#I'm both so double invalidated

[featherstorm2004]

Nana Shimura's guilt

Ok, so I'm sure plenty of people have noticed that in the latest chapter Nana has been insisting that Izuku must kill Shigaraki and that he's a wall that Izuku doesn't have to climb over. And I want to discus that as whilst I certainly don't agree with her, I find her reasons for such a perspective to be fascinating.

But let's begin with a trend I've noticed in any chapters where Nana and the vestiges talk about Shigaraki, and that's the fact that despite originally agreeing to go along with Izuku's wish to save Shigaraki they constantly refer to him as an 'it' or a 'thing' more often describing him as something less then human. And whilst it may not be surprising for the others to refer to him this way, it is incredibly disturbing that Nana his own grandmother seems the most determined to remove Shigaraki's humanity.

In fact it appears to be a theme that anyone who had a personal stake in how Shigaraki came to be are the one's most determined to ignore any sign of personhood inside him. This can be seen with Grand Torino, who despite having come to the realisation that his and Nana's decision was a mistake, seems to double down and tries to convince Izuku that killing Tomura is the better option; hell, literally the moment Shigaraki's identity is reviled he is the one to convince All Might that he isn't worth saving and that no matter his bloodline he's still a villain.

And he says this with full confidence despite the fact All For One outright told them both that he deliberately groomed Shigaraki to hate All Might and only chose him to mess with his enemy.

Even All Might chose to give up on Shigaraki very quickly and hasn't even thought about him since he found out, which is honestly really sad because of all people he should have been the one who cared the most, especially since he knows one of the only reasons All For One chose to mess with Shigaraki was to hurt him.

Which brings me back to Nanna and why she is acting the way she is and honestly, it's most likely due to a number of reasons and guilt is likely the most prominent one. After all it was her choices which led to Kotaro becoming traumatised and despising hero's, and it was because she was a wielder of One For All that her family/Tenko was targeted. Now I'm not saying it's Nana's fault Kotaro became an abuser, after all he was a grown man who was more than responsible for the way he handled his trauma however, that doesn't erase the fact that she was the root of his hatred which he passed down onto his son.

Not to mention she knows that the main reason Tenko was targeted was for revenge against her for defying All For One, so not only dose she have to deal with the fact that her son abused his child to near insanity but also her mortal enemy, who killed her, her master and tried to kill her student also groomed her grandchild to hate her, hero's and to become his next vessel.

That a lot of guilt for anyone to be burdened with and whilst it isn't directly her fault, the birth of Shigaraki is a result of the legacy she left behind.

And she obviously can't cope with that because if she did, it would basically invalidate every sacrifice she made for the sake of protecting One For All, so what dose she do? Well she makes a very human mistake and choses to ignore it. After all if Shigaraki is just a monster, a creature beyond human understanding then she doesn't have to face the guilt, "it was out of my hands, what could I have done?" "there's no point in dwelling on what could have been".

Ironically it's the same response All For One had regarding his own humanity. Essentially she's taking the responsibility out of her hands in order to protect herself because if she dose acknowledge it, it would essentially be an ego death for her and well humans are naturally programmed to protect ourselves at all costs. It's not nice but it's the truth, which honestly makes someone like Izuku stand out more.

Izuku has no reason to sympathies with Shigaraki, he has no idea what he's gone through or the history behind his creation but despite that he is the only person on the hero's side who has NEVER ignored him. Hell, even back in the mall scene where Shigaraki practically had him a gun point he still took the time to listen to him and give him a proper answer to his question and clearly what Shigaraki said meant something to him as he ask's All Might about it later.

It's clear that ever since these two have met that for some reason, whether it be the legacies they both carry or the fact that Izuku is just an innately empathetic person, these two have shared a connection. It's like Izuku and Shigaraki said, it's almost like fate has brought them together and we'll just have to see however that played out.

However, it's abundantly clear that whatever might happen between the two of them for Shigaraki to be truly be saved Nana and by extension all others who have kindly rejected Shigaraki will have to eventually accept that he is in fact human. They cannot keep pushing things under the rug because Izuku won't let them.

#shigaraki tomura #nana shimura #midoriya izuku #my hero academia #character analysis #mha #bnha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #bnha meta #boku no hero academia #bnha shigaraki #bnha deku #bnha 412 #mha 412 #bnha nana

[southshoretides]

There was a great post I saw a while back but lost about the ideological lens of media criticism that went like "Your average Reylo-hater doesn't hate it because she thinks Rey is not submitting to Kylo as a wife rightfully should, they hate it because it normalizes abuse. People who really hate Avatar tend to think it's colonialist, not that the humans are failing to teach the Na'vi about Christianity. People who hate Harry Potter in 2024 hate it because it's a story about rich prep school kids growing up to become feds plus the trans stuff etc, not because books about magic are Of The Devil."

In other words, you can only say that shaming campaigns/social-media mobbing for people who like Problematic Content is inherently a conservative (i.e. bad) thing (which is an argument I see over and over again, and not just on Tumblr) if you define 'conservative' as entirely divorced from its object-level goals (re: family, religion, law and order, etc) and round it off to "telling people that their feelings are invalid or immoral," with the implied inverse being that it's unprogressive to ever criticize someone's tastes in media.

And I guess that's internally consistent if your modal progressive is a live-and-let-live hippie with a high openness-to-experience and agreeability scores, that's internally consistent. But it's 2024 and if that's your modal progressive, I'm wondering why. Part of the reason this sort of stuff gets me genuinely worked up in a way little else does these days is that it seems so willfully, deliberately ignorant of the last ten years of cultural change, and it often comes from people who really ought to know better.

Because if you listen to the sort of people who hate Problematic Content, you will find that they indeed don't care about media spreading the Gospel, or enforcing traditional heteronormative values, or being patriotic, in fact they have contempt for all those things (which are, yes, themselves, kind of hall-of-mirrorsy concepts, but the important point here is that most conservatives define themselves as favorable to those concepts).

But what they do care about is media that enforces harmful stereotypes, or causes harm to marginalized groups, or defends capitalism/nationalism/etc, and other things conservatives don't really care about. And it is entirely internally consistent to say "I hold progressive values XYZ, I think that fiction that opposes my values will weaken them, ergo I want to ban or suppress fiction that opposes my values." There's nothing inherently un-leftist about that, the Soviet bloc did it for decades! There are millions and millions of people who think that way who openly and proudly despise all things conservative and Republican.

Thousands of words have been spilled about what happened to the left in the 10s, how they willingly took on the pro-censorship, pro-word-police mantle once various proto-Trumps and the big guy himself ran in the opposite direction. Maybe the last few years of things (somewhat, sorta) swinging back the other way have made people forget. (And I put 'in 2024' up there for a reason: the battlefield really was very different as little as 15 years ago. But now it's not.)

But I think it's more likely that people who think you can't be both censorious and a progressive are simply still unwilling to truly accept that, that we have this whole class of people who may say the right things and vote the right way on green fuel and gay rights and whatever else, who claim the mantle of progressives, but are as strict and paranoid and closed-minded as any conservative in practice when it comes to anything outside their comfort zone, just as dependent on whisper campaigns and public moral grandstanding and consent-manufacture as the conservatives they hate.

And this is embarrassing for leftists who don't believe in media censorship, so they try to write these guys off as infected by enemy memes, or double agents, or just hopelessly confused. Either way, they're not real progressives, because they're not how I'd prefer progressives to be. And like again, fine, you can do that, but we have a term for that behavior, not a complimentary one. "Progressives don't ban books" only hold true insofar as progressives don't ban books--that the people with the levers of power in the progressive movement refrain from doing that.

Ultimately, a book banned for reasons of blah blah Jesus morals Christian America is a banned book, and a book banned for reasons of blah blah privilege historical inequity triggers trauma is a banned book, and no clever rhetoric can get you around that.

[genericpuff]

have you watched pyrrhic_victoria's newest video of them critiquing lore olympus? they're currently being called out for invalidating persephone's sexual assault & doubling down on what they've said.

Ohhh boy, I have lol and it's pretty much what I was vague-posting about the last couple days `(*>﹏<*)′

TW: sexual assault, insinuations of victim-blaming, community drama, lil' bit of trauma dumping

So now that I feel sorta okayish talking about this, Pyrrhic & Victoria put out a new LO video recently with a take that wasn't so hot. I won't go into too many details but it was one that essentially attempted to invalidate the existence of SA in Lore Olympus. Which, let me just say, is a really bold but shit take to have because while we can criticize LO as much as we like, it should never, EVER be an excuse to invalidate what we all know was very obviously SA, whether or not P&V recognize it as such themselves.

It's been a bit conflicting for me because while I obviously disagree with their takes, they're in the ULO community and I interact with them on a regular basis. I've hosted them on my streams, I respect them as creators. But that whole schpeel... really didn't stick with me.

