void turtle

One day, the things you prayed for quietly… will arrive loudly.

✧ Women who are competitive with each other but it's not catty or about a guy. They're both trying to win the same research grant. They're rival chefs. They're competing for department head. It's professional, it's intense, and they grab drinks after because they're adults.

✧ The "mom friend" who's actually a hot mess in her own life. She's got everyone else's problems solved, therapy-speaking her friends through breakups, but her own apartment? PURE DISASTER. Her love life? CATASTROPHIC. Her sleep schedule? WHAT SCHEDULE????!

✧ Female friendships that survive one of them getting into a relationship. Groundbreaking, I know. Her boyfriend isn't threatened. She doesn't disappear. They still have brunch. Novel concept.

✧ Women who are mentors but not in a "wise old crone" way. She's 32, she's tired, she didn't sign up to be a mentor but here's this younger woman asking questions and dammit, fine, she'll help.

✧ Best friends who don't agree on everything and that's okay. One's a vegetarian, one works at a steakhouse. One wants kids, one doesn't. They're not trying to convert each other, they're just vibing with their differences.

✧ Female characters who are allowed to be mediocre at "feminine" skills. She can't braid hair. Her baking is questionable. She's been wearing the same makeup look since 2015 because she figured it out once and she's not experimenting.

✧ Women supporting other women in weird specific ways. Not just "yas queen." Like, "I'll create a distraction while you steal your ex's Netflix password back" support. "I'll pretend to be your fake reference for this job" energy.

✧ Couples who are bad at the same things together. Neither can cook. Both are directionally challenged. They're a team of disaster and they've made peace with it.

✧ The "will they won't they" where they DO get together and then the story keeps going. Their relationship isn't the end goal, it's just... ongoing character development. They have arguments about dish soap brands. They exist.

✧ Partners who find each other's flaws genuinely endearing, not in a "I can fix him" way. Like she snorts when she laughs and he thinks it's the best sound. He's terrible at keeping plants alive and she finds it hilarious.

✧ Relationships where they're obsessed with each other but still have separate hobbies. He's not joining her book club. She's not learning about his model trains. They do their own thing and reunite for dinner to infodump about their days.

✧ Couples with completely different love languages who actually communicate about it. She shows love through acts of service. He needs words of affirmation. They have a Google calendar and they're making it work.

✧ The "grumpy one is soft for the sunshine one" but reversed. The sunshine character is the one who's secretly a little unhinged and the grumpy one is their impulse control.

✧ Long-term couples who still think each other are hot but also deeply annoying. Yes, he's attractive. Also he loads the dishwasher like a psychopath and they've had this argument for three years.

she wanted us to focus on the art, on the innovation of heated plumbing, on the tiles and decorations of the bathhouses, and all we wanted to do was learn more about the people under the floors. and she didn't know anything more about that. in fact, she said she thought we were focusing too much on superfluous details.

it feels almost hokey to put too fine a point on the idea im getting at here but i will anyway: There are a lot of people who are still under the floors. all these beautiful, convenient, brilliant innovations of modern society (think fast fashion, chatgpt, uber, doordash) are still powered by people working in inhumane, untenable conditions.

but yes there was still an army of human people building running and maintaining these technical marvels, just as there is today.