#I've seen multiple people in my circle of friends

[lillazyboithings]

Wiggly!Richie

In these trying times (me recovering my voice while studying for midterms), I have decided it was the best time to bust out my watercolors and do this

#I've seen multiple people in my circle of friends #and also many posts and stories about how Richie would be some kind of vessel for Wiggly #so I thought “Why not do my own interpretation for it?” #So instead of using coloring materials that I am familiar with #why not make everything difficult- #my art #npmd #nerdy prudes must die #npmd fanart #nerdy prudes fanart #richie lipschitz #richard lipschitz #wiggly #wiggog y'wrath #wiggog y'rath #I'll probably digitalize this sooner or later #and maybe make the whole gang /j #but in my head Richie would be more of a blinky vessel tbh

[randomeanonjustwatching]

Hiii

I was wondering, what embarrassing things do you think that MC has walked in on the brothers doing? How did they react to being seen?

Ooooo my friend, I've been waiting for an ask like this

Lucifer:

Definitely walked in on him humming to songs on the radios, sometimes even singing them. He gets very embarrassed whenever he notices you walk in.

Lucifer doesn't like when people come in on him preening, so normally he locks the door but sometimes he forgets, and you two stare at each other for a straight second

Mammon:

HE WILL DENY IT BUT YOU HAVE SO WALKED IN ON HIM KISSING HIS CARS

I've bet we've walked in on him yelling at his crows to shut up, saying stuff that shows his crows know about his crush on us and they're trying to get him too admit it

Leviathan:

You can never not walk into Leviathan's room without seeing him doing something weird, there's no other context.

Satan:

Satan's cat club (cult) is the weirdest thing too see in his room, just a bunch of cats in a petting circle around Satan

Asmo:

I feel like Asmo pretends he's in an edit multiple times, being an influencer and all

Also randomly lip syncs to songs before noticing you came in

Beelzebub & Belphegor:

Do not walk into the boys room without one of them allowing you in, or you'll see some chaotic stuff

This can go from Beel eating Belphie's hair in his sleep, while Belphie's scrambling for his life

To Belphie hitting Beel in the head with an apple to practice his aiming

#obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me shall we date #obey me #obey me asmodeus #obey me belphegor #obey me beelzebub #obey me nightbringer

[queerly-autistic]

Right, I think it's time for some positivity, and also a reality check (and I mean that in the most loving way possible) regarding the campaign to save OFMD. I've seen a lot of people saying 'it's been nearly a month, we should have been picked up by now', and whilst, yes, some cancelled shows have received very quick movement to other streamers, it's absolutely not the story for all of them. We've seen numerous shows follow different journeys from cancellation to pick-up, and there's no way of knowing what journey we might be going on.

Are we in the fast lane where we get picked up the next month (lookin' at you, Lucifer and The Expanse)? The middling lane where it takes months for a pick-up deal to be hashed out (lookin' at you, One Day At A Time, The Tourist, and Warrior)? The slow lane where we keep pushing for years and then eventually crowdfund a film (lookin' at you Veronica Mars)?

I think we have to consider the fact that OFMD being cancelled was a last minute thing that blindsided the cast and crew (and shocked people across the industry). So we're going into it in a different position to other shows that had maybe had a hint/suggestion that cancellation was coming before it happened. This is because if there are rumours of cancellation circling, it gives a chance for feelers to be put out to other networks/by other networks before the actual cancellation is confirmed. That didn't happen here. Which is important.

It's not just wham bam thank you ma'am and now you've been picked up by Netflix (or insert streamer of your choice). It's a negotiation. It's a process. It takes time. There is a very good reason that people heavily suspect that Brooklyn 99 had already been picked up before the cancellation was officially announced, and that the cancelled-to-new-home-in-24-hours thing was pretty much just a marketing stunt. No way was that all negotiated to the point of announcement within a day,

There are many reasons why any potential pick-up elsewhere might take a bit more time. For example, if David is (hopefully) juggling interest from multiple different networks, then that has to be hashed out and negotiated to make sure the best deal is reached for everyone. Also, OFMD is potentially a more complicated show to negotiate than we imagine: at a very basic level, it has a large ensemble (a large international ensemble), which would need to be discussed and negotiated, and it's filmed in New Zealand, which would need to be discussed and negotiated. That doesn't work against it in terms of 'it's more complicated, so it won't be picked up' but it could very well mean that the time needed to negotiate a pick-up is longer.

Remember: One Day At A Time had a much smaller cast (which wasn't an international cast) and it basically had one single studio set (being a sitcom), and that took three months to be saved.

I chatted with my friend, also a fan, who has worked in television production previously and is currently working as a screenwriter, and she confirmed just how much time, discussion and negotiation this stuff takes. She basically said: yep, this all takes time and this is very normal. And this is coming from someone who is very firmly in the 'I am refusing to get my hopes up because I can't bear to get hurt again' camp of trying to save the show.

On that note, I think it's important to address David's silence, because I've seen a few people panicking about that. There's a very good chance that if he is in negotiations right now (and I do not know if he is, he might not be!) then there would be a lot he wouldn't be able to talk about. And he knows that we dissect every single syllable of his posts, so posting anything would be risky. Negotiations are tricky things that involve juggling multiple balls (and torches and knives and chainsaws), and a lot of push-and-pull, back-and-forth, variables-upon-variables, and so going silent on social media would be absolutely what I would expect from him if that was happening.

It's eerie for us because we had a burst of activity from David, a lot of noise and a lot of confidence, and then...nothing. That's jarring, and anxiety-inducing. But I want us to think of it this way: David did a big post about being back in New York, about things looking up, and then he went uncharacteristically silent, which is what would happen if things were going on that he couldn't talk about. I have no idea what, if anything, might be going on, but it's important not to see this as a bad thing.

As someone on Twitter, who also works in the industry (they work as an actor) said the other day: in this business, no news is good news.

(also important to note: if he suddenly reappears on social media, that also doesn't mean that any negotiations have fallen through, and we should all panic; anything could be happening, and I know we're little anxiety gremlins - me included, bigly - but until we are definitively told that this is over and there's no hope, then it's not over and there is hope)

There's no way of knowing what is going on, or how long whatever is (or isn't) going on might take. This might be a sprint, but it could just as easily be a marathon. The show not being picked up immediately does not mean there is no hope, as we have seen with numerous other shows. Look at fandoms like Shadow and Bone, who are still fighting tooth and nail for their show because they refuse to give up on it. They haven't given up, and neither should we.

We need to decide if we love OFMD enough to fight for it long-term, to settle in for a long battle, and keep pushing for as long as it takes. And I think, as difficult as it might be, we all know that this show, and its cast and crew, is worth it.

#ofmd #our flag means death #save ofmd #save our flag means death #renew ofmd #renew our flag means death #adopt our crew #be a lighthouse

[wheelerpilled]

'forced conformity is killing the kids'

Mike Wheeler ST5 Theory/analysis

So we've all seen the new BTS of Finn Wolfhard on the set of Stranger Things dropped and OH MY GOD. THE DUALITY FROM LAST SEASON.

I have to TRY write about it ATLEAST...because wow I have a lot of potential thoughts, sorry it's once again unstructured, messy, and repetitive but stay with me please!!!!!!!!!!

I've seen ALOT of people happy we're getting s1-2 Mike hair back but guys .....it's not a good thing!!!!!!!!!! Mike is going THROUGH IT.

______________________________________________

In Season 4 it's acknowledged that Mike is finally coming into his own a bit, Eddie says he was wearing 'whatever his mom bought him' when he first came to highschool, but in episode 1 when we see him for the first time in S4, he's clearly been influenced by Eddie and has figured out what style he likes and what he's interested in, he's in a DND club, he's comfortable being known as an uncool nerd, he's growing his hair out (yes I DO believe it's because he idolised Eddie, I have more to say about that in a second)

basically: his hair and his outfits, aswell as pretty much the way he acts in Hawkins (NOT California- he goes back to pretending to be something else) in S4 represents the ideology non-conformity and his sense freedom in this new persona

he doesn't feel lost in highschool anymore, he's doing what he likes with his friends (DnD) and he's proudly wearing his hellfire shirt around school/Hawkins, basically, he's accepting that it's okay to enjoy 'different' things that aren't considered the norm, and it makes him happy, he feels comfortable!

_____________________________________________

But now in Season 5, from the pictures we've seen, it looks like he's fully reverted back into his shell, I guess I understand why tbh I don't blame him:

he comes back to Hawkins after everything and everyone believes he's in a satanic cult- townspeople probably treat him badly and Jason's team mates probably blame Eddie and the rest of hellfire for Jason's 'disappearance' (death). They directly connect him with all the horrible things that have happened to Hawkins as of late

...which is probably what the BTS of them walking towards Mike are about, they probably keep harassing him no matter how he acts and Mike just wants them to leave him alone, let's face it:

High school has probably gone full circle back to middle school for Mike and he's getting bullied/mistreated again. So he feels his only option is to remove himself from Hellfire and become 'normal'.

Hellfire might maybe even be blamed for the gates being opened. Last we heard, the townspeople were hunting down Eddie and the rest of hellfire, and the graffiti on Eddie's grave in the S5 pics shows that he's still very much hated.

Mike probably got harassed by multiple people who don't believe Eddie's dead, or believe Mike was in on it and are out looking for him, or think Hellfire contributed to some satanic ritual causing the 'earthquake' and thus Mike is also a target and it's dangerous for him.

So I think part of the style change and haircut is due to THAT, he doesn't wear his hellfire shirt anymore because he doesn't want any affiliation with the club.

As Finn Wolfhard has said in previous interviews 'mikes just trying to act as normal as possible' so by seperating himself from Eddie/Hellfire and becoming more conventionally 'normal' he won't be treated like an outcast.

He won't be assaulted, bullied, blamed, or worse if he conforms. He has a greater chance of everything becoming better/easier while living in Hawkins if he does this, he might have even given up DnD aswell- so yeah he's gonna be pretty MISERABLE in season 5

___________________________________________

Alot of people wanted to see his reaction to Eddie's death, I think we'll definitely be seeing the lingering after effects of it, and alot of Mike's arc will kick off because of the aftermath of the vilification of Hellfire.

Only few people know that Eddie died to try protect Hawkins, Eddie was a role model for Dustin and Mike, but they're grieving him in COMPLETELY different ways

Dustin decides to honour him by taking up a similar style and proudly wearing his hellfire shirt, and is also probably trying to sway the town's opinion on Eddie and prove him innocent.

....But Mike seemingly decides that he DOESNT want to end up like Eddie anymore: dead and hated, known as a satanic freak.

Someone he idolised is now deceased, he doesn't know how to properly handle that fact, it's intimidating that someone he looked up to do much could be so hated, and in turn has caused the reaction from Mike that is basically 'if my idol is treated as such a horrible outcast, and I wanted to follow in his footsteps, where would that leave me?' he's feeling lost and hopeless, especially with the state Hawkins is in, so he probably decides the best thing to do is just blend in. Be normal.

It probably scares him that even merely his interest in DnD and all these other factors immediately make him a target, as far as townspeople believe- Mike is one of the kids who was close with a brutal serial killer, they probably think he's just as 'messed up as Eddie the freak was' for staying friends with someone who'd do such horrible things

I think Mike just wants to hide as much as he can right now, he has ALOT on his plate and doesn't need the rest of the town out to get him.

so if anyone asks: he'll probably say things like 'I didn't really know Eddie! I would never join a cult like that, I didn't know!' or something to try seperate his name from the hellfire club.