I feel like a lot of where this take (and the responses to it) is coming from is personal/subjective, but there's also a general argument between the ULO community and the main LO community when trying to discuss LO because often times, people will supplant their own experiences to defend shitty writing. A very good recent example is Demeter's character assassination - a lot of people defend the poor writing and mischaracterization as "well I had an abusive mom so this is good storytelling!" when it's like... that's neither here nor there. You can have experiences with shitty parents or SA (as I do!) but still separate those experiences from the media you're consuming and recognize when the media isn't being written well. I'm an SA victim myself and while I do NOT think Persephone's SA plot is being depicted well, especially when it comes to Persephone's internal headspace, that doesn't mean I'm justified in saying Persephone wasn't SA'd. That's a completely different line to cross and one that absolutely should not be crossed. Hence why I mentioned above that P&V seem to be conflating RS' shitty writing with the real life experiences of those reading it as their reasoning to criticize the writing itself, not much different from how we complain about the stans using their own experiences to defend shitty writing. It's two sides of the same coin - just because you've experienced the things that happen to the characters in a fictional piece of work doesn't mean that piece of work is actually well written; just because you're criticizing a piece of work for being poorly written doesn't mean you're allowed to invalidate the experiences of the people relating to that work.

All that said, from here on out, I won't be continuing to engage or affiliate with their content. They've explained to me in-depth how they feel about both the situation and the opinion itself and it still seems to just be something that we're gonna have to disagree on because they're failing to give RS even an ounce of credit for that scene. It doesn't matter how shit her writing is or how they think the SA "doesn't make sense" in the context of the story, we all know that scene was SA, even if it wasn't what Rachel originally intended to write, she chose to embrace it through the Eros/Persephone conversation and it's been SA ever since. It's not something that I'm going to debate here, ever. RS mishandling the subplot after the fact doesn't invalidate the nature of that scene whatsoever. And I say that fully as an SA victim myself, the "kind" of SA that often gets invalidated the way they tried to invalidate it - coercive, intimidated, pressured.

I won't blame P&V for being so aggressive with their takes, y'all know I'm pretty loud and outspoken myself. But they took it a step too far in their recent video and I'm not gonna entertain it any further. It's often said on their channel that they're "just two dummies with dumb opinions", but that doesn't mean their opinions don't have the power to hurt others or send toxic messages that are fully capable of being absorbed by and spread by their own audience. That's the responsibility one has to acknowledge when hosting any kind of platform with an audience of any size, and it's one that I take very seriously, both in what I consume and in what I create.

I've definitely been getting that "maybe don't be such a snowflake" vibe off everything going on and I hate to see it. I genuinely want to see them learn and grow from this because I do care about them beyond just their Youtube rants, but so far it's not really looking like that's gonna be the case, at least not for a long while, best case scenario.

People fuck up. We're all human, and part of being human means making mistakes. But what defines our character is how we bounce back from those mistakes. How we hopefully learn and keep an open-mind to learn from others and strive to do better. I really hope they can take a bit to step back, actually listen to what people are saying, and do better. I don't want to see them encase themselves in the same kind of echo chamber they criticize Rachel for. But ultimately, I can't control what they do going forward, so I have to just focus on what I can control - and that's choosing not to engage with their content any further.

#lore olympus critical #lo critical #ama #ask me anything #anon ama #anon ask me anything #anti lore olympus #antiloreolympus

[nogoawaytism]

My second thingy for Nitpick November, because I'm not gonna do this consistently the way God intended.

It's just so... interesting to hear RWBY stans bitch about any sort of criticism regarding how certain male characters are treated. Apparently if any of us commit the unforgiveable sin of saying something like "I wish Sun/Adam/Mercury/Ironwood was treated better by the narrative + explored the unique themes that are a part of their identity as characters." rwby stans freak the fuck out and start whining about how RWDE only wants a show about a white male character. And I'm like

*looks at the vast majority of the cast, especially the heroes*

*looks at V9*

It's just so... interesting how these double standards work, because I guess a white male character getting the spotlight is ok when it's Miles's self-insert.

Meanwhile, Sun has a Chinese allusion despite being a blonde, Ironwood was modeled after Jason Rose who is half Asian (Oh wait, I bet we don't count mixed people). Interesting.

Also, Sun is an established, in-universe minority, an abuse victim thanks to Blake, which is frequently downplayed because Blake is a girl and a main character, and is therefore perfect, and Sun is evil because he isn't psychic, and expressed attraction to a main character. How evil.

Also, Ironwood is a veteran with PTSD facing a horrible situation, a triple amputee, and the only one of the cast who actually has a feasible plan. Oh wait, losing his arm made him lose his humanity, what an evil bastard. He probably lost over half his body on purpose.

Also, Adam is an established, in-universe minority, a former child slave, who has the SCHNEE FUCKING DUST COMPANY logo burned onto his fucking face. Adam should be a good faunus, and not complain at all about faunus oppression, otherwise he's a fucking nazi.

Also, Mercury was trained for an extremely dangerous job as a young child, and abused so badly to the point where he LOST BOTH LEGS. Man, white men really do be the worst.

Yes, two of these characters are villains, and yes, we should hold people accountable for their actions instead of inborn characteristics. Oh wait, y'all already did that when you bitched about them being "white men", while almost every important non-white character has been presented as a villain at some point, and the two non-white characters in our main cast, Ren and Oscar get treated so poorly compared to the other heroes. Sure, complain about how RWDE "wants to center white men" while Ren's mental state and feelings are invalidated at every turn. Sure, complain about how RWDE "wants to center white men" while Oscar the literal child that got dragged into this war is constantly the one bearing the brunt of physical abuse that we haven't seen our other characters experience + half of that physical abuse is by characters who ARE heroes and by Hazel who got the last-minute redemption treatment. Sure, complain about how RWDE "wants to center white men" while y'all treat this show like the best shit to happen to media since Charles Dickens when *checks notes* it's written by white men, which isn't inherently bad in my opinion, but in this case they write every fucking issue in this show in such an insensitive light, and are still horrible xenophobic people. Miles and Kerry ARE stereotypical horrible white men, but y'all still defend their stupid writing while bitching about white men abused by the narrative.

Oh, and might I add: the fuckers saying this stan Coco. I wonder what her allusion is.

So you mean to tell me, that expressing just a little bit of tact about Adam being a branded child slave, or Ironwood losing three limbs and being traumatized, or Mercury being abused and losing his legs, is super duper evil, but this Nazi insert is an absolute slay queen. Y'all really made a doodoo with this one, whoopsies!

Anyway, take the historic moment before Mercury rightfully whooped this Discord light mode-looking mf who's also a Nazi:

#rwde #my post

[moe-broey]

AUGH Pokemon Scar/Vio DLC spoilers below bc I'm NOT gonna have anyone to talk about this with for a little while LMFAOOO

God I wish when Kieran ran off with the mask, challenged you to a battle to get it back, and lost that battle. I DESPERATELY WISH he just ran off with the mask again anyway. LIKE. For one could you imagine how fucking funny that would have been LMFAO but also!!!!! I think something like that happening would have absolutely raised the stakes, AND would have given you a reason to be mad at him. I think, what Kieran needed MOST as a character and the development they're taking with him, is for him to have moments where he doubles down and is stubborn and bratty.

LIKE. This is going to get SO incoherent LMFAO but I'm thinking about Hortensia Fire Emblem's whole character arc, where you meet her and she's bratty right off the bat. But the thing that GETS me about her is that she doubles down. She's stubborn. And you see Why, you see her scared and hurt and traumatized as she's trying to figure out what to do next. And what REALLY makes her character to me, is when not even Ivy being on your side is enough for her to join you. She still needs time. And by "time", I mean needs to keep digging her grave deeper because she just can't stop yet. LIKE. She's acting out. Which isn't me invalidating anything, like, I'm struggling to find the words for it but she's just 14 about it you know. Something SO horrible has happened and you feel SO MUCH about it that not even your older sister can talk sense into you, at least not right now.

I THINK. The connection I want to make here is that I think Kieran has SO MUCH POTENTIAL as a blooming antagonistic character, he just NEEDED a moment like Hortensia has with Ivy. Where she doubles down on her path. And I think Kieran, maybe initially planning on keeping his word... when you defeat him, and everything just wells up inside and overtakes him. I think THAT would have been a fantastic and shocking moment, if you could see him make that decision to Make Things Worse in real time. And I can only IMAGINE the reaction that would have gotten out of Carmine too!!!

