#I still don't get why so many people put so much stock in what is said in these interviews (for this type of publication) they do the exact | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

xoxoemynn · 4 months

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For OFMD Tumblr friends who want a S3 and are scared of Twitter

First, no judgment from me. I very much get it. I resisted Twitter for a long time, and even though I'm now a bit more comfortable on it, it's still not my Fandom Home. There are a TON of valid reasons not to be on Twitter, but if you REALLY want to keep OFMD visible right now and help its chances of returning for a third season, Twitter is the best place to do it. Like it or not, Twitter is still the best social media platform for raising awareness and for instant news updates.

Tumblr posts don't make headlines. Topics that have been trending on Twitter do. And if we want this show to come back, we need to make OFMD impossible to ignore.

By now you've probably seen just how close we came to a S3, and if you're like me, you are RAGING and donning your battle jacket. But I get it can be intimidating to get on Twitter for the first time, so I thought I'd address some common anxieties I see. I'll put below a cut because this got a bit long, but I promise it's a quick read.

I don't know what to say! Where do I even start? That's okay! You don't have to create your own tweets (although it's great if you do). Amplifying other people's posts is also important. Go ahead and like/retweet/reply to other people's posts. This may also help you get an idea of what you may like to say in your own tweets.

Hashtags...yes? Yes! Although don't use too many or you may get flagged as a bot. The biggest one that seems to be emerging is #SaveOFMD. Other popular ones are #RenewAsACrew, #RenewOurFlagMeansDeath, and of course, #OFMD and #OurFlagMeansDeath.

Should I just be tagging all the streaming services? Per @renewasacrew, no. It's counterproductive. You'll want to tag one streamer at a time and be specific. Below is an example of a tweet I made the other day -- use specific reasons why that that particular streamer may benefit from picking up OFMD.

I'm scared. People are mean. Yeah, people are mean. But I will say the vibes over at OFMD Twitter are currently the best I've ever seen them. People seem to have united for the greater good and are being overwhelmingly positive and just trying to do whatever we can to save the show. (That said, again, I already had a pretty curated feed, and was very liberal with blocking users/terms I didn't want to see, but I've been able to spend so much more time in the For You tab than I ever have without being jump scared by something.)

But I don't know anyone there! Wouldn't I just be shouting into the void? Not if you use the hashtags! Fans are being really good about following those and engaging with the tweets. Plus, [Stede voice], I'm your friend. I'm xoxoemynn over there as well, I'll follow you back and engage with any of your posts that I see. Plus, what's been REALLY lovely to see is that SO many lurkers have come out of lurkerdom to support the efforts, and they are being welcomed with open arms, so you will not be alone. Again, I am telling you, vibes? Best I've ever seen them.

I can't get sucked into another social media platform, I don't have the time. The beauty here is you don't need to spend a lot of time. I've been on Twitter more in the past week than I have in the entire year I've had an account, and I'm still only on for maybe an hour total the entire day? I open the app, I check a couple accounts, I engage with a handful of posts, and I close the app. It takes all of five minutes. It's an extremely small lift that can have a very big impact.

My bet is on Zaslav expecting us to be upset, and that there may be a day or two of outrage, but then we'd move on. I'm sure right now he's trying to convince everyone that this is a fluke, and that it'll blow over soon. Don't let him win. Keep OFMD in the news. Be loud (but polite) and make Max and other streamers take note of what a passionate, loyal fan base this show has. Make their stocks continue to drop. Make it clear this is NOT just a fluke, it is NOT business as usual. It's a BIG fuck up with lasting consequences.

Twitter, for all its sins, is the best place to do this.

Now let's get our damned show back.

#ofmd #our flag means death #renew as a crew #truly BELIEVE ME I get wanting to stay away!!#and if after we get picked up again you want to delete your account please go ahead and do that!#but this is a really easy and tangible way to show Max/other streamers #just how beloved the show is and how it would benefit them to save it #I love tumblr but it's not going to give us the kind of impact we want #it's for fans - not for external folks/key decision makers #ANYWAY I am by NO MEANS a twitter expert but I'm getting better #and I've seen some people be nervous about getting on the platform so I thought I'd try to help <3

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txttletale · 1 year

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My question about growth/the venture capitalist mindset is like … how have venture capitalists and the like not figured this out already? It’s been a decade, give or take a few years, since the internet started being monetized to hell and back, and if we all know they’re not really making a profit (bc no one clicks on ads, obviously) then why are the structures still in place?im looking at all this and I feel like a dunce bc I just don’t get how ppl can keep ofunelling money into something that we all know doesn’t work lol ! :0

there's a couple reasons for this, but the tldr of it is that if you're wile e. coyote and you're running in the air over the edge of a cliff, it's in your material interests not to look down

let's say you're a venture capitalist and you've put $10 million into hypnospace, the hot new social media site. when you invest into a company, you invest at a certain price--the company has an idea of how much it's worth, and that determines what price they'll sell their shares at. let's say you buy at $10 a share, so you have a million shares in hypnospace. that $10-a-share-valuation was based on hypnospace telling you (in, say, 2012, when this was still believable and even seemed self-evident) that becuse they were seeing huge growth in daily active users, they'd eventually become insanely profitable.

now usually even you, a venture capitalist, a lifeform mostly resembling a parasitic flatworm, might be a little cautious about this investment. will they really become profitable? it seems risky. however because it's 2012, the US federal reserve has been giving out loans at their ZIRP (zero interest rate policy) for four years in a response to the 2008 financial crisis. what that means is that it's incredibly cheap for banks to borrow money, which in turn means it's incredibly cheap for you, a venture capitalist, to borrow that money from banks. when money is cheap, risky investments make a lot of sense--when you can get an extremely low-interest-rate loan, throwing that money down the toilet is unfortunate but no longer catastrophic. so you put your $10 million into hypnospace because the risk is artificially lowered by the ZIRP, making it well worth the reward.

now it's five years later and it's 2017 and it's becoming increasingly clear that hypnospace.horse is probably not going to became the new facebook and that perhaps there will in fact only be one facebook. bummer. but you've still got a million shares in it. this means that you're directly invested--not in the company becoming profitable, but in the valuation of that company going up. if people can be convinced to buy hypnospace shares at $12-a-share, you can make off with a cool $2 million even though the website never did anything useful or made any money. on the other hand, if people start thinking 'hey, this website has never made any money and it's obviously never going to, why would we buy shares in it'--shares plummet to $1 a share, and you're out $9 million! worst case scenario!

so even if you, the venture capitalist, realize that the website's a boondoggle, it's in your best interest to convince everyone around you that no, it really will become profitable, and its shares (that you hold some of!) are really valuable and you should want to buy them. and this doesn't just mean lying to other venture capitalists (although they love doing this)--capitalists pay close attention to sales of stocks. if you realize that hypnospace is never going to make money and decide to cut your losses and abruptly offload all million shares, other capitalists will interpret that for what it means--that you've totally lost confidence in seeing return on your investment--and many of them will panic and also start selling their shares, while capitalists with no hypnospace shares will think 'boy, this hypnospace thing seems like a real wash, i don't want to buy shares in that'.

so what do you do? you keep putting money in. if the company's increasing in valuation the more it grows, then even if you're crystal-clear aware that growth has no path to profitability, you still gain wealth for every month that the business stays afloat by burning money, because the valuation goes up and your shares are worth more. the ideal outcome for a venture capitalist investing into a tech company is to make a big investment, let the company bleed money while it grows for several years, then sell--not all at once, not abruptly, and not while the price is in stagnation or decline. it's one big game of hot potato for when the gig is finally up. not every venture capitalist has to be a totally credulous dipshit--just the last one in the line.

#ask #now a lot of the calculus on this has changed with interest rates on the rise again #but this explains basically the last decade of the tech sector

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gglitch1dd · 1 year

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I've been having a Golden retriever izuku type of boyfriend brain rot 🥺🤧

Well... looks like I know what Im posting for the week. Sorry for not responding sooner. Life has been a whirlwind and I haven't been able to get to everything yet.

Warning: Some suggestive content and mentions of a breeding kink. NO SMUT OR NSFW.

Izuku Headcannons.

Now Izuku is such a sweetheart. It is one of the very well known things about him. He's kind and sweet, caring, great with kids... suspiciously like a dog. You didn't really notice his rather happy-go-lucky instincts until you really watched him.

For starters, Izuku loves bringing you food. His mother always used to bring him snacks or make him meals whenever he was sad, celebrating something or for any occasion really. Especially since it was just him and his mom most of the time, he learnt a lot of skills from her. Expect him to try and make you stuffed and happy.

... in both ways.

When you are happy, he's happy.

