#its just talking about a very weird phenomenon I see all the time

[emptyjunior]

Can I say as someone who's a Pacific Islander, lived in Australia, Oceania my whole life, it's absolutely mind-bending how many Americans think that when it comes to english speaking countries it's only them and Europe.

Like the "oh sorry I don't use Celsius like you Europeans" stuff, you know everyone uses that right? Everyone? Absolutely everyone in the world except you?

When you talk about having a kettle as a standard kitchen item and some Americans are like that's SO british. It's not? It's all of us doing that?

I'm not making this to try and rag on Americans I promise, this isn't an 'all those Americans are ignorant and we're not' post, I'm just saying it's very baffling to be a person on the internet who speaks English and says they're not American, the FIRST response is "okay European."

???

The vibe is very 'Americans are the standard, Europe is the only other real place and then there's the east'😭

Like most of us are in the Commonwealth, measuring with kilometres, doing Eurovision. Americans are the outlier😭

I just can't impress upon you how many times I have discussed a thing that isn't a standard in the USA for an American to assume it's only a fringe European practice, we're ALL doing that man, all the rest of the world exists, it's such a gamble for you to assume I can only be in your country or Britian ☠️

#can I say once the point of this post is NOT haha all Americans are like the trump man #and it's not 'Please tell me about the electric kettle you have despite being american' #its just talking about a very weird phenomenon I see all the time #of Americans not realising that on a lot of things they're kind of very outnumbered #and it's an Attitude or perspective that they often don't realise they're doing #anyways #text post #long text post #america #Australia #britain

[slavghoul]

Interview from Classic Rock Magazine #309

What stands out in your memories of 2022?

TF: Going back to touring was a fantastic feeling! In the beginning it felt almost unreal; still with a bit of restriction, which was kind of unintuitive, but the last tour we did, in August/September, was as good as normal. We released the record when we said we would, we managed to back it up with seventy shows. We cancelled one show in total. That's a good result.

Impera has dark, historically rooted themes, but it's also music that makes the listener feel so many things - joy, aggression, excitement, sorrow... After such a turbulent couple of years there's something cathartic about that.

I am very happy about how the record came out, and that it seems to be well-received among our fans. That's a tremendous feeling. I feel like I managed to do a lot of things I set out to do. We're gonna continue next year, we still have a lot of things to do. But right now we're just recharging a little.

Kaisarion has been a hit live. For a song about the brutal murder of a female Roman philosopher, it really gets the party going.

Yeah, I'm still surprised that with a song that does what it does - and was so well received and opened up the shows - there's never been talk about turning it into a single. Which I don't understand. But at the end of the day it's a label decision, and people around that decide which ones will, quote-unquote, 'work best'. And I've realised that I'm not really capable of choosing. I remember Mary On A Cross was a B-side.

It's weird how that happens with some songs.

Yeah, I must say I feel very optimistic with regards to how that song is taking a life on its own. Even though it was technically a B-side on a fun additional thing [2019's Seven Inches Of Satanic Panic] - it was not our main single from a new album we have always played it ever since it came out, on every show. Maybe a few exceptions, but I've always pushed that song as something that I felt very good about.

On that subject, you're viral on TikTok now. What is it about that platform that appeals?

I hardly knew what it was until two months ago! I have two almost fourteen-year-old kids, so of course I'd heard the phenomenon mentioned. It's an insanely big thing among kids and teenagers. What happens is they create these short snippets, funny, sad or emotional clips, to which they often tag some sort of music or sound. And if you are a creator of sound or music, you might be tagged on to a clip that might go 'viral'. That way you hit a lot more people that you might never entertain, you know, aiming your guns at. So it's a bit of a crap-shoot as well. We are not a big mainstream act, so obviously there's going to be a mixed bag of reactions. Because people in general are kind of strange to a lot of these aesthetics of rock, and especially the darker aspects of it.

It has brought the band more attention.

But if all that attention is a good or a bad thing, we do not know yet. There have been people who might have come on to the track, and as soon as they see what the band is about - or what they perceive the band to be about - there's backlash, because it's like: "Oh my, God fearing hater!" "I don't like it!" "This is communist bullshit!" So there are two sides of the coin. But it's a great bonus if we can get new people, especially kids, into liking rock music or other things, or if it makes them feel in any way better-informed, if you will.

Do you think TikTok will be a bigger deal for musicians in the future?

I don't know. I think when you're a musician, and you're making records, you need to have a certain strategic mind. But your job at the end of the day is making records and playing live. That is the heart of the matter. If you sit around waiting for a viral thing to happen, you can wait a long fucking time.

Back in May, the identities of the Nameless Ghouls were confirmed on social media. How do you feel about them not being strictly nameless any more?

Well, they haven't really been for quite some time. So for me it was not an overnight sensation. As long as it doesn't in any way interfere with what we are doing, there's no desire that I have for people not to feel proud or happy about what they're doing.

You've lamented not being able to play more guitar. If you could be the guitarist for a day in any band, which would it be?

Good question. There's several bands. I would have loved to be what Mick Taylor was in 1969, coming into the Rolling Stones at their best era - but I would have stayed around! That would have been a great experience. Very fun music to play. Definitely within the limits of what I can play really well. I spent a lot of time as a kid learning how to play guitar. Otherwise I would love to play in the Red Hot Chilli Peppers; I love what John Frusciante does. Def Leppard might be a good fit too. Joe Elliott spoke very highly of Impera when it came out. That would have also been really cool. Also a fantastic band. In an alternative reality, in an alternative life, I would have wanted to do a lot of other things. But I did hear that [Joe said those things], and it was very heartwarming, of course. A very big honour.

#the band ghost #tobias forge #interview

[centrally-unplanned]

“And this is in fact a sociological change by the way - this doesn't describe 1960's radicals. They were weird but not mentally unwell. Its a modern phenomenon, due to how modern society functions (which is its whole deep topic). This is a "type", a social phenomenon. “

What is the evidence for this, and do we know why it happened?

Its gonna be subjective in the end like anything is in this space, but overall the 60's radical factions are very well-documented. We have like hours of interview footage with the Weatherman Underground, Red Army Faction, Black Panthers etc, diaries and contemporaneous accounts. Most of them lived, and weirdly in a lot of cases, became normal members of society - mainly due to the FBI breaking every law on the books investigating them. Bill Ayers co-founded the Weatherman Underground! He is an Education Professor of at the University Illinois, he helped Obama in his early days which fueled mountains of republican conspiracy drivel. If you want to know if he is mentally unwell, just go to his office hours! He co-founded it with his wife, who is a law professor now!

Its not every group of course - the Japanese Red Army definitely had leadership that you can see pathology in, but in the main I think this trend holds.

The reason for this is ofc one million things, but I see the main things as being that the first half of the 20th century was just a maelstorm of social change. The US is one of a handful of governing regimes that survived from 1900 to 1960 (setting Latin America aside at least), radical social experimentation just seemed like the order of the day. It made the idea of like actually being able to overthrow governments seem pretty reasonable, it wasn't weird to believe that it didn't require crazy oddball beliefs to buy into. That isn't true today, the world of developed countries is in fact extremely stable, no major country has gone through a true revolution in decades (this doesn't mean they havent changed, we talking about revolutionary groups here). And its deeper than a rational calculation or strength or w/e, the "accepted space of action" for people is more restricted now. The US *was* radically changing at that time, after all. Whose to say when that had to stop?

It was also a more violent time? Huge swathes of the population had been in the military at some point. Many of the radicals were veterans, or knew veterans, who knew how to do things like make bombs and such. Culture was different to, every level of society was less controlled, more violent or at least physical. The details ofc are deeper but I think you can see the trend - it just isn't a hard sell to someone who sees the world as inherently violent to like bomb a building. It was normal then in a way that is very hard to conceive of now (even if ofc that level of organization to the violence was exceptional, most people still never did).

"Why the 1960'/70's radicalism happened" is both worthy of and the subject of dozens of books, there is so much more than this. The fact that it was a mass movement that spanned dozens of countries and lasted around a decade for it to fully trail off I think shows that it was a structural force in society.

[bloobluebloo]

Okay so, I spent some time today, while cleaning up and taking care of chores, listening to more TotK reviews. I tried my best to remove my own biases, and this is what I can conclude. -I DO think that the abilities in TotK give the player ultimate freedom. You can solve any puzzle or reach any area with any sort of solution, as long as your imagination can come up with it. There are very few limitations that these abilities have. There is a certain thrill in building a machine and seeing that it actually works. -I DON'T like, however, that in the name of giving the player freedom that lots of places feel pointless to even explore. Sure, I will be smugly satisfied with solving a very intricate puzzle in a shrine, or feel excited discovering a mine or forgotten temple in the Depths, but if the reward is lackluster then my motivation to even try starts to diminish. The game relies too much on the player satisfying their own curiosity and not on rewarding you for said curiosity, at least proportionally. -I DO believe that this game is the most direct an LoZ sequel has ever been. You revisit the same Hyrule. You meet people you met in BotW and get to check up on them. You get to see Hyrule rebuilding itself. You get to revisit familiar areas to see how they've fared. You do get to retread familiar ground while traversing it in a different enough way to make it feel fresh. -I DON'T like that, in the interest of making the game accessible to new players, that so many characters treat Link like a stranger. I'm sorry, you can argue all you want that LoZ is not about the story, but given that it feels like such a direct sequel it is very immersion breaking for people to not recognize Link. You're telling me that Link built an entire life with Zelda in his house in Hateno and no one recognizes him in that village? Please. -I DO agree that TotK's story is more...involved than BotW. HOWEVER- -I DON'T think it suits this gameplay format. I think TotK's main problem is that it was trying to satisfy the two fanbases that now exist: the open world lovers that really don't care too much for the story and the linear LoZ fans that want a more attractive story. It's hard to feel anything for the story when all you have is memories, and you the player are not directly involved. I know we all joke that Link is always dragged into somebody else's problems, but TotK reaaaally feels like Link is cleaning up someone else's mess. In other words, unless Nintendo proves me wrong here, I don’t think open world Zelda in its current format works well with a big story.

