Skull Bearer

i was made fun of enough times by adults, by peers, for liking something and wanting to share it that i just. didn’t. anymore. 

dont fucking tease kids for liking things. even if you think its cringe. ESPECIALLY. if you think its cringe. because the way you speak and act towards them when they are sharing themselves with you STICKS and they will think of it years down the line.

“What’s that you’re drawing?”

*panicking* “It’s nothing, I’m sorry, I’ll put it away.”

“No it’s okay, I was just curious about it.”

“It’s nothing. I don’t want to get in trouble.”

“You’re not in trouble, I just thought it looked like a character from a video game I like.”

Her face *lit up* the second I gave her the smallest bit of approval. She started asking me if I’d heard of various AUs for Undertale, and I tried to follow along as she explained her favorites. I obviously had to keep an eye on the rest of the class, answering questions and helping with algebra, but each time I passed her desk she had more things to tell me.

I mean... yes and no? i'm not precisely disagreeing with you so much as using this ask as a jumping off point to discuss my own Thoughts on the matter. I am a book fan, and I think "Andy Weir can't do characterisation" or even "Andy Weir is a bad writer" has become a sort of phm fandom meme in a way that's really interesting to me. I definitely agree that characterisation and particularly writing distinct character voices is not really his strong suit, and it's certainly true that he could do with contemplating the humanities and social sciences some more. But I don't think that makes him a bad writer across the board to deprioritise those things, he's just a writer who's more interested in plot than characterisation, which is a perfectly acceptable thing for a writer to be.

I also get the impression that a lot of phm fans on tumblr just haven't read much in the way of science fiction, or at least aren't into any harder science fiction than star trek, because believe me, it gets a lot worse than this. But there's also science fiction out there that's a lot more interested in feelings, and sociopolitical implications, and character arcs, if that's what you're into! But I don't agree that that's what all science fiction should be, or that it's automatically bad if a science fiction work is more interested in (for example) developing hypothetical mechanisms for space travel technology, and then figuring out interesting ways to break it and fix it again.

Character has 2 PhDs: either they did a dual degree program and are braggy about it, had a life-changing experience after their first degree and pivoted their whole career, or they find the structure of being a PhD student, despite all its stress, more comfortable and familiar than the stress of finding a Real Job and have a very indulgent advisor.

Character has 3 PhDs: who keeps accepting them to PhD programs. Either this person needs psychological help or their department needs to be investigated for its academic standards. Probably both

However, he replied to said email within five minutes, asking a question that required an answer. So I answered and was like "Also, I was going to apologize for answering emails during this call, but I see we're both here at the Devil's Sacrament, so I don't think an apology is necessary."

I watched him read that on screen and try not to laugh. And then at the end of the call as everyone started saying goodbye, he goes, "Hey, MJ, I meant to tell you. I like your shoelaces."

And I looked straight into my camera, stone cold serious, and said, "Thanks. I stole them from the president."

And the rest of the team was like, "What...the fuck...?" before he abruptly ended the call for everyone.

Grace has this idea of who he was. He wakes up in a spaceship with a mission to save the earth and no way home. Ergo, he was the sort of person to volunteer to save the earth and die doing it. He's a hero. EVERYTHING Grace does in the novel is because he thinks that's who he is.

When they inevitably do that anyways- and it's mid, because they're waist-deep in the mire of their own post-ironic, allergic-to-sincerity, quippy making- what I DO want to see is this:

It's very specific, but if you're still onboard, stick with me.

Rocket Raccoon and Bucky Barnes. Road trip sidequest. I do not care how they get there, but it has to happen. Maybe they're on the way to help the main gang. Obviously a sapient space raccoon and a 100-year-old legally dead ex-agent of a terrorist organization are not getting on a plane, so there you go.

Now, it's very important here that Bucky does not have the metal arm. I don't care how he lost it but he doesn't have it. So Rocket has to steal a new one- which is perfect, is it is already established that this is his bizarre life's passion. That is this movie's B plot.

Now once they get it, that's when plot A storyline's Big Bad comes in. Team Eyeliner arrives on scene, and now with the added support the good guys are holding their own, but they need juuuuust a little more firepower.

Rhodey is there in the suit, but he's been hit. Doesn't have manual control of the system anymore. The only way to get him back in the game is for someone else to pilot the thing remotely, but it's risky- he would be fully relying on that person to not only pilot it effectively, but avoid getting him killed in the process.

And on top of that, as major as that obviously is, we also have to consider that Tony is gone. This is probably the last suit beyond his own that he ever worked on, and if it's destroyed beyond repair... that's it.

The good news is, they have a specialist. The bad news is, it's Rocket. And Rocket literally just showed up with a bedraggled Buck, pulling up on the scene and falling out of a shitty little early-2000's Volvo full of empty cans with a "my kid's an honor student" bumper sticker slapped on the back and a freshly duct-taped-on arm that looks like it was made for a 98 year old florist- certainly not something that would be of much use in the kind of combat he's used to.

And it is at this point that we must ask ourselves a question.

We must ask ourselves THE question.