Izuku has been through a lot in his life and often than not those memories and dark moments don't just go away. They build and they effect him more than people think. Having someone else to focus on is sometimes better for him than focusing on the past. Which is why he loves making memories with you in the present. Seeing that smile on your face makes all his hard work and dedication so much worth it.

He has this huge smile and laugh that he does, a full one that makes even the grumpiest of people smile just slightly. A sparkling smile that never fails to make you smile. That's one of the things you love about him.

As I said earlier, he's been through a lot of shit. His eyes don't shine as bright as they used to, he doesn't smile as bbrightly and as often as he used to, and he is really good at hiding his true intentions. But all it takes is one nice long hug and that big exterior comes crumbling down to the same green haired boy who doubted himself because everyone else did too. He just needs so much love and comfort.

Talking about love and comfort, he'll give it to you endlessly. He will shower you with it. Every second day he has a fresh bouquet of roses for you and if not, a potted plant to grow instead. He takes you out on routinely dates as often as he can. He tries to always show you off. He doesn't like boasting about his accomplishment unless its to Kaachan's face, but he does love showing you off. I mean look at you!!

He loves just laying in the sun, on your lap, in your big garden with all the many rabbits you both have. When you met Izuku he had one rabbit. Then you bought a rabbit. Suddenly you lost count, which was one of the reasons why you had to move out of your apartment and get a space all to yourselves. All for the rabbits that swarmed your house like the plague.

Not because Izuku's breeding kink (He's a bunny too after all) was pressing him into thinking about getting more space for the family the two of you were gonna have.

Of course not.

Sometimes he would do the most simplest things and come show you because he just loved your attention and approval. He's really just a really big himbo who comes trudging to you from the kitchen, covered in flower and icing somehow ending up on his nose and sprinkles in his hair and in his large scarred hands is a green frosted cupcake. He would bestow it upon you like an offering and with your praise he would just beam and get you seven more.

Refers back to giving you tons of food.

He's a big bulky hero. He has to gain mass. So prepare yourself for a stocked fridge and constant food offerings.

But one you cook, he loves to sway in the kitchen with you. With his hero suit still on, white cape, lined in gold on his back, the pot brewing with who knows what you were cooking, he would pull you to his chest and slow dance with you. He wants to hold you and just enjoy your presence. Close his eyes and put his head on top of yours and want the world to just disappear.

Even though he was the number One hero and he was a very busy man because of it, he was your Izuku. He was your partner.

He would trade in One for All just to be able to kneel at your feet and praise you.

Cause that's just the type of person Midoriya Izuku is.

-Glitch1d

#izuku midoriya x reader #izuku x reader #midoriya x reader #deku x reader #izuku midoryia x you #izuku headcanons #izuku midoriya headcanons #deku headcanons #deku x y/n #izuku midoriya x you #izuku x you #mha izuku

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ark-fork · 25 days

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💌Love letters; 👨‍🌾content farm

Recently, a situation happened to my blogger friend that really pissed me off. It took me some time to put my thoughts in order and think about what I wanted to convey in this "podcast".

(Yes, this column is back because you, beloved and dear anons and not only, are constantly doing something crazy)

To begin with, let's start with something less complicated and scary but just unpleasant.

🔴Declarations of love to bloggers \ flirting with them.

Okay, I think this already sounds crazy, for the simple reason that you confess your love to a media personality in their inbox.

To begin with, this is not just strange - but also rude to some extent because a blogger does not always want such attention to themself. Many of them already have their soulmate in life, which is why most declarations of love or flirting are considered ignorance and an unpleasant event.

But still, the prevailing part of them may simply not be looking for a relationship here. Therefore, the best solution would be NOT to TRY to impose your feelings on them and not talk about it.

(Considering that some of you actually write something like: "Haha, I'm obviously going to regret this decision later, but I'll do it anyway because I want to").

If you like this blogger and personality, keep your flirting and declarations of love to yourself. You will spoil your relationship with them in this way. It's stupid and embarrassing for both of you if you still admit your feelings to him. Damn it, there may be a hundred, a hundred, or more of you who want to confess to them!

Ahem, I hope the general point can be grasped because I'm not so good at talking about anything and simply expressing my feelings about the situation as a whole and, for the most part, being hot on the head.

🟠Accusing someone of making low-grade content.

This particular situation infuriated me the most.

Now, I want to talk about what "content farm" is and what they are eaten with.

To begin with, the content farms are YouTube channels that strive for more views on this site and get to the recommendation pages for your kids. These are common unflattering animated videos with questionable context contained in them.

Their distinctive feature is repeated stock images of characters, stolen pictures, and designs, interweaving characters from completely unrelated works with the one based on which they make their videos.

Well, I hope this brief description of what content farms are is enough.

I don't understand people who see the obvious, admiration for the author of any show and create their content with care and soul, investing ideas and efforts, and accuse them of being one of these pathetic bastards from YouTube who absolutely don't give a fuck what they release on the platform, caring only about views and clickbait.

Before you write insults to the author in the anonymous mode in their inbox, think a little, damn it. Just think how much you insult a person who is burning with their art and ideas by saying such words to them while under the guise of anonymity, a fucking coward.

#ark talk #podcast with ark #this is probably the biggest shit I ever wrote.

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lostbetweenvampiresandmusic · 5 months

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The vampires before Christmas

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Christmas was, in many ways, just like any other day. Nothing special about it, nothing to celebrate even - in fact, if you'd ask Marko, Christmas sucked a lot because it was so much harder to hunt during the holiday. It wasn't until Laddie had joined them that the thought of celebrating Christmas even crossed their minds.

None of them had fond memories of the day, whether that was because there were none or because they'd all forgotten over time was something they didn't question. But Laddie - he loved the day. He loved the lights and the treats, the songs and the fact that if he had been good - and he tried very hard to be good - he might get a gift from Santa Claus himself.

It was the twentieth of December, the warmth of the day still lingering in the cave, when Laddie woke up with a bright smile. "Do you think Santa will know I live in a cave now, and not a house?"

David looked at the kid, not ready to deal with questions like these in the early morning. He just shrugged. "I don't know."

"You never got something from Santa?"

"We're not very good, are we?"

Laddie thought about that before nodding slowly. Being banned from the boardwalk, banned from several stores, and killing people in order to survive didn't exactly meet the requirements for being on the nice list.

"Do you think I might be on the nice list?"

"Why wouldn't you be?" Dwayne had entered the cave, carrying some boxes with takeout.

"Well, David said he didn't know if Santa would know I lived here, and yeah..."

"You don't have to worry about that. You've been good. There's no need to stress about christmas."

With that, Laddie visibly relaxed. The rest of the night went as usual, with them going to the boardwalk, tormenting Max for a bit, and just having fun. It was only later that night, when Laddie had been brought to bed, that the boys brought it up again.

"You do realise we need to do something, right? Laddie would be heartbroken if he found out Santa isn't real because we forgot to get him some gifts." Paul noted, as he turned the sound of the radio up.

"What do you want us to do then? We got no tree, no fireplace, no nothing where the kid can even hang a stocking or something."

"Well, we've already got the Grinch, so that parts covered."

David shot a deadly look at Paul, who just grinned. "Seriously, I don't care what you think, I'm making sure we got a proper tree in here on Christmas eve. Laddie doesn't need to hate Christmas, just because we don't like it."

"Fine."

"Careful there," Marko grinned, "or your heart might grow three sizes."

Dwayne had already decided that he would take care of the gifts, realising not only that Laddie would want some toys and possibly some new clothes, but that Laddie would very much like the boys to have some gifts as well.

It was the 24th, and Laddie hadn't been able to shut up about Christmas. "Don't you have Christmas music?" He'd asked Paul one evening, only to be disappointed when the closest thing to Christmas music was a song called Holly Jolly Slaughter - something that Paul decided wasn't appropriate for a young child's ears.

Later that evening, after Dwayne had taken Laddie to the boardwalk, the other three boys spent their time getting the cave ready for Christmas. As promised, Paul had acquainted a nice tree - although you shouldn't ask where he got it from, he would deny everything - and after he put it on top of the fountain, the whole cave was basking in the golden glow of the Christmas lights. David had, after some grumbling, agreed to atleast wrap the gifts and put them under the tree. That left Marko, who absolutely hated what ha was about to do. He despised it. He would rather take a walk in the sun, than to do this - especially with the other boys present - but Laddie had in a way asked for it.

One night, Laddie had told him that he'd always hoped to see Santa one evening so he could thank him for bringing him to the boys. Marko absolutely despised Christmas and Santa even more, but he didn't want to deny Laddie his Christmas wish. So, whenever everyone else was asleep, he took some red velvet, his sewing kit, and some patterns, and he worked away at creating a realistic Santa costume. It was practically done, and he decided to wear it tonight, when everyone was asleep. He'd make some noise, making sure Laddie would wake up, and play the part of Santa.