Mike will end up picking protecting himself and hiding his true identity and values/traits rather then living exposed and vulnerable; yet true to what he actually believes is right....And that is the opposite of what Dustin is doing,

Dustin is a proud hellfire member and friend of Eddie, he's picking what he thinks is right over self-preservation from the town, he's still wearing his battered shirt, now HE'S the one growing his hair out, he still adores Eddie and misses him (so does Mike probably, but he feels he CANT outwardly publicly show support or stand up for him)

I do wonder if this will cause some sort of tension between Dustin and Mike, because Dustin is doing the opposite and becoming more like Eddie instead of distancing himself from the hellfire name, he might feel betrayed that Mike 'gave up' on Hellfire, and maybe accuse him of not even caring about Eddie or his death?? Idk!!!!!!!!!! I feel like Dustin will also be going through it this season 😭😭😭

_____________________________________________

I do also think Mike will try to be clinging alot to El this season (I mean, before they inevitably break up which I believe will probably happen kinda early on if it actually happens at all)

this is also because just the idea of having a girlfriend corresponds to his idea of conformity and being 'normal'. He just wants to be a normal guy, his life is nothing out for the ordinary, he's not interested in satanic things like dnd and hellfire, he's just a normal person. A normal person who is PROBABLY a target of Vecna in season 5 😓

I believe his arc for this season will be trying to breakout of these notions of conformity in exchange for things he actually likes and is interested in, we saw him sort of branching out in season 4, but I think THIS time it's happening for real, and he'll end up fully embracing his own views and interests after some sort of emotional arc-which will also probably be part of the M*lev*n break up (not censored because I'm against them/hate them I just don't wanna clog the tag for others 😭😭) OR set off by the breakup

Throughout season 1 he was told he liked El, or others assumed it, so I think he assumed it aswell, they just never broke up because El ALSO thinks having a boyfriend is normal and expected, and because Mike was the boy she was closest to she assumed it was romantic feelings (and he kissed her in S1 which probably contributed to her assuming they were romantic feelings)

Alot of the people around her are also in relationships, and she watched alot of TV with happy romantic couples so she thinks it's more normal to HAVE a boyfriend then to NOT have one, I think Mike and El kinda stayed together because they think they're SUPPOSED to by these social standards,

They obviously care about each other alot, and mistook it as reasons to just stay together, she wants to be a normal girl because only being a superhero isnt good for her, she needs to be 'Jane Hopper' and not '011'. I do think she definitely needs to be single for awhile and find herself, even if her and Mike are to be endgame, she NEEDS at least some time to gain some experiences outside of living her life as a superhero, (Mike also needs character development outside of being 'Els Boyfriend's)

Which is why it was vital that her time with max in S3 existed, so El could realise her value and that there is a life outside having a boyfriend- I think Mike needs a similar moment aswell, a wake-up call of sorts where he can take a step back and consider maybe rather than letting society dictate his actions, he makes decisions for what he wants for himself ('we make our own rules')

_____________________________________________

If m*lev*n is endgame then sure that's great for them, but I genuinely don't know what big character arc could be in store for Mike that doesn't involve a breakup and themes of non-conforming, it doesn't even have to involve Byler endgame at all (although I AM a byler truther)

I think Mike learning that it's okay to let go of that romantic relationship if he doesn't feel that way anymore is a big step for his character, or atleast taking a break so he can work on himself, anything along those lines of actual development on himself rather then on his relationship- El and Mike have been romantically paired from the start, he needs to learn that it's OKAY to breakup with someone if thats what he feels is right, (side note: I DO believe El would/will be the one to breakup with him 😭)

I don't think he realises that he'll be able to stay friends with El, it's not 'shes my girlfriend or else she'll hate me for breaking up with her. No other options'

he doesn't want to lose her because he cares about her but he can't find a way to balance that romantic relationship alongside his other friendships. So I think for his character to develop they have to breakup, even temporarily, but obviously that's only my opinion if M*lev*n is endgame then oh well, it's endgame, but I think they would be a really awesome platonic duo and I'd like their relationship alot more if it was that way

______________________________________________

I think later in the season he'll realise that living this way not actually what he wants, and he doesn't want to give up who he is, or pretend to be something he's not- because he IS a nerd who likes DnD, and he does support Eddie, he cared alot about him because he idolised him, and i think season 5 is about him learning that that's okay and he doesn't have to feel so much pressure to conform by societal standards, bro needs a better grief process, forced conformity GOT HIS ASS 😭😭😭

What I'm trying to say is: all of this, and his new look is a safety net of sorts, he's still pretending to be something he's not because he feels he HAS to, otherwise it's dangerous for him in Hawkins because of hellfires reputation, but he's also acting this way because of other factors that I haven't really thought through yet LMAO

I believe season 5 will probably be him accepting those things about himself and embracing it, maybe also undoing his emotional repression along the way, I guess I would describe it as coming of age and I think if it's handled well it could be really beautiful in a way

OH MY GOD I RAMBLED SO MUCH AND IT ISNT EVEN A SOLID THEORY JUST A COLLECTION OF THOUGHTS😭

Sorry that was long and repetitive but uhhhhhhhhhhhh yeah..........anyways Mike Wheeler ily keep ur head up king please don't die in S5‼️‼️ stay safe‼️‼️

#PLEASE READ AND STAY WITH ME IK ITS LONG 😭😭😭 #stranger things #mike wheeler #stranger things 5 #st5 #jane hopper #eleven hopper #el hopper #byler #st analysis #finn wolfhard #will byers #eddie munson

[x-aefx]

★PRIORITY - BELLA RAMSEY

Bella Ramsey x y/n

Summary; Bella would much rather spend time alone with you then at a party.

You loved Bella and you loved their friends, but after a long day at work you preferred to go straight to bed then be at a party.

The loud sound of music was the first thing to greet you when you approached your shared home, then the smell of alcohol and then the multiple bodies inside your home.

You pushed through crowds of people as you tried to locate your partner. Finally you found them, standing in a group of three in a quiet enough spot. You figured it would be rude not to say hi.

Bella saw you approach, a large grin forming on their face their eyes met yours. They waved enthusiastically at you.

Noticing the gesture, Bella's friends turned to look at you. Each smiling friendly at you. You smiled back.

You walked over to Bella, interlocking your hands as they pecked your lips.

"Y/N! It's been so long, where have you been?" A new face entered the conversation, joining the circle as they stood beside Amy. It was your friend Leah. She was right it had been nearly three weeks since you seen her. You two never went that long without talking.

You plastered your best smile even if you didn't feel it. Your eyes threatened to close as exhaustion was creeping down onto you.

"I've been busy with work. Sorry, I should've gotten in touch." You apologised. You meant every word. You missed being around friends, however you were practically half asleep right now.

"Don't worry about it, I understand." Leah smiled genuinely, waving off your apology.

Bella traced their thumb against your hand. The action making it harder to keep yourself awake.

A new topic of conversation arose, everyone engaged in it. You took their distraction to excuse yourself.

"I think I'm going to head to bed. I can barely keep my eyes open." You whispered into Bella's ear, only for them to hear.

Bella looked at you with worry. "Want me to come with? I can end the party."

You shook your head in response.

"no need. I can sleep through anything. And you should enjoy yourself with everyone, I don't need a babysitter." You kissed their cheek before they could argue back. A shy smile crept onto their face from the action.

Leaving Bella with their friends you made your way upstairs to your bedroom. Everyone at the party were all close friends of you and Bella, no one was seriously drunk and you trusted each of them to leave on their own and without a mess. It wasn't the first time a party was held in this house.

Shutting the bedroom door behind you helped to muffle out the sound of music and conversation.

Quickly and quietly you changed into your pajamas and got ready for bed.

There was no better feeling than crawling into bed after a long day. Wrapping yourself under the duvet you lay on your side and closed your eyes to try fall asleep.

The door creaked as it opened, the noise no longer muffled and light from the hall poured into the bedroom. It disappeared instantly once the door was shut.

You looked up in confusion.

"Bella? I told you-"

"I want to be here, with you." They cut you off before you could try persuade them to leave.

Bella changed into their own pajamas quickly and brushed their teeth before eagerly getting into bed beside you. You couldn't help but smile.

Immediately, you were pulled closer to them with your head laying on their chest and their arm wrapped around your waist securely.

It was peaceful.

Just you and Bella.

Your limbs were tangled with theirs, you could hear every beat of their heart and feel every breath they took. You couldn't imagine a more perfect place or feeling then being with Bella. Just the two of you.

Bella placed multiple kisses on your face. You felt your face heat up, you burried your face in their shoulder so they wouldn't see your blush.

Bella giggled at you shyness.

"I love you. " they whispered.

You couldn't control your smile from widening. You felt your heart skip a beat and the butterflies in your stomach grow.

"I love you too." You responded quietly but Bella heard. They pulled you closer to them, you didn't even think that was possible.

You never felt happier or more at peace than you did with Bella.

#bella ramsey x reader #beldro ramscal #bella ramsey imagines #bellie and pedge #bella ramsey imagine #bellaramsey #bella ramsey #bella ramsey angst #bella ramsey blurb #bella ramsey drabble #bella ramsey fanfic #bella ramsey fanfiction #bella ramsey fic #bella ramsey fluff #bella ramsey x female reader #bella ramsey x fem!reader #bella ramsey x oc #bella ramsey x y/n #bella ramsey x you #ellie williams fic #ellie williams #ellie tlou #tlou ellie #ellie the last of us #the last of us

[samantha-rae-velcher]

Trust is for the Weak

Ghost face!Schlatt x Fem reader

Requested by: none

Warnings: Sexual content! Blood, mentions of death, swearing, Schlatt cuz damn! Knife kink! Jealous!Schlatt, use of marijuana.

A/n: 18+ NSFW! If you don't like the warnings please don't read! PLEASE KEEP MY COMMENT SECTION AGGRESSION FREE!

@goldenstarofthunderclan ❤️

___

October 1999

Y/n sat on her couch watching the news, her best friends all chilling with her in her livingroom. Schlatt beside her, Ted on the floor in front of her, Travis and a couple others on Y/n's second couch.

"Marcus Kent and Susan Gillette were found dead last night on the grounds of Timson highschool, the two students were said to have multiple stab wounds. The murderer has not yet been found, police say they have no leads at this time."

Y/n clicked off the TV, her gaze dropped to the floor and her eyes filled with tears.

"Susan, why did it have to be Susan?" She whispered.

Schlatt slowly wrapped his arm around Y/n and pulled her into a hug, gently rubbing circles against her back.

"Fuck her boyfriend." She sobbed. "That asshole disserved it, but Suse? Why the fuck would someone do this?"

"Shh, it's okay." Schlatt whispered. "They'll find who did this."

Ted turned towards her, setting his hand on her thigh and giving it a reassuring squeeze. Schlatt had to hold back from pushing his hand away and pulling Y/n onto his lap, he hated when other men touched her. Even if it was just a friendly gesture, he wanted Y/n! He was always there for her, he always comforted her when she cried, even if it was over the phone, or he had to drive an hour to be there in person. Schlatt was there for her no matter what.

Y/n pulled away from the hug, giving him a smile and wiping her tears.

"Well, we're out of here." Wilbur said, throwing his arm around Tubbo and walking out the door.

Ted and Travis fallowed after saying their goodbyes, but Schlatt stayed behind.

"You gonna be okay?" He asked, slowly making his way into the kitchen with her.

"I'll be fine, it's just hard hearing that a friend was just killed...you know?"

"Yeah, I know." Schlatt came up behind her, placing his hands on her hips and kissed the top of her head.

"I'm your friend...right?" He asked.

Y/n turned around, a confused look on her face.

"Yes, of course. Why are you asking that?"

"Nothing, Ive just seen you and Ted lately and I'm wondering if something's going on between the two of you."

"Pfft, Ted Nivison? No...but why are you wondering."

"I'm afraid you're gonna start calling him for comfort, instead of me. That you'll look to him in a time of need and I'll just have to watch."

Tears filled Y/n's eyes, she would never push Schlatt aside. He was her best friend and she loves when he's around, being near him always made her calm and very happy. Y/n stepped closer, wrapping her arms around him and planting a kiss against his cheek.

"Id never abandon you like that, Schlatt." She said. "And nothing is or will ever be going on between me and Ted. I promise you that."

___

"So apparently people are saying that the killer is someone who goes to this school." Wilbur whispered.

"And I've heard that there's actually two killers, because there's no way that only one person could've killed Marcus and Susan." Carson cut in.

Y/n rolled her eyes, "Well I heard we have a test on Friday, so we all better get to studying."

"Some say...it could even be the person closest to you."

She gave Carson a dirty look, "Okay, so it's probably your mommy."

The rest of the table laughed as Carson's face turned red.

As the day went on more people started freaking out, they kept saying how the killer is probably someone close to you, or at least someone you know. Y/n was sitting in class, bored out of her mind when the principal came on the speaker.

"I regret to inform you, authorities have found Kristen Oakley dead in her backyard. It appears to have been the same person or people who killed Marcus and Susan."

The class went silent and Y/n clenched her fist, tears threatening to fill her eyes. She knew Kristen, they had been friends for two years. Y/n, Susan, and her had just made plans to go down to the roller skating rink today...but now, that's not happening.

Y/n stood up, grabbing her book bag and walking out of the classroom. She went outside into the cool crisp autumn air, spinning around when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey." Ted said. "You just left and I wanted to see if you were okay...are you?"

Y/n nodded, "Yeah, I just had plans with both Susan and Kristen...and now their gone. Those girls were like my sisters, what the hell is going on!?"

He stepped closer, he pulled her into a warm embrace and rested his chin on top of her head.

"It's alright, what were you guys gonna do?"

"Go to the roller skating rink."

"Tell you what, I'll go with you."

Y/n looked up at him, "What!?"

"Yeah, I'll go with you. I don't think the girls would want you to go home sad."

Y/n smiled, "Alright, we were gonna go at 6 after school."

"I'll pick you up."

Schlatt clenched his teeth, watching Y/n and Ted through the classroom window. His heart was racing, the thought of them getting together was eating at him. Imagining Ted's hands roaming her body as she whimpers his name, made Schlatt want Ted as his next victim.

___

Y/n and Ted laughed, doing spins and dancing on the rink to the song playing. The two brought smiles to people's faces, Ted lifted her and brought her back down slowly as the song ended.

"I didn't know you could skate." Y/n giggled.

"I didn't know either."

They skated till the rink closed, Ted drove her home and walked her to her door.

"I had a great night." He whispered, planting a gentle kiss to her forehead.

"So did I." Y/n's words to Schlatt kept playing in her head.

"Nothing is or will ever be going on between me and Ted, I promise you that."

Y/n lowered her brows, remembering the relieved look on his face.

"I promise you that."

"I'll see you tomorrow?" Ted asked.

"Yeah, I'll be at school."

Y/n watched as he went back to his car and drove off, she made her way inside and shut the door behind her just as the phone began to ring. She ran over to the phone on the wall, taking it down and holding it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Did you have a fun time?" A deep scratchy voice asked from the other side of the phone.

"I beg your pardon."

"You and your little boyfriend skating together, that's cute."

A chill ran down Y/n's spine, "Who are you?"

"Funny, that's what Kristen asked before I shoved my knife in her gut."

Y/n's eyes widened and her knees went weak, she leaned against the wall, attempting to stabilize herself.

"Why?" She whispered.

"Cuz she was a mouthy little bitch, thinking she could strut around like a whore. Well she got the attention she wanted, just not from who she wanted."