-To add to that. it feels weird that in a world that touts ultimate freedom for the player that the story is so linear. It just doesn’t work for me.

I will not talk about the problems with the plot itself I think we all know my opinion about it

-I DO think that TotK Ganondorf is very present in the game's environment. One reviewer made the comparison of the Depths, being filled with darkness, gloom, and very powerful monsters as a reflection of the world Ganondorf aims to create, a world that is oppressive and dangerous at every corner as all you try to do is mine resources you need while surviving, versus the Sky Islands reflecting Rauru's ideal world, where the threats are minimum, where exploration is a lot more relaxed and laid back, where the sun always shines and you feel at peace. Ganondorf is very present through the gloom hands chasing you and Phantom Ganon, the regional phenomenon, the memories, the approach to his lair, puppet Zelda screwing around with everyone etc.

-I DON’T think that makes Ganondorf a compelling antagonist in the game itself. This is also where I feel like there is a weakness in this game’s environmental storytelling. We never learn much about Ganondorf from himself, Wind Waker being the exception. We learn about him from the lore in the land itself and to be honest I think, for all the vastness TotK offers there is very little you can find that relates to the lore. When you think about it, outside of the geoglyphs the environment doesn’t offer many lore-specific clues. I think we could have learned so much about the Zonai from ruins but alas.

-To add onto Ganondorf, I don’t mind him being a powerhungry warlord, but I feel like something is missing. It feels like he exists in a vaccum where he talks and acts past everyone. For example, if he had interacted with Riju or the Sage of Lightning cementing that power meant everything to him in his abandonment of his people, I feel like it would have really made him feel a lot more cold hearted and terrifying.

-I DO think the soundtrack for TotK is amazing. I think Ganondorf’s theme in this game, the build up, the mixture with his renown leitmotif and the theme of the Calamity, is the best one yet for me. The soundtrack just lends so much atmosphere to the game and makes exploration something special.

-I still think that the sky islands and the depths are empty and don’t offer much, especially for the depths. If you enjoy mining and collecting materials then I suppose its fine but the depths and sky felt like once you explored 20% of it you’ve seen whatever it has to offer. Given that the sky was such a big thing in all the promotional material it felt disappointing to see that it didn’t play that big of a role in the game. Most of the meat of the game is still on the surface.

Look, I know I sound like a hater when it comes to TotK but I actually enjoyed playing the game. I still enjoy it. I like talking to npcs and generally just fucking around in the game while taking in the scenery. I just feel like in this day and age when LoZ has the potential to improve in certain areas that people want to counter with “But LoZ is never about the story” and “Nintendo games rely on gimmicks”. The story is very weak in this game. I think it merits its criticisms because its weaknesses break the game’s immersion. It’s hard to watch people wonder about puppet Zelda when I know what’s happening and I’m somehow silent about it. And BotW’s success in its gimmicks come after a string of gimmicky LoZ games that were failures so it cannot rely on gimmicks for success either. And, to be fair, I think it’s insulting to the developers and writers to spout that LoZ doesn’t care about its story when there is one there clearly, even moreso than the people who acknowledge that the story is there and it has weaknesses.

#admiral’s log #the totk review that no one asked for

[arty-shadow-morningstar]

Con Man's Daughter (9)

Hey guys, I am not dead. With Halloween on the way, how about something spooky.

[Masterlist]

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6) (Part 7) (Part 7.5) (Part 8) (Part 9) (Part 10)

-----

Nino knows that his childhood friend can be eccentric at times.

That is mostly due to her rebellious spirit and her equally weird father who talks of demons and monsters when Nino and Kim came over for a sleepover at Marinette’s house while he was visiting.

They both are too embarrassed to ever admit that they were scared while Marinette remained entranced by the ‘bedtime’ stories.

Over the years, he had seen her do unexplainable things that were all brushed off as magic with childlike wonder. There were a few hazy memories of a shrieking Chloe being levitated into the air and Chloe being ‘cursed’ which he brushed off as a dream.

Marinette was very interested the moment anything supernatural was mentioned. Later, Alix and Juleka joined her in that odd hobby of hers.

The three of them would disappear for a weekend and come to school on Monday with scratches and bruises, passing them off as accidents from trying sports.

While he and Mari has known each other for years, there are still things that are hard for him to explain or rationalise when it comes to Marinette Constantine-Cheng and the inevitable conclusion was that it just is.

That was also the reason he was hiding in some room in the Agreste mansion, hoping that she would pick up her phone.

“Ello?” Marinette sleepily answered.

“Dudette, help.” He whispered as quietly as he could into the phone, hoping whatever it was that was after them couldn’t hear him, “I didn’t know who to call. We were just goofing around and now there is something chasing us. Please tell me how to stop this.” His voice filled with fear.

On the other side of Paris, Marinette shot up, more awake. “Hold on, Nino. What happened?”

“We are at Adrien’s house…and….Kim…he brought an ouija board. I swear we were just playing around and….Oh god, I don’t know what happened to him. Please help, Marinette.” Nino heard something moving and it felt a little colder than before. The hair on his neck raised.

“Hurry.” was the last thing he said before he hung up and covered his mouth and breathe as quietly as he could. How did things go this bad?

—--(Flashback to 10 hours earlier..)------

The boys were talking among themselves about something or the other and Adrien’s room came up.

It devolves into the boys planning a sleepover in Adrien’s room while his father was out of town for his upcoming trip.

Max did a little hacking so they can sneak pass the security and Adrien let the boys in through the window.

They did the usual party games and played around in Adrien’s admittedly very cool room with the Arcades, mini basketball court, rock climbing wall, etc..

Then, Kim brought out the Ouija board because his reasoning is no sleepover isn’t complete without something spooky.

Plagg sees that this is a bad idea (He might be irresponsible at times but his holder might die from this because spirits are out of the his domain). He tried to get Adrien to not go along with it but Adrien ignored him thinking that Plagg was just being over-dramatic.

Plagg decides that the best thing to do was to find Lady Rouge aka Marinette since he heard from Wyazz that Tikki’s holder’s father is a famous magician who dabbles in the dark arts with the title Hellblazer. Where did Pigtails live again?

So the boys are summoning something but nothing happens for a few minutes so they takes their hands off the thingy. (Found that it is called a planchette.)

And the planchette began moving on its own.

Max tried to rationalise the phenomenon while Adrien excuses himself to find out that Plagg was missing.

He thought that Plagg was messing with him so he starts insulting the spirit and the other boys tried to get him to stop. When Adrien declare to cut the ghost off from camembert, everyone is confused. Then, the spirit starts to go crazy and attacking people.

The boys spilt up and ran. They were all glad that Gabriel was away because their screams probably had woken up the entire neighbourhood.

Adrien finally realised that Plagg wasn’t making things up or it was the kwami behind the ouiji board and by taunting the entity, he had fucked up. He followed the other boys out the door.

—--

Plagg arrived at Marinette’s place, just as she had just hung up with Nino and changing into appropriate sprit-hunting attire.

“Pigtails, I don’t have time right now but I need you to come with me. Adrien is in danger. You need to follow me right now.” Plagg stopped in his tracks as he realised what just happened and turned to face Marinette, “Wait, you knew?!”

“Knew what?”

“That Chat Noir is-” Plagg paused, “Adrien.” The kwami’s eyes widened at the implication.

Plagg was beginning to feel a sense of panic as bubbles didn’t appear when he said his holder’s name.

“Oh, that…it was kinda hard to ignore the enormous amount of destruction magic from the ring on Adrien.” Marinette said offhandedly as she shrugged on her red coat

“And Master Fu let you keep the earrings.” Plagg said with awe, eyes wide.

“Well…I am not giving him a choice about it and no one is going to do a better job than me right now. Besides, once I set my eyes on something, I am pretty stubborn in seeing it through. Burning Hawkmoth in his ridiculous suit is what I want to see.”

Plagg grinned, “Now I wished he had given me to you instead, Pigtails.”

“Marinette, we talked about this. No arson at night.” Tikki sleepily flew towards them. “Oh. And what are you doing here *yawns* Plagg?”

“My kit ran into some trouble with supernatural creatures. The non-Miraculous kind. I am here to ask for Pigtail’s help.”

“I was going to go anyways.” She opened her coat to reveal the inside pockets made especially to fit kwamis. “Hop in, Plagg. Tikki, go back to sleep. It won’t be long. I hope.” She said as she opened a portal to the inside of Agreste Mansion.

Tikki sleepily mumbled a goodnight as the portal closed before she flew back to the cosy bed Marinette made for her.

—----

Meanwhile Nino closed his eyes and breathe through his mouth quietly, hoping whatever the fuck it was chasing them would disappear when a cold hand touched him.

He screamed and tried to fight off the attacker who covered his mouth with their hand and turned him around.

It was Marinette.