When Laddie and Dwayne got back to the cave, Laddie was jumping around the Christmas tree the second he saw it. Singing Christmas songs, dancing with Paul, and enjoying some Christmas cookies, Laddie was already certain that it was the best Christmas eh had ever had. "Thank you," he hugged David, knowing that even though the others organised it, that David had allowed it to happen.

That morning, when the sun was still low on the horizon, and everyone was asleep, Marko got up. He got dressed in his Santa suit, padding it with some pillows. He'd put on a fake beard, borrowed Paul's boots and was certain that Laddie would be delighted.

Quietly, he walked to the main part of the cave before loudly putting down the gifts beneath the tree. He was quiet for a moment and heard the soft noise of someone walking on their toes. He continued putting down the last gifts when Laddie stood next to him.

"Santa?!"

Marko grinned. "Hi, kid."

Laddie held a slight frown, but said nothing. "I thought you always came at night?"

"I come when children are sleeping, which you should be young man."

Laddie giggled. "Santa? Do you think you can give some gifts to David, Dwayne, Marko and Paul? I know they've been naughty, but they've been really good to me."

Marko smiled. "Don't worry kid."

"Santa?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you sound like Marko?"

Crap. Marko didn't know what to say.

"Did Santa ask you to help because the reindeer didn't know how to find the cave?"

Marko sighed with relieve, thank god for Laddies imagination.

"Yeah. He did."

"I like your costume."

"The elves made it for me."

Laddie smiled. "Marko?"

"Hm?"

"Thanks for doing this. I love Christmas."

#the lost boys #marko #david #paul #dwayne #marko the lost boys #tlb 1987 #david tlb #marko tlb #paul tlb #dwayne tlb #tlb #laddie the lost boys

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thenixkat · 2 months

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Mundane AU!Laios thoughts

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Probably contains spoilers

Mundane au= no magic and no fantasy 'races' (like... little people are a thing, they exist in reality, some people just have dwarfism. The elves are just skinny racist and xenophobic Europeans like? And there's already parralells made with the demi humans so if I do anything the orcs are Afro Native and Kobolds are somewhere African or Arab. And for the ogres... gigantism is a thing that exists in real like and totally a teen girl would just wear some horns.)

Thoughts:

The Toudens are European-born. From somewhere cold as hell, really isolated and conservative, that's close to some mountains, that's racist towards the local indigenous people.

(The sibs, but especially Laios got chewed out about some shit and has been trying to be better, slips up every now and then but takes criticism well so long as folks tell him what he did/said wrong).

Local weird kids put off vibes that the rest of the village didn't like, Laios and Falin grew up bullied and ostracized. Falin got sent off to schooling in the big city and later to a university in Italy where she met Marcille.

Laios dropped out of high school and joined the military as soon as he was able to b/c he wanted to get the hell out of dodge. Served for a few shitty years b4 just... deserting and backpacking across Europe just straight up homeless and working whatever odd jobs he could find. Man was going through it. Wound up in the same city where Falin was studying at a university in and decided to visit her. She took one look at him and refused to let him just go back to what he was doing, so Laios started couch surfing with her (very much against dorm rules but he looked terrible and Falin wasn't about to let anyone stop her from making sure her brother has a roof over his head and food).

Eventually, she takes him with her when she does a work-study in the USA for her ecology degree and they ended up staying/Falin kinda maybe sorta dropped out and got a job with a vet near where she was doing her work-study.

Laios and Falin are technically illegal immigrants but they're white so no one really questions their citizenship (their working on getting citizenship/papers)

Laios gets a GED. Does some self-study from Falin's textbooks and online stuff but that's about it for his schooling.

Laios definitely, like, lives in Falin's basement. Falin is the primary breadwinner in this household, Laios is aware of this and has learned to accept it even tho he would like to take care of his baby sister and sometimes feels bad about not being able to. They used to share a room in a cheap apartment but after building up enough savings they managed to buy a suspiciously cheap house in a rural town bordering a reservation and not far from a national park.

Laios still works odd jobs, mostly physical labor and stuff where they won't ask for a degree. Has worked retail, where his customer service was trash but he's darn good at just stocking and shelving shit.

Met Chilchuck while working retail, Chilchuck introduced him to the concept of a union which Laios thinks is really neat.

The town where the Touden's moved has a sizable population of people with dwarfism, Chilchuck is a notable member of the little person community in the area. The Touden's go to Chilchuck for help with paperwork (they pay him a small fee) and he doesn't ask too many questions about why they don't have this or that piece of documentation.

Laios enjoys doing citizen science and bird watching. During the tourist season, he runs a small wilderness guide giving campers and hikers tours in the local national park.

There's a hermit that lives in the national park illegally (Senshi) that Laios and Falin made friends with. They love his cooking.

Laios is active in the online furry community. He does commissions, mostly of digital and physical art or people's fursonas and vore stuff. He does great ferals, and decent anthros, but his human art is not good (he's working on it).

Laios is decidedly chubby in this, his weight goes up and down depending on the season and how much physical activity he's doing. But ever since he reunited with Falin, she's been making sure he doesn't skip meals if they can afford to eat. And ever since he met Senshi he's gotten heftier since he loves that man's cooking.

#nix meows #dungeon meshi #laios touden #mundane au #just a few thoughts

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scarlet--wiccan · 4 months

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Just out of curiosity but do you read/ hc pietro as neurodivergent? I know it’s a popular hc among fans and there’s certainly some moments that lend to that interpretation (plus I see a bit of myself and my brother in him so personally I hc he has mild autism) but I was wondering if you had any of your own thoughts on it, or for Wanda for that matter?

Yes, but it's complicated. Pietro and Wanda are both characters who spend a lot of time grappling with complex trauma, generational trauma, mental illness, and what are clearly meant to be read as neurological differences. I struggle with many of those things myself, and as a Romani person with an immigrant background, I get a lot out of reading these characters through that lens. It's an intrinsic part of what makes them so human and compelling to me, especially as part of a larger, intergenerational tapestry of mixed-race immigrants and survivors. These issues are a part of our heritages and histories, so I want that to be reflected in the characters who represent me.

I think it's hard to talk about neurodivergence or mental illness-- which, of course, are not the same thing, I just mean that the conversations tend to overlap-- with Wanda and Pietro because this is already, textually, part of the characters, but it's been implemented in really messy ways.

For both of them, their primary mental health challenges and neurological differences are treated as extensions or results of their powers. There is an allegorical element that gets in the way of literal representation. This sort of thing is very common in superhero comics, and I've written about it before regarding transness and genderfluidity. It's entirely possible to still write meaningful and resonant representation, but I don't know if I feel comfortable saying "Pietro is autistic"when the text is saying he doesn't have autism, he has a super-speed-mutation-brain. Does that make sense?

The other problem is that the material that introduced these elements to the characters is really problematic. I'm sure I don't have to explain why House of M is an ableist and sexist narrative, but a lot of people seem to overlook the fact that the depiction of Wanda as a person with specific mental illnesses is rooted in a harmful, ableist storyline. Specifically, the way that schizoaffective disorders are defined and pathologized in Disassembled is cruel, inaccurate, and just unacceptable. That tone is still echoed in a lot of modern comics when Wanda's mental health is addressed.

In addition, I really don't like to put too much stock in the whole "Pietro Maximoff Syndrome" thing from X-Factor. For one thing, Peter David is a hateful, vocal anti-Romani racist, and it is reflected in a lot of his choices with Pietro. While this direction did humanize and justify some of Pietro's personality flaws, I do feel that the tone was overall very derisive towards him.

In Scarlet Witch (2016), Wanda talks about going to therapy and taking antidepressants, and in Quicksilver: No Surrender (2018), Pietro talks about his complex trauma responses in a way that's specifically grounded to the reality of being a severely marginalized person of color. These are the best examples of how their mental health has been addressed-- they bypass the powers and allegory and just allow the characters to inhabit real experiences that actually deserve representation.

That said, it doesn't really represent neurodivergence the same way. I think that's a subject that superhero comics have been dancing around for a long time, but haven't quite figured out how to reckon with. I really hope its something we'll see more positive growth towards, in the future.

#mental health #neurodivergence #disability in comics

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malarkgirlypop · 7 months

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MEDIC! - 9th Part (Donald Malarkey x Fem!OC)

Hi everyone, I feel like I should give up on this story lol, it's just going on forever, and mostly it's just for my enjoyment. I am still only in Bastogne and I want to follow the storyline of the HBO show to the last ep. But omg I just keep thinking of things I want to add. I feel bad leaving the story unfinished if people are actually reading it, but I don't think anyone is anymore. So maybe I can just stop posting. Anyway this is a sad chapter, got in my feels a bit and I have become a bit obsessed with Babe, ugh I just love him so much, so I had to give him and Em a little moment. As always this is based on the HBO show and the actors who portray the men, no hate to anyone actually involved.