Y/n slid down the wall, her breath shaky.

"And you killed Susan and Marcus?"

"No, I didn't."

"Who then?"

"Him."

The phone suddenly cut out and Y/n heard her door creak open. She stood up, slowly made her way over to the door and sure as shit it was wide open for all to see.

"Fuck." She whispered, turning and going to the back door and running outside. Y/n made it around the house and peaked through one of the windows, she saw a tall figure with a ghost mask on and a black robe with a hood, and a sharp knife in their hand.

Y/n slowly tip toed up her porch and grabbed her bookbag, shutting the door and running down the street. She pounded her fist against Carson's door, waking him up. He pulled it open only to be nearly trampled by Y/n.

"I need to use your phone."

"Why?"

"I just need to!"

Y/n snatched it off the wall and punched in 911.

"911, what's your emer-"

"Hi yeah, I'm Y/n Y/L/n. I just had to run to a friend's house, but I just got a call from someone claiming to have killed Kristen Oakley. And I had to sneak out of my house because I caught a glimpse of someone in my kitchen with a knife, they were wearing a long black robe with a hood, and they had a plastic ghost mask on. The only thing I could tell you about their physique is that they were at least 6'3 and up."

"Alright, I'm sending a couple cops down there, what is your address?"

___

Y/n came out of the interrogation room after giving a report, she sat down and waited for any sign that she could leave.

"Hey." Schlatt's voice said from behind her.

Y/n smiled, "Hey!"

She threw herself out of her chair, and wrapped him in a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Carson said they took you down to the station so I came over to see if you're alright."

"Yeah, I'm okay."

"Ehem, Miss Y/L/n." The sheriff said.

"Yeah?"

"You can leave, but we're gonna have a patrol up and down your street tonight for your protection. Alright?"

"Okay, thank you."

Y/n grabbed her bag, "Could you drive me home, Schlatt?"

"You don't gotta ask twice."

The two walked out of the police station and over to his car, they hopped in and started towards her house.

"I'm glad you're okay, Y/n. I don't know what I would've done if I lost you." He said, his voice rather quiet.

"I might need someone to protect me tonight..."

She gave him a teasing look.

Schlatt's heart raced, he smiled and laced his fingers through her's.

"I'll protect you, my lady."

"With your life?"

"With my life."

They pulled up in front of her house, slowly Y/n opened the front door and stepped though. She grabbed the coat rack and held it like a baseball bat, ready to swing.

"Alright! You son of a bitch! You pull some shit in the genre of killing me, I'll kill you right fuckin back!"

Schlatt let out a laugh, "That's one hell of a threat."

Y/n set down the rack, "Hey, I'll do it too."

___

Y/n's alarm clock rang from upstairs, she opened her eyes to find her and Schlatt snuggled up together on her couch.

"Good morning." She whispered.

"Mmm, good morning. I gotta go home and get ready for school."

"You can get ready here."

"And go in the clothes I'm wearing? No, I can't."

Y/n made a pouty face and crossed her arms.

"No, I can't. No matter how cute you may be, I can't stay."

Once they sat up and he was out the door, Y/n ran upstairs and threw herself together. She was out in time for Wilbur and Tubbo to pull up and honk their horn.

"Hello, luv." Wilbur shouted as Y/n slid into the back seat.

They were almost to school when they saw police lights and caution tape. Wilbur stopped and the three got out of the car, Y/n looked around to see a boy sprawled out on the lawn.

"Mike Thormon." Wilbur said. "That's shit, he was a nice guy. He had a major crush on you Y/n."

"I didn't know him, we just sat next to each other in history."

"Come on." Tubbo said, gripping both of their arms. "Let's get to school."

___

Y/n was walking down the hall on the way to the restroom when she heard footsteps behind her, she kept turning around but no one was there. She pushed the door open and hid behind it, waiting for whoever was fallowing her to come in.

After about twenty seconds, the door opened and in stepped a tall person in that same black robe.

She held her breath and waited for them to walk further into the bathroom.

The door closed and she was right out in the open, against her better judgement she decided to speak up.

"Who the fuck are you?" She asked, startling the person. "You're obviously a guy, cuz of how fuckin tall you are and your body type."

Y/n stepped closer, fear completely slipping away.

"I wanna know why you killed them, it seems to me that you're going for people who I have ties to. Who are you gonna go after next? Ted? Carson? Wilbur? Schl-" She stopped, realizing how many people she could lose.

The man tilted his head, taking a step closer. Y/n took two back and this cycle kept repeating until her back hit the wall, and the man trapped her against it.

She looked up at the masks deep black eyes, searching for any clue of who was behind it.

All Y/n took note of was the scent, she didn't recognize it. But that narrowed it down on who it could be, if she hasn't smelt it before then there are few people in the school who wear it.

"If you get any closer, I'm gonna rip that fuckin thing off your head."

A dark chuckle came from under the mask, sending a chill down her spine.

"Who am I gonna kill next, Y/n?" It was the same voice from the phone. "Ted? Carson? Wilbur?.... Schlatt? That boy likes you, then again so did Mike but you didn't shed a tear over him..."

Y/n kneed the fucker in the stomach, she ran down the hallway and to the office.

"He was in the bathroom! Call the police!"

Once again Y/n ended up at the police station, making a statement. She walked out and got in the car with Schlatt, Ted, Carson, Wilbur, Tubbo, Charlie, and Travis.

"Let's do something." She whispered. "Let's do something like have a fuckin party! We might be dead tomorrow so let's live it up tonight! We're young, so let's do something we ain't ever gonna forget!"

The rest of them cheered and drove over to Ted's, he had the biggest house. The bigger the house the more people, the more people the worse the noise complaint, the worse the noise complaint...the more people are gonna get arrested. So, tonight was gonna be memorable.

Y/n sat on the porch and listened as the music was cranked and people were yelling and singing. Ted came outside and handed her a soda, putting an arm around her and getting close.

"If anything happens, I want you to know that I love you."

Y/n turned to him, shock written all over her face.

"Ted I-"

"How's this party, huh!?" Eric yelled coming out smoking weed. "You two love birds having fun? You gonna start fucking on the porch or are you gonna go upstairs like normal people?"

"Eric." Y/n said. "We aren't together."

He winced, taking another drag from his blunt.

"Ouch, well Ted you just got friend zoned."

With that he turned around and went back inside. Y/n looked down at her shoe and took a deep breath.

"I-"

"It's Schlatt isn't it?" He asked. "I see the way you look at him, but your afraid to say anything because of your friendship. I say you tell him, because he'd kill for you Y/n."

She smiled, "Is he inside?"

"Yep, I'll sit out here all by myself. Maybe if Travis or Charlie come out they'll be drunk and we'll start making out and I'll suddenly realize I'm gay."

"Oh shut up." Y/n giggled, pushing him.

She went back inside to search for Schlatt, she went upstairs and there was nothing. Y/n looked in the kitchen and in the livingroom, but he was no where to be found.

She was about to go into the garage when she heard Ted telling a hord of people to get out of his house.

Y/n went back to the living room to see everyone except her friends were leaving. She looked down and saw Ted's most expensive vase had been smashed on the floor.

"Shit, want me to help you pick it up?" She asked.

"No, I'll do it later. Let's just watch a movie, I'm pissed off."

"K." She said. "I'll make some popcorn."

Everyone else sat down on the couch and popped in a movie while Y/n went into the kitchen. She was about to open a cupboard when she felt some behind her.

She turned around to see Schlatt, he was leaned up against the fridge, a very displeased look on his face.

"Nothing is or will ever be going on between me and Ted, I promise you that." He repeated what she said. "You remember that? You remember when you told me that?"

"Nothing is going on between Ted and I, we're just-"

"Friends?" He asked. "Just friends?"

Schlatt got closer, trapping her against the counter. He leaned in, "Bullshit."

Y/n's eyes became glossy, she moved quick and pressed her lips against his.

"Not bullshit." She whispered, running her hands through his hair. "Not bullshit."

There was a sudden scream coming from outside, Y/n ran into the living room just as everyone else was getting off the couch. They went outside and looked around, Y/n gasped when she saw Carson laying face down by the garage door.

Y/n looked around at the rest of the group that was left after Ted kicked everyone out.

Schlatt, Travis, Wilbur, Tubbo, Charlie, and Ted himself. Now that Carson was dead there's five of them who are innocent.

"Who wasn't in the living room?" She asked.

Travis pointed at Schlatt, "He wasn't."

"He was in the kitchen with me."

"Anyone else?"

"I wasn't paying attention." Wilbur said.

Charlie shook his head, "Neither was I."

"Okay, I'm going back inside to call the police." She said. "Someone go get a car, and someone go to the neighbors just in case the phone lines are cut. The worst thing to do in a horror movie is to split up, but this needs to get done."

Y/n went back inside and looked for Ted's phone, running upstairs and into the master bedroom. She closed the door behind her and picked up the phone, holding it to her ear.

"Oh you're good." She whispered. "You did cut the line."

Y/n ran back downstairs and out the back door, she looked around and went to the garage. Going over to the car and opening the door, she found Travis slumped sideways with stab wounds in his chest.

The sound of those clicking footsteps from the school came from behind her, she spun around to see the man standing there.

"You're not him." She said. "You're taller."

Suddenly ghost face ran at her, knife in hand. She dodged and booked it back to the house. Y/n had to keep herself from screaming when she saw Tubbo covered in blood and laying on the front steps.

She went into the kitchen and grabbed a knife, Y/n started back to the livingroom when she heard Ted call her name.

She looked over at the front door only to watch him fall forward with a knife in his back. A sudden tap came from behind her that had Y/n spinning around, it was that same Ghost face from the bathroom only the mask was covered in blood.

Tears ran down Y/n's face as the hand came up and pulled off the mask.

"Schl-...No...No." Y/n dropped her knife and fell to her knees.

"Y-you killed Susan?"

"No sweetie...he did."

Y/n looked over her shoulder to see the taller Ghost face, "And who might you be?"

He pulled his mask off to reveal Wilbur with an unsettling smile on his face.

"I did it for you, Y/n" he said, his voice deep.

"What?"

"You're always so sweet...so loving..." He stalked closer to Y/n, putting his hand out to touch her.

"Always so beau-" a bang rang out and Wilbur dropped to the floor.

Y/n looked at Schlatt, who had a gun in his hand. He set it on the table beside the couch and looked down at Y/n.

"He was gonna take you away from me..." He said. "I couldn't let him do that..."

Y/n stood up and walked up to him, "You didn't have to kill them..."

"Who are you sad about? Carson? Ted..." His voice got deeper. "What has he ever done for you? I was always there for you!"

"Was?" She asked. "You aren't still? You're not gonna abandon me are you?" Y/n was attempting to manipulate him, so he wouldn't freak out and possibly kill her.

"No, Y/n. I'll never leave you." He whispered, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close.

"I love you, Y/n. I'm not gonna leave you."

She closed her eyes and snuggled her face into his chest, listening to his reassurances.

"You really love me?" She asked.

"Yes, more than anything."

Y/n looked up at him, his eyes were dark and full of lust. She glanced down at his lips when she felt the blade of his knife against her stomach.

"You're mine, Y/n. Not Ted's, Not Wilbur's...you're mine."

The cold steel of the blade running over her skin made her whimper, "I'm yours, Schlatt...no one is taking me away from you.

Her hand came down and palmed against his cock, making him moan. Y/n trailed kissed down his neck and sucked on his sweet spot.

"Y/n I-" Schlatt stopped, they both looked over when they heard something being knocked over outside. A rush of happiness and relief washed over her when Y/n saw Ted was no longer on the porch.

THE END ❤️

I hope you enjoyed

Reblogs are welcome 🤗

#fyp #foryou #fanfic #foryoupage #x reader #smut #requested #lunch club schlatt #schlatt smut #schlatt imagine #schlatt x reader #schlatt #jschlatt x you #jschlatt smut #jschlatt imagine #jschlatt x reader #jschlatt x fem reader #jschlatt x female reader #jschlatt x y/n

[atxxokirina]

You're My Mirror.

Lo'ak x Omatikayan fem reader

warnings ;; slight bullying/mention of bullying, reader being insecure, some fluff near the end.

quick author's note! ✧ okay, so! I have 12 fingers irl, and i relate to lo'ak so much when it comes to him being self conscious about his hands, so i just had to write this. not only for myself, but hopefully for anyone else who feels outcast. <3 (i used y/n instead of my name to make it feel more inclusive. enjoy!)

-

You were born differently. The usual Na'vi has 4 fingers, but you? You came out with 6 instead. Your parents hoped everything would be fine with you, even after the Tsahík at the time insisted that you were perfectly fine and healthy, and that it was just an unusual mutation.

The festival was in full swing as the clan celebrated the newly mated couple. The music was loud, the drinks were flowing, and were dancing and laughing.

But you were not having fun. Instead, you're standing in the back corner, arms folded, trying to hide your hands. You hated that you always hid them away, but you knew better. You knew that if you didn't, all eyes would be on you, and conversations would start up about you again. It had been that way ever since you were a kid. Either you were teased for having 6 fingers, or being accused for being not being full Na'vi. No matter what- it was always something.

As you watched some people form a circle, holding hands and dancing together, you felt a pang of envy.. You had wished to join in, so badly, but you were much too afraid of allowing your hands to touch with anyone again. Your mind flashed to when you were young. The vivid memory of being called a freak, being called an alien, and the absolute hell of others threatening to sever your extra fingers off.. as if you weren't right in front of them.