“Nino, don’t give us away.” she hissed. “Now, are you going to scream when I remove my hand.”

Nino shook his head and she removed her hand.

“What? How…? How did you get in? Max said that the house has like insane security.”

Marinette gave him a secretive smile, “I have my ways. So where is this creature that you have unwittingly summoned?”

“It was in Adrien’s room…..but then, it chased us and- and we split up and I don’t where it is or where the others are. Oh my God, are we going to die? We shouldn’t have listened to Kim and play that stupid game. Adrien is probably already dead.”

“Why would Adrien be dead?” Marinette doesn’t seemed concerned that one of their friends might have possibly be a corpse but also looked bored with the entire thing.

“I don’t what exactly he was talking about. Something about getting rid of camembert.”

A muffled cry from Marinette’s direction made him look up but her expression remained unchanged. “And what happened next, Nino?”

“The thing didn’t like that apparently and it started going crazy.”

“Did you get a good look at it?”

Nino described the creature as best as he could.

“Sounds like a revenant or a wraith.” Marinette said thoughtfully.

“Is there a difference?”

“Kinda? I mean, if you see one undead hell-bent on killing people, you have seen them all. But depending on the type, ways of containing or getting rid of them are different. Sometimes, we can bargain with them to go away. Luckily, most efficient way to getting rid of anyone of them is by destroying what is anchoring them here. So we need to get that ouija board.”

Marinette stood up and opened the door of the room they were in, only for the ‘ghost’ to be on the other side of the door.

Lots of glowing symbols shows up on Marinette’s coat which causes the creature to scream as if it had been burned and flee.

Marinette looked disappointed and swore in English under her breath, “Dammit another wraith. Why can’t they bloody stay in Scotland?” 

Meanwhile, Nino looked on in awe. “Woah, Dudette, how did you do that?”

Marinette pulled out a bunch of necklaces with symbols from every religion and a few protection talismans her father gifted her.

“Always useful to have a few of these on you at all times. Never know what kind of spirit you might run into. If you don’t have anything, salt will do in a pinch.” She explained.

Then, Marinette confidently walked out of the room, and Nino scrambled from his position on the floor to catch up to her.

“Where- where are we going?”

“To the kitchen, of course.”

“Why?”

“To get salt.”

“But why?”

“Did you think that I am going to do all the work? This is partially your fault and you called me here at the middle of the night when you know how hard it is for me to wake up in the mornings and get to school on time.”

“Sorry about that, Dudette. I would have been dead without you. But why the salt?”

“Salt is believed to be pure and ward off spirits….” Marinette listed why salt is the number one thing you should have on hand during supernatural situations and the zombie apocalypse. 

Embarrassingly enough, she had forgotten to refil her salt reserves before coming to the Agreste Mansion so she hoped that Gabriel is not one of those rich people who doesn’t keep salt in their house. If not, she could lock herself in the bathroom and teleport home to get some.

Marinette decides to not tell Nino that the worse thing the wraith would do was knock him out and have nightmares. And then, he will wake up in the morning with a slight headache and feeling a little emptier and depressed as they would like to feel on happiness. (They are mostly harmless on the supernatural scale of what she has faced and the victims usually get better in a week or a year at most if the wraith had been feeding on them for a long time. Plus Nino deserve this for waking her up at 12 am to fix the boys’ mess.)

------

On the way to the kitchen, they met up with Kim and Max who were hiding and jumped out to attack Nino and Marinette whom they thought was the beast after them.

Unfortunately for Nino, Marinette moved out the way of the attack causing the two boys lost their momentum in their surprise and crashed on top of Nino with Kim at the top of the pile. (For those wondering about Markov, he can be either at home charging or got lost when the wraith attacked.)

Kim recovered first and recognised the raven-haired girl. “Marinette! You are here. We are saved.”

Max looked up at his friend’s exclamation, glasses eschrewed, “How did you get in here? By yourself, there is a 5.3% success rate of getting in here.”

“It’s Marinette, Max. She’s magic and she can get into wherever she wants.” Kim stated in the same way one would say the sky was blue.

Marinette helped them up so poor Nino can finally breathe properly, “Nino called me for help. We were going to the kitchen to get some salt. This place like a maze.”

“So how did you get in here?”

Marinette smirked, “Like Kim said, Magic.”

Kim fist-pumped the air and laughed.

However, Max frowned, “That is not a definitive answer.”

“Sorry, Kante, some things are best left unanswered. Now, come on. We need to get salt.”

“Can you at least tell us why we need salt?”

“Salt, in most culture, is believed to be pure and an excellent repellent for most undead and supernatural creatures. Same with silver and iron. Those ancient people knew what they were doing. Anyways, if you want to see the light of tomorrow, we need to be armed, boys.”

Kim mock-saluted, “Aye, Aye, captain.” Marinette giggled.

They raided the kitchens for bags of salt and grabbed a few silverware just in case. (Marinette reluctantly grabbed some camembert at Plagg’s insistence.)

On their way out, they bumped into someone and Nino threw a fistful of salt into their face.

--------

“MY EYES.” Adrien screamed.

“Oh shit, dude, I am so sorry.” Nino tried to help his bro the best he could with a bag of salt in one hand and the other clutching a silver fork.

Kim and Max lowered their ‘weapons’ when they saw who it was and went back on guard in case the wraith came their way while Marinette looked around for something to help Adrien.

Plagg used the opportunity to get back to his holder after Marinette guide Adrien into a nearby bathroom to rinse his face while the boys stood guard outside.

Once Adrien recovered, “Marinette, how are you here?”

“A little black cat god with a stinky breath came to me while I was sleeping and told me to follow him here because he needed my help.” Marinette deadpanned.

Adrien stiffened and panicked internally. Oh my god, she knows. Master Fu is going to take Plagg away and I won’t be Chat Noir anymore. whatdoidowhatdoido

Marinette grinned and laughed, “Nah, I am just kidding. Nino called me, in the middle of the night by the way, about the trouble you boys got yourself into. You sunshine owe me a nice large of coffee with extra cream and sugar in the morning.”

Adrien nervously chuckled along with her. “The cat thing. Was it just a joke?” he asked weakly.

“Is he even trying to be subtle at all?” Marinette thought but she answered him anyways, “I was just messing with you.”

“I am going to see if the others are still alive. We will be waiting for you to get done.” she said before closing the door behind her.

Plagg came out of his hiding place, “Hey, kit.”

“Plagg, you are alive. Where have you been?”

“Of course, I am alive. It will take more than some measly soul to take a handsome cat like myself out. As for where, I went to seek the comfort of my dear camembert while you kids mess around. You can’t deny it but I told you so.”

“You were right, Plagg. I shouldn’t have ignored you.”

“That’s why you should listen to me more often.”

“I am going to get you more camembert after this.” Adrien paused in his excitement.

“What’s wrong?”

“Did you do like what Marinette told me?”

Plagg laughed, (although oblivious sunshine boy didn’t notice that it sounded a little forced), “That was just a coincidence. Headphones kid called her as soon as he managed to find a hiding spot. Besides, some kwamis can travel in dreams like Nooroo but I am not one of them. So stop worrying about the ring being taken away if you think that pigtails might have found out who you are.”

“Thanks, Plagg.”

“No problem, kit. Now get out there before your friends starts to worry.” 

—--

Adrien armed himself with a salt shaker and a silver spoon. (His father might be angry if he finds out about this.) He looked around and saw that Marinette wasn’t armed.

“Hey, Marinette. Where’s your salt? ”

Nino answered instead, “Marinette don’t need it. She has her own protection thing and it’s awesome.”

“Oh, I wanna see.” said Kim.

“It’s nothing, guys.” She replied, “Religious symbols have gained power over the years and they can keep spirits at bay. A few ‘Hail Marys’ or some prayer from a holy book can buy you some time.”

“Just show them your bling, Mari.”

She sighed and opened her coat so the boys can ooh and ahh at the many protective charms and symbols she wore.

“This is like some Supernatural shit.” Nathaniel commented.

Marinette rolled her eyes but kept quiet the fact that she had visited the Universe of that show. (Speaking of, she should sent Jack back a letter.)

—--

Surprisingly destroying the ouji board was the easy part.

Adrien volunteered to be the bait while the others were in charge of keeping the wraith busy. They also ran into Ivan, Natheniel and surprisingly Luka along the way.

Luka gave her a look which Marinette chose to ignore as she laid out her plan.

“Mari…”

“Luka, your mother would be very proud of you. Sneaking into a mansion late at night and using a sleepover as an excuse. If she knew, she would be popping the champagne.”

“She doesn’t even know that I am here.”

“More reason for her to be proud. Besides, I will make sure to take care of what you are worried about.”

“Just know, I have your father on speed dial if it turns out to be something stupid.”

“I am not that reckless.”

“And Lady Rouge didn’t jump into the mouth of a T-Rex just last month.” (Yes, Luka knows too. He immediately recognised the person who would be dramatic enough and take the opportunity to be a mysterious person with a terrifying power like Lady Rouge is often portrayed as.)

“I am not like her. Besides, this is a routine job at most. I am more surprised that the wraith stuck around even though it is in the presence of a Miraculous.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Apparently, Miraculous are the equivalent of a repellent to the supernatural.”

“Is that why you guys haven’t been stirring up trouble in Paris for the past year?”

Marinette grinned as she finished setting up the salt circle in an elaborate pattern that would alleged hold the wraith while buying time for her to completely destroy its source, “Yeah. We had to look outside of Paris to get anything.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Great, if the boys are ready, let’s get this show on the road.”