Please let me know if anyone wants me to keep up with this story, if not, I might just let it die. Thanks!

I bounce in the jeep beside Gene as we drive into Bastogne. The grey war torn town is overrun with soldiers and their artillery. The driver yells over the engine telling us that everyone has pulled back here and that beyond this town we have no back-up. The 326th medical platoon was captured, that is why there is no aid station and no medical help. Snow covered bodies line the street all stacked on one another. I look away trying to focus on the task at hand, I help lift Skinny, who took a mortar hit to the leg, onto the stretcher to get him into the makeshift hospital. The driver tells us they are giving the men hooch, which I assume is a type of liquor, to help with the pain. I follow behind Gene as the soldiers carry Skinny into the church. The hospital is full to the brim with people, the smell of blood and infection permeating the air. A nurse orders the men on where to put the injured as they come in. She is a tall woman with soft features, a blue head scarf wrapped around her head to keep her hair out of her face. Gene hands Skinny over to her stating the situation, informing her no morphine had been used on the man. I follow the nurse with my eyes watching her go to the next room to help the other nurse with a patient. Gene asks a soldier beside us why the injured men haven’t been evacuated.

“We can’t evacuate, we’re cut off.” The man informs us. The sounds of the nurse’s voice travels through the church as she speaks French to her colleague, her voice warm and comforting. Then men here seem to calm as she touches and speaks to them. I watch her enamoured, I haven’t seen another woman in a long time, so it feels comforting. She approaches Skinny with a bottle of alcohol pouring him a glass for the pain, as he drinks she strokes his hair in a gentle manner. The man sighs as if relieved of pain by her touch.

“I’m in heaven Doc.” Skinny smiles as the two nurses tend to him. I laugh, shaking my head. The nurse’s eyes land on me, she tilts her head seemingly recognising me as another female. I’m sure I don’t look very pretty, swamped in as many clothes I can fit onto my body, dirt and sweat caked to my face and skin, my hair loosely tied under my helmet. At a glance I would look like another soldier. Gene proceeds to ask the nurse for any supplies she can spare. I follow along to help. She gives Gene a box filling it with supplies, Gene pulls out odd looking bandages, “What’s this?” he asks the nurse, looking confused.

“From the bed.” She replies, still stocking the box.

“Sheets?” Gene clarifies. The nurse nods, putting the last of the equipment into the box. They exchange thank you’s in french. The nurse turns on her heel walking off to her next task, Gene is hot on her tail, as I tag behind. Gene asks her a question in French which I don’t understand, but she replies with her name.

“My name is Renee.” She replies as she moves quickly to the next room. Gene follows her continuing the conversation. I go to follow when my hand is captured. I look down as a soldier grasps my hand, his eyes swollen shut. I kneel down beside him. My eyes scan over his body. He has other injuries scattered around his body. He moans in pain, still holding my hand.

“Nurse?” The man whispers quietly. I take my free hand cupping his cheek, so he knows I’m here.

“What do you need?” I ask the man, my thumb absentmindedly stroking over his skin. A sob escapes his lips, his grip on my hand tightening.

“I’m scared.” The man chokes out. I look around seeing the alcohol they used to help with pain perched on a counter just out of reach. I stand to grab it but the man still clings to me.

“No, please don’t go.” The soldier cries. I kneel back down so that I am closer to the bed.

“I’m right here, I’m not leaving.” I console the man as I run my fingers through his hair in a soothing manner. His sobs grow quieter, I sit with him continuing to comfort the soldier. His breathing turns even, his grip on my hand becomes looser. A soft snore leaves his lips. I sat with him for a while more in case he woke up. I see Gene peer around the corner, signalling his head to me that we are leaving. I stand from my position, placing a soft kiss to the man’s head, before following Gene back to the jeep to return back to the front. Gene grabs a pair of boots from one of the dead soldier's feet, I look away, I don’t want to see him have to yank the shoes off of the man. Renee appears from the church calling for Gene, throwing him some chocolate, they share a smile between them. I take my place in the jeep, as Gene sits in the front. We drive away, as we do I turn back to the church watching it grow smaller as we travel. My mind lingers on the man I sat with, I didn’t even know his name, but I wonder when he will be able to go home and be treated properly for his injuries.

We arrive back on the front to see a group of men gathered in front of a jeep. A soldier stands in front of them blessing the men. We hop out of the car making our way over, as the man finishes his prayer.

“Reconnaissance mission, Kraut hunting.” Spina informs us. I nod at Gene who hands over the box of supplies we got from the hospital.

“We’ll go.” Gene tells Spina as I start to trail behind the men. Johnny approaches us, stopping us in our path.

“Doc and Lane, it's a combat patrol. How about you two hang back. Stay out of trouble.” He smiles, giving us a nod as we silently agree with the man, stopping in our place. He follows the soldiers, telling Hobbs to hurry up, yelling for them to form tactical columns.

I sit by Gene as we stare into the fog. We lost sight of them after they had walked for a bit. We hear distant shouts and chatter. I squint trying to see anything. But we wait in silence. My stomach clenches, anxiety gnaws at my insides. I bounce my leg, jittery with anticipation. I hope that the mission goes well. I look over to Gene again. He perches himself against the tree, staring into the distance. He seems off, more distant. I’ve seen that look countless times now, it pains me to see it on his face. I nudge his knee, his eyes glance over to me.

“Hey Gene, are you ok?” I tilt my head, showing my concern on my face. He nods, focussing his eyes back onto the scene in front of us.

“You can talk to me Gene.” I offer, “You and I are in the same boat, you know. I’m here for you.” I can’t tell if he is listening to me or not but I continue.

“It’s ok to ask for help, I know as someone whose job is to help others, it’s hard to ask for help back. But I’m here Gene, I will listen. I can be a shoulder to cry on if you need. I know it’s hard when all you see is pain. It takes its toll. The soldier’s get to share their victories of missions, but most of the time we don’t get that satisfaction. It’s hard to tell if we are winning or not when all we see is the aftermath of it all.” I ramble on, unsure if he is paying attention, but I want him to know I’m someone he can come too.

“I’m fine Lane, but I think you should take some of your own advice.” He states coldly. “You don’t ask for help either. Last time I saw you, you were nearly dead in a hole.” I scoff, going to protest that it was different, “Just because you didn’t ask for someone to come with you.” I sigh, guess he has a point, he and I are the same.

“Fine, how about we both take the advice then?” I offer my solution. He gives me a curt nod. Rapid gunfire sounds, the yelling increases, pulling out focus back to the forest in front of us. I sit forward straining my ears to hear what they’re yelling. My heartbeat accelerates, as I shift to a crouched position, readying myself to run. I look to Gene who has the same position. I almost leap out of my skin when a soldier appears from the fog.

“What’s happening, sir?” Gene asks the man who puffs from his run. I recognise Peacock who runs past us.

“We’re pulling back. We made contact. I gotta get to CP.” Peacock disappears into the tree line. Leaving us glaring into the distance waiting for the rest of the men to pull back.

I watch silhouettes of the men running back towards us, I get to my feet. They yell confused at each other as they sprint through the trees. One of the men falls to the ground as a bullet hits him. Gene rushes forward, I wait to see if anyone else needs any help. I scan the men as they run past. They hold the line, lying down and readying their weapons as Gene aids the fallen soldier. Lewis appears by my side asking Johnny what happened.

“We lost Julian.” Yells Martin, Babe looks distressed. He yells that Julian is still alive. I move forward to go and find him out of instinct. But I don’t get far, Lew’s hand grasps my bicep, stopping me in my tracks.

“We have to fall back.” Martin yells arguing with the persistent Babe who wants to save his foxhole companion. Gene and Christenson move the man back from the line to the awaiting jeep. I fall back with the rest of the men, I turn my head as I run, looking into the foggy forest, my mind wanders to the dying man they had to leave behind.

After we get back to safety the men seem disheartened, losing such a young life has taken its toll. They sit in a large circle, the normally banterful chatter is dead, coughing fills the silence along with murmurs of the men having quiet conversations. Babe seems to be taking it the hardest, my eyes wander over to him every now and then. He hunches over into himself, hugging his arms around his body. His stare is glazed over, like he isn’t here. Winters tries to bring morale to the men joining them in their circle, having soft conversations with them. It’s apparent that Babe isn’t listening. Too caught up in his own thoughts.