Your deep thoughts were interrupted by Mo'at approaching you. "Y/n, come join us." She holds out her hand for you. "Do not let your past consume you. Allow yourself to have fun. With us, with your family."

Your eyes dart to hers, a soft gasp escaping your mouth as she startled you. You listen to her words, hesitant first at but eventually giving in after some thinking. She was only right, you can't live like this forever. You took Mo'at's hand and joined the circle. For a while everything felt fine, you had let your body relax as you let the fears you had fall away. You closed your eyes and danced, hips swaying with the music as you formed hands with the other people in the circle.

The music was beautiful, and the voices around you were soothing. You feel an abrupt yank on your hand and instantly opened your eyes, your tail going alert and ears perking up. You see Aonung and his friend Nashvi on each side of you, grinning at each other. "Ugh, fuck off!" You say in an attempt to pull your arms away from the two boys.

"Oh, now why are you struggling so hard? Trying to hide something from us aren't you?" Aounung teases. You whine and pull back again, already knowing the direction this is going in. Ever since you'd arrived to their village with the Sully's, Aonung and his friends would make it their job to bully you daily.

The two chuckle as Aonung lifts up your hand. "Look at this! What do you even call this freakshow? She's fucking gross, isn't she?" He yells out, pulling your arm and holding it in the air. The space around you goes quiet, all eyes now on you. You see some faces recoil as shame fills your body. "Stop! Just let me go-"

"..what the fuck is that?"

"Does she have- six fingers?"

"Ma Eywa.. I've never seen anything like that.."

"So unfortunate.. poor girl... I feel bad for her parents"

You begin to hear multiple voices murmer around you as tears well in your eyes.

"Oh great mother.." Neteyam speaks under his breath, watching everything unfold.

"Huh? What's going on?" Lo'ak questions while stuffing his face with Teylu that Neytiri had made. He looks up to see a group of boys pushing you around and messing with you.

"6 fingers? Really? Eywa could've made you a simple freak with 5, but she just had to keep going!" Aonung says as him and his peers continue to laugh at you.

".. fuck" Lo'ak mutters, making his way toward Aonung and pushing him by his shoulder. "Leave her alone, fish lips. I'm not gonna ask you again." He sternly demands.

"Ohhh? Two freaks now, I see.. Just makes this freakshow even better!" Aonung ignores Lo'ak's warning. Lo'ak slaps Aonung and grabs your arm, pulling you next to him and gripping your hand.

"I'll beat your ass again if I have to, bitch. Don't make me fuck you up." You stare at Lo'ak, impressed at his confidence.

With your hand still in his, he walks you over to a secluded area on the shore and sits you down as the bioluminescent plants around you move with the wind. You cry out, covering your face with your hands. "What's wrong with me..? Why can't I just be normal, like everyone else.." Tears stream down your face while your heart consumes itself with pain and humiliation.

Lo'ak places his hand on your shoulder, feeling empathetic towards you. "I know how you feel, y/n" he says softly. "I have an extra finger too, remember?" You looked at him, wiping the tears from your cheeks. "I know.." You sniffle. "I just wish.. I wish they'd accept me, you know? Ever since I've been here.. I have nothing but nice to them.. and I get this in return? I'm tired of it, Lo'ak. I'm so fucking tired.." You speak through broken cries and sniffles.

"You're not alone," he continued. "And you're not gross or weird.. You're just different, just like me." He cups your face and wipes your tears, giving your wet cheek a soft kiss. He intertwines his fingers with yours as he turns your head to face him. "And after tonight, Aonung and his friends will never bother you again okay? I promise."

"W-what are you gonna do?" You ask, a shuddered sigh coming from your mouth while looking into his eyes. "Doesn't matter, mama. All that matters is that I'm gonna take care of it. You know I've got you." Lo'ak reassures, patting your head. Your eyebrows narrow as you smile, bringing Lo'ak into a hug and resting your head in the crook of his neck. "Thank you, Lo'ak.."

He rubs his hand across your back, holding your shoulder and pulling away from the hug, wholeheartedly gazing into your eyes. Lo'ak licks his lips, opening his mouth to say something, visibly nervous. "..I see you, y/n."

Your pupils widen, tail flicking back and forth in excitement and content after hearing his words. A great feeling of ease washes over you, it feels as if you've finally gotten the one thing you have been waiting for. You look back into his eyes with a soft, loving gaze.

"I see you, Lo'ak."

oh my lord , this is lowkey the first fanfiction i have written in awhilleeee, so i can't tell if it's as good as i think it is. all criticism is welcome, just be nice and don't hurt my feelings pls! 🫶

as always, my writing style/layout (?) is heavily inspired by the queen herself, @pandorxxx <3 love you bae!

#avatar #avatar fluff #atwow #avatar the way of water #loak fic #ff #fanfiction #fics #imagines #neteyam #aonung #loak sully #neteyam sully #loak x reader

[theglidingbat]

Ghostbat headcanons because I'm in no-minhkhoa content hell

Bruce loves giving minhkhoa forehead kisses and nose kisses, during tender moments or when he's feeling sentimental, minhkhoa always grumbles about it but it's one of the little things he enjoys

Adding onto the previous one, minhkhoa rarely kisses bruce tenderly his kiss more fierce and filled with passion and hidden emotions he refuses to reveal.

Minhkhoa will make fun of Bruce's clothes and fashion choices but yet can be seen with wearing his turtleneck, bruce will narrow his eyes as Minhkhoa pretends to be ignorant, he never returns the clothes by the way.

But if bruce ever decided to take minhkhoa's clothes he has to hear multiple snarky remarks, only to be tackled when he tries to take of Minhkhoa's green hoodie , ghostmaker would rather die then admit he likes his boyfriend in his clothes.

So they definitely got married at some point right?

I feel like bruce knows how to cook but pretends to be shitty at it around minhkhoa just so he gets to see minhkhoa cook, minhkhoa knows this and indulges him anyway

Listen, I think the "minhkhoa can't feel love" thing is bullshit because he does care a lot, even if he's terrible at it, he's not even trying per se but bruce is one of the very few people he actually cares for, Bruce thinks that's how minhkhoa just is, he doesn't realise he has special treatment expect the name thing.

But a fun alternative is that he knows that he gets special treatment from minhkhoa and loves it, and gets extremely possessive and bratty about it too.

I know it's retconned or whatever but Rhea being minhkhoa's first love and after everything minhkhoa still likes to distance himself, bruce who's probably witnessed atleast half of their relationship will always feel like and know that he won't ever have the same place in minhkhoa's stone cold heart like Rhea did and it kind of hurts him

Minhkhoa doesn't even deny it, why bother lying to a man as smart as Bruce? Bruce should be able to handle the truth, he still cares for Bruce but he's sure (scared) of the fact that bruce would die or disappear, or worse forget him because of his own stupidity (empathy)

Okay enough angsty from me I swore I would be an account without much angsty shit but here we are.

Minhkhoa loves grilled cheese. It's a headcanon me and my irl friend thought of as an old inside joke but yeah that's the only American food this mother fucker tolerates, with tomato soup and everything. Specifically if Bruce makes it with the crust cut.

The grilled cheese is more of a crack headcanon but eh.

Someone make a fic of Minhkhoa teaching Bruce's white ass how to make rotis (I've been leaning into minhkhoa being half Tamil or of Tamil origins loads lately and it's my favourite fanon hc of him)

Bruce can't get it in a perfect Circle and it pisses him off, minhkhoa laughs at his face.

One very silly thing I love to think is that during a chase scene in their past minhkhoa would pick bruce up and make a run for it and sticks through their adulthood, an explosion is about to go off and before bruce can do anything minhkhoa has him in a carry as he runs away with him.

Them Falling back into old habits, bruce latching onto minhkhoa and pulling his hair during a immature argument, minhkhoa screaming and trying to shake him off as Talia tiredly sips her tea, they're all 40 and the batkids finally see where exactly Damian gets it from.

My personal headcanon is that during btk era bruce had freckles, minhkhoa won't admit it but he misses them,as Bruce grew his freckles faded.

And that's it for my latest Ghostbat headcanons, do note that these are extremely self indulgent and may be occ but eh who gives a fuck

#bruce wayne #ghostbat #batman #minhkhoa khan #ghostmaker #my babies

[2023himbotournament]

CONTACT YOUR GOVERNMENT AND DEMAND A CEASEFIRE FOR PALESTINE

For Eu look up:

Voices in Europe for peace

For Usa look up:

US campaign for Palestinian rights

BOYCOTT FOR PALESTINE

FOA (Friends of Al-Aqsa) have organized a boycott in support of palestine. Here are the key companies to boycott:

HP (Hewlett Packard)

Coca-Cola

Israeli produce

We will be ending our call to boycott

PUMA once the contract with IFA officially dissolves in 2024. Until then, we encourage you to continue boycotting PUMA products.

Please help to spread the word by sending this copypasta to as many blogs as you can and/or going to FOAs website where you can find posters to download and print out

Ok I'm not a copypasta person unless it's memes but like. Look I'm not Palestinian but I'm also a Southwest Asian and my mental health has definitely deteriorated seeing just. Everything. Especially the increase in racism and islamophobia (I'm also muslim) and seeing all the hate crimes and knowing that someone could probably shoot me in the head while I'm writing gay fanfiction in public and justify it by saying that I could've been a dangerous terrorist and therefore my entire family tree must be eradicated-

basically what I'm trying to say is that I'm hoping that making this post on the himbo tourney blog will get some eyes on this. Like. I've been feeling really powerless about this and kinda just like shriveling up and dying lately. Tbh. The world is fxcked right now. In the year of our lord 2024 /ref, here we are post undertale we are being pro-genocide how funny is that haha. It's not funny. It's. It's not. It's not funny . I can't. I've seen too many videos of children dying and crying and I just. I saw the one thing about the kid with cerebral palsy whose parents got shot right in front of them for literally no reason and then they got yelled at by soldiers and like. People literally will look at this and call these people animals?? I saw that term get thrown around a lot. It's just disgusting and like.

have people seen the bingo the literal genocide bingo. People are treating this like a joke like. Do people not realize that Southwest Asian people are like... people??? We're people you know. Like this is mainly targeting Arabs but I've seen stuff about people discriminating against the rest of us too (mainly because they can't tell the difference. Because the idea of not treating Asian cultures as interchangeable applies until you get to Southwest Asia I guess even in progressive circles everyone just says Arab for everything even here I've seen people like-). I'm Persian and I'm still scared someone will cut my life off. I'm 16. Nowruz is next week and I just want to live to it with my family. My mind is inundated wit the tears of the families that had never gotten to have their celebrations. Because of one group on one day.

one group on one day. One group on one day. it's always that. it's always that for people like us.I feel like I'm going insane. It's just 9/11 in America all over again. I wasn't even born for that. But you can just feel it all around you. And now we have the sequel, across the world. But it's used the same way. 7/23. Can't wait for the memes /s. This one thing happens therefore we can dedicate multiple months to killing all of you just making you suffer stripping your dignity you don't deserve anything and we'll make the world hate you because fxck you and then the world goes along with it because nothing good ever happens and I just want to escape from this but every time I go on tumblr it's just this and I know if I ever stop seeing this it means that the worst has happened anyway

and then people try to act like YOU'RE the bigot because you're trying to hold a country's government and military force responsible for war crimes just because the country has its branding in minority groups. How about I make this crystal clear: I don't give a flying fxck about what Israel is, it's what it's doing that matters. I'd be saying nearly the same shzt if they were PERSIAN, and that is MY ETHNICITY. I literally do not care. It doesn't matter. Because killing people is wrong and that should not be a controversial statement but I guess some people like the sound of screams in the morning. The Palestinian death toll has surpassed the 7/23 death toll. And it's still going. And not all the deaths have even been accounted for because bodies are still buried under rubble. Because they're still bombing people and they won't stop. And no one will make them stop.

like I don't give a fxck about Hamas either, I heard some of the members did genuinely say some like directly quoted antisemitic shzt and also they like condoned a racist caricature of a black woman in a magazine I think but I'm not sure about the second one (I know the magazine thing definitely happened but I'm not sure of their like involvement at all-) like. I don't need to suck there dzcks like some people do it's one group of fxcks like I don't. They're just the excuse being used for this. You're bombing the entire population of a country where the majority population is fzcking tater tots. You're attacking children. You are killing children. Paint yourself purple. Dammit. Just. Again it's 9/11 all over again but in another country.

even then like it's like. You know that trope in cartoons that shows up more often than you'd think that was in like Avatar and Korra and RWBY I think where there's like a fictional minority that is oppressed and wants rights and then active protest is represented by an evil terrorist group who attacks people and is the villains of the media and passive protest is always portrayed as good and active protest is evil and there's no nuance and also they just frame the group as just like evil spawned out of nowhere not addressing that they literally would not exist if not for the truly evil system of oppression that basically created them. Like.