“MARINETTE, what do you mean look outside of Paris?”

—--

Adrien taunts the wraith and draws it towards the room (A guest room) where the circle was and where the rest of the boys were hiding in.

They all poked it with the silverware and threw lots of salt at it so it got inside the circle.

Meanwhile, Marinette booked it to Adrien’s room where the Ouji board was and started chanting to cut the connection between the wraith and the board.

But before she started to chant, she noticed something particular about the board. Looks like her work wasn’t done for tonight.

After cutting the connection, she took pictures of the board before asking Plagg to destroy it.

She walked into the guest room where the boys were all passed out on the floor.

“What’s wrong with my kitten?”

“He’s fine. They all are. Cutting the wraith’s tie to the mortal realm made it release the energy it had collected so far into a blast that knocked them out. They will be fine in the morning with just a slight headache with the probable side effect of seeing glimpses of each other’s memories in their dreams since wraith feeds on memories and what not.”

Marinette walked up to Luka and woke him up with a slap to the face.

“Ow. What? Mari? What happened? What did the three of you do now?”

“Do you remember anything?”

“I went with the boys in your class to sneak into Adrien’s house while his dad was out of town because Juleka and Rose were worried they might get into trouble. We were finishing a pillow fight and was going to do something else. I can’t remember what.”

“Temporary amnesia like I suspected. You boys have been missing for three days.”

“What?” Luka sat up in panic and rushed out of the room before realising he was still in Agreste Manor. He took his phone out to see only a few hours had passed.

“That was not funny.” Luka said as he re-entered the room where Marinette was dragging a passed out Ivan.

“It was to me. Now help me move them back to Adrien’s room because it’s not long until dawn and I don’t have the energy for a clean up spell.”

“What are we going to tell them when they wake up?”

“Nothing. You are going to tell them nothing.”

“What?”

“They probably won’t remember what happened in the past few hours the same as you. So that means that my powers will remain secret.”

Luka picked up both Max and Nathenial. “Why?”

“One, to better hide my extracurricular activities. And two, I promised my Maman that I will try to live a normal life as possible and that would be impossible if they knew.”

They cleaned up as best as they could and Marinette made sure that all footage of last night was erased.

She portalled herself directly above her bed as soon as she was done.

Luka pretended to be asleep when the others woke up an hour later.

They all hurried to sneak out of the house as the sun rose.

Thus, Adrien’s first sleepover ended.

—---

The next morning, the chef hired by the Agreste was confused by how little salt was left in the bag he brought just a few days ago.

The cleaning maids were surprised at how much of a mess the usually neat Adrien had made of his room last night.

Adrien decided to make a stop at a coffee shop and bought extra large cup of black coffee with cream and sugar. He didn’t remember why exactly he felt like he had to buy it until Plagg filled him the blanks and told him that he had called Marinette last night and she asked for that in exchange for keeping quiet about the sleepover.

Adrien placed said cup in front of a tired Marinette who perked up at the smell of coffee, causing Alya to squeal at the scene.

Only for her boyfriend to later also enter with a large cup of coffee and placed it in front of Marinette.

“Why are you giving my girl ridiculous amount of coffee?” Alya asked, completely baffled as boys continued to filed in with cups of coffee which they all placed in front of Marinette.

The boys didn’t have an answer for her but they knew that last night, they had messed with something they shouldn’t and Marinette was the one who saved them.

------

(Part 10)

------

Taglist:@vixen-uchiha, @laurcad123, @pale-lady-dreamer, @frieddonutsweets, @demonicbusiness, @iloontjeboontje, @plantsarefun06, @khneltea, @avs17, @imarivers8, @tieronick2411, @bookwalmartav, @intoomanydamnfandoms, @paradoxaloccurance, @its-maemain

#maribat #ml x dc #mlb x dc #biodad! john constantine #who doesn't like it if their sleepover suddenly turn into a horror movie #good thing they knew that one friend who is an expert

[thetreetopinn]

Space is huge. And it's incredible. It's so vast and wonderous you could be forgiven for staring out the window of your ship or station for hours, just drinking in the awe of it all. You could also be forgiven for being absolutely, utterly, and entirely terrified of it. Because of all the many things space is, it's definitely horrifying. You spend enough time out there in it, you start to get a little taste of what it can do when it flexes its cosmic muscles.

If you're lucky, you're born in one of the core systems where life is a paradise. Every galaxy has at least one core--and I'm not talking about the astronomical phenomenon--the galactic core. I'm talking about the core of civilized society. Every galaxy's got at least one. The galaxy I've settled in has five, and each core is home to tens of thousands of populated systems. You see, space is so wild and unpredictable, it's best to concentrate the seat of civilization in secure regions where nothing weird or horrific happens. At least, nothing weird or horrific in the cosmic sense. People are still people and they tend to bring their own horrors with them wherever they go. It's just usually mundane stuff--like scarcity breeding the usual sort of underclass that the powerful love to exploit. But I'm not here to talk about politics or economics or class warfare. None of that seems to matter when you're out on a long stretch, but it's important to understand why we're out here.

Since the average galaxy has about a hundred billion stars in it, that means all five cores in my galaxy make up less than one one-hundred-millionth of a percent of all the stars in the galaxy. And there are hundreds of trillions of people. There are so many people, they don't all fit in the core systems. Some chose to go out into the middle distance or out into the deep reaches, to find wild, untamed worlds to conquer and start a new life--people who think you can just start a new civilization without bringing any of the ills of the one you just came from with you. Sometimes it works. You might see a new core start to grow. It's rare, but on a long enough time scale, you can see it happen. But there's always a sort of critical mass. Once a galaxy has about a dozen or so cores, things start to push back, force people back into their safe spaces.

That's where we come in.

I am part of the Intergalactic Search and Rescue division--at least, that's what civilization calls us, or just ISR for short. We have come to collectively refer to ourselves as "icers". The truth of how that started is lost to time, but every ship and crew has a few different favorite variations on the same five or so stories. We stand apart from civilization so that we can keep the fringes of it safe. It doesn't come without risks, or without costs.

When someone goes out exploring and they find something they can't handle, we're the ones that get called in. And we're very good at our job. We are simultaneously revered, feared, and ignored. When you've been out there as long as some of us, space changes you. You become different enough from the rest of civilization that you kind of don't belong anymore. Homeworld doesn't matter. Culture doesn't matter. Species doesn't matter. You're just... different. Space has left its mark on you--sometimes in subtle ways that freak people out like the uncanny valley, and sometimes in obvious ways that encourage you to not ever go back to any of the cores.

All those stories and ideas and superstitions and fears people had in the early days of space exploration--I mean the really early days, when they were flying in little better than tin cans--we found they weren't true, obviously. There were no monsters or cosmic entities of chaos and insanity or anything like that. At least there weren't any at first.

Funny thing about people, we're really good at making just about anything we can imagine. All those tales of nightmarish cosmic horrors, we made them, all of them. We conjured them into existence. At least, that's my theory.

Maybe they existed out there before we reached into the depths of space. Maybe they stayed away because they didn't care about us at first. Then we showed them the diversity of our fears, anxieties, and dreams. They found a feeding ground rich and fertile--the minds of mortals. And so they began to encroach on civilization. The more we push out into space, the more they push back--in just about every way you can imagine.

I've been a part of ISR for a very long time. I've lost count of the missions and tours. I don't have any reason to go back to the core systems. I wouldn't survive there. I'm too different. When you've gone toe to toe with the minions of what is effectively an eldritch horror or an elder god as many times as I have, it changes you. I still look mostly normal, just... slightly off. I don't quite recognize my face in the mirror anymore. Relationships no longer interest me. I'm not tempted by any of the pleasures and distractions the core systems are famous for. I just want to be out amongst the stars. I feel more isolated among the civilized worlds than I do out in the voids between the galactic arms.

I've been keeping a record of my missions, my encounters, all the times I have been brought to the edge of my understanding and come back from the brink. I'm not entirely sure why. It's not like I really need to. There's plenty of information on all the unique beings, species, and anomalies we are likely to run up against. Some are amiable enough to let us go on our way after an initial misunderstanding. Some are completely indifferent, like a whale is indifferent to the harrowing existence of a tardigrade. Some are openly malevolent. These are the things we push back against. We have to let them know that they can't just run rampant.

Some of our personnel ends up disappearing, becoming part of the cosmos in one way or another. I've seen crew members assimilated into a collective consciousness that spans an entire nebula. I've seen crew transformed into an entirely new species as part of that creature's reproductive cycle. They almost never remember anything of their old life. They are no longer who they once were. Occasionally, I'll come across an old shipmate, now the herald, consort, or interpretor for some greater being, and we'll come into conflict. It's my job to remind them what we do--we look for the people who don't actually want to be this far out and bring them home. We also tell the darkness to respect the boundaries of light.

The various military and para-military organizations do the job of defending the core systems, and they're treated like heroes. We are the mad wanderers, the sages who have gone out into the desert and come back with forbidden wisdom. How can you go back to your homeworld, or your people, when you have stood in defiance before a god of madness only to suddenly find in the depths of your will and soul the power to push back on that all-powerful madness? It changes your sight. Your senses are altered. You can feel the lingering touch of that god or swarm or spirit brushing across the edges of your mind.