AND. CARMINE. CARMINE. I FIND HER SO FASCINATING. LIKE. Yeah yeah overheard a conversation/misunderstanding tropes are cliche and can be super annoying as a storytelling device. AUGH BUT I FEEL LIKE IT COULD ACTUALLY WORK FOR THEM..... with how both of them Are. I think Carmine and Kieran have SUCH incompatible personalities and there is SO much to explore there. Like. It's established as soon as you meet them, that they must be close and care for each other. You see it in how Carmine looks after Kieran, speaking up for him when he's struggling to, and you see how Kieran admires and looks up to her as he cheers her on in battle. But you ALSO see that Carmine has the emotional intelligence of a brick and she is naturally just. Abrasive and temperamental, with an ego. ALL. HORRIBLE TRAITS TO HAVE IN ONE REALLY HAHAH (I love her though). And you see that Kieran is EXTREMELY sensitive, shy and mopey.

BUT ALSO. WHAT GETS ME ABOUT KIERAN ACTUALLY. Is how you See those traits evolve and twist into more detrimental versions of themselves. AND you start seeing some Similarities he has with Carmine. He also is temperamental. He also has an ego. THIS. WAS SO COOL TO SEE TBH!!! Espppp seeing the uglier aspects of being "shy" and "sensitive". Traits that are really easy to make endearing and to woobify. It's easy to look over just how destructive these traits can get, when you take things too personally and then shut yourself off completely. AND. THE EGO. ADDED ONTO THIS. The fact that he IS a sore loser, the fact that he DOES get bratty about it. Like, I think another thing I really appreciate about Kieran is he acts his age. He quickly starts to feel like the entire world is against him AND he's 14 about it.

In turn, I think I really appreciate how Carmine is so much just an older sister. Like. Yeah, she has a temper and an ego. But also, I think you see that she's a pretty good sport actually. She's competitive, but she's not actually holding anything against you (beyond like, her frustrations about her home town feeling like a tourist spot -- which like! I think is reasonable actually, to dislike that). Like. She's abrasive, she's prideful, but ultimately she does have an air of maturity. She is Not 14 about it. On account of not being 14, unlike her little brother LMFAOOO (ALSO!!! I think it's clear how much she Does care too, how she does end up looking out for you, how she congratulates you and hypes you up... like!!! She's just a little bit of a jackass LMFAO but I love her for it)

And like ultimately maybe all this is just set up for a slow burn, as Kieran goes sicko mode LMFAO but I REALLY wish. There was at least ONE moment where he did something that's just a dick move. And REALLY digs his heels in. Makes it clear, compromise is NOT an option for him, not right now. That, for a while, no one is going to be able to reach him, not even his sister. He just needs to get it out of his system.

Plus, I think it would be incredibly useful for the player to have a reason to be mad at him, because GOD. I HATE. MORE THAN ANYTHING. When Pokemon gives you rivals you just feel bad for!!!!!! Like I just pity him!!!! I think he's right to feel the way he does and I think he has every right to act out. And like, I think I'd Still feel that way actually, if he did actively make bad choices that just makes everything worse and Isn't particularly palatable about it LMFAO. BUT. At VERY least, if he pulled a dick move, I can have something justifiable to want to fight him over. Lowkey Takumi feelings actually, where one of my favorite things about him is When he's an asshole, and it IS entirely on him, like... it's vindicating to see other characters push back. I, as the player, want the characters to get his ass for it. And it's rewarding, when he does come around (either immediately or after some time), and tries to make up for it. Like.... give me a reason to WANT to get Kieran's ass. Piss EVERYONE off in the process, ESPECIALLY your sister for the angst and drama of it all!! I just feel like I stomped on a little autistic boy's dream and stole away the object of his special interest HSKAHKSHA dude THIS SUCKS 😭😭😭😭😭

AUGH!!!!!!!!!! Anyway misc thoughts

The townspeople's turnaround about the ogre off screen was SO STUPID LMFAOOO LIKE. Like yeah yeah Pokemon game......... but you know what else was a Pokemon game. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky. LIKE AGSJHSJSJSJJ I FEEL LIKE SUUUUCH A CRAZY RAMBLY OLD MAN but Pokemon Scarlet/Violet HAD THE POTENTIAL. TO BE ON THAT LEVEL. I THINK. PERSONALLY. ON A STORYTELLING FRONT. And AGAIN I feel like there could have been potential here.

Like I think the main issue is the story even in the canon itself took place in too short of a time to develop in the way I think it deserved. But I'm thinking about the whole Process in PMD2 of returning from the Future, you, your partner, and Grovyle. How the three of you Can't just go back to the guild, especially Grovyle in tow, a wanted outlaw in this time period. How it takes days, of laying low, planning carefully, gathering intel, and hitting a wall, before finally deciding you really have no where else to turn BUT Wiggletuff's Guild. AND. AND. THE WHOLE PROCESS. THAT WHOLE THING CHATOT PUTS YOU THROUGH. AFTER TELLING YOUR STORY. Where Every Single Guild Member Individually has to decide, no, Chatot, I'm with Hero and Partner actually. Up against The Great Dusknoir's reputation, Grovyle's reputation, and your standing as the most recent additions to the guild versus Chatot's standing, Wiggletuff's right hand man, second in command, a respected authority figure.

LIKE........ I just think. With the folklore surrounding Ogrepon and the Loyal Three. Even if they didn't have That Much Time to build up to it exactly like that (speaking canonically, school trip constraints), I think. Even just a scene where You're part of trying to tell the town the truth about Ogrepon and the Loyal Three, AND you see the inital pushback, especially from an authority figure (maybe the Caretaker?) would have been enough. Especially would have been nice to see, instead of every NPC talking about how they got things wrong -- if there was divide and conflict, some believing you and feeling regretful towards how Ogrepon was treated, and others not believing you at all, ESPECIALLY as an outsider, who are you to tell us our history? AND even a few NPCs who are on your side, but are still in a state of disbelief or feeling betrayed. Like. Make us feel the weight of Why Carmine and Kieran's family kept this a secret for generations. (ALSO LITERALLY DIDN'T THEIR ANCESTOR TRY TO TELL THE TRUTH AND WAS HARSHLY DISMISSED AND CRITICIZED???? Why would Kieran be treated differently now for doing the same thing???????)

I guess last thoughts about Carmine and Kieran I didn't get to earlier but. I think you can See, as the story plays out, where there is this building frustration that turns to resentment from Kieran, towards how Carmine treats him. How, while she does speak up for him, she also speaks over him. What she sees as probably tough love or standard older-sibling teasing, HE takes it just. So personally. And it festers. It seems he feels ignored, dismissed and invalidated -- and his dialogues where he is mopey, and Carmine (almost on the right track), calls it for what it is -- her baby brother just being a baby. Like, I say "Almost on the right track", because in a way she Is Right. He's Very Loudly sulking and pouting, she sees this and sees he's being 14 about it. But she fails to consider just how much Kieran internalizes this treatment, of being teased and having others around you be told "He'll get over it". WHICH... even if he does. Even if he will. Something that JUMPS out to me IS how loudly he's moping and sulking, how dramatic it is. To me, it's like a cry for attention, for someone to listen to him and take his feelings seriously.

THIS. IS WHAT I MEANT BEFORE. When I talked about how the misunderstanding trope actually lends itself SO well to these two characters, as siblings who do love each other, but there IS this emotional distance. Where Carmine looks over Kieran's feelings, and doesn't know what to do with them, and Kieran is going to internalize all of this until he implodes. And when he DOES implode, when it feels like his entire world is crashing and burning around him (in a way, it IS his whole world!)... he doesn't trust her at all. Whether Carmine meant to or not (which, I don't think she has ever meant to hurt him, I do think it's the incompatibility), Kieran has been made to feel like he's an outcast, like his feelings don't matter, and no matter what he does, no one is going to listen to him or care about him. WHICH IS. AGAIN. WHY. I THINK HE NEEDS TO FUCK SHIT UP MORE. That is the GO TO thing to do when you're a kid and you feel this way LMFAOOO

Aughghhh........ Pokemon Scarlet and Violet you have so much potential I just wish you'd FOLLOW THROUGH and PUT YOUR WHOLE PUSSY INTO IT (AND MAYBE THEY WILL. IN THE FUTURE. THIS IS THE FIRST DLC. HOWEVER. I do think there are certain areas in general, like the ogre ordeal, where they just dropped the ball 😔)

#pokemon #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon carmine #pokemon kieran #i am. maybe a little bit predictable. when it comes to which characters drive me to madness LMFAOOO #i love pokemon scarvi. i can't recommend it wholeheartedly in good conscious due to The Quality (or lack thereof) #it's like being a sonic fan circa early 2000s again. it's awesome #but goddammit there are CHARACTERS IN THERE and I LIKE THEM‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

[fuckmeyer]

Ok so I follow you because of your amazing analyzing and theories of twilight, but it's gotten to a point I have to consider reading your stories, and besides a Paul lahote story here or there over the years, I haven't really read twilight stories, especially ones that aren't about the Wolfpack.