The cold night falls quickly. I wrap my jacket closer to my body, how I wish I had a portable heater, oh or one of those heat packs you take skiing, that would be heavenly. I sigh, my breath showing in the freezing air. I get up from my empty foxhole, I need another person or I will literally die from hypothermia. I stand from my hole running from one to the other. I know who I want to find. I stumble across Babe, shivering alone in a foxhole that isn’t his. My heart clenches, remembering that his foxhole buddy had just died this afternoon. I slip in beside him, his shivering chattering his teeth. “Babe, you’re freezing.” I wrap my arm around his shoulders pulling him closer to me. He leans against me. I rummage around in my bag pulling out my blanket, I wrap it around his legs and chest. I shake my head, this isn’t enough. I stand, his hand shoots out, grabbing at my pant leg.

“Don’t leave.” He begs, grasping firmly at the material.

“I’m just going to try and find more blankets. I will be right back, promise.” He nods, hesitantly letting go of me. I move quickly, keeping low to the ground as I run. Asking in the holes for spare blankets. I got one from Luz and one from Perco. I promise them I will give them back in the morning. They smile at me, telling me not to worry. I thank them. Grateful for their generosity.

I jump back in next to Babe, who doesn’t appear to be any warmer than the last time I saw him. I put one of the blankets over the foxhole to shelter us from the snow and wind, hoping it will trap some of the heat in with us. I pull him close again, wrapping a blanket over the both of us. He sighs, I rest my head on his, I rub my hand up and down his arm trying to create some warmth. We don’t speak, I let him grieve quietly.

“You’re warm.” He whispers barely audible. I hum, “My mother used to say the same thing.”

“Used to?” He asks. My chest constricts, I don’t talk about my mother often, it’s a subject that hurts too much, but I feel I can share with Babe.

“My mother died when I was 18, from cancer.” I tell him. Tears well in my eyes, but he faces away from me. “After that I was on my own, being 18 I was considered an adult. I don’t have any other family, my father wasn’t in the picture and my grandmother had died a couple years earlier.” He doesn’t speak, just listens to me talk, “My mom when she was really sick always got really cold. I would stay with her, she always said I was like her hot water bottle.” I chuckle thinking of all the times she would latch onto my side, as I protested that she was too cold. She would laugh and touch me with her cold hands and feet. I would shriek, trying to get away playfully. She would always fall asleep first, I would lie in bed listening to her soft breaths, cherishing her while I could. I would bask in her scent, and her thin arms that wrapped around me. When she got really bad she would have to stay in hospital, she would try and fit me in her bed but it was too small. I would sit by her bed and hold her hand while she slept. After she had passed I had to grow up, I was on my own, no one to love or care for me. Kind of like how I am here. I didn't exist, no family, no friends. I often thought if I were to die what would happen. Would I be found, would someone be able to identify my body, would anyone come to my funeral. A tear slips from my eye, I hastily brush it away with my free hand.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Em.” He says after I stop talking. I don’t speak, worried my voice will crack if I continue. Not only was I alone, but I didn’t have anyone to talk to. I wasn’t able to process my grief, I had to move on, move forward. Pretend like it didn’t happen, that I was fine and capable of being by myself. No one I could share fond memories with about my mother. I often visited her grave. I would talk to her about my life, what I was doing, but even to her headstone I lied. I put up a front that I was alright. Was it stupid I didn’t want to worry her even if she wasn’t here. Did a part of me wish just to pass too, life was so hard, even harder without her. I had no one. I guess it wouldn’t make a difference if I did die here, no one would realise I was gone. Babe had stopped shivering, still nestled into my side with my arm wrapped around him. I wiped the stray tears from my cheeks before he realised I had been crying. We sat in silence listening to the world around us. I let my mind wander, I slipped into thoughts of my beloved mother, but the memories were faded and tattered at the edges, not as crisp as they were before. Her laugh was not quite like how it used to be, I was forgetting. That hurt the most, I have these memories of her but I don’t know how long they will last, I’m so scared I will forget. I have forgotten her smell, the clothes I took of hers now smell of me and not her. I don’t want to forget her, but it’s hard to maintain by myself. If I had someone who had known her to share them with, maybe they would last.

I’m pulled from my mind when the blanket moves from above us, and Gene sits beside Babe. He doesn’t move from his position to look up, Gene smiles warmly at him. “Got you.” His smile fades when Babe doesn’t answer, I give him a worried look. He russells through his bag, pulling out a chocolate bar, “Heffron,” he offers Babe the sweet, still Babe is unmoving from his position pressed to me. Gene unwraps the bar exposing the chocolate, breaking a piece from the top. “Edward.” He holds the chocolate in front of his face, Babe sits up slightly looking at it. Gene places it in his gloved hand, “Eat it.” Babe snaps off a piece with his teeth, “Good.” Gene says to him pleased. He chews slowly. “Perfect.” Gene sniffs, pleased that Babe is eating.

“I promised him if he got hit, I’d get his stuff and bring it to his ma, you know.” Babe blurts tearfully, his voice cracking as he speaks. “Now the fucking krauts will strip him.”

“Hey, no. It’s okay.” Gene tries to reassure Babe, not really knowing what to say. But it’s not okay really, it’s awful and now Babe has this weight on his shoulders, that he couldn’t uphold the promise they had made to each other. The guilt he must hold will be eating him alive.

“It’s not. It’s not okay. We should’ve got to him.” It’s silent for a beat, as his words hang in the air. We have nothing to say that will make him feel better, he did try, for all that counts he tried his best. Babe coughs, as he again presses himself to me, I wriggle getting comfortable, holding him closer. Gene gets under the blankets as well, sandwiching Babe between us, hopefully keeping him somewhat warm.

#band of brothers #donald malarkey #band of brothers fanfic #joe toye #fanfic #hbo war #bill guarnere #dick winters #I hope you enjoy #my oc #fem oc #my story #reading #oc writing #original story #original fiction

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kit-williams · 4 months

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Barn Anon. Thank you but I think I'm more comfortable being Anon. Just how I am I suppose? Either ways, I tried again to make something happier.

It's been a few days now since you left your parent's house. This is easily the longest sleepover you've ever had! Best day ever! or maybe best week ever would be more appropriate? You had never seen so many Salamanders before. You had seen other Space Marines before when your Salamander brought you along with him to what looked like a Space Marine hangout?

That place was so interesting, their armours all so different and colourful. You told your Salamander that they remind you of power rangers, getting a loud laugh in return. He had told you of the various legions and chapters, though you can't remember them all. Though it seems like they're all nice people! Or maybe it's because that particular hangout was frequented by those with fondness for humans.

Now however you find yourself following one of the other Salamanders through the large building. You had left your jacket in your room, you wouldn't need it here. the Salamanders keep their building nice and warm. He reaches down and picks you up, setting you on a tabletop that would give you a good view of a training pit.

There you see your Salamander out of armour fighting with another unarmoured Salamander. He and his opponent move so fast, it was almost a blur at some points. A large hand is carefully wrapped around your waist to make sure you don't fall. Your Salamander had told you how they train with each other and you were quick to ask if you could watch.

You swing your feet as you sit at the table's edge, you watch and cheer your Salamander on. Best sleepover ever.

You know what Barn Anon I can respect that and if you're more comfortable doing this then I wont stop you

this is gonna kinda long

Yes Sunny is a Terran born Night Lord you wanna fight about it?

Officer Riley looked over the missing child case though it looked like it was turning into a case of Astarte's linked abduction but all their parents knew was the Astartes in question was green. That didn't help... if it was a Dark Angel the kid could still be alive unless the feral astartes got a case of paranoia then that kid was as good as dead... if it was a death guard another case of they would have to find a body.

He sighs putting his head on the desk hearing the door open up and his space marine sits in his reinforced chair. Officer Riley was very aware of the Irony that was Suul... or as he called him Sunny to piss him off. He looked at the Night Lord sitting in the chair. Though he was what was called an "Old Breed" or "Old Stock" or even as Sunny said "Terran born". But still the Irony wasn't lost on him... a cop getting a Night Lord... but Sunny was stubborn to let the officer know that he was his charge and he was there to keep him safe.

"Something feels wrong Sunny. Did you learn anything from the Space Marines in the area?" He looked up at the Space Marine.

What left the Night Lord wasn't the typical Slavic accent that most others had but some weird what Officer Riley would call a Metropolitian accent, "Salamanda'" He said looking at his servos like he was looking at nails.

"A Salamander took them?"

"Ye' Left during the wolf's midnight patrol." Sunny had managed to get one Space Marine to at least talk with him. "Ya know there's a compound of them a bit of a trek away."

"Why would a Salamander take a child? They normally don't."

Sunny hums and nods before looking at him, "Why don't we go ask him."

----------

You were having so much fun! Only time that was boring was when your Salamander went and did his forge time but you would play on a tablet that the tech marine of the group gave you. You were starting to learn more and more.