You know Hamas only exists because Palestinians were already treated like shzt right? Like they were already displaced and didn't consent to the whole Israel thing and like look up Nakba it's fzcking awful like. Hamas is just a symptom of the disease and there will just be another Hamas if you try to knock it down without actually like. Doing anything about. the fact that Palestinians are oppressed. but people will just act like you can keep punching at Hamas like that'll result in anything like they're the flowers not the roots y'know-

also I'm calling it here, this entire thing is gonna definitely be used down the line by Neo-nazis I mean it kinda already is being used to justify antisemitism but like I saw the stuff of people trying to redefine antisemitism to be synonymous with antizionism and make isrseli and jewish synonymous and to basically gatekeep jewishness from anti-zionist jews (I'm not kidding I actually saw shzt like that) and it's like. Y'all they're gonna turn around in a year or two like "ohhh look at the big bad scary jews- I mean Israelis their identity is literally tied to the genocide of Palestinians they are inherently evil there is no denying it!" (Ignoring the fact that the USA and other bastards of colonization did the same shzt as Israel literally the same story history is repeating itself but we have social media brands this time-). And then like what the fxck do you do about it when the word antisemitic now means anticolonialist so no one takes it seriously anymore. What the fxck are you supposed to do about that. And when they probably made themselves right because they probably contributed to Palestinian Genocide themselves they don't care they're just using them as props in their fxcking jew hatred. But like. Yeah you are now tied to this nationality that is tied to fxcking genocide what do you do? It's like perfect to use for fearmongering around Jewish people since the shzt they used before somehow worked despite literally being pulled out of their xss istg like where the fxck did any of the bank stuff come from like. The fzck?-

im tired. I'm so tired. Both in the literal "It's past 1am" sense and the less literal "make the stop" sense.

I just don't want people to die. I just want people to be happy. I just want people to not suffer but every day it feels like it's getting worse and I just want something to change for the better and I'm scared. Why do people act like it's a bad thing to not want people to suffer? I don't understand. I just. I just don't understand. I. am I naive? For this?

does this wish make me naive?

#I can't take it anymore #I want to cry

[tomatoland]

In another story, I could see Mew being a support character. The character that the show would establish as the perfect boyfriend/friend, put on a pedestal and then never give much characterization. You would only see him through the lens of other characters he interacts with: Top's sweet perfect boyfriend that is a foil to Boston, Boston's frenemy or Ray's close friend and secret crush. So the fact that Mew is such a central part of the story is very telling and is a deliberate story-telling choice.

From the first series introduction, Mew is always pictured in the center, with all the other cast members around him.

At the start of the story, Mew is like the eye of the storm. I'm not saying that it's Mew's world and they're all just living in it, because that's NOT what the eye is. The eye is the center because as the storm starts to pick up speed, a vortex of rain and wind appears and right in the center is the eye.

The eye is not where it is most chaotic and turbulent, it's actually the calmest part of the storm. The sun shines, the skies clear and winds are calm in the eye.

I think is a pretty good metaphor for the shelter/bubble Mew was in before the story starts as the Table Keeper. The rest of the friend group and their chaotic and loud personalities circle out from him, doing what they want and he stays literally, in the center of the bar at their table.

Then Top enters Mew's life and he starts to interact with this force 😉 outside of his bubble.

And we watch him slowly be impacted by the rest of the storm aka other characters' actions, but he's not aware yet. Because although the eye might appear to be safe and calm, it's a false sense of safety because just beyond what you can see, there is an invisible barrier of chaos.

As Top & Boston's actions gain speed, they will exert more force on him, pulling him further and further out of the safe zone of the eye and eventually the storm will collide right into Mew.

It really seems like the story is going to show us the loss of Mew's innocence. The show has mentioned multiple times that Mew is a virgin. Virginity is often associated with "innocence," which is a crock, but I digress. The end of innocence also happens when we grow up and transition from child to adult. When we leave the safety of the world we know, safety being the operative word, and are exposed to other worldviews different from our own.

Of all the characters, Mew is the most innocent in terms of life experiences. I know there's some debate on where he's been in the bubble by his own choice or not, but it doesn't change the fact that Mew has been in the center, the seemingly safe eye of the storm and now is going out into the world.

As of right now, three of the characters are on action paths that will collide into Mew.

Top is Mew's first boyfriend and from the trailer, we can presume that Mew does lose his virginity to Top & falls in love with him only to find out Top has been keeping secrets from him.

Mew thinks Boston is his close friend, someone he trusts and is in his nuclear friend circle, but is in for a rude awakening when he finds out that Boston in actuality is his frenemy and not only going after Top, but sabotaging Mew's own relationship with Top by talking in his ear and manipulating Ray as well.

And at some point from the trailer, we know that Ray is also going to hit rock bottom and Mew is going to be there for him. Ray is extremely distraught in that scene, those are soul sobs.

Not to out my own life experiences, but I've only ever seen people cry like that when they're in withdrawal, there's been a death, or they’re facing jailtime. Yes, it definitely could be heartbreak, but it would have to tremendous like the disillusionment of your whole life kind of thing.

All of these are significant life-altering events and mature situations that Mew will face and have to navigate through.

And they are all in the storm brewing and waiting to collide into Mew.

#only friends the series #only friends series #only friends mew #topmew #ofts analysis

[jasontoddssuper]

Okay so speaking as a long time fanfic author and aspiring books author,Percy works best as a trans girl from a writing standpoint and not just because she'd be extremely good rep.Percy being a cis guy who's stereotypically masculine is forced characterization because she has no reason to want to be one-She had no positive male role models growing up.There were definitely male teachers who were mean-spirited to her as much as female ones,Poseidon abandoned her and even after they met he prioritized her or at least treated her like a father who genuinely loves his daughter out of just her being his child instead obligation a grand total of zero times,Smelly Gabe is self-explanatory and Luke abused her too right from the start by gaslighting her.All she had was Sally so it's realistic that Percy would think women are better than men and not give a shit about being manly and preferring femininity

It's semi-canon that Percy has a trauma based dislike of men if we're looking at subtext-In the og series,she speaks much more positively of the girls around than she does the boys and she actually trash talks the latter while using being hypermasculinity as an insult,such as implying Ares is ugly multiple times.And one of the three male friends she has vs being friends with almost every girl in her age range?Nico,Pjo's first canon mlm.This just absolutely screams 'baby gays spotting eachother without either knowing they're not cishet yet' and it's only added on to by how devoted they are to eachother despite the problems in their relathionship.Plus,just sayin',but the explicit reason Nico got over his crush on Percy is that she wasn't a traditional male hero like he thought she was

On similar note,Rachel is a lot like many irl lesbians and her and Percy remain besties after their break up and the first point applies to Reyna too,who liked Percy and likewise after taking away the posibility of romance to their dynamic,they remained great friends and it's a common tgirl experience to still be close to all your ex girlfriends in a platonic way post-egg cracking.Percy reminds me so much of so many of my trans woman friends in tons of ways and i've seen others say the same and back to my first point,the logical conclusion to Percy hating having to be a man who's super masculine is to make her a woman who's super feminine so she can be happy so this all comes full circle

And onto specifics for the Pjo storylines and developments,Percy gains even more depth if she's a trans woman.A self admitted former 'troubled kid' who just wants to be normal but is always getting shoved into a role she dosen't want by people who think they know better than her despite barely knowing her,Luke's fixation on targeting younger girls can be told as a feminist tale by having her the hero of the prophecy instead of him and also be the one to kill him to avenge her female friends and you cannot tell me that the idea of the protagonist of one of the best children's books series out there being a trans girl who's got bad social skills,anger issues and merciless tendencies but never gets demonized for them,is the funniest person in the whole franchise,hyperfemme too and the fucking daughter of Poseidon isn't based as all fuck

She would also help Annabeth's character development by teaching her to not be a pick me anymore and Annabeth would thank her by teaching her to be more self-confident,Nico and her would've become found siblings and Nico and eventually Hazel could've even been adopted by Sally because of it,her transfemininity would've changed the angles of her dynamics with the gods to make them make more interesting,we could dive into how Pjoverse greco-roman mythos play into transgenderism and other types of queerness,Percy's already canon present Team Mom habits and hinted love for cute and 'kiddy' things would be used to their full potential like they deserve,it opens to door to an even more interesting potential romantic dynamic with Jason and there's definitely way more

I'm not sure how to end this so i will make a /hj:Percy Jackson is a female protagonist of all time

#percy jackson #persephone jackson #black percy #latino percy #bi percy jackson #aspec percy jackson #autistic percy jackson #mdd percy jackson #b///pd ptsd and depression too #poseidon(deragotry) #anti luke castellan #antilukercy #sally jackson #nico di angelo #nico and percy #rachel elizabeth dare #lesbian rachel elizabeth dare #reyna avila ramírez arellano #reyna is a lesbian #annabeth chase #jason grace #jercy #t4t jercy #group:yes when i'm with you i'm at home #ocean girl and wise guy #nico percy and hazel #the second argonauts #trans women #💌 #letters from summer

[chalkrevelations]

Called it.

I think they did multiple things right with the bullying storyline in this week's ep of Dangerous Romance - to start with:

having Sailom be perceptive enough and emotionally capable enough to know that his friends would need some open, honest discussion with and apologies from the people who bullied them, in order to move forward.

having Sailom demonstrate - for both his friends and the audience - the value he places on his friendships by insisting that Kanghan at least make an effort before Sailom was willing to actually pursue a relationship with him.

having Sailom set this not just as a condition, but as a test for Kanghan - is Kanghan the kind of person willing to work to repair injuries he caused, or will he balk? And if he's not willing, is he the kind of guy you're going to feel safe trusting your heart to? We already know Sailom is smart enough to listen to his instincts and do the mental calculus when it comes to whether he feels safe with Kanghan, and this is important additional data for him.

I'm not ... necessarily ... faulting the writers on all of this when I compare Pran's actions in Bad Buddy to Sailom's actions here in Ep 7, because I feel like Pran's almost complete lack of processing re: Pat's bullying behavior and what happened between Pat/Engineering and Wai/Architecture is kind of consistent with Pran's overall characterization. Pran hides what's going on and desperately tries to maintain his secrets, behavior that he's learned from dealing with his mom; he's known Pat longer than he's known any of his friends at college - even Wai; and he also just flat-out doesn't have the kind of high emotional quotient that Sailom does. I love Pran a lot - a lot of my intermittent drive to commit violence on Pat is kicked up by the fact that there are several times when he makes Pran sad, so I threaten to remove his lungs with a spoon - but I also notice there are times, particularly in the beginning of BB, when Wai has to walk Pran through not only typical social interaction but through processing and understanding and accepting his own emotions. Wai and Pran are primed for the kind of complete breakdown of their relationship that influences Wai's (very bad) decision to drop that curtain at least partially because when Pran lies to Wai about what's actually going on and pushes him away in order to keep his secrets, Pran loses the very person who we've seen help him navigate sticky interpersonal situations (a role that, on the other side, Pa fills for Pat). It's a cycle of breakdown that feeds on itself.

ANYWAY, what I do fault the writers on in BB is that the narrative, itself, does a miserable job of recognizing that any of these apologies and reconciliation work are necessary - at no point does the narrative come up with any other way to point out to Pran, "You know, maybe your friends are mad because you're surprise!dating a guy who spent a lot of time getting together with his friends in order to kick the shit out of them and make their lives miserable in various ways? Oh, and, who skived off to go to a concert instead of working on the mutual project they were supposed to be participating in." Not even Wai, once they're speaking again, has this particular conversation with Pran. Or, I don't know, make it a conversation with Pa and Pat, where she explains why of course Wai doesn't like him. Instead, down the memory hole it goes.

From discussion I've seen around and about, I feel like a lot of people expected the same thing to happen in Dangerous Romance. But the fact we've circled back around to it gives me hope that I don't just have my clown shoes on and we're also going to circle back around to some of the other issues that are explicitly simmering in the background, like Kanghan just hauling Sailom around by the wrist to wherever he wants him every time he gets jealous. Or the fact that even though Sailom keeps trying to insist that money can't buy everything, he's getting undercut not just by Auto wanting drinks and air conditioning and whatever else Kanghan's money can buy them, but also by the fact that Kanghan's money not only very much has bought Sailom - who's sold himself into a kind of indentured servitude to pay off his family's debts - but also has installed him in the bedroom right next door to Kanghan's.

Or like Kanghan's behavior pattern of just opening Sailom's door whenever he wants and walking in like he owns the place and can go anywhere he wants - a pattern we've already seen changing in this ep, when, sure, he acts like he's going to open the bedroom door in order to get Sailom to respond to him, but he then not only waits to be invited in but makes it explicit that him coming in is contingent on receiving an invitation.

Meanwhile, another thing I felt like the show did well with the bullying storyline this ep was the fact that Auto and Guy had different, individual responses to the apologies and overtures from Kanghan and his crew, and Guy was allowed to take longer to process his feelings and decide whether to have any kind of relationship at all with Kanghan. I had a bad moment at the beginning of the soccer game when I worried that he was going to be painted as unreasonably obstinate by the narrative, when no, he actually doesn't owe Kanghan any kind of forgiveness or interaction just because Kanghan apologized. Fortunately, they were just giving him the time and space that character needed to process and make decisions, and I really liked that.

It wasn't particularly surprising to me that the final barriers broke down in the face of a common enemy. Both of them wanted blood from Team Yellow, the enemy of my enemy, and all. That's one of the places that I felt like BB at least managed to shorthand some of the interpersonal work that would have needed to be done - by giving them a common project. Nobody on that show was able to use their gd words, but at least they could work at building bridges through actions like mutual projects.

Anyway, I've already seen at least one person comment "Wai wishes he could" on a gif of Guy finally telling Sailom to go get his man, after the soccer game, and yeah. I bet Wai did wish he could have gotten 1) an apology and some upfront reconciliation attempts from the guys who physically assaulted him and his friends as well as harassing him at and potentially endangering his job, 2) a best friend who understood that apologies and bridge-building were both deserved and needed, and 3) the necessary time to process those actions and his feelings about them.

