#I’m just a humble conspiracy theorist

[thisbelongsto-nohbodys]

With having just watched episode 4 of “My Adventures with Superman” and thus completing my “3 episodes to WOW me” test, I can safely say that I like it and I highly recommend it. (the 1st 2 eps is a 2-parter and I count multipart episodes as 1 since it’d be unfair to count half or a third of a story on it’s own, thus waiting till ep4)

Clark Kent is the lovable puppy himbo that we all know he is. Just a humble kid from Kansas who wants to help people, track down a story for the Daily Planet and saves cats from trees no matter how late he is. This being early Superman, it’s great to see him develop and learn about his powers overtime instead of being godmode almost immediately like in a lot of modern adaptations. For those that think that Clark is acting a little too nervous really need to go back to the earlier works and watch how actors like Christopher Reeves played Clark. Just a nervous, shy but good person who doesn’t draw attention to himself.

Lois Lane was a change that a lot of people didn’t see...especially that she is strikingly similar to Luz Noceda (tho’ Lois is Korean in this) but that doesn’t matter after a while since your quickly won over by how determined she is to break a big story and prove that she’s a real reporter instead of just an intern. Her and Clark having pretty much a “crush at first sight” type relationship is pretty cute in this as while it seems to be moving fast, it’s also taking it’s time... however the ending of episode 4 might toss a wrench in that for a bit. Lois is still that overeager ace reporter we all know except that she’s still got a lot to learn until she gets to the ace reporter we all know.

Jimmy Olson being a conspiracy theorist (a fun one, not the losers we have now) is an interesting change and I’m waiting to see how far they take this and what it’ll do to help the story along. Granted that for a bit of the Clark and Lois romance, Jimmy knows that they like each other but at the same time is fulfilling the typical anime 3rd wheel and interrupting things, tho’ not maliciously. Him and Lois have a neat dynamic together and him being best friends and roommates with Clark makes sense and hopefully we get an episode showing how they met and became friends.

The villains have been neat takes on the classic ones, like  so far we have Livewire, Deathstroke, Parasite, Ivo, Silver Banshee. I’m actually very glad we haven’t gotten Lex Luthor yet because I’m so sick of the movies using him as the main villain for Superman. I know that Lex is the Joker to Superman’s Batman but it’s great that the other villains are getting a chance to shine without Lex around. Also just like with my mentioning that this is early Superman, that also means the villains aren’t the villains that we know, I’ve seen so many people complain that they “ruined” Deathstroke by anime-ifying him but they forget that this isn’t the Deathstroke we know, this is before the orange/black mask and getting his ass kicked by teenagers on the regular. Let these things build up, y’all. (Also, I’ve seen ppl wanting to see this show’s version of Bruce Wayne and like, c’mon. let Superman have something without the Bat for at least another season)

So yeah, I highly recommend this show atm

#my adventures with superman #rant #DC comics

[hologramcowboy]

https://at.tumblr.com/hologramcowboy/httpstwittercomditchlilytigerstatus162733189/wnyptttbl66d

I saw this photographer complaining about your use of the picture, too. Reading the comments was just …

Instead of calling someone a creepy conspiracy theorist because they interpret a photo (and real life comments and actions) differently than themselves, maybe they should try looking at things from another angel. This obsession with seeing Jensen as perfect and constantly having the time of his life is ridiculous and points to a huge bias. I’ll be honest, the particular picture in question, where Jensen looks in pain, could be him "living the music" but to me, he does not look like he’s just grooving. Also, there is video of the concert, so it’s not like people’s opinions are only based on photos.

The last time Jensen performed at a con, he was yelling, not singing, and yet they praise his amazing performance. Jensen has a lovely voice when he isn’t straining it, and is a good performer (usually), but that doesn’t actually mean he is an amazing, Uber talented singer. He was very good as Dean, but to say he never had over the top moments or ones that didn’t quite connect, is just not true. Saying he’s liberal and a huge ally is a huge stretch seeing as he is very closed mouthed on politics in general (I don’t actually blame him there, as if I were famous I’d want to appeal to the widest audience and would stick to discussing my art). Saying he likes Destiel now because he learned the hard way that criticizing the stupid ship gets him outright hate and death threats, is embracing willful ignorance. Jensen and Danneel can only be viewed as couples goals, despite the fact that their body language screens anything but affection. Jared is the bad guy because he cracked the illusion that Jensen is a perfect friend, professional and gentleman, and had a "tantrum" on Twitter because he didn’t let Jebsen off the hook or bail him out, for once, for his shitty actions around the prequel. Jensen supports Ukrainian and really cares about the issue, despite the fact that he starred in a commercial promoting Atomic Heart. Anyway, my point is the man is not perfect, no one is, but as soon as they see any criticism, they call the person delivering it crazy, a hater, or a miserable person who is just projecting.

I love my family, but that doesn’t mean I think it or each family member (myself included) is without flaws.

I started watching Supernatural as a Dean and Jensen fan. I was crazy about Dean until later seasons when he just got angrier and more hypocritical. At first, I admired Ackles for his love for Jared and humility, but his behavior (his inconsistency at cons, and how he talked about Jared lovingly one minute, then criticizing him at JIB or joking at his expense when he’s not there, while calling him brother in the next breath) would not allow me to keep blindly sighing over him. Not to mention, I noticed how his stories were always humble (or not so humble) brags. He isn’t consistent and changes for the crowd he’s in.

I’m sorry, but if you are the one who only sees someone as perfect and can’t acknowledge any flaws to the point that you need to attack anyone who dares mention one, then you are the one without a balanced view. Our observation are subjective, obviously, and you don’t have to agree with how someone elde interprets something, but to instantly write them off as just a hater or lying (unless it’s a provable lie, or delusion with no proof like hellers and cockles shippers) maybe take a look at your own objectivity and need to go to battle for someone you don’t actually know.

It saddens me that Jensen has such judgemental, toxic fans that only care about fetishiz*ing him. Then I remember there are also fans like you, who are able to see him as a real and complex person. Thank you for this beautiful post! 💕💕💕

I think the reason why they immediately resort to bullying and gaslighting is because they know they stand no chance of making eloquent, balanced arguments because they lack objectivity. I mean all they do is project, not only on others but on Jensen especially, he needs to be the fantasy they created and is not allowed to stray from that perfect image. I cannot imagine how painful that must be to him. No human is perfect and we all just want to be loved for who we are, not for some false image others build in their attempt to exploit our beauty, like in his case.

#anti AAs #jensen critical

[15-lizards]

More southern ASOIAF headcanons for my mental health

Robb: star football player who gets drafted for a D1 college. He is absolutely the sweetheart of the SEC world. Definitely the next Joe Burrow. Has a million followers on insta and all of his posts are professionally edited. On the outside there’s nothing wrong with him but he actually has a dark secret (he’s just dating theon). Margaery is absolutely his sorority girl gf before they both realize they’re gay.

Arya: absolutely insane. Begs Ned to go along on hunting trips and can shoot a rifle like a grown man. She’s one of those kids that eats the heart of the first deer they kill. Runs around barefoot in the backwoods and the gravel roads. Sustains herself on bug juice from the gas station and honeysuckle plants that grow outside the house. Just true southern trash I love her.

Dany: Weird horse girl to the MAX turned highschool overachiever. Still rides horses but had a breakdown and a personality 180 after middle school and is now class president bc she wanted to make friends. Is in like three thousand clubs and is somehow the head of all of them. She has such a nice speaking voice but her accent only slips out when she’s angry. Ridiculously active in the local community. We all know that girl. We all know she needs Xanax and we love her.

Catelyn: Facebook mom. Keeps their suburban front lawn looking SPOTLESS. Always cheering Robb on at his games, makes the rest of the Starks dress in the school colors and take family pictures. Doesn’t like to gossip unless that person deserves it but when she does she absolutely tears them apart. Always hosts the neighborhood block parties. Ends up feeding half the neighborhood children when her kids bring them home after they were out playing when the streetlights come on.

Theon: Drug dealer who lives in the backwoods I’m sorry. He barely graduated highschool and likes to chew dip so thick you can’t understand what he’s saying. Actually kind of smart but didn’t care enough about school. Always showed up in his stupid lifted truck. Always smells like either cigarette smoke or weed. Just gives off dirty vibes but he was always pretty chill to hang around with surprisingly. Always had weird respect for the smart kids or the ones who didn’t want to do drugs. Somehow this is all appealing to Robb

Cersei: Evil Facebook mom. Passive aggressive to your face like she isn’t even going to be fake nice. Everyone’s always kissing her ass in her comments section as she humble brags about Myrcella being on the honor roll or Joffrey making the baseball team (the Lannisters have the stadium named after them). She knows if you don’t show up to church and makes sure all of her friends (who she hates) know about it too when they have brunch afterwards. But she is so fine. True southern milf. All of Joff’s classmates never shut up about his mean hot mom.