BLARE

You jump at the alarm blare as suddenly you were picked up by a Salamander before you were given to your Salamander and then he and a few others moved you to a safe location. "What's happening?" You ask as your Salamander looks down at you.

"A feral space marine is in the area. The alarm wouldn't normally go off but since you are here... precaution." He says with a smile.

You lean against his arm just worried.

-------

"Sunny stop following me." Officer Riley said looking back at the Night Lord

"Fat chance. Ya might get yerself killed." Suul said he had little to fear from the Salamander's hurting his charge but he didn't know what else was around and that made the Night Lord paranoid because who knew what they knew.

"You just want to come along to translate for me don't you." Officer Riley says just looking at his large shadow just shrug.

"I've got big ears and Salamanders are big boys with big mouths... always useful to-" Suul started before he put himself in front of the officer as suddenly they were surrounded.

He holds his breath wondering how he didn't hear them approach but then again the snow did wonders to hide the noise but... he looks over their disrupted outlines of the large green giants. He looks over his shoulder at their massive weapons and on either side he sees two with flamethrowers aimed right at Sunny. Sunny was slowly putting his arms up and his hands behind his head getting to a knee to try and minimize the chance of his human getting hurt.

"My- my name is Officer Riley," He shows his badge out towards the most decorated looking Salamander, "We're looking for a kid. Their parents said they were grabbed by a feral Astartes and we were wondering if you knew of anything? Perhaps you found them?"

Sunny starts to translate before a gauntleted hand is held up, "I understand and speak their language."

"Well fuck me I guess." Sunny mumbles.

"Why don't you two come with us." The Salamander says as Riley hears the snow crunch behind him as they close in. "It is cold out."

"Alright thank you. Come on Sunny." Officer Riley says swallowing the sinking feeling in his gut. This was always the danger of dealing with "feral" Astartes they tended to group up into warbands or companies.

"We will not hesitate to kill the Night Lord." The Salamander speaks with finality in his voice.

"I will be on my best behavior on the Emperor's word." Suul promises causing the Salamander to hum.

#warhammer 40k #space marine husbandry #Astartesnapping #Salamander #Night Lord #tales from the barn #barn anon #space marine husbandry sentience

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focsle · 1 year

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You've expressed this sentiment before, so I'm not sure how to start this ask. I've been catching up on Mr. Havilland (he's my age! As are many of the other whalers whose journals you read) and it made me think of that post of yours, on how whalers would write down the names of other deceased whalers, even those they never sailed with, just so they wouldn't be completely forgotten, and a lot of what you do feels like that. I know some of them didn't want their journals read, and you didn't publish them and I think that was a good idea, but it's so crazy to go around thinking about some lad from 18xx doing this or that and then just disappearing, god knows what happened to him, and more than a century later here we are, on other continents, living a completely different life, thinking about them. And crazier still when they're your age and you can understand why they signed up (the ones that do it for vague reasons at least. I also know that I wouldn't have done it had I had the chance but I get it). I don't give much stock to being remembered by history, but so many of these lads worried about whether their families remembered them or cared enough to, and I don't think they would have minded to know that some people, somewhere, would listen to them talk about their day to day nuisances and their more serious troubles, wishing them the safest and most successful voyage even though they know it has all already happened

That’s partly why I feel compelled to read their journals and share them, because it’s me giving a personal acknowledgement to an ordinary lad that his life happened and I see it. I tend to feel that need much more strongly with the ones who died quite young either at sea or ashore, like Buel, Boodry, or potentially Haviland, rather than the ones who ultimately settle down comfortably with families and/or security like Abbe, Newman, or Langdon…because I feel like they maybe had less people in their life to acknowledge that existence (or just…less time in their life to BE acknowledged). It’s why I sometimes feel like they’re MY family or friends because I develop this investment in their well being even though they’ve all been dead and gone for quite sometime.

It can also be sometimes hard—even when making a point to humanize history—to fully acknowledge that these were people for better or for worse. Like, it’s one thing to look at a census record and see that someone is in their teens or early 20s and hypothesize what their life might be like or what they might be thinking about. Same goes for the cautioning against not putting a modern personal lens onto the attitudes and actions of people in the past which, while important to keep in mind and is something I agree with, I sometimes think that attitude swings too far into itself and leads to people considering people from the past as completely alien to us. I think, when viewing history from an academic OR a nostalgic lens it can sometimes get too easy to reduce someone’s life down into themes and trends for a specific aim and forget that…that’s just a whole person!

And then you get hundreds of pages of their own words and really see that so many of them were worried about the same things that 20-somethings worry about today. They worry about not being married yet when all their other friends ashore are, and other such life milestones they feel they’re falling behind on, they worry about their girlfriend breaking up with them because they’re gone for too long and she finds someone else, they worry about what they’re doing with their life, and they worry about having nothing to show for it. A 23 year old riddled with anxiety about their future and sense of worth spans across time, it seems. And then all the other little human bits I share from them ranging from the books they’re reading and what they thought of them, to the little jokes they’re making and pranks they’re playing on each other, to getting woken up in the middle of sexy dreams and being put off about it, to being freaked out about cockroaches, to thinking the moon looks pretty, to grumbling about having to do their laundry, or only getting 2 hours of sleep and having to power through it.

#asks #anonymous #awhalin

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fitzrove · 10 days

Text

Rant vaguely related to my previous rudolf post & academic history (delete later) (WAY too specific)

The way people talk about historical research fields and topics sometimes (online and irl) is honestly Really Stupid aihoådögltslhlgl. In designating "old white men history" (= political, military, macroeconomic...) and white men historical figures obsolete and unworthy of any further study, people are robbing themselves and others around them of greater understanding of phenomena that have real and ongoing consequences/effects upon the present day.

I told a former classmate I was studying abroad for a more varied perspective (instead of the boxed-in provincial narrative you get from just using sources, lit and theories from your home country) and that my new thesis was going to be about a ww2 topic. She made a disgusted face, glibly going "Ah, as if that hasn't been researched enough!". She wouldn't hear me out when I said that my topic actually has real life implications for politics, memory culture and international relations today lol.

To some people, just because a field has been researched a lot (and often with outdated methods, by white men in the 1950s etc), it becomes worthless and you should rather look at unexplored territory: people "forgotten by history", marginalised groups, new approaches, big emphasis on the social, cultural, personal, individual. But for a few reasons, claiming that studying "old white man history" in the 2020s is "useless" is very flawed lol. Because:

In a lot of cases, The Book on something (be it a specific aspect of a topic, an individual person, or just a topic as a whole like WW2 for instance) will have been written in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s... Research methods have evolved a LOT since then, and the demands on researchers to reflect on their biases are a lot stronger now. Historical research doesn't exist in a vacuum and is never completely objective - it's a self-correcting field, though, and new studies aspire to build on and improve upon previous ones. You wouldn't trust medical research from 50+ years ago to be the best possible knowledge on a given topic to be trusted forever and never re-examined, would you?? Why would you a history book, then?

Old white men are the ones who had power for vast lengths of time in history. In many countries old white men are still the ones in power. Political and military history, as well as macroeconomic history, are (in summary) about the study of power. You can't gain knowledge of how "the enemy" (or: those holding the power in society) operates only by studying the way their "victims" experienced their influence. You need to look into the people in power themselves. And someone needs to do this now, with modern research methods, so we have the best possible knowledge of the subject! Additionally, modern old white men often stan historical old white men and might make rhetorical references to them in speeches etc... It's important to know how they conceptualise the world and its history, because so far they're not going anywhere...

People are so dumb akgösphkpd like they will hear "political/military history" and not even know how much the fields have changed and evolved in the last 30 years 😭😭😭 Its based on this stock stereotype of what those fields are, when in reality the sharpest criticism of previous approaches comes from within the field - which seeks to self-correct. Again, you wouldn't assume that physics ended with Einstein...... why assume that historians can never improve their methods or reach new conclusions based on already-studied sources??

Putting pressure on women specifically to only study social/cultural/microhistory, and insinuating that they're betraying their gender if they don't, is just straight up sexist lmao. You don't expect this of Matt age 21 who loves tanks and literally just wants to study idk tank formations, why do you expect it of me?? Ditto for queer people and any other marginalised group you could think of.

As for Rudolf specifically? Yes he sneaked in again fkflld. It's worth it to point out his problematic relationships with women, yes, and SPECIFICALLY the historical agency and existence of those women outside of him lol. (Which is still a bit lacking.) But it's not smart or feminist or even morally right to avoid looking at where the Mayerling obsession as a whole comes from. The fact is:

1. Rudolf had very specific unpopular political opinions, and suffered from mental illness (a kind of disease poorly understood at the time but also still decades after the fact and even today)

2. These two factors led society to perceive him in a certain way, and influenced the way newspapers wrote about him after his death. Conservatives put huge emphasis on his womanizing ways - as part of his general depraved evilness, incl irreligiosity, liberal politics and lack of respect for traditional values - to influence their audience to believe that violence and insanity are what social liberalism leads to. They also used the events of Mayerling to say that the scandal is the only thing that ever mattered or ever will matter about Rudolf, that it tainted his person to such a degree that considering anything else is moot. This is the starting point for the most common Mayerling narrative that has literally barely changed for 135 years... it still crops up in media today!!

