fanfic where they both turn into coniferous trees. mutual pining

more substantive thing about Glass Onion and then i think this is all my thoughts: i really liked something i feel was clearly shown in the flashbacks but not outright stated, which was that andi knew damn well miles bron was a dumb huckster.

that's what she wanted him for. she needed that ability to throw himself into his latest shill with total commitment, because of his need to believe in his own hype. the 'reality distortion' of his hard sell.

she knew that to get what she wanted out of life, she needed to harness that confidence of a mediocre white man we all talk about.

that it would open doors that would stay unmoved in the face of all her brilliance, and polish, and perfected rich bitch voice.

there's a lot of these guys out there, and she picked a dumb one because she planned for him to be the front man to her mastermind. (apologies to paul mccartney lol i don't mean to impugn your intelligence.) a smarter man would have had his own plans, would be harder to use as a mouthpiece for her better ones. she would have needed to find an actual partner and not a tool, and she didn't trust like that.

duke wasn't actually wrong to say they were all playing the same shitty game and andi lost. i mean, he was morally wrong but he wasn't incorrect.

like blanc says, she thought that because she was better than bron, because she was the genius and he was the cheap con artist, he wasn't dangerous. and in the end that was where it all fell apart.

okay i guess i lied i wasn't out of thoughts.

so like i said in the tags i really like that it's duke who said it, because duke and andi make a mirrored pair within the Shitheads.

duke--I've been through the tag and noticed a lot of people missed this entirely--duke isn't real.

duke is a man born in probably the late 70s with superhero knuckle tattoos. he's a gaming nerd whose natural genetic predisposition toward being built let him surf the gamergate wave into its current toxic cultural aftermath.

and sure, the persona has become most of his personality, but he pivots away from it easily enough, when it's not useful or fun.

he's genuinely sexist, but in a casual, unexamined way--his misogyny isn't actually emotionally important to him. he doesn't actually have any ideals about society, toxic or not, that he values beyond the advantage espousing them will get him.

he'll apologize to his abusive mother for backtalking and plead with his girlfriend to bounce on the casting couch on his behalf without experiencing any cognitive dissonance, because the MRA thing is just a grift.

and he still knows that about himself.

andi's persona, in contrast, was premeditated and designed with clear eyed intent, with a genuine desire to become what she portrayed, but she wore it very much the same way.

andi was also a shithead, who voluntarily sought out other shitheads. andi didn't stop bron from shilling NFTs to children; she tried to stop him when he was imperiling the company and thus her.

she and helen very much stayed in contact after parting ways, judging by the amount helen knew about the glass onion crew from back in the day despite never having met them, but she found out about Rich Bitch voice by seeing it on TV. andi code-switched with her, the same way Duke drops character with his mom.

they match, opposite examples of sewing yourself into an aspirational skin in order to conform to the unreasonable demands of the world and its hierarchies, and achieve success on its terms.

just like lionel and claire, who aren't trying to pass themselves off as anything but 'competent,' but they know themselves and one another as liars. the politician and the walking talking case of impostor syndrome.

(if they're opposites it's in how the whole world knows lionel is miles bron's creature, while for claire it's a guilty secret.)

whiskey and peg are both the hangers-on of hangers-on, contorting into the shapes required to retain patronage, but whiskey's bland comfort with the mutual exploitation of her relationship and intention to separate herself from duke as soon as he's not useful is in stark contrast to peg's hopeless enmeshment with birdie.

and birdie and bron, of course, are so much alike in the privilege to mostly believe their own exact-opposite yet effectively identical lies, of being too stupid to be culpable and too smart to be wrong.

both of them genuinely expect to always have yet another second chance, another round to try to win, and no true consequences for losing. the parallel drawn out between the 'wait out the media cycle before tweeting another slur' approach to scandal and the throwing-spaghetti-at-the-wall-until-you-strike-gold startup bro treadmill is great. like it's right there, but i hadn't thought about it quite like that before.

anyway i like the way these pairs fall together. it gives us multiple angles on each way to live dishonestly, to wear a lie as the self, so no one character becomes the single archetype of any of them. and at the same time the answer to blanc's little salvo early on about how they're all so different is--nah. they're really not different at all.

