growing up and even well into my 20s i had this belief that the reason i'd avoided relationships or sex like the plague was because it wasn't the right time yet or the right person, but that i did want those things, because if i didn't then why did i fantasize about being in a relationship, why did i fantasize about sex. i'd self-issue excuses like "i'm too young right now, maybe high school" "i can't date anyone here i've known all my classmates since i was a kid it's weird, i'll wait til college and then really go wild" "not this person, not this one either, no not them" "i'm too busy with school, maybe after i graduate when i have time" "oh i have to work now i can't bother myself with that right now" "not now, later. later, later, later." and there was this always-there feeling throughout that time that i was just being scared, or something was wrong with me, or i was just super unlucky to have not found a single person i was interested in, too picky. i had pressure from friends and family to find a partner. i had expectations of myself, too. i broke hearts and felt very little remorse; just discomfort at having been the object of someone's affections in the first place. it strained some friendships and broke others. i had suspicions and struggled with it, but didn't self-ID as ace-spec until a few years back when i was like "hm. actually maybe never?" and the relief. the release of that denial. the freedom to separate fantasy-desire from actual-desire. the realization how exhausting it all was to pretend, even to myself, and that most people don't feel that

anything can be a good omens au if you’re unhinged enough

james t kirk walking through the enterprise for his FIRST OFFICIAL ENTERPRISE ASSIGNMENT (his first real (temporary) commission on the ENTERPRISE! baby boy's dream job! second time on this fancy deck EVER!) losing his absolute mind like is this. a thing. that ships do. and no one told me? at ANY point in The Academy??? Or is it just the flagship? I mean they ARE the best, so maybe Pike's on to something? Was that energy pulse a signal? Damn the choreography is impressive — yeah, I suppose I can see this being helpful for emergency drills, or at least morale... and it's just like being on an old Earth ship, which you have to admire. I wonder if they do historic shanties too! Wow! Commander Una really can do anything, is her vocal range also enhanced? Asking is almost definitely a microaggression, come on Jim, be better. ok, it's gotta be just the Enterprise, Farragut never... except, our command officers are somewhat considered killjoys? Maybe its like how some ship cultures tend more pants over skants? no, someone would have told me before now if this was a normal crew activity. But if it's not standard, how is everyone in such perfect harmony that's GOT to take serious practice. Unless its like an old school hazing, trial by fire deal... then I can't be the only one out of the loop on this. Oh shit, what if it's — oh good God I should have taken a music elective — Gary told me straight to my face that my course load was too narrow on command, my career councilor even said that I could benefit from more arts in my schedule! FUCK! They must have taught this in one of those easy credit intro to federation music seminars and everyone who looks at my file knows I'm an uncultured idiot who — oh I am also singing. huh. right yes of course the lyrics are acknowledging the oddity of... guess there's some pathogen or anomaly — thank the lord i haven't been missing something major for — wait no, being compelled to sing in unison is also a problem—

Your eyes are a thousand times deeper than the sky, and I am a tiny star falling for all time

cooper definitely fell first and harder!!

imagine kaido trying to wingman kubosai because to him its really obvious theyve been cringefail flirting for MONTHS

but it just results in their little group of four being even more awkward and poor nendo is sooo out of the loop

he just keeps putting them in awkward situations and the whole walk to school and back is filled with comically loud gulps and awkward laughs and red faces and kuboyasu rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly

so now hes gotta actually confront aren and convince him to just DO something about his crush instead 😒

Thai: A school boy meets another school boy

Japanese: See above or Colleagues fall in love.

Taiwanese: See above or Step brothers!

Mean while Korea: Vampire falls in love. A colourblind person finds his soulmate. An orphan finds his love. A actor and chef falls in love. A nobleman marries a cross dressing man. Roommates become boyfriends. An author with 2 life times of memories finds love. Assassins fall in love. A dancer and loan shark get together. A cat and dog, reincarnate as humans and find themselves boyfriends.