I'm scared. So I wanted to ask about yours, what is it like?

Is it crazy like full of plot twists and insanity and madness covered into brilliance (the good kind) or crazy in a way that I start liking bella and edward (the terrifying part)?

(If you answer this, please consider the fact it might actually make me reread twilight (the original) and start ranting worse. For both our sanities, is it smart?)

Is it crazy like full of plot twists and insanity and madness covered into brilliance (the good kind) or crazy in a way that I start liking bella and edward (the terrifying part)?

both! liking Bella & Edward is THE biggest plot twist of this saga LOL. i'm not really one to hype my work so bear with me. here's the difference between Twilight & In The Afterlight:

the familiar:

setting. rainy rural PNW vibes

rough plot. girl meets vampire. vampire wants to kill her. love ensues. it starts you off in familiar territory, then slowly peels away as the story progresses. you'll find enough of the "iconic" scenes to keep you oriented in nostalgia, but not so much that you feel chained to the original book.

characters. no OCs. Bella & Edward are somewhat OOC, but their core traits are still intact.

the unfamiliar(ish):

Bella's personality. i think it was @blurry-walker who made this excellent point: we're supposed to like Bella because of how she's described, not by how she acts. Bella is not really selfless, mature, observant, compassionate, intellectual, or self-aware. which would be fine... if that were the author's intention. i've tried making Bella a mix between how she's described & how she acts: selfless, contemplative, & stubborn, with a sense of humor. & i threw in a backstory & hobbies - i.e, drawing, music, reading - so she has a life besides Edward. (she can still act like she's 18 tho. as a treat.)

Edward's personality. no stalking, no anger issues or mood swings, no misogyny, no invalidation of Bella's choices, no militant chastity. just a vampire who's lost his way & startled to discover he is every bit a part of this world as Bella. more humorous, more overwrought/ romantic, more contemplative.

the result is a relationship that's rooted in mutual respect, common interests & values, & genuine companionship. they talk about philosophy, they exchange mixtapes, they tease each other, & have slightly less self-control when it comes to sexual intimacy

James/Victoria plotline

twilight is less fairytale, more gothic horror

deeper thematic discussions (bc i think they're neat! :D). what does it mean to be you? how do you find yourself again when you're lost? what's the secret to keeping your humanity in death?

vampire/Cullen lore. what's the difference between a golden-eyed vampire and a red-eyed one? what are "la tua cantantes" and "mates"? why are the Cullens going to high school? what's the Cullen-Volturi relationship like? who are the Cullens, really? i'm trying to paint them as grayer characters & have their personalities/backstories make sense for who they are.

werewolf lore. i *hate* canon imprinting - how an imprinter loses him/herself to the imprint, how the imprintee can't say no, the fact that they imprint on CHILDREN when the theory behind imprinting is to "find the strongest genes"... NO. i hate it all. i hate that smeyer appropriates the legends of the Quileute tribe & how stereotypes/ tropes of Native people are perpetuated in this series. i especially hate the double-standards Bella puts on the pack vs the coven. justice for the wolfpack or bust

since you mentioned liking the wolfpack (same), the sequel, Come Nightfall (aka New Moon), has way more wolfpack content than the original, & we see a lot more interactions between Jake & Bella. (and Bella & Sam!)

i don't feel it's my place to tell you whether you should read this or even whether it's good. if it helps, this is what other people say:

"This… Was incredible. It was the kind of fanfiction that should be praised along the classics of the fandom, the kind you would want to print and put in the shelf in between Twilight and Life And Death."

"This is, to me, the epitome of great fanfiction--you took the story idea and characters and tweaked them to how you imagine it would be better as well as adding in your own flare, AND you have the story telling ability to back it up."

"You've managed to write something that not only surpasses the source material, but flies so far beyond it in nuance, craftsmanship, raw emotion and SMUT that it travelled through space and time continuum and shows no signs of stopping. Every time I think it can't get better, it does."

"I read both of your books in like 2 days; I couldn’t put them down. This is some of the best writing I’ve ever read on here."

"What a gem of a story. I read it in one sitting, the best canon rewrite I've ever read. Very very clever writing, engaging plot, and the most real Bella and Edward relationship I've ever seen. Everything about it, Bella and Jacob, Sam, Alice and Bella's dynamic, Billy and Bella, everything added so much colour to this story. I can't believe this came from Meyer's twilight and New Moon. Absolutely genius."

#thank you for asking :) #i really enjoy talking about this story because i'm so passionate about it! the fact that everyone is so intrigued is just really inspiring #i hope this doesnt come across as being cocky or bragging #i just really love this story and love that other people do too :) <3 #it just makes me sing im so grateful for everyone and for this experience #i love writing so much i could talk about it forever it's just the best thing on earth ahhhhhhh <333333333333 #it was especially nice to reread through comments people left me because i've been having a hard time & this was a great pick-me-up #please don't take this to mean you should reread twilight #for the love of god please don't reread twilight #you don't have to read this fic but please please please twilight will not be better on your next read-through TRUST ME

[gentil-minou]

hi! I hope you’re doing ok! I’ve never written an ask before so I have no idea how to do this, but you’re one of the only people I follow who is posting about Palestine, so I wanted to ask. And as a brown person I’m really worried rn.

Elections are next year and I’ve seen so many saying that people should vote for Biden because he’s at least better than Trump which is… I don’t know what to say, but it’s completely absurd. This is going to be my first time voting and all I get from people is the same “lesser of two evils” rhetoric. It’s genuinely disheartening to see that these are the only options that are shown to people. I was wondering about what you think of what’s happening, and whether voting third party seems possible

I’m sorry if this was rude to ask you, but thanks for taking the time to read this!

It's not rude, I'm glad I made you feel safe enough to ask this!

I only have one answer for you: Do not let anyone tell you who to vote for or make you feel like an evil person if you choose not to vote for the person they want you to.

Vote, definitely vote!!! Especially in local elections, those are the best ways to get people you want in power and they are in charge of a lot of important changes.

As for the presidential elections, I've had so many people I thought I admired or at least felt comfortable around attack me for my choice not to vote for Biden. I've had people claim I was spreading "pro-Trump propaganda" (which is just ridiculously bad faith in all ways), tell me that I—a queer POC—am anti-LGBTQ, and tell me I'll be deported.

They do this all while ignoring and invalidating the very real anger and hurt the Muslim and Brown populations of the US are dealing with, all because their comfort is being threatened. And instead of pressuring the party that's doing that harm and try to listen to why we feel so betrayed by Biden, they double down and attack us. In fact, they are showing their true colors. They, like Biden, only ever pretended to care about us. So I am going to vote for people who actually do care about me, even if they say I'm going to "waste my vote"

Here's the thing; as long as you vote for who you feel the most supported by, as long as you go into that voting booth and step out feeling good about your vote, then you are not wasting it.

Putting this under a read more cause it's getting long

Personally, I'm voting third party. I've had my eye on the Socialist Party but am also keeping an eye out for the others and whether or not they stand out to me

At this point, unless the DNC decides to put another candidate forward, which they most definitely won't, the Democratic party has lost me forever. I'm lucky that my Dem representative has at least shown they're on the right side of history, but I don't think I will ever vote for the Dem party again. I've forced myself to do it for the last decade and I've been disappointed or betrayed every time, so no more.

I agree this two party system is a joke and we are all being made to be a part of it when no other democratic nation has something like this. Even other countries say our "progressive" party is just centrist. And that just doesn't reflect my values.

Liberals and "vote blue no matter who" are going to tell you that you're wasting your vote by voting third party, but in actuality they are the ones supporting a flawed system that only benefits itself, not the people. The more people who vote third party, the more the dems will be pressured to put forth progressive candidates like AOC or Rashida who are actually on the left. By voting third party, you are saying you won't stand by a broken system any longer

does this mean Republicans might win and we get another trump administration? Yes, probably, but here's the thing: when you look at the last 3 years, and I mean really look at it, have things improved all that much under biden? I, as a queer poc can't say that it has. Both are evil, one just pretends not to be. At this point I see no difference between Trump and Biden. Both don't give a shit about me.

The lesser of 2 evils is still evil, why vote for them? Why would I vote for either of them?

Why would I reward anyone who support genocide and cheers for it? Both Trump and Biden openly do. Their only difference is Biden is a better actor.

If my people were the ones being slaughtered (and they were. For a long long time they were), would I be okay with sitting back and letting these parties walk all over me? No, I don't think I would be.