#i'm glad someone else noticed how much duke's speech about the game informs his character #and how he arguably makes the exact same mistake as andy did

#he knew he was playing miles #and he was so confident in his role as manipulator #that he let his guard down #he literally looked at the birdie

#and i think it's partly also him becoming the mask #he spends so much of his time espousing this ideology of going after what you want #and shaming fear #the kind of ideology that would make you put a loaded gun in your underwear #or shoot it in the air just to make some noise #that when he saw a way to get what he wanted #he was smart about getting it - smart about cloaking his words #to blackmail miles bron in front of everyone without anyone noticing

#but the very simple leap of logic to #this guy murdered andi when she tried to blackmail him #he might try to do the same to me #just doesn't seem to occur to him #because that would be fear and fear equals weakness equals losing #he's just playing that game and he WON #he won and so he stopped playing #stopped paying attention

oh damn good point they do die the same way!

i wouldn't call what andi was doing blackmail exactly, but the parallel is so close. 👌

A strange alien doctor stands near the unconscious body of Padme Amidala. “It appears she has lost the will to live.” A older man with a limp hobbles closer with the aid of a cane. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” says Dr. Gregory House.

-Keeps Padme on life support despite DNR, somehow this ends in him getting punched by Obi-Wan

-Immediately starts putting her on every treatment known to man

-Walks over to Wilson’s office, which is the only part of the entire ship that just looks the same as it does in the show

-Homoerotically complains about how stupid Jedi are, then makes a bet with Wilson on whether Obi Wan is gay or the father of Padme’s twins (Wilson wants House to believe people can be faithful)

-Padme almost dies again. Turns out the treatment’s not working

-“if the dark side nearly killed her, maybe it can save her”

-House uses force lightning to restart Padme’s heart

-Gets brought into Cuddy’s office and told off for using an experimental treatment, and the power of the dark side, in her hospital

-House is taken off the case and foreman is put in charge of the case

-Padme is unexpectedly doing better, but Cuddy refuses to tell House or else he’ll be using the dark side to save all his patients

-House watches on as Wilson tries seducing a relieved Obi Wan while he paces in the lobby. Doesn’t seem to work

-House interrogates Obi Wan about his relationship with Padme, insinuates it’s Obi Wans Fault. Gets in a struggle and once theyre seperated it’s revealed he ripped out some beard hair

-Padme is getting released from the hospital but crashes again with obvious signs of infection. Everyone blames the dark side of the force

-is put in intensive care again, everyone thinks she’s going to die, House is brooding.

-House meets Bail Organa and talks to him, Bail mentions how he was so worried about her the last time she was in a hospital, and this seems much more hopeless

-“what time she was in the hospital?”

-House marches in as they’re about to pull the plug, rolling Padme’s unconcious body over to point at dark spot on the back of her neck

-Foreman looks disapointed, “it’s a bruise house, her husband nearly snapped her neck.”

-“Our princess’ boyfriend here failed to mentioned she was scratched by a Nexu on Genosis years ago. Nexu claws are known as a vicious poison.”

-“it would have killed her years ago”

-“unless a small chunk of claw stuck in her back, working into the muscles near the nape of her neck for years. The little prince of Darkness chokes her, pressure and muscles spasming lets it work into a blood vessel. It’s why the force lightning only was a bandaid, it vaporized what was in her bloodstream but broke up the rest of the claw and let it enter in her bloodstream. Start her on dialysis, she’ll be fine by tomorrow afternoon.”

-Next day Padme’s wheeled out of the hospital with her two children, bittersweetness. House watches from balcony before going back to his office

-Wilson enters with his shirt unbuttoned and a few bruises on his neck, declaring, “the Jedi is gay. I win.”

-House holds up a paternity test, “he’s bisexual, it’s a draw”

@exteenpopstar

#love the implication that house is force sensitive and decided to become a dark side user for medical malpractice reasons (via @gravity-loves-me)

I’m HOWLING this is the funniest thing I’ve ever read

Fallen London is so great like where else can I assassinate someone for spilling wine on my shirt

Follow, follow the Sun / And which way the wind blows / When this day is done ⁣🎶 ⁣ Today, April 8, 2024, the last total solar eclipse until 2045 crossed North America.⁣

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

*consumes you uncritically*

reblog to make two female characters who never met in canon kiss

the point of art is not to be great but to make it transparently obvious that there is something wrong with you

The point of art is to let other people know that the thing wrong with them is also wrong with you

This is in fact how you make friends

Ink and Intrigue: Romantasy IF (WIP)

The title for my upcoming interactive fiction game with Heart's Choice is official: Ink and Intrigue!

