ground. Willing to destroy his own house if it means Harwin will be avenged, if it means the dragons die. All leading to Larys getting his Pyrrhic victory and choosing to die because he feels he has nothing left.

Why the extreme change? I think it fits better with a lot of the themes in F&B and the dance in particular - not just family, and “the things we do for love” but the legacy of Valyria, of the Targaryens and the dragons, the clash and growing pains of this group of interlinked cultures learning to tolerate each other’s existence on the same continent, and of course, what being told every day of your life that you’re a monster does to how you view yourself. You can keep all the rest of his weird behavior from the show and the books even - the sexual abuse of Alicent being Larys unable to stop himself from turning into the same sort of awful man his father was; of him switching sides without a care or without any seeming sense in the books, always ready to be the devil on a shoulder to Viserys, Aegon, Alicent, and Corlys - but a little bit here and there to let us know that Larys genuinely loved Harwin until the bitter end. We already have several stories about a brother who grows to resent another and lets the resentment fester until he’s willing to cross a line you can’t come back from and murder his brother for a perceived sleight. I think Larys & the dance as a whole benefit from him being a brother who romanticizes and saintifies Harwin (but not lyonel!) so much that he weaponizes his years of resentment & turns it against the entire world and damn the consequences. I think he fits in much more with Rhaenyra, Alicent, Corlys, Viserys, Daemon, and Rhaenys that way and steps away from being Tyrion but slightly to the left and into his own type of character instead.

#if i can get a buy one get one i want to reimagine mysaria as well bc like larys she’s just a rehash of varys but worse.#hotd critical #asks #anons #you can even KEEP the clumsy angry protectiveness of harwin in the show or the relative distance in their narratives in the books #bc the point is that larys romanticizes this relationship bc it is the only thing that resembles love he has ever experienced.#how harwin acts doesn’t matter; what matters is that larys turns him into a shining example of the warrior and father in his mind & losing #this touchstone breaks him open just like rhaenyra alicent viserys etc all break at their own losses. it’s just that larys is smarter and #plays the game better and actually accomplished his goal before he let the war eat him alive!#damn i should add house strong to my list of blorbo houses aksjdjd

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