I'm glad to see the improvement, Dangerous Romance.

#kanghan krittin #sailom homchan #guy koraphat #auto (dr) #wai (bb) #pran parakul #pat jindapat #kanghansailom #patpran #dangerous romance #bad buddy #loveblogging ep 7

[meimi-haneoka]

Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Chapter 73: Comments + JP-ENG translation differences

Welcome back everyone! We're here once again for another chapter of Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card, one more that's guiding us towards the grand finale! In this chapter we finally get more things coming full circle, one in particular that I've seen many wondering about (and also many ready to dismiss as a plot hole 😅give them time, people, give them time). To be honest, I needed some time to brainstorm and ponder if I had understood certain parts of this chapter correctly 😅, since the content is quite complex, and each language decided to translate certain pivotal parts in different ways, adding to the confusion (because there doesn't seem to be a version everyone is agreeing on). In one specific case, that's normal (at the very end of the chapter) because the lack in the Japanese text of specific words (subject) to lead the interpretation in one direction or the other allows to get the translation in either way (as we'll see ahead). In other cases, it's just translation mistakes and omissions that make things a bit confusing. We also have to consider that it might totally be normal if we don't seem to get a clear, well connected answer in this chapter, because maybe the rest of the puzzle pieces will be in the following one: in this case we don't have to fret and just have faith that everything will be connected properly and be answered in due time. It's normal, this is a serialization, we should always look at the big picture and not at the single chapters, because in the future the whole story divided in volumes readily available will be all that the future readers will get. The "confusion" that we feel as lasting for a month or more, for future readers will last only some minutes, maybe one hour, the time needed to get to read the right chapter where everything gets solved. Sorry for this long introduction but in light of this chapter that made me sit down and reconsider multiple times how I understood things, I felt like it was worth mentioning it even here. Maybe, who knows, that will help sedate someone's frustrations. Alright, before diving into the chapter, as usual, the gif of the month! This time it's dedicated to Sakura 😂

Let's see what happened this month and if there are translation differences to point out! (spoiler, there are)

The Color Page

AAAAATTTT LAAAASTTTT!! FINALLY! After appearing with her back facing us, and then on the background with her eyes closed, we finally have a nice close up of our dear Lilie! With her eyes open!!! 😆 Predictable as it may sound, her eyes are indeed blue like her daughter! But....wait a second....her hair color changed or what??? 😂

After being consistently drawn with a mix of blonde and grey/dark blonde color for the darker parts of her hair, this time around we have a more uniform coloring that's veering more towards taupe! If I have to be honest, this color looks more similar to the shade they chose for Akiho in the anime! But....I like the ash blonde better ☹️ also it bothers me quite a lot that Mokona sensei changed the color at the end of the manga, after consistently drawing her blonde for 2 color pages, first because it's hard to get used to (at first glance my first thought was "WHO'S THIS? O_O), and then because my fanart is incorrect now 😂 But as you know, I always have to find the positive side to everything so I have to say that, while it'll take a while for me to get used to this change (should we consider it a permanent change or sensei just ran out of yellow copic?? 😂 *winks at her friends on a certain discord server*), I also appreciate it because it helps differentiating Lilie from her daughter even better 😊 especially considering they both have blue eyes now. They really would've looked like one another's clone (UGH O_O) if they kept it like that.... (Unless they want to change AGAIN Akiho's hair color too but then I'll riot). Lilie appears here in all her glory and beauty, with a heavily decorated dress as per CLAMP's tradition, she looks like a goddess 🥹 The color scheme is similar to that of her clan robe: white-light blue-golden. And no wings. Maybe this is from a time when she was still alive (she's got wings in the double spread with Nadeshiko). Sooo finally the mystery of the color of her eyes is solved 😆 (I wonder why they dragged it so long?) The JP text of the color page is simply the last thing she said to Sakura in last chapter before disappearing together with the dream: "I believe...in the two Alice". We also get a big text informing everyone of the decision to produce a sequel to the Clear Card anime! A bit late, but the news finally came for the magazine readers too! 😊

You're Unique

The chapter starts with Sakura going back home from school, in the afternoon of the same day we left her off in chapter 72. Kero and Suppi hear her from her room (are those Nintendo Switch Lite consoles? 😂) and they notice how she goes straight to Akiho's room today, without passing by her own room to drop her stuff first. From Kero and Suppi's words it's easy to infer that Sakura got a very close relationship with Akiho, and she often goes to talk to her after school. It's understandable, after all, they're convinced they have spent many years of their lives apart, and it's like they're really starting to know one another only now, so there's a special attachment between them. Attachment which Kero and Suppi don't miss to comment on, reiterating the "sister complex" comment that's honestly become the recurring joke of this series 😆 This also serves as an opportunity for Kero to comment on Touya, another Kinomoto sibling "plagued" with sister complex. 😆 Our elusive big brother seems to be staying at Yukito's today, and that's really not a weird thing in itself, but the fact that we couldn't see him ever since the forbidden spell was activated and we had the time skip, to see his reaction and whether he noticed something or not, is certainly suspicious. Suppi comments that even Nakuru is still staying at Yukito's home, and argues that it should be really time for them to go back home in England (he's had enough, poor Suppi 😂). Kero tells him that they can always come back as tourists in the future, and he will be their guide - Suppi agrees on one condition: that next time he must take them to a place where he doesn't need to pretend to be a plushie anymore 😆 So this apparently useless comedy skit actually manages to give us two interesting info: that Touya is at Yukito's place, apparently still eluding us (and Akiho??), but also that the forbidden spell didn't change the fact that Nakuru and Suppi came in Tomoeda, it's just that the memory change made them believe they simply came for tourism (of course, without Sakura's powers going berserk and failing to "feed" her creatures correctly, there wouldn't be any other need for them to come). In the meantime, Sakura knocks on Akiho's door and she goes inside, school bag and coat still in her arms. She asks Akiho if she came back early, and she confirms that today there wasn't any choir practice (so confirming also that Akiho is still part of the choir at school - told you, everything is still the same as before!). As soon as she enters, Sakura can't help but point out aloud how this room's plan is exactly the same as hers, but you can tell right away this is Akiho's room: it filled my heart with joy to see how the forbidden spell didn't change anything of Akiho's interests, she's still very much in love with books and got a tall bookcase full of them, and....my heart literally jumped when I saw a moon-shaped lamp on her nightstand!! CLAMP, are you toying with my heart? 😭🥹 Sakura remarks that despite everyone telling them they look very much alike, Akiho is actually her own distinct person.

Thank you, Ohkawa-sensei, for putting these words in Sakura's mouth. Thank you for clarifying to the whole fandom (who worried and in some cases complained about this so much) that no matter how much these two are told by other people how similar they are, each of them still retains their own unique personality, their hobbies, their interests, their dreams. You can really feel that their vibe is different. Not even magic can change that. No two human beings are the same, CLAMP was very adamant on that concept even when they talked about clones in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. This is because our soul is unique across the universe(s). And these two are no exception. I always found so wholesome how none of them tries to "imitate" or "wish to have" something the other has. There's no need for jealousy. This is particularly true for Akiho whom, before the forbidden magic was activated, had experienced so much pain in her past and wasn't blessed with many things Sakura had instead. We haven't caught her envying Sakura, not even once, but actually admiring (it's different!) her friend for being able to do the things she didn't think she was capable of doing (remember her comment "Being able to do things by yourself without depending on others is amazing" ?), taking inspiration and even being brave enough to ask for help to improve in those aspects. That's not imitating, that's taking inspiration and strength from your loved ones to become a better person. This crucial theme will be reiterated in just a few pages.

The Pocket Watch

Akiho replies that the same goes for Sakura, she's also unique (JP, lit.: "There's just one Sakura-san in the world!") (I agree very much!) and Sakura bashfully laughs at that, when something catches her eye......a pocket watch, resting on a handkerchief on Akiho's desk, surrounded by certain tools. Kaito's pocket watch. The watch case is still broken, but the glass seem to have been repaired. So, for those who thought that the watch had been inside Akiho due to the exchange with the artifact book, this actually clarifies the doubt at once, and I think it makes perfectly sense. A book inside Akiho -> a book inside Kaito, and a pocket watch in Kaito's hands -> a pocket watch in Akiho's hands. The exchange is even. Sakura seems surprised at the sight of it, and it's apparent it's the first time she sees it ever since Akiho came living with them. Akiho explains that she found the watch back at Masaki's home, and no one knew how old this watch was or whom it belonged to. And yet, it seems Akiho had the urge to have it repaired, she says they tried to bring it to many watch repair shops to make it work again, without any success.

Sakura asks Akiho if she's actually trying to repair it herself (since the tools on the desk seem to suggest she'd been trying to do so), and Akiho replies something that made my heart melt at once:

Akiho, JP: "I don't know why, but the moment I met (this watch), I thought I had to make it work again" Akiho, JP: "Because I had the feeling it was very, very important (to me)"

Go on, CLAMP, keep stabbing my heart! 😭Gaaaah!! OF COURSE! Of course she would be getting that feeling!! Whatever function that watch will have in the finale, it's always been strictly correlated to Kaito, it seems there's a deep connection to him as the weaker he got, the more damage the watch took (randomly breaking on its own at different points of the story). It's as if Kaito literally left a part of him with her, consciously or not. And Akiho saying that is a testament to the strong bond between those two. A bond that not even a powerful, forbidden magic can erase. She might not remember now, but as soon as she found that "part of Kaito", her instinct told her to try to have it repaired at all costs, and in front of the failures of normal watch repair shops, she realized she had to try to make it work on her own. I'd like to think that it's because deep down she felt she was the only one capable to (this is actually what the French translation says, and although it's technically incorrect, it's a nice way to put it).

Akiho excuses herself for saying something weird (she didn't change even in that!), but as usual Sakura is super supportive of her and she tells her that she's absolutely sure she'll manage to make it work again. Foretelling powers, Sakura? 😏😆😆😆 This gives so much courage to Akiho, of course. And taking the chance of "weird talks", Sakura decides it's time for another kind of strange talk.....she finally decides to tell everything to Akiho about her magic and what happened in the years they spent apart, just like she announced in chapter 71!! We skip directly all the details we know all too well and get directly to Akiho's reaction, which is speechless at first (with Sakura fussing and apologizing that she blurted it all out on her and overwhelmed her 😂) but then excitedly thanks her sister for telling her about this, she's delighted because it feels just like a story coming out of one of the books she usually reads, and actually wants to hear more (complete with her usual 'excited flowers' like I usually call them 😂)!! Aaaah, it was so nice to see her reaction because it was exactly what I've been expecting from her. Akiho adds something really, really important: Akiho, JP: I just thought, 'We're twins, and yet so different, and that makes me so happy'. Akiho, JP: I can't use magic, but... If there's something you can't do and I happen to be good at it, then I might be able to help you out, precisely because we're different. The wording the ENG version uses is also very good, I liked how they specified (even if not present in the original text) "It's good we're different". Because it's very important.

And then, in the very next panel, a surprise: Akiho (involuntarily) quotes her own young mother Lilie in chapter 72, expressing herself with the same words, gesture and all, saying "It's what I can do...and what I can't...that makes me who I am". As you can see above, Akiho and Lilie are almost identical, save for Akiho's cowlick and the length of the hair. Little trivia: the line both girls are saying uses the very same words, except for the pronoun 私 / わたし, which is assigned appropriately basing on how it's usually written when the two characters are speaking - 私 for Lilie, and わたし for Akiho. I absolutely loved this line in last chapter and I felt it had even more significance now, coming from Akiho's mouth, in fact it's so important that it's Akiho speaking in this whole scene (and not Sakura). Because ever since she appeared in chapter 7, she's been considered as someone very similar to Sakura, and sometimes perceived by the readers as someone who wanted to steal her spot, her friends, her capabilities, long story short, to steal her identity. But nothing could be farther from the truth. You can be told you're similar to someone else how much you want, but you'll always going to be your own person in the end. Even freaking twins aren't the same person, after all. Each one of us is unique, with our qualities, good sides, bad sides, peculiarities, quirks, personal baggage, no one can take our place in the world. Our identity is the most precious thing we have and it's important we try to do our best to know ourselves the best that we can (heard that, Kaito???), so we don't end up doing just that, trying to live someone else's life, which is always going to be a lie anyway. As I was saying before, Akiho never tried to live Sakura's life and is well aware of her qualities and limits, and is accepting that.

The Magic I've been Preparing

Luckily, this involuntary reenactment of Lilie's scene of last chaper gives the spark to Sakura to remember she had heard those same words before. "The same words...?" "And the same feelings (they gave to me)". And right after that, Sakura also remembers that she has to find the important magic she had been preparing. Akiho says that if this is about magic, she probably won't be able to see it, but Sakura answers that she can't see it either, and wonders why....so, what to do? Akiho thinks. She looks at her books. And they give her an idea. She tells Sakura that she's read a book once where a magician hid his familiar from other magicians so they couldn't find it, and this familiar would show itself only when its magician called its name. Sakura starts having the realization this could be the right track. And here we have our first real translation difference of this chapter, although not particularly serious like the ones that will follow: Akiho, ENG: I'm sure to you, this magic is very important...but to me it'd be like....something out of a book.

Akiho, JP: I'm sure this is a very important magic to you...just like a book would be for me.