No one brings this kind of variety to the table other than Korea.

cosplay of qixiu七秀 from mmorpg wuxia game JXonline3 by 点娘www

if copia had 5% more control over his life he'd just be a drag queen. that's it. like that's literally it that's what this, collectively, is all pointing toward. imperator's like Oh Thank Satanas my definitely-not-kid is a weird little fruit who belongs on a stage. i can use this to obtain ultimate power. meanwhile copia is like the autistic homeschooled religious kid who absorbed an itty bitty fraction of the actual, like, doctrine and spent most of his time looking at images of large men in the illustrated satanic bible. but is fine being the frontman because he gets to wear makeup and bedazzled shit and nun clothes.

hey @clickergossip and @becomethesun im thinking about how my preschoolers had a valentines day dance where we had parents come and dance with us to songs that the kids chose. also thinking about how how toddler sarah and ellie would definitely choose the BEST songs

the other kids are choosing songs like let it go, we dont talk about bruno, and pup pup boogie from paw patrol. meanwhile ellie chooses “we belong together” by mariah and sarah’s chooses “at your best (you are love)” by aaliyah

i really liked my tags on this post so i wanted to touch them up and post them as a stand alone! i ended up adding quite a bit to this ''':)

What artistic skill does Izzy possess?

I think he has a lot of 'practical' artsy skills. he’s decent at sewing (mending your own clothes isn't just useful, it's almost a requirement at sea with limited possessions and resources) he's probably decent at braiding hair from having to splice rope- simply anything with roots in being useful I think he has done enough to be decent at by this point in his life.

Singing comes into this as well, holding a rhythm is important for certain sailing tasks, and while I think he can sing in ways that don't translate to shanties, I don't think he has utilised this in a long long time (so excited that we are apparently getting an Izzy singing scene in s2!!!! I need him to know he can have fun)

Another thing is I think he was a really good tattoo artist! I don't actually see him as having the creativity to come up with interesting and unique designs but I do think he is excellent at the act itself, and at copying requested designs. you need a swallow? an anchor? a ship? any common sailors tattoo? he can absolutely do it and it will probably be the best tattoo you have. it was always a mark of honour if you could convince him to do yours on the Queen Anne- he was very busy and didn't often do them, and definitely wouldn't do them if he didn't respect you. He's done a lot of Ed's 'quality' tattoos (though I think Ed also does a lot on himself), he's done tattoos for Fang, and Ivan, and he will do them for the rest of the kraken crew in the future. (he will even do one for Lucius one day, one of his own pieces of art as long as its not an Ed face or a dick. They understand each other now)

anything else? I don't know, I see him very much as, he won't let himself do things if they aren't practical. his canon whittling is as close as he gets and that's more of a 'thing to do with your hands while watching the deck' kind of thing. have knife will whittle

I think ultimately, Izzy doesn't let himself do things for himself. if you love something, if you have a soft spot, it can be targeted, taken away.

I do think he maybe dances though. He always plays it off as something Ed forces him to do when they're drunk/on shore but... he loves it- the motion; the reliance on another partner and the intimate understanding of exactly what they're gonna do next? I think he would love that actually.

I think dancing might be the one thing he always does for fun. He never lets himself have it, but if Ed demands a partner? Yes, of course, anything for his Captain.

(Ed always demands a partner. he likes dancing well enough but he likes seeing Izzy do it more- he knows Izzy will never do it on his own, he understands why, but Ed is Blackbeard. Nobody fucks with Blackbeard- and if he wants to dance? if he wants his first mate to dance? they're fucking dancing.)

but that's not the truth of the situation, really.

It always takes him a second to let his guard down, but he relaxes into it. He lets himself loose in a way Ed only sees when he's deep into the rhythm of a swordfight. And perhaps it's the same, to him- finding the flow of the battle, of the music. Feeling his partner, understanding them and being understood in return? It's all the same- but dancing is safe. Dancing is fun. In a swordfight there are stakes- and he loves the stakes, he loves that this thing that means everything to him matters, but sometimes, just sometimes, it really is nice to move like that in a way that doesn't matter.

And when they really get going- all twirls and jumps and frankly being a little ridiculous, Izzy laughs. A deep belly laugh, a kind of joy you didn't think was possible from him. But here he is, letting go at last. He laughs and he smiles and he feels such joy, the rest of the world melts away, and it is just him and his partner, dancing.