So um yeah anyway,,,, I guess I'm sorry for being specifically interested in war as a culmination of international political crisis & historical eras seen as formative to current political culture & 19th/20th century opposition to and manifestations of political nationalism & the way in which seemingly apolitical things are actually used to shape public discourse... instead of idk queer history or women's history or historical dress or microeconomic family history 😭😭 I just think there's enough people studying those latter ones and doing a much better job of it than I could - because they're genuinely passionate about them and hence have the right skills to actually study them well. I still believe that the way I'm studying and talking about the stuff I'm interested in has a lot of value, even if it's not contributing to Good Representation or aligned with my modern political views in any obvious sense. (Well, a constantly recurring theme is my distaste for overt forms or nationalism/(proto)fascism lol but we don't need to tell people that 😌 esp not the current Finnish government)

Also rudolf was irl bisexual did you even read eine orientreise (JOKING)

#history #jfc this is long akksldldld #delete later

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not-poignant · 6 months

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Merch Tier Revived!

As of this month, I've officially revived the Vexteria tier on Patreon and Ream as a Merch tier :D

This is the one you're looking for:

Memberships at Ream

Memberships at Patreon

I've been thinking about it for like a year and I've finally figured out a way to do it without breaking my brain (or the bank) and handling overseas postage.

While there are other bonuses in this tier, I've finally figured out how to get around overwhelming postage costs with twice-yearly drops of merch to those who subscribe for 4 consecutive months in the Evan & Vexteria tier within that period.

This is what shipped out to followers in the second half of 2023!

x 2 notebooks (lined) + postcards (with recycled paper envelopes) + vinyl stickers + a signed personalised individual letter. In this first instance, I am also the artist of this merch.

Here's me preparing everything :D

Each merch shipment will be different items and different themes - sometimes fanart, sometimes quotes, or focuses on different stories. The items can individually change too. It might be journals, more varied stickers, other forms of stationary, enamel pins, and more.

What do you get in this tier?

In this tier you get access to everything. All the early access, the merch, you get credits in all future books (which, with publishing hopefully kicking off in 2024 means seeing your name in print a fair bit!), and see any other extras I choose to share.

Why 4 consecutive months to be eligible for that 6 month drop?

To cover overseas shipping costs, which start at $20, and to also cover the raw cost of the merchandise, and also still be able to make an income off Patreon or Ream in this tier.

I like the look of an older merch bundle, can I get that instead?

Only if there's stock left over for that! And you can't get both at the same time, so if I can make a bundle based off past merchandise for you, it will be in lieu of the current bundle.

How is it shipped? How long does it take?

It's all shipped super safely. Before I worked as a writer, I worked as an artist selling fragile traditional art pieces. I've shipped over 500 worldwide. Your merch comes in a water resistant plastic sleeve that is sealed and very durable, and that goes into a thick envelope that has bubble wrap incorporated into it to make sure everything arrives safe and sound, even in inclement weather.

Because I'm shipping from Australia, items can take 2-6 weeks to arrive.

Could you ever send merch more often?

Not at the current price/s of this tier! Many overseas / non-US writers don't actually offer merch drops like this at all, and offer digital items, or only do Print-on-Demand which means nothing can be as personalised as writing you a letter of gratitude and celebration of your awesomeness.

Doing it this way means I can put a personal touch in there, and bundle everything, and know that everything's shipping safely with materials I really trust. :) It also means I can inspect every single item personally to make sure it's up to my standards before it goes to you!

Where do I check this out?

Go have a look at the memberships over on Patreon and Ream! You want the Vexteria & Evan tier. :D

Memberships at Ream (You can join for free here and follow me here without subscribing and just get a feel for it first!

Memberships at Patreon

A huge THANK YOU to the people who have been on this tier for ages even without these kinds of rewards. Your support is so incredibly invaluable, and I can't wait for you all to receive the first Augus & Gwyn themed merch drop. :D Y'all made this possible, and I appreciate you so much.

If anyone has any questions, hit me up! I'm super hyped for this. I fully understand if it's not something folks can afford, and I'm hoping to find a way to make merch more widely available in time, so that folks don't have to miss out, but until then, we have the Merch tier back up and running for the first time since about 2014!

Things like this keep the lights on, and keep the stories coming out to you over time, and more than anything, y'all have no idea how much fun I had writing individual letters to the folks in this tier, celebrating what I really loved / thought was awesome about them.

All right, thanks for your time, I'll get back to posting chapters now :D

#pia on patreon #pia on ream #housekeeping #merch tier #fae tales merchandise #fae tales verse #mm romance #queer romance #hurt/comfort #angst with a happy ending #own voices #queer writers #i stopped merch almost a decade ago #and now i know exactly how i want this to work #and i really think as i get to know better suppliers #i'll be able to offer more over time #i'm hoping most of the items are functional and useable #but collector's cards are potentially on the horizon as well dsalkfjdas

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tbcanary · 1 month

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haiii uhm. idk if anyone has asked this but what are some of your favorite character costumes/outfits :O

iggy i love and adore you and i love this question. hold on, i have to dig up some images.

okay. i dug up some images. so many, in fact, that i hit image limit on this post and had to trim some things down. let's go through it.

we're gonna just go ahead and start out with dinah lance, the light of my life. this whole post won't be sorted by character, but she's the one i have the most images of, so she gets her own section.

i know people really, really love the short-haired, less effeminate dinah we get in grell's 80s run. i'll get to her! but i'm going to start by saying that her looks in the green lantern/green arrow run are all-time. please consider, if you will, the most fashionable lady in the room:

(i can't include the house robe from snowbirds, but know that i spiritually do count it as part of this post. i hold it near and dear. for now, these two looks will do.)

her long black hair. her little white vest. the statement necklace for her date with ollie. and look, i would include ollie here too, because his outfits in this run are PEAK seventies dad energy, but i don't have the space and i like dinah more, so you get these.

then comes the 80s, when dinah is in her element. short black hair, noir vibes, wearing graphic tees for things like "seattle slugfest." (in longbow hunters, at least.)

she gets some cute looks in grell's run, obviously, but i'm partial to this little skirt and sleeveless denim button-up because it's so very unlike her. she was putting in the work to look cute, and i appreciate it. oliver, meanwhile, looks like fred from scooby doo.

the 1991 run is important because of her extremely high heeled boots with the BIG cuffs around the calves. i miss the cuffs. i wish they would return to me. but the actual panels i think about the most from this run are when she cuts her fishnet stockings and uses them to tie her hair back.

wh. who. i want to know which people in the writer's room decided that was a feasible option. i just want to talk. i can't imagine a less stable hairstyle to go karate-chop some yacht pirates. come on now. but also, she even ties them in a bow? i love her so much. what the fuck is happening.

she has a lot of good looks in birds of prey (1999), honestly, but none of the artists have EVER IN THEIR LIFE seen a woman's chest. not a one. i'm going to go ahead and stick to the two things i love: the fringed leather jacket (iconic) and the long-pants jumpsuit that they did instead of the fishnets.

i don't know WHY they got rid of the fishnets, honestly, but i like this turtleneck situation and the yellow accents. also her communicator necklace on full display <3 she also usually wears a motor jacket OVER the jumpsuit. slay!

(it's maybe a little sacrilegious to like the long pants costume, given that she is so well-known for the bodysuit and fishnets. but to be fair, even when they cut the legs off this suit, she still isn't wearing the stockings. her legs are naked. 0/10 what the HELL.)

sean izaakse deserves his own post and i would not be able to pick out a limited number of panels from his work on green arrow (2023) but i will say i love dinah's new costume, i love the texture on her jacket, and i love that she gets to have the little canary logo on the chest now.

i assume this was more of a birds of prey (2023) design and not izaakse's personal design, but i love how he draws her hair, and she's so short compared to everyone, and overall she just looks good. zero complaints here.