As you can see, the meaning is different, quite the opposite actually. Akiho isn't dismissing Sakura's magic as something like a fictional story out of a book, but actually she's telling her she understands that this magic must be very important to her, just like books are to Akiho. And "books" is all Sakura needs to hear to get more recollections of something she heard before, this time even from the facts of Clockland itself! (This is huge! Because it's coming from their life before the forbidden magic was activated! She's defeating the magic that's trying to keep her memories changed, she is JUST THAT AMAZING OKAY) "Books are people's memories...they're RECORDS"

See why it was so important to keep the word "records" in the past chapter, whenever the word 記録 came up in the Japanese text? Because 記録 is also the kanji spelling of a Clear Card we were all waiting to see, in fact....Sakura utters "RECORD"!

The Record Card appears out of nowhere, responding to the call, surprising the two girls when it starts displaying a recorded scene: from what we can see in the blurry "screen" (we can see the couch and the door of Syaoran's living room), this really looks like a scene (that we didn't see depicted in the manga) coming straight after Sakura captured the Dreaming Card and confessed to Syaoran about her recurring dreams in chapter 46. In that occasion, Sakura used the Record Card to show him what she saw, but apparently after that Syaoran proposed to keep the Record Card perpetually turned on to record whatever happened, since Sakura sometimes created Cards without having knowledge of how she did it, and couldn't shake the feeling that someone was making her forget things. In this way, they would've been able to check what happened in case they were made to forget again. From the "video", we see Sakura apologizing to Record and asking to the Card to stay hidden till she would've called the Card's name again. Which is exactly what happened now. Sakura is surprised because she understands that this is a new Card that she's been making on her own. But then, the "video" changes to another scene, that happened later on the story and we probably remember well because it often comes up in the fandom's questions about the unresolved mysteries of this story: the scene of chapter 59, when Momo visited the Kinomoto home, unbeknownst to Kaito. Finally we get to see what happened afterwards.

Momo knows the Record Card is present in the room, so she asks to the Card to be recorded, and addresses Sakura directly. Much to both Sakura and Akiho's surprise, she introduces herself once again as Momo, guardian of a "certain book", telling Sakura that this isn't the first time she meets her in this form, but since time had been rewound, she must have forgotten about it.

With a very painful expression (that made my heart squeeze, I'm weak against Momo's suffering), Momo says that she knows what's going to happen, and she cannot stop it. She also explains why, indirectly addressing other questions from the fandom as to why she never interfered more, if she didn't want Kaito to go on with his plan:

Momo, JP: A guardian cannot show bias towards "white" or "black". We must always stay impartial. So I cannot tell you, nor Akiho, about the core of this matter.

The ENG version is also good, but they translated "white" as "light" and "black" as "darkness" and while I can see why they did that and it could also work well, it ends up hiding the reference to her personal color scheme: on her outfit, but also in the Clockland world that she created on Kaito's request. Everything is black and white. An indication that she's always, constantly reminded of her duty as an impartial guardian, to never lean towards one or the other side (this is something that even Kaito reminded her of precisely in Clockland, becoming irritated that she was giving "hints" to Sakura). And therefore, she's got her hands more tied than ever, unable to tell anything not only to Sakura, but to Akiho too. How many problems we could've avoided if she was able to tell Akiho the truth about this? This is also probably the reason why she had to hide from her and take the guise of a bunny plushie: she needed to protect her, but at the same time she couldn't interact with her. It would've probably been impossible to stay neutral, with Akiho. If Momo's situation wasn't already unfortunate to begin with, having a contract with a boy she ended up caring about, who's literally risked his life to protect his most important person, we also get told to what extent she wasn't allowed to interfere, and get a glimpse of how painful that must be. To be honest, when this will be over, I really hope the Time Book gets destroyed and Momo freed from her duty over it, so she can finally have a normal life, free to interact with her beloved kids as much as she wants.

"The Boy"

Akiho hears Momo calling her name, though she doesn't seem to have any recollection of her beloved plushie (a bit sad for me). It's kinda "ironic" that she gets to "meet" the true form of the one creature who stayed by her side the most in her "old life", and she doesn't even realize it, nor remembers about who this creature is. How could she, her memories not only have been messed up with, but she also just knew her as a plushie, after all!

Momo shows that she isn't stupid. She says that she knows "the boy" is hiding something concerning the "forbidden magic" he wants to activate, but she's sure he won't ever tell her anything about it... So Momo knew Kaito was lying about something (the exchange of the two artifacts), but still wouldn't have had any way to know exactly the details of it.

Upon hearing the word "the boy", Akiho literally lights up, wondering "...The boy?". Her soul responds to it, as if knowing exactly whom Momo is talking about (loved it!! this is the kind of reactions I was waiting for, from her! ❤️). As usual, Kaito gets called "the boy", and when I was checking the Spanish translation I was a bit sad to see that they removed any reference to that word, making Akiho ask "who?" instead. Of course Momo can't mention his name, not even his fake one, because she's bound by a contract.

Momo explains that once the forbidden spell will get activated, the Record Card would disappear too (just like the other Clear Cards).

And here we have one of the biggest translation mistakes of this chapter, of course when there's a major scene!! Momo slowly removes her crown, and with magic she brings it back to its original state: the ring Lilie gave to her long time ago.

Remember? Lilie said she was going to make a request to Momo, and we saw a flashback of her removing the ring her fiancé gave her (a ring enchanted with a protection spell) to put it on the ear of Momo's plushie form. While Momo shrinks it back to its ring form, she says:

Momo, ENG: So that he'll never find you...and so that you'll never go away, no matter what happens...I'm going to cast a spell.

Momo, JP: So, in order to never let him find it (note: the Record Card), and so that it'll stay (note: survive even after the forbidden magic) no matter what happens...I'm going to cast a spell.

As you can see, in the ENG version Momo is saying "you", as if she's talking directly to Sakura, and so, as if she were going to cast a spell to hide her (?) from Kaito, and so that she'll never go away (??). Honestly, you can see by yourself that it doesn't make sense. Maybe with that "you" she was talking directly to the Record Card, in the translator's head? Well, very counterintuitive to translate it like that, of course it's gonna cause confusion because here Momo is addressing Sakura directly. No, the correct interpretation is that Momo is talking about the Record Card, while explaining to Sakura what she's about to do.

And, unfortunately, I'm not done complaining about this month's translation yet (god, they were doing so okay in the first part!).

Momo, ENG: I have held what I need to cast it...since long before I entered into my contract...with the boy.

Momo, JP: And I've already received the price needed to do that, long before I entered into my contract with that boy.

The ENG translation makes it sound like the ring Record is showing was somehow necessary to Momo in order to cast the spell. It isn't exactly like that. The ring was seemingly THE PRICE Lilie paid in advance, in order to make a wish to Momo and have it granted.

Yes, exactly like the customers do with Yuuko. But also what Yukito had to do to obtain the powers from the divinity of the Tsukimine Shrine. Basically it's safe to say that if you have a wish in any CLAMP series, you'll always have to pay something of equal value in exchange. And removing the word price from here, wording it in that misleading way, is honestly really annoying. We're reading a CLAMP manga, we love to see keywords and references to common CLAMP tropes and thematics present in other works too, when they've been put there on purpose by CLAMP. Can you please keep them, K-USA?? Note that here, we shouldn't give 100% for granted that the ring was exactly the price Lilie paid. It could be that, but also something related to the ring, something not physical. Like the fact that Lilie remained unprotected after giving the ring away (for a further purpose in the future). Some people gave away their time, freedom, luck as a price, in other works. Maybe it's something along those lines, and the ring gets to be passed over to those who need it the most now. Or maybe it was really the ring all along, I'm just pointing out that there are multiple options here to take into consideration.

We see Momo holding the ring between two fingers, and on the other side of the screen, Sakura's hand takes the same pose, with some "magic sparkles" around it: did Momo indeed pass the ring to her, magically? It's pretty unclear but it's legit to imagine so. Momo continues saying that there are other Cards that haven't disappeared yet (beware, the Spanish version here seems to be implying that ALL of Sakura's Clear Cards haven't disappeared, but from how it's phrased that's not what the JP text is saying here, and the ENG translation is actually right - wtf is happening, hahahah), and they're waiting for Sakura to call them. Yes, just like she did with Record. Then, Momo finally tells her "(please,) Remember" (and not "find them" like in the ENG version!), and Record turns into a magic crystal, the same that appeared everytime Sakura captured a Clear Card, magically going through Sakura's chest. Yes. Should we say "stabbing" her? 😂😂Good lord was this imagery really necessary?? Moreover, people are also being reminded of how the feathers used to enter Sakura's body in Tsubasa exactly like this 😂😂😂it's a continuous reference-fest, with Tsubasa.... Sooo, as you have guessed, Sakura starts recovering all the memories of her life before the forbidden magic was activated: in this beautiful display of countless film strips we can see many scenes coming from the most disparate chapters, mostly related to Sakura (shots from the Two Alice play are included, but NOT futher than that, so I don't know what's the situation for what concerns what happened in Clockland). We can see many characters in those strips, Momo included (so she recovered also her memories that were erased by the time rewindings - I knew she would!! ) but....there's still one major absentee in those memories: Kaito.

And yet. Sakura opens her eyes, after processing all the memories that came back to her. And her eyes are filled with tears, tears and extreme sadness. Akiho, of course, gets immediately anxious when she sees her like that. Sakura runs to the one whom she probably knows by now is not really her sister, to hug her tight. This is a scene that's very reminiscent of when she hugged Akiho in chapter 35 after witnessing Akiho's past on her skin. She didn't know how or why, but her intuition and empathy told her that she had witnessed something related to Akiho. And that's exactly what's happening here too.

I'm not sure if Sakura saw Kaito, in those memories (while not being shown to us). But I'm fairly sure that what's making her cry, thanks to her awesome intuition and empathy, is the blind awareness that they lost someone along the way. Someone very, very important to Akiho, hence why she runs to hug her tight. And that can't help but breaking Sakura's heart too, because she loves Akiho and she would never want to see her "sister" suffer a loss of that magnitude. She knows what it feels like, she had to scold Syaoran before for that same risk. Therefore, with one of the most determined faces I've ever seen her making, she utters:

Sakura, JP: Let's get it back. The thing/the person you didn't want to lose.

There's a lot to say about this last line of the chapter. First of all, the interpretation: the international translations have interpreted in different ways this line, because there isn't a subject or a clear specification of what they're talking about. Some translations made Sakura say something like "I've got to take back what we should've never have lost", like the ENG and BR-PT versions did, making Kaito's disappearance her matter too... Some others decided to translate in a way that's more personal to Akiho, like "Let's get back what you never wanted to lose", like the FR and ESP did. This is possible because this line uses the word もの, which can both mean "thing" but also the hiragana reading of 者, "person" (as usual, a clever way from Ohkawa to not disclose who she's talking about yet, even though we all know). At the same time, it also doesn't specify who is the subject of the verb "didn't want to lose": it could be Akiho, or Sakura and Akiho together, just as each translation decided to infer. Therefore I'm not inclined to indicate one or the other as the correct one, though I have to say that the idea of Sakura making it a personal matter too despite knowing Kaito very little, just because she's that much empathetic, kind and genuine, is quite endearing. Kaito made Akiho feel loved, the happiest, and that alone is enough for Sakura to put up her warrior queen face (seriously, it's so heartbreaking but also beautiful) and declare war to whatever is keeping him away from them, trying to get him back. Ohkawa did say it, in one of the last Twitter Spaces where she talked about the upcoming events of the finale: "Sakura will take care of it in her own way". One last thing, this line is also a reference to what Touya told Sakura in chapter 58, that night when he prepared the honey milk to her, after his sister asked him "What do you do when you don't know what's true and what's not?" and he told her...."I choose what I don't want to loose".

And that's exactly what Sakura is doing right now. We knew this advice sooner or later would've come useful. Sakura chose to bring back what they shouldn't lose. A precious existence that deserves a second chance. Sakura made her choice. She's on board with this. Will Akiho make the same choice? (don't you dare, it's a rhetoric question!! 😂)

Surprisingly enough, for this chapter we have an editorial text in vertical, on the right side of the last page, which translates to: "A wish entrusted from the past, (what will) Sakura (do)...?"

Aaaaand here we are, we reached the end of the chapter. 31 pages...we're back to longer chapters, as expected from those very close to the grand finale! We're currently 79 pages in for volume 15. It is interesting to note that, as I'm writing this post, no notice of "2 chapters to the end" or anything like that was printed on the Japanese color page (but there still could be something in the usual color ads page - I'd need to check the actual Nakayoshi magazine for that). Aside from the things I have already mentioned in the post above, I have to say I really loved to see Sakura and Akiho collaborating (and so immediately after Sakura revealed everything connected to magic to her sister!), effectively putting at work Akiho's extensive knowledge thanks to all the books she reads! Her suggestion of "calling" the magic Sakura was looking for, because it was hiding, was super useful and put into practice something she just had mentioned a few pages before: if you need me for something I happen to be good at, I'll always help you. That's what's good in us being different. Talking with an user on a Discord server, it was mentioned something that I personally really agree with and I would like to talk more extensively in a separate post (maybe someone can send an ask about it so I have the excuse? 😂), which is the fact that in this chapter Sakura talked honestly and clearly with an open heart to Akiho, trusting her reaction to be strong and positive enough, and that lead to a quick resolution of an immediate problem they had, as opposed to the other characters of the cast (Syaoran, Eriol, Kaito etc) who did things on their own, hiding - and even lying in some cases - to protect their loved ones, leading to unforeseen or terrible consequences (Kaito is the extreme example). I think there's definitely a fil rouge here connecting these situations.