Davos: Your nicest old man neighbor ever. He’s Theon’s closest neighbor (two miles down the road) and is always trying to set him on the right path. Will def lend you money if you need it. No one’s really sure what he does for a living but he’s probably good at it. Always letting the nearby kids run around in his yard while he keeps an eye on them from the porch. He woodworks in his spare time. Everyone nearby has a swing set or a crib or a table he carved for them. Also gives the wisest, most sage advice ever uttered by anyone ever. He dropped out so he can’t read very well but Shireen always walks down the road after school to teach him :,)

Lysa: god she is just. Batshit crazy. Slightly normal until you walk into her ugly suburban mansion (that her old ass husband paid for) and she starts talking about Qanon. Such a conspiracy theorist and Robin is most definitely not vaxxed because those give you autism duh. Tries to return clothes she got like three years ago to Target and gets mad when they won’t refund her. Gives fast food workers a hard time. Or any service workers really.

Dolorous Edd: That man is a Waffle House employee. Trains Jon how to cook while taking an order while smoking a cigarette all at once. Cleans up questionable needles in the bathroom and needs to take a smoke break outside afterwards. You have never seen a man look so jaded yet make you the most fire fucking hashbrowns you have ever eaten in your life. No one knows what he does off the clock he’s a mystery. He just comes in, complains, makes waffles, leaves. Has thrown hands with a customer. Multiple times. Never loses.

#asoiaf headcanon #sec is just the big southern schools btw #and dip is tobacco #this has been vocab lessons with Hannah #these aren’t even headcanons atp these are just people I’ve met in real life #you know what theon also works at the Waffle House and he’s always stoned while working #steals customers phones by accident #that happened to me once actually #weird time

[leprosycock]

stumbled across fanfics and criticism posts from this fascinating community and... wow, it has been eye-opening to say the least. I hope you don't mind but i have a question: how did you(and others) manage to discover that h//lly is jrma's secret gf? i will come off anon if you dont want to answer me in this way

a few people on reddit said that he was dating a channel artist and from there it was an extremely easy process of elimination and matching up timelines. holly had made a few different posts about how she was moving to vegas and how happy she was with the direction things were going (because she needs to siphon money and resources to live and she’d picked out the perfect lonely victim). i want to stress that before we uncovered this, most people in the sicko collective absolutely adored and respected j immensely and thought he could do no wrong, he was down to earth, humble, wise, kooky and crazy, so on so forth. once we found out that he was dating a channel artist who was a mod in his discord that was eight years his junior and was working for him for free, everything just came crashing down and there was a wealth of information to really analyze and make light of now that we were aware that he’s kind of a huge scumbag. this got even worse after we found out through old tweets of kim’s that they started dating j when they were around 23 and he was 31 and living in his mother’s basement and he did really scummy things to and with them as well. then we found out about his seventeen year old mod that he recruited after praising the yt compilations she made of him, etc etc, it continued to snowball.

it’s also worth mentioning that we were scolded for being conspiracy theorists and kept getting told we were wrong and that there’s no WAY he was dating a discord kitten, but we were determined to prove it. my friends donated to him under usernames like “jermasgfiseightyearsyounger” on the first stream he did in the new year and he played a game he couldn’t stand for at least six or seven hours and he kept talking and talking to delay the donation credits rolling at the end but, alas, they appeared. i got banned from his channel in under a few seconds for chatting “holly got that vacuum” during the brb screen. during the beginning of the next stream, he finally came clean about the relationship. he hadn’t before for months because he knew it was fucking weird. she was one of his main channel artists and he wouldn’t even follow her on TWITTER. we just gave him the push he needed. early 2022 was congested with drama and i’m really not proud of the way that i acted to a lot of people, but everything that happened to j was deserved and i still think it was the funniest shit ever

#i miss ruining jrma’s happiness i wish i could do it again #i want to torment him beyond reason #bunnyaskz

[solarisnews]

Airlines — How To Humble Humanity

I’m not usually a conspiracy theorist. The only conspiracies I believe in are those where the reason for the conspiracy is incompetence. The moon landing was fake? No, no, no, that involves too many people competently keeping a secret. The Earth is flat? No, that would involve too many people being involved in competently manipulating things we use in day to day life — time zones, air travel, weather mapping etc. I can, however, fully get wild conspiracies that involves humans being dumb and making mistakes that have catastrophic consequences. Or theories that are driven by capitalism or greed…

The Dalai Lama pulls a 6 figure salary from the US government just to piss off China? I Believe it. Canada tried to develop a way to detect gay people? I’m all on board with believing that. The US collected dead babies to test nuclear fallout on? Sombre, but I’m all for that.In a world where truth is subjective, I hold one belief true to my heart. I hold with full conviction that I completely believe that airlines have completely made up the fact that airline food tastes bad because of the difference in humidity in an airplane. It is absolute bullshit and that theory gets floated around time and time again. I fully believe it is men in suits that have spent a lot of money on a PR campaign to make the world believe that this is the case, in order to cut costs and serve us shit airline food.

There must have been a boardroom meeting of people in smart casual, sipping starbucks brainstorming ideas on how to save money, and some intern came up with this stupid idea and they just rolled with it, and it has saved them tonnes of money. It’s actually aggravating to assume that this is how many of the worlds worst capitalist decisions are made.

I have actually had good airline food on some international flights. Flavours and tastes that dance on your tongue as you wash it down with some of the duty free’s finest bubbly. And I have also had some absolute garbage meals, on some of the low cost carriers. My sample size is limited, but I fully expect a public apology from the airlines for leading us astray like this. Just own up to the fact the profit margins are razor thin, and you need to cut costs.

Twenty years down the line we are going to get a check in the mail for $20 dollars because we are unsuspectingly part of some class action lawsuit where the airlines have been found out.

And I am all for it.

This article originally appeared on byronswiegers.com

#satire #blog

[iraqdinar]

News Headlines Out of Iraq Making DInar RV Seem Inevitable

The headlines coming out of Iraq and surrounding nations from over Christmas weekend in the West are in my opinion definitely overwhelmingly positive, at least as it relates to all of us whom the official state media has ridiculed as fools and conspiracy theorists. It appears as though the events chronicles bellow in Arabic and Israeli news sources suggest strongly that all conditions necessary for the Iraqi dinar to revalue are finally all present.

The CIA probably will and may already have engaged in false flag attacks in Iraq to blame on Iran because democrats and Rinos do not want this to happen (the dinar to revalue) thanks to a Trump signing Executive Order 13818. This EO allows the government to seize the property of say, everyone who’s every been to Jeffrey Epsein’s island, which would include everyone who planned the Kuwaiti dinar revaluation, the Iraqi dinar revaluation (at least those still alive) and have committed many, many crimes against humanity.

People like the Bushes, Clintons, their handlers and their successors at America’s one time intelligence agencies-turned-hostile-rulers via coup and most everyone else involved in the planning of the dinar currency revaluation in America at least don’t want it to happen because they’ve sold their souls to the devil (in my humble opinion) and and are committed to America’s destruction.

Obama mainly created ISIS to stop this from happening. Looks like it’ll happen anyway. Maybe 20 years after some expected, but better late than never.

Like the Jews as they wandered upon escape from Egypt, we’ve endured tremendous inconvenience, in some cases suffering, ridicule, isolation and loss of relationships with friends and family. Point being we’ve all endured hardships because our faith was so strong we stood by it in the face of adversity.

The path of least resistance would have been to take the word of those who invest SO MUCH time and effort to convince us that we are wrong, assume that if sounds too good to be true it must be so, and do our best to avoid thinking about it. Assume it’s all a big scam, that those selling it only buy to sell and aren’t in most cases more heavily invested than any of their customers (never-mind that most of us are).

Large corporate interests like several based in California and a few in Florida, New York and the East Coast likely think people who invest in their products are fools, don’t believe in them themselves and (if ethics is even a concern that crosses their minds), justify it by saying, ‘if they’re going to waste money on it, it might as well be us profiting. Maybe it’s just me, but I prefer not to deal with companies that treat me like I’m livestock.

.

[papirouge]

I think my one and only theory I had as a teen was that Eden is in Africa, somewhere. I’m not sure which country exactly. But also, large countries like China, US, Russia, The whole EU & UK will soon pillage the continent for it while claiming its to better help those countries economy and “freedoms” while also stealing all its natural resources. Like the ME except it’s be more of a global effort. But they would be looking for Eden and all of God’s fruits to destroy. God is waiting for us be home like the father of the prodigal son. So the elites need to destroy it so there is no home to return to. That way, our souls are in despair and they can harvest our despair (very low vibrational energy can open portals to allow dark spiritual influence) for their own power. I think the Illuminati mastered how to manipulate energy and vibrations for personal gain. I think their ultimate goal involves rejecting death altogether to avoid being judged by God and harvesting energy and manipulating our vibrations on this earth involves that. But like any event, what will go on there will go unnoticed by the world because nobody checks on any African nation unless it’s like a natural disaster…. 😒We’ll hear bits and pieces of what’s really happening online like we do now but we’d be called crazy conspiracy theorists for digging deeper. I think Eden can be reached on earth too. Predictive programming works and look at how in Black Panther Wakanda was able to thrive in a world hidden. I think Eden is like that and once they destroy it, the world will not mourn because of predictive programming. We live already seen it.

Eden can't be reached on Earth because it's being safeguarded by 2 cherubs waving blazing swords, anon (Genesis 3:24) Worldly power cannot compare to the spiritual ones. For Eden to be safeguarded by cherubs, it means it's not a place like the others ; it might be spiritual. There's a reason Eve and Adam could literally see God when mere humans cannot bear it anymore i.e Moses & the Israelites at the Mount Sinai.