(actually, i do have a few complaints, they just aren't about dinah. one, lian's eyes should be brown. two, ollie should have KEPT HIS HORRIBLE MANBUN, THAT'S MY DAD. and three, mia's cape should still be yellow on the outside. otherwise, the art in this run is perfect.)

speaking of mia.

the art of green arrow (2001) is not like. my favorite art style ever in terms of aesthetics. but hester really, really sets the tone for a lot of these characters through his design choices. particularly mia, which makes a lot of sense given this is her introduction and he did a lot of the initial work with her character.

the thought put into her costuming. she's wearing baggy clothes to contrast with what she wore before she moved in with ollie, she has the hair up in a messy ponytail, etc etc. this mia is everything to me. and i love ollie, too. he looks like a cartoon dad from a nickelodeon show. which is exactly who he is, to me.

we're gonna detour from dc and into marvel for just a second but don't worry we'll come right back. i was really excited when kelly thompson and leo romero were announced for birds of prey (2023) because i really liked their work on hawkeye (2016). it's such a good style for kate bishop, in particular; it feels very youthful and the style just suits her. this is The Kate Bishop, to me, outside of the 2012 run.

(i also really, really like the way dinah is drawn in birds of prey (2023). she's small, she's compact, she looks like someone who's been doing gymnastics and karate her whole life. i could also fit her in my pocket! perfect!!!!)

but yeah okay i mentioned it so i also need to shout out hawkeye 2012. this comic's aesthetics were so fucking on point, and it is one of my favorite ones i've ever edited because it has such an INTENTIONAL color palette and use of graphics like the arrows and bullseyes.

like i know everyone talks about how good this run is but that's because it is LITERALLY that fucking good. the writing. the art. the characterization. ugh. life-changing.

anyway that's enough marvel (for now). back to my hovel. dc.

spiritworld (2023) was so fun. the art is so intentionally drawing on manga and i loved it from the first issue. you can feel the love put into the character design and the color work, and xanthe's cool bomber jacket and undercut is SO essential. this is the nonbinary rep we deserve.

shoutout to cass's look in this comic, too. i LOVE this costume for her. it moves in such a fun and exciting way when she's flipping around and moving through the air, it has a new silhouette, AND it STILL has the bat on the chest. perfect. everything to me. never change.

that being said, i DO have a favorite cass look, and it's these specific panels from batgirl (2000). the style in most of that comic is great, it's super funky and fun, but these were the panels i saw that ended up solidifying in my brain as "oh, that's cass."

also from batgirl (2000) though, i love the funky design choices because they give us things like PEAK takes on stephanie brown's spoiler costume. she's just a fucking blob to me. look at her.

steph has a lot of fun looks, to me, but my favorite will always be the era in like, issues 110-112 of robin (1993), where they gave her a bob cut and big :pleading: emoji eyes.

i do wish she'd had freckles at this time. i know they were a later addition, but i like them. they add character.

unrelated to AAAANY of that, i need to talk about poison ivy (2022). this run is stuuuuuunning. i've only pulled panels of pamela here because i LOVE the way her freak body horror is done, as well as the way her hair is drawn, but the scenery and the textures of this comic as a whole are insane.

even when the story isn't grabbing me, the art does. it's beautiful, it's unlike any other comic i'm reading right now, and it is one of the first comics i ever looked at that made me go, oh fuck, that's an ART piece. ykwim.

HOWEVER. if we're talking about comics that are just. art. through and through. there are a couple others i need to mention.

supergirl: woman of tomorrow is stunning. the colorwork, the hair texture, the EXPRESSIVENESS of the FACES. ugh. this comic made me cry, yeah, but it also made me stroke the pages lovingly because of the beautifully rendered colors.

i love that kara doesn't always look Pretty. i love that she gets bloody, and beat up, and she looks tired and sad and sick sometimes. i love that it is so beautiful and also you can see genuine hurt on kara's face. ugh. UGH. this comic!!!!

now for the indie shit lol. die (2020) is sooooo lovely. stephanie hans is ordinarily a cover artist, but she jumped onto this project to do pages, and my GOD is it beautiful. the character design, the colors, the expressions. it feels like a PAINTING and i want to EAT it.

there's a lot of body horror and gruesome stuff in here. but like, somehow, even that manages to look pretty? i love the painterly textures. i love how the tone influences the colors. it's all just stunning. i need to go reread this one right now, actually.

annnnnnnd! last one, i promise! it's time for THE FORGED (2023).

i love this comic. everyone in it is a lesbian with an atypical body type, half of them are wearing bondage gear, and it's all set in a space sci-fi setting with more lore than you can shake a stick at.

and on TOP of all of THAT. LOOK HOW BEAUTIFUL THE COLORS ARE.

there are a few honorable mentions i don't have room to include images of, so i'm gonna go off and list them now:

the wild west arc of exiles (2012) in that very painterly style

the scenery and background work in wonder woman: the hiketeia

the INCREDIBLY clean lines and sharp colorwork of dan mora in world's finest (2023)

the super sketchy and rough pencil-esque art in the back half of green arrow/black canary (especially mia! i love her!)

i am sorry but i enjoy the very sharp style of batgirls (2022). i don't necessarily endorse the writing or the story of the run, but i think the shapes are good. sorry. take me out back, i know.

young justice (1998) also has very cute cartoony art!! i haven't read much of it yet, but every time i see it, it makes me smile. which is the point, i think?

OKAY. PHEW. do you regret asking me yet, gobby. did you get what you came for. am i welcome to come yell at you about the forged (2023) and die (2020) until the day we both shed this mortal coil and depart for the great beyond.

that's it ily mwah thank you for the best question i've ever been asked <3333

#ask.tb #stainedglassgoblin #I HAVE BEEN CONSIDERING RANKING DINAH'S OUTFITS FOR LIKE FOUR DAYS. HOW DID YOU KNOW.#that's not what this is. this is a mess of a post. but dinah's sure in it a lot.#i may come back tomorrow with more images. only time will tell.

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fynnisshit · 10 days

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Nina the killer: Rewrite

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Update 1/?

For my Nina rewrite, I just wanna put some things down for debate on if I should include this. A lot of what I'll be saying here are personal headcanons and such of the type because from the original story, there isn't too much to go off of. I am also going to be referencing Seireitonin's (on tiktok and tumblr) headcanons for Nina because I agree with some.

For starters, I am going to write Nina as a Blasian person (Dad was Black, Mother is Chinese). I think in a lot of ways it can add depth to her character, and it also makes sense in a lot of ways to me. In Seireitonin's post about why she thinks Nina is black she mentions how in a lot of cases black people often have absent fathers (That is not coming from me, that was said by Seireitonin who *is* a black person) and it lines up with how Nina's father was never once mentioned in her original story. In my rewrite, I want to write that her father actually dies from an illness like cancer. I think that it could be more sympathizable when it comes to her insanity that her father passes away when she is still growing rather than is absent since she was a baby. Also, in regards to her being part Asian, I think it could add to why she was bullied. I'm aware that many Asian people have and are often times made fun of and picked on for their ethnicity, and that also goes for African American peoples (in no way am I excusing this behavior). The bullying part of the story isn't only going to be motivated by her race, and I do not wish for it to be.

As I'm sure many people and myself headcanon her as a scenekid, I'd like to include that. I assume she is a scenekid and has just moved to a suburban area with her mother and brother. Many suburban parts of towns are generally middle-upper class, white, and typical "normal" people. I would assume that if a Blasian scene teenager moves into their part of town, it would probably give them some "bad" impressions.

For the setting of the rewrite, I'd like to make it known that Nina has just moved from California to a small town in Michigan. I think the generic trope of a girl from a small town moves to a big city is very fun, but I think it'd be super rad if the trope was reversed. In the rewrite, I want to include that one of the only reasons that Nina moves to a small town in Michigan is because of her mom having a job relocation. There's a city in Michigan called Freeland that is really close to a river, which I think later on it'd be handy for Nina herself when it comes to discarding the bodies she had killed. Also, Freeland is very close to a city called Midland, which is the headquarters of a big chemical plant/company called Dow (This is true, I actually researched for this, lol). Dow has a location in Hayward, California, which I think would be a good place for Nina to move from, assuming that her mom works at Dow.

I researched and found out that Midland is actually pretty expensive to live in, so I thought that the smaller and more affordable town nearby, Freeland, would work just fine.

In the rewrite, Nina and her little brother, Chris, would go to school at a Catholic or Christian, K-12, school. I don't think that Freeland actually has any religious schools, but I'm not going to be *that* accurate. At the school, I imagine that they would have a uniform and dress code that Nina tried her hardest to push the limits of with out breaking them to get away with being able to express herself in the way that she likes. That's where her canon outfit would come into play. The classic black skirt, purple hoodie, and red striped stockings are seemingly tame outfits. At school, I imagine the dress code is not too strict. Simply, a black or navy skirt, stockings, or tights with no more than two colors and a school polo. I'm sure they allow sweaters or jackets when coming and going from school, so thats why Nina would be able to wear her purple hoodie.

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fin

#creepypasta #slenderman #slenderverse #nina the killer #nina the killer rewrite #nina hopkins #creepypasta rewrite #rewrite #headcanon #canon #fanfic

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