The fact of the matter is that change does not come fast or easy. These things take time and pressure and a refusal to give in. Voting for Biden after all the horrible things he's done the past couple years is just rewarding a system that is fundamentally broken. You can keep trying to chug along on a broken wheel hurtling you towards doom, or you can take the time to force it to change.

I do believe the younger vote has a big chance to change things, to pressure our government to actually support its people, not just the white ones with money.

Ultimately you get to decide who to vote for. Use your right to vote, don't ignore it and don't waste it by voting for someone you don't actually believe in.

#asked and answered #Anonymous #reminder that anon hate gets blocked by the way please just unfollow me and go on with your life so i can go on with mine #joe biden #free palestine #us politics

[talisidekick]

hey, wanted to thank you for that post about parents "mourning" their trans kids and their trans kids' firsts. i've been really struggling with feeling like i robbed my parents of witnessing my first love and other milestones, and your post made me feel better about it all.

I'm glad I could help. ♡

I struggled a lot over my life trying to grapple with the way I felt and feel about things. I came to realize there is a difference between how I feel and how others went out of their way to make me feel. That emotions can be layered. I, personally, was taught to feel shame and anger about things as a method of control. To feel bad when I did certain things, and to get angry and loud over things I didn't like or immediately understand or anything that invalidated certain beliefs.

It was mental conditioning, I grew up in a family cult, they made me think a certain way with minimal actual thought, to double down as an immediate reaction to others and be over-accomodating to family. What helped was learning to ask the right questions to challenge myself and learning the signs of when it's time to ask them. If I get angry, upset, feel ashamed, or guilty; that's the sign I need to stop and start asking questions:

What's the problem?

What's the cause?

How do I feel about it?

Why do I feel this way?

Where does the harm come from, if any?

Does this harm me, and if so: how and why?

Does this harm others, and if so: how and why?

Why is this my concern to be involved in?

What course of action is the most helpful?

What is the most effective and efficient action to take next?

If I can't answer those questions clearly, then I need to go research both sides. And once I've looked at it and answered all 10 ... usually I find that some aspect of my response, at minimum, was wrong. It's helped me combat my own transphobia, both internal and external, my own homophobia, both internal and external, and helped me identify bigoted and racist motivations behind things I was unaware of.

It also let me see the abuse and manipulation my parents used on me more clearly. That's where part of that post came from: recognizing it's a semi-common method of abuse and manipulation that those suffering through it or did suffer through it may not have the clarity to see. It's a parent saying "look how this hurts me; that I need to mourn, how could you?", and frankly, it's childish. Grown adults acting like little children moping around until they get their way. Purposely ruining something wonderful and making you hate it because they make a loud display they're not sharing it with you. Leveraging the good emotions of past history against you. The person harmed here isn't the parent like they make it seem; it's their child. You.

So I'm glad it helped. I hope it helps others too. Transition is about finding happiness, and I hope I can help those on their journey learn how to not let others get in the way of that.

#talisidekicks asks #talisidekick things #talisidekick #trans #transgender #trans positivity #2slgbtqia+ #lgbtqia+ #lgbtq+ #lgbt+

[class1akids]

I understand some of the complaints you bring up, but also I feel like… some side characters are just that - side characters.

Saving their personal villains wasn’t going to be much of a group effort. They are ‘personal’ after all, and Shigaraki/Toga/Dabi aren’t Overhaul. Again, for example, Iida did virtually nothing during Shouto’s fight with Dabi.

I am pretty sure that the way they’re being treated in the fight correlates with the idea that they’re trying to kill Shigaraki, which is the approach that isn’t going to work. The narrative is basically punishing them. That’s the reason why they aren’t being treated respectfully.

I think everyone becoming the greatest heroes is going to have more to do with everyone’s group effort in fighting AFO rather than the villain trio to be honest.

Maybe I am just weird and don’t really understand this muscle and ‘who contributed to the fight more?’ contest 😅

Doing nothing =/= being disrespected as characters. Iida didn't get the kind of beating and humiliation Bakugou got for example and he's really not "side character".

I don't think you get where I'm coming from because your focus is the Villain Trio and them getting saved and the hero characters for you are a vehicle for that.

I personally care a lot about the hero side kids, and I wanted to see their personal journeys come to a satisfactory, organic conclusion and their growth to count and mean something. Instead, we had been bogged down in this demeaning and meaningless fight for ages.

I think it's also just the fact that I really don't vibe the Deku-Tomura relationship that much. It feels extremely hollow to me, because the whole thing is based on aesthetic parallels and Deku once having a cheat-vision of the "crying boy" rather than him having to organically grow, think about and get to know "his" villain as a person, uncover his life and suffering and dig deep into society or even his own concept / adoration of heroes / All Might. All the emotional heavy lifting is replaced by a cute "them as kids" panel.

If you see the disrespect here as a punishment for the characters trying to kill Shigaraki - well, then I guess I also dislike the double standard. Why didn't Deku get the same in the war? He literally yelled "I'll never forgive you" and then kept beating Shigaraki up trying to "end it all". Yet, when Deku gets check-mated because of his own uncontrolled rage, throwing away Bakugou's sacrifice, his ass is immediately saved by the vestiges, who swear fealty to him and he gets a vision to make him understand Shigaraki.

I viscerally dislike these kind of MCs - who are somehow given an unearned monopoly on intrinsic goodness, who never struggle with the dark side - and I guess I resent that nothing and nobody can move forward until Deku "sets the shining path".

Like to me, Shouto's relationship to Dabi feels way more organic. Him waking up in the hospital thinking "he is me" felt well-established and earned. But then his character must backtrack, his big win and power-up is immediately invalidated - because even though all his actions screamed that he wanted to save Touya, it couldn't get a pay-off, until Deku gets there FIRST.

I feel like both Shouto and Ochako have been in this limbo, where they obligatorily have to flip-flop, because until Deku says he wants to save Tomura, nobody will be allowed to do anything meaningful. So yeah, I am salty about it, because it fucked up Shouto's arc since the Dabi reveal, and it fucked up Katsuki's arc, who has been for ages only allowed to exist to prop up Deku's character, while his own plot, dreams, aspirations, friendships have been cast away. And they are the people I care about most, and it's really really unsatisfying to watch it unfold, and what we get in exchange -> this Jesus-Deku saving "little crying vision Tenko" is just not that satisfying to me, personally.

Like, don't get me wrong. I want him saved, and I think he will be saved, but the journey so far to me was not exactly compelling.

Anyways. I'm sad about a lot of wasted potential and I am truly worried where all this goes and whether the characters I care about will get their (long overdue) great moments.

#c1a asks #bnha critical #bnha manga spoilers #bnha manga leaks #bnha 366

[astroismypassion]

ohh that was interesting and accurate!!

can u do the same culture about the sexuality of a scorpio moon male? :)

Wow, thank you! Yeah, I observed a lot of Pisces Moon men behaviour. Though, it's usually one of the Moon placements I try to avoid. Because I really feel they don't know WHAT they WANT. Almost like they only understand it once they see it, but why would you want someone who goes with the flow so much? Someone who can change on you any minute? It just doesn't go well with my Aries Moon conjunct Saturn, despite the fact I'm Pisces IC (so I keep attracting Pisces Moons), but we just don't vibe well. Hahaha yeah!! That's another male Moon sign I just don't click with personally. I can be objective and understand their so many positive traits, but to me any Mars Moon indicates that they just don't treat women that great. Yikes. Like the amount of couples I encountered where the man had Aries or Scorpio Moon and he really riled up easily. I think it can too easily result in screaming, having loud arguments with the woman or threating with physical violence. They just go from 0 to 100 that quickly. And just my personal opinion, despite being an Aries Moon (and a Scorpio Rising at that) woman myself, I would NEVER date a Scorpio Moon male. I just think we would constantly try to compete who's emotions are more valid in a situation. These are both really emotionally expressive Moons and very reactive. So it would end up in who's feelings are more important right now. So we can't be two people like that, as an Aries Moon I would prefer someone who "grounds" those emotions with me, not challenge me or invalidate my own feelings. Furthermore, I'm a late Scorpio Rising, which means a lot of my Scorpio falls in the 12th house. This would mean their Scorpio Moon would be in my 12th house and I'm just not okay, comfortable enough with that. But yeah, back to your question: THE SEXUALITY OF A SCORPIO MOON MAN - their mother was probably highly emotionally unavailable, she provided for his basic needs, like cooking him food, made sure he ate, but everything outside of this frame, was not present. Emotional expression was not present. Maybe she bought him clothes or an item that he really likes, but she had hard time verbally expressing her praise, acknowledgement for him - so that's why these men go for women who are emotionally unavailable, they like to chase her, so that they "earn" the love, attention they tried to get from their mother, but failed to recieve - but if the woman he is chasing, demands MORE attention from him, he runs. He sees her as too clingy, constantly nagging and needy. And that's a no go for attention loving Scorpio Moon man, who wants A LOT OF ATTENTION himself. - they often times prefer working hard, hustling, making more money, then buying items, because items are the only constant things in their life, they WON'T LEAVE or betray them - so don't get fooled, these men want a lot of attention for themselves and they hate a female partner that is too attention seeking and wants more attention from him. Usually this man wants to have all the spotlight in the partnership - they are veryy reactive, so they might act on a whim. You could argue about something and suddenly take could feel suffocated and like their boundaries, limits are being crossed to much, so they just snap and suggest breaking up over a text on a whim. They could have regrets after though, but they will never admit this. They are too proud to ask for someone back, after they've said this, even if it was done impulsively - sadly, the type of men, who would often call their previous partner "crazy" after the connection ends. I see that this is Mars Moon men thing. They pull that card very often after things end. They don't necessarily talk badly about previous partner, but they make sure everyone percieves them as a bit "unstable". - they could have double standards when younger, like the woman needs to be loyal and devoted, but he can "fool around" and emotionally cheat a lot, because his main excuse is "that his feelings are not involved". Like they think they can detach from their emotions, that their feelings are apart from their physical body, so they can do that. But usually the older they get, the more they understand the devotion and significance of being emotionally intimate and loyal to one partner who is their ride or die. But when younger, could be quite a player. Well, not a player, this person is a lone wolf, but they project actions that one would percieve them that way. - sexuality wise, they tune in really well into their partner. They might seem reallyy experienced, despite maybe having 2 partners. They can be so in charge, that they just come across like they KNOW WHAT they're DOING. - probably very touchy feely or tries to convey this through prolonged eye contact and staring, but once in a relationship can need a lot of physical contact or/and sex, just a lot, because this is a way of validation for their emotional security and safety, but also making sure that they still have feelings - either a fan of light choking or not, but also can be big on hickies or/and neck kisses You can add on more below in the reply section. @astroismypassion