That also why I'm adamant in reminding Christians how earthly weapons are pointless because you can't put down demons with them. It's said during in the book of Revelation that the antichrist will be wounded (probably by Christians since they are cited as some of the few ones resisting against him) and will eventually come back to life, which will make him even more popular and respected. If you just satan's tools against him, he will ultimately always win.

But I think you're onto something acknowledging how the tide is turning and how the West, arrogantly thinking they are the stand of Christianism (just a few days ago, I've seen an USAmericans saying that if the US fall, then so will Christianism......as if Christianism didn't sustain itself for 1500+ years before the United States of America were even a thing.....the arrogance o these people is will the US are cursed imo). Africa and Asia host the real Christian martyrdom ; God loves them and will save them. Just look how c0vid has barely impacted Africa ; pests have a very specific significance biblically so that's not a coincidence. On the contrary, the Western have been the more impacted by it ; because of its wickedness and adulterousness.

I maintain good communication with my family in Africa so I stay tuned with their life. They shared with us a video of woman being killed by satanists with a voice-over of a pastor warning us about them and ritual sacrifice. My mom explained to me abductions were on the rise and many children and adults were abducted. While I do think part of these people are just greedy people asking for a ransom, others are legit satanism using body parts of witchcraft and blood sacrifices. What's fascinating with Africa is you'll meet both the most awful brand of Christianism (prosperity teachers, false prophets, etc) but also the most humble and genuine discipleship of Christ and martyrdom. They are both being persecuted by Muslims and satanists ; may God grant them protection. I want to commit seppuku whenever I see these clueless White Christian arguing churches should be pretty bc of some dumb reason. They are so missing the point so bad. Like a wounded animal, the Western is boastfully clinging to its legacy, but ultimately it will disappear. I already said how God is going to use Russia to humiliate Europe and the USA.

I do think satanists fear death bc they fear God's judgment. That's why they're so interested in transhumanism and anti aging serum (which lead to cannibalism since youth blood is the most effective form of aging reversal). I once had this discussion with someone that if someone dies and gets back as a machine, is their soul still the same? I personally don't think so since the Bible says we only die once. That may always explain the state of "humanity" in the end times when people won't be fully human. Will the mark of the Beast be some sort of device maintaining you alive while your soul is long gone? That's an interesting discussion.

#answered #Christian #spiritual warfare

[subarusakurazuka]

I guess it’s because now people associate the act of being a conspiracy theorist with, like, the crazy far right wing, now, but I’m annoyed that people use “conspiracy” when they rlly mean ‘right wing’, because then they’ll either do one of two things:

1) Refuse to criticize anything going on in the us in anyway, including when there’s like, buckets of evidence or the government has literally admitted to doing x thing.

2) Make many posts about how China did nothing wrong.

#I’m just a humble conspiracy theorist #but really back in the day ppl used to think I was like a dumb liberal for being a 9/11 truther but ultimately didn’t care #but now if people find out I’m a 9/11 truther they act as if I want to elect donal trump for a Forever President

[spectrumed]

19. intelligence

I think it is well-understood by now that IQ tests don’t really measure intelligence. Or, rather, having a high IQ does not necessarily indicate that you are really all that smart. You could still be plenty dumb. And scoring low on an IQ test does not mean that you lack brainpower. Sure, some folks may roll their eyes when they hear the term “emotional intelligence,” probably thinking that it’s just some politically correct euphemism for “stupid, but occasionally quite nice and friendly to strangers.” But, actually, how do we regard empathy? Isn’t being highly empathetic a certain sign of intelligence? Being able to empathise with another individual, being able to interface with them, conceptualising in your head a facsimile of what is going on in their head, all that sounds like it would require quite the number of functioning brain cells. And surely we could well call the textbook psychopath, who’s wholly trapped inside their own selves, incapable of ever truly putting themselves in somebody else’s shoes, a bit ignorant? A bit of a blockhead? A dumb-dumb ignoramus who’ll never truly understand what it means to be a human living and sharing this planet with others who are as insecure and anxious and bonkers as they are? Isn’t it rather obvious that, yes indeed, at least part of what makes a smart person smart is some functioning degree of emotional intelligence. And that is not something that an IQ test will measure.

But IQ tests must have some merit, right? It can't all be bullshit, it's not purely pseudoscience, it's way too accepted by the mainstream to be all that bad. Of course, lobotomies were also once considered to be sound science, and Freud used to be hugely respected within the field of psychology. Those days are gone. Seeing a modern Freudian for therapy is a bit like breaking a leg and going to an expert in the four humours. But those comparisons are unfair. The IQ test may have been used historically in some real shitty ways, and we all know how annoying people who brag about their high IQs are, but reason dictate that being able to solve complex puzzles that requires the ability to sense patterns, follow chains of logic, and being able to visualise solutions to problems, must make you kinda smart. At least you are a kind of smart. There may be countless ways to be smart, but you've sure hit one.

Earlier today I saw a Reddit thread mocking a… Well, obviously they were mocking a woman. Most Reddit users would probably never admit to truly being misogynistic pricks, but it is curious how often videos or articles discussing women who fucked up gets upvoted to the near-empyrean skies. There are always excuses to be had for men who act like total shits, but if it is a woman, then that must say something deep and troubling about all of womankind. In any case, in this thread they were mocking a woman who in a video greatly overestimated her intelligence, believing herself to be the second-smartest person in the room, only to later be shown to have the lowest IQ score. Satisfying, right? To see some arrogant narcissist get forced to eat humble pie. But the peculiar thing about the video is that this woman did not get shown to have some real abysmally poor IQ score. She scored 112. That is above average. Sure, it’s not high above average, it still counts within the spectrum of what we’d call “normal.” But she was not some dumb woman. Just a bit of an irritating one. So, of course, Reddit had it in for her.

I’m guessing that the video creators must have been very happy with the result. It would have been awkward if the braggadocious jerk came out on top. In fact, having her score last almost feels planned out, like as if they rigged the video just to make that outcome happen. I’m not of the conspiracy theorist mindset, but we’re talking about people making clickbait-y videos for YouTube. It’s probably best to take any videos like that with a truckload of salt. Still, it does seem to confirm one suspicion I’ve had for the longest time. I think that if you ask people to report on their own intelligence, most people of average to above-average intelligence, will claim to be somewhere in the lower end of high intelligence. The internet is now largely familiar with the Dunning-Kruger effect, though, ironically many people do slightly misunderstand it. But effectively, what it shows is that in order to judge your own competency in a particular field, you need some level of expertise in that field to do so accurately. Total novices will overestimate their level of skill, whereas total masters may lean towards underestimating their level of skill. Typically the measured phenomena is not as extreme as some popular internet graphs make it out to be, where you get this huge valley in the middle showing people’s sense of self completely collapse as they are getting a sense of their true value. The Dunning-Kruger effect is likely real, but like most such similar things, it’s more subtle than obvious.

(You may have seen graph 1 get shared online, and it’s bad. If you want to share a graph with the world, share graph 2.)

I have never done an IQ test. Not a proper one. No, like most people, all I’ve ever done is tests promising to give me an estimate of what my IQ may be. Y’know, the ones offered by various groups associated with Mensa that you may find online. Yeah, don’t take those tests too seriously, if you really want to know your IQ score, you need to do a supervised test. Still, most of the time, these sites will acknowledge that what they’re offering is an estimate, and quite often, that estimate will get it roughly correct. Give or take a few points. And recently I felt like doing one of those tests, last time I did one was several years ago, and… Well, yes, I scored high. 133 to be precise. That’s considered to be gifted. I could join Mensa if I wanted to. Not that I do want to. Mensa is for nerds. I am a cool kid. I smoked pot once.

Now, am I intelligent? How humble should I be? Should I say “well, I guess so?” Should I shrug and say that I don’t really care either way whether I am smart or dumb? But when does being humble turn into false modesty? I am pretty well-convinced that I am intelligent, and so are most people who come into contact with me. Sure, I won’t claim to be a hugely brilliant genius, that’d be stretching it, but surely I should be able to state, as a fact, that I am of high intelligence. If you ask a strongman whether or not he considers himself of high physical strength, he won’t feel embarrassed to admit that yes, he’s quite ripped. I desperately do not wish to come across as an asshole, and I don’t want people thinking I’m like that woman in that video, but it’s a strange balancing act, maintaining your ego without going too far in either direction. I don’t want to seem conceited, but I also don’t want to pretend to be dumber than I am, just to come across as a more unpretentious, unassuming, dude. Does the strongman try to pretend that his muscles are actually all fat, and that anyone could easily lift those big boulders if they just use the right posture? You know how annoying it is when good singers claim that everyone can learn to sing as good as them? Yeah... Let's not do that.

“I know that I know nothing.” That’s Socrates. Or, well, it’s Plato’s account of Socrates. We don’t really know how much of Socrates may actually have been just Plato using Socrates as some elaborate ventriloquist’s puppet. Still, the sentiment is pretty clear. The more you know, the wiser you get, the more aware you are of all the things you don’t know. We’re back to the Dunning-Kruger effect. To be smart is to know you are not really smart. The more you stare into the void, the deeper the void will seem. Complex systems only get more complex the more you study them. There’s no limit to comprehension of the universe. You could always be smarter. You could always learn more. Perhaps you require a certain level of intelligence to truly grasp this fact, to truly estimate your role within existence, your position relative to eternity. It’s bound to get you feeling quite humbled. To the cosmos, we’re all a bit like that woman in that YouTube video. We may all think of ourselves as being quite clever, but then the universe logs on to Reddit to talk shit about how contemptuous we really are, and how satisfying it is to see us get made to eat that bland humble pie. It somehow manages to taste rancid and like nothing at the very same time.