Well, this post unfortunately already turned too long so I guess I'll have to stop here, but I'll be glad to answer to asks, if you want to discuss something else (or get more clarifications!). If you found this post useful, if it helped you clarifying some things, please share it - I'm always told of people being so confused by this finale and if I can help in any way I'd be only happy about that, but my posts need to reach those people first.

Chapter 74 is slated to be released on May 31st on CLAMP's Youtube channel (digital), and on June 2nd on Nakayoshi (digital and paper). The next Nakayoshi magazine will come with Sakura on the cover, the chapter being at the very beginning of the magazine (so it's probably going to be a double color page) and even a furoku - a pretty SyaoSaku foldable fan! I'm not sure how things will be with the release of the new K-Manga app, so for now I'm not gonna include it here.

See you next time!!

#card captor sakura #cardcaptor sakura #ccsakura #clear card arc #ccs spoilers #sakura card captor #kinomoto sakura #akiho shinomoto #chapter 73 #translation differences

[teaveetamer]

Raxis showed he blocked you why are you still stalking him

I'm not stalking him lmfao. The only times I've really talked about him the past, like, six months? Have been when he's explicitly come to my blog to take screenshots of my posts and repost them to other platforms, despite the fact that I have had him blocked for a long time now. Which, wow, that does tend to get back to me believe it or not, whether I go look at any of his accounts or not. In this particular instance I noticed the art theft because the artist (who I and multiple other people I'm friends with follow, because they're a big artist. Big enough to get comms from Celine's VA--which that piece he reposted without permission was btw) got an ask tipping them off to the fact that Raxyboy had reposted their art which explicitly said "do not repost" on it.

I'd seen him do this art theft bullshit before (he and/or someone in that circle did it around November too, I actually had a post in my drafts talking about it, but decided not to post it because I didn't want to get bogged down in it) so I thought it warranted mentioning this time around. Especially since it's clear he didn't bother asking permission. If he had, I'm sure the artist would have said "hey cool that you like my work, but I have a tumblr. Could you reblog it instead?". Really it's just another piece of evidence demonstrating a loooooong, abusive pattern Raxyboy engages in (namely: "who gives a fuck about boundaries, I can do whatever I want whenever I want and I'm going to expect you to put up with me blatantly harassing you and stealing your work because fuck your feelings. I'm entitled to your words and your work whenever, wherever, and however I want!")

Like again, this dude is 35 and behaving like a schoolyard bully. He's more than old enough to know how to respect a block button and ask permission before blatantly stealing and reposting other people's work. It's not really my fault that he categorically refuses to respect other people's personal boundaries. If that's getting him into trouble with other people in the fandom, perhaps he could try modifying his behavior to be more respectful of his fellow fans instead of sending whiny anons into my inbox to "defend" his indefensible actions.

[mcalhenwrites]

I'm sincerely trying to find answers to these questions. I'm seeking advice.

I'm going to start this off by stating that I'm still writing. I haven't quit. I'm not going to quit. This is about sharing. I've had so many people assume I quit writing or only will write for the sake of being a published author. I'll always be writing as long as I'm alive.

And as someone who firmly believes that people can choose whether or not to share their art with the world and no one else gets to decide that, I also believe that it's not wrong to want to have readers. Libraries and bookstores and art galleries and art sites and everything else - we connect to each other through art. It wouldn't exist if everyone just went, "Welp, I made the thing, good for me. Done!" And if someone is going to tell me that I should feel that way, I hope you keep all your writing and art to yourself. If not, I'd consider it a kindness to us both if you don't respond to this post through comments, DMs, or asks. Thank you. ;)

So onto the questions I'm seeking advice on.

How can I overcome the shame of posting writing for about 14 years and still barely getting readers? (But often getting a lot of critique?)

I've been in writing circles, reading and cheering on others, and they read one anothers' writing, but I'm frequently passed over/ignored - and that's the kinder response. I've been told that I'm there for my support only, that I'm not a good enough writer myself, that my characters are all the same.

How does one keep posting links to their published work or AO3 chapters/works, when they never get any likes or reblogs across several websites?

When friends have done nothing but scold them for not being good at PR, when I'm just... I'm a writer, not a businessman. And I am trying, but even popular authors on social media have mentioned that word-of-mouth and boosting of their work on social media has impacted their success? That M*sk taking over one of those sites has negatively impacted their interactions and therefore their sales? (Wouldn't this mean they also suck ass at PR? xD)

Am I supposed to believe I have a chance, when even established authors are struggling?

I don't like myself very much, and I'm ashamed of level of skill, even though I enjoy writing so much I can't help but always want to do it. I can't help but create stories and get excited about writing them down. There are even times I feel like I've made progress. Gotten better as a writer.

But it's so hard not to end up letting other people make me feel ashamed.

It's true I shouldn't listen to those people, but why have they been so many, and why is the positivity always so few and far in-between? Maybe if it was one voice in one-hundred, but what if it's twenty voices out of thirty? What am I to believe then? When even friends clearly have no faith in my works and don't want to be seen associating with it?

I wanted to be a published writer. I wanted to make a little bit of an income on writing, so I'd have reason to do what I love even more.

But I've spent most of my life feeling like a fool who keeps humiliating himself. Who wonders if the truth is that I'm worse at writing than even I'm willing to admit.

I had one story that "took off" on AO3, but even that lost readers by the end, and no one is interesting in anything I have created before or since then.

And that story... I've been editing it heavily and even added chapters, and I'm like, "I should post the new version sometime" but I'm convinced no one even wants it. (And I'd have to do it for free, and I can't afford to do things for free. I just got on medicaid finally and went to a food pantry last week and keep applying for help, and I have to wait until April to see a doctor to get critical help for my multiple health issues that might make my ability to work even harder. I broke down and crocheted stock for a table this month, and the pain in my wrist is excruciating, and the pain my heart that I can't spend half that time making personal passion projects with something I only want to do as a hobby is even more excruciating. So no, not every story of mine can just be churned out for free.)

Anyway, thank you for reading and your time, and if you have legitimate advice/answers/support... I could use it. I could use it more than ever. 

[bromelads]

Insight from “Izzy Canyon” on racism in the OFMD fandom and putting our cards on the table

This post below is in response to this one by @ourflagmeansgayrights

Phew! Thank you for hanging tight for this! First, I wanna thank you for sharing your vantage point in the fandom. It can be really easy to forget that we’re all seeing different things at different times in our dashboard/timelines/feeds so it means a lot that you’ve been trying to expand your viewpoint to meet me halfway (especially hard to do when there’s strong emotions involved). On my end, I joined the ofmd fandom through Twitter in mid-May (correction: it was closer to early or mid-April) and have been properly active on Tumblr since November 2022.

The attitude that you described adopting during the early fandom days (leaning into discomfort in order to center the perspectives of fans of color) is something that I’ve seen reflected in my circles within “Izzy Canyon” and outside of it too.

I can see why there‘s been a perception that people pushing back against “izzy critical” posts by complaining about the targeted harassment Izzy fans have been receiving were attempts to shut down conversations about racism—diverting attention from racist harm by pointing out a different issue is common tactic after all. One that me and the people who have been pointing out the targeted harassment of Izzy fans do not care for. At the core of this pushback is the fact that we are part of a fandom culture that refuses to ignore racism (good) while also enabling a social dysfunction where antiracist rhetoric is used to exact abuse against members of our fandom community, including fans of color (bad). This is a solvable problem.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I wanted to meet you halfway on the list of grievances you and other "izzy critical" folks compiled by including the voices of Izzy fans. This took the form of a container worksheet (linked below) that was based on the list you provided. A friend (@uselessheretic) generated clarifying questions to help establish a common ground that’s set on finding effective, restorative ways to address racialized harm in our fandom community. Before presenting this container and the input of Izzy fans, I want to make two requests and address your input on white favoritism.

Invitation to pursue a restorative approach

I use the word “restorative” multiple times in this post. This is in reference to restorative justice, which is the framewok I’ve been trying to apply throughout my exchanges with you and other “izzy critical” blogs.

I learned about the notion that we could apply a restorative justice approach to harm done in the ofmd fandom through this brief image thread by a fellow ofmd fan about how to practice Restorative Justice in Social Media Spaces. I can’t recommend this resource enough.

Request to focus on Behaviors vs People

In reference to the story you shared about a Black fan being called scary: I didn't know about this incident before you described it. What you described is indeed a racist microaggression and it’s behavior that I refuse to enable. If the attitudes reflected in this incident are indeed still pervasive in the fandom, then we need to address it. What I've seen work is an approach that‘s more “hard on the issues and gentle on the people.”

A lot of “Izzy fans” shared insight that supports a statement you made on your last post: that a lot of the grievances in the list are not exclusive to “izzy-positive spaces.” With this in mind, and in the spirit of working together to address the cultural problem we have in our hands, I want to request that we steer away from thinking of the list of behaviors and beliefs as coming from a “type/genre of izzy fan” for the following reasons: 

The social structures in fandoms are largely flat (non-hierarchical) and interpersonal (not institutional), which is why culture change is more achievable if we focus on influencing changes in behaviors as opposed to people. Even if there’s items on the list that are more common on the “Izzy side,” it’s easier and less antagonistic for community members to deal with problem behaviors than with problem people. (Of course, there’s always exceptions to this.)

Constructing a “type/genre" of fan who's rife with racist beliefs in a fandom as supportive of social justice as the ofmd fandom, doesn't inspire behavior change: it makes a scapegoat out of “Izzy fans” and encourages a punitive, adversarial mindset. This scapegoating has the following unintended consequences for BIPOC:

A. It supports exclusionary and inaccurate assumptions about BIPOC who disagree on popular race-conscious meta or simply enjoy Izzy: that we are deficient in some way (prioritizing white comfort over the safety of nonwhite fans) or that we simply don’t exist within the scapegoated subset of fandom (talking about “izzy fans” and “BIPOC” as if they’re separate, adversarial categories).

B. This scapegoating ALSO facilitates white guilt by giving white fans in the wider fandom easy “outs” to avoid evaluating their own implicit biases towards BIPOC. All they need to do is avoid the “izzy side of fandom,” uncritically promote popular race-conscious meta posts, and follow accounts that are run by people who disclose that they are not white. No need to cultivate vulnerable, equal, honest relationships with fans of color, just stay quiet when they talk about race and support their positions, even when you disagree. No need to stretch your imagination to give depth and dimension to the many characters of color we have at our disposal–just focus on the two canon romances of Ed/Stede and Jim/Oluwande. I have witnessed these attitudes in the OFMD fandom at large, including “Izzy Canyon.” Ascribing the bulk of racist behaviors to a subset of the ofmd fandom unintentionally offers the rejection of other fans (“Izzy fans”) as an easy alternative to doing the slow, reflexive, emotionally demanding work of confronting the racial prejudices we all bring into fandom.

This particular request and observations are informed by conversations with BIPOC and white people within “Izzy Canyon.” They are also informed by my own formal+informal training and experience teaching organizers in my local community how to adopt racial justice lenses. I would also be remiss not to mention that at least half of the BIPOC who supported the development of this post have real-life experience leading antiracist and restorative work in their own communities through education and grassroots organizing. We know just how challenging it is to talk about and dismantle racism.

On white favoritism

I don’t know how much awareness there is about this on the “izzy critical” side of fandom, but uselessheretic wrote a guest post in Stitch's Media Mix about concrete ways in which fans can uplift characters of color and subvert white favoritism. I am curious about perceptions among “Izzy critical” people about this article, since it does carry important insight about fandom culture and is incredibly well-grounded in antiracism.

Finally, your expansion on white favoritism (“fans who have fixated on izzy and whose brains will not let them create anything but izzy content…”) struck a deep chord, especially among BIPOC contributors. So much so, that someone added this item to the worksheet and so many people responded that it needed its own page. I will let their input speak for itself and add that a lot of it resonates for me.

Invitation to "talk it through" (aka "the container")

This worksheet is grounded on the list of grievances you compiled. It's meant to be a container where “Izzy likers” and “Izzy criticals” alike can share an understanding of each other’s experiences with harassment and racism in the fandom. This is putting all the cards on the proverbial table. Kinda like…

As of now, the worksheet has been filled out by “Izzy Canyonites” from Twitter, Tumblr, and Discord. BIPOC Izzy fans were the first to contribute to the sheet and make up the majority of voices in it. 

In filling out this sheet, my asks to “izzy critical” fans (especially nonwhite fans) are to (1) read the existing input from “izzy fans” and (2) answer the questions in the empty cells.

(If you’re an “Izzy fan,” please DO NOT ADD to the worksheet. I’m good to receive DM’s if u need to get anything off your chest)

Without further ado: here it is

My hope is, if there’s a collective desire, that we can brainstorm more effective approaches to mitigating and preventing harm (especially racist harm) in the fandom together. 

Ok that’s what I got. Big shoutout to all my Izzy Canyon friends (old and new). I know this shit is emotionally charged. Love you all and love our creative, fun, loving corner of the fandom. ❤️ Special shout-out to friends who are impartial to Izzy but care about the psychological and emotional safety of fellow fans: your influence is super grounding 💚

Finally, big appreciation to the ppl on the other side of the izcourse who went through the trouble of giving their two cents. Particularly BIPOC. That was neat of y’all and I do hope to see more of what you have to say. 💛

#the izcourse #ofmd fandom discourse #fandom harassment #fandom racism #restorative justice #our flag means death #ofmd #long post #la meta de mi meta #updated for correction and credit #the izcourse talks #ofmd harassment