#astrology #astro note #astro observation #scorpio moon #scorpio #scorpio moon man #astro community #astroblr #astroismypassion #astrology blog

[richmond-rex]

Hi! I'm not super familiar with the late 15th century, but in relation to your last post, I wanted to ask: what exactly was the dower Elizabeth of York received? Do we know the exact amount and how much it was towards the end of her life?

I know that both EW and EoY received lesser than their lancastrian predecessors (very understandable imo - both Edward and Henry had less to give away, the former dower of 10,000 was very unpopular, and in EW's case she had no dowry or no political alliance attached to the marriage, not to mention the promotions, titles and marriages that were additionally granted to her family) but did Elizabeth of York receive less than her mother or did they receive the same amount? I remember reading that EoY received less, at least initially, tho I may be wrong (this obviously doesn't indicate that EoY lacked dignity, respect and opulence as queen - she very clearly received all these things)

Regarding Edward and Henry (or Henry VIII, later on) not paying dowries for their sisters-in-law, I really don't think it's a double standard as much as the fact that the younger Elizabeth's sisters were not just the Queen's sisters, as Elizabeth Woodville's sisters and Henry VIII's sisters-in-law were, but also English royal princesses on their own right. (I also think that's why EoY gave her sisters their own annuities - it would have been keeping up with the respect their royal positions demanded). I say this because it's generally what I see when I stumble across these kinds of discussions. It's not necessarily an invalid point, in my opinion, I definitely agree that the situations were very different. In that same line of thought, Henry VII can hardly be judged for behaving "differently" from former or succeeding kings, because none of them were in the situation he was in! None of them were married to English consorts whose sisters were also English princesses in their own right. And Henry VII DID attempt to marry them to Scottish royal family, if I remember correctly. And like you mentioned, Elizabeth DID give them annuities.

Hello! It's a bit difficult to know Elizabeth of York's exact earnings. One thing which Retha Warnicke has pointed out is that the collected value (£3,535) annotated in her 'privy purse' accounts by Elizabeth's receiver-general after her death in February 1503 — which has been traditionally taken as the full sum of her dower — goes back only to the beginning of the year which was on 29 September (Michaelmas). If that reading is right, that's not an unsubstantial sum to be collected in half a year. Laynesmith cited 'a valor for lands which probably dates from after [receiving Cecily Neville's inheritance] recorded the queen's income at £4,344.' and that's not counting, for example, the £102 annuity Elizabeth received from the town of Bristol, and other such fees.

Laynesmith says that must have been a particularly profitable year for Elizabeth but I see no reason why we should not think the contrary, for example, that the money either collected in less than a year in 1502-1503, or collected after the queen was dead and when her debtors were more unlikely to pay, marked a particularly bad year for her coffers. I think Katia Wright is correct in concluding both Elizabeths probably received around £4,500, more or less, which is roughly what Philippa of Hainault and Anne of Bohemia received too. I think a lot is said about Elizabeth's income because her debts are so well documented but that shouldn't be the case when we consider Philippa of Hainault's (and other queens') debts too.

You have a point that Elizabeth of York's sisters were princesses, but despite that Henry VII didn't proceed much differently from Edward IV in matters of dowries and marriage alliances and actually used 'the ancient customs' of his kingdom as an excuse. For example, for his daughter's dowry, he told Scotland he would not offer a value any higher than what Edward IV had offered them in the past and when pressed again, he only agreed on doubling the price (in the end, I think he ended up spending more money but don't quote me on that yet). Specifically about Elizabeth of York's sisters, he did negotiate a marriage alliance with them in Scotland like you said, and after that, with Portugal and Milan too. This is what the Duke of Milan said to his secretary in 1490:

As M. Francesco reports that his Majesty proposes to give the first of his sisters-in-law to the King of Portugal [...] With regard to what we are informed that his Majesty does not intend to provide a dowry owing to the custom of the country, he will beg him to consider the custom here.

Just like with Margaret Tudor and Scotland, I think it's likely that Henry would eventually give in and pay some dowry if those marriage alliances had actually gone through. But If he could put forth the argument that kings of England didn't pay dowries for his sisters-in-law, he would (and he did). He obviously was bargaining as he often did in international alliances:

So far as I can gather the king's will he seems much disposed to such a [marriage] alliance [with Milan]. It is true that the affair of the Lady Anne, contracted with the King of Portugal for his cousin, is not yet carried into effect, but they are expecting ambassadors daily upon this. His Majesty's ambassadors will give further particulars. Failing the Lady Anne there would remain the Lady Katherine. As regards the dowry I have made his Majesty understand in a discreet manner that the custom of Italy among princes is not what your Excellency says is the use here, and it will be convenient for his Majesty to have regard to everything. To this he replied that as these ladies had been asked for by great lords, some of this country and some from abroad without a dowry, but merely for the sake of the alliance and friendship, he did not see why it should be demanded.

[Months later] There are ambassadors from the King of Portugal with the king. According to what is said, they will conclude the marriage between the cousin of the said King of Portugal and the elder sister of the queen here

I have no idea what was negotiated with Portugal, if a dowry was settled or not, or why the marriage didn't take place in the end. We know that as soon as Manuel ascended the throne in 1495 he asked for the hand of Isabella of Aragon, his cousin's widow, so he may not have been much inclined to the marriage with Anne of York in the first place. It's more clear why the negotiations with Milan didn't go forth, as merely a year later the Duke of Milan (Gian Galeazzo Sforza) ceded control to his uncle Ludovico Maria Sforza who started acting as his regent (yet again). Ludovico was much more aligned with the King of France who at that time was in war with Henry VII (and Ludovico would later come to regret trusting France).

tl;dr: in the end, as Elizabeth's sisters ended up marrying local lords, Henry VII didn't pay for their dowries but it's unclear whether the negotiations with other countries, if they had succeeded, would lead to the same result. It seems clear that he thought that the marriage itself was sufficient as a mark of 'alliance and friendship', and that he intended on profiting from the precedent left by other kings of England. Call him a sly fox if you will, but it's clear he knew how to bargain and negotiate.

#ask #anon #elizabeth of york #henry vii

[twisted-rat-king]

i see a lot of people talking about how nd people get called old souls and how invalidating it is, but not the affects it can have on folks w delusions & false memories

Getting called an old soul, as someone who has false memories of a "past life," can both re-enforce delusions and trigger these false memories. I have false memories from the boubonic plague. These false memories are accompanied by the delusion that I experienced the plague, and have been reincarnated. Any time I get called an "old soul" I'm subjected to a non-memory from the perspective of a child witnessing a body collector pulling a cart of plague victims. Even though I'm aware that I never experienced it, I still experience the memory as though it is my own. I've cried for this nonexistent child that had to witness such a horrible thing, because real children really did witness it, and I've witnessed it through their eyes despite not actually being there. (If this doesn't make sense, I urge you to look up double bookkeeping, specifying that it's for psychology bc there's multiple fields that use the term) I can't be the only one whose symptoms get triggered by this kind of comment, so I wanted to speak up. I also want to acknowledge that calling someone an old soul isn't intended to be hurtful, and most folks probably don't realize that it can be. I'm not upset with people who use / have used the term, just hoping to spread some awareness of the effect it can have.