#neurodivergent #neurodiversity #aspergers #autism spectrum disorder #autism #mental health #intelligence

[traincat]

I really enjoy your Spideytorch fic recs, so if you can, could you please recommend any for the trope where Johnny is friends with Peter, but doesn't know he's Spiderman and falls in love with one identity over the other. So then Peter is in a dilemma of whether or not he should say anything about his identity to Johnny.

I have some recs! These should all more or less fit your request -- they’re all Spideytorch dealing, in one way or another, with Peter’s hidden identity, although there’s some variety -- the Star Wars AU, for example, has him pretending to be Bobby Drake, and Built To Fall Apart (And Fall Back Together) has multiple Peters and Johnnys, where one of the Peters doesn’t even know himself that he’s Spider-Man. They’re all really excellent fics that I highly recommend! 

Built To Fall Apart (and Back Together) by oneshinyapple, rated explicit, WIP

The day after Johnny kissed him on top of the Statue of Liberty, Spider-Man disappeared. One year later, multimillionaire-in-the-making Peter Parker launches a company with his best friend, Harry Osborn. The last thing he needs is a complication like Johnny. But what was meant to be a one-night stand quickly spirals into something else, and everything is further turned upside-down when mysterious portals to another universe appear and they learn that there are two constants in the life of Johnny Storm: Peter Parker, and being left behind.

I'll give you my best side, tell you all my best lies by oneshinyapple, rated M

Peter Parker, who, despite his stupid serious face, had a pretty girl on his arm all the time. Peter Parker, hotshot photographer with his own published book of photos. Peter Parker, with the brain that had impressed even Reed.

Johnny was in that Peter Parker’s body and all he could think about was how massively unfair it was. How unfair that Johnny had to live in a universe where Peter Parker was already all that and it wasn’t even enough. Oh, no.

Peter Parker’s goddamn abs just had to be so much better than Johnny’s.

Can You Tell by oneshinyapple, rated M

The first time he meets Peter Parker, Johnny Storm almost kills him. It’s not the best way to start a relationship, but then Johnny has never been one to back down from a challenge. Maybe his best friend Spider-Man can help.

you light my morning sky by gleesquid, rated T, 60s AU

“I dunno, maybe the huge flaming words in the sky that said, ‘MEET ME AT THE USUAL PLACE. IT’S URGENT.’ In my ever so humble opinion, ‘urgent’ usually means fire, or ‘all my super powered teammates have been kidnapped,’ or ‘the stock market’s about to crash so you better buy bread now.’ Not ‘I ran outta hairspray.’”

Johnny touched a hand to his hair – which, admittedly, felt a bit stiff. “You think I used too much?”

“I’m a real fan of Elvis, honest.” Spidey ruffled Johnny’s hair. Johnny could feel his flame curling in his stomach, his toes, and every inch that Spidey’s gloved hand touched. “But you might not wanna take styling tips from him.”

Better In Picture by weekend-conspiracy-theorist, rated T

In which Peter Parker has no interest in sleeping with Matt Murdock, no matter what anyone seems to think.

Tied to the Wait and Sees by Mizzy, rated M

Johnny Storm's in love. With Spider-man. Except no one seems to even believe Johnny when he tells them. Everyone thinks he's totally joking. What a buzzkill. Even his bff doesn't react supportively, which is rude, disrespectful, and completely awkward when Johnny walks into a time anomaly and wakes up in the future married not to his beloved Spider-man, but to Peter Parker.

Huh, no wonder Parker reacted so badly to the news.

The World, reversed by Euphorion, rated T

Julia leaned forward and plucked the card she’d given him from his hand like she was cheating at Go Fish, holding it up so he could see the figure. “The Fool,” she said. “They’re like—the protagonist of the Tarot, or, conversely, maybe its subject. All the other cards—the minor and major arcana—are ways they feel about things, or things that happen to them, or people who they meets along the way who change them.” Her finger tapped the card, indicating the figure’s raised, bell-adorned foot, and the cliff beyond. “The Fool is the beginning of the personal journey. See? One more step takes them over the edge.”

“Huh,” said Peter. “Good thing Johnny can fly.”

Til Planet-Rise by Euphorion, rated T, Star Wars AU

“We’re not the only ones looking to get our hands on this weapon,” Fel'icia said. “There’s a terrorist group out of Denusia who got the jump on us and already contacted one of the scientists involved, a Dr. Reed Richards. Richards got cold feet about the whole ‘create a super weapon for a would-be tyrant’ thing, and he’s hatched a plot to steal the prototype when it’s unveiled at the gala. Richards will be attending with his partner and presumably co-conspirator, Senator Susan Storm of Alderaan. While at the Gala, Richards will hand off the prototype to the person attending the party with the Senator’s younger brother, Jonathan. The Denusian terrorists plan for that person to be one of their number, a smuggler named Robert Drake.”

Fel'icia arched an eyebrow. “We plan for that person to be you.”

#lovely-bellflower #spideytorch #losers who deserve each other #fic recs #johnny storm #peter parker

[cursedcleopatra]

Your asks legitimately make no sense. Not sure how you made it school. Those anons are right. Hopefully your idiot lap dogs can read these articles themselves. We all know you’re a racist, misogynistic, body shaming piece of shit anyway. You’re the conspiracy theorist political science major with an ego issue who think she’s a god and better than anyone else but the truth is karma tried taking care of your ass with an accident because you’re a terrible human. And she’ll do it again.

https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-tips/responsible-travel/how-to-help-cuba-during-protests

Cuba protests: Thousands rally against government as economy struggles https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-57799852

https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/07/18/biden-cuba-missed-opportunity-humanitarian-crisis-embargo/

The fact that you bring up a car accident I got into in January literally shows your weird obsession with me lmao if you hate me and my blog so much why have you been following me for at least 8 months now? Karma’s treating me just great btw I’m moving to the country I’ve always wanted to visit, got accepted into my dream program at one of France’s biggest universities and living my best life…and what are you doing with your life? Oh, sending hate anons on a dying social media platform to some random girl you’ve never even met? If you don’t like my “ego” then maybe you should simply try being better, but the fact of the matter is you know you could never be better and your only chance of ever even talking to someone like me is through sending anonymous hate mail. I don’t think I’m better, I know I’m better and it bothers you especially because you realize just how pathetic your life and your existence is. Maybe if you put as much effort into yourself as you do into sending me deranged, uninformed messages you’d actually be secure in your own skin. Humble yourself and get on your knees in front of me because that’s where you’ll always be in comparison

[msgrumpygills]

I've been saying this for a while, but yes Danneel is just better than Geneva. D seems more legit, sincere and her posts don't feel forced or fake. It also helps that Jensen doesn't act like he hates his home or family, so there's that also. Meanwhile Geneva tries to show off and pull the ''family goals'' thing, it doesn't work as Jared doesn't even seem to care. Instead, it comes off as flat, forced and fake, and often downright gives second hand embarrassment to audiences.

For example look at D's new pride post and Jensen's response. They just feel like a natural couple and a happy family. That's not the case with Pads however, and... I just don't get their mindset at this point.

You've asked if Geneva follows the anti-blogs or not-- I don't think it's a conspiracy theorist mindset to question that. It's not like she doesn't know that anti-blogs exist. And also consider the SPN fandoms 'toxicity' and that how there are fans out there who criticize or just outright hate on both D and G... they are both aware of the blogs' existence. It wouldn't surprise me to see that Geneva sometimes search such blogs in order to get an opinion/idea from what ppl say about her or Jared or her family in general.

I won't lie, when this blog first started, I disliked D and Gen equally, but I think that D has kind of had a humbling moment? Not sure what it was, but she seems like a different person than she was when I started this blog.

I know there are people who think that Jensen and D aren't together but are co-parenting, and some who say they're still happily married. I have thought both options, but I'm not so sure where I stand now. I will agree though that Jensen and D seem a lot more comfortable with each other and seem to at least be able to tolerate each other for more than an hour. Even when they're out and about, they're (from what I've seen, it's been a while) at least acting like they enjoy each other. I think it says a lot that even though D hasn't had much of a social media presence lately, she is STILL seen as more genuine and more likable than Geneva who desperately posts all the damn time. The Ackles' STILL look like the more real and genuine family and they don't have to try. That's the point though, Geneva tries way too hard. Just take the L, sis.

I also really respect Jensen and D for not shoving phones and cameras in the kids' faces at every moment for content and ads. Before anyone calls me a hypocrite here, when they do post the kids, it's genuine pictures that a regular ol' family would take while doing activities, living life, etc. It's never manufactured and fake looking, it just seems like the nice neighbors next door would post.

While I'm on a roll here, when the Ackles' do have pictures with the kids or post them, everyone looks like they're genuinely enjoying themselves. Now I know that kids aren't always feeling 100, that's just not realistic, but they seem like they're having fun together (and the Ackles' aren't monetizing their bad days along with the good ones.)