(later- much, much later, a man will play a battle song over their raids, a jaunty little tune that throws off everyone they fight against, and Izzy gets to dance, and fight, and feel free, unburdened by the weight that he's carried with him his whole life. They'll dance after too, and he will have finally found a place where he completely belongs)

(if you liked this, can I recommend Talking Bodies by ItsClydeBitches, i feel like that fic fits the themes of dancing incredibly well)

WE WON FUCKING THIRD PLACEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, WE'RE FUCKING AMAZING

Carmen and Antonio were actually closer than Gray and Carmen were. Let me explain [beams you to my mind palace]

I think that Antonio saw Carmen like a little sister. She reminded him of his little sister back home and how she loved to play pranks and giggle and tease him.

The first time he heard Carmen laugh so hard she snorted he cried in his bed when he was sure everyone else was asleep because she reminded him of the family he left behind and when he woke up the next morning Carmen was curled up at the foot of his bed and he had another blanket on top of him

He taught her how to cook (well, mainly how to eat and annoy people in the kitchen) and she taught him how to dance and sing

He taught her how to deal with panic attacks and anxiety and she taught him how to pull yourself out of the depths of depression

She taught him how to repair clothes and he taught her how to do her hair so it would stop falling in her eyes

The first time he hugged her really tight they both cried. Carmen whispered that she thought of him as a brother and he started crying like a baby and kissed her forehead and whispered “Eres como mi hermana. Mi hermana menor. oh, hermanita...” (you are like my sister. my baby sister. oh, baby sister...). Ever since then he’s called her hermanita

When she ran away he cried for hours, Jean-Paul held him and told him it was going to be okay. She just wasn’t who he thought she was. It only made him cry harder

When he saw her in Boston and she threw him overboard he thought that he had really lost his sister. That someone else had poisoned her against him and everyone else. But then she threw a life preserver over to him and he had time to think “maybe she’s still in there. Maybe I just need to find her.” but he never did

I think he learned to love her again. Not Black Sheep, but Carmen. She was there for the grand opening of their food truck. Think when he saw her he started bawling and ran to hug her. Think he knocked her over and started kissing her all over her face while saying “hermanita” over and over again. Think she cried, too, just absolutely sobbed her eyes out

Jean-Paul came over and Antonio just pulled him into the hug. They probably took a picture outside the food truck that day that Antonio had framed. Carmen keeps a smaller version of the picture in her wallet? Or maybe her coat pocket.

Anyways that’s it. Just think about it guys

just saw someone recycling ye olde "X character doesn't read as Y identity to me, someone who doesn't & has never held that identity & thus am not as intimately familiar with mannerisms, tropes & characterizations that are typically associated with Y identity. There is no evidence for X being Y and you guys are acting insane."

like. do you understand that you are using the EXACT SAME excuse that other people are using to shit on YOUR headcanon that you're so attatched too because it has so much evidence?

did it ever cross your mind that it would probably be harder for you, person who isn't X, to pick up on subtler tropes & identifiers of X that you've never experienced because you aren't X?

like you get how it sounds like you're shitting on other wueer people?

do kids today dance normal at dances cuz i remember our 5th grade dance a girl got kicked out for dancing too sexual and in middle school dances everyone was just.... gyrating and grinding on each other on the dancefloor. the 00s were wild

Once the veneer of fantasy is stripped off, the setting terrestrialized, and the orcs recognized as human, then, all the classic themes of Western racist thought become immediately visible. Tolkien’s aesthetic judgment on Mongols and orcs simply repeats Meiners’ aesthetic classification of races, and the even earlier medieval hierarchy: “The figure prized in medieval romances corresponded to Greek statuary, physiognomy was important, and a ‘skin of dazzling whiteness’ exemplified true beauty. Such beauty symbolized goodness, while blackness, small stature, and an ill-proportioned body meant ugliness and evil.” Similarly, twentieth-century German racists would contrast Aryans and dark “ape-men.” Blacks themselves, of course, had traditionally been seen in racist thought as close to apes, and possibly even prone to couplings with orangutans. In keeping with the foregoing, Tolkien describes an orc as “a short crook-legged creature, very broad and with long arms that hung almost to the ground” (TT, 62), while at the siege of Helm’s Deep, we are told, the orcs “sprang up [the ladders] like apes in the dark forests of the South” (TT, 178). The pure-blooded orcs’ fear of the sun also has its precedent in one German anthropologist’s contrast of a diurnal Aryan and a nocturnal non-Aryan race.

Charles W. Mills from “The Wretched of Middle‐Earth: An Orkish Manifesto” (2022)