Feel free to add on with personal experience or anything you think I missed, but please DNI if you're going to try to convince me that the delusions are true & my psychiatric condition is a supernatural gift of some kind. I assure you, it's not.

#i hope this is coherent #tw delusion #false memory #delusions #delusion #neurodivergent #actually neurodivergent #schizophrenia #schizospec #bpd #psychotic #actually psychotic #psychosis #old soul #-we switched while writing this who do i credit it to #-unnamed

[bonesandthebees]

Have I mention I love the Sandduo in this? I am getting FED. it almost feels like Phil is just keeping busy while waiting for Wilbur to get to him. It could also be that Wilbur’s intel is more important than whatever he was doing.

And they get straight to business. It goes: how was the tour -> to Ranboo cut it short, but they will be useful -> Tomys has trouble keeping his mouth shot -> to the specific intel that Tomys does not know why he’s at the palace. It’s very efficient to the point it becomes clear that Wilbur has probably done this a lot, if not about info he gather somewhere then because Phil probably drilled him in learning to observe and made him recall and analyse everything he saw at certain occasions.

I love the scheming though. And Phil is so proud. He’s also laugh at his son for being offended (which, kinda bad parenting since it invalidates Wilbur’s feelings, whether or not he’s correct to be offended). Phil does get past how funny it is to because Wilbur is reacting very strongly to how annoying is (which is because of the subconscious jealousy and the fact Phil would have probably scolded him to hell and back if he’d said that to someone at 13).

Side note: I am totally not looking at Phil’s hypocrisy with [“I think you’re judging him a bit harshly. He’s thirteen.”] when we know his son was already observing council meetings at that age. Like double standard much. (Yes, I’m getting very defensive of Rose!Wilbur, he has issues and I’m here for it, but man poor kid.)

[A beat passed. Phil sighed and moved his shoulder away. / “You’ll have to learn to put up with it, because I want you to try and befriend him.”] again, disappointment when Wilbur get too stuck in his own feelings about Tomys to do what Phil wants a realise the opportunity presented to him and befriend the kid.

And it’s so interesting to see the relationship flip like that. To see how fast it goes from warm and a proud father to cold and disappointment. It once again emphasises how much Wilbur will do for his father’s approval. And it will be very interesting to see how far he’s really willing to go and how much a blind eye he will turn. He knows befriending Tomys to use his is wrong, but he’ll still do it, even though he’d rather have someone else do the dirty work and not think about the moral implications.

[Another thing they both knew: Phil said he couldn’t force him to do this, but there was no real choice here. He was his father’s son, after all.] I don’t know how long ago this chapter came out, but just know I have been losing my mind about this sentence since the chapter came out. The implications, Bee. The implications! On one side it’s the unspoken truth that Phil always gets his way and Wilbur will do anything for his father’s approval. On the other it’s the fact that, just like his father, Wilbur wants to be good at the game and get every advantage. So he will play dirty to get what he wants and show down his own emotions to do it.

2 more lines: [You have an advantage here, and you’d be a fool not to use it,” Phil said, his eyes like chips of ice as he stared Wilbur down.] Harsh and manipulative and getting exactly the result Phil wanted.

[“I’ll play nice with Tomys.”] This makes my skin crawl. And Phil going back to approval, but Wilbur still feeling cold because it’s not something he wants to do is so good. He’s still just a pawn in the game to his father, even if he’s his favourite pawn and the horse he’s banked all his money on.

That concludes chapter 2. I will be back another time for chapter 3.

(5/5)

-🌲

I'm so glad you're loving the sandduo there's so much of it coming your way

oh phil does have plenty to do believe me, but he's just eager to know what wilbur found out about the new potential heir as soon as possible.

I'll confirm they've done this before. phil has been training wilbur in intel gathering since he was a kid. after all, when you're hosting a ball where you get to ply a bunch of very important nobles with fine wine, it's much easier to get information out of them once they're sufficiently drunk if you're an innocent looking 12 year old kid compared to, say, the right hand to the king.

in total fairness, wilbur is being dramatic and way overreacting to tommy's comment. niki and quackity have both made jokes about his height before and he doesn't mind them, it's just that he specifically is annoyed by tommy doing it because he wants to be petty and phil can tell.

there's definitely some subconscious jealousy there though. god knows wilbur would've gotten an earful if he did half the things tommy did in that first day at his age. phil's very much being a hypocrite with the "he's only thirteen" argument but at the same time phil is thinking of it more in the sense of tommy is thirteen and wasn't raised for this lifestyle, as opposed to wilbur who he's been mentoring in these kinds of political games since he was old enough to first understand them.

wilbur's morality in this is very interesting because while he's plenty aware of certain things being wrong, he doesn't actually... care all that much? of course you could argue he just doesn't want to disappoint his father, which is very true, but even though he can see the moral issue with befriending tommy just to use him he doesn't actually have a real problem with it. there's a lot of things you'll see that wilbur knows logically are wrong, but he doesn't actually care all that much about.

so glad that line made you insane I wrote it and was like ohhhhh that's it there we are. wilbur is his father's son. he's going to do what his father asks. he's doing everything he can to become a mirror image of his father. he's already more like phil than he realizes.

:))) so glad you enjoyed!! these were very fun for me to read thank you

#ask #spruce anon #rose ch 2

[sunspira]

i actually wanna be clear that i know for sure that if i grew up jewish in 2010-2015 i would have been misguided in the same way a lot of tumblr was then not realizing how much propaganda about israel had been fed to me. the people who used to have a different perspective and used to believe in a lot of zionist propaganda, genuinely believing it made sense, but changed their minds due to recent events i love and respect you so much. it's really only the people on here who were parroting zionist propaganda back then but in recent months have only since doubled down and played the victim fuck you in particular

because it IS mixed in with the truth and the elements of truth combined with a lot of programming from well meaning people and encountering that your whole life actually is a genuinely confusing process because you have to unpack the valid points from the invalid ones which will take many years. like the kind of racism that is embraced in liberal spaces can be tricky for a very young adult especially when many neo nazis are vocally anti israel just for all the wrong reasons. so it seems like you're on the right side? when there's so much fact from fiction to break apart. (like true: jewish people wanting a homeland and refuge is very understandable (many other refuge diaspora living in america can relate to this), jewish people still have a lot of personal and cultural connection to their ancestral homeland that was once israel and it makes a lot of sense to want to visit or do a pilgrimage there or even move there. to palestine. to join palestine and become a citizen. it's true that antisemitism fueled zionism that religious & ethnic minority have been incredibly persecuted in both the middle east and europe and displaced. some jewish culture and art overlaps with palestinian culture on its own naturally due to common ancestors. and false: palestinian culture is interchangeable with jewish culture and any jewish person can grab from the art and culture of the modern levant like accessories cause it's yours now / your parents claimed it during their birthright trip so that's fine and not colonialism at all, mizrahi jewish peoples cultures are basically yours to play with. israel is exactly the same as the united states and the false idea that 400 years of colonialism and ethnic cleansing should be compared as exactly the same to 70 years of it and seen as equally unreasonable and a lost hope to change now so the only reason there's a push to prevent the same extent of genocide befalling palestine while we still can is antisemitism. everyone shut it and accept the two state solution.)

basically i'm saying i know for sure i was very ignorant on many things back then too and i'm sure i would have been in the same boat spreading zionist talking points without realizing how wrong i was. i'm sure i would have not understood the complexity of all this when this very effective propoganda would have been targeting my family and community for generations i wouldve heard so many reputable people in and out of the jewish community saying the two state solution is reasonable (i'm pretty sure i heard this a lot from gentile people i trusted and my parents have always been very clueless or middle ground unoppinionated about all things israel & Palestine. i always remember my mom meeting some shopkeepers running a bath and body boutique in martha's vineyard who said they were from israel and my mom was like "omg cool my dad was from lebanon 😄" all happy like oh! a neighbor. and they frowned at her so hard until she left the store jdjfjebf and my dad had to pull her aside and be like. don't go telling people that stuff if they are from israel they don't like lebanon very much. my dads family in NJ was always more involved with the local jewish community than any italian one because personality and profession wise i think that's just where they fit in and what the chemical and computer engineering scene looked like in the 50s 60s & 70s. i always got the impression the blue collar machismo italian american family was just a very alienating and poor match for my classically nerdy granpa and he found friends in other scenes that he could relate to. this guy was always mistaken for being jewish all his life and found it to be a compliment & just funny and was a member of a jewish gym or rec center or this and that, cause he liked it there and tbh i admire his embracing of others of whatever felt good and just focusing on being a person with lack of ethnic tribalism that runs pretty deep with many southern italian families. and white middle class gentile american discourse and propoganda is very pro israel so that was my family's relationship with it jewish or not. my lebanese grandpa was a proud veteran of world war 2 and very patriotic so if america was pro-israel that's how he was going to be too. all this to say i sure as hell didn't have any guidance growing up about israel being wrong if anything passive support of it and it took time to figure out my opposition to it on my own. at 18 i was still deeply ingrained in american propoganda and passive racism and patriotism in the midst of questioning and rejecting that stuff and grappling with seeing bad things in people i love so i don't expect my peers from the same or similar background to be any different)

so if you once had views supporting israel and don't anymore i don't dislike or judge you for it i really don't. some people might and i get that but like me personally I was nearly as clueless and have no place judging your for stuff i know would have mislead me at the time. i don't dislike or judge you for having gone on a birthright trip 10 years ago when you were 18 and everything you knew about the world was telling you that's completely fine and not harmful at all! i know i would have done the same.