Also, look at the difference in Jensen's kid posts and Jared's kid posts. Jensen acts like he's proud to be a father, you can tell that he really does care about his kids and when he gets the chance, he spends any time he can with them. The only complaints from him that I've seen about the kids are that they're growing too fast, or that they can't be with him when he's working. Jared on the other hand, bitches about his kids any chance he gets and races for the opportunity to stay away from home as long as he can. He acts like some frat boy that knocked up his girlfriend 3 times and refuses to take any responsibility for the kiddos.

I think it's getting even more suspicious that Gen keeps trying to post more candid shots instead of the photoshoot ones. Maybe D's post successes in the last week have made Geneva realize that she's just not gonna get those likes she's so desperate for unless she changes something.

Unlikely, but maybe.

#grumpy answers #anti genevieve #danneel ackles #jensen ackles #jared padalecki #supernatural cast

[deadsquidstudios]

I was going to make a big post about 9/11 but it was devolving rapidly into a dangerously political-sounding ramble so all I have to say is this:

I grew up in New York, 60 miles from the city. I was born about 2 weeks before the attack happened. My family was lucky not to lose anyone as several of my father’s relatives lived or worked in the city at the time.

Conspiracy Theorists and racists who use 9/11 to justify their own repulsive behavior can kiss my New Yorker Ass, and then go fuck themselves with a cactus covered in fire ants.

9/11 isn’t funny. Please don’t mock it even if it’s to get a rise out of any of the people I mentioned above. Because on the Internet you have no way of knowing if you just cracked a joke to a racist asshole or to someone who lost family members in the attacks. Or to someone who faced discrimination from people motivated by the attacks.

I went to ground zero earlier this year. It was a...humbling experience, honestly. I never really considered how big the towers were until I saw the memorial pools that mark where they once stood. It’s surprisingly peaceful for somewhere in Manhattan.

The freedom tower is beautiful, by the way. And I don’t normally say that about skyscrapers, especially ones in NYC as a lot of them are ugly as sin but there’s just something about the FT that I find very visually appealing. I didn’t get to go inside or see the memorial museum though because apparently the whole thing is closed on Wednesdays.

I might not remember that day, after all, I was barely a month old when it happened. But one thing’s for sure: I’m not going to forget 9/11.

But I’m not gonna use it as an excuse to hurt others, either.

Do not bring up politics on my blog, by the way. This is a politics-free zone, and when I go on tumblr I try my hardest to avoid any political stuff because I get more than enough of it from everywhere else. I’m tired of it.

Don’t politicize the murders of over 2000 people in one morning, please.

#tw: 9/11 #no politics #tw: discrimination mention #vent #memorial I guess? #seriously though I have a cousin who was supposed to be at the towers that day #he wasn’t though #which is probably why he’s still alive today #he’s a father of two now #this is a big deviation from my usual content but I felt I had to do something for today

[whoiscallingme]

hi, sorry for the interruption

i wouldnt make a post like this in any other circumstance, but i was just fired from my job today. 

i was fired for absences due to a chronic illness flaring up and a recent covid scare despite providing advance notice every time i was absent, as well as doctor’s notes. my (now ex-) employer was an alex jones-style conspiracy theorist libertarian dude who did not believe in germ theory lol... so as you can imagine i felt extremely unsafe every day i went into work because of this, but despite that i went to work on time and did my job to the best of my ability every day that i was there. 

i am american and did not qualify for a stimulus check, and its looking like i am ineligible for unemployment benefits as well. 

i have been applying to other jobs for a while now, even before i was fired, but so far i have not found more/new work. 

i am writing this post to humbly ask: if you are a fan of this blog and the content i curate and post here, or if any of my posts have ever spoken to you or made you laugh or had any type of impact on you, and if you can afford it, Please help me get through this very scary time by donating a little spare change to me on paypal, cashapp (cashtag is $eganet), or venmo. i would be so grateful. 

alternatively, if you aren’t comfortable with donating money to random strangers online, check out my original art here and if you find it compelling or interesting, commission me!!! i make lots of art just for arts sake, but i have also done designs for t-shirts, event posters/flyers, custom phone wallpapers, custom collages (fandom and otherwise), typography and title cards for short films and video games, business cards, social media branding etc. i’ll do pretty much anything. i have no set prices so i am very flexible and willing to work with you on pricing. i would really really really appreciate any work right now. in fact if i’m being honest, i’d rather commission work than donations. my commission info is here, but please feel free to dm me over here about it as well if that’s easier. 

anyway, thanks for reading all this. i know its tough all over right now and there are countless ppl deep in the struggle who are also in need of a helping hand and so many charitable organizations dedicated to noble causes that could use financial support too. i am not demanding you give your attention to me over them. i’m not even going to ask that you reblog/signal boost this. i am only making this post because i am scared and i don’t know what to do. i feel really vulnerable and the future looks so uncertain.

if even a handful of y’all could spare a little cash for the blogger behind your favorite screenshotsofdespair ripoff and donate or commission me to make something beautiful for you, i would be beside myself with gratitude. 

thanks again y’all for reading and thank you for being here with me and appreciating this extremely niche and inaccessible little webart Project™ i’ve been slaving over for the last four years. big love to each of u.

ok, back to our regularly scheduled programming

#Not a phone number

[imjeralee]

Comfort in Despair: Chapter 7 - Galar’s National Treasure

Leon x F!Reader

Disclaimer: Do not own Pokemon

Summary:

Galar is rich in folklore and tales of the supernatural.

As a Pokemon Researcher who specialises in ghost types, this is a great opportunity for you to investigate and learn more about the paranormal.

Along the way, you meet Leon (in the most awkward way possible) who becomes embroiled in your adventures.

^ Basically this story is about ghosts :/

Rating: General/Teen

Galar’s National Treasure

(aka 'Like A Normal Person')

...

...

[Snippet about Leon from Galar Daily Times: Selfless, humble and kind, Leon has swiftly become Galar’s National Treasure in a short period of time.

He has captured the hearts of all the women of Galar. As one fan states, "It's impossible to look at him without smiling."]

...

...

The ring of your alarm forces you to wake up and you are in a questionable mood following yesterday’s events.

It’s the afternoon and usually you wouldn’t wake up so early but you have to try and visit Leon before the end of the day and so you push yourself off the mattress, groaning loudly.

You perform several mild stretches in bed before you slide off to stand. You’ve woken at an unnatural hour. You are unused to this. You like light but hell, this light is blinding…you can’t help but hiss with distaste under your breath.

And downstairs, you can hear the muffled sounds of the TV.

You get dressed, head to the bathroom to wash up, remembering that you are also supposed to return Leon's snapback if possible.

Visiting hours officially ends at seven pm which you think is generous so when you return to the room, you pack your bag with his hat and some other essentials should you decide to pull another all-nighter in the Wild Area. You highly doubt you will considering how exhausted you are and you head downstairs with bag in tow where you see Magnolia, Sonia, Cutiefly and Polteageist in the lounge watching the news.

Once they hear you come down, they rise from their seats and embrace you. As usual, Cutiefly dives for your hair and Poltea wraps his arms around your head.

“Are you alright, dear?” Magnolia asks, glancing up at you from behind her half-moon specs as your pokemon greet you affectionately.

“Yeah,” you murmur, rubbing your arm, before you notice a cheque on the table. Lifting it up, you see it’s addressed to you and it’s a large amount. Your eyes grow wide and you croak out, “What’s this??”

“Inspector Graves came by this morning and told us everything. That’s your reward for finding the missing gym challengers,” she murmurs as she lets go of you.

“I don’t need this. I didn’t do it for the money.”

“Oooh, can I have it then? I can go shopping with Nessa!” Sonia exclaims as she reaches for it, but Magnolia whacks her hand with the tip of her cane none too gently. “Ow…Gran!”

“Sonia.” Magnolia says sternly, shaking her head. Sonia pouts and cradles her hand to herself. Turning to you, Magnolia says, “I don’t want you to work on such dangerous cases from now on. Just leave it to the police, that’s why they’re here. Your mother wouldn’t want any harm to befall you and I promised to her I would keep you safe.”

“…Understood.”

“Good.”

Sonia glances between you and Magnolia and decides to return to sit on the couch silently, hugging Yamper to herself.

“Anyway, did you sleep well, dear?”

“Yes, professor.”

“We’re having roast today, I do hope you will join us.”

“Yeah, I will,” you reply, and Magnolia pats you on the shoulder; you will be joining them for lunch on this occasion, which is very rare.

She shoves her feet into her slippers and slowly leaves the lounge whilst you join Sonia on the couch with Yamper squashed between you and he scrambles into your lap.

“Gran can be scary, huh?” she whispers.

“She’s just worried,” you mutter, "How's your hand?"

"My hand is fine. How's your hand?"

"Still sore," you murmur as you glance at your bandaged palm, before you look at the cheque again. The money would be good to stock up on some supplies... “Sonnie, if you need anything, just let me know.”

“Hmm, well, I did see a very nice dress in the boutique the other day,” she mutters, “It’s okay, I don’t need it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright."

You avert your attention to the news, using your finger to stroke Cutiefly’s fuzzy body whilst Polteageist pours some tea for you into a cup he fished from the kitchen for you. Chairman Rose is on screen and standing in front of many microphones shoved in his face, providing a speech on the Giant’s Seat incidence. Despite the pressure he should be facing, he seems undisturbed.