I find myself irritated with the more mundane missions. If I discover a derelict spacecraft and find its crew murdered and turned into bloody, mutated, animated corpses because of some deranged scientist's hopes of finding a cure to a new illness or they sought to build a mindless army only they could control, I find I almost want to set the ship on a collision course with one of the core systems. Maybe then it would teach those fools to stop trying to defy the laws of nature.

I find myself seeking out the more bizarre and inexplicable encounters. A ship that has disappeared mysteriously only to return haunted by the evils of a chaotic dimension holds some fascination for me, because whatever twisted mind has come to possess the ship or its crew seems to fear me. When they see into my thoughts, they shrink and cower, almost as if I resemble their god. I feel compelled to learn more about this--to learn more about what I am becoming.

It was once said that we are a way for the cosmos to know itself. Perhaps one day I will move beyond this existence and I will understand the cosmos. Perhaps when I understand the cosmos, the cosmos will understand itself. Until then, I will stand as sentry between the boundaries of civilization and the terrifying, cruel, beautiful darkness of the universe. I will send the lost souls back home with a greater appreciation for their security with a warning to never return. I will send the old gods and monsters back to their hives and shadows with greater appreciation for what they have already consumed--also with a warning.

Neither deity nor mortal, I am what lies between. I am the mediator. I am the void. And the void cares not for the trappings of the core systems or the plots of demons. The void simply is.

#short fiction #cosmic #cosmic horror #just a random idea that popped into my head after watching “The Black Hole” “Event Horizon” and “Alien”

[zacksnydered]

Hey - I love your blog and have been meaning to send you an ask for a while! Zack's been one of my favorite directors for a long time (I still need to see Rebel Moon!) and it's so bizarre, if anything else, how he's become this /one guy/ that people just love to smear and ridicule? I looked up the Rebel Moon tag on here today to see some cool shots to reblog later and I saw like ten posts shitting on the movie. Granted, I haven't seen it yet, but I almost want to like, conduct a sociology study on why people get so angry about his work and him as a guy?

He's a filmmaker! He loves movies. He seems to be a genuinely nice guy. Works with and casts a ton of women and people of color. Is excited about the art and science of making movies. And yet there's this huge anti-Zack Snyder wave, still. It's such a weird phenomenon. I honestly thought people were just pissed about him (unjustifiably, anyway) about Batman v Superman (a movie I still adore), but who knows. Great blog, in any case, and sorry for the quasi-rant. 😂😅

Genuinely, a baffling experience. Because like I think people who dislike him are just really loud and people who enjoy him have proven to be expansive and multicultural just from my very brief look at how diverse The Snydercut movement was at its peak. And I don't know, for me personally, I always blame it on America. Like I know that's such a simplistic statement but I do. I think its just this very bizarre experience for me because here, the Philippines, I've seen people dislike his movies but that's it. That is the extent of it. I've had my family and friends enjoy his movies and I've had discussions with people who don't enjoy it here and thats it. The online almost arrogant vitriol that comes with "hating him and his movies" is just something I've seen to be very loud from mostly americans? Like again, I can't tell how accurate this is cos its not like its something we can peer study although I would love to see people try. But yeah definitely!!! It's kind of crazy because I've loved all his movies for years and the first movie I watched of his was 300 when it came out! So it's just been a really fun ride for me to go through movie to movie having a blast. Because the thing for me with Zack is if you jump in the ride for him it's a hell of a ride! So that's mostly my experience with it. AND SERIOUSLY I LOVE TALKING ABOUT MOVIES/HIS MOVIES so this was not weird at all! Also yes I've been enjoyign your blog too and its not weird for me to say it out loud now. Hahaha.

#wernerherzoghaircut #inbox.

[naranjapetrificada]

I'm also a queer black adult. There's a difference between spending money for sources of comfort vs needlessly spending stuff to flex status in very childish ways. We definitely see that as we boycott all these companies. Would the latest iPhone be nice? I guess, but it ain't that impressive to support Congo's genocide. Is that Stanley cup cool? Honestly not really, and it definitely ain't worth supporting another genocide for. Even ofmd, it really wasn't that important for queer media or even black queer media, which a lot of Black shows were also canceled at the same time. No one talks about how important black rep is here though. Despite this, however, you are not seeing black people gather funds for a billboard for a show unless we talking about blm. Because that's more important than getting a show back on the air as a flex. So we as adults can recognize the bizarre message we see when people are out here begging for help, and dismissed as scammers. But the moment a donation post for a billboard gets put up to get a show back to production, it meets its up almost instantaneously. As an adult I literally study these kinds of phenomenons in our capitalist society. I'm not sending this message to come at you because you are not the only one who does this, and I certainly am forced to partake in capitalism. But I do want to share that these are the "adult" conversations people are going to have and question. For as many "we can support both ofmd and Palenstine" I read here, I see the same bloggers attacking Palestinians and Black people for rightfully being upset that they certainly do not "do both" with the same amount of passion

Thing is? I don't disagree with almost anything you said, and the frustration is real. The disparities are real. I've been on the other side of that and needed support and seen whose fundraisers met their goals quicker than mine did. All of that is real and under ideal circumstances, yeah, the billboard people could have handled all this better.

I think the differences in where I come at all this from is that:

I watched the live feed of the billboard for a minute, and people put all kinds of less-than-important shit on it. So when I see people talking about how wrong the billboard is I just remember the like, graduation-announcement-level other stuff that was on it for the same price. I'm not saying the idea still didn't rub me wrong but I am saying that put it into perspective for me at least.

This show has changed lives, which may sound silly, but that's art sometimes. There are people whose lives are better and bigger and more authentic than ever before because of this weird mix of kindness and space to be queer that isn't like anything I've ever seen before. I understand that not everyone had such an impactful experience with it but I've found that incredibly moving and valuable and worth the fight for a 3rd season.

More than anything else, I value the efforts to get the show renewed because it feels like a watershed moment in the TV and streaming industries, and things will only get worse from here. I'm aware of all the Black shows that got canceled before OFMD did but a lot of the time people only care when something comes for their shows, and now we've got a a bunch of agitated white gays (who to be clear to everyone except the asker, are NOT the show's sole audience so please stop talking about it that way) who we can and should be pushing to include Rap Sh!t and Love Life etc. when talking about all this. Because it does represent a trend that's coming for everybody, it just started with going after POC and queers first. FWIW I actually did make a post the other day aimed at OFMD people to try to get them talking about the Black shows that were canceled first. (I deleted the original post because my notifications were killing me but reblogs of it should still be floating around out there)

I'm not out here trying to say that people's perfectly understandable frustrations are invalid, it just has felt inconsistent the way a lot of (almost entirely white) self-styled leftists have been coming after OFMD as if it's uniquely horrible.

When BIPOC object to the disparities Asker pointed out, I lift that up and value it. There are things I might say in other forms of this conversation that I would have with other BIPOC away from prying eyes that might surprise you. But right now there's too much noise in this conversation from people who don't actually give a fuck about any of their talking points, they just see an opportunity to dunk on a cringe fandom or they're operating with incomplete/incorrect information about things or in the least surprising/most transparent move of all, they're projecting a bunch of inaccurate shit onto Taika and using it to criticize him in as pattern that's familiar and obvious to every POC watching it happen. That's not what I think you're doing or anything Asker, but it's important context for the conversation we could/should be having and something that keeps getting left out of the conversation.

#asked and answered #anon ask

[barbietoiles]

Well if it was swimming with a raft "nager avec un radeau" is totally correct, just not that common mdrrrrr

Yeah our words are weird like who decided that a banana would be "UNE banane"??? My take is that you just learn the pronouns of the words by living your life and earring people talk about these words, but there is no logic to just guess if it's "un" or "une" 😭

In school students often laugh saying that to guess a Spanish word, you have to take a French one and add "o" or "a" at the end (so students often make up words if they don't know the translation lmao)

But for us it's also much more difficult than in English for the gender neutral pronoun ; since in English everything is genderless, you can say "they are tired"

In French, you would say,

for a masculine pronoun : il est fatigué

for a feminine pronoun : elle est fatiguée

so for a gender neutral pronoun : iel est fatigué.e

it's called "inclusive writing"! As you can guess old people and far-right ppl are totally against, saying it's denaturing our language and bla bla bla but in fact, my teachers use it a lot in email to address a big group of students and include everyone like " à tous les étudiant.e.s". Bc we have a dumb rule that we learn in primary school that "masculine win over feminine" (le masculin l'emporte sur le féminin) meaning that if you have 10 girls and only 1 guy, you still have to say "ils" in plural. So with that it's easier to include everyone in written form !

And yep I never really watch multigaming before twitch tbh, there are only two men that can makes me watch league of legend, and they are etoiles and kameto (I don't understand a single thing 🫠)

(The space invader does look better on pc, he even has small codes to help him jump!)

-👾

No logic to it.... i see i see.... you live and you learn.... pain. I must listen to etoiles and baghera well!

The "take a french word and make it spanish" is hilarious and also quite cute kkkk. Its like my sister, who makes english words by saying latvian words in an english accent. And ALSO!! I KNEW IT i mentioned to an irl friend that im learning french and that learning spanish beforehand helped a lot because theyre similar and they said "french and spanish are nowhere near similar". SUCK IT BABY, i know what im talking about!!