[splendidissimus]

August 1998 - Invalid

((Content warning: fainting, head trauma / concussion, memory problems, loss of autonomy))

((Promptspiration: @whumptober 2023: day 1: But now this room is spinning while I’m trying just to fill in all the gaps. / Swooning / "How many fingers am I holding up?" ))

Genre: whump / sickfic

Romance level: negligible

Angst level: 2/5

Draco's headspace: denial

((words: ~1500))

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

Draco opened his eyes to Theo's scared face swimming blearily above him; he frowned and squeezed his eyes shut a couple times to try to clear it. "What…"

Theo let out a heavy breath. "Thank Merlin, you're okay." 

Theo held his arm to try to help him up, but Draco shook it to try to get him off and sit up on his own. But that made waves of pain pulse out of the back of his head and he held it, rolling over with a groan. He meant to curl up but instead discovered that he was on the stairs, or halfway on the stairs, anyway. His head and shoulders were on the bottom step and the rest of him sprawled out in the hall. "What did you do to me?"

"Draco, you fell down the stairs." Theo's hands settled on his shoulders and pulled him up to sit on his knees beside him. 

"I don't…" Stairs? Why? 

"I think you fainted." He pulled up his arm with the sleeve pushed back to show the heart monitor cuff, and how its light was fluttering erratically. 

He frowned at it, and let go of his aching head to turn it off without a comment. He didn't feel like looking at that. He was sure it was right, but he didn't really feel it, and if his heart was beating like that he would rather be able to continue to ignore it. If he started feeling it then he would focus on it and not be able to feel anything else. 

He absently held his head again and looked up. "Where was I…?"

"What?" Theo leaned around to look at his face with a frown. "Where were you going? Do you not remember? Draco—"

Shit, he shouldn't have said that. "'Course I do," he bristled defensively, and tried not to think about the fact that he didn't. Bed, or… library? Library made sense, it seemed too bright for bed. Or… shit, had they been coming downstairs? Was it morning?

"Here, let's go sit down." Theo stood and held his arm to help him up.

"Fuck!" he snapped, semiconscious fear sublimating into frustration, and shoved his hands away. "Just get off me!" He shoved himself up to get back to his feet on his own, but his head suddenly swooped, and he overbalanced to his side and fell back to his knees. He gripped his aching head, doubling over his knees with a wordless groan. 

"Right, I'm going to get your mum." 

He jerked his head up to glare, with a hiss of pain. "Don't you dare!" 

"Well then what am I supposed to do?" Now he was letting out frustration as well. "You can't get up and you won't let me help you, so what, just let you sit there on the floor?"

"Just shove off! I'm eighteen years old, I don't need a nanny!" 

"Except you just fainted and fell down the stairs when I was two steps ahead of you, so a nanny isn't even enough! As far as I can tell you need someone to actively hold your damn hand."

"Go to hell!" 

He visibly made an effort to control himself and say something productive instead of just retaliating. "Do you want to move your room down here so you don't have to take the stairs?"

"I said go to hell!" 

Theo threw up his hands. "Then what do you want to do?"

"I don't want to have to worry about this!" He didn't mean to say that, but he couldn't take it back. He grabbed his hair with both hands and bent over again.

In a couple seconds, Theo came down and sat on the step beside him, and put his arm over his shoulders.

"Leave me alone," Draco muttered. 

"No." He rubbed his back silently. Draco didn't try to make him stop. In a few minutes, he closed his eyes and let it relax him. 

"My head really hurts," he admitted eventually. 

"Okay." Theo stood up after a second and grabbed one of his hands out of his hair, and pulled on it. "Let's go lay in your window or whatever." 

"I can get up," he protested. "I just moved too fast." He tried to take his hand back, but Theo was insistent on holding it anyway, and he gave up rather than fight about it. It took some effort to get back to his feet, and he still stumbled a little, but it was basically fine. He was sure Theo thought he really helped; let him have that. 

When he looked up, Theo was still looking at him with close concern. "Do you actually remember where you were going?" 

Draco glanced around the hall once, looking for the answer; it was the quality of the light coming through the front windows that told the story, and it fell into place. "We were coming downstairs," he said confidently. "I just got up."

He knew that was the wrong answer by the way Theo studied his face, and he looked away, taking his hand back.

Theo ducked into his line of sight again, trying to look into his face, and held up his hand. "How many fingers am I holding up?" 

Draco shot him an annoyed frown. "I'm not blind." Theo waved his fingers, and he reached out to push his hand down, answering only to make him stop. "Three." 

"Okay." Theo dropped his hand. "I got here an hour ago. You didn't go to bed last night; I'd just got you to agree to try to sleep."

He looked away again. "Right." That sounded familiar, now that he said it. Or he told himself it did, anyway. 

Theo grabbed his arm again and led him into the parlour. Like he thought he'd fall again if he let him walk on his own. Halfway there, Draco couldn't stand it anymore and yanked his arm away. "I'm not a child."

Theo looked at him silently, and Draco looked away after a second.

In the parlour, Draco looked at his bay window seat, but it seemed too bright, and he dropped down on a sofa instead. After a moment, he lay down completely and laid his arm over his eyes. Better. 

"Stay there a minute," Theo said. "I'll get something for your head." 

"Just give me a potion."

"You know I can't. Staying off all the potions isn't some test you have to pass and you can cheat on, it's meant to actually be for your health. Your mum would kill me if I did anything to undermine that."

He made an annoyed sound but didn't look. His head hurt too much to look. 

He lost track of the passage of time until Theo was back, and draping a sheet over him. He lifted his arm off his eyes when he realised what that was — it was August, he should be plenty warm — but the concentration on Theo's face stopped him and he covered his eyes again. And it didn't feel bad…

"Here." He felt or heard Theo sitting on the arm of the sofa above his head, then something ice cold pressed against his forehead. He gasped at the initial touch, and then took over holding it himself.

"When you can't take the potions, you have to at least let me walk behind you," Theo said. "In case you faint again, or have a fall."

"I don't need that." He ran the cold whatever-it-was — it felt like a frozen bar of soap, which was weird of him — over his forehead slowly. 

"Draco…"

He shook his head. "Forget it."

"Draco." Theo ran his fingers through his hair, and he wanted to be offended at the liberties taken, but it felt nice. "You're ill."

"Not that—"

"Yes that ill," he interrupted quietly. "When you're off the potions that are keeping your heart under control, you're too sick to walk up a flight of stairs on your own." He picked up Draco's other hand and turned on the heart monitor. Draco refused to open his eyes to see it. "I think ignoring it could get you... hurt."

Draco silently moved the cold thing under his head, so it was against the back of his head where it really ached, and that was a relief. "It's fine."

"How many fingers was I holding up before?"

"Four. What's that meant to prove, I can count?"

Theo silently ran his fingers through his hair. 

"I'm not an invalid," he asserted. It sounded firm, convincing, believable, to his own ears. But Theo's silence was louder than a response, and he had to counter it. "I'm not."

"When you have your potions."

He clenched his hand into a helpless fist. 

"I'll stay and help you."

"I don't want help."

"I know." He brushed back Draco's hair. "But I can't make you not need it."

#whumptober2023 #no.1 #But now this room is spinning while I’m trying just to fill in all the gaps. #swooning #“How many fingers am I holding up?” #harry potter #fic #fainting cw #concussion cw #draco malfoy #draco x theo #theo nott #draco is ill #teen draco #draco whumpee #theo caretaker #fanfic #draco malfoy fanfiction #hp fanfic #whump fic #sickfic #splendidissimus writing