“I am deeply saddened by the news and my heart goes out to the families and loved ones of the deceased,” he says, “However, the gym challenge will not be cancelled this year. The Pokemon League has roots dating back to the sixth century and is a beloved tradition of Galar….”

Rose goes mute following those words but his mouth keeps moving, indicating that he is still speaking and the news had decided to blot out his voice for some reason.

The clip abruptly ends and returns to the news reporter who briefly talks about the dead gym challengers being found in an unregistered pokemon den in the mountains of the Giant’s Seat then it shows their mourning family members and friends. Finally, an update on Leon’s status is provided; he is in stable condition and will make a full recovery.

The news then switches to a small group outside Rose Tower carrying posters and picket signs, protesting against the gym challenge. The group consists of middle-aged women and men. Mothers and fathers, you assume.

“We have Evan at the scene right now. Evan, how does it look?” says the reporter, and the screen changes to a skinny tall man holding a microphone in hand standing in front of the crowd.

“Thank you, Sarah, I’m standing in front of Rose Tower and as you can see behind me, there is a massive crowd of frustrated parents who want their voices to be heard. After Rose issued his statement earlier this morning…”

As the reporter drones on and on, Sonia sighs. “This is awful, I’ve never seen anything like this. I don’t think this has ever happened in the history of the Pokemon League.”

The reporter is now walking towards the crowd with the camera focused on him. He goes over to a random protestor and inches the microphone towards her, asking her to share some words.

The woman is livid. “Yeah, I got some words for you, Chairman Rose! You won’t call off the gym challenge? Then I’m gonna pull my son out! You’re not gonna get a single pokedollar from me!” bellows the woman. She is holding a sign that says ‘No to the Gym Challenge!’ and ‘Boycott Macro Cosmos!’. “We want safer measures introduced into the Wild Area! I’m not going to send my child to his death!”

“Oh dear,” Sonia adds as Yamper buries himself into her arms, “I wonder what this means for the future of the gym challenge.”

“Rose is pretty clear that the gym challenge isn’t going to be called off,” you reply. “It’s tradition.”

“Poor Leon, I hope he’s okay,” Sonia replies, hugging Yamper to herself tightly, “I mean, he is the Champion of Galar. He endorses the League more than anyone else.”

This is really negative press for the League, the worst, in fact. Cripes, you feel responsible for this. You hope Leon doesn’t lose his job or lose popularity or anything because of this incident…

“Sonnie, I’m going to visit him later, do you want to come with me?”

“No, it’s fine, I already went this morning. He was asking about you. He was asking me so many questions," she turns to you with a wide smile, "...Is there something going on between you two? He seemed awfully interested in you all of a sudden."

"No," you're quick to quip and Poltea pulls on your wrist, gesturing you to drink the tea he’s made for you which is growing cold.

It's a good way to get out of this conversation but Sonia doesn't look satisfied with your answer. Nevertheless, you lift the cup and down a sip. It’s perfect as expected and you smile at Polteageist, patting him on the head. He lets out a warble of affection and spins around in his teapot, before he lifts the teapot lid off the top of his head and begins dancing in mid-air with it. You and Sonia giggle at his actions.

You had once studied Polteageist, but nothing entirely fruitful really came from the investigation.

He was just...haunted tea.

The news moves onto an unenlightened article and you change to a channel showing a documentary about conspiracy theorists who believe the pokearth is actually flat until Magnolia calls you both for lunch and you leave the lounge to sit at the dining table to enjoy the meal. The three of you chat amiably though you do find your thoughts drifting to Leon often.

Once you finish, you help Magnolia wash up and Sonia scurries upstairs to the bedroom.

You check Rotom for any messages you received when you were asleep; Jace has messaged asking if you were alright and you reply, telling him you are fine and that you will return his belongings to him.

Graves has left a voicemail for you, informing you that he knows you have Froslass and you are to hand her over to the authorities when you have the time. You can feel your head hurting and you look at some other messages you have received. Some of the mothers of the dead gym challengers have also attempted to call and have left messages, thanking you for your work.

Next, you see that you have received a message from Leon and your heart skips a beat when you open it. It says:

Leon: Hi, this is Leon.

“Yes, I know it’s you, Leon,” you say aloud before you can stop yourself. You wonder if he’s going to say this each time he sends a message to you. There are also no smiley faces, no emojis in his messages. This must be Leon’s way of messaging. He must be keeping it professional at all times though you can’t help but think that he texts like an old man.

Leon: Will you be visiting me today?

You inhale the gasp that’s threatening to escape and type a reply.

You: hi leon! i was going to head over right now if ur free!

Wait a second, you sound too enthusiastic. Deciding to keep it neutral, you delete the exclamation marks and tidy the message up.

You: Hi Leon, I was going to head over right now if you are free.

You hit send and you’re stunned to see Leon is typing a reply, the top of the screen indicating that he has immediately gone online the moment you fired the response. However, Leon suddenly stops typing and then a few seconds later, your phone screen changes, indicating Leon is calling you.

"Holy Combee," you utter as you swipe the screen and put it to your ear, "...H-hello?"

"Hi, this is Leon."

"Hi, what's up?"

"Not much, I....I wanted to hear your voice."

"Oh," your face goes ten shades of red and you gulp. "H-how are you feeling?"

"I'm much better now. And yeah, I'm free."

"Great, I'll pop over now."

"Okay," he replies. You can hear him smiling.

"Bye, see you soon."

"Bye."

You both hang up. That was rather tense. Nevertheless, you will go visit Leon right now.

As you grab your bag, your phone goes off once more and you thought it’d be Leon again but it’s your haunted house client. He’s asking if he can speak to you earlier as he’s currently in Wedgehurst and you sigh. You haven’t said no to a client before and therefore you ask if he can come now despite the short notice and he says indeed he can.

You message Leon, telling him you will be at the hospital in an hour and he messages back with a simple ‘okay’.

“Oh my Arceus, are you and Leon text buddies?”

At the sound of Sonia’s voice, you emit a squeak of surprise and turn round to see Sonia standing behind you with a wide smile on her face. “EEP!! Sonnie! What are you doing???”

She giggles, leaning away from your shoulder and twirling her hair in her hands.

“Were you looking over my shoulder the entire time???”

“No. Well, yes, kind of. Sorry, I couldn’t resist! There is something going on between you!"

"No, there isn't..." you wail and as she giggles, your cheeks grow pink and you march away from her. “A-anyway, I don't have time for this; my client’s arriving in five minutes. I need to get ready.”

You hurry up the stairs to get dressed and your client arrives in a few minutes; you escort him to the conservatory where you recount your experience of the haunted house which seems to be such a long time ago, and he seems satisfied with the result.

He’s already paid you the initial consulting fee which was three thousand pokedollars and then you charge an hourly rate of five thousand dollars due to the nature of your work. You investigated for roughly five hours so he owes you a total of twenty five thousand.

When you see him pulling out his beaten-up wallet from his equally beaten-up bag and you see there's a Popplio along with faded, discoloured initials stitched on the cheap leather, you realise you're basically charging a thirteen year old kid a rather extortionate amount, the same price as ten Max Potions.

And so you feel bad for taking all his money when you remember that he had told you no-one believed him and that none of his friends or parents had pooled in for funds to ask for your help so your empathetic nature kicks in and you give him a discount of fifteen per cent.

The look on his face makes you smile as he leaves in high spirits to return to his gym challenger journey.

You also give him a good luck charm and tell him to stay away from abandoned houses from now on. He agrees and waves and you wave back.

It’s time to visit Leon so you leave the house shortly and take a Corviknight taxi to the hospital. During the ride, you read more signs on how to identify if a guy likes you ranging from playful teasing, talking about a future with you, opening up, putting his phone away when you’re around and then there are some that sound bizarre such as his pupils dilating in your presence.

You close the page, unsure what to think about these tips and you’re certainly trying not to overthink yet as the hospital looms into view, you find yourself growing rather anxious.

You enter the hospital and it’s a lot different during daylight. All the Lampents are gone and you hurriedly register your name down on the visitor’s sign-in book before the nurse allows you passage into the ward. You thank her and rush down the corridor, arriving at Leon’s designated room.

You take a deep breath as you stop at his door, adjust your clothing and ensure your hair is neat and tidy, then you nervously rap your knuckles over the surface and hear a jovial “Come in!” from inside.

At the invitation, you push down on the handle, open the door and peer inside.

You wonder if he would look injured or gravely ill but you’re pleasantly surprised to see Leon sitting in bed with the duvet pulled over his lap, grinning widely from ear to ear; he’s dressed in a white hospital gown with his long purple hair cascading freely down his shoulders and over his back and if it’s true, then he’s naked underneath.

…But that’s not something you should concern yourself with so you quickly brush away those thoughts and make your way towards him.

He’s holding a pink box of chocolates in hands and he’s surrounded by a bunch of ‘Get Well Soon’ cards, fruit baskets, metallic balloons and all sorts of other outlandish gifts. Interesting, so this must be how it feels to be popular and well-liked. You gape at the huge amount of boxes and once Leon’s gaze lands on your form, his eyes widen briefly before he hastily puts the box down, smooths his large hand over his untamed hair and turns to you with a somewhat awkward grin.

“H-hey, you’re here.”

He sounds nervous.

“Hi Leon,” you say as you enter the room, trying not to step on anything, “How are you?”

“I’m fine, thank you.”

“Are you sure?”