The inclusive language looks a bit silly with the full stop lol but i think its clever. -é.e. i can choose to be é or e or . , very nice kkkkk. But yeah, old folks will complain about anything, the pissiness of latvian folks when a "no gender" bathroom is mentioned can be UNREAL (though usualy all the angry people are on the internet loll). Cant imagine how it would be if we tried doing inclusive language lol. (Or maybe we could just do a "oh its like russians ono dont worry about it" reasoning lol)

The "male over female" is a whole rule??? Oh my D: its usual to have the masc form be kind of considered "default", but thats crazy..... We use the "viņ(š)(a)" writing very often in emails and documents, its not considered progressive at all because its what we were always using pretty much? But the masc word always comes first. And ive noticed a phenomenon of masc even being considered "gender neutral", because to kind of neutrally address someone you COULD address them in the plural form, but problem is we also have gendered plural lol. So usually the masc one is used to kind of make the person "gender neutral". Its hard....

Theres going to be league of legends? Oh no... one friend played it all the time and it looks so boring ;u;..... well, its etoiles i dont care if game is boring i can get distracted by his shitty facecam mdr

(Also, im using mdr now, its so fun. Saying it out loud is good "r" practice kkkkk)

#ask bits #octo tag <3

[dingodad]

since i'm currently talking about Homestuck's connection to cape comics over on @lime-bloods i have to share my other new theory that Homestuck is also a response to the webcomic phenomenon in particular. and that the reason a lot of its readers just don't seem to "get it" is that they're literally just too young to have read any other webcomics

like i just got into a very brief argument on Reddit (i had the strength to just block him before i turned it into a real fight) with a guy who insisted that Homestuck is unique because it's "the closest a western comic has ever come to a manga, a single story written by one guy over several years". i told him this is how western webcomics have worked for decades now and he seemed to genuinely have no fucking clue what i was talking about. and this "Homestuck is a comic in manga style" sentiment is something you see expressed repeatedly in various different Homestuck circles!

people think Pesterquest and the epilogues and whatever else making constant references to vore and enbies and poggers are totally within the spirit of Homestuck because "Homestuck made meme references all the time" without understanding that when Homestuck made "meme references" it was as a satirical response to the culture of overwhelmingly referential garbage that was prevalent at the time. this was the whole joke behind Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff. the Hussie self-insert and all the meta commentary that comes with it get dismissed as weird aberrations surely not relevant to the actual plot of the comic because a lot of readers just don't realise that the self insert narrator character was a mainstay of the webcomics of the time and that Homestuck was deliberately parodying that

[commajade]

Im gonna drop a vent to you and I'm sorry for it you can just skip it if you like. I'm korean and a lesbian. I love kpop a lot, especially because some of my favorite idols imo speak to my experience in some of their art or the way they choose to work, you know? But with the new influx of westerners mainly with BTS, I'm starting to see more homophobic comments than usual and its making kpop spaces very uncomfortable for me. An example or two. I have certain opinions on Key and he is one of my favorite idols. But I saw for the first time in a while people saying things like he's not gay, he's korean, you all just think twink korean boys are gay and its because you're gay westerners and put this on them etc. This was from a westerner. Another one is after that now infamous wendy yst interview with twice members. I saw so many people saying things like sana can't be sapphic she's just a queerbaiting kpop idol she's so het so straight she dresses so girly she's trying to bait you for money blah blah blah., you can assume her sexuality because it's offensive to think she's sapphic, no lesbian looks like that, she was only being a friendly gal pal (that was flirting like are people stupid). I'm a femme korean lesbian mind you. I saw it with Moonbyul too after shutdown like I've seen people on twitter say you still can't call her a sapphic because its an assumption when she wrote...that song. I feel like I can't walk through kpop spaces now without some weird almost coloniser rhetoric about us and about how we express queerness, or painting us as always being money grabbing opportunists who are never queer sincerely and like comparing idols like Key to Harry styles as if they are in remotely the same position, and there's just this intersection of how it makes me feel about my race and my sexuality that really hurts. I felt so triggered after that wendy interview seeing the way mostly western people absolutely had to straight zone Sana and ascribe her racially charged characteristics, same thing with key this week with his stages and wearing those clothes. I mean for me I am happy to say I think so and so idol is a sapphic or a gay man but there's this new thing with western people who demonise this and think koreans or asians can't be gay? Sorry I don't understand it that well and my english isn't that good.

hello! yes i've talked about this stuff at length there's a really ugly social media phenomenon that's been building for years and it's really a mix of general homophobia, orientalism, and how people talk about queerness on twitter/sns in general. it's really annoying and it's really ugly and lots and lots of people are out there being simply wrong and racist and homophobic and there's nothing we can do about it. i'm sorry it's making u uncomfortable it makes me p uncomfortable too.

i have said it before on my blog and it is pretty clear for gay korean people when korean celebrities might be gay or not. westerners have a hard time telling what is standard behavior for korean people when it comes to fashion, self-presentation and care, and behaviors with other people. most male idols do not fit standards of western masculinity and do not fit korean standards for masculinity either but it is simply the job of an idol to look youthful and pretty and fashionable and those things are seen as gender noncomforming to many people including many koreans. there is also a clear distinction between queer idols flagging to their fans that they are queer and actual kpop queerbaiting which is when companies have idols pair up and flirt with each other as a marketing scheme or put little nods to the profitable gay audience but don't actually care. and there are also straight korean celebrities that genuinely care about their lgbt fans and want to express that as well. we can discern these things and many westerners can too, many people simply do not try.

it's orientalism that makes people think that korean and asian people generally can't be gay because we live in conservative countries as if the west is not even more violent toward lgbt people in many ways. they have an inability to see asian people as actual human populations with many kinds of people with many experiences, they take the surface level of asian countries that they can consume as the absolute truth and think they know everything about us.

and overall people just say dumb shit constantly and the online environment for kpop fans is becoming so noxious because of things like twitter culture cultivating cruelty and quick shock value statements as the kind of humor that gets popular and how mainstream kpop is becoming.

it's genuinely hurtful esp when people say this stuff about key because he is so careful and caring about flagging and talking about acceptance and confidence in your own identity and key has been facing homophobia his entire career. the people that know what he is communicating to us as lgbt fans can tell very easily. there's a new flood of people being cruel about him and to him, even putting homophobic slurs in his comments and thinking that's not a malicious thing to do. have not personally seen the harry styles comment if anyone said that in front of me in real life i would genuinely consider physical violence. like. excuse me???

anyway i hope this long response helps u at all! i totally understand where ur coming from and u can come vent to me again if u want! it's a really concerning and violent trend on the internet with korean people being so exposed to the global audience now it made me feel kind of crazy that so many people can consume and make queer coded content from and about korean celebrities and claim that i don't exist. i hope u can find a way to enjoy ur hobbies in peace!

#asks #kpop #long post //

[ceescedasticity]

Unforsaken, 5b

I bet you thought you'd seen the last of me

(All sections on tumblr)

(AO3, lagging behind but more polished)

Glorfindel concedes that Turgon cannot wield Glamdring.

They should still bring it, though. Glorfindel will wield it if neither of the twins wants to.

They need to look for weapons for the orcs in a less rarified part of the armory.

Before that, though—

Khitwê and Risyind already have perfectly good swords, provided to them in Imladris. They pick out some even better swords of the same size and weight. They can practice with them and see how it goes.

(They're also looking forward to getting their hands on those polearms.)

"Should we be looking for weapons for… the rest of the party?" Celeborn asks.

Well, not Gimli, obviously, he'll have his own high-quality dwarven weapons and won't want to change them. Probably not Legolas, either. But the Hirnedhrim won't have very good weapons, if they bring weapons at all. Gondor-quality at best. Then again…

"They aren't really going to be able to make best use of the really… heroic weapons," Elrohir admits. "We should find something practical."

(He may or may not have witnessed someone using a sword to clear brush, among other incidents.)

They just pick up some knives for both Legolas and the Hirnedhrim, and head for the part of the armory with less opinionated weapons.

MEANWHILE IN GONDOR…

King Elessar sends word to—

Well, really, Aragorn writes to his old comrades asking if they can stop by earlier than planned for a discussion — something weird has come up.

Legolas and Gimli duly arrive. Aragorn yields the floor to Arwen, who calls in Zuste before beginning.

(Zuste has been splitting her time between the Hirnedhrim in Ithilien and Arwen's direct service. People are getting used to her. In Gondor she's called Ríanbyr, Queensworn.)

(The introduction of the Hirnedhrim has been… an adjustment, especially for those who'd fought Saruman's forces. Legolas and Gimli at least have experience overcoming prejudice.)

Arwen explains. There's a lot to explain, starting with the complete nature of orcs in all its horror.

Learned dwarves know the very first orcs came from horribly tortured elves, but all the more recent activity is completely unfamiliar to Gimli.

It's not news to Legolas. He was never officially told — just strongly advised never to look an orc in the face, and of course to follow the call to Mandos if it came to that. But veterans talk, when you're out in the woods hunting spiders and the darkness is closing around you and it's hard to think of stories which aren't horrifying, and — it's not news.

It is news to Zuste.

Zuste considers asking about the Fair Orc, but decides it will wait.

From there, Arwen explains the phenomenon of orcs remembering (also not a surprise to Legolas), and remembering rationally (this one is a surprise), and Khitwê and Risyind's origins. That one is just objectively shocking.

—Except to Zuste.

Then Arwen has to explain who Khitwê and Risyind are because even though Legolas has visited Imladris more than once since they arrived, he's never met them except maybe in passing. Huh.

(Khitwê would really rather avoid Risyind picking any more fights about dwarves.)

Moving on, Arwen explains the remembering-orcs' idea of destroying the Crucible, and how her brothers and the others lingering in Imladris planned to help.

Legolas and Gimli deduce she's about to ask for their help and immediately agree. Zuste says she's at Arwen's service as always.

Arwen thanks them and says yes, but it's a little more complicated than that.

She asks Zuste about recruiting Dyn, as well as Zena if possible.

See, this is also about the Wizard's Clay.

#a tolkien tag #orc bank #orc bank unforsaken

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

for the writer asks: BTS for dont hurt yourself

BTS: Write a dvd commentary about a passage from the fic (I cannot pic a fav so I'm just gonna give any old passage, I chose this one because it is weed day and they are smoking weed)(Full disclosure I own dvds but its been so long since I watched dvd commentary that I don't really remember what it's like so I'll just talk about the passage and how I made the decisions I did and how it came about, you know, the making of the passage.)

Don't Hurt Yourself

You know what, lets do something festive for 420. CW: Having sex while very very high on this passage

The world started skipping like a scratched CD, time becoming completely disjointed. Ed's consciousness kept skipping back and forth between watching Izzy sink onto Jack's cock for the first time that night and then forward again to making out almost violently with Izzy, all lips and tongue and teeth. He found it hard to climax when he wasn't quite sure which sensations he was feeling and when.

Skip, he was no longer on Jack's face but instead straddling his chest as Jack smoked and Izzy rode his cock, Ed still had his tongue down Izzy's throat. "Are you sure you don't scissor?" Jack asked.

He vaguely remembered getting into the position, laying down on the ground as Izzy lounged back against a chair, propping Ed's ankle up on his shoulder and pressing their cunts together. Then he seemed to skip forward a bit and Jack's balls were in his mouth as he and Izzy rutted against each other.

Another skip and Izzy was cumming as loud as Ed had ever heard him. The last time he'd allowed himself to be that loud they had been on mushrooms, Ed was grasping impotently at Jack's cock as he drooled over his balls.

So I had heard of the "World Skips like a CD when I'm on edibles" phenomenon on tumblr but I didn't experience it myself until I bought edibles from my local dispensary and took twice as much as the package said I should take at a time. I've heard a lot of people find it scary but I actually think it's kind of fun to experience time weird.

Basically what happened when I did it is I was giggling uncontrollably and my roommate asked me what was going on and I told her I was going to go buy gummy worms and she said "Oh you're high" and then I went out to walk to the cvs and the whole way to CVS my perception of reality kept jumping back into my living room. Like how when a cd skips and you're on a different part of the song suddenly, except for I was skipping between being in the living room with my roommate and walking to CVS. And the whole time I could like see where I was walking and stuff so I wasn't in danger or anything but something went loopy in the part of my brain that processes time and memory. I managed to successfully obtain gummy worms while experiencing this because I'm the king of substances and soooo functional on drugs. That was my experience with it.

Then a few weeks later I was like "well I've gotta make the Jack/Ed/Izzy three way happen while Izzy and Ed are broken up for real this time, so I may as well coax them along by giving them drugs. I'll start out soft with some pot"

90% of writing drugs is trying to figure out what drug effects are narrative conducive or fun to write and what drug effects get in your way. For example Jack getting the munchies and stopping everything to go raid Ed's snack cupboard might be realistic but it's definitely not gonna get these three fucking any faster. But the skipping thing, well it makes it easier for me to write smut that flows because it being disjointed becomes an on purpose thing that I'm doing. So if I want them to switch positions but I don't want to describe the in between part, bam, I throw weed at the problem and we don't have to get into the actual mechanics of sex. And frankly it's a fun exercise in trying to describe something I only sort of remember because of how high I was at the time.

I also wanted to further Izzy's characterization of being very very repressed, and a good way to do that is to show him being louder when he doesn't have the faculties to suppress his moaning is a good way to do that.

The Ask Meme, ask me more it's fun.

#happy 420 #ask games #divorce court au

[d-lissa]

Liveblogging TMA - Season 1 - MAG 28-31

"Still, where do I know the name Sarah Baldwin from?"

SKINTIGHT :

... Oh great. More skin.

Awesome.

Here's to hoping it is trypophobia friendly, compared to the others.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

... Oh. Not the type of skin problems I was thinking of.

To answer one Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute on his query :

"However, Sasha did some digging into the police reports of the time and it turns out that between 2005 and 2010, when Mr. Watts’ encounter supposedly took place, there were six disappearances in and around the Old Fishmarket Close: Jessica McEwen in November 2005, Sarah Baldwin in August 2006, Daniel Rawlings in December of the same year, then Ashley Dobson and Megan Shaw in May and June of 2008"

"Anglerfish", The Magnus Archive.

I have received several things that I have wanted to get since the beginning of the story.

First, a callback to "Anglerfish". Almost everything else has had connections to The Mystery, except for this one, and I had to wonder if it was linked in any way. I am glad to know that the anglerfish horror is still very much around and kicking, apparently.

And so are its victims, considering that this all happened 9 years after her disappearance. Now, more than ever, I am curious as to what this oddity is looking for. It seems like the hospital genuinely was haunted, and that Sarah, as a ... Minion (?) working for the Anglerfish, wasn't supposed to be there, or to come near another oddity maybe ?

Still, what was she doing ? What was her, and so the Anglerfish's, goal doing this ?

The second thing I have wanted, and have thus received, since we learned of the reputation of the Institute was to see a "professional paranormal investigator" interact with them. I liked Melanie, I hope to see her again in the future.

We learned more about how the world sees the institute, and I, for one, am satisfied to see that I was right about the reasons. Indeed, it IS because they take in anyone of the moment they have a story to tell and research it, from the actual supernatural phenomenon, to the drunk antics, I presume.

Something that is to keep in mind, after all, is that for every statement recorded on tape, Jonathan is probably archiving ten more that can safely fit into the computer without any weird interference. Meaning, the ones that are absolute bullshit.

Oh, so much time must be wasted on those files, of course they got a bad reputation. Not only they accept everything and investigate, but even when there IS something, they don't even do anything about it ! They're just ... Researchers. They observe and record, but do they do anything ?

Just. What is this institute for ?

And why the hell is Jonathan working there ?!

CHEATING DEATH :

"“You said that if I won, then I’d live!” The monk shook his head. “No, I didn’t.”"

Oh, this was positively beautiful.

I guess that my theory about Death and The Spider has been made incorrect ? I can't even be mad about it, this is my favourite personification of Death ever created, this podcast is an absolute gem.

I guess that it is time to lay The Spider theory to rest. It was probably just another, more common oddity.

Elias went from a filling clerk to the Head of the Magnus Institute ? Talk about a promotion.

Somehow, I don't think that every Deaths ever created ended up living forever. Or if they did, then this is probably the cruelest curse presented thus far. But going with the idea that it isn't the case, I wonder why this man was.

Personally, I wouldn't even try to gamble. Nasty business, this one.

Obviously, since he is immortal, he will come up again, right ? At least I hope so.

I wondered why the token scattered to ashes when Jonathan touched it. Was it because of how old it was, or was it more foreshadowing ? The way it was said made it sound very ominous.

I love ominous.

Up there episode, top 3 easily, and the narration was just entralling. Every episode, I fall deeper and deeper in love with the Archivist's voice.

KILLING FLOOR :

... Somehow, this was the most disturbing of the the bunch.

Everything, from the choice of words, to the delivery, to the affirmations that "no, really, i'm not a killer ... I think", all of that made me uncomfortable in a way I wasn't expecting to be by this episode.

Considering that this is already the second time something partaining to meat had happened, and that both cases were rather sickening, I have to wonder if anyone in the writing room was vegetarian.

More liminal spaces. I have to assume that we know have found where the man from "The Man Upstairs" was getting his meat.

Thus far, we have seen many liminal spaces and several oddities who's presence reminded me of some of them. I thought that they were separate, but maybe those spaces are the place where those oddities reside ?

I mean, even evil and all powerful beings made of energy and the faith and fear of humanity deserves a place to rest, right ?

Gotta have some room to store all those sacrifices and victims, after all.

FIRST HUNT :

"Are we being hunted? "

Actually, mate, I think you're being besieged, but that's just semantics.

And so we have met the TMA version of a wereworlf ! I think Jonathan should've looked into it, if only just in case those oddities in particular were to decide to take a little trip to England, but well. Who am I to tell him what to do ?

Plus, the poor dear is clearly exhausted. This whole situation has been weighing on him more and more, and pribably on his coworkers as well, though we still haven't met Tim yet. I don't know him, but he somehow sounds like the type of guy to make a joke out of anything.

Only 9 episodes are left before the end of season 1. I don't know if we'll get the whole "Achivist's Crimson Fate" this season, but I do hope that the whole Jane Prentiss and her flesh hive thing will be resolved by then.

I don't think those people would be able to bear it for too long.

OVERALL :

I wasn't going to make another one of those until the end of the season, but so much has happened already, so getting some groundwork done wouldn't hurt. At least, acheck up on the characters.

JONATHAN SIMS/HEAD ARCHIVIST

His hard ass exterior is slowly being chipped away by exhaustion and stress, but he remains the same as he always was. To be honnest, while I do think things will change the more time goes by, I hope he will keep his wits to him. I love his dry sarcasm and his eagerness to annoy people who are annoying to him.

We are 31 episodes in, and we still don't know anything about his life as anything other than the Head Archivist though. I somehow doubt he has much of a social life, but I am curious about his family. There have been ... Hints, I suppose, but I am still very much starving for more information. How old even is he ?

Call me Neuro the way I eat his mystery up.

MARTIN BLACKWOOD

We have finally met him, and he is precious, and to be protected at all costs and I love him.

And he probably has a crush on Jonathan.

More seriously though, he is resistant and perseverant. A little air-headed, naive, probably easy to tease and bully. He is ... Too likable, actually. And kind of too ... Easy.

I trust him as far as I can throw him.

SASHA JAMES

Strong willed, impertinent and skeptical, I can see why Jonathan go so much easier on her when he is ready to throw shade at every moment at his coworkers. I feel like it's safe to consider them friends.

That being said, she is also stubborn and kind of a hypocrite and far too curious for her own good, which will probably cost her.

I have made a bet earlier that someone will probably give up and quit the team. I haven't met Tim yet, so out of the three we know of and have actually met, I'd put my money on her either doing just that, or dying.

Grim prospects, in summary.

Can't wait to get my heart absolutely obliterated !

The quote of the post will be :

"A living hell is, after all, still living."

End Liveblogging.

#tma #the magnus archive #liveblogging #liveblog-tma

[yukihime242]

I have been watching this old TV series called Ghost Whisperer. I was an unfortunate child to not have known of its existence during my younger days. But, hey! Now that there’s such a thing called Disney+, I am glad to have come across this drama series.

Anyway, I have only watched up to Season 2 and I’m loving the whole show, well, minus the part where my mum just simply refuses to pay attention and keeps asking questions...

But I am not going to be writing a review of the show. I still have about three more seasons to go.

What I will be covering in this post instead is the relationship between Delia and Melinda.

And of course, 🚨SPOILER ALERT🚨 if you are interested in watching the show.

Let’s introduce the characters who are important for this post.

1️⃣ Melinda Gordon

(Picture Source: Ghost Whisperer Wiki Fandom)

Melinda Gordon is the main protagonist of the series. She can see, hear, and talk to ghost like you would with any normal human being.

2️⃣ Andrea

(Picture Source: Ultimate Ghost Whisperer Wiki Fandom)

Andrea was the shop assistant of Melinda’s shop in Season 1, but due to a catastrophe, she died and was no longer seen again in the subsequent seasons.

I need to clarify that it was the character Andrea who died, not the actress!

3️⃣Jim Clancy

(Picture Source: Ultimate Ghost Whisperer Wiki Fandom)

Jim Clancy is the husband of Melinda. He fully supports his wife on her personal mission to help as many earthbound spirits, as she put it, to cross over to the light. 

4️⃣Rick Payne

(Picture Source: Ghost Whisperer Wiki Fandom)

Professor Rick Payne researches on the humans’ need to believe in mythology and the paranormal. He also helps Melinda in investigating some of the supernatural phenomenon happening in Grandview.

5️⃣Delia Banks

And finally, Delia. She is a widow, real estate agent, and also the current shop assistant to Melinda’s shop. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Now that we are familiar with the characters, let’s dive into the relationship of Melinda and Delia.

(Gif Source: Tenor)

First of all, I sympathise with Melinda a lot in regards to trusting people. I mean, how are you able to go around telling people that you can see ghost? People would think you are nuts and just ship you off to the asylum if they could.

Of course, my own trust issues has nothing to do with being able to see ghosts (for the record, I can’t). I can understand how difficult it is to open up to people about yourself. For Melinda, it’s about her gift.

(Gif Source: GIPHY)

Melinda has suffered enough rejection and humiliation, such as the rejection from her college sweetheart, and the betrayal from her high school friend. Because of those incidents, Melinda has a hard time trusting people.

Fortunately for her, there were people out there who were very nice. For Jim, I have no idea how she told him about her gift. The rare flashback about their first meeting did not show enough information on that, which is kind of expected since you just met this person. But throughout the seasons, you could see how he simply trusts her and gave her his full support about on the matter.

For Andrea, we did get to see how Melinda broke the news to her and fortunately, Andrea was like, “oh, okay.” 🤷‍♀️

(GIF Source: GIPHY)

I mean, she can be skeptical, she could think that Melinda was simply nuts or pulling her leg, but she didn’t think much of it and never criticize her or humiliate her in any way. 

Just like with Delia, there must have been a numerous times where she caught Melinda acting weird or talking to the air or something. Yet, when Melinda broke the news to her about her gift, Andrea never batted an eyelid and just accepted it. 

For the benefit of doubt, she could have thought at that moment that Melinda was crazy or pulling her leg. Of course, eventually, we know that Andrea whole heartedly knew that Melinda could truly see ghosts. But prior to that, Andrea never said anything nasty towards her.

Then, Rick Payne. Everybody knows he’s the comedic relief of the show. But if you take that away, he’s also the most cynical character in the show (his in-show colleagues even called him that). Rick Payne never believed in the paranormal despite being a professor teaching the paranormal. 

Technically, you don’t have to be a religious or strong believer of the paranormal/supernatural to teach this kind of stuff. You can be an atheist and still research on this. Rick Payne had also mentioned in the show that he simply researches on the humans’ needs to believe in something religious.

But when Melinda (reluctantly) broke the news to him, he dismissed it at first. But eventually, he also came to terms with it and truly believed in her ability to see ghosts. Also, like Andrea, he did not mention anything untoward or nasty towards Melinda after learning of it.

And finally, we have Delia. 

To her credit, Delia was starting to date again in the show, and her date (not going to spoil it) had been presenting her gifts that her late husband liked, or that her late husband knew she liked. So, of course, all of this was being very sentimental and were giving her some form of grief she could not get over with.

What she did not know was that her late husband was lingering around her and her date. Melinda did try to reach out to his spirit without getting Delia involved because she knew how much it would hurt her if she shared the news with Delia. But unfortunately, it was proven impossible and Melinda had to share with Delia about her gift.

Now, Delia had seen Melinda acting weird a couple of times, like talking to herself or just simply acting weird. But I also don’t blame her for not connecting the dots during that period because she was experiencing grieving moments from all that subtle little gifts her date was bringing her.

But the thing is, when Melinda tried to break the news to her, Melinda explicitly said (something along the lines) that she didn’t want to let her know but she had to if it wasn’t so important.

I mean that one liner was enough to tell you that she was being serious. But even if you still doubt that she was, I was not happy when Delia just lashed out like that at Melinda, for using her late husband as an excuse to pull her leg. 

(Picture Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuKj_n72fXo)

I mean come on! 

Although they kinda worked things out afterwards, you can definitely tell how Melinda treats Delia afterwards.

Like despite Delia knowing about her gift, Melinda never talked to her about it. I liked how she retorted back in one episode about Delia not wanting to deal with this side of her life so she never talked to her about it.

And that scene is so true! People may not understand why was Melinda so mean to Delia? But realistically, you shared your deepest darkest secret to someone and that someone just lashed out at you, rejected you, hurt you and even called you nuts. Even after you two have made amends with each other, you think you would ever talk to that person about anything?

#ghost whisperer #melinda gordon #delia banks #jim clancy #andrea marino #rick payne #yukihime's daily thoughts

[animalinvestigator]

hello coda >:] riddle me this. i dont actually have a riddle i just came to ask as a newer petscop enjoyer if u have any fun petscop trivia? i literally just finished watching it a few days ago and i keep thinking abt it..on my mind..smoke the shit that made the pets scop

Hello! Wow welcome to the world of petscop. Sure, I'm not exactly sure what qualifies as trivia but here's a few things you might not know if you're new to things.

Something I find neat: Interestingly the majority of petscop's characters have existed for 10+ years across a variety of different projects. I mostly keep from talking about them because the guy who made these things buries at least one of them on purpose, but care& her immediate family has existed (albeit in a very different story with very different lives) since as early as 2009, while rainer and mike have existed since as early as 2012! ...we don't really know anything about the 2012 iteration of these characters other than it was mentioned but i always find it really fascinating that the majority of the characters are just one iteration of concepts that have shown up a bunch of other times. Paul, lina, and belle all appear to be new characters though! Which is neat.

Relatedly the symbols in the background of even care and that reoccur throughout the game are also old imagery from a former project, nifty (Which is for sure the reason why the nifty function in petscop is called nifty LOL)

Nifty's a fun little game, extremely old though, it's really surreal to see the pscop tiles showing up in it retroactively. This game actually played a really big part in people finding out who made petscop; its common knowledge now but was purposefully obfuscated until ~episode 22 iirc, i was amidst the group of people who were the first to find out haha, it was the same night that pokemon sword and shield released LOL Chaotic times

Oh also, the song from petscop "explore" also showed up first in nifty! i like this version a lot because it is just grating as fuck. This song is like, 15 years old.

Ummm here's paul leskowitz trying to say pieces of paper

Jeez what else. Oh petscop is made very strangely. It's something like a "digital puppet show", where inputs are recorded and then played back and layered over eachother recursively to create scenes in pretty much every case where multiple characters are on the screen interacting. These inputs are also often reused, which results in a phenomenon where movements across episodes sync up in perfect unison really often, which is thematically powerful, sometimes relevant to the literal story, and other times just really weird. Here's a neat video demonstrating a couple of these. (this is only from the first half of the series so there's a lot missing.) It's a pretty powerful demonstration of how intricate the entire thing is.

That's just a couple neat not-immediately-obvious things that don't really concern actual story or game mechanism stuff , which is kind of what i took you to mean when you said trivia. hoepfully that was what you were thinking of? maybe you learned something : )