Sail to a lush island of warrior-mages where dragon runes grant immortality and love runs deep. When mystery tempts, how do you answer?

Ink an Intrigue is a standalone Heart’s Choice interactive fiction WIP set in the same world as my recent game, Their Majesties' Pleasure.

You can play the three-chapter demo of Ink and Intrigue as an entry in Spring Thing, an annual online festival for interactive fiction.

Plunge into a world where magic calls the passion in your soul and immortal warrior-mages train and live on a lush island. Will you bond with a tattoo artist, a feisty initiate, a playful sage, or a maverick with an unfulfilled quest?

You’ve been a spy for the kingdom of Minare since you were ten, when the king deemed you too clever and sent you off for training. Now a seasoned spy, you’re sent to infiltrate the Kitherin warrior-mages, whose tattoos give them supernatural abilities and whose blood rites bond them to powerful creatures from another world. When the call of the Kitherin sounds in your soul, do you befriend a dragon, griffin, or phoenix? What paths will you take as an initiate?

Befriend or romance the soft spoken artist who paints dragon ink on your skin, the master warrior who plots to sabotage a corrupt regime, the feisty initiate on her third round through the challenges, or the playful sage who teaches you what reciprocity truly means.

Shop from the finest market in the nine seas, surf azure waves, and dance at a full moon celebration where you might indulge in magical elixirs and intimate moments. Get dragon rune tattoos and learn to wield their power, show your prowess on the sparring field, and soar in the skies of the otherworld. Arrange a marriage alliance, meddle in the affairs of the mage council, incite a lawful rebellion, or resort to poison to get what you want.

Will you confess the clandestine role you’ve played for your king, or keep your secrets and let the past die? No matter what you’ve done, your lover will stay by your side. When you pass your initiations and bond with your kindred, you will be joining the ranks of the Kitherin warrior-mages who bring balance to the interconnected worlds.

Uncover the mysteries of the Kitherin and discover the soul-deep love that awaits!

Keep an eye on this blog for updates or check out the CoG forum thread. I'm currently writing chapter seven of nine, right in the thick of the story.

WIP word count is up to 155k so far.

Umberto Eco, who owned 50,000 books, had this to say about home libraries:

"It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy, as it is foolish to criticize those who buy more books than they will ever be able to read. It would be like saying that you should use all the cutlery or glasses or screwdrivers or drill bits you bought before buying new ones.

"There are things in life that we need to always have plenty of supplies, even if we will only use a small portion.

"If, for example, we consider books as medicine, we understand that it is good to have many at home rather than a few: when you want to feel better, then you go to the 'medicine closet' and choose a book. Not a random one, but the right book for that moment. That's why you should always have a nutrition choice!

"Those who buy only one book, read only that one and then get rid of it. They simply apply the consumer mentality to books, that is, they consider them a consumer product, a good. Those who love books know that a book is anything but a commodity."

If love could have saved you, you would have lived forever.

✨✨ Congratulations to Sega of America and our INDUSTRY LEADING union contract ✨✨

With a gratifyingly massive vote in favour we ratified our contract guaranteeing worker protections, increased wages, credit for all games worked on and more!

We are the largest and only multi-department video game union, and hope this joyous news will encourage others to organize and fight for their own employee rights in our beloved, but layoff-plagued industry.

I'M SO PROUD TO BE A MEMBER OF AEGIS 💙💙

You gaze out across the mist-shrouded rooftops of London as the rain falls onto the slates and gables, sluices down the spouts and gutters and splashes onto the cobblestones below. Drop by drop, it pours. 

Firmament is Fallen London’s next major expansion, a main story arc that’s free to all players who’ve progressed the Hellbound Railway as far as Ealing Gardens. 

Play the prologue from today. The first full chapter will arrive next week, on April 18th. 

To begin, look for an opportunity card in your deck anywhere in London. (If you played the teaser last week, look for storylets about rain around London to progress.)

There's a bunch of adhd advice out there that's like "people with adhd tend to work better under deadlines due to the anxiety so here are ways to artificially induce a stress response in order to get you to get work done" and it's like well what if I don't want to be stressed out all the time in order to function

this gold shouldn't stay in the comments

Continue Reading.

Okay this is actually sick as hell

wikipedia 3d gif of the LLVPs!

ID: An animation of a translucent spinning earth. The core is about half the diameter of the whole Earth, and the two huge lumpy blobs sticking out of it reach more than half the distance between the core and the surface.