He nods rigorously to convince you.

You’re not convinced though and as you walk closer to him, it’s then you notice his cheeks are a little pink. You don’t say anything to his demeanor and instead, glance at the stacks of gifts in his room.

“Oh, uh…these are presents from fans,” he replies, and Charizard, who is sitting in one corner of the room immediately rises from his spot and bounds towards you, huffing excitedly.

"Hey Charizard," you greet him happily as the flame Pokemon lunges at you and begins nuzzling your palms and rubbing his snout over you. Charizard buries his head underneath your hand and you have no choice but to pet him, then he begins licking your cheek and you start laughing whilst Leon stares with widened eyes. You've heard of puppy kisses so you guess this is Charizard kisses.

"I heard someone like belly rubs," you say when he stops licking you, before you begin raking your fingers over his yellow tummy. Charizard thumps his tail over the ground energetically and folds his wings properly before he sprawls over the floor, growling loudly as you continue rubbing his stomach. Looking up at Leon, you say, "He's like a big pupper, isn't he?"

"Yeah..." Leon replies, flashing you a smile.

Charizard rolls back upright and you give him an affectionate pat on his head before he nudges you closer to Leon. "Alright, alright..." you mutter as you're finally nudged all the way in front of the Champion and Charizard lets out a wheezy snort of content and returns to the corner, settling down to rest.

You give Leon an awkward smile and as you look around, you realise there are no chairs in the room and you’re not sure why but Leon says, “You can sit on the bed with me.”

“Okay."

With Leon’s permission, you carefully climb onto the bed and sit cross-legged in front of him over the blanket.

"You should've seen him, Leon. He was really worried for you but he was so brave," you say, glancing at Charizard as he curls up on his paws with his tail in the air.

Leon nods, grinning. "He did great."

"He did."

You both turn to each other with a smile and Charizard emits a huffing snort of glee, looking at you two with a toothy, all-knowing grin. Throwing your glance down, you see that Leon has a box of chocolates in hands and he lifts it up to you.

“Try one,” Leon says, and you choose a cute little heart-shaped chocolate before promptly popping it into your mouth. He watches you carefully as you eat. “What do you think?”

“It’s good.”

He grabs a chocolate and munches on it before he beams. Overall, you’re relieved to see that he is well despite the incident. “Have another one.”

With a nod, you pluck another chocolate out of the box and he does the same. You both eat the chocolates at the same time, looking at each other as you chew before you exchange a smile. Leon is sharing food with you…it’s identical to when you were camping with him…

“Let’s see here,” Leon gulps down the confectionary and scoops up the card that came with it, “This is a homemade recipe by… Leigh from Circhester. Thank you, Leigh from Circhester.”

Your grin widens as Leon puts the box down and turns to a pile of unopened letters in another corner. Love letters, most likely.

“I don’t think I have enough time to go through these,” he muses, “There’s so many.”

“Are these from your fangirls?”

His cheeks flush brilliantly. “Y-yeah, I guess….which is…which is really nice of them,” he remarks, stuttering slightly as he throws his gaze to the side.

You’re quite entertained if the reason he is so nervous could possibly be you but you’re not sure. You cannot see his eyes dilating that’s for sure, but he seems to be unable to look at you in the eye.

“Well, here’s my gift,” you say, before you pull out a small wooden carving with a red string looped around it from your bag. It has a weird shape, a bit on the oblong side and it’s carved with a grotesque-looking face but when you give it to Leon, he is fascinated as he balances it in his hands. “I made it myself. It will protect you from being spirited away. I also brought your hat,” you add as you open your bag and pull out his snapback.

“Great, I was wondering where it went,” he thanks you again as he accepts it from you and settles it neatly over the bedside table, “Thanks for the gift and thanks for coming to visit me. I was really hoping for you to come.”

“Of course. I had to see if you were okay.”

His face visibly flushes again and he clears his throat, finally swerving his glance up to you. He holds the gaze and you’re both staring at each other. Your heart thumps harder the moment your eyes meet.

You look away to pick up one of his letters; it’s pink and covered in love hearts. “Not subtle at all," you utter and you can feel his gaze on you but you are too nervous to look up.

“You can read one if you like,” he says.

“Nah, that would be an invasion of privacy,” you reply and you put it back down. You force yourself to look up and indeed, he’s been staring at you the entire time. Your cheeks feel hot now, the heat spreading uncontrollably to your ears and the back of your neck. “I-I guess you’re, uh…used to receiving so many gifts?”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t make it easier for me to accept them…It’s a bit too much sometimes. If I could send some back, I would.”

“Ohh, don’t be so modest. Everyone loves you, Leon. You’re Galar’s National Treasure.”

Your compliment takes him off guard and his cheeks grow pink again.

An awkward silence settles between you two until he asks, “Do you want to go through these together?”

You want this tense silence to go away so you nod and he picks up the next gift which is wrapped in pink wrapping paper with a matching ribbon and bow.

He brings the box to his ears and shakes it and there is no sound but when he opens it, he sees it is a set consisting of a mini pink hairbrush, a fake pink tiara, giant plastic pink hairclip, fake pink scissors and finally, a matching princess handheld mirror with fake jewels that is also a bright shade of neon pink.

“Ah….interesting,” he mutters, whilst you giggle in response. He pulls the brush out, revealing a little piece of folded paper underneath. Picking it up, he unfolds it and there are messy words written all over the place in pink crayon and he reads aloud, “To Leon, from Princess Natasha, aged five. I brush my dolls with these so you should brush your hair with them too. They’re very special to me so I want you to have them. PS. Please be my Prince.”

“That is so cute!” you can’t help but squeal and he chuckles as he places the box down. “May I?”

“Go ahead.”

You scoop the tiny brush, sit up properly in your spot and lean forwards. It could be the trick of the eye but you swear you see him stiffening slightly when he realizes you’re inching closer to him.

With brush in hand, Leon blinks blankly as you rake the bristles over his thick bangs until they become tame and Leon stares at you wide-eyed as you swipe the brush over the frames of his face and over the back of his head and his face flushes in response.

You finish the look by grabbing the hideous pink clip and brush some of his thick purple hair to the left and slide the clip over, pressing down until you hear it snapping shut. To your utmost surprise, it stays on.

Next, you grab the scissors and pretend you’re trimming his beard, humming cheerfully under your breath, but it does look like he has more stubble than usual. When you realise Leon is staring at you intently, you quickly put the toys back into the box and clear your throat. You got carried away…

You quickly pick up the mirror and show him his reflection. “There. Don’t you look ravishing?”

Leon stares at himself before he chuckles and you join in, laughing lightly until he removes the clip, looks at your direction and as he reaches forwards, you stiffen as he gently brushes fingers against the side of your cheek and over the side of your head, pushing a few strands and tucking them behind your ear.

Your cheeks grow warm as he clips the plastic atrocity in place and grins. “I think it suits you better.”

Your heart beats like crazy but you force yourself to laugh in response though it sounds like you were doing an impression of a honking Ducklett.

“About last night….thanks for saving me,” Leon says, and he’s staring rather intensely. "Chairman Rose knows what you did and he wants to thank you."

“I-it was nothing, but uh…did you watch the news?”

“Yeah, and I’ve to issue a statement in a few days but…” Leon leaves his sentence trailing, sighs and his gaze softens as he gives you a thin smile, “The Wild Area and the League will introduce safer measures. It’s a good thing and it will be a difficult time ahead, but I know we’ll be able to pull through. Even though Chairman Rose is having a tough time right now….and what happened to those gym challengers…As Champion of Galar, I can’t help but feel responsible for this but I want people to continue to believe in the gym challenge and be the best trainer they can possibly be.”

“Leon, it’s not your fault at all.”

He throws his glance to the side however, "I'm sorry, I didn’t mean to go on like that."

"It's okay. Remember I told you before? Whatever it is you're feeling, feel free to get it out of your system. I'm all ears."

Leon pauses, blinking at you in surprise before he utters, "Thanks."

"No problem."

"Do you mind if I ask you a few questions about last night?"

"Not at all, ask away."

"How exactly did you find me?"

"Well, I was doing my research on the case with the missing people from the Giant's Seat."

"I remember you telling me that. We deliberately stayed away."

You don't say anything to that because he still ended up there anyway and so you continue, "I was at the Research lab, looking at all the missing folk and trying to suss out a pattern...and figured it was a Froslass. Went home with Jace to talk about-"

"Who's Jace?"

"Just a friend," you reply and Leon suddenly has a rather undecipherable expression on his face, "Anyway, suddenly Charizard arrived outside my house in Wedgehurst and I got on his back and he flew all the way to the Giant's Seat where he lost you. I used a...um...well," you show him your bandaged palm, "I used an advanced divination technique to find you. You can ask Charizard for further details if you want."

Leon nods, a little perplexed. He's listening though, completely hooked in.

"I followed the trail all the way to this mountain, to this summit, and dropped into a Pokemon den and..." you leave your sentence trailing, inhaling a shaky breath, "....They were there. All the missing people. And then I found you."

A brief silence spawns following your response.

"If you're wondering what the stone is, it's an Odd Keystone."

He nods, hand under his chin, "I read about those."

"My mentor let me borrow it."

"Ezra, right?"

You look at him surprise. "You remembered...?"

"Yeah." Leon replies with a grin.

Your cheeks feel warm. "W-well...Ezra and I have collected about eighty or something spirits over the past few years, so we're almost there," you're wondering why you are sharing so much with Leon but he is such a great listener and he genuinely looks interested. "He taught me how to use it to trap evil spirits. In fact, he's taught me pretty much everything I know."

After your long revelation, Leon offers you a smile when you exhale loudly, seemingly exhausted. "Thanks for telling me."

"Of course. You have a right to know."

"Do you want to go for a walk? I haven’t left the room since lunchtime. It would be nice to get some fresh air.”

“Sure,” you remove the pink clip and you’re quick to stand, immediately knocking over several giftboxes with your leg and causing a domino effect as they topple against other boxes one by one and they collapse over the floor loudly. You turn round to Leon with a wince. “Sorry.”

He laughs as he hops off the bed and grabs his white hoodie from his bedside table which he pulls over his head, slotting his arms in. “It’s alright. Let’s go.” Turning to Charizard, he says, "You wanna come along, bud?"

Charizard shakes his head, possibly because he knows he'll be a third wheel, so you and Leon head to the door and he opens it for you; still a gentleman, no matter what. You thank him, leave the room and he closes the door behind him.

“Let’s go this way.” Leon says, guiding you towards a corridor to your left.

He walks close beside you and your shoulders occasionally nudge together. The corridor’s wide enough and there’s no-one in your way but you both seem to be stepping in line together, gravitating towards each other and staying close.

Eventually, the corridor leads you to a large area where you see a number of patients sitting at tables playing chess, reading the newspaper, watching TV or walking around aimlessly.

As you walk with Leon, everyone greets him and waves.

You can only watch in silence as Leon greets them politely. Even though he’s only been in the hospital for a few hours or so he’s already made friends with everyone…. It’s a skill you wish you had for people usually look at you with disdain the moment they lay eyes on you and avoid you like the plague.

You pass an old man in a nightrobe, seated in a comfy-looking armchair who pipes up, “Hello Leon, is this your girlfriend?”

The two of you abruptly stop in your tracks, your jaws hanging open with shock. Leon’s face grows bright red before he splutters, “N-no, we’re just friends!”

And you don’t know what’s worse: how quick Leon had responded to the assumption or his words. Maybe both.

The old man merely chuckles and winks at him. “That’s what they always say at the beginning! I’ll be keeping my eye on you two, mark my words!”

You cringe like crazy, leaving the ward as quickly as possible and Leon heads towards a door that seems to lead to the exit. It’s a short trip but Leon does not make eye contact with you nor does he say anything until you have left the ward.

Leon has brought you to a large yard with a fountain in the middle. There’s also nobody here.

“Oh wow, this is nice,” you mutter, before you rush over to the fountain and peer over the ledge, gazing into the pool. A few Goldeen and Seaking are inside, swimming around gracefully.

Yep,” he agrees as he joins your side, grinning.

You see some Swanna swimming in a small group so you pull out some snacks from your bag and break it into smaller chunks, throwing tidbits into the water; the pokemon gather round the morsels and gobble them greedily.

Leon watches as you feed the pokemon happily before he rubs the back of his neck. “Hey, uh…I have something to tell you.”

“Yes?”

"Would you like to have dinner?"

Your eyes grow wide as you stop feeding the Swanna to stand up, facing him with your jaw hanging open. "D-dinner?!"

"Yeah. My family would like to meet you.”

"Oh. Right. Gotcha. Family with the dinner. Uh, I mean dinner with family."

"My mum wants to thank you for saving me and Hop really wants to meet you too,” Leon says whilst you mentally kick yourself, “I’m getting discharged first thing in the morning and Chairman Rose has given me a few days off so…it would be great if you could come over to my house for a barbecue tomorrow. It would mean a lot to them… and it would mean a lot to me as well.”

You’re stunned; his words have stolen your breath away but you manage to choke out a meek, “Really?”

“Yeah,” he replies, and as you gawk in silence, Leon’s cheeks grow pink and he slides his gaze to the side. “T-that is, if you’re free.”

You snap yourself out of your stupor and nod, “O-of course! Sure, I’d love to. That sounds great. Thank you, Leon.”

"Have you been to a barbecue before?"

"No."

"You're gonna love it," he replies with a wide smile on his face, causing your heart to thump harder than usual. “I’ll give you the time and send you my address later…I live in Postwick and my house is the biggest one on the right, you can’t miss it.”

You can’t help but giggle and soon it grows silent as you stand together, staring at each other again.

“...You’re really…different," Leon suddenly says.

"Different?"

"Yeah."

"Uh, you mean that in a good way or a bad way?"

"Good way, of course!" he exclaims quickly to shake off any misunderstandings, "I find it relaxing to be around with you."

"Oh, well, I've been told I have an old soul," you reply with a hum under your breath, and you wonder if that had anything to do with what he just said.

"And I saw what you did back in the cave with Froslass," Leon continues, "You’re an amazing person….it’s people like you who really help Galar during times of need. I want everyone to know that you saved my life if…if that’s okay with you.”

Your face grows hot at his compliment. “That’s very kind of you, Leon, but you don’t need to do anything for me and I’m not looking for any kind of reward. I-it’s my work, you know? Well, maybe not just work but…” As you struggle to explain yourself, fighting for words, he chuckles. You add, “Remember I told you that my line of work revolves around dead things?”

“Yeah.”

"People around me get hurt, Leon. And I don’t want you or anyone to get hurt because of me. People don’t understand.”

“I understand.”

“I know I have my blog but what I’m trying to say is – oh,” you pause at once, and he chuckles.

Following that, a nurse steps inside the yard and says, “Excuse me, Mr Champion? You have another visitor.”

You both throw your glance to the nurse as Leon acknowledges her and she departs. "I'll take my leave," you say, a tad reluctantly.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

“Dinner tomorrow?”

You nod.

“Any allergies we should be aware of?”

You shake your head.

He plants his palm on your shoulder, giving you a firm squeeze. “Great! See you then. I’m looking forward to it,” he says, before he gives you a wink and your stomach does a backflip.

When you leave the hospital, you pass the gym leader of Hammerlocke in the corridor and he's with a rather timid-looking girl whom you believe is his girlfriend. You throw a quick glance at them but they don't seem to notice you, and you look at their hands which are entwined tightly together. You hear the girl talking about something or someone called 'Driffie'.

They must be visiting Leon. He knows so many people compared to you. Off the top of your head, you can only count Jace, Graves and Ezra. That's about it. You want some boy advice, but it's not a good idea to ask Graves or Ezra, so you might ask Jace later.

You’re confused and inwardly hating yourself for once again, mistaking Leon’s friendliness for perhaps flirting and hints of romantic feelings, the usual. It dawns to you that you had spent the entire time with Leon as a blushing mess and also, your heart wouldn’t stop thrashing against your ribs.

And when you arrive home, Magnolia’s asleep and Sonia’s lounging upstairs in the bedroom. You immediately rush up the stairs, opening the door wide.

“Sonnie,” you exclaim, and she looks up from her magazine, “I have been invited to a dinner tomorrow. Like a normal person.”

”That’s fantastic! With who?”

“Leon and his family. It's gonna be a barbecue. They want to thank me for finding him,” you reply, and Sonia’s eyes widens abruptly before she sits up. “Wait, no, why am I doing this? I...I shouldn't be associated with Leon. He might get hurt because of me. Oh wait, it's sort of happened already..."

"No, no! You should go. Come on, don't be like that..."

"O-okay, but I’m really nervous about this. Help me.”

“What do you mean? You’ll be fine! Just be yourself.”

“Be myself?” you utter, before your eyes bulge, “That’s the worst possible me I could be.”

Sonia shakes her head wildly. “Don’t be silly! Arceus, this is exciting!” she exclaims as she slides out of bed. “Do you have anything to wear?”

“No…but I do want to wear something nice though.”

She giggles. “Leave it to me! This is like those movies where the girl gets a makeover!”

“You don’t say,” is your reply as she hurries over to you, circling you and checking your hair and nails and your complexion. You add, “I need your help, Sonnie, but I want this to be as painless as possible.”

“Of course,” she utters as she continues to inspect you. Placing a hand under her chin, she snaps her fingers and smiles widely. “I know what to do!”

...

#leon #dande #leon x reader #Leon x you #reader #reader insert #comfort in despair #fanfic #fic #jeralee #archive of our own #pkmn #pokemon #pokemonshield #pokemonsword #pokemon shield and sword

[seasurfacefullofclouds1]

I feel like people are too nice to tell you. I saw this as someone who followed you for years and who was also in the same spot as you are. You are absolutely conspiracy theorist. That post is literally describing you. I truly believe you're a good person and I hope oke day you snap out of it. I know it's not easy to get out because you think you're totally right but just because you think they aren't together doesn't make you less conspiracy theorist, just a different one. Good luck

Okay, thank you! If I may,

1. I don’t think I’m right. I don’t think anyone is right.

2. Thank you for “following me for years”; sorry for damaging both of our brains 😔; should have clicked unfollow a few hundreds of days ago.

3. I absolutely thought about myself in that conspiracy post. But thanks for not being “too nice” to point it out! It’s a refreshing change from my usual “followers.”

4. If I may humbly suggest—> next time, proofread.

#1 december 2020 #I’m so sorry I disappointed #thank